//------------------------------// // The Storms End // Story: Storm Vine // by zalla661 //------------------------------// High above the Ursa was Tempest Shadows ship, the Huracan along with three other ships each with a grappling hook attached to the Ursa. Tempest was never happier to see the little glutton. Grubber was yelling down at her but he was so high up she couldn’t hear him. “Hey, you idiot,” She grunted under her breath. She felt her lip curl into a smile. She was truly happy to see him again. And now with four ships they were sure to win this fight. All they had to do was overwhelm the Ursa to frighten it away, and that’d be the end of it. However this will prove to be a difficult task. By their very nature Ursas are engines of destruction. It is their way to be apex predators and seek to destroy anything they thought was a threat. Thus, to frighten one away was a monumental task; but, it was not impossible to frighten such a beast. After seeing the Ursa in actual battle, Tempest knew her original plan would no longer cut it. Instead she watched as the beast resisted the chains that held it in place. The airships circling around clockwise several times effectively retraining it. Tempest knew those chains wouldn’t last long. She had to come up with a plan and quickly. She quickly surveyed her surroundings. There was nothing but the town, the forest, and the ships. Nothing that she could really use to any effect against the Ursa. She then noticed far down the street her father was running towards her as fast as he could. The age old stallion had an odd limp to his step. He approached Tempest slowing down a ways away leaving Tempest to close the gap. “Father! Is the explosive barrels ready?” She asked pulling him into a dark alley. The aged old stallion painted catching his breath. He smiled nodding his head to his daughter. “Yes, the trap is ready, but how does this help us?” He asked. “Ursas have sensitive hearing. A loud enough noise can overwhelm them and send them fleeing to safety,” Tempest said looking back at the Ursa. “We need to get it to the barrels and set them off.” “You really think this will work, kiddo?” Tempest smiled patting her fathers back. She nuzzled his cheek feeling a deep heat in her cheeks. “Don’t worry dad, with my ship here I guarantee we can get rid of that beast.” She said with the utmost confidence. A sudden earth shattering roar made both ponies jump. “No time right now father, we need to act fast! The ships won’t last long against the Ursa!” “Right, what do you need me to do?” Tempest glance up at the bear monster, taking two steps forward with shaking legs. She wasn’t afraid, she was far past that point, but she was shaken with fatigue. She wouldn’t last much longer in her current condition. When she did her sip began to descend towards her. She could make out the figure of Grubber barking orders to the Storm Guards pointing in Tempest Shadow’s direction. She turned to her saeed father. “Gather the fastest of the village and have them search all the houses towards the explosives. I don’t want any casualties if this goes wrong.” Merlot saluted giving his daughter one last big hug. Tempest was about to say something, but she held it in and sighed. She patted her fathers back embracing him gently so not to hurt him with her armor. Before parting Merlot pressed his muzzle against Tempest’s cheek and ran off int oth etown again. By now the Huracan was at ground level. A larger portion of the hull collapsed and fell to the ground making a loud thud noise revealing to be a ramp. From deep within the ship two Storm Guards with pink highlights wielding shields and spear ran down and knelt at Tempest. Grubber stumbled close beinhd. Tempest watched counting his steps as he ran clumsily towards her. Halfway down she counted under her breath starting from five. Four. Three. Two. One. On que the fat hedgehog tripped over his own feet and rolled down the ramp screaming for dear life. He rolled all the way down until he hit the dirt road where he skidded face first stopping right between the two Storm Guards with a loud squeak. Tempest quirked her brow at the humiliating display before grinning and letting out a gentle chuckle. The Storm Guards rose and lifted Grubber upsetting him back on his feet as he dusted himself off. “Commander!” Grubber saluted along with the two guards. “We are here and ready to assist!” Tempest only stared at him for a moment before her eyes went over her two guards. “Well, don’t just stand there you three! We have a twin to save!” She looked at the two Guards and nodded to the left one. “Send a message to the fleet to drag the Ursa to the East side of town. There should be several large barrels at the edge of town. Drop the Ursa there and retreat. I will take the Huracan and ready the cannons to blow the barrels, so we can scare off the Ursa.” Tempest marched up the ships ramp with the Guards at her