Bring the Thunder
By marley
It was quiet in Canterlot. Every now and then there was the tramp of the Storm King’s soldiers or the weeping of a pony could be heard from one of the chained prisoners. The rulers of the nation were themselves imprisoned, encased in dark crystal.
Twilight Sparkle, the remaining free princess, had not been seen in nearly a month. Those who still hoped for rescue knew the Elements were with her but none had been heard from since that awful day. The only good news was that the pony who had turned the other three princesses to crystal had gone in pursuit of the Twilight. At least she could do no more harm in Canterlot.
The ponies sat miserably in their chains and prisons as another day dawned. After an equally miserable breakfast, they were summoned to the courtyard to hear another mad order from their new ruler. They were spending a lot of time repainting their beautiful city to meet the Storm King’s demands. As they neared the courtyard, a distinct rumble could be heard. Nopony paid any attention at first thinking it only distant thunder. One pony didn’t think that.
“Soarin,” whispered Spitfire to her fellow Wonderbolt, “what’s that noise? It doesn’t sound quite like thunder.”
Soarin listened intently for a moment. “You’re right,” he said. “It just keeps rumbling and growing. Do you think…”
“Shut up, you,” grunted a guard, giving Soarin a sharp poke with the butt of his spear. “Storm King is about to speak. Pay attention. You will listen to him now.”
Soarin said nothing and scowled at the guard. Spitfire cursed her chains and tried again to figure out a way to escape. The rumbling grew.
The Storm King came out of the palace and stood before his captive audience. Silence fell over the crowd as none wished to get a beating for interrupting the King. The rumbling was louder now.
“Subjects!” shouted the Storm King, “you are making progress in ridding the city of all those horrible colors but there is still work to do. Work Group 1 will be painting the west quarter in brown and grey, Group 2 will paint all the spires olive. Before you ask, no, you may not free your wings to do it. I’m not stupid. Group 3…. Guards! What is that infernal racket? Shut it down or these ponies will never get to work today.”
The guards, required by the Storm King to attend all announcements, rushed off in the direction of the noise. The Storm King glowered but soon his expression turned to one of boredom. He scratched his chin.
“I am sorry,” he said. “This sort of thing is just annoying. I mean really, it just throws off the whole day.”
He was interrupted by a guard.
“Your majesty,” he said, “there is an army approaching. We barred the gate but you should really come see.”
“No,” replied the king, petulantly, “that is why I have commanders. Don’t let them in and I’ll come down when I’m finished here. What are you waiting for? Go shoot at them or something.” The guard trotted off.
The Storm King was about to resume speaking but was startled by a loud explosion. The rumbling sound was very loud now and there were shouts and cries in the direction of the gate. Thinking he had better look into this, he gathered some guards and headed down to the courtyard. He wondered who could have gathered an army and attacked him. When he got to the courtyard, he was met with pandemonium. Across the courtyard, his soldiers were being driven back. There also didn’t seem to be as many of them as there should be. The captive ponies were huddled against the walls.
The Storm King advanced toward the battle in order to get a shot at the enemy. His tall guards and the wall around the courtyard kept him from seeing clearly. As he closed on the backs of his troops he realized that they were turning towards him. The retreat had turned into a rout and his troops were fleeing towards the parked airships. The rumbling was now like thunder. One of his soldiers went flying into the air and it afforded the King his first glimpse of his enemy. He hadn’t expected this.
It was a hippopotamus. A large grayish brown hippo, wearing scale mail and a helmet, was charging behind his troops crushing those foolish enough to stand and fight. Behind it followed many more. The Storm King couldn’t get them all and he knew it. He would retreat to the ships and wait for Tempest to bring him the last princess.
“To the ships!” bellowed the Storm King, unnecessarily. They were all heading that way in any case, though some may have felt better knowing that they had permission to run for their lives.
The Storm King and his guards fled to the flagship. All the troops were closely pursued by the hippos who followed them up the ramp and onto the ships. Loaded with troops, each hippo added a ton and a half to the already laden ships and the ships began to drop. Hippos kept jumping on.
