fter watching Grubber run off with several Storm Creatures to hunt down the last princess, Tempest turned to the nearest pair of them. "Take the statues of the princesses into the throne room… and be gentle!"
Then, she was about to head back into the airship, but the sight of a purple unicorn fighting against the Storm King's soldiers caught her attention.
Who does she think she is? thought Tempest, now preparing to throw another obsidian orb, and once she saw that the unicorn was distracted, Tempest took her opportunity.
##########
As Starlight continued to fight off against the Storm Creatures, a familiar voice suddenly yelled, "Starlight, look out!"
The next thing she saw was Casey jumping in front of her, kicking some sort of small object into the sky. "Casey, where's Twi-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the young Earth Pony cried, "I need you to go to my world, Starlight!"
"Huh?" replied a confused Starlight. "Why? I can handle myself out here! If this has to do with proving yourself just so you can see
"This has nothing to do with him! Just do it for me, alright?" exclaimed a concerned Casey, talking in a serious tone. "I don't want anything bad to hap-"
Boom!
The dangerous orb had come back down from the sky, with Starlight about to fire an energy blast at it, but an unfamiliar source of electric-like energy did the job instead,creating an explosion that sent Casey flying off in a different direction.
"I hate explosions like that," muttered Casey, and he started to look for Starlight when he felt somepony grab ahold of him.
"Come on! Twilight's been looking everywhere for you!" yelled Rainbow, who had been the one to save the princess from being turned into stone, and a few seconds later, they were reunited with the others on top of a bridge.
"Where in the hay have you been at?" questioned Applejack, but before he could give him an answer, the eight of them saw a group of Storm Creatures quickly heading their way.
Having had enough of this, Twilight used her magic to fire an energy blast, but one of the Storm Creatures used his shield to deflect it, and this caused the ground underneath to crumble into pieces.
"Aaaaaaggggghhhh!" screamed the group of friends as they all fell into the path of water below, and eventually rose up to the surface.
"You can't be serious!" shouted Rarity, upset at the fact that her mane was now soaking wet. "I just got this to look perfect after having lost it to that stuff Zecora-"
The unicorn's sentence was interrupted by Applejack, who cried, "Uh, I think we got more important stuff to worry about right now!"
Rarity glared at her friend, and yelled, "What could be more important than-"
Her answer came in the form of a nearby waterfall, with no way of avoiding it whatsoever, so before they reached it, she added, "Oh… right… aaagghhh!"
By the time that Grubber and a few of the Storm Creatures had approached the bridge, there was no sign of them whatsoever.
"Oh, boy, this definitely cannot be good," muttered the pudgy hedgehog, knowing that he'd have to deliver the bad news to Tempest.
Looking at the pair of Storm Creatures beside him, he asked, "Alright, which one of you is going down there?"
"Starlight, where are you?" shouted Trixie, who was one of the last remaining non-captured ponies to be running away from the Storm Creatures. "Come on, this is… eeep!"
The azure unicorn immediately stopped moving after seeing a pack of Storm Creatures running towards her, so she decided to do what seemed like a good idea..
"Teleportation spell, go!"
…
"Transfiguration spell, go!"
….
"Some-kind-of-helpful spell, go!"
Boom!
To her surprise, a magical energy blast suddenly appeared, making the Storm Creatures run away in fear, and a smug look showed up on Trixie's face as she cried, "Yeah, that'll teach you not to mess with the great and powerful-"
"Enough, Trixie," retorted an approaching Starlight, who'd been the one to send the monsterous creatures packing. "And do you do that stuff for every spell of yours?"
A frown appeared on Trixie's face as she replied, "Well, of course not, Starlight, that would be ridiculous… I only do it for the most important ones."
Starlight rolled her eyes, and was about to respond when a blast of electrical power sent her friend flying into the paws of the nearest Storm Creature. "Trixie! I'm com-".
Whoosh!
"Where do you think you're going?" questioned Tempest, landing directly in front of Starlight, and the unicorn tried to back away, but they were quickly surrounded by a large amount of Storm Creatures. "Just surrender, little pony, or things will also be difficult for you."
