Rainbow smirked as she swam back down to the group. "We're right underneath the airship. Don't think they saw me. So what's the plan?" She asked, turning to Seaglow.
"We take over the ship, and throw overboard anyone who tries to stop us," the mare replied. "The Yeti can swim, so they will be fine," she quickly added, seeing Fluttershy's forlorn look.
"And what about Tempest?" Spike asked. "She doesn't sound like somepony who'd just let this happen."
Seaglow smirked. "Leave her to us. Powerful though she might be, she has never faced someone like us before. She won't know what hit her."
The girls couldn't argue with that. Skystar squeed as she turned to the others. "So. What do ya want to be? If you can think of it, I can do it! No problem. Though if you can't fly, someone's going to have to carry you."
"How is that even going to work?" Rarity asked. "Only three of us can fly normally."
Applejack nodded. "And I ain't too fond of flying myself. So one of ya'll will have to carry me."
Skystar nodded. "Simple. Just hold hooves and hands. I only need to be touching one of you. The magic will travel along the chain from there. As soon as we hit the surface, we have to know what form we want to be in."
Pinkie only smiled widely. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"
Seaglow's smirk grew as they began the swim to the surface. "They won't know what hit them."
As Commander Tempest Shadow returned to her airship, she was seething as she turned on the nearest yeti. "How could you have lost them?! There are only so many places on this Goddess forsaken backwater rock they can hide!"
He could only shrug hopelessly, which made Tempest even more peeved. This was not going at all according to plan. The Storm King was expecting her to return to Canterlot with Princess Twilight. He was not known for restraint when something went wrong like this and his subordinates usually paid the price.
Tempest would not return empty hooved. She had gambled too much on this for it to go wrong. If she had to break heads to find those ponies, then so be it, she seethed as she headed for her cabin, Grubber not far behind her.
All the yeti on deck let out a sigh of relief. None of them wanted to be on the commander's bad side. That was what Grubber was for after all. It was the only thing he was good for. Better him than any of them.
Two of the guards at the rail were particularly bored. Neither had been part of the party sent ashore, and both of them wished that something. Anything. Would happen so they could do something to get out of this heat.
A clawed hand tapped each of them on the shoulder. "Hey, bozos?"
Both turned around, coming face to face with a teenage dragon with purple and green scales, who only smirked before bashing both of their heads together, stunning them both before tossing them overboard.
Spike's smirk grew as he watched the two splash into the ocean below. For a moment, he was afraid he might have hit them too hard before the two guards resurfaced and made for the nearby beach. "Easy peasy."
Across the deck, Applejack and Rainbow Dash made quick work of several other guards. Applejack had to be extra careful since her minotaur strength, on top of her natural earth pony strength, meant she could easily kill the guards if she wasn't careful, and none of them wanted to do that if they could help.
Rainbow didn't have to worry about that, but she was careful that she didn't stick her claws into someplace she shouldn't have. If this was what it was like to be a griffon though, no wonder Gilda had been like she was when they had met in Griffonstone. This was awesome.
Only Rarity and Pinkie were still ponies, Fluttershy unwilling to hurt anyone and therefore staying out of sight underneath the airship. While her magic wasn't the strongest, Rarity could still easily toss any guard she could find overboard, while Pinkie... No one knew what Pinkie was doing, but whatever it was, every guard she faced was soon jumping overboard after only a few words.
But it was Princess Skystar and Seaglow that were making the most headway. Skystar almost seemed to take sadistic glee in tossing each and every yeti overboard with more force than really seemed necessary. In her hippogriff form, as she called it, she was almost the same height as Seaglow.
Seaglow herself fought as an alicorn, one the same size as Princess Celestia in fact. While not as much as Skystar, all could see that she too was holding back her anger. It was a novel experience for Twilight to be this size if she was being honest.
As yet another wave of yetis rushed the deck, Seaglow bit back a curse. "This is taking too long." She looked at a certain door and smiled. Amplifying her voice with a bit of both Twilight and Novo's magic, she called out. "Tempest Shadow! Come out and face me, you coward! Or is the half horn cripple so weak that she has others fight her battles for her?!"
The door was blasted off its hinges, as Tempest came storming out. Taken aback by the fighting going on around her for a moment, she soon focused on the mare before her. "No one calls me a coward," she seethed. The sight of the Orb fused into the chest of her opponent soon made it clear who she was talking to. "Especially not someone who ran away from me a long time ago."
