Thanks to Time Wizard Clover the Clever and Stone Wall were returned to normal. When Stone Wall returned Squeaky was so happy to see him again he tried to hug him. Only for Stone Wall to block him with a barrier. "Right," Squeaky said, still on the barrier. "Still not a hugger."
"Stone Wall, it's so great to see you again," Cadance said who came to Canterlot with Shining Armor and Flurry Heart to greet him.
"Thank you Cadance, I'm surprised you all welcome me back after what I did," Stone Wall said somewhat somberly, which surprised everypony.
"Stone Wall we don't blame you for what happened you weren't yourself," Celestia said.
"But if you want to make it up to us somehow you could give me away," Cadance said. who then explained that while she loved her wedding it wasn't perfect because she didn't have Stone Wall to give her away.
"You still want me to do that?"
"Oh come on Stone Wall,” Shining Armor said. We all know you like her, you always looked out for her like the little sister you never had."
"Actually I have a sister."
"You do?" Shining asked.
"Yes, but she, I don't want to talk about it. I don't know why I even brought that up."
The next day Celestia and Luna went into labor. Squeaky waited outside the delivery room because they both agreed that they wanted to be surprised and were they ever. When Squeaky saw Celestia she was resting on the bed and Squeaky decided to give her a kiss to help her wake up.
"Thank you Squeaky I needed that, I'm exhausted." They talked for a bit and then the doctor came in.
"Is there a problem doctor? Did something happen to my foal?" Celestia asked.
"No need to worry they're fine."
"Oh that's, they?"
"Congratulations, triplets." Celestia and Squeaky were shocked to say the least as the doctor hoofed over the 3 babies. 1 pegasus with a light blue coat, 1 earth pony with a light green coat and 1 unicorn with a light pink coat.
"Wow 3 foals at once, I can only imagine how much of a labor that had to be for you Celestia. Ha! That wasn't even on purpose." After giving her husband a fake laugh Celestia wanted to show her sister who gave birth to 3 babies as well each a different type of pony. 1 pegasus with a brown coat like his father, 1 unicorn pony with the same coat as her mother, and 1 earth pony with a coat that matched her mother's mane.
"Wow 3 foals that's more than 2," Swift Sweep said.
"This did explain why my stomach felt so heavy." After they got out of the hospital Twilight came to talk about the festival idea and Cadance who came with Shining Armor to see the babies thought it was a great idea. Because that would be the perfect place to renew their vows. But that would have to wait, as on the day of the festival mysterious storm clouds appeared followed by large blimps.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Stone Wall said not knowing how right his feeling would be. A pony with a broken horn arrived and attacked with an army of creatures in service of the Storm King. The princesses wanted to do something but Luna and Cadance were turned to stone by strange spheres and Celestia had to act fast.
"Squeaky Stone Wall get Twilight out of here and travel south beyond the Badlands and find the queen of the hippo-" Celestia was cut off when she got turned to stone and Stone Wall who kept calm got Twilight and Squeaky Clean away before Twilight got blasted as well.
"Luna!" Swift Sweep cried out as he wanted to fly right over to her when she was blasted into stone but Stone Wall stopped him.
"I understand how you feel but you won't help her by getting caught yourself." Stone Wall then continued to help Twilight as they met up with their friends but Tempest wasn't too far behind and threw the final sphere. The group was about to get out of Canterlot when they were blocked off by a group of creatures. "Take them down but don't let them separate us!"
"Easy as apple pie," Applejack said as she got out her lasso and tied up one of the creatures before it even knew what happened. The others managed to fight them off but just as they were about to get out of there more of the creatures showed up. "Okay maybe not quite as easy as pie."
"Maybe easy as cake instead or is that easier than pie it's hard to tell I love them both," Pinkie Pie said.
"Get your mind off sugar products!" Stone Wall said. Stone Wall then let out a burst of spells that knocked out almost every creature but after he did he fell to the ground. Having recently been released from the prison hospital wing and was rather out of shape. After he collapsed Squeaky helped him up and the group got together.
And with that the group ran off and made their way out of Canterlot.
***
After getting to safety Stone Wall informed them of what Princess Celestia told them. “Before Princess Celestia was turned to stone; she told us to find the queen of the hippos."
"Griffs," Swift Sweep added.
"I beg your pardon Prince Swift Sweep?" Stone Wall asked. As it turns out Swift Sweep, having become a prince, took an interest in learning about the areas that were beyond Equestria. Such as Mount Aris, home of the hippogriffs. According to what he was told by Luna and Celestia their queen has a magical artifact that could help reverse the princesses getting turned to stone.
"Well, well that's certainly good to know thank you Swift Sweep."
"Oh no problem captain."
"I'm not the captain anymore," Stone Wall replied once again sounding sad. "But that's not important now we have to get going," Stone Wall said, sounding serious again as he walked off and the others followed. "We're down but we're not out. We get to Mount Aris, find the magical artifact we need, and then plan a counter attack on taking back the capital."
