//------------------------------//
// Calming Stormy Seas 
// Story: Moon Dancing on Water 
// by michealdark 
//------------------------------//



Ch. 2: Calming Stormy Seas

Luna gaped in shock, her previous thought unfinished. Before her stood Strife. She was utterly amazed by him. Discord was surely dangerous, but he had a more whimsical look to match his trickster personality: a pony's head, gray, with a dark brown elongated body and scaly red tail tuffed in white, serpentine in appearance, with green and blue bat wings, one pony and one dragon leg, an eagle's talon, and a lion's paw, with one goat horn (to match the beard) and one deer antler. Strife was composed of all the same elements, that same chimera-like amalgam of leftovers Nature had no clue what to do with, but he was solid jet, blacker than the blackest night Luna had ever produced, darker than the darkest obsidian found in the Crystal Empire, with a flame orange face. Whereas Discord looked like Nature's party favor, Strife looked like a beast from Hell.

She tried to stammer for words that wouldn't come, so Strife filled the uncomfortable silence with a simple, "Ah, hello Princess. It is an honor to meet you. I am Strife, god of war and Aligorna's vizier. It is a royal honor to welcome you to the 'Call of the Whale'. Isn't she magnificent? She's the oldest ship in the Aquilonian fleet. She was the last ship commissioned by Aligorna's father prior to his going to the great beyond. 1300 years she's been sea-worthy, though this might be her last voyage. As I'm sure the Prince has told you, she's become rickety in her old age. To remain sturdy this long though, when the average wooden ship lasts maybe 250 years, is pretty spectacular though."

Luna shifted uncomfortably as Strife gave her a bemused once-over, grinning darkly. She was uncomfortable with being watched as is, still dealing with her own guilt for her past wrongdoings and never sure if a look directed at her was one of scorn and spite from the very citizens whose hearts she was trying her hardest to win back. But having him look at her, it made her feel smaller and more insignificant that she'd felt since before she was Nightmare Moon. And there was no one to be jealous of, to be angry with. This was a more abject sense of insignificance, and it terrified her.

Aligorna saw this and said softly to Strife, "You are dismissed. We will meet you later."

Strife nodded and floated off, allowing Aligorna to stick out a hoof to her. "I apologize if he made you uncomfortable. He means well, but he does have a presence to him that can be overwhelming. How about we get you some breakfast, huh?"

Princess Twilight Sparkle was in one of the barns at Sweet Apple Acres, her friends gathered around her. She looked uncomfortable. Twilight was a sure leader, even if she sometimes didn't think so, and her friends respected her quick wit and her ability to use her encyclopedic knowledge to plan on the fly. So far though, this situation was proving beyond her, and her shoulders sunk as she groaned audibly.

The bright eyed pink party animal to her right patted her on the shoulder. "Oh, Twilight. Cheer up! We'll get the Princess back, and then we can have cake...and ice cream...ooh and really big balloons! And..and..." Unable to come up with anything, she seemed to miraculously pull and air horn out and blew it in her ear, causing Twilight to jump almost into the ceiling, using her young Alicorn wings to ease her dissent.

"PINKIE! Gosh dang, that scared me!"

Pinkie frowned, putting the air horn down. "Sorry."

"No, no. It's okay. My mind's not really here right now. I'm just really worried. I mean, together we've faced all sorts of dangers, saved Equestria dozens of times, and always had a good laugh after. But...war? I just...I don't know if I'm cut out for this."

Applejack adjusted her signature cowboy hat and trotted up, throwing a big hug around her friend. Applejack was not only part of the Apple family, who owned the farm, but was considered the most sturdy and reliable friend in all of Ponyville. "Oh yes you are, Sugarcube. Don't let nothing keep ya down. Ya have us to help ya, ya know that."

The pretty, perfectly coiffed unicorn known as Rarity was next to speak. "Darling, this worry and self doubt...it doesn't look right on you. Take a deep breath, and let's see if we can sort this out."

