*Turn on camera*

Me: Hey everybrony, welcome all to the 12th installment of Shadow Storm Adventures.

Me: In the last intro, our guest star was none other than the princess of the day herself, Princess Celestia.

Me: But who will be this week's guest, I wonder? Robo-tron?

Robo-tron: This week's guest is… Blitz.

Me: Gamer's OC? Wow, never expected him to be on here so soon. Oh well, let's bring him out.

*Press the transporter button and Electric Blitz appears*

Me: And here he is. Nice to have you here Blitz.

Blitz: Nice to finally be here, Sunblast. I saw the intro where Shadow appeared. Guess that means both of us have met our creators.

Me: Well... yeah, basically. Do you have any questions?

Blitz: Just one. And it's more of a request than a question.

Me: Ok then, what's your request?

*Blitz leans into my ear and tells me his request*

Me: and you couldn't have said that aloud to the audience?

Blitz: No, because then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?

*I roll my eyes*

Blitz: But if they really want to know, well… Let's just say the request will be part of a future episode. One that will center around myself, Twilight, and Shadow.

Me: I assume it'll involve magic as well?

Blitz: If it involves Twilight, then yeah.

Me: Ok. Anything else?

Blitz: Not at the moment.

Me: Ready to go back then?

*He replies with a nod*

*I press the button once more, sending Blitz back to Equestria*

Me: Short appearance, I know. But now we have to start chapter 12.

Chapter 12: Call of the Cutie.

This morning was starting off decent, to say the least. It wasn't like most of my other mornings, because today I was having breakfast with the girls.

"Isn't this morning just marvelous?" Rarity said, looking up at the blue sky.

"It sure is" Applejack agreed. I lightly smiled, taking a sip of coffee and taking a bit of one of my donuts.

"Hey, Shadow?" Twilight called my name, getting my attention.

"Yeah?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've been meaning to ask you…" she began. "The night we fought Nightmare Moon, you were able to deflect her magic beam. How is that even possible?" she asked with a curious expression.

"That's what I've been wondering, too" Rarity brought up.

"Yeah, Shadow, what's up?" Rainbow asked.

I looked at all of them with a blank stare, looking back and forth between all six of them.

"Do you guys really want to know?" I raised an eyebrow and a hoof held up.

"Yes!" they all said simultaneously, all with interested looks upon their faces.

I sighed heavily. "Fine, since you all want to know" I rolled my eyes.

[Flashback]

Ok, as you all know, when we we're fighting Nightmare Moon I was able to deflect one of her magic beams.

One of Nightmare Moon's beams were about to hit me, when I deflected the beam away from me and the girls.

What you didn't see though, was that I had charged up my hoof with my electric powers. Once my hoof was powered up with lightning, it kept her blast from doing much damage, while also allowing me to deflect it.

[End of Flashback]

I finished explaining, taking another sip of coffee.

"Wow…" was all Twilight could say.

"Yep" I said simply as I took another bite of my donut. "Although, while I was able to deflect it, the drawback was that it sprained my hoof. And I think it cracked one of my bones" I said, massaging my hoof. "Fortunately that happened awhile ago, so it most likely healed by now" I added.

"Speaking of lightning, if you have these powers, then why didn't you use them when Trixie was showing off?" Rainbow asked me, narrowing her eyes.

"For two reasons" I started. "One: I didn't want to be a show off, because that would prove nothing. And two: it wasn't the right time to show you girls my powers. I wanted to wait for the right moment" I concluded.

"Smart move, Shadow Storm" Twilight complimented me. I chuckled a bit while at the same time rubbing the back of my head.

"That would explain why dressed up as the mysterious pony" Fluttershy brought up. I replied with a nod

"Oh, I simply adored that accent you were able to pull off. Who knew you were such a good actor?" Rarity told me.

"Thanks, but that accent wasn't an act. I really can speak Italian" I said.

"Oh, yeah? Prove it" Rainbow Dash challenged. I narrowed my eyes with a smirk, accepting that challenge. I put my hoof over my mouth and cleared my throat.

"Rarita, tu sei la definizione della parola 'bello'" I said in Italian, using my Italian accent.

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked me.

"I said 'Rarity, you are the definition of the word 'beautiful' in Italian" I told her, going back to my normal voice, while also winking at Rarity. I soon noticed Rarity trying to hide her embarrassed blush with a smile.

"And you can speak Italian, how?" AJ asked.

"It's in my blood" I explained.

"So you're Italian…?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"Part Italian, and yes" I corrected her.

"So that makes you an Italian speaking, electric powered pegasus" Twilight said.

