Chapter 90 - Look Who's Back!
Staying on high alert constantly can be very wearing to the spirit, and the performance of one’s duties can suffer if it is allowed to continue without a break. So, although Grogar and his stooges remained a major threat, the Triarchy made sure that all levels of defense got regular relief. That included Trixie, Twilight, and me. Because at least one of Equestria’s rulers needed to be at hoof at any time, Sparkles took her break on a different day from me and my wife. Therefore, it was just the two of us at Twilight’s castle preparing to spend the afternoon at the Ponyville Spa with our friends. However, we had not planned on others dropping in unannounced.
Spike poked his head into the living room where I was waiting for my spouse and said, “Hey, Mark – you’ve got a visitor.”
“Yeah? I wasn’t expecting anypony. Who is it?”
“See for yourself,” he answered with a grin, opening the door wide to reveal a dark yellow unicorn mare with a yellow and red-striped mane.
I blinked. “Sunset Shimmer? Not that I’m unhappy to see you again but what are you doing in Equestria?” I noticed Rainbow Dash and Twilight behind her although something looked off about them. “Did Twi bring you here? Is there a problem back on your world?”
“Yes and no,” Sunset replied. “Twilight didn’t bring me – I brought her.”
I glanced at Twilight for confirmation and realized that she was wearing glasses, something she only used when reading occasionally. Only then did I perceive a distinct lack of wings. “Sci-Twi?”
The mare nodded nervously.
I looked at Rainbow Dash who appeared to be far from her usual confident self. “Can I presume that you’re the human Dash?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” she replied. “Weird to see you as a pony, Mark.”
I had paid a couple of brief visits to Sunset’s Earth since our first encounter once my Twilight determined that the mirror portals could be opened deliberately if you knew how. Therefore, I had met the alicorn’s human counterpart but this was the first time that any of them had come to this world aside from Sunset. I grinned. “I know what you mean, Rainbow. I felt just as weird when I first arrived in Equestria. At least you won’t be stuck here. Anyway, welcome to Equestria.” I turned back to Sunset. “So, why are you here? I don’t reckon you suddenly decided to pay us a visit.”
Sunset laughed. “No, far from it. The girls and I were on a holiday cruise when we encountered a weird storm.”
“An evil magic storm!” Dash declared, her wings flaring unconsciously to emphasize the point. The mare’s eyes went wide as she looked over her withers. Dash glanced at me, her cheeks a shade of pink as she tried to push her unruly appendages back down with her forehooves.
The yellow unicorn rolled her eyes. “Yes, well, Rainbow Dash ran off alone in search of this magic and as the storm was getting worse, Twilight and I went to find her. We ended up on an island and found Rainbow stuck in what seemed to be quicksand. Before we could rescue her, we were attacked by a huge vicious plant monster.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Plant monster? Pardon my ignorance, but I didn’t think that kind of thing happened in your world.”
Sunset nodded. “It doesn’t. Anyhow, while Twilight held it off, I tried to get Rainbow out but she was truly stuck. Then I realized that it wasn’t quicksand but just some dirt covering up a portal that locked onto her somehow.”
An alarm bell went off in my head. “Portals don’t just happen,” I said with a frown.
“I’m not an expert on them like your Twilight, but I agree. However, it was there and leaking Equestrian magic which explained the animated botanical nightmare trying to eat us. The only safe route out of there was going through the portal. I figured that if it led to Equestria, then we could take a less dangerous way back home.”
“Where did you emerge into this world?” I asked.
“The Everfree Forest.”
I snorted. “No wonder you encountered a monstrous plant then. The question is – what is a portal doing there at all? We’re currently dealing with an enemy named Grogar who has traveled between dimensions and now intends to conquer this world. I suspect that yours might have been a way-stop for him, or some other part in his plans.”
Sunset frowned. “If he’s that bad, why didn’t he attack our world?”
“This is just speculation but, because he’s a heavy-duty magic-user and your dimension is a bit sparse on the mana side, it might have not suited him.”
“Thank Celestia for small mercies.”
Her comment made me realize something. I waved over Spike who had been listening curiously to our conversation. “Can you send a message for me, pal?” I asked as I picked up one of the ballpoint pens that Sunset had sent to me.
“Sure, Mark. Who to?”
“You’ll see.” I wrote a note and showed it to him.
Spike read it and grinned. “Gotcha.” One burst of dragonfire later, the message was on its way.
“Why did Spike burn the message?” Sci-Twi asked, fascinated by the dragon form of the dog she was familiar with. She rubbed behind one of his ears with a hoof. I was about to admonish the purple now-mare for treating Spike like a pet when Spike’s grin made me stop.
“Oh, yeah! That’s the spot, alright. Anyway, I didn’t just burn it,” he replied. “It’s magic fire and it transports the note to the intended recipient.”
“Oh, that’s fascinating. How does that work?”
I forestalled this turning into a science lecture. “Time for that later. I’ve asked my Twilight to join us to discuss this portal, plus one other expert.”
“Who?” asked Sunset. “Do I know them?”
Before I could answer, there was a flash-pop of teleportation into the room and two alicorns appeared.
“You could say so,” I replied drolly.
Sunset’s eyes widened enormously, her jaw dropped, and she gasped. “Princess Celestia?”
The Alicorn of the Sun’s face was radiating joy. “Sunset Shimmer! Is it truly you after all these years?”
For a long moment, it seemed that both were frozen in place by the strength of their emotions. I snorted and lit up my horn, telekinetically pushing them together. “For buck’s sake, you two. Hug and make up!”
