Emmit's POV
Airship Nighthawk
ETA to Klugetown: Aprox. 6 hrs.

The Nighthawk was a fast sleek ship that was colored with the dark colors of the night. So when she wasn't cloaked, she would blend with the night sky. And was built for war. Directly below the wheelhouse was the small Captain's cabin that was just barely big enough for any eating, sleeping, and the captain's work he might need. The kitchen and bunks for the rest of the crew were directly below his cabin. And below that was the gun deck. She was a slim and sleek ship mainly built for speed so that she would be going on scouting expeditions and surgical strikes. However, she did have eight guns on her, so with four on each side, she wasn't exactly defenseless.

Right now, I was on the main deck at the very front of the ship with Ember by my side. Currently, in my naked human form, my arms were wrapped around her so she was leaning back against me with her head resting back on my naked chest. Yeah, I could have stayed in my fox form, but she wanted to be held and I wanted to hold her. So, with one arm across her chest and my other resting against her belly, we both were looking out toward the horizon. My mind was watching and waiting for the sun to go down and the moon to rise. In the meantime, my mind was filled with what if's and what would I find when reaching the town. This ship was also quiet. Almost quiet as the wind that blew through my hair and against my skin. The wind and the slight creaking of the ship's structure were pretty much the only sounds heard. So, we were just enjoying the feel of each other right now.

She would occasionally use her claw-like hand to guide mine to a breast and or nipple to gently squeeze, massage, or pinch. While guiding my other hand to her hips or side where she wanted me to touch her. She was also teasing me by shifting her hips slightly because my semi-hard cock was squished between us. This meant that she was using her body to rub me. For a little while, it was just us enjoying some peace to ourselves before the real work began.

The lowering of the sun and the raising of the moon brought me out of my thoughts. That's also when Captain Strat, a dark colored pegasus mare of Luna's night guard came trotting up to us. I told her to give me an ETA at nightfall. "Your majesty?" she asked with a sharp salute as she stepped up to us. "Klugetown in six hours, sir."

Looking down at her, I gave her a firm nod. "Thank you, Captain. I will go down below and tell the strike team to get some rest where I will rest also. Use your best judgment in cloaking the ship as we get closer to the city. And stay cloaked."

She gave me another sharp salute, "Yes, sir," then trotted off back toward the wheelhouse.

Without saying a word, I pulled away from Ember and took her hand in mine where we then walked to the back of the ship. At the back of the ship, next to the Captain Cabin's door was the door that led down to the bunks. Ember followed me down below to the waiting strike team. The team was sitting and laying about the bunks, talking quietly to themselves. There were six on the team. Four ponies, one hippogriff, and one changeling. Two unicorns, one pegasus, and one earth pony were all stallions. The hippogriff and the changeling were the two mares on the team. Naturally, all conversations stopped when we walked in and I had their complete attention.

"We reach Klugetown in six hours," I told them as the two mares on the team kept taking glances down below. "Sargeant? Put us to sleep. We'll all get some rest before we arrive. The captain will have the ship cloaked and will wake us up after we arrive. From there we establish a foothold and begin operations." After rounds of, "Yes, sir," from them, I laid down on the nearest cot. After laying on my back, Ember laid down on top of me while the unicorn Sargeant started inducing a light sleep in all of us.

^_^

Emmit's POV
Dreamscape

Both Luna and Nightmare Moon were waiting for me after I appeared before them in my fox form. "Good evening, my Luna," I greeted her with a passionate kiss before moving on to Nightmare Moon. "My Nightmare," I kissed her as well with a passionate kiss which she returned. In the dreamscape, neither of them looked pregnant because it's the dreamscape and nothing is real anyway. However, we were using the dream realm tonight for military purposes. "What have you found out about Tempest? Why has she joined the Storm King?"

"In short," Luna began with a saddened tone of voice, "it's because he has promised her to restore her horn that was broken as a young filly."

That caught me off guard. "That's..."

Nightmare Moon gave me an understanding nod. "We had the same reaction when we found out as well. Her horn was broken when she was protecting her friends from an Ursa attack. The bear struck her with its paw, shattering her horn."

"Since then," Luna continued, "she had a hard time growing up as others didn't want to do anything with her. She was almost an outcast in society. Feeling outcast, she heard about Klugetown being a rough and tumble place for outcasts. It was soon after arriving in Klugetown that she joined a caravan for Bleak Valley. That Caravan was attacked by the Storm King's forces. In her attempts to defend it, she got the attention of the Storm King. He was impressed by her abilities and promised her the position of second-in-command under the promise that he would restore her horn."

Scoffing at that notion, I shook my head, "Surely she would see that he has no intention of following through with it."

Nightmare Moon simply rolled her eyes in her own disbelief. "Apparently not. She honestly believes that if she does what he says that he will restore her horn."

"Unbelievable," shocked disbelief filled my whispered response.

"Indeed," Luna agreed before speaking up with an alternative from what I had originally planned. "In lieu of this new information, I believe a change of tactics is in order."

