Queen of Storms

by Via


[20] Sum

Sum


My name is Tempest Pulseradottir.


Forewarning: white text, and dialogue-heavy. Read in night mode.
She was Order.
She was Harmony.
She was Windplume.
She was Storm Breeze, once E842.
She was Temper.
She was Tundra.
She was a Storm.

She had been all these things, she was all these things - and they were her. She was Many, but she was One. She was an ordered harmony of a thousand bubbling components - she was something greater than the sum of her parts, she was something new, she was - she was -

She was Tempest. Just Tempest. She was more. She was kind, cruel, strong, fierce - she was less - but at the end, she was that.

Tempest.


Her eyes opened - and she saw him.

His freakish face bathed in the firelight. The fire that had burned her mother to ash. The fire that had torn her apart.
But it wasn't him, wasn't it? So Tempest looked deeper. She expected to see chaos - instead, she saw - Change.

"See! What did I tell you. Centuries for her, seconds for us."
Order and Harmony buzzed around in her head in annoyance.

"I'm sorry." They were the first words to leave her mouth. Her voice felt strange after going unused for so long - but it had just been seconds, hadn't it? Her words felt like oil pouring from her mouth, and her voice sounded - harmonic. She could hear all the parts in there, individually, if she just focused.

Discord hadn't been expecting that. Instead, the chimaera stared at her blankly as he stood tensed on all fours.
Let him be, Tempest asked. They listened, and they drew her power back into her. Tempest could see Discord's soul - a writhing mess of colours, with strands, slowly reconnecting back to the leylines deep below them.

Discord didn't waste a moment as he cut space between them. "You're - apologizing?"
"I'm sorry," Tempest repeated. "I - I almost killed you." She whispered. Her eyes were wet. Some small part of her noted she had tear ducts, now. "You're no saint, but you don't - you don't deserve that. Few do. The sins of the father are not the sins of the son. I'm sorry."
"...Huh." Discord said weakly. He looked down at the floor for a second before his head tilted up to look her in the eyes. "Just don't try to kill me again. I wouldn't want to hurt you." He puffed his chest out and crossed his arms over his chest - his chest and arms ballooning up with magical muscle.

Tempest smiled weakly. "No promises."
Discord snorted. "Well - that's enough of being a good samaritan for the day." He floated up into the air and cracked his knuckles. "Goodbye, Tempest."
"Was this the way you changed?" Tempest interrupted as she stepped forward.
Discord glanced over his shoulder. "Hmm?"
"You said you struggled with yourself. That you didn't know who you were. Was this how you changed?"
Discord shook his head. "There's a mare," he said softly. "The Bearer of Kindness. Never hurt a fly. It's a whole thing." He waved his hand.
Order and Harmony suggested what Tempest was already thinking.
"I'd like to meet her."
"That's not such a good idea." Discord rose his hands up. Strings fell from his fingers - forming a puppet of a yellow-coated pegasus with a pink mane, as well as a rather large Tempest. "She's afraid of dragons, you see." He mimed the pegasus seeing Tempest and promptly running away.

"I'm not a dragon." Tempest's eyes narrowed.
"No, of course not! You merely have the body, legs, and wings of a dragon." Discord smiled and leaned against an upside-down, dragon-shaped red cloud that formed in mid-air. Tempest sniffed. It smelled of tomato juice.

Shift, she asked - and Order was already weaving the spell. Moments later - she took the form of a white-and-grey feathered gryphon with yellow eyes. Unlike her strange, half-equine-half-drakon form, this form felt more...natural. She had donned the form for seventy-three years, after all.

"Is she afraid of gryphons?" Her voice was softer and weaker - but it still carried a soft thrum of power.
"Not especially so," he reluctantly sighed.
"You don't want me to meet her," Tempest concluded. It was rather obvious.
"Not especially so." He repeated. "She's rather - dear to me. I don't want you to...tell her about me." He shifted around uncomfortably. "It would frighten her."
"I doubt that there is anything I know about you that she does not - considering how recently we met. You are not your predecessor, D-" She paused for a second. "Discord."

Discord thought for a second. He then sighed overdramatically. "As long as you promise not to make me look bad in front of her, then I suppose so." He snapped his talons -

a spiralling city of wolves, broken, shattered, memories fading - a mare, he noticed you, he's HERE he's - a word, there's a word, and the word is -Tambelon.

