Note: The "yay" is sarcastic. Anyways, I think you can guess what this is about by the title.
But if you want the long description, here it is: The Storm King has been given a second chance by attending a Redemption Class in Twilight's School of Friendship (with that particular class being taught by Discord because he would not stop bugging everyone about it). Of course, redeeming him isn't going to be that easy but, as you can tell by the title, he will come around (especially when there is a worse threat at stake).
In spite of the name, no, there is no Jim Carrey or Neil Patrick Harris to be found here so prepare to be disappointed if you were hoping for that. The only reason I named this fanfic like that is because it sets up the satyr-ical (get it, because The Storm King looks a little bit like a satyr) tone of the fanfic.
The Storm King finally did it! He has the power of the princesses and is now going to create the storm to end all storms (and that place with all the cute ponies while he's at it). Then, just before he can deal the finishing blow to one of those unicorn pegasus things, whatever they're called, a bunch of other ponies fly right into him (and then the castle he's in starts collapsing but that's hardly relevent).
"Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark" The Storm King thought to himself as he climbed through some rubble "Hey, where's my sta..."
But before he can finish his sentence, he noticed the Staff of Sacanas sticking out of a window, and those pesky little ponies are about to grab it!
"The staff belongs to me" he said in a very menacing tone as he climbed and crawled closer to the staff while the ponies desperately tried to reach for it. While the one in the front could have easily used her magic or something to telekinetically pull it out, but given the circumstances (and the fact that magic usually requires concentration instead of snapping fingers or waving a magic staff around like a lunatic), that isn't really an option.
"NO! THAT'S MY STAFF!" he said, hoping the cute ponies would hear him and...well...keep away from his staff.
"MINE!"
But before he could grab it, the window broke, sending him into that beautiful storm that he created. So much for making everyone bow to your ba-ba-ba-boom, Stormy! "I think I'm gonna be siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!" he thought to himself, trying to keep his lunch down before and after the storm had settled. But he eventually gave up and an unfortunate underling of his wound up with his lunch instead, all over his fur. The underling looked up at his master, who was already in a bad mood, prompting him to angrily yell (outside of earshot of the ponies in case you're wondering) "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!". After he had done more frustrating climbing, he looked at the ponies and decided he was EXTREMELY over with the cute pony thing! As he grabbed an Obsidian Orb from....you don't want to know that part, he slowly and sinisterly aimed the Orb at those meddling ponies, desperately trying not to give an evil cackle while he was at it, but when he threw it, that unicorn with the broken horn got in the way (much to his dismay).
As he slowly turned into stone, he can only get out the first part of this sentence before being petrified by his predicament:
One night, a dark blue alicorn and a chaos loving draconequus walked into the Everfree Forest with a bag full of what appears to be the shattered parts of a statue whose head was frozen in fear. While there, the draconequus sampled some magical treesap and slathered it all over the pieces in order to stick them back together (and then he sniffed it).
"What are you doing?" the alicorn asked, befuddled by her associate's oddball, but not as surprising as one would expect, behaviour.
"Hmm" the draconequus said, stroking his beard in a thoughtful manner "I prefer glue".
"I do not want to know of this 'glue' substance that you speak of"
Relax, Lulu! It's from another dimension (though one with less magic than this one)"
"Can we please get on with the ritual? I feel uncomfortable using this sort of magic"
"I actually used this type of magic on some skeletons to make them dance a little jig, better than zombies doing it, I promise"
"Why would you defile the departed like that?!"
"It's not defilement! They were happy to be alive for just one night! Plus, it was Nightmare Night and I wanted to do something special since it was my first Nightmare Night"
"As long as everyone was happy, I suppose it was better than what I did for my first Nightmare Night"
"Pinkie told me all about it and by Celestia that was hysterical! You're almost as chaotic as me, Luna!"
Luna chuckled at that statement
"So what was it like? Being Nightmare Moon?" the draconequus asked "Was it fun?"
Luna gave a frown at the draconequus, giving him an answer as clear as day as to what she thought about being Nightmare Moon. But she managed to get her own back on the (unwittingly) insensitive draconequus.
"Which one was the worst for you? Being petrified for a longer time than I was Nightmare Moon? Or losing not only your magic and the only friends you ever made?"
"Ooh, that hurt!" he said, hissing at that statement "I'm guessing this is the 'banter' that certain friends like to participate in"
"I highly doubt that" Luna said "There are limits as to what's allowed to be made fun of and what's not, and talking about our past grievances is MOST CERTAINLY NOT!!!"
Both Luna and Discord looked at each other in shock
And then they stared into each other's eyes
And they kissed
PSYCH! I got you good, didn't I? Everyone knows Fluttercord is OTP! (in spite of the age gap). But to wrap up a long chapter filled with nothing but two characters you rarely see interacting with one another (and given their respective imprisonments, I'm surprised they haven't at least talked about their pasts once), they apologized to each other and set up the ritual to resurrect The Storm King. And why are they resurrecting him? You will find out in the chapter appropriately titled "Resurrection".
As Luna and Discord chanted in the old Equestrian tongue, the pieced together statue of The Storm King floated up with arcane energies surrounding it. Then the chanting grew louder and louder as the wind blew at the candles and the ground started shaking! Until finally, the hard rock that made up The Storm King's petrified form slowly became all furry. And when the ritual was complete, the first thing that came to The Storm King's mind was to finish what he started.
And by that, I meant the sentence he was saying while being metaphorically hoist by his own petard.
"YOU..." but before The Storm King could finish his sentence, his mouth has spontaneously turned into a zip, causing him to communicate in muffled yells and words that honestly wouldn't be out of place in one of my animations. "What's the magic word?" Discord said as he listened to The Storm King's muffled grunts and yells things that I dare not say in an E rated fanfiction.
"Nope, that's not it"
"Wrong again"
"Did you kiss your mother with that mouth before I turned it into a zip?"
"There it is"
SNAP!
The Storm King gasped for breath in relief of having a mouth again, then he looked at the two creatures standing before him, one of which he recognized.
"Hey, I know you!" he said, pointing at Luna "You're one of those Uni-pega-coni-cusses or whatever you call yourselves"
"Alicorn"
"Yes, one of those, and what the Tarturus are you suppose to be?!"
"A draconequus" Discord said "Head of a pony, body made up all sorts of other parts, resident of a place rather conveniently called Chaosville"
"Chaosville, huh? I've been to that place, then left because I didn't know how to navigate it and didn't think it was worth conquering"
"Was it before or after I reformed myself?"
"Well if you reformed yourself, you done a terrible job of it! I mean everything about you is mismatched"
"Well now, there's no need to be like that, Mr I don't know the name of your species"
"And you'll never know, because I don't know either"
"Well you're going to know in a minute"
SNAP!
"Cluck Cluck Pukaaak" (that's chicken for "TURN ME BACK TO NORMAL, YOU FREAK!")
SNAP!
"Wonderful weather we're having"
Discord shuddered, realizing that he has most certainly gone too far this time.
SNAP!
"Ah, that's better" both Discord and The Storm King said in relief "Sooooooo" The Storm King said "What exactly am I doing here, anyways?"
"Quite simple, actually" Discord said before clearing his throat "After a pile of manure for a chancellor named Neighsay lightened up on our little school (and after we'd thrown a little pegasus filly into Tartarus) Celestia came to me and Lulu here specifically to, how she said, give you a second chance"
"You're kidding, right?"
"Well" Luna spoke up "It was more after making me, Discord, Sombra, Starlight Glimmer and the changelings change our ways"
"And that last one was a surprise because I'm the spirit of Chaos and formerly Disharmony and not even I could have thought up of something as the changelings....well...changing their ways"
"In spite of the fact that they're called changelings?"
"That's more to do with the fact that they can do this" Discord said as he does a bit of Spongebob-esque shapeshifting.
"Excuse me but do I look like I live in a pineapple under the sea?!"
Oh yes, I forgot that you have a better understanding of popular culture than Pinkie Pie. What can I say? You're both fellow fourth-wall breakers.
"Uh....who are you talking to?" The Storm King asked, confused and a little bit annoyed by Discord's supposed madness.
"Apparently, he happens to be friends with Pinkie Pie's imaginary friends" Luna said, trying not to sound deadpan because of the absurdity of what she just said.
