//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Flash Sentry & Daring Do // Story: Unfriendship 2 // by littleman001 //------------------------------// Luster Dawn watched with admiration as the first rays of the sun peaked out from beneath the horizon. She did this every morning ever since she was freed from her frozen state. Not only was it beautiful, but it set her mind at ease, which she needed more than ever as she found herself remembering the attack on her village seven years ago. And yet, for her it still felt so fresh. It had been only two years since she was awakened. Her mission of warning the princesses of the attack on her village was still on her mind, but after what she heard from the ponies who freed her, that wasn’t going to be an option for her. She still didn’t believe that Princess Celestia could turn on Twilight Sparkle like that! Chrysalis tricked Twilight into killing her family and destroying Canterlot and instead of helping her rebuild and cope, Celestia stripped her of her magic and her status then tossed her into Tartarus as Luster was told. Celestia was afraid that Twilight will gain too much sympathy and support from this ordeal and after rebuilding Canterlot, she would take the throne for herself, so she just disposed of her before she could do that. She never thought Celestia was capable of something like that, but apparently she didn’t know the solar princess as well as she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt something wrapping around her gently. "Are you thinking about it again?“ asked Rainbow Dash as she sat down next to her. Luster just nodded. Though she never told Rainbow and the other refugees of her village’s destruction, the news of Celestia’s betrayal and Twilight’s imprisonment hit her almost as hard. Rainbow just gave her a reassuring smile. "Don’t worry kid, one day we’ll return to Equestria, bust out Twilight and Celestia will pay for everything.“ she told her. "But sitting around here and moping won’t do you any good. Come on, let’s go back. It’s time for your lessons. Luster nodded and followed the pegasus back to the palace. At the palace, another of her new friends was waiting for her. "Luster Dawn! You can’t just wonder off like that! Especially not so close to the border!“ Blueblood complained at the younger unicorn. "Celestia’s agents are on a constant ponyhunt for us! If they saw you…“ "Give her a break, will you?“ Rainbow snapped. Luster rolled his eyes. Those two were her mentor figures ever since she awakened, but they just couldn’t seem to get along. Luster would never admit it to Rainbow, but she felt like she wasn’t giving Blueblood enough credit. If it wasn’t for him, none of them would have found refuge here. Blueblood had a couple of friends in high places in Stalliongrad and they agreed to keep him and other regime fugitives out of Celestia’s hooves. "Stop it already! How are we ever going to return to Equestria if you two can’t stop biting each other’s throats?“ Luster asked. "We need Princess Twilight! We have no proper leadership without her!“ "And we will get her out, Luster.“ Blueblood replied. "We have already gotten Rainbow Dash out of Cloudsdale and there you already showed that your training is almost complete. The time is near, Luster.“ "I can’t believe I’m saying this, but he’s right.“ Rainbow added. "We’re almost ready to free Twilight and with her Equestria will once again have the leader it needs.“ they both smiled at Luster, who was happy to finally have some agreement in the group. "Now come, it’s time for today’s lesson.“ Luster followed the Stallion, leaving Rainbow by herself. She stared off into the rising sun with a hard glare as it just reminded her of the treacherous alicorn who ruined everything. 'Soon, Twi, we’ll get you out and Celestia will pay. For everything. The Regime will rise again.‘ The Badlands looked just as hostile and uninviting as they always imagined. Daring, Flash and Thorax just passed an abandoned Regime labor camp and winced at the mere thought that they forced ponies to live and work here. „As if we needed another evidence that Twilight’s lost it.“ Daring muttered. "How much further?“ "We’re almost there.“ Flash replied. "There is no way to miss that huge flag they set up. That has to be their base.