chapter One Hundred Twenty Five
It was hard for Tempest to not be at least a little bit awestruck as she walked through the hallways of Canterlot's palace. Everything about it was just so big, and bright, and vibrant.
Everywhere she looked there was some new demonstration of opulence and extravagance to catch her eye, and detract her attention away from trying to map out exactly where they were going. And if not for Grubber and the palace guards at her side, she might've easily gotten lost and walked off somewhere she wasn't supposed to be going.
The sheer amount of wealth the palace conveyed in the tiniest of things was so hard to ignore. There was no telling how much even some of the fixtures and dressings would fetch on the black market. Provided they didn't find their way to her own quarters first...
But she couldn't think about that sort of thing. More accurately, she shouldn't be thinking about that sort of thing. Nor did she even really want to be thinking along those lines.
But as Grubber had said just minutes ago, old habits. And all those years serving the Storm King and doing his bidding weren't easily discarded or forgotten about just because she was being treated decently and like an actual pony again.
If she were less disciplined, she might sigh in frustration as she walked along. There was far too much going on for her own comfort right now. Her entire world had been turned upside down and inside out in just a couple of days, leaving her uncertain just where she stood at the moment. And uncertainty was a bad thing as far as she was concerned.
"Here we go," one of the guards announced, breaking her out of her own inner turmoil and bringing her back to the present as they stood before two swinging double doors with a red cross symbol prominently emblazoned across the both of them.
Tempest more or less found herself hanging back as some of the guards seemed to take point and push the doors aside to usher the rest of them inside a room that looked far more appropriate to classify as a hospital than a mere infirmary.
"Hey, Doc," one of the guards announced.
The doctor, a unicorn that Tempest immediately recognized from the message, turned from his desk to face them at being called.
"Sergeant Reckless," Malar said with an exasperated huff. "Please tell me you're not here for a broken tooth from trying to eat a poker chip. Again."
"You bite into one poker chip because it looks like candy, and you're labeled for life," the guard grumbled in annoyance and shook her head. "No Doc, it's not me this time. We've got a guest for you."
It was only then that he seemed to take notice of her being present.
"Well now, Miss Shadow! I certainly didn't expect to be seeing you here. Not so suddenly at least," he said as he got up from his seat at the desk and approached them.
"Your boss' messenger isn't exactly the kind of creature you can just say "no" to when he wants you to do something," Grubber stated uneasily and gave a shudder. "He's... scary."
Much to Tempest's surprise, she actually found the guards nodding in agreement with Grubber's assessment. Almost as if they had their own experience on the matter.
"He certainly is that at times," Malar acknowledged. "But enough about him. What's the nature of this visit?"
"Her Highness wants our... guest," Lieutenant Strike spoke up, "to be examined by a qualified physician."
"Well she certainly looks like she could use an examination right now," Malar agreed as he looked back at her. "Is she under arrest, Lieutenant?"
"I don't believe so, Doctor. We weren't informed of any such status being in effect. As far as we know she's as free to come and go like any other palace visitor," Strike acknowledged.
"Very well then. You can leave Miss Shadow in our care, we'll take it from here," Malar stated.
Tempest couldn't help but blink a couple of times in confusion, trying to figure if she'd just heard right. The idea of being left alone in the care of the medical staff, just like that, was so odd to even consider. Even odder was the fact the guards didn't really seem to have any objection and just departed as if they'd been dismissed, didn't make any sense to her.
Maybe they were simply going to wait outside the doors until they were called again. It was certainly what she'd do in a similar situation.
Whatever the guards were up to, that was immaterial at the moment. At the moment only one question was important enough to hold her attention.
"Is it really true your horn is artificial?"
Malar's response was less verbal and more visual, as his horn began to glow and become enveloped in an aura of his magic. And then the aura started to shift and fade while the glow itself remained, now residing in the upper three-fourths of his horn.