"Aaaaaanyways" The Storm King says, trying to get the Tarturus out of this forest ASAP "What would happen to me if I refuse your offer for redemption and the only thing I'll be reforming would be my kingdom?"
Luna pondered at The Storm King's question and answered "I admit, Celly and I haven't thought that part through, but if you do play up, Discord here will use his mind magic into brainwashing you into being good"
"GASP! LUNA!" Discord said in faux shock while tickling me with his tail as I beg him to stop while typing this and laughing my head off. I am literally using a stick to type this at the moment "I'm shocked that you would think I'd use magic like that, even it's for a good reason" he said, pretending to sound as offended as possible for the sake of this punchline:
"I'm not Starlight Glimmer!"
HAHAHAHAHAHA! GOOD ONE! HOHOHOHOHAHAHAHA!!!
"Ooh, that reminds me, you are going to stick your hoof up your nose and eat your greens" he said, waving his hand before snapping his fingers
Luna's eyes shrank and her jaw dropped slightly, with her saying in a trance-like monotone (up until the last part, of course)
"I will stick my hoof up my nose and eat my...DON'T DO THAT!"
Discord wraps his arm around me as we both laugh until my eyes start watering, then he slugs me.
After getting my butt handed to me by the greatest draconequus that ever lived, Stormy decided to speak (that's right, I'm calling him Stormy because it would take forever if I kept typing "The Storm King" every time he makes an appearence).
"Okay, you win, I'll take your little 'Redemption Class', but only because I don't want to be hypnotized into eating my own boogers!"
I had no idea he was so subconsciously willing to dig for green liquid gold, and if I was, I would have had him repeatedly punch himself in his Cock...atrice Balls (or Obsidian Orbs if you want to be fancy). And so we headed off so Stormy can learn a thing or two about mhtrrrrrrrrrrrrrefsrdegv rgr..........
Word of advice, Discord: Never mess with a carpenter or a guy that looks like a carpenter (the latter in my case).
Hmm....Stormy....I like the sound of that (even though I used it in the first chapter). Let me get you a First Aid Kit and a bag of ice to make up for slamming your head onto my keyboard. And besides, what's he got against people who eat their own boogers?! I know it's disgusting but I got Pica so shut up!
As Stormy was (unwillingly) getting ready for his first day of being a good guy, he comes across a former associate of his. One with a distinctive mohawk and an even more distinctive broken horn.
"Tempest" Stormy said, with mild disdain
"Storm King" Tempest said in the same tone
"No one, not even myself, is allowed to call me that! I now have to be called 'Stormy', I HATE IT!"
"Better than Fizzlepop Berrytwist, that's for sure"
"What are you doing here anyways? I thought you'd be friends with the ponies by now"
"According to the draconequus, my appearance frightens the other students, which is ridiculous because this school has changelings for students here"
"I'm just here for the cake" said a familiar lispy voice behind them. They both turned around to see Grubber, enjoying a massive cake that on top says "Welcome to being good".
"Oh, and Grubber talked me into it" Tempest said
As the three waited in the classroom, Discord walked in wearing a wig, a black cloak and talking in a funny voice that I..and Benedict Cumberbatch...can easily...impersonate.
"There will be no wand waving and silly incantations in this classroom, I am Professor Disnape, I mean Discord, and I will be teaching you how to be good guys"
Grubber put his hand up
"Yes....Grubber?"
"Do we get to play trumpets?"
"No...that's for when you're being taught.....how to be.....villains, we do not have a class for being villains for obvious reasons"
Five hours of explaining the basics of being a good guy, much to the frustration and boredom of everyone in the class (including Grubber) Discord proceeded with the first exercise of being good, along with the strapping tickle belts on everyone as they snoozed or in Tempest's case lying there looking absolutely bored. He teleported everyone out of the classroom and played a trumpet very loudly to wake everyone up (and no, he did not play "We Are Number One" because that is for villains).
"Goodness lesson #1, you see someone drop their.....wallet, what....do you....do?"
He then tells Grubber to drop his wallet and then tells Stormy to pick it up and give it to Grubber. Simple enough, right? Buuuuuut since this is Discord we're on about, he's not going to make it easy.
"Uh, Stormy? That's not my wallet"
"What?! But I just saw you drop it!"
"Yeah, but it's not mine"
"What are you saying, that you just picked up a random wallet and decided to throw it on the floor for no reason?!"
"I did drop my wallet, but that wallet isn't mine"
"Well, it's got your ID!"
"Yes, but my wallet is black and had your logo on it"
Stormy growled and grabbed Grubber by the throat "Listen, Grubber" he said in a deep, snarling voice "If you don't accept this wallet that I took the time of day to pick up, I will make all of your teeth look like Tempest's horn"
Then Stormy fell to the floor clutching his ribs while rolling on the floor laughing until his aformentioned ribs ached.
"The real lesson herrrre is to have....patience and to realize you can't snap.....your problems away" Discord said as he snapped the wallet back to being Grubber's wallet.
The next lesson involves Discord having Grubber lift a heavy package (along with him promising Grubber that he won't use his magic to mess with them this time) in order to teach Stormy how to help people when they are clearly struggling rather than with something that wouldn't be noticed later such as a dropped wallet. However, due to the package being ridiculously heavy, Grubber could barely hold it, causing him to drop it on Stormy's feet. Multiple times I might add. When Stormy opened the box to find out what the heavy thing annihilating his feet were, he discovered, much to his extreme frustration, that they were Storm King brand wallets identical to the one Grubber has.
A blue unicorn whose mane is a lighter shade of blue in comparison to her coat woke up in a dark and unfamiliar place. Surrounding her were statues of various conditions, but they all had one thing in common: They all had a fear of expression on their face. While getting up and trying to figure out where she was, she bumped into a statue that was right behind her. And when she turned around, she was petrified (metaphorically speaking). In front of her was a statue that heavily resembled the princess and considering she was there at the Storm King incident, it wouldn't be surprising if that was the princess. Luckily, a deep raspy voice corrected her fears, although what the voice said was probably just as bad.
"Do not worry, child. That is not your Celestia but merely one from another dimension. One where she is not a princess but rather a headteacher, just like her student in this dimension"
The unicorn looked at the creature in terror. The creature was a dark blue with a green underbelly and an unusually shaped horn appendage on his head. He also had two bone claws protruding from the back of his arm. His sickly green glowing eyes glared at Trixie as the rows of teeth that only barely resembled a mouth smirked.
"I haven't introduced myself. I am Lord Sanies, and you are Trixie Lulamoon, correct?"
Trixie was at a loss of words for what the creature just said "H..H..How did you know Trixie's name?" Not even bothering with the "Great and Powerful" part of her name. The creature kept smirking at her.
"Simple, I read your mind while you were unconscious"
"W...what?"
"Given your moniker of the 'Great and Powerful', I thought you might become a useful asset. But looking into your mind and seeing you're just a petty stage magician, your reputation doesn't even precede you. However, I still have some small use for you since you have some......very.....powerful...friends."
As Sanies slowly advanced towards Trixie with a predatory look in his eyes and a smile that would make a crocodile green with envy, he spoke up again.
"If you co-operate with me, perhaps I will be merciful enough not to petrify you like I did my last puppet"
He then gently stroked Trixie's mane while taking a good look at the fear written on Trixie's face
"Here's what I want, Trixie! It's not much and it might actually make you as great and powerful as your name suggests"
"W...what do you want?"
"Your body"
At this point, or any other point since Sanies made his introduction, Trixie would have run for her life screaming her lungs out. But she couldn't move. She tried to move but she can't. Something must be holding her in place. All she could see were Sanies' glowing green eyes staring at her with malicious intent. Sanies grabbed the frightened mare by the neck and began slightly stroking her cheek with his thumb. "Perhaps I should mention that my little occupation within your mortal form is going to be temporary, but if that and freedom isn't enough to persuade you, I'm afraid I'm going to have to use....other.....methods of persuasion".
Stormy walked out of the classroom in a huff, clearly frustrated with the whole concept of being a good guy. He doesn't know what's worse, having to be "friends" with the cute ponies or the fact that 50% of Discord's Goodness Lessons consisted of him messing with his students (hey, this is Discord after all). As he walked off muttering and cursing to himself, a raspy and somewhat unnatural voice called out to him.
