Second Movement: Part 1- Operetta of a Storm
Operetta of a Storm
Twilight Sparkle awoke with a pressing headache. She briefly opened her eyes to find that the entire world had turned to reflective crystal. Deciding that she was not ready to face the shiny world, she rolled over and placed a pillow over her head to snuff out the light.
The purple unicorn gave a start, realizing that she was no longer freezing to death in the Northern Equestrian Wastes. She was lying in a plush bed, queen-sized at the very least, with silken sheets and downy pillows. She sat up despite her dull ache, and took in the surrounding room.
She recognized it as being her room in the Crystal Palace, specially designed to be a sanctuary for her. Rare literature lined the walls, offering up their secrets. A fully-stocked writing desk sat in a corner, a bottle of magic fire ready to send letters wherever she wished. A small kitchen sat in a side-room, containing enough refreshments for an entire week of heavy studying.
Twilight got out of the bed and tested her legs. She was weak from both her injury, and from being bed-ridden for who-knows-how-long. Deciding not to risk another fall, she sat back on the bed and waited. She sat quietly for about a minute before considering using magic to get somepony’s attention.
“Just… try not to use any magic,” Rainbow Dash’s words echoed in her thoughts. Twilight considered why her friend would have warned her about that, it’s not like she would do anything stupid. Well, stupider than using Sombra’s magic to open a locked door in an ancient tomb…
Just as she was about to cast the spell, Lyra Heartstrings walked into her room. Twilight’s eyes met Lyra’s, and the mint-green unicorn ran out of the room with a shout. “Twilight’s awake! Twilight’s awake!”
She was soon joined by the Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor and Mi Amore De Cadenza. Or, less formally, Shiny and Cadance. Her brother and sister-in-law pulled up chairs and sat beside the bed, all smiles. “Twilie, I’m so glad you’re awake!”
“Ugh, me too, Shining.” Twilight rubbed at a sore spot on her noggin. “So, the million-bit question is, ‘How long have I been out?’”
Cadance and Shining exchanged a look before the pink alicorn answered. “About five days, Twilight.”
Twilight sat back in the bed, sighing. “Figures. I finally get to be an archeologist and my trip gets cut short by a head injury.”
“It’s more than just a head injury, Twilie,” Shining added. “You have a full-blown concussion. I’d advise you to lay off on the magic for a while.”
“Wait, what?” Twilight sat bolt-upright in bed. “A concussion!? I don’t have time to get a concussion!” The world started to spin, causing the angry unicorn to lie down. She turned her head to her brother with pleading eyes. “How long before I’m back to normal?”
“At least a couple of weeks,” Lyra was the one who answered. “Then you should be able to use magic again.” She brought a glass of lemonade to Twilight, who drank it down greedily. “It takes at least that long just for the swelling to go down, in my experience.”
Twilight set down the empty glass with a relieved sigh. “Are you speaking from personal experience?”
Lyra took the glass to the kitchen for a refill. “Not for me, no, but you see a lot of crazy stuff when you live in Ponyville”
“I hear that.” Twilight took the lemonade once again, but drank it much slower this time. So that’s why Rainbow Dash told me not to use magic, I’d have hurt myself even more.
Twilight slowly sat back up. “Hay, where’s Rainbow Dash?”
All three of the other ponies glanced at each other before Cadance answered. “We… we don’t know, Twilight.”
“What?”
“We don’t know,” the princess repeated. “When Shining arrived at the camp, the griffons were gone, and so was your friend.”
“What?” Twilight tilted her head to the side, not wanting to believe what she was hearing.
“From what I hear, the griffons planned to abandon you in the Wastes.” Shining Armor ground his teeth a little, just enough to release his inner pressure. “I think they might have taken Rainbow Dash, there wasn’t any trace of her.”
“They left when they got what they were looking for.” Cadance placed a warm hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “If you can tell us what it was, it’ll give us a clue about what they’re planning.”
Shining leaned in closer. “I know it’s a bad time, but we really need to know what the griffons wanted.”
Twilight thought for a bit, before flopping down in exhaustion. “All I remember is walking into this big room with spooky statues, ‘Grotesques’ I guess, and then waking up with a headache.” Twilight rolled onto her belly and pulled the covers over her back. “Then Lyra and I followed Crested Barbary out of the cavern and…”
Twilight looked at Lyra in realization. “And then Lyra saved my life.”
The emerald unicorn shook her head back and forth. “What? Wait, what?”