"A counterattack, oh yeah I'm all for that," Rainbow Dash said.
“Count us in,” Applejack added.
"It's good that we have a plan and all but I'm still wondering why Super Stallion didn't show up to help," Rarity said as Spike who was walking next to her looked back at Squeaky for a second or 2.
"Well you know Rarity being a superhero can be pretty busy he can't be everywhere at once. It's like how I love coming over to help you but I can't do it all the time."
"Besides," Twilight added. "Super Stallion isn't the only thing that protects Equestria, there's the royal guard plus there's my brother who was Captain of the Royal guard before becoming Prince of the Crystal Empire. I bet he can keep the invaders busy by the time we get back, if not stop them all by himself."
***
Stone Wall had always taught the royal guard to always keep their guard up at the moment Shining wished he had taken it more seriously. During the invasion Shining charged up his magic and made his shield that was going to force the invaders out of the capital. "I don't know what these things are or where they came from but they aren't ruining my sister's festival."
Shining Armor released his spell but Tempest not only stopped it with her magic but shattered it. Tempest ran to where the spell came from while Shining ran to where his spell was broken.
"I take it you were the one that made that abnormally large barrier spell?"
"And I'm guessing you're the one that broke it?"
"It was a powerful spell. I was expecting it to be stronger but if you break it in just 1 area you break the whole thing, pretty big design flaw for a spell don't you think?" Tempest and Shining then exchanged spells and while it seemed even, Shining eventually pinned her. But he was so focused on her he didn't notice Grubber sneak up and hit him in the back of the head with a long piece of wood.
By the time Shining Armor woke up he was bound with rope and had a magic canceling collar on his neck. He was going to be put in a cage but they were already filled. Many ponies came to the capital not just for the festival but for the rewedding as well.
"Wow, perfect timing," Grubber said. "You woke up right after I finished tying you up."
"What happened?"
"You lost," Tempest answered. "And with you taken out I can finally get to the castle and contact the Storm King."
Despite being captured, Shining was trying to figure out how to get free. Wait a minute, Shining Armor thought. I can just wait until she leaves then chew the ropes off, then I can find something to get this collar off.
"All right let's tell the big boss about what a great job we did."
"Grubber, are we forgetting something?"
"Huh? Oh right, right I'm on it." Suddenly Grubber wrapped a red cloth around Shining Armor's muzzle.
"Hey what arm oo mooing."
"Just in case you tried to bite through the ropes." Tempest then held up Shining’s head a bit with her hoof and couldn't help but lick her lips as she stared at Shining Armor. "Mmm you know, it may be because you're the first stallion I've been with in ages, but you're a real cutie. Maybe after I talk to the Storm King he'll let me keep you, as my little pet."
***
As they were making their way to the queen of the hippogriffs Stone Wall helped his group through the desert having traveled across it before. They made it to a small town called Klugetown where a group gathered around the ponies thinking they were for sale. Stone Wall, not wishing to fight right when they just got in town, used a flash spell and got everypony and Spike out of there. "Nice work Stone Wall," Twilight said.
"Yes, while I'm rather used to a crowd gathering around me, that was quite of a different nature," Rarity said.
"Hey I was totally about to tell that group to back off and give my mare her space," Spike said, trying to act macho. "But you did a pretty good job Stone Wall."
"Well let's find a place to rest and hide in case another crowd finds us," Squeaky said. Swift Sweep then flew up and then flew down looking rather excited.
"Hey I know where we can hide and have fun at the same time!" Swift Sweep said with a big grin and then led them to a small circus tent by a large windmill.
"All right, the circus!" Pinkie said as she ran right in.
"Stick with the group!" Stone Wall said as he chased after the party pony and the others followed. Once they made it inside Squeaky was shocked to see 2 familiar faces.
"Quite a show isn't it, It's just wonderful if I do say so myself," A tall cat creature said as he was acting like the ringleader. "Give it up for Inferno and Mimicry!" Suddenly Inferno made rings of fire in the air that she jumped right through while her sister Mimicry used her claws to get from the high beam to the tightrope. Soon after the group came in the 2 finished their act and the crowd left.
"If you all want to watch the show you're going to have to pay for it like everypony, every creature else sorry force of habit," Mimicry said. This made the group decide to come out in the open to her surprise. "Princess Twilight Sparkle? And other ponies I don't really know."
"Wait, we know that 1 buff stallion," Inferno said. "He was the stallion acting all psychotic that our brother found and-"
"I TOLD YOU NEVER TO TALK ABOUT HIM!"
"Right, sorry," Inferno said sheepishly.
"So why are you in Klugetown?" Mimicry asked as she directed her attention back to the group.
"We could ask you the exact same question," Squeaky said.
"Yeah, so why are you in Klugetown?" Swift Sweep asked. Mimicry then gestured to the group to follow her and Inferno as she walked off to a different part of the circus that had spots where they could all rest.
"May I offer you debt destroying ponies some drinks?" The cat creature from before asked as he held a plate with half a dozen cups of drinks. Mimicry and Inferno then took 1 and the plate was placed on a nearby table.
