A Rather Large Adventure

by BradyBunch

Chapter Fifty-Six: Seaquestria

The water was cold and stifling. Though Skystar's bubbles of oxygen were filtering pure air to them all, Twilight felt as if she was about to drown. The experience of being kept under water but not drowning was a foreign idea for her. It made her head woozy.

She and Rarity were escorting Noble Blade's heavy body through the water, trying to keep pace with Skystar, whose gleaming body was several lengths ahead of them.

“We're almost there!” she called out behind her.

“Almost where?” Rainbow cried frustratedly. “We've been swimming for hours now!”

Twilight could relate. Frustration was built up inside of her. The feelings of reaching for a promise just outside of your grip was the most prevalent.

“We're almost to the slipstream!” Skystar said excitedly. “This is the fun part!”

“Slipstream?” Fluttershy whispered in fright.

The yellow light flew towards a faint-looking pale ribbon of water in the distance. “Right there! Follow me!”

“Wait!” Starlight called after her, swimming furiously. “Wait! Princess Skystar!”

Skystar was now right next to the underwater current. “Ready or not! Ready...go!”

And she dove into the stream and shot away.

The others all desperately swam into the large tube, and the instant they touched it, they were sucked in and shot forward like a bullet.

They were screaming, clinging to one another, rippling the skin on their faces and tearing back their eyes. The current went through one bend, and then another, and another, and each time they were slammed this way and that, feeling whiplash as their bodies strained against the powerful suction. The only one who wasn't screaming in fright was Pinkie Pie, who was squealing in delight like a filly going down a waterslide.

The stress was too much for Twilight to handle. She was being ripped apart by the sheer force of the ocean, straining at her muscles, pulling the skin off her bones-

A flipper grasped her hoof all of a sudden and yanked her away, and all of a sudden she was spinning in the ocean helplessly. From her spinning vision she saw Spike tumbling along next to her, and so was the rest of the girls and companions.

“Sorry about that,” Skystar hurriedly said, patting Twilight down. “Not everypony gets used to that at first.”

“Whee!” Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her hooves up. “That was fun!”

“I know, right?” Skystar asked, bumping her hoof with her own flipper. “Come on, it's not far now!”

“That's the sixth time she's said it,” Rainbow whispered to Firestorm. “Where is her home?”

“Skystar mentioned we were going to see her mom,” Pinkie piped up. “And she's a princess, which means-” She gasped. “Her mommy's a queen! Isn't that amazing?”

“The queen of what?” Starlight asked the laboring Twilight. “The ocean?”

“A kingdom,” Twilight struggled, gasping for air while helping the armored knight, “can be anything. Regardless if she’s Queen of the ocean or queen of a people, this pony we're going to go meet is a diplomatic figure! We've got to be careful with ourselves.”

“Ooh!” Firestorm gleefully said, rubbing his hooves together with a devious look in his face.

“Storm?” Noble called out to him. “Don't.”

Firestorm’s ears drooped as a frown pulled at his face.

“Go overboard,” Noble continued to clarify. “Don't go overboard.”

Firestorm brightened.

“You guys are going to love my mom!” Princess Skystar exclaimed all of a sudden, looping around all of them like a young fish.

“What's she like?” Rarity asked, doing the breaststroke with one hoof while she held Noble with another.

“Oh, she's stern, but I'm telling you, she's really charming once you get to know her! And she's got attitude! Cool moms are the best!” Skystar swirled around back to the front again and gestured with a flipper. “You see that black spot in the distance?”

Twilight squinted. “Yeah?”

“That's an underwater mountain. You're gonna love this part!”

Skystar led the others with a flipper to the imposing black slab in the distance, stretching up and up until it seemed like it would reach the roof of the world above them. As they got closer, they could see its face was encrusted with barnacles, algae, and ivory-white coral. Skystar swam deeper until she came to the base of the wall of rock, where a small hole was drilled into the stone.

“Why were ya all the way out in the middle o’ th’ ocean in the first place?” Applejack wondered.

Skystar blew a raspberry. “Oh, I, uh...it's nothing. We're all kind of sent out to search the ocean nowadays.”

“Whatcha searchin’ fer?”

Skystar took a nervous glance to the side. “Nothing important.”

Applejack shot a knowing glance at Rainbow Dash, who had a dubious look on her own face.

