//------------------------------// // King Clash // Story: Lost in the Storm // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// "Sandbar? Yona? Gallus?" Gallus slowly opened his eyes to find Ocellus looking over him and their friends. "Oh, you're awake. Sort of." The group was in a different plain with the Tree of Harmony sitting beside them. "Welcome back," said the tree's spirit. "Please tell me you have something good," Gallus groaned as he managed to stand up. "I'll give you something good," Smolder cried flying towards them. She hovered in the air and tried breathing fire but an invisible barrier protected them. "If it didn't work the first time why would it work the third time?" Gallus held his head as Smolder kept trying to break through. "This tree looks beautiful," Silverstream commented. "Thank you," said the spirit. "It's nice to see you are almost altogether." "What I wanna know is why you aren't dead!" Gallus cried startling everyone, including him. "That wasn't me... I swear..." The griffon held his head as a large amount of pain. "He's in my head." "Who?" Sandbar asked. "The general." Gallus groaned as they saw his right claw was turning black. "Why claw turn black?" Yona asked. She got her answer when Gallus grabbed Ocellus by the neck. "Gallus... Let go," the changeling begged. "I can't," Gallus groaned as his tone quickly changed. "I don't like with traitors. There's a nice room at the castle waiting for you." "Changeling head not getting smashed," Yona cried bashing into the griffon. "Sorry." "It's okay. I can't... Control him." Gallus turned to Smolder who was still trying to break in. "What are you waiting for?" "You don't think I'm trying?" Smolder moaned kicking and punching the shield. She then tried ramming into it yak style which started to make it crack. She kept trying as Gallus grabbed onto Silverstream's wings. "Hey, Smolder, you like our forcefield?" The dragon was confused about what the griffon was saying while struggling to stay in control. "You can't get us in here. Try and find us near the mountains." "Gallus are you crazy?" Ocellus questioned. "Hey, it's a gamble. There's no telling what those ponies are going to do to us." Suddenly, Gallus's pain reached maximum potential. He fell onto his back in shrieked. "Gallus," Sandbar gasped, "Where does it hurt?" The griffon didn't reply, he let out one loud cry that would destroy anyone's eardrums they got too close and the realm was engulfed in light. Gallus woke up to find he and his friends were each chained to a wall. They were in some sort of cave and the only light they had was coming from the nearby exit. "Gallus," Sandbar cried from as he tried to walk up to him. He stopped due to the length of his chain being too short. "Where are we?" "I don't know," Ocellus replied. The changeling's chains appeared to have some sort of glow to them. She tried to use her magic to change her shape, but she stayed in her original form. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" Silverstream shouted she tried to pull away from the chain. "Let me go!" "Shut it," ordered a mare. The fire-maned pegasus walked towards the creatures with some plates of food. "What do you want from us?" Gallus questioned. The mare didn't reply, she just left the trays of food in front of each creature and walked away. She stopped when she saw Silverstream trying to escape. When she turned into seapony to slip out, the mare stomped on her tail, causing her to cry out in pain. "Hey, leave her alone," Sandbar demanded. "I would be quiet if I were you," the mare said. "Not many creatures stand against me." After placing another chain around Silver's neck, the Pegasus walked away. "Are you okay Silver?" The seapony sniffed, "I been better." She turned back into a hippogriff and took some bites of her food. It wasn't the best quality and the creatures found it terrible. Except for Yona, she was kind of like it, but that was only because she was getting so little due to her legs being chained together. "Can Yona have some help?" she asked. "Here Yona," Ocellus said. The changeling managed to get close enough to Yona so she could help her sit up. The Yak then scooted over to her tray and snacked away. "How can you like this stuff?" Gallus questioned. "It reminds Yona of home." "Oh... Okay..." "Hmm, it's been a while since I've eaten," Silverstream sighed as she finished her dish, but she was still hungry. "Here Silver," Ocellus said passing her dish to the hippogriff. "I don't really need this. I share love, remember?" "Right." Silverstream smiled as she got a second dish. Gallus was willing to give his dish to Sandbar when he got a sudden bit of excruciating pain. The griffon fell onto the ground as he couldn't stand up. "Are you okay. Where does it hurt?" "EVERYWHERE!" Gallus shouted. He wasn't the only one going through the pain. Elsewhere, General Gallus was lying on a medical bed as he was given the same amount of pain. Smolder, who was lying on a bed next to him, had no idea what was happening as she was just waking up. Several ponies rushed to help the griffon, but they couldn't figure out the problem. The panic finally stopped when the general stood up and cough out a bit of blood. "Are you okay sir?" one of the medical ponies asked. "What... Do you think?" the general asked as he coughed up more blood. "How much you want to bet it was that copy of you?" Smolder asked. "Don't talk." The general slowly got off his bed with some of the ponies helping him. "He's still alive, as well as the traitors." "He taunted me, and..." "I said shut up. I want a full search team looking for them." Smolder got up, but the general had other plans for her. "Don't let her out of the castle." "What?" Many of the unicorns used their magic to hold her down while some other ponies went off to find yak and/or dragons. The general walked down the hall to find a prison cell where Tempest shadow was been kept. Back to the rebel group, Gallus was lying on the ground breathing heavily. "G-gallus," Sandbar said nervously. "Are you okay?" "Been... Better," the griffon groaned. "I think I'm just going to stay down for a while." "Who was screaming?" cried the stallion from before. "Stay away from us," Ocellus cried backing up. "No, it's okay. I don't want to hurt any of you." "Tell Yona where she and friends are," Yona ordered. "Well, Spitfire won't let me." "So, you are the Wonderbolts," Gallus said trying to sound angry, but the pain had weakened him. "Yeah, we were. My name's Soarin." "I used to watch your shows," Sandbar said. "What happened to you. I haven't seen you at our base." "We were busy at the academy when we got word of the Storm King's attack. We tried to fight him, but he was too powerful. Not just from his magic, but he also had some griffons by his side. A whole two-thirds of our team wiped out just by some creatures