“ Indeed, the heroes soon reached an encampment with several griffons, dragons, changelings and even some ponies gathered in front of a large podium in front of a gigantic flag. They hid between the trees and watched as the leader of the First Order, Tempest Shadow walked up to the podium. The black mare with the broken horn looked over the assembled crowd before slamming her hoof down on the podium to gather their attention. She smiled in satisfaction when she saw that every eye was now on her and began to speak. "Oppressed creatures of Equestria, the day of your salvation has come!" she roared. "For years, you have been forced away from your homes into the wasteland for not bowing to a tyrant. And before that, you weren't welcome because you didn't agree with the sentimental nonsense the princesses were spewing. But tomorrow, that will be over! No more Regime! No more princesses! Tomorrow, Equestria will bow before it's new masters: THE FIRST ORDER!" upon the unicorn's announcement, the crowd in front of her erupted into an enthusiastic cheer and seven more creatures stepped onto the podium next to Tempest. Flash, Daring and Thorax weren't surprised to see their enemies from the Everfree Forest, Pharynx, Ember and Bon Bon standing there. What actually surprised them was when they saw Pinkie Pie on the stage. Why on Faust's green earth would she join an army about to take over Equestria? That wasn't like her at all! And even more bafflingly, her expression was the same cheerful smile as she wore most of the time. Like she didn't even realize she was part of a scheme to overthrow Celestia. Next to Pinkie, was a male unicorn that the heroes recognized as the conpony, Flam. He was wearing a tank full of dark brown liquid on his back and had a strange looking gun holstered on his side. They still remembered the day Twilight executed his brother along with several other criminals and Insurgency agents, but Flam managed to escape when an insurgent attack hit the sight of the execution and hasn't been heard from ever since. Next to him was Lightning Dust. Flash narrowed his eyes when he recognized her. Her death squad that she lead during the time of the Regime has killed several good ponies he fought side by side alongside with within the Insurgency. She was sentenced to Tartarus after the Regime fell, but managed to escape when she broke free during the time she was being delivered to there. Lastly, there was the griffon Gilda. Many griffons were chased away by Twilight, but she really did a number on Gilda. She was one of Twilight's test subjects when she was developing her mind control spell. She thought Gilda could be a useful weapon. But eventually, Gilda's resolve was too strong for her to break and she gave up on her before throwing her out of Equestria like trash. It wasn't surprising to find her here. Tempest waited until the cheers died down and continued. "Tomorrow, we will show Equestria our true strength as we rain fiery vengeance upon them! Tomorrow, we will take our rightful place in the world! Tomorrow, we'll remind the princesses how insignificant and inferior they really are! Tomorrow, we will bring them all To! Their! Knees!" she screamed as the crowd erupted into cheers once more. "That mare certainly doesn't have self-esteem issues." Flash deadpanned before the heroes retreated behind the tree. "Okay, listen up!" Daring said. "We'll need a plan. Thorax, how good are you with teleportation spells?" Thorax sweated nervously. "Well, there were better casters than me. Exactly, how far do you want me to teleport?" "Could you teleport us back to the balloon?" she specified, causing Thorax to sigh in relief. "Oh, yeah! That I can do." the changeling smiled. "Then here's the plan." the mare explained. "Flash, we'll track Tempest and capture her when she's vulnerable. Thorax, you disguise yourself and blend in with the crowd. Follow us and when we signal, bail us out. You guys got that?" the two males nodded. It was a simple enough plan. "Then let's go!" Flash and Daring were carefully sneaking in the shadows of the dead trees as they followed Tempest and the First Order officers who retreated behind the podium once the speech was over. "That was some speech you gave back there, Tempest!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she bounced next to the broken horned unicorn. "Did you hire Twilight's speech writer?" Tempest scoffed at her. "In case you haven't noticed, we are about to go to war." she told the earth pony harshly. "Our soldiers need to be properly motivated. And what better way to motivate them than appealing to their hatred of Equestria and ponykind?" "Ooh, ooh, don't tell me, I can guess! Early Heart's Warming gifts? 