Twilight found herself in the middle of the metal ship, with metal fenced flooring that is covering the lava beneath. She tried desperately to break down or blast the cage open, but it was proving to be useless, but she had to try, she had to make things up with her friends, she just had to.
Soon Tempest walked over to the caged Twilight, much to the alicorn’s shock before Tempest spoke with a mocking smile, “Aww, the ‘Princess of Friendship’. With no friends! And no way out.”
“Why are you doing this?” Twilight asked softly, “You’re a pony like me? Why would you want to turn against Equestria?”
Tempest soon put her hooves on the cage and her horn began to light up.
“I'm nothing like you. I'm more than you'll ever be.” Tempest said angrily before she began circling around the cage.
(Song Begins)
“It's time you learned a lesson
It's time that you understand
Don't ever count on anybody else
In this or any other land.” Tempest began singing sternly before she looked out into the distance, almost longing.
“I once hoped for friendship
To find a place among my kind
But those were the childish wishes
Of someone who was blind!” Tempest sang sadly before she faced Twilight again.
“Open up your eyes
See the world from where I stand
Me, among the mighty
You caged at my command.” Tempest sand with a smirk as Twilight glared angrily at her.
“Open up your eyes
Give up your sweet fantasy land
It's time to grow up and get wise
Come now, little one, open up your eyes!” Tempest sang as she cupped Twilight’s chin.
“We all start out the same
With simple naive trust
Shielded from the many ways
That life's not fair or just
But then there comes a moment
A simple truth that you must face
If you depend on others
You'll never find your place.” Tempest sang as she developed an angry frown.
Tempest growled angrily before turning to Twilight sternly, “Me and my friends were playing catch when it happened, using our magic to toss the ball around, we accidentally threw it into a cave. My friends, being the cowards they were, left me to go get it, I got the ball but an Ursa Minor attacked me.” She explained bluntly.
“Is that how you lost your horn?” Twilight asked sympathetically.
“Smart, aren’t you?” Tempest chuckled bitterly, “That explains why you were able to maintain that group of idiots.”
“Yes, I lost my horn and once I lost my horn, my friends left me too.” Tempest explained, almost saddened but she masked it with anger.
“Why are you telling me this?” Twilight asked curiously.
“Clearly you’re going through a similar thing, they left you by yourself in tears didn’t they? I figured you deserved a reality check.” Tempest admitted sternly.
Soon Tempest started singing again, “And as you take that first step.
Upon a path that's all your own.
You see it all so clearly
The best way to survive is all alone.
Open up your eyes
See the world from where I stand
Me, among the mighty
You caged at my command.”
Tempest soon pulled the lever to raise the cage Twilight was in.
“Open up your eyes
And behold the faded light.”
Tempest soon made it to a higher level of the ship and held onto the cage before it could raise up anymore and smirked at Twilight.
“It's time to grow up and get wise
Come now, little one, open up your eyes.” Tempest smirked up at Twilight as the cage made it up to the top of the ship.
“Open up your eyes!” Tempest harmonized.
(Song Ends)
Twilight shielded her face from the sun as it barely shined and saw Canterlot from a distance.
Soon Tempest stood next to Twilight as the airship flew towards Canterlot and now Twilight felt a strange amount of sympathy she’s hardly felt ever since she met Sunset, Stygian, Discord to an extent, and…
‘Starlight.’ She thought miserably as she remembered their fight just earlier. How could she have said that to her?
“I’m sorry you felt so alone.” Twilight said remorseful of Tempest’s past and somewhat due to her own actions.
“I saw the truth. My ‘friends’ abandoned me when times got tough.” Tempest said bitterly before turning to look at Twilight, “Looks like I’m not the only one who had to deal with that.”
Twilight looked away as Tempest continued speaking, “Face it Princess. Friendship has failed you too.”
“Friendship didn’t fail me. I failed at friendship.” Twilight corrected the commander sadly, she wasn’t sure if Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight would ever look at her the same way again.
Starlight just aimlessly stared at her reflection in the ocean, it’s not like she could do anything else?
‘Canterlot’s been overthrown, Twilight’s mad at me, and any chance to get help is pretty much gone.’ Starlight sighed as she laid on the sand.
