Suddenly... FLASH!
As quickly as her dream ended, Tempest woke up breathing heavily and hysterically in complete shock, making the bed shake as she sat up. Everything, from that moment, started to fade back into place; Tempest started to visually see the room that she was sleeping in and slowly took in her surroundings, where she was and what she could feel. Reality soon started to sweep back into Tempest's head, waking her mind and body up. She then quickly kicked off the duvet, pushing it to the end of the bed, and got back onto all four hooves. A big wave of nausea travelled through Tempest's body; it made her wobble over to the corner of the room where her travelling clothes were dumped and not left in a neat fashion. She stumbled and fell while trying to get to her clothes, but got up without a fuss and grabbed hold of her clothes using her jaw, and then carried them over to the bed and started to get changed.
Tempest took off the nightgown that had been offered for her to use that was standing on a coat hanger from one of the four walls inside her room and threw it to the floor near the front door. She then took off the remainder of her clothes, until she was completely naked and went into the shower. Tempest found this to be harder than expected, as the tap was designed to be used by the magic of a unicorn's, and of course Tempest had lost her horn at the age of ten, so she had to widen her jaw to grasp hold of the tap and turned the water on, later adjusting the temperature and the amount of water that would be coming out.
The water brushed over Tempest's mane and body, washing out all the dirt that had embedded itself into her fur. There was a bottle of shower gel for mares on the rack that was attached to the opposite wall that was holding the shower and another bottle for shampoo. Tempest started on the shampoo first; she squeezed the bottle gently, in order to not waste all of it, and rubbed it into her mane. Her mane, which was originally standing up straight in a Mohican, was now flopped to her side. Tempest then came out of the shower, dried up and put on her robes for travelling. She then opened the curtains, neatened up her room, collected her belongings and trotted out of the room, locking the door behind her with her keys (again, harder than what it seemed at first).
Twilight, Celestia, Spike and Grubber were already outside waiting for her, all with their belongings and equipment for them to survive the desert. Celestia had a map and tour guide of the lands beyond Equestria. She read the guide, while Twilight was estimating how long it would take them to cross each part of the bound-lands and which route would be the one they would use. Tempest waved to grab their attention and Twilight waved back. When Celestia saw Tempest, she quickly faced away from her and focused on the map she was holding with her magic.
"Stop it, Celestia," Celestia whispered to herself, "why would you have a problem with Tempest? She's our friend, now. Stop being such a silly filly!"
Before Celestia could continue her argument with herself, Twilight trotted up behind her with Spike on her back and coughed to gain her attention.
"Is everything alright, princess?" Twilight asked.
Celestia quickly shook her head, before smiling back at Twilight and nodding in agreement, even if it wasn't the truthful answer that Twilight would have preferred.
"Yes, Twilight. I'm perfectly fine, thanks for asking."
When Celestia looked at something else that caught her attention, Twilight scowled.
You're lying, Twilight thought to herself, you're not fine. Stop saying that. Why do you keep saying that?
Twilight was then interrupted with her thinking when she noticed that Tempest had trotted right up next to her and then gave a friendly hug in return. After taking her arms away from Tempest's neck, Twilight gathered her things and she and Tempest joined the rest of the group. Princess Celestia had organised everything for when they were going to cross the border, including the travel papers, and went over to the security ponies who were standing patiently at the exit to the outside of Equestria.
"We're ready, everypony! Spike, Grubber! Come on, we're going to carry on!"
Now having a chance to talk, Twilight trotted alongside Tempest, while Celestia carried on walking in front of them and Spike and Grubber hung back behind them, probably talking about Spike's lifelong story of how he was devoted to Twilight since he was a hatchling from an egg and Grubber's addictive taste for food. They all walked up to the path and walked along the pavement towards the long and silent queue to the toll booths.
It started as a long, long queue. The tops of ponies heads were still and solid, like statues made of sapphire. The only sound that could be heard was the strong wind that blew into the walls of the border crossing, the tinkling of glass jars containing candles that were waving from the force of the weather and the crunching of the ponies' hooves when they made contact with the crisp and hard sound that came from underneath. It was like hearing marching; whenever a soldier gives commands to his comrades to move one step in either direction. The queue continued to slowly progress in an orderly fashion, whenever a civilian or a group of creatures travelled through the border crossing into the unknown territory of the bound lands.
