Brayden's POV
All of us were gathered outside from the small, quiet stream of river water after all of the running. I had already caught my breath and was standing there next to Twilight with her head down and her face reflecting upon the stream of water as well as I. It was almost as if she had failed...
In the stream coming up, I caught the glimpse of the Stetson-like hat of Applejack going along with the flow of the river. Being that one of my close friends had lost it on the way down the waterfall, she had been looking for it. It made sense since that hat of hers that even I know her by was passed onto her by her father. She stands there by the river, keeping an eye out for her hat and the direction it was going until even the light brown color was locked into sight.
The earth pony sets into the stream again, paddling her hooves underneath the surface of the water to catch up to her hat. A couple of splashes forward in the flow and she eventually uses her teeth to grip onto her accessory before it got too far past. She and I knew it would head towards one of Equestria's lakes, but it's better if she got it now than later on.
She turns around, wading out from the liquid and giving herself a shake. She was still wet, but it would dry off a little more faster than before. She places the hat onto the top of her head and trots back over to the group.
Everypony else were busy still trying to get over the events of what had just happened when Tempest and the airships had come into Canterlot. The biggest question for me to be wondering to myself: Where were the Wonderbolts during all of this? Any other line of defense that Equestria had for that matter weren't there to help out, so some of my worst fears had come true when I realized they were attending the festival defenseless when they attacked.
Rarity was continuing to catch her breath as I turn and watch Applejack approaching the group behind me and Twilight. She opens her mouth, and is the first to say something. "Everypony okay?" She asked.
"I think my bottom's on backwards." Rarity commented with only a bit of panic especially after we ran.
For my close friend Pinkie, she definitely looked to have seen worse from all this. "We just got our cupcakes handed to us by the worst party crasher ever!"
Rainbow was eager for more, especially after having been in the face of those ugly furred brutes. "We've got to go back there and fight!"
"Well, you all saw the size of those goons," Spike says, a tone of caution in his own voice. "You seriously want to go back?"
"So now what?" Applejack talked quietly with the group, with the others listening. "We can't hide here forever... 'N let's be honest... we can't go back. Look at what they did to the Princesses and Nightmare. Especially what that winged human tried to do to Brayden. We've got to keep 'em from him and Twilight."
In a way, Applejack was right about what Tempest was doing with these strange green orbs to petrify them, including both my mother and one of my loves. Even with the risk of Takeo possibly wanting to kill me, I knew that my wife was in danger as long as she wasn't a statue like the others. For me, this was my protective side kicking in... just as Twilight was there to protect me, I needed to protect her. But not just her, all of our friends in case we were caught.
I place my hand onto Twilight's mane, gently stroking it to ensure her that she would be okay with me and our other friends. She raises her head a bit, turning her beautiful violet eyes to look at me. She knew what exactly I was thinking, probably the same for me as well.
Compared to the Song of Order on my back, Takeo himself looked to overpower me by his own magic and blade skills. Even I could only give him but a single bloody cut across the face, but to him it looked to be nothing at least for him. He could be a bit of a challenge if he is looking for me as of right now. Being after the fall down the waterfall, I'm sure that would say otherwise.
Twilight's face of worry turned for a bit into one where she had put on her thinking cap as if something had come to mind for her. What was it that she was thinking about? Possibly a weak spot that not even Tempest could recognize herself? She turns around slowly to face our friends. My hand is removed off from her mane that I was gently stroking.
"The queen..." She wondered to herself in question out loud.
Our friend Pinkie is the first to speak out to the thoughts of the princess. "What queen?" She asked, now curious to know more.
I did recall something about the 'queen' in quote when my mother was calling out to my aunt to go flying off. Something about somepony of royalty before she ended up getting petrified. Perhaps another source that Equestria has had contact with?
Twilight trots a few steps along the river, looking out at Canterlot in its state of all the airships and the sickly smoke of clouds hanging above the whole city and castle, the flagship of the Storm Army hanging at the balcony of the throne room where I can easily recognize from that distance. She turns around and speaks. "Celestia told Luna to find the Queen of the... Hippos... Luna can't, so I'll have to."
"Uh, hippos?" Rainbow had an awkward look on her face. "Seriously?"
