Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis
by Wanderer D
Chapter 16: Final Preparations
Rainbow Dash had to admit: there was a unique type of energy in the anticipation of setting out on a voyage to a completely new place. The whole of the docks were ablaze with movement and focused, organized, chaos. She hovered just above everypony's heads, keeping clear of the many creatures moving about.
The Arpia was currently undergoing a final, careful checkup, and therefore had most of its crew running all over it, inside, while several hippogriff engineers flew around the outside, checking the hull, cleaning it and notating any possible needed fixes before it set out.
Mullet, the first mate of the ship stood off to the side, surveying the effort with an engineer by him, who was listing their observations so far. "The hull seems to be intact and well taken care of, we have removed some barnacles from it and polished the wood," the hippogriff was saying, flipping the page in his claws. "The keel has some chipping on it, maybe some sort of narrowly-avoided collision? I have my team sanding that down and should be insulated soon enough. My main concern is the gaff for the mainsail, as you can see, it's beginning to show its age. And, if you're flying to Fleece…"
Rainbow Dash moved along, ignoring the rest of the conversation. Most of that information was not something she could help with, and if she went around trying to find problems with the ship itself, chances were she'd get in the way more often than not. She next spotted the cook, Lix Spittle, at the dock that went around The Arpia, next to the crane that would load all the supplies into the ship, checking the list of items that Capper had procured. "These are all the things I asked for, right?"
"Yes, yes," Capper growled. "I told you, I went over the list three times. I got everything."
"Good. Since we're pressed for time, I don't think the captain is going to try and go around the Gate of Aeolus, so that means we're not stopping until we get there."
Capper's eyes went wide. "Damn. In any case, Spittle—"
"Lix!"
"Everything you, the Captain, and the Princess asked for is here." He motioned with his paw to the crates, clearly labeled as: Food; Supplies; Princess. "The vendors assured me of the quality of the produce, and considering what we're going after, I don't think they would back-stab us and their own country on account of a few legumes."
"So you say, and you'd better not be lying, Capper, or I'll cook you!" Lix Spittle gave him a hard look, then turned and nodded to the crew, who started lifting the crates and moving them over to The Arpia. "Make sure you goofs organize the crates properly! I want everything marked with this symbol—" She pointed to a nearby crate "—closest to the kitchen!"
"Gate of A of Lus?" Rainbow Dash muttered, flying up and looking around. She immediately saw her objective: Celaeno sat on a large table that had been placed behind the wheel, a large map spread open next to her logs as she calculated their route.
Rainbow Dash flew down to land next to her, and Celaeno—upon seeing her—flashed her a smile that made her cheeks warm up under her fur, motioning with her claw for her to get closer. "How can I help you, Rainbow Dash?"
"H-hey," she responded, playing it cool. "So, I heard that we're going to cross something called "the Gate of Ay-Olus", and I was wondering what that is?"
"Aeolus," Celaeno corrected, and pointed at something on the map. "A legendary spirit of air and water. Supposed protector of the lands of Fleece. The story goes that as she beheld the bountiful lands of Fleece, she knew enemies would attempt to take what belonged only to them, so she raised an eternal storm that crackles through the sky and churns the sea, so only those worthy—or possessing her blessing—could ever reach the coast of Fleece safely."
Rainbow Dash flew up, glancing down at the drawings. She could easily spot Equestria, although the rest of the world map was unknown to her, she followed the map south to Mt. Aris. The place Celaeno was pointing at was a few nautical miles away, and it looked like some sort of outline that expanded several more north and south.
"It really can be counted as a wall of sorts, made of storm clouds and mist and strong wind currents," the captain explained. "It stretches across the ocean, and is usually best avoided if it's an option. It's by no means sentient as the legends claim, but it is a barrier that affects the whole region. A lot of towns and trade posts were created along the different routes to circumvent it, in ways that have shaped their economy for centuries... but we are very pressed for time, so we'll have to push through the Gate itself."
Rainbow Dash nodded.
Celaeno took a deep breath. "It's not an easy flight. It's very dangerous and more than one ship has lost its way or been brought down in there. The thermals and pressure are all over the place…" She shrugged. "But we don't have much of a choice if we want to make it on time to save Twilight's friend."
"Right." Rainbow Dash sighed. "So why all the food?"
"It's still going to take a couple of days to fly through, since we have to be careful, and a couple more to reach our destination once we're out of it, even at top speed." Celaeno explained. "And that is assuming we come out at the intended location. Once in there... it's complicated. Without being able to stop at any location to resupply, or worse, if we lose our way and are stuck there longer than anticipated, we'll have one thing less to worry about if we're prepared with enough food for all."
