//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 – The Long Road Ahead // Story: Infinity Era // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// 21 Panthera, Abyssinia Miles Above the Liberated City 2:14 p.m. The cheers came early that morning. There were no fireworks, as no one would be able to see them in the sunlight, but the celebration in the capital city of Panthera most certainly sounded as if fireworks were needed as that special icing on the cake. Tempest Shadow imagined similar fireworks that she concocted from her own shattered horn. Her horn sparkled, shooting off a strand of electricity before she cut off the flow of magic. Sighing, Tempest knew she had to keep better control of her magic. Without a full horn, she could barely contain even the simplest of magic from escaping the aftereffects of her thoughts. She looked down from the open underbelly of her airship, seeing rising balloons and the sound of a million cheers cry out from the city. She knew she should have felt good, and part of her did. It was a grand feat, after all, freeing an entire city once under the complete control of her former master, the Storm King. But after the events of the Canterlot Invasion and the defeat of the Storm King, Tempest took it upon herself to undo everything the Storm King had done, and that meant liberating every land and every city they had taken before Canterlot. They had freed previous towns and villages earlier, but seeing Panthera, the capital city of the nation of Abyssinia, cheering as they were liberated almost warmed the unicorn’s heart. She didn’t smile, though. If it meant soothing her conscience and cleansing her soul of all the terrible things she had done just for one restored horn, then it would have to suffice. Apparently, her ally Captain Celaeno thought differently. The parrot chuckled to herself, arms crossed as she stared down to the celebrating city below them. “You gotta admit…” Celaeno said, turning to the unicorn standing next to her. Tempest turned her eyes away from below, shifting them Celaeno’s way. The parrot smiled, her beak wide as she said, “It feels pretty good.” Following the liberation of Canterlot, Tempest offered to take Captain Celaeno and her crew of misfit parrot pirates with her to join their journey on freeing the rest of the world still under the Storm King’s control. She thought of it as an apology for destroying Celaeno’s ship with her magic, to which the pirate crew gratefully accepted. Since then, the two have been traveling in partnership, freeing town after town, great lands, and now an entire capital city. “It’s the right thing to do,” Tempest replied, her steel-covered hoof rising to rest on the railing separating them from a long fall down. She stared at the city. “They no longer have to fear the Storm King with him dead.” Celaeno nodded at that response, arms still crossed. Her claws danced on her left arm, tapping quickly. “So, after this,” she said, breaking the growing silence between them. Tempest turned back, Celaeno seeing her pink scar. “After all this ‘liberating the lands under the Storm King’s control’, what’s next for Tempest Shadow?” She hadn’t told anypony else other than Twilight and her friends her real name, which was probably for the best. When the time came, when she actually saw Celaeno and her band of parrot pirates as more than just allies in the liberation campaign, then perhaps they could know. As for now, the old face, the old identity that she carried all those terrible years under the command of the Storm King would have to suit. It seemed a suitable punishment for herself—as nopony else would give her one. That, and never fully having her horn ever again. “You know… I never really thought about it all that much,” Tempest finally replied, hoof still resting on the railing. Her eyes fell once more to the city, an expression that showed deep thought building on her face. Celaeno looked away, brow furrowing. A light bulb shone brightly in her mind, the parrot turning to Tempest and asking, “Got any… old home you could—?” “No!” Tempest said, her voice a little louder than either of them had anticipated. Tempest recoiled at her own voice, her free hoof rising to cover her mouth. When her hoof fell, she shot a quick gaze to Celaeno, ignoring the confused look on her face and saying, “I… I-I mean I… don’t.” She looked away from her expression, clearing her throat. “How about you?” Tempest asked, hoping to put the spotlight on someone else. Luckily for her, it worked. Celaeno chuckled, then laughed. She pried her sword from its sheath, pressed her crystal peg leg against the railing, and held her sword straight out in front of her. “After we get a new ship like you promised, then it’s back to skies!” she declared, that commanding and powerful voice only a captain would have rising higher. “Back to adventuring! Back to treasure hunting! Back to… everything we used to be.” And just like that, her expression deflated. She brought her sword and peg leg back down, the parrot sadly placing her sword back in its sheath. She sighed, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “It’s been so long. Gotta wonder if we even have it anymore.” Tempest felt a pang of guilt strike her. After all, it was somewhat her fault for Celaeno and her crew to fall into their predicament of an identity