//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: To Mount Aris (Part 1) // Story: Dadonequus Discord, But It's The MLP Movie (And still doesn't have Discord) // by CrazedLaughter //------------------------------// And so Captain Celaeno headed her ship towards a place towards Mount Aris. It had appeared the mane six and Spike had in fact been on the ship, but had made their escape from their hiding spot when Tempest was having the ship searched. That was fine, that was ok. Because Capper mentioned they were going to come back with some sort of army. And that made things all the better for the cause. You were walking down the deck with Capper at this time, conversing, having a laugh or two. Now that there was some actual downtime, you felt it’d be good to converse with him a bit. Get to know him a little better. “....And that’s how I saved the world. A world...timeline. You get the idea” You wave a hoof at him as you give him a smug look to save face. Capper just has a short laugh as he rubs at his chin, pondering on your words. “ A hero colt across dimensions, That’s a new one. Kind of unbelievable too if you ask me. Robots? Cars? Stands? Never heard of none of those things. You sure that all happened? Wasn’t a dream or anything?” “I just reformed the Storm King’s top commander. You’re gonna tell me I’m exaggerating after I managed that? She turned into a filly for Celestia’s sake. That alone would be unbelievable if you didn’t see it yourself” You look up at him a little perturbed, how could he not believe you? “Hey, hey. Relax” Capper waves his hands at you, surprised by your reaction “It just didn’t jive with what I know, that’s all. I believe you, kind of hard not to after seeing that thing in action.” He points to your horn. “So, speaking of action. You up for fighting King Nasty himself? He’s pretty ruthless. No one's gonna blame you if you stay here on the ship.” You narrow your eyes at him “Are you sure you believed me? If I can fight a powerful robot, I can beat some stupid monkey.” You look ahead through the sea of clouds with a determined yet annoyed look “No one better stop me either, I can fight with the rest of them. And it’s not like I don’t have a weapon.” “Right…” Capper shrugs “I guess I was just worried about you. Not really good for the heart if one of my first friends ends up getting fried. But I guess I am overthinking things. All you gotta do really is aim that horn at him and” He points his fingers like a gun and makes a pop noise with his mouth “Storm Flambe’” “That’s the idea. We just need to beat him to end this whole thing, right?” You ask Capper Capper nods “Yeah, but don’t be getting ahead of yourself. Just because you got that kind of power doesn’t mean you’re gonna fight alone. Everyone is going to have your back. And who knows? Maybe even your uncle Capper is gonna get the final shot at that guy. That’d be pretty cool, huh?” He gives you a smug look as he flexes his right furry arm. You chuckle at that “Yeah, well.  I guess it doesn’t matter who gets the final shot. I think any one of us can trounce the guy. He didn’t look that great. Yeah, I think this is gonna just be the normal route, with my friend Twilight having the final showdown with him” “The Purple Princess? Didn’t take her for a fighter.” Capper didn’t seem to sure about that. “Oh no dude, trust me. She went all Dragon Ball Z on this guy once and it was awesome!” Man, that fight with Tirek was actually pretty cool for MLP standards. “Yeah...Yeah...erm” Capper seemed confused about your words “That seems great and all, but uh….Mind telling me what a “Dragon Ball Z” is?” Right….No one would know about that. You sigh, it wasn’t worth explaining “It’s uh..nothing.” “Mhmmm...hmmm” Capper looks to the side and notices Tempest leaning over the side of the ship, looking into the clouds with a distant look “Y’know Anon, speaking of the Storm King’s top commander, it looks like she’s gonna need a little company.” He points over to her You look over and frown just a little, she looked lost “Yeah, I see what you mean. She’s probably still getting used to having her life turned around like that.” “That’s what the Storm King does to you” Capper looks serious as he looks towards her direction, hands in his coat pockets “Ruins your life and makes you forget what’s important. I did, these pirates did, and she did. Terrible times Anon, terrible times. Never thought a group of ponies would change all that, but yet, here we are. Well…” Capper starts heading her way “What do you say we cheer her up, huh?” That did sound like a good idea. And as cool as Capper seemed, you actually wanted to speak to Tempest more privately. You wanted to solidify your friendship with her by being open with her one on one. If she came to fully one hundred percent trust in you, then there’d be less of a chance of something goofing up the progress you