Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis
by Wanderer D
Chapter 18: Anticipation
Dear Princess Celestia,
Ever since I ended up on Earth, I wondered how a leader should react to unexpected things happening. I know the girls and I dealt with plenty of powerful enemies, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is, how did Commander Chrysalis feel when I suddenly appeared on Earth, with one of her team having to suddenly take care of me? How do you, or her, or Queen Novo prepare yourselves mentally for such unexpected events as suddenly having more lives under your care?
I'll be honest… since it's you and me only in this diary… I admire you so, so much. You know how I looked up to you all through my younger years, and all through most of my adult life so far. I owe you so much (I do) and I can't think of a better pony to still look up to. And yet I see flaws now that I never realized were there. Things that, in hindsight, I want to say you could have prevented… and things I know you could have. On Earth they say that hindsight is 20/20 (which is an expression humans use to define their visual acuity, so naturally the implication is that looking back on things, what was going on is not as hazy as being in the moment.)
Anyway I am upset—perhaps irrationally so—at you being less than perfect. It hurts, and I'm not going to lie, I think I have a lot more to find out that will upset me more.
Because you are my inspiration. Here and on Earth Chrysalis a little, for different reasons. At least for what a leader of a country or an organization like XCOM, I want to take the best examples from you both and… I'm so out of my depth, Princess. More and more I have people adding into my team.
I started with Alejandra, Galahad, Daring, Rainbow Dash, Tala, and Daring Do. Now we have an Abyssinian thief named Capper, and a whole crew of pirates under Captain Celaeno. Sure, she's the captain of the ship, but they are all working for me. They're my responsibility, and even more so as they grow from associates to friends.
Did you know my wings just… rustled when I wrote that? It makes my heart warmer to write that. Friends. And yet I left mine behind. It wasn't until Alejandra pointed out how I was "me again" for a short period of time during my dealings with Queen Novo that at that time I didn't think of what you or Chrysalis would do, but rather what Fluttershy would.
I left my friends behind, Princess. Even if I'm with other friends, the girls did bring out the best in me. I can't ask them to risk themselves over this… ironic, given how Applejack wanted me to be the one to stay behind when I came back to deal with the vines.
But I've seen too much… done too much to wish it upon them. I just wonder… in keeping a distance—even if it's for their sake—what am I doing to myself? As a leader I feel I still leave much to be desired, and as a friend I haven't been the best to the girls… justified in certain ways but understanding must come from both sides, correct?
I hope to hear from you soon, Princess.
~Princess Twilight Sparkle
Twilight had barely put down her quill and closed the diary when Rainbow Dash burst into their cabin, breathing heavily. "We have a problem."
"Hey, I think we can talk about this, right?" Silverstream asked as she was dragged out of the brig by her forelegs by two burly parrots and half-carried across the hall towards the stairs. "Um. Avast? Ahoy?"
She paused to note with interest the framing device for the staircase. The slope of the frame was almost seventy degrees, with a distance between steps of about twenty five centimeters at a glance. Give or take two it felt slightly less than that, but without her tools a guesstimate was the best she could do. 'Very interesting.'
After some thought, she decided that the spread and angle were designed like that out of necessity to conserve space in the ship rather than visual appeal. Not that it looked bad! It looked pretty sturdy, and obviously had served well for its purpose, the steps were also pretty thick, probably to support additional carrying weight from the decks below, but very few public places would benefit from such a narrow frame.
'I wonder if these kinds of steps would be useful i—' She was dragged again to reality when the cold wind ruffled her feathers and she realized she was now on the ship's deck. She attempted once more to appeal to their better natures. "We're all pirates here, what about some professional courtesy and—"
She didn't finish talking before she was in the air, having been tossed across the deck. She quickly spread her wings and glided into a slightly bumpy stop and roll that ended at somecreature's hooves.