The duo exited the aether. Tempest's perception bleared, her mind scrambled -
Later, my Tempest.

The Spirit took her thoughts from her - her mind relaxing. There was cause for concern; there was something to be worried about - but that would come another time.

They stood by a cottage at the border of the Everfree and the town - Ponyville, was it?
"I've been here before," Tempest remarked idly. The draconequus moved in a sickeningly fluid motion - coiling and curling through the air in strange patterns, vaguely reminiscent of the symbol of infinity.
"If you don't remember - three days ago, you tore from the forest and came hurtling towards here." Discord's voice was dry as he arched an eyebrow.
"Ah. Right," she nodded.

Discord knocked on the door. "Fluttershy~!" He called in a sing-songy voice.
"coming." A soft, whispery voice called. A few moments later - some shuffling, bumping, and squawking following - a rather frazzled pegasus opened the door.

"Hi, Discord." She blinked a few times. "Oh. You brought a friend." She smiled. "I'm proud of you."
"Friend is a strong word," he waved his hand. "Technically, she's my archnemesis."
"oh. Um." The mare glanced at Tempest. "You're - not going to...um. F-fight?"

"No." Tempest shook her head. "I got that all out of my system."
"oh. that's. um. good." She nodded. "I- I'm sorry, right now isn't a - great time - thank you for knocking like I asked, Discord, but um - the animals are...a little rowdy." She stepped to the side. The sight reminded both Spirits of home - in a rather strange antonymic fashion. It was a verifiable zoo, a chaotic landscape of squawking birds - a bear, a few dozen chickens.

Discord basked in the sight. The part of Tempest that had once been Windplume felt right at home.

"Ooh." He rubbed his talon and paw together excitedly as he warmed them, lifting into the air and snapping a talon - appearing with a white flash by a bunny. "What's got them all riled up?"
"I - um. I'm not - I'm not sure. They've been acting...like this, since the dragon-"
"Drakon," Tempest immediately corrected.
"oh. uhm. no, I think it's - I think it's pronounced dragon." Discord tried to hold in his laughter.
Tempest looked a little bit offended. "Well - I'm not a dragon. There's a difference. You wouldn't call Discord a - a dragonequus, would you?"
"um. Well. Of course you aren't a dragon. You're - a gryphon. Right?" She glanced at Discord. Discord promptly failed at holding in his laughter, stretching out as he cackled maniacally.

"I thought they told you to explain the situation to them." Tempest's eyes narrowed lightly.
"Not at all, dear Tempest! They told me to tell them the situation was under control."
The part of Tempest that was Temper felt a headache coming on. She shut her eyes, letting out a deep - deep sigh.

"I'm...a little bit confused." Fluttershy looked between Discord and Tempest. "Can - can someone explain?"
Discord teleported right over Tempest, reaching down and scratching at the feathers around her head. Tempest jerked away, flashing a look at him. "Dear, dear Fluttershy - allow me to introduce you to my technical archenemy - the antithesis of my very nature. The Spirit of Order and Harmony!"
Tempest stretched her claws out. "Tempest Pulseradottir. I'm a drakon. I didn't want to scare you. I'm mostly the Spirit of Storms." Well - also sky, and air - her sphere was rather broad after all. But Spirit of Storms had a certain alitteration to it that she enjoyed.

"O-oh." Fluttershy's ears went flat against her head, her eyes wide. "I- sorry, I don't...I don't really know the difference..." She sunk her head a little bit as she hid behind her hair.
"Drakons don't have wings, and are a lot grumpier." Discord interjected between constant giggles.
"I'm not - surprised that you don't." Tempest said reluctantly. "I'm the last one left." Discord's giggles subsided as he looked away.

Fluttershy - meek, stuttering, ever-polite - stepped forward and put a hoof on the gryphon's shoulder. Her grip was strong, her eyes soft. "I'm sorry," she spoke - and there was so much empathy in her voice.
"Not your fault."
"I know," she nodded. "But I'm still sorry. If - if you want, you don't - you don't have to look like this. You should...look however you want to be. Whatever makes you comfortable." She slowly stroked Tempest's shoulder.
"I'm fine." Tempest shrugged.

"Um - again, I'm - I'm sorry, but um - I should...really, focus on the animals. But - if you ever want to visit um...just...knock, I guess." She glanced at Discord. "Thank you for knocking, Discord. I appreciate it." She said warmly.

