Chapter Nine - Home-Away-from-Homecoming
The Welcome Aboard! party for Lucky Charm spanned two watches, so that everypony could attend. In addition to all the food, there was singing, dancing, games, and stories.
Somewhere near the watch change, Lucky sidled up to me and quietly asked, "So… You guys are for-real pirates?"
"Privateers." I automatically corrected her.
She giggled. "Mango Tango said you'd say that!"
"It's a very important distinction."
Lucky nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes, absolutely! It's just that most ponies don't really know the difference, but I'll make sure to use the right word from now on." She paused and gave me a sheepish smile. "Uh… What is the difference, anyway?"
She actually paid close attention to my little mini lecture and seemed to be honestly interested. I was impressed. That didn't stop me from also talking up Twilight Town and how interesting it was and how many interesting places in interesting parts of the world somepony could take some other airship to from there.
Tempest participated in the party by standing just out of the lamplight and glaring[1] at the festivities while allowing Grubber to fetch her the occasional drink or treat.
----------
[1] I don't think she was displeased or unhappy about the festivities; that simply seemed to be her default expression.
----------
Despite her seeming disinterest, I think I actually saw her tap her hoof once or twice during one of the more lively tunes. I badly wanted to ask her to dance, just to see her reaction, but I thought that would be pressing my luck way too far, and asked Rarity instead.
The nice thing about traditional folk dances is that they're mostly simple, repetitive, and easy to learn. My skills as far as modern styles were concerned were definitely lacking, but I could manage a hornpipe or a jig well enough.
"You can't sew on a button with your hooves in the air,
So go find a featherless dirt pony mare!"
Pinkie assaulted her squeeze box with vigor while belting out all twenty innuendo-filled verses of Dirt Pony Mare. Rarity kept adding flirty flourishes to the simple steps that I struggled to keep up with, though I managed a hip-bump and a tail swat a time or two. I was a bit sweaty by the end of the dance, so I took a mug of cider and leaned against the mainmast, letting the evening breeze cool me down while Pinkie started in on the equally stealth-filthy A Unicorn's Horn.
"Ohhhhhhh, a unicorn's horn is ribbed all around,
It is! It is!"
For such a big mare, Tempest could move surprisingly quietly, but I heard her cross the deck toward me, nevertheless.
"Enjoying the celebration?" I asked, before she could announce her presence.
"Very much," she replied, sounding quite sincere.
I turned to her and studied her scarred face, half hidden in the shadow of the mast. She was looking past me. I couldn't be sure, but I think she was looking at Rarity. "Really?" I followed her gaze. Rarity was leaning in close to Half Hitch, whispering something and pointing at her own horn. Even in the low lantern light, I could see he was blushing.
Rarity is a terrible flirt and she'd be the first pony to admit it, but I couldn't see why Tempest should care. "I thought you were straight, or disinterested. Rarity flirts as naturally as she breathes. And she's married."
Tempest shook her head. "What I'm interested in is power. That's a very powerful mare, and I'm not just talking about the effect of her beauty or her superb physique. There's something else…"
Well, well. Look who turned out to be an unexpectedly perceptive pony.
"All of them have it," I said. I wasn't quite sure why I should trust Tempest with the knowledge, but it was pretty much an open secret in Equestria. "All of my close friends have incredibly powerful wild magic in them. It expresses itself differently in each of us and I'm pretty sure we found each other because of it. I hate superstitious terms like fate and destiny, so I like to think of it as a different sort of natural force, like magnetism."
Tempest silently regarded me for a moment. "And when all those magnets get together…?"
"Honestly? It can be a little bit terrifying. For example, there's a place on the far side of the Everfree that ponies have named Tirek's Scar. It's a jumbled mess of broken and half melted rock about two furlongs wide and a league long, that used to be a line of low peaks. It's what resulted from the spillover of a fight I had alone against a gigantic centaur that ended in a stalemate."
She stared at me. She looked angry, but again, that was probably just disbelief.
"Visit a library or a bookseller when we get to town and look it up if you don't believe me, but that little fact is just for reference. Nothing to do with wild magic at all. My point is that when I calmed down and realized what really needed to be done, I negotiated to free my friends and together we ended his rampage in the space of a few heartbeats."
"And here I thought you were sailing off to take on the Storm King's entire fleet with a single merchant airship because you were a moron."
"I told you I don't like fighting. This isn't going to be a fight, it's just going to be over."[2]
----------
[2] I really need to learn to stop making even casual predictions.
----------
Tempest was silent for a long while.
