Queen of Storms

by Via


[16] Summation

Summation


This is where our story truly begins.


Eighteen years ago, the storm raged on.

It was all very official, you see. A storm this large had to be. It was scheduled months in advance, BOWA, the Bureau of Weather Administration, sent out news reports and fliers through all the channels. They did it cautiously because it couldn't afford not to be done as such. If there was a single missing document, any information that had been misplaced - there would be the threat of legal action.

But this is not a story about the administration of weather and all of BOWA's intricacies and inner workings. So, no, there was no bureaucratic or democratic problem with the storm - but rather a much, much more simple one.

Twilight Sparkle was afraid of thunder.

---

Celestia was many things.

In a time of desolation, she was known as Indomita.
In a time of chaos, they had called her Daybringer.
In a time of war, she was known as Sol Invictus, The Unconquered Sun.

She had been described as warm and cold. Cruel and kind. She had been described as a thousand different compliments and two thousand more insults on top of that: all of them conflicting and synonymous. She was all of these things. Yet, she carried with her the strength of the sun - the wisdom of the ages, the power to shape the world under her hooves.

Power meant nothing, as a unicorn filly trembled underneath a blanket.

Her bones rattled - one part from fear, the other part from the echoing of thunder as the rain pelted the glass windows of Celestia's private study. This was the second safest room in the castle - with wards so thickly layered under every inch of wood and stone that a dragon would find themselves hard-pressed to do little more than chip at the building. Twilight Sparkle was safe - but that didn't matter to the filly. Because she was afraid.

A hoof ran over the outline of her barrel. Back and forth, slowly - repeatedly. A slight amount of pressure was applied so that she could feel it through the blanket.

Minutes went by without a word. Thunder rattled their bones. Twilight broke the silence.
"p-princess?" A whisper. A murmur. Barely audible over the sound of the rain and wind - even with the fine-tuned senses of a pegasus that Celestia had.
"Yes, Twilight?" The Sun matched her tone. Her words were kept soft and even - warm and strong.
"...I'm sorry."
She blinked a few times. She hadn't been expecting that. "You're sorry? Whatever for, my faithful student?"
"I'm sorry that I'm afraid."

Oh, Twilight.
Celestia peeled the blanket up, and Twilight's eyes met with Celestia's. Celestia let out a soft sigh and rested her forehead against her students. "Please," she spoke softly. "Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for. Fear is natural."
"...but...you're so busy, and-"
"Twilight Sparkle." She said a little sternly. Not with stern disapproval, but rather the stern voice of a mother telling you something was final. "If I am ever too busy to make time for you when you're afraid or upset, then I am undeserving of the title Princess."

Twilight mulled that over for a little bit. The way she thought reminded Celestia of someone else she once knew - her head tilted to the side, her eyes seemed to look almost glassy as she looked beyond you and found herself lost in a deep train of thought. Then, slowly, a faint smile split her face.

Thunder boomed, and she immediately yelped and retreated under the covers. Celestia shut her eyes and went back to rubbing her back wordlessly for a few moments.

"...are you afraid?" Twilight spoke from within her rather literal safety blanket.
"Of the storm?" Celestia clarified.
Twilight nodded. It took her three seconds of silence to realize that Celestia couldn't see her nod through the blanket. "Yes." She added quickly.
"...I was, once." Celestia's gaze turned to the side as she found herself staring out of the window.
"What changed?" Twilight's head poked out of the blanket, much like a turtle out of her shell.

Celestia paused for a moment. The world had changed, Twilight. But Celestia couldn't tell her the truth - so she settled with a half-truth.

"When I was young, very young - only a bit older than you, I met a dragon." A blatant lie. She had not been a dragon.
"A dragon?" Twilight spoke up. A twinkle in her eyes, no - a sparkle, her head rising and her eyes meeting with Celestia's. "You never told me you'd met a dragon?"

