Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis (A Ranger side-story)

by Wanderer D

Chapter 5: Klugetown - Scum and Villainy

The Mareia sailed the rest of the night slowly but surely, Clucker staying true to his word and managing to navigate the ship safely all the way to the river docks, where Galahad waited with several sourly, heavily armored fish men and an official-looking Abyssinian. Nearby a large metallic cage on top of a cart waited for the mooks they had tied up on the deck.

Twilight walked over to the Abyssinian, whose eyes widened at the site of the wings and horn, and quickly saluted. "Y-your highness, we did not expect a foreign dignitary or I woul—"

"No need, officer," Twilight said, saluting in the Royal Guard fashion. "I am not here as a representative, just on my way. We were attacked by these mooks belonging to the Storm King and figured you were more than capable of taking them off our hands. Hoofs."

The Abyssinian nodded, excitement barely contained. "I… understand you're not here in "official business" but… is it possible that Equestria will help us defend our land?"

"Careful," Daring spoke out, "remember that Mt. Aris and Pantera have requested no official aid—"

"But if they do, be sure that Equestria will not leave our friends waiting," Twilight interrupted, eyes hard.

The Abyssinian officer straightened up and nodded, directing his subordinates to start loading the mooks. "Thank you… princess."

When he walked away, Twilight turned to face a proud-looking Rainbow Dash and Alejandra, an amused Galahad and Tala (judging by her body language) and an irritated Daring Do.

"You can't promise that kind of thing, Twilight," Daring hissed.

"I can," Twilight responded, eyes narrowing. "You might know my mom, and we might even be building on a real friendship here, Daring. But I am also a princess of Equestria, and if it's within my power to help my neighboring countries instead of shutting them away or ignoring them, then I will act as my conscience dictates."

"But—"

"Celestia made the wrong call," Twilight insisted, pointing her hoof at the cage. "They weren't a random encounter past the lines. They were in Equestrian territory, working with an enemy of the nation. If we ignore them, and if we don't support Abyssinia and Mt. Aris, mark my words, Daring… it will cause problems for all of us."

Daring grimaced, but nodded, unable to argue much against that logic. She had seen it first hoof, after all. "Come on, let's get this show on the road."

Klugetown was—not surprisingly—an inherently colorful melting-pot of different cultures and species. And it showed.

The buildings, rather than having a unique but quaint style to them as they would in Ponyville, or the solid architecture one would expect of Canterlot, were a hodgepodge of flimsy-looking, half-rotted planks of unidentifiable materials haphazardly painted in what could only be the nearest color at hand.

Rarity would have hated it.

"Huh," Alejandra said, gazing at the mess. "It's like being back in the old settlements before I joined XCOM."

"XCOM?" Daring asked, tilting her head.

"Oh, hey! There's Galahad! Better go do training!" Alejandra chuckled nervously. "Adios!"

The others watched her go and Daring glanced over to Twilight. "Adios?"

"That's her native language," Twilight said, watching the griffon run over to meet Galahad. "Although maybe I should have mentioned to her you knew about the mirror by now."

"Nah, it's funnier this way."

"I do wonder where Galahad is taking her," Twilight said, her gaze following Alejandra's lithe form as she met with the other griffon and the pair walked into the masses of creatures.

"Probably some secret assassin safe house or something along those lines," Daring said. She smirked. "I take it you like looking at her."

"It's nice." Twilight blinked, then slowly her face tinged red. "But don't read more into it! She's my bodyguard!"

"Sure." Daring shrugged. "Just making sure you both knew that. You kept your eyes on her a bit too long not to be interested."

Twilight sighed. "Laetitia already talked to me about that. I told her too that Alejandra is just infatuated because we both survived. She really isn't in love with me."

Daring chuckled, shaking her head. "Oh? And since when can you speak for what some other creature feels?"

Twilight shook her head. "Can we please get on with this?"

"Sure, sure. Come on, it's this way."

"So," Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Now that we're not talking about mushy stuff, what's the deal with this place? It's full of creatures I've never seen!" She motioned at the bipedal fish-people, cats and parrots that mingled in front of them.

"As I said," Twilight explained as they made their way down the main street, "this place has changed han-hoofs several times through the centuries. The people that lived here at those times stayed, and their descendants are still here."