She watched as the brown coloration of the appendage atop his head started to shift and slowly become downright translucent as its artificial nature was revealed, leaving her staring in awe as she inched her way closer, all but mesmerized at the sight, and the now-visible seam line where the crystalline structure was joined with the remnants of his own horn; an aspect she hadn't seen before when it wasn't glowing.
And just as easily and swiftly as it'd started, it ended just the same and returned to looking like a normal, nondescript horn no different than what would be seen on the head of any other non-broken unicorn.
Finally, after so many years, what she was so desperately after was at last within her grasp.
"Cool glowstick," Grubber commented. "So when does Tempest get her own?"
"I'm afraid that's not my call. I have a lot of pull as the chief physician of the palace, but I don't have that much pull," Malar replied and shook his head. "I'm afraid that's up to Princess Celestia herself. She'll make the final determination on that call."
Tempest hadn't managed to forget that particular part. But actually hearing it mentioned after finally having actual confirmation of what she was after, had still managed to hurt. It was like a carrot was being dangled in front of her, and then yanked away just as she'd moved in to bite down on it.
"Now that matter aside, Princess Celestia requested a medical exam, and I intend to do just that," Malar stated. "Nurse Goodwill. One inhibitor ring, if you would."
Tempest hadn't failed to notice the additional medical staff in the infirmary. But hearing this had suddenly made her far more aware of their presence than she had been when she'd first walked in.
"E-excuse me, what now? An inhibitor ring?" she asked, suddenly finding herself feeling quite flustered. "Is that really necessary?"
That wouldn't do. No, that wouldn't do at all. Already she could feel her muscles tensing up, and she was certain the temperature in the room was rising quickly as the very idea sat poorly with her. It wasn't bad enough that her horn was shattered, and her magic was useless for all intents and purposes? They had to go one step further and rub salt in that wound? What else did they plan to do to her!?
"Nopony said anything about using an inhibitor ring on me! I'm not going to be a prisoner and wear one of those things again-"
"Tempest Shadow!"
Much to her surprise, Tempest found herself silenced and rooted to the spot as Malar spoke, his voice taking on both a level and tone of firmness she hadn't heard him using before, as he leveled his gaze at her.
It wasn't out of fear, or respect, but something else entirely. Something that was telling her to shut up and listen. Maybe it was his glare, or the tone of his voice, or even his posture. But so help her, it had a paralyzing effect on her at the moment that just utterly seemed to command her attention.
"Listen to me, and listen well. This has nothing to do with you specifically, nor are you being treated like a criminal," he continued. "Whether you choose to believe it or not, use of an inhibitor is standard procedure when dealing with any horn-based injury, regardless of whether the pony is an ally, enemy, or neutral participant. If Princess Celestia herself were here with a broken horn instead of you right now, we'd be doing the same to her until we had the situation evaluated and under control. Even a simple cracked horn has the potential to be dangerous.
"I know nothing about you except for what Princess Twilight revealed when we were composing our message to you. I know nothing about your psychological conditioning, your stress triggers, your fight or flight response, or even what nerve clusters may trigger an involuntary magical response on your part when touched. But what I do know, better than most, is just how dangerous unicorn magic can be when it doesn't have a proper, intact conduit to be channeled through. I don't want to restrain you like a common criminal, I want to keep you safe, just like I do my staff. I don't want you or them caught in the middle of an unstable magical discharge just because I tripped something I didn't know about."
Try as she might, Tempest couldn't muster a decent counterargument. Malar had made a great deal of sense with his explanation and reasoning. As well as easily left her feeling like an utter idiot for her outburst and unreasonableness just a moment ago. She must've been even more screwed up than she thought.
"I'm... sorry. I overreacted," she admitted uneasily as she looked down towards the floor of the room, finding it far too uncomfortable to maintain eye contact.
Grubber patting at her right side reassuringly didn't go unnoticed, despite the mood she was currently in.
"You did, but it's an understandable response," Malar replied, sounding much calmer now as he spoke. "I'm ashamed to admit I wasn't much better when it was me. But I had even less of an excuse because of my medical experience at the time."