from a failed utopia. No offense kid." "None taken," Gallus said. "Try living there." "Whatever it's like, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and I are the only three left." "What do you do now?" Silverstream asked. "Well, we've taken shelter in... What's left of Rainbow Falls. We sometimes travel around beating up any storm king troopers that we run into." "Isn't that kind of dangerous?" Ocellus questioned. "We manage." "Soarin," cried Fleetfoot as she flew to towards her partner. "What are you doing in here?" "I heard somepony screaming." "They're part of the king's army. You can't trust them. Especially a changeling." Ocellus whimpered a bit after hearing this. "If we weren't chained up, and I wasn't feeling like crud, I would've helped beat you up," Gallus groaned. Fleetfoot just scoffed and walked away with Soarin. "Sorry, guys," he sighed. With the pegasi gone, the griffon finally managed to stand up. "So, Yona, how are you?" "Yak been better," Yona replied. "Might get better with group. Why didn't griffon fly down away from mountain?" "I couldn't move, Ocellus was out cold, and there's no way Silver could carry all of us. You were the only one who could break that tree down." "Yeah," Silverstream agreed. "Plus, if you ignored the avalanche that was behind us, it was pretty fun. I'd rather do it again then be here." The hippogriff was starting to get worried. "What are they going to do to us?" "I don't think they're going to let us starve," Ocellus stated. "So, should we get comfy?" Sandbar asked. "We're not going anywhere," Gallus said, "I think we should." The group sat for a few minutes with the only sound being Silverstream's heavy breathing. "Are you feeling okay?" Ocellus asked. "Not really," the hippogriff sighed. "I don't have a lot of... Positive memories." "Silver, stay calm," Sandbar said. "I think Soarin will let us go." "Soarin one to two," Yona stated. "We're not very lucky." "Yona's right," Gallus sighed. "We're going to need... Ngh!" He stopped when he felt a pain in his claw. "What's wrong?" Ocellus asked. "I just... Felt something." The griffon felt more pain as nearly fell. General Gallus was busy dealing with his new prisoner. Tempest had several cuts and bruises on her body, but she refused to break. "You can't do this all day," the general groaned as he stood up. "Even if I wanted to tell you, I don't know where they are," Tempest said. "Same for the Clears." "Is that so?" asked a voice. The Storm King looked down at his former ally with disgust. "I thought better of you." "I'm surprised you can. It's the griffon here that does all the planning while you just play around with your magic." "Oh, zip it." The king and general whispered to each other. "Why isn't she talking?" "She used to be part of your army," the general said. "Do you want your troops to just spill the beans?" "Just this one. Try those gloves I got you." "Right." The general placed on his special gloves. "Oh, boy," Tempest sighed knowing what was going to happen. The general grabbed her horn and while absorbing some of her magic. Fighting through the pain, she gave the griffon a much-deserved smack in the beak. The Gallus that was chained up fell back as he felt the pain. "What's happening?" Ocellus questioned. "Griffon going crazy," Yona suggested. "I'm not," Gallus groaned. "Something's wrong... GAH!" The general was trying to use his gloves to block Tempest's lightning. "A little help here," he shouted to the king. The Storm King just raised his staff and created a force field. Tempest stopped as the general placed a metal cap was placed on her horn, preventing any lightning from shooting out. "Much better," the king commented. "You're not going to make me say anything," Tempest said glaring at the two creatures. The king pointed his staff at the former trooper, but the general stopped him. "We need to keep her alive for as long as possible," he said. "Alright, fine. We can take of her and the copy griffon at the same time. Ooh, I should get some popcorn." His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of punches being thrown. He and the general walked down the hall where they were met with a pony being thrown at the king, making him lose his staff. The general found Smolder fighting off the many ponies trying to hold her down. Some dragons joined in to help out, but Smolder wouldn't go down without a fight. She saw the general coming and hastily breathed fire on him. With his other glove, General Gallus managed to catch some of the fire and absorbed it into his glove, but he still got burned a bit. "Seriously?" he asked. "I don't care what you say," Smolder replied. "I'm getting that griffon." She flew past some other dragons who look at the general. "What are you looking for? Backup? Get her!" The dragons chased Smolder down, but she already had a head start. She wouldn't be able to fight off that many dragons forever, she had to escape. Smolder found a window and she climbed through it and closed it. The dragons flew past the window without even batting an eye. "Ha, idiots," she scoffed. No one outside knew the orders given to keep Smolder inside. The dragon flew away thinking about what a certain griffon said. "Try and find us near the mountains." With that information, she flew off and started her search. In the cave, Gallus panting from feeling his body burning. "What's happening?" Yona asked. "I don't know," Gallus replied. "I just felt a burning pain. I don't know what's going on." "Well, I don't wanna know what they're going to do with us," Silverstream said as she tugged at her chains. "Yona, you're the strongest one here," Sandbar said, "Can't you just break these chains." "Yona not as strong as other yaks," Yona explained. "Yaks use weight and momentum to help with strength." "Have you tried rolling?" Ocellus asked. The yak rolled on her back and she did see she had enough length to build up speed. She rolled to one side as the chains tightened. Yona did this multiple times as they could see that the chain wasn't breaking, rather the part of the wall it was attached to. It broke off and Yona rolled out of the cave. "Alright," the group cheered. "Yona, try and find something to break the chains around your legs," Ocellus called. "Found some rocks," Yona replied. "Okay, what's going on?" Spitfire questioned as she walked in from the other way. She was horrified when she saw that Yona was gone, which quickly followed by rage. "What. Did. You. Do?" "Hey, you're the one keeping us prisoners," Gallus retorted. Spitfire growled at the griffon and walked up to Ocellus. "We were just..." The changeling couldn't finish as she was smacked in the face and given a bloody nose. "No, please..." Again, she was interrupted by being pinned against. "I've had enough of changelings like you." "Let her go," Silverstream cried only to be kicked by