Author: Ennelly Von Swortts
Co-Author: ElectroPHX228
Chapter Twenty-Eight:Storms Collide
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“I'm so sorry you felt so alone.” Twilight said quietly.
“I saw the truth. My friends abandoned my when times got ruff. Looks like I'm not the only one.” Tempest paused. “Face it, Princess... Friendship has failed you too.”
Twilight took in a breath, I could hear the pain in her voice. “Friendship didn't fail me. I, failed friendship.” I sighed as I continued to work my way down. Without warning, something yanked me off the side of the airship down onto the deck. Next thing I knew, I was pinned to the metal plating by two of Tempest's minions at her hooves.
I smiled up at her. “Miss me, sweat-heart?” Her eyes narrowed.
“Chrysalis? What are you doing here?” I glanced over at the Alicorn.
“What does it look like? I'm here to save your sorry {....}, Princess.” I stated with a smile.
Tempest snorted. “Is that so.” She stated. “Although, I must admit, I'm rather curious how you got aboard my ship.”
I gave her a flat stare. “I flew.” I deadpanned.
She raised her eyebrow. “You flew.” She stated disbelievingly.
“Yes, I flew. How do you think I got here? Riding a Griffin's back?” I snorted. “I'd barely touch one of those creatures under extreme need!”
Tempest just looked at me with a disbelieving look. “You, somehow, not only caught up with me, but boarded my airship, and you somehow did all this by flying?” She gave a dismissive wave of her hoof, turning away from me. “Don't make me laugh. You Don’t even have wings!”
I could almost see the amused smile on her face as I glanced at the stubs on my back. “So?” I asked.
She turned back to me, shock clear on her face. “So? Really? That's all you have to say?” She began to chuckle. “I might just keep you around as entertainment, Queen.”
I chuckled. “I'm already looking forward to it.” I glanced at Twilight, who was looking at me in confusion. I winked at her before turning back to watch Tempest.
...0...
Songbird Serenade hung her head, not wanting to see the despair outside her cage. She started to sing softly to try and calm her nerves.A few lines later, one of those... Things knocked her cage around, sending the clear message of ‘Be quiet’. Hooves on stone caught her attention. Looking up, she saw the Unicorn with the broken horn followed by more of the creatures, and two cages on wagons. The first had Princess Twilight Sparkle. The purple Alicorn hung her head in shame and refused to meet Songbird’s face.The second had a surprising, fairly annoyed occupant, if her twitching eye was anything to go on. Chrysalis was still intimidating inside a cage, covered with bandages. And somehow she'd managed to keep a hold of a crutch. And up to the palace they went, the bug pony’s eye still twitching.
...0...
I watched Tempest from my cage as we moved through Canterlot, and into the palace of the sisters. It wasn't long before we entered the throne room. My eye was twitching because Tempest had me thrown into a cage and paraded through Canterlot like some rare animal. Twilight was put in the opposite corner from the Crystal statue of Luna. I was put up behind where the thrones had stood. I shut out all noise as I stared at Tempest, as if trying to set her ablaze with sight alone. In truth, I was trying to see her innermost self, her core, the center of who she was. I was so focused on her, I almost missed her focus switch to a new person in the room. Yes, person. Not pony.
I looked over to see what looked to me like a goat standing on his back legs, while he had hands instead of hooves on his front legs. I did a double take. Yes, it was the Storm King. But, I knew him by another name. My jaw dropped as I watched him step up to Twilight. “What are you supposed to be?” He asked.
Twilight met his look. “Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.”
The Storm King turned back to Tempest. “Why is this one still moving? And why are there only two?” He asked in a demanding tone.
Tempest, for her part, met his gaze calmly. “There were some... complications. And we have yet to find the last two Alicorns. But I assure you-“
The Storm King held up his hand. “Ah, ah, ah. You told me you could get me the power to make a storm.” His tone shifted from business to threatening. “I'm beginning to doubt you can...”
He turned to walk away and opened his mouth. “Steven Kurr!? YOU'RE the Storm King?!”
