Chapters Rocky And The Storm King's Invasion
Twilight's Magical Request
"'Scuse me! Dragon on the move! Important princess documents comin' through!" Spike declared as he jumped on a plate of gelatin and landing on the ground, holding a plethora of scrolls in his claws.
As he ran through the bustling streets, he heard everypony talking amongst themselves about the annual friendship festival, all excited about the event. He then raced by a giant, pink bouncing castle while ponies were inside, jumping around, having the time of their lives.
"Whoa! Everypony from Manehattan to Saddle Arabia is here!" An earth pony said, examining the street.
"I know, filly! We almost couldn't book a stable!" Apple Cobbler pointed out as two pegasi swooped by and into the sky.
"Princess Twilight must have her hooves full with this giant Festival!" Clear Skies said.
"Are you kidding?!" Asked the other pegasus. "She's smart and organized and cool under pressure! There's nothing she can't handle!"
Little did she know, that Twilight just so happened to be inside the castle, quietly humming to herself, as if she was meditating.
"Ommmmm... Ohhhhhhh mmmmy goodness, I can't handle this!" She cried out in a nervous tone, pacing around the hallway. "Ooh! Nothing is working! I just have to get it together! Just go in there! And ask!" Twilight then gazed up at the four stained glass windows, with the four princesses of Equestria, including herself. "This is your Friendship Festival! Everypony's happiness rests in your hooves."
After a brief moment of silence, she then put a hoof to her face in frustration.
"Ohhhh!" Twilight groaned to herself.
Then, her faithful dragon assistant, Spike, swung the doors open, causing the purple Alicorn to turn over to face him.
"Okay, Twilight. Got all your charts and graphs." Spike clarified, closing the doors behind him, the sound echoing.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here, Spike!" Twilight said with relief. "I'm just so nervous about this meeting!"
"Whachoo talkin' 'bout?" Spike questioned the princess as Twilight then turned away with a sigh.
"I'm about to ask the three most royal princesses of Equestria for a huge favor! What if they reject me?" Twilight asked herself nervously.
"It'll be fine." The little drake assured her. "Just remember the most important thing."
"Smile?" Twilight turned back to face Spike, but she had a freakishly large smile spread across her face, her eye twitching slightly. Spike looked at her with a look of confusion.
"Eh... no. You're a Princess, too." He informed Twilight.
"Right." Twilight replied, understanding Spike's statement.
And so, with one last big sigh. She used her raspberry colored magical aroura to open the throne room doors, being face to face with the three royal princesses themselves, Celestia, Luna and Cadence. She still felt a little bit nervous about asking them to do her request, but she thought about what Spike had told her, she was a princess as well.
"Good morning, Princesses." Twilight greeted, Spike following her inside. "Thank you all for seeing me. I have an idea that I think will make our Friendship Festival the most wonderful celebration Equestria has ever seen!"
"Yes, Twilight! We are very excited!" Princess Celestia replied
"Ponies have been arriving from all over all morning." Cadence said as she walked over to the two royal sisters.
"I'd like to think it's to see us, but Songbird Serenade might be the bigger attraction." Luna thought.
"Yes, she is the... "mane" event!" Twilight responded, giggling at her pun. "And to make it extra special, I could use your help. Spike?" She then turned to her dragon assistant, who was now wheeling out a huge whiteboard. Twilight then walked over to it. "Songbird Serenade's performance is not scheduled to start until after you begin the sunset. And based on my precise calculation, to get the very best lighting for the stage."
The lavender princess then started to draw her plan on the whiteboard behind her, while explaining to the royal princesses about her request.
"Princess Celestia, I was hoping you could make sure the sun stays about 28.1º to the south, and, Princess Luna, if you could raise the moon 62º to the north at the same time, it would reflect the sunlight on the other side and really frame the entire stage perfectly!"
The three princesses looked as if they were completely lost as they all had looks of shock and confusion on their faces, trying to process what Twilight had just told them.
"I..." Luna began, but was quickly interrupted by Twilight.