"I heard they're surprisingly graceful for their size," Pinkie says to us with still a bright smile on her own face as she stood right beside the rainbow-maned pegasus whose wings were flapping, hovering above the ground. "But they're always hungry."
Spike looks surprised. "Hungry?" He has a curious tone in his voice, whilst at the same time sounding a little fearful.
"Hippos?" Applejack practically finished the sentence, and already I could catch onto a pop culture reference which made me smile.
"They're somewhere south," Twilight says to us. "Past the Badlands."
Fluttershy begins to look very fearful in the topic of the lands beyond Equestria, as even the thought of it sounded very adventurous. But hey, who doesn't love an adventure once in a while? "That means we'll have to... leave Equestria!" She exclaimed with her soft, timid voice, almost hiding behind her mane, staying close by me.
"I'm not even packed!" Rarity was surprised, even though if possible she would be bringing thousands upon thousands of her fashion line with us, which will slow us down.
"I understand you're scared, and nopony has to go," Twilight calmly tells our friends, looking at the yellow pegasus beside me. "But I have to find this queen. She might be our only hope."
Being that she said that she was going to do this by herself, this of course meant that she would be left defenseless. So that initiative inside me sparked out the need to bring myself alongside her for this trip. I didn't know what lurked outside of our lands, but I knew that there was trouble waiting for her in terms of Tempest.
"You're not doing this alone," I said to her stepping forward, her eyes turning to look at me. "Putting yourself at great risk will only result in you getting hurt, or worse if Tempest gets her hooves on you."
"What about that Takeo fella?" Applejack asked me, looking at me. "We worry about ya too Brayden. What if somethin' bad happened to ya from him? Nah, Ah think we should all go with ya and Twilight."
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, nudging me on the shoulder lightly with a smile. "Both of you are not getting all the glory. Remember, we're in this together no matter what! If Takeo tries to mess with you, I'll show him what for!"
"We got yer back." Applejack says with that honesty in the tone of her southern accented voice.
"Indeedy!" Pinkie sounds rather excited. "We'll need a compass to get us down south which... I have!" She pulls out a compass from her own mane. Kind of like how she would pull out random things for a tree trunk or a train compartment door filled with supplies like the warm blanket when I was freezing. You know... the time I got the Song of Order? That'll be something to tell more to the fillies once this is all over with.
Rarity looked brave. "I'm ready to save Equestria... again!"
"Yay!" There's that trademark line that I've wanted to hear from Fluttershy.
My wife's assistant Spike comes forward, looking quite happy to join with the group. "We're all behind you, Twilight." He says to her.
"Let's go find this hippo!" Pinkie exclaimed with excitement, bouncing up and down as she would as usual when living in Ponyville.
"Uh, south?" Spike suggested.
I forgot to pack for these kinds of things... but all of our stuff is in Ponyville back at the castle, and I don't thin any of us would want to risk going there, considering the Storm Army is most likely there in the conquest of Equestria. Manehattan? Not a chance, though I do worry about Coco if those furred beasts are there. I just hope she is safe. My other friends I brought to Equestria from Earth, I'm sure they will get to safety and get ready to defend themselves if necessary.
"Hold on!" I stopped the group just before they could even set a hoof forward. "I think we'll need the essential supplies if we are headed somewhere that we haven't even been to before. Like food, water, bedding..."
Pinkie zips towards a tree with an open hole in it. "No need to worry about that Brayden!" She tells me, digging out a backpack filled with stuff. "I always keep the 'Pinkie's Backpack for Adventuring in case of Adventuring' Backpack stashed everywhere in case of emergencies!" She tosses it over to me.
"Thank you Pinkie." I said to her as I move forward along with the rest of the group, joining beside Twilight and keeping close to her.
She turned to look at me for that moment, smiling when she had noticed the look of concern and worry on my face. This worry was for her and normally she would worry about me if I wasn't doing so well, practically giving me comfort when I felt that down.
"Are you okay?" She asked me, placing her hoof onto the top of my left hand, letting her hold it there.
"I am, just making sure you are," I said to her. "I want to keep you safe, because as of this moment you are most likely the number one target for Tempest. I... I don't want you to get hurt."