Celestia was thankful for her white coat as her memories wandered. Oh yes, Twilight - I have known many dragons. Dragons that had pulled her wings off her back like an insect. Dragons that had tried to tear the world apart - and it was only through the actions of a mare much better than I that we are still here. I have known dragons that had burned for months on end as their magic left their body. None of these dragons were like her.

"She was an extraordinary dragon. The last of her kind." A borderline lie. It teetered on the edge of truth. "They called her the Queen of Storms." A half-lie. They called her the Storm Demon in her time, but Celestia had made sure that she was honored as the Queen.

"Not the Storm Princess?"
"No, Twilight." She shook her head. "Dragons do not have princes or princesses." They just had everything else under the sun - lords, ladies, kings, queens, emperors, empresses...
"What was she like?"
"She was kind. The kindest person I knew. Honest, loyal, generous. She always knew how to make me laugh." A rather unsubtle nudge towards Twilight's destiny. Celestia hated withholding information from her, but her mark...
"Person?"
"That's what you call a dragon, instead of a pony. Instead of everypony, you say everyone or everyperson."
"Oh. And she helped you...?"
"Back then, there weren't as many buildings. Everyone lived in trees." Celestia stuck her tongue out and prodded lightly at Twilight's side, causing the filly to giggle. "She saw me cowering underneath a tree as one of her storms hit. She asked me why I was afraid, and I said - because it is loud, and I don't want to get hurt."

"She told me." She kneeled close and stared Twilight in the eye. "She told me that the Storm would never hurt me." She reached down and put a hoof on her cheek. A light press against her neck and a thin yellow aura seemed to envelop Twilight for a moment. It went unnoticed by the filly.

"The Storm will never hurt you, either."
"...do you promise?"
"I promise."

It never did.


Twilight Sparkle had never ceased to surprise Celestia, and for that - Celestia loved her like a daughter. How could she not? She had all but raised the girl - and Twilight had brought her sister back from a void that she had thought insurmountable. If all the world were to stand against Twilight, Celestia would stand against the world.

Now, though - she would stand with Luna at her side.

---

Knock. Knock.
It was her private study. Few would bother disturbing her here. Fewer would do so at this hour.

"Come in, Lulu," Celestia spoke evenly, even as joy painted her expression. It was late. She should've been asleep. She couldn't.
Luna entered the room - brow furrowed, movements almost frantic. A look of concern replaced the smile that came at seeing her sister's expression. Celestia stood up.

"What's the matter?"
"...When did you stop?" Luna spoke vaguely. Her voice was powerful as ever - and would've been audible to the entire castle were it not for the soundproofing wards. Celestia arched an eyebrow, simply waiting for her sister to continue.
"Looking for Tempest?"

Celestia shivered lightly. She hadn't heard that name spoken outside of her own memories in an eternity. She had fought hard to keep her in memory: but there was only so much she could do. Tempest's name had all but faded to obscurity - even the myth of the Queen of Storms, published a little over twenty years ago, was barely known.

"...after..." Celestia glanced at the moon. After your banishment, she wanted to say. But, she couldn't bring herself to.
"After We were banished," Luna spoke with an arched eyebrow.
Celestia stared at her blankly. She managed a nod.
"We had thought as much," Luna said. It was a sore topic for Celestia. It was a sore topic for Luna - but nothing delighted Luna quite as much as making her sister uncomfortable in a playful manner. A small price to pay.

"I've told you, Luna. You can drop the Royal Canterlot Voice. For one - it's just us. For another, it's long out of style."
Luna shut her eyes. "Do not change the point. You stopped."
"It was centuries, Luna. Four hundred years - and we hadn't found anything more than a speck. For all we know, she's-"
"She is alive, sister." Luna stepped forward. "I know it."
"Luna." Celestia stood up. "I searched. I truly did. Every continent, every mountain, every town. There's not a trace of her. If she didn't come back when he came back-"
"It wasn't truly him, and-"
"How would she know that-"
"I felt her!" Luna suddenly interrupted. Celestia recoiled slightly from her sudden increase in volume.
"...what?"
"I felt her, sister. When - when the elements...when they tore the parasite from my soul. I felt a power that I had felt once before. Her power."
"What are you saying?" Celestia's voice was weak. It always was, on this subject.
"I am saying that the elements - they're connected to her. The rainbow - do you not remember the rainbow that took that Beast from our world?"