"I agree, but she won't just take my word over his," I told them while thinking aloud. "We have to present evidence that he doesn't intend to restore her horn nor have the ability to. While, at the same time, presenting my evidence that I do have that ability and somehow presenting the evidence to her that I've already helped two ponies already. Scootaloo with her wings and Derpy with her eyes. We already know that Chrysalis is with her and I think that Chrysalis knows about both Scootaloo and Derpy. Tempest could potentially find out that those two ponies exist. How to get her to find out that I've already helped them is for another time."

"She is dreaming right now," Nightmare Moon pointed out as Tempest's dream orb floated over to us. "It appears that she's dreaming about when the Ursa Minor attacked her and broke her horn."

"Perfect timing," I said while reaching up and touching Tempest's dream orb. And found myself, Luna, and Nightmare Moon standing behind Tempest as she watches her past filly self steel herself for the coming hit with her horn glowing. Her friends had already started running away when Tempest's younger self screamed in pain as the Ursa Minor took her horn and knocked her away.

"Why?" we heard her ask softly as her younger self rolled to a stop directly in front of her. "Why did it have to happen? Why did nopony want me after that?" And that's when Luna and or Nightmare Moon froze the dream.

"We know not, Fizzlepop Berrytwist," Luna said to announce our presence.

When she heard that, she immediately went into soldier mode, whirled herself around, and fired off a lightning ball attack at us in about the span of just over a second. She's quick, I give her that. However, I think she temporarily forgot that this was just a dream. So, her attack went right through us and fizzled out into nothing. That just got her angrier at us. "I AM NOT THAT WEAKLING OF A FILLY ANYMORE. I AM TEMPEST SHADOW! THE STORM KING'S SECOND-IN-COMMAND."

"Why do you join him when you know, deep down, that he doesn't even want to restore your horn, much less have the ability to do it?" I asked her while taking a few steps forward to get closer to her. She held her ground as I stopped about a couple of feet away from her and looked down at her injured younger self. While taking a second to look down, she was practically growling at me like a timbre wolf with her horn sparkling as if she was going to attack again. I looked down at her younger self with growing pity for her. "You've had a rough life, haven't you?"

"I don't want or need your pity," she growled at me before taking a step back to lower her horn at me as if she was going to attack at any second.

"Maybe," I looked up at her with a slight shrug of my shoulders. "However, I am here to tell you this. I am not going to allow you to get a foothold in Equestria. I am also here to tell you that I know that the Storm King has promised you that he would restore your horn. That I know is your greatest wish. However, he doesn't have the will or wants to, much less the ability to. I, though, will restore your horn and can prove to you that I've already helped two other ponies so far. But in order for me to do that, you have to surrender to me and stop this futile invasion that is already doomed for failure."

She let out a quick amused laugh before responding, "HA! If the Storm King doesn't have the ability or even want to restore my horn, then why make me his second-in-command?"

"He's using you," Nightmare Moon said as she stepped up beside me as Luna stepped up on the other side.

"I know you have doubts," I continued, looking her right in the eye. "I also know that you'd want proof. Because I know that Chrysalis is with you. Ask her about two ponies named Scootaloo and Derpy. Scootaloo had small wings. They are now normal. Derpy used to have lazy eyes. Those eyes are now normal. I can also ask the Empress herself to prove it to you, though that is not a guarantee. Chrysalis was planning in infiltrating Ponyville, so she should know those ponies. That will at least give you evidence that those ponies exist."

"Ask Chrysalis," Luna urged her while I put a couple of tails around them both. "I am willing to bet that Chrysalis knows this to be true."

"Your words mean nothing," she growled at us, taking another step back.

I simply shrugged my shoulders. "Either find out the truth or don't. Either way, Neither I, nor my wives, nor the Empress will let you invade Equestria and threaten my family and her grandfoals. You're at a crossroads, Tempest. The path you are on only leads to death and you'll forever be known as the tyrant and enemy of Equestria Tempest Shadow. Or you can surrender and have a chance to be Fizzlepop Berrytwist again. The choice is yours." At my mental urging, the dream started fading away.

^_^

Tempest's POV
Klugetown
The next morning

The choice is yours. That last phrase he spoke to me in the dream simply refused to go away. Didn't know why, but it made me irritable. But lucky me, I had the perfect creature to boss around to make me feel much better. "VERKO!" I bellowed out from his former bedroom as I rolled off of his former bed that was all now mine. And took my time walking over to the bathroom to freshen up and get ready for the day by digging my hooves into the carpet. Digging my hooves into his carpet as I was digging in the fact that his former residence is now mine. I heard his huffing and puffing just before hearing him run into the door with a solid thud. That thud made me smile as I turned my head toward the door to watch it open a second later. He was, by all rights, blind without those huge glasses of his. Which is why I didn't allow him to wear them anymore. It was fun watching the former crime boss of Klugetown hurrying around running into things. After opening the door, his pudgy mostly naked self quickly waddled his way into the room.

"Yes, Tempest?" he huffed and puffed out the question as he stopped in the middle of the room catching his breath.

