Chapter 14
Chapter 14
___________________________________________________________
“Well?” Twilight is giving me a very stern look as she taps a hoof.
I let go of the Pirate Piggies and turn to face her, rubbing my right elbow nervously, not meeting her gaze, not paying attention to anything else around us.
“Um… yeah,” I finally say after what feels like hours, though was probably only a few minutes. “I… well… I can’t exactly explain, but… um… well…”
I have literally no idea what I’m supposed to say here. I barely understand what’s going on, so it’s not like I can give a good explanation for any of this.
“Your Highness,” a male voice from behind says loud enough for me to hear, even though I’m not paying attention. “All the remaining forces within the Storm King’s main ship have been captured and arrested.”
“Good work, General,” Luna’s voice says. “Were there any other prisoners aboard?”
“Dora! Dora!” the three crew members of the Pirate Piggies say, their captain remaining silent as they tug on my dress.
“Qué es?” I ask distractedly, glancing back to them, wincing at the harsh glare Twilight gives me upon what must look like ignoring her.
“Well, we think there is at least one, Your Highness,” the guard is saying as I glance between Twilight and the Piggies, wondering who I should focus on. “Though we’re unclear where they are or what they’re saying. We think it’s the same language as the hippogriffs, so we might need them to clarify what’s being said. The prisoner could be telling us where they are, but we don’t know where they’re saying they are. We’ve searched the whole ship and found no living creature.”
I frown, turning around. “The hippogriffs are busy securing the remains of the Storm King’s forces. But, I speak their language.”
“You are in enough trouble as it is, little lady,” Twilight’s voice makes me wince and I glance over my shoulder at her. “Not only did you put yourself in danger, again, despite being told to stay safe,” she indicates to my dress, “but you still need to explain this.”
“You speak true, Princess Twilight,” Luna says, though I sense I but coming. “But —” thank you “—if not for her quick thinking, Princess Dora would be enslaved by the Storm King and we would’ve been without any of our magic to defend ourselves. Besides,” she gives a sly smile, “I seem to remember a young mare whom went against the wishes of others and ended up saving myself from a nightmare.”
Twilight opens her mouth to argue, before closing it and grumbling under her breath.
Luna looks to me. “Are you sure, Dora? It could be a trap the Storm King left for intruders, someone understanding the language being the key to them falling into said trap.”
I nod. “Estoy segura. I’m sure,” I repeat to the confused look from the guard. Flash Magnus, you cannot get here to whip these guys into shape soon enough.
I follow the guard and Luna into the Storm King’s ship and he starts leading us towards what I’m guessing is the personal quarters.
As we move further down the hall, a faint sound, like a voice, starts reaching my ears. I can’t make out the words at first, but the further down we go, the clearer they become until I can hear the words quite clearly.
“Ayúdenme! Ayúdenme!”
At once, I freeze in place, my eyes going wide.
“Dora?” Luna notices my reaction. “Dora, what is it? What is the voice saying?”
I know that voice. It’s her original voice, from the earliest episodes, but I know that voice.
“Backpack!” I yell, running down the hall, startling the two ponies.
“Dora?” Backpack’s voice calls. “Dora, in here! I’m in here!”
I take a turn in the corridor and run, calling out to Backpack over and over, with her replying back so I can follow her voice.
After a few minutes of scrambling down several wrong turns, with Luna and the guard in pursuit, calling for me to slow down and explain, I finally find the room where Backpack’s voice is loudest and rush in.
At once, I realize I’m in what must be a cargo hold. There are spears and other supplies in large groups scattered around, giving the impression they were intended to be used recently, most like to enforce dominance and keep Canterlot enslaved after the Storm King conquered it.
However, I pay them no mind, turning my head every which way, looking for any sign of bright purple.
“Dora, por aquí! Aquí!”
I turn at the sound of the voice to see a purple backpack with big eyes and a mouth hanging unceremoniously from a hook on the wall.
“Backpack!” I yell, hurrying forward, climbing up a box and reaching out, pulling her down and then hugging her tightly.
