The Halberd stands in the air like an ominous demon, highlighted against the stormy clouds it emerged from with a deafening roar.
Weiss stands at the helm in his familiar arm-crossed pose, a hand snaking out and tapping at the controls next to him.
Tempest's face appears on a nearby monitor. "How goes the mission I sent you for?" Weiss demands, Tempest looking particularly exhausted.
"I do wish you had simply let me come along if you're really going to be taking care of the matter we discussed," Tempest starts, pausing for a few moments before she continues.
"It's as your prophecies stated, the buffalo arrived and accosted the train. However, despite my not intervening, the dragon was able to prevent the tree from being taken. What do you want me to do from here?"
Weiss hums, as an airship approaches the Halberd, looking particularly nasty and aggressive.
"See if you can convince them to make contact with the buffalo. Shut up anyone who isn't named Little Strongheart or Braeburn, the others will just end up interfering with negotiations. If all else fails, use the portal device as a point of barter," Weiss says, gesturing at the crew to prepare the cannons when the enemy airship fires a harpoon that bounces off of the Halberd's metal hull with a shriek.
"Permission to ask why helping them out benefits us, now that you've already connived me into coming here?" Tempest asks, making Weiss smile faintly.
"Buffalo magic is tied to their bodily strength, having nothing to do with nature. And yet their stampeding every year is able to enrich the soil and cause massive amounts of gem and crystal growth. I want to know the secret, and helping them now will make them more pliable later. Make sure they know you're one of mine. Over and out."
As Tempest's face disappears from the monitor, replaced with battle logs for the ship, Weiss smiles. "What a brave new world, that has such putzes in it," he claims, staring at the enemy airship fondly, before giving the order to fire.
As Applejack hugs and pets the tree, she repeatedly whispers comforting words. "Don't worry, Bloomberg, you're safe now, those mean old buffalo can't get you now, there there," she whispers to the tree, making her friends and family look on with vague confusion. The Appleloosans however, don't seem nearly as disturbed by the arboreal tender moment.
"Well, while Applejack gets Bloomberg calmed down enough for planting, I can go on and show you the wonders and majesty of-"
"Aaappleloosa!" he rears up as a faint horse's whinny echoes behind him.
Tempest, who is hanging around off to the side, simply watches with vague disgust as the so-called Braeburn drags Twilight and her friends around, pointing out their various attractions, from horse-drawn carriages, in the sense of a pony dragging a carriage around with another pony in it, to horse-drawn carriages, in the sense of ponies literally drawing carriages with a pencil and paper.
"I forgot how cheery ponies can get," she mutters to herself before Pinkie Pie seemingly materializes behind her. "Ponies aren't cherries, silly, they're ponies!"
Tempest jerks. "Sweet Elysium, they need to put a bell on you," the unicorn claims, wrangling her adrenaline back under control while Pinkie looks adorably confused.
"But then how would I sneak up on ponies to surprise them?" Pinkie ponders out loud.
"Well, anyway, what'cha doing here, spying on us?" Pinkie asks as Tempest gives her a deadpan look.
"Yes," Tempest responds plainly, not caring particularly whether or not the bubblegum mare knows.
"Oh! Okie-Dokie! Can I spy too? I'm really good at spying!" Pinkie shouts, making Tempest groan before an idea crosses her mind.
"Yes, fine, I need you to go look for a pink mare with three balloons for her cutie mark. Find her, and spy on her for the rest of today," Tempest demands, making Pinkie Pie salute and zip away into the distance.
Tempest breathes a sigh of relief, now that Pinkie's out of the way, she can work out how exactly to get this situation fixed according to Weiss's will.
As his Fizz guards clean up the trash, Weiss himself stalks forward with calm amusement, approaching the captain of the vessel with a grin that glints perfectly in the low light of the ship's bowels.
"Hello, my good sir. I'm here to get information. I'm glad you took the opportunity to come to me first, though. Very up-and-coming of you, really," Weiss says, prompting the hedgehog captain to spit a wad of blood in Weiss's face.
