My Little Spark: The Movie

by Real Solaris

Raid on Canterlot

Canterlot has definitely seen better days. Cages full of miserable ponies, Mobians, and Wisps litter the streets, and Storm Guards stand vigil beside many of them. Some guards have a few ponies and Mobians chained up and muzzled, some being led somewhere, and others being forced to cater to the guards' every whim.

Despite the glumness, singing permeates the streets. Songbird Serenade voices her predicament, singing lyrics that fit the situation she and everyone else in the city are in.

I am here and I see your pain
Through the storms, through the clouds, the rain
I'm telling you, you cannot esca-

A Storm Guard bangs on her cage, startling her. The guard growls in incomprehensible language, but she can tell it wants her to shut up. The singer sighs and returns to staring at the floor of her cage. But the clank of wheels draws her attention back up, and what she sees shocks her.

Tempest Shadow, followed by two chained earth ponies pulling a cage surrounded by four Storm Guards, slowly walks down the street. But it was the one inside the cage that surprised her the most – it was the last princess, Twilight Sparkle.

The two of them make eye contact (somehow), and neither says a word, but the message is clear, at least that’s what Twilight thought. She averts her gaze away, unable to hold eye contact any longer. Songbird watches until the envoy disappears around a corner.

They soon reach the castle and are permitted entry when the drawbridge comes down. They make their way through the winding halls and get to the throne room in a few minutes. The doors open, and two Storm Guards step aside to let Tempest and her prisoner by. The four guards escorting the envoy step to the side, falling in line with the other two, while Tempest leads the earth ponies in front of the throne, where the frightened and horrified statues of the other three princesses stand.

When Twilight looks at the captured princesses, she can hear ghostly screams coming from them, and she cringes, knowing that she failed them. Her cage was taken off the cart and placed on the right, closest to the throne. Two of the four guards from the convoy lead the earth ponies out of the throne room, and Grubber closes the doors behind them. In a last-ditch effort, Twilight tries to convince Tempest to stop this.

“Tempest, don't do this. Don't give the Storm King—”

“Your magic?” She interrupts, scoffing. “Did you think you'd keep it all to yourself? It’s time to share it, and the power your friend has, too.”

Grinning, she pulls out Tionic’s quill from her pocket, and Twilight gasps in horror when she recognizes it.

“That’s Tionic’s quill!” She exclaims, her ears splayed against her head. “Where did you get that?!”

“Where else?” Tempest grins slyly. “He kindly dropped this for us, and I believe His Excellency will enjoy this gift from him.”

“Enjoy what?” A voice asks from the throne. Turning, those present see the Storm King sitting on the throne, twirling the Staff of Sacanas. Tempest faces the king and goes rigid, Grubber kneels out of fear, and the guards straighten their postures. The Storm King stops spinning his staff and gets out of the seat.

Twilight shivered, but she was unsure if it was because of how menacing the yeti was in pony or the sudden drop in temperature as he came closer. Grubber’s nerves get the best of him, and feeling that he has no place here, he turns around and makes a beeline for the doors. Once they close, the Storm King rolls his eyes and sighs.

“Man, it’s hard to find lackeys that don’t run when you just stand up,” He mutters and turns back to his right-hand mare. “Anyway, what did you say I would enjoy?”

“This,” She presents Tionic’s quill to him. “A quill from a creature with extraordinary powers. This one quill alone could power our ships forever, and I believe the creature it came from, Tionic, has a whole head of them.”

“Oooooh, so there’s more power for me to take?” The Storm King exclaims, plucking the quill out of Tempest’s hoof. “Wow, I can feel the power coming off this thing! I wonder if this staff can take it?”

He holds the quill up to the staff’s crystal, and the reaction is instantaneous. The crystal absorbs it, and electricity crackles along the length of the staff and up the Storm King’s arm, raising his fur slightly.

“Ooh, yeah, baby!” He cackles, firing a bolt and nearly hitting Twilight’s cage, making her recoil. “Now I’ve got the lightning to back up the thunder!”

“With this power, you will be completely unstoppable!” Tempest proclaims. “You’ll have no problem taking over Equestria now!”

“Yeah, you got that right!” The Storm King agrees. Looking around, he frowns. “But speaking of problems, this place, it seems a little too—oh, I don't know— CUTE!! I don't like cute! I never did like cute! Doesn't really go with my whole ‘big bad powerful magic guy’ thing, does it?! Deliver the punchline, Tempest, because this has gotta be a joke!”