'All you can eat' coupons to Sugarcube Corner? A PARTY?!" Tempest groaned as she tried to ignore the party obsessed crazy pony's antics. She turned to Bon Bon. "How are we doing, Bon Bon?" "First wave is ready to go. Pharynx and Ember are just waiting for you to give the word. I have made traps and instructions on how to set them up at key equestrian defense locations to the changelings. What little defense they have will be thrown into disarray before they even realize what hit them." she replied without enthusiasm. Tempest smiled. "Good dog." she said, making Bon Bon look up at her with a glare that would have incinerated her could looks kill. "Gilda, Lightning, what about you?" "My griffons are gathering on the eastern border of the Crystal Empire." Gilda replied. "And my pegasi are just about ready on the west. Divide and conquer. They won't be able to hold two fronts." Lightning added. Tempest smirked. "Excellent. Flam, Bon Bon, you go with the first wave. Secure the territory south from Canterlot. Once Gilda's and Lightning's forces are finished at the north with the Empire, they will join you. We'll encircle their capital, then we can toy with then however we want to. Our plan has been proceeding flawlessly. Our silent partner is very satisfied with you all." "For now that is." Flam added cynically. "I wonder if we have to watch our backs from the troops he provided us once we've accomplished our objectives at the capital." "As long as we have a common agenda, Flam, you have nothing to worry about." Tempest ressured. "Now go and get ready." Bon Bon, Flam and Gilda walked away, leaving Tempest alone with Pinkie and Lightning. "Hey, Tempest!" the pink mare started. "I was just wondering, since we're relying so much on our mysterious 'silent patner', don't you think this should be the part where you let us in on who he is. Or she. I will have to organize a welcoming party for him once we've conquered Canterlot!" she offered with a huge grin, holding up a variety of party supplies. Tempest had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Did this mare ever shut up? "There will be no need for that, Pinkie Pie. He is not one for public events. But rest assured, he will soon make his presence known. But first..." "First you should throw a different kind of party, Pinkie!" Flash yelled as he and Daring flew out of their hiding place and landed in front of the trio. "A 'Farewell Party' for your new boss, because she's coming with us!" he then turned to Daring. "How was that for witty banter?" he asked. Daring smiled. "Flash, you've got more in the looks department. Don't ruin it by trying to use your head." "You think I look good?" Flash asked teasingly. Daring blushed and her eyes widened when she realized what she just said. "What? I just called you stupid, you featherbrain! Don't flatter yourself!" "But you said I'm good in the looks department." Flash smirked. "I said you've got more in the looks department! More than in brains and your look is already..." Daring wanted to come up with an insult, but she couldn't bring herself to say it out. He was right, he really didn't look half bad. "Dreamy? Enticing? Hot?" Flash teased again. Daring was about to punch him, but a cough from Tempest reminded her of the real problem at hoof. "The saboteurs from the Everfree Forest, I presume." she scoffed before turning to Pinkie and Lightning. "Give our guests a proper greeting." Lightning grinned and cracked her hooves. "With pleasure." she mused as she and Pinkie approached Flash and Daring who got into defensive positions. "Which one do you want?" Daring asked. "The bitch or the clown?" "Definitely the bitch." Flash said as he walked up to Lightning. "I've got some dead comrades to avange. Your Exterminators killed a lot of my friends in the war." Lightning just smirked. "Would you like a headcount? We marked our guns for each of them." Flash suddenly saw red and lunged at the mare, but she easily dodged and took off into the air with Flash taking off after her. Meanwhile, Daring was facing Pinkie. "First, Twilight, now Tempest, Pinkie? No wonder you weren't the element of loyalty." Pinkie just waved her off. "Well, you know the funny thing about loyalty is you get to pick who and what are you loyal to." she then pulled out two party horns and put one in her mouth. Daring raised an eyebrow, not intimidated in the slightest, but then Pinkie blew the party horn and it hit the pegasus right in the face. "Ow! You breeding mare! That..." Daring yelled, holding her cheek. It stung like a whip. Daring quickly reached for her bird whistle and blew a sonic blast at Pinkie, but to her surprise, Pinkie