When the winch platform finally brought them back up onto the Phoenix, Tempest and Twilight found themselves walking straight into a party. Pinkie had somehow decorated the rigging with bunting and crépe, and tied balloons everywhere. And while there wasn't much in the way of food and drink, there was plenty of company and lots of excited conversation going on.
Seeing Twilight and the others stepping onboard at last, the freed ponies immediately crowded around to greet them.
"Oh, thank you, Princess!" said a curly-maned mare who'd been grabbed in an alley in Dodge City. "We thought we'd never see home again!"
"It was real fine of y'all to come rescue us," said a lanky, dappled Appleloosa stallion. "Real brave, too!"
"How can we ever thank you, Princess Twilight?" said many of them, sometimes overlapping each other.
Twilight gestured to Tempest, standing tensely beside her. "You can thank the real architect of this rescue: Tempest Shadow. She planned and executed the entire operation. I just helped wherever I could. It's Commander Tempest you have to thank for your safe rescue today!"
This astonished everypony, but they quickly crowded around the maroon pony, peppering her with questions. At first, Tempest seemed nervous and reserved, facing all the enthusiastic attention, but then gradually she relaxed. And once Grubber had managed to squeeze through the crowd to help her remove her helmet, she was able to chat more freely with the rescued prisoners. A cautiously relieved smile began creeping onto her face as she saw how the ponies surrounding her, one and all, saw her as the pony who had just rescued them, and not as the commander of the Storm King's invasion.
"Boy howdy!" Applejack said, when Twilight managed to sneak out of the crush and join her in a more open area of the aft deck. "Looks like Tempest is the pony of the hour! Wait'll word of this gets back home! I'd say she's got nothin' to worry 'bout!"
"That remains to be seen. Even so, I'm glad for her." Twilight smiled proudly. "She deserves the attention. Especially the way she kept it together throughout this whole thing."
"Yes, indeedy!" Applejack's face turned solemn. "But we still didn't find Rarity in there, raight?"
Twilight shook her head. "The priestesses couldn't tell us anything about where the ponies were to be sent. As far as they knew they were to be sent off to Bastet's heavenly realm, somehow. None of the mercenary guards were clued in either, even those who brought the ponies in from the docks." She sighed heatedly. "And this Strife character sure isn't talking!"
"Ah say we let Rainbow and Tempest play buckball with him some more, until he changes his tune!"
"Applejack..." Twilight warned.
"I know, Twi! But Rarity..."
"It's not a place we should go," Twilight said. "This is supposed to be an army of Friendship, if there can be such a thing. We're not doing ourselves any favors if we sink to that kind of retaliation, even against a fraud like Strife!"
"I guess you're right, Twi. But then what do we do?"
"We need to find out where Strife was going to send the captives, because presumably Rarity's already there. I don't know... maybe I should go back to the temple, see if the priestesses will tolerate us searching for any records or messages Strife or his hired thugs may have left behind... something that would give us a clue where to go."
"We pretty much know: Seaquestria."
"But where and who?" Twilight objected. "I mean, I can't just walk up to Queen Novo and as much as accuse her of harboring kidnappers! I'm already trying to figure out how to make up for our last visit." Twilight groaned, and shook her head. "And I certainly can't think clearly with all the partying going on up here. I'm going to go below for a bit, find a quiet spot, see if I can come up with a better plan. Let everyone know where I am, huh?"
"Sure thing, Twi!"
Twilight politely nodded to everyone, as she made her way across the deck to the companionway door and then slipped through. It was relatively quiet belowdecks, and she trotted back to the captain's cabin to sit down at Celaeno's chart table. She stared at the map of the southern coast, at the marker showing Mount Aris.
"What if it is Queen Novo?" she said to herself, worriedly. "What do I do then?" She shook her head. "No, that makes no sense! There must be someone else... some other player here. But who?"
"Excuse me, Princess?"
Twilight looked up, startled. It was Tempest.
"Saw you heading down here," Tempest said. "If now's a good time, could I have a word?"
Twilight nodded. Tempest stepped into the room and shut the door.
"Princess, you know I consider myself and this army of mine as operating under your orders and your authority. And I know you always want to find the kinder, gentler, Friendship way. But time is of the essence here. We need to find Rarity. And there's one party who can tell us where to look. We need to give him a reason to start talking. I know you don't like the idea..."
"I don't! I just got through lecturing Applejack on the subject. If we start roughing up prisoners to get information out of them, then what did we get rid of the Storm King for? Or Tirek... or Sombra... or even Nightmare Moon, for pony's sake?"
