Cornelius woke to a knock on his door. He glanced over at his alarm clock, 6:00. Who would be waking him at six in the morning was beyond him, but another knock at his door got him out of bed. He walked over to the door and was surprised to see his dad there. Now he was really confused.

"Um, dad? Wanna tell me why you're waking me up at six in the morning? I was up late last night, what could be so important that...you..." he trailed off, noticing the headlines to the paper that his dad had brought with him. He snatched it with his magic and read it over.

Celestia and Luna Vanish!

-As of 2:30 this morning, sources report that the princesses have vanished without a trace. Sings of struggle could be seen in each of their bedchambers, leaving investigators to assume the worst. Investigators have proved nil in their fruitless and unrelenting search for Celestia and Luna. Until such time as the princesses can be found, Prince Blueblood has agreed to take the leadership role for all of Equestria. Here is a statement made by the prince once this was brought to his attention: "Attention, my fellow Equstrians. You have all been made aware, of a very tragic incident that occurred late last night. Our dear beloved princesses have gone missing. Now nopony grieves more than I, but despite my emotional state, I will take on the heavy burden of ruling our fair country, until such time as Celestia and Luna are found. Now I ask that you all hope for the best, yet plan for the worst. I cannot stress enough that you all remain calm and be able to accept the outcome of our search, no matter what it yields. Good or bad news, I... I'm sorry. I... I need a moment." The search continues for the princesses, and the prince is getting acquainted with his new duties. Officials have asked all citizens to remain calm, and heed the prince's warnings. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. This column will cover any news on the princesses as it is discovered.-

After he finished reading, Cornelius sat back on his haunches and took a deep breath. He went over the news again and again in his mind. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that the princesses, the all powerful rulers of Equestria, just up and vanished. After all this, one thought sprang forward in his mind.

"Oh no. How could this happen? Where are they? Who did this? Oh! Maybe they just went on a secret vacation and... no, Celestia would have told me at least so I wouldn't worry. So where are they!?"

"Twi, don't worry. I'm sure wherever they are they're fine. You shouldn't worry about it so much."

"Shouldn't worry? Shouldn't worry!?!?! Inky how could you say that? Of course I should worry! She was like my second mother, you know that!"

"Mom, listen. Dad is right. Celestia and Luna can handle themselves. Even if they were in some form of danger, I'm sure they will be fine."

"Don't side with your father! You're a smart kid sweetie, you should know that your father is being ignorant right now. I will send you to your room!"

Although Cornelius had played it cool when he was with his mom, he was very concerned about the princesses. He decided now would be as good a time as any for 'The Falcon' to take its first real voyage. He had taken it out a few time to show the ponies around town, but he had never really flown it a long distance. He knew that if he was going to take it out for a real flight, he would need his crew. He went to Zach's house first, deciding his second in comand and weapons expert would take the longest getting ready.

The door opened and Zach was standing there, he gave a small nod to tell him he could come on in, but Cornelius shook his head.

"C'mon, we're leaving in 'The Falcon'. I'm going find the princesses. Meet me at my house in thirty minutes." Zach opened his mouth to reply, but Cornelius didn't give him the chance. As soon as the message had been delivered, he teleported to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Going look for them? Yep, and I'm going to need my engineer and com operator for the trip. Just in case Blueblood is as corrupt as I think."

"Power hungry lunatic that wants to take over Equestria corrupt. If I'm right about that, then he'll try to shoot us out of the sky as soon as he realizes we're trying to save the princesses."

"Ah don't think Ah want my sister goin' into somethin like that. And why did you say 'save' that time instead of 'find'?"

"Well, if you must know, I also believe Blueblood is behind the disappearances of the princesses. And on the note of Apple Bloom, I implore you to reconsider. She's the only pony I know who can devote her entire time to keeping the ship in peak condition. I would do it myself but I would be helping keep our course, or fighting off Blueblood's ships. If we don't have her, we won't last two minutes in a firefight. Please AJ, I promise we won't engage anything if it isn't absolutely necessary. I'll watch her myself. She'll be safe."

"Well alright. But you had better bring her back in one piece. Cuz if you don't, you will spend the rest of yer life wishin that you were dead. You got that?"

"Good. Apple Bloom! Sweetie Bell! Cornelius is here an' wants to talk to ya'll!"

"Be down in a second!" Applejack stepped away from the door and Apple Bloom and Sweetie came running down the stairs.

