The Storm King was vanquished. His armies lay broken, he lay broken—into a thousand pieces of stone no less—and the power which he had stolen was returned to its rightful stewards. Equestria, Harmonizing Heights, ponies, hippogriffs, cats, and birds, and all creatures alike were saved from tyranny. That which was made wrong was right again and all that was left to do was celebrate.
It was a tremendous party. Songbird Serenade gave a spectacular performance, Tempest Shadow came to terms with her past mistakes and even gave a lovely display of fireworks through her broken horn. Twilight felt like a real princess, and her friendships were all the stronger for it.
The party also offered time for those allies who had defeated the Storm King to talk, to get to know each other, and through familiarity to convert those alliances into lasting friendships. Capper talked about his life on the streets, the pirates about their high-flying history, Tempest about how she first came into the Storm King’s service.
And of course, there was Queen Novo.
“Oh my goodness, Novo,” Celestia said, embracing her hippogriff counterpart. “I haven’t seen you in decades. It’s so good to see you again.” And her eyes alit upon Princess Skystar. “And you have a daughter.”
They spoke, attracting a crowd as they did, conversing about times old and new. Eventually, Celestia came to ask: “Forgive my prying, but since I haven’t heard about Seaquestria having a king or a prince-consort, who is Skystar’s father?”
“Oh,” Novo laughed, her boisterous presence filling the air around her. “Celly, you are going to make a face when I tell you, but it’s the Storm King.”
A number of ponies gasped. Rarity dropped her glass, which shattered on the stone below. Princess Skystar blushed and pushed a hoof into her face. “Mother,” she mumbled. “Please don’t do this.”
“Oh, it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Queen Novo reached over to ruffle her daughter’s hair, an easy smile on her face. “I knew for a long time that ape wanted Mount Aris as the crown jewel in his little empire, and seeing as he had the biggest and baddest navy around, it wasn’t so much a question of if it happened as when and how. I thought we could do things old school; have an arranged royal marriage, sort the whole thing out without anycreature getting hurt.”
“And then what happened?” Twilight asked, eyes wide and intent upon Queen Novo, all other conversation forgotten.
“Well, what do you think?” Queen Novo asked, lifting one eyebrow just so. “It fell apart. That creature was as selfish and inept in bed as he was everywhere else. Is that too much information? Sorry if that’s too much information.”
“We try to be child-friendly here,” Celestia said, delicately.
“Oh, sure.” Novo shrugged. “Anyway, so the marriage didn’t work out, but not until after he’d given me this little bundle of joy here.” Again, Princess Skystar got her mane ruffled, though her face remained on the ground. “No regrets. Filly has a good heart; she gets it from me.”
“Mom. Mom,” Princess Skystar said, clasping her hooves together. “Can we please talk about something else?”
“If Skystar doesn’t want to talk about it,” Rarity suggested, delicately. “We could-”
“Are you sure she’s the Storm King’s kid?” Pinkie Pie asked, her voice shooting over Rarity’s. “Because she doesn’t seem to have the right number of limbs for that.”
“Oh yeah,” Novo chuckled. “Magical genealogy is weird, but trust me, she is. She gets her super-strength from him—”
“Princess Skystar has super-strength?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Mom, please,” Skystar begged, increasingly insistent. “Can we talk about anything else? Anything at all?”
“Honey, I told you,” Novo said, with a shake of her head. “And yes, super-strength. She also got her magical gifts from him. Like when she cast that bubble-head charm on you and all your friends to save you from drowning? And of course, a bit of an inclination to super-villainy.”
Celestia paused. They all paused. “What?”
“You know,” Queen Novo said, “like with the minions and the trying to take over the world? Let me tell you about this one time—”
“Knock knock,” Princess Skystar said outside the door to the throne room, her voice carrying to the guards inside. “Pizza delivery.”
Both guards paused and looked at the other. Eventually, one said: “We’re an underwater kingdom. We don’t have pizza.”
“Well in that case,” Skystar’s voice turned harsh and dissonant, “knock knock, palace coup!”
