2 Traditional Pursuits
Chapter Two
Traditional Pursuits
It took a lot of convincing and negotiating. Rather more ponies were involved than logically should have been. There was shouting. Considerably more shouting than was necessary... or comfortable. Unexpectedly, Sunburst was the pony who settled the matter.
One afternoon about a week into the debate over Flurry's martial education, Cadance and I were… let's call it "exploring options" over tea, when a guard interrupted to announce the arrival of Sunburst. As Flurry's crystaller, he absolutely had the right to be part of the discussions, but I was not looking forward to yet another point of view being thrown into the already over-complicated and contentious mix.
It turned out that what he had to contribute was purely practical. "Flurry is affecting the Heart, and not in a good way," he said bluntly as he entered the room.
I looked up from my notes. "She's not going to break it again is she?"
"It might be better if she did," he replied. "As it is, her emotional turmoil is feeding into the Pax Equestria spell. Rather than being given happiness and contentment, ponies are feeling unhappy and dissatisfied. Whenever Flurry Heart throws a tantrum, actual fights break out!"
Cadance set her cup down with an unsteady clatter that slopped tea into the saucer. "There must be something we can do? A spell, or maybe..."
Sunburst shook his head. "Her connection to the Heart is just as strong as yours. There isn't a suitable magical solution to this problem."
I cleared my throat.
Cadance stiffened, then sighed and turned to me. "Yes, Twilight?"
"If you aren't willing to banish her to a distant land, you might want to consider making her happy."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before replying. "And is teaching her to do violence really the best way to do that?"
"Jousting is an activity your ponies enjoy a great deal. It fosters sporting conduct and camaraderie. It is violent, yes, but many sports are. Sword arts are no different." I glanced down at my notes. "Statistics show that ponies who train in martial arts are actually less prone to use violence to—"
"Stop," Cadance said squeezing her eyes shut. "Please, stop."
"Uh… I'm sorry Cadance," I said, not quite sure what it was I was apologizing for.
She sighed. "It's become a matter of state now... if it ever wasn't. I have to do what is best for my ponies, the Empire, and Equestria. Would it be possible to start her with jousting? That's at least traditional."
= = =
There's something about seeing a beautiful young mare with a black eye that is inherently wrong. The fact that I'd paid a lot of money to the stallion who had done it to her didn't really sit well with me.
The ponies in the stands watching the practice session didn't much care for it either. They booed the stallion who had tumbled their young princess in the dirt, and he made a hasty exit from the lists as I helped Flurry up and led her into the tiring house.[1]
----------
[1] For those not native to the Crystal Empire and unfamiliar with the sport, the "lists" is the ground separated by the central barrier where ponies make their lance passes. It is a single place, despite the word appearing to be plural. A "tiring house" is the enclosed shed at both ends of the lists where opponents put on their armor and equipment.
----------
"It's okay. I know what I did wrong," Flurry told me while I applied palliative and healing spells to her swollen eye. "I was too concerned with getting my hit in. I got over-confident. Defending my chest with my face wasn't such a good idea, either."
I nodded. "You're so tall, a lot of the standard techniques don't work very well for you."
She chuckled. "I've been doing okay up until today!"
I sighed. It was time to tell her. "That's mainly because your opponents have been holding back, if only subconsciously."
"What?"
"I promised Bon Passuer five thousand bits if he knocked you on your rump. I had to pick him because any crystal pony would have thrown the money back in my face."
She stared at me in surprise for a long while and then her expression hardened.
That was the moment I'd been dreading. It happens to every student of any serious martial art. The moment when they realize that despite all the moons of hard work they've put in, they're still years away from mastery. That realization usually goes one of two ways. I held my breath.
"Alright, then." Flurry Heart floated a new lance over from the rack and snapped it into place on her barding. Then she put her helmet back on. "How about a few more practice passes before supper? If you go easy on me, I swear I'll tell the chef to serve you her infamous Beet Surprise."