“That flare, you signaled the other ponies.” Twilight pointed a hoof at the bard. “Without you, I would’ve frozen to death.”
“I… I just did what any other pony would have done.” Lyra blushed and shrank back into her chair. “Really, it was nothing.”
Twilight shook her head gently. “It obviously wasn’t ‘nothing’ to me. Thank you, Lyra.”
“Sure,” Lyra replied hesitantly. “Anytime.”
“So, that’s it,” Shining Armor sighed. “The griffons got what they wanted, and we’re even deeper in doo than when we started.”
Twilight frowned. “What do you mean ‘deeper?’ It gets worse?”
Cadance lowered her head, wiping aside a few tears. “A lot of things happened in Equestria while you were asleep, Twilight. It gets much, much worse.”
Rainbow Dash was jolted awake by what felt like an earthquake. She found herself thrown from the cot she was sleeping on and to the hardwood floor below. The pegasus rolled across the slanted floorboards until she was stopped by a rounded wall. Gravity decided to play a few more games with her as the ground shifted in the opposite direction, sending her careening into the far wall. She reached out and grasped the net-like cot with her forelegs, holding tight as the room jolted to-and-fro. Her keen senses felt movement, like she was in free-fall, before the room bounced once more. She fell to the floor hard, bruising her chin and snapping her teeth together.
“Oh, forget this.”
She took to the air, watching the room rock around her. She was quite pleased with herself, at least until the roof dropped on her head, knocking her to the ground.
“Ouch.”
She crawled her way to a closed door, careful not to get crushed by the few unsecured barrels rolling around. Opening the portal, she saw that the hallway outside was flooded. Before Rainbow could make another move, a wave splashed her with a face-full of water.
It was the nastiest thing she had ever tasted.
Salty, grimy, slimy, it was not how water was supposed to feel. It felt like Tank’s bathwater when he was done playing around. It snuck up her nose and burned, it snuck into her eyes and stung, it snuck into her mouth and…
“Bleagh!”
She lolled her tongue out and tried to scratch the disgusting taste away. With only her back-hooves to stabilize her, the next jolt sent the pegasus flying down the corridor. She bumped into a set of stairs, leading upwards.
“Alright, let’s see what gives.”
Rainbow Dash walked carefully up the steps, holding onto the railing with two hooves. The stairs ended in a large upward-opening trapdoor. Pushing the door open, Rainbow Dash caught sight of what had to be the biggest storm she had ever been in.
Grey clouds the size of mountains hung in the sky, sending gallons and gallons of rain down on the world. Lightning struck at random, and booming thunderclaps reverberated across sky. The horizon inexplicably rotated upwards, filling her vision with a vast expanse of water, churning and writhing and waving. A large wave reared up over Rainbow Dash, foam decorating the top as it leaned in.
That’s not possible, Rainbow thought. Waves can’t be a hundred feet high, that’s just in stories. This is crazy!
The mythical wave hit with a whoosh of water, and a crash of force. Rainbow Dash found herself completely at the mercy of the unfeeling tide. She only survived because of a wall of wooden boards ending her tumble with a thump. She got to her feet as quickly as the receding water would allow, and tried to take stock of her surroundings. She was on a large boat; a frigate, if her memory of Daring Do and the Fate of Enchantis was up to snuff. Unfamiliar griffons leapt this way and that, grabbing ropes, tying knots, and generally panicking their feathers off.
Another enormous wave crashed down on the ship, knocking the sailors about like bowling pins. Laughter that was best described as “maniacal” rose above the pounding surf. Rainbow Dash looked back to the stern of the ship to see what kind of creature could actually enjoy this.
It was a portly griffon, wearing yellow rain-gear and clutching the ship’s wheel in a white-knuckled grip. His grin clamped a pipe firmly in his beak, chuffing up clouds of smoke despite the pouring rain. He spun the wheel madly, turning the ship to face directly at the next monster of a wave. The ship plowed through, lurching upwards at the impact, and then dipping steeply down the back of the water-wall.
“These’re the days that’ll make ye feel alive, lads!” The griffon held the pipe in his talon as he belted out another insane laugh. “Har har! Feel the breeze in yer wings, and the surf in your fur!”
Rainbow Dash took a guess at the crazy griffon’s title. “Hay! You the captain!?”
“Got it in one, lass!” The captain moved his smoking pipe from one side of his beak to the other. “Say now, aren’t you that ambassador from Equestria? What in th’ warld are ye do’n on me sun deck?”