side and Grubber right next to her. When they reached the interior Tempest looked around to see .The round room was as she remembered it. A large circular room in the dead center of the ship with the engines to the right and hot smoldering vents underneath shooting steam up from time to time. The ship rumbled and the two Storm Guards left her side to head topside. Tempest marched briskly with Grubber through until they reached the stairwell that the Storm Guards went up and followed. The clanking of Tempest's metal boots echoed through the empty interior and made her look up at the ceiling. There she saw the cage where she kept Princess Twilight when she was still loyal to the Storm King She snorted at the sight of the offensive cage thinking of the yetis betrayal and how it lead to his demise. True, the old her reveled in his ultimate doom, but such thoughts were poison according to Princess twilight and one should do their best to keep such thoughts out. But Tempest loved this one so much that she kept it tucked away in the deepest recesses of her mind. She also made a mental note to get rid of the cage at some point. Maybe reforge it into something more practical? The two marched up the stairs when suddenly the shop pitched hard nearly making them fall forward. From behind the hull of the Huracan was pierced through by the sharp point of another ships bow. The sharp edge cut right through the stairs beneath Tempest and Grubber missing them only by a few steps, with a long link of chain hanging among the wreckage and broken bow. Tempst grabbed Grubber by the nape of his neck with her mouth and tossed him on her back. She then sprinted up the last few steps and reached the top side of the ship. Grubber jumped off and ran back around the porthole and scrambled onto a box to look over the side of the ship. Tempest saw clear as day from where she stood that one of the ships was thrown into the side of her ship. The Storm Guards were running around trying to dislodge the ship while working with the other ships crew. The Ursa was now partially free with one paw still being held by the chains of the two other ships. The two ships that still had the Ursa chained shifted directions to head towards the designated area, however the Ursa stay planted firmly in place. Tempest saw her guards struggling to dislodge the other airship form their port. With an annoyed grunt she rushed forward and jumped over the edge of the Hurricane and onto the other ships bow. She landed firmly between a whole group of guards and glared at them. She didn’t have any ill intentions for them, she just glared hatefully at everything when she was extremely tired. Combined with her impatience to see her aunt again she hastily stepped onto the bow of the ship and lowered her head. Closing her eyes she charged her broken horn letting a small amount of controlled power flow to the jagged edge. She only allowed it to charge a small amount, without her full horn to help regulate the flow the magical discharge always came out as raw unhindered power. To compensate and have some amount of control she had to usually focus, and concentrate on the amount of amna she applied to her horn. Doing this, she leaned her head forward more aiming the horn at the broad side of her ship and released a small controlled blast rom it. The magic flowed out like a lightning bolt striking the hull and blasting a larger hole in the side. Once the hole was made the Storm Guard on the helm reversed the ships engines. The two ships tugged the stress of the metal and wood creaking and clanking as the bow of the smaller ship slowly ripped free from the Huracan leaving a gaping hole in its side. The entry ramp was partially carved into the hull and very much out of commission until it was replaced. The metal frame of the Huracan survived but was also out of shape from the impact of the small ship. The wood interior however was completely destroyed and the metal outer hull was ripped inward through three of the four decks. The ships slowly drifted apart pieces of debris fell free from both ships to the ground below. The smaller ship Tempest was on lost its entire bow which broke off and dropped from the ship. The damage was enough that the grappling hook also fell freely to the ground completely unwinding in the process. The smaller ship now had the full chain dragging behind them. In its struggle to break free the Ursa stepped onto the sharp hook and it got lodged into the bears under paw. Roaring in pain the beast fell over tugging the ships with it. The Pirate ship scrapped into the side of the second ship next to it and both detached their grappling hooks setting the Ursa free. This is bad, if we don’t end this now the Ursa will rampage back towards the town. Tempest thought worryingly. Running to the back of the airship she was on she came to a halt near a few of her Storm Guards. “Get the canons ready! Bring the ship