"It all started when we got released so we could help Super Stallion fight, though we were more interested in getting back at he who shall not be named ever at least not around me," Mimicry said after he finished her drink. "After helping out we got a parole and we chose to get as far away as we could."
"Yeah we wanted to see what was beyond Equestria," Inferno said. "We did it to find a new place where we could start all over where we wouldn't be reminded of our past mistakes."
"That's when we came here and met Capper the tall hairy fellow over there."
"When we got here he helped us get away from a crowd that thought the 2 of us were for sale."
Them too? Squeaky thought. What's with this town?
"When he helped us get away he let us stay at his place after we told him why we were there. Turns out he knew how we felt as he was betrayed by someone that he cared about a lot. We asked him where we could get a job and the next day he brought us here, turns out he owed the owner quite a lot."
"So Mimicry and I decided to work for free for a while to help him out since he helped us out. Soon the 3 of us got close and he got a job here too. Before long we helped him get out of debt and even got the owner to move his circus right outside Capper's house since it would be easier for every creature to come see us perform."
"So are you 2 okay staying here?" Squeaky asked.
"The pay is good and Capper's place has a lot of room," Inferno answered.
"This place isn't really the best place to live but you get used to it," Mimicry added and then looked down and stared at her claws. "Capper is a good friend and all the time working here has helped me realize what a fool I'd been."
"What fools we both had been," Inferno said as she patted her sister on the back.
"Maybe that's something we all need," Stone Wall said. "A second chance."
"Yes I suppose you're right, plus this job lets me show off and I've always loved to do that," Mimicry said trying to cheer herself up. "So now it's your turn. What are all of you doing here?"
"It doesn't matter because they won't be staying," Tempest said.
"Tempest!?" Twilight said in shock as the others got up ready to fight.
"What are you doing here?" Spike asked.
"She's here to get the last princess to finish the set for the Storm King," Grubber answered.
"Oh what do we have here?" the owner of the circus asked as he approached Tempest. "Perhaps another pony to add to my circus." The owner then walked right up to Tempest and put his hands right on her face and squeezed her cheeks a little. "What tricks do you know, my little pony whony?"
"This," Tempest said as she shocked the owner.
"Not bad," he said as he fell to the ground.
"Ouch," Capper said as he saw the whole thing. "That looked insanely painful."
"Yes, I'm sure it was," Tempest said as she shot another spell at the group but Stone Wall countered with a shield that protected everypony and Spike. "Oh great, another pony that's good with magic."
"If you want them you'll have to go through me," Stone Wall said as he made it to the front of the group. The others got away from Stone Wall as he and Tempest charged their horns ready to attack but then suddenly they stopped and simply stared at each other. Suddenly Inferno put a wall of fire between the 2 of them.
"I don't know what's going on but nopony does that to our boss," Inferno said as she also fired several fireballs forcing Tempest back.
"Careful, don't light the tent on fire," Mimicry said.
"I know I know."
"There's a dock not too far away from here filled with air ships that will help you escape," Mimicry said.
"Thanks," Squeaky said.
"Your welcome," Inferno said. The group ran off as Tempest made it through the fire. Mimicry tried to stop her by turning into her. However it didn’t even slow Tempest down and made short work of her.
"Often imitated never duplicated," the real Tempest Shadow said as she jumped to the right to dodge a fire attack from Inferno.
"Nopony messes with my sister, especially some freak that doesn't even have a horn!" Hearing that Tempest growled and zapped Inferno knocking her out.
"Now that that's out of the way, it's time to collect a princess." Tempest caught up with Twilight's group in no time at all. It was touch and go for a minute or 2 but after an escape plan involving a windmill, finding an airship, and Twilight saving Pinkie Pie from almost falling to her death they used the ship to get away and continue their journey.
"Best escape plan ever!" Pinkie Pie nearly screamed as they were all on the ship but Pinkie was asked to quiet down to not get the attention of those running the airship. But that didn't last long as they were discovered by the crew.
"None of you are going to lay a hoof, or talon on them or you'll have to answer to me!" Stone Wall said.
"Oh really?" Captain Celaeno said as she approached Stone Wall seemingly ready for a fight with the brave stallion. "So hot shot you think you can beat us all by yourself? Well if you think-" Celaeno was cut off by a large bell getting the attention of every creature on the airship. "THAT'S LUNCH!"
"What?" Stone Wall asked and soon they found themselves at the large dinner table with the crew. They even served some of the lunch.
"So what now we're not gonna go over the plank or anything?" Rainbow Dash asked and suddenly got elbowed in the gut by Stone Wall.
"Don't rock the boat," Stone Wall said as he actually tried some of the food offered to him but still ready for a fight.
"Yeah especially if the boat is actually a ship that's in the air that we can be pushed off," Pinkie Pie added to the continuing confusion of Stone Wall.
