//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// 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 Eight: Downpour 2

My heart skipped a beat as she said my name. I tried to look away from her, but as she entered the room, the sunlight caught her, illuminating her like the quiet angle she was. I blushed as she gave me one of her slight smiles and went over to the vase on the windowsill. She started to arrange the wild flowers and place them into the vase with such precision and delicacy; I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. That is, until that demon we call Rainbow Dash coughed gently.
I looked over to her and she winked at me, making me blush even more. Rainbow had a large, annoying smile plastered on her face and I knew she was up to no good. 
“Wing and I were just talking about you Flutters.” she said mischievously. “Turns out that Wing over here is quite the animal lover.”
“Really?” Fluttershy asked excitedly, turning around to look at us with big eyes.
“Yeah,” Rainbow said with an evil grin while she examined a hoof. “He says he loves to spend time in the Everfree and just be with all the animals.”
While this was not entirely false, it still was stretching the truth. Rarely did any animal bother me in Everfree. I gave them their space and they gave me mine. But Rainbow was taking this too far.
“Oh my! You might know some of my animal friends!” she said energetically, come closer to Rainbow’s bedside. 
“I was just wondering the same.” Rainbow quipped. “I bet he knows Tank or Angel.” 
“Let’s go see!” said Fluttershy as she grabbed my hoof, before blushing and letting it go. “If that’s ok with you…”
“Yeah, sure.” I said in a daze. Fluttershy immediately perked up and gave me a warm, kind smile.
“Would you like to come to my house and meet my animal friends?” she asked me.
“Yeah.” I answered, the daze still affecting my mind.
“Yay!” she said as she led be out the bedroom by the hoof.
I glanced back at Rainbow and saw her smiling. “Good luck” she mouthed to me. 
Fluttershy led me down the stairs and was talking about her animal friends. I wasn’t really listening because my brain was melting at the fact that I was still holding her hoof.
“…Oh and Maurice is a lovely bear who just loves massages. He tends to get a stiff back so you need to be extra gentle with him. Salt and Pepper are two darling little twin raccoons who just love to…” she said as her words were cut off by a loud scream.
We both quickly turned to see the desk attendant was pointing at me, screaming her head off. Obviously, she was scared at my thunderbird form.
“MONSTER!” she screamed, not even registering that Fluttershy of all ponies was holding my hoof. Because of her screaming, a unicorn nurse came running out of one of the hallways. She saw me and her eyes narrowed. She stood her ground and her horn started to glow.
“Nurse Redheart,” Fluttershy tried to explain. “He’s not a…”
“Fluttershy, get away from that monster.” she said seriously. “He’s dangerous.”
“Only a little, but not to anypony here.” I said quickly.
Her eyes narrowed even more and a bolt of magical energy singed my cheek. “I didn’t do four years in the Solar Guard just to be threatened by the likes of you.” she growled as she shot a few more magical blasts at me.
Fluttershy tried to shield me from the blasts, but instead I grabbed her and hugged her tightly. I shielded us both from the blasts with my wings and I looked at the mare in my hooves.
“Let’s get out of here.” I said as I spread my wings, blowing Nurse Redheart back. Then I flapped them down once and we flew out of the front doors in with a clap of thunder. As I flew higher into the sky, I unconsciously made a storm cloud above me. I willed myself to stay dry but the rain from the cloud washed away the ash from where I got hit with the magic. I totally forgot about Fluttershy until I heard her small voice.
“Um, we passed my house. And, um, can you let me go? Not that there’s anything wrong with you holding me… Um, I can fly too, so…” she said, her face getting redder as she spoke. 
I coughed away the redness in my cheeks. “Yeah. I understand.” I said as I did a quick loop, so that I landed on the storm cloud that was once above me. I hovered above it and slowly let Fluttershy to her feet. She stood on the cloud and looked at me shyly. My heart did a flip and the cloud replied by discharging a small shock of lightning. 
