Chapter Twelve
An Unexpected Change of Plans
Disappointments, disillusionments, and disasters
are unhappy parts of life, as well as
all-too-common elements of adventure stories,
which, unfortunately, makes this chapter thoroughly disagreeable.
June 29th - July 2nd, 1012
Naghdad, Saddle Arabia, and onboard Nebula,
on course for Canterlot
Spike sat bolt upright and belched out a gout of green fire. Then he flopped back into his hammock, groaning, "Not another one!"
The flame resolved itself into a scroll with a pop.
"Sorry, Spike," I said, smoothing back his head spines with a gentle touch of my magic. "Try to get back to sleep."
"It's okay, Twilight," he said, rubbing his eyes. "You'll probably want to send a reply pretty soon. I'll stay up."
I leaned over and gave him a nuzzle of thanks as I levitated the scroll from the floor. I quickly broke the seal and scanned the message before turning back to my bleary-eyed assistant. "It's okay. I already answered these questions. You can go back to sleep. There shouldn't be another message for…" I did a quick calculation. "...for at least three hours or so."
= = =
Messages sent by dragon fire aren't instantaneous. The enchanted smoke created by immolation has to actually travel the distance between sender and recipient, at about the speed of a hawk in full flight. From the coast of Zebrica to Canterlot, that meant an average delay of a couple of days, making a quick exchange of news very problematic. As they often crossed each other, it was sometimes difficult to immediately discern which letter was an answer to which.
My first message to Princess Celestia about Chrysalis's secret hive got an answer almost exactly four days later, which meant I had just enough time to catch a distant glimpse of the Great Library of Naghdad before a panting crewpony intercepted me with the return message as I was passing the Emir's palace.
Dear Twilight,
This news comes as quite a shock, as you might imagine. How sure are you that the changeling spy told you the truth? It is not like you to leave out details, so I assume that you have told me everything you know about the matter so far. Is there any way you can convince the changeling to give you more information?
I hate to ask it of you, but could you return to Canterlot as soon as possible? I am taking preliminary steps to address this matter, but I would like the opportunity to question the spy in more detail before I commit to certain courses of action.
Your help and support in this matter would be invaluable to me.
Yours,
Celestia
I had picked up several "colorful" words and expressions in the Zebrican trade pidgin and, when I had finished reading the letter, I employed one of the less savory ones.
"Begging your pardon, capt'n?" the crewpony asked.
"Never mind." I let the scroll roll shut and stuffed it in my vest, then dragged him into a nearby alley for privacy. "When you get back to Nebula, tell Mr. Fairlead to round up the crew and prepare to set sail. I want to cast off by sunset, understand?"
"Yes, ma'am, but…" He cast a doubtful glance at the late afternoon sky. "I'm not sure I can even make it back to the ship before then."
"Don't worry." I said, crafting a teleport matrix, "you will."
I knew approximately where Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were, so I went to fetch them myself. I found Pinkie outside a café, literally trying to talk Dash down. There was an overturned table, several tiny broken white cups, and a dozen interested spectators surrounding the two. Dash's wings were beating so rapidly that they were barely visible and her eyes were horribly bloodshot.
"What the hay is going on here?" I shouted.
"Huh?" Dash spun in midair. "Twi! This guy called me a 'colorful cutie!'" She stabbed a hoof in the general direction of the crowd.
"Dashie," Pinkie called up to her, "you are cute and colorful!"
Rainbow Dash sputtered for a moment and then said, "Yeah, but it's the way he said it! And what was that comment about me not wearing a saddle? The guy's a creep!"
Pinkie sighed and then turned to me. "I told her the coffee in this place was strong, but she wouldn't listen."
"How many cups did she have?"
"Seven."
I used the word again.
"Hey!" Dash called down from where she was jittering through the air. "Are you guys talking smack about me?"
"I don't have time for this nonsense!" I wasn't going to teleport us all back to Nebula with so many witnesses looking on. Unicorns who can master the spell are few and far between, and exactly none of them would stoop to working as a lowly merchant aeronaut.
I grabbed Dash out of the air and hauled her down until she was muzzle-to-muzzle with me. "Ms. Rain Storm!" I bellowed out in my best Displeased Captain impersonation. "You were due onboard at four bells! You are coming back to the ship with me now, and you'll be lucky if I don't stop your pay!"