barely even flinched. She pulled up her ears and revealed that she was wearing ear plugs. "Damn it!" Daring inhaled to unleash an even bigger blast, but Pinkie blew her party horn again and it knocked the whistle out of Daring's hooves. The whistle landed on the ground and Daring flew to retreive it, but Pinkie hit her again with the party horn right in the flank. It took all of Daring's strength not to fall on the ground, but she managed to stay in the air and flew out of the range of Pinkie's horns. The pink mare acknowledged the fact that she can no longer hit her with frustration. She then noticed Lightning Dust flying circles around a stunned Flash Sentry in the air who was trying in vain to hit her with his crossbow. "Hey, Lightning! On your 9!" the pegasus mare turned around and saw Daring floating near her. She immediately knew what Pinkie was thinking. She flew in front of Flash and then charged straight at her at full speed, knocking him out of the air and sending her plummeting towards Daring and the two pegasi ended up crashing into each other and falling on the ground. "I was hoping that you would fall for me. Not the other way around." Flash moaned in pain. Daring was in too much agony to snap back. They looked up to Pinkie and Lightning standing smugly over them. They glanced at each other. "Switch partners?" Flash asked. Daring looked up at Lightning and realized that Flash was right. Fortunately, she ended up landing next to her whistle. She picked it up and blew a blast at Lightning and managed to catch her by surprise and sent her flying back with Daring flying after her. Pinkie tried to intercept her with one of her horns, but Flash destroyed her toy with an arrow. The earth pony glared menacingly back at him. "Now you've done it! That was my favorite party horn!" Flash fired at her again, but Pinkie used her remaining party horn to knock the arrow away. Flash smirked when he saw that as it gave him an idea. He loaded another arrow and fired it at Pinkie, who tried to knock it away as well, but when the horn connected it, the arrow exploded with a blinding flash, making Pinkie scream as she covered her eyes. "A flash from Flash! Appropriate, wouldn't you agree?" Flash said, before he loaded a third arrow and fired it. The arrow split in half and turned into a bola with a rope between the two halves. The rope wrapped around Pinkie and she fell onto the ground. In the other fight, Daring tackled Lightning to the ground and repeatedly punched her across the face. Lightning managed to recover and raised a hoof to block Daring's strike, before headbutting her in the muzzle. Daring stumbled back and it gave Lightning the opportunity to attack. She knocked Daring back on the ground and flew up into the air before diving towards her opponent to finish her off with a dive bomb strike. But Daring recovered enough to fly up and counter her attack. "Gonna shove my hoof up your..." "What are you waiting for?" The two mares struggled to push back the other, but the struggle was a stalemate. In the end, Daring realized this and instead of struggling further, she just reached for her whistle and before Lightning could react, she blew her away. This not only threw Lightning off course, but it also gave her a nasty ear ring which all but incapacitated her and Daring took this opportunity to finish it off. She flew above Lightning and used her whistle again to send her crashing towards the ground, right into the tied up Pinkie Pie. "Flash!" she called to the stallion, extending her hoof. The stallion took the hint and flew up to her. They interlocked their hooves and flew towards the ground together at full speed, crashing into the two ponies below, knocking them out for good. Daring looked at the two defeated mears in satisfaction, but when she looked over at Flash, she noticed that they were still holding hooves, which did not go unnoticed by the stalliong, who gave her another teasing look. Daring just glared at her before pulling her hoof away. "One word and I'll put it in your muzzle." she threatened, but Flash merely chuckled. "Can we just go? We still have a job to do." Flash just motioned in front of himself. "Ladies first." he smirked. Daring ignored him and was about to run off in the direction where Tempest went, but she was interrupted by a blinding orange flash in front her, which forced her and Flash to cover their eyes. When the light died down, they both looked up to see a familiar unicorn standing in front of them wearing glasses, a goatee and a cape with stars