//------------------------------//
// I'll build my own group with backpacks and jokers 
// Story: Rock of Heroes 
// by Nimbus92 
//------------------------------//

"Rainbow Dash wants to build a kingdom without me? I'll show her." Nimbus ripped the duct tape he had wrapped around the handle of the sword he used to fight Rainbow Dash, so his teeth didn't sink too deep in the foam. "MY group is going to be cool and she's going to be saying 'Oh, I want to join!' and I'll say 'Buck you, Rainbow Dash.' Then I'll stab her!" 

Nimbus put the tip of the sword handle in his mouth and thrusted his head forward for a practice stab. Using his tongue, Nimbus was able to flip the sword handle grip in his mouth. "Hmmm....I might have to put a mouth guard on this thing here." 

"Nimbus" Biceps's roaring heavy voice made Nimbus jump and spin around on the tips of his hooves. Biceps held his hooves up in submission. "Whoa, Nimbus it's just me!" 

Nimbus nodded and grumbled through the sword "Sorry, Biceps. I guess I'm just a little skittish about Rainbow Dash betraying me." 

"It's just that it's only you, me, a few ponies from class, and that one pony who thinks she keeps seeing muffins everywhere she goes." Biceps pointed to the grey pony who had her head stuck in a box. 

Despite being blinded by the box, the grey pony knew where she was going and saluted Nimbus respectfully. "Deputy Derpy at your command, Sir!" 

Nimbus smiled and removed the box from Derpy's head. Lending her a sword he had put together himself, Nimbus patted Derpy on the top of her mane. "I like her, she's friendly." 

"Muffin button?" 

Nimbus put a wing over Derpy and pulled her close to him. "Don't worry, Derpy. Once, we defeat the evil King Rainbow Dash, we'll find that muffin button." 

Derpy clapped with an impressive burst of energy. "Yay! Muffin button!" 

Biceps grabbed Nimbus's shoulder and pulled him away from Derpy. "Excuse us a moment." 

Derpy waved good bye to Nimbus and Biceps. When Biceps was able to have Nimbus to himself, he pushed him against the wall and pinned him. "Are you trying to get us killed? We can't go up against Rainbow Dash's army. They even got Fluttershy to be their pet tamer. We have no chance of survival." 

"I'll take those chances!" Nimbus said in confidence. Nimbus was delusional and his common sense had left him after his fight with Rainbow Dash. "If we get enough ponies to join us, we can over throw her!" 

Biceps shook his head "No, we can't. Almost everypony joined her side." 

Nimbus held a hoof up in objection. "Only the ones she wanted. We go out and recruit the rejects, convince them to join our side." 

Biceps knew it wasn't going to be as easy as Nimbus was making it sound. Even though Rainbow Dash didn't want those ponies on her side, they still would do anything to join. It would be difficult to influence them to fight somepony as awesome as Rainbow Dash and join somepony Not-as-awesome-but-close-enough like Nimbus. 

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Biceps released his grip around Nimbus's shoulders and let him down easy, allowing him comfort to think. 

Nimbus remembered how cool Rainbow Dash looked in her King outfit. He doubted she allowed her subjects to wear anything similar, out of the fear that one of them would come up with a better design than her. "We need costumes!" Nimbus stated, pointing at nopony in front of him and speaking to them. "And I know just the pony, come on!" 

Biceps watched as his delusional wrapped his leg around somepony's imaginary neck and walk away with them casually. He sighed and bowed his head before closing the face protector of the foam helmet Nimbus gave him.  "Better follow him." 

*** 

It had been a long time since Nimbus had traveled to Ponyville by himself, but he needed Biceps to stand guard at the hollowed out tree he used for a base. Once he had expanded out enough troops, Nimbus planned on that same area of the woods being the entire base for his army. Rainbow Dash was using the obstacle course as a base he had helped her put together almost two years ago. It hurt him to see her using it like that, but when the war ended he promised himself he would allow Rainbow Dash to join his group. He just hoped she would be welcome to the idea. 

Nimbus pulled out the map from his bright blue saddle bag and pinned it down to the ground with his hoof. He had heard there was a certain Unicorn who had created some rather impressive theater sets for her class play. He figured he might be able to have her design some outfits for his group. Surely she would like the idea that ponies were going to use her designs to play a game. Probably even help her get some publicity as well. 