"Storm King"
He looked over to see who said that and noticed a unicorn with a blue coat and and lighter blue mane. The unicorn was hunched over, looking like she had too much cider and didn't know which planet she was on. Then the unicorn stared up at Stormy and opened up her eyes, which were glowing a sickly green.
"Woah, what's up the with the eyes?"
"I figured making my possession of this host a little obvious would provide me with your attention"
"You're not one of those unicorn things, are you?"
"No, but I know a bit of Tartarian Mind Magic to bend these little ponies to my will"
"Tartarian what?"
"Obviously, the magic wasn't practiced in Tartarus, but most of the practitioners of this type of magic usually get imprisoned in Tartarus for their troubles"
"Uh huh, and what would you want with me?"
"I have a proposition for you, but I will have to tell you in my lair within the Everfree Forest"
"Why not tell me now?"
"Because it would be out of place for a stage magician that happens to be friends with someone associated with the Princess of Friendship to be talking about magic that not only would be impossible to use given her skill set, but would probably have her become cellmates with Tirek within Tartarus"
"And yet the creepy glowing eyes and looking like a zombie doesn't tip people off?"
The unicorn (or rather the creature possessing the unicorn) smirked and, with a light of her horn, dark magic swirled around her as her eyes closed. When she opened them, not only was she less disheveled, but her eyes were no longer glowing.
"You were saying?"
"Well if you could do that, then why don't you just..."
ZAP!
"Teleport us to my lair? I was thinking the same thing, must be the showmanship in this host"
A dark essence left the unicorn as her face twitched and convulsed, along with a few subtle twitches and convulsions around the rest of her body, and then she fell to the floor, shivering and breathing shakily. The essence then entered what appeared to be a dark blue dragon that, because of it's death-like stillness, could be mistaken for a gargoyle made of stone. The creature then opened one of it's eyes.
"Aah, feels good to be back in my own flesh and blood"
Stormy looked at the creature in wonder. Two things popped into his head: 1. Is there any way he can convince the creature to teach him that? 2. If not, then is there any way to steal such power from the creature? Then the creature spoke again.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Lord Sanies"
"Never heard of you"
"Ditto, but that doesn't prevent me from knowing a potential ally when I see one"
"In case you didn't know, thanks to those meddling ponies, I DON'T HAVE A KINGDOM ANYMORE! SO WHAT GOOD CAN I DO YOU?!"
"Temper temper, your highness. I know that your kingdom is in shambles, like you once were, but with my help I can restore you to your former glory"
"What do you mean by I was in 'shambles'?"
"When I found you, all that was left of you were some stone pieces of what was once your body. Reminded me of some of my victims during my tenure as a dark lord"
Stormy looked around and noticed several smashed statues, some of which showed expressions of terror (or what's left of them did). He then looked back at the creature, who appeared to be smirking menacingly at him. Then the creature gave a little chuckle.
"Do not worry, your highness. You already suffered the same fate as them, why would I want to ressurect you if I could have left you in pieces? Just like your kingdom I might add, hehehehe!"
"Yeah, you're starting to bore me now so tell me what this deal is so I can be on my way?"
Sanies crouched on a little pirch and told Stormy of the deal
"Here is my proposition, my little monarch. I give you nigh unlimited power, and in return, you conquer Equestria for me" Stormy gave Sanies a funny look and laughed "Are you serious?! That's all I have to do?! I conquered many lands before and THAT ONE was no different!"
"If it was no different, then why did it lead to your downfall?" Sanies asked in a deadpan tone "Besides, your army did all the hard work while you just sat around and messed about with a stick". Sanies then picked up a familiar staff. Stormy's eyes widen in surprise, then desire. He then tried to grab the staff while screaming "THE STAFF! GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!". After numerous unsuccessful attempts at getting the staff from Sanies' grasp, he collapsed from exhaustion.
"You know, I was once apprentice to Sacanas. He was an ambitious unicorn I promise you that" Sanies said, then he pointed at a broken statue of a cloaked unicorn whose eyes, or rather eye because there was nothing left of the other half of his face, screamed an expression of pain, betrayal and shock "Unfortunately for him, I was more ambitious". Sanies then picked Stormy up by the scruff of his neck.
"As I was saying, I'll give you the power to conquer Equestria all by yourself and you remain in my services for all of eternity"
"Ha! You think you can boss around The Storm King?! That's rich!"
Sanies dropped Stormy to the floor "Fine then, if you want to continue being a slave to the ponies instead of someone that's willing to restore your power, be my guest". Stormy growled at Sanies, then pondered on Sanies' deal.
"FINE! I'll be your humble lapdog or whatever, JUST GIVE ME THE POWER!"
"I knew you would listen to reason, but there is a catch"
"I DON'T CARE, GIMME THE POWAAH!!!"
"The catch is if you fail to defeat the Elements of Harmony and bring them to me, you will be taking their place for a spell I've been practicing"
"The what?"
"The 'cute little ponies' that defeated you the first time, with some help from your former commander Tempest Shadow"
"Yeah, don't remind me"
"Do not worry, I tend to betray people before they have the chance to do the same to me. Only difference being I tend to petrify my enemies and destroy their petrified forms before they have the chance to turn my allies, and soon-to-be traitors, against me"
Sanies then grabs a dark purple pendant-shaped device. "This was from a dimension where I got this version of Celestia" he said as he pointed to a petrified Celestia. "You know, she didn't look like that when I captured her"
Stormy looked at the statue and had one question on his mind, which he would have asked if Sanies didn't interrupt him before he had the chance to speak.
"Why don't I use the doppelganger to take over Equestria? Because if our Celestia found out about her existence, I would be banished to Tarturus again. And trust me when I say our Celestia is far more powerful than this pretender"
Sanies handed the device over to Stormy "This was intended to be used to detect magic readings, but since their world has limited knowledge on how magic works, it absorbed the magic instead. Once you have absorbed enough magic and released it, you will take on a very powerful form capable of destroying the world"
"Uh huh, there's just one problem with that"
"What?"
"How can I conquer Equestria if this thing DESTROYS IT INSTEAD?!"
"Well, you never considered how using the princesses' magic would destroy all of Equestria while you were childishly fiddling with the Staff of Sacanas, so I'm sure using destructive power to rule the world would more than work in your favour"
Stormy fiddled around with the magical device, attempting to figure out how to unleash the magic Sanies was talking about. Sanies just gave a face palm, wondering how in Tartarus did this buffoon manage to conquer so many lands, including Equestria, without one of his underlings successfully usurping him. He then snatched the device away from Stormy.
"Hey, what gives?!"
"In case you weren't listening, this device requires you to ABSORB magic before unleashing it"
"Uh huh, but it doesn't appear to be absorbing anything"
"That's because I have prevented it from absorbing my magic, which if you bothered listening, I'm storing up for a spell"
"So where am I going to get this magic then?"
"Considering Celestia was merciful enough to give you a second chance, I'd suggest you continue attending that School of Friendship everyone was talking about"
"Well, if that's the case, how do I..."
Before he could say anymore, Sanies knocked Stormy out and teleported him back to the school. Sanies chuckled to himself a little bit while looking at the Celestia statue. "Celestia being merciful? I know she has lightened up ever since banishing her sister, but she is not that forgiving" he said as he chuckled some more.
Stormy woke up in front of the school, having little to no idea how he got there. All he could remember was a dream involving him talking to a dragon sorcerer guy that gave him a magical device thingy. Then he looked into where he used to keep his Obsidian Orbs (don't ask) and realized that it wasn't a dream, and the moment Discord showed up (still wearing his Professor Snape cosplay BTW) Stormy knew what to do. Problem is the magic doohickey began to work on it's own without Stormy touching it, absorbing Discord's magic and creating a portal to another world. As he stared at the portal, it hit him (as well as a music player, right on the head I might add). "You know what, I think it's time for another rebrand. From now on, I am......THE MAGIC KING!!!"
By the way, I'm still going to call him Stormy because Magic-y doesn't really roll off the tongue, does it? Anyways, Stormy pressed a button on the music player to make it play a very familiar song by Snap! (I know I said there would rather unfortunately be no Jim Carrey in this story, but I said nothing about no references to other films with Jim Carrey in it).
