//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: The Centaur Conspiracy // by 5u0myn0n4 //------------------------------// The Storm King was ready to unleash the spell. He captured and placed Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Grogar in specific places, with circles traced around them. And the dark crystal containing the essence of King Sombra was in its own circle. And finally, The Storm King sat on his throne, which had a circle traced around it. And in the middle of all of it, was the mysterious pedestal. In the center of all of this was a big pedestal. With the push of a button on his throne, the lines started to glow, and the spell began to activate. "Before you do this, Storm King. Really think about what you're doing." Cozy Glow yelled, through the mirror she was trapped in. "I've had nothing but time to think. It's all I've thought about. Exacting my revenge on Equestria." Storm King said. "And your villainous souls will power my latest scheme." "I've been where you are now. Constantly thinking about revenge, and coming up with a scheme to achieve crazy powerful magic. I went really far, and I nearly lost myself in the process. So think about the cost. Is it worth it? Are you sure this is what you still want?" Cozy asked. "Hmm..." Storm King tapped his lip. "Look deep inside. Really think. What is it you're really after? Will blowing a hole through Canterlot really bring you virtue?" Cozy asked. "Hmm... You know what? Now that you put it that way... YES! This is all I want to do!" Storm King exclaimed. "It is time to unleash the boom bada boom, STORM!" The spell glowed brighter, and started to sap energy from everyone within. "Finally! Now! I will truly be The Storm King!" he exclaimed. "Guess again!" exclaimed a voice. Amber fell from the ceiling and confronted the Storm King. She pulled out a long spear and held it at Storm King. "Release my family from your evil contraption!" Amber exclaimed. Storm King looked at Amber and immediately burst into laughter. "Bwahahaha! You must be kidding! This is your guys’s fearless champion?! This lost child?!" Storm King laughed. Amber blushed in anger. The creature who threatened her family treated her like a joke. But she wasn't joking. "I don't kid. Release my sister from the mirror, and I won't have to use this thing!" Amber exclaimed. Amber held her spear firm, not shaking at all. Storm King was impressed with her fierce and confident stance. He began to take her more seriously. "So, you truly choose to oppose the Storm King?" he said. Amber nodded, and leaned her spear more forward. "Well, if that's what you desire." Storm King stood up slowly, and loomed over Amber. His body made creaking metallic sounds as he stood up. Storm King grabbed his staff sitting by his throne, and suddenly swung it at Amber. Amber leaned back and dodged the swing. Amber then leaped up and thrusted the spear at Storm King. Cozy gasped and dropped her jaw, seeing her Amber thrust herself into action was unbelievable to see. Amber's spear and Storm King's staff collided. The weapons were interlocked, and Amber pushed against Storm King. Amber's small size made it challenging. Storm King was large, and quite strong. Amber's hooves grinded against the floor as she was slowly pushed back. Cozy, Tirek, and Chrysalis held their breath, as it seemed Amber was being bested by Storm King. But then suddenly, Amber used her magic to split the spear in half. Storm King's forward momentum caused him to fall flat onto the ground. Amber then jumped up onto Storm King's back, and held the sharp end of the spear at his head. "Release my family this instant! And that means releasing my sister from the mirror!" Amber demanded. "Grrr. You're a persnickety little one." Storm King said. "You really do have that fighting spirit. Reminds me a lot of a unicorn fighter I once had under my army." Amber didn't budge at Storm King's flattery. "You wouldn't use that thing. You don't have the guts, kid." Storm King said. "Oh yeah?" Amber said, nudging the spear closer to Storm King’s neck. "Woah! Watch the head! I’ve got a nice head on these robotic shoulders. I'd like to keep it that way." Storm King said. "Then it'll be in your best interest to comply, and do what I say." Amber said. Amber had Storm King pinned down… sort of. In this moment Storm King realized that Amber was so tiny, she was barely holding him