//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Advent of the Tempest // Story: MLP Movie: Equestria's side of the story // by tzening //------------------------------// Timeline of the Siege of Canterlot Time will be counted as After Canterlot Occupation (ACO). Around 12 hours ACO - Arrival of Dragon Lord Ember and Changeling King Thorax. The dragons' aversions to the ponies of Equestria isn't something to be swept away overnight, resulting in a miserable turnout that only consisting of Dragon Lord Ember herself. Torch stayed behind as Acting Dragon Lord for the duration of the war due to the nature of the Obsidian Orbs and his size making him an easy target. Ember attempts to call the dragons already active in Equestria. Biggest turnouts are surprisingly from the local Chinatown's dragons from the city of Fillydelphia. The changelings have a better turnout due to the efforts of Thorax and his military commander Pharynx. However, the number of the changelings fit for assistance is around the size of two platoons rather than the swarm most are used to due to the urgency and suddenness of the call. To compensate for lack of numbers, the changelings adopted numerous battle forms including the Storm Guard. Thorax himself has chosen a bear. Their base is a camp in the southeast of Canterlot with quick access to Ponyville while Ember, Thorax and Pharynx holdout in the Castle of Friendship to coordinate their efforts with the rest of the ELA. Ember has to resist eating the Cutie Map and the walls of the castle...again. Around 24 hours ACO till approx. 70 hours ACO - The Sacking of Ponyville After fighting on four fronts and failing after sending wave after wave of troops, the Storm King's armies realized that out of the four fronts, the South and therefore Ponyville was the least defended out of the four due having the least numbers. The Storm King's ground forces decided to focus solely on breaking through in a single offensive and sack the town in an attempt to break the blockade formed by the ELA and open up a way to the rest of Equestria while having their airships resume besieging the other fronts to keep them busy. Not to be outdone by the rest of the ELA, Trixie after giving info on Commander Tempest and the other fighters trapped in Canterlot, set up a stage for a musical number in the town, which is to help the CMC take advantage of the Storm King's treatment of his men to win over the invaders with the power of friendship and positive incentives. The guards that were won over by the displays of kindness from Trixie and CMC face their former-brother-in-arms while Thorax, Pharynx, Ember, The Doctor, Zecora and Maud Pie enter the fray with the rest of the dragons and changelings which wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the CMC and Trixie's actions stalling for time. The result is a massive land battle right in the town with the Storm Guard that lasted for over 40 hours that sacked the town in the process. Sadly, the ones more loyal to the Storm King manage to capture the CMC in the chaos due to being mistaken for being the resistance leaders due to their actions and whisked them to Canterlot before any help could arrive in time. Much to everypony's relief, the Castle of Friendship is untouched especially the library much to the confusion of the Storm Guards that sided with Equestria. The Castle of Friendship, the Southern front 70 and a half hours after Canterlot Occupation "Where are those three rascals!?" Trixie paced back and forth in the Map room as the final line of defence. The roars of bears, giant bugs and dragon fire are heard outside the main door, with the Storm Guards focusing on the castle itself as the resistance's headquarters after a two-day brawl throughout Ponyville that demolished the town. "If those three are captured, The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to be the Buried and Six-feet-under Trixie!!" Trixie has no time to ponder anymore, for a message alert from the communication spell bottle prompted her to receive the call. "Is there anyone still there!?" Trixie replied the voice, who is Starswirl the Bearded. "Trixie is here. Starswirl, don't worry the castle is still standing. The dragons and changelings are fighting right outside our front door and I barricaded the doors on that dragon Ember's orders. Zecora and Time Turner are also in the castle with me. Oh my, you look terrible..." Starswirl never looked so dishevelled in life. Some of his trademark bells have fallen off, the face screamed exhaustion from lack of sleep but his eyes betrayed something that is much, much more urgent than simple fatigue. "Is Shining Armour and Spitfire getting this call too? This is of the highest priority!!" The sounds of massive magic blasts and lightning bolts blared from the screens of the two captains in response. The fatigued faces of the two ponies soon entered into view. "-Do not let any airship break into the camp/academy!! We're here." As the four got into contact with each other, Starswirl immediately stated the matter at