My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition

by SuperPinkBrony12

Chapter 175: Searching for a Lead

Shining was patrolling in the badlands, searching for any trace of Chrysalis. He didn't yet know what was unfolding back in Ponyville. "Come on, Chrysalis! I'm in your mind! What's your game plan?! Where are you hiding?!"

But he was not of the loop for long. All of a sudden a scroll materialized in front of him! Always a curious one, the prince took it into the grasp of his hooves and read over it carefully. When he had finished reading it, his heart became filled with dread. "I've got a very bad feeling about this," He thought. "But what could've happened to those students? They couldn't have just vanished without a trace. And they wouldn't go off with some stranger, it would've had to be someone they thought they could trust," Then he almost gasped as a realization struck him! "Wait! Oh no! I'll bet Chrysalis is behind this somehow! She could've easily disguised herself, slipped in undetected, and kidnapped the students! That tip must've been a ruse of some sort, and I fell for it!"

Throwing down the scroll, Shining lit up his horn. "Hold on, Twily, I'm coming!" He declared, teleporting away with the light rose glow of his magic.

When Shining arrived in Ponyville, he immediately rushed for the school. When he arrived he found the entire building surrounded by magical chains, an hourglass outside the front door, and worst of all the leaders of the different nations (as well as General Seaspray who he had met during his trip to Mount Aris) arguing quite loudly.

"You told us the students would be safe here! You told us we could trust you to look after them!" General Seaspray snarled. "Yet you've allowed them to drop off the face of the world without a trace! Do not forget that one of them is Queen Novo's niece! If she is not found, there will be dire consequences!"

Ember roared. "Oh yeah?! You think you're the only one who's got an important individual as their student?! Smolder's like the little sister I never had! And if I find out who did this, I'll make them sorry they ever crossed me!"

Grandpa Gruff just gave a humph. "This place seemed lame anyway, and that pony made it clear we're not welcome. I knew something like this would happen. But would anygriffon listen to me, no. They all thought I was a senile old coot who didn't know what he was talking about."

"Yaks demand whereabouts of Yona, or yaks rip up land inch by inch until they find her!" Prince Rutherford bellowed. "Ponies allow yaks to be insulted and let Yona be captured! Maybe ponies not take yaks seriously after all!"

Thorax threw up his hooves. "C-can't we all just calm down and think about this? Do we even know who'd want to capture them in the first place?"

"Come to think of it," Ember commented. "This all happened after we signed on a treaty that was originally just between you and the ponies. And didn't you mention that your past ruler was still at large after twice trying to invade Equestria?"

"I assure you, we didn't know where Chrysalis was! We'd never do something as evil as set up other creatures to be taken prisoner," Thorax protested. "Please, you've gotta believe me."

Grandpa Gruff shook his head. "How can we trust someone who can transform into anyone or anything at will? What if you've secretly been someone else this whole time? Luring us all into a false sense of security so you could learn our weaknesses?"

"J-just wait a minute here, guys!" Thorax pleaded. "We can be civil about this. There's no need to risk an international incident over this, right?"

Shining stepped forward to de-escalate the tensions. "Thorax is right. All of you need to stop this before someone gets hurt or says something they can't take back. I know you're all upset about your missing students, but none of this is going to bring them back."

"Neither is standing here, telling us what to do!" General Seaspray remarked. "So if you have a better solution, by all means enlighten us."

"There might be a clue somewhere within the school, somewhere that was overlooked during the search," Shining explained. "My sister, my friends, and I will all comb through the place once again from top to bottom and then from bottom to top. If we find any leads at all, we'll be sure to let you know. In the mean time though, I suggest you all go back home and wait. Maybe take some time to cool off. I promise you, we will find the missing students. And whoever took them will be held accountable!"

Ember eyed the prince with a glare. "Bold words, prince. But actions speak much louder. If you don't find Smolder and the others, or some trace of their whereabouts by sundown, you're gonna learn the hard way what peeved off dragons can really do!"

"Yaks will fight if yaks must! Pony be wise not to tempt yaks." Prince Rutherford cautioned.

"Personally, I don't have much attachment to Gallus. But even so I'm still his guardian on these matters, so you can bet I'll be rightfully mad if he's not found," Grandpa Gruff declared. "Once he's found though he comes back to Griffonstone. Bringing him here was a mistake. And as his guardian, my decision is final."

Thorax left without saying much, he only pleaded. "Please find Ocellus, she's bound to be scared and alone right now."