As time passed on, Twilight and the rest of her friends eventually reached the end of the queue. A guard called them up and immediately stood in front of them, blocking their path to the bridge that connected the two countries together.
"Papers, please," the guard said. It was a white Pegasus mare, wearing red armour and a helmet with rubies decorated around it. On her uniform, it said: Chief Guard. Celestia, keeping her hood and identity down, handed them over and the guard took them using her left wing. In her right, she scribbled something down on a clipboard. "Follow me please, your highness. Please tell your friends to come along as well."
The mare turned away in the opposite direction and went towards the border crossing, where she saluted to the guards who were standing in the way of the doorway to the lands beyond. While she did this, Celestia nodded her head in the direction of the crossing, letting Twilight and the others know that they had just been given the "okay" to cross over the bridge over to the other side. Once they were ready, they started their long walk across the bridge.
Past the barriers, there was a long piece of earth sticking out of the surface of the ground, pointing off into the distance. Along the bridge were rows of guards, all standing still and facing another guard. In their right arm, each guard held a spear and they were all wearing uniform from head to foot. All the guards were either earth ponies, unicorns or pegasi and each of their uniform had been adapted to fit their body. Not one moved or looked at Twilight or the others when they were walking across the bridge. If Princess Celestia had been exposed, then Twilight would at least have thought that they would either be saluting or be bowing before her, but not a single guard moved.
They kept walking on. It seemed endless while walking along the bridge; the scenery hadn't changed, still surrounded by its grey fog and dull colours, and the light from the sun was pale. To Twilight, it felt a little bit like limbo, but not as mysterious and perhaps as frightening. In the distance, a gathering of storm clouds raged in the sky like they were at war with the brightness of the sun and all colours in the world. Thunder and lightning filled the sky, producing the only brightness that could be seen. Twilight and Celestia lit up their horns for extra light, but then noticed that the weather was now becoming extremely violent, and they had barely been outside of Equestria for a few minutes.
"Princess!" Twilight cried out to Celestia, "Why is the weather out here so awful?! Aren't the Pegasi trying to calm the storm?"
There was a brief silence before Celestia responded back.
"Twilight, my dear! The Pegasi don't go this far out of Equestria! The storms form by themselves and there is nothing for miles. No civilisation is around in these parts for hundreds of miles! However, saying that, my knowledge of the lands beyond Equestria is quite poor. Unfortunately, my parents didn't really pay much attention to teaching me about it, despite the fact that Luna and I received the best education back in Canterlot."
"I see," Twilight replied quickly, "well, I hope we can get through this before it gets too strong to travel across... this wasteland."
Twilight's description of the outside of Equestria was right. Even though the Armada had been defeated, what it once had control of was now nothing. The desert was not its usual sandy texture, but rather what felt like dirt and dust, blowing about across what was once beautiful lands, was now a wreak and almost completely lifeless. When walking through the desert, Twilight couldn't help but notice that she would fall into soft sand and sometimes even quicksand, but Twilight managed to pull herself out with her own magic and did the same to her other friends whenever they got stuck.
They kept walking on. And on. And on.
As the day progressed, so did the heat. The sun was reaching its highest point in the sky (Celestia had time to raise the sun that morning before the others woke up), making the journey more difficult than it should have been. Sweat was pouring down Tempest's neck, making her fur smell and looking untidy. Tempest flopped her tongue out like a dog while walking in the head and dribbled, leaving a path of saliva behind that sparkled in the sunshine. Spike and Grubber, who were far behind, trundled along slowly, wading across the scorched sand like lifeless zombies. Celestia looked back and quickly called to Twilight and Tempest.
"Stop! Spike and Grubber are suffering from the heat!"