hand. "Princess Twilight Sparkle has been captured!!" Shining Armour understandably started to cave in from the fatigue much like his sister upon receiving the news. "You're kidding me...you old geezer. Twily is captured? This...is...the...no...time...for...jokes!!!!" "You poor stallion. I too wish that it was." He unfurled a scroll in front of him. "This is the most dire news we could ever have. I received a letter from Spike telling us what happened. Let me read out on what needs to be our next course of action." He then proceeded to cast a spell that allowed the read words to be heard in the voice of the writer. Dear Starswirl, Twilight has been captured by Tempest!! Based on your reply, we know that Tempest's airship is the only one that we know of outside your blockade and we need you all to intercept it when it returns to Canterlot and rescue Twilight!! We messed up big time shortly after we sent the first letter to you. Let me explain. Long story short, Capper turned out to be a con artist who played us like a fiddle when we should have known better and tried to sell us to some walking molerat. We ended up on the run thanks to the said molerat provoking Tempest into frying him who found us thanks to the racket Pinkie made and boarded the nearest airship...which is manned by pirates who were forced to work for the Storm King after losing to him. After getting their mojo back and convincing them to fly us to Mount Aris, everything was going spectacular until Rainbow Dash pulled off a Sonic Rainboom in her excitement and gave away our location. How does a Sonic Rainboom is interpreted as 'Ponies are here' is still a mystery. The pirate captain tried to hide us and lie to Tempest in an attempt to fool her. She clearly didn't buy it and somehow we ended up on a hot-air balloon and I got used as a lighter. On Mount Aris, the city is abandoned. We ended up searching the empty city until we heard some singing coming from a nearby pond. I know in hindsight that we should be worried in case it's is more of those Dazzlings but it was at the back of our heads at that time. We ended up following them down into the water, which started draining and pulling us in. We weren't able to cast a bubble spell on time and nearly drowned if it wasn't for the singer revealing herself to the Princess Skystar and saving us. We were shown an underwater city which other seaponies like her were dwelling. It was then revealed that the seaponies themselves are the hippogriffs we were looking for. Turns out, before Equestria, the Storm King's previous conquest was Mount Aris, with their fabled Pearl of Transformation as the prime target. Being surrounded on all sides thanks to his armada made contacting for help from the outside world impossible. According to Queen Novo, their only option was to flee underwater. Saying that her people come first, she refused to aid us, instead offering to take us in as refugees after turning us into seaponies while I got turned into a puffer fish. Our spirits were crushed. Our best chance outside you guys basically just pardon my language, told the rest of Equestria to screw off and die which would have what actually been happening if it wasn't for you guys. No help from the hippogriff guards or even lending us their fabled pearl. Twilight, in a brazen move told us to cheer up everyone with a musical number while she snuck in the steal the pearl using us as a distraction right under our noses!! When we finished giving the seaponies/hippogriffs one small thing, Queen Novo was actually going to consider lending us their aid or even the pearl!! Then their security system got set off and Twilight was caught in the act. Queen Novo's words about how they fled from the Storm King and her refusal to help Equestria combined with the knowledge that all of her other friends and family are fighting for their lives back home must have drove Twilight into doing such things. On our part, our usual friendship ways constantly backfiring on us, not actually properly introducing ourselves and not playing the "We got sent by Celestia card" to Queen Novo definitely made things worse for us in hindsight. After getting forcibly turned back into our normal selves underwater, they got into a huge fight. Unaware that we left our map behind for Tempest to find, we left Twilight alone while I went to comfort her and got a face full of Storm Guard fur. I manage to escape to get the others but Twilight was caught. As of right now, together with our friends that we made on the journey, even Princess Skystar who is now a hippogriff is on our way back to Equestria with a stolen Storm King airship after we came back to Klugetown. Give us the location of your base and we will meet up there. Signed urgently, Spike The entire atmosphere was silent. The game changer that was meant to be the decisive stroke that would help liberate Canterlot proposed by Celestia and sought out by the Friendship Council has effectively turned their backs on them. To make matters worse, the enemy has the fourth alicorn princess. After