The Seventh Element

I sat down on the ground and eyed the ten ponies surrounding me.

"My name is Lightning Strike. This is my brother, Mist. When I was seven, my parents stopped seeing each other. Mist was two. My mom lived with this guy named Silver Gunner. He... He hit me. Abused me. Just me. And threatened to shoot me. When I was..... Eleven, I got my Cutie Mark. I hated that day... Still hate it." I sighed, realizing I had backed out on the promise I had made only an hour ago. I was telling them about the day I got my Cutie Mark. I turned to Dash.

"This is the part where my best friend dies." The others, save Mist, looked shocked.

"I was in Junior Speedsters' Flight Camp. There was this girl, Firefly. She was my best friend. And me, being a little kid, had a little puppy love crush on her. It was evaluation day..."

"Lightning! Hurry up!" A small pink filly called out. She had an aqua mane with matching eyes. We had to perform a trick we developed on our own for a grade. I was proud of mine. It used the sunlight to make cool effects off of my hooves.

"Coming!"

"Firefly started her trick. She got a great grade and she took her seat. Then I was up. I flew up and started, but soon a storm began...."

I frowned, looking to the judges. They urged me to continue. I nodded.

"Maybe I can... What if... Lightning! Lightning'll work, right?" I said to myself. I was a stupid kid.

"Storm..." I whispered. A flash of light bursted out of one of the clouds near me. I grinned. A boom of thunder followed.

"Lightning! Get out of the sky, n-" My flying coach stopped as I was hit by the next bolt.

The crowd gasped. I smiled, looking down. It didn't even hurt! The lightning was dancing from hoof to hoof, probably because of my gold-plated hooves.

"Then this thing, this explosion, came. It was a pure burst of color. A huge boom. A rainbow. A.. Rainboom!"

When the Rainboom came, a bolt of green lightning hit me. I yelped in pain. If regular lightning couldn't hurt me and this lightning could.... I heard wails from below.

"Go away!" I screamed at the clouds. "Leave!" They didn't budge.

"Lightning!" I looked down to see a pink filly struck with a bolt of purple lightning.

"And she was hit. The only one hit. Only one. Besides me. I tried to fix her, but I couldn't. I didn't know how."

"F-Firefly. Y-You're gonna be fine. I promise." My voice was shaking. I was seeing her fade in front of me.

"Hey, Lightning?"

"Yes?"

"I have a nickname for you. A new one." I smiled. Firefly tended to do that. Give people nicknames.

"What is it?" I could feel the first tear rolling down my cheek as I smiled in spite of myself.

"Sparky. Get it? Lightning? Controlling weather? Sparky. Let someone you love call you Sparky." Firefly smiled back.

"... I want you to call me Sparky."

"I can't."

"Why not? Do you not love me?" My voice was quivering again.

"I love you plenty. I just can't... Because..."

"Because why?"

"Because I'm dying." And with a final breath, she closed her eyes. I frantically took her pulse. More and more tears spilled down my face. There wasn't a single beat left.

"No! Celestia, strike me down now!"

"Like I said, I was a stupid kid. The weather was at my command and a strong bolt hit me. Knocked me out for two weeks. I woke up on Hearts and Hooves Day. And figured out that my first love was dead. And to find the horrible mark that reminds me of the day it happened." I paused to let them absorb that part.

"Yeah. That's only part of it." I murmured. "Next part." I sighed, looking at the sad mares.

"My stepfather hated me. And my father. He hated him, too. He hit me, a lot. Used me for target practice."

"Useless colt!" A gray-coated stallion yelled, launching a beer bottle at me with his magic.

"S-Stop!" I stuttered. I was a sobbing, bleeding thirteen year-old mess. He was a large, red-maned, golden-eyed magical tyrant. With a mix between a smile and a snarl, he uttered one word.

"Beg."

"I-I...."

"Beg, goddammit!" He stomped his hoof.

"P-P-Please!" I choked out.

A sadistic smile formed on the bastard's face.

"Try harder next time." He heaved a brick with his magic and hurled it at me.

"Every time I went to the doctor, they wouldn't suspect anything. Never knew the wiser. I used to lie to them and tell them I crashed when I was flying. My dad... My dad knew, but he couldn't really tell anyone. He didn't want to tell anyone. Because he didn't want to talk about everything I went through. And after, my dad...." I looked up at the girls again, who were grimacing.

"My dad died. It was willed suicide. Someone forced him to kill himself. We know because.... His note said things like, 'I wish I didn't have to do this' and... He must've wrote when no one was looking... 'Find the killer.' , which is pretty blunt. But... There was always this dream I've had. It... This creature, I don't even know if it's a pony... Was shouting. Screaming. Urging someone to do something. I don't remember. But I think it has to do with my dad. And there were these horrible eyes staring down at me. Red pupils and the rest is yellow. And a booming laugh. Enough to drive you mad, I swe-"

"Red and yellow eyes?" Twilight interrupted.

"Yes. Do you know anything?" I asked hopefully.

"I... If this is true... I don't know. I think I know who you're talking about. I think. Let me just.. Stand still." Twilight stepped forward and touched her horn to my forehead. Pain surged through me and I stepped away from her, although a series of of images and words ran through my mind. The words were echoey.

A mismatched being with those same eyes smirked, standing next to me, although I look kind of.. Faded. "Immortal." He said. "Kill myself!" I yelled, the image changing. I was standing next to a noose.

"You can't!" Dash yelled. Tears poured down her face. The image changed again. I was hanging from the noose. Applejack was comforting Rainbow. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Let the chaos begin." The creature echoed.

"Gah!" I yelled, coming out of my vision. I breathed heavily. I looked at the mares and my brother.

"What did you see?" Twilight asked in curiosity.

"I don't... Remember." I lied. "Some weird creature with horns and mismatched wings and stuff. That's it." I couldn't tell them that I... Died.

"Discord, definitely." Rainbow nodded at Twilight. "Now let's find this Element of Reality."

Twilight used her magic to pull a book off of a shelf.

"The Elements of Harmony." She said, looking at six necklaces and one tiara. She levitated a silver necklace with a gold lightning bolt and a black storm cloud.

"That's yours, I s'pose." Applejack nodded at me.

"Yeah. I.. Yeah." I looked at Dash. She was grimacing at the ground.

"Hey, are you okay?" I nudged her.

"I-I'm great!" She smiled nervously. "I was just.. You said a color explosion, r-right? A... Sonic Rainboom?"

"Yeah, that would probably be a great name for it... If only I could find the bastard that started it." I said, clenching my jaw.

"Yeah.... Some jerk." Dash sighed. She looked to the others, who wouldn't look either one of us in the eye.

"Now, let's go home. Care to show us around, Dash?" I looked to the cyan pegasus.

"Yeah, sure. Bye, girls."

"Uh, bye." I called over my shoulder.

"Bye... Poor Dash." I couldn't hear what Twilight said. I turned around and smiled at the nervous mares.

"C'mon, Mist. Let's go." He looked at the three fillies he had become acquainted with. They were shocked. He shook his head and began to walk with us.

"I'm sorry." Rainbow Dash said to me. We were still walking to her house.

"For what?" The pegasus looked like she was on the verge of tears. I dismissed the thought. That was too out of character for her, based on what I had learned about her so far.

"For the Sonic-" She hesitated. "For everything you've been through. I'm sorry, because it must be horrible to live through that. And to carry it with you all your life." It sounded like that wasn't what she wanted to say. Not at all.

"It's okay. Not your fault at all. It just started with that one day. That one damn day where Firefly died. I swear...."

"I-I get it. You'll hate the bastard forever."

"Yup. Exactly."