The ice broken, the mares did exactly that. Wordlessly, they clung together as if afraid the other would disappear, Celestia’s wings wrapped around the smaller mare in a feathery embrace. I saw tears beginning to leak from the eyes of both participants.
The hug lasted a long time while the rest of us waited. Eventually, Sunset pushed back from Celestia to look up to her former mentor.
“I’m so sorry. You were right—”
“Hush! This is not the occasion for regrets. I am just so happy to see you alive and well. I never knew what happened to you when you left.”
Sunset sniffled and wiped her cheeks with her hoof before turning to face Sci-Twi and Rainbow. “I ended up in a place that I needed to be to learn the true meaning of friendship. Princess, these are two of my best friends – Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle… not to be confused with Princess Twilight. They’re normally human, other-world equivalents to the ponies here.”
“It’s hard not to see the resemblance and yet some subtle differences,” Celestia remarked, looking over our visitors. “Thank you for being Sunset’s friends.”
“Yeah, no biggy,” Dash said with a grin.
Sci-Twi looked embarrassed. “Actually, it was Sunset who taught me about friendship. I was late to the scene.”
“That is wonderful too. You must tell me all about it later.” Celestia turned back to Sunset. “May I ask what brought you back to Equestria today? Although I am overjoyed about our reunion, you could not have known I would be here.”
Our visitors repeated their tale about the storm and the portal. Twilight frowned at the news.
“I don’t like this – it’s too coincidental.”
I nodded. “Agreed. I propose we go back to Sunset’s world and check it out. Besides, if that storm is magical, their ship could be in serious danger.”
“Oh, it’s magical, alright!” Rainbow insisted. “The others didn’t see that weird symbol in the storm waters but I know magic when I see it.”
“What symbol was that?” Alicorn Twilight asked.
“Got a piece of paper and pen?”
Spike handed one of Twilight’s ballpoint pens to her and I got to see a repeat of my initial performance with a knife when entering this world. Grab with a hoof, drop, grab, drop. Rainbow’s scowl made me fight hard to suppress a laugh.
“Try using your mouth,” I said. That earned me a glare. “Earth ponies write that way all the time.” After one more suspicious look, the blue mare picked up the pen with her teeth.
Spike and I held the paper in place while Rainbow sketched an all too familiar pair of jagged bolts before spitting out the pen.
I looked at Twilight and we simultaneously said, “Storm King.”
“Who’s this Storm King?” asked Sci-Twi with a furrowed brow.
“One of the major threats to Equestria,” I replied. “Ask us about him later. Right now, we need to go check this out pronto.”
“Check what out?” Trixie asked as she belatedly arrived wearing a bath-robe in anticipation of our trip to the spa. Then she blinked in confusion at seeing two Twilights before noticing Sunset Shimmer. “Will somepony tell the Great and Curious Trixie what is going on?”
Rainbow cocked her head. “Huh. You really did marry Trixie.”
I said, “A possible incursion by the Storm King, love. We have to investigate it and help Sunset and her friends. Spike can fill you in. Give my apologies to the rest of the girls.” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and hastened out of the room, motioning for Sunset to follow. No doubt my wife was going to give me hell for ditching her like that, but I figured that time was of the essence.
Penny was waiting for me outside the room. It was her day off too but I knew better than to leave her behind. “Get my staff. We have a storm problem.”
Instantly professional, Penumbra nodded and flew off at top speed.
“I’ll be back in a moment!” my Twilight declared before teleporting away.
Celestia and I walked toward the castle entrance, taking it slow for our visitor’s sake. I looked up to the white alicorn. “Are you sure you want to come with us, Celestia? You will likely end up in human form there and won’t have your full powers at your disposal. In fact, you might not have any at all.”
She arched an eyebrow at me. “Might not the same be said about you?”
I grinned. “Yeah, but I will have something to even the odds.”
Penny rejoined us just before we left the castle, bearing the Staff of Sacanas. After all the stolen magic in it had been returned to its rightful owners, Twilight and Trixie decided that it would best serve as my personal weapon because it matched my special power. It was still very large compared to me, but I could handle it well enough with my magic. It didn’t stop the smart-ass remarks though.
“Trying to compensate for something, Mark?” Rainbow asked with a grin. She was covered in a lavender field and flapping first one wing, then the other in an uncoordinated dance. Sure enough, Princess Twilight was hovering nearby like a mother hen making sure her chick didn’t go flying off into the nearest tree.
“Very funny, Rainbow Crash,” I replied. Compared to how little my Rainbow cared to stay on the ground, the human Dash had not tried to take to the air the entire time she had been here up until now. This little display led me to believe that she had been having almost as hard a time learning to fly as a pony as I’d had. The blush coloring her cheeks told me that I had scored.
Twilight returned, wearing her crown. While it wasn’t the one that bore the Element of Magic, it was nevertheless imbued with several powerful spells of Twilight’s creation that could be very useful where we would be going.
Because Sci-Twi and Rainbow were slowing us down due to unfamiliarity with their pony bodies, Twilight levitated them both so that they could keep up, much to Dash’s embarrassment. Celestia did the same for Sunset so that the rest of us could take wing and make speed for the forest. Sunset guided us to the site of the rogue portal which, fortunately, was not too far from the protected safe path to the Castle of the Two Sisters.
Twilight examined the portal, her horn lit with probing spells.
“Hmmm. It uses a binding matrix different from Star Swirl’s method. That could account for its persistence despite the sub-optimal conditions.”
“Time for analysis later, Sparkles,” I said. “As long as it can get us there and back, you can examine it to your heart’s content later.”
Twilight looked disappointed but nodded. “Alright. It’s safe to proceed.”
