Johan took a moment to get his bearings as he pulled himself up. That was all in all a pretty vivid dream he just went through. The deer shook his head. He found the room completely empty, save for Aralez who was sprawled out on the ground next to the bed.
The deer raised an eyebrow, turning his gaze to the other bed in the room. Empty and unmade. That wasn't exactly unexpected though. Derek always was the first to get up between the two. Johan let out a slight sigh, turning to look down at his winged dog. Said dog turned his head towards him before cocking it to the side. Johan blinked twice before lowering his hoof to give the dog a pet.
"So... I guess you were way more important than I gave you any credit for." Johan chuckled slightly. "You do definitely need a name though..."
The deer paused, a list of names, probably shoved in there by Jelen, filling his head. "Hmmm... How about Sebastatsi?" he instantly blinked. That name was terrible. "Nope, way too many syllables. And none of these others are doing it for me either."
He sighed. "Jelen, can you like... let me name him? Please?" He said aloud. There was a slight pause before he quickly forgot the list.
The deer shook his head looking down at him. Johan paused as he stared at him. He raised an eyebrow for a second. He was silent.
"... Doodles?"
Johan felt just then like his brain had been punched in the face.
Derek smiled as he walked around the cobblestone streets of ponyvile, taking his time to nod and wave at every pony he passed by. It was very early in the morning, around seven or eight, meaning there weren't all that many people out and about yet, but those and were were all too happy to return his cheery disposition.
Eventually, after a while of walking he found himself in the center of Ponyville. Taking a second to look around, he smiled as he saw all the ponies around them going about their day in the bustling market. He cringed slightly when his eyes settled on the fountain in the center however, feeling the scar on his chest flare up slightly.
Derek shook his head slightly as he looked around, seeing two ponies approaching him. One of them was holding... it looked like a jar of candy? He raised an eyebrow.
One was a mint green unicorn with white hair, while the other was a cream colored earth pony, with purple and pink hair. He had seen them around town a couple times, but like most everyone else he hadn't actually ever gotten the chance to talk to them.
"Hello, Derek right?" The earth pony said as she held out a hoof for him to take. He blinked twice before smiling and shaking back.
"Yep! That's me." he said, smiling over at them.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Bon Bon, and this is my... friend Lyra." She returned, gesturing over to the unicorn who grinned back at him.
Derek obviously didn't pick up the subtext.
"We just wanted to thank you for saving Ponyville the other day. You know, from all the changelings." Lyra said, gesturing over to the jar being held up in her golden levitation. "Bon-Bon here owns a candy store and it's all we really have lots of... I hope that's enough."
Derek's eyes widened. "Are you kidding!? I love candy!" He said excitedly, like a foal. His own horn glowed as he took his gift, pulling it close to him, he was quick to pop the lid and shove a piece of the stuff, a caramel cube, into his mouth.
The two mares stared at him wide eyed, before looking at one another and giggling slightly. "Well, now we know what to get you next time you save the town." Bon-Bon chuckled, causing Derek to raise an eyebrow.
"Next time?" He asked putting the lid back on his jar. "What do you mean?"
"Oh you know, Ponyvile is probably the single most dangerous town in Equestria." Lyra laughed, rolling a hoof. "It seems every other week there's some kind of monster showing up out of the Everfree or villain tearing through the place. I love it."
Bon-Bon grimaced slightly. "Well... she certainly does. Thankfully nopony ever really gets hurt. The princess and her friends are always around to stop that. And with an extra alicorn around... well. I can't really tell if that means more threats are going to be attacking us now or less."
Derek's jaw dropped slightly. "That is awesome." He said he looked around the village, his smile only widening. "Man, I have to get my hands on an actual place to stay around here if that's the case. Me and Johan are just crashing up in Twilight's castle, but that seems kind of temporary."
"Well, you did save Ponyvile recently, I'm sure if you talked to the Mayor she'll find some place for the two of you to live." Lyra said, smiling at him.
Bon-Bon stared at the other mare. "Maybe. We don't want to give you false hope or anything, but it wouldn't hurt to ask her."
"Thank you guys for this, and thanks for telling me! I'm going to go talk to her right now!" Derek said with a smile before turning and quickly running off in a random direction, taking his jar with him. The two mares stared after him for a couple minutes before he sheepishly turned around and walked back, head held low.
"Uh... sorry, which way is the Mayor?" He asked, a blush quickly coming to his face.
The two giggled slightly.
"That way," Bon-Bon said. "It's the big circular building, you can't miss it."