"You getting hurt is also one of my concerns, just as you were and are with the Timberwolves or the Dragon Queen. But this time, it's different. If Takeo even got his hands on you, I'm not sure what I would even do."
"That's why I believe that while my heart inside tells me that I need to protect you, we need to protect each other."
"Don't forget our friends." She giggled.
A small smile appeared on my face as she giggled, but faded after. "I will always remember them, and they'll make sure that we're okay."
She moved closer to me, leaning herself onto the side of my chest as I walked next to her down the trail that every one of our friends were as well. My hand strokes her soft, silky mane, calming me down after all those fears that I knew that we all were going to face certain danger.
Now, we begin our journey to find the Queen of the Hippos down south. Though inside, I had a really bad feeling that it might not end well...
"How about a game to pass the time?" Pinkie suggested to all of us out loud as she was bouncing forward. "A game of 'I Spy' will do quite nicely!"
"Okay, I do not want another pop culture reference for the rest of the trip, Pinkie!" I said to her as we all walk away, not looking behind us and with no regrets at the decision to go beyond Equestria.
Tempest's POV
I stood there above on the balcony of the castle outside of the throne room, looking down at all of the mooks locking up all of the ponies we have captured.
The Wonderbolts that have tried to stop us earlier from our arrival into the capital were nothing more than taken into my hooves when the nets we had fired upon them. They were chained in a line, being herded like mindless sheep when the mooks demanded they move faster on their way to the cages with a growl.
Others like the young fillies were not even a problem for them, like the three that were personally thrown in when they couldn't even fight back. A pity... but it was only the orders that they were given by both myself and the Storm King, so I feel no remorse for how sad they look in there, separated from their families.
There are a few balloons still remaining from the party that had been set up for whatever they were planning. One mook uses his sharpened claws to grip at the balloons, snapping the string in half to release them into the sky. They in those various colors fly up past my line of sight toward the smoke-filled clouds.
"All this magic... wasted on parties..." I spoke to myself, watching as the balloons drift further upward to the skies until they had fully disappeared in the smoke. In the distance, I can catch the flag of Equestria being placed down from the courtyard, letting the mooks place up the flag of the Storm King in that message of conquest as he had told me. From below after the Storm flag was hung proudly, the mooks by the flag pole are gripping the creative flag, practically tearing it apart with the usage of fire to burn a symbol of Equestria for all of the ponies in that area to see.
The look of horror on their faces when they saw that their flag of their world that they founded on was set to fire, and there was absolute silence from them. A word spoken out, and it would result in punishment from the mooks as I had instructed them to do so. They were not going to have a say about what will happen next after the Storm King gets the magic into the staff I gave him.
I turn around, looking at the interior of the throne room from the open arch, trotting towards it to enter inside. "...When there are far greater uses..." I continued.
My eyes could catch the interior of the throne room that looked absolutely brand new from when I had first set hoof into the castle from the attack. The princesses that I successfully petrified into statue were all there, and even then I was still waiting for that other princess who got away, I was being very patient with Grubber for this, though as I am aware that Takeo had returned to greet his king who sat on the throne of the sun princess.
"Ahhh, my favorite commander... Tempest," The Storm King greets to me, turning my head to look at him. There he sat in the throne, laid back and making himself quite comfortable, the Staff of Sacanas resting near the side of the seat itself. "Any updates on the invasion outside?"
"It is all proceeding so well, your majesty," I said to him with a smile now on my face. "Everything in regards to our surprise worked truely as I had thought before."
The Storm King had a bit of a jolly laugh right there. "And right in the nick of time as well, I knew that was all worth the recruitment of you to my own side. Me? I'm just waiting for my great warrior Takeo to return after I had summoned him."
By the sound of the doors unlatching in front of us from the empty stain-glass display room, I turn my head towards them to see them opening up and revealing the royal guards of the Storm King themselves, their armor made of gold with silver for the symbol of the Storm Isles. The robes that accompanied the armor were that of a crimson red color, the color of human blood that Takeo had when he was attacked by that winged human who dare try to stop us.
