Life isn’t done with you

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you;"

—Deuteronomy 20:1a

Deafening silence filled the cold air as Thomas lay curled within the darkness; dreading... waiting. Dreams rarely came to him in his sleep, and the frequent nightmares that plagued his mind usually were filled with the screams of the damned as they all bathed in the Lake of Fire. So, one can imagine it was a surprise when he found himself alone, surrounded by a shadowy sea of haze, completely lucid.

It was a torture unlike any other. Escape was impossible, dream or not, and exploring the shroud promised only pain and suffering arriving sooner, or so he feared; therefore he curled up on the floor, covered his face, and did his damnedest to stifle his whimpers as he braced for the worst yet to come. Time lost all meaning as he dared not to move an inch. Perhaps only minutes had passed, maybe a few hours, several eternities could have come and gone, and yet, he still would not move from his spot. If the denizens of his hellish mindscape were content to leave him be, stewing in his swelling fear and anxiety, then it was a hell of a lot better than his usual alternative.

Bellum est increpit

Like a hot knife through butter, a voice echoed across the void, easily slicing through the silence and what little mental fortitude Thomas held. It spoke in an ancient and dead language, but Thomas understood it nonetheless.

The war is raging

Thomas's breath hitched as he peaked from under his limbs and surveyed the mist for a moment before noticing the blood-red glow that emanated beyond the fog. Every hair along Thomas's back stood on end as a new sense of dread and danger blared away, but he was left paralyzed as the voice continued.

Boni et mali iterum confligunt, et omnia regna sanguine lavabuntur

Good and Evil will clash again, and all kingdoms will be washed in blood

Within a blink, the shroud collapses upon itself, coalescing down into the shape of a smokey humanoid figure, leaving behind an all-blinding white emptiness stretching beyond infinity. The towering figure loomed before the cowering alicorn.

Mundus hic non parcetur, nam catalysta sumus

The world is not spared here, for we are catalysts

Upon the figure's head sprouted two soulless eyes and a gaping maw full of jagged teeth which split into a devilish smile. Jutted forth were two smokey arms that lingered above Thomas's figure which spewed lines of strings that slithered themselves around Thomas's limbs before burrowing beneath his skin, snaring bone and sinew alike. His veins and arteries clogged up the further they slinked within until his very heart was fully entangled. He felt his soul dilute as the entity asserted itself within him, and yet he also ignored the sense of familiarity that followed.

Usurped into a spectator of his very own flesh, Thomas found himself at the mercy of the entity as it played with its new toy, subjecting his body to all manners of strange and alien movements as if testing the range of its control.

Evil and inhumane thoughts flooded his mind as a rumbling roar spewed from his lungs before descending into maniacal laughter as the entity solidified its authority. Within a sudden jerk of motion, Thomas's vision shifts toward the huddled figures of three familiar little fillies, eyes wide and full of panic and tears as they cowered together in fear. Before his mind could fully register their sudden appearance, the usurper was upon them.

The orange one cried out in shock and pain as her throat was seized within the alicorn's maw before silencing her forever with a meaty crunch.

The entity spat the bloody remains of the filly's throat before setting sights upon the fleeing others. Dark powerful energy coalesced within the tip of his horn, a far cry to Thomas's own magical prowess, and lashed out upon the little unicorn. A shrill scream was all she could squeal out before being reduced to smoke and ash, leaving the last foal knocked away in a broken heap from the spell's blast.

Seizing one of her legs within its magical grip, the child was dangled before Thomas's view. A snap rang out as Thomas's jaw unhinged itself and extended his gaping muzzle beyond normal measures. The filly's eyes lingered not away from Thomas's own, silently pleading, begging for his help. He could offer only flowing tears.

A sharp inhale of air resounded from the gaping muzzle as its suctioning force siphoned away the very light from her eyes, leaving a thin trail of glittering luminance to be greedily slurped away, and when all was done, the husk that was the filly was tossed aside.

Nightmare or not, the way her soul squirmed deep within him left Thomas wanting to scream out, and yet despite having a mouth, he could not.

Before his mind could delve deeper into his insanity, another foal was presented before him, one he was all too familiar with. Entrapped within an all too steep quarry, little Rocket Rush, frozen in fear, beheld the giant boulder that loomed directly above.

"B-big brother? What are you doing?" He asked as his eyes shifted to Thomas's.

It's not me! I'm not in control! Thomas internally screamed, shutting his eyes as fresh tears swelled. He refused to see the inevitable.

Tu semper compos fuisti

You were always in control

"Lies!" Thomas shouted, shocking himself upon hearing his vocal cords under his reign once again. The strings were gone, his heart was free, and his mind was clear of any influence. Sure enough, his crimson magic was his own as it held the boulder lingering over Rush.

...He's right there... he's not real...

Thomas flinched as the words, his very own words from days ago, reverberated through his skull once more.

Memento qui fueris

Remember who you were

Thomas clutched his head as a torrent of thoughts swirled within.

He's not real! Let go! DEATH! MURDER! KILL HIM! DROP IT! LET GO!!!

"NO! NEVER!" He shouted, and with a flick of the horn, the boulder was flung into the ethereal void. Clutching his hooves to his head, Thomas hunched over as he whispered away. "Leave me alone. Go away. I don't know what you are or why you torment me but just go away. GO AWAY!"

Rocket's fear-stricken face distorts into a sneer before his whole being takes on a smokey quality that engulfs the quarry pit until the entity's towering form rears itself upon Thomas once more.

In aeternum dampnati sumus

We are eternally damned

Like before, it ensnared the alicorn, hooked all of the strings around Thomas's throat, pulled tight, and brought his choking figure face to face.

Nos unum sumus

We are one

With a tug, the pressure around his neck reached its peak, and there was a snap.

Numquam eris a me gratis

You will never be free from me

With a hoarse scream, Thomas bolted up from his cot as he clawed at his formerly constricted throat. His lungs continued to remain paralyzed a moment more before finally expanding as Thomas gulped the precious air down. His desperate heaves collapsed into racking coughs just as the presence of another made themselves known as they began to pat his back.

"Easy son, easy, We're here. Slow deep breaths now, get them lungs under control. Nurse Softheart, if you'll fetch me a-, oh, thank you... here, drink this."

Upon being hoofed a canteen, Thomas quickly chugged the water down much to the voice's protest. As the last droplets impacted his tongue, Thomas was left breathlessly quenched yet still haggard. The preceding nightmare, like all the others, blissfully retreated from the forefront of Thomas's mind, slinking away into his deepest depths, a small mercy granted by God above.

Taking a cursory glance around, a field of cots litter the expansive room, with many being filled with various injured figures. Many ponies sported bandages across their barrels and legs with even a few having gauze wrapped around their cranium. Off in the corner, a pile of petrified figures were bundled together. The room was filled with lanterns, bathing it in a low warm glow, sharply contrasting against the sporadic light show that filtered through the boarded windows. Several groans and whinnies filled the air, but they were mere whispers compared to the thunder booming outside.

Shuffling into his view, an aging unicorn sporting a doctor's coat and a young aqua-marine pegasus nurse take to each of his sides. "You alright, lad? Any pain? Numbness, aches, sensitivity, fatigue, anything abnormal or concerning?"

A great rumbling shook the foundations, leaving dust trails from the ceiling to linger in the air.

Thomas waited a moment for the calm to settle. "I'm...I'm fine, I think. A little sore, maybe?"

The doctor took a look at the clipboard to the side, humming to himself while doing so. "Hmm, with the beating that you took, I'd be skeptical. However, seeing as you're an alicorn, the first recorded male one at that, I'll have to take your word for it. There are practically no records of any of the Princesses sustaining injury in combat, and what little we do or don't have would be useless as a comparison for you, for the most part. Hmm, perhaps if we had some time, I'm sure a few tests would square some things away..."

The doctor coughed into his hoof, "Excuse me for going off on a side tangent, it's not every day one treats royalty, I only wish to provide the best care I can." The ground quakes once more. "Especially during such troubling times. Anywho, my name is Doctor Scope, Chief Physician of Canterlot Castle, and this is my CNO, Nur-"

"Doc!" A voice shouts out before the doors burst open with a buck. Within a unicorn's magical sphere, a slumped armored guard is held within followed by several limping figures. "We've got another one!"

"Nurse Softheart, please see to his Majesty's needs and inform him of Rampart's request!" The Doctor hastily departed as several other nurses gathered around the latest influx of patients.

Nurse Softheart seized Thomas by a foreleg and began escorting the alicorn to the nearest entrance. "I'm terribly sorry to do this, your Majesty, but you look healthy enough for a quick discharge, and we need all the room we can get for the injured. If you truly need it, I can go fetch some over-the-counter medicine for your soreness." As the duo reached the exit, pounding hooves banged away at the entry before them. Softheart reached out with her wing and swung the door open before Thomas, allowing another entourage of injured ponies through. "If not, then I must inform you that Captain Rampart requests your presence urgently!" Softheart shouted over as the last of the injured entered.

Thomas's response was delayed once more as the ground and foundation quaked following a booming cacophony. "No, that won't be necessary, I feel fine, for the most part." Another set of doors burst open as a hyperventilating pony is guided to one of the few vacant cots. "What is going on? Where am I? How long was I out?" Thomas questioned.

Softheart extracted herself to a patient's side as she answered, "You're in the castle's infirmary. Currently, we are under siege, and we've been so swamped tending to the sick and injured that I can't say how long it's been. An hour, maybe? More or less? I dunno." She administered a sedative before turning back to Thomas, "As you can see, it hasn't exactly been a cakewalk defending it."

She took a cursory glance at the alicorn. "Again, you look fine enough, so unless you say otherwise, consider yourself discharged. Rampart needs you urgently."

"Right, sorry, I'll leave this to you." Thomas shuffled toward the exit, but not before narrowly avoiding a face full of doors as yet another group of ponies burst through and scrambled for medical assistance.

One of the group's escorts, an armored guard, took notice of Thomas's approach and delivered a crisp salute. "Your Majesty, Captain Rampart wishes to speak to you. Please follow me."

With little choice, Thomas follows behind. The duo traversed through once lavishly decorated halls now adorned with crates of supplies, scattered weapons and armor, makeshift barricaded windows, and several ponies strewn about. Their sunken eyes and lathered coats painted a clear picture to Thomas of the overall state of the Royal Guard. With each clap of thunder, a few whimpers echoed through the hall.

The cacophony outside relented not, and the hurried rush of several guard groups to and fro did nothing to ease the tension sullying the air.

Suddenly, a doorway adjacent to the duo exploded open as a squad of guards retreated into the foyer, each frayed with varying levels of injury. "They've breached the eastern hall!" One lingering guard yelled out. "We need reinforcements, they're taking a beating in there!"

Exhausted as they may be, the haggard ponies hesitated not to dawn their gear and swallow fear as they scrambled onto their hooves. They along with one of the passing squads turned heel and double-timed through the crowded doorway. Beyond the masses, the echoing grunts and shouts of battle reverberated through the hall.

Thomas turned to follow suit but was snatched on the leg by his escort. "No, the Captain needs you ASAP! Let them handle it." With a tug, Thomas was reluctantly pulled away, his eyes spared one last glance back before relenting.

"You saw the way they are, they're barely holding it together, they need me," Thomas protested.

His escort was quick to turn on Thomas, "Captain Rampart needs you! We can't afford to waste time on them! They're royal guards, they've trained for this!"

With a halt, Thomas shifted his gaze to the sounds of battle as muffled cries and roars reverberated beyond, but after a minute, no more guards trickled through the doorway. Hesitantly, Thomas allowed his escort to prod him away.

"Just how FUBAR is the situation?" Thomas asked after a moment of silence, prompting his escort to release a weary sigh. "That bad, huh?"

"Airships choke the sky, circling the castle like vultures. They've been peppering us for the past half hour with their electric cannons, causing hole breaches in the shield. They've been sending small infiltration teams, but for some reason have been holding off from a full-on frontal assault with the main force. Hasn't stopped them from thinning our numbers little by little though. Our ballista stations have been popping them, but there are just so many that we've run out of ammo already."

A quaking explosion outside causes Thomas to slip upon the marbled flooring. "Ouch... and the Wonderbolts? Our aces in the air?"

The guard offers a hoof and Thomas accepts. "Grounded, for now, but very eager to get back out there and for good reason. You should have seen it, they were weaving around cannon fire and cleaving through the airships like nothing. 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.' that's what Captain Spitfire called it."

"What stopped them?" Thomas asked.

"Same problem as everything else, there's too many. They did excellently against the first few airship groups, but only because they had overextended themselves from the main force, making them easy and isolated targets. But once the rest of the fleet swarmed the castle, airspace became too tight."

From the exterior, a clap of thunder rumbled out shortly followed by the earth quaking. Upon finding his footing, Thomas cast a look through a window, catching the golden glow of a wide shimmering barrier barely covering the castle's perimeter. Before him lay the baily which hosted the remains of a crumbled stage along with several destroyed festival stands, trampled to pieces by the swarm of raging beasts as they filled every available space. The beasts forefront to the barrier thrashed the magic shield relentlessly as their rear comrades whooped and cheered and roared away, pounding fist to shield and causing as much ruckus as possible all the while becoming further fueled upon seeing the crumbling morale of the guard.

The staircase leading from the castle to the courtyard held makeshift fortifications where several pony guards hunkered behind, effectively creating a funnel that the enemy would have to filter through to reach the castle interiors, thus acting as a secondary defense point should the barrier fail.

Another crash of lightning thundered as a spear of electricity struck the shield wall, causing it to flicker and for a breach to briefly puncture. The shield was rectified soon enough, but not before dozens of beasts dashed through the opening.

Immediately, they formed into organized phalanx groups, allowing their shield carriers to steadily advance and provide cover as their spear bearers and grenadiers pummeled the pony line.

Under enemy suppression, the two sole unicorn defenders failed to intercept several attacks, ultimately leading to several guards falling from spear strikes and petri-nades alike, severely crippling the already strained defense force. A shrill short whistle sounded off, "Fallback!" an officer yelled as she ascended to the castle doors, "Regroup at the secondary defensive line, hold them there!"

The last of the remaining forces sprinted through the doorway just as the beasts reached the top of the stairs, allowing Thomas the barest glimpse of their quivering hide just as the doors slammed themselves shut. The entryway was further reinforced with two ornamental cabinets, but it did little to stem the tide. The barricade bulged as the beasts pounded away, but for the moment it held.

"More made it through than we could anticipate, these fortifications won't hold them for long. Private Shale-" said private was quick to salute at attention, "-double time to the central lobby and enlist every available mare and stallion. I don't care if they have a boo-boo on their snout or broken ribs, if we lose this sector our enemy will have a straight shot at the infirmary." A heavy blast rattled the barricade as several guards cried out.

"Yes, Ma'am!" the private shouted before sprinting past the alicorn and his escort, sparing only a small side glance as they passed each other by.

Several more discharges rang out as the spears tore the barricade to pieces. "Hold the line!" the officer shouted as she and several members braced against the doorway, but not before noticing several shadows flickering through the hall.

Scaling along the castle's exteriors, beasts affixed themselves and began prying and bashing at the reinforced window frames, puncturing the glass and ripping the shoddy boards apart with brute strength. With a swinging kick, one by one the beasts launched themselves through, kicking up glass and debris upon the velvet carpet, only to immediately be pummeled down by a hail of spear lasers and missiles.

A few managed to equip their shields and endured the pony's barrage as they closed the distance, eliciting the earth pony guards to charge them head-on. The clash of metal rang out as hooves met shield, but soon a scream filled the air as one of the beasts latched its claw onto the leg of an unfortunate guardsmare who was subsequently utilized as a makeshift living club. Battering her compatriots left and right, the beast continued its assault unopposed as the guards scrambled away, wary of injuring their friend worse than she already was.

At last, with a flair of a unicorn's horn, the beast's wrist was seized within the air, and with a twist, it released its hold on the mare, who crumbled into a bruised heap. Once she was cleared away, all of the royal guards dogpiled the beast, smothering the thing in stomps and kicks until it was little more than a twitching heap on the floor.

The other beasts fared no better, what with one of them being dropkicked out the window from which it entered and the last one suspended in an expression of panic as the petri-nade finished its work.

The gathered ponies released a collective sigh of relief, one that would not last.

With one final heavy discharge, the barricade splintered to pieces, dislodging the nearest guards into the adjacent walls and coating the rest in shrapnel and dust. A smokey haze obscured the doorway and beyond, allowing a brief moment of tranquility to fill the air. Barriers were quickly erected and fortified just in time for a scant few reserved forces to gallop into the fray. Without warning, however, two beasts somersaulted through the smoke and skidded to a halt before reaching into the bags fastened to their waist. Clutched within both claws by the dozen, petri-nades dotted the air in sweeping arcs, coating everything within the room with a layer of obsidian. Caught in the midst of sprinting for cover, three fresh recruits were too slow on the draw as they petrified on the spot, their faces of fear and shock causing the rest to entrench themselves against their defenses further.

With their diversion in motion, the smokey outline of the remaining beasts morphed into being as they charged the opening. Several guards rushed to plug the hole, but the discharge of spears halted them in place, forcing a withdrawal into cover. One unfortunate soul found himself yanked by the leg and tossed into the enemy's ranks where he was manhandled to the floor just as the last of the beasts emerged through the opening. The clashing of metal echoed through the hall as pony and beast tangled in CQC. Hooves pounded on flesh and fur as shields and spears bashed hide and armor, each side giving and taking a few inches as they each struggled for a breakthrough.

Fortunately, the beast's momentum stalled as the guards gave no quarter, and with the advent of reinforcements joining the fray, the tide of the battle fully shifted to the ponies as the beasts were gradually driven back to the breach. Even as the beasts peppered them with petri-nades, the unicorns were quick to snatch them up and away or better yet, returned to sender.

