Queen of Storms

by Via

[17] Truth

Twilight Sparkle was many things.

It was no surprise that this statement was true. The student of Celestia herself, chosen for her magical skill and aptitude that matched Celestia's despite her being a mere child. Where it took most unicorns days to learn spells, the prodigal unicorn found herself able to learn them in hours - if not create them on the spot in moments.

She had fought hydras. She had purified the Spirit of the Moon and outplayed the Spirit of Chaos himself. And now - she was one of the three ponies that Discord would call a friend. Well, more accurately - frenemies. They disagreed on everything, butted heads, and traded slightly barbed words and snippy, accurate half insult, half-jokes. But at the end of the day? They were friends. After Tirek - well. Discord would never forget what Twilight Sparkle did for him - and Twilight would go to the end of the world for any of her friends. Even for Discord.

Well - maybe with a little bit more of a grumble than usual. Details.

And while Twilight Sparkle was unique - she woke up with a feeling that this day would absolutely not be. That it would be mundane, normal, and utterly unremarkable.

She was correct. The day after, on the other hoof- was anything but. Twilight found herself fresh out of bed, drinking coffee - when she felt a tingling in her horn. She was no stranger to odd tinglings in her horn, post her ascension - her magical sensitivity had gone off the charts. But this one felt...familiar, somehow.

"Spike?" She called. There was no response. She shut her eyes. She hated how big the castle was. "SPIKE?!" She called, much louder.
"YEAH, TWI?! WHAT'S UP?!"
"IS THERE A LETTER FROM THE PRINCESS?"
"DID YOU ASK IS THERE A LETTER FROM THE PRINCES?"
"NO- Ugh." Twilight promptly downed the rest of her scalding hot coffee in one chug, then teleported right in front of Spike with a pop.

"A letter, from the princess." Twilight said with a tone of exasperation.
"Uh. No? Why? Did something happen?" He suddenly looked a little panicked.
Twilight shook her head. "No, it's - probably nothing." Pause. "...I just felt a tingling."
"...A tingling?"
"In my horn."
"A tingling in your horn," Spike said dryly. He arched an eyebrow - or, more accurately, his eye-ridge.
"It was familiar." She added as if that explained it.
"A familiar tingling in your horn. You wanted to know if Princess Celestia sent you a letter because of a familiar tingling in your horn." The snark in her adopted son's voice was almost visible.
"...I could've meant Luna." She said in a rather small voice, tapping her hooves together. Even with wings and the strength of an earthpony - Twilight couldn't help but be Twilight.
"Did you mean Luna?"
"No, but-" She was cut off - not by words, but by the arched eyebrow of a particularly sardonic dragon.

At that very moment, the storm chose to strike. Thunder rattled their windows and flickered their lights - lightning-filled their vision with spots, and Twilight instinctively teleported Spike onto her back. She stumbled backward and stared out of the window. She saw the Everfree ablaze - she saw a massive storm that had formed in moments - she knew there was no storm scheduled today. Her mouth felt dry.

Her blood ran cold moments later, as the largest dragon she had ever seen roared - "DISCORD!" with a voice of elemental wrath. It was a voice out of primal nature: cracking mountains, rolling thunder, blinding lightning. The dragon tore from the Everfree and began making a beeline towards Fluttershy's house, the forest lighting ablaze underneath it.

Twilight Sparkle was many things.

Right now, she was afraid.

If you implied, insinuated, or other synonymic terms for suggested that Discord had, shrieked like a foal, buried his head in the sand like an ostrich before remembering that he was potentially in mortal danger, and began flying towards Canterlot at a panicked speed that would've made Rainbow Dash blush - he would've laughed and turned you into a frog.

No. What had truly happened was as such. Discord, upon hearing his name bellowed by a mountainous drakon that had killed his predecessor - let out a fearsome war cry, buried his head in the sand to eat some sand - as he was feeling peckish, after all, and made a tactical retreat to Canterlot for backup.

Discord was fast. He was, actually - probably the fastest thing in Equestria. If he wasn't using his magic, then Rainbow Dash or an alicorn could probably outpace him - but he was using his magic. And so, he broke the sound barrier the moment that Fluttershy was out of harm's way from any potential shockwave and made it to the rocky ridge just south of Canterlot itself within a minute.

It wasn't fast enough. He glanced over his shoulder - and sure enough, Tempest was flying towards him with murderous intent. Her magic was rolling off her in waves - the Everfree ablaze underneath her. Then, as she exited the Everfree and moved over more civilized settlements - her magic instinctively reigned itself inwards, the magical flames beginning to die down.

Discord was fast. He could move faster than the speed of sound. He could move a third of a mile in a second. But Tempest was faster. She was going to catch up. Discord swallowed.

You might've thought it would be logical to run towards Tempest and explain the situation to her. If you are thinking that: how about you try running towards the enraged drakon out for your blood and try to get some words in before you were cooked alive? And sure. Discord would have been able to survive for long enough to get the situation under control, maybe -

But if you were to expect the Spirit of Chaos to think rationally, you might as well expect Twilight Sparkle to suddenly invite you to a book burning.

Discord, could at least keep this situation somewhat under control. With a burst of speed - he couldn't just teleport, Tempest could cancel his teleport with ease - and he couldn't cut space since he couldn't move far enough with that. Instead, he used his levitation to propel himself forward so violently that his skin began to burn from the friction.

Discord came to a hurtling crash down in Rambling Rock Ridge, a crater forming underneath him. He quickly scampered up on all fours - only for storm clouds to form above him and Tempest to come smashing down right behind him. He narrowly dodged the spell - the air seemed to warp and shimmer as it was molded into a spear that was sent right at his back. He leaped up and created holes in his body to avoid the crystals that Tempest pulled out of the ground to stab into him.