Celestia leapt over to the baby dragon and the pug-faced hedgehog and quickly produced a magical forcefield around them. Then, inside the magical forcefield, the temperature dropped low enough for it to be comfortable for Spike and Grubber. Immediately, the two of them started to get back on their feet and walk normally again, without struggling against the roaring heat in the desert. A quick breeze in the forcefield added more cool air before Celestia dragged Spike and Grubber along over to Twilight and Tempest, who were ahead of them at a faster pace. They were soon catching up the miles that they had lost in the last couple of hours.
Nothing for miles, but sand. Lots and lots of sand.
The group then stopped, giving them a chance to rest and reserve their energy. While standing, watching at the horizon, Twilight then turned her head around and looked at Celestia.
"How far is the nearest place to stay and rest? We've been walking for hours!"
Celestia used her magic to conjure a pair of binoculars and peered into them, looking directly into the distance. At first, Celestia couldn't see anything, apart from the sand that flew in the strong wind and the odd desert bush that stood abandoned and lifeless. But then, after adjusting the binoculars, Celestia managed to see a tiny dot in the distance which would occasionally appear when the sandstorm wore off a little, to reveal its shape. Not much could be made out, but Celestia then spotted a flagpole with a ripped flag blowing in the wind. However hard she tried, though, Celestia couldn't make out the design on the flag.
"I see civilisation straight ahead!"
Celestia passed the binoculars to Twilight, who looked through them and gasped with joy. Tempest, Spike and Grubber caught up and looked into the distance and saw the tiny dot that was plonked on the horizon. It was clear that is was some-what a place of civilisation, due to the shapes of buildings that could be seen and the flagpole. Looking down, Twilight spotted a road leading to the buildings; large brown paving stones all made into a long path, purposefully organised to fit that purpose.
"Look, princess!" Twilight said excitedly, "I see a road!"
As Twilight hopped along exactly the way Pinkie Pie did all the time, Celestia waited for the others. Spike started running after Twilight, passing Celestia and ignoring her. Tempest and Grubber simply smiled, before sniggering quietly behind Celestia's back, but failed to notice that Celestia was looking back at them. Tempest looked up, seeing Celestia's expression, and immediately stopped laughing. She nudged Grubber who also stopped and they smiled innocently.
"Well, at least we've finally spotted somewhere to stop for a while," Tempest said.
Celestia nodded her head in agreement. She looked up at the sun and estimated that they had been walking for six hours at least. Celestia had to rest and she knew that everyone else would need to take the same amount of time to recover from the fierce heat. Even with the force field around them to keep them cool, it was draining all of Celestia's energy and eventually, she needed to rest. Her breathing increased and Twilight noticed that Celestia was beginning to seriously struggle walking through the desert. Suddenly, without warning, Celestia collapsed into the hot sand and the force field that she was holding around the others disappeared completely. Twilight, of course, was the first to react.
"Princess Celestia!"
Twilight rushed over to Celestia and used her magic to try and pick her up, but she was just too heavy. Tempest and the other rushed over as quickly as possible. They threw Tempest's cloak over Celestia and blocked her face from the sun. Looking through her fur, Twilight noticed that Celestia had been burnt from the sun, which was surprising for the pony who raises it every morning. Her power must really be draining out in this wasteland.
"Quickly!" Twilight cried, "Give her some water! We need to get her out of here!"
"But Twilight, she's too heavy!" Spike replied, "We can't lift up an alicorn princess!"
"We can if we hold her altogether," Twilight argued back, "now lift!"
Twilight used her magic to lift Celestia's body while Spike, Tempest and Grubber grabbed hold three of Celestia's legs and started to carry her towards the civilisation which was now only six hundred metres off into the distance. Thankfully, as they got closer, the ground started to form and become solid and the path that led into the town appeared from the sand. Twilight stepped on one, to make sure that it was actually solid, and discovered that it was. The others followed close behind, walking one hoofstep at a time towards the town, seeing the colourless houses and cottages that stood to the side of paths that travelled like snakes through the whole complex.
Once they were walking on solid pavements that led into the town, Celestia managed to place her hooves back on the ground and straightened herself, but wobbled to her side. Thankfully this time, however, Twilight and the others were quick enough to prevent her from falling onto the hard surface. They lifted her back upright and continued they way into the labyrinth, made of the strange looking buildings that shaped the town in which they had just entered.