"What? What the hay, Twilight?! You're…" She made a muffled grunt as I squeezed her mouth shut.
I flung a hoofful of coins onto the table to pay for the damages and turned to go, Dash floating in my wake. There was a good deal of laughter from behind us, and Dash struggled futilely to escape my levitation field. When we got onto the broad avenue that led to the port, I let go of her mouth and let her vent her frustration on me.
During one of her few pauses for breath, I broke in. "Yes, you're right, that stallion was probably working up to propositioning you, or worse, offering to pay you. And yes, he probably thought of you as a 'loose' mare because you weren't wearing a saddle and bridle.[1] You had every right to get angry."
----------
[1] Saddle Arabians customarily use various sorts of tack to indicate marital status, class, and even profession. A horse wearing nothing at all is usually very poor, working a job that is considered "distasteful", or deliberately being provocative.
----------
"Huh? I did? I mean, yeah, I did!"
"But," I continued, "you didn't have a right to break up the café's furniture and dishes or take a swing at the creep. A mature mare would have put it down to cultural differences and laughed the whole thing off." I paused and floated her around until we were nose-to-nose. "A coffee overdose is no excuse. You seriously need to learn some self-control!"
She took a deep breath, but I was fairly angry myself by then, and in no mood to get into a prolonged argument in a crowded street. I clamped her mouth shut again and kept it that way until we got back to Nebula.
= = =
Three days later, over the ocean and out of sight of land, Rainbow Dash still wasn't speaking to me. The first day, she was suffering from horrible caffeine withdrawal and didn't say much to anypony. The second day, she concentrated on her resentment and understandably vented to anypony who would listen. The third day, she went about her business, seemingly her old self, but managed to be on the other side of the deck from wherever I happened to be, and took her lunch off to eat privately when I joined the rest of the girls for the meal. I'd never seen her hold on to a grudge that long before.
"I suppose I should go apologize to her," I said, poking at my food.
"Best wait a mite longer," Applejack advised. "She's still got her tail in a knot. Give her some time to cool off."
"I guess so. I just… I was in a hurry… I didn't mean to…"
"Yup," Applejack nodded. "Tell her all o' that when she's in a mood to listen. She'll be…"
"Captain Blackmane?" Acorn called from the quarterdeck, a bit hesitant to interrupt me at my meal.
"Yes, Mr. Acorn?" I shoved my plate away and stood up. I wasn't hungry, anyway.
"Lookout reports a vessel ahead. Says she looks a bit battered."
Overtaking other airships wasn't unusual for us. We were under powered flight and, despite her antiquated appearance, Nebula could really move with her engines at Full Ahead. We'd passed four other craft along the northern trade route since we'd departed Naghdad.
"Battered?" I asked. "There haven't been any storm systems moving through that I know of."
Acorn looked uncomfortable. "There have been some stories of pirates in these skies, ma'am. More of them lately, it's said."
"You think the ship might have been attacked?"
A whistle from the speaking tube to the topside cupola interrupted us and I flipped the cover up. "This is the captain. Go ahead."
"Vessel ahead, Captain. Two points off the larboard bow. She's drifting, and looks a right mess. May be ponies on deck, but I can't be sure yet. You should be able to see her in a minute or so."
"Very good. Keep an eye on her." I flipped the cover of the tube shut. "Mr. Acorn, come two points to larboard. We'll intercept and offer assistance if needed."
Belladonna was a 'right mess.' She was an old-style ship with her hull hung beneath her gasbags, and we could clearly see the broken crates and tangles of line that covered her open deck shortly after we were near enough to read her name on her transom.
Rainbow Dash flew over to take a look and zoomed back after one pass over her deck. "There's some ponies on board. They all look hurt, and some of them..." She swallowed nervously. "Some of them might be dead, Twilight!"
"Thank you, Dash," I said, and leaned over the rail to the main deck. "Fluttershy! Get a couple of medical kits and go with Rainbow Dash. Do whatever you can to help them. We'll get there and get the doctor on board as soon as possible!"
