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 Eleven: Tiger in a tropical Storm
‘Monster?!’ Storm’s voice resounded in my mind.
“Wing, I just…” Celestia started to say.
“What’s going on?” Rainbow cut her off.
“Monster!” screamed somepony from Ponyville below.
“ONE AT A TIME!” I screamed, my voice sounding like thunder as I clutched my head. “You first Celestia.” I said with a growl.
“I just felt the magic of one of the old ones.” She said fearfully as she peered over the cloud towards Ponyville; a town which was now in an uproar.
“Like that of the horned serpents?” I asked, my heart pounding out of fear.
“Yes, but not at all. It was different, but I can’t tell what it is. For some reason, it feels familiar, but not too friendly.” She replied with a worried look in her eye.
I was going to ask her more, but a loud scream and a terrifyingly powerful roar pierced our ears from the ground below. We didn’t need to say anything more. We all sped towards the ground to find out what was going on.
We sped down above the streets and candy colored houses of Ponyville trying to see what had uttered such a roar and why a pony could be screaming. Finally, we saw many ponies in a commotion in Ponyville Square. Carts and stalls were overturned, spilling their wares across the cobblestones and many ponies were either running for safety or hiding under their now overturned carts. I landed next to a shaking, familiar, overturned cart and lifted it over with a strong talon. The pony underneath screamed, until she saw all of our familiar faces.
“What happened Golden Harvest?” I asked the shaken mare.
“Some giant monster came out of nowhere and started looking around for a pony to eat. But then it stopped all of a sudden and ran off towards Fluttershy’s cottage.” She explained timidly. My heart jumped into my throat. ‘Some giant monster,’ could it be a horned serpent? My heart chilled with fear as I thought about such a thing. But then it started clawing its way throughout my body. The thing headed towards Fluttershy!
My eyes grew wide with panic, and before I knew it, I was flying quickly with a storm centered about me. I was dully aware that Celestia and Rainbow were following me and yelling things at me, but I flew faster and the storm wouldn’t let them come close. Soon, I saw Fluttershy’s cottage and I heard Fluttershy scream. My heart froze over and I changed my flight pattern into a sharp dive, ready to destroy whatever monster was attacking her. As I landed onto the ground, thunder boomed around me and lighting forked the sky. I was ready for anything, but not for what I saw next.
In the back of the house, Fluttershy was lying snuggled against a large predatory animal. It was white and orange with black stripes and bright green eyes. It lay on its side, surrounding Fluttershy with a content look on its face. Fluttershy squeal-screamed again as the creature licked her side. It gazed at me with a look of challenge while Fluttershy turned her beautiful face towards me, her look confused and wondering.
“I was told…I thought…” I stammered as the storm around me faded.
“What’s wrong Wing?” Fluttershy asked as the giant creature’s tail swung back and forth behind her. She got up and started walking towards me, leaving the creature looking agitated.
‘I never said to leave, my dear.’ said a sultry voice to Fluttershy and me. It was then that my eyes grew wide. I knew this type of speaking better than any others could. The feel of the mental presence, the subtle coursing of the power in his voice. I knew immediately what this creature truly was.
“You are an ancient?” I asked to him as Fluttershy approached me.
‘Would you still be alive if I wasn’t?’ he replied.
‘But of course he would Agni. We both know you were never a match for me.’ Storm said aloud as Rainbow and Celestia landed next to me. A wave of heat rolled out from the stripped predator as he rose from the ground, his tail twitching in ire and his teeth bared.
‘Storm, you never once beat me in a fight. And now that you are trapped in that body, we both know you are so much weaker.’ Agni growled out to me.
“H-hey now.” I said nervously. “Calm down guys.”
‘Every fight we were in was a tie. Thus, you never beat me in a fight either you old kitten.’ Storm taunted.
‘Shut up you wind-blown chicken. I’ll fry you in a second.’
‘Ha! You’ll have drowned in all the rain before then!’