“Well, come on!” Skystar burst out of nowhere. “Follow me!” She vanished into the hole, and the yellow light inside grew dimmer as she advanced.

The Ten Souls obediently, gently, maneuvered themselves to the hole and went inside one by one.

The hole was narrow and had long crystals jutting from the side like pointing fingers, from as thick as a pencil to the width of their bodies. They all had to swim their way around them and over them, and it was at this point where Twilight's irrational fear of bursting their bubbles came to her in full force.

A purple glow was shining at the end of the tunnel and merging with the distant Skystar's brilliant golden flare. The party, curious, swam faster to reach the source of the glowing power.

As they came closer, they found that there was a ledge overgrown with fallen crystals, shattered at the base. The Ten Souls floated past the long crystals and out of the open entrance--and opened their mouths in wonder and awe.

Above them was a grand cavern hollowed out in the underground mountain, miles wide and miles high. Glowing bulbs in the shape of flowers shone brilliantly in the pristine water on the edges of the cavern. Sparkling in beautifully colored specks, they dazzled the edges of their vision. Schools of fantastic fish shot across their axis, trailing bubbles and reflecting color across their shiny scales.

Hanging from the ceiling of this cavern, though, was a structure that looked like an upside-down wedding of a lava lamp and a tulip. Dazzling purple in color and bulbous in many layers, it looked like some exotic, alien plant life that no mortal could shape.

The girls, and Rarity in particular, were gazing around with barely-concealed awe at the shiny wealth of the grand kingdom. But as they kept on watching, they noticed a disconcerting detail.

There weren't any pedestrians. No crossing fish-ponies were to be seen anywhere in the vast cavern. If Twilight squinted past her rippling bubble, she could just make out the faint shapes of inhabitants on the walls, hidden among the coral and broken stone. They squirmed and shifted uncomfortably, shielding their miniature children.

It made Twilight puzzle to herself. Why the mistrust amongst newcomers? And why were there so few of them?

Skystar, distinguished by her lampshade-yellow glow ahead, slowly led them to the alien shape hanging from the ceiling and swam up a central column. The girls followed her, but before they could even reach the top, they could hear voices.

“Wait right here,” Skystar advised them. “I'll go up and get mom to warm up to you first.”

She shot upward into the throne room above her. Now the Ten Souls could listen in on the conversation going on.

“I have served you for twice as long as the other captains have. I know the outside ocean! My queen, this is madness. To send someone like her to lead the retrieval-”

“The matter is settled, captain,” came an old, motherly voice. “You would be best stationed here while other seaponies went to search for the-”

“This is a national emergency!” exploded the first voice, arrogant and confident. “You would send less-experienced guards to seek for the one thing that can keep our kingdom secure?”

“That monster is still out there, captain,” the old motherly voice reminded him. “If it strikes at us again, we will need experienced people like you to keep us safe.” Her attention redirected itself to Skystar. “Oh, baby, you're back! Did you find anything to tell us the location of the-”

“Mom! Mom! I just found out the most amazing thing! I found some new friends while I was out looking!”

“Skystar, puh-lease don't tell me you found more purple shells.”

“But mom, you like purple shells!”

“I do, baby, but right now I'm doing something important. You can show me your shells later.”

“I didn't find shells! I found ponies!”

“That's our cue,” Rainbow Dash whispered, and swam up abruptly. The rest of the party followed her with delayed reactions, and before they all knew it, they were in the throne room of the underground city.

Turquoise pillars stretched far above their heads like they had been stretched thin. Their color was matched in the flowers encircling the circumference of the room. Twin rows of circular stone steps led up to the pedestal where the tall, grand throne sat. Two ponies were already in the room; one with regal bearing, sitting on the throne, whose relaxed expression got serious the instant the ponies appeared. The other pony was a scarlet fish-hybrid with bonemold armor and a serrated spear. When he saw them, his outraged demeanor flew to a fanatical one.

“My queen!” he bellowed. “They have come to claim the pearl for themselves! Get out of here! I'll see to their ejection from Seaquestria immediately!”

“Captain Sliphorn!” came the queen's stern voice. “Stand down until they prove themselves to be hostile!”

The scarlet Sliphorn floundered for a moment. Then, desperate for a confirmation, he jabbed his serrated spear at Pinkie Pie. “Well? Do something hostile!”

“You want a water balloon?” Pinkie countered with, taking one out of her mane. The balloon immediately inflated with water and rapidly burst.

