Eric Sparkle and the Storm King

Meanwhile, Glacio was at his throne. Beside him was a moderate magenta unicorn mare with a light magenta-ish gray and pale, light grayish opal streaks and a black hooded cloak and a light opalish gray unicorn mare with grayish purple eyes, a mane and tail in five shades of purple, a black robe and glasses.

“Lady Cinch, Lady Arcana, I’ve got business in Klugetown. You’re both in charge until I return,” Glacio said.

“Yes, my lord,” Lady Cinch replied.

Glacio then teleported himself out of the ice fortress. Once in Klugetown, the ice prince flew around until he found Verko's palace. He then landed at the main entrance as a few anthro pig, lizard, and bear guards approached him.

“State your name and business,” a lizard guard said.

“I am Prince Glacio and my business is with your master, Verko,” the ice prince replied.

“We weren’t expecting someone like you,” a bear guard said.

“You will lead me to him now if you value your lives,” Glacio replied as he choked the guards with his dark magic.

“Alright, alright! We’ll take you to him!” a pig guard said.

“Excellent,” Glacio replied as he released the guards.

It wasn’t long before they led him to the throne room. The crime lord Verko was an anthropomorphic naked mole rat with a suit, glasses, and a hat.

“Mighty Verko, I have a proposition for you,” Glacio said.

“Why would I help a pony like you?” Verko asked.

“Remember that you are dealing with an alicorn prince,” Glacio said as he cornered Verko and charged up his horn. He then choked the crime lord with his dark magic.

“Alright, alright! I’ll give you any supplies you need! I’ll do anything!” Verko said.

Glacio then released Verko and replied, offering him a sack of gemstones from his saddlebag, “I may have a use for you. The rewards will be great.”

“You got a deal, Prince Glacio,” Verko said.

“Excellent,” Glacio replied.

Some time later, Eric and his friends (along with Jasper and Smokey) split up from Twilight and the others. They headed north and turned west of the Crystal Empire until they reached the Changeling Kingdom. It was then that they approached the guards.

“We need to see King Thorax immediately,” Eric said.

“Follow us, Prince Eric,” one of the guards replied.

Eric and his friends followed the guards inside as they were escorted to the throne room. Once inside, Thorax came up to them.

“Good to see you and your friends again, Eric,” Thorax greeted.

“Good to see you as well, Thorax,” Eric said.

“What brings all of you here?” Thorax asked.

“Equestria calls for aid,” Eric replied.

“Then the changelings will answer,” Thorax said, then turned to his brother, “Pharynx, ready the army. Equestria needs us.”

“As you wish, brother,” Pharynx replied.

“Once you’ve gathered your full strength, can you please meet us at Mt. Aris?” Eric asked.

“Of course,” Thorax said.

“What is that shiny stuff in those carts?” Nightshade asked.

“That’s dark and light morphetrine. Both rare forms of quartz found only here in the cold north, our most valuable mineral,” Thorax replied.

“This would be great for my science report on rare minerals, is it alright if we have some?” Nightshade asked.

“Sure,” Thorax replied.

Once Eric and his friends were given a bag of dark and light morphetrine, they left the hive and headed south. Pincer transformed into a large dragon as Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Slapstick, Nightshade, Holly, Jasper, and Smokey climbed on his back. Eric got on his broomstick with Sweetie Belle holding onto him, while Marina held onto Zuni.

“Discord!” Eric said.

“You called?” Discord asked as he appeared.

“Yes. Can you please teleport us to the Badlands?” Eric replied.

Discord nodded and teleported them to the Badlands. Once there, they took a little rest. It wasn’t too long before they kept flying south until they noticed the settlement called Klugetown. There, they saw the Mane 7 and Spike being cornered by the townsfolk.

“We need to head down and help,” Eric said.

“Right away,” Pincer replied as they landed in the street.

Everyone got off of Pincer as he resumed his normal form. Eric was somehow confused, but scared while other various creatures kept bidding.

“Gimme that pink one!”

“I’ll take the blue one!”

“No! I want the blue one!”

“I need that lizard!”

“I’ll take that picture of your sister!”

“I want all eight for my collection!”

“I think we need to teleport now,” Storm said.

“Good thinking,” Twilight replied.

Suddenly, Twilight and Storm teleported themselves and the others near an alley. There, they saw an male anthropomorphic cat with moderate gamboge fur with a darker shade on his face, ears, paws, and tail and a lighter shade on his chest fur, dark grayish indigo hair on the top of his head, light malachite green eyes, and he wore a grayish crimson red trench coat and a dark grayish blue bandage on his tail. The vendors and townsfolk were shocked at their disappearance, then went back to their business, until the cat looked at them. Eric and his friends saw the whole thing and went up to his parents.

“Mommy, we saw all the commotion and thought we could help you out a little,” Eric said.

“Thanks, sweetheart. But we got out of there just fine,” Twilight replied.

“Who are you?” Storm asked the cat.

“Capper’s the name. Charming’s my game. So... the Hippogriffs eh?” Capper asked.

“Yes, siree!” Pinkie replied, laughing.

“I don’t know if we should trust him,” Twilight said.

“Maybe he knows where you can find the Queen of the Hippogriffs, you should ask him regardless of whether or not he can be trusted,” Eric replied.

“Come with me to my place and I’ll help you out,” Capper said.

“As we may have heard, nothing in this place is for free, not even information. How much do we owe you?” Eric asked the cat.

“Whatcha got that’s valuable?” Capper asked.

“We’ve got a bag of dark and light morphetrine. Rare forms of quartz found only in Northern Equestria,” Eric replied, while placing a sample into his pocket.

Eric then gave the bag to Capper as he, his friends, the Mane 7 and Spike followed the cat all the way to his place. Just then, Capper stopped and met up with a mole called Needy.