Another reason why I didn't let him wear those glasses was that he's blind without them. Can't see a hoof in front of his face without them and couldn't see much with them either. He is a molerat after all. "Do you know why you are in this situation, Verko?" It was a rhetorical question and Verko knew it too. I've been asking such questions every morning since I took over his town just to rub it in. "You always did bite off more than you could chew. Especially with me. Remember all those times when you would push me, shove me, and kick me because I was a helpless young filly? All those times that you would make me do things for you." And to you. He didn't answer just like I knew he wouldn't. It did me good to watch him stand there quivering in fright with what little clothes I let him wear. "This time, I get to be the bully now," I growled at him. "Now, I get to order you around and laugh at your misfortune." Seeing him hang his head with a slight whimper brought a wicked smile to my face. "Now go get this morning's report if you want to eat sometime today!" I barked my orders at him and gleefully watched him scramble out of his former room in fear. With a happily satisfied sigh, I turned toward the only bathroom in this forsaken town that had running water to take a shower.

As I showered, though, the conversation I had with Luna, that fox, and whomever that other princess was, kept coming back to me. It was irritating that my mind kept bringing up that conversation with the promise of restoring my horn and proof that he could actually do it. The Storm King would. He said so. But this fox said he had proof. Thankfully, something came up that took my mind off of it, at least temporarily.

"Tempest!" I heard Chrysalis almost scream out my name after the door slammed itself open. She must have heard the water running because I heard her heavy hoofsteps walk across the room and into the bathroom. She's a great soldier but has no sense of personal space. I knew that because she walked right into the bathroom and almost into the open shower with me.

"Damn it, Chrysalis!" I yelled at her while turning off the water to face her. "You have no clue what personal space or pony decency do you?"

She rolled her eyes and waved her hoof at me with an amused snort. "Oh Tempest, please. We are both mares and have the same equipment. And I was a queen of my own hive for long before you were born, but that's not the point."

She always did ruffle my coat the wrong way and I felt the strands of my coat on the back of my neck stand up the angrier I got at her. "The Tartarus it's not, Chrys-"

"He's here, Tempest!" she barked out interrupting me.

"Who's here? What's wrong?" At first, I had no clue what had gotten her into such a state. I did see that she wasn't her normal gleefully calm and wicked self this morning. Not with her eyes gone wide in her head and her voice holding an edge to it as if her worst fear had just shown up. "Damn it, Chrys-"

"Emmit's here!" she barked out once more interrupting me. "That damned fox from another world," she said to me sending a chill up and down my spine. And for the first time, since coming here, I knew the name of that fox that had destroyed my ship many months ago. Emmit was his name.

"Then have the soldiers hunt him down and kill him then!" I barked back at her only to see her laugh at me. But it was one of those laughs which just spoke of "it's too late" or "you've got to be kidding". "What's so funny about that?"

"He's been killing those stupid soldiers of yours during the night," she said with a look that I've never seen before. It was the look of a mad mare at the end of her rope. "We found them this morning with holes in their heads. Dead. Of course, I've been trying to find out from the locals what's going on, but they won't speak to me. Or when they do, they just say that they saw and heard nothing during the night. But why would they speak to us? It's not like we've been nice to them or anything." She finished her little triad with some mad laughter as she sat her butt down on the floor in front of me just outside the shower.

This was starting to get irritating and I wasn't getting any answers. So, I stepped up to her and gave her a couple of light slaps to her face. "Damn it, Chrysalis, pull yourself together. How were those soldiers killed? With what weapon? And how do you know that it's really him?" The slaps to her face and those forward questions did the job of bringing her around to some semblance of sanity.

"I don't know what weapon he used, OK?!" she nearly screamed at me. But when she screamed those words at me, the look was still the same. Wide eyes filled with a type of insanity that she's lost all hope. "But I know it's him. I feed off of love, remember? Just a few hours ago there was a sudden spike in the level of love in this city. I would recognize his love for his family anywhere. So, that's how I know he's here. And whatever weapon he is using is silent and can kill instantly from far away." After she said that, her demeanor changed to one of nonchalant dismissal. "But hey, no worries. Perhaps our lives will be over soon at his hands or paws and everything doesn't really matter anymore." Then she reached up, quickly turned on the water again, and started to walk out while laughing like a mare that lost her mind.

After she left, my mind came up with two possibilities. Either she's nuts or she was right. Well, she is nuts. The former queen has completely lost her mind. But I had to find out if she was right about the soldiers being killed. So, after a quick shower, I got dressed in my armor and ran downstairs.

And found out that she was right about the dead soldiers. In front of Verko's old building at the bottom of the steps, were seven soldiers laying dead on their backs with one hole in their foreheads between their eyes. Slowly making my way down the steps to take a closer look. Slowly and carefully because if Chrysalis was right that the fox was still out there. And after taking a close look at the fatal wounds, a chill of fear slowly crawled up my spine.

Chrysalis was standing off to the side of the dead soldiers looking around for him. I knew she was looking around for him because she was whispering, "He's out there." But it wasn't until Chrysalis suddenly shouted, "I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE EMMIT," that the residents of this dirty town started to stop their work and start gathering around the dead soldiers. What started getting me worried about them was how they started softly talking about it. I even heard a couple of them talk about the possibility of fighting back. And that is something I could not allow. "COME AND GET ME THEN."

