I was in my room after a long day of dealing with the Warrior-Nobles, sharpening my Moonlight Greatsword and maintaining my weapons. The ever present storm that raged outside battered my windows with rain, creating a cacophony of small pitter patters that echoed throughout not just my room, but the entire castle. I ignored it for the most part, as I'd quickly grown used to it being present at all times. It was more white noise for me than anything nowadays.

I stared into the reflective blue metal surface of my greatsword, idly wondering how anyone made moonlight into metal. Magic, I guess. I grunted at the idea. Still haven't gotten entirely used to the idea of using magic as a legitimate excuse. Guess it's my experiences trying to get me to analyze everything I can. I grunted again, swiping the whetstone across the surface of the blade and making it shimmer faintly. Maybe I'll ask Tempest more about it later. Or ask the ponies for a new trade agreement involving books. I'll have to think on that.

I glanced to the blue, crystal-ridden chime on my desk. It was particularly hard to clean it, what with the crystals, but I managed all the same. I still needed to practice using Sorcery with it. Hadn't tried since I got here. Should work on it before that Festival starts.

After cleaning and sharpening my greatsword and cleaning the chime, I moved onto my favored gun, taking it apart carefully and cleaning as much as I could of it.

My mind wandered as I did this. Suki came to mind quickly. She wasn't grounded anymore, and to my knowledge she hadn't tried anything reckless since Rom and those guys came over, but she was taking her training much more seriously now. I smiled at the thought as I kept cleaning, setting a cleaned piece down on the table once done with it.

I never thought I'd adopt a kid, much less an anthro Siamese cat. Still, I wouldn't trade it for the world. She was one of the few bits of solace I had in this world, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't love her like I would my own child. Hell, far as I was concerned she might as well have been my actual kid.

Again, funny thing to say. Not used to that either, but, again, I've managed. I knew already what Suki saw me as. I wasn't just a parent or savior in her eyes. I was a role model. It was obvious with the way she looked at me, with how she put so much time into her training and learning. If that didn't say it all, then her way of paying close attention whenever I spoke did.

That and the few times I had gone to wake her up myself. She would mumble in her sleep, usually about being as great as me. I stopped my cleaning at that for a second. Honestly still not sure how to feel about her putting me on a pedestal either. I sighed and went back to cleaning.

"You're being more quiet than usual," Ventus noted, idly reading a book that she'd taken from the library. She quickly finished it and turned to look at me. "You okay?"

I grunted, placing another clean piece down. "Just figuring things out still." I said in a noncommittal tone. Ventus sighed.

"Still getting used to the world?" she guessed. I grunted. She sighed again. "Thought so. You know L, you really-"

A knock on the door interrupted her. I looked to it and sighed, placing my gun down and walking to the door, opening it.

"What is it?" I asked the Skili. He bowed his head, before speaking in his native tongue.

"~My Queen, a miner has discovered something of great import! An ancient, holy mine we thought lost to us!~" he explained. I blinked a few times, then sighed.

"~Give me a bit to finish what I was doing, then lead me to this hallowed mine,~" I replied in Skilin. He nodded.

"~As you say, My Queen,~" he responded. I turned back to my room, closed the door, and quickly finished cleaning my gun. After that, I left my room and followed the messenger out of the castle and to the other side of the mountain said castle was at the base of.

It took a long while, but in time, we reached one of the many mines that dotted the Island, and went in. Ventus provided us with some light as we walked, the messenger guiding us along the dark and dank cavern. After a good fifteen minutes or so of walking, we reached a man-made tunnel, made obvious by the beams holding it all up. Many of those beams looked to have been hastily replaced, and I noted that there was a decent pile of debris and rocks nearby.

I deduced that this tunnel had collapsed long ago, and someone had rediscovered it. We kept walking, and in time, I saw the most curious of metals lining the rocky walls. It was a sea green, but it was as reflective as a mirror. Another Skili was just ahead of us, and waved us over.

~Ah! My Queen! Welcome! Welcome to the hallowed Mines of the First Storm Children!~" the Skili swept his large arms out at these words, and I looked around once more at the abundance of ore surrounding us. I looked back to the Skili with the miner's outfit.