The Storm King had momentarily held the hippos at bay until a beam from the missing princess blasted the staff from his grasp. He staggered back and looked around wildly for the staff. He spotted it just in time to see Twilight Sparkle materialize beside it and seize it in her magic. She glanced at him, smiled and vanished.
“Nooo!” howled the Storm King. He had no time to mourn his loss as the hippos were gaining ground. He fled onto the ship which cast off as soon as the Storm King had boarded. A few of his guards made it with him as did half a dozen hippos.
The Storm King’s ship rose into the air and started away from the city. It rocked violently as the hippos chased the Storm King and company around the inside of the ship. There was a scream whenever they caught one. After a while, it was quiet.
In Canterlot, Twilight, had gone to free the princesses while the hippos and the freed ponies mopped up the few remaining Storm King soldiers. The princesses looked around in confusion at the carnage.
“How long was I out?” said Cadance, as she looked around.
“What in Tartarus!” screeched Luna, coming to, “Where are they?”
“Twilight,” said Celestia, in a daze, “you… you saved us?”
“With a little help on our new allies, the Hippos,” she said proudly. “I heard you tell Luna that she should see the Queen of the Hippos so that’s what we did. The hard part was getting them all the way here.”
“I don’t remember that,” said Luna, puzzled. “I thought I was supposed to see the Queen of the Hippogriffs.”
“Whatever works,” said Cadance. She laughed. “Wait, The Queen of the Hippos? How…how did… I’m sorry hee hee.” Her snickering turned to outright laughter.
Luna began to giggle and soon collapsed in a heap, shaking with laughter. Celestia looked sympathetically at Twilight for a few seconds before she began to sputter. She was soon laughing as hard as her sister.
Twilight looked at them and briefly considered using the staff. But it was just a mistake and everything had turned out fine. She turned to see her friends approaching. She swallowed hard.
“What’s up with them?” asked Rainbow Dash. She looked suspiciously at the princesses.
“I think they’re just… happy to be free,” said Twilight, hopefully.
“Well, it’s about over,” said Applejack. “The Queen is resting right now. That charge pretty much exhausted the hippos. Ponies are still searching to make sure all the guards are captured.”
“The pegasi are assisting the hippos who rode down on the ships,” said Rainbow. “A few others are bringing the Storm King’s ship back to dock. He’s out cold. Having us get those hippos was genius, Princess Celestia.”
Celestia had got most of her laughter under control but this comment broke that like a hoof to a clay pot. She lapsed back into sobbing laughter. The other two princesses held each other as they attempted to stand.
“I like to see ponies smile,” said Pinkie, “but this is a little much. They’ll be worn out when we get to the Thank You Hippos Party.”
“Is there something you want to tell us, Twilight?” asked AJ.
Twilight felt uncomfortable under Applejack’s gaze. “I may have made a mistake.”
Celestia, Luna and Cadance snickered behind their hooves as they watched her explain this to her friends. Twilight spared them a scowl.
“You can tell us, Twilight,” said Fluttershy, gently. “Everypony makes mistakes.”
“Well, you see,” said Twilight, “Princess Celestia was being crystalized when she shouted to Luna and all I heard was the first part of the word which was ‘hippo’.
“Right, so we got the hippos,” said Dash.
“Yeah,” sighed Twilight. “Celestia didn’t get to finish her sentence. She meant to say ‘hippogriffs’, not ‘hippos’.”
“What’s a hippogriff?” asked Rainbow Dash. She was thinking half hippo and half griffon and couldn’t quite picture it.
“So where are the hippogriffs then?” asked AJ.
“I don’t know,” said Twilight. She looked at Celestia and Luna.
“Mt. Aris,” said Celestia, “It’s a few hours by air.”
“A few hours?!” cried Dash. “We spent a month getting those hippos up here! Do you know how hard it is to ferry five hundred hippos across Ghastly Gorge? You might recover from that, Twilight but me and Fluttershy are going to need hernia surgery!”
“We spent a month camping on the way here!” said Rarity, crossly. “I despise camping!”
“We’re gonna have to bust our rumps getting’ the farm back in shape with no pony working it for a month,” said Applejack. “Ah can’t say Ah appreciate that none!”
