The Ultimate Element

by Akamaru01

Discovery

        Lightning had entered Rainbow’s home after work, finding her sitting in the main room. “Good, you’re here.” The stallion walked up to his host and dropped a bag into her hoof.

        “What’s this?” she asked, perplexed.

        “My rent. I figure, since I’m living in Ponyville now, I should act like a citizen, and that means paying rent when living in somepony else’s house.”

        “Well, that’s great, but you don’t need to pay me,” she said hoofing the bag back.

        “Yes, I do.”

        “No, you don’t.”

        “Alright then.” He walked over the kitchen counter and dropped the bag. “I guess I’ll just leave this here, and I don’t care if anypony takes it.”

        The mare let out a sigh, and walked over and took the bag of bits. “What do you know, free money.” The pegasi were almost thrown into a fit of laughter, but caught themselves quickly. “Alright, enough of that. Time to meet up with the others for dinner, and don’t forget it’s your turn to pay tonight.”

        “I know, I know.” The ponies flew off to meet their friends. On the way, Lightning thought to himself how great things were going for him, and almost nothing could ruin it. Hope I didn’t jinx anything.

        Ponies have been living in Equestria for some generations now, but they still had yet to explore the entire land they now called home. In an effort to learn more about the continent, the three leaders, Commander Typhoon, Princess Silver, and Chancellor Gelatin, sent out a team of ponies from each tribe to explore. On these travels, the scouts travelled far, reaching the other side of the continent. Here, they found a mysterious being. It had control over strange powers, and it seemed to be the only thing living there. It seemed intelligent, so the ponies decided to converse with the mystic creature. This proved to be a very fatal mistake.

        The sky had barely turned dark, and Celestia was beginning to worry deeply. Although the power she has been feeling has stopped rising, she can’t help but fear the worst. The energy level is baffling, clearly above her and her sister’s. The sky shone clear, the stars and the moon shining through, casting a luminescence on Equestria. The beautiful light usually gave her hope, but tonight it seemed only to mock her. As she turned to head back into the castle, she suddenly felt the power spike once more. This increase was incredible, rising as if to touch the very sky itself. Then, all the power reverted, moving away from the atmosphere. Most ponies would believe that the threat diverted and done, and that there was nothing to worry about. However, the sun royal felt it not dissipating, but collecting in a single point. She tried with all her magic to locate the center, but before she had a chance, it disappeared completely.

        Miles away, a being deep underground had finally been restored. Free from its prison, it sent out a large shock wave of energy, then quickly suppressed it, knowing the Royal Sisters could easily locate the monster. It was almost time to return to the land of ponies once more, and seek revenge. It must wait, however, for the long slumber had weakened it physically, and it would take time to restore full body control. It had waited long for this day, so a few more days should not make too much of a difference. Nopony could measure up to its extreme power, not even those wretched Elements of Harmony.

        The cafe Lightning and his friends ate dinner at was not very crowded. There were a few ponies at some of the tables, but for the most part at least half the building belonged to them. The food was cheap, but good, and as they were talking, Lightning felt an electric resonance through his tail. This had never happened to him before, but he could feel something coming from afar.  He casually left the table, staring out the windows. “Lightning? Where are you going?” The stallion offered no answered, but instead walked out of the cafe, staring into the sky. Something was coming, something strong. For some reason, it felt familiar, as if he had known it his whole life.

        “What’s going on?” asked Rainbow Dash.

        “Maybe he knows the mothership’s here!” He did not hear her crazy theory, but continued looking off in the sky. He felt a sense of trouble brewing, and his tail soon started to spark softly, glowing with a dim light.

        “Um, Lightning?” Rainbow began, quickly hiding his tail. She lowered her voice to a whisper, “What are you doing? Your tail is-” her sentence was cut off a boom of thunder. The mares followed his stare, and saw a large mass of jet black clouds rolling toward Ponyville.

        “Um, Rainbow Dash,’ asked Twilight, “what is that?”

        “I don’t know! There are no storms scheduled for tonight.” Other ponies around town also took notice of the anomaly, stopping and turning to look. Lightning stood transfixed, unable to look away, barely breathing as his eyes were glued to the clouds. The clouds rolled into the sky above, bringing down sharp, freezing rain. Thunderbolts quickly began to strike Ponyville, shaking Lightning out of his trance. He looked around and saw ponies in a panic, running to shelter to hide from the pursuing rain. He noticed that his friends were trying to move him out of the storm, and back into the cafe. He tried to follow, but he could not move his legs. One large crack of thunder made him look toward the center of town. A building was struck and caught fire, the rain doing nothing to stop the burning. He shook off his paralysis, and realized that the whole town would be burned to the ground if this storm continued as it did, and he felt he was the only one who could do it.

        “Stay here,” he commanded to the mares, quickly jumping into the sky. They all figured out his plan instantly, and backed up into the cafe, looking out through a window. This might ruin my life, but Ponyville is worth it. Before any more bolts had a chance to strike down, the stallion charged his energy, drawing the lightning to himself like a magnet. He was high enough so that every pony in Ponyville was able to see what he was doing. They saw the lightning redirecting to the pegasus, and be taken into his body. They were unsure of what they were seeing, a pony absorbing pure electricity. It shouldn’t be possible, and yet there it was, happening right in front of their own eyes. In a few moments, the storm disappeared completely, the pegasus’ tail glowing with power. Unable to hold in the energy, Lightning shot it all out in one large, quick burst, straight into the night sky.

