Flash of Lightning

  All six of the Bearers stood around Twilight's kitchen table. On it the weird creature lay, breathing quietly. Applejack and her were still shook up after being threatened by this...thing. But ever the researcher, Twilight brought it back to the library for study.

  By the time the door of light disappeared, almost every pony in Ponyville was awake, all thanks to the shockwave that marked this alien's arrival. Naturally, everypony wanted answers, including the other four Elements of Harmony. Of course they'd all come to Celestia's pupil or awswers Twilight thought with a sigh. The crowd outside the library made it impossible to sneak the alien inside, so Twilight had to let them see this...thing.

  And now everypony wants answers...Answers Twilight didn't have. Not yet. To her side, Spike held a quill and parchment, ready to write down any findings of theirs.

  "So, girls..." Twilight finally said," What are your first impressions?"

  "She smells like peaches!" Pinkie said, excited as always. She continued to bounce in place as she continued," From what I can tell, she's at Level 13, with a 980 HP bar, 940 Strength, and 810 Magic. Her current moveset has been wiped except for Attack, probably due to the new environment."

  "Pinkie, what's that supposed to mean!?" Dash asked angrilly, more than a little grumpy about being woken up.

  "I'm just readin' the Stats in the Lower Left hand side of the screen!" the ball of pink defended.

  "Regardless of 'Stats', my first impression is her awful clothing," Rarity remarked, poking at the fabric like it was diseased," I mean honestly, how much tan leather do you NEED!?"

  "I think she's...well...she might be some kind of hairless monkey," Fluttershy said, quiet as ever," Or maybe a starved bear. Poor thing..."

  "But it spoke," Twilight asserted," We know all speaking creatures in Equestria, and none of them use magic like the gate that brought her here."

  "Whoa!" Dash yelled. Twilight turned to find Dash holding the thing's weapon in her forelegs," This thing is awesome!"

  "Be carfeful now Dash," Applejack warned," That there's the sword this thing used to threaten Twi and me."

  "Oh please, I can handle a simple sword," Rainbow replied. As she turned it in her hooves, it transformed into...a rectangle?

  "Whoa!" was all Dash said as she looked over the gleaming surface," What do you think it is now?"

  "Not any kind of weapon I'm familiar with," Rarity replied," Perhaps it compacts for easy travel...?"

* * *

  The light burned Lightning's eyes. She felt like her eyes had been welded shut, and it took every bit of strength to get them open again. Her head pulsated, the only sign she needed to know she'd been beaten into unconsciousness. I need answers she thought.

  When she turned her head, more of the odd creatures assaulted her vision. The array of colors bombarded her eyes. Pink, yellow, blue, purple, it all just made her headache worse.

  And then she saw the glint of silver among the rainbow. Lightning's vision was blurred, but she could easilly tell it was the Blazefire Sabre. Her gunblade.

  Feigning sleep, she rested her head back on the table as a few of the things started to surround her again.

  "I really don't think you should be doing that, Dash," the yellow one with wings said. So, they speak the Cocoon tongue...interesting.

  Lightning waited, a viper ready to strike. Years of Cocoon Military training flooded her mind.  With the few glimpses she'd gotten, the soldier pieced together the number of opponents, their relative positions, and formulated a strategy to reach her goal. She listened for one of these...things to get close enough, and then sprung her trap.

  Fast as lightning, she jumped from the table. The world disappeared as she eyed her opponents in all their technicolor ferocity. The blue one had what she needed: the Gunblade. Leaping across the room and taking down anything that got in her way, Lightning easilly re-aquired the blade. All she had to do was kick the feet out from the monster and reclaim Blazefire. She still had a mission though. With all the grace and speed of a Shiva Sister, Lightning took the yellow monster in a choke hold and shouted," Nobody move!"

* * *

  "Fluttershy!" every pony in the screamed in unison.

  "Let her go!" Twilight pleaded, still shocked at what just happened. The alien was holding the rectangle to Fluttershy's head. The poor pegasus was wimpering slightly, ready to collapse at any moment.

  "Not until I get answers," the girl said," You'd be smart to do what I say, especially with a gun pointed to your friend's skull."