"I GOT THE POWER!"
While Starlight Glimmer was busy doing her thing in the school (and no, her thing isn't solving other people's problems by brainwashing them, contrary to what Discord said) she noticed all the ruckus Stormy was causing, including making Wilhelm Scream fall down one of the portals he created. Naturally, the first thing she did was hurry to contact the Mane 6, who were rather conveniently away defending Ponyville from aliens (which is a story for another time because there is a bigger threat than a bunch of little grey, and sometimes pink, aliens). Unfortunately, Stormy noticed her running away from all the magical mayhem and decided to follow suit.
"Where do you think you're going? Your magic is mine!"
Luckily for Starlight, she managed to run away from the school all the way to Ponyville. While Stormy could have continued chasing after her, he decided she'll be back. Right now, he'll have do make do with what he's got
"LET'S UNLEASH THE MAGIC!!! Ooh hey, that's good! I should trademark that"
A massive sphere filled with magic began expanding from the device, absorbing Stormy as he laughed like a loon. As he was inside the magic, he began to transform into something that wouldn't be out of place for a magical girl anime, as he grew wings, his shoulder pads grew larger and spikier, his horns grew bigger (along with getting a third horn), and he's wearing a pink dress.
"NOW I TRULY AM THE MAGIC KI....HEY! WHAT'S WITH THE DRESS?!"
Celestia woke up from an extremely long nap, only to greeted by a very serious looking Luna.
"We need to talk"
"About what?"
"About your decision to have a bring back The Storm King so he can have a chance at redemption"
"I don't remember making a decision like that"
"You summoned me and Discord to the throne room and asked us to use our magic to bring The Storm King back so we can redeem him"
"And you believed that?"
"Well, since it was your idea to redeem Discord, the idea of The Storm King being redeemed didn't seem that far fetched"
"At least I had use for Discord, what use could I possibly have for The Storm King?!"
Luna pondered at that question. Since that Discord and Stormy aren't that different personality-wise, she figured that if the Mane 6 can redeem someone like Discord, why not redeem Stormy as well. Looking outside and seeing Stormy using his newfound power to cause unforetold destruction while dancing to a surprisingly catchy tune about that emphasizes the power he has, she just realized that her and Discord made a terrible mistake bringing Stormy back. But that just leaves one question, since Celestia has a surprising resistance to mind altering magic (that and the changelings have reformed and there's no hope in Tartarus that their former queen would impersonate Celestia without being tackled by the guards first), who did she and Discord talk to regarding Stormy?
After locating a "Magic Mirror" of sorts to another world, Sanies decided to use a spell that would make the guards unconscious so he can access the mirror. Sure he could have turned them into stone, but that's not as pragmatic and there are only a few creatures and magic-users that know petrification magic, so it would be easy to single him out if he turned them into stone. Sanies thought to himself as he made his way into the mirror. It was a genius plan, go into another world, find an alternate universe version of Celestia, take over her body while the real Celestia was having a deep sleep (mainly as a result of his latest attempt at practicing the spell he's using to take over her mind). When no one was looking, he gave out a little chuckle, excited about how well his plan was going. Though when he entered the mirror, he was about to get a surprise.
"Well, this was unexpected"
When he looked down at his new form, he realized he has paws instead of claws and his scales are now all furry. When he looked into a convienently placed puddle, he was pleased to see he still has his wonderful smile, even if his features were a bit more rounder. A weird ape thing then noticed Sanies' new form and decided to pet it. But since Sanies thought the ape creature was going to attack him, he did what he did best.
"Kneel"
The creature, eyes glowing the same shade of green as Sanies' eyes, complied. Sanies then took a moment to observe the creature, noticing the blue skin and the long wavy dark blue hair. While staring at the creature, whose jaw has dropped a bit and is now drooling, he noticed a familiar moon-shaped symbol on her shirt collar. Where has he seen that symbol before? He then took a moment to enter the creature's mind, looking through her memories and realizing that the creature kneeling before him was an alternate version of Luna.
"Hmm, had I known how easy it would be to dominate the minds of the princesses in this universe, I would have done this sooner"
He chuckled at his statement. Princesses? There not even princesses in this universe! Tartarus, there not even close to royalty! Nothing more but a pair of simple teachers. While he knew getting another Celestia would be easy, he never expected it to be that easy. He then commanded the "princess" to get up, while obviously hiding the glowing eyes in order to avoid suspicion.
"Now then, let's go for a little walk"
It was just another average day at Canterlot High (well, as average as it could get when people getting corrupted by magical artifacts or sirens is an unusual occurrence). Really, the only thing that was out of the ordinary was Luna had her head down most of the time and a dark blue Bull Terrier with a green underbelly following her. Celestia decided to check on her sister to see what was up with her.
"Luna, are you oka..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Luna looked up at her. Eyes glowing a sickly green, the green glowing...stuff...from her eyes blasted into Celestia's eyes (it's less awesome than it sounds) which knocked the both of them out. Sanies looked amused, as he did not know he could do that. Learn something knew every day, I suppose. Celestia then got up in a zombie-like manner, her hair disheveled and her eyes...you get the idea (or should I say eye-dea).
After bringing the fake Celestia to Equestria, where she rather conveniently turned into an exact replica of her Equestrian counterpart (glowing eyes and messy hair not withstanding, but that could be remedied) Sanies enacted the next stage of his plan: Pose as the princess to trick Luna and Discord to resurrecting that idiot Storm King so he can use him as a distraction so he can find those who's expertise in mind magic rival that of his own and persuade them into joining his side. While Discord is no longer an option, thanks to Tirek already using and then betraying Discord, and Sanies' magic isn't strong enough to take over the alicorn sisters' minds (just putting them into deep sleeps instead) clearly he needs to keep those two busy while he scours for ponies himself, using the guise as the princess of course. While his original plan was to get inside The Great and Powerful Trixie's head, believing that whatever power she has will be his, he thought up of a backup plan in case Trixie was only "Great and Powerful" at mere illusions and prestidigitation (because if someone is that great and powerful, clearly they don't need to make it into a full-blown title). He will travel back into that other world and use whatever device the purple ape was using to turn into an unusual hybrid between an ape and an alicorn, well, that's what it looked like in that other Celestia's memories anyways.
While Pinkie Pie was blasting aliens with her party cannon, she noticed Starlight lying on the floor panting. When she came to check on her friend, she only managed to get out these words:
"Storm King....returned....stole....magic"
Pinkie looked up and noticed Stormy using his magic powers to wreak havoc while dancing to a catchy tune emphasizing about how he's got the power, then changing the tune telling him to unleash the magic. Amongst all the havoc, there was an earth pony wearing a red shirt and a baseball cap screaming "THERE'S TOO MUCH MAGIC!" in a Manehatten accent. Normally, seeing a demonic creature destroying the land would elicit screams from normal ponies. But Pinkie was no normal pony. She was the Element of Laughter! So she did what she would do in a situation like this, especially since Stormy was wearing a dress.
"Huh, who dares laugh at me!" Stormy said, clearly overhearing Pinkie's laughter. He then proceeded to grab Pinkie by the neck.
"But I like your dress, it's funny!"
"I'M NOT BEING FUNNY! I AM TRYING TO BE AN ALL POWERFUL BAD GUY THAT ISN'T MEANT TO BE FUNNY!"
"I dunno, you got some funny dance moves"
"What are you talking about?! I got MAGICAL dancemovesTM"
Before Stormy could finish off Pinkie, a blue thing flies right into his face, releasing his grip on Pinkie and sending him rolling on his back. He then got up and noticed six colourful ponies posing heroically.
"Hey, I know you guys! I tried to turn you into stone before that meddling Tempest got in the way"
Any of you viewers familiar with that bugbear fight in "Slice Of Life"? Well, the battle between Stormy and the Mane 6 was a mix of that and Twilight's battle with Tirek. It was so awesome, words cannot even describe how awesome it was! So I'm just going to cut to the chase...
They lost and Stormy absorbed all their magic. Hey, you win some, you lose some!
Why are you still reading? This is the end of this chapter. Move on to the next one.
Let me guess, you want to know what happened during that fight scene. Fine, I'll tell you. But only because of popular demand. Ah-heh-hem.
