//------------------------------// // The Elements of Harmony, Reunited // Story: The Forgotten Years, The Adventures Of Fury And Dash // by 21latenighter //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash had just finished making Soaring his breakfast of Oatmeal when a letter popped into existence before her, nearly falling into the porridge. She caught the letter just before it fell, and brought it over to the table along with the breakfast of the young colt. She opened the letter and read the stirring contents sent by Princess Luna. Dear Element bearer, The time has arisen for your return to action, and your mission is set. Defeat and heal my sister Celestia. She has went into a state of a nightmare, the rest will be provided to you on your arrival, come as fast as the wind can carry you, and may the spirit of Harmony protect you Princess Luna Dash dropped the letter as tears began to fall from her cheeks. Something had gone terribly wrong, she just knew it, Fury had either been hurt or killed. Dash sprinted out of the house before the thought crossed her that Soaring would be at home all alone. Dash grabbed the young colt who fussed about not being able to eat his oatmeal and flew out the door, towards the Canterlot castle. Flames rolled as Solar Flare brought down another ball of fire upon Fury, but it missed it's target and hit the ground beside him. Fury's horn came to life as he called upon his magic. Lightning crackled and shot out of his horn, straight at Solar Flare, but like the last, it missed. Solar Flare was beginning to become more and more flame, as her wings had now became engulfed by the flame of the nightmare. She opened her mouth and roared, and fire came flowing from her. She opened her wings and let more fire escape her, and the snow around the fallen empire began to melt, and the land became visible, revealing the ash that the tyrant Kaorn had caused. Fury called on his lightning and it shot out across the land to meet his opponent, but she brought up a shield of fire, blocking the energy. The two of them were evenly matched in terms of magic, but Fury thought he could best her in hoof to hoof combat, but it was out of the question, as it was his sister in there, and he couldn't hurt her like that. Fury moved as another blast of fire burned past him. his gaze shifted to a lone figure standing among the ruins of the castle. It was more of a shadow, but the features were clear, and they formed a pony that Fury never wanted to see, the master of the shadows, Kaorn. The shadowy image stood where the castle was once erected, and stared into Fury's soul with dark red eyes that could pierce the abyss itself. How was that possible, as Fury had watched with his own eyes as Twilight had ripped the heart and soul out of Kaorn when he had tried to destroy equestria. A smile seem to come across the shadow's face as Fury returned his gaze to Solar Flare, only to see fire, and a lot of it. The fire engulfed Fury's body before he could bring up his shield, and when he finally got his shield up, the heat from the flames remained. Solar Flare didn't give in to her spell, and kept up the fire, pushing mountains of flame at the small shield. Fury closed his eyes. "Come on Fury Flight, remember what you are here for, remember why you are alive," Fury thought as memories flooded his brain of Dash and his young colt, both of whom he may never see again. The shield began to break apart as Fury's eyes began to water with the fact that he was bound to die in the very place that he was given a second chance at life, again. Just then a blue light exploded near him and the flame stopped. Fury opened his eyes and saw the Elements of harmony standing beside him. For once, he had a hero. Dash arrived at the castle to find the rest of her friends there as well, all with the same look of fear and shock. The castle was badly burnt, and there was a huge hole in the wall. Twilight was talking to Luna, tears in her eyes. Something had happened to Fury, he was hurt or dead, she just knew it. Twilight walked over to the rest of her friends. "Girls, we need to go, Princess Celestia was taken over by the nightmare, and Fury Flight told Luna that he would give us time to get here and face her." "Where are they Twi, I have to know?" Dash asked, tears flowing from her eyes. "Rainbow, we suspect that they are at the ruins of the Crystal Empire. Fury wouldn't fight her with a lot of innocent lives at risk. We are going there first." Twilight said as she called upon her magic and walked into the middle of the group. "Hold on girls, I am going to teleport us there." she said as her magic branched out to the other five ponies around her. There was a popping noise, and then the only ponies in the room were Luna and Soaring Shadow. Soaring Shadow walked over to the night Princess and nudged her. Luna looked down to the small colt. "Well hello my little nephew, shall we find something fun to do?" Luna asked