The battle soon devolved into a contest of sheer strength as the beasts erected a wall of shields pushing back against the rippling hooves of the guards as they teetered on the edge of the doorway. Heavy breaths and grunts filled the air as each side pushed and shoved with all their might but with a shout of surprise, the two most forward pony guards found themselves flailing onto the floor as their counterparts unexpectedly pulled away to the side, leaving a hole to the rear wide open. With precise aim, a wooden barrel was tossed through the opening, bypassing most of the guards before rolling to stop only a few feet away.

Thomas's eyes grew wide at the sight of the black powder keg, especially its lit fuse which quickly receded into the barrel a second later.

"Duck and cover!" Somepony shouted out, but they were too little too late. The keg exploded into a shower of splinters, sending the scrambling guards flying away in several directions at pummeling speeds. Windows shattered and barricades were shredded as ponies crashed into marble pillars and floors. Groans and a few screams rang out among the littered bodies as the few capable guards struggled to recover.

The painful ringing in Thomas's ears had yet to subside when he clambered back onto his hooves to help, but his escort thought otherwise as he was sharply pulled away, but not before witnessing yet another keg be launched from the beast's ranks. Many jaws slackened at the sight as it sailed and settled perfectly in the middle of the injured guard contingent. Many ponies were frozen in place and those few still able-bodied shielded their injured from what was to come with their own hide.

Thomas's escort tugged on him once more with a wing but it was forcefully dislodged with a shove before he slid down the railing and launched himself forward. Surging forth, his magic consumed the barrel in full, compressed until total encapsulation was achieved, and he attempted to shove the bomb right into the enemy's fold. Still, the fuze was quicker to burn away instead.

Encased by Thomas's magic, the following explosion induced negligible damage to his fellow ponies, a consolation Thomas couldn't appreciate as concussive forces consolidated through his mind, cracking his horn in the process. The power of the energy hit harder than a falling train, leaving only a small gasp to be emitted from Thomas as he collapsed to the floor, staining the marble with red as a fountain of blood gushed from his sinuses. His unhinged jaw and clouded eyes complimented the scene further. The rapid rise of his sides and his shallow wheezing breaths were the only indications of life.

Laying in a broken heap, a shadow descended onto his frail figure but was rebuffed as shields and spears and blue ghastly eyes surged forward like sprung snakes. A claw soon filled Thomas's bleary vision, aiming for his throat, but just as it was about to find purchase, a flicker of red flashed within their iris. Upon his neck, the Alicorn Amulet flared to life, its magic coursing along Thomas's figure and all throughout his insides, enhancing his natural healing factor and providing an adrenaline-boosting surge of energy as his eyes sharpened onto the beast before him. Rolling waves of rage rebounded through his freshly revived mind, thus eliciting

a snarl from his muzzle as a jet of steam was snorted out.

The beast hesitated, taking a second to reconsider its actions, but a second was all Thomas needed. With rippling power coursing through his veins and a quick turn on his heel, he delivered a quaking buck into the beast before him, rocketing the poor creature straight outside the breach, cleaving right through the storm army like Moses and the Red Sea. With a stomp of his hoof, red tendrils leaked out, spewing forth and snaring the few brave beasts who dared to charge him. With a flick of his hoof, they were sent soaring above, cracking the ceiling and tearing the chandelier to pieces. With a quick swipe, the beasts were sent hurdling into their adjacent partners below, leaving the group a bundled mess of limbs and equipment.

Trotting up to the nearest beast, the same one that attempted to snatch him moments before, the creature cowered before Thomas's figure. His snarl was soon replaced with a fanged grin as his slitted eyes narrowed around the creature's neck. His horn flared to life, sputtered little wispy strings, seized the creature by the neck, and applied pressure. Hefted before his snout, whimpering gasps escaped the beast's throat as its eyes bugged out and its fur turned pale. Its claws feebly pried at the strings, but it did little to ease the constricting. As the seconds ticked past, only one word echoed through the alicorn's mind. Death. Death. Death.

So focused on his victim, Thomas failed to notice the beasts reconsolidating their forces and beginning a new offensive, this time aiming to sidestep the mad alicorn and prod at the injured forces situated only a few feet away, too injured to repel the attack.

Finally, out of the corner of his eye, Thomas takes note of the last powder keg being lit and thrown upon the retreating guards. Turning back to his prey, his insatiable blood lust nearly overpowers his senses once more, but as a scream of fear blurts from behind, he is jolted away from the dark thoughts, and with a grunt, shoves the gasping beast back to its comrades. With a quick lance of energy, the keg is shrouded in red mana and promptly ejected out one of the many broken windows. A boom was quick to follow.

"Enough!" Thomas yelled to all in the hall, catching many eyes and turning equally as many heads. With a surge of crimson mana, a transparent curved barrier sprouted out until the corridor was fully encompassed from wall to wall. Several spear shots impacted the shield, doing little more than fixing another snarl onto the alicorn. With a mighty stomp of his hooves, Thomas surged forward, sweeping everything adorning the passageway up against his glistening wall. The closer they got to the doorway, the more compact the shield reformatted until a condensed ball of beasts and various objects cascaded through the breach into a painful heap at the bottom of the staircase. Immediately, the beasts reconvened upon the entryway, once more bashing on the erected barrier, but much to their surprise, the shield relented and a large portion of their group collapsed to the ground in confusion, only for their pupils to shrink as they gazed inside.

Propped before his hooves, a handful of petri-nades twirled within Thomas's magical grip. He gave the enemy a stoney glare before hurling all 'nades upon them. A collective shriek was uttered as a green shroud of gas encapsulated the breach, only to silence in an instant. Once the cloud dissipated, the living pile and the entryway were fused as one. A few stragglers lingered beyond, but another glare sent them fleeing, disappearing as they rounded the exterior corner.

Thomas continued to glare their way, huffing and puffing all the while, but as the seconds passed, the adrenaline flooding his veins drained away, leaving his head faint and his legs quivering. The amulet ceased its magic, leaving Thomas tipping over, but not before his escort from before braced his side.

The guard fixed Thomas a look, opening and closing his jaw several times, on the verge of sputtering words before relenting with a shake of his head as the two hobbled away.

Ears pounding, heart racing, adrenaline spiking, wings aching, these went ignored as lightning arced overhead. The heat of the electricity singed the tips of his feathers and the quaking boom that followed caused his wings to twitch, forcing him to pivot to the right. The sudden jerking motion induced a rift of air to coarse harshly against his primary feathers at the wrong angle, causing an involuntary dive that was hastily rectified before dipping into the sea of clouds below. The panicked flapping subsided once he leveled out and for a brief moment, tranquility reigned supreme in the heavens, that is until another bout of lightning and thunder rippled from his pursuer. Cursing under his breath, another set of evasive actions was taken, a hard right bank in particular before swiveling into a dive. Sweat trailed down his figure as he soared on high, but it was for naught. The prickling of his hair all across his hide was the first and only warning given before the lightning struck true, leaving him a spasming wreck that collapsed mid-flight. Before his smoking form could recede into the ocean of mist, he was caught within the magenta aura of a fellow alicorn, who gently deposited his body onto the ship's deck.

"A minute, seventeen seconds. That's a new record, Psalms, and your wings didn't lock up this time. Way to go champ." Rainbow congratulated as Psalms groaned before her hooves. A wave of cheering across the ship resounded along with a few pirate 'aarrghs!'.

A cloud of smoke was wheezed out as he responded, "Happy to make you Coach, proud."

Trotting up to the two, Rarity delivered a soft slap of a wing on Rainbow's shoulder. "Darling, we've already told you not to push him too hard!" Kneeling before his figure, she conjured forth a rag and began wiping away the grime. "Honestly dear, I think he's had enough. You've been running him so ragged he's a fountain of sweat! One should be prim and proper for their debut at Canterlot."

"Ah think he can forgo the polished mane for this one Rares." Applejack aims a small glare Rainbow's way. "But she does have a point, Psalms needs a break. Ah reckon Twilight would like to focus on his magic for a spell or two."

"Hey, it's not my fault he's only just now getting the hang of it, compared to everypony else who's pretty much got it down." Rainbow relents with a moan. "Ugh! Fine, take him to the egghead. He'll probably be more useful staying on the ground anyway."

Psalms ever so slowly clambers back onto his hooves. "Does this mean I pass?"

Rainbow lifted a hoof to her chin, contemplation etched on her features. "Well, you're certainly no soon-to-be Wonderbolt recruit... but what the hay, you pass in my book, just not with any flying colors, save your own."

Suddenly, a shower of confetti coats the quartet from nowhere. "Yay!" Pinkie shouts out, "That officially makes you the very first flying male alicorn in Equestria's history ever!" With a gasp, she seizes Psalms by the shoulders and brings him face to face, "Do you know what this means!?" She didn't bother waiting for his response, "This means I have to plan the very first Flying-Male-Alicorn-in-Equestria's-History-Ever party! And that's on top of planning every birthday we missed with you and Thomas, and the New-Royal-Princes party, and the We're-Happy-You-Found-A-New-Family party, and the-"

At last, Rarity voiced her outrage, "Pinkie! I've told you before to please not shower me with your confetti! Celestia's sake, this will take hours to snuff all the flakes out, and I just finished preening my wings!"

"Oh! I know a spell that can help, Twilight taught it to me five minutes ago! Stand still!"

A horrified look adorned Rarity's features. "Pinkie! No!"

It was too late, with a blast of her magic, a tiny tornado was conjured into existence that swept across Rarity's face. The flakes were gone, and so too was Rarity's immaculate mane.

Pinkie plastered a sheepish grin. "Ah-hah-hah... oops?"

Rarity blinked once, then twice, before a growl clawed its way up her throat. Foregoing all words, she opted instead to pounce upon the pink menace, only for her to find bare wood as Pinkie took to the skies. "Get back here and fix my mane!" With that, she too took to the skies, forgoing all speed and urgency, and instead flew with grace and elegance, which predictably left her in Pinkie's dust trails.

With a flare of her wings, Applejack dislodges the last of the confetti. She takes a moment to reflect upon the action she committed, at her wings in particular. "Don't think Ah'll ever get used to this feelin'. Magic sure is scary sometimes." Her wings ruffled once more before settling down. "We better go after her, Rainbow, Ah could use the practice." Applejack indicates Twilight's direction with a flick of her hoof, "Twilight's over yonder that way, Psalms. Should be finishing up with Fluttershy."

With a nod of thanks, Psalms catches one last breath before trotting forth. Celaeno's ship was abuzz with activity, what with Princess Skystar's hippogriff guard contingent utilizing most of the deck as impromptu training grounds, running drills, and hosting sparring matches. Even a few of Grubber's beasts allowed themselves to be used in take-down demonstrations, pointing out areas of weakness for their kind to be taken advantage of.

Speaking of Grubber, he and the other friendly beasts were nestled off to the side, playing cards in hand as they shared stink eyes with one another. "Do you have a... six?" The creature to his left growled a response, "Dangit!" Grubber proceeded to draw four.

"Do you have... G52?" Pinkie asked as she shuffled her cards. The beast before her gave a questioning look before growling negative. "Ha!" Pinkie shouts as she displays her cards before the group, five aces of diamonds in hoof, "Bingo!"

Groans were uttered from all with one beast flinging its cards in frustration as Pinkie seized the pot, cackling like a mad mare. "Pinkie!" Rarity shouted from above as she ever so slowly caught up with the pink menace.

"Uh-oh!" Pinkie expressed before leaving a pink trail as she dashed overboard, flinging all the storm bucks into the air in the process.

"Ugh!" Grubber moaned, "I hate blackjack."

Moving on, Psalms climbed the stairs to the helm where Captain Celaeno watched Capper tinker with the harpoon gun.

"You sure you know how to operate this machine?" Celaeno inquired.

Capper finished readjusting the gun's sight before responding. "I'll have you know, I was the reigning dart-throwing champion for nine consecutive years in the Klugetown Klugefest."

Celaeno waited a moment for Capper to continue, but seeing as how the cat had no more to say, she took over. "...Ok? And that's relevant to this... how?"

With a flick of a switch, the gun roared to life as steam exited its exhaust tubes. Swiveling to the starboard, Capper surveyed the area before focusing on a single storm buck, far adrift, at least twenty meters away, flickering wildly in the roaring wind, and descending to the lands below. With a squeeze of the trigger, the harpoon was ejected and in an instant, impaled the bill. Gravity did its work and the two disappeared into the cloud layer. Capper rubbed his knuckles against the hem of his coat as he replied, "Just give me a target and clear line of sight, and I'll be popping balloons all day."

Passing the two by, waves were exchanged as Psalms trudged up to the quarter-deck, where Twilight and Fluttershy were found, huddled around a small controlled fire. Fluttershy eyed the fire behind her mane, brows furrowed with beads of sweat dripping down. In contrast, Twilight was steadfast as she guided her shy friend. "Remember, think cool, liquid thoughts, imagine in your head an ice cube melting, the water washing away, but instead you grab it, you hold it, and with it you..."

Fluttershy closed her eyes as her horn lit, sputtering magical sparks, until a flash of illumination filled the air as a splash of water doused the fire. "I did it." Fluttershy gasped.

"Great job, Fluttershy! While aqueous magic is a novice spell class to master, the fact that you managed to successfully cast it in such a short time speaks wonders to your innate magical prowess. That simple water spell, along with casting mend should be enough to keep this ship afloat when battle arrives. I wish I could teach you more, but for the time we have, it'll have to do."

"Hey girls," Psalms called out, "you should be more careful, Twilight, this is a wooden boat after all."

"It's alright; I had it under control," Twilight reassured. "Speaking of control, I was hoping to speak to you and Thomas both about your mana manipulation. Unfortunately, things just kept escalating, and I never had the time. But I do now, and if you're willing, I'd like to take a moment to analyze your inner aura matrix."

As Psalms settled himself, Fluttershy quietly took her leave, not without waving goodbye to the two. "What's this all about? Is something wrong with my magic?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not per se. It has more to do with how you are exerting your magic." From out of a corner, Twilight summons a heavy tome before depositing it between the two. Depicted on the front cover was a staff entwined by two serpents, the Caduceus. Lighting up her horn, the pages begin to flicker one after another as her eyes analyze each chapter with lightning speed.

Psalms brows pursed together. "Uh, where did the book come from?"

"I've established thaumatic connections across several tomes and illustrated academic papers from heavily credited institutions, which provides easy access to relevant information when I'm conducting research. This medical book is one of them, now take a look here. " At last, her magic ceases as the book settles upon Chapter 83, "The Manifestation of Magic"

"It's a well-established fact that magic permeates through most substances and beings in all corners of Equus. It is also understood that, thanks to multiple archaeological and paleontological studies, magic has existed longer than recorded history or even Equus caballus as a whole; which unless proven otherwise, insinuates that all matter, inorganic or not, has been saturated with magic since at least the formation of modern life on the planet itself."

Finished with reading from the book, Twilight turns her attention to Psalms. "Magic has been ingrained in our genetic makeup since the time of our ancestor's ancestors and perhaps even before; magic and ponies have coexisted together as one for all of our species' existence. The reason I'm telling you all this is because you and Thomas may be the first and only beings untouched by magic down to a cellular level."

"Wow," Psalms proclaimed before his face scrunched up, "No, wait, hold on, that can't be right, just look at me! I'm a male alicorn, my human body was transformed into this... well technically I didn't have a body since I had already died so I was a spirit... or a soul? Anyway, shouldn't my pony body be made of nothing but magic?"

"And there lies my conundrum. Psalms, I am the embodiment of the Element of Magic, so believe me when I say I was perplexed by the lack of magic I sensed within the two of you, at least the magic that I know of."

"That you know of?" Psalms parroted back.

Twilight nodded away. "There is no doubt the essence that makes you, you, is magical in nature, but it is a type I have never encountered before, and it is one beyond my current understanding. I have researched many different types of magic; dark, chaos, arcane, and transmogrification just to name a few, but compared to all I know, what you two embody... I can only describe it as... greater." She fixes Psalms a look, "I assume you will attribute this to your 'God' from before?"

Pslams cuffed a hoof to his medallion. "He's the only reason I'm here, made me in your image, so to speak, so yeah, I do."

Twilight takes a moment to study his figure before relenting with a small nod. "Well, getting back to the topic at hoof, it is this lack of magic that has me interested in scanning your matrix to determine your inefficiency in spell casting. When we ambushed those beasts back at the train yard, I noticed you were quick to tire out after only a few casts. With this scan, I may be able to identify your problem..." Without warning, Twilight releases a sharp gasp, "...and if I'm correct... not only will I be able to mend your power output, but this may even provide a solution to Dispareunia Magicae Neonatorum!"

Psalms's muzzle gaped, but as the seconds passed without Twilight's further input, he opted to take over. ".... I... uh... Dispara... wha?"

Taking Psalms's head between her hooves, Twilight brings the two face to face. "If I'm correct, because of your non-magic origins, you and Thomas may be the heralds of a cure to a genetic disorder that has plagued unicorn newborns for many generations!" Twilight releases Psalms as she sweeps her hoof over the horizon, "Every year, hundreds, sometimes thousands of foals across the kingdom are born with DMN; a neurological deficit of certain protein chains within our DNA that prevent the formation of leylines, most prominently within the horn structure. For centuries, we have had the means of furnishing the protein chains, allowing limited mana access for certain 'lucky' disabled unicorns, but without a clean, untarnished template of the leylines, restructuring a pony's matrix without afflicting further neurological damage was an impossibility... until now. With you two, we may finally have our solution!"

"No way," Psalms denies, "Are you sure? What about the mirror world? Sunset's home? That place and its people don't have magic, right?"