Who’d have thought I could be so happy seeing her? I’m even happier to see her than I was the Pirate Piggies.
“I’m so glad you found us!” Backpack says and I realize she’s lightly sobbing. “The Storm King found us and used us to find places to conquer and store all his weapons and things he stole. It was awful! I’m just so happy you found us!”
She starts sobbing harder and I rub her gently, before something she said catches up with me. “Wait, us? Do you mean the Pirate Piggies and Boots’ family?”
She shakes her… well, she shakes herself as if she were shaking her head, since Backpack is kind of her head and whole body all at once.
She doesn’t get to answer though as another voice from the next room calls out. It’s muffled a bit, but I can easily make out another voice from the earlier episodes of Dora’s show.
“Dora? Dora, is that you? Backpack, please tell me I’m not hearing things!”
“Map?!” I call, leaping down from the box, startling the ponies as they finally reach inside and I rush past them to another door, slamming my shoulder into it.
The door yields and I stumble in before getting my footing.
Glancing around, I frown. This looks like a strategy room, with a table in the centre with figures clearly representing the Storm King’s army and his enemies, charts and other things I don’t’ fully understand.
But, I don’t see Map anywhere.
Granted I see a map, opened out and pinned to the wall, a map showing all of Equestria and the lands before reaching to Mt. Aris and the Changeling Kingdom, but I don’t see Map himself.
“Map!” Backpack says and I glance down at her in my arms to see she’s looking at the same opened map I just passed my gaze over. “It’s okay. It’s really Dora!”
To my surprise, the map on the wall flutters a bit, before the muffled voice talks again. “Dora? Dora, is that really you? Please, tell me I’m not dreaming again?”
I shake myself. “You’re not dreaming, Map.” I put Backpack down on the table and hurry over to the wall, climbing up on a chair to reach the opened map and pull the pins from the top and bottom right corners away.
The map, no longer held in place, falls back a bit and I see the eyes and mouth on the other side that indicate this is indeed Map.
His eyes widen and a smile spreads to his lips upon seeing me. “Dora! It really is you!” he cheers as I pull out the other pins, catching him and letting him roll up. “You have no idea how much we’ve missed you!”
I blink, before reality finally catches up with me, no longer distracted by the shock of finding them both and my expression saddens. “Well, kinda.”
He blinks, looking worriedly at me. “What do you mean, Dora?”
I sigh, hopping down from the chair as a now very irritated looking Luna and guard come in, while I walk over to Backpack and put him in his pouch. “It’s a long story, Map. One I’d rather tell you both when we’re not on this ship.”
“Si estoy de acuerdo,” Backpack nods as I pick her up and slip her over my back. “The sooner we’re out of here, the better.”
“Princess Dora, would you please explain what is going on?!” Luna barely stops from going into the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“Outside, Luna,” I say solemnly, my tone causing her annoyance to immediately fade, replaced with concern. “I’ll explain outside the ship. This… I can’t explain it here. This ship has too many bad memories for my friends.”
We head back out of the ship and I see Boots hugging his family.
When he see me, his eyes light up, telling me he notices the purple straps around my shoulders and can tell what they mean.
He hurries over, making monkey noises excitedly. “Dora! Dora, you found Backpack and Map?”
“Boots?” the two say in shock and happiness.
“They… they don’t know yet, Boots,’ I say simply.
At once, his overly eager domineer changes, becoming more subdued and understanding. “Oh.”
“What don’t we know?” Backpack asks.
I sigh. “It’s a long story.” I blink as I notice Capper and Rarity talking, the former having apparently made him his signature clothing from the movie in the time it took for me to go into the ship and come back with Map and Backpack. “Though, I’m not the only one who has some explaining they need to do.”
“I think I can answer those questions,” I turn as Captain Celaeno, now dressed in most of her main movie attire, minus the hat, walks over, her crew and the Pirate Piggies beside her.
“That’s good,” I say, looking to the pink animals. “Because that’s also something I wanna know. Pirate Piggies, how did you end up with Captain Celaeno’s crew? What’s Capper doing with you guys? What could you possibly have done to make the Storm King decide you’d defied his orders?”