"That is correct" I said with a sip of my coffee.

"So why didn't you use your lightning to destroy those Timberwolves?" Applejack asked me.

Shortly after our victory over Nightmare Moon, I had told the girls about the adventure I had the morning of the summer sun celebration.

"Because Timberwolves are made of wood and when lightning strikes wood, it bursts into flames" I explained to her. "And since I was in a forest, the fires from the Timberwolves would've spread and caused a forest fire" I added. "So in the long run if I had used my powers, the whole forest would've been destroyed" I said, finishing off my first donut.

"Um… Shadow Storm?" I heard Fluttershy's voice.

"Yeah, Flutters?" I looked at her with a kind expression.

"Did you do anything else when you followed us to battle Nightmare Moon?" she asked me.

I had also told them of what I did when I followed them to go fight Nightmare Moon. Although I had left out the part where I killed the manticore… for Fluttershy's sake.

"Nothing much, just ran into a few bats" I lied with an innocent smile.

"Oh, that's good" she said with a light smile. I mentally wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead. The last thing I needed was Fluttershy upset at me for killing an animal.

"By the way, is it ok if I ask you for a favor, Shadow?" Applejack asked me. I tilted my head in a way that said yes. "Do you think you could pick Applebloom up from school? I'd really appreciate it" she said with a pleading smile.

"Alright, I'll pick her up. It's been awhile since I spent time with the kid anyway" I agreed to her little favor.

-Later that day-

I flew over across Ponyville to the schoolhouse where Applebloom would be. Being a stallion of my word, I would pick the little filly up from school like I promised.

It was a good five minutes until school would let out for the foals, so I decided to sit on a nearby cloud that was just above the schoolhouse. Waiting patiently, I decided to form a ball of lightning between my hooves. I followed that up with two more lightning balls and began juggling them in a circle.

I would've continued further, but that's when the school bell rang. Wow, that was a fast five minutes. I looked down and saw the class full of foals exit the building.

"Want some sweets? I've got some peppermint sticks. I made them myself" I heard a nasally child voice coming from below. I got a closer look to see that the voice had come from Apple Bloom's friend Twist. Speaking of Apple Bloom, she was walking right beside her. I dissipated the lightning and hopped off the cloud I was sitting on.

"Hey Apple Bloom. Twist" I greeted the two fillies as I gently landed in front of them.

"Oh, hey Shadow Storm. What're you doing here?" Apple Bloom asked me, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Your sister asked me to come and pick you up from school" I told her. "What's up with you? You seemed bummed out" I asked, taking notice of her current mood.

"Well, you see…"

"I don't know why we had to sit through a lecture about getting a cutie mark" began a voice, cutting Apple Bloom of from her sentence. "I mean, waiting for your cutie mark is sooo last week"

The voice came from a pink earth pony filly with purple and white hair wearing a tiara shaped cutie mark. This must be Diamond Tiara. I've seen her around town before, but this is the first time I've actually paid any attention to her.

"You got yours. I just got mine. We all gave them already. *gasp* I mean, almost all of us have them already. Don't worry, you two, you're still totally invited to my cute-ceanera this weekend" Diamond continued mockingly. I could tell she did that on purpose and I have to say… I already don't like this girl.

"It's going to be amazing" Diamond's friend Silver Spoon said.

"It's a party celebrating me and my fantastic cutie mark. How could it not be?" Diamond said in a smug tone. I rolled my eyes, as did Twist.

"Bump! Bump! Sugar-lump, rump!" the two said in unison, doing some kind of hoof-shake, ending with a laugh.

"Gimme a break" Apple Bloom said with annoyance.

"See you this weekend…" Diamond began.

"Blank flanks!" both bullies concluded with a laugh as they left.

"Nevermind, I can see what's going on here now" I said with an annoyed look. "So, Apple Bloom, how do you want to head home? Flying or walking? I asked the farm filly with a smirk.

"Walking would be best" she told me. I nodded my head in acceptance "See ya around, Twist" Apple Bloom said to her friend as she and I headed towards Sweet Apple Acres.

-Moments Later-

"So, kids at school are picking on you for being a blank flank, huh?" I asked Apple Bloom as she walked beside me on my left, having reached Sweet Apple Acres. She simply nodded as she looked down with an upset look. "Yeah, I know the feeling…" I muttered under my breath.

"Huh?" Apple Bloom looked up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing. Look, just don't make a big deal out of this. You'll get your cutie mark when the time comes. Everypony gets theirs eventually" I told her with a gentle hoof on her shoulder.