Seaglow smirked. "I'm done running. Princess Twilight and her friends showed me that I had been wrong to do so. No more."
Tempest could hear Twilight's voice in her response, and it soon made sense. "So you fused together. Big deal. This only makes it easier for me. Not only does the Storm King get all of the alicorn magic in Equestria. But also that Orb of yours, Queen Novo."
Seaglow growled. "Over our dead body," she replied in a dangerous whisper.
Tempest smirked as she looked over at Skystar. "That can be arranged. But I have a better idea. How about over the dead bodies of you and your daughter!" Igniting what was left of her horn, Tempest focused all of her magic on a single blast before letting it fly.
Skystar's eyes widened as she saw the blast coming for her. She tried to dodge out of the way, but the blast was too fast, and she took the full brunt of it. Her scream of pain cut through the sound of fighting going on all across the deck.
Novo watched in stunned horror as her daughter's lifeless body fell to the deck in what felt like slow motion. Her claws clenched in anger, but more than that. In sorrow. "This is all my fault. I never should have run away."
Twilight tears fell. She could feel Novo's anger and sorrow as if it were her own. Her Orb flashed in sympathy with its sister in Novo. This was all wrong. All of it. They shouldn't even be here. She took Novo's claws in her hooves and let her own anger rise to the surface. "Then let's end this. So no more have to suffer as you have. That no mother should ever see her daughter like this again."
Novo looked into Twilight's eyes. Gone was the young alicorn that had first come to Seaquestria. Now there was only Princess Twilight Sparkle. The Last Princess of Equestria, carrying the weight of her ponies. Alive, and those not yet born.
She pulled the young alicorn close, letting her Orb touch Twilight's own. "Let's. For everything, we have lost. For our friends. Our family."
Twilight laid her head against Novo's. "For Skystar."
As one, they changed form once more. Two becoming one.
Seaglow turned to look at Tempest, her calm demeanor now replaced by a roiling hatred. "You will pay for that, freak."
Tempest growled. "And what would you know of that? You know nothing about me."
Seaglow touched the orb in her chest, her body beginning to glow as she transformed. "I don't need to know anything about you to end this," she sneered as she began to grow in size.
Everyone watched in shock as the shape grew larger and larger. When the light faded, their jaws dropped in surprise at what was revealed. Even Tempest Shadow was shocked at what she now faced.
Where once there had been an alicorn. There now stood a two-headed dragon. One head resembled Queen Novo, while her twin resembled Princess Twilight. Between them, the Orb of Transformation had grown in size to fit their new form. Their scales matched Seaglow's coat colors, while two large wings lay folded at their side.
In a heartbeat, they picked Tempest up in one of their claws and took her up to their eye level. Tempest tried to free herself, but it was like fighting two mountains at once.
Twilight looked at the struggling unicorn in their claws, but there was no sympathy or compassion in her gaze. "Tempest Shadow. I declare you Traitoris Extremis. Your life is forfeit under the laws of Equestria. You stand accused of high treason against the crown, attempted regicide, and being so edgy you look like some barely thought out OC in some lame excuse for an author's story. The verdict is guilty."
She brought the unicorn closer, her eyes alight with sadistic glee. "The sentence. Is death. But I won't be the one to carry it out," she said, smiling lovingly at Novo. "Someone else deserves that honor. For everything you did to them."
Novo smiled at her twin, before taking Tempest in her claws. "Know this before you die, Fizzlepop Berrytwist. You failed. Not only to take Twilight's magic. But you are so weak that you didn't kill my daughter." Seeing her confusion, Novo's smile grew. "Look."
Tempest did and was shocked to see Princess Skystar moving, Twilight's friends right at her side, trying to help. The hippogriff was scorched and her breathing was shallow, but she was alive. Tempest sneered up at both dragons. "It doesn't matter what you do to me. You can't beat the Storm King."
Novo and Twilight shared a look. "He will join you in oblivion soon enough. But putting you out of your misery is a good first step," Novo said, lifting Tempest above her mouth. "And before you say anything. We dragons eat meat, and as we are now. We are a dragon."
Twilight nodded. "And I have a sudden hunger for pony meat."