Without explanation, Tempest watched as he proceeded to undo his white lab coat, before shrugging it off and letting it fall to the floor. And then she did have explanation, as she saw just what was underneath it as a large, discolored patch of skin rested across his back, contrasting against his brown fur.
Grubber's response was a dry heave of a cough.
"I wish I could say that an uncooperative patient did this to me, but I can't. This is regrettably of my own doing," he explained as he just stood there while she stared. "Back when I suffered the accident that cost me my horn, like most others, I didn't want to believe the truth. I thought that if I just focused and concentrated hard enough, approached with caution and used the most minutes amounts of magic possible, I could eventually learn how to make do with my stump of a horn. I stubbornly maintained the idiotic belief that I could actually be the million-to-one statistic pony who could rise up and overcome the cards I'd been dealt. But, sadly that wasn't the case.
"The only thing more regrettable than my own past behavior, is what it nearly cost me in the process. In my own hubris, denial, and outright stubborn refusal to see the truth before me, I nearly immolated myself and my own niece in the process; she wasn't even supposed to be there at the time. It's only by Faust's good graces that she didn't get hurt."
Hearing all this, Tempest felt even more idiotic for her initial outburst than she previously did. She didn't even want to think what Malar himself was having to go through in telling her all of this, especially since she was the reason for it all. There was a definite urge to go crawling back to her private quarters on the airship and just hide her face.
As the nurse came out with the ring in tow, she didn't even bother to speak up, simply keeping her head low and allowing it to be slipped on her stump without issue. Although she flinched as she felt it automatically resizing until it snugged itself up, to the point she couldn't easily shake it off on her own.
"All good?" Goodwill asked, seemingly oblivious to Malar's outburst just a moment ago despite having been in the room the entire time. "Now then, let's see about getting you out of that armor so we can have a proper look at you."
"Er, do we really have to do that?" Tempest asked hesitantly. "You don't really want to see what's underneath. It's... really not pretty."
"Oh pish-posh. There's nothing you need to be embarrassed about," Goodwill stated in a positive, supportive tone. "We're all medical professionals here, we've had our baptism by fire at Canterlot General. You'd be hard pressed to have anything that we haven't already seen before."
Malar nodded as he was in the process of putting his lab coat back on once again. "Barely two months ago, we were stitching up a poor pegasus who'd just about been cut to ribbons from crashing through a stain glass window in the throne room. If not for the suspended animation runes and glyphs carved into the infirmary floor, we never would've been able to move fast enough to save her. I can assure you, you're in the best hooves this side of Manehattan."
"Beyond that, you definitely need a good washing, you're covered nose to tail in dirt. Let's get you out of that armor, then I'll sponge you down for the time being. Once the exam is over you can get a proper shower. You'll feel much better afterwards," Goodwill instructed.
Try as she might, Tempest couldn't figure a good counterargument to that point. She knew that she was dirty, borderline filthy. She could feel sand in uncomfortable places that she hadn't been able to shake out, from the time they'd spent in the wasteland. And it'd been a good while since she last had the opportunity to take an actual shower.
"Would that be a shower with hot water?"
"As hot as you want it," Goodwill replied and smiled.
"Well, when you put it like that..."
Finding chairs that would actually allow the yetis to comfortably sit down had been an interesting challenge in itself.
But it'd been done, and the lot of them were presently seated in the conference room, aside from Ulquiorra who opted to remain standing where most everyone present could see him without having to swivel around.
"So, Ulquiorra," Celestia began from her seat at the head of the table, "What exactly can you tell me about what's going on here? What exactly happened yesterday? I'm afraid I'm out of the loop, and I'd like to have at least some idea about what's going on in my kingdom."
"Following your departure from the palace library yesterday morning, Princess Luna and I began discussing matters pertaining to the Storm King, and how best to resolve the situation in a preemptive manner before Equestria could be invaded by his forces. It was eventually determined the best course of action for us to take was to locate the Storm King, evaluate him to determine what threat he posed to Equestria, if any, and then proceed accordingly with more intact and accurate information.