I let out my breath and smiled. Crisis averted—at least until Cadance got a good look at her daughter's shiner.
= = =
Life went on, and the other mileposts of disillusionment went by in a regular fashion, Flurry weathering them all with poise and determination. Despite my brother's certainty that she would quickly tire of the rough-and-tumble practice of combat and return to more lady-like pursuits, she only got more enthusiastic as time went by, and added several more weapon styles to her repertoire.
She never competed in a public jousting tournament. It was nearly impossible to find any jousters willing to try to break a lance on their beloved Flurry Heart no matter the circumstances. But the all-princess exhibition matches between her, Luna, and myself were very popular.
Flurry's first taste of real battle came during the Chrysalis Disaster when a swarm of drones discovered that a young alicorn, deprived of her magic, was nowhere near as helpless as they assumed she would be. It also gave her the final test of her determination. Magic can be deadly, but it's usually clean. Nopony can truly be prepared for what a sharp blade or lance does to a living being. And the pony wielding that blade… well, it takes some getting used to.
We all helped her through the aftermath as well as we could, but I knew from hard experience that only distance in time would soften the experience. It was nearly half a year before she picked up a sword again.
One afternoon Flurry unexpectedly showed up at my castle with a matched pair of practice short blades, nearly identical in length and weight to the set I'd carried for almost two decades.
"Last year, you said I was ready to start learning this style," she said, before I'd even properly greeted her. "If we could train here, that would be good. Mother doesn't think I'm ready for... " she trailed off and shrugged.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
She thought for a long moment before replying, which I took as a very good sign. "Yes, I am. I hated what I had to do, and I still shudder every time I walk down Tourmaline Avenue toward the palace. I didn't save a bunch of ponies like you and Starlight did, but I saved myself. And I think that's what I need to remember."
I nodded. "Good. No time like the present. The basic stance is the same as tierce for saber, but your near front hoof goes here," I said as I floated the blades over to her. "The pastern grip is the same as for a cutlass, but the hoof is different; I'll cover that later."
Steel rang on steel as my niece and I danced.
= = =
Everything went along fairly smoothly for a while until Flurry asked to accompany me on one of my clandestine missions abroad. I thought it would be a good experience for her, but Cadance and Shining absolutely forbade her to go.
When I wisely refrained from entering into the debate about the matter,[2] Flurry got even angrier with me than she was with her parents.
---------
[2] Yes, I can learn complicated, non-verbal, and completely unscientific social skills… given enough time and repetition.
----------
She decided (and made it widely known) that Luna was her favorite aunt, and she began wearing a lot of black clothing and moon and night themed jewelry. I was hurt by this, of course, and it was my turn to receive inadequate reassurances that this was "only a phase."
I did my best not to worry too much. Flurry kept up her practice, just not with me. There were several crystal ponies who she could train with—and even teach, which I thought would be very good for her. She also began to pay much more attention to classical magic training, spending a great deal of time with Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer.
I tried to enjoy her progress vicariously through gossip and a couple of occasions where I secretly observed her training sessions, but it just wasn't the same. Starlight told me about the forgotten old spell they'd rediscovered with Sunburst that had the singular and unusual effect of keeping heavy makeup from running into a pony's eyes when they began sweating from hard exercise. Not something that would have gotten much use in most circumstances.
If only I had enquired more closely into what other types of magic she was studying.
= = =
For me, it all began when a Solar Guard barged into the library at Ponyville Castle, gasping for breath. Spike was away on a visit to the Dragonlands, or I would have received a scroll, but as it was, Celestia sent her fastest pegasus with the news.
Somepony had stolen my airship.
I don't know if I can adequately convey how much Nebula meant to me. She'd been badly damaged in many battles and misadventures, and any non-obsessed pony would have sent her to the wrecker's yard years before. I'd certainly spent a great deal more money repairing, reengineering, and refitting her than it would have cost me to build three new craft. My castle in Ponyville had become as comfortable and pleasant a place to live as can be imagined, but Nebula was… even more than a home to me. She was comfort food, a refuge, a familiar and well-loved storybook written in sprung planks and scarred timbers.