Rainbow was knocked off her feet again by the motion of the ocean. Lightning struck the mainmast, cracking the crow’s nest in half. Griffons dodged and rolled as the two chunks of burning wood came crashing down on the deck. Rainbow Dash stabilized herself on a cannon and addressed the griffon captain. “Holding on for dear life, apparently!”
“Get yer blue behind below-decks!” He grasped the wheel with both talons and gave it a spin. “Ah’m certain that m’lards will be pleased to know yer up an aboot!”
Rainbow Dash gasped as the next wave came from starboard. The ship began to tilt on its side as the ocean dragged it into the air. With a shout of defiance, the captain steered the ship down the wave, putting the juggernaut of hydration behind the vessel. The wave crashed, and the ship rocketed forwards with the force.
Rainbow Dash’s mane stood on end as she shut the trapdoor firmly behind her. She practically collapsed at the bottom of the stairs, no longer caring if the sea water got into her mouth. She shivered in her own little puddle of misery for a moment, before beginning the difficult process of slowly walking down the hallway. It wasn’t long before she came upon another living being, the griffon archeologist, Martial Paw. He stared in surprise for a moment, before he got a hold of himself. “You’re awake.”
“Hi, Captain Obvious. Captain Crazy is waiting for you outside.” Rainbow Dash sat on a roped-down barrel, gazing pointedly at the young griffon. “Have a seat.”
Martial glanced both ways down the hallway before obliging. “So…”
“Don’t speak yet.” Rainbow raised a hoof to his beak, only lowering it when the griffon nodded. “You’ve got a lot to answer for here, but let’s start at the beginning.” She grasped a rope hanging from the ceiling as the ship rocked. “Where are we going?”
“Felaccipidia,” he replied. “The griffon homeland, across the sea.”
“Ahuh, like I thought.” Rainbow Dash thought a moment before asking the next question. “Okay, I’m gonna be antsy until I find out; why did Gilded Wing hurt my friend?”
Martial Paw rested his head in his talon. “I don’t know, nobody knows.” He looked up with his grey eyes, apology written on his face. “We just planned to leave quietly: take the relic and run. I didn’t want something like this to happen.” The two flyers steadied themselves against another impact. “He just up and went nuts.”
“Le’ me get this straight,” Rainbow interrupted. “You came to Equestria to get your hands on a crystal-hearty thing, you got Twilight Sparkle to open the door, you got the stinking princesses to help you out…” She combed a stray strand of mane out of her eyes hastily. “And then your boss goes coo-coo, and I become spare baggage.”
“Pretty much.”
“Great.” Dash leaned back against the wall, but was tossed from her spot by the next wave. Martial held out a talon to help her up, but she waved him off. “So what’s it all for, huh? What’s your big griffon game?”
“Equal footing.” The comment came from a new conversationalist, Crested Barbary. The mercenary walked into the room and opened a barrel, pulling out a dried, salted hunk of meat. “Your Equestrian princesses have held ultimate power for too long.”
Rainbow stared as he tore a chunk off with his sharp beak. “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right? Is this some kinda coup, or what?
Martial waved his talons to the contrary. “No, no, no, no. He means that the king just wants a little additional footing in our international affairs.”
The pegasus nodded in understanding. “He wants something to hold over their heads, huh?”
“That’s about right.” Another jolt hit the trio, and Barbary gripped an overhead beam to keep from tumbling out the door. “When you have a neighbor that can raise and lower the sun at will, you don’t have much of a leg to stand on.”
“Ahuh.” Rainbow Dash got to her feet. “And now that I know that, what’s to stop me from flying right back to Equestria to warn the princesses?”
Barbary drew close, his whited-out eye inches from her magenta ones. “Nothing, except for miles upon miles of open ocean.”
He walked out the door, jerky in hand. “Stay with us and you will be treated like an ambassador. You will have good food, good company, and a chance to make a difference.” He paused in the hall briefly. “Fight against us, with all of your Equestrian pride, and you will not find Felaccipida to be a friendly place.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “And he’s the guy that saved my life.” She shook her head, lidded eyes glaring holes in the wall. “At least I don’t have to worry about Mr. Psycho Griff.” She looked at Martial. “You did lock Gilded in the dungeon, or galley, or whatever a ship has, right?”
Martial was shocked. “What? No way! He’s a prisoner, but he’s still nobility.”
The pegasus’ jaw fell open. “He tried to kill somebody, and you can’t lock him away because of who his dad is?”
