The Storm

by The_Last_Centurion

First published 1st of December, 2012

The story of Little Wing, new Tunderbird of Equestria.

Little Wing, an Earth Pony born to Pegasi parents, has to come to terms with both their death and his blank flank, even though he is considered an "adult" by pony law. But one day, he accepts an offer that changes his life forever. Granted with a power of a god, a power he never truly wanted, he now must face the challenges that come along with his new power....

Chapter 1

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 One: Condensation

“You did that on purpose!” screamed the yellow-coated, orange-maned mare at my face.

“NO!...I mean no. It was an…..” I shut my trap because the mare’s hoof hit my face. “This is the fifth time this week! THE FIFTH TIME! If I ever see you around my cart again, I will beat your orphan blank-flank into next week, you hear!”

I cringed under her verbal assault, but damn, did my face hurt. It wasn’t often that a person from Ponyville resorted to violence. It stung, but the words stung worse. I didn’t need to be reminded that I was a fully grown stallion without a cutie mark, nor did I need to be reminded that my parents were dead. I had known that fact a long time ago. And I also knew it was my fault.

“What’s going on here?” asked a sleepy voice from behind me. I didn’t need to glance back to know who it was. I heard her yawn, a few bones pop, and then everything grew silent for a second.

“Golden Harvest, what happened to your cart? And Little Wing, what’s……..” she asked approaching from behind, her hooves gently clopping on the paved center of Ponyville.

“Little Wing went and destroyed it, again.” Golden Harvest said between clenched teeth.

“Hahahahah!” the mare behind me laughed, making the whole square echo with her angelic voice. “So you ok LW?”

I sucked in my breath and closed my eyes. I turned my head to face her. “Yep RD.”

She gasped. “LW, how’d you get that black eye?”

I stuttered for a bit “Um, it happened from the….”

“I gave it to him.” Golden Harvest said challengingly. “It’s high-time that he stops trying to fly with all these contraptions! For Celestia’s sake, he’s an Earth Pony, AND HE KEEPS BREAKING MY CARTS!” she screamed.

“It’s just because they’re always near the soft grass. I try to land there.” I replied, keeping my head down.

“I swear to the immortal sisters, if you break one more of my carts, you’ll be broken next time too.” Golden Harvest said evilly.

“Back off!” RD said, rushing between me and Golden Harvest.

“This isn’t your fight, Rainbow Crash.” Golden said “This is all that little freak’s fault. He’s just a….a Mistake.”

Golden’s words didn’t usually get to me like this, but I could feel a hot wetness around my eyes.

“Apologize! Now!” Rainbow Dash said getting up into Golden’s face. “How dare you. You know how his life has been!”

“Well maybe it’s time he accepts it too. Maybe Ponyville doesn’t have a place for ponies like him.” Golden said viciously. I started to feel my tears run down my cheeks. I couldn’t stand any more of this. Rainbow Dash, being as loyal as she was, retaliated and started a fight with Golden Harvest. While they fought and everypony watched, I silently stood up and walked towards the only place that gave me comfort in this town; the Everfree forest.

My name is Little Wing and I am not supposed to be alive. I was born to two pegasi, but I am an Earth pony. The doctors didn’t know what to say to my parents. Maybe it was genes, their environment, or something else. They just didn’t know why I would be an Earth pony, the first in my family. Nonetheless, my parents loved me. They raised me the best they could, until I was eight years old. They were two of the best weather-pegasi in all of Ponyville, and during the summer of my eighth year, a giant storm rolled into Ponyville, by some unknown force. I remember it because everything was silent and the clouds were a sheet of grey, and even though everypony was running around battering up the hatches, I stayed outside and watched the clouds roll in. They were so beautiful and comforting. But they held danger in them too.

During the night, the storms started with concussive blasts of pure thunder and strikes of hyper lightning. Unfortunately, the lightning was striking everywhere, be it Everfree forest, or Ponyville. My parents told me to stay in the house while they went out and helped the other pegasi fight the fires caused by the lightning. I did so and stayed up, waiting for their return and watching the flickering light of the flames in the night. I waited there all night, until I started to sneeze. I sucked in a deep breath to clear my lungs, but found out that I was sneezing because of smoke. I quickly started to panic, and ran to my bedroom door. I opened it and was almost consumed by flames. I quickly shut it and ran to my window. I opened it and started to scream with all my might to the ponies on the ground two stories beneath me.
I was about to jump when I heard something crack behind me. I looked up at my ceiling and saw the wooden beams of my bedroom start to bend and break. Before I could jump out of the window, two things tackled me back just as the wall above my window gave way. I was flung through my door and down the flaming stairs onto our kitchen table. I started to cry but saw that the things that saved me were my parents. I hugged them and they consoled me saying that we needed to leave. I nodded along with them and they picked me up and we flew to the front door. My father tried to open it, but it was stuck, so my mother held onto me while my father exasperatingly fought the door.

It creaked open and my mother flew me out first. My father was right behind her, but part of the second floor collapsed upon his back legs. We both screamed as he went down, my mother dropping me onto the cobblestone street in front of the house. In a dazed panic, she flew back into the house to try to free him from all the rubble. I started to cry and stood up, thinking I could help my parents too. As I reached the front door of what was my house, the second floor of the house gave way to all its burning weight. I saw my mother and father for one last time, looking at me with tear stained faces before they were buried by the rubble. I stood there, emotionless for a few minutes until grief took over me, and my screams of sadness brought on the rain.

I am now 18, but for the moat of my life I lived with different families until I reached the ripe old age of 16, when pony law declares a foal is now a stallion. However, I never received my cutie mark. The doctors say this is because of the trauma of my younger years, but I am a stallion now, so I might never earn it. So I learned to suck it up and carry on, just like I had from day one of being alone. Thus, I took up a job for the weather teams, working as the single pony on Ponyville’s ground-weather team. Basically, all I did was take measurements of the humidity, temperature, and air pressure. But more importantly, this was how I met Rainbow Dash. She was one of the only ponies who didn’t treat me strangely because of my lack of cutie mark or past. She is a true friend, and I know she always be there for me, even if I don’t want it.
Like this morning, for example. I knew I did wrong, but I also know that my flying apparatus is almost done. If I could finish it, I could fly with the rest of the pegasi, just like my parents did. I’m so close to finishing it, but it’s getting harder and harder to fix.

“Oh well. I guess nothing’s going right for me today.” I said aloud as I entered the Everfree forest. The Everfree was the only place that I felt calm. While all the other ponies were scared of it, the shade of the trees and the quiet atmosphere appealed to me. I don’t know why but it just felt……right. It’s hard to explain, but I loved the place.

I traveled further into the forest, humming a tune gently, until I came into my favorite place in the forest. The clearing had a large tree at one end of it, the tree which I sat under and always thought to myself, and was filled with grass that moved gently, sighing with the wind. I often sat under the tree thinking about my wings, the way my life was right now, how my parents died, and about all the wildlife I viewed. I often saw Timberwolves, manticores, and other such beasts in the forest, but they never attacked me. Sometimes when I was sitting under the tree, I would see their glowing eyes at the other end of the clearing, but they stood there and when I looked at them….they seemed to bow their heads. But that must have been my imagination, right?
I sat there like any other day, thinking about my life and gently rubbing my blackened eye, wincing whenever I poked the bruised spot. ‘Why does Rainbow always have to be there?’ I asked myself mentally. She managed to always be there, whether it was when I was being picked on for my blank flank, or yelled at for some wrong I did accidentally. She always managed to defend me, even if it wasn’t wanted. But she didn’t know that. I could never tell her off.
I hit the tree out of frustration and felt my face get wet. ‘Crying again? Great.’ I thought, before realizing I would have known if I was crying. I looked up at the sky and saw that it was a sheet of grey clouds and a gentle rain was pouring down from the clouds. The tree’s large canopy had kept me dry from the rain, so I sat back against the trunk and sighed. There wasn’t any harm sitting out a rain in a dry place.
“Plus, it wasn’t like I need to be anywhere anyway,” I told myself as I remembered Golden Harvest’s words. I winced. Maybe Ponyville wasn’t a place for me.
A loud thunderclap shook me, mentally and physically. I jumped up knowing that being under a tree in a storm was not a good place to be. I wanted to run out from under the tree, but large blasts of lightning in the sky accompanied by howling gusts of wind sent me back under the tree. I tried to move, but the gusts of wind kept me lanced to the tree, getting stronger as I heard something strange. I sounded like there was flapping behind the gusts of angry winds. I couldn’t believe my ears as the sound got closer and the winds grew stronger and stronger. Eventually, it became hard for me to even open my eyes against the winds, but I heard it, the flapping of wings, the landing of something large, and a silence that meant I was at the heart of the storm. The winds died down and I fell down, gasping, sucking in a breath I never even knew I had given out.
I picked up my head off the ground and gazed into the clearing with disbelief. Within my space of calmness and collectivity, laid a giant bird, bigger than any dragon I had ever read about and from the atmosphere around it, many times more powerful. I saw that it was resting, its massive eyes closed, so I decided it was time to go. I picked myself up and started to sneak out.
“Do…not leave.” said a voice millions of times stronger than the loudest thunderclap, yet as gentle as a spring shower. I stopped and looked over my shoulder. There I saw the giant bird’s eyes were half open. I wanted to scream and run away, but the eyes, as powerful as they were, seemed to be pleading with me. So I walked back to the bird and sat in front of its wickedly curved beak. It closed its eyes for a moment and breathed gently. I looked over its body and tried to find out what it was. It looked like an eagle, but its feathers were a strange color and it was MUCH too big to be a normal eagle. More importantly, it could talk.
“I am dying pony.” the bird said without opening its eyes or mouth. “I who am the oldest creature of this place, am dying.” it said, opening its eyes.
“I was old when the humans ruled this place, and older still when you ponies took upon that mantle. Your alicorn princesses both have forgotten me and my power will disappear with me when I die. But this is not natural. There must always be one of us.” it said looking directly into my eyes. “You pony, must now bear my burden. I ask your forgiveness.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, frightened.
“In all of the world’s various lives, there has always been one of us. Always one or more of us. But now, I am the last. But even if I die, my power must stay to keep this world in check. The power of the Thunderbird is to keep the world in peace through chaos. You pony, must inherit this power.” he said, closing his eyes and ruffling his feathers, creating tiny shockwaves across his plumage.
“But I am just a pony….I don’t even have a cutie mark….”
The thunderbird opened one eye and I heard chuckling like rumbling thunder. “‘Cutie mark’? Well that can be changed, but more importantly, you must make your decision. Accept me or decline. Please, I do not have much time left to find another. I can feel my death calling to me as we speak.” it said, starting to sound quieter.
I didn’t understand this whole “power” thing, but the thunderbird sounded so sad, and I somehow knew I could help it. A small voice inside of me told me to accept, not for the “power” but because it seemed so sad and alone. Just like I was.
“I accept.”
The thunderbird opened both of its electric blue eyes and smiled. “My name is Storm.”
“Mine is Little Wing.”
“Then I wish you peace, Little Wing. Let the world know who you are.”
He opened his beak and let loose a scream unlike any other I had ever heard before. The sound wrapped around me, along with strong gusts of wind, loud clashes of thunder, flairs of lightning, and driving rain. I fell to the ground, my body and head pounding with the storm that had invaded me, empowered me, and become me. I started to feel every storm around the world, every single drop of rain and clash of thunder. I felt the ground below me vanish as I leapt into the dark sky, my domain, my home. I saw the Everfree forest miles below me and I could see Ponyville a couple miles away from that. I flew over the town and battered my wings and blinked my eyes bringing on waves of rain, symphonies of thunder, and explosions of lightning.
I looked down at all the ponies running into their homes and the weather pegasi flying up to greet my storm. I smiled sinisterly, and readied to hit them with bolts of lightning.
“Remember who you are Little Wing.” said the thunderbird’s voice in my ear. I growled at him, but then the clouds near the pegasi shifted and formed into two new pegasi. I saw them and fainted, falling down to Ponyville’s lake. I might be the new thunderbird, but they were my parents.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Miles away, in Canterlot, Princess Celestia looked up from the correspondence she was writing to the King of the Griffons and looked in the direction of Ponyville. She had felt something she hadn’t in over two millennia. Her horn lit up and she quickly teleported into her sister’s room.
Even though she slept during the day, Princess Luna was sitting at a chair near her window in her bedroom, her eyes on the storm clouds above Ponyville in the distance.
“Did you feel that too sister?” the princess of the sun asked Luna. She nodded.
“I did not even know he was still alive.” Celestia continued.
“Why would he create such a storm?” Luna mused.
“We should try to speak to him.” Celestia said as she leaned her head towards Luna. Both sisters closed eyes and touched horns. Their horns lit with a gentle light and they stayed like that for a moment, before pulling apart.
“That is strange.” Luna said.
“Indeed sister. It is like he is not even there….”Celestia replied. “I will send a letter to Twilight. Hopefully, she can find out what this means.”
“Be careful with your students Tia.” Luna warned. “He is not like a small parasprite infestation.”
“I know Lulu.” Celestia said gently. “But Twilight needed to meet him eventually and now is a good chance.” She walked to Luna’s door and opened it.
“Tia?” Luna called.
“Yes Lulu?”
“If he is angry, we should do best to plead for his forgiveness. But, if he is fighting them…….”
Celestia’s gaze turned solid. “I know Luna. Not even we are a match for them.”

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Outside of the Equestrian border, in the rocky badlands, under the shadow of the doomed mountains, stood a small well. What a well was doing in such a place, no one will ever know, but it had been there since the beginning of the Alicorns, and even before then. The well never held water, but always decided the life or death upon the lands of the badlands. And now the well rang with a chorus of subterranean voices, chanting the same thing:
The Storm, the Storm, it is here, and it must die!!!!!!

Chapter 2

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 Two: Accumulation

I rubbed my face against the warm and soft thing that was cushioning my head and I sighed contentedly. It was so comfortable, and I just wanted to go back to sleep, but something was nagging me from the back of my mind. I stretched my limbs and yawned loudly without opining my eyes. Now what was I trying to remember? ‘Whatever, I’ll just get up then’ I thought to myself as I opened my eyes and all the blood rushed from my face.

My eyes grew wide and I started to freak out as I realized I was sitting on a cloud. No, lying on a bed made of clouds. And now I was going to fall a million feet to my death. I gasped and closed my eyes. When nothing happened, I poked one eye open. How was I not falling through the clouds? Where was I? And what happened yesterday? Was it all just a dream? My head spun with questions as I gingerly climbed out of the bed. I tip-hoofed on the clouds, expecting them to give out at any moment, but they never did.

Eventually I reached the walls of this cloud-bedroom, but I saw no door out. I leaned onto the cloud walls to think, and I almost fell to my death. The walls ‘pooofed’ away when I touched them and I had to steady myself so I could fall onto a sturdier cloud material. I panted feeling my heart race at a million miles an hour in my chest. I felt so heavy from the fact I almost died, I could actually feel the weight on my shoulders.

I rubbed my forehead, laughing worriedly, and I felt something strange. Something was scratching my forehead while I rubbed it. I took my hoof away from my head the scratching thing went away with it.

‘Strange’ I thought ‘I could have sworn I filed my hooves just a few days ago.’ I started to look at my hoof, but then I started to scream. My hoof, and coat in general, had changed from a nice brown to a deep-dark blue, like that of the sky around thunderheads. But more importantly, my hoof had large talons coming out of it. I looked at my other hoof and saw it was the same. I jumped up and inspected my back hooves. Talons all around. I started to walk back and I forgot that I was on a cloud.

My screaming increased as I felt myself hurtling head over hooves towards the menacing ground. My fear that weighed down my shoulders was definitely not helping this either.
‘What?’ I told myself as I looked over my shoulder. There, flapping in the wind, sat two pristine wings. They were dark-blue just like the rest of my coat now and they sat there like I was born with them. I started to cry because I finally had wings….and also because I was going to die in all of five minutes. I saw the ground through bleary eyes and grimaced at my luck. But wait, I had wings now. I could fly!
I spread my wings as far as I could and I tried to level out. I drifted for a few amazing seconds before the wind took me and battered me around. Luckily, I had managed to level out about ten feet above the lake, so I fell straight into the murky waters. I swam to the surface and took in a mouthful of water before I swam straight. When I reached the shore, I looked back at the limp, wet wings and hissed under my breath. Sure they were pretty to look at, but they just weighed me down in the water and were next to useless since I didn’t know how to fly. And now, they clung to my back obnoxiously, slowly drying in the sun.
I started to walk towards Ponyville, but the wings kept slowing me down. “Dry off already!” I yelled at them in anger. Immediately, my wings felt dry and lighter. I looked back at them and saw that they were dry. How’d I do that? I stood there transfixed for a second, before I realized something terrible. How would I be recognized in Ponyville? They would think I was a monster! I needed the wings and talons to disappear! I started to pace around. What would I do! I looked over to the rocks of the lake and gulped. I couldn’t cut them off! But then I saw the mud. At least I could cover the talons.
I plunged a hoof into the mud and was surprised to find that my talons were gone. I looked at all hooves and all the talons had disappeared. Then I glanced over my shoulder and saw that my wings were gone too!
“But I’ll still be different! My coat was a light brown not….” I said aloud as I stood by the shore of the lake. My eyes grew big as I saw my reflection. There was my face, surrounded by the dark blue coat and a shock of lightning-white mane. But as I looked at my reflection, I saw my coat change, slowly lightening and changing in color. It turned back to my original coat color, and light brown.
“What about my…” I said as I saw my mane turn back to black. I smiled at my reflection and stood up, head held high. I was a totally new pony, and I was going into Ponyville. I swaggered down the road, and went towards my town.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Alright girls,” Twilight said “Princess Celestia sent me a letter this morning about last night’s storm.”
“Weren’t that ‘un a doozie!” said Applejack “We had tah batter down all the hatches at Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Yeah it was all like WOOHSH, and the lighting was like FLASH, and the thunder was all like BOOOOOM!” Pinkie pie said bouncing off the walls of the library. Twilight caught her with her magic before she could topple a bookcase.
“I understand that it was a big storm, but that’s not what Princess Celestia said in her letter. She wanted to know what we thought of it.” Twilight explained.
“If that’s all, just tell her it was an uncommonly big storm. Move the mirror just a little to the right Spike. No, my right. Good.” said Rarity as she brushed her mane with Spike’s help.
“Well I think it was just dreadful.” Fluttershy said. “All my cute little animal friends insisted on staying outside; and when the storm became its strongest, they all bowed towards the Everfree forest. It was all very strange. But now I have 15 sick animals back at my house the poor things.”
“Bowed?” Twilight asked.
“Why yes. It was very strange.”
“Yeah but that ain’t all of it….” Rainbow Dash said uncharacteristically lost in thought. “We get a storm like that off of the Everfree every so often, but that one…it was different.”
“How so Rainbow?” Twilight asked.
“Well first off, the storm felt like somepony was controlling it. We weather-pegasi could feel it from the directional shifts of the winds and the rain and……well it felt like another storm made by us pegasi. And then it increased in strength. No “natural” storm from the Everfree ever has done that. More importantly, I thought…no never mind.”
“What RD?” Applejack asked.
Rainbow Dash was quiet for a moment and then rubbed her head with a hoof. “Well, I thought I saw somepony in the storm. But it didn’t look exactly like a pony, and nopony else saw it.” she said. “It was probably just a trick of the light or something.” she continued quickly.
Twilight nodded and was quiet for a moment. “Thanks girls, but we have one more thing to do. In the letter Princess Celestia asked me to investigate something in the Everfree forest. She says it was the source of the storm and we should all go together. When we find it, we’re supposed to leave the letter with it.”
The rest of Twilight’s friends looked at her quietly and then all nodded. “Meet up at the entry in ten minutes.”

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

The sun was shining, the center of Ponyville was empty of Golden Harvest, and today was a great day. I walked home quickly to grab my bit-bag since I noticed that Sweet Apple Acres was selling their wares today. To top it off, Granny Smith was there selling with Applebloom and Big Mac, and everypony knew she always brought homemade pie with her when she came to sell the wares. I raced back to the square, noticing that a long line was apparent at the stall and I sighed under my breath.
“Bad luck huh?” said a voice from above me.
“Good morning RD.” I replied, looking up mare who was lounging on a cloud, a pie in hoof and saddlebags on her back.
“What’s gotten to you?” she said with a raised eyebrow. “You’re all happy today.”
I shrugged. “It’s a brand new day and a beautiful mare-ning.”
Both her eyebrows went up as I started to feel the heat from a blush. “I meant morning. A beautiful morning.”
She started to laugh. “You should see your face.” she replied, her laughter cheering me up. She smiled down upon me and I could feel my heart start to race.
“Here.” she said tossing the pie in her hoof towards me. I caught it quickly. “You own me though. Maybe a few more ‘beautiful mare’ s will do it.” she said giggling as she pulled another pie out of her saddle bag. She took a bite out of it.
“Sho where’d ya go yesterday?” she asked, mouth full.
“I went off to the Everfree. I always tend to go there when I’m upset.” I said, taking a small bite out of the pie.
“Really!” she squealed, almost choking on her pie for a second. She threw the rest of her pie into her saddlebag and swooped down, picking me up around my front hooves. She flew off towards the Everfree.
“This is great!” she said. “Twilight said we were going into the Everfree to find out what caused the storm last night! I bet you know where to go!”
“Wah…what? No it’s not like I…” I stuttered.
“Don’t be modest LW! You go into the Everfree all the time! I bet you know it like the back of your hoof. We could really use your help…” she said, nuzzling her face next to mine. I started to blush, but I just took a large bite out of my pie so I wouldn’t say anything and ruin this moment.
We landed near the entrance to the forest and all of Rainbow’s friends were there. Everypony knew who they were, but I never really knew them personally. I had never really introduced myself to them, and now I really didn’t need to.
“Hey girls, this is Little Wing. He’s gonna be our guide today.” Rainbow explained as she let me down. I gave everyone a small wave and equally small smile.
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” said a pink blur in front of my vision. I stepped back and snatched a breath.
“I know that. Everypony knows who you six are. You’re Pinkie Pie” I said pointing to the pink puff of a pony, “you’re Applejack” I said pointing to her.
“Howdy.” she replied with a tilt of the hat.
“You’re Rarity.”
“Charmed darling. Now you make sure you don’t lead us into any places where I could get muddy.”
I ignored the comment and continued. “You’re Fluttershy.”
“Hello.”
“And everypony knows that you’re Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s favorite student.”
“I don’t know about FAVORITE, but…..”
“Let’s get going!” Rainbow Dash said, pushing me into the forest at the lead of the group.
“Ok then girls! Let’s go!” Twilight said right behind me.
We started down the path and after a few minutes the forest got really dark.
“This is why I never go down this way. It’s always so dark and deceiving. The forest isn’t really like that.” I said aloud to myself before I remembered that I was with company.
“So which way do we go down?” Twilight asked “I don’t really see any other path.”
I walked over to the side of the path which was surrounded by trees. “That’s because there isn’t any other path.” I said as I entered the true forest. “Come on!” I called behind as I kept walking. I heard the rest of them follow me and the forest started to become bright again. We kept walking and the trees and brambles got thinner and more spaced out so we were walking in relative comfort through the forest.
I stopped at a fallen tree to take a rest for lunch, as I could hear various grumbling stomachs from my group following me. I cleared a spot around the tree and laid some rocks about that we could use as plates. When that was all set, Twilight magicked a picnic blanket from her saddle bags. Soon everypony was pulling sandwiches and other goodies out and snacking down upon them. I didn’t have anything so I went and lounged on the fallen tree and looked up at the sky. It was so clear and blue. I was surprised such a storm could come in just a day, and even more so that I could make one. More importantly, why wasn’t I telling them that I made the storm. Was it because they would think I was crazy? I glanced over to Rainbow Dash who was finishing off her other pie and goofing around with Pinkie Pie. I smiled and felt guilty because I knew the true reason I wasn’t telling them.
“So, um, do you, come to the forest often?” asked a quiet voice from behind me. I jumped and fell off the tree and I hit the ground face first. I could hear Rainbow laughing extremely hard and I felt gentle hooves on my shoulders.
“I’m so so sorry. Are you alright.” asked the same gentle voice. I rolled over and the sun was blotted out by a concerned mare’s face. Her butter yellow coat and brilliant green eyes filled my view for an eternity of seconds. She was very pretty and had that kind of pristine charm and she was very quiet and caring. I looked into her eye for a moment, apparently a moment too long according to Rainbow Dash who was making kissing noises from somewhere above us. She helped me up, and we quickly separated, blushing from the closeness.
“Who would have thought it?” asked Rainbow Dash smugly as she stood in between us, laying a wing on both of our backs “To think old ‘Shy over here would be so aggressive.” She said, biting her teeth and then breaking out into a chorus of laughter.
“I just wanted to ask about how he got such an interesting cutie mark.” she said quietly, with a beet-red face.
“WHAT!?!?” Rainbow and I shouted at the same time, making Fluttershy jump away from us and hide behind the fallen tree.
“YOU HAVE A CUTIE MARK?” Rainbow yelled as she pushed me happily.
“I HAVE A CUTIE MARK?” I asked excitedly as I spun around to get a glimpse of my flank. There indeed was a cutie mark, but it was different than any other mark I had ever seen. It seemed more of a print on my flank, a series of bolded black lines that curved around it what seemed like circles. Rainbow Dash stopped my spinning and held me there gaping at my flank.
“YOU HAVE A CUTIE MARK!” she said pulling me into a tight hug. “Now what the hay is it?” she said as she let me go.
“It’s an eagle.” Fluttershy answered for me from behind the tree.
‘Not exactly’ I thought, but this would probably be easier to follow along with.
“An eagle?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Um, yeah,” I said thinking quickly. “I got it after I finally flew with my glider wings yesterday.” I said feeling guilty that it was such a big lie.
Rainbow punched me playfully on the shoulder. “That’s great! So what does that mean your talent is?”
“Gliding?” offered Pinkie Pie.
“Yeah! Sure……”
“Ok girls, and Little Wing, sorry for ruining your happy moment, but we need to keep moving.” Said Twilight as she magicked the picnic blanket into her saddlebags and everyone got up and stretched. “Princess Celestia wants my return letter by sundown, and I want to find the place where the storm originated.”
I shrugged my shoulders and started off. The group of the six mares followed me, but eventually I felt something strange.
“Go on that way.” I said, pointing them toward my clearing while I feigned stepping on something. “I’ll be there in a minute; I just need to pull this stone from my hoof.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes at me, “little filly” I heard her mutter. Fluttershy looked at me concerned, but hurried along before anypony noticed. When they had gotten fairly far away, I looked around. For some reason, I felt something that I had never felt in the Everfree: Apprehension. I glanced around one last time, and then followed the mares. As I left our snacking spot, I thought I heard something slither away under the brush.

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In the badlands outside of Equestria’s border, in the shadow of the mountains of doom, what remains of a well can be seen. This well once meant that there was a chance for life in the badlands. Not because you could have water, but because the most terrible of creatures were trapped under the earth, sealed by the well. But now the well lay in ruins. However, if you were to put your head to the ground, or even more foolishly, into the hole, you would hear the whole world hiss at you before you die. And as the creatures ate your flesh you would notice that the badlands are a place without rain, without the storm. And you would realize that these creatures are the reasons for that.

Chapter 3

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 Three: Precipitation

I shook that annoying feeling out of my mind. ‘It’s probably because I’m traveling with company this time’ I told myself, not really believing what I thought. But I trudged on to the front of the group and I kept leading them towards the glade. I knew eventually that they would find out that I had started the storm last night, but that could wait. Right now, something was faintly wrong in my forest. And I didn’t like it one bit.

About quarter of a mile away from my glade, we passed over a magical precipice. It flowed over me calmly and soothed me, because it was my magic. I accidentally created this when I flew off last night, but this magic soon alerted two others in our group to the proximity of my glade.

“Whoa! Did you feel that Rarity?” Twilight asked, her horn faintly glowing. Rarity’s horn was faintly glowing as well “Indeed. It’s so strange, Twilight,” she commented. “It feels extremely strong, but also natural too. Like the Princesses’ magic.”

“Exactly what I was thinking” she replied. “Let’s go on Little Wing!” she said with a large determined smile.

“Keep up if you can.” I said, suddenly feeling playful. I raced through the trees of the forest and came out into my glade before anypony else arrived. I took in a deep, happy breath, smelling fresh rain and ozone. This was where I was meant to be. This was what I lived for.

The mares burst into the glade a few seconds after I arrived and gaped around at the scenery. Rainbow Dash flew up into the sky while Twilight bounded towards the center of the glade and started a spell. The rest of the mares just walked around and looked at the trees and the glade itself. I walked over to my tree and sat under it as I always did, resting at the trunk. I watched Applejack looking at the wild fruit trees near one side of the glade and Rarity became interested in some wildflowers. Fluttershy just looked around the glade; her eyes alight with pure joy. Eventually she saw me and walked softly over, sitting down next to me.

“This is all yours, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Yes.” I answered with more finality than I realized.

“You’re not a normal pony are you? Every time I come into the Everfree, I have to bring one of my animal friends to keep me safe. But with you… all the animals respect you. They don’t fear you or ignore you, but truly respect you. I could see it from the timber wolf.”

“Timber wolf?”

“There was one in the brush near us while we were having lunch. I was going to say something because he looked like he was going to pounce on us, but then he saw you. His gaze lowered and then he looked at me. It was like he knew we were with you. Then he left. So, what are you?” she asked.

At that point Twilight’s horn lit up completely. “Haha!” she cried triumphantly before being spun around like a needle on a compass.

“What’chya got there Twi?” asked Applejack.

“It’s a locating spell. It’ll locate the source of the magic that made the storm yesterday.” she replied before spinning around like a top again. I took in a deep breath to calm myself and then I got up. Fluttershy looked at me curiously.

“You asked, didn’t you?” I said as I walked out from under the cover of my tree. I walked closer and closer to the spinning Twilight. She was no longer spinning, but being led from side to side of the glade by her horn. I walked closer to her and was almost impaled. Luckily, I caught her horn before it could get me. However, she was now stuck to my hoof like a magnet.

“You’re the source of the storm?” she asked in disbelief.

My throat was dry from Twilight knowing, so I just nodded my head.

“But how?” she said softly.

Before I could answer, I heard branches breaking, a loud THUMP, and Rarity screaming. Twilight’s eyes grew wide and I quickly turned around to see a giant monster on the other side of the glade, the side we came in from. Everyone froze as the creature hissed at us.

The creature was dirt-sand colored and was monstrous in size. It was at least three times as large as the pony it held in one of its clawed hands. It had the scaled body of a snake which was cracked and blistered and you could see its muscles pulse underneath the tight skin. That rose to lean, muscular arms with blood-caked claws and a freakish head. It appeared to be a gigantic snake’s head with those disgusting slit-nostrils, forked tongue, and blood red eyes. But from that rose two six foot long horns, much like Iron Will’s. Its tongue flicked out at us in humor and he brought Rarity towards its mouth. It sniffed her, making her scream loudly and faint. Then the creature chuckled, a sound like flesh being ripped away by stones, and started to talk.

“Ssssshow yourssself thunderbird.” It hissed, snarling at the word thunderbird.

“What are you?” Pinkie Pie said, appearing behind us with an army helmet and large cannon that had the word ‘Party!’ on it.

“Pony, I am a god to youusss. Long ago my people were known assss Unktehila to the humanssss. But you will know ussss asss the Horned Sssserpentssss. Now reveal yourssssself thunderbird.” It said, raising Rarity towards its mouth.

“Or I will ssstart by eating all of thessse poniesssss.”

“Oh no ya won’t!” yelled Applejack as she lassoed one of the horned serpent’s claws. He snarled at her and whipped her at my tree. She went flying, but Pinkie Pie caught her with amazing speed. She seemed to be unconscious, but was ok. However, the horned serpent went back to trying to snack on Rarity.

“NO!” I screamed, moving faster than should have been possible, hitting the horned serpent in the face with a well placed kick. It went flying back with an evil snarl, and I snatched Rarity out of its claw. I fell to the ground and ran towards Twilight, who was staring open-mouthed.

“Stare later! Help me now!” I yelled at her as I heard the horned serpent erupt from the forest. Twilight’s horn glowed, but the horned serpent flew into the sky from an explosive round. We all looked at Pinkie Pie and her smoking cannon.

“Round one: HIT!” she yelled as she reloaded the cannon.

“Somepony get Rarity out of here!” I yelled as I thought about the form I had taken last night and this morning. Quickly, I felt my wings sprout from my back as my talons grew out of my hooves. I could feel the sky darkening, just as my coat was, and the amount of electricity in the air and along my coat made the glade crackle with energy. Fluttershy flew over to me and picked up Rarity just as the horned serpent was getting up.

“Ssssso now you decccide to fight? I will kill you firsssst and then your friendssss will die!” It screamed at me as it lunged forward, its claws ready to tear and eviscerate.

“Bring it!” I screamed back, flaring my wings and flying at him instinctively. I collided with him and felt my talons rip into his scales. But then I screamed as his claws tore across my back. I flew upwards to get some distance, but he grabbed one of my hooves and threw me to the ground.

‘Use it Little Wing. Show him even a blink of our eyes could destroy his whole species’ said Storm’s voice in my head. I saw the horned serpent’s claw coming towards my face and I became enraged. HOW DARE HE! I blinked my eyes and the horned serpent was shot backwards by the lightning I shot at him. He staggered and was shot by a hail of magical blasts as I got up. I saw that Twilight was shooting all of them while Pinkie moved her cannon into range. As the horned serpent regained its balance, it snarled at Twilight and was about to lunge at her, but then everyone heard something strange, like it was getting closer from far away.

“…nic raiNBOOM DROPHOOF!” shouted Rainbow Dash as her leg struck the horned serpent on the scaly forehead at the speed needed to create a sonic rainboom. There was a loud crack, and the horned serpent found its head stuck in the ground while Rainbow Dash rolled around on the ground holding her now-broken leg.

“Somepony get her out of there!” I yelled as I ran at the stirring horned serpent. It pulled its scale covered skull out of the ground and I could see a bloody hole from where RD’s hoof hit him. I smiled. She had given me a great target. I jumped at the horned serpent, but it was expecting this. It batted me away into the air, just like I wanted it too. I floated in the sky, the clouds charging and swirling around me. I targeted the horned serpent’s horns and the hole in its head. Then I blinked and felt the lightning channel from my eyes and the clouds around my body.

300 million volts of electricity charged into the horned serpent’s skull, making its body convulse and fry where it stood. I descended from the clouds and landed near the charred body of the horned serpent. I panted there for a moment and looked at the destruction I caused. Smoke poured out of every orifice of the horned serpent and the smell of cooking meat hung around the glade. For some reason, it smelled delicious to me, while I could see the other ponies were becoming sick from it. I cantered over to the mares and looked them over.

“How are they?” I asked to Twilight who had the three injured ponies laying down in the grass. She had knocked out RD so she wouldn’t be in pain.

She shook her head. “I need to take Rainbow Dash to the hospital right now. Her leg is completely broken.”

“Go.” I panted. I’ll be here when you get back. Twilight gave me a curt nod and then the six of them teleported away in a purple flash. When they were gone I walked over to the horned serpent’s body and sat down in front of it. I panted and wiped the sweat from my eyes. I cringed as I did so, aggravating the wound I received while fighting the beast. I looked at the jagged slashes on my flank and found out they were fairly deep. I poked one and immediately regretted it. My whole body shook from pain and I wanted it to stop. It did, but slowly. I became surprised when the pain in my body turned into happiness. I looked back at my flank and saw small sparks of electricity running down my body, targeting the cuts in my hide. I saw them close us bit by bit, and then all the euphoria disappeared. I realized that the electricity must have been the reason for the sudden pain-to-pleasure moment. I smiled. “Just what exactly have you made me Storm?” I asked the sky.

‘A Thunderbird.’ His voice answered in my skull.

“So where are you? I saw you die yesterday. How can you be talking to me?”

‘I transferred all of my power to you, mind and body included. I am now part of you.’

“So is that why this…this thing attacked me and my friends?” I asked, starting to feel scared.

‘It is…unfortunate, but yes. There is no worry though. You killed it.’ He replied.

I stood with a shock. I killed it. I killed another being. I killed a LIVING creature. And I was happy about it.

“Oh sweet Celestia….” I said as I threw up into the grass in front of me.

‘Why are you disgusted by such a normalcy of nature?’ Storm asked.

“I KILLED ANOTHER! Don’t you see!” I said pointing to the burnt body of the horned snake, tears starting to pour down my face.

‘Yes, but he was your enemy.’

“That doesn’t matter! I could have done anything, ANYTHING, to stop him. I never wanted to KILL anything!!!” I shouted in horror. The tears poured down my face and I threw up once again. I took a few sobbing steps back from the body and fell to the grass, crying in terror from what I had done.

‘I do not understand Little Wing. It is you who accepted my power.’ Storm said confused.

“I did it because you were like me!” I shouted between sobs. “You were alone like I was! I couldn’t refuse!”

‘So you did it out of pity?’

“YES!” I sobbed. “I NEVER, NEVER WOULD HAVE TAKEN YOUR OFFER IF I KNEW I WOULD KILL!”

‘Then I will let you rest Little Wing. I am…disappointed.’ Storm said as he left. I could feel his consciousness shut itself from me and I was left alone again. I cried everlong, even as I saw the purple light, telling me that Twilight had returned.

I kept sobbing even as gentle hooves picked my head up off the ground. I cried as the hooves held me and gently lulled me into a state of calmness. Without opening my eyes I knew who had made sure I came back, because if I didn’t break that sadness, I know I would have stayed there until I died.

“Thank you Fluttershy.” I sniffled.

“It is alright Little Wing.” She said happily.

I heard a cough and I stood up to see Twilight looking at us awkwardly. “Well now that we know you’re the source of the storm, the letter said I should leave it with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“The letter Princess Celestia sent me now belongs to you. Here read it.” Twilight said as she floated it over to me with magic. The second I touched it, it started to glow and I threw it to the ground in shock. It grew brighter and brighter until a blast of magical energy was released from it. It was so bright, the two mares had to shield their eyes, but to me, it looked like another lightning blast.

As the smoke cleared from around the letter, I gaped as I saw who had arrived. I was the first to bow. Then Twilight and Fluttershy did the same as they saw the visitors.
Where the letter once stood upon the ground now stood Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. And neither of them seemed too pleased.

Chapter 4

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.

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

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…

Chapter 5

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 Five: Cloud to Ground

Sunlight cascaded into my room from the glass ceiling, gently warming my face with its rays. I stirred slowly, not really wanting to get up, feeling too comfortable in the breeze linen sheets. But, I remembered I had to do some work today. I opened my eye and remembered that today was the day I started my training.

I left the room and went down the three sets of stairs to the floor where Celestia’s and Luna’s rooms were. Since I had no Idea where to go for breakfast, I might as well see if one of them could lead me. I stopped at Luna’s room first and knocked on the door.

“Princess? Are you there? I wanted to know where I should go to…”

The door flew open and complete darkness raced out of the room, encapsulating the corridor in shadows. From the depths of the room, I could see a monstrous face of only lightened eyes and a bright snarl. My breath was ripped from me as the creature traveled to right in front of me.

“If thy has a death wish, then you shalt do that again.” it said with a tremendous killing intent. I could feel my heart racing as the creature and all the shadows raced back into the room and the door slammed shut. I fell onto my rear and tried to calm myself down.

“I should have told you that Lulu doesn’t like to be woken.” Celestia said, appearing beside me without my notice. I thought she would be smiling, thinking this was another prank, but she had a grim look on her face. I guess even her sister was scared of a sleep-deprived immortal.

“Well, come on.” she said walking down a different corridor. I quickly, but quietly, got up and followed her away from the room of intense darkness. I followed Celestia down various curving corridors, sharp corners, and down many sets of stairs. I tried my best to remember the way we took, but it was all very confusing and I knew I would be lost for quite a while if I ever roamed the halls alone. Eventually we came to two large doors and Celestia opened them magically. Inside was a long room with windows covering one side and a long dining table in the middle, stocked with empty plates and cutlery. At the table sat a royal-looking unicorn with a white coat and golden mane. From what I had heard, he must have been no other than Prince Blueblood. Blueblood was inspecting his hooves, but looked up as I came in with Celestia. He gave her a weird look but then looked at me quizzically.

“Who is this Autie?” he asked.

“His name is Little Wing and he will be staying with us for a while.” she replied.

Blueblood smirked. “If you’re an Earth pony, why would you name be ‘Little Wing’?”

“I could ask the same to you,” I replied. “Why is your name ‘Prince’ when you’re obviously much more of a princess?” He quickly glared at me and I gave him one of my best annoying winks. Unfortunately, that wink caused some sparks jolt out of my eye and onto anything around, including the runner for the table.

After we had stomped out the flames, Celestia glared at both of us. Even though Blueblood didn’t do anything he squirmed under her gaze as much as I did. Princess Celestia finally shook her head and trotted off to the head of the table, leaving the two of us near the other end. I gave Blueblood a small apologetic smile and sat down across from him.

“Sorry about that. My name is Little Wing.” I said extending a hoof.

He returned my small smile. “Mine is Prince Blueblood.” He said shaking my hoof.

“So, um, how do we eat? There’s nothing here…” I said glancing at the particularly scarce table. I glanced down to the end and sat that Celestia had somehow gotten a newspaper to read and was snacking on a banana.

“It’ll be out soon.”Blueblood said, motioning to the swinging doors behind him. “So what are you and where do you come from, if you don’t mind my asking.”

I was surprised; after all I had just almost burnt down the dining table and he was taking it quite well.

“I am from Ponyville and I am a Thunderbird. How are you not, you know going crazy? Last time I revealed myself to ponies, well they were kind of attacked, but I bet they would have at least been surprised.”

Blueblood chuckled. “When you live at the castle for as long as I have, you tend to meet a lot of diplomats and ambassadors. Many are creatures you wouldn’t believe and have amazing powers, but the strongest ones always take pony-form, so that tends to take away the surprise factor after you meet your first or second fire-breathing pony.”

“Wow, you must really live the good life.” I said looking at the ornamental cup and dishes and the amber chandelier. However, he just looked down at his plate, a little crestfallen.

“Yeah, I guess…” he said.

“What?”

“Well I usually stay at the castle, so I don’t get out much…”

“You’re a Prince, dude! You could go anywhere you want!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah that’s the thing,” he said, tracing circles on his dish. “I don’t do so well with crowds. I tend to get nervous and… turn into a jerk.” He said sadly.

“Oh please, how bad can it be?” I asked jovially.

He looked at me with a stern look. “Did you crush a mare’s heart and end up using her as a shield to protect yourself from getting hit with a cake, even though you really liked her and you panicked and now she hates your guts and tells all the other mares about how much a jerk you were and…and…” he said hyperventilating.

“Hey, hey calm down dude. I’m sure if you explain it to her, she’ll understand. Talk to her one on one. I’m talking to you right now and I don’t think you’re too bad.” I reasoned with him.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, breathing deeply. “I think I’ll give it a try. Thanks Little Wing, you’re a good friend.” He said as the doors swung open to reveal a magnificent bounty of food. My mouth watered immensely even as the food was being brought out. Only in my wildest dreams could I afford something like this on my wages. Piles of haycakes, freshly sliced fruits, bowls of melons, towers of toast, and salad ingredients were laid out on the table, making me want to jump out of my chair and dive into the sea of food. I filled my plate and dug in with gusto, filling my rumbling stomach until I could barely move. By the time breakfast was over, it was apparent I was the one who ate the most and I was satisfied.

“Come Little Wing. It is time to start your training.” Celestia said as she rose from her chair and went to a set of double doors on the other side of the room that matched the ones we came in from. I groaned, but complied and got up. I gave Blueblood a salute and hurried off to follow Celestia. Again, she led me down a series of corridors and corners until we came out onto a veranda over looking Canterlot Gardens.

“Tell me all that you have observed of your powers.” Celestia said as she watched her subjects travel the hedgerows and observe the many plants of the gardens.

“Well, I can change from thunderbird form to my normal pony form on command. Um, I can fly…sort of. I can blink lighting and wink sparks. I can create storms and everything associated with them. I can heal myself with lightning. Oh, and I can tell things to do things and they do it.” I said.

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Things like what?”

“Well once I fell into the lake outside of Ponyville and when I got out I was soaking wet. But then I said ‘I don’t want to be wet’ or something along the lines and then I was dry. It was really strange.” I recounted.

“Let’s assume that only works with water Little Wing, since it would be foolish to assume otherwise. Now you said that you could ‘fly… sort of’. What does that mean?” Celestia said, businesslike.

“I can fly when I am controlling a storm, when the clouds and winds keep me aloft, but without them I can’t fly. For Storm’s sake, I’m an Earth pony! I didn’t have wings growing up, so I barely know how to. I know the basics from my parents, but I can’t really apply them.”

Celestia looked up at the sky. “Just as I thought. But don’t worry; I have called in a friend of mine to teach you.” A large chariot pulled by four of Celestia’s pegasi guards was approaching us from out of the clouds. As the chariot touched down, Celestia smiled to her guards before turning back to me. “She is waiting on the other side of the mountain, in the fields near the peak. She will teach you how to fly. Good luck Little Wing.” She said as she turned back to observing her subjects in the garden. She smiled and waved at a little filly that was waving at her.

I climbed into the chariot and closed the door. Before I knew it, we were flying at a high altitude. I looked down at the receding Canterlot castle and gulped loudly.

One of the guards heard me and chuckled. “You can’t learn to fly if you’re afraid of heights.”

“But I’ve never really even flew before! I’m an Earth pony!” I exclaimed.

Now all four guards chuckled.

“Don’t fool yerself kid. We all know yer a thunderbird,” said one.

“Yeah dude, you could totally like beat us in a flying competition,” said another.

“But I CAN’T fly!” I shouted.

“Do not be worrying of that. The princess is knowing of that fact, so she is calling a very good teacher of the flying,” said one more.

“Don’t sweat it. Celestia knows what she’s doing. Plus, your teacher will have you doing tricks and flips in no time,” said the first guard who spoke to me. I just sighed and sat back, hoping they were all right.

After a little while, we burst through the thick cloud layer around the top of the mountain that Canterlot was built into. We came out onto the other side of the mountain, where the clouds were less accumulated and there was a large valley of flowers on top of the long, flat peak of the mountain. The chariot set down in the flowers and I got out, saying my goodbyes to the guards while they wished me good luck. They flew off into the wild blue yonder, leaving me alone. I looked around; knowing that my teacher had to be here somewhere, when I noticed a large cloud was coming closer and closer. It was descending towards the ground, so I just stood still as it came down and surrounded me. I felt myself go through the cloud and then I was standing on it.

“Oh, you’re here!” said an excited, but veteran voice.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was standing on the cloud and that there was a famous yellow coated, flame maned pegasi mare standing in front of me.

“You…you’re Spitfire! Holy…Can I get your autograph?” I asked, realizing I sounded like a little foal. It was just that I knew Rainbow Dash would never believe me if I didn’t get her autograph.

She laughed. “I get that a lot, and yeah I’ll give you something better: I’ll teach you how to fly.” She said happily.

“Wow.” I said, falling onto the cloud. “I’m going to be taught how to fly by Spitfire, THE Spitfire. Rainbow Dash is going to be so jealous…”

“If you don’t mind me asking, Celestia said that I needed to teach you how to fly,” Spitfire said confusedly, noticing my lack of wings “but you’re an Earth pony. So how can I teach you to fly? And how are you even standing on this cloud?”

I smiled at her. Now it was time for me to surprise her. “I might be an Earth pony, but I’m also a thunderbird.” I said, letting my coat and mane change, my talons grow, and my wings sprout from my back. When the change was done, I gave her a wink, sending small arc of lighting spread across my body.

Spitfire gaped and looked like she was about to faint, but I started laughing. She kept staring, but slowly started to shake her head. She closed her mouth and smiled.

“Of course, Celestia would send me a surprise like with.” She said with a roll of her eyes. “So how about we start to fly?” she asked.

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“BUCK! BUCK! BUCK!” I shouted as I plummeted to the ground. I landed on the large cloud that Spitfire had lain down on the mountain top for the millionth time that day. I sighed and rolled onto my hooves and started smacking the clouds with my talons, making small thunderclaps. Why couldn’t I get this?

Earlier, I learned everything about my wings, the wind currents, updrafts, downdrafts, and everything a pegasi needed to know about flying. I had gotten gliding and hovering down easily, but flying itself just wasn’t working out so well.

“You almost had it that time Wing.” Spitfire said as she landed next to me. “Just tilt your wings up a little more and lean your weight back.”

I sighed and pulled at my face with my talons gently. This was way harder than I thought it would be. To try not to create a storm felt so… wrong. But I needed to learn how to fly without making one or else I would constantly bring winds that sent everypony away from me. And that would not be helpful when I needed them the most.

‘Stop this foolishness Little Wing’ Storm said aloud for both of us to hear. ‘You are the storm; to try to fly and not create one is against your nature.’

“But if I make a storm while I fly, it will endanger all my friends.” I replied.

‘As a thunderbird, you will always make a storm when you fly, but it doesn’t always need to be near you.’ He replied sagely before leaving again.

My mind fired up with understanding. I looked over to Spitfire, who was reeling from the disembodied voice. “I know what to do. Let’s fly!” I said as I summoned a small yet strong wind to push me up into the sky. I felt that Spitfire rose a little ways behind me and I glided there for a second, thinking about what Storm had said. I closed my eyes and focused on the storm. I could feel it start to build up around me, but I mentally stopped that and I started to fall. As the wind rushed past me, I kept my eyes closed and tried to find a good place to allow the storm.

Stalliongrad, my instincts told me.

So I allowed the storm to build up over the northern city and I opened my eyes. They blazed with lightning and I let loose a screech, pulling up moments before I hit the ground. I flapped my wings, creating thunder in Stalliongrad, and blinked, causing powerful bolts of electricity to dance in the clouds. I rose higher into the sky and I could feel the rain, no snow, wanting to be loosened from the clouds. As I flew on, I allowed them to and the city was soon covered in blankets of white precipitation.

“That’s the strangest way to fly I’ve ever seen!” said Spitfire off to my side. I allowed the storm to run its course without my concentration and I looked over to her. She was smiling and had a curious look in her eye.

“Let’s see if you can catch me!” she said increasing in speed, doing various acrobatic tricks. I smiled and followed her exactly, taking every sharp turn, loop-de-loop, dive, rise, and corkscrew with the same amount of ability she had. The storm in Stalliongrad was following my flight pattern as well, the clouds churning and the snow falling to my speed. Then Spitfire called back to me.

“Ready to lose? I’m the fastest in all of Equestria!” she shouted mirthfully as she sped up. I raced behind her, getting faster and faster. Eventually, we were twin bullets, the air screaming around us. But then spitfire yelled something that sounded like “Sonic Flame-boom” and I saw her break the sound barrier, but instead of a rainbow, a corona of flame erupted around her trail. This surprised me, but I wouldn’t be shown up here. I increased my speed even more, going faster and faster until I was right next to her. She turned and looked at me as she saw what I could not. She pointed at my body and I looked down, seeing lightning running across my every limb. I smiled, knowing I could go even faster.

“Watch this!” I screamed above the winds, speeding in front of Spitfire, feeling the charge in my body, knowing I was about to do something amazing.

The electricity was covering every part of my now, a living, crackling haze, and I was ready to release it all. All at once I saw an amazing flash and the world seemed to slow down. I sped across the sky over Equestria, over the seas to the south, over the frigid continent to the south, across the other seas and lands that belonged to the various other species on the opposite side of the earth, over the frozen north, and finally back to where I had taken off.

I laughed as I glided down to the mountain top where Spitfire was sitting exhausted. I could feel the storm in Stalliongrad petering out and I laughed even harder, realizing that my speed made the snow fall with such ferocity, that it had covered most of the city.

“What was that?” Spitfire asked.

“My flying?”

“Yeah, I mean I heard you go sonic a little ways after me and saw your trail of lighting, but then you started to glow and SPEW! Gone.” She panted. “How are you not tired?”

“I honestly don’t know! I just feel so energized!” I said sending a little cascade of lightning along my body.

Spitfire laughed at me. “Calm down there. I don’t feel like getting zapped today.”

“Oh, sorry.” I said blushing at my eagerness. “So what now?”

“Celestia wanted us to fly back to the castle.” Spitfire said. I smiled and focused on another place that could use a good storm. Coltchester sounded like it was due for a good storm. My eyes lit up with small sparks of energy.

“Let’s fly!”

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“How do you feel today, Rainbow Dash?” asked Fluttershy as she entered the hospital room back in Ponyville. Rainbow put a book mark in her recent book, not another Daring Doo novel, but instead a book on ancient legends that she had specifically asked Twilight for before she had gone into surgery the night before.
The doctors cursed her foolishness, but luckily, she would be alright. Although, she wouldn’t be able to walk on that leg for two months, she could still fly and that was all that mattered to her. In the meanwhile, she rested at the hospital since the doctors insisted that she stay at least two days. Most of the bones in her leg had been shattered, but luckily none of the tendons were cut, so it was a very cut-and-dry operation. Put the bones back where they needed to go and seal them there with magic. After that, it was all bed rest and staying off of the leg.
“Way better than last night, that’s for sure. But now my leg is starting to itch under that cast and it’s pretty annoying.” Rainbow answered with chagrin.
“At least you are helping Twilight with the research.” Fluttershy said as she put a vase of flowers on the windowsill in her room.
“I guess, but I’d rather be out there helping with the preparations.” She said a little downcast. Fluttershy opened up and window and went stiff.
“No, you wouldn’t want too.” She said seriously. “It’s…I’m scared Rainbow. So scared. You should see what the others are doing. Twilight and Rarity are at the library researching like Celestia asked in her most recent letter while Applejack and I are helping ponies pack up and evacuate to Canterlot. I haven’t seen Pinkie Pie, but whenever we need a snack, there are always pies ready at Sugarcube Corner. It feels so unreal.” She said turning around, her eyes brimming with tears. “We…we’re preparing for war, Rainbow. And Little Wing is going to be their main target, and even though we say we’ll fight with him, I think he knows it’ll all come down to him. I just don’t want anypony to die Rainbow.” She said sobbing.
“Hey, hey come here.” Rainbow said, gesturing for Fluttershy to come to her. Fluttershy did and Rainbow pulled her into a big hug. “Little Wing is just like us Flutters. He’ll be fine. Remember what Father Pious used to say back in Cloudsdale?”
“Yeah.” She said with a small hiccup. “You can lose everything, even hope, but your friends will always remain.”
“That fat old preacher was right, you know? We’re all going to get through this together.” Rainbow said. “Look at this. I was going to mark it down for Twilight, but you should read it first.” She said, pointing to a page in the worn book she was reading.
The pages of the book were yellowed with age and the print was starting to fade from the pages themselves. It was bound with ancient twine and the illustrations in it were some of the oldest in all of Equestria. Rainbow picked it out a while back because of the title “Awesome: Creatures of absolute power”, but quickly found out that the ‘awesome’ the book described meant ‘awe inspiring’. Nonetheless, Rainbow still liked it, even if she could barely make out the old, stylistic hoofwriting.
“The birds of thunder are creatures of natural weather, the likes which have not been witnessed since days of the alicorns. While controlling weather itself, they doth make such tempests, that the earth itself shivers in their shadows.
The majestic creatures are known for the power they have, but also for the beauty they possess. Flawless by nature, these creatures are shown to be also unrivaled in battle, but also to be friends of all creatures. If one is met, present them with all the respect thy owns and be ready to have a new friend.

-Centruy Sentry.” Read Fluttershy, quivering as the words passed over her lips. She gently touched the rough sketch of a thunderbird in flight that this explorer had seen and saw Little Wing’s eyes on the creature. She smiled sadly. She had just met him, and yet, she couldn’t get him out of her mind. Even without talking to him much, she knew he was like herself. Both often felt alone, but both could be the nicest creatures a pony could meet.
“Jeeze, you have such a crush on him, don’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked playfully, expecting Fluttershy to turn a deep red like she always did when she was embarrassed. However, Fluttershy just nodded, still staring at the picture and Rainbow Dash’s smile slowly faded.
“Oh, um, wow. Hey, don’t worry. Everypony will be fine. He’ll come back, we’ll beat up a few more of those things, and then we’ll all live happily ever after. You’ll see.” Rainbow Dash said seriously.
Fluttershy got up and smiled. “I hope you’re right Rainbow. I’ll see you later. Feel better soon, ok?” she said as she left Rainbow alone.
Rainbow sighed and her smile vanished to be replaced by a heavy frown. She opened the book to her second bookmark.
“The horned serpents.” She read aloud to herself. “Are creatures of intense evil. While they do not possess any magic of their own, they are able to absorb magical attacks of all kinds. It was rumored not even the alicorns could harm them until the Thunderbirds came to their aid. The only known ways to kill one are with a weapon made from one of the seven hearts of such a creature or to have a Thunderbird destroy them for you. It is said that the thunderbirds killed them off during the time of the alicorns, but many believe they still exist in lands outside of Equestria. If one is encountered, run, fly, or teleport away immediately. If you are caught, attempt to end your own life there; for if you don’t you will have wished you did for the rest of your pin ridden life.”
Rainbow Dash closed the book and looked out at the clear blue sky outside her window. She could hear birds chirping and foals and fillies playing, their laughter ringing through the town. And yet, it all seemed ominous.
There was going to be a war. She knew this. But did it really have to be here? Rainbow shook her head. It was just going to happen, no time to look back and grasp at wishes and wants. She looked out at the sunny sky and realized that sunshine is no weather to wage war in. She hoped on the day of the battle the sky would be dark and gray, and the chorus of thunder and blast of lightning would be enough to send those beasts back to the holes they came from.

Chapter 6

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 Six: The 30-30 Rule

The letter that Celestia sent to Twilight had a very strict set of things for everypony to do. First off, Twilight would have to give a speech to the town with Mayor Mare outlining the danger the town was under. Surprisingly, the citizens took it quite well, having been the epicenter of such things as Nightmare Moon’s arrival and Discord’s “chaos center of the world”. However, many ponies decided that it would be better if they evacuated now instead of staying around like they had with the other events. After the speech, a few ponies said they would stay and help.

The letter next outlined that these ponies would go off with Pinkie Pie who “already knew what needed to be done” according to the letter. The letter also said that Applejack, Fluttershy, and the rest of the Apple family would be in charge of helping the ponies evacuate to Canterlot. In the meantime, Twilight, Rarity, Spike, and Rainbow Dash would be the research team. Their job was to try to anything that could help in the fight against the serpents.

But the letter added one more thing. When all ponies that were not helping were evacuated, ready the town. This meant that everypony left, plus some engineers from Canterlot, would help in the mass construction of barricades, obstacles, and traps. This was possibly the worst part. Not because of the amount of labor required to build everything, but because of the time constraints. Nopony knew when the horned serpents would come. Princess Celestia hoped that they would come at the end of the month, when everything was set, but life rarely lets a pony prepare for such things.

Applejack wondered how they were going to even get started on the defenses while she and her extended family helped move furniture and other goods of the evacuating ponies. She mentally pictured the town and everywhere that they had decided would be the best places for barricades, for traps, for obstacles. It would be hard, but more importantly, where would all the materials come from?

She sighed and re-focused on her task at hoof. She and her cousin, Golden Apple, hefted a wardrobe between themselves on their backs.

“Where’s cousin Macintosh? We could use his help fer stuff like this.” asked Golden.

“Eeyup.” Applejack said warily, eliciting a strained chuckle from Golden Apple. Earlier, Pinkie had insisted on taking him, along with Granny Smith, into the barn and she supposedly had a “conference” with them, and now the two had to work on a “project” in the barn, not to be disturbed by anypony. Applejack snorted, but Pinkie had acted much different today than before. She had frosting on her face like camouflage war paint, and was leading a group of fifteen ponies, the volunteers, who were painted in similar fashion, to Froggy bottom bog. She said it was all part of the “plan” but wouldn’t elaborate any further.

As Applejack hefted the wardrobe into the family’s cart she wondered what was going on with Little Wing up in Canterlot. Celestia and Luna both knew that the town needed him.

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“Once more, only a little harder.” Celestia said, her a borrowed set of headphones from Luna hanging around her neck.

I panted and stretched my sore wings. “I’ve been doing this for two hours straight. Isn’t it high time for a break?”

“One more time and then you can have one.” Celestia said as she put the headphones on her ears and nodded. I sighed, but flew up into the air again. I stayed up there, a small storm forming near Celestia, and then I started flapping my wings as hard as I could, extending them as far as I could at the same time. When they pushed the air beneath me, they created claps of thunder. I flapped harder like I had been doing all morning, creating louder and stronger thunderclaps. They made the ground Celestia was sitting on shake and had broken a few windows of the castle. After a few too many, I fell to the ground panting.

I summoned a tiny thunderhead above me and relaxed. It poured a gentle stream of warm water onto my sore wings while tiny blasts of electricity massaged them.

“That last one was better, but I could still use work.” said Celestia as she trotted over to me and took off her headphones. She eyed my small storm cloud. “You’re getting better at summoning these. As well as your healing magic. Very good.” she said as she went into the castle.

After I learned to fly, Celestia had me train with a really cool Earth pony named Crimson who was the captain of the Lunar Battalion, Luna’s special guard. He was the best fighter in all of the combined forces, so Celestia had me take fighting lessons from him. He was really fast and strong, and I ended up with quite a few bruises and sore muscles from his attacks.

After that, Celestia had personally taught me about summoning my own little storm clouds, a trick she used to see Storm do whenever he was tired, to heal myself. It was very strange because I had to think that the place that needed the storm the most was actually me. At first, the storms were normal sized, but they became smaller and smaller as I thought about where exactly they needed to affect.

Finally, Celestia wanted to see how strong my thunderclaps were. She went and borrowed a pair of headphones from Luna (I don’t know how, because Luna is still asleep) and she had me try to produce my best thunderclaps for two hours. She gave me tips like to spread my wings to their fullest and to try to get as much air as I could, but it was hard to do. So eventually, I became very tired and fell to the grounds in front of the castle.

I laid there with my eye closed, focusing on relieving the soreness and the pain in my aching wings. Luckily, the lighting was doing wonders, loosening my muscles and spreading a lovely feeling across my hurting wings. The rain was also comforting, like a nice warm bath. After laying there for at least twenty minutes I stood up and checked out my wings with my own eyes. They looked as pretty as ever, except for a few loose feathers that I preened out of them. The action took me by surprise, even though I had seen so many pegasi do it before. It was just that I had never truly done it myself.

“Hey! Is that you Little Wing?” shouted a voice from high above me. I looked up and shielded my eyes from the afternoon sun with my tiny thunderhead and saw a waving figure pretty high up the castle. I squinted and then almost fell back because my vision zoomed in for me. ‘Another thunderbird thing?’ I asked myself as I looked back up and saw that it was Blueblood waving at me. I smiled and summoned a small wind to push me all the way up to the balcony he was standing on, not really wanting to use my wings.

“So that’s what you look like when you’re not in pony form?” he said. “Impressive, Lil’ Shocky.” he mused with a smile.

I rolled my eyes. The sisters just had to tell everypony about that. “You know I could electrocute you right now.” I said, summoning some bigger clouds around my head.

Blueblood laughed. “I was only kidding. Come on, let’s go do something. I’m bored.” He said walking back into the castle. I jumped onto the balcony and let myself turn back into Earth pony form. Annoyingly, the muscles on my back hurt now instead of my wings.

“So what exactly do you want to do?” I asked Blueblood.

“I don’t know. How much of the castle have you seen?” He asked me.

“My room, some corridors, Celestia’s room, the dining room, and Luna’s room when I woke her up accidentally.”I answered him.

Blueblood cringed when I mentioned waking up Luna and he was quiet for a second, maybe the past memory of him doing the same thing haunting him.

“Well you haven’t seen anything yet.” He said eventually. “I’ll give you the grand tour. Let’s start with the place you’ll probably visit the most.”

He led me down some corridors until he stopped near a large portrait of some unicorn. He knocked gently on the wall underneath it and then pulled something out of the wall near the carpet on the floor. Suddenly, the wall swung open revealing a long staircase down. He gestured with his head to follow him down it, so I did. He closed the door behind me with magic and we went all the way down until we hit a dead end made of wood. He silenced me with a hoof and then his horn lit up and the wooden thing moved out of the way. We went into a new room that was a little cold and I instantly knew Blueblood was probably one of my favorite ponies ever.

The large kitchen was stocked with refrigerators which opened with just a touch of the hoof. Inside was amazing delicacies of the pony world, from delicious apple pies to Romane tiramisu. I almost fainted when I saw all the desserts that I could only dream of owning.

“You’re free to have anything you want,” he said as he pulled out two bowls and two spoons from a cupboard with magic. “I’m just going to have some ice cream.” I looked through the refrigerators, and when I opened the biggest one I immediately knew that this was the one. Golden rays poured out of the refrigerator and I could hear the music of angles.

“This…I like this…” I said.

Blueblood trotted over and started to laugh. “Of course. Only you.” He said shaking his head. As a team, we carefully removed the god-like dessert from the refrigerator and put it on the large counter in the center of the room. Blueblood started to talk as I dug into the whole thing, spoon flying with such speed I was afraid it might fly away.

“You know that cake is a few months old right? It has been here since Cousin Cadence’s wedding.” He said amused as he pushed around his single scoop of vanilla ice cream.

“Like I give a buck!” I said between mouthfuls of cake. “Thish ish delishioush!”

“I’ll take your word for it. So were you born a thunderbird? Because I’ve never seen you around the other times Lord Storm visited.” He asked.

“Actually I just became one.” I told him before taking a break from the cake and telling him my whole story.

“I’m really sorry about Lord Storm.” He said looking sadly at his now melted dessert. “He was always fun when he came to stay at the castle. He told the best dirty jokes and always made it rain here. But he also taught me how to enjoy the storms and rain. It was fun.”

“If it’s any consolation, he’s not really gone. Now he’s inside me. Sometimes he even talks, but that’s only when he wants to.” I said making Blueblood smile.

“That seems just like him.” He mused.

“So how did you come to Canterlot Castle?” I asked him before attacking the cake again.

“My parents didn’t want me.” He said nonchalantly while I chocked on some cake.

“Excuse me?”

“Nah, it’s ok. Don’t worry about it. They sucked and they didn’t want me, so I came to live with Auntie Celestia, and eventually, Auntie Luna.” He said simply.

“But how? And Why?” I asked dumbfounded.

“Not all parents were as good as yours Wing. Mine definitely weren’t. It’s just a simple fact of life.” he said, jabbing the last chunk of non melted ice cream in his bowl with his spoon.

“Well, I’m sorry.” I said awkwardly.

“Don’t be. Instead, you could help me with something.”

“Like what?”

“You know that one mare I talked about, the one from the Grand Galloping Gala?”

“Yeah…”

“Well I know her name is Rarity, and you just mentioned her. She lives in Ponyville right?”

“Yeah…”

“Will you help me apologize to her?” he pleaded with me.

I looked at him and saw a sad, but determined stallion. “I’m not the best with the mares, but I can try.” I told him.

He smiled widely and it looked like he was glowing. “Ok! You get your stuff ready for tonight and I’ll meet you out at the front of the gardens at 10:00!” he said energetically.

“Um…I…wait, tonight?” I stuttered.

One of Blueblood’s ears perked up. “Uh oh, somepony’s coming. See you later!” he said as he teleported away.
Just then, Celestia entered the dessert kitchen. “You know that cake is a few months old?” she said.

I leaned in towards the cake and took a large bite out of it. “It’sh delichoush.”

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

I rubbed my tired eyes and yawned as I walked out of the castle around 10:00 that night and towards the gardens. It had been a long day and I just wanted to go to sleep, so I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. I stretched and looked up at the night sky, amazed that the Luna I knew could makes such beautiful constellations. I looked for the one that said “GOODNIGHT LIL’ SHOCKY” but found it to be replaced with “GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR MARE-FRIEND BLUESY.” I face hoofed.

“Pssst!” whispered a bush near the stairs of the castle.

“Dude, everypony already knows. You don’t need to hide.” I said.

Blueblood completely ignored me and asked “Did you make sure you weren’t followed?”

I face hoofed again. “UUGH. Sure! Nopony followed me! Let’s go, I’m gonna fall asleep soon.”

Blueblood flipped out of the bush wearing a sleek black ninja suit and he quickly looked around to make sure nopony else was there.

“You’re going to freak her out if you meet her dressed up like that. She’ll think you’re a pedo.” I said.

“Come here!” he said in a loud whisper, ignoring me again while his horn lit up, telling me that we were ready to go. I sighed and walked over to him as some spotlights blazed onto the both of us, blinding me.

“Bluesy?” asked Princess Luna.

“Yes auntie?” Blueblood replied, forgetting he was trying to be covert.

“Be back before midnight and no hickeys! That goes for both of you!”

“Ok auntie!” Blueblood replied energetically.

“Now be a good little foal and good luck with Rarity.”

“Thanks auntie!” he said as he teleported away.

If I wasn’t magical particles, I would have face hoofed until I had a nice gaping hole in my head.

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

“Dude, I don’t think this is a good idea. The lights are off, so she’s probably asleep already.” I said, my vice strained from letting Blueblood stand on my back to look into a window of Rarity’s famous Carousel Boutique.

“I’m coming for you my love!” he said, ignoring me once again. Blueblood’s teleportation had deposited us in the middle of Whitetail Woods in a patch of brambles, and apparently since I ‘live here and this whole thing was my idea’ it was my job to find our way into Ponyville from the middle of the woods. Let’s just say four bramble patches, a sinkhole, and various falls over roots and stones do not make for a happy Little Wing. What annoyed me even more was that Blueblood had managed to stay completely fine.

When we did finally get into town it was well past midnight and everypony was in bed. All the lights of the town were out, except for the occasional night owl, but for the most part everypony was in bed. That included Rarity.

Carousel Boutique’s doors said “Sorry we’re closed” and all the lights of the building were extinguished, telling me that coming here was a waste of my sleeping time. But Blueblood thought otherwise. He wasted to see for himself, so he decided to climb onto my back to conveniently look through the only semi-lit window in the place. It was around back, and from what I saw when I flew up to look through it was that there was a little filly that had fallen asleep at her kitchen table after getting a midnight snack. The light came from the open refrigerator door.

Blueblood had to get a closer look, so he climbed up onto my back and pressed his face against the window. And then, right when I thought I could finally go home and go to sleep, the window creaked open. Blueblood looked down at me, pumping a hoof and mouth ‘yes’ to me. Then he climbed into the Boutique.

Even though all my instincts were saying “this is a REALLY dumb idea” I followed the love struck fool inside. I found him crawling on the floor to avoid detection by the sleeping filly. My eye twitched and I face hoofed again, knowing I would probably get a scar just from this night. I gently walked over to the refrigerator, closed the door, and pulled Blueblood off the ground.

“Would you cut it out!” I hissed at him, holding him by the neck of his ninja outfit. “First of, this is breaking and entering, which is ILLEGAL. Second off, Rarity will just think you’re creepy, breaking into her house at night. And third off..” I whispered loudly, being cut off by the filly moving in her sleep. Both Blueblood and I started at her, holding our breaths as she stretched, sighed, and went back to sleep. I let my baited breath out and Blueblood broke out of my grip.

“True love is stronger that things like ‘laws’!” he said as he snuck off towards the stairs.

“Blueblood! Get your flank back here!” I hissed, about to chase after him, when the little filly woke up. I froze as she lifted her head off of the table and rubbed her eyes, smacking her lips. She shook her head and I told myself to calm down, knowing she couldn’t see me. But then she noticed the bowl of cereal next to her and her horn lit up. The refrigerator door opened up, casting its light all over the kitchen. For a second, she didn’t notice me, standing in front of the door. But then I heard her gasp.

“Oh buck.” I said aloud.

“RRRRAAARRRRIIIIIITTTTYYYYYYY! ROBBERS! ROBBERS! ROBBERS!” she screamed, flinging the bowl at me. I got a faceful of milk and happy hay (it’s grrrreat!) as she sprinted up the stairs screaming. I pulled the bowl off of my face and started to freak out. I ran out of the kitchen and tried to find the front door. Blueblood or not, I wasn’t going to wait around for the idiot. I really didn’t feel like getting arrested tonight.

When I got out of the kitchen I managed to make even more noise by running into a rack of dresses, falling over it and getting caught among all the clothes. I swore noisily and tried to get the damned rack off of me. But then somepony dragged me out of the mess.

“She stirs, Wing! But she doesn’t seem too happy…” said Blueblood in my ear as he gasped loudly. “Here she comes!” he squealed.

“Is anypony there?” asked a quiet, nervous voice.

“Rarity, listen it’s…” I tried to say as something sharp flew by my face, cutting my cheek.

“HAHA! YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD STEAL FROM ME?!?” Rarity screamed. “EAT THIS!”

That was when I noticed the many scissors held aloft by her magic. I almost started to cry. They came fast and deadly and I managed to dodge quite a few, but some got me. One got me deeply on my front hoof and I swore and quickly and shoved the hoof into my mouth,sucking on the fresh cut.

“SO THAT’S WHERE YOU ARE, YOU VAGRANT!” she screamed as a heavy cast-iron pan came flying out of the kitchen. I felt my legs go weak as it flew towards me.

“Buck! Ow! Buck it all! What the buck Rarity!” I yelled as the pan hit me repeatedly. I was prepared to say the last swear of my life as the pan rose into the air, but then the lights in the whole Boutique went on.

I saw the surprised Rarity, in a robe with curlers in her hair and that nasty green stuff on her face, blink at the sudden appearance of light. But then she saw me, in the sorry state that I was in, on the floor.

“Little Wing?” she asked confused.

“Ah hum.” said a deep masculine voice from near the light switch. I looked and saw Blueblood leaning on the wall in a tux, a rose in his hoof, and a charming smile plastered on his face. “It’s been too long Rarity.”

“YOU!” she yelled as she hurtled the pan at Blueblood.

From my perspective on the ground, time slowed down. I saw as the pan made a slow line towards Blueblood and I thought about my options.

Option 1: Stay on the ground, let Blueblood get hit as revenge for this whole Storm-forsaken night, and go home and sleep.

OR

Option 2: Do some stupid-assed stunts which put me in front of the pan, taking the hit for Blueblood so he could apologize to Rarity and we could go home and I could sleep.

I weighed the pros and cons of both options. If I laid on the ground, I wouldn’t get hit, Blueblood would receive some divine justice, and I could go home knowing he’d never get the mare. If I jumped up to intercept the pan, I would look cool, make Blueblood owe me, and I would go home happy, knowing that Blueblood at least did what he set out to do.

Bah! Might as well help out a mother-bucker while I can.

I sprung off the ground, doing back flip after back flip (that I had no idea I could actually do) and I jumped up, catching the pan in my stomach while Blueblood yelled “NOOOOOO!” in slow motion. Rarity put both hooves to her mouth and as I fell both of them raced to my side.

I rolled on the ground, pushing the pan off of me.

“Ow! Buck Rarity! How hard did you throw that? I think it might have actually broke one o’ me buckin’ ribs!” I shouted as both Rarity and Blueblood kneeled beside me.
Here’s a tip filly’s and foals: OPTION 2 SUCKS!

Rarity looked aghast. “I’m so sorry Little Wing, I thought you…” she became silent as Blueblood gave me a resounding smack.

“One does not talk in front of ladies in such a way!” he yelled at me.

“Are you kiddin’ me!” I screamed at him. “I just took a pan for you! A PAN!”

“Please, Prince Blueblood it is alright.” Rarity said, blushing a little from the complement. Blueblood quickly went silent.

“Now Little Wing, why are you in my house at such a time?” Rarity asked.

“ROBBER!” the little filly screamed as she charged down the stairs in full hoof-ball armor, waving a flyball bat around.

“It’s alright Sweetie Belle. It’s just Little Wing.” Rarity explained calmly.

“Who?” she asked.

“The stallion that saved me yesterday.” she said seriously.

“But why did he break into our house?”

“Yes Little Wing, Why?” Rarity asked.

I sighed deeply. “Ask Blueblood.”

Rarity looked at the prince with hard eyes. “This was all your plan?” she asked, her eyes hardening.

“I know what it seems like, but Little Wing told me his story today, and I could wait no longer.” He said theatrically. “My soul yearned to see your beauty once again and to apologize.”
Rarity looked at him in shock, obviously silenced by his words.

“Please Lady Rarity,” he said in desperation, “please accept my apology. At the Grand Galloping Gala, I saw your beautiful face, and I knew you were the one. But alas, I have a woeful discourse with crowds of ponies. Like the moon is to the werepony, crowds are to me. I become a monster around them, one that I hope you will never have to see again. From that night on, I promised I would apologize to you, but I could not find you, until Little Wing here told me that you were in Ponyville. I saw my chance, and I took it my love.”

Rarity got up, confused and surprised, but Blueblood continued.

“But now I see my blunder. Even though I wanted to do what Barnabas of Hayberry…”

“…Place did? Professing his love to Angelina after he had snuck into her bedroom on the night of the full moon?” Rarity picked up, her eyes growing wide, tears springing to the corners of her eyes.

“Yes!” Blueblood said, gripping Rarity’s hooves with his own. “I did not know that such a beautiful mare as yourself watched Hayberry Place.”

Rarity turned away from Blueblood’s gaze, blushing. “I can’t help it, it has such a good story…”

“And fantastic acting!”

“Especially the acting!” Rarity shouted, looking deeply into Blueblood’s eyes before blushing again. “I…I’m sorry I never even tried to talk to you again. I should have given you another chance…”

“Rarity,” Blueblood said, lifting her chin with a hoof. “Your gentle gaze is all the chance I need.” Rarity threw a hoof around Blueblood and locked him in a heavy kiss. Sweetie Belle squealed happily, but I started coughing, since they were leaning on what I knew was a broken rib.

“GET THE BUCK OFF OF ME YOU TWO!” I shouted as they leaned onto me harder.

They broke away, both blushing, Rarity looking away coyly, Blueblood looking at her intently.

“Using lines from season 3, you beast.” Rarity giggled as she swiped at Blueblood’s chest with a hoof.

“What can I say?” Blueblood said as he playfully went to bite, but missed Rarity’s hoof. She giggled and he gave a goofy grin. I almost threw up on the spot.

“Hey Blueblood?” I asked in a cutesy voice.

“Yes Little Wing?”

“When are you going to be done making out with Rarity, because I’M FARILY BUCKING SURE THAT I HAVE A MOTHER-BUCKING BROKEN RIB!”

Blueblood frowned a little. “My love,” he said to Rarity. “It appears I must leave you now. When can I see you again?”

“Tomorrow,” Rarity mumbled. “Come to the Library. I’ll be there around noon.”

“I will be there.” He said, kissing her hoof, before picking me up to my hooves. “Until tomorrow!” he said as I dragged him out the door.

“Until tomorrow!” Rarity called back, putting a hoof out towards the door.

We walked in silence for a few moments until we were close to Ponyville Square.

“Did you see how her eyes sparkled in the light?” he asked me, on cloud 9.

“You have that green stuff on her face from when you kissed her.” I deadpanned.

He absentmindedly smeared it further into the fur on his face. “Oh yeah.” He said lost in the memory.

“Let’s go home.” I told him as we reached the square. I found a bench and sat down. “That BROKEN RIB is making it really hard to walk.” I said as he charged up his horn.

“It is an injury of love!” he said in defense.

“Fine. Forget the broken rib.” I said testily. “But remember this, I now know you watch soap operas.”

“I’m in a castle all day!” he yelled at me. “What else am I supposed to do? Plus, I think you’d like some of them.”

“Ewww. No dude.”

“I’ll have you watch one someday and you’ll get hooked.” He said as his horn fully lit up. “Let’s go home.”

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

I could barely make it up the stairs into the castle when we got back, so I let myself change into thunderbird form and I flew up to my room. I found the latch to the glass ceiling, so I let myself plop down upon my bed, feeling overly beat up. As I let myself go back into pony form, I summoned a small thunder head above my midsection so that my broken rib heal. It had been a long day and an even longer night.

But, it was worth it. I laughed at the memory of Blueblood’s muck-covered face as Luna fired up her spotlights when we arrived late. She took one look at Blueblood’s face and then smiled. Then she cleared her voice and followed Blueblood through the castle singing “What is love” in the Royal Canterlot voice behind him. How she made the synthesizer noises, I’ll never know.

But Blueblood was right. Love is always worth whatever pain happens to you. And while I laid there on my bed, being healed by my own lighting, I started to hum the song too.

‘What is love? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more…’ Storm chimed in, allowing me to go to sleep laughing, with an extremely content feeling.

Chapter 7

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 Seven: Downpour

When I woke up, I was extremely refreshed, but I knew something was wrong. I sleepily rubbed my wet face with a pair of wet hooves and my brain started to register everything. ‘Why am I wet?’ I asked myself casually before my eyes shot open and adrenaline shot through my veins. I looked around the room and knew I would be in a lot of trouble if anypony saw this.

The thundercloud I had summoned last night to help heal my injuries had floated off on its own, off towards a secluded part of the circular room, and had done what it was created to do: rain. And when it rains, it pours. The thundercloud happily thundered when it noticed I saw its work. It seemed to ask ‘did I do well?’

I facehoofed and dispersed the happy little thundercloud and looked around my water-logged room and sighed. How was I supposed to clean this up?

I eased myself off my literal island in the middle of the room, all the time willing myself not to get wet. I waded around in the water, staying dry the whole time-which was extremely strange-thinking about how I could dry the room out. I thought about opening the roof-window and letting everything dry out by itself, but I just couldn’t do that. It would take way too long. Nevertheless, I went into thunderbird form and opened up the ceiling, not knowing what would be better. ‘It would be a better idea to tell Celestia…’ said a quickly quashed conscience. There was no way I was letting the sisters know about this. I’d never live it down. So I hovered there for a minute, thinking.

As I did, another small storm was created around my hooves from my hovering. This was the last thing I needed, but the storm didn’t rain. Instead, it was made of twisting clouds and howling winds. I marveled at it and thought for a second.

“It might work…” I said to myself, knowing this idea was better than nothing.

I started to hover faster, willing the storm around my hooves to convulse and twist faster and faster. Soon the little storm was howling louder than any timber wolf alive and it elongated, touching down upon the water in the room. I pumped a victorious hoof as the twisting little devil sucked up the water. However, it spewed it back at me, which would have covered me in water if I wasn’t forcing myself to stay dry. I flew over to the opening in the ceiling and flapped harder, making the storm get larger. It started to suck the water up and shoot it out of the room by way of the open ceiling. Slowly but surely, this room would be dry.

The water rushed around me without actually getting me wet and it felt amazing. I was encapsulated in a small bead of air around a rush of spraying water. I reached out to touch the water, but it spread around my hoof as I reached out. It flowed around it, and I could feel the warm water, but I was never touched by it. I followed the spray with my sight, looking up and watching as the spray turned into a fine mist after it left the room, creating a large rainbow above my room and my room alone.

When the water was mostly gone, I willed myself to get wet from the water. Of course it became mush harder to fly, but I felt like I deserved a reverse-shower. The water rushed up from beneath me and through my wings and fur. I happily clipped at the flowing water and enjoyed the feeling of the cleansing water.

The water stopped in a matter of minutes and I looked around my room. Everything was damp; including me, but that could be solved by some quick wind. I flew up again and flapped my wings, creating a strong breeze that air-dried everything in the room, except for me. I nodded at my work and decided to go for a morning fly to dry myself out. I left the ceiling open and shot out of the room, blasting through the rainbow in the air outside my room. I flew higher and higher into the sky, the water trailing behind me, creating more rainbows while I flew. I laughed happily and I knew today would be a good day.

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“So you’re going back to Ponyville today?” I asked Blueblood at breakfast.

“Of course! A gentlecolt never leaves a lady waiting.” He replied over a bowl of cereal.

I looked down to Celestia, who was trying to hide behind her newspaper, even though I knew she was listening in to our conversation. “So what am I doing today?” I asked her.

“If you must know,” she said, folding the newspaper with magic, “we we’re going to work on the different storms you can create, but from what I saw this morning and the reports of a random major snowstorm in Stalliongrad, I think you might have that covered.”

I guiltily put another slice of melon into my mouth quickly, but she continued.

“Today you may go have your fun, but I would suggest coming home early. My sister would like to give you some lessons tonight and she is much harder of a teacher than I.” she said raising the newspaper again.

I was both enthralled and scared at the prospect. Maybe Luna would teach me how to do that darkness thing? But then again, it was Princess Luna…hopefully she would be in a good mood.

“So are you going to be coming with me?” Blueblood asked.

“I think I’ll stop by a little earlier,” I replied. “There’s somepony I have to visit.”

“Really?” Blueblood asked with a raise eyebrow. “A special somepony?”

I would have blushed, if I wasn’t feeling guilty. “No…well she’s more of my first friend. She got hurt when that monster attacked us, so I need to go see how she is.”

“Oh. I hope she’s doing well.” Blueblood said quietly.

I stood up from the table. “Well, I’m going to go find out.”

Blueblood looked surprised. “You’re leaving now?”

“Yep.” I answered. “I’m going to fly to Ponyville.”

“Well, goodbye for now.” Blueblood said. I saluted to him and Celestia and left the room.

I walked down the corridors of the castle in silence thinking about how much of a jerk I must have been. Rainbow Dash had been hurt and all I had done was run away to Canterlot. That’s just disgraceful.

I stopped in the middle of a corridor, realizing I had become lost in the maze of hallways and turns again. I shrugged and went down another corridor, which led to a long staircase. I went up it and followed some more lefts and rights and came to a wooden door. I went into the room and found out it was much larger than it appeared on the outside. The walls were covered in books and a giant-sized window made up the opposing wall. I walked around the room slowly, seeing a large globe in the middle of the room and a purple and pink bed off in the corner of the room. Next to it was a small basket. One look at the bedspread told me who this room once belonged to.

I walked further into the room, towards the window. I found out the large window was made up of a bunch of smaller ones, but each individual window was still large enough for a pony to fit through. I started checking the windows, pushing on them gently to see if they would open. Success finally came with a window that was at the edge of the window-wall. It cracked open and I squeezed out of the window. I quickly summoned a few storm clouds to walk on so that I would not plummet straight out of the window.

I closed the window behind me and breathed in heavily. The morning smelled fresh and new, and I was ready to take on anything. I backed up on the clouds and took a running leap, extending my wings as far as they could go. I concentrated on a place that could use a good storm (Fillydelphia) and I started my journey.
Remembering what Spitfire taught me, I dove first to build up speed and then rose higher into the air for sustained flight. Up near the clouds, the air currents would help carry me so I wouldn’t tire myself out from flapping my wings. I relaxed and let the winds carry me along, only really adjusting my wings for directional purposes. I felt the morning sun on my back and its warmth spread to me, and to the storm in Fillydelphia, which quickly became a warm drizzle. I was amazed that my feelings registered with a storm so far away, but then I remembered yesterday and the storm in Stalliongrad. I had flown faster and the snow had fallen faster and harder as well.

‘It is no coincidence.’ said Storm in my mind. ‘Thunderbirds are forever connected to the storm, to every storm. Thus the storms are equally connected to us.’ he said.

“So even if I created a million different storms in a million different places, they would all respond to me?” I asked.

‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘but I would suggest against it.’

“Why?”

‘As they say, 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Thunderbirds are a powerful species, but misuse of this power can have drastic repercussions. A thunderbird can become consumed by the own storm he creates if he misuses his power.’

“But how could you misuse your power? Don’t we balance out the world with our storms?”

‘Yes, but there are many ways to misuse the power of the storm. Take this tale as an example.’ He said, clearing his voice mentally. ‘Long ago, even before the race before you truly ruled this earth, there was one of our kind who misused his powers. He had become smitten by a woman, a female of the species before your kind, and he revealed himself to her in the form of a man. He promised her the anything she could desire if only she would marry him. She accepted, but she demanded that she receive one thing as her wedding gift. She wanted the world.

So, the thunderbird, in all his terrible glory went across the earth striking down the enemies of his wife, but also ruining the crops, homes, and lives of the innocent. The other thunderbirds saw this and knew he must be stopped; he was destroying the balance with his foolish actions. So many of us confronted him, to try to talk him out of his ways, but he would not listen. The fight that ensued created holes in the earth and the tears shed by each thunderbird over having to fight a fellow thunderbird was enough to fill these holes with water. These holes became the oceans.’

“So what happened to the rogue thunderbird?” I asked.

‘He was defeated and his body was put to rest. It was a sad day for all of our kind and we vowed to make sure something like that never happened again.’

“Damn…” I said incredulously. I could understand the want to do everything for a mare you loved, but that…it was a bit much. I didn’t know that thunderbirds held so much power. Making seas? That’s insane.

‘I understand your disbelief, but when the time comes, I will teach you about your full powers. Then you will understand. For now though, enjoy your time with your friends. We will speak of this later.’ Storm said in my mind, leaving as Ponyville came into sight. I numbly angled myself downward and coasted, letting myself glide down to the Ponyville Square. I felt the storm in Fillydelphia disappear as I walked towards Ponyville general hospital.

Lost in thought, I walked on. A thunderbird really held that much power? But then how did Storm become the last of his kind? More than that, how were they not immortal beings? I understood that Storm’s conciseness lived on in my mind, along with all the power he granted me, but why was he not truly immortal?

My trance broke as I heard a pony scream and I looked up. I saw the tail-end of Roseluck running into her house, casting scared glances back at me. I looked behind me, confused, but realized she had seen me. She was scared because she saw me in my thunderbird form. I looked down at my coat and talloned hooves. I wasn’t that scary, right? Nonetheless, I started to canter away towards the hospital, changing back into my pony form as I ran.

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“Room 206. Take those stairs and then take a left. It’ll be the third door on your left.” said the receptionist when I asked where Rainbow Dash was. “Knock first, she might be still asleep.” she reminded me.
I thanked her and followed the directions she had given me. The cement stairs were cold under my hooves, but the constant sunlight from many windows in the hospital warmed me while I walked. However, the sun couldn’t shake the cold, sick feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. As I approached her room, I felt extremely guilty for endangering her, and the rest of the mares. What would I do if one of them got hurt very badly? No, I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let something like this happen either. Never again.

I knocked on the door and heard a sandy “Come in” from inside. I opened up the door to find Rainbow laying on a bed with her broken hoof in a cast. The sight of it sent shivers down my spine, but the sunlight spilling into the room and Rainbow’s smile brightened my day. She looked strange in a hospital gown, but the fresh smell of lilacs gave the room the appearance of a fresh spring field, making it seem like I was just meeting her like on any other day.

“I was wondering when you would come by.” Rainbow said as she put the book she was reading away quickly. She pulled herself up and bunched up a few pillows so she could sit up better. “Don’t just stand there all day, come on in.” she said signaling for me to enter.

I walked in and closed the door behind me. Then I grabbed the only chair in the room and pulled it up next to her bed. I sat down and guiltily looked at her. Other than the cast, she looked completely fine, energized even.

“How is it?” I asked her, nodding to the cast.

“It’s nothing too bad,” she said snorting. “Yep, I’m officially too cool to be beaten by a simple broken leg. Plus, I’ve been here so many times, I have reward points.” she joked.

“It’s good that you still have your spirits.” I said.
Rainbow looked at me. “It’s not like I’m gonna die or anything,” she said punching me on the shoulder. “What’s gotten into you hoof, huh?”

“Rainbow, this is more serious than you think.” I said, my voice rising. “You could have died.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that dramatic stuff Wing. I’ve known you for too long to be scared by that stuff.” She said before grabbing my face between her front hooves, making me blush. “Look, if I wanna fight alongside you, if anypony wants to help you by fighting, they know what they’re getting into. I’m not too glad about getting this broken leg, but I’m really happy nopony was hurt badly. If somepony was to be hurt, I’d rather it be me, so stop your sulking. Stuff happens.” She said, releasing me.

“But you don’t know how strong they…”

“We beat one together, right?” she said cockily.

“Yes, but they’re…”

“So think about this: next time, we’ll all be ready. Those giant snakes won’t stand a chance.”

I shook my head and smiled at Rainbow. For as long as I had known her, she had always been like this. Strong, determined, faithful, and loyal. She could always help me out, be it with some sort of labor or a mood I was in.

I stood up and walked over to the window. I opened it, letting a fresh breeze roll into the room. Even though it was nearing fall, the winds still carried summer’s heat and spring’s freshness.

“So was that…you know the wings and all, was it a spell?” Rainbow asked.

“Nope.” I said, turning around to face her. I stood there and let myself take my thunderbird form. The breeze through the window picked up as I changed and the air smelled of coming rains for a flashing second.

“That’s awesome!” Rainbow squealed as I walked closer towards her. She eyed me up and down a few times. I took a few mock-poses for her and she laughed.

“Talons, wings, and that coat…” she said motioning a hoof from the floor to my head. As she did a small jolt of lighting traveled along my coat. “…and that! That’s so cool!” she said as she whistled appreciatively. I looked at her smiling face and found that she was staring into my eyes.

“It’s weird though,” she said, a hoof to her chin. “Your eyes didn’t change at all. Still the stormy gray they always were.”

I blinked and a few static charges raced down my body from my eye. “You sure about that?” I asked.

“Nah, that was always there.” She replied. “That’s why I wasn’t surprised when you revealed that you were the source of the storm. You always were shocking.” She said jokingly.

“Really? Like how?” I asked.

“Remember when Stratus and some of his other friends started to pick on Scoots. You came out of the blue and told them off right away.” She said.

“Yeah, but then that little punk had his brothers come and ‘talk to me’.” I replied, remembering the day.

“Yeah and even though they beat you good, when you saw Stratus bothering Scoots, you stopped him again.” Rainbow said, a strange look in her eye. “I can see why Flutters has such a crush on you.”

“What?” I said as I backpedaled and fell to the ground.

“She’s crazy about you dude. She always was one to fall for those heroic types.” She mused while resting her head on a hoof.

“B…but I’m no hero…” I stuttered out.

“Oh really? You saved all of us not two days ago.” She said.

“You guys helped…” I argued pitifully.

“You see how Twilight’s magic didn’t do a thing? And how that monster got up AFTER Pinkie’s cannon hit him? Heck, the only thing that worked on him cost me a leg.” She said, jiggling her cast. “Your attacks were the only ones that worked.” she said pointing at me. “YOU were the only one that pushed that monster back. And YOU dealt the final blow. Without you, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

“But I…”

“Oh, just shut up and accept it.” Rainbow said lying back down on her bed, exhausted from arguing with me. She cast a sidelong glance towards me. “You’re a hero whether you like it or not.”

My argument was cut short by a knocking at the door. “Um, Rainbow?” said a demure voice.

“Haha! Speak of the devil and she shall appear!” Rainbow said, sitting up. “Come in Flutters. There’s somepony here that wants to talk to you!” I looked at the evil smiling mare in terror as the doorknob turned. My eyes pleaded ‘Why?’ as her smile grew bigger and more devilish.

And that’s when a beautiful butter-yellow mare entered the room. She was carrying a basket of wildflowers in her moth and her mane was swept back. From where I was standing, I could smell her, the scent of spring itself in all its beauty. The second she came into the room, I was trapped in her gaze.

“Hello Little Wing.”

Chapter 8

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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

Chapter 9

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 Nine: Category 5

“…And that is how you remove the hearts of these beasts.” Luna finished with a grim smirk as I threw up again. I had thrown up at least ten times while she showed me how to open the horned serpents and remove their diamond-hearts upon death. Luna had explained to me that this was the only way normal ponies could help fight against the creatures, but that didn’t give the whole process an excuse for being totally disgusting.
At first, the lunar soldiers laughed when they saw me throw up, but then they started to roll their eyes every time they saw me gag near the horned serpents. When Luna tossed one of her moonbeam scalpels to General Crimson he simple caught it in his mouth. Then he ran up onto one of the charred corpses, doing all the work with ease. In fact, he seemed at ease as he removed the hearts from the creatures. This just made my stomach do a few revolted revolutions.

When the deed was done, I summoned a small rain cloud and let it pour its contents all over me. I washed myself of the grime and gore, hoping that I would never have to do this again. However, I knew I would and this disturbed me.

As Luna collected the hearts in her saddlebags, everypony fell back to her. Her horn lit up sending us home, away from the evils of the badlands. Not a second too late either, as I started to feel that spine-tingling, evil feeling of apprehension again. I also felt them as they came towards the magic from far away, their disgustingly scaly bodies moving over abused rocks; their serpentine voices traveling on the wind, telling me how they would enjoy killing me in a multitude of ways. I just shivered as the scenery vanished by magic.

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‘Little one, you must stop this foolishness.’ Storm said gently through my mind as I lay on my bed in a traumatized ball. I was crying softly but continually as I remembered that feeling from earlier. Not the evil apprehension, but something scarier. The feeling I got as I saved Luna, that predatory feeling of dominance and power. And the worst part was that some part of me liked that feeling. It liked the scent and sight of gore on my fur, of charred bodies, of incredulous power that most ponies could not even think of in their wildest dreams.

I heard Storm sigh. ‘Stay still,’ he told me. ‘This will take your mind off of things.’ He continued as I felt a rush of power through me. I started to feel scared, but my vision went black before I could react. Slowly, my blackened view came alive with the comforting sound of thunder and rain. I also heard long, drawn out flaps of wings and I felt the ground beneath me start to move. Then, gouts of lightning lit up my view and I could see I was in a dark storm cloud. I managed to catch glimpses of what I was riding upon.

“Storm?”

We burst through the dark cloud and into a world of undulating gray, hidden from the view of the ground below and the sun above. I saw my world in a gentle light and I looked down at Storm as he carried me on his back, flying through the sky. I heard the sounds of the storm and was calmed. I felt the wind rush by my face, blowing away the depression I had but a minute ago.

“Where are we?” I asked Storm.

‘We are in your mind Little Wing.’ Storm replied.

“Oh. But where are we?”

Storm snorted. ‘We are in a storm.’

“I knew that.” I replied testily. “But which storm? Why have I never felt this one before?”

‘This is a special storm, from long ago.’ Storm said deeply. ‘You will see why very soon, but for the present time, just enjoy it. No more questions.’ He said before going quiet and catching an air current. We floated on the breeze, letting the wind take us where ever it wanted to go and I looked around at the clouds, my soul becoming quiet.

The clouds turned and churned within themselves making the walls of gray around us move with their own life. I felt the serenity stuck in all the chaos of the storm, in every sporadic flash of lighting, in every random sonic resonation of thunder, in every different water droplet of rain. As the winds blew and the precipitation fell, many ponies would see this as a scary being of nature, a thing they almost never saw thanks to their weather pegasi. But to me, this was serenity it all its glory.

“Storm?” I asked in a small voice.

‘Yes child?’ he replied just as gently, feeling my emotions.

“I’m scared.” I said falling silent.

‘Look at the storm and feel its power.’ He told me. ‘That is the power of the thunderbirds. We are strong creatures Little Wing.’ Storm said as we flew. ‘But that does not mean we are impervious.’

‘I fell to old age, but in my life I was able to experience many things. And even though my strength is mighty and my power immense, I was scared too.’ He continued before falling silent.

“When?” I asked feeling conflicted.

‘When I was young. When I was old. It does not matter the age Little Wing; I was scared my times in my life. When I was just a hatchling, I was scared of humans. They were a young species, capable with the powers to do anything. However, they just destroyed and plundered and forsook their abilities. They began applying their knowledge to that of war and eventually they killed out their own kind. I became scared then, as well; for I experienced the true terror of a war I was not able to defend myself from. I became even more scared after the dust cleared and I was the only one of my kind left. Even when I was young, I knew there had been few thunderbirds left, but I did not know that they could be wiped out by accident. I thought we were all powerful. That was probably the time when fear truly reigned over my mind and soul.’ He said.

“But how did you…become you again? How did you conquer your fear?” I asked.

Storm laughed deeply, his voice making thunder respond to him from the clouds surrounding us. He flew on as the storm became stronger and stronger, but then it went silent as we started to descend. The gray around us started to vanish into wisps of cloud as we came closer and closer to what looked like a large, jagged rock. I felt Storm slow and his flapping increased as he perched down on the rock. Slowly, the clouds let loose their rain, clearing the low hanging mist around us. I gasped as the mist cleared, revealing that the “jagged rock” was actually the top of a mountain. I looked down at the landscape and saw lush, dark green valleys and spots of rolling forests. The rain from the clouds gently covered the land, clearing my mind of all fear and bringing a tear to my eye.

‘This,’ Storm said with majesty, ‘is how one of our people conquers his or her fear. We fly and let our homes become drenched in our sadness, in our uncertainty. We cry out our fears to the lands we control and we let the storms take over. Then, hope emerges.’ He said as the clouds parted and the sun shone through. As the sun touched the rain, rainbows formed over the lands below. I gaped in joyful awe, feeling the hope that every rainbow held.

‘It was true that I was scared of humans. It was true that I was impossibly scared of being the last of my kind left. But, hope sprung eternal.’ Storm said emotionally. “The thing that gave me hope in all those times of great fear was the hope given to me by the newest race of rulers: the ponies.’

“But how could you be sure we wouldn’t turn out like the humans?” I asked unknowingly.

‘I didn’t, and for a long time, that was my greatest fear. But as always, hope came to me in my time of need. When I was dying, scared, and afraid that my powers would disappear, you came. You gave me hope. I was very scared that you would turn into a being like the humans, but the second I saw your eyes. I knew differently. You are my hope, Little Wing, and I know that you will do what needs to be done when your time comes.’ He said, leaving me lost for words as I choked back sobs of joy. Nopony had ever said I was their hope. Nopony even ever believed in me, much less saw my strengths and weaknesses. So how could Storm, a being so powerful, a being called “Lord” by the two immortal princesses of Equestria, have faith in a nothing like me?

‘Because you are not nothing.’ Storm said calmly, reading my mind as usual. ‘You are the strongest being I know. You alone had the courage to let your fears in me disappear as you let your pity take over. You saw a weak, dying, and scared creature who needed you, while any other pony would have run from me screaming. You are strong because you had the courage to stay and console me.’

I was moved by his words and I started to cry silently. Storm let me cry in silence, not once speaking as I did. I was thankful and my heart felt like it was bursting from all the emotions I felt, and I knew, even if I was scared, Storm would always be here, he would always be supportive of me, and he knew that I was scared and weak, but that I was his hope.

Two screeches of my kind averted my teary eyes from Storm’s back to the horizon. I watched as two thunderbirds flew out of the silhouette of the sun, past the storm clouds around us, and through the valley, trailing two rainbow contrails. I saw that one was much smaller, a baby really, compared to the other that flew a little ahead of it. They screeched again, but I noticed it was not one of declaration, but of joy. As I looked on, I realized that the larger one was a female, a mother, and the smaller was her baby. It was then with a start that I realized I had seen the markings on the plumage of the smaller one before.

Storm read my mind and looked back at me, his curved beak in a smile, his eyes glistening with tears and lightning. He rose off the perch, flapped his wings once, and then I was back in my body on my bed in the circular room.

I got up shakily and ran a hoof through my mane. I couldn’t feel Storm’s consciousness in my mind, but I knew he was there inside me. But what really humbled me was the fact that I could just see what I did. That I knew immediately that the baby thunderbird was Storm, that that was his first storm itself. I wiped the tears lingering at the corners of my eyes and I stared to smile. I felt the determination rising in me. I was going to make him proud.

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

Princess Celestia almost jumped out of her seat at the breakfast table as I kick the doors in. Prince Blueblood looked equally shocked, but what astonished them both was that I was in thunderbird form, and I was emanating an air of confidence and electricity.

“What kind of training are we doing today Celestia?” I asked, hungry for things to do.

“S…since you helped my dear sister with the raid last night, I was planning on letting you sleep in.” she stammered. “I did not think…”

I cut her off prematurely. “So what was I going to do today?”

“I was going to start teaching you how to harness the energy of the Sun.” she replied shakily.

“But doesn’t that only work for you, Auntie?” asked Blueblood astounded.

Before anypony could say anything, the chefs came in with the royal breakfast. Many of the chefs gave me wide eyed looks and stayed on the other side of the table, but they had been trained and had seen a vast number of strange and powerful beasts at this very table before. Thus, most of them waited until they got back into the kitchen to fall into hysterics, wet themselves, or just hide in one of the numerous pantries.

My hunger to train was soon overpowered by my actual hunger. I sat down at my usual seat across from Blueblood and started tearing into breakfast. Literally. Dish after dish deposited its contents into my mouth and then stomach as I ripped through the meal, making Blueblood and Celestia watch with a mix of astonishment and horror. When I finished, I looked at them with a smile… and then burped so loud it created a thunderclap that sent both of them flying out of their chairs and breaking all the windows along the wall of the dining hall.

“Excuse me.” I said blushing madly as rounds of royal laughter spread through the entire castle. I even started to laugh too, the mirth from the two awakening my own happiness. Soon we were all laughing hysterically, wiping tears from our eyes, and gasping under the strain of such laughter. Eventually, everypony calmed down, but then Blueblood and Celestia looked at me again, erupting into a new chorus of laughs.

“Ok, ok.” I said happily. “It wasn’t that funny.”

Blueblood shook his laugher-tear soaked face at me. “No it’s just…YOU!” he said finishing with a loud obnoxious laugh.

“What?” I asked a little confused.

“Rarely do we *hic* ever get any *hic* fun guests.” Celestia said, hiccupping away her laughs.

“They’re always so stuffy.” Blueblood said as he got up off the floor, using the table as leverage. “They always have to follow a…woah!” he said, as his hoof slipped on the table cloth, letting him fall, but sending all the dishes, cups, silver ware, and table pieces flying. Each hit the far wall with a resounding crash of expensive glass ware, but Celestia just looked at this spectacle and fell out of her chair, her royal peals of laughter echoing throughout the castle.

These royal types really were deprived for fun. But then again, being stuck in a castle all day could do that to a pony. I thought of Celestia’s day job, of nothing but correspondences, legal matters, and diplomatic relations. But then I thought about Blueblood’s daily to-do list and I shuddered. Soap operas, ugggh.

At that time, I knew what we would do today.

“When was the last time you two got out of the castle?” I asked them.

“Just yesterday.” said a voice that resigned to be on the ground from across the table.

“I can hardly remember the last *hic* time I have gotten *hic*…” Celestia said as she got up, still hiccupping.

“Why don’t we all go to Ponyville?” I proposed. “I know that I have lessons today, but we can do those in Ponyville. I just think we could all use a little change of scenery.”

“Oh, I could introduce you to Rarity!” Blueblood said to Celestia.

Celestia just rolled her eyes. “Rarity is the element of *hic*. I think I *hic* her by now Blue*hic*.” She sputtered out. “But I *hic*-gree. We could all use a little *hic*.”

“Maybe we could even cure those hiccups in Ponyville?” I asked playfully.

Blueblood laughed as Celestia smiled. “Why not?”she said with a shrug, before hiccupping repeatedly. I sighed dramatically and pretended to face hoof at all of her hiccupping, which elicited even more hiccups from the princess of the sun.

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

“Teleport successful!” Celestia cried as we appeared in the middle of Ponyville square, surprising the many ponies who were mulling about, purchasing goods at one of the weekly farmer’s markets. There was an awkward silence as all the ponies looked toward the shining princess, the royal prince, and the intimidating thunderbird and looked at us, stupefied. Then they dropped everything they were doing and bowed towards the three of us.

“Come on Auntie!” Blueblood said, as giddy as a schoolyard filly. “Let’s go visit Rarity!” he said, jumping around on his hooves.

I heard some ponies snicker when at the sound of Blueblood calling one of their princesses “auntie” but they soon fell quiet as they saw me from their prostrate positions. I could see a wave of fear spread through each pony’s eyes. I looked at all of the ponies and saw a trembling, familiar face. Golden Harvest shuddered as she saw me see her staring. I sighed and started to feel the depression seep into me, but then Storm’s word echoed through my mind. I was his hope and I would live up to his expectations. I would not let this pass.

As Celestia was about to give the command to rise to the ponies, I put up a hoof and stopped her. I walked over to the bowing Golden Harvest and saw her quiver with each step closer.

“Rise.” I commanded to the ponies, specifically Golden. When none rose I looked back to Celestia.

“Listen to him, my little ponies.” She said softly with a knowing look in her eye.

The ponies around me rose, but I kept my gaze on the one in front of me. She stood up, her eyes to the ground, her hooves shaking.

“What?” I asked. “Don’t you recognize me?”

She glanced up to my face for a second, but then dropped the gaze. Her body trembled as she shook her head. I saw a tear spring to her eye and I was astounded. Was I really that frightful?

“What?” I asked gentler, scared by her reaction to me. “I AM just a mistake.” I told her, changing back into my pony form. The crowd around us gasped and Golden Harvest stepped back, scared and confused.

“Little Wing?” she asked in a shaking voice. I looked at her for a moment and then just walked over to where my friends from Canterlot were standing.

“Let’s go to the Boutique.” I said strongly, leading the way.

To any other pony, this might seem like I was bullying Golden Harvest for her past sins against me. But in reality, I felt no malice towards her. I just wanted her, along with the rest of Ponyville, to know who would save them. Who was their guardian thunderbird. Who would be their hope for the coming future.

Chapter 10

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 Ten: Altostratus

“Out at the Spa?” Blueblood asked as he hoofed the sign on the front door of Carousel Boutique before he started to stare off into space. “I wonder what she’ll look like?” he asked with a happy sigh as his eyes glazed over. Celestia and I looked at each other, the same puzzled expression reflected in each other’s faces.

“Hey…Blueblood…Soap operas…” I said as I waved a hoof in front of his face. His glazed over eyes didn’t move an inch. Celestia joined me and tried to get his attention to no avail.

“Blueblood. Snap out of it.” I said as I pulled at his face, stretching his cheeks into incredible shapes. Celestia walked around him, gently poking him all over, looking for a reaction of any kind. But all our efforts did nothing. The second we stopped doing anything, his body returned to his wide-eyed, large, giddy smile, and immobile pose. Celestia and I just shrugged at each other.

We walked away, leaving the immobile Blueblood leaning up against the wall of the Carousel Boutique. We figured that Rarity would be home sooner or later and she could take care of him after that. Irresponsible? Maybe, but you try carrying around a prince all day.

As we walked through the streets of Ponyville, I became increasingly aware of an awkward silence between the two of us. I glanced over to Celestia to find that she was looking all over the place, admiring the sights of Ponyville.

“You must really love Ponyville.” I said nonchalantly.

“Oh yes.” She replied. “I barely get to come here without much fanfare and other such royal preparations, so I never get to see the town in its daily state. It really is such a quaint little place. I envy you Little Wing.”

“Thanks…I guess. But you’ve never really seen Ponyville the way I have.” I replied, old wounds floating to the surface of my conciseness on bubbles of memories.

“I understand that you have not had the best of lives,” Celestia said slowly. “But I am sure you have friends that helped you along your way.”

When Celestia said this, I immediately thought of Rainbow Dash, my closest friend for such a long time. “You’re right.” I said to the princess, an idea coming to mind. “In fact, you could probably help her.” I said, turning in the direction of Ponyville General. I didn’t speed up, but was content to walk through this beautiful town on this bright day in peace.

“Before we go see her,” I said aloud. “I want to know what Storm was like.” I said while we walked together.

“Lord Storm was magnificent.” Celestia said, a tone of nostalgia entering her voice. “Not just in the way he looked or his powers, but in how he handled all problems and how he spoke to every creature. Whenever he was at the castle, he would expect respect from everypony. As soon as he received it, you were his best friend. He would do anything for you.” She said smiling.

“Like what?” I asked.

“He once covered all of Canterlot with a thick snow in the middle of summer.” She said with a toothy grin. “It was one of the hottest summers in all of history, back during my sister’s banishment. Canterlot seemed to be melting herself and anypony who ventured outside almost burst into flames. Of course, I tried to lessen the heat from the sun, but the sun was unruly and unresponsive to some of my magic.”

“Lord Storm had just arrived into Canterlot to say hello and spend a little time with me. He knew I was still feeling…less than great that my sister was banished and he wanted to cheer me up. His large wings created the only wind that day, making all of Canterlot sigh with relief. However, he did not stop there. When he saw that I was having trouble with making the heat disappear, he flew up into the sky and summoned his namesake. Winds started to cool off the blazing buildings and streets of Canterlot, but Storm didn’t stop there. With a simple call of his power, snow started to gently drift into the city.” She said with memory. “I’ll never forget that day.”

We entered Ponyville General together and the same desk attendant that screamed “monster” at me a few days ago now bowed the second we came into the hospital.

“W…what can I help you with Princess?” she stuttered.

“We’re here to see Rainbow Dash.” I told her. “I already know which room. Come on Celestia.” I said easily, making the desk attendant stare at me incredulously. I led Celestia up the stairs and to the familiar door. I knocked on it twice, but heard no reply, so I put a hoof up to my lips to warn Celestia and I opened the door quietly.

We tip-hoofed into the room only to find that Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep with a book over her face. I snorted, thinking about what she would say if she woke up now; probably something along the lines of “I’m not an egghead!” I shook my head as Celestia took the book off of her face gently with her magic. Rainbow stirred in her sleep, but didn’t wake up. I saw her gently sleeping face and started to blush. She looked so beautiful when she was asleep. Celestia noticed with a raised eyebrow and sat down in the only chair in the room, smirking at me. I pouted at her and snuck over to the window. I looked out at the courtyard of the hospital as I heard Celestia turning the pages of the book, reading through it while Rainbow slept.

Eventually I heard a loud sigh of comfort, one that I mentally told myself I could get used to hearing, and I heard the bed sheets rumple as Rainbow stirred. I looked over my shoulder as she sleepily moved, graceful even in half-sleep. She rubbed her eyes and opened them slowly, smiling cutely the whole time. She stretched and looked around the room before lying back onto the bed. Then she sat straight up, her eyes wide open as she saw Princess Celestia and me.

“Pri…Princess? Wha???” she said looking dumbfounded and shocked all at the same time.

“Oh, I just decided to break in.” Celestia said nonchalantly, winking at me with a spark in her eye.

“What?” Rainbow asked, now very confused.

“Oh yes. I heard that you were in the hospital, so I knew you would like to be comforted by your number one fan.” Celestia replied.

“Wha?”

“Yes, Rainbow; I am your biggest fan. I have a room back at the castle filled with newspaper clippings that have all your accomplishments. I also met with your little fan club. I became the president in under 10 seconds flat.” She continued.

“Really?” Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow.

“Indeed. But it is such a shame that you had to wake up. Now it’ll be all the harder to shave off your mane.” Celestia said, making a magical razor appear out of nowhere. It floated in Celestia’s telekinetic grip and buzzed there.

“My mane?!?” Rainbow screeched, grabbing onto her rainbow locks.

“Well how else am I supposed to finish my life-size Rainbow Dash doll?” Celestia said flatly as she slowly approached Rainbow. “All the best stalkers have one…” Celestia whispered creepily.

As Rainbow screamed in fright, I fell to the ground laughing while Celestia sat back down in the chair smirking at Rainbow. I laughed happily while Rainbow panted and looked around the room wide-eyed, confused at what was going on. Her eyes finally fell on me as Celestia let the razor disappear, but instead traded it for a banana.

“YOU!” Rainbow yelled at me. “YOU’RE TERRIBLE!” she said, picking up and throwing a pillow at my head. I let it hit me while I laughed at Rainbow’s expression. “Come here.” She said between clenched teeth as I rose off the floor. I walked over to her with a goofy smile on my face and smiled even harder when she punched me in the shoulder.

“Ow.” I said with a smile.

“You bring Princess Celestia all the way from Canterlot only to sneak into my room and almost give me a heart attack? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!?” She screamed into my face.

“I may have snuck into your room, but all the credit for scaring you goes to Celestia.” I said smiling even wider as I applauded the Princess.

“Thank you, Thank you.” She said with small bows.

“Really?” Rainbow asked flatly. “Not even a ‘hi’. Just a ‘I’m Stalker-estia, here to steal your hair!’ You two make me sick.”

“Oh come on Rainbow.” I said rolling my eyes. “You’ve pranked me plenty of times. You deserved this at least. And don’t say things like ‘you two make me sick’. You sound like Rarity.”

“So what did you guys come here for?” Rainbow asked speculatively.

I quickly recounted our tale of the morning, how I felt it would be fun to come to Ponyville, how Celestia and I had effectively ditched Blueblood, and how we came to her hospital room.

“So why are we here?” Celestia asked. “If you wanted to say hello that is all fun and good, but…”

“Well, I brought you here for a reason Celestia.” I said knowingly. “You see how my dear friend Rainbow over here is in a cast? Well she caused that when she drop-hoofed a horned serpent while she was going the speed of a sonic rainboom. I was wondering if you could do something about that.”

Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “Could you really do that Princess?”

“I can try.” She said, getting up out of the chair. She floated the medical chart towards herself, making reading spectacles magically appear on her face.

“Broke all the bones in your leg, heh? But no tendon tears or major muscle rips. And not even one sliced artery. My you are a luck one.” Celestia said with an appreciative whistle. Her horn started to glow and Rainbow’s leg was gently picked up out of the sling. Then, her cast slowly came off of her leg.

“Ohhhh, that’s great.” said Rainbow with relief as the cast feel from her leg.

However, Celestia’s horn started to glow brighter and I could feel the warmth coming from it.

“Little Wing, come hold her leg while I use my healing magic.” Celestia directed. I obeyed and started to cradle the leg in both hooves. Then, Celestia’s magical grip on it disappeared and instead her horn actually touched Rainbow’s flesh, sending warmth and magical currents down her leg.

“That feels funny.” Rainbow said, starting to frown.

“You might want to hold onto something.” Celestia said to both of us as her horn grew even brighter. Rainbow quickly gripped the bed with her front hooves and I dug my knees into the mattress and grit my teeth.

Soon, Rainbow was shaking and I could hear her teeth chattering. There was an incredible heat in the room from Celestia’s horn and I was sweating buckets before long. The brightness of the sun princess’s horn made both of us avert our eyes. The heat and the light grew brighter and brighter and I faintly became aware that Rainbow was shouting something at me, but the magic seemed to block out all my senses. All at once the heat reached its apex and the light flashed its brightest, but then it was all over.

“…w ow ow ow ow.” I realized I was saying as my hearing and sight slowly came back, the bright light and white noise fading from my senses. I wasn’t the only one though, because I felt Rainbow jerk her leg out of my hands.

“Rainbow, what are you…”

“WOOHOO!” I heard her shout as I felt a weight jump off the bed.

I rubbed my eyes quickly to regain my sight and I saw a miraculously happy scene. Rainbow was laughing with happiness as she flew around the room while Celestia sat back in her chair, smiling a little tiredly. Rainbow did a few more laps around the room making the lamp, vase full of flowers, and nightstands almost fall over. Then she saw me with exuberant eyes and flew straight at me. I gasped as she tackled me and I fell off the bed.

“Look at this!” she said from above me as she did a hoof-stand and waved her back legs in the air.

I laughed at her joy. “Very nice.” I said in good cheer. She fell back onto all four legs and smiled down at me. She gave me a dazzling smile and her maroon eyes made my heart race at the speed of lighting.

‘I thought you liked the other one. The yellow one.’ Storm chimed in inside my mind.

I rolled my eyes and scowled at his embarrassing words and luckily Rainbow had looked away to thank Celestia. Rainbow’s and Celestia’s voices faded out of my hearing as I started thinking about which one I really liked. I knew that Fluttershy was beautiful and she liked me, but could I return her feelings. And then there was Rainbow. I had always seen her as my only friend, like a kind of older sister, but seeing her fight for her friends and just her being her really changed my outlook on her. She was always so happy, so ready for anything. But Fluttershy was so caring and nice. I really felt happy around her and like I had to protect her from everything. I quickly shook my head to clear my thoughts as Rainbow looked back down at me.

“You ok?” she asked with a cocked head as I shook mine.

“Yeah!” I replied jumping off of the floor. “So what are you going to do with that fixed leg?”

Her eyes grew wide and she smirked at me, telling me I already knew what she was going to say.

“GO FLY!” she and I shouted at the same time. “Let’s go!” she yelled, speeding out of the door of the room.

“Well that was eventful.” Celestia muttered as she slowly got up out of the chair. She started to walk over to me, but she stopped as she saw the book that Rainbow had fallen asleep under. She lifted it with magic and it disappeared with a ‘pop’, the same as her glasses had earlier.

“It’s surprising that she of all ponies was reading the most relevant book to our cause.” She said to me with a small smirk, before tripping. I rushed to her side with an unknown speed and propped her up from the side.

“Thank you.” She said tiredly.

“Are you alright?” I asked with concern.

“Yes,’ she replied with a strained pant while putting a hoof to her head. “I…I just need to get outside. I forgot how much healings tend to take out of me.”

“Ok, nice and slow then.” I said as we walked to the door. I was about to open it when it flew open from the outside and Rainbow’s exuberant face appeared inches away from mine. I jumped, but luckily neither Celestia nor I fell.

“What’s taking so long?” She asked with unfathomable stupidity.

Instead of facehoofing, I led Celestia out the door and let her lean on me while we walked down the hall and stairs. Rainbow went quiet as she saw her princess’s condition and fluttered down behind us.

As we reached the bottom of the stairs, Rainbow shot past us and went straight to the reception desk. There was nopony there, so she hit the little bell about a million times a second until Celestia and I stumbled over and Nurse Redheart came out of nowhere.

“ImRinbowDashandImcheckingout.” Rainbow spewed out. From the speed her wings fluttered at, I could tell that Rainbow was just itching to get out into the clear blue skies again. However, I was still a little angry at her. She saw that Celestia was weak, so how could she act so childishly?

“But you weren’t due to leave for another month…” the nurse replied astounded before she saw Celestia and me again. She gasped and started to bow but I stopped her.

“Don’t.” I said quickly. “Could we just hurry this up? Celestia doesn’t feel too great and she said that she’ll be fine when she gets outside.” I looked over to the princess of the sun who was almost completely slumped over on my back. I could see that her breathing had become ragged and a slick sheen of sweat coated her body. She looked like she was going to fall over at any second, so I wanted to get her outside as soon as possible.

Nurse Redheart gave me a suspicious look since I used the princess’s name so easily and that I commanded her so quickly. However, I was not in a mood to argue with her. As Rainbow finished up checking out (taking the attention off of Celestia and I) I led Celestia outside into the noonday sun.

The warmth of the day and the gentle breeze significantly made Celestia perkier, making her lean on me less and less. But it was only when we got out of the shadow of the hospital building and into the sunlight that Celestia took a turn for the better. As we walked into the sunlight, I could feel as the Celestia absorbed the heat, light, magic, and overall energy of the sun. She stood up tall and flared her wings as the sun gave her strength. I thought back to what Storm had said about the princesses relying on the power of the sun and moon to help fuel them and I saw that every word was true. Right before my eyes, the alicorn went from being a sick and weak pony into the strong ruler we all knew and cherished.
She closed her eyes for a second and took in a deep breath while her mane flowed in the cosmic wind. Then she spoke. “Thank you for helping me out here.” She said to me with eyes filled with the sun.

I smiled back at her and shrugged my shoulders. “You were a good friend to Storm and you’re one of our princesses. It’s the least I could do.”
She let out one tinkling laugh as Rainbow came flying out of the hospital. She nodded up at Rainbow, who was doing loop in the sky, and opened her mouth.

“Yes, let’s.” I said before she could say anything. I let my wings grow and my body change into its thunderbird form while Celestia took off into the sky. It surprised me to see the regal flyer do loops and chase after Rainbow with speed I could have never guessed she possessed. Instead of taking off, I decided to sit back and watch the pair stream through the air. As always, Rainbow shot around at amazing speeds with rainbow contrails speeding behind her. However, Celestia followed behind her closely, with what looked like pink, green, blue, and purple contrails that glittered in the sky. I watched them chase each other around in complex routes leaving the sky look like a multi-colored etch-a-sketch.

‘Well? Go join them.’ Storm encouraged me. I smirked and flapped my wings, thinking about where I could form a storm. Maybe on the other side of the world? I felt the air currents and moisture change over the emerald jungles on the other side of the world and a storm rose there to allow my flight. Soon, I was among the clouds with the other air-borne mares.

Rainbow was the first to greet me, coming at me with acrobatics which made my head spin. I tried to follow her, but ended up spinning myself into dizziness. I heard her laugh as I tried to right myself from all the head turning motion. I saw that she was lying on a cloud with Celestia as I stopped spinning.

“You learned how to fly, I take it.” Rainbow said with a smirk. “So let’s see what you’ve got.” She said as she dove off the cloud into a spinning, prismatic spiral. Celestia rolled her eyes but then followed the element of loyalty into the dive. I breathed heavily and then followed them too.

The wind ripped by my face as I sped past Celestia and pulled up right next to Rainbow. She eyed me with approval and then smiled. “Come on!” she screamed and she flew faster, taking barrel rolls and loops with majestic speed. I matched her every move making her laugh with delight when I came up next to her. Her eyes twinkled defiantly as she sped up, a mach corona forming around her. I smiled and sped up too, letting the lighting surround my body and charge my flight faster.
As Rainbow shouted with delight when she produced a sonic rainboom, I let out a similar screech as my sonic lighting blast resounded behind me with a giant thunderclap. I gazed at the happy Rainbow as her contrails seemed to become a solid object of color. She looked back at my lightning covered body in awe.
We landed on a cloud and panted a laughed at each other’s joy. As we laughed, Rainbow sat next to me and leaned onto my shoulder, breathing heavy out of happiness and exhilaration.

“Wing, you…you’re amazing!” she said happily. I looked out at the sky, too embarrassed from her praise and closeness to say anything.

“You can fly! And so well! And you can even keep up with me!” she said with a laugh. “Thank you.” She said as she nuzzled my side.

“What for?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t see my deep red-burning face.

“Out of all the things you could do with your powers, you get me healed and then show me one of the best days of my life. So thank you.” She said smiling.

I couldn’t help but catch her smile too. My face burned, but my pride swelled. To think that I was this close with Rainbow Dash. To think that I had made her day. I just never wanted this moment to end. But life always has different plans.

Celestia shot out of nowhere and landed on the cloud next to us, making Rainbow and I sit up and apart from each other. Celestia looked scared and her frantic eyes narrowed in on me.

‘Monster!’ said Storm in my mind, Celestia to both of us frantically, and a scream from Ponyville below us.

Chapter 11

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.

Chapter 12

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 Twelve: The Storm, the Flame, the Frost, and the Earth

‘We should warn Celestia of this.’ Storm said. ‘Let’s go find her Little Wing.’

I got up from the ground and started to walk towards Ponyville as Agni came up beside me. ‘Celestia was here?’ he asked in confusion.

“You probably didn’t notice her because at the time you were trying to kill me.” I replied, making a knowing look appear on Agni’s face. We walked on in almost complete silence, our minds blanketed by one thought; that Asmodeus was back. Even though I didn’t know what this meant, I was silenced by it all the same.

As we walked back to Fluttershy’s cottage, we became painfully aware to our little jaunt on the outskirts of Ponyville. Every few yards were large burn marks in the shape of Agni’s paws and puddles or other scorch marks marred the ground around them. When we got back to Fluttershy’s, three angry mare were waiting for us. Agni and I looked at each other and a slow smile spread across our faces. We were so screwed.

Before any reprehending could be had, Octave flew out of a tree and landed on my head.

“Did you beat the tiger, Lord?” he chirped while eyeing Agni with suspicion.

“We tied, more or less.” I replied, making Agni smile and the mares look at me in confusion.

‘We must speak Celestia.’ Storm boomed.

“I think so.” Celestia said with a disapproving scowl towards Agni. “Lord Agni, I will not let anything needlessly terrorize my citizens, nor will I have two very powerful beings fight whenever they feel like it.” She said with royalty.

Agni just rolled his eyes. ‘It’s not like you could stop us anyway.’ He muttered.

‘Enough of this.’ Storm said, quieting both of them. ‘Asmodeus has been found.’ He continued, making Celestia pale.

“This is dire news indeed.” She replied, her voice faint with fear.

“Asmodeus?” Rainbow and Fluttershy asked together.

‘Yes. The great snake of the earth. He was once lost, but now we found out where he was. And yet, he is still lost to us.’ Agni said sadly.

‘Take us to the clearing, Little Wing.’ Storm said tiredly. I nodded and started the long walk into the Everfree. As I walked along, I let myself change back into pony form, an Earth pony leading two pegasi, an alicorn, and an ancient. They all followed me onto my own snaking path into the forest as I led them in deeper and deeper. Finally, I felt the magical field around the clearing wash over me and I felt like I was home. I sat beneath the tree in the clearing and everyone else followed me. Rainbow sat to my left, Fluttershy to my right, Agni curled around the trunk of the tree, and Celestia sitting towards us.

‘Agni, I must rest, but I implore you show them the last fight. Celestia will help.’ Storm vocalized quietly, his consciousness receding from us and going into the very pit of my mind.

‘As you wish my friend.’ He said as he closed his eyes and we were all warmed by his magic. ‘Celestia, keep them safe while I show them.’ He directed Celestia who nodded and responded with a glowing horn.

Soon the wave of heat turned into a giant flame which engulfed all of us. I could hear Fluttershy let out a worried squeal, so I pulled her towards me in a hug. However, I never took my eyes off of the fire. Celestia’s magic held true as the fire grew more and more intense, making different colors appear within its writhing being. Greens, blues, yellows, oranges, reds, purples, and even black came into existence in the tornado of flames. I could feel something very strange as Agni’s consciousness flooded over eyerpony, but then the flames grew stronger and spun faster, making the walls of fire look like conjoined gems. Rubies, Diamonds, Amethysts, Topazes, and Obsidians became our entire world, but then it all faded away and we were in the same place, but a different time.

I could tell from the feel of it that this place was the same clearing, my home, but it was nothing alike. Instead of the great Everfree, there was nothing. No trees, no grasses, nothing of any sort other than blank earth and dark skies. However, what was there was power. And that was when we saw them.

Horned serpents of many sizes, some as big as Canterlot castle, numbered in the thousands. But they were not alone. Distorted creatures and vile monsters of every size and sort joined them, making their forces so formidable that the earth beneath them shook out of fear. But from the barren lands and bleak scene, hope was born. I heard a roar and I looked behind us to see the heroes.

On the opposite side of the approaching evil forces stood some familiar faces and some unfamiliar ones as well. I immediately saw a younger Storm and felt his power as he screeched to the heavens, bringing storm clouds and lightning to fill the sky. I also saw Agni in all of his rage, a tiger burning bright with flames and challenging the world with his roar. Celestia and Luna stood in front of them, glowing like the celestial bodies they controlled. Beside them stood another few alicorns, all of them giving off their own powers, yet unified by one single bond. A full white alicorn stood at the forefront, his silver mane outlined with an amber aura and his body giving off waves of strange power. However, he and the other alicorns were not the only ones there.

Behind them and next to Agni and Storm stood the rest of the ancients. They numbered six in all and each was incredibly powerful. There was a large bear that froze everything she touched off to one side of Storm and I assumed she was Moroz, the bear of the frost. Off to her side stood a large creature that looked like a pony, but was much taller and had a long snout. He also had fins on his legs with his hooves and his tail was long and forked. His gaze reminded me of a beach and I faintly smelled a hint of coconuts coming from his direction.

On the other side of the line, off to Agni’s side, stood a large snake. He looked sinisterly like a horned serpent, but his scales were emerald green and his eyes were a comforting yellow. The burned into your soul and left me feeling like I was back in the Everfree. I could see tiny sprouts of grass and flowers shoot up from where his trunk touched the ground. And lastly, next to him, stood a large pony-like creature. He was the size of the ancient that looked like a pony, but his form was covered in a long cloak and ebony wrappings underneath that. However, I caught a glimpse of his eyes and became deathly afraid and impossibly enjoyed at the same time. His cold and friendly eyes were a paradox, but they glowed like stars and showed his majesty. With him, the line-up was finished and our heroes stood against the oncoming forces.
I could feel the angry power of the oncoming forces, but the flow and ebb of energy from behind me made everything seem like it was weak in comparison. As the oncoming forces came closer and closer, the only one to move was the all-white alicorn. He walked out to meet the forces as they got close enough, his horn glowing with impossible energy. As the enemies reached a certain point, he cast his spell, throwing a force field around the battlegrounds. Then our heroes began to move against the enemy forces. Storm and Agni leaped into battle, sending flames and lighting throughout the enemy army with ease, encouraging the other ancients and few alicorns. Soon, they jumped into battle too. The alicorns flew around and shot their magics at the enemies, teaming up and taking them down a few at a time, for the enemies were much stronger than they were. The only alicorn that joined the ancients with their head-on battle was the ever-present all-white alicorn. His powers slowed down the enemies around him, allowing him, Storm, or Agni to take them down with ease. However, as strong as the ancients were, there was much too many of the enemies.

I heard Moroz growl as she was slashed across the side by some creature holding a large scimitar. Asmodeus slithered next to her with impossible speed and helped her fight the creatures attacking her. He hissed back at many a horned serpent before he crushed them in his coils, bit them in two, or let the earth swallow them whole. Moroz reared up onto her back paws and swiped at the enemies, freezing some with her touch and her roars, while slicing other in half to spill semi-frozen blood on the ground. Similarly, the strange fish-horse was fighting more than any other of his kind was. He was weaving in and out of their attacks, attacking back with just the gentlest of touches, which made water spurt from the mouths of the creatures as they gripped their throats, choking on the liquid. Their bodies fell to the ground unscathed, except for a few the sea-pony touched; they turned into water which the ancient used to drown or attack other monsters.

Yet, there was one ancient that wasn’t attacking. It was the cloaked one and he sat back as his fellows fought. He watched with and unreadable expression as many bodies fell to the ground and his friends risked their lives. I saw him look up as I heard one of the alicorns scream and fall to the ground, hurt by something. Next to fall was another alicorn, his golden blood staining the earth. Then the water-horse whinnied and all the ancients looked back at him. He was on the ground, clutching his skull as the water around him turned a deep red. His eyes were blood shot and he screamed in pain. Somehow, I knew this wasn’t an attack from an enemy, but something worse.

‘Azrael, you must join us now!’ Storm shouted to the cloaked horse as he flew over to his downed comrade. The water-pony was now erupting water, the liquid coming out of every pore in his body and threatening to flood the battlefield. Luckily, Storm was there to create tornado that sucked up the water quickly and sent it flying towards the enemy with enough force to push back many and kill some. I wanted to know what the heck was happening with the water ancient, but all my thoughts were silenced when I saw the cloaked horse move.

He strode silently into the fray, enemies falling around him and his allies yearning for his help. He vanished from sight for a moment, but then I saw him again, yards away from where he once was and now surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters. I wanted to yell out to him, to make him move, but an incredible power washed over all of us. It made me want to curl up into a ball and go to sleep forever, but at the same time made me feel like I would live forever. I watched as the horse, “Azrael” according to Storm, cast his cloak off of his body. What remained was a horse wrapped in ebony strips of cloth. But then the singing started.

The song drifted through the air slowly and solemnly, ancient and filled with a power that made all the ancients, even the current Agni and I, shiver and cower inwardly. The song slowed the battle from the past and Azrael’s wrappings started to float from his body. They drifted in the air like black snakes and they unwound from his body. Soon, we all gasped as we saw the skeletal horse with six wings hidden by the wrappings. The wrappings flew to the bodies of dead enemies and they snaked their ways down the throats of the dead. Then Azrael flew into the sky on wings of death and said something in the most ancient of languages.

The enemy army was taken completely taken by surprise by the rising forms of their dead comrades. But even scarier, the once dead now started to fight the monstrous army, bringing panic, mayhem, and bloodshed back to the battle. The once dead had come back and now they were fighting for our side.

The whole time Azrael used his powers, I could see that Asmodeus was watching greedily. His yellow eyes narrowed and all warmth left them as he saw the horse’s immense power. His gaze chilled me worse than the sight of Azrael’s power, but a gasp from and sharp squeeze around my midsection pulled my attention away from him. I saw and felt Fluttershy holding onto me with a death grip, her eyes closed shut tightly. I put a gentle hoof on her shoulder in return, but I was shoved from behind and ended up holding her just as tightly. I looked behind myself angrily to find a happy Rainbow Dash who was giggling at my cheeks which were red with embarrassment. Agni even popped open an eye to look at our antics, but soon the memory-battle became faster and faster, like a movie on fast forward. Most of the fighting skipped ahead of us, until the very end.

The armies of the monsters laid dead all over the battlefield, their blood staining the earth as a testament to the violence that had happened here. It looked like our forces were all alive, but not without injury. Agni and Storm both looked very beaten up and Moroz was crying; her side was lacerated with one million claw marks. She was not crying because of her wounds, but because Asmodeus was gone and the water ancient lay in front of her on the ground, convulsing in pain.

‘HELP! Vaten is rejecting all the power!’Moroz screamed with frost coated tears streaming down her face. Storm and Agni raced to her side along with Princess Luna. They stood around the convulsing ancient with concern in their eyes, but Luna looked at him with determination. Her horn lit up and his body was covered in a deep blue glow. His convulsing stopped slowly, but I could still see the panic in his eyes.

‘Please…’ he said desperately. ‘Get me to the oceans.’

Luna nodded once and they teleported away instantly. Moroz cried even harder at this and Agni and Storm cradled her between themselves.

‘It’s over.’ said a certain skeletal ancient who was not joining in on the hug. His voice was like silk in the middle of the night, inviting yet threating all the same.

‘But it is the beginning as well.’ he finished with a nod towards the remaining alicorns. There was only seven, including the missing Luna, but they were powerful enough to rule this world and make it anew. They formed a circle as Luna teleported back without Vaten, and all their horns began to glow.

The glow blinded us for a moment, but then we found ourselves back in the clearing. I thought I understood now, but I had too many questions to ask before my mind could comprehend what was happening.

“What the hay was that?” Rainbow asked for me.

“That my little ponies, was the Great War that ushered in this world.” Princess Celestia said with a voice that seemed tired by age. “Back then there were many of us alicorns, but now there are about are four of us. The same amount as the ancients.” she continued, a tear coming to her eye.

“But why was that one ancient, Vaten, so hurt? No one else was that hurt; plus he was never even hit once.” I asked. “And what about that other ancient. The skeletal one! He was a monster!”

‘You should never speak of Azrael that way, Little Wing.’ Agni said seriously. ‘He is the strongest and most ancient of all the ancients. He only comes in times of great change. However, Vaten, his story is a sad one.’ Agni continued with a frown.

‘Being the element of water, we were never truly close. Yet, it was still terrible to see what happened to him. Before the Great War, he thought he could gain immense powers by absorbing all the power in the oceans. As ancients it is true we are incredibly powerful and can handle such power; but nothing comes without a price. All the power in his body slowly ate away at his health and sanity, so by the time he came to the Great War with us, he was untouchable, but the weakest of us all.’

“The only one who could help him was Luna.” said Celestia. “She could help him with her powers over the tides from the moon, so she took him to the oceans and let him free there. She still won’t talk about what happened that day, even to me.”

“But what happened to Asmodeus?” I asked,

‘He disappeared in the battle and we thought he was dead. Only now do we understand what truly happened.’ Agni said slowly.

“So what happened to him?”

‘He was taken back to the badlands by the last known Horned Serpent. There they must have broke him with evil magics, for we now know that he is still alive, but it would be better if he was dead.’ Agni said with the fires of revenge burning in his eyes.

“Why?” I asked quietly.

‘For he is now the king of the Horned Serpents. He helped them rise back and will be the one leading them into battle against you.’ Agni said as a cold wind blew through the clearing. I shivered out of fear, the cold spreading up my spine and into my soul.
I was going to have to fight, and possibly kill, an ancient.

Chapter 13

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 Thirteen: Evaporation

My head spun in fear that night after I came back to the castle with Princess Celestia and Agni. After what Agni had shown us and what Celestia and he had told me, I became very uneasy. Only to add to all that uneasiness was that Storm was silent in my mind. Every time I tried to speak with him, he wouldn’t answer my questions. What scared me even more was that it felt like his consciousness was getting dimmer. I remembered his words, that I was only holding his consciousness for the time being. Was his speech and everything else he had told me just lies? Was he truly going to be there for me, or was this just another sham, like my parents promises back when I was a foal and they were still alive. I blinked back tears in my bed and tried to fall asleep, but I just couldn’t. My emotions were wreaking havoc on me and I decided that the only way to get my spirits up was to go for a fly.

I jumped up out of my bed, my body changing forms as I did, and I flew up to my ceiling window, opening it with ease. I flew up into the midnight sky and tried to calm myself down. There was no clouds in the sky as I flew ever higher and higher, the moon and stars reflecting off of my coat-plumage mix and I summoned some small rain clouds above my head, not only to allow me to fly, but to let the water wash over my body in an attempt to wash out all my emotions.

“Trouble sleeping?” said a voice from beside me. It scared me so much that I squawked and almost fell out of the sky. I pulled up next to the mischievous princess of the night and flew alongside her as she shook her head at me and my rain cloud.

“Lord Storm used to do the same thing whenever he was upset.” Luna said, eyeing my cloud with a sad smile. “Worried about Asmodeus?”

“Terribly.” I answered back, not trying to hide my fear or anxiety.

“We won’t lie to you and say everything will be alright.” Luna said. “But, with good luck and confidence, the ponies you love will be protected and even if everything isn’t alright, it will be alright as long as you’re with them.” She said, turning to look at me with her deep blue eyes and mane that showed the entire universe. “Trust me. This advice comes from a pony who knows what fear can do to you.”

I was quiet for a minute as we flew and I digested her words.

“Thanks Luna.”

She responded with a simple and knowing nod. We flew on through the night in silence.

“Hey Luna?” I asked after a few minutes.

“Yes, fair thunderbird?” she responded with sarcasm. I snorted at it.

“Whatever happened to Vaten?”

At the mention of his name she went completely stiff and I could see the pain in her eyes.

“I…I’m sorry.” I said, ashamed of myself.

“He died.” She said quietly. “Follow me.”

I let her lead me, wondering what she would want to show me, especially after I had just uttered something that hurt her so much. I guessed that pain never truly goes away with time, but that couldn’t be right. In fact, by the look of Luna’s flight in front of me, she was not quite sad, but not quite happy either. It looked like she was eager.

She led me on throughout most of the night. We flew west, over the hilly fields that eventually evened out and turned into large sheets of brush and wild fields. Then they in turn turned into the desert beneath us, giving us pleasant thermals of rising hot air to ride upon. However, after the desert we came to high mountains that reigned over the desert with an oppressive presence. We flew over them, near their snow-coated peaks, cold rocky crags, and dragon and bear ridden caves. Then, the waters of the grand Equus Ocean came into sight.

Even from the high altitudes we were flying in, I could feel the moisture of the water, hear the waves calmly lap the shore, and taste the salt on the breeze. It was a beautiful sight, the dark waters reflecting the moon and stars like a giant obsidian mirror. I could hardly tell which sky was the real one, the one above me, or the one below.

Luna went into a gliding decent and I followed her down, spiraling myself slowly towards the ground. She touched down upon the beach with a spring in her step and she skipped into the water. I touched down on the shore, but walked to the edge of the waves.

“This is where I took him.” Luna said happily, which surprised me deeply.

“He died right?” I asked in amazement.

“Yes.” Luna replied with a smile as she scooped up some sea water with her magic. “And no.”

“I don’t understand.” I replied confused.

“Here!” she said as she tossed the water towards me. I was too surprised to do anything, including keeping myself waterproof, so I got soaked.

“Hey! What was that…” I stared to complain before being silenced by Luna.

“Feel the water.” She said.

I sighed and did as she said and was in for a shock. It was true that I felt the warm water running down my body from where it had hit me in the face, but I could feel something more. Something powerful. I opened up my eyes and ran into the ocean with Luna.

“That’s amazing!” I said as I felt the faint power running throughout the water.

“It’s not only here, but around the whole world.” Luna said.

“But how is this possible?” I asked.

“As Vaten died, he used all the power he had to let himself become one with the oceans and seas of the world. So all water in the world is part of him, and he is part of all the water. His magic flows through it and allows it to be under its own control, like the Everfree forest. Nopony can fully control it anymore and this is good and bad. I can raise and lower the tides, but I cannot control the currents or other aspects of the water.” She said happily. “I saw him die and he was happy when he did, because he knew this-this truth that he became part of the world he loved.”

I was awed by her words and her actions and I noticed that her face was wet, but not from the water of the sea. I opened my mouth to say something, but Luna teleported and reappeared on the beach, lounging in the sand under the moonlight. She patted the sand next to her and I walked out of the water and sat down. I could feel my wet coat and plumage sticking to the sand, but I didn’t mind it as I saw a different side of Luna, the side that reflected the beauty of her nights.

“It is alright to be afraid Little Wing.” She started as she looked over the onyx waters and glassy waves. “Everypony, especially those in positions of power, feel the effects of fear the most.” She said, her voice taking on a tone of seriousness as her chin lifted a little.

“I was once consumed with a fear, a fear so terrible it made me into a monster. I was afraid that ponies would love my sister and her days more and more and soon forget about me. That fear lead to jealousy and anger and everypony saw what I became. But it all could have been prevented with just a simple talk. One little talk with my sister and I know she would have helped me conquer my fears.”

She turned to me and I saw her large midnight-blue eyes, rimmed with tears by the past memories. “You must promise me this Little Wing.” She said with a ferocious seriousness. “Whenever you are afraid, you must tell somepony. If not Storm, than I, my sister, or even one of your friends. But whatever you do, you must remember that you have ponies that care about you. There is no need to carry this burden alone. We are all here for you.”
I felt humbled by her words. “But it’s my duty to…”

“Do you really think that Storm never had help? We all help each other for a reason Little Wing and it’s not just because we are immortal beings in the eyes of normal ponies. It is because we are all friends.” Luna said with a touch of incredulousness in her words.

I sat there in the sand trying to completely chew through her words. Not once had another pony ever sat me down and talked to me like this. But I realized that just because nopony had done this before, it didn’t mean that nopony was there for me. I remembered all the times I was down or had run away with tears trailing behind me. After every single time, Rainbow Dash had found me sooner or later. I wasn’t alone with this fear. And this fear wouldn’t overtake me, because I had a group of friends that were there for me. I knew every single one of them would help me through this.
I opened my mouth to say my thanks, but I got a face full of sand instead.

“Hey!” I coughed and spluttered as I looked up to the standing Luna. She had a smirk on her face.

“Oh hail the mighty thunderbird!” she said with sarcasm as I wiped the sand out of my face. She mock-bowed, but as she did I managed to trip her with a swipe of my tail. My feathers rushed around her hooves, sending her rolling backwards harder than I expected.

“Oh!” I said as I raced to get up, hoping I didn’t hurt her. Instead, my worry was washed away by laughter.

“’Tis so on!” Luna said with a happy laugh and a fire in her eyes as she picked herself up off of the sand. I expected her to come charging at me, but instead she ran towards the ocean. I looked at her as she ran towards the water and I couldn’t help but chase.

I realized that I would have never done this before, but maybe this was another change along with my transformation. Again, the depth of the Storm’s power and how it affected me made me pause mentally in wonder. However, I didn’t have long to think about this as I reached the waterfront and Luna stood off against me. Her eyes glowed with a mischievous fire that I found strangely appealing. She smiled a toothy and sneaky grin all while she slowly stepped backwards toward the water. Before she reached the water, I lunged, flying quickly at her, but only fast enough to gently tackle her.

But, she must have seen this coming. She flared her wings, jumped into the sky, and left me on the beach. Right as I was about to take off into the sky, she nodded towards the water with a sly smile. I looked at the water and realized it had receded from the beach. I wondered where it had gone as I looked out into the dark, black night. It was strange, water couldn’t…

SLAM!

The tidal wave Luna had created slammed over me and pulled me out to sea. Luckily, I used my powers to let myself breathe in the water so I wouldn’t drown. However, I still almost chocked from all my laughter. I should have seen that coming! I shook my head as I started to swim to the surface, but out of the dark blue sea, a massive current swept me away from shore.

I could feel the tinges of Ancient power in the current, but it was not an overpowering, deadly presence like the other Ancients I had encountered so far. It was gentle and I guess “diluted” would be the best word to describe it. I let myself be carried by the current for a minute, holding my breath and not using my powers to keep me dry. I felt the remnants of Vaten’s power and I became sad and happy at the same time. I was scared. So, so, so scared. Vaten must have been scared too, when he absorbed all that power. But, we both had friends and I knew that I’d be able to get through this with their help.

I burst from the water and let playful lightning dance across my coat and feathers as Luna flew up towards me from over the shore. I smiled to her.

“Thanks for the talk.” I said happily.

“Do not be afraid to talk to us.” She said sweetly. “We know what fear can do to a pony.”

“I’m a thunderbird.” I said, sticking my tongue out at her. She just rolled her eyes.

“Let us go home.” She said as she flew off in the direction of distant Canterlot.

As we flew home, I knew that somehow, in some way, things would work out.