Equestria Wars Episode XII: Return of the Scourge

Charming Thunder sat in his quarters while his troops made preparations for the march to take on Arthas. A hologram of Captain Lunar appeared and reported, "Your highness, I am pleased to report that the army is ready for the march."

"Very good, captain," Charming Thunder replied. "Have the troops ready and prep Scorponok for the march as well."

"Right away." The hologram faded as Charming Thunder turned away and walked up to his desk with the holo disk that Danny gave him. He looked at it a little bit and wondered why Danny gave it him. He decided to put the disk in and pressed a button to play it and revealed a recording of Twilight Sparkle.

"When I married Charming, I felt so ready for anything but there were times when I felt like I was holding him back," Twilight said as Charming Thunder listened. "I felt like I was always the damsel in need for his help and there was nothing I could do to help him. To be perfectly honest...I felt weak and pathetic to help Charming." Charming Thunder was shocked at what he just heard and drooped his head. "But..." Charming Thunder looked back up to see Twilight smiling. "When I became a Vampony Lord by complete accident, I began to think that it was destiny was granting my long waited wish to actually grow strong and powerful. So strong and powerful that I could protect and help Charming in his battles." The recording ended as Charming Thunder wiped a tear off of his face as he smiled. He then took the disc out and got up to leave his quarters to join up with the rest of his troops and march to Arthas.

AT-ST walkers followed behind the marching army of snowtroopers with Charming Thunder, Skorponok, and Captain Lunar up front. They approached Northrend as a squad of troops sweep the area for any Scourge forces. An archer popped out of the rooftop of a building and fired at the squad. The rest of the troops aimed their blasters at the archers and shot it down and a group of Scourge soldiers suddenly appeared and charged towards the troops. They fired their blasters at the approaching soldiers while the AT-STs and Skorponok gave them some support. Skorponok fired his missiles at the other archers that were up top on the building then swiped his tail at the approaching Scourge troops. A Crypt Fiend approached Charming Thunder while his blade was ignited. When he was going for the strike at the spider, a random arrow shot out of nowhere and hits the fiend. Mysterious fighters came out of nowhere and chopped the Scourge forces down to size as the rest of the undead forces began to retreat, but was stopped by Skorponok who bursts out of the ground. The snowtroopers continued to sweep the area for remaining forces. The leader of the mysterious attackers walked up towards Charming Thunder as he said, "Looked like you needed help."

"And I am thankful for that," Charming Thunder replied. "Who are you guys?"

"I am the leader of the Ravagers. Some of my men are members of the Order of the Celestial Lights. We managed to separate from the Lich King's will."

"I thank you for the help."

"It was my pleasure. Be careful when you fight against the Scourge." The leader then walked away while Captain Lunar approached Charming Thunder.

"Orders, sir?" Lunar asked.

"Contact Princess Cadence and inform her that we encountered resistance an we are continuing to march to the Icecrown Citadel."

"Right away." Lunar walked away to get to communication range to do what Charming Thunder ordered.

A few hours later, Skorponok patrolled the area then stopped as he received a message from Danny. When the message ended, he burrowed underground as Charming Thunder watched.

"Where is he going in a hurry?"

Charming Thunder and his army continued to press through the town to approach the Icecrown Citadel. They were stopped when they see an undead army led by Kel’thuzad blocked their path. "My master Arthas, the Lich King bids thee welcome, Charming Thunder," he said as Charming Thunder approached.

"We seek to see your master," Charming Thunder demanded. "You and your forces must surrender at once or you will face the consequences." Kel'thuzad laughed at the demand. Soundwave who was in his vehicle form approached the legion. When they heard his engines, they looked and see him approaching. When he was halfway there, he transformed and landed next to Charming Thunder.

"A machine? What makes this one change this battle."

"Decepticons Superior, Scourge Inferior," Soundwave ordered. Charming Thunder thought that he never talks until now. Everyone began to hear gunfire and red laser blasts being shot down at the Scourge. They all looked and see the Nemesis coming out of the clouds. But when he began to make a pass, four figures jumped off the takeoff deck. It was none other than Danny, Rainbow, Trixie, and Sonata on their Extreme Gear. As they flew down, they did some stunts along the way down without falling off and as they arrived, their Extreme Gear began to go up and began to fly above the ground. They dashed towards Charming Thunder smirking at the success of this new toy. They got off their boards and Danny looked at Charming Thunder, who was in awe and shocked.

