Beyond the Thousand Year Change: Lightning Dust

by Darthvalgaav

Living Nightmare

About a week and a half later found Lightning walking back to the library from the market, her saddle bags full of food for tonight’s dinner. True to her word, as soon as Lightning had been cleared from the hospital, Twilight had given Lightning all of Spike’s chores around the library. Now she was in charge of sweeping up the floor, cleaning the windows, re-re-organizing the shelves, picking up after Twilight, and so much more. Despite this, Lightning did her best not to complain. She wasn’t happy about it because all this new work cut into her flying and personal time, but she was happy to still be here.

When she wasn’t doing chores, Lightning was doing her best to help a far more panicky Twilight. Once the pegasus had gotten out of the hospital she had told Twilight everything that had gone wrong during the flight test of the blaster weapon. To say she was alarmed would be an understatement.

“Oh no, this is horrible,” Twilight had said after Lightning finished talking, looking over her blueprints rapidly. “Is there a problem with the interface? It seemed to work perfectly at close range, so is it the distance or the speed of your flight that messed up your aim? And the energy drain might be inconsistent. That’s why the strength of the blasts varied! Or…Or maybe it tried to drain more magical energy than what you had! Either way I’ll have to look into this. Perhaps it might even be better if I could figure out a better power source. But what could be small enough that could supply the weapon with enough power for more than one shot?” These questions and more were heard throughout the home on what felt like an endless loop as Twilight went back to work on the armor.

Something else happened after Lightning returned from the hospital, something that worried her greatly about her friend. On the first night back, she could hear Twilight tossing and turning in her bed followed by whimpering noises. Eventually, Twilight would get out of bed and Lightning, who had her eyes open just a crack, could see Twilight staring at the pegasus’ bed for several long minutes as she caught her breath. Finally, Twilight would go downstairs and wouldn’t return for several hours. And this seemed to be a nightly occurrence.

Both Lightning and Spike could not help but take notice to the change in Twilight’s behavior. Some days she seemed lost in her own, sleep deprived world while other times she was snappish and rude. She would become forgetful and panic more so than she normally would. Every time one of them approached her in an effort to find out what was wrong she would avoid the subject until she yelled at them to drop it. While not exactly friends, Lightning and Spike became united in a single goal of trying to help Twilight out. The two bounced ideas off of each other ranging from getting all of Twilight’s friends together so they could confront her as a group to contacting Princess Luna. In the end, they decided that it might be best to help her out until she came forwards to them herself with what was bothering her. Both admitted that this wasn’t the best course, however they wanted Twilight to know that they could be trusted with whatever was bothering her. That she could come to them. If they did something else, there was a chance that it would be seen as going behind her back even if it did help her out.

But they were not going to be reckless about this and simply leave her to her own devices. Both Lightning and Spike would be there by her side whenever she needed them. Or not. While Lightning did all of her jobs, Spike constantly offered up his help despite the fact that this was his vacation. Sometimes he would even just sit in the lab, reading his comics while waiting for a chance to help Twilight out while at the same time being out of the way. And if either one thought that this had gone on long enough, they would confront her one last time and would not allow her to avoid the question.

Even if it meant she would hate one of them.

When Lightning finally arrived home she was greeted by an unusual sight. Twilight brought up one of the blackboards from the basement and had attached several of the blueprints for her armor design on it. That, as well as a few other things that caused Lightning to tilt her head as she slowly closed the door. There was a ‘hang in there’ kitty poster, a picture of Spike in diapers, a half eaten sandwich, and Rainbow Dash’s fanfiction. In her magical grasp was a wooden pointer that seemed to wobble around a bit, even though it looked like Twilight was doing her best to keep it still for her guest.

Said guest was a brown unicorn with a black mane and a grey suit. As Lightning moved around the room, being careful not to make too much noise, she noticed the very familiar facial hair of one Top Spark who she had seen on billboards advertising Spark Industries. Heck, when she was trying to get into the Royal Guard there were pamphlets for Spark Industries lying on several of the seats. From what she had been able to glance at was that they produced many of Equestria’s and the Crystal Empire’s weapons along with several other things that had bored the mare at the time.

The savvy smile he had worn on those pictures was sadly absent, however, as he looked at Twilight who looked like a complete mess. It was clear that she was losing weight despite Lightning’s and Spike’s best efforts to keep her fed. Her coat was looking a paler and more than a little unhealthy. Her mane was unkempt with several dozen strands sticking out in all directions. Her face clearly looked like she needed sleep like a fish needs water.

“Princess Sparkle,” said Mr. Spark. “It is clear that this has been a waste of my time.”

“But I’m not finished,” said Twilight quickly as Mr. Spark stood up, raising a hoof to stop him.

