The children of the night descended on Canterlot, attacking the Storm King’s forces and sending them into complete disarray. Grubber in a panic ran and hid as fast as he could. Shining and Sunset were completely dumbstruck,
“Are those...BAT ponies? Why are they here, and helping us?” Sunset asked.
With a grin Sweetie looked up at Sunset, “They’re our new friends! Princess Luna sent Twilight and I go find them! Lullaby is one too!” Sweetie said while pointing to Lullaby who was standing next to her. Shining and Sunset both looked at her as she waved and smiled at them.
“I thought she was a pegasus, how am I just noticing the wings and ears?” he asked. They quickly refocused on the battle at hand though at the sound of the bat ponies fighting.
“Right, figure it out later. First, we free every pony we can!” Sunset said. Shining nodded in agreement before he and Sunset rushed off to free the others.
“Where’s Twilight at? We still need to find her!” Gabby asked, the sound of thunder caught their attention a flash of lightning striking one of the castle towers. The storm was getting worse above lightning and wind getting increasingly faster. Pinkie climbed on Applejack’s back and pointed at the castle.
“Lookie! I see Twilight! Right there!!!” she shouted, every pony looked at where she was pointing and saw Twilight on the balcony above alongside the Storm King and Tempest.
“Come on, let’s go!” Gabby shouted. The griffon went to fly up but the lightning began to strike the courtyard where the battle was being fought.
“Better stay down here with us Gabby, you might get hit if you try and just fly up there.” Trixie said. Sweetie and Spike took the lead but turned back to the others,
“This way! We can show you how to get up to the balcony where Twilight is!” Spike shouted back. Pinkie, Trixie, Fluttershy, Gabby, and Applejack followed close behind running into the castle.
The Storm King stood laughing as the storm above them grew larger and more out of control, he pointed his staff towards Canterlot and massive pillar of lightning came down leveling an entire building in a flash.
“Ha ha ha!! Take a good look you two, first I’m going to raze this whole city to the ground! Then I’ll put all of you back in chains and drag you back to my kingdom as slaves. Then I’ll finally go back his lair destroy him!!! There’s no one to stop me now!” he shouted. The Storm King stood confidently leveling building after building in Canterlot, Twilight and Tempest watched in shock, he had no disregard for the ponies living there or his own troops now. Tempest grit her teeth and fired a burst of magic from her horn at the Storm King, he swung his staff and parried the blast. The magic striking the balcony floor and destroying it, Tempest fired more magic at the Storm King but he managed to avoid it all.
“Oh come on you can do better than that, can’t you Tempest?” he taunted as he held up his staff. The gem on the end began to glow and the wind picked up faster, Tempest tried to stay ground but slowly she was lifted off the ground her hooves flailing as she tried to grab onto something. Tempest was a seconds away from being thrown off the balcony when Twilight grabbed her front hooves holding onto her. Tempest was shocked to her trying to save her,
“What’re you doing!?” she shouted. Twilight pulled as hard as she could, but her strength wasn’t what it normally was her magic drained.
“I’m trying to help you!” she shouted back. “But why?” Tempest asked. Twilight pulled harder but the wind was too strong now,
“Because...that’s what friends do!!!” she answered. Twilight could feel the wind pulling at her, she was getting dragged away with Tempest. Just as she was about to lift into the air though she saw a pair of orange and pink hooves grab Tempest’s as well. She looked to see Applejack and Pinkie pulling alongside her, holding onto them was the rest of her friends.
“PULL!!!” Sweetie shouted, with one final tug they pulled Tempest to safety and back onto the balcony. She looked up to see every pony gathered around Twilight,
“You came! You all came to help!” Twilight said as she hugged her friends.