"H-How are you-" Charming Thunder asked.

"We killed Havoc the same day you left the Crystal Empire to travel here in Northrend," Danny explained. "Twilight and the Vamponies took a shortcut to Icecrown Citadel, the same way Arthas took to meet against the Alliance led by Celestia 800 years ago. Scorponok just needed to make the tunnel due to the fact it collapsed."

"That explains where he went off to then." Danny turned to Kel’thuzad and his undead legion. The Nemesis began to fly above them with its guns aiming at the Scourge."

"Kel’thuzad; Advisor to Lich King Arthas and leader of the Necromancer faction of the Scourge, if you surrender and take us to Arthas without any trouble, we won’t have to worry about your demise."

"Ah, Danny Eclipse; Son of Princess Luna and King Sombra, Guardian of the Dark Side, Former Leader of the Phantom Consortium, Current leader of Team Insanity, Leader of the Vampony Empire, Slayer of Havoc, Aspect of Insanity and Knowledge, Champion of Unicron the Destroyer, and King of the Ghost Realm," Kel’thuzad replied. "You are well known here; Danny Eclipse. A true son to the Dark Lord; that is for certain."

"What are you talking about? Mephiles is the Dark Lord."

"True; but he had TWO apprentices. Mephiles was Kil'jaeden’s master; thus it was originally Mephiles who created the Lich King. It was a shame that Mephiles killed Kil’jaeden after the failure of the Burning Legion."

"I heard about that."

"Tell me then; what about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I’m a Lich, one of many masters of dark magic. And I can sense tons of dark magic in your body. If anything, you are the pure essences of evil."

"What are you implying?" Before Kel’thuzad could reply, Scorponok arrived from underground and they see the Combaticons approaching. o follow them was the Vampony Empire.

"I have overstayed my welcome here. Minions, kill them." The Scourge army charged at the army. Kel’thuzad casted a teleportation spell and teleported himself away from the battlefield.

"Combaticons; transform and combine into Bruticus!" Onslaught and his combaticons complied and formed into Bruticus.

"Bruticus online!" Bruticus shouted.

"Bruticus, clear these undead out!"

"Roger that!" Bruticus moved the helicopter part and began to use the part as a shield and he began to walk forward. The mindless undead charged right into it, only to get destroyed into a million pieces. When the wave finally ended, Bruticus lowered the helicopter part and looked at Danny. He looked towards Charming Thunder, who was thinking about what Kel’thuzad was hinting about.

"Charming?" Charming Thunder looked at Danny and smiled.

"We were attacking the Wraithgate when Kel’thuzad confronted us," Charming Thunder explained.

"Alright, we need to head to the Wraithgate and continue the attack." Charming Thunder nodded and they began to head towards Wraithgate.

When Charming Thunder and the others arrive at the Wraithgate, Danny ordered Bruticus to break open the gate and he did it without much trouble. When he finished, Bruticus transformed back into the Combaticons. Charming Thunder, Danny, Twilight, Rainbow, Sonata, Trixie, Sunset, and Applejack went inside. Soundwave and the Combaticons stayed outside to hold off the undead army that was approaching and they had Trypticon so they had the advantage. They then arrived inside and began to arrive on the top level, where the frozen throne was located. When the group arrived, they see ee the Lich King on his throne. Kel’thuzad was to his right, Anub'rekhan. In front of the throne, at the bottom steps, were three Death Knights and one Dreadlord. Danny gasped at the sight of the Dreadlord. "Well, well, well," Fearoth greeted. "If it isn’t the heroes of Equestria. Come to save your cousin, Danny and Charming?"

"Yes," Charming Thunder replied.

"Too bad, you will need to get through us first!" Charming Thunder and the others charged at the Death Knights and Fearoth. The Death Knights pulled out their runeblades and clashed blades with Twilight, Trixie, and Sonata. They were at a stalemate. While they were at it, Charming Thunder, Danny, Sunset, and Applejack went past them. Fearoth tried to attack them, but Danny fired a ghost ray at him, causing him to go back.