made. Because if there was one thing that was worrying you, it was the fact that the others might not be very warm to Tempest when you bring them on board. This especially goes for Fluttershy, who might go into some kind of protective mother anger mode if she ever spots Tempest again. You had to make sure Tempest was going to be able to handle that, and so you needed this time alone with her. “Hey Capper, actually, you mind letting me cheer her up...Alone?” “Hmm?” Capper looks at her for a moment, then back to you with a smirk “What’s with you and the ladies? You’re pretty spry, you know that?” “It’s not that. I just want to speak to her one on one, y’know, to get her fully comfortable with at least one of us more personally so she doesn’t feel alone. I mean, both of us is fine too but...ugh, you know what I mean, right?” You found it a little difficult to explain. But Capper just nodded and gave you a wink “I get it, relax. But remember to play it cool, Anon. She’s probably still shaken about all that’s happened. Good luck to you.” In truth, Capper didn’t truly understand. But he trusted you, and that’s all that mattered. He turned around and headed towards the helm to chat with Celaeno. With that, you decide to casually walk over to Tempest and look over the railing of the ship with her. She doesn’t even notice you at first until you start speaking. “Heya Tempest, whatcha doin’ here on your lonesome?” “What?” Tempest looks over to you, surprised, then goes back to looking at the clouds with her distant expression “Oh, hello. I...was just looking at the clouds.” “Oh” You say with fake wonderment as you take a glance at her. “So just feel like hanging out alone all of a sudden? There’s probably a few guys on board who’d want to chat with you right now. I know Capper wanted to” Tempest sighs “I don’t see why.  Considering what I’ve done.” Hmm, perhaps transitioning back to an adult did skew what happened to her as a cursed foal just a little. You just go back looking into the clouds as you speak gently to her “Come on, we kinda went through this not too long ago.  I see good in you, Capper does, and now? So do these pirates. Considering you were all sort of held down by the Storm King in some way, it kind of makes you all connected already. That’s probably why you were forgiven so fast. So why worry about it?” Tempest does a slow nod without turning her head “That...actually makes sense but...What about your friends? Your Aunt? What’s going to happen when they come on board?” You chuckle at that. She looks over to you in surprise “What’s so funny?” “Because, I already know the answer, and it’s sort of funny” You tell her as vaguely as possible She focuses her attention at you as she gives you a more serious look “Well, if you know the answer, tell me.” She was that worried. Hah, a far cry from her serious and menacing old self. “Well, if all goes as I think it does. They’ll be mad, my Aunt will get super aggressive, there’s gonna be a misunderstanding, you might run off crying, Twilight or Pinkie might notice the tears, go after you, talk to you, you’ll probably resist and even get violent, they talk you through your doubt, hugs, and then everyone accepts you.” “That’s…..really specific” Tempest narrows her right eye at you just from how absurdly specific that all sounded. You shrug as you go back to looking at the clouds “That’s usually how it goes.” “Really?...” Tempest looks down to ponder for a moment, then looks back at you “So what you’re saying is that they are going to accept me after I throw some sort of fit, right?” You wince at that, that did sound kind of pathetic “I mean…yeah?” Tempest smirks at that, in her mind, she realized that there was only one thing that mattered from that “So, I guess that means no matter what. I’m going to have more friends than I could ever know what to do with” “Is that a bad thing?” You ask her “No, I guess not. Just a little too much a little too fast for me. I mean, I was just about to destroy this ship with everyone on it. Now I’m part of the crew” She taps at the bandana on her head. “It’s pretty overwhelming.” “Overwhelming? What?” You look over to her in false but enthusiastic surprise “For you? C’mon, you’re cool,calculating, and you go straight for what you want.  