Am I being ridiculously sentimental? Perhaps. But that's the reality of my feelings, and so, even though it's understandable, I'm rather ashamed of my initial reaction to the guard's news.
"WHAT?!" The reflexive magical energy that surged into my horn leaked all over the place, throwing sparks and scattering my books and papers across the floor. Arcs of mana snapped and crackled from the ends of my mane and tail, and I'm sure I frightened the poor pegasus half to death.
He barely showed a reaction though; Celestia's Elite aren't chosen for how good they look in their armor. He calmly adjusted his helmet from where the Royal Voice had blown it askew, and went on with his message.
"It happened yesterday evening, Your Highness. A small group of ponies arrived at the Canterlot Yards just before they locked the gates for the night. The thieves told the pony on duty that they were a delivery crew, and that you'd sent them to pick up the ship and fly it here. They even made the payment on the new equipment and rudder repair."
I calmed down a bit as he spoke, but I was still barely in control of myself. "And the Yard just gave her over to these ponies?"
The pegasus pulled a roll of paper out of his saddle and and offered it to me. "They had convincing paperwork and what appeared to be your signature and seal."
Sure enough, the scroll looked perfectly authentic. It was watermarked with my cutie mark, as is all of my official stationery, and the seal and signature looked genuine even to my eyes.
"It was old Mr. Gudgeon who realized what had happened," the guard continued. "When he arrived at the Yards in the morning and heard the news, he told everypony that you'd never do such a thing, that you always made the final inspection yourself and took Nebula out for a shakedown before signing off."
I nodded. "Always."
"Well, the city guards were skeptical, but he kept insisting, so they flew him up to the palace. Her Majesty sorted it out in about a minute and sent me to give you the news. She also sent pegasus patrols out in all directions, looking for your ship."
I had to breathe deeply before replying. "Thank you, sir. Would you mind waiting in the antechamber before you return to Canterlot? I need to cast some complex spells now, that may take a moment. Afterward, I will have a message for Princess Celestia."
He bowed. "Of course, Your Highness."
When he'd gone, I scribbled down a note to Periwinkle, my secretary, and teleported it onto her desk. By the same method, I summoned the saddlebags containing my essential travel gear onto the table and rummaged through them for a particular item. It may or may not come as a surprise to the reader that an adventurer can sometimes become unwillingly separated from her ship, and that a way to locate that ship quickly and accurately can be incredibly useful at certain times.
The little brass compass didn't look any different from the usual magnetic kind, but it had a hidden crystal-powered mechanism beneath the face that would respond to a bit of pressure on the correct part of the housing. A glowing arrow formed above the compass, turning to point toward Nebula and lengthening to show her approximate distance.
West by South and a good hundred leagues at least. Deep into the Forgotten Lands. Fleeing into the lawless Undiscovered West wasn't going to do them any good. In fact, they might regret not having the protection of Equestrian rights when I caught up to them, depending on how they'd treated my beloved Nebula.
I teleported my light suit of aeronaut's armor into the room and went about putting it on. I was settling the saddlebags over it when Periwinkle and the guard entered the room.
"Ah, good! Peri, write out a message for this guardpony to take back to Canterlot. I know where the thieves are and am going to go deal with them now. Cancel court and appointments for the next two days… no, make that three. If they've hurt Nebula, I'll need some time to dig a pit beneath Tartarus to put them into."
Periwinkle took it in stride, but the guard's eyes widened just a bit, because he didn't know if I was kidding or not.
I wasn't.
= = =
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Stealing the Nebula wasn't your smartest move, Flurry.
Two things:
One: It's going to jump onto the front page every Tuesday, isn't it? :P
And two: Twilight just got terrifying.
Oh, Flurry...
Oh, Twilight...
...Oh, everypony.
Ship thief!