the mare. "Talk now," Spitfire ordered Ocellus. "I can't... Breathe," she gagged. Silverstream tried to stand up but Spitfire stomped on her chest. Gallus and Sandbar tried to get closer, but their chains were too short. "No, bad memories," Silverstream cried as she breathed heavily. "Yona, where are you?" Gallus shouted. "Yona smashed!" the yak yelled. Yona charged towards the pegasus and smashed into her. "Friends okay?" "Been... Better," Ocellus answered as she gasped for air. Silverstream breathed heavily as she remembered something she didn't want to. "Aunt Nova," she panted, "No. Don't go." "Oh, boy," Gallus sighed. "Silver, stay calm. Try and think of something that makes you happy. Think thing like... Swimming around, or stairs or something like that." "Stairs?" Sandbar questioned. "She was excited to see them in my world. I'm trying everything." Yona helped her friends break their chains to the best of her abilities. Once they were each free, she held Spitfire down while the griffon walked over to the panicking hippogriff. She was sweating in fear as she started tearing up. Not knowing what to do, Gallus just hugged her. "G... Gallus?" Silverstream stuttered. "Just calm down and take the hug." The hippogriff cheered up a little bit as she hugged him back. "Get off of me," Spitfire demanded. "No," Yona replied. "You tie us up. Yona give karma." Ocellus stood up and heard something. She changed into a bat to get a better hearing. "Someone's coming," she said. "Then we need to get out of here," Gallus said. "What about pegasus?" Yona asked. Ocellus turned back into her normal form and look at the chains that were still around Silverstream's neck. She took it off and tied it around Spitfire's wings and some more around her legs to keep her from moving. "Let's get out of here," Sandbar cried. The group ran out of the cave as other ponies ran in to find the tied up pony. "Where are we going?" Silverstream asked. "I don't know," Gallus said, "I'm just winging it." "Look," Sandbar said pointing to an old rundown station. "We'll hide in there," Ocellus said. The five creatures did so and the peaked out the window to find some ponies looking around. "Where did they go?" a stallion asked. "I'll search the station," said a voice which promptly made the five scared. "They're going to find us," Silverstream cried with Gallus covering her beak. They stayed quiet and hoped that the wouldn't be found, but they were. Soarin found them and could see the fear on their faces. "Soarin, what's taking so long?" questioned the stallion. The former Wonderbolt looked towards the creatures then shouted back at the stallion. "They're not in here!" "Then search somewhere else." The pegasus looked at the group. "Get out of here while you can." With that, he walked out of the station and the group waited until the cost was clear. "Why pony pretend not find us?" Yona asked. "I think he's warning us what will happen if we get caught," Gallus said double checking to see if anyone was around. "Come on, we'll follow the tracks." The group made a break for it running down the rails. "Really wish we had the train," Sandbar said. "I think we have bigger problems," Ocellus said, "We don't have our gear. No food, no medical supplies, no camping equipment. We're not going to last much longer." "Stay calm," Gallus said. "We shouldn't be too far from the Crystal Empire. I remember from the map." As they were nearing the bridge, Silverstream looked up and saw some hippogriffs flying around. "Hide," she cried while trying not to attract the hippogriffs' attention. "What, why?" Ocellus asked. Just by pointing at the scouts made the flying creatures pick up Yona and Sandbar and they hid under the bridge. "Okay, this might not be the best time," Gallus said, "But I think we can follow them back to the empire." "Shush," Silverstream said. "Sorry. What are they even doing here? I thought we had a good cover-up on our fake deaths." Then Gallus realized something. "He knows." "What?" Sandbar questioned. "The other me was in my head. He figured out we're still alive and is sending scouts to find us." "So, what do we do?" "Just stay out of sight," Silverstream said. "That's the best you can do." The team slowly floated down, where some fog would help cover them up. The stayed down there for what seemed like an hour, which made the griffon, changeling, and hippogriff tired from staying aborn while carrying their passengers. "You think they're gone?" Sandbar asked. "I'm not sure," Ocellus replied. They slowly came back up to find the scouts were nowhere to be seen. "I think we're in the clear. Stay alert." The now tired group carried on with their journey, now at a much slower pass. "There you are," cried a familiar voice. "Now what?" Gallus grumbled. They before they got off the bridge, Smolder landed in front of the group with smoke coming from her nostrils. "I've been waiting for this," she said cracking her knuckles. "What are you going to do?" Ocellus asked. "Well, the general and king aren't going to want traitors like you. So, you're going to get beaten and burned." With that, Smolder opened fire by breathing the said element at the creatures. They barely managed to dodge with Ocellus flying overhead before turning into a bugbear and smashing Smolder down hard. The dragon's claw slashed against the bugbear, who changed back into a changeling. Sandbar and Yona couldn't get past the dragon. "What do we do?" Sandbar questioned. He could see Gallus and Silverstream were trying to help Ocellus out, but they couldn't do much either, much less considering they were exhausted. The pony was surprised when he saw Yona breaking up one of the railway tiles. She broke off and gave it to Sandbar. "Use wood like weapon," Yona said. Both charged at Smolder, who was caught off guard and was smacked in the back of the head by Sandbar before get rammed into by Yona. The two were glad to get off the bridge now not having to fear of falling off. The dragon shot fire into the air out of anger before flying up to the yak grabbing her by the horns. Yona just threw her upwards, where Gallous grabbed her by the tail and threw into the mountainside. This made Smolder madder than hurt and she picked up a nearby boulder and threw it at the team. Silverstream rammed into Gallus, knocking him out of the way before he got hit. Ocellus turned into a dragon again and tried punching Smolder, but the actual dragon grabbed her and used her as a shield before Yona could smash into her. Smolder breathed fire on them, but Ocellus did what she did and used herself as a shield to protect Yona. Sandbar tried using his railroad tile as a bat. He smacked the dragon so hard, the plank broke. This just made Smolder's anger increase. "...I'm sorry," Sandbar said immediately regretting what he just did. The pony just uppercut by the furious dragon, lucky