The storm kept hammering the central plaza, winds high enough that the griffons and pegasi had stopped their flying outside of the immediate shelter of the ring of six buildings. Within the circle, it was calmer, though still inundated with rain, and a thick Riverfall poncho was all that stood between the elements and Shinespark's fuzzy orange coat.
Valey and Nyala followed along at her sides, the former also hugging a poncho to her chest and the latter without fur to worry about. They were the ones who had left the Dream following several more rounds of careful discussion punctuated by breaks to ensure everyone had time to think, and it wasn't difficult to find their target.
"Good evening," Chauncey greeted, standing next to the overflowing fountain in his fancy robes, not at all looking like he had just suffered a fit of anger... though a close look told all three that he was definitely missing the earpiece he had worn before. "About time I saw someone else willing to brave the elements. How's Sirena doing? There've been reports that Melia is missing, so I hope she hasn't left your care."
The rest of the plaza was deserted save for ponies darting along covered skybridges, and the rain was loud enough Shinespark didn't have to worry about speaking freely. "We took Sirena back to our ship," she answered. "She wants to lay low for a few days in case something like this happens again. You don't have to worry about her."
"Good," Chauncy replied. "Those are some wise choices you made. The girls mean a lot to me, so anything you can do for them is sorely appreciated."
"Yeah, well..." Valey looked out from beneath her hood, signature beret stuffed in there as well. "We figured we'd come pass along the message."
The plan was simple: tell the truth, and only the truth, about what had happened, yet leave out any guesses or suspicions that would involve a commitment. "She wasn't in a good way," Shinespark said. "Her brand had started to crack, physically. Luckily for her, we had seen something like that before, and might've been able to stop it from getting worse. Time will tell for sure."
At that, a look of shock flickered across Chauncey's usually-controlled face, and his eyes hardened. "Say that again."
"Her brand. Cutie mark. Butt sigil." Valey patted herself beneath the poncho. "Looked like you'd taken a dinner plate and chipped all the edges. Don't suppose you'd know anything that could cause that? 'Cuz she's kinda afraid to come back out here until she knows what it was."
Chauncey actually moved, stepping closer and appraising them. "Intriguing. I can't say I've ever encountered an affliction like that, yet you say it's plaguing my girls?"
"Sirena's was," Nyala answered, trying to participate as well. "She said Melia's was too, but I didn't see her."
Chauncey faced away from them, yet gave a dangerous look out of the corner of his eye. "What are the odds they'll be alright?"
Shinespark frowned. "We don't know enough to say. Especially for Melia, since we couldn't find her. Sirena seems to be fine for now, but that's why we're looking for a cause. The last time we saw this, it happened due to mishandling a dangerous magical artifact. Anything you know about large amounts of experimental magic would be helpful to tell us if you want us to do the best we can, and you seemed to think this was out of your league. Especially if it has to do with harmony magic."
"Those are some interesting words you're using, there," Chauncey said, watching with beady eyes. "You mean to tell me you've been studying harmony magic?"
Shinespark raised an eyebrow. "Have you?"
Chauncey almost chuckled. "It's the underlying principle behind how their songs work! Of course I've studied it. And here you are, telling me I've not only met another expert in the field but any knowledge I've gained might be helpful in healing some malady with my girls. Never thought I'd see the day. Why don't you three come with me? I'd like to introduce you to some of my laboratories."
Shinespark glanced at Valey, and Valey shrugged. "Seems like a good idea to me."
If it was a trap, Valey hadn't detected anything. Shinespark nodded. "That sounds like it would be worthwhile! I'm eager to see-"
Suddenly, a rumble deeper than thunder sounded in the far distance, and the cloud cover fluctuated above like the disturbed surface of a pond. Shinespark jumped, Valey hissed, and Nyala glanced worriedly at the sky, rain trickling into the empty eye slits on her visor. "What was that!?"
Chauncey raised an eyebrow in interest. "Haven't been present for a good soaking in the Empire before, have you? If Sirena's stable, my laboratories can wait. You three might want to head over where you can see the sky, oh... that way." He pointed beneath his robes out through the slit between the theater and the commerce building, to the southwest.
Suspicious, Valey stalked through the opening, stopping against the edge right before she became exposed to the storm's full winds. Shinespark huddled to a stop beside her, and Nyala was too heavy to need to worry about being blown away.
KROOOOOOM! There was another rumble in the distance, and something massive struck the storm from above. A shockwave of lightning bolts rippled outward from the impact and raced along the clouds, and with them the rain quintupled in force for an entire second... and then stopped, as if the clouds were a dripping sponge that had just been wrung clean.
Visibility improved from the plaza's width to the horizon, the clouds a foamy gray sea above the river and miles and miles of farmland. Another shockwave touched down in the distance, the clouds buckling in a distended lump toward the ground that was the size of the central hill... and seconds later, the sound arrived, separated from the sight by the sheer distance it had to travel.
Rays of sunlight leaked through between tears in the clouds as the battered storm tried to resume its shape and continue raining. Then it was struck again, splitting completely, cracks splintering all the way to Shinespark's perch and showering the land with sunlight. A hole had been torn straight through the storm in the distance, and as they watched, a huge, reaching paw stretched down through the hole, claws extended, and slammed into the underside of the sea.
With a noise like tearing wool, a strip of clouds a mile long was torn from the blanket like a cat shredding carpet, revealing the figure who had caused this: wings spread, so large she was visible miles away, there was a sphinx, rapidly chewing the strip of clouds to nothing. Garsheeva attacked the storm again, yanking free another strip of clouds and not even bothering to dismantle it before going for another still. The storm rapidly began to lose structure and collapse; Garsheeva was tiny compared to it, yet her attacks held a wide-reaching destruction. Even at that distance, she couldn't have been too big to fit comfortably in the central plaza, yet she blasted back and forth, disarming the storm and clearing an entire countryside with a single set of paws.
When the winds were gone and the clouds bullied into submission, drifting uncertainly in shredded patches around the sky with the bulk of their water and energy banished by Garsheeva's magic, she finally deemed her work done. Spreading her wings even fuller, the sphinx hovered in the air for all to see, letting the sun burn around her and casting a shadow across a distant valley... and then angled herself and flew, jetting with supersonic speed beyond the southern horizon.
"...Okay." Valey swallowed, voice slightly weak. "I always knew fliers could do a little stuff with clouds, and all... Never really tried it myself, since the storms are lousy everywhere I've lived... but that was seriously cool. Am I allowed to have a thing for her?"
"One creature just leveled an entire storm," Shinespark whispered, completely awestruck. "The last time I saw that..."
"The storm came from the south, right?" Nyala asked, the shadow of the southern mountains still visible on the horizon despite being a full day's flight away. "Why did she wait to break it until now?"
"So the northerners can have their share of watching her do that, too," Chauncey explained. "Yakyakistan and the Misty Mountains worship their runes and sigils and ancient ways, but faith in the Empire works in a slightly different manner. Here, everyone can see the power of a god merely by stepping out their front door."