My Brave Pony: The Knight Who Fell From Space

by Scipio Smith

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“Lightning?”

Lightning turned his neck, looking down his marbled flank to see Miss Twilight standing in the doorway of the doughnut shop, looking at him curiously.

Lightning bowed his head. “Miss Twilight.”

Twilight smiled. “At any point do you plan on dropping the ‘Miss’? Twilight or Twilight Sparkle will be just fine.”

It was Lightning’s turn to smile at her. “Perhaps for some, Miss Twilight, but… I am not quite ready yet. Ask me again later and it may be… appropriate.”

Twilight chuckled. “This isn’t going to be one of those things that goes on for years, is it?”

“No, Miss Twilight,” Lightning replied. “But I am afraid that it will go on just a little longer.”

Twilight trotted out of the shop – the door closed behind her with a tinkle of the bell – and walked, her hooves tapping upon the soft green stone of the pavement, until she stood alongside Lightning. “What are you doing out here?”

“Just… breathing in the air,” Lightning said softly. “Of our new home.”

Twilight looked up at the moon, shining its silver light down upon them; shining its light down upon her coat and making her seem to almost shimmer with an ethereal loveliness. “Any regrets?” she asked him.

“No,” Lightning said quickly. “None at all.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “You know, it’s okay to admit it if you do. It’s even okay to admit that you’ve made a mistake, what you’ve done isn’t yet irreversible.”

“What makes you think I’ve made a mistake?” Lightning asked.

“I don’t,” Twilight said. “But what I think doesn’t matter because it’s not my choice. It’s yours, and Krysta’s; but you don’t have to pretend that everything about your decision in the throne room is perfect and sits perfectly with you out of any kind of pride or stubbornness. After all this is… this is a huge change we’re talking about. You’re not just moving house or moving city you’re… you’re moving world.” She paused for a moment. “I try to imagine leaving Ponyville, leaving all of my friends behind, going back to Canterlot, or moving to Fillydelphia, starting over where I didn’t know anypony… leaving five sixths of my heart behind.” Even the thought of it seemed to make her sad, Lightning thought he caught sight of a little water in the corner of one eye. “I can’t do it. My mind rebels against it. If I actually had to do it I’m not sure how I’d manage it. But what you’ve just decided to do is so much greater than that that it’s… it’s kind of unimaginable.”

“I’m not leaving half my heart behind,” Lightning replied. “Rather, I have brought it to a new world where it may beat a little easier.”

Twilight was silent a moment. “Is that why you want to pretend that you have no regrets? For Krysta’s sake? Because if you actually do have regrets then Krysta is the first person you should share them with. If you don’t… she’ll realise that you’re not happy, and how can you expect her to be happy when she blames herself for the fact that you’re miserable?”

“I…” Lightning began, before trailing. “I suppose I can understand the wisdom of your words, Miss Twilight, and I thank you for your wise counsel, but on the other hoof I cannot but feel that if I were to unburden myself to Krysta she might think that I was trying to make her feel guilty for my choice and that… I could never do that to her. She is happy now, happier than I’ve seen her in so long and that fact is my fault, the result of my decisions which I made selfishly with no regard for her. If I can repay the harm that I have done by putting her first for now then should I not do so? How can I do otherwise?”

“How long will that happiness of Krysta’s last once your contentment fades?” Twilight asked in response.

“My regrets are not so great as that,” Lightning said.

“Ah, but you do have regrets,” Twilight declared.

Lightning laughed softly. “Of course,” he acknowledged. “How could I not when, as you have pointed out, this is a great change in my life. In our lives. And yet the sum of all my regrets is but a molehill compared to the feelings that Krysta’s joy inspires in me which is as great as this mountain that looms above us here.”

Twilight glanced up the mountain, taller than the spires of the palace they had left behind, snow-capped and purple-seeming in the moonlight. She glanced at the shop behind them, where the party was still going on in their absence. “Would you like to walk with me?” she asked. “Somewhere we can talk without… without Krysta hearing, if it means that much to you.”

Lightning looked at her; stared at her, to be perfectly honest. By the light she was so lovely to look upon, her features so soft, her eyes so bright. “I… I would like that very much,” he said, his voice coming out a little hoarse. “But I am not sure that I should leave Krysta alone.”

Twilight laughed, a rich sound and pleasant to his ears like the taste of honey upon his tongue. “Krysta’s not alone. She’s with my friends, and Princess Celestia. Trust me, they’ll take care of her.”