"But I—"

"There you two are" a voice ahead of us said. We saw that it Applejack who was coming. "Thanks for pickin' her up, Shadow Storm" AJ said with an appreciative look.

"What can I say? I'm reliable" I said with a joking shrug. "I'll leave you two to whatever farm work have to do here. See you, guys" I said, and then took off to flight, letting the two apple sisters alone.

I'm bored. Honestly, I can't think of anything else to do. AJ's working on the farm at the moment. Rarity is at her shop working on some dress for a client. Pinkie Pie's preparing Diamond Tiara's cute-ceanera. Fluttershy's most likely taking care of her animals. Rainbow Dash is doing Faust knows what. Blitz is out of town doing a construction thing for his job.

I don't really feel like training today…

I guess I can hangout with Twilight until the cute-ceanera starts.

-Twilight's house-

While I was in the air I saw Twilight's house in sight. I had two choices: I could either enter through the balcony assassin style and surprise her, or I could be formal and knock on the front door…

Assassin style wins.

Flying towards the balcony, I landed on the platform and gently placed my hooves on the wood. Looking through the window, I saw Twilight was in the middle of the library reading a book (as if she did anything else). I smirked playfully as I thought of how to surprise her. Placing a hoof on the window, I gently opened it up, making sure it didn't make a sound. Using my wing power I hovered into her house and onto her bed. Making my hoofsteps silent, hopped off the bed and used my wings to descend on to the floor behind Twilight.

Chuckling quietly to myself, I snuck up behind the unsuspecting unicorn mare. When I was range, I stood upon my hindlegs and wrapped my hooves around her in a hug.

"Ah! Shadow Storm, how did you—"

"I've got assassin skills" I jokingly said as she hugged me back. "What book are you reading this time?" I asked, releasing my hold on her.

"I'm reading a book on the history of Ponyville" she told me. "It's quite interesting, actually" she added, levitating the book back onto its proper shelf. "So, any particular reason you broke into my house?"

"I'm bored. Everypony else is doing their own thing and I don't really feel like training today" I told her the reason why I was visiting her.

"Well how about you help me practice some spells?" she suggested. I simply shrugged. I guess I could help Twilight with her spells, it's not like I have anything better to do. "Ok, the first thing I want to practice is that force field spell"

Twilight lit her horn aglow and formed a magical force field around her.

"Now, try to destroy this with your lightning like you did last time" she told me. I rolled my eyes and form lightning between my hooves. I then shot the bolt of lightning at her. It his but it spread across the force field.

Twilight was actually holding up pretty well. However, I knew that unicorn magic wasn't unlimited, so she couldn't hold this up forever. I could even see sweat dripping down her forehead. Now that I think about it, the longer I did this, the more energy I used up.

*Crack*

We heard the force field begin to crack from the middle. It's only been a few minutes.

*Crack*

The force field began to break apart even more. It was obvious that the barrier couldn't hold up forever. It wasn't long until…

*Spwoosh*

Twilight's barrier shattered into pieces, sending both of us falling to the floor. Before the force field broke, my lightning bolt had ricochet off of it. At this point it was literally bouncing off the walls.

"Good thing it had the safety on" I half joked as Twilight and I huddled. "Stay close to me" I told her as I spread my forelegs to the sides. The lightning bounced off a wall one last time before heading towards me.

Being a pony that controls lightning, I knew the lightning wouldn't hurt me if it struck me. When it hit me it hit my chest as I reabsorb the lightning. I sighed as I turned towards Twilight.

"That good enough, Twi?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah… that'll do" she said as she wiped the nervous sweat from her forehead. "So, there's a cute-ceanera this afternoon. You going?"

"I might. I haven't doing much lately, I could use some entertainment" I said simply. "Why? You going?"

"Of course" she replied.

"Great, then we can go together" I said "I just hope Apple Bloom doesn't make a big deal out of this"

"What's wrong with Apple Bloom?" Twilight asked me with concern.

"She's impatient about waiting for her cutie mark to come" I told her.

"She should know that no amount of pleading will make it come any faster, these things take time" Twilight said, saying the same thing that I said earlier ago to Apple Bloom.

"Let's head to Surgarcube Corner. I'm sure that's where the party's being held" I suggested as Twilight and I walked out the front door and began our walk to Sugarcube Corner.

-Sugarcube Corner-

Twilight and I had arrived at Sugarcube Corner where Diamond Tiara's cute-ceanera would be held. However, it didn't look like what we were expecting it to look like. Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom stood in a batter covered mess.

"Whoa, what's been going on here?" Twilight said with shock at the look of the place.

