//------------------------------//
// Survivors 
// Story: In The Shadow Of The Storm 
// by Summer Knight 
//------------------------------//

Tempest Shadow strode through the streets of Canterlot. Her cold, keen eyes moved constantly, keeping watch for any danger. The city was thoroughly defeated and her soldiers had total control, but she couldn't drop her guard. Not yet. Not ever.
Grubber, the stunted storm creature who liked to tag along with her for some reason, pattered beside her. It was a quick pace for his tiny legs, but he didn't let that stop him from taking large, noisy bites out of a brightly-frosted slice of cake as he went. The wet smacking sounds of Grubber stuffing his face finally got under Tempest's skin, and she glared down at the runt. 
"Stop eating," she commanded. "We're here on a mission."
"Aww, c'mon Tempest, we've already got the city!" Grubber protested. "Shouldn't we celebrate? You know the Storm King's just gonna make us throw all this stuff out anyway. He hates sweets." He looked forlornly at the half-slice of cake still clutched in his claw, then brightened as an idea struck him. He held it out toward the imposing figure in front of him. "D'you want some?"
Tempest snorted in disdain. Then, after a quick look around, she slipped one hoof out of its shoe and dabbed it into the frosting, getting a tiny amount on the edge of it. She licked off the frosting and had her shoe back on in under a second. Tempest rolled the frosting around in her mouth as though tasting a fine wine, but gave no reaction whatsoever to the sweet flavor. She simply jerked her head and said, "Let's go." 
However, to Grubber's delight, she didn't repeat her order to get rid of the cake. He had the sweet treat halfway to his mouth when he spotted something moving in an alley behind Tempest Shadow's right flank. His eyes and mouth flew open as he pointed with a shaky claw.
"Tempest!" he shouted. 
Tempest whirled around just in time to see a brown, muscular earth pony leap out from the shadows. A royal guard, judging by the lance he carried, though he'd apparently ditched his armor in order to keep quiet. He charged at a full gallop, lance lowered to skewer her. Seeing that he'd been spotted, the guard threw caution to the winds and let loose a fierce cry of, "For Equestria!"
Tempest watched him coolly until the point was within inches of her throat, then ducked and slid smoothly underneath it. She took a half-step forward and used the momentum to throw an uppercut. The guard, unable to stop in time, ran straight into her strike and staggered backward. His lance clattered to the ground and his eyes refused to focus. While he was dazed from the impact, Tempest spun around and kicked her hind leg hard into his unarmored chest. 
Bones snapped underneath her steel-shod hoof, and the guard flew backward into a building with enough force to crack the wooden wall. He coughed wetly and red fluid bubbled on his lips; his lungs were filling with blood. He was as good as dead already.
A pair of storm creatures descended on the guard to finish the job and Tempest looked away—not out of disgust, but simply because the pony no longer mattered. "Come on," she said again to Grubber. 
Grubber stared strangely at the two creatures savaging what was left of the guard. Perhaps the stunted storm beast wished to join them? Whatever his thoughts were, after a long moment he instead shoved what was left of the cake into his mouth and hurried after Tempest Shadow. 
"D'you think there are more of them?" Grubber panted. He was already out of breath from the short run he'd taken to catch up, and was looking nervously into every shadow. 
"A few, probably," Tempest answered without concern. "In a city this size, a few ponies are bound to slip through the cracks." 
Her army's usual method was to strike quickly and with overwhelming force, like lightning from a clear sky. They would kill any who resisted and capture the rest. They were brutally effective, but their hasty attacks did tend to leave openings that a few clever or lucky creatures could escape through. Not enough to matter.
"We're here!" Grubber said proudly. 
"Yes. I can see that." The enormous, opulent palace in front of them made the announcement totally unnecessary. "Is the palace secure?"
"Yup. Storm guards crawling over every inch of it."
"And no secret passages to hide in? No magical traps?" 
"Uh..." Grubber started to sweat a little. "We didn't find any?"
Tempest snorted. She didn't have much faith in their powers of observation, but it would have to do. There wasn't much that could threaten her with so many of her troops around, short of blowing up the entire palace with her inside. She doubted these fluffy, friendship-spouting ponies would go that far, especially with their own princesses in there too. 
"And the preparations for the ritual?"
"One princess at each point of the compass, just like you said." Grubber sounded happy to be able to give some solid information. "We just need you to draw the, uh. The thingy."