Angry Twilight is scary...
Most ponies never get to see the pissed off Alicorn.
We all know Flurry did this, but I'm going to be disappointed when she just gets off with a slap on the wrist.
7987362
Judging by how monumentally pissed Twilight is, I don't think Flurry will be all that lucky.
Alright, now that Skyla's given auntie Twilight a stroke and managed to get her thinking teaching the filly how to turn a pony into sishkabob is a good idea, a least compared to teaching her how to git spit roasted. What will Twilight do? Also how much more adorable can this get?
One of the Princesses slipped into the RCV and ended up getting half the city in on the conversation just so they could get some sleep, didn't they? But, good on Twilight not keeping it a secret.
..... Well now... Twilight.. trying out a bit of 'stress relief' with Cadance? Still, really would love to know just how bad they were arguing over this. And what sort of 'options' I'm guessing somewhere along the lines Cadance brought up just chaining Flurry Heart in the dungeon to keep her safe. Or maybe just seal her in her room. Twi.. hmmmm..... still not sure how into the idea Twi is. Maybe the two of them trying to find ways to talk/keep Flurry Heart out of this?
Well, nothing like "If you don't get her out of here or make her stop being so mopey, it could destroy the city." To help get a filly her way.
Seems Twilight is on team Pirate. YAY! But it does make sense, if she's THIS set on doing something risky, better to let her get it out of her system with Twilight around to watch over her, rather then risk her running off alone.
Go Twilight, win her over with numbers and facts. Get the feeling she's been doing that a lot the last few days. But, good Twilight there, trying to take the most logical approach she can about it, and she's not wrong, teaching Flurry Heart this stuff in the right way can help her respect what it can do and maybe get her a bit of discipline. And hey, still better then teaching her 'wrestling'.
That said, this might.... MIGHT.. come off a tad to easy, just "Oh Sad Flurry makes Sad Heart let her do this." The idea works, and this going down like this makes sense... likely just my personal preference for longer, more detailed, more showy accounts flaring up, as is it works perfectly fine. And getting more detailed about it, and the fighting over this, would likely just drag the story down.. as much as I'd love to see that. But I can never get enough detail like that.
Very, very good and fun double meanings here, yeah likely just a sparing match that didn't go well, but hey, she's also gotta learn to deal with some bumps and bruises. Besides,she's an alicorn, she'll be fine. Wait.. is she the immortal version, or non-immortal version of Alicorn?
The more you know~
No, no it is not, still glad to see her taking this so well and being rationale, taking it as a chance to learn and do better rather then just getting upset over it being hard, shows great hope for her acting.. mostly.. maturely about things and listing to Twilight, taking the lessons seriously and all that.
Oh... right... yeah that is an issue, but good job Twilight seeing she needs to face a foe that's not holding back. Smart move and makes a lot of sense.
Alright Flurry I just said you were dealing with this maturely... don't go making me take all that back.....
Hmmm, hope we aren't skipping to much.. I know I know likely nothing we NEED to see, but see above, I love seeing the details and just having them summarized kind of presses on my "Something isn't right" triggers for stories, even when their isn't anything actually wrong.
..... You know... I am not the least bit surprised at that. Now if they could just get Tia to let loose and have some fun with them like that. But.. yeah this sounds awesome.
..... I see what you are doing iisaw...... ohhhh you are such a plot tease!
So, Chryssi didn't get the hint about trying to take over leading to extinction... or just a rouge swarm? Or, some other situation? Given the name, sounds like Chyssi up to some bad stuff..... but is she really THAT stupid? Or, is this just going to go full on character derailment and just turn Cshaaree into Chryssi 2.0 and totally wipe out everything that had made her great in the first place because... ummm....... Changelings evil no matter what? You know despite all the evidence these stories themselves have outright shown that is not the case. Yeah yeah we've been over and over and over my issues with how you seem to want Changelings to be. Hopefully it was neither of them. That would work for the best IMO.
