Title: The Seventh Element
Rating: T (slight gore and violence)
Chapter: Chapter 21 The Great Seal
AN: DEAR GOD. I’m so sorry for taking such a long time updating! I just got a new videogame and once I started playing… Yeeeaaaahhh… I swear I didn’t notice all this time go by! Oh well. At least I’m back. I’m saying this now.
To the people who want to see Lyra go crazy with her hands or whatever the meme is. I AM NOT GOING TO FULFILL YOUR MEMES FOR YOUR OWN AMUSEMENT. I’m not here to just fulfill memes that others in the brony community have made, I’m here to tell a story. A story that I worked hard on to try and achieve the standards I set for myself. I do have some memes in store for the story, but NOT all of them.
***

Glenn mused to himself, trying to read what else the runes said. Gilda started to breathe quickly, feeling as if she was going to puke at any moment.

“Glenn, please. We need to get out of here. I don’t like the way that wall looks…” She said in a small almost nonexistent voice.

Glenn, however, was too immersed in the runes to answer her. He smiled, “I can’t believe it. We just found something monumental Gilda!” He turned to her and hugged her tightly, “you have no idea what we’re looking at, do you?” Gilda shook her head and tried to pull Glenn to the entrance so they could leave, but Glenn didn’t notice. “This must be the place where the great King Lunaris rests.”

“Yeah, yeah, Great King. Whatever, can we go?”

Glenn shot her a shocked look, “leave?” He laughed, “Why? This could give us insight on what the land was like before the rule of the Equestrian Monarchs, Celestia and Luna. This could show us history that may have never been recorded!”

“Glenn, I know this means a lot to you, but please, I’m getting creeped out in here. Can we go and come back tomorrow?” Glenn stopped and really looked at Gilda. Her skin was paled and her fathers were ruffled, as were her furred arms. He smiled and kissed her cheek.

“If it means that much to you, we can leave.” He took her paw in his and led her away from the wall. Instantly, once out of the cavern, Gilda visibly improved. She let out a sigh and led Glenn into the sky and back to their cottage.

Once they had gotten back to their cottage, Gilda immediately threw herself onto their bed. “Jeez!” She hugged a pillow to her chest, her heart hadn’t calmed down since she first stepped into the cavern. “I don’t want to go back there. I get a really bad feeling from in there.”

Glenn shrugged his bag onto the table and started to flip through his notes. “Bad as in how?” He questioned as he set himself on a stool and crossed a clawed foot over his knee

Gilda stayed motionless, for some reason, she saw glimpses of terrifying images in her mind. She, for some reason, knew that they weren’t figments of her imagination, that they were real events that happened. In her mind, she saw these black melting creatures with blood red eyes tearing into cities of different races, ripping them open and feasting on their still alive bodies.

She saw them screeching and attacking whomever they could get their claws on and mercilessly rip them to shreds, almost as if playing with them. She could even hear the screams of ponies, Gryffins, even dragons as these things attacked them head on.

She shook and started to breathe heavily as she then imagined them roaming from town to town, rotting everything they touched and even sucking the nutrients from the ground they walked on. And the smell…

Great Grymould the SMELL…

Gilda couldn’t take it as the smell of those creatures appeared in her nostrils. The smell of rotting flesh, feces, food and other smells all rolled into one disgusting pile of black goop that moved and fed off the living. She gagged and puked on the floor. The images, sounds and smell that came into her mind were too much for her and she puked the contents of her stomach on to the dirt floor.

Glenn dropped his notepad and rushed to Gilda, holding back her feather hair and patting her back reassuringly as she retched. “Just get it all out.” He soothed as she eventually stopped puking. She then cried, not just from the burning in her mouth, but also from everything her mind had shown her.

She let it all out as Glenn held her to him. He pet her head and let her cry all over him. “Please… Glenn… Don’t- Don’t… Don’t go back in there…” she sniffed, “…Don’t go back in there.” Gilda shook as the thoughts of those horrible creatures came to mind once more, causing her to shudder.

