Lightning's Version of Equestria Girls (#6)

by LightningStar626

Chapter 5: Night at the Mansion

Chapter 5: Night at the Mansion.

~Princess Twilight wandered through the hallways. She continued looking around at all the people and all the sorts of bizarre things they did while Lightning and Karly just followed silently. All three never spoke a single word as they journeyed. Twilight was just in thought and awed admiration. Turning the corner, the three girls and Spike passed into a dim hallway, lighted by a single light overhead. It flickered intensely and one of the lockers living below it creaked open, like it was adding suspense.~

"Can't believe I didn't recognise you earlier." a voice said smoothly.

~Twilight felt herself shiver. Her thoughts disappeared under Sunset's penetrating gaze and made her feel weak and clueless. Her two companions felt the same. All their hidden thoughts and feelings seemed exposed to her menacing presence, and there was nowhere to go. Sunset Shimmer approached them as they turned around.~

"Shoulda known Princess Celestia would send her prised pupil here after my crown," Sunset continued, her voice now firm. "And her little dog too." She gazed at Spike.

Lightning was put off by the impudence of Sunset Shimmer. "Alright, Wicked Witch of the West, lay off."

"For your information, it's my crown!" interjected Twilight.

"Whatever. This is just a minor setback for me." Sunset went on, circling around them. "You don't know the first thing about this place, and I already rule it."

"Well. Lucky she met us, huh, Karly?" Lightning scoffed, nudging a scared Karly roughly with her elbow. She gazed at her but said nothing.

"If that's so, why do you even need my crown?" quired Twilight. "You went to an awful lot of trouble to switch it with the one that belongs here."

Sunset stopped and turned. "Pop quiz: What happens when you bring an Element of Harmony into an alternate world?" The pony princess remained silent. She did not know nor have an answer. "You don't know? Seriously?" Sunset let out a laugh. "And you're supposed to be Princess Celestia's star student?"

"Well, do you know? Huh? Even though I, myself, have no idea what any of that means." Lightning muttered.

"Then again, what were the chances she'd find somepony as bright as me to take under her wing after I decided to leave Equestria? Bit embarrassing that you were the best she could do." Sunset continued.

~At that moment, Spike leapt out from Twilight's pack at Sunset and snarled. The fiery girl leaned back instinctively and was scared. But not for long. With a smirk, she scratched under his chin, uttering a threat as she did so.~

"Oh, and I'd keep an eye on your mutt. Hate for him to be...taken away from you."

"Is that a threat?" growled the dog.

Sunset smiled evilly. "Oh, of course not," Spike barked angrily but she hushed him up by putting her finger to his mouth. "But I'd cut down on the chatter if I were you," she went on. "Don't want everyone to know you two don't belong here, now would you?"

"You wouldn't dare…" Lightning whispered, clenching her fists, feeling anger rising.

"Oh, I would. As for you two, I don't know where you came from but you better stay out of my way, unless you want to deal with me and help this 'pony'."

"You don't frighten us, Sunset Shimmer," said Karly in a steady voice, though she felt herself trembling. "You may rule this place with an iron fist but that doesn't mean you will be expected to win this time round. People fear you and they probably want that to change."

At this, Sunset's oily smile faded. She leered at the shy secret agent with a gleaming eye. "If that's how you wanna be." She took a glance back at Twilight, who had her lip taut. "You wanna be a princess here? Please. You don't know the first thing about fitting in."

~And with that, she left. Sunset gave a backwards smirk, and the single light from the ceiling flickered crazily before it blew out, leaving the group of heroes in the darkness of the corner.~

---

~After about a few minutes of walking, Sunset came across Snips and Snails wrapped in party streamers. They hobbled over to her like colourful mummies. She furiously untangled them, then leaned down close.~

"I want you to follow her," she whispered. "Bring me something I can use just like I did with that last girl who thought she could challenge me."

"You got it, Sunset Shimmer!" said Snips as he and Snails saluted.

Sunset turned around. "When the crown and its power are mine, Twilight Sparkle will be sorry she ever set hoof into this world." She uttered to herself. "Not that she would've been much safer if she'd stayed in Equestria."

Snips and Snails snickered from behind her. "Yeah, In Equestria…" said Snips.

"What are you still doing here?!" She sneered. "Go!"