Tempest paused for a moment, eyeing her. "Not where I was going. If you'll let me finish?"
"I'm sorry, Tempest. Go ahead!"
"I do have a suggestion, Your Highness. But to make it work, I need you to let me do this my way."
"Why? What are you going to do?"
Tempest smiled coldly. "What I do best... rattle the cage!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Strife considered the prison, coldly and dispassionately: a cage, resistant to magic from its occupant, hanging from a chain in what appeared to be a venting room repurposed as a hold. Only a single door, in the gallery at the top of the stairs. No one on watch, so no idiot guards to dupe.
Clearly, the way out was to work on the sympathies of his captors. And thankfully, this would be easy. The Storm King had been a challenge, mainly because he could only be manipulated by appealing to his overblown self-image, his single-minded desire for power and status.
But this one, this Princess Twilight... Strife smiled inwardly. She had so many motivations she could hardly keep track of them. She was a whirlwind of anxieties, all looking for an escape route. Manipulating her would be child's play.
The Princess herself was standing anxiously before the cage, eyes wide and pleading. "I just want my friend back," she said. "I know we can work something out here! Like, were you being paid for the ponies you captured? We could pay you whatever it was you were offered instead. Or is there someone putting pressure on you? Making you do this? We could help you. Can't you just tell us where they've taken her? Please?"
Strife folded his thin, smoky fingers together. "I'm so sorry, Princess. I want to help, truly I do. But I'm merely a middle-creature here. I deliver a cargo. I don't ask where it comes from, or where it goes."
She looked downcast at that, hopeless. Good. Now for the play... "But perhaps if I showed you where I was taking them?"
Her eyes lit up immediately. "Could you do that?"
"Most assuredly," he said. "But... you see, it's a little difficult from where I currently am. I didn't use a map, I went by landmarks. They'd be impossible to describe to you if you're not from around here. If you could just let me out, up on deck, I could show you the way there..."
"I wouldn't listen to him, Your Highness."
It was Tempest, stalking casually, almost haughtily down the stairs from the gallery, her armored shoes ringing on the stairs. Strife's blue, point-like eyes swung in her direction, annoyed. This one, he could tell, was not so easily swayed.
And Princess Twilight... she seemed positively terrified. She almost backed into Strife's cage as she turned to face the commander of her own army. "Tempest," she said, her voice quavering. "If we can just persuade him to help us..."
"Once he's out of that cage, Princess, you know he'll use his magic on us." Tempest glared at Strife. "And we've seen how he used it before!"
Strife hunched in on himself, attempting to look humble, pitiable. "Merely in my own defense! I was lost in the desert, and stumbled upon the temple. The priestesses would have had me executed, had I not assumed the role of spokesbeing for their goddess."
"Oh, please," Tempest rolled her eyes. "You merely pretended to be an agent of a supreme being to win over the impressionable locals. Why didn't I think of that? You had no other choice, clearly!" Her tone turned snide. "You want me to get out my violin and play it for you?"
"Tempest..." Twilight said, her voice shaking, "I... I just want to get Rarity back. There's no need for this to get harsh..."
"Is he still being difficult, Princess?" Tempest thundered, sneering at her. "Perhaps you're being too kind with him." She glared at Strife, with a measuring look that made even him feel distinctly uncomfortable. "Maybe it's time for a different approach... something a little less... subtle."
"Tempest..."
The maroon pony rounded on her, a wild look in her eyes. "Your Highness, this is my ship, and my army! You put me in charge here! I think it's about time you started letting me conduct this interview... my way!"
Twilight looked about to object. Then her shoulders hunched in defeat. "All right, Tempest. Just... just get Rarity back for me. Please?"
Turning, she fled past Tempest and ran up the stairs, almost in tears.
Tempest smiled as she swung toward the cage again. She rapped a hoof on the metal floor to get Strife's attention. Then she glared levelly at him.
"You can see how my Princess feels about all this. She's not happy. And when she's not happy, I'm not happy. And you know, that's not good for me! I tend to keep that unhappiness corked up inside. It's a bad habit... I've been warned about it, actually. All that pent-up aggression... no place to go..." Her horn sizzled threateningly.
Then she smiled easily. "Thankfully, there are outlets in a job like mine. I just have to be a little... creative in finding them."
She called over her shoulder angrily. "Snap it up, Grubber! We're not getting any younger here!"
"Uhh... right away, Commander Tempest!" Behind her, Grubber came down the stairs carefully, step by step, lugging a large box. Piled high in it were gleaming crystal spheres, each filled with a poisonous green shimmer.