"The array."
"Yeah, that thingy."
Tempest rolled her eyes at her dimwitted companion. "Just take me there."
"Wait, I don't know where it is," Grubber protested, "I just told the other guys what to do. Don't you know your way around? I mean, you're a pony."
Tempest looked down at him from the corner of her eye. "I was a commoner. I didn't get to play in the castle. Get me someone who knows the way."
"R—right! Right away!" Grubber scurried off. 
Tempest gazed up at the ridiculous building in front of her. The maps all called it Canterlot Castle, but it was nothing of the sort. A castle should be the last line of defense for the ponies of Canterlot. There should have been a keep with a wall, armed with catapults or ballistae and manned by guards. A castle should be a safe place where the citizens could flee in case of an attack, and an imposing structure that would make enemies think twice about attacking. Instead, there was only an opulent pleasure palace, and not even the storm soldiers on patrol could make it look threatening. Tempest Shadow scoffed.	
I'm doing these ponies a favor by conquering them, she thought dryly. Even the Storm King's slaves were better protected than Celestia's subjects. 
She heard the heavy, stomping footsteps of one of the guards and looked over. The creature was approaching her with a mare held in one giant claw. Grubber scurried along behind it. When the thing got close enough it roughly tossed its captive at Tempest's hooves, grunted, and started stumping back toward its post. 
The mare had a yellow coat with a white and pale purple striped mane. She was dressed in fine clothes, and what Tempest could see of her face had a heavy coat of makeup on it. Maybe it had looked nice once, but it was now streaked and running and did little to hide the large bruise on one side of her face. She was lying on the ground with her face buried in her forehooves, shaking and crying. Tempest studied the terrified pony through half-closed eyes. 
"Can you take me to the throne room?" she asked.
To her credit, the pony managed to raise her head and glare at Tempest Shadow. "N... no!" If her clothing hadn't given her away as a member of the Canterlot upper class, her posh accent and haughty attitude surely would have. "What more could you awful creatures want? I won't help—aaaaggggghh!"
The mare shrieked in pain as Tempest shocked her with a burst of barely-controlled magic from her broken horn.
"I only asked if you can," Tempest said coldly, "not if you want to. Now get up."
Perhaps afraid of being blasted again, the pony tried to stand. Her legs were shaky, but she managed it after a moment. Her eyes drifted, as everyone's did, up toward the stump of Tempest's horn. A loud spark from the tip of it was enough to send her back to cringing.
"The... the throne room," she panted. "Of course. I'll take you there right away, ma'am."
"Good girl," Tempest hummed.
"My name is Upper Crust," she said tentatively.
Of course it is. Tempest's face remained a mask, just slightly less expressive than the helmet framing it, but internally she was rolling her eyes. 
"I don't care. Start walking."



Seven ponies and a baby dragon stood on the platform at the Riverbend train station, watching the Friendship Express slow to a stop in front of them. They were still an exhausted, frightened, heartbroken, and angry group, but after a bath and a hearty meal they felt more ready to face the challenge they'd been given. In fact, they were deep in discussion about how to do just that, and had been for quite some time.
"I still think that the castle is too obvious a target," Starlight Glimmer was saying. "You all saw how quickly they showed up and attacked. If they hit Twilight's castle like that, they could trap us all inside."
"But the castle is a symbol," Rarity argued. "We're Twilight's closest friends, so ponies may come to us for help. With Canterlot Castle taken, they'll need something else to rally around, to know that everything will be okay."
"The Tree is a symbol too," Starlight said. "It's, like, the symbol of Harmony, and we'd be much safer in the cave."
"But there's no cake in the Everfree—"
"Boooaaard!" The train conductor's voice carried across the platform, easily cutting through their hushed conversation. A reddish-brown unicorn stallion in a smart uniform stood by the train car, ready to take their tickets and usher them inside. "All aboard for Canterlot!" 
The group winced, and Rainbow Dash quickly flew over to the uniformed stallion standing by the train car. 
"Hey," she said uncomfortably, "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but, you really can't take this train to Canterlot."
The conductor frowned at this unexpected break in schedule. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, have you looked at Canterlot lately?" Rainbow pointed up the nearby mountain, where the hovering airships were still visible and smoke poured out of more than one place in the city. "Anypony who goes up there is gonna be in serious trouble. We're talking monsters and evil unicorns with broken horns, that kind of trouble."