Celestia's head turned to the side. "...I..."
"Do you not believe me? Truly?" Her voice. It stung- it stung with heartbreak.
"No!" The distance was closed between them. Wings and hooves curled around her. "I believe you. It's just - it's...hard. To imagine - that she could've been so close. But so far. I promise, little sister. I believe you. I trust you." She glanced down at the floor. "I just...I'm not sure if I trust myself."

"Trust your trust in me, and trust that I trust you."
"...How?" She whispered. She buried her face into her neck. "How could you trust me? After I - maker, Luna, you're my sister, and I Bound you for-"
"If the situation was reversed," Luna spoke softly. "You would have expected me to do the same. Correct?"
"Yes, but-"
"Celestia." Luna tilted her sister's head up and stared into her eyes. "To our subjects, you may be perfect. But, to me - you are the same filly that cried for an hour because you stepped on a frog."
Celestia's cheeks reddened. She wriggled from her sister's grasp. She stammered and spluttered for words, and Luna grinned as she pressed her assault.
"I wonder, sister dear, are you still afraid of spiders?"

The two found themselves happy for the soundproof warding - as the Sun Herself shrieked like a child as her sister chased her around with an animated plastic spider.


"It's true." The senior guard whispered in a low tone. Leaned over, eyes peeled for the topic of conversation.
"You're bullshitting me. It's just - a statue? Really?"
"It's true. Every month, like clockwork. The first day of the month, she dips down for an hour. You never see her leave, but she obviously does. Cause - y'know. She's Celestia."
"A statue." The newer guard arched an eyebrow.
"A statue! And at the end of every month, her sister does the same thing. Dips down during the night - same statue, man. The ugly one, the one that looks like some foal's art project. "
"...A statue."
"Yes - man, do you have ears? Honest!"
"Man, you need to lay off the cider."

---

"Hello, demon."
"Ahh! The Princess of Nap-Time and Temper-Tantrums."
"You've used that one before."
"I have not. I used the Princess of Temper Tantrums and Nap Time. Not only is it reversed, but it's also non-hyphenated. There's a difference."
"I will take your word for it."
"You should. I'm very good at noticing differences. Like the ones between you and your sister."
"Are you here to attempt to drive a wedge between us, as you did before - ages past? It will not work, Demon."
"I take offense to the title Demon. I think I'd much prefer Fish-Lord. Ooh, or maybe Sandwich-Master! Hm. There's a lot of possibilities. I'll have to mull it over. Besides, I do not need such things. Why, I'd say you two are doing it rather excellently yourself."
She didn't respond.
"Oh, all the world might try. But you know - that no matter what you do, Little Spirit, they'll still look at you as what you are. A monster."
"It takes one to know one."
"R-really? Is that your comeback? Pffft!" How was his laugh so grating and slimy, even when it was telepathic?
"Oh, I am anything but a monster, Luna. I sought to free your world. You endeavored to drown it in an endless night and kill everyone. Are you noting a difference here? I feel there's a significant one."
Luna shut her eyes. "Do you think you can taunt me with that? I have sought forgiveness for the actions of the parasite."
"PARASITE!?" Discord all but shrieked with laughter. "Oh, no, no, Luney-Mooney. That was no parasite."
"That was all you."

---

Sniff. Sniff. Crunch. Crunch. Discord blew his nose overdramatically, then use the same handkerchief to wipe his eyes as he simultaneously snacked on popcorn so goopy and sticky that it was more like taffy than anything else.