"So, I don't see any other ponies…"

"There are a few," Daring said. "Equestria does trade with Abyssinia, and the main trade route is through here." She glanced around. "Having said that, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

"Huh." Rainbow Dash glanced around, nodding. "Has anyone seen Tala?"

"Boss! Boss!" the shark-like humanoid shouted excitedly, dangling a small cage in his stubby hand. "Look what I caught! A breezie!"

The "Boss", a larger version of the same species grinned diabolically. "They sell for a good price in the black market."

He leaned down to stare at the breezie.

"Huh. I didn't know they wore armor."

Tala smirked under her helmet.

"So what are we doing with it?"

"Eh," the boss brought up the cage closer to his face. "We can probably sell it in the marketplace. I'm sure somecreature can use a pet."

Tala was about to speak up when a scuffle made everyone look up. A cat-person with his muzzle tied up was thrown into the trash and the loud laughter of two more fish creatures interrupted her thoughts.

"Look who we found, Boss!"

"Well, well," the big fish man said, "if it isn't Capper. I think selling this thing can wait until we gut the little bastard for that stunt he pulled on us." He grinned and slid out a long, serrated knife. "Let's see you talk yourself out of this one, you little thief."

Capper's eyes widened as the Boss approached, and shook his head desperately, looking around for help.

Tala sighed. It looked like her fun would be cut short. But… at least it would be entertaining. "Hey, blowfish-face!"

The Boss looked down at her cage, blinking. "Whu?"

"You ever heard of hanging fish out to dry?"

"She'll be fine," Twilight said. "I gave her shore leave earlier, she wanted to check out the area. She'll meet up with us at the docks."

"So where are we going now then?"

"We're hiring a different crew," Daring said, weaving through the creatures around them with plenty of familiarity. "They're not… one hundred percent on the legal side, but I hope that won't be a problem?"

"Oh my gosh!" Rainbow whispered, eyes glinting. "Pirates?"

"Pirates."

"Eeeee!"

Daring and Rainbow Dash turned to face Twilight, who gazed at them impassively.

Rainbow Dash smirked. "Did you just—"

"I certainly did not!" Twilight said, face rigid as a slight pink tone crept to her cheeks. "I would never be excited enough to relive the scene from The Coast of Monte Prieto that I would screech like a little filly."

"So that would be a yes," Daring drawled. "It seems like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Your mom loved adventuring with pirates." She grinned. "One day you should ask her about her and the Pirate King Sandokan."

Twilight frowned. "Wait. The one that terrorized half of Bajau?"

Daring shrugged.

"Hold on, how come you never told me my mom used to seduce pirates?"

"You never asked."

The walk through the city had been educational for her companions, but for Daring herself, there was a certain feeling of belonging. She loved being in the hustle and bustle of a culture she didn't even speak the language of, and while she could talk just fine with the locals of Klugetown, it was such a mixed place of cultures and creatures, that it gave her that familiar exhilaration of being outside of her element, and yet be fully part of it.

The smells of the food, the disparate colors of the stalls, it was all invigorating and refreshing. It never got old, unlike Canterlot and most of Equestria. Sure, they were charming sometimes, but it was all… too ordinary.

'Still,' she thought, glancing over her shoulder at the two mares behind her, 'this brings back memories. I wonder if Velvet ever thought that one of her kids would end up with me on an adventure? It's been years… I shouldn't have let that friendship degrade so much. I've truly become a recluse.'

She glanced around, getting her bearings. Had she been any other species, she probably wouldn't have felt the difference in air quality over all the different sources around. The heat from the food stands, the dry air from the desert and the labyrinthine quality of the streets of Klugetown were enough to confuse just about anycreature, more so those that did not possess the ability to fly and therefore were so intimately attuned to air currents.

As it was, the humidity and salinity of the coast tingled her feathers East and that's where she headed, not even looking up to confirm her location with the position of the sun. Her thoughts returned to Velvet and their eventual estrangement.