Twilight pauses for a moment, "...Not inherently... or initially."

"So why haven't you used them for a cure?"

"Because there's nothing that can be utilized from their group. Their world and ours are offshoots of one another, connected in more ways than the mirror alone. After Sunset told me of the mysterious cave where she and her friends found their geodes, I can only assume three things; magic has been leaking from Equestria for a long time, magic does naturally exist, or has come to naturally inhabit their world over time. Regardless of whether the inhabitants can manipulate magic or not, my counterpart and I were able to confirm that leylines, albeit dormant, were present as part of her and her friend's circulatory system."

"Leylines, you keep repeating that word, what is it?" Psalms questioned.

"Think of leylines along the lines of arteries or veins. Where they carry blood and plasma, leylines ferry mana throughout the body. The point I'm trying to make is that Sunset's world and people are already muddied with magical essence, even if very little, but you and Thomas have pure leylines never before tainted by magic use. And like a newborn who's never used its horn before, you use brute force to inefficiently channel magic."

"Well, we were only given a rough crash course by our father. He taught us how to feel the magic flowing through us and not much else."

Twilight nods knowingly, "Proprioception, the sixth sense, and the most relevant for magic users. Foals instinctively use this sense, oftentimes far too early and unrestrained, leading to involuntary magic surges, but for somepony like you, it is the quickest way to establish a connection to your matrix. Speaking of which, I'd like to take a scan of it now."

"Go ahead, if it helps, I'm all for it. Just one concern though, me and Thomas have been using magic for the past few days already; So our, uh, matrix is already tarnished with magic, right? Wouldn't that make the scan worthless?"

"I have a theory, but let me take a scan first, and then we'll find out." Twilight reaches a hoof out, cuffing it to Psalms' chin before directing him down low. With a tilt of her head, her horn comes in contact with the base of Psalms' own. "Stand still now and take deep breaths; you should feel a slight buzzing sensation, that's normal." She sucks in a deep breath before steadily exhaling it out. "Alright, medical breakthrough, here we come."

True to her word, a buzzing sensation cascaded through Psalms' frontal lobe, dissipating just as it reached his neck. This went on for a few seconds more before it relented, leaving behind an itch all across his affected areas.

"I have it..." Twilight whispered out, pausing Psalms mid-scratch. Twilight turned to him, a smile as bright as the sun at full display. "I have it!" She closed her eyes, internally analyzing the image in her mind. "...Just as I theorized. Your core leyline root is saturated with magic... but all other branching roots lie dormant... negligent... of any traces of magic! This is it! This is what we needed! What everypony needed!"

"So this is it?" Psalms questioned, a smile too blossoming on his muzzle as he became infected with Twilight's ecstatic mood. "With one little picture, we just cured DMN for good?"

Twilight's smile dropped down a single notch. "Well," she began, "we have a clean template that will allow neurosurgeons to reconfigure the secondary and tertiary leyline branches, which in turn will circumnavigate and overtake the function of the core leyline root. All leylines aside from the core act as a redundant system in the case of severe horn damage, thus allowing continued magic manipulation for somepony like Tempest, albeit with great strain and possible limitations." A forlorn look overtakes Twilight. "Having to lose a horn is a tragedy, but never being able to use one in the first place, being stripped of your birthright from the start, is soul-crushing." In a blink of an eye, her frown turned upside down. "But thanks to you, we have the means to forever remedy it!"

Twilight delves into cheers and laughter as she delivers a hug upon Psalms, who in turn embraces back. Another set of cheers and giggles enters the fray as a new body enters the hug session. "Yeah! Woo-hoo! Hurray! What are we celebrating!?" Pinkie inquires.

With a huff and a puff, the alicorn and his guard reached the top of the stairs where they opted to take a moment to catch their breath. Before them lay the ornately decorated doors leading to the throne room. "Rampart's through here," Thomas's escort gasped out, "I need to return to my post, good luck, your Majesty."

"Hey," Thomas calls out, halting the guard mid-step, "I never caught your name."

The guard about faces and brings a wing up in a salute, "Sir! Private Hard Buckle, Sir!"

"Well, Private Buckle, thank you for the escort. I know I didn't make things easy for you, and sorry about the shove earlier."

"No need to apologize, Sir. It is not my place to question the actions of standing royalty, in spite of the circumstances at hoof." With his piece said, the guard clacked his heels, turned, and descended.

Thomas spared Buckle one last glance before shouldering through the doorway. The petrified forms of the princesses are the first objects observed as Thomas walks on through, but his eyes soon shift to the lines of unicorns adorning both sides of the throne room. Their hides glistened with sweat as their horns shined with streams of energy that fed out the stained glass panes and into the surrounding shield. An arc of lightning lit the exterior as it struck the shield, eliciting one of the guards to collapse to their knees, grunting with strained breaths, but they were soon back on their hooves as their companions hefted them back up, supporting their weight against their side.

In one of the corners, a group of pegasus ponies adorned in blue jumpsuits lingered about as they gazed upon the skies beyond the window.

In another corner, off to the side, was a stockpile of books messily strewn about with Sunset, along with their two unicorn saviors an hour before, being forefront amongst it. Sunset and the pink-ish unicorn were animatedly discussing the contents of the heavy tome before them, while the blue wizard lazily flipped through another.

The sound of his entrance caught Sunset's ears, causing her and the other unicorn to turn to him. "Thomas, are you alright?"

Thomas closed the distance, causing Sunset to give him a brief embrace. "I'm fine, somehow. Had a little trouble along the way, but nothing I couldn't handle. You?"

Sunset released him, limping as she nursed a hoof to her chest, hissing in pain when retracting herself. "Well, not everypony has the luxury of an alicorn healing factor, but I'll live." She turned towards her fellow unicorn, gesturing a hoof to her. "This is Starlight, one of our saviors from before. She's Twilight's personal student and certainly has the prowess and potential to match her."

A slight blush adorned Starlight's cheeks, "I, uh, I wouldn't exactly say that; she is the Element of Magic, after all."

"And yet, you still gave her quite the struggle with that time fiasco." Sunset's hoof shifts to the wizard. "And she is Trixi-"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"-The Great and Powerful Trixie, mare of the mystics arts, and our other savior."

Within Thomas's peripheral, he could see the Captain urgently waving him forward. "Great to meet you both, Starlight, Trixie. We owe you one." Thomas flicks his head at the books, "Busy trying to free the Princesses? Any luck?"

Starlight and Sunset both heave a sigh. "None whatsoever. None of our arsenal of spells so much as left a crack."

"And we're finding no luck with any of these stupid books!" Trixie exclaimed as she tossed hers aside with a huff. A rumble from the outside added to her mess as a tower of books collapsed.

"Thomas!" Rampart echoed from further ahead.

"Alright, keep at it, I gotta take this."

With a dash, Thomas was by the Captain's side, before them an empty cauldron lay with a blue potion held above within the Captain's magical hold. It pulsed with intent and urgency. "Finally," The Captain began, "It's been ringing for the past half hour. She wants to speak to you."

"Any sign of Twilight or the King?"

A snort escapes Rampart. "Are you kidding? I'm surprised any sunlight is breaching through to us at all. Spotting either is a needle in a haystack situation, and we don't have enough eyes as is."

Thomas nodded in understanding. "How's the defense holding up?"

Thunder trembled through the air. "We may be in a castle, but it's no citadel. There's only so much of a beating it can take before giving. My mages have erected a shield that has been bearing the brunt of the tesla cannons, but once that goes down, I will be the last line of defense. While I'm no Shining Armor, my magic is nothing to scoff at, my name is Rampart after all." The potion pulsed once more. "She won't wait much longer, it was a courtesy from her that the Castle hasn't been completely stormed yet."

"Then let's not keep her waiting." With that said, Rampart poured the potion into the cauldron, and as the mist rose, the visage of Tempest materialized.

Rampart excused himself offscreen, leaving the two ponies to examine each other in silence, until...

"So, my eyes were not deceiving me. Yet another male alicorn...we fought, back on the airship." Her eyes reflected upon his exposed wings. "How I didn't notice your wings before will forever elude me."

"A cloak tends to hide things, shocking, I know." Thomas steeled his features. "This ain't a social gathering, what do you want."

"Straight to the chase, I can appreciate that." Tempest squared herself before him as a stern mask settled over her features. "I want... I need you, and only you. I'm done playing these games, and so, I am willing to make a deal. Lay down your weapons, surrender yourself to me, and I will allow all of your ponies to leave the city peacefully."

Thomas didn't hesitate. "Hell no."

Tempest took a moment to blink before responding, "I don't think you are in a position to bargain here. You are completely surrounded, hopelessly outmatched, and severely outnumbered. With just one order, I'll have your shield crumbled to dust and everypony back in chains within the hour." Tempest inched her face closer to the scrying screen, her stern gaze hardening evermore. "Do not squander this mercy."

"And again, I say no." Thomas pushed back, mirroring Tempest's face.

A growl escaped Tempest's throat, her veins visibly popped and red tints in the corner of her eyes. "You and your friends have been nothing but a thorn in my side this entire operation; thwarting my plans, escaping my forces, wasting my time with these wild goose chases!" Tempest reeled her face away, sucked in a lungful of air, and blew it out in a slow stream. When she turned back to Thomas, all traces of anger were gone. In its stead was a melancholy, almost forlorn look of resignation. "I'm so close to achieving my life's goal, I've come this far and committed too much to throw this away now. This is your last warning."

"And this is yours," Thomas spat. "Understand this, you are in the land of sunshine and fricken rainbows where as far as I can tell second chances are handed out like candy. Hell, these ponies base themselves and their society entirely around the concept of harmony and that... I can't believe I'm gonna say this... that friendship is..." Thomas applies a hoove to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose as he finishes, "...magic, ugh. So here's the deal, this whole invasion is your mess, clean it up, and if your heart's in the right place then maybe, just maybe, the elements won't petrify your ass. Poetic justice if they do."

Tempest ground her teeth. "I don't have a choice, it's too late!"

"Bull." The alicorn called back. "You always have a choice and no, it isn't too late. I'm not a very forgiving man, Tempest, so believe me when I say that if I, of all people, am willing to accept an olive branch after everything you threw at us, how do you think the literal Princess of Friendship would respond in my stead?"

Conflicted emotions flashed across Tempest's face, tugging upon every visible feature as they warred through her mind, but before she could respond, a thunderous horn trumpeted through the air, shrouding all of the city in silence. Creeping across rooftops and through the packed streets, a heavy shadow blanketed Canterlot Castle, dimming the already smoke-dense luminosity to midnight hues. All who turned their gaze saw not but a hazy blotch eclipsing the sun, that is until it breached the squall layer. Two piercing blue dagger-eyed marks heralded the approach of an armored zeppelin that, after a moment, opted to linger upon the mountain's peak.

Tempest released a breath. "He's here." She fixed her gaze back onto Thomas. "Times up. For both of us." Finally, the potion's mist collapsed, but not before uttering Tempest's fading apology.

"What was that?" Rampart questioned as he strode back to Thomas's side. "What did she say? What's happening?"

Before Thomas could respond, a flash of teal shimmered into the pony's eyes, catching their attention as they shifted view to Tempest's new flagship. There, a shower of sparks and blinding light accumulated upon Tempest's horn as she surged her power to ever-dangerous levels. Her entourage was quick to make distance as she was enveloped in a bubble of unstable magic. The eyes of many defenders were caught by her theatrics as they coalesced around the many windows layering the castle.

The city was bathed in various shades of teal as Tempest reached her zenith and with but one last flicker, shot forth her mana with lightning speed, impacting the mage's shield with an ear-piercing clap strong enough to shatter window panes all across the city.

Thomas clutched at his pounding ears as tears fogged his vision, but he could only share sympathy with his armored fellows who bore the brunt of the impact, with their minds no less. Each guard was clutching their smoking horns as they writhed on the floor; some screamed their lungs out, and only a 'lucky' few were stricken comatose, but Tempest's strike worked perfectly as all energy stabilizing the shield ceased.

With a muted flicker, the dome dissipated from the apex down. The moment the shield completely collapsed, the air was flooded with the victorious howls of hundreds as electricity bombarded the castle walls in unison. Trumpets blared their tune and with a resounding cry, the storm converged upon the castle. Bounding on all four, the beasts blitzed for the walls. With their sharp claws, they dug into the marble and stone, hefting themselves up and over the edge or through the windows, while most others breached through every pummeled doorway. Airships collected above, raining fire and beasts alike as they harpooned themselves against the spires.

"The shield has fallen," Rampart stated as he gazed upon the swarming army below. "Our timetable has just accelerated. Captain Spitfire," Rampart shouted out as he turned to the Wonderbolt's group, "I need you and your wingmates to round up all available units and reinforce the infirmary. We're abandoning our defensive positions; notify Seargent Fling that his pathfinder squad will maintain subterfuge orders."

"All units, Sir?"

"All," Rampart confirmed, "We have far too many injured than we anticipated. Civilian auxiliaries are a priority objective."

Spitfire saluted before she and her squad dashed through the exit.

"Subterfuge?" Thomas questioned.

"Seargent Fling has rigged most entryways with petri-nades, should stem the tide, but..." Rampart turned his gaze outside, to the zeppelin above, "I don't think we can hold out much longer."

Just as Rampart finished, the passing of shadows along the marbled flooring caught the duo's attention. Turning their gaze to the stained glasses, the silhouettes of numerous beasts presented themselves as they crawled along the courtroom's exterior. They traced their movements as the beasts made way for the balcony behind the thrones.

Joining their side, Sunset along with the rest of the unicorns, recovered guards included, regrouped with the duo, forming an all-around defense as beasts ever so slowly encircled their formation.

Psalms' hide shuddered as a slinking cool feeling slithered around within his horn as if liquid had pooled and sloshed around unconfined. Its touch was soft yet rough not unlike sandpaper, and its aftertouch left him itchy. The itch was most irritating, leaving Psalms twitching as his hooves stomped in tandem.

"You know, fidgeting around like a foal isn't going to speed this up." Twilight admonished.

"I can't help it!" Psalms exclaimed as he shook his head. "Feels like worms are wiggling around in my head. It's unnerving."

"Well, you're a big stallion, just bear with it for a moment, and stop moving." Twilight finished with a slight flick of her wing against his hooves.

"What are you doing again?" Psalms asked with a sigh as he rubbed at the tingle adorning his forehead.

"I told you, in order for me to maximize your mana output, I need a comprehensive probe of your matrix and synapse structure."

"But you already scanned my matrix?"

"Yes, I scanned your matrix; now I'm probing it, using a low-energy filter as my mana traverses your leylines."

A moment of silence lingered. "...And that does?"

Twilight releases a huff as her horn ceases its shimmering. "You do realize I can't concentrate with you asking all these questions, right?" She reconnects horns and her magic resumes.

"Well excuuuuse me, Princess," Psalms whispers under his breath.

Before Twilight could respond, the 'special' pirate crewmate began squawking up a storm as he rang the alarm, pointing his finger toward the ship's bow.

"Thar she blows! Land ahoy!"

A voice rang out amid the deck, eliciting a turn of Twilight's head as she set her sights on the far horizon. "Ow, ow, ow!" Much to Psalms' chagrin.

"Oops! Sorry!" Twilight sheepishly exclaimed as her magic dissipated.

Taking a moment to rub the pain away, Psalms and Twilight soon join the rest of the passengers and crew as they bunched up upon the main deck, all eyes focused on the view before them.

In the rapidly closing distance, just barely peeking out from the storm front, the visage of Canterlot is witnessed, illuminated with the hailfire of tesla canons and obscured by a swarm of skiffs and climbing smoke columns.

"Jesus Christ," Psalms exclaimed, "looks like the entire armada is there, and they're tearing into the castle."

"Wait, that's Canterlot? Famous city of the pony Princesses?" Capper questioned as he lifted his goggles for a better view. "Yeesh. Looks like it's seen better days."

"I'm counting at least fifty skiffs just off of visuals alone, and that's not taking into account all the ones obscured by the smoke." Captain Celaeno relayed as she collapsed her telescope. "And that's not all; I've identified the Storm King's flagship high at the mountaintop."

A few whimpers were uttered from the storm creatures and Grubber swallowed a large gulp. "T-t-t-the Storm King is...here?"

"He is," Celaeno confirmed. "But strangely enough, it doesn't look like his ship is participating in the siege."

"That's great! One less thing to worry about in our plan." Psalms exclaimed.

"Uh," Rairty scratched at the base of her neck, "now that I think about it, what is the plan exactly?"

"I'm sure egghead here had plenty of time to make one up." Rainbow proceeded to noogie said egghead. "Whatcha got for us, Twi."

Twilight released an indignant huff as she fixed her mane and turned her attention to all others, which, in turn, surrounded the princess. "It's simple in principle; we each play to our strengths. I believe Rarity and her shield magic, along with Fluttershy and her mending and water spell, would work well with providing magical support aboard Captain Celaeno's ship. They in turn are well-equipped to deal with the skiffs." She turned towards Rainbow Dash, "And with the fastest Wonderbolt by their side, I expect the skies clear in ten seconds."

"Flat." Dash hoof-bumped with Celaeno.

Giving them a nod, Twilight continues, "With the air taken care of, we can focus on the ground. Applejack, Pinkie, Psalms, and I will hoof it straight for the castle w-"

"Where my guards and I will provide a distraction! Oh, it'll feel good to finally give what's coming to them. Ain't that right, fellas!?" Skystar giggles to herself.

"Yes, your Highness!" Her guards echoed in unison.

"Oh, uh... I was kinda hoping you'd tag along with us, but-"

"Apologies, Princess Twilight," Lieutenant Reef began, "but even with our combined effort, I'm afraid a frontal charge directly into overwhelming enemy forces is... ill-advised to say the least." A shake of his head was added for extra measure, "No, we shall provide a distraction and funnel enemy troops away from the castle and through the city. If you still need extra muscle," He nodded toward the storm beasts, "I think they'll make do."

