//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Storm 
// by The_Last_Centurion 
//------------------------------//

This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.


Part Four: Super-Cell Thunderstorm

"Rise my little ponies…and thunderbird?” said Princess Celestia.
“No he is a thunder-pegasi.” commented Princess Luna.
“But his magical aura is that of a thunderbird.”
“And a pegasi.” 
“And an Earth pony?” 
“Just what are you?” asked both Princesses.
“Can I rise first?” I asked.
Both Princesses laughed. “Of course. Now what are you?”
I was about to open my mouth, but I felt Storm’s consciousness again. Only this time I could feel the current of magic flow inside of me.
‘Hello sisters.’ He said, making both Celestia and Luna gasp and bow quickly. Fluttershy, Twilight, and I looked at each other completely stunned at their actions. They were immortal princesses. Storm was so powerful that even they had to bow to him?
“Lord Storm, where do you preside? Please show yourself.” Luna said cordially.
‘I reign no more sisters. Rise and meet the one who has inherited my powers and duties.’
Both sisters gasped at the news that Storm had died. They rose from the ground with tears in their eyes and looked at me with reverence. Then they bowed to me. I stepped back surprised at such an action. 
‘Do not fear this Little Wing. This is the respect paid to the thunderbirds.’ He said to me.
‘Rise sisters and listen to his tale. I will not involve myself with trifle details of what preceded his becoming the new thunderbird, but both of you must listen intently.’ He spoke to them, and then to me ‘go on Little Wing. Tell them your tale.’
So I did. I told them how my parents died when I was a foal, how I never received my cutie mark, how I was bullied, and how the Everfree forest had always been my home away from home. Then I told them the events of yesterday and how I became the new thunderbird with Storm’s magic, how I took over his storm and made it my own, much stronger than it was originally. I left out the parts about seeing Rainbow Dash and my parents in the clouds, but I continued on telling them about the morning after I awoke. I told them about my changing features, the journey through the forest, and the fight with the horned serpent. At the mention of the horned serpent both princesses went pale and looked over at its corpse. 
“May we inspect it?” asked Celestia.
“Um, sure.” I said, unsure about why they were so scared. If my friends and I could beat one, they could probably take on a few armies of them, so what was the worry? Nonetheless, they approached the corpse gingerly, as if they were scared they would wake it. In fact, when they were close, Luna magicked a stick over to float above her. Then she poked the corpse, and both sisters let out a held breath.  
I laughed along with the other mares and Storm himself.
‘He did well sisters.’ Storm reassured them. ‘With the help of the mares, he killed it.’ He said, sending that terrible knowledge into my brain again. I lowered my gaze to the ground to hide my eyes in case I cried.
I could hear Storm sigh. ‘This is becoming infuriating. Sisters, explain to Little Wing why it is alright to kill these beasts. He insists on crying every time I commend him on the execution of such a monster.’
“EXCUSE ME that you never said anything about KILLING OTHER LIVING CREATURES in your Celestia-forsaken offer!” I yelled at Celestia who was now standing shocked in front of me. “Sorry,” I apologized to her, my tears starting to fall from my eyes. I felt a hoof under my chin and a royal voice spoke.
“He cannot be blamed for this Lord Storm. First off, we are now a peace-loving country. We are no longer the Equestria of the past.  Second off, we assumed that the Horned Serpents were killed off a long time ago, BY YOU. And finally, you…no it is no one’s fault. But why didn’t you tell us?”
‘Tell you what my dears?’Storm asked.
“That you were dying.” Luna said sadly.
‘Nothing lives forever. Both of you know that very well. And I am, sorry was, many millenniums older than you. It was just a matter of time.’
“But our brother…” Luna started before Celestia cut her off with a hoof and a shake of her head.
“Not even Century has the ability to slow time for one so powerful. It would have been futile.” 
‘Sisters, I must ask of you something very important.’
“What my lord?” they asked simultaneously. 
‘Teach Little Wing. He is your only hope. I know you do not know all my powers, but I will help him with those when the time comes.’