down. He figured could simply stand up right now to push her over. That, or simply flick her away. He chose the latter option. Storm King reached up and flicked Amber away, thrusting Amber back a good deal, and rolling onto the floor. "Foolish child. Thought you could pin me down? You're like a feather." Storm King said. Storm King stood up, grabbed his staff, and aimed it at Amber. Storm King used his staff to fire a beam at Amber. Amber intersected the blast with a magic beam coming from her own horn. The two magic streams collided, with Storm King's strong magic having a slight edge. Storm King's blast made it through, and blasted the floor, but Amber dodged the blast, and ran behind Storm King. She used her spear to slice off one of Storm King's robotic arms. “Oh! Oh darn it! You found a weak joint!” Storm King exclaimed. She sliced off the other arm, and Storm King came crashing down. “Can’t we just sit down and talk about this…?” Storm King said, nearly defeated and exhausted. Amber pushed Cozy Glow's mirror away from the summoning circle. In doing so, the entire circle started to dim. "I got you, sis. Now to just figure out how to get you out of this confounded mirror." Amber said. "It's okay. There's got to be a way out." Cozy said. Unbeknownst to either of them, Storm King's robotic arm moved the fingers by itself, and crept up to the throne's arm chair. It flicked the lever to activate the spell. "In either case, now that your spell is incomplete, you can't- AHH!!!" Amber screamed. "AaH!!!!" Amber was sucked into the spell and forced onto the circle where Cozy Glow was, and the circle started to glow brightly again. Tirek, Chrysalis, and Grogar also screamed. Storm King was also a part of the spell, and withstood the pain. "Yes. It is finally time!" Storm King said. "B-but how?" Amber cried. Despite pushing Cozy out of the circle, Amber was caught by the spell when she stood there. "I suppose a close relative will make a sufficient substitute." Storm King said. "We're not just related, I'm... her... identical..." Amber tried to say. The pillar in the middle was struck by six beams of power, emanating from the six of them. The spell completed, and the six dark stones inside were filled with energy. The spell was complete, and the objects inside were fully charged with dark magic. The beams dissipated and everyone was left freed, but exhausted. Amber, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Grogar collapsed under exhaustion. Cozy Glow was shocked and horrified from inside the mirror. "Leave it to bake for just a few seconds with six intense beams of villainous essence, and voila, it is done." Storm King said. Storm King reattached his arms to his body, and stood up from his throne. "Now I don't know diddly about magic, but I do know what power is. And from what I've been told, I know these Elements of Disharmony come in very handy." Storm King said. Storm King opened a latch on the pillar, and inside was six black stones. "The Elements of Disharmony." Storm King said, with the most dastardly, and sinister grin that his head in a jar could make. "But how? I might be Cozy, but I don't have a heart of evil." Amber said. "Neither do I. I've been purified." Chrysalis said. "Hmm. What a conundrum. Your hearts are too pure to unleash an evil spell. Oh well. Guess once a villain, always a villain." Storm King said. "But... I was never a..." Amber said. "These elements will come in very handy to me!" Storm King said. "What are you going to do with those!?" Cozy yelled. "I'm familiar with your ventures, Cozy Glow. The power hungry pegasus. What led you to follow such a path?" Storm King asked. "I was inspired by Tirek and that time he almost took over Equestria by stealing ponies' magic. I thought I could achieve the same by outwitting Twilight and her friends. Is that all you want? Just power? Grow up, and come to the present day." Cozy said. "Indeed. Simple power chase is vain, and simple. I have a clear purposeful plan for these elements." Storm King said. "What are you going to do...?" Amber asked, exhausted. "These six rocks will power my extremely large laser! Or ELL for short." Storm King said. "The what?" Tirek asked. "You must be joking, right?" Chrysalis asked. Everyone heard a loud rumbling from outside. "What's happening?" Amber asked. Cozy was able to see out a window from where she was stuck, and could see a large