Ch. 15: Back to Canterlot

Back in Canterlot, Songbird was trying to practice her singing, but the Storm Creature guarding her slammed on the cage and shut her up. She sighed and looked in sorrow as Twilight was carted through town with Tempest leading the way to the palace. Once inside, she was placed on the corner of a sigil with the other princesses, who were still statues. Grubber closed the door and gave a cruel laugh.

"Tempest, don't do this," said Twilight, still trying to reason with her. "Don't give the Storm King-"

"Your magic?" asked Tempest. "Did you think you'd keep it all to yourself? Time to share. Y'know, I'd really love for everybody out there to know what I can really do."

"Ooh, fascinating!" said a voice that was painfully familiar to Tempest. "What can you really do?" They all looked and saw the Storm King, in all his villainous glory, walk through a small door in the back of the room, the Staff of Sacanas in his claws.

"Your bidding, of course, your Mighty One," said Grubber, kowtowing to him before running out of the room.

"Coward," Tempest said under her breath.

"Bidding's good. I like bidding," said the King. Then he saw Twilight. "Um, what are you supposed to be?"

I'm the Princess of Friendship," she said standing her ground.

The king just laughed. "Oh. That's nice," he said before turning bitter, facing Tempest. "Why is this one still moving?"

"She and her friends put up a bit of a fight, but she's alone now," said Tempest. "She won't be a problem."

"Yeah," said the king, walking past Tempest and rubbing her head. "So, speaking of problems, this place, it seems a little too- oh, I don't know- cute! I don't like cute! I never did like cute! Doesn't really go with my whole 'big bad powerful magic guy' thing, does it?! Deliver the punchline, Tempest, because this has gotta be a joke!" Then he stabbed the staff down into the center of the sigil in the floor, which then started glowing to the corners. "Huh?" Then lines of blue magic started appearing on the princess' statues, and on Twilight's legs sending their magic to the staff.

"No!" struggled Twilight. The Storm King laughed as the magic shot to the staff.

"Check out the light show!" he said. Outside, all the bright color left in the city was drained to the staff as the Storm King ripped it from the ground. "Wow! Wow!" Twilight gasped in pain as she fell to the ground.

"Let's get this storm started!" said the king. "Ooh, hey, that's good, I should trademark that." Then the staff started ringing and he used it to blast Twilight out of her cage and out onto the balcony. He followed her out and chuckled at the destruction. "Not bad. Actually, kinda first rate. What else does it do?" Tempest quickly trotted out after him.

"Your Excellency, you promised to restore my horn and give me-" she began.

"Deh-Deh-Deh-deh-deh, okay," he said. "Hang on." Then he lifted the staff, and the sun instantly rose. He then proceeded to wiggle it around on its orbit. "You gotta be kiddin' me! I can move the sun?!" Then he laughed for a bit, and rose the moon as well, walking over Twilight. "Wow! Now, this is what I'm talkin' about! Haha! Time to play." He cycled the sun and moon a few times over. "Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! Day, night! Day, night! Day night! Day night! Day night! Sunrise, sunset!" Then he gave a jovial humming. as Twilight looked at Tempest pitiably.

At the gates of the town, the other ponies were walking to the city hauling a cake with Spike on top breathing fire pretending to be a candle. Inside, the rest of the team was waiting for when they got to the castle.

Then the guards were met with Capper dressed as a chef with a fake shipping order in his hands.

"Uh, yeah, I gotta delivery for a mister 'The Storm King'," he said. "I was given explicit instructions to bring this here cake to this here castle's throne room." The guards growled and looked over the cake, then they aimed their spears at Capper.

"Alright then. Look here. Could one o' Y'all go be a pal, go tell your boss he's not gettin' his 'congratulations on subduing defenseless pastel ponies' cake? 'Cause I don't wanna be the one responsible for the big guy missin' his special dessert, you know what I'm sayin'?" Then he walked back to the others, Pinkie looking very disappointed.

Capper just smirked and counted down from three on his fingers before pointing his thumb to the gate, to the guards moving, and Pinkie instantly perked up. Capper winked at her as they walked through. "Thank you kindly, fellas. Imma be sure and put in a good word for the botha Y'all." Then one of the guards saw something amiss with Pinkie still smiling.