for him, Silverstream caught him. The hippogriff couldn't stay aborn with Sandbar for long. "Are you okay?" "Just... Tired..." Silverstream sighed. "She's too strong for us," Gallus said. "We need a new plan. Try and buy me some time." "Roger," Sandbar and Silverstream said. They ran back to fight against Smolder while the griffon thought. He looked at the mountain cliff. They looked like they would collapse and crush any unlucky creature. Seeing his friends getting the tar beaten out of them while Smolder didn't have a scratch on her. Seeing his friends didn't have much time left, the griffon flew up to the cliff. "She's too strong," Ocellus groaned as she kicked in the gut. "I've gotten special training for this," Smolder said as she grabbed Silverstream and Sandbar who tried to attack from behind. "Now, just give me the griffon and..." She saw Gallus stomping on the cliff. "What is he doing?" Gallus flew upwards before smashing down on the cliff, making it break off and fall on Smolder. Before the dragon could crawl out, Ocellus turned into a bugbear again to help Yona hold her down. "You okay?" Gallus asked landing in front of the pinned dragon. Smolder just sighed as she looked up at the griffon. "Just do it. Finish me." "What?" "I lost to the five of you. I don't deserve to fight like a dragon. Crush me even more, the yaks are good at that." Gallus was at a loss for words. Without saying any, he moved the bits of rock off of Smolder. "What are you doing?" "I'm not finishing you off." Ocellus and Yona help get the broken bits of the cliff off the dragon. "You can do better than just giving up. Fight for something better than just doing what a dictator says. Join us and help fight for Equestria." Gallus held his claw out for Smolder accept. The dragon just scoffed and swatted the claw away. "Hey, I'm giving you a chance." "Well, I don't want it." Smolder stood up and was about to walk off, but the griffon stopped her. "Forget your stupid dragon pride and listen to me. Why do you follow that stormhead?" "He killed Dragon Lord Ember, what other choices would I have? Getting turned to stone and shattered?" "He can do that?" Sandbar questioned. "Yeah," Silverstream replied shivering a bit. "You don't have to listen to him," Gallus said. "Are what are you going to do?" Smolder asked. "He can kill dragons with just his staff. What makes you think that a griffon, pony, yak, changeling, and hippogriff/seapony can do?" "Well, three of them can help take him down from the inside." "Seriously?" "It's better than just blindly attacking to get in. They can't defend against something they can't see coming." "We think Sandbar would make a good prisoner," Ocellus said. "We just need to find a muzzle and chains. I don't think that the ponies are going to let us borrow some." "Yeah," Sandbar sighed. "Then I guess you're out of luck," Smolder scoffed. "You're not helping," Gallus grumbled. "I know. That's because this plan isn't going to work." "You haven't even tried it yet," Ocellus said. "We just need the chains." "Uh, what's that sound?" Sandbar asked hearing a whirring sound. "Oh no," Silverstream gasped. "Airships." The hippogriff was right. An airship was flying towards them. "Guys, get over there," Gallus ordered pointing to a part of the mountains. "Why?" Yona asked. The griffon didn't answer, he just kicked the mountain, which Yona helped with, and snow fell on top of the other five creatures. "Please, work." A familiar blue griffon flew down from him. "I've been looking for you," the general said. "Where are the others?" "Far from here. Look, just leave them alone and I'll come with you." "Is he crazy?" Silverstream questioned from under the snow before Sandbar covered her mouth. She was thankfully muffled by the snow, so the general didn't hear her. "Alright, the king will enjoy seeing you," the general said. A cage lowered down from the airship and Gallus was lead inside. and locked in. Ocellus stuck her head out and transformed into a rock to stay hidden. "You know, you're terrible," Gallus commented. "Even for a griffon." The general didn't reply, he just stared at him as the cage was lifted back into the ship. The general flew upwards with him and the ship slowly flew away. "That's one down," he said. "I'll be happy if we find the rest of them." Ocellus couldn't believe what she just saw. After the airship was out of sight, the changeling changed back and helped dig her team out. "Where's Gallus?" Sandbar asked. "They took him," Ocellus explained. "They're heading back to the Crystal Empire." "What about us?" Silverstream asked. "He'll get us next." "Yona now scared," the yak shivered. "What will king or general do?" "I don't know," Smolder said, "But I'm not going to find out." The dragon was about to fly off, but the changeling stopped her. "You're just going to fly away?" Ocellus questioned. "I don't stand a chance against the Storm King, and neither do you." "One our own," Sandbar commented. "Excuse me?" "Think about, we never made it this far if we did things by ourselves. Ocellus's shapeshifting helped cut down on travel time, so did Silverstream pearl necklace. Yona helped us on the mountain, and I think Smolder might be strong enough to help fight off anything in our path." "You think that a speech of what we can do is going to motivate us?" "What do we have to lose?" The creatures were quiet for a moment. "He's right," Ocellus confirmed. "We've got nothing." "It's because of him," Silverstream sigh with some anger starting to build up. "He took everything from us." "Talking about king, right?" Yona asked. "Of course. I don't want to listen to him anymore." "Yona agree. King take all the fun out of smashing." "If I keep following him, I'll go hungry again," Ocellus said, "So will the other changelings." The group looked towards Smolder, who was just crossing her arms. "What are you looking at?" Smolder asked. "I'm just cold." "You can do better than follow him. What do you like?" "Gems. And lava pools. There's also my brother." "Is... He still alive?" Sandbar asked. "Of course he is. It's just... He's changed." The dragon was trying her hardest to keep back her tears. "He's much more of fighter now, and I like that. It's just... He's colder. He's been put in charge of integrating traitors. He enjoys it. I tried talking to him after that but... He's changed." "Is that reason why you want to get Gallus so bad?" Ocellus asked. Smolder nodded with a tear sliding down her cheek. "I tried doing what he does but I can't help but feel... Disgusted. I can't enjoy it." "Who would enjoy taking someone's life?" Silverstream asked trying to avoid the other word. The dragon nodded again. "I don't want the brother I have now. I want... My brother back." Denial couldn't hold back her feeling anymore and Smolder soon had tear pouring down her face. She sat down as she