"To do such, it was determined the best approach was to first locate Tempest Shadow, since an isolated unicorn would be far easier to locate than a large gathering of an as-of-yet unknown and unidentified species. To gain her cooperation, we essentially bribed her with information about the one thing she wanted more than anything; something that Equestria currently has the means to easily provide her with, that the Storm King either could not or would not. Along with informing her about the inevitable betrayal that would follow if she continued along the path she was currently on.
"And before the question is even asked, she was not forced into compliance with our goals, or otherwise subjected to coercion. She was provided with the information, and allowed to make whatever choice she wanted on where to proceed from there. It was entirely her decision to return to Equestria and face the potential consequences of her actions. Just as it was the decision of her crew to follow her, despite knowing it would put them well into the heart of enemy territory where they would be surrounded, and cut off from any support or reinforcements they might otherwise receive."
Several of the yetis currently in the room nodded in agreement.
"Bringing us to where we are presently," Ulquiorra stated in conclusion.
The explanation was a lot more succinct and straightforward than Celestia had been expecting from Ulquiorra. In truth she'd expected him to be speaking at length and overloading her with minute details from his perspective.
Whether that succinctness was because he was withholding information, or he was simply moving away from his standard approach to doing business, she didn't really know. And at the moment, she honestly didn't even care all that much.
"I still would've appreciated being informed about what you three were planning before it was executed," she replied.
"As was stated yesterday in the library, you're in the unenviable position of having an entire kingdom to run and maintain. You have enough responsibilities to deal with as it is, without the added burden of being informed that we were setting out on a rescue mission to bring one of your little ponies back home where she belonged," Ulquiorra stated flatly as he slowly leveled his gaze where she sat. "Tell me that you wouldn't have been worried about the success of the mission and the well being of Tempest Shadow, if I had first informed you of what we were going to do, and how we intended to proceed."
As much as Celestia hated to admit it, Ulquiorra's evaluation was likely quite accurate. Yesterday had definitely been stressful with Twilight and Rarity, and she didn't know just how her concentration would've been if she'd had this brought up then. So in a way he'd technically done her a favor, but overall that was beside the point.
"Be that as it may, I would appreciate if, in the future, you kept me informed about what's going on in my kingdom. Let me decide on whether or not I'm in a condition to be facing additional worries," she implored firmly. "Unless the situation is dire enough to require an immediate response, where any sort of delay for discussion could potentially have drastic consequences for all involved."
"Acknowledged," Ulquiorra replied.
While it was certainly something, Celestia knew from experience that Ulquiorra acknowledging what she said, wasn't exactly the same thing as actually agreeing with what she said, even if he might do as she'd asked regardless. He'd proven more than once that he could be very selective and specific in his interpretation, and when he'd adhere to the letter if not the spirit of her instructions.
Under different circumstances he'd make an excellent lawyer. And she would hate to have him as opposition in such proceedings.
She'd have to speak with him about the matter for clarification purposes, but at a later date. There was neither point nor sense to be had from bickering in front of their guests in such an unbecoming manner.
"So now that Tempest Shadow is back home in Equestria where she belongs, and truly has belonged this entire time, how do we proceed next?" she asked.
"I don't know," Ulquiorra admitted without a hint of hesitation on his part. "This is outside my field of expertise, or even general knowledge."
Over where Princess Twilight sat, she was facing a similar question; now what?
As much as she hated to admit it, she really hadn't thought this through as much as she wanted to believe she had. She'd more or less gotten caught up in everything as Princess Luna and Ulquiorra essentially took the lead, with her following along in an effort to not be left out. She hadn't really had a plan on what to do next, because she hadn't anticipated getting to this point quite so fast.
Tempest was safe and would be getting the medical treatment she needed, but now what?
Maybe they should proceed further and go to Klugetown if it existed in this reality? Maybe break up Verko's crime ring before he'd have the opportunity to try and capitalize on the resulting power vacuum?
