Disclaimer: I do not own MLP

Chapter 9: questing

Lightning doubted that they would make an effective team; Rainbow and Pocket were not on friendly ground; Twilight was the only pony he felt he could trust here; well Twilight and Luna. "Can you two stop arguing? This is the exact kind of power the Nightmare feeds on!" Lightning snapped. Twilight was confused, "What's wrong Lightning? You seem stressed." Lightning looked at the floor of the chariot, "I am stressed; we need to stop this thing that wants to take our skulls and crush them." The brutal reality of what they needed to do set in, "So what's the plan Lightning?" Sketch asked; Lightning looked uncomfortable, "Me? What did I do to become leader?" Luna looked at him kindly; "You are the descendant of the leader; you also have shown traits that only a leader can show." Lightning looked at the floor again, "I think that we should figure out how to destroy it; the elements didn't do it before; only trapping it then purging it." Luna winced at the mention of her imprisonment; Lightning continued, "Is there any OTHER thing that can stop the Nightmare?"

Celestia knew exactly where they needed to go; the original place that the elements were. That location was unknown; they needed to find a wizard pony on the edge of the griffin kingdom; he could tell them where to go. "A wizard pony? That's perfect for the next issue." Sketch was in full comic mode. "Is there anything we can use to defend ourselves better?" Lightning asked Celestia. Celestia nodded; leading them to a chamber through a secret door in the main palace room; Lightning took note that he was in the stained-glass window depicting the defeat of the Nightmare within Celestia. (If you have no idea what I am talking about then you didn't heed my warning at the beginning of the fanfiction; read the third party before reading this!)

Celestia handed Twilight and Sketch swords; she gave Luna Lightning and Rainbowdash wing blades. They were used in combat in the air; Lightning nicknamed his blades: Diablo. "See Pocket? We didn't have to bring any spare hoof guards; we can do this." Lightning felt his heart lifting; along with his mood. "We can bring you south as far as Ponyville outskirts; from there you must travel by hoof." Celestia warned them. "How are we going to get there exactly? We can't just take a chariot; that would waste too much time." Sketch pointed out. Lightning felt his gut clench, "Are we going to teleport?" Celestia smiled grimly, "Yes; you must go from there." There was a flash of light; and the ponies were off.

"Come on! The Nightmare isn't going to stop itself!" Rainbowdash shouted impatiently, "Well you and Luna are the only ponies here who can fly!" Pocket shot back. "Stop arguing you two; it isn't getting us any closer to the tower." Sketch reasoned. "He's right; we need to get to the wizard before the Nightmare figures out we're going to stop it." Twilight agreed. Lightning smiled; being with his friends lifted his spirits, "I think the Nightmare already knows what we're up to." Lightning muttered; Lightning saw the confused looks and felt obligated to tell them. "If the Nightmare is after the five non-royalties here; it should have kept an eye on us." Luna huffed at the thought, "Twilight is technically royalty."

Apparently Twilight became royalty when shining armor married cadence. "Shining armor! We forgot to tell the others that we left!" Twilight panicked; but Lightning managed to calm her down, "They'll get told by the princess; we need to keep moving." The group of ponies then came to see a mountain. "We really need to pick up the pace." Sketch mentioned. "Luna; would you mind telling us what our ancestors were like?" Pocket asked the princess of the night. Luna sighed, "Sketch's ancestor was a mapmaker; a very cunning one too. She could make a map as fast as an ursa can get annoyed." Sketch was trying to get up the path, "So drawing things runs in the family? I should have guessed." The ponies had made almost no progress in scaling the mountain, "This is going to take a while isn't it?" Rainbowdash asked.

Applejack met with Pinkie Rarity and Fluttershy; they met up in the darkened library. "Twilight? So Twilight Rainbow and Lightning are all missing!" Applejack sounded dejected; Fluttershy stuck her head out off the kitchen, "Spike isn't here either!" Rarity almost lost it, "My Spikey-wikey is missing?" Applejack stopped her before she went overboard, "We need to go find them! Uh… any ideas where we should start looking?"

Authors note: I am not going to upload as many chapters as I originally could; but I still will; just for you! My chapter was WAY shorter than I wanted it to be; sorry! Skarfly out.