Tempest noted that shift. She was stuttery, meek, but she didn't hold back when it came to expressing appreciation or genuine emotion. There was something - almost motherly about the mare. As motherly as a drakon could find a pony barely even a thousandth of her size.

Calm them, Harmony spoke - and a Knowledge filled Tempest's mind. Her antlers shimmered into existence - and from them sprung an intricately woven spell.

She used Myr to search for the animals. Virtrus was how Tempest sensed them - casting her magic out in a radius and taking in the life around her. Her antlers shimmered with white light, a splendid glory that seemed almost holy in nature. From there - she used Myr to search again but pushed deeper.

Tempest had never used the glyph Lis before. It was a rare glyph - few know it existed, and those who do tend to be Spirits. Some part of her felt wrong using it as if it was a violation of the natural order to reach into something's mind.

We are the natural order, Order reminded her. Tempest chose to ignore him.

The next two glyphs she wove soothed her own worries. She searched for their minds - and found them. They were scared. Deeply so - unsettled by a draconic roar, their minds feral and racing as if the world was going to end. So Tempest cast a spell that she had used dozens of times to mend her own wounds, to soothe their racing minds.

Reosr, Hos. The full idea of the spell was there now. Mys, Myr, Virtrus, Myr, Lis, Reosr, Hos she repeated to herself. The light around her antlers grew brighter and brighter - until with a surge of light, the animals found themselves soothed.

Tempest withdrew herself from the recesses of her mind. Her eyes opened to a rather disappointing looking Discord and an almost awe-struck Fluttershy.
Discord crossed his arms. "Pooh. I was rather enjoying the show."
Fluttershy looked at Tempest. "that - that was...um. thank you." She smiled at her, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"So you have time for little-old-me, now?" Discord shifted his form into a tiny version of him that sat down in-between Fluttershy's ears.
"um, I'm - I'm really sorry, Discord - but I...I still need to get everyone sorted back to their home."
"Are you forgetting who you're talking to, dear?" Discord shifted into an alicorn with his colour palette. "Your princesses," and then a version of Windplume with his palette - "and Tempest aren't the only ones with immense magical power. I can always just snap my fingers and do it." He raised his talons as he morphed back into his own form.
"you know they don't like that." The mare frowned at him. "It upsets their stomachs. But, I'm sure you and your, um-" She glanced at Tempest. "...arch...enemy, can have some fun while I do this. you could, um, introduce her to everypony?" She suggested.

Discord rolled his eyes. Fluttershy didn't seem to notice.
"The other bearers." Tempest tilted her head to the side.
"Yes." Fluttershy nodded slowly. "I'm sure that - Spike would love to meet you."
Discord rolled his eyes so violently that they started spinning around, rattling around in his skull like a brick in a washing machine, before bursting out of the back of his skull like a bullet. He opened his mouth -
"Could you, Discord?" Her eyes twinkled. She looked up at him innocently. "I - I promise we can talk later. I'm just a little busy right now."
"...hmph." Discord crossed his arms. "I suppose." He groaned. His tail grew a hand, and then promptly snapped.

Tempest doubted she would ever get truly used to Discord. Her time as other lives in the gift that he had given her - she could forgive him. She could see past his skin and recognize that it wasn't the same person. But - they had similarities. The same voice, the same skin, the same magic.

At the very least, though, there was a satisfaction that Discord couldn't kill her before she could react when she wasn't nullifying his connection to the leylines. Harmony and Order would be able to stop anything he could send at her - even if she wasn't fast enough to notice.

There was a glimmer of something in the aether. They were out by a rather garishly coloured castle. It was vaguely reminiscent of the Tree of Harmony - if you had added a grotesque, purple tumour on top of it. It looked - out of place with the rather simple architecture around it. Tempest wasn't sure who looked more put off by it - herself or Discord.

I think it's rather nice looking. Tempest chose to ignore her.

"Finally." Discord grumbled. "Everyone seems to love how it looks. I for one, think it looks - hideous. And not even in an asymmetrical, chimaerical way. Just frankly hideous." Discord floated up. "Worst of all -" he snapped his fingers. The castle was transmogrified into a gigantic, Discord shaped head - before it morphed into a harmonic tree.