At the same time Chrysalis yelled out her last phrase, I also yelled and attacked the nearest pudgy pig that was talking about getting brave. He was so startled that he didn't have time to react to my rear kick to his stomach. And he dropped to the ground with a thud while holding his middle with his loud groaning for every other creature to hear. "GET BACK TO WORK DISMANTLING THOSE BUILDINGS OR THIS COULD BE YOU!" They started to scatter and go back to work immediately.

"Come on, Emmit!" Chrysalis continued screaming while I stepped off of the pig below me, looking down at him with a smug look.

It was satisfying to see the fear in his eyes before he started slowly crawling away from me along the ground like the scum he was.

"Take your shot, Emmit!" Chrysalis yelled again while her head swiveled around trying to find him. While she was yelling again wanting to get shot, I turned my head to watch a couple of soldiers carry another dead one over to us. Chrysalis also noticed this and motioned a hoof toward them, "Why only kill them?"

A second later both of the soldiers dropped dead at the end of the row of the other dead soldiers. It startled me because the only sound was the soldiers letting out a sudden exhale and dropping to the ground falling deathly silent. Both Chrysalis and I turned to look at the newly dead soldiers and I realized that she had a good question. Why only kill them and not us if it is so easy to kill the enemy?

"THAT WAS A QUESTION NOT A COMMAND!" Chrysalis screamed out before turning around to lower her head to the ground and lift her ass in the air. After that she yelled out again to him but this time with a sultry and alluring voice while wiggling her butt, "Don't you want another piece of this, Emmit? I know you liked it when you bucked me as Daring Do. How are those drones doing by the way?"

A couple of seconds later we both noticed a good-sized cloud of black smoke pouring out of one of the buildings to my left. It was one of the half-made shack buildings that were part mud brick and part sheet metal. The local workers had already taken off the sheet metal of that one leaving only the mud bricks left standing. Only the front door and front room were left. We watched the smoke come out of the open window and through the cracks in and around the closed door. And slowly floated over to us just a few hooves above the ground.

Then, to my surprise, that fox appeared when the smoke dissipated. Instead of the yellow coat he had before, it was all black while still having those piercing red eyes. He looked over at me first and the look in those eyes held death in them. And another chill went through me as he stood there across the line of dead soldiers. Chrysalis' question from before of killing only the soldiers came back to me. "Why only them?" I asked while Chrysalis turned her butt to him and shook it in his direction.

"To prove a point." When he spoke, his voice was soft and cold like the death he was dishing out to my soldiers. "Kill a few now, so you will be convinced to either leave or surrender now. Thus saving more lives of your soldiers later than what I've killed this morning." He didn't even look at Chrysalis but just kept his eyes on me. "Remember what I said last night in your dream?" When he asked that, my eyes widened in shock with my blood running cold. That was real?

"Dream?" Chrysalis asked, now looking between us with a curious expression as she stood up to face us. "You dreamed about him?" Chrysalis then looked at Emmit with an offended look, complete with her head held high and everything. "Oh, I see. I'm not good enough for you anymore?"

Ignoring her, Emmit continued talking to me. "As I told you, we won't allow you to gain a foothold here or invade Equestria. It's not. Going. To. Happen. Either stop or I'll stop you. This was just a small taste of the type of weapons I've brought into this world to protect Equestria and my family. The choice is yours and I'll give you one hour to make it. Tempest or Fizzlepop Berrytwist." His body dissipated back into smoke once more and rose up and away from us until we couldn't see him anymore.

For the first time since going along with the Storm King, I've felt real fear. Real fear for the first time since the Ursa Minor attack. My heart started racing in my chest and it became hard to breathe, so I retreated back inside the building where it was obviously safer. He was giving me the option again. The option to stay with the Storm King as Tempest or surrender and have a chance to be Fizzlepop Berrytwist once more. With my heart pounding in my chest, I started pacing around the room while taking deep breaths to try and calm myself down. It was obvious now why he was only killing the soldiers right now. He was giving us a chance to surrender.

Since he was giving us a choice, I had to find out if he was telling the truth or not.

Chrysalis came walking in a short time later looking disappointed and the two names Emmit gave me last night came to mind. "Chrysalis? Do you know of two ponies named Scootaloo and Derpy?" Chrysalis walked over and sat down in front of me. Then looked to be truly thinking for the first time since meeting her. "They supposedly live in a town called Ponyville."

"Yes, I believe they do, why?"

My own butt down on the floor in front of her, looking at her with mixed emotions. Is it possible that he was telling me the truth? "He says that he can restore my horn and that he's helped those two ponies already. As proof that he can restore my horn. Do you know anything about this?'

"I will be honest and that's not easy for me," she said with a normal tone of voice and sane eyes, "but I don't know if he can or not. I have never seen him restore a horn. There is nothing that can restore a horn."

"The Storm King says he can and will," I pointed out to her.

But all she did was laugh. And it was a belly laugh that lasted a couple of minutes. "And you believed him?" After she completely calmed down, she actually looked at me with a straight face. "I will say this though about, Emmit. If he says that he wants to help you, that I would believe. Don't trust the Storm King with the same promise."

"Why?" was my very simple question to her as I eyed her suspiciously. How would she know that?