tried not to weep while Silverstream walked over to her and hugged her. "It's okay, you could've just talked to me." Smolder couldn't take it much more until the rest of the group shared in the hug. "I... I don't understand. I tried to kill you." "The Storm King has gotten to all of us," Ocellus said. "Yona not stand for it any longer," Yona stated, releasing from the hug. "Friends take king down." "I think I know where we can get some chains," Ocellus said. "I'm going to a bit of firepower to help though." Smolder wiped her tears and listened to what she had in mind. Gallus decided he try and get comfy, he already tried to escape which he couldn't. Even if he did, the dragon and griffon guards would've stopped him The general then walked up to look him face to face. "Where did you go?" asked Gallus. "I had to have a word with the king," the general replied. "I have a lot of questions for you." "Then knock some right off the bat. First of all, I came here through a portal. As for where the others are, I'm not a snitch." "Can I help him talk?" asked one of the dragon guards. "No," the general replied. "I've got some gear." He held up his two gloves, the left with fire and the right with lightning magic. Before Gallus could ask anything, the general grabbed him by the neck with both claws. As the elemental gloves started their magic, both griffons screamed in pain. The general fell back and let go of Gallus. The griffons looked at each other in confusion. "Nice gloves. Mind explaining what just happened?" "That's what I wanna know." Suddenly, Gallus started putting things together. "Okay, this may sound crazy, but I've been getting these chest pains every time I woke up in this world. Now, I think we share each other's pain." To confirm this, Gallus bit his wing, making him wince a bit but the general cried out. "How?" "You think I wanted this? I've just been trying to get home." "Great, now I have something else to worry about. Alright, scouts, look for the..." He couldn't finish his sentence as his doubleganger banged his head against the cage bars. "Stop that." "Oh, what are you going to do, torture me? You'll only hurt yourself. Plus, I think the king wants me dead." The general's eyes widened. "Oh, that's going to hurt you too." "I've already told the king we've captured you, and there's no telling what will happen if we tell him you "escaped." "So, what do we do?" the griffon guard asked. "He must know where the traitors are. Make sure no one gets on this ship." The guards left the room, leaving just the two Galluses. "Why did you join?" the caged Gallus asked. "Excuse me?" "Why did you join the king's army? What kind of reason would you have for joining someone's team to do all his dirty work?" "What other choices would I have? Think about it, we're essentially the same griffon, so we would think the same way. You know those other creatures somehow, pretend that you don't know them. You're just a sad little griffon that doesn't have any food, a roof over your head or even carrying parents. That's our life. Nothing to live up beside another lonely day just trying to survive. But as a general, everyone has to listen to me, I couldn't refuse his offer." "You don't have to do this." "Why would I give up all this power?" "What would happen if you lost it? You'd have nothing to back you up. If you and I are the same griffon then you could've learned to accept friends. They're there when you need cheering up, need some company, or just to have fun." "It's nice of you to offer, but that's not going to overpower the king." "Oh, you'd be surprised." "How? Twilight Sparkle is long gone, and we have no idea where her friends are. Unless you tell us." "Nope. Go ahead, give us another shock and a burn." "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" "A bit." Gallus gave a sassy grin as the general growled. "What are you going to do about it?" He didn't reply, he just left the griffon in the cage. With the general out of the room, Gallus let out a sigh found only a small window to look out at the world. "Please tell you guys are planning something." "You let them escape?" Spitfire questioned Soarin. "I said I couldn't find them," Soarin fibbed. "Great, I hope you didn't give too much info. Let's just get the fall set up just in case." The fire-maned pegasus walked off in anger as a small lanky mare walked up to Soarin. The mare was yellow-green fur and a cyan mane. "Excuse me, sir," she said. "Could you help me find something?" "What is it?" Soarin asked. "I need four chains and cuffs." The pegasus looked rather confused. The mare's eyes went buggy for a second, then back to normal, following it with a wink. "Okay, but you need to get out of here fast." Soarin managed to find some chains and gave them to the mare, who promptly ran off. Once she was out of sight, she changed back into Ocellus the changeling. She rejoined her team and placed the chains down in front of them. "Okay, so let's get chained up," Ocellus said. She and the others started locking the cuffs around them. "What are we doing again?" "For crying out loud, Smolder listen this time. You're the only one who the general doesn't know hasn't joined our side, so you're going to pretend you've overpowered us and are now taking them to the king. Once we're inside, we'll look around for Gallus then try and catch the king off guard and steal his staff." "Sounds risky," Sandbar said, "But I don't know what else we'll do." Once the four were chained up, Smolder grabbed onto the end of the chains. "I think to make this really convincing, I need to rough you guys up," the dragon said. "Make quick," Yona said flinching for what was going to happen. After a few punches, kicks, scratch, and a little bit of fire, Sandbar, Yona, Silverstream, and Ocellus were bruised, cut, and a tiny bit burned. "You know I'm just increasing our options." "We know," Silverstream said. "Let's get that king." The team headed off towards the Crystal Empire, which thankfully wasn't much further. Tired from walking for so long, they could see the large castle as well as a large number of guards standing around every entrance. "State your business," a griffon guard asked. "I've got these punks," Smolder answered tugging at the chains. "Hey," Sandbar cried. "Shut it." "I knew the general was wrong," a unicorn guard said. "Follow me to the castle." As the group walked closer and closer to the castle, Sandbar looked at some ponies and griffon moving some cargo with the king's emblem on them. There were some ponies that were chained up and pulling some carts. "Is this what the empire is like now?" Sandbar whispered to the girls. "Sadly, yes," Silverstream sighed. "Can't wait for this to be over." "I'm impressed kick," the unicorn said, "I never thought you could take on these creatures. Let alone a changeling." "You just gotten know their