"But wait! There's more! Cadance, if you could use your crystal magic to create an aurora above the stage, the sun and the moon will shine through it and create a truly amazing light show!"
Then, golden sparkles flew from behind the top of the whiteboard, courtesy of Spike.
"Presenting Songbird Serenade!" Spike declared while presenting a paper cut out of Songbird Serenade. He then climbed onto the top of the whiteboard and danced on it, while cheering to herself, before suddenly tripping over onto the ground.
"Ta-da..." Spike said weakly, blown from the impact as Twilight spread out her wings.
"So you're saying you want us to move the sun and the moon for the party." Luna spoke out with a confused tone.
"Well, I'd do it myself, except I don't have your magic." She then let out a tiny snort as Celestia walked up towards her.
"Twilight, each of us uses our powers to serve Equestria in our own way. You are the Princess of Friendship." She explained while their horns were all glowing. "You already have all the magic you need."
"So... that'd be a no?" Twilight asked, her ears flopping down.
"Yes!" Rainbow Dash called out as she zoomed through the sky, clearing away all of the clouds. "Sky's cleared and ready for the festival!"
She quickly flew down to Canterlot, where everypony was preparing for this friendship festival. Pinkie Pie was there as well, blowing up a colorful, red balloon. She then stretched it out while sticking out her tongue in anticipation, it turned out that she was making a balloon out of the lord of chaos and disharmony himself, Discord, feeling proud of her creation. Suddenly, the balloon squeaked quietly as it deflated, blowing back Pinkie's mane and tail from the wind. The balloon then zoomed away, sending the pink pony flying backwards. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was hosting a bird choir as they all whistled in harmony. But the beautiful melody was quickly interjected by the balloon rushing by, scarring all of the birds as they all scattered away.
"Whoa! Heads up, Fluttershy! Out of control balloooooon!!" Pinkie cried while running by, one of the birds then smacked Fluttershy right on the head as it landed on her hoof.
"Hoo. I don't think it's the balloon that's out of control, Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy said while nuzzling the bird.
"Hey, y'all!" Applejack called out while pulling a cart, carrying a barrel filled with apple cider. "Anypony up for some free samples of my family's apple cider?"
Rainbow Dash then turned around with a happy look on her face, clearly interested in Applejack's offer. She then flew over to the hard working orange mare, snatching away the mug that Applejack was holding. "Thank you!" She then downed it in one gulp and then plopped it back on Applejack's hoof, as if nothing ever happened. The orange pony looked down at the empty mug in confusion.
Rarity was working on decorating the main stage that the guest of the festival, Songbird Serenade, was going to perform her song as she hummed to herself, Applejack then trotted over to the fashionista.
"Wow, Rarity. It's a fine job you're doin' there." She then looked down the side of the stage, which have not been decorated yet. "'Course it might not get done 'til after the concert." Applejack said, obviosuly realizing that her decorating was going to take a really long time, but Rarity seemed none the wiser.
"Applejack, darling, anypony can do "fine"." She turned over to face Applejack. "Twilight asked me, so clearly, she's going for fabulous, and fabulous takes time."
"Fabulous takes forever!" Rainbow Dash groaned, rolling her magenta eyes. "But "awesome"..." Then, before anypony else could say anything else, the cyan colored pegasus then zoomed around the stage, quickly decorating it as she went along, tying up Fluttershy with the ribbons in the process. "...can get done in four seconds flat!" She said, finishing her early statement. "Faster if I do my sonic rainboom!" Rainbow was about to fly off again, but Rarity stopped her before she could.
"Aah! Nono, oh no! Don't you dare, Rainbow Dash!" She shrieked out as she looked down the messy decoration that the multicolored maned pegasus was responsible for. "It looks wretched enough already."
"Oh come on, it's fine!" Rainbow assured her.
"If you were raised in a barn!" Rarity cried, before clearing her throat, turning to Applejack. "no offense, Applejack."