What is with that pony? Stone Wall thought to himself. As the ponies and Spike had lunch they learned more about the crew and how they used to be pirates or as they preferred swashbuckling treasure hunters.
"So pirates," Rainbow Dash said. The crew then explained how they used to be great but were put under the thumb of the Storm King and now must do as he orders or suffer his wrath.
"Wow that sucks," Stone Wall said, starting to feel sorry for them.
"Yeah don't remind us," Captain Celaeno said.
"Too late I think we already did," Swift Sweep said before long Rainbow Dash said that they shouldn't work for a guy like the Storm King and as she put it, it was time to be awesome again. Rainbow Dash was so full of passion she started to sing and the crew dawned their pirate clothing once again. Rainbow Dash got so caught up she took to the sky.
"Wait, what is she doing?" Stone Wall asked.
"Rainboom rainboom," Pinkie Pie said as she cheered for her friend, shocking Stone Wall.
"What!? No, don't!" Stone Wall said but it was too late. Rainbow Dash did her famous sonic rainboom that filled the sky with its beautiful colors but also got the attention of a certain unicorn.
"Well well those silly little ponies do like to party don't they?" Tempest said aboard her ship. "Good thing, I thought we were starting to lose them." Tempest then headed straight for their airship and Rainbow Dash landed on it once again taking pride in what she did. Suddenly Stone Wall bonked her right on the head, surprising all the others.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! YOU JUST GAVE AWAY OUR POSITION, FIZ-TEMPEST SAW THAT FOR SURE!"
"Oh, you think she saw my-"
"YES RAINBOW I DO!"
"What do we do?" Squeaky asked as he wished that Super Stallion could help but as he was doing the entire trip.
***
After the multiverse was nearly erased by the anger driven Shadow Paradox, Squeaky had Star Swirl take a look at the sphere. Before long Star Swirl returned with the sphere but then Squeaky saw that where a symbol of a large horse once was there was only a small black dot. "Is that something you felt like putting on the sphere?"
"Not quite, I was able to repair the sphere by using some of Wacko's well, "remains,” but it's going to be a while before you can use it again. Do you see that dot? When that dot becomes the horse you can use it."
"Wait back to normal does that mean I can't use the hyper mode again?"
"You can, but that's something I wanted to talk to you about. Do you recall reading in my journal that the sphere provides no specific defense against chaos magic?"
"Yes.”
"Well I've come to believe that this "hyper mode" greatly increases all of your fighting attributes, but your weakness to chaos magic is greatly increased as well."
"Well that definitely explains a lot."
***
"I wish Super Stallion was here," Swift Sweep said.
"Yeah, me too," Squeaky said.
"No time to dwell on that we have to hide," Twilight said. The group snuck below deck while the crew tried to trick Tempest. But she wasn't buying it and even threatened to destroy the ship if the crew didn't blow the whistle on where the stowaways were. Thinking quickly as she usually does, Twilight found a way to escape and make a hot air balloon.
"Wow, nice thinking Twilight." Rarity said.
"Yeah I would have never thought of that," Swift Sweep said.
"Next stop Mount Aris," Rainbow Dash said as she got behind the hot air balloon to push it. When they finally arrived at the mountain their hopes took a downward spiral when they arrived in a city on top of the mountain and it was a ghost town.
"This is where we're supposed to find the queen of the hippogriffs?" Pinkie Pie asked as they continued to look around but found no living soul.
"What's going on here?" Stone wall said.
"Well let's think about all of this," Swift Sweep said. "Maybe hippogriffs can turn invisible and they're really shy."
"I know," Rainbow Dash said as she got the attention of all the others. "I'll go and get a bird's eye view of this place that should help." Rainbow Dash was about to take off when Stone Wall teleported her over to him.
"I don't think so," Stone Wall said. "Not after that stunt you pulled on the airship. You stay right here next to me! And don’t do something stupid! Understand?"
"I don't see any hippogriffs anywhere," Spike said.
"Don't worry Spikey Wikey I'm sure they're around here somewhere," Rarity said as she comforted her favorite dragon by putting her foreleg around him.
"Well we better hurry before Tempest catches up to us again," Twilight said. When suddenly they started to hear singing not too far off in the distance. The entire group eventually started to hear it as well and they followed it into a cave.
"Who's in there?" Swift Sweep whispered.
"I don't know," Stone Wall answered. "But none of you do anything to scare them." The group got deeper into the cave and came across a creature singing by the water. Squeaky got a little closer and was about to bump into a piece of rubble but Stone Wall put his hoof right on his chest to stop him. "Excuse me," Stone Wall called out loudly but not too loudly getting the attention of the creature.
"What? Who's there?" The creature replied.
"My name is Stone Wall and we mean you no harm. We've come here to find the queen of the hippogriffs because she has something that can help us."
"A-Are you friends with the Storm King?" The creature asked, still hiding and still keeping her distance.
"From what little I've heard about him I don't think the Storm King is the kind of guy that has friends," Stone Wall answered and the creature couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah," she said as she laughed a bit more. "You're right I don't think he has any friends."