"Storm King!" Twilight shouted. "Back down right now, or else-"
"Or else what?" Stormy said. "You're going to sing a little song about friendship and blast me with your rainbow laser? I'd love to see you try."
"Storm King..."
Stormy held up two fingers. "Two words. Try me."
With that, Twilight's horn lit up and she fired a continuous blast of magic from her horn. Stormy nonchalantly fired a laser of his own from his hand, grinning as Twilight struggled against it. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash launched from the ground and kicked Stormy in the side of the head, sending him to the ground flat on his back. In a split second, Stormy got up and hovered rapidly towards his colourful adversary, grabbing her by the neck with one hand and making her eyes bulge as her windpipe was forcibly closed off.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie, party cannon in tow, appeared on Stormy's shoulder and gave him a faceful of confetti, making him loosen his grip. With her newfound freedom, Rainbow Dash curved down to Stormy's abdomen and punched him square in the gut, sending him back as Pinkie jumped off of his shoulder, landing gracefully onto solid earth.
Stormy, having had enough of this nonsense by now, bellowed out a mighty roar as he flexed his biceps in midair, chilling the blood of Twilight and her friends, for a good ten seconds. By the time he had finished, he had gained a glowing golden aura about him, and his eyes were glowing red like hot coals.
"Ohoho, now this is power!" Stormy extended his hand and lightning shot forth from his fingertips to shock Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, blasting them both unconscious in an instant as everypony else flinched from the clap of thunder. "Unlimited power!"
"Storm King! Stop!" Twilight said desperately as she fired another blast of magic that Stormy easily deflected with his hand, her voice quaking and her legs quickly turning to jelly beneath her.
"Why should I? This party's only getting started!" Stormy slammed his hands together at the wrists in an open heart-like shape, where a pulsing ball of golden light was spontaneously generated. This ball of light then proceeded to rapidly shoot a barrage of golden magic beams that exploded upon contact with the ground. The series of explosions blew Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy off of their hooves and carried their bruised, battered forms in front of Twilight.
"Storm King, please stop this now!" Twilight pleaded once more.
"Alright 'Princess', I guess I'll humour you. No more lasers. Try this on for size instead!" Stormy clawed upwards, and a large clod of earth rose to meet him hovering in the air. He then closed his fist, transforming the ball of dirt into a swirling black hole, sucking up more earth from the ground to feed itself. Stormy pitched it towards Twilight, who cast a shield spell in a split second to protect herself. The black hole collided fiercely with Twilight's shield, creating a massive shower of sparks before flying off to the left and exploding on the ground.
Stormy once again fired a beam of magic from his hand, with Twilight countering with a powerful blast from her horn. Twilight grit her teeth and staggered back a bit as she struggled against the sheer power that Stormy had managed to accumulate. Sweat drops began to form on Twilight's forehead, and she began to feel herself grow short of breath as Stormy's beam of magic grew ever closer to her. Suddenly, her horn gave out, and she could only silently mouth the word 'no' before the blast hit her dead on, leaving her groaning in pain as she lay on her side in a smoking crater with parts of her coat singed off.
"Wow, that was almost too easy," Stormy mused to himself as he pulled the clamshell device from one of his dress pockets and clicked it open. Immediately, multicoloured beams of light began to stream out of the unmoving forms of the defeated Elements of Harmony, and their colours began to fade.
Since the Elements of Harmony were defeated, Stormy decided to let out an evil laugh and declare his victory.
"I DID IT! I DEFEATED THE ELEPHANTS OF HARMONY! By the way, act now and get your free 'Magic King defeats the Elephants' playset by calling this number and giving me your credit card information" he said while winking at the camera.
"Elements" Twilight corrected him, absolutely exhausted from using all that magic from that awesome battle that happened in the last chapter.
"Whatever" he said, facing the defeated ponies, ready to finish them off. Then a light blue thing roundhouse kicked him in the face. Once again, he lands on the floor rolling about before getting back up. When he saw what hit him, he can only stare in shock.
"The Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie is here to kick your butt all the way back to Tartarus!"
Literally everyone present (except Trixie, of course) gave a collective "You gotta be kidding me!"
Trixie then proceeded to punch Stormy right in the face, sending him flying. Stormy then blasted a magic beam at Trixie, but Trixie teleported behind and kicked him really hard behind the head. Stormy decided enough playing around and just grabbed Trixie by the neck with both of his hands and proceeded to squeeze the life out of her. At first, Trixie was struggling, but then she gave a sickly smile at Stormy. A smile that had no place being on her face. Coupled with the messed-up hair from the fight and it made her look like an animal. Her horn glowed green and everything around Stormy faded to black. Then a deep, raspy voice mixed in with Trixie's spoke.
"In the beginning, there was nothing"
Then a bunch of images of ponies and other creatures in terror flashed before Stormy's eyes, and then their last moments from their POV flashing before Stormy's eyes as well. When it came to the POV images, they all had one thing in common: a dragon giving them the same animalistic smile Trixie was wearing. Eventually, it got to the point where he was reliving his first defeat at the hands of the ponies.
"And at the end, there will be nothing"
SMASH
In reality, Stormy was screaming. Shaking his head and clawing at his temples and eyes in an attempt to get the images out of his head, until finally, he collapsed. He layed there, mouth open, eyes blank, and drooling on the floor. As Trixie tidied up her hair, everyone in the vicinity (except Stormy because he was in a catatonic state) stared at her in a mix of awe and horror. Where in Tartarus did Trixie learn that?! Not even Starlight Glimmer had performed spells like that, and she used a spell to hypnotize all the Mane 6 (except Twilight) into doing chores for her! While Trixie was taking the device off of Stormy's neck and hiding it away in her cloak, she noticed them all staring at her. She just gave them a look of confidence.
"What? Did you all doubt the power and greatness of the Great and Powerful Trixie?"
Pinkie sighed in relief "Whew! For a second, I thought you were possessed by some ancient evil so the evil could use you to trick us!"
"Ha! No evil is greater than Trixie" Trixie bellowed before realizing what she just said "That came out wrong!"
As the Mane 6 were receiving medical attention. Trixie decided to have a little private chat with Starlight.
"We are friends, of course?" Trixie asked
"Of course, Trixie"
"Good, because the Great and Powerful Trixie knows you want to know about how I handed The Magic King's flank to him!"
"Uh...Trixie?"
"Yes?"
"Are you okay?"
"Of course, you make it sound like there's something wrong with the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
Trixie then changed the subject back onto what she was originally going to say "However, I'm only willing to tell you what I know if you tell me everything you know!"
"What do you mean?"
"The Great and Powerful Trixie knows about your expertise in magic used to control people, as well as the ability to remove their fate. If I were to tell you how to make your enemies cower before you, you have to tell me how to make an enemy's will mine. Sounds fair, does it not?"
Starlight can tell just by the way Trixie tilted her head and looked at the end of that sentence something was up. Why would Trixie be interested in spells used to control people? Trixie insisted it was for a magic show, but the smile she gave Starlight when she said that was unconvincing. Trixie closed her eyes and let out a little chuckle.
"I guess I overdid it, didn't I?" Trixie said as she opened her eyes. Guess which colour they are glowing. She was also smiling unsettlingly at Starlight, something that resulted in Starlight levitating her "friend" and slamming her into the wall. Even when she was struggling, she still had that smile.
"What have you done with my friend?!"
"Hmhmhm, has anybody ever told you you have a serious impulse control problem? If you let me go, I will tell you what happened to your friend"
"How do I know you won't try to escape?!"
"Because that would defeat the whole point of possessing your friend here in an effort to get close to you" Starlight's eyes shrunk in horror. That was actually Trixie. It's just the perpetually smiling creature she sees before her has taken control of her. She did eventually comply with the creature's command, but only to make sure it doesn't hurt Trixie. Upon landing, the creature cracked Trixie's neck a few times and gave a good stretch, clicking as many bones as possible in the process.
"That's better. When I said 'to get close to you', I actually meant to get close to your power. Speaking of which, are you going to tell me how you came across such power or am I going to have to tear it from your mind?"
What followed was a very loud scream coming from Starlight. The Mane 6 went to check it out, but by the time they got there, Starlight has been turned into stone and Trixie was found unconscious.
