//------------------------------//
// Catch Him if He Falls 
// Story: Ernest Saves Equestria 
// by Emerald Harp 
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The Tantabus prowled its growing domain like a lion.  As the dark cloud expanded, so did the powers of the Tantabus.  The monster grew stronger and quicker, chasing off unsuspecting pegasi that tried to chip away at the storm.  Blood did not serve the star creature, nor did it seek to imprison the populace below in crude wooden statues like the trolls did.  No, all the Tantabus had to do was wait.  Wait until troll and pony alike succumbed to fatigue, and then the monster would strike.  It would invade the dreams of all who slept under its cloud and feast.  The cloud would grow and expand exponentially for each dream consumed until the Tantabus would have the power to project itself onto different worlds and planes of existence.  Those who were fed upon would never sleep again but that was of little consequence.  If the creature had a mouth, it would be grinning.  It could almost taste the dreams and nightmares of its victims.  It . . . something was wrong.  

Luna’s familiar had felt its strength fade with each piece of the cloud that had been destroyed by the alicorn and the Pegasi.  They had hurt the Tantabus especially in the early moments when it was first forming.  But now the Tantabus barely registered the efforts of the ponies.  What the star creature felt now was shocking.  Its power was melting like ice on a hot iron.  It had to find the source of this unwelcomed sensation.  The monster turned its attention to the void in its cloud kingdom.  There, above the hospital where the black cumulous had been birthed.  The star creature flapped its wings and soared to where it was hemorrhaging power.

On the roof of the tallest building in Ponyville a single bipedal creature in ill-suited armor was vacuuming up the cloud.  The tall interloper was garbed in a suit of metal that looked like it had been cobbled together from guard armor, pig iron, and other refuse from a steel factory.  It looked like some sort of tar-like substance was all that was holding the protective gear together.  The star monster relaxed.  This upstart would be dealt with swiftly.  Did this intruder really think that what it was doing would go unnoticed?  One lightning strike would cook the gangly thing in its pathetic excuse for armor.  

The Tantabus took a moment to regard the flexible rubber tubing the biped was wielding to suck the cloud from the sky.  Even from this distance the star creature could hear the noise from an unseen machine hidden somewhere in the hospital.  The Tantabus detached a portion of itself to investigate the whereabouts from which the racket was coming.  The small spy flew through a window on one of the lower floors.  The cloudlet found enormous pipes and power cords that ran up a flight of stairs leading to the attic.  The spy followed the fresh plumbing up to the attic where it beheld several ponies gathered round a large haphazardly constructed metal drum.  The piping and power cords fed into the cylindrical device.  The Tantibus seeing these images in its mind’s eye reasoned that the cloud was being pulled in by this machine and being condensed and held somewhere in the basement.

Luna’s familiar marveled at the size and the many vulnerabilities the machine had.  From the thick power cords that gave the vacuum life to the exposed flexible hose that the biped was articulating, the Tantabus could take out any one of those extremities and the machine would be useless.  But for all the device’s faults, the machine was doing its job with alarming speed.  Like a cancer, this threat was treatable but had to be dealt with immediately.  The Tantabus glided forward towards the biped’s blindside and made ready to attack.  The interloper was not defenseless, however.  Pegasi moved to intercept the star creature but these were as mosquitoes to a hawk and were quickly out maneuvered or swatted aside.  But then She arrived.

Positioning herself between Ernest and her familiar, Luna floated readily in the night sky.  The Tantabus shrieked a challenge at its former master and beat its wings.  Lightning shot forth from its star-speckled appendages.  Wordlessly the Princess brought up her magic shield and stopped the attack.  She wasn’t sure if the Tantabus was aiming for her or for Ernest.  She risked a glance behind her and sighed in relief.  The human was still at his post unharmed and the Wonderbolts were leading a massive wave of pegasi to help destroy the black cumulous.  The Troll Fighter waved her way.  Luna’s relief turned to horror as she witnessed the impossible.  The cloud was disappearing into Ernent’s machine faster than the alicorn had hoped, but it was not fast enough.  Multiple pieces of the massive cumulus were breaking off and were transforming into near carbon copies of the Tantabus.  Ernest was oblivious to this new threat.  She tried to use her Royal Canterlot voice to warn the Troll Fighter but felt something smash through her shield.  The Tantabus in front of her was on the attack with its razor wings and heavy hooves. 