Pinkie blinked. “Whoops.”

“It will be okay, Sliphorn,” the queen spoke reassuringly. “Just let me take care of it all.”

“Guys,” Skystar said with a trace of anxiety, jabbing at the queen. “Meet my mother, Queen Novo.”

“I can introduce myself, baby,” the regal seapony gently reminded her. She swam some distance from off her throne and gestured at herself with modest grace. “I am Queen Novo.”

She settled back down in her seat and ran her flipper on the edge of the seat. “Now tell me this. What are land ponies doing down here, and how can we get you back to the surface as fast as possible? You ponies aren't safe for us.”

“No, no, no, please, mom, I promise you, these guys aren't bad! They want to be our friends!”

The scaled queen looked at the broadsword on Noble Blade's back. “And yet they carry weapons.”

“Our weapons,” Noble spoke up, still supported by Twilight and Rarity, “are simply a means to an end, used only to remove obstacles on our journey.”

“If your journey didn't involve wandering into the ocean, I think I can see where the problem with your presence lies,” the queen said.

“Our journey happens to be the most important thing happening in the world at the moment,” Firestorm defended, pulling out the golden chain from around his neck holding the Element of Courage. “Retrieving these things, you know?”

The queen widened her eyes at the jeweled orange X on Firestorm's neck.

“Now, lady, you know what this thing is?” He jangled the chain.

“Oh, no,” she whispered. “Oh, no, no, no! Is it...is it truly time?”

“Time for what?” Firestorm asked seriously.

“Time for you to watch your tongue while speaking to the queen!” Sliphorn smugly said.

Firestorm whipped around and stared him in the eye. “Time for you to get a better comeback.”

Sliphorn shut up, unable to respond.

“I never thought I had to do this,” Novo mumbled. “I always thought we'd stay down here in peace. It seemed so far away when I first got the news. But the time has come at last.”

Novo swam down from her throne and came in front of all of them. She put both her flippers on the side of Twilight's cheeks. “Are you really...the Ten Souls?”

Twilight gulped noisily and nodded.

“The Child of Light,” she whispered. “It's you. It's you.”

“...Mom?” Skystar asked with a trace of concern. “What's happening?”

Queen Novo looked at Skystar scoldingly. “Hush.”

Skystar hushed.

Novo put her flipper underneath Twilight's chin. “These ponies are the ones, all right. You must help us in our time of need.”

Sliphorn gestured at the assembly incredulously. “These are the ones that will retrieve the pearl?”

“Silence, Sliphorn,” Novo ordered.

Sliphorn began to laugh. “Ten untouched, untested ponies?”

“Silence, Sliphorn,” Novo ordered harder, and Sliphorn, abashed, fell back.

“He said something about a pearl,” Spike observed. “What pearl are you talking bout?”

Queen Novo pointed up, and the Ten Souls followed her gesture. Hanging from the ceiling was a multilayered flower, and it was wrapped in thin glowing petals. In the center was an indent, where something was clearly designed to fit.

“The pearl is the greatest treasure us seaponies have,” Queen Novo explained. “But one month ago, a fearsome sea creature invaded Seaquestria, broke into the palace, and stole the pearl before fleeing into the depths from where he came. We have been sending scouts to see where he has gone, but the monster has vanished, and the pearl with him.”

“That must be why the inhabitants are so scared of us!” Starlight deduced.

“And why some others are rather…” Firestorm gave a glance at Sliphorn. “Apprehensive.”

“And do you want us to retrieve this pearl?” Twilight asked, still holding Noble Blade. Her arms ached from holding him up.

“I can't tell an outsider what to do for my people,” Queen Novo said plainly. “But if you do, I will help you in your quest to retrieve the Elements.”

Twilight's sores lessened in that instant. “You will?” she eagerly asked.

“My queen!” Sliphorn objected. “You said it yourself. They are outsiders. I have served you for twenty-five years, and I know what to do better than these land animals ever will!”

Novo leaned her head back. “Oh, Faust, it's learned how to count,” she groaned, before speaking louder. “Do you not trust these ponies? Do you even know who they are?”

“Well,” Sliphorn said modestly. “I know they're not me.”

“Look, if the job isn't for you, we can understand,” Freedom Fighter said. “You seem woefully inadequate for the job.”