crisis. She aided the Storm King in capturing and enslaving every pirate within their reach of the skies, ordering them to abandon their past lives and ship goods from then on. Or suffer. “I assure you, Celaeno,” Tempest said, facing the pirate captain. Celaeno opened her eyes and turned to her. “You will get your new ship very soon. Take it as an apology after I… well…” “Blew up our last one?” Celaeno asked, smirking the unicorn’s way. Frowning, Tempest looked away. She nodded and grumbled, “Yes.” Celaeno chuckled, punching Tempest’s armored-shoulder playfully. “Hey, it’s all in the past now. And you’re better from it. Isn’t that right?” “I would like to think so,” Tempest mumbled, though her voice sounded very uncertain. “You hear those cheers?” Celaeno asked, holding up a claw towards her ear and bending over the rail. Tempest watched her movements, stood in silence as she leaned back and smiled at her. “That’s all because of you, because you wanted to undo all the wrong the Storm King had wrought on the world. Don’t just think so, Tempest.” She held out her claw to the unicorn, forming a fist. “Know so.” For some reason, the pirate’s words held some form of comforting warmth to them, something she would have never expected from swashbuckling treasure hunters. And for that brief moment, Tempest actually had a small smile on her lips. She raised her hoof. Then instantly brought it down once that obnoxious voice and pudgy pair of feet came tumbling down the stairs. “Commander Tempest!” the voice cried, already out of breath after the first few steps down. Sighing through her nose, Tempest slowly turned around, spotting the short, overweight hedgehog catching his breath several steps above her. Celaeno crossed her arms once more, watching in silence. Tempest’s patience quickly began to wear thin the longer the hedgehog kept trying to cool down. He even held up a finger, his hand falling back to rest on his knee. Tempest’s eye twitched. “What is it, Grubber?” she snarled, causing Celaeno to flinch her way. “Oh, I need to work out,” Grubber said, rising up to rest on the stair railing. He just thought of his own words, then shook his head. “Stupid idea. Commander Tempest… Ma’am… Sir!” “Just spit it out!” He slowly stepped down the metal stairs, playing with his pudgy fingers and refusing to meet Tempest in the eyes. “Okay, I know we didn’t see any fireworks after we liberated the city—which would have been totally cool and I would be one hundred percent down for—and I know it wouldn’t make sense for there to be fireworks in the day, but there are now!” Tempest narrowed her eyes. Grubber whimpered and froze where he stood, several steps above her. At least he felt somewhat confident looking down at her. Better than the other way around at least. “And why is that important?” Tempest growled. “Because it’s not coming from the city!” Both Tempest’s and Celaeno’s eyes began to grow. “What—?” The entire airship buckled. Tempest fell on her face, then slid back to land into Captain Celaeno’s chest. They both looked up to see Grubber wobbling on the stairs, then scream as he came tumbling down and rolling their way like a large ball of fur. Tempest held out her hoof and stopped Grubber dead in his tracks, her steel-covered hoof meeting his face. “What was that?” Celaeno gasped, noticing the airship regaining control of its flight. Tempest breathed, then looked through the railing to the city below. She could barely see it. All she could see was the blossoming orange explosions and rising smoke. She caught her breath. The cheers quickly began to transform into screams. Terrible, terrible screams. “Grubber…?” Tempest breathed, looking back to the hedgehog on her hoof. Grubber mumbled out a painful grunt, then pushed himself off the unicorn. Rubbing his nose, Grubber said, “Yeah, I can’t even explain this one. You’re gonna have to see it for yourself.” So, they did. The group of three picked themselves up and rushed up the metal steps to the top deck of Tempest’s airship. At first, she couldn’t seem to see what was wrong. But as she stepped fully onto the deck, saw fully what was falling from the skies, then she began to understand. Somewhat. The sheer size and image of the invading army dropping from the sky and bombing the city in shimmering, blue lights still managed to shock her to where she couldn’t understand. They fell through the clouds, appearing as nothing but black dots from their distance, but they knew it wasn’t the case when one of the invaders flew right past their airship. Tempest Shadow galloped forward and leaned over the edge of her airship, gazing down to just catch a glimpse of the invader that flew past them. It screeched out a terrible cry, leading its flying chariot down to the city, joining the hundreds of others. “Whoa, that’s so crazy,” Grubber said, leaning over the edge next to Tempest. “I mean, a city that was just liberated from us—the army that invaded it—is being invaded again from another army! Talk about irony, right?” Tempest couldn’t even reply to Grubber’s foolish comment. Her eyes were glazed over in horror, her jaw open and without even a single breath leaving her. Her mane blew wildly in the high winds. She didn’t pay attention to the commotion behind her, her eyes focused only on the city and the screams. “Captain Celaeno!” the parrot pirate Mullet