With a single blow, she took the doors to the throne clean off their hinges. Ripples shot through the water with their passage, cavitation bubbles forming in the door’s wake as they ripped through the fluid. The force of the blow sent the throne-room guards spinning away, and on the far side of the door was Princess Skystar, and several dozen fish.
She’d made the fish little military uniforms out of seaweed. One had a hat. On the throne, Queen Novo let her head slump, supporting it with a single hoof. “Really, honey?” she asked. “Really?”
“I will no longer allow our ponies to suffer under your feckless leadership,” Skystar swam into the throne room, and her fish surrounded the queen, threatening her with tiny spears made from toothpicks and sea-urchin spines. “With the Pearl of Transformation, we can turn our finest warriors into mighty beasts, our wizards into fearsome magical creatures, and raise an army that will drive the Storm King from our lands. But you would rather cower beneath the waves, abandoning our ancestral home, and abandoning our neighbors to his tyranny.”
“Honey we’ve talked about this.”
“I’m through talking,” Princess Skystar swam above the throne, and with a single mighty motion, ripped the Pearl from its resting place. The tentacles that were meant to ensnare intruders snapped like twigs under the force of her motion, and she held it high above her head victorious. “You were unwilling to use your power to keep your throne on the surface, and now your weakness will cost you your throne below.”
The Pearl of Transformation shone bright.
“So then she turned herself into a dragon,” Queen Novo said, laughing so hard she struggled to breathe. “To destroy the palace and stuff. But she forgot that dragons can’t breathe underwater! So she was all,” Queen Novo did her very best impression of a drowning dragon, “Roooar! Blub blub blub. Roooar! Blub blub. Roar! Blub.”
Skystar had her face in her hooves, her entire body tinged red with humiliation. She kept her eyes firmly on the ground, unable to meet anypony else’s gaze. Her mother went on: “Oh, goodness. She was grounded for a month for that one.”
“And uh…” Twilight coughed. “How old was she when this happened?”
“Oh uh… what? Honey, how old were you?” Queen Novo asked, but Princess Skystar only tucked her wings tighter around herself. “She must have been, fourteen or fifteen? Because her scales changed color when she got older than that, and they were still the old blue then.”
“She attempted…” Celestia cut in, her voice delicate. “A palace coup at fourteen years of age?”
“Oh, she started earlier than that. I remember when she was ten or so, she made this play fort for herself out in the garden—”
Out in the palace seaweed garden, on the floor of the great central cave of Seaquestria, there was a pile of stones and driftwood. Crudely piled together in the rough shape of a building, it had enough room for perhaps a single seapony inside. A sign rested beside the entrance, made from a bit of sunken masonry, and on it was written: “Skystar’s Secret Base Keep Out!!!”
“Sky,” Queen Novo called, swimming up to the little pile of rocks. “It’s time for dinner. Come on back now.” But there was no answer.
“Sky?” Queen Novo raised her voice. “I know she’s around here somewhere, just saw her playing.”
Queen Novo stuck her head into the fort, and found it full of junk salvaged from shipwrecks. There was a compass, some waterlogged books, a telescope, and a bust of Princess Celestia. The bust had a rather obvious gap down the middle, ending in a rusty set of hinges.
After a moment’s hesitation, Queen Novo opened the top of the bust, and found a red button “hidden” inside. Pressing it caused the floor of the play fort to slide away, revealing a staircase descending down into the depths.
“Mare, we don’t even have legs, why is there a staircase in your play fort?” Novo asked, with a sigh. Swimming down the passage, she called out again. “Skystar! It’s time for dinner.”
“No, mother, it is time for the surface world to fear us!” The passage ended in a large cave chamber, naturally occurring but artificially widened. In the center of it was an enormous spherical device, as large as three ponies, made from salvaged metal and other sunken technological treasures. Wires ran from it to numerous “control panels” around the room made from driftwood, and the panels were crewed by a mixture of clams, fish, and Skystar’s stuffed animals.