on it. The pegasi immediately recognized him. "Sunburst!" Flash exclaimed in shock. "What are you doing here?" the unicorn turned to his former Insurgency comrade with a grim look. "I am looking for you, Flash Sentry. The Crystal Empire is in peril. The Crystal Heart is losing power, our ponies are becoming pale and losing their glimmer. Our power is being drained! I believe it to be the work of a dire threat looming on the horizon. And I do not know if we can stop it." Flash and Daring glanced at each other in confusion. "You mean Tempest and company?" Flash asked uncertainty. "We got that covered." but Sunburst shook his head. "Tempest Shadow and the First Order are merely tools of an even greater evil. If we allow it to spread, not just the Empire but all of ponykind will be at risk!" Flash and Daring were horrified at this. "Come with me! After thorough studying, I've discovered that the Crystal Heart can be stabilized with the Elements!" Flash looked alarmed when he heard this and looked over at Daring who raised an eyebrow. "The Elements? What do they have to do with any of this?" as far as she knew, the Elements of Harmony were no longer intact and even if they were, what did they have to do with her and Flash? Sunburst looked at Flash accusingly. "I take it Celestia kept it a secret." he said, making Flash back away nervously. The unicorn then turned to the mare. "Celestia managed to restore the Elements. Flash is one of the new bearers. Loyalty I beleive after Rainbow Dash's fall from grace." Flash gulped, but tried to save face. "Even if what you said is true, Sunburst – and I'm not saying it is – I wouldn't be allowed to go with you. We're on a mission by Celestia. She needs us to remove a threat to Equestria." To Flash's surprise, the unicorn's face hardened. "Don't you see?!" he asked, stomping his hoof. "Celestia has no say in this! None of us do! He won't stop at the Empire, all of ponykind is in danger! Our lands are being drained of magic! Life as we know it will cease to exist! This need to be dealt with now! You will come with me!" Sunburst approached them as he talked, igniting his horn. "By force if necessary!" "I think you spent too much time talking to your crystals, Sunny." Daring spoke, trying to calm him down. "They've gotten to your head. What do you say we calm down and..." "Be silent, Daring Do! This doesn't concern you!" the unicorn yelled uncharacteristically before pushin the mare back against a nearby tree. "Daring!" Flash yelled in panic before glaring back at Sunburst. "Alright, crystal brain, it is on!" Flash began firing arrows at Sunburst in blind fury. Most of them missed and the ones that did hit just pounced off of a magical barrier. Flash growled in irritation before loading his crossbow again with arrows that contained a little surprise. "Let's see you block this." Flash whispered as he fired. The arrows once again hit the barrier, but instead of bouncing off of it, they all exploded, which shattered Sunburst's barrier and sent him back on the ground. Flash then loaded his crossbow with a net arrow, but Sunburst finally had enough of playing around. "Enough!" the unicorn snapped, unleashing a blast that knocked Flash off balance. Sunburst then used his magic to take hold of Flash's crossbow and pull it out of his grasp. The pegasus flew up and tried to regain possession of his weapon, but Sunburst's magic was too strong. In the end, Flash gave up on pulling it away and instead pushed it towards Sunburst and before he could react, he bashed him in the face with it, knocking him out cold. After he was done with Sunburst, Flash ran to check on Daring. "Come on, Daring. Don't do this to me. Wake up." he said frantically as he shook Daring, trying to wake her up. He checked her pulse, her heartbeat, everything was normal so he didn't understand why wasn't she waking up. "I think I might have to do CPR." Flash said nervously. Suddenly, Daring's eyes shot open and she sat straight up. "I'M OK!" Flash was shocked for a moment, but it was instantly replaced by relief over seeing the mare was alright. "Daring!" he yelled happily before embracing the mare. "I'm so glad you're OK." Daring was taken aback by the sudden gesture, but she couldn't deny it felt good. With a soft, slight smile growing on her lips, she was about to return the embrace, but the tender moment was interrupted by a groan, coming from the defeated Sunburst. The unicorn came to and was about to stand up, until he found himself shoved back against the ground by Daring's forehooves and and