The duo giggled, as Tempest gulped as Novo opened her jaws wide, and dropped her into her mouth. There was a searing, blinding pain as her teeth crunched into her flesh before darkness claimed her, and Tempest Shadow knew no more.
"Don't you think that was a bit much?" Fluttershy asked, as the battle finally wore down with the commander's death.
Twilight shook her head. "She wasn't going to stop, Fluttershy. And maybe it's because we are a dragon now. But I wasn't feeling very nice at that moment. I still don't for that matter."
"Should we be worried?" Spike asked, knowing better than anyone the feeling his big sister and Queen Novo were experiencing at that moment. He had fought against it his whole life.
Novo shook her head. "No. We still remember who we are, and all that goes with that."
"So why a two-headed dragon?" Pinkie asked, helping Skystar to her feet. "Two heads are better than one, sure. But still."
Twilight's smile grew. "Why not? Two heads are better than one after all. And I couldn't think of anything else we could change into that would work for this."
Skystar chuckled, though it hurt to do so. "Can't argue with that." She turned to Rainbow Dash. "There's berries on Mount Aris that can help me. Just look for the yellow flower with pink berries. Those are the ones."
Rainbow saluted. "On it!" And was off, as fast as a griffon as she was as a Pegasus.
Applejack looked down at the deck. It was already buckling under Twilight and Novo's weight. "Hate to break it to ya. But this bucket ain't gonna hold us till we get back to Equestria if the two of ya stay like this."
Twilight and Novo shared a worried look. They too could feel the deck giving way under their weight. It would never make it back to Equestria like this. They could carry the others on their back. But their draconic pride would never agree to it, even though they were a dragon temporarily.
At that moment, another airship came into view. One the girls soon recognized as Captain Celaeno and her crew came into view. "Leave that to us. Need a lift?" Capper asked from the rail with a smirk.
"Well! Look what the cat dragged in! Himself!" Rarity grumbled, glaring daggers at Capper as the airship came alongside the group.
Capper at least had the decency to look ashamed of himself. "I deserved that. But that's why I'm here. To try and make it up to all of you. We all are."
Celaeno nodded. "That land-loving unicorn blew up my ship. So we stole one of theirs. It's only fair."
Boyle nodded. "Figured you could use a claw!"
Squabble let out an affirmative squawk to back it up, while the others nodded.
The girls still weren't so sure. "How? We're still up against an entire army. Even we're not that good," Pinkie replied.
Capper just smirked. "Well, good thing I happen to know of a group of mighty heroes that could handle this easily! These heroes have faced the Storm King's army and escaped! I've seen them tackle the streets of the roughest towns, break out of the tightest situations, and inspire others to join their cause!"
Most of the group let an "Ooooh" While Applejack only rolled her eyes. "Now don't get too excited. He's just talking bout us." Which immediately put a damper on the mood, as Rainbow finally rejoined them, the flowers held carefully in her claws, which she quickly gave to Skystar.
Capper finally looked up at the dragon that loomed over them all. "They even escaped certain doom at the hooves of Commander Tempest!"
Novo and Twilight shared a smile before they preened themselves. "Yeah. We are pretty awesome," Twilight replied. "But that still leaves us stuck here. That ship won't hold us. This one is sunk as it is."
Celaeno nodded. She could see the main deck buckling under the weight on top of it. She didn't understand the how and why of what she was looking at. But she understood enough to know who the dragon was. Both of them. "Simple. If you two can fly, we can take everyone else. It's a long journey back to Equestria. Plenty of time to come up with a plan."
Novo's smile turned predatory. "The plan is simple. We take back Canterlot, and topple the Storm King, and return Celestia, Luna, and Princess Cadance to their rightful selves."
No one could argue with that. But there was still one thing to consider. "And what if we can't save them?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight bit back tears at the very thought, earning a worried look from Novo. "Then we'll cross that bridge when we get there."
It was surprisingly easy to get the airship ready for the trip back to Equestria. With help from, as he called himself, Tempest's former assistant Grubber, the group was able to retrieve most of what they needed from the sinking airship. What they didn't need, they left behind on Mount Aris.
Twilight and Novo, meanwhile, spent this time learning all they could of their new body. To their surprise, it was easier than they had thought. Their synchronicity was such that if Twilight thought of something, within a fraction of a second, Novo was doing her part to make it happen. No words were said between them. None were needed. They completely and utterly trusted each other. One mind in two bodies almost.