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“Troll Fighter One, can you hear me?  This is the pit crew,” a tinny voice sounded next to the Redneck’s ear.

Without taking his eyes off his work Ernest replied, “This is Troll FIghter One, go ahead pit crew.”  

“Are you doing okay out there?” Scootaloo’s disembodied voice asked.

The human grinned underneath his rusted helmet.  “Never better.   My years in the janitorial profession have served me well for this moment.  I am one with my surroundings, my armor, and my cloud sucker.  I’ll have the skies cleared before ol’ glitter sludge knows what hit it.”

Sunset Shimmer spoke next.  “Don’t get too cocky out there.  The Tantabus is bound to notice its cloud disappearing.”

A twinge of fear knotted Ernent’s stomach.  Behind his visor, Ernest scanned the skies for the star monster but all he saw were pegasi.  Coming out in droves the winged ponies attacked the cloud with a ferocity only matched by the trolls.  An orange and yellow pegasus garbed in blue latex waved at the human.  Ernest waved back,  the pony looked familiar but he wasn’t familiar with all the new faces just yet.  The Troll Fighter brought a hand up to his face and shifted the armor surrounding his head.  A small pebble was glued into his helmet near his right ear.  From it his friends in the attic were talking to him.  Sunset called it a sending stone and Ernest could hear his pit crew through his homemade earplugs and above the din of the vacuum.   “Roger that.  Just let me know if ya see anything out there.”

“Will do, Troll Fighter One.  You be careful out there.  Ya hear?” asked Applebloom.  

“I read ya.  I‘ll be the paragon of caution.”  It may have been his imagination, but Ernest could have sworn he heard some giggling on the other end of the stone and some mention about drinking rubber.  The Redneck slowly advanced along the top of the hospital, the shingled sloping grate and the steep angles of the roof slowed the human’s movement.  In spite of the danger, Ernest walked away from the hatch leading down to the attic.   His crew fed him slack for the hose as he moved.  The vacuum was so powerful that all Ernest had to do was aim the hose and the cloud disappeared into the special magically sealed holding tank in the basement.  But if Ernest wanted to suck up all of the cloud he would have to move to the otherside of the roof and up steep angles.       

Moments later Sweetie Belle was in his head yelling, “Ernest, the Tantabus has been spotted.  It’s heading our way.”

Ernest gulped.  Thanks to Luna’s briefing on the Tantabus, the Troll Fighter had a vague idea on what the creature could do.  But not even the Princess fully comprehended what her old familiar was capable of.  He laughed but he couldn’t hide the fear in his voice.  “Eh, heh, heh, heh.  I’m sure Luna and the Wonderbolts can keep it off our backs until we’re done.  Ain’t nothing to be scared of.  Ain’t that right, Rimshot?”  Ernest heard a weak howl from his pet in his ear.  “Chin up, boy.  The Princess said that if we can get rid of this cloud, the tar monster should lose its mojo and be easier for Luna to eat . . . or absorb, or something.”    

A sharp boom of thunder tore the human’s attention from his labor.  There, just south of his position and several hundred feet off the ground was Princess Luna fending off the Tantabus.  He waved up at her in thanks but didn’t know if she could see him.  At that moment the wind picked up and blew the Troll Fighter backwards.  Ernest took a step to reposition himself when his armored foot went through a gap in the shingled roof.  “Uh-oh,” muttered Ernest.  

“Looks like you ran into a spot of bother, mate.  We can see your bloody leg in the ceiling,” Pipsqueak’s small English voice stated.  “You need assistance?”  