Circling above them, the blue pegasus with the rainbow colored mane, Rainbow Dash, was practicing her swoops and karate kicks. "Oh, we can sort this out alright. Just give me some time to find them, and I'll beat them all until they cry, then snatch Princess Luna right back. Piece of cake."

Fluttershy shook her pink mane, looking at the ground and speaking in a quiet tone. "Rainbow Dash, I'm not sure that's what we want to do. Wouldn't just...going and trying to beat them up make them angry? We want to avoid a fight, right?"

Twilight nodded at her and said, "Fluttershy's exactly right. Which is why I don't want you girls getting involved. I need you to support me, but I don't want you all putting yourselves at risk. This is too dangerous."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, huffing. "Yeah right! Like we're going to let you have all the fun?!"

Pinkie bounced around on her hooves, giggling deleriously. "SILLY! Twilight, you're so silly! I bet those Aquilonian ponies just need a good party. Who better to show them a good time than your dear old Pinkie Dinky!?"

Fluttershy gulped. She was always the least confrontational of all the "Mane 6", Twilight knew she was already overruled by committee when she said, "Um...Twilight...I..I don't want a fight either. But we aren't going to let anything happen if things break down. The best way for us to support you is to be with you."

Twilight sighed in exasperation. She should have seen this coming. "Alright girls, I'm not going to fight you on this one. But we're all going to have to try to approach this diplomatically...before we start trying to fight anypony!" She shot a glance at Rainbow that made Rainbow stop in her tracks.

"Alright! Fine, no fighting unless we get attacked first!"

Twilight smiled, feeling a little better. "Alright, then we need to get to the Crystal Empire. I'm sure Princess Cadence and my BBBFF will have some ideas too."

Discord was in a state of annoyance, wandering around Ponyville while the 6 had their meeting. It wasn't the continued fear from the citizens he'd terrorized just a short time before that annoyed him. He knew that he had a lot of trust to earn with these ponies, and Celestia's word held a lot of sway but couldn't change hearts on its own. No, he half-expected the askance glances, the huddled little ones, and the windows occasionally snapping shut as be passed, and the few ponies that did approach him and speak to him on friendly terms more than made up for the ones that treated him with such suspicion and fear.

No, there was something else bothering him. He had been trying to recruit unlikely allies whose skills might prove useful in a worst case scenario. He'd already tried Trixie, a unicorn stage magician and former con-artist reformed by Twilight. And been flatly rejected. Trixie had given up her manipulative ways, and part of that was out of respect for Twilight, but the other part was out of fear of being roundly publicly humiliated by her again. The last time they had met, Twilight had flounced Trixie in a magical duel that had left ruined her reputation so completely that she had to reform to have any chance of winning anyone back and keeping her stage show a success. It'd also driven her to study legitimate magic more, in order to improve her stage show, but she'd vowed to avoid using it in a manner that would attract Twilight's attention in a negative way. Needless to say, being approached to basically break her vow and use her tricks for subterfuge and possible military/political trickery had made her less than pleased. He had also met with the Changeling queen, Chrysalis, in their current hiding place in the far northern mountains. The Changelings were a pony race with insect-like attributes and the ability to transform their appearance into any pony they chose, who fed on emotions. They had tried to take over Equestria not long ago, disrupting Cadence's wedding by trying to replace her. The Mane 6 had roundly defeated them, and had done it again when she sought revenge by kidnapping the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a group of pony friends consisting of Scootaloo, a young pegasus who considered herself something of Rainbow Dash's understudy, Applejack's sister Apple Bloom, and Rarity's sister Sweetie Belle, and trying to use them as a lure into a trap. Her animosity toward Celestia and Twilight made her roundly reject Discord's offer, despite him making promises of finding a Changeling territory for them and telling her that what purpose would there be for her if Equestria were defeated and taken away, and her revenge on Twilight and Celestia being forfeited to others.