Celestia hated taffy. It smelled of the apocalypse to her.
"You truly have faith in her, don't you? How adorable. Really, Celestia." His clothing shifted into stereotypical "grandma" clothing as he gripped onto her cheeks and squeezed, tugging at them in both directions. She wriggled away and flapped her wings, a strong gust of air sending her backward. "If it wasn't so foalish, then I might be amused. Or, if we're going with horse puns - amoosed." His hat was sent flying off by another set of antlers that suddenly sprouted from his skull.

His head then split into two halves as a spiraling bolt of black energy with swirls of blue around it passed through where his head should've been.

"DISCORD!" Luna howled as she lunged at him. She took off the ground with absurd force, her wings beating - the stained glass windows breaking into thousands of fragments as she sought to stab her horn directly into his heart. Or where his heart should be. By the time she reached him, not a single shard of glass had touched the ground.

He dodged her effortlessly, put a dunce cone suppressor ring on her horn, and had her bonk into her sister with a resounding thunk.

"Luna~!" He squealed excitedly. "Oh, I've missed you!" He picked her up and squeezed her in a tight bear hug - quite literally, as he transmogrified himself into a gigantic Ursa Minor that filled up the entire room. It was still undeniably Discord, judging from his head shape and antlers - and his eyes. He had never been able to change his eyes in any of his forms. Not for long, at least.

"Let go of me, beast! Demon!" That was what she tried to say. Instead, she found herself saying - "Throw me off Mount Canterlot, Sandwich-Master!"
He gasped. "You remembered what I wanted to be called! Oh, of course!" Discord turned back into Discord - dressed up as a hoofball batter. Luna was enveloped in a glow as he smashed her in the side with a bat that sent her sailing into the sky.

"Luna!" Celestia shrieked. She leaped up to fly after her sister, but Discord grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back.
"Please, Celestia." He snorted. "She's fine. There's a giant whoopie cushion where she'll land. Probably." Shrug.
"What do you want?" She hissed out.
"What else? What I always have." He loomed over her all of a sudden. More than twice her size when he stood up like this - he had to lean down for their eyes to meet. "Freedom," he whispered.

Celestia's horn began to glow. A power that Equestria had not seen in decades began to bubble up within her. It pulled into her horn, the very force of the sun itself - the air beginning to bubble, twist, and warp and reality seeming to melt. Her horn was wrapped in a corona triple-layered, so much power that it could destroy mountains-

Discord blew it out like a candle. "Really." He let out a soft sigh. "I never understand why you two are so dedicated on wasting both of our time. You cannot hurt me. And I have no desire to hurt you." He grabbed onto Celestia's face and squeezed. "Although I should, Celestia." He whispered quietly - so quietly. "You trapped me in stone. I don't like being trapped in stone."

"Regardless," he teleported a good distance away from her - now standing by the suddenly repaired stained glass windows, staring out into the city with his lion's paw behind his back and his eagle claw containing a goblet of wine. "One of us has to be the bigger draconequus."

"Your freedom is torture. Chaos, madness without reprieve. It's cruelty. It's immoral-"
"-a moral debate, really now? We've been over this. Under my freedom, there are significantly fewer gryphon and dragon invasions. Or - did you forget that? Hmph. We've been over this before. I don't like repeating myself - do you? Do you think it's fun?"

Celestia shut her eyes. "No, Discord." She spoke through gritted teeth. "I do not."

"Then why, Celestia? Why do you do - any of this if it isn't fun? That's what I will never understand about you ponies." He poured the goblet of wine into his mouth. It turned into milk as he did so, staining his face but without a drop getting onto the floor. After it was empty, he threw the suddenly explosive glass away and licked up the milk with a comical slurp.

"What do you want, Discord?" Celestia repeated.
Discord rolled his eyes - quite literally, rolling them like dice. They morphed into dice with a rewind symbol on them, and Discord and Celestia had their positions reversed to where they were just a moment ago. Celestia found the words leaving her mouth beyond her control.