Ernest tried to pull his trapped leg out of the hole his foot had just made but was held fast.  “I’m pretty sure I can get it loose . . . eventually.”  Ernest thought about laying the hose down so he could use his hands to free himself but thought better of it.  After all, with Luna protecting him he had nothing to worry about.

“Sit tight, old boy.  Sunset’s going to work the problem from our end.”

“Ten Four, pit crew.” replied Ernest.  

While Sunset and the Crusaders tried to push Ernent’s lodged leg back through the roof, Pipsqueak made his way up to the trapdoor.  He pushed open the door and stuck his head out to check on Ernest.  He found the stuck human still vacuuming the rapidly diminishing cloud.  He also saw something that was far more terrifying.  A piece of the monster cloud had broken free and had formed a cloud-Tantabus.  The monster was flying straight for Ernent’s blind-side.  He brought the sending stone up to his lips and screamed, “Duck!”  But from out of the dark night sky a streak of blue was flying straight for the cloud monster.  The little pony felt the wind from the Wonderbolt that shot past him as he shouted his warning.  

Ernest turned just enough to see Spitfire intercept the cloud monster and deliver a buck to the thing’s chest.  The creature came apart in midair mere feet away from the trapped Troll Fighter.  Ernest sighed in relief and brought an armored hand up to his helmet in salute to the passing Wonderbolt.  The Pegasus returned the salute and flew back up to the heavens to destroy the cloud.  His trapped leg tingled and he could feel an upward pressure being applied to the sole of his armored foot.  With a heave Ernest pulled his leg free from the rotting shingles.  He could see Sunset’s turquoise aura fade from around his ankle.  “Tell Sunny thanks,” Ernest said into the sending stone.  Not waiting for a reply, the human scrambled to his feet and brought the hose to bear on more of the charging cloud creatures.  The cumulous monsters dissolved and were sucked into the depths of the hospital before they could get close to the redneck.

The Troll Fighter laughed smugly, “Eh, heh, heh, heh.  Another demonstration of superior human and pony know-how over feral cloud creature acrobatics.”  

Pipsqueak’s voice reverberated in Ernent’s helmet. “Oi, watch your six, mate.  There’s more of those things coming for ya.”  

Ernest turned to see a dozen of the cloud creatures gliding straight towards him in a ragged formation.  “Copy that, pit crew.  I see em.”  The Redneck aimed the vacuum’s nozzle towards the oncoming attackers and sucked in three of the twelve.  Five more of the flying fiends were taken down by pegasi led by Spit Fire.    The remaining four fired magical projectiles that were coming straight for the Troll Fighter.  “Take cover, pit crew!” yelled the Redneck.

Ernest heard one of the Crusaders ask something through the sending stone, but he was too busy screaming his lungs out to answer when the missiles hit.  “WHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”  Ernest’s world went white as he felt the magic bolts of energy hit his arms and chest.  Surprisingly enough, he felt no pain.  The Troll Fighter uncoiled his body and looked down at himself.  He breathed a sigh of relief.  Light-blue magical symbols were glowing fiercely in the night.  Before the Redneck could laugh smugly and thank his guardian unicorn and pegasus, the Tantabus clones changed tactics.  He could see the cloud monsters flying into position to charge through the attic windows. 

“Trying to take me highground away, are ya?”  Ernest asked in his Camelot voice.  “Well, it twill be a cold day in Ole Scratch's hot box before that happens.  Hang on, pit crew.”           