The crew rapidly got out the boarding ramp and grappling lines, and we adjusted our altitude to match the crippled ship as we made a careful final approach. What few of Belladonna's crew were on their hooves helped secure the lines and ramp when we came alongside.
A big unicorn stallion with a loose, torn shirt came across the ramp as soon as it was in place. "Thank you so much, Captain!" he called out to me as he stepped onto Nebula's deck. "We're very glad of your assistance, as you might imagine!"
If I had been a more experienced captain, I might have caught on right then. Another two ponies from Belladonna followed, both also offering effusive thanks. Then several more appeared and made for the ramp. But what they did not do was ask permission to come aboard.
It might seem like a small thing, a courtesy forgotten in the midst of a dire situation, but it was a custom so deeply ingrained in sailors and aeronauts that they would be likelier to forget to breathe than to forget to ask leave before stepping onto a ship's deck.
"Somethin's not right about them," Applejack whispered in my ear as two more of the foreign crew came aboard.
I craned my neck, trying to get a glimpse of Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy on Belladonna's deck, but they were nowhere to be seen. "Just stop there, if you please," I said to the big stallion.
He didn't stop approaching, and he didn't stop grinning.
I didn't want to possibly further injure an already hurt pony by grabbing him with my magic, so I hesitated, and that's when they attacked.
The pegasus stallion that had crossed over just after the big unicorn flipped something out from beneath his wing and flung it at my head. It whirled through the air and hit me, wrapping around my horn. Something dense and heavy whacked me on the side of the head.
I brought up my magic and… it was like trying to take another step down past the end of a staircase in a dimly lit basement. A pulse of pain went through my head, and my magic backed up on me with a jolt.
I saw what the thing was when the pegasus threw another one of them at Rarity. It was a length of barbed silver chain between two metal weights, thrown with a spinning motion so that it would wrap around whatever it hit. The barbs made it nearly impossible to scrape off and the silver was no doubt enchanted and acted as a magic suppressor ring when in place.
Rarity dodged the one thrown at her and jumped the pegasus, putting him into a very painful-looking wing lock within seconds. Then she snatched up a belaying pin in her magic and went to work on another of the stallions. Both crews were at each other almost immediately, cutlasses, boarding axes, and knives suddenly appearing from beneath the supposedly wounded crew's clothing.
The silver chain wasn't as sturdy as a real suppressor, and after a pulse to test its strength, I knew I could burn through it in a couple of seconds if I concentrated my magic correctly.
I didn't get those seconds. I had built up a focused blast of energy and was just about to release it when I heard Fluttershy scream.
"Drop your weapons or I'll cut her throat!" yelled a voice from Belladonna's deck. The fighting ponies drew apart and I could see a stallion at the rail, holding a heavy blade just below Fluttershy's chin.
The crew looked to me and I gasped out, "Do it! Surrender!"
Weapons clattered to the deck and the pirates all began to smile. One of the pirates dragged a bound and gagged Rainbow Dash onto our deck and dropped her in a heap. The big unicorn in front of me lifted my muzzle with the tip of his cutlass and sneered. "Now order your ponies to bring out all your gold and gems, and you can watch as I share them out to my crew."
"I've got my treasure already!" called out the stallion who held Fluttershy. He ran a hoof down over her belly. "Ain't that right, pretty filly?"
She whimpered.
"Don't you dare…" yelled Lee Helm, taking several angry steps toward the boarding ramp.
The pegasus pirate next to him slid his sword into Helm's chest as quickly and casually as if he were putting it back into its sheath. The old stallion froze and gasped, but never took his eyes off of Fluttershy's. The pirate pulled out his blade with an easy twist, and Lee Helm dropped, his blood flooding out onto the deck.
The big unicorn made a tsk tsk sound. "That's how fools end up, my ponies. Don't any of the rest of you be foolish, now."
There was a moment when I felt as if I were floating, when I knew that I'd cast my spell of destruction even if the pony in front of me ended my life at the same instant.
That's when Ket saved us.
"Run!" screamed the duplicate of the pirate captain. "Back to the ship! Flee! They're cursed! Run, you fools!"
Some of the pirates jumped at the sound of their captain's voice, some ran, some just backed a pace or two, looking back and forth between both captains in confusion. It was enough.