shouted, sliding down the chains connected to the massive balloon above them. He landed in front of his captain, Celaeno turning his way. “What do you have, sailor?” she asked. Mullet turned towards the skies, watching with his one good eye as more and more invaders continued to fall. “Unknown, Captain! Whatever they are, they aren’t lookin’ to negotiate!” “Bwaaahhh!” Everyone turned to see the parrot Squabble leaning over the edge of the airship, one claw holding the heavy chains leading up to the massive balloon. He pointed outwards, straight up to the sky, and screamed once more. “Bwaaahhh!” They all shifted their attention where Squabble had pointed. The Storm Guards filling the deck of the ship growled, holding out their spears and shields as if it was their only form of protection. The pirates all backed away, beaks falling open in shock at the unrealistic size and fury of the descending ship. Even Tempest brought up her eyes when the shadow fell over her. She gasped, backing away and gazing to the heavens to see it clearly. She still couldn’t believe it. An unknown ship broke through the clouds, releasing so many more of the invaders that they had seen earlier. But that wasn’t all. It also released several massive, serpent-like creatures. The serpents roared and appeared to swim through the skies, diving down to the city and joining the invasion. But not before they joined the smaller invaders in attacking the airships still commandeering the skies. Tempest Shadow gasped once more, watching in horror as several of her airships erupted into flame. Some were taken down by the overwhelming numbers of the invaders, and some were just destroyed on impact from the flying serpents ramming into them. “My ships!” the unicorn cried. She noticed several of those small, black dots getting closer, the flying serpents turning their way. Spinning her neck around, she glared at the parrot behind the wheel of the ship and ordered, “Get us out of here!” Boyle saluted, twisting the wheel of the airship. Everyone on board held on as the ship suddenly took a wide turn left, its engines igniting and sending the airship full steam ahead and away from the city. It wasn’t long before the airship regained stability in its flight, everyone slowly rising back to their feet. Celaeno rubbed her head, turning towards her friend Lix Spittle and asking, “Status report?” Lix Spittle nodded and leaned over the edge of the airship, using her spyglass to observe if they were being followed. She saw as the flying chariots and serpents suddenly spun back, facing downwards and falling to the city. Huffing in response, Lix nodded and turned back. “I don’t think they’re following us! Too preoccupied with the city!” she announced. Mullet groaned, rising to his feet. “We can’t just leave all those citizens to die!” “You got a better plan?” Boyle asked, his grip on the wheel tightening once he noticed how close Mullet was getting to it. “Quiet!” And just like that, the pirate crew was silenced, turning towards their captain. Squabble hit the face of the deck with his own face, squawking and turning his attention to his captain with a dopey smile on his false beak. Captain Celaeno tightened her claw into a fist, her expression tightening as well. It fell apart when she sighed, turning towards the unicorn facing her. She said, “Tempest… if we’re gonna have any hope in taking back that city, then we’re gonna need new ships.” She looked to her crew, saw them coming together near the wheel and watching her. Waiting for her. “I’m gonna need a new ship.” “That’s the least of our worries,” Tempest replied, trotting right past Celaeno and stopping right in the front of the airship. She stared out into the known lands ahead, the thick clouds covering most of it below. She breathed through her slightly-separated lips, gulping and closing her eyes. “We need more than just ships…” In the darkness of her own mind, she saw something. A flicker. A spark. An electric current of uncontrolled magic and she stopped it, trying to clear her mind and think to what she wanted. That flicker came back, this time igniting a flame that consumed an entire city. The screams came later, silenced by the resounding explosions still echoing in her eardrums. She gasped and opened her eyes. “We need allies.” Celaeno smiled at that, twisting her hat on tighter. “Lucky for us, I know just the people… uh, Hippogriffs,” she said, Tempest turning back to her. She only saw Celaeno twisting back and pointing a claw towards the parrot at the wheel. “Boyle, onward to Mount Aris!” she ordered. The parrot saluted with his hook. “Aye aye, Captain!” The last of the airships in the late Storm King’s armada took a short turn left, adjusting and following a straight path into the rising clouds and endless skies. The Storm Guards remained on deck, constantly scanning the skies just in case they were being followed. Grubber retreated to his quarters, rubbing his stomach and trying to hold down his second breakfast. Captain Celaeno continued to order her crew around, keeping the ship in order because the pony that owned it wouldn’t. She turned to her, seeing the unicorn fall on her rump and rest her head on the edge of the airship. Tempest Shadow took one final look at the city they saved, now just a rising cloud of dark smoke with an alien warship descending towards it.