“Inadequate?” Sliphorn sounded shocked. He pointed accusingly at Queen Novo. “Listen here, my queen. I didn't come here to be insulted!”

“Oh?” Novo mildly asked, resting her chin in her flipper on the armrest. “Where do you usually go?”

“One for her side,” Noble Blade whispered to Rarity.

“Now if you please, captain, leave us so we can come up with a plan. Go and cool off at the local cafe. The seaweed wraps are quite delectable, I'm told.”

Sliphorn struggled violently with his search for a comeback, but he eventually muttered a few choice swears under his breath and stormed off.

After he left, Queen Novo nodded at all of them. “This pearl is vital to us seaponies and especially dear to me. If you manage to retrieve it, I will grant to you the location of the Element of Sacrifice.”

“We accept,” Noble Blade immediately said. “To thy continuing health do I pledge mine service.”

“Me too,” Twilight said, hot on his heels. The rest of the girls made similar noises, with Spike at the end saying, “Sure.”

Firestorm jerked a hoof at the eloquent knight. “Ditto.”

“Where is the pearl?” Freedom Fighter asked harshly instead of pledging his acceptance. “Where did the monster take it?”

“We have been looking for it, Unforgiven,” Queen Novo said tiredly, making Freedom Fighter tense up in place at his heavenly name being nonchalantly spoken. “The monster disappeared without a trace of where he came. We are looking towards the south at the moment, but at this point, we're spread so thin that even my daughter has had to help in the search.”

Off to the side, Skystar nodded shyly and straightened the coral jewelry around her neck.

“Now, if you're going to help us, we should make it so you aren’t dependent on your air running out,” Novo continued. “The magic of the pearl could help in that regard.”

Novo nodded to Princess Skystar, who opened a clasp on her coral necklace. Inside an oyster was a shiny fragment that shone brighter than anything else in the cavern.

“When the monster was taking it away, he was a bit rough with it!” Skystar interjected to them. “He broke off this fragment from the pearl. This is the only part left. Ooh! Ooh! You're going to love this!” Skystar squealed, squeezing her cheeks with her hooves. She then coughed professionally and gestured at them all. "Hold hooves, please."

Each of them did. Twilight held her hooves with Fluttershy and Freedom Fighter, whose metal hoof was crushing her own. Twilight didn't say anything to him, though.

Skystar closed the gap in the circle. She closed her eyes and concentrated. From her body came forth a glow, and that glow traveled like a viral frost to each of the ponies holding the other's hooves. Twilight could feel herself emitting power, this kind of ability to transform. She felt fluid and graceful.

Each of the silhouettes changed in shape. The pony's bodies became slimmer, and their manes flowed long behind them. Fins sprouted up on their back, their back legs merged together, and out sprang large heart-shaped flippers.

As the light faded away and the delicate shard was dying down, their bodies stopped glowing and settled in the water. Everypony flicked themselves this way and that in astonishment; each companion had been transformed by the meager pearl shard into a hybrid of a fish and a pony.

Rainbow was the first to react. She threw her hooves up and swirled around in the ocean. “Ah-ha-ha-ha! Awesome!”

“I'M A FISH!” Pinkie proclaimed peppily. “Come on, Fluttershy! You gotta be more happy than that!”

The nervous Fluttershy, uncertain about the new form she had taken, flicked her tail, propelling her a foot. She smiled. “Yay!”

Noble Blade had had his armor shift to adopt his new body, overlapping his long torso in layers like the scales of the fish he had assumed the form of. He bent this way and that, and his armor accommodated it. Upon hearing his girlfriend’s zephyr-like voice, he swam to her side, no longer needing the support from Rarity and Twilight, and rested his hooves at her side from behind. He felt her tense up at his touch.

“Do you want to practice swimming with me?” he whispered in her ear.

She craned her head around to look him in his deep blue eyes. After biting her lip, she reached her decision and nodded.

He grinned, leaned in, and kissed her just for the heck of it. After pulling away, he paused and said much more quietly, “That kiss was...okay...with thee, right?”

She wiggled closer to him; he had backed away a little. “It was, um, fine.” She ran a hoof through her flowy pink mane and rested her other on his chest. “Do you want me to return the favor?”

He grinned as a rather large heartbeat sounded from behind his breastplate. “Do as you please.”

She lunged and planted her lips on his. She broke away after three seconds, and the two of them were sporting awkward smiles.