"None taken." Applejack replied in a calm tone. "Especially since I wasn't raised in a barn. My family just happens to have a barn. Where I was born. And... spent most of my formative years..." While Applejack was explaining about her past, she kept on pouring herself a mug of cider, but Rainbow Dash kept swooped in and grabbing it, before she grabbed the mug again.
"Raised in a barn!" She said rather quickly as Twilight and Spike were now walking up to them, the former reading out a scroll in front of her.
"Okay, just two hundred and eighteen things left to do and we're ready." Twilight claimed.
"Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack greeted the Alicorn.
"Hello, Spike." Rarity said to the little, purple dragon.
"Uh, hi, Rarity." He giggled while blushing slightly.
"How'd it go with the other Princesses? They like your idea?" Applejack asked as Pinkie ran by in the distance.
"I bet they loved it!" She cried aloud.
"Not exactly." Twilight sighed. "They think I can make today perfect without their magic."
"And they are absolutely right, darling." Rarity assured her while fixing up the decorations on the stage. "This festival is your brilliant idea and we know you're up to the task!"
"But what if I'm not?! What if Songbird Serenade hates the stage?! Or nopony makes a new friend?!" Twilight asked frantically. "And if I fail at the festival, then who am I?!"
Pinkie then ran up to the purple Alicorn, gripping her cheeks, pulling her face closer to hers. "Twilight, look at me! This will be the biggest celebration Equestria has ever seen! As the Princess of Friendship, you cannot fail! This day will define who you are! The pressure is intense! It's almost too much for any single pony to handle! " She then screamed aloud, catching everypony's attention as they all turned around, some were shocked, otheres were confused. The pink pony then bounced back to the group. "But you have us! So stop worrying."
Rocky And The Storm King's Invasion
The mane six started singing to Twilight, assuring her that they have got this, no matter what comes their way. But while this was happening, a pegasus walked into the entrance of Canterlot, this pegasus had a brown colored coat, a dark blue mane and tail and dark green eyes. He goes by the name of Rocky Flash, he had just moved into Ponyville, but then heard about the festival, and has now arrived in Canterlot, excited about this festival. He looks around in awe as everypony was singing.
"Wow, so this is what the friendship festival is like?" Rocky asked as he walked along the street. "Pretty amazing if I do say so myself."
He then looked up and saw Pinkie Pie in a large bowl, wearing sweatbands all over her body, cycling the batter while sweating, Rocky had no idea on how they made a bowl that was that big. The pink pony then began to sang.
We've got an awful lot to bake
"I am not even going to ask." Rocky said as he walked away, before quickly bumping into a pony as they both tumbled to the ground. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry."
"No, no, it's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." The pony groaned while standing back up, helping up Rocky Flash up as well. "Say, are you new here? I don't think I've ever seen you before."
"Oh yeah, I am. The name is Rocky Flash." He introduced himself. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too, Rocky Flash. I'm Crystal Rose."
"Well, see ya." Rocky called out as they both went their separate ways. "Wow, I just arrived here and I have already made a new friend. Man, I'm off to a great start."
Meanwhile, the mane six had just finished their musical number, but behind Twilight, a very large party cannon rolled up as it aimed to the sky. Then suddenly, a pink frosted cake shot out of the cannon, Twilight then looked back in shock, and the next thing she knew, she was completely buried in the cake, before it quickly melted into a pink goo, everypony was shocked at the sight as Twilight popped out with an irritated look on her face.
"Pinkie!" She cried out before a candle landed on top of her horn, Pinkie then peaked out of the cannon.
"Oopsie! Guess my easy bake confetti cake cannon needs a little bit more fine tuning!" She exclaimed to her.
"Songbird Serenade?" A pony called out. "Is it really her? It is, it is!"
Then, Songbird Serenade appeared right in front of Twilight, accompanied by two bodyguards as they shoved the ponies in front of them aside
"Hiya. I'm lookin' for the pony in charge?" Songbird Serenade clarified, posing for a couple of pictures. "I need to set up for my sound check."