“We understand my lord.” they reiterated each other.
“I’m the ‘only hope’? Against what?” I asked worried now.
“Do you believe there was only one of them?” Luna asked at she pointed towards the charred carcass of the horned serpent. My eyes grew wide and my heart froze in terror. No, no, I would never fight and kill again. Especially not those monsters. 
‘It is not in your hooves Little Wing.’ Storm said, reading my mind. ‘The princesses will explain, but know they will always be coming after this spot, the spot where I gave my powers to you, and they will not stop until either they are dead, or you are. Now I am sorry, but I must go and rest. If Little Wing is to receive my training in the future, I must start resting now.’
“Rest well my lord.” the princesses said with a twin bow.
As his consciousness left, the princesses turned to me.
“Hold on Little Wing. We are going to the Canterlot Castle. I think it would be better if told you the story of our lord in comfort. Come, Fluttershy, Twilight, you two will join us as well. Then you can tell the other element bearers about it.” Celestia said as she spread her wings around us, teleporting to the castle.

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As Celestia teleported away, Luna hung back at the glade, knowing what must be done. Alone, she walked over to the dead horned serpent and picked it up with magic, moving it so it lay on its back, dead skull to the sky. Luna picked up the stick she had used earlier to poke it and applied her strongest transmutation magic to the wood, turning it into a tool made of purified moonlight. Luna sharpened its tip with magic and took a deep breath.
“I hate this part.” She said as she lowered the stick to the beast’s skull at the opening Rainbow Dash made with her ‘sonic rainboom drop-hoof’. Luna chuckled at Rainbow’s chutzpah and she focused on the task at hand. The scalpel pressed into the cooked flesh and split the horned serpent’s skin in a neat line down his skull and body cavity. Then Luna broke the stick into six small shards, and kept open the flesh of the horned serpent open as she pulled out the only things that remained in the horned serpent: diamonds filled with magical energy. 
“This one feels like Twilight’s magic” she said when she picked up a particularly purple one. There were seven in total, as they were once the hearts of the horned serpent. Upon death, the serpents take their energy and any excess magical energy of the environment into their body, not to save them, but to be eaten by their comrades so they can increase their own powers. It was a sinister evolutionary trait that only the monsters had. 
After Luna had removed all the diamonds, the body turned black and crumbled away, since all that was left was pure malice and a charred hatred. Luna sighed as she put the diamonds into her saddlebags. It was gory work, but it would be needed to help win the coming war. She knew this, but still, this grossed her out. 
Before teleporting away to the castle and her sister, she cast one more glace to the crumbling remains of the body. The neck had crumbled away, letting the black skull roll back to look directly at Luna. It gave an evil, serpent like, toothless grin which disturbed Luna. She blasted it into dust with a quick magical bolt.
“Mother-bucker.” She said as she teleported away.

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The castle was warm and everything seemed so cozy. We reappeared in what must have been Celestia’s bed room as there was a large writing desk overflowing with letters that all started “Dear Princess Celestia,”. Some of them were even stacked into a small castle. When Twilight saw these, all cluttered on a desk, she gave Celestia the evil eye. 
“Well what am I supposed to do with them?” Celestia replied as her horn glowed and a tea table, five chairs, and a full tea set appeared in front of Celestia’s fireplace. She walked over to the table and sat with her back to the fireplace. She started serving everyone tea and their condiments with magic while she made her own with her hooves. 
“How many sugars Little Wing?” she asked me.
“What kind of tea is it?”
“Earl Grey.”
“Got any Oolong?” 
Celestia signed and my cup disappeared to come back a marble-bamboo cup with Oolong tea in it. “Thanks!” I said with a goofy grin. Celestia just rolled her eyes. The door opened and Luna came in and sat down at one side of the table, making her cup disappear, only to come back as a large stein filled with something dark and brown. It smelled faintly of coffee and molasses. She took a sip and the stein disappeared again.
“Forgot the Irish Cream.” She said with a toothy smile. Celestia facehoofed and waited until the stein came back before she started.