At least, y’know, for the little I’ve known of you anyway. So, what? Now that you have friends you’re suddenly shy and stuff?” “More like unsure. You’d be my first real friend in a long time, or maybe that’s Grubber. Either way, I’m just not used to it.” She then looks into your eyes with a sudden stoic stare “As for cool and calculating, I can still be like that. After all, someone has to be considering your undisciplined nature got your butt kicked…” She then smirks at you “By me” You grimace at that, really? Dammit… “Ok, ok. I get it, I got cocky. Won’t happen again.” “Huh?” Tempest started to feel a little jittery “I-I was just trying to have a little fun there. I...I didn’t mean to insult you like that. I kind of remember talking like that when I was younger and…” She then goes back to looking at the clouds as she steadies herself, realizing she may have taken it too seriously “Sorry.” You sigh as you give her a nudge “No, I’m sorry. Heh, I suddenly forgot how to handle the bants.” “The bants?” She looks at you, confused by those words “Do you mean banter?” “Y-yeah, that’s uh, just a word I use. But that’s what it means.” Dammit, how could you get annoyed that easily about that? Actually, it did make you think of something “Actually, how exactly did you dodge my attack? It shouldn’t have been dodgeable.” “Huh, well, that’s not difficult to answer. You may have fired a lot of magical lasers, but they all tracked my position. That meant either there’d be ones coming directly at me or around me due to not being able to turn enough to hit my position. That meant all I had to do was keep moving while watching for the occasional shot that would land where I was currently heading.  Does that answer your question?” She looks to you with genuine curiosity ...So...That attack would have never worked? “W-wait, hold on. Your reflexes are that good? All those lasers I shot were homing in on you. How could you dodge ALL of them?” “I-I just explained it” Tempest was confused and taken aback that you essentially asked the same question. She then took a breath, and tried to explain how you should have handled the situation. “As for my reflexes, years of hard training. You also have to realize that if all your shots track me then it all becomes a game of manipulating you shots. Really, if you wanted to stop me there and then, you should have aimed,predicted, and fired where I was heading or when you had a clear shot. Blindly firing your magic like that wasn’t going to get you anywhere.” In other words, you really did get too cocky. WAY too cocky. You sigh and rest your head on the ship’s trailing, feeling defeated “Well, I really screwed that up” “Well….” Tempest stops, when she came to realize her defeating you lead to these events transpiring “Not really. If I didn’t defeat you, I wouldn’t be here now. Heh” She lets out a soft laugh “Kind of funny how that worked out.” Actually, she’s right. And the fact that she was not only right, but also having a giggle about it helped your mood “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Ok, look.” You look over to her with a smirk “I’m cool, I’m calm, and I know I can handle banter better than that. So, ok Tempest. I’ll give you a free shot.” “What?” Tempest looks at you, confused “I’m...not going to hit you.” “No, no. I mean, insult me. I’m ready this time. Lay it on me, I’ll show you I can handle it.” You dared her, challenged her even. Tempest raised an eyebrow at you, she found that a little nuts...and easy “Really? Anon, you are aware making my enemies feel small and defeated was part of my morale crushing technique, right? You don’t want my best shot” You look her straight in the eye with confidence “I ain’t doing a back and forth with you on this. It’s decided already, so just insult me.” “Ok then...If you say so” Tempest looks to her side and opens your saddle bag she had taken before leaving the captain’s quarters. She takes your transformation bow and tosses the bag towards you. “Here’s your bag back, but I think I’ll be keeping this” You narrow your eyes at her as you take your saddlebag back, you had nearly forgotten it due to everything that had gone on. But what caught your attention was the fact she had taken your bow rather than insult you. “Ok? And how is that insulting me?” Tempest gives you a cruel smirk as she puts the bow away inside her armor “Because, it’ll be a great memento. You know, of that time I defeated the “great” Hero Colt? That’d be you ,right?” You wave your hoof at her and grumble “Whatever, keep it. If I didn’t waste a charge making that thing I could have used it instead to, I dunno, send you into another dimension or something” “Mhmm, heh.  So I’m gonna take a guess you still got annoyed. You’re not really good at handling the “bants”, are you?” Tempest says with a slight titter, her mood ever lifting already. You could! You have! Especially against Chrysalis. It’s just losing so stupidly kind of ticked you off. “I mean, you just caught me on an off day.” “Sure…..hmmmm” Tempest let out a content sigh as she went back to looking at the clouds “So this is what friendship feels like, it’s been so long. I guess the only weird thing about it is that my first two real friendships is with my lackey and a colt.  