"What do you want?" She hissed out.
"What else? What I always have." He loomed over her all of a sudden. More than twice her size when he stood up like this - he had to lean down for their eyes to meet. "Freedom," he whispered.

"No, Discord." Celestia spoke the moment she had regained control of herself. "You've disposed of my sister-" she cringed at her wording, "temporarily," she added hastily, "and you've left me cornered and caged. And now you're-"
"Monologuing?" Discord finished. "I always monologue. It's my thing." He snorted and blew out a puff of smoke, much like a dragon.
"You're playing at something. Whatever you want - you are not going to get it. I have full confidence that my faithful student and the other elements will-"
"Pffft!" Discord giggled and jumped up into the air, lounging on a couch that started spinning around in rapid circles. "Once I break their wielders-"
"If you-"
"Spiritually, Celestia! Please. I don't kill ponies. Corpses are woefully unchaotic."
"No." Celestia admitted. "Instead, you drive them to insanity."
Discord just shrugged and waved his hand away. The couch disappeared and he fell down onto the ground, before he cut space and coiled around Celestia. He rather enjoyed squeezing around a pony and staring into their face - it made them feel restricted, and tight, and forced them to meet his eyes. "Once the bearers are broken, they can't wield their elements. And even if they could - well. If the spirits they were designed for could barely seal me away...I'll take my chances."

That bit of information took Celestia off-guard. She recoiled. "Designed for?" She whispered.
Discord blinked a few times. "You - you didn't know?"

He laughed. He uncoiled suddenly and hung in the air, tilting his head back as he let out an uproar of laughter. A dozen other Discord's all formed around Celestia, all in various states of laughter as they pointed at her. One of them laughed so hard his head exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"You didn't know!?" He shrieked as he fell to the floor, clutching at his stomach and writhing all over the floor. "Oh, oh that is - that is rich. Her dying gift, and you didn't even know!"

Celestia's mind reeled. Designed for? Her wings felt heavy. Her blood felt like an icy slush. But - of course. How could they not be? It made so much sense, in hindsight. Their marks, damn it - their marks on the tree..

Luna slammed down through the ceiling in a hail of rubble. Discord was taken off-guard: having found the whole situation so comical, that even he barely had the time to grab onto the tip of Luna's horn and block her with an uncharacteristic display of raw magical strength - overpowering part of her hold as he locked her in air and pushed her backwards. The air rippled as Luna's power fought against his.

Discord let out a soft exhale as he sent Luna into a chaotic trampoline that sent her flying backwards into the wall. She groaned as she pushed herself up. Discord wiped a tear from his eye and let out a sigh. "Oh, dear. That was the funniest thing I've heard in ages."

Celestia was still reeling. Her eyes were wide - how had she not noticed? How had she not - she should've, she should have-
"Unfortunately, my dears...I have some freedom to spread. Ta-ta~!" He waved a handkerchief at them before he disappeared with a pop.

---

"Hello, Discord."
He didn't respond.
"I truly wish it didn't have to be this way." She glanced to the side. "Do you remember?"
"I remember everything, Celestia." There was so much pain in his voice. Celestia winced.
"Then you remember that you were good. That there was a balance."
"I remember that under your rule, people died unnecessarily."
"If I was ever in a position to choose between madness and death - I would choose death."
"Then you are a fool. I have nothing more to say to you."
"It may be so." She turned to leave.
"Wait."
She stopped. "Yes, Discord?"
"...Your student."
Celestia's eyes narrowed lightly. "What of her?"
"She - she was...familiar."
Celestia blinked a few times. Discord had never seen the Tree of Harmony - and all the Elements were shaped like their Bearer's mark. How did...

"How so?" Celestia managed after a moment.
There was no response.

Minutes later, Celestia left.