Glenn nodded and continued to stroke her head, “I promise my love. I shall not go back if it distresses you so.” He soothed her quietly, slightly aghast that his strong and confident Gilda was reduced to a blubbering mess. He was half tempted to know what caused this outburst and shattering of self composure. But he’d have to wait a while before delving into that pot. He continued to soothe her until she relaxed and let herself fall into sleep. He lie her down on the bed and covered her with a blanket, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

He then went back to the table and flipped open his note pad, finding the page with the runes he had written down. To most eyes, they would only be scribbles that made no sense, but to him, and very few others all over the world, he saw the true meaning behind them. He knew that each curve, each varying thickness of lines, and each length of line all held a special purpose. He sighed, “if only I had rune chalk, I would have been a fine Rune Crafter.” He let his thoughts sway to a future that he could have had. He could have had riches, riches so he could fix the town. He could have had something better to offer Gilda, he could have offered a better diamond that the old dingy one he had found her. All he wanted was to just help everyone.

He shook his head and cleared away those thoughts. He was rich with friends, and the diamond he found Gilda was just right for her. He didn’t need anything else. But sometimes, his mind wandered to the big, ‘what if’. He then brushed some dirt away from the dirt floor, and came to a small trap door. He pulled it open, and there lay a white box. He brought the box out and wiped away the protection spell, written in black coal. Once the spell was lifted, the top of the box defused from the rest and created a removable top, which he pulled open.

Inside, laid a thick old tome that read: A Master’s Guide to Rune Making and Rune Deciphering.

He carefully pulled the tome out and laid it gently on the table, flipping it open, he flipped over to the second half of the tome. He then started with all runes starting with Alpha. Glenn sighed, “this is going to be a long night…” he groaned as he started to match the runes he found with those in the tome. Most of the time, the runes didn’t match the ones in the tome by just a hair of thickness in one line.

And as Glenn worked, he didn’t even notice a single crow fly to his hut and perch itself on the hay thatched roof. It let out a caw as it ruffled its feathers from the long journey.

Back at the Palace…

I am going to personally murder whoever just hit me with that chair.

Sky Light barely even flinched from the blow of the chair.

As he slowly turned to face the holder of what was left of the chair, he practically jumped with joy when he heard Twilight say as she grasped her hair, “Rainbow!? What are you doing!?”

Rainbow Dash held the chair legs in each hand, and soon just let them fall from her grasp. She knew this pony was unreal, but was he so unreal that he just ignored a chair being broken over his back? Sky Light finally turned all the way around, and even though his composure gave nothing away, he was dripping with rage at the pony that dared do that to him. “Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing Drop out?”

Rainbow stared at him, slack jawed. No pony was supposed to be standing after they broke a chair over them. She sputtered, not quite comprehending what just happened. As Celestia was entering the dining area, she looked up long enough to see Sky Light punch Rainbow Dash in the jaw so hard, she flew through a window.

He wasted no time and was sending himself off into the air and chasing after Rainbow.

“What is great Solaris is going on in here!?” Celestia stammered as she saw Sky Light chasing after Rainbow Dash.

Sky Light snarled as he caught up to Rainbow, promptly grabbing her right ankle and swinging her into the palace walls, not caring that he heard some bones crack. He let her go and swiftly kicked her in the stomach, causing her body to bounce back into the walls again, causing her body shape to imprint. “Attacking your superior from behind!? You coward!!” He kicked harder, causing Rainbow to spit up blood. He sneered, “First you tend to the skies without a license, then you refuse the orders of your commanding officer, now you attack your commanding officer from BEHIND!?” He moved backwards, watching as Rainbow slowly peeled from the deep impression she left on the wall. She fell to the ground, her body screaming in pure agony as the pain amplified inside her.

Yet she didn’t want to just lay there.

She felt a huge rush of adrenaline inside of her, causing her to pick herself back up. She stood on her two feet, wobbling slightly as she leaned herself against the palace walls. She looked up at Sky Light and glared her most fiery of glares at him.

He looked back at her with an apathetic expression. The mare before him lasted through his beatings, and was strong enough to pull herself back up from the massive internal damage he caused her.

Yet she was a stubborn fool. A cocky brat that only lives off her fame. And those were two things that he would never overlook.

It’s stuff like that that gets ponies killed.

Before their staring contest could go any further, Celestia had flown down to them, her eyes blazing with pure rage. “Sky Light! What is the meaning of this!?” She yelled in an uncharacteristic way.

