Lone Wolf of Equestria: Back to the Pack

by JNKing

Chapter 11: The Storm King

Well, this was a new experience for me. I’ve eaten with people I’ve trusted. And I’ve eaten with people trying to gain my trust (yes, that’s you guys). But I’ve never eaten with people I didn’t trust… who were at ease with me not trusting them.

It was kind of hard to focus on the distrust, because the birds knew their food. Lix – the pink hen – turned out to be a fantastic cook. She served this really great slop that was exploding with carbs. I didn’t smell poison, and the stuff was warm and well cooked. Only one thing kept me from enjoying the stuff.

“So,” I asked the pirates. “You guys are gonna throw me overboard, but you don’t mind me eating with you first?”

“We’re more interested in feeding ourselves,” Boyle replied. “Our boss only allows one break a day for meals, then it’s back to hauling goods.”

“One meal?” I stammered. “That’s outrageous! You ever consider asking for three?”

The captain laughed. “Sure,” she said sarcastically. “And next we can ask if we can get our old uniforms back.” Her sarcastic tone faded. “We do what he orders, or we suffer his wrath. That’s been the deal.”

“That deal sucks,” I insisted. “Ask for a better one.”

The captain leaned towards me. “I’ll tell you what, wolf,” she said tensely. “You ever meet the Storm King, you can ask him for a deal. See how it works out for you.”

#

Logan grinned, causing Applejack and Fluttershy to grin at each other.

“Logan, you didn’t…,” Twilight stammered.

“You kidding, Twi,” Applejack said with a grin. “O’ course he did.”

Logan and Applejack shared a small smile before Logan caught himself. Forcing the grin from his face, he continued.

#

It surprisingly didn’t take much to convince them: a quick show of my lightning, proving that I was the wolf Celestia was willing to put a bounty out for, and they were taking me to their boss.

Of course, there was dissent in the ranks: Boyle the big bird and Lix wanted to take me straight to Celestia. But the captain – Celaeno, I heard her called – was adamant, and she had Squabble the Squawker and Mullet the first mate on her side. A vote was cast – of course I didn’t get one – and we set off.

I quickly became glad for my coat and my fur, because the Storm King really liked the cold. The airship docked at the peak of a massive mountain. A fortress stood at the mountain’s peak, trying so desperately to look imposing and intimidating, yet having a half-finished vibe to it, like a pup playing at being a dark lord.

The pirates led me inside, shivering as the cold disagreed with their leather outfits and feathers. I strode onward with purpose, my fur protecting me a bit better than their tropical suited feathers.

As we headed into the fortress, we were stopped by two giant snowy beasts. I remember humans calling beasts like these guys’ ‘yetis.’

Either way, the yetis glared at me through dark armor and darker visors, their white fur contrasting nicely with the armor.

“A prisoner for the Storm King,” Celaeno explained to them.

I chuckled. “Yeah,” I said sarcastically. “Prisoner.”

The yetis snarled at me, but I just glared right back at them. The things must have taken my silence for submission, because nothing like punishment or brow-beating came my way, and they just led us further in.

The throne room they led me to was less of a throne room and more of a courtyard. An icy chair sat at the back of the room, looking like it was meant to be like Celestia’s throne, but utterly failing. Sitting on it was another yeti. This one was taller than the bulky guards I had seen; scrawnier too. His white fur hung loosely on his arms, and his black breastplate showed far less muscle than I’d expect from a king. Plus, his aura was all… wrong. I knew auras; Luna, Celestia, Ocetorm. Those guys, you could just tell they had power. Celestia may not use that power, but it’s still there. You guys probably feel it more than I do.

This ice freak? He had no aura. Nothing like Celestia, and certainly nothing like Ocetorm. It felt like I was watching a little pup playing at being Alpha of the Pack. He held some sort of large staff with a faded blue jewel at the tip. Looked more like he had taken a twig and added a small icicle to the top of it.

“Time,” the guy muttered in a bored tone, flipping the staff around his finger like a pencil. “So much time, and so little I can get done…”

“Your grace,” Celaeno said nervously. “A, uh…” she gave me a glance, as the Storm King shot me a curious glance.

“Wolf,” I replied.

“A… wolf… for, you… your grace,” Celaeno said. She and the rest of her pirates hid their faces with their bows.

The Storm King’s ice blue eyes widened when he noticed my blonde fur. I simply crossed my arms and glared at him.

“Whoa, okay, hang on,” he said, jumping from his throne and walking over to me.

