Eric Sparkle and the Storm King

Just then, Eric and his friends noticed a mysterious letter laying on the street. Eric picked it up and opened it. He looked at it and gasped in shock as he found out who wrote it.

“Apple Bloom, you might want to read this,” Eric said as he gave it to his friend.

Apple Bloom looked at the letter and read it. She then gasped in shock.

“What is it, Apple Bloom?” Nightshade asked.

“This letter is from my parents! Judging by its condition, this was written just days ago!” Apple Bloom replied excitedly.

“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“It means my parents might be alive and need our help!” Apple Bloom replied.

“We need to get to Verko’s lair right away and find out for sure,” Eric said, “We’ll get to the Dragon Lands later.”

Eric and his friends looked around the town, looking for Verko’s lair. Jasper and Smokey quickly noticed two of Verko’s enforcers. One of them was an anthropomorphic raccoon and the other was an anthro weasel.

“You there! Beasts!” Jasper called out.

“Who, us?” the weasel asked.

“Yes, you beasts. Tell us where Verko’s lair is,” Smokey replied.

“Never!” the raccoon retorted.

“Veritus Confessio,” Eric said, pointing his wand at the enforcers.

“Again, where is Verko’s lair?” Jasper asked.

“It’s in the upper portion of the city center, a few blocks to the north. The tallest building, you can’t miss it,” the weasel replied.

Eric got onto his broomstick with Sweetie Belle behind him. Pincer assumed his dragon form as everyone else except for Marina climbed onto his back. It was then that they took off, headed for Verko’s palace. Eric and his friends flew around until they found Verko’s palace and landed near the entrance.

“Intruders! Stop them!” a lizard guard shouted as several guards came at them.

Eric and his friends fought off the guards as they entered the palace.

“Stupefy!” Eric said as he stunned a boar guard.

Once inside, they fought off more guards coming at them.

“Incarcerous!” Eric said as he restrained a bear guard.

“Where are Verko’s slaves kept?” Jasper asked.

“I’ll never talk,” the bear guard retorted.

“Veritus Confessio,” Eric said.

“Now, where are Verko’s slaves kept?” Smokey asked.

“They’re in kept in the dungeon, but they’re currently working in the courtyard by the supply gate,” the bear guard replied.

Eric and his friends exited the palace and went out into the courtyard. There, they snuck around and quickly noticed loads of supplies being given to the Frigus Order troops. They also noticed that several earth pony slaves were being transferred.

Apple Bloom immediately noticed her parents Bright Mac and Pear Butter (aka Buttercup), among them in chains. While she barely remembered them as an infant filly, she knew what they looked like from family photos. Pear Butter was a tan earth pony mare with an orange curly mane and tail, turquoise eyes, and a jar of pear butter for a cutie mark. Bright Mac was a light yellow earth pony stallion with a red mane and tail, harlequin green eyes, and a green half apple with a star in the center for a cutie mark.

“We gotta help my parents now before they’re taken to Glacio,” Apple Bloom said.

“We’ll cover you, Apple Bloom,” Eric replied.

Eric and the others fought off several guards as Apple Bloom and Nightshade rushed to help her parents. Nightshade immediately removed their chains with his magic.

“Apple Bloom! You’ve grown!” Pear Butter said as she hugged her youngest daughter.

“Hi, ma. Hi, pa,” Apple Bloom replied as she hugged her parents. All three of them shed tears of joy.

“Look at you. You’ve got your cutie mark!” Bright Mac said, “It’s a real shame we missed your cute-ceañeara.”

“You’ve missed a lot. I’ll explain more later,” Apple Bloom replied.

She and Nightshade then rejoined Eric and the others.

“Now that we’ve rescued Apple Bloom’s parents, let’s get out of here,” Nightshade said.

“Right. All of us,” Eric replied as he eyed up the other slaves.

Eric and his friends went to help the other slaves. Among them was a purplish blue unicorn mare with dark Persian blue eyes, a purple and light gray streaked mane and tail with slight curls, and glowing aurora streaks for a cutie mark. She was shackled with a magic-dampening ring on her horn. Nightshade removed the ring from her horn.

“You’re Starlight’s mommy aren’t you?” Eric asked.

“Yes. I’m Aurora Gloom,” the unicorn mare replied.

She joined Eric and his friends as they freed the other slaves. Soon enough, they led the freed slaves all the way to the docks.

“Ma and pa, these are my friends, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Pincer, Slapstick, Marina, Holly, Zuni, Nightshade, who’s also my boyfriend, and Eric Sparkle,” Apple Bloom said, “Everyone, this is my ma and pa.”

“Good to meet y’all,” Pear Butter greeted.

“Scootaloo and I got our cutie marks at the exact same time as Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Whoa. That’s amazing,” Bright Mac replied.