"So are you a hippogriff or what?" Rainbow Dash asked, making the creature scared again.
"Who's that?"
"Don't worry she's with me her name in Rainbow Dash," Stone Wall answered and then elbowed Rainbow Dash in the gut again. "Who I told not to do anything stupid."
"Sorry."
"But who are you? My name is Squeaky Clean, what's yours?"
"My name is Skystar. Princess Skystar."
"And isn't that name redundant?" Swift Sweep asked.
"Huh?" Skystar replied.
"Well stars are already in the sky right?"
"Oh yeah," Skystar said as she laughed again. "I guess that is true, I never realized that. I like you guys, are there others there with you?"
"Yeah I'm Rainbow Dash," she said as she got up wanting to fly over to her but Stone Wall stopped her with his magic and forced her back on the ground.
"I'm not gonna tell you again!"
"Sorry." The others introduced themselves and Skystar decided to jump into the water and swim over to the group.
"You're a seapony?" Twilight said, confused.
"Yes, what are you?" Twilight then answered that and more of Skystar's questions. After that Twilight asked where all the hippogriffs had gone off to and why they wanted to see them.
"Oh you want to meet the hippogriffs, well I'm not supposed to do this but I think I can trust you so how about you jump into the water and I'll take you to them."
"Wait there are hippogriffs down there?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Oh I know they're seeing who can hold their breath the longest can I go against the winner?" Pinkie Pie then saw Stone Wall staring at her. "What?"
"When all this is over I'm going to introduce you to the castle shrink." The group then jumped in and Skystar put bubbles on their heads so they could breathe, then led the group to the underwater land of Seaquestria. There they met Queen Novo who wasn't happy that her daughter brought outsiders.
"Guards!" Queen Novo called out and the group was surrounded by guards each with a spear pointed at them. This gave all of them quite a scare, all but Stone Wall.
"You want to get that out of my face?" Stone Wall asked the guard whose spear he grabbed.
"You wanna make me?" The guard responded.
"I don't make trash,” Stone Wall broke the spear. “I burn it."
"Wait!" Skystar called out before the guards did anything and then she whispered in Queen Novo’s ear who gestured to the guards to back away. All who breathed out of relief.
"My daughter does quite a few things that I don't approve of but she believes that you are of no harm, well most of you anyway. Your name is Stone Wall right?"
"Correct."
"I respect your fearless attitude and I have to agree with my daughter, you are rather cute."
"MOM! OH MY GOSH!" Skystar said, her face blushing so much that her whole head turned red.
"Why have you come here?" Twilight explained everything then Skystar against her mother's wishes told the story of the hippogriffs and how they became seaponies via a magical pearl to hide from the Storm King. Skystar even convinced her mother to test out the pearl and used it to change the group who enjoyed it quite a bit even Stone Wall found it interesting.
"Oh so the queen of the seaponies is the queen of the hippogriffs," Swift Sweep said. "So it's like she's 2 queens at once, that's gotta be stressful."
"Uh, did he suffer some painful strike to his head or something?" Queen Novo asked.
"Not in the last few days," Squeaky answered. "Princess Celestia must have wanted us to borrow that pearl of yours." Squeaky then swam up a bit to get closer to Queen Novo and bowed in respect to her. "Queen Novo I Prince Squeaky Clean humbly request to borrow your magic pearl so we can use its magic to free our princesses.”
"No."
"What do you mean no?"
"I'm pretty sure it's the opposite of yes Squeaky," Swift Sweep answered.
"I'm truly sorry for what happened to you but if I let you take the pearl it could end up in the greedy claws of the Storm King."
"That's it," Stone Wall said, upset. "After how far we came after everything we've been through, you're going to make it all for nothing just because of a could."
"Yeah now if it was a should that's another story like it would be if it was a would but a could on the other hoof or fin or hoof fin-"
"Please be quiet Swift Sweep," Stone Wall said.
"Try to see it from my point of view. I have to protect my kind, I am their queen after all."
"Wait so that pearl also protects the seaponies?" Swift Sweep asked.
"What? No it changes us from hippogriffs to seaponies," Queen Novo answered.
"Oh so you just use it to go out?"
"No, we never go out?"
"So you never use the pearl?"
"Correct."
"Well if you never use the pearl, why can't we use it?" Queen Novo was about to answer but she had no idea what to say.
"My gosh Swift Sweep made a good point," Stone Wall said.
"Even if I don't use it, it can still be dangerous if the Storm King gets it. I'm sorry but I made up my mind."
"So what are you just gonna stay down here for the rest of your lives?" Rainbow Dash asked. "That's no way to live."
"She's right," Twilight said as she approached Queen Novo. "There's so much out there."
"Yeah like chocolate and comic books," Swift Sweep said but despite all their pleas Queen Novo didn't budge.
"All right then," Stone Wall said, angry and disappointed. "Well can you at least use it to turn us back into ponies, and a dragon?" Queen Novo then did just that and Princess Skystar placed bubbles on them again.