He slams the staff into the ground, which coincidentally has a hole the perfect size for inserting it. The staff crackles momentarily before light blue lines light up the four-sided flower on the floor, right underneath the captured princesses. Trails of energy travel up their bodies and to their horns, activating their magic and making their eyes glow the same color before their magic is shot out from their horns.

“N-no!” Twilight exclaims, trying to fight it, but her hooves are stuck to the floor, and the same happens to her as her magic is taken from her. It felt just like when Tirek took her magic that first time, if not worse.

The Storm King laughs in awe as the magic condenses into a crackling ball of blue energy above the staff. “Woah, check out the light show!”

And he was right; as mana was drawn from the environment itself, it flowed through the princesses, taking on the same coloring as their magic before being pulled into the staff. All across Canterlot, wisps of blue light are drawn from the buildings themselves, dulling their color as the magic converges on the throne room.

Once all the power disappears into the staff, the Storm King yanks it out of the floor and stops the flow of magic. The Staff of Sacanas glows brightly, crackling slightly as the Storm King fawns over its immense power. After having her magic forcefully sucked from her, all Twilight could do was collapse on the cage floor, too weak to do anything. The color in her eyes dulls, and her cutie mark disappears from her flanks.

“Alright, let’s get this storm started!” The Storm King exclaims, and a thought pops into his head. “Ooh, hey, that's good. I should trademark that.”

He activates the staff, and electricity crackles around him as he faces Twilight’s cage. With his newfound speed, he zips behind and takes aim at her. A massive bolt jumps from the crystal and strikes the cage, shattering it entirely and sending Twilight screaming through a window onto the balcony. After slamming onto the concrete like that, her head reels from the pain, and her eyes can barely focus on anything.

“Not bad,” The Storm King comments, climbing through the hole in the wall. “Actually, kinda first rate. What else does it do?”

Tempest quickly trots up behind him, and she attempts to get his attention. “Your Excellency, you promised to restore my horn and give me-!”

“Eh-deh-deh-deh-deh-deh,” He interrupts, holding a claw out dismissively. “Okay, hold on, I need to see something.”

The Storm King aims the staff out, and to his surprise, the sun follows wherever he points it. He moves the staff a few more times, and the ball of hydrogen follows along with it, much to his pleasure.

“You gotta be kidding me! I can move the sun?! A-ha-ha! Wow!” He moves to the edge of the balcony, heading toward Twilight. She covered her face with her hooves, bracing for whatever came next. But nothing happens, as the Storm King simply steps over her like she isn’t even there.

Twilight’s eyes begin to focus a little, and once her eyes come into focus, she looks at Tempest as if to ask, ‘Are you sure about this?’ but Tempest just looks away, avoiding eye contact as she trots over to the Storm King’s side.

“Now this is what I'm talking about! Time to play!” He holds the staff out to the sky and, flicking it to the right, causes the sun to zip across the sky and the moon to come out. He flicks it to the left, and the sun replaces the moon again before he starts to whip the celestial bodies across the sky faster and faster.

All across Equus and Mobias, ponies and Mobians watch in confusion, horror, and dumbfoundment as the sun and moon move at ludicrous speeds. Religious groups start praying to whatever deity they worship like there was no tomorrow, astronomers faint on the spot, and scientists have gone stir crazy, as any sense of logic they thought they had regarding the sun and moon has been thrown out the window, and in some cases, literally. “Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! Day, night! Day, night! Day night! Day night! Day night! Sunrise, sunset, Dawn, dusk!”

The Storm King dances a little jig, cackling like a maniac as day and night flip-flop every second. Twilight manages to find strength and slowly stands to her hooves as she looks around worriedly. She notices something shimmer by the rubble for a second, and when she turns to it, she spots a brown leather bag with golden rings spilling out the opening.

‘Tionic’s rings!’ Twilight thinks, her eyes widening. ‘So this is where they landed when he dropped them. I need to get them before Tempest or the Storm King notice…’

Slowly, Twilight moves over to the bag and sweeps the spilled rings back into the bag. She flinches when the rings clink together, but the Storm King is too busy messing with the sun and moon to notice, and his cackling drowns out the clinks of the rings, so Tempest doesn’t hear them. Sighing a silent sigh of relief, she picks up the rest of the rings but one and tightens the top shut. Twilight tucks the bag under her wing, securing it and keeping her wing looking somewhat natural to not draw attention. Picking up the ring she left out, she slips it over her horn, and to her delight, it’s a perfect fit.