He did trust her. Looking into her eyes he found that he trusted her more than… his trust in her was absolute, he could not even conceive that she would mean him or Krysta ill. Few indeed were those he trusted so well as Twilight Sparkle, and after so short an acquaintance. What power did she possess that she had such an effect on him? He did not know, he simply said, “Then by all means, Miss Twilight, lead the way.”

Twilight led him up the street in a quite literal sense, as it soon became clear that they were ascending to one of the higher levels of the city, climbing a set of marble steps lined with a gilded banister. Lightning was very glad that he had Miss Twilight for a guide, for he feared that without her extensive knowledge of this place he himself would have become hopelessly lost.

Miss Twilight brought him to a balcony on the edge of the city, a circle floored with tiles of white marble that glowed softly in the moonlight and, he guessed, would have gleamed in the sunlight had they visited during the day; it was a place where one could stand upon the battlements and feel the breeze ruffle through your mane even as it blew the Equestrian standards fluttering gently on either side of them. It was a place were you could stand and see the whole world spread out before you; or so Lightning felt as he stood there, at any rate, with Twilight at his side and Equestria before him: the lower levels of Canterlot spreading down the mountainside and out over the sharp drop below, the houses all so white, effulgent in the darkness; the green fields, and the trees that dotted the meadows and the moorland spreading out all the way to Ponvyille, and the vast expanse of the Everfree Forest lying just beyond, a shadowy sight in the night’s gloom.

“You have a beautiful world, Miss Twilight,” Lightning murmured. “It more than does justice to the legends.”

“It’s your world too, now,” Twilight pointed out.

Lightning smiled. “Yes,” he said. “It is our world, mine and Krysta’s.”

“Unless you’re having second thoughts,” Twilight said softly. “Unless you change your mind.”

Lightning shook his head. “As I told you, Miss Twilight, my regrets and my misgivings are not so great. They are minor things, all told.”

“Such as?” Twilight asked.

“Purpose,” Lightning conceded. “In New Olympia I know – I knew – what I was doing and why, always. I was a part of something greater than myself, a great engine, no not an engine, a… a leviathan, if that makes any sense, Miss Twilight. In New Olympia we are all a scale in the armour of His Majesty, and he moves his power by moving us.”

“And that’s a good thing?” Twilight asked sceptically.

“I always knew what I was doing and why,” Lightning replied. “That is a comforting certainty that I will not have here. I will have to find a new path to walk.”

“And that’s it?” Twilight said. “That is your one regret?”

Lightning chuckled. “What else should I say, Miss Twilight? What else should I mourn the loss of? My princely privilege, my home in the palace? These are my trivialities, what are they worth compared with Krysta’s smile, her joy? My sister and her happiness are dearer to me than any number of such trappings and belongings.”

“Are things all else there is?” Twilight replied. “You don’t have any friends that you’re leaving behind?”

“I had comrades, and I feel a touch of guilt that I am leaving them to carry on the struggle without my assistance,” Lightning said. “But at the same time I know their quality, their valour and their skill at arms, I have no fears that they will flounder in my absence.”

“But you won’t miss them?”

“No,” Lightning said. “I… I never knew them well enough to miss.”

“I see,” Twilight replied, in a tone that was not entirely enthusiastic. She looked away from Lightning and out over the battlements to look at the land spread out before them. “Still, you have a chance to start over now.” She chuckled. “I’m afraid that I can’t promise you a great purpose, but if you’re willing to look for it I know that there’s a destiny waiting for you somewhere. It might not be particularly grand, but it exists.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because this is Equestria, where there is a destiny awaiting everyone,” Twilight replied. “Even those who haven’t found it yet, no matter how hard they might try.”

“That is a comforting thought,” Lightning said.

“I find it so.”

“And rightly so,” Lightning said. “I had such hopes, when Krysta and I were younger, that our road would lead us to a place where we could be accepted, safe and happy, and it would turn out that this had always been the intended end of our wanderings. It… it made the rejection and the hardships easier to bear in the meantime.”

“And in the end it was true,” Twilight said. “It wasn’t just a comforting fantasy you had to tell yourself, because the end of your road led you here.”

He looked at her, to see that she was looking at him. He felt as though he ought to speak, but the words were stuck in his throat.

“Have you thought,” Twilight continued. “About what you’re going to do at all? I appreciate it hasn’t been very long.”