The hedgehog stumbled a bit at the bottom of the stairs, catching himself just in time. His breath hissed in his teeth at the fragile clinking sound coming from the box.
"Careful, Grubber..." Tempest said languidly, not even looking at him. "You petrify yourself with one of those, we'll use you as a birdbath!"
Grubber winced. "Yes, Commander Tempest! Sorry, Commander Tempest!" He gently set the box down near the base of the stairs. Then he huddled behind it, peering around at her anxiously.
Tempest swung away from the cage, strolling back towards the box. "Now, Strife, I believe we have you to thank for these little gems. Wonderful little devices. A petrification spell in gas form? With a shield-piercing outer shell? They made capturing the princesses of Canterlot such a breeze!"
"Oh... um, yes..." Strife tried to sound unworried. And failed. "We acquired those for the Storm King some time ago. We were going to load them into the catapults. But, unfortunately it turned out they were not the right size..."
Tempest tsk-ed softly. "Oh, that must have been disappointing..." She turned back to Strife with a commiserating look. "... for the Storm King. And I remember how when things didn't work out... he really didn't take it all that well." She shrugged. "Still, it's nice we had a few left over. I was going to chuck them but, nah! I suspected a chance would come up to make use of them."
She smiled at Strife. And then motioned with a forehoof.
Grubber cringed, then reached up and gently plucked one of the spheres from the pile. As he brought it down it nearly slipped out of his grasp. He desperately juggled it back and forth, finally getting it under control. Heaving a sigh of relief, he carefully tossed it to her...
... and Tempest neatly caught it on her upturned forehoof.
"Now... if you don't start telling me things I want to hear -- like where you were planning to send those ponies -- I start using you for target practice!"
"Point of order, if I may," Strife said, coolly. "If you use those on me and I'm petrified, I won't be able to tell you anything." He spread his hands calmly, feeling he'd scored a solid point.
"So true!" Tempest said, shaking her head sadly. "I'll have to ask the Princess to undo the spell for me. But that shouldn't take long. And then we can start again... and again... and again, as often as it takes!" There was an unpleasantly unhinged look in her eyes now. "And I've been hit by one of these, actually, so I know firsthoof how unpleasant it is. You can't move... you can't breathe... in the end, you can't even think! You have no way of knowing when... or even if... someone will release you. And when they do... oh, doesn't it hurt like blazes! I wouldn't wish that on anyone..."
Her head lowered. Her horn sparked.
"...unless they were foolish and stubborn enough to give me reason!"
"But..."
Tempest suddenly bounced the sphere in the air. As it came back down, a vicious swipe of her hoof belted it across the room. It whipped past the bars of the cage with inches to spare, smashing against the wall beyond. The venemous green cloud it released spread slowly, oozingly, down the wall and across the floor. With a brittle crackling sound, black nacreous crystal condensed and spread in its wake, inching towards the cage.
"Er... you've made your point," Strife said, woodenly. "Now, can we..."
But Grubber had already lobbed another sphere into the air. With a fast roundhouse kick, Tempest sent it screaming past the cage on the other side, to smash into the wall and release more of the roiling green cloud.
Strife was about to speak, but Tempest didn't even seem to be listening now. Grubber had tossed two spheres into the air, and Tempest somehow managed to get both of them with a single spin-kick. They passed the cage low to the right, and a bit higher on the left, smashing into the floor just beyond it. The rivulets of condensing crystal advanced even closer.
Strife stared at her.
"You're insane..." he whispered.
"Ohhh, not nearly," Tempest smiled nastily. "I'm just getting started!"
This time, when Grubber tossed a sphere, she swept her forehoof upward, sending it high into the air. And then with a standing leap she launched herself after it. A forward flip-kick sent it speeding down, right over the top of the cage, to crash into the floor directly behind it.
The green smoke inched nearer to the cage on all sides, the crackling of the forming crystal a sinister chorus all around it.
Tempest paused, one more sphere resting on her hoof. "You know... sooner or later, my aim's going to improve. Sooner or later, one of these is going right into that cage. And then we'll just see whether the unpetrifying spell even works on a creature like you." She smiled to herself unpleasantly. "I really should have bothered to find that out first!"
She bounced the sphere, eyeing Strife coldly.
"Where were the ponies being sent?" she demanded. "Sooner or later, you're going to tell me!"
Strife stared at her levelly. And smiled. "I think not. I've been watching you, you know. And I'm not fooled for a second. You serve Princess Twilight. From what I can see, you're desperate for her approval. Unlike me..." He examined his wispy fingernails. "I never concern myself with what my superiors think of me, only the goal at hand. You're not going to do anything to turn her against you. And if your Princess were here right now, if she knew what you were doing, she'd be reining you in... and you'd go right along with her!"