            

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The Tantabus howled in frustration.  This fight should have been over by now, but the armored biped was proving difficult to get rid of, thanks to the air support of the pegasi.  Luna’s familiar was only just managing to stay out of reach of its former master.  The Tantabus could feel itself weakening by the second.  Soon it wouldn’t be able to outfight the Night Princess.  As the star creature weaved and dodged Luna’s attacks, the Tantabus risked a look over at the hospital.  The biped was distracted.  It was not focusing on the cloud but was concerned with helping its allies in the hospital and protecting that infernal machine.  Even now the Tantabus saw two of the cloud clones being sucked into the biped’s vacuum as they tried to break into the attic.  Through the eyes of the little spy, the Tantabus watched an orange unicorn enchant windows with warding spells.  On the other side of the room, four foals were keeping another window barred with a mixture of magic from the little unicorn, a hastily applied black glue-like substance, and metal beams that were hammered into place.  The little cloud focused its attention on the loud machine in the center of the room.  The Tantabus grinned as it continued to avoid the alicorn.  If the spy could shut down or disable the vacuum, then the tide would turn.  The cloud would begin to grow again and regenerate what was lost.  The cloudlet slowly floated up to the machine.   A dog began to bark and snarl, but the spy paid it no heed.  Just before the spy could damage some of the circuitry, the cloudlet was knocked to the side and into a pile of metal refuse.  The spy looked up to see a beagle and a tiny pink unicorn dressed in a Princess costume looking down at the spy menacingly.  The last thing the Tantabus saw through the eyes of the cloudlet was a flash of magic from the pink unicorn and then nothing.

The star monster snarled and flew straight for the armored biped.  The Tantabus, throwing caution to the wind, summoned dozens of copies from the black cumulous and hurled them at the pursuing Night Princess.  The once enormous dark cloud that had dominated the night sky visibly shrank again at the act of being remade into so many Tantabus clones.  The star creature smiled when it looked behind to see its former master slow her pursuit in the face of so many new adversaries.  The Tantabus clones came apart in droves in the face of Luna’s fury and magic, but she had fallen behind.  The Tantabus prepared itself and set its sights on the new target.  



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“Where are ya?  Where are ya, ya sorry excuse for evil water vapor?  I’ll teach you to mess with my friends!”  Ernest leaned over the edge of the hospital to see if the cloud monster was hiding  beneath him. 

“Over here, Ernest.  North window!”  Sunset’s voice called through the sending stone.  

“Roger, pit crew,” the Troll Fighter turned and gingerly made his way over.  Sure enough the last of the Tantabus clones were trying to break through into the attic.  Ernest smiled to himself as he sucked in the cloud monster.  “Got em!  Everyone okay down there?”

“Yeah.  We’re okay,” Sunset reported through the stone.  “Rimshot and Diamond Tiara saved the machine from being turned off.  A little cloud managed to sneak in here.”

Ernest’s eyes widened at that bit of news.  “Man, I owe Rimshot a dog biscuit, and Diamond Tiara a pony.”  A look of horror crossed his face when he realized what he’d just said.  “Uh, err, maybe a castle.  How’s the Nimbus Sucker?”

Sunset laughed.  “The vacuum’s okay.  Pressure is good and we still have plenty of room in the holding tanks downstairs.  I don’t know how you and the Crusaders built something like this in so short a time, but I know we’d be in trouble without it.  You’re amazing, Ernest.”

Ernenst heard the other foals voice their agreement in the background with cheers and hoof stomping over the noise of the vacuum.  The Redneck felt his cheeks grow hot.  He wanted to reply, but something in the corner of his eye drew his attention.  A winged black mass speckled with star light was flying straight towards him at an alarming speed.  He tried to bring up his vacuum hose on the flying ebony monster, but he was moving far too slow.  The monster struck in the form of a massive lightning attack that was heard by everypony in Ponyville and every troll in the Everfree Forest.  The bolts of magical lightning struck Ernest squarely in the breastplate and traveled throughout his body.  Sunset’s protection spells that were infused in the armor were instantly overloaded. To her horror, Sunset Shimmer could hear Ernest through the sending stone while he was being electrocuted.  He wasn’t screaming in pain, but he wasn’t making any comprehensible noises she’d ever heard before.  And just after the deafening thunder, the ponies in the attic heard and saw pieces of metal shoot through the roof like swiss cheese.