He grumbled and kicked a rock high into the sky, turning it into a turtle that fell on its back, kicking uselessly to try to roll over. He just wanted to cut loose right now, cause some sort of mayhem to let out his frustration. But if he did that, he'd blow the trust Celestia had put in him and probably end up being turned into stone by Twilight and her friends.

He was a little surprised when he was poked, and turned to see a white, blue maned pony with sunglasses on looking up at him, her gray coated and tie wearing companion standing next to her. "Ah, Vinyl, Octavia, how are you two today?"

Octavia, the gray pony, who happened to be the top concert cellist in Equestria, said nonchalantly in a slight British accent, "We are doing well. What about you, Mr. Discord? You look distracted."

He sighed, explaining the situation. The white pony, Vinyl Scratch (known more commonly by her stage name as the world famous DJ Pon-3) couldn't contain her excitement. "Oh wow, well I'm not a fighter but I have been working on something that somepony like you might enjoy."

Octavia gasped, trying to shut her friend up. "Vinyl, no! This is serious business and you want to show him your...toy? You haven't even tested the thing yet!"

Discord stopped her and said politely, "My dear Vinyl Scratch, you have my attention. Explain." He started to follow Vinyl as Octavia kept trying to stop them. He got fed up at one point, snapping his fingers and transporting her into the top of a tree.

Vinyl started explaining giddily as they walked along, "Okay, you know the Doctor obviously. Probably the least secret secret agent Princess Celestia could ever ask for, given how much he talks. Crazy stuff he talks about too, with aliens and monsters and all of that. But anyways, you know that sonic screwdriver thing he has? He told me about it and I was all like, 'Awesome, a sound weapon!' Yeah, told me that's the only thing it doesn't do. That sorta bummed me out even though the thing seems to be able to do anything else. So I started thinking...what about a sound weapon? It's nonlethal, in theory aside from blown eardrums and knocking folks out it wouldn't do any permanent damage. So..." They walked through Vinyl and Octavia's place to their backyard and toward the edge of a wide meadow near the border of the woods, north of Sweet Apple Acres and east of Fluttershy's cottage. "I created this!" She flung off a canvas covering a gigantic 50 inch woofer, in a cabinet almost as big as Vinyl herself. "My BASS CANNON!"

Discord looked at it, trying to hide the fact he was already impressed by it. "Cool...so how's it work?"

Vinyl grinned again, from ear to ear. "It's pretty simple. The Doctor helped me design it. Basically it works by the principle that if a sound it loud enough, the force of it will be too much to handle. It's got two setting, one using the intro to the song programmed in it as a countdown, after which you hit the green button and activate it, and another where you hit the red button and it just goes straight to attack mode."

Discord nodded, getting closer to it when Vinyl used he unicorn magic to place ear muffs over his ears. "You might want to get back.." She turned back to see Octavia coming to them, picking leaves and bark out of her coat, tossing her a set of ear muffs too. "And hold onto your hindquarters. Things are about to get EPIC!"

Discord floated back beside Octavia as Vinyl said, "Oh, the song is one the Doctor gave me, apparently from the universe he claims he comes from. It was really the only song for this thing!" She smiled as she turned it on, setting it to the first setting, the intro to Flux Pavillion's "Bass Cannon" ringing out. Finally, at the proper moment, she hit the green button and the whole thing boomed, the most ear-splittingly loud bass sound in the history of history tearing up the grass and sending bees and butterflies scattering for nearly 25 yards in front of it, while knocking the three of them over as well. It cut off after that first blast, and Discord hopped up in pure giddy amusement.

"HAHAHAHAUHAHAGH! OH MY, I HAVE GOT TO GET ME ONE OF THESE! THIS IS THE PERFECT ALARM CLOCK FOR THE CASTLE!"

Octavia sat up as well, brushing herself off. "Wouldn't you be concerned about it damaging the structure of the castle?"

Discord guffawed, almost rolling on the ground. "Like I said, the PERFECT alarm clock." He got a hold of himself again, then turned to Vinyl and asked, "You did build blueprints and schematics for this right? Because I'm taking it if that's okay with you."