“I’m going first,” I said, firmly grasping my staff. I dived into the portal to find myself hip-deep in quicksand. No… it was dry. Just sand then.
Fortunately, I had my weapon raised high enough that it was free and ready to use against the plant monster if it chose to attack. I was not disappointed. One thoroughly fried inimical vegetable later, I had secured the area and was joined by the others. I used the staff to levitate everyone free of the portal’s grip, just as I had done for myself.
Because clothing was often a problem when transitioning between dimensions as my initial foray to Sunset’s world had shown, Twilight had developed a persistent spell that clothed us in garments as our bodies transformed. Therefore, I was currently dressed in jeans, polo shirt, and sneakers. Twilight arrived in a skirt, blouse, and boots, while Penny wore slacks, halter top, and shoes. Sunset and friends retrieved their abandoned clothing, but Celestia had neither option. The alicorn arrived as a naked, tall, well-endowed woman. While curious about her new form, she was completely oblivious to her nudity. The same could not be said for myself and I was very happy to be clothed right then and my wife was not there to observe me. Penny’s smirk told me that she had not missed my reaction though. I made an effort to focus on the task at hand.
“Okay, Sunset – which way from here?”
“Follow me.”
The dense forest had been protecting us from the winds of the storm that was darkening the skies, but we were subjected to the worst of it when we emerged onto the beach. While it was not raining yet, the black clouds threatened to drench us soon.
Sci-Twi gasped. “The ship!”
Far too close to the shore, a modern cruise ship could be seen through the haze listing to one side. I guessed that it had run aground, perhaps tearing open the hull. Whatever the case, we had to deal with the storm first. The girls stood back as I planted the base of my staff into the sand and called upon my magic. Just as Sunset and her friends had amulets to call upon Equestrian magic, so did the Staff of Sacanas work for me as I had hoped. I felt the connection to the storm and confirmed the unnatural power flowing inside it. I pushed my will through the link and a flare of lightning reached up to the clouds, drawing them in. I pulled the Equestrian magic out of the storm, robbing it of its supernatural energy. After several minutes, the wind died down and the skies cleared.
“Whew!” I said, trembling a little from my efforts. Magic did not come without a price. I sank to the sand to rest. “Your turn, ladies.”
My magic in this form was very limited, but the other mares, or I should say, girls, had other talents. I got to watch as the seven friends quickly and efficiently evacuated all the passengers and crew from the ship before it overturned and sank. Rainbow Dash was as effective as her pony counterpart now that she was back in her natural form, while Sci-Twi and Rarity were also particularly useful. Even Celestia did her share, a previously unnoticed bracelet glowing with power as she levitated people from the boats to the shore. She saw me watching and gave me a wink. I should have known that the centuries-old alicorn had a few tricks up her sleeve. At least she had a sleeve now that Rainbow Dash had brought her a robe taken from beside the deck pool on her first trip over to the ship. Unfortunately, I found the very long swath of leg that appeared where the robe folded over to be even more distracting than plain-old nude Celestia. Rarity’s mantra of the purpose of intimate fashion came to mind: hint at what is underneath to entice any stallion. Celestia’s smirk told me that she noticed my discomfort. The statuesque woman added in unnecessary rolling movements here and there.
Blast it. Must every mare in Equestria delight in teasing me? Even escaping to another world didn’t help.
Now that everyone was safe, it was time to decide what to do next. We found out from the crew that the unnatural storm had completely blocked radio transmissions and nobody was aware that the ship had gotten into trouble, let alone sunk. Waiting for the authorities to realize that the ship was overdue and send out Search & Rescue was not a particularly good option with this many mouths to feed. The only obvious alternative was to bring everyone into Equestria. Of course, that meant they would all be turned into ponies or other beings and I wasn’t sure what effect on their mental health that would cause. I was debating this with Twilight when Penny groaned and rolled her eyes.
“For buck’s sake – why don’t you just bring food and camping equipment here? Everyone can be fed and sheltered until rescue turns up. Seems like a nice place to spend a short beach vacation.”
I love my herdmate; I really do. But sometimes she makes me feel like a real dunce.
Celestia, Penny, and I returned to Equestria to organize exactly that. Twilight stayed to study the portal from that side for a while. I had a feeling she wanted to spend some time with her friends too. Just before we left the Everfree side of the portal, Sunset Shimmer leaped through. She giggled at the sight of Celestia incongruously dressed in the robe still.
“The Princess and I have some catching up to do,” Sunset said. “My friends understand.”
The white alicorn beamed. “Indeed we do, my dear former student, but please, just call me Celestia. I’m no longer your ruler nor your teacher, and I would rather be regarded as your friend.”
The yellow mare’s eyes widened. “You’re no longer a princess?”
The white alicorn smiled reassuringly. “Not a ruling one, at least. Just one of the many things we will talk about.”
“And I know the perfect place that you can do that,” I said.
I sent them both off to the spa to join our friends there. Meanwhile, Penny and I had work to do.
We Triarchs, the Element Bearers, and the Royal Sisters were gathered at a hastily summoned Security Council. The hive queens, Cadance, and Shining Armor attended via communication plates. After I gave a rundown of the recent events, Trixie asked, “What have we learned from this?”
Twilight replied, “The nature of the portal was different from any that have been created by Star Swirl’s method. I confirmed this through extensive testing. The only other beings we know of who can make freestanding interdimensional portals are Grogar and Discord.”
I said, “The magical storm definitely bore the signature of the Storm King. I could feel it as I used the Staff of Sacanas to dispel the magical tempest. How he accomplished this without the Staff, I don’t know, but I speculate that it has something to do with Grogar.”