To Nimbus' knowledge, she should have a large home someplace on the edge of Ponyville, where she worked from. Due to the fact that Nimbus had the map upside down and his compass didn't point north, he couldn't find the house he was looking for. He rolled the map back up and threw it back into his bag. 

"I'm never going to find this place..." Nimbus bowed his head and felt like crying. He was never be able to defeat Rainbow Dash if he couldn't even build an army. He was seriously considering on apologizing to her and see if her offer was still on the table, but he lost his concentration when a small pink UFO fell out of the sky and onto his back. 

Nimbus fluttered his wings vigorously to pry himself from the alien object on top of him, but he made no progress. The pink object stood up and seemed a little too excited after almost falling to her death. "Whew! Good thing you caught me..." 

The pink pony with the cotton candy looking mane picked Nimbus up by his face and held him close to her eye. "Hey! I don't know your name!" She gasped excitedly and began chattering almost faster than Nimbus could fly. "If I don't know your name then that means I don't know you. If I don't know you then  that means this is the first time I've seen you!" 

The pink pony gripped and tighten her hoof tightly around Nimbus's own hoof. Her strength was remarkable, even more impressive than Biceps's own strength. She was able to shake Nimbus's entire body through the air as she greeted herself. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?" 

She finally let Nimbus go and dropped him to the ground with dust flying around him as he fell. Nimbus coughed out his name when he tried to fight the dirt in his throat. "N-Nimbus!" 

Pinkie Pie hugged him tightly and shoved a cupcake into his mouth. "This is for saving me from falling. I was trying to see how many balloons  I needed to fly, but I popped one too many and I started to fall. Then you were there to catch me just in time. Almost like-" 

Pinkie gasped again. Nimbus couldn't tell if it was because she needed a breather or she was gasping out of excitement, but he knew for sure he could hear his spine popping from Pinkie's hug. 

After her gasp, Pinkie Pie whispered into Nimbus's ear "Were you sent by Celestia?" 

Nimbus bit off the hunk of the cupcake he could handle and swallowed it hard. Save the fact that Pinkie had forced it down him, Nimbus actually enjoyed the cupcake's taste. "No, but could you please let me go?" 

Pinkie didn't realize the pain she was inflicting on Nimbus's back, but giggled when Nimbus fell again to the ground for the second time. When Nimbus fell down on his stomach in a spread eagle position, Pinkie noticed the sword attached to his flank. "Ohhh!" She pulled the sword from Nimbus and held it her hooves for admiration. "Is this yours?" Pinkie giggled once again, placing her  fore hoof over her muzzle. "What am I saying? Of course it's yours! You're wearing it!" 

Nimbus scurried to his hooves and snorted at Pinkie Pie, leaping for his sword, "Pinkie, give me my sword." 

Pinkie dodged out of the way and laughed when Nimbus skidded across the dirt. "You're pretty slow for a pegasus." 

The comment made Nimbus swear under his breath "I'm not slow! I'm the fifteenth fastest flyer in my school!" Nimbus spun around and went for another leap towards Pinkie, but just like last time, she dodged out of the way with ease. 

Pinkie laughed and snorted at Nimbus again. "I can see why you want this back so badly. I have a friend who could probably use this in her theater act for "Hamlet"." 

Nimbus's ears perked up with excitement. The pony Pinkie was talking about could be the very one he was searching for. Nimbus darted and was able to grab Pinkie in his hooves before she could even blink. 

"Hey! You finally caught me. Here's your sword back then." Pinkie smiled and didn't notice the danger she could have been in if she didn't give Nimbus his sword back.  

Nimbus gratefully took his sword back and put it back by his side. "Pinkie, this friend of yours, she's not a Unicorn, is she?" 

"Duh, of course she's a Unicorn. How else would she be able to use magic?" Pinkie chirped. 

Nimbus let pinkie back down onto her hooves without a moment's hesitation. "Show me where I can find her." 

"Oh, you mean Rarity." Pinkie pointed to the house ten feet behind Nimbus. "She lives right there." 

Nimbus snapped his head back to see that the house he was looking for was right behind him all along. "How did I miss that?" 

Pinkie laughed and explained "Because it was behind you, silly." 