“Blonde fur… silver eyes… leather jacket…” he grinned. “Face like ya swallowed a lemon…”

My eyes narrowed.

“You’re the Lone Wolf of Equestria, aren’t you?” he declared.

“Well, whatever gave you that idea?” I muttered. He laughed, leaning on his staff.

“Well-well,” he commented. “Old Sun-Butt has been chomping at the bit for you.”

“You could say something like that?” I admitted.

“Tell me – I’m curious,” the Storm King said, leaning on his staff like it was the back of a chair and he was a drugged up human college student. “What’d you do that’s got her willing to pay gold for ya?”

“It’s more what she did to me,” I growled.

The Storm King’s grin widened. “’What she did to you,’” he noted. “Oh, cryptic and vengeful! I love it!”

I shot a glance at Celaeno, but she didn’t look at me. I was getting the impression that this guy wasn’t completely right in the head.

“Well, as it just so happens,” the Storm King continued. “I think we can help each other out.”

I cocked an eyebrow… and an ear. “Really,” I asked.

He grinned and returned to his throne.

“Here’s the thing,” he said, settling himself back on the throne. I briefly wondered how he could stand sitting on pure ice before he continued. “I’m just starting a bit of a re-brand here. ‘The Storm King,’ is good; could track as ‘intensely intimidating,’ you know, but… it needs something to back it up. You know what I need to back it up?”

“A storm?” I deadpanned.

“A storm!” he cheered. “Good boy! Have a biscuit!”

Before I could comment on that, this squat little pig of a yeti hiding behind his throne hurled something that I think was their definition of bread at my head. It bounced off my forehead and landed in the snow. I suddenly hated this guy a lot more than before.

“So, yeah, I need a storm. I heard stories that this,” he indicated his staff. “Could let me control the elements to make one, but guess what? It does nothing! Right now, it’s a branch; a twig at best!”

“Uh-huh,” I growled.

“But,” he continued – wow, this guy loved the sound of his own voice - “I know one thing that should be able to give this thing the power I need. Can you guess? Come on, be a smart boy, you can guess it…”

“Celestia,” I grumbled.

“Good boy!” he cheered. I got another biscuit to the nose. I nearly charged him right there, but Boyle grabbed my tail and kept me back.

“So,” the Storm King concluded. “You hate Celestia; I need her power. Help me take her power to make this twig work – heck, I heard you got some magic you can use to charge it right now - and I’ll reward you with sweet, cold revenge against Sun-Butt for… whatever she did to make you so grouchy.”

I realized that my fangs had been bared throughout most of his speech. Yet he was grinning back with his own set of fangs. He held out a hand.

“What d’ya say?” he offered, waggling his fingers for emphasis.

#

Celestia flinched down. “Logan,” she whispered. “I truly regret everything I did…” she trailed off as she noticed the glare Logan was shooting her.

“What are you apologizing again for?” Logan snapped. “If I had accepted his offer, I would have shown up at Canterlot with a bunch of yetis; not shown up alone at the Crystal Empire!”

“He’s… got a point, Princess,” Twilight noted.

“Oh,” Celestia awkwardly shuffled away. “Right.” She cleared her throat. “Please, continue.”

#

I started chuckling. The Storm King’s grin faded by a fraction.

“Something funny?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I said, my laughter fading. “You.”

His grin melted off his face.

“You think that you deserve Celestia’s power?” I asked. “I haven’t even heard of a Storm King, while Celestia’s name is feared throughout this land.”

The Storm King rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re into the friendship and flowers and cute pony crap she’s been feeding everyone over there.”

“You tell me,” I replied. “You’re the one that wants to use that 'friendship and flowers and cute pony crap' to make a storm.”

That touched a nerve. The Storm King sneered and stood.

“Well,” he growled, pulling at his armor. “Here I thought we could work something out. I’ll settle for using your magic to charge this twig… and then bringing your pelt to Celestia. While she’s busy figuring out if it’s you or not, I’ll strike and take what’s mine.”

He snapped his fingers, and his two yeti bodyguards drew odd, green flickering balls. The pirates backed up, fear crossing their features, but I stood defiant.

“And there’s your problem,” I noted. “You think you get any respect when you hide? Behind guards. Behind these guys…” I indicated the pirates.

“Please keep us out of this,” Mullet begged.

“Fight me yourself,” I demanded, raising my claws. “Show me why you deserve to be called the Storm King.”

The Storm King laughed, but I could sense an edge to his laughter – an uneasiness.

“Sorry, kid,” he replied, turning away. “You’re not on my level.”

