At the main gates of Canterlot, two Storm Creatures were currently standing in front of it, not allowing anyone into the city, and they had no idea what to think of the cat-like figure that was making his way over to them while wearing a baker's outfit.
"Hey, how are y'all doing this fine evening?" said Capper, speaking in a casual tone. "I'm here to make a special cake delivery for a Mr.The Storm King? I was given explicit instructions to deliver it to this here castle's throne room."
A few feet away from Capper was a wooden cart that was carrying a giant delicious-looking cake, with a dragon-like candle placed at the very top, and it was being pulled by six chained-up ponies that looked sad and miserable.
"Well, alright then," said Capper, after the two Storm Creatures pointed their spears at him. "Can one of y'all be a pal, and make sure to let your boss know that he's not gettin' his 'congrats on subduing defenseless pastel ponies'cake?"
He then turned around, and gave a shrug before walking back over to the cart. "Cause I don't wanna be the one responsible for the big guy missin' his desert, you know what I'm saying?"
The two Storm Creatures looked at each other for a moment, and once Capper was standing in front of a saddened Pinkie, the cat counted down three of his claw fingers, which was followed by the guards making way for them to enter Canterlot.
Pinkie's face lit up with happiness, and Capper gave her a friendly wink before he started leading the ponies into the city. "Thank y'all so much. I'll be sure to put a good word in to your boss once he's done enjoying this special treat."
As they continued to go further into the fallen city, some of the Storm Creatures were giving the pink pony suspicious looks, and a worried Applejack whispered, "Pinkie! Quit looking so happy. You ain't foolin no pony!"
"Oh, okay!"Pinkie then replaced her smile with an over-exaggerated sad face, and a sighing Applejack just shook her head as they entered the main plaza, where a curious Grubber quickly caught sight of the tasty item.
"Well, don't mind if I do!" The pudgy hedgehog jumped onto the back of the cart, and grabbed a fistful of the cake, bringing it to his hungry lips. "Mmmm,that's somegourmeticing… huh?"
To his surprise, Grubber was now looking at something that resembled an eye. "Who puts eyeballs in filling?" Then, the eye blinked, and a scared Grubber quickly backed away from the cake. "G-g-guards!"
Immediately, a group of Storm Creatures pointed their weapons at the halting intruders, and Capper gave a small gulp. "Uh-oh… Plan B?"
"The jig is up!" cried Rainbow, and she kicked the cart behind her, which resulted in the cake exploding into pieces as Celeano, her crew, and Princess Skystar jumped out of it, all heading straight towards the Storm Creatures in preparation of a fight.
The rest of the ponies stood up against them, as well, with Applejack using her lasso to tie one up, and Rarity, assited by Capper, doing the same to two of the creatures with a large ribbon. "Lovely!"
"Surprise!"Meanwhile, Pinkie had given a present to one of the Storm Creatures, but once he opened the gift, the pink pony popped out of it. "Double surprise!"
Wham!
Then, she tossed a pink cupcake at his head, with the frosting splattering all over the wall behind him, and before the Storm Guard could run away, Pinkie was already tossing multiple cupcakes at him, laughing like a maniac.
When Starlight came across a group of the Storm Creatures, a smirk appeared on her face as she said, "I'm going to enjoy this."
A few seconds later, they were all running away from the pink unicorn, in order to avoid getting hit by her magical energy blasts. "What, leaving so soon? We're just getting started!"
As for Fluttershy, once she had come across a growling Storm Creature, the pony that represented kindness gave him an adorable expression, and his anger turned into surprise. "You...seem tense! Do you want to talk about it?"
It wasn't long before more of them started to arrive, so as she held one off with her sword, Celeano told the ponies to continue on towards the castle. "We'll take care of them over here!"
"Come on!" shouted Rainbow, and the rest of her friends, along with Capper, made their way up the ramp that led to their destination.