Seriously, since Twilight and the others never left Canterlot to get to Mount Aris, they never went into Klugetown and encountered Capper, so never had to make an escape when Tempest found them, ending up on Celaeno’s ship and Dash helping them get their groove back.
Celaeno looks down to the piggies and smiles, shaking her head. “See, a couple months back, we’d been doing as we already had since the Storm King took over the lands we called home.”
“Hauling Storm King Merchandise,” I whisper to Boots and the princess, though that doesn’t stop their confused looks.
“Well, one day, we were making our deliveries when we heard a commotion,” First Mate Mullet, the one with the eyepatch and rooster-like hair do says. “We went down into the brig and found these four scattered around, beyond confused.”
“We didn’t know how we’d gotten there,” Pirate Pig says, shaking his head. “One minute, we’re sailing our ship on the open seas, the next second, we’re on Captain Celaeno’s ship.”
“With our own ship nowhere in sight,” the girl Pirate Piggie says, shaking her head.
“Now, normally, we’d follow the rules of the book and have just tossed them overboard,” Celaeno shrugs, before looking sheepish as I glare at her.
Yeah, I always thought that was fucked up. If a sky pirate finds a stowaway, throw them overboard… meaning plummeting to their death. That better have just been a Storm King rule and not their own.
Celaeno clears her throat. “Anyway, Pirate Pig here,” yeah, they’re the Pirate Piggies, yet their captain is called Pirate Pig instead of Captain Pig, I never got the point of that, “knew pirate code and called parlay.”
“We talked and quickly established we weren’t stowaways, since we didn’t know how we’d gotten on the ship at all,” Pirate… you know what? I’m gonna just refer to him as Captain Pig, or this is going to get too confusing.
“We decided we’d let them off at the nearest port… until we realized how naïve they were,” Boyle explains, shaking his head. “We knew if we let them go on their way, they’d be dead within a few hours at best.”
“That doesn’t explain Capper, though,” I fold my arms. “I can guess you eventually got noticed and when you refused to give the Pirate Piggies away, that was what the Storm King considered going against his orders… but where does Capper fit into this?”
“I can answer that, Dora,” we turn as Boots’ father comes over. “Like the Pirate Piggies, we didn’t know how we ended up in this world.”
“We just suddenly found ourselves in some place called Klugetown… where the locals were very unpleasant,” his mother says, coming alongside her husband.
“Capper…” Mr. Monkey sighs. “Well, at first, he didn’t give us the best impression.”
“Let me guess,” I deadpan, said cat looking sheepish as he and Rarity come over, “he made sure to get any unpleasant people to leave you alone, gave you the idea he would help you find Boots and then tried to sell you to a naked mole rat named Verko?”
They glance at each other, before nodding, their expressions shocked. “How did you know?”
“Lucky guess,” I say dryly, giving Capper a look that makes him scratch his neck nervously. “So, how did that lead to you all being enslaved by the Storm King?”
Capper surprises me by answering. “Well, and I am none too proud of myself, I can asure you, little princess, Verko took a little while to arrive and… a few Storm King Troupers found us, demanding to know what the monkey family were doing in my house. Verko arrived soon after and there was a… miscommunication.”
“That Verko turned tail and ran,” Mrs Monkey says, shaking her head. “Then, we were arrested for not having signed forms that requested our enslaved by the Storm King himself.”
“Wait,” I cock an eyebrow. “So… the Storm King made it so… you had to ask permission to be enslaved? He actually thought others would willingly want to be enslaved?”
“Technically, it only applies to those not in countries he’s conquering at the time.” Capper clarifies, playing with his fingers. “If you’re in the country as he’s conquering, you’re automatically counted as enslaved.”
I massage my forehead. “Sorry I asked.”
“The five of us ended up on the Storm King’s ship since the miscommunication confused him. He was more focused on what I now see was invading this place,” Capper indicates to the city around us.
“Well, I apologize for everything you had to go through under the Storm King’s rule,” Princess Celestia says, coming over. “I assure you, we will make sure to fix the wrongs he committed. However, before that,” she looks around at the mess caused by the recent invasion, “we have some work to do here. Plus, I believe my little ponies would like to finish the Friendship Festival before anything else halts it again.”
