It just felt like... a waste. All of that time and effort to get to the hippogriffs and all I managed to learn was that the Storm King wasn't magical and that he was vulnerable without any relics or around him.
It didn't matter in the end. I was going to pull his spine through his stomach and destroy every single one of his Storm Creatures. And Tempest? Well, her and William Wallace would be able to swap stories. Nobody fucks with my family. Nobody takes my daughters away in cages. They will know pain.
But first things first. We needed an army.
"I think it's best that we head to Griffonia," I said, casting a spell on the two of us to dry us off. "It's a good spot for a council because it shares a border with us and Saddle Arabia. Mesud is our closest ally and I'll bet good money that he joins up. Once he does then Zebrica and Griffonia should follow suit shortly."
"I think Griffonia would regardless," Kristen pointed out as we walked back through the ruins of what used to be the kingdom of the hippogriffs. "Kathyrine kind of owes you, doesn't she?"
I bobbed my head in a conceding nod. "True. She'd be a huge help, too. I obviously cannot overstate the advantage of an air force in a war like this."
"Plus she'd probably assume that her country is next once Equestria falls?"
"Exactly. I think we'll have some luck getting her aid." Kristen and I spread our wings and take flight in the direction of Griffonia. Honestly we needed some form of transportation. I could teleport long distances, but nothing like the distance we had to travel, and I'd get worn out pretty quickly. Kristen hadn't figured out how to pop in anywhere she wanted like Discord had, otherwise this would have been easy.
Of course, we wouldn't be in this situation if Kristen had all of Discord's powers, but still...
No. This isn't her fault. She did what she could, I guess. She'd never been in a battle before. I know I froze up the first time I had to fight. She'd figure it out in the end. She had to. Whether she knew it or not, she was one of our most valuable assets. A wild card that the Storm King wouldn't totally be able to plan for. I could be dangerous when I surged. When she got emotional? I didn't even want to know.
The two of us flew in silence for a few hours, neither of us really sure of what to say. There wasn't any battle strategies we could form, nor any plans in general beyond getting to Griffonia. Everything so far depended on that. We could figure more things out from there.
Just as my stomach started to feel the early twinges of hunger, I spotted something in the distance. It looked like... I squinted and leaned my head forward a little bit more. It looked like an airship.
"Do you see that?" I asked, pointing to the horizon.
"Yeah, it looks like a ship." Kristen shot me an uneasy glance. "You think it could be Tempest?"
"Possibly. If it is then we can try for a surprise attack. Knocking her out of the war would be a huge advantage, not to mention that we'd have a ship to get us to Griffonia."
"I guess it could be worth the risk." Kristen glanced down at the ground and rubbed her leg. "I dunno. Seeing you hurt... what if it is Tempest and she hurts you again? Or worse, what if she hurts you and captures you? I think the war is over if the Storm King gets you. What's going to stop him at that point?"
"Not going to happen," I said with a confident smirk. "Besides, I have you, don't I? If I get hurt..."
Kristen flew over to me and grabbed my shoulder. "TD, I'm not doing that again. I can't have a repeat of what happened with Klugetown! I can't see you on the ground bleeding to death with me as your only possible hope for survival!" Kristen took in a deep, shaky breath and I saw the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes. "I know we gotta do what we gotta do to win the war, but I don't want to lose you. I couldn't do this Equestria/chaos god thing without you. You're all I've got."
"Nothing's going to happen," I assured her. "Let's just start with the ship though, yeah?"
The two of us flew down to the treeline so we wouldn't be spotted as we approached the ship. Every so often one of us would check above the trees to see how close we were to the ship.
"It's flying the Storm King's colors, but it definitely isn't Tempest's ship," Kristen said after one of our checks. "I don't even see any weapons on it like those grappling hooks."
"That should make things a little easier for sure," I admitted. "So should we sneak on board and Assassin's Creed this, or go in gun's blazing like a kind of Call of Duty thing?"
"Let's do Call of Duty. I'm sick of sneaking around and hiding everywhere," Kristen grumbled.