Vinyl smiled with pride and said, "Knock yourself out, bro."

Back on the ship, Luna had emerged from the mess hall, feeling much better now that she had something in her stomach. She had not talked to Aligorna the enter meal, even though he tried to initiate conversation a dozen times. She was looking at the crew as Aligorna let her wander around the deck. They all looked at her with reverence and respect, and she could tell that they probably weren't a harm to her. That's when she heard a whirring sound in a blank portion of the deck.

Slowly, as if from thin air, a bright blue English police box started to appear, eventually fully forming. The doors opened and she was shocked to see the Doctor stick his head out, only to be greeted by 20 sailor ponies with as many cutlasses pointed right at him. Aligorn and Strife soon joined them, and she could hear Ditzy inside the strange box making panicky noises and screaming, "DONTWORRYDOCTORILLGETUSOUTOFHERE!" She heard a slap, followed by the sound of whirring winding down and the light coming from the box turning black.

The Doctor turned to Ditzy in the darkness of the TARDIS and she squeaked out, "I just don't know what went wrong!" He shook his head and said, "Ditzy, what button did you hit?" She squeaked out again, her voice tiny and embarrassed. "I don't know! I just hit somethiiiiiiing!" He sighed and said, "I know what it was. It's a button that shuts the TARDIS down for 12 hours so that repairs can be safely made. You know, replace panels and stuff like that without risk of electrocution."

Strife was doubled up, laughing so hard he was crying. Aligorna poked him in the ribs and he wiped his eyes. "HA! HO GOSH! OH that's so good! I'm sorry, my lord, but if this is the best Celestia has to offer, we have nothing to worry about."

Aligorna shot him a disapproving look, which got him to stop. The sailors parted as he approached and said, "Hello, Doctor. It's an honor to meet you. I am Prince Aligorna of Aquilonia, and I guess since you and your companion aren't going anywhere for awhile, that means you're my special 'guests.'

A few hours later, Luna was laying on the floor of the cabin, Aligorna sitting on the bed and reading. She was not happy that the Doctor and Ditzy had been taken prisoner, although they didn't seem to be acting like prisoners. She looked up as the door opened. Strife walked in as she could hear the conversation going on outside. The Doctor was trying to ask one of the crew members about certain pieces of equipment, seemingly curious about these old wooden ships. He was being interrupted by Ditzy though, who asked suddenly, "Do you guys have any muffins?!"

The sailor the Doctor was talking to sighed and replied, "Nope, no muffins here ma'am. You see, muffins, cake, bread, all of that tends to go bad quickly at sea. It gets wet, so it gets soggy, and soggy dough products grow mold. What we have is hard tack." She poked her head out to see the sailor handing Ditzy a small, hard round biscuit, more like a cracker. Ditzy looked at it in confusion, her lazy eye almost spinning in her head.

"Hard tack?"

"It's a kind of biscuit. It's flatbread, which stays fresh a lot longer."

Ditzy took a nibble of it, before looking at it in disappointment. "It's so bland! It sucks!"

The sailor looked a little pissed for a second, but seemed to let it go. "You're kinda right, but if you want carbs at sea, this is the best thing to have."

Luna stepped back in as Strife closed the door behind him. Aligorna looked at him with an amused expression. "She's adorable."

Strife grunted out, his eyes closing and a deep breath coming out. "She's not adorable. She's 'special' is what she is. Inattentive, nosy, persistent, seems always a half a wing beat away from crashing into something...and her eyes freak me out. I'm a war god. I revel in mayhem and gore. NOTHING freaks me out!"

Luna shook her head at him, angry. "By 'special', I assume you mean mentally handicapped?! She may be a little klutzy and has a short attention span, but I assure you she's very bright. She's an adventurer of the highest order, a good friend to many who get to know her, a sure shoulder for the Doctor for all his crazy activities, the best mailmare in all of Equestria..."

Strife stuttered, not expecting to be jumped on. "But I mea...I didn't sa...wha...just sto..."