Soon she felt a shadow above her, and looked to see Trixie was smiling nervously, “Uh… Trixie is not so good at this comforting stuff, like I told you, even Trixie makes mistakes.”
Starlight chuckled a bit, she remembered that well but it did little to help her.
“How are you feeling?” Trixie asked sheepishly.
“Like dirt.” Starlight sighed, “I wanna believe that Twilight didn’t mean what she said, but I’m not too sure. You know how I am Trixie. I’m impulsive and sometimes selfish, maybe Twilight’s grown tired of me.”
Starlight stood up as she continued speaking, “I can’t really blame her. I literally insulted the reason she became a princess and wouldn’t even try to hear her out. No wonder she snapped.”
“Starlight, you had every right to be mad at Twilight. Sure she had… good-ish intentions but she stole the pearl and manipulated you into doing it too.” Trixie spoke in her defense.
“I’m not arguing there but the least I could have done was hear her out.” Starlight added before asking, “Do you think me and Twilight will get through this? We never fought like that before.”
“Uh…” Trixie began speaking before Starlight sternly corrected, “We never fought like that as friends, our rivalry doesn’t exactly count.”
“Well Trixie admits you will need to take some time to deal with what she said but Trixie can also guarantee Twilight didn’t mean what she said about your friendship, it’s understandable your reacting this way, you’ve never gone through this sort of problem before.” Trixie smiled reassuringly before adding, “Though remember, you and I also had a bunch of arguments during our Saddle Arabian Tour, heck you even sold my wagon, for admittedly an understandable motive, and we’re still friends. You and Twilight just need to talk, and you’ll be able to get through this.”
Starlight softly smiled in realization, all of what Trixie said was true, they have gotten through rough patches before, why should this fight with Twilight be any different?
“You’re right Trixie. I think if I talk with Twilight, we’ll be able to make up.” Starlight smiled at her friend before wondering, “But why did you help me? I know you’re not a fan of Twilight.”
“I may have a distaste for that annoying pony, but I know her friendship with you makes you happy and… I didn’t want your bond to be destroyed because of this.” Trixie admitted with a sheepish smile.
“Aww.” Starlight cooed before she and Trixie shared a hug, soon they let each other go and Starlight spoke in determination, “Come on! Let’s go get the group back together!”
“Now that sounds like the Starlight I love.” Trixie smirked proudly.
Soon Starlight and Trixie began heading back to the right, they’d have to rally up the others first and then talk to Twilight, she figured Twilight would be more willing to forgive herself if the rest of her friends were there.
Soon they reached where Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were, and it was clear they were all still brooding in sadness over what happened with Twilight.
“Girls.” Starlight spoke up to gain their attention, “I know we’re all upset about what Twilight said and did, but we can’t dwell on this for long, Twilight is our friend, even when she screws up, we can still be there for her.”
“She’s right.” Applejack nodded firmly, “I think we’ve given her enough time. We should go talk to Twilight.”
“SHE’S! BEEN! TAKEN!” Spike screamed in horror as he ran over to the scene.
“What?!” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously as she flew up to Spike.
“Twilight's been taken! Tempest! She grabbed her! And took her on her ship!” Spike explained as he pointed to the sky.
“We gotta get her back!” Rainbow Dash said with a determined frown.
“How?” Fluttershy asked sadly, “We’ll never catch up.”
“Ah yes. It’s not like Starlight can teleport long distance or anything.” Trixie rolled her eyes.
“I can only go so far. I’m not Discord, It’d have to take multiple trips.” Starlight argued sadly.
“Besides, we have no way to defeat those monsters.” Applejack added.
Suddenly a familiar sly voice was heard, “Well, good thing I happen to know of a group of mighty heroes that could handle this easily!”
“Capper?!” Starlight said in shock as she looked to see that Capper was indeed, on top of the tallest rock.
“Look what the cat dragged in. Himself.” Rarity rolled her eyes.
“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!” Capper said happily much to everyone but Starlight and Applejack’s awe, as they already knew who Capper was truly talking about.
“Now don’t get too excited.” Applejack told everyone with a roll of her eyes.