General Seaspray was the last to depart. His message was brief and blunt. "Queen Novo will hear about this."

---

The search began in ernest once the leaders had left the school grounds. Sure enough, in one of the classrooms on the first floor was a note. It read:

Dear Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, and Starlight Glimmer,

I have now taken something precious to you, something guaranteed to bring you shame and damage or destroy your reputation amongst Equestria's allies.

That's right, I've got those six missing students of yours. But I'm not telling you where I took them, that wouldn't be any fun. You'll have to figure that out for yourself.

Come and get me, I'm waiting for you! I don't really care what becomes of the students, but I'm sure you do.

Sincerely,

Queen Chrysalis

P.S.: Only one of you need come. It obviously won't be a fair fight if it's two or three to one.

"I knew it! My hunch was correct!" Shining declared. "That's three times now that Chrysalis has slipped in right under my nose! She sure is a slippery one."

"But what are we going to do now? We still don't know where the students are and we've got less than a day to find them," Twilight commented, before she sighed. "It's really my fault. This school was supposed to help Equestria, but all it's done is jeopardize relations with the allies we've worked so hard to befriend. Maybe Chancellor Neighsay was right. Maybe this school is a disaster."

Starlight shook her head. "Who cares what that hothead thinks?! We've got more important things to worry about than some puffed up head at the EEA breathing down our necks," And she growled. "Chrysalis is doing this to get under our fur. If only I could figure out where she is, I'd go down and give her a piece of my mind. It's me she probably wants, if not for me Thorax never would've deposed her."

"They're my students, this school was my dream, I should be the one to go!" Twilight insisted.

"We can worry about that later," Shining protested. "The most important thing right now is that we keep those leaders from making decisions they'll regret. We're talking about the possibility of war here! Innocent lives are at stake!"

"Well, I believe I can help with that," A familiar voice called out. "After all, you don't get to be second in command of the Storm King's army without learning how to talk your way out of a tight spot."

---

Everyone turned to look, and there stood a rather tall and slender looking unicorn mare. Her coat was a noticeable dark orchid in color, and her mane and tail were moderate rose in stiff curls. She had moderate opal eyes, but where her horn should be there was only a small stub and a scar across her right eye. Her cutie mark was also not visible, for she wore a set of dark blue armor with white crescent moons stitched onto it.

Shining smiled, he recognized this mare at once. "Tempest!" He fondly exclaimed, embracing her in a hug. "It's been so long since I've seen you! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Tempest modestly smiled. "I figured I was finally ready to come to Ponyville. I had hoped for it to be under better circumstances though, but it seems that just when I thought I was done with my military past it pulls me right back into the thick of it."

Meanwhile, Starlight eyed the newcomer with concern. "What's with the armor? I've only seen it on Princess Luna's personal guard."

"And yours truly is a member of them!" Tempest proudly declared. "It's a long story. Basically, I helped Princess Luna take down some great evil one night, and as a reward she sent my teammates and I these suits of armor to wear. I wear it proudly now, to show that I've put the past behind me. I don't work for the Storm King anymore, so there's no point in wearing the armor he commissioned for his forces. Besides, this one feels more colorful and full of life. Like me."

"We could certainly use your help, Tempest," Twilight commented. "This time we're really in over our heads. We've got to find six missing students kidnapped by Queen Chrysalis, stop said former queen's desire for revenge and maybe capture her for good, convince a bunch of angry leaders not to go to war, and do it all within twenty four hours so Chancellor Neighsay doesn't shudder this school for good."

"Wow!" Was all Tempest could bring herself to say.

Shining nodded with a nervous laugh. "Yup, we've certainly got our hooves full. But with you, Tempest, at the least I think we can convince the leaders to swear off war over this. For now at least."

Tempest smiled. "Hey, I still owe you a great debt of thanks for helping me see the error of my ways. I'll do anything to help you out."

"Excellent," The prince declared. "You can go to two of the leaders most in need of convincing, and I'll handle the other three. I was thinking I could handle Grandpa Gruff in Griffonstone, Dragon Lord Ember in the dragon lands, and Prince Rutherford in Yakyakistan. And you could visit Thorax in the changeling hive, as well as Mount Aris to talk to Queen Novo. Thorax probably doesn't need convincing but at this point I'll leave nothing to chance."

"Uh, I'm sorry, Prince," Tempest nervously replied. "I must've misheard. You said you want me to go to Mount Aris, but that can't be right."