  "A...gun?" Dash asked, still rubbing her legs where they'd hit the floor," What in the hay is a 'gun"?!"

  The alien pointed at a nearby table. Every pony in the room held their breath as the trigger on this "gun" was pulled. What came was a sound louder than thunder. They gasped as the table...just...exploded. It was reduced to splinters, and there was now a large hole in the wall.

Fluttershy was hyperventilating loudly, gasping and tearing up as the gun was pointed to her head again.

"Okay, what do you want to know!?" Twilight asked, her eyes darting between the pegasus' and the destructive alien's.

"I want answers, like what the hell are you?" the soldier asked.

"We're ponies," Twilight said. I should have realised, we're as alien to her as she is to us," I'm Twilight Sparkle...and these are my friends. And...who are you...?"

The attacker eyed the unicorn, thinking over how wise it was to give information to these things. Eventually though, she replied," Lightning."

"Lightnin'?" Applejack asked," Just 'Lightnin''? Not 'Lightnin' Blitz', or "Swift Lightnin', or-"

"Just Lightning," the attacker said, her eyes softening a bit," And you're...?"

"Applejack," the farmer replied, proudly adjusting her hat," Best apple farmer in Equestria."

"Equestria...?'

"That's the country you're in, darling," Rarity replied, equally worried for Fluttershy.

"And you are?" this 'Lightning' asked.

"I am Rarity," the white unicorn replied," Owner of the Carousel Boutique and renowned fashion designer."

"And I'm Pinkie Pie!" the pink pony replied, somehow teporting behind Lightning. The alien was startled for a bit, as most usually were. Twilight saw the girl move the "gun", as if wondering whether to use it on Fluttershy or Pinkie. As she did, the party pony asked," So, what aaaaare you?'

"What...am I?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah! We're ponies, and I'm a party planner. So, what are you?"

The girl softened again, and with a confused expression said," I'm a human...and a Soldier from Cocoon."

"Cocoon?" Fluttershy asked, finally calming down a bit despite the gun," Like a butterfly?"

"Sort of," Lightning replied," It's the world where I come from."

"And I'm Rainbow Dash," the overconfident pony said," Fastest flyer in Equestria, and overall awesome pony."

"Nice..." the soldier replied," And...you don't look like a pony, so what are you?'

Spike looked up from beside Rarity and said," I'm Spike, a dragon."

"A...a dragon...?" Lightning asked, a bit of fear showing and the choice on where to point the gun presenting itself again.

"He's my assistant, and just a baby dragon," Twilight said, not wanting any harm to come to her reptilian friend," Look, how about we...talk about this? I have alot of ponies outside looking for answers, and I think it'd be easier if we conducted an interview rather that...well, resorting to violence."

Lightning eyed the gun, finally bringing it away from Fluttershy's head," Fine. But first, I'll ask the questions...And I'm keeping this!"

The soldier turned towards the library's main room and sat in a soft chair. She transformed the gun-sword hybrid back to a sword, and rested it on the arms of the seat. Everypony else sat as well, watching and listening as Twilight pulled open a familiar brown and gold book, and read aloud," Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria..."

* * *

"Sounds like a kid story," Lightning replied when Twilight and the others finished their story.

For the past hour or so, every pony in the room told her about their world. She learned of how two "Princesses" somehow use magic to move the sun and moon, though in her mind they were probably fal'Cie, and despite the princess monicker were in fact absolute rulers. Lightning had just taken down a government of totalitarian fal'Cie, and prayed Etro's mission didn't involve taking another one down, especially one with a polulation blinded to think they were eternally wise.

She'd also learned of Nightmare Moon and Discord. Why would a queen charged with defending and eliminating all threats to her subjects simply seal her sister on the moon and keep a fal'Cie of Chaos as a lawn ornament? It would be so much easier to get rid of them permanently. Yes, this was an absolutely perfect government, made even better now that the fal'Cie who tried to bring eternal night shared joint control. Lightning didn't even want to think about how untrained and amateurish their military must be to allow an entire army of "changelings" almost conquer their nation.