"As you know, I was once a queen with a hive. But Emmit took that away from me. He took all that away from me and gave it to Thorax." She stood up and began to pace around the room as she told me her tale. "Claiming to have a better way for the changelings to live Emmit, Thorax, and a few of his friends came into the hive...and...changed... Right there in front of me. Instead of eating love, he and the rest of my hive gave love. After that, they all changed. Thorax came by later to my cell and told me that my former hive live peacefully with the ponies in Equestria. They have lives of their own and are forming families. That by giving love and changing our forms we'll never have to be hungry again."

"If that's true, that by giving love you can live peacefully in Equestria, then why didn't you?" I was flabbergasted that she wouldn't do it. Why would she not do it to end her hunger?

"Power and control that's why," she whirled around to growl at me. "I knew that to be true and that he was right. But if I did that, they wouldn't need their queen now, would they? Why don't you simply surrender to Emmit right now? I can tell you that he is far better than the Storm King and even now I'm beginning to regret not taking him on his offer. I had everything. I had power and control over a hive. Now, I have nothing. No power. No control. And no hive. I was about to be executed until the last of my loyal subjects rescued me." She sat down and threw up her front hooves and for the first time I've known her, she looked at me with a genuine question as if wanting my advice. "What do I do now? If I surrender peacefully will he give me another chance like he's giving you? I don't know if he'll give me another chance."

As she laid everything out for me, I looked at her without any clue as to what to say. I shrugged a little and mentioned, "He hasn't killed you yet, has he?" When she didn't respond but appeared to be lost in thought, I did know what to do even though I didn't know what to say. "Either way, I need to update the Storm King about this," I said to her, turned around, and headed upstairs to the communicator. It was the one thing that I brought with me from the ship. If we were going to be here for some time while the second ship is being built, then bringing it down to my new room would save me quite a few trips.

I didn't hear anything else from Chrysalis and she didn't follow me back upstairs to my room, so my mind was churning over our conversation as I walked up the stairs. I kept trying to think of a way to get the Storm King to admit or not that he had the will and or the ability to restore my horn. By the time I got back my room and walked around the bed to the desk with a box on it that held the communicator in it, I had an idea.

After pushing the side handle down the lid of the basic wooden box lifted up with a couple of small orbs lifting up with it. I was always fascinated about how this worked and how the two orbs on each side of the box would create a moving picture. How all that created two-way communication I didn't know but it worked nonetheless. Once the two orbs clicked into place, it was only a few seconds later when the Storm King's face appeared between them.

"Report, Tempest!" he bellowed out the command.

"We've got a problem, sir," I quickly said to him after a quick salute. "The multi-tailed fox that destroyed our ship is here. And he's got some type of advanced weapon that's totally silent and can kill instantly at a distance within total concealment. He said it's a weapon that he made with knowledge of his other world. He's not of this world and that weapon came from his other world. And it's a weapon that has been proven impossible to defend against. With it, he's killed ten of my soldiers already. I'm down half my soldiers. Worse yet is that his actions have already stirred the locals into thinking about fighting back."

"So, you are telling me that you are failing me? That you are losing control over this simple operation?" He always seemed angry and readily punished those that failed him. The look he was giving me was no exception.

"I can get back control over this situation if you would go ahead and restore my horn, sir." I knew this was a gamble because, after the initial deal, I never questioned him about it. Until now. "With my restored horn I'll have full access to my magic. I'll finally have some abilities other than lightning attacks."

He laughed. He was laughing. "Restore your horn?"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU PROMISED!" Emmit was right? Was I hearing him right?

"Nothing can restore your horn," he said between fits of laughter. I was seething with anger. "But let's make a deal, shall we? Help me conquer Equestria and take all of the princesses' magic for myself and I'll think about seeing if it's possible." If it was possible? IF IT'S POSSIBLE? Emmit was right. I was so blown away by his admission that all I could do was stand there in awe at his audacity while he sat there looking smug about it. So smug and confident that he has complete control over me. As if I didn't have any other recourse. What he said next snapped me out of my stupor and into a full-blown rage. "Maybe you aren't the warrior that I thought you were. Maybe you are just as useless as-"

I screamed at him. I screamed at him as loud as I could. Even launching enough lightning bolts at the communicator to blast it into many tiny pieces. But even that wasn't enough for my anger. Screaming in rage and anger, I stomped upon the pieces that were left. Stomping them into smaller and smaller pieces as if I was doing that to him and the lie that he told me, so many years ago. All those lies just to use me as his tool. I cursed and raged at anything in the room.

By the time I got done, I was standing in the middle of a room in shambles with pieces of communicator and furniture all around me. There was nothing left but smoke and tiny flickers of flames from what was left in the rubble. And myself. With my heart pounding in my chest, sweat pouring off of my head, and rage in my eyes, my anger was far from assuaged. But my wheezing and sore throat told me that I had better stop before possibly thrashing my voice if I hadn't already.

In the midst of the smoldering silence and as smoke started filling the room, I heard the door open. And Chrysalis' voice saying, "I take it the report didn't go well?"

I turned around and started walking toward her. "He was lying to me the whole time," my voice wheezed out to her before taking off my armor while I walked over.