"If they can be trusted." A Hippogriff guard commented to the side, earning a few grunts of agreement.

Several eyes turned to Grubber, who was sweating up a storm. His eyes darted from figure to figure before choking out a cough and clearing his throat. "I, uh, well, uh, you see, uh, y-y-you can count on my friends here to be by your side... we... we did promise after all, right, guys?" He took a nervous glance back, his pleading eyes on the beasts before him who quickly shook themselves from their stupor and rigorously nodded away, with one even adding a thumbs up. "See? We totally got your back, it's just... um..."

"Just what?" Psalms asked with a raised brow.

"Just... well... if it's ok with you, I'd like to stay on the ship."

"Whatever for, darling?"

"If it was just Tempest, everything would be a-okay, but this is the Storm King we're talking about." He flicks his eyes nervously from side to side, "Let's just say I've bitten more than I could chew a few too many times with him. If he finds out I'm after his empire, you can bet he'll do me like a kebob on his big stick he keeps twirling around." Grubber scoots to the side and makes way for the ship's depths. "Besides, I'm no good in a fight, I'll just slow you down."

"But we need you," Psalms protested, much to Grubber's surprise, "you're the only one who can communicate with the beasts; the only one who can lead them. Didn't you want this? A chance to take charge for once? A chance to be seen as more than a food-face-stuffing goofball?"

Paused at the entrance to the ship's bowels, a moment of silence filled the air as Grubber took great consideration to Psalms words, eyes flickering from him to the beasts and the others, but soon enough, a heavy sigh left the little guy, "Sorry, but it just wouldn't work... I can tell these guys to follow and protect you... but that's about it... sorry." His piece said, Grubber reluctantly disappeared into the darkness.

A few of the beasts cried soft whimpers as their leader left, but they moved not an inch after him.

Capper shook his head. "Little guy's selling himself short."

"If only we could spare some pearl magic, we could make him biiiiiiig and strong! Like Spike!" Pinkie's outstretched hooves were directed at the drake.

"Yeah, speaking of which, what about me, Twilight?" The thunderous voice that was Spike asked, "I can help too... you'll let me... right?"

Any words Twilight had kept getting clogged within her throat, leading her to open and close her mouth numerous times like a gaping fish. In the end, Twilight reflected her gaze on the deck, unable to confront Spike eye to eye. Her mind ran rampant with objections and excuses, most commonly tied to the phrase, 'still a baby dragon'.

"...Spike I... well, you... just because the pearl..." Inhaling and exhaling, Twilight composed her mind and began again. "...Spike, with the pearl's magic, yo-"

Before Twilight could finish, Capper gave a soft slap against the drake's burly leg. "You, big boy, are our ace in the hole."

"What?" The siblings echoed out, one more pointedly than the other.

"Just think about it," Capper began, "You can fly, thanks to Rainbows here, you breathe magical fire, and your scales are as tough as diamonds. You are, by far, the most threatening-looking being we're bringing along, and you have the pearls prowess to back it up. If they take one look at you, you can bet they'll focus all their attention on taking you down, if they aren't pissing themselves delirious as they run away. Problem is, their skiffs are a joke, except for one which is..."

"...The flagship?" Spike inquired, which earned him two flinger clicks and a wink.

"That's right! Now, I can't say I'm well versed in the armaments of said flagship, but I'll bet you all the bits they have plenty of those stone-turning grenades on board and won't hesitate to use them on you. But, if they never find out about you, well then their guard is down, and when they inevitably see us kicking their army's flanks and join in the fight, they'll be so focused on what they've seen and know, they won't notice you lurking in the shadows and that's when you deliver the one-and-done strike."

"You can't be serious! He's a baby dragon! He shouldn't be out there fighting at all, and I fail to see why we can't let Rainbow Dash deal with the zeppelin."

"Because she can't damage it." Reef interjected, "None of us can, magic or not, except for him."

"Him? Explain." Twilight requested.

"Our kind have faced the zeppelin before, back when we were driven from Mount Aris. Its airbag is encased in a fine sheath of obsidian, exactly like their grenades. All attempts to penetrate the armor failed spectacularly. Taking everything and everyone we have here into account, nothing and no one is getting through." Reef turns to appraise Spike. "Except you! You're a bonafide dragon, your kind eat gems for crying out loud. I'd bet every sand dollar I have you could chew right through that armor like tissue paper. Here," Reef digs through the satchel on his waist and brings out a petri-nade where he proceeds to chuck it at a vacant folding chair. Once done, he hands the chair to Spike. "You don't believe me? Go ahead, take a bite."

Hesitating for a moment, Spike directs his gaze to Twilight, a questioning look adorning his facial features. Despite the objections flowing within, Twilight relents with a small nod. With the go-ahead in place, Spike takes a bite of a leg, *SPFFT*, and immediately spits it out.

"Spike!?" Twilight panics.

"Blegh! Yuck!" The drake exclaimed. "Argh! Black licorice?! No thanks!" Spike chucked the chair overboard.

Scooping the spat-out leg, Reef presents the piece for all to see. "Chewed it right off with no effort. You, my lad, are all that stands between total victory and complete defeat." He turns his attention to Twilight. "The cat fella may not know the dangers of that ship, but I do. How do you think the Storm King has subjugated so many nations so easily?" He directs a finger at the zeppelin. "Because of that thing; twelve overcharged arc emitters, twenty-four black powder thunder-rails, and six transluminal conductors, all of which can and have rendered entire armies dumb, deaf, and blind in one strike. And that's not mentioning the entire stockpile of bombs full of petrification gas in its bay, ready to rain down with a single lever pull. All of these armaments, encased in impenetrable obsidian, and now you have a clear picture of its unstoppable power.

But, we mustn't show our hand too early. The zeppelin has faced dragons before, it knows it is weak to their unique appetite and thus has special contingencies in place. It is able to switch its configuration between two modes, offense and defense. I've already described its offensive mode, its defense is what worries me. If it gets a whiff of Spike here, it won't hesitate to collapse its structure upon itself, covering the deck and all portholes, creating an interior vacuum. Once done, specialized gas charges all across its shell will detonate, plunging it into a bubble of stone-gas. It won't stop, won't relent until either Spike is petrified, or all of Canterlot is."

"Scorched earth." Psalms whispered to himself.

"You know an awful lot about this ship for an isolationist." Rainbow pointed out.

"I have spent a number of years traversing the world, seeking answers and opportunities to further our chances against the Storm King.

I also know there is a key component within the ship's bombing bay that should it be destroyed, would seal all gas valves throughout the ship, rendering its defensive mode useless and vulnerable. Then and only then, could Spike bring it down. We have one shot; once they realize our target, it's permanent turtle mode."

"One shot is all I need," Capper affirmed.

"So," Applejack began, directing her gaze to everycreature, "is that it? Y'all know the plan?"

"Yeah! Kick flanks and chew bubblegum! And I have plenty of gum!" Pinkie relayed as she stuffed her cheeks full of gum from who knows where.

"Alright, then, everyone back to their stations! We're almost there." Captain Celaeno ordered. The deck soon dispersed, leaving only Twilight and Psalms.

Psalms directed his view to the Castle, where a frown soon found itself on his face.

"Worried about Thomas and Sunset?" Twilight asked as she joined his side.

"Yeah... but not just them, I'm worried about... all of this... this plan... this zeppelin... our friends... none of this happened in the cartoo- um, I mean the premonitions." Psalms rested his head along the rail, "So much could go so wrong... so much has already changed, and whether we've made a difference for the better or not, I still can't help but think from time to time that we never should've gotten involved in the first place." Psalms released a sigh, "I just hope we haven't royally screwed anything up."

"Well, we won't know until after all this, but I'm glad you intervened. I was in a dark place when all of this started, and I'm afraid I would have made several mistakes if you hadn't been there to straighten me out. I'm glad to have met you both, Psalms. I'm happy to call you my friend." She flashed him a smile.

He flashed one in return. "Thanks, me too."

They stared at one another for a moment before Twilight hacked out a nervous cough. "Well, in any case, I think we should get back to your mana probing. Clocks ticking after all."

"Right, you said you could fix it; can you run the procedure by me again?"

"Of course. Essentially, I will snake small whisps of my magic through your unused leylines, tunneling throughout the system, creating new paths for mana to be channeled through, kinda like a construction worker digging ditches to lay new pipe. I almost finished when Canterlot was spotted, so as I said before, deep breaths, calm mind, and no movement."

Following Twilight's instructions to the letter, the itchy pervasive force from before begins anew, yet it was no match for the revitalized alicorn, who did not so much as flinch the deeper the probing descended.

Silence became the two's companion as the minutes passed, but eventually, the shimmering of Twilight's horn ceased as she released a sigh and dabbed away a trail of sweat along her cheek. "There...done."

Taking a moment to relieve the itch, Psalms ever so carefully directed mana into his horn matrix. Whereas force was needed to channel magic before, this time around it came as easy and naturally as flowing water. With mana coursing through his horn spiral, a new sense of power and control unlike any time before overcame his senses. Once the magic reached the apex of his horn, it bloomed outward in a blast of light and colors in a moment of involuntary control.

"Wow," Psalms breathed out, "it's like... it's like you popped my back. There was a pressure there I just couldn't overcome no matter how hard I tried and now... I can feel the magic coursing all throughout me, like a freshly stretched limb... it feels good, right, it feels..." Something caught Psalms' attention, a slight wavy movement just off the corner of his eye, but when he turned, it disappeared beyond his vision. "Twilight, what is..." and there it was, a strand of his mane, billowing in the wind with a touch of a shimmering aesthetic applied to it not unlike the two celestial princesses.

"I wasn't expecting that, but clearly my probing has worked." Off to the side, Twilight summoned a crate between the two. "Why don't we give your new mana levels a test; summon as many objects as you can from the box."

Following through with her request, Psalms sets his sights on the box, allows a small trickle of magic to leak from his horn, snakes it up and into the box, and gets a general 'sense' of the contents inside. Satisfied, he lets go of all inhibition and fully encapsulates the box with his mana. With an internal command, the objects are streamlined out from the container with a flair of elegance and control previously unseen by the alicorn. Once empty, the crate itself soon joined in the flow of movement as a figure-eight was formed in mid-air. A loop de loop was performed between the two alicorns as the objects came to settle within a makeshift pyramid figure back in the crate and with a *slam*, the opening was sealed shut with the wood panel.

"Woo!" Psalms cheered as he pumped a hoof into the air. "Did you see that!? All I did was picture everything in my mind and my magic followed it to the letter!? It was so easy, I'm not even winded!"

"In your own words, how would you describe the change in power?"

"It's like night and day, Princess. I'd compare it to...to like running. Before, I couldn't go one mile without collapsing exhausted, but now, I feel like I could run a marathon!"

Twilight let out a squeak as Psalms snatched her up in a hug. "Thank you, Twilight. I was worried I'd have to learn to do magic the hard way, or worse, that I would be stuck being that weak. I... all my life, my human life, I was always weak, in body if not mind. So again, thank you." Psalms released her with a smile, taking note of her small blush while doing so.

"I'm... I'm glad I could help." She smiled too.

A dash of wind tore through the two as Rainbow circled above. "Heads up, lovebirds, we're about to get into the thick of it!" She flicked her hoof to the side, towards the sound of thunder and battle.

Both alicorns were surprised to find themselves so near the siege without noticing until now, what with the booming claps of thunder that assaulted the air. "Any last-minute spells you can teach me!?" Psalms shouted to Twilight over the ruckus.

"Not with the time we have! Rainbow! Is everypony ready!?"

"As ready as they can be! The hippogriffs already left! Celaeno's dropping your group off now! Spike's gonna stay in the cargo bay until his debut!" She yet again flicked her hoof, this time indicating to Twilight's group which was gathering on the port side. "Better get moving!"

Twilight nodded before she and Psalms booked it on over. Joining the others by the rail, the edge of the city drew ever closer as the ship descended. From their distance, the devastation of the city was plain to see, but luckily, no beasts were in sight. Celaeno's ships ground to a halt as the hull plowed the earth, whereupon Grubber's green-painted beasts, dubbed Grubber's Green Knights or 'knights' to avoid confusion, were the first to hoist themselves overboard. Armed with repurposed shields and spears, they scanned the area for their loyalist brethren, and upon coming empty-handed, signaled the others to join them.

Applejack left a small crater as her heavy form impacted the cobblestone street. From under her hat, her eyes scanned the surrounding area, rope in her maw at the ready. With a giggling fit, Pinkie Pie pranced over to the knights, sparring not a glance around for danger, which earned her an eye-roll from the applecorn. Satisfied with her findings, Applejack stuffed the rope under her hat and joined the knights's side. With a flash of her horn, Twilight teleported before the group, leaving Psalms by his lonesome.

With a heave of a breath, Psalms unfurled his wings and kicked off the side, gliding away with the occasional pump of his wings. His little flight is concluded upon touching down, just short of the entrance into the building his group was using for cover. Upon reaching the doorway, Psalms sets his sight back on Celaeno's ship, which had quickly ascended and was beelining straight into the heart of the storm. Just as he turned to enter, movement was detected within his peripheral. Whatever it was, it was gray and wasn't any bigger than a dog, and it was gone by the time he took a greater look. Shrugging it off, he finally joined the group, right in the midst of an argument.

"An' Ah'm tellin' ya, Skystar said to wait at least twenty minutes before charging in," Applejack stated to Twilight, ears flickering at the insistent droning of thunder. Off in the distance by the castle, a hooting chant from hundreds of voices echoed through the streets.

"We don't have that time to spare." Twilight directed a hoof at the besieged castle, "They don't have that time either, we can't sit here and wait!"

"Magic or not, we can't fight an army with just us, sugarcube. Unless you can think of another plan, we have to sit and wait."

Twilight released a frustrated sigh, "I know..." She turned her gaze to the cracked windows, surveying the abandoned streets on the off chance of a solution. As lightning cascaded through the air, the shimmering light reflected off a pile of straps and chains. Twilight stared at the pile before directing her gaze unto the knights, then back at the pile. It wasn't long before a smile found itself on her face.

Five minutes later, the group finds itself traversing the empty streets towards the castle, with each pony being led by the knights while adorning chains. "Bold plan, Twilight. Let's hope it pays off." Psalms commented.

"Are ya sure putting us in chains and being led by Grubber's folks was the best idea, Twi?" Applejack eyed the knights with warry. "There ain't nothing stopping 'em from turncoating again."

"Every minute counts, Applejack. This isn't ideal, but it's all we got, and I...I trust the knights. I have faith."

"Uh-oh, party poopers at twelve o'clock," Pinkie announced as from out of the shadows, two squads of beasts emerged and flanked the group.

Stepping forward, the knight leading Twilight emitted several grunts and growls to the assumed leader of the beasts, motioning with its claws at the ponies in which it made several exaggerated gestures. Once the knight concluded its tirade, the lead beast's eyes shimmered only with suspicion. With a snort, it pointed its claw at Twilight. The knight's gaze reflected upon Twilight and the beast several times before relenting with an eye roll and a heavy sigh. With a tug of the chain, the knight ushered Twilight before the beast, which scrutinized her with glaring eyes. The knight released another sigh, whereupon it seized one of Twilight's wings and unfurled it before the beast. Unbeknownst to all, a trickle of nervous sweat dripped down the knight's forehead, a growing sentiment that was shared with the others as the beast's cold blue eyes remained fixated upon the wing. Eventually, the beast tore its eyes away from Twilight; instead setting it upon all the other alicorns. With a grunt, one wing from each alicorn was seized and presented before the beast. Their wings were released following another grunt, and once again the lead knight was under the narrowed eyes of the beast.

From out of the woodwork, more and more beasts crept from the shadows, bolstering the surrounding force which already was cramped to begin with. The knights shifted nervously; eyeing their loyalist counterparts with growing trepidation, their grips upon their equipment tensed with every passing moment. Several beasts, knights and loyalists alike, ever so slowly reached a claw into their grenadier satchels, their hides rippling with tension as they waited for someone, anyone, to make the first move, that is until one voice caught all attention.

"Wait, *huff* *puff*, w-wait just a sec, *huff* *puff*." trudging a line through the loyalists, Grubber breaks through to the front, only to collapse to his knees as he continued to gulp breaths down.

"Grubber? I thought you wer-"

Still clutching his knees, Grubber lifted his index finger, silencing Psalms. He heaved one more breath before straightening himself out, after which he plucked a cookie from one of his pockets and munched it down in one bite. "Wooh, oh that's much better." He spared a glance at Psalms, "Silence, pony! For you are my prisoner!" He flashed a wink. Turning to the beast holding them up, a series of grunts, growls, and howls were exchanged, ultimately ending with the beast and its cohorts reluctantly standing down. With a sharp exhale, the beast turned and beckoned the others to follow, at a distance of course. Psalms and his group proceeded unimpeded with Grubber proudly leading from the front.

Psalms checked over his shoulder, amazed at the lack of hostility directed their way. "Grubber, I thought you were staying on the ship, what changed?"

Grubber shrugged his shoulders. "Got hungry but there was nothing but bird slop. No thank you, I'd rather starve than eat that, and besides, friends don't leave each other hanging." Grubber flashed the group a smile. "Anyway, you're lucky I happened by; they were going to petrify all of you."

"What are they doing instead?" Pinkie asked.

"Taking us to Tempest," Grubber replied nonchalantly.

"What!?" Twilight exclaimed, gaining the attention of several beasts. Once they lost interest, Twilight leaned her head to Grubber's side. "That's the last thing we want." she sharply whispered.