They all looked around; it seemed that all kind of creatures lived there. Not just ponies, but griffins, dragons, changelings, yaks, hippogriffs and what seemed to be the last of the Armada soldiers, now wearing huge black cloaks to cover their body from the rest of the public. No creature smiled at one another. On the walls were abandoned banners with the Armada logo on, either ripped, burnt or vandalised badly. The streets were filled with rubbish; lemonade cans, plastic bags and even the rubbish bins themselves had been spilt over and left at the mercy of the weather. Many residents were wearing masks to either protect their faces from the blowing sand or hide their identity. Nopony really knew exactly which reason it could be, and practically, nopony cared.
As Twilight and the others continued walking through the streets, the residents started to take interest in them. Firstly, they started to watch or follow them, slowly but sneakily. Some had the ability to watch over them by hanging onto the walls of the buildings and hide in the shadows, whilst others pretended to be doing their daily business by faking conversations whenever Twilight or her friends turned back to look at them. Nevertheless, they continued walking. It wasn't until they reached a large empty area that they stopped.
"Is this your hometown, Tempest?" Spike asked. The hornless unicorn shook her head back in response.
"No, it isn't. I lived in a village full of different plants, caves, surrounded by wildlife. This place was never my home. I only remember coming here to make camp before we attacked the border into Equestria many months ago now."
"Oh, okay then. Well, what did you do here when you made camp?"
Grubber had finally found a conversation to join into, but Tempest was the first to respond.
"The Storm King ordered that we would make the residents make up the different weapons that we were going to use during the invasion. In fact, we had a loading bay of skiffs, where we redeveloped them into skiffs designed purposefully for war instead of cargo. The newly designed skiffs were not just big enough to carry even more supplies, but could also be used in combat. After Canterlot, we would then invade Ponyville and the rest of the civilisations that are within the kingdom, until we reached the one place that the Storm King had in mind of ruling; the Crystal Empire. And with Cadance turned to stone in Canterlot, the Crystal Empire would be no match against the Storm King and his fierce army. Including myself and Grubber."
"I see," Spike replied, "so now it's turned back into an independent town then? It's under the ownership of the original leaders?"
"Correct, Spike. That is what I intend to happen with the places we took over. Give them the right to turn independent and make their own rules and laws."
Twilight coughed loudly to catch Spike, Tempest and Grubber's attention while they continued walking.
"Perhaps we could stay here overnight, but maybe we should find somepony to ask if there's another place that we can visit?"
At the town centre, Twilight stopped. The others slowed down behind her and watched as the residents continued to look at them with their pale eyes and pale, white faces. They all looked like they had seen better days, with scars across certain areas of their bodies, bandages covering injuries and the rags that they wore around their torso. Some were busy working, collecting rocks that they dragged along in a cart behind them. However, on the plus side, the other residents didn't look so rough and looked like normal residents that you would find in Equestria. They seemed to look much healthier and stronger than the other ponies.
Twilight decided to ask somepony if there was an inn nearby, so she spotted a red stallion, slightly like Big Mac apart from the green mane, standing behind a stall that sold fruit and went over to him. Twilight stood in the queue that led up to the stall and approached it slowly. When it was her turn to be served, Twilight trotted closer to the stallion and gave off a friendly smile. At first, the stallion didn't notice her approach him. He was busy re-arranging his stall. In order to catch his attention, Twilight gave a gentle cough and the stallion eventually looked up, with a very tired expression plastered on his face.
"Can I help you, miss?" the stallion asked.
The stallion's voice was weak, rusty and unnatural. His lips looked like chipped china and whenever he talked, it looked as if his lips would eventually fall off and crumble into a small pile on the floor. Twilight tried, yet she smiled and laughed nervously, to not react to the stallion appearance.
"I was wondering if you could tell us if there's somewhere to rest for a while, like an inn. Perhaps somewhere we can get something to drink and eat?"
The stallion looked at Twilight and sighed.
"Sorry, miss, there're no places for any foreigners to stay. I apologise."
Twilight frowned, before stepping out of the queue and heading back over to the group to reveal the bad news.
