My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Storm of Friendship

by SuperPinkBrony12

Core of the Storm

As the tornado swept across the landscape, unsuspecting Storm Guards found themselves suddenly swept up in the vortex. The stallions, Spike, and Capper just barely managed to duck for safety in a nearby ally. Over the roar of the massive funnel it was hard to hear anything.

The Storm King was having too much to really take notice or even care about who or what ended up in the tornado's path. As he watched some of his underlings be swept up and spun helplessly around he only commented. "Oh well, I was probably gonna fire all those guys soon anyway. And at least this way I don't have to pay their severance packages. Wherever this whirlwind takes 'em, it's probably better than any place I'd send them to."

Meanwhile, Shining looked across to Tempest and shot her a look that seemed to ask. "Still think it was a good idea to pledge your loyalty to him?"

For the first time since she couldn't remember, Tempest found herself filled with doubt. Surely the Storm King was just playing around, right? Well there was only one way to make sure. She came rushing up to him and pleaded with him. "Yes, my master, you've made your point. You're big and bad and powerful. I kept my end of the bargain, now it's your turn. Restore my horn, and I'll serve you faithfully."

The Storm King paused, turning his attention to the broken horned unicorn that stood before him. "Ah yes," He commented after a pause. "I believe it is time for you to get what you deserve."

Tempest bowed her head in anticipation, expecting at any moment to have her horn fully restored to normal. But instead she received a nasty shock from the staff and was knocked back. "What? But... why?" She groaned, forcing herself to stand.

"You fool!" The Storm King bellowed. "Get with the program, Tempest. What part of 'I used you' don't you understand yet?! You really think I could do what even those doctors could not? Hello, the name's 'Storm King' not 'Miracle Worker'!" He let out a hearty laugh before he continued in a serious tone of voice. "Besides, even if I could restore your horn why would I want to? What do you think the first thing you'd do with it is? I wasn't born yesterday you know, the second I turned my back you'd blast me and take all the power for yourself. Nice try, but I won't go down that easily!"

Tempest groaned and growled, her confusion replaced by anger and a sense of betrayal that stung at her heart. "I trusted you!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs as tears worked their way down her face!

"Your first mistake," The Storm King taunted as he brandished his staff and pointed it towards Tempest. "Perhaps your greatest, but certainly not your last."

Thinking quickly, Tempest fired off a blast from the stub on her head that collided with a blast from the Storm King's staff, knocking both combatants back. The Storm King growled, clutching his chest as he recovered from the impact. "Ever since I first laid eyes on you I knew you would betray me someday, Tempest!" He remarked. "But you're a fool if you think you're anywhere close to a match for me!"

"Y...you're a monster!" Tempest cried.

The Storm King just laughed. "Funny, that's exactly the same thing my psychiatrist told me before I blasted him to smithereens. But you know, all his expensive sessions and they never made me feel anywhere near as good as this. Like I told the prince, flattery won't save you." He then fired off another blast from his staff, and Tempest countered with a blast of her. The knock back was strong enough to fling Tempest towards the balcony, and the raging whirlwind that began to pull at her!

Shining immediately rushed towards Tempest, ignoring the possible opening he might have because of her. He wrapped his hooves around her and pulled her close. Tempest was, needless to say, surprised. "Why are you doing this?! Forget about me, stop the Storm King and end this madness!" She pleaded.

But Shining would hear none of that! "Even you don't deserve this!" With all his strength he was able to haul Tempest to safety.

Tempest found herself at a loss for words, it took a moment for her to even begin to think of what to say. "You really didn't have to do that. We're not friends."

"But we share a common adversary," Shining explained. "And as they say 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'."

A loud clapping sound brought both ponies back to reality. "Oh isn't that just cute?" The Storm King taunted and stuck out his tongue as he pretended to gag. "So sickeningly sweet. Well those who fight together are destroyed together! Who wants to be first?!"

"Do your worst, Storm King! I'm not scared of you!" Shining growled as he grit his teeth.

The Storm King only laughed. "Oh don't worry, you will be in a minute. I'll enjoy crushing you and making an example out of you! And whatever's left of you, I'll use to decorate my new throne room!"