"Gotcha." Rainbow Dash said. "So, what are you doing here? Planning our route even if you won't be able to use any landmark or even the stars?"
"Basically," Celaeno said, moving to the side so that Rainbow Dash could take a look. "We're betting a lot of things here, so I'm trying to be as efficient as possible. Ace is already trying to sleep so that he can take over piloting at night, so the route has to be laid out very clearly for him to use."
Rainbow Dash followed the line that Celaeno traced with her claw. "I guess that makes sense; we also do similar things with the Everfree Weather Patterns during the late Summer, when it gets pretty crazy."
"Then you understand," Celaeno said, looking town at the map. "We have very few options, and if Tempest's ship captain is somewhat competent, their headstart will count for something even if they have to play it a bit safe." She frowned. "I want to make sure we make it there before them. I can't let them abuse the history and artifacts of my country for their benefit."
"Hey," Rainbow Dash said, placing her hoof gently on top of Celaeno's claw, "don't worry. I know good flying when I see it, and I know good weather prediction… and you're great at both."
She glanced at Celaeno—who didn't move her claw away—and shared a confident smirk with her.
"Yeah," the captain said, clearing her throat, but still smiling. "That is true."
Alejandra lept forth, claw-extensions glistening. Galahad, however dodged just in time and she only managed to heavily scratch the stone wall behind him. Above them, the Hippogriff soldiers watching cheered and hooted.
She didn't let that distract her, however, completing the motion and planting her claws on the floor to use as a pivot. Her wings didn't open fully, but allowed her to keep her balance as she turned on the spot and her rear legs rested on the damaged wall for barely a second before uncoiling, adding the additional speed boost to her follow up. Claw, claw, and peck!
Despite the violence and speed of her attack, Galahad not only avoided it with a smirk on his beak, but the moment her claws were on the floor again and she was regaining her balance again, he had already lept forward and used her back as a springboard to hover above her.
Not allowing herself to think, she forced her body to push to the side, pressing her wings tight against her body as she rolled, avoiding the three knives that embedded themselves on the floor in her wake with dull thuds.
She knew he was coming in for the kill so she rolled once more to lay on her back, her own knife flashing up and stopping just as it was about to plunge into his neck.
She smirked, then frowned, realizing his foreleg was already positioned to stop her attack from getting closer, and that had his own claw extensions pressing against her exposed belly. "Dammit."
"Still a bit green to do that, Alejandra," he said, chuckling.
She let out a big sigh and dropped her knife. Resting her back on the cool stone floor, she sighed again and grudgingly admitted her defeat. "Fine. You win."
The cheers died down as the guards that had gathered to watch slowly dispersed, conversing among themselves. To Alejandra's surprise, however, from what little she could hear, the whole discussion was admiration—for her.
Galahad stepped back and offered her a claw, which she took, allowing him to pull her to all fours. All fours. Sometimes she forgot this wasn't her real—or at least original—species. She had gotten so used it to it that the days where she would fly sideways were an unpleasant memory.
Thinking back on who she was when she had arrived, she understood just how much she had changed. If the plants that had captured her in the Everfree Forest had come across the Alejandra of today, she would have never been trapped, she was sure of it. She was a completely different being. Reactions, instincts, flight perception, her brain worked in a completely different way than it had before.
"You've grown a lot since I got you out of the hospital in Canterlot," Galahad said, as if he had been reading her mind.
"Yeah… I just sort of realized that," Alejandra replied, opening and closing her claws as she looked down on them. The feathers and fur still sent the myriad sensations they had before but now, somehow, she understood what they meant. Could she ever be human again after this?
She thought of Earth, of her brother, parents, her uncles and aunts, her friends. Then her thoughts went to Twilight and to Gabby. To Gilda and Galahad. Rainbow Dash and the others.
She had a duty to Earth, but…
"You'll have a home here too, whatever you do."
"Alright," Alejandra growled, glancing at Galahad. "How the hell do you know what I was thinking?"
He chuckled. "I can't read your mind, if that's what you're wondering," he said, motioning for her to go sit down with him at the edge of the training grounds. Once they were seated and had removed their weapons, he continued, "I just have seen that look before in other apprentices. It was the dawning comprehension of change. More so for you than any of them, I'd imagine."
"Right." Alejandra glanced at the sky.
"After that familiar expression, followed the one that I've seen happen the most to my apprentices, and even soldiers. The slow realization that their family has grown. That their world is wider." He grinned. "In the end, what you choose is up to you, you're my apprentice, but you're a special case. You won't be an assassin, you can choose to go. You can choose to stay. But soldiers and heroes have a right to be happy too."