Fluttershy jumped and I caught her. Her coat and mane were standing on end and she looked at me with those big, semi-scared eyes. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I’m so sorry,” I said sincerely and embarrassedly as I let her down again, but this time sitting down next to her on the cloud. “I still can’t control all of my powers just yet, so…” I trailed off as I saw the mare next to me look out at all of Ponyville.
“I…I don’t like flying and clouds too much.” she said gently. “They bring back too many bad memories…but I like this.” She waved a hoof over all of Ponyville. “It’s so…lovely.”
I was silent as the cloud drifted us along through the immense sky over Ponyville. We both watched in silence, enjoying the view and company. I saw Fluttershy’s cottage and I willed the storm cloud to move us towards it. It rumbled happily, startling Fluttershy.
“Sorry,” I apologized when she gave me a worried look. “It’s ok.” I said gently. She nodded and noticed that we were almost above her house now.
“Let me introduce you to all my friends.” She said with a smile as she gracefully glided off of the cloud towards her home. I smiled and followed her, letting the storm cloud disperse as I did. I reached the ground after her and she led me into her back yard. 
The area was spacious with a few trees and a large flower and vegetable garden. Animal homes of all shapes and sizes where scattered across the yard and the furthest edge slowly seeped into the Everfree forest. As Fluttershy came into the yard, she glowed, and I knew this was truly where she was meant to be. It made me happy to see her so comfortable.
“Angel! Tank! Salt, Pepper! Octave!” she called out, searching for her animal friends. Surprisingly none came. But Fluttershy went over to a small house and looked inside.
“Now Angel bunny, why are you hiding?” she asked her pet rabbit.
“It’s because he knows he is in the presence of royalty.” said a singsong voice.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Fluttershy.
“No, why… Octave!” she said cheerfully as she went over to a songbird perched on her bird-post. For some reason, the bird had its wings spread wide and its head towards the ground.
“Why are you doing that Octave? This is my friend Little Wing.” she said as she tried to introduce me to the bird.
“Mistress, you should be bowing as well. He is a Lord.” said the singsong voice again.
I looked confused as Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, your voice is so beautiful Octave. Now if only you would get up so Little Wing can see your pretty face.”
“Please mistress, we don’t want to anger him. Please bow.” the voice spoke again.
It took a few moments, but then I realized something.
“Rise.” I said aloud and the bird rose. Fluttershy looked confused.
“Why can I understand you?” I asked out loud.
‘It is the gift of the call.’ Storm said in my mind. ‘All animals understand the voice of thunder and lighting, but few but birds can speak it.’ 
“So it’s another thunderbird thing?” I asked, making it look like I was talking to myself, but Storm’s consciousness had drifted away. Fluttershy looked at me strangely.
“For some reason, I can understand your bird friend.” I said. That just made her look at me skeptically.
“Your name is Octave right?” I asked the songbird.
“Yes milord.” It answered.
“Just call me Wing. Where have all of Fluttershy’s animal friends gone?” I asked.
“They are in hiding mil…Wing. They felt the presence of the storm and they knew to give you respect.” the bird chirped
“Tell them to come out. They don’t need to hide from me to show respect.” I said. The little songbird chirped quickly and musically, and soon animals were creeping out of their homes and out from hiding in the forest. Fluttershy gasped as they approached us tenuously, many on their bellies. When they came closer, they laid down in front of me.
“Ok, enough of that. Get up.” I commanded, feeling strange from the attention. The animals slowly rose to their respective feet, claws, paws, etc. As I looked around at all of Fluttershy’s friends, I noticed many of them seemed scared.
“Could you comfort them or something?” I asked Fluttershy quietly. “It kinda scares me that they’re all afraid of me.”
Fluttershy nodded her head. “They usually aren’t this shy…”
“…But I’m not all that usual.” I finished for her. She started to deny it, but I stopped her. “Hey, it’s ok. As you saw back at the hospital, I have a feeling I’ll be getting this more and more. Maybe they would warm up to me if I was more normal-looking at least.” I said while I turned back into my earth pony form.  The animals backed up for a second, but then became very inquisitive. However, they still just stood there patiently.