“Alright,” she said as Luna took an obnoxious slurp from the stein “Little Wing, you are now a thunderbird, or have been one for a day. The reason why you are now considered a ‘thunderbird’ is because you possess a power greater than that of me or my sister.” She said, making me choke on my tea. 
“Excuse me?”
“That’s right kid.” Luna said, throwing her back hooves up onto the table. “You are more powerful than your own rulers.” 
Celestia frowned at her sister’s outburst, but continued. “You have the power of an ancient inside of you. A power that was on this earth before any sentient ponies were. Alas, this power comes with its own costs.”
“The first cost, is that with such power, comes great dues to the earth. The thunderbirds of old used to fly the earth and create the storms. With their wings they created winds powerful enough to create hurricanes and tornadoes. With a blink of their eyes, lightning would spew across the heavens. With a single whisper, the rains, snows, and even hails would beckon and rush to where the thunderbirds were. The thunderbirds were creatures of extreme natural powers. Thus, they must use these powers to keep the earth in balance.”
“Storm said something like that when he transferred his powers to me. ‘Keep harmony through chaos’ or something.” I said.
Celestia nodded. “Yes, it is now your job to help keep the earth in harmony by creating chaos.”
“How do I do that?” I asked, thinking of a certain draconeqqus that every sane pony feared.
“Once a year, you must travel the world bringing natural storms with your powers. If you feel that an extra storm is needed, then you must create it.”
“Really?” I asked, astounded. “That’s it?”
“No.” Celestia said.
“Buck.” I replied.
“No, no, no. You godda put more Umph into it,” said Luna, a little red in the face. “Like this: bbbbbbbBUUUUUCKKKK!” she said with a flourish, shouting it in the royal Canterlot voice at the end, finishing with a bow that spilled a lot of what she was drinking. Celestia sighed and magicked away the stains in her carpets along with the stein from Luna.
“Hey!” Luna said.
“If you close the refrigerator door, does the little light stay on?” Celestia asked Luna, which caused Luna to put a hoof to her chin and ponder this with big eyes.
“Can’t hold her liquor at all.” Celestia muttered under her breath.
“Anyways, there is another catch to the powers.”
“Which is what?” asked Twilight, who was taking down notes on various sheets of parchment.
“Long ago, Thunderbirds were the enemies of only one civilization of beasts, a civilization of such monsters that they would kill everything they came into contact with.”
“The horned serpents.” I said with a deadpan. 
“Yes. It was said that they were killed off long before ponies even existed, but when I and my sister were young, we fought against them and other ancient monsters with Lord Storm and the other Ancient Imperials. We had thought we killed them all, but we were wrong.”
“So there are more of them?”
“Yes, and from the looks of it, many more.”
“But how can you tell?”
“That horny serpent was nuthin’ but a tyke!” Luna interjected. “We fought a bunch that were much bigger’n that.”
“Ok, so there’s a bunch of horned serpents that are that size. Can’t you two finish the rest of them? I mean they really weren’t that hard to beat…” I asked.
“HA! You don’t know nuthin’. Horned serpents only let others of that size live because there’s a lot of ‘em!” Luna said.
“What?”
“What my sister says is true Wing. The horned serpents eat their own kind. They are often much bigger, about the size of this castle. If you fought one that was that big, then that means there are many of them.”
“Oh gods……..”
“Yes, and it is your job, as declared by your own powers, to help keep life on this earth safe from those monsters.” Celestia finished, with a sad, yet stern look in her eyes.
“So I have to fight them all alone?”
“No.” said a gentle voice and a strong one in my mind. “You’ll never be alone again,” the voices said together. We all looked at Fluttershy, who was quickly turning red from her outburst, but I was equally surprised by the one from inside my mind.
‘I am always here Little Wing. I am the storm, but you are too.’ Storm said before disappearing again.
“Thank you.” I said sincerely to both of them.
