A new evil threatens to plunge Equestria in acid rain and monsters. Help does arrive, but he seems to know more than he lets on…
A massive storm is brewing in the skies of Equestria. Strange towers seem to pop up everywhere, and Storm Creatures from the Storm King’s long disbanded army seem to come out of nowhere. The Mane Eight try to push back the onslaught, but their efforts are for naught.
But the arrival of a creature familiar to Twilight turns the tides in their favor. He somehow knows everyone, and why does it seem like he’s hiding something?
Ponyville, for the most part, is a quiet town nestled in the heart of Equestria. Except on Tuesdays. Tuesdays are essentially chaos made into a day of the week in Ponyville, and it's usually the result of either the CMC trying to help someone get their Cutie Mark, Twilight freaking out over something again, Eggman attacking, or one Spirit of Chaos doing what he does best, which usually ends with widespread property damage.
So it's a little weird when the town is attacked by purple lightning clouds that create towers wherever hot pink lightning strikes, which in turn creates Storm Creatures from the late Storm King’s army.
On a Wednesday.
Snapping twigs echo around the trees and foliage of the Everfree forest as something charges through it. A figure crashes through some bushes, making sure to dodge low-hanging tree branches and jump over roots.
“C’mon, c’mon! If I don’t get there before those clouds do, Ponyville won’t last long, even with them defending the town!”
Seeing the trees ahead to be more tightly packed than before, the figure reaches behind his back, grabs the handle of a blue bat, and swings it down on the branches blocking his way. The bat changes shape, the hilt glowing green as a blade emerges from the front of the weapon, letting it slice through the thicker branches like warm butter. Looking through the thicket, the figure sees the forest's edge and puts on an extra burst of speed. With a grunt, he bursts out of the woods, leaving a small trail of leaves behind him.
Coming to a stop, the cloaked figure pants slightly as he looks around, attempting to find his bearings. He finds himself on a hill above a dirt intersection. Tracing it away from the forest, he spots the outskirts of Ponyville a few miles away. Looking closer, he’s shocked to see plumes of smoke rising from the town, magenta lasers slicing through the sky, and a purple mass of clouds hanging by the outskirts of the town.
“Aw, ponyfeathers, they’re already here?!” He exclaims, gripping his weapon tightly. “I hope I got here in time to help,” Taking a deep breath, he exhales heavily before sliding down the hill to the path. Reaching the bottom, he runs full tilt towards the town, to what he can only imagine is chaos and destruction.
Screams echo around the buildings of Ponyville as ponies and Mobians, young and old, try to find someplace to hide from the Storm Creatures. One such creature is chasing an orange Pegasus filly, her tiny wings buzzing at her side to propel herself forward. Her purple mane gets in her face, and she trips over her hooves. She tumbles to the ground and looks back in horror as the creature gains on her.
“Rainbow, help me!” She screams, curling into a ball and waiting for the inevitable.
“YO, FURBALL!”
The Storm Creature stops in its tracks and, upon looking around, spots a blue ball of spikes making a beeline for it. The Storm Creature can only accept its fate, and the ball of spikes slams square in its face. The impact sends it flying into a cabbage cart, crushing much of its contents and sending the survivors flying. The Storm Creature twitches momentarily before it fades away in a cloud of purple mist. The ball uncurls, revealing a blue hedgehog standing on two feet, wearing white gloves with a gold ring on his right ring finger, a thundercloud with a lighting bolt etched into the band. On his left wrist is a silver bracelet, designs engraved into the precious metal, a green orb holding the two ends together. He wears red shoes with white fasteners, gold buckles holding them tightly to his feet.
“HA!” He laughs, folding his arms across his chest. “That’ll teach you not to mess with fillies!” Turning around, he smirks at the filly, giving her a two-finger salute. “Hey, Scoots! You alright?”
“Yeah, thanks to you, Sonic,” Scootaloo breathes a sigh of relief. Getting to her hooves, she shakes her mane and coat free of dust.
“Alright then, let’s get you down to Twilight’s castle,” He grins, pulling her to her hooves. He dusts her shoulder off, then ruffles her mane. “Your aunts are probably worried about you.”
“HEY, SONIC!” Another voice draws this and Scootaloo’s attention to the sky, where a cyan blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail hovers down to them. Light reflecting off the golden band just above her fetlock draws their attention to the simplified picture of Sonic’s face etched into the gold. Landing, Rainbow Dash pecks Sonic’s cheek before ruffling Scootaloo’s mane. “Hey there, Scoots! What’re you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be with the rest of the CMC?”
“Hey, Rainbow!” She giggles, hugging her idol. Dash pulls her in for a winghug, which Scootaloo tries to reciprocate, but her tiny wings can’t do much. “I don’t know where Applebloom or Sweetie Belle went when the attack started. We got separated almost immediately by one of those weird towers popping up out of nowhere.”
“One of those dudes was chasing her,” Sonic adds, stretching his hamstrings. “I was about to take her to Twi’s castle where the rest of Ponyville should be. Something up, Dash?”
“Nah, I was just looking for you,” She says, shaking her head. “Twilight and the girls need your help. I don’t know where her husband ran off to, but I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.”
“If I had to guess, he’s probably making sure nopony’s been left behind and getting them to safety,” Right as he says that, a blur of blue electricity boosts past them, whisking Scootaloo with it. Sonic smirks, jabbing a thumb at the blue streak heading toward Castle Friendship. “And I was right. Always getting others out of harm’s way before dealing with the problem.”
“It’s who he is,” Dash chuckles, taking flight. A cocky grin appears on her face, and she crosses her hooves across her chest. “Now come on, let’s see if you can’t beat my fifty-four combo!”
“Oh, it is on!” Sonic grins, accepting the challenge his wife gave him. Revving his feet, he boosts deeper into the town. “I’ll break that record faster than you can say, ‘chilidogs’!”
“We’ll see about that, Blue!”
In the courtyard near the Town Hall, five mares stand back to back in a circle, surrounded by Storm Creatures. One rushes at the group, claws extended from its paws and ready to rend into the ponies’ flesh. The lavender alicorn sees this, quickly knocking it back with a bolt of magenta magic, knocking it back into two of its companions. The impact destroys them, but four more take their place.
“My, these rapscallions are stubborn, aren’t they?” The unicorn says, firing a bolt of light-blue magic, vaporizing another one. “They never seem to end!”
“Ya got that right, Rarity,” The orange Earth pony agrees. She gallops toward a group of Storm Creatures and jumps. She slams her back hooves into the ground, creating an orange shockwave that destroys them. “They just keep comin’ and comin’! What is up with that?!”
“I don’t know, Applejack,” Twilight replies, blasting a trio of Storm Creatures, destroying them. “It’s great that they’re easy to take out, but if this keeps up, we’ll get overrun.”
“Well, as long as those towers don’t do anything else, we should be fine!” Chirps the bubblegum pink Earth pony. “OOH, maybe I could use them as a disco ball for a party later!” Pulling a party cannon out of her tail (somehow), Pinkie Pie fires it with a deafening *BOOM*, covering one unfortunate soul with a mix of confetti, taffy, and cake batter. It stumbles backward, struggling to remove the incredibly sticky candy cake batter from its face, but its paws stick to it, making it impossible to do anything.
“Maybe we should worry about what’s happening now and not that, Pinkie,” Whimpers the cream butter pegasus, shaking like a leaf in the wind as she crouches behind Twilight. “We have our hooves tied at the moment, and - EEP!”
A Storm Creature swipes at her, causing her to backpedal into Twilight, startling her into firing another bolt. This one misses its target, soaring above the Storm Creature’s head. It looks behind it in bewilderment, wondering why Twilight had missed. It watches the bolt bounce off the flagpole of the Town Hall and ricochet off a window, then zip across the courtyard to another window, then fly toward a bipedal figure standing on the roof.
His blue hair, at closer inspection, is actually tightly packed quills, just like Sonic’s, and styled upwards, with a few wayward spines in between the larger ones and one that curls above his forehead. He sports a dark navy blue scarf with a golden ring at the end and stripes of pink and purple going through the middle. His shirt is black, except for the blue edges and the symbol in the middle, which is a simplified, all-blue picture of his head, besides his face. His fingerless gloves are light gray, making it easier to see the gold ring on his right ring finger and the six-sided star placed on another etched into it. His pants are deep blue, with a stripe of lighter blue on the sides to contrast the darker color. He wears similar shoes to Sonic’s, but with two strips of white cloth fasteners instead of one, angled at the middle of the shoe, a golden buckle holding them in place.
His eyes turn the same color as the neon blue electricity that erupts from his body, and in a blur, he grabs the bolt. Letting its momentum move for him, he spins around and lets go. The magenta mana bolt zips back at the same creature it was intended for, blasting through its head and a few others behind it. They stand still for a moment before fading away into mist.
“Careful there, Twilight!” Tionic shouts to the purple alicorn, rolling his shoulder. “You nearly blew my head off with that thing!”
He jumps off the roof and curls into a ball, seemingly defying gravity as he spins in place. Charging it to the desired speed, he shoots forward and rams into a Storm Creature with a loud *SMACK*. It's sent flying back, knocking down its companions that were behind it like bowling pins before they disappear into mist.
“Tionic!” Twilight exclaims, galloping over to hug the Spark once he lands. “Sorry about that. Fluttershy bumped into me right as I released the spell."
“It’s alright,” He chuckles, booping her nose with a finger.. “Just be careful next time.”
“I will,” She rolls her eyes, giggling as she does so. “But we’ve got bigger matters to deal with right now.”
Looking around, Tionic sees that there indeed is a bigger matter right now - the continually growing horde of Storm Creatures. They’re surrounded, and with no way out but up, they don’t have the option of retreating.
“Fastball Special?” Tionic grins, glancing back at Twilight.
She grins back. “Fastball Special.”
Tionic curls into a ball again and spins in place, spinning faster and faster the longer he revs it. His powers spark to life, signaling Twilight to encase the Spark in her magical grip. With a flick of her horn, she lifts him into the air, and another flick sends him rocketing around Twilight and the girls. She guides Tionic’s spinning form around herself and her friends, clearing an area around them and giving them some breathing room. Once they have sufficient space, she switches tactics and sends Tionic flying into the crowd, blasting through them like paper. He reaches a building on the other side of the courtyard and, with help from Twilight, pulls a one-eighty to fly back through his enemies. He repeats what he did on the other side, and before long, Tionic blitzes the entire horde, leaving behind a fog of purple mist. Once the last one was destroyed, Twilight releases Tionic, and he slides to a stop in front of the girls.
They’re about to celebrate their victory when pink lightning strikes everywhere, and to their shock and confusion, nearly double the amount of Storm Creatures from before flood the courtyard.
“Are you kidding me?!” Tionic groans, slapping his hands to his face and dragging them down. “Where the buck did they just come from?!”
“That doesn’t matter right now!” Twilight growls, flaring her wings and magic. “We have to stop them!”
“Mind if we help, then?”
Blue and rainbow blurs slam into the horde, bouncing a few times before stopping in front of the Mane Six, showing Sonic and Dash with cocky smirks on their faces.
“Took you two long enough to get here!” Tionic says, gut-punching a Storm Creature and sweeping the legs out from under another one. “What took you so long?”
“Traffic was a little tight on the way here,” Sonic calls back, jumping over a swipe and landing next to Tionic. “But we’re here, aren’t we?”
Rolling his eyes, Tionic holds his right hand out, and Sonic accepts it. But instead of shaking their hands, the two spin around each other and create a Double Spindash. The two charge ahead, carving large swathes out of the horde, giving their friends and loved ones room to breathe before jumping. Reaching the pinnacle of their jump, they uncurl and drop to the ground with individual Dropkicks. The attack is devastating, cracking the ground and sending dozens of Storm Creatures flying.
But even that wasn’t enough to quell the horde. Their endless numbers prove to be tough on the Mane Eight, and thirty minutes later, they’re still outnumbered 8-1 and no closer to finishing the horde off than when they started.
“How do they keep coming?!” Dash groans, dodging and weaving between opponents, punching and kicking too fast for the naked eye. “I’ve taken well over nine hundred out, but it’s like we haven’t made a dent in their numbers!”
“I don’t know!” Twilight pants, rapid-firing attack spells like there was no tomorrow. At this rate, that may come true. “It’s like they’re endless!”
“Nah,” An unknown voice makes everyone freeze, even the Storm Creatures. Looking around, they spot a cloaked silhouette on a nearby rooftop, leaning on a blue bat. “Nothing’s truly endless. It might be hard to find…”
He jumps off the roof without warning, shocking The Mane Eight. The hilt flashes green as it morphs into a giant hammer, and he raises it above his head.
“…but everything has a limit!”
*THOOM*
The shockwave generated by the hammer blasts the entire horde off its feet, sending most multiple blocks down the road and a few flying into buildings and through roofs. The wind from the attack also kicks up a massive plume of dust into the air, obscuring the Mane Eight’s vision. Through the dirty haze, they see the silhouette of their unknown savior stand up, his giant hammer morphing back into a bat with a green flash.
“But that doesn’t mean you can make something seem endless!” He says, pulling off the cloak that hid his figure and throwing it off to the side. “You just need the dedication and grit to make it possible.”
As the dust settles, the Mane Eight get a better look at their savior and gasp. Standing before them is a creature unlike anything the group had ever seen – some do, however. His dark blond hair is swept up and over to the right, the back and sides of his head long and curled. He wears a grey hoodless jacket, the front end open to show a pure blue shirt. He also sports navy blue jeans with tight pockets, black shoes with three white stripes on the sides, and white bottoms. The human inspects his handiwork, giving off a low whistle. “Dang, I didn’t expect to do THAT much damage! Am I really that strong?”
“W-who are you?” Twilight stammers, barely able to believe her eyes. “Are you a… a human?! But that’s impossible! Any human that comes to Equestria turns into a pony!”
“Yeah, I’m human,” He nods, facing the alicorn. “Although I definitely can’t explain why-" He stops mid-sentence when he sees a certain Blue Blur.
“Wait- i-is that… S-Sonic?” He gapes, pointing a shaky finger at Sonic. His dropped jaw morphs into a massive grin, and his eyes sparkle. He looks like he’s about to explode with excitement. “Sonic THE Hedgehog? As in the fastest thing alive?!”
“The one and only,” Sonic states, flashing his trademark grin. “Though I never imagined I’d be talking to another human from the Mirror World here, of all places. How’d you get here?”
“The Mirror World?” He repeats, raising an eyebrow. He shakes his head. “No clue what that is. I’m actually from a place called Earth.”
“Wait, you mean you’re from another world?!” Twilight exclaims, her brain going into overdrive. “What?! Then that means Starswirl’s theory on the multiverse was -!“
“As much as I would love to sit down and talk about how the multiverse works, Twilight, we have more pressing matters at hand,” The human gestures to the new wave of Storm Creatures heading towards them. “Sweet Chaos, these guys are insistent on destroying you, huh?”
“Kid’s right, Twi,” Tionic says, laying a hand on her shoulder. “We’re gonna need to work on taking care of these guys before we do anything else.”
Twilight’s face scrunches up in disappointment and annoyance, but she knows her husband is right. She groans, then glares at the human. “Fine, but I want some answers later!”
“You got it, Princess!” He gives her a two-finger salute, then gestures for the Mane Eight to follow him. Leading the charge through the horde, they leave a mist trail behind them as they cleave through them.
“You see those purple towers springing up everywhere?” The human points to a nearby tower. “Those are what we need to concentrate on. They’re why they seem endless - they keep making more of these guys. Take the towers down, stop the continuous waves.”
He makes a beeline for a nearby tower that looks more worn than the others, squares and cubes of itself jutting out. With a glint in his eye and a grin on his face, the human charges towards it and jumps, raising his bat above his head. At the apex of his jump, the hilt flashes green and turns the bat into a hammer again, and he brings it down on the top of the tower with all his might.
*CRACK*
The tower cracks along the cubes and squares, pulsing as plasma violently dances across its surface. The human jumps off the tower and lands by the Mane Eight to watch it explode in a shower of lavender light and dull, purple crystals. Once the tower was destroyed, a large chunk of Storm Creatures immediately vanished.
The human chuckles as he stands back up. “And as a bonus, take out a good chunk of the horde!”
The Mane Eight stare in surprise at how easy it was to keep the horde in check. Shaking it off, they charge in with renewed vigor. Going around Ponyville, they take the towers out one by one, all while dealing with the remaining Storm Creatures. Soon, only one was left, and without its horde, it turns tail and runs for the hills.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” The human mutters. Slamming his bat into the ground, he cracks it to pull out a baseball-sized rock. Looking down the road, he aims and heaves the piece of earth into the sky. “YEET!”
The arc of the throw is massive, and though it seems like the fleeing Storm Creature was going to escape, the rock plummets back to the ground and smacks into its head, knocking it down and destroying it. The human snorts. “Fragile little bastards.”
Turning to the group, he notices that they’re in shambles. Hair, fur, and quills stick out in various places, bruises dot their bodies, and they’re all out of breath. “Is everybody alright?” He asks worriedly, eyeing some of the worse injuries. “You guys look like you took a beating out there.”
“Pfft, we’re fine,” Dash scoffs, waving it off. “Nothing a little R&R can’t fix.” The human looks at the cyan Pegasus with a raised eyebrow, taking note of the many scratches covering her body and the slight, but noticeable twitch her left wing made every so often.
“Out of everyone, you seem to be the most damaged. What were you doing out there, anyway? It almost looked like you were fighting like a crazed banshee.”
“That’s Dash for ya,” Sonic chuckles, shaking his head. “Always going headfirst into things without thinking first.”
“You do the same thing,” She fires back, glaring at him.
“…you have me there.”
Twilight rolls her eyes. “Those two aside, thank you for your help… umm…” She sheepishly chuckles, rubbing the back of her head. “I… don’t think we ever caught your name.”
“To be fair, we had more pressing matters at hand than getting to know each other,” the human laughs. “But allow me to introduce myself.”
He smiles, giving a two finger salute. “Hey there! The name’s Scott, but you can call me Real!”
“Real?" Dash repeats, raising a brow. "No offense, but that’s gotta be the weirdest name I’ve ever heard.”
“None take ,” Real says, unfazed by the comment. “I got that a lot while I was traveling. Ponies and other creatures haven’t seen a human before, so I can understand why they’d be quick to judge.”
“Wait, you didn’t just get here?” Tionic asks, raising an eyebrow. “How long have you been here?”
“Rough estimate? Mmm… give or take six months.”
“S-six?!” Rarity gasps, holding a hoof to her muzzle. “Darling, what have you been doing all this time? Where were you if you came so early?”
“Traveling the world, training. Lotsa fun stuff that’ll take too long to explain right now. But I can tell you why I’m here though. Why don’t we go find someplace to sit down so I can explain why I'm here?”
“How about my castle?” Twilight offers, pointing in the direction of Castle Friendship. “We can discuss it in the map room after we get everyone back to their homes.”
Real nods. “Lead the way, princess.”
It takes about an hour to get things sorted out with the Ponyvilians. It would’ve taken less time had the Flower Sisters not needed convincing to leave the castle, but with help from Mayor Mare, Tionic and Twilight were able to get everyone out of their castle. Afterwards, in the map room, the Mane Eight sit in their respective crystal chairs around the holographic map of Equestria, each decorated with their Cutie Marks (or symbols, in the case of the hedgehog and Spark), and Real stands next to Twilight.
“Wow,” Real marvels, examining the map. He waves a hand through Mt. Aris, watching the hologram conform around his hand. “You can see from Yakyakistan to Zebrica! Though, I'm surprised parts of Ponyland and all of Mobias aren't on the map. What's up with that?"
Twilight shrugs. "I'm not entirely sure myself. We're learning more and more about what the Tree of Harmony gave us every day! The map used to only display Las Pegasus to Manehatten, now it spans the whole continent and parts of another! Plus, there used to only be seven chairs here, but now there's an extra two for Sonic and Tio!"
“It's a big ol' bag of mysteries, ain't it?” Applejack says, giving the table a hearty smack. “Who knows, maybe it'll do something else other than summon us for friendship problems like it's been doin' for th' past few years.”
“YEAH!” Pinkie exclaims, jumping on the table and pointing to a small village in a remote location. “The first mission it sent us on told us to go to this village where everypony had the same Cutie Mark because of a mare named Starlight Glimmer and she took our Cutie Marks and put them in a vault of them and Fluttershy snuck out to get them but she found out that Starlight still had ours so we came up with a plan to expose her and once the villagers knew that they raided the vault and got their Cutie Marks back and Starlight tried to get away with our Cutie Marks but the village ponies helped us get them back before she got away into the mountains! OOH, another time it - MMPH!” An orange hoof stuffs itself in her mouth, preventing her from rambling on any further before it got out of hand. Er, hoof. Either one works.
“Alright, Pinkie, ah think he’s got th' gist of it,” Applejack says, rolling her eyes as she pulls her hoof back. She turns to Real as she trots back to her seat. “So, ya said that you were gonna tell us how ya got here, right sugarcube?”
“Snrk!” Real holds back a snort of laughter. “Yeah, I was. Okay, so where should I start?”
So it all started about, eh, seven months ago, back in my world. My parents were given this old full-length mirror from our neighbors, as a little parting gift of some sort, but I’m betting the only reason they gave it away was that they’d run out of space to pack anything else into the moving truck. I’m still surprised it didn’t bust, it looked like it was about to explode at any second!
Over-stuffed moving truck aside, my dad had the bright idea to stick it in my room. Now, at the time, I had a weird fear of full-length mirrors for some reason, so didn’t really like it being in my room. But after a while, it just became part of the wall. A week or two later, I noticed a slip of folded paper tucked behind the mirror, just barely noticeable. I was surprised to see what looked like a blueprint drawn on the paper when I pulled it out. A diagram of the mirror was shown, small notes pointing to various parts of it, but it looked different than what was in front of me. I then noticed a small inscription written along the border of the mirror drawn on the paper. Looking back to the mirror, I could see the same lettering engraved into the metal. It was in a language I’d never seen before, but somehow, I understood it.
Being human, I recited the inscription out loud, thinking something would happen - and something did. With a clunk, a four-sided star popped out of the top. A small platform slid out from the bottom of the mirror, raising it slightly. It widened a bit and got taller before the mirror stopped changing. It almost doubled in size, and now the mirror looked exactly as what was drawn in the blueprint. After taking a second to process what just happened, I put the paper on my desk and slowly left my room,.
Later that day, I came to get something when I started to hear something. It kind of sounded like static fuzz from a dead T.V. channel. As I tried to find where the static fuzz was coming from, it started getting louder, and I noticed the star on top of the mirror started to glow. The fuzz started to clear, and I could hear something trying to speak.
…….al……….Re……eal……… Real……
As it cleared up, I noticed that the voice was calling my name, and it sounded familiar - a little too familiar in fact. Then, the star started to shine a bright white light and emitted a high-pitched whine, and it got so intense that I essentially got flash-banged. Not a pleasant experience. Once the spots in my eyes dissipated and the ringing in my ears stopped, the first thing I saw shocked me to the core. A hologram. But it wasn’t just any hologram - it was a hologram of Twilight.
TWILIGHT?!
M-Me?!
Are ya sure ya saw Twilight, sugarcube?
I'm pretty sure there's only one purple alicorn with dark navy blue mane and tail, pink and purple highlights, and six-sided cutie mark with seven white stars around it, Applejack.
…Fair point.
But how?!
That’s what I’m getting at. The hologram may have depicted Twilight, but it wasn’t Twilight per se.
What do you mean?
Well, she told me.
…She… told you?
Exactly. Well, after I woke up after blacking out... I think. My memory’s a little fuzzy around that point.
You blacked out?! Were you alright?
Yes, I was fine, Fluttershy. I did wake up with a pounding headache, but nothing too serious.
After I “woke up,” Holo-Twi (that’s what I’ll call them just to avoid confusion) introduced herself. Apparently, the Tree of Harmony can manifest itself to others in the form of someone/pony that they are the most comfortable with. And the one I’m the most comfortable with is Twilight for some reason. Holo-Twi told me that Equestria was in great danger and that it would soon need my help, blah blah blah, classic prophecy predictions, stuff to do with destiny, and all that good stuff that’s not really important right now.
…maybe.
She said that there was a force lurking in Equestria that I was familiar with, and I was chosen to help take care of it. The star on top of the mirror started to shine again, this time with a purple light. A beam shot from it down to the platform, and the mirror turned into a dimensional portal. Before I went through the now-activated portal, Holo-Twi gave me a few things that I would need when I came here. She took my bat that always I have by my bed and infused a green stone into the hilt - I later found out that this was a Changeling Stone, a rare artifact that was full of Changeling magic - allowing me to turn it into anything I can imagine. Holo-Twi also gave me a necklace with a cobalt blue stone attached to it, which allowed me to use magic just like a unicorn.
You can use magic, and you have a weapon that uses Changeling magic?!
Yes, but we’ll get to that later.
After Holo-Twi gave me these essential trinkets, she said I was ready. Before I left, she let me prepare for my new adventure and write a little note to my family that explained where I was and for them to not worry about me. After that, I stood in front of the portal, wondering what was waiting for me on the other side - and stepped through. My question was soon answered, but not in the way I thought I would get it. Either something must have happened when I went through the portal, or it just hates me for some reason, because when I stepped out, I had been dropped above what I could only assume were the clouds.
After reaching terminal velocity and introducing my face to the ground of Equus, all I had to show from it was a massive headache and a newfound hatred for portals. After pulling my head out of the ground, I spotted a satchel containing a handful of bits, food, some supplies, a cloak, and an outdated map hanging on a tree branch nearby. Although it was old, the map allowed me to roughly pinpoint where I was in Equus. The portal dropped me in the mountain range near the Fields of Forever, over in Ponyland. So I put on the cloak and began my six-month journey. While I could’ve made it here in maybe three months, I decided to take the scenic route since I wanted to work on building myself from the ground up.
As I traveled, I met many ponies and creatures along the way, some very hospitable to a being like me, while some looked down on me the best they could, although it’s kinda hard to look down on someone when you’re about a foot or more shorter than the guy you’re mad at. There was even a cult of Mobians and some ponies that wanted to outright kill me, even going as far as to put a bounty over my head. Luckily, my training came in clutch quite a few times over the months.
You had a bounty on your head?! And why did you have a cult on your flank? Wait, how much did they put on you?
Rainbow Dash!
Dash, what is wrong with you?! Why would ya ask somethin' like that?!
PFFFFFT!! HAHAHAHA!!! Oh man, I did not see that one coming. Look, Applejack, it’s fine. I’m perfectly fine with her asking me that. I mean really, what’s stopping our resident daredevil here?
Me and ma hooves, that’s what.
Sheesh, remind me to never piss you off. Anyway, those morons went nuts - I topped out over 100,000 bits the last time I checked.
100,000?!
You're kidding, right?
Nope. Last I checked was three months ago, so it’s probably gone up in the time I’ve been gone.
Hey, careful there, kid. This group only has room for two giant egos - I don’t think we can handle another.
… you know what? You got me there. Equus probably couldn’t do it either.
So, why did you have that big a bounty on your head? Like, what did you do to get that anyway?
I think they said something along the lines of me just merely existing.
Bounties aside, I decided to double my training regime three weeks ago, just in case I might need the extra strength in case something came up. And it's a good thing I did if what happened earlier was anything to go by.
When I reached Chicacolt, I noticed some odd-looking clouds above the city. Even stranger though, they gave me a major sense of deja vú. They had a dark purple hue to them, and I know for a fact that clouds don’t look like that. I stayed for a few days and spied on some of the cloud control pegasi from a distance, hoping to find out more about these familiar-looking clouds. Then about a week ago, the clouds started to move away from the city. As it moved, I thought it looked larger than before, but then it started to grow bigger and bigger at an alarming rate. Soon, hot pink lightning started flashing throughout the cloud cover. That’s when I realized why they were so familiar - I had seen these same clouds in a game I played back home. If these were anything like the original, I knew whatever was in that cloud’s path would be in danger.
As I followed it, pink lightning started to strike the ground, and wherever it struck, those towers from earlier would pop up. Knowing how dangerous these things were, I destroyed them before things could escalate any further. While following, I noticed that it had gotten progressively smaller, shrinking slightly every time it created a tower. Once it reached Canterlot, it put on a burst of speed, making a beeline for Ponyville. I had to cross through the Everfree, but I managed to get through without too much struggle. Once I arrived at the outskirts of the town, I saw that it was under attack by those Storm Creatures, and decided to join the party.
“And the rest is history. So that’s the story of what I’ve been up to for the past few months,” Real finishes. “Now if there are any questions, just -“
“How many friends did you make out there?!”
“What kind of training did you go through?”
“How are you able to use magic?!”
“Did you make any animal friends? If, you don’t mind me asking…”
“What else can your bat turn into?! A sword?! A cannon?!”
“Woah, woah, woah, hey take it easy!” Real exclaims, overwhelmed by the number of questions bombarding him. “I was barely able to process the first question - one at a time, please!”
“Oh, sorry about our little outburst, darling,” Rarity apologizes, giggling sheepishly. “We all got a little overexcited and didn’t take into account that you could only answer so many questions at once!”
“It’s all good, Rarity,” Real smiles, rolling his eyes. “I’d be asking questions a million miles an hour if I were in your shoes - er, hooves. Fluttershy, I made quite a few friends along the way, and surprisingly, I did make some animal friends too. But that’s another story for another time."
He turns to Tionic and pulls his bat out. “Now, as for my training? Just a regimen or two I remembered from my world, and whatever I could find in the area.”
“Nice,” Tionic smiles, nodding. “Self taught and trained. Impressive, kid.”
“Thanks,” Real chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. He then faces Twilight, sheathing his weapon. “As for the reason I’m able to use magic, Twilight, is because of this.”
He pulls the collar of his shirt back and grabs onto the golden chain hanging around his neck. He shivers, but not enough for anyone to notice. Pulling the chain up reveals an oval, cobalt blue gem that shimmers a bright blue hue hanging at the end. With the way the light reflected of the gem, it looks as if the cosmos themselves were trapped inside. It was encased in gold, adorned by a diamond on top, with two smaller emeralds of the purest green on the sides. Swirls are etched into the gold, surrounding the bottom emeralds and wrapping all the way around to meet the other side.
“Oh, my!” Rarity gushes, her eyes sparkling the instant she heard the chain of the necklace clink together. “That necklace is divine! The gem compliments your eyes so well!”
“Thank you, I guess?” Real says, unsure about how he should take the compliment. He shakes it off. “This little blue boy here is what lets me to use magic, though only to some extent. I’m able to use some basic spells, like short-range teleportation, levitation, fire spells, and mana bolts. I never took the time to look for a spell book while I was out and about, since I concentrating on my body rather than my magic.”
Twilight stares at him, her eyes sparkling. “Can you show us? What you can do, I mean?”
“Maybe later Twilight,” Real says, shaking his head. “I’m not sure I should be showing off when the fate of Equus, if not world, is at stake.”
The light in her eyes dulls, and her ears fall flat against her head. She slumps on the table, quietly whimpering as she stares at the map.
“Hey, I didn’t say no!” Real chuckles, putting a hand on her shoulder. “When all of this is over, I’ll gladly show you what I can do.”
She remembers what happened earlier, and sinks into her seat sheepishly. “Right, I forgot about that. Sorry, I just got a little exci-”
“Twilight!” A voice calls from the hallway. “Twilight, where you at?!”
“In the map room, Spike!” She exclaims, sitting upright. Claws clicking on the crystal floor echo through the hallway, and a moment later, the double doors open to reveal a lanky, but toned purple dragon with green spikes and an even lighter green stomach walks in.
“Hey, Spike! What’s going on?”
“You’ve got a letter from the princesses,” The dragon says, and he smacks his chest. His cheeks bulge, and he lets out a belch as green flames spew from his mouth.
“Wait, princesses as in plural?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow as a letter materializes from the flames. Grabbing it with her magic, she can see what the dragon was talking about. Instead of the usual red ribbon and red wax seal with Celestia’s Cutie Mark adorning it, a blue ribbon holds the letter closed, and a combination of Celestia’s and Luna’s Cutie Mark is stamped into blue wax. Twilight’s eyes widen in surprise, as she’s never seen this kind of letter before, not even during times of crisis.
"Well, this is new," She mutters, eyeing the ribbon again before breaking the seal and opening the letter.
We need you and your friends to come to Canterlot as soon as possible. Something urgent has come to Luna and I’s attention that requires your help.
As a precaution, bring the Elements of Harmony and the Chaos Emeralds. We hope that we do not have to resort to using them, but something tells me that we may need to.
Best regards,
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna
P.S - And bring your new friend with you as well. Luna and I would like to meet him.
“Wait - are they talking about me?” Real asks, leaning over to get a better look. “How would they know I’m here? I just got to… wait,” He pauses, remembering something. “Actually, never mind, Luna can enter the dream realm at will. She would know months in advance.”
“What the - who are you?!” Spike exclaims, finally noticing the human. He turns to his mother figure, a confused look on his face. “Twilight, what’s a human doing in Equestria?”
“Long story short, he’s not from the Mirror World, but another one. His name is Real, and he helped save Ponyville from the Storm Creatures earlier.”
Real reaches over Twilight and holds his hand out. “Nice to meet you, Spike.”
The lanky dragon firmly shakes his hand, grinning toothily as Real returns the pressure. “Nice to meet you too, Real.”
“Now, back to more important matters,” Real eyes the letter again. “What’s so urgent that the princesses want you to bring both the Elements of Harmony and the Chaos Emeralds with us?”
“I’m not sure,” Twilight shrugs, rereading the letter in case she missed anything. She didn’t. “I’ll head to the Tree of Harmony and get the Elements. Sonic, do you still have the Emeralds with you?”
“Yep.” The Chaos Emeralds appear around Sonic, circling him. Real stares in awe at the Seven Miracle Gems, his mouth agape and eyes sparkling. Sonic calls them back, which snaps Real out of it. Twilight then turns to Spike.
“Spike, stay here with Starlight and keep watch over the castle while we’re gone,” Spike salutes, a semi-serious look on his face as he does so. Twilight then turns to the others. “The rest of you head to the train station, and I’ll meet you there.” She quickly charges her mana, and with a flash of lavender, she’s gone.
“Alright, you heard the mare,” Real says, heading for the exit. “Let’s get going.”
At the Ponyville Station, the Mane Seven and Real wait on the platform for Twilight to get back with the Elements. He was about to ask where Twilight was, but a whistle draws his attention to the Friendship Express and the locomotive pulling it. The train screeches to a halt, billowing steam from the cylinders as they stop moving.
Sheesh, how is this one of only two engines in Equestria?’ Real thinks to himself, rolling his eyes. ‘There’s no way this little 4-4-0 tank engine is making trips across the continent alone, is there?
He looks up and down the length of the train, noting how far the coaches went past the station platform.
Plus, the station itself could use some major upgrades too. The platform’s way too short for how many cars there are, and there needs to be a second platform on the other side with another track or two in between. If this is the same all across Equestria, there must be some serious backlog of passenger and freight trains. Actually, do freight cars even exist here? Hmm… I’ll have to ask Twilight if there’s a way I can help improve the railroad here if that’s the case. Maybe if I…?
Before Real could further question the abomination that is the Equestrian Railroad, the doors to the passenger cars open as ponies and Mobians file out onto the tiny platform. To avoid unnecessary attention, Real pulls his hood over his head, hoping to prevent a panic that might break out if someone else saw him. As the last pony leaves the station, flapping wings draw their attention to the sky, and they see Twilight coming in for a landing. The Elements of Harmony float in her magic, and the Element of Magic rests on her messy mane.
“You run into trouble?” Tionic says, spotting Twilight’s manedo.
“You could say that,” She sighs, landing on the platform. She ruffles her feathers, and Tionic plucks a few twigs from them and her mane. “I had to deal with some rouge Timberwolves that came out of nowhere.”
“O-oh, are you ok? Those Timberwolves didn’t hurt you, did they?” Fluttershy stutters. She knew how ferocious Timberwolves were, and encountering even one was a death wish for anyone. Well, except for the Mane Eight - then the Timberwolves would be reduced to firewood in seconds.
“I’m alright, Fluttershy,” Twilight says, resting a hoof on the shy pegasus’ shoulder to console her. “They did seem agitated, but it might be because of what happened earlier.”
“I see you got the Elements, darling,” Rarity says, eyeing her Element. “Thank you for getting them for us.” She levitates the Element of Generosity out of Twilight’s aura and clips it around her neck. “Ah, still fits like a dream.”
Twilight levitates the other elements to their respective owners, though Pinkie bounces into the necklace, and it clips around her neck - somehow.
Right as they did this, the conductor leans out of a nearby passenger car and bellows, “NEXT STOP FOR CANTERLOT WILL BE LEAVING IN ONE MINUTE!”
“Guess we should get on before they leave without us,” Real says, starting toward an empty passenger car. “Don’t want to get left behind, do we?”
They agree and quickly board the train. The conductor pops his head out again, waving a green flag to signal the engineer. The engineer gets it and opens the reverser. The pistons spew steam, and the coupling rods start moving the four drive wheels. With a shrill whistle, the train chuffs away from the Ponyville station, bound for Canterlot.
Three hours later, the screeching of steel on magically fused steel grates on the ears of anyone in the Canterlot Station as the Friendship Express pulls in.
Once they get the all-clear from the conductor, Sonic is the first one to leave the train, ecstatic to be out of the cramped train car. The Mane Seven and Real leave the passenger car behind him.
