//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 // Story: Complications // by Hiver //------------------------------// The airship landed, crushing a confection stand, the ponies inside just barely able to escape in time. Whatever the fuck this is, it wasn’t a late guest. I looked to Luna and Celestia as a hatch opened and a ramp lowered, “Plan?” Celestia shook her head, “We should wait and watch, I have not seen an airship like that in the past, we don’t know who they are or what they want.” Luna nodded, “Agreed, sister,” she said and looked at me, “Be careful, Page.” Giving her a quick nuzzle, I followed their lead as both sisters took to the air. Spreading my wings, I flew along next to Luna towards the landed ship as a small shape carried a small box down the ramp from the airship. I didn’t recognize the species. Diamond Dog? No… wrong. But similar in some ways, bipedal with ears, coat and two eyes. Fangs. Carnivorous? Hmm. Wrapping myself into illusions and invisibility, I drifted towards the left while leaving a illusionary clone of myself flying next to Luna and coming in for landing. As we all settled down, the box started to deploy… a speaker cone? Did Equestria have that kind of magitech? Moving around silently, I rounded away from the princesses and my illusion, all of them having arrived by now, as the little thing started to speak. “Ponies of Equestria!” it said loudly into it’s microphone, the sound echoing out of the large speaker, “We come on behalf of the fearsome, the powerful, the allmighty STORM KING!” Okay. We knew three things about this "Storm King". He was not fearsome, not powerful and far from almighty. People who were, didn’t feel the need to announce any of those things. He was also a bit of an egomaniac from that massive portrait of himself. His species was also a bit easier to identify. Some sort of primate. “And now!” he continued and motioned towards the ramp up to the ship, “To deliver the evil, evil message, put your hooves together for Commander Tempest!!” What in Equestria… A unicorn emerged from the darkness inside the airship, her purplish coat and dark pink mane standing out against the black and very form fitting armour she was wearing, but what stood out the most was her crackling horn. What remained of it, it had been broken off close to the base. Despite the sensitivity when casting, unicorn horns were really difficult to break. Whatever happened to her, it had been lucky not to outright kill her. “Is that a… unicorn?” Twilight asked softly, looking to her left at Midnight. Midnight just shrugged a bit. “Tempest, is it?” Celestia asked as she stepped forward. I took that as my cue to move and I started to silently approach the ramp, moving up it until I stood just a couple of meters away from Tempest. “How may we help you?” Celestia continued, her tone making clear it was more of a threat than an actual request. Tempest smirked, “Oh, I’m so glad you asked, how about we start with your complete and total surrender?” I just kind of blinked at her. What. No, seriously, what kind of pony take a look at a collection of six Alicorns, two changeling princesses and a city full of guards and think, ‘meh, I can take them’? Twilight moved around Luna and gave Tempest a small wave, “Hi there, Princess of Friendship,” she introduced herself, “Not exactly what is going on, but I know we can talk things out.” Tempest looked across them, “Oh, goody. All the Alicorns. Here is the deal,” she started to say as she moved towards the bottom of the ramp, getting closer to me, “I need your magic. Give it up nicely, please. Or we make it diff…” That’s as far as I let her get as I spun around and bucked in the face as hard as I could out of invisibility. Or tried rather, she must have had the reflexes of a mongoose, my invisibility faded just inches from her face and she was still almost able to dodge it, causing my hooves to glance off her armoured shoulder instead, knocking her to the side. Her horn lit up and she screamed, letting out a shockwave of lightning in all directions. It sent me tumbling off the ramp in the other direction as I tried not to scream from the energy crackling across me as I hit the ground hard. “So be it!” she yelled as I struggled to get off the ground, Amber instantly at my side, pushing me back onto my hooves, “Difficult it is!” Loud echoing horns sounded and a dozen airships started to lower out of the dark clouds above. “Shiny!” Cadence yelled and Shining Armour stepped up, magic building in his horn and a massive pink shield dome covered Canterlot once more. But it was too late. All but two and a half of the airships were already inside, the last one cut in half and crashed somewhere in the outer ring.