"Nevermind, Twilight," Celestia said, "we'll just have to continue on with our journey. Perhaps we can find a guide and mode of transport to take us there so that we don't have to walk any further. Besides, I feel that my hooves can't take me any further."
Celestia was about to continue walking through the many streets that crisscrossed through the town but was stopped when Spike froze in place and pointed over to someone in the distance. When Celestia saw where he was looking, she looked back at Twilight to see if she recognised the figure leaning against a building.
"Do you know who that is, Twilight?" Celestia asked.
Twilight squinted but knew exactly who it was by noticing his large red coat, the purple-grey bandage around his brown tail and the emerald, green eyes that stood out from all the other citizens. He was clearly visible, not bothering to shield his face or identity from any creature that would pass him by. The cat's sly smile would appear whenever a beautiful mare would pass and notice him, sometimes even blowing a kiss towards him or making a funny sound like an awkward laugh or a snort. Through his charm and sinister personality, Twilight dared to say his name.
"Is that... Capper?"
It was indeed Capper. All his features were the same, including his choice of wear (apart from the odd extra finishes done by Rarity when they were celebrating their victory over the Armada back in Canterlot) and he still looked like a dodgy character in all ways. Then again, at least he wasn't constantly charming over everyone who would cross his path. Whenever one of the ex-Armada guards would pass, Capper would try to blend into the background, still always the scaredy-cat. As soon as Twilight know that it was indeed Capper, she cringed and at first refused to go over to talk to him.
"I remember seeing him with Rarity at the celebrations after our victory back in Canterlot," Celestia said, "isn't he one of your new friends. I didn't realise that he had left Equestria."
"Neither did I," Twilight replied, "hopefully he hasn't gone back to his old con-ways."
"Wait a minute," Spike said, "are you suggesting that we should ask him to help us... after he tried to sell us?"
"He no longer sells anyone, Spike," Grubber explained, "after all, now that we no longer work for the Storm King, who would want to buy you as slaves?"
"I guess."
Twilight and Tempest made their way over to Capper, who at first didn't notice them until they had come up to a comfortable distance. He was busily admiring himself in the reflection of a nearby window, quietly giving himself complements and brushing his brown fur with his paws. Twilight gave a cough to grab Capper's attention, which successfully worked. Capper turned his head and noticed who it was and smiled back.
"Ah, Princess Twilight and Commander Tempest! What a lovely surprise! Long time no see, huh? And, oh, you've brought your dragon and hedgehog along with you two. How adorable!"
Both Twilight and Tempest rolled their eyes at Capper's complement, knowing that he was the same creepy charmer that he had always been. However, he did help them defeat the Storm King during the battle at Canterlot. Twilight decided to give him a chance to explain himself.
"Hello, Capper. May I ask what are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay in Canterlot."
"Apologises, your highness, I decided to head back out to the desert to find something for me to do. It does get quite boring doing nothing. But thankfully, thanks to the lovely residents here, I now have myself a job!"
Spike wasn't completely convinced on Capper, especially after when he dragged them straight into the path of Tempest Shadow when she was looking for them, while on their way to the hippogriffs. But he also rightfully remembered that they forgave Capper when he helped them sneak into Canterlot and defeat the Storm King.
"I see. So you no longer try to find ponies and sell them as slaves anymore?"
Capper quickly waved his paws at Twilight's face frantically and laughed with nerve as he tried to state his opinion.
"No, no, no, no, no! I don't steal civilians anymore! I take them to where they want to go. I'm a taxi driver if I don't mind saying. I drive the old Armada skiffs to all manner of places! I even go as far as Mount Aris! If I may be assistance, may I take you all to where you wish to go, princess? I won't charge you, my little ponies. The honour will be mine."
Twilight raised her eyebrow, before looking at each of her friends. When she looked at Celestia, the princess winked back at her, and then Twilight looked back at Capper.
"Can I trust you?" Twilight asked, "Or more importantly, can we trust you?"
"I thought that we were friends, princess? I guess if not, then I'll just-."
"Alright then, Capper!" Twilight replied, quickly, "We trust you. I trust you! Please, take us to Tempest's birthplace, will you?"