“Yeah, he’s just referring to us.” Starlight said, a bit bored as well.
“Aw.” Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity groaned.
“Meh, I’m just glad to be seen as a hero.” Trixie admitted with a shrug.
“They even escaped certain doom at the hooves of Commander Tempest!” Capper slid down the rock and gestured to Starlight and the rest of her friends.
“Yeah. That was pretty great.” Rainbow Dash admitted fondly.
“Are you kidding?” A familiar female voice asked from an even higher stone before Starlight looked up and saw that it was Captain Celeano and her crew, who all soon jumped down to join the group.
“That was awesome!” Celeano said triumphantly.
“Figured you could lose a claw.” Boyle smirked as he used his golden makeshift claw to emphasize.
“We're on board to help you fight the Storm King!” Celeano said with a determined smile before stammering, “Just not on board our... actual ship.”
“That crazy unicorn destroyed it. But you got back our argh! And we're ready to kick some booty.” Mullet said happily as the pirates bared their weapons.
Suddenly a yellow orb began forming much to Starlight and the group’s shock but soon that shock turned to a smile, she knew exactly what, no who it was.
Soon Skystar transformed into her hippogriff form much to Capper and the pirates’ shock.
“Is that who I think it is?” Capper asked, clearly bewildered.
Skystar soon flew down to the ground and smiled, “Helloooooo, me again. I'm gonna get so grounded, but I talked things over with Shelly and Sheldon and they pointed out that you were just trying to help your friends.”
Starlight and Pinkie Pie both smiled at each other proudly before Skystar continued speaking, “So I wanna help too,” she then flew over to Pinkie and Starlight and said, “Because you know, one small thing…” before whispering to the two mares, “can make a really big difference.”
“That’s it right? We didn’t make friends with anypony else?” Spike asked with a stone faced look which earned him a glare from Starlight, making him chuckle sheepishly.
“All right, y'all! I think our course is clear.” Capper smirked in satisfaction, “Y'all ready to do this thang?” Capper asked happily.
“We’re coming Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted to the heavens which caused Starlight to cheer along with everyone else.
“As soon as we bake up a plan!” Pinkie Pie added.
Starlight realized that Pinkie had a point, they did need a plan.
“So how are we gonna get back to Canterlot anyway?” Starlight asked the group.
Celeano put a claw to her chin in thought before saying, “Well, we could always try rebuilding the ship. Tempest didn’t cause any unrepairable damage. Plus it landed in the shallow waters.
“Plus we heard that unicorns can fix things pretty decently with magic but it depends on the power they have.” Boyle added.
All eyes turned to Starlight who smirked as she held a hoof bump for Trixie, “Well I did hold my own against an alicorn once.” She then shared a hoof bump with Trixie.
After a quick use of her magic, Starlight was able to fix the airship, Celeano was currently piloting the ship but Starlight wanted to call Trixie, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy to a team meeting for something important.
“You wanted to see us Starlight?” Spike asked curiously.
Starlight sighed before admitting, “This isn’t easy for me to say… but Twilight was right about something. We WERE screwing things up.”
“What?! But we almost got Queen Novo to give us the pearl!” Rainbow Dash said incredulously.
“Yeah but sometimes we did make the trip harder for us than needed. Pinkie, you kept goofing off, Fluttershy, you just cowered behind us most of the time, albeit I see why. Rarity kept complaining, Rainbow Dash gave away our position with the Rainboom, and heck I almost got myself killed! Almost all of us did something to make our journey harder.” Starlight explained bluntly.
“Okay okay, we screwed up, but what’s the point of this?” Rainbow Dash asked in annoyance.
“I think what Starlight’s trying to say is that this is our last chance to save Equestria.” Spike stood next to Starlight with a stern frown, “We have to take this seriously, this is not just for Equestria anymore but for Twilight and our friends too.”
Starlight smiled proudly at Spike before talking again, “Exactly, we need to save our friends! Big Mac, The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Maud, Granny Smith, basically any and everypony! We can’t let the Storm King or Tempest win! Who’s with me?!”
“I was already with you.” Trixie smirked haughtily
“I’m with ya Starlight!” Applejack nodded firmly.