"Wait-" Her tail slashed across his face. Blood sprayed out onto the ground. Discord stumbled backward as a thin scar ran from his forehead to the side of his face, only narrowly dodging his eyes. Oh dear. He hadn't remembered the last time he had bled. His blood turned into clumps of stuffing that fused down to her claws, seeking to lock her in place for just a second. He waved his hand over his face as the wound peeled off like a sticker and fell onto the ground.

"Tempest-" Discord pleaded, opening a portal as she smashed a claw down where he was, tearing from the stuffing like it was nothing. Which it was, at a glance - but that trick had managed to bind Celestia before. But she was bubbling with rage. She wasn't listening. Her claw should've went through the portal and exited out to bonk herself on the back of her head. Instead, it just pushed through the space where the portal was and slammed down where Discord had been milliseconds ago.

That was close. Too close for comfort. "I'M NOT-" Discord's eyes widened - as he was forced to abandon all of his usual tricks for the sake of pure survival. A wall of chaotic magic shielded him from a stream of Order-infused lightning - the two remaining locked in place as Tempest breathed the spell through the ley in her tongue. The ground behind Discord that he deflected the lightning to started to melt.

But the shield was warded against magic. And magic was only one half of Tempest's arsenal. Tempest slammed her head through the shield, her antlers cracking and revealing the ley underneath - Discord winced sympathetically - and sending the Spirit of Chaos flinging backward.

At that moment, Discord would've died.

Celestia had always wondered who was stronger between the two - the Discord that fought Tempest or the Discord that had terrorized them in pursuit of chaotic freedom. The answer wasn't quite so cut-and-dry. The first Discord had significantly larger mana reserves, lived in a more chaotic timeframe, and was a lot more willing to use violence. The second Discord had much lower mana reserves but could draw directly on the leylines themselves. But being near Tempest disrupted his ability to draw on the leylines.

A bolt of the Storm came crashing towards him. He was too slow to dodge it, and without the ability to draw on the leylines - he couldn't reconfigure it or shield from it. The Storm would strike him, vaporize him - and he would die.

She dropped from the sky, pristine and immaculate.

The storm would never hurt her.

Celestia had dreamt of this day for centuries. She had imagined every single possible way it could go. Tears, undoubtedly. Whispers - shocked cries. Her people crying out - sister, or mother, or tutor, or being who killed Discord. She dreamt of burying her face into her scales as she explained why Luna wasn't there or of shutting her eyes and leaning into the crook of her neck as Luna rested against her stomach. She had dreamt of explaining everything, of a weight that lifted off her shoulders - she had thought she had imagined every possible combination.

She didn't expect rage.

The Sun itself channeled its magnificence through her. A prismatic display of every color that burst through her wings. Most Pegasi could channel lightning through their wings; she had the power to channel light itself. Her ethereal mane whipped into a frenzy - her face hard as steel as the ground began to liquefy beneath her, the ground turning into molten rock that started to pull her in.

"Tempest?" She half-whispered, half-hissed. Why - why was she so angry? It bubbled up within her. In the depths of space - the sun began to flare.
"C-Celestia?" A voice like rumbling thunder that melted into a whisper. Celestia felt weak. She always felt weak near her. But it did nothing to soothe her rage. "You're - you're-"
"It's - it's not him." She choked out. She stepped to the side, gesturing at Discord with a hoof. Discord wiggled his talons at Tempest - then immediately squealed and hid behind Celestia when Tempest's eyes narrowed. "It's just - a shadow."

Celestia knew a hundred thousand words in a hundred different languages. But now - they came to her so sluggishly. She felt like she was speaking through oil.
"A shadow?" Tempest tilted her head to the side. Just like Twilight, she thought - and the ground continued to melt.
"Made to micromanage chaos. Then, when you killed him, he-" She trailed off. Tempest nodded, but her eyes didn't move off Discord. Celestia stepped in front of him protectively. She could faintly see Luna and Twilight flying towards them.

Her heart burned. And slowly - Celestia pinpointed the source of her rage.

"...we cried." She said softly. "We tried to stop him. We couldn't. He would've killed us if he wanted to. We cried your name out. We begged we prayed that you would come." She whispered. She started walking towards the drakon. Luna broke down through a barrier of clouds - her mouth beginning to move, but she was interrupted by Celestia.

"When the Gryphons came with their storm - we hoped you would come that you would burst out of the sky and tear their ships apart. When the Dragons invaded - I begged for you to come back as they pulled Luna's wings off. I begged for you to wrestle their King to the ground. And - Luna. Maker, Luna-" She trailed off for a moment. "There - there were so many times, Tempest that you should've been there. Where were you?"

Celestia was right in front of the drakon now. Celestia, the Unconquered Sun - immaculate, pristine, felt anything but. Her voice was broken. Her eyes were wet.
"You said." She choked out. Luna gaped at her with wide eyes. Tempest stared back at her. "You said you would never leave. You left us. You-"
Tempest's claw reached out and pressed underneath the alicorn sister's horns, and the world blurred in white, blue, and rainbow-

"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.

Tempest found the roots begin to curl around her. They welcomed her and took her in as her own. She was oh-so-tired, you see - and her eyes felt so heavy.

Tempest lay under the Tree of Harmony. Her eyes shut - and she lay there, half-dead, half-dreaming.

She dreamt of a world of peace, and she felt happy.
She dreamt of a world of chaos - and so, from Harmony, the elements were born.
She dreamt of a world racked by war - and so, Order asked of the world to bring some reprieve for the sisters. The Earth ceased its restless shaking, the Waters stilled.
She dreamt of a Storm that would consume the world - and so, she Spoke, and the Storm did not.
She dreamt of a fiery rage that threatened to destroy - and so she asked, and Fire did not choose him as his idol.
She dreamt of the moon beginning to break - and so she whispered words half-lucid. They went unheard.