"I know, but she's just outside the castle itself, and at this point, you won't be making any escape attempts without getting caught. Just stay close, and keep quiet."

The group did just so as they were escorted closer to the siege. The scars of battle were in an open display as they traversed the streets, along with several petrified figures, ponies mostly. The amount of damage the city accumulated within just a few days was staggering.

At last, the group found itself in the shadow of the castle, where hundreds of beasts lingered, watching wave after wave of their brethren storming the castle walls. The sounds of combat were almost as deafening as the chanting and shield beating, but not as much as the repetitive claps of lightning arcing overhead. Gathered within a corner of the courtyard, a line of chained ponies was dragged out. A few stubborn souls buckled their locks, but a few kicks into their side made them yield. Weaving through enemy forces, hundreds of blue eyes stared after them before continuing with their war cries.

A moment later, the group found themselves before a war tent where the lead beast entered before Grubber could instruct it otherwise.

"I told you beasts I wasn't to be disturbed!" The familiar voice of Tempest lashed out. A few growls from the beast were uttered. "For the love of... how many times must I say I don't understa-" The tent's flap was flipped open, "-nd you creatures!" She snarled at the beast, but soon her attention shifted to the opening before her where her jaw proceeded to slacken.

Taking the initiative, Grubber grabbed hold of the alicorn's chains and pulled them inside. "Thanks for the escort, you can go now." He stated to the lead beast upon passing it by. It was all too eager to dash out.

Tempest was a mess for lack of better words. Laid up on her side, her soot-covered armor reeked of burnt rubber, while her sunken baggy eyes begged for sweet dreams. Her fur was singed and charred, but most of all, her horn was lit, spewing out a fountain of sparks like a New Year's firecracker. The strained muscles and bulging veins visible on her forehead left little wonder as to the level of pain being afflicted.

"You!" Tempest seethed out as she directed her eyes Psalms' way. With Twilight by his side, he didn't know who she was addressing, both most likely. "...and you?" Tempest addressed uncertainly to Grubber, who offered only a wave in return. "How did you... when did you..." it was then that she took note of the other two alicorns present. "What!? Alicorns!? How!?" She turned back to Grubber, "How did this happen!? How did you of all creatures capture them!?"

"Oh, it was easy. I didn't."

Tempest was left flabbergasted by his remark if her face was anything to go by. "...What?" she simply asked, all energy having been drained.

Grubber sent Twilight a knowing look, who after exchanging looks with the others, stripped herself and her friends from their binds with a simple tug of magic.

Tempest only blinked at the display. "...What?" she repeated.

"Tempest, call off your armies, this doesn't have to end with a fight." Twilight pleaded.

"You think I have any control anymore!? None of this would have happened if you had just surrendered when I asked you from the start! Now your city burns, your castle crumbles beneath his might, and your citizens flee in terr-argh!" with clenching teeth, Tempest applies a hoof to the base of her horn, which flared with increased intensity. The pain is too much, and a scream escapes her lungs.

"What's happening to her?" Psalms questioned Twilight as the duo dashed to Tempest's side.

"She's undergoing mana burnout; she must've performed a taxing spell beyond her current level or capabilities. For the average unicorn, a moderate headache is to be expected, but for somepony like her, she could develop a brain aneurysm."

Tempest screamed out once more as both hooves clutched her temple.

"Well, can you help her? We can't leave her like this."

"I can certainly try." As Twilight leveled her horn to Tempest's, a hoof slapped it away.

"I don't need your help! This isn't my first rodeo!"

"Tempest, this burnout could kill you; please, I can help."

Tempest releases a derisive snort as she settles back into her cot. "As if. I've been to every doctor, every shaman, every priest, scientist, sorcerer, from Manehatten to Las Pegasus and beyond. They all said the same thing, 'Our bodies are delicate. Our mind is a mystery. Unicorn horns are both.'"

Psalms beckoned Twilight close with a hoof, and once face to face, raised a wing between them and Tempest before whispering away. "That scan you have of my leylines, can that be used to help Tempest?"

"Yes," Twilight nodded, "...in theory. Obviously, such an operation has never been done before, but with the use of prosthetic horns or keratin growth therapy, her matrix could be artificially reconstructed. But we certainly don't have time for something like that." She took a glance at the broken unicorn. "I can suppress her burnout, but that's all for now."

"Do it."

"If she'll let me." Psalms wing dropped, "Tempest, I can alleviate the burnout if you'll let me."

Tempest's brows scrunch together, "After everything I've done, why would you help me?"

"Because it's the right thing to do." Twilight simply replied. "Because it's not too late for you to fix all this, to end it here and now." She flicks her head at Grubber, "He and his beasts agreed to help defeat the Storm King; if he can change, so can you. Psalms said he saw good in you. I believe it."

"And because we can fix you." Tempest's attention swiftly shifts to Psalms, eyes rapt and ears at attention. "Despite what every doctor, wizard, or anybody else said, Twilight can fix your horn. That's the honest-to-God truth; isn't that right, Element of Honesty, Applejack?"

"Eeeyup!" Applejack hollered with an added nod of her head.

"I..." A slight spasm overtook Tempest before ceasing. "I don't believe you... it's too good to be true! After all the time I spent searching for help, you two are the ones with the solution!? Why didn't you say anything before, back on the ship!?"

"Because we didn't have a way to help you then, but I swear on my life, on my God, on everything good in the world, we can achieve your lifelong dream, we can give you your horn again!" Psalms takes her hoof into his, "Please, trust us. Trust me."

Tempest's gaze lingers on their hooves for a moment before it hardens as her hoof withdraws. "I've heard it all before. False promises and lies by swindlers and conmares. Your speech is a dime a dozen."

"Honestly, Tempest, I'd take the offer. Not like you have anything left to lose." Grubber commented, earning the ire of his former commander."

"Silence your tongue, traitor! AAArgh!" Another wave of pain hit Tempest like a train as she thrashed against her cot."

"Tempest, let me help you, please!" Twilight cried out.

"Aaargh! Fine! Help me! Aaargh... please!"

Twilight was already horn to horn as Tempest finished her pleading. Magenta intermixed with teal as her magic flooded the inner matrix, dousing the overcharged leylines and flushing the hole system one synapse at a time. It took a minute or two longer for Tempest's muscles to finally ease away and for the sparks to simmer to a halt.

Twilight's horn ceased, leaving Tempest to suck in a lungful of air as she stared at the ceiling. "...You can't imagine how long I have lived with the pain... I forgot what it felt like before..."

"I had to apply a mild sedative to keep the leylines relaxed, it should wear off in the next ten minutes."

Tempest reclined within her cot, eyes droopy but fixated on the group. "So... now what?"

"Now you eat," Grubber stated as he plopped an apple within the palm of her hoof. Tempest raised a brow. "Momma always said you got to replenish your fuel tank, especially if you overwork yourself to near collapse."

Tempest continued to stare at the apple for a moment before looking Grubber in the eye. "I understand them, but why are you being... nice to me? ...I never once showed you any favor..."

Grubber cupped a paw to his chin before offering only a shrug. "You never were nice to me... but then again nobody ever really was... you were someone I could talk to. Even if you ignored me most of the time, at least you acknowledged my existence by yelling at me, and let's be honest, you could have transferred me off ship anytime you wanted, you didn't need a translator to relay orders." Tempest stared at Grubber for a moment before turning back to the apple in her hoof.

Before anything else could transpire, A rumble shook the tent foundations and not a moment later, a pink ooze seeped through the tent flaps.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack questioned as she and Pinkie closed in on the substance.

Pinkie scooped up some of the ooze and before anyone could object, popped it right in her mouth. A pleased purr rumbled from her throat, "Mhm, strawberry!"

Just then, a storm beast barged right through the tent flaps, knocking Applejack and Pinkie away, and barrelled past the last two alicorns, ignoring them as it settled itself by Tempest's side, growling and grunting out a storm.

Grubber didn't need to be prompted. "It says they are taking artillery fire from the farside of the city center, and a rainbow ship is popping skiffs out of the sky. It's here to take you to a safer location by orders of the Alpha."

"Artillery? Ooh! They must've found Big Bertha!" Pinkie squealed out in giggles.

"Times up." Psalms stated as he and Twilight shared a look.

The beast shifted its gaze to the alicorns for a brief moment before turning back to Tempest... before finally releasing an alarmed shriek as its two brain cells connected the dots. Without warning it slammed a fist into Psalms' side before grabbing Tempest and hefting her onto its shoulder as it dashed out the tent flaps, howling in alarm while doing so.

"Ah horseapples, we've been made!" Applejack shouted as she and the others exited the tent, only to step into absolute chaos.

All around, pink splotches dotted the streets and buildings as beasts scrambled for cover, while the smoking remains of several airships littered the city. The distant boom of Big Bertha echoed through the alleys as confectionary cannon fire rained down. In the air, skiffs trailed smoke and flames as a rainbow blur blitzed through their condensed fleet, skewering gas bags or outright torpedoing herself right through them while remaining virtually unopposed.

Just outside the bubble, Celaeno's ship blasted away, tesla canons firing bolt after bolt of lightning that arced against the storm's edge, laying waste to all skiffs that dared to strike back, and those that successfully did were rendered mute by Rarity's shields, or Fluttershy's quick mending. If one took the time to look carefully, the harpoons of Capper could be barely seen impaling any balloons in sight.

Back on the ground, It's only a heartbeat later that the surrounding army takes note of the unchained ponies within their midst. Those most immediate close the gap. Shields are raised and spears are primed ready to lay waste to the ponies. Twilight erected a shield, covering all four of them, but with the combined might of dozens of spears aimed their way, there was doubt that it would hold. Just as the spears reached overcharged condition, all too suddenly the beasts found themselves enveloped within a familiar green gas, too little too late to do anything other than cry in alarm. Grubber's knights roared out a cheer as an entire semi-circle of petrified beasts lay at the pony's hooves. Their victory was short-lived as the air was soon clogged with spear fire from all directions.

"The castle, we need to get to the castle!" Twilight shouted out amid the battle. Grubber's knights were quick to utilize their petrified brethren as cover while dishing out spear fire of their own. It was then that Twilight realized one alicorn was among their numbers. "Pinkie!? What are you doing!?"

Deployed before her, Pinkie's party cannon was stuffed to the brim with all sorts of pastries, cakes, and other assorted sugary munitions. "Giving those meanies the greatest food fight the world has ever seen, Twilight! Big Bertha already has a head start so I cannot delay for a moment!" She turned to her side, "Is the cannon ready, assistant?"

"Locked, loaded, and ready to deliver the goods!" Grubber replied, licking his frost-coated fingers as he joined Pinkie's side.

"Fire!" Pinkie commanded. With the amount of food stuffed down the barrel, it fired out the equivalent of grapeshot into a charging column, taking down a platoon's worth of beasts in one shot.

"Pinkie's fine, Twi. We need to get moving." Applejack tugged on Twilight's shoulder, who reluctantly acquiesced.

The trio dashed through spear fire and smoke, foregoing all enemy encounters as they booked it for the nearest opening into the castle. The closer they inched themselves, the greater the fire concentrated upon their figures, enough so that upon reaching the exterior castle walls, Twilight's shield collapsed just as they dashed through a doorway.

"Consarnit, there's just too many of 'em." Applejack cursed out as a lance of spear fire narrowly avoided her cheek. "They're aiming to keep us bogged down. That just won't do. Twi, you and Psalms keep movin', I'll hold 'em here, cover y'all's rear." Applejack held a hoof up, silencing Twilight's protest. "Don't you worry none about me now, Sugarcube, they need y'all more 'an Ah do, now get going before they fish out them 'nades. Speaking of which, heads up!"

From atop one of the many balconies adorning the surrounding buildings, A beast had hurled a petri-nade with a trajectory straight for the alicorns below. Unfurling her rope from beneath her stetson hat, Applejack reconfigured its shape into that of a slingshot on the fly. Snatching the nade midair, Applejack proceeded to go all David and Goliath on the poor beast, whose petrified body lingered on the balcony after the nade was returned to sender. "Get going y'all, Ah'll deal with these varmints! Yeehaw!" Applejacked dashed back outside, whereupon her figure was lost behind a hazy smoke column. Twilight and Psalms shared one last look outside before closing the door shut, just in time too as a petri-nade impacted the doors, sealing the two within the castle for good.

"On your left!" Someone called amid the scuffle, but being too preoccupied bobbing and weaving with his opponent before him, Thomas relegates the warning to background noise, no different than the numerous grunts and clashes of beast and pony alike all around. A mistake he came to realize too late as a crushing force tackled his side.

The throne room was a mess of chaos, defeated beasts were scattered around as they adopted a divide-and-conquer tactic for the remaining pony holdouts, but this batch was proving far more stubborn and defiant than others.

Starlight and Sunset had teamed together to create the, quite literal, power couple; blasting away any who dared to take them on. With their combined might, nothing stood in their way; however, given the amount of time they and the others have spent fending off the beasts without respite, it isn't a surprise to see their power waning.

Sunset sure wasn't surprised when instead of shooting out a laser beam, her horn sputtered out sparks, which is when she called upon her geode's powers. She was fortunate to find the pendant in the same spot where she lost it, back when she teleported Thomas, Psalms, and herself by the river when everything first started. Magic, her magic, coursed through her leylines, refreshing the synapses and rejuvenating her fighting spirit. With a burst of golden light, she jumped back into the fight, taking on a whole squad by her lonesome.

Rampart, for his part, was in a three versus one ordeal, and yet could not wipe the smirk off his face. Surrounded on all sides, not a single bead of sweat dripped down his figure. "A three versus one, ey? Since you boys are at a disadvantage, I'll make things easy for you. No magic on my part." He beckoned them forth with a hoof.

It did the trick as with a growl a beast came charging, followed closely by the other two. Rampart simply side-stepped it while keeping a hoof out, tripping it as it passed by. The one that followed cuffed its fists together and swung down in a heavy pummeling move, but with a quick turn, Rampart used his moment to propel himself into the air and delivered a wide arcing roundhouse hoof kick across the beast's jaw, spewing several teeth and sending it twirling onto his previous foe, who had yet to clamber off the floor. Upon landing back on the floor, the last beast delivered a crisp punch into Rampart's cheek, but the Captain didn't so much as flinch upon being struck. Instead, he turned his eyes onto his assailant, appraising it with unimpressed eyes. "You call that a punch?"

The beast stood still for a moment, before hesitantly shrugging its shoulders. Rampart steeled his eyes as he stared it down. "Pathetic." Popping his shoulder and quick as a viper, the Captain delivered the mother of all uppercuts, sending the beast into the air. As it came down, he snatched its tail between his teeth and with all his strength, spun the creature until a full rotation was made whereupon he arced it overhead and slammed it down upon the other two. All three beasts wheezed out their breaths and did not stir afterward.

Meanwhile, sprawled on the ground, both of Thomas's opponents clawed at his hide and limbs, attempting to find purchase. For their efforts, one was gifted a primed buck to the face, where a harsh *crunch* echoed through the throneroom, and the other a poke in their eye courtesy of Thomas's crimson horn.

The eye-poked beast reared its head to the heavens with a cry as it furiously rubbed against its agitated peeper, while its companion collapsed onto its back with blood leaking from its nostrils. Flipping onto his stomach, Thomas hoisted himself off the ground and delivered a double-pronged buckshot into the beast's sternum, sending it careening straight into a marble column where it crumbled into slumber.

"AAAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!" A voice screamed nearby and with a turn of his head, Thomas spotted the culprit. The blue wizard, Trixie if he recalled, appeared to be in the midst of fleeing but was snatched at the last moment by the scruff of her tail. Her legs furiously prodded forward but against the beast's grip, they did nothing more than scrape the floor. With a tug, the unicorn was pulled in off her hooves and was hoisted in the air, her face inches away from the beast's which snorted hot air out directly into her. "Ugh!" She clogged her nose with a hoof, "ever heard of a breath mint?" The beast's eye twitched before a roar erupted from its lungs, eliciting yet another scream from Trixie.

"Trixie!" Momentarily distracted, Starlight called out to her friend, only to earn a spear strike to her side, sending her rolling into Celestia's side with a grunt. Another shot was fired at her, but a unicorn guard with a pilfered shield intercepted and deflected the shot away before it could find its mark.

Rushing forward, Thomas latched his muzzle onto the arm hoisting Trixie, and applied all the pressure he could. The taste of iron was becoming too common for Thomas's liking. The beast, screeching in pain, dropped Trixie in an instant as it swung its arm frantically, a futile move as Thomas only clenched down harder. Proving to be inadequate, the beast ceased its flailing and instead started delivering crisp powerful strikes straight into Thomas's snout. That only proved to piss Thomas off more, and so he bit down harder. Then the beast targeted his eyes, which really pissed Thomas off, so he bit down even harder. Finally, it targeted his throat, latching its free claw around his esophagus, and squeezed as hard as Thomas was biting down.

The two stared each other down as both relented not, but with the urge for oxygen growing greater by the second, Thomas began to involuntarily gasp for air, thus allowing the beast to pluck him off its arm. It raised Thomas's gasping figure into the air and roared triumphantly, only to earn it a magic missile to the back.

"Take it down!" The voice of Rampart ordered just out of view. Turning to its newest foes, the beast charged into battle, flinging Thomas away while doing so.

While his vision was nearly blacked out, Thomas was able to make out the figure of the lunar sister closing in by the second, then the impact was made. What little breath he managed to gulp down was lost once again as he crashed into her shoulder, all momentum halted upon her immovable figure. Drooping down to the floor, Thomas cradled himself by her hooves as he called upon the amulet's magic to hasten his recovery, but the amulet was slow to respond. He knew he had been pushing the trinket to the limit as its power wained throughout the day, and he would gladly let it have time to recharge, but the constant wave after wave of unrelenting beasts was simply too much for it to keep up with.

