//------------------------------// // Return // Story: The Ultimate Element // by Akamaru01 //------------------------------// The Ultimate Element Chapter 7 Return         It had been several days since Lightning had left Ponyville. Many ponies were happy to have such a freak of nature out of their home, but, of course, there were a few ponies who were distraught  over his leaving. Each one thought back on the past month with him, and how he became a true friend. They all dealt with it differently, each trying, and failing, to keep him out of their minds for the time being.         Pinkie threw several random parties, and played with Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s new foals, Pound and Pumpkin, but her heart could not feel the fun. With a friend gone and lost,she felt a hole in her chest. Her mind wandered back to the time Lightning helped her make “instant” cupcakes. She wanted to try a little experiment, wanting to bake in the fastest way possible. Unfortunately, that way involved blasting the dough with pure electricity. The others got a nice shock out of those, and she and Lightning got an earful when the swelling on their friends tongues went down. Leaving her memories, she stared out of her window, looking toward the sky, wishing for time to reverse itself.         Rarity tried to work on her new line of dresses, concentrating hard and looking for the perfect inspiration. She rummaged around her drawers and found a sketch of a dress she had planned on making. It was a bold and wonderful design that radiated a sense of power. The idea for the dress actually came from the now gone stallion. She adored the beauty of his electricity, and decided to use it as a base for a new dress. He even helped her by condensing some of his energy into a thin, harmless, solid mass, which Rarity could sow into the fabric. Using those, she could create a unique dress that has never been seen, and probably never would again.  She never had a chance to create the dress itself, but the bolts were still laying around somewhere. Better late than never, she thought, and I even know exactly who I should make it for.         Fluttershy tended to the animals in her care, when a majestic falcon dropped down next to her. “Careful now, little one. You don’t want to hurt your wing again do you?” The falcon flew around the cottage, as if looking for something. When it could not find what it was looking for, it looked at the pegasus with a confused look. “I’m sorry falcon, but he left town a few days ago.” The bird gawked in surprise. This particular falcon had been found by Lightning when it injured it’s wing. Ironically, the stallion himself was still injured as well at this time. He brought the bird to Fluttershy, and came back every week to visit it, checking on its recovery. Fluttershy believed that Lightning adored the bird as much as it did him. If he didn’t leave when he did, he might have even taken the bird as his pet soon.         Applejack worked diligently in the orchard, gathering apples quickly with Big Macintosh. She glanced over to the other side of the farm, where they kept the zap apples trees. It reminded her of the day after the town learned the truth about Lightning. Big Mac and Granny Smith treated him the same as they always did, and the farm became a nice spot to lay low. That day also happened to be the final day of the zap apple harvest. After learning about how they worked, and how they disappeared at the end of the day, he told the farm ponies that he wanted to help. The two applebuckers looked at him skeptically, but he gathered some of the zap apple electricity, and melded it with his own. He used that energy to shock all the trees, feeding them with the power needed to keep them in existence, keeping the apples from leaving for an extra hour or two. Applejack was no longer suspicious of the stallion, but an act like that really earned her respect.         Twilight practiced her new spell just inside the Everfree forest. A spark came forth from her horn, but it quickly fizzled out. She came outside attempting to learn more about Lightning’s mysterious abilities. By no means did she want to obtain it, she wouldn’t be able to handle the dark magic or the intense power. She merely wanted to understand it and where it might have come from. When he first came to her about it, they discovered the evil magic that manifested the energy. On a later occasion, they found a way to contain some energy for later study,  which the mare worked on when she had free time. Upon further inspection, she discovered that the magic was much more dangerous than they first believed, and the magical properties seemed a tad familiar to her. Unable to remember where she had felt this raw power before, and unable to learn more by mere studying, she focused on making a spell that resembled his ability, hoping to learn from a  more hoof’s-on-experience. However, she could not even come close to recreating it. She did not have the strength required to pull it off, and she began to wonder just how powerful the pegasus really was.         