The crisis passed, he looked down at all the ponies who were staring at him, jaws hanging down. His breathing was ragged, his body tired from using up most of his energy. He floated down to the ground, waiting for somepony to say something. Anything.

        Lightning rested on a cloud high above Rainbow’s house. Nopony would be able to find him way up here. The past few days had been terrible on him.

        “HEY, LIGHTNING!” The pegasus jumped several yards into the air, but stopped once he had realized what happened.

        “Rainbow Dash? What are you doing?” he asked, floating back down to the rainbow maned mare.

        “You’ve been doing nothing but sulking for days. I thought I’d cheer you up.” She spoke with a genuine smile, although he could hear some concern in the mare’s voice.

        “First of all, isn’t that Pinkie’s job? Second, you would too if everypony in Ponyville thought you were a freak,” he said as he lied down, face half buried in the cloud.

        “Not everypony hates you,” she said reassuringly, putting her hoof on his back.

        “Out of all the ponies in town, only less then 20 don’t hate me, and that includes the nine that already knew about my abilities.”

        “Lightning,” she began, a little shakily, “things look bad, but I’m sure things will get better. You just need to wait.”

        “They tried to send me to Celestia so she could ‘banish me to the Moon’.” He looked at her with a mixture of anger and sadness.

        “OK, not promising, but they might change their mind,” she spoke nervously. Lightning gave a heavy sigh, looking away from the mare. “I know things aren’t working out how you hoped, but maybe you should give everypony another chance. Go about your usual day, and maybe they’ll realize you’re just like them.” He offered no response, instead keeping his face down into the cloud. “I guess I’ll see ya later then.” She flew off, leaving the stallion to ponder his position. He looked toward the sun, guessing the time to be early morning. What have I got to lose?

        Apparently, more then I thought. “Hey, I’m back,” spoke Rainbow Dash, returning to the house. It didn’t take her long to find the stallion, as he was sprawled on the couch with a distant look in his eyes. “Did you take my advice?”

        “I should’ve stayed home today,” he said in reply, burying his head in the back of the cloud couch.

        “That bad?”

        “They threw rocks at me,” he said, showing a few light cuts on his body. “Didn’t hurt, but it was annoying. The only ponies that didn’t attack me were Ditzy Doo and her daughter Dinky, the mayor, Big Mac and Granny Smith, and the Cakes. I knew I should have left Ponyville earlier. This always happens.” He kept his voice low and calm, which made him sound worse then if he was whining.

        “You don’t really mean that, do you? You have friends here.” She used her most reassuring voice, but Lightning could still hear a twinge of worry.

        “Which reminds me,” he started, making the mare listen closer, “I think you guys should act like you never knew.” Rainbow’s face betrayed her shock. “I don’t want the other ponies making fun of you for being my friend.” He meant well, but she took it with an angered tone.

        “What!? We are your friends, and you want us to lie!?”

        “Yes,” he said quickly and bluntly. She stared at him in amazement, disbelief in her eyes.

        “We are NOT going to abandon you!” she yelled, flying up and putting her hoof in his face. “We’ll stick with you until this is over. You can’t get rid of us that easily.” He tried to put on a smile, but his heart wasn’t in it.

        “I appreciate it Rainbow, but I don’t think this will work.”

        “Everything is going to be fine. You just gotta give it time.” A gong from a nearby clock told the pegasi the late time. “Please, just think about it.” Both pegasi went off to bed, both worried about what this could mean for the future.

That night, Lightning’s nightmare returned, showing the same horrifying image as before. Rainbow, bruised and beaten, and it was he who hurt her. The dream felt almost like a message to the stallion, telling him the one thing he did not want to hear, but what he had been thinking all day. It was time to leave, and this time for good.

        “You don’t have to go!” cried out Scootaloo from behind the wall of electricity.

        “I don’t have a choice.” Lightning’s voice remained calm, despite the situation. “This is the best option.” The onlooking ponies were crestfallen, unable to stop their friend from leaving town.

        “Hey!” screamed Rainbow, causing him to look back for a moment. In his eyes, the mares saw defeat, and utter sadness and regret. “The only way I’m gonna let you go off is if you promise one thing. You have to come back one day. No matter what anypony else says, Ponyville is your home, and you belong here.” The stallion smiled genuinely for the first time in  days, nodding his head as he turned and took off into the clouds.

        “Wow Rainbow,” started Fluttershy,” that was really-”

        “Don’t even think about it,” she interrupted, cutting the yellow pegasus off from what she was saying. The tension subsided temporarily, but returned just as quickly. The ponies remained for a moment, looking out towards where their friend had left to. They could not help but feel sadness, and one by one they left to return to their homes, each with their heads hung low.

        When Rainbow Dash had made it back, she walked to the room where Lighting had been living until that morning. Taking a quick fly around the house, she noticed for the first time how empty it really was. A large building with only one occupant. When she first moved in, she enjoyed the emptiness, her home acting as the perfect place to get away from everypony else. Now it just felt lonely. She shed a few small tears before going back to her own room, where she tried, and failed, to sleep for many hours.

        It was almost time. Soon, the monster could leave the dark cave, and then all of Equestria would be under its rule forever more. Celestia and Luna would be forced to face the same punishment as it had. Then the Elements would be the next to go down. Nopony will be able to save Equestria. Not this time. Not ever.