//------------------------------// // Reformation... It's a Pony Thing // Story: Reformation... It's a Pony Thing // by Lets Do This //------------------------------// For the moment, things were peaceful on the Phoenix. Yet Captain Celaeno knew it couldn't last. It was like a sword balanced on its point. She struggled to remain calm, while coming up with a way out of the situation. "Captain Skyranger," she said. "I should by rights be very cross with you. But that's not how we do things, serving under Princess Twilight. You've been given some bad advice, that's all, and I can't hold that against you." She gestured around to her crew, and to the scarlet-furred soldiers. "We're not after your Queen... or the Pearl. We never have been. We're here to help Twilight recover her citizens, as well as the seaponies and hippogriffs who've been taken. And that's it!" "Do not listen to her blandishments, Captain Skyranger," Strife warned. "Just look about you... she and her crew have merely been fighting a delaying action, until their main force could arrive. With that, they will attack Mount Aris, and take the Queen and Pearl by force for the Princess." "You know," Boyle said calmly, "I'm really getting to hate him." "Bit of a blowhard, if you ask me!" Lix agreed. "I say we chuck him back in the brig," Mullet growled. "Soon as we move that crystal thing out of it. What say, ye, Cap'n?" Celaeno strode forward to stand eye-to-eye with the hippogriff leader. "I'd say it's up to Captain Skyranger to decide who he trusts," she said coolly. "Strife... or us." Skyranger scowled at her darkly. "I make no treaties under duress. And right now all I see is a well-armed, well-trained force in a position to attack our city... just as they did before. I'm going to need proof of your good intentions, Captain!" "Proof." Captain Celaeno said, thinking furiously. "You want proof?" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Um, Tempest?" Fluttershy quavered nervously. "Fred says the hippogriffs are under control for the moment... but they're demanding proof that we're not here to capture Queen Novo and the Pearl." "Proof?" Tempest turned to look at her, suddenly calm and collected once more. "They want proof?" Then she looked at Twilight. "Princess, you know the most important thing a soldier ever does?" "What?" Twilight asked, worried. "She stands down... with the task accomplished." Turning back to the Orca, she smiled breezily. "Mama Orcina," she said breezily. "If there's one thing I've learned working for Princess Twilight, it's that it's never necessary to resort to threats to get what you want." She turned, darted away from Orcina, then turned to face her again, spreading her forehooves. "And, just to show that I mean what I say..." She gestured with her forehooves, at the soldiers all around them. "Fred..." she called out. "Dismissed! ... all of you!" Startled, the grey soldiers around her all swept about to face her, then came to attention... and vanished. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On the deck of the Phoenix, things were suddenly a lot less crowded as well. The hippogriffs stared around, astonished by the disappearance of Tempest's soldiers. Before they could react, Celaeno moved quickly to capitalize on their surprise. "There's your proof, Captain Skyranger!" she said, grandly. "Tempest's army is a projection of her magic. And when there's no need to fight... there's no need for the army. She's dismissed them, so we can hash this out like civilized creatures!" "I'm listening..." Skyranger said cautiously. He was glancing about, clearly readying himself to give the order to attack. "Just as Princess Twilight convinced Tempest to side with the cause of Friendship, so she persuaded me and my scurvy crew to sign on. Because the cause is a just and honorable one, and as much as we pirates like treasure, we value a good fight in a noble cause even more! Princess Twilight also persuaded Prince Cappadocio and the Abyssinians to pitch in and help. And she's done the same with pretty much everyone she's met on this trip... including your Queen Novo. Because Twilight is the Princess of Friendship... and that's what she does for a living: she makes friends!" Glancing up, Celaeno finally saw Squabble, hanging from the riggings overhead. In his free claw he was holding a wicker basket, the basket they'd used to capture Strife before... and it still held a trace gleam of the containment ward Twilight had used to snare the little smoke-cloud. Celaeno fervently hoped it would be enough. "So... now that you know why we're here, I'd suggest you ask your new-found 'friend' there, your oh-so-kind 'informant'," she sneered, gesturing at Strife, "exactly what he's here for. What does he hope to get out of all this?" She glared straight at Strife. "I'll bet my hat he won't be able to give you anything like a clear and honest answer!" Strife looked back at