The claw broke, and Celestia stared at Tempest. Luna stumbled backward as she exited the vision - and for the first time, the two truly looked at her.

She was young. A year older than Celestia - but her eyes seemed ancient. They brimmed with experience that she had and did not have simultaneously. Power rolled off of her - but she seemed broken. War-torn, almost. There were sharp gouges in her scales where plundervines had carved through. Some had grown into one of her eyes; it had seemed - it was slightly foggier, slightly blinder than the other. Her antlers were cracked but beginning to repair themselves as the storm began to draw into her.

But her eyes. Behind all of that - there was still that. That glimmer of kindness.

Celestia knew a hundred thousand words in a hundred different languages. Tempest and Luna knew just as many.
They were beyond words as Tempest collapsed down in a pile of scales - and Celestia buried her face into her neck. Luna curled her wings around her as tears began to flow.

Twilight's first instinct was to comfort her teacher. She stepped forward, a hoof outstretched - but found herself held back by Discord as his sinuous body twirled through the air and gripped down on her barrel. "They're fine," he spoke, his voice strangely soft.
"What - who - who is that?" She whispered. Her brain began to run through everything Celestia had ever told her. A dragon? Had Celestia ever known a dragon? The bone-rattling thunder that echoed from the slowly fading swarm caused two neurons to connect within Twilight's brain, and her eyes widened.
"The Queen of Storms. She's - real? Not just-"
"Of course she's real." Discord snorted. "If you haven't been able to tell, Celestia has quite the fetish for memorizing her family through fairy tales."
"Her family?"
Discord arched an eyebrow. "Someone's rather overdue for a history lesson."

Tempest began to move slowly. She coiled around the two sisters as Luna pressed her face deeper into her scales and Celestia leaned against her, tears running down her. They were tears of joy as much as they were sadness - but it was nonetheless heartbreaking watching someone that Twilight had always seen as perfect, infallible cry.

Tempest's snout pushed down into the ground beside Discord and Twilight. Her size was unfathomable - Twilight found herself hard-pressed to wrap her head around just how large she truly was. Her mouth felt dry as two eyes bore into her soul.

"You're new." Twilight's skin crawled as her thunderous voice echoed over her. She was much quieter than she had been a few moments ago - but she was still loud.

Twilight Sparkle - prized student of Celestia Indomita, thought long and hard about how to respond. So long, in fact - that it was quite awkward as there was silence, save for two-teary eyed princesses slowly coming to their hooves. Discord shifted around uncomfortably - strangely still, strangely focused. Finally, Twilight settled on a socially adept response.

"T-thanks?"
Tempest snorted. Her eyes turned towards Discord.
"So - you're not going to murder me?" Discord said hopefully. Twilight saw his claws temple behind his back.
"That remains to be seen." She said with a soft growl. Twilight's eyes widened, and she appeared between the two with a sharp pop.

"Hey! Discord might not have been a good person-"
"-hey-"
"-but he's changed. He's a good person now. He's - he's my friend. You can't just-" She trailed off.
Tempest tilted her head to the side. "Friend?" She thought for a moment. She turned to Discord. "Speak. And explain. Quickly."

Discord raised his hands. "I'm not him. Between you and me - I hate the guy just as much as -" Discord was promptly cut off by Tempest's eyes narrowing further. "-almost as much as you!" He quickly offered. He took off the ground and levitated in front of Tempest's face.

"He much preferred to focus on the more grim aspects of chaos. And I must confess - there is some terrible beauty in them-" Discord rapidly realized that was the wrong thing to say, as Tempest reared her head backward. "-but I've never killed anyone!"
"It is true." Luna spoke from underneath Tempest's neck. She wriggled out and stood by her side, placing a hoof on one of her scales. She tilted her head up to meet Tempest's gaze. "He entered this world years after your battle with his predecessor. In that time - while he has wreaked his villainous havoc time and time again, a single pony has not fallen dead to his machinations."
Discord nodded frantically, conjuring a bright neon sign that said "LISTEN TO HER" with an arrow pointing at Luna.
"Simply driven to madness." Luna added.
A "don't" was quickly appended to the beginning of that sign. "I used to!" He corrected as he leaned over Luna's barrel. "I don't do that anymore."
"Don't you?" Luna's eyes narrowed slightly. "You seemed rather eager to side with Tirek. How many did you drive to madness then?"
"It- that-" Discord spluttered.

Tempest leaned in with an unnatural speed. She pinned Discord down underneath her snout, her nose digging into him and grounding him. Her eyes narrowed and her throat began to glow.
"No!" Twilight and Celestia yelled in tandem. Tempest slowly leaned back - and Discord immediately cut space to cower behind Twilight as he took the form of a squirrel.

"Sister. Let your opinions not temper the facts." Celestia looked up at Tempest. "He is - reformed. I swear it."
"You swore the same, months before he betrayed us."
Celestia's eyes narrowed slightly. She didn't say anything.

Tempest tilted her head to the side. "I wonder, if I have mixed up who deserved my heart scale and my forescale." She turned towards Discord. Her eyes narrowed, and she slowly turned towards Twilight. Twilight gulped. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared of Tempest - she seemed so violent, and Discord seemed so scared of her - but the Princesses respected her - and there was so little information that-

"You're a Spirit." Her words cut off Twilight's thoughts. "The Spirit of Magic." She spoke with a sense of awe, almost. "He is your friend?"
Twilight Sparkle was afraid. But for her friends? She would gladly stand up to a dragon.
"Yes." Her eyes narrowed. Her voice was steel. Her wings flared.
Tempest closed the distance between them. "And he is good?" She spoke softly. Softly for a dragon - so softly that it was what you would consider a normal pony's yell.
"Yes."

