//------------------------------// // How the Storm Began Part 1 // Story: Storm Vine // by zalla661 //------------------------------// Later that same day Tempest Shadow was outside in her family's vineyard watching as her ships left heading back towards Ponyville. On her back little Berry Pinch was standing propped on her head watching the massive ships leave with the exception of one ship. A large golden parrot shaped ship she knew very well. Tempest felt her lip curl with a tiny hint of a smile. She couldn’t help but nod in a saluting manner to the ship before turning away from it. “Impressive isn’t it, little one?” She asked the filly. Pinch watched in awe nodding slowly. “Yeah. What’s it like up there?” Tempest turned to return to work with the filly in tow. “It’s exhilarating at first, but once you do it for years like me it loses its charm. It is an interesting life though,” She said picking some grapes from the vines. “In fact I had run in with a group of pirates on several occasions.” Little Pinch gasped loudly falling off Tempest on accident. The filly practically bounced back up onto her hooves and got on her hind legs to lean against Tempest’s side. “Pirates?! Real live pirates?! You fought pirates!? Did they have bowlegs? Eye patches? Swords? What about talking parrots?” “Yeah, something like that,” Tempest chuckled lightly at the filly’s enthusiasm “What were they like?” The filly asked running beside her cousin to help pick grapes. “Well, they really weren’t much. Parrot kin pirates with hooked hands, pegged legs, and the usual,” Tempest said in a uninterested tone. “But their Captain, now she was something else.” Berry Pinch noticed a sudden change in her cousins posture. She seems to relax and smile at the mention of this pirate captain. Was she a really good friend of hers? She wondered. No, that wasn’t possible. How could enemies become friends? Things didn’t work like that, did they? She wondered. They worked for a short while and Berry Pinch kept looking at Tempest wondering when she was going to tell her more about her encounters with the pirates. Were they vicious treasure hoarders, like the raccoons? Or were they like in the stories she read? She had so many questions and was literally bouncing with anticipation. Her bouncing didn’t go unnoticed by Tempest who was trying hard not to grin at the filly’s contagious enthusiasm. Tempest kept quiet for a good while working on the vines. After they filled the first basket they took it to the store house to keep it out of the sun. When they returned they came with two new empty baskets and started where they left off. By now an hour passed and Tempest could tell Pinch was beginning to get impatient. She kept glancing back at her clearly wanting Tempest to continue her story, but the older mare couldn’t help but tease her small cousin. “Come on, cuz! Tell me more about the pirates now!” Pinch said scrunching her nose. “We’ve been working for an hour! Come on, tell me more about them!” She leaned up against Tempest and started trying to push her with tiny hooves. “Alright,” Tempest said pushing the filly on her back. The young pny rolled over like a barrel and hopped back on her hooves. Tempest noted it was like watching a spring bounce back up after being pushed down. Not a bad analogy all things considered. The mare stopped working for after filling her basket. She laid down on her belly letting the sun bath over her. Pinch walked up beside her and laid down next to her cousin, and never lost her smile. “So, what do you want to hear first little one?” “Oh! Tell me about the captain you knew!” “Oh? You want to hear about my rival, Captain Celaeno?” Tempest asked theatrically. “Well, I guess I could tell you how I met her.” Berry Pinch’s eyes sparkled with wonder and awe. “Captain Celaeno?” Tempest blushed slightly remembering the large female anthro parrot in a golden coat with a black trim. She also wore brown pants and a large hat walked up with a emerald green stone leg behind Tempest with a sword at her side. She was an icon of confidence in her mind. Very proud, strong, yet strangely graceful in her approach to things. Kinda like how she remembered Maud. Maybe that’s what I think is so attractive about them? Tempest thought to herself. “What was she like?” Pinch asked. Grinning Tempest looked up at the airship still anchored to the ground. A strange sense of nostalgia overcame her when she looked at the ship with a fresh set of eyes, and to the same extent Captain Celaeno. “She was a brave and cunning fighter si what she was,” Tempest stated. “She was level