I glance to Boots and smirk. “Sure. Come on, everyone. Let’s clean up!”
___________________________________________________________
“You… literally make no sense, whatever you are,” Tempest says as she and I walk alongside each other. I’m wearing the jacket and jeans combo from several days ago.
After Boots and I had sung the Clean Up song from Dora Saves the Mermaids, only applying this to cleaning up the mess left by the Storm King’s forces and setting everything for the festival back up, I’d had to talk with the princesses.
Of course, there wasn’t much to talk about. Sure, they now knew I was a True Princess, but I couldn’t explain any of that to them because I don’t know what that means in this world.
And, as in the show, the princesses were aggravatingly paradoxical about the situation.
Despite having made it quite clear my being a True Princess means something big that I shouldn’t be left in the dark about if I don’t know anything… they left me in the dark about it.
They dodged any questions about the importance of True Princesses and what it means for me while I’m here. They also refused to explain how they know about True Princesses or what they want from me because I am one.
All they did was make it clear I’m not to take any unnecessary risks (yeah, in Equestria, you’re more likely to not take them BY taking them, so good luck with that) and that I was to remain in Rarity’s care until we can figure out how to send Boots and the others back to Dora’s world and send me back to mine in my original body.
Map and Backpack had been a bit hesitant after they learned I wasn’t their Dora, but, thanks to Boots, they came around and agreed that, while I’m not their Dora, we can still be friends.
After all that was said and done and the festival was back underway at long last, I’d gone down to where Tempest and all the Storm King’s forces I’d turned into Red-Lipped Batfish were being kept, on behalf of the princesses, more specifically Twilight.
It was quite obvious, thanks to what I remember of how Tempest talked to Twilight in the movie’s original events after capturing her, that if Twilight was the one who tried to reason with Tempest right first, it wouldn’t go well.
Tempest clearly hated how easy it seemed for Twilight, as it was for all those whom are jealous of the purple pony throughout the series, having no idea just how much Twilight had struggled through to get where she is and will be in the future.
Now, a strange creature she’s never known about til the invasion failed? That we can use against Tempest’s anger and cause her to stop and think for a bit, as well as consider how not easy it had really been for Twilight.
I’m wearing the same outfit Dora wore at the end of Dora Rocks, that being purple pants that stop just above my ankles, a pinkish-purple shirt with three purple stars, pink diamonds in a ring around the next, with a frilly purple bottom that makes it look like I’m wearing a skirt when I’m not, pink and white sneaker over crew-cut yellow socks and a violet hairband with a tiny yellow ribbon-like jewel.
“I’m a human, Tempest,” I say, putting my hands behind my head. “Aside from myself, they don’t exist in this world. Though there is the other world where they do.”
She cocks an eyebrow at me. “Then why don’t you just go live there? You’d be among your own kind instead of an outcast.” Her face saddens and she lowers her head. “Like me. A unicorn who can’t even use her magic anymore.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be where you are now.” She gives me a very puzzled look. “Do you really think the Storm King would’ve kept a useless unicorn around, especially when he hates cute things?”
She blushes. “I-I-I’m not cute!”
I snort. “Please, Tempest. It takes a lot for anypony to not be cute. There’s even evil ponies who look so cute you half convince yourself they can’t be evil,” I’ll deal with you, Cozy Glow, when you get here, “so I don’t wanna here any of that “I’m not cute” from you, got it? And, as I was saying, you’re not unable to use magic. You think you’re the first unicorn to break their horn?”
She blinks, looking genuinely shocked. “I’m not?”
I shake my head. Thank you, Where the Apple Lies. Granted, I have no idea the stallion’s name, what happened to him after the fact and his horn was in better condition than Tempest’s, but I know he exists at least, and that helps me here.
“Who are the others?”
I blank for a second. Crap. Was hoping she wouldn’t ask. Oh well. In for a penny, in for a pound as the Brits say.