I jerked my head down, cutting a line of red along the underside of my jaw on the tip of the captain's sword. When my horn was in line with his face, I pushed my spell with all of my strength.
Breaking through the enchanted chain took me enough time for his eyes to widen in surprise, and for him to raise his cutlass for a decapitating stroke. Then, the searing bolt of magic spattered molten silver across the quarterdeck and blasted him up and over the larboard rail.
The rest of the pirates all recovered their wits and went for killing strokes, but I caught them all in my magic before anypony else could be hurt.
"Doctor!" I screamed. "Get the emergency case! Now!"
It seemed like it took forever. I eased my grip on the weapons, and my crew went about disarming the pirates.
Dr. Woundwort returned with the red and yellow striped box and knelt beside Lee Helm, gently pushing a weeping Fluttershy aside. "Look away, everypony!" he said sharply. Then, he held the box in front of the old stallion's face and opened the lid. There was a long moment where nopony made a sound. The only thing to be heard was the angry cockatrice hissing and struggling against the restraining wire mesh inside the box.
Then there was the thump of the lid closing, and the sound of Dr. Woundwort clearing his throat. "I'm sorry, captain. He's gone."
Fluttershy's wail nearly broke my heart.
I forced myself to look down. There should have been a statue of a kindly old stallion, awaiting revival by the best mages of Canterlot, but we had been too late. He had known so much about sailing an airship, and trading in foreign ports, and gentle encouragement, and… how could such treasures simply vanish from the world?
"Captain?"
My crew were waiting for me.
"You," I hissed, lifting the trapped pirates in my magic. "None of you asked my leave to board my ship! GET OFF OF HER!"
With all of my strength, I threw them at Belladonna. The ship's timbers shattered, her shrouds snapped and fell, and her envelope ripped and tore. There was a groan as her hull and keel twisted, spilling gear, cargo, and bodies, and she dropped out of sight.
But there was one pirate I had held onto.
I turned to the pegasus who had so casually killed Lee Helm. "You have a lot to think about," I said, as I wrenched the red and yellow case out of the doctor's grip. "And you will have a lot of time to think about it... down in the cold and the dark."
I shoved the box into his face and opened the lid. I had to peel his eyelids back and turn his eyes in their sockets to get him to meet the cockatrice's gaze, but his green coat finally turned gray and hard.
I dropped the statue overboard and gave the emergency case back to the doctor. "See to the wounded, please," I told him.
I was the captain. There were things to be done, and it was my responsibility to see that they were. Grief would come later. Numbness was my friend.
"Mr. Acorn, resume course for Canterlot. Make all possible speed.
"Khaatarrekket, please drop your disguise. It's alright, nopony will harm you.
"Everypony, this is Ket's true form. She is a changeling of the Great Desert Hive, and we all owe her an enormous debt. She is to be treated as an honored guest, and anypony who offers her the least discourtesy will incur my deepest displeasure.
"Mr Fairlead, see that Mr. Helm is taken below and treated properly. If anypony knows what his wishes were in such an event, you will make them known to me and I will make arrangements.
"Mr. Hitch, see to it that the deck is cleaned, and those weapons properly stowed.
"I am going to retire to my cabin and explain... " My voice nearly cracked and I had to pause for a moment. "I will explain the situation to Spike, and then I will return to the quarterdeck to stand watch."
"Pinkie, I think that Spike may need somepony to be with. Could you please…? Yes. Thank you."
"Twilight, you can't just…" Rarity began.
Applejack stopped her with a hoof laid on her shoulder. "Leave her be, Rares. Trust me on this."
I gave AJ a nod of thanks and got to work.
Pretending to be the captain.
Pretending to be okay.
= = =
=
The description sounds an awful lot like Death Note
6748886
Holy carp, it does!
6748805
I'm really sorry, but I'd do it again if I had to.
I admire her restraint.
Seems the pirate captain is in for an "And I Must Scream" fate, if I read that right.
Serves him right, the bastard.
6748977
No, but really... remember that (re: Discord) petrified ponies are still aware of their surroundings.
Yeah.
.
.
.
Do NOT hurt this mare's friends.