Celestia spoke up next. “The experience my sister and I had fighting Grogar points to a multi-pronged approach to his attacks. The portal may have been a test for the Storm King, an attempt to get resources, a means of bypassing our defenses, or something we have not even considered yet.”
Luna continued for them both. “Grogar always learned from his defeats and he has grown ever more wily. We would recommend a reappraisal of all our preparations in light of these new events. For while we cannot know his thoughts, his actions betray his intentions. We believe that he is almost ready and his attack will come soon.”
The next day began like many others. My wife and I declared Day Court to be open. The first petitioner had started their rather snazzy audio-visual presentation regarding a proposed nature center on the outskirts of Hayseed Swamp. Then I was distracted as I noticed a guardspony whispering into Trixie’s ear. She nodded then stood as the soldier retreated.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie regrets to inform her subjects that a matter of some urgency has arisen. Day Court is concluded.” With a flourish of her cape, she bowed and teleported away. That’s when I knew it was serious.
Of course, every eye in the Throne Room focused on me. Dang it, Trixie. Leaving me in the lurch again.
I cleared my throat. “Day Court will resume tomorrow at the standard hour. For those in line, please give your names to the Sergeant at Arms. Day Court is adjourned.”
When I reached the staging chamber, a scene of controlled chaos greeted me as battle preparations were made. Glancing to my left, I saw griffon and pegasi soldiers milling about. Princess Oralia of the Red Hive addressed her changeling squad at the far corner of the room. My eyes landed on my wife who flexed her wings and adjusted her helmet.
Because my abilities in stallion form had progressed so far since my ascension, I chose to go into combat in my natural form. Princess Diadem entered the chamber, levitating the Staff of Sacanas. After she dropped it into my awaiting hooves, I used a trick Celestia taught me to place it into a pocket dimension. Pushing items into and pulling them out of there was within my abilities, just not the creation of the storage area. While the Solar Alicorn could generate pocket dimensions at whim, I had to rely on an enchanted gem under my peytral.
When I cinched up my enchanted saddlebags, the multi-layer shield activated, turning everything around me a shade of pink for a moment before settling on just a hint of red. With a tap of my hoof on my leg armor, the field cut out. They would need to be off when we traveled to our destination. Crispberry and Moon Dancer were still attempting to overcome that limitation of the portals.
Celestia and Luna teleported in, already wearing battle armor. Both wore full sets of plate mail over chain—Celestia’s was a burnished gold while Luna’s a dark bronze. Both were upgrades from the oriental-style armor they brought back from the dimension where they last fought. The Solar Alicorn carried four longswords in her magic while the Night Princess wielded a long-handled scythe with a blade of absolute blackness. Throwing knives of the same material rested in webbing along her flanks. They would be the only two combatants fully armored. The rest of us relied on the magic shielding provided by saddlebags, helmets that allowed instant communication, and lastly our training. Cadance and Shining trotted in, decked out in their battle gear. They stood ready to defend Canterlot or travel to a second destination if this first attack proved to be a distraction.
Twilight and the other Bearers came through a portal on our right. Each wore their necklace and jewel around their necks, excluding Twilight who wore the Element of Magic tiara.
The purple mare lifted her wings to get everypony’s attention. “Something is attacking Las Pegasus.”
Applejack said, “What ‘bout—” before she, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity were encased in a lavender glow.
Twilight continued, “I’ve placed a cloud-walking spell on all of you. You three will be kept in reserve in case we need to use the Elements together. The main attack force will be the Triarchs, Royal Sisters, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and a squad each of changeling, pegasi, and griffon flyers.”
“What are we facing?” I asked.
“Reports describe a large metal golem with immense strength. Also, it sends out explosive bombs that travel very quickly. The modest security garrison did not try to engage it, instead, concentrating on evacuating the populace and guests. That should be complete.”
Luna shook her body, doubtless checking the fit of her armor. “Can it fly?”
Twilight dipped her head as a changeling attendant fit segmented chitin onto her neck. “Unknown, but it can cloud-walk. If our target can fly, it won’t be fast because of its weight. We’ll scout it out first. Eyes One? You’re up.”
A sleek griffoness walked to the unopened portal next to Twilight. She wore a sky blue bodysuit with thin plates of the same color along the front edges of her wings. Natalya had the distinction of being as silent as a batpony and easily the fastest griffon flyer alive. This also made boasting sessions between herself and Rainbow Dash incredibly entertaining. They could go on for hours about the imagined flaws of their rival.
For now, Natalya lowered her goggles and turned to face Twilight. The purple mare did the same with her goggles and nodded. Twilight then activated the portal. “Go.”
The griffon faded from view as her invisibility charms took hold. By the time the portal activated fully, I could only assume she had already passed through.
Twilight continued to look down slightly as she called out progress. “The exit portal is behind the Golden Horseshoe casino. No sign of the golem from the portal exit. Eyes One is climbing… there it is. It’s tearing apart the Cloud Blaster Roller Coaster at the north end of town. The golem is bipedal—the height of five or six ponies.” She lifted her goggles. “We’ll stage behind the hotel, surround it then attack together using Pattern Two. Any questions?” In response, everybeing queued up behind her.
Twilight said, “Remember to activate your shields only when you have distance between yourself and your neighbor.” She dove through the portal, followed by Trixie, then me.
Bright daylight and heat assaulted my body, almost stopping me in my tracks. I blinked as my eyes adjusted, moving to the edge of the towering casino. To my side, the clouds extended another hundred feet or so before dropping off over the countryside. When I peeked around the building, I shivered. Every edifice showed some level of destruction: fires, caved in façades, upper stories separated from the lower. Half the walkways were gone. What kind of power did our opponent have to tear off the upper floors of the Steel Spike Hotel and jam it through the eye of the Mustached Stallion Casino?