“Mmmmph… man, it feels nice to be out of there,” Sonic groans, stretching his arms and legs. He takes a deep breath in, reveling in the fresh air that enters his lungs. “If I was in there for another second, I would’ve gone crazy!”
“You probably would have,” Dash says, rolling her eyes. “You looked like you were about to explode!”
“Probably would have, but I didn’t, so there’s that.”
“Ok, you two, let’s go,” Applejack chuckles, gesturing for them to follow. “The princesses are waitin’ fer us!”
“You heard the farm girl,” Tionic says, heading toward the exit. “Let’s go!”
The group quickly make their way out of the station and make their way down Royal Boulevard, which leads straight to the castle. A few heads turn when they recognize the Mane Eight, but more heads pivot towards Real, as his cloaked figure towered over most, if not everyone there.
Rarity leans to Real, lowering her voice so only he could hear her. “Darling, did you have to deal with this much staring while you traveled?”
He shakes his head. “No, I typically avoided large cities and towns for that reason and among others. But sometimes I had to go in to get some supplies, so I had to deal with it.”
A scream from further down the street instantly grabs their attention, the angry yelling drawing in the civilians around them.
“The heck was that?!” Real exclaims, grabbing the hilt of his bat out of instinct.
“Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good,” Sonic says, a grim look on his face. “Let’s check it out.”
They charge down the street and reach a crowded, circular intersection in the middle of the city. Judging by the size of it, it was most likely meant for large gatherings or parties. Built into the concrete is a sun being held by a moon, symbolizing the city’s rulers and their joint rulership. Near the middle stands a white unicorn stallion with a yellow mane, a scowl overtaking his face.
He stands above two Mobian kids; a gray fox pup with white highlights and teary yellow eyes lays on the ground. He wears a red shirt, blue pants, and gray shoes. A tan rabbit kit with light brown highlights and fierce green eyes stands in front of the fox, arms raised to her sides. She wears a light blue shirt, gray shorts, and purple sandals. They look to be about twelve or thirteen, though their faces say at least ten.
“… I’ll be right back,” Real says, his voice shifting to a dangerous tone as he recognizes the unicorn as ‘Prince’ Blueblood. His eyes unknowingly glow dark blue as he makes his way toward the stallion, intent on doing something. Twilight starts to panic, realizing what Real is about to do as she tries to stop him.
“Real, wait, you can’t go after -!” A hand placed on her withers stops her mid-sentence. Turning around, she sees Tionic holding her back, an odd smile on his face.
“Twilight, wait,” Tionic says, and he turns to Real. “Real, this is a stupid idea, but it’s a stupid idea I’m willing to get behind. Make sure that jerk doesn’t hurt those kids, but don’t hurt him. We don’t want rumors spreading to the princess about a menace attacking a Prince before you even meet them.”
“Will do,” Real nods, shivering slightly as his hands glow blue. In a flash of blue, he disappears, leaving his cloak behind as it falls to the ground. Tionic picks it up, folding it neatly before draping it over his arm.
“Tio, why did you let him go?!” Twilight exclaims, her mane beginning to fray as she freaks out. “Real shouldn’t have gone out there to confront Blueblood, much less alone!”
“I’m curious to see how he’ll react in this kind of situation,” He says, smoothing out Twilight’s mane and calming her down. “Let’s see how this plays out. And if it gets out of hand, we’ll step in.”
“I hope you’re right about this.”
“So am I.”
“Get out of the way, runt!” Blueblood yells, scowling at the rabbit kit that is blocking his way. “You have no part in this!”
“If it has something to do with my friend, I do!” She shouts, not moving from her spot in front of the fox cub. “Now get away from him!”
“Then I guess I’ll have to punish you as well!” He reels his hoof back and throws it. The rabbit kit closes her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
But it never comes. Slowly, she cracks an eye open, and she gasps when she sees a hand in front of her face, firmly grasping Blueblood’s hoof. She backs up slightly when she sees who the hand belongs to, but she moves to block the fox cub from it as well.
“Who do you think you are?!” Blueblood shouts, enraged that someone would have the audacity to touch him. “Do you know who I am? I stand higher than -!”
He stops mid-sentence as he finally gets a good look at the one who clutched his hoof. Real crouches before him, fully decloaked from his teleport. He scowls as he makes eye contact with Blueblood, who starts sweating bullets.
“You stand higher than what?” Real asks, raising an eyebrow. He stands up, towering a full foot over the ’prince’ and still gripping his hoof. “Did you mean figuratively or literally? Because you’re nowhere near my height, shorty.”
“W-who are you?” Blueblood stammers, attempting to remove his hoof from Real’s hand. “What are you?”
“Hmph,” Real scoffs, letting go of his hoof. He turns to the two Mobian kids, who quiver in fear as he gazes at them. “The better question is, what are you doing to these kids?”
Still wanting to set an example of the two children, Blueblood gathers himself, clearing his throat. “I-I’m punishing them for thinking that it is okay for creatures other than ponies to be allowed to live inside this fair city, as they will taint it and everypony that lives here. They deserve to go back to where they belong - back to their land with the rest of their lowly scum.”
The way he said that last word was like he was spitting out poison. He hoped this strange being would agree with him and his ‘ideals’. Unfortunately, this was never to be. A vein bulges on Real’s forehead as his temper starts to rise.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Real asks calmly, unsettling Blueblood with how calmly he said it while still sounding threatening. “You’re taking out your hatred for Mobians or any non-pony-” He gives the kids a small but noticeable wink and turns back to the unicorn. “- on two innocent kids that have no idea why you’re getting pissed at them? You have got to be the biggest dick in this whole city for the level of racism and assholery you’re displaying that would rival damn Nazis.”
The crowd gasps, the absolute bravery and truth, or foolishness and idiocy, that Real spoke and displayed shocking them. Blueblood had an ego the size of the Moon, and they knew it was best to ignore his demands or go along with what he wanted. The rest of the nobles weren’t any better, either. Besides Fancypants and Fleur de Lis, of course. With the appearance of the Mobian continent in the Celestial Sea years ago, there was bound to be some backlash between the high societies of both worlds. Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Sonic the Hedgehog, and G.U.N. settled things down before they got out of hand, but there were always those few that could never change.
Blueblood stood there, his jaw dropped to the floor as his mind tried to compute what Real just said to him. “Wh-what did you just call me?” He steps forward, a scowl forming on his face.
“You heard me,” Real frowns, folding his arms. “You are the biggest dick in the city. Do I need to spell it out, or do you know your ABCs?”
“How DARE you insult me like that!” Blueblood exclaims, disgust written all over his face. “Do you know who I am?!”
Oh boy, he brought out the ‘do you know who I am?’ schtick, Real thinks, rolling his eyes. Looks like all those hours of Karen videos are coming in handy now! And everyone said it was a waste of time - HA! Eat that, suckers!
Step one: Insult their ego.
“Do I look like I care who you are?” He says casually. “Also, the height difference isn’t helping you right now. Come back after you’ve grown up as a stallion and put on a few inches, then we’ll talk.”
The crowd starts to laugh, and Blueblood’s face turns beet red. Desperate to salvage what was left of his dignity, he tries to force himself upon Real. “You will address me as my title states, peasant! I am a prince, and you will address me as so!”
Step two: Mockingly ‘submit’ to their claims.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Real says, clasping his hands together, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He gets on his knees, mock begging with a cocky smirk. “I truly am a peasant compared to you! Oh, will you ever forgive me, Prince Pushover?”
The crowd chuckles at the display, though they weren’t all laughing. Pinkie and Rainbow try their hardest to hold their laughter in while the others giggle at the scene unfolding before them.
“Enough!” Blueblood shouts, his face somehow turning an even darker shade of red. “I don’t know what you are doing or planning, but if you continue this tirade, I will have the Royal Guard arrest you and these degenerates!”
Step three: Abuse any hole in their idea and turn it against them.
“Go ahead, then!” Real taunts, waving his arms out. “See if they’ll arrest kids for a crime they didn’t commit! And I highly doubt they’ll even try to take me in, seeing as they probably won’t take a ‘peasant’ to jail!”
That gets the crowd. Everyone roars with laughter; Rainbow and Pinkie Pie fall to the ground, laughing hard as tears roll from their eyes.
“Shut up, all of you!” Blueblood roars, slamming a hoof on the ground, hoping to stop the crowd from laughing. Yeah, like that’s gonna happen. “I will have the lot of you arrested for this and put in jail for -!”
Step four:
Real grabs him by the collar, lifting him to eye level.
If all else fails,
“What are you doing?!” He shouts, attempting to squirm out of Real’s grasp. “Put me down, you miserable piece of -!”
Intimidate.
“Shut. Up.” Real growls. A powerful, dark blue aura surrounds the human, shutting Blueblood up instantly as terror shoots through his being. The crowd goes silent, shivers going down their backs as the air around them drops several degrees.
“Woah,” Sonic mutters, rubbing his arms as his quills bristle. “Is just me, or did it get cold all of a sudden?”
“It’s not you,” Dash says, narrowing her eyes. “It’s like Real is causing this.”
“If he is, I really hope he stops,” Fluttershy whimpers, quivering as she curls into a ball. “It… it feels like what happened when Sonic turned into that Dark Super form a few years ago.”
Sonic’s eyes widen in shock as he looks back at Real. The dark aura felt eerily similar to Dark, and the only things lacking were the black hair and lack of pupils. But Real’s hair was still the normal dark blond, and his eyes were… glowing dark blue? Sonic does a double take, but whatever that was was gone.
Back with Blueblood, he couldn’t look away from the deadly gaze of Real that pierced his own. He felt that if he did, he might die a horrible death.
“I’ve had enough of your bullshit,” Real growls, the guttural sound sending shivers down the prince’s back. “I’ve seen one too many ‘things’ from my home to know that not everything is sunshine and flowers. But that does not mean I will tolerate it when I am perfectly capable of stopping such ridiculous acts of blatant idiocy, and abuse of power.”
Real pulls him closer so they were nose to nose. “I will say this once and only once. If I find out that you have been abusing others again, asserting yourself above them for no apparent reason or just because you feel like it, I will not hesitate to beat your ass to near death, then send you to the deepest pits of Tartarus, and then banish that place to the core of the Sun. Do I make myself clear?”
Blueblood nods frantically, now openly crying in fear. He was so terrified that he’d soiled himself, evident by the small yellow puddle underneath him.
“I think it’s time to pull Real back,” Tionic sighs, starting toward the middle. “Let’s go get him before this escalates any further. Real, calm down!”
He turns to the Spark, and his expression softening as the dark aura disappears. Real drops the petrified unicorn, who makes a beeline for the crowd the second his hooves hit the ground. Seeing whatever happened was over, the crowd disperses. Real turns to the Mane Eight, rubbing the back of his neck, he smiles sheepishly. “Hey, guys. Sorry about that. When I get really angry like that, something in me snaps, and I have to let it out one way or another, or else I end up hurting someone.”
“It’s alright, kid,” Tionic sighs, placing a hand on Real’s shoulder. “Just be sure to keep that in check next time, okay?”
“I’ve been doing my best, but I haven’t seen much progress,” Real sighs. He then notices that the two Mobian kids had hid behind his legs, putting him between the fleeing Prince Blueblood and themselves.
“Hey, you two alright?” Real asks, smiling like he hadn’t scared the living daylights out of someone. “I didn’t scare you too badly, did I?”
“You were trying to be scary?” The rabbit asks as she pulls the fox back on his feet. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but thanks for helping us, mister.”
Wait, they weren't scared? Real thinks, internally raising an eyebrow. Either they weren’t affected by it, or they were too focused on keeping their distance from Blueblood to notice.
“You’re welcome,” Real says, kneeling to their level. “Do you know where your parents are? They’re probably worried sick about you two.”
“They know where we are,” The fox pup says, slowly coming out behind his friend. “They let us go and play outside while they catch up with each other, so long as we stay close by. They’re in the café right around the corner.”
Wow, despite how shy he is, he seems pretty responsible, like Fluttershy, Real thinks, and he reaches into the pouch hanging by his waist. “Here, I wanna give you two something. Cup your hands together and close your eyes for a second.”
They hesitantly oblige as they hold their hands out, clenching their eyes tight. Real pulls his clenched fists out of his pouch and over their palms before opening them, letting what he held clink into their waiting hands. “Think of this as compensation for what just happened. Use it however you want, alright?”
Looking at their palms, their eyes widen in surprise when they see what Real just gave them - twenty-five bits each.
“This is for us?!” The rabbit exclaims, grinning from ear to ear. “Thank you so much, mister!”
“Thank you!” The fox pup says, pocketing the money. He and the rabbit give Real a grateful hug as thanks. Separating, they run off to the nearest candy shop, waving goodbye.
“Darling, that was so generous of you!” Rarity gushes, holding a hoof to her muzzle. “How much did you give them?”
“Enough to make them feel better after what just happened to them,” Real says, waving back. “I would want to get something for myself, too, if that had happened to me.”
“We should probably get moving,” Dash says, hovering toward the castle. “The princesses have been waiting long enough for us.”
It takes a few minutes to navigate through the crowded streets of Canterlot to reach the castle gates, but they arrive in one piece. Once Twilight tells the guards the reason for their visit, they’re allowed entry to the castle. Twilight expertly leads the group through the halls, having memorized the layout of the entire castle when she was a filly while under Celestia’s tutelage. They soon arrived at the giant double doors leading into the Throne Room, where the princesses waited.
Twilight’s magic easily pushes them apart, letting her and her friends walk on through. The hallway is incredibly long, with towering quartz columns stretching to the ceiling between the many windows that line both walls. A few have different designs on them, telling of past events that have occurred in Equestria, the more recent events placed towards the end of the room. A long velvet carpet extends to the end, where two thrones lie, and two large alicorns converse with each other, one holding what seems to be a photograph in her golden aura.
The tallest has a pure white coat, a slight pink tinge to her coast making her beauty shine even brighter. Her Cutie Mark is that of the Sun, signifying her connection to the celestial body. Her mane and tail consist of pink, green, light blue, and magenta in that respective order, slowly moving like it was being blown by a non-existent wind. A long horn protrudes from her mane and in front of her intricately designed golden crown, which holds a purple gem in the center. Her necklace has another gem just like it, but her hoof guards are bare of any. Her magenta eyes hold centuries of wisdom and kindness beyond many, but hidden behind that is a mare who has seen and experienced many untold things, having fought battles and wars during her rule.
The alicorn beside her starkly contrasts her sister, her coat a deep navy blue, the tinge of black around the edges giving her a commanding presence. Her cutie mark is a splotch of black on her flank with a crescent moon in the middle and small stars around it, meaning she had some connection to the orbiting satellite in the sky. Her mane looks as if someone took a piece of the night sky and placed it on her head and tail, and it moves on an invisible wind as well. Her horn is nearly as long as her sister, but not quite. Her regalia is practically the same, but made of black material with blue gems. Her blueish-green eyes pierce through the soul, but a sense of calmness and serenity can be found deep within.
Princess Celestia notices the group approaching them, and a warm smile adorns her face as she puts the photo down on her throne.
“Twilight!” She smiles, trotting over to greet her former student. She embraces her former protégé, happy to see Twilight doing well. “It is good to see you. How have things been in Ponyville?”
“They’ve been going great, Celestia,” Twilight says, nuzzling Celestia. She pulls away to face the princess. “We need to talk about your nephew later. We ran into him earlier, and the experience was… ‘pleasant,’ to say the least.”
“Oh, really?” Celestia says, raising an eyebrow. “I can imagine. Blueblood has been acting quite brash recently, so I will ask him about it later. Now, I would like to ask about those strange purple clouds that I saw heading toward Ponyville a few hours ago. Did something happen?”
“Those clouds were not normal in any shape, way, or form,” Tionic pipes up, approaching his fellow royalty. “Whatever they were, they started summoning Storm Creatures out of the blue and attacked the town.”
“Storm Creatures? Do you mean those under the Storm King’s command?” Celestia asks, surprised by that piece of information. “I thought they all disbanded after the Storm King was destroyed. Why are they attacking again?”
“That is something that we would like to know as well, sister,” Princess Luna says, joining the conversation. “Pray tell, Twilight, would thou have any idea?”
“No, not really, Luna,” Twilight frowns, shaking her head. “They arrived weirdly, though.”
“How so?”
“Those clouds brought strange purple towers that grew from the ground wherever pink lightning struck," Twilight says. "We managed to figure out how to take them out, but we had some help.” She gestures to Real, who stood silent with the others, hidden under his cloak as he watched the royals converse with each other.
“You are the visitor that arrived a few months back, correct?” Celestia asks, and Real nods. “I was wondering when we would finally be able to meet you after Luna explored your dreams.”
“The pleasure’s all mine, Princess Celestia,” He says, bowing slightly. “I guess I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I?” Pulling his cloak off, Celestia and Luna are surprised to see a human standing before them. Celestia had heard of them from Twilight when she went through the Mirror Portal, but she never expected to see one face to face. “My name is Real, and I’m from another world called Earth. It’s great to finally meet the ones responsible for the night and day of Equus.”
“It is our pleasure to finally meet you, Real,” Celestia smiles warmly, nodding to the human. “I would have never expected to meet someone from another world, but you are not exactly the first.” She gestures to Sonic and Tionic.
“Well, they are the fastest things alive, but that’s to be expected,” Real shrugs. “I’d say more, but I think one speedster’s ego is big enough already - Equestria doesn’t need two.”
That got a chuckle from the princesses, but the girls laughed. Sonic wears a mock face of hurt, and Tionic rolls his eyes. “Aw, c’mon, it’s not that big, right?” Sonic asks, but he and Tionic soon join in on the laughter. Once the laughter dies down, Celestia clears her throat.
“Now, if I could have your attention, please,” She says, spreading her wings. “I wish I could have called you for a friendly visit, but there are more pressing matters at hoof. The reason why I called all of you here is because of recent events that have developed.”
“A great evil has risen, and it’s something that Luna and I know nothing of. Not even Discord knows, and you know he has been around longer than us.” Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie gasp, while Sonic, Dash, and Tionic raise an eyebrow.
“Wait, what do you mean you don’t know?” Dash wonders, tilting her head. “How does Discord not know even if he’s older than you?”
“That is just it, Rainbow Dash,” Luna frowns. “We cannot find the answer. Nothing in the Canterlot Archives mentions anything like it. We even asked Princess Cadance if she could help, but to no avail.”
“Do you at least have an idea of what we’re up against?” Real asks, wondering what this so-called 'threat' was. “Like what it looks like, where it is, how long it’s been there, you know, that kinda stuff.”
“Actually,” Celestia remembers a report she read a few days ago, which had detailed information about Equestria's weather systems. “In a weather report from two weeks ago, it said they discovered a large, purple cloud mass appeared over the Prancing Plains. The landscape was reported to have been dramatically altered, and eyewitness accounts say that they heard a deafening roar before large gusts of wind and lightning came from within the heart of the storm. There have also been several other reports from all around Equestria reporting sightings of these storms.”
“Wait, there’s multiple?!” Real exclaims, unnerved by this. “I thought the one that formed over Chicacolt was the only one!”
Celestia shakes her head. “Unfortunately, no. Since then, there have been more sightings all over Equestria, ranging from Yakyakistan to Klugetown.”
“Aw, ponyfeathers,” Real curses, planting his hand to his face, a loud smack echoing down the hallway. “This just got a whole lot more complicated.”
“Now, two days after the largest of the storms appeared, I sent a scout to investigate the Prancing Plains and bring back some photographs of the area so we could know what we were up against. When the scout returned a week later, he looked like he had flown nonstop from the Plains - his wings were missing large patches of feathers, and he was bleeding around the joints."
Dash cringes at the thought. While she could fly for days, maybe weeks on end without needing to rest, she knew the risks of wing overclocking. It could lead to feather loss, muscle and joint deterioration, internal bleeding, magical pathway disruption, and bone fracturing if a Pegasus went past their limits without proper training, flew for long periods of time without rest, or exuded too much flight magic at once. Dash could handle all that with an insane mastery, having pushed herself past her limits multiple times in her training to become a Wonderbolt and keep up with her husband's insane speed, so she was no stranger to risk. But as she imagined how bad the scout's wings must've been, memories of her own mangled wings and screams of pain echo through her mind, and she shakes in fear.
Sonic sees her shiver out of the corner of his eye, and he instantly recognizes the reaction. Ever since Dash’s wings were broken in the fight with Nazo years ago, her wings would involuntarily twitch whenever someone mentioned broken wings. They’d healed entirely since then, even coming out stronger than before, thanks to the enormous amount of Chaos radiation they were exposed to during that fight. But years later, she still held mental scars, and the fear of breaking her wings permanently felt all too real for the prismatic mare. Sonic quickly pulls her into a side hug, kissing her cheek to calm her nerves. She leans into the embrace, wrapping her wing around his back as she nuzzles his cheek, sneaking a thankful peck in.
"The scout managed to give us what he had gathered in the field before collapsing of exhaustion," Celestia continues, bringing over the photo she left on her throne. "After he was taken to the infirmary for treatment, we looked at the photos… and I believe I understood why the scout was so determined to get this to us in record time.”
(Ignore the human and the zombies)
The girls gasp in shock at the sight of the behemoth, while the two speedsters were confused by what they were looking at. But Real was a stark contrast to them. His eyes had shrunk to mere pinpricks, and his face was drained of all color. His heart dropped to his stomach, and he wore an expression of shock, horror, and the most dominant - fear.
"No..." He whispers, taking a shaky step back. The Mane Eight and the princesses look at Real, confused as to why he is so scared suddenly. "No, no, no, nononononononono… T-That’s impossible… that… that thing shouldn’t be here… h-he shouldn’t even exist… not here…”
“Real, are you alright?” Twilight asks, resting a hoof on his forearm to garner his attention. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
He doesn't acknowledge Twilight, and his breathing becomes erratic. His eyes shake in place, but they never leave the photo. He slowly raises a shaky finger and points at the picture.
“Um, no offense here, sugarcube, but that ain’t the Storm King,” Applejack points out, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, the dude was only about this tall,” Rainbow flies up and holds a hoof about four feet above Twilight. “He was way furrier, and he definitely didn’t have half of his body missing.”
“N-no, this… this IS the Storm King, it’s just...” Real stammers, trying to form a proper sentence through his dread. “This is from my world. That monster was created there.”
“Wait, you had this thing running amok on your world?!” Twilight exclaims worriedly.
“W-well, not exactly,” Real says, attempting to swallow the lump in his throat as he slowly regains his composure, but he only gets a part of it. “Okay, I should probably explain what I'm talking about…”
Now, to clarify, do you ladies know anything about video games?
Mobius has been around long enough to help Equis advance in more ways than one, especially in the gaming industry. I'm sure almost everypony in Ponyville has a console or computer by now.
Well, that makes this a little easier. I’m guessing you two know about them, too?
Yes. Since Mobius and Equestria made contact with each other, my sister and I have kept up with what Sonic’s world has to offer, and I must say, they have quite a variety of things that Equestria does not yet understand.
We have found pleasure in indulging ourselves in their gaming culture. It’s quite extraordinary!
Nice, Luna. Okay, so the story goes like this…
A world is at peace when all of a sudden, satellites across the planet pick up what looks like a giant purple storm, engulfing the entire planet in just minutes. 98% of the population dies within moments, and the remaining survivors are in for a nasty surprise. With the storm came acid rain and Storm Zombies and their many variants. These monsters will stop at nothing to reach their target, running it down to exhaustion until they can't go any farther.
These zombies are led by the one controlling them all - The Storm King. He has complete control of the Storm, able to summon lighting to attack, summon Storm Zombies, and make himself stronger. The madder he gets, the deadlier the variety of Storm Zombies becomes.
Luckily, a few remaining survivors manage to band together and build a base of operations. This allowed them to learn valuable information about the Storm and its king. Once they were ready, they fought the king and destroyed him for good. As the king fell, the storm around the planet disappeared, almost as if it wasn't even there to begin with. Groups of Storm Zombies still litter the globe, keeping to dark places to stay alive. The survivors continue to rebuild their world, slowly destroying every last zombie until they are entirely purged from their world.
“And now you have a gist of what we’re up against,” Real finishes with a shaky sigh. “We need a plan to take this thing out before it can engulf all of Equestria in acid rain and quite possibly zombies, which luckily hasn’t happened yet. Any ideas?”
“I say we go in and kick some flank!” Dash exclaims, throwing a quick one-two-three combo into the air. “We gotta take ‘em out before they know what’s coming!”
“And when exactly, has that ever gone well for us when we rush headlong into things without a plan?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Uhm…”
“Exactly. Now, are there any other ideas?”
“OOH! OOH! Maybe we could throw them a party!” Pinkie says, jumping around them.
“…and why would we do that when they’re out to get us?” Sonic asks with a deadpan look.
“Oh yeah, that wouldn’t be very fun,” Pinkie ponders, stopping her bouncing, but for only a second. “Guess I’ll have to bring an extra cannon or two!” She then pulls out two full-sized party cannons from her mane and tail.
‘Where the everliving buck did she have those?!’ Real wonders with amazement. ‘Wait, what am I saying?!’ He internally facepalms. ‘This is Pinkemane Dianne Pie I’m talking about here. She always seems to pop out of places she clearly can’t fit in and breaks the fourth wall on a daily basis! Heck, she's probably doing it right now!’
Pinkie notices the reader, waving to you, surprising you as she sticks her cannons back in her mane and tail.
“Pinkie Pie, who were you waving to?" Twilight asks.
“Oh, the reader, silly! Who else?”
“…have you been eating raw sugar packets again?”
“…maybe…” She proceeds to pull one out of her mane, tear it open, and dump its sugary contents into her mouth.
*Sigh* ‘Oh Pinkie, never change,’ Twilight shakes her head before dragging her attention back to the conversation at hoof. “Now, any ideas are helpful, but maybe we should get some advice from the…huh?” She tries to gesture to Real, but he no longer stands beside her. Looking around, she spots him by a nonstained glass window, staring intently at something outside in the skies. The group walks over to him, a little confused.
“Hey bud, you good?” Sonic asks, nudging Real with his arm. That snaps him out of whatever trance he is in, and he looks at the others around him. “Sorry about that,” He apologizes, then looks out the window. “I noticed another batch of Storm Clouds passing by Mount Matterhorn and thought I saw something different about it.”
“What do you mean, Real?” Celestia pries, spotting the clouds he was talking about.
“I’m not sure if I was seeing things or hallucinating, but I coulda sworn that cloud just got even bigger.” Right as he says this, the purple cloud doubles in size, making everyone backpedal.
“I take that is not normal?” Celestia asks, and Real shakes his head.
“Nope, not even close. If that’s happening here, it could be happening to the other storm clouds dotting the continent. If these things get out of control…”
“It could take over all of Equestria and wipe away life as we know it,” Twilight finishes in a panic. “You’re the genius on these things, Real! What are we gonna do?!”
“Hmmm… actually, I might have an idea.” Looking out the window again, he points to the nearest one. “Correct me if I’m wrong here, Dash, but those are essentially lightning clouds, right?”
“Um, yeah, we’ve been talking about them for the past twenty minutes,” She says, wondering what Real was getting at.
“So, that means that they’re a type of cloud, right? No matter what it spews out, it’s still a piece of weather. And here in Equestria, the weather is controlled - “
“ - by the Pegasi!!!” Dash finishes, finally realizing what he was implying.
“Exactly. So if we can get enough together, they could take the storm clouds out before they get stronger," He grins, but it falters as he sees the major flaw in his plan. "There's just one problem. Where the hay are we gonna get a whole platoon of weather-busting ponies for this?”
“We may be able to help with that,” Luna says, a knowing smile on her muzzle.
One order from the Lunar princess and five minutes later, an army of Solar and Lunar Guards stand attention in the courtyard, totaling three hundred strong. It consists of two hundred and forty Pegasi and Thestrals and sixty unicorns with cloud-busting spells of varying degrees. The Mane Eight watch from the side, and Sonic whistles a low note.
“I gotta admit, I didn’t expect them to be ready so fast,” The hedgehog says, folding his arms and smirking. “I’d be impressed if they weren’t four minutes too slow.”
“Compared to you, yeah, they’re slow,” Tionic chuckles, jabbing Sonic’s shoulder. He then looks out around the guards, and any that look at him nod slightly, acknowledging their former fellow guard. Tionic smiles, happy they remembered him even after he left the program years ago. “But their captain thinks it’s fast. They are the ones keeping watch and protecting the city day and night. They must be ready if they’re called into action.”
Sonic nods, but his attention is drawn up front, where Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Real stand. Celestia nods to Real and her sister, and Luna clears her throat to grab the guards’ attention.
“ATTENTION, GUARDS OF CANTERLOT!” She shouts, her voice amplified many times over by the Canterlot Royal Voice. All eyes were on her in an instant. Luna nods to Celestia, letting her take the stage. “You have all been called here to help save Equestria from a mysterious threat that has arisen. I have called upon you because you are the most capable ponies suited for this task. I want to introduce you to a newcomer to this land and expert on this threat, Real.” Celestia gestures to the human, and he salutes sharply in greeting. “He has formulated a plan to help expel this evil from Equestria. Real?”
“Thank you, Princess,” He bows slightly and turns to the army. “Alright, everypony, listen up! You've probably noticed strange purple clouds appearing in recent weeks. Those clouds are starting to grow in both size and power. I’ve noticed that since pegasi, and thestrals, to a degree, can control the weather, and some unicorns have spells that can interact with the weather. So I thought they could do that to all weather, regardless if it's not native to Equestria?”
“There are currently six large clusters across Equestria, excluding the many smaller ones dotted around, which Princess Celestia has warned nearby towns and cities of. They should be able to take care of those while you concentrate on the larger clusters. Now, you’ll split into six groups of twenty Pegasus and Thestrals and ten unicorns each, in which you will follow one or more of the Elements of Harmony and Princess Luna to take the clouds out. We’ve got Sonic and Rainbow Dash going to the San Pelomine Desert as Team Speed, Princess Twilight to the Crystal Empire as Team Magic, Applejack and Rarity to the Changeling Kingdom as Team Fashion Project, Prince Tionic to Manehattan as Team Lightning, Fluttershy and Princess Luna to the Amarezon as Team Lunar Moth, and Pinkie Pie to the Smoky Mountains as Team Surprise. Alright, now that you know what to do, spilt into your groups.”
The army does so with practiced efficiency, and within moments, they’re ready for deployment. Nodding, he walks over to the Mane Eight, the princesses in tow. “Stay safe out there, everyone,” Real says grimly. “And be careful out there. Those storms can escalate things pretty quickly.”
“Don’t worry about us. We’ll be perfectly fine!” Dash says, her confidence brimming. Sonic gives a thumbs-up in response.
“We’ll be in and out before you know it,” Tionic nods, folding his arms across his chest.
“I’ll do everything I can to stop them,” Twilight assures, holding a hoof to her chest.
“We’ll do our best,” Fluttershy whispers, rubbing her foreleg. Luna trots over to her side, places a comforting hoof on the mare’s shoulder, and gives it a reassuring squeeze. How that’s possible with hooves, I have no idea. Magic is just weird like that.
“Do not fret, dear Fluttershy,” Luna says warmly. "You have us by your side. Besides, it is those monsters that should be worried."
“The sky will look fabulous before you know it!” Rarity says with a flick of her mane.
“After this, I’m throwing a ‘We Saved Equestria Again!’ party for us!” Pinkie exclaims, bouncing around.
“Tionic?” Twilight says, grabbing his arm and pulling him into a hug. “Stay safe out there, alright?”
“I will,” He says, cupping a hand under her cheek. “I love you, Twilight.”
“I love you too, Tio,” She says back before closing the gap and pressing her lips against the Spark’s. He reciprocates the gesture, reaching a hand to stroke her mane as the kiss deepens. The two lovers hold each other like this, relishing in the warmth flowing through the contact until the need for oxygen forces them apart. They look into each other’s eyes lovingly, and they hug one last time. Their friends happily watch the two hold each other, and Rarity’s eyeliner runs down her cheeks as happy tears pour from her eyes. She pulls a handkerchief out to wipe the trails away as she watches the display of love between her best friends. Sonic smiles, then wraps an arm around Dash’s back and pulls her for a side hug. He pecks her cheek, and she surprises him by planting her lips against his.
“Youthful love at its finest,” Celestia giggles, but a wistful look flashes in her eyes, one only her sister noticed. The friends and lovers separate, moving to a group of guards. Once everyone is in front of a squadron of guards, Celestia’s horn glows, readying a mass teleportation spell. With a swing of her head, the mini armies flash out of existence and leave the solar princess and the human alone in the courtyard.
Real lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Hoo, thanks for all the help, Celestia. Couldn’t have done it without you or your sister.”
“It was our pleasure, Real,” Celestia says, walking to the royal garden. “The safety of our ponies always comes first.”
“As any wise ruler would do,” Real agrees, catching up to Celestia. Slowing his stride to walk even with the princess, he pops a question he has had on his mind since the train ride to Canterlot. “Hey, can I ask a favor of you?”
“Oh? A favor from me?” Celestia asks, surprised. “What do you have in mind?”
“Well, I was wondering if it would be alright if you could teach me how to use magic properly,” Real says, causing Celestia to double-take.
“Wait, teach you how to use magic? Celestia asks incredulously. “Not to sound rude, but you can not use magic if you do not have a wellspring or magical pathways, and I cannot sense either inside you.”
“True,” Real smirks. “But not when I have this!” He pulls out his golden necklace, the blue gem shimmering in the light. He aims his hand at a nearby potted plant, and his hand glows blue. The pot does as well, and with a flick of his hand, it shoots up like a rocket, stopping abruptly before the cloud layer before quickly bringing it down and setting it back on its pedestal.
“Incredible!” Celestia gawks, but not at the display of magic. “When you used the pendant, I sensed magical pathways coming out and spreading throughout your body! It was almost like it was implanting them inside you while you used it, and when you stopped, they retracted back inside.”
“Wait, really?” Real gawks, holding the pendant out. “I guess that explains the weird shiver that goes through me every time I use it. I just chalked it up to the magic flowing through me, not something making itself a part of me!”
“You have a truly unique artifact, Real,” Celestia praises. “I have never encountered anything like it in my many years of ruling, and I have seen many a strange artifact. This is something I will gladly help with, Real. Learning a new way to use magic is too intriguing an opportunity to pass up! The things we could learn might revolutionize how Equis understands and uses magic on a daily basis! Ooh, I haven’t been this excited to learn about something new in eons!”
“So, I take that’s yes?” Real asks, chuckling at the solar princess’s sudden change in attitude. He then raises his fist to her, but Celestia looks at his fist in confusion. “C’mon, don’t leave me hangin’ here!”
“What do you mean?” She asks, still unaware of what Real was trying to do.
“Just bump your hoof against my hand,” He says, and the solar princess hesitantly raises her hoof to meet Real’s fist. Rolling his eyes, he closes the gap and bumps his fist against her hoof. “There we go, much better!”
She looks at her hoof for a second, then looks back at Real, squinting her eyes slightly. “So, what exactly did you make me do?”
“It’s called a fist bump, but in your case, it’s a hoof bump,” Real explains. “A fist bump is a greeting between friends or the affirmation of a mutual agreement.”
“Are you saying you consider me… a friend?” Celestia raises an eyebrow. “We only met a few minutes ago, and not to mention that I’m the princess.”
“So?”
“So… what?”
“So what if you’re the princess? You could be the god of everything, and I’d still talk to you like I am now. I do respect your title, but I don’t see it as something that defines who you are. I see that deep down, you’re the same as everypony else. Somepony with feelings and dreams, and not just a machine that only raises the Sun in the morning and lowers it in the evening.”
“… you somehow managed to hit every mark perfectly, Real,” She sighs, looking into the sky, reminiscing. “And it is one of the many things I hate about being a princess.”
“Ever since I was coronated alongside Luna, ponies have been bowing to me for generations. I don’t want them to always bow before me when I enter a room or if I simply walk by them. I don’t want them only to treat me like a god…”
Real looks at Celestia, wondering what to do in this situation. He was about to place a hand on her shoulder, but he decided against it and pulled it back. “I am in no way good with words, as I never know what to say in the moment. I may not know what you’re going through, but the least I can do is help you with whatever you need. I can be the friend who treats you how you want to be seen, not as a god, but as a pony. How does that sound?”
Celestia stares at Real, shocked by his offer and even more so at how sincere it was. She mulls over it for a moment, and after giving it some thought, she smiles. “That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Real,” She then sighs, her ears falling flat against her head. “You know, as much as I would like Twilight to look at me like she would with her friends and family, she still thinks too highly of me. And yes, I do have my sister, but she is family. Family members do not exactly count as friends since you have grown up with them most of your life.”
“That’s the biggest load of horseshit I’ve ever heard,” Real says, shocking Celestia with his sudden cursing. She doesn’t get to ask why he said that as he continues speaking. “You should always consider the ones you call family as your best friends. They know you better than most since they grew up with you, so they can help you feel better when your down, they help you when you’re in trouble, and care for you no matter what! That’s exactly what a best friend does! If family doesn’t do that, you shouldn’t consider them friends, much less family.”
She thinks over what Real said, and she could see that every point he made was 100% true. “That… is true, I suppose.”
“Do you consider your sister as your best friend?”
“Huh?”
“I said, do you consider your sister your best friend? Are you two close?”
“I… I’m actually not sure. Ever since Luna resumed her duties when she returned, we rarely see each other outside of our schedules. Even when we are not attending to our ponies, it is mostly pleasantries when we eat together.”