the small colt, who nodded in agreement. The two ponies walked down a corridor to find the room that they had made when Dash had the foal. Fury opened his eyes to see the elements standing beside him, all giving him the same look when they saw the horn atop his head. "Thank goodness your here..........." Fury said as he collapsed. Dash began to run to her husband, but Twilight stopped her. "Come on Dash, let's deal with Celestia first, Fury will survive long enough for us to heal her," Twilight said, trying to be empathetic. The six turned to Solar Flare, who had already began a spell of fire. Twilight called upon her magic and brought forth water to meet Solar's fire. The water met the fire with a deadly embrace and put out the rage. The two ponies held their magic strong, water and fire meeting in the center of them both. Twilight called upon her guardian magic and the water marched across the ground and met the pony of fire. The water doused her mane and wings, and locked her in place. Twilight and the others called upon the elements which shot out the rainbow blast and started to swirl around Solar Flare, who began to scream in agony as the spell healed her and dispelled the Nightmare. The Nightmare shot out of Solar Flare's body and tried to shoot across the sky, but Twilight caught it with her magic. "Your not going anywhere this time," she said as she produced a container to place the nightmare. The shadow screamed and thrashed as it was sucked into the container. She sealed it and stuck it into her magical storage. Fury opened his eyes to see the six standing over him, looking at him with interest and with fear. He began to stand, but one of his legs was badly burned and refused to act right, and he fell back to the ground. "Just set there and get some rest Fury, your pretty hurt," Twilight said, before speaking again. "What were you thinking Fury Flight, taking on that Nightmare without the Elements to fight it?" she said. "I thought I could hold it at bay until you could be brought," Fury said, trying to hold back a tear that was trying to escape his eye and run down to the red earth below. He had failed them, he had failed himself. Twilight's expression softened at the sight of Fury holding back a tear. "I am so sorry Fury, I know how this must feel for you." "I just thought I could be her hero one last time," Fury said as he looked to Dash, who had been crying for a while. "You have always been my hero, and you always will be Fury, you don't have to go out and defeat villains to be my hero. You were there for me when no pony was, you have been by my side through all of the rough times of my life, making it worth living, and you will always be there for me and Soaring Shadow, won't you?" Dash asked. "Of course I will Dash," Fury said as he used his magic to heal his injuries. He stood as he finished and the others watched as the horn began to vanish from his head. "Goodbye my friend," Fury said as the last of his magic disappeared. Celestia began to stir as Fury's magic disappeared. "Where......., Where am I?" She asked, looking to the elements. The six ponies gathered around Celestia, telling her of the Nightmare and her transformation into Solar Flare. Celestia looked to the lone stallion standing by himself. She walked over to her brother and spoke. "Are you alright Fury, I saw you fall in front of me, and I thought I killed you." Fury nodded and answered, "I am alright Celestia, I will live." He looked to the others and then turned to fly back towards the city of Canterlot. He was stopped by a magical force. He looked over to see Twilight holding him with her magic. "And your are going where?" Twilight asked, with a sarcastic look on her face. "Back to the castle, why, where should I be going?" Fury asked, dumbfounded. "With us back to the castle," Twilight said as she called upon her magic to teleport them back to the castle. Upon arriving, the ponies had a grand feast celebrating the return of Princess Celestia. The feast went on for hours, and Fury cut away from the party to his private study, and opened his journal. We all try to be a hero, all of us have the same thoughts. To be a hero, to save the ones we love, and destroy our enemies. We often think that we are invincible until we are shown our own mortality. It is then that we are shown the true ways of a hero, that they don't always run into battle, swords raised and on the front line, but rather are back home, saving lives from our own darkness. Sometimes the hero is just the one who can see the darkness in others and bring forth light and save us from ourselves, this I learned today, as I fought my own sister. I was shown that I will not always be the hero on the battle field, but will always be one to my wife and one true love, as the one who stuck beside her, and was simply there for her. It is this kind of hero that we should all strive to be, and maybe, just maybe, we could make Equestria a better place...