They all marched forward, their big claws gripping onto their sharpened black spears as they move to the side by the double doors. I can see that long black haired figure that had been standing behind them, and now behind him were two of the same royal guards. It was that same human on our side that we recognized from the call of the horn that would summon him before the mighty where I stood.
Takeo...
Takeo's POV
I moved forward with a blank, yet obedient expression on my face as I move forward. My master sat there upon his throne, a wide grin exposing his white shining teeth on his face as I went step by step to approach him.
His commander Tempest, has the both of her eyes on me with that look of trust on her face, with the invisible look that told me not to disappoint the Storm King, who knew me for many years when he had found me and raised me under his own fist. My eyes are drawn back to my master as I stop at the steps leading up to the throne, bowing down before him with my wings closed and a bit of my long black hair covering the left side of my face.
"Ah, you have returned, my honorable Takeo," The Storm King says to me proudly from above me. "The reports from the other Storm Guards had come to me while you and Tempest were on board, prepared for the invasion. I will admit that you have exceeded my expectations as you usually do just like when it came to torturing that Celaeno fellow into surrendering and joining our side as cargo haulers."
"It's nothing at all. Anything to keep you satisfied." I responded to him as he sat there, my head lowering to look at the carpeted rug that was laid out before even he set foot into Equestria.
He continued to speak with me, hearing a bit of the staff he had moving about. I'm guessing he picked it up to look and admire it. "Of course you would. You're much better than the lousy hedgehog runt Grubber, who I also had to take in after he was thrown out from his own tribe."
"He tends to have a big mouth when it comes to sweets," I chuckled for a moment when I was talking to him about Grubber. "But he is quite obedient, even to us on the way here."
"Of course," He says to me, getting up from the throne. "I heard a bit of moments ago that you were harmed. May I see the injury?"
I move my left hand upwards to the pieces of my long black hair that hid where that human had cut me. The Storm King is making his move down the steps of the stairs to stand mighty above me. My hand moves away the strands, revealing the bloody cheek slice to him. He is looking quite at it, and then he shows interest about what I was doing.
"You might want to get that patched up when you can, but I know that you'll brave it out as you always do," He chuckled, Tempest watching us and keeping the blank expression on her face as he was speaking with me. "But speaking of which, I figure that it must be the human that I have ordered you to capture or kill."
"About that..." I was about to tell him.
The weak smile on his face dropped. "Don't tell me... he got away, didn't he?" The tone in his voice had dropped down, and I knew that it couldn't be good when I told him the truth. Knowing my honor to the king, I always had to tell him. "He better not have..."
"...He did," I admitted to him, Tempest shooting me a look on her face that told me that she warned me that this would happen. "Me and the Storm Guards tried to get ahold of him, but he was too much and ended up escaping."
Looking up at the arctic blue eyes of my king, he looked rather angered with me for my first failure in the years he has known me for. He bends down a bit, gripping onto the both of my shoulders for that moment. I couldn't take my eyes off of him especially since I had let him down and had to face his wrath.
With the expectation of him using his head as a weapon to headbutt me in the face, it never came. The only thing I didn't expect was for him to knee me in the face and send me falling on my back. Never expected it, and all Tempest could do was stand there and not intervene in the punishment I was getting. I can feel his hand grab me by the collar and sweep me off the floor, sending me flying.
I wasn't able to catch myself in flight, and I took a landing onto the carpet of the throne room. I can feel the pain moving throughout my chin and below my face when I maintaining myself and trying to get up off of the ground. For the Storm King, I knew there was more he was going to say.
"My disappointment in you for failing the capture of that human, cannot even be erased from this memory of mine."
I began to slowly get up, facing my king once again. "He can't get away!" I insisted to him as he turned around to go back to the throne he had been sitting on. "He was about to strike at your commander, and I couldn't risk him intervening with your plans! Pretty much cut me right there, and ended up flying off after that!" I didn't mention to him about the waterfall where he and the rest of the ponies fell and very much disappeared. If I had said so, I knew what kind of cruel punishments would await, and I've seen it before with the other Storm Guards when being whipped on their butts for disobedience or slacking off on the job.