weak points," Smolder replied. "I would honestly laugh if you lost to that pony with missing dept perception." Sandbar's ears drooped as he heard this, which Yona didn't like. "Hey, could you answer a question for me? Where's that griffon that looks like the general." "I don't know. The ship got back, but nopony's letting me on." "What for?" Ocellus asked. "No talking." The guard's horn glowed brightly making the changeling flinch. "Hey, just show me where I need to take them," Smolder pulling the prisoners back by the chains. "The interrogation room, there's also a broken unicorn in there." Sandbar, Silverstream, and Ocellus looked at each other thinking the unicorn sounded familiar. Smolder took them to the interrogation room, where they heard something being thrown against a wall. When they opened the doors they found a red dragon throwing Tempest around like a rag doll. "Oh, sis, you're here," the dragon said. "Hey... Garble," Smolder not feeling very confident at the moment. "Who's that?" "She calls herself Tempest. Wanna helped get some answers from her? She's not wanting to talk." "Why would I talk to a monster like you?" Tempest asked, only to have a kick in the gut. "Look, Garble, I've got some more prisoners," Smolder said. "Oh, really?" Garble asked getting excited. "Oh, my day just got better." "W-wh-what are you going to do?" Silverstream asked. Garble just simply grabbed the chain and attached them to the wall so the creatures couldn't escape. Smolder had to think fast and ran over to Tempest to remove her horn cap and found the horn was broken. Before she could what happen to it, Tempest slowly stood up and zapped Garble with lightning. "How the heck?" The dragon was caught off guard as Ocellus didn't have the special kind of chains that prevent her from changing into a bugbear and punching Garble several times. Smolder began to help the earth pony, yak, and hippogriff, much to her brother's shock. "Smolder what are you doing?" "Sorry, bro," Smolder sighed. "I don't want the dragon you are now." Once Yona was free, she rammed into the red dragon where Tempest then zapped him with lightning, knocking him out. "Sorry you had to see that," Sandbar said. She didn't say anything as she and the others looked at Tempest. "I see you're on our side now," Tempest said. "We need to find Gallus," Ocellus said. "Who knows what they're doing to him." "But what about king?" Yona asked. "We need his staff." "Then maybe we should split up," Sandbar said. "I'll go with Silverstream and Yona to find Gallus, the rest of you can fight against the army to get to the king." "Isn't that a little risky?" Silverstream asked. "Don't worry," Smolder said. "I've got a lot of combat experience." "Ditto," Tempest agreed. "Well, good luck guys," Ocellus said to Sandbar's team. The two trios split up to do their jobs. "So, where are the ships?" Sandbar asked. "The dock is where the Colosseum used to be," Silverstream answered. "This way." The raced towards the dock as Tempest's team got closer to the throne room. They peeked inside and saw the king holding three different sets of horns. "I'll handle this," Ocellus said as she changed into the general and walked in. "Your Highness," she said in the griffon's voice. "Oh, you're back," the king said. "I'm wanting to make another crown. Which horns should I got with, dragon, changeling, or yak?" The horns each belonged to the respective leaders who Ocellus knew too well. "Uh, yak horns. They go with your color." "Thanks, I knew these would look good." He tossed the other horns away as place the yak horns in a bag. "Just wish these things weren't so big. Give this to one of the chumps making our uniforms. Now, I'm off to take my nap." Walking away with his staff, Ocellus knew her team would get caught. She raced past the king and grabbed Smolder and Tempest and hid them behind the corner. "What was that about?" "Just get anger at the faker." "Right, don't interrupt my nap." The disguised changeling nodded trying to look serious, then the king walked off. She looked towards Tempest and Smolder. "I think we found our opportunity." "Do you know where he keeps his staff." The king walked into his bedroom and slid his staff under his bed, which there wasn't a lot of space. He tucked himself in and fell asleep. "Of all the places," Tempest groaned quietly. "Would it make it worse if I told you he's a light sleeper?" Smolder asked closing the door. "Great, how are we suppose to get it?" "We need to trick him into getting out of bed," Ocellus said. "If we try and steal it right there, we'll get caught and I don't want to know what he'll do." "Hmm," Smolder thought. "I think we should try and catch an escapee." She began whispering her plan to unicorn and changeling what she had in mind. At the docking station, Sandbar, Yona, and Silverstream were looking around to see which ship Gallus was on. Sandbar had to lay low, while the girls had a much easier time getting around. "Where is he?" Sandbar questioned looking down on an empty ship deck. "Hang on," Silverstream said, "Most of these ships look the same." "Who's looking for me?" came a voice. "That sounds like Gallus." The three walked over where they heard the voice and looked below the deck to see the caged griffon. "Oh, good, you found me," Gallus sighed. "Get me out of here." "On it," Yona replied as she got a running start. Before the griffon could say something to stop her, Yona rammed into the cage to break him out. Gallus fell out of the broken cage with a bit of pain. "Sorry." "I appreciate your apologie, but somehow the general and I can share each other's pain." "Like, right now?" Sandbar asked. The griffon nodded. "Then we better run," Silverstream said. After helping Gallus up, they made a run for it. Elsewhere in the castle, General Gallus felt a pain in his back that came out of nowhere. He realized what this meant. "They found him," he gasped. He took flight and flew down the hall where he suddenly noticed Tempest running away from Smolder, who were both surprised to see him. "Your Highness," cried a voice followed by the sound of someone stumbling and falling on the floor. "The prisoner's trying to escape. The general flew to the bedroom where the Storm King was just leaving. "Hey, weren't you just waking me up?" the king asked. They both look and saw another griffon general picking up the kings. "Not if a third me has come to this world." Before the two could act, Smolder and Tempest kicked them away so they and Ocellus, who changed into a cheetah, could escape. Gallus let out a loud groan which grabbed the attention of some army troopers. "Uh oh," Sandbar cried. "Stay calm," Yona ordered as the troopers closed in on them. "Yona will handle this." The yak led the charge, running full speed and plowing through any trooper that got in there way. "Now, what?" Gallus asked. "Hopefully