"Wait, I have a great idea. Instead of leaving you can all stay here with us, mostly you Stone Wall."
"Sorry Princess Skystar-"
"Please just Skystar, you're making me blush."
"Sorry, Skystar but we need to head back to our home while figuring out what to do."
"Wait a minute," Queen Novo said almost in shock. "After what I told you about how horrible the Storm King is when he attacked our home you're just going to leave and fight him anyway?"
"Yes," Stone Wall answered.
"Though couldn't we stay just a while and maybe change back into seaponies for a bit?"
"No Pinkie," Stone Wall answered.
"But can't we just do 1 small thing, you know 1 small thing-"
"I said no!"
"You're honestly going to fight the Storm King, he can't be beat," Queen Novo said.
"How would you know? You didn't even try, you just fled," Swift Sweep said.
"We didn't flee, we swam, so we could flee," Skystar said.
"And besides I did what was best for us," Queen Novo said.
"You call hiding away in an overgrown swimming hole best for you," Stone Wall replied. "Maybe the Storm King is a great threat and maybe we are over our heads but at least we're not going to give up then run and hide. At least we're not a pack of cowards!" Hearing that the guards from before swam over to Stone Wall.
"You take that back!" The guard with the now broken spear demanded.
"Make me."
"I don't make trash," the guard then raised his broken spear about to attack. "I burn-" the guard was cut off when Stone Wall decked him right in the throat. Stone Wall then made short work of him and the other guards.
"And your guards are poorly trained."
"I guess we could ask the changelings for help; their powers could be very helpful," Swift Sweep said.
"If we did, would I still have to fight, that's not really my thing?"
"Don't worry Rarity I'll protect you," Spike said as he threw a few punches and Rainbow Dash did that as well.
"Yeah and maybe I could lead the attack to make sure I do more than my fair share of flank kicking," Rainbow said.
"Wait," Queen Novo called out as they were about to leave. "Are you all willing to fight him?"
"Yes," the group answered all together and then to their surprise Queen Novo, while hesitant, grabbed the pearl and offered it to Squeaky Clean.
"Really?!" Squeaky said and Novo nodded in response.
"Just please don't make me regret this."
"We won't," Twilight said excited. "Seriously thank you, I was actually really stressed out about this. I was even tempted to steal it."
"Oh please you wouldn't steal it Twilight that's way too out of character for you," Swift Sweep said.
"Not really," Pinkie said. "She's prone to doing something stupid when she's under stress."
***
"All right we're halfway there! Give or take," Pinkie said. "Let's have a we're probably halfway done party!"
"You know that's actually a good idea," Stone Wall said surprisingly. "We all need a breather so why not? Though I don't think you can really have a party here of all places."
"Challenge accepted," Pinkie Pie said as she got out her party cannon and the staff given to her by the Time Wizard seemingly out of nowhere. As Pinkie got to work making a party, Squeaky made the pearl turn him into a dragon. Spike then wanted to become a pony and Squeaky used the pearl to do just that.
"Sweet! How do I look Rarity?"
"Quite dashing, though I prefer your adorable little dragon form, this form doesn't have your cutest little chubby chicks."
"Don't play too much with that pearl, it's our ticket to taking back the capital," Stone Wall said as he approached Squeaky Clean and gestured to him to follow him out of the abandoned town.
"Something on your mind, Stone Wall?"
"Yes we may have the pearl but we're still gonna need help to take back the capital such as those former rogues that I heard helped you stop the now locked up in Tartarus rogues."
"Uh, I think you got a few details mixed up. They helped Super Stallion, not me though I did write him a royal letter that allowed him-"
"Oh give me a break Squeaky! I know, I've always known!"
"Uh, Stone Wall I think you're a little confused."
"Oh really?" Stone Wall asked as he smiled an unusual smile and then lifted the sphere out of Squeaky's saddle bag. "Well then let's see what happens if I play with this for a while. Maybe I'll show it to Queen Novo since she's experienced with large magic balls."
"Okay okay okay," Squeaky said as he put the sphere back in his saddle bag and looked back to make sure the others didn't see.
"None of the others are looking, I made sure," Stone Wall said. "They're too busy having the cake that Pinkie Pie made somehow, actually I think she pulled it out of her mane somehow."
"How did you know?"
"We can talk about it later but for now you need to find a place to change-"
"Uh actually I'm gonna stop you there because-"
"No! Help!" Spike as well as the others called out and the 2 stallions ran back to the group.
"What happened?" Stone Wall asked.
"They took Twilight!" Spike answered back in dragon form. "Those creatures showed up and a cage came down trapping Twilight." Stone Wall then saw several creatures knocked out after a fight with the mane 6.
"And it gets worse," Fluttershy said. "During the fight we were forced to drop the pearl and one of the creatures fell on it and well, see for yourself." Stone Wall then looked to where Fluttershy pointed and saw that the pearl had been shattered into pieces.
"NO! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Stone Wall yelled as he approached the shattered pieces.
