The storm cloud arrived before the Prowler. It wasn't a large cloud by any means - unusually small, only the size of Ser'ta'ta itself. It was unable to blot out the light of the sun effectively across the entire town, allowing for there to be a moment of contradicting darkness and light.

The cloud itself clearly wasn't natural - this close, and this low to the ground, it was far too cohesive. The lightning was too deep a purple and the roughly spherical shape was too uniform. Occasionally, what appeared to be a curved piece of metal would peek out of the clouds, indicative of something hiding within the tumultuous black mist, but it was never out for long enough to make any real discernment.

At the start, the ponies of Ser'ta'ta held fast. Even without Antimony, they were not without defenses. Most of them had taken up farming implements, ancient swords, or even switchblades similar to Crypt's. Each weapon was strapped to a hoof tightly, so as not to slip - with the exception of Brook. She was the only unicorn in the village, and as such had a much more important role.

She stood in the center of town, surrounded by several dozen farmers. To her side was a mare standing over a tremendous cauldron that contained a delicious smelling soup - piping hot and ready to eat. Brook took a bowl from the mare and downed the entire thing in one gulp. "I hope you have a lot..."

"Just try your best, Brook," the mare said, continuing to stir.

"I haven't done this since before I came here..." Brook let out a sigh. "You all need to stand strong."

"Don't worry, we will!"

And then Lurse moved in front of the sun, plunging the world into darkness. The confidence the ponies had vanished.

And the cloud of the Sky King knew it. A bolt of lightning came flying from the cloud, impacting the ground several strides away from the central group - spooking roughly half of the ponies into fleeing. Those who were not used to using their tools or weapons tripped over them, falling to the ground.

Brook lit her horn - a single light in the darkness. The building directly behind her - a square structure with iron purposefully laced into its walls - sprung to life. Four large, pointed rods of metal raised out of the structure, framing the eclipse perfectly within its square. With effort, Brook pulled all four of the rods out, allowing them to float freely in the air.

With her free hoof, she downed another bowl - she was already perspiring heavily, but she refused to lose focus. With a short roar, she finalized the spell. Electricity crackled between the four floating rods, coalescing into a ball between the four tips. The sparkling sphere of energy launched out of the spires, heading for the monstrous cloud.

The Sky King's storm launched a single bolt of lightning back, dissipating the incoming attack. This bolt was quickly followed up by four more that hit the tips of the metal. Brook knew what they were doing - trying to overload the system.

How unfortunate for them this was not the first time she had fought the forces of the Sky. She twisted the metallic rods back, capturing the electric energy back at the cloud. The bolts pierced the dark mist, revealing for a split second an interior of rapidly rotating metal and propellors.

She knew she had damaged them. Maybe they would go away...

it was not to be. It soon became evident that they had expected her to do that - and had sent one of their hoofsoldiers to take advantage of the new position of the rods.

A pegasus rammed into one of the four rods, knocking it out of formation. Brook would have been able to use the other three to form a defense, had the first rod not collided into two others, throwing them out of her telekinesis. The pegasus quickly went into a haphazard nosedive, crashing into the ground with a sickening crunch.

The injuries sustained were substantial. But that had been the mission.

"Everypony, stand your ground!" Brook said, knowing the order was useless. As pegasi dropped out of the sky to surround them, the ponies shook in their hooves. The storm launched a few more lightning bolts - destroying the largest buildings in Ser'ta'ta with ease.

A pegasus landed a few strides in front of Brook. He flared his immense wings for the purposes of intimidation - but the metallic helmet lined with purple glowing material was more than enough to achieve the effect.

Brook lit her horn, showing him that she wasn't going to back down.

He looked at her - helmet hiding his expression. He spoke with a deep, emotionless voice. "Where i-"

The Prowler charged into town at high speed, ran into the pegasus at high speed, and proceeded to crash into a tree. The Prowler itself was fine - though visibly shaking from the impact. The stallion, on the other hoof, was in a much worse position, being between a tree and a metallic automatic carriage.

The Prowler went into reverse for a moment. A slit opened up in its front - and fire started belching out from it, bringing light to the otherwise dark world. The pegasi weren't sure what to do with it - so they backed away, allowing the storm cloud itself unleash a lightning bolt.

For all Myrrh's faults, she did understand how electricity worked from the many times the Prowler had been stuck in thunderstorms. The carriage was electrically grounded and suffered no ill effects from the lightning strike aside from a heat increase.

Myrrh didn't mind. Crypt and Antimony decided they were done hanging around inside the metal toaster and jumped out - both with blades on their hooves, ready to fight.

"I should never have left!" Antimony shouted. "All just waiting for me to leave, is that it? Well, you should have waited a little longer - your worst nightmare is here!"

Crypt had already attacked one of the pegasi and brought them to the ground "Less boasting."

Antimony charged forth with his blade - only for the pegasus mare to dodge it, her immense wings pulling her into the air. She was not expecting Antimony to also have a lasso that could bring her light frame to the ground quickly. He charged - but her armor was able to protect her from the initial damage. As she fought, more pegasi came to her aid.

"Is that all you got!?" Antimony shouted, swinging his blade around. He was more than a match for one pegasus, but the mob had him... There were just too many...

Then an immense THUD made everypony stop fighting.

Pinkie Pie stood in the middle of the town, only her back hooves on the ground. In her front limbs, she held a tremendous hammer.

Not a squeaky hammer.

A warhammer.

There was no smile on her face - only contempt and distaste.

"Remember me?" she asked the pegasi of the Sky King.