headed, confident, truthful, and never once used dirty tricks to win at fights. She always used skill and cunning to outsmart her foes, and she never once put her crew in danger she wouldn’t do herself.” “Oh? Were you two friends?” Pinch asked. “No,” Tempest replied shaking her head. “We were more like rivals, but that was something that developed over time. You see, back a while ago I served an evil monster called the Storm King. He ruled the southern parts of the country past the Badlands with an iron fist. Everyone who lived there was his slave doing his bidding.” The mulberry filly shivered at the mention of his name. “What was he like?” She asked. Tempest then looked down at Pinch with a darker tone in her voice. “He was a nasty evil yeti, who was evil for the sake of it!” Tempest sneered trying to frighten her cousin. “And gobbles little fillies and colts who misbehave!” What she got for her overly dramatic display was a giggle from her tiny cousin. Berry Pinch rolled over as Tempest pretended to eat her belly. Pinch squealed pushing Tempest’s muzzle with her tiny hooves giggling afterwards. Berry Pinch latched onto Tempest’s muzzle by gripping her four tiny legs around her snout, and then she proceeded to blow a raspberry at Tempest. “Oh, you wanna play like that then?” The mare asked in a challenging manner. “Very well. I’ll show you a little trick I learned on my own.” Wondering what she could mean, Berry Pinch held on as Tempest stood up and walked away from the house and into town with her cousin latched to her face. Ponies watched at the odd pair as they made their way through town. Pinch still attached to Tempest. Some pones couldn’t help but melt at the sight of the cute filly on the mares nose, while others just watched in plain amusement. Tempest ignored the comments, but felt a slight heat in her cheeks, and knew she would be hearing about this from her aunt no doubt. In the meantime she made her way to a small pond and walked towards its edge. She stopped just a hoof step away from the water's edge and stared into the water. Pinch craned her neck backwards as far as she could to see her reflection in the water. She tilted her head and quirked her eyebrow wondering what her cousin was planning. “What are you going to do?” She asked the mare. The mare smiled knowing very well Pinch couldn’t see her do so and calmly said, “I’m going to hold my breath and dunk you into the water until you let go.” Bfre Pinch could process what was said she was in the water. She almost breathed in, but was quick to stop herself. She plugged her nose with one hoof trying to hold onto Tempest who for her part was smirking at the filly. Losing breath fast Pinch quickly released tempest and paddled her hooves to swim. She breached the surface of the pond gasping for air as she was blinded by her wet mane. She doggy paddled to the edge and pulled herself out of the pond shivering in the cooler winter air. Tempest pulled her head out of the water slowly, and ran a hoof through her mane. Shaking herself to get the excess water off Tempest stared down at the shivering form of her cousin and chuckled. Her fur was all damp and made her less fluffy and more like skin and bone. Her mane and tail were completely soaked through. She giggled at the sight and went to grab Pinch by the nape of her neck. She carried the drenched filly to a nearby rock and set her down on it. The hot surface warmed her up instantly causing her to stop shivering. Tempest then got atop the rock along with her cousin and wrapped her body around her. Pinch felt her large cousins body warm her up even more and she rubbed herself against the warm dry fur like a kitten to its mother. Once she settled in she poked her head out and blew her wet mane out from her face and gave Tempest a pout. “That was mean, you big meanie.” “Ha, yeah, but you shouldn’t have latched to my face like that then.”Tempest replied pushing her nose against Pinch’s nose. “If you want I can make it up to you.” “Tee, hee, that tickles,” The filly giggled nuzzling Tempest. “Can you tell me more about the pirates you knew?” “So, you wanna hear more about the pirates?” Tempest asked pulling away. “Oh, yes! I do!” “Very well. Let me tell you how I beat the pirates in a airbattle with nothing but a sharp stick and two of my personal guards.” Pinch’s eyes wided in awe. Her ears perked up ready to feast on the wondrous tale of action and adventure that no doubt awaited to be told. Tempest felt her heart swell with pride as the filly waited for her to spin her tale to her, shen from the corner of her eye, Tempest noticed a familiar figure