Shining Armour checked to make sure Flurry was still ok, he was the first to break the silence. One can feel the raw fear and urgency in his voice. "You all heard it from Spike!! All of Ponyville, take every single flying creature you can spare and form up around the South to intercept Tempest's airship!! Pillars and Wonderbolts, spare any flight capable heroes you can as well. I'm already preparing to break through from the North to the South if I have to. All of our efforts for the past three days wouldn't matter once the Storm King gets his hands on the magic of the four princesses. That amount of power and magic will allow him break our little siege like a pile of scrolls in a hurricane. Keep this news away from the others who are currently fighting. The last thing we need is to leave a hole in other fronts in our attempt to break Twilight out and a sharp drop in morale. As much as I want to save my sister, we can't leave the other three fronts open in the process. Starswirl, send a message to Spike to inform them to land at the Dragon/Changeling camp complete with coordinates and tell them to provide a sign to avoid getting mistaken for the enemy." While he spoke with a calm demeanour, his body language spoke otherwise. His legs are trembling with fear for his captured sister, worry for his already captured wife and the look on his eyes are nothing short of mania due to his inability to be part of the rescue due to logistics. Trixie started hyperventilating again at the situation and the prospect of actually having to fight Tempest again. The skies south of Ponyville, Tempest's airship 71 hours after Canterlot Occupation "-let's face it, friendship has failed you too." "Friendship didn't fail me, I failed Friendship." Commander Tempest Shadow is overlooking the bridge with an imprisoned Princess Twilight behind her. After the showdown the latter's double gave her, she was prepared to face a violet archmage that wouldn't hesitate to turn her into an orange. What she got instead was a disappointment that kept running from her with no combat expertise outside her own magic. After capturing her when she was alone thanks to seeing them fight on the beaches from her airship, Twilight didn't even try to teleport or turn into a small creature that could just simply fly through the bars. Looks like the standards for being a princess dropped while she was away, which made her consider why was she blindly following the trend of aspiring to be one like the other fillies when she was younger. "Well, well, well...what do we have here." Twilight looked up from her cage and saw the view over the horizon that encompassed Canterlot and the area south of it, including Ponyville. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight. To the far left, a raging thunder storm firing lightning at the approaching airships with the entire Wonderbolts Academy as the source. Icebergs are created in the air and were flung at airships. To the far right, a massive temple complex with a pyramid in the center which was no doubt the Elpis Somnambulam Tentyris is firing ray after ray of power at the airships attacking. The smoking ruins of Ponyville were seen in the bottom left corner with her home barely touched thanks to the efforts of the local resistance with clear signs of a battle still going on. However, what caught the main attention of the two mares is something else entirely right in front of them. A flight of various dragons and changelings taking on various flight capable forms stood in the way of Tempest, with clear intent to rescue the Princess of Friendship. Not if Tempest has anything to do about it. "Let's see if they know if you are on board." Various shouts by the various boarders fighting her men openly yelling out the words "Find Princess Twilight!" soon answered her question. "Looks like Equestria didn't waste their power on parties after all..." Twilight, with her ways of friendship questioned until her falling out with her friends came to an epiphany and answered the cynical mare. "It's because of the fact that we are all friends that we don't have constantly worry about whether we can live to see tomorrow or spend time fine tuning weapons of mass destruction so that we are strong enough to cow everyone to submission. We use our power on parties because we can afford to. Our preferred approach is 'Peace and Harmony' to 'Blood and Iron'." "Answer me this. Then as long as your country is the only one that is living a peaceful life while everyone outside Equestria suffers, would you still be happy?" "..." "All hands, repel the boarders!! I will guard the prisoner and join you on the deck shortly." Suddenly, one of the divine rays from the Elpis Somnambulam Tentyris nearly hit the airship dead on if it wasn't for the piloting skills of Tempest. The bolt barely skimmed the surface of the airship. The Great Pyramid Complex, Throne Room "Somnambula!! What happened with your aim??" Shadow Lock who was alongside Stygian helping the pony in question maintain the fortress. "The range far exceeds