A fierce look appeared on Starlight's face as she replied, "I don't think you know who it is you're talking to. I may not be a princess, but I'm strong enough to take down you and every single one of these furballs."
With her broken horn sending off tiny sparks of raw power, Tempest was aboutto fire another blast when she noticed something that made a smirk appear on her face.
"You may be right, but I am the only one who knows how to free you after you've turned into stone completely."
A confused Starlight asked, "What are you talking abo-"
Tempest pointed at the unicorn's left hind leg, and Starlight saw that it was slowly starting to turn into stone, which meant that she would eventually suffer the same fate as Celestia, Luna, and Cadence.
Oh, no, thought Starlight, now looking deeply concerned, and unaware of the fact that Tempest was about to fire an energy blast at her. That must mean the same thing is-
BZZZZZZTTTT!
A few minutes after going down the waterfall, the Mane 6 - along with Spike and Casey - eventually reached a part of dry land that they were able to walk onto, but the city of Canterlot was now several miles away.
"Blegh! I hate when that kind of water gets in my muzzle," muttered the light-orange Earth Pony, and was about to join the rest of his friends when he noticed that Twilight was standing by the edge of the river, thinking about everything that had just happened as she looked at her reflection in the water.
"Twilight? Are you okay?" asked Casey, who was also hoping that she wasn't recieving any kind of pain from her previous injuries.
The young princess nodded her head, and he was about to tell her something else when she said, "The… queen…"
"Huh?" replied Casey, watching his special somepony walk over to another side of the land they were on, looking up at the royal Canterlot castle.
"Yeah, the queen!" exclaimed a happy Pinkie, who then became confused. "Wait… what queen?"
As she continued to look at the castle, Twilight replied, "Celestia told Luna to find the Queen of the… Hippos…"
Then, she turned around, with a look of determination. "But Luna can't go... so I'm the one that has to."
"Uh, hippos? Seriously?" said Rainbow Dash, with her eyelids half-closed, in a dry tone.
"I hear that they're surprisngly graceful for their size," pointed out Pinkie. "But they are always hungry."
A nervous Spike gulped, and said, "Hungry?"
"Hippos?" added Applejack, while Rarity and Fluttershy shared a confused look with each other.
Twilight nodded, and replied, "They're somewhere south, past the Badlands."
Fluttershy let out a fearful squeak as she said, "But that means we would have to… leave Equestria."
"I'm not even packed!" cried Rarity, which made Casey and Rainbow roll their eyes.
Looking at everyone in front of her, the young princess said, "I understand that you're scared, and no pony else has to go, but I have to find this Queen. She might be our only hope… to save Equestria."
Then, she began walking away from them, but stopped after Rainbow suddenly flew in front of her.
"Well, you're not getting all the glory… we're in this together!"
A smile appeared on Twilight's face, and she saw that the others were joining her, as well.
"We got your back!" said Applejack.
"Indeed!" said Pinkie Pie.
"I am ready to save Equestria!" said Rarity.
"Yay," said Fluttershy.
"We're all behind you, Twilight!" said Spike.
A surge of happiness spread throughout Twilight's entire body, and it increased after Casey quickly tapped the turtledove necklace that she was wearing. "I already left your side once at a time of need… I'm not doing it again."
Before Twilight could respond to him, a smirking Rainbow said, "You sure you're not saying that just so Kronos can let you see- ow!"
Applejack thumped Rainbow in the back of her head, and replied, "Don't be ruinin' their moment."
While the pegasus rolled her eyes, Pinkie suddenly started to bounce away from them.
"Alrighty, then, which way to the hippos?"
"Uh, south?" reminded Spike, pointing in the opposite direction.
"Then, let's get going!" said Pinkie, who started to head south, with everyone else following her. "Boingy, boingy, boingy… ooh, hey, who's up for a few rounds of 'I Spy'?"
The rest of her friends groaned.
"Ah, come on, it's easy! Look, I spy with my little eye… something orange."
Casey raised an eyebrow, and said, "It's me, isn't it?"