"Sounds like a plan to me." I poked my head over the treetops one last time to make sure that we were in a suitable position to go in guns blazing. Seemed like the coast was clear. "You ready?"
"For once yes."
"Then let's do this."
Kristen and I angled upward and shot out of the treeline. I summoned a pair of ice daggers, readying them to kill whomever I laid eyes on. The two of us slammed onto the deck, our wings spread in aggression. Any Storm Creatures we saw wouldn't last very long. We were primed and ready for combat.
Imagine our surprise, then, when instead of seeing Storm Creatures with sharp, deadly weapons, we saw...
Parrots?
Large anthropomorphic parrots.
Huh. Not what I was expecting.
There were about half a dozen or so on deck, and they all seemed to be in the middle of doing the various jobs required to run an airship. Each one of them stared at us with wide eyes and slack jaws. To be honest, I wasn't really sure of what to make of the situation either.
The two sides just stared at each other for a few minutes before one of the parrots cleared his throat and glanced over to the only female on deck.
"Uh, Cap'n? What exactly does the Storm King's manual say about this?"
"I... don't know." The captain parrot reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a book emblazoned with the Storm King's logo. She opened it up and flipped through it for a few seconds before giving her crew a helpless shrug.
"Well, then you're able to take a few liberties here, I guess," I said, walking up to them with a smile. "Sorry to say that I'll be commandeering your ship here. Whatever you're hauling for the Storm King is going to be put on hold. Permanently, I suppose, given where we're going."
"Um... I'm not sure we can really do that," the captain said, uneasily rubbing the back of her neck. "I mean, if the Storm King found out he--"
"Yeah, but how can he find out if we're in Griffonia?" I sighed and shook my head. "I see that you're not getting it. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you." I walk over to the captain and throw a wing around her shoulders. "I've had a hard couple of days, so you'll have to forgive me for my mood. Having said that, you can either do it willingly and get paid handsomely for your efforts, or I can break your legs, prop you up so you can still give orders, and then you'll all do it for free. Sound reasonable?"
The captain's mouth flopped up and down for a few moments before she slowly started nodding. "Y-yeah. Uh... Griffonia, was it?"
"Sure was. So glad you understand the situation." I patted her on the shoulder and motioned to the wheel. "So, no time to waste, am I right, Captain...?"
She blinked a few times then seemed to snap out of whatever stupor my appearance had put her in. "Uh... Celaeno. Captain Celaeno."
"Nice to meet you, Captain Celaeno." I spread out my wings and puffed myself to my full height. "My name is Prince Antares of Equestria, First of his Name, Sacker of Schunie, Father of the Scorpions, Slayer of Chaos, um... and..." I looked back at Kristen and shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sure someponies call me something else. In any case..." I motion to Kristen. "This is my sister Kristen. She's the Lord of Chaos. Kind of like Discord except, you know, not dead."
"Wait, is Discord dead?" one of the crew muttered.
"Sure is, my good man. Killed him myself. Now..." I flicked a hoof at the wheel of the ship. "Griffonia?"
"Right. Griffonia." Captain Celaeno rushed up the wheel and spun it, turning us hard to port. Good. We were underway. Now that there weren't any problems, I could drop the alpha-male, chest-beating crap. I was certain that they were slaves to the Storm King and not actual soldiers in his army. If that were the case, I think they would have fought a little harder against us. As it was, they looked like orphans from Oliver.
"So, uh, that went well enough, I guess?" Kristen said as she walked up beside me. "I expected a little more of a fight."
"Me too, but I'm glad we didn't have to go in that direction. There will be enough bloodshed once we take Canterlot back without having to kill some random crew of... parrots."
"Yeah, I've been learning about all sorts of new species on the planet in the past few days," Kristen grumbled. "Ponies really didn't explore the world like they thought they did, huh?"
"I guess not. Either that or the Storm King was just some nobody from a small country that didn't register as a blip on our radar. If that's the case, he probably found something to make him that powerful."
"I dunno. They'd have to be an industrial giant to make a fleet of airships like they have, or else they took over a country that did have those capabilities. I doubt that whatever country they come from is really this world's version of Wakanda."