"It's superconcentrated harmonic magic." He crossed his arms. "Really, Harmony. You sure love your crystals, don't you?"
"I do," Tempest spoke for her.
"Hmph. Well - if I've been forced into the position of tour guide-"
"-asked-"
"-hush, details. I might as well embrace the part in stride. I'm nothing if not flexible." As if to showcase his flexibility, Discord promptly bent completely in half - definitely snapping his spine without magic, reaching down and touching his toes. Clothes flashed onto him - a blue train conductor outfit with a foolish plaid hat that was mismatched from everything else. A pop,, and suddenly both Tempest and Discord were on a train driving straight into the castle.

The second they impacted - Discord's magic melted into dust. Discord blinked a few times before he sighed. "Right. Superconcentrated harmonics. How extra." He snapped his fingers to cut space - and the two of them appeared with a white flash in a rather large library.

Tempest couldn't help but salivate.
Discord snapped them away again - this time into a staircase. "Ugh. This is beginning to annoy me." He hissed.
"A problem?"
"I can't - focus my teleport. I'm trying to cut right to little miss Twilight. This is a rather big issue! If I can't teleport straight into her room - then I'd have to fly up into her house to annoy her. How aggravating."
"My heart weeps." Tempest said dryly.
"Um." There was a soft voice coming from beside them. "Hi, Discord. And - uh. Your...friend?"

Discord glanced over. "Friend is a strong word," he repeated. "Where's your boss, Spike?" Tempest followed Discord's eyes.

No wings. Tempest's eyes widened. Thick, purple scales. A slightly short, almost sunken head instead of a longer snout that grew in with age. A strong, long tail with a blade - not uncommon, but there were no horns yet...

Tempest's hopes were dashed as a crest of green spikes ran along his back.

"-library, probably." The small drake shrugged. "She's been spending a lot of time in there. Since that dragon came out of the Everfree."
"Drakon," Tempest corrected. Temper's head pulsed.
"...No, it's pronounced dragon. I would know." The drake - Spike, was it, spoke sardonically.
Discord tilted his head back and burst out laughing. "Oh my. I don't think - I don't think that will ever stop amusing me. Until it does." He waved his hand. "I'm going to go bother Twilight. You two have fun - discussing." Discord coiled through the air, up and down in the movements of the eastern dragons of old as he moved towards the library.

"...I don't get his jokes."
"You aren't missing out." Tempest rolled her eyes. Something clicked in the back of her throat - as she shifted to the draconic tongue, instead of the all-speak that had become natural to her. Of course, the draconic tongue was hissing, clicking and snapping noises that no non-draconic throat could truly produce - but she wasn't exactly a gryphon, after all.

"I am Tempest Pulseradottir. A pleasure to meet you, young drake. Why are you here?" Tempest wasn't - uncomfortable speaking all-speak. Her mind had shifted to use it by default. But speaking in her tongue - her tongue, felt natural.

Spike stared at her for a second. "Um. Do you need a lozenge? Cause I think - we have some."
Tempest blanched. "You - don't speak draconic?"
"...you do??" This fact seemed to confuse Spike even more. "Actually - no, you're Discord's friend. Or, archenemy? What was your name again?"

Her wings snapped out as they shifted into the wings of the storm. Her form faded away into mist as she took a pale reflection of her true form - roughly twice Celestia's size. Spike stepped back.
"Oh. Um. Wow. That - actually explains a lot, I guess?"
"Spike, is it? You - you don't speak your tongue?"
"Uh. No." Spike glanced down at the floor. Spike promptly explained the rest of his story - how he had been an egg given to Princess Celestia years ago and had been used as the entrance exam test to check for children's reaction to failure when encountering a magically resistant dragon egg - only for Twilight to actually hatch the egg through brute force.

Tempest's mind reeled. There was so much information in that story. Last egg? Used as a test? Why would - how could - there should've been appropriate warding, they hadn't taught his language to him-

"I - I need to speak to your mother." She said softly.
Spike gave her a strange look. "Uh. Sure? I think you met her, before - but, she's in the library. Just - that way-"
Tempest was already gone. It wasn't Spike that had caused her any issue - no, it was the fact that he could be so - mistreated, yet...