"~What, might I ask, is so important about these mines?~" I queried.

"~This is where our ancestors began the production of a metal that is sacred to us, where they found it and tempered the Children of Earth and Sky,~" the miner explained. I looked around as it slowly came back to me. I vaguely remembered Tempest telling me of how the Skili believed that there was a metal that was the product of the Earth and Sky's consummation. A metal that held the power of storms. My eyes gazed over the strange ore around us. So this was Stormwill...

"~I see... Then this is a monumental find indeed,~" I noted. The miner and messenger nodded rapidly.

"~Very much so, My Queen! With your permission, we would like to begin working with it as soon as possible!~" The miner said enthusiastically. I nodded.

"~Granted. I am curious to see what we can do with this metal, so let us not waste this opportunity,~" I replied. The miner grinned widely, before bowing deeply.

"~Thank you, My Queen! You will not be disappointed!~" he said gratefully. I simply nodded, looking to the ore again with multiple ideas flowing through my mind.

This... This could give us a very big leg up against an enemy.

Ember, Dragon Lord of the Draconic Kingdom, was currently flying her way over to Ponyville. She was worried. Spike had sent her a letter detailing Twilight's behavior after a diplomatic trip. Apparently, something big had happened, and Ember intended to get to the bottom of it. She noticed Ponyville's Castle of Friendship in the distance, snorted, and flapped her wings harder, speeding towards the building of crystal.

She quickly arrived and landed at the entrance, dusting herself off. A few ponies started in surprise, but she brushed it off and walked towards the massive golden double doors. She opened them with ease, walking into the lobby of the Castle of Friendship.

"Hello?! Spike?!" she called out, walking around in search of the younger dragon. Ember walked around for a short while, her clawed feet slapping against the crystal floors as she looked for her friend.

The dragon in question, she found just inside the library, trying to talk to a frenzied Twilight.

"Maybe if I try the casual approach...? No, that could be seen as disrespectful..." Twilight was furiously writing notes down on a piece of paper.

"Twilight..." Spike said, trying to garner her attention.

"A formal approach? No, she might find that exhausting..." Twilight continued to mutter. Spike sighed deeply, claw meeting face, before he noticed Ember.

"Oh, hey Ember! Man it's good to see you," Spike greeted with a relieved smile, walking over and hugging the dragoness. Ember tensed at the action, but patted his head all the same.

"Hugs, right..." she said uneasily. Spike released her, a worried frown forming as he looked back to Twilight. "What's up with Twilight?" Ember queried.

"I don't know. She got back from a diplomatic mission a month back and just turned out like this," Spike explained. He sighed. "I don't know what to do. I've tried everything."

"Hmm... Let me try," Ember said, before walking over to Twilight. She stopped right next to her, took a deep breath, and roared as loud as she could, startling the alicorn and Spike.

"What the hay?!" Twilight cried, jumping in surprise and dropping her quill, before seeing Ember there, smirking at her. "Ember? When did you get here? Why are you here?"

"I came because Spike wrote a letter about how worried he was about you, and I decided to do the friendly thing and come over to help out," Ember explained. "I mean, that's what friends do, right?"

"Well, yes, but I'm fine!" Twilight argued.

"Twilight, you haven't slept or eaten much this entire month! You've only been eating daffodil sandwiches and drinking coffee, and I've caught you asleep at your desk dozens of times!" Spike pointed out, crossing his arms and giving her a disapproving look.

"But I have to get her to open up!" Twilight retorted.

"Get who to open up?" Ember queried, eye ridge raised.

"The Storm Queen!" Twilight replied, pouting.

"Storm Queen?" Ember echoed, before a memory came to her. She recalled her father telling tales of how he once flew over an island with a perpetual storm, braved it's weathers, and was beaten in battle by a yeti-like creature calling himself The Storm King. "Could she be his successor...?" Ember wondered to herself.

"You know her?" Spike asked.

"Huh?" Ember snapped out of it. She looked down to Spike. "Oh, um, no, but my dad once told me how he was beaten by a guy calling himself The Storm King. Is this Storm Queen his successor or something?"

