The Storm and the Scorpion

by BronyWriter

The Battle for Baltimare

It took two weeks for the various nations to gather the forces they were willing to commit to the battle into Griffonia. During that time I wanted to just charge ahead and take Baltimare back myself, regardless of the consequences. The fact that they had weapons that could hurt me stopped those ideas pretty quickly. Of course that left me wallowing in one of Kathyrine's guest rooms. I didn't come out except for the occasional meal and to strategize and read whatever meager pieces of intel came out of Equestria. All we knew so far was that the Storm King had secured the borders of the country really well, and very little information was coming in and out. All I really gleaned from it was that the Storm King had an iron grip on my country, and by extension my subjects.

It was after the two weeks that I found myself standing in front of the mass of soldiers from all nations, which had mobilized on the Equestrian/Griffonian border. I stood alongside Kathyrine and Grorim, both of whom were decked out in armor. Mesud and Mando wouldn't be fighting, as they were a little too old for that, or so they said.

Well, they wouldn't be getting anything from me once this was all over.

I paced aback in forth in front of the army and lit my horn to magically amplify my voice.

"Friends and allies, soldiers from lands near and far, we have gathered here to answer the threat of the Storm King. He has already taken over my country, and will undoubtedly come for your lands next. He will not stop with Equestria. What you do here today is more than just freeing ponies under the control of a madman. You are protecting your homes and families from his evil in the future. All who stand with me today will be honored in the years to come. I cannot ever truly repay what you are doing here.

I know such a force has never been mobilized in the history of the planet. Never before have minotaurs and zebras and diamond dogs and griffins and ponies fought alongside each other in unity against a threat. It is my hope that today we will forge bonds of friendship that will prevail from now until the end of all things. In our unity, let us forge a new path that will lead to a brighter future."

I turned to Kathryine and Grorim and tilted my head in a nod as I quieted my voice again. "I am honored that you stand with me. I will not forget this, that's a promise. Alicorns do tend to have a long memory, after all."

"We are ready to help you take back your home," Kathyrine said. "We're not gonna let him threaten our subjects."

"Hopefully this will be a short affair," Grorim said. "A second world war is not something we had hoped for."

"Of course. I will do my best to make sure we are quick about this. With our combined might and resolve, we will win quickly."

I turned to Kristen who was trying to stay behind all of us, which I couldn't begrudge her for. She probably wanted to be in another big battle as much as I did, but we needed her if we were going to win quickly. Her powers would be invaluable for our cause, especially since they couldn't truly hurt her.

I hoped. After my injury I couldn't totally be sure.

"Well, no time like the present." I turned back to Kathyrine and Grorim and nodded. "We have a country to take back."

Kathyrine and Grorim nodded and walked over to their various officers to give them orders. The officers bowed and went to disperse the orders among the gathered soldiers. The thought crossed my mind that I could share with them the comm gem technology that I had developed during the first war. I'm sure they would appreciate it.

With that, I turned and began walking back to Baltimare. Normally I could make the flight in an hour or so, but with the large army following me I wouldn't be able to go as quickly. I heard the noise of the gathered forces beginning to move out behind me as Grorim, Kristen and Kathyrine rushed to my side. I didn't even acknowledge them. They didn't attempt any conversation either. They just silently walked by my side.

After five hours, I saw the rising buildings of Baltimare in the distance. We were close, and I had no doubt that the Storm Creatures knew we were coming. It's kind of hard to miss an army of fifty thousand beings marching to the border. I took to the air with Kristen and Kathyrine by my side. I scanned what little of the city I could, hoping for any intel before we went into the city.

"So, uh... I expected a little more," Kathyrine said. "Kind of like a bunch of fortified positions and all of the streets just packed with Storm Creatures. It's a little... bare."

Kristen nodded and flew a few hooves forward to get a better look. "Yeah, I mean, I think I see a few of them around, but I expected a... I dunno, something other than this."

