Sky Song has always loved music - even as a filly, she would experiment with wind and clouds to create tunes. She discovered her passion for performing when she was in a school talent show (which earned her her cutie mark). Her other hobbies include writing and working with computers. Whatever she does, she gives it her all. She is very confident, almost overconfident at times.

Her best friend, who she went to school with since first grade, is a unicorn named Azure Glory with a great taste in jewelry and a borderline-obsession with the supernatural. Sky and Glory had all kinds of adventures together. One day, when they were in high school, Glory was in the hallway showing Sky an enchanted object she had acquired, as she would often do between classes when she found the enchantment particularly interesting. This one was an amulet in the shape of a thunderbolt.

“This,” said Glory, “is the Thundering Talisman. I got it at a shop that specializes in strange objects. Legends say it belonged to the princess of a faraway land. It is also said to allow the wearer to easily cause storms that would normally require several pegasi.” “Cool!“exclaimed Sky. “Have you tried using it yet?” “Well, no, I haven’t…” replied Glory. Sky was puzzled. “Why not?” “I can’t even put it on. Watch…” Glory levitated the necklace around her neck and fastened the clasp, but as soon as she let go, it came undone and fell to the floor. “It has a magical restriction on who can wear it. I originally thought the reason was that it could only be used by a pegasus because of its powers, but the shopkeeper said that many ponies had bought this necklace, only to return it after finding that they couldn’t wear it - including some pegasi. There must be some other reason. Perhaps it is looking for a specific pony. I have a feeling that it might be you. And even if it isn’t,” said Glory, picking up the amulet and holding it out to Sky, “you can still hang it on your wall as a decoration.” “Wait, you’re giving it to me?” asked Sky, surprised. “Of course,” answered Glory. “That’s why I brought it. I figured you would get more use out of it than me.” She handed her friend the necklace. “Thanks,” said Sky. She proceeded to fasten the clasp around her neck, expecting it to fall off like it had for Glory. But rather than fall to the ground, the talisman glowed and shot lightning in every direction, causing all the lights in the school to go out. Fortunately, nopony else was in the hallway to see what had caused the power outage. “Let’s just pretend that didn’t happen,” whispered Sky. “Agreed,” Glory replied.

When Sky Song got home from school that day, she immediately went outside, to a spot where she wouldn’t be disturbed. “So this thing makes storms, huh?” she said to herself. “Well, let’s try it out, then.” Looking up at the sky, she saw a single, small cloud. She watched that cloud. She stared at that cloud. She concentrated on that cloud with all her might, hoping it would do something. But the cloud just kept floating leisurely along its path, unaffected. “Maybe there’s some kind of magic word or something… Abracadabra!… Hocus pocus!… Peanut-butter sandwiches!…” Sky shouted out every magic word she could think of, flailing her hooves in the air. Nothing. “Maybe I need to actually hold it.” She grabbed the lightning-bolt charm in her mouth and pointed it up at the sky. Once again, she concentrated. This time, she felt something. Power surged through her. She saw lightning. She heard thunder. She felt - a drop of rain hit her on the nose. Her concentration broken, she looked around. It seemed perfectly sunny. How was it raining? She looked up and realized she had summoned a small storm cloud - right over her head. “This is gonna take some practice,” muttered Sky.

And practice she did. After a few weeks, she had figured out how to create and move storm clouds and change the speed and direction of the wind. A few months later, she could direct lightning strikes and summon snow and hail as well as rain. (Her first attempt at a tornado didn’t go quite as well, though.) One day, after her daily practice, she got an e-mail from Azure Glory. She had heard news of a superhero - an unknown unicorn who protected the ponies of Maretropolis from a threat using advanced elemental magic. Inspired by this story, Sky Song became a superhero herself: Zapp. (She would later go on to save Glory’s life, although she wouldn’t recognize Sky at the time.)