“Well of course we did, you didn’t think the Great and Powerful Trixie would let you have all the glory did you Twilight?” Trixie asked. The group was interrupted by the Storm King stomping his foot on the ground,
“Did you forget that I’m still here?” he asked. Twilight turned to face him a newfound look of confidence on her face, she looked down and helped Tempest back to her hooves. The purple mare turning to face the Storm King as well,
“We didn’t forget, and now that I have my friends with me. I won’t lose!” Twilight shouted. The Storm King laughed though clutching his chest and leaning back a bit,
“Your friends?! You think a few ponies and griffon are going to make that much of a difference? I have the power of three alicorns, and your magic as well! I’m unbeatable!!!” he shouted as turned his staff’s magic on them. Tempest fired a burst of magic from her horn redirecting the Storm King’s attack, Trixie leapt to the front of the group and threw a smoke bomb onto the ground in front of them concealing them. The Storm King looked around searching for them frantically, when suddenly a barrage of pies came flying out of the smoke. The first pie landed smack in the middle of his face, but he quickly held his hands up to block the others. When the smoke cleared he saw Pinkie standing there throwing from a stack of pies behind her laughing all the while. He went to aim his staff at Pinkie but suddenly felt a pair of hooves kick out his knee making his attack miss, he looked to see Applejack smile and run around out of his sight. He tried to attack the Earth pony but then was hit from the side by magic attacks from both Trixie and Tempest. The Storm King lost his balance and went counter but then Gabby grabbed onto the back of his head and began scratching at his head with her claws. The Storm King screamed in pain he tried to grab at Gabby with his empty hand but a chain made of pale green magic quickly bound his wrist for a second.
“Great job Sweetie! Just like that!” Twilight announced as the filly tried to hold her spell. The Storm King tugged at the chain but then Fluttershy suddenly flew in front of him, the timid look of the little pegasi suddenly changing to a menacing STARE which actually caused him to take a step back in fear. Fluttershy quickly flew out the way though as more magic blasts from Tempest and Trixie struck him in the chest cracking and damaging his armor. In a fit of rage he tugged at the chain on his arm one final time and broke it free. As he went to attack again he saw Applejack pick up Spike and throw the little dragon right at him, Spike tore threw the air but the Storm King leaned to the side and avoided him. Twilight and the rest of her friends stood in front of him, defiantly ready for him.
“What?! You think you’ve won?! That I’m beaten? I still have…” he was cut short by a crunching sound. He turned his head to see Spike clinging to the end of his staff biting down on the crystal headpiece. The crystal suddenly cracked and as the Storm King went to reach for him, Spike’s teeth finally broke through shattering the crystal and releasing a massive burst of magic that shattered his staff and sent the Storm King flying away. Spike and landed on his butt and then onto his back before clutching his stomach.
The storm above slowly came to an uneasy silence, the lighting and wind dying down. Twilight and the others quickly rushed to Spike who clutching his stomach and groaning.
“Spike?! Are you okay!?” Sweetie asked. Spike groaned some more, his belly glowing a myriad of colors, he put his hands over his mouth and his cheeks suddenly bulged.
“He’s gonna pop!!!” Pinkie shouted, they all took a big step back as the little dragon opened his mouth letting out a loud and comedic burp. An onslaught of magic erupted out of him and darted off in four different colored streams, three went straight to the castle the fourth going to Twilight and giving her coat's color and cutie mark back. Spike laid on his back still, his green scales now giving off a faint blue glow.
“Ohhh….I’m never eating another magic crystal again…” he groaned. Every pony let out a good laugh at his comment. Tempest stood a short distance away watching them, she looked past them at the Storm King though. He slowly stood up and took out one of the obsidian orbs Tempest had used before. The mare went to shout for Twilight and her friends to look out, but then a burst of yellow magic struck the Storm King shattering his armor, knocking him down, and against the balcony railing. Once he was on the ground a large series of dark blue chains manifested and bound him head to toe, one chain wrapping around his mouth gagging him. Twilight and the others all looked in shock but then turned towards Tempest. Sure enough standing there in the damaged hole in the wall was the the other alicorns. Celestia and Luna in particular looking angry at the would be king, their faces shifted to Twilight and the others though and smiled. Twilight, Spike and Sweetie Belle immediately rushed over and hugged the three happy to see them alright again.