Shining shook his head. "You didn't mishear, that's exactly what I want. You haven't dealt with Rutherford or Ember before, and Grandpa Gruff is going to be difficult even for me. How could I possibly tell Queen Novo that I failed to protect her niece after I already betrayed her trust once before?"

Tempest gulped. "But you don't understand! I led the invading force that drove the hippogriffs underwater! Novo knows that! If I go back to Mount Aris, she'll kill me!"

"Not if you explain yourself and show that you've truly changed. Besides, Novo is many things but a killer isn't one of them," Shining commented. "And if she lays even one claw on you, she'll answer to me. If you've truly put your past behind you, then confronting your legacy and showing how much you've changed shouldn't be a problem."

Tempest reluctantly sighed. "Well... I'll do my best... but no promises!"

Author's Note:

Tempest's inclusion here is a personal decision, and yes that is a nod to the currently ongoing "Nightmare Nights" series that she is a part of.

In the original it was kind of silly that the leaders would risk war over their missing students when General Seaspray reveals they have a note stating their intent. The students simply ran away to stay together, as children are often likely to do in such situations. There was no evidence of foul play, just children being children. Here, I wanted to give them a better reason to be upset while also allowing for more rational discussions to take place.

I haven't forgotten about Terramar and Gilda, they'll have a brief discussion in the next chapter.

Comments

[Comickook]

Again, you did an excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. All the reactions to the kidnappings made sense for the leaders in questions, as did Twilight and Starlight's reasons for EACH wanting to be the one to go after the students. Though, considering Chrysalis is an extreme Combat Pragmatist under the BEST of circumstances (which THESE AREN'T), whoever DOES go after Chrysalis and the students probably shouldn't expect a fair fight anyway.

Tempest's appearance at the end is a great detail too (right down to the nods to the recent comics). As was, Shining's dividing up "calming down the leaders" between himself AND Tempest.

Once more, I am certainly going to be looking forward to the next chapter, and the chapter after that, and so on.

[Comickook]

9402417
Okay. That DOES make sense. Thanks for the explanation.

[Comickook]

Hello there. Just sharing a couple of possible dialogue ideas, not for this current arc, but for some of the later single-chapter stories:

1. At an appropriate point of the single-chapter story of your choice the following dialogue could take place:

Starlight: Don't get me wrong, Spike. I DO love my father, but he just drives me so darn crazy.

Spike: Like how?

Starlight: He addresses me by all sorts of embarrassingly cutesy nicknames in public and treats me like I'm several years younger than I am.

Spike: I thought you said you were a "latch-key filly"

Starlight: I was. Dad is over-compensating for the guilt he feels because he, as a single parent, had to work so hard so often that he ended up missing most of my childhood.

Spike: Sounds like he has issues with letting go. We both know Twilight has a lot of issues on that front.

Starlight: At least Twilight treats YOU like a teenager rather than like a foal.

Spike: But you're not a foal. You're a grown mare. More than that, but you're one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, if not THE most powerful. AND you have helped save Equestria at least twice.

and 2. At an appropriate point for the analogue to "the Molt-Down", when Smolder is telling Spike about the molt, Spike can comment "No offense, Smolder, but I am NOT most dragons. I have an uncle who can put force fields around entire cities, which should be enough to repel most monsters long enough for the molt to be completed. And, even if one or two DO get through, my uncle and his friends are all experienced adventurers."

Okay. Sorry. I admit I DO go overboard sometimes.

[Yoshifan30]

"Well, I believe I can help with that," A familiar voice called out. "After all, you don't get to be second in command of the Storm King's army without learning how to talk your way out of a tight spot."

Gasp omg god its fizzypop 😃😃😃 she here

[Yoshifan30]

"And yours truly is a member of them!" Tempest proudly declared. "It's a long story. Basically, I helped Princess Luna take down some great evil one night, and as a reward she sent my teammates and I these suits of armor to wear. I wear it proudly now, to show that I've put the past behind me. I don't work for the Storm King anymore, so there's no point in wearing the armor he commissioned for his forces. Besides, this one feels more colorful and full of life. Like me."

Oh is it because she joined up with the nightmare Knights cool

[Yoshifan30]

"Uh, I'm sorry, Prince," Tempest nervously replied. "I must've misheard. You said you want me to go to Mount Aris, but that can't be right."

Oh boy she got really scared about going back at mt aris