“We keep him under guard, he’s not going anywhere,” Martial attempted to reassure her. “But a member of the royal court still deserves a little bit of respect.”
“Baloney.” She got up to leave, taking baby steps to her room. “I’m gonna try and get some real shuteye, I feel like I haven’t slept for days.”
“Ah, probably a side-effect of Barbary’s sedative-” Martial Paw halted his train of thought too late, and found himself the object of Rainbow Dash’s displeasure.
“Sedative, huh? That’s why I’ve been out of it until we got far enough out?” Rainbow Dash turned with a flick of her tail, splashing her way down the aisle. “Buncha losers.”
She lay in her cot and tried to relax; the swelling of the waters had died down a bit. The captain may be crazy, but he kept us alive. She thought about what she was going to do once they got to Felaccipidia. I’ve gotta get a message to the princesses. If these guys think that the relic is bad news, it probably is. She shut her eyes, letting the sea rock her to sleep. I hope Twilight’s okay. Why did I have to go and abandon her?
Twilight Sparkle was not okay; inconsolable was a far more descriptive word. “I should have been there!”
Shining Armor tried to hold his sister down with his magic. “Getting yourself worked up about it isn’t going to help! Just calm down!”
Twilight struggled for a moment longer, before relenting in exhaustion. She was getting tired of the bouts of physical weakness. “I should have been there. I could have done something.”
Shining shook his head and nuzzled his sister gently. “Even if you had been there, or if I had been there, we couldn’t have done anything. Blueblood said that it happened so fast-”
“Oh, and Blueblood, of all ponies, is always so very right.”
Shining chuckled despite himself. “Prince Blueblood is one of the greatest tactical minds of our time. If he couldn’t help, I’m not sure who could have.”
Twilight lay on her back, trying not to let tears run down her face. She sniffled and turned to Cadance. “Do you think the princesses are alright?”
The pink alicorn smiled and rubbed the unicorn’s cheek. “I’m sure Aunt Celestia’s fine, and Aunt Luna’s as tough as they come. Sombra’s gotten in over his head this time.”
Twilight nodded, and then continued. “So, what do we do now?”
“We fight,” Shining answered, his eyes blazing with fire. “Blueblood’s started a resistance group in Manehatten, and a bunch of other cities have refused to bow to Sombra.”
“And we’ll fight beside them,” Candance agreed. “The Crystal Empire isn’t helpless anymore, not with the power of the Crystal Heart.”
A spark appeared in Twilight’s eyes. “Crystal Heart.” Her mind recovered a memory from the fog of her injury, and a sinister relic came into view. “Sombra was in the temple!”
Shining stood up in surprise. “He was? He was here!?”
“No, the relic! He talked to me through it!” Twilight got up from the bed. She was about to use magic to call a few books to her, but thought better of it. “Lyra, I’m drafting you to be my temporary assistant!”
Lyra stood up, eyebrow raised. “Uh, okay, what for?”
Twilight grabbed a pen in her mouth and began scribbling furiously. She spat the utensil out and took a look at her writing. It was barely readable. She crumpled up the page and tossed it in the wastebasket. “I just remembered that Sombra’s relic was a smaller version of the Crystal Heart. If we can find out more about our heart, we might find out something about his!”
Twilight took a final sip of her lemonade before heading out the door, minty-green bard in tow. “See you later, Shiny, Cadance! I’ve got some research to do!”
Lord Gilded Wing sat in his cot, fondling a trinket. Two griffon guards stood outside his room, nervously shooting glances in the open door. The object was purple crystal, glistening in the firefly-light. It was carved, or formed, in the shape of a heart. The lord scratched at the bandages that covered his damaged face, contemplating the relic. He had searched long and hard for it, and now he held it close.
Had he still possessed a mouth, Gilded Wing would have smiled.
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So, Rainbow's heading to the griffon homeland, huh? This ought to be good.
Though why they're traveling by sea instead of in an airship, I have no idea.
Meh, it's your story. 
A solid start for the second movement. I'm excited to see what's in store for our heroes and heroines.
2301391
I hope so, I've spent too much time on pony-griffon relations to stop now!
A. Airships are mostly (except for a single background event) fanon. Fanon is something I either like to play with, or disregard.
B. Everypony and their brother uses airships in their stories. Everybody. I love it, it's awesome, but it's everywhere!
C. Cooler scene: 100 foot waves crashing down on the ship, or a peaceful day above the clouds?
D. Griffons in airships: a bit excessive?
Thank ye, sirrah.