She laughed but at least it wasn't at me per se. "Oh that's a big surprise," she giggled out while watching me remove my armor. "We villains never tell the truth and always use gullible creatures, such as yourself, to further our own wicked desires."

"Well not anymore," I growled at her while kicking the last pieces of my armor away.

Looking at me with curiosity in her eyes and a raised eyebrow, she then asked, "So...what are you going to do?"

Rage was still running through me, I growled out my intentions. "I'll give that fox one chance to restore my horn."

"And if he doesn't?"

A wicked grin started spreading across her face when she heard me reply, "Then I'll burn Equestria to the ground for what Equestria has done to me."

^_^

Emmit's POV

"It's almost been an hour, sir. What are your plans?" the female hippogriff asked me from beside me as we both watched Verko's old house from across what loosely would be called a street. Tempest had taken it over and was using it as her temporary headquarters. We had taken up temporary residence in the abandoned crumbling adobe building across the way from it. It was barely one room with a view but the inside was dark enough that we couldn't be spotted even if the ignore me spell wasn't in place. The rest of the team was relaxing from their hard work in the back of the room and having some food while we waited. On the other side of me was Ember. She had her arms crossed over her chest and looked bored to tears.

After a sigh, I plopped my fox butt down on the floor with a shrug. "I'll have to order you all to take them out."

"If you don't mind me asking, sir, but why didn't you do that from the start?" she asked curiously with a tilt of her head. "I mean, we had plenty of opportunities to do so."

It didn't take a genius to know that the rest of the team was listening in on this. "You're right that we had plenty of opportunities to do so. And in truth that was my initial plan. However, the Empress herself asked me to take a different route with Tempest and Chrysalis."

"And what route is that, sir?"

"She told me that they both have a place in Equestria's future," I told her, turning my head to look at her. "That tells me that both of them will turn away from their wicked ways. That I have to be patient and help them do that. With Tempest, that's relatively easily done by restoring her horn. Chrysalis I'm not so sure about."

From the back of the room, I heard one of the stallions tease, "You could always buck her again," along with some amused chuckles. They've been doing that ever since Chrysalis waved her butt at me a short time ago. Their chuckles of amusement ended very quickly when Ember turned her head toward them and with a low growl, the same stallion whispered, "Sorry."

"Sir?" the female hippogriff asked to get my attention then motioned toward the building with her head. And watched a very angry-looking Tempest walk out of the building but something was definitely different. "She looks angry."

"And she's without her armor," Ember pointed out, "and she's a warrior. A warrior is never without their armor."

"Which begs the question, why is she not wearing the armor of the Storm King? And why is she so angry?" I asked the obvious questions while watching her walk down the steps and into the middle of the street. Having a feeling that something was up, I whispered to the hippogriff, "Do you still have the stun pistols?"

"Yes, sir," she replied, sat her butt down, and pulled out a pistol that was specially made just for knocking out ponies or other creatures instead of killing them. I thought that it would be a nice touch to make them look like the phasers from the original Star Trek series. After pulling it out, she turned the knob in the back to maximum and held it in her claw. "Ready, sir."

With a quick nod to her, I thanked her and then looked back toward the rest of the team. "I think something is about to-"

"EMMIT!"

"go down, so be prepared to stun her if she attacks."

"I WANT TO TALK TO YOU!"

Each one gave me a confirming nod and quiet, "Yes, sir," in response. I did, though, allow Ember to come with me this time because I knew that she wouldn't allow me to go alone for this one. With one motion of my head toward Tempest, I told her that I gave her permission to follow me. Then turned myself into black smoke, flowed down to the ground in front of the building, and then formed back into my black ninetales form a good few feet in front of her. "Tempest?"

"You said that you can restore my horn, correct?" she asked with a slight growl in her voice as Ember landed with a soft thud behind me. Behind Tempest and standing just inside the door was Chrysalis. She was just simply standing there while looking on with a curious expression on her face.

"That is correct, I can," I told her while eyeing her carefully and cautiously. "What happened, Tempest?"

There was a figurative fire in her eyes as she stomped the ground in front of her. "You were right. The Storm King lied to me. He never had the intention of restoring my horn. The motherbucker lied to me."

"Can't say I'm surprised," I said quietly and sympathetically.

"So, I'm giving you a chance to prove to me that you can restore my horn," she said then lowered her head toward me. "So go ahead."

I took a second for a deep calming breath, before telling her, "Tempest, raise your head please." After she did and looked over at me with a slightly confused expression. I morphed into my naked human form right in front of her. She watched with a look of utter fascination as my body morphed. Then blushed a little when her eyes went south to my crotch, especially after Chrysalis wolf-whistled at me.

"I didn't know you had another form." Her voice was softer, more normal, and even had a tone of curiosity in it while her eyes were still locked on my crotch and hanging limp cock. "But why did you do that?"

"I have to be in this form to restore your horn," I said softly and gently while slowly stepping up to her. She kept her eyes on my semi-limp cock as I stepped up to her and knelt down in front of her. Slowly and carefully, I reached my hand out, gently took her jaw in my hand, and lifted her head up, so she was looking at my face again. She wasn't used to the touch and certainly wasn't expecting it, so she flinched but surprisingly didn't pull away completely. "I have to be in this form and hold you against me, alright? That's the way it was for Scootaloo and Derpy." She was still blushing beet red and when she didn't say anything or move away, I leaned in to pick her up.