Tempest seemed to be lost in thought. Her head tilted to the side.
Magic vouches for him.
He is an abomination. An affront to everything We stand for.
There is place for him, in Our world. A harmony.
He is antithetical to my very nature. We cannot co-exist. It is one or the other, not both.
Celestia vouches for him.
The Moon, against him.
He is not a threat.
The last time We fought him, he nearly struck Us down. It was through a miracle We survived.
The circumstances there were different. He had the advantage. He didn't even hurt Us this time.
He is weaker. He has bathed in my magic.
Your elements. You did not think it wise to mention that he had returned, or had been freed?
I didn't know, my Brother. I am not my Elements - they are simply a reflection of Our power.
Enough of this. We bring this to a vote.
You will accept the outcome?
Will you?
We are opposed. I respect Our Storm's judgement. I will.
Then I shall.
He lives.
He dies.
If disembodied voices could wait with bated breath, they would've.

Tempest turned to look at Discord. It had felt like mere minutes to her - but had maybe been a second at most. A second that he waited - trembling, staring at her fearfully.

"Return to your true form." Discord did as such nearly instantly, popping into his mismatched existence mere instants later.

"...I am Tempest Pulseradottir." The Wings of the Storm coalesced around her. The skies thundered and crackled. "Spirit of Air, Order, and Harmony. The Queen of Storms." Her eyes narrowed. She slowly leaned in until she was eye-level with Discord. Discord gulped as he started sweating cartoonish beads of sweat.

"I wish I could say it was a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Spirit of Chaos, but your very form brings me disgust. I hope that I will be able to avoid this in the future. For you will have one."

Discord stared at her for a second. She stared at Discord.
Discord let out a soft sigh of relief. "Y-you uh. Really had me going there. G-good one, Tempest."

Discord felt his connection to the leylines restore as Order and Harmony began to reign their magic back in.
There was silence for a few moments. Celestia broke it, as she cleared her throat and walked in-between all four Spirits.

"Discord. You are dismissed. Please inform the Elements of Harmony that the situation is under control." She said sternly. Discord saluted - and eager for the chance to get away, disappeared with a pop.
"Twilight - I'd like you to come with us to Canterlot." She glanced at Tempest. "There is much that has to be said."

The four disappeared with a rush of golden light.

History is a strange thing.

When you think of time - there are two schools of thought. First, linear time - where one event happens after another, and every decision creates a splitting path or universal time - where everything happens simultaneously and has already happened. Or, in the words of one bearded chronomancer - wibbly, wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.

Time is inherently impossible to understand - because it's both and neither of these things. It's a living unliving, oxymoronic and straightforward contradiction. Time has already happened all at once and is happening at the same time. The full explanation of time is page after page of paragraphs much like these - contradiction after contradiction of things that don't make sense. The short of it, though: is that time is cyclical.

Things that have happened will happen again. Things that will happen have happened. The Future paints the Past, the Past paints the Future - and both form the Present. It all fits together, in one mind-bogglingly obtuse way. The deeper you delve into the inner workings of the universe, the more things you find like this - evidently, the Maker had herself a fetish.

The common person doesn't understand how cyclical it all is, though - because time erodes all. Books that were written rot perish and are otherwise destroyed - and their fragments shape poems, legends, myths, and those myths shape new books with fragments of half-truth and half-lies. So this is called, rather amusingly - the Liegellan Principal. As all of Liogella's history is a lie, as much as it is the truth.

This further gets muddled up with immortal beings that reincarnate with sections of their memory. So it's hard to tell what happened when - or if things really did happen. It's almost tragic that more than half of history is too damaged to be repaired.

But Celestia is nothing if not stubborn. A good example of this is her private study - for Celestia's private study is safe.

It's her retreat from the world - her small slice of undisturbed heaven. No one can teleport in save her and Luna - and no one can brute force their way in either. The only beings that have ever penetrated its defenses were Luna and Discord, and his magic seemed to ignore conventional warding altogether.

It is not, however, the safest room in Canterlot Castle. No - that honor belongs to a room known as The Hall of Honor - and it tells the true story of Equestria. With stained glass exquisitely forged from glass ground from exclusively the sand at Horseshoe Bay, it told the true, unaltered, and uncensored truth of Equestria.

Eighty-six people knew about the Hall of Honor.
Four people have stepped foot in it. Yes, people.

Twilight Sparkle swallowed as Celestia placed her horn into the doors that locked the Hall of Honor - and they began their journey through History.

Luna and Celestia lead Tempest and Twilight through the Hall. Their journey through the Hall of Honor was one filled with constant interjections from Tempest - offering corrections, much to Celestia's growing annoyance. Not annoyance directed at Tempest, but annoyance that the state of history was so muddled. To spare you the finer details - the final agreed-upon timeline was this.

The Maker breathed life into the universe. Liogella is at the center of the universe - and so, the most magic concentrated in there. It superconcentrated and formed Shards of Divinity - and from there, formed Life.

Life created Ponies in her image. From Ponies sprung up all forms of Spirits - the Spirit of Death was the first pony who ever died, the Spirit of Harmony was the first pony who ever agreed with someone - et cetera. Even Discord was birthed in this age - but it was unclear if he had been a pony at first, or always a draconequus.

Discord's influence grew, and Harmony's influence waned. The cousins of Discord - the Windigo formed and drove the world into a desolate ice age. It was from Harmony's formation that the Fire of Friendship burned - and they birthed Order.