The pegasi who witnessed the monstrous attack would later state that the human’s armor exploded from Ernest’s body in all directions.  After several long seconds, the burnt human fell face forward off the roof of the hospital.              

“Catch him!” yelled Spitfire.  The Wonderbolt Commander was joined by Misty Fly and Rapid Fire.  The Wonderbolts swooped forward and caught the human before he could face-plant into the dirt.  As gently as they could, the Wonderbolts lowered the fallen Troll Fighter to the ground.  “We need a bucking doctor over here!” screamed  Spitfire.  The human was convulsing and thrashing, nearly throwing off the hooves of the three mares holding him down.  The pegasus looked down to see Ernest staring up at her.  His eyes were white and wide, and it might have been her imagination, but she thought she saw arcs of blue lighting dance along his fingertips.  And then he was still.  Panicking, Spitfire put her cheek under the Redneck’s nose.  The human had stopped breathing.  

One of the other pegasi felt the human’s arm.  “I can’t feel a pulse,” declared Misty Fly.   

“Oh, no, no, no.  Don’t do this to me, you hairless son of a monkey,” muttered Spitfire.  She didn’t know where a human heart was located, but she was not going to let this man die on her watch.  Taking her best guess, she started to press hard on Ernent’s chest.

Sunset felt a tear fall from her eyes as she watched the Wonderbolts trying to revive Ernest through the barred attic windows.  She had not been strong enough.  Her magic had not been strong enough to protect her best friend.  She had sent the Crusaders, Rimshot, Pipsqueak, and Diamond Tiara down into the hospital.  She had told them to send up some unicorns to bolster the defenses of the attic.  Before the fillies could trot down the stairs, Sunset had given Willie’s black box to Scootaloo and told her to take good care of it for Ernest.  It was never safe to be up here, but with Ernest hurt, she had expected the Tantabus to tear the attic roof off at any second.  The vacuum was offline.  When Ernest was stricken down, the Nimbus Sucker 9000’s pressure gauge had spiked and gone critical.  Thinking quickly, Pipsqueak cut the power to the machine and said that something must be blocking the hose.   The orange unicorn knew what she had to do.  Taking a deep breath she wiped her tears and stepped out onto the roof, determined to finish Ernent’s work.              

The Tantabus attacked the Princess of the Night with renewed vigor.  With that cursed biped out of the way the cloud was slowly regrowing in spite of the legions of pegasi trying to destroy it.  The cloud was fighting back with lightning of its own, sending many pegasi plummeting out of the skies with lightning strikes and gail force winds.  Luna’s familiar had tried multiple times to destroy the place where the vacuum was but couldn’t.  Princess Luna was there to stop each attack with her magic.  The ruler of the Night was battered, bruised, and bleeding but the Tantabus could feel a great rage had been ignited within the monarch when the biped had fallen.  Again the titans clashed, the two combatants seeking to spear the other with their horns.  Luna gasped at the searing pain when her familiar scored a deep gash across her cheek.  The Princess responded by stabbing one of the forehooves of the Tantabus.  The gore was deep and the star creature reeled in the sky, favoring the fast mending hoof. The monster turned its attention back to the hospital and fired a lance of explosive magic at the attic.  Luna anticipated this attack and let fly her own counter spell.  Her magic engulfed the Tantabus’s missile and sent it crashing to the ground.  The earth-bound ponies dove for cover as the magic projectile exploded on the ground near the hospital.  The alicorn had just enough time to put up a barrier between herself and the monster.  The Tantabus was once again on the offensive, trying to strike at The Princess with its razor-wings.  Luna had anticipated that too.  Everytime she defended the hospital, there was an opening for the Tantabus to strike.  If only somepony could get the vacuum working again, the Princess thought.

Several Pegasai had tried to dive for the vacuum hose dangling off the side of the hospital.  But nopony could get close to it.  The cloud clones of the Tantabus were chasing off anypony that got too close to the vacuum.  