"I need you two meet me at my house in thirty minutes. We're going find the princesses. Now I need to get Scoots and Pip. Do you two know where they live?"

"Well Scootaloo lives with Rainbow Dash. You can just see her cloud home over there. But I don't know where Pip lives. Scoots might know."

"Thanks Sweetie. See you in half an hour." He teleported away toward Dash's home, casting a cloud walking spell just before. His mecha-horn's magic boosting properties were really coming in handy.

"Coming!" Wingbeats could be heard from inside, along with rock music. The music grew louder when Scootaloo opened the door.

"Can you meet me at my house in thirty minutes? We're going find the princesses. I trust you've heard?"

"Yeah I heard. We're really going save them? Awesome! Can we take 'The Falcon'? Please?"

"Actually, that's a good idea. We might need it in case we run into any trouble."

"I'll explain at my house. Do you know where Pip lives. It's kind of hard to fly an airship without a pilot."

"Pip? Yeah, he lives right over there, he wanted his house to be close to the lake so he built it right there."

"Thanks." He teleported once again, landing himself in front of Pipsqueak's home.

A tired looking Pipsqueak opened the door and looked at Cornelius with a raised eyebrow.

"No, what about them? Have they gone missing or something?" He lifted a can of soda up to his mouth to take a drink.

"Actually, they have." He chose a bad time to say these words, Pipsqueak spewed the accumulated soda in his mouth all over Cornelius's face.

"No, here, take a look," he pulled out the paper his dad had showed him and let Pip read it over.

"Okay, so you aren't pranking me," he said once he was done reading. "But, why are you bothering me with this now? It's not like we can do anything about it."

"Wait, you want me to... no way. It's not happening. What if they were kidnapped by somepony who has the ability to use lethal force? You expect that you and me are going to save them?"

"Just meet me at my house in thirty minutes." And with that, he teleported to his own home, and began to pack food and other necessities into 'The Falcon'.

"Alright team, you all know what happened this morning, so I won't bother going into detail about it. The purpose of this mission is to find, and if necessary, save, the princesses. Now some of you may be wondering, why not just let the officials handle it? Well, the answer to that is a simple, yet unfavorable one. I believe that prince Blueblood has kidnapped them. The article in the papers said that their rooms were trashed, and the prince seemed all to certain that they weren't coming back. So with that said, it's highly possible that he has corrupted the investigators, and anypony else who may find out the truth. Now then, you all know your assignments whilst on-board. Pip, you pilot the ship."

"Zach, you're on weapons detail, shoot down any hostiles, and keep Scoots covered."

"FOR EQUESTRIA!" They all climbed on board on set off, heading first for Cloudsdale. Cornelius knew that if they were going to take on an army, they would need to have one of their own. Cloudsdale was the only place that had the capability to produce airships other than Canterlot. And he wasn't sure Canterlot was exactly on his side. They touched down just outside the town hall, and Cornelius went inside to talk to the general that held political power. His name was General Maelstrom, a direct descendant of Commander Hurricane. He walked into the front door to see the general talking with somepony. He looked to be an engineer if his uniform was any indication. They were looking over a blueprint of one of Cornelius's cannons.

"Sir, I just don't see why we would need to have weapons, Equestria is a peaceful land, we haven't been to war since the griffons pulled out nearly four-hundred years ago."

"I don't care if we aren't in war. Better safe than sorry." The generals deep raspy voice carried with it a demand for respect and obedience with every word. Cornelius could tell he was a born leader.

"I'm the guy who designed those airships you're building, and this thing on my head is a replacement horn. Also, I suggest you keep the guns, we might just have a war on our hooves sooner than you think if I'm correct."

"That Blueblood is the one who kidnapped the princesses and is a tyrant bent on taking over Equestria and ruling it with an iron hoof."

"Well, I suppose it does make sense, but we have no way to prove it. How could we do anything?"

"Well, I'm trying to go and find the princesses, but if I'm right, Blueblood will stop at nothing to make sure we drop out of the sky in a fireball. What you can do is provide me with a bit of support."

"Here are blueprints for a radio, and instructions on its function and how to operate it. Outfit all of your ships with one. Its range is about fifty kilometers, when you get them functioning, tune them to twenty-three. If we need help, we'll call."

"Yes sir, I'll get right on it. And I'll be sure to outfit the ships with weapons."

Steam Tyrant

by duvagr007

Chapter 2: Dethroned