about to strafe the Ursa!” She ordered. With a hasty salute the guards all scattered to do various tasks. Most went under the hull while some remained above preparing for damage control. The hellmans adjusted the airships course lowering their altitude and slightly on angle to strafe the Ursa, but this put them within reach of the bears massive size. The ship strafed the Ursa as the canons popped out one by one on both sides of the ship. Each side had five canons now ready to fire. The ship came within inches of the beast, and Tempest met its eyes with hers. For a brief moment, she felt a shiver go through her body. Then she closed her eyes, breathing in a deep calming breath that steadied her body. Then with one word all hell broke loose. “Fire!” In seconds of her scream the canons burst to life. Each one of five firing in sequence like a well choreographed stunt, one after another in perfect sync. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and then the ship was past the Ursa and circling back. The massive beast itself groaned in pain, large scorch marks now burned into it dark fur. From above the Huracan came down to assist. The Huracan strafed the Ursa in the opposite direction forcing it to split its attention between the two ships. In the confusion the beast turned to swing its paws wildly at both ships but missed both. Under the volley of fire, and the two ships it had trouble focusing on one target. The second wave of cannon fire blasting against the Ursa’s hide left the smell of singed hair in the air. Tempest was able to smell it even as they flew past the beast. It was barely noticeable, but only small patches of the dark fr were missing, in contrast to the large areas of scorched fur. Thankfully before releasing the Ursa the airships managed to get him near the target site where Tempest’s father, Merlot, had gathered all the explosive barrels at the edge of town.However it was still too far away from the barrels to make the trap effective. If this was going to work, Tempest knew they’d have to go all out. “Helmsman, circle the beast! Canons prepare for continuous fire!” The Storm Guard at the helm did as he was told. Bringing the ship to a wide turn he aligned the ships port side to face the Ursa as he circled around it. Tempest waited for a moment seeing everything fall into place. The initial attack had to be perfectly timed. Once the ship was aimed and the canons ready, Tempest gave the order to fire. A slower but continuous barrage of cannon fire erupted from the ships broadside. The sounding and explosions were focused on the feet of the blue bear and caused it to tumble over itself and roll over into a small building. The building was crushed instantly under the weight of the hulking beasts body. Tempest watched as the ships circled overhead with the Hurricane right across the skyway circling with them giving the Ursa their own barrage of fire. For over a good solid minute this continued one until one stray shot hit the barrels causing them to explode in a fireball of destruction. The heat generated from all this was enough to heat the surrounding area to feel like a scorching hot day. The sounds and force of the explosion shattered the windows to shatter for a entire block around the epicenter. Fire slithered over the entirety of the Ursa, and was gone in a flash. The result was an Ursa Major sroched black and sore, its ears folded back with a clear look of pain across its face. The animal struggled to get its footing, but when it did it made a beeline back towards the forest from whence it came. It trampled over a building or two along the way, but the evacuation was already done so nopony would have been harmed anyway. Regardless, Tempest breathed a sigh of relief thankful that it was over. She slumped down resting her wearing chin on the railing and stood limply in place. Her ship the Huracan came to hover side by side with them. Grubber was there and jumped from the ship landing right next to Tempest on the railing, almost losing his balance in the process. “Whew, that was a cloth one, eh, Tempest?” He said nudging the tired mare next to him. Tempest gave the hedgehog a nasty glare making him shuffle his feet nervously. Quickly he jumped off the railing and sat next to the unicorn as she slumped down beside him. She rolled over to lean her back against the railing of the ship and slumped her shoulder lazily. Grubber wiped his brow and glanced over to Tempest, fiddling with his tiny claws. “So… that was quite a thing…” He said awkwardly. Tempest glared at him again. Before he could react he was shot point blank by Tempest Shadows unhindered magical surge form her horn. The poor creature yelled in agony until the surge stopped and he was left charred black. With a huff he smiled looking back at Tempest. “Nice to see you too.” Then he passed out. Tempest chuckled slumping over him and used him as a pillow. “Nice to see you too.”