//------------------------------//
// Taking the Magic 
// Story: My Little Pony: An Epic Adventure 
// by CJ Esmerio 
//------------------------------//

Meanwhile, back at Mt. Aris, the rest of the Mane 6 were all sitting  down, hating the unfortunate situation that they were currently in.

"This whole journey was such a mistake," said a teary-eyed Fluttershy. "All we wanted was somepony to help us."

Applejack let out a sigh, and took a look behind her before facing the others. "You think… maybe it's time we talk to Twilight?"

Everyone  slowly nodded their heads in agreement, figuring that they'd spent  enough time in giving Twilight her space, but just as the orange Earth  pony was about to say something else, a familiar voice cried out, "She's… been… taken!"

"What?!"  yelled an alarmed Rainbow, as Spike ran towards them as fast as he  possibly could, and once he was standing in front of her, the small  dragon pointed behind him.

"Twilight's been taken, along with Casey! Tempest grabbed them, and took them on her ship!"

Everyone  let out gasps of surprise, now regretting their decision to walk away  from Twilight, but a scowl quickly appeared on Rainbow's face, and she  turned to face the others.

"We gotta get both of them back!"

However, that was currently easier said than done since Tempest's ship was probably halfway close to Canterlot by now.

"And,  we ain't got no way to defeat those monsters," pointed out Applejack,  leaving everyone to wonder just how they were all going to save their  friend, but before anyone could give a suggestion, a familiar voice came  behind them from out of nowhere.

"Well, it's a good thing that I know a group of heroes who can handle this easily!"

Everyone turned around to see a smiling Capper, standing on top of a large boulder, and Rarity raised an eyebrow at him. "Well… look what the cat dragged in - himself!"

Ignoring  what the white unicorn had said, Capper continued to speak. "I've seen  these heroes handle the roughest towns, get out of any tight situation, and inspire others to join their cause!"

His  words brightened up the faces of almost everyone but Applejack, who  shook her head as she said, "Now, don't get too excited. He's just  talkin' about us."

Her friends let out groans of disappointment,  but Capper wasn't done with his speech just yet. "They've even escaped  certain doom at the hooves of Commander Tempest!"

Remembering what  had happened back in Klugetown, as well as the pirate ship, a pleased  Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. "Yeah… that was pretty great!"

"Still, it's going to take a lot more than just us to stop them Storm Creatures," reminded Applejack.

"I think I may have a solution to that." The  orange Earth pony turned around to see Starlight making her way towards  them, with a small grin on her face. "I just so happened to come across  a group of feathered allies that would be more than happy to help us."

Before  any of her friends could ask who she was referring to, said group had  appeared right next to them after coming down from a small cliff, and  Rainbow's face lit up with even more happiness. "You're all okay!"

A  sheepish smile appeared on the face of Capt. Celeano, who was  accompanied by the rest of her crew, and she said, "Well, for the most  part, anyway… had to do a lot of swimming after Tempest sunk our ship."

Capper made a quick shudder after the light-colored parrot said that. "I hope to never do something like that ever again."

"But,  even though we don't have an actual ship with us," continued Celeano.  "We're all on-board to help you fight the Storm King, especially since  you helped us get back our arrrggghh!"

While her crew  gave their agreements, Spike heard a bubbling sound coming from the  ocean water behind them, and he turned around to see that something was  emerging to the surface, which he quickly pointed it out to the others.  "Um, what's that supposed to be?"


SPLASH!


Surprise  was shown on the faces of everyone as they saw a winged animal come out  of the water, and land on top of a boulder, with a wide-eyed Capper  saying, "Is that what I think it is?"

After shaking off  the drops of water away from her shell necklace that had been a gift  from Pinkie, Princess Skystar waved one of her claws at the group, and  said, "Hello! Me again… oh, I'm going to get so grounded, but  I talked things over with Shelly and Sheldon, and they said that you  were just trying to help your friends, so I want to help, too!"

Then, she flew over to the shore, with Pinkie walking towards her, and the two shared a smile as she added, "Cause you know, one small thing can make a really big difference."

Now that it seemed like no one else was joining them, Spike looked at everyone around him, and he said, "So, that's it, right? We didn't make friends with anybody else?"

As  for Pinkie, she now had a face expression that was full of  determination. "We're coming, Twilight… as soon as we think of a plan!"






Canterlot


The  cage holding Twilight and Casey captive was now being wheeled to the  royal castle by their fellow ponies, who had chains around their hooves,  and on the way there, the two of them started to feel terrible as they  saw the rest of their friends either locked up inside of a cage, or  being forced to follow orders from the Storm Guards.

I am here and I see your pain

After  the familiar singing voice reached her eyes. Twilight turned her head  to see that Songbird Serenade had also been locked up in a cage, as  well.

Through the storms, through the clouds, the rain
I'm telling you you can not escape


BAM!


Unfortunately,  she was interrupted by one of the Storm Guards, who had knocked his  fist against the bars a few times before telling the cream-colored  pegasus to stop singing, and as Twilight passed right by the artist's  cage, the two of them shared the same look of sadness with each other as  they realized both were in an unfortunate situation.

Once she and  Casey were in the castle, and brought over to the throne room, Twilight  turned her attention over to a nearby Tempest.