Weiss's eye squints shut while the black flames engulfing his body burn it away, scouring him clean.
"As I said, you've got spunk," the sage finishes, before pulling the captain up by their fancy shirt collar, thumping the far larger creature against the wall as his eyes shine with malice.
"Where is the Storm King? Where is his Palace? Where are his holdings?"
The captain coughs. "Suck quills," they grit out before Weiss pulls them away from the wall and smashes them back into it, splintering the wood behind him, and denting the metal bands.
"That was probably a rib, captain. I'm going to let you live, you know that, right? This is just a bit of foreplay, is all. Tell me what I want, and you can go right to a comfy jail cell in Equestria or something. I'm sure they'll pamper you there. Celestia's soft like that."
"So you're one of her lapdogs?" the captain chuckles, making Weiss's face twitch with rage.
After a moment, his angry face fades into a false look of contemplation. "Ugh. Alright, I've tried softball, killing and dismemberment leave a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I should call Tempest for some advice, she knows more about this interrogation thing."
The captain sweats, making Weiss smile like a shark who just smelled a pile of baby seals who all collectively stubbed their flippers and fell into a tank of tartar sauce.
"Ooh, you're not a fan of that idea, huh? Do you like that? Me calling Tempest Shadow? That's a name you recognize, huh?" Weiss says, leaning in close to the captain, whose eyes shudder with newfound fear.
The captain gulps. "North by northeast, you'll find the Storm Country Capital there, the palace is there too, you can't miss it."
Weiss drops the captain, patting the dust off of his coat with a genuine smile. "Thank you, I'll get you and your crew to a medical center before you all are taken into custody. Ensign Grumper, take them to the portal room, get them out of my sight," Weiss orders, making one of his fancier clothed Fizz Guards drag the captain off and start barking orders of their own.
Weiss Noir stares off in the direction the captain claimed that the Storm King resided.
"I'm so excited, I can hardly wait..." Weiss giggles slightly, anticipating the fight ahead.
When Braeburn learns that buffalo had tried to steal the Bloomberg, and would have succeeded if it weren't for Spike's timely portal magic, he grows nervous.
"Yeah... The buffalo have been giving us trouble for a while now, and I got no clue why," Braeburn explains to the collected ponies.
It's around this point that Tempest Shadow approaches with a serious aura. "Then it's a good thing Lord Weiss Noir has seen fit to grace your town with my assistance."
Twilight and Applejack take point against the unicorn. "What do you know, Tempest?" Twilight asks, nervous to hear the answer.
Tempest ignores Twilight, brushing past her and Applejack and approaching Braeburn directly. "You need to come with me. We'll discuss the matter with the buffalo directly."
Tempest continues after watching Braeburn nervously look to the other girls for suggestions on how to deal with this strange newcomer. "The others will only slow us down."
Braeburn shakes his head. "That ain't the problem, ma'am, I'm afraid we ain't been rightly introduced, and you're wanting to take me right into the middle of a buffalo herd. I don't know how comfortable I am with that idea."
Tempest rolls her eyes. "Look, I'm Tempest Shadow, I know why the buffalo are angry, and I'm here to help. You'd be an idiot to turn down this opportunity," Tempest snarls.
Twilight walks up and puts a hoof on Tempest's side. "You're never going to convince him acting like that, Tempest, just calm down, we're all friends here, right?"
Tempest's snarl increases as she jerks away. "I don't need friends, they disappoint me."
Twilight looks hurt at this, before trying again. "My point is, you're telling us you're here to help, so help us understand how and why."
Tempest sighs with disgust at everyone's concerned expressions. Can't they see she's here to do a job, not to piddle around talking about feelings?
Pinkie Pie hops in frantically, holding up a mirror. "I found the pink pony with the balloon cutie mark, see, see?!" she shouts, holding the mirror up to Tempest.
She freezes, seeing her own disgusted face.
'Is that what I look like?' she thinks, a bit of cognitive disonnance striking her at the sight of both a horn and a frown on her. Those two things shouldn't go together... Should they?
Something tickles underneath her eyes.