Very true... and good thing she learned how to wield it with her mouth as well given no magic. But, all good points, just curious what the hell was going on.
Well let's hope she gets through this WITHOUT nearly destroying the world before realizing she was kind of fucked in the head and needs help.
Yup, that is SO going to go well........
Well, damned if she does, damned if she doesn't.
Nice little reminder that for all she is dealing with the maturely overall.. she's till a teenager
Well then... ummm... that is a thing that happened.. and.. yeah I love making it sound so epic.. for something so muindane... granted Rarity is likely even now burning a path to the Empire to learn that spell ASAP.
Faust damnit Skyla! Still... isn't that thing usually docked at her castle? Yeah, the docs say homeported in Ponyville... so how did Celestia know it had been stolen before Twilight if she's at Ponyville?
And for all that, as touching, and moving, and just sweet as it is... is nothing compared to what Fluttershy will do to Skyla if she so much as scratches that baby.....
Ah, it was in the shop. Fair enough reason.... good job story.
Flurry's been dabbling on forgery magic it seems... now the question is.. who are the ponies she talked into doing this with her?
Hence showing up during the night shift. Hope those guys enjoy scrubbing bird crap off of hulls for the next few months.
Yup, saw her having a homing beacon for the ship prepared just in case, very common sense thing to have. So Skyla.. you can run, but you can't hide...... unless....
Okay, thought Skyla MIGHT have anticipated that and done something to mess with it... but that is likely a bit to advanced for her, she didn't really think this one through fully most likely.
... Twilight... no going Nightmare Twilight on them.... at least.. not fully... by all means but the fear of the mare that faced down The Red Queen in them. Well.. until you see who it was that stole it.. that should definitely be interesting.
Ohhhh.. I'd feel sorry for Skyla but, well... I'm just having to much fun trying to picture Twilight's reaction to finding that out. Because yeah.. we all know it's Skyla.
Either way.... Skyla is about to find out just why Auntie Twilight became the greatest, more feared scourge of air pirates ever.. because, well TECHNICALLY, you did just become pirates by stealing her ship. Do feel sorry for the ponies she got to join her. Yeah, doubt Skyla's ever seen Auntie Twilight trully PISSED before.. she has no idea what she is in for...... and it's going to be great to see.
Well main story is off, Skyla and Twi about to collide and.. see how she ever manages to touch an airship again after this... the chapter.. again, the way so MUCH was skipped over, condensed.. it is not bad at all, it does work... just... not a style I particularly like, but that is 100% YMMV personal taste, not anything actually wrong with this, and it is done very, very well, still loved it, just, felt a bit....ehhhh over that. Also, finding it a bit odd none of the other mane 6 are brought up at all.. save for Flurry's one mention of Rarity last chapter.
7987338 Wait... didn't Twilight seal her Equestria off from all other dimensions at the end of Enigma? Ohhhh Changelings from one of the timelines where Chryssi 'won' and are in the process of starting to starve invade to try and gather more food? That could be one hell of a story, and of course, Chryssi and/or Chsaaree would be blamed at first.. ohh I'm liking this idea!
7987362
7987384
Flurry will be mostly fine.
I'm more worried about the strangers Twilight is going to see going about the deck. If they aren't wearing Crystal Guard armor there may well be casualties. Twilight will be fine there sure, however I have doubts about the other alicorn aboard. Getting your trusted subordinates murdered will be something else she sees in her nightmares for a good long while.
7987531 Oh, Twilight isn't going to kill them... no no no... that would be to quick and letting them off FAR to easy.
So Flurry did that because everyone wanted her to be the princess they wanted her to be princess she wanted to be her own person combined with Teen emotions. I can understand that.
Everyone needs a big slap in the face!
The "Chrysalis Crisis"? The "Cadance Comundrum"? Where are all these events and stories that are being referenced?
dead mare walking and really flurry you leave equestrias protection i wouldntbe suprised if twi kills them all but you you DO NOT FUCK WITH A SAILORS BOAT....or airship in this case
7987607
Somewhere in L-Space. Bring bananas.