“Y'all. I’m right here.” Novo rolled her eyes in disgust as the two young lovers shot her embarrassed glances and pulled away. “Sheesh. Hold off on the lovey-dovey stuff until I can get you two a room.”

“Sorry.” Noble coughed shyly. “I simply got carried away. I beg your apology.”

“Oh, granted,” Novo irritably said, waving a flipper. “Love is hard to get right. It never works out the way you think.” She had an alarming look of resignation in her face.

“Mom?” Skystar asked nervously. “Are you thinking about-”

“Don't worry, baby,” Novo said to her daughter. “He's out of our life now. No use worrying about the guy who left.”

Noble and Fluttershy exchanged worried glances.

Firestorm, who also had his ragged armor adapt to his new form, tapped an unsuspecting Rainbow Dash on the shoulder. When she wheeled around, he pulled her in and squeezed a deep hug out of her, widening her eyes as a squeak escaped her.

“Yo, Dash,” he said in a deep baritone. “I'm a fish. I smell…” He inhaled through his nose. “Fishy...like a fish.”

“Whatever,” she said, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.

“No, no, wait! You gotta say the magic word-”

Rainbow popped out from his crushing hug and swam casually next to him. “Good luck trying that on me now, Stormy!”

“Awwwww, but I was going to give you a kiss,” he mourned, drooping in place.

She hung upside down in front of him and kissed him on the lips. After she pulled away, she churned the ocean with her tail and shot away from him. “You want more, Stormy? You want any of this?” She outlined her body with a slow drag of her hooves. “Come and get it!”

Queen Novo facehooved and let out a groan of consternation. Princess Skystar squirmed uncomfortably.

“Race ya to that pillar over there?” Applejack challenged, pointing at the furthest pillar in Queen Novo's throne room.

“You're on!” Rainbow accepted, speeding off in pursuit of Applejack.

Firestorm hastily swam after both of them.

Freedom Fighter, stretched taut in his long black suit, strapped down to his tail with weapons, tapped Twilight on the shoulder, making the princess turn around. “Twilight! You, um...you look…” He faltered; she did look gorgeous as a seapony. “...You look nice.”

Twilight glanced at him briefly. Man, he was awkward, wasn't he? “Thanks.”

And she hurriedly swam away from him to Rarity, who was oohing and ahhing with pride at her new body.

Unbeknownst to her, Freedom Fighter, after a pause, clenched his left hoof and pumped it in triumph. “Yes!”

“Guys?” Spike asked with worry. His transformation had not gone the way he had expected. “What...is…” His body puffed up into a spiked ball. “Happening?!”

Noble Blade quickly swam over and squeezed him between his hooves, and with a deflating noise he became flat once more.

Queen Novo was watching the entire scene with a detached sort of wonder. It had been the first time an outsider had became a seapony themselves, much less a dependent aspect of the underwater society's continued existence.

When the frolicking was done and all the ponies had reassembled, Novo spread her hooves. “Now. Any questions?”

“Yeah.” Firestorm raised his hoof. “If we gotta pee, do we just go whenever we need to? Cause it's the ocean? Or is there, like, a restroom for that?”

“Just find somewhere private and do your thing,” Novo irritably said.

Firestorm shot off in a blur of orange.

Queen Novo gestured at where he once was. “Is he always like this?”

“He's even worse,” Twilight admitted, giving a shudder.

“I have a question,” Starlight Glimmer said determinedly. “How did you know about the Ten Elements? And our heavenly names, as well?”

Queen Novo’s fat, full lips pursed together in mental conflict. After the battle in her head was won, she looked Starlight Glimmer in the eye. “Somepony told me.”

“Was it…” Twilight’s expression tumbled to a condition of shock. “No! Was it Star Swirl the Bearded?!”

Queen Novo gave a firm and resolute nod.

“What?” Pinkie exploded, rocketing upward in a burst of bubbles.

“That pony appeareth to crop up yet again in our journey,” Noble observed, his signature archaic diction belying his surprise.

Pinkie floated gently down to their level once more.

“You knew Starswirl?” Twilight eagerly asked.

Novo's expression darkened. “Yes.” She shifted her eyes to the side. “I did.” Her entire posture seemed to slouch. “He shows up, plays around with a girl's heart, and after he gets what he wants out of you, he leaves. Typical of stallions. Not even half the shred of decency in them as a mare.”