Looking at the far edge of town, I saw our assailant and recognized him immediately. If the booming laughter didn’t identify him, the dual teal lightning bolt symbol on his dark gray armor certainly did: The Storm King. He was covered from head to foot in segmented metal armor. It fit his form loosely but that made sense. The shell doubtless hid and protected weapons, a power source, and some way to augment his strength. The dome-shaped helmet confused me. Had the yeti put his horns through dimensional portals so they wouldn’t be in the way?
That’s when I saw one of his gauntleted hands held a rollercoaster car in front of his face.
My pegasus vision showed an earth pony family. A stallion and mare sat in the back seat, slack-jawed with their eyes open. The front held a filly and colt, both perhaps eight years in age. They screamed in terror… no… the pair were smiling and bouncing up and down in their seats as much as their safety harnesses would allow.
I could just hear the colt from this distance. “Again! Again!”
His sister chimed in. “You’re the best!”
The yeti’s voice was distorted and amplified. “I am, aren’t I? All the way up in the sky and all the way down to the ground?”
“YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!” the two chorused.
Motion at my side made me turn my head. I waved back Celestia and Luna who had started to move out of cover. They gave me a glare that I matched.
“eeeeeEEEEEEEEeeeee!”
I looked up to see the car fly nearly overhead. As it reached the level of the cloud-floor well outside the city, four parachutes deployed and slowed its descent.
“Awwwww!”
I turned back to the Royal Sisters. “The cars have more safety measures built-in than—”
Luna’s eyes went wide. “Shield!”
I barely got mine up in time. Explosive rounds detonated around me, forcing me to retreat away from the wall that rapidly broke apart.
Following Twilight, I dove through the cloud cover to emerge beneath the city. With the rest of the flyers in view, we split up, each going to a spot roughly a half-mile in a radius around where the Storm King had been standing. Through my earpiece, I heard Natalya’s voice. “This is Eyes One. The target is moving quickly back toward the center of town. It is ignoring… whoa!”
I heard panting and the “Nnnnn!” sound made during high-G maneuvers. How could she have been detected, and now tracked?
My eyes flew open. “Natalya! Cut your transmission!”
A second later, I heard the click of her connection turning off.
Everybeing spent a couple of seconds adjusting our positions before, with a signaling flash of Twilight’s horn, we all ascended through the cloud cover. When I emerged, I saw the logic in the Storm King’s tactic. Now that he was inside the rough ring of casinos, only half of us had a clear view. The rest would have to reposition.
All who could see our target fired our weapons: alicorn horn blasts, nullstone-tipped crossbow bolts, and resin canisters. Our opponent stopped, threw his head back, and laughed as every shot bounced away or broke harmlessly. Everything stopped perhaps twenty feet away from him by a shield that glowed red and sometimes yellow at the points of impact. The bolts and freed resin sunk into the cloud layer. Squinting, I could see that there were no runes on his armor beyond the decoration of his symbol. That left me with one conclusion.
I toggled my microphone on. “The shield and armor are technology-based, not magic! Concentrate fire on one spot! Explosives and high-velocity!”
The Storm King’s helmet rotated until the reflective visor faced me directly and he raised his right arm. Just behind him, a black rent appeared in midair. On the far side of the city, I saw a similar tear. Just beyond, Luna pulled back her scythe and cocked the weapon over her shoulder, leaning forward.
Our opponent twisted his body. Without looking behind him, the armored yeti lifted his left arm to shoot something through the tear in space that exploded against Luna’s armor. I couldn’t spare another glance because something rocketed toward me at high speed, leaving a plume of smoke behind. I threw up frangible shields that barely slowed it down. After each exploded like glass, the missile pointed off-angle for a moment before righting itself and aiming directly at me. That gave me an idea.
I made the next shield at a sharp angle, guiding the projectile to ricochet wildly. I had enough time to get a bead on the missile, blasting the center with my most powerful beam spell. Just before it detonated, I heard a familiar sound in front of me. I looked down to see another missile less than a hundred feet away. A golden blur flashed by my vision, closely followed by an explosion that rattled my molars. When the flames went out, I saw gold, blue, and purple beams striking the Storm King’s shield at the same spot, which glowed green then blue at that location. I added my beam just as two of Celestia’s blades and a handful of crossbow bolts flew to the same location.
The shield glowed purple then broke, the beams now hitting their intended target. He grunted and sidestepped, shattering Celestia’s swords with two point-blank shots from the projectile weapon I now saw mounted on the top of his wrist. I tracked that spot with my horn blasts. We might have to take out his weapons one-by-one because his armor didn’t have much difficultly handling our beams of magic.
Our adversary stopped and nearly lost his balance. He looked down to see green strands connecting his legs. In his attempt to dodge, the Storm King had stumbled into a patch of changeling resin.
Just as our hornbeams centered on his chest, the Storm King pulled out a faceted metal sphere. Something about the design made my blood run cold.
I yelled into my microphone, “Cease fire! Reinforcing shields around the target!”
Spurred by my shield failing during our encounter with Sombra, Shining Armor taught all of the alicorns how to use sympathetic harmonics. Each added spellcaster doubled the overall strength of the combined shield. Five alicorns: Sixteen times the strength. Because my ‘one-shot wonder’ ability only lasted a few seconds, unless I could gauge exactly when to dump in all my stored magic, my ability to make an overpowered shield had limited usefulness and would leave me a nearly powerless sitting duck.