Silverstream gulped and looked up at the unamused face of Princess Twilight Sparkle. 'Or should that be Pirate Princess Twilight Sparkle?' she wondered. She straightened up and smiled as pleasantly as she could. "Priiiincesss!"she squeaked out at a much higher pitch than she had anticipated. "How nice to see you! My, what a wonderful boat you have."
The parrot behind her, wearing the captain hat sputtered. "The Arpia is a ship! Not a boat!"
Unable to argue the point, Silverstream simply nodded. "Yarr."
"Do you think this is funny?" Twilight Sparkle asked without a hint of amusement in her voice. "We were just accused of foalnapping you when we arrived at Mount Aris, and now you decide to sneak into The Arpia without telling anyone that you're coming with us?"
"I-well, I wouldn't say I didn't tell anyone…" Silverstream responded quickly, quivering under the look the princess gave her. "I told Snuggles."
"Snuggles."
"M-my pet goldfish a—"
Twilight gave her a very unimpressed look. "You told your pet goldfish, Snuggles, that you were going to hide in a crate to be carried into a pirate ship that is on a deadly race with the Storm King's general and an international menace flying through and across one of the most dangerous areas of the whole world in order to beat them to a hidden temple that is likely to be protected by deadly spells and traps, potentially endangering everyone involved in a mission that affects the lives of billions because…?"
Silverstream gulped. "Um… I uh—" She cleared her throat. She was suddenly very aware that she was very literally, out of her depth. "I w-wanted to—"
"Be a pirate?" the parrot lady asked, crossing her arms. "What with the 'yarr' and 'avast'?"
Silverstream clamped her beak shut, taking a deep breath and looking down at the deck, feeling every judging eye on the ship focusing on her. "I… want to help my dad…"
"Your dad is alive and well back home," Twilight said. "Where you should be."
"But it's my fault that he lost his rank an—"
"It's not!" Twilight interrupted. "You were foalnapped, Silverstream. That was against your will. You had no choice. Your father had to make a choice and while I can't say he made the right one for your people, he made the right one for you and him." She sighed. "Unfortunately that had additional consequences."
"But he shouldn't be punished!" Silverstream argued, feeling her eyes watering up. She didn't want to cry, but… it was so unfair!
"That's Queen Novo's decision," Twilight pointed out. "We don't know if it's permanent. It might just last until the war is over, maybe less. Risking your life without thinking of the consequences is not going to help anyone, much less your father." She groaned and lifted a hoof to rub her temple. "We can't turn around. Who knows how many people will die if we leave this longer!"
Silverstream winced. Was this mission really that dangerous? Were that many creatures really at risk? She had never considered that this could be anything but an adventure and now...
The parrot lady, who Silverstream just now realized was wearing a captain's hat, spoke up. "Twilight, we can send a messenger once we get to Fleece, but we can't spare anyone right now."
"I know." Twilight sighed. "I know. I sincerely doubt that Snuggles told anyone in Mt. Aris that Silverstream had escaped. I hope they don't think we foalnapped her. This is just… ugh." She paced a few times in front of Silverstream, trying and failing not to glare at her. "Fine, I guess there's nothing we can do about it." She shook her head and glanced at the parrot lady. "Celaeno, what would be the best place to put her?"
The pirate captain studied Silverstream for a moment. "Well, since she stowed away in my ship, she'll need to earn her keep. Brutus!" She called over to the burly parrot that had dragged Silverstream up to the deck, "Have her work with Lix Spittle for now. Best case scenario we get something edible out of it. Worst case, she's out of harm's way. Mostly."
Silverstream didn't dare look up at Twilight or the Captain, so she followed sullenly after Brutus down into the ship again.
"Careful now," Daring Do said, beating her wings steadily as Princess Twilight, Alejandra, and Rainbow Dash flew to just a couple of meters away from the clouds.
The Arpia had stopped and hovered in the air, tiny in comparison to the almost literal wall of deep, dark clouds in front of it. Thin arcs of electricity crisscrossed it occasionally, and it seemed to move with deceptive gentleness, although any pegasus worth their salt would have known that—however gently it rotated—constant movement like that was not conductive to a long, healthy life, which is why Alejandra was being guarded by Daring herself, and Twilight by Rainbow Dash when it came to the cloud system itself. They weren't weak flyers anymore, but if they got caught on the storm, it would take a lot of experience to pull them out, if it was even possible.