"Yeah, it looks like a tornado hit this place" I added.

"We've been making cupcakes, wanna try them?" Pinkie Pie said as she showed us a tray of burnt cupcakes.

"Burnt cupcakes? No thanks" I said with a disgusted look on my face, pushing the tray away.

"Not that they don't look, heh, delicious" Twilight with a nervous chuckle.

"Twilight, you have to help me!" Apple Bloom said in a desperate tone as she ran up to Twilight. Twilight looked at me, and then back at Apple Bloom.

"Uh, what's the matter?" Twilight asked the little filly. Apple Bloom inhaled a deep breath.

"Tiara's cute-ceañera's today and everypony in my class will be there and they'll all have their cutie marks and I want to get my cutie mark but I'm no good at selling apples or hang-gliding or making cupcakes, but I wanna go to the party but how can I go to the party if I don't have my cutie mark, which Pinkie Pie says I can't just make appear, but I need it to appear, RIGHT NOW!" she explained in a surprisingly quick mouthful of words.

"See, I told you" I said to Twilight as we quickly glanced at each other.

"I don't follow. How can I help you?" Twilight asked with a confused eyebrow raised.

"You can use your magic to make my cutie mark appear" Apple Bloom suggested. I smacked my hoof against my face. She's really not getting this whole cutie mark thing.

"Oh no, Apple Bloom. A cutie mark is something a pony has to discover for themselves" Twilight told her.

"Please Twilight, jus' trah" Apple Bloom said.

"I'm sorry but-"

"Oh please, please, please, please, please!" Apple Bloom begged in a pleading manner.

"Alright alright!" Twilight said, giving in.

Just like she did earlier, she lit her horn up with her magic, pointing it at Apple Bloom's flank.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you" Apple Bloom said. *pwing* a cutie mark then appeared on Apple Bloom's flank. This won't last long. "Yes! I knew you could do… it" the cutie mark vanished as soon as it appeared.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I told you-"

"Try it again, try again!" Apple Bloom interrupted Twilight for the second time.

Twilight lit her horn up again, doing the same thing she did seconds ago. She the same thing about twelve times, but none of those marks seemed to stay.

"Told you that… not even magic… can make a cutie mark… appear… before its time…" Twilight said between exhausted breaths.

I walked over to the kitchen sink and filled a glass with water, walking back to Twilight so she could have a drink to catch her breath.

"It's like I said, everypony gets their mark in due time" I told Apple Bloom for the second time today.

"It's hopeless, hopeless! I just won't go to the party, I can't go. Everyone will just laugh at me and make fun of me and call me names. It will be the worst day of my life" Apple Bloom said in a panic-y tone of voice, describing a worst case scenario.

"I'm sure it won't be as bad as all that" Twilight said while levitating the empty glass away.

"She's right, you're kind of over reacting" I added, backing up Twilight.

"What am I supposed to do? Twist already got her cutie mark" Apple Bloom told her.

"Really? That's just sad—oof!" Twilight elbowed me in the ribs. "I-I mean, just enjoy the party. I'm sure most ponies won't care if you don't have your cutie mark" I said.

"Forget it, there's no way I'm going to that *gulp* party" she said. No soon than she had said that however, a ton of ponies appeared within Sugarcube Corner. Wow, time really flies, doesn't it?

Apple Bloom attempted to sneak out before anypony could see her. Although, that wasn't going to be possible due to her bumping into Applejack at the front door.

"Apple Bloom, you made it. After I heard about Twist, I was afraid you wouldn't show up. I sure am glad you came to your senses about this whole cutie mark thing. These things happen when these things are supposed to happen. Trying to rush 'em just drives you crazy" Applejack said as she walked in, holding Apple Bloom back with very little effort whatsoever. "I'll let you be, looks like your friends want to talk to you" She said as she walked past her sister.

"Hey AJ" I greeted her as we bumped hooves.

"Well, well, well, look who's here" I heard Diamond Tiara's voice. I turned my head to see her and Silver Spoon circle around her like sharks.

"Nice outfit" Silver Spoon said mockingly.

"Just sumt'n I, uh, pulled together last minute" Apple Bloom said. Let me guess, a table cloth just fell on her or she put it her body or something and she's just passing that off as dress.

"It really shows off your cutie mark. Oh wait, that's right, you don't have one" Diamond said teasingly.

I grunted under my breath as my right hoof began to charge up with electricity. I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I turned to Twilight to see her shake her head back and forth, telling me not to do what I was thinking of doing.

"Uh, I have a cutie mark" Apple Bloom lied.

