We made it to Verko's ship without any further incidents.
Nobody stared at us with suspicion and hostility this time around. Instead now they all ran inside and shut every door and window they could think of. Honestly, after the days I'd had, I'd take it. I didn't have as much bubbling rage as I'd had with Verko that I'd managed to redirect as violent calm, but if anything messed with me right now, I'd probably kill them, regardless of how Kristen felt.
In any case, Verko's directions to the docks were accurate. Once we were there, it wasn't too long before we got a hold of Verko's luxury airship. At first the crew were a little wary of the two of us, but once they heard from a few of the guards who had shown up that, yes, I had put an ice dagger through Verko's eye and I wasn't in any mood to be messed with... Well, we were on our way in twenty minutes.
The ship did have a lot of the luxuries you'd expect of somebody who ran a town, but neither of us really focused on that once we'd given the captain directions and retired to our quarters. Sure, the beds were nice and soft, but they didn't erase the memories of what had happened in the last few days. I tried getting a little sleep, but the memories kept me awake. I idly scratched at my neck where Verko had that awful shock collar on me.
Part of me still wished that I'd dialed it up to ten, just so he'd know what he'd put other beings through. It wouldn't have ended well, though, especially with Kristen watching. Sure, she'd seen me kill before, but that was during a battle. This was different. I groaned and got up off of the bed. I needed some air. I'd been stuck in a small room for too long, even if I'd been asleep or unconscious for a lot of it. I walked out of my quarters onto the main deck, where I instantly spotted Kristen standing by the side rails looking out into the horizon. I slowly made my way up to her and stood by her side.
"Hey."
She barely glanced up at me from the corner of her eyes. "Hey."
"How are you doing?"
She shrugged. "Okay, I guess. Been through a lot lately."
I let out a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, I hear that. What happened after I threw you out the window?"
"Not much. I managed to start flying before I actually hit the ground, but I got kind of turned around. You actually threw me pretty far. It took a few minutes for me to even see the windmill. By the time I got back, everyone, even Capper, was gone. I wasn't sure what direction you'd gone, so I just picked one and started looking. It didn't help that Verko had a bunch of airships scouring the skies for me. I just picked a random spot that looked abandoned and hid out for a little bit."
"Yeah, I'm sorry I put that much pressure on you," I muttered. "I should have been fighting alongside you or at least attempted to escape."
"You were bleeding out to the point where Mister Orange wouldn't have envied you," Kristen pointed out. "I'm surprised you were even lucid enough to toss me out the window."
"Same here. After Verko threw me in a cage I just passed out. I didn't expect to wake up again." I fluttered my wing so I could see my healing wound. Sometimes it still didn't feel like I'd been hit with another weapon, but there it was. It had come even closer to killing me than even Sinosis's arrow.
"So, did the Storm Creatures have those, what did you call them, Nightmare Weapons? I thought you got them all."
I shook my head. "No, they didn't have Nightmare Weapons. I don't know what they were, but I didn't feel any black magic. If they were I'd be long dead. Maybe they were made out of some new material, or maybe this Storm King has some kind of magic that he cast on them. I don't know. What I do know is that I don't want to get hit by them again."
"Wonder if they'd do anything to me," Kristen said thoughtfully. "Would I be killed if I was hit by a Nightmare Weapon?"
I shrugged. "No idea. Let's not find out about that, shall we?"
"Yeah, sounds good."
Awkward silence fell between the two of us as we stared out into the horizon. From here I could see the shape in the distance that I'd been assured by the crew was Mount Aris. I could tell that Kristen had something on her mind beyond everything that had happened in Canterlot. I'd ask, but she wasn't really the kind of person who would open up about whatever she was feeling, especially when something was bothering her. Thankfully I didn't have to wait too long before she spoke again.
"TD... I know you're in kind of a rough head space right now. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't, too, but..." She took a deep breath and finally looked at me. "I know you're a lot different than you were before. I've seen it every day in the last five years. I just never thought... what happened with Verko and Capper... did you need to kill them?"
I grimaced and looked away from her. "No. I guess not. It wasn't a battle or anything, and they weren't threats at that point, I just..." I groaned and thunked my head on the railing. "I'd spent the past few days being tortured by him. Then he keeps assuring me that he'll get you, too, and we'll live the rest of our lives as freaks in a circus or something. After everything that happened in Canterlot, I've felt so... powerless. I can't do anything to keep anyone safe, including me. Plus he kept talking about all of the other beings that he'd done that to and, I dunno, I couldn't let him live. Do you really think that he'd just give up and change his ways because he captured the one pony who could actually fight back?"
"Not really, no," Kristen admitted.
"Exactly. I guess I just wanted to have a tangible impact on my situation. If I kill Verko then a lot of other beings in Klugetown aren't suffering under him."