The Storm King’s throw resulted in the metal sphere bouncing back and landing at his feet. He stared at it, unmoving. I heard him say, “Uh oh.”
Bright light forced me to shut my eyes as a wave of force buffeted our combined shield. After a couple of seconds that felt like minutes, the pressure dissipated. Our shield had held.
When I looked back, I saw an area of the cloud floor had vanished as if a giant ice cream scoop had made off with it. Twilight flew toward the spot saying, “Alicorns, shields to stand-by!” As my co-ruler examined the outcome of our battle, I joined Trixie and Celestia to attend to Luna.
The Night Alicorn removed her helmet with her right forehoof, dropping it onto the cloud floor. “Fret…” She coughed weakly. “Fret not. Methinks ’twas merely a scratch.” When she stood up straight, everyone could see the hoof-sized dent in her armor on her left side, just behind the shoulder.
Celestia scanned Luna’s barrel with her horn. “Three ribs – compound fractures. Two with clean breaks. Most of the remainder with hairline fractures. You are done for today, sister.”
“Balderdash! I helped with the shield. I am perfectly capable of continuing the fight.”
Celestia shuffled her wings. Embarrassment and concern flowed across her face. “Luna, this is not the time to be stubborn.”
The dark alicorn snorted then closed her eyes, apparently to absorb the pain. When she opened them, her frown deepened. “Enough, sister. ’Tis not time for weakness. We know not if the battle is truly won.”
I drew closer. “Luna, you can stay.” That earned me a glare from Celestia and a smile from her sister. I raised my foreleg high on her left side. “But only if you high-hoof me for all your help today.”
Luna blinked a few times then sighed. “We suppose Cadance could taketh our place for a brief respite.” She opened her wings, managing only a tiny flap which ended with a gasp. “Dear Sister, if thou wouldst assist? The battle rage and its immunity to discomfort hath ceased.”
As Celestia took to the sky with Luna gently held in her telekinetic grasp, I heard Rainbow Dash’s voice in my helmet. “Eyes One, are you good? Speak to me, Natalya!”
After a click, Natalya’s voice came through. She did not sound pleased. “Yeah… Just a bit wet. That flying bomb thing followed me through the forest no matter what I did. Had to dive into a lake to get it to miss me and blow up on the other side.”
Rainbow barked out a laugh. “I didn’t think you could swim.”
“Highly motivated to learn. I’ll fly back up once my feathers dry off. Eyes One, out.”
Trixie and I flew over to Twilight. The rest of the Element Bearers already stood nearby, occasionally glancing at the hole in the cloud layer.
After another minute of scans, the glow of Twilight’s horn lessened. “I don’t get it,” she said.
Rarity asked, “What is it, darling?”
“There’s nothing left – no body tissue, energy signature, metal fragments, or anything. Not even water vapor from the clouds.” Twilight’s horn winked out and a faint lavender glow disappeared from the surface of the hole. As I watched, wisps of white leaked in from the edges. The cloud bank was already healing itself.
I thought back to the last few seconds of the battle. “Could the metal sphere been some sort of technology-based disintegration weapon?”
The purple mare shrugged. “I… guess so? It’s just… I can’t imagine anything magical or otherwise that so blatantly disobeys the Laws of Conservation of Energy and Mass.”
My wife said, “Your suspicions are well-founded. Trixie believes the entire affair was too easy.”
Rainbow Dash grumbled, “Tell that to Luna.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Were there other casualties besides Luna?”
Princess Oralia’s voice echoed in my helmet. “No, Your Highness. All griffons, changelings, and pegasi accounted for.”
I blinked. Forgot I was still transmitting. “Thank you, Princess. Prepare to move out.” With a jerk of my head, I turned off the microphone.
Pinkie Pie’s right ear twitched and the muscles on her back tensed in a rolling wave. “Hmm. My party sense is conflicted. I don’t know if this deserves a party or not.”
Applejack said, “Well, Twi? Is there anythin’ more ya can learn from this here hole in the clouds?”
My co-ruler scowled. “No, I suppose not. Might as well go back and arrange for cleanup and reconstruction.”
Back at Canterlot Castle, Trixie took charge of coordinating relief efforts, which made sense because she was the Triarch most familiar with the departments of government. That worked out fine because Twilight quizzed me on anything I could tell her about this technology.
“Sorry, Twilight. That suit was more advanced than anything I’ve seen or heard about. Only our speculative fiction had anything like this.”
“Perfect. What are the hypothetical weaknesses then?” She looked back at her friends and waved her hoof for them to follow.
I frowned. “Shouldn’t we discuss this at the Security Council?”
“We need to return the Elements first. This will only take a second.”
“Hmm. OK. Drop them in deep water… Exposure to extreme heat or cold.”
A few guards went through the portal ahead of us.
“Umm… Hit them with energy or a force they were never designed to resist, though the shield and even the armor did a better job against magic blasts than I think it was ever designed to face.”
“Grogar must have modified it in some way.”
I nodded. “Best of both worlds.”
A pegasus mare poked her head back through the gateway. Corporal Dusty Dreams, I think. “Clear!”
The seven of us filed through the portal and stood on the floor of the ravine in the Everfree Forest. Twilight’s magic floated the necklaces away from the Bearers, the gold bands dissolving into nothingness, leaving only the Elements. My co-ruler trotted closer to the Tree of Harmony, levitating the jewels into their places. Rainbow colors and pleasing tones accompanied each jewel as it fitted into its socket.