"Fat chance, fat head!" The prince bellowed in determination.

"Famous last words!" The Storm King laughed as he brandished his staff.

---

Meanwhile, the rescue group huddled for shelter in an alleyway. Even Princess Skystar and Captain Celeano and her crew joined them. "We've got to get to Shining!" Spike declared.

"Are you nuts, little dragon?!" Capper hollered over the roar of the winds! "There's no way we'll make it in this kind of weather!"

"Capper's right! This tornado ain't like anything we pegasi can conjure up!" Soarin firmly added. "We'd need something super fast to even hope to penetrate the funnel and make it to the other side."

Just then a familiar voice called out. "I'll help you, but you have to let me go!" All spun around in time to see the familiar figure as Grubber, as he dug his claws into the side of a building to try and keep from being blown away.

"And why in the world would we trust you?" Fancy Pants glared at the little hedgehog. "You've been at Tempest's side the whole time, egging her on and delighting in the thrill of the hunt. You're just another minion of the Storm King as far as I'm concerned. Give us one good reason why we shouldn't just let this storm take you?"

"You don't understand!" Grubber pleaded. "I was merely following orders, and so was Tempest! I was never encouraging her, I tried on multiple occasions to talk her out of it but she wouldn't listen. I hated working for the Storm King, nothing was ever good enough for him. He only ever cared about himself."

"Well that's all nice and good, but that still doesn't convince us," Big Macintosh remarked. "Either ya can tell us somethin' that'll be helpful, or we're back to square one."

"I know how you can reach your friend," Grubber explained. "I saw something earlier, when I was trying to get away from you guys. It looked like a giant cannon of some sort."

Braeburn let out a gasp, he knew what that could be! "Pinkie's E-Z Bake Cannon! Of course, why didn't I think of it before?! You know where it is?!"

Grubber nodded, reluctantly freeing a claw to point. "It's right there!" The direction he pointed in indicated the cannon was just a block or two away. But even that short distance was all but impossible with the raging tornado that continued to blow and sweep across the land.

"How are we supposed to reach it without getting sucked into the funnel?!" Soarin demanded of Grubber. "Is this all some kind of trick to take us out of commission and foil our rescue attempt?!"

"Please, I'm being sincere!" Grubber pleaded to the group. "Let me go and I'll bring the cannon to you! I'm small enough, if I stay low to the ground I should be able to stay out of the vortex!"

"I don't know about this." Soarin remarked with suspicion.

But Princess Skystar protested. "We don't have any better options. Let him try. We need all the help we can get."

And so it was reluctantly settled, Grubber was grabbed by Fancy Pants' magic and set down. Then the hedgehog slowly crawled his way over to the massive cannon and its fuse, pushing them back towards the others. "Climb in, quickly!" He instructed. "I can't hold on much longer!"

The stallions all clambored into the dimly lit barrel of the bake cannon, Braeburn even dawning a helmet. "We're all set!" He declared. "Light 'er up, Spike!"

Taking a deep breath, Spike breathed fire onto the fuse and ignited it. Soon the burning fuse reached the cannon, just as Grubber felt himself be picked up by the whirlwind! "Good llllllllllllluuuuuuuuccccccccccckkkkkkkkkk!" He shouted as he was sucked up, just before the cannon fired!

"Hang on, Shining! We're coming!" Braeburn thought to himself, as the stallions began to rapidly fly through the air and towards the castle balcony!

---

On the balcony, the Storm King was laughing as he pointed his staff at the two ponies his gaze was currently fixed on. "How wonderful, you're both together. So that means you can share the same fate," He coldly taunted. "And when you meet the big mare upstairs, tell her the Storm King says hi and sends his regards."

But before he could act, the creature heard what sounded like screaming. When the Storm King turned to look he was suddenly struck from behind and the staff was knocked out of his grasp!

The stallions didn't stop until they had collided with Shining, much to the bewilderment of Tempest who didn't know what to think or do.

"Woo-hoo! That was a blast! Get it?!" Braeburn giggled as he removed the helmet.