He turned to me, shock clear on his face. “YOU!! How are YOU even alive?!” He practically screamed at me.
I smiled. “It takes more than a three mile fall to kill me, old friend. Although... I'm still just a little miffed you had me thrown overboard after everything I did for you. You really need to stop using those around you, and tossing them to the side without a second thought the moment you suspect they can no longer push you higher. Tell me... What empty promise have you made this time? We both know you Don’t have the power to do it, and even if you did... You would never do it.” I smirked at his twitching eye, and anger coming off him in waves. I also caught a wiff of doubt coming off Tempest. Good. Now I can grow that seed of doubt with the truth I carry. “But seriously... What did you promise Tempest?”
Tempest took in a deep breath. “He promised to restore my horn.” She stated quietly, her presence was nearly gone.
I couldn't help it. I laughed. Rolling on the floor of my cage laughed. After a few minutes of the Storm King and Tempest getting increasingly angry with me, I finally wiped the tears out of my eyes. “I-I can't b-believe you thought he could restore your horn!! Not even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna together have the power to do that!! It takes a hundred times more power than making a storm the size of Equestria! Which, I might add, they tried to do on a few occasions!”
And That’s when the Storm King lost it. “HOW DARE YOU!! I AM A THOUSAND TIMES MORE POWERFULL THEN YOUR PRINCESSES!! I. AM. THE. STORM. KING!!” Lighting flashed behind him as another completely lost it.
And I was left to watch in amazement as a stormy blue Phoenix dropped from the upper reaches of the room, knocking the Storm King flat on his back before screaming at him point blank in the one and only, Royal Canterlot Voice. “YOU ARE NOTHING BUT AN OVERGROWN APE!!!" Its screech boomed across the room like the roar of thunder, shaking the very building around them. Small sparks of lightning coiled through the air as they leapt off the darkly covered bird. Storm clouds slowly began to roll in, hugging the ceiling. The phoenix glared at the Storm King, it's eyes full of an untamed and dangerous rage.
“Wait... Who are you?” I asked, recognizing the bird.
The bird looked at me, it's eyes never changing its ever-furious gaze.
“That's what I want to know...” The Storm King muttered.
"You tell me Storm King. You tell me, what exactly makes you King of the storms. Is it that crown upon your head, or is it that pointy stick you were about to use? If it is then I'm sorry to say, you're merely a spec, worthless, a peasant to me..." The phoenix taunted. It's voice, void of any and all emotion besides an underlying rage.
“Oh, you're reminding me of how I used to be now. No wonder I felt we were similar.” I stated, smiling from my cage. “I'll just ask one thing... Leave Tempest be for Now? Please?”
Tempest looked at me with confusion. “Excuse me?”
My smile turned to a smirk. “And your presence comes back with a vengeance. Mission one, complete.” I was met with a blank stare from both her and Steven. The phoenix briefly flashed before it was enveloped in lightning. B
And before her eyes could process what happened, soared at Tempest before disappearing with her. Another moment later, it appeared a few feet back, on a small ledge. Staring emotionlessly at the Storm King.
"And Chrysalis, I am nothing like you. No matter how you see it. In the end, I at least tried to keep my species alive..." It replied coldly. The clouds above responding in turn.
I took a sharp intake of breath, trying to keep the memories at bay.Steven took this moment to put his thoughts into words. “What gives YOU, a mere BIRD, the right to call ME, The STORM KING a Peasant!?!” He threw the bird off him, and stood up.
"What gives you, a mere ape, the right to call yourself a King!? I have met god's worthier of such a title than you!!" The bird shouted, a boom of thunder echoed across the room. Lightning coiled through the air more energetically than before. The atmosphere of the room had changed drastically.
Steven's eye started to twitch furiously. “What right do you have to decide who can have the title of King, bird?! I have power to match anything on this planet!!! Unlike you, who can't even compare to a soft breeze!!!” I blinked, recognizing the self-announced death sentence for what it was as the building began to groan from the now audible winds howling outside.