Capper smiled, before clapping his paws together and waving his arms towards where he would be heading to, signalling the others to follow him. He then stood beside Princess Celestia and bowed as they continued walking.
"Princess Celestia! Well, we never had the chance to meet properly, now did we?"
Celestia looked down to Capper's eye level and smiled back.
"No, I don't believe we have. It's wonderful to meet you at last, Capper, especially after everything you did to save Equestria all those months back. You are always welcome to return if you wish to."
Capper laughed in response to Celestia's reply.
"I would love to live in Equestria one day, your highness. But I tend to struggle to find somewhere to work these days, as I have very little to offer. Driving my skiff around the boundlands pleasures me enough as it is; seeing the beauty beyond Equestria."
"Well, I'm sure as the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle would be the one to help a friend out."
Twilight suddenly heard Celestia's conversation at that moment and smiled back nervously at them. Capper grinned back, almost awkwardly, which put Twilight off. Changing the subject, Capper raced on ahead towards the docks where all the skiffs were kept. Twilight, Celestia and the others ran after him from behind, apart from Grubber who had underestimated his fitness and struggled to keep up.
"Wait for me, guys!" Grubber said, "Aw man! I shouldn't have eaten all that cake back in the youth hostel!"
"Excuse me! Coming through! Make way for the princesses of Equestria!"
Capper was squeezing through the many civilians, all different shapes and sizes while making his way to the skiffbay at the edge of town. Unlike Twilight, Celestia, Spike, Tempest and Grubber who were politely passing through the sea of creatures, Capper was pushing and quickly squeezing past each and everything that got in his way. Many of the civilians were huge and muscular, while others were small and thin. In the aftermath of his path, Capper left behind lots of disappointed locals all of whom groaned and moaned back at him.
"We're almost there, your highnesses!"
After the next corner, Twilight recognised where they were. In front of them was an open doorway. On the other side was the skiffport, where hundreds of skiffs were lined up in loading bays, all numbered with a three digit code starting with 001. The skiffs that were in the parking bays also had a code on, which was the same as the one in the bay. Capper led the group on a long, thin pavement that stretched along the many parking bays, some of which were full of skiffs while others were empty. Capper took them to Parking Bay 007, where he introduced his skiff to Twilight and the others.
"Wait a minute; that's yours?!" Twilight asked, surprised. Capper walked on the wooden path that led to his skiff and pulled out the ladder to get on. Afterwards, he waited for everyone to join him.
"It sure is, princess!" Capper replied, "This baby can reach 135mph if I really wanted to, but don't worry there are only speed restrictions in towns, cities and on popular routes. If we take the lesser-known routes, we can reach... er... where are we exactly heading to?"
Tempest put a hoof to her chin, trying to remember the name of her village.
"I think it was called Waterville*, but then again the last time I saw that name was fourteen years ago. I have no idea what it will look like now today. Does it still exist?"
Capper gave off his cheerful grin again and pulled out a map from his red coat.
"It sure does, Miss Shadow!"
Tempest gasped and gave off a wide grin. "Really?!"
Capper stretched out the map to show Tempest and the rest of the group. Capper orientated it to the ground, before pointing at different places on the map.
"Here is Kludgetown and here is Waterville, about four hundred miles in between each civilisation. It will take at least two days to reach it if the weather is good. This will be your last chance to change your minds about going there, because from here onwards there's no going back."
Everypony looked at Tempest who looked down at the floor for a moment, before looking back at Capper and the others.
"We'll be with you all the way, Tempest," Twilight said.
"All of us will," Celestia added.
Tempest grinned back and then looked to Capper.
"We've come this far already," Tempest replied, "let's go."
Capper smiled back, before immediately stepping behind his group of "friends" and starting to push them towards his skiff.
"Glad all of you have agreed to join me on this daring adventure of ours. Just to let you know for health and safety purposes that all passengers will need to be strapped into their seats when taking off and landing, after the seatbelt sign has been switched off feel free to wander around the deck. The cockpit is cut off to all passengers, however, on board Capper's Amazing, Awesome, Fabulous 007 Skiff you will receive bedding for overnight travelling, refreshments and entertainment along the way! As my passengers feature two of those who saved Equestria from certain doom, Miss Sparkle and "the Dragon", travel will be free from here onwards!"
