//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: The Tempest 
// by Orkus 
//------------------------------//

The sounds of the Friendship Festival, once more put on with the victory over the Storm King and his forces, sparked the night air with a sense of energy not common at its time.

Together, ponies of all kinds, hippogriffs with features like that of eagles, adventurous pirates, and even the large, brutish Storm Guard of the shattered king's army joined in on the celebrations with mirth and merriment abound. As they danced and cheered they were entertained by the exquisite songs of the famed pegasus pop star, Songbird Serenade, her angelic voice matched by a scarce few, if any in the land.

As the night reached its climax and all the partygoers rooted again for the valor and bravery displayed by their heroes who had saved all of Equestria from certain destruction and tyranny most vile, a sizzling bolt of sapphire light shot forth from one of them to the air. The screaming projectile was not a firework, but a bolt of magic. And as it reached the pinnacle of its ascent, much like the firework it resembled, it exploded in a burst of fantastic, beautiful color, sending off another bolt in an unstable reaction that did the same thing, and another after that one, like a chain. Each was ablaze with a vibrant, breathtaking hue of its own that provoked gasps of awe from the observing crowd below. And for lack of anything they could compare with what they witnessed, what they saw was an absolutely incredible rainbow in everything but shape.

As the magic faded and the sky was again rendered clear, the festival continued with newfound life. And while everyone and everypony danced and skipped about, immersing themselves in all that could be offered in their joyous freedom, a small orb of light only barely distinguishable in shape and size from the minuscule specks of stars it seemed to descend from, floated down from the heavens in a steady stream before pausing in its movements.

It merely stayed up there for a time, looming over the oblivious masses like a disembodied eye observing them all. Sometimes it was motionless, sometimes it bobbed to and fro as though dancing to the beat of the music, but it was quiet throughout. Quiet in the most insidious manner obtainable, perhaps, but quiet nonetheless.

It stayed where it was until a sense of calmness began to set over the land and all that went on in the festival began to die down. The hippogriffs were still as full of vigor as when they arrived, but they, too, soon readied themselves to depart back to their kingdom in the far south. As many of them started speaking their earnest good-byes and took to the sky on their great, powerful wings, the wispy orb stealthily descended upon the city in silence.

Well... near-silence, anyway.

"Nee-hee-hee!" An ecstatic laugh escaped the orb of light, unheard by anyone other than itself. It continued its journey down to the earth, floating around like a lost, demented bubble bouncing into some of the more currently-unoccupied parts of the city.

"A place of warmth, so recently touched by malice. So... good to see," it said to itself in a high and delighted voice that was not exactly male in sound, but also not quite feminine in pitch either. It drifted lower, its radiant light dimming into almost nothing as it chose a spot to bed down for the night, giddy at the prospect of what sorts of strings it could pull once daybreak came to greet it. "So recently touched by extraneous havoc. So good, yes... for me. Nee-hee-hee!"