"Yeah I know right we just got it and I didn't even get to turn into a griffin,” Rainbow Dash said. “Yeah yeah I know, it's not important right now but I always wanted to know what it would be like to be a griffin and now I'll never know." Rainbow then suddenly turned into the very creature she was talking about to her and the shock of the others. Stone Wall saw that one of her forelegs was on the shards of the pearl. Stone Wall then picked up a shard and turned into a hydra and back into a pony.
"They still work? Ha ha ha they still work! We're still in this!" As Stone Wall gathered the pieces he noticed they had company. Not only the pirates from before but also Capper, Inferno, Mimicry, and even Queen Novo who was struggling to get to the group with quite a few seaponies in the water behind her.
"Oh good you're all still here," Queen Novo said as she managed to finally crawl over to Stone Wall.
"What the heck is that, a giant mutant fish?" Inferno asked.
"Queen Novo? What are you doing here?" Stone Wall asked.
"I thought about all the stuff you said and I couldn't help but wonder if we fought when the Storm King invaded or if we could have defeated him. So I decided to join you in your fight and I asked my fellow seaponies who wanted to join me and well as I'm sure you can see they all wanted in on the fight."
"I admire your courage," Stone Wall said as he approached Queen Novo which made her notice that the pearl had been shattered.
"Are you kidding me!? I let you have it for a couple minutes and you break it! How are we supposed to help you now?" Queen Novo was suddenly turned into a hippogriff by a shard to her surprise. "But how were-" she was cut off when Stone Wall covered her mouth with his hoof.
"You want to asked questions or do you want to pass the shards to the other seaponies so they can help?"
***
Twilight was brought back to the city of Canterlot and into the castle where the other princesses were placed. There the Storm King arrived and with the Staff of Sacanas took the magic of all 4 princesses. "Let's get this storm started, oh that's good I should trademark that," he said. He was excited after receiving the magic and he got even more excited when he learned he could now move the sun and moon all on his own.
"Let's see Tuesday Wednesday Thursday oh look it's the weekend already." While the Storm King was goofing around Twilight's group had already put their plan in place while the pirates, Capper, Mimicry, Inferno, and Twilight's friends sneak in via giant cake while Stone Wall lead the hippogriffs into Canterlot so they could counterattack from the inside and the outside.
"It seems the cake squad was exposed earlier than I'd hoped but I suppose even a perfect plan can't guarantee a flawless execution," Stone Wall said as he was riding Skystar.
"It's amazing how there were just as many shards as there were seaponies," Skystar said.
"Yes now focus this attack is far from over," Stone Wall replied. Skystar and a few other hippogriffs made it to the group and freed some of the ponies. She had quite a few of the creatures around her but Stone Wall made short work of him.
"What a stallion," Skystar said. Stone Wall then got back and Skystar who along with the other hippogriffs flew across the capitol fighting the Storm King's forces to the shock of Tempest.
"What? How?"
"It's the magic of-"
"Yeah yeah, friendship and flowers and ponies." The Storm King interrupted and then fake vomited. "I am so totally over the cute pony thing." The Storm King then summoned the mother of all storms that most of the hippogriffs and even some of the creatures on the Storm King's side got sucked up in. Some of the hippogriffs managed to get into the castle along with the small group that got in through the giant cake.
"Storm King, I have fulfilled my part of the bargain, now restore my horn."
"Yeah, about that I think I'll just not do that."
"What? But we had a deal. I did everything."
"Yeah and that was what you were supposed to do, get it? I used you." With that the Storm King blasted Tempest. Or at least he would if Stone Wall hadn't gotten her out of the way with the help of Skystar while Novo and Squeaky Clean, who was riding on her, gave the Storm King a double punch to the jaw.
"Oh that felt so good," Queen Novo said.
"Here here," Squeaky agreed.
"Why, why did you protect me?" Tempest asked as Stone Wall was standing above her.
"Why?" Stone Wall replied. "That's what a big brother is supposed to do isn't he?"
"Wait what?!" Squeaky asked as he got off Queen Novo. "She's your sister?! Wait a minute! At the circus, that's why you both didn't attack, you recognized each other."
"Yes when she arrived at the capital I thought she looked familiar but only when I got really up close-"
"Uh can we talk about this later?" Queen Novo asked as she pointed to the Storm King who was getting back up and ready to use the staff.
"The staff has all the alicorn magic you need to get it from him," Tempest said as she got up.
"Yeah good luck with that," the Storm King said as he got ready to blast them but Twilight grabbed the staff and tripped the Storm King. "Oh no you don't give that back," the Storm King said as he grabbed Twilight's leg and tried to take the staff. "Let me have it you hear me let me have it right now, wait bad choice of words-" The Storm King was cut off when Twilight used the staff to blast him right through the wall.
"Twilight you're okay!" Pinkie called out as her group managed to make it to where she was.
"Not quite," Twilight then used the staff of Sacanas to return her magic. "Now I'm okay but we still can't free the other princesses."