“And yet I have had at least one thought,” Lightning said. “With your help I will sell my armour.”

Twilight’s eyebrows rose. “You’re going to sell your armour?”

“It is of no use to me here,” Lightning said. “But it is good metal, forged in dragonflame and enchanted by the powerful archmages of the court; it must be worth something. Perhaps enough to pay you back for your hospitality these past few days.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Twilight said quickly.

“But I want to, nonetheless,” Lightning said. “Please, do not condemn me to feel a freeloader for years to come.”

Twilight smiled. “Alright,” she conceded. “If you want to pay me back you can, but you’ll still have a lot of bits left over from the sale of your armour, I think, I hope; if it’s everything you say it is. You could go anywhere, buy a house… you couldn’t live on that forever, though.”

“No,” Lightning agreed. “I will need to find some sort of work to support Krysta and myself.”

“Do you have any ideas?” Twilight said.

“Have you anything to suggest?”

Twilight shrugged. “I could talk to my brother, maybe find you a place in the royal guard?”

“Here, in Canterlot?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “Is that a problem?”

“I suppose not,” Lightning said softly. “But, I confess I was rather hoping to stay not only in Equestria but also in Ponyville, and find some way to keep myself occupied there.”

Twilight looked up at him. Her eyes seemed very big, and very beautiful, with all the stars reflected in her orbs. “In Ponyville,” she whispered. “Why?”

Lightning looked down upon her, marvelling at the sight of her. With the moonlight shining on her coat, and the starlight reflecting in her eyes, she was practically irresistible to him at this point. “Twilight,” he said. “Do you not know?”

Twilight’s lip twitched upwards. “So we’re dropping the miss now?”

“I think the time is right,” Lightning murmured; he bent down to kiss her.

He sensed the magical blast coming a second before it hit, but that second was enough for him to push Twilight to the ground, shielding her with his body from the beam of midnight blue that blasted through the battlement where they had been standing.

“What the-“ Twilight gasped.

An armoured figure emerged out of the darkness, clad from head to hoof in carapace of war, his horn and even his face concealed beneath it.

“I see that I am not a moment too soon,” the armoured warrior growled.

Lightning surged to his hooves, teeth bared, as the instincts that his training had instilled in him, and that his services to the King of Kings in war as a knight of the Star Legion had reinforced, took over the rule and governance of his body like a dictator with unchecked power endowed. He barely thought, he did not wonder, he did not ask questions, he merely reacted to this armoured apparition as he would to any Saturnine warrior or lizardman outlaw or any other threat savage or civilised; it didn't matter that he didn't have his armour on, or that his white suit offered no protection, he acted just the same.

Lightning got swiftly to his hooves and with equal swiftness threw himself between Twilight and the danger, bodily blocking this strange armoured pony from being able to reach her. At the same time he summoned his blade, Bolt of Dawn; in that small part of his mind which was not wholly ruled by instinct and habitual practice Lightning was glad that his desertion from the Star Legion was not yet known to His Majesty, because if it had been then this splendid blade would no doubt have been taken away from him, but he had need of it now.

Before, when he had summoned the blade to show to Twilight Sparkle, he had summoned it slowly, and from the hilt first the better to show off to her both the sword itself and the magic by which he summoned it; now he summoned it in need and haste, and the blade shot out of the shimmering golden portal with the force of an arrow in flight or a javelin thrown: it sliced through the air straight towards this armoured danger who had so suddenly appeared to menace them. It flew towards him; the stallion's horn flared - Lightning could see the glow surrounding the armour that protected his horn - and his spear moved by telekinesis, wreathed in a light blue aura of magic, to bat aside Lightning's blade, which flew point first into the stone, cracking the marble tiles with the force of its impact.

"I came here searching for a warrior of Olympia," the stallion growled. "I am no coward, but I count myself fortunate I found a fop instead."

Lightning charged, not in response to the feeble jibe but because it was the natural next step, his initial gambit with Bolt of Dawn having failed. He charged, his hooves beating a harsh drumbeat upon the white stone of the balcony as he hurled himself bodily upon his foe. Lightning reared, whinnying as he kicked out with his fore hooves; his enemy gave ground before him, drawing his silver spear back with telekinesis before thrusting it forth and upwards towards Lightning's chest. Lightning slammed his hooves together, catching the spear just behind the point, stopping it dead in its tracks before it pierced his flesh, gripping it tight with a strength born of his immense size and the many augments that had been bestowed on him, holding on despite the attempts of his enemy to pull it back with magic. Lightning remained balanced upon his hind legs, flaring out his wings to stead himself, barely wobbling as he held on to the weapon of his enemy. His horn glowed golden, and Bolt of Dawn, obedient to his command, erupted out of the ground, twirled in air and flew point first, straight and true, towards the armoured flank of his enemy.