"Don't do this," pleaded the young alicorn. "Don't give the Storm King-"

"- your magic?" finished a smirking Tempest. "Did you think you'd keep it all to yourself? Time to share!"

Little  did the dark purple unicorn know, her boss was currently making his way  into the castle while she continued talking to the imprisoned princess.  "I would love for everyone out there to know what I can really do."

"Ooh, fascinating!" said the Storm King, who had a wide grin on his face, and Tempest turned around to look at him in surprise. "Tell me, what can you really do with your power, Sparky? Light a little candle with that sparkler of yours?"

Then,  as he started to chuckle at his own little quip, Tempest began showing a  small sign of feeling embarrassed while Grubber gave a quick pat on the  shoulder.

Even Twilight started to feel a little bad for her, but  after hearing a chuckle come out of Casey's muzzle, she turned to glare  her special somepony, who sheepishly said, "I thought it was funny."

Before  the purple alicorn could respond to him, Grubber took a few steps  forward, and looked up at his master. "We do your bidding, of course,  your Mighty One!"

Then, a few seconds later, he hurried out of the throne room, and closed the doors behind him while Tempest rolled her eyes.

A  sly grin appeared on the Storm King's face as he started to approach  the cage that held Twilight and Casey. "Yep, bidding's good, I like  bidding!"

Then, the white-colored furry creature stopped moving,  and took one uninterested look at Twilight. "And, uh, what are you  supposed to be?"

"I'm the princess of friendship," replied the young and proud alicorn, with Casey nodding in agreement.

The  Storm King started to laugh, and he flashed a fake smile at Twilight  before turning it into a frown. "Oh, that's nice… Tempest, why is this one still moving?"

"The  princess and her friends put up a bit of a fight," answered Tempest.  "But I can assure you that neither her or the other pony will be a  problem to you."

"Huh? What do you - oh!" exclaimed the Storm King, who was now looking at Casey. "I almost didn't see you there… so, what… are you, like, the prince of friendship or something?"

The  two caged ponies both had a slight blush on their faces, and Casey  replied, "Well, no, not exactly… I'm only her special somepony."

"Ugh, what is it with adding pony either  before or after something?" growled an irritated Storm King, and he  started to walk around the throne room. "And speaking of problems, this  place seems a little too… oh, I don't know… cute!"

He turned to look at Tempest, continuing to shout while she raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't like cute! I never did like cute! Doesn't really go with my whole big, bad, powerful-magic-guy thing, does it?"

Then, a scowl appeared on his face as he cried, "Deliver the punchline to me, Tempest, because this has got to be a joke!"


Wham!


The  Storm King slammed the bottom of his staff to the floor in anger, but  then, to his surprise, the ground started to shake, and the statues of  the other princesses were now glowing.

"Wow! Check out the light show! Hahahaha!" cackled  the Storm King, watching with glee as four streams of powerful alicorn  magic became absorbed into the staff, despite Twilight's attempt at  trying to hold in her magic as best as she could.

Ohhh, this is not good,  thought a nervous and slightly fearful Casey, who was also trying to  avoid having flashbacks of a previous similar incident that occured  several years ago.

Once the staff had reached its maximum capacity for power, an excited Storm King cried, "Alright, let's get this storm started! Ooh, hey that's good - I should trademark that."

Then, he turned his attention back over to Twilight, and said, "Now, about that princess-"

"Don't  you even think about doing anything else to her," exclaimed Casey,  glaring at the Storm King. "You'll have to go through me first."

For  a moment, the Storm King thought about it, and then, he said, "Alright,  kid, I won't do anything to her… I'll do something to the both of you!"

With  a sinister laugh, he fired a white-hot energy blast at their cage,  causing the bars to explode into hundreds of tiny pieces, and had  Twilight crashing through one of the nearby circular windows while Casey  was flown across the throne room, crash-landing against one of the  walls

"Twi… light…" muttered a lying Casey, lowering his head to the ground because of exhaustion.

Meanwhile, as Twilight layed down on the balcony floor while surrounded by debris, the approaching Storm King said, "Not bad! Actually… kind of first-rate!"

He tapped the top of the staff a few times, with a curious expression. "What else does it do?"

"Your  Excellency," said Tempest, who was making her way towards him. "You  promised to restore my horn, and give it even greater power-"

The Storm King waved one of his paws at her, and he replied, "Yeah, okay, hang on… I want to blast this little pony again."

He  aimed the staff at Twilight, but then, his surprise grew even more  after noticing that he had switched the sun with the moon, and after  returning it back to the sun, a wide smile appeared on the Storm King's  face.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me! I can move the Sun?!" He cackled with laughter, and stepped over Twilight while making his way to the end of the balcony. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Twilight  looked over at Tempest, who momentarily appeared to have regretted  giving the staff to the Storm King, but she went back to being serious,  and walked past the alicorn to stand by her delighted boss.

"Time to play!" The Storm King began to switch the Moon and the Sun back and forth several times. "Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday… Day! Night! Day! Night!"

Maybe my own sun and moon idea for the Festival wasn't so great after all, thought a nervous Twilight, who was also wishing that her friends were with her right now.