“I might as well introduce you.” Fluttershy said awkwardly. I understood how she was feeling. This was definitely not what she was used to.
“This is Maurice,” she said pointing to a large brown bear, who was eyeing the ground worriedly. “He’s the one that likes massages, don’t you Maurice.” She said as she rubbed his side.
“’Sup Maurice.” I said as goofy as I could, trying to lose the tension in the air.
“These two are Salt and Pepper,” she continued pointing to two raccoons. One was lighter while the other was darker, giving them their names. “Salt loves lettuce while Pepper likes tomatoes.” Fluttershy continued. 
She went on like this introducing all her animal friends to me. She ended with her choir of songbirds, all of which called me “lord” and bowed to me. Octave (a swallow according to Fluttershy) seemed to be the leader of them all, and I found out he was a swallow. As I met each animal, I found out which ones were more comfortable with me and which weren’t. The bear, Maurice, definitely was scared of me, while Fluttershy’s hawk and eagle talked to me with ease. But still, Octave was the most comfortable with me, even if he still called me “lord”. 
Eventually, Fluttershy invited me to stay and have lunch with her and her animal friends. I wholeheartedly accepted her offer and was stuck awkwardly with all the animals while she went inside to fix us sandwiches. 
“So…” I said breaking the silence, “Any of you meet Storm before?”
“Yes indeed milord!” Octave chirped. “The old Lord was magnificent he was.”
“Who do think is cooler?” I asked playfully.
“Well, I cannot say, but if you are the mistress’s mate, I would have…”
“Woha! Hold up dude!” I stammered quickly. I could feel my face start to get red and my tongue got tied. “Mmmmate?”  Octave snorted-quite an accomplishment for a bird- and I could hear some of the other birds laugh. Even Maurice picked up his head.
“But of course milord,” Octave carried on. “Do you not plan on taking her as your mate? I will serve the future lords and ladies as their servant milord!” he chirped quickly.
“Future lords and…” I said slowly, confused until my face lit up like Hearth’s Warming Eve lights. “Who said anything about that?!?” I shouted.
“About what?” asked Fluttershy as she came out of the house carrying a plate of daffodil sandwiches. 
“Non..nothing.” I stuttered. I could hear Octave and the other animals laughing in their own ways behind my back. I’d have to think of a way to pay him back later.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

After a pleasant lunch at Fluttershy’s cottage, I regretfully had to leave. It was getting to be late in the afternoon and I remembered that I had training tonight. Counting that it was Luna, I wanted to be as prepared as best as I could. So as much as it tore my heart, I had to say goodbye to Fluttershy for now, but I told her I would see her as soon as I could. So with that goodbye, I started to walk towards town dutifully. However, I didn’t know that I had a stowaway. 
“So when will the mistress be expecting her first?” asked Octave, who couldn’t just drop the subject.
“She’s not even my marefriend yet.” I replied.
“You said yet.” He smirked. I bucked my back hooves out, sending him flying off of my back and into the air. He followed my path flying while I walked.
“Let me just tell you one thing milord,” he chirped while circling my head.
“Is it something about ‘future lords and ladies’?”
“No,” he chirped seriously. “It is about the mistress. If you do intend to… well you understand what I mean. But, if you hurt her, at all, there will not be a safe place for you any longer.” He said with the utmost seriousness. “We all love her, so if you do anything…”
“So you’re threatening me, a pony you call ‘lord’?” I asked surprised by the little guy’s gall.
He gulped but then cleared his throat. “Yes. If you do anything to the mistress…”
I started to laugh. “Don’t worry,” I assured him. “No harm will come onto Fluttershy.” I said as he perched on my shoulder. He stared me straight in the eye.
“Do you swear it?”
“Cross my electrified heart.” I said as I smiled, lighting playing across my teeth. That seemed to satisfy the little guy.
“Then thank you milord. I, no all of us, are indebted to you. I must go back and help the mistress. I bid you good day milord.” he chirped, flying off of my shoulder.
“God-speed you, bird! God-speed you!” I called back to him, copying his archaic way of speech. I shook my head to think that all animals were such characters. 