‘That’ll be useful in an emergency,’ She thinks, adjusting her mane to cover the ring. She looked out over the city, but the constant day-night shift was messing with her eyes, making it hard to make out anything. Her ears splay against her head as she watches the chaos unfold, unable to do anything. ‘Oh, I really messed up, didn't I?.’

---

A few hours earlier, back at Mt. Aris…

The Mane Six, Spike, Tionic, Capper, Skystar, and the pirates sit together on the beach, each trying to think of a way to save Twilight and the princesses. Sonic paces in a circle, unable to sit still while the others watch him wear a groove into the sand. They’d been there for the better part of an hour and still hadn’t found a good idea.

“But how are we supposed to get into Canterlot?” Capper asks, addressing the main problem. “Even if we find a way to save the princesses, we can’t do anything if we can’t get inside.”

“Any of you got some ideas?” Tionic asks, looking around the group. “‘Cause I’m open to suggestions at this point.”

“Ooh, I know!” Lix exclaims, snapping her claws. “Let’s use our ship to airdrop you in! They wouldn’t see that coming!”

“Two problems with that,” Celaeno sighs, resting a claw on her scabbard. “One, they would see us miles away and shoot us down before we’d get close enough to drop in. And two, we don’t have a ship anymore, remember?”

“Oh, right.”

“Why don’t we just go in guns blazing?” Rainbow wonders, throwing a few jabs at the air. “We could easily take down the whole army before they realize what’s happening!”

“Brute force isn’t a good idea,” Tionic says, shooting that idea down before it got off the ground. “There are way too many enemies to take the city by force, and with how small our group is, we’d be captured within moments, even with the powerhouse players we’ve got.”

“We’ll never save Twilight now!” Spike groans, flipping on his back and dragging his claws down his face. “Oh, Nyx won't be happy when she hears this.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Spiky!” Pinkie assures, bouncing over to the dragon and wrapping a hoof around his shoulder. “Once we figure something out, I bet it’ll be a piece of cake!”

“Piece of cake, huh?” Tionic chuckles but stops. Something Pinkie said got the gears in his head turning, and an idea quickly formed. A moment later, his eyes widen, and he snaps his fingers. “Wait, that’s it! Pinkie, you’re a genius!”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“What, that you’re a genius?” Spike asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, Pinkie.”

“Aaaanyway, I was thinking we could use a massive, hollowed-out cake to get inside the city,” Tionic explains, but his smile quickly morphs into a frown. “Only problem is, that massive cake cannon Pinkie used earlier is back in Canterlot. Without it, we won’t be able to make our cover, and I doubt we’d be able to make a cake large enough to house a group of nine with a conventional oven in time to stop the Storm King.”

“Oh, you mean my Easy-Bake Party Cannon?” Pinkie says, reaching into her mane. “No worries, I’ve got it right here!”

Everyone’s confusion instantly turns to shock when Pinkie pulls the massive cake cannon from her mane, though the girls, Spike and Sonic, don’t seem too fazed by it.

“Holy-!” Tionic exclaims, his jaw dropping to the ground. He and the others they’d met were in varying states of shock after seeing the party mare pull something out that clearly shouldn’t fit in her mane. “How did you-?!”

“Don’t,” The Mane Six and Spike state, and Sonic lays a hand on Tionic’s shoulder. “Just don’t. You shouldn’t go down that rabbit hole and give yourself an aneurysm over it.”

“Jeez, she would be terrifying if Equestria ever went to war,” Tionic mutters, staring at Pinkie’s mane and tail. He shakes off the shock, and his serious attitude retakes control. “Okay then, looks like we have our cover. Since we need this to look as legit as possible, you girls will have to haul that cake with the rest of us inside.”

“What?!” Rarity screeches. “Absolutely not! I will not do any such thing! I’ve been chained up before, and I hated every moment!”

“Rarity, how do you think the guards will react if they see pirates, a hippogriff, Sonic and I waltzing around?” He explains, hoping to reason with the fashionista. Please, you and the girls are the only ones who can do this.”

She scoffs, raising her head. She tries to act tough, but the pleading looks of her friends make it hard. “Ugh!” She groans, finally giving in. “Fine, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!”