the others have the king's staff," Silverstream said. "Let's just get out of here." The group raced down the hall where they met up with Smolder, Ocellus, and Tempest. "Do you have the staff?" Sandbar asked. "Right here," Ocellus said showing the king's staff. "None of us know how to use unicorn magic," Smolder said. "But Tempest can," Gallus said. He gave to the staff to the unicorn. "Can you use it." "It's been a while since I've used my magic properly," Tempest said, "But I'll do my best." "No you won't," the general said. Using his gloves, he grabbed Tempest by her legs and burned her back, but Smolder kicked the general across the room, which Gallus shared the pain. Unfortunately, Tempest's pain caused her to lose the staff through the window. "Something wrong?" Smolder asked. "We share pain somehow," Gallus groaned. "We've lost the staff," Tempest groaned. She looked towards the general and they both raced to get it back. Gallus and his friends were about to follow, but they were quickly surrounded by the king's army. "Oh, boy," the griffon said nervously. "You really think I'm going to let some creatures push me around?" Smolder asked. "Bring it on." The group fought back against the king's army. Several blows were thrown at each side, as Tempest and the general fought over the staff. Both Galluses fought on and they both felt each other's pain. Still, they both fought on. "You missed your chance... When you quit," the general said to Tempest as he felt his doubleganger's pain as well as the pain received from Tempest decking him in the face. "You are nothing without your king," Tempest proclaimed as she tried to grab the staff but she got pulled back. "You're nothing but a tool to him. He gets to play with his magic while you order his minions around." "He has the power of four alicorns. He's the most powerful creature in all of Equestria." "He's nothing but a coward. Don't you think he'd try to get his staff back instead of sending you?" The general tried to use his gloves to attack the unicorn again, but he found out they were out of magic. When he tried to grab Tempest's horn, but the mare managed to catch his glove in her mouth and rip them off his claw. She tried to go the same to the other gloves, but the general caught her by the horn and stole some her magic. Tempest kicked him away a few feet before charging towards him with another punch. Gallus meanwhile was struggling to fight off the army with his team. He didn't have much combat experience and the whole sharing pain thing wasn't helping. Lucky for him, his friends were backing him up. Yona and Smolder were the strongest of their team so they had most of the combat handle. Ocellus could change into multiple creatures so she could even the playing field. Sandbar and Silverstream hadn't had too much experience fighting either, but still, they did what they could. Still, the number of soldiers seemed never-ending. "Why are there so many of them?" Sandbar asked. "Dragon lands, changeling hive, Yakyakistan," Smolder said punching a yak in the face, "Take your pick." "There's too many," Gallus said groaning as he felt the generals pain. "Come on, guys," Ocellus said turning into a bugbear to pick her team, "Fall back." The group fled with the army giving chase. "I knew this would fail somehow." "It's not over yet," Silverstream said. "Tempest might've got the staff." Gallus grunt of pain would agree to this. "Get to where Tempest is," Sandbar said to Ocellus. "On it," Ocellus replied. Smolder looked back at the army that was still on their tails. "They're getting closer," she said. "We're almost outside." The second the left the castle's entrance where they found Tempest and the general were still fighting. Silverstream saw the staff lying on the ground. She flew over to it, but a unicorn levitated it away. Smolder kicked the pony making its horn stop glow and Ocellus swiped the staff and returned to her normal form. She passed it to Silverstream who then passed it to Sandbar and then to Gallus all in an attempt to keep it away from the storm army. "Not on my watch," the general said before turning to Tempest. He didn't even try to defend against her, after getting kicked in the face his pain was sent to Gallus, causing the griffon to drop the staff. The staff fell towards the entrance of the castle, where the Storm King walked out and caught it. Before the rebels could react, the king used the staff's magic to levitate them right in front of him. "You did good," he said, "It just wasn't enough." "What should we do with them?" the general asked. "Well, they did better than any team tried before, so I think we need to make this special." He took the captured creatures and brought them to the throne room. "Ah, the place where it all began." He looked behind his throne and picked up a green orb. "What's that?" Sandbar asked a little scared. "That orb has dust that turns living beings into obsidian statues," Tempest explained. She was removed from the group as the king focus on the six rebels. "Sir, I think the other me and I are connected somehow," the general said. "Every time one of us gets injured, the other feels our pain, literally." "That's nice." "It means if you kill him, I'll go down with him." "Hmm, I'm already killing seven, an eighth one wouldn't hurt me." "Hey, I help control your army." "And so did that broken horned pony over there. I can always get a new one. Now, get out of the way." The king threw the griffon across the wall and Gallus felt his pain. "Guys, I'm sorry about this," Gallus sighed. "It's okay," Ocellus said, "It was better than nothing." "I honestly had some steam to blow off when it came to this army," Smolder said. "Same," Silverstream sighed. "I never like this king." "Yona like teaming up with friends," Yona said. "Wish we could've had more fun." "Yeah," Sandbar sighed, "At least we got to see more of Equestria." "Aw, isn't this cute," the Storm King scoffed. "I hate cute." While using his staff's magic, he kept Tempest and the General in their place as he threw the orb at the six creatures. The orb shattered and they slowly started turning into statues. "Thanks for helping anyway guys," Gallus sighed. He closed his eyes as his entire body turned into obsidian. Silence fell over the entire room, several soldiers were watching from the outside halls. The general stood still as he was scared at what was going to happen, nothing did. "Hmm, I guess you were wrong." Suddenly, there was a loud crack. Everyone looked to the frozen creatures. A crack was on Gallus's forehead with a bit of light seeping through. The crack got bigger and even spread to his friends as the obsidian vanished and they were released. Their eyes glowed white as the floated into the air. The king tried to fire a beam at the floating creatures but it didn't do anything. "How is this possible?" He