By the time they left Mount Aris behind, it was almost as if Novo and Twilight had been born like this, and it wasn't a recent thing for them. Keeping up with the airship wasn't trouble either. The airship, at times, had to speed up to keep up with them.
This gave the duo plenty of alone time, and it was something they both needed at the moment.
"You cannot run from the idea forever, Twilight," Novo said, as the group passed over Klugetown.
Twilight didn't have to ask what she meant. "I don't even want to entertain the idea, Novo."
Novo looked at her with a worried look. "But you must. I do not wish anything to happen to them. But if the unthinkable does happen, Equestria will need you. Ponies will look to you, whether you wish it or not."
Twilight's ears fell. She felt and knew the question unasked. "If something ever happened to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, there is a contingency spell that would activate that will transfer their powers to me. I'm next in the line of succession. It's been that way since Tirek almost took over Equestria."
Novo nodded. It made sense. "I assume that since the sun and moon haven't moved, that they are still alive. What of your sister-in-law?"
Twilight smiled slightly. "Cadance is the Crystal Princess. If anything happened to her, Shining Armor would rule as Prince Regent, alongside the Royal Council, until Flurry Heart is old enough to take the throne. If something happened to both of them though, then I would rule until Flurry is old enough. I was a member of the Crystal Royal Family before I got my wings."
Novo smiled, as she nuzzled her companion. "Then Equestria will be in good hooves. Though I hope it does not come to that. It has been too long since I last saw Celestia. She and I need to talk."
Twilight smiled, as she leaned into the nuzzle. She could feel that there was something there between her mentor and Novo, but she didn't ask more of it. It wasn't her place. "What about you?"
Novo shrugged. "If this works, it's going to take time to rebuild Mount Aris. And I would not be too surprised if some decided to stay in Seaquestria. Past that?" She looked down at their Orb. "I'm not sure. All of this has raised more questions about this thing." She smiled at Twilight, who smiled back. "And if I'm being honest, I'm not sure I even want to change back into my other forms."
Twilight giggled. "Then I'm not the only one. There's just something about being like this that's addicting. So much so that it feels weird that I was ever anything else. Maybe I'm going off the rails here though. I'm trying not to think about it too much."
Novo chuckled. It was a feeling that she shared as well. But it was something that they needed to figure out once this was all over. Even though a part of her didn't want this to end.
A feeling that Twilight shared as well. For now, though, they concentrated on what awaited them at the end of their journey in Canterlot.
"So what was it that you called Tempest anyway, Twilight?" Rainbow asked, flying up so she and the alicorn-turned dragon could see each other. "I've never heard of anything like that before."
Twilight nodded. "You wouldn't have, Rainbow. Traitoris Extremis is the most severe punishment that can be given to anyone. It is an automatic death sentence given to those who have gone above and beyond even basic high treason against Equestria. Only a princess can condemn someone as such. You have no legal rights of any kind, and an appeal is out of the question."
Rainbow gulped. She could hear the venom in Twilight's voice. She wasn't sure if it was being a dragon or not. "So how come we've never heard of it before? Sounds important."
Twilight nodded. "It is. But it's only been used a few times before now. Counting Tempest? It's only been used four times. Five times actually, but Discord is kinda hard to kill. So he's on a suspended sentence. And he knows it."
Fluttershy gasped in horror. "You can't be serious, Twilight? He's done so much good for Equestria. He's our friend."
Twilight turned to look at the Pegasus. "Let's be honest, Fluttershy. You're his only friend. And he's caused more trouble for Equestria than the good he's done. Remember Tirek? If he was stupid enough to fall for his lies, what's stopping him from doing something else?"
Fluttershy shrunk under Twilight's gaze. She knew her friend was right. Discord was unpredictable at the best of times, and worse when he was mad. The last Grand Galloping Gala was proof of that. How or why anypony thought she and him were a couple or ever could be, was beyond her.
This wasn't the first time she had these thoughts either. Some days, she wondered how and why she still put up with the Lord of Chaos.
Rainbow could tell what her friend was feeling and decided to move this along. "What about the Storm King? Does he get it too?"
Twilight and Novo shared a smile. "I think I'll just eat him, and call it a day," Twilight finally said with a smirk.
Novo chuckled, while the others rolled their eyes. They really couldn't argue with that.