What would you do? Tempest recognized that voice. It was - Windplume, wasn't it?
I didn't realize Order and Harmony had company.
You're dodging the question. What would you do?
I - no. You're right. You're part of me, and I know where you're going with this. It's a matter of circumstance. Hatched in a land that isn't his own - forcibly, through magic, meaning he would've likely never hatched - who else would raise him but the one he imprinted on? I'm not fair. Not to him, not to Celestia - not to anyone.
You reached that conclusion faster than I thought you would. Tundra, undoubtedly.

Tempest found it equal parts comforting and annoying that the voices of her other lives were now judging her. Regardless, she stepped into the library - seeing a rather annoyed, frazzled looking Spirit of Magic being tormented by the Spirit of Chaos - as he coiled around her and snarked playfully at her.

Tempest teleported up with a flash of magic. Discord turned to look at her lazily. Twilight looked a little bit taken off-guard. "Oh! Tempest! Um. Hi. I wasn't - really expecting visitors right now..."
"I'd like to talk with you, Twilight."
"Discord told me." She nodded. "You said you wanted to meet all the bearers?"
Discord looked at Tempest with a particular look. It was the look a child gave to their father when they had gone behind their mother's back and asked their father, who had given them a conflicting answer.

Help the goat out, and help me out while we're at it. I can't stand the ugin'.
Tempest agreed with Temper and simply rolled her eyes. "Yes. I already met Fluttershy. She was quite..."
"Kind?" Twilight interjected, a slight smile on her face.
"Kind," Tempest agreed.
"Speaking of Fluttershy - I think I'm going to pester her. I'll leave Tempest in your caring, capable hooves, Twilight!" He disappeared with a pop.

There was a beat of awkward silence. Twilight quickly filled it.
"You know - he's been calling you his archenemy for the last three days?"
"I did not."
"Oh. Well, he has."
Another drop.
"Well - you want to meet all the bearers? Um. Can I ask why?"
"Fluttershy suggested it. It would be interesting, to meet the mares touched by my power."
"Right. Still - wrapping my head around that." She glanced down. "You're - harmony. As in - the manifestation of harmony, everywhere. So - when I agree with someone, that's you?"
"In a sense," Harmony spoke through her.
"And Celestia - is the sun. The sun that moves up and down. So - rising and setting the sun, is just...moving herself?"
"No. The sun is a conduit of magical energy for the True Sun, which is much too large to be moved."
"...That's - I have - so many questions, that I honestly don't know where to start. And I'm - magic. The magic that - everything uses?"
"I have no earthly idea," she shrugged. "There's never been a Spirit of Magic before. You're - unique. Welcome to the club."
"The club?"
"The Unique Club."
"That sounds oxymoronic."
"We're not Unique in the same way. You're a Spirit that's never been seen before. Discord can draw on leylines, which he isn't supposed to do. I came back from the dead."
"...You - can you please stop doing that?"
"Doing what?" Tempest tilted her head to the side.
"You're dropping - bombs, I guess. Earth-shattering revelations that you're just...casually bringing up in conversation. In the last four days, I've learned that the sun isn't the sun, I'm the embodiment of magic, Discord isn't Discord, and -" She shut her eyes.
"It's a lot to handle," Tempest agreed. "It gets easier."

A lull.
"I should probably introduce you to my friends now."


Instead of a one-on-one meeting with each member of the Elements of Harmony - it was decided that all of them would meet Tempest, formally, in her new home at Ghastly Gorge the next day. Mainly - Twilight wanted to help her fellow Spirit out, and not torment her by subjecting her to unsupervised, one-on-one conversations with Pinkie Pie and/or Rainbow Dash.

She loved her friends. She really did. But they could be a bit - much.

They arrived at separate times. Twilight was first - exactly on time, as expected. Followed immediately by Rainbow Dash, a few minutes later by Applejack and Pinkie Pie - then lastly by the fashionably late Rarity.

"Hey Rarity. Have you seen Flutters?" The blue pegasus hovered idly right above Rarity.
"I have not, darling. Really - I understand she's a dragon,"
"-drakon-" Twilight corrected,
"-but must she live in such a - dreary location?"
"Ah don't think a dragon-"
"-drakon,"
"-right, what Twi said, cares all that much about location, hun."
"Regardless of scales, a lady is still a lady." She glanced around. "You're sure there are no eels?"
"Nuh-uh!" Pinkie shook her head. "Dashie checked, and my Pinkie Sense - well, unless I get four shaky hooves and my ears begin to flap, then there are no eels."