“Thank you, Rarity. Also, you may want to mess up your mane and tail to make it more convincing.”

“WHAT?!”

---

At the city entrance, two guards wielding spears and shields stand vigilant, having been ordered to ensure nopony got in or out. The clank of wheels catches their attention, and they see a massive, light blue, three-tier cake with dark blue frosting adorning the edges. Each layer has a picture drawn into it: the top has hearts, the middle has the Storm King’s symbol, and the bottom has ponies with clamps on their necks. On top of the cake is Spike, breathing a constant stream of green flames while keeping his pose as still as possible.

The cart is hauled by the Mane Five, each in chains and looking miserable. Rainbow and Rarity are the closest to the cart; in front of them are Applejack and Fluttershy, and Pinkie is front and center. They’re led by Capper, who is wearing a cook’s apron and hat and holding an official-looking piece of paper with the Storm King’s emblem on the back.

Naturally, the guards are cautious, as seeing a cake being rolled up and led by a cat isn’t something you’d come across very often. They move their shields together to close the gap between them, preventing anyone from getting by.

---

“Capper, you can smooth talk your way out of practically any situation, right?”

“Give me a good reason to do it, and I’ll get what you want in no time.”

“Good, we’ll need you to work your magic with the guards if we’re to get in. Think you can manage that?”

“Oh, I’ll get us in there.”

---

“Uh, yeah, I got a delivery here for a Mister ‘The Storm King’,” Capper says, tapping the paper in his paws. “I was given explicit instructions to bring this here cake to this here castle's throne room.”

The guards look at each other, and after a second, they brandish their weapons at the cat, but he isn’t intimidated by it.

“All right,” Capper shrugs, sauntering back to the others. “Then can one of ya go tell your boss he's not getting his ‘congratulations on subduing defenseless pastel ponies’ cake? 'Cause I don't wanna be the one responsible for the big guy missing his special dessert. You know what I'm saying!”

He stops right before Pinkie, and she glumly looks up at the cat. He holds up three claws that only the girls can see and counts down. Once he closes his fist, he jabs a thumb back, and simultaneously, the guards step aside. Pinkie’s face lights up, and Capper winks at her before facing the guards.

“Thank you kindly, fellas. Imma be sure and put in a good word for the both of you.” He slightly leans back to the cake, lowering his voice so the guards can’t hear him. “We’re in, just a little farther.”

He leads the girls ahead, nodding to the guards as he passes. The guards watch them pass by, and seeing Pinkie so happy raises their suspicions. Applejack notices the glares the guards are giving the bubbly mare, and she sees the happy look on her face.

“Pinkie, quit lookin' so happy!” Applejack hisses, worriedly watching the guards. “Ya ain't foolin' nopony!”

“Oh! Okay!” Pinkie whispers, nodding slightly. Her face immediately falls, and the guards, though confused, shrug it off and think nothing of it as they return to their posts. Capper and the Mane Five continue down the road, drawing closer and closer to the castle. They pass through the marketplace, where chained ponies and Mobians litter the grounds, each with Storm Guards watching them. In the pie stall, Grubber eyes the many delicacies on the counter, seeing which one looks the best.

“Mmm, pie!” He sighs, inhaling the sweet scent of breaded crust and the delicious insides. He was debating between apple pie and cherry pie when he spotted the massive cake the Mane Five were hauling go by. “Oh, hello, cake!”

He runs over to the slow-moving cart, clambering onto the back. “Ooh! Don't mind if I do!”

Grubber digs a good-sized chunk of cake with his paw and shoves it into his mouth. His tastebuds explode with sugary sweetness, and he groans in satisfaction.

“Mmm! That's some gourmet-level icing!” He goes for another scoop but freezes when he looks at the first spot he took from. A red eye stares back at him. “Wait, who puts eyeballs in filling?” The eye blinks, and Grubber panics, realizing something is wrong. “Guards!”

Squabble pops out of the cake and yanks Grubber inside, and the hole closes on itself. But it was too late, as every Storm Guard in the area converged on Capper and the Mane Five.

“Uh-oh,” Capper gulps. “Plan B?”

---

“If we’re ever discovered, we’ll need one of you to signal us. Dash, can you handle that?”

“You can count on me!”