The monster growled and the grass around him curled, yellowed, and set aflame. ‘I hope you taught this fool how to fight, because if you didn’t, you’re both going to die here!’ he said as he lunged at me with a roar.
I quickly rolled away as he landed where I once was, the ground erupting into flames as he landed. The three mares stood there watching with wide eyes and open mouths. Celestia called something to me, but I couldn’t hear her over the sound of the monster’s roar and my own heart beating in my ears. I quickly jumped up into the air, flying upward as the creature roared again, stuck down on the ground. I smirked, knowing I was safe up in the sky, but I squawked in surprise as I felt a heat on my tail feathers. I looked back and found a small flame burning them. I quickly put it out with a summoned cloud, but I wasn’t out of the clear yet. I heard the creature roar again and didn’t believe my eyes as flames shot up towards me.
“What the buck is he!” I shouted aloud as I dodged the gouts of flame chasing my contrails.
‘He is one of the Ancients. One of the last ones, just as I was. He and I were what you would call rivals, more or less.’ Storm replied.
“What!” I shouted in surprise. “I thought you were the last of the Ancients!”
‘No. There are four of us left with our sentience: I-or now you, Agni-the tiger of the flame, Moroz-the bear of the frost, and finally, Asmodeus-the original snake of the earth.’ Storm explained.
“Why haven’t I-WOAH!” I yelled as a large flame in the shape of Agni came up into the sky and chased after me. I quickly summoned rain clouds and flew into the rain, leading the flame-tiger into the water. It fizzled out in a puff of smoke and I heard a loud smack and Agni roar even more. I looked down to the ground to see that Rainbow had simply walked up to him and smacked him in the face. My eyes glazed over with horror as Celestia quickly saved her from becoming a roast-Rainbow. However, that didn’t stop Agni, who now saw Fluttershy and was slinking towards her menacingly. I saw her cower and try to move backwards, but she tripped and fell. Celestia and Rainbow saw this too, but they wouldn’t be able to save her in time.
“NO!” I screeched as lightning surrounded my body. I flew forwards with incredible speed as I readied to tackle the tiger with all my strength, but at the last moment, Storm somehow jerked my body to a stop in the air. My lighting discharged off of my body, arcing to the ground and hitting Agni in full force.
“Storm, what was that?”
‘Be careful you fool! You do not know what he is capable of!’
“I think my lighting just got him pretty good.” I said cockily, before I was hit with my 300 million volts of electricity. As my body arched with the foreign lighting, my own lighting tried to combat it, making my body numb. As I started to plummet to the ground, I heard a throaty chuckle.
‘Boy, don’t you know your elements?’ laughed Agni as I regained control of my body just in time to stop my fall. Before I could ask anything, Storm spoke up in my mind.
‘Little Wing, Lightning is the purest form of Fire and Agni is the Ancient of fire.’
‘HAH! Are you ready to die?’ The tiger shouted as he charged at me, flames shooting off of his body. I quickly turned in the air and summoned more clouds around us, making a small smokescreen. As I hid, my heart raced, my pulse was audible, and my fear was palpable.
‘Calm yourself Little Wing.’ Storm said to me. ‘Quiet your mind and your heart. You are the storm, the very center of all chaos which is peace. Now emulate that.’
His words calmed me and I stared to breathe easily, until a gout of flame shot out of the mist and missed me by a few feet.
‘Think Little Wing.’ Storm said with the same calmness and collectivity that chased away my fear. ‘How do you ponies put out fires?’
“With water.” I said as my eyes lit up and dark storm clouds gathered overhead. Agni must have felt this too, for he started shooting flames off in every direction, but it was too late. As the storm clouds started to accumulate and let out their contents, the mist around us faded away, leaving me open to Agni’s sight. He glared at me, but the falling rain was putting out some of his fires. However, this wasn’t enough. He roared at me and yelled flames into the sky, scattering my clouds. As he smirked at me, I got an idea. As he was about to kill me, I flew away quickly off in the opposite direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.