"Alternatively you've just created a power vacuum that's going to have a negative impact on Klugetown for years to come," Kristen pointed out. "Or does that not matter because we're never going back?"
I glared at her. "Shut it. Name me one guy there who looked smart enough to take over the entire business."
Kristen shrugged. "Don't know. I didn't ask everyone there for their resume. You're the one always talking about how everything you do is going to have actions for hundreds of years, right? I'm not saying you should have just let Verko go with a warning, or something, but..."
"So what would you have suggested, then?" I growled. "Maybe just keeping that shock collar on him and turning it up to three until it blows a fuse? Well that's torture. Trust me, he didn't feel a thing when I shot that dagger through his head. Maybe there is going to be a power struggle, and maybe the next guy who takes over is going to be worse than Verko, but..." I sighed. "Like I said: he'd spent the past few days torturing me. I can't just let a guy like that walk away."
"I guess," Kristen muttered. "I'd just never seen you like that. I get the battles and stuff, but seeing you just casually kill somebody? You've changed, TD. You've changed and I don't think I like it."
"In some ways I don't like it either," I admitted. "Would I prefer to just be the unassuming human fishing in the lake around Ponyville with no real responsibilities?" I paused for a moment. "No, I guess. If for no other reason than my wife and daughters. You're right: I'm not that same guy anymore. The guy who talked to you that day when I almost got hit by the car..." I saw her flinch at that. “Well, we wouldn't even recognize each other. I guess that just happens, though. That was ten years ago. I don't think the Kristen that came through the portal would recognize who you are now."
"Yeah, but I'm not breaking anyone's necks," Kristen grumbled. "I get it, TD, you're going to have to do stuff I don't like just because that's what your job is right now and you're going to be doing it forever. That's true of any leader. Through that, though, I still see a little bit of my brother, you know? I'm sure as heck not going to start calling you Antares just because everyone else does."
I actually manage a smile at that one. It is kind of weird to hear somebody else call me by my old name. "Yeah, and that's one of the reasons I'm glad you’re here. We're both far more powerful than we were ten years ago, or even five. Life has taken us in a direction neither of us expected, but I'm glad we have each other to remind us where we came from. It lets me know that I haven't always been this powerful, immortal pony who could control the sun and moon if he wanted to. At one point I was a scrawny college student way in over his head in a bizarre situation."
"Yeah, and I never thought I'd be the god of chaos for eternity either, but here we are."
I chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, here we are."
"Ship ho!" one of the crew members called out, breaking us out of our reminiscing. I frowned and began looking around. There was nothing I could see between us and the rapidly approaching Mount Aris. So what...?
I turned around and my heart sank when I saw it: a large metal airship with a familiar and terrifying insignia emblazoned on the side. Somehow the Storm King's agents had found us. I wheeled around and began looking for any place to go below decks. Maybe this was a coincidence and they just wanted a bribe of some sort. I saw the captain, a Klugetowner from the looks of things, behind the wheel of the airship and flew up to him. He flinched when I landed beside him.
"Is this normal or are we in big trouble?"
He gulped and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Uh... this is kind of normal. Sometimes we'll get stopped to make sure that we're not carrying any illegal cargo. Just a random check."
I growled and looked back to the ship. In hindsight I probably should have switched back to my disguised form. I was pretty easy to spot with my size and coloration and ethereal mane. I was stupid not to do it when we boarded. Damn.
"Do you have any place for us to hide?" I asked, casting the disguise spell on myself in the vain hope that they hadn't spotted me.
"Er... I know that Verko was a crime boss and all, but he didn't use this thing for any smuggling," the captain said. "Too risky. He didn't want the Storm King taking it for himself."
I took a deep breath and looked at the airship, then back to Mount Aris. I still wasn't back to a hundred percent, but we could probably make the flight if we hurried. As much as I hated it, the luxury ship about to be boarded would make the perfect distraction until we were far away.
Before I could tell Kristen my plan, giant metal hooks were shot out of the approaching airship. The punched through the hull like they were made of paper and began reeling us in like a prized trout. I turned to Kristen and pointed to Mount Aris. "We gotta go."
"What about them?" Kristen said, motioning to the crew, most of whom were on deck.
"They're not hiding anything, especially if we're not on the ship. We can make the flight to--"
"TD! Look!"
I saw that she was pointing behind me and wheeled around to look at the airship. My heart sank when I saw who was on the bow.
Tempest.
"What should we do?" Kristen whispered. "I'm positive she's already seen us."
So was I. We made eye contact and a small smirk crossed her face. Even if she hadn't seen me before I transformed, there was no way that she didn't know it was me. I was at a crossroads. We needed to get to Mount Aris before she stopped us, but if I defeated her here it would make taking back Canterlot much easier. I pulled all of the moisture in the air closer and created an ice spear which I brandished at her. She chuckled and shook her head.