Twilight turned around and smiled at us. Clunking noises made her look down near her hooves. Three segmented spheres of metal rolled to a stop around the tree. I saw a brass-colored circle rested in the middle of each pentagonal facet. The purple mare looked down at the closest, perhaps a yard away from her hooves.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl. I threw my shield up around Penny, the other Elements, and myself, pouring all my magic into it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the pegasi guards flying forward. I yelled, “Twilight! Get—”
The alicorn disappeared just before the first bomb went off. In the middle of the bright flash of light, I saw fragments of the tree shooting through the air. My shield held through the three explosions, but I used up all my stored energy to do it. The magic barrier winked out the same time the last of the bombs’ glow faded away. The passage of time seemed to return to normal as I looked up. I almost didn’t recognize where I was.
Three craters marred the landscape. The cave that sheltered the Tree of Harmony had partially collapsed. And the Tree? Shards of crystal covered the ground everywhere. The only exceptions were chunks a couple of feet wide that still held the Elements.
A tear in space appeared high above one – Dash’s Loyalty jewel. A familiar armored figure fell out of the rent in space and landed on the mass of crystal which popped in a spray of fragments. As the portal closed, Penny took off and I heard the other mares fan out behind me. For my part, I willed as much magic as I could out of the ground.
Our attacker ignored us, stepping off the very much intact jewel and shooting an explosive bomb from his wrist. The red lightning bolt-shaped stone bounced away from the detonation to the far wall. A missile from the metal suit’s other arm hurtled to the gem. The concussion from the much larger blast almost knocked me over; only my earth pony strength and connection to the ground held me upright. Penny had been closer to the blast. Her limp form separated from her spear and tumbled through the air. I tried to use magic to grab her, but she passed through my grip. I didn’t have enough unicorn magic at my disposal. Rainbow zipped up and caught my bodyguard before she hit the ground.
I reached to open my right saddlebag but then froze at the sound of a filtered but recognizable voice.
“Ah! Ah! Ah!”
I turned to face our adversary. The red Loyalty gem clattered to a stop on the broken ground, but our opponent no longer paid attention to it. The visor on top of the massive suit of armor now faced directly at me, along with both arms. From a spot behind me and to my right, a boulder flew into its chest plate, breaking apart with a dull crunch. Our opponent didn’t flinch or move at all, ignoring the attack like it had never happened.
After a few seconds, the arms and helmet moved to point at spots behind me and to the right. The distorted voice said, “I must say thanks for the reminder. You will recall I made you a promise regarding your friends.”
I said, “Who are you?”
The being stopped, its visor rotating toward me again.
I stepped forward. “I mean, I know who you are pretending to be, but who are you, really?”
“Ah, gallows humor! You know full well the promise—”
I interrupted. “… that was put into the intelligence report read by every Equestrian soldier. Plus, it was sent to our allies and even less than allies. Congratulations, you know how to read.”
The right arm pointed at me again, causing my hooves to stop moving but not my mouth.
“Truly one of the least convincing acts I have ever seen. During our fight less than an hour ago, you said exactly two words. Do you remember? ‘Uh’ and ‘oh’. The real Storm King is a lot more talkative and even he is wittier than that.”
The armored suit’s head leaned toward me. “You know that—”
“And that helmet! Are you trying to convince me the Storm King let someone cut off his horns? Unlike you, the yeti warlord would have killed anyone that tried. You’re a slave of some sort, aren’t you?”
A snarl. “I am a slave to no being!”
I smirked as I thought quickly. “Wait. I know who you are. You’re that changeling warrior from Saddle Arabia that was so insistent on dueling me. You’re…” I needed a name. “… Asperatrix! Only the King’s order made you back down. But the King’s command doesn’t hold any weight here, does it?”
I stepped closer, pressing my luck. Points of light on his wrist grew an even brighter blue.
“And the real Storm King is faster than you. A lot faster. And he favors his left and only eye, which you don’t. Oh, and if you are pretending to be someone, check their height first. He’s a good twenty percent taller than you, shrimp.” I started walking away.
Behind me, I heard movement followed by a click. The unmistakable voice of the Storm King called after me.
“Dead pony, you are mistaken.”
I turned back to see the helmet off, held in both hands. From the underside of the helmet, I could hear the tinny voice of somebeing yelling. The revealed yeti warlord showed me all of his fangs as he stared with two perfectly good eyes.
“I’m alllll better now. And I cut off my horns. Revenge can be expensive, don’t you know.” The helmet shifted to his left hand as his right extended outward.
Why wasn’t Twilight blasting him? It didn’t matter. Plan B.
I said, “Well, balls.”
The Storm King smiled wider as his arm pointed at me once more.
Two spheres the size of my hoof appeared inches from the yeti’s face, right before each exploded with a loud crack. Grey goo covered his left cheek and right eye, hardening immediately into a black shell.
The Storm King staggered backward, trying to replace his headgear with one hand, then two. In those couple of seconds, a dozen more balls exploded onto his head. A black crust covered his face almost completely. Each of our saddlebags carried a goo ball attached to the outside, but you couldn’t see them. The self-propelled orbs only turned visible when inches from their target.
I fumbled, reaching into my left saddlebag. A large tear in space appeared behind the armored yeti revealing the cave system I had last glimpsed in the Crystal Empire. All the rocks in the cavern were a consistent muddy brown with stalagmites and stalactites. In the far end of the cave, an old blue goat stared at me through the clear visor of his helmet.
Grogar.
The Storm King stumbled through the portal which closed immediately. A small communication plate whizzed through the air where the portal had been a moment before.
“Blast it!” Rarity came up next to me, scowling. “I was too late!”
Fluttershy landed next to Rarity. “Maybe Twilight knows…” The pegasus mare‘s face went pale as she looked somewhere behind me.