"We're never doing that again," Fancy Pants retorted. "I quite like my hooves on solid ground, thank you."

When the prince finally came to his senses and realized what had happened, he was all but beside himself with joy! "You guys came back for me, even after all I said and did! Seriously, what did I do to deserve such amazing friends?!"

"Uh, not that I mean to spoil the mood but now's not the time!" Soarin protested, pointing a hoof towards the staff that was now embedded in one of the stain glass windows of the throne room. "This isn't over yet!"

And indeed the Wonderbolt stallion was right, for at that very moment the Storm King finally spanned out of his stunned state. His strong opal eyes immediately locked onto the staff, and he began to inch his way towards it (the blast had taken a lot out of him).

"Go!" Big Macintosh encouraged to Shining! "Get the staff and put an end to this nightmare!"

The alicorn shook his head. "I'm not leaving you guys again! This isn't about you or I, it's about Equestria! We'll do this together!"

"Then let's stop talking and go!" Soarin insisted.

Working together the stallions formed a make-shift tower and started making their way towards the staff, quickly overtaking the Storm King and passing him by.

"No! Don't you even dare!" The Storm King hissed as he continued to slowly inch his way forward. "That staff is mine! No one but me has the right to wield its incredible powers!"

But with his friends supporting him, Shining was able to reach out towards the staff and pull it free as he clutched it in his hooves. "Guess again, Storm King!" He taunted. "You've lost, you don't even have an army left to your name! So I suggest you surrender, unless you want to get a taste of the very magic you tried to control."

"NEVER!" The Storm King bellowed as he lunged at Shining! Just then the throne room windows began to shatter, and the tornado began to envelope the outer edges of the castle!

Shining soon took notice of the fact that the Storm King had grabbed onto one of his legs, thus dividing the prince's attention. "What are you doing?! Let me go, or we'll both be sucked in!" He pleaded with the king.

The Storm King only laughed with sadistic glee as he declared. "Don't you see, prince! This is the ONLY way it could possibly end! You, me, one last ride! Together we'll ride this baby all the way up to the heavens! And we'll see who is truly worthy of being called 'King of Storms'!"

"Shining!" Braeburn nervously cried out. "I'm losin' ya!"

Then Shining looked up at the raging vortex, and then told Braeburn. "Let go! At least you'll all be safe."

"No! We're not losin' ya!" Braeburn protested. "We never should've left you behind on the beach!"

"Braeburn, please, this time I'm truly putting you guys first!" The alicorn insisted. "If you all get sucked up with me, all of our efforts will be for nothing! Whatever happens to me, you guys have to keep going! It's been an honor knowing and serving with you all, I'm proud to have called you my friends!" Then he freed his legs from Braeburn's grasp, and he and the Storm King were swept up by the funnel, Shining still clutching the staff in his front hooves.

"Noooooooooooo!" Braeburn cried in horror! But he could only watch helplessly as his friend disappeared into the vortex, which faded but a moment later. Albeit with no sign of the two that it had pulled in during its last moments.

Author's Note:

It's never made clear whether the Storm King actually could restore Tempest's horn and simply chose not to, or if he really couldn't do so and merely let Tempest believe he could so she would do his bidding. So I wanted to clear that up here by making it more implied that the Storm King can't restore Tempest's horn rather than he could but won't do so. Though I also added in some reasons for him to think the latter.

And I wanted to give Grubber a defining act of redemption, especially since I've been making him something of a morality chain/pet for Tempest. Someone trying desperately to reign her in and save her from her worst instincts.

Comments

[Comickook]

Again, you did an excellent job on the added details/subtle alterations on the scenes in this chapter. The exchanges, characterizations, action and climax set-up are all well done in all the right places. I particularly liked how Grubber actively helped the stallions.

I'll most assuredly be looking forward to the next chapter (which, I'm guessing will be the second-or-third-to-last).

[Midnight Song18]

The Storm King just laughed. "Funny, that's exactly the same thing my psychiatrist told me before I blasted me to smithereens.

Should that be "him"? Anyway, this story is absolutely AH-MAZING!