“Wolf!” Celaeno screamed, but I wasn’t scared of this asshole.

I ducked as his two guards hurled their stones. They weren’t smart; my ducking caused each of them to get hit. I got a bit of a shock when I saw the orbs turn them into obsidian statues, but I didn’t take long to worry about it, rushing for the King. He grabbed the little pig yeti behind his throne and hurled him at me like a bowling ball, but I punted the little sputtering creep right between the Storm Schmuck’s horns, and sent the little yeti wailing out of the fortress and down the mountain. An extra flare of lightning kept any hopeful yetis from becoming my next target.

“Any more pet pigs you wanna hide behind?” I demanded, lightning crackling around me, and sparking against the snow.

The Storm Sucker’s knuckles tightened around his staff. “You watch your mouth, dog,” He spat. “I’ll…”

“Do what?” I dared. “That staff doesn’t have its magic. You said so yourself.”

His eyes widened in horror, before narrowing in anger.

“I don’t need magic to crush you,” he snarled, even as he brought out more of those magic statue ball makers. But calling him out might allow him to call me out for my lightning. And for better or worse, I needed that power.

“Try it,” I dared. “If I lose, do whatever you want. Use me to get Celestia, and make your stupid storm. But if I win, the pirates no longer serve you, and you have to leave them alone!”

The Storm King sneered. He swung his staff like a baseball bat.

“Fine by me,” he replied, the snow swirling around him and making his fur flutter in the breeze. “I may not have an alicorn’s magic, but I’ve survived out in this frozen tundra, unsheltered by those cute ponies you seem to love so much. What d’you got that they haven’t given you?”

“A smaller ego,” I growled defiantly. “An entire childhood out in a wild that makes your backstory look pathetic.”

I probably would have said more, but at that point, he got tired of talking. He tossed one of his stones up in the air, and batted it at my head, but I wasn’t there. I jumped to the side and lunged at him, my jaws finding his nose. He roared and punched at me with his free hand, jarring me loose. I rolled with the fall, coming back up with my blades on display. He felt at his nose, where bright blue blood was dripping from his slashed-up nostrils. He covered his worry with a laugh.

“Not bad, pup,” he admitted. “Not bad.”

He attacked again, but I dodged. I tried to go for his legs, which I noticed were cloven hooves, but he seemed to anticipate that; looks like he’s had people going for his legs before. He outmaneuvered me, pressing harder on me until it took all my concentration to avoid getting bashed in the head with an icicle or hit with those statue balls. I couldn’t get close to him; his staff had a reach several feet longer than my blades, and he kept hurling those damn statue balls. Blocks of obsidian grew all around me, making it harder to move.

He took a wild swing at me and I tried to go for his belly, but he seemed to be waiting for that. He quickly took another swing, and this time, his staff got my side. The blow spun me like a top, disorienting me long enough for him to kick me with one of those hooves. I sailed ten feet and slammed hard into one of his ice walls. Probably would have broken my back again if my barrier hadn’t been protecting me.

Even then, I still saw double, and my chest felt like it had been hit with a battering ram. Give this guy credit; he knew how to scrap. But it wasn’t enough to keep me down; I scrambled back to my paws, dodging another stone grenade aiming to turn me to stone. He tried to stick me with the sharp end of that icicle, but I managed to roll to the side, only for him to deflect my next strike at his face.

“You’ve already lost, kid,” the Storm King taunted. “I’m just toying with you.”

So, he claimed, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. This guy was fighting just as hard as I was. If anything, he was close to his limit. At the same time, I was aware of the pirates watching, unsure of whether they should jump in or not. Further away from them, more yetis were watching in awe as their leader took on Celestia’s number one fugitive. Thankfully, they didn’t jump in; looks like their King needed to still prove himself to them.

But I let myself get distracted by them for too long; he hurled a stone grenade at me, and I just barely avoided getting turned into obsidian. As I stumbled away, the Storm King got in a good hit, the icicle tip of his staff ripping my sleeve and grazing my forearm. He laughed, happy to have drawn blood, but I was too busy seeing red.

“That was my father’s jacket,” I snarled.

I slashed. He deflected. I faked him out with a feint, but my blow got kicked aside. But I could see the tension in his muscles rising. I was tiring him out. I went for an all feint maneuver; dashing back and forth with fake strikes to his head, gut, and knees. He kept trying to deflect attacks that weren’t coming. Then, just as he realized I wasn’t attacking – his grin started to return – I scooped up a wade of snow and obsidian and hurled it into his overconfident face.

