Silverstream vs. the Storm King
General Seaspray swam into Queen Novo's throne room.
"Queen Novo! He's found us!"
The sea ponies began to panic, for they knew who Seaspray could only be referring to.
Queen Novo looked up at the spot where the pearl was hidden. She could use the pearl to transform the sea ponies into creatures strong enough to defeat the enemy fast approaching. But what if it fell into his greedy claws instead? She couldn't risk it. They'd have to try to defeat him without the pearl.
A submarine made its way into Seaquestria. It had a glowing symbol of two lightning bolts on it. The sea ponies faced their mortal enemy with their spears, but the submarine extended two mechanical arms...
Silverstream woke up. She rubbed her head where the Storm King's submarine had hit her. She swam around searching for her parents. She found them laying unconscious in the hospital.
"Are they gonna be all right?" said Silverstream worriedly.
"We are very fortunate," said the sea pony doctor. "Nopony was killed. Some of them were hit pretty hard, but they'll recover. But..."
"But what?"
"The Storm King took Queen Novo and Princess Skystar. I have no doubt he plans to force them to reveal the secret of the pearl."
"General Seaspray can get them back, right?"
"He was hurt the worst. By the time he recovers, it'll be too late. We're done for."
Silverstream swam out of the hospital. She couldn't have been out for long. The Storm King might not have reached his tower in the Storm Lands yet.
And, it seemed she was the only one left who could save Seaquestria. Maybe even the world.
She swam to the surface of the lake on Mount Aris and, using a fragment of the pearl, transformed into her Hippogriff form. She had not spent much time as a Hippogriff but was interested to see this world beyond Seaquestria. She was looking forward to this.
But of course her first priority was to defeat the Storm King and get her aunt and cousin back.
She flew up and looked into the distance. She could see the Storm King's airship moving toward the Storm Lands. She flew after it as fast as she could.
The airship landed at the dock at the top of the Storm King's tower, and the Storm King dragged Queen Novo and Princess Skystar into his throne room at the top.
"Weren't you just sea ponies before?" he said, noting that they were in Hippogriff form.
"We turn into Hippogriffs when we leave the water," said Novo, not wanting to reveal that she and Skystar had pearl fragments on them right now, and had been able to transform despite the cages the Storm Creatures had locked them in.
"Ooh, fascinating," he said. "Now, this is the part where you tell me exactly where your magic pearl is and how to get it!"
"Go to Tartarus."
"I could beat the answer out of you instead! I'll grab you by the tail and slam you down on the ground repeatedly like the puny Hippogriff you are!"
"I am not telling you how to get the pearl."
"Then you won't mind if I turn the princess to stone."
"You wouldn't!"
"Wouldn't I? I'm the villain! It's kinda what I do!"
"Shelly, Sheldon, get him!" said Princess Skystar, and she threw her seashells, Shelly and Sheldon, at the Storm King.
The Storm King raised his staff, shooting lightning at the seashells and knocking them to the ground. Then he shot lightning near Skystar, who jumped back in her cage.
"Stop!" said Novo.
"I'll stop when you tell me where the pearl is!" said the Storm King. "By the way, how do you like my lightning? I can make storms now! I found a red unicorn horn laying around in Equestria, and absorbed the magic that remained inside it." He picked up a banana and started eating it. "I'm sure his horn had more power when it was attached, but it still had lots of dark magic left!"
While the Storm King was boasting about his power, Silverstream flew directly toward the Storm King's tower, but as she got close, lightning struck too near her and nearly burned her wing.
It seemed the lightning prevented anything but the Storm King's airships from flying into the tower, so anyone else who wanted to climb the tower would have to do so on foot, and be tired out. As if it wasn't tiring enough flying over here. But she had to stop the Storm King from carrying out his nefarious schemes.
Silverstream touched down on the ground and found the door of the Storm King's castle. It was being guarded by two Storm Creatures. Silverstream flew at one, grabbed him before he could attack, and threw him into the other, then entered the tower.
She couldn't believe her eyes. Before her stood a spiral staircase. There was no opening to fly up through the center, but it was a chain link style wall between them so she could see how high it was.
"STAIRS!" said Silverstream. "I love stairs! I could run up stairs all day!"
"Just try," said one of the Storm Creatures. "This staircase is too long for anyone to run up without getting tired."
"How many steps are there?" said Silverstream excitedly.
"Eight thousand eight hundred eighty eight."
"WOW! I never thought I'd ever see so many stairs!"
The Storm Creature scratched his head as Silverstream ran up the spiral staircase at an alarmingly fast pace.
"Go ahead and turn us to stone," said Novo. "Sooner or later one of my subjects will find you and destroy you!"
"Oh, I'm sure I'll crush anyone who tries to save you," said the Storm King, throwing away the peel of the banana he finished eating. He threw an Obsidian Orb at Skystar.
"No!" said Novo.
The orb exploded on contact with Skystar, turning her to stone.
"Now, if you don't tell me where the pearl is, I'll smash her into a million pieces!"
"You wouldn't!"
"Oh, I would! It'll be fun! I once threw a Storm Creature off my airship for snoring too loud." He laughed evilly.
"All right, I'll tell you how to get the pearl!"
The Storm King leaned in with his ear facing the queen.
Silverstream wasn't sure how long she had been running, but as tired as she might have been from flying to the Storm Lands, the mere sight of stairs seemed to energize her, and she didn't seem to grow tired running up these stairs. If anything she was running faster the higher she got. She felt like she could take on a hundred Storm Kings!
"Great!" said the Storm King. "Thanks for that information. I'll be all-powerful for sure!"
"Now let Skystar go," said Novo.