However, Fluttershy was still consulting with one of the Storm Creatures, who was now breaking down into tears while the pegasus gave him a pat on the shoulder. "There you go. Let it all out."
"Fluttershy!"
"Oops!Sorry, but our time is up. Good-bye!"" said an apologetic Fluttershy, and she hurried after her friends, with the Storm Creature now waving bye to her.
Once they entered the same area where all of the chaos had begun a few days ago, the group stopped for a moment after seeing that it was almost completely full of Storm Creatures, but then, an idea came into Capper's mind, and he looked down at Spike. "Hey, aren't you afirebreathing dragon?"
A mischievous smirk appeared on Spike's face, and a few seconds later, a laughing Capper was using him like a flame-thrower against the Storm Creatures, who all began to run away in order to avoid getting set on fire.
Up on the balcony, as she watched what was happening below, a frustrated Tempest cried, "What?!How?!"
"It's…" A smile appeared on Twilight's face after seeing all of her friends again. "It's the magic of-"
"Yeah, yeah!" exclaimed the Storm King, speaking in a high-pitched, childish tone, and he pulled the two purple ponies into an insincere embrace. "Friendshipandflowersandponiesand…blegghhh!" Then, after letting them go, he stood up straight, and spoke in a menacing tone. "I amsototally over the cute pony thing!" The Storm King raised the staff above his head, pointing it towards the sky. "This endsnow!"
Ka-boom!
A bolt of lightning was shot straight into the sky, and a mass of black clouds quickly began to hover around Canterlot, followed by an arriving barrel of wind that swiftly turned into a dangerous tornado.
"Move your hooves, ponies!" cried Capper, as he led them away to find some cover, and they watched as the tornado began picking up all of the Storm Creatures, along with random pieces of debris.
After taking a look at how fast the twister was growing and spinning, Rainbow exclaimed, "You'd have to be faster than aspeeding Pegasusto break throughthatwind!"
Then, to everyone's surprise, Pinkie began to place a helmet on, with a sly grin on her face. "Excellentidea, Rainbow Dash!"
Also, Spike took a look around, and confusion appeared on his face. "Wait a second, where did Starlight go?"
##############
"Um, I don't think that your magic is working against these bars," said an imprisoned Trixie.
Starlight rolled her eyes, but continued to fire her magic against her best friend's cage, praying that it would work.Come on… come on!
#############
"Casey?" The young pony opened up his eyes, and lifted up his head to see a concerned Twilight, who let out a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?"
Her special somepony nodded his head, and he replied, "Yeah, I'm just… a little tired."
Then, Casey saw what was happening out on the balcony, and his eyes grew wide. "Um, what did I miss exactly?"
Outside of the castle, lightning began to shoot down from the clouds while the twister kept on spinning, and a triumphant Storm King raised his arms in victory. "Itruly amthe Storm King!Ha-ha-ha-ha…and the entire world willbowto my va va vaVOOM, baby!"
"Yes, you're every bit as powerful as I promised, sire!" called out Tempest, who had also gotten tired of waiting for the Storm King to keep his end of the bargan, and she bowed in front of him. "Now, restore my horn, and I swear to use my magic to serve you!"
But the Storm King instead chose to let out a chuckle, and he pushed Tempest aside while walking away from her. "Who cares about your dinky little unicorn horn?"
Wait, what?Tempest couldn't believe what she was hearing, so after going back to stand in front of him, the alarmed unicorn cried, "But, we…we had an agreement!"
The Storm King rolled his eyes in frustration, and he glared at Tempest. "Oh,getwith theprogram. Iusedyou - it'skindofwhat I do!"
Then, with glee, he fired a magical energy blast at Tempest, who swiftly dodged it, and she began to fire her own energy blast at the Storm King, but it connected with another blast fired from the staff, and while he only flew back a few feet, Tempest had now found herself holding onto the balcony railing for dear life.