“Here,” he said, slipping a few storm bucks in the mole’s turtleneck sweater, “Tell Verko, ‘My place, twenty minutes.’ I’ve got something that will ‘magically’ erase all my debt.”

Soon enough, the Mane 7, Spike, Eric, his friends, and Capper were finally at his house. He then let them inside.

“Welcome, my little ponies and gents, to my little manor,” Capper said.

As they entered, everyone gazed in awe. “Ooh! A sort of a roco-hobo-Bohemian hodgepodge,” Rarity said.

“Apologies for the state of my litter box. I wasn’t expecting guests,” Capper said.

“Ooh! So many fun breakables!” Pinkie remarked, as the rest of them had a view of his living room.

“Y’all sure y’all want the Hippogriffs?” Capper asked in the background.

“Yessirree! The Queen of the Hippogriffs!” Pinkie replied.

“Huh?” Twilight wondered as she found what looked to be an atlas.

“Found something, honey?” Storm asked.

“An atlas, over here,” Twilight replied.

Meanwhile, Tempest, Frostbite, and the storm trolls were in Klugetown looking for the Mane 7 by ransacking the townsfolk’s property. They started to panic while the storm trolls and ice ponies kept ransacking the place, while Frostbite, Tempest, and Grubber kept looking while walking around town. They began interrogating the townsfolk for information.

“When he gets to Canterlot, tell the Storm King to remember the bargain Glacio made with him. In exchange for helping my master conquer Equestria, the Storm King shall have a free hand in other parts of the world,” Frostbite said.

“I’m sure he’ll keep his end of the bargain,” Tempest replied.

“He’d better be true to his word, or else our alliance will be terminated and you’ll be executed,” Frostbite said.

“Understood,” Tempest replied.

“Please! Please! I don’t know anything!” said a toothy Klugetowner.

“You really think the ponieth got thith far?” Grubber asked.

Tempest then sniffed something, “Oh, they’re here.” She then saw a strand of pink curly hair from Pinkie’s mane. “Attention! A little purple pony passed this way. Tell me where she is...”

“...or thumpin real bad’th gonna happen,” Grubber said.

“You think we’re gonna fall for this again? I don’t know what kinda scam you’re workin’ with Capper and the rest of your friends, but--“ Mori said, until Tempest got confused. “Excuse me, but did you say “friends”?”

“Yeah? So why should I tell to something as puny as you?!” Mori asked jealously.

“Well... then let’s make it official,” Tempest said, until a Storm Guard grabbed his arms, and then Tempest kicked Mori in the gut and then threw him like a hammer.

“Ohhhh, Fishman juth got dropped!” Grubber said.

“Now...” Tempest said, placing her hoof underneath Mori’s face. “...tell us about this... ‘Capper’.” She then charged up her horn.

“Tell us now or die!” Frostbite added.

Capper’s residence

“Here you go. I do apologize. If we were back home, I could’ve done something truly fabulous, darling.” Rarity said. She added some fixing stitches to his jacket with some thread and a needle, and fixed the buttons on his jacket.

“Okay…What’s the catch?” Capper asked.

“Nothing. After all that you’ve done for us, consider it a “thank you”,” Rarity replied.

“Oh. Uh, don’t thank me. Really,” Capper said.

Twilight finally found out something in the book she was reading, “Girls! I just found a section on the Hippogriffs! Part pony, part eagle!“ she said.

“Oh my! That’s fabulous news, darling!” Rarity replied.

“Now, the trouble with that is... no one knows... where they are...” Capper said.

“Well, it says here they’re on the top of Mount Aris,” Storm replied.

“Mount Aris? Where is that?” Eric asked.

“You mean the mountain right outside the window?!” Pinkie asked, pointing at what looked like Mount Aris from the window.

“Wow, Pinkie! You’re a genius!” Storm said.

“Objects in windows may be less mountainous than they appear. Heh heh heh...” Capper said nervously.

“Let’s go, everypony,” Twilight said, taking the map with her.

“Wait! You can’t make it by y’allselves. You need an airship! And lucky for you, I can get you a ride,” Capper offered.

“I think we can get there on our own,” Twilight replied, pushing the cat aside.

Twilight opened the door, revealing Verko.

“Here’s Verko!” The crime lord announced himself, laughing.

Twilight and Storm gasped, backing away from the crime lord.

“You better have something to settle your debt, Capper,” Verko said.

“Thanks to my new friends here, I got a sack of rare northern quartz right here,” Capper replied, giving him the sack.

Verko opened the sack, then took out an eye loupe and inspected the quartz.

“I can make a fortune with these. You’ve settled your debt, Capper,” Verko said, as he left.

Just when Twilight and Storm were about to question Capper about Verko, Tempest, Frostbite, Grubber, and two storm trolls came in. Twilight and Storm gasped.

“Silly little ponies,” Tempest said, “Thought you could lose me? You’re wrong.”

“Tempest!” Twilight exclaimed.

Spike screamed and Fluttershy squeaked in fear, covering her face with a lampshade.

“Fumos!” Eric incanted, as he conjured up a smokescreen with his wand.

“Go! Go!” Twilight shouted.

“Tempest, I believe they escaped out the window! Stop them!” Frostbite ordered.

“Guards, get her now!” Tempest told the two storm trolls.

“You gonna be thcared now, ponieth!” Grubber said.

Eric and his friends took off as the Mane 6 and Spike made their own escape.

“Mommy, my friends and I are off to the Dragon Lands so we can get help from Ember,” Eric said, “We’ll meet you at Mt. Aris later.”

“Good luck, sweetheart,” Twilight replied as she hugged him.

It was then that the two groups went their separate ways.