Or find Seaquestria and inform Queen Novo that she and the rest of the hippogriphs were now free to return to their original home in Mount Aris without fear of repercussions?
Find Captain Celaeno and the rest of her pirate crew, and inform them that their old boss was no longer in charge of them?
They were all very good, very worthwhile endeavors. And each and every one of them, including the ones she couldn't immediately recall, were all in need of being done.
The only real complication serving to prevent any of them being done right now, was needing confirmation on whether or not the Storm King was actually dead. Ulquiorra really hadn't said for certain whether or not he'd proceeded with that particular part of the plan after making contact with Tempest.
Even as fast as he supposedly was, would he have really had enough time to locate Tempest, deliver their message, convince her to turn against the Storm King, track him down to whatever rat hole he was hiding in, kill him, and make it back to Canterlot, all within the mere twenty-one hours he'd been gone?
She didn't know. And at the moment she didn't know how to go about broaching the subject when the Storm King's troops were sitting at the table with her. That would make for a very awkward conversation if any of them were loyal to him. And potentially starting a war in this reality wasn't something she really wanted to be responsible for.
Even if, by Princess Celestia's estimate of Ulquiorra's strength, it would prove to be the shortest war in all of Equestria's history.
"Your Highness."
And then Strife spoke up, snapping her out of her thoughts before they could go sideways into some territory she wasn't prepared to find herself in. A fact she was quite thankful for.
"If I may ask, does Tempest Shadow face any sort of legal repercussions from coming back to Equestria?" he inquired, his deep voice practically rumbling as he spoke.
"I honestly don't know at this point," Celestia admitted. "I certainly intend to look into the matter once everything has settled down. I feel sorry for what she's gone through, but if there are victims, then they deserve justice, and I owe it to them to do what's necessary. But as a nation, we don't possess any sort of legal authority to prosecute deeds beyond our borders. And unless she actually did something truly heinous in the past like committing murder, then I'm hard pressed to think of any crimes for which the statute of limitations wouldn't have expired long before now."
"Then we didn't escort her into a trap," Strife surmised. "Good then. We may serve the Storm King, but we're loyal to her, Your Highness. And we would be very displeased to find out that same loyalty caused her harm," he explained in a tone that was a borderline hostile growl.
Before any of them could respond, Strife was already continuing.
"She may be quite tough, and very strict, but she's extremely fair; she's never asked any of us to do something she wasn't willing to do herself, and has always lead from the front rather than the rear. So when your messenger brought us news about everything, we voted on how we wished to proceed. The final tally was ten-to-one, setting sail for Canterlot to bring Tempest where she could benefit the most."
"What was the opposition vote?" Twilight asked curiously.
"That we go back to base and kill the bastard first," he admitted, to which several of the other guards nodded in confirmation.
Twilight found herself flinching. Did everycreature in this reality curse so freely?
And then she remembered, Strife and the rest of them had been exposed to Ulquiorra for the whole journey back here. Much like everyone else she'd encountered in this reality that used such language without a second thought. He was the common denominator in all of it. It was almost like he was some sort of walking profanity plague with the ability to corrupt everyone he encountered.
Everyone except for her so far. So far she'd apparently been able to resist. But how long would that remain the case?
Princess Celestia, on the other hoof, didn't so much as blink at the statement.
"So the Storm King is still alive," she surmised. "I'm honestly a little surprised by that. I thought for sure Ulquiorra would've proceeded straight to killing him, either with or without your cooperation."
"At the time Tempest Shadow was in no physical condition for such an extended journey. Otherwise it would've been done," Ulquiorra elaborated from where he stood. "It was determined the best course of action was to bring her back to Canterlot for whatever treatment she was in need of."
That little bit of information actually managed to surprise Twilight. As well as make her a bit happy to hear. Maybe Ulquiorra really wasn't as bad as she'd initially believed.
"I admit I'm happy to hear that," Celestia stated, unable to completely suppress the smile that wanted to be expressed in light of this announcement. "But I'm afraid we're still at the same problem we were previously. What do we do now?"