From the corner of her eye Princess Luna saw a spell-camouflaged unicorn climb out the hatch-way from the attic and onto the roof of the hospital.  With reckless abandonment, the alicorn launched herself at the Tantabus.  She needed her familiar to be focused on her and not on what was happening on the roof.

Sunset Shimmer moved slowly, following the vacuum hose.  To the untrained eye, it looked like several shingles on the roof were moving in concert.  Inch by inch the former bully made her way to her goal.   She crawled forward and when she reached the top of the gable, her heart sank.  Six of the Tantabus cloud clones guarded the hose that was dangling over the edge of the hospital.  Sunset looked around frantically.  Plans and schemes formed in her head but just as quickly each one was discarded.  Think, Sunset think.  What would Ernest do?  She thought back to just a day ago when Ernest had been talking to her while repairing one of the blenders in the lunchroom.  He had said something weird.  He had dressed up as Auntie Nelda to sneak outside of prison . . . something like that.  But . . . that’s it.

Sunset hid behind the gable and dropped her camouflage magic.  She cast a new spell that made her look like one of the Tantabus clones.  She looked down at herself and saw that her body had taken on a wispy dark gray appearance.  Standing up straight and looking as regal as possible, Sunset walked majestically over the rise and straight at the other cloud doppelgangers.  The disguised unicorn gulped as she approached.  The clones did not seem to notice her.  Their attention was focused on the skies, watching for pegasi.  Moving slowly, Sunset Shimmer wondered at the capabilities of these cloud constructs.  The pony concentrated on slowly pulling up the hose with her magic, while at the same time maintaining her disguise spell.  This feat wasn’t easy, but it was nothing Sunset couldn’t handle.  After all, she had been trained by Celestia herself.  Sunset felt a pang of guilt at the thought of her old mentor.  She made a note to return to Canterlot if she managed to live through Nightmare Night and apologize to her teacher.  When she finally had the end of the hose in her hooves, she looked at the nozzle and frowned.  The nozzle had been melted shut where Ernest had been holding it.  Sunset thought quickly on how she could fix the damaged part when she felt something nudge her from behind.  All six of the constructs were looking right at her.  It was like she was in a Daring Doo novel and she had just picked up a holy relic in some sort of temple.  The traps were triggered, and now it was time to run.  

The Tantabus clones were like the original.  They didn’t have a face, but Sunset could tell that these things saw her, and that she was a threat to them.  The monsters surrounded her.  The unicorn could have teleported out of there, but she couldn’t take the hose with her.  Sunset let her disguise spell fade away.  She was not leaving without this hose.  Her horn glowed in readiness, but before Sunset could cast a spell or the clones could attack, one of the replicas spasmed and dissolved as lighting coursed through its body followed by a boom of thunder.  Sunset and the five remaining golems looked up to see a wingless-man floating above the hospital.  The unicorn’s breath caught in her throat when she looked at her hero.  His armor was gone, his clothes were ragged, his skin was burned, and his eyes were blue orbs of electricity shining like beacons.  Sunset could see white lightning coursing through the veins of the newcomer, but there was no denying who it was.  Ernest’s hand was pointed at the clones like a gun.  Quicker then Sunny could blink, four more of the clones fell.  She had to shield her eyes from the brightness of the lightning.  And then Ernest spoke.  It was like Princess Luna using her Canterlot voice, and everyone stopped to stare and listen.  The powered up human was looking at the last Tantibus clone.  It might have been the after effects of the lightning, but Sunset could have sworn the thing was cowering.  

“Now I know what you’re thinking,” said Ernest in his best Clint Eastwood voice.  “And the answer is yes.  You should have stayed in bed today.  And no, they are called the Berenstain Bears not the Berenstein Bears.”