walking towards them. “That’s not quite how I remember the story going.” A feminine voice said. Pinches head poked over Tempest Shadow’s body to see a tale female anthro parrot standing on other side of the rock. The filly gasped at the sight of the figure. Tall and well kept feathers pf tan and bright green. Leather coat and vest with a matching large hat with a plume feather sticking from the top. Pegged leg of emerald, and a well decorated hilted sword at the hip. “AH! Tempest it’s a pirate!” Berry Pinch cried out hiding behind her cousin from sight. Tempest didn’t even budge and simply looked back at the new arrival. “Captain Celaeno.” Tempest said not even looking. “Commander Tempest,” Celaeno replied. “Heard I could find you out here.Mind if I join you?” Tempest nodded glancing back at the captain. She was just standing there waiting patiently. Tempest than gestured towards an open spot at her side inviting Celaeno to join her. Celaeno nodded and walked beside the pony and knelt down to help pick grapes. Berry Pinch watched from behind Tempest as the giant parrot worked without even being told what to do. It was as if she already knew what to do. Celaeno noticed th filly poking her head out and glanced at her with a smile and a gentle wave of her clawed hand. The filly responded by ducking back down to hide. Tempest sighed. She craned her neck and reached for the filly and picked her up by the scruff of her neck. Lifting the foal she placed Pinch between her and Celaeno. The poor thing looked like she was about to cry when Tempest nuzzled her trying to calm her down. “Don’t worry kid. She won’t hurt you,” She then glanced up at the parrot female and gave her a warning glare. “Isn’t that right, Captain Celaeno?” The parrot female waved her hand casually in a non threatening manner. “Don’t worry! I don’t hurt kids. Besides, she’s cute!” Celaeno lifted the filly up and spun her around. “She’s so adorable, unlike, Edgy McEdge Lord, here,” She said gesturing towards Tempest with her thumb. Fear from Pinch subsided and she giggled at the nickname finally feeling comfortable around the parrot female who was tossing her up in the air and catching her when she came back down. Pinch giggled as Celeano caught her and tickled her tiny hooves with one claw hand. Tempest meanwhile scowled at Celeano for the nickname, looking like she was trying to decide if she wanted to frying Celaeno with magic or go for a gut kick. “Now I remember why I hate you…” Tempest said dryly. “So, you two know each other clearly. So, how did you two meet?” Pinch asked both the adults. “Yeah, we butted heads on a few occasions.” Celaeno said putting the filly on her shoulder. “You see, Edgelord here-” “I wish I threw you overboard that one time.” Tempest snapped under her breath. “-she was the one who took my leg in a great battle.” She said flexing her stone leg. Pinch gasped looking at the leg from her perch of Celaeno’s shoulder. “Whaaaaaat!? Did you cut her leg off as punishment for stealing your booty or something?” Pinch asked. “No kiddo, she tried to take my ship,” Tempest said punching Celeano playfully in the shoulder and almost knocking Pinch off. Celaeno laughed and socked the mare back both of them laughing while pinch looked between them confused. “The way I remember it you were running from us and we were chasing you across the skies until you had nowhere to run!” Celaeno chuckled playfully. Tempest curled her lip smiling at the parrot pirate. “That’s because you were too fixated on the chase to realize I was leading you into a trap.” “Oh? You call that a trap?” Celeano asked, clearly amused at the answer she got. “What happened?” Pinch asked with eyes full of wonder. “Oh, it’s quite a tale kid. So, get comfy and let Captain Celaeno tell you the story of the Rainbow Parakeet Pirates versus Tempest Shadow and the crew of the Huracan!” Celeano said in a theatrical manner. Tempest sighed and shoved her shoulder into Celaeno while she told her story. “Have you heard of the Storm King, kid?” “Yeah, Tempest told me about him.” Pinch chirped. Celaeno continued. “Well, back in the past Tempest Shadow, use to work for him. She was his right hand. The ruthless justicar of the Storm King and his instrument of doom.” “Wooooooooow,” The filly said in amazement. “So, she was suuuper cool?” “The coolest,” Celaeno said looking back at Tempest, who was trying to hide a blush, but she listened as Celaeno continued to tell Pinch about their encounter. “So, what happened next?” The filly asked. “Well, Tempest was tracking us through the lands south, called The Badlands. A mass of scared