"Pinkie quit lookin' so happy," whispered Applejack. "Ya ain't foolin' nopony!"

"Oh! Okay!" she whispered back and let her face fall. In what was left of the main market, Grubber was filling himself up on pie from a nearby stand. Then he saw the team.

"Oh, hello cake!" he said as he jumped up onto the cart. "Ooh! Don't mind if I do!" Then he grabbed a handful and ate it, revealing one of Squabble's eyes. "Mmm! That's some, like, gourmet icing." Then he saw Squabble's eye. "Who puts eyeballs in filling?" Then Squabble blinked, scaring him. "Guards!" he called, just before Squabble shot out of the cake, grabbed him and pulled him in. Quickly he and the others tied him up and gagged him.

"We're dead in the water now guys," said Sonic. And he was right. The guards quickly ganged up and blocked them off.

"Uh-oh," said Capper. "Plan B?"

"The jig is up!" yelled Rainbow and kicked the cart. Once she did, the others exploded out ready to fight. Once they did, everything started going in slow-motion. But once they landed, time went back to normal.

"Come on!" growled Celaeno. The crew charged and attacked, disarming the guards. Sonic jumped into a large group of them and spun around slashing, sending them all flying. Then he grabbed Applejack's rope and hogtied another one of them.

"Yee-haw!" the cowpony yelled. Then Pinkie shot up to one with a present in her hooves.

"Surprise!" she said and zipped off. Once the storm creature opened it, he was shocked to see Pinkie somehow inside with a cupcake, which she then threw in her face. "Double surprise!" Then she spun her forelegs around throwing cupcakes at him like a machine gun. Then one of the guards stabbed his spear into the ground in front of Fluttershy, growling at her

"You seem tense," she said. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Huh?" the creature asked.

"Huh?" asked Sonic nearby. But then she got back to helping Celaeno with the fighting. Then he smirked.

"I got an idea!" he said. "This is gonna be trippy, but bear with me!" Then he crossed the two blades in his hands and brought them closer to him. "Kyutoryu Nine-Sword Style!" Then out of nowhere, two more faces appeared on his head, and four more arms around his body, all with swords. Then he jumped right into the fight and slashed away to his heart's content, even cutting through the armor of a whole battalion, forcing them to run off in their underwear. Then the extra parts faded and he sheathed all his swords.

"What was that?!" asked Rarity.

"The Kyutoryu Nine-Sword Style," said Sonic. "It's just an illusion, but as you saw, it somehow has physical presence. I know, it's weird but ya can't argue with the results.

"Quick! Head for the castle!" yelled Celaeno. "We'll hold 'em off!"

"Let's go!" yelled Sonic and the girls followed him. All but Fluttershy, who was comforting that same Storm Creature from earlier.

"Let it all out," she said.

"Fluttershy!" yelled everyone else.

"Oh, sorry, our time is up," she said, flying after them. "Buh-bye!" Quickly, the others charged up the large staircase, but more Storm Creatures had broken the line and were throwing spears and firing crossbows up at the team.

"Oh no, they're shootin' at us!" yelled Applejack.

"Good thing the bad guys are such terrible shots," said Sonic.

"Man, these guys are elusive," growled one of them, failing to shoot them, even when he was aiming right at them. But they kept coming. Skystar spread her wings as a sort of faue barricade.

"Keep going!" she yelled. Then she pulled out her shell friends. "Shelly? Sheldon?" Then she tossed them both at one of the guards, both of them clamping down on his eyes, knocking him down. Then she grabbed the rest one by one in her talons and threw them away. The others managed to make it up to the door but saw more guards in the way.

"Uh-oh," said Applejack. Then Capper had an idea.

"Hey," he said to Spike. "Ain't you a fire-breathin' dragon?" Sonic and Spike smirked.

"I like the way you think, Capper," said Sonic flipping down a pair of sunglasses and letting Spike jump up into his arms. "Hey! Monsters! Say hello to my scaley little friend!" Then he let out a guttural yell of fury, as he pushed down on one of Spike's hind legs, using him as a flamethrower to keep the guards back. Sonic and Capper laughed as the guards ran away burning. Tempest was on the balcony watching the whole thing.

"What?! How?!" she asked. Twilight gasped.

"It's… It's the Magic of…" she said.