The stallion blanched and involuntarily raised a hoof to his own horn, as if to make sure it was still there. "Well, miss," he said uncertainly, "I'm afraid I haven't heard anything about that. I'll check with the stationmaster, but unless she says otherwise we still need to go on to Canterlot."
Rainbow facehoofed. "Ugh. I'm telling you, you can't! Look, we just came from Canterlot, and we barely got out. If you go up there you'll never come back, and neither will your passengers!"
The stallion shook his head. "Like I said, ma'am—"
"Hold this train!" Another stallion's voice, an already-high tenor strained near to breaking, shouted across the platform. "In the name of the princesses, hold this train!" A white pegasus in royal guard armor swooped in and landed heavily on the platform, running for the train almost before his hooves touched down.
"Oh, for pony's sake, what now?" the conductor muttered. The newcomer ran up to him, standing slightly in front of Rainbow Dash. Though the newcomer was young, he had a large frame and well-toned muscles, and would have cut an imposing figure if he hadn't been gasping for breath as he spoke.
"I am Ivory Wind... of the Royal... Guard." Despite being winded, he spoke sharply and with authority beyond his years; the authority granted by the uniform of Celestia's guards. "I am commandeering this train to take myself, my comrades, and our charges to safety." 
"Commandeering?!" the conductor spluttered. 
"I am sorry for the inconvenience, sir," Ivory answered calmly. "All employees on the Friendship Express will be given suitable compensation once this crisis has passed."
"Crisis? What crisis?" the conductor demanded. "What in Equestria are you all talking about?"
"What I was just telling you?" Rainbow Dash was now annoyed with both of these stallions; Ivory Wind for interrupting her conversation, and the conductor for apparently not listening to a word she'd said. "You know, monsters, evil unicorns, all of that? Ring a bell?"
"I will explain once we're underway," Ivory promised. "For now, we need to leave as quickly as possible. All you need to know right now is that your train will be carrying approximately a dozen displaced ponies, and will be under the command and protection of the Royal Guard. Equestria thanks you for your cooperation." He nodded his head once and turned away before the conductor could manage to formulate a protest. As he turned, he made eye contact with Rainbow.
"You are Rainbow Dash, right?" It was more of a formality than an actual question. Rainbow Dash had a pretty distinctive look.
"Yeah. What about it?" Rainbow also turned away from the flustered conductor and flew easily beside the other pegasus as he walked away.
"Is the rest of the Council of Friendship here, too?" Ivory asked hopefully.
"The... Council of Friendship?"
Ivory looked askance at her. 
"The five ponies who advise and co-rule with the Princess of Friendship," he clarified. "My apologies, ma'am, that's what everypony in Canterlot calls you. Is there a different term I should use when addressing you?" 
"I don't think we really call ourselves anything," Rainbow Dash answered. "But 'Council of Friendship' sounds totally lame, so we'll have to work on that."
Ivory Wind whickered; or was he covering up a laugh? He cleared his throat and composed himself so quickly that even Rainbow Dash wasn't sure what had happened.
"Regardless, are the rest of you here too?"
"Yeah, right over there." Rainbow Dash pointed the short distance across the platform to where her friends were still clustered together, discussing who-knew-what. 
"Oh, thank Faust," Ivory sighed, finally dropping his air of authority and seeming more his age. For a moment he couldn't have looked more relieved if Rainbow Dash had said that, no, he wasn't breaking out in acne right before his big date. Then he immediately snapped to attention and the moment of vulnerability was gone. "Would it be alright if I spoke with them, ma'am?" 
Rainbow Dash blinked uncertainly. Why was he acting like she was his superior? The only unit she had any rank in was the Wonderbolts, and the guards didn't answer to them. 
"Uh. Sure? I'll introduce you." Rainbow flew out a little bit ahead to get her friends' attention.
"Thank you, ma'am," Ivory called after her.
"Hey, guys?" Rainbow Dash called out to the group. "This is... Ivory Wind, right?"
Ivory nodded sharply. "Yes, ma'am."
"He says he wants to talk to us." 
The ponies and dragon glanced around at each other, wondering what business a royal guard could possibly have with them. Spike stepped away from the group with his arms folded. 