“Normally I would love to be alone and in the company of a lovely mare such as yourself,” he said, turning around so as not to look at her and heading for the door. “But, frankly, I can only hear so much of this talk of science fiction before it becomes too much for me to bear. What you are asking is simply impossible. Nopony could ever do it and I am not willing to lose bits trying.” Now he was at the door. He turned to look at Twilight and his expression softened considerably. “Princess, if you wish to speak to me about business please get some rest before you do so again.”

As the door closed behind him, Twilight let out a groan before her face met the floor below. Lightning watched as Twilight’s body began to sag downwards, wondering what had happened. When she had left a few hours ago Twilight looked a mess, but she was also wearing bunny slippers and a matching pink robe as she ate her breakfast. Since today was free, something Lightning had made a point in checking this morning, she had told Spike that he could go and check on what Rarity was doing. So the question was how did this happen?

“Ok Twilight,” said Lightning as she moved over to the princess. “Let’s get you to bed while you explain to me what happened.”

“Don’t wanna,” mumbled Twilight, her face still pressed against the floor. Rolling her eyes, Lightning bent down and wrapped a wing around Twilight’s barrel before standing up. Twilight’s body was limp and heavy, yet thanks to all of her training Lightning was able to handle it. Slowly the two began to make their way towards the stairway while the pegasus gave her alicorn friend a worried look.

“Twilight, what happened?” she said as they took the first step up the stair. “I thought today was a free day.”

Twilight sigh. “I thought it was too. But when Mr. Spark appeared at the door, I remembered that I had sent him a letter asking to meet with him to talk about his prototype high powered magical battery. Princess Celestia told me he was working on it in one of our letters and I thought it might help with powering the blaster. I guess I forgot he replied and said he would be here today.”

“Well you have been sending out a lot of letters lately,” said Lightning in an understanding tone as they reached the upper level of the library. “I mean, you’ve been talking to the princesses, doctors about crossbreed syndrome, asking about various ponies, and I don’t know what else. Normally I would say that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, but ever since I’ve known you you’ve written every appointment down three times to make sure you wouldn’t forget it.”

“I know!” groaned Twilight as they came to the bed and sat down next to it. “I had to quickly rush together a presentation and, Celestia I don’t know what I was thinking. Halfway through talking about how the battery would be used I started talking to him about helping me with it!!” As Twilight continued to talk, she failed to notice that Lightning was making her way into the bathroom. When she emerged, the pegasus had with her a glass of water as well as two sleeping pills.

“Well, from the sounds of it, even he noticed you need some rest,” said Lightning as sat down next to Twilight. She then held out the pills. “So you can contact him again after you get some rest and then-”

“NO!” Twilight suddenly screamed before knocking the pills away with her hoof. With a sudden burst of energy the princess leapt away from both the bed and a stunned Lightning. Well, stunned for a moment at least. Seeing that she might have to do this the hard way caused Lightning to let out an annoyed sigh as her eyes narrowed.

“Seriously Twilight?” demanded Lightning, causing Twilight to flinch and look away. “After what just happened are we really going to have this conversation?” Twilight turned to face Lightning, her mouth open but Lightning never gave her a chance to lie to her. “Don’t tell me you’re fine because we both know you’re not. Even Spike knows something is wrong with you!”

Lightning marched over to Twilight so that they were only inches apart. Lightning knew that if Twilight wanted to she could teleport away, freeze Lightning in place, or a dozen or so other spells that would allow her to flee. But her eyes were trembling and she was biting her lower lip. The princess was so scared of something right now that she could barely concentrate on anything except what was right in front of her. And that was just fine with Lightning.

“The two of us have been waiting for you to come to us with whatever the hay is wrong with you. But that ends here!” Lightning punctuated this by stomping a hoof down with enough force that the wood cracked a tiny bit. “You are going to get into that bed, take these Celestia damned pills, and get some sleep or else I will fly all the way to Canterlot and get every princess I can find in on this.”

“I…” began Twilight, her breathing quickening to an abnormal pace even for her.

“No Twilight,” said Lightning. “Whatever bad dreams you’re having can’t be-”

“I CAN’T KEEP WATCHING YOU DIE!” screamed Twilight

Lightning stood there for a moment with her mouth hanging open. “You…what?” she asked.

“I can’t keep losing you,” said a panicked Twilight, tears appearing in her eyes. “I thought I was over it all, but ever since your accident the nightmares won’t stop. Every night I watch you die while being helpless to do anything just like with Crescent Hope! I struggle to try anything I might have missed the last time, but in the end it’s all the same. Not enough time, not enough options, too far away. They all equal seeing you burn to death and…and…”

Lightning watched in confusion as Twilight began to break down right in front of her eyes. She had no idea how a head injury translated into being burned alive nor did she have any idea who or what Crescent Hope was. But, all the same, Lightning saw the effect her accident had on her friend. Right now, that was the key thing. Everything else could wait.