"Arthas, Son of Celestia,” Charming Thunder began. Undead Ghouls began to approach them from behind. Sunset and Applejack turned to them and began to fight them to hold them off. "Too long have you sat on that throne." Fearoth tried to get up and run but he was stopped by Danny's clone that he sent to hold him down. "Ner'zhul." Arthas looked towards Charming Thunder, recognizing the name easily. "I release you, great spirit." Charming Thunder went to extend his horn to Arthas’ head, but he only chuckled. Charming Thunder pulled back when he heard it, seeing that Arthas was holding Frostmourne in his hoof.

"You have no power here, Charming Thunder." Arthur said. Charming Thunder's magic began to grow, consuming his entire being. This caused Arthas to be pushed back, deep into his throne. He lost his grip on Frostmourne.

"I will draw you out Ner’zhul like poison from a wound." Charming Thunder began to approach slowly again, his horn flaring with magic. This action made Arthas pushed back again.

"If I go, Arthas dies." Charming Thunder pushed again, making the Lich King pushed back into his throne.

"You will not kill me, you will not kill him." The Lich King pushes slightly to lift his head.

"The Scourge is mine." Charming Thunder pushes Arthas again with his magic.

"Begone!" Arthas tried to lunge at Charming, but he hit his horn and began to glow. Suddenly, Ner'zhul’s spirit was launched out of Arthas. Acting quickly, Danny pulled out a thermos and made Ner’zhul’s spirit go inside the thermos and put the cap on it. They all look to see Arthas' coat began to change from bone white back to golden color. They looked as Frotstmourne no longer whispering dark whispers. A flashing sound was heard and they turned to Celestia and Luna. The fight against the three death knights ended when Ner’zhul’s spirit left Arthas. Celestia came to Arthas’ side as he began to regain color and returned to his young self. When it finished, Arthas looked at Celestia and hugged her. They both were crying tears.

"Mother? Is it really you? After so many years of being in darkness, your presence is like a light in the night sky." Before anything could be said, everyone heard a grunt and looked to see Fearoth getting up from beating Danny's clone off guard. They began to approach him and Fearoth began to chuckle.

"Well, looks like you win yet again," Fearoth said.

"Who are you really?" Danny asked.

"Why I am the one who have started this. My henchman was the one who freed the Lich King and Havoc."

"Why though!?" Charming Thunder demanded.

"Tell me this, Danny. Did you ever wonder why you were so powerful in the dark side?" The question caught everyone off guard.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"I mean; how would it possible if Luna was pregnant and gave birth to you and Sombra happens to be your father while Charming is born the exact same time, day, year as you were. Didn’t you ever wonder about that?" Danny began to think about it and realized that he was right.

"I’ve thought about it but I thought it was just Celestia and Luna covering their tracks." Fearoth chuckled before bursting into laughter. He then looked at Luna, smirking.

"You mean to tell me that he doesn’t know?"

"What don’t I know!?" Fearoth turned to Danny and Charming Thunder.

"Luna and Sombra aren’t your real parents. They mixed their DNA within you by using a Genetic Spell to hide the TRUE identity of your mother and father, because they feared you would turn on them." That got Charming Thunder and Danny to look at Fearoth with disbelief.

"You're lying."

"Am I? Why not tell that to her." Fearoth pointed to his left, which was their right and they see a black black smoke cloud forming. Suddenly, a female hedgehog came out of the smoke. She had black fur and had teal streaks. Her eyes were neon green with slit pupils. She wore a crown on her head, which was black and had green jewels on it.

"D-Danny?" the female hedgehog asked with uncertainty. Her voice rang in Danny's head like he has heard her voice before. Things then became clear to him now. It was Mana, her true mother. He began to cry before he rushed over to Mana and give her a hug. She was also crying as she hugged him with joy and happiness. There were some ‘aws’ from all around. Fearoth took his chance and disappeared into the shadows. Charming Thunder looked at Danny and the hedgehog as Celestia and Luna looked at each other before nodded, knowing they will accept what fate had just happened.

"Come now, let’s go home," Luna said. "We can talk when we get back." Mana looked at Luna and Celestia with fear. But they welcomed her with open hooves and they began to walk away, heading back to the Crystal Empire.