‘Running away you coward!?! Storm, your apprentice is weak!’ Agni shouted as he chased after me. I said nothing back to him, nor did Storm, for he already knew what I was thinking of. As I dodged gouts and pillars of fire, I flew ahead faster and faster until I could see Ponyville Pond. I was ready for this. I flew out above the very center of the pond and waited as storm clouds gathered above me.
‘So you think hiding out there will stop me?’ Agni called as I felt a wave of pure unadulterated heat blow across the waves at me. The pond water started to boil, but it calmed as cool rain from my clouds soaked it. Agni huffed, but ran out onto the water, his flaming paws allowing him to run on the top of the water. Luckily, he was too enthralled in the hunt to notice the winds picking up around us until too late.
As lightining struck the water, he was shocked a little, but ready to send it back at me. However, I let the storm go wild. I let all my powers and emotions run through me into the storm. He dared to threaten my friends? He dared to challenge me, as if I was nothing? Well then let him suffer the consequences.
The winds picked me up further into the sky while they whipped at him. The driving rain hit Agni again and again, putting out his fires faster than he could set them. The normally calm pond became a deep-seas captain’s nightmare as tidal waves crashed about Agni again and again, eventually sending him under the waves. I saw him come up for air, looking at me with the most sinister of glares as the water began to boil again, but I was having none of that. I channeled my emotions into the storm until a howling funnel of wind emerged from the clouds above me and touched down onto the water near Agni. Soon, I saw the old tiger ripped from the water and whipped around the inside the water spout. When I thought he had enough, I ended the storm, letting him fall into the pond. I flew to the bank of the pond, sat down, and waited.
After a few minutes, I saw Agni’s black nose and black, orange, and white striped face pop up out of the water. He swam closer and closer, his tail trailing him like a long stripped snake, until he walked up onto the shore. His beautiful fur was shaggy and wet with water. He had a drawn look on his face and he walked up next to me. He shook out all his fur and I covered my face with a taloned hoof as water cascaded off of him. When he was dry, he sat down next to me.
‘That was a good fight.’ He said before swatting me with his paw, making me fall to the ground. ‘But I had the last strike. It was a tie.’ He finished.
I and Storm started to chuckle. ‘Just like old times.’ Storm said in good humor.
‘Indeed.’ Agni said, answering Storm. ‘Now who is your avatar?’
‘He is no avatar, Agni.’ Storm said. ‘His name is Little Wing. I have granted him with my powers, duties, and lineage. He is only holding my consciousness for the time being.’
Time being? I thought, but I continued on with our conversation. “Hi. I’m Little Wing.” I said as I extended a hoof to Agni. He looked at me speculatively, but then extended a large paw that wrapped around my hoof.
‘I am Agni. The Fire of the South, the Predator of the Inferno.’ He said as he shook my hoof hardly. I was shaken by his strength, but I smiled at him when he let go of my hoof. He might be brash and quick to anger, but I could tell he would be a good friend.
“So…er…excuse my asking but why are you here, Agni?”
Agni sat up straight and his long tail snaked around to his paws. It darted here and there in agitation. ‘I came looking for Storm and I sensed his power in this town.’ He said slowly. ‘I came to give him information.’
“What information?” Storm and I said at the same time.
‘First, the ancients that are left are gathering. They will be coming here to help you.’ He said grimly.
I felt Storm’s consciousness do something it had never before: it had turned completely sour, as dark as a storm during the solar eclipse. It chilled me to the bone.
‘This can mean only one thing.’ Storm said with a scary finality.
‘Yes Storm. We know about the horned serpents and why they have come back from the brink.’
‘But that’s not it, is it?’ Storm said glumly.
‘Again, you are correct.’ Agni answered grimly. ‘We have found out where Asmodeus is.’
‘Then this will be more of a fight than I thought.’ Storm replied with such seriousness that it made me more scared than I have ever been before in my life.