"It's probably a trap, then," I said.

"Either that or they knew Baltimare wasn't a defensible position and withdrew most of their troops to fortify Canterlot," Kathyrine guessed. Maybe their army really is stretched thin enough that they're not gonna sacrifice small groups of troops to fight a larger army."

"Possibly. I don't even see any airships around." I frowned and tapped my jaw. "Should we fly up for a better look of the middle of the city?"

Kristen looked up and nodded. "Yeah, there's a little cloud cover. Even if their wasn't, they already know we're coming and it's not like they can hit us. Like you said: they don't even have a nearby air force. We'd be able to see them from this high up."

With that settled, the three of us flew up higher for a better look into the city. The first thing I noticed was that there was a concentration of Storm Creatures around my palace, which made sense. It was really the only building of importance in the city. If we took it back, we'd take back the city. Long story short, this seemed fairly easy, especially with our forces.

The three of us flew back to the army and landed in front of Grorim. "We think we have a plan," I said as he stood up.

"I'm all ears."

"Our initial intel is that most of the army that occupied Baltimare has retreated to fortify Canterlot, with most of the remaining ones inhabiting my palace. I see some fighting in the streets, but nothing that would be too difficult. They don't even have airships backing them up."

"I see. My suggestion, in that case, is that we send the griffin troops in to pick them off from the air. That way if we are springing a trap, they can retreat, leaving us to react accordingly," Grorim said.

"Yeah, I guess that could work," Kathyrine muttered. "I don't like the idea that we're taking on all of the risk here, though."

"That's part of war, and they're going to be at risk when we take back Canterlot anyway," I pointed out. "Like Grorim pointed out, though, the risk is fairly minimal. Just take some ranged troops and start picking them off from the air with crossbows. I'll lead a strike team of volunteers to take the palace back. About fifty good troops should do."

"Alright." Kathyrine sighed and shook her head. "Yeah, I suppose that will work. We'll want to rest a bit, though. It's been a long journey."

"Very well. I wouldn't want to go to battle with weary troops, and it is time for dinner anyway." I nodded and motioned to the army, most of whom was sitting down and resting. "Let them relax for a bit then we'll move out in an hour, sound good?"

"Yeah, I guess," Kathyrine said. She spread her wings and flew back to her generals, all of whom immediately swarmed her to get her orders. Grorim gave me a look that I couldn't quite figure out before walking back to his officers, leaving me and Kristen alone. We walked over to a secluded spot and sat down, allowing Kristen to conjure up a few granola bars and cups of orange juice. I gave her a grateful nod and opened up one of the granola bars. Kristen opened up one of hers, but didn't take a bite. She just sighed and put it back on the ground.

"So, TD, I know that it might not be my place and I've never had to lead a war before, but..." She grimaced. "I can't help but notice the way you're going about this, and I don't think that Grorim is missing it either."

I frowned and tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"I'm saying that I don't think you would lead ponies this way is all. I can't help but suspect that you're seeing them as... disposable troops that you're okay with dying for you if it means that you get to rescue Equestria. From what I remember, the other leaders just promise to take back Baltimare, but you're already drawing up your plans for what they're going to do during the battle to take back Canterlot. You're totally okay with putting them at risk for your ends."

I narrowed my eyes and put the granola bar on the ground so I could give Kristen my full attention. "This is war, Kristen, and there are risks when you're taking back a country. Kathyrine seems to agree with my ideas. You heard her; she was concerned for her troops, but at the end of the day she saw it our way."

Kristen gave me a flat look and crossed her forelegs. "Seriously, dude? Kathyrine has been willing to do whatever you want her to since you put her on the throne. She's not going to disagree with a guy who saved her life and gave her that much power... and revenge."

"Kathyrine is not a puppet ruler, Kristen. She's her own ruler."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that, but she's not going to ever stand up to you, you know that, right?" Kristen countered. "Why would she argue with her savior? She'll do her own stuff on a day-to-day basis for sure, but when international stuff comes up? She's going to defer to you. You've been doing this longer and put her on her throne."