having Flash's loaded crossbow pressed against his throat. "You were saying..." Flash asked coldly, his voice making it obvious he was still furious about his attack on Daring. Sunburst sighed. "I'm sorry. I got a little carried away." he said in remorse. "I'll say." Daring said, stepping off of Sunburst's chest and extedning a hoof to help him up. "What's gotten into you?" "After I returned to the Crystal Empire following Twilight's defeat, Cadance wasn't too thrilled that I helped Celestia during the war. As punishment, she cast a binding spell on me to make sure I'll stay loyal to her. She sent me to retreive the element bearers to stabilize the Crystal Heart before it is too late." Flash and Daring still didn't understand anything. "Too late for what, Sunburst? What's going on here?" Daring asked. Sunburst looked like he was about to reply, but then he recoiled as if stopped by an invisible force. "Cadance's binding spell bars me from saying more. The best I can do for you is return to her and try to convince her of cooperation. I hope you succeed in your mission. For the sake of all of us. For what comes next, mere ponies cannot stop. For better or for worse, our fate lies in the hooves of the princesses." Sunburst said ominously before he disappeared in an orange flash. Flash and Daring looked on in concern. "That was... spooky." Flash commented. "What do you think he was talking about?" "I haven't the foggiest. But I'm not sure I want to know." Daring replied before shaking her head to shoo away the troubling thoughts. "Let's just bag Tempest and get the hay outta here." Flash just nodded and the two headed off to find their target. It didn't take long to locate the broken horned uniorn. She stood in front of a barrack in front of a group of bulking, armored creatures. One of them stepped forward and tossed something on the ground in front of the two approaching ponies. Flash and Daring were horrified to see that it was the battered and bruised Thorax. Apparently, his disguise wasn't good enough. "You've overstayed your welcome." Tempest snarled. Flash and Daring narrowed thier eyes at her. "We're happy to check out, but you're coming with us." Daring said as they adopted fighting stances. "I don't think so." Tempest replied, motioning for the creatures behind her to attack. The creatures leaped, but Daring used her whistle to stun them. They were too strong to be blown back by it, but Flash fired an arrow into the ground, which unleashed an electric shockwave that incapacitated the creatures. Tempest scoffed. "If you want to do something properly...." she muttered, pulling out a helmet with a horn and put it on. Flash fired arrows at her, but she could block them with a barrier. Daring flew at the mare, trying to get the helmet off, but Tempest fired the arrows she caught at her and Daring had to stop to dodge them. Daring then flew up and blew her whistle at Tempest who had to form another barrier to protect herself from the sonic blast, but in doing so, she left her rear side defenseless. Flash took advantage of this and got behind her, crossbow ready at hoof and fired two arrows at her which had a long rope between them. The black mare was caught off guard and the arrows tied her up and throwing her off balance long enough to break her barrier spell, giving Daring time to fly down and tear off her helmet, leaving her incapacitated. Daring and Flash approached the tied mare to take her away, but to their surprise, she looked at them with a smirk and gave a dark chuckle. "Oh, boy.“ Flash said nervously. "It’s never a good sign when you tie up a mare and they start giggling.“ Daring gave him an odd look. "Never mind how I know that!“ he added quickly. "You think this is over? You may have won this battle, but you have already lost the war.“ "Well your position tells a different story.“ Daring retorted. "You’re in ropes and we’re taking you back to Celestia to face judgement. This war is over, Tempest!“ Tempest just laughed more. "On the contrary, Daring Do.“ she looked up at the sky between the heads of the two pegasi. "This war has only just begun.“ Flash and Daring gasped when they noticed a huge shadow being cast over them. They turned around and saw a huge, black zeppelin emerging from between the clouds. Before they could even utter one word of a reaction, a magical beam shot down from the zeppelin right around the two pegasi who found themselves immobilized. They couldn’t even struggle when they noticed that they were being lifted up into the air, right towards the enormous airship. When they were able to move again, they were no longer at the Badlands in front of a tied up Tempest Shadow, but in a dark room, no doubt on board the airship. They slowly got up to look around. "Flash?