He stopped for that moment, turning to look at me when I finally got back up onto my two feet. "Wherever this human boy is going, you will track him down and bring him to me. If dead, either way it's a win-win for me because his body is going to be mounted on my wall." The tone is his voice sounds very authoritarian and quite firm on the situation.
"I will, my king. I will not fail you a second time."
The Storm King kept his glare at me as if confirming that I would truely get it done or not. Finally, he turns around and goes to sit in the throne he proclaimed his. "Well, this throne feels quite comfortable, even for my back. Don't worry, I'll make sure that the other throne is removed some time later from the room. I have some news from my point of view for the both of you to hear from me."
I walked forward, standing at the bottom of the steps once again to face my king and see what he was going to update us on. Tempest stands next to the throne, watching him with the blank, yet determined expression on her face.
"Anyhoo... here's the deal: the Storm King, which is I and his armies are in the middle of a big, HUGE re-brand here. My own title is tracking well as 'intensely intimidating', and so far everything is looking quite decent on that sort of level. But, I feel that there needs to be a change. I need something to back up my title. You know what I need to back it up with?" He explains to us before pausing, slamming his fist onto the armrest of the throne itself. "A storm!" He sounds rather irritated when he had shouted.
He is quite quick like any business representative that I have seen throughout Abyssinia during the invasions I joined alongside him with, and is able to calm down. "That would absolutely be perfect, especially when you had delivered it before me, Tempest," His focus is brought towards his commander whom still held her tongue. "You promised me magic that could control the elements, and right now, I'm holding a what? Nothing more than a branch... a twig. Bleh!" He sticks out his tongue in disapproval to that powerless staff he holds alongside the throne when he had picked it up.
"That would be the Staff of Sacanas, Your Excellency." Tempest states once again what the staff was called. Even if he doesn't know that I think this sometimes, he does act a little stupid when he forgets. The Storm King nevertheless nods along to her conversation as she goes on. "It will channel the magic of the four rulers of this land. When you have achieved that magic in the staff, you'll soon have the power of a thousand armies."
He goes on to grab a cloth and start wiping down the blue crystal on top of the staff. "So," He began his question. "That would be a 'Yes' on your locking down the four Pegacornicuseses, or whatever you call them?"
"Alicorns, my king." I commented out loud to the knowledge of what I've seen.
Tempest continued from there. "Give me three days to prepare. I'll have everything ready for you when everything is a hundred percent secure in the conquest."
"Very good," The Storm King chuckled and placed the both of his hands together. "That is exactly the spirit I know from you. You never fail me at all."
"Of course, your Excellency." She bowed to him.
"Now... go. Seek out the preparations and finish what has been started. If there are any rebels, capture them," He orders her, turning to me. "As for you Takeo, go and find this human. Bring him to me alive or dead, that's final."
"Yes, my king," I exhaled out as Tempest proceeds down the steps and across to the throne room doors. I bowed before him one last time, turning around and joining up with the commander as she was heading out.
"Oh, and Tempest?"
We stopped in our tracks close to the door, turning around to look at our king once again as he sat there in silence. He held an omnious stare upon his own face, those arctic blue eyes of his staring at those moderate opal eyes of the broken horned commander.
"Remember..." His voice was low-toned as he spoke. "Only I have the power to make you whole. Make this wretched twig work, and you'll get your reward. Fail me, or even try to betray me... your horn won't be the only thing that's broken."
"It won't be a problem," She says to him, pretty much at the same tone as him. "I won't let you down..."
"Good..." He says to her, leaning back on the throne in a relaxed position. "I'll be waiting..."
She turns back around and I go alongside her as the royal guards grip onto the handles and pull open both of the double doors. No thank you is given to them as they remain silent at all times as I have usually seen them like that under orders. But no doubt when the king is under attack, they are the quickest to strike and kill the hunters who soon become the hunted.
The doors close behind us as we proceed forward, and Tempest remains silent between the both of us. Moments of trotting towards the hallways of the castle is when she finally had opened her mouth. "The Storm King was very disappointed in you." She says to me.
"He was way too fast. There is no way that I could have managed to keep him down with all that magic he has. I'm pretty sure it might be coming from that silver claymore of his..." I responded to her. "But I will try harder than ever."