7987607 in the world of pure imagination.
7987085 That's her secret.
She's always terrifying.
Are you really going to spend precious enchantment space on that? Priorities, Flurry. You're never going to be as badass as Twilight if you... Well, actually you'll probably never be as badass as Twilight, but that only means you need to maximize your resources to get as close as possible!
I laughed a lot during this chapter, but this line made me laugh the most. During the recovery period of a freakout, a sarcastic threat made against a loved one with enough underlying anger to be actually plausible.
Can't wait for Twi to get to her ship. I really hope that Flurry and her crew aren't in the middle of something so that they can get the full "angry Twilight 'god slayer/subjugater' Sparkle" experience. Or at least I hope they did something mildly bad to her ship so that she can easily rekindle her anger after dealing with whatever situation Flurry and her crew were in.
1. So, it is pretty much a given that Flurry is behind this, however, the reports describe multiple ponies involved. Do we know anypony on her crew?
2. What did Luna have to say about being Flurry’s favorite aunt?
Y'know what...
I get an odd suspicion iisaw is playing with us, and it's NOT Flurry
And this is how the Apocalypse begins...
With the theft of an airship.
7987515
This comment. It's like a story written about a story. Longest legit comment I have ever seen
7989592
Heh, you think that's something, just keep in mind, this was only a 2.5K word chapter... imagine what one of these looks like for a story with 10k+ chapters.....
But glad you liked it... I miiiiiight overthink stories just a little.
So Nebula was stolen by a moody teenager? Fury Gothheart dun goofed up.
I think that a certain princess who is increasingly showing herself to be a spoiled brat with entitlement issues is going to get the surprise of her life. Oh, Twilight won't permanently injure her but I'm sure a few cuts and bruises from being bounced off of several walls and ceilings might be a useful learning experience for her!
I spent the past week reading the previous three stories after seeing this one in the featured box. I've enjoyed reading them all. I'm interested to see how this goes from here. How will Twi-wi react when she figures out her darling Flurry Burry style her precious Nebula? My prediction: confused half-rage, lol.
you know...
It is interesting how much can somepony be out of character in a story, yet how right it may feel
This story completely changed incoming sources and result is just marvelous. I see vividly how Twillight would look when talking about digging hole beneath Tartarus...priceless
7992630 Twilight is far from out of character here. She has been shaped by the events of three prior books (not including those not yet written) and years of adventures.
DOOMED!
So, here are some predictions:
Flurry and a crew took the Nebula, of that much I am certain. And by taking the Nebula she wants to get Twilights attention; she has it. And now that Twilight will teleport aboard, Flurry will want herself and Twilight to go on adventures together. That and I guess Flurry Heart has been studying dark magic.
When mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
I think that what makes your work so uniquely enjoyable is the heavy use of summary that is actually very enjoyable to read.
Good luck Flurry! Hopefully Twilight can find a cushy spot in Tartarus for you!
Is there a pony version on Don Quixote in this Equestria so she can use "at least she is not trying to joust with windmills" as a defense?
"The Cadence Conundrum" last chapter, "The Chrysalis Crisis" this chapter... iisaw, I don't know if you're messing with us (even if you aren't it's working) or hinting at stories you plan to write later...
8610534
They (and The Sunset Substitute) are already outlined.
8610701
There's an upcoming book in the series involving Sunset Shimmer?
...I need this in my life something fierce
8693205
The Sunset Substitute is strong possibility!
And the ending of this chapter reminds me of my problem with the previous story. I may have to take a break from reading.
8702918
She might not have be completely kidding, but was exaggerating.
Oh dear this is going to cause some issues
Passeur?
with whom she could train
Beep-
English.mode.set(COMMONWEALTH_PERMISSIVE);8455800
Estee wrote something about "depressing stories by donkeys"...and in a Xanth book someone said "donkey hotay" jokingly.