“Sky—”
“Behold,” little filly Princess Skystar, her voice not yet changed, swam out between her mother and the orb, “the Aethereophasic Detonator!” She put so much emphasis on the words, her voice turned into a soft squeak. “By leveraging the ocean’s natural ley-lines, it will drain all magic from the surface world. Only we seaponies will be immune. All other nations will crumble, and we will resume our rightful dominion over the surface.”
“You can play pretend later, Skystar,” Novo said, with a heavy sigh. “It’s time for dinner.”
“Dinner can wait until after world conquest.” Skystar said, holding her head high like a haughty mare would. “Also I’m not hungry.”
“Sure.” Her mother looked around the cave and rubbed her face with a hoof. “But wouldn’t draining all the magic from the surface world also hurt the ponies? And we like ponies.”
“We shall restore magic to the surface races at our whim, a gift that we bestow upon those we deem worthy,” little filly Skystar said, hoofs held high. “All wickedness will crumble before us, and ours shall be the river from which all rivers flow. All races will love us and despair!” With a sharp point, she indicated her favorite stuffed animal. “Mr. Fishy, throw the switch.”
Of course, he didn’t move, being a stuffed toy fish. Skystar quickly swam across the gap, and threw a “switch” made from stones and a twig.
“Okay dear, boom, you blew up the world,” Novo said. “Now can we please—”
“Activate the generator,” Skystar shouted. “Aetheric resonators to full power.”
Novo’s eyes caught motion, and she saw a large group of electric eels swim across the room. Each gripped a wire in its teeth and began to shock, Novo’s skin twitching with the ambient discharge. Her mouth fell open as, on the control panels, little lights began to illuminate, and inside the sphere, motion could be heard.
Gears turning. Capacitors charging. A building whine. Ethereal, flickering lights shone from within the device, and water swirled around it, sucked down into a vortex that seemingly drained to nowhere. There was dramatic villain music, seemingly coming from nowhere -- something menacing, with Latin chanting.
The whine built louder and louder, and the light from the sphere became blinding. “The chain-reaction has started!” Skystar shouted with all her filly might. “Mr. Clam, trigger the detonator.”
Everypony listened to Queen Novo’s story with wide eyes and rapt attention. “And then what?” Applejack asked, practically on the tips of her hooves.
“Oh come on,” Queen Novo said, boisterous and bright. “Do you remember the surface world being destroyed? Because that seems like something you’d remember. Obviously, it didn’t work. The only thing that device destroyed was Skystar’s ice-cream privileges.”
“It would have worked,” Princess Skystar mumbled, poking at the ground, “If Mr. Clam hadn’t improperly calculated the astral resonance frequency of water.”
“Honey, what have I said about blaming your minions for your plans failing?” Novo turned on her daughter, her voice firm and rebuking. “You’re going to be queen one day, and the queen doesn’t get to pass the buck. The pony that sits on the throne is responsible for what happens, simple as that, doesn’t matter if it’s the coral throne or a throne of skulls or whatever.”
“But, I mean, to be clear…” Twilight bit her lip. “She didn’t really have minions, right? It was actually just a clam and she was playing pretend.”
“Oh that time, sure,” Novo said, tone bright. “But don’t you go underestimating my little filly. She is determined, doesn’t let a thing get her down. Why, this one time, she found the Hammer of—”
“Mom, mom, mom,” Skystar cut in, letting out a nervous laugh, pressing her hooves together and holding them forth as if in prayer. “I will give literally anything if we change the subject.”
“It’s a good story. See, it starts with this sunken treasure—”
The Hammer of Animation, greatest treasure of the long-lost dwarf pony kingdoms. With it, metal and stone could be made to move as living flesh, and the wielder could create those legendary creatures that do the bidding of ponies: golems.
It had taken Skystar months to find the sunken galleon that held the mighty hammer, months more to master its power for herself. With her own hooves and spells, she shattered the stone of her underwater home and set it into the shapes of ponies. Each was as a child, crafted by her own blood and sweat and given life by her will. Fearless, relentless, tough as stone and with the strength of ten ponies.