“What about all my animals?” said Fluttershy. “They’ve been alone a long time.” She was torn between anger and concern for her charges. “I like the hippos and I’m glad they agreed to help us but what made you think they were the answer? I mean, hippogriffs make a lot more sense.”
“It is kinda funny,” giggled Pinkie Pie. “At least it worked. Wait until the Storm King wakes up and we tell him!”
The ponies all looked at one another. Rainbow Dash was the first to start laughing and soon four princesses and five ponies were all crippled with laughter. Even Twilight broke up. This would be good.
Tempest Shadow stood on the bridge of the sole remaining airship. On one hoof, the Storm King would not be pleased that she had failed to capture the princess. On the other, she was certain that the princess was on her way to Canterlot. It had taken a long time to pick up her trail but she was certain that Twilight Sparkle was nearing Canterlot, if she was not there already with her strange force. She might have caught her by now had she not been delayed.
First had been the lying cat creature that had sent them off to Mt. Aris. They had found nothing there and then they’d been attacked by a renegade supply ship whose crew had turned pirate. It had taken them some time to drive them off and return to tracking down their quarry.
An informant eventually came through and they began following the Princess. It had been difficult to believe the miscreant but Tempest checked out the information and the trail had led them back to where she began.
‘Why hippos?’ wondered Tempest, to herself. ‘How does she mean to use them? They aren’t magical. They aren’t particularly well armed. There aren’t even very many of them.’
Grubber held up a pair of binoculars. “All the airships are gone except for the flagship,” he said. “Everything looks quiet from here.”
Tempest was looking closer. Pegasi were converging on her ship from all sides. Many were armored and all had some sort of weapon. “To arms! Prepare to repel boarders!” shouted Tempest. But it was no good.
The pegasi swarmed over the top of the airship which was nearly unprotected. They shredded the fabric and the ship started to list to port. Tempest realized that the battle was over almost before it had begun. She now concentrated on survival.
“Drop ballast!” cried Tempest. “Throw out everything that isn’t nailed down!”
Her efforts slowed the ship to some extent but it was still dropping at an unpleasant rate. The pegasi had been content for a time to merely watch the stricken craft drop. Now, they began throwing spears and other weapons at it.
“What should we do?” yelled Grubber. “The Storm King will be furious if we lose this ship!”
“Shut up, you idiot,” replied Tempest. “The Storm King is the least of our worries, I’m afraid. Goodbye, Grubber.”
“Goodbye?” replied Grubber. “Where are you going?”
“Tartarus, most likely,” said Tempest. “She you there.”
She closed her eyes. It was sad that her life was to end before her plans were fulfilled but the sadness would soon be taken away by the rapidly approaching ground. There was nothing more to be done.
Grubber screamed mindlessly as he stared out the window watching their descent. ‘One more thing to do after all,’ thought Tempest. She unleashed her magic at Grubber, knocking him unconscious. That was better. At least it was quiet. All she could hear now were the frantic attempts of the crew to save themselves and the groaning of the ship in its death throes. The trees below grew in detail and she could see birds and wildlife fleeing. There was a grinding sound as the ship impacted the tree tops and it lurched sideways. Tempest was thrown across the cabin and impacted against a bulkhead. Everything went black.
When Tempest came to, she was in a bed. A little confused at first, she realized that she hadn’t died after all. Unless the afterlife was a hospital, she had survived. She blinked her eyes and tried to raise her head. The room spun and her head began to throb. There was the sound of a door opening and a stallion’s voice, though she couldn’t make out what it said. She looked toward the sound and saw a pair of unicorn Solar Guards watching her intently. Their spears were pointed at her and she got the impression that they would cheerfully try them out on her given any excuse. She groaned and closed her eyes again.
The door opened and closed again. Tempest didn’t bother to look up.
“Good evening,” came a voice.
Tempest thought she had heard it before but she couldn’t remember when. She forced an eye to open. At the foot of the bed stood a purple alicorn; the one she had spent a month pursuing.
“Hello,” muttered Tempest.
“You apparently took quite a shot to your head when your ship went down,” explained Twilight. “You’ve been unconscious for two days. Don’t try to use your magic, there’s a suppressor on your stump. You wouldn’t like the result.”