But I kept walking into town. I thought that it was time for me to go home, and I started to change, but stopped remembering where I was. It probably would not bode well if a thunderbird just “magically” appeared in the center of Ponyville. I started to walk back out of town, when a white blur tackled me.
“Oh Little Wing, she is just marvelous, marvelous!” cried the love-smitten unicorn sitting on top of me. 
I groaned. “How so?” I asked Blueblood.
“Not only is she beautiful, not only is she smart, and not only is she the greatest mare in all of Equestria; but she also has an autographed, complete box set of Hayberry Place seasons 1 to 5!” he cheered.
“Really?” I sighed, getting up off the ground.
“Whip up a rainstorm my dear friend!” he cried. “At a time like this there is only one thing you can do!” he said while jumping up onto a lamppost. 
“I’ll make one just for you.” I said with a little malice. A storm cloud appeared above Blueblood’s head and it started to downpour. Surprisingly, he didn’t take offense to it. Instead, he cleared his throat.
“I’m singing in the rain! Just singing in the rain! What a glorious feeling, I’m happy again!” he sang dancing around the lamppost and jumping gracefully into the street. Onlookers started to laugh, but I know he couldn’t hear any of them. 
“I’m laughing at clouds,” he sang looking up at the cloud above him and shouting “HAHA!” before singing again. “The sun’s in my heart, and I’m READY FOR LOVE!!!” he finished off, sliding down onto his knees and finishing it off with a loud crescendo. I stood there, mouth agape, while bystanders laughed, clapped, and cheered at his show. When I my senses came back to me, I face hoofed. Hard.
“Ok Romeo, time to go home.” I said going over to him and dragging him up by his collar.
“Ahhh, sweet Rarity...” He said, still lost in his feelings. I just sighed and had the cloud pick us up. As long as I held onto Blueblood, he should stay on the cloud without falling down. When the cloud reached a certain height (far away enough from curious pony eyes) I changed forms and used my wings and summoned winds to propel us through the sky.
Half way to Canterlot, Blueblood snapped out of his the love-daze he was in and became aware of where he was.
“AHHHH! WHY AM I UP HERE?!” he cried, trying to move closer into the center of the cloud. Luckily, I was sitting there with back to back with him. 
“You really shouldn’t move too much.” I said. “If you’re not touching me, I think you’ll fall through.” 
I immediately regretted saying that because Blueblood took that as his cue to jump on me. For the second time that day, I was being sat on by him. My face was stuck in the cloud and I mumbled a line of expletives as I made the winds go faster so I could get home as soon as possible. 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I was woken up well past sunset, but a little before midnight by one of the castle guards. He led me down to the lowest level of the castle and said something about how Princess Luna wanted me to meet up with her before she started my training. So, I sleepily followed the guard down to the ground floor of the castle. However, he led me to a broom closet and told me to enter. 
“Princess Luna is waiting.” He said, shoving me into the broom closet. I was about to protest when I heard something strange, like metal scraping against metal, and then I was blinded by light that spilled out of the opposite side of the closet. I shielded my eyes and rubbed them until I could see and found out that the other end of the closet had just opened up into a large room. So large, it could fit Princess Luna, a unit from her Lunar Battalion, me, and still have room to throw a good sized party. 
“Come in,” Luna said, beckoning me to a table. I yawned and I heard everypony in the room laugh. I shook off my tiredness, but I still couldn’t quite get my eyes to open. I walked to the table without a hitch though, because I could sense the air and where things like chairs and other ponies were. I walked with my eyes closed over to Luna’s side before rubbing my eyes completely.
“So what are we doing?” I asked as I yawned, stretched, and opened my eyes. I was surprised to find that Luna was wearing her battle armor, and all of the soldiers of her battalion were dressed in their fatigues or other battle gear. I noticed a familiar face, General Crimson, but other than that all the faces were new to me. There was even a timber wolf in the group. I also looked down at the table and found a map of someplace strange.
“Well my little pony,” said Luna. “We are going to go learn about the enemy. ‘Do some Recon’ as they say.” Then she turned to the timber wolf in the group. “Fenrir, explain what the plans are.”