Regardless, the amulet lit up once more, and although it was slower than he'd like, he could feel its power coursing through his veins and mending the many injuries he had accumulated. Not much more it can give without calling it quits... for the... day...
...
...
...
..." ...-mas..."

"...Thomas!"

Thomas jerked with the shout of his name. His bleary eyes soon adjusted and settled onto the figure of Rampart. "Had me worried for a second there, my Prince."

"...Wha... what happened?" Thomas rubbed at his crusty eyes.

"You lost consciousness for a moment there, Sir. Not to worry, the throneroom is secured, if only for the moment."

"That's what you said last time, and the time before that, and the time before that." Sunset droned on as she wiped a trail of sweat from her forehead. "I'm not sure we can last much longer like this."

"I'm surprised we've lasted this long at all," Starlight added as she limped into view, wincing every step of the way. "They just never stop coming, one group after another. Has anypony seen anything from Twilight's group? Any inkling that they made it back yet?"

Hoisting her front hooves onto the window sill, Trixie extended her head outside. "I can't make heads or tails of anything out there!"

Before anybody could respond, a rapid pounding upon the boarded doors of the throneroom reverberated out. Nobody moved a muscle as another series of pounding rang out, but as a third set of pounding began, a voice joined in, "Captain Rampart!? Are you there, sir!? It's Drill Sergeant Magnus! Open the gate, please! We have wounded!"

"Get that door open, double-time!" Captain Rampart ordered his retinue of unicorn guards, in which a chorus of 'Yes, Sir!' was received in turn.

Upon unlatching the deadbolt, the doorway burst open as a flood of ponies scrambled through. From nurses and wounded, to guards and volunteers, they stampeded from the hall in a crazed panic. From the rear, a handful of guards blocked the entryway with shields and spear strikes, but the multitude of enemy fire left them pinned in place, any who attempted to fall back were struck down.

"Seal it!" A command was given, from who was unknown but it was followed through without hesitation. Before the doors fully shut, the visage of the guards being overrun was presented before all. With a *Clank*, the lock was put in place, securing the room... for the moment.

"Drill Sergeant, Report! You are supposed to be defending the infirmary with the rest of the tertiary force."

"Aye, Sir, and I was, but a detachment of the nurse corp was ambushed mid-transit. First Sergeant Cinder and I took it upon ourselves to rescue them, but our path back was cut off, and we were forced to divert here."

Magnus cast his eyes to the floor, "We lost Cinder on the way, along with a good helping of our defense forces. The infirmary is not fairing any better." Magnus's eyes returned to Rampart, glistening with a hardened steel edge to them. "If we don't end this soon, they'll be overrun; it's guaranteed."

As the two royal guards conversed, Thomas was busy gathering strength as he chose to remain reclined at Luna's hooves. Many unfamiliar faces paced the throneroom, but one did catch his eye. "Well, I'll be." Clambering back onto his hooves he closes the distance. "Big Red? I didn't expect you to be here."

Big Mac turned to Thomas with mild surprise present before fading into indifference. "Eyup, same here, your Highness."

"C'mon man, none of that now, names Thomas." Thomas hefted a hoof for Mac. He would've preferred a handshake, but the times were strange.

Mac hoofbumped. "Big Mac. You might've already met my sister, Applejack, Element of Honesty, and you saved my little sister earlier, Apple Bloom. My family and I can never thank you enough."

"So long as they're safe, that's all that matters. Speaking of which, where are they?"

"Safe with my cousin, Apple Fritter."

"Yeah? Then what gives? What're you doing here instead of with her?"

"My duty as a brother is to protect her, and I could do that no better than by volunteering here, with ya'll."

"Huh... family means that much to ya."

"Family should for everypony. Whether by blood or bonds, through thick or thin, together always."

A resounding bang reverberated through the throneroom, earning the attention of all eyes and ears. Another bang rang out as the doorway bulged inwards with splintering cracks cascading throughout its frame.

"I think things are about to get thick in here all right."

"Static defenses on the double! Arrow formation! All non-combatants retreat behind the thrones! This may be our last stand!" Rampart barked, causing a slight panic among the volunteers with his last words.

"Captain, our flanks! They're scaling the walls!" One guard yelled out, pointing a hoof at the rear balcony entrances and along the broken windows where the outlines of beasts could be seen.

"We've got it covered, Rampart," Sunset announced as Starlight and Trixie joined her side, but the Captain shook his head.

"Negative, we need all heavy hitters on the line. To buy time, we are to funnel the enemy through the narrow opening and pepper them with ranged attacks while our unicorns provide overwatch. Casualties should be high on their side, but they have more than enough to spare so make your shots count. I'll hold the breaches, just focus on the front."

"Why don't we just stonify the doorway, or whatever; that'll hold them out, right?" Trixie questioned.

"Nothing short of petrifying every inch of this room will keep those things out. Make no mistake, Miss Lulamoon, one way or another, they will penetrate our sanctuary. I'd rather keep the door open than the roof collapsing on us, everything else I'll cover."

"You plan to hold all of them by yourself? You've barely had any time to rest!" Sunset protested.

"I have plenty of reserves to last us through-" The doorway bulged once more. "I can hold it, get into positions!" With his piece said, Rampart's horn lit up, establishing shield barriers along the windows and balcony entrances. It was not a moment too soon as beasts piled up along the barriers and began pounding away at them.

Situated near the front, the guards had assembled into a wedge defilade spanning from wall to wall, with storm shields providing cover, save the forward tip where Flash Magnus had propped up his own special shield. Between every gap was a spear primed and ready to unleash lasers.

"Alpha and Bravo teams, maintain posterior interception overwatch," Rampart ordered the two unicorn groups, which promptly receded from the frontlines and positioned themselves between the two rulers of Equestria. Their horns are primed and ready to intercept any petri-nades coming their way.

At last, the doorway is blown to bits, covering the breach in a shroud of dust, but not a second passes before it is dissipated by the sheer volume of beasts that come crashing through in a frenzy, enough so that a multitude of them are trampled by their own comrades.

No hesitation was seen nor was any quarter given as the defensive line laid waste to the first wave, tearing down beast after beast with a shot or two before focusing on the next one, and there was virtually no need to aim what with how condensed the mass of bodies before them was, like fish in a barrel. The lack of equipment present on the beasts did not escape notice, no doubt to prevent the ponies from procuring more supplies from the fallen. What limited weapons the ponies did have were stacked just behind each shield bearer, well within reach once a spear ran dry. And run dry they did; rather quickly, to no one's surprise, what with the endless tide of enemies pouring in.

On and on, they just kept coming; flooding the room with piles of unconscious bodies. The beasts were in a frenzy, giving no regard for themselves or each other, focused solely on breaking through the pony line. Eventually, the heavy hitters arrived, beasts wielding shields and spears coming in to turn the heat up.

And more poured in.

"Prioritize fire on the spear-bearers!" Magnus shouted over the chaos, "Line, prepare for combat!"

As the guard's fire shifted targets, the bare beasts charged the line unharassed. Claws met hoofs and shields as scuffles broke out across the room, but no one was in their element quite like Big Mac was. He didn't even bother to aim his quaking bucks and yet without fail, they'd find purchase upon the burly beasts.

And more poured in.

Situated on the throne dais itself, Trixie was running a special operation of her own. Attached with bags of glitter and sparkles, Trixie launched fireworks directly at the breach, encasing the onslaught of beasts in a shroud of eye-irritating particles. Perhaps not the most effective repellent, but they took whatever they could get. Where did the rockets and glitter come from? A magician never reveals her secrets.

And more poured in.

Positioned on either side of Thomas were Starlight and Sunset, the former of which sported a smoking horn and had opted to operate one of the spare spears lying around. Her marksmanship was second to none as she nailed spear-bearer after spear-bearer between friendly lines and through the mass of beast bodies, and when beasts wielding shields came within view, she fired overcharged shots, which proved more than adequate as their charge ground to a stumbling halt with each laser impact upon their shields.

And more poured in.

The latter of the two lit up like a star before opting for a 'best defense is a good offense' doctrine as she charged head-on into the storm, not without the protests of several others. Laying waste to the current wave of beasts, Sunset displayed her newfound magical prowess as she sent a wave of energy cascading through enemy lines, sending beasts flying away in all directions. She tore shields and spears from their owners and flung them back into friendly hooves, and the freshest wave of beasts didn't know what hit them as a barrier of magic pushed them straight on back from where they emerged. Just as it appeared that she would single-hoofedly turn the tide, a hail of petri-nades rained down upon her figure, and it was only due to a well-timed teleport that allowed her to escape a stoney fate.

And more poured in.

Having regained the initiative, the grenadiers barraged Sunset's every position. She along with every other unicorn worked overtime to intercept the 'nades; unfortunately, a scant few found marks other than their prioritized targets. Starlight's side bore the worst of it as several guards and volunteers were petrified on the spot, forcing Starlight to dive behind one of the few shield ponies left as what little allies remained dwindled before her eyes. "This is too much! We can't hold it!"

And more poured in.

"Left position is collapsing, Bravo team, move to reinforce!" Rampart ordered.

And more poured in.

Big Mac bucked with all his might. He bucked and bucked and bucked, but no matter how many he bucked, more kept coming, and so he bucked more and more until finally, his legs turned in their two-weeks notice, by which I mean the mother of all charlie horses hit him like a mule. A muffled cry barely escaped his tight lips as he was forced to retreat, leaving his position to reach its breaking in a heartbeat.

And more poured in.

With the last of her fireworks launched, Trixie threw at the beasts whatever she could pull out of her hat; a rabbit, a deck of cards, colorful handkerchiefs, smoke bombs... they achieved nothing.

And more poured in.

Shouting came from the rear as nurses attempted and failed to order their patients to stand down, but the injured, seeing the line crumble, forced themselves onto their hooves to assist, even if it meant buying a second at the most.

And more poured in.

Thomas was in the thick of it. Forefront, right next to Flash Magnus where the duo relented not, even as their flanks collapsed. He punched and kicked and munched and bucked and blasted away, and yet more poured in. More and more and more. His senses were overloaded; deaf from all the howling and blinded by an insistent rage, and yet more poured in.

And more...

And more...

And more...

Just as everything was collapsing, the line, the guards, the plan, that was when Rampart played one last hand. With a ripple of white energy, an all-encompassing force field washed away the beasts in a torrent. The foe Thomas was grappling with was pried from his hooves in a flash and dumped along with every other beast to the front where a shimmering barrier was all that was separating them from being overrun.

Left behind from the sweeping wave were the battered bodies of the defenders; many of which did not stir as the minutes ticked by. Those who did, deliberately lay where they were, gulping breaths down as their adrenaline crashed. What few spare nurses they had were quick to tend to their injuries. Sunset, for her part, was still standing, no surprise given her powered state. The same could not be said for anypony else.

"What happened? Are we stone yet?" Trixie asked from under her hat.

"Not If I can... can help it," Rampart replied with a wince. His immaculate figure wasn't much so anymore if the fountain of sweat dripping down was any indication. "I was really hoping we could hold out longer than that."

"What is this?" Sunset questioned, "Some kind of failsafe?"

"I just used the last of my reserves to conjure that... should buy you half an hour... after that, I'm depleted. You'll have to carry the slack from then on."

"Nopony will be able to carry anything in their current state, Captain." A nurse responded as she administered aid to one of the many fallen guards. "With all due respect, this battle is lost. If you can, I'd recommend contacting the enemy for a surrender."

"You can't be serious. Look at what they did to our Princesses," Sunset flicked a hoof to each one, "you want to negotiate with that?"

"We have to try!" The nurse's shout silences all. "Take a look around you; We are beyond lucky nopony has anything worse than a broken leg here. Any more attacks and we could be facing fatalities. As a nurse, that is something I cannot accept, especially when it's so needless." The nurse turned to Rampart, "You have fought valiantly, Captain, nopony will say otherwise, but please, for their sake, raise the white flag."

"I'd listen to her, you know." A male voice rang from the breach, one unheard by any before. Stepping through the opening, a lanky figure wielding a staff passed through the mass of beasts with reverence, not even a squeak or growl uttered as all bowed before him. "Because the eye of the storm is on you. Oh, that's good, I'll have to remember that one."

High in the heavens above, Rainbow Dash was having a blast. She tore through the air at Mach speed, leaving behind a rainbow trail wherever her figure blitzed to. Skiffs left and right and all around had no chance of landing a hit, so much so that any who foolishly attempted did more damage to friendlies than even Rainbow at times. At such speeds, every sharp turn was a guaranteed rainboom at will, which did a perfect job of dispersing and disorienting large swaths of skiffs in one go. Several sharp turns and rainbooms later, the swarm enshrouding the city had been swatted into disorganized makeshift fleets, perfect targets to be picked on by the pirates, and they did just so as all tesla cannons adorning their ship thundered away at easy pickings. Capper was a sharpshooter with the harpoon gun, nailing targets both close and far with pinpoint accuracy, and with enough ammunition for days, all he needed was a line of sight and to fire away.

Rarity's role aboard the ship was taxing but equally vital. Surrounded on all fronts by enemy fire, she opted to surround the vulnerable gas bag with maximum shield coverage as possible. There was no possible way she would have maintained such a feat in her unicorn form, but the boon that was the pearl magic allowed her to sidestep her limitations, if only for the day. A pity, oh how she'd love to flaunt her figure before every pony in Canterlot, maybe once all of this was done and over with, she could arrange a deal with Queen Novo for more magic.

Fluttershy shared a similar responsibility to Rarity and oh boy did she not enjoy it one bit. Everything happening around her was complete and utter chaos, and that's saying something considering her draconequus friend. Thunder and lightning intermixed in a cacophony of light and sound that left the poor mare blinded and deaf, that is until her alicorn healing factor kicked in and rendered the issue mute within seconds. Still, the stress she endured with every waking moment would put even a hydra out of commission. Regardless of how she felt or wanted, Fluttershy, the tough cookie that she was, put aside her fear and focused on her responsibilities entrusted to her, which consisted of mending any and all damage the ship sustained and extinguishing all fires, and let me tell you, there were a lot, much to her dismay.

Captain Celaeno, the fiery figure that she was, couldn't help but hold onto the feeling that she and her crew had bitten off more than they could chew. This sentiment was quickly squashed away once she recalled all that her pony friends had done for them; reclaiming their swashbuckling spirit back, fighting Tempest, and almost dying for them. If they did all that and asked for nothing in return, well this was the least she and her crew could do, and right now, to say things were hectic was a vast understatement; Celaeno and the Storm Empire had butted heads before, but never in her wildest dreams did she think she'd face off against the entire Storm Armada, and actually come out winning! Left and right, skiffs were set ablaze as her ship cleaved through their erratic formations, all thanks to their fellow prismatic pony. Smoke columns from dozens of wrecks across the city choked the air and left her eyes watering, but slowly, ever so slowly, the skiff's numbers dwindled to double-digit figures; a feat Celaeno had trouble wrapping her head around.

Coming about through a small covering of storm clouds, Celaeno was able to spot Dash tangoing with a group of five skiffs. Weaving through the bow of one, her horn tore an underside gash across the fragile envelope, leaking precious gas into the air as the skiff began an uncontrolled descent. Directly below it was another skiff that failed to yield divergent directions, causing a rupture of their own gasbag that imploded in a burst of fire. Panicking beasts aboard both ships jumped overboard as both wrecks crashed into the city below. Without strength in numbers, the airships easily fell from the sky. The three remaining skiffs bunched together into a combat formation but with the combined fire of Celaeno's tesla cannons and Rainbow's improvised cloud lightning, the electricity combined to create a greater arc that tore across all three vessels at once.

"That was awesome!" Dash exclaimed as she maneuvered to the starboard side. "Did you see the lightning jump from ship to ship!? It was so fast even I couldn't keep up with it!" She raised a hoof up, "Hoofbump me sis-"

*CRAK-BOOM*

From nowhere, a great strike of lightning impacted Rainbow Dash, sending her smoking body crashing next to Celaeno. "Rainbow!" She gasped out.

A groan escaped from the pegasus, "Ugh... where's the leak, ma'am?"

*CRAK-BOOM*

Another lance of lightning impacted Rarity's shield. Overwhelming pain flooded through her horn as she collapsed to the deck with a scream.

"Captain! Look!" Mullet called from the deck, finger pointed at the immense figure obscured by the city's smoke. The Storm Zeppelin lazily drifted down from the mountain peak, arc emitter cannons facing forward their way.

"Captain Celaeno!" Lieutenant Reef flapped himself aboard within the helm, "You need to pull your ship back!"

"Way ahead of you!" With the pull of a lever, the engines revved into action as fresh smoke belched from the engine ports, providing extra speed and doubling as a smoke screen, and none too soon as another arc emitter discharged away, missing their flank by a hair's width.

Sitting up on her haunches, Rainbow hacked out a few coughs, "*Cough*, *Cough*, ...What the hay? How did they hit me from that far away?"

"Their armament is efficient and their crew accurate. They will blow either of you out of the sky within moments of spotting you." Reef relayed.

"So, how do we fight back then?"

"As I said earlier, only Spike can truly defeat it. For now, we hide among the clouds and recuperate. Princess Skystar and the regiment will have to draw the zeppelin's attention long enough for it to prepare a bombing run. That is the moment we strike, for the component we must target is held within the belly of the beast."

"Wai-wai-wai-wait," Rainbow held her hooves out, "you want us, the baddest motherbuckers in the air, to sit this one out!?"

"For. Now. I doubt you're in any condition to go flying, and we need time for the right opportunity to present itself. We have one shot; we cannot afford to miss."