Weiss lands with a loud thump, splattering into smoke which instantly reforms, transforming into a black snake that slithers through the city as various bipedal races scream and run at the sight of his Fizz Guard aiming down at the Storm Country Capital, Blitzburg.
Ignored by the stampeding civilians and scrambling storm troopers, he's able to easily make his way to the palace, where an almighty bolt of lightning strikes him as soon as he touches the walls, turning his body into smoke.
Chuckling maliciously as green eyes form in the middle of his cloud, he scans the palace to piece together where it's Lightning Shield begins and ends, before a whispered "Avidus" turns he himself into lightning briefly, his form being sucked through the castle's defensive matrix until it spits him out in the middle of the palace's centermost room, where enchanted pylons generate vast amounts of electricity, pumping it everywhere as a magnetic and electrical defense against attackers.
As Weiss's body reforms, he idly smashes the heads of several storm troopers who had been in the room, managing the machinery.
Pulling out his communication crystal, he grimaces when he realizes that the barrier is preventing him from communicating with his soldiers.
"Ahh well, I can't plan for everything," the sage shrugs, bucking the last trooper in the room when they try to sneak up behind him.
"Now, let's find this so-called 'Storm King'. I wonder if he'll be shocked to see me," Weiss Noir mutters, chuckling as he throws the doors open wide, revealing a veritable firing squad of storm troopers, all hefting rather scary-looking metal totems. The pillars crackle with electricity, making Weiss sweat slightly with a sheepish grin, slowly closing the door.
The door blasts open in a wash of lightning and the troops rush into the chaos and smoke, only to discover that the Sage had somehow disappeared.
"Spread out. Find him! I'll warn the king!" The commander says, their black armor glinting in the light as the dust settles.
The command turns, running for the throne room, but a bolt of lightning strikes him in the back, turning him to smoke that chuckles in a malign manner.
"Ooh, you boys are just too clever for me. Paranoia like that, I'd mistake you for one of my own." Weiss Noir says, still in the form of frothing black smoke.
"Unfortunately," Weiss begins, when another bolt of lightning slips through his immaterial body as he slides into the metal floors, seeping between the seams.
"Your architects are not as clever..." he finishes, disappearing entirely as the guards continue firing lightning at the floor, trying to catch him.
"So, then. We've exhausted the last of our options. We have failed to capture the tree, and as such, we have no other recourse," Chief Thunderhooves says dimly, the various buffalo braves before him hanging their heads low at their failure.
"Tomorrow, we will stampede. Even if it means going through the town of Appleloosa."
Little Strongheart rushes forward, the small runty buffalo shaking their head frantically. "Chief, there's one thing we haven't tried yet, please, I know it must seem risky, but we have to try, if our way of life depends on it."
Thunderhooves stills at his daughter's outburst, tensing visibly. "You can't mean..."
Little Strongheart nods. "I think we should talk to them."
All of the buffalo gasp at the idea, as Chief Thunderhooves ponders carefully his daughter's eccentric idea.
One of the buffalo keels over, fainting in shock.
"It will be dangerous," he warns.
"I am strong," she retorts.
"And if they should attack?" he questions, eyes narrowing.
"I am faster," she answers, smiling.
The chief lets out a low hum. "Then go, before I come to my senses. Run fast, my daughter, and speak quickly."
Nodding with a confident smile of anticipation, the buffalo child rushes off into the distance, her hooves thundering as she speeds off in a cloud of dust.
Braeburn withdraws coolly as the weird dark-purple unicorn breaks out into another blast of tears.
"And he called me stumpy!" she shouts, before letting out a sigh.
"Anyway, that was my fourteenth birthday, and that's when things really started to go wrong," Tempest starts before Twilight visibly sweats.
"Tempest, we would love to hear the rest of this later, but didn't you have something to say about why you were here specifically?"
Tempest freezes. "I was getting to that," she grunts, standing up and brushing herself off as if nothing happened.
She coughs slightly, before starting her explanation. "The buffalo are angry because the Appleoosa Orchard is in the middle of their stomping grounds. Weiss Noir's prophesy stated that if you all interfered, your arguing would prevent the two sides from negotiating."