“I have made you a hundred companies of a hundred warriors,” she shouted as they stood in formation before her. “You will bring death to my enemies, and enforce my dominion over the whole of the world. To victory!”
“To victory!” all ten-thousand golems shouted back, the force of their voices alone shaking the deep caverns.
“March,” Skystar pointed where she would have them go. “Into the primary cavern of Seaquestria. Let those who doubted me know what I have done.”
Seaponies gasped as the cavern around them shook with the motion of thousands of stone hooves. They pointed, they gaped as Skystar’s army marched out of the deep caverns and into the primary city of Sequestria. There, on the cavern floor, they arranged themselves in military rows, each at attention and awaiting orders from their creator.
Queen Novo came to her palace window, looked down at the cavern below, and sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with a hoof. Raising her voice, she called down: “Honey, we talked about this.”
“I’m sorry mother, but your dictates no longer have any meaning,” Skystar proclaimed, her voice carrying over the whole cavern. “I have forged the greatest army seen in ten-thousand years, and with it, I shall reshape the world in a new and grander image.”
“Okay, Sky,” Queen Novo said, resting her head on a hoof. “Well, come up here and get me then.”
“Huh?” Skystar paused.
“You’re overthrowing me, right? Come up here and get me.”
Skystar looked at her golem army which was, as previously mentioned, made of stone, a substance that is denser than water. This caused them to sink in ocean waters, which indirectly explained their present position on the bottom of the Sequestrian main cavern. Queen Novo’s palace, by contrast, was lighter than water, and in fact floated some distance above Skystar’s head.
Skystar whispered to one of her golems, “Can you swim?” Its limbs flailed in the water. “What about jumping? Try jumping.” And it hopped up all of ten feet towards the cavern, which was impressive for so heavy a creature.
“Honey…”
“My ambitions,” Skystar quickly raised her voice, shouting to the whole of the city, “lie elsewhere. This army is for the surface, that world from which we fled, that now shall know my wrath.”
“Uh-huh.” Queen Novo looked over the assembled army. “That’s a lot of golems. Exactly how many did you make?”
“A hundred companies of a hundred warriors,” Skystar proclaimed. “My invincible army, to go forth and—”
“You can just say ten-thousand like a normal pony,” Novo said, shaking herself out. “But still, you made ten-thousand statues yourself?”
“Yeah.” Skystar tapped her hooves together. “I studied stonecutting magic, and made an assembly line like we learned about in class, and once I had the first golem I used it to help me make all the others. I set up a little factory in the deep caverns.”
“That’s very impressive. That must have taken a lot of work ethic. I’m glad to see you applying yourself to your studies. Have fun conquering the surface world.”
“You are ruining this for me,” Skystar hissed under her breath. “Fine. Golems! Climb the cavern walls, find the primary passage and return to Mount Aris. We shall meet the Storm King in battle, and drive him from our lands.”
As one, the stone army gripped the cavern walls, and began their inexorable ascent.
“Huh.” Tempest’s eyebrows shot up. “So that’s where those came from. We never figured out your city was underwater, so from our perspective, an army of golems appeared out of the thin air. We wondered if you’d teleported in.”
“Oh my goodness, you actually fought the Storm King’s army?” Fluttershy asks, holding her hooves to her face. “Was it scary? Was it an epic battle? Did anypony get hurt?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Skystar said quickly. “It was the stuff of legends. Explosions, magic, golems struggling under the weight of ten mortal soldiers, that sort of thing. Tempest was just a better general than me though. No shame in that.”
“Skystar,” Novo said. “Be honest. Raising an army of golems is already very impressive, you don’t need to say things that aren’t true.”
“I mean,” Skystar whinged, “it was basically an epic battle.”
“Commander Tempest.” A soldier of the stormguard snapped to a salute, his hand over his masked face. “An army of golems has been spotted in the streets of Mount Aris.”