The only thing that made sense to her were these "Elements of Harmony", which Lightning figured was a joint form of magic bestowed upon them by the fal'Cie Celestia. They said the source of this power was their own friendship, but Lightning knew that probably wasn't true. Each pony in this room was a l'Cie, but without the brands, charged to become Celestia's trump card when she failed. From what Lightning heard, she failed quite often.

Other than that though, it was mostly talk about their adventures and lessons in "friendship". It was all about them living their lives, and dealing with simple problems, and afterward sending letters on friendship to Celestia. Probably so she can learn to harness the power for herself. It was almost sickening how they considered fashion shows and someone not wanting to be their friend a "problem".

"So," Applejack said," Y'all wanna tell us about where ya come from now?"

"I'm not sure," Lightning replied, her head leaning on her fist," My world is alot darker than Equestria."

"Aww, c'mon!" Pinkie said," We're not little fillies. We can take it."

"Yeah, I bet your world is awesome!" Dash said, still admiring the gunblade and now, thanks to her impressive fighting moves, Lightning herself.

She submitted. With a sigh, Lightning began," My world is divided into two realms: The Mortal World of the living, and the Unseen Realm of the dead..."

Lightning looked over the ponies. They looked at her, innocent, pure, like children being told a bedtime story. It was with a bit of sadness that Lightning continued," The story begins with the god Bhunivelze killing his mother Mwynn for sole control of the Mortal World."

"He...he killed his mom...?" Fluttershy asked, staring at Lightning with fear.

"That...not right," Spike said, shocked as well.

Lightning nodded before she asked," I told you, it's a dark story...do you still-?"

"Yes," Twilight said," Please, continue."

She really is a researcher, Lightning thought before she continued," When Mwynn died, she entered the Unseen Realm, however Bhunivelze would not rest. He was convinced Mwynn placed a curse on the Mortal Realm so all things would eventually die-"

"That's not possible. Curses aren't real," Twilight said, earning a few angry glances from the others.

"Well, that's what he thought," the soldier said," He decided to find the Door of Souls, the gate though which all living things pass to enter the Unseen Realm, so as to kill Mwynn permanently. However to enter the realm of the dead would mean giving up control of the visible world he sought so much. To find the entrance to the realm of the dead, Bhunivelze created the fal'Cie Pulse, and tasked tasked him with searching the world for the door to the Unseen World.

"Next, to aid Pulse, Bhunivelze created Etro-"

"Y'all mentioned her before, right?" Applejack asked.

"I'll get to that part," Lightning said," Bhunivelze created Etro to assist Pulse, however he unknowingly created her in the image of Mwynn. Fearing her, Bhunivelze gave her no powers, and created the fal'Cie Lindzei to replace her as Pulse's assistant, to guard Bhunivelze himself, and to defend the world."

"You keep mentioning 'fal'Cie'..." Twilight asked," Are they gods too?'

"No!" Lightning said angrilly," They're machines, created by gods. They have personalities and eternal life, but they're also given a task. Being machines, they cannot stray from the purpose they were created for, no more than a clock can cook food."

"Interesting..." Twilight said, taking down a few notes.

"What happened next?" Spike asked, also writting down the story.

"Bhunivelze entered a crystal sleep, and waited for the day his creations found the Door of Souls. However while Pulse and Linzei set out to create the world, Etro fell into depression. She had no purpose in life, and was rejected by the one she called father. In her sadness...she killed herself."

Everyone was silent now. The scraping of quill against parchment ended, the seats no longer creaked with the shifting of bodies. Lightning figured these ponies weren't familiar with suicide.

"She...is that even possible?" Rarity asked, wide eyes staring at Lightning in disbelief.

"All you'd need to do is throw yourself off a building or under a carriage."

"But nopony can be sad enough to do anything like that!" Pinkie asserted. No surprise the Element of Laughter has a hard time grasping that kind of sadness.

"Wow..." was all Twilight said, resuming her notes.

Lightning cleared her throat, picking up where she left off," After Etro tore up her body, humanity grew from the spilled blood, and the goddess entered the Unseen World, which she named Valhalla. Unlike the fal'Cie, we were destined to die, just like the one who created us.