Twilight balks. "I know we can have disagreements from time to time, but surely our arguing couldn't be so bad that it ruins negotiations?"
Tempest just gives Twilight the stink eye, as she giggles slightly and grins sheepishly. "Right,"
Tempest sighs. "Alright, where is Braeburn. I need to explain this to him.
Pinkie Pie pipes up. "Oh, he ran off around year fourteen of your twenty-six-year biography!"
Tempest gives Pinkie Pie a narrow-eyed look. "I never told you how old I am."
The pink mare simply giggles. "Well of course not silly, I just took all of your birthdays, (I know everyone in the wider Ponyville area's birthdays after all,) and cross-referenced them with all the birthdays you've missed since age eight, since I can tell when somepony has missed a birthday, and it's the saddest thing in the world!"
Tempest carefully ignores Pinkie Pie's words and continues trying to ignore them. "Alright, so where did he get off to, then?"
As Weiss enters the throne room, he notices with hidden mirth that the Storm King's throne is literally like a swiveling chair.
"Well, for dramatic aesthetic, I hate to say it, but this is very nice," the sage says, looking around the room made of black stone and bands of riveted metal.
With a hydraulic hiss, the Storm King's throne swivels around, revealing... a dummy?
Weiss's eyes narrow as the cloth and metal scrap replica of the Storm King begins speaking, the stick in its hand glowing as the crystal atop it acts like a radio.
"Greetings, Lord Weiss Noir, I'm sure you're wondering why I've brought you here."
Weiss rolls his eyes, "Look, I enjoy banter as much as the next all-feared villain of evil, but can we get on with this? I'm on a bit of a time-table"
The crystal pauses, as if the person on the other end had scratched their head in confusion.
"The stories pegged you as being more fun. Fine, I'm not here, you're a fool to think I was, and I'm already on my way to destroy that treacherous fool, Tempest Shadow, before she can blab any more of my secrets." the radio states grumpily.
Weiss's eyes narrow further. "I don't need whatever puny thoughts you feel like qualifying as a secret, Storm King. I need you beaten into a pulp."
Despite his bravado, he grows nervous. He can't just open a portal from here to Appleloosa without more preparation, he can't contact the Halberd without those lightning shields being disabled, and he can't shove his fist firmly into the Storm King's colon when he's not fucking here.
The crystal continues, heedless of Weiss's inner thoughts. "Oh, well, unfortunately, you won't be able to beat me to a pulp, because, well, you'll be dead!"
The voice laughs, as metal sheets fall down around the room, sealing Weiss inside.
"I saw your little smoke regeneration act already. So I had my men produce this, it's kind of like a blender, but with atom-shredding lightning instead of blades, and... a mess, instead of a smoothie."
Weiss's eyes widen as he gets a downright malicious idea. "No! Please, if you spare me, then I'll... I'll!" Weiss shouts, grinning widely as he fakes some dramatic tones.
The Storm King laughs. "Farewell, Weiss Noir! Your little traitor friend will be following you to Tartarus shortly, don't you worry!"
Weiss resists the urge to laugh as the electrical generator in the middle of the room shreds his body to ashes, including the small tracker implanted within.
As Tempest and the others search for Braeburn, who seems to have all but disappeared, a faint buzzing prompts her to take her communication crystal out of her pocket.
A small frowny-face is written next to the small text Weiss had set to be sent to her if his tracking device were ever destroyed. "I died. :( pls use the ball." his text reads.
Groaning, Tempest fishes around in her bag, before a small twinge of instinct prompts her to dodge out of the way as a spear punches through her saddlebag, pinning it to the ground.
She turns on the spot, horn igniting as she comes face to face with a veritable army of Storm Troopers, led by the Storm King, and one of the other Lieutenants, Jacques the Bird.
The Storm King wiggles his fingers at Tempest in greeting. "Hello, traitor!" he growls, taking firm steps forward as Tempest glances towards the sack.
He notices Tempest's horn, leering with amusement, "Well, at least I know where this treachery came from. You little foal, so impatient when it comes to getting what you want..."