"Ms. Songbird Serenade?" Twilight then walked out of the pink substance and up to the guest star of the friendship festival. "Um, I was just going to check on you. I'm Princess Twilight, and sorry about the mess. I'm usually not so..." Twilight then accidently flicked a stain of cake onto Songbird Serenade's outfit, causing everypony to gasp.
"Caked in cake?" Songbird said jokingly as she chuckled to herself, Twilight joining in as well.
"You have visual on buttercream?" One of the bodyguards asked.
"Visual confirmed. Go for cleanup." Replied the other as he quickly wiped off the stain off her.
Then suddenly, before anyone could get another sentence out of their mouths, the sound of thunder could be heard as everypony looked up, trying to see what the noise was, and what they saw, shocked them. Less than ten feet above them, was a dark storm cloud. Everypony was confused by this, seeing as the sky was perfectly blue without a cloud in sight.
"Storm clouds?" Twilight asked in disbelief. "I ordered perfect weather! Rainbow Dash?!" She then turned over to the pegasus with a snarl.
"Uh... I... don't think those are storm clouds." Rainbow stuttered.
All everyone could do was look on in terror as this storm cloud slowly got closer and closer, their eyes widening in shock. Meanwhile, Rocky Flash had just noticed the storm cloud as he looked up to the sky. "Oh it looks like it's about to rain." He said to himself, but then, he saw some kind of airship flying through the smoke. He quickly noticed that those were not rain clouds. "I should go see what that is." Rocky then flew away to see what all the commotion was about
"Ooh! I bet those are the clowns I ordered!" Pinkie said excitedly.
Rocky Flash landed nearby, just in time to see the mysterious airship making a landing, crashing into a couple of pillars as they collapsed to the ground, crushing a balloon animal stand.
"Or definitely not the clowns I ordered." Pinkie clarified.
The door slowly began to open, lowering down to the ground, crushing a small balloon animal in the process while everypony gasps in shock.
"Brian, no!" Party Favor called out in distraught.
"Okay, who is behind this?" Rocky asked himself as he quickly found out the answer.
A white colored hedgehog named Grubber walked out of the airship while holding a metal box, breathing and grunting to himself. The three royal princesses walked out onto the balcony to see what this was about. Grubber then put down the box as it transformed into a large speaker, he then pulled out a megaphone, clearing his throat.
"Ponieth of Equethtria." Grubber announced. "we come on behalf of the fearsome, the powerful, the almighty...Thtorm King! " As he said that, a banner then appeared on the airship, with the Storm King on it as every pony cowered in fear, whispering to themselves. " And now, to deliver the evil, evil methage, put your hooveth together for Commander Tempeeeetht!"
He then gestured over to the airship entrance, where a shadowy figure stepped out, revealing a unicorn with a damaged horn.
"Is that a... unicorn?" Twilight asked.
"I think so, but what happened to her horn?" Spike questioned as the three princesses landed in front of everypony.
"Tempest" is it? How may we help you?" Celestia asked with a stern tone.
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked." Tempest replied evilly. "How about we start with your complete and total surrender?"
"Hi there. Princess of Friendship." Twilight said as she peeped out from behind the princesses. "Not exactly sure what's going on, but I know we can talk things out."
"Oh goody. All four Princesses." Tempest then stepped out of the airship. "Here's the deal, ladies. I need your magic. Give it up nicely, please, or we make it difficult for everyone!"
"And why should we cower before you?" Luna asked. "There's one of you and hundreds of us."
"Yeah!" Rocky called out while walking up. "You have a broken horn, I don't think you're magic is going to do much."
Instead of replying to his statement, Tempest growled to herself as she aimed her horn towards him and zapped a lightning bolt straight at Rocky Flash, but luckily, he dodged at the last second.
"Okay, just forget what I said." He said while shaking as Tempest sighed to herself before continuing.
"I was hoping you'd choose "difficult"." A couple of white colored beasts named Storm Creatures appeared behind her.