Tempest remained silent.
“I’ll bring you up to speed and then you will answer a few questions for me,” continued Twilight.
“Go to Tartarus,” said Tempest.
Twilight continued unfazed. “The Storm King is a prisoner here too. We have the staff and the other princesses are free. Cadance has returned to the Crystal Empire. Celestia doesn’t want to see you and she was afraid of what Luna might do to you so I was sent. Oh, your army is either dead, injured or in prison so don’t think they will be along to help you.”
“How?” said Tempest. Her memory was coming back and she knew that the Storm King lost. “How did you defeat him?”
“I won’t say it was easy,” replied Twilight, “but with our new allies, we were able to breach the gate and take back the city.”
“Hippos?” asked Tempest.
Twilight giggled. “Yes. They are surprisingly formidable. I blasted the gate and let them in. They took out your troops and distracted the Storm King so I could get his staff. After that I released the other princesses and the ponies. You can imagine what happened after that. Now then, I want to know why you got involved in this.”
Tempest’s resistance weakened. “I wanted him to restore my horn. It was broken by an ursa minor when I was a foal. He told me that if I got him the magic of four princesses he would heal it.”
“He lied,” said Twilight. “He was just using you to get our magic. He doesn’t even know how to heal you.”
“I suppose I should just take your word for it?” countered Tempest. Privately, she suspected that it was true.
“He confessed,” said Twilight. “You can hear it from him later, if you wish. So, you were lured into this and had no other motive? No other thought of personal gain?”
“I wanted to be whole again,” said Tempest. “I wanted to show everypony what I could do. That’s all. It wouldn’t have been bad to have a few perks though.” She managed to smile, bitterly.
Twilight made a few notes and checked a few boxes on the scroll she was carrying. “That’s all I wanted to know at this point. If you have any questions, I’ll answer them if I can.”
“What are you going to do with me?” asked Tempest.
“That hasn’t been determined yet,” said Twilight. “There is a question of Equestrian policy. Are you criminals or prisoners of war? We obviously have to protect ourselves in some way so we can’t just let you go. The Storm King will never be allowed to regain any position of power and we don’t want his soldiers or servants anywhere near him. You and that little grey guy are fairly harmless on your own so there may be some leniency but I can’t promise anything.”
Tempest was a little shocked. She had expected a lengthy prison sentence or worse. “That is more than I had hoped for,” said Tempest. “Thank you.”
“I have a quick question and then I’ll let you rest,” said Twilight. “Do you wish to be referred to as Tempest Shadow or Fizzlepop Berrytwist at your trial?”
“Tempest Shadow, I think,” said Tempest. “If I’m released, I’ll go back to my real name. It won’t help much. A broken horned unicorn with facial scars sticks out in a crowd.”
“We’re working on that,” said Twilight. “Equestrian researchers have been studying horn repair for years but it is hard to measure progress since there aren’t many test subjects. Volunteering to be a test case may help you avoid prison.”
“Of course, I’ll volunteer!” said Tempest, sitting up for the first time. She instantly regretted it and sank back down on the bed. “Ohhh… I shouldn’t do that.”
“I’ll go now,” said Twilight. “I’m going to want to talk about those orbs you used but that can wait for later.”
“Before you go,” said Tempest, “please tell me about the hippos. How did you know they were what you needed to defeat us?”
Twilight grinned. “It was a mistake.” She went on to explain what had happened.
“You won because you screwed up?” said Tempest.
“Basically, yes,” admitted Twilight. “I wish I could have met the hippogriffs though.”
“I thought that’s who were after,” said Tempest. “It wouldn’t have worked out for you. There was no one there and I had laid a trap. It delayed us for quite some time which allowed you to escape.”
“That’s too bad,” said Twilight. “about the hippogriffs, I mean. I’ll let you rest now. We’ll talk again.”
“Goodbye, and thank you, Princess,” said Tempest.
Twilight left and Tempest tried to sleep again. The fact that they had lost due to a miscommunication by the enemy nagged at her. She snickered. She thought about how the Storm King had reacted to that news. She began to laugh louder. Her guards looked at one another and shrugged.