Stepping close to Rampart's barrier, the lanky figure tapped his gem-tipped spear against it. "You know, for a bunch of cutesy-wutesy itty-bitty little prancing ponies, you've put up more of a fight than the last five-, no, six nations I've conquered combined! Isn't that just sad?" He tapped the force field again. "Then again, they didn't have power like this, did they?"

"Storm King, I presume?" Rampart deduced.

"No, the name's Sabretoot-, of course I'm the Storm King! Haven't you seen my merch hitting the stores? Conquering the world is expensive, let me tell you." The Storm King released a frustrated huff.

"Speaking of which, you and your little buddies have been a thorn in my side; luckily for me, I have some 'delicate' help." He finished with two taps of his staff to the ground.

Before anyone could decipher his meaning, the roof caved in. Ponies scrambled away from the falling debris, but with Rampart being in the center of it all, he conjured a small barrier over him instead. A mistake he would realize as instead of rubble, clawed feet impacted next to him.

As the dust shroud dissipated, standing before them all, was a familiar bulky figure, clad in gold etchings adorned on both armor and hide alike. The Alpha took one look at Rampart before snatching his entire face in the palm of its claw. Raised into the air, Rampart bucked and punched with all his might, but the Alpha's grip was iron-clad.

Sunset primed an overcharged shot straight for its wrist, but the Alpha had a trick up its sleeve; it brought up its forearm of which a gauntlet of metal and crystal was fastened. Sunset's magic was absorbed into the gauntlet, channeled through the crystal, and dispersed into the Alpha's claw tips. Extending its claw forward, Sunset's shot rebounded to her chest, sending her flying into Cadence's figure where a sickening *Crunch!* echoed through the hall. Her figure collapsed to the ground unmoving. Trixie screamed in alarm as Starlight dashed over to her, but try as he might, Thomas's legs refused to stop shaking as he attempted to rise off the ground; calling upon the amulet proved futile as it was long overdue a recharge.

Turning its attention back to Rampart, the Alpha swung its arm straight down, slamming the Captain hard enough to crack the marble flooring. His shields flickered briefly, eliciting howling and war cries from all. Seeing this, the Alpha primed its free claw into a fist, aimed for the horn, raised it high, and launched it with all its strength; but it was for naught.

Just as the Alpha launched its fist, Sunset's geode flashed into a blinding light that illuminated the room in a brilliant radiance, causing the Alpha to strike the space next to its target instead. Rising in a golden orb of aura, Sunset was subject to a rejuvenation akin to that of a phoenix as her injuries and dirty appearance were burned away, leaving her figure immaculate and refreshed. To finish her 'pony up', her geode's magic coalesced across her back, collecting together and amassing into two transparent wings.

When her eyes opened, they glowed with blinding fury as they set their sights upon the Alpha, and with a flap of her new-found wings, she rammed straight into the beast, sending them both crashing into the force field, causing it to once again flicker. Restraining her target in place, Sunset unleashed a stream of magic directly into the beast's face. Even with her second wind, the Alpha proved a formidable foe as it ever so slowly brought its gauntlets forefront despite Sunset pouring all her strength into keeping them pinned down.

Upon intercepting Sunset's magic, the energy was transferred into the Alpha's claws, allowing it to unleash the hijacked assault back at Sunset, forcing her to retreat. With a little juice to spare, the Alpha unleashed another set of blasts at Sunset. Despite her best efforts to evade, the last shot clipped her transparent wings, sending her into a dive below.

Leveling herself at the last second, Sunset found herself skidding to a halt, but the Alpha was upon her in a flash as it bounded on all four. Dashing to her right, Sunset narrowly escaped the ground-pound aimed her way. Rolling with her momentum, she propelled herself back into the air, and upon seeing the Alpha struggle to pull its claw from the marble, she conjured a mana bracket and secured the Alpha's limbs down.

Pinned in place once again, Sunset unleashed a hail of mana bolts across its hide, but she was completely ignored as the gauntlets absorbed the bracket. Upon breaking free, the Alpha grabbed chunks of marble and hurled them at the pseudo-alicorn who deftly dodged them. Taking high into the air, Sunset snaked her magic onto every shield, spear, and sizeable piece of rubble where she proceeded to bash, stab, and pummel the Alpha from all directions. Taking cover behind the sun princess, the Alpha surveyed the area for a countermeasure, but a scream tore from its lungs when a lance of overcharged energy blasted its face. Spear igniting with another overcharged shot, Starlight retreated between the thrones upon noticing the Alpha focusing on her.

Upon chucking a piece of rubble, the Alpha dashed on all four, sidestepped Sunset's attacks, leaped onto the dais, and yanked the spear from Starlight's grip before backhanding her away. Just in time too as the spear reached its overcharged state. Instead of firing away, the spear was torn in two, destabilizing the battery into a meltdown. As the Alpha chucked one part of the spear at Sunset, it intentionally delayed the chucking of the other, observing Sunset's evasion in a spiral dive before throwing the other piece directly in her flight path.

The point-blank concussive force of the blast sent Sunset's smoking form cratering. She was slow to stir from the impact, but the outline of the Alpha approaching through the dusty haze spurred her into flight once more. Unfortunately, it was then that the Alpha unleashed the pent-up magic within the gauntlets, pinning Sunset into the wall with her mana bracket.

"Will you please quit toying with your pony and end this game already? I'm ready to get this storm started! Oh, hey that's pretty nice, I should trademark that." The Storm King tapped the floor, impatience written all over him, "Chop, chop!"

Stepping before the mare, the beast seized both claws upon Sunset's horn, siphoning away the geode's power and leaving the depowered mare collapsing to the floor for good this time. Turning its sights upon the Captain, the Alpha kneeled before his figure, channeled Sunset's magic into its fist, and struck Rampart's horn, fracturing it to pieces.

Unconstrained magic bled into the air, stripping away his shield barriers and force field from all entry points, allowing a flood of beasts to storm in.

Thomas had no energy to fend off the multitude of claws and shackles filling his vision, and once he was secured, they dragged his body and dumped him at the feet of the Storm King. Within the corner of his eye, a line of chained ponies was marched away, Starlight, Trixie, and Big Mac chief among them. Seized by the throat, Thomas was face to face with the one who started it all.

"You're still moving? Why are you still moving? Why is he still moving?" He directed the question to the Alpha as it joined his side. "Tempest!" She did not respond back, forcing a groan from the King. "If you wanna do something right, do it yourself. Here!" The king hefted Thomas into the Alpha's arms, "Put him in place, and let's get this over with."

Deposited within the empty corner of the pictogram, the Storm King aligned the base of the staff with the center and plunged it into the groove. The pictogram illuminated with a blue glow as it extended to cover the entire sketch. Once completely lit, the pull of a powerful force tugged upon Thomas's leylines, siphoning away every bit of magic held within as his horn lit up, dispelling his innate magic into the staff along with the magic of the petrified princesses. As the last of it slipped away, Thomas's vision grew hazy as something deep inside stirred, but the lull of slumber proved too great as his mind retreated into darkness.

Psalms felt it, everybody did. A static discharge in the air as magic was vacuumed into the staff, with the physical manifestation displayed as blue lines racing away to the throneroom, giving pause to all as they watched it slither away. The peace did not last as spear fire resumed pinning the two alicorns in place.

"What was that!?" Twilight yelled over the sounds of their battle.

"That was from the staff! The Storm King has the alicorn magic!" A lance of spear fire narrowly missed his head, forcing him to duck once more. "Let's deal with these beasts already, we have no time to waste!"

She sent a nod his way before peaking from her column cover. Blocking the way forward was a group of eight beasts, four of which had spears in claws, keeping them pinned as the other four steadily closed the distance. Spotting a Chandileer directly over the ranged beasts, she conjured a sharp arc of mana straight for the stem. Her move did not go unnoticed as two of the beasts followed her magic, witnessing her intention before diving away from the point of impact, leaving the other two squashed.

As the other four pushed forward, Psalms primed his horn for an attack, the first time doing so since his leylines were flushed anew. The rush of power was exhilarating, making him feel light as a feather. Once fully primed, he leaned over the side, aimed his horn, and let-a-ripped. His beam struck hard and true, faster and stronger than any other beam before as one single primed blast sent the beasts flying. Such a power move was still taxing, but Psalms knew he could spare more than a couple of shots without collapsing exhausted this time around. And he did just so as enemy reinforcements flanked their rear, blasting the beasts left and right without breaking a sweat. As one of the beasts chucked a petri-nade his way, a new overwhelming instinct to shield himself manifested a mana bubble, deflecting the nade upon impact.

For the last two beasts with spears, Twilight took to the air, overshadowing the duo before freezing them on the spot with her crystal infusion spell. "Come on, Psalms! The throneroom is just beyond this hall!" Bucking open the doors, Twilight was forced to pause. Perched against a broken window pain was a skiff, ramp extended with pony prisoners being loaded aboard.

"Twilight!" Starlight shouted from the corner where she along with Sunset and Rampart were caged together. The other two unicorns stirred not from their spots.

Gaining the attention of the beast retinue, they charged the princess. With a *Pop*, Twilight teleported herself and Psalms amidst the prisoners, freeing them with another *Pop* as the shackles disappeared. A little whimper escaped the beasts as they now found themselves outnumbered four to one.

As the guards dogpiled the enemy, Twilight and Psalms dashed over to Sunset, but she waved them off with a hoof. "Forget about us, get in there and stop the Storm King!"

"Bu-" Twilight didn't get farther than that as Starlight yelled once more.

"GO!"

The two alicorns burst through the throneroom doors. Before them is the tyrant that started it all, and within his grip, one familiar crimson alicorn. The tip of the spear crackled with electricity as it was digging into his stomach before suddenly-

*CRAK-BOOM*

"Woah mamma! Look at that glow!" Exclaimed the Storm King to the Alpha as he swirled the staff in the air, unknowingly producing a small tornado while doing so. "You gotta be kidding me, one little twirl and I can create a twister? Oh I have to see what else this baby-"

"Infelix bestia, audes a me deserere carnem meam?"

The words were croaked out from the sole animate pony remaining whose crimson eyes leveled a malevolent stare at the two. Joints cracked and popped as he shifted his lethargic self into a standing position, eyes never leaving that of the Storm King's.

"Fervebit sanguis tuus, et caro tua lanulat, ut damnatione aeterna te damnem." the words were purred out, sending a shiver down Storm King's back

"Alright, now you're creeping me out, which is totally ruining my mojo right now." He seized the alicorn by the throat, yet it elicited no reaction. "I don't like your words, magic mare." The Alpha cupped a claw to Storm King's ear and whispered away. "This is a guy? How was I supposed to know that, you know I don't bother with anything cute."

Spit was ejected from the alicorn's fanged grin, coating the wannabe yeti's face and leaving him a sputtering mess. "Mundus te timet. Horror verus est adhuc futurum."

"Alright, that does it!" The spear's tip is jammed into his stomach. "Let's see what this staff can really do." The gem flared with magic and lightning, and even as the doors burst open, their eyes remained fixated on one another, until-

*CRAK-BOOM*

The alicorn was ejected straight out of his paws and through the window, free-falling below.

"Thomas!" someone shouted as a dark blur crashed through the same window, falling after the other.

Turning to the origin of the shout, another free pegacornicuses was standing before him. "Another one? Just how many of you are there?"

"I'm all that matters right now, Storm King, and as the Princess of Friendship, I want to give you a chance to-" The Storm King dramatically groans out loud.

"Ugh! All you ponies do is yap, yap, yap!" He mimicked her with the flapping of his phalanges. "Haven't I made it abundantly clear what I aimed to achieve here?" He pointed a finger to the opening in the roof, particularly at the zeppelin lazily hovering by as it descended closer to the city, armaments firing away at Skystar's resistance. The flash of its firepower illuminated the decrepit room. "Does that scream peaceful diplomacy to you!? Get with the program already! I conquer, you surrender. Then we can all go on with our lives selling my merch for 14.99 a piece!"

Twilight's horn flared with power. "This isn't a joke, Storm King!"

The staff lit up with energy. "Neither is taxes!"

The throneroom was bathed in the light of their clashing magic.

A sudden jerk tore at Thomas's consciousness, ripping him away from La-La land. Before his eyes was the exterior of the castle with him slowly circling to the back. Below was a skirmish of beasts upon... beasts? And Applejack fought with them?

...Wait, how was he seeing all this from the sky?

...Oh right, he was falling.

Thomas's eyes grew three sizes at that moment and he couldn't help his flailing and kicking that followed, much to his savior's chagrin.

"Thomas! Thomas stop! It's me! You're gonna make us both fall if you don't stop kicking a fuss!"

Thomas ceased his panicked movements as his body went limp. "...Ps-Psalms? ...What took you so long?"

"Trust me, bro, we came as fast as we could."

"...This... this isn't anything like the movie... is it?"

Psalms couldn't help the laugh that left his lungs. "Not even close."

Touching down in the middle of the semi-circle of petrified beasts, Psalms released Thomas's lethargic figure. Around them were the figures of friend and foe duking it out, with Pinkie and Grubber manning her pink canon as Applejack plowed row upon row of beasts. Oh, and they both were alicorns now too. Neat. "Don't worry. Twilight and I, well, mainly Twilight, will fix this. We have to."

A burst of magic surged from the balcony above, its radiance bathing the city in showers of blue and magenta alike. "I gotta go, just stay here, you'll be safe!" With a surge of power filling his wings, Psalms dashed through the air and straight onto the balcony, disappearing beyond the rails.

A flicker of movement was caught within Thomas's peripheral, whereupon he caught the faintest glimpse of Tempest's hide entering the castle.

Sprinting through the balcony entrance, Psalms is witness to Twilight and the Storm King dueling with clashing mana beams with neither having given any ground. Just as he channeled magic to intervene, a swift hard-as-stone kick into his side sent him flying. Upon impacting a marble column, he lost all his breath as he slid to the floor.

The Alpha leaped from the dais, feet aimed at the alicorn who narrowly avoided being crushed when he rolled to the side. Horn overcharged, Psalms fired upon the beast, but it raised a gauntlet up, and before Psalms knew it, the Alpha shot a beam of its own straight from its hand, impacting his chest and sending him hurtling once more.

"What the...?" Psalms coughed out before clambering onto his hooves. He barely got his footing back when he noticed the beast darting to him on all fours, panicking the alicorn into an early retaliation. Opting for a 'quantity' rather than 'quality' approach, Psalms discharged three mana bolts at the charging beast. It in return dodged to the side with the first, brought up a gauntlet for the second, and leaped over the last as it lunged with a magic-powered ground-pounding fist. Psalms took to the air as the beast made impact, and could barely maintain course as the magic sent a shockwave of energy as it dispersed.

With all the energy he could muster, Psalms plucked one of the marble columns adorning the hall and hefted it within his telekinesis, albeit with some struggle. Raising its far end like a hammer, the Alpha made for one very enticing nail. The castle trembled with each impact the column made, but none struck true as Psalms' sluggish strikes were trivial for the Alpha to dodge. It in turn snatched a handful of rubble chunks and began pelting the alicorn where he flew. Changing tactics, Psalms swept the pillar across the floor, its surprising speed catching the Alpha on the side. To his shock, the Alpha braced itself and dug its clawed feet into the stone floor. The beast was barely nudged upon impact, enough so that the pillar was torn into two. Quick to act, Psalm pivoted his remaining pillar chunk back into the Alpha's other side, squishing the beast between the two where it let out a roar of pain. Pinned in place, Psalms focused his mana onto the gauntlets themselves, hoping to pry them away, but he was once again bewildered to find his strong telekinetic grip instantly slackening upon making contact with them.

Repurposed into raw power within its claws, the Alpha repulsed both pillar chunks away with Psalms expended magic. It let out a roar of fury upon being freed.

"The gauntlet absorbs magic, turning it against you!" Starlight shouted beyond Psalms' shoulder as she peeked through the breach. "It took all of Sunset's magic and she was supercharged!"

"Really?" A terrible idea entered Psalms' mind; beyond risky, but with his newfound magic reserves, it might be the only one. "... I wonder how much it can take...time to find out!"

Pouring everything he could into his horn, every iota of mana across his figure, from the tips of his hooves to the end of every strand of hair, it flared with a fury of a thousand meltdowns as it bubbled and sparked with the scarcely contained energy. Sweat dripped from every pore, as the temperature rose with every passing second. At last, all the pent-up energy was released in a dazzling display of colors as it raced away directly into the Alpha gauntlets. The efficiency of absorption from the trinkets was an impressive display of craftsmanship, too bad its internal storage capacity was rather limited, or else Psalms would've made a critical mistake, supercharging an enemy like the Alpha with alicorn magic.

Instead, a blaring buzzing siren rang from the devices as the last of Psalms magic entered them. It crescendoed as mana leaks burst from the outer casing, dispelling raw magic back to its owner. The Alpha began to panic as it tore at the devices, squealing in addition as smoke and flames sputtered into existence. Crackles of energy spazzed out wildly, zapping the Alpha into a soot-covered mesh, before finally, the gauntlets gave in and combusted in an implosion. Raw magic cascaded out in snaking trails as they slithered back to their master, rejuvenating him to a degree. As the smoke cleared away, all that remained of the Alpha's presence was a smoking hole to the outside.

Collapsing to his knees, Psalms was left breathless, but victorious. Casting his eyes on the other two duelers, he was witness to Twilight's beam completely overpowering that of the staff's, much to the detriment of the Storm King if his panicking face was anything to go by, at the cost of much strain to the mare herself. "Twilight, stop! You're overdoing it, just yank it away!"

"I... I can't stop! The staff... it's absorbing my magic!"

"It is?" The Storm King took a quick glance at the staff, finding no resistance or strain applied to it. "Haha! It is! Er, I mean, of course it is. It's mine and I know how it works after all."