Noble Blade suddenly looked very uncomfortable as he looked determinedly down at the ground.

“What happened between you two?” Applejack asked.

“Nothing,” Queen Novo quickly replied. “Nothing you'd understand.”

“Begging your pardon, but we've been all over the place trying to solve this mystery, your Majesty,” Freedom Fighter uttered. “We have suffered…” He took a glance at Twilight. “Far more than anypony could possibly imagine.”

Rainbow Dash's stomach rippled as a moan akin to a whale rumbled in the water.

“Speak o’ th’ devil,” Applejack muttered.

“Pardon me, but, um, we ran out of supplies and we've been starving all day,” Fluttershy piped up. “I was wondering if you had anywhere nice we could go to eat. I’m so hungry…”

“Then we'll fix it!” Novo announced. “Come on. There's a nice cafe I sent Captain Sliphorn off to that I think could help y'all. After that, imma send y’all off to the latest expedition to search for the pearl. The sooner you find it, the sooner you can find the Element of Sacrifice.”

---

Clang

The rattle of iron as the key locked him inside made Shining Armor truly aware of his surroundings. He was locked in a small animal's cell on the Storm King's ship after being taken aboard by Malice and his underlings. While it was true that he had been trapped before, Shining Armor had never been trapped with another pony in the same space as him. Not to mention, he was conscious this time.

“Stay,” said the imposing yeti creature, pointing down like he was training a dog. “Stay.”

Shining Armor, battered and scratched, glared hatefully at the creature. The hairy thing laughed stupidly and shuffled away.

Beside him in the same cage, Winter Gleam was beginning to sniffle. Shining Armor caught the telltale markings and scooted away from him.

“Sir,” he brokenly started.

Shining Armor braced for what was undoubtedly to come next.

“I'm scared!”

Shining Armor nodded. “I know. Me too.”

Winter took several ragged breaths. “Why?”

“Hm?” Why could mean many things in recent context.

“Why did I have to live?”

Shining Armor blinked in surprise.

“Raining Sky…” he croaked, stretching out from the ball he had been curled up in. “I loved him. So much. He was...my best friend! My best friend!”

And it was then that he broke into a waterfall of tears, and he buried his face into his white arms, shaking up and down with each breath he took.

“I would have died in his place,” he gasped. “If I had to choose between me and him, I would have done it in a-a-a heartbeat!”

Shining Armor was no longer his commanding officer. He was now his only link to awful, cold reality. As he shivered on the framework cage floor, Shining Armor crawled over to him and soothed him with a hoof, pressing delicately into his back.

“I'm still here,” he murmured. “I'm still here.”

“No,” Winter whispered. “You're here, but you always were. Sky once was here, but now he isn't! Why'd he have to...Shining, he...he was the best guy in the world! And he just died! Why am I still here? Isn't...my spot...with him? I want...to join him...”

“We must fight on to preserve his memory,” Shining Armor resolutely said, biting back the rebuke he was about to give him for his suggested suicide. “And the memories of him die with him when you die as well.”

“I know that, sir! But I can't fight...without him…” he choked out, hitting the ground with a hoof. “I can't! He was my best friend!” Two more tears ran down his cheeks like flowing water. “What can I do...without him…”

“Have you ever lost a soldier before?” Shining Armor asked.

Winter, his mouth agape, nodded pathetically.

“Their friends feel the same way you do now. But they found a way to keep on fighting. I've lost…” His thoughts went to Twilight. “I've lost my entire world today. I lost my soldiers. I lost my battle. I will never see my wife again. I don't even have a sister left. Malice...took her. She's probably now...at some nefarious purpose for Malice's master.”

“But isn't it hard for you?” Winter pleaded.

Shining Armor felt something behind his eyes. Little Twily, who loved experimenting and books and being such a dork. Little Twily, laughing with her friends as they cleaned up a room or trotted down the street. Little Twily, being torn apart limb from limb and defiled in every possible way.

“It is,” Shining replied hoarsely. His stomach churned; he felt like he was about to vomit. “It's so hard. I…” He had to stop as he sniffled and clenched his teeth to prevent full-on sobbing. A tear ran down the corner of his eye. “Winter, I feel like I'm helpless...against the powers of evil. Like Chrysalis, she-she…” He struggled for words. “I couldn't do a thing! I chose not to do anything when she came after me! Both times! This is even worse. I feel so overwhelmed!