"Okay. What about?" he asked. His head only came up to Ivory's shoulder, but he was still doing his best to intimidate the newcomer.
"As the ranking—well, only—member of the Royal Guard present, it is my duty to inform you all that I and two other guardsponies escaped from Canterlot with a small group of refugees. I flew ahead to intercept the train, and the others should get here shortly." 
The group shared another confused look. 
"Well," Fluttershy answered hesitantly, "we're glad that you got away, but what does that have to do with us?"
The guard lifted a foreleg uncertainly. That clearly wasn't the response he had been expecting. 
"Well, ma'am," he said to Fluttershy, "Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle have all been captured. Since Princess Twilight ruled as part of a council, that leaves the remainder of that council—which is to say, you all—as the highest authority in Equestria. We'll be looking to you for orders."
His announcement was met with a lot of dropped jaws, and one very smug expression.
"Well well well, the Great and Powerful Trixie likes that sound of that," she said.
"Trixie, y'ain't part of Twilight's council," Applejack said exasperatedly. "Well," she said to the others, "sounds like a lotta ponies are countin' on us to step up. What do y'all say?"
"I'm not on the council either," Starlight pointed out. "I'm just Twilight's student, I don't have any authority."
Pinkie shot a hoof into the air. "Motion to put Starlight on the Council of Friendship!"
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Pinkie, we cain't just—"
"Sure we can! Didn't you hear what Ivory said?" Pinkie appeared beside Ivory's head and moved his mouth up and down with her hooves. "The highest authority in Equestria. We could declare every day National Chocolate Milk Day if we wanted to!" She rested on top of Ivory Wind's head with a hoof to her chin. "Which, now that I think about it..."
The pegasus shook her off, then put a hoof to his jaw with a very confused expression. 
"Actually, Pinkie Pie is right," Rarity declared, "and I say six heads are better than five. I second the motion." 
"Yippee! All in favor?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Wow." Rainbow Dash looked around. "I guess this is actually happening, huh? Alright, aye." She raised her own hoof. "But only if we come up with a better name than Council of Friendship!"
"Yea," Fluttershy added.
"Uh." Applejack still wasn't sure if they could even do this, but nopony seemed to be stopping them. "Alright then, aye."
"Wait, what just happened?" Things were moving so quickly that Starlight had barely even registered the fact that they were voting on her status. 
"Congratulations, Starlight!" Pinkie exclaimed. "By a unaniminiminiminous decision, you are now a member of the Council of Friendship."
"I. Um. Thanks?" Starlight imagined that this should feel momentous, that she should feel happy and proud, but in truth she just felt lost. Pinkie had done what Pinkie did; she'd come tearing through like a whirlwind and left everything different and everyone confused, but maybe better off? It was hard to say. 
Even so, this also felt a bit wrong, as if they were going over Twilight's head. They really should talk to her before promoting her student to the Council. If only Twilight could be there...
"Motion to add Trrrrrixie to the Council!" 
There was utter silence except for the burst of the magical firework she'd shot off to emphasize her suggestion.
"Oh, come on!"
While Trixie stomped her hooves in frustration, Rarity turned back to Ivory Wind. "Terribly sorry, Mr. Wind," she said, "it seems we got ourselves a bit off-topic. You were saying that there are others coming, and that," she hesitated, "we are expected to be in charge?" 
"That's right, ma'am. Two more guards and a group of ten refugees should be arriving any minute now. And, until such time as the princesses can resume their duties, your group is the final word on matters of state and defense."
"Oh my," she said faintly. 
"Um," Fluttershy squeaked. "I don't suppose that we get a say in this?" The anxious pegasus was practically trembling at the thought of so much responsibility.
"You're Princess Twilight's co-rulers," Ivory said, almost apologetically. "That puts you in a specific—and very high—place in the chain of command." He scuffed a hoof uncertainly. "I guess you could appoint regents or something to handle things for you. I'm not really sure what your duties actually are," he admitted, "my only duty is to know where you fall in the hierarchy."
"Just out of curiosity," Starlight asked, "who's next after us?" 
"Rule would pass down the royal line," Ivory Wind explained. "It should go to Shining Armor, since he's a princess's brother, but he's out of the kingdom. Princess Cadence would be next, but with her also captured, next in line is..." he paused to think for a moment, "Prince Blueblood."
"We'll do it!" the group shouted as one.