“Right away Princess.” he said, saluting sharply with a withered paw. The paw struck me as strange, but I didn’t have time to ask questions. “We will be coming in from this side,” he said pointing to the map with the same withered claw. He circled what appeared to be dusty hills. “Then we will lie in wait. We have reports of a few horned serpents being spotted in the region by our advanced recon teams. If the info is correct, then there are only three of them, each fairly small.” he continued.
“What’s ‘fairly small’?” asked Crimson.
“None are bigger than the one that Little Wing had faced.” Fenrir replied. 
“Princess, orders?” asked Crimson.
“We move out within the hour. Prepare yourselves.” She said and Crimson turned to give his unit orders. I just looked at Luna with a raised eyebrow.
“They are with us for safety reasons…and if we get into a fight with the horned serpents.” she said nonchalantly.
“Ponies almost lost their lives last time I fought against one of those monsters!” I shouted at Luna. “You’re crazy if you think we could stand a chance against three! I don’t like the sound of this…it’s like you want us to go in there and…and kill them. I’m out.” I said decisively. 
Luna sighed. “You’re coming with us Wing. You need this.” She said, placing a gently hoof on my shoulder.
“Really? I need to kill even more?” I asked cynically.
‘I asked her to do this Little Wing.’ Storm’s voice boomed around us. ‘You must collect their hearts. Perhaps then you will have enough to arm your friends.’ 
“But it’s KILLING!” I screamed at him.
‘Would you rather it be your friends?’ he yelled back at me.  ‘You know this is the only way. You saw it in the first one’s eyes. They will not stop until all you love is gone and then they will try to finish you too. It is time to take on your mantle as a thunderbird.’ he said sternly. ‘Luna go now. I would like to see this over quickly as well.’
“As you wish Lord Storm.” she replied as her horn grew bright. “Hold on everypony.”

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

On the other side of the mountains of doom are the foothills of the badlands. They are the closest thing to a border between the farthest southeastern lands of Equestria and the badlands themselves. Here, for a short second, a blast of black magic could be seen as something arrived. But what were worse were the things that saw the lights. They picked up their heads and hissed towards the source of magic. They started to slither in the direction of the magic.

“Get into positions!” whispered Luna helping direct her subordinates into teams of two. The lunar soldiers already knew what to do, moving quickly and quietly into their own spots, leaving me with Luna. She dove to ground on the top of the dirty hill we had arrived on and pulled me down beside herself. Then she clamped a hoof over my mouth until it became apparent I wouldn’t shout out. 
“Are we just hiding?” I asked her in a whisper. 
“Lying in wait.” she answered just a quiet. “When I give the signal, we will ambush them.” As much as I didn’t like the prospect of having to fight, and potentially kill the horned serpents, I was energized. I could feel the adrenaline pumping in my veins. I felt the storm inside of me twist and curl, ready for me to charge at the enemy, lighting flaring, thunder crashing, winds whipping at their flesh.
“Calm yourself.” Luna whispered to me. “They sense your magic the easiest, so you need to calm down. Stay in your earth pony form until I call for you.” 
I nodded in agreement, but then I felt a sudden change. My head went stiff and the fur on the back of my neck rose. I could feel that air of apprehension I had felt in the Everfree on that day. I slowly turned my head and my vision zoomed in on them. 
The slowly slithered over the opposing hill into the valley below us, their tongues flicking out, tasting the air laced with the scent of pony and magic. 
“We knowsssss.” said the first of the trio.
“Yesss. Come out, come out my little poniesssss.” another said.
Crimson quickly cast a glance toward Luna. She nodded and he threw the hood on his camouflage over his head. Then he disappeared. My gasp was covered by Luna’s quick hoof.
“Watch.” she said barely audible. I looked down upon the valley as the three horned serpents, their terrible horns shining in the moonlight, smelled the air, looking for their prey.