Not wanting to confront the god-like being in the sky, the clone lunged at the unicorn.  Sunset was ready for this and nimbly dodged out of the way of the attack.  Before the clone could pursue the fleeing unicorn, Ernest filled the cloud monster full of lightning, and the Tantabus doppelganger came apart.  Sunset clutched the hose with her magic and carefully picked her way back into the attic.  Her heart sang with happiness and relief.  Ernest was alive but she didn’t have time to celebrate.  She had a vacuum to fix.

Ernest watched Sunny retreat and smiled.  He turned his attention to the pegasi that were gazing in awe at him.  In his camelot voice he said, “We got them on the ropes, lads!  Once more into the breach!  For God, Camelot, Princess, and Country!”  

The burned and bruised ponies erupted in cheers and attacked the cloud with renewed fervor.

The Julius Caesar side of Ernest’s personality spoke up. “Excellent speech.  You'd've made a superb senator back in my day, rallying the troops of the Empire against Hannibal and Attila.” 

The aircraft gunner scoffed. “I’ve heard better.  Besides these are clouds.  When was the last time you saw a cloud storm a beach or drop a bomb at 5000 feet?  These clouds ain’t nothing.”  

Ernest let loose with more chain-lightning at a swarm of cloud monsters.  “Well, I will admit at the spur of the moment it wasn’t my best speech.”

“Oh honey, you did fine,” said the hairdresser side of Ernest’s brain.  “Don’t let Ace get you down.  He’s just mad that he can’t fly or shoot lightning out of his fingers like a Star Wars villain.”             

The cowboy chimed in. “You know back in Oklahoma there were strange things afoot.  I saw a critter made out of lightning that set the trees on fire.  It was a darn yellow rat with red cheeks that peeked at cha.  We finally caught the thing in a red and white box and sent it to Japan.  Never heard of it since.”  

Ernest dove through the air and blasted a cloud monster that was chasing one of Luna’s Royal Guard.  

The Troll Fighter paused to look around and revel in the moment.  Because he was destroying every Tantibus clone in sight, the pegasi were slowly gaining the upper hand over the Tantabus. 

The British explorer sighed happily. “What a glorious little war we have here.  I’ve never seen such bravery or pluck from any creature with more than two legs.”  

“Thank you.  You’re pretty courageous yourself, Ernest.”

The human recoiled in surprise, nearly plummeting to the ground.  The Princess of the Night was flying next to him with a look of worry mixed with amusement on her battered face.  “Are you well, Ernest?  I have never heard of anypony taking a magical lightning strike like that and living to tell the tale.  Much less become even more powerful.”

“I’m okay, ma’am.  The same thing happened a year ago when I was put in an electric chair and thrown against an electric cage.”

Luna’s eyes widened.  “You are full of surprises.  If you are able I would like to request your assistance in hunting down the Tantabus.  It has retreated into the Cumulus.  We must--”

The alicorn’s words were cut off by a familiar sound coming from the hospital.  There on the rooftop Sunset Shimmer was wielding the nozzle of the Nimbus Sucker 9000.

“Looks like Sunny has this under control, your Majesty.  All we gotta do is make sure the vacuum stays running, and we should be good to go.”

The Princess thought for a moment.  “So be it.  I was not relishing the prospect of going back in there.”

Between Princess Luna, the pegasi, and Ernest, the Tantabus could not get close to the hospital to destroy the vacuum.  Several more frantic minutes of desperate fighting by the Tantabus ensued.  But the outcome was no longer in doubt.  With Ernest and the Pegasi now devoted to protecting Sunset Shimmer and the Nimbus Sucker 9000, Luna was free to engage Tantabus whenever it left the cloud.  At last the storm creature no longer troubled Ponyville’s skies.  The Tantabus was a mere shadow of the beast it was hours ago.  Too weak to fly, the Tantabus glided down from the heavens to touch down in a field near the hospital.  The Princess was there to escort it as it flew down to earth.  The star creature looked up at its master and bowed its head in resignation.  Wordlessly Luna touched her horn to her familiar.  There was a flash of bright light, and the Tantabus was reabsorbed into its true master.