One of the Storm Creatures came out on deck and wheeled over the microphone thing that she'd used when she first arrived in Canterlot. She adjusted it so that it was at her level.
"Attention crew members. I have no quarrel with you. The ponies you are traveling with are my only prize. Surrender and I won't send this ship crashing down in flames. Antares? If you move from that deck I will slaughter every innocent being on this ship. Those deaths will be on your hooves. You are outnumbered. Surrender peacefully." Her grin turned nasty. "I think we all saw what happens when you try to do it the hard way. It makes no difference to me."
I glowered at her and cast a spell on my throat so my voice could be heard. "Pretty lucky for you that you found us, isn't it?"
If I knew how she found us in the first place I could block it next time. That didn't matter too much now since I needed to figure out how to escape my current predicament first.
"Hardly," she sneered. "Ponies stand out in Klugetown. We knew you were going south, and after that it was just a few simple questions before we knew you were on this ship. Where are you headed, I wonder?"
"Now that you're here one of us is going to Tartarus!" I snarled. "Are you so weak that you need an army behind you to stop us? Even when you took out my family you did so while we were in the middle of a battle?"
"I am no fool," Tempest snarled. "I am aware that you are the superior fighter. Why would I fight you head on and lose when I can distract you and win?" Tempest flicked her hoof and dozens of Storm Creatures flooded the deck of the airship, many of whom were armed with bows. I grimaced and cast a spell over the airship I was on, encasing it in a shield that would hopefully stop whatever they threw at us for a little while. Not forever, though. Unless you're amazingly talented at casting a shield like Shining Armor, the larger the shield the more fragile it was. A shield the size of a pony was much easier to maintain therefore harder to break. Something the size of a large airship? Not as easy.
"You don't give yourself enough credit, coward," I shot back once I'd cast the spell. "I think a one-on-one fight between the two of us would be quite interesting, don't you agree?"
Tempest chuckled just as her airship stopped alongside ours. Two of the Storm Creatures set up a metal ramp between the two airships, allowing Tempest access to ours. She lit up what was left of her horn and shot out blinding bolts of lightning. My shield only held for a few seconds before completely shattering, leaving us all exposed. The Storm Creatures drew back their bows and pointed them at us.
"Kill anyone that tries to run," she said as she walked down the ramp. "If Antares tries to cast a spell kill everyone on deck." Tempest looked over at Kristen who was inching closer to me and shook her head. "If Antares sinks through the deck with that sister of his..."
"Alright, so you have me," I growled. "What does the Storm King want with us anyway? We've never been a threat to him."
"He wants your magic," Tempest said. "For what is of little consequence to either of us."
"If you take me prisoner then who's going to raise and lower the sun?" I pointed out with a smirk. "How's the three days of sunlight treating you?"
Tempest rolled her eyes. "You are a fool. We've enslaved your nation. The unicorns are raising and lowering the sun and the moon at our command, just as they did before the alicorns. We have no use for you. You'll be trapped in stone alongside your family where you will remain as trophies commemorating his defeat of your pathetic nation."
"Your nation too," I snarled. "You're a pony! Why are you following this madman?"
"That is also of little consequence to you," Tempest said coolly. "All that matters is that you are here and are coming back to Equestria with me." Tempest opened up the saddlebag at her side and slid out one of the orbs she'd used to turn my family to stone. "Stand still. This won't hurt a bit." She chuckled. "I think."
Before I could react, she threw the orb at me. On instinct I lit my horn to catch it, but before I could, Kristen leaped in front of me. The orb collided with her chest, and the stone began crawling over her body, petrifying her.
"That will do for the moment, I suppose," Tempest said, taking another orb out of her bag. "For..." Tempest's eyes narrowed as she stared at Kristen. The stone had almost completely covered her, but it had stopped just before it reached her neck. Kristen breathed heavily, and I could see her straining. I looked closer and saw, to my amazement, that the stone was actually receding. As it faded away from her body Kristen began breathing more normally, and within a few short seconds the stone was gone.
All of us stared at Kristen who took a few deep breaths and glared at Tempest.
"Bitch," she growled.
I could see the rage in Tempest's eyes, but it only lasted a moment before her calm returned. "I admit that was unexpected. However, I made the consequences quite clear." Tempest raised her hoof, then shot it down. I lit up my horn for another spell, but it was too late. Arrows began raining onto the deck.
I heard the pained cries of the crew members who were hit by the barrage. I lit my horn and took to the air, shooting every spell I could think of at the attacking Storm Creatures. Many of them were evaporated before they could reload. Some of them raised their bows to me and fired. I shot higher into the air to avoid the arrows. The movement saved me. Just as I went higher, another one of the orbs sailed past me, hitting the crow's nest and turning it into stone. I looked back down at Tempest who was aiming another orb at me.