"I'm not going to sugarcoat it, Princess." Commander Cloud Charge spoke flatly. "They're advancing. It's skirmishes now - nothing major. Not even any injuries. But there's no way that they aren't-"
"Commander," Celestia retaliated evenly. "The Gryphons have been our staunch allies for years. I know Gryphon King Redclaw. He is a good man-"
"That's the problem, Celestia." The Commander was one of the few ponies alive who would dare to cut her off as well as call her just Celestia to her face. It was part of the reason he was the commander. "King Redclaw isn't going to be king forever. There are candidates that-"

At that very moment, King Redclaw appeared right over the table. Celestia recoiled. Cloud Charge stepped backwards, his wings beginning to buzz with electricity. Redclaw was a rather imposing Gryphon - armored claws that looked as if they could cut through steel, sharpened wing-tips, and only a head shorter than Celestia.

"I have come to invade!" He said in a high-pitched whiney voice. Celestia let out a soft sigh. "Please, Discord. Show yourself."
At that, Cloud Charge relaxed immediately. As Discord's sinuous body curled around the Commander, he tensed up again. "Hm. If you insist." He said dryly. "I am after all on the leash." Suddenly, Celestia was wearing a black leather outfit, with a leash around Discord's neck.

Celestia went red. Discord snorted. Cloud Charge gaped blankly.
"Commander," she said softly. "Leave us."

Cloud Charge didn't waste a moment as Discord freed him from his grasp, Cloud Charge all but sprinting out of the room. Discord wiggled his eyebrows at Celestia - only to narrowly dodge a bolt of solar plasma that melted the floor partially.

"Oh, pooh. No fun! Not like your sister." He stuck his tongue out as the dominatrix getup disappeared from Celestia, along with the leash. Discord stuck onto the wall much like a lizard. "You called, Celestia?"

"I did." She said flatly. "...I wanted to ask you for a favor." Her eyes turned to the side.
Discord's interest was thoroughly peaked now. Not only was the Princess Celestia herself deigning to ask him a favor - she couldn't even meet his eyes while she did it. He butterfly-swam towards her, floaties appearing on his arms as the air took the appearance of water. He tilted her chin up with a pointer finger and grinned toothily at her. "A favor."

"...I want...I want to see her final moments." She glanced down. Discord arched an eyebrow. "Tempest's." She clarified.
"Hmm. And why should I? Accessing my predecessors memories isn't exactly the most pleasant experience, you see. I'm not quite a fan of the sheer bloodthirst that it brings." He inspected his nails as he casually remarked on the previous Discord's genocidal rampage.

"As a favor."
"A favor." He snorted.
"As a favor for a friend."
That took Discord off-guard. He stared at her for a second before he burst out into a fit of giggles. "I don't see Fluttershy anywhere nearby, Princess."
"You know what I meant."
"I do!" He agreed. "Which is why I just burst out laughing." Discord curled his hand and pointed his pointer thumb at the air. He tugged.

The leash was rather literal. A cage of superconcentrated harmonic magic - woven painfully over the course of months by Celestia, her sister, and Cadance. The power of three alicorns - all concentrated on limiting Discord's abilities to a fraction of what he once had.

"Friends don't leash other friends." He hissed out.
Celestia's horn pulsed. The leash snapped. Discord recoiled as he felt his access to the entire magical pool of the leylines coursing underneath them go from limited to unlimited.
"As a favor, for a friend."
Discord was silent. His mouth opened, closed, then opened again - but he seemed at a loss for words.

Discord snapped his fingers, and the world blurred in pink, red, and yellow-

"They are."
Two alicorns began to dance around the dragon. One was fair, regal, and tall - her horn a pointed spear of light. The other was fearsome, imposing, and strong - her horn a rippling mass of darkness.

And with them followed a sparkle of lavender magic.

Fragments of stone crashed to the ground.

Order killed Discord. Harmony turned Discord to stone. Discord's shattered body suggested that a fusion of both, unsurprisingly, did both.