airship rising up, and flying over the castle. A ladder dropped from the ceiling next to Storm King. "The Extremely Large Laser has been outfitted to my zeppelin. The last Storm King era airship left in tact as a matter of fact." Storm King said. Storm King grabbed the ladder. "Now with my zeppelin, I shall fly to pony capital, and use these Elements of Disharmony to charge my laser, and fire a gigantic beam at their capital!" Storm King said. "Seriously? That's your plan?" Amber asked. "You occupied the castle, assembled a bunch of old villains together to power up the Elements of Disharmony, just so they could power a big laser you're gonna shoot at Canterlot?" "Yes. A little... convoluted in its set up, brilliant in its simple and destructive execution." Storm King said. The ladder retracted up and carried up Storm King. But as he ascended, he yelled something. "If you're looking for your dear dad Vorak, I think you'll find something of interest in the crystal catacombs. Ciao!" Storm King said. "The what!?" Tirek yelled. "You heard what I said! Now twiddle dee dee! I must be off! I have a very large laser that I'd like to show to Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Storm King said. "Bwahahahaha!!" The ladder retracted and carried Storm King up to his air ship. Everyone looked as the airship left the castle. Indeed, attached on the lowest deck of the ship, was an extremely large laser firing machine barrel. With enough time, everyone was able to catch their breath, and stand up. Amber stood up, and helped Chrysalis and Tirek stand up with her magic as well. “Storm King is getting away and we still can’t get you out of this mirror!” Amber pounded against the mirror in fury, but in doing so she discovered something. “Huh?” Amber realized that the mirror only acted as a barrier in one direction. She could reach in. “I could just reach in the mirror this whole time?” She said. “So then can you…?” Cozy asked. Amber grabbed onto Cozy’s hoof and pulled. And sure enough, Amber was able to pull Cozy Glow out of the mirror. Cozy hugged Amber out of joy. “I’m loving the change in mane color by the way.” Cozy said. “Oh, you do? I was hoping you would.” Amber said. "Are you all okay?" Cozy asked. "That spell looked like it took a lot out of you all." "I'm fine." Tirek said. "Me as well. It only wore us down, it didn't sap too much of our essence or anything permanent." Chrysalis said. "Same. I'm already primed back up. So what do we do now?" Amber asked. "We? Don't count me in this." Tirek said. "What!?" everyone exclaimed. "Help Equestria? I'm only interested in helping myself. That's how it's always been. Equestria isn't my problem." Tirek said. "Tirek, how can you say that?" Cozy asked. "I'm certainly not interested in any of Storm King's shenanigans." Tirek said. "I came here to settle family business, and that's all I intend on doing. He gave me a clue, which we failed to find on our own this whole time. Now that I finally have a lead, maybe I'll get to the bottom of this." "But... the elements of Disharmony. The air ship. The extremely large laser." Amber said. "Twilight can fend for herself, as she's done countless times before. Those ponies will be fine." Tirek said. "But..." Amber said. "I've already made my decision." Tirek affirmed, crossing his arms. Tirek went downstairs, as a final expression of expressing zero interest in pursuing Storm King. "We better go with him." Cozy said. Amber looked out the window and looked at the airship escape. "Amber?" Cozy asked. "Well we can't let Storm King destroy Equestria. We gotta do something." Amber said. "But Amber. We... Huh?" Cozy and everyone looked at saw that the dark crystal was glowing. It was glowing green, and a magical haze surrounded the crystal. It floated in place, and glowed, and its light formed a shape. In a magical dark green and purple haze, King Sombra formed, and stood before everyone. "KING SOMBRA!" everyone exclaimed. King Sombra looked around at his surroundings. He was surprised by his surroundings. “King Sombra. We meet again..” Chrysalis said. "We? I have never seen the likes of any of you." Sombra said. "You sure? I know that that was a long time ago by now, but surely you recognize us, and Grogar..." Cozy said. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Sombra said. "Weird he doesn't remember anything about Grogar..." Chrysalis said. “He even sounds different from last time.” Cozy noted. "I do not know what this place is, or what I am doing here, but one thing is clear. I must get back to the Crystal Empire and shatter that sniveling Crystal Heart." Sombra said. "You can't!" Amber exclaimed. "Why not, filly?" Sombra asked. "Because there's a big flying airship with a giant laser attached that's on its way to Equestria capital and it's going to blow it up!" Amber said. "Are you referring to the Crystal Empire? He's going to blow it up?" Sombra asked, sounding concerned. "Would that make you more or less motivated to help us?" Amber asked. "Grrr. Very well, child. Since you seem to have valuable information I will assist in eliminating this 'Storm King' fellow." Sombra said. "At least that makes one of you." Amber said. Amber was teaming up with King Sombra? "Wait wait wait! You're not teaming up with this dark omen, Amby!" Cozy said. "Amber, what are you thinking?!" Cozy said. "Storm King nearly got you already, why would you go after him again?" "Okay, so things didn't go quite to plan, and I had to sneak you out of the mirror." Amber admitted. "But you never gave up, even when you were... sick. Why should I stop just cause he tricked me?" Amber was getting choked up. "He used you guys. He did something bad to Tirek's dad. We need to teach Storm King a lesson." Amber said. “Yes I know, but…” Cozy wasn’t sure how to finish her sentence.” "Why do you think less of me? Why don't you have faith in me?" Amber asked. Cozy gasped. She then looked down, and teared up herself. "Amber, that couldn't be farther from the truth. You are so remarkably capable. Maybe more than me when I was your age. I just can't stand the idea of losing you again.” Cozy said, weeping. “If we all work together, we won’t anything to worry about.” Amber said. sniff “I suppose you’re right, Amby.” Cozy said. "There's more to me than the sum of my cutie mark." Amber said. “We simply can't let Storm King go unimpeded. Twilight is our friend now and we should help protect her land.” "But in the same token, we can't leave Tirek, and he ain't budging. I have to see this mystery through with him." Cozy said. "If there's anyone who can keep him in check, it's me." "Then it's settled. You stay with Tirek, while Chrysalis, Sombra, and I go after Storm King." Amber said. Cozy face seemed reluctant. But she took a deep breath, and gave Amber an affirmative nod. "I'll be guarding her with my life." Chrysalis said. "Thanks, Chrysalis. I know you will." Cozy said. “I know I said it’d be best if we all worked together, but I don’t think Storm King will be able to handle the awesome wrath of three of Equestria’s strongest bunch.” Amber said. “She’s right. Me, Sombra, and Amber. It’ll be 3 on 1, and he won’t stand a chance.” Chrysalis said. Cozy Glow hugged Chrysalis and Amber in a big group hug. Cozy then followed Tirek downstairs. Just a few meters over, Sludge and Mane-iac peaked their heads into the throne room, and saw Grogar exhausted on the floor. "So, are we going after that airship or no?" Sombra asked. “Yes Sir, King Sombra sir!” Amber said. “Good. Now stand back. I know how we’re going to catch up to that flying contraption.” Sombra said. Mane-iac and Sludge crept up to Grogar. "Grogar?" Mane-iac asked. "You two? What are you doing here?" Grogar asked. "We wanted to see if you were okay." Mane-iac said. "We?" Sludge asked. "Okay, I was concerned." Mane-iac said. "Oh, what do you care?" Grogar asked. "Aren't you ready to resume your revenge plan?" Mane-iac said. Grogar looked. He had missed Tirek and Cozy climb down the stairs. He looked at Sombra, Amber, and Chrysalis standing on a balcony, viewing the airship. “Forget it. Even if I were to be rid of either Cozy Glow, and crushed Tirek's spirit, it’s quite apparent that I am no longer the King of Monsters. I am but an old useless ram.” Grogar admitted. "You? Useless? Psst. Far from it." Mane-iac said. "Without my magic, or the Rainbow of Darkness, I don't have anything to back up my prowess." Grogar said. "True, you are pretty pathetic." Sludge said. "But we're a pathetic team. We should stick together." Mane-iac said. “When did you get all sentimental, Mane-iac?” Grogar asked. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said, and what it means for my purpose here. Wondering about what I really am. Evil beauty queen or not, I’m ready to make a difference.” She said.