Sanies was back in his own body, chuckling at the handiwork he made Stormy do. But it would be nothing in comparison to what he has in store for the rest of Equestria. He laughed at he flew up to greet the Mane 6. Meanwhile, the Mane 6 were asking Trixie what happened.
"Do you know who did this so I can kick their butts?!" Rainbow Dash asked
BAM!
"That would be me" Sanies said
Everyone looked around to see this menacing looking dragon with two bone claws on one of his arms and armour on his back. The dragon then looked at Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her little friends too. Pleasure to meet you" he said before giving a very sinister laugh.
Stormy woke up from his comatose state, though that isn't to say he didn't have a massive headache as a result of the mental assault Sanies inflicted on him. He was also a bit shaken up about having to live so many lives before reliving his own fate. When he looked around, he noticed he was in a cage and that Sanies was busy locking everyone up and keeping the device with all of the magic to himself. To say Stormy was very angry about this betrayal would be an understatement.
"HEY! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?! WE HAD A DEAL, REMEMBER?!"
"What was it you said to your former commander?" Sanies said sardonically before answering his own question "Oh yes, 'get with the program, I used you, it's kind of what I do'"
"How did you know about that?!"
Sanies gestured at his head
"Guess"
Stormy just sat there, pouting
"So what are you going to do? Turn me into stone and smash me into a gazillion pieces?"
"No, I got something better than that. You know that magic mirror I was talking about?"
Stormy's eyes widened in horror
"No! Don't you dare send me into a world filled without any magic!"
"Come now, Idiot King. It's not a world without magic, just a world with enough magic to make an everyday occurrence for these little ponies into an infrequent occurrence for them. In other words, not much"
Normally, Sanies would turn his pawns and victims into stone before literally crushing them. But since there were literally thousands of broken statues in his lair, he felt like giving Stormy a fate worse than that. Plus, how can someone use the little bit of magic stowed away in that world if you intend to turn them into a chicken after entering the world? So he proceeded to slam Stormy's head into one of the iron bars, knocking him out instantly. Before he had the chance to throw Stormy into that other world, he can see Celestia and Luna flying in to stop him. Noticing this, he chuckled and looked towards one of the ponies he held captive.
It was three centuries after Celestia had banished Luna to the moon. In spite of all that time, she was still grieving. But she was a princess and her kingdom was top priority. While she smiled and waved for the crowd, it was just an act and she was feeling empty inside. However, something came up that required her immediate attention. There have been reports of a dragon causing mass destruction across the Dragon Lands. Thinking this might snap her out of her melancholy, Celestia flew to a burning wreckage of what was once a village within the Dragon Lands. It was surprisingly quiet in spite of all the destruction. While walking around the abandoned burning village, she noticed some shattered dragon statues. It appears all the inhabitants have either fled or have been turned to stone. It made for quite a disturbing scene, like she was stepping into the bits of Tartarus itself. Then a deep, raspy voice broke the silence.
"Princess! I have been waiting for you!"
Celestia looked up, and amidst all the wreckage was a dark blue dragon with a green underbelly, sickly green eyes, and a smile filled with sharp teeth that wouldn't be out of place for a rabid animal. The dragon was also wearing armour on his back and had two sharp elongated bone claws on one of his arms, along with an oddly shaped horn on his head. Celestia spoke up.
"I'm not sure I have made your acquaintance"
"Then allow to introduce myself. I am Lord Sanies. The Purulent Scourge, The Insidious Venom, The Fiery Shadow of the Dragon Lands!"
Celestia looked around, noticing the dragon standing before her must have been behind all of this. Though, considering the titles this Sanies has described himself with, it is clear that this was his first attack on the lands, because otherwise she would be more familiar with him if he was a frequent attacker.
"Why have you decided to show yourself now?"
"Simple, my little princess. After I heard about you banishing your own sister, I knew now would be as good a time as any to destroy all of Equestria, and perhaps beyond Equestria when I'm done"
Sanies looked at Celestia, his smile growing wider "Not bringing the Elements of Harmony with you? How reckless" He said before chuckling "You must really hate yourself for what you did to your sister". This provoked Celestia into attacking Sanies with a magic blast, but Sanies dodged it by teleporting behind Celestia. He then blasted a green fireball at her, but she dodged that as well. They both flew up in the air, firing magic and fire beams at each other. Sanies tried having her with his bone claws, but she dodged swiftly and blasted him with magic. Sanies, having foreseen that, teleported out of the way and backhanded Celestia. While that disoriented Celestia a little, it wasn't enough to keep her down as she telekinetically grabbed Sanies and threw him into the ground. She tried landing rather forcefully on him, but he dodged her landing and chuckled.
"You're feisty, princess. I like that"
Celestia then blasted another magic beam at Sanies, but Sanies countered with a magic beam of his own, through his horn no less. Even Celestia was surprised by this development, a dragon wielding the magic of a unicorn. As he blasted the princess with the green-coloured magic, Sanies just kept smiling at the princess.
"I sense a great anger within you, princess. Anger at me for upsetting the balance of your precious kingdom, or anger at yourself for doing nothing to stop your sister from embracing the darkness?"
That comment resulted in Celestia knocking back Sanies with the beam and then firing wildly at Sanies until Sanies blasted Celestia right in the forehead with a blast of his own, weakening the princess until she collapsed onto the floor. Sanies chuckled at the state of the princess.
"Look at you, allowing your rage to consume and unbalance you. Perhaps you should join your sister on the moon in order to cool off. Or would you prefer the sun?"
Sanies crouched down and entered the princess' mind, intending to overwrite it with his own. Finally, the power of the most powerful being in the world at his fingertips. While in there, he was busy taunting Celestia about how she's all alone in this world.
"Can't you see? There is no-one beside you. Star-Swirl, Luna, everyone you ever cared about are now gone! And soon, your subjects will be too"
Celestia was slowly starting to black out, tears streaming down her face as this beast was entering her mind. Bringing up bad memories and things to come. Sanies just laughed, knowing that victory will soon be his.
"Why not join them? Embrace the darkness!"
However, when he said that, he saw two golden eyes staring at him within the darkness. Then a smile not that far off from his own. When he looked closer, he noticed an alicorn that looked like Celestia....but....different. This one has less of an elegant grace and more of a fire motif. That's when it hit Sanies that the alicorn he was staring at was the personification of Celestia's own dark side....Daybreaker!
"If you insist" Celestia said with a menacing smirk before blasting Sanies with a very powerful beam made out of fire that was so powerful it knocked some of Sanies' teeth out. She then proceeded to give Sanies a very brutal beatdown. While Sanies tried to fight back, he can't because between getting thrown about like a ragdoll to being blasted by extremely painful and fiery magic, he was less and less in a position to fight back. For once in his life, he was absolutely powerless and it terrified him beyond belief. However, when Celestia was done beating the snot out of him, that terror eventually subsided. While most people in his position would beg for mercy or cry for their mothers, Sanies just alternated between coughing and laughing.
"I...did not...expect..y...you...to be...so...ferocious! Hehe(cough)(cough)he...you really are (cough) no different...from....people like me"
That comment actually snapped Celestia out of her violent state. She then looked down at Sanies. Even when he was beaten to a pulp, he was still smiling with whatever teeth he had left. There were also numerous scorch marks around his body and he also has a black eye.
Sanies just kept smiling at the princess. He really was defeated, but only temporarily. Once he's all patched up, he will hatch a new plan, he'll just have to wait until the right time and when he was healed from his injuries. And since the princess threw him in Tartarus for his crimes, he has all the time in the world to do both of those things. Even when he escaped from Tartarus after the Cerberus incident, he still kept waiting within the shadows. It was only after all of his competition, whether they turned over a new leaf or were stripped of the source of their power entirely, could he finally enact his plan.
Stormy woke up, hoping him getting betrayed by Sanies was just a bad dream. But it wasn't and the reality was much worse. "NOT AGAAAAIIIIN!" he said in whatever language chickens speak. He decided to explore this new, and very big, world in a futile attempt to look for shelter. When it got to nighttime, he managed to walk into a forest. Needless to say, he was lost, hungry and very, very cold.