Tempest's eyes lit up. And she smiled... proudly and evilly. "Ohhhh, that's where you're so very wrong!"
She raised her voice, looking upward to the gallery near the door. "Am I right, Your Highness? Any objections?"
Startled, Strife looked as well. And he saw that Princess Twilight hadn't left the room. She was standing there, looking down on the proceedings. There was a lofty, cold expression on her face.
She exhaled once, with an air of having reached a decision. "Do as you think best, Tempest," she said flatly.
Tempest turned back to Strife. "You see?"
The sphere went up. She leaped and spun. And this time, her roundhouse kick sent it directly at the cage.
With a smash, the sphere exploded against the bars in a cloud of green vapor, enveloping the cage. Black crystal began forming all over the bars. Strife huddled back into himself, eyes wide. He could see that Tempest was already motioning to Grubber for another sphere... and the look in her eyes said this would be the last one.
"The ponies were to be sent to a stretch of beach!" he cried. "Just north of Mount Aris!" He held up his hands pitiably, as if to ward off the heavy green vapor that oozed steadily into the cage. "I'll show you where! Give me a map and I'll show you! Just don't let it touch me!"
Smirking, Tempest executed a standing backward leap, which took her to the wall by the stairs, where there was a large lever. Her forehoof landed on it, jammed it down. With a roar of fans the blowers beneath the floor kicked in, dispersing the roiling green vapor and sending it upward through vents near the ceiling.
She kicked the lever back up, and the blowers shut down. A last few ticks and clicks from the patches of crystal on the walls and floors and the cage sounded, and then all was silent.
Tempest trotted forward, and came to a halt by the cage. She smiled in at Strife, who cowered on the cage floor, hands over his eyes.
"Thank you for your cooperation!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After obtaining the location of the beach from Strife, and passing the marked-up map to a waiting Captain Celaeno, Tempest strode calmly, assertively, up the stairs and out of the vent room.
And when the door closed behind her, she lowered her head and exhaled wearily.
"Nicely done, Grubber," she said quietly, "thanks. And you too, Princess."
"No problem, boss!" Grubber beamed. "You were beautiful in there! You'd have had me talkin' even before you got started!"
"Great."
Grubber stared at her, concerned. "You okay, Tempest?"
She shook her head. "That could have gone wrong, in so many ways..."
"Yeah, well, it worked -- that's what matters. Anything I can get ya, boss?"
She looked up, sad and tired. "You got any more of that sponge-cake, Grubber?"
"Seriously, Tempest?"
"Yeah. Some soothing tea might be nice, too."
"Hey, you got it! Be right back!" He padded off toward the galley.
Tempest just stood where she was, staring straight ahead. "Princess," she said, finally, "I know you're not happy with this. I know it's not how you do business. And if that means that we can't be friends then... I'll just have to live with that. Because I'm in charge of this little army now. And sometimes it's necessary to do unpleasant things, when there are lives at stake."
She felt Twilight reach up to put a hoof on her shoulder. "You're still my friend, Tempest. That's not going to change. And you're right. I need to let you do things your way, because this is where you're meant to be. It's just... sometimes, watching you... it scares me! I see someone I could never be! And when I find myself having to rely on that, rely on you to do the unpleasant things... it makes me uncertain of who I really am." Twilight sighed unhappily. "I mean, I'm not even sure I could reverse the petrifying spell. At least, not without the Staff of Secanas and the other Princesses' magic backing me up!"
"You wouldn't have had to," Tempest said.
"But... if you hadn't hit the blowers in time..."
"You mean I fooled you too?" Tempest looked at her, disgusted. "Come on, Princess! You're supposed to be the bright one here. A petrification spell, applied to a magic-proof cage? Sure, the smoke could pass through the bars. But the spell wouldn't. Even if I did send one of those little gems straight into the cage, it would have been deactivated. I'm just lucky I managed to keep Strife on edge the whole time, kept him from thinking too clearly. He might have seen it himself."
"You mean... you were bluffing?"
"Oh, yeah. Big time!" Tempest nodded. "I meant what I said about that petrification spell, Princess. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But I didn't have to use it. I just had to convince Strife that I'm still the kind of pony who would. And like Grubber said, that worked... which is what matters."
She smirked at the look on Twilight's face.
"You think I make you uncertain about who you are?" she said. "Try a day in these shoes, Princess! Besides, I said my little army was serving the cause of Friendship, right? And in any friendship, little white lies are allowed, aren't they?"
Twilight just stared at her, astonished.