Just as she wound up to throw it at me, a hoof connected with her jaw, sending her flying back into the railing. In her attempts to hit me she hadn't noticed Kristen charging.
"You gonna stay down or do I have to get creative?" Kristen growled.
Huh. Go her.
Tempest bared her teeth and flipped onto her hooves. She cracked her neck and got into a fighting stance. Kristen shot to her hind hooves and slapped her forehooves together. Electricity crackled through them that she instantly shot at Tempest, who lit her horn and countered Kristen's lighting with some of her own. I summoned another ice spear and readied it. Maybe Tempest had a point: why take her in a head on fight when I could just snipe her from up here when she was distracted?
Just before I threw the spear, another arrow thudded into the mast inches from my head. It knocked my aim off and the spear hit the deck a good five feet from where Tempest. It was far enough away that she didn't even flinch. Instead she materialized two whips made out of pure electricity. She shot them both out at Kristen simultaneously. Kristen dodged one easily, but the other wrapped around her neck. Tempest began reeling Kristen in, but Kristen slapped the whip around her neck, turning it into harmless ash that blew away with the wind.
Throughout all of this I continued dodging arrows. I know that Tempest wanted them to take me alive, but a good shot could take me out of the fight without killing me, which was probably what they were banking on. I cast a shield spell around myself then shot out a flurry of ice daggers which struck some of my attackers and scattered the rest. I heard the noise of more electric whips being summoned. I lurched back when one of them wrapped around my leg. Tempest tied it around the mast in a vain attempt to keep me secured while she could defeat my sister. I began casting spells on it to cancel it out. I admit, Tempest was powerful. It took me at least ten seconds to get rid of it.
Alright, enough was enough. I angled my wings and shot toward the deck. Kristen might not have much combat experience, but Tempest couldn't take on both of us at the same time. I hit the deck hard enough to dent it from the impact, and lit my horn for a spell. Tempest tore up a giant chunk of the deck and put it between the two of us, preventing my spell from hitting her. It destroyed the section of deck, but she was unharmed. She glared at me and stomped on the deck. Instantly dozens of Storm Creatures began running down the ramp, weapons at the ready.
"I don't need you intact, Antares," she growled. "You just need to be alive."
She turned just in time to dodge Kristen's blow. Tempest caught Kristen's leg mid strike and slammed her hoof into the joint. Chaos god or not, it wasn't supposed to bend that way. Kristen fell to the deck clutching at her leg. She wasn't crying out in pain like I would have been. I guess it didn't hurt. She just glared at Tempest and shook her leg, instantly repairing the damage. However, Tempest used the distraction to swing around and slam her hind hooves into Kristen's face with all of her might. Kristen flew back and crashed into the mast. I heard the loud crack from where I was. I didn't know if it was Kristen's spine or the mast, but it sounded like it hurt.
I couldn't help her at the moment. I cast a spell that Celestia had taught me, summoning a blade of pure sun fire. The psychological effect of the blade was enough that the first few Storm Creatures flinched back, allowing me to go on the offensive. I cut through three of them before they could react. A trio of arrows thudded into the deck just missing my hooves. I flinched for a moment too long, and before I could do anything, two of them tackled me. Even as strong as I was, their sudden weight made me topple over, and they dog-piled me the instant I hit the deck. I swung my sword wildly about, but I didn't feel it making contact with anything. One of the Storm Creatures slammed the end of his spear right into my horn. I cried out in pain and my magic fizzled out with the sword soon following.
"Don't break his horn just yet," I heard Tempest say from behind me. "Do whatever you must to--GAH!"
In between the mass of Storm Creatures I managed to spot Kristen slamming her hooves right into Tempest's side with enough force to dent the armor. Tempest flew back, sliding across the deck and almost straight into the hole she'd made. With Tempest out of the fight for the moment, Kristen slammed her hooves down, sending a shock wave through the deck that made it ripple like water. Storm Creatures flew back as they got off balance, allowing me to light my horn and shoot off a spell that shoved away the ones dog-piling me. A few of them went over the railing, their screams of terror filling the air. I shot back up to my hooves and created another fire sword.
"So, how's it going with you?" I said through gritted teeth as more Storm Creatures stomped onto the deck from the ramp.
"Oh, same old same old," Kristen replied. I could hear the fatigue in her voice. "I don't think it's best if we stay here."
I glanced back to where Tempest had fallen. She was already getting up. I could see the murder in her eyes. At this rate once she had my magic she'd probably start torturing me in ways that would make what Verko did look tame just for revenge. Kristen was right: we needed to get out. We'd just be overrun if we continued fighting.
"Same trick?" I said as we backed away from the opposing army.
"Same trick."
Kristen grabbed my foreleg and we began sinking through the deck. I could hear Tempest's cry of rage as we went out of sight.