“’Ello chaps!” said a black coated unicorn from the unit, popping up on the other side of the valley. “Lovely night to get decimated, innit?” he said foolishly. The three horned serpents lunged at him and I was about to scream, when a pillar of stone shot out of the ground, hitting the first serpent in the face. The other two looked at each other and their dizzy companion before they were pelted with boulders and attacked from all sides by dive-bombing pegasi, magic-firing unicorns, and strong and angry earth ponies and timber wolf. The timber wolf’s withered claw glowed with a magical light and grew into three-saber like claws that were scratching and pushing back the serpents. In the middle of the fight, I saw Crimson appear out of the darkness, his hood thrown back and his gauntlets flashing with every strike. Amazingly, the horned serpents were being pushed towards our hiding place. 
Luna quickly motioned for me to be quiet as she picked me up around my midsection and we flew up into the sky. She landed on a cloud above the battle and started giving me commands as she started to glow in the moon light.
“Create storm clouds, but DO NOT change forms until I say. When I call your name, I want to dive off of this cloud and fire as much lighting at them. Do not worry, I will protect my soldiers. But we must move with haste, for the serpents will not be fought back for long. We had the element of surprise on our side, but they have strength.” She said in one large breath as she became brighter and brighter, absorbing the moon’s energy. While she focused on her task, I focused on mine. I knew they would eventually sense my magic, but hopefully Luna’s magic blocked out mine for the time being.
As I felt the clouds churn and the storm rise close to where I was, I saw the battle beneath me changing, just as Luna predicted. The horned serpents had risen and all sense of surprise. After all, how surprised can you be when all the things being thrown at you are barely enough to scratch you? I saw as a pegasi was slapped out of the air, a unicorn almost trampled, and an earth pony sent flying. I heard the combined roar/howl of the timber wolf Fenrir and Crimson yelling in rage. However, as ferocious and furious they were, they were starting to lose. 
“Now Little Wing!” Luna screamed, glowing like the full moon.
I let the lighting out of the clouds, striking and electrocuting all three of the horned serpents. A cheer went up from the lunar soldiers who were shielded by and aura of shimmering silver light.
“Do not rejoice yet!” Luna cried as she flew down at the horned serpents that were rising from the dirt. She screamed out and unleashed three pillars of moonlight from her horn, her body losing its glow as she did. The pillars shot out and stuck themselves into the thick foreheads of the horned serpents. They cried out in fury but Luna’s scream was louder.
“ONCEST MORE!” the royal Canterlot voice boomed, and I let a massive wave of lighting pour out of the clouds. The lighting struck the pillars and traveled down into the monsters’ bodies. A loud cheer rose from the group below and I gave out a sigh of relief. It was over. 
I summoned a wind to lower me down and I saw as Luna had her soldiers regroup so she could help treat the wounded. As she did, she turned her back to the corpses. That was when I saw one lift its arm. He soldiers saw it too, but they would move too late. I screamed, no let loose a mighty screech, and went as fast as I could to prevent Luna from being killed.
I impacted the ground with such force that lighting traveled from my body and across the ground in all directions. I stood in the crater I had made, covered with a sheen coating of gore and crackling lightning. As the dust cleared and all saw me I screeched again. I knew it was foolish, but something inside me told me it was what I needed to do. I needed to scare the others of this cursed species. They needed to know that they would be next if they chose to cross me.
As my angry breathing slowed and the lighting around me settled, Luna approached me. She was shaking from my display and I realized why the sisters had called Storm “lord”. It was true they could move the sun and moon and they were “immortal” to all ponies, but they held nothing compared to me. They were granted powers by the sun and moon and had to rely upon the celestial bodies to help them. However, I AM the storm. I did not need to rely upon any source of magic, as I was the source. 
“I…I thankst thee.” Luna said, falling back into her archaic way of speaking. 
“It was nothing.” I said, my power rush slowly dispersing from me. It was then that I had the good idea to look down and find myself standing in a crater made of the body of the horned serpent that tried to attack Luna. I also regrettably looked at myself and found out I was covered in blood and gore. 
And that is how a whole unit of lunar soldiers saw a thunderbird throw up.