"I don't like it," Ember said quietly with a quick huff. "I don't think that she deserves it."

"Nopony thought that I deserved anything," she said with heat in her voice as she allowed me to pick her up and place her hooves against my bare chest. But I could see the hurt in them as well. The pain in them at how she was treated. So, I pulled her against me in a gentle hug with her body gently pressed against mine and my cock now pressed between us. I was surprised again when she actually wrapped her hooves around me and laid her head on my neck.

"I realize that you haven't had a good life. That you never knew gentleness or given a chance," I began to talk gently to her while feeling the magic build within me that would heal her. "Never felt gentleness. Are you ready to become Berrytwist again? Ready for another chance?" I whispered to her while feeling her front hooves squeeze me just a little tighter.

"You're right that I was never given a chance. You saw what happened to me. How I was ostracised from society." Her voice softened and I thought I felt a tear against my shoulder as she began opening up to me. "I was left to fend for myself and wound up here in Klugetown for outcasts." Her voice hitched while she talked as she began to really cry and probably for the first time in a long time. And began to really hug back and squeeze me. "I want my horn back. I want my life back."

"You feel something flowing into you?" I asked gently while my hands slowly ran up and down her slender lithe body. I wasn't paying attention to Chrysalis as I rested my head gently against Tempest's. She didn't say anything, just slowly nodded her head against mine with a couple of emotional sniffles. "Let the magic work in you, Berrytwist."

It never took long for the magic to flow into the pony and for them to start feeling like a million bucks. So, it was just seconds after I said to let the magic work in her that it began to fade. When it started fading, I gently pulled just far enough away from her to look into her eyes. "How do you feel, Berrytwist?"

When she pulled back, she moved her hooves from around me to my chest. She had tears in her eyes as she looked into mine. However, there was a hint of a genuine smile on her face when she started saying, "I feel bet-OW" She was interrupted when a rock hit her head with a sudden influx of locals started to rush us that looked to be more than twenty strong. But what got Tempest seething angry again, and this time at me, was when she reached up with her hoof to rub the spot that got hit with the large rock. When she found that her horn was still broken, all the progress that I'd made within the past few minutes went out the window. "LIAR!" Tempest screamed at me then backflipped away from me to land at the base of the steps with Chrysalis still watching from the doorway.

Reaching one hand out toward her, I tried telling her, "You have to give it time to work, Berrytwist."

"LIAR! YOU JUST WANTED TO COP A FEEL, YOU SICK PERVERT!"

Meanwhile, the angry locals were bull-rushing us with handmade swords and shields, screaming and yelling for Tempest and Chrysalis to leave the town.

"It will take one to three days to work, that's the way it happened with Scootaloo and Derpy," I tried telling her while quickly morphing back to my ninetales form and backing up toward Ember.

"LIAR! NOPONY TELLS ME THE TRUTH!"

That's when Chrysalis made her move. She ran down the steps, pulled Tempest to her in a hug, and yelled over at me, "How could you lie to this poor filly? How could you use her vulnerability to cop a feel when you could feel me up anytime, anywhere, and for as long as you want? We mares are leaving!" After her rant, she gripped Tempest a little tighter, lifted her head up in a silly exaggerated huff as if she was offended, and then disappeared with Tempest in a flash of her magic.

With a disappointed sigh, I turned toward the building and announced, "Team? Let's take out the rest of the soldiers before we leave. I have a feeling that we're done here." With Ember by my side, the rest of the team started walking out of the building with their rifles.

"And Tempest and Chrysalis?" the pegasus of the team asked.

That question was answered when we saw the Storm King's ship rise up from the docks at the edge of the city. That wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that the ship started firing upon the soldiers that were standing at the dock that was blocked from getting onto the ship. I watched in curious fascination to watch Tempest fire upon the soldiers on the dock using the ship's guns. Needless to say, the soldiers on the dock didn't stand a chance against those guns, nor were they smart enough to start running away when their fellow soldiers started dying. They just stood there as targets waiting to get killed.

The pegasus on my team looked on with a soft hum of acknowledgment and then simply said, "In that case, never mind then. That answers my question."

"But why would she fire on her own soldiers?" the unicorn medical Corporal asked while he watched in utter horror at the sight in the distance we were witnessing.

"Gone rogue?" the changeling on my team suggested as she walked up to watch on the other side of Ember from me. "I think by firing on her own soldiers that she's not planning on returning to the Storm King again."

"I think you're right about that, Lieutenant," I said down to the mare changeling. "This wasn't a total loss then. I'm not sure about Chrysalis but we can deal with her another time. Tempest will come around after she realizes that her horn will appear within the next few days. Right now she's not thinking at all, just running on emotions. Apparently, the Storm King lied to her about restoring her horn. Once she realizes that her horn has regrown because of me, she will come around. Luna and I will keep watching her dreams at night and address her when needed."

"So, I guess we're done then?" asked the hippogriff mare.

"Indeed," I said to her with a confirming nod. "It's time we leave."