"Are you saying Kathyrine is a weak ruler who wouldn't stand up to me if her subjects depended on it?"

"Uh-huh."

I frowned and shook my head. "I think a little more highly of her than that. I can see how in the beginning she might have been that way, I was with Celestia, but that's just the experience gap. She's ruled her own country for five years now. She has strength that I don't think you see. She has to. She's had a lot happen to her."

"I'm not saying she's someone who doesn't know what to do unless you're holding her hand or anything, just that she's going to go with your judgement ninety-nine times out of a hundred. You're in charge here, as far as she's concerned. Like I said: Grorim sees it, too."

"Well, I suppose we'll see," I grumbled, picking up my granola bar again. "I just think she's stronger and more independent than that is all."

"I hope you're right, but it's something to think about, that's all." Kristen shrugged. "It's just something I've observed is all."

The two of us ate in silence, with Kristen making more food and drink appear as needed. All the while I kept looking in the direction of Baltimare. I hoped that thinks would be as simple as I planned. Taking back Baltimare would prove to be a valuable foothold in taking back Canterlot. If nothing else it would grant me access to my weapons room again. It had my weapons and armor, which would make it nearly impossible for them to hurt me again.

They were going to die. All of them.

After an hour, I stood back up and walked over to where the other leaders were. They had already gathered in front of the army with the fifty soldiers, all a mix of the various forces, that I'd asked for. Good. That would make things simple. I had no doubt that we would be able to win.

"Are we all ready?" I asked as we approached them.

Grorim nodded and strapped his sword to his side. "Yes, Prince Antares. All is ready to take your city back. I will join the ground forces while Empress Kathyrine will be giving orders to her air troops."

"Excellent, then this should go smoothly."

"It never does," Grorim pointed out. "One of the first things we're taught during our training is that no plan survives first contact with the enemy."

"That's true, but I hope that enough of the plan survives to make it through fine. We just need to take the city back and we'll have a good place to launch the rest of the invasion."

Grorim and Kathyrine exchanged a look, but didn't comment any further. Grorim merely nodded. "Very well. Let us not waste any more daytime."

"Yes, let's not."

I lit my horn and summoned all of the nearby stone over to me, once again forming my rock war hammer. I slammed it on the ground to test it out, causing everyone else around me to flinch. I grinned and slung it over my shoulder. "Alright, ladies and gents, let's go."

* * * *

We didn't meet any resistance when our strike team entered the city. I glanced up at the griffins flying over us and smiled. They'd win the day for us easily. I had no doubts about that. Hopefully all we'd need to do is mop up a bit.

As we walked through the streets, I took note of how little damage there seemed to be. A few windows had been broken and the shops we passed had been ransacked, but other than that, the city was largely intact. Nothing had been burned down or destroyed.

"I don't like this, TD," Kristen growled. "It's too quiet. Where are all the ponies?"

"Hiding in their homes, I assume," I replied. Even if that was true, I couldn't fault her nervousness. Grorim was right: no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and we were going into a city where, for the most part, we couldn't see the enemy. I scanned the buildings and shook my head. "Perhaps we--"

Before I could finish my sentence an arrow shot from the windows of one of the buildings and embedded itself into the chest of one of the minotaurs. He yelled out in pain and surprise before falling to the ground. My eyes widened as several more arrows flew in our direction.

Oh dear.

I instantly encased all of us in a large shield, letting the arrows bounce harmlessly off of it. However, just like on the airship, the size of the shield meant that maintaining it against constant assault was difficult for a long period of time. It wasn't more than a volley or two before cracks started showing.

"We need to find cover, Antares!" Grorim roared.

"We don't know where they all are!" I retorted. I spotted a Storm Creature in a window and shot a beam of magic at it, blowing its head clean off. I followed that up with shooting sparks into the air, hoping that the griffin forces would see it and come to our aide.