When Capper eventually stopped talking, Twilight and the others squeezed their way through the tiny door that led into the skiff. When inside, Twilight saw how well build the skiff was. Its walls were made of magic-proof aluminium, along with ship-style windows to look through, and the furniture looked like something that would be most comfortable in a restaurant, rather than a skiff. There was a table placed in the centre of the passengers' room, which had empty glasses and weirdly shaped bottles of drinks placed on top of it, along with some muffins and cakes. Nearby on a wall, there was a hanging portrait of an explore with Capper's face stuck over the figure's identity.
"And who exactly did you buy this skiff from, Capper?" Twilight asked.
"Honestly, little pony," Capper replied, "it was stolen from the Armada many years ago by a very old friend of mine when we were both young, handsome and dashing. He gave it to me for some of the town's currency in return."
"So, that's where my skiffs have been going then!" Tempest added, jokingly. Capper gulped but relaxed after Twilight and Tempest both started laughing.
"It's in good condition. We can start by heading to Tempest's homeland now if you want. The tank's full and the engine is ready."
Capper raced off to the top deck where the steering wheel was, while the others started to relax in the many armchairs that were plonked across the floor of the room. Celestia was completely baffled.
"So, let me get this straight; Capper is now no longer capturing civilians and selling them to the now-dissolved Armada, but is now a taxi driver?"
Twilight gave off her nervous laugh again. "Oh, I'm sure that's what he is! Heh, heh!"
"Does anypony else think that we should have gotten someone else to take us to Waterville?" Spike asked the group. Everypony else nodded back, but before they could mention anything else, they felt the skiff begin to shake with power, before hearing Capper's voice from above.
"Are you all ready to see me give this baby the juice?!"
Everyone on board fell silent with worry and held onto whatever felt wasn't going to move about in the cabin. Twilight watched in horror as she saw Celestia give off an angry expression and mouth something which Twilight knew would best be not mentioned out loud. The sound of engines grew louder until, eventually, the skiff starting pulling out of the skiffport at a ridiculous speed which caused Twilight and the others to be thrown out into the back wall of the skiff, knocking Capper's painting off at the force of the impact.
"Capper! Ugh! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!"
Twilight tried to say more but was silenced by the loud noise that the skiff was making, while racing on ahead into the gold, yellow sky ahead and off into the distance towards their desired destination.
"Well..." Twilight tried to say, but struggled at the speed that she was going at, "...at least... we don't need to walk any further!"
Mount Aris
Midday
It was raining heavily all over the mountains and the sea that surrounded the beautiful kingdom of Mount Aris. Raindrops falling constantly, flooding the fields of the hills that managed to poke up to the sky itself and into the clouds, especially the tallest sculpture that was plonked in the middle of the island. All the hippogriffs were on the ground, for the rain would weigh them down as they flew about in the sky and around the mountains. Around Mount Aris was a beach and on that beach was a group of parrots wearing pirate clothing either sitting or standing under some shelter that had been made by the hippogriffs.
One of the parrots was a female; tall with multicoloured clothing and standing on a fake leg, made of emeralds while holding a pair of binoculars in her claws. Her main body was a shade of light gambogeish grey and her eyes were a moderate raspberry. Appearing from the back of her coat was a sap green tail which would drag on the floor. Her bird-like ears flopped to the sides of her head as her hat was plonked on top with the biggest red feather which hung from the back.
Adjusting her binoculars, the parrot looked up into the grey sky looking for any sign of light from the sun. Next to her was Grin, a slightly shorter green parrot with red feathers poking out at the back of his head like a Mohican and also had a long, green tail. He had yellow and red rings around his eyes and wore a brown waistcoat and green-brown shorts. Grin could only see with his left eye, as his right was covered by an eyepatch.
"What's happening out there, Captain Celaeno?" Grin asked.
Celaeno kept looking through the binoculars for a while, without answering Grin's question, but then pulled the binoculars away from her eyes and looked at her companion.
