Lightning

Chapter Three

"What?"

There were hundreds of eyes on the Russian pilot. His fellow pilots were smiling now. Craig looked impressed. "Didn't know you could move that fast. You just jumped a good fifteen feet, too." Dimitri looked at the place where his bag was. It would have taken him over five seconds to run there, but it felt instant when he did it before. He also didn't remember grabbing the knife, it must have been instinct. He had gotten into scuffles before, but he never felt the speed and agility he felt there. It felt amazing.

Twilight galloped off to the library to write Princess Celestia a letter. That human had moved so fast that he was nothing more than a green blur. The thing that troubled her, though, was that the green was not the same color as the clothing, but a neon green, and it was not just an illusion. It was raw and unfocused magical energy. Lots of it. With it, he could probably take out several guards with ease, and that counted him as a threat, even if he was friendly. The Princess needed to know about it. Maybe she would have some advice on the issue.

(-)

Annelise sighed. They had finally gotten away from the damn ponies. Questions like "Is that bump on your face a nose?" and "How do you balance on your hind legs like that?" were just plain annoying. After a few minutes, of the torture, though, Dimitri had learned the coordinates of their wrecked planes.

Apparently, their jets crashed in something called the "Everfree Forest", and none of the ponies were willing to go there. Except for one. Rainbow Dash was, once again, acting as a spy. She had yet to figure out how that... thing moved so fast. He must've gotten lucky, nothing was faster than her.

Annelise was fully aware of her follower (what is more visible than cyan and rainbows?), but she wasn't going to make her feel worse after the embarassing defeat by Dimitri. They would just check the wrecks for salvageable materials, then leave, making it look like they did something productive.

The three humans hiked in silence, the chirping of crickets resounding throughout the forest. They were headed in the direction of Craig's F-35. It was the newest of the three, and might have some useful technology. It was more of a distraction to look at the jets, but Craig had an unwavering excitement. He loved tinkering with machinery, and he was very adept at building small devices out of light technology, such as his custom coffee maker or his hand-crafted (and damn near indestructible) pager. He would now get to do that with top-secret cutting edge technology, and his mind was teeming with possibilities. A power supply, radio transmitter, and other upgrades for their helmets would probably be very useful.

The helmets had a carbon fiber shell, with a golden visor. The inside was padded with soft fabric, and was striped with small cooling slots. It was comfortable, tough, and functional. Craig looked up from his helmet to see that the group stumbled upon a clearing, in which a wrecked body of metal and glass littered the ground.

The wreck was nearly unidentifiable, other than the dented jet engine that was currently ablaze on the other side of the clearing. Craig inspected the damage. He identified the largest piece of the jet, then moved closer. It looked like the left wing and half of the body. The metal was scarred with dirt stains, burns, rips, and dents. The jagged edges of the body revealed sparking wires and leaking tubes. The jet was probably mostly unsalvageable. If I remember correctly, the battery was in the midsection, so if I move that piece...

The second his finger made contact with the body of the aircraft, an electric current surged through his hand. It shot up his arm, then to the rest of his body. It didn't hurt, but it felt, for lack of a better word, energizing. Not daring to stop the sensation, Craig kept his hand pressed against the hot metal. An electric blue wave suddenly spread over it, extending to every single part of the aircraft left on the ground. The wave receded back to Craig's hand, and where there was flaming metal before, there was nothing now.

Craig dropped to his knees in shock. "What the hell just happened? Why do I feel so... tingly?" The jaws of the other three were dropped, with Rainbow Dash too stunned to fly. Craig stood up panting, breaking them from their trance. Dimitri was now grinning wildly. "I did not know that you could do that, my friend. But what exactly did you do?"

Rainbow Dash looked at Craig questioningly. "I didn't know you could use magic. I've never seen that spell, though. It was like... blue and sparkly... like lightning." Craig frowned. "Spells...?"

"Yeah, you know, like magic spells. You have to talk to a unicorn about that. We Pegasi can't do spells."

"Unicorns... the ones with the horns? Dimitri, weren't you talking to one of them?"

"Yes, Captain. She mentioned magic a few times." Craig nodded and turned back to Rainbow. "You look pretty unfamiliar with all this tech, so I'm guessing that you don't have electronics here. Have you even discovered electricity yet?" Rainbow put a hoof on her chin. "Well, yeah, but it's just for shocking ponies. It takes a lot of magic to make a little electricity, so we just stick with magic most of the time."

"Riiiiiiiight..."

An awkward silence fell over the group. Craig just regained his breath when a flash of white light detonated in the center of the clearing. The light had an effect similar to a flashbang. A tall figure emerged from the light, and it faded. A tall and white Alicorn walked towards the group, smiling embarrassedly. "I really need to find a way to tone that down. That's the third time this week."

Dimitri was stumbling around blindly, Craig was furiously rubbing his eyes, and Annelise was glaring at the figure, posed in a fighting stance. She looked at Annelise and noticed the black hair, grey eyes, pale skin, and aggressive stance of the human. "I'm not going to hurt you. I am Princess Celestia, and I am the ruler of Equestria, along with my sister, Princess Luna. I was told that you were going to investigate the wreckage of your... machines. There is one very close, if I am not mistaken.

"Anyway, will you please join me in Canterlot for an official diplomatic meeting? We have much to discuss."

Author's Note:

Long delay. I know. Got caught up in a destroyed laptop, MW3, Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, Fallout 3, and various other 3's. Anyway, you have to check out Fallout: Equestria. Looooooooooooooong story, but amazing. And for all of you readers who like the Call of Duty storyline, I am writing my own little MW4. You can find it on my profile.

I will have a chapter out again shortly, just slashed out of Writer's Block. See you soon!

~D-Rad