I finished my cider and cleaned and teleported my mug back to my cabin. "Well, I'm going to turn in for a few hours. I want to be fresh and alert when we arrive at Town."
"Tatzelwurm scales," she said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"The antimagic coating on my armor is made from powdered tatzelwurm scales and a specific crystal powder mixed into some sort of enamel and then baked on. It works in paint, too. That's what we use on the airship hulls and envelopes. It burns off after a few good hits, but it's a lot lighter than the enamel and easy to apply. I don't know the exact details and proportions but somepony who isn't a moron ought to be able to figure it out."
"Thank you, Tempest," I said. "That will be very helpful."
"I've remembered a few more details about the command structure of the Stormguard and capabilities of the fleet, too. I'll write them all down in the morning, but right now I'd like to go get drunk." She turned to me, offering a little half-nod, half-bow. "If that's alright with you, Captain," she added.
"Enjoy yourself."
She headed straight for the cider barrel.
"This one believes the mare begins to glimpse your true quality, Majesty." Ao floated down to my side from where she had been entwined in the rigging.
"Keeping an eye on me, Ao?"
Ao is an Eastern kirin, her anatomy more serpentine than her Western cousins (who are quite pony-like in build), so her shrug was very complex and ripply. Ponies unaccustomed to her kind might be puzzled by the gesture, but to me it spoke volumes. She was having a great deal of fun.
"This one was informed about the incident on deck this afternoon."
"I think that phase of our relationship is over. I'm betting that any betrayal she might entertain from now on will be the 'fleeing in the dead of night' sort."
Ao shook her head. "Whatever else that mare might be, she is not a coward."
"Wow. You're beautiful!"
We turned to find Lucky Charm staring at Ao from where she was supporting herself with a forehoof hooked around one of the main shrouds. The little mare had a large, nearly empty cider mug in the other forehoof and was swaying rather more than could be accounted for by Nebula's gentle motion.
Ao and I exchanged glances.
"I mean, this is the firs' time I got a good look at you, an' it's weird how pretty you are. Like… Aren't you half-dragon or somethin'? That should not work at all, but—wow!"
I half expected Ao to go frosty and hyper-polite, which was her usual response when offended (if swordplay wasn't an option), but she received the praise with equanimity and was calmly explaining that kirin were not pony/dragon hybrids while I slipped away to my cabin to get a little sleep.
= = =
Dash woke me a bit after midnight. "We're into the dirty air near The Corner, Twi. Mr.Hawser's taken in the sails and we're going to engines only."
The Corner was a low pass between Twilight Valley and the gentle watershed that sloped down from Twilight Peak to Twilight Town itself,[3] a place where the wind from the South Lunar Sea met the weather system of the Northern Forgotten Lands. The winds were almost always gusty and rough there, but an airship could sail through the pass if it wasn't outright stormy. It would take half a day or more at the very least, and require a lot of tacking, where motoring would have us in town in a couple of hours.
----------
[3] Yes, nearly every significant geologic feature of the area was named after me by over-enthusiastic Townies. The end result was that almost everycreature dropped my name when referring to them (i.e., the Peak, the Valley, and sailors and aeronauts often used T-Town.), pretty much defeating the original purpose of honoring me.
----------
"Thanks Dash." I yawned as I rolled out of my bunk and stretched my legs and wings. "Anything else to report?"
She gave me a smug grin. "A couple of border sentries that tried really hard not to be seen. After they saw Nebula coming, one flew off for town like her tail was on fire."
"Nice to know the Townies are staying sharp, even in the dead of night."
I found Pinkie in the companionway outside my cabin where she handed me a big, steaming mug of coffee with a somewhat strained smile. "Don't worry, Skipper, the glitter is water-soluble, honest!" She disappeared forward before I could ask for clarification. There was no glitter in or on my mug that I could see, so I shrugged it off and continued up to the quarterdeck.
On deck I greeted Mr. Hawser and he gave me Nebula's course and speed, and our ETA at the mooring grounds. We were right on schedule. I sipped my coffee and gazed out in the direction of town. There were no clouds to reflect the lights, so all I saw was perfect darkness, Nebula's envelope effectively blocking the stars above.
Well—not quite perfect. There was a glimmer from something on the main deck. I cast a nightsight spell and saw Ralf going from one engine pod to another with a clipboard in one paw. Under the light-enhancement magic, he positively—well—sparkled.
I jumped over the deck's forward rail and glided down to the waist. Ralf heard me land and turned to me and saluted. "Ralf is checking the engines, Captain. They are all behaving themselves."