Lightning's foe perceived it before the stroke fell. Lightning heard a growl of frustration issue from inside the all-enclosing helmet before a bolt of blue light shot from the armoured horn and struck Lightning in the breast. He growled in pain as he was blasted backwards, slamming into the crenellations hard enough to crack the stonework behind him as the armoured stallion turned with quicksilver speed and once more battered Bolt of Dawn aside.

Lightning winced in pain as the point where the magic had struck him pulsated with agony. The iron-clad visage of his foe was impassive as he turned to face Lightning one more.

"Wait!" Twilight cried, and it was her turn to stand between Lightning and danger, unasked, unlooked for. "What is going on here? Who are you, and why are you attacking Lightning?"

"My name is Silver Spear," he declared. "And if I am attacking only him, it is because so far he has been the only one fighting back."

Twilight, Lightning thought. Not only me, but both of us. "Are you mad?" he demanded, as he got to his feet. "Don't you know that this is Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia herself?"

"If that is so then the princess standards have fallen greatly," Silver Spear said. "But all I see is a whore."

Twilight gasped. Lightning growled. "Recant such filth and I may leave you a bone unbroken when all this is done."

Silver Spear's laugh was harsh, and tinged with bitterness. "I know what I saw," he said. "I saw her giving herself to you, an Olympian invader, in spite of all the suffering that lies between our peoples!"

"What are you talking about?" Twilight demanded. "What do you think is going on here? Lightning and I-"

"Are too dangerous to be allowed to live," Silver Spear growled. "I have sworn to guard this magical land against any Olympians and against any who would stand alongside them. For the safety of this land, and of Princess Celestia, I must kill you both."

"You will not harm her while I draw breath," Lightning vowed.

"Then I will be sure to kill you first."

"Why does anyone have to die? Will you both please stop for just one second?" Twilight demanded. "It's like you're trying to make one another mad because you want to fight."

"I believe he wishes to fight very much," Lightning said. "Given that he has attacked us and insulted your honour with vile slander."

"My honour is not so precious to me that I will insist upon a fight to the death for its sake," Twilight replied. "Or any other kind of fight either, for that matter." She looked at Silver Spear. "I don't know why you are so convinced that we are so dangerous that we must be eliminated, but I'm sure that if we- wait; did you say your name was Silver Spear?"

"I did," Silver Spear replied curtly. "For that my name truly is."

"And that armour," Twilight murmured. "Not Celestia's Royal Guard captain Silver Spear?"

"You... know me?" Silver Spear asked, gruffness in his voice giving way to surprise.

"Of course I know you," Twilight replied. "You're a historical figure! Not to mention you're my brother's role model as Captain of the Royal Guard... only... you died, a thousand years ago."

"Not died, no," Silver Spear declared. "I was placed in an enchanted sleep, to awaken once again when an Olympian walked abroad in Equestria."

"To kill them?" Twilight said softly, with only a hint of a question at the end.

"Aye," he said. "For the good of Equestria, and in the name of Princess Celestia."

"I don't know what Princess Celestia was like one thousand years ago," Twilight replied. "But I can't believe the princess I know would ever willingly seek the death of another pony, not least one who has done no harm."

"No harm-" Silver Spear began.

"No harm," Twilight repeated. "We have just come from an audience with Princess Celestia herself, where she granted Lightning Dawn leave to remain in Equestria for as long as he wished."

"I am aware, and though I know not what madness-"

"No madness but compassion," Twilight insisted. "And for his own part Lightning has renounced his title as a prince of New Olympia, to live here as a common pony of Equestria, and never go home."

"Because he will bring his home to us!"

"No!" Lightning said sharply. "I do not know why the quest of our people is looked upon with such suspicion, I do not know why you hate me so nor do I know why even Princess Celestia seems so concerned with the fact that Equestria cannot be found by any other from New Olympia save by another happy accident but I care not. I have renounced that life, and will make Equestria my home. With or without your leave."