"Yeah, yeah!" said the Storm King grabbing the two of them. "Friendship and flowers and ponies and bleh! I am so totally over the cute pony thing. This! Ends! Now!" Then he used the staff to shoot a huge beam of energy into the sky, laughing as clouds rolled in. On the ground, Sonic had finished scaring away all the guards when he and the others saw the clouds amassing.

"Uh-oh," said Sonic. The wind swirled loudly around them as it started to form into a tornado.

"Move them hooves, ponies!" yelled Capper and everyone ran as fast as they could. The Storm Creatures were almost blown away, but one of them grabbed Rarity as he flew off.

"RARITY!" yelled Spike.

"I got this!" yelled Sonic as he whipped out the green Chaos Emerald. "Chaos CONTROL!" Then he disappeared and reappeared up with the monster that grabbed Rarity. Then he grabbed her hoof and looked at the guard.

"Hi!" he said simply before punching the guard in the face, sending him away before shooting down to the ground with a high-powered stomp, creating a shockwave knocking all the other monsters skyward. "You okay, Rarity?"

"I am now. Thank you," she said. Then the team looked up at the tornado.

"Twilight's in there somewhere! I'll go in and grab her!" yelled Sonic as he curled up and spun in place several times before shooting into the tornado, but he was just bounced back. "Well, that didn't work."

"You'd need to be flying faster than a speeding Pegasus to break through that wind!" said Rainbow. Then Pinkie gasped as she got an idea.

"Excellent idea, Rainbow Dash!" she said, pulling a helmet down onto her head, sparking worried looks from everyone.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it's a bad thing when she says stuff like that, correct?" asked Sonic.

"Yep!" said Rainbow. Up on the balcony, the Storm King was laughing.

"Now I truly am the Storm King!" he bellowed. "And the entire world will bow to my Ba-ba-ba-boom, baby!"

"Yes, yes, you are every bit as powerful as I promised, Sire," said Tempest. "Now, restore my horn and I swear to use my magic to serve you!"

The king just laughed. "Who cares about your dinky little unicorn horn?!" he asked as he pushed her aside.

"But… we… we had an agreement!" said Tempest.

"Get with the program! I used you! It's kinda what I do!" said the King as he zapped the ground she was standing on. She dodged several times and fired back at him, but the blast knocked them both away, sending Tempest dangling for her life from the railing and the Storm King into a wall, letting the staff fall out of his grip. Twilight realized she had a choice to make; Either grab the Staff and doom Tempest or save Tempest and risk destruction. Thankfully, being who she was, she grabbed Tempest's hoof just as she lost her grip.

"Hang on!" she yelled.

"Why are you saving me?" asked Tempest.

"Because this is what friends do," said Twilight. At that moment, Tempest had her revelation as Twilight dragged her back to the balcony.

"Awwww!" said the Storm King sarcastically. "Isn't that just so sweet!" Then he laughed. "Yeah. See ya!" Down in town, Sonic and the others were all in a cannon with Squabble on the plunger.

"You sure about this?" called Boyle.

"Just do it!" yelled Pinkie. "Thank you! I'm excited! Who's excited?! Aaah! I've never been so excited!"

"Is it too late to opt out of this?" asked Sonic.

"When it comes to Pinkie Pie's schemes, usually the only way to opt out is to stop 'em altogether," said Applejack.

"I was afraid you were gonna say that," said Sonic. Squabble squawked outside and pushed the plunger shooting the team out screaming in fear, but Pinkie just laughed. But then they started turning into the wind.

"We're not going to make it!" yelled Rarity.

"Yes we are!" yelled Sonic as he fell down behind the others. Then he summoned the Chaos Emeralds to him and they almost instantly fused into his body, curving up his spikes, turning his blue fur gold and his emerald green eyes blood red. Then he shot back up to the others and grabbed them.

"Sonic?" asked Rainbow. He just smirked. Then he shot through the wind down toward the balcony, but then he accidentally lost his grip on the others, letting them fall towards the balcony.

"Oh, they're gonna kill me for that." he groaned, biting his lip.

Down on the balcony, the Storm King was laughing until the others crashed into him and sent him flying through the hole in the wall, and embedding the staff in the large window above. Pinkie rolled a bit before crashing into Fluttershy.