I don’t even know what I’m supposed to really talk about. I’m not so good at small talk.” Tempest admits, and yet, she didn’t seem so nervous anymore. “Well, I’m open to any subject. If you got something, I’d be glad to talk about it with you to pass the time” You tell her Tempest sighed, she really couldn’t think of anything “My life has been more pillaging and combat over anything else. And I’d rather not talk about my time being under the Storm King. So really, I got nothing.” Maybe you could think of something? Well, you did have something. You just hope it didn’t touch upon anything too sensitive for her “”Well, what about the Storm King himself? What’s he like? Would probably be good to know a little more about him since we’re gonna go and beat the snot out of him and all.” Tempest’s eyes suddenly become still as her body stiffens and her voice becomes serious. Clearly the memories were not pleasant. But she didn’t see the question as bad. No, she saw it as something that should be explained. Know thy enemy and all that. “The Storm King, for one, is not to be underestimated. He may seem like some business executive with the way he always wants to spread his “brand”, but he’s actually ruthless and cruel. He’s also not a coward. In fact, he takes delight in seeing the hope leave his enemies eyes. He’s also not to be underestimated; He’s managed to get as far as he has through his own power and cunning. In fact, that’s why when we do face him, we have to do it while keeping Princess Twilight safe. If he gains the power of the four alicorns, all will be lost.” Oh, that did not sound too good. Well, maybe...You could beat him, right? The horn should be enough to beat a guy like that. That also explained what happened with the princesses and why hunting Twilight down was so important. So you just shrug nonchalantly “Eh, I could take him.” “I believe you” Tempest says, without a hint of snark Wut? “Huh?” “I believe you. Of course…” She looks over to you with a militaristic stare “If you do somehow end up being the one to face him for any reason. You’d have to make sure you use that horn the way I explained it to you. He wouldn’t let you have a second shot.” That look in her eye. She meant that all in a way that you had to be absolutely fucking ready for that fight if you did end up being the one to take him down. If one misfire really was enough, then you’d just have to do what Chrysalis did to her old captain the first time he was defeated. Just go in for the kill. “Ok...I mean, I did want to get a little word in...y’know...something like 'Eat shit and die!'. But if it’s like that, then I think I could do it.” You explain to her “Never heard that one. Never even heard the word “Shit” before...but it kind of clicks. But look, seriously.” She puts her hoof on your side “Princess Twilight needs to stay away from him, and I’d rather you not fight him at all. At this point, I’m responsible for what happened at Canterlot. So if anyone is going to fight him. It’s going to be me.” Oh come on, not this old bit. “You know you don’t have to fight him alone to prove yourself or anything. I mean, you’re a pony, you should know this. Just fighting at our side is enough to look good in everyone else’s eyes.” “Even so, I have nothing to l-” Tempest is cut off by you as you realized what she was going to say “Oh come off it! You have a friend now. You have friends! And you’re gonna have more friends! Man, if it’s one cliche I hate it’s the whole “I have nothing to lose” line, geez!” You point at her as you look at her with fierce eyes “You’re my friend now Tempest, and I’d be very sad if something happened to you. Got it!?” Tempest says nothing at first. But she was rather charmed by your insistence. Enough so that she decided to be a little jokey about it. “Sure, got it, I understand. Of course that would mean I’d still be fighting him to make sure my friend, that being you, also doesn’t have anything happen to him.” GODDAMMIT! SHE TURNED IT AROUND ON  YOU. “G..Gnn...mnnnngh….” You go back to looking at the clouds, unable to counter her words Tempest notes your silence, and realizes just how great the feeling felt to have someone wanting to fight for you despite barely knowing them. Something enters her mind that makes her hesitant for a moment. But, she wanted to form a deeper bond with you. So, she quickly overcomes her hesitance and asks you a question “Anon, do you know what I used to do when I was young? To seal a friendship I mean.” “Hmm?” That was a sudden change in conversation. But...it sounded interesting “Huh? What?” “I mean, when I was young. I always felt sharing a deep secret between a friend meant you’d be friends forever. I...guess it’s not too true. But, I feel, maybe I should give it another go. But…” She looks down a little, feeling rather shy about her secret “You go first, and it’s got to be a good one too.” A good one? Hoo boy, if you wanted to gain this eternal bond she seems to be toting, you had to make sure it was good. And you felt not only confident, but safe enough to let out a rather big secret. It worked for Starlight, so perhaps...