"Is that a fact?" The bird taunted coldly. "The way I see it, you still need to power up that pretty stick of yours to even come close to me..." The clouds above started to light up as the lightning within started dancing across the fluffy surface. Ready to be unleashed upon the arrogant king.
I could keep my eyes focused no longer as tears began to drip from my face. “768.” I muttered, letting my head hang.
The bird looked at me, cocking its head to the side in confusion. A few seconds later it shook its head.
“768,” I repeated, my voice devoid of emotion, barely louder from before. “Is the curse I carry. 768 times I have watched my hive die, soon to be 769. And every time, I've been powerless to stop it.” I paused, suddenly turning a tear-stained angry glare at the bird that jogged those cursed memories I’ve tried so hard to forget. My tone filled with all my anger and despair I'd been holding in for four millennia. “You don't know what It’s like to watch, powerless to do more then turn and try to forget as generation after generation after generation dies! All because you were born different! The pain of losing everything you have over and over again!!” I started to slow down, each breath shaking me to my core. “The pain of losing a loved one to something so much more powerful then you can ever hope to be...” I trailed off as sobs began to rack my body to the point I could no longer stand, and I sunk to the floor of my cage, and blocked out the world around me.
The bird stared at me, his eyes filled with millenniums of pain and sorrow. "At least you were able to keep your species alive..." He spoke. His sorrow carrying his words. "And for the record, I know exactly what it's like to watch powerlessly as your people die before you..." The lightning became less frequent as the continuous rumble of thunder quietly filled the room. "Tell me queen... do you know how a phoenix came to be?"
I made no attempt to even open my eyes, the memories of bodies littering the ground so heavy on my head I was no longer capable of conscious thought. “We’ll, as interesting as it has been to learn of her past demons, I think It’s time you run along phoenix.” The Storm King’s voice echoed through the room. “I have to make sure my palace is acceptable after all.” The clip-clop of his hooves began to recede.
A bolt of lightning striked near the Storm King, singing some fur. "You're not going anywhere just yet." His voice had a tone of authority attached to it. "I believe you need to be put in your place." The phoenix flares his wings as the room began to revert back to its rage filled chaos.
I managed to crack my eye open in time to see Steven charge the Phoenix head on with his magical relic staff, screaming at the top of his lungs. “I'll show you who's getting put in their place!!” The Phoenix's eyes glowed before it was completely consumed in lightning as it charged the Storm King with a loud screech. He hit him dead on as the storm clouds themselves begin to unleash their fury upon the arrogant king.
The staff began to soak up all the static electricity being hurled around the room, acting much like a lightning rod as Steven tried his best to keep a hold of it while fending off the Phoenix that had, once again, knocked him to the floor. The winds both inside and outside the palace were becoming more then the building could handle, and the walls and roof began to crack.
I could see several chunks of stone I had no chance of escaping when they fell, so I made no attempt to even rise my head. “Fitting that I'm both the first, and last of my race...” I said emotionlessly to myself, having already been drained beyond feeling anything at all.
The phoenix heard these words. Causing it slow down a bit before unleashing a torrent of lightning at Steven. In this onslaught, the phoenix flew to me before enveloping the cage in lightning. Realizing his futile efforts, he flied back and charged the cage. Slipping between the bars before tackling me covered in lightning and teleporting me out of there.
I slumped to the floor the moment he let go, lacking the strength to even try to hold my head up as flash-backs kept a constant threat to swallow me into darkness. My eye began to watch the ceiling as the cracks slowly spread, only inches away from dropping tons of stone onto those below.
“I had no idea...” Twilight exe has rebooted. Her voice was soft as my eye peered lazily at her, making no move to try to answer her.
"You're giving up...?" The bird asked, perched nearby. Sparks still clinging to his feathers. A low rumble of thunder could be heard from Canterlot. The clouds had different shades to them. One grey, the other a dark greyish blue.
I slowly turned my eye to him, gaining some strength at his question. “There is a difference between giving up, and unable to do anything.” I deadpanned in a mutter, my inner turmoil clear in my eyes for those watching to see.