“I don’t know his name,” I start slowly, “but Applejack told her sister, Apple Bloom, about a time she, their granny and her older brother had all been in the hospital and, while going through the halls, had passed an orange stallion who’s horn was broken.”
She frowns. “Only one?”
“To be fair, I've only been in this world for a little over two weeks now and it’s not like I’m doing a history project on unicorns with broken horns for school or anything,” I point out. “However, regardless of how many unicorns throughout history have had broken horns, we know yours still works.”
Tempest glances up at her horn. “No, it… wait.” She blinks, I’m guessing remembering all the times she’s used her horn. “But… but I can only cast raw magically energy. I can’t actually perform spells.”
“You didn’t have the right teacher,” I say as we get outside. I know damn well she was helping with the Shield Spell during the finale. That takes spell casting ability, regardless of whether she was just lending her magic to the spell or not.
It’s late evening now, so a lot of ponies and other guests are milling around or watching the performances. Songbird started shortly before I went in to get Tempest.
She’s still about half way through the song Rainbow. Strangely, unlike in the movie, she started with a pony version of Titanium. I mean, Sia did do a cover of that, so I guess it makes sense, but… it was still weird.
Tempest looks up at the stage, before looking away, it not escaping my notice that Twilight is looking in our direction.
I stand with Tempest as she looks up at the sky.
A few moments later, I hear the sound of faint hoofsteps as Twilight no doubt lands behind us.
“It is a pretty nice party, huh?” I ask, giving the illusion that I haven’t noticed the princess yet.
“Well, that’s one thing that never changes around here,” Tempest says quietly, before seeming to notice Twilgiht too. “The party.”
Twilight steps forward. “Well, I hope you’ll stay. More friends are definitely merrier.”
Tempest sighs, glancing up at her head. “But, um... my horn.”
“You know,” Tempest and I turn around so we’re facing the purple princess, “your horn is pretty powerful, just like the pony it belongs to.”
I nudge Tempest in the shoulder. “Told ya.”
The unicorn looks down, still seeming unsure.
“You’re horn may be broken, Tempest,” Twilight says, putting of hoof on the taller mare’s shoulder, “but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still work. I’d be more than willing to help you learn how to properly cast spells again.”
“Okay, okay!” Tempest says a little flustered as I nudge her again. She looks to Twilight, before looking down and smiling. “I… guess I can do some things. I can even show you, if you like?”
Twilight nods, giving an encouraging smile.
Tempest walks back over to where we’d been, charges her horn and fires of the stream of magic that turns into a cascade of fireworks.
“Nice touch, Tempest!” Pinkie says, actually making me jump despite knowing she would be there.
“She’s right,” Twilight says, giving Tempest an encouraging smile. “It is a nice touch. And I know you will be even better.”
Tempest nods. “I’d like that. Thank you, Princess.”
“You can just call me Twilight, Tempest,” said princess chuckles.
“Well, actually, that’s not my real name,” Tempest blushes.
Pinkie leaps in front of her, dancing up and down on her hooves excitedly. “Oooh! What is it?!”
“It’s been a while, Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”
At once, Tempest’s face blanks and her head darts back and forth, until her eyes fall on the purple-pink mark approaching us.
Pinkie Pie gasps, looking between the approaching unicorn and the one with te broken horn. “Is that really your name?”
Tempest nods distractedly.
“Okay! That is the most awesome name ever!” Pinkie cheers, leaping into the air.
“St-Starlight Glimmer?” Tempest asks as the unicorn in question reaches us.
Starlight nods. “Been a while.” She frowns. “Why didn’t you tell anypony where you were going after you left Sire’s Hollow? Do you know how worried everypony was? And I come to learn you left to join and evil monkey-thing that wanted to take away all our magic?”
“Says the pony who tried to make everypony the same by replacing their cutie marks with equal signs,” Spike mutters loudly.
Starlight blushes, looking away.
Tempest just stares at the other unicorn in disbelief. “Wait. You did what? I know you were gifted with magic as a foal but… how in Equestria could you do that? And did it because I lost my horn. You’ve still got yours, so, what could’ve possessed you to do that?”