"Well we're sitting ducks here!" Grorim pointed to an abandoned clothing store. He flinched when an arrow hit my shield, making a crack in it that went all of the way to the top of the bubble. "Unless you have better ideas!"

"It's as good of an idea as any," I growled. "On my mark, make your way to cover! Ready... now!"

We all rushed toward the store and ran through the door and the broken windows just as one final pair of arrows hit my shield, shattering it completely. A zebra was hit in the back while another arrow struck a minotaur in the neck. I set up another shield to protect the last remaining stragglers before running into the store myself. I instantly checked to see if there was anything above us, but the store seemed abandoned.

Before I could say anything, I heard squawking from the air outside. I grabbed a piece of a broken mirror nearby and slid it outside, tilting it so that I could see what was going on. The griffins and Storm Creatures were firing at each other, with a few arrows finding their marks, causing the griffins on the receiving end to plummet to the ground. I had to help them. I spread my wings and jerked my head to Kristen.

"Come on, we have to go help them!"

Kristen bit her lip, but nodded and spread her wings. I put a small personal shield around myself and flew out of the store, Kristen flying close behind me. I flew up to one of the windows and saw a pair of Storm Creatures with longbows in the process of grabbing arrows out of a shared quiver. I evaporated them with a single spell before moving onto the next window. Kristen flew to another window and shot her hoof out, and as I passed by that window, I saw the trio of Storm Creatures inside of it were sinking into the floor, trying in vain to grab onto something that would stop them from sinking further. With one quick spell I snapped their necks.

With Kristen and I entering the fray, we gained a little more control of the situation. Storm Creatures were still trying to snipe us from the windows, but as the the griffins and I dispatched them, their rate of fire slowed down. In the distance I could see the griffin soldiers scanning each building they passed looking for any more hidden snipers. Just as I was about to go help them, the ground below began shaking, as hundreds of Storm Creatures began pouring out of buildings, their weapons at the ready. I whirled around to face them and tore up a chunk of the street, tossing it like a Frisbee into the wave of enemies. The buildings had been a great place to hide, but the narrow streets made the Storm Creatures into sitting ducks. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

The griffin troops noticed the attackers and, in a delightful example of turning the tables, began sniping the Storm Creatures from above. Between their attacks and mine, they began dying in droves, many of them running in the opposite direction to my palace. I flew down after them just as my strike force rushed out of the store, their weapons at the ready. Whatever stragglers that stayed behind were slaughtered by the strike force and the griffin snipers above. I laid waste to them with my hammer, and it wasn't more than a few minutes before they were in full retreat, yet still we chased them down the street. We weren't going to give them a moment to catch their breath.

The few remaining Storm Creatures rushed into my palace, all while avoiding the arrows that the remainder of Kathyrine's troops that had stayed behind rained arrows down upon them. A group of Storm Creatures at the entrance closed the heavy wooden double doors, leaving a few dozen of their kind trapped out into the open where they were quickly slaughtered. I landed in front of the double doors, with Kristen and Kathyrine quickly landing behind me.

"so, aren't those doors enchanted so that you can't just break them down?" Kathyrine asked. I mean, they'd be pretty weak otherwise, all things considered."

"Yes, they are," I said lighting my horn. "But you forget who actually put those enchantments on the doors."

"Celestia?" Kristen guessed.

I grimaced and flattened my ears. "No." I lit my horn and the doors began glowing red with runes covering almost every square inch. With another spell, the runes faded away, leaving just the heavy wood. "I did."

A blast of pure energy from my horn blew the doors inward, sending the Storm Creatures who were holding it shut flying back. A group of about twenty Storm Creatures had created a pike wall in a silly attempt to hold me back. I smirked at them and summoned a row of ice daggers that I flung into them, slaying the entire line.