Immediately, Pinkie's hooves began to shake, and her ears began to flap. Her eyes widened slightly. Rainbow Dash glanced around as Twilight erected a purple barrier around them - only for an eel-like creature to writhe through the shield, Fluttershy trotting close behind him.

"Well - my great grandmother had some eel blood in her." Discord shrugged. "I'm not sure how much of that passed down."
"Ugh. Please tell me you aren't coming with us." Rainbow groaned as she rolled in the air.
"Hah! And miss out on this? You might as well ask Twilight to set her library on fire."

"you basically did the same, you know. siding with Tirek." Rainbow crossed her hooves over her chest.
For a fraction of a second - Discord looked hurt. He leaned back, his mouth parted - then he immediately writhed through the air. "Oh, low blow." He gently tapped Rainbow on the nose. "I'd almost be offended - if you weren't just so adorable." Discord shifted Rainbow Dash into a child's body and squeezed her cheeks, tugging at them as a grandmother would.

Twilight's horn pulsed, and she immediately dispelled the effect. She gave Discord a flat look. Discord leaned back in mid-air, letting out a soft hm.

Fluttershy finally met up with the rest of the group, glancing around. "H-hi, girls. Sorry. Discord had to help me with - um, something." She shifted around uncomfortably. Most everypony arched an eyebrow. "I'm sorry for holding everypony up."

"It's fine, Fluttershy, really." Twilight smiled and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Discord - would you mind teleporting us down? Tempest said it was a bit of a long walk."
Discord shook her head. "A bit too much harmony in there for me to do that, Sparkles. Same thing with your castle." Discord crossed his arms. "seriously. just a color switch." He grumbled under his breath. "Besides, Spirit of Magic!" He slapped her back with a bit too much force - causing Twilight's wings to spread suddenly and her to stumble. "Being friends-"
"-friends is a strong word-"
"-with someone as extremely handsome and powerful as myself-" the collective eye-roll was audible, "is no excuse to slack off on magic. I thought you were its Element, after all."

"Slacking." Twilight said softly. Slacking, she repeated internally.
"Slacking." Discord agreed.

Rainbow Dash moved to defend her - but Twilight didn't waste a moment as her horn lit with Mys, and simply Mys - and they appeared in Tempest's cave with a pop.

The cave was grandiose. It had been carved out and shaped by Tempest - with influence from all of her lives. The innards of the cave were overgrown - save for a gigantic pool, with flowing water entering in...where eels slept like a pod of sleeping whales, completely vertically. Crystals grew along the edge of the pool and the walls - the air practically saturated with pure harmony.

E842 had wanted stalactites. They reached a compromised - chains of pure Order wrapped around a perfectly smooth cylinder of colourful stone every once in a while - thrumming with magical energy. Twilight's jaw dropped.
Temper had insisted on a forge - and while Tempest wasn't sure if she'd ever have a use for it, shaping metal was a straightforward thing to do with pure magic. Rarity, for one - found the metal designs that were inlaid into the wall, as well as an elevated platform of stone, were quite...visually appealing. Rainbow Dash agreed - although the words she used were radically awesome.
The eels were Windplume's idea - bestial enough that they would be a nice meal and large enough that they could actually feed Tempest. Not that she really needed food - she could subsist off raw magical energy, but eating was - pleasant.
The bed was hot coals - from her time in Gryphum, yet laid over with a sheet of metal with soft padding on top of it. While her scales made it not uncomfortable to rest on stone, as Tundra she had gotten used to sleeping curled up on soft surfaces.
The cavern was absolutely gargantuan, lit by those aforementioned stalactites that pulsed with a rainbow light that seemed to almost echo over the walls.

Regardless, it was impossible not to notice her. The cavern seemed to fade into a white void - but no, that wasn't a void, those were scales - a wall of scales that went on, and on, and on - forming the outline of the largest creature that any of them had ever seen. She seemed almost - mountainous in person, the same sense of awe that one got looking up from the base of the Canterhorn to its peak.

They had seen her for a moment before - as she tore out of the Everfree. Discord had seen her in his nightmares and his visions - but there was a difference between seeing her from afar and being right next to her. As she breathed in and out, warmth rolling off of her -

Rainbow Dash summed it up nicely.
"Holy shit."

