Scum and Villainy

by The Mountaineer Brony

Vode An

On her way back to Mandalore, Tempest let Blinky pilot the ship for a while so she could get some rest, but alas, sleep did not come easily to her. Thoughts of her previous mission lay heavily on her mind, unable to be discarded by her restless tossing and turning. Were the savrips intelligent? Did she deliver them into slavery? She supposed she shouldn't be worrying about it as much as she was, since the deed was done and she'd accepted her payment, but her sense of Mandalorian justice kept gnawing at her. Her teal eyes stared up through the darkness of the room at her ceiling; finally, Tempest resolved to get some sleep, