A Storm is Coming

A Storm is Coming

Ch.3: Preparations

The week that followed Taranis’ meeting with the Elements of Harmony was quite eventful; as Pinkie put together the single biggest party she had ever thrown. The occasion was, in her own words, the time to ‘go big or go home.’ Twilight could have sworn her hyperactive pink friend was in five places at once, bouncing around as she made sure everything was perfect for the prince’s unveiling. Eventually, she got tired of keeping track of the bubblegum-pink blur hopping around and just decided to assist as she could with preparations.

She supplied her help to the party pony however she could, hanging decorations with her magic. She even took the liberty of preparing a checklist, and a backup checklist for that checklist. Princess Celestia had found a way to get most of her friends to help, like with her brother’s wedding.

Applejack was helping the chefs with catering, and she was providing some Zap Apple confectionaries for the celebration. Twilight could hear the farmer pony’s statement in the back of her mind.  “Well, if’n he’s tha storm god ‘n all, what better way to celebrate than with some Zap Apples! They’re perfect!”

Rarity had been commissioned by Celestia to prepare a new garment for her son to wear. Twilight thought her friend was going to pop when she found out. Taranis had been less than pleased, preferring to wear his armor. "Mother, please, you know how much I hate suits. Oh, fine, don’t give me that look.”

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had been let off the hook as far as helping was concerned. Taranis was not much for animals, and Rainbow Dash was too busy following him around to worry about helping. Twilight hoped her cyan friend didn’t turn into a stalker.

She tried to be happy. She really did. She knew she should be happy for Celestia that Taranis was back. However, something continued to bug her. The last time that her friends had helped with a big Canterlot event, a wedding had been almost ruined… but this was totally different. She should just be happy that her mentor had been reunited with her son.

So why this nagging feeling that something will go wrong?

An updraft of wind and the sound of approaching wing beats distracted her. Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw Taranis soar past the outdoor party grounds. He wore a modified version of the Wonderbolt uniform, slightly more ornate, with an elaborate chest piece bearing the Wonderbolt insignia, more akin to armor plating than a jumpsuit. She assumed he was on his way to commence with Wonderbolt training, and meet the new recruits. He met her gaze, smiled and acknowledged her with a nod of his head and a wave of his hoof. Twilight’s cheeks reddened and awkwardly returned the smile and nod, causing her to lose concentration and drop an oil painting of Taranis flying with the Wonderbolts in front of Pinkie. Thankfully, it wasn’t damaged.

Smooth move, Twilight.

Twilight shook her head, upset at herself for getting distracted.

Pinkie hopped over the painting and landed directly in front of the lavender Unicorn.

“Whoa, Twilight! Watch it! Causing shenanigans is my job!”

“Sorry, Pinkie. I got distracted.”

Pinkie saw Taranis as he flew away and gave Twilight a knowing waggle of her eyebrows.

“That’s not it.” Twilight snapped.

Pinkie just laughed and pranced around the lavender Unicorn.

“Taranis and Twilight sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. And it makes perfect sense since you live in a tree and everything! It’s like the song was written for you!”

“Pinkie! Let’s just focus on our jobs.”

Pinkie shot Twilight a conspiratorial grin.

“I’m not the one who needs to be focusing, Miss Love-Struck FillyPants”

Pinkie’s laughter was cut short by a zipper being conjured up where her lips once were.

Taranis flew to the Wonderbolt’s training grounds, situated in a field across from the Royal Guard’s barracks. Four hundred meters of emerald colored grass, the field was in the shape of a giant oval. Overhead, various clouds idly floated about continuously above the green, which could be molded into whatever obstacles the Wonderbolts might have need of. Lieutenant Commander Soarin’ and his wingmare Spitfire were currently using them as a series of rings set at different altitudes. They were squeezing in a few minutes of practice before the full squadrons were present on the field. It was an easy drill, nothing too strenuous and casual enough to keep up a conversation.

“All I’m saying Spitfire, is that we aren’t soldiers. I mean, maybe we were, and maybe we still train in case of an emergency, but doesn’t re-hauling us into a fully militarized force seem a bit much?”

“Relax, Soarin’. The prince is the true commander of the ‘Bolts. If he wants us to be militarized, then we’ll just be militarized.”

“But won’t you miss the shows? I know I live for the chance to perform in front of crowds.”

“Of course. But I could live without some of the other things, like those boring galas and whatnot. After this one honoring Prince Taranis, we may never have to go to another again.”

“I guess that’s one positive thing. Hanging around a bunch of snooty rich ponies wanting favors is worse than pulling teeth.”

“That’s it, just look at the bright side.”

With a final pass through the last ring, they landed softly on the cool grass and made their way toward the center of the field to wait for the others.

They were greeted by the slate gray Alicorn, who dismounted lightly in front of the two stunt flyers.

“You two are easily the best flyers of the Wonderbolts. I’d say your efforts even rival those of Hermes Winghoof.”

Soarin’ cocked his head to the side.

“Who?”

Taranis looked at him in confusion, before smacking himself with a hoof.

“Right. This is the future. You have no idea who I’m talking about. Hermes was one of the first Wonderbolts I recruited, and a magnificent aerialist. He perished in the Great Griffon Gripe.”

Spitfire’s eyes lit up.

“The Triple G? My ancestor Comet fought in that war! He was instrumental in establishing the peace treaty with the Consolidated Griffon Confederacy!”

Taranis gave her a wide grin at the mention of the ancient stallion.

“Comet was your forefather? He was a good stallion. A little short-tempered, but a valiant fighter. You should be proud to have come from such excellent stock.”

He turned away from Soarin’ and Spitfire, facing the locker rooms at the far end of the field. With a deep breath, he spoke again, several decibels louder than before.

“ALL CURRENT WONDERBOLTS AND RECRUITS, REPORT TO THE GROUNDS TO BEGIN TRAINING ASAP.”

Soarin’ gritted his teeth and endured the barrage on his eardrums. He knew Spitfire fared no better. He glanced over and saw his wingmare with her front hooves over her ears, balancing precariously on her hind legs.

“No offense, You Highness, but could you possibly warn us before you go using the Old Canterlot Voice?” Spitfire said, a little louder than was necessary to compensate for her temporary lack of hearing.

Taranis looked back and smiled sheepishly.

“Apologies. Old habit. And when I used it, we called it the Royal Everfree Voice. I guess they had to change it when Fa- Discord remodeled the old castle.”

The two Wonderbolts were saved from having to speak about their leader’s father by the arrival of the rest of the Wonderbolts. In total, they were numbered at 50 now. Originally, there were only 10, set up in two squadrons of 5, but their new directive as an air force had required an increase in their ranks. Recruits were taken directly from the Royal Guards. Their electric blue and lightning yellow jumpsuits shone in the afternoon light, while their bodies created a shadow over the fields as they flew toward their three commanding officers. They immediately aligned themselves into two squadrons, 25 in each, 5 across and 5 rows deep. In tandem they saluted their superior officers. Spitfire stood in front of the first squadron, while Soarin’ took his place in front of the second. They saluted as well, and Taranis returned it, prompting the others to drop theirs.

“Fillies and gentlecolts. I’m not much for speeches so I’ll make this quick. As you have been briefed, I am Prince Taranis, son of Celestia and the commander of storms. I was the original commander of the Wonderbolts, back when you were still an air force, completely indomitable on the field of battle. By order of the Royal Sisters, you have been reinstated as an air force. I understand that this may be seen as a bad thing, since war is, in fact, terrible. But I assure you that you will only achieve your true potential as Equestria’s premier flyers. Once, to be a Wonderbolt was a badge of honor, not a silly circus act. It will be a badge of honor again. You will now uphold your sacred vows: to protect Equestria and her interests, in conjunction with the Royal Guard.

Nopony said anything. They simply kept quiet as Taranis concluded his speech. Taranis nodded his approval.

“Now, you will split up into your separate squads and focus on the aerial maneuvers involving small groups. Squad leaders take note and lead the drills, and Lieutenant Comanders, observe and correct when necessary. Sound good?”

“Sir, yes sir!” rang the 50 voices. Taranis couldn’t help but smile. They might have been green as Wonderbolts, but they were still soldiers. He loved the sound of squadrons sounding off. His face took on a more serious tone.

“Begin.”

With that, each squad migrated to different parts of the field and commenced their drills. Taranis took off and flew around the grounds, observing the new Wonderbolts. He blew out a long, exaggerated breath as he saw two young recruits fly straight into each other. He darted underneath them and caught one, while the squad leader caught the other.

“This is a routine Apollo’s Arrow, not a tackling contest. Keep practicing.”

He flew off, leaving the squad leader to deal with the mess.

“We have a LOT of work to do…”

A prismatic mane caught his eye, at the bottom of the field. One of Twilight’s friends, Rainbow Dash. She was clearly trying to get his attention. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Ever since she had found out about his history as a Wonderbolt Commander, her initial indifference to him had turned into full-blown hero worship. Taranis had a feeling he knew why she was here. He swooped down to her position and landed.

“How can I help you, Miss Dash?”

“Rainbow is fine. Uh… I was wondering… now that the Wonderbolts are recruiting again…CouldIpleasejoinIcanofferalotofhelpandI’magoodflyerand-“

She was stopped mid-ramble by a hoof over her mouth. Taranis appraised her with a bemused expression.

“Calm down. If you really want to join, you’ll need to be one hundred percent dedicated to the cause. And you should know, this won’t be the same Wonderbolts you originally wanted to join. Will you be prepared to fight for Equestria?”

She nodded.

“Will you be prepared to undergo the most rigorous training of your life?”

Another nod.

“Do your duty to your Princesses and to me?”

“Hey, they don’t call me the Element of Loyalty for nothing!”

Taranis grinned and nodded his head. He liked what he heard.

“We’ll talk after the party tonight. Frankly-“

Taranis was cut short by a high pitched scream as a female Wonderbolt crashed into the ground and skidded to a stop in front of the Alicorn and the Pegasus, leaving a 20-foot trail in the grass.

“-we need all the help we can get.” He finished quietly. Without another word, he took off, his powerful wings blowing Rainbow’s mane in her face. She squealed in delight and flew back toward the castle.

Taranis continued his rounds, helping when necessary and berating when required. The headache that had started to form when he saw just how green the recruits were continued to grow. More than once he feared that his eyes would become stuck in the back of his skull from the amount of rolling they were put through. He found himself correcting the recruits more and more. After a while, he began to count the time by the number of corrections he made.

“No, that isn’t how you pull off a Shooting Star! Try again, this time with feeling.”

“Stop before you kill yourself. If you try to do a Skyloft by yourself, you’re going to fail. It requires at least three ponies.”

“A Falcon Dive requires intense concentration. You can’t let your mind wander.”

“You’ll need a lot more cloud cover if you want to try a Whistling Corkscrew.”

42 corrections later, he glanced at his mother sun, shining radiantly down upon them. It hadn’t even moved.

It’s going to be a long day.

Princess Celestia watched the Wonderbolt’s drills through the telescope in her tower. She was so engrossed in her activities that she failed to notice her indigo sister come up behind her.

“I promise you Celly, he isn’t going to disappear. Again.”

Celestia jumped and looked back at her sister, a guilty look in her eyes.

“You say that now, but that’s exactly what he did 3,000 years ago. Call me paranoid, but after not seeing my son for that long, I want to make sure he is going to stick around.”

She turned back to her telescope, intently focusing on the golden maned Alicorn as he darted around his trainees.

“My little colt…my son…Luna, you can’t possibly know what I went through, when I lost him. I thought he had died by his own father’s claws. I was…unstable, to say the least. I know that my emotional state did not help my relationship with you. And then I lost you…I almost lost my will to live. And now you have been here for two years, and Taranis has returned from the grave only a week ago. Forgive me if this seems too good to be true.”

Luna opened her mouth to retort, and closed it again. She had no comeback to that. She wasn’t aware of how much Taranis’ supposed death and her exile had weighed upon her sister. She settled for approaching her sister and nuzzling her neck.

“I’m sorry, Celly. I should have thought before I quipped. But I promise you, he is in fact here to stay. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Thanks, Lulu. I know I shouldn’t snoop on him, but I can’t help it. I’m having to make up for 3,000 years of not having a maternal instinct to follow.” Celestia returned her sister’s nuzzle and stepped away from the telescope. “Come. We should make sure everything is ready for tonight.”

With that, the white Alicorn turned gracefully and made her way to the exit.

Luna cleared her throat. Celestia stopped and turned to face her sister again.

“Yes, about that. That is actually why I wanted to speak to you in the first place. Don’t you think that just announcing the return of your long-lost son to the world is a good idea when nopony alive has ever heard of him? And when they find out who his father is…don’t you worry about how everypony will perceive you?”

Celestia considered Luna’s questions for a moment before responding, brows furrowed.

“I was wrong to erase his existence from the histories. Like I said, I was emotionally unstable after the battle. I suppose I thought that if he had technically never existed, the pain of losing him would be easier to bear. I can only hope that our subjects forgive me for lying to them. Taranis’ deeds should be given the recognition they deserve. This is my way of apologizing to him, and to everypony else.”

She strode quickly out of the room, and Luna followed. They had to prepare.

The party was in one hour. Taranis strode out in the night air, allowing the light breeze to ruffle his mane slightly. The end of Wonderbolt training couldn’t come soon enough. He was fairly certain that if he made one more correction, he would ignite one of the recruits with a lightning bolt, and he really did not want to have to commit murder.

Mercifully, their session ended. While he was not terribly pleased with the quality of his recruits, he felt that he had given them enough of a starting point to push them to bigger and better things.

Taranis had spent a large amount of time after Wonderbolts practice getting fitted into the suit Rarity had designed for him. He hated suits. Too stuffy. There was no room to move. He would have just preferred to wear his armor, or even nothing at all. But his mother had insisted, and Rarity had been so thoughtful as to make it, he felt he had no choice but to wear it. Rarity had outdone herself. The suit was the same colors as the Wonderbolt uniform, with lapels in the shape of lightning bolts.

Now, he settled for taking a walk around the palace grounds. He found himself in the statue courtyard, where ancient figures in Equestrian history were enshrined, or in one figure’s case, imprisoned. Celestia had told him that a spot would be reserved for him for a statue to be made in his honor. He didn’t feel like he needed to be honored. His hoofsteps echoed across the empty lawn, filling the cool night air, until they stopped directly in front of the statue of a very familiar Draconequus.

“Hello, Father.”

The statue didn’t respond. Not that he expected it to.

“Well, I don’t know if you intended to send me into the future, or if you were just messing with all of us. I don’t know. I’m not sure I ever will.”

Red eyes met cold stone eyes.

“What changed you?”

“I can’t say that anypony really knows, but now isn’t the time to focus on that.”

Taranis jumped at the feminine voice. He turned around to see Twilight standing behind him. She wore an ensemble thrown together by Rarity. He had to admit that she looked very pretty in it. He smiled at her.

“Maybe you’re right. I should be focusing on facing down the snot nosed politicians and nobles. Honestly, I’d rather fight an army. At least they will have the decency to not stab you in the back when they fight you.”

Twilight giggled. “They aren’t all that bad. My parents are members of the Princesses’ Canterlot Council. And I was hoping my brother Shining Armor would be here, but he won’t be back from his honeymoon until a few days from now.”

Taranis nodded. “Ah, yes. He is the one who married my cousin Cadance. She is my cousin, right? Or would she be my neice? Being about 3,000 years removed from a distant family member is a nightmare for figuring out your relations.”

Twilight shrugged. “Just go with cousin. She is the Princesses’ niece, after all.” She scrunched up her nose. “That also makes you related to Prince Blueblood. I feel sorry for you.”

Taranis’ face soured. “Oh, that complete idiot. I had the distinct misfortune of meeting the sleazy little ‘princeling’ yesterday. He thinks that Mother put the sun up in the sky just for him, better for everypony to see him with. I just cannot believe that that passes for royalty nowadays. At least in my day we had standards, and didn’t go gallivanting around like children.” He was hit by a sudden realization. “I’m talking like an old geezer.”

His companion smiled. “Well, technically, you are. You were around for a few thousand years. But, how old are you, exactly?”

“I am 342 years old. In normal pony years, that would equate to about 24 years.”

The lavender Unicorn nodded. She turned and nodded at the statue of Discord. “What was he like? Before the change, I mean.”

Taranis smiled, reminiscing.

“Believe it or not, he was a wonderful father. He taught me to fly. Played catch with me at Everfree Castle. Basically taught me everything I know, except my combat training. That was handled by Oak Shield, my combat instructor. Father even helped me find my cutie mark. One time, we had a picnic when I was young. All four of us were there, my mother, Father and Aunt Luna. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. However, it didn’t last. Some Pegasi were handling some rogue clouds near our picnic area, and one storm cloud escaped. We got rained on.” Taranis stopped and chuckled, lost in the memory.

“I was so mad, I started to cry and fly away. Father stopped me and told me to ‘teach that cloud who was boss.’ So I flew up to it, concentrated, and kicked it as hard as I could, and I yelled at it to go away. It responded to my command. You should have seen me, grinning like a hooligan, pleased at my success. I flew back down, and Father gestured to my side, and lo and behold, there it was. I had a special talent for controlling weather. In time, I developed new weather talents and taught them to Pegasi. You know the Guided Tornados used during Winter Wrap Up to clear clouds from the sky in no time at all? That was my idea. Although Father helped me work on the formations and things.” Taranis finished his story. “Forgive me, I don’t mean to ramble on about my memories.”

“Oh, I don’t mind. It’s a fascinating story. I just never knew that other side of Discord existed. And I actually was wondering about your cutie mark. White clouds aren’t storm clouds. Darker clouds are better for that. It doesn’t make any logical sense that lightning bolts would be coming from a white cloud.”

“I wondered about that too, for a while. I think I have it figured out, though. You know how in a hurricane, there is a calm center, where the Pegasi controlling it can take a reprieve from the constant flying?”

Twilight nodded.

“There has to be a calm center in the storm, in order to control it. I found that as I got a grasp of my storm abilities, it was harder to control my weather phenomena when I was stressed out, or whatnot. When I concentrated and calmed my mind, I was able to control it better. I had to be the calm in the center of the storm. That is what the white cloud symbolizes. It is serene, while the lightning bolts flash around it.”

Twilight nodded again, this time in understanding. “I guess that makes sense." She paused. "Also, I think I might have a theory for why Discord sent you here, instead of killing you.”

Taranis raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

“This is crazy, but from what you told me about him, it might make sense. I think that some part of him deep down still loved you. Even though he had been corrupted by Celestia knows what, I think that he didn’t want to kill you. Maybe that is why he did what he did.”

Taranis looked at the statue for a few seconds, expression indecipherable. He  then looked back at Twilight. She was surprised to see that his eyes were wet. He smiled warmly at her.

“You are a good pony, Twilight Sparkle. I would like to think that he still loved me, that he still saw me as his son. Thank you.”

Twilight tried her best to control her blushing. She was thankful that Pinkie or- Celestia forbid- Rarity was not around to see her. She would never live it down, especially knowing how much Rarity enjoyed gossip.

The clock in the courtyard chimed its cue for midnight. The party would soon begin. Taranis sighed and wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t be proper to be late for my own celebration.” He stepped away from the statue and walked back toward the castle. He turned back and motioned to Twilight. “Come. Walk with me.”

Twilight trotted toward him and fell in step beside him as they walked back. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that something would go wrong.

Stop being paranoid Twilight. You checked your checklist and the checklist for that checklist, and everything checked out. There is nothing to worry about. At least, I hope not.

End of Chapter 3