earth that is nothing but sand and rock for millions of square miles.” She said waving a claw over an imaginary horizon. “She tracked us through a massive hurricane that was big enough to swallow Canterlot whole and everything for miles around it!” “Wow! That’s big! Bigger than my house!” Pinch yelled in excitement. The filly pushed against her cousin’s side clearly excited about the story. “Oh, what happened next? Did you to have a huge battle in the sky!?” “Not really, you see while we were tracking them through the storm, Captain Birdbrain,” Celaeno stuck her tongue out at Tempest. “-decided it was smart to come out of hiding and take us on head on.” Celeano shrugged. *Some time ago…* Tempest was on the bridge of her ship the Huracan. She was in pursuit of a band of pirates that were attacking the Storm King's fleets and stealing their cargo. She had to be careful though. The Storm King commanded all ships to cease until the threat was taken care of.So Tempest was alone with her crew and single ship to stop these pirates. There was no telling what the pirates would do. They were unpredictable and dangerous, and on top of that today was a particularly stormy day. Off in the distance a hurricane was forming a huge funnel that would ravage the badlands easily. Not that anything there was worth keeping around. Their attacks were pretty consistent. They strike at night through the clouds. They hit hard steal the cargo, but they never killed prisoners, but they did destroy all the ships they came across. That meant they cared about each other, and that was something Tempest would exploit. As they approached the storm the wind kicked up and Tempest’s guards were tying down what they could to the ship and prepared for battle. However they didn’t expect the attackers to come from the storm as they approached. The ship rocked back and forth violently. The helmsman tried hard to keep the ship steady, and for his part he was doing a rather splendid job. The hurricane however was far too strong to keep the ship completely steady. “Hold steady! They should be here!” Tempest Shadow yelled at her crew. “Stand ready! They could attack any second if we’re not careful!” Grubber came running up to her side and tugged her shoulder armor. “Commander! Ship of the stern! It’s the pirates! They’re coming at us!” The unicron turn and ran to the back of the Huracan to see for herself. As Grubber said, the pirates were closing in from behind. In her haste to catch them she placed the ship to follow the flow of the hurricanes vortex to help increase their speed. Apparently the pirates had the same thought. They were speeding up behind them fast. The golden eagle bow was like an arrow ready strike down anything in its path. Tempest quickly devised a plan in her head. Taking a calm stride she went up to the helmsman and took over the wheel. She pulled back the throttle slowing the Huracan to a sluggish pace. Grubber gasped when he noticed the ship approaching faster. “Commander, what are you doing? They’re coming faster now! They’ll overrun us at this rate!” He said in a panic. The mare didn’t react to his outburst. Instead she slowly turned the wheel to turn the ship to face their pursuers head on. The cross wind was terrible and shook the ship nearly causing it to spin on its axis, but Tempest and her storm guards years of experience they managed to keep the ship upright during the transition. Now, they were heading against the wind, sluggishly, into an enemy flying with the wind towards them. Tempest then enacted the next part of her plan. “Grubber, tell the crew below deck to ready the cannons!” She said turning the wheel to keep heading towards the pirate ship. “And sound collision!” The hedgehog hesitated for a moment before finding his legs again. “Sound collision! Sound collision!” He yelled as a bell began to ring when he ran below deck. “Ready cannons! We’re going to strafe the enemy!” As ordered the yeti guards pulled on ropes and gears preparing all their cannons for battle. The eldritch cannons were massive hulking chunks of magically powered turrets that glowed bright green along their barrels. Once they were ready Grubber ran back to the top deck and reported to Tempest who was focused on the airship heading directly at them. The two ships were now dangerously close to the storms vortex and slowly being sucked in atop of heading into each others flight paths head on. “Commander! Everything’s ready! Should be break to starboard?! We may end up hitting them!” Grubber yelled from next ot Tempest over the storm. Commander Tempest remained calm and kept her