Luna didn't miss a beat and continued on, "And I will not let you disrespect her like that in my presence!"

Strife hung his head apologetically. "Alright. I am sorry, Princess. I sometimes speak out of line when I am annoyed, but you don't know me well enough to know that."

Luna let her anger go and spoke softly. "You are right. I do not know you well enough. I do not know you at all. Why don't you tell me more about yourself."

Strife nodded and sat down, stroking his beard. "Alright. As you already know, I am Discord's brother. We are actually older than you and your sister. We were born around the time this ship was built. When we both matured...if you can call Discord mature...we went our separate ways. He moved to Equestria and quickly rebuilt it as his empire. I'm not as showy or playful as him. I'm a bit more quiet, self-assured. No, I instead stayed out of sight until around the time my brother was defeated by yourself and Celestia. Then I emerged to the Aquilonians and forged myself a deal with them. I would defend them in battle and on the seas in exchange for tribute. This arrangement didn't last long as yourself and your sister hammered out the peace agreement between yourselves and Prince Aligorna here, but the Aquilonians knew the advantage to having two living gods in their midst and still continued to give me due respect, elevating me from benefactor to war god around 900 years ago despite giving up piracy and not being in a state of war. They realized my value that much, which touches my normally cold heart.

"At the same time, Prince Aligorna turned to me for political advice, the church and the state being one in the same in Aquilonia, and I have maintained various advisory positions for him since then, finally becoming vizier in the past 2 years or so."

Luna let it all sink in, especially the timeline. She had her suspicions already, but now they seemed quite clear, and she looked sadly to Aligorna...

Meanwhile, in the Crystal Empire, Twilight and the girls were bowing before the throne of her sister-in-law, Princess Cadence, and her brother, Shining Armor.

Cadence wiped sleep from her eyes. Shining Armor had taken her home to the Crystal Empire so that they themselves could discuss the level of involvement they could offer after they had found out what had happened, and Cadence had of course went to get medicine for her poisoning symptoms. They had quickly realized the the Empire couldn't offer any troops, the population too small for that and the guards needed to defend the Empire itself. But Shining Armor was head of the Royal Guard and Cadence was a princess, so they both would have to leave.

Twilight stood up, running to both of them as they gave her a hug. The other girls stood up too.

Twilight sniffled, saying to them both, "Oh guys, I'm driving myself crazy trying to figure out what to do!"

A commanding voice rang out behind them, as they tuned to see Celestia come in. "We all are, Twilight. I will be honest with all of you...I've had my share of battles over the years, but none of them have had the potential of this, and it makes me afraid. You are not alone, and you do not need to feel that you are."

Everyone bowed to her, before standing. Cadence's calm and gentle voice was about to speak before Discord materialized with a loud pop, holding the Bass Cannon in his arms, and it seemed to be a strain. He set it down, and shyly chuckled, blending into the crowd beside Fluttershy, whispering to her, "Flutters, are you sure you're up for this?"

Fluttershy whispered back, "Discord, I have to be with you all. If we need the Elements of Harmony, I have to be there. I can't let you all get hurt either."

Cadence cleared her throat. "As I was about to say, I think the best option we have is to follow them without confronting them. We will need a full naval crew following behind as leverage, but we will all be on the same ship ahead of them, keeping our distance from the Aquilonian ship. I do not believe they will attack us if we follow them into port, which would be the best place to negotiate with them. Open water is international territory and not under the auspices of either Equestrian or Aquilonian law. While that sounds good as it's neutral ground, it also means that if either side makes a wrong move, they can't be held accountable. While the absolute ideal would be to have them on our shores where we have all the cards, but it's too late for that, so to be truly protected we need to have a negotiating place where some sort of law prevails. Now, we need to delegate certain duties. Rainbow Dash, you and Spike will be in charge of surveillance. Tail them, report on them, but DO NOT CONFRONT THEM! Okay?"

Rainbow Dash grunted. "Yeah, yeah. I got it. Just spy on them..."