"Tuesday! Wednesday! Thursday! Friday! Sunrise! Sunset!" The Storm King crowed at his newfound power.
"Your excellency, you promised to restore my-"
"O, ya, ya, your horn, got it...just one more little thing I need you to do..."
"I...but the deal-"
"Are you arguing me Tempest?.." The Storm King warned dangerously, approaching her. Tempest backed off.
"...Of course not. What do you require?" The Storm King glanced at Twilight.
"...Dispose of the prior rulers of this land...and start with the..." He made a disgusted face. "...princess of friendship..." He gagged on the title. "I seriously cannot say that with a straight face..."
Twilight gasped. Tempest hesitated a moment.
"...Our deal was that-"
"I have altered the deal Tempest. Shall I alter it further?.."
"...If I do this, will you finally restore my horn?" She asked quietly.
The Storm King, with the newly powered staff, materialized an exact replica of her horn, just beyond her reach.
"...It will be yours for the taking." He assured.
"Tempest...no..." Twilight pleaded.
The hornless unicorn stared longingly at the object before her, before slowly turning around to face Twilight.
"Tempest..." She whispered. "You're better than this...I know you are."
Tempest looked down at the ground for a moment.
"...What is a unicorn without a horn?"
"A horn doesn't define you Tempest..." Tempest looked back at Twilight with a new glare.
"Easy for you to say when you've got both a horn, AND wings... If you could walk a mile in my hooves, I assure you, your stance on the subject would change dramatically..." Her horn began crackling with power.
"Tempest...Don't do this."
"A unicorn is nothing without a horn..." Her broken horn sparked and grew in intensity.
"Please..."
"Long live..." Her eyes glanced behind her. "...The King." She finished with a hiss.
Before Twilight could even question her choice of words, Tempest whirled around and shot her power at her former master.
"AAUUGGHH!!" He screamed as he had no chance to react to his servant's sudden betrayal.
Tempest unleashed every ounce of her power into him.
"Tempest!! NO!!" He screamed past the shocks.
Twilight could only stare in shock at the tremendous power from a seemingly powerless unicorn.
But, as she watched, she saw the storm King, despite the shocks, raise the staff slowly towards Tempest.
"Tempest! Look-"
A surge of power from the staff slammed Tempest into the wall as if she were a twig, bringing an end to her relentless attack.
The Storm King got back to his feet and approached Tempest, as she struggled to get away.
He grabbed her, pulling her back, and pinning her down.
He pierced her with a look of pure hate.
"You backstabbing traitor!" He roared. "You want to side with them?..Then DIE with them!!" Tempest gave a strangled cry as he stabbed her belly with the crystal pointed end of the staff, before tossing her to the side, unceremoniously.
"Worthless pony..." He scoffed.
"Tempest!!" Twilight cried when she saw what had happened. The Storm King glared at her.
"If you want a job done right..." He approached her on the balcony, and pointed the staff at her.
"Time to die, princess..."
Twilight's eyes widened. But suddenly, a pink mass collided with him from the side, knocking him down, and leaving Pinkie with the staff.
"Oooooh! Not bad for a landing! Who's your daddy Storm King?? Who's your daddy's daddy??"
"Pinkie!!" Twilight screamed. "Use the staff!!!"
"Use it? How do I-" A surge of power shot out of it suddenly.
"Whoah! That is intense!! I've always wanted magical abilities! I'm tired of being an earth pony!"
"Pinkie! Use it on the Storm King!!" Pinkie looked at the storm king, who was now back on his feet.
"Augh!" Pinkie squealed. "Storm King!" A bolt shot out and hit him, making him stumble.
"Bad Storm King! Bad! Bad! Bad!" More minor bolts hit their mark.
"Foolish pony! You don't know how to use the staff. Give it to me!!" The Storm King roared.
"Twilight!! I don't know how to use the staff!!" Pinkie shrieked as her minor bolts de-intensified into harmless specks of light.
The Storm King smirked.
..........................
Tempest, struggling for her life, slowly turned her head, looking out to the balcony. She gasped in pain, and her horn sparked. She squeezed her eyes shut, and took some deep breaths, before her eyes opened once more, a new fire in them.
She focused all of her power into her broken horn. The Storm King approached the party pony.
"This. Ends..." He growled.
"...Now." Tempest finished, and unleashed her power once more.
"AUUGGH!!" The Storm Kingstumbled back, directly off the edge of the balcony, and into the ground, far below.
Feeling completely drained, Tempest let her head rest once more on the ground.
"Tempest!" Twilight cried, running back into the castle. Pinkie eyed her carefully.
"Uhh, Twilight...you DO know that she has also been trying to kill us?.."
"Not anymore Pinkie..." Twilight approached Tempest.
"I...guess I won't be able to show Equestria what I can do after all." Tempest said quietly.
"I think you just did...You saved us Tempest...You...You saved me."
Tempest shook her head. "No..." She whispered. "You...saved me, Twilight."
With that, the pony's movements slowed, and her eyes closed for the last time.
"Tempest..." Twilight's vision clouded over with tears. Pinkie slowly approached with the staff.
"She...saved us?.." Pinkie asked quietly.
"Yes Pinkie...She did." There was a long silence, before Pinkie looked at the staff.
"...Do you think?..." She asked. Twilight shook her head.
"The only powers that staff possesses are what the princesses can do." She explained.
"Oh..." Pinkie said quietly.
They sat in silence for another five minutes, before Twilight looked at the stone figures of the other three princesses.
"I think it's time to free them." She took the staff, and the stone cracked away with the power, and the other princesses stood before them once more.
"Twilight!" Cadence cried. "I knew you could do it!" Her expression faltered when she saw that Twilight did not quite share the same enthusiasm. "...Twilight? What's wrong?.."
"Nothing... Everything is as it should be.... But I'm not the one who saved us." She looked back down at Tempest's body.
"Is that not the pony who started all this?.." Luna questioned.
"Yes...She did start it...but she was also was the one to end it...she changed, and she saved us all."
Celestia approached Twilight. "If she changed, then it was because the Princess of Friendship showed her a better way." Celestia smiled. There was a pause from Twilight, before she looked down and took off her crown.
"...I don't deserve that title." She said quietly.
"...Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"...A lot has happened since this all started... It shook me to my core, and I did not come out of it for the better..." She looked at Pinkie.
"I did not trust my friends... I didn't stick with them when times got hard, but instead, I tried to steal from the hippogriffs when they wouldn't help us, and when I got really upset, I...I as well as denounced friendship altogether!" She broke down sobbing.
"I'm sorry Pinkie! I-I'm so so sorry!!" Pinkie embraced her in a hug.
"I'm sorry too Twilight. Friends mess up at times..."
..........................................
It had been a week since everything had gone down with the Storm King. Twilight was sitting in a calm meadow landscape, as was her habit to come here daily for the last week.
She still had her wings. She still had her crown. Celestia, along with Pinkie and the others when they arrived, had convinced her not to drop being a princess, though she still wasn't convinced she deserved to continue the title.
She felt like the only pony who really deserved a crown right now was six feet under.
Tempest had given up her lifelong ambition of regaining her horn, and had chosen to save her in the end, instead.
"...Thank you." She whispered with a tear in her eye, before slowly getting up, and walking away from the grave, and the epitaph she had put there:
Tempest Shadow:
A Fighter to the End
A True Friend