"Eh, what? Since when?" Silver Spoon asked her.

"Since… Um… Earlier today" Apple Bloom said.

"Oh really? Let's see it" Diamond Tiara said, wanting to see if Apple Bloom actually did have her cutie mark or not.

"I shouldn't. I couldn't. My cutie mark is so unbelievably amazing, I'm afraid that if I show it off, everyone will start paying attention to me instead of you. Outshined at your own cute-ceañera - can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?" Apple Bloom countered, using Diamond's ego against her. Nice move, Apple Bloom.

"Uh, forget it, I didn't really want to see it anyway" Diamond said, having second thoughts on the subject.

"Ok, well, I'm gonna go mingle. Enjoy the party" Apple Bloom said with a sigh as she walked in the other direction.

Sadly though, the 'dress' that Apple Bloom was wearing ripped and tore as it snagged on to something. Yeah, I had a feeling it'd be one of those moments.

"Oh no" Apple Bloom looked around in embarrassment.

"Wow, that is an amazing cutie mark" Silver Spoon said jokingly in a mocking tone of voice.

"Nice try…" Diamond began.

"Blank flank!" both bullies said in unison.

All I could do at this moment was watch. Deep down I wanted to shock those two with a tiny spark of lightning. But I can't because then everypony there would be disappointed in me. And by everypony of course I mean the friends of mine whose opinions actually matter to me. Damn you, conscience!

"You got a problem with blank flanks?" Everypony heard a voice. We all turned our heads to a nearby table. "I said, you got a problem with blank flanks" the same voice said as two fillies came from under the same table.

One was an orange pegasus filly with a purple eyes, mane and tail. She kind looked similar to Rainbow Dash if you ask me. The other was an all white unicorn filly with a curly pink and purple, dual-colored mane and tail and green eyes.

"The problem is, I mean, she's like, totally not special" Silver Spoon said with a roll of her eyes.

"No, it means she's full of potential" the white unicorn said, standing up for Apple Bloom.

"It means she can be great at anything" The orange one began. "The possibilities are, like, endless" she added, saying that last part in a mocking tone of voice.

"She could be a great scientist, or an amazing artist, or a famous writer. She could even be mayor of Ponyville some day" the white unicorn filly said. One of those requires years of school and study, and the last one requires leadership skills and knowledge of politics. Either way, she makes a good point.

"And she's not being stuck-up like you two" the orange pegasus filly said. Ok, I'm starting to like these two already.

"Hey, this is my party, why are you two on her side?" Diamond snapped at them.

"Because…" both fillies showed their flanks which were blank. Well I'll be…

"*gasp* You don't have your cutie marks either? I thought I was the only one" Apple Bloom said, surprised to see she wasn't the only blank flank in town anymore.

"We thought we were the only two" the orange pegasus said.

"I for one think you are three very lucky fillies" Twilight walked up to the three of them.

"Lucky? How can they be lucky?" Diamond asked, not getting the picture.

"They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are, and what they're meant to be" Twilight told her.

"And they've got all the time in the world to figure it out, not just an afternoon" AJ walked up to the three blank flanked fillies, giving her sister a glance which made her blush a bit.

"Like we've been saying the whole time" I added, walking up to the three of them as well. The other ponies in the building began to chatter amongst themselves.

"Hey, what's everypony doing? This is my party, everypony is supposed to be paying attention to me" Diamond said with annoyance.

"Ah, karma, you've gotta love it" I said to myself, making sure nopony else heard.

"Name's Scootaloo" The orange pegasus fill introduced herself.

"And I'm Sweetie Belle" the unicorn filly introduced herself.

"Apple Bloom" Apple Bloom introduced herself to the other two.

[Moments later]

"Dearest Princess Celestia,

I am happy to report that one of your youngest subjects has learned a valuable lesson about friendship. Sometimes, the thing you think will cause you to lose friends and feel left out can actually be the thing that helps you make your closest friends and realize how special you are.

-Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle."

"How was that?" Twilight asked, looking at me for my opinion.

"Amazing as always" I said. "Although I have the feeling that the Crusaders are going to get into some troublesome moments" I added.

I forgot to mention that at some point in the party Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo decided to form a club dedicated to finding their cutie marks.

"Oh, they're just foals. How much trouble could they possibly get into?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Let's just see what the future holds, Twilight. Let's just see what the future holds.

Me: There, chapter 12. I know it's been a year since I've updated this story, but I've been busy with other things. That and I've been procrastinating. Don't worry though; chapter 13 won't take as long to upload.

Me: Remember to Read, Review, and Favorite/Follow.

*Turn camera off*