“Something we can mostly blame on the stupidity of her and Sunburst’s parents,” I say, massaging my temples.
Tempest glances between Starlight and myself, clearly needing some clarification.
___________________________________________________________
I watch from where I’m sitting with Boots and his family as Star Song sings her songs.
It’s been an eventful couple hours, what with Starlight and Tempest being from the same towns and having only met each other for the first time in years and just hanging out with everypony.
One surprise I hadn’t expected at all was when I ran into A.K. Yearling in the crowd. She had been speaking with Rarity about… something.
I dunno what, but I think it had something to do with me, because, the moment she’d noticed me she hastily ended the conversation and rushed into the crowd.
I’d asked Rarity what they’d been talking about and she told me Daring was just checking in to see how I was doing since our adventure.
Bit odd. Don’t see why Daring would care about how I’m doing. It’s not like we’re important to each other or anything.
Of course, that wasn’t all that had to happen. Somehow, the Storm King broke out of where he was being held captive until the princesses could go and take him to serve his sentence in Tartarus and, upon breaking out, had come after me.
He’d gotten a hold of the petrifying orb Luna had taken from him, clearly intending to get me with it.
The universe apparently really doesn’t like him, though, since Tempest saved me the same way she did Twilight and the others in the movie: getting in the way of the orb and being close enough to the Storm King before the spell took full effect, thus pulling him into it and turning him to stone too... and him smashing to pieces on the ground below.
This had definitely solidified to everyone else that Tempest was a changed pony now.
After a little time, everyone had settled down and resumed the festival.
Now, we’re nearing the end and I’ve butterflies in my stomach.
“You’ll be great, Dora,” Boots says, patting my knee reassuringly, Backpack and Map agreeing with him.
“Thank you all so much for coming to the Friendship Festival,” Star Song says after finishing her latest song. “Muchas gracias a todos por venir al Festival de la Amistad.”
The crowd cheers.
“To finish up tonight’s festivities, I’d like to sing a song a very special new friend taught me,” she continues, looking out around at the crowd. “And I’d very much love for her to sing it with me.” Her eyes meet mine and she waves. “Dora, would you like to come up on the stage?”
At once, all heads turn in my direction.
I wince, before the crowd starting cheering, chanting “Sing, sing, sing!”
I sigh, looking to Boots with a nervous smile. “I guess we don’t really have a choice, do we?”
He laughs, nodding. He’d already agreed to come up with me earlier. He’d actually been the one to convince me not to chicken out.
Sure, before, I’d humoured the idea, but after the battle with the Storm King and then he’s counter attack, my nerves had gone up, not at all helped by the fact I’d turned into a True Princess right in front of everyone here.
Granted, I don’t think most of them connected the dots, but that doesn’t stop my nerves all the same.
Taking a deep breath, I lead Boots up to the stage, Star Song giving me an encouraging smile and handing me the microphone, while a stagehand gives her a headset.
“Ready, Dora?” she asks.
I look to Boots as I hold the mic in two hands. He nods, smiling and I nod back, taking a deep breath, then letting it out.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Star Song nods, before looking to her band and nods to them, the guitarist starting it off.
“You and I, we’re one of a kind.
Each other special in body and mind.
Take my hand and together we’ll shine.
Things are much better when we do them together.
We can help each other if we work together.
Everything’s better when we do them all as one.”
I nod, lifting the mic to my mouth as we sing together.
We’re singing the song from Dora’s Explorer Girls Our First Concert, Todos Juntos with Boots, Backpack and Map providing the backup vocals before fully joining in towards the end.
By the end of it, I’m feeling very energized, smiling and laughing along with Boots and the others.
The moment the song ends, we all take a deep bow, the crowd roaring and cheering.
“Gracias, señorita Star Song,” I say as the crowd cheers.
She smiles back. “De nada, Dora. It was my pleasure.”
I look out at the crowd, then up at the stars, unable to keep the smile from my face.
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Map and backpack.... ohhh no. Peacefully thing do not await me thinks.
Another great chapter!
Oh thank goodness!
I was curious what the song sound like