However, the strength and power of the nearby tornado was too much for Tempest to withstand, and soon enough, she was no longer able to keep her grip on the railing, but just as she was about to be sucked into the swirling mass of wind, a pair of hooves grabbed one of her own tightly before she was blown away.
"Hold on!" cried Twilight, and Tempest gave her a bewildered look.
"Why are you saving me?" The dark purple unicorn wondered, especially after everything she had done to the princess, who now had a sincere smile on her face.
"Becausethis… is whatfriendsdo." After hearing those words, a touched Tempest slowly began to smile, as well, and Twilight pulled her back onto the balcony, causing them to land on the hard surface.
"Awwwww… isn't that so sweet?Yeah..." The two ponies turned to see that the Storm King had gotten back up to his feet, and he was now aiming the staff right at their alarmed faces. "See ya!"
Back in the main plaza, Murdoch was happily waiting for the go-ahead to push down on the lever that was in front of him, with Capper and Boyle on opposite sides of him.
"You sure about this?" asked the hook-handed parrot, and his answer came from an overjoyed Pinkie.
"Just do it! Thank you!"cried the pink pony, who was currently waiting deep inside of her newest party cannon, and she was joined by the rest of her friends. "I'm excited! Who's excited?Ohhh,I've never been so excited!"
"Y'all ponies are crazy,"remarked Capper, covering his ears after giving the signal to Murdoch, and the non-talkative parrot let out a happysquawkbefore pushing down on the lever, which led to the cannon firing off the five screaming ponies and one dragon through the twister in the direction of the castle.
Up on the balcony, the Storm King was about to fire a blast of magic at the two purple ponies, but at the last second, Twilight's friends all plowed right into him like a cannonball, and he flew across the throne room while everyone else ungracefully landed on the floor.
"Bullseye!"cried an upside down Pinkie, raising her hoof in victory until she noticed the pony that she had crashed into. "Casey! You're okay!"
A dizzy Casey just nodded his head, and as she began to help him up to his hooves, a teary-eyed Twilight hurried into the room.
"Pinkie! You all came back!I'm so sorry, I was wrong to-"
"I'm sorry, too!"interrupted Pinkie, now giving the young princess a warm embrace, and Twilight happily returned the favor. "Friends mess up sometimes, but we should never-"
However, before she could finish her sentence, an alarmed Rainbow cried, "Uh,make up later! This isn't over!"
The staff had been thrown out of the Storm King's grip, and was now tightly wedged in the stain-glass window.
To make matters worse, it was sending out random bolts of lightning, and even a powerful blast straight at the ceiling, which caused chunks of marble and stone to fall and shatter around them, as well as the twister now reaching a very high level of danger.
After they had succesfully gotten themselves out of the way, Twilight looked up at the staff, and then, back over at her friends. "I've got to get control of it!"
"Go! You got this, Twilight!" shouted Pinkie, and Casey nodded in agreement.
Twilight started to make her way over to the staff, but after taking another look at Casey and their friends, the alicorn princess shook her head, and she gave them a proud smile. "No,wegot this…together!"
A few seconds later, with Applejack's lasso being used to keep everyone tethered to the ground, Twilight reached for Casey's hoof, followed by Casey taking a hold of Pinkie's hoof, and so on, creating a chain that took them up once Twilight opened up her wings.
Almost… got… it…thought Twilight, as she stretched her hoof towards the staff, but down below, the Storm King had gotten himself out of a pile of rubble, and a scowl appeared on his face once he saw what the ponies were trying to do.
"I don't think so, little pony!" He growled, and the furry creature began leaping over the fallen pieces of the castle's roof, determined to get the wooden object before Twilight did. "That staffbelongs to me!"
While Twilight continued trying to reach for the staff, Casey started to wonder why this felt oddly familiar, and after going through past memories, the one he had been searching for came back to him.
Flashback
"Star, listen to me," exclaimed Casey. "The longer this portal is open, the more easier it is for everypony here to end up in here, also!"