"Lightning," Twilight growled at him, much as Lightning himself would often growl at Krysta to get her to behave herself. She returned her attention to Silver Spear. "You... you have no idea how much I would just like to geek out about the magic that has preserved you like this, at the height of your powers, for a thousand years; or be in awe of a figure from history returned to the present day like this. You can have no idea how much I want that without the complication of you trying to kill my... my friend." She paused for a moment. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and it's a great honour to meet you, Captain Silver Spear."

"You think I can be swayed by base and shallow flattery?" he demanded.

"I think that your reputation as a unicorn of great honour cannot be so wholly undeserved that you would murder two ponies without giving them a chance to explain themselves," Twilight replied. "I am Princess Celestia's student; you can think what you like about whether I deserve to be or not but the fact remains that I am her student and I give you my word that I would never put Princess Celestia or Equestria in any jeopardy. Let me take you to her. Come with us and let the princess herself convince you that there is no need for any violence. Come with us, and I'm sure that everything can be resolved peacefully."

It was a strange thing, almost miraculous, but as she spoke Lightning felt as though Twilight Sparkle was doing magic, casting a spell with her voice more powerful than any that she could cast with her horn; it was astonishing, he had never heard or seen anything quite like it; no pony of New Olympia would have thought it in any way worth their time to treat with an enemy - one who had already attacked them no less - in such a fashion. But not only did Twilight make the attempt, but as she spoke Lightning felt it was almost certain that she would succeed, such was the earnest conviction in her voice. She was not a great orator - not yet at least, though who knew what she might become with time - but she spoke from the heart, and that fact alone gave her words power. And as Silver Spear listened to her, standing silent, invisible within his all-encompassing armour, the more Lightning felt it was inevitable that he would acquiesce to Twilight's request, and halt his raging.

It was the strangest thing he had ever seen... but perhaps, also, the most awe-inspiring.

Silver Spear bowed his head. "As you wish, Twilight Sparkle," he said. "I will go with you, and-"

There was a gleam of gold in the darkness behind Silver Spear, and a knife - with a long blade and a broad, curved hilt fashioned to look like some kind of antler - flew out of the night to strike him in the flank. It glanced off his armour with an audible chinking sound.

From within the armour of Silver Spear there arose a fierce growl. "A trick?" he snarled, and his horn flared as he wielded his spear in the grip of his magic, striking Twilight across the face hard enough to knock her to the ground. "All that talk just to distract me?" He pointed his spear down at her.

Lightning slammed bodily into him from the side, wrapping his fore hooves around his less heavily built opponent and bearing him to the ground with a rattle and a thud. The two rolled over one another, Lightning grappling with Silver Spear to try and keep him pinned down, maybe hold him until-

Silver Spear snarled wordlessly, and Lightning felt himself thrown off the opposing unicorn, bounced along the marble surface of the balcony by the force of his enemy's magic. He rolled onto his hooves, and his own horn flared out to grab hold of Bolt of Dawn and bring it up into a guard before him just as Silver Spear, also climbing to his hooves, did likewise with his lance.

"I told you," Lightning growled. "You will not harm Twilight whilst I live."

"And I told you that I will see you both slain before I see any harm come to this land," Silver Spear declared. "I should have known better than to listen to -"

"Silence!" Lightning snapped. "Speak with your spear, not with your filthy tongue."

Silver Spear fell silent, as if in obedience to Lightning Dawn's command. For a moment it seemed - for his eyes were as concealed as everything else about the unicorn within his carapace of war - that he stared at his larger but less well protected enemy. And then he came, his silver spear singing as it wove an argent pattern through the cool night air.

Lightning met him with an assault of his own; he kept Bolt of Dawn firmly in the grip of his telekinesis, magic which - though clumsy compared to the dexterity with which Twilight and Miss Rarity wielded their magic - was nevertheless more than adequate for business of battle with a sword like his. He wielded Bolt of Dawn in a series of ferocious slashing strokes, closing swiftly with his foe and then slicing at him as though he were a loaf of bread, meeting the flourishing thrusts of the silver spear with crude, powerful strokes that forced Silver Spear onto the defensive, driving him back as his sword hammered upon Silver Spear's guard.