"Bulls-eye!" she said weakly. Sonic flew down and helped her and the others up.

"My bad! That's on me! Right here! I'm gonna take that one!" he said. Then Twilight walked in.

"Pinkie! You all came back! I'm so sorry! I was wrong to-" She didn't finish as Pinkie grabbed Twilight in a hug.

"I'm sorry too," she said. "Friends mess up sometimes, but we never should've-"

"Uh, make up later!" yelled Rainbow. "This isn't over!" Then they looked and saw the staff in the window.

"Oh yeah, that," said Sonic. Then Twilight looked at him.

"Wait. Sonic?" she asked. Sonic looked back at her and smirked. "What happened to you?"

"I just accessed the full power of the Chaos Emeralds," he said. "As long as I'm in this form, my name is Super Sonic." Then the Staff shot a beam toward him, but he raised his hand and blocked it with ease, accidentally bouncing it up into the ceiling, bringing it down. "Oops." Tempest ran through the throne room dodging supports as best she could, but she was boxed in. Twilight got up and looked up at the staff.

"I've gotta get control of it!" she yelled.

"Go! You've got this, Twilight!" yelled Pinkie.

"No," said Twilight as she and the others stood up. "We've got this. Together." Applejack threw her rope around a large stone nearby and Sonic held onto it for all he was worth, holding the others in his other hand, letting Twilight float up on the end like a kite. Then the Storm King pulled himself loose from the rubble and climbed toward the staff.

"The staff belongs to me!" he yelled menacingly.

"I don't think so, pal!" yelled Sonic as he clenched the rope between his teeth and launched energy blasts at him, which he quickly dodged. "Twilight! Hurry! Grab the staff!" He moved the rope back to his hands and slid down to the end of it, letting Twilight get as close as possible, straining to reach it.

"No! That's my staff!" yelled the king as he leaped for it. Twilight barely managed to grab it before him, but he impacted with the window and was sent flying out along with Twilight.

"Twilight!" called Sonic.

"Nooooooo…!" yelled Pinkie. At last, the wind died down and the team fell to the ground. Everyone hoped she would show up at the last minute, but she didn't. Pinkie started crying and Applejack quickly moved to comfort her, but then everyone saw a light glistening through the clouds. They all looked and saw Twilight herself, gliding down with the staff wrapped in her forehooves.

"Yes!" yelled Sonic as everyone ran out to the balcony to welcome home their heroic friend.

"Group hug!" said Pinkie and they all moved to grab Twilight. She sighed, and Tempest walked to the top of a pile of rubble and smiled at them. But then she saw the Storm King climbing over the railing, and in his claw was one of the crystal bombs she herself had used on the princesses. He threw it at the team, but Tempest jumped in front of them and took the blow herself, spreading the mist to the Storm King, turning them both to stone and letting the Storm King fall to the ground and shatter on impact. But only he fell as Sonic had grabbed Tempest just before she could and carefully lowered her to the balcony.

"Wow. Cannot believe she just did that," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I can," said Twilight. Then Sonic ripped the stone from the staff and used it to fire a blast of magic at Tempest, turning her back to normal. She was surprised but then she saw Twilight and the others.

"You've earned your place at the table, Tempest," said Sonic, and he and Twilight smiled at her. She took a breath but then she smiled back.

"Now what?" asked Fluttershy. Everyone looked down the line until it ended with Sonic and Twilight, who then looked at Tempest.

"Now… we fix everything," she said.

"Just leave that to me," said Sonic. Then he levitated the stone from the staff in front of him and took a meditative position before he started floating higher. "The Servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is Power. Power Enriched by the Heart. The Controller is the one that Unifies the Chaos. O mighty Master Emerald, incredible Chaos Emeralds, grant me the strength to release the power from this stone, and restore this universe to its full former glory." Then he took the crystal in hand shot a beam from it into the sigil in the castle. Turning the princesses back to normal, each taking breaths as the normalized and then Celestia looked and saw her student and her friends.

"Twilight!" she yelled happily.

"Princesses!" Twilight said just as happily and grabbed her and the others in a hug. Then the power from the stone spread outside the castle to the rest of the city, rebuilding and recoloring it, even turning Ditzy Doo in the square back to normal. At last, Canterlot was back to normal. But there was still the Friendship Festival to take care of.