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

by Wanderer D

Chapter 7: Life Choices

Capper sighed, walking across the deck to the stern and resting on the rail as he watched with passing interest Daring's crew help load Caleano's ship with Twilight's equipment. He had spent the whole day on this so far, and he yearned to just go back to his little hole-in-the-wall and work on some other projects he had plans for.

Caleano wasn't going to help him out for the foreseeable future, so he'd had to find another crew. Preferably ones that weren't too noisy, as they'd need to be very quiet. Still, that wouldn't happen unless he was allowed to leave, and that pesky breezie was making that impossible until she decided he had paid his debt. "So, how long am I going to have to do favors to these ponies still?" he muttered, leaning over to look down at Kludgetown.

"It depends: how much do you value your life?" Tala asked, landing on his shoulder.

"Gah!" Capper turned to glare at Tala, who smugly floated over to land on his shoulder. Capper went still, keeping an eye on her gauntlet, behaving carefully, as if he had suddenly had a giant wasp the size of his head land on him. "Are you going to zap me again?"

"I am merely curious, how much do you think your life is worth? A hint in the right direction? An eye-for-an-eye? Nothing more than a thank you?"

"Well, to me it's worth a lot," he replied, crossing his arms and looking away. "Doesn't mean you get to hold me against my will."

"Perhaps."

"What is it for you anyway?" he asked, "it's not like I'm really that much of a bonus. Daring Do has taken care of more than one trap if any single book of hers is true."

Tala didn't answer immediately, sitting down and staring at the crew for a minute before speaking. "Back home my kind doesn't have much of a history," she said, making his ears twitch with interest, "so we borrow from that of others to build our own identity as a people. One of the things we borrowed and amalgamated is the concept of honor and responsibility."

"Oh, great," Capper snorted playfully, "I didn't know you were a knight." He suffered through Tala smacking his ear with a grin.

Tala shook her head and continued, "One of the cultures we took some lessons from had warriors in their past who believed that if you saved someone's life, you were responsible for it in some way."

He blinked at that, then frowned. "What do you mean?"

Tala shrugged. "Simple: the person you saved could be a farmer and feed a town. They could be or become a doctor and heal many people. Or a great leader who would improve lives far and wide… or... they could be a murderer. Or a thief. The first few sound great, but the last? That means that all the lives lost, all the crimes committed, inevitably would fall on your shoulders."

"Why would you choose to believe and practice something like that?!" Capper countered. "You can't be responsible for what someone does with their life!"

"Because we are few, and our brothers and sisters are slaves with little control of their actions and less understanding of their own individuality. My own life was saved by Betos… she allowed me to live, trained me and gave me a home. She showed me the potential I had and that I was free to choose my own destiny. What I become now, will be a result of her choosing not to kill me. I saved you, and chose to put myself in a position where your future can be great or… well."

"You don't have to worry about old Capper," he said with an uncertain smile, a fleeting moment of remembrance reminding him of how terrified for his life he had been in the alley. "I'll be alright. Won't harm a fly."

"How many more criminals do you owe bits to?"

"Uh…"

"How many more scams can you pull before you end up back in an alley?"

"Look, I—"

"Why do you insist on living in mediocrity, when you have more in you?"

Capper's eyes were wide. "I-what?"

"You have much more in you," Tala repeated. "You're like me. Or Twilight. Or Alejandra. We all have a lot to learn and balance out… but I know a few things…" She trailed off and pointed at Twilight, who was at that time talking with Caleano, "If Twilight doesn't find her balance, she'll lose what makes her great. She'll lose a lot besides that. Family. Friends. Happiness."

She turned pointing towards the city. "If Alejandra doesn't admit that she needs to change to achieve what she wants, she won't make it. She'll fail and put others at risk. She's fighting back becoming better at what she does because she can't decide what and who she wants to be."

Her hoof went to her chest. "If I don't take my experiences here to heart, I won't have anything to teach my people and save them." She then poked his cheek softly with her hoof. "The question now is, do you want to achieve something other than living like you have lived day-to-day until you found yourself tied up and about to be skewered? Or do you want to see if the grass is really greener?"

Capper said nothing as Tala's wings buzzed, making his ear twitch. She lifted into the air, flying to hover in front of his face.

"You're free to go, if you want, Capper," she said, "I kept you here because I wanted you to see what we were doing and where we were going… that there's creatures out there with their eyesights on becoming better and helping others and you could join them." She shrugged. "I have no doubt you won't intentionally hurt or kill anyone, but down there, in Kludgetown, that is your past. It's up to you if you want to stay there or aim for a new future."

Alejandra dropped into the dirt, jumped forth over the spinning, padded beam, dodged right, dodged left, tried to fly—and was smashed onto the floor with a loud "Oof!" by another padded beam coming straight down in the middle of her back.

"Again!"

Standing to the side, two griffons stood, watching impassively as Alejandra gathered herself up, wincing and muttering, and made her way back to the beginning of the track.

"This new apprentice of yours," Gaius said, "she fights like she was born last month."

Galahad glanced over at his old friend. The scarred assassin had a long history with the order, and indeed outranked him. At a glance, the griffon next to him was the type that would walk straight into a bar fight and stay in it until everycreature was knocked unconscious (or worse).

But oddly enough, it had been Gaius who had changed the old ways when he had challenged the previous head of the order, and helped them all become something greater.

"You visiting your daughter in Ponyville?" Galahad asked lightly.

Gaius mock-glared at his friend. "Don't change the subject." He coughed into his claw. "But yes. I want to see my granddaughters if possible."

Galahad chuckled. "You might have to go to Canterlot for that one," he said, but turned to look at Alejandra as she gave the training course another try. "Alejandra was trained to fight with long-range weapons. Other than some very basic training—which focused on endurance and cardio—she was never supposed to find herself in close quarters."