Sky Light snorted and bravely turned towards the princess. “You gave me absolute authority over everything that happens outside the palace and with the soldiers. Drop out over there is part of our air force, so that means I have authority over her.”

Rainbow’s eyes darted to the Princess, what does he mean by absolute authority Princess?

Celestia glowered at Sky Light, “I know what I said Sky Light. But I did not authorize you to brutalize one of the Elements of Harmony!” Sky Light wiped his face, not even slightly bothered by the glowering princess by his side. “You have a lot of explaining to do. Come.” She turned and flew back to the dining hall, leaving Sky Light and a bleeding Rainbow Dash. Sky Light, who just wanted to get everything over with, just picked up Rainbow by the waist and flew back to the dining hall. Once he landed he unceremoniously dropped Rainbow to the floor.

Twilight, Rarity, Butterscotch and Apple Jack rushed to Rainbow’s side, all of them asking her if she was alright. Twilight used what knowledge she knew about healing and set to work on Rainbow.

Celestia was seated at the head of the table, her eyes much darker than normal. “Sky Light. You better have a good explanation for what just happened.” She ordered calmly.

The other ponies all voiced the same thought as Venom Mix just shimmied into the room from the back entrance. “Well. I didn’t know tonight’s dinner was to be accompanied with a show! How delightful!” He took his seat and started to munch on a slice of bread, “I do hope the actors practiced their parts correctly. There’s nothing worse than bad acting in a bad show during dinner.” Celestia paid him no mind, opting to instead listen to Sky Light explain himself.

Sky Light crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eye at the ponies before him, “well, since it seems that the crowd is biased here, I better shed hard, true facts.” He let his gaze fall on every pony in the dining hall. “Drop out over there, was working the skies all this time without a Flight License. This means she never graduated from Flight School, meaning she dropped out. This is funny, since something like this would be noticeable and should have been dealt with in the beginning.” Sky Light glared at Celestia, “And as your duty as Princess, you should have set some plans to cure the problem when it started. Since she’s from CloudsDale. But I’m sure you must have been busy with other matters Princess, like your little obsession with pranks? A monarch such as yourself, you should have been paying attention that an unqualified flier had been working the skies in Ponyville, which I might add, is not even 100 miles away from the palace.” Celestia’s mouth dropped open.

He wasn’t finished. His gaze then left to land on Rainbow’s face, “And once I found out that Drop out here didn’t have a license, I took over her temporary position of leader of the weather team here in the Celestial Palace. She, however, did not take that lying down, so instead of doing the rational thing and just staying down and asking what she could do to get back in the sky, she resisted me. She resisted me and insulted me. Then, she had decided to take my test, knowing… Knowing that my Flight test is the hardest to pull off in all divisions of Flight Academy. She didn’t take her time, and ended up rushing and trying to fill in her petty little quota instead of paying attention. She failed, and then she threw a tantrum.

“And instead of just accepting defeat, she accused me of being unfair to her and attacked me. I gave her many warnings, yet she persisted. And once she didn’t heed my final warning, I retaliated.”

Twilight couldn’t stand listening about her friend’s torture any longer, she stood and exclaimed, “How dare you!” Venom Mix groaned and rolled his eyes. “How dare you do that to my friend? Sure, she is a drop out, but that doesn’t give you a right to beat her! She is a great flier and-”

“So just because she is a great flier, means she can do whatever the Tartarus she wants!?” Sky Light responded quickly. He growled and stepped towards Twilight, “No. No pony is above the law. And the fact that every pony here believes that she gets a free pass to do whatever she wants because she’s a great flier isn’t right. You, the Princess’s student, should know that no pony gets a free pass. Unless you have the education, she aren’t qualified to have the rights of an educated pony! It is the basis of our society, that every pony be treated fairly, yet you stand here and defend her. You should be ashamed of yourself!” Twilight flinched back with every word spoken by the older pony, practically seeing the rage radiating from him. “And don’t you dare bring this up again. Ponies like her don’t deserve to be in the sky. It’s ponies like her that can get other killed, what with her attitude, ego and her temper.”

“…So as I was saying… Drop out attacked her commanding officer, not once, not twice, but three times. Three.” He looked to see that every pony was now staring at him wide eyed. “And before any of you say it, yes, I did hit her. But I shall only offer this in response. I shall never lay a hoof upon an innocent mare.” He let his gaze fall to Rainbow, who was seething with rage at him, “but she is not. She attacked first, and has shown she is not a fully grown mare. Tartarus, she’s not even a filly. She’s just a disobedient foal.”