"I never said I would! And even if I did, I probably wouldn't mean it!" The Storm King threw an Obsidian Orb at Novo, turning her to stone. He leaned in toward her. "You can still see and hear me, right? These orbs work differently from cockatrice, right? If you can, I want you to know, I'll keep you as a trophy, but I'll smash your daughter anyway! She's just too cute, and I never did like cute!"
He was sure he could hear the faint sound of Novo screaming. Maybe it was just his imagination.
Suddenly Silverstream emerged from the staircase. "That was the most fun I've had in... GASP!" She saw Novo and Skystar as statues. "Turn them back now!"
"Or what?"
"Or I'll make you turn them back!"
The Storm King raised his staff and shot lightning at Silverstream. Silverstream dodged and tried to grab the staff out of the Storm King's hands. The Storm King held on tight, so Silverstream smacked him in the face with her wing and took the staff.
She pointed the staff at the two petrified Hippogriffs, but the Storm King grabbed it back from her. He shot more lightning at her, but she dodged again, flew below him, and tripped him with her tail.
The Storm King fell on his back, but kept the staff in his hands. Silverstream flew over to the Storm King's tail and bit it as hard as she could.
Ponies' tails had no pain receptors, dragons' tails had scales, and ponies' teeth weren't very sharp. But a hippogriff biting a Storm Creature's tail that hard caused a great deal of pain. With a yelp, the Storm King threw the staff into the air. Silverstream caught it, and once again turned to Novo and Skystar.
Wait, she wasn't in the clear yet. She needed to make sure the Storm King couldn't stop her again.
She turned the staff toward the Storm King and tried to think of what to do to him.
The Storm King took advantage of this brief opening and pounced at Silverstream, tackling her to the ground.
She landed on her wing funny, causing a bit of pain, but she was sure it wasn't broken or anything.
"The staff belongs to me!" said the Storm King, and he bit Silverstream's tail. "How do you like it?"
"My tail's like a pony's tail! No pain receptors!"
The Storm King opened his mouth in shock, accidentally releasing Silverstream's tail. Silverstream kicked the Storm King in the chest, and he dropped the staff again. Silverstream ran for the staff, but the Storm King grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back.
The Storm King grabbed the staff, and Silverstream flew around him in circles. The Storm King shot lightning at her, and a few of the blasts of lightning grazed her wings, knocking a few feathers out.
But Silverstream whipped the Storm King in the face with her tail. He dropped the Staff - which went flying out the window.
"No!" said Silverstream, flying over and watching the staff plummet to the ground below, no doubt shattering into pieces.
Furious at the loss of his staff, the Storm King ran to the opposite side of the room and grabbed an Obsidian Orb. He then advanced on Silverstream so she'd be as close to him as possible when he threw it. He was going to smash this meddlesome fool to pieces!
His eyes fixated on Silverstream, he didn't notice the banana peel he had thrown away earlier. As the Storm King was about to throw the orb, he slipped on the banana peel and fell on his back.
The orb went flying into the air, then came back down.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" cried the Storm King.
The orb hit the Storm King directly, turning him to stone.
Silverstream turned around to see the Storm King as a statue. So, he wouldn't be a threat anymore. But without the staff, she'd need to get help from somewhere else in restoring Novo and Skystar.
First things first. She needed the Storm Creatures gone. She found the Storm King's microphone and spoke into it.
"Testing, testing. Is this thing on? Can you hear me? I hope so. Attention all Storm Creatures! The Storm King has been defeated! If I were you I'd get the hay out of here!"
Before long, Silverstream could see airships flying away from the tower. She breathed a sigh of relief. That was over.
She tried to use her pearl fragment to turn Novo and Skystar back, but it didn't work. It only seemed to work for transformations into other creatures.
But, Novo had often spoken of another land. A land of magical creatures who might be able to help.
"Your Highness," said a guard pony. "A Hippogriff wishes to speak with you."
Celestia hadn't seen a Hippogriff in a long time. "Let them in."
The guards opened the door and Silverstream flew in really fast.
"Princess Celestia!" she said, bowing before her quickly. "Hi. I'm Silverstream. Queen Novo's my aunt. She and Princess Skystar got kidnapped by this evil beast called the Storm King, but he got turned to stone. Thing is, he also turned them to stone, and I was wondering if you knew a way to turn them back."
"I know a princess who would be more than willing to help," said Celestia.
Silverstream and Princess Twilight Sparkle approached the Storm Lands.
"Will we have to run up all those stairs?" said Twilight once Silverstream finished telling her the whole story, for she hadn't forgotten the battle with King Sombra.
"I'd love to, but just in case you weren't up to it, I turned off the storm before I left for Equestria."
Sure enough, the skies around the Storm King's tower were clear. Silverstream and Twilight flew in through the top window of the tower, and Twilight cast a spell to release Novo and Skystar, as she had once done for Discord, and opened their cages.
"So, there's another pony princess now?" said Novo.
"Hi," said Twilight. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship."
"Thank you for saving us," said Novo. "And you did pretty good, Silverstream."
Silverstream blushed out of flattery.
A third winged figure landed on the tower carrying a harness. She was a gray crosseyed pegasus with a yellow mane and tail.
"Ooh!" said Silverstream. "Another pony! What's she here for?"
"She's here to retrieve the new addition to Celestia's statue garden," said Twilight.
Derpy tied the Storm King to her harness and flew out the window. But she hadn't tied the harness exactly right, and the Storm King fell and shattered to pieces.
"Good riddance," said Novo.
"Oh dear," said Twilight. "Well, we'll just have to send him to the rock farm!"