"Heh," Alejandra leaned back, glancing at the exotic houses of the hippogriffs. "That'd be amazing. I could bring Gabby here and visit places I've never seen." Her smile faded a little. "Maybe even bring my friend Twilight with me whenever she's free."
Galahad patted her back. "These things take time," he said, "especially for ponies like her. She has a ton of responsibility, and she's dedicated to a fault." He smiled at her. "I think you have a chance, but you can't hurry it. Some things in life have a natural cycle to grow and flourish."
"Listen to you, now you sound like you're about to start reading poems."
"Poems are powerful," Galahad countered. "Maybe you should try reading a few, I think you would like them."
They remained in silence for a few minutes, allowing the adrenaline from their fight to dissipate, their breath to slow down, and their comfortable silence to stretch... then he stood up. "Alright, I should go. I must deliver that missive to Canterlot."
"Galahad," Alejandra said, touching his shoulder. "Thank you."
"No." He shook his head, patting her claw with his. "Thank you for listening to this old bird. Now go catch up with your princess, and tell me all about the adventure when we meet again."
End Chapter 16
Okay, that was sweet ...
They removed barnacles. From the outer hull. Of an airship. HOW?!
I feel like there is something missing there ...
Wrapping up at Mount Aris. They leave as heroes. They'll return...
Well, to begin with, let's hope they return. Whatever happens next won't exactly be fun. Hopefully everyone savors these slower, more tender moments.
9876089
Water landings, hige altitude lifeforms, otiginaly a watership...
Take your pick.
Made her cheeks warm up?
I do not want to jump to any conclusions here, but is something brewing inside RD‘s heart? I mean it could be a very interesting thing.
I had to do read this sentence several times to figure out what you meant. I would recommend reducing down to one comma if possible.
9876089 Airnackles! And yes, I saw that missing comma and fixed earlier, you probably had the chapter already open by then tho!
9876150 I mean, Celaeno is one attractive birb
9876183
So Equestria has atmospheric barnacles then. Good to know. Though I have to wonder: If that's the case, how do they build things out of wood? Is that why the Apples need to rebuild their barn that often?
Well at least since they're flying they don't need to worry about the Razor Reef...
I'm half surprised Silent G didn't ask Galahad if he knew any poems Twilight might like.
It was a nice wrap-up.
Can I recommend what I think is a cool idea. If you need some impossibly violent weather for the wall and beyond you should look at wind flares from gears of war 4 and 5. I love and hate those things.
9876089
Depending where they land on a coastal town they might land in the water to dock and barnacles could attach themselves to the hull there
9876436
Risky. Princess of OCD may happen to know lyrics to a tee and would pop a hair if Silent ad libs there
9905026
I don't delete comments.
9905049
That's good to hear. I've seen a bunch of deleted ones on Ranger lately and while I didn't figure it was you doing so, I have no way of knowing. To be fair, if they break rules they should be... and aren't you a mod? Anywho, carry on.
9905098 Eh. There's a lot of things I could do but either: aren't worth it, or b) aren't within my agreed-to job description, even if they personally feel like something I should do. If I start playing with the rules just because I can, it sets a bad precedent. :P
The dude in question got angry because I argued their point, and rather than defend it, decided to delete their own comments and within an hour I had a downvote on every single one of my stories... not rocket science to see what happened there.
I mean, to be fair, just because we don't find out until the movie, doesn't mean that it wasn't happening in the world at the time. It's not like the Storm King whipped up an army and got magical McGuffins a week before attacking Canterlot. Since I'm treating Equestria and their world as something that has a history and world events that happen outside of pony eyes, I can't pretend that just because it wasn't happening in their country, it wasn't somewhere else.
Twilight's criticism in that context is valid. For example, it's like Brazil suddenly had some tyrant leader that put up an army, conquered everything northwards with Mexico holding the last line (until they lost) and then still surprising the US with an attack. You can't say they didn't see it coming.
9905114
No, I can't say that... but I can argue it's still kind of a lousy thing to call a character out on, since they had no chance to do anything and yet you portray them negatively anyway. I've had this discussion before, where Twilight was taken to task for taking Starlight as a student but not Sunset. Twilight could literally not take Sunset because Sunset was not going to become a character in FIM; that was not a possibility. So criticizing her character as though this is somehow a flaw that she should be faulted for... feels cheap and lazy. What's next, tease her for being purple? Do better. Instead, you could either not focus on it (an even lazier approach I admit), or have a better, in universe reason why Twilight didn't know and Celestia has done nothing. Or hell, have her doing something, since this is obviously going to end differently than the surprise attack from the movie. But instead you went the well worn route of throwing Celestia under a bus. It's practically a meme around here. Do you see my point at all?