"In the Unseen World, Etro found  Mwynn being consumed by a strange substance known as chaos, a byproduct of Bhunivelze's goal of immortality. With her last breath, Mwynn tasked Etro with protecting the balance of the universe, for if the balance between the Visible and Unseen Worlds were to be disrupted, the universe itself would collapse. She then confided that the death of the Mortal World was not a curse, but in fact, fate.

"Despite this, Etro did not understand what Mwynn had asked of her as she was consumed by the chaos. Etro became lonely, though she felt affection toward humans, who lived only to die. Etro placed a piece of chaos within each human being, which came to be known as the "heart". So long as humans continue to be born and die, then the universe will remain in balance.

"In the Visible World, Pulse and Lindzei carried out their work. Pulse created the planet we call Gran Pulse, and Lindzei created Cocoon, a floating continent above the surface."

"Like Cloudsdale?" Dash asked.

"Sort of," Lightning said," It's....alot bigger. Big enough to fit mountains, cities, and whole oceans.

"Satisfied with their work, Lindzei and Pulse vanished from the world, and humans started to create civilization. Etro took charge of the Gate of Souls, and greeted each human who passed. It was because of this Etro was called the Goddess of Death. And Bhunivelze continues to sleep to this day."

"Did you get all that Spike...?" Twilight asked, her voice shaking a bit at the complex tale.

"...'to this day'! Got it."

"Good," Lightning said," Now that the backstory's over with, I can tell you how I got here."

Every pony turned to her, shocked. They obviously weren't used to stories this complex. Except maybe Twilight, who simply said," Spike...we're gonna need more paper."

"Oh my..." Fluttershy said quietly.

* * *

Twilight listened attentively to the entire story, even as the stack of paper at her side grew to monsterous proportions.

It boiled down to how the fal'Cie of Cocoon ruled the people with cruelty, and how they keep Cocoon functioning. The fal'Cie can further control people by branding them a l'Cie, servants given a task to complete, called a Focus. If they suceed, they're granted eternal life as crystal, though it's basically the equivalent of death, or turned into mindless monsters called Cie'th. Instead of being given specific instructions, they're only given brief visions of their mission.

Several hundred years before the events that brought Lightning to them, a battle known as the War of Transgression took place between Pulse and Cocoon. During the battle, l'Cie from Pulse attacked and ripped a large hole in Cocoon. Eventually, the l'Cie completed their focus and were turned to crystal. The hole was patched with material lifted from Pulse, and Cocoon's citizens have since lived in fear of another invasion. This fear is used by the government, known as the Sanctum, to remain in power.

Apparently Lightning's sister, Serah, was branded by a Pulsian fal'Cie who arrived in the pieces of Pulse used to patch up Cocoon. She was deemed harmful, and the Sanctum "purged" the entire town of Bodhum. Several others met and decided to beg the fal'Cie to release her. Once there, Serah turned to crystal, and everyone present was branded by Anima, the same fal'Cie that Serah encountered. They were scattered across Cocoon, and given a vision of Ragnarok destroying Cocoon.

They re-grouped despite being hunted by the Sanctum, and tried to find a way to defy their Focus. The search lead them to Dysley, the Primarch and ruler of Cocoon, who revealed he was actually the fal'Cie Barthandelus in disquise as a human. Apparently the fal'Cie wanted one of them to become Ragnarok and destroy Cocoon, killing everyone inside. If a large number of people were to die at once, then the Gate of Souls would need to open wide, and the fal'Cie would theoretically be able to meet their Maker again.

Lightning and her friends tried to defy him, but Dysley set it up so that Cocoon will either fall and kill everyone, or everyone will die when the military attacks Dysley and Orphan in a coup d'etat. They decide to find Orphan, the fal'Cie who keeps Cocoon afloat, and protect him. Orphan wants to die, however, and forces Lightning and her friends to battle him. As Cocoon fell, two of those friends, Fang and Vanille, became Ragnarok and stopped the fall by catching Cocoon and transforming into a Crystal Pillar. The Door of Souls opened because many still died, but from it Etro saved everyone from Crystal Stasis.