"Well, I guess that worked," Kristen muttered, stepping over a dead Storm Creature. "So what now?"

"We bring in more of the army to secure the city and take out any last pockets of resistance," I said. "I'll need the strike team to clear out the palace so we can set up a base of operations. Kathyrine, tell your forces to take some prisoners if you can."

"Sounds like a plan." Kathyrine spread her wings and flew out of the main entrance, leaving Kristen and I to make our way down the deathly silent palace.

"This doesn't feel right," Kristen said, moving a little closer to me. "It's quieter than a graveyard in here."

"I know," I muttered. "Usually it's so... full of life."

"Do you think we'll find any survivors?" Kristen whispered. "Like... your staff and some guards?"

I grimaced as we made our way to the throne room. "I... I pray so. No, I'm sure my staff is fine. Maybe a little worse for wear, but... they're alive. They weren't combatants. They were unarmed. I'm sure the Storm King wouldn't..."

I wasn't sure, though. Did he kill my staff? Was he torturing my daughters? No, he wouldn't. He wasn't going to kill all of his potential subjects. They weren't his subjects, though. They never would be. I'd make sure of that.

Kristen and I walked into my throne room, and my heart sank at the sight. My throne had been broken into several pieces that they'd scattered on the floor. All of the windows had been smashed and the artwork had been torn to pieces. It was almost as bad as when I'd been shot by Sinosis. At least then I'd been the one to do the damage when I'd surged. Here, though...

"It's... looked better," Kristen muttered.

"Yeah. I guess it has."

"I guess they can't get into our rooms, though, right?"

I shook my head. "Yeah, not a chance on that one. I can't imagine that you're automatic food dispenser has stopped working either, so Bob should be fine."

"Yeah, probably. He's a hardy little fella in any case."

"I suppose the next step is getting into my weapons room. I have some things in there that should help, like my weapons and armor." I led Kristen through the back door of my throne room, though the door itself had been ripped off of its hinges, and down into the underground level of my palace. We walked in silence, always ready for the next wave of Storm Creatures, though if any did attack, they'd have the same problem that they had in the streets: too many packed into a tight hallway.

We rounded a corner and the first thing I saw was a Storm Creature. I lit my horn and blasted him back. He flopped into the wall and slid to the ground harmlessly. I readied my war hammer again as I noticed another trio of them nearby. It took me a second to realize that... they weren't moving. All three of them were lying on the ground, and based on the smell they'd been there for a while. I frowned and took a few tentative steps forward. After a few seconds realization set in.

"Ah..." I pointed to the nearby door. "That's my weapons room. I'm surprised that they only sent four Storm Creatures to try to break in, but, as you can see here, anything that did try to break in would die a pretty horrible death." I nudged one of them with my hoof. "My guess is they were hit with the spell that stopped their hearts."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess we know your security works now. It's still gonna be hard for you to get in without the guards though, right?"

I shook my head. "Those passwords were meant for the guards themselves to make sure that I was the real Prince Antares." I lit my horn and began working on the spell to unlock the door. "It'd be a bad idea for this very reason if the door permanently closed because the guards had been compromised."

I floated a ball of magic out of my horn that slid into where the door handle would have been. I heard a click and I pushed the door open. Kristen and I walked in and found that my weapons room had been left completely untouched by the invasion. It was just as I had left it. I scanned the room with a spell just to be sure.

"Huh. Interesting." I pointed to the ceiling. "It seems like they were trying to tunnel in from above when they realized that the front door would fry them."

"Oh. I take it that wouldn't work either."

I shook my head. "I have to imagine that they lost a few soldiers on that genius plan, too." I walked up to the stand that held my armor and ran my hoof down the chestplate. I sighed and dissolved my current hammer before picking up my true weapon. I smiled and gave it a practice swirl. "Like new."

I lit my horn and the armor, hammer, and a few additional boxes vanished. I turned around and began herding Kristen out of the room. "Alright. We're done here."