"That there is. But that doesn't mean you have to reserve your fate to being the last just because of an endless cycle. Seven hundred and sixty-nine times you told yourself to keep your species going. Your Changelings are still living. Not just mere myth or legend but physical people that ponies have interacted with because you're too stubborn to let yourself give in to fate. So what's changed young Queen." He said, his eyes gazing into mine.
I latched onto his words, pushing the memories to the back of my mind. Slowly, I raised my head to look at the bird. I sighed, mentally relaxing. “I have lived for four thousand years. I have seen many things in my time. Perhaps I was hoping things could have gone back to the way they were before I was Queen of the Changelings, no matter how slim. But then she gave me a better life, only for it to be stolen away. Now I’m coming to accept my life can never be the same. It would be better to just end my race now, for my race has plagued the country I have loved for millennia…” I trailed off, closing my eyes for a moment. “However, I have no plans to die today. Equestria needs me to get her rightful ruler back. After that...” I tried to stand, but didn't have the strength as the ceiling groaned loudly.
"Have you truly plagued a nation. In a world where survival of a species is the same as the survival of a nation. You're merely doing whatever you need to survive. That is no crime by nature. I have lived long before Equestria's founding. Hell, my/I brother/me was one that founded it." His voice seemed to have almost like a glitchy stutter. Causing some words to overlap, each having different pitches and voices. "Just by keeping your species alive... you're doing more than I ever will in my eternal lifetime..."
I fixed a glare at him. “And yet, they can never survive. Every Time, they die. But that's not all. I can feel every injury, every death... I feel it as if it were me. My race has drained over eighty-six thousand ponies alone, and you're saying I've accomplished something good?! All I've ever truly managed is to harm the race I've longed to be a part of since that day Aurora become the first student of the one pony I truly loved... Do me a favor, and stop talking like I'm some hero.” I slowly rose to my full height, before stepping over and trying to push Twilights cage out of the danger zone, to little affect.
"Then, tell me. How many known species of phoenix are there?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
I paused. “Four, if you believe the legends. There's the one everypony is familiar with. But I can tell you are of the other three, a Phoenix of storms if I had to guess.” I answered, considering where this was going.
"Hmm..." He thought for a moment. Where he was from, there were only three but he could use this. "Then tell me, what one's have you seen out of the four. Which are of paper and which are of observation?" He asked me.
..
“Three, counting you. Although I doubt you're a normal Phoenix. I've seen a few snow white Phoenix's in the north.
The only documented one lives in more wild lands like the Everfree Forest, the others are myths as old as Equestria herself.” I turned to him, emotionlessly as I recounted the sightings of the mythical Phoenix of snow. A rare bird hard to find in the snowy regions to the north. I could clearly recall their beautiful, snow-white feathers. How they glided through The blizzard with grace I could never hope to match...
Then I recalled what I knew of the other mythical birds. The Storm Phoenix, if rumor is to be believed, prefer to keep to large ocean storms rather than anywhere else. The third type of mythical Phoenix, Phoenix of earth, prefers mountain regions hard to get to by any intelligent creature.
"Normal I am not... I am what you'd call a Prime. The first in other words. You've only mentioned two of the four. Of which I'm guessing are the children of my Sister/Lover of Ice and my Brother/Friend of Fire." Once again, certain words overlapped one another. Two separate voices could be heard speaking at once. "So, what about the other two?" He questioned.
“I have not been to the places they supposedly live...” I trailed off before starting. “You're a Prime? The first Phoenix of Storms?” I asked, awe edging into my emotional void.
"The first... and unfortunately... the last..." He says, sorrow filling the air around him.
“I... see.” I turned my attention back to the bell shaped cage as a loud crack filled the room. I looked up to see a large chunk of the ceiling begin to fall when the sound of a cannon reached my ears, followed by breaking glass as a number of objects collided with the stone chunk. Moments later, the walls caved in with a mighty crash.