Then, there was a gap. It's known that hundreds of Spirits formed in that time frame - the Elemental Spirits for example manifested for the first time. But something happened, and that something was known as the Great Purge. Only the Essential Spirits survived through the Purge - and they found their memories muddled, distorted, confused on the subject. Tempest's attempts to access memories from that time were met with sudden jabs of sharp pain.

After the Purge came the Sun Wars. Without a Spirit of the Sun, multiple Spirits determined it was their right to take control of the Sun - resulting in a war that ended up creating the Bone Dry Desert, as well as Saddle Arabia. After both Spirits ended up destroying themselves in an attempt to channel the energy of the sun, the Spirit of the Sun remanifested as Sól.

The next event after that was the Draconic Wars.
Before the war started, the Alicorn Pantheon was at its full brunt of power - with Asgard as their home.
Sky, Sun, Moon, Love, Peace, Glory.

King Odin took the role of the Skyfather, Spirit of the Sky. His wife, Freyja, was the Spirit of Love.
Sól, and her brother Máni were the Daybringer and Nightbringer.
Lord Tyr was the Spirit of Peace, and his daughter Glory was unsurprisingly the Spirit of Glory.

Under the rule of Emperor Draelos I, the dragons grew ever more zealous in their attempts to gain more land. It's worth noting that Emperor Draelos wasn't the ruler of the dragons, but the ruler of every draconic. The large brunt of Drakons sided with Emperor Draelos - but a sect of them split off, with King Bellum as their ruler. As their attempts began to cross over into Equestria, the Alicorns demanded that they stopped.

That night, Draelos killed the entire alicorn pantheon. Only Glory managed to escape, through Lord Tyr's noble sacrifice to send her out of reach. From there - King Bellum and Glory rallied together, a small sect of loyalist drakons and the disgruntled remnants of the Asgardian military. It was from there a seemingly endless war was waged - direct conflicts between Spirits being avoided, war crime after war crime - until Discord.

Somehow - either before, or during the Purge, Discord had been Bound by Harmony - trapped in stone, and in the middle of Asgard itself. During the cover of night, Bellum and Glory snuck into draconic-infested territory to free Discord - and immediately, the battle was equalized.

He wrought madness on the draconics. They devoured their own eggs and young in horrific displays - drowned their figures of authority in lava under fits of half-lucid insanity. The Day and Night lasted from anywhere from hours or months using powerful illusions to localize their effects to only draconic territory. At the peak of madness - the draconics all sang to their children, Fear the Chaos King.

It was known that Discord began to love Glory. The part of it that was foggy and obscure was how Glory felt about Discord -it was unknown whether their love was mutual, or one-sided and faked on one half as a method of control. Regardless, Discord met Draelos on in open combat - and then Something happened. Order and Harmony's memories supported feeling a strange rip, a twist in the fabric of reality - and Discord was gone.

Then - 10,000 years of age, Glory used the strongest magic that the world had ever seen. The Badlands and Dragonlands were torn apart, an artificial gap being created between the two. Her magic brought floods, earthquakes, and the scorching of land - the dragons that weren't vaporized by the sheer magic were torn apart or drowned. Draelos himself was turned into pure stone, eventually becoming Mt. Draelos.

"I've never heard of a Mount Draelos." Twilight mumbled under her breath.
"I destroyed it." Tempest remarked idly.
"oh," Twilight said softly.

Afterwards, she succame to her wounds - leaving King Bellum, the Alicorn of Peace, Serenity, and Draelos' grandfather to negotiate a peace. Bellum took his loyalist sect of drakons to Mt Draelos - where Tempest's mother was born, the Alicorns began to re-ascend, and Draelos II became the Spirit of Fire, and King of the Dragons.

Slowly, the world began to heal. But eventually - relationships were strained. King Gryphum killed the Alicorn of Sky, Zeus- the Spirit of Harmony rooted herself in the Chained Forest, and there was a tumultuous peace that felt as if it might shatter at any time.

Then, Discord returned. He returned weak, frail - nearly dead. Upon learning Glory was dead, he blamed the draconics as well as the alicorn pantheon - before retreating into obscurity. Slowly feeding on the scraps of disharmony and chaos until his power grew - and by the time it was noticed, it was too late.

The rest of the story, you already know - until what comes after that. Celestia and Luna were left as the only Spirits in an irreparably damaged world - but they did their best. They reforged connections with the dragons, now numbering in the hundreds instead of in the hundreds of thousands. Pathways began to form to the Saddle Arabians, the Zebra, the Bull, the Minotaur, the Kirin, the Hippogriffs, the Moose, the Spiders, the Polar Bears - all forms of creatures.

Then, Discord re-emerged. More accurately, the Shadow of Discord that had been created in an attempt to micro-manage Discord I's chaos. The new Discord was much better at spreading his chaos over the widespread land without use of the Nexus - which, much to Tempest's shock, hadn't been located yet. Discord had somehow moved it, and moved it to a place that the Sisters couldn't find in any of their efforts.

Discord's shadow, at first - was actually benevolent. He kept a tumultuous peace with Celestia and Luna, playing some "harmless" pranks - sometimes stretching the boundary, but the sisters had come to consider him a friend. But then, the disruptions didn't stop. They asked him to cease his chaos - and he refused, so they fought. It was barely a fight, in reality - Discord simply worked around all of their magic. Nothing they had employed had done so much as bruise him.

For half a century, his madness ruined the world. It was less fatal, but far more brutal to the world itself.

Harmony had felt this, while Tempest slept. And she drew on Their power - crystallizing it into the Elements of Harmony, and giving the sisters the ability to seal Discord in stone.