Before Psalms could attempt it himself, Starlight leaped into the fray, dashing to the Storm King's flank as she applied her magical grip onto the staff, tugging for all her worth, but her magic soon joined Twilight's in being swept away.

Dashing forward himself, Psalms latched his jaws around the staff itself, pulling with all his might as he and the yeti battled it out in the world's most pivotal game of tug of war. With each tug this way and that, the two grunted and growled with increasing fervency as their muscles rippled with power, fighting for dominance.

Finally, the last of the mare's magic was siphoned away, leaving the staff to emit a small blinding flare of light that caught Psalms's eye, long enough not to see the kick coming his way. His jaw cracked upon impact, leaving spittle and blood to spurt out as the Storm King delivered a haymaker into his cheek, spinning the alicorn until he fell on his stomach with his eyes spinning wildly until finally settling, allowing him a view of the war-torn city and the zeppelin wreaking havoc outside.

"As I said before, you ponies have put up more of a fight than most other countries." His foot stomped onto Psalms' back, driving out what little breath he managed to regain. "And those few who did, well, I made examples of." The pressure increased, leaving Psalms gasping. The Storm King leaned down, whispering away into his ear. "And your country will be no exception." With that said, The Storm King raised his fingers to his mouth and blew out a long and piercing whistle that reverberated across the city.

Skystar's diversion had worked out well, too well in fact as she and her retinue of guards had become pinned within one of the many city centers of Canterlot. Surrounded on all sides, her forces had used every available means and tactic to draw the enemy zeppelin their way, and they were successful, seeing as how they bore the brunt of its wrath, but the cruelty of the Storm Army knows no bounds as instead of storming their position and taking prisoners, the beasts instead lingered on the very edge, whooping and hollering with glee and cheer as they allowed the warship to unleash the full might of its weaponry upon the helpless resistance.

Arc emitters discharged away, electrifying groups of hippogriffs too bunched up to prevent the current jumping from being to being. Black powder thunder-rails rained down concussive forces, rupturing eardrums and leaving them disoriented. Last were the transluminal conductors, sweeping blinding rays through her ranks, leaving them open to further attacks, repeating a never-ending cycle of combat.

That is until a sharp piercing whistle filled the air, ceasing the beast's insistent hollering and halting the zeppelin's attack. For the first time since they arrived, tranquility filled the air, but it wasn't meant to be as a thundering trumpet blared away, its origin pinpointed at the zeppelin. The zeppelin continued its lazy drift toward them, but its guns remained silent. Instead, with a burst of steam, the bomb bay doors popped open, filled to the brim with petri-bombs, at long last presenting what Skystar had been hoping to see all along, the Achilles heel.

"Hahahaha! Now look upon your city, and watch with despair, as I show you firsthand why I am feared all across the world! Once I render this place to stone, all shall forever know the might of the Storm Ki- is that seriously a rainbow balloon?"

Steaming in at full speed and more, Celaeno's ship came hurdling down from the clouds above. It zipped past swarms of skiffs with no resistance, and those few who gave chase were popped by a small rainbow blur. The airship swooped in low enough to clip the tops of several houses, and just as it neared the zeppelin's bow, it dropped anchor, pitching it into a steep angle directly facing the zeppelin's innards. Not a second later, the shape of a small harpoon was ejected into the opening, and a rupture of flames erupted out of the warship's bowels, clogging its pipes and shutting all but the reserve ventilation systems.

Then the winged demon was unleashed. Bursting from the pirate ship's cargo ramp, Spike, in all his fearsome glory, belched out a stream of green flames across the zeppelin deck, sending many figures scurrying away into its depths as a siren blared away. Within a minute, the zeppelin collapsed itself into its defensive mode, but with all exterior ventilation compromised, Spike was left unharassed as he sunk his razor-sharp teeth-filled maw into the petrified coating. Chunks of material were torn away with every bite, and it wasn't until Spike reached the vulnerable center that his maw sharpened into a razor-thin grin. Tearing a hole into the thin fabric, Spike huffed and puffed and blew out a jet of flames deep into the gasbag.

Instantaneously, the shell ruptured into a million pieces, leaving the main body to free fall into the city streets, luckily it was only a short distance to the ground. Landing on the zeppelin's corpse, Spike roared into the heavens, a cry of triumph that left all foes who witnessed quaking. Setting his fierce sites on the beasts lingering before him, Spike took to the air once more, shooting plumes of fire over the now fleeing beasts filling the streets.

This was it. Their spirit broken, their trump card destroyed, beasts all across the city began to retreat in all directions. Dropping spear and shield alike, those battling against Applejack and Grubber's knights turned tail and ran, whimpering every step of the way. Skiffs throughout the sky ceased the belching of smoke and storm clouds as they ascended above the cloud layer. The Storm King, for all his pizzaz and boasting, was left dumbstruck at the site of his army crumbling.

"It's... over." Psalms wheezed out from under him, picking his head slightly to stare him in the eyes. "You've lost."

The King stared at him with wide eyes, before a low guttural growl echoed from his depths as he picked Psalms up by the scruff of his hair, earning him a shout of pain in return. "Lost? I NEVER lose. I am the STORM KING!" Psalms was ejected towards Twilight and Starlight's lethargic figures. "You think this little setback means anything? Who needs an army when I have this!" He jammed the gem-tipped spear into Psalms' gut, siphoning away his magic in one fell swoop. As the last of the magic left him, Psalms collapsed back to the floor, exhausted beyond any lack of sleep. "The ability to harness any and all power in the world, with a mere touch! No runes, no etched engravings, no incantations needed. With yours and theirs-" Storm King swung his staff to both Celestia and Luna's still forms, in turn causing the sun and moon themselves to flicker across the sky, a detail he did not fail to miss. "-magic... I can control the sun and moon? Hahaha! Of course, I can! I can control the very world itself!"

"The sun and moon are a very delicate system. You can't just bend them to your whim without facing consequences for everypony across the world!" Twilight stated.

"Who cares what you think!" He zapped a bolt of energy at her, only for Psalms to jump in the way, tanking it in her stead with a grunt of pain. His limp figure was deposited into Twilight's hooves. "I have the power of a god! I can do anything!" His eyes set themselves on the three lowly figures before him as his staff crackled with energy. "And I don't care to converse with pathetic mortals like you any longer." His staff crackled with unparalleled power, reaching critical levels within seconds. He leveled the tip at the ponies, ready to unleash all on them.

"Think fast, chucklenuts!"

"Huh?" was all the Storm King could mutter before Rainbow dashed a knuckle sandwich into his cheek at Mach speed. His figure was spun in place several rotations before collapsing to his knees, but still, he remained conscious, a feat Rainbow Dash didn't consider possible with her move.

"Wow, this guy is no pushover, unlike his minions."

"You'll pay for that!" The Storm King roared.

"Catch me if you can!" Dash mocked as she spun circles around the King, who in turn spammed a storm of magic bolts through the air.

"Stand still!" He roared once more, but Dash cared not for his words. Little more than a rainbow blur, Dashed shoulder checked the King numerous times, delivering swift kicks and punches across his figure, but doing little more than ticking the tyrant off. "Enough!" He shouted as he pointed the spear to the sun, summoning a blinding ray of light that engulfed the room entirely. It did its job perfectly as Rainbow grunted in pain upon colliding with Celestia's stony figure. Ceasing the blinding light, the Storm King did not waste a second to fire an overcharged shot at Rainbow who could only stare with wide eyes, but it did not strike true as it was deflected by a diamond-shaped shield manifesting around Rainbow.

"Sorry for the wait, girls, but knowing me, you couldn't expect anything less than fashionably late, now could you?" Rarity quipped as she, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack joined the party.

"Enough of this! Yer beat!" Applejack exclaimed with a flair of her nostrils.

"Nothing's over till I'm done with the lot of you!" Thrusting the sun into the horizon, the moon crested the sky. Swinging his staff to them, a stream of shooting stars cascaded down. Fluttershy was quick to snatch Twilight's group to the side, safe and away from danger, while Rarity conjured a dome around herself and Applejack. Pinkie disappeared in a shower of confetti and Dash took to the skies once more. The shooting stars assaulted the alicorns with precision and numbers, leaving Rainbow barely untouched through her speed alone.

Raising the shield dome above their heads, Rarity provided Applejack ample coverage for her to buck chunks of debris at the King, forcing him to dodge which momentarily ceased the barrage of stars.

"He needs to concentrate to direct the stars!" Twilight relayed to the others, earning nods of acknowledgment in return.

"Hey, Kingy! Over here!" Pinkie shouted away as she flailed her limbs wildly in the air. Seeing nothing more than an easy target, Storm King directed a stream of stars her way, only for her to pop into a shroud of confetti. "No silly, I'm over here!" Spinning on his heel, Pinkie was found atop the throne dais, having moved from one side of the room to the other in a split second. A growl escaped his throat as he sent another wave of stars her way, only for her figure to become obscured by a cloud of confetti once again. A tap on his shoulder caused him to turn, whereupon he found the pink alicorn right in his face. "Surprise!" She shouted as confetti exploded point-blank. He didn't have time to register what happened as Dash decided just then to deliver an uppercut. It was a surprise indeed.

Howling in rage, the staff was twirled in the air, creating a great vortex that morphed into a storm cloud, filled to the brim with electric power. Lightning infused itself into the staff's gem, solidifying his control over the squall. Thumping the base of his staff to the floor, a wave of lightning struck all at once, forcing the girls to duck and cover under Rarity's dome. Adding their own magic to it, the barrier shimmered with varying colors as magic and lightning fought for dominance and destruction.

The last of the electric current subsided as the cloud's juice was depleted, leaving the girls be as they prevailed. "Now it's our turn!" Rainbow remarked as she zipped straight for the staff, hooking her limbs around it, and lifted with all power coursing into her wings as they furiously flapped themselves to the sky.

"No! You won't take my power away!" The Storm King screeched at her, mouth frothing with malice.

A whipcrack of Applejack's lasso was heard as it tangled itself upon the staff. "Just watch us!" She muttered through her rope-filled maw. Her muscles tensed with strength as she pulled with all her might.

Rarity did her part as she seized one of his claws into a bubble, yanking its grip off and away from the staff.

Pinkie simply lodged her teeth around the staff's body and started shaking herself silly, like that of a dog.

For all his strength, The Storm King could not maintain his hold as one finger was released, then another, leaving his thumb the only anchor remaining. This was unacceptable. All the power in the world, and it would be some little itty-bitty pretty ponies that would undo his life's work. His pupils shrunk as an anger unlike any before overtook his senses and filled his veins. With a wretched roar of fury, he seized his arm from Rarity, struck Pinkie right in the eye, shredded Applejack's lasso with his sharp claws, and yanked the rainbow alicorn to the ground where he finished by delivering a nasty kick to her side. Before he could continue further with his retaliation, the room trembled terribly as Spike's massive figure caved in the balcony walls. He huffed and puffed and like before, a stream of flames shot out.

Bringing the staff before him, a barrier materialized around the Storm King as the gem absorbed and dispersed the flames around. This moment lasted a full minute before Spike ceased his flames as he gulped air down. Within the smoking center, the Storm King still stood, having not sustained any damage from the attack.

"I shall conquer the world! Every bit of magic shall be mine, and no one will ever threaten my rule again!" He raised the staff high into the air above his head. "And it shall start with all of you!" Striking down once more into the divot, the rune glowed with rising power. Tendrils of energy leaked from the staff's gem before reaching out and snaring everyone in the vicinity still harboring magic. Alicorn and dragon alike were snatched up and into the air as their power was sucked away, leaving them to transmogrify back to their original selves, losing horn and wings alike and everything intimidating in Spike's case. Once the last of the magic was siphoned away, he swung the staff up and over, depositing everyone between Celestia's and Luna's figures.

"Hahaha!" The mad king cackled, "See, this is why I love being the villain!" The spear was aimed at the group of creatures, all of which were too drained to do anything more than flop helplessly on the floor. "I only have to win once!" The spear illuminated with blinding power, coalescing everything it had in store into the tip, and with a discharging blast, it was over.

...At least that was what everybody was telling themselves as they held each other tight, but the end never came, as a blast of magic impacted the Storm King's chest, sending him flying up and over onto the balcony. The staff was deposited within the center of the room without its master.

The clip-clop of hooves filled the air as a shadowy form materialized from the smoke shroud. Tempest. She spared the mane six a glance as she passed them by, santering up to the staff, wielding it within her magical grasp. "All the power in the world, in the palm of my hooves. All of it, mine, for the taking."

"Tempest... no." Twilight pleaded.

"TEMPEST!" The Storm King screeched, nostrils flaring as they stared each other down. "...I am willing to forgive this transgression... AND... restore your horn... but you must give me the staff, NOW!"

Tempest caressed the staff lovingly. "I think we both know you won't bother with small fry like me."

"The staff. Now, Tempest!" Storm King demanded, one claw extended out, the other pinned behind his back.

She turned her back to him. "Consider this my two weeks notice." Then, quick as a whiplash, she spun on her heels and caught the petri-nade thrown by the Storm King with the staff's magic. "It was never an honor, your Highness." Overcharging her shot, the petri-nade was shot back at the King at lightning speeds. He attempted to vault over the balcony rails, but the nade struck him square in the back. The last anyone saw of his figure was the petrification magic corrupting his very essence before disappearing as he fell.

Silence filled the air as Tempest turned her sights to the others. Trotting into the center of the rune, she fixed them a look as she glanced at the divot before finally settling her gaze on Psalms and Twilight in particular. Her mind ran rampant with all she had experienced the last few days, the chase, the battle, the words they shared with each other, and then it shifted to the hornless pony in the hall beyond, the Captain of the Guard, Rampart, bearing the same shame she had to endure most of her life. A consequence of her doing among countless others.

A heavy sigh escaped her throat. "...Ok... you win, Princess." Tempest flipped the staff until the gem faced the groove, "I trust you." She plunged down.

The throneroom filled with blinding light, a light that cascaded to engulf the entirety of the castle, and continued until all of the city bathed in its glow, and stretched itself far and wide until all that had been wronged was righted. All traces of petrification magic dissolved away, all the scars of battle repaired, all the shrouds of smoke and storms dissipating into the winds. Within mere moments, Canterlot was back to being the shining capital of Equestria, and of all Pony kind, as if nothing had occurred over the past few days.

The magic stolen from him snaked its way to Psalms' hide, coating his fur as it sunk itself back into his core. A rush of energy filled his veins as his horn and mane glowed with renewed vigor. A quick glance at the others presented findings similar to his own.

A gasp escaped the mares as the figures of the Princesses cracked and crumbled, releasing them from their stony cages. Each Princess sucked in a breath, equally shocked and ecstatic as they gazed upon their surroundings.

"Twilight!" Celestia exclaimed.

"Princesses!" Twilight responded as she and the other royal members collided together in a shared group hug.

"Never once did we lose faith in you, Twilight, nor in your friends either." Luna relayed as she and the others pulled away.

"Thank you, Luna, but for once, it wasn't just us six. We've made so many new friends in our travels."

"Awesome Pirates!" Rainbow chirped.

"A charming feline." Rarity chimed.

"Rowdy beasts." Applejack hollered.

"Undersea fishy friends!" Pinkie popped in.

"And two human alicorn brothers." Fluttershy softly interjected.

"Speaking of which, where are they? I desperately must offer them my sincerest gratitude for all they suffered through." Cadence asked as she surveyed around the room.

"Oh, Psalms and Thomas? Psalms is right ther-... wait where is he?" True to her words, the room lacked a certain male alicorn.

"I'm over here!" Psalms shouted as he supported the limping figure of Sunset toward the room's center. "Didn't want to leave anybody out that could make it."

"Sunset! Oh Celestia, are you alright!?" Twilight exclaimed as the injured mare was deposited before them.

"Are you kidding? We've won! We've saved the day! How could I not be ok?" She hissed as she settled herself onto her hooves. "I'll be aching for the next few days, but I'd go through it all again in a heartbeat if I must, for all of you."

Moved by her words, the girls all joined together in another group hug.

"Twilight," Celestia began, "Sunset, Spike, Psalms, all of you, what you've accomplished today deserves nothing less than our complete and total gratitude. Through hardships, perseverance, and friendship, your merry band of heroes braved the-"

Psalms held a hoof up, pausing Celestia as he started to swoon from side to side. "Sorry to interrupt, but my adrenaline rush is crashing and I think it's night-night time now." His body flopped to the side with snores filling his esophagus.

Nothing registered to the crimson alicorn as he sat in the very spot Psalms had deposited him on. Since the moment he left, Thomas did not stir once, despite the desperate fighting and battles raging around him. He did not move, he did not think, he did not blink, and he barely breathed as it was; he was little more than a sitting vegetable, and no outside stimuli were enough to spur him into motion.

*Crunch!*

That is until the Storm King crumbled into a million pieces. At the very moment of impact, Thomas's eyes and ears were upon his broken figure, drawn to it, like a shark to blood.

Ecce quattuor primi finiunt mundum

Behold, the first of four to end the world

Thomas's limbs moved on their own volition, clip-clopping him closer to the remains.

Sicut profluit tempus, sic et ceteri venient coram nobis

As time passes, so too will the others come before us

Standing before what was left of the Storm King, a pop rang out as Thomas's jaw unhinged itself, opening far wider than equinely possible. The Storm King's remains dissolved into a dark powdery essence as it was suctioned away into the alicorn's dark depths. As the last of the essence filled him, a fanged grin adorned his muzzle. It quickly disappeared as a burning sensation was afflicted along the side of his left flank, branding him with his first of four to bring about Armageddon.

An Equine skull, bleached white.

The pain was too much. His figure collapsed to the floor.

Sed nunc momentum amplectimur, nam mors petita est

But now we embrace the moment, for Death has been claimed