I stood there silently for a moment waiting for some explanation for the swirling lines of glitter worked into his fur nearly everywhere. Was he hoping I hadn't noticed?
"Uhm… Mr. Ralf—"
"Ralf lost a bet!" he blurted out.
"Ah, I see. I'm willing to bet that Pinkie had a hoof in this somehow."
"The Captain would certainly not be covered in glitter as a result of that bet," Ralf grumbled.
Pranking the newbie was a time-honored tradition that I generally tolerated as long as it didn't go too far, so I made no further comment. I merely called up some magic and directed Ralf to the hot bath that was waiting for him in the forward washroom. He slunk off as if he were going to his own execution.
Not long after there came a call from off our larboard beam. "Ahoy, Nebula!"
I had kept the nightsight spell going, so I spotted the griffin almost immediately, even though he was entirely black and wore non-reflective armor. I could even make out the bull's head medallion that marked him as one of the Twilight Town Guard.
"Welcome aboard, guard," I replied, giving him permission to land before he needed to ask.
He did so, braced, and saluted me. "Mooring tower #3 has been cleared for Nebula's use and will be fully crewed by the time you reach it, Captain Blackmane."
Airships approaching the Town in the dead of night might get the same scrutiny, but rarely the courtesy of shaking an entire mooring tower crew out of their beds. Nebula and her crew were known to be particularly well-favored by the queen, and usually got the red-carpet treatment, but I had hoped to avoid some of that by arriving so late. However, it seemed the preparations were already under way.
"Thank you…?"
"Talon, ma'am. Under the command of Captain Fire Lane."
Interesting break with tradition, a griffin not using their habitual naming convention. Unusual combination, too. Raven and melanistic—leopard or jaguar? Fluttershy would know. In stronger light his spots would probably show up. He was stiff as a board and a bit nervous, if I wasn't reading him wrong. I thought sharing a drink might relax him.
"Very good, Talon. Can I offer you some coffee or tea?" I planned on giving him decaf, of course.
"Thank you for the offer Captain, but I really should go back aloft and signal to my squad that all is well. We have navigation lanterns if you'd like guidance to the mooring grounds."
I assumed that they had more than that, just in case we had turned out to be an imposter with hostile intentions. "That would be a help, thank you." Any helmspony aboard could have flown the route with their eyes closed, but it would give the guards something to do.
I whistled up the cupola, where Ms. Clove Hitch was standing her watch, and told her to be on the lookout for the navigation lights of the guards.
"Aye-aye Captain," she replied, her voice thin and echoing through the long brass tube. "One red light, fine on the larboard bow… aaand now one green to starboard. Will you be standing by for course corrections?" Tinny or not, the sarcasm in her voice was clear.
"If we get more than a dozen points off, just give us a whistle," I replied. It was a joke. An error of 12 compass points or 135 degrees would come close to reversing our course and run us into either Black Ridge or Twilight Peak. I assumed I would not be disturbed for the rest of the run.
Before I could replace the whistle stopper in the tube, I heard an outraged exclamation from Clove. I put my ear back to the tube. "Repeat that, please?"
"Now they've got up lead lights ahead![4] Do they think we're blind?" She was definitely outraged at the perceived insult to the crew's ability to navigate.
----------
[4] Lead lights are two white lights, one directly above the other, but with the upper separated significantly further in distance from the vessel being guided. If the vessel strays from the marked course, parallax will cause the lights to appear to separate. Steering in the direction of the lower light will bring the vessel back on course.
----------
"I think the squad leader is a bit green," I told her. "Very eager, by-the-book sort. Just trying his best to be helpful." I could hardly fault him, I was pretty much the same until my junior year at CSGU.
That mollified Clove a bit, but she still muttered something that sounded unkind under her breath before plugging the tube on her end.
We spotted the tower not long after. It, too, was lit up to a ridiculous degree, with a spotlight on the windsock at the top. So much for a quiet arrival.
I waited on the quarterdeck without much to do as the crew went about their work of getting Nebula securely moored. Mr. Hawser brought her straight into the mast, and the crew at the mooring gear cinched her in tight, as neatly as you please. The tower's boarding gantry swung out with a pony from the airfield controller's office already standing on it.
Being Twilight Town, there were no customs forms to fill out or passports to present, and the agent was there merely to inform us that our mooring fees would be covered by the crown and to wish us a good visit. I tipped her a small sack of bits to make up for her having to lose sleep for such nonsense.