~The two boys collided into each other head on in shock. Then with a quick stutter, they went off at once.~

---

~Princess Twilight Sparkle slowly approached a vending machine. Licking her lips, she stared at the contents inside and wanted some. She pulled and pushed to try to pry it open, but it wouldn't budge. So, without thinking of another simpler way, she got down on her hands, turned around and raised up her leg, ready to buck with all her might. Lightning cocked her head to one side and groaned. She was getting tired of preventing Twilight from doing her horse-like antics and slapping her arm all the time. But before anyone could do anything, they saw a blue-skinned, purple-eyed girl walking up to the machine.~

"Excuse me," she said, scooting by them. When she approached the machine, she began waving her fingers mysteriously. "The Great and Powerful Trixie!...Need some peanut butter crackers."

~She pulled a coin from her pocket and slotted it into the machine. It creaked and dispensed out one of the contents.~

"Voilà!"

~The girl took her snack and held it up proudly. Lightning and Karly watched her leave, then looked back at the pony princess. She blinked down at the machine. Then they began heading down the hallways again.~

Princess Twilight sighed. "Sunset Shimmer is right," she said solemnly. "I don't know the first thing about this place."

"Hey now, Twilight," Lightning spoke up, putting her hand on the princess' shoulder. "She's just trying to make you feel weak. Like she has the upper hand. But even if she's right, she's wrong. If that makes sense."

"Looks like we're going to have to teach you more things about how to be a teenager and a person in general." Karly said at last.

Twilight nodded slowly. "Yes, if I'm gonna really fit in and win votes, we need to do some research." she said.

"Research?" quired Spike.

Lightning shrugged her shoulders. "This place is a school, so I gotta believe it must have a…"

"Library!"

~Princess Twilight opened her arms wide as she came across a pair of open double glass doors. The room inside was a dome that was made into a library, whose walls sparkled with old-fashioned books. Lightning blinked and squinted in the light, then looked up in amazement at the soaring dome. It must have been at least ten metres high and so glistening, because of the bright blue diamond windows that made up the dome. She could barely make out the far end. The booked walls flickered like coals in a fire. The air was musky and smelt of strange leather. Twilight had found her heaven.~

Karly smiled. "Alright!"

"Let's see what we can find then!" Lightning exclaimed.

~With that, they scrambled through the door and explored. The next moment they should have kept an eye out. For behind the doors, Snips and Snails peeked out after they left. Snips leaned around to his companion.~

"Got your phone?" he whispered.

Snails held out a small mobile. "Got yours?" he replied.

~Snips shot him a mischievous grin and revealed his phone as well, set on the camera setting. The two snickered evilly to one another as they looked in the library. Very cautiously, the boys entered the room, keeping out of the girls' sight. Snips edged himself along with his back to a computer counter, while Snails slithered his body across the floor like a snail. The girls slumped down on the round desk in the middle of the room next to a computer, and Twilight began to search it by smashing the buttons on the keyboard.~

"So, I just push the letters here, and then the words and moving pictures come up here?" She quired, lifting up the whole computer.

"Yes." Lightning nodded, setting the computer back down.

"That's right." The librarian said.

"Maybe this place does have magic." the pony princess said. "Why didn't you girls say?"

"Because that's not magic? It's called technology." Karly answered.

Lightning let out a scoff. "Hmm, I would have at least thought ponies would adapt technology." she muttered.

~Suddenly, out of nowhere, loud music boomed in the room. Lightning thought Twilight must've accidentally touched something that sent her to the wrong place and went to help. That's when she realised it wasn't coming from their computer. Across from where they were sitting, three young girls stood up and began bobbing their heads and dancing to the music. Next to them was a speaker that was loudly blasting the music out.~

"When you're a younger…"

The librarian turned it off. "Uh, girls, What are you doing?"

"We're just seeing how many hits our new music video has gotten." answered one of the girls, she was white-skinned with pink and purple frilly hair.

They turned the music up again and continued dancing. "So the three of us will fight the fight…"

The librarian clamped her ears and shook her head. "No, just..." She turned the speaker off again. "No! The school computers are for research purposes only."

"It's just as well, y'all," said another girl of the trio, a yellow-skinned girl with red hair and a magenta bow, "Some of the comments about our song were really awful." She began scrolling down the comments section. "'Epic Fail…' 'Funniest thing I've ever seen'?!"