“I know for a fact that I am no expert on family relationships,” says Real, chuckling. “And I certainly shouldn’t be one that you should be taking advice from, but I think you should try to get to know your sister more. Bond with her and have sisterly moments you should’ve had over the years. It may help with ruling if things get rough between you because you’ll know how to help each other.”
“…” She stays silent for a moment, then smirks. “Are you sure you are not an expert? Because that sounds exactly like what an expert would say.”
“Pfft, no. I’ve just read one too many fanfics and love stories,” Real laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m just taking what I read and applying it here, which is working far better than I expected.”
“Hmhmm!” Celestia giggles. “Thank you for this little talk. I will keep what you said in mind and try that later if I have some free time. Now, shall we start working on your magic? We don’t have all day, you know.”
“Absolutely!” He exclaims, pumping a fist in the air. “I’m excited to see what the teacher of Princess Twilight Sparkle can teach me!”
“Follow me then,” Celestia gestures for Real to follow her as she trots towards the garden exit. “We will head to the Royal Archives to fetch some spell books and start from there. You have much to learn but little time to do so. When this is over, I will teach you properly and go from there.”
“Alright, let’s do this!”
While Real begins his training with Celestia, the teams that she dispersed across the continent start their missions. Team Speed was dropped on the edge of the San Pelimine Desert. Behind them, cracks and canyons cut deep into the sandy earth, created by wind and water wearing down on them for centuries. The closer to the desert it got, it transitioned to large mounds of dirt and rock with the occasional abandoned mine here and there, and then flattened out to the desert. Small patches of green cacti dot the yellows and browns of the desert, and a few miles to the north sits the skeleton of a ghost town. Old train tracks lead to its long-abandoned station and further into the sandy expanse, presumably another ghost town. The rusted husk of a locomotive and its tender sit by the platform, and a water tower sits next to it, its contents long since evaporated. Sonic gives a low whistle, holding a hand to block the sun’s rays as he admires the view.
“Wow. Doesn’t matter how many times I come here, it still looks amazing. The ghost town over there adds to the feel of the place!”
“We’re not here for a sightseeing tour, babe,” Dash reminds him. “As much as I would love to check that out, we got bigger things to worry about, remember?”
“Right, right, the storm,” He says, frowning as he scans the desert. “Though, we have to find it first.”
Meanwhile, in Manehattan, Team Lightning arrives in the plains near the city. The Spark looks around, getting his bearings on the area as a sea breeze blows past him, billowing his scarf. Tionic couldn’t see the foreign clouds anywhere, so he turned to the squadron assigned to him.
“Alright, troops, here’s the plan,” Tionic says. You’ll split up into five teams, consisting of two Thestrals and Pegasi and one unicorn. Do a quick fly-by of the city, and if you spot anything, send up a flare spell. If not, rendezvous back here. Does that sound good?” He gets a nod from his team. “Alright, I’ll see you in a few. Good luck.” Tionic speeds off into the bustling city, and the guards split into their groups and do the same.
Team Magic arrives at the entrance to the Crystal Empire, ready to do what they were sent out to do. “Okay, is everypony accounted for?” Twilight asks, looking around the squadron. Seeing nopony missing, she nods. “Good. Now, before we do anything, I need to head to the Crystal Castle to warn Prince Armor and Princess Cadance of this threat. Once I do that, I’ll see if they can lend a hoof to deal with the storm. Does that sound good?”
The guards nod in acceptance, and Twilight trots over to the castle. “Good, let's get going.”
Team Lunar Moth arrives in the middle of the jungle, and they're instantly hit with a wall of humidity. They immediately start sweating, and it's much worse for the Solar Guards since their armor was designed with protection in mind, not ventilation. The Thestrals were fine, though, as their armor was light and meant for being quiet and sneaking around. That, and they could easily slip into the shadows at a moment's notice and cool off inside the darkness. Luna turns to the guard, addressing them with the RCV (Royal Canterlot Voice) to get their attention. "Guard of Canterlot!" She shouts, startling Fluttershy, causing her to curl into a ball and wrap her mane and tail around her.
"My sister has asked us to take this mission to clear the skies of Equestria of these foreign storms! We shall vanquish them with ease and return the skies to their former glory!" Luna rose into the air, her powerful wings easily carrying her. The guard followed her example and flew up into the sky, two fliers taking a unicorn and heading into the dense jungle. But before she took off, Luna noticed that Fluttershy hadn't moved since their arrival.
"Fluttershy? Whatever is the matter?" She asks, landing next to the timid pegasus. "Are you not going to help us with the mission?"
"N-no, I really do want to help," Fluttershy stutters, uncurling slightly to face the lunar princess. "It just feels like I won't be any help to you guys. A-and I'm kind of scared."
Luna puts a hoof on the pegasus' shoulder, causing her to look up at the princess. "Fluttershy, do not worry about such trivial things," Luna consoles. "You are not a burden to us. You are a very capable pony who can do her part better than anypony else can. And being scared of something is not a sign of weakness. It shows that you know what can put your friends in harm's way, and that is a good thing. If it helps you feel better, we will have your back, as one would say."
"T-thank you, Princess Luna," Fluttershy smiles. "I feel a lot better now."
"Good," Luna says, unfurling her wings. "Now, are you ready to go join the rest?"
"Yes," Fluttershy nods. She stands up, feeling better than before, as she unfurls her wings. "Yes, I think so."
Applejack and Rarity trot along the outskirts of the Changeling Kingdom, heading toward the entrance. They had sent the guards ahead to see if they could spot the storm clouds since the two of them couldn't fly. They decided to warn Thorax of the impending danger looming over them and ask if he was willing to help them.
"Hoo-wee, this place is lookin' a whole lot better than th’ last time we were here!"
"Yes, but we didn't come of our own volition, now did we?" Rarity shudders, the memory still fresh. "I still feel like I haven't gotten rid of the smell those cocoons left behind. I can still feel the slime in my fur."
They both cringe. That wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience.
"It's too bad Spike couldn't come along. He would've been delighted to see Thorax."
"We'll be fine without 'im. He'll help us faster than Rainbow Dash chuggin' apple cider durin' cider season!"
Down south in the Prancing Plains, where the first sightings of the storm originated from, rocky formations tower high into the sky, their jagged edges pointing inwards like the ground had closed the hidden hand buried underground. The green landscape where life once flourished is now long gone, replaced with rocky terrain. Purple clusters of crystals could be seen on the sides of the peaks, along with holes in the ground that emitted a pink aura. Winds howl through the mountains and hills, and alongside the patches of deep purple mist around the place, it gives the area an eery vibe. Out of nowhere, a distorted voice speaks, cranking the creepiness factor up to eleven.
"Ooh, they're trying to stop me again, are they?" The voice echoes around the rock faces, making it impossible to pinpoint its source. "Not this time. I will prevail, and I will destroy those goody two-shoe heroes once and for all. And thanks to that odd surge in dark magic I sensed earlier, I think I have the perfect plan to do that...
Far into San Pelimino Desert, Team Speed boosts through the desert expanse, dust and sand flying from their feet and wings. While known for its insane heat record during the summer months, today was a lucky day for Team Sonic, as Celestia’s sun was blocked by fluffy white clouds going in every direction, so it was much cooler than usual.
But even with the nice weather, Sonic and Dash weren’t all that excited about it. For their squadron to keep up with them, they were forced to slow down considerably, much to their annoyance. But even at this pace and with how cool it was, running/flying for a solid thirty minutes would wear out any non-athletic flier, and Dash noticed this. They’d started to lag behind, and the ones carrying the unicorns were the most worn out of the bunch.
“Babe!” Dash cups her hooves around her mouth, projecting her voice down to her husband. When he looks up to see what she wanted, Dash points back to the guards who are falling behind. “Those dudes are starting to get tired! We need to take a break soon or they won’t be of much use later!”
“Right!” He gives a thumbs up, and then quickly scans the desert. “Over there!” He points to a tall rock formation in the distance, close to the rocky cliff face that encased the desert. Dash nods and angles her wings to slow herself. Once she reaches the guards, she starts flapping again.
“Head for that rock formation up ahead!” She shouts, pointing to it. “We’ll take a break there, so just hang in there a little longer!”
The fliers begrudgingly nod. Their exhaustion took a huge toll on them, and they weren’t sure if they’d be able to make it. But by some miracle, and what felt like an eternity to them, but was, in reality, five minutes, they teach the formation. Once they reach the top, any flier not carrying a unicorn drops like flies, panting and gasping for air. The ones carrying unicorns drop them unceremoniously, getting a few flares from their passengers, but they heed them no attention and flop spread eagle, their wings burning from their prolonged use.
“Great job, guys!” Dash compliments, landing much more gracefully than her fellow winged ponies. “All of you take a break, you’ve earned it.”
They simply grunt in response, then go back to sweating bullets and panting on the ground. Dash rolls her eyes, chuckling before turning to the unicorns.
“They’re gonna be like this for a while, so keep watch over them,” The unicorns salute and quickly surround their fellow guards at ten intervals. Dash then turns to Sonic. “How ‘bout you and I head out to find the storm while these dudes hang here?”
“Sounds like a plan,” He says, stretching his legs. “Let’s split up to cover more ground. I’ll head north, you go south, and if we find anything, we’ll break the sound barrier to notify the other, deal?”
“Deal,” She nods, and a cocky grin appears on her face. “First one to find it wins!”
“Are you sure you want to take that bet?” Sonic asks, raising an eyebrow.
“What’s wrong, babe?” Dash chuckles, her grin turning devious. “You scared you’ll lose? Or are you… chicken?”
His eye twitches, and he turns to his wife with a determined look. “Oh, it is ON!”
The two jump off the rock tower and land down below at the same time. Sonic faces north in a runners starting position, and Dash faces the opposite direction, arching her body. Sonic starts the countdown.
“Ready…” He braces his arms on the ground as he runs in place, his feet quickly becoming a red möbius strip as he revs up for a Super Peelout.
“Set…” As she continues the countdown, Dash manipulates her magic through her muscles and feathers, strengthening them as her wings buzz to life. As she preps for her version of the Super Peelout, the wind generated from her insane WBPM (Wingbeats per minute) whips sand everywhere. Both speedsters tense their bodies for launch, all they needed was to say the word, and…
“GO!”
*BOOM*
The colliding shockwaves from the double Sonic Boom shake the landscape, and they threaten to topple the rock tower the guards were on, but it holds up. Streaks of blue and rainbow race away from each other, the ones leading them determined to 1-UP the other in this insane test of speed and luck.
After ten minutes of flying south and scanning the skies for anything, Dash spots a color in the distance that isn’t a natural color of the desert - purple. Concentrating on it, her Pegasus magic lets her eyes zoom in, and she can now see the edge of the Storm she was looking for in clear detail.
“Looks like I won this race, babe!” She whoops to herself, shaking her focus off the Storm to reset her eyes, and then performs a double loop-de-loop in celebration. “Rainbow Dash, 1, Sonic, ah-0! Now to tell him I found it!”
Taking a ninety-degree turn upward, she pumps her wings hard. She bursts through the clouds, climbing higher and higher into the sky. Reaching the desired height, she lazily closes her eyes, relishing in the warmth of Celestia’s sun as it soaks into her fur. She hums in delight as she stops flapping, and gravity soon pulls her back down. Once she feels her head point down, her wings snap open, as do her eyes. Dash moves her hooves in front of her and starts to pump her wings faster and faster while pouring her magic into them. As she draws closer to the ground, a Mach cone forms in front of her, and she pushes herself to go faster. The cone sharpens to a point, and Dash can feel her wings trying to pull themselves off her back, but she knows she can handle it. With one final, practiced push, she shoots forward as the sound and spectral barrier break with deafening *BOOM*, creating the famous Sonic Rainboom she was known for as she pierces the clouds.
Dash instantly pulls up to avoid hitting the ground, her wings complaining from the sheer force she was exerting on them, but she was so used to it that it barely registered in her mind. Circling, she can see the rainbow shockwaves easily push the fluffy clouds miles away, opening to leave the clear blue sky behind. She bleeds her momentum into the air and comes to a stop, hovering as she concentrates on her wellspring.
‘Looks like I’ve got enough magic left for another fifty-ish Rainbooms,’ Dash thinks, refocusing on the outside world. ‘I can’t believe how far I’ve come since I first performed it. I could barely manage one without collapsing back then, but now I can do forty to fifty in a row without destroying the tendons and muscles in my wings!’
As she thinks, she spots the shockwave of another Sonic Boom in the distance, and she can see the blue blur that is Sonic closing in on her location fast.
‘I guess I have Sonic to thank for that,’ She smiles as her eyes zoom in on her husband in the distance. ‘I remember when we first met, I hated, no, despised him for being faster than me. So I trained to catch up with him, and over time, he helped me see my potential, and even go beyond that to reach for the stars.’ She touches the golden wedding band on her right fetlock, caressing it as memories of that beautiful day come to her, still crisp to this day. ‘Without him, I don’t know where I’d be.’
Dash then boosts ahead to meet Sonic midway, using a bit of her magic to create a small Rainboom on launch. Once she passes Sonic, Dash pulls up and performs a large loop, and once she reaches the apex, she flips right side up and glides down to him, flapping as little as possible. Reaching the hedgehog, she starts flapping again, but not before lovingly kissing his cheek, surprising him.
“Where did that come from?” He asks, his face a mix of happiness and confusion as he rubs the spot she kissed.
“Am I not allowed to kiss my man when I want?” Dash says, clutching her chest and acting hurt.
“I’m not saying you can’t!” He chuckles, playfully rolling his eyes. “I’m just wondering why is all.”
“Just thinking about how far I’ve come thanks to you,” She says, moving in front of him and flying backward, her face close to his. “I love you, Sonic.”
“I love you too, Rainbow Dash,” Sonic says, cupping her cheek and pulling her close. The kiss isn’t as long as the many others the two have indulged in, but it still held just as much love as them. Separating from the weird backward flying and running kiss, Sonic smirks as he lets go of Dash’s cheek. “Last one there’s a rotten Eggman!”
Before her love-drunk mind can process what he said, Sonic sidesteps around her and boosts away. When it finally clicks, Dash whips around to see Sonic running away, laughing.
“Wha-?! Hey!” She exclaims, shaking the last vestiges of the kiss away before boosting off. “Get back here, that’s not fair!”
"Hmm, lemme think!" He shouts, running backward to face her. He scratches his chin in mock thought. "Nah!"
Laughing, he turns around and boosts off. Dash laughs as well, pouring more speed on to catch up. The two ensue in a catch-up tag race, laughing as they play with each other. But as they reach the edge of the storm, their playful laughter slowly morphs into shocked silence. Both speedsters screech to a halt, horrified by what they see. Under the storm’s influence, the sandy earth is now a dull grey, and puddles of purple liquid dot the muddy ground, occasionally glowing pink. Hot pink lightning strikes the ground at random, scorching whatever it hits. What made it worse was that it was spreading fast, about a few dozen hooves a minute due north.
“Sweet Chaos, I can see why Real wanted to get rid of these things!” Sonic exclaims, the magnitude of the situation finally setting into his mind. “This place looks like a wasteland! Heck, it almost puts that robotized part of Green Hill to shame!"
“We need to get back to those guards and tell ‘em about this, ASAP!” Dash exclaims, taking to the air. Nodding to each other, they boost back to where they left their squad. No longer playing around, they make the trip in a matter of seconds, the shockwaves from their speed rippling through the desert. They unknowingly disrupted the storm with their Sonic Booms at launch, but they’re long gone to see the clouds start to flash violently. Back at the rock formation, the sudden appearance of both speedsters startles the guards, but they calm down once they see who came out of nowhere.
“We found the storm!” Dash exclaims, ruffling her feathers back into place. “It’s about a hundred or so miles south, and it’s spreading fast!”
“How are we going to approach it?” A female thestral asks. “If it’s spreading fast, we need to contain it before it gets out of hoof.”
“Hmmm…” Sonic muses, tapping his foot. “Usually my plans consist of rushing in and kicking butt, though that usually only works against Eggman. Gimme a minute to think.”
Sonic walks to the edge, staring far into the horizon where the storm was. ‘C’mon Sonic, you can do this!’ He thinks, bonking his forehead with a fist. ‘You’ve done this before, so you can do it again!’ His foot starts tapping again, but much faster than before. So fast, that the sand beneath Sonic’s foot turns to glass from the intense heat generated by his shoe hitting the sandy earth. Dash sees how much Sonic is struggling, so she trots up beside him to see if she could help.
“Hey, you good?” She asks, nuzzling his cheek. “You’re thinking, I thought that was Tails’ thing.”
Sonic chuckles, pulling her into a side hug. “True, I’m not known for planning. It's just that I finally realized how bad the situation is, and I’m not sure how things are going to go.”
“Hey, you’ll think of something,” Dash says, pecking his cheek. “You’ve got what it takes, and if I know you, and I do, you’re sure to think of something soon. Now hurry up, I’m getting bored just sitting here! My wings are itching to move fast and move now!”
He laughs, Dash's attitude to get moving and be moving relaxing him. “Alright, alright, I’ll think of a plan!” Sonic says, elbowing her back. Then something about what that thestral said earlier clicks in Sonic’s head. Snapping his fingers, he exclaims, “I got it!” and turns to the others, gesturing for them to come close.
“Okay, so building off of an idea one of you had, here’s what we gotta do…”
Forty minutes later, Team Speed heads toward the storm clouds, and they’re shocked by how far the storm had gotten. It had grown by about 50% from when Sonic and Dash saw it, reaching the cliff they were perched on.
“Damn, it’s worse than I thought,” Sonic mutters, but he shakes it off as he turns to the guards. “The plan is still the same! Contain the storm while Dash uses a Rainboom to destabilize it. The unicorns will keep their teammates safe from anything that might hit you, but still be careful. Any questions?”
Getting none, Sonic grins and gives Dash a thumbs up. “Alright Dash, you’re up! Everypony else, you know what to do!”
Dash boosts up as Sonic biceps into a ball and revs a Spindash. The guards split into groups of twenty-five going east and west in teams of five. Sonic releases his Spindash and shoots off the cliff into the nearest cloud. Instead of falling through it as any non-flier would, electricity sparks from his quills as he collides with it, wrapping around a good chuck and vaporizing it. Thanks to years of having the cloud walking spell cast on him by Twilight and her increase in wellspring size and types of magic she had thanks to her ascension, Sonic had absorbed the Pegasus magic the spell had in it. The magic had fused with the Chaos energy already inside him, creating an artificial wellspring that allowed him to wield Pegasus magic. He uses it to wield wind and electricity similar to how Tionic’s powers worked, but minus the time dilation - Sonic could already do that. He also uses the magic to create swords of wind and electricity, finally becoming The Knight of the Wind he was destined to be, as well as the Master of Lightning.
High in the sky, Dash looks behind her, scanning the Storm for the eye. She quickly spots it and turns around. “Alright, time for this storm to meet a Sonic Rainboom!”
Dash boosts downwards, a Mach cone quickly forming in front of her hooves. Right as she’s about to hit the clouds, she breaks the spectral barrier again and takes a sharp turn to fly level with the ground. The rainbow shockwave destroys the eye of the storm, making the whole storm light up like the tree in Manehatten on Hearth’s Warming. Pulling up, she angles herself to follow the edge of the new ‘eye’ and plows through them, going further and further out with each pass.
On the outskirts of the storm, the guards are easily corralling the storm and simultaneously trimming it down from the outside. Sonic is just using Homing Attack after Homing Attack, popping clouds left and right and leaving a trail of gaps in the storm as he goes.
“WOO!!” He shouts as he comes out of a record combo. “Seventy-two homing combo! Hey, did you guys see -!” Looking down, he sees that he’s much higher than he realized. “- oops.”
Thinking quickly, Sonic angles himself above a cluster of clouds and performs a Stomp, letting him fall faster. He busts through the cloud, his magic tearing into the neighboring ones as he hits the ground. He then boosts to the cliff and runs on the side, using it the launch himself back into the action. What he didn’t see was the sudden increase of acid rain coming from the clouds, which corrupted the ground beneath even more than it already was.
Slowly but steadily, Team Speed chipped away at the storm until it looked more like a purple malnourished donut than a terrifying storm. They were so focused on finishing the job that they didn’t notice the puddles of acid start to move into one large pool, bubbling and hissing as more of the liquid pooled in.
“And… done!” Sonic exclaims, doing a final Homing Attack on the last storm cloud before Stomping to the ground. “Whew, now that was a workout! How’d you hold up, Dash?”
Landing next to him, Dash wipes a bead of sweat off her forehead and ruffles her feathers. “An occasional lightning bolt here and there, but nothing too much,” She says, but something catches her eye as the guards land beside them. “Buuuut, I can’t say the same for all of us.”
Turning, Sonic spots one of the thestrals looking more like a charred mess of overcooked barbecue. She hadn't been fast enough and was struck by a lightning bolt, so her deep navy blue mane and tail stood on end, smoking slightly. Her dark grey coat was charred a deep purple, a few spots still sizzling. Even her armor was affected, though a little tinge of blue and black showed through here and there.
“Eesh, that does not look pretty,” He grimaces, licking his fingers as he walks over and pinches one of the burning spots on the thestral out with a little *pssh*. She shakes her head, jostling the purple soot off her face, though there were still a few spots left, especially on her wings.
“This’s gonna take a lot more than a bath to get rid of,” She groans, attempting to rub off the soot stuck to her leathery wings.
“So, what now?” Dash asks. “We head back to Canterlot to tell the princesses we managed to stop it? That almost seemed too easy, even for a major storm like that.”
“Probably,” Sonic speculates, looking over the ruined landscape that resulted from the storm’s acid rain. “But we can’t be too sure. I’ll do a quick loop around the area, and see if I spot anything. I’ll be right back.” He boosts off and comes back instantly. “I got nothing. The place is quiet, almost too quiet.”
“Whad’ya mean, too quiet?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” He repeats, narrowing his eye as he gazes around the landscape. “This place is completely devoid of everything.” He pauses for a moment. “Well, except for the giant pool of purple acid rain smack dab in the middle of all of this, and bubbling menacingly.”
“What?!” Rainbow exclaims before facehoofing. “That would’ve been helpful to mention that first! Where is it?”
“It’s just this way,” Sonic points to the heart of the barren landscape. “C’mon, I’ll show you!”
Sonic boosts off into the desolate area, Dash and the guards flying right behind him. The guard follows suit, though a little slower. They eventually catch up to the couple, both standing by the edge of a pink pool of some kind of sizzling liquid.
“So, how exactly do you know this is made of acid?” Dash asks, gesturing to the purple liquid.
To show her, Sonic kicks a small rock into the bubbling liquid. The rock hits the surface with a loud hiss, smoke billowing from it as it disintegrates.
“…never mind.” She gulps, nervously backing away from the edge. “By the way, where the hay did this even come from? I didn’t see this while we were taking the storm out.”
“I don’t know, Dash,” Sonic frowns, his foot rapidly tapping the ground. “This just came out of nowhere. I also noticed that this is the only acid pool here. You’d expect there to be hundreds of them all over the place after a storm like that, but it seems like it’s all been concentrated here for some reason.”
As if the universe had heard the hedgehog, the acid bubbles violently, like something was boiling it underneath. Team Sonic backs away from the edge as fast as they could, for fear of getting hit by flying drops of acid. But as suddenly as it started, it stopped.
“Huh. Well, that was weird.” One of the guards comments. “Honestly thought something was going to happen. Guess not.”
Sonic and Dash facepalm/hoof at the same time, and groan as something does happen. A ball of purple acid rises in the middle, growing bigger as it draws the pool into itself until it’s the size of a small Ponyville house. Then it shrinks - but as it’s shrinking, stone hands appear from the sides - though they wouldn’t be called hands, they were more like razor-sharp claws made of crystals. The claws connect to bulky stone forearms, but spindly upper forearms are made of metal. Its feet were made of metal and colored red with purple gems sticking out the sides. Connected to it was a chunk of rock with yellow pipes holding the feet to it. Just like the upper forearms, its legs were very thin compared to everything else.
They connect to a stone torso, two metal spikes coming out of the back and a metal grill covering its chest, and shoulder guards made out of jagged purple crystals covering the shoulders. The head is made of metal and stone, and six sharp spikes made of crystal protrude from the back of its head. The ears and head were made of stone, and a metal muzzle with a sharp black cone for a nose completes the look. Its eyes glow red, murderous intent behind them as it gazed at the startled Team Speed.
SYSTEMS ONLINE
AREA SCAN…
TARGETS IDENTIFIED: NUMBERED 52
MAIN TARGET IDENTIFIED - SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
THREAT LEVEL: HEDGEHOG
TOP SPEED: UNKNOWN
NEW MISSION PARAMETERS - DESTROY HEDGEHOG
POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 40%
“What the -!” Dash exclaims, stepping back. “W-what the hay is that?!”
“Silver Sonic,” Sonic smirks, easily recognizing the robot even if was made from different materials. “Dude was built by Eggman to take me out years ago. But ever since the last Death Egg was destroyed, Egghead hasn’t made another one of ‘em.”
“So what’s it doing here then?!” Dash exclaims, gesturing to the metal/rock robot.
“No idea,” Sonic shrugs, and cups his hands over his mouth. “HEY, SILVER SONIC!”
The giant stone golem glares at the speedster, its eyes glowing red and making everyone except Sonic flinch.
“What’s up with the new look?!” He shouts, doing what he loves to do with any metal copy that Eggman dishes out at him - taunt them. “You tryna add a bit more color to your look? If I’m being honest, your old one was a bit bland, don’t you think? The purple compliments your eyes! Maybe you could use a new name to go with your new look? Storm Sonic? What about Storm Metal?” Sonic snaps his fingers as he has an epiphany. “Ooh, wait! How does Metal Storm sound?”
The golem’s eyes glow purple as pink lightning crackles from its fingers and forms a ball of hot pink plasma. It throws the orb with incredible speed, surprising Sonic, but not enough for him to easily kick it away. He then appears on his massive counterpart’s head, laying on his side as he wiggles a finger in his ear.
“That actually took me by surprise for a second there,” He says, cracking an eye open. “If you don’t like compliments, then just say so instead of trying to kill me!”
HEDGEHOG PRIORITY NUMBER ONE. DESTROY HEDGEHOG
Metal Storm tries to smack Sonic flat with a lightning-infused hand, but he’s back by with the others long before it reaches him, so it ends up hitting itself.
“Heh! Oldest trick in the book.” Sonic chuckles, rubbing a finger under his nose. “Come on, show me what you got!”
“Sonic,” Dash growls, starting to panic a little now. “What are you doing?! Are you trying to get us killed?!”
“Pfft!” Sonic scoffs, pointing at the golem with a thumb. “This old bucket of bolts? It couldn’t take me out even on its best day!”
In response, Metal Storm curls into a giant stone Spindash, four crystal spikes coming out of it with smaller ones dotting its surface. It spins in place, tearing up the ground as Storm Lightning crackles from the crystals. It shoots forward with insane speeds, surprising Sonic as he barely sidesteps the attack.
“Wha-?!” Sonic exclaims, watching the golem tear across the landscape and pull a U-turn. “How did it get that fast?!”
“What did I tell you, Sonic?!” Dash groans, dragging a hoof down her muzzle. “You just had to antagonize the thing, didn’t you?!”
“It’s what I do with these copies, alright?!” Sonic retorts, jumping over Metal Storm again as it came back for a return trip. The golem unfolds and slides to a stop before scanning the area. It locks onto the guards, making them flinch.
NEW TARGETS ACQUIRED
TARGET STATUS: PEGASUS, THESTRAL, AND UNICORN, GUARD OF CANTERLOT. NUMBERED 50. ALLIES OF HEDGEHOG
THREAT LEVEL: LOW
TOP SPEED: 80 - 120 MPH
NEW MISSION PARAMETERS - ELIMINATE ALLIES OF HEDGEHOG
POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 100%
It aims its hand at them, another ball of plasma forming as it grows in size. Realizing what it was doing, Sonic’s eyes widen in horror as he turns to the guards.
“LOOK OUT!” He shouts, hoping they could get out of the way in time. Thinking quickly, a unicorn casts a shield spell, and while it wasn’t strong enough to hold the orb back, it gave the other unicorns enough time to cast their spells to strengthen the shield. The shield doubles in size, seemingly pushing the orb back and keeping them safe. But out of nowhere, the plasma orb shatters the shield, the magical backlash ripping into the unicorns’ horns and giving them the world’s biggest headache.
Their pain was nothing compared to when the orb hit them and the others.
The guards scream out in pain as Storm Lightning courses through their bodies, frying their internal organs, nerve endings, and leylines. As quickly as it happened, the guards collapse, charred with deep purple ash.
“NO!” Sonic and Dash shout, rushing to their side. Luckily, the pegasi and thestrals were still alive, but in excruciating pain. Having flight magic, they were trained to redirect and harness lightning without being seriously hurt. Unfortunately, the unicorns didn’t have this or the specific training to do this and took the full force of the attack, their bodies unable to handle the raw power of lightning and leaving them near death’s door. Both speedsters quickly check all of them and worry flashes across their eyes when they check the unicorns.
“The pegasi and thestrals are fine,” Dash says with relief, but her expression darkens. “But the unicorns are almost dead. They need immediate medical attention or they’re going to die in a few minutes.”
“We gotta get them out of here,” Sonic says and glares at his counterpart. “With that thing still around, they’ll be in danger. Dash, can you distract it while I get everypony out of here?”
“You got it!” Dash salutes. “One distraction, coming up!” She launches at Metal Storm, easily getting its attention.
NEW TARGET ACQUIRED
STATUS: PEGASUS, WIFE TO SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
TOP SPEED: MACH 500
THREAT LEVEL: RED
NEW MISSION PARAMETERS - DESTROY PEGASUS ALLY TO HEDGEHOG
POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 70%
“Alright, you pile of pebbles!” Dash shouts, coming to a stop and hovering in front of Metal Storm. “Let’s see if you can keep up with pure awesomeness!”
Boosting underneath Metal Storm’s legs, she turns around to land a roundhouse kick to the back of its head, knocking it off balance. The robot stabilizes itself, but a haymaker to its head from Dash stumbles it. Capitalizing on the opening, she goes in for another, but Metal Storm somehow catches her punch. Changing its grip, Metal Storm flings Dash across the landscape.
“GAAAHH!!” She screams, trying to stabilize her unplanned flight and stop a crash landing. Dash realizes that she wouldn’t be able to save it when the ground rushes up at her, so she braces herself. Dash lands hard, creating a deep groove in the ground until her momentum was spent. Shaking the cobwebs and dirt from her head, she slowly gets back up, groaning as she holds her head. “Urg, that’s gonna hurt in the morning.” Looking up, she spots Metal Storm Spindashing straight for her, leaving a trail of turned dirt behind it.
“WOAH!” Dash exclaims, scrambling to her hooves. She pours as much magic into her feathers as she dares and flaps her wings, creating an electrical shockwave as she barely avoids the golem. Slowing the flow of magic, she wipes a bead of sweat from her forehead. “That was a little too close for comfort. Hopefully, Sonic’s faring better than I am.”
Back with said hedgehog, he’s getting ready to move the downed guards. “Just hang tight, everypony,” Reaching into his quills, he pulls out the Red Chaos Emerald and concentrates on where he wants to go. Raising it into the air, he shouts- ”Chaos Control!” -and the Emerald shines a bright white-red light. With a flash, they’re gone.
—{Canterlot, Canterlot Hospital…}—
The Canterlot Hospital is fairly quiet today, with only a few Ponies, Mobians, and surprisingly a griffon sit in the waiting room. There wasn’t anything particularly exciting going on, no life-threatening injuries or surgeries that would decide the fate of an unlucky soul. In the lobby, an earth pony attendant is at the reception desk, looking through files and organizing them into their respective places. Her shift was about to end when a white-red light flashes in front of her desk, blinding her and causing the ones sitting nearby to cover their eyes. When it dies down, it reveals a group of fifty guards that were charred a deep purple and groaning in pain. Standing in front of them is Sonic, holding the Red Chaos Emerald.
“I have twenty pegasi and thestrals that need medical attention and ten unicorns in critical condition,” Sonic quickly explains to the receptionist. “They’ve been hit with some seriously potent lightning, and I’m not sure how long the unicorns have left. Can I count on you to help them out?”
“Uhm, s-sure?” The attendant stammers, still trying to process what was happening, the fact that she was talking to Sonic the Hedgehog alone still shocking her. “I-I can do that.”
“Good,” Sonic nods. “Tell your doctors to get down here now and work fast. Now, I gotta go. Chaos Control!” In a flash, he’s gone, leaving the attendant in slight shock. She shakes her stupor off, regaining her professionalism, and immediately picks up the phone, pressing a hotline button that dials one of the doctors.
“Doctor Hooves? We’ve got a code red in the lobby. Get as many ponies as you can down here, because we’ve got ten unicorn guards in critical condition, as well as some thestrals and pegasi that need a quick look over.”
“I’ll be down in a moment. Can you hold the fort until I arrive with more staff?”
“Yes, see you in a moment, doctor,” She hangs up and quickly focuses her attention on the groaning guards in front of her desk. “…I’m not paid enough for this.”
—{Back at the San Pelimine Desert…}—
Dash flies around Metal Storm while landing hit after hit, but her attacks don’t do much damage to the golem besides chip the rock or scratch a crystal.
“Damnit! How hard is it just to take this thing down?!” She growls, dodging another ball of plasma. Flying down, she uses her speed to knock the robot off balance, then pull a full 180 to hit it square in the chest. This sends the robot flying back, the impact denting the metal grate on its chest.
“HA!” Dash exclaims with a cocky grin, pumping her hoof. “How do you like that?!”
Metal Storm responds by rushing at her with a lightning-infused fist cocked back. “Oh, crap!” She exclaims, trying to get out of the way, but she can see she wasn’t going to make it. Before it hits, a blue blur slams into the golem’s face, knocking it down.
“You having fun with old Metal here?” Sonic quips, landing next to Dash. “I hope you saved some for me!”
“Pfft! As if I’ll let you have all the glory!” She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “But I would like some help, this thing is a lot harder to take down than I thought.”
“No problemo!” Sonic grins, cracking his knuckles. “Now, how ‘bout we show this pile of pebbles to the cliffside?”
“Gladly,” Dash smirks, flaring her wings as electricity crackles along her feathers. “It owes me some payback from throwing me like a rag doll earlier.”
“Then let’s show him what we got!” Sonic says, curling as he boosts forward. He slams into the golem, denting the metal covering its chest. After Sonic bounces back, Dash slams her hind legs into Metal Storm’s chest as hard as she could, denting the plate and knocking it back a few meters. It seems to barely faze the golem, as Metal Storm gets back up and charges. Its fists crackle with electricity, arcing up and down its arm as it builds up power. The golem thrusts its arms forward, and two hot streams of plasma fly at the speedsters. Sonic and Rainbow dodge in time, hearing loud explosions behind them as the plasma comes into contact with the ground.
But before Sonic’s feet touch the ground, he’s intercepted by Metal Storm, who connects a heavy uppercut with his jaw and sends him spiraling high into the sky. “NOOOoooOOOoooOOOOOO!”
“SONIC!!” Dash screams, watching her husband spiral upward. She grins her teeth, growling as her head snaps to Metal Storm, and red slowly covers her vision. Pulling from her wellspring, she coats her wings and hooves in a massive electrical aura and charges. Combined with her rage and electrical boosts, Dash blitzes Metal Storm like there was no tomorrow. Electricity strikes the golem everywhere, damaging it every time her near-light-speed punches and kicks land. In her blind rage, Dash didn’t see the sudden lightning-infused fist aimed for her face until it made contact with a loud *CRACK*. Dash is blasted into the ground, upending even more dirt and rock before she stops. Feeling something warm trickle down her lip, she wipes it off with the back of her hoof to see her blood soaking into her fur.
“I gotta admit, you’ve got a mean right hook!” Dash shouts, shaking the dirt and pebbles from her coat. “But I’ve met fillies that hit harder than you!”
Flaring her wings and magic, she takes to the skies once more and boosts at Metal Storm. The golem prepares another electric punch, but she dodges under it and flips over its head, quickly maneuvering behind the golem before roundhouse kicking it. The spines on its back crack off, revealing the back of what looks like a jet engine inside. Before Dash can figure out what it was, a crystal claw slashes out at her, but it only slices air as she puts some distance between them.
‘Jeez, Sonic wasn’t kidding when he said this thing was tough!’ Dash thinks. ‘I have damaged it, but I had to use a lot of magic for those attacks! Wait, where’s my -‘
Right on cue, a shout draws her attention upward, and a smile breaks loose on her face.
“GERONIMOOOO!!!!!!”
Sonic slams into Metal Storm’s head with devastating force, cracking the golem’s head and slamming it into the ground. The impact jostles the golem’s internal hardware, causing it to shut down. Backflipping off the head, Sonic runs over to where Dash landed, a worried look on his face.
“Hey, are you alright?” Sonic says, eyeing the scratches along her body. “You look like you taken a beating.”
“Yeah, I’m alright!” Dash says, wiping the remaining blood from her nose as she smiles. “Gonna take more than just a punch to the face to take me out!”
“That’s my girl!” Sonic pecks her cheek, then turns to the downed golem. “I think I see a few weak spots on Stormie here.”
“Yeah, I can see a few as well,” Dash nods. “One on the head made by you, and another on its back.”
Right on cue, the Windows startup sound plays from Metal Storm as it comes back online, eyes glowing red.
SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE
RUNNING SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC…
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT:
CORE REACTOR AT 89%
DEFENSE SYSTEMS AT 53%
WEAPONS SYSTEMS AT 62%
STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY AT 74%
CURRENT MISSION: DESTROY HEDGEHOG AND PEGASUS COUPLE
POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 51%
ACTIVATING STORM CORE
The rock around Metal Storm’s chest cracks and falls away to reveal a turbine similar to Metal Sonic’s. Electricity arcs from the crystals all over its form, and they begin glowing as power is drawn into them.
“Oh-ho! Looks like somebody’s pullin’ out the big guns!” Sonic grins, curling and spinning in place. His spinning form absorbs the light-blue orbs as he charges his Light Speed Attack. When he stops spinning and stands up, his whole body is covered in a blue light, the whites of his eyes being the only thing visible. Reaching a hand into his quills, Sonic takes a Red Power Ring out and hands it to his wife. “I guess we should too!”
Taking the ring, she absorbs it with a *VLING*, feeling the massive amount of Chaos energy flow through her veins and integrate itself into her wellspring. She coats her form in a massive, blue-green electrical aura, and her mane raises while her feathers take a reddish tone to them.
“GO!”
They explode from their spots and blitz Metal Storm at light speed. Even with its power boost, Metal Storm can’t keep up with them or defend, it can only stand there and take a beating until an opening showed itself. The couple land hit after hit in perfect sync, further damaging the golem as they strike both of its weak spots. Both speedsters come from opposite sides and slam their fist and hoof into the sides of its head, making its eyes flicker violently.
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT:
CORE REACTOR AT 14%
DEFENSE SYSTEMS AT 5%
WEAPONS SYSTEMS AT 301%
STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY AT 9%
POSSIBILITY OF MISSION SUCCESS: 5%
ESTIMATED TIME LEFT BEFORE SELF-DESTRUCTION: 5 MINUTES
ALL SAFETY PARAMETERS DISABLED
BERSERK MODE ACTIVATED
The golem’s visor turns completely red, bloodlust radiating in the tiny black beads that remained in its eyes. This startles the speedsters, but the loud crack that echoes across the desert as the robot’s muzzle cracks apart send shivers down their spines. Metal Storm opens its maw to reveal a jagged set of very sharp crystal teeth and lets out an unnatural roar of pure rage for the speedsters.
“Well that’s not creepy or anything,” Sonic deadpans. He then turns to Dash holding a hand out. “Alright, looks like we’ll have to end this fast! Dash, you ready?”
“Born ready!” She grabs his hand, and the pair start spinning around each other. With Sonic still in his Light Speed form and Dash still souped up on Chaos energy, they quickly build up speed and power. Blue-green electricity crackles around the blue aura surrounding them, and once they feel like they’ve charged enough, they release the attack.
Metal Storm never sees it coming. The Chaos and Pegasus magic-infused Double Spindash rips through its turbine within a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a millisecond, obliterating it and reducing it to scrap. Sonic and Dash slide to a stop fat behind Metal Storm, powering down as they look back and grin victoriously.
The golem topples backward, shaking the ground slightly from its weight as the visor goes black and displays a countdown.
CR1T1C^L F^1LUR3
^LL 5Y5T3M5 5HUT D0WN
53LF D35TRUCT 1N T-M1NU5 10…
9…
8…
7…
“W-Wait, self-destruct?!” Dash exclaims. Even from how far they were, their ears could still pick up on the familiar sound of a ticking bomb. “We gotta get outta here!”
6… KRZT… 3… 2…
“Not enough time!” Sonic reaches into his quills, yanking the Green Chaos Emerald out before wrapping an arm around Dash. “CHAOS -“
1…0
“- CONTROL!”
KABOOOOM
The explosion shakes the desert itself, the shockwave seen and felt through the entirety of it. The purple-black mushroom cloud rising high above the clouds signifies the strength of the explosion, as anything within a hundred-mile radius would be flattened. At the same time, a green light flashes as Chaos Control warps Sonic and Dash away from the blast.
In the Canterlot Gardens, a flash of green light appears and disappears, dumping two ragged speedsters in its place.
“Sweet Celestia,” Dash groans, rolling on her stomach. “That was way too close for my liking. Let’s never do that again!”
“Yep,” Sonic sighs, putting the Emerald back in his quills before flopping on his back. The couple sits in relaxing silence for a while, but Sonic remembers something from earlier and sits up. “Hey, how’s your nose? Does it still hurt?”
Dash runs a hoof over her nose, wincing from the pain that shoots up her face. “Really tender, but I think the energy from the Red Power Ring healed it a bit.”
“How ‘bout we head over to the hospital and get that checked just in case?” He suggests, standing up and stretching his back out, getting a few pops. “We can also see if those scratches and marks all over the place need attention, and check in on the guards I left behind.”
“I guess,” Dash shrugs, slowly getting to her hooves. “But they better not be putting any needles in me.”
“Doubt they’ll need to do that for some scratches,” Sonic chuckles. He then kisses her cheek and pulls her into a side hug. “Thanks for the help out there. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You weren’t so bad yourself, babe,” Dash nuzzles Sonic’s cheek, wrapping a wing around his backside as they walk side by side.
Deep in the heart of the Frozen North, far from any civilization, and connected via a singular rail line sits a gigantic light-blue dome of love magic that houses an empire, but not just any empire, a crystal empire. Smack dab in the middle of the dome is a castle made of light-blue crystal that sits on four legs, which hold the body of the castle, like the throne room, guest rooms, royal rooms, library, etc, etc. Two large towers stand tall on the outer edges, connecting to two thinner ones that connect to the main spire of the castle. Behind the castle sits a short, cylindrical building with a snowflake on its roof, and a bridge connects the side of it to the back of the castle. Around them are various buildings made of red, blue, or purple crystals, trees, and foliage dotting the space between them. The roads intersecting the city create a massive snowflake if seen from above, the center placed underneath the castle. This is the home of the Princess of Love, Cadance, her family, and her subjects, the Crystal Ponies. Now, they aren’t your usual pony, because these ponies have the power of the artifact that protects them from the northern winds, the Crystal Heart. Its magic is infused within their wellsprings, giving their coats a crystalline appearance and making them as hard as diamonds.
There is one strange thing about the empire, though. You won’t see any unicorns trotting around or pegasi flying about the city. Thousands of years ago, when King Sombra had taken over, he had viewed them as a threat to his rule, so he ordered his mind-controlled troops to exterminate all of them. Even after the return of the Empire and Sombra’s eventual defeat, none of the newborn foals had wings or a horn, and it’s feared that Crystal Unicorns and Pegasi are truly extinct, a relic from the past. But there’s still hope, and since genetics can be wildly unpredictable (see Flurry Heart), the possibility that they could come back was still out there. They just had to get lucky.
The city had been enjoying a time of peace for a while, but it always comes to a screeching halt sooner or later. In one of the outer intersections, a golden light flashes into existence, depositing Team Magic on the crystalline road. A few crystal ponies trotting nearby were startled by the sudden appearance of the team, but they continue with their day as if nothing had happened. Twilight looks around, easily spotting the castle in the distance before turning to the guards.
“Okay, why don’t you go and patrol the city for any signs of the storm?” She asks. “I’ll go to Princess Cadance and ask for her help dealing with this while you do that.”
The guards nod, splitting into teams of five and going in different directions. Nodding to herself, Twilight opens her wings, relishing in the feeling of the air reaching her feathers as Pegasus magic flows from her wellspring and through them and her body, making her much lighter. With a powerful flap, she launches into the air and glides for a moment before flapping her wings once more to propel herself forward.
A few minutes of flying later, Twilight reaches the castle and lands on the underside of the castle, which houses the Crystal Heart. Still shining as bright as ever, the Heart gives off a light blue glow, bathing Twilight in rays of love and harmony. She noted that Cadance had been doing a great job tending to the empire, smiling as she gazes out to the shield that surrounds the empire. Her smile falters for a moment as she hopes that it will be able to hold back the looming threat. Shaking her head, she heads to one of the legs and ascends the stairs.
Twilight navigates the expanse of the castle, finding her way to the throne room after one or two wrong turns. Once she finds the double doors that lead to the throne room, goes to open them with her magic, but stops halfway through casting. She instead opts to open just one with her hoof, channeling a small amount of earth pony magic through it. The door slides open with ease, not making a sound on its well-oiled hinges. Despite there being no noise, it still catches the attention of the ones by the crystalline throne at the other end of the room. Princess Cadance’s face lights up when she spots Twilight, abruptly ending the conversation she was having with one of the staff before leaping off her throne and making a beeline for her fellow princess and best friend.
“Twilight!” She exclaims, bringing her in for a tight hug. When they separate, no words were needed for them to reenact their special dance from their filly-sitting days.
Sunshine, sunshine, Ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves And do a little shake!
Giggling, they embrace again, happy to see one another. “Twilight, it’s so good to see you!” Cadance says, pulling away from the hug. “What brings you out here?”
She doesn’t get the chance to answer as she’s pulled into a side hug from her brother, Shining Armor. “Twily! I’ve missed you, kid! How’s my LSBFF and the family doing?”
“We’ve been doing great, BBBFF!” Twilight giggles, returning the hug. She then notices two other ponies trotting up behind them, and she releases her brother to greet them.
“Sunburst!” Twilight smiles. “It’s good to see you! How have things been as the crystaller? And how’s my favorite niece doing?”
She catches the barreling ball of light pink and magenta in her hooves, easily stopping her niece from knocking her over with a little bit of earth pony magic. “Auntie!” Flurry Heart squeals, nuzzling her aunt’s chest and giving her a bone-crushing hug that would cripple any non-alicorn.
“Well, aside from the occasional magic burst from Flurry here,” Sunburst gestures to the alicorn filly in Twilight’s grasp. “Things have been pretty quiet lately.”
“Hehe, I can imagine,” Twilight giggles, booping her niece’s nose, enticing a giggle from her as she boops Twilight back. Memories of past sitting expeditions bubbled up, reminding Twilight how much of a hassle Flurry could be at times. “I’m impressed you’ve lasted this long with her.”
“I surprise myself and her parents every day,” Sunburst proudly says, putting a hoof on his chest. He then notices something, looking behind the purple alicorn for something. “By the way, where are your friends and husband? Aren’t they usually with you?”
“Ah, I almost forgot,” Twilight grimaces, activating her magic to levitate Flurry onto her back. Once she’s sure her passenger is secured, she turns to Cadance. “As much as I wish it was, this isn’t a friendly visit.”
“Then what are you here for then?” Cadance asks, her happy demeanor quickly replaced with growing concern.
“Equestria is under attack,” Twilight reveals. Looking out a nearby window, she tries to see if something had changed in the few minutes that she was here - no such luck. “There’s a new threat that’s threatening to destroy it.”
“New threat?” Cadance repeats, her eyes widening in shock. “Then how come we haven’t been informed by Auntie Celestia of this?”
“This literally came up four hours ago,” Twilight sighs. “And she probably thought it would be better that I tell you in pony than through a letter since I was sent here with a contingent of guards.”
“Guards?!” Shining exclaims. “Twily, you’re gonna have to back up and explain a few things. Why are you here with guards?”
“Well, it started back in Ponyville, when purple clouds rolled in from the north…”
“… and that’s pretty much everything.” finishes Twilight. She’s met with two types of silence, shocked silence from Cadance, Shining, and Sunburst, and awed silence from Flurry.
The first to break out of their stupor is Cadance. “So… there are multiple storms across Equestria that are threatening to corrupt it with acid rain and summon Storm Creatures…”
Shining joins in next. “They’re being controlled by a giant monster, and the only way to stop them is with Pegasi, Thestrals, and cloud-busting spells…”
Sunburst finishes their train of thought. “And you were told this by this ‘human’ from another world that just so happens to know where it came from and how to stop it.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Twilight shrugs, and she realizes something. “Yeah, it does sound crazy when you think about it.”
“I never would’ve believed it if it hadn’t come from you,” Shining says, shaking his head. “Storm Creatures? Acid rain? Humans? This all sounds like something straight out of a comic book.”
“I’m guessing you’re gonna need some help to stop this, right?” Sunburst asks.
“Definitely,” Twilight nods, looking back out the window. “From what Real said about these things and his ‘personal’ experience with them, I’ll need all the help I can get.” She looks back at her brother and sister-in-law. “You guys up for the challenge?”
“More than ready,” Says Cadance, a fire blazing to life in her eyes as she grins. “I have been itching for a change of pace from all this diplomacy for a while now, and this is exactly what I need!”
“You know I won’t leave Equestria hanging,” Shining says, thumping a hoof against her chest. “Just tell us what to do.”
Twilight smiles and nods. “First we got to find where the storm is. I’ve already sent the guards that came with me to scout the empire for any traces of it. Once we do, I’ll need all the firepower I can get in case things get out of hoof.”
“You’re in luck, Twily,” Shining chuckles. “A batch of unicorns and Pegasi were sent over recently from Canterlot to add variety to the guards we have. I can have the pegasi help with the patrols, and the unicorns can lend you the firepower you’ll need, though I’m not sure if they have cloud-busting spells under their belts.”
“That doesn’t matter so long as we have the help we can get,” Twilight says. A tap on her shoulder catches her attention, and she cranes her neck around to see Flurry grinning excitedly on her back.
“Can I help?” She asks, stars in her eyes as she bounces on Twilight’s back. “I wanna help you!”
“I’m sorry, Flurry,” Cadance says, nuzzling her daughter’s cheek before levitating her off Twilight’s back. “This’ll be too dangerous for you, so I want you to stay with Sunburst until this is over.”
“Awww,” Flurry whines, crossing her hooves and puffing her cheeks. “You never let me do anything.”
“Maybe when you get a little older and more responsible, you can have your own adventures,” Shining says, hugging the young alicorn. “Just not yet though. Now you go with Sunburst, alright?”
“Okay, Daddy,” Flurry sighs, trotting to Sunburst’s side, crestfallen.
Twilight giggles, holding a hoof to her muzzle to hold her mirth back before returning her attention to Cadance and Shining. “I don’t know when the Storm will come, but we’ll need to be ready for it when it -”
A loud rumble shakes the castle’s foundations, nearly knocking everypony off balance. It lasts a few seconds before stopping, ending as fast as it had started.
“Woah!” Shining exclaims, quickly regaining his balance. “What was that?!”
Looking out the window, Twilight spots a giant purple storm hammering against the light-blue shield of the empire and easily pushing aside the white clouds of the Frozen North. She gasps as her pupils shrink, and she
“It’s here,” She says, whipping her head around. “It’s already here!” Flaring her wings, Twilight takes off towards the double doors of the throne room.
“Sunburst, take Flurry and get her someplace safe!” Orders Shining. Sunburst nods, and Flurry follows him out of the throne room via a hidden hatch behind the throne. Then Cadance and Shining take off after Twilight, catching up with her just as she exits the castle and screeches to a stop just outside the west side of the castle’s underside.
“Twily! Wait up!” Shining exclaims, sliding to a stop next to his younger sister. “What do you mean it’s already here? Do you mean it’s that storm you were talking about earlier?”
“Yes!” Twilight grimly nods, concentrating her mana into her eyes to zoom in on the storm. She sees lighting striking the snow and summon the towers from before. She also spots a few of her guards by the shield, each one ready to attack if anything got through. Stopping the flow of mana to her eyes, she turns to Shining. “I thought we had more time to prepare, but I guess that’s not an option anymore!”
“Twilight, is there anything we can help with?” Cadance asks as she lands beside her.
“Yeah,” She nods, grinning. “Cadance, you want to help with the frontal assault?”
“Gladly!” She grins, her eyes gleaming menacingly as her magic flares from her horn. Giggling, Twilight faces her brother.
“Shining, we’re going to need all the help we can get to stop this!” She says. “Round up those pegasi and unicorns you said you had, and then gather up the guards that came with me!”
“You got it, Twily!” Shining says, saluting. “I’ll get some unicorns to help as well,” He gives Cadance a quick peck on the lips before hugging Twilight. “Good luck out there you two! Kick some flank for me!”
“You got it!” Cadance says, flaring her wings. Twilight follows suit, and the two alicorns launch themselves into the air. As they fly, they bring along of few of Twilight’s guards, saving Shining some of the effort of corralling them. They make the trip to the edge of the empire in a few seconds, and what lies beyond the shield shocks them. Twilight couldn’t see it from the castle, but the snow had completely melted away due to the acid rain and was now eating away at the earth below. Thousands of Storm Creatures were pounding on the shield, and more were being summoned by the hundreds of towers, making the situation look much worse than before.
“That is a lot of bad guys,” Cadance says, stating the obvious as she lands. “Where the hay are they coming from? It’s like they’re never-ending!”
“It’s those towers behind them,” Twilight says, pointing to the towers of purple cubes. “They keep creating more and more of them until they shatter, but considering how many of them there are, we may have a problem dealing with them.”
“So we first need to take the towers out, right?” Cadance muses.
“Yes,” Twilight nods. “We also need to take out the Storm too, but once the towers are gone, it’ll be much easier to deal with the rest of them. I just hope the shield will hold.”
“It will,” Cadance smiles, and turns to the guards currently present, “Is everypony ready?”
They nod, taking to the air or pushing mana through their horns as they ready cloud-busting spells.
“Get ready to go through -” Cadance taps into the Crystal Heart, immensely increasing her power as her horn and Cutie Mark glow brightly. Twilight flares her wings, focusing magic into her legs and wings for a powerful launch, and her horn glows with arcane power as she readies herself to cast at a moment’s notice. Cadance then fires her pent-up magic through the shield, blowing away a good chunk of Storm Creatures and creating an opening in their ranks.
“- NOW!”
Twilight is the first to breach the shield, leaving her spot with explosive fury and creating a massive crater on launch. Soaring over the wall of Storm Creatures, she spots a large cluster of towers and fires a massive mana beam that easily disintegrates them, leaving behind a deep trench in the already scarred earth. The Thestrals and Pegasi take to the sky and quickly get to work kicking and destroying the clouds. The unicorns stay behind the shield, providing cover fire while staying out of danger. Cadance concentrates on the Storm Creatures pounding on the shield, pushing a vast amount of mana through her horn to blast away a huge chunk of them. Once she was satisfied with the results, she stops the flow of mana and flies over to join Twilight. Both princesses fire a series of highly concentrated mana bolts at the towers, piercing and shattering them.
“The calvary has arrived!” The voice draws everypony’s attention to behind the unicorns, and they see Shining galloping towards them with the rest of Twilight’s guards and the unicorns and pegasi he mentioned. The pegasi easily number over a hundred at best, and once they join Twilight’s guards in the skies, they chew away at the Storm even faster than before. The unicorns join the others, splitting into two groups. One group consisted of unicorns that knew a cloud-busting spell, and the other helped thin out the crowd of Storm Creatures. Shining, on the other hoof, leaped over the unicorns, pulling out the swords on his sides with his magic to carve through dozens of Storm Creatures like a red-hot knife through melted butter as he draws closer to Cadance and Twilight.
Up in the skies, the white clouds of the north were quickly taking over the purple clouds of the storm, thanks to the efforts of the pegasi, Thestrals, and unicorns carving away at them. A few unfortunate flyers were hit, but it’s not as powerful as the lightning back in San Pelimine, so all it did was char them purple and give them a bad mane-day. Back with the royal family, they fought like a well-oiled machine, switching between downing the Creatures and shattering towers. Despite Shining being a unicorn, he easily kept up with his powerhouses of strength which were his sister and wife thanks to his mastery of swordsmanship and heavily improved wellspring. Light blue and magenta magic flies everywhere as spell after spell was cast, towers and Storm Creatures falling like dominos. Soon, only seven towers remained, and a couple dozen Storm Creatures are left of the horde that once clawed at the shield.
“We’ve got them in the ropes, troops!” Shining yells out, slicing through another foe. “We’re almost done! Keep it up!”
But the storm still had a trick up its cloud layer, and the remaining towers begin to glow bright pink as lightning arcs between the towers, forming a ring. Twilight is out on edge by this, and she yells out to Cadance, currently in rapid-fire mode.
“Cadance!” Twilight shouts, flying up to her sister-in-law. “Something is going on with the remaining towers! I think we need to head back!”
“Okay, just give me a second to cool down,” Cadance winces as she points to her horn, which is red hot and smoking from overheating. How a horn can overheat due to the rapid use of magic, I don’t know. I think it might just be Cadance. Luckily it cools off pretty fast, so there’s no risk of damage unless she kept using it. “Alright, let’s go!”
They then notice that the remaining parts of the storm had converged over the ring of towers. The whole cloud lights up like a Hearths Warming tree as lightning wells up at the bottom before crashing down as a single giga-bolt. The bolt tears up the dead ground and creates a dome of pink electricity. The dome engulfs the towers and electricity arcs off the outside towards the Storm Creatures. The lightning strikes every last one, destroying them and turning them back into energy.
“It’s attacking them?” Twilight wonders, confused by what she was happening.
“It’s not attacking them…” Cadance says, narrowing her eyes. The pink lightning then starts to pull back towards the ring, drawing the extra power back with it as it reverts the Storm Creatures one by one.
“… it’s absorbing them!” She gasps and turns to her husband. “Shining! Tell everypony to fall back! Something’s happening with the Storm!”
He nods and turns the flyers. “Everypony, fall back!” He shouts, igniting his horn. “I’ll cover you, now go!”
The dome draws the last of the energy back, causing the towers to go dark and crack apart. The dome then rises into the air, taking the remnants of the towers with it. It then shrinks, bringing the shards closer and absorbing them into the plasma orb as it pulses. It pulses two more times before exploding violently.
Seeing that they weren’t going to make it back to the shield in time, Shining jumps in front of his sister and wife to cast his own. The alicorns join in as well, strengthening the spell so it didn’t shatter. Despite this, they still felt the strain on the shield, which translated back to their horns. They manage to hold out long enough for the shockwave to pass them before they’re forced to drop it.
"Urgh," Twilight mutters, rubbing the base of her horn. "That hurt. Shiny, Cadance, are you alright?”
"Kind of," Cadance winces. “I haven’t felt a backlash like that in years. Now I remember why I hated it.”
“I’ve had worse,” Shining groans, holding his head in his hooves. “But this one is contending for the top five.”
A clap of thunder draws their attention to the orb of plasma. The glowing sphere shrinks to reveal a figure that everypony knew and hated. Sombra. But unlike his previous returns, he was different. Hot pink crystals protrude at points of his body, two on his shoulders, one on each of his flanks, and one in his chest, lightning arcing between them. His eyes glow bright green, and a deep purple mist coming from the corners. His red horn is now colored in hues of pink and purple, as well as the coat he wears at all times.
“Sombra?!” Twilight exclaims, reeling back. “I thought my friends and I destroyed you years ago! How are you back?!”
The dark king glares at the young alicorn, his eyes glowing bright green. Lightning arcs sparking across his body, as he opens his mouth and roars in pure unadulterated rage at Twilight and Cadance, blasting them with gusts of wind.
“I’m not sure if that’s actually Sombra,” Shining frowns, and turns to the alicorns. “But on the off chance it is, I think I’ll leave this to you two.”
“I thought you were my knight in Shining Armor?” Cadance teases. “Aren’t you supposed to fight my battles for me?”
“Yeah, but I know when I’m out of my league,” He says, shrugging. “I’ll head back with the unicorns and provide cover fire. Oh, and one more thing-” His expression turns serious. “-kick his flank for me, will ya? I never got payback for turning my horn into a glorified ornament the first time we met.”
“Gladly,” Cadance giggles. Shining kisses her and quickly hugs Twilight before galloping inside the empire, leaving the two alicorns behind to defend it. The Princess of Love turns to the Princess of Friendship.“You ready?”
“I was born ready,” Twilight grins, her horn alight with magic. “Let’s make sure the false king doesn’t come back again.”
“Oh yeah,” Cadance chuckles, flaring her wings and magic. “Let’s get him, girl!”
On cue, Sombra lets out an earth-shattering roar and turns into a cloud of deep purple smoke, his head being the only thing visible. When he flies at them, Twilight and Cadance fire mana bolts at the cloud, but it just opens up to let them pass through harmlessly before closing up. Sombra then materializes and fires his attack, a beam of black magic infused with lightning. Twilight fires another bolt to counter it, and Cadance fires one at his face.
The attack whips Sombra’s head to the side, and he growls in pain as he flares at Cadance. Recovering quickly, he fires a massive beam of dark magic at her while the crystals on his left shoulder glow yellow. Twilight and Cadance combine their magic to reflect the attack at him, which hits his shoulder and shatters the crystals.
”RRRAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!”
Roaring in pain, Sombra fires a massive beam of dark magic and turns into clouds, slipping away from the duo.
“What just happened?” Cadance asks, taking a quick breather. “He just screamed and then disappeared.”
“I think we hit a weak spot,” Twilight deduces, standing behind Cadance as she keeps her guard up. “One of the crystal clusters on his body glowed yellow, and when we reflected his attack at him, that shattered it.”
“So we found a weak spot? That’s perfect! We just need to take the rest of them out and take him out for good!”
“Yes, but I think it only works when the crystals are glowing. Otherwise, I don’t think they can be damaged or shattered.”
“So we just wait for the chance to attack?” Cadance says, but she spots a problem with the plan. “Small problem, how will we distract him long enough to get it and shatter them?”
“We have them over there,” Twilight says, gesturing to Shining and the guards behind the shield. Shining couldn’t understand what they were saying, no thanks to how far apart they were, but he felt like they were going to need his and the guards’ help soon. “Now, we just need to wait for –“
Right as she says that Sombra rematerializes and charges at the princesses, his horn lowered to skewer one of them. They act fast and dodge, letting him collide with the shield. He howls in pain, the love that powered it tearing at his horn as he grips it. Twilight spots his right shoulder glowing and fires a quick burst of bolts, the last one destroying it. Roaring in pain again, Sombra whirls on the princesses, dark magic already charged up. He fires at Cadance, but it only tears at the ground where she was. She’d jumped clear moments before, and it gave Twilight the chance to come in and strike. This time, she channels pegasus magic through her wings and encases them in electricity before flicking them at Sombra. The lightning jumps from her feathers and strikes him head-on, and he roars in pain once again. Fed up with Twilight, Sombra readies his magic to tear into her, but he jolts to a stop when his limbs are encased in multiple magical auras.
Shining and the unicorns had encased Sombra in their magical grip, preventing him from moving and leaving him open for Twilight and Cadance to come on both sides. They slam their earth-infused hooves into the crystals on his flanks, shattering them and causing Sombra to spasm from the pain. He releases a shockwave that pushes them back, but it’s not powerful enough to do anything besides make them twitch slightly.
“We’re almost there!” Twilight shouts, eyeing the final crystal as she charges her magic for one final attack. “Just one more and then -!”
RRRAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!
Sombra unleashes a blood-curdling roar that would send even the most terrifying demons of Tartarus cowering, and a massive aura explodes from him as he enters his Storm Frenzy form, making him much faster and deadlier than before. The stubs of crystals around his body had moved to his sides, and protruding from them were wings made of pure plasma. Dark magic created the jagged skeleton of his wings, holding the plasma in place and stopping it from going all over the place. His horn was lengthened considerably, a low hum emanating from it. His eyes are completely blanked out, dark magic filling them and spilling out the sides.
“That can’t be good,” Twilight gulps, her ears flat against her head.
“We’ll have to take this carefully,” Cadance grimaces, “If we don’t, he might get the – huh?!”
Sombra is already gone, shocking them as they look around frantically.
“Where did he go?!” Cadance exclaims, desperately trying to find where Sombra went. Her answer isn’t what she expected as an electric hoof slams into her jaw and sends her flying into the shield, knocking the air out of her.
“Cadance!” Twilight shouts, shocked by the speed of the attack and scared that Cadence had gotten hurt. Whipping her head around, she searches for Sombra, her eyes darting back and forth for any trace of him.
“You may be fast, but I’ve seen faster…” She mutters. Focusing on her wellspring, she pulls from the crystal magic and spreads it across her body. Her coat turns crystalline as her defense skyrockets, and she then pushes earth magic through her hooves. She charges a mana bolt while coating it in pegasus magic to increase its speed. “I’ve been around speedsters for years, so my eyes have adjusted to accommodate for their insane speed. Now if I could only…” Twilight spots a blur of pink and black out of the corner of her eye. “…there!”
Twilight fires the bolt at a seemingly empty spot, but she planned for this. Right as it seems like she missed, Sombra appears in front of the bolt and is taken by surprise. The bolt knocks him down, and Twilight jumps over to him. She raises her hind leg and slams it into Sombra’s head, burying it further into the ground. Flipping back to her hooves, Twilight then uses this chance to rush over to her sister-in-law.
“Cadance, are you alright?!” She exclaims, hugging her and checking for any visible injuries.
Cadance coughs hard as she tries to draw air back into her lungs. “J-just got the air knocked out of me, that’s all.”
Twilight sighs in relief and helps her get back on her hooves. “Can you still go on?”
“I had the air knocked out of me, not a hole punched through me,” Cadance chuckles, taking a deep breath before shaking her head. “I can keep going.”
“Good,” Twilight smiles, and sees Sombra pulling his head out of the ground from the corner of her eye. “Now let’s get him! Together!”
Cadance nods, and charges in tandem with Twilight, each reeling a hoof back. Getting close enough, they slam their hooves into Sombra’s unsuspecting face with devastating force, their earth pony magic adding the extra oomph behind it to send him flying. Twilight flies ahead and intercepts his flight path with an aerial buck to his gut, rocketing him back to Cadance. She uppercuts him back into the air, dazing him in the process. Twilight and Cadance then fly up above him, and just as gravity starts to take him back down, they take a page from Sonic’s book and use a double one-legged Stomp. They bury their hind legs into Sombra’s torso, and the impact from the ground makes him spit up blood. The princesses jump back and ready their magic for an all-out attack to destroy Sombra for good.
Having had enough, Sombra gathers all of his power into his horn as he slowly gets up. His hatred for the two is enough for him to push past the pain in his gut and stand up. Gritting his teeth, he fires at the same time as Twilight and Cadance.
Their attacks collide halfway, struggling against each other for a few seconds, but Sombra’s rage gives him more power and he overpowers Twilight and Cadance. His attack hits with devastating force, detonating and sending them into the shield, leaving them recoiling from the impact. It also left them wide open, and Sombra saw this. Grinning evilly, he charges a huge ball of dark magic and plasma, aiming to destroy the princesses. But before he can fire the beam, a young voice shouts from above them.
“Leave my mommy and auntie alone!” A giant golden blast of highly concentrated magic consumes Sombra entirely, making him lose his concentration on the attack and causing it to detonate in his face. He screams in pain as his magic and the golden one wreak havoc on his body. Everypony looks up to see a very mad Flurry Heart hovering above them, her horn smoking from the attack.
“FLURRY?!” Cadance shouts, surprised to see her daughter outside out on the battlefield and not with Sunburst. “What are you doing here?!”
“Mommy! Auntie!” Flurry exclaims, diving down to her mother. She tackles Cadance, nuzzling her mother’s neck as she hugs it. “You’re okay!”
“Sweetie, what are you doing here?!” Cadance asks again, hugging her daughter tightly. “It’s too dangerous for you out here! Why aren’t you with Sunburst?!”
“I wanted to help you!” Flurry says, looking up with a proud grin on her face. “So I snuck away to help!”
“…we’re having a talk when this is over, sweetie,” Cadance deadpans, causing Flurry to laugh nervously.
“Well, you can’t deny that she did help,” Twilight giggles, petting her niece’s head. “And we do need all the help we can get!”
“That’s true, but…” She’s cut off by a roar of frustration from Sombra. He’d almost recovered from Flurry’s attack, but he was hurt. His wings are shaking, and his horn is dimmer than before.
“Whatever Flurry did, it looks like it really hurt him,” Twilight notes, eyeing Sombra’s quivering wings. “Maybe we’re using the wrong kind of magic.”
“What do you mean?” Cadance wonders. She knows that when Twilight gets thinking about something, she always finds an answer.
“Sombra’s using dark magic right?” Twilight asks but in a rhetorical way. “After Flurry just hit him with the purest form of light magic I’ve seen I’ve ever seen, he’s struggling to keep it together. Since he’s using the dark magic to keep that plasma from going all over the place, and we target that…”
“He’ll be too occupied keeping it under control to watch out for attacks!” Cadance finishes, quickly catching onto Twilight’s plan. “Twilight, you’re a genius! Flurry! Mom and auntie are going to need your help! Get ready to fire your biggest attack and stay with me until I say so, okay?”
“Okay!” Flurry squeals, latching onto the back of her mother’s neck. Flurry’s horn starts to glow, her magic growing as she charges. “Yay! I get to help!”
Sombra, now recovered, roars as he charges forward, and the alicorns let out battle cries. They split up, force Sombra to choose one or the other, so he goes for Twilight. Big mistake.
“Get him, Flurry!” Cadance shouts, and her daughter releases her magic. The golden beam cleanly slices through the radius of Sombra’s left wing, causing him to lose his balance and falter in the air. Twilight then charges at Sombra with a earth imbued hoof, and slams it into his jaw with a satisfying *CRACK*.
Sombra tumbles to a stop below, nursing his broken jaw as he glares at Twilight. He snaps it back into place and quickly reforms his left wing. Taking to the sky again, he launches himself at Cadance and Flurry, seeing as the filly was the biggest threat here. He never gets close enough to even touch her.
In his haste, he forgot about Twilight, and she had got right up to him to deliver a bone-crushing haymaker to his muzzle, shattering his nose and bloodying it. He heavily reels from the attack, and once Twilight moves to the side, that gives Flurry the chance to fire a barrage of her magic.
Each blast destroys a part of the dark magic that was holding his wings together, letting it fly off to who knows where. Having lost his ability to fly and unable to concentrate on regrowing them, Sombra starts to fire blasts of dark magic and lightning at a faster rate, hoping that one of them would land. Twilight and Cadance easily evade them, since they didn't have a target. Their gazes lock for a moment, and they nod. Each alicorn disappears in a flash of their magic, which put Sombra on high alert. He whips around to try and catch one off guard, but each turn of his head is rewarded with nothing.
The sound of an exit teleport reaches her ears, so he readies his dark magic before whipping around, expecting to find Twilight or Cadance. But he turns to see all of them with their magic swirling through their horns and into three orbs of magic for one massive final attack. Sombra’s eyes widen in horror, realizing he had fallen for their trap. But before he can even react, the threesome releases it all.
“Now!” Twilight shouts, and all three alicorns each fire their magic, which entwines together to create a supermassive beam of gold, purple, and sky-blue magic. The beam is so huge that Sombra has no way to dodge the attack, and he can only watch as he’s consumed by it. Screaming in pain, the crystals on his chest shattering to pieces, instantly vaporized by the concentrated magic. With the last vestiges of his power now gone, Sombra is utterly destroyed, with not a trace left of him whatsoever. The magic detonates, whipping the wind everywhere and sending a shockwave that pushes the clouds of the Frozen North back to reveal the clear blue sky behind it.
Once the wind settles, the princesses let out a sigh of relief, happy that Sombra has been defeated once again and is no longer a threat to the Crystal Empire. Cadance and Twilight flop down on the ground, exhaustion quickly catching up to them as the adrenaline stops pumping. Flurry Heart is still full of it and is doing loop-de-loops and other aerial tricks.
“Whew… that was one doozy of a fight…” Twilight sighs, rolling onto her stomach. “But, I can kinda see why Tio and the boys like doing it.”
“You’re hanging out with them way too much,” Cadance giggles, picking herself up. Twilight playfully sticks her tongue out a blew a small raspberry at her former sitter. “Let’s head back to the castle. I think a long rest is in order after all of this.”
“Definitely,” Twilight says, stretching her back like how a cat would before standing. A whoop from her niece guides her gaze to the sky, who is still flying around. “Although I can’t say the same for Flurry though.”
“She has way too much energy for her age,” Cadance giggles, then calls out to her daughter. “Flurry, let’s head back inside!”
“Okay, Mommy!” Flurry says, finishing her last loop before gliding down to land on her mother’s back. “That was fun! Can we do that again?!”
The two adults laugh, and Twilight speaks up. “Maybe someday, Flurry!” She boops her niece on the nose, and Flurry scrunches her face up and looks at the offended appendage. “Maybe someday.”
Later that night, the snowstorm raging across the tundra had slowed to a light breeze, and the stars peek through the holes in the clouds. Farther up north, the famous phenomenon known as Aurora Borealis stretches for hundreds of miles across the sky, bathing the snowy landscape in wavy greens, blues, and purples. Not a sound can be heard, creating a beautiful silence that could calm many.
Crunching snow shatters the peaceful silence as a cloaked figure trudges across the plains of pure white. The figures’ trail of footsteps and overturned snow is well out of place compared to the flat expanse, but it cares not for that.
The figure suddenly stops and crouches, reaching an arm into the snow and sifting around for a moment before grabbing onto something. Pulling their arm out of the powdered ice, they hold a wicked-looking, curved, blood-red horn in their hand. The figure smiles, pulling his cloak open to place the severed inside a pocket.
The Changeling Kingdom wasn’t always the lush landscape that it is today. It was once a barren landscape devoid of life due to the former Queen Chrysalis. She didn’t know it’s the time, but when she constructed her throne centuries ago, it had prevented anything from growing besides the toughest of weeds, since most plant life in Equis needed some form of magic to flourish and grow. After Chrysalis was defeated by Thorax and her throne was destroyed, the ecosystem could finally come back after centuries of being gone. Now, the jagged hills are covered in grass and trees, and foliage adds the extra color to the hive it so desperately needed. The newly dubbed Light Changelings were much happier with their new way of life, having given up taking love and started to give it instead, and though there were some unforeseen obstacles that came with this change, Thorax had done well to help them adapt to it. With the help of Starlight Glimmer and Trixie, they created a strong relationship with Equestria and became an official ally to the ponies. Lucky for the Changelings too, as they would need the pony’s help very soon.