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded. "...but agreed."
"I - is she, sleeping? I can't really tell - what part of her I'm looking at..."
"Leg," Discord leaned back in his chair. "And she is sleeping. Don't you get tired after a two thousand year nap?"
Pinkie Pie reached into her hair - then paused. "Hey! Where's my Party Cannon?" She glanced around with a comically accusing glare.
"Too much Harmony in the air. No strangeness for you," Discord shrugged and poked the top of her head with a claw. "I can't be here, too long, Fluttershy. As much as I'd love to stay - it's making me sick. Ta-ta, and goodbye." Discord promptly disappeared with a flash.

"oh. um. I hope you feel better!" She called.
"...Well. Now what?" Applejack turned to look at the group.
The group then immediately turned to look at Twilight. Twilight rolled her eyes. "If she's anything like Spike - she's gonna need something really loud to wake her up from a deep sleep like this. Sometimes I have to mimic thunderbolts to wake him up."
"Huh. That explains a lot, actually." Rainbow squinted. "I always thought your house smelled a bit like ozone."
"It - did?" Twilight tilted her head to the side.
"Pegasus thing." She waved her hoof to the side. "...speaking of pegasus things." She glanced around. "I bet there's enough room for me to do a Sonic Rainboom in here."

"Are you out of your mind? You wanna fly at full speed in here? And what, smart girl? Smash int'a wall and go splat?" Applejack clapped her hooves together.
"I mean - is there another alternative? Look at the size of her!" Rainbow gestured with a hoof.
"I'm inclined to agree, Applejack." Rarity stepped over to Rainbow's side. "She is rather - well. Large."
"What does her size gotta' do t'with anything?" Applejack squinted. "Doesn't mean she can't hear things that aren't small."
"I mean, yeah, but we've been yelling this time and she hasn't even twitched. Rainbow even swore!" Pinkie giggled.
"um. we could. ask nicely."
Eyes slowly turned to Fluttershy.
"...like...get close to her ears, and ask. I - uh. I don't know where her ears are though. I've never - seen Spike's ears."
"...Does Spike have ears?" Pinkie squinted.

Eyes turned to Twilight.
"Wh-what? Of course Spike has ears!"
"Well yeah no duh. But like. Where are they." Rainbow emphasised.
"They're covered by scales. They're on the side of his head."
"What, the flappy things on the side of his head?" Pinkie squinted so intensely she shut her eyes. "I thought those were antennae."
"Why would a dragon have antennae-."

One of Tempest's eyes opened. The room was lit with a strange, otherworldly glow as the eye quite literally illuminated what she was looking at. She rolled over onto her side to glance at the mares.

"You woke me up," she said softly. Well - she tried to say it softly. But being a towering drakon with the weight of the Storm behind your voice made it hard to speak softly, especially when you were groggy. Twilight stepped back - Fluttershy's ears went flat, Rarity and Applejack winced, while Rainbow and Pinkie seemed unaffected.

"awesome." Rainbow whispered. She flapped up towards Tempest - right in front of her gigantic eye. "So. You're Tempest?"
"Loyalty." She shifted around. She reared her head back - letting it bump against the roof of the cave. The group got a better glimpse at her - most of her head, glimmers of her stormy wings - but she was still far too deep into the cavern to be seen all at once.
"Yeah! That's me." She jutted her chest out. "Rainbow Dash. Bearer of Loyalty and fastest pony in Equestria!"
Tempest thought for a second. "A unicorn could teleport."
"Uh - that's cheating. And you cant teleport across a city in 10 minutes. Unless you're like, some magic superpony like Twilight or a Princess."
"Are you faster than the sisters?"
"The sis- you mean the princesses? Uh. I -" She thought for a second. "...am I faster?" Then, she turned to look at Twilight. "Twilight, am I faster than the princesses?"
"I've never seen them fly at full speed. So I wouldn't know."

Rainbow Dash slowly turned to look at Tempest. "I've gotta go race the princesses." Immediately she started flying off out of the cave exit - only to be teleported down by Twilight.
"You are not going to do that." Twilight said sternly. "You are going to stay here."
"But - but-"
"No buts!" Twilight leaned in closer. Rainbow glanced around - only to see all of her friends giving her the same look.
"...fine." Rainbow sighed.