“You’re all okay! I was worried we wouldn’t be able to change you back without the staff for a moment.” Twilight said.
Celestia looked up at Twilight’s friends and said, “Well it seems we certainly missed quite a bit. So how about we start there Twilight?”
REALLY great job on this chapter. Definitely loved the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations, action and set-up for the epilogue of this arc and the build-up to future arcs. REALLY loved the teamwork that went into creaming the Storm King (including Spike eating the gem that was the source of his staff's power and giving Twilight and the other alicorns their power back [and, yeah, that "'never eating another magic gem'" would very likely be a good lesson to remember when the Crystal Empire returns and the family needs to recover the Crystal Heart]). And, yeah, Sunset and Shining's reactions to Twilight and her friends' newest allies was also understandable.
I'm going to guess the next chapter is probably going to include Grogar verbally ripping into the Storm King for this stunt as well as a separate scene with the Princesses deciding what would be the most appropriate punishments for the Storm King's defeated troops happening at pretty close to the same time (Tempest would probably be let off with a few thousand hours of community service as well as the job of training Twilight's bodyguard [because it's only a matter of time before Celestia decides that Twilight DOES need one]). And the chapter after THAT will be set up for the "Rarity Rescue" arc.
I'm guessing that the remaining arcs after this will be -
1. Rarity Rescue (as aforementioned)
2. Shining and Cadance's wedding/Chrysalis's first return
3. The Return of the Crystal Empire
4. The Plunder Vines
5. Tirek
6. Starlight Glimmer (most likely a predominantly Twilight, Trixie and MAYBE Sunset arc)
7. Flurry Heart's birth
8. The Gauntlet of Fire (mostly a Spike and Sweetie arc, though Twilight might play a small role)
9. Chrysalis's THIRD return.
10. Spike and Sweetie trying to play matchmaker for Ember and Thorax
11. Return of the Pillars/Pony of Shadows.
12. Friendship School Arc (though with actually trained and qualified teachers who have the desired personalities for the courses)
13. The final showdown with Grogar and his legion.
and 14. an epilogue arc that shows the royal family and their friends with their well-earned happy endings.
Though I WILL admit that I could be wrong.
Anyway, definitely looking forward to the final chapter(s) of this arc and more of the story in general.
great chapter worth the wait
Sweet beatdown on the Storm jerk here, plus that power move by Spike eating the gem was unexpected yet priceless, well played!
Looking forward to the wrapup next time around, especially since Storm jerk didn't get shattered this time around! ( he's gonna wish he had)
Hooray for Tempest doing what's right!! And yay, they're all back to normal, Equestria is saved!!
Clever little dragon! It might have temporarily upset his stomach but it helped save everyone. That's using your strengths.
Who did the cover art or did you make it yourself?
I like seeing Trixie's ridiculous running gag being used awesomely and cleverly.
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Pic I found on Derpibooru, seemed appropriate. I'd give credit to the artist if I knew who it was.
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Ah got it thanks for answering my question
*claps* I am so glad they retook Canterlot!! I LOVE how everyone fought so well together, AND how the rest of the Children of the Night came to help!! I wonder what'll happen when they finally meet Luna again? Either way, I know it'll be great!! I bet the next chapter will be celebrating the victory!! Can't wait for that!!
Huh, unless I'm mistaken, there were some characters from the movie not present in this one(like the merponies and the cat pirates). Am I wrong? Are they gonna come later?
Either way, I'm glad Twilight didn't feel like she needed to resort to stealing something important to help everyone this time(I'm still mad at the others for getting mad at her when she was only thinking of how to help everyone back in Canterlot. I mean, again don't get me wrong, stealing is never a good thing, but she was under so much pressure! And the others weren't really helping all that much... in my way of seeing it anyway)!
Keep up the great work! I hope the chapter where they finally save Rarity comes soon!
The final fight with the storm king was a lot better than it was in the movie