"Ridiculous, even if she were firing arrows with an enchanted bow, enemies might reach her position and overwhelm her!"

Galahad shrugged. "Hence why she's here with me while the others are securing transportation."

"Give her to me for a month and a half, and I will have an engine of mortal combat in griffon shape for you."

"I'm afraid I can't," Galahad said, "she's a loaner of sorts, and she's been assigned to assist Princess Twilight by… a lot of important creatures."

Gaius considered the other griffon's words. "Are you sure you don't need any more help?"

Galahad shook his head. "I will visit our Fleece brothers and sisters if necessary, but her training falls on me."

"What happened to your other apprentice? The pony?"

Galahad grimaced. "Sunset… was more of a student of war who I mentored…. she was not really suited for this and I never intended her to join our order. She's doing… not well right now, but she's gone far. We're trying to help her."

"I see."

The pair turned to look critically at Alejandra as she tried one more time to cross the field.

"I hope you succeed, Galahad," Gaius said.

"Me too." Galahad tilted his head. "Oh. And you might want to have a talk with your eldest granddaughter about war."

Mt. Aris stood proud and full of life in the middle of the island, rising high above the waves, it's several peaks impressive even at a distance, and in the valley at the top, the lights of Hippogriffia shone golden and welcoming to all… except those that, like Tempest Shadow, worked for the Storm King.

She stood on the bridge, peeking from within the clouds at the city, face impassive, mind running a thousand miles an hour. Despite the orders from the Storm King, her mind was not on her current mission—not that she could do anything about it at this time—but rather on her battle.

Again and again she ran the ambush in her mind, trying to figure out when exactly and how, things had gone sideways. The trap had been perfect. Her knowledge of the lackluster effectiveness of ponies to predict and prepare for danger was her greatest tool against Equestria, and she had operated under the assumption that this group would be equally useless.

She had waited, sprung her trap and… they had been waiting. At some point, somecreature had noticed them, and rather than send everycreature in the ship into a panic, they had remained calm and pretended things were normal. The tactics to counter an anticipated ambush were not that complicated, but usually outside the reach of an average pony. The Princess of Friendship was notoriously naive and should have been an easy victim.

What was different this time? Who could have been behind countering her ambush?

Was it the ponies she had surrounded herself with? Daring Do was a famous explorer, mentioned occasionally when obtaining magical items came up on the table. Maybe she had organized things? Or perhaps the griffons? Those birds hadn't acted like the usual brawlers, they could have been mercenaries or even assassins. They had more than enough skill to anticipate her attack, if she was spotted.

But that didn't explain why neither the princess or the pegasus had been able to fight as they had. Where were the cowering ponies she knew? Since when did the princesses actually take the lead in a battle?

And why had she been unable to predict all of this? She needed more information, but her contacts in Equestria were few and far in-between. She could potentially infiltrate them herself, but the Storm King would never allow that, and she needed her horn fixed to at least appear normal.

The thought of her horn made her shake her head and concentrate on the task at hoof. In the end, the princess was a secondary thought. Or she should be. She sneered, looking down at the city. Tempest's first objective was to be made whole again, and Queen Novo possessed a magical item strong enough to do it.

"Soon, I will be complete," she whispered venomously, slowly walking forward to the edge of the bridge, where the window started. "And once I am, nopony, no creature will look down on me again."

The door to the bridge opened and Grubber ran in. "Boss! The Ahuitzothing is coming back!"

Tempest blinked and turned her head, scanning the air around the ship and finally spotting the small flying raft that was making its way to them.

"I can't believe that guy did it!" Grubber said, whistling. "I thought he'd be dead for sure!"

"Or imprisoned," Tempest said, smiling coldly. "Come, let's meet him."

Tempest and Grubber waited impatiently for the raft to be lifted within their ship. Several mooks behind them shuffled nervously, but stayed put, as ordered. Eventually, the raft was secured and the side opened, allowing a grinning Ahuitzotl to emerge from within.

Held between his claws, was a tied and bundled-up shape that wiggled and strained, trying to break free of its binds. Whimpering, scared sounds came from within and Tempest couldn't help but feel a slight amount of vindication. 'Good. Be afraid. Be terrified, just like I was.'

"As promised," Ahuitzotl said, dropping the bundle on the floor.

Tempest nodded to one of the mooks, and they quickly picked the bundle up, taking their prisoner deep into the belly of their ship. "Did anycreature see you?"

Ahuitzotl rolled his eyes. "You're not dealing with an amateur, Tempest. I've sneaked into the most protected places all over the world without being seen. This was not a problem."

Tempest nodded. "And the note?"

"Left where you wanted it," the tomb-thief said. "Now that this is done…"

"Patience," Tempest hissed, "The Storm King's mission comes first. I won't back on my promise, however. As soon as this is done, we'll go hunt down Daring Do again if necessary, but my spies inform me she's coming here anyway."

Ahuitzotl's eyes narrowed, but eventually, he simply nodded. "A good foalnapping can get a lot of things done, if done right."

Tempest's eyes narrowed. "She is a prisoner of war, not the by-product of a cartoonish villain's attempt to destroy a hero."

"Don't see the difference," Ahuitzotl said.

Tempest chose to ignore the remark and Grubber's nod. "It doesn't matter. We now have a bargaining chip to play against all of our enemies. It will be good to see them taken down a notch or two before we eliminate them."

Ahuitzotl grinned again, serrated teeth splitting his face. "And then my revenge will be complete."

Tempest Shadow rolled her eyes, but a smile played on her lips as she turned to look down at the city. "It's your move now, Sky Beak," she whispered. "I wonder, what will you do?"