Over by the outskirts of the Changeling Kingdom, Team Fashion Project had arrived right where magic would’ve been nullified when Chrysalis’ throne was still intact. As for why Celestia didn’t just teleport the team right to front door of the hive, that was because there were still small patches of magic null zones dotted about the biome where shards of the old throne sat. While not as powerful all together, the shards could still block a pony’s magic. Celestia knew they could still affect her magic, and she didn’t want to accidentally teleport the team through a null zone. Past experience had shown her that interrupting a teleport spell while it was being cast could be disastrous, often resulting in the caster getting shot out of the pocket dimension magic users went through when teleporting. But in worst case scenarios, they could be ripped apart and turned to mush by the insane forces they would experience from the exiting the pocket dimension. Luckily, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, such a thing only occurred when the caster was inexperienced and wasn’t knowledged in the art of magic. Still, as powerful as she was, Celestia could still make mistakes, and she wasn’t about to take the chance.
“Hoo-wee, this place is lookin’ better n’ better every time ah see it!” Applejack exclaims, holding her Stetson hat in place with a hoof as a gust of wind blows by. “Thorax has done a purty good job of cleanin’ up th’ place.”
“Indeed,” Rarity nods, trotting up to the edge of the cliff. “And with the entirety of his race nominating him as king, he has a whole kingdom to back him up should something go wrong.”
“Well, he was th’ first one ta change,” Applejack notes, sliding down the hill. “Anyways, we should probably git goin’. We don’t want to keep ‘em waitin’!”
“Just a second, Applejack,” Rarity says, facing the guards. “Would you handsome guards be willing to check the area for this storm we’re looking for? That would be greatly appreciated.”
“Um, Miss Rarity?” A female thestral hesitantly gestures to a few other female guards. “Not all of us are exactly ‘handsome’ material.”
“Oh, I know what I said,” Rarity giggles, flipping her hair. “That doesn’t mean it’s not true, no?”
The thestral’s cheeks and ear tips take on a pink hue as she everts her eyes from the fashionista, rubbing her arm in embarrassment as a few guards watch in amusement.
Applejack rolls her eyes. “Alright, Rares, stop flirtin’ with ‘em let ‘em git on with their job.”
“Ruin my fun, will you?” She scoffs, but the small smile on her muzzle betrays her. “Also, it would be greatly appreciated if a few of you handsome guards escorted Applejack and I to the hive.”
The guards hold their laughter in the best they can, but a few snickers get past them. To their growing amusement, the mare that spoke up was one of the five that stepped forward, though her flushed face had deepened in color as she slips into Rarity’s shadow, making it slightly darker. Another thestral slips into Applejack’s shadow, while a unicorn takes the lead and two Pegasi hover just behind them. The rest of the team splits into similar groups, and they take off in different directions.
Rarity and Applejack are led to the worn path that leads to the hive, their guards keeping an eye out for any trouble. But, they weren’t observant enough to spot the pair of floating, electric green eyes watching them from afar, keeping a good distance away from them to avoid detection but close enough to see the designs etched in the Element’s around their necks.
About halfway down the path to the hive, the bushes in front of them rustle slightly, putting the guards on high alert. The pegasi’s wings crackle with electricity and the unicorn readies his magic to fling at the slightest hint of danger. The thestrals don’t leave the Elements’ shadows, but the gleam of their eyes indicates their readiness to pounce at a moments notice. Applejack grabs a lasso from underneath her hat, clenching one end in her mouth and the other in her right hoof, swinging it around while her eyes darting back and forth. Rarity conjures up a shield in the shape of a diamond, which is enough to encompass herself entirely.
“Who’s there?!” Exclaims the unicorn, aiming his horn at the bushes. “Show yourself!”
“Hmph, as you wish,” A voice says from the bush, and a column of green light encompasses it. once it fades away, a large Light Changeling stands in its place. His body is a dark green-blue, his shell, underbody, and eyes differing shades of dark to light purple. A tint of red rises from his underbelly and fades into his neck, his horns and tail sporting a similar shade of red, and his chest has three ornate opals embedded into it. Rarity looks the Changeling before them once, twice, and then a third time before her eyes widen.
“Wait, I know you!” Rarity says, lowering her shield. “You’re Pharynx, right? Thorax’s brother? Starlight and Trixie told us what had happened when they came back from their friendship mission.”
“Ah, so you’re some of those ponies’ friends that helped reform me recently,” Pharynx says, nodding. Seeing that the Changeling wasn’t a threat, the guards relax, dissipating the electricity and magic from their bodies. “My brother mentioned you a few times before. What brings you all the way out here to the Changeling Kingdom with a Royal escort?”
“Wish it were a friendly visit,” Applejack sighs, putting her lasso back in her hat.“But there’s somethin’ we need ta talk ta Thorax about. Do ya think he’s open right now?”
“I believe so, yes,” Pharynx nods, and gestures them to follow him. “He’s in the Throne room dealing with some small issues within the hive right now. I can take his place as co-leader, but I have a feeling he’ll want to hear what you have to say.”
Rarity giggles, holding a hoof to her muzzle. “It’s good to see that Thorax has you to help keep thing running smoothly. I don’t think there have been any problems that we’ve heard of since he took the throne.”
“Well, I am more athletic than him,” Pharynx grins, letting his ego get the better of him. “He’s so busy with all of the political nonsense, so I don’t think he could protect the Hive as well as I could.”
“Ah bet he’s real happy to have a brother like you,” says Applejack. “Ah for one sure am happy ta have my siblings around ta help with chores around th’ farm when things git real busy.”
“Yeah, he sure is,” He agrees, smiling as he remembers his days as a grub with Thorax. “Anyway, enough reminiscing about the past. Let’s get you to my brother and see what’s up.”
They make the trip to the Hive in about five minutes, and as they walk through the entrance, the ponies are shocked to see what lay inside. Instead of the elaborate maze it was before, the place had been hollowed out, giving the Changelings the chance to build homes and even stores into the walls. Stairs wrapped up the sides and spiraled to the ceiling, mainly created for creatures that couldn’t fly, but Changelings that preferred to walk than flit about the air used it too, which made the place seem busier than it really was.
A few Changelings stop to stare at the newcomers, but the look away after a moment before going back to what they were doing. Pharynx leads them up the stairs to the top, where two guards stand on the sides of a large archway, similar to the entrance of the hive. Pharynx converses with the two guards for a moment, and just as they finish speaking, a Changeling walks out of the throne room. Pharynx nods to the guards and then gestures to the ponies to follow him. The throne room isn’t quite as extravagant as Canterlot’s, but it still hold a majestic feeling. A large chandelier made of polished Changeling goop and random gems glitter in the sunlight coming through the holes in the walls, making it look like it was glowing from the inside. The throne is similarly decorated, but instead of the abstract art that is the chandelier, whoever created this took the time to create a masterpiece. The Changeling goop is polished to such a degree that you can see through it in some parts, and them gems adorning it were meticulously fitted into the throne to the point that they had become a part of it. The stone of the Hive holds the throne in place, and a trim outlines the sides. On it sits King Thorax, co-leader of the Changelings. When he spots his brother, his face lights up, and he hops down from his ornate throne.
“Pharynx!” Thorax exclaims, embarking his older brother. The two hug for a moment before Thorax spots the Elements behind them. “Hey, Applejack! Rarity! It’s good to see you two! How’s Spike doing these days?”
“Very well, I would say,” Rarity smiles. “He’s been training with Tionic recently. I think you’ll find that he’s grown a lot since you last saw him, literally and figuratively.”
“That’s great to hear,” Thorax grins, happy to know that his first friend was doing. “If I get the chance, I’ll come visit sometime. By the way, what brings you here?”
“Somethin’ came up ‘round home,” Applejack says. “Now we got a new threat loomin’ an’ we think it’s gonna hit here pretty darn soon.”
“What?!” The two leaders exclaim. Pharynx bares his teeth, hissing. “Where is it?! I’ll rip it limb for limb if it gets anywhere near here!”
“We actually don’t know quite just yet,” Rarity grimaces. “It started this morning…”
“…and we believe that the storm is somewhere around here now.”
Thorax and Pharynx stand there dumbfounded, amazed, and slightly shaken by what they just heard.
“A-all of that happened this morning?” Thorax stammers, still trying to process the info dump. “Jeez, you guys really do attract trouble, don’t you?”
“Unfortunately, yeah,” Applejack shrugs. “But we manage, even though things get real tough sometimes.”
“What about this ‘human’ as you call it?” Pharynx asks, narrowing his eyes. “How does he fit into all of this?”
“He hasn’t fully explained that yet,” Rarity frowns. “He’s only told us what he knows about this other Storm King, as well as why he does. Maybe once this is all over, he’ll tell us more about what he knows.”
“Well, now that we know what’s going on,” Thorax trots towards the throne. “We can do what we can to help out.”
Sitting down, Thorax then concentrates, using the Hive mind as a means of communication to gather the Changelings to help protect their home. Soon, the dull buzz of wings echoes through the hive as hundreds of Changelings pour into the throne room, each one eager to help.
“Changelings, I called you here because of utmost importance!” calls out their leader. “The Hive is threatened by an unknown enemy, as well as Equestria itself. Our friends here need your help in stopping this threat, and I hope that you will do your part. I will not force you to go, but any Changeling that is willing may come with us. Are you with me?”
The low din turns into a roar as they all buzz their wings in agreement. Nodding, Thorax turns to Applejack and Rarity. “You have the full strength of the Hive with you, my friends.”
“Thank you, Thora- !!!” Rarity is cut off by a clap of thunder that illuminates the room as a bolt flies through the roof and strikes the ground. Suddenly, a figure drops down from the ceiling, surrounded by smoke. The figure then begins to cackle menacingly, which everyone present instantly recognizes.
“I-it can’t be!” Thorax stammers, his ears flat against his head. Pharynx crouches, gritting his teeth as he hisses in anger at the figure. Applejack, Rarity, their guards, and the Changelings go on the defensive, knowing full well what was about to happen, Rarity whispers something to the unicorn, and he nods before quietly slipping away. “Why are you here Chrysalis?!”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” She cackles, grinning maniacally. “It’s good to see you too, usurper! I see you have taken well to your new title, haven’t you? I hope you enjoyed it, because I’ll be taking back what’s rightfully mine!”
She turns to Thorax, her tongue slithering in and out as she eyes the leader. “Be a gentlebuggy and step down from there, would you?” asks Chrysalis, narrowing her eyes. “I would hate to have to hurt one of my subjects over such a petty matter.”
“What?! No!” Thorax exclaims with rage in his voice. “I’m not going to let you retake the throne! You were a horrible leader, and you didn’t care what your actions did to others!”
“I was doing it for the good of the Hive!” Chrysalis shouts back, clearly agitated by Thorax’s accusation. “Everything I did was to help my subjects survive the struggles we were facing!”
“But ya didn’ care what ya did to do that though!” Applejack shouts, her lasso at the ready. “By doin’ that, ya couldn’ see what you were doin’ was hurtin’ other ponies and Mobians!”
“They don’t matter!” Chrysalis exclaims as the keratin that makes up her mane begins to spark. “All that matters is the survival of the Changelings and that was it! And now I have the means to do just that!”
A bolt of lightning strikes Chrysalis, consuming her whole as pink light bathes the room. Once it dies down, they see Chrysalis slowly getting up, chuckling slowly before growing to crazed laughter. Standing to her full height, everyone sees that the former queen has changed dramatically. The holes in her hooves and horn were now filled with Storm Plasma, making them look like it was being contained within her body. Several strange glyphs glow and fade on said appendages, as Storm Lightning courses through Chrysalis’ veins. The keratin making up her hair had changed into a deep color of purple, sparking every so often. The shell on her back was now a deep blue, same for her underside. Her eyes were now bright pink, the iris jagged like a bolt of lightning.
“What in Celestia’s mane is that?!” Rarity screeches, reeling back in shock. Chrysalis grins, laughing manically as everyone present wonders what was going to happen next. Without warning, she appears behind Thorax with a crazed look on her muzzle, causing him to reel back in fear and shock.
“How did you do that?!” He exclaims, stepping off the throne momentarily. Having not felt any magical backwash, he was taken off guard by the sudden appearance of the former queen. Collecting his nerves, he casts a spell, firing the orb of magic that formed between his two horns at Chrysalis. But just before it hits, the former queen disappears again, letting the orb destroy the tip of the throne. She reappears back in the center of the room, an evil gem plastered on her face.
“Just testing some of my new abilities,” Chrysalis answers, turning to a nearby group of Changelings. “And I think I know just what to test them on.”
Raising a hoof, a high-pitched whine is heard charging up before a bolt of Storm Lightning jumps from it and strikes the Changelings. They scream out in pain, their bodies spasming from the electricity. But instead of charring them, something else happened, to everyone’s horror. The Light Changelings revert back to Dark Changelings, sporting the same colors, runes, and sparking keratin as their queen. Their eyes look dead, no emotion showing as they hover behind Chrysalis. The rest of the Changelings shrink back into the tunnels whence they came from, trying to get some distance between them and the former queen.
“What did ya do ta them, ya varmint?!” Applejack growls, her muscles tensed, ready to pounce as her magic flows through her. “How’d ya turn ‘em back like that?!”
“All I did was show them the truth,” cackles the queen. “I showed them that I am their queen, and they followed obediently!”
“Don’t you mean painfully and not of their own free will?!” Pharynx hisses, his horn glowing brightly. “This is why you could never lead us! You forced us to follow you no matter what!”
“Silence, you insolent little pest!” says Chrysalis, the deep blue shell on her back beginning to color shift to hot pink as she sparks. “You have no right to speak like that to your queen!”
“You are not my queen!” He roars, camouflaging himself. This sends Chrysalis in a loop as he disappears from sight.
“Where did you -?!” Dull thuds draw her attention behind her as three of the controlled Changelings fall to the ground unconscious, the lightning leaving their bodies as they revert back to their colorful forms. She’s barely able to register this when forty spears held by thestrals and pegasi are aimed at her, each poised to run her through at any moment. When Chrysalis had barged into the throne room, Rarity told the guard unicorn to sneak away and send up a flare to alert the others. The guards easily saw the red smoke of the flare spell, and even if they hadn’t seen it, the gathering storm above the Hive and the clap of thunder that echoed through the biome certainly did.
A lasso snags Chrysalis’ legs out from underneath her, and she hits the floor hard. Applejack pulls tight on the rope, clenching her teeth so as to not let go while Rarity and Thorax fire two magic beams that hit the queen square in the face. This only serves to further enrage the queen, and her body sparks even more.
“ENOUGH!” She shouts, her voice echoing twice as she emits a shockwave that knocks her attackers back and turns the rope around her ankles to ash. “I came here to reclaim my throne and subjects, and that’s what I intend to do! Now get out of the way before I do something that you will regret!”
“You know that I won’t just give up the throne that easily, right?” Thorax grunts, standing defiantly before the queen. “I have a sworn duty to protect the Hive and my kind from threats like you!”
“It’s your funeral then,” cackles the queen. She then flies up and hovers, charging what looks like a ball of energy in between her hole-filled hooves. “Now my subjects, let me return you to your former glory before these pests came along and ruined everything! Embrace the storm and gain a new power, unlike anything you’ve ever felt!!”
She throws the orb in the center of the room at an incredible speed, which barely gives Rarity and Applejack enough time to tackle Thorax and Pharynx behind the throne, and the guards to duck out of the way. The orb explodes into a violent shower of pink sparks and electricity that home onto the unfortunate Changelings that hadn’t fled the room. Each is painfully turned into a Stormling, their minds now under the control of their new queen. As they flutter down behind her, Chrysalis cackles once again before speaking.
“I am no longer Queen Chrysalis,” she says, a crazed look on her face as her voice echoes loudly in the enclosed space. “I am Lampyris, Monarch of the Storm! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
“Hmph! Why does every villain we fight have to be so self-centered?!” grimaces Rarity, smoothing the flyaways back into her mane before turning to the Changeling leaders. “Are you two alright? I know that it was so sudden, but we had to get you to safety.”
“I’ll be fine,” Pharynx says, gritting his teeth as he shakes his head free of dust and dirt. “Once I get my hooves on that traitor and rip her throat out that is!”
“I’m just worried for the others,” sighs Thorax, peeking out from behind the throne to look at the converted Changelings. All of them stand stock still behind Lampyris, who is still laughing. “They were forced into that form by Lampyris, and she’s controlling them just like she did so many years ago!”
“Hey, now don’ ya worry about a thing, sugarcube!” says Applejack, putting a hoof on his shoulder. “We’ll git ‘em back to normal faster than a chicken bein’ chased by a fox!”
“Luckily it’s pretty easy to turn them back,” states Pharynx, eyeing the cackling queen. “They just need to be knocked out and that Storm stuff leaves their bodies.”
But that still leaves Lampyris,“ says Rarity, her face turning grim. “How are we going to take down somepony like her when she’s imbued with the power of the Storm?”
“I don’t know,” groans Thorax, putting his hooves to his temple. “But we need to figure something quick, or this isn’t going to end well for us or Equestria.”
“Agreed,” nods Pharynx, turning to his brother. “I say we knock out the drones first before dealing with Lampyris. It might give us some time to figure something out.”
“That we can do right now,” Thorax says, turning to face Applejack. “Can you help me distract Lampyris while Rarity and my brother relay a message to your guards?”
“Sure thing!” says Applejack, grinning. As Pharynx and Rarity move out, she leans in to hear what the Changeling leader has to say. “Whatcha have in mind?”
“We’ll need something big to get her attention,” He muses, weighing his options. “Something that she can’t resist. You wouldn’t happen to have a stallionfriend, would you?”
“Ah actually have a marefriend,” Applejack says, a slight blush on her cheeks as she rubs the back of her head. “But what does that have to do with - wait a gosh darn minute! Are you sayin’ what ah think you’re sayin’?!”
“Applejack, it’s the only way this’ll work!” says Thorax pleadingly. “You have to trust me on this!”
“Nuh-uh!” Applejack shakes her head fervently, now blushing furiously. “We ain’t bringin’ her into this!”
“Do you have any other ideas then?!”
Still blushing, the mare looks down at her fetlocks before responding. “…no, ah don’t.”
“This is as hard on me as it is on you Applejack,” Thorax says, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “When this is all said and done, I promise I won’t say a thing to anypony.”
“Ya promise?” asks Applejack, holding a hoof out.
“Promise,” Thorax shakes it, sealing the deal. “Now I’m going to need you to describe her to me in great detail if this is to work the first time.”
“Alright, alright,” sighs Applejack, still blushing, albeit less than before. “Ah’ll tell ya. Just don’ get any ideas, okay?!”
Back with Rarity and Pharynx, the two split off to find the Royal guards that were knocked away in hopes that they could still help them. All the while, Lampyris is still laughing, cackling harder than she ever had before.
‘Sheesh! She’s been going for a solid five minutes!’ Pharynx thinks, eyeing the queen. ‘How long is she gonna go on for? I know she was crazy, but this is -!’
A sudden and familiar sensation flows over the leader’s senses, surprising him. ‘Wait, is that what I think it is?’ He thinks. Looking over to behind the throne, he spots where it feels strongest.
‘So that’s your plan, eh Thorax?’ Pharynx chuckles, getting in position. ‘We’ll be ready in just a moment, just hold out a little longer.’
Lampyris immediately stops cackling, her head snapping towards the throne as she feels the sensation wash over her. Like a moth to a flame, she slowly buzzes over. She is nearly upon the source when she hears a series of thuds sound out behind her. Whipping around, Lampyris barely manages to catch the sight of the Royal Guards standing above her now ‘reformed’ Changelings before an invisible hoof slams into her muzzle. The force of the punch slams the monarch into the ground with enough force to bounce her back up into the air, allowing Pharynx to decloak and round-house-kick her across the throne room, and out the Hive.
Landing gracefully, Pharynx turns towards the throne. “Alright you two, come on out. We still have a monarch to dethrone again.” Applejack and Thorax hastily trot out, both of their faces flushed deep red.
“What happened back there,” Applejack mutters, pulling her hat over her blushing face. “Ain’t never gon’ leave this here room, ya hear me?”
“A-agreed,” stammers Thorax, equally embarrassed as the mare. Rarity, being the love enthusiast (and extremist) she is, perks up after seeing the blushing faces of her friends.
“Oh? What might that be?” She grins slyly. “You can tell me, I won’t spill!”
Applejack’s face flushes an even deeper red, pulling her hat down even further before stammering out an answer, her accent getting thicker and thicker. “A-Ah’m not gunna say a thang to ya, ya hear me? Ah don’ wan’ Silver tuh git mad at me agein.”
“Oh, come on darling, please?” whines Rarity, almost begging her friend to tell her. “I must know the details!”
“Ah said no, Rares!” exclaims the country mare, stomping her hoof. Still blushing, she turns around as what looks like a tear falls to the ground. “A-ah can’t let her know ‘bout this. Ah just can’t.”
Rarity notices the tear that falls from her friend’s muzzle and realizes that she may have gone too far. “Oh, I’m so sorry Applejack,” she says, giving the mare a tight hug. “I went too far and didn’t realize that I was hurting you. Can you ever forgive me?”
“It’s alright, Rares,” says Applejack, returning the hug. “Ah got a little worked up there and took it out on ya.”
“All is forgiven,” says the fashionista. The two mares end the embrace before turning to the Changelings leaders and the guards, some on the verge of tears after seeing such a display of friendship. “Sorry about that, everypony. We just needed to get a little something out of systems.”
“Finally!” Pharynx exclaims, heading towards the exit. “I’m itching to get back to pummeling Lampyris again!”
“Pharynx!” Thorax snaps, glaring at his brother. “Don’t act like that, it’s rude!”
“It’s alright,” says Applejack, readjusting her Stetson on her mane. “We’re used to that since Dash did it all the time a few years back.”
“Well excuse me for wanting to get stop the crazed queen that’s still on the loose,” Pharynx deadpans. “Can you really blame me for trying to protect the Hive?”
“No, not really,” Thorax groans, an annoyed look on his face. “But we really don’t have time for this right now.”
“Indeed,” agrees Rarity, flipping her mane out of her face. “Let’s try to stop the menace that currently threatening our lives before we get to that.”
As if on cue, the wall of the throne room explodes, sending bits and pieces of debris everywhere. An enraged Lampyris flies through, her horn sparking with electricity as she channels her magic, eyes locked on Pharynx.
“I will make you feel pain unlike anything you’ve ever felt before, insect!” she shouts, her body crackling with electricity. “Now feel the wrath of the Storm!”
She fires the spell, sending a Storm-fused magic bolt straight for the leader. Thinking quickly, Rarity jumps in front of Pharynx and casts a shield spell, which manages to bounce the spell right back at Lampyris, knocking her out of the sky.
“Quick thinking Rarity!” exclaims the Changeling, grinning. “That probably would’ve fried me if it had hit!”
“Anything for a friend,” says the fashionista, before redirecting her attention back to Lampyris. “Now let’s teach this ruffian a little lesson, shall we?”
“Gladly!” Pharynx exclaims, nodding to his brother before they both take off in opposite directions. Lampyris is just recovering from getting hit by her own spell when both leaders when Applejack suddenly runs up to her.
“Let’s take this outside, shall we?” the mare asks, before winding up a punch, that, along with Thorax and Pharynx’s own hooves, sends the monarch flying back through the hole she made once again and crashing into the ground.
“Why you little…!” she growls, eyeing the hole as her attackers climb through it. “You’ll pay for this!”
“Try an’ get us then!” taunts Applejack as she, Rarity, and the leaders split up into four different directions, forcing the monarch to choose one over the other.
"Hold still you little bug!" Lampyris exclaims, choosing Thorax as her primary target as she fires spell after spell after the Changeling leader. "Tell me, why do you think -AGH!!"
While the monarch was concentrating on Thorax, Applejack and Pharynx had snuck up behind her, both pummeling Lampyris' back before slamming their hooves down at the same time, causing her wings to lock up from the shock. This, along with a boulder that Rarity had levitated above the monarch, slammed the monarch into the ground, buried by the bits and pieces of the shattered boulder when it hit the earth. But before they can celebrate, a shockwave of Storm Lightning pulverizes the rubble, revealing one very angry Changeling. She suddenly starts to charge up a massive spell, her back shell slowly getting brighter the more power she put into the now-growing ball of energy above her horn. Seeing what she was trying to do, Thorax, Pharynx, and Rarity pour all of their mana into a shield spell, hoping that it would hold against the attack. She fires, the spell slamming into the shield at breakneck speed. With help from Applejack bracing it, the shield slides back just a few feet before stopping the attack - but only for so long. Cracks begin to appear in the shield as the beam of Storm Lightning and magic slowly eats away at it.
"Answer me this, you usurpers!" shouts Lampyris, her eyes glowing brighter as her anger grew, the power behind the beam growing. "Was I not a good enough leader, even after caring for you and looking after you for so many centuries?! What did I do wrong to earn such disloyalty?!"
"You thought of us as nothing but pawns!" Thorax retorts, struggling to keep the shield up as it cracks even further under the immense pressure of the beam. "You didn't care if something happened to us! If you sent a Changeling on a mission and they didn't come back, you didn't care! And during invasions, you didn't even stop to think about the casualties! We were tired of having to deal with those losses over and over, Chrysalis! That's why we chose to become what we are today, it was so we could live our lives it he way we wanted to in peace without worrying if it was our last day to live!"
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. With a scream of what can only be described as animalistic, Lampyris goes into a rampage, redirecting all of the mana she had into firing bolt after beam in every which direction, hoping that one of them would hit her attackers. Unfortunately for her, they all manage to dodge the attacks in time, hiding behind rubble.
“Enough with your lies and slander, you rotten little bug!” screams Lampyris, her anger consuming her as Storm Lightning flies off her body. “I am the one true ruler of the Storm and the Changelings, and you cannot take that away from me!!” Everypony backpedals away as fast as possible, avoiding bolts of lightning as they try to get some distance between them and the now raging monarch. Struggling against the odds of not having enough power to stop Lampyris, Applejack racks her brain for anything she could use.
‘C’mon, girl, ya gotta think of something!’ Applejack thinks, pushing herself to do something. Then an idea hits her. “Pharynx, ah need ya to throw me!”
“What?!” he exclaims, whipping around to face the farmpony. “Why would you want me to -! Oh, I see where you’re going with this.”
“If ya do,” says Applejack, jumping back to avoid another stray bolt of Storm Lightning. “Then let’s do it already!”
Nodding, the Changeling picks the mare up, hovering up into the sky, and begins to spin as fast as he dared. When he felt that he reached a sufficient speed, Pharynx lets go, flinging Applejack through a dust cloud to mask her presence from the monarch.
“I will eradicate you all!” screams Lampyris, her eyes wild with rage. “Then, I'll go on to take vaporize the rest of your silly little friends and-!”
She never finishes her rant. Applejack comes flying out of the dust cloud, a hoof reeled back as she gets ready to give it everything she had. Channeling all her strength into that one punch, combined with her increased speed from the launch, she lands a devastating haymaker into Lampyris’ jawline. The force of the attack knocks out every last bit of Storm Lightning from the monarch’s body, turning her back in an instant.
“N-no… I was… I was supposed to win…” Chrysalis mutters, her eyes rolling back as she falls to the ground while Applejack lands gracefully before readjusting her hat. All of the Storm clouds that hung over the battlefield immediately disappear, letting the sun reign over the sky once again.
“Hoo-wee, now that’s more like it!” she exclaims, gazing up into the blue sky while giving her hoof a shake, trying to rid the throbbing coming from it.
“Applejack, darling that was amazing!” exclaims Rarity, giving her friend a strong hug. “How’d you come up with that idea to throw yourself?”
“Ah remembered somethin’ that Sonic n’ Tails did a while back,” answers the farmpony, returning the hug. “Couldn’t have done it without Pharynx’s help, though!”
“It was impressive,” agrees the Changeling, nodding in agreement. “I never would have thought of it myself!”
“And it’s a good thing too,” says Thorax, slowly making his way over to them. “If that had dragged on any longer than it did, we would’ve lost against her!”
“Speaking of which, where did that crazy bug go?” wonders Rarity, looking around the battlefield for Chrysalis. “She was here just a moment ago.”
“Wait, she’s gone?!” Pharynx shouts, gritting his teeth. In a flash of green, he turns into a large gray wolf and starts sniffing around the spot Chrysalis was last in to find her trail. “She can’t have gone far! Especially not in that state!”
“Pharynx, don’t,” Thorax says, placing a hoof on the wolf’s side. “She’ll be back, and you get the chance to take her down again. Right now we need to rest after such a fight.”
The wolf pauses for a moment, looking off into the distance for a moment. He sighs in defeat before turning back and facing Thorax. “Then what do you suggest we do? Sit around and do nothing?”
“I was thinking more along the line of getting ourselves cleaned up a bit,” Thorax suggests, gesturing to the dirt and blood still oozing from his brother’s body before facing the Elements. “Do you two want to try out our spa? All expenses will be paid, of course.”
“Oh my stars!” Rarity exclaims, excitingly trotting towards the Hive. “I thought you would never ask! I’ve always wanted to try a Changeling Spa, since I’ve heard they work wonders for your muscles, but I haven’t gotten the chance until now!”
“Classic Rarity,” Applejack chuckles, following in her friend’s footsteps. “Always tryin’ to look good.”
Manehattan - the city that never sleeps. It is the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the Equestrian world and the heart of “the Big Apple.” The city sits on many islands, with multiple bridges dotting the sides and stretching across the rivers that separate it from the mainland. Every square inch is covered in concrete and asphalt, with many skyscrapers shooting up into the sky, seemingly scraping it, hence the name. One building stands out above the rest - the Liberty Mare. Placed on an island offset from the city, the oxidized copper monument is a symbol of freedom and justice, and a welcome sight to any creature that sails into the harbors from another land.
The city is alive with noise and sights, with sirens being heard all across it, indicating that paramedics are on the way to an accident scene, firefighters fighting raging fires, or law enforcers chasing a thief on the run. Even the streets themselves are bustling with activity, carriages, ponies, and Mobians going to and from their destinations, and shopkeepers selling produce to hungry customers on the sidewalks.
Railway tracks run all throughout Manehattan, whether they be on steel supports or deep underground. Trains run in between stations, picking up passengers to take to their next stop or out of the city. Plains and small rolling hills surround the city, roads and railway tracks cutting through them, with trains and carriages traveling along them, leading to the city and places beyond.
On one particular hill, just outside of the city perimeters, a golden flash of magic is seen, and with a loud *BAMF* leaves behind a group of pegasi guards and one human/hedgehog hybrid - which means that Celestia’s teleportation spell had successfully teleported Tionic and his group to their destination.
Shaking off the small amount of nausea that came with the teleport, Tionic looks around, getting his bearings as to where he and his group had landed, all while looking for the distinct purple hue of Storm clouds.
‘Doesn’t seem like there’s anything visible from the ground,’ Tionic thinks to himself, tapping his foot, thinking about what he could do at the moment. ‘Maybe if I get an aerial view of the city, we might spot something.’ He then turns to the pegasi guard.
“Okay, can one of you get a bird’s eye view of the area and see if there’s any sign of those Storm clouds?” asks Tionic, gesturing to the group of pegasi.
“Will do, sir!” salutes a male pegasus, flaring his wings and taking off up into the sky. Once he feels that he has reached a high enough altitude, the guard starts hovering, then scanning the city skyline from afar. Unfortunately, the skies across Manehattan are clear, and there are no signs of Storm activity to be seen.
“Any luck up there?”
“Nothing for miles, sir. Just clear blue skies from what I can see. There isn’t even a cloud in sight either! A little odd considering the thunderstorm that came through earlier.”
“Thanks for the report,” says Tionic, then motioning for the guard to come back. “You’re good to come down now.” As the pegasus floats back down to the ground, the hedgehog starts formulating a plan to find the Storm clouds.
“Alright soldiers, listen up!” shouts Tionic, the guard’s heads turning to the human/hedgehog. “We’re going to split up into five groups of ten. Each group will patrol a quadrant of the city and look for any signs of the Storm Clouds. If one group does, send the fastest in your group to find me. Just look for a blue streak and you’ll find me. Any questions?”
"Where will we meet up after patrolling the city?" asks a male guard in the middle of the group.
"We'll rendezvous back here in about ten minutes," answers Tionic, stretching out a bit. "If anything unexpected happens, head here. Alright soldiers, good luck out there."
And with that, Tionic takes off, leaving behind a streak of blue electricity behind him, his powers in full effect. The guards follow suit, splitting into their groups of ten before heading into the skies of Manehattan.
Unbeknownst to them, a smoky purple cloud was watching them, a pair of yellow eyes peering through the cloud. Then, the smoky veil zips off, heading to an undisclosed location somewhere in the city.
Tionic zips up and down the streets, leaving an electric blue streak behind as his powers propel him forward. The supersonic human/hedgehog hybrid looks for any signs of purple, racing up and down buildings and through alleyways. Heading for the Liberty Mare, he runs across the water fast enough to not break the surface tension. Reaching the island, he zips up the side of the statue before jumping, landing perfectly on the tip of the metal torch that housed the powerful lamp inside. Tionic takes a moment to take in the view from there, eyeing the skyline as his scarf dance around him.
“Man,” he says, smiling at the view. “One of these days I’ve got to take Twilight out on one of my early morning runs. She would absolutely love this! Maybe when this is all over I’ll ask her about it.”
The hybrid stays another moment longer before backflipping off the torch, angling himself close enough to the statue for him to start running again. Before hitting the ground he pushes off, letting him run off the island and onto the water in a fraction of a second. He uses the waterways to navigate farther down into the city, splashing water on unsuspecting ponies. After searching as well as he can, Tionic makes a U-turn on the water, using his hand to balance himself as he makes the tricky maneuver. With a burst of speed, the hybrid heads back to the rendezvous point, hoping that the guards had a little more luck in their search. Reaching the hill, he spots everypony just arriving at the same time, their military training showing.
“Any luck?” Tionic asks, looking around. They all shake their heads, confirming his worst fear. Rubbing his temples, the speedster sighs. “Great. You’d think a mass of clouds would be easy to find, but nooo, it’s gonna be harder than trying to find a needle in a haystack!”
“Actually, sir,” says one of the guards, the tone of their voice indicating they were female. She pulls out a small crystal from her pouch and presents it to their leader. “There was something we found, but it probably doesn’t have anything to do with this storm we’re trying to find.”
“Where’d you find it?” asks Tionic, taking the gem from her and looking it over. The crystal looked like it was drained of its color, as the center was jet black, with no light able to penetrate it. The only indication that it used to be any other color was the faint traces of purple along the edges.
“While we were flying over the south end of Central Park, one of my spotters saw it lying on the grass,” she explains, gesturing to one of the ponies in her team. “It didn’t look like much, but the look of it was too uncanny. It reminds me of tales of King Sombra, who used crystals that looked eerily similar to this.
“Were there any others?” ponders Tionic, handing the crystal back. “Or was it just the one?”
“That was the only one we saw,” answers the guard. “We did search the area, but we didn’t find anything.”
“Maybe that’s because you didn’t have the time to do a full sweep of the area,” muses the hybrid, before turning to his troops. “Alright, we’re going to diverge our attention to Central Park. We need to see if there are any traces of that crystal that were left behind. Two teams will search up north, while the rest of you will join me on the south end. Scour the place for tracks, clues, anything really. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll find out where the Storm is. Report back to me if you do find something. Alright, let’s move out!”
With a blast of wind and electricity, Tionic takes off toward the city once again, this time with an entire platoon of pegasi Royal Guards in tow. Once they reach the park, they split up as planned and begin searching. Tionic heads to the spot where the guard found the crystal and starts there. A few minutes later, he spots another crystal nearby, this one in the roots of a tree. Picking it up, he notices something.
“Ash?” he mutters, wiping the spot where the crystal was. He finds his fingers covered in soot, noticing something odd about the powdery substance. “It looks like there’s a tinge of purple to it, just like the gems.”
“Something’s going on here…” Tionic says, narrowing his eyes as he wipes the soot off his fingers in the grass. He then notices one of the guards flying his way.
“Sir! We’ve found another crystal!” the guard exclaims, holding out the gem.
“Same here,” says Tionic, holding up his own crystal. “I’m starting to think there’s a lot more where these things came from.”
“Sir, where are we going to put them?” the guard asks. “It’s not like we can carry them all if we keep finding more.”
“I’ll think of something,” answers the hybrid. “Toss me that gem and head back to your squadron. I’ll handle it from here.”
“Yes, sir!” salutes the guard, before handing the gem over. He then takes off, heading back to where his team was. Tionic then begins to think, wondering where to put all of the crystals if they continue finding them at this pace.
“He did raise a good question,” says Tionic, scratching his chin. “We can’t just leave these lying around. Someone might come across ‘em and take one! We’ll need something to put these in as we find them. Maybe some of Applejack’s apple bags will do the trick?”
With a loud *BOOM* Tionic rockets off, and before the shockwave dissipates, he’s back, six bags in hand. “There we go, six bags to go! Hopefully, she doesn't mind me taking them.”
Putting the two gems he has into one of the bags, he spots another guard heading his way. Explaining the idea he has, the guard nods, understanding the plan. He takes one of the bags and heads off to his team. “Now to get the rest of these bags to the others,” Tionic says, before zipping off through the park. Distributing the bags out, the teams begin searching for more crystals, all while looking for any trace of the Storm clouds. Unbeknownst to them, they are being watched by the same eyes from before, every move they make is seen by the piercing yellow dots.