Velvet and Daring had a lot of history, and as much as she had put it behind her, (half out of bitterness that Velvet had decided to settle down, and half out of envy for her ability to do so) she had allowed things to get to the point where Velvet was just her editor and agent… and that was it. A friendship—almost sisterhood, really—that had devolved into a polite, professional, acquaintancy.

The only reason she knew Velvet had a son was because she kept track of royalty just in case someone decided to ban an area of the world from access, and she was therefore aware that there were a couple of new princesses and that one had married the other's brother.

So Shining Armor was Twilight's brother, and they were Velvet's kids. One was the former Captain of the guard and now was married to the Princess of Love in charge of an ancient Empire that had reappeared after thousands of years, the other had become the Battle Princess of Friendship. Quite the clan.

If she had settled down she'd be… 'Auntie Do'? Was that something she could even want? She chuckled inwardly. No. This place made it clear, she was in her element. This is what she wanted. But… she glanced over her shoulder. 'Maybe reconnecting with my friend's family is possible.'

The city around them eventually opened up to the docks, where both, airships and marine ships of all sorts waited. This was where Klugetown's real importance played out in the grand scheme of things: the imports from several countries came together here and then were redirected north towards richer countries, like Equestria.

It was hard to see most of the sea, as the docks were also home to several large warehouses, but she had been around enough places like these to know what to look for. Soon enough, she was guiding the other two mares up the rafts to the second level docks, where several airships were docked.

"Now we just need to figure which one we shou—"

"There!" a voice said desperately. "I told you I could help you find them! Can I go now?"

"We shall see," a more familiar voice replied.

The three ponies turned around to face an Abyssinian, who was breathing hard and giving scared looks to the armored breezie fluttering next to him.

"Oh, hey Tala," Rainbow Dash said, giving the Abyssinian an odd look,  "made a new friend?"

"Of sorts," Tala said. "He owes me a life-debt, and taking me to the docks is not enough to repay that."

"How does he owe you a life-debt?" Twilight asked.

"This is Capper. I saved him from being murdered in a dark alley," Tala said. "Some goons had captured him and were about to gut him."

Daring was about to ask how she had saved him when she remembered the battle. Still, it didn't explain why he was so terrified of Tala. "Is this true?"

"W-well," Capper said straightening up and chuckling nervously. "I wouldn't say—" he caught sight of Tala casually looking at a device on her hoof. "Yes. It's true."

"Hm." Twilight glanced at Tala. "Where are the goons?"

"I took care of them. The authorities will find them."

Twilight arched an eyebrow. "Will they find them alive?"

Daring grimaced. Her friends' daughter's simple acceptance of death and war was unsettling, even if she understood where it came from."

Tala shrugged. "They're alive. They're just hanging around until they're found."

Capper visibly shivered when Tala said "hanging", but Daring simply shook her head. "So Capper, was it? Why were those goons ready to kill you?"

"Well... " he used a claw to loosen his shirt around the neck. "It just so turns out that they needed something obtained and I, uh, knew how to get it."

"A thief." Twilight glanced at Tala. "You got us a thief?"

"There's always traps and locks in ancient temples if we go by Daring's stories," Tala said. "So Capper here can probably help us a little."

Daring brought a hoof up to rub at her temple. "I'm not sure if I want a thief going with us. We're going to some very important places before we even head to Fleece."

Capper's ears twitched. "Did you say Fleece?" He grinned. "How about I take you to an airship that has a crew from there? That would help, right?"

Daring and Twilight exchanged glances.

"I'm not sure if I trust the word of a thief."

"Capper wouldn't lie to us," Tala said, making Capper give a terrified yelp, "would you, Capper?"

"N-no! These are legitimate Fleece creatures!"

"Isn't anypony here concerned about how terrified he is of Tala?" Rainbow Dash asked, waving her hoof at the Abyssinian. She looked around. "Anypony else? I am. I am kind of concerned."

"Not really, Dash," Twilight said. "She scared a lot of people before we became friends. I'm used to it."

Daring snorted. "How did you become friends with her?"

"I kicked her in the face," Tala said.

"Right," Daring said, shaking her head. She turned to look at Capper. "Well then, you have your chance. This better be legit."

Capper grimaced, taking a couple of steps forth. "Uh… this way, ladies…" he shook his head as they followed him. 'These ponies are crazy!'