her, momentarily at a loss for words. BWAAAWWWK! Squabble plummeted from the riggings, clapping the basket over Strife and ramming it down onto the deckplates. The effect on Skyranger was immediate and startling. He blinked, and looked round, astonished. "Oh, my! Oh my word! What was that creature doing to us... to me!" He glanced around at his guards, and raised his voice. "Stand down, all of you! It would appear that our fight is not with Princess Twilight and her associates, after all... but with those they are after!" He bowed his head to Celaeno, ashamed. "My apologies, Captain Celaeno! Under that... creature's influence I've said a great many things that I now regret. May I now demonstrate that regret, by asking if there is any way our forces may aid Princess Twilight's endeavor?" "I'm not sure, yet, Captain!" Celaeno crossed over to the railing and peered down at the waters below. "But I am sure if there is anything... she'll let us know!" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mama Orcina was equally surprised by the soldiers' disappearance. Speechless, in fact. Tempest didn't waste a moment. "As I was about to say... the one thing I've really wanted all along, is the one thing that Twilight and her friends gave me... friendship. I wanted to belong again, to have a place among ponies." She smiled sadly. "You see, I'm not a nice pony. I'm not a gentle pony. I'm not even always an honest pony. And I'm not sure I ever will be. I have too much history for that. But I'm exactly the pony my friends need me to be. They don't need me to change. They need me... Tempest Shadow. And so they've made a place for me, a place that suits me as I am... flaws and all!" She swam a little closer to Mama Orcina. "And if they can do that for me, they can certainly do that for you. You don't need threats, any more than I did. You can have what you want, without them!" "Mama not see!" Orcina replied doubtfully. "How pony manage this?" "Well..." Tempest replied, "let me tell you an interesting story. It's about reformation... it's a pony concept. Basically, you acknowledge what you've done, and then work to make things right. And everyone around you trusts you and supports you in that. Because without that support, without that trust..." she shrugged, "why should anyone care, really? "Take me, for instance... I willingly served the Storm King, helped him subdue entire nations, all for a misguided dream, a dream of power and fixing my broken horn. And after I helped bring him down, I turned from running his army to helping others... though along the way I've found I didn't need to abandon the army, I just needed to change its purpose. And in the process, I found the friendship I was looking for... I got what I truly wanted, all along. "And if you want to do the same, Mama Orcina... we'll all help. That's a promise!" Twilight swam forward. "Mama Orcina, I'm one of the four ruling Princesses of Equestria. I can speak directly with Princess Celestia herself on your behalf, work with her to open up trade and diplomatic relations with you and with the Deeps, just as we've done with Seaquestria. You'll always be able to know what's going on up on the land." Capper swept forward. "And I can speak with folks back in Abyssinia about doing the same. And by the way, on a personal note, I wonder if y'all might be interested in teaming up and standing up to Verko in Klugetown? Without his thumb on the scales, we might turn that place around. And then it'd be one more place that'd be grateful to open up diplomatic relations with y'all!" "And..." Princess Skystar said hesitantly, "I can talk to my mother, Queen Novo. I'm sure the seaponies -- and hippogriffs -- would want to be friends with you, too!" Mama Orcina still looked sour and doubtful, still clung to the chain pinning Rarity at her side. "Is all nice pretty words! But if Mama cannot visit land, what point is there in Mama helping land nations?" Skystar bit her lip, trying to make up her mind. Then she felt a gentle nudge at her elbow. It was Pinkie Pie. "Go on!" Pinkie stage whispered. "Whaddaya got to lose?" Skystar cleared her throat. "Mama Orcina... the seaponies don't have a horn spell, that's true... but we do have a transformation spell, which might be able to let you visit the land. Now I'd need to check with my mother to be sure it would work, but... if it does..." She took a deep breath. "Then we seaponies and hippogriffs would be happy to share it with you!" "Woo hoo!" Pinkie cried. "Go Skystar! Uh huh! You know it!" Mama Orcina simply stared at Skystar... openly, and hopefully. "That is... very nice of seaponies. Da. Very nice." Then she looked at Tempest again. She shook her head, looking baffled. "This reformation... it is very confusing idea!" "So I've noticed." Tempest shrugged. "It's a pony thing." "Indeed," Mama Orcina replied. "Nevertheless... we approve!" And she let go of the chain holding Rarity.