*** 

Rainbow Dash leaned back in her throne that was now made out foam swords she had broken to construct into a cool new throne. Her throne was set in the farthest part of the obstacle where the finish line was located. Only a few were allowed to pass this far without authorization. Satisfied with her own work, Rainbow Dash let out a relaxing sigh and closed her eyes. "It's good to be King." 

"King Rainbow Dash?" Gilda called out. 

Sad that she only got a few seconds of rest, Rainbow Dash sighed and leaned forward. There was barely enough light for Gilda to stand in and be seen clearly. "What is it, Captain?" 

"It's about the Skyfallen." 

Rainbow Dash adjusted her crown. It had started to fall apart now after her moving it around on her head so much. "The who?" 

"That's what Nimbus and his group have come to call themselves. I fear they may have grown." Gilda explained. 

"And of what threat could they possibly pose against us? We have more pegasai than them as of this morning." Rainbow Dash didn't believe Nimbus would be able to recruit anywhere near enough the same number of ponies like she had without her seeing it herself. 

"That's the thing, my King. Nimbus has recruited the entire theater class, including a few Unicorns . He's even come to calling himself General now." Gilda's talons kicked up bits of cloud as they rip through the cloud she was standing on apart. "What they lack in numbers they make up for in magic. Also..." 

Rainbow Dash wasn't liking the suspenseful cliffhanger she had lift her with. "Yes? Spit it out, Captain." 

"They got a Unicorn Princess and her tiara, well it's..." 

Rainbow Dash clutched at her arm rest "It's what?" 

Gilda couldn't bite her tongue any longer. "It's a real tiara and it actually looks...." Gilda looked at Rainbow Dash's fallen apart card board crown. "It looks a lot cooler than your crown." 

Fire burned inside of Rainbow Dash as she ripped her arm rest off of her throne and threw it in Gilda's general direction. "It's what?! Impossible! How could Nimbus possibly have a princess? I want assassins! Send them to take her crown." 

"Tiara."

"Whatever!" Rainbow Dash yelled at Gilda. She was almost foaming at the mouth. "I don't care what it takes or how many soldiers we lose. Nopony looks cooler than me!" 

*** 

Nimbus gently set the golden beautiful jeweled tiara on the neatly groomed Unicorn he had made Princess. "And there we go! Tell me what you think." 

Rarity faced the mirror and was absolutely blown away by her own presence. The way the tiara sat perfectly on her mane stopping just before it touched her horn, the colors of her newly made dress, and the gems she set in her mane made her the most stunning Unicorn to ever be desired by anypony.  She cheered happily at her beautiful reflection and hugged Nimbus around his neck. 

"This is absolutely amazing! You gave me every little filly's dream. I'm a princess." Rarity let go of Nimbus's neck and continued to admire herself in the mirror. 

Nimbus bowed his head. "It was the least I could do after you made all these outfits for me." 

Leaving Rarity to herself and the mirror, Nimbus trotted towards the rest of the theater class to see how they were doing. They were all trying on several different designs from the variety Rarity had made, with the help of Nimbus' group of Role Players. One pony in particular seemed to be struggling with a head piece that didn't quite look right with the strangely unique dress she was wearing. 

By no means was Nimbus a "fashionista" like Rarity claimed to be, but he did however see a piece of armor not too far from the pony he was focusing on. He figured helping all the ponies with their costumes was probably a good way for him to get to know all of them better since he never spoken to them. 

"I think that chest piece here might be look better with that helmet." Nimbus held up a bright piece of blue foam that was perfectly sized for the purple earth pony. "That Unicorn, Variety, might kill me saying that." 

Cheerilee laughed as she took the chest piece from Nimbus's hooves "Her name's Rarity." 

"That's what I said, Purity." 

Cheerilee smiled with an eye roll. She couldn't really expect a colt who played with toy swords to really be a pony who focuses a lot of attention on talking to fillies like her everyday, much less remember their names properly. 

After, Cheerilee removed the heavy dress off of her back and replaced it with the foam armor that was a surprisingly accurate replication of the real metal piece, Nimbus tapped the front of her chest to see if she had properly fastened it. He gave her a small nod of approval. "Maybe a little uncomfortable at first, but it grows on you once you start-" 

Nimbus's ear twitched when he heard something cutting the wind sharply. It sounded like somepony was swinging a thin stick of twig to practice their swinging but it was a little too fast to be just that. He stopped his sentence with Cheerilee and turned his head out of suspicion. Before he could even react though, a small soft tipped arrow clipped his ear, a shot that would have hit the middle back of his head if he hadn't turned. 