Tempest had barely gotten her mirth under control when she heard the pop of a teleport spell. She opened her eyes to see a very strange face mere inches from her own.
“Hello there,” said the face, “my name is Discord and I’ve been waiting for you to wake up. I wasn’t here for your little escapade so I’m doing some catching up. Tell me, Fizzlesshadow Berrypop, during your assault on the city, did you run into a yellow pegasus mare with pink hair named Fluttershy?”
“Er… no,” said Tempest, nervously, “who’s she?”
Discord looked at her closely. “A friend of mine,” he said in a stern, gravelly voice.
“Oh, well, I’m sorry but I don’t recall meeting her,” said Tempest. She had heard of this creature, the Lord of Chaos. She didn’t recall hearing anything good about him.
“Lucky for you,” said Discord. “I am fond of these ponies, some of them anyway, and if I discover that any of you invaders hurt her… well, I’ll just leave that to your imagination. And that anything you can imagine, I can make worse.”
“I believe you,” said Tempest. “Is your friend alright?”
“She is now,” replied Discord. “I’ve learned that she is so kind that she doesn’t always tell me everything because she’s afraid I might overreact.” The draconequus laughed. “She is probably right but I’ll feel better knowing that no one will dare to harm her after dealing with me.”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt anypony besides the princesses,” said Tempest. “I was trying to steal their magic for the Storm King so he could fix my horn.”
“Hmmm,” said Discord, thoughtfully. He grinned, which didn’t put Tempest at ease in the slightest. “I can fix that.”
Before Tempest could react, Discord snapped his claw. Tempest felt a strange sensation on her head. Was he really fixing her horn? The sensation stopped and she cautiously reached a hoof up to touch her stump. The stump was no longer a stump but a shaft! She reached up but couldn’t touch the top. Her horn was back!
“Thank you! Oh, thank you!” cried Tempest. She started to cry.
“Don’t mention it,” replied Discord. “I’ll just be going now. It’s time for me to harass Stormy. I’m much angrier with him than you and his other flunkies. Ta ta for now, Fizzleberry Shadowpop.” The draconequus snapped a claw again and vanished and the guards returned.
“What just happened?” said one of the guards.
“I think we were in a bottomless pit,” said the other.
“Look!” said Tempest, “he fixed my horn!”
The guards looked at her.
“Snerk,” choked out the first guard.
“Ha, ha, ha,” went the other, as both guards started to laugh.
Tempest felt a chill race down her spine. “What did he do?” she asked the guards.
One, still chuckling, brought a mirror and hovered it in front of her. The image stunned her. Her horn had grown to nearly the length of Celestia’s and was a spiral of bright pink and green. Aside from the color, the hideous horn was topped with a realistic duck’s head.
Tempest groaned and let her head drop backwards. The horn hit the wall. The duck let out a loud ‘quack’.
One of the guards, once he could stand up again from his uncontrolled laughter, was kind enough to pull the bed away from the wall so that she could be more comfortable. ‘I knew things were going too well,’ thought Tempest.
The Storm King paced around his cell like a caged tiger. It was all just too much. He’d almost succeeded. If only that incompetent Tempest Shadow had brought in the last princess, his plan would have worked. Hippos or no hippos. Hippos. The very word made him want to break something. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything in the cell that would give him the satisfying smash he desired. He had never considered that hippos would interfere with his plans. He reached the wall again and turned. He stopped short to avoid walking into Discord who had been following him around the room.
“Who are you and how did you get in here?” asked the Storm King.
“My name is Discord. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
“Just an old fairytale,” answered the Storm King. “I don’t suppose you’ve come to help me escape, have you?”
“Oh! my no,” said Discord, “I hope they keep you locked away for a long time. I just came to exact my own revenge. You see, you caused some friends of mine to suffer and I don’t take that kind of thing lightly.”
“And you don’t think that the princesses will see justice done?”
“Justice?” laughed Discord, “I don’t care about justice. I just want to make sure that you know better than to ever bother Equestria again. Now let’s see, what to do with you?”