“Twilight,” said Lightning loudly, getting the attention of the princess. Once she was sure she had it, her next words came out more gently than before. “Twilight, you just have to remember that they are just nightmares. I’m safe and sound because you helped get me to the hospital, remember?” Twilight nodded. “Ok, so just keep that in mind as you go to bed. I’ll be right here by your side while you sleep the whole time. And when Spike gets here I’ll have him send a message to Princess Luna about this.”

“B-But I c-can’t,” stammered Twilight, her eyes growing wide in terror for some reason.

Lightning groaned while fighting to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Why was this so difficult? “Ok then,” she said. “How about this? You try to get some sleep and if you’re still having trouble then we’ll call on Princess Luna.”

“I…,” began Twilight before sighing. Lightning let a smug grin slip onto her features. She could see the defeat in Twilight’s eyes even before she nodded. The pegasus gestured with her wing to the bed and Twilight walked over to it with her head hanging low as if this were a death sentence. As Twilight crawled into bed, Lightning zipped away and returned with more pills. She watched closely as Twilight took them, even inspecting her friend’s mouth to make sure she had swallowed them.

“Lightning,” said Twilight as she laid her head on the pillow. “Y-You’re going to stay here the whole time, right? You’ll be here when I wake up?”

“Yeah,” replied Lightning, feeling a bit like she was reassuring a scared foal instead of a freaking princess. Even going as far as to pat her bed in a similar manner as when she was small. Er, not that she was ever got scared or anything like that. Just, ah, something her mother used to do!

Within minutes, the pills took effect thanks to their magical properties. Twilight’s heavy eyelids began to close and her body began to become lax under the covers. Lightning could even make out Twilight’s breathing which became a bit more shallow. Seeing this caused Lightning to smile in triumph. Twilight was finally resting.

-x-

The next several hours were some of the worst in Lightning’s entire life due to one all consuming factor: boredom. To a pegasus like herself, boredom was her natural enemy. There was nothing to do to pass the time while Twilight slept. Sure, she had tried finding something to do like looking at Twilight’s books for something to read. See the problem with that was, well, none of those books interested her! Nearly all of them were about magic, science, and everything school related. Things that Lightning swore she would never open again after she got out of school. The best she could find were a few books about legends that Twilight had been reading, but those didn’t even have any good action scenes or pictures.

More than once, Lightning thought about heading downstairs into the main library to search for something she might like. Every time, however, she realized just as quickly that she couldn’t. She had promised Twilight that she would stay here, be here when she woke up. True, Lightning was one of the fastest pegasi in Equestria. She could be in and out in a second…if she knew what book she wanted. The thing was that she didn’t know what to read and, well, Twilight had a lot of books that she would have to go through in order to find something interesting enough for her. And knowing her luck, Twilight would begin to stir while she was down there.

The only real break she got was when Spike finally got home. She was able to pass some time by telling him what was going on and he was able to provide some food for her to eat. As she was telling Spike about what had happened, he seemed to get a look that screamed ‘I just realized something important.’ That or he had to use the restroom. Either option was a good guess. He did offer to let Lightning go out and stretch her wings while he remained by Twilight’s side, which was nice of the baby dragon. Yet, Lightning refused to break her promise no matter how tempting the sky looked at that moment.

So that left Lightning Dust in a very undesirable position. While Spike read from his comic stash (something Lightning thought of as nerd books), Lightning was left to pace back and forth or doing a few exercises to pass the time. As she did, her mind began to think back on some of Twilight’s actions. And she began to develop a theory, one that she would have to talk to Twilight about as soon as the purple mare awoke.

It was well past midnight when Twilight began to stir. Spike was snoozing in his basket bed, still holding one of his comics tightly in a clawed hand while drool moved down his chin. As for Lightning, she had been fighting an uphill battle to stay awake as she went over what she would say to her boss. Taking a deep breath to ready herself, Lightning moved over to the bed while Twilight sat upright. Yawning loudly, Lightning watched as Twilight stretched her forelegs in the air.

“Evening Twilight,” said Lightning as she looked at Twilight’s face. Sleep had done her a world of good, looking fresher than she had for a while now.

“What?” asked Twilight who looked over at the window to see the star filled sky. Her head then shot over to the counter where her alarm clock was before surprise overtook her. “Oh my Celestia, look at the time! I can’t believe I slept so long.”

“What can I say, you needed it,” replied Lightning.

“And Lightning,” continued Twilight. “Have you been up this whole time?”

“I promised you I’d be here when you woke up,” said Lightning with a nod. “Don’t worry, Spike brought me plenty to eat and I managed to keep myself busy.”

“Spike!” Twilight all but shouted as she looked over at the sleeping dragon.