"You try too hard Takeo." She says to me as we both head out into the hallways, joining at the stained glass windows to look in the direction of South. Close to the border of Equestria where the deserts are... where Klugetown would be located.
I felt a little embarrassed that a renounced citizen of Equestria was putting me down. "Since the Storm King found me, I was put in years of training. Why else do you think he took me under his own fist as that warrior he was proud of? I don't want to end up like Strife."
"I have not known of you until the entire fiasco with the Misfortune Malachite. Since then, I have always viewed you as tough..." She chuckled for a moment, even as we heard footsteps coming towards us hurriedly. "So much for all that brutal energy you had with threatening me."
"It's just me doing my job."
"Tempest! Takeo!" We could hear the recognizable voice of the hedgehog runt, Grubber as we turn to see him running up towards us with guards that were with him to keep an eye on everything as even he was a member of the Storm Army. "There you both are, I've wondered what the Storm King had to tell you! The other princesses and that other alicorn are secure and being moved into the castle at once!" He stops, panting a little bit. Even then, his chubby little body can only take him so far.
"Ah Grubber, just who I needed to see," Tempest says, trotting a few steps towards him. "Do you have the last princess needed?"
At that moment, I remembered that I was with him when the human, princess and other ponies that were with them had fallen over the waterfall. Both me and him look a bit nervous about this as I was there and she doesn't know quite yet. I just eyed motions at him to just tell her the truth.
"Well, uh, funny story... It kinda seems like she..." He stuttered for a moment, nervous until he finally got it out of his system. "She and the other winged human like Takeo, they might've like, you know, got away... a little bit."
Tempest wasn't pleased at all to hear those words, staring at the hedgehog intently, even turning to look at me with that same disappointment. I have truely never seen her like this before, but I was sure that it wasn't even the first time either.
Grubber felt a little bad about this, hoping to clear up the situation a bit. "I know you're disappointed with both me and Takeo, but I got one word for you:" He proceeded to reach right behind him, pulling out a large sweet that even looked ready and delicious, but it was not the time to be thinking about sweets and candy. "Spongecake!" He proclaimed with a happy tone in hopes of cheering up the commander.
Didn't go quite well, as he was greeted with her horn sparking out energy and then being fired directly at the hedgehog himself, giving him quite a shock from his own failure and my own to capture the last princess, plus that human who I realized by now was named Brayden from the shouts of the ponies that were with him.
She turns around, and even then I see the impatient glare on her face. "I need all four for the staff to work. That other alicorn is nothing more than just a bonus!" Tempest was close to shouting at that point, almost like she was complaining.
"Hey, I know!" No you don't, Grubber. She has wanted her own horn back for a very long time and even then is starting to lose even more patience. It won't be long before she even snaps. "I want the Storm King to fix that crazy horn as badly as you do. But to be honest, it looks like a crackly chipped tooth on the top of your head. And you know you don't look good in hats."
A part of Tempest from my line of sight seems to have seen more of her own fury growing from within, like she has had enough and just wants everything for her to go back to normal. Seeing her horn light up, and the rage appearing on her face and the tone of her voice getting low and threatening, she turns around and faces Grubber.
"This princess... is not going to keep me from getting my horn back!" She really meant it when she sounded this threatening, finally barking out an order. "Prepare my ship!"
Grubber of course just ran off scared, going to get the ship ready. I approached her as she is trying to get herself as calm as possible. She closes the both of her eyes, stopping the magic emitting from her broken horn and takes in a deep breath. She holds it in for a bit and then finally lets out a long exhale.
"Please..." She said with annoyance now in the tone of her voice, even when she turned to look at me. "How far could a little pony and a winged human get on their own?"
"I don't think we need to worry about that," I said to her, turning around and placing my pale hand onto the windowsill from that enclosed stained glass. Out there in the view is to the south, which is where I saw the waterfall in that direction go from. "I think I have a good idea where they might be going..."
My eyes were set out towards the direction of the desert which I suspect would be where the human and ponies would think about trying to escape. Knowing about the place Klugetown, they probably won't even get past all of the merchants there as they would plan on wanting to buy them. If they are headed there, it shouldn't even be a problem getting both the alicorn and the human for my king.
"...We have them tied at the end of a string..."