“I’m Smokey, Applejack’s boyfriend and this is my twin brother, Jasper,” Smokey said.

“Good to meet you,” Pear Butter replied.

“Can any of you sail?” Eric spoke up.

“I can, but I’ve never sailed an airship before,” a unicorn stallion replied.

“Good, it’s up to you to sail everyone out on that airship to Canterlot,” Eric said.

“I’m on it,” the sailor replied.

The unicorn sailor guided all of the freed slaves onto the airship, including Aurora Gloom, Bright Mac, and Pear Butter.

“We need to continue our mission to save Equestria. See you back in Canterlot, ma and pa,” Apple Bloom said.

“Good luck, sugarcube,” Pear Butter replied as she and Bright Mac hugged her before boarding.

Once everyone was onboard, the airship took off and headed north. It was then that Eric and his friends left for the Dragon Lands. Frostbite looked through his telescope and saw them leaving.

“Tempest, you keep following Twilight and her friends. Leave Eric and his friends to me,” Frostbite said.

Not too long after Eric and his friends left Klugetown, they came up on a region called the Pine Needle Barrens. Just then, Marina looked back and saw an airship behind them.

“We’re being followed,” Marina said.

Eric took out his telescope and saw Frostbite and several ice pony soldiers onboard.

“Everyone, take cover in the forest! We can’t have them following us to the Dragon Lands!” Eric told his friends.

Eric and his friends immediately landed in the forest.

“Get them!” Frostbite ordered his troops as he quickly spotted them.

Frostbite and his troops landed their commandeered airship into the forest. Holly looked back and saw them in hot pursuit.

“They’re coming after us!” Holly said.

“Fumos!” Eric whispered, casting a smokescreen.

Once the smoke cleared, Eric and his friends hid in some of the dense undergrowth.

“General, we lost them,” Skywarp said.

“Where’d they go?” Thundercracker asked.

“Search everywhere!” Frostbite ordered.

“Yes, general,” Hot Shot replied.

Once Eric and his friends saw Frostbite and his troops were out of sight, they came out of hiding.

“We need to get to the Dragon Lands right away,” Eric said.

“By my calculations, it’ll take us many hours to fly across the Celestial Sea from here to the Dragon Lands and from there to Mt. Aris,” Nightshade replied.

“There’s gotta be some way to get there in a shorter time,” Scootaloo said.

“How we gonna do that?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Neither me, Eric, nor Nightshade are able to just teleport us there,” Sweetie Belle added.

“I have an idea,” Eric replied, “Follow me.”

Eric led his friends to gather around a log. He then took out his wand and whispered, “Portus.”

“What are we going at this log?” Zuni asked.

“You’ll see,” Eric replied, “Jasper and Smokey, care to please explain it to them?”

“We overheard Eric whispering as he just turned this log into a Portkey,” Jasper said.

“A Portkey is meant to transport anyone who touches it to a specific location, in our case, the Dragon Lands. Any object can be turned into one,” Smokey added.

“Cool,” Slapstick and Pincer replied in awe.

“On the count of three, we grab the log at the same time,” Eric said, “1…2…3!”

It was then that everyone grabbed onto the log. They were immediately transported to the Dragon Lands. Nearby, Frostbite and his troops witnessed the bright light from the Portkey.

“What’s that over there?” Hot Shot asked.

“That must be them. Go!” Frostbite replied.

They rushed to the area only to find nothing.

“They fled, general,” Hot Shot said.

“Most unfortunate. We’ll need to meet up with Tempest and let Eric Sparkle and his friends come to us,” Frostbite replied.

In the Dragon Lands, Eric and his friends were on their way to meet Ember. Just then, two dragon guards approached them.

“Welcome, Prince Eric,” one of them greeted.

“We need to see Ember immediately,” Eric said.

“Follow us,” the other guard replied.

The guards escorted Eric and his friends to the massive stone throne.

“Good to see you, Ember,” Eric greeted.

“Hey, Eric,” Ember said as she flew down to them, “What brings you and your friends here?”

“Equestria is under attack by someone called the Storm King with help from Glacio and we’re here for aid,” Eric replied.

“The dragons shall answer,” Ember said.

“Thanks. Meet us at Mt. Aris,” Eric replied.

“See you there,” Ember said.

Eric and his friends returned to the log and grabbed it. Just then, they were transported back to the Pine Needle Barrens.

“We need to get to Mt. Aris immediately,” Eric said.

“Good thinking,” Nightshade replied.

Pincer transformed into his large dragon form. Holly, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Slapstick, Nightshade, Jasper, and Smokey got on his back. He then took off while Marina carried Zuni and Eric flew on his broomstick, with Sweetie Belle holding onto him. They kept flying south until they finally reached Mt. Aris. Once there, they went looking for Twilight, Storm, and the others.