course, but also increased speed to the max. She Huracan engines boomed sending a dark plume of smog behind it. It was now hurling at neck breaking speed towards the pirate ship with no intention of slowing. “Commander, what are you doing?! We’re going to hit them!” Grubber cried panicking as the ships came into danger close territory. “Don’t worry Grubber. We’re fine.” Tempest said calmly. “What?!!? How are you sure!??!” Smiling, Tempest adjusted the heading of the ship to match the pirates as they tried to steer right, thus forcing them to go left towards the hurricanes vortex. “Fear not, Grubber. The hardest part about playing chicken, is knowing when to blink.” The commander said in a almost cruel tone. *Present Day* Little Berry Pinch gasped at the story as it was reaching the action. “So, what did you do?!” She asked Celaeno. “Did you try to fight my, cousin? What did you do?” “Well, we were very lightly armed. We only had four steel cannons that fired cannon balls while the Huracan had ten eldritch cannons and it was armored. We wouldn’t have stood a chance.” Celaeno admitted begrudgingly. “Not that it stopped us at that point. Both sides were committed at that point and there was no turning back.” “What’s an eldritch cannon?” Pinch asked. “They’re powerful magical powered cannons that fire large bursts of energy,” Celano explained. “Strong enough to tear through solid steal like a smoldering hot knife through butter.” “Whoa!” “Yes, yes, my ship is vastly superior to yours. Clearly you had no idea what you were doing,” Tempest said with a playful jab at Celaeno, who just laughed. *Some time ago, Captain Celaeno* “Are they crazy!?” A parrot pirate yelled running beside Celaeno at the helm. “How should I know? We need to evade, We can’t face them head on! We’ll lose for sure!” Celaeno admitted turning the ship to port. The Huracan followed their movements. The leader of the pirate band knew what the leader of the Huracan was doing. With the amount of frontal armor they had they would tear through her ship like tissue paper. Their only hope was to catch them off guard, which was easy until now. The Storm King’s guards weren’t very observant. Whoever was on that ship had a good crew. This meant Celaeno had to play smart, but she soon realized they had only one option due to her narrow minded plan. She was forced to turn the ship to port and fly into the storm. With any luck they could lose the enemy ship in the storm and make their escape to their hideout. But first she needed directions. “What’s our heading!?” She yelled at her navigator. “We’re heading southwest, the storm seems to be heading towards the Abyssal Trench, Captain!” “Good, we’ll use the storm to hide in the trenches! Then we’ll wait for them to pass us by and we’ll make our escape!” “Captain! They’re coming at us full speed!” “What?! Are they insane?! They’ll get caught in the storm with us?!” At this point Celaeno had no choice. It was do or die time. She had no choice now but to fly into the storm vortex and hope the Huracan wouldn't follow. Turning char into the storm Celaeno brought the ship full force into the vortex. Her crew were ready, and tied down to the deck to not get sucked up by the torrent around them. Green bolts of energy pierced the storm and hit the stern of their ship damaging it, but Celaeno stayed true to her path. She pulled back on the throttle slowing the ship down and allowed the Huracan to fly past. The change in speed was too quick for the storm ship to slow down to match them and flew past. The ship dove down fighting against the vortex of the storm trying to get through but not without great difficulty. Eventually they reached the eye of the storm and far down below at the center was the trenches of Abyssal Trench. Also known as Devils Reach it was a two mile length of canyons and interconnecting tunnels that were left after some great battle long since forgotten to myth. Pirates and raiders often utilized these paths to hide from Storm King ships and to lay ambushes since the Storm King’s naval officers refused to enter the trenches. They were too dangerous for those who had little knowledge of their layout and were riddled with sharp turns and dead ends. A perfect place to escape the pursuing Huracan. Celaeno thought it would be easy to escape. She brought the ship through the trenches easily navigating the trenches, even with her massive ship with expert precision. She and her crew were in the clear! “Captain! We’re still being pursued!” The female captain turned in surprise. “What?! How?!” To her surprise the Huracan indeed was still following