---

“The jig is up!” Rainbow exclaims, and she kicks the base of the cart. Time crawls to a standstill when the cake explodes, and Celaeno and her crew jump out, each brandishing their weapon of choice. Behind them on the cart, Sonic revs a Spindash, and Tionic charges his powers next to him, electricity crackling off him and bouncing off Sonic.

“THE CAKE IS A LIE!!” Tionic shouts, laughing like a maniac as time flows normally, and he and Sonic boost off, slamming into a group of guards. Somewhere in the castle, a certain alicorn statue twitches despite being encased in stone. Back in the marketplace, the Storm Guards are getting their butts handed to them. Despite their numbers, none of them is a match for a pirate crew, a hippogriff, three supersonic beings, three ponies, and Pinkie Pie.

Everyone is quick to get to work, each dealing with guards in their own way. Boyle uses his hook to snag spears out of guards’ hands and throw them away, giving way for him to conk them upside the head. The few that stay upright are easily punched in the face or gut, knocking them out.

Skystar dodges a few spears thrown at her, and she spots a line guard nearby. She swoops down and easily picks up a guard before flinging him at four others who try to corner Spike. Still, his emerald fire keeps them at bay long enough for the falling guard to knock them over like bowling pins, evident from the sound of pins being knocked over coming from somewhere.

Squabble jams his inner tube over a guard, squeezing his arms together and preventing him from using the weapons he dropped. Despite her size, Lix is quick on her claws and gets behind a guard to kick a guard in the back with her claw. He screams in pain, holding his punctured backside while Lix jumps over him and brings her pot down on his head with a clang. His head vibrates briefly before he hits the pavement face-first, and Lix laughs at the sight.

Sonic, Rainbow, and Tionic work in perfect sync, and the speedsters make quick work of the majority of the guards. Tionic and Rainbow round a few together, punching and bucking them close together while Sonic revs a Spindash before launching himself at them, sending them flying. Not wasting a second, Sonic uncurls and bleeds enough speed to make a sharp drift, easily turning around before boosting back into the fray.

Meanwhile, Applejack shows why she’s a master with a rope, binding a guard’s arms together and yanking him down to the ground. She gallops around him a few times, ensuring she got his legs before giving a mighty tug, which flips the guard on his back and lets Applejack finish tying him down.

A group of guards charges at Applejack, but a pink ribbon held up by Rarity and Capper at ankle level trips them, and before they can recover, Rarity tightly wraps the ribbon around them. She ties it off with a bow, and she admires her handiwork. “Lovely!”

Elsewhere, Pinkie presents a blue box with a pink ribbon to a guard. “Surprise!” She exclaims before zipping away. The guard opens it to see Pinkie pop out of the box with a pink cupcake in hoof. “Double surprise!”

She smashes the cupcake on his face, splattering pink frosting on the building behind and making the guard drop the box. She hops out of it and, standing on her back hooves, flings more cupcakes at him from somewhere. The guard desperately tries to block them, but he can only do so much when multiple sugary projectiles are coming at him at insane speeds, and he’s pressed against the building before he collapses. Despite it only being cupcakes, anyone who didn’t have any context would tell you that this might as well be a murder scene, considering the limp guard on the floor, the way the frosting hits the wall, the maniac look on Pinkie’s face and crazed laughter from her as she did all this. “Whee!”

Fluttershy, as usual, hides and avoids getting into any fights. She’s about to run for a nearby alleyway when a large shadow covers her form, making her freeze as her breathing quickens and her ears flatten against her head. Turning around, her eyes shrink to pinpricks when she sees a guard reeling a fist back to attack her.

“EEK!” She screams, clenching her eyes shut and curling into a ball, her hair automatically covering her. She waits for the pain to come but hears a loud crack, and something heavy hits the ground. Peeking out from her hair, she sees Tionic scowling at the unconscious guard, his foot planted in its face. Tionic’s powers spark around him, and he snorts before backflipping off the guard and landing next to Fluttershy, making her flinch.

“You alright?” He asks, kneeling to Fluttershy’s level and patting the ball of pink hair. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Fluttershy slowly uncurls, looking around before she shakes her head. “N-no, he didn’t. I think you stopped him right before he was about to. Thank you, Tionic.”

“You’re welcome, Fluttershy,” He grins, standing as his powers turn back on. “Now, how ‘bout we get you with the others? They’ll keep you safe.”

She nods, but something creeping up behind Tionic catches her eye. Looking behind him, her eyes widen in horror when she sees two Storm Guards ready to skewer the Spark with their spears.