"Well, it can't get any worse"
Considering he heard wolves howling the moment he said that, and one of them right behind him staring at him with the intent to eat him, clearly his already worse situation got a whole lot worse. While running for his life, he thought to himself whoever it was that turned into a chicken (he thinks it's probably Discord as revenge for him stealing his magic) must have a sick sense of humour if they intended for him to be eaten by wolves in this universe. But before the wolf chasing him can make him into supper, a dark purple one-armed ape thing karate kicked the wolf right in the face. Stormy looked in awe as the purple ape fought an entire pack of wolves, but as he watched, he noticed the ape looked a little familiar. Along with wearing all black, she had a pink mohawk and a scar across her face, as well as blue beautiful eyes. Where has he seen those features before? Then a dark get hedgehog with white spikes waked up to him.
"She's awesome, isn't she?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, you're wondering how I speak chicken. I work for this guy, calls himself The Farm King, he's in the middle of a big rebrand. Gives loads of cake"
Stormy looked at the hedgehog in befuddlement. Not only did he look familiar, but he has the same list as that hedghehog thing that's always seen with Tempest. What was his name again? Flubber? Goober? Looper?
"Say, is it me or do you look a little bit like The Farm King?" the hedgehog asked. That's when it hit Stormy.
"Grubber! Old buddy, old pal! Hey, do you know how to get out of this world?"
"Well, The Farm King has been investing in space travel powered by methane gas"
"What?"
Clearly Stormy's hope of this being the same Grubber that worked with him back when he had a kingdom to rule vanished. Then he looked back at the purple ape thing that suspiciously looked like Tempest.
"And who is the tall purple one-armed ape thing that is kicking all the wolves' butts?"
"Oh, no-one knows her real name but we call her Tempest Shadow, because she strikes like a Tempest but hides in the Shadows"
Stormy just looked on in disbelief, how is it that in this world, Grubber and Tempest can defend themselves, but here, he is a defenseless chicken?! But he decided to suspend his disbelief in order to see this Farm King this Grubber was talking about.
Stormy traveled to this barn, and there he saw a bull that for some reason has an uncanny resemblance to himself. And the bull was being fanned by smaller bulls that unsurprisingly looked like Stormy's foot soldiers back when he was actually a king instead of a statue or a chicken. The Farm King was drinking a light purple substance that appeared magical in nature. He then chucked a cell phone towards Grubber.
"Grubber, do the thing!"
Grubber then dialed a number and then handed it over to The Farm King.
"So, did you supply this Canterlot High or whatever it's called with the milk that I requested"
Tempest's voice can be heard from the cell phone "I had a bit of trouble involving a broken down tire and a pack of wolves, but neither of those will be a problem now"
"Good, because if the humans find out about my little operation, I'm busted! There will be investigations! And where would that leave you?"
Stormy's jaw, or lower beak I should say, just dropped. Is this version of Tempest seriously a milkmaid?! She beat up a bunch of wolves simply because they were in the way of the delivery?! Really?!
"It won't be a problem" Tempest said
"Great! Because if you fail me, your arm won't be the only thing missing" The Farm King said delightedly before turning to a threatening tone. And then he hung up and looked at the chicken that weirdly looked like him.
"Uh, who are you supposed to be?"
"Now that is complicated, because I was going by the name of Storm King for a while, then I went by the name of Magic King after getting some sort of magical device that absorbed all the magic from where I come from and..."
"Hey, I asked for a name, not a life-story!"
"So, you're this Farm King I heard of? Stealing my shtick, are we?"
"What shtick?! I never even heard of you before you until now!"
"Well guess what?! There's only room for one King around here and it's gonna be me!"
The Farm King laughed at that statement "Really? That's nice". Then he got up and punched Stormy right in the face, sending him flying and creating a hole in the barn door. Stormy realized he probably bit off more than he can chew and once again started running for his life. But The Farm King wasn't going to let him off that easily. He charged right into Stormy, used his hoof to smash him into the floor, and proceeded to pummel Stormy into a pulp. By the time he was finished, both of Stormy's eyes were swollen, his beak was broken and he has lost all feeling in his body. If being turned into a chicken and nearly eaten by wolves didn't teach him what it's like to be powerless, then technically beating yourself up most certainly did.
As he recuperated in the barn from his injuries, Grubber was busy enjoying a big yummy cake. Since that Grubber noticed Stormy was feeling a bit down, he decided to offer Stormy some.
"Want some?"
"Dtho I thlook thlike I'm in the condithion tho eath cake?! No!"
Grubber look unhappy for a second, then continued eating his cake. Meanwhile, Stormy just looked up at the ceiling. Just when he thought he'd hit rock bottom by having a pony turn him into stone and smash him to pieces. As night eventually became day, he was feeling a little hungry. But since he was still in agony from the night before. Then Grubber had an idea. He gave Stormy a light purple liquid, similar to the one The Farm King was drinking.
"This is the stuff The Farm King was giving to the students at Canterlot High, he said it's gonna be legen-wait for it-dairy!"
When Grubber poured it down Stormy's throat, Stormy felt a little funny. Then he was floating and making some weird poses and dancing moves like someone was pumping 10, 0000 volts through his body. Then suddenly.........BAM! He was back to his normal form.
"Haha! It's good to be back! Now where's that Farm King? I got something to say to him!"
While The Farm King was busy enjoying the fruits of his labour, or rather his minions' back-breaking labour, Stormy intruded and grabbed The Farm King by his throat. "Remember me?" Stormy said with a smile. Then he cracked his knuckles while The Farm King looked on in fright. Then Stormy proceeded to whale on him.
BAM!
POW!
SMACK!
OOH, THAT'S GONNA LEAVE A MARK!
After Stormy was finished having his revenge on The Farm King, he noticed everyone in the barn cheering for him, even thanking him for taking down that tyrant. Along with the satisfaction of revenge, Stormy felt funny inside. It was a warm fuzzy feeling. Is this what it feels like to be truly adored? Is this why those cute poines foiled his plans? Now that made him feel bad about trying to conquer their world and helping that traitor Sanies destroy it when that didn't work out.
"What's your name?" One of the farm animals called out.
Stormy was surprised by that question. What kind of name would a good guy have? Obviously it has to be less intimidating than his previous monikers. Then he got it!
"I am......CAPTAIN GOODKING!!!"
It's a name in progress but it will have to do. Everyone was cheering and carrying him, chanting his name.
"CAPTAIN GOODKING"
"So this is what it feels like to be a goody two-shoes?" Stormy thought to himself "Not bad....actually, kinda first rate!"
Discord was busy tending to Fluttershy's animals since, thanks to Stormy's antics, he's has been rendered powerless to help them take down Sanies. Then a knock came at the door. Discord opened up and, surprise surprise, it was that traitor Stormy. Naturally, he slammed the door in his face. What? Did you expect him to be that easily forgiven? Hello, he nearly destroyed Equestria! Twice! With Discord, the worst he ever did was mutate a few animals, make it rain chocolate and invert the Mane 6's personalities (with the only one he put effort into corrupting was Pinkie Pie).
"Hey come on! Don't be like that!" Stormy shouted in an annoyed tone "I went to a lot of trouble to find you to tell you I'm sorry!"
Discord's ears perked up at that statement, which convinced him to open the door and invite him in. Cue a very long chat about what caused Stormy's change of heart.
"So that's when I learned why people such as yourself turn over a new leaf. Not only does it feel good, but it's more than likely to rake in a profit" Stormy said, finishing the story about how he learned the error of his ways, no matter how shallow his reasons for his redemption is. But hey, Dissy and Glimmy had done slightly worse (Glimmy probably even more so than Discord).
"While I know how good helping people out is, I mostly do it for my friends" Discord said, before leaning a little closer and whispering in Stormy's ear "Though just between the two of us, it's mostly for Fluttershy" before making an adorable face and a very familiar squeaking sound. Stormy just sat there.
"Uh huh, sooooooo if you're still doing that redemption class, I was wondering if you teach me how to be a good guy or whatever"
"Well, since I know how hard turning over a new leaf is, considering the whole 'Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony' thing, I'll help you. But on one condition"
"What?"