6748977 Restraint? Twilight most likely killed all the pirates AND condemned their leader to an "And I Must Scream" fate....they had it coming, but she did NOT hold back.
6749009
I think he just might have been the teensiest bit sarcastic there!
And yeah, ponies are still aware of their surroundings, even when petrified. But it was the unnamed pegasus who killed Lee Helm, not the pirate captain. The captain was killed outright by Twi's first shot. Luckily for him.
6749044
Whoops, missed that detail.
6749052
That's pretty much it... as far as Twilight knows.
Wow. Up to this point the protagonists in this fic/the previous fics have tried very hard to be as non-lethal as possible (to ponies)... and then Twilight kills an entire pirate crew single-hoofedly and condemns one pirate to eternity in Davy Jones (Davy Pones?) Locker.
Heavy.
6749009
She could have blinded him, taken his wings, and a leg then left him to become a beggar in the most squalid section of the closest city. That's one of the darker punishments I've seen in a "Twilight absolutely loses her shit" scenario in a fic.
Celestia will probably come save him from the ocean at some point, or even Twilight herself... probably.
6749355 That sounds like it does something FAR WORSE that Twilight doesn't know about...and that we might see in a future chapter.
6749601 I don't think Celestia, or Twilight, would want to spend the time and effort to find ONE petrified pirate--who murdered one of the latter's comrades--out in the sea after an artifact heist.
Besides, it's not like he didn't have it coming.
iisaw - thank you. Seriously.
I really need, just occasionally, just sometimes, to see the bad guys actually getting the horridly messy end they deserve.
I feel better for it.
Well. Yes. That was rather sudden.
6749972
Horrible things often are.
Sorry.
Buahahahahahaha Twi gave the son of a tavern wench a fate far worse then death. No cutting off legs, blinding, and then left a beger it not worse as DEATH can still happen for the luck less dog that's now a statue death is most likely NOT a option now.
Whoah, intense chapter is intense, awesome work.
6750552
Hey, this does have a "Dark" tag. :)
6749044
The element of harmony petrification had the victim still be aware, not normal petrification (and that might just have been because the target was Discord).
It was made clear in Stare Master that Twilight had no memory of the period while she was petrified, so unless you're explicitly diverging from the show on this point, the pirate is merely effectively dead instead of suffering a fate worse than death.
On another note, the majority of the crew don't know Twilight's identity, IIRC. Is Spike not famous enough in this story for any of the ponies to suspect that something is up when they see a princess's assistant sailing on a random merchant ship?
In some ways, its a good sign that Twilight still reacts like this. The echo of the power of the Red Queen would probably have done things to the pirates straight out of nightmares.
Lee's death was shocking, especially as I had got to love the character. However, it has a serious role in the narrative, especially in the loss of Twilight and her friends' innocence.
This was not a descent into Dark territory, this was a piledriver into Dark territory.
6752500
He's probably under the same spell the rest of the mane 6 are (looks different and name sounds different to those not in the know). And if you go by comic-canon, there's an entire dragon neighborhood in... I think it was Baltimare?
6752500
6753957
Yes, Spike is also in disguise. It's mentioned a couple of times in previous chapters.
And... turns out there are different breeds of cockatrice.
6752685
Yep. In fact, it's pivotal.
6751930
Sorry... but it had to be done.
6754033
That's perfect! Which comic is this from?
(I'm adding the pic to the Author's Notes!)
6754189
Thanks!
6754008 I... I understand. Their mission is dangerous, it would be unrealistic to expect everyone to live.
Gotta love that fantasy equivalent of cryopreservation. Even if it was a vain attempt this time around.
Just got up to date with this series, this part of the series is very different from the previous two, not sure if I like it more, less, or just as much, but either way, it's good.
How strong is Twi compared to Celestia/Luna? is she getting stronger?
6757874
With the Nightmare's magic, either within her or feeding her from the talisman, Twilight has more raw power than Celestia or Luna. Without it, she is less powerful than they.
Well... I have no words about this sudden death... Suddenly remembers the details from last chapter... Oh st, don't tell me she's going to perform necromancy!
And back to the past, well, guessing the chance in plans is do to the whole, finding out Chryssi is up to something thing. But let's see.