“Tionic, look out!” Fluttershy screams, pointing behind him. Tionic turns to see what she is pointing to, but her warning comes too late. The spears were inches from his torso, and time slowed as his eyes shrank in horror.

‘No!’ His mind screams, watching as they draw closer and closer. ‘I can’t move out of the way! If I did, Fluttershy would just take my place! No matter what happens, one of us will-!’

LASER!

As the tips of the spears touch Tionic’s shirt, two beams of cyan energy bounce off the guards’ wrists, snapping them before slamming into their faces. The guards are sent crashing into a wall, and the lasers careen off behind Fluttershy and Tionic before stopping. They flash as Cyan Wisps exit their bodies, revealing Sonic and Rainbow crouched in their place. The Wisps give them a fist/hoofbump before flying away to help someone else escape or fight.

“Sonic, Rainbow!” Tionic smiles and lets out a sigh of relief as he wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. “Thanks for the save! I thought I was gonna be a Spark kebob there for a second!”

“Anything for a friend!” Sonic winks, giving him a thumbs up. He then gestures for them to follow, and Rainbow grabs Fluttershy’s hoof, making her squeak as the prismatic mare boosts off. “Now, c’mon! The others are waiting for us!”

Tionic nods, and he falls in step with the hedgehog. “By the way, were those Wisps earlier?” He asks, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ve seen them around Canterlot and Ponyville a few times, but I didn’t know they could do that!”

“Yeah, they were,” Sonic nods, confirming Tionic’s suspicions. “I helped save their planet a few years back, and a bunch stayed behind. What you saw was one of their abilities, but I’ll explain later – we’ve got a city to take back and a king to dethrone!”

They spot a large group of guards charging toward them, and they both grin. Sonic jumps and spins midair, charging a Dropdash, while Tionic stops and curls up, attempting a Spindash. When Sonic hits the ground, Tionic releases, and the two blitz off, slamming into the guards and knocking them over like bowling pins. They reach the end of the street and grab onto light posts, swinging around to keep their momentum as they head back to the market.

Celaeno parries and attacks with her sword, easily keeping the guard she was fighting from finding an opening to attack. She watches Tionic and Sonic slam guards into the ground and buildings left and right, thinning the crowd to a manageable level.

“Head for the castle!” Celaeno shouts to her new friends, knocking the spear out of a guards’ hands and kicking it away with her peg leg. “My crew and I will hold them off!”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Tionic salutes, sliding under the wild swing of a guard as he focuses his powers. Reeling his electrically covered fist back, he springs up and uppercuts the guard, a loud *CRACK* echoing through the market as it’s jaw breaks, knocking him high above the buildings. Tionic waves to the others to follow him as the guard falls headfirst behind him, its head embedded deep in the cobblestone street. “Alright, everyone, let’s go!”

Everyone follows Tionic out of the marketplace, leaving the pirates to handle the guards themselves. As they go further into the city, Canterlot Castle comes into view, and Tionic gazes at it.

‘Almost there,’ He thinks and focuses his determined expression ahead. ‘Just hang on Twilight, we’re coming.’

They spot the stairs leading to the courtyard, but as they climb them, a whole platoon of guards charges around the corner and up the stairs after them. Skystar sees them and scowls as she turns to the approaching enemies.

“Keep going!” She shouts back, and Tionic nods, giving her a thumbs up. Skystar pulls out her pet shells from her mane as her friends keep going, a determined glare on her face. “Shelly? Sheldon?”

Skystar throws the two of them, chattering like crazy as they home in on a guard’s face and latch on his eyes, making him scream in pain and try to remove the clamps. He loses his balance and falls down the stairs, taking a few others with him. The princess then swoops in and picks up another guard, and with a well-timed release, launches him at a group of guards attempting to rush past her, sending them tumbling heads over tails down the stairs.

The Mane Six and Co. quickly reach the top of the stairs, but they’re met with a less than pleasant surprise – the courtyard is filled with Storm Guards, all fully equipped and ready to capture them.

“Uh-oh,” Capper gulps, stepping back a little. Applejack and Rainbow crouch before them, and Sonic and Tionic step forward, grinning as they crack their knuckles.

“Ooh, this is gonna be fun!” Sonic chuckles, crouching into a runner’s stance. Tionic follows suit, and the both of them rev their feet for a Super-Peelout. They look at each other, nodding before blitzing in different directions. The speedsters bounce off guards and walls like pinballs, knocking them down or flying over the edge, never to be seen again.