“I agree. We’ve fooled around for far too long.” Rarity smirked confidently.
“I… think I can manage.” Fluttershy smiled meekly.
“You’re right! We gotta take this seriously!” Rainbow Dash pounded her hooves together with a smirk.
“I’m loving this teamwork vibe! Yay us!” Pinkie Pie stood on the table as she spread confetti out from her mane.
Starlight smiled fondly, she now had faith things can turn itself around.
‘Don’t worry Twilight. I won’t leave you again.’ Starlight looked up to the sky with a smile.
Twilight found herself being wheeled in her cage by two ponies who were forced into it, led by Tempest, she shared a quick glance with Songbird Serenade before keeping her head down.
After a while, she found herself inside the throne room of Canterlot where some circle had been formed, she looked at the stone statue of Celestia in horror as she was soon placed in the top right corner of the circle. Soon the ponies left with dejected frowns, and Grubber closed the doors to the throne room entrance and laughed giddily yet maniacally.
“Tempest, don't do this. Don't give the Storm King…” Twilight began speaking before Tempest cut her off, “Your magic? It’s unfortunate for you I’m sure, but be glad you’re not stone.”
Tempest soon turned around and smirked, “I'd love for everybody out there to know what I can really do.”
“Ooh fascinating.” Twilight turned behind her to see the large white ape creature himself behind them at the Sun door entrance, which seemed to surprise Tempest as she turned around too.
“What can you really do?” Storm King asked with a smile.
“Your bidding of course, your mighty one.” Grubber immediately praised the Storm King, clearly trying to defend Tempest, before he scurried off to exit the throne room.
“Bidding’s good. I like bidding.” The Storm King smiled jubilantly before turning to Twilight in confusion, “Um, what are you supposed to be?”
“I’m the Princess Of Friendship.” Twilight spoke neutrally to mask her fear.
“Oh, that’s nice!” The Storm King laughed before turning to Tempest angrily, “Why is this one still moving?”
“She and her friends put up a bit of a fight, but she's alone now. She won't be a problem.” Tempest smirked at Twilight who frowned.
The Storm King soon walked past Tempest uncaringly and spoke up as he walked to the thrones, “Yeah. So, speaking of problems, this place, it seems a little too, oh, I don't know… CUTE!!!” He said furiously.
“I don't like cute! I never did like cute! Doesn't really go with my whole ‘big bad powerful magic guy’ thing, does it?!” Storm King asked angrily, which did not seem to give Tempest a reason to care.
“Deliver the punchline, Tempest, because this has gotta be a joke!” The Storm King yelled before planting the staff in the tiny hole in the circle, and soon the circle lit up and soon magic was soon being drained against Twilight’s will and from the three princesses.
“No!” Twilight screamed in horror.
“Check out the light show!” The Storm King laughed maniacally as magic continued to flow into the staff.
After a while, The Storm King finally took out the staff from the circle and smiled as the Staff Of Sacanas crackled a bit, “Wow!”
Twilight soon felt herself grow weak as she kneeled down.
“Let’s get this storm started.” Storm King smiled before noting, “Ooh that’s good I should trademark that.”
Soon he let lightning form in the staff and soon Twilight found herself being blasted with the magic and being sent out of her cage and onto the balcony, where she laid down, feeling weak.
“Not bad. Actually, kinda first rate. What else does it do?” The Storm King asked as he fiddled with the staff.
“Your Excellency, you promised to restore my horn and give me…” Tempest began speaking before The Storm King interrupted, “Deh-deh-deh-deh-deh, okay. Hang on.”
The Storm King began to aim to zap Twilight which caused her to cover her face before she felt nothing.
She looked up to see The Storm King moving his staff and moving the sun with it.
“You gotta be kidding me?! I can move the sun?!” The Storm King said happily, before laughing and walking above Twilight to get a better view of the balcony, which caused her to look at Tempest as if to ask her if this was worth it. Tempest shifted her eyes but walked to the Storm King anyway.
“Time to play! Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! Day, night! Day, night! Day night! Day night! Day night! Sunrise, sunset!” The Storm King kept playing with the sun and moon and dancing gleefully while Twilight looked behind her sadly.