After a few minutes, Twilight gave them the signal and they all flew back.
Daring had seen the Gate of Aioros (or as the Hippogriffs called it, Ay-Olus) several times, but it always left her feeling small and in awe. The magical cloud construct reached from barely an inch above the surface of the water below, to far, far, up in the air, to where even the strongest pegasus would be unable to survive for long, and then it curved in for miles and miles of treacherous winds and rain.
Without a trip that would cost them days if not weeks to go around, they'd have to navigate through the storm itself and risk life and limb to get through in one piece. But there was a way through. And it was tricky. And it happened once a day. And if you were not fast or skilled enough…
"...we'll die." Celaeno finished explaining to the whole crew, including their newest stowaway as they gathered around a table with a large map open on it. It was an incredible contrast. The blue skies, the calm breeze, the sun shining on them… and just a few meters ahead a storm that could break the ship apart if they were not careful.
Daring Do saw her chance to speak up, so she did. "As you can see, the Gate of Aiolos does work a bit like a lock. There is a moment during the day where a breach in the clouds appears. This is called, 'Aiolo's Arrow'. This breach breaks apart shortly after, collapsing fairly quickly as the wind that creates it makes its way through." She took a deep breath. "Provided we are able and fast enough to ride the Arrow of Aioria, we'll find ourselves in a calm area where a number of sky islands are available for us to make port and rest before the next Arrow comes through and we can ride it to the second calm area and finally ride it one last time to get through to Fleece. It's the safest and fastest way to do this, but it will still take us three days at least to do so."
"Would we be able to ride the current all the way to the second safe area at least?" Twilight asked.
Celaeno shook her head. "We won't even make it to the first area while riding The Arrow. It gives us an advantage, but nothing else. Once riding it, we'll probably make it half way there, or if we're lucky, three fourths of the way. The rest will be navigating through the full blast of the storm."
Twilight didn't look pleased, so Daring spoke up. "Captain Celaeno is right, Twilight. I've gone through a few times, but only with a capable captain at the helm. Every time the storm caught up. There's just no way to fly fast enough and compensate for the changing conditions to get there. Despite the name it's not just a straight flight through, the wind curves around, dips and climbs with the changing factors inside the storm. It's not just speed, but skill that is needed to read those patterns and make it through."
"Right," Celaeno said, "and we only have so much time before today's Arrow comes through." She glanced around. "I'm going to have to ask all of you except for my regular crew to stay inside. Do not open windows, and do not step out while we're going through the Gate. The only time you can step outside is when—and only when—I tell you it's safe."
"I'm staying here with you," Rainbow Dash said, surprising Daring Do. Sure, the mare had an obvious crush on the pirate captain but—
"Look," Rainbow Dash continued, "I know that it's dangerous, but I'm a weather mare back home, and I deal with stray weather from the Everfree all the time. I'm not going to try to fly in it, but I do have experience, and I want to learn."
Daring closed her mouth. 'Okay then, not just the crush. Actual professional interest.'
"And I—" Twilight began, but Rainbow interrupted her with her wing.
"Twilight… I know you know your way around combat and magic… but this is weather."
It was obvious the princess wanted to argue, but thankfully seemed to make up her mind fairly quickly and nodded. "Okay, but Captain, where would be the safest place to watch this through? I'd like to take notes for future reference."
'Hurray for common sense!' Daring thought. "I'd guess the Captain's quarters. The windows there have been enchanted and between that and any additional protection you could cast in an emergency, we should be safe and still have a great view."
When Celaeno nodded, the group started dispersing.
"How much time do we still have?" Daring asked Celaeno.
"Little less than an hour," Celaeno said. "Be ready. We'll be in the middle of it before you know it."
End Chapter 18