"I only see seagulls flying," Celaeno replied, "these won't do. Hand me the telescope, please, Grin."
Grin took the binoculars away from Celaeno and replaced it with a long, red telescope covered with blue gemstones. Celaeno adjusted the telescope to the correct distance and peered into it, trying to avoid looking directly at the sun. She could see further into the thick, grey clouds that were beginning to steal away all colour that was remaining in the sky. A flock of seagulls appeared from the thick clouds which formed around them and flew towards the trees that covered the island. The thunder was getting louder and the waves were becoming stronger, crashing into the rocks of the beautiful and majestic hills of Mount Aris.
"That's better. Now we can find out what's making all those birds fly off their course to where they're meant to be heading to."
For a while, nothing happened. But then, after sounding its horn, a skiff appeared from the labyrinth of clouds and started to slow down as it drew closer to the land. Unlike skiffs that Celaeno had seen in the past, this skiff didn't look like one that belonged to the Armada. Instead, it looked less frightening than the ones Celaeno saw and drove when she was working for the Storm King before the Mane Six came and saved everyone from certain doom.
"Who in Celestia's name could that be?" Grin asked. It didn't, however, take Celaeno long to figure out who was on board the skiff.
"I think I may know," Celaeno replied, "allow them to touch down on the beach. Let's go and welcome them like proper guests, Grin."
Grin ran over to an empty skiff bay, where Celaeno's new ship was parked and waved his arms at the oncoming skiff to grab its driver's attention.
Meanwhile, inside the skiff, Capper saw Grin waving his arms about and presumed that would be where he was told to land. He grinned and started to land. He looked back and saw Twilight, Spike, Celestia, Tempest and Grubber all on top of each other, looking a shade of green.
"We're here, my little ponies!"
The others groaned, before getting back onto their hooves (or feet in Spike and Grubber's case) and peering out of the windows, realising that they had indeed arrived at Mount Aris. They all gasped in awe at how beautiful the home of the hippogriffs had become in only a few months. Twilight spotted hundreds of hippogriffs flying around in the sky and a few seaponies poking their heads above the water's surface. Many of them had come over to see what was happening or who exactly was coming to their land.
Capper landed the skiff, perhaps not as carefully as he should have done (knocking a flagpole in the process), onto the loading bay. As soon as he touched down onto the ground, Capper turned off the engines and rushed out to be greeted by Celaeno, while the others walked out at a normal pace. Capper and Celaeno hugged each other, and then Celaeno welcomed Twilight and her friends when they appeared by Capper's side.
"Well, princess," Celaeno said, "it's been a while."
"It has, Celaeno," Twilight replied, "I've always wanted to come back to Mount Aris**."
"And I'm glad that you could come. Queen Novo and Princess Skystar have allowed us to live here. I know that Celestia did offer somewhere for us to stay, but Mount Aris has spoken to us."
"The honer was still mine!" Celestia said from behind Twilight, "I'm glad to see Mount Aris back to its former glory. At some point, while we're here, I would wish to speak to Queen Novo and her daughter, Princess Skystar. It would be the first time we've properly met, without having to suffer from the aftermath of the Storm King."
"Her Majesty, Queen Novo, and Princess Skystar are still in Seaquestria at the moment," Celaeno explained, "however as the sister of Queen Novo, Ocean Flow could get hold of them."
"Of course!" Twilight replied, "Go ahead, Celaeno! Apologises, Princess Celestia, if this did seem a little too rushed."
"No, no, not at all!" Celestia replied.
Celaeno and Grin raced off, leaving Twilight, Celestia, Spike, Tempest, Grubber and Capper standing on the shores of Mount Aris, waiting for the arrival of Novo and Skystar. There wasn't really anything to sit on while they waited, apart from some seaweed covered rocks, so they resisted and kept standing on. Little did they know, though, of what was actually happening below the water's surface.
"May I ask, Celestia," Twilight directly said to Celestia, "do you know what's happening with Queen Novo?"
Celestia gave a heavy sigh.
"I honestly have no idea, Twilight. That queen is quite a handful sometimes and it doesn't take a lot to tick her off. Especially in front of her only daughter..."