After that - there were dozens of different, more minor events.
A time-travelling Starswirl banished the Sirens to a different land, as well as dealt with Tirek.
The two fought against slavers, would-be-tyrants, supernatural threats and extraterrestrial tears in space-time itself. They became hardened by battle, as they forged the bedrock for Equestria in blood.

The Gryphon Invasion was their first major battle. Lead by Lord Biruun, hundreds of storm mages and gryphon warriors sought to free the world from the "tyranny" of the Regal Sisters. They would've been succesful, too - as they summoned a storm so great that it engulfed nearly the entirety of the Everfree.

Winds that reduced rock into pebbles. Lightning and thunder that had reminded them of a day centuries ago - but the two were unscathed. With beams of solar plasma and necrotic wrath, they reduced the ships into fragments - and killed the Gryphon Lord.

The next major event after that was the Dragon War. A small sect of "elder" dragons - in truth, they were far from the age necessary to be considered elder dragons, as truly elder dragons tended to hibernate and let the planet grow around them. There was a non-insignificant chance that Mt. Canterlot was actually the petrified corpse of an elder dragon - laid dormant for so long that it was indistinguishable from the actual geography.

Regardless, a small sect of "elder" dragons rose up - lead by a ruler known as Gorolich the Indestructible. They thought that the world was their birthright to claim, and so they waged war on Equestria. And while Celestia and Luna were strong, eight hundred year old Alicorns - it was still the hardest battle they had ever fought. It was less of a "war" and more of an invasion that lasted a few months. But in that time - thousands of the already scarce equine population were wiped out.

It culminated though, in a battle between Gorolich and the Regal Sisters. In a gruesome and fearsome battle, where Luna had her wings pulled off, and Celestia had half of her face shorn off - only surviving by virtue that it was day, the two narrowly managed to pierce his heart and kill him.

He burned for months on end, after that. Only one of his eggs was salvageable from that.
Twilight looked nauseous.

After that - Celestia and Luna fought against the Umbrum King Sombra. Celestia explained that Sombra had cast a spell to prey on their worst nightmares - opening up Luna to the influence of a parasite known as Nightmare Moon.
Luna didn't look Celestia in the eye the entire time.

From there - the rest of history was known. Banishment, redemption, Discord, the changelings, ascension - and finally, Tirek.

Twilight had been non-inquisitive throughout the entire explanation - and that worried Celestia. You see - Twilight Sparkle was many things. Non-inquisitive was not one of them. Her expression had remained strange, unreadable. And as the explanation finally came to a close, she looked - well. Hurt.

"A bit for your thoughts, Twilight?" Celestia said softly. She looked weak. Her eyes, red and puffy with tears, looked tired. Her mane seemed to flow in slow motion. Her wings - when had they become so disorderly? It felt as if not a single feather was in place.

Twilight's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. Closed. Finally, she found her words.
"Why?"
Tempest shivered lightly. It was imperceptible.
"Why, my faithful stud-" Celestia began.
"Why haven't you told everypony?" She stepped forward. "You - you want everyone to know about history. But I didn't know about any of this. I didn't - I thought Discord was the only Spirit. I didn't know that being an Alicorn meant I was a Spirit. I didn't know - about Tempest, about Glory, about the Alicorn Pantheon - I didn't know about any of this." She stepped backwards. Her eyes were wide, and there was something in them -

Eyes turned to Celestia. Her tongue felt heavy. Her mouth felt dry. "...I wanted to shield them." She said softly. "The world - is peaceful now. Battles are not won through violence, as they were in past ages. Cloud Charge was not the one who defeated Nightmare Moon or Discord, after all. It's a new era. The past - should be remembered. But the people aren't ready."
"I- I'm sorry, princess. But - you're wrong." She shook her head fervently. "They aren't ready because you've kept this from them. From - from all of us. Does Cadance know? Does - does anyone outside of this room know? Were you ever going to tell me, if Tempest didn't come back?" Twilight stepped forward.
"...I..." Celestia didn't meet her eyes.

Twilight stared at her for a long while. Then - her horn lit. And she was gone.

"I should-"
"I believe, sister, that you have done enough." Luna cut her off. Luna placed a hoof on her barrel. "Twilight needs time to process this. Allow me." Luna glanced between the two. The strangely stoic, unmoving Tempest - the strangely emotional, tottering Celestia. Luna's horn lit, and she was gone.

Celestia's private study is safe.

It's her retreat from the world - her small slice of undisturbed heaven. No one can teleport in save her and Luna - and no one can brute force their way in either. The only beings that have ever penetrated its defenses were Luna and Discord, and his magic seemed to ignore conventional warding altogether.

Twilight Sparkle, fresh out of her ascendancy - tore through the wards instinctually, entering Celestia's study. She was one of the few beings that had ever stepped hoof there - as a filly, trembling from the storm. As a young mare, preparing for her examinations. As an adult - drinking tea and chatting idly about things as mundane as mane-styles or as esoteric as extradimensional rifts.

And now, as a fledgling divine - with her worldview shattered.

It felt - surreal. Like she was dreaming, and she hadn't woken up yet. Surely Princess Celestia wouldn't keep something like that from the populace. That information, that knowledge - she was the one who had taught Twilight the importance of history. It couldn't be.

Denial. Denial works, some part of Twilight's consciousness spoke.

Yes! Twilight was dreaming. That was the only logical conclusion. There was no Tempest, Discord was as unafraid and childish as ever, Luna didn't look so hurt, and Princess Celestia hadn't lied to her.

Twilight shut her eyes and woke up.
She peaked an eye open. Huh. Still asleep. The eye promptly shut. Then opened again.

The floorboards didn't stand a chance against earth-pony strength. Twilight wasn't the one to smash things when she got mad - but she was one to pace. And pace hard. It took her hooves rubbing against the warding of the study itself to realize that maybe she should take a second.