"You promise not to betray us, since I know first hand how ditching friendship for all the chaos I could want turned out"
Stormy thought back to all the people that have betrayed him and all the people that he himself betrayed. And that's not even getting into a memory he still has lingering around his head of a unicorn getting petrified by Sanies. Then he looked at Discord and held out his hand
"Deal! But first, we're going to need to find Tempest so she can help us out"
So the two reformed baddies head off to search for Tempest, hoping Sanies hasn't stole her magic. When they find her, clearly she is skeptical about Stormy's reformation, especially since Stormy's reasons are slightly less altruistic than Discord's (even though both of them by now should know the magic of friendship). But one sentence from Discord managed to convince Tempest that Stormy's redemption was genuine:
"He made a Pinkie Promise not to betray us. And trust me when I say that pony's got a very particular set of skills that make her a nightmare for ponies that break Pinkie Promises"
Now that their team is all set up, it's time to eat cake and kick flank!
During Stormy's absence, Sanies has been battling both of the princesses with his newfound magic. Considering how fatigued both princesses are by now, they've been fighting for a while. Sanies on the other hand was cackling and having the time of his life, for he had never felt this powerful in his life. In fact, he had a new more menacing form, with blue flames surrounding him. Eventually, he grabbed them both by their heads and slammed them down hard onto the floor. He then raised the arm with the bone claws, intending to finish the princesses off once and for all.
"While our little reunion was fun, Celestia, I'm afraid our little dance has come to an end"
But before he could cast the finishing blow, he heard a voice bellow "LORD SANIES! YOUR REIGN OF TERROR IS FINALLY OVER!!!". When Sanies looked at the direction the voice came from, he noticed Stormy wearing an extremely ridiculous superhero costume. It had a mask to go with his horns, a cape and it's all in a light blue. While Sanies is usually the composed type, mild sadism notwithstanding, he just laughed at how ridiculous Stormy looked. Not chuckled, laughed. And he laughed hard before wiping a tear away from his face.
"Oh you must be joking! Do you really think you can defeat me? Or even better, do you really think you can convince me to join your side?" he said while laughing even more
"Laugh all you want, villain, but we won't let you take over this world!"
"Take over the world? Oh that is adorable!"
Stormy can only just stare at the dragon in befuddlement
"What?"
"I personally consider taking over Equestria to be overrated, so I'm going to burn it all to the ground and remake it in my own image instead"
Everyone can only stare at Sanies in shock. His mouth still having that sickening smile of his. The mouth then opened up, speaking in an almost mocking tone to our heroes
"It's really pathetic how you guys give up just because you got beaten by the elements once, and that's not even getting into the fact that you believe in the magic of friendship. I am familiar with the the phrase 'if you can't beat them, join them', but what if you come across someone who not only refuses to atone for their crimes, but will keep coming back stronger than ever? Let's see if your precious friendship will save you then"
Then he looked at Discord's direction
"Ah, I see you have joined their pathetic little band, Discord. How disappointing, the spirit of chaos and disharmony being easily manipulated by far less powerful creatures"
Discord spoke up
"If you're trying to convince me to abandon my friends, then you haven't heard what happened between me and Tirek"
Sanies just laughed. He never had any intention of the draconequus being on his side. Not even when he was in Tartarus. Rather, he wanted to show him and his new "friends" how much of a weakness friendship is.
"Tell me Discord, would you do anything for your friend, Fluttershy?"
He then opened the cage containing Fluttershy and then grabbed her by the neck, flying up and threatening to drop her from a very high distance.
"Here's the deal, surrender now and I will spare your friend. Refuse and today's the day we find out if pegasi can fly without the need for magic, which I doubt they can"
Stormy looked at Discord
"Hey buddy, remember how I promised not to betray you guys? Yeah, better return the favour. Besides we can always catch her"
Sanies smirked at them. "You're right, so let's make this a little more difficult for you". His eyes grew brighter, and with that, almost every other pony in the vicinity had the same green glowing eyes as him. Then it occurred to him. "On second thoughts, I'll just make you co-operate" he said as his eyes glowed brighter "trust me, you won't give it a thought". This left our brave ex-villains, now heroes clutching at their heads in agony, trying to resist Sanies' control. Tempest was trying so hard, a bit of unstable magic hit Sanies' hand, more specifically, the one holding Fluttershy. Sanies lost his concentration, but for a brief moment when he noticed our brave reformed baddies chasing after the falling Fluttershy.
"Oh no you don't"
Between Fluttershy falling to her doom and everyone else either under Sanies' spell or trying to resist it, it seemed all hope was lost. Until Discord, by some divine miracle, managed to catch Fluttershy and embrace her in a tight and very adorable hug. While annoyed by the circumstances, Sanies can't help but be amused by his own errors. Trust him to assume the unicorn with broken horn can't do any magic. In hindsight, he should have double-checked to be sure Stormy absorbed all the pony magic. Oh well, time to rectify those mistakes. He shot a massive green fireball at Tempest's direction, only for it to hit Grubber. Everyone, especially Tempest, just looked on at shock. As Sanies looked at the injured hedgehog-like creature, he chuckled.
"I know it's clichéd but you fool! Would you really doom yourself just for them? How pathetic."
As Tempest was holding her injured friend in her hooves, she gave Sanies a hate-filled look. He was going to pay for what he did, even though Grubber kinda ruined the moment by saying he's okay, getting a bit better actually. But that didn't stop Tempest from unleashing all her power onto Sanies. While Tempest was putting up an actually decent fight, Sanies isn't even breaking a sweat.
"You know, my little pony, I'm not even using half the power I have now to fight you"
He then used the rest of his power to have the ponies under his control grab Stormy, Grubber and Discord. He then grabs Tempest by the neck and faces the rest of our captured heroes.
"While I could have destroyed you guys already, I worry I might end up missing you". He then smiles at them while charging up a fireball in his mouth "But now, I need not worry". But before he could finish them off once and for all and continue destroying the world, Tempest manages to kick the device with all the magic right off his neck. As Sanies began to lose his power, rather than indulge in another clichéd villainous saying such as "NOOOOOOOOOOO! CUUUUUURRRRRSE YOOOOOOOUUUUU", he just looked at the device falling to the ground and shrugged.
The device opened up and gave everyone their magic back in a magical explosion that would make Micheal Bay green with envy. Sanies was then sent flying onto his back. When he came to, he was face-to-face with a very angry draconequus with a tight grip around his neck and a fist aimed at his head. While his plans have been foiled by small details he couldn't have foreseen, Sanies just smiled at Discord.
"By all means, go ahead. But I doubt your friend would appreciate it"
Discord then looked at Fluttershy, his expression changing into....kind of a sad one, like he no longer wanted to do this. Then he looked back to Sanies and just chucked him to the the princesses' hooves. The princesses just gave Sanies a stern expression. Sanies smiled at the princesses.
"I suppose I will be going back to Tartarus then. Sure you may have won this battle, but keep in mind that I was this close to winning" he then gave a menacing look towards Celestia specifically "Just like how I was last time. So throw me into Tartarus, banish me to the moon, heck, even turn me into stone as karmic retribution for my many crimes. But, as you saw for yourself, I will be back. And we can start this whole thing all over aga...."
But before he can finish his sentence, an Obsidian Orb was thrown in his direction. While his mouth was now stuck in a half-open smile, his eyes gave a look of shock and then a look at where the Orb came from. It was Stormy.
"Yeah, let's go with that last option because you talk too much"
Celestia went to thank Stormy, but considering how many times Stormy has changed his name for the sake of a rebrand, she doesn't know what to call him.
"Call me......CAPTIAN GOODKINGTM!!!!!!!!"
If it weren't for the fact that he was petrified, Sanies would be rolling his eyes at that. Did he honestly just trademark his name? Oh well, at least being turned into stone can give him time to think. Stormy then picked up the statue of Sanies, with some help from his new friends, and asked Celestia where the directions to Tartarus is, you know, just in case Sanies finds a way to escape his stony predicament.
As they make their way to Tartarus, Stormy accidentally tripped on the stairs there, causing him (and everyone else) to drop Sanies down the flight of stairs along with Stormy. When Stormy reached the bottom, he was staring at one of Sanies' petrified eyes, which creeped him out a little bit. And then there's the fact that the statue was now in dozens of pieces as a result of the fall.
"Well, I don't think he's gonna be escaping from Tartarus any time soon"
As one would expect from this kind of situation (that, and we're nearly at the end of the story) everyone laughed.