"Thanks, I won't forget this." Derek said with a smile before he took off in the opposite direction, flying above the town on his wings.
"He seems nice." Bon-Bon chuckled. Lyra nodded over at her, and the two instantly turned to go about their days again.
In the far south, past the southern deserts, Kludgetown and the desolate Mount Eris sat a knobbled citadel resting on a stormwracked island, and in the center of that citadel was a throneroom, where The Storm King sat.
He gave a slight hiss as he looked around the room, his eyes settling on his General, a unicorn with a broken horn by the name of Tempest Shadow, who was stood over a map, currently drawing a red x over a mountain. The yeti threw his head back with a annoyed groan.
"Have you found it yet?" He grunted, propping his head up on a hand. Tempest turned over to him, shaking her head.
"I've dispatched soldiers and slaves to every corner of your empire and I am still pulling up blank on the staff's location my lord." Tempest sighed, looking back at the map. "Maybe it's lost in ocean?"
"Or maybe it never existed in the first place?" A rather scratchy voice said as the head of Grubber stuck itself out from under the table.
That made the Storm King's eye twitch. He stood up from his throne, snarling as Tempest looked to the much smaller Yeti.
"So, you mean to tell me, you've been lying to me Tempest?" He said, marching towards the much smaller Unicorn. Tempest shook her head.
"No my lord. I know for a fact it exists. It's just turning out to be harder than we expected to-" She started, she was interrupted by the sound of screaming in the hallway. The three, alongside the many storm beasts standing along the walls of the room, instantly turned their heads to the throne's main doorway.
The massive blackwood doors exploded inwards, flinging splinters in every direction. The rather tall form of an antlers creature coated in armor stomped in, dozens of storm beasts behind it, struggling with all their might to hold whatever it was back. Some had tried to tackle it, holding it's back legs. A particularly large stormbeast, which dwarfed the antlered creature in size was riding on it's back, holding it in a chokehold, but he seemed to be little more than an annoyance.
One enthusiastic guard tried to rush forwards past the Storm King and his general, thrusting his two pronged spear directly at the creature's face. With a minimal effort, the guard's spear was snatched form the air. His glowing blue eyes widened for a moment, before he took a blow to the face that sent him spiraling through the air. He struck the wall with a crash, toppling over a pillar.
The rest of the guards watched wide eyed as the antlers and horn of the armored monster glowed. A burst of cyan magic shot out from around it, sending them all flying away like ragdolls. Finally, the creature turned it's gaze back to The Storm King, continuing it's march towards it.
Tempest rushed forwards, lightning shooting from her missing horn directly towards their perceived attacker. It merely raised a hoof, to cover it's face, the magic uselessly dancing across it's armor like it was nothing.
"I presume this is what you are looking for." It said in a deep feminine voice, throwing a piece of paper that had been balled in it's hoof directly to the Storm King.
The Yeti raised an eyebrow as he caught it out of the air. He was quick to unfold it and take a glance down at it, Tempest stopping her attack and staring up at him. Drawn on the paper was the Staff of Sancas, causing his eyes to widen.
"How did you-" he started but he was cut off by the creature speaking again.
"We have it." She responded, lowering her head slightly. "If you want it, all you have to do is come to a meeting my Kes is holding, and you will be given it free of charge."
Tempest's eyes widened at the mention of a Kes. She had heard that word, many of times in the Storm King's conquests. Isolated tribes they had run into and conquered in the wilderness used that word to refer to a god. Whoever this thing was, she could tell it meant bad news.
She flinched when the Storm King chuckled, balling the paper back up and casually throwing it over his shoulder. "And if I decline?"
"You won't. You've been after the power of a god for as long as you lived. We are offering it to you on a silver platter. No strings attached." The armored creature responded before spinning around and marching out of the room, past the downed guards. "We will be meeting in the ruined city in the middle of the desert to the north. I'm sure you know where that is yes?"
Tempest's eyes widened slightly. She had flown past that city many times on her airship, and has heard stories of it from local nomads living there. All signs told her that is was cursed. It was millennia old, predating every civilization in the region, and yet it hadn't been swallowed by the dunes. And all of the slaves constantly spoke of how no one ever came back.
She turned to the Storm King, who was staring down at her with a smirk. "Ready my ship. I want to see where this goes." he said, spinning on his feet and returning to his throne.
"But..." She started. She stopped with a sigh, lowering her head. "Yes sir."
She turned to Grubber, who was cowering under the table, covering his head.
"Come on. We need to gather some troops."