"You don't know that," replied Twilight, refusing to let go of her special somepony. "We can figure this out, Casey, so-"
But Casey shook his head, knowing what it is that he had to do. "It's the only way, Twilight! I'm the only one who can close this thing!"
"What are you talking about?"
The young pony looked over at Stardust, who soon realized what Casey's intentions were.
"No! No! [BEEP] no, you are not going to-"
"I have to, Stardust, and you know it… aaaaaggghhhh!" yelled Casey, as his injuries became worse.
"No, Casey! I'm not going to-"
Looking straight into the eyes of his friend, Casey yelled, "Take her, Stardust… take her - aaaaaaggghhh!"
Present
"That'smystaff!"roared the Storm King, bringing Casey back to reality, and the hairy creature took one final leap towards the staff, but Twilight wasn't going to let that happen.
"No!" In a swift move, Twilight grabbed tightly onto the staff, and pulled it out right before the Storm King could take it, but that led to him crashing through the glass, allowing the tornado to suck him in.
However, it looked like Twilight was about to be pulled in next, especially since Casey felt like he was now playing tug of war against the powerful storm.
"I've… got you… Twi-"
"Look out!"
Ka-BOOM!
Suddenly, a lightning bolt appeared from out of nowhere, and it came straight for Casey, but at the very last second, Twilight released his hoof from her grasp, as well as jumping in front of him so that it would hit her instead.
"No! Twilight!"yelled both Casey and Pinkie, as they watched the young princess get pulled into the vortex of powerful winds, and after a blinding flash of light spread across the sky, the storm slowly started to diminish.
The chain of friends began to make their descent, and once everyone's feet had touched the floor of the throne room, they began to walk over to the balcony, looking up at the spot where Twilight had disappeared.
An emotional wave of sadness swept over them, with a teary-eyed Casey looking down at his turtledove necklace, and after feeling a hoof placed on his shoulder, he turned around to see that it belonged to Pinkie, which led to the both of them sharing an embrace with each other.
Fluttershy could feel the tears wanting to leave her eyes, and Rarity was just about ready to break down into tears at the thought of their closest friend possibly being gone forever.
As for Rainbow, she could feel a deep pain inside of her chest, and with Spike, the small dragon was wiping the tears that were falling down the sides of his face, but then, his eyes became wide after he had taken another look up at the sky. "Wait… is that…?"
When they finished their embrace, Casey and Pinkie noticed that Spike was pointing one of his claws up at something, so they brought their attention back to the clouds, and the two Earth ponies gasped in surprise at what they were seeing, as well as the rest of their friends.
With the staff safely secured in her hooves, a worn-out Twilight was making her own descent to the castle, and once she was standing on the balcony floor, Pinkie cried out for all of them to give the alicorn a group hug.
Nearby, Tempest was standing on top of a small pile of rubble, and a smile appeared on her face as she watched the Princess of Friendship have a loving embrace with all of her friends, realizing that her own belief of there not being any point to friendship is what was actually pointless.
As they continued their group hug, none of them had become aware of the fact that the Storm King, currently hanging onto the balcony's edge, was watching with curiousity.
"What kind of cold, heartless creature would ruin such a lovely moment of friendship?" He muttered to himself, and a sinister grin appeared on his face. "I would… try this one on for size, pony princess!"
In his claws was a spare Obsidian Orb, which he threw towards the group of ponies, but to their surprise, Tempest had chosen to jump over them, and this allowed her to take the hit instead.
"What the-"Before the Storm King could finish his sentence, the cloud of smoke that surrounded Tempest was now covering his own body since the unicorn had begun running towards him, resulting in the both of them quickly turning to stone, and because he was unable to move, the Storm King had no choice but to fall off from his position on the balcony.
As for Tempest, however, she was currently frozen in midair, which was because Twilight had used the staff's power to stop her from falling to her doom, and as the young alicorn brought her safely back down to the balcony, a surprised Rainbow said, "Whoa… I can't believe shedidthat!"