"So - yer, uh...a...dra...drak-"
"Drak-on."
"Drakon." Applejack nodded. "Uh. What's-"

Tempest leaned down close to all of them. "I didn't ask to meet you here for awkward small-talk, and mispronunciation of my name." She rolled her eyes. "I came here to see you. The Elements - they called to you. They called to the best of ponykind. I wanted to meet what they chose." She looked around. "...I am not disappointed."

"But - you barely know us."
"I do," Tempest nodded. "But I have known you for a long time. The memories - they come and go. A visual aid helps. And seeing you - I know why Harmony chose you. Or - why I chose you."

She leaned down and tapped Rainbow Dash with the tip of her claw. The tip of her claw was razor-sharp and easily the size of the mare - it could pierce through her and kill her in an instant. Rainbow gulped - but the claw just dug lightly into her chest, not so much as drawing a drop of blood. She pulled her claw back - and there was a burning red orb in the centre of Rainbow's chest.

Rainbow stumbled back and glanced at her chest. "Uh - what-"
"No Elements. But - vestiges. Remnants. Fragments. Whatever you want to use." Tempest tilted her head to the side. "I see one in all of you. It burns brightly - in tandem with your very souls."
"My oh my - it's quite...entracing. What do they do?" Rarity reached over and rubbed a hoof over Rainbow's chest. Rainbow jerked away.

Tempest turned to glance at Twilight. "I told you, before - you're something new. So - I have no Earthly idea. No aspect of me has ever seen something like this. And I - created the Elements."

"Woah, woah - hold it. Yer' saying you- created the elements?" Applejack arched an eyebrow.
"Yeah! You're a - drakon," Pinkie corrected herself at the last second. "Not a tree. I mean-" she gasped. "Are you a tree? Oh my god! I've never had a tree as a friend before!"
Tempest turned to look at Twilight. "I believe, it's best that we begin on that interview now."
"Y-yeah. Agreed." Twilight nodded. "Sorry that this was so short, girls - but I have to give Tempest an interview now. I'll teleport you all home, don't worry." Her horn began to glow.

"W-wait!" Fluttershy interjected. All eyes turned to her - and she meeped just a little bit. "uhm. Tempest. I - uh. You..." She shut her eyes and breathed in deeply.
"You helped my animals, Tempest. It was a very nice thing of you to do. So me and Discord - we made you a...a gift."
"A gift? I thought I was generosity." Rarity sighed and put a hoof on her friend's back. "You're too good for us, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy slowly flapped up towards Tempest - before she held up a lava red scale.
Tempest glanced at it for a second - before she remembered. Her eyes widened. She recoiled -

"how?" She said softly.
"um. It was - hard. Me and Discord went looking around the ridge for - a while, and there were a lot of...bones, but - um. Discord was...well. He pulled it back together. He said that - it was someone important to you."
"My mother's. It was - it was my mother's scale." Tempest gently took the mother's scale into her claw. She shut her eyes as she slowly set it down right by her bed. "I - I..." She trailed off for a moment. "...thank you." She whispered. She couldn't manage anything more.

Fluttershy smiled at Tempest before glancing back down at Twilight. The five earthbound ponies had expressions ranging from shock, awe - or into full-blown waterworks like Pinkie.

Twilight waved her horn, and a wave of purple power washed over the group. They disappeared - one at a time, reappearing in the centre of Twilight's library - until it was just the Spirit of Magic and the Spirit of Storms.

A quill and paper formed from thin air. Pocket dimension, Order noted. Tempest would've been impressed if she had noticed - she was busy staring at her mother's scale.

"...Take your time." Twilight said softly. "We can start whenever you're ready."
Tempest shut her eyes.


There are two creatures. One large, one small. Heat rolls off the large one in waves. She lays on her stomach, eyes half-lidded. The other creature is young. She is lost in thought. Her gaze is far away, not on its companion. The larger creature begins to speak-

She speaks her tale. She speaks of birth, life, death - and rebirth. She speaks of taffy, Olympus, gryphons, clarity, ash, Celestia, Luna, Order, Life, Death, Harmony - she speaks of drakons, she speaks of history. She speaks of all these things and more: she speaks of Windplume, Storm Breeze,, Temper, Tundra,

She speaks of a thousand things for an entire night. She speaks of Storms; she speaks of their Queen -

She speaks the tale of a drakon - named Tempest.

Neither hear the ringing of the bells.