Before anypony could say anything else, two more airships slowly flew in as well. Twilight and Cadance gasped at the sight. Then before they knew it, a bunch of those beasts suddenly invaded the city, causing everypony to panic and run around the place like wild animals. While this was happening, Tempest then jumped up into the air as he hurled a dark green ball of energy straight towards the princesses. Celestia and Luna looked on in disbelief, but fortunately, Cadance jumped in front of them, reflecting the ball with a big forcefield, unfortunately, it failed as the forcefield suddenly disappeared, causing the ball to strike Cadance as Twilight gasped.
"Cadance!" Princess Celestia cried out as she saw that Cadance was slowly turning into a stone statue.
"I can't... stop it!" She called as she turned fully into stone, Celestia quickly turned to face Luna.
"Luna, quick! Go south beyond the Badlands!"
Tempest grunts as she hurls another green ball towards Celestia, who was still talking to Luna.
"Seek help from the Queen of the Hippo—"
Before Celestia could finish her sentence, the green ball struck her as she screamed, quickly turning her into stone. Luna gasps at the sight, before turning around and zapping another one of those Storm Creatures, flying up in the sky.
"Uh, I think I should get out of here." Rocky stuttered to himself.
Right when he was about to take off into the sky, a storm creature grabbed him by the tail, dragging him back down. Rocky responded by bucking it in the face, causing the beast to stumble backwards, now that he was in the clear, he took off into the sky. Meanwhile, Tempest Shadow threw another green glowing orb towards the princess of friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle, as she was frozen in place.
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted, quickly snatching her out of the way, but Tempest had no idea.
"Easy as pie." She chuckled as Grubber walked up to her side.
"Oh, I love pie." He said dreamily.
But when the green smoke cleared away, it revealed that she hadn't captured Twilight, but in actuality, she had accidently frozen Derpy.
"Oh, you totally got the latht Printheth!" Grubber claimed, unaware of the situation.
"That's not the Princess!" Tempest exclaimed as she turned over to face Grubber. "Grubber, get her now!"
"Guyth, we gotta get the Princess!" He cried out, running away as Tempest stepped on Twilight's crown, causing it to shatter into pieces.
"Over here, y'all!" Applejack wailed as her, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike were running as fast as they could, Rainbow Dash and Twilight quickly following behind.
"Come on!" Twilight cried out, dodging a few Storm Creatures.
The mane six and Spike were now running for their lives, they rushed over onto the bridge of Canterlot and thought that they were home free, but suddenly, they came face to face with two more Storm Creatures, Twilight shot a magical beam at the beasts, but instead of hitting it, the Storm Creature blocked it with his shield, causing the beam to strike the bridge that they were standing as send them falling into the river down below. They all gasped for air, but then the next thing they knew, they fell off of a waterfall, screaming for their lives. The Storm Creatures and Grubber looked down the waterfall, witnessing the whole thing.
"Which one of you guyth ith goin' down there?" Grubber asked the beasts as they growled in response. "I would, but I jutht had a hearty meal, and I will think and I will thide-cramp. I'm very big-boned. I think quick." They walked away from the scene. Rocky Flash landed right next to the waterfall, also seeing everything.
"I really hope those ponies are okay." He said to himself.
Rocky then tired to get a closer look over the waterfall, but while he was walking, he didn't notice the rock right in front of him, causing the pegasus to trip, hitting his wings on the edge of the cliff, before falling into the river as well. His screams and cries failed to be heard by anypony else as he splashed into the river, being swept away by the current.
Rocky And The Storm King's Invasion
There was silence as Applejack's brown cowboy hat drifted along the river, with no sign of the orange mare in sight. The hat then floated over onto the shore as Applejack grabbed her hat with her teeth, throwing it back on her head, it was drenched with water as everypony else gathered around.
"Everypony okay?" She asked the group.
"I think my bottom's on backward." Rarity said in a woozy tone.
"We just got our cupcakes handed to us by the worst party crasher ever!" Pinkie cried.