“ "No comment.“ "You have fought your way through the First Order and defeated Tempest Shadow despite the powerful artifact I provided her.“ came a third voice, making Flash grab loading his crossbow and Daring grabbing her whistle as they backed up against each other, looking for the source of the voice. "I wonder what strong magical capabilities you possess to accomplish such a feat.“ Suddenly, a door opened up in the darkness, revealing the owner of the voice. A tall ape-like creature walked into the room with white fur, covered in black armor and carrying a staff. Flash and Daring weren’t sure what to make of it. "Who are you?“ "And more importantly, what are you?“ the creature looked them over and his expression changed from curiosity to dismissiveness. "You can call me… The Storm King.“ he then banged his staff into the ground and released two green magical orbs that flew straight at the two pegasi. They tried to fly away, but the orbs were too fast and they found themselves trapped inside them. They tried to break out by banging on their walls but it was useless. As a last resort, Daring took his whistle and blew it to break out with a sonic blast. At first, it looked like this might actually work. The orb cracked, but when the Storm King noticed this, he made the orb shrink in size, squeezing the mare into a ball. Flash immediately stop struggling when he noticed this. "Stop! Please! Your going to crush her!“ the Storm King grinned cruelly. " Surrender, and it stops.“ he mused coldly. Flash didn’t like to admit defeat and concede, but at the moment, he saw no alternative. 'Fine.“ he spat. "Just ease up on her.“ the Storm King smiled in victory and the orb around Daring suddenly increased in size, making her breath in relief. "Trinkets and primitive weapons. How disappointing. I was hoping to harvest your special powers. But it seems my confidence in Tempest Shadow was misplaced if you could beat her with toys.“ Flash glared at him. "Well if you’re so sure of your superiority, why don’t you let us out and show us. We might surprise you.“ "You might not be what I expected, but you might still prove useful to me." He then turned around and walked out of the room with the orbs containing the two pegasi floating next to him. "I’m guessing you’re the 'dire threat‘ Sunburst warned us about.“ Flash said. "What do you want?“ The Storm King gave the stallion a dismissive glare. "I seek your alicorn princesses. Especially Twilight Sparkle. I’ve heard a lot about this 'magic of friendship‘ and how powerful it is. It sounds like a power worth collecting.“ "I guess you didn’t get the memo.“ Daring taunted. "Twilight isn’t all that friendly anymore. And ever since she lost her horn, she’s not that powerful either.“ "I am aware of her recent personality change.“ The Storm King replied as he walked up to the window of his airship. "But while she may have lost her ability to cast magic, her power is still inside her. I will rip it from her body and with it and the other alicorns‘ magic, no one will ever be able to stand against me.“ Flash and Daring raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And you expect them and the rest of Equestria’s protectors to just lie down for you while you do that.“ "The princesses and the rest of Equestria's 'protectors‘ are too busy with their petty squabbles against each other and too severely weakened from their civil war.“ The Storm King chuckled, before he levitated the two ponies in front of himself. "I on the other hand, have spent decades conquering land after land, harvesting them and their populace of their magic. As I will do to Equestria. The chances of them stopping me are slim to none.“ "Don’t underestimate ponykind.“ Daring snarled. "Especially Celestia! She will find a way to stop you!“ the Storm King chuckled again. "She is more than welcome to try.“ a few of the Storm King’s guards then approached them. "Lock them up until I find some use for them.“ they took the ponies away and the Storm King turned back to the window to look down upon Equestria once again with an evil smirk, barely able to wait for the crack of dawn when the attack started. He laughed as he recalled Daring warning her about about Equestria’s protectors. There were no protectors here. No alicorns, no Elements of Harmony. This land will fall, like all the others.