Twilight shut her eyes and began breathing exercises. In. 3. 2. 1. Out. 1. 2. 3. Again, and again - until her eyes opened.

No. Celestia hadn't lied to her. Maybe - maybe it was for a good reason?
No, Twilight. Some part of her spoke. You asked her for her reason.

It took until Stage 3 to realize that Twilight Sparkle, ever efficient, had fast-tracked through the stages of grief.
At this point, you might as well skip to Acceptance. That rather alarmingly intelligent part of her mind offered up.

So, Twilight shut her eyes. And she accepted.

The two were alone.

She leaned against Tempest. Her side pressed into her chest - her head rested in the crook of her neck, her horn lightly digging into her chin. They lay down flat, any other position requiring too much energy from Celestia. She felt - she felt drained.

"Do you think she's right?" She spoke softly.
Tempest craned her neck. She tilted her head to the side, gesturing for Celestia to go on.
"I sought to spare my ponies from knowing the truth of the world. That it can be cruel. That there is evil. Is that wrong of me? Is that - no." She shook her head. "That's not fair. I'm making myself the victim in this scenario. It is not quite so cut and dry." Celestia straightened herself up. "I spared them from knowing the truth of the world. I sheltered them. Was it right, to do so?"

Tempest thought for a second. "How old are you, Celestia?"
Celestia blinked. She tilted her head to the side. "Two thousand, three hundred and twenty four years old."
"And how old am I?"
"...Well." Celestia thought for a moment. "You're a year older than me, but you've been..." Celestia searched for the word.
"Dormant," Tempest offered.
"Dormant," Celestia accepted, "for most of that. No - all of that, honestly." She shut her eyes. "I don't - I don't think I know you. I don't think you know me. Merely a more...idyllic version, I suppose."
"Idyllic?"
"You knew me at the lowest point in my life. My mother, dead. My aunt handed us over to Starswirl - and I never saw her. I never learned if she died, or-" Celestia trailed off for a moment. "...Regardless. After Starswirl, we were handed off to you. We traded claws - and we were together for such a short period of time. Everything - it just happened...so fast."
"Would you rather we toiled under Discord's reign for years?"
"That's not what I'm saying." Her eyes narrowed. "You know that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying - that I don't know you. I sought you out for comfort. I sought you out for guidance."
"Heavy is the head that wears the crown."
She shut her eyes. "I often feared as if my head might fall. And I thought - what would Tempest do? And that - that helped me. Soothed me."
"But." Tempest spoke.
"But," Celestia agreed, "you were...idyllic in my head. Wise. Knowing. You knew exactly what to do. You always had a plan. Always a purpose. But now - I see you. And I wonder - what...are you, to me? Tutor? Yet I have experienced more than you. Family? But our time - was so short." She looked down. "And here I am," she muttered bitterly. "Ranting like an old mare. Asking you questions of morality and showing you my inner demons."

"...It was robbed from us." Tempest said softly. She shifted her position so she was laying down flat on her chest, her head tilted down to look at Celestia. "Our childhood. Discord took mine, and he took yours too. My path - my vengeance. I ascended - but I think I left something behind with me. My sense of self. There's - Harmony, and there's Order, and there's Tempest - and then there's me, and I'm not sure what I am. Am I the sum of my parts, or greater? I don't even know my favorite food." She snorted. Steam rose up from her nostrils.

"But time is different, now. You've brought peace. The world - is peaceful. I can feel it. In my bones. Harmony and Order flow through me, and you're at the center of it all. I cannot speak on the morality of your lie - how could I? I am an infant in the body of an adult with the mind of an eternity."

"My approval might mean little to you. But - you have honored my words, Celestia. The very last thing I said to you - do you remember? Be smart, Celestia. Be generous. Be kind. Be strong. Be Celestia. Whatever that entails. And I see no truer embodiment of those virtues. After all - I did not tell you to stay honest." She remarked dryly.

Her voice was equal parts gravel and melody, equal parts elemental and mortal. It carried with it Harmony's soft chimes and syllables - yet Order's monotone clarity, and the soft growl behind it that all draconics carried. It was eloquent with just a hint of playfulness in it - it was the tone of a drakon beginning to find herself.

"I hope, Celestia - that whatever you see me as. Tutor. Sister. Mother. That we may be friends."
"...I'd like that." The Sun spoke.
The Storm curled her wings around her.

There are many ways to teleport.

Most mages transform into magically enriched light particles that travel faster than light. Their travel is so fast, that you can't see the path they take - merely the disassemblement of physical matter and the coalescion of the particles as the light mage reforms.

Some particularly skilled mages swap regions of space, resulting in a sharp pop of air.

Some extremely powerful mages prefer the more archaic form of teleportation, of cutting through the aether. It drains a considerable amount more mana, but is also considerably harder to ward against, can be used offensively - and sometimes offers up visions of the future.

The Regal Sisters have their own methods of teleportation.

For one, they are one of the three Spirits that can use the leylines to teleport. Discord does not teleport through the leylines - he simply cuts space in a way only chaos magic can. Celestia and Luna can use the leylines as a hyper-fast highway, essentially: able to travel within a mile of any of the major arteries of magic. Tempest was the first to perform such a teleport, years ago - and their method mimics hers. Significantly more difficult, considering that they aren't natural creatures of order - and leylines are rather orderly.

Celestia has the ability to teleport wherever her sun can touch, with a bit of coercing - meaning she has the advantage in range.

Luna, however, has the much more versatile ability. To Dreamwalk.