my sight. We were already lucky we didn't hit Twilight Sparkle." "We can't risk hitting the Princess!! Is there anything we can use to help us aim better?" "Are they insane? They know you are on board. They wouldn't dare to shoot us out of the sky just to stop us from obtaining a fourth alicorn...I have an ultimatum for the resistance." As the glass on the bridge shattered in chaos, Tempest took out the public speaker and blared out. "This is Tempest Shadow, Commander of the Storm King's armies. Your obviously uncoordinated rescue of the Princess of Friendship will put her at risk of being blown out of the sky by her own subjects. Your boarders are being personally dealt with. I noticed the situation that you all facing with the might of the Storm King's armies. So I have a proposition: Let us pass to Canterlot and I will use my authority as their commander to order our forces temporary stop the invasion and retreat back to the city. To prove my word, Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle, order your forces to stand down. I will let this one chance to get your allies which have boarded my vessel to return back to their camp safe and sound. Reject my offer, and I will not be so merciful." One of the boarders fighting the Storm Guard gave Tempest what was pretty much on everyone's mind. "You can take that offer and shove it!! We are doing fine anyway!! The moment you get the Princesses' magic you will just resume invading us!!" In the middle of all this, Twilight Sparkle is pondering her next course of action. Tempest was a walking friendship problem. Her failure at being accepted by society just for the virtue of having a broken horn led her down a path where she would know cruelty and malice as the only way to live. If she is rescued now, she will never get through to Tempest. The mare would never accept friendship and would continue to be a thorn in everyone's side be it stewing in her own cynicism in the dungeon or escaping to plot a revenge scheme like a comic book villain. The main problem isn't the giant war that is happening in Equestria. It is the ideology of a single mare who only knew one side of the coin. What she would do next would no doubt gamble the very fate of Equestria. "EVERYONE!! STAND DOWN!!" The entire battle came to a standstill. The unthinkable happened. The Princess of Friendship has just told her own subjects to not rescue her!! "I've ordered my subjects to stand down, Tempest. Fulfil your end of the bargain." "Very well, you have my word. Send a message to all forces!! We are retreating back to Canterlot to prevent anyone from interrupting the Storm King!! I will allow the remaining boarders to carry your wounded back to your camps." Suddenly, one of the dragons barged in after the wounded has been safety carried off the airship. "Princess Twilight may have ordered her subjects to stand down but right now, the dragons are under the Dragon Lord's control and the Changelings answer to Thorax. Her orders don't apply to us!! Everyone, get her!!" With that, they charged. Realizing that she is running out of time to meet the deadline, Tempest decided not to engage and simply flew her airship right through the blockade at top speed, using her lightning to send any boarders flying off her ship. Divine rays coming in from the east came straight for her airship's thrusters. It was utter chaos as the airship had to dodge beam after beam in such ludicrous speeds. As the onlookers below looked in despair at their failure to rescue the Princess, Twilight only has this to say: "Everyone, I will make it up to you." Occupied Canterlot 71 and a half hours after Canterlot Occupation As the airship landed in Canterlot, Tempest only has this to ask of the Princess of Friendship. "Why did you throw away your only chance at being saved by your own subjects? Not that it would have mattered since they would never get past me." "Because, I want to save everyone, including you. I see that you can still be saved by friendship. I will gamble Equestria's fate if means I can solve your friendship problem and make you see the light. For that's what friends do." The Castle of Friendship, Courtyard 71 hours and 45 minutes after Canterlot Occupation As the second Storm Airship landed in front of the castle, Ember, Thorax, Pharynx, Zecora, The Doctor, Maud Pie and Trixie were taking a breather and being on guard in case there are any surprises. Despite the failed attempt to rescue Twilight, Tempest kept her word and ordered all of the enemies' forces to withdraw to Canterlot. However, she played the deal in her favour. Now she has four complete alicorns to complete the set for their collective magic to be given to the Storm King and has bunkered down her entire force in the city itself, no doubt being on high alert. If it was anything like what happened with Tirek, they are all doomed unless they can pull off a miracle. As Skystar, Capper, the pirates, Mane 5 and Spike dropped of from the airship, after some quick greetings, Spike asked the fateful question: "Where's Twilight?"