"It is unlikely," I admitted. "At any rate, once this is all over we'll have to do a little more outreach around the world. I am not letting something like this happen ever again. If a madman like the Storm King rises again, we'll be ready for him."
"Yeah." Kristen walked over to the edge of the airship and looked out into the distance at the rapidly retreating Mount Aris. "I guess the world is going to see him as even worse than Purgle now. You managed to beat that madman before he did some serious damage. Here, though..."
I nodded. "In the last war we were seen as defenders, then conquerors. Now we'll probably be seen as liberators by whatever countries we free from the Storm King."
Kristen smirked at me and nudged my side. "Because you don't have enough ponies worshiping you already. Are you trying to be your own leader in Civilization Five and spread your religion to the whole world? You have advanced beyond printing press technology, after all."
I snorted and rolled my eyes. "No, I don't think so. I'm just glad that Baltimare has my only official church, though I know there are some small pockets here and there."
"Either way, you get to add to another one of your stupid titles, if you want." Kristen stuck her tongue out at me. "Because you weren't big-headed enough already."
"I'm sure we can find some for you too, Kristen, Lord of Chaos, Princess of Equestria, Tamer of Bob, Goddess of the Sea."
Kristen raised an eyebrow. "Goddess of the Sea?"
I shrugged. "Well you are definitely more comfortable underwater than you are on land, that's for sure." My smile slowly faded and I took a deep breath as I stared into the distance. "But I guess we'll figure all of that out when we take Equestria back from the Storm King."
"It's going to be difficult, isn't it?" Kristen muttered. "Just thinking about how fast he took over..."
"Yeah, it probably will come with some challenges, but I see three advantages we have that he doesn't: one, we know the terrain better than he does. Two, If he's as good as he is at lightning war, then he probably doesn't know how to fight a defensive war. Why would he ever need to? He's just crushed all of his opponents in days. Equestria is one of the most technologically advanced, prosperous nations in the world and he rolled through us like we were nothing. Three, we have the rest of the world powers, that we know of, fighting with us. I don't care how big his army is. When it's faced with Equestria, Saddle Arabia, Griffonia, Zebrica, and maybe even the minotaurs and some Diamond Dog clans..." A confident smirk crossed my face. "We have a lot to work with."
"I guess so, though it's all just speculation until we actually get to Griffonia and see what the political climate is like. I can't foresee any issues gathering up an army to fight the Storm King. Our allies are nothing if not pragmatists, and they have to know that if we fall, they're next on the list. The Storm King isn't going to stop until he's taken over the entire world."
Kristen's ears flattened and she scuffed her hoof on the deck of the ship. "Yeah. I remember Tempest saying that the Storm King would have a lot of uses for me. Being under his control to make sure nothing happened to you..." She shuddered and shook her head. "No. I don't even want to think about that."
"Hey, it's not going to happen, okay? He doesn't have a chance once we all get together. He's bitten off way more than he can chew now that he's invaded us. There's no way his army isn't stretched really thin, and a combined force of several world powers?" I shook my head. "I don't even see this war being as long as the first one."
Kristen smirked and glanced up at me. "Good thing that this world's World War One and World War Two are far less bloody than the ones on Earth."
I scoffed and vigorously nodded. "Yeah, no kidding. I just hope that I don't have to invent any weapons to win this war. Hopefully all we have to do as take back Canterlot. Once we do then the back of his army will be broken and he won't be a problem. Best case scenario he's actually in Canterlot waiting for me to get back there one way or another so that he can drain my magic."
"What are you going to do with him once you have him? Are you just going to kill him outright like you did with Purgle, or...?"
My eyes narrowed slightly and I shook my head. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to."
"TD--"
"He took my family from me. He imprisoned my wife in stone and stuffed my daughters into cages. He's killed or enslaved my subjects. I need to make an example of him."
"TD, you're just getting revenge if--"
"End of discussion." I turned around and walked away, leaving Kristen to her thoughts. I guess she hadn't quite figured out that sometimes my job requires me to do some nasty things. If I need to make a brutal example of the Storm King so that I never have to see my daughters in cages again...