He fires a blast of energy from the staff in his hands, the glowing shard of metal set at its head flashing as it unleashes a blast of lightning that Tempest dodges with ease.
"And here's what it gets you. Your little master Weiss is dead, your treacherous crew isn't here to help you, and I'll take great pleasure in returning you to what you were before pledging yourself to me," the Storm King states, firing more blasts, which Tempest continues to silently dodge, making her way closer to her saddlebag.
"Nothing!"
The Black Materia rolls out of the tear that Jacques's spear had made in it, as the Staff of Sacanas in the Storm King's hands fires a bolt of divine retribution.
The smoke clears, revealing a smirking Weiss and a lightly charred Tempest Shadow, who had taken a glancing blow from the staff's incredible lightning.
Weiss's gaze trails down to Tempest as the Storm King and his men balk in shock.
"Hmm," Weiss says, making them all jerk back.
He sighs slightly, losing his smile as he fires a green beam from his finger that turns the mare into a black crystal statue, her body seemingly sinking into the floor as a portal opens up underneath it.
"I'll take care of that later. She's probably fine," Weiss states firmly, returning his focus to the Storm King, and his surroundings.
"You're supposed to be dead!" the Storm King snarls, pointing his staff at the dark sage.
Ignoring the threat entirely, Weiss begins to laugh, looking at the town he's in. "Yeah, weird."
He fixes the goat-like Storm King with a glare as he unleashes wave after wave of killing intent.
"Tell you what. Let's do this right. See that clock tower?" Weiss says, pointing to the one-off to the side of them.
"We'll have us a good old fashioned Mexican Standoff. The minute the clock strikes twelve, we both go all out. The fight ends in an instant. Sound good?" Weiss Noir says, yanking off one of his arms and throwing it off to the side, where it explodes into smoke and fades.
The Storm King looks deeply confused and healthily afraid. "Guards, kill that pony!" he shouts, pointing at Weiss and prompting his various soldiers to make the attempt. He'll save the staff as a last resort. The stories he's read all told of how the Sage of Darkness planned around single foes and planned around making his foes act according to his will.
Weiss smiles, three of his arms flying out to bash apart the hedgehogs that try to approach him, while one of his unused arms pulls another one out of its socket, tossing it aside like an old tool head.
Two portals appear, and what appear to be black legs sprout from them, plugging into the empty sockets as Weiss's horn ignites, unleashing a wave of force that throws the soldiers back, churning up the soil to swallow them up to their necks in dirt.
The Storm King growls. "Jacques, retrieve your spear, kill him."
If there's one thing the Storm King knows, it's that he can't give Weiss time to plan, and he needs to figure out what exactly Weiss's plan is. His lieutenant will make good fodder for that.
"Ooh, a spear. What a coincidence. I've got one of those too," Weiss says, dodging to the side when the towering birdman attempts to use his broad spear to skewer the pony in front of him.
Another portal opens, this one spitting out what appears to be a solid gold halberd, crackling with ice and lightning.
Weiss grabs it, more of his arms shifting and being replaced with blackened legs as he swings the spear, deflecting another stab from the vividly plumed parrot.
"I call this spear Gungnir," he finishes, before unleashing a small wave of force that throws Jacques away from him, only for them to suddenly fly into the ground, as if something invisible had bashed them over the head.
The Storm King growls, looking at the sage's new form with annoyance and frustration, trying to figure out Weiss's plan. "What is this? Tell me, you fool!"
Weiss holds out his only two arms, flourishing the spear in his hands, while his four extra legs stomp the ground repeatedly.
"Are you talking about the spear, my eight legs, or your miserable little subordinate?" Weiss asks slyly as his artificial hooves continue to stomp, faster and harder.
"I call it my Sleipnir Gear. I developed it as a way to combat enemies whose attacks I can't afford to be hit by. These legs have organs in them which generate pure liquid time, allowing me to harness it.
"Jacques was thrown into the ground because I had built up enough raw time to insert myself having performed a simple attack on him in the space between seconds."