"We gotta go back there and fight!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Well, you saw the size of those goons. You seriously wanna go back?" Spike asked in astonishment.
"So now what? We can't hide here forever." Applejack pointed out. "And let's be honest, we can't go back. Look at what they did to the Princesses. We gotta keep them from Twilight."
While AJ was talking to the otheres, Twilight was standing near the shore, feeling pretty distraught about what happened with the princesses. Then, Celestia's words echoed in her mind, what she had told Luna before she got frozen.
"The Queen." She said quietly.
"Yeah, the Queen!" Pinkie called out while bouncing, before she fully comprehended on what the princess of friendship had just said. "Uh, what queen?"
"Celestia told Luna to find the Queen of the... "Hippos"." Twilight explained, looking towards Canterlot, still being invaded. "Luna can't, so I have to."
"Uh, hippos? Seriously?" Rainbow asked.
"I've heard they're surprisingly graceful for their size." Pinkie said to the cyan pegasus. "Huh, but they're always hungry."
"Hungry?" Spike asked nervously.
"Hippos?" Applejack questioned as Fluttershy and Rarity looked at each other with a confused expression.
"They're somewhere south, past the Badlands." Twilight continued.
"That means we'll have to... leave Equestria." Fluttershy said, unsure about this.
"I'm not even packed!" Rarity cried.
"I understand you're scared, and nopony else has to go. But I have to find this queen. She might be our only hope." And with that, Twilight slowly started to walk away from the group, they looked at each other without a single word out of anyone's mouth. Finally, Rainbow flew up to her.
"Well, you're not getting all the glory." Rainbow said the the purple princess. "We're in this together."
"We got your back." Applejack assured her while wrapping a comforting hoof around Rainbow.
"Indeedy." Pinkie called out.
"I am ready to save Equestria!" Rarity said confidently.
"Yay." Fluttershy whispered.
"We're all behind you, Twilight." Spike pointed out.
But before they could go on this search, they suddenly heard the sound of water sloshing and a crying and screaming voice. Turning around, they saw Rocky Flash flowing down the river, his hooves waving around in the air as if he was on a really fast roller-coaster.
"Oh no, that pony is in trouble!" Twilight exclaimed.
"We gotta save him." Rainbow wailed out.
Meanwhile, Rocky had just gripped onto a low hanging branch, and just when he though that he would be completely submerged, a lasso suddenly wrapped around his body.
"What the.." He said confusingly.
"Hang on, sugarcube!" Applejack called out to him, quickly pulling him to shore, the others helped her as well.
With one final pull, Rocky was finally out of the raging river as he coughed up the salty water out of his mouth. Applejack then went up to him and took of the lasso around him.
"Ya'll alright there?" She asked in a sympathetic tone.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Rocky replied, getting on his hooves. "I've been worse." He looked over his body, only to discover that one of his wings were broken, probably from his fall from earlier. "Oh man, that's going to hurt for a while." Rocky said while twitching his damaged wing. "So, what are you guys up to?"
"We're trying to find the queen of the hippos." Twilight informed him.
"Um.. come again?" Rocky asked.
"They might be the only way to save Equestria." Rainbow Dash clarified.
"Speaking of which, we really need to get going." Twilight proclaimed.
The mane six and Spike started to walk away from Rocky Flash.
"Wait!" He called out, catching everyone's attention. "Um.. I wouldn't mind coming along."
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked with concern. "I mean, I don't want you to get hurt more than you are now."
"Yeah, why not? I love a little bit of danger and adventures." Rocky exclaimed.
Twilight then pondered for a brief moment, Rocky was nervous about what she was going to say.
"Very well, I guess." She spoke out, Rocky's face lit up in glee. "But since you're going to join us, we might as well introduce ourselves. My name is Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship.
"I'm Applejack."
"Rarity."
"Fluttershy."
"Pinkie Pie."
"Rainbow Dash."
"And I'm Spike, the number one assistant."