He backed up, cursing and sputtering as the cold slush got in his eyes. I slashed at his head again, landing behind him. I feinted for his head, like I had already done before. He turned in time to raise his staff, but this time he was disoriented. He didn’t anticipate my tricks.

I swung low, sweeping his hooves out from under him. And as he hit the ground, I leaped onto him, my claws closing around his throat.

He stared up at me, snow stung blue eyes staring into my silver. An unnatural hush had gone over the crowd.

“Yield,” I snarled at him.

He raised his hands up. “Okay-okay,” he whimpered. “You can take the pirates; I don’t even care about them.”

I nodded, and looked towards the pirates with a grin. Celaeno grinned back at me.

But then… out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw the Storm King’s hand twitching for another one of those statue balls.

I acted on instinct. I…

#

Logan paused. The other mares waited with bated breath.

“Logan?” Fluttershy asked, though she winced at the look of hurt on his face when he looked up at her. “What did you do?”

Logan stood up, and walked out of the cave. That only agitated the mares, who looked at each other with worry.

“He didn’t… did he?”

“You don’t think he’d go that far?”

“But… he’s not a monster!”

“It might be for the best.”

“Dash!”

“I’m sorry, but now we don’t have to deal with him!”

However, as Logan walked out, the voice that reached him was Celestia.

“Logan,” she said softly. He almost growled, but she kept herself at a reasonable distance, and didn’t meet his eyes. “You already know I’m not a perfect ruler. And Equestria wasn’t always run on love and tolerance.”

Logan’s ears flicked.

“In the years before Equestria,” Celestia continued. “I had to make… questionable decisions. Decisions that have haunted me. Decisions that I pray Twilight and her friends never have to make.”

When Celestia looked up, she saw Logan staring at her.

“What I did to you,” she said. “I certainly count that as a decision that haunts me.”

“Enough to try and fix it?” Logan asked, the faintest glimmer of hope in his voice.

Celestia looked away with pursed lips. She sighed.

“For now,” she said evasively. “Know that it is natural to feel guilt for what you did to this ‘Storm King.’ He seemed like a cruel being, and you did what you needed to do to protect yourself and his abused subjects. As long as you didn’t take joy or pleasure in the act… I can’t fault you. And neither should my subjects.”

Logan didn’t reply to that. His eyes didn’t narrow, nor did his growl return. He simply waited until the others came out of the cave, looking at him worriedly. When he spoke again…

#

Celaeno didn’t discuss what happened up there. In fact, we didn’t speak until we had returned to the airship.

We didn’t face resistance; the yetis that weren’t wondering who was going to lead them weren’t eager to get into another scrap with me. Not when I was able to look like I was ready to fight them again. We just walked by them all and returned to the ship. I was leaning against the side of the ship when Celaeno came over to me.

“So,” she asked, cutting me out of my thoughts. “Where do you want to go?”

I didn’t reply at first.

“You got me and my crew out from that monster,” she insisted. “We owe you something.”

I nodded. “The Sirens,” I replied. “Take me to the Sirens.”

She stared at me for a moment. “Um… why would you want to go near those creeps?” she asked.

“Three of them got shot to another dimension,” I said. “I need to know if the others figured out how to bring them back.”

“Okay, no offense, Wolf,” she said, “But you’d be better off asking the ponies about that. They’re the ones who pulled it off.”

“I’m not going back to them,” I replied tersely.

She looked taken aback at how tense I had gotten. I tried to relax; these guys weren’t like the griffons, I had to remind myself.

“The ponies’ are trying to keep me from my pack,” I explained.

“Your pack?” she asked.

I looked down. “Celestia took everything from me when she yanked me over. Parents, uncles…” I sighed. “Carol…” I looked up with a determined light. “Nothing in this world is going to stop me from getting back to them.” I looked away. “Or at least trying my best.”

She was silent at that for a moment. At first, I thought our conversation was done.

I was wrong.

Author's Note:

Well, what did you guys think of the Storm King? I did have an idea for a story that adapts Logan into the events of the movie, but I did need the Storm King out of the way for it to work. Thus, his appearance here.

Hope you guys enjoy. Thanks again for reading.

Comments

[Wysteria]

I am going to take a wild guess that Tempest was out enforcing the King's will and upon her return, found her "only hope" to be gone...
Yeah, that's going to a be challenge for Logan later.

[Element of Power]

An entire movie with hardships and lessons in bravery and friendship.
Logan rips his throat out.

[Teraunce]

Well that just stopped an entire movie.