^__^

Tempest's POV

"Nopony has ever told me the truth!" I ranted after Chrysalis teleported us back to the ship and started getting the ship ready for takeoff. Meanwhile, I ranted, raved, and stomped my way around the main deck of the ship. "The pervert!"

"I agree completely," Chrysalis told me while stepping up to me as the airship began to rise without the soldiers. "We have to stick together to burn Equestria to the ground for what it has done to us. We won't return to the Storm King or Emmit. They have wronged us and lied to us!" She pulled me into a sideways hug again as she ranted then began leading me toward the bow of the ship. "Especially, Emmit, right? How dare he feel you up when you were vulnerable! We won't return to him either even if we love the sight of his wonderful cock, right?"

I didn't catch what she said at first when I replied with a firm resolution, "Right!" However, a second later, after finally realizing what she had said at the last, I looked over at her with wide eyes and a flushed face. Wait...what? Meanwhile, she had seen the rest of the Storm King's soldiers and used her magic to turn the ship to begin firing on them. As the ship slowly rose up into the air, Chrysalis used her magic to turn the side of the ship toward the dock and started firing. As she used the ship's guns to fire on the remaining soldiers, I realized a couple of things. One was that I did like the sight of Emmit's cock and balls hanging in front of my face. That made my face flush, even more, when my mind brought up the image again. And secondly was that Chrysalis and I have turned our backs on the Storm King and commandeered one of his ships.

"There, it's done!" Chrysalis announced with a proud look as she slowly walked back over to me with her head held high. "We are now two lone mares out to conquer Equestria for the wrongs that nation has done to us! And I have a plan on how we might do that." It was the grin on her face that had me slightly worried, but then again, I was too angry at the moment to care. I wanted revenge at that point, plain, and simple.

^_^

Emmit's POV
Aprox. one hour later

We were still cloaked and following Chrysalis and Tempest as they sailed NorthWest from Klugetown across the desert and into the Prancing Plains. And because we were cloaked, they didn't know that we were sailing beside them. Albeit far enough away that we were outside the range of her guns but still close enough to watch by telescope. The telescope was set up for me at the bow of the ship, so that's where I was at the moment. Standing in my fox form, I was looking through the telescope and watching Tempest and Chrysalis talk to one another.

"Do you think they know we are following them?" Captain Strat asked me as she stood beside me.

"Oh yeah, they know," I told her without taking my eyes away from the telescope. "I'm sure that Chrysalis was able to detect my love in the area in Klugetown, so she knows at least. She just won't know exactly where we are, just that we are relatively nearby."

Ember was standing impatiently on the other side of me with her arms over her chest as my ears picked up the sound of her clawed foot tapping against the wooden deck. "I hate this cat and mouse strategy," she commented with her voice showing every bit of the frustration she was feeling at the moment. "We should attack them, destroy the ship, and either kill them both or capture them."

Pulling back from the telescope, I looked over at Ember. "I know you and the rest of the team are frustrated. And you have a right to feel that way, however-"

I got interrupted when the Empress herself appeared behind us. Looking beautiful in her white coat and red flowing mane and tail, she was looking at Ember with a motherly patient expression. "However," Red interrupted me as she appeared, "you don't know what I've told Emmit." As she slowly walked up to me, I noticed the Captain bow to the floor. Ember and I did not, though. "There is a," she paused with her face scrunched up in thought as if she was thinking of the proper words, "rhyme and reason, as they say, as to my suggested actions." Ember rolled her eyes a little with a soft snort which made small streams of smoke pour out of her nostrils. In response to that, Red walked up between Ember and I and placed a wing over me and a wing around Ember. "I know that you are a passionate dragon, young Ember. But as Emmit has pointed out a couple of times, patience is a virtue. Besides, now that Miss Berrytwist has restorative magic flowing through her, her horn will be restored within the next few days and I'm confident that she will surrender soon after."

"And Chrysalis?" I asked, curious as to what she will say about her now.

"I truly believe that she will come around soon," she said as I paid attention to the look in her eyes when she said it. And by the look in her eyes, she looked confident in her declaration. "I believe that they will land at the edge of the Flame Geyser Swamps. My suggested action would be to let them go."

I took a breath and let it out slowly to gain patience with this and then responded with, "Alright, if you are sure. But if this comes to bite me in the ass later, you and I will have a talk."

She leaned and with a knowing smile, she lightly kissed me right on the lips and whispered, "I should hope so. And besides, you don't have to wait until Equestria is at stake to visit me." This was bold for her to kiss me publically. This was the first time that she did that and it caught me off guard. She giggled at my reaction before addressing Ember. "However, do what you think is right and after that, I believe that Ember is currently in heat. Aren't you?"

'I am," she snorted in agreement at Red but gave her a nod all the same.

"Then would you do me a favor, Ember, and buck his brains out? Because I know how much you want to get pregnant."

"That I can do," Ember tells her with a firm curt nod.

"Thank you," Red acknowledged then gave me a farewell kiss before fading away with a wink at me and a teasing, "Ta Ta."

After Red disappeared, Ember looked down at me with a raised eyebrow and a look that told me that we would be talking about Red later.

Next Chapter: Chapter Three: Out of the pan and into the fire Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 24 Minutes