Well thanks for warning us shit it about to get bad so we can start worrying about it now rather then be surprised. Still these opening blurbs have been so vague and only related in the most general sense so far lately.
...... that pun.....
So they ARE going home at some point, still wondering if they still EVER go home after the first few months or something.
Hey they are remembering he's here and can do that finally. Reply to Twilight telling them about Chryssi?
Rapid fire scroll work? This actually addressing the whole, Luna and Twilight staying in touch due to you know, supposedly being so in love with each other and not liking being apart? Or, is it regarding Bug Queen?
Smart dragon.
Okay, this is confusing. It could still be either one but, why three hours?
Huh, well that does make sense. And does mostly fit what we have seen... mostly, though there have been times it's seemed a bit faster. Like Magic Sheep Though that could have just been Luna being so eager to track it down she used some time magic to go back to a moment after they sent the scroll to get there as fast as she could without violating causality. But still, this makes sense.
DAYS!? Was not expecting that, still means she should have been writing Luna before this. But yeah that seems, just a bit to overly long, it makes sense but, damn...
So this is from her about the Hive, and, they've been at it for a few days now?
The universe just LOVES to tease you like that, doesn't it Twi?
And now, I'm not sure if the wording on her letter is really just kind of insulting, referring to Ket as "the changeling" or "the spy" or, if at this point, I'm just being overly sensitive to how the story treats changelings after everything else that WAS offensive and insulting to them. Still, what she's asking is fine and make sense, just think the wording could have been better given all the other issues the story has been having regarding Changelings.
And you were not expecting this? Weren't you like, going to be heading home after this anyway? I mean yeah cutting the port visit a bit short but, not like it's radically altering everything right?
Wow, Twi really is not taking this well. Still, bit of an over reaction.
Okay, who gave Dash the 'special' drinks?
Ah a little, "Klatchian Coffee"?
Ooookay, that seems, even more and over reaction the Twilight's. And given all else......
Yup, hyper Dash activate. Granted it's likely nothing compared to the stuff Twi brewed during Finals Week.
Just challenge her to a race home agsint Nebula and let her have a head start, then just pick her up on the way.
Well, at least that is some good thinking. Still... just knock her out and drag her? Given Twi's way of handling things so far, I would not be surprised.
Why? What happened to the whole, just use their real names and let the spell handle the rest? Why would Twi have to say that? Also, so they DID all pick specific names? Or is Twi just pulling shit out of her plot?
Still, she is doing a good 'Angry captain" act.
Weeeellll, I mean yes, that could be insulting... but it could also be taken as a compliment.
Which is doubly weird given how last story (and the show at times) treated those things as either lingerie or outright bondage gear back in Equestria. Now THERE is some cultural differences.
Huh, interesting take on world building. And, I kind of like that idea.
Twilight..... you have NO bucking room to talk about what a 'mature mare' would do given just how immature and ill thought out so much of the stuff you have done and will do is. But hey it's SO easy to be judgemental about others while ignoring your own flaws after all.
Oh sweet Faust the irony. GREAT little scene here. Love the little touches like this.
ouch, that is going to be one hell of a headache.
Well, Gilda.......
Gee.... YA THINK! And yes totally seeing this just being one more slip down the slope into her whole, well, what she's about to do in the 1014 portion.
Translation, I did not think out what the buck I was doing. Kind of a running theme for you Twilight.
Wait, so even the crew she left with doesn't know who she is? that feels.. a bit contrived that she'd get all this and just, odd they would not know who they were dealing with. I can kind of see it, if they don't know they can't let it slip while drunk in port. But, just.. IDK feels odd and a bit wrong to me.
Sky Pirates, now question is, victim, or trap?
....... well... fuck.. these sky pirates are NOT fucking around.. at all..... Alright Twilight time to channel Littlepip again.. these 'pirates' are just raiders with some fancy toys. Still good to see RD isn't letting her being upset with Twi get in the way of important stuff like this.
Trap....
Yup...... well, this should be fun.........
Okay if they could take out and detain RD that easily.. they really are dangerous... they have also just pissed off the WORST pony on the planet to make your enemy.
To be fair, she really was mostly in the right for doing this, and yes, uncertain situation. Still, this is going to give her a hair trigger on things like this from now on.