"According to her, she uh... Killed him," Twilight said a bit uneasily, before regaining her composure enough to ask, "Why?"

Ember grinned a fang-filled grin. "I think I'd like to meet this Queen. If she killed the guy who beat my dad, I wanna try my hand at whooping her butt."

There was a knock on a heavy maple portal, three in quick succession, then eight, then five in a slower rhythm. The knob jiggled, then turned as a burly grey furred minotaur opened it, staring down at the smaller blue one with a single eye, the other covered by a black, silver embroidered leather eye patch.

"What is it, son?" he asked with a smooth yet resounding voice.

"I have interesting news to report, father," the blue minotaur said simply. The grey one grunted, stepping aside to let the other in.

He walked in, and the two walked towards a heavy mahogany table ringed with iron and covered in papers. Maps, reports, and much more covered it's fine finished surface. They sat down by it, seated across from one another.

"Well? Report," the grey one commanded. The blue one nodded.

"Yes, Father," he cleared his throat. "I was in Ponyville again, using the same profile as before, just checking on my contacts, when I overheard some ponies talking about the death of The Storm King, and the rise of his successor, The Storm Queen."

The grey bull's eye widened. "You're shitting me!"

The blue bull shook his head. "I confirmed it. The Isle of Storms has a new ruler, and word is that she had a strange weapon on her hip. One that we've never heard the likes of. Not only that, but she had a weapon of moonlight, but isn't affiliated with the Princess of the Night."

"...Crap. This is either really good, or really bad," the grey bull mused to himself. He shook his head and stood up. He grabbed his axe from it's place by his desk, and strapped it to his harness. He then turned to the blue bull. "Come on, we should report this to the brass."

The blue bull nodded. With that, they left the room.

"Pink Pony want Yaks to help with party?" came the confused voice of Prince Rutherford.

"Yupperoonies! See, there's this new Queen who's really really grumpy and I thought a good way to fix that was to throw her a big ol' party!" Pinkie explained, bouncing up and down in her usual exuberance. The capital of Yakyakistan was all around them, snow covering most of it, as was to be expected of a kingdom so far north. The Prince, who was sitting on his throne of intricately carved wood with gilded horns larger than his own stretching from the back, was uncertain how to answer Pinkie's request.

"And... Pink Pony want Yaks help because...?" he began. Pinkie smiled wide.

"Because we need to make her feel welcomed by all the countries, and getting you is just the first step!" Pinkie suddenly produced a chart from her mane, and flipped a page, depicting her in a detective outfit talking to a Skili. "See, I found out that the Skili have this huge festival every year, so I thought, 'what if we throw the Queen a party on top of a party?!'" She flipped another page, showing her, the Yaks, the Dragons, the Changelings, the Zebras, the Minotaurs, and the Griffons along with the Skili and a drawing of Lucette, all of them partying. She turned back to Prince Rutherford. "So, whatcha think?"

"Hmm..." Prince Rutherford hummed loudly in contemplation. Suddenly, he broke out in a wide grin and stomped his hoof. "Yaks do it! Yaks help Pink Pony with party! Yak want to meet this Queen!"

Pinkie's smile widened with a squee, and she rushed over and hugged the Yakyakistani Prince. "Yay! Thank you thank you thank you!" He chuckled and hugged her back with twice as much force.

"Yak happy to help!" he replied. Pinkie's face started to turn a shade of blue, but she managed to speak nonetheless.

"Awesome...! Can you... Stop squeezing now?" she said between gasps of air. Prince Rutherford released her, and then they began to plan.

The plans were being set.

EDIT: Added a new, better intro, complete with a new, more fitting song.

EDIT: Fixed some grammar mistakes. Added an intro, complete with a song.

There may be some questions that arise from this chapter and it's contents, but rest assured, they will be answered soon. In the next arc, if I can help it. Speaking of said arc, be prepared for three very long chapters once the final chapter for this arc and the intermission are done. Bit early to talk about it, I know, but hey, I'm excited.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

-Timeless Celestial