Back with the girls, a few guards that slipped past the bouncing hedgehogs try to corner them. As Capper looks around, his attention is drawn to Spike, and an idea pops into his head. “Hey, aren’t you a fire-breathing dragon?”

Spike looks at Capper, confused as to why he’d ask that now of all times, but he realizes what the cat was implying. He grins toothily, pushing fire through the sides of his mouth. Capper picks the dragon up, holding his arms and tail to keep his aim steady. Spike readies his flames, and when he feels Capper angle his tail down, he releases it. Green flames fly from his mouth, and the heat drives the guards back. Some try to block the fire with their shields, but the heat is so intense that it almost melts the shield to slag, forcing the guards to drop them and shake their burned hands to cool off.

“This is my flammenwerfer!” Capper cackles, whipping the stream of emerald fire at the Storm Guards, driving them farther back. One trips, and to his comrades’ horror, he’s consumed by the fire and disappears without a trace. “It werfs flammen!”

On the balcony overlooking the courtyard, the Storm King, Tempest, and Twilight watch in anger, shock, and awe as the guards are mowed down by fire and quill.

“What?!” Tempest gawks, her jaw dropping to the floor. “How?!”

“It's...” Twilight starts, grinning as tears nip her eyes. “It's the magic of...”

“Yeah, yeah! Friendship, and flowers, and ponies, and bleh!” The Storm King interrupts, wrapping an arm around Twilight and Tempest. He lets go of them, clenching the Staff of Sacanas. “I’m so totally over the cute pony thing. This... ends... now!”

He raises the staff, firing a bolt of electrically fused mana into the sky, striking the dirty clouds above and causing them to rumble. The clouds start to move, spiraling around the mana bolt and converging on the Storm King. His eyes glow blue as the clouds grow closer, and lightning flashes from the staff to the budding storm.

Down below, the Mane Party had dealt with most of the guards, and the ones left behind were turning tail and running from the flames of Spike and the quills of the bouncing speedsters. As Capper sweeps Spikes's flames across the floor, the swirling clouds above catch his attention, and he stops his barbecuing spree.

“Uh-oh,” Capper gulps, letting go of Spike and letting him jump down. “That can’t be good.”

“Oh really?” Spike deadpans, looking at the cat with a bored expression. “What gave it away, genius?”

Strong gusts of wind buffet the courtyard when the tornado fully forms, and it’s enough to make Sonic and Tionic lose their footing and slam into each other. The two speedsters fall on their backs, groaning in pain as they rub their aching heads from the impact.

“Move them hooves and feet, everyone!” Capper exclaims, running towards the stairs. Sonic and Tionic quickly shake the pain away and scramble away just as the tornado touches down. They run back down the stairs and into the city, but the wind is still powerful even from there.

“How are we supposed to get up there?!” Rainbow exclaims, struggling to keep herself steady. “Sonic and Tionic might be able to, but I don’t think I can break through that without getting some speed built up!”

“Sonic!” Tionic calls out, catching the hedgehog’s attention. “Do you think you can run fast enough counterclockwise to slow the tornado down?”

“Oh, now you’re talking my language!” Sonic cheers, pumping a fist. He revs up for another Super-Peelout, but right as he’s about to release, a White Wisp flies over to him and enters his body, giving the red figure eight underneath him a white aura. He chuckles as the Wisp’s power flows through him, feeling his feet move faster and faster. He grins, saying, “Gotta go fast!”

-and breaks the sound barrier several times on launch. He runs up the stairs and circles the courtyard hundreds of times within seconds, a blue tornado with red-tinged, white shockwaves at the bottom quickly forming. Sonic runs faster and faster, becoming nothing but a blue, white, and red blur. His tornado surrounds the Storm King’s, and the two clash with a might rivaling the strongest hurricane's strength.

The wind whips everywhere, buffeting everyone in the city and flinging anything not part of the ground off the mountain. Sonic’s tornado easily cancels out the Storm King’s, slowing it down to a manageable level. Tionic runs back to the courtyard, getting as close as he dares to the whirlwinds, and calls out to Sonic.

“Alright, that’s good, Sonic!” Tionic shouts, cupping his hands over his mouth to carry it over the roaring wind. “Keep that up for a minute. I’ve got an idea of how to get up there!”