“He’s fine, just worried about you,” said Lightning. “And don’t worry, we didn’t send any mail while you were out. Nopony outside of this tree house knows what happened.” As she finished her sentence, Lightning let out a loud yawn causing Twilight to giggle.

“I think it’s your turn to get some rest,” said Twilight with a grin. “Don’t worry about me; I’ll take some more pills so I can get a bit more rest. But first I could go for some-”

“Actually Twilight,” interrupted Lightning. “Before either of us does anything, we need to talk. About…us.”

Twilight cringed at that. “I guess that’s to be expected,” she said softly.

“I’ve been thinking about a lot of things since you’ve been asleep,” said Lightning. “About your nightmares and some of the things you said. How you singled me out when there are plenty of other ponies out there who you could have picked. Even I know that it might have been smarter to pick a Wonderbolt or some random Guard for something like this. I don’t think the reason is that I’m disposable because you have been way, way too awesome to me. So, I need to ask you one question: are you in love with me?” Time seemed to stop the moment Lightning said that with a slight smile on her face. Twilight, after returning to the present, seemed to be imitating a fish out of water while her face turned bright red.

“W-W-W-What?” she stammered.

“I mean, it’s cool if you are,” said Lightning while waving a hoof around in an off hooved manner. “Look, I know I have probably the most desired, well toned flank in all of Equestria. I get that and, well, to be honest I’d date myself in a heartbeat if I could! But, if that’s the case, then I have to tell you it would never work out. You’re cool, but I’m not into mares. Even if I were, I don’t think it would be a good idea to date my boss.”

“I’m already dating Shadow!” said Twilight, her face almost glowing like a red night light at the moment.

“Oh,” said Lightning a still smile lingering on her face. “But I didn’t hear a no so-”

“I’m not bi,” said Twilight. “Lightning, I am not romantically interested you in any way. Nothing is ever going to grow between us besides friendship.”

“Well that answers that question,” said Lightning with a nod. “Ok then.” With that, Lightning turned and began to walk over to her bed.

“Wait,” said Twilight in surprise, the red on her face vanishing quickly as Lightning stopped in her tracks. “I thought you wanted to talk about us. I thought you wanted answers!”

Lightning sighed. “I do,” she said as she turned to look at Twilight. “And since you said you’re not in love with me, that must mean that there is a more important reason you picked me but don’t want to tell me. And I know what will happen. You’ll tell me this big and important thing that you kept from me in order to protect me or some garbage like which only ends up causing me to feel betrayed. We’ll get into a fight or not talk to each other because of whatever this is until I finally leave. Eventually I’ll get sad about leaving, realize the reason why you didn’t tell me, and return. We’ll hug it out, promise never to keep secrets from each other ever again, and so on. So, can we just fast forward to the end and skip everything that happened in the middle?”

Twilight raised a hoof, pointing it at Lightning with her mouth open, but no words came out. She just stood there as her hoof slowly returned to the ground with a confused look in her eyes. Finally she said, “Really?”

“Yep,” replied Lightning while nodding her head.

“Are you sure?” asked Twilight, clearly taken about by this. “I mean, aren’t you curious?”

“I had a lot of time to think about this,” said Lightning. “I mean, yeah I want to know. It’s bugging me like knowing where the Hearth’s Warming gifts are hidden. The same desire to find out what’s in the box is killing me.” Lightning then let out a sigh. “But, as much as I want to know I don’t want to lose what we have now. I don’t know why you picked me. Maybe we met before, had an adventure together, and my memory got wiped clean at the end. Maybe you met a clone or something like that. Maybe you had a past life experience and saw us together. I don’t know. All I do know is this. To be honest, you’ve become my best friend and been more than awesome to me. I don’t want to do anything that might ruin this, what we have right now. So, yeah, I’m good.”

What happened next was a blur to Lightning. One moment, Twilight was standing several feet away from her with a teary expression on her face. The next thing she knew was Twilight’s hooves wrapping around her to give her a hug with the light of magic fading in the background.

“Oh Lightning,” cried Twilight as she hugged her friend tighter.

“Gah,” grunted Lightning. “Too mushy, too mushy!”

Comments

[Brony-wan-kenobi]

Lightning sighed. “I do,” she said as she turned to look at Twilight. “And since you said you’re not in love with me, that must mean that there is a more important reason you picked me but don’t want to tell me. And I know what will happen. You’ll tell me this big and important thing that you kept from me in order to protect me or some garbage like which only ends up causing me to feel betrayed. We’ll get into a fight or not talk to each other because of whatever this is until I finally leave. Eventually I’ll get sad about leaving, realize the reason why you didn’t tell me, and return. We’ll hug it out, promise never to keep secrets from each other ever again, and so on. So, can we just fast forward to the end and skip everything that happened in the middle?”

Loved it!

[Hye]

8597379
Same here!