Rainbow Dash was taking his leaving the hardest. The two pegasi had become best friends since he had come to town. They spent almost every day together, either working on cool new tricks or talking about the Wonderbolts and such things. She missed him more than she cared to admit, and did little more then eat, sleep, and work those days. She had two tickets to the Wonderbolts show in a few days, which she had planned to go to with Lightning, but now she would probably end up going with Fluttershy. That was fine, but the yellow pegasus wouldn’t have the same enthusiasm as the stallion. It wouldn’t feel the same to her. She looked at one of the pictures on the wall, one of her and Lightning in front of her house. The day he decided to stay in Ponyville. The day she thought meant the end of troubled times. She pressed her face into the pillow of her bed, and forced herself to sleep, a few tears escaping her eyes. ---         Lightning had been flying along, avoiding other ponies, and only stopping in towns  occasionally to get food, and never staying longer then he had to. Whenever he stopped on a single cloud for more than a few minutes, it would begin to change to fit his mood, as it did for all pegasi, and turn into a dark black storm cloud. He wanted to stay back in Ponyville with his friends, but he knew it was too dangerous. He had told them he left because everypony hated him, but that might not have been the whole truth. Yes, he didn’t want to stay where he wasn’t wanted, but that alone wouldn’t drive him away from real friends. It was the nightmares. The same horrible dream had been plaguing him for a while. He hoped it would stop if he left town, but instead it got even worse. The farther from Ponyville he got, the more real the nightmare seemed to become. It scared him, because he didn’t want to hurt anypony, and yet that it never wanted to leave him. He couldn’t change what happened in the dream, and he couldn’t even wake himself up until the end. He would always wake up sweating and gasping for breath, Rainbow’s scream still ringing in his ears. Why? What could it mean? ---         It was finally time. The beast raised itself off the cold, hard ground. It had been resting its body, restoring in order to be ready for what lay ahead. It had already formulated its master plan. First, the monster would go to the castle and defeat the princesses, turning himself into Equestrias true ruler. Then, it would destroy the Elements of Harmony. Those relics have been a thorn in its side for eons, and it was time for them to be disposed of. It would have to move fast, knowing that the moment it used any magic, the princesses would know. It teleported itself outside, and began to move quickly toward Canterlot, invisible to normal ponies. Soon, it would be all over. All that waiting for this moment. It took only a minute to reach the castle, where the beast hid inside the shadows, making its way to the throne room. The room was adorned with several large windows, lightning the chamber in a bright glow. In the back rested two large chairs, one with a mark of the Sun, the other a symbol of the Moon. Only two ponies stood inside, each standing at the base of the stairs that led to the thrones. The larger of the two suddenly gained a worried look, and turned her head all around the room, searching.         “What’s wrong sister?” asked the smaller, darker pony.         The brighter pony responded to her younger sister with only two, unpleasant words. “It’s here.”         The unwelcome guest let out a low chuckle, it’s voice reverberating off the walls, making it impossible to exactly locate the source. “You always were perceptive, Celestia.” It mocked her as somepony might an ant.         The royal sisters instantly recognized the sinister voice and disrespectful tone. “You,” the Sun sister remarked sternly. “I should have guessed it was you.”         “What’s wrong your highness? You’re sweating.”         Indeed she was. She quickly took a hoof and dried her forehead. She turned around the chamber, seeking the source. “Where are you hiding!?” she yelled in a rare state of fury.         The room began to dim, the light seeming to be pulled away by some invisible force. “I am everywhere, and nowhere.” The monster chuckled low and long, sending a sharp chill down the alicorns spines. “I bet you’re wondering how I got to be so powerful.” Luna almost began to panic, but stood her ground. “All shall be revealed in due time, though. For now, how about a little... Poetic justice? Hm?” All the lights suddenly seemed to die, shrouding the room in total darkness. A muffled scream came out from the nothing, and a wave of invisible energy passed over all Equestria, stating the defeat of the Princesses. ---         Only one pony, many miles away, could feel the ripple, knowing instinctively what had occurred. He opened his wings and began his long flight back to Ponyville, somehow knowing that the Elements would be needed. He only hoped he would arrive with ample time to warn them. End Chapter 7