“Your lover’s right Wingy! If we beat ‘em once, we can beat ‘em again!” Luna said nodding to Fluttershy, as she jumped up onto the table and started singing a song about ‘over there’. Celestia smiled at me and nodded. 
“We’re all going to help you Wing.” said Twilight. 
“Together.” said Fluttershy, with a very determined look on her face. 
“But first things first,” said Celestia. “First, Twilight, you must take Fluttershy home and tell the rest of the elements. Try to acquire as much help as you can and start to evacuate Ponyville. I’ll send you more directions tomorrow morning.”
Twilight nodded and stood up with Fluttershy and they both headed towards the door.
“Hey Little Wing.” 
“Yes Fluttershy?”
“Um…good luck…bye.” She said quickly, blushing as she darted out the door.
“You lil’ bucker! She’s got such a crush on you!” said Luna.
“Don’t make fun Luna. They make a cute couple. Little Wing, Fluttershy, Flutter-Wing! See, it’s so cute!” replied Celestia. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open.
“I bet she’ll be angry when she finds out he’s more like lighting than thunder.” Luna said surreptitiously. 
“How so?” Celestia asked.
“He comes and goes like a flash!” she said sullenly, before both sisters broke out into hysterics.
‘HOW DARE YOU!’ Storm rumbled through the room. ‘Everypony knows that thunderbirds put the ‘shock’ into the shocker!’ he said, leaving the room completely quiet for all but two seconds as what he said registered with all three ponies. I turned red and let my face smack onto the table as Celestia and Luna rolled on the laughing.
“Put the shock…” Luna laughed.
“Bzzt!” Celestia said while making a few indecent gestures with her hooves.
Both sisters just laughed harder and rolled around more.
“So what else is there to do?” Little Wing asked, his face still burning. 
“We’ll show you to your room.” Celestia said between giggles. She and her sister stood up and went to the door. Luna turned around and clapped her wings together, like a mother pegasi signaling to her child. “Come on Lil’ Shocky!” she said, making Celestia fall to the ground laughing. 
I pushed past them and started to walk down the corridor. I didn’t care where his room was just so long as he could get away from those two. Twenty feet ahead of him, Celestia and Luna appeared, and walked ahead of him, giggling all the while. They went up a few stairs and came to a room at the very top of the castle.
“This is your room,” Luna said with a goofy grin as she opened up the wooden door. Inside was a large, spacious circular room. There was a bed in the middle, circular like the room, but the ceiling was nothing but glass. 
“It’s usually for the dignitaries from Saddle Arabia, who are used to sleeping outdoors underneath the open night sky. But, you can use it for the time being. Get some rest,” she said slapping my flank as she passed. “Tomorrow you’re going to start your training.”
I shook my head as they left the room, but jumped when rows a raucous laughter erupted outside of my door. I heard the two teleport just as I reached the door. I opened it up and looked around but saw nothing. I sighed and went back into my room. Mares.
I climbed into the bed and almost tore up the sheets because I was still in my thunder bird form. I let myself revert, going back into normal earth pony form as I laid down and gazed up at the night sky. I started to drift to sleep when I saw the stars above my bed swirl around. I thought it was my imagination, until I saw they spelled out “GOOD NIGHT LIL’ SHOCKY!”
I took a deep sigh, said “love you guys too”, and closed my eyes wondering what tomorrow would bring.

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The badlands at night are not a place any living creature wants to be. First off, the terrain itself is deadly during the day, so why would any sane creature want to traverse it at night in the dark? Second, the few predators that stalk the night are quick and efficient killers that will have you dead long before you can tell the deference between the badlands and hell (even though they look, feel, sound, and even smell the same). Third, the temperature falls to such frigid temperatures, that even creatures of the frozen north have a hard time living here. But forth, and most importantly, is that the great snakes, the horned serpents, get restless at night. It is true they hate the sun with a passion, but the moon even more so, for it steals them from having a truly dark night. And this hatred fuels them to move. And thus they hunt, consuming everything in their path. At once, this gluttony and violence was sealed by the well, but alas, that is gone and the gluttony roams ever more in the hated moonlight…