Prince Sugar Hoof of Equestria

I rose into the sky as an old man and returned to the ground as a young adult. Gray hair returned to it's youthful dark green and the wrinkles along my body had all but disappeared, along with my beard. Only myself and this purple mare remained in the room, the storm king had died from lack of oxygen at some point during my youth spell. Now, I had to get the storm king's staff back home, and lock it up. It was tied to me now, losing it could only spell disaster.

"Now that I have slain your employer, do you intend to get revenge?" I asked upon the now late storm king's throne.

She looked down for a second. "The only reason I worked for the Storm King is because he promised to fix my horn, I had no real loyalty to him."

"Your horn should still function, even in it's broken state. If anything, it has only made you a better diviner."

"I don't know what that is."

"What is your name?" I asked, leaving that old subject behind.

"My name is Tempest Shadow, and I would like to offer you the same deal I gave the storm king, undying obedience in exchange for my horn."

"You left your old king to die, your loyalty is far from undying." I replied.

"If I had stayed loyal, I imagine I would be in a similar state to him." She said, looking over at the storm king's corpse.

She did have a point. Besides, I did have an idea for what to do with her. My treants were... capable, in a fight. The main difficulty anyone would have against me though, is the sheer size of my army. They were slow, but strong, if you were just a bit light on your hooves, you'd have them. Good luck killing one when a few hundred try to grab you.

"What services did you provide the storm king, Tempest." I asked.

"I was to give him the power of the alicorns and help him to conquer Equestria."

"Can you fight?"

"Yes, of course." She said.

"I could use someone who can fight to train some of my thralls, as well as myself."

"You need me to train you and your," She hesitated to say the word, "thralls?"

"Indeed."

"I just watched as you laid waste to our entire island, and from what I read about you, you have an army that dwarfs the entire population of Zebrica, Griffonstone, and Equestria combined, what do you need with personal training?"

"I'm good at magic, I'll say that with pride, specifically life magic, but I'm no warrior. If something were to happen and I lost my ability to cast spells, I'd be defenseless."

She looked up at me with confidence, "I'll do it."

"Wonderful. Now then, I don't suppose the storm king kept an archive, did he?"

"He really did it..." Princess Celestia said.

"I told you, sister. The colt is but a sombra in the making!" Shouted Princess Luna.

"Gilded Spear, why did you not stop him?" Celestia asked with a hint of anger in her voice.

Gilded Spear shivered under Celestia's gaze. "I thought he would just sneak in and take the staff, I didn't know he planned to destroy them entirely."

"He needs to be destroyed, or banished, sister."

Before Celestia could say anything, her horn lit up and a scroll unfurled from it's tip. Giving the scroll, a quick read brought a smile to the mare in distress.

"Twilight and her friends have the elements back!"

"I thought Sugar absorbed them." Gilded said softly.

"The scroll says that they flew right back to them. When he destroyed the storm island, they must've found him unworthy to bear them," She looked down in remembrance for a moment, "Just as they had me."

"So we no longer require him as our protector?"

"No."

Tempest led me to a library that was only mostly destroyed, plenty of books remained though. Books about metal-working, scientific mumbo-jumbo, and general uses for electronics. I never much cared for science, it just seemed like a charlatan's version of magic, in all honesty. I had lost the elements of harmony when I went on a killing spree there, so I would need to restore some modicum of influence with this... trash here. ScIeNcE, Blehg

"Any records or blueprints to how the storm king made his weapons or those warships of his?"

"Yes, by the wall, the fallen shelf." She said.

Lifting the shelf off the ground, unraveled many large diagrams, schematics and blueprints, perfect for what I needed.

"Warship designs, physical weapons combined with magic, I could probably work out everything I need to know from here." I grabbed every book in the place though, no sense leaving anything behind. Sure I'd return here to rebuild, add this island to my own territory, but it would be a second.

"You're going to try and remake his inventions, aren't you?" Tempest asked.

"Yes, I have lost the elements of harmony, I need this advantage."

She nodded, though I could tell she did not understand.

Regardless, we left the storm castle and made our way to the cavern entrance, collecting bodies all the while.

"So, what's up with the corpses, the books I can understand, but do you really need them?" Tempest asked, pointing to the corpses I was carrying in my magic.

"Of course I do, this excursion has only made me more aware of my own flaws, and my treant's flaws, I will need to conjure those knights after all."

"These 'knights' demand sacrifice?"

"Oh don't worry so much, these people are dead, it's better they be given new life than being vulture chow." I had completely stopped caring about the innocent lives I had taken. "A little bit of magic, and they'll be adorable little knights for me."

We had a long walk ahead of us. I couldn't wait to return to the safety of my cavern, and get a nice hot bath. Hopefully Birch and Spot recognize me, but as always, there is more work to be done.