“I've crumbled, Winter. I’m...truly on my own now. My wife and child…” He had to stop that line of thought; his throat had been blocked by some colossal lump. “And Twily…”

Winter wrapped his arm around him. “No, sir. You're not on your own.”

Shining Armor smiled at him in sad relief. His touch brought him some semblance of comfort, but there was a warm spot growing in his chest. It was fire, but not the roaring kind that incinerated his veins. It was a gentle warmth that flooded his skin like a blanket. It made his body invigorated, calm, as the inward warmth soothed his heart.

And as this warmth pervaded his senses, a new outlook on the situation came to him. It came in a burst of clarity.

“But.” He slowly rose on his sore hooves, wiping away the single tear in a newfound feeling of resolution.. “But all that means...I have nothing left for them to take away from me. I can fight...without fear!”

“Quiet in there!” boomed the old, mirthful voice in command of the ship, and into the red-tinted ship's hold stomped the king himself. “Geez, I'm trying to take a bath and you go and start to scream! Happens every time. And don't sound so triumphant. It hurts my head.”

“Listen, Storm King!” Shining Armor shouted through the cage bars. “Twilight may be in Malice's hands, but you'll never break us! When we escape, I'm going to bring the might of Equestria against you and shove it up your-”

“You aren't in a position to make threats now, boy,” the Storm King lowly responded, leveling Stormkeeper at the unicorn. “You can't win! And tell your crying friend in the corner that the next time I come down here, my anger will be quite…” He grinned. “Explosive.”

And he tramped back out.

---

The Storm King took a breath of relief once he went out. Goodness, prisoners were annoying. Why did Malice insist on keeping them around?

The Storm King walked across the deck of the ship all the way to the stern. Standing on an upper deck, he spotted Malice, that demonic-looking centipede, standing on the poop staring out at the ashen remains of Maretania. Tempest Shadow was walking near. The Storm King decided to patiently wait for the inevitable confrontation between monster and pony. And sure enough, he could hear his lieutenant's words clearly.

“All this army,” she whispered, observing the hovering Noxxa from afar. “Wasted in a cesspool like this.”

Malice snorted. His head wound had been bandaged up, but the sterile white of the medical bandage contrasted against his sickly white body. “Who invited you?”

“I invited myself,” Tempest whispered. The Storm King had noticed that Tempest never spoke above a whisper if she couldn't help it. “And why were you invited here?”

Malice gazed upon the smoking remains of ancient pony society. “An old rival. Or more likely, an old objective.” His claws clenched the rail of the airship. “Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“I heard about all four princesses,” Tempest drawled. “She's the newest. What'd she do, and why is she so important to you?”

“My master doesn't actually need Twilight. Any Equestrian princess will do. But all he requires is an alicorn touch to allow his full power to return.”

“Where is she being kept? I noticed you don't have a cage.”

Malice managed to sound embarrassed. “Twilight...is elusive. When I get my claws on her...I'll turn her friends into proud little chunks of meat!”

The Storm King gave a small smirk. Shining Armor believed that Malice had captured her. But in reality, Malice was as hopeless as he was on square one. Information like this was essential to keep cataloged in his brain, and so he kept it filed away, planning to make full use of it later.

“How would an Equestrian princess bring the powers of Tartarus from the earth?”

Malice glared down at her. “Why should I allow a subspecies like you the answer?”

“Right,” Tempest slowly said with a smile that showed her teeth. “The most sickly, twisted, disgraceful mishmash of flesh and blood imaginable calls a pony a subspecies.”

“The Storm King would be better to be around than you,” Malice snarled, quickly tempered, and the overhearing Storm King suppressed a harrumph. “Our alliance is the only thing keeping me from plucking out your vertebrae piece by piece and tossing it overboard.”

Tempest's broken horn crackled with a spark of lightning as she scowled once more. “Try it. See what will happen.”

Malice and Tempest glared with revulsion at each other for a few moments more.

Tempest broke away first and put her hooves on the railing. “You think you are special?” She gave a quiet chuckle. The fire beneath her was reflected in her turquoise eyes. “Equestria is no less of a cesspool than this ruin beneath us. Many would want to see it perish...and we have the means to make it so.”

“Why would someone like you defect from her own country?” Malice asked, high and cold like a snake.

“Why should I allow a subspecies like you the answer?” she responded without a break in stride.