Tempest stood as Harmony and Order leaked through her scales. The Storm began to sink into her as it tried to repair the damage done to her body - but it had no visible effect. Tempest's eyes were heavy. She looked weak.

Rest. The psychic word was all but yelled. Celestia heard it, and she felt a pull-
Tempest began to lumber into the Everfree, as the leylines watched. And as she entered - the leylines felt her presence mold into the background magic of the world.

"...I searched, you know." His voice was strange. Celestia wasn't surprised - in the past, no magic she or her sister had employed had ever done more than bruise Discord. And here, he had watched Tempest destroy his past self. "When I was born. I looked for her. I couldn't find her." He glanced at her.

"I don't think she's dead, Celestia." He said honestly. "But I don't think she's coming back." He faded from reality with the sound of a train horn. He was, still after all, Discord.

Celestia shut her eyes.
"You're wrong," she whispered as she ran her magic over the scale on the inside of her crown.


A pulse of something ran through the world. The most magically sensitive creatures on the planet were able to feel it faintly - a light tingling on the backs of their neck.

Cadence, a three hundred year old alicorn, had a sudden fit of the sneezes.
Luna, a two-thousand year old alicorn with the body of a one-thousand year old alicorn, felt energy run along her wings and her bones begin to tremble.
Celestia, a two-thousand year old alicorn, felt her horn begin to sting - and she knew exactly what she had to do.
Discord, a slightly-less-than-two-thousand year old draconequus, felt his entire body tremble and wriggle uncontrollably. "Hubba-hubba!" He grunted as he stood up and cast his magical senses over the entirety of Liogella.

Hmm, he remarked to himself idly. Twilight Sparkle just ascended.
It's about time. He rolled his eyes as he sat back down in his seat in his ever-shifting pocket of chaos.

---

Tirek's power was what you would call a soul-weapon.

It was quite literally an amalgamation of spiritual matter that he had soldered onto his soul through a lot of blood. There was a reason that there weren't a thousand centaurs running around with the ability to drain magic: the slaughter of thousands went into the creation of a soul-weapon.

Tirek's soul-weapon had come at a cost, though. His shard of divinity. When fusing his soul to his soul weapon, his shard of divinity had become so diluted that - even if he was filled with all the magic in the universe, he would never ascend.

But it also meant he would never burst. And that was the method through which Tirek, infused with the raw power of all of Equestria, found himself coming to blows with the Spirit of Magic herself.

The mountain and ground splintered under their assault. Magic that had not been used in centuries was brought back into the world - and the Tree of Harmony felt this.

"It appears we are at an impasse."

Under her roots, something began to stir.


Two months after Tirek - the Tree of Harmony died.

This would've come as no surprise to anyone intently studying it. After Discord's return and the plundervines began to sprout - its magic had began to wane. The Elements of Harmony had increased its lifespan, as well as destroyed the plundervines that attacked it...but it was still on the down-hill.

It died over the course of a week. Its luster began to fade, its roots began to calcify - until it was little more than a tree-shaped rock in the Everfree.

It was uprooted days later - by something massive. Tearing its way out of the ground, collapsing the cavern the Tree was in with little more than its head. Its body was scarred and covered in scratches from plundervines that had grown into her scales - but they were snapped back or torn apart by the heat that began to roll off of it's body.

It's eyes narrowed as it smelt something familiar. So it sniffed again - and again. Until it caught the faintest scent of something - something from their nightmares.

Rage bubbled up within her. Such rage that the Everfree began to burn - flames beginning to roll over her. The ground began to tremble. Her claws dug into the earth as the storm began to form above her, broiling with bone-rattling thunder and blinding lightning. She recognized this smell. She knew this smell.

Taffy.

The Queen of Storms planted her claws into the ground, and let out a blood-curdling roar - the roar of a draconic. "DISCORD!" She howled.
A few miles away, a draconequus flailed out of his seat and dropped his molten iced tea. "Tempest!?" He shrieked.

-