As were the rules of the game, Nimbus folded his stricken ear forward against his head, an indication that he had suffered an injury in battle. He cried out over the small army he had gathered around him.  "Ambush! Everypony prepare for combat! Keep the princess out of harm's way." 

But it was too late, in small amount of time he was helping Cheerilee and had his back turned away, whoever was shooting at him had already attacked a small hoof full of his soldiers and captured the rest as hostages. Princess Rarity was surrounded by  three of the assassins, each one armed with swords. 

These ponies obviously knew what they doing and were highly trained at what they do, no question about it. The criminal who had fired at Nimbus revealed themselves from the tree they were hiding in. Their face was familiar to Nimbus, who could forget a face that ugly? It came to no surprise with Nimbus that Gilda was the one leading the assassin group. 

Gilda held the crossbow tightly in her claws. She had already loaded another arrow after she missed with the other. She glided her way towards Nimbus with a cracked smile. She was enjoying this moment a little more than Nimbus had wanted to see. 

The tip of Gilda's crossbow was used to lift Nimbus's chin. He was forced to look at her stupid smug smile one last time before dying. 

Captain Gilda's trigger claw was itching to release the arrow into Nimbus's throat, but she knew King Rainbow Dash would send her to the dungeoun if she didn't send the message she had strictly told her to deliver. Jamming the crossbow's tip a little deeper into Nimbus's throat, Gilda spat" The King sends one last message..." 

Nimbus thought about swatting the crossbow out of his neck and slaying Gilda right then, but that would only result in guaranteeing his death in a few seconds. There were too many soldiers for him to take on alone. Even if he could take them all on, they only came for him. They had no intentions of killing off any more of his men unless he didn't cooperate. Nimbus wasn't going to let anymore of them die just so he wouldn't die, it'd be selfish. Plus, after his death, they'd all be under the care of Princess Rarity's hooves. They'd probably only live a few more days, but no more blood needed to be spilled today. 

Nimbus came to terms with accepting his fate. His only regret was not seeing the King's stupid kingdom fall before he was slain. 

"The king says..." Gilda's was cut abruptly when she felt a jab hit her spine. She turned around to face the one who had killed her. It was Derpy. Derpy had been sent on a quest along with a few other ponies to search for any holes in King Rainbow Dash's kingdom. Nimbus had completely forgotten he sent them almost two hours ago. 

Derpy cheered as she sang "I got you! You're dead!" 

Gilda hated that she had lost to a pony who couldn't even see straight but she had to accept the defeat, those were the rules of the game. Gilda fell to her knees and cried out in blood choking pain before her death. 

Derpy stepped over the fallen Griffin and walked over to her General "General, are you okay?" She asked. 

Nimbus was indeed "okay" as far as physically, but he was hurt by that fact that he lost four of his soldiers who died to protect him. They didn't need to die, not for him. If he wanted to take down the King, he needed to attack now. She wouldn't be expecting him to attack right after a surprise ambush. By now the King should be expecting her captain to come back and tell her General Nimbus was dead. 

Nimbus put a hoof to Derpy's shoulder and asked her "Please, tell me you found a hole." 

Depry's postive energy was as addictive as her smile was. "Yep! We found a BIG hole!" 

Nimbus' tail wagged happily. "Really?! Where? Tell me, tell me, tell me!" He watched as Derpy pulled out a map from underneath her armor and pointed to a red circle she made earlier. The circle obviously indicated the hole she and the rest of the group had found. Nimbus looked at the area and was surprised by how obvious the hole had been. "Wow...really? Right there?" 

Derpy nodded her head happily in response. 

Nimbus rolled up the map and placed it underneath his wing carefully. He turned around to his army confidently and drew his sword up to the air. "The king believes she's outsmarted us. I say let's make that rumor a fact!" 

Everypony looked at one another, not exactly sure what their General meant by that or what he was intending. Only Biceps had been the one who spoke up. "Umm, General, I don't that came out the way you wanted it." 

Nimbus' hallucination of power clouded his hearing along with his mind. He swung his sword out in front of him and screamed. "Let's break those walls down!"