By this point, all of Weiss's legs aren't visibly moving, simply popping loudly between raised and lowered as they skip the movement required to assume those positions. He levels his spear at the cruel ruler.
The clock on the clock tower continues to tick, steadily making its way closer to noon.
The Storm King growls, backing away as he levels his staff, firing a blast of lightning too quick to dodge.
Weiss's hoofsteps sound out softly behind the Storm King, making him swing around angrily and fire off another blast of lightning, which hits nothing he can see.
Weiss looks towards the clock tower as the Storm King shudders. Around them, various objects such as barrels and walls begin to splinter slightly, as though they were being kicked.
"Though I'm not moving, my actions are still affecting the world around me as I expend my Stoppered Time. This is what is known as「Ｆａｔｅ」," Weiss explains, again standing behind the Storm King at twenty paces, his hooves stomping the ground rapidly enough for him to slide slightly, as if on a cushion of air.
"Only one more second until our showdown..." Weiss claims.
It wasn't supposed to be this way, Weiss was supposed to be over a thousand miles away, the Storm King knew he wasn't ready to fight this fight, that's why he had avoided it!
"And then..."
The Storm King's knuckles whiten as his grip on the Staff of Sacanas tightens, while Weiss's grip on Gungnir is loose.
"Zero."
The clock strikes noon, and a bolt of lightning flies off into the distance as a spray of blood flies off of the Storm King's chest as the wound freezes over and his body is paralyzed by some sort of poison.
He scowls as Weiss Noir looms over him. "I wasn't ready," he hisses, as if that would make the sage back off.
While it fails to do that, Weiss does wince slightly, before chuckling. "I certainly know how that feels. I won't draw this out."
The pommel of Gungnir rushes towards Stormer's face, and everything goes black.
"Braeburn, dang it where are you!" Applejack shouts, her and the rest of the town having gotten caught up in the search.
She kicks open a door, spotting her cousin and some shrimpy looking buffalo talking over a glass of cider.
Braeburn's eyes widen. "I swear this ain't what it looks like, cuz."
Groaning, the orange mare grabs Braeburn by the ear, dragging him out of the abandoned building. "I rightly apologize ma'am, but this idjit up and left without tellin' nobody, and we've been looking for him all darn day!"
Braeburn wriggles out of her grip while Little Strongheart just looks confused. "Dang it cuz, I said it ain't like that, She's here to negotiate! Came out to figure out why we can't just move the orchard outta their stomping grounds, and we hashed out a deal!"
Applejack groans, motioning for the buffalo to follow. "Well that's good and all, but I got to call off a buckwheat-cuttin' search party that arose outta your running off to 'negotiate', now git!"
They arrive back into the town square to the sight of Weiss whistling lightly as he polishes some sort of spear, sitting on top of a weird goat-monkey man surrounded by groaning soldiers.
Applejack takes a deep, calming breath. It would probably be illegal to break every bone in that fool's body, and he hasn't explained why Appleloosa seems to have an influx of unconscious tourists.
Nightmare is so tired. She's tried running, the darkness seems to go on forever. She's tried covering up her face with her hooves, it doesn't stop the hot water from dripping on her, the liquid almost seeming to snake around whatever she tries to use to protect herself. Is it too much to ask to just get a little bit of sleep?
Every time she tries, even if she tries to sleep with her eyes open, the moment she does, she feels a single drop of hot water splash onto her face, biting ever so slightly, juxtaposed against the cold room, just barely enough to keep her from dozing off.
"Let me out of here! I'll kill you! I swear by every sacred thing I'll kill you if you don't let me out of here!" she screams as loudly as she can.
She's never felt tired before. Nightmares don't feel tired. How long has it been? She can't even tell, there's not a way to tell in here.
Her brief jolt of lucid adrenaline fading away rapidly after her outburst, she collapses, trying to recover some measure of energy in spite of her forced wakefulness.
Some of the hot drops of water on her face are salty, too, at this point.
Finally, when her body can take no more, she blacks out, her biology not capable of remaining awake for another instant as she falls into a blessedly dreamless sleep.