As she bounced in a backwards direction, Pinkie shook her head. "Nope, but you were close… it's you, Applejack!"
Back in Canterlot, Tempest was now in the throne room of the royal castle, observing what remained of the friendship festival.
"All of this power… wasted on parties," said the disgusted unicorn, and a few sparks were sent out from her damaged horn. "When there are far greater uses!"
To make matters worse, a pair of Storm Creatures had no idea what to do with a small bottle of potion that was making a high-pitched sound, similiar to a ringtone.
"Well, answer it!"
One of the two Storm Creatures that had entered the throne room poured a liquid from a tiny bottle into a basin, and once the bottle was empty, a swirl of magical and mist-like energy came out of the basin.
It created a communication portal that would allow her to give a report to the Storm King, who was now being shown in the portal, but unfortunately, he was facing the wrong direction. "Where am I supposed to looking? I can never understand how this spell works… Tempest!"
"Over here, your Excellency," said the commander pony, who was used to the frightening creature shown in front of her not being able to understand the way some things worked. "Turn to your… no, go left… okay, now right… look right… yeah."
The two of them were now facing each other, and after Tempest nodded her head, the Storm King said, "Oh, there you are. Here's the deal, I'm in the middle of a big rebrand here, and so far, the Storm King - that's me - is being described as, um… welll, intensely intimiditating,but you know what? I need to back it up… you know what I need to back it up? A storm, that would be great!"
The satyr-like creature brought into view an object that he was holding, which was an ancient, thin-and-purple mystical staff, and exclaimed, "You promised me magic that could control the elements, and right now, I'm holding onto… what? A branch, a twig, blehh!"
"That would be the Staff of Sacanas, your Excellency," corrected Tempest, also used to her boss acting as if the staff was like something you would find in the desert. "And it will channel the magic of the four rulers of this land… you'll soon have the power of a hundred armies."
A small and hopeful smile appeared on the Storm King's face as he asked, "So that would be a yes on you locking down the four pegacornicuses - whatever you call them."
"Give me three days," assured Tempest. "I'll have everything ready for your arrival."
A frown appeared on the Storm King's face as he gave his response to the dark purple unicorn,with his sinister tone sending chills throughout Grubber's entire body, who had now made his way into the room. "Remember Tempest, only I have the power to make you whole…"
Then, bringing the dark-purple staff back into view, the Storm King added "Make this twig work, and you'll get your reward. Fail me, and your horn won't be the only thing that's broken."
"It won't be a problem," said Tempest, in a serious tone, and a smile flashed across the Storm King's face.
"Great! I'll just power up, grab some… and we'll…" replied the Storm King, but the connection between them was breaking up, so she was unable to hear the rest of what he was trying to say before the portal eventually vanished into thin air.
For a few seconds, there was only silence in the throne room, but then, Grubber found himself being the one to say, "Sorry, bad spell service. You want me to call him back?"
Unfortunately, as the dark purple unicorn walked towards Grubber, she asked, "Do you have the princess?"
"Um, funny story about that, actually," replied the sheepish hedgehog. "She, er, might have gotten away… a little bit."
A frown appeared on Tempest's face.
"Okay, I know you're disappointed, but I got one word for you… sponge cake."
Grubber happily placed the piece of cake in front of her, but that resulted in him getting electrocuted by Tempest's electrical power.
"I need all four of the princesses for the staff to work," growled a frustrated Tempest.
After eating the slice of singed sponge cake, Grubber tried to make her feel better by saying, "Hey, I want the Storm King to fix that crazy horn as badly as you do! It's like having a cracked, chipped tooth… but on your head… and you know you don't look good in that."
BZZZZTTT!
With a trail of raw energy shooting out of her horn, Tempest scowled at the pudgy hedgehog, and yelled, "That princess is not going to keep me from getting my horn back! Prepare my ship!"
As the small hedgehog hurried out of the room, the damaged unicorn looked over at the other three princesses of Equestria in the room - Cadence, Celestia, and Luna - all of them now turned into stone, and an unimpressed look was on her face as she said, "Please, how far can one little pony get on her own?