kept firing but still, nothing happened. "What going on?" Yona asked. "I don't know," Ocellus replied. "I know," Gallus said with a smirk on his face. "You may have a lot of things, an army, a kingdom, and the magic of four alicorns. You could have all the power in Equestria, but you wouldn't even come close to the most powerful magic of all. Honest, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic. These six elements come together to make the Magic of Friendship." Yona, Sandbar, Silverstream, Ocellus, Smolder, and Gallus had auras appear around them as the elements were mentioned. The team held each others' arms as a rainbow shot out from them towards the Storm King. He tried to fight back with a forcefield trying a counter laser, but he was obliterated from the rainbow beam. Before he was completely destroyed he let out three final words. "I hate you." Another rainbow shot through the roof of the castle and the storm clouds, making them fade revealing clear skies. The rainbow could be seen all across Equestria. The Clears in Ponyvillie saw it as well as the late princess of friendship's friends couldn't believe what they saw. The glow slowly dissipated and the six creatures slowly lowered to the floor as the Storm King was nowhere to be seen. "What was that?" Smolder questioned in shock. "That felt... Incredible." "Magic of Friendship," Gallus explained. "That... Wow," Ocellus gasped at a loss for words. "I wanna do that again," Silverstream cried with excitement filling her up. "Imagine if we had that kind of magic if I was swimming." "Uh, guys," Sandbar said pointing to the speechless soldiers who just watched what happened. "Want to fight Yona and friends?" Yona asked as she looked like she was going to charge. The soldiers ran off as they didn't want to have the same fate as the king. Tempest walked over to where he was sitting. All that was left, was his staff. "I knew he wouldn't last much longer," she said picking up the staff. "I don't understand," the general said. "How can you do that?" "My friends back home have done it before," Gallus said. "You feel that every time?" Sandbar questioned. "It lessens the second time around." Tempest walked over to the griffon. "I'm honestly impressed," she said. "It's going take a while until Equestria is put back together. A few years even." "I want to know what we're going to do with him?" Smolder asked pointing to the general. Gallus walked over to him. "What do you want?" the general asked. "You were right. I'm nothing. Just some puppet the king had control of." "That's the word," Gallus said, "Had. You and I are the same. I learned about friendship, so can you." He held out his claw to help his counterpart up. The general sighed. "You think that'll make up for all the things I helped?" "I've done a lot of bad things while following him too," Tempest admitted. "We might not like our past, but we can learn from it." The griffon looked up at the mare and his twin. With a sigh, he let Gallus help him up as they looked at the other five creatures, who were having mixed feelings about this. Later, the Clears flew their airship towards the empire. They were surprised to see there weren't any soldiers on guard. "Something ain't right here," Applejack said looking down at the empire. "I can scout it out," Rainbow Dash said. "Hold it," Shining Armor said. "Someone's down there." The unicorn was right. He, as well as the two mares, floated down to find Tempest and the two Galluses. "We would like you to hold fire," Tempest said. "Where's the Storm King?" Dash asked, ready for a fight. "Oh, him?" Gallus asked. "Yeah, he's not coming back." "He's gone?" Applejack asked with Gallus nodding in confirmation. "Good riddance," Shining sighed. Sandbar's mom and dad got off the airship and looked around for their son. "Where is he?" the mother questioned very worriedly. Sandbar, as well as his friends, came walking out of the castle, where the earth pony saw his parents. "There you are," his father shouted walking over to him with his mother. "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry," Sandbar apologized. "Sorry for what?" Rainbow asked butting in. "You helped save Equestria." "How did you know?" Ocellus asked. "Who else was here and caused that blast?" "Rainbow has a point," Applejack said. "Gallus's sudden appearance plus Ocellus joining our team, we can put two and two together." "Are you friends of Twilight Sparkle?" Silverstream asked. Dash and AJ's expressions fell. "I mean to upset you..." "No, it's okay." "I know how it feels actually. My aunt was Queen Nova." "Oh." "Let's talk about something less depressing," Sandbar's mom said. "Sandbar, we're too happy to see you to be mad." She quickly hugged her son with the dad joining in. "So, what are we going to do now?" Dash asked. "We're going to rebuild Equestria," Tempest explained as she showed them the king's staff. "Hopefully the other species are willing to work together." "Some of them are bit damaged," Smolder said. "Mentally and physically." "We'll get through it," Sandbar said. They heard some groaning and looked over to the two Galluses, who both looked to be in pain. The five creatures ran over to them to see what was wrong. "What going on?" Yona asked. "Don't know," Gallus replied as he coughed up some blood. "We're not going to last much longer," the general groaned as he also coughed blood. "Mom, we need some help over here," Sandbar cried. Before the mare could run over to them, a portal suddenly opened up. "What the heck is that?" Smolder questioned. "It's a portal," Gallus said as he struggled to stand. "Hopefully it's back to my world." "Are you sure?" Ocellus asked. "You have no idea what's on the other side." "It's either that or I wait to see what happens to me and the other me." "So, this is goodbye," Silverstream sighed. "Yona just started to know Gallus," Yona said. "Look, there's another me here. You can try and get to know him. He does need friends." "Well, we hope you get back home safely," Sandbar said. The group shared one last hug before Gallus slowly walked towards the portal. "Gallus." The griffon looked back at them. "Thank you." Gallus smiled as he walked into the portal just as it closed. The group looked to the general who was just as surprised as everyone else who just saw what happened. "Please, don't give me the lovey-dovey stuff," he said. "We can start slow," Ocellus said. "You want to talk about something?" "Yeah, maybe something to remember the different kingdoms' rulers." "I have an idea," Silverstream said. She told what her idea was to her friends. "Yona like idea," Yona said. "I can help with that," Smolder said. "You wanna join in?" Sandbar asked the general. "Sure, and just call me Gallus," he said. Even though they were confused on what just happened, the group walked off to help put Equestria back together.