I whipped my head around. Our guards lay slumped against the walls of the ravine. About a hundred feet away, my co-ruler stood immobile, green light spilling out from her eyes. A dark-gray helmet with black eye-sockets lowered onto her face, covering up the look of frozen terror. When the eye slits turned bright green, the pony behind her stepped into view. His cape was gone, but the red horn and plate armor identified him immediately: Sombra.
I pulled a tracking nullstone band out of each saddlebag, targeting one at each pony in front of me. More followed, thrown by my friends.
Sombra put a foreleg around his captive. “Neutralize those bands.”
Twilight’s horn flashed and two saddlebags appeared. They were the pan-dimensional ones she used during our trip through multiple dimensions. In ones and twos, she caught the bands, teleporting several times with her passenger never letting go. A hoof-full of seconds later, the last tracking band disappeared into a saddlebag. Twilight returned to her original spot, dropping the bags by her sides.
“Good slave,” said Sombra. “Now, destroy the Elements.”
Twilight shifted her focus. Six beams of black magic poured from her horn followed by six beams of white.
“No!” yelled Rarity. She reached out a hoof, possibly to draw her jewel back to herself. I tried to push the dark energy out of the jewels with my earth pony magic. It had worked against Sombra’s magic in the Crystal Empire. Maybe—
One after the other, the Element jewels shook, cracks appeared all across the facets, then fell apart into colored dust.
“It cain’t be!” exclaimed Applejack.
My eyes turned back to Sombra and Twilight.
The dark unicorn stallion smiled as he stepped away from our friend. His teeth gleamed in the sun. “Kill these fools.”
Twilight’s wings opened fully. Her head swiveled until both eye slits pointed directly at me.
Oh boy.
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talk about cliffhangers
Aw, nuts!
Great so we are going to get that stupid treehouse that did NOTHING.
Layers and layers of lethal attacks. Just keep piling the pressure on until something gets them. That's the way to do it.
Hey, short question for later stuff, warning will contain spoilers:
Does this fiction has much 'trixy- time'? I'm not a partucular fan of her and she seems to have tons of screentime.
Yeah, I'll bet Mark got regular relief.
All hail Prince Mark, the anti-Prospero!
As to the rest:
Best use of the Storm King - major distraction ...
Guess Twi's getting a first-hand look at Sombra's helmet improvements ...
10317593
Trixie is a major character in this story, but while we retain her basic character, she has a lot of personal growth that the show did not have.
Well.... shit
10317645
Thank you for the fast reply. I'll give it a try then :)
Somegoaats had a lot of time to work up new stuff, you might even say he has put a heroic amount of grind in.
Currently the only thing I can think of for slowing twilight down is acoustic, which means Grogar will use it next time. As in even if it doesnt cause damage as such, get the vibrations powerful enough to throw off accurate targeting?
Well. Shite. Uh, cheers for the fireworks?
Time to get reinforcements.
10317674
The Triarchs aren’t the only ones who learn from their mistakes and adapt.
Well, crap. Knew Grogar was going to be good. Had Storm King distract everyone while he had Sombra move in to go after the biggest threat; Twilight. Grogar was bad enough; Twilight under control of Sombra and Elements destroyed. Nice way to lean into the destruction of the tree, btw. Now, we've got really serious problems. And we still haven't seen Cozy Glow and Tirek. Even if they deal with Sombra and incapacitate Twilight, we still have those two misfits out there.
Damn, Grogar is a chessmaster who learned from all the other's mistakes.
Of the two, the quicksand is by far the lesser danger.
Subtle softens blows. Blunt gets shit done.
Kinda reminds me of
https://ytcropper.com/cropped/xf5f0201d955b5f
like I said before, subtle softens blows. Blunt gets things done.
Also,
Fuck
Well.... Buck!!!
holy fuckballs
The portals still open, it is time for, interference.
I guess I'm too used to the show, this long drawn-out battle with various villains is wearing on me.
Fun times ahead!
I wonder how Twilight interpreted "destroy the Elements". Destroy their current physical incarnation, sure. But we all know that they can reform from nothing, for the right set of friends. It's even canon. Did she deliberately only destroy the gems, or did she do something which would prevent them from ever returning - or at least, as they were before?
(Or maybe I've just read too many fics where the energy of the Elements crystallizes into a different set of representative traits, to better-fit a new group of Bearers.)
The Elements can regenerate (they could not regenerate in canon because their powers were already in the Mane 6).
Twilight is a powerful mage, but she usually is very pathetic in a fight. This makes sense because she the the princess of Friendship after all.
The question is why she is so weak in a fight, because mind control may overcome whatever keeps her in check, in that case, she can be a huge threat.
Knew it wouldn't be that easy...
10318313
The show took a full season to resolve the Grogar arc but we'll take less than 26 chapters to do so and still give you some fun stuff in between!
Damn fine fights and overall trill.
Welp... They start to play dirty now
I wonder if Grogar can counter a angry Discord.
Getting rid of Fluttershy will have consequences...
What happend to the Discord version of the other dimensions i wonder?
This chapter was all over the place
This is clearly no longer an unorganised Guard response. Recon, mobile command, specialists, tactical patterns, code... this is a fully-equipped army. Or, in this case, an air force.
After the death an sadness of the newest chapter of Centurion Project...
I need the light heartedness of Mark and friends... and a very tight hug...
That has escalaed very very quickly. The first attack a ruse, the second attack flawless executed
Yyyyeeaahh. Can't say I'm pleased with this chapter. Could have not had the tree destroyed, but just had to do it anyhow. That's disappointing, honestly.