An autumn breeze whipped up in the empty field as Lightning Bolt stared intently into the cloudy sky. The wind played with his dual-colored mane, but he didn’t mind. In fact, it almost reminded him of when his father used to ruffle his hair after saying something witty or stupid. Lightning smiled a little, leaning back against the trunk of a massive oak tree. The shadows of the treetop danced along his frame, and he followed each movement, transforming the shadows into pictures of ponies; ponies of legend and of valor, of strength and courage.
These ponies marched along his coat and did battle with evil monsters, terrible hoards, and great strife. He pulled himself away from that fantasy and sighed, looking towards the clouds again and nearly tearing up at a particular formation of fluffy white.
“Dad… Dad, where did you go? I miss you,” Lightning whispered, trotting out from under the oak and further into the wavy grassland. Lightning stretched his wings and yawned. He looked to the left, and then to the right, and began digging into the ground below him. His hooves churned up broken earth until an aged fabric revealed itself from the ground. Lightning wiped away the debris and removed from the ground a worn book, dirty and brown from other elements beyond the dirt.
Lightning blew off the clogs of dirt from the cover and inspected the rune, eyeing each portion of the spine as carefully as the bent corners. The yellowed pages crunched as he opened the text, scraping against each other as he flipped through page after page. Most of the writing appeared illegible, and even more seemed to be written in a language not spoken anymore. However, there was one page with a hasty scrawl at the top. A single phrase that Lightning repeated in his mind over and over again:
One day, you’ll understand that there is no right or wrong, only what is necessary
“You’re really going to do this then?” came a familiar voice from behind. Lightning shut the book and let it drop back into the hole. “It’s okay… I know. I’ve known for a little while,” the voice said. Lightning did not immediately turn around.
“It’s not my fault,” he replied to the mare behind him. “He’s the one that has me out here everyday, solving riddles, searching for clues...” Lightning turned around and met a half smile from a rainbow-maned pegasus.
“Lightning,” Rainbow Dash began, “I realize how important your father was to you, but this behavior is a little too obsessive.” She eyed the ancient tome behind him and sighed. “I thought we buried that along with him.”
“He’s not dead,” Lightning rebuked. “I saw him in a vision, I heard him speak to me from wherever he is. He’s trying to tell me something.”
“Look, kid, I’m not going to beat around the bush. Your father was a good man, but he messed with things he really shouldn’t have. You shouldn’t do the same,” Rainbow said.
“Mom, don’t be paranoid,” Lightning said, trotting past her. “I won’t follow his hoofsteps, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m worried about losing my son,” Rainbow said, stopping him before he could move away. “The same way I lost my husband.” She stood there, waiting for a response from the younger pegasus. Lightning looked at her and grinned.
“I told you, I won’t follow Dad’s blind ambitions,” he said. “I won’t let this take me as it did my father. I’ll find him, and I’ll rescue him from it.”
“Yeah, there’s no way that what you told me is the truth,” Rainbow said then, causing Lightning to flinch a little. He brought his head down and sighed.
“Why do you doubt me, Mom? Don’t you think we should give Dad the benefit of the doubt? Don’t you want to see him again?! I want us to be a family once more! I want to have the life that we used to have!” Rainbow Dash hit him then.
“Don’t talk like that!” she shouted. “This is serious! Your father was acting the exact same way before he vanished!”
“Don’t assume things,” Lightning retaliated, holding his face. “I told you I won’t follow in his hoofsteps! What more do you want from me?”
“I want you to promise me to leave this stuff alone,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ve seen dark magic before, and this goes beyond dark magic. Your father thought he could control it, but he was wrong. And as much as I loved him, he was a fool.”
“You see, mom, there’s something about your statement that doesn’t really affect me though,” Lightning replied. “I may be my father’s son, but I am not my father.”
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof again, but stopped her assault in mid-swing. She looked at Lightning and let out a broken breath, turning her head away as tears started to fall down her face.
“Don’t go,” she sobbed in a whisper. “It’s not too late to come back, to forget about all of this. Please, I don’t want to lose my son!”
“I have to,” Lightning responded without hesitation. “You won’t lose me, I promise,” he said, picking up the ancient tome again.
“Wrong,” Rainbow said, wiping her face. “It looks like I already have.” She turned away from the stallion and lifted into the air.
“That’s the thing, Mom,” Lightning said to himself. “There is no right or wrong, only what is necessary.”
***
Lightning awoke, shooting up from his bed in a panic. Sweat rolled off of his body, saturating his damp sheets further. He sat up, breathing hard into the darkness of his small dormitory. Looking over, he noticed he hadn’t woken up his roommate, which was a first in a long while. He wiped his face and lay back down, trying to ignore the pounding of his heart in his brain.
“I’m sorry,” he said while looking at the ceiling. “I’m trying to forget, Mom. I’m trying to move on.” Lightning covered his face and retreated back into his sheets. It was no use trying to fall back to sleep, however. He’d only be greeted with the same dream again. It replayed in his thoughts every night, plaguing him to no end.
“There is no right or wrong, only what is necessary,” Lightning mumbled. “False… there is a wrong… and I regret it.” His mind flashed back to the scene… to the last moment he spent with his mother.
“Well, Dad… What the fuck was so necessary?!”