One hour later…
“… and that’s the last one!” grunts Tionic, hoisting the bulging bag off his shoulder and next to the others. Everypony had searched the entire park from top to bottom, making sure not to leave any stone unturned. Every bag that Tionic had brought was bulging, barely able to contain the number of crystals that they had found.
“If Spike saw how many gems we got from this little hunt, I know he’d be drooling buckets.” chuckles Tionic, imagining how his little brother would react to this sight to a T. “Now we just need to figure out where these things come from. What we know is that these things suddenly appeared all over Central Park less than three hours ago, and they all have scorch marks underneath them, even the ones in the water. Any ideas?”
“They do seem to correspond with the first sighting of the Storm clouds,” offers a guard. “Do you think they’re linked in some way?
“At this point, it seems likely,” agrees the hybrid. “Plus, the timing and the scorch marks underneath them pretty much scream Storm Lightning. But what I don’t get is why they look like they’ve been drained. What happened to them for that to happen?”
“That is because I took their power,” a voice from above suddenly says. Everyone present looks up to see the source of the voice - a purple cloud, hovering over the bags. Two beady yellow dots peer out from the haze, eyeing the group before it. Every guard whips out a spear from their pouch before getting into a defensive position, ready to attack at any moment. Tionic stands there calmly, eying the cloud as it continues to speak.
“Thank you for gathering the crystals for me,” says the cloud. “It is quite impressive that you managed to collect them all within the hour of arriving here. I’ve never seen such teamwork in play before.”
“Whom do we owe the pleasure to..?” asks the speedster, hoping to get a name from their cloudy little ‘friend’.
“You will know who I am soon enough,” chuckles the cloud, sparking slightly.
“Uh-huh, sure,” says the hybrid. “Anyway, why do you want these gems? They seem pretty useless to me.”
“These crystals are more than just simple batteries,” the cloud answers. “They are also used to construct my body.”
“Hold up. If you needed them to make your body,” states Tionic, folding his arms across his chest. “Then why did you leave them where they were? Couldn’t you have done it yourself?”
“I cannot interact with physical objects,” explains the cloud, the sparking getting faster. “Hence why I left the gems themselves behind but took their power.”
“What about the scorch marks left behind?” wonders Tionic, gesturing to a nearby spot where a crystal was found. “Was that you?”
“No, those were there before,” answers the cloud. “Tell me, were there any thunderstorms in the recent hours?”
“Not sure what that has anything to do with it,” Tionic says, a little confused. “But I think there might’ve been one before we came here.”
“Then you have your answer,” says the cloud, sparking even more now.
The pieces suddenly click inside Tionic’s head. “…the Storm was already here. The timing, the scorch marks, the coloration of the gems, it all makes sense now!”
“I see you’ve finally caught on, blue one,” the cloud chuckles darkly, sparking even more. “Care to elaborate?”
“When the Storm hit Manehattan earlier,” begins Tionic. “The Lightning struck in various places in Central Park, The scorch marks are from the bolts of lightning striking the ground before condensing into the gems in the bags. After that, you came along and started taking the power from inside, slowly growing in power until you were strong enough.”
“Strong enough for what?” humors the cloud, now violently sparking.
“You couldn’t do it all at once,” explains the hybrid. “If you took it all in at once, your body wouldn’t have been able to handle the stress from the power overload. That’s why you dispersed the gems and came down the way you are now.”
“Bingo,” says the cloud, before the lightning accumulating beneath it strikes the bags of crystals, vaporizing the bags in an instant. They all flash a hot pink before swirling around the cloud, which dissipates into a mass of crystals. The gems begin to form the shape of a being that Tionic recognized all too well…
“Tirek.” growls the hybrid, clenching his fists. “At least, you look like him.”
The centaur applauds, lightning sparking every time his gem-incrusted hands touch. “Correct, and I do go by another name. My name is Stormrek, Conqueror of the Storm. I will admit though, your deduction skills are a sight to behold.”
“I’m flattered,” teases the sparking hybrid. “But you’re out of luck… I’m already taken.”
Stormrek chuckles at this. “A comedian as well? Quite impressive, hedgehog. I never thought you were that talented!”
“First off,” Tionic says, holding a finger up. “If you’re gonna call me something, I’m a hybrid, not a hedgehog. That’s Sonic’s thing. Second, I like to keep ‘em guessing. They can’t expect what they don’t know, right?”
“A tactician as well?” muses the centaur. “You are a man of many talents.”
“As much as I’m enjoying the lovely chat,” says the hybrid, folding his arms across his chest. “I can feel bloodlust coming off of you in waves. You really want to fight me, don’t you?”
“Yes, I am itching to fight,” agrees Stormrek. “Me versus you. No bars held. Your guards can go help evacuate the area of any civilians before we duke it out.”
“Wait, you care about the civilians?” Tionic asks, bewildered by this. “I thought you wouldn’t care less about what happens to them.”
“Oh, I don’t,” says the centaur. ”I just want you to fight at your fullest without worrying about hurting an innocent pony or Mobian.”
“There it is,” groans Tionic, slapping his forehead. “For a second there, I thought I had just come across a villain that actually cares about others.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” laughs Stormrek, the crystals on his body glowing. “I will wait for as long as it takes for you to prepare.”
“Yeah… will do,” says the hybrid, narrowing his eyes. He then turns to the guards he came with. “He’s right. You guys need to help evacuate the area before things get messy. If past experience says anything, this is going to be big. You know what to do - get the civilians out of the park and create a perimeter. Get the police’s help and, if needed, clear a three-block area around the park. That should give us enough of a cushion in case things get hairy. Split your teams and move out. Good luck.”
Nodding in silent agreement, they had off to do their duty. Turning back to the centaur, Tionic’s eyes spark blue. His power then fully shows, select quills glowing the same lightning blue as his eyes, electricity dancing across his body. He gets down into a starting position, sparking even more. “Alright, Stormrek. You want a fight? Then let’s fight.”
“Gladly, hybrid,” chuckles the centaur. “I’ll let you throw the first punch.”
“Your loss!” shrugs Tionic, charging his power up before blitzing at the centaur’s face, curling into a ball. Said centaur manages to cross his arms in front of his face, shielding it. But it doesn’t stop the blue ball of lightning. The impact alone knocks Stormrek back about a hundred meters, dragging his feet in the ground to slow himself down. “Oof! You really do pack a punch!”
Before he can even react, Tionic has closed the gap, his right leg raised as he gets ready to kick the centaur in the face. Stormrek barely manages to dodge the attack and reciprocates with an attack of his own. Charging his mana and the Storm up, he fires a beam from in between his now yellow horns, engulfing the hybrid entirely. Tionic recovers, skidding to a halt before shaking off the soot from the attack, his body sparking even more. “Heh! So do you!”
They both charge at the same time, the electricity coming off their bodies connecting, each fighting for supremacy as the two clash over and over, punches dodged, and Spindashes caught. Each clash shatters more of the landscape around them, slowly reducing the green grass with earthen dirt. The two titans then separate after a particularly long bout, skidding back from the force of the last attack. Stormrek recovers first, allowing him to fire a beam of energy at the hybrid. Luckily, he manages to dodge the attack, but he doesn’t get to rest for long. The beam then follows him, forcing Tionic the blitz off. Stormrek manages to keep up with the speedster as he zips around the park, parkouring over fallen trees and mounds of rubble.
“How much mana do you have?!” shouts Tionic. “With the amount of mana you’re putting into that, surely you’re gonna run out sooner or later, right?!”
“Even I don’t know the upper limits of my strength!” laughs the centaur, still casting the spell. ‘’Would you like to find out?”
“No thanks!” declines Tionic. “I’d rather live!” He blasts off once more, hoping to lose the beam that was hot on his tail. He then rushes towards the centaur, taking him off guard. Using the opening he created, the hybrid cranks his awareness up to the max, effectively slowing down time to a standstill. Taking advantage of this, Tionic slams his body into Stormrek’s left horn, shattering it to pieces. He then hits the centaur’s face with multiple well-placed haymakers, before landing a nasty uppercut to his chin before letting time flow normally again.
Combined with the amount of damage that Stormrek had received, and the number of punches in such a short amount of time, the inertia sent him flying skyward. Seeing this, Tionic jumps up, leveling out with his opponent in a fraction of a second. He then begins to pummel the centaur with Spindashes, a flash of bright blue light sounding off each attack. The hybrid moves so fast that he manages to hit Stormrek twice at the same time, which stopped his ascent to the clouds. With a grunt, Tionic slams an electrically laced left leg into the centaur's face, rocketing him down to the ground. The speedster then boosts downwards, intent on landing the final blow.
But before he can do anything, Stormrek manages to fire off a beam of energy that, once it engulfs Tionic, explodes violently. The two combatants slam into the ground at the same time, the force of their landing creating craters. After the dust begins to settle, the two fighters manage to climb out of the holes they made, albeit slowly. Both are bruised, battered, and scratched up, and they know it.
“It seems that we are both at our limits,” laughs Stormrek. “Whoever lands their attack first will be the deciding winner.”
Tionic shakes his head free of the dust and dirt that had found its way into his quills, before reaching into them and pulling out three Power Rings, making a slight *dling* as they rub together. “You got that right, Stormrek. Last one standing takes it all!”
“Don't hold back on me, hybrid!” shouts the centaur, before channeling all of his remaining mana and energy into a ball that floated just above his head. His body sparks with electricity, the plasma dancing across his body as it converged on the ball of power.
“Oh, I won’t!” Tionic shouts back. A loud clap of thunder echoes across the park as the speedster taps fully into his power. He then gets into a starting position before clenching the Power Rings, absorbing them with a *D-D-DLING*, letting the Chaos energies flow through his body. The sparks of electricity dancing on his body turn into bolts of lightning, shattering the ground each time they came in contact.
And without warning, both release their attacks. Tionic breaks the sound barrier five times over, the massive shockwave blasting anything not rooted into the ground. Even so, not even the nearby trees that had managed to survive the onslaught were ripped from the earth. Stormrek’s own attack was super-massive, nearly five meters wide and crackling with Storm Lightning. The two collide head-on, the hybrid’s body generating massive amounts of sparks while grinding against the centaur attack. A sudden flash of white erupts from the clash, blinding anyone unfortunate enough to be in range before a massive explosion rips through the streets of the city. Gusts of wind blast through the streets, knocking every light post down for blocks, and causing any Pegasi unfortunate enough to be in the air at the time to make a crash landing. Hats flew off heads, and whoever wasn’t holding onto their stuff found themselves empty-handed/hooved in a blink of an eye.
As the wind and dust from the explosion settle, Tionic and Stormrek are seen standing off against each other. With a loud grunt, the massive centaur falls over, meaning that Tionic had won the fight. Said speedster walks over to the fallen combatant, before folding his arms across his chest. “You put up a pretty good fight,” compliments the hybrid. “For a second out there, I thought that I might’ve lost.”
“You certainly know how to put a villain in their place,” chuckles Stormrek, his body suddenly beginning to crack. “I feel fulfilled in my quest for a good fight, hybrid. Thank you.”
“I help everyone, not just my friends,” elaborates Tionic, before the cracks on the centaur’s body catch his eye. “You good?”
“My body can no longer handle the strength of the Storm,” reveals Stormrek, the cracks now up to his midsection. “After taking so much damage from you, it was only a matter of time before it gave out.”
“One more thing before I go, hybrid,” grunts Stormrek as the cracks reach his neck. “If you want to go after the Storm King himself, you’ll need some advice. Aim for the yellow…”
He never finishes. With a loud *KSSH*, the centaur’s body shatters into the crystals from earlier, piling on each other. But before Tionic can react, the crystals turn to smoke, rising up into the atmosphere of the planet before a glimmer of light from the ground catches the hybrid’s eye. Looking down, he notices a purple and pink gem lying in the grass. Picking it up, Tionic instantly recognizes it as one of the crystals that constructed Stormrek’s body. Chuckling to himself, the hybrid looks at it for a moment longer before pocketing the gem.
“You put up one heck of a fight,” states Tionic, gazing up at the blue sky. “I’ll be sure to not forget about you for a while.” He then notices the absolute devastation of Central Park. Trees were uprooted, craters dotted all around, upturned dirt and grass, and smoldering holes.
“Well, you definitely left a mess for me to clean up though,” groans the speedster. “I’ll just have to leave that to the authorities and the gardeners here. I gotta round up my troops and head back to Canterlot.” With a *BOOM*, he takes off running, his electricity trailing behind him as he heads out of the park.
The Smoky Mountains. A sprawling mountain expanse that has seen its fair share of events over the years, from the dragon that threatened to cover Equestria in smoke from its centuries-long nap, the territorial dispute between the Hooffields and the McColts, and multiple destroyed Eggman bases hidden in the mountainsides. Now it was about to see another event, as strange purple clouds start to grow above the range.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie and her team of pegasi guards had arrived at the foot of the mountains, eager to find and destroy the clouds threatening their home. Pinkie is bouncing in place, a large grin plastered on her muzzle.
“Okay, everypony!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, immediately bouncing up the path, surprising the guards and forcing them to follow the pink mare. “Let’s go find those clouds! We’ve got work to do!”
As they make the trek up the mountainside, Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense helps them avoid falling rocks from above, making some of the guards think she had the ability to see into the future. A few miles later, they arrived to a fairly large rest point, which gave them the opportunity to rest up for a few minutes. While they rested, Pinkie spots a figure heading towards them on the other side of the camp.
“Hey, waitaminute,” Pinkie Pie exclaims, holding up a hoof to block some of the sun’s rays. “Is that who I think it is?! It is! HEY, SHADOW!!!”
“Hello, Pinkie Pie,” Shadow grunts. He was similar in stature to Sonic, but with black quills and red highlights. He also sported gloves and rocket boots with golden rings on his wrists and ankles, little red tabs poking out from underneath. “What are you doing all the way out here? And with a group of royal guards, no less?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing!” says Pinkie Pie, glomping him, much to his great annoyance, before shoving her off of him. “Do you want the short version or the long one?”
“The short one, if you please,” grunts Shadow, folding his arms. “I don’t have all day to deal with you or your antics right now.”
“Okie dokie loki!” she says, before taking an incredibly deep breath, floating in the air for a second to Shadow’s surprise. “It started this morning when some weird purple clouds came over Ponyville and started bringing Storm Creatures all over the place and we had to stop them but couldn’t but luckily we got some help from somepony who knew what they were and helped stop them and then we got a letter from the princesses to come to Canterlot so they could meet Real so we went there and found out that those clouds came from a different Storm King and knew what he was and figures out that we could stop those clouds with pegasi power and then we split up to take out the biggest ones while staying back at Canterlot to help prep for the final fight against the Storm King and we came here a few minutes ago and then we found you!”
Shadow stood absolutely dumbfounded, still trying to comprehend the information blast from the pink party pony. Luckily for the Ultimate Lifeform, he was able to quickly process everything fairly quickly before speaking again.
“Okay, so what I could gather from your ‘explanation’,” says Shadow, rubbing his forehead. “There are these strange Storm clouds that are threatening Equestria because of this other Storm King, and you got this information from who now?”
“His name's Real!" answers Pinkie Pie, grinning. "He's a good fighter and came from another world! You should totally come and meet him!"
"Another world, huh?" muses Shadow, thinking it over before folding his arms. "Anyways, I'm here because I sensed some strange energies being concentrated around this general area and came to investigate."
"Ooh, do you think we're trying to find the same thing?!" Pinkie Pie gasps, levitating for a second. "That would be really awesome if that's the case!"
"It would be quite the coincidence," Shadow says. "It might be wise if we traveled together for the time being. Just in case if we actually are looking for the same thing."
"WHEE!!" squeals Pinkie Pie, hugging him. "You won't regret that decision, Shadow! We're gonna have so much fun!"
"I think I already have," Shadow grumbles, before peeling the pink mare off of him once again. Once the guards are done resting, Shadow and Pinkie Pie lead the way further into the mountain. As the group once again begins the trek through the mountain pass Pinkie Pie suddenly looks up, staring straight into what looks like -
“Hey, what’s taking you so long author?! It’s been like six months since you last published anything!”
WHAT IN THE NAME OF - PINKIE?! What are you doing here?!
“Having a chat with you, silly! What else could I be doing?”
Oh, I don’t know, trying to… wait a second, how did you even get here? I know you can break the fourth wall since you already did that with the readers back in Canterlot, but I’m pretty sure you can’t come here of all places.
“Haha! I don’t even know what I do sometimes! I mostly just do whatever!”
So what you’re saying is that if you wanted to break the rules of physics, you do just that?
“Uh-huh! Just like now!”
Sweet Faust, she’s flying… As if you weren’t powerful enough as it is. Now you can fly without the use of wings or the Chaos Emeralds?! Why don’t you do that in the show or the story then?
“It’s a little hard for the editors and storyline creators to work in me being able to fly. Plus, it’d be a little too much for the fans. As much as it is fun to mess with the bronies and pegasisters every time I show up, I don’t want them to get any crazy ideas. Although I do use it from time to time though!”
… yeah you’re right, those nutcases would totally do that, now wouldn’t they? Also, I see what you’re talking about when you say you use that crazy ability. I remember a few scenes where you just seem to float there for a second or two. I’m guessing that was you defying physics?
“Bingo! Right on target, buddy!”
Sweet! I know what I’m talking about for once! Okay, we’re way off-topic here. Why are you here?
“Well, I’ve been wanting to ask you something for a while - WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG?!”
YOW! Pinkie, be careful with the volume! That might’ve shattered my eardrums!
“Oops! My bad!”
You’re good, you’re good. All I have to deal with is a slight ringing in my ears for a few minutes. Anyway, what do you mean by ‘what’s taking so long’?
“The story, silly! What’s taking you so long to finish it?”
Oh… that? Well… I have been working on it, so don’t worry about that Pinks. I’ve actually been bouncing around from chapter to chapter since I don’t have a full idea what you’re gonna do or who you’ll fight. The final two chapters are fully completed, but I’m waiting to get the remaining four chapters done before I post them. I want to include you, the girls, and the guys in the story, and posting those now would only make it feel like it’s just centered around Real and a few others. It just wouldn’t feel right to leave you guys out of it since you’re part of the story too. I do plan on making a full-blown series after this that focuses more on the story and an overarching plot, but I’ve yet to fully pan it out yet.
“Awwww you’re so sweet! C’mere, you!”
WHOA?! Dang, you've got a grip, Pinkie! How’d you get so strong?
“Working on a rock farm does have some benefits! You gotta have a good grip if you wanna move moss-covered boulders across a field or if it’s pouring rain!”
That does make sense to me. If books, T.V. shows, or comics have taught me anything, wet rocks tend to be pretty slippery.
“You betcha! Anyway, you really should hop on it. Didn’t you say that you were gonna finish this by the end of the year?”
Oh yeah! I did say that, didn’t I? Wait, what’s the date today?
“It’s the eighteenth of August!”
Eighteenth of… !!! AW CRAP!
“What’s wrong?”
I only have three and a half months to get this thing finished! And with school coming up, I’ll have even less time to work on this!
“Well then get moving, silly! You made a promise!”
Yeah, I do! Horsefeathers, I knew I should’ve kept writing even if I didn’t want to. Where did all my motivation from last year go…?
“Oh and one more thing! Make sure you go through those last chapters and fix up those typos and missing pieces that you need on the rest of them! Those are important!”
Actually, I think I head over there now! If I get that out of the way now, it won’t come to kick me in the flank later on!
“You do you, and I’ll do me! Wanna hug for good luck?”
Definitely. A Pinkie Hug is just what the doctor ordered. ……yep, I was right. Thanks, Pinks, and good luck to you out there! It’s not gonna be easy out there, but I have a feeling that you’ll find a way to make it fun! Oh and say ‘Hi’ to Real for me when you get the chance!
“Okie dokie Loki! See you later!”
“Pinkie, who have you been talking to for the past five minutes?” Shadow asks, confused by the scene that the pink party pony displayed. “There is no one else on this mountain except me, the guards, and you.”
“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to you!” she giggles, bouncing her way past him. “Let’s just say I know some people!”
“… how does the faker deal with you?” asks Shadow incredulously.
“Simple!” answers Pinkie Pie, still bouncing down the path. “He just goes with it!”
A loud smack echoes through the canyon as Shadow slaps his hand to his forehead, clearly annoyed by the pink mare’s antics. “Remind me to ask him about this later on,“ Shadow mutters. “Let's just get this over with so I don’t have to deal with you anymore.“
A loud roar suddenly shakes the mountainsides, causing boulders to shift and tumble down toward the group. The guards immediately take flight, some barely avoiding the rocks while Shadow uses a series of Chaos Spears to shatter any coming at him, and Pinkie Pie just zips around, laughing like a filly playing a game as the boulders miss her entirely. Suddenly, the sky darkens as Storm clouds blot out the sun’s rays, sparking with Storm Lightning. Then the earth in front of them just explodes as something emerges from the ground. As the dust settles, Shadow gets a good look at the creature, which makes him snarl in anger, instantly recognizing the massive creature.
“I should have known,“ Shadow growls, staring into the many eyes of the beast. “A Black Worm from the Dark Arms.“
As if in response, the worm roars at Shadow, then charges at him. Shadow dodges with ease as it passes right past him, but notices that the worm looks different than his last encounter. Its blue skin was now a shade of deep purple, and the spikes now glowed a bright pink which sparked occasionally. Its eyes glowed the same intensity, the pupil-less eyes sparking electricity. He watches it as it burrows its way back underground. But before he can fully comprehend what he saw, Pinkie Pie appears beside him.
“Hey Shadow, do you know that thing?“ Pinkie Pie asks, a curious look on her face. The guards land just behind them as she speaks. “You had a weird look on your face, and that thing looked like it was going after you.“
“That was a Black Worm,“ growls Shadow, clenching his fists as rage built up inside of him. “A creature of the Dark Arms, a race that attacked Mobius a few years before the merge of our worlds, and my... genetic family.“
“GASP!!“ inhales Pinkie Pie, shock written all over her face and the guards as well. “That thing is your family?! Wait, does that make that thing your sibling of something?!“
Shadow shudders involuntarily, memories of his half ’brother’ Eclipse coming back. “No, it does not. I may be related by blood, but I will never consider them my family.“
“Something did seem strange about it though,“ says Shadow, looking back at the hole it created. “It looked much different than my last encounter. It looked purple, and it seemed to be sparking some form of pink electricity from its body.“
“Hmm...“ mumbles Pinkie Pie, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “Wait, that sounds just like what we were looking for! We actually were looking for the same thing, Shadow! Isn't that awesome?!“
“I guess so...?“ Shadow questions, before shaking it off. “Well, now we know what we're trying to deal with here, we need a plan to take it down before it -!“
The ground beneath them breaks open as the worm bursts forth, attempting to swallow the group whole. Unfortunately for it, everyone manages to get clear in time, and Shadow chucks a Chaos Spear right at it, which shatters one of the spikes on it. The worm roars in pain, falling to its side. Seeing this, Shadow realizes what the worm’s weakness is and takes advantage of this, pummeling the worm as the guards pull out their spears and start to stab and slash it as well.
Shadow charges up a potent Chaos Spear to throw at it, but before he can throw it the worm releases a shock wave of Storm Lightning that knocks back everyone. The worm gets back up, angrily roaring at its attackers before it’s suddenly struck by a bolt of Storm Lightning. To everyone's shock and disbelief, the wounds that they inflicted instantly heal, and it tunnels back into the ground for another surprise attack. Shadow looks up to pinpoint the source of the bolt of Storm Lightning.
“The clouds!“ Shadow exclaims, pointing to the storm clouds hanging above the canyon. He then turns to the royal guards. “It’s getting healed from the energy inside those clouds! You need to take those out before we deal any real damage to this thing!“
Saluting, they instantly take off into the skies, ready to do some cloudbusting. Shadow turns to Pinkie Pie. “How good are you at distractions?“
“That’s a silly question!“ Pinkie Pie giggles as she pulls a party cannon from her tail, much to Shadow's disbelief. “I’m the best distracter in all of Equestria! If you need something distracted, I’ll keep it busy for you for as long as you want!“
“You do that,“ Shadow grunts as he looks around, trying to guess where the worm would pop up next. “We need to give the guards enough time to take out those Storm clouds, or else that thing isn't going down anytime soon!“
Right as he says that, the earth beneath him cracks open, revealing the gaping maw of the worm ready to chomp down on the hedgehog. Shadow boosts to the side using his rocket shoes, nearly becoming worm chow. Pinkie Pie fires her party cannon straight into the worm's eyes, confetti blinding it as it squirms in pain. Landing back on the ground, he swings around and boosts forward, curling into a glowing orange ball before slamming into the creature's side. Another roar of pain erupts from it as Shadow continues to slam into the worm, aiming for the many pink spikes protruding from its body. He manages to shatter two of them before the worm sends out an electrical shockwave, pushing him off of it and giving the creature enough time to gather its senses and burrow back down into the ground.
“Hmph,” Shadow grunts as he rights himself up. “You’re not getting away that easily, worm.”
Shadow then jumps over the hole tunnel created by the creature and uses a Dropdash maneuver to fall quickly. Reaching the bottom, he notices that there are numerous tunnels going in every direction, turning it into an underground labyrinth. He tries to spot any sign of the worm, but seeing none, he skates down one of the tunnels. The twist and turns of the underground maze quickly begin to confuse him, confusing Shadow’s sense of direction. Just as he rounds another bend, he comes face to face with the Black Worm, its glowing eyes lighting up the tunnel. It lets out a roar before pursuing him, who skates off in hopes of losing the mammoth worm. Just as Shadow thinks he’s lost it, the worm appears out of nowhere, its mouth gaping open as it charges an electrical attack. Back on the surface, Pinkie Pie is poking her head into the many holes that dot the area, seeing if she could spot anything.
“Hmmm, this worm is really good at playing hide-and-seek!” Pinkie Pie muses, placing a hoof under her chin. “But I’ll have you know that I’m the best hide-and-seek champion of Equestria! I’ve played that game with Pumpkin and Pound Cake, and they are some of the best hiders I’ve ever met! I haven’t lost one game yet, and I don’t plan on -!”
A sudden explosion from a few meters away catches her attention, and she spots Shadow flying out of the hole. Shadow manages to right himself before he hits the ground, but his landing was a little rough. He slides to a stop right next to Pinkie Pie, who has a grin plastered on her face.
“Oh, there you are, Shadow!” Pinkie exclaims. She then points over to the worm that had come out of the hole excitedly. “Guess what? I found the worm! It’s over there, see?!”
“Thank you, I couldn’t tell,” Shadow grunts, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he gets pushes himself back on his feet before shaking the dust out of his quills. “I didn’t see the thing blast me out of the ground.”
“You’re welcome!” Pinkie grins, either ignoring the sarcasm or just completely oblivious to it. Something then catches her eye as she looks up into the sky, pointing to it. “Hey look! The guards are almost done with those clouds!”
Following the pink mare’s hoof, Shadow sees that the royal guard had been working overtime, as there were only remained a few large patches of Storm Clouds hanging in the sky. He smirks a little.
“They are well-trained and coordinated, which is to be expected of the royal guards,” Shadow says, before turning his attention to the worm, hands radiating Chaos energy. “Now their efforts will let me actually hurt this thing!”
Shooting forward, Shadow begins throwing Chaos Spears at various points of the worm’s body, many of them not doing any damage to it. But the ones that hit and shatter the spikes do, the worm roaring as it writhes in pain. This makes it much more difficult to aim, causing a few Spears to completely miss. He manages to shatter another three spikes, but before he can break a fourth, the worm expels another shockwave, to his annoyance. The worm burrows back down into the ground, prepping for another surprise attack. But before Shadow can do anything, Pinkie Pie zips ahead of him, much to his shock.
“Pinkie, what are you doing?!” Shadow shouts, reaching a hand out to stop her. “It’s too dangerous to go after that thing!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” she shouts back. “I’m gonna bring it back for ya!” Right as she says this, her hair turns into the shape of a drill, and she jumps to the ground. To his shock, Shadow watches as Pinkie Pie’s hair begins to eat away at the earth, dirt, and rocks flying out from behind her. The Ultimate Lifeform stands there absolutely dumbfounded, his eyes wide and mouth agape.
“How in Chaos’ name did her hair just do that?!” Shadow exclaims, gripping his head. Groaning in frustration, he tries not to think too much about it. “Ugh, I just hope that crazy mare knows what she’s doing.”
Shadow then eyes his inhibitor rings, thinking for a moment. “Hmmm… that actually should do the trick.” Back underground, the Black Worm is making its way down one of the various tunnels it created but stops when it hears a voice to its right.
“Hi, there!” exclaims Pinkie, waving to the worm. “My name is Pinkie Pie! What’s yours?!”
The worm instantly lunges at her, hoping to chomp down on Pinkie Pie. Much to its surprise, it completely misses her, It’s many eyes liking every which way to see where she went. Pinkie then appears at the side of the tunnel, half her body hanging out of a smaller tunnel.
“Wait, lemme guess!” Pinkie says, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “Is it Chompy? Sir Eyes-a-lot? OOOOHH, NO WAIT, IS IT SPARK SNAKE?! It’s gotta be it, right?!”
The worm lunges again, this time sure that it would get the pink mare. But to its disbelief, it doesn’t. Looking around into the adjacent tunnels, it spots Pinkie Pie popping up from the floor to the left, the mare wearing a cheesy grin.
“I’m guessing that was a yes?” she asks. The worm roars, charging once more. “I’ll take that as a yes!”
The Black Worm storm down the tunnel, sparking Storm Lightning as it hopes that it trampled the pink mare. Coming to a stop at a dead end, the worm stops to rest for a moment - but not for long.
“Hey, why’d you run off?!” shouts Pinkie Pie, popping right in front of the worm. The worm roars, but this time in shock and fear. The pink mare had managed to avoid it the whole time, and somehow even keep up with it! Turning to the right, it begins burrowing a new tunnel in hopes of escaping her.
“OOH, are we playing tag?!” gasps Pinkie, her eyes sparkling. “I guess I must be it then! Alright, here I come!”
She begins bouncing down the newly made tunnel at a pace that most certainly wouldn’t be fast enough to catch up with the worm. But as the Black worm soon found out, no matter how far or how fast it went, Pinkie Pie somehow managed to catch up with it, which further and further distressed it. The final straw came when Pinkie’s face suddenly popped right in front of it while it was digging.
“Tag!” she giggles, booping the worm in its face. “You’re it!”
The Black Worm instantly screeches in fear, and instead of going any of the four cardinal directions, it goes straight up. The worm moves so fast that when it breaches the surface, it manages to get some crazy height, its entire body exposed to the air. But unfortunately for it, Shadow had been lying in wait, charging up a massive amount of Chaos energy. His inhibitor rings lay on the ground, his entire body glowing a bright red - he was tapping fully into the Chaos Force. The instant he spotted the worm breach the earth, he blasts forward, breaking the sound barrier before jumping and curling into a ball, blasting through a spike. Shadow proceeds to use a series of Homing Attacks to shatter the remaining three spikes, before dropping down to the ground. He then jumps straight up, reeling his fist back before uppercutting the worm hard.
This sends it flying high above the clouds, but to everyone’s shock, they watch as the remaining Storm Clouds that hadn’t been destroyed are absorbed into its body. This causes the insides of the Black Worm to glow bright pink, before a flash of white blinds everyone in the vicinity. Once the effects of the flash bang wear off, they all spot the worm flying. It had sprouted electrical wings that kept it afloat in the air, and it lets out a roar that shakes the air itself. Down on the ground, the Chaos-boosted Shadow grits his teeth before he teleports above the worm-turned-wyvern, his body sparking orange lightning and glowing red.
“You think growing a pair of wings is going to save you from me?!” Shadow shouts, charging up his attack as he glares at the wyvern. “You are sorely mistaken you parasite! I am the Ultimate Lifeform, and a lowly worm will NOT best me! NOW DIE!”
The Storm Wyvern roars, then charging up an orb of Storm lightning in its mouth, ready to fire. It then charges at the sparking red hedgehog, intent on destroying the traitor to his species.
“CHAOS,” Shadow shouts as he crosses his arms, before bringing them down to his side fast while releasing all of the pent-up Chaos energy.
“BLAST!!!”
An explosion of red energy blasts off Shadow’s body as he releases his most powerful attack on the Storm Wyvern, which had fired the orb of lightning at him. The two struggle for a moment, but ultimately Shadow prevails, and the orb is disintegrated. The last thing anyone sees is the Wyvern being swallowed up inside the sphere before it detonates - violently. The air and the earth shake from the force of the explosion, the wind whipping past the royal guards as they try to fight the winds, but a few of them lose control and spin out. Pinkie Pie manages to stand her ground against the gale-like winds, her hair the only thing really being affected. Luckily, it dies down quickly, leaving only a massive dark purple cloud with a reddish tinge hanging in the air.
“Now that was some firework!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, jumping up and down excitedly. She then notices how crazy her mane and tail look, with all of her volume going straight right. She simply shakes herself, which reverts her hair back to its original poofiness. The royal guards all land next to her, and as the last one touches the ground, Shadow teleports in on her left.
“Shadow!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, glomping Shadow, who only looks to the side in clear annoyance. “That was so awesome up there! You were all like, WHOOSH! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Then you went WHAM! And then you went all Chaos Blast and then BOOM!”
While the guards were amused by Pinkie Pie’s description of what he did (while doing the actions correlated with them), Shadow walked over to his inhibitor rings, slipping them back onto his wrists and ankles. “That thing had it coming. the Black Arms will never hurt anyone else while I’m around.”
“Well, you did awesome out there though!” Pinkie Pie compliments. “Oh! And thanks for all the help, Shadow! I don’t think we’d be able to stop that thing had you not come along!”
“Hmph,” Shadow grunts, folding his arms. “Don’t think I did it out of the kindness of my heart. I only did it to settle an old score.”
“You keep telling yourself that!” Pinkie Pie giggles. “It was still great seeing you though!”
“The feeling is… mutual,” Shadow says, looking towards the way they had come in. “Well, I need to go. G.U.N. probably has another mission ready for me back at headquarters.”
“See you next novel, then!” Pinkie Pie says, getting a strange look from Shadow and the guards as she waves goodbye. “See ya around!”
“Hmph. Goodbye,” Shadow says, before teleporting in a flash to who knows where. Now that the skies had been cleared of the Storm King’s influence, their mission was over. One of the guards asked Pinkie if she would be alright if they could carry the pink mare on their back, which would make the trip back to Canterlot much quicker. Pinkie Pie quickly agrees, and after hopping on and taking off, the group head due southeast.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” Pinkie Pie suddenly asks, catching the guard's attention. “What do you think sounds better? Chimicherry? Or cherrychanga? Chimicherry? Or cherrychanga?”
The guards groan, especially the one who was unlucky enough to be carrying the pink party pony… They then realize that this is gonna be a long trip home.
The Amarezon. Home to the most diverse ecosystem and hundreds of thousands of plants, animals, or insect species, it’s known to hold many a secret deep within its never-ending roof of leaves and trees. Many an explorer come to this place in search of treasure or some ancient structure, but few ever return. Only one explorer has come to this place and made it out alive, only to go back time and time again, bringing back many priceless artifacts from within the confines of the jungle to be placed in a museum for all to see and learn about Equestria’s ancient past. Though it’s unknown at the time, the recent merge with a part of Mobius had brought some new life to the jungle, with massive hollowed-out tree trunks that lay on their sides placed about, creating a whole course fit for certain speedsters. But the jungle seems to radiate a different kind of energy, not one of life, constant hostility, and eyes tracking your every movement - but one of fear, hate, and imminent danger.
In a clearing nearby the railroad tracks that run through the jungle, a flash of light appears before disappearing to reveal Princess Luna, Fluttershy, who is hiding behind her hair, and the Royal Guard they were sent with. Luna immediately starts giving out orders, directing the guard on what to do.
“Split up into five teams of ten,” says the lunar princess. “Four will go in each direction and search for any signs of the clouds. Do five sweeps of the area before returning here in ten minutes. The fifth team will stay with me and Fluttershy to ensure safety while we explore on foot. If we do not return within ten minutes, send a search party to locate us. You know the rest.”
The guards salute, and before long each team was doing what they were told, four in the skies, one down on the ground. After the sky team had left, Luna turns to find a slightly scared Fluttershy, her eyes darting around.
“Fluttershy? Whatever is the matter?” wonders Luna, worried for her friend. Placing a hoof on the pegasus’ back, she inquires again. “Are you alright?
“EEP!” exclaims Fluttershy, jumping a little to the touch of the cold silver of Luna’s hoof guards. “Sorry Princess Luna, I-I’m just a little nervous.”
“It’s alright, Fluttershy,” says Luna, understanding that the kind mare was not one of the bravest of the group – she’d rather be in her cottage, drinking tea. “Would you like to head back to Canterlot? It’s not too late to send you back if you like.”
“No, I’m fine, thank you,” declines Fluttershy, shaking her head. “I’ll stay here with you if that’s okay with you.”
“If that is what you want, then so be it,” Luna says, before turning to the jungle. “But be warned, this will not be an easy task. There will be perils lying within this mighty jungle.”
Fluttershy gulps, her ears flat against her head. Following the princess, they approach the forest. The wall of trees soars above her, making it seem almost impenetrable except for a few slivers of light that do nothing to dispel the darkness underneath the canopy roof. Noises of animals and insects from within do little to calm her racing heart, but she presses on, willing to do her part even though she was scared out of her mind. Even though Fluttershy was an animal expert and had no trouble speaking to any creature that had the intellectual capacity to uphold one end of a conversation, she still felt afraid of what might appear out of the foliage.