The Storm King didn’t wait to find out what Discord had in mind and swung hard at the Draconiquus’ head. His fist passed through Discord like he was made of water.
Discord frowned. “My, you are a violent sort,” he said. “You’re lucky I have other outlets for my wrath.”
“Do what you want!” cried the Storm King, angrily. “I almost had enough power to do whatever I wanted. I was so close.”
“Yes, yes, if it hadn’t been for the hippos,” said Discord, as if he was growing bored. He smiled slightly as he saw the Storm King wince at the word. “Coulda, shoulda, woulda, blah blah, blah. Tell me; what did you intend to do with all that power?”
“What?” said the Storm King.
“What did you intend to do with all their power?” repeated Discord. “You must have had some plan.”
“Oh! Yes!” said the Storm King. “the plan. Well, I started by forcing the ponies to get rid of all the bright pastels and replace it with something more somber. After that I was going to redo Canterlot and turn it into a proper fortress.”
“So, you stole their power to redecorate?” asked Discord. “Surely that would have shaken the world. You didn’t plan to erect temples to yourself and have ponies worship you? No wars of conquest? I’m just curious because I have the kind of power that allows me to do anything and I wanted to know what someone else would do.”
The Storm King hesitated. The temple idea had been a good one. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He cleared his throat. “I hadn’t thought of war yet,” said the Storm King, “first things first, after all. I had to take Equestria and then establish my rule over the ponies. Once I did that, I could force them to do whatever I wished.”
“Of course,” replied Discord, “that makes sense. And your rule would be by force, correct?”
“Well, I don’t think they would follow me willingly after I turned their beloved princesses to crystal,” laughed the Storm King. “I would have had the right to rule over them because I could have enforced my will.”
“You have the right to rule over them because you are stronger than they are?” said Discord. “I’ll admit I thought like you once but I soon saw what a waste of time that was. It doesn’t seem to work out either. Trust me on that. Besides, ruling like that just gets tedious. It really isn’t any fun. I find it so much less stressful to simply rule over me and enjoy myself.”
“Well, I enjoy being in control,” said the Storm King. “I don’t care if those I rule over like it or not.”
Discord smiled. “So be it,” he said. “I think I’ll show you what it’s like not being in control.” Discord snapped his claw.
At first the Storm King didn’t think anything had happened. “What did you do?” he asked.
“You’ll find out,” replied Discord. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to get a couple of my friends who might enjoy this.” He vanished with a snap of his claw.
The Storm King was confused but understood when he tried to look at his hands. His head tilted down but off to one side. When he tried to move his head back straight, his left arm extended straight out in front of him. His horror grew as he tried to get himself under control. He gave up when he hit the floor.
Discord kept his word and returned quickly. With him were two confused ponies. One was a slightly angry looking blue pegasus and the other was a bright pink earth pony.
Both ponies stared at the fallen king with a mixture of anger, amusement and curiosity. The blue one spoke first.
“Okay, we’re here,” said Rainbow Dash. “Care to tell us why? I don’t need to see this jerk. What’s wrong with him anyway?”
“Yeah,” added Pinkie Pie, “he’s all contorted and laying on the floor.”
Discord chuckled. “I rewired him. It’s hilarious! Let me show you.” Discord returned the Storm King to his original upright position. “Watch.”
Discord caused a rubber ball to materialize and tossed it at the Storm King. He reflexively tried to catch it but his left hand stuck a finger in his ear and his right placed itself on his hip. The ball hit him in the chest.
Rainbow and Pinkie both snickered. “I think we get it,” said Rainbow.
“Have fun!” said Discord. He materialized a large tub full of all sorts of items ranging from pies, eggs and tomatoes to balls, rubber chickens and a bucket of mud pies. He created a comfy chair out of nothing and sat back to watch the show.
Rainbow did most of the throwing while Pinkie Pie laughed. Rainbow paused and turned to Discord. “Hey Discord! Why not bring the rest of the girls down here? At least AJ; she’s a good thrower. Oh! and Luna might enjoy this too.”
The Storm King shivered at the idea of more tormentors, especially the one he had turned to crystal. He hoped that the white alicorn would show him some mercy.
“Righty-O!” said Discord, as he vanished.