It's not even a question.
I pushed those thoughts out of my mind for the moment. They were for future Antares to worry about. Right now my only goal was to get to Griffonia so that I could raise an army. Everything else would fall into place after that.
I made my way to Celaeno, who flinched when she saw me, nearly jarring the wheel of the ship. I gave her a friendly smile. "Sorry about all of that earlier. I'm really not that bad. Like I said: hard few days. The Storm King took over my country and I'm trying to get it back."
Celaeno stared straight ahead and grunted, shifting away from me ever so slightly.
"So... um... how far to Griffonia?"
"Little over a day of straight sailing," she said without looking at me.
"Good. I did mean it when I said that you will be well compensated for your efforts. Maybe enough that you don't ever have to work another day in your lives. Retire like a queen. Once I overthrow the Storm King, you won't ever have to worry about him again."
Celaeno scoffed lightly and finally shot a glance in my direction. "I've heard that talk before. I've heard it more times than I care to count." She motioned to her crew. "We weren't always like this, you know. We used to be..." For the first time since I'd met her, a small smirk crossed her face. "Well, maybe I shouldn't be telling this to a member of royalty, but we used to be sky pirates. Sailing the Seven Winds and doing what we pleased."
"Looting and pillaging?"
"We wouldn't be sky pirates without taking a little booty for ourselves." She actually managed to wink a me. "In more ways than one."
I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Well, you do this and I'll throw in an official pardon for you."
"That would really only hold water in Equestrian skies, but I appreciate the gesture. Not that it matters too much, though." She sighed and leaned against the wheel, looking longingly into the distance. "There used to be a lot more of us, and I'm not just talking about my crew, although I used to have twice as many crew members. We had a port all of our own to call home. A place where a pirate could really be a pirate, you know? Then the Storm King came along."
"I'm gathering he hit your home pretty hard."
Celaeno nodded. "Yeah. He basically gave us the standard 'join me or die' spiel. All of us captains got together to decide what to do. I... I was a coward. I said we should join him to save ourselves, but I thought that the life of my crew was more important than our stupid pride." She sadly motioned to the remnants of her crew. "They were the only ones who stuck by me. The rest said all of the same crap you did when he started to move into our territory. 'Once we defeat this Storm King bastard then everything will be back to what it was. We'll sail the Seven Winds and live life as we please.'" Celaeno scoffed and stood up. "What a joke. I didn't get all of the details of the battle, but from what I understand, they at least put up a pretty decent fight. In the end, though..."
"Yeah, I can relate," I muttered. "When they attacked Equestria it was pretty much the same thing. We put up a good fight in Canterlot, but at the end of the day I still had to run."
"You almost feel like you should have stayed there," Celaeno replied. "You know? Better to die standing up than live with the fact that you took the coward's route out."
"On the other hoof, there is something to be said for living to fight another day." I grimaced and my wing twitched as I recalled the wound I had suffered. "When I retreated, I was bleeding out from a spear wound that nearly killed me as it was. I barely got medical treatment in time, and that wasn't really under the best circumstances either. But I didn't die as you can see, and now I'm getting ready to form an army to destroy him once and for all."
"Or you'll get in some heroic last stand that history will ultimately forget," Celaeno said bitterly. "Do you think that the Storm King's version of history will remember my friends and comrades when they tell of his victories? Do you think he'll tell of their bravery and valor before they fell under his might, or will he describe them as another group of ants he crushed?" She gave me a knowing look. "How do you think he'll describe Equestria?"
"It won't matter how he wants to describe it, because I'll destroy him before he ever gets the chance to write his own history books."
Celaeno shrugged and turned back to her ship. "If that's the way you want to see it, I guess. Who knows? Maybe you'll be right." She sighed and motioned to a spot on the deck. "The quarters are down there if you want to get some rest. I'll let you know if anything changes." I nodded in thanks and walked down to where she motioned, but as I did, I heard her mutter behind me. "Not as though anything will."