"If I may make a suggestion, Your Highness," Strife spoke up, "let us deal with this ourselves."
"Pardon?" Celestia asked.
"Let us return to our land and we'll kill the Storm King," he elaborated. "It's obvious that neither one of our respective parties has any particular love for him; certainly not in light of all this new information about what his true plans and goals are. In truth something like this has been a long time coming, we were simply too... cowardly to do what was needed of us. We allowed him to rise to power, so allow us to clean up our own mess. There's no need for anycreature in your kingdom to get involved with what should've been a local problem."
"I'm certainly not opposed to your request, and your willingness to accept responsibility. But I do have some questions about everything," Celestia stated. "What type of assurance do I have that this isn't some sort of clever ploy to return to your land, simply to mount an attack against us?"
"Ah... that would be your messenger standing over there," Strife said as he uneasily gestured in Ulquiorra's direction. "Do you know about scorpios, Your Highness?"
"I've certainly heard of them, but I can't say I've ever actually seen one for myself," Celestia admitted. "Supposedly they're one of the few creatures in existence that an ursa major is wary of."
"Then let me tell you, they're every bit as frightening as their legends would suggest. If anything the legends told about them don't do them justice," Strife replied and shuddered. "So help me, I have no idea how such a massive beast was able to approach us without making a sound. But as we were fixing to set sail and leave the wasteland, one of them was approaching our position at a speed that just shouldn't have been possible for something of that size. From its position when we first noticed it, it would've been on us before we could ever hope to gain enough altitude to escape the reach of its massive claws. We were all quite certain we were done for.
"But him? Your messenger? What did he do in light of these obvious facts? He charged at it headlong without an ounce of hesitation when it was a mere fifty meters from our vessel and proceeded to punch it. In the face. With his fist. Once. There was a loud crack that could be heard over the blowing winds of the sandstorm and the next thing we know the massive beast is turning to flee as fast as it could, screaming like a stuck pig the entire way. I didn't even know it was possible for them to make that sort of noise! Nor did we want to know what happened next, and we got out of there as fast as we could!"
Strife's tale concluded as he -and several other guards- gave a full-body shudder.
"I don't know what species your messenger is, Your Highness, nor anything else about him. Nor do I really want to know; for all the yeti species knows he's just one more creature your kingdom plays host to, and that's good enough for me. But if he can do that to a scorpio then I genuinely don't want to imagine what he could do to our entire kingdom if we ever displeased you and yours. It would be in our best interest to work together, rather than in opposition. Our species is far from perfect, I'll admit that, but I don't want to think we've done anything to warrant extinction," Strife stated.
"And now I would know what to be looking for, should repercussions ever be warranted," Ulquiorra stated. "I would recognize one of your species from five miles away, to the point of being able to pin down your latitude and longitude if you tried to sneak into Equestria. An airship of yetis would stick out like a sore thumb. Your entire kingdom may as well be a spotlight being projected into the night sky."
This time Twilight joined the yetis in shuddering at Ulquiorra's statement. She hadn't even planned on doing it, it just sort of happened that way.
The more details she became aware of regarding what Ulquiorra actually could do, the more frightening it became to even think about how he was not only here in this world, but what could come about as a result of his presence.
But at the same time, she couldn't help but note that his proposal of pacification through a demonstration of overwhelming force had proven viable as a result. Tempest's crew had seen what was likely a mere fraction of his overall strength, and they were practically tripping over themselves to offer whatever help they could to stay on his -and by extension Princess Celestia's- good side. And he'd done it all without killing anycreature.
"Maybe... there really is something of worth in his methods of operation," she thought to herself.
At this point, Celestia just wanted to sigh and tell Ulquiorra to stop frightening their guests. Even if it had helped soothe some of her concerns. But she refrained from doing such, and decided it was best to get the discussion back on track again.
"Very well, Strife. If you believe you can adequately deal with this situation on your own, then I defer to you and the judgement of your kingdom on how you wish to proceed from here."
"Thank you, Your Highness."