"We are? Where did you send them?"

"They're in my room. I want to spend as little time in here as I can, just on the off chance that someone stumbles across us." We exited the room and I closed the door behind us, taking a few minutes to put the protective wards back up.

The two of us began walking down the hallway to the main level, but were stopped when I heard something. My eyes narrowed and I stopped Kristen with my wing. "Do you hear that?"

"No, I..." Kristen frowned and swiveled her ear. "Wait, yeah, I do." She turned around and looked in the opposite direction. "It sounds like... children?"

My eyes widened and I whirled around and began running in the direction of the noise. The noise was coming from the direction of my palace dungeon! I'd never actually used the place, but it had plenty of room if someone wanted to, say, keep a large group of ponies prisoner. I reached the doors and blasted them aside with a quick spell before running into the room.

My breath instantly died at the sight before me.

My staff had been herded into the half-dozen cells like cattle. Each of their forelegs were chained up, the unicorns had magic blockers, and the pegasi had their wings tied to their sides. Each of them had a look of utter defeat on their faces, and were simply staring at the ground. At the noise of me blasting in, a few of them looked up, their eyes widening when they saw me.

"P-Prince Antares?" one of the pegasus maids croaked. "Is it really you?"

"Of course not," a pony who turned out to be Time Keeper said, glaring at the maid. "Prince Antares is dead, don't you remember? It's another trick from the Storm King." He turned to me with a glare. "You hear that? I'm not falling for it! You're going to have to do better to fool me!"

Despite myself I let out a laugh of relief. They weren't so far gone that they'd gone completely mad. I walked up to the cell door and looked Time Keeper in the eyes as I lit my horn, taking off his chains and horn blocker. "Dang it, Time Keeper, every time you burst into my throne room something goes wrong. Well, I'm bursting in here, and now things are going to start going right."

"I..." Time Keeper's jaw dropped and he stared at me with wide eyes for a few moments before doing his best to stand up in the crowded cell. "P-Prince Antares?"

"In the flesh. You're safe now. You don't have to worry."

That was enough for them. Instantly I heard cries of relief from my staff, and several of them put their hooves through the bars as best as they could, hoping for my touch. I lit my horn and went down the row of cells, opening the doors and taking off their restraints. Several rushed over to me and latched onto me, crying into my fur. A few of them even mobbed Kristen, just to have somepony safe to hold onto. Through the whole thing I still heard the foals crying. I made my way to the final cell in the line and saw Tulip sitting in the middle of a half-empty cell, holding onto the twins, who were crying loudly. She was whispering to them and bouncing them, trying to get them to calm down.

"It's okay, it's okay," she whimpered. "Prince Antares is here now. He's here. He's saved us." She looked up at me and I saw tears streaming down her face. "He's alive. He's alive. He's saved us."

I opened the cell door and freed the ponies inside before sitting beside Tulip and wrapping a wing around her, which also helped the twins. One of them noticed me and crawled into my embrace, nuzzling my side. Tulip sniffled and leaned into me. She had lost weight, though I imagine that the Storm Creatures had underfed all of my staff. She seemed like she'd gotten the worst of it, though.

"You're safe now, Tulip. You and the twins and everyone else here, you're all safe."

"Okay," she whispered. She nuzzled my side and groaned. "I didn't know how much longer I was going to hold out. I was giving most of my food to the twins, but they didn't give us a lot anyway and I had to make sure th-that they weren't going to take my children and th-that I w-was g-gonna make it out okay because a lot of us didn't and..."

She couldn't go any further. She just leaned fully into my embrace and wept.

* * * *

We brought my staff into my throne room and did our best to feed them with whatever we could. Many of them didn't want to leave my side, but I assured them that they wouldn't have to worry any more. Kristen and Tulip were taking care of the twins, so that was good. I had to imagine that my staff felt better when they saw the soldiers around to protect them. Speaking of, I noticed Grorim in the crowd and walked up to him.