He quickly grew irritable. “Hell itself is worse than trying to reason with filth like ponies,” Malice snarled. “And I once lived there!”

And he abruptly about-faced and crawled away to the bow of the ship.

Bending his knees, the Storm King leaped into the air and landed on the poop deck, sliding on the mahogany and ending his skid next to Tempest.

“Living in hell must stink!” he commented, as mirthful as ever. “You know why, Tempest?”

“Because it's hell?”

“BECAUSE IT'S HELL!” he bellowed. “Exactly right!”

Tempest Shadow snorted and shoved off the railing. “He's a weakling. Without his army of nightmares, he cannot stand. The only reason he's here is because he's acting on orders, sir.”

“You’re acting on orders as well, Lieutenant.” The Storm King laid a large paw on Tempest's shoulder. “You and he have a lot in common, you know.”

“What?” Tempest exploded. “Me and that demon?”

The Storm King began to count on his fingers. “You’re both the best lieutenant the enemy has, both scarred over an eye, hates ponies, can't stand the other, both want Twilight Sparkle-”

“You're out of your mind!” Tempest insisted sharply, slapping his hand off her shoulder.

“Am I?” he asked, a dangerous glint in his turquoise eye.

Tempest saw the points in his eye and switched tack. “Why would I want that prissy princess Twilight?”

He bent so he could whisper in her torn ear. “She is the Princess of Magic. Her power can transcend anything. In other words...she is the one who can restore your horn!”

Tempest gave a little jolt and took a step back hesitantly. Her eyes shot down in thought.

The Storm King smiled widely. “Ah. Are you interested now?”

Tempest's soft expression returned to a scowl soon enough. “If we want to capture Twilight, Malice is an inconvenience.”

“Malice is exploitable,” the Storm King answered, much deeper and more menacing than his usual mirth. “And he’ll find himself a bit more humble when we find the pearl and hold Twilight ransom. He wants either one...he has to go through us.”

Tempest gave a dark grin as a small chuckle escaped the gaps in her teeth.

A series of rapid footfalls skittered on the deck as Malice sped back to the stern of the ship. The tall, pale demon appeared around a corner and, spotting the Storm King, genuflected. “O Storm King,” he said in a desperate tone. “Turn this ship south. I have found Twilight Sparkle!”

The Storm King concealed his thoroughly unexpected surprise by nodding. “How did you do it?”

“By calling upon the powers of my master...I had opened my mind to the magical influences of all living creatures in the entire world...to the magical fluxes of energy every creature possesses. I sought out Twilight's presence, and caught wind of tremendous magical powers working underwater; an ancient spell has just been used to transform her into a sea creature. It would stand to reason that the only place she is heading to is where this pearl is you speak so highly of is.”

He grew a large, bloody grin; his mouth had not yet been fully repaired from the savage scar he had gotten. “And that place...is directly beneath…”

“Mount Aris,” Tempest finished with a hiss.

The Storm King drew Stormkeeper while turning around and lofted it high in the air. “Left face! Haul your booties south to Mount Aris!”

There came a collective series of consternated groans from the hairy beasts on board.

“I'm sorry, what was that?” the Storm King asked threateningly. Wisps of white lightning whirled around in the wind as the golden sword began to hum with dangerous power. “What did you say?”

Each of the beasts became very interested in observing the floorboards of the airship.

“That's what I expected,” the tall white yeti said. “Now if you don't want your butts to get fried into potato chips, I'd suggest you MOVE!”

As the beasts scuttled around desperately, the Storm King saw it and smiled cruelly. “You have no idea what's coming to you.”

Whether he was speaking to his minions, Marshal Malice, the far-off Princess Twilight, or even the wine-colored lieutenant at his side, none could say.

Author's Note:

Cut material from this chapter:

“Storm, it's time to stop,” Noble rebuked him.

Pinkie Pie pulled out a large broken clock from nowhere and jiggled it. “It's time to stop!”

“Time is an illusion,” came the dark voice of Freedom Fighter. “And it must cease.”

“Seriously, you guys, it's time to stop,” Rarity hushed them all.

Comments

[Jade Dawn]

9519951

xD

[Jade Dawn]

“Listen here, my queen. I didn't come here to be insulted!”

“Oh?” Novo mildly asked, resting her chin in her flipper on the armrest. “Where do you usually go?”

[BradyBunch]

9597135
Yes! More people get my obscure references!