A proud smile appeared on Twilight's face. "I can."
Then, she aimed the staff at Tempest again, and shot a powerful beam of magic, with the frozen unicorn slowly returning to normal.
Once Tempest was able to fully move again, she was first surprised to actually still be alive since she'd assumed that she would be nothing but a pile of broken pieces right now, but as Twilight continued to give her a warm smile, it wasn't long before Tempest did the same, with a thankful expression on her face.
"So, now what?"wondered Fluttershy, and to everyone's surprise (except for Twilight), Tempest gave her an answer.
"Now… we fix everything." Then, she and Twilight walked back into the castle, with the rest eventually following suit, but Pinkie stopped after noticing Casey looking over the balcony, so she began to walk over to join him.
"What's the matter?" Pinkie asked, and a small frown appeared on the face of a confused Casey.
"Is it me, or am I not actually seeing a pile of broken pieces that's supposed to be the Storm King's body?"
Pinkie looked over the balcony, as well, and saw that Casey was right. There was no sign of a broken Storm King statue anywhere.
"Maybe he broke into a bunch of super tiny bit-sized pieces?" suggested Pinkie, but before Casey could give a response, her eyes lit up with happiness. "Ooh,look at those pretty waves!"
What is she tal - oh!thought the light orange pony. Pinkie had been referring to the waves of magic that were suddenly spreading all throughout the city of Canterlot, restoring the damage that had been caused by Tempest's skiff after making her arrival, as well as what had been caused by the powerful twister.
"Princesses!" After hearing Twilight's excited voice, Casey and Pinkie turned around to see that the purple alicorn was happily reuniting with the other three princesses of Equestria, who were all now back to their non-frozen selves.
Casey continued to watch them with his own feelings of happiness, but then, Pinkie interrupted his thoughts by nodding towards Tempest, who was currently standing beside Twilight as she informed the other princesses of what had just happened moments ago.
"They're going to forgive her, aren't they?" His smile turned into a smirk, followed by a soft chuckle, and then, an idea suddenly popped into his head. One that made him start to groan, much to Pinkie's surprise.
"What is it?"
As he saw Tempest shake hooves with the princesses, Casey let out a sigh, and he replied, "I just thought of something that I'm partially going to end up regretting once I do it."
"Ooh, really?"said Pinkie. "Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Casey did, and the pink pony gave a low whistle. "You sure you want to do that?"
With reluctance, Casey nodded his head. "If Twilight can save Tempest's life, and vice versa, then I can… hopefully do something similar."
A few hours later
"This has been areallylong day," muttered Beck, as he layed back against the bars of his cage.
By some miracle, Discord had finally chosen to leave the middle-aged pony alone, surprisingly after Beck had allowed him to win their last game, and now, he had only himself to have a conversation with… until Beck heard the door to the dungeon open, followed by a set of hoofsteps, resulting in Twilight's special somepony now standing in front of his cell.
"Would you… like to… atendthafrendshipfestival?" muttered Casey, but Beck was unable to hear him correctly. "Do you want to… come to…"
The rest of his sentence became hard for Beck to understand, so after taking a deep breath, Casey finally asked his question in an understandable tone. "Do you want to attend Twilight's Friendship Festival?"
Heck, yeah, I would,thought Beck, after hearing him ask that, but this also felt a little unexpected. "Uh, why are you-"
"Let's just say that I… think Twilight would've done something similar since you haven't really… been a terrible prisoner, or anything like that," replied Casey, who was trying hard not to walk away. "And even though you have to avoid… certain ponies… I think you, at least, deserve to come… unless you prefer to just spend the rest of the day in here."
Beck quickly shook his head. "Alright, then, wait for me by the front entrance." With a key, Casey opened up the door to Beck's cell, and as the green pony made his way out, Casey started to walk towards the exit. "There's somepony else that I want to invite."
"Who would -okay, never mind." Beck tried to ask, but the young pony was already out of the room.