But as she followed Luna deeper into the jungle, she started to notice Flickies, little animals native to Sonic’s world, pop up every now and again. The most prominent ones were the Wockies, small monkeys that followed them around in the treetops. She could hear them talking with each other about who these strange ponies were and a few curious souls came pretty close to them before darting away, laughing as they climbed back to the tops of the trees. The Flickies’ playful demeanor soon rubbed off on Fluttershy, giggling as she watched the mini monkeys play stay-away from them. They had even managed to crack a smile from the guards, and Luna was smiling warmly. But that all came to an abrupt end when a loud roar shook the treetops.
“EEK!!!” screams Fluttershy as she clams up, curling into a ball. Her pink hair surrounded her so well that she would’ve turned into a Spindash had she been moving. The Flickies all flee to Faust-knows-where as the guards and Luna turned to the direction of the roar, hoping to roughly pinpoint where it had come from. Another roar perches the deep jungle, giving them an idea of where it was coming from.
“It sounds like it is coming from the northeast,” confirms Luna, narrowing her eyes. She then turns to the guards. “Four of you will need to relay a message to the other teams. We may have found what we were looking for.”
Four pegasi salute, and before long they have headed off to find the others. Luna then notices Fluttershy shaking and whimpering in her ball of hair.
“I’d be more impressed that you can contort your body to such a degree if I wasn’t worried about you, Fluttershy,” Luna says as Fluttershy uncurls from her ball. “Are you absolutely sure that you want to come with us?”
“Yes, I do, Princess,” sighs Fluttershy, suddenly finding the ground very interesting. “I’ve never been one to help with the others, and I always feel like I’m just dragging them down. I want to help, but I don’t know what I can do without getting in the way.”
Luna then lays a wing on her back, getting Fluttershy’s attention. “You are capable of so many things Fluttershy. While you may not be the strongest or the fastest, you have many abilities that are unique to you and you only. If you can believe in yourself, you can do anything.”
“You really think so?” Fluttershy asks before another roar shakes the trees. She doesn’t curl into a ball this time, but she does shrink behind Luna.
“Indeed,” Luna says. “Now, let us be off. Something very dangerous is happening right now and we don’t have much time to sit and talk. The guards should have reached the other teams by now and headed to that area.”
Fluttershy nods and takes off alongside Luna and the remaining guards. Breaching the treetops, she sees the vast sea of green reaching as far as the eye could see. A few birds flew around, and poking through the tree line were a few of the massive hollowed-out tree trunks. The scene calmed her quite a bit, but a roar put her on edge again. Looking o where they were headed, she sees a tall plum of smoke billowing high into the sky.
“Oh, dear, I hope the animals are okay,” she whimpers. Following Luna, she and the guards land just outside of the burned part of the forest, watching as the flames slowly eat away at the greenery. If it wasn’t stopped now, the whole forest would go up in smoke, and hundreds of thousands of animals would lose their homes. Luckily for them, the Royal Guard were trained in fire safety procedures, so they were able to stop the fire completely using the storm clouds that had gathered above to dump gallons of water on the inferno and stopped the advance. After the last embers were put out, They all trek farther into the ashen landscape, careful to avoid any smoldering fires. The wind then kicks up, billowing ash around the group like a tornado, forcing them to shield their eyes.
“Who is there?!” shouts Luna, using the Royal Canterlot Voice to hopefully catch the attention of whoever did this. She uses her magic to create a deep blue shield, expanding it until the tornado disappeared, then dropping it. “Come out and face us if thou are brave enough!”
As if the universe heard her, something massive lands heavily in front of them, kicking up a huge cloud of ash and dust and obscuring their vision. The behemoth then snaps open a pair of massive wings, the gust from opening them ridding the area of the ash. This reveals a dragon that towered over the ponies, so large that it possibly could take on Lord Torch in a 1v1 and possibly win. Scales a deep purple, the underbelly and highlights colored deep blue - the wings sporting the same color palette as well. Extra large horns sat on the head, very similar in shape to a Halo sword. Three large yellow clusters grew from various points on its body, one right between the wings, another on the chest, and the last on its forehead.
This would’ve been terrifying enough had the dragon’s claws, spikes, teeth, and eyes not been made out of pure Storm Lightning, and the pupil-less eyes only made it look more menacing. It lets out an echoing roar to the sky, Storm Lightning shooting out of its mouth and into the clouds, turning them into Storm Clouds. Seeing the dragon in all its scaly glory, and hearing the sky-shattering roar coming from it caused Fluttershy’s eyes to shrink to pinpricks, her ears flat and wings plastered to her sides, and she utters one word.
“DRAGON!!!” she screams, then zips behind a massive boulder and wraps her hair around herself tightly as she shivers in fright. Luna and the guards get into position, ready for a fight. Luna notices that the Storm Clouds were mainly centered around the dragon itself, ad every time a bolt hit it, the dragon’s electrical sharp weapons glowed brighter. This meant that it gained more power from the clouds, and would most likely heal any damage felt to it if they were not dealt with now.
“Guards, concentrate your energy on the clouds,” commands Luna. “I’ll be sure to keep it busy while you take out its only way to gain power or regenerate. Now go!”
The guards salute and launch into the sky, dodging bolts of Storm Lightning and navigating the air currents. The dragon takes notice of this, but before it can do anything about it, a bolt of blue magic slams into its chest, breaking a few pieces off. It turns to stare at Luna, who is charging another spell.
“That’s it, you overgrown lizard!” Luna shouts, firing spells at its feet, taunting the dragon as she circles it. “Follow the bouncing princess!”
With a roar, the dragon surges at her, swinging its claws in hopes of slashing her in half. Unfortunately for it, Luna was too fast for it, and she had charged a powerful spell that completely disintegrated the yellow crystals on the dragon’s head. It roars in pain and rage, sending Storm Lightning everywhere in hopes of hitting a target. All the attack does is destroy the ground and poke a few holes in the storm cover, which has already been halved by the guards, much to its annoyance. But it can’t do anything about it since it had a princess-sized problem flying around it. It continues to swipe at Luna, hoping one would connect.
One does, but it’s blocked by a blue shield, which expands fast enough to upset the dragon’s balance and send it staggering backward. Reeling her right hoof back, Luna pours her magic into it, enhancing the power behind it before throwing a nasty haymaker into the dragon’s chest. The punch shatters the cluster, raining yellow crystals all over her. The dragon is sent flying bouncing off the ground a few times before creating a trench as it comes to a stop.
“HA! Is that the best thou could do?!” Luna exclaims as she lands on the dragon’s chest, thinking she’s won. “We’ve battled kittens that fought more valiantly than thou has!”
But just when she thinks she’s won, a low growl emanates from the behemoth’s throat, meaning it was still conscience – and very mad.
“Oh, my sister damn it,” mutters Luna, before a scaled fist slams into her side and sends her rocketing into the ground.
“Oh, really wish I could help them,” Fluttershy whimpers, curling up even tighter behind the boulder as an explosion rocks the earth. “But how am I supposed to do anything when I just get in the way of others?”
She then remembers what Luna had said earlier; 'If you can believe in yourself, you can do anything.’
‘I just need to believe in myself?’ she thinks, uncurling from her ball to peek over the boulder she was hiding behind, only to see Luna get snatched out of the air by the dragon. It begins to squeeze her, trying to pop her like a balloon as her screams of pain echo across the forest, the guards unable to do anything to help. Then something inside Fluttershy snaps, and a newfound determination wells up inside her. ‘If I can believe in myself, then I believe that I can save Princess Luna!’
“HEY!” Fluttershy shouts, catching the dragon’s attention as she walks out from behind the boulder and flies up to meet its gaze. “YOU PUT HER DOWN RIGHT NOW!”
The dragon responds by letting out a massive roar, Storm Lightning flying everywhere. But not one bolt hits Fluttershy – any that came close seemed to bend around her like it was sliding around an invisible shield. Fluttershy then responds in her own way.
SMACK!
She slaps the dragon’s cheek, the wind whipping around from the force of the slap. In shock, it lets go of Luna, letting her fly away from the dragon. It rubs the spot where Fluttershy hit it in confusion – she was cowering in fear moments ago, now she had just slapped it – and it hurt. There was something about this pegasus that scared it, something unnatural. There was a deep blue aura that only the dragon could see surrounding her, emanating a deadly sense of dread. Her body sparked electricity every so often, though it went unnoticed by everyone.
“How dare you!” Fluttershy exclaims, touching down on the dragon’s snout to get up close to its eyes. How DARE you! Listen here, mister! Just because you’re big, DOESN’T mean you get to be a bully!”
Luna and the guards watch in awe as Fluttershy reprimands the behemoth like it was a misbehaving child. At that moment, their respect for the mare increased tenfold.
“You may have huge teeth, sharp scales, snort fire, and breath lightning,” Fluttershy continues. “But you do NOT, I repeat, you do NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!”
“You got that?” she finishes. The dragon falters for a moment, but recovers quickly and starts to curve up one final attack. Unfortunately for it, Fluttershy still has her most powerful weapon – The Stare. And it works like a charm – the dragon immediately stops charging the attack, its pupil-less eyes widening in fear. As it slinks back to the ground, she follows it, not breaking eye contact even for a second. Once the dragon lands, Fluttershy calls out to Luna.
“Luna, NOW!” Fluttershy shouts, not taking her eyes away from the dragon’s as she continues to use The Stare. Luna nods, charging her mana up into one last spell. She quickly takes off, shattering the earth below her from the force of the launch. Maneuvering into position above the dragon, Luna finds the right angle and aims for its back. When she feels the spell is ready, she fires.
“You’ve been a very bad dragon.” Fluttershy frowns. The last thing the cowering behemoth sees is her disappointed face which is completely consumed by Lunar magic. In an instant, the final cluster shatters, and its body disintegrates to ash before being erased by the sheer power of Luna’s attack. The explosion from the magic blows every tree within twenty miles sideways, and any clouds leftover were blown away. Somehow, Fluttershy manages to stay level in the hurricane-like winds, despite being right over the blast. Once the winds calm down, she lands next to Luna, who is slowly recovering from her last attack.
“Are you alright, Princess?” she wonders, “You didn’t get her too badly out there did you?”
“I’m doing just fine, Fluttershy,” Luna smiles, managing to catch her breath. “It’s thanks to you that we managed to defeat that dragon, after all.”
“Thank you, Princess,” Fluttershy giggles. “I just had a little help from somepony to believe in myself.”
“You see?” says Luna, smiling as she puts a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “You managed to stare down a dragon because you believed that you could do it. If you keep this up, you may one day be able to take down even the most powerful opponents with ease!”
“Thank you for that, Princess,” says Fluttershy. “But I’m content with staying in my cottage. It’s much more relaxing and has a lower chance of me getting eaten alive.”
“Point taken.”
Something then catches Fluttershy’s eye – there, a few meters away lying half buried in the ashen ground is a small, deep purple scale. A scale that had been dropped by the dragon when Luna obliterated it. Picking it up, she looks at it for a moment before she sticks it in her hair for safekeeping.
“Do you think we should stay for a while to help clean up the place?” wonders Fluttershy as she walks back to the group. “I think that might prevent to spread of the fire to other parts of the forest..”
“Great idea, Fluttershy,” compliments Luna. “I can send a letter to the Equestrian Fire Department and tell them about the fire. While I trust the guards’ thoroughness, it wouldn’t hurt to get some experts over here to make we didn’t miss anything.”
“Agreed,” says Fluttershy. “Maybe I can ask the National Wildlife Preservation Society if they’ll send a team out here as well to help with the replanting, that way the animals will have homes again.”
Canterlot Castle has been the home to the Royal Sisters and millions of ponies for we'll over a millennium. It's a beacon of wealth and prosperity to many, and more hope to find their place among the nobles. The castle is always abuzz with chatter between the citizens, from the guards to the rich that litter the palace grounds. It always has a strange feeling in the air that calms many.
But today is much different.
Everyone is talking about the strange newcomer that had arrived earlier that day. Normally, many wouldn’t care too much about some newcomer to Canterlot - they get hundreds every day. But this one is different - a creature the likes the ponies have never seen before: a human. And to top it all off, he was accompanied by the Legendary Sonic the Hedgehog, the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, Prince Tionic, and the Mane Five. He even stood up against Prince Blueblood of all ponies, showing him his place. Soon after his arrival, strange purple clouds were spotted in the skies above, sparking with hot pink lightning.
Rumors were already spreading throughout the castle, many theorizing who the creature really was and what he was here for. A particular prince was in the spa, getting his hooficure and speaking to his fellow nobles about the human.
“I don’t see what all the hubbub is about,” Complains an annoyed (and slightly soiled) Prince Blueblood, while his hooves are filed by a spa pony. “It’s just some oversized monkey that wandered into the castle. There’s nothing special about it!”
“I’ve heard that it can do magic just like a unicorn,” says a male unicorn to his right, relaxing on his stomach while his back is massaged by a Mobian. “And that bat it has can change shape into whatever it wants.”
“So it can do some fancy parlor tricks, big deal!” Blueblood harrumphs. “I could take it out in an instant with just a flick of my horn.”
“Are you sure about that?” Says a earth pony mare as she steps out of the steam room. “I heard it gave you a run for your money earlier.”
Blueblood’s face flushes red with embarrassment as the other nobles laugh. “S-SHUT UP!” He shouts, slamming his hoof against his seat. “I just let him think that he ever had a chance against the likes of me! If I had been taking it seriously, he would’ve found himself underneath my hooves faster than he could ever realize.”
“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” mutters a unicorn stallion as he rolls his eyes.
“Anyway, it’s none of my concern right now,” sighs Blueblood as he relaxes back into the seat. “As long as it stays out of my way, I don’t care what it does.”
—Canterlot Halls, near the Royal Archives—
Footsteps echo through the empty halls, bouncing off the quartz pillars that line them and the velvet carpet that decorates the floors. Princess Celestia turs down the hall towards the Royal Archives with some company - Real. He is telling stories of his time on the other continent, and how crazy it was before he arrived in Equestria.
“…and after seeing that, we made a beeline for the next town over!” Real chuckles. “I think we may have scorched the ground considering how fast we hightailed it outta there!”
Celestia laughs, enjoying her company’s storytelling. “You certainly had quite the adventure before you came here, haven’t you? You must tell me the rest one day.”
“Gladly,” Real smiles, putting his hands behind his head. “Those were some crazy six months out there. I don’t think I would’ve managed as well as I did out there if it weren’t for them.”
“Agreed,” Celestia nods. She then stops, realizing that they reached their destination. “Ah, here we are - the Royal Archives. We should be able to find just about everything on basic magic manipulation right here.” Her horn starts to glow a familiar golden light as the giant double doors do the same, swinging open and revealing the Archives in all their glory.
The library was shaped like a circle and had three stories containing shelves upon shelves of books of every kind. Two blue pillars decorated with a shade of blue-purple rose from the sides holding up the third-floor balcony. On the said floor, eight smaller pillars of the same design stood, and the two right above the entrance had statues of two unicorns holding flags with a picture of an open book on both sides, flapping in a non-existent wind. Above them is a giant glass dome, keeping the elements outside and protecting the books from them. There are wooden tables that circle a stone one in the center, allowing for some ponies to relax, sit down, and read a book. To the left of the entrance is the checkout desk, and to the right are even more shelves of books.
“Woah-ho-ho!” exclaims Real, staring in awe as he takes in everything. “This is huge! I’ve never seen so many books in my life!”
“Yes, it is amazing, isn’t it?" says Celestia. “A place where ponies can come read and learn just about everything. Whether they prefer nonfiction or fiction or are looking for help on how to learn something, it can be found here.”
“With this many books, I could probably find just about everything I need!”
“Indeed, you could,” giggles Celestia. “But maybe not all, though. While it is expansive, there are still many more libraries with more vast amounts of knowledge than you could ever imagine!”
Real snorts to himself. “Oh, I can imagine. But Equestria has surprised me time and time again, so who knows what will happen?”
“That is true,” says Celestia. “Now follow me, I know of a few books that will help with your training.” She leads Real toward the third floor, where magic books are kept. Channeling her magic, she pulls a few off the shelf and sets them on a nearby table.
“These go over the basics of magic manipulation and how to concentrate it,” says Celestia, opening the first book to the start. “All unicorn fillies are required to read these before they go to school, as it will help them control their magic bursts if they ever come up. Hopefully, you will be able to get through these quickly, that way we can get into the more advanced techniques. I will answer any questions you may have or are having trouble understanding something.”
“Thanks, Celestia!” Real says, picking up the first book, and taking out his necklace. “Now, lessee here…”
‘Getting right into it, are we?’ Celestia thinks, giggling to herself. ‘He reminds me of Twilight when she first started her classes under my tutelage. Beginning right away and easily succeeding in any task I gave her.’
While reminiscing, Celestia notices a flash of blue light come from Real. Looking over, she is shocked to see that he was staring straight ahead in a trancelike manner, not moving from his spot. That itself would be weird, but his eyes glow bright white, and his magic surrounds him, making him float just above the ground. Books hovered around him, opening and closing as they came off the shelves and back to their original places.
“Incredible!” Celestia gasps, blown away by what she was seeing. The only other time that she had seen this kind of display of magical power was from Twilight years ago, during her entrance exam. It was also how she earned her cutie mark, met Spike, and became Celestia’s student.
“How is he doing this?!” She asks herself, watching Real closely and feeling the raw magic emanating from him. “How does Real have this much magic when he says he has had little to no experience?”
As fast as it had happened, Real blinks his eyes, dissipating the white light and his magic, dropping back to the floor. He shakes his head, then rubs his eyes, and blinks a few times before realizing what had happened.
“Oh great, it happened again,” He sighs, looking around for something. “What happened this time?”
“This time…?” asks Celestia incredulously. “You mean this display of power has happened before?”
“Three times to be exact,” Real reveals. “While I was traveling over in Ponyland. I’ve also noticed that these bursts of power are starting to come a lot faster now, too.”
“Faster?” says Celestia, still trying to process what she had just seen moments before. She then realizes that Real has a lot more potential than she thought - maybe more so than Twilight. “… I believe you’re ready for the more advanced levels of magic.”
“Wait, what?!” Real exclaims, getting to his feet. “But I’ve barely even started with the basics!”
“With that kind of display of magic, it will be a breeze for you.” Celestia proceeds to put the books on the table back on the shelf and then trots farther down the aisle. She opens her wings and flies to the higher parts of the shelves, spotting the books she was looking for. She levitates them off the shelf and returns to the floor before setting them down on the table.
“Advanced Spells Vol. 1- 5?” recites Real, reading the titles of the books Celestia had brought back. “The Master’s Guide to Magic Focusing? Harnessing Amulet Magic? No offense Celestia, but these are for high-level magic users! How do you expect me to do any of this?!”
“I have faith that you can do these with ease,” says Celestia, opening the first volume of Advanced Spells to a random page. The header reads “Transmutation”.
“Transmutation?” asks Real, scanning the page. “‘Turning one thing into something else entirely’? You really think this isn’t the slightest bit too much for me?”
“Not at all,” she says. She then heads towards the stairs, leaving Real to attempt the spell himself. “Now, there is something I need to do. I will be right back.”
Hours later, Real is still working with Celestia, her vast knowledge of magic helping him progress in leaps and bounds, even going as far as to create some of his own spells, much to Celestia's surprise.
‘I have not seen this kind of magical progression since ancient times,’ thinks Celestia, keeping an eye on Real, who was now climbing one of the rolling ladders scattered around the library to grab a book. ‘I wonder if Starswirl was this adept at magic growing up.’
The doors to the library creek open, revealing a mare and filly. Looking towards the double doors to see who had entered, Celestia instantly recognizes the pair. “It seems we have some visitors from the Sparkle family.”
“Oh?” Real doesn’t look up from the book he was reading, still hanging off of the ladder. “Who is it? Shining Armor and Cadance? Or is it Twilight’s parents?”
“It's Silverlay and Nyx,” Celestia says, and waves to them. “Hello, you two. What brings you to the Royal Archives?”
“Ah, Silverlay and Nyx, huh?” Real says. It takes a moment before it hits him harder than a runaway Pinkie Pie on a sugar rush.
“Wait- SILVERLAY AND NYX?!” He shouts, dropping the book. He shoves off the bookshelf hard to move the ladder to the end of the rail, desperate to confirm his suspicions. The ladder slams against the end and jumps off the rail, and Real gets a glance at the two ponies before gravity rears its ugly head.
“Oh, Celestia save me…”
She didn’t.
“SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-!!!”
*THWHAM*
Real falls three stories of bookshelves, flailing his arms and legs in the air before landing face first on the first floor. The impact somehow jostles hundreds of books off the shelves (the shelves are not facing the balcony, mind you) as they fly off and pile onto the downed human. A few seconds of falling hardcover books and one rolling ladder later, Celestia and the two Sparkles can see a hand limply sticking out from the pile of books.
“Oh dear,” Celestia grimaces, hopping over the short wall and gliding down to the ground floor, landing next to the mound. “Real, are you alright?”
“If there’s one thing I didn’t think would happen to me today,” Real says, his voice muffled by all the books piled on top of him. “It’s getting attacked by books. Now, a little help here?”
His hand points to the pile, and Celestia giggles, holding a hoof to her muzzle.
“Gladly,” she says, and her horn starts to give off a golden aura. The books start to glow the same as well, as they lift off the ground and back to their proper places on the shelves. The mound disappears to show Real, his face planted square on the floor, arms and legs splayed outwards. The sight takes the three ponies by surprise, and they all burst out laughing.
“Ha-ha, very funny,” Real says dryly, pulling his head away from the floor. Picking himself up, he dusts himself off, before facing the laughing trio. “You’ve had your laughs and giggles, but I’m not amused.”
“I-I’m sorry,” apologizes Celestia, still struggling internally not to laugh. “It just took me by surprise, is all.”
“I know it did,” says Real. “It would’ve done the same to me as well.” He then eyes the two Sparkles, still giggling. “Alright you two, you can stop with the giggle-fest.”
They stop, but you can still see them struggling to keep it together. Then Real remembers why he fell in the first place. Standing before him were two ponies that clearly should not be here, yet they were. An alicorn filly, coat as black as night, her mane a deep purple. Her cutie mark was a navy blue shield with a crescent that looked like a moon to the side. Her eyes were bright turquoise, with little black slits for irises.
The other was an older mare, her coat a deep navy blue. Her mane and tail were nearly white, with two shades of blue-grey as highlighters. She had a similar hairstyle to Twilight’s, but the back of her mane was split into two, small bands at the ends holding them together, like Applejack did to hers. She had three white freckles on the bridge of her nose, and her eyes were a dark grey. She wore a white and blue-grey pearl bracelet on her left hoof, and her cutie mark was a six-sided star inside of a larger one, with two wings surrounding it.
“…I-I’m not dreaming…” stammers Real, pinching himself while looking at the two Sparkles, then turning to Celestia. “…am I?”
“Of course you aren't,” assures Celestia, eyeing Real strangely. “What brought this on? That fall didn’t do anything else to you, did it?”
“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” stammers Real, looking at Nyx and Silverlay. “It’s just… the last thing I’d ever thought I would see in Equestria is you two. How many worlds are crossed over?!”
“Um… what are you?” asks Nyx, looking at Real. “I’ve never seen anything like you in any of my books on mythical creatures.”
“Oh, well, that’s because you won’t find anything on humans anywhere,” Real says as she composed himself.
“Humans?” asks Silverlay, the term sounding familiar. She was sure that her sister had mentioned something like that somewhere before.
“Yep, that’s what my species is,” says Real. “And what I am.”
“What did you mean by I won’t find anything on humans anywhere?” asks Nyx, tilting her head.
“Because I’m from another world,” reveals Real. “Or dimension, as I like to think.”
“Another world?!” shouts Nyx and Silverlay, who had just remembered where she heard that term before. Twilight had mentioned that there was another world parallel to theirs, except everypony there was a “human.”
“Yep!” confirms Real. “It’s not as exciting as you think. I’d honestly choose Equestria over Earth any day!”
“Where did you come from?” asks Silverlay, eyeing Real. “Did you come from the mirror world? Or are you from Sonic’s world?”
“Neither,” reveals Real. “I’m from an entirely different place from those two.”
“Really?!” says Nyx, her tiny wings fluttering. “My mom would love to meet you! She’s all about learning new stuff, and you would keep her busy for days!”
“I know she would!” says Real, kneeling to the filly’s level. “I should know, as I’ve already met her!”
“You have?!” exclaims Nyx, her wings now buzzing fast enough to lift her off the ground momentarily. “When?!”
“Just a few hours ago!” Real answers, standing back up. “I saved Twilight and her friends, too.”
“You saved them?!” says Silverlay, shocked and relieved by this information. “How did you do that?”
“Celestia, you wouldn’t mind if I took a break from training, would ya?” asks Real as he looks at the sun princess. “If I know a Sparkle, they won’t give up until they get what they want.”
“Go right ahead,” says Celestia, giving the human the all-clear. “I am quite curious myself as to how you did that as well.”
“Alrighty then!” exclaims Real. “You guys might want to get comfortable, ‘cause this’ll take a while to tell. Now, it started about a week ago…”
“…and you know the rest,”
Looking at his audience, Real can see that the two Sparkles have sparkles (heh) in their eyes, delighted by the recap of the past few days. Celestia is stock still, but there is a slight hint of anticipation in her eyes - she was clearly interested. “Any questions?”
“Was it hard to take down those Storm Creatures?”
“How can your bat change?!”
“I’m quite intrigued as to how it can do that as well.”
“Can you do any cool tricks?!”
“Hey, hey, take it easy there, Nyx!” laughs Real, trying to pull off the filly that had clambered onto his head, but failing to do so. “I’ll show you some tricks later, but let me answer everyone else’s questions first, okay?”
“Okay!” says the ecstatic filly, hanging onto Real’s head.
“Alright, Silverlay,” looking to the older mare. “To answer your question, they weren’t too hard to take down. If you know how to deal with them, they’re pretty easy.”
“Really?” says Silverlay, pondering this. “Like how you had prior knowledge of these towers and what they do?”
“Exactly like that,” says Real, looking up to his little rider, and then to Celestia. “As for your question Nyx, Celestia? Lemme show you.”
He then unsheathes his bat off his back, and flips it around hilt first, revealing an emerald of the purest green. Real then points to the gem, saying, “It’s this little gem right here. From what I gather, this is a stone infused with Changeling magic, allowing for easy manipulation of the bat’s molecular structure.”
“Changeling magic?” asks Celestia, looking at the gem intently. “May I see it for a second?”
“Sure!” says Real, handing the bat to her. “Just be careful, though. It might turn into something unexpectedly depending on what you’re thinking.”
“…” Celestia concentrates on the gem, feeling the magic inside. She expects malice and hatred to wash over her, typical of old Changeling magic. But surprisingly there is only love and happiness flowing from it. Celestia then passes back the bat to Real, perplexed by this revelation.
“I was expecting to feel a burning hatred emanating from the gem,” she explains, eyeing the emerald again. “Which is usual for ancient Changeling magic, but what I felt was the complete opposite. I felt… calm while feeling it. The magic feels exactly like Changeling magic after they were reformed, but that only happened recently. How is this possible?”
Real re-sheaths his bat, and looks back at Celestia, shrugging. “Heck if I know. Maybe this was a different kind of magic?”
“Perhaps, but it still felt very similar to present-day changeling magic,” says Celestia. “Maybe it’s something that even I don’t understand yet.”
“Maybe,” Real shrugs. “I was just guessing it was Changeling magic, but we have no way of really knowing until we find out, right?”
“Indeed,” says Celestia. She then decides that it is time that Real continues his magic training. “I think it’s time that we continue with -"
Celestia is suddenly interrupted by the doors to the library slamming open, a unicorn guard rushing in.
“Princess Celestia!” he shouts, spotting the princess, rushing over, and saluting. “Urgent news regarding one of the teams sent out earlier!”
“What happened?” asks Celestia, instantly standing up. “Did one of the teams return?”
“Yes,” confirms the guard. “But they are in bad condition. It looks like they were struck by that strange lightning and are in rough condition.”
“Wait, what?!” says Real, shocked by this information, standing up. “Whose team were they on?”
“Uh, Team Speed, I believe,” reveals the guard. “Sonic the Hedgehog and Rainbow Dash came in soon after from what I’m told, and they were rushed to the infirmary.”
“Where’s the hospital?” asks Real, standing rigid as a statue. “We’ve got to make sure they’re alright.”
“I will take you there,” says Celestia, placing a hoof on his shoulder. She then turns to the guard. “Keep an eye out for any other threats that may arise and keep me posted. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am!” the guard salutes, heading back out of the library.
“Sorry, you two,” says Real, looking to Silverlay and Nyx. “But we gotta cut this visit short. I need to make sure those two knuckleheads are alright.”
“It was great meeting you!” exclaims Nyx, hugging Real. “Let’s talk again soon, O.K.?”
“Promise,” says Real, hugging her back. He lets Nyx go and turns to Silverlay, extending a hand to her. “You too, Silverlay.”
“I think we’ll be seeing each other pretty soon,” says Silverlay, giving him a firm hoof/handshake. “It was great meeting you Real.”
“Likewise,” he says, then turning to Celestia. “Lead the way, Celestia.”
“Hold on,” she warns, charging her magic up before teleporting the pair to the Canterlot Hospital waiting room. After asking the clerk where the two speedsters were being kept, they headed to the second-floor room where they were resting.
Knocking on the door, they hear, “Come in!” from inside and enter. Sonic and Rainbow Dash were sitting upright on their beds, both bandaged in various places, and nasty bruises dotting their bodies.
“Holy crap, you guys do not look pretty,” comments Real, cringing at the sight. “You two feeling alright?”
“Never better!” says Sonic, his hands behind his quills. “The doc said we had a few rough spots here and there, but we’ll be out before you know it!”
“That’s great to hear,” says Celestia. “But I have to ask - what happened to you?”
“It’ll take a hot minute to explain,” says Rainbow Dash. She and Sonic then proceed to explain the events that had happened to them in the past few hours, leaving no details out.
“It’s a good thing you were able to get the guards back here in time,” comments Celestia. “Or we may have lost some very capable ponies.”
“Saving lives is what I do,” says Sonic, rubbing his finger under his nose. “But not all the credit goes to me, Dashie helped me blitz that sucker to pieces!”
“Anything to keep the only thing that can keep up with me in a race!” says Rainbow Dash, rubbing the back of her head, a small blush forming on her cheeks.
“You know you love me,” he teases, a cocky grin plastered on his face. “And you can’t deny it.”
“Sonic!” shouts Rainbow, turning into a blushing mess. She tackles Sonic, wrestling him back onto the bed. “Not in front of the princess!”
Celestia giggles, clearly enjoying the spectacle unfolding between the married couple. As the two continue to argue and laugh, she spots Real staring out the window, muttering to himself.
“So the Storm can manifest things from the past, eh?” completely oblivious to the scene unfolding between the two speedsters. “It’s a whole lot deadlier than I’ve ever seen - this could be bad.”
Before Celestia can ask what’s on his mind, one of the Royal Guard rushes in. “Princess, something is happening!”
Everyone is suddenly on high alert. Rainbow stops wrestling her husband, scrunching her blushing muzzle. Celestia addresses the guard. “What has happened?”
“There seems to be what looks like Storm clouds forming above Canterlot!” the guard says, saluting. “Also, a portion of the cloud seems to have broken off of the main cloud and has landed inside the Royal Garden.”
“What?” says Celestia, confused about why this was happening. “Here? What is going on?”
“Nopony knows, Princess,” the guard answers. “We were hoping that you or the human would know.”
“I have a name, you know,” says Real, a small vein popping out from his forehead.
“What of the cloud that has landed in the garden?” asks the princess. “Have you managed to take control of the situation?”
“We have sent guards to keep an eye on it,” The guard reveals. “But we don’t what will happen.”
“Thank you for telling me this,” says Celestia, dismissing the guard, then facing Real. “You’re the expert on this - do you know of anything similar to this?”
“This is new to me as well,” says Real, scratching his chin in deep thought, wracking his brain for any relevant information to this situation. “Just be safe, we’ll need to check out what that cloud that landed in the garden. Maybe it’ll tell us a little more.”
“We’re coming with you,” Sonic suddenly says, hopping off the hospital bed.
“In your condition?” says Celestia, eyeing their injuries.
“We may be banged up, but we’re still in fighting condition!” says Rainbow Dash, now hovering next to Sonic.
“Ha!” laughs Real. “Nothing keeps you two down, does it?”
“True,” agrees Real. He turns to the princess. “Let’s head to the garden, shall we?”
“Gladly,” says Celestia, and she casts a teleportation spell. In a flash, they arrive in the garden. Before them is a ring of Royal Guards, each pointing a spear at a slow swirling mass of blue mist, Storm Lightning sparking out occasionally from time to time.
“What the hay is that?” ponders Real, and then a wave of Deja vu washes over him. “And why does it look all too familiar?”
“I wouldn’t know,” says Celestia, stopping a few meters from it. “You know more than we -!”
Suddenly, the swirling blue mist starts to spark even more, and a giant bolt of Storm Lightning explodes from it, knocking back a few of the guards that were not prepared for it. A giant body forms from the mist and lightning, condensing into a solid form - one that Real knew all too well.
“The Storm King?!” exclaims Real, shocked to see the King of the Storm here in Canterlot. “What’s he doing here?!”
"I’m here to make a deal, boy,” booms the Storm King, his voice thundering across the garden, surprising everyone there with the fact that he could speak. “And to say hello to a few old friends. Hello Celestia, Sonic, and Rainbow Dash. You wouldn’t happen to know where Tionic is, would you? I’ve wanted to dish out some long-awaited revenge on him for quite some time now!”
“What do you mean?” asks Celestia, confounded by this. “We have never met -!” It then clicks inside her memory. “You’re the first Storm King! The one who attacked Canterlot years ago when Tionic first arrived!”
“Wait, that Storm King?!” exclaims Real, whipping around to face the Celestia. “Wasn’t he turned to stone and shattered?!”
"Yes I was boy,” answers the Storm King. "But my minions had managed to find a way to resurrect me! They found this mindless husk of a monster and managed to place my conscience into it!”
‘They what?!’ Real screams in his mind, blown away by this. ‘That’s impossible, the Storm King isn’t even from this world! They couldn’t have done that unless… No, they couldn’t. There’s no way they had the technology to do that.’
“Why are you here?!” shouts Sonic, readying his fists for a fight. “What do you want from us?!”
"I’m not here for a fight, hedgehog,” reveals the Storm King as he turns to Real. "I want you to give me your power, boy.”
“What?!” shouts Real, dumbfounded by this. “Why would you want my power?! My magic comes from my necklace, not me!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Real,” says Celestia, though hesitantly. The human whirls around, surprised by what the Sun Princess was saying. “Since I started tutoring you, I’ve sensed something deep within you that surfaces from time to time. I haven’t seen this kind of potential since Twilight all those years ago.”
"She is correct,” says the Storm King, folding his arms. ”I have sensed huge amounts of raw power coming from you, and I have grown to want this.”
“Why would he ever give his power to you?!” exclaims Rainbow Dash, furious at the behemoth for making such a bold proposition. “We know what your kind is like! Power-hungry villains who don’t care for anything else and will do anything to get more of it!”
"I will give you twenty-four hours to think about this deal boy,” thunders the Storm King to Real. "If I don’t get an answer in that time frame, I will not hesitate to reduce this world and its inhabitants to a wasteland!”
Real pulls back, startled. He knows that the Storm King wouldn’t hesitate to do this - he’s seen what both can do - one to a whole world before.
"It’s your choice boy,” warns the Storm King. "Give me what I want, and I won’t destroy everything you know and love. You know where to find me.” The blue mist swirls around faster and faster, Storm Lightning sparking more before shooting up into the sky and disappearing.
Seeing that there is no longer a threat, the guards then lower their spears, and Celestia dismisses them back to their stations. Rainbow Dash is currently ranting about what they just heard.
“What makes him think he can just come here and make those demands?!” exclaims Rainbow. “Does he think that he can do this without somepony trying to stop him?! Plus, Real isn’t crazy enough to agree to them, right bud?!”
Real is dead silent, still looking at where the Storm King had disappeared. He hadn’t moved since it left and seems to be in deep thought.
“Real, you’re not considering this crazy deal now, are you?” asks Celestia, worried that he may try something stupid. “Real?”
“Unfortunately,” says Real, not moving. “I am considering it.”
“You’re what?!” shouts Sonic, Rainbow Dash, and Celestia, shocked to hear this.
“You can’t be serious!” says Celestia, her voice filled with fear and sadness. “Why would you even think to agree to those barbaric terms?!”
“You can’t do this, kid,” says Sonic, placing a hand on Real’s shoulder. “It’s not worth giving yourself up to that thing for us. We’ll find another way to stop him!”
“Yes, it is!” shouts Real, his voice full of rage as he knocks Sonic’s hand off and turns around to face them. “Do you think I want to do this? Do you think that I want to give up like this?! I know what that thing is capable of, and I don’t want to see my new friends get hurt because of a stupid decision that I made!”
They both are shocked by this outburst but touched by Real’s concern for their well-being and all of Equestria, despite only meeting them hours before.
“This is the only way to make sure that you guys stay safe,” explains Real, calming down. “When the others get back from their missions, tell them what happened.”