"Yes you can," Tempest said. "Place the staff upside down where the Storm King placed it and it should free them as well as return their magic."
"Not on my watch!" The Storm King said as he came out of the hole where he was knocked through the wall and tackled Twilight forcing them both of them off the balcony and for a moment it seemed Twilight was lost to the storm. But she flew back with the staff still in hoof and the mighty storm fading away.
"All right Twilight!" Squeaky said. After coming back Twilight freed the other princesses, but just when it seemed this adventure was finally over numerous creatures entered the castle and surrounded the group. “AH COME ON!”
“I know right,” Swift Sweep said. The creatures continued their attack and even attacked and Squeaky Clean was thrown into another room. Stone Wall acted quickly, protecting the others and making the creatures back off. Tempest then saw 1 of the spheres she used to trap the princesses was coming Twilight's way so she got in front of her and was turned to stone instead.
"This isn't over!" The Storm King said as he got out a bag of the orbs that trapped the princesses in stone. "Good thing I stocked up on these before coming here." The Storm King then tossed all the orbs when suddenly they were caught in a magical aura. While they were capable of passing through magic, they weren't caught long enough as they were redirected to hit the creatures that serve that Storm King.
"Look at that, I hit all the targets, what do I win?" Said a certain superhero. When Squeaky was thrown a certain sphere fell out of his saddle bag that he couldn't help but notice that a certain symbol had finally returned. "Oh wait, I missed 1."
***
The Storm King and his followers were defeated and the Storm King would soon be taken to Tartarus. Naturally quite a few ponies wanted to know where the heck Super Stallion had been during the whole fiasco. "Yeah sorry about that," Super Stallion said to those ponies as he finished rounding up the Storm King's forces. "After a fight with a certain time anomaly I was worn out but now I'm ready to finally get back to stopping baddies like these." Super Stallion then flew off and at long last the Festival of Friendship could continue.
"Would you and your subjects like to stay for the festival Queen Novo?" Celestia asked the queen when the danger was finally gone.
"Oh can we mom can we?" Skystar said as she was jumping on and down.
"Well I guess there's no hurry to head back to Mount Aris."
"Hooray!" Skystar then went to look for Stone Wall who was talking with his long lost sister.
"I'm so sorry for what happened at the orphanage. I never meant to push you away, not a day has gone by that I didn't think about what happened."
"I'm sorry too, I never should have left you alone. I was so angry and so confused for so long." Tempest then placed her head on Stone Wall's forelegs. "I've missed you so much."
"I've missed you to Fizzlepop."
Stone Wall and Fizzlepop talked for a while and then Skystar finally found a certain captain of the guard. "Mom says we can stay for the festival. Let's dance, Stone Wall."
"Oh alright, I guess you deserve that much." As the Festival of Friendship finally started it was every bit as great as Twilight had hoped it would be. Tempest, who was freed, even helped out by making fireworks from her magic and Twilight restored her horn with her chaos magic to Tempest’s utter gratitude.
After the festival Shining Armor and Princess Cadance renewed their vows and this time it was a perfect wedding for Cadance because this time Stone Wall was there to give her away. After all that Squeaky met up with Stone Wall who managed to find a place to be alone.
"So, Tempest is your sister?"
"Yeah I'm still amazed by that myself."
"So do you know the story with her horn?"
"Yes, she got attacked by an ursa minor when she was young. Not long after that she just disappeared, I thought she ran off to Canterlot because she always dreamed of going to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and she probably figured there was somepony that could help her. So I went to Canterlot to look for her but she wasn't there. Celestia found me and well the rest is history. I always figured I'd see her again someday, but not like that."
"Well at least you 2 are together now and can catch up."
"No not really, she's talking about leaving to share what she learned about friendship and right the wrongs of the Storm King. Though I might be able to talk her out of it."
"Well if she's anything like you it's not gonna happen." Stone Wall wanted to get mad but he knew Squeaky had a point on his stubborn side. "So you always knew I was Super Stallion."
"Not at the beginning but I suspected. You left to get extra spares and showed up after Super Stallion left and after a while I put 2 and 2 together."
"So why were you surprised when we fought at the changeling hive?"
"Oh I don't know, maybe something messed with my head."
"Right, right, sorry."
"Though I was kind of thinking about what I did back then I was thinking that I didn't have what it took to be captain of the guard anymore. But after our adventure I know I still have what it takes, so I'll see if Princess Celestia will give me my former position again."
"You're coming back to the guard, oh that's wonderful!" Squeaky was about to hug Stone Wall but stopped himself halfway. Then to his surprise Stone Wall hugged him and he happily returned it.
"Don't get used to that and don't think just because you're a superhero you can slack off with your cleaning."
"If I do you'll probably notice anyway."
"You better believe it, nothing gets unnoticed by me."
"Oh Squeaky," Celestia called out wanting to dance with her husband.
"Oh gotta go Stone Wall the wife is calling," Squeaky said as he ran off.
"Fine, see you later……Wait the what is calling!?!"