Magic dampener, well fuck... granted that's only likely to slow her down.
That... does not seem like it would make a good stopper, given the shape of horns, what is holding it in place and prevents the unicorn from just dipping their head and scraping it off quickly?
Good job Rarity. Now, time for some payback.
Again.. why not just rip it off? It can't be held on that tightly.
You assholes are DEAD!
Oh yeah.. so.. SO dead....
........
Smart move, AND quick thinking.. still... Twilight.. BURN THEM!
Just enough time to know how utterly FUCKED he was.. perfect.
Now THAT is one hell of an 'emergency kit" and.. yeah it.... damn if that isn't an awesome idea. Perfect stasis till they can get him to better medical care.
.................. These pirates do not know just how fucked they just made their entire group.........
Oh... fuck...... yeah you do not fuck with Twilight's friends.. EVER.. but now, when she's already unbalanced as is.....
Well, looks like Twi can learn that lesson about Changelings again... still bit upset she forgot it from the first time.
Oh... fuck... just.. that... that.. I was expecting bad and yet, that.. the way it was handled.... just....I may need a few moments to deal with this one....
Well, shit.
I am absolutely RIVETED
No time for comments, the story awaits!
Time for some Equestrian politics instead of piratey adventures.
Ooo, except for a brief side trip to see how extreme overcaffeination affects Dash.
Pinkie isn't wrong.
Yeah, no kidding.
Uh...
Oh, so actual pirates.
You know, they're really lucky that it wasn't one of the mane six that reacted first to the threat to Fluttershy. Not that the loss of Helm is somehow a better alternative, but it's still somehow less bad.
Ooo, molten silver to the face. I'm having a hard time summoning sympathy.
Shit.
Oh damn. On one hand, that was horrible, but on the other, I can sort of understand it.
Well, I think we just saw at least one reason why Spike isn't along for later adventures.
Missing the end quote mark.
Really loving this. Great job.
8127958
Fix'd, thanks! Glad you're enjoying it so far!
Oh . That pirate's death... I felt fucking glad when he died. Well played.
And I thought the loss of innocence in the last story was serious.
Just rereading this bit now. Damn, that's downright brutal. Deserved, but brutal.
Also, small typo:
9730208
Thanks for the correction!
Rather than killing just 1 pirate, she should have killed them all and destroyed their ship.
9798260
Um... that's exactly what she did!
9798398
But they did not make sure that they are dead. The ship might not have sunk after it hit the water. The pegasi can fly to land. I would break the wings of the pegasi and followed the ship to the water and used the survivors as targetpractice and make certain that the ship sinks.
D':
Helm...
that hurts, chief. that hurts real good
I see Celestia has concerns about the changeling. That might explain part of Twilight's sudden... eagerness to keep probing the crystal-thingy from the last chapter, since these events happened prior. How interesting...
This world building is fantastic! Also Dashie overdosing on coffee reminds me of the alcohol censorship in Earthbound on the SNES. There were a couple of drunk NPCs sprinkled throughout the game, holding a cup in their hand. Instead of being drunk, they were rewritten to be on a caffiene buzz, or wired on coffee instead. It's pretty clever, since it flew over my head as a 6 yearold.
Oh that sneaky little-
Man that sucks... I have to admit, it's clever using a cockatrice to "preserve" a wounded/dying pony, so that they can get medical help. Risky, but very clever.
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Wew. That got... heavy. Real fast. I'm not surprised by what happened, but at the same time it's a sharp feeling. If the events of the last two books hadn't occurred, I'm not certain if Twilight would have acted in the way she did. I suppose TCC and TLC had... hardened her a bit. It's taking me some time to fully collect my thoughts and emotions to type this out in a more coherent manner. I might have to take a break from reading tonight.
Of course, I'm not intending to stop by any means, was just hit a tad harder than what I usually read. It's certainly not as... woeful as some other stories I've read, but it's still incredibly heavy all the same. If anything, it's still a good learning experience as a writer. But I do need to take a break and collect myself for the evening.
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Absolutely not! Those experiences have changed her. Her foundation of beliefs and attitudes are still there, but they've been modified and added to.
Dude, I do not blame you in the slightest. When I wrote that scene, I cried like a baby.