“Take the fleet to battlestations,” Tempest replied calmly. “Show me.” Smooth, controlled, she walked to the observation deck, even as alarms wailed around her. She was an island of calm in a turbulent sea, the pony in control, as soldiers and sailors alike rushed to their combat posts.
From the observation station, she looked down at the city below them, and at the massive army assembled there. “Mmph,” she raised an eyebrow, considering them for a moment. “They don’t have any ranged weapons, do they?”
One golem hopped ten feet into the air to try to grab the airship, which was impressive for so heavy a creature.
“Oh well. At least the gunners will get some target practice.” Tempest shook her head, then raised her voice. “All main batteries, fire at will.”
Skystar buried her face in her hooves. Tempest winced and mumbled, “I’m really sorry about that.”
“Then there was the time she raised an army of zombie fish,” Queen Novo said, chuckling. “She forgot that nearly all sea creatures eat carrion, so her zombie fish mostly got eaten by regular fish. And even if they hadn’t, they were, you know, little fish. So none of us were really sure where she was going with that one.”
“Well,” Celestia hesitated, “she certainly sounds very talented…”
“Yeah,” Skystar said, lifting her face from her hooves. Her embarrassed expression hardened, into something distinctly sharper. “Lots of talent, but I can’t pull off a plan worth oysters.”
“That’s not-”
“I mean,” Skystar raised her voice. “To actually conquer the world, I think I’d need some real minions. Like maybe a vast army and navy, in need of leadership because their king was just killed and their senior general defected. Maybe I’d need a kingdom where I have a legitimate claim to power because I’m the previous king’s only child.”
“Uh…” Twilight took a step back. “That’s-”
But Skystar struck the ground, with such force that the stone shattered around her hoof, sending chips and spurs flying in all directions. “Or maybe,” she roared, her voice so loud the whole of Canterlot could hear it, “I’d need a fortunate set of circumstances, like all my enemies being gathered in the same place!”
Her eyes flashed, and out of the cover of invisibility emerged dozens of storm guard soldiers, still in their black armor. They surrounded the princesses and the elements of harmony, forming a wall of spears pointed inwards. The seal of Seaquestria had been hurriedly painted over the Storm King’s personal brand, but they otherwise stood ready as ever, and aboard the waiting airships, more could be seen in motion.
Twilight gasped, and attempted to form a magical shield, only for her horn to suddenly flicker out. Rainbow spread her wings to take to the sky, but one of the storm guard tackled her before she could. The pirates and Capper were held at spearpoint.
“I’m through being the butt of your jokes,” Skystar said, her mouth pulled back into a harsh grimace that showed her teeth. “Today, a new day dawns for Equestria, for Mount Aris, for the stormlands. I will bring order to-”
“Skystar,” Queen Novo said, with a sigh. “Honey, sweetie, dear. Can we please do this later? We just defeated a villain, and everypony is very tired. I promise, we’ll all gather together again in one place later so you can give your big speech, but I think right now we all just want to have fun.”
A momentary silence hung in the air.
“It’s not fair!” Skystar snapped. “You tell embarrassing stories about me all night, and I just want to look cool in front of my new friends, and you can’t even… fine!”
She turned and stalked off away from the group, letting out a curt: “I don’t even want to take over the world now. Come on, minions. I guess we’ll have to restore greatness to the stormlands when it’s convenient for everypony else.”
The storm guard, momentarily confused, stood there unmoving. Eventually, they let Rainbow Dash go, put their weapons away, and muttered some words of apology before chasing after Skystar.
“Oh,” Novo sighed. “I could have handled that better. I’m sorry, everypony.”
“It’s, um.” Celestia struggled for words. “Quite alright. But I really think you should go talk things over with your daughter.”
“Yeah, I know. The most frustrating part of all this is that I really am proud of her. I mean,” she gestured at the airships. “At least this time, she had real minions, instead of robots or clams or imaginary friends.”
Hesitantly, Fluttershy asked: “Imaginary friends?”
“Oh yeah,” Novo said. “That was the saddest attempt of all.”