I had planned to fly up to Vagabond House right after arriving, but the number of unexpected eyes on the sky changed my mind. Most creatures in Town knew that Captain Blackmane was a close friend and confidant of Her Dark Majesty, but only a few eminently trusted ones knew we were one in the same pony. I didn't want to provide even the slightest hint in that direction, and so decided to wait to make a formal and very public visit to the royal residence the next afternoon.
I contented myself with a stroll along the deck and catwalks to make sure everything was in order, and waited until the watch changed to go back to bed.
= = =
"What do you mean, 'no laws'?" Tempest asked me the next morning as I was setting up the shore leave rota.
"Just that," I replied, rearranging a couple of names on the schedule. "Good ponies don't need laws to tell them how to behave, and bad ponies will always ignore or find their way around them. Though there are customs, and it's unwise to break those, regardless of where in the world you might find yourself."
"But you're the head honcho around here, right? When you're playing the Queen, your word is law. And there's a mayor—"
"Honorary Mayor for Life, Baroness Buzzy holds her office by acclamation because she is an excellent organizer, remarkably good at helping to reconcile disputes, and foolish enough to take on the thankless job. Twilight Town was a lawless wilderness before I arrived, and it's pretty much the same now, but with more buildings. Ponies seem to be comfortable with a figurehead that can also give a sound beating to the occasional monster or invading bandits or whatever else might wander into town, and that's where I come in. When they need to decide something important that affects everycreature, they get together and talk it out. Sometimes they even hold a vote."
"I still don't get it. What happens if somepony robs somepony else? If that's not illegal then nothing can be done about it."
I shook my head. "Quite the opposite. Anything can be done about it."
She thought about it for a moment. "So what's to prevent the whole place from dissolving into a big free-for-all brawl?"
Twilight Town has a group of creatures that acts as a guard force to protect the populace from itself as well as invaders, but the odd and complex setup that prevented abuse and corruption was a bit too much to go into right then, so I simplified it a bit.
"Well, several practical considerations, but the most important two factors are, Number One: most ponies, and most other creatures, aren't inclined to that sort of behavior. They like to be peaceful and cooperative. Only extraordinary events or situations drive them to bad behavior. Given good living conditions, they aren't really interested in causing strife."
Tempest gave me a doubtful side-eye. "And Number Two?"
"The strongest custom of the Town is always getting along no matter what. Working out differences peacefully and fairly. I admit it is a custom that I strongly encouraged in the early days, but it has quite caught on and seems to be self-reinforcing."
The slightest hint of a grin formed on Tempest's muzzle. "What sort of encouragement are we talking about, here?"
I pointed a hoof at the woods that filled the valleys of the Twilight Range. "There are trees in that forest that will kill and eat an adult yak given half a chance, and scores of predators that thrive in that sort of environment. Here, there's just one big scary monster and she likes things to be peaceful and cooperative. In fact, she rather insists on it. Conduct yourself like a civilized pony or answer to the Queen's whim. If you don't like that choice, you're welcome to leave." I pointed to the forest again. "Most creatures are pretty smart about the options, and the very few that have chosen poorly made for remarkable object lessons."
Tempest still looked like she couldn't quite believe it. "Doesn't that just come down to obeying the strongest pony?"
I sighed. "Look, it was sort of that way in the beginning, but even then I wasn't really interested in managing their day-to-day lives, I just wanted my own—uhm—projects to go smoothly. I dealt with problems that got in my way, and occasionally others when somepony came to me for help. Now, they still pretty much run the place themselves. I just help out by organizing and funding schools and libraries and other public works. Yes, I still correct the occasional problem when necessary, but I'm really just a figurehead. It works very well for the Townies, and they seem to be pretty happy for the most part."
Tempest let her grin break out into a full smile. "No, you're still a tyrant and a dictator." She indicated the Town below with a jerk of her head. "They just got lucky that you're the sort that wants to make things better instead of the usual kind that wants to dominate and devour."
I was outraged. "I am not a tyrant!"
She shrugged. "Every place in the world is ruled by the mighty ones. The village strongpony, a gang leader, a warlord, or an entrenched nobility or guild system that writes the laws to rig everything in their favor. If you left this place to fend for itself, some other tyrant would fill your horseshoes within the year and the place would be worse off because of it."
Well, she wasn't exactly wrong, but expressing it that way distorted it. "I don't think that—"
"C'mon, Twilight!" She slapped me on the shoulder. "You're a great tyrant! It's time you owned that!"
She was dead wrong. I had responsibilities. I wouldn't, couldn't ever "own" being the tyrant of the Twilight Folk, because being their tyrant owned me.
= = =
=