The Essential Spirits of Liogella artificially grafted their constructs onto the world. The Outer Beyond, the starry and starless void that stretches into Infinity is maddening. The True Bodies are obscured by the natural thaumosphere of Liogella - the Sun that Celestia moves is not the true sun, but rather a construct of pure solar magic. It takes channeling solar magic to move the sun - and solar magic has a rather cruel tendency of burning out someone's magical reserves entirely.

The days before the Spirit of the Sun were rather grim. The moon is much the same - but that's besides the point. The point is that dreams are not a natural construct of the world. As a creature sleeps, they are intended to receive visions of the aether during the night, and the Outer Beyond during the day.

There is a reason that most creatures are diurnal.

Eventually - the Spirit of the Moon, with the help of the Alicorn Pantheon, grafted a subpocket onto the aether itself. Such a feat of magic requires an impossible skill - one that has only recently been since. This subpocket reaches over all of Liogella - and draws dreams from your subconscious. Fragments of memory, fears, emotions - et cetera.

This attention did not go unnoticed by the Nightmare Forces. A collection of shadowy, semi-sentient beings that prey on fear. Their origin is unknown - speculated to come from some horrific world in the vast outreaches of the Outer Beyond. They made their way into the Dream World, and the Dreamwalkers - now, just Luna, fight them off.

But the Dream World itself is a very tangible threat, if you were to walk through it. Which is why Luna must exercise caution - for if she was to be slain in the Dream World, her consciousness would be destroyed - and her corporeal body would slowly rot as magic began to drain from it.

Again - besides the point. The point being that the Dream World is tangible, and to Dreamwalk does not just mean to walk through dreams - but through the Dream World itself. And Luna has the ability to exit out of the Dream World.

She exited outside right behind the Princess of Friendship with a soft thrum of aetheric energy crackling around her.
"Twilight Sparkle," she spoke evenly.
The Spirit of Magic's wings snapped out as she spun around. She let out a soft breath. "Oh. It's just you, Luna."
Just you, Luna.

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.

"We'll see about that, old goat." She grumbled under her breath.
Twilight opened her mouth and tilted her head to the side.
She held her hoof up to silence her. "Apologies, Twilight. My mind was - wandering."
"...Sorry. That I - sort of just...um. Stormed out, like that. Or - teleported out, I guess? I feel kind of weird using the word stormed out when if anything the stormed in. Because - Tempest is the Storm. And you are the Moon. And I didn't know. Isn't - isn't that crazy? That I'm a Spirit. That I - am something, greater than myself." Her ears went flat against the back of her head.

Luna opened her mouth. And then Twilight surprised her.

"...am I defective, Luna?"

Her mouth stayed open. She stared at her - completely taken off-guard by the rambling mare's comment. Defective? No, Twilight. You are anything but. You're the best of us.

"Why do you ask?" She said in a soft tone, stepping forward and reaching a hoof out on her barrel.
"The - moon. You can feel the moon, can't you? Cadance told me that she can feel that love. So you can feel the Moon, and Celestia can feel the Sun, and Discord can feel Chaos, and Tempest can feel the Storm - or, the Sky? I don't even know what she is. But - I can't feel magic. Not any more than I usually could, I mean. I mean - I'm more sensitive. But...I'm not..." She trailed off.

"You are unique, Twilight Sparkle." Luna sat down in-front of Twilight and pushed the shorter mare into a sitting position with a bit of force. "There has never been a Spirit of Magic before. To our knowledge, at least. The wonders you were capable of as a mortal - it's hard to say what exactly your full Sphere encompasses. In time, you might possess a strength that my sister - no, Discord - no, Tempest does not have. There's no way to say. But I am assured of one thing."

Twilight tilted her head to the side.

"You are not defective." She leaned in and planted a soft platonic peck at the base of her horn. "You are wonderful. Merely - confused. Coming into your own."
"...thank you, princess. That - that was nice to hear." Twilight leaned against her.
"The pleasure was mine, Twilight." Luna leaned against her in equal part.

Twilight and Luna appeared with a sharp pop down by Tempest and Celestia.
Celestia opened her mouth. Twilight interrupted her.

"I forgive you, Princess." She spoke quickly. "I was just - upset. Upset that you lied to me. I do disagree with you. And I don't want you to do it again - I don't want you to censor yourself for me. But I forgive you." She glanced at Tempest. "But - Equestria- no. Liogella needs to know."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"This - it's borderline censorship. So much history has been kept from the world. Or, from the ponies, at least. I'm not too familiar with the accuracy of the historical records of other nations. That's besides the point. People need to know." She pressed her hoof down.
"The backlash-"
"-will only get worse, the more we hide. She may be right, sister." Luna shut her eyes.
"...It sounds as if you have a plan in mind, Twilight." Celestia turned back to her ex-student.
"I do." She nodded. She turned to Tempest. "I'd like to write your story."
"My - my story?"
She nodded. "Yes. The story of..." she trailed off.
"The Queen of Storms," Celestia suggested.
"The Queen of Storms." Tempest repeated slowly. "It has a ring to it."
Twilight stepped forward. "Do - do you mind? Telling me everything?"

Tempest thought for a moment.

To accept would have far-reaching consequences for Our Sphere. Order would be disrupted. The - sisters...
The Regal Sisters,
The Regal Sisters would be seen as false deities. Their Divinity challenged. Their history, shown.
The consequences are indeed far reaching.
My mother.
Pulsera.
What of her, my storm?
She is forgotten, by now. If I was not remembered - then how should she? She - she needs to be remembered. I need her to be remembered. And then - I think, We can find Ourself.
A worthy way to be honored, indeed, my Tempest.
You plan on accepting.
The story must be written. It's publication is another matter.
A suitable compromise.
Agreed, brother.

"I accept."