and gaining on them. The enemy ship was right on their tail. *Tempest Huracan* The pirates were just within grasp. Tempest felt a small amount of pleasure in pursuing them through the trench. It was a thrill she was going to enjoy every minute of. The pirate ship went around a corner deep in the trench. The wind was starting to die down deeper in the canyon, but Tempest didn’t relax for a minute. She pulled back the throttle and slowly descended into the dark abyss with the winds still blowing around them. The winds still strong they Huracan slowly inched along with no sign of the pirate ship in sight. As they approached a Y-fork in the path Tempest slowed the ship to aa crawl while she contemplated on where to go next. She had no idea which way the pirates went. If she made a mistake and went the opposite way they would escape and her failure would cost her dearly at the hands of the Storm King. However there risk was just a great if she chose the path the pirates went. They could very well be waiting to ambush them and with all the time they had to prepare could easily get the drop on the Huracan. *Present day* “WOW! You flew into a hurricane just to escape, Tempest?! And you followed, Captain Celaeno into it to capture her?” The filly gasped in awed excitement. “What happened next?” “I think we should focus on working rather than storytelling,” Tempest stated bluntly. By now they had managed to get back to the farm and were all working on picking grapes for the harvest. Pinch whined but obey her cousin and helped pick grapes from the vines, even Celaeno offered a helping hand. The parrot kneeled beside Tempest with such grace that it seemed to be one swift fluid motion. It impressed her a bit. For a while the picked in silence and after some time Tempest glanced down at the large full baskets of grapes they collected, and then she looked out over the horizon seeing the sun at it zenith. This meant it was about 1pm and time for lunch. Tempest wasn’t too hungry but a loud growling sound from the pit of her stomach told her otherwise. She rubbed her underbelly feeling a slight ache come from nowhere. A subtle snicker from Celaeno earned her a stern glare from the pony. Pinch observed to see what the adults would do. “Sounds like someone skipped breakfast,” Celano said poking Tempest at her side. The claw hand sank into Tempest Shadow’s soft side earning a squeak and a furious blush from the unicorn mare. Tempest swatted away the claw hand and covered her sides like she was expecting another round of poking, which to her credit Celano looked like she wanted to. Tempest scooted away from her and didn’t notice Pinch behind her, and the filly poked her hoof at her cousins side when she let her guard down. The reaction was instantaneous. Tempest leapt in the air squeaking again and tried to roundhouse kick Celaeno but managed to suck under it just in time. Tempest then landed on her back with a thud and scrambled to get back to her hooves. Utterly embarrassed had stood upright and tiff like a statue with deep red cheeks and a bashful look that made the other two giggle at her expense. The unicorn puff her chest out and her cheeks and glared at the other two. “Wow Tempest! I didn’t think you could make such girly sounds!” Celaeno laughed trying not to fall over. Even Pinch was finding it difficult to not laugh at the sight of her mighty cousin making such sounds. With a huff Tempest turned and picked up the baskets and placed them on her back. She then stomped towards the store house and left the grapes there and stormed out with her head low. Celaeno was there waiting with Pinch on her shoulder both smiling at her. The Tempest noticed Pinch was wearing Celaeno’s hat. Albeit way too big for the tiny filly, she was forced to wear it from the front and held it up with one tiny hoof. “Arr! I’m a swashbuckling sidekick!” Pinch yelled swinging a stick with her open hoof, but nearly fell off the parrots pirates shoulder. She abandoned the stick on favor of saving herself from falling. Celaeno laughed putting the filly on the head and took her hat back and placed it on Tempest’s head, and giving her a playful head rub. Tempest growled but allowed the parrot female to ruffle her head a bit. Staying under the hat Tempest looked up at the two and felt her smile creep back on. Her. “Come on you two. Let’s get some lunch. Then we can finish story time on how I kicked Captain Celaeno butt with a sharp stick.” Tempest said walking away. Celaeno scoffed following tempest close behind with Berry Pinch now on top of her head. “Oh, please. You wish you were that good!”