Oh no, perfectly fair, I just thought it sounded funny. I was like 'but wait, if anyone maybe should delete comments...'
Yeesh. A mature and measured reaction, to be sure.
9905144 Um... the story pretty much explains the how and why? It gets touched upon across a few chapters. I was neither lazy nor dismissive about it. This is an in-character (for this story) Twilight Sparkle, finding out what Celestia knew and didn't do anything about, and in-story reacting to this information. This isn't me criticizing Celestia. It is entirely within the story's scope and from a character perspective, acting on what has been happening in their world for some time and nothing was done about.
On a meta-level we, the audience, know that the Storm King didn't exist prior to the Movie. But that's the audience's meta-level, not the in-world knowledge. Even in ancient times, spies and merchants passed on news about warlords, plagues, etc. It was up to the kings and queens of the past to decide what to do, if anything.
This story touches on why Celestia didn't act in a very explicit manner, and Twilight as a character that lives in that world, is criticizing what was done because she disagrees with how it was handled.
9905341
I think you did miss my point. In universe justifications explain the logic allowing for your choice, but the reason you chose it is another matter.
Because the next thing is 'and then the audience reacts accordingly'. In choosing this route of action (or lack thereof) for Celestia and choosing this response for Twilight, you choose to paint the character is this particular negative light. You made this choice based on actions the character could not choose canonically. It should have no bearing on how she is perceived, but thanks to your approach it does. As a character her credibility is reduced. You chose that. You may not be personally criticizing but you are placing the character in a position to be deemed incompetent and worthy of dismissal and derision by the readers. Describing how history works is not necessary for me. There were, as I said, other choices you could have made. We're on two different wavelengths here.
9905562 I think you're missing my point here too. You're viewing the issue from what you know, and not putting yourself in Twilight's shoes. Twilight canonically would not have done most of the things she does in this fic. This is not canon Twilight. This is a Twilight that has a completely different world-view and has to ask herself, "how is it that a major current event, such as a basically world-invading army that has been active for years, is not something Celestia was aware of at all here?" And also, Celestia is not there so we only see things through Twilight's eyes and what information she has available. If she thinks Celestia's actions were insufficient, this is not the wide-eyes Twilight of the series that would immediately seek to justify it.
Twilight is looking at things from her limited perspective, and from that limited perspective, Celestia's actions don't make much sense to her. Celestia might or not have additional reasons, but none of the characters here know that.
9905582
No, I didn't miss it. In fact I was waiting for you to make the point that Celestia isn't there to explain herself. You never communicated any of this through her: you used Daring (which was fine). And Daring could have communicated something else if you'd chosen to have something else be happening (even if clearly nothing good came of it in original Movie canon). To be clear: Twilight's in verse response is appropriate to the actions and reasoning you chose to give her. I do not deny that nor did I ever allege otherwise. But Celestia could have been doing something, or her nothing could have been justified differently. It wasn't. And the readers are led by the nose to conclude: Celestia's an idiot. We had a similar discussion when you used Luna as a prop piñata for Sunset way back in the early Ranger days. By contrast, you once admitted to 'not accepting canon about Griffonstone'. Why? Because you wanted them portrayed better. You chose that because you wanted that. Canon be damned. But here you'll hide behind in universe reasoning? Hmmm... These characters are in your hands, and how you portray them leads into how they are perceived.
I did not miss your point. In universe is a viable reason but you're creating that universe. I am not accusing you of bad writing; a lazy approach to a minor aspect is not automatically bad. I said 'it feels shitty', rather than 'it is shit'... slim distinction I grant. Plot devices exist for a reason, but they can be done more kindly toward character portrayal. You chose to do it this way, and in so doing lead the perceptions of the readers. ...I do still think it's funny that Twi was like 'she's doing it to protect her little ponies and she's wrong' while she left her friends out of this adventure for the same reasoning.
9905638 Ah! Get your point better now!
9905645
Oh good (no seriously I've been grasping at a way to word this)... this conversation has spilled over into a few different places now and I'm really hungry but it's distracting me from going to eat.
Yeah, to be clear (since I clearly wasn't). I do not allege that Celestia's actions as you state them are not justifiable in character/universe (this one or canon). I do not allege that Twilight's reaction here is off in any way; on the contrary it's a valid character moment for her at the time.
I do allege you to be more than talented enough to have done it in a way that doesn't beat the dead horse that is 'fan interpretation of Tia's incompetence'.
Please please PLEASE tell me she's hiding in the crate labeled Princess
Damn! That is one hell of a journey ahead of them!
That former human will be someone big i am sure.
Romance incoming
Perhaps that firmer human can be a ambassador of some sort in the future?