"Anything to report?"

Grorim glanced at me from the corner of his eye and shook his head. "Not really. We found a few pockets of resistance, but nothing enough to put up a fight. We have a dozen or so prisoners. I think they were scattered enough that we didn't lose anything after the ambush."

I didn't miss the distaste in his tone at the last two words, but the important part was that my subjects were safe. We had take back Baltimare.

"Their sacrifice will not be forgotten, King Grorim."

Grorim grunted in reply, but still didn't look at me. "There's one more thing, though. He motioned to a corner of the room where I saw a couple of medics sitting around a pony lying on a bed roll. "We found her in the city square outside of Town Hall. They'd strung her up next to a few bodies. Figured you'd want to know."

My heart sank as I left Grorim and slowly walked up to the medics. My suspicions were confirmed the instant I saw the unmistakable blue fur. I took in a shaky breath and sat down next to her, putting my hoof on her shoulder.

"Rapids? Rapids, are you okay?"

"She's in shock, Prince Antares," one of the medics said. "It looks like she was fed and watered better than the other prisoners, but if I had to guess, that's because they wanted her to last as long as possible." The medic grimaced and exchanged a look with another one. "There is something else. They, uh..." The medic grabbed her shoulder and gently rolled Rapids onto her back. My eyes widened as I instantly saw what they had done. They had taken a knife and carved a word onto her chest.

Coward

Rapids just stared blankly at the ceiling, not even registering that I was beside her. I gently rubbed her shoulder, trying to get some response out of her, but I got nothing. She didn't even look at me.

"The bodies we found around her belonged to Captain Blaze and Captain Night Stalker. Neither of them had their heads," the medic continued. "We don't know what happened to Captain Skies, so it's possible she's still alive. We won't know more until she snaps out of it."

"I see. Thank you." I lit my horn and cast a spell on Rapids to relax her. Her wing twitched and her gaze slowly moved until it landed on me. Her breathing became a little more even, and she slowly reached out a hoof to put on my foreleg. I smiled comfortingly down at her.

"Just rest now, River. You're going to be okay."

Comments

[Coranth]

Someone's going to pay for this...

[Emtu]

"Their sacrifice will be forgotten, King Grorim."

I strongly suspect this sentence is missing a word.

[Rosegfx]

Ohhhh yeah, definitely no Tempest forgiveness and redemption in this fic. Her head is gonna roll from a guillotine Antares creates just for her.

[BronyWriter]

9113078
Dang. Fixed.

[Midknight Defender]

"Their sacrifice will be forgotten, King Grorim."

How could you say such a heartless thing, Antie?!?!

[BronyWriter]

9113114
Already fixed that particular irritating typo.

[Midknight Defender]

9113118

I see that. Fimfiction doesn't update comments unless I refresh.

[KnightOfZaku]

Poor Rapids just can't seem to catch a break. This is definitely going to destroy what little chance of mercy Antares would've shown to Tempest and the Storm King.

[Grif_Bladefeather]

this gonna be good.

[Emperor Draxgaroth]

And it was in that moment, that every last Griffon, Minotaur, Pony, Zebra and Diamond Dog in the room knew... that the so called 'Storm King' had fucked up in such a big way, that Tirek would shit himself with fear..... Death was coming for the Storm King, and that death was named ANTARES, PRINCE OF EQUESTRIA, AND WRATH OF THE STARS

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

That's pretty bad. The storm creatures recognized the symptoms of her PTSD and branded coward, much like the soldiers in the previous World Wars who had shellshock and this is bad.

What a way to introduce the cruelty as well as the culture of the storm creatures

[Thatguywholikesfood]

And so the allies push onwards in their liberation

[Johnny Walker]

Welcome to World War 2.

[More Dakka]

9113104 I dare say that at this point, apart from purposefully targeting foals, the're isn't much that that they could do that would make it worse for them.

[Aasha]

horrible