“Are you sure this is the only way to do this?” asks Celestia, still hesitant about his decision. “I don’t want you to regret this.”
“100%,” answers Real. “Celestia, can you teleport me to the Prancing Plains? That’s where the Storm King is waiting for me.”
“I will,” she says, reluctantly gathering her mana for the spell.
“Tell the others what happened you three,” Real says, then unsheathing his bat, turning it into a bat blade. “And tell them it was great to finally meet you after all these years.”
“Will do,” says Sonic, giving a solemn thumbs up. “Just stay safe out there, will ya?”
“Heh,” Real chuckles solemnly. “I’ll try, but I can’t say that it’ll go that way. Celestia? Ready when you are.”
“Alright,” she says, focusing her magic on a long-range teleportation spell. “Good luck, Real.” And with that final goodbye, Celestia casts the spell, transporting Real to the Prancing Plains with a *BAMF*, and he’s gone.
“Let us hope he has made the right decision,” says Celestia.
“Only time will tell,” says Sonic, looking out to the setting sun. The threesome hopes for the safety of their new friend, and hope that if it comes to it, be able to stop the Storm King once and for all.
A loud *BAMF* echoes across the jagged peaks of the Storm King's lair as a golden flash of light dims to reveal Real, bat-blade in hand. Sheathing his weapon, the human looks around, taking in the scene. Grimacing, he heads for what he thinks is the center of the stronghold. A gust of wind howls by Real, giving his hair a combover and sending chills down his back. Pulling his jacket tighter against his body, he attempts to fix his unruly hair, putting his fingers through it until he felt it would stay that way - or at least until the next blast of wind.
“Ugh… this wind is doing wonders for my hair,” He grumbles, grimacing as another gust of wind blasts past him as he avoids the many acid pools lying about. “I’ll have to ask Rarity for hairstyle ideas when I get back because this is getting ridiculous.”
He continues to move through the Storm King’s domain, unaware he was being watched from afar by two pink eyes floating in a blue mist. They disappear as fast as they appear, moving to a new location to get a better view of him.
“Now if I were a giant, world-conquering beast made of mist and lightning, where would I be?” Real muses, scratching his chin. Climbing over the next hill, he comes across the biggest pool of acid he has ever seen, if it could be called a pool at that point. It was an entire lake of the deadly liquid, bubbling menacingly as it slowly ate away at the very ground it sat on. A hazy blue mist sat right above it, highlighting the small island in the middle, about the size of four Ponyville houses, with steppingstones leading up to it. The craggy cliffs surrounding the lake jutted high into the sky, curling down like a clawed hand holding it in its palm.
“Now this is giving me some serious boss fight vibes right here,” whistles Real, slowly making his way around the lake towards the stepping stones. “Gotta hand to the guy, he sure knows how to make a place feel welcome.”
“Why thank you,” rumbles a voice. The sound bounces off the cliffs, making it hard for Real to pinpoint where it came from. “I think it turned out pretty good, don’t you think?”
The mist starts to condense as it swirls around the island, rising to form a pillar of mist. It condenses further, shaping into a hulking torso made of crystals. Bright pink eyes glow from within as the Storm King’s head materializes, his massive chin taking up most of his head. It only leaves enough room for the rest of his head and the two horns that protruded from it.
"Welcome to my home away from home,” rumbles the Storm King, stretching his arms out as lightning strikes from behind him.
“Looking as ugly as ever, I see?” quips Real, jumping onto the first stepping stone. “Ever look in a mirror recently?”
“Taking after those nuisances, are we?” growls the Storm King. “Two was bad enough as it was. Three is just ridiculous.”
“I guess you could say that,” says Real, jumping to the next stone, flailing his arms as he nearly loses his balance and falls into the acid. “But I’m just taking hold of the confidence I didn’t have back at home.”
“Don’t care. Now let’s get to more pressing matters at hand,” says the Storm King, waving a claw dismissively. “Or claw in my case. Do you know why you have come here for?”
“Yeah. You want my magic, right?” asks Real, getting a running start before jumping to the next stone. “Well, you can have it.”
The Storm King freezes, surprised by what he just heard. He sticks a claw in his nonexistent ear, wiggles it around and pulls out a ball of wax the size of a watermelon, which he promptly flicks away into the acid below. “Wait, hold up, you’re just giving me your magic?”
“Yes, I am,” answers Real, landing on the next stone. “But only under one condition.”
“Oh?” muses the behemoth, his eyes glowing bright. “And what might that be?”
“Stay away from my friends,” Real simply says, reaching the second to last stepping stone. “That’s it. No bells, whistles, or string attached.”
"Ooh, bit of a problem there,” says the Storm King. In case you didn’t know, I really hate those guys, especially that hybrid. I have plans for him after I take over Equestria.”
“Well, if you don’t want my magic,” Real says, landing on the next stone before pointing back the way he came in. “Then I’ll just head back to Canterlot and let you go on with whatever you were doing.”
“Waitwaitwait!” the Storm King frantically says, shaking his hands. “Fine. I’ll reconsider your deal.”
“Ah, good men know when they see a good deal placed before them,” says Real, jumping onto the island, and walking a few paces inland before holding his hand out to the monstrous behemoth. “I will give you my magic, but you cannot hurt any of my friends.”
The Storm King ponders this trade for a moment, wondering how he can take advantage of the deal. Suddenly, a lightbulb lights up above his head, and an unnerving smile creeps across his blue face as he says, "Interesting proposition, I’ll give you that. Bold enough to give away one of the only things that could stop me for the safety of your precious little friends. We got a deal!”
His purple claw then reaches down, grasping Real’s hand between his thumb and pointer finger, sealing the deal. Suddenly, the wind begins to pick up as the blue mist holding the Storm King starts to swirl around the two, sparks of pink lightning zipping around them.
"Thanks for giving me your magic,” cackles the behemoth, his smile growing and eyes glowing brighter. "I’ll be sure to say hello to your pathetic friends once you’re gone.”
“What?!” shouts Real. Now realizing that he had fallen for the Storm King’s trap, he attempts to escape, but his captor has a tight grip on his hand. “You said that you wouldn’t hurt them!”
"Yeah I did, didn’t I?” laughs the behemoth. “But I’m not the one who’s going to hurt them - you are! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
“Nonononono-!” Real shouts, still struggling to break free. “NOOOOOOOO— !”
“HE WHAT?!”
An eardrum-shattering shout echoes throughout all of Canterlot, rattling every window in the city. Princess Luna, the source of the shout, along with the Mane Six and Tionic (minus Sonic and Dash), was horrified to hear what Real had done an hour before their arrival back from their missions across the country.
“The man’s crazy!” Tionic says, his hands gripping the sides of his head as he begins to pace back and forth in worry. “What was he thinking?!”
“He went out there to face that thing on his own?!” Rarity gasps, dramatically placing a hoof over her forehead before falling onto a couch that appeared out of nowhere (again, no idea where they come from).
“Celestia, why didn’t you stop him?!” Twilight asks, her ears flat against her head. “He’s going to get himself killed!”
“I’m just as against what Real did as you all are, Twilight,” Celestia looks away from her former student in shame. “But he made it very clear that he must deal with this problem on his own.”
“You could’ve at least tried to stop ‘im!” Applejack says, slamming a hoof into the floor, cracking it.
“We did, AJ,” Sonic sighs, folding his arms. “But he said that he didn’t want to hurt anyone else because of something he decided.”
“Wait, what?” Tionic immediately stops pacing and turns to the hedgehog. “What do you mean ‘something he decided’?”
“We’re… not entirely sure,” says Dash, rubbing the back of her head. “But it’s almost like he did something really stupid before and he doesn’t want it to happen again.”
“So Real wants to make sure that we don’t get hurt because of what he does?” Fluttershy summarizes.
“Yes,” Celestia nods. “Even though he may have met us just a few hours ago, Real wants to keep us safe from harm.”
“Awww, that’s so sweet of him!” Pinkie exclaims, bouncing in place. “Next time we see him, let’s give him a big ol’ hug!”
“You won’t have to wait very long,”
Before anyone can turn to see where the voice came from, a pink and purple figure slams into Tionic, sending the Spark flying down the throne room. He hits the ground hard, bouncing before regaining his balance in midair and landing upright.
“Tionic!!” everyone shouts, before rushing to his side.
“Tio, are you alright?!” Twilight exclaims, gingerly touching a hoof to his bruised cheek.
“I’ve seen better days,” he winces, but holding a smile. The Spark shakes off the dizziness and faces his attacker. “Who are you, and what the hell do you want?”
The figure wears armor made of purple stone, with large clusters of pink crystals on their chest, back, and shoulders, pink electricity arcing from them. The purple stone that makes up the armor seems to be growing from their body, covering the entirety of their upper body down to their feet. His hands have deep blue crystals compared to the hot pink of the armor, but pink electricity sparks from the clenched fists.
It’s mask is much different from the rest - it was made of a blue crystal and was fashioned to look like the Storm King’s head, jawline and everything. Large horns protruded from the sides, curling forward before going straight, ending in sharp ends.
“I wouldn’t be surprised that you wouldn’t recognize me!” The figure says, reaching to take his helmet off. He deliberately takes the helmet off slowly, much to Sonic and Dash’s annoyance. But their annoyance is instantly turned to horrified shock when the the figure finally reveals their face.
“REAL?!”
“Hey, everypony! Didya miss me?” He grins, and he cackles as lightning strikes outside the castle. “GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“You are not Real,” Celestia says, narrowing her eyes as she glares at the human. “In body perhaps, but not in mind.”
“Quick as ever, princess!” ‘Real’ mocks. “Guess that’s why you’re the ruler of Equestria and not your sister!”
“WHY YOU-!!” Luna growls, gritting her teeth. “Come and face me in battle! I’ll pound you into the ground for that insult you -!” She stops as Celestia places a hoof on her younger sister’s back.
“Luna, don’t let him get to you,” Celestia says, keeping her sister from doing anything brash. “You are better than him, so show him that.”
“Hmph!” pouts Luna, sitting on her flank and crossing her hooves. “I’ll make him pay for that.”
“Wait, if this isn’t Real,” Pinkie says, popping up behind the human, surprising him. She then appears back on the ground with the group, pointing back at ‘Real’. “Then who is that imposter?!”
“I believe that is the Storm King,” Celestia says, glaring at the human. “But rather, the one that we know, not the one that Real spoke of.”
“Wait, that Storm King?!” Twilight gasps. Memories from years ago begin to flood back into her mind. “The one who took our alicorn magic?!”
“That’s the one!” The Storm King cackles. “How’s it been you guys, didya miss me?”
“Oh, I remember you! You were the one attacking the place during the Friendship Festival!” Tionic says, snapping his fingers. “Hey, what happened to you again? Last time I checked, you didn’t look like a crystal growing set that’s gotten out of control!”
“I remember what happened that night very clearly,” The Storm King growls, electricity sparking over his fists. “You humiliated me in front of my army, destroyed everything that I had worked hard for, and turned me to stone!”
“Technically that was your fault,” Tionic says with a cheeky grin. “But I’ll gladly take credit when it’s given.”
“RRRRRGH! I will make you suffer the most when I take over Equestria!”
“That’s not gonna happen, and you know it! Now give us our friend back!” Dash shouts, boosting at the sparking demon. She slams into the human’s chest, knocking him back a few meters. But to her surprise, he barely flinches, smiling evilly before putting the helmet back on, the eyes glowing pink.
“Hmph, cute,” The Storm King throws a bolt of lightning at Dash. She dodges the attack, turning back to her attacker. "That all you got?!” She taunts. The Storm King simply grins, chuckling.
“Famous last words,” he says, and watches in glee as Dash suddenly screams out in pain. The bolt had arced back like a boomerang and hit the blue pegasus square in the shoulders. Her wings spasm out, and she drops like a rock, smoking purple. Everyone gasps at the sight, but Sonic’s eyes turn to pinpricks.
“RAINBOW!” He screams, dashing forward to catch his wife before she hit the ground. He dashes back before laying her down, while her friends stand by, worried. “Dash, speak to me! Are you alright?!”
She coughs, purple smoke coming out of her mouth. “J-just a little fried is all,” She stutters, everyone sighing in relief while she stands back up, shaking most of the purple soot off her coat. “It’s nothing that I can’t handle, you know that!”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” Sonic sighs, before pressing his lips to hers. A high-pitched squee can be heard from Rarity, her love fantasies going into overdrive.
“Bleh, get a room you two,” The Storm King groans, gaging at the sight. “Affection is soooo last year.”
“Oh hush, you ruffian,” scoffs Rarity, glaring at the controlled human. “You don’t know how it feels to love something, so don’t you dare try to interject.”
“Thanks, Rarity,” says Sonic, a small blush on his face, same as Dash. The hedgehog then faces the Storm King, fists clenched. “Now that that’s over with, I think it’s about time we sent this party crasher packing, eh, Tionic?
“Ohoho, yeah,” Tionic grins, slamming his fist into his palm as his powers activate, his quills and eyes glowing neon blue as the same colored electricity sparks across his body and scarf. “I want some payback for punching me earlier!”
Both speedsters get into starting positions, Tionic sparking more electricity while Sonic revs a Spindash up, building up speed.
“Bring it on, you pests!” The Storm King shouts, lightning sparking around him as his strength grows. “Let’s see how you fare against a king!”
*BOOM*
Sonic and Tionic boost in different directions, forcing the controlled human to decide who to concentrate on. The two speedsters quickly get to work, slamming into the Storm King’s chest, and then bouncing off it onto the walls. They then begin to rocket off them, slamming into the Storm King before jumping to the next wall. They continue to hit the Storm King faster and faster, until the trails they left behind couldn’t fade away fast enough, making it seem like a star had been brought inside. Sonic and Tionic then slide to a stop on opposite ends of the hallway, facing a battered Storm King, who was currently regaining his senses from that sudden flash bang.
“Ooh boy, everything’s shiny,” he groans, attempting to shake his head free of cobwebs. While he was busy with that, Sonic and Tionic boost towards the Storm King, who seems to be unaware of them, until his arms suddenly fly up, stopping the two speedsters' Spindashes in midair.
“Uh-oh,” Sonic gulps, still spinning. “That’s not good.”
“No, it’s not, hedgehog,” Rumbles the Storm King, the eyes of his mask lighting up. “Happy travels!”
He spins around, sparking lightning until he becomes a pink tornado of electricity. With a roar, the Storm King chucks the two speedsters out the window and into the nearby oak forest. He follows the two trails of blue, ready to pummel them even more. The Mane Six and the princesses follow as well, hoping that they could aid in the battle in some way. Back with Sonic and Tionic, they both landed face first in the ground for what seemed like the umpteenth time.
“Every time,” Sonic mutters, slowly pulling his head out of the ground. With a *POP*, he stumbles back and shakes the dirt out of his quills and ears. “Every time I’m sent flying, I always land on my face! I get I have a big head, but this is ridiculous!”
“You and me both, brother,” Tionic grumbles, also brushing dirt off his face and clothes. “It seems like someone is pulling the strings, don’t you think?”
“I’d like to have a word with them if that’s the case,” Sonic growls. “And beat some sense into them if they keep doing this.”
“Maybe I can take that off your mind?” Acting on pure instinct, Sonic roundhouse kicks the space where the voice was and sends the Storm King flying into a nearby tree.
Tionic boosts at the controlled human, reeling a fist back. The Storm King quickly ducks, letting the fist slam into the tree behind him and split it down the middle.
‘That could’ve been my head!’ The Storm King flies up, dodging another fist from Tionic. Sonic runs up a tree that was close enough to where the Storm King was, using his momentum to throw himself up at the controlled human. Slamming into his chin, Sonic uses the opening he created to repeatedly slam into the Storm King with Homing Attacks. Tionic then joins in, using his powers to slow everything down (except Sonic of course) and pummel the Storm King.
Getting hit from every angle and having barely any time to react, the Storm King releases a shockwave, stopping the two hedgehogs and knocking them back down to the ground. They flip upright before hitting the ground, landing upright before sliding back a few yards.
“Oof. Power Ring and Daulspin time?” asks Sonic, as he reaches into his quills and pulls out four Power Rings, each held between his fingers.
“Power Ring and Daulspin time.” agrees Tionic, grabbing two rings, which immediately disappear with a *D-DLING*.
The two speedsters grasp each other’s hands, and quickly rev up their Spindashes, packing much more of a punch thanks to the Power Rings. They shoot forward at the Storm King, who puts up a shield just in time to block the powerhouse move.
Sonic and Tionic slam into the shield, creating sparks as they grind against it, pushing back against its user. Realizing that he couldn’t beat the two speedsters in a battle of strength, the Storm King improvises, using the ideas from Real’s mind to his advantage. He angles the shield to deflect the Dual Spindash into the mountainside, which causes a landslide to occur, burying them. Thinking he’s downed them, the Storm King starts to gloat.
“Is this the best your so-called ‘heroes’ can offer?” mocks the Storm King, laughing manically as the rockslide stopped. “I would have thought this at you two would have put up more of - hm?!” A short, one-note whistle from behind the Storm King attracts his attention, turning around to see the two speedsters standing next to a hole in the ground.
“Hedgehog. Noun. A burrowing animal.” quotes Sonic, dusting off his gloves.
The Storm King quakes in anger, his face turning deep red as even more Storm Lightning flies off the crystals on his body. “How hard is it to kill you?!” he screams. “No one should be this difficult to defeat!”
“Just ask ol’ Eggy,” says Sonic. “He’s been coming up with ways to take me down for years now! And ever since we came to Equestria, he’s had an even harder time doing that!”
——Somewhere in Equestria, at an undisclosed underground location——
“AAAHHHCHOO!”
A massive sneeze rocks the underground base, the sound bouncing up and down the metal hallways of Eggman’s secret base. A round red and black robot hops up to the seated doctor, holding a box of tissues.
Here you go, boss.
“Urgh, thank you Orbot,” Dr. Eggman says, taking a tissue and blowing into it. He tosses the tissue into a metal trash can that appeared out of the floor, which quickly retracts back. “Cursed pollen. I knew I shouldn’t have built this place so close to Equestria.”
May I suggest changing the air filters in the base? It has been a while since they have been renewed.
“I’ll send an Egg Pawn to do that later,” dismisses the doctor, waving a hand. “I have much more important things to attend to at the moment.”
If you say so.
——————————————————————
“Ugh, I can see why that doctor of yours hates you two so much!” groans the controlled human, dragging his hands over his face. “Your attitude just grates on my ears!”
——————————————————————
“YAAHHCHOO!”
Another sneeze echoes through the base, and tools lying on the desk Eggman jump a foot in the air before landing perfectly back where they were. The evil genius grabs another tissue, blows in it, and chucks it into the trash can on the other side of the room. A square yellow and black robot applauds the doctor.
Nice shot there Doc! Ever think about joining a basketball team?
“I don’t have time for such trivial things, Cubot,” grunts Eggman, continuing his work. “Even if I wanted to, you can be sure that the blue rodent would be there to keep an eye on me.”
Well, you probably need it. I mean, considering all you do is just sit around in here all day, and maybe have an occasional fight with Sonic, you don’t get out mu-!
Eggman slams his foot down on Cubot, forcing him into his compact mode before punting the cubed robot across the room and into the hallway.
Hey! Maybe you could take up soccer? Maybe you’d be good at -
“I WILL TURN YOU INTO SCRAP METAL IF YOU DON’T SHUT UP THIS INSTANT!”
——————————————————————
“Well, we wouldn’t be us if we didn’t have our charmingly good looks and amazing charisma that woos the ladies,” says Tionic. You can practically hear the Mane Six roll their eyes from the edge of the forest.
“ENOUGH!” roars the Storm King, sparking even more lightning. “It’s about time I did what that doctor couldn’t do and wiped you off the face of the planet!”
——————————————————————
“GYAAHHCHOO!”
Another sneeze, another tissue, and another three-point shot.
“Okay, maybe I should get those filters changed sooner rather than later,” mutters Eggman, readjusting his glasses on his nose.
Wise choice Boss.
“Don’t get snarky with me, Orbot,” warns the doctor. “You know what happens to robots that get out of line, right?”
*gulp* Yes, boss.
“Good. Now where is Cubot?” wonders Eggman. “I need him for something.”
I believe he was down by the repair bay after you kicked him down the hallway.
“Ah, right. Never mind, send an Egg Pawn, it’ll do for now.”
Will do, boss. ——————————————————————
“Heh. I think he’s ready for us now, don’t you think, Sonic?” chuckles Tionic, nudging the hedgehog’s arm. “Cause it sounds like that to me!”
“I think so too! Playtime’s over!” Sonic says. He and Tionic close their eyes, grunting slightly as they concentrate. Seven lights flash around them, revealing the Chaos Emeralds.
“Alright, Storm King,” says Sonic, opening his eyes as he and Tionic float off the ground, the Chaos Emeralds spinning around them. “You wanna do this? Then let’s do this -"
A blinding gold flash emanates from the speedsters as they absorb the Emeralds, and a huge burst of golden power explodes from them. After the shock wave subsides, floating in the air were Super Sonic and Super Tionic, their quills slightly raised up and now lemon-colored, eyes bright red.
Super Tionic’s clothes had changed color as well, his shirt and gloves turning to a deep silver (minus the symbol in the middle), and his blue pants to a golden yellow. The ring at the end of his scarf also changed, turning into a Red Star Ring.
The Mane Six and the princesses look on in knowing awe as the golden auras from Super Sonic and Super Tionic wash over them. The Storm King starts to sweat bullets, as memories from Real flood into his mind of the incredibly powerful forms that are the Super States.
“Oh Tartarus…”
“- SUPER SONIC STYLE!” Super Tionic shouts, pointing to his controlled friend. With that, the two Supers blast forward at light speed, taking the Storm King by complete surprise.
Before he can react, the Storm King is uppercut in the jaw by Super Sonic, allowing Super Tionic to use his Spindash to slam his leg in between his horns, right into the helmet. The force of the attack shatters it completely, revealing Real’s scowling face, eyes glowing bright pink.
“How dare you attack your king!” shouts the Storm King, clenching his fists. “I’ll make you suffer so much after I take over Equestria!”
"You mean like last time?” quips Super Tionic. "Because I’m pretty sure that didn’t go so well for you, now did it?”
The possessed human’s eyes glow brighter with rage, the Storm King’s hatred for the Spark growing by the second. “I’ll make you eat those words, you freak!”
“I’d like to see you try!” taunts Super Sonic. “You seem to do the exact opposite of what you say though!”
With a roar of rage, the Storm King opens his mouth, a ball of energy condensing in front, his horns glowing yellow before firing a massive beam of Storm Lightning and magic at the two Supers. They blast forward, dodging the attack at the last second before putting on speed. Pulling their fists back, they slam them into the possessed human’s gut at the same time. He doubles over in pain, leaving the now yellow horns on his head open to attack, which Super Sonic takes advantage of. Curling into a ball, he charges a Super Spindash and blitzes into the horns several times per second, breaking them until they shattered, and removing them entirely from Real’s head. With a shout of pain and rage, the Storm King releases a shockwave of Storm Lightning, forcing the two Supers back.
“I’ll make you two pay for this!” yells the controlled human. Shaking off the last bits of nausea coming from his gut, he faces his attackers, putting on a straight face. “Hmph. Doesn’t matter, you won’t win this fight. You’ll fall and I’ll claim my ownership over this planet, as well as those stupid gems of yours!”
“Not if we have anything to say about it!” shouts Twilight, drawing the Storm King’s attention. Twilight and the Mane Six had their Elements ready, each shiny brightly as they began to charge up Harmonic energies. Beside them, Celestia and Luna’s wings are flared open and their magic glows brightly.
“Are you kidding me?!” screams the Storm King, rage filling his voice and his pink eyes letting off more Storm Lightning from the sides. His hands spark up and charge another attack.
“This is for insulting me earlier, you cretin!” shouts Luna, and she and Celestia lunge forward, firing beams of lunar and celestial magic, combining into one. The Storm King fires his own, colliding with the princesses. From behind him, Super Sonic and Super Tionic charge Super Spindashes, then combine into a Super Dual Spindash and blitz ahead, slamming into the human’s back, and destroying the glowing yellow crystal placed there. The shock of the crystal being shattered and his back being slammed into disrupted the Storm King’s focus, and allowed the princess’ attack to overtake his and hit him, instantly exploding. Luckily, the two Supers were invulnerable, so they were unaffected by the attack.
After the dust settled, it left a stock still and blank-eyed Storm King, the crystals on his shoulders glowing yellow and open for attack. Right at that moment, the Mane Six were ready, and they fired a rainbow beam that consumed the possessed human. The crystals shattered, having taken heavy damage from the previous attack. After most of his vital crystals were totaled, the Storm King realized that he may not win this.
“If you’re so intent on taking me down,” roars the Storm King, and starts to charge up his biggest attack yet. Holding out his hands, the possessed human concentrates Real’s magic and the power of the Storm into a ball of energy, growing bigger by the second before turning towards Canterlot. “Then I’ll take your precious little city down with me!”
“WHAT?!” shouts everyone, shocked by what they just heard. They knew that the Storm King was evil but crazy enough to commit mass genocide? Not even Eggman would do such a thing - he at least had standards.
“That’s not gonna happen!” shouts Super Sonic. He and Super Tionic blitz in between the Storm King and Canterlot, charging chaos energies.
“CHAOS -!” shouts Super Sonic, pulling his arm back, ready to fire.
“- CONTROL!” finishes Super Tionic, and both release their power.
“TAKE THIS, YOU FREAKING ANNOYANCES!” At the same time, the Storm King fires his attack, infused with the full fury of the Storm and with Real’s untapped potential of magic. The two beams clash, the intense power of the attacks creating a shockwave that sent debris and anything not held down flying in every direction.
The two attacks are at a stalemate, sparking and fighting for ground over the other until the Supers decide that enough is enough. Their quills turning a darker shade of yellow and lift up more as the beam of Chaos slowly begins to push back, overtaking the Storm King’s with ease.
As a last ditch effort, the Storm King aims one hand at the Mane Six and the princesses, an orb of blue magic forming in his palm. The ponies don’t realize they were being aimed at until something brings their attention to the Storm King.
“N-NO!” the Storm King suddenly shouts, the attack he was charging dissipating. He grabs ahold of his face as Storm Lightning in his right eye fades away, showing a glowing blue eye. The massive beam firing from his left falters, losing more of its already limited strength. “I-I won’t let you do that!”
"What the?!” exclaims Twilight. "Was that Real?!’
“He must be fighting back!” says Celestia, quickly piecing it together. “The Storm King must be losing control of Real’s body!”
“H-how are you fighting back?!” shouts the Storm King, enraged by the fact that Real was fighting against his control. “You agreed to let me take control!”
“Well excuse me for not elaborating on the details!" Real shouts, fighting the Storm King's control, more Storm Lightning fading from his body. "You used me to get at my friends, and I don’t take too kindly to that!”
“So if you think I’m just gonna sit back and let this happen, you’re dead wrong!” Real continues, giving everything he had. “I will never stop fighting! Now leave my friends ALONE!"
With a final roar, Real manages to take back control over his body from the Storm King and stop the flow of magic and Storm Lightning. With nothing resisting their own, Super Sonic and Tionic put everything they had into their attack.
"This is our chance!" shouts Super Sonic. "Let's give this everything we've got!" Nodding, the two Supers reach into their reserves of power and unleash it all at once.
"RAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!" With a roar of rage, the Storm King takes control over Real once again, the Storm Lightning sparking across the crystals once more. "You won’t win! I’ll win this battle and lay waste -!" Midway through his rant, the Storm King realizes that Chaos Control was bearing down on him like a freight train. Frantically, the Storm King starts to put power into the attack again, but it's too late.
"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" the Storm King screams in anger. He is struggling to hold his position, but the king’s shoes were failing to grip the ground as he was pushed back farther and farther. "THIS CAN’T BE HOW IT ENDS! I WAS SUPPOSED TO WIN, NOT THEM! HOW COULD I HAVE LOST TO THESE PONIES AGAIN?!"
"Because," shouts Real, wrenching control from the Storm King as a smirk crosses his face. "When you have friends that stick by your side no matter what, that proves that your friendship with them is real! Which is something that you could never understand!"
The human relinquishes control back to the Storm King, only to let him see his doom. "NONONONO!" he screams, his face morphing into one of pure fear and terror. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!!!"
The controlled human is swallowed by power, Chaos energies ravaging his body and reducing the crystal armor he wore to atoms. Chaos Control destroys the Storm King's conciseness, letting the human take back control over his mind. With an explosion, Real is blasted out of the cloud, trailing smoke as he descends. He hits the ground hard, leaving a trench as his body digs into the ground before coming to a stop, dirt, and dust everywhere.
A massive explosion is heard above, as a golden shockwave races across the sky. The shockwave destroys all the Storm clouds across Equestria, pushing them back and clearing the skies. Storm Towers and Creatures instantly disappear, fading to dust across the land as their source of power no longer exists. Finally, the stronghold of the Storm King crumbles to the ground, a giant dust cloud exploding from the gigantic spikes as they collapse in on themselves, reverting it to the green grassy plains they once were before the Storm King’s influence.
Super Sonic and Super Tionic float down to the ground, powering down and releasing the Chaos Emeralds to Faust knows where. As the ponies come up to them, they spot Real inside the trench, seemingly unconscious after hitting the ground like that so hard.
“Real!” they yell, rushing over to their downed friend, hoping that he was alright.
“Real, are you alright?!” asks Celestia, worried that something might have happened to him.
“Uuuuuugh…” groans Real, rubbing his forehead, reeling from the pain of being slammed into the ground so hard. Sitting up, he opens his eyes to see the Mane Eight and the princesses sigh in relief. “Urg, did anyone get the number of that freight train?”
“Yep, he’s alright,” says Sonic, before everyone bursts out laughing. Real also cracks a grin, chuckling to himself. After the laughter subsides, Tionic helps him get up out of the trench, dusting his jacket off.
“Are you alright?” asks Twilight, concerned for his well-being, gesturing to the massive trench. “You hit the ground hard enough the leave a pretty deep trench.”
“I’ve survived skydiving without a parachute,” says Real, fixing his jacket before stretching backward and getting a few good pops from his spine. “I think I can handle a hundred-meter fall after being blasted by Chaos.”
“Is the Storm King gone?” asks Luna, wondering if the evil yeti’s influence was fully purged from his mind. “Do you feel any form of evil plaguing your mind?”
“Nope. I think he’s gone for good this time,” says Real while dusting himself off, confident in his answer. “I’m not gonna doubt that an incredibly powerful force of nature couldn’t stop one angry yeti anytime soon.”
“Good,” sighs Luna, grateful that the beast that was the Storm King was finally gone for good. “Now we can ask you this one question that we have all been wondering.”
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” everyone shouts, minus Dash, Sonic, and Celestia, startling Real. Hearing the rage come from the Tionic, Real could see. The Mane Six was unlikely, but they could get mad at times. Luna could be terrifying at times, but hearing it come from Fluttershy? You might as well kill yourself.
“Are you trying to make the same mistake that I made a thousand years ago?!’ Luna shouts, nearly as loud as her Royal Canterlot Voice. “I do not want to have a repeat of Nightmare Moon, especially after what everypony close to me had to go through!”
“Where was the logic behind that idea?” says Twilight, her hair somehow frizzling up. “Did you give it any thought before doing that?! Was there any thought?!’
“Why’d ya think that was a good idea?!” exclaims Applejack, whacking Real upside the head, getting an “ACK!” In response. “Somethin’ might’ve happened to ya!”
“Darling, we appreciate what you did, we really do,” says Rarity. “But there are times when you need to play the hero. That was not one of them.”
“I wouldn’t be able to throw you a ‘Welcome to Equestria’ party!” pouts Pinkie Pie.
“It was horrible seeing you like that,” says Fluttershy, showing more confidence now than most of her lifetime. “Even though it was the Storm King doing all that, it didn’t feel right.”
“What would’ve happened if the Storm King didn’t show your face?” asks Tionic. “We would’ve destroyed you entirely!”
“If you’d give me a second to respond, I’ll try to explain!” Real snaps. This gets everyone to shut up, allowing him to collect his senses before speaking.
“It was a spur-of-the-moment decision,” Real sighs. “If I hadn’t done anything, the Storm King would’ve hurt you or did something entirely else.” He breathes a long, heavy sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose. “And now that I think about it, that was probably the absolute dumbest thing I’ve ever done while under pressure.”
“Probably?” everyone says at once.
“Yeah, yeah, okay it is the dumbest,” He admits. Averting his gaze, he turns around, slightly shaking as he starts to recall some rather… painful memories. “I’ve made some serious mistakes in the past six months. Many decisions I’ve made while here or help that I’ve accepted from others have gotten myself into situations that have could have hurt me… or worse.” Barely noticeable was a single tear that fell from Real’s eye as emotions started to well up inside him.
“So, me being me, I started to do what I thought was best and decided things on my own or a whim,” says Real, sheepishly rubbing his arm. “I didn’t want to bring anyone else to harm because of my problems.”
The clearing is silent for a moment, save for the wind whistling through the trees. The one to break the silence is Twilight, who walks up behind Real before placing a hoof on his shoulder, getting his attention.
“But this isn’t just your problem Real,” says Twilight, a small smile on her muzzle. “It never was yours to begin with. You knew more about the problem than we did, so you thought it best that you take the burden alone.”
“But in doing so,” continues Twilight, now gesturing to everyone. “You forgot that you had others who would be more than willing to help you.”
‘…Twilight’s right,’ thinks Real, contemplating what she had said. ‘I was so busy trying to help them that I didn’t see that I needed help, and I had ten very capable candidates right next to me.’
‘Heh,’ Real chuckles to himself. ‘Guess I still have a lot of growing up to do.’
“I wanna make a promise to you all,” Real suddenly says, facing everyone. “And all of Equis.”
“What kind of promise?” asks Pinkie, instantly coming nose to nose with the human, poking his chest with a hoof. “Is it a Pinkie Promise? Because if it is, and you break it, I will find you.” A cobalt aura then surrounds the party pony, levitating her off him.
“No, it’s a lifetime promise,” answers Real, cutting his magic off, and letting Pinkie drop onto her flank. “Even bigger than a Pinkie Promise.”
“And what kind of promise are you willing to make?” says Celestia, asking the question that was on everyone’s mind.
Taking a deep breath, Real starts to explain. “I have told you that I was sent here to help you,” he starts. “And so far, I haven’t done such a good job of that. Instead, it’s you who’s saving my ass, not the other way around. So, I want to learn how to do so with you guys, who have years of experience in the field.”
“Once I know how to do that,” continues Real, still not done with his declaration. “No matter what happens, no matter how hard the challenge, I will help protect you all. I will do everything in my power and abilities to ensure the safety of this world and its inhabitants, even going as far as to lay my life on the line to make sure my friends can live their lives the way they want to.”
Right as he finishes his speech, Real is promptly glomped by everyone, taking him by surprise.
“Wha-?!” he exclaims, shocked by the group hug that seemingly came out of nowhere. Especially so from the speedsters, as he didn’t take them for huggers. After a few seconds, it ends.
“You’d do all that for us?” asks Fluttershy, brushing tears out of her eyes but smiling all the same. “We barely even know you!”
“Of course, I would!” proclaims Real, raising a clenched fist. “Just because we’ve just met doesn’t mean we aren’t friends! You are amazing ponies, hedgehog, and Spark that saved me, so it’s only natural that I return the favor tenfold!”
“Well, then I think it’s only natural that we do the same and help him learn, right my little ponies?” says Celestia, opening her wings.
“Ahem.”
“And hedgehog. And Spark. Are we in agreement?”
“Yes, I’m ready to do just that.”
“If it’s not a problem, then I’ll try.”
“He’ll need someone to teach him.”
“I’m more than willing to help a friend.”
“I think it’ll be fun!”
“You betcha I’m gonna help, pardner!”
“You know nothing’s gonna stop me.”
“Let’s see if he can keep up with us.”
“I will help to the best of my abilities.”
“Aw, you guys,” says Real, tearing up a little. “C’mere!” Using his magic, he levitates everyone in for another group hug.
“You know what?” says Real, hugging his new friends, no one noticing two cobalt lights flashing on his upper forearms.
“I think I’m going to love it here.”
——Ponyville, The Temple of the Elements of Harmony——
Hidden deep below the earth just outside of Ponyville is the Temple of Harmony, a place built by the ancients long ago. Why it was built has long been lost to time, as its discovery was fairly recent.
But whatever use the temple held, there was one use unknown by even the builders millennia ago, as it was placed below by the creator of Equestria itself - Lauren Fausticorn. A female voice fills the temple, shaking the foundations of the millennia-old building.
“The time has come for the Warrior of Worlds to rise.”
Underneath the temple, a hidden room lights up, a slab of circular stone that was placed in the center surrounded by seven smaller slabs shines cobalt blue, revealing a picture engraved into it. The light draws what looks to be a shield with a large star in the middle, with seven smaller stars around it. The light also reveals that the shield is surrounded by twelve spikes, making it look a little like Sonic and Tionic's Spindash.
The light branches off from the center, snaking its way along hidden lines in the carved stone, making its way around the building until the whole room is lit up. The temple shakes as six large pillars rise up around the slab depicting the shield. Each pillar has three slots facing outwards for something to be placed inside of - an Element of Harmony, a Chaos Emerald, and six different holes of varying shapes and sizes. The temple stops shaking, as the lights fade, plunging the room into darkness once again and leaving the six lone pillars behind for someone to discover.
The mysterious voice is heard one final time, saying; “Let us hope that you are up for the challenge…”