Lightning's blows were fuelled by rage. He was angry. This Silver Spear, however ancient and well-renowned he may have been, had hurt Twilight, threatened her with death what was more, and Lightning could not abide either of those things because Twilight... Twilight was precious to him. He was not some tied up foal any more forced to watch helplessly as the farmer had his way; he was a knight and a stallion strong and this Silver Spear would know the difference. He drove him backwards, pounding on his guard, and the look of fury on his face was transfigured by the slightest hint of a smirk as Bolt of Dawn began to hack through the silver spear, chipping away it, slicing off shavings of it, causing the captain's lance to start to buckle under the assault.

Lightning let out a triumphant keening cry as he sliced clean through the silver spear. Bolt of Dawn struck the ground with the heavy hammer blow sound of a thunderbolt. Lightning raised the blade again. A bolt of magic shot from Silver Spear's horn to strike the blade, knocking it out of the grip of Lightning's disrupted telekinesis and sending it flying over the balcony to drop down out of sight and somewhere into Canterlot below.

It was Silver Spear's turn to sound triumphant. "I will not lose to you, Olympian," he cried, as he drove the half of his broken spear which yet bore the point into Lightning's shoulder. "For Celestia, I will not lose!"

Lightning felt the spear point pierce his flesh. He felt the fiery pain spread across his shoulder and down his leg, but he did not halt nor hesitate nor waver, for he was driven by a power stronger than pain, he too fought for someone who would not allow him to fail her. And so, for Twilight's sake, it didn't matter that he had been stabbed, it didn't matter that he had no sword, all that mattered was that he fight on, for her. And so he gritted his teeth and reared up and kicked Silver Spear in the face with his fore hoof hard enough to stagger him sideways. Lightning followed up with a blow to the shoulder, then another to the face, and he was driving Silver Spear back before him, rearing up to deliver mighty blows with his fore hooves again and again, blows falling like hammers, denting Silver Spear's ancient armour as he struck. The shoulders, the helm, the breastplate, everywhere the hammer fell the metal began to buckle and bend, letting out tortured sounds more terrible than the cries of pain from Silver Spear himself.

Lightning felt something slice across the hamstring of his right leg; he gasped in pain as he staggered, his leg nearly giving way beneath his weight. He was thrown off balance for a moment, which moment was all that Silver Spear needed to blast Lightning aside with a powerful beam of magic that sent him flying before dumping him heavily upon his side - his injured side, crushing one wing and striking his injured shoulder too. Nevertheless, despite the pain from wing and shoulder Lightning tried to rise, but Silver Spear's horn glowed once again to conjure magical bindings that held him fast and dragged him to the ground, holding him helpless.

With his magic, Silver Spear tore off the dented and twisted armour that protected his jaw; it clattered to the ground amidst much blood, and Lightning could see that he was bleeding from the mouth, and badly too. It looked like he was struggling to stay on his hooves. "Fop, I called you? No. You are worthy to call yourself an Olympian warrior. They always were obscenely tough to face. That was why... why I had to stay. Because I was the only pony, who could beat... somepony like you. And the only pony who could do what had to be done." He began to walk, slowly, stiffly, towards Twilight Sparkle.

"No!" Lightning roared, struggling in vain against his magical restraints. "No! Come over here! Kill me if you wish but leave her alone!"

Silver Spear ignored him. He stood over Twilight, who looked up, dazed, her mouth forming a 'no' of her own.

Silver Spear's hoof descended on her, and Lightning heard Twilight cry out as he kicked her in the head, shattering the remains of her star-shaped earring.

His fore hoof rose again, but before it could descend a terrible roar emerged from Lightning's throat, a roar of desperation and anger because he would not let this happen, no matter how helpless he might seem he would not let this happen!

He felt the fire come, as it came before. He felt it burning in his blood, he felt it rushing through his body, he felt it come at his most desperate call, filled with nothing in the world but a desire to strike down his enemies and protect those who were dear to him.

The solaforce rushed out of his golden horn in a burning beam, roaring like the most savage of dragons, crackling like the hottest of flames, burning white in its intensity. It crossed the distance to Silver Spear in an instant, struck him, and consumed him.

Silver Spear screamed as he died. He screamed as the fire of heaven consumed him armour and all; he screamed as he was turned to ashes while he yet lived; he screamed as the power of the gods themselves struck him down for his arrogance and is cruelty.

Lightning heard him scream, and liked it.

Until he saw the way that Twilight was looking at him, as Silver Spear was turned to dust and ashes. She did not look amazed. She did not look grateful as Krysta had done.

She looked horrified.

And that look of horror was imprinted on Lightning's mind as he lost consciousness.