"Well, it certainly is a pleasure to meet all of you." Rocky said while gesturing to them. "My name is Rocky Flash."
"Alright." Twilight claimed aloud. "Now that that's out of the way.."
"Let's go find this hippo!" Pinkie called while bouncing away.
"Uh, south?" Spike said, pointing in that direction.
Pinkie follows Spike correction as she bounces in the direction he had pointed out, giggling to herself, everyone else following behind.
"Boingy-boingy-boingy-boingy-boingy!" She said cutely. "Anypony up for a game of "I Spy"?" Everyone, but Rocky Flash, responded by a groan of frustration. "No, really! Come on! I spy with my little eye something that is orange. No takers? It's you, Applejack!" The pink pony began giggling again as they made their way through the ditch. All Rocky could say was:
"Man, I feel like this is going to be the start of a wild adventure." Rocky said to himself while smiling.
However, in Canterlot, the ponies were feeling miserable as they trenched along the streets, all chained up. One Storm Creature swiped at a couple of balloons nearby, making them all float away, Tempest observed the balloons from the castle's balcony.
"All this power, wasted on parties." She whispered angrily, slowly stepping inside the throne room, where the three princesses were still frozen. "When there are far greater uses." Then, two more Storm Creatures entered the throne room as well, one of them was holding what appeared to be a small blue, luminescent potion bottle, complete with ringtone. "Well, answer it."
With that instruction, he poured the potion's content into a cauldron. A blue flame began to form as Tempest could see her boss inside it, the Storm King, who was looking away from her.
"Where am I supposed to be looking?" He asked crossly. "I never understand how this spell works. Tempest!"
"Over here, your Excellency." She said, walking forward.
"Where?"
"Over here."
"Huh?"
"No, no right. Look right."
"My right?"
"Yep."
After some time, the Storm King was now facing the broken horned unicorn.
"Oh. There you are. Here's the deal. I'm in the middle of a big re-brand here. "The Storm King" is tracking well as "intensely intimidating", but you know what? I need to back it up. You know what I need to back it up with? A storm! That would be great!" He exclaimed aloud, causing the Storm Creatures to flinch back."You promised me magic that could control the elements." He then presented some sort of staff in his hands." And right now, I'm holding a what? A branch. A twig. Bleh!"
"Uh, that would be the Staff of Sacanas, Your Excellency." Tempest corrected him as he examined it closely. "And it will channel the magic of the four rulers of this land. You'll soon have the power of a hundred armies."
"So that would be a yes on your locking down the four Pegacornicuseses, or whatever you call them?" The Storm King said while stuttering.
"Give me three days. I'll have everything ready for your arrival." Tempest assured him before the Storm King's face turned into a scowl.
"Remember, Tempest. Only I have the power to make you whole." He explained in an ominous tone. "Make this twig work, and you'll get your reward. Fail me, and your horn won't be the only thing that's broken."
"It won't be a problem." Tempest said confidently.
"Great! I'm ready to power up, crash and bash, and be the biggest, baddest bugaloooooo..." While he was talking. The flame was warbling, until it evaporated to reveal Grubber standing behind the cauldron.
"Thorry, bad thpell thervice. You want me to call him back?" He asked as Tempest walked up towards him.
"Do you have the Princess?"
"Well, uh, funny thtory. It kinda theemth like she... she might've like, you know, got away... a little bit. I know you're dithappointed, but I got one word for you:" He reached a hand behind his back and presented a....
"Thpongecake."
Tempest Shadow responded by zapping the hedgehog, leaving him burned.
"I need all four for the staff to work." She said angrily.
"Hey, I know! I want the Thtorm King to fix that crazy horn as badly as you do. It lookth like a crackly chipped tooth on the top of your head. And you know you don't look good in hatth."
But before Grubber could continue talking, Tempest quickly turned around with a frustrated expression on her face, her horn sparking with lightning. "That Princess is not gonna keep me from getting my horn back! Prepare my ship!" She exclaimed as Grubber ran off. "Please. How far could one little pony get on her own?
