//------------------------------//
// The loneliest night 
// Story: The Legend of Lightning Ace: Childhood 
// by LightningAce7 
//------------------------------//

           Lightning lay on the ground sobbing as Derpy and Rainbow Dash could but look upon Lightning as he dispared over what had just happened. The situation replayed in his head ahundred times over. He tried to think of ways he could of maybe turned things around or even prevented it. But to his dismay he had no choice but to leave him behind withe the undead and the wolf. Every time he thought of that last moment he saw his father tears welled up in his eyes again. That crushing moment of failure to save him. He could still be alive...right? After all he heard fighting after the wall came down. But then he heard that horrible howl, as if the Alpha had be reveling in victory. No! Thunder was strong! He wouldn't die like this! But what if he did? This argument continued to rage in his head for hours until the sun had nearly set. He looked at the dagger his dad threw him. He never even used it. The undead had collasped before even trying to harm him and his friends. He cried more as he pulled the sheathed blade close to himself, it now all he had to remember his father with. Rainbow trod up to Lightning and placed a hoof on his shoulder. He couldn't take it anymore as he turned to Rainbow with eyes heavy with tears.

"I'm here for you Lightning." Rainbow said, embracing him. "I won't leave you hanging."

Derpy went over and offered her muffin to Lightning. "If it helps," Derpy said with tears in her eyes,"you can have my last muffin."

The three foals then couldn't hold it in any longer. They cried in eachothers forelegs as they mourned Lightning Ace's father. After a while of grieving they decided it best to return to Ponyville for the night. It was a long, silent, and cold flight back as the trio made it to the town limits of Ponyville. They entered an apple orchard in search of somewhere to sleep as it was getting too late and dark for them to safely fly the rest of the way back to Cloudsdale. They searched until coming across an abandoned treehouse in a secluded part of the farm. With nowhere else to go they decide to sleep there for the night. They entered the cobweb filled structure as fatigue set in on all three of them. Before falling asleep Derpy turned to Lightning, "I think he lived. I believe he defeated those awful things and got out." Derpy said.

"Maybe your right." Lightning said as he turned over to face her. "I mustn't dispare. He'll likely escape and adventure some more. Some day he'll come back home. But...what-what if he...he..." tears began to fill his eyes.

"We're here for you Lightning." They both said. They cried themselves to sleep that night as a warm breeze wafted through the small room. For a moment, Lightning could feel his dad's embrace once more as he fell asleep. The breeze gently flowed through the leaves of the tree the clubhouse was built in. The leaves rustling like a soft lulliby. The sky was clear that night, filled with what seemed like brighter than normal stars. The little animals of the undergrowth were even quiet this night, as not to disturb the foals within the treehouse. Lightning's sleep was filled with the happy memories of his father raising him and spending time with him. Thunder would bring Lightning to small, long overgrown ruins and tell him about them. He'd then joke about why somepony would build such a small structure in the first place. Lightning would laugh. His memory turned to seeing his mom and dad together. They loved eachother very much. They'd sit outside and watch sunsets and sunrises, they'd fly around Cloudsdale together. And they loved Lightning more than anything else. The dream continued all the way until dawn, when the sunlight crept upon him and woke him, like Princess Celestia herself had come to sooth his heavy heart. He woke with a newfound determination today, he was no longer taking anything for granted. He would live on for his father, Thunder Ace. And so Lightning and his friends returned to Cloudsdale with Flight Camp once again at the front of their minds. Lightning now more determined than ever to make the most of it.

to be continued...