There were several other sub-plots as well. The two humans who became Ragnarok, Fang and Vanille, were in fact the same two Pulsians who became Ragnarok in the War and created the hole in Cocoon. Another one of the party members, Snow, was Serah's fiance. Sazh joined because his son was turned into a l'Cie as well, and hoped to find a cure. Hope joined so as the kill Snow, who he blamed for his mother's death in the Purge.

It was all very, very confusing.

"I, however, could not rest," Lightning continued. Everypony still watched her, but the mix of late night and long story made everypony's reactions more dulled down," In defying our fate, we changed the Timeline."

"You changed time?" Rarity asked," That sounds strange, even for your world."

"It is...but by defying our Focus, we changed the future. The waves of time ripple back and forth, our actions changing the past as well. I was written out of history."

"Ah beg yer pardon?' Applejack asked.

"Time changed so that I disappeared after Cocoon's fall. Instead I was taken across time by darkness, into the land of Valhalla, a realm detatched from Time and Space."

"Valhalla!" Pinkie said playfully, letting the strange sylables roll on her tongue as she'd been doing most of the night," Oooh, what happened next!?"

"There, I met Etro," Lightning explained.

"You met the Goddess?" Fluttershy asked in awe.

"Yes. She told me how I disappeared and where I was. But she gave me a mission as well," the soldier said," Valhalla isn't actually part of the Unseen Realm, rather it's a dimension between the two worlds. It's there that Etro guards the sea of Chaos.

"If Etro were to die, the Chaos would go rampant, and Valhalla and Pulse would merge into a single, timeless world. People would forget death and live without aging, but they would forget how precious life is. There is no true life in a world like that. She told me someone wanted this to happen, someone wants her to die. Etro wants me to be her knight, but first I need to pass a trial here. I'm not sure what it is though..."

"Sounds like a Focus," Twilight said, stroking her chin," Did you get any visions?"

"No, but she did tell me something," she said, trying to recall," 'Remember, your greatest power comes from the piece of me in all creatures'."

"Hmm...Maybe she wants you to understand the...*yawn*...power of Friendship?" Spike suggested. It was way past his bedtime.

"I doubt that," Lightning said, getting up," But I'll figure it out in the morning. Are there any inns or...?"

"I've got a guest bed in the back," Twilight said," You're welcome to stay here."

"Thank you," the soldier replied.

"No, thank you," the librarian said," This has been really interesting, and I'm sure I'll have a rough draft of your story ready to send Princess Celestia."

Lightning just nodded, going off to sleep.

"Are ya sure about lettin' her stay here Twilight?" Applejack asked," From what ah heard, that girl's an army of one."

"Which is why I'm keeping an eye on her," she replied," I'm sure my magic's strong enough to stop her if she tries anything."

"I'd still be careful if I were you," Rarity said," Lightning is something comepletely different from what we've faced. She's as ruthless as Nightmare Moon, and perhaps more powerful than Discord."

"Aww c'mon, she seems awesome!" Rainbow Dash said," I mean, did you hear those stories? She took down mosters as big as a Manticore like it was nothing, and fought off hordes of guards, and-"

"You also though Gilda was awesome...just saying," Fluttershy added.

"Don't worry!" Pinkie added, still lively as ever despite the ungodly hour," Lightning did all those things to save her sister and home. I think she's A-okay!"

"Perhaps..." Rarity said," I suppose I should go. Cheerilee's probably tired of foalsitting Sweetie Belle, and I need some rest to get a head start on a big order, and-"

"It's fine Rarity," Twilight said," I think we're all pretty tired."

"You got that right," Spike said, using every ounce of strength to keep his eyes open," I'll seeya tomorrow everyone."

Soon, everypony in the room was gone. They said their farewells, and explained to what was left of the crowd that it was harmless. Of course, they'd have to convince them that letting an alien roam around Ponyville was okay, but the librarian didn't want to think about that right now. Instead, Twilight headed upstairs and let sleep crash over her. She'd need it. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.