Venom Mix chuckled and leaned towards Celestia, “I like him.”

“I have witnesses. Soarin and SpitFire!” He said as said ponies just entered the dining hall, “They saw the whole thing, so if you want confirmation on what happened, ask them.” He strode over to the table and pressed his palms to the surface. His red eye blazed with determination, “Now that that my first explanation is over, I must explain why I’m here.” He turned to Celestia who had not moved since the beginning of the speech. “Princess Celestia summoned me here because she doesn’t feel safe in the palace. And now I can see why.

“All of you are a disgrace! Twilight Sparkle is so agitated that she infects every pony she’s near. Apple Jack over there is practically seething in anger at Solaris knows what; Drop out over there is a bad influence on all ponies she’s around, Pinkie Pie… Solaris dammit I think that mare is dead! The atmosphere of the palace is so thick with tension; I could cut it with a knife! And all of you are supposed to be the Elements of Harmony! To me so far, there isn’t a stitch of Harmony here! It’s like Discord is running the palace! All of you should be ashamed with yourselves!

“But you all have had it too easy. All of you got away with playing and dicking around, but not anymore. I’m going to whip all of you into shape and get order back in the palace. And since Celestia already signed it, I have complete authority over all of you outside the palace, in the skies and the training wing of the palace! By the time I’m done with all of you, you will all be perfectly in shape, emotions in check, and every… single… little… detail… will be dealt with.” He straightened up, “Do I hear myself clearly soldiers!?”

Twilight, Apple Jack, Rainbow and Celestia were about to object, but the voice of Big Mac stopped them.

“He’s right.”

They snapped their heads at Big Mac, about to ask if he was serious. “Now don’t y’all give me that. We all ‘ave been pretty lazy. And well, not to be rude, but jackasses as well.” He raised his hands in defeat, “All the pony wants is to just bring peace and harmony between us all. E’en though ah don’ agree with his meth-ods, he has his heart in the right place.”

Sky Light smiled softly, glad to at least have one pony on his side, albeit not all the way. “Big Mac! He beat up Rainbow!” Apple Jack exclaimed as she gestured to Rainbow Dash.

Back in the Gryffin Village…

Glenn wiped the sweat from his forehead. Nonstop work with Runes was a tiring task that could drain away one’s emotionality. He scanned over his work and was finally able to read what the Runes said. As Glenn’s eyes fell onto the first rune, the paper they were written on burst into flames in his paws. He let go of the flame and to his amazement, the flame did not move from its place mid air. The flame changed color from red to blue, the smoke formed into the tiny shape of the creatures that they had become.

His cheekbones were high, his nose thin, and eyes as dark as the night sky. His long magic-filled horn appeared on his head, along with his long wings, each a darker flame. On his head, made from the white flames, was his helmet with the Equestrian symbol upon it. Glenn widened his eyes as realization dawned upon him.

This was King Lunaris the Just, the monarch before Celestia and Luna. Older brother to the Sun King, Solaris the Great.

“Whomever hast found thine grave, turn away. For beyond thine grave, holdst the ultimate evil.” Glenn watched as the small form of Lunaris spoke, entranced by the past ruler’s words. “We had hoped for thine grave to be undisturbed, to lie in peace and serenity. But now, thou who sees this message, know this.” He raised an arm and pointed at Glenn, “Leave this place, and never return. Lest thou shalt be thine first to go.”

At this, Lunaris faded away into nothing, leaving Glenn petrified to his spot.

He shook slightly, unbelieving about what he had seen. Why is that place King Lunaris’s grave? What is the ultimate evil?

Why was Lunaris the same shape as they all are now?

Before, all the greater beings were merely animals, that’s how it has always been.

…Right?
DONE!
Wow, this chapter just did NOT want to be finished! I’ll tell ya what, always plan everything that’s gonna happen. If youre going to make a change, think about all the cause and effects. That damn rule had me in a rut. Though… I did enjoy brutally beating Rainbow Dash again. She was beaten twice in the same day.
ANYWAY. Read, rate, review, favorite and subscribe! See ya! LOL I’m going to hell.