“You got it!” Sonic shouts back, and he locks his speed at a constant to keep his tornado going. The boost from the Wisp runs out as the White Wisp exits his body, but he doesn’t slow down for a second. Seeing Sonic had it under control, Tionic runs back down and to the others. “Pinkie, do you still have that cannon?”

She instantly sees what Tionic is planning and nods, grinning as she pulls out the massive cannon from her mane again. “Excellent idea, Tionic!”

Back on the balcony, the Storm King revels in the power flowing through him and the wind whipping around his storm. He laughs like a madman, enjoying every moment of his display of power to Equestria.

“Now I truly am the Storm King!” He exclaims as thunder and lighting flash across the whirlwind. He doesn’t notice that the wind has died substantially, nor does he see the blue tornado beneath his slowing it down. “And the entire world will bow to my ba-ba-ba-boom, baby!

“Yes, yes, you are every bit as powerful as I promised, Sire,” Tempest says hurriedly, trotting up beside the yeti king. “Now, please restore my horn, and I swear to use my magic to serve you!”

“Pfft!” The Storm King scoffs, grabbing Tempest’s muzzle and shaking it. He lets go and flicks her horn as he walks by. “Who cares about your dinky little unicorn horn?!”

“What?!” Tempest gasps, her eyes slamming open in shock. “B-but... you… you said you would restore my horn once I gave you the power you desired!”

“Get with the program!” He chuckles darkly. “I used you! It's kind of what I do!”

He aims the staff at Tempest and fires three bolts, but she easily dodges them, thanks to her training. She fires her attack simultaneously with her former leader, and the two attacks explode, knocking them off their feet and hooves. The Storm King was thrown to the wall, knocking the air out of his lungs as he fell to the ground, but Tempest wasn’t so lucky. Due to how powerful the tornado was, she was lifted off her hooves and would’ve been thrown off the side of the mountain had she not grabbed hold of the railing. But she could only hold on for so long as her grip slowly weakened.

Twilight gasps at the sight. The purple alicorn looks back and forth between Tempest and the Storm King, debating whether she should take the staff and save Equestria - or Tempest. To her, the choice was obvious.

Tempest tried to pull herself back, but her strength was waning. The scarred unicorn tries one last time, but it's all she can give, and she watches in horror as her grip fails. At that moment, Tempest regretted every decision she made up to this point. But to her shock, she stops moving when purple hooves wrap around her own, keeping her from falling to her death.

“Hold on!” Twilight exclaims, and she adjusts her grip on Tempest.

“Why are you saving me?!” She exclaims, doing precisely what she was told, and wraps her other hoof around Twilight’s. “After everything I did to you?!”

“Because this is what friends do.”

Using all her strength, Twilight yanks Tempest back onto the balcony, and they collapse on their sides. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, smiling as Tempest looked back at her savior. The moment is ruined when the Storm King speaks, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Awwww! Isn't that just so sweet!” He laughs and aims the staff at them. “Yeah. See ya.”

“NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!”

The Storm King turns around to find the source of the shout, only to have an electric fist pile-driven into his face with the force of a flying SABOT round. The punch's force launches him through the window, shattering it as he crashes back into the throne room, surrounded by glass shards and rubble from the crater his body created on impact. Tionic lands gracefully, followed by Sonic landing right behind him and the pony pile of the girls and Spike flying over the railing and tumbling to a stop. They had used Pinkie’s Easy-Bake Cannon to launch themselves through the tornado and couldn’t have had better timing.

“Tionic?!” Twilight exclaims, scrambling to her hooves as her friends untangle themselves. “Girls, Sonic, Spike, you came back! I’m sorry about what I said, and Tionic, I’m so sor-!”

“Save it for later, Twilight,” Tionic snaps, his sharp tone making Twilight flinch as her ears splay against her head. “We have other problems to deal with right now.”

He gestures to the new hole in the throne room, and growling from inside indicates that the Storm King is back up, and he isn’t happy. The Staff of Sacanas sparks violently in his claw, and his eyes glow brightly, illuminating the murderous glare he gave his attackers.

Author's Note:

Here we go, it's time for the Mane Party and Tionic to dethrone a king! Who will win? How will our heroes prevail? Stay tuned to find out next chapter, ‘The Final Battle!’

As usual, comments are encouraged and appreciated! Hope you enjoyed reading this and can't wait for the next chapter to come out!