The frilly girl's eyes lit up. "Funniest thing they've ever seen, huh?" she smirked. All three came up with a thought and raced off.

Princess Twilight was conflicted. "Uh, I don't know that that's what you should take from…" She never finished her sentence, they were already gone.

"Too late. They've left." sighed Karly.

"Okay then, whatever, let's just focus on the task at hand, princess." Lightning said.

~Twilight nodded. She looked at the computer and keyboard on the table and began fidgeting with them. She was confused and several times bashed the keys with her knuckles aggressively. Unbeknownst to her and the others, they were being watched and recorded by Snips and Snails. Hiding behind a table and two chairs, they kept sniggering to one another as they recorded. While Lightning took over scanning the computer, Princess Twilight, Spike and Karly began looking through the book on the shelves. The princess stacked them up and began carrying them steadily over to the desk. However, when she was just at the halfway point, she lost her footing and fell over. She let out a yelp, and the stack of books fell on top of her, creating quite the ruckus.~

"Shh!" hushed the librarian.

~Twilight got up quickly and smiled nervously at her apologies. Karly came to check on the princess, then looked down at the mess below their feet. She tried to hold back an annoyed sigh. She bent down to pick up the books, but as she did, she noticed Twilight picking them up with her mouth. Karly felt embarrassed and was about to call out on her, but she felt too shy to say anything. Lightning didn't notice. Spike told her instead. He pointed at the book, then at Twilight's hands. The pony princess spat out the book, then picked it back up again with her hands this time while checking to see that no one was looking at her. Snips and Snails snickered harder behind the bookshelves as they continued to record. Later on, Princess Twilight came across the library's photocopier. Curious to what it does, she flipped open the lid and took a look. The silver glass shone from inside. It looked ever so fascinating to the princess. As she leaned forwards to get a better look, her hand touched the green button that triggered the copier to print. The flash blinded Twilight and because she was so startled by the sudden light, she leapt back clumsily and into a pile of books. Karly and Spike were also startled and they quickly rushed to help the princess to her feet. Snips and Snails onlookered the whole matter and high-fived vigorously as the recording continued.~

---

~Slow minutes dragged by. But for the girls, it felt like hours. Karly was almost asleep on her feet. She was sick and tired of looking through books and researching human anatomy over and over again. In fact, by now she didn't know what was what and they were more than a blur before her eyes. Yet, they still kept searching. Lightning was also becoming a little weary of her surroundings. Only the light of the computer was keeping her awake. Not to mention her growling stomach, she was hungrier than she thought. It was becoming unbearable. She shut her eyes, finally to rest, then immediately opened them up again to the starling sound of the voice on the P.A system.~

"The library will be closing in five minutes."

It echoed through Lightning's brain. She sighed. "Okay, thank you!"

~Still feeling weary, she stood up and began to pack her things. Meanwhile, Princess Twilight yawned as she closed another book. She began to feel tired now and had no energy to continue on researching. She let out another yawn then gasped.~

"I hadn't even thought about where we're gonna sleep tonight," she said.

Lightning looked her directly in the eye. "Oh. Well, that's no problem. You can come and stay in my mansion. I have plenty of room." she answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! My dad's gone for 3 months, I have the whole place to myself. So, you won't be a burden or anything."

"And I'm coming too?" barked Spike.

"Of course. Karly as well. It'll be like a little sleepover." Lightning laughed.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Karly exclaimed. "Good thing, too. My parents are constantly texting me about when I'm coming back home. I'll just let them know I'm sleeping at yours." She pulled out her phone and began to text.

"Alright." said Lightning. "Let's head off then. And get some take out along the way. My stomach is growling like a lion."

~Silently, the three companions left the building. They took the train to Lightning's mansion, and soon enough they walked the rest of the way there. The sun began to set as they walked, and they were bathed in a sickly orange glow and everything from it. The air felt fresh and not so cold as they thought. Neither Twilight nor Spike had been amazed anymore at the sights now that they were outside the Canterlot High School. However, they did ponder what, or even who, made the sun set in this world and they gazed at the pale light. It was only short-lived however since the sun fell behind a large building, that being Lightning's mansion. They raised their heads to look at it properly. It was a great suburban mansion with three floors and large windows on every wall. The companions saw the inside of them very clearly. To Twilight's amazement, one of the rooms she saw from the inside looked like the Golden Oak Library from back home in Ponyville.~

"This is it?" Spike asked.

Lightning laughed and patted his head. "Sure is. Casa de la Star."

"It's huge! Almost like a castle!" Spike wagged his tail but nobody could see it.

"But, it's not a castle! It's a mansion!"

"Y-Y-Yes. C-Can we go inside now?" Karly chattered through her teeth. "I-I-It's starting to get cold out here!"

"Uh-huh."

~Taking out the key from her pocket, Lightning unlocked the door. Spike leapt out of Twilight's bag and hurried on in first. He was ecstatic to explore. He stared in amazement inside. There were so many things he had never seen before in Equestria. He raced off again excitedly but Lightning Star wanted him not to scout too far, the mansion was huge and anybody who hadn't been inside before could easily get lost. Lightning even said herself it took her years to memorise where everything was, she even drew a map and had a GPS on her phone to say which room was which. After he was done, Spike reunited with the girls and helped them get snacks and sleeping bags out of a nearby closet. The girls still felt weary after all their research in the library, but they pulled through to sort out everything they needed. Excitement overcame their exhaustion, they guessed and they knew it'll be worth it to sleep comfortably. Lightning gave Twilight an old pair of pyjamas she had in her size and after they all got changed, they slumped down in Lightning's room. Lightning sat on her double bed while Karly and Twilight laid below her on the sleeping bags they were given.~

The young spy crashed her head on her pillow. "Ah! That's better!"

"Hmm-hmm. I feel so warm now. This is just what I needed after this wacky day." Karly admitted.

"It's perfect." Twilight added.

"So, what do you wanna do now?" Lightning asked, peeking her head over the bed frame.

"I wanna know how the research went." answered Spike.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about all that," Lightning gasped. "Hmm...Actually, I'm not sure much progress was made."

"Actually, there have been some." Twilight responded. She pulled out an old blue book from her backpack. "I found this book on the shelves. It's called a yearbook. It seems to be something they use to keep a record of things that have happened at the school."

~As she spoke, she began reading and flipping through the pages. Lightning and Karly exchanged looks then crowded around the princess to also read the book. Suddenly, the princess stopped at a page and she pointed at a picture of various girls and called out to them.~

"Look. That's Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and I'm gonna bet the girl on the far right is Rarity."

Spike leapt up and snatched the book. "There's a Rarity here?!" he gasped happily, wagging his tail. "Uh, I mean, interesting photo." he then laughed, returning the book.

"So, you know who these girls are?" asked Lightning. "But...how?"

"There are versions of them in our world," Twilight explained, "I'm not too sure how, but it seems as if everypony here has a counterpart in Equestria."

"Really?" Lightning said, eyes widening. "Does that mean that there might be pony versions of us?!"

"I've never seen you before in Equestria, but maybe."

"Oh, That's awesome! I wonder what kind of pony I'll be. Pegasus, Unicorn or Regular. Wow, I'm getting all giddy thinking about it!"

"It's interesting because they look like they're friends," Twilight continued.

"They do look like our friends, but I thought we'd figured that out already." said Spike.

"No, I mean...they look like they're friends with each other. But it doesn't seem like they're friends now." The pony princess replied, her eyes lowered sadly.

"Not so much." The dragon dog agreed.

"Are they supposed to be friends then? Hmm...They do seem like a fun group to hang out with." Lightning said, with a smile.

Karly looked at the picture in long thought. "Why do I have a feeling that Sunset Shimmer might have something to do with this?" she queried.

Lightning raised her brow and shrugged. "Don't know."

"I wouldn't put it past her," Spike the dog said, bounding into Karly's sleeping bag. "But she wanted Twilight's crown 'cause she's planning on doing something even worse! If you're gonna stop her, you have to focus on making friends here. Can't worry about why these girls aren't friends anymore." He let out a yawn and began to doze off. "Even if they...do remind you of your Ponyville friends."

"Indeed. You little fur ball." Karly cooed, kissing him on the head.

"You're right, Spike." Twilight sighed as she snuggled into bed. "Eye on the prize."

"Right. So let's wake up bright and early tomorrow and put everything into action!" Lightning nodded.

~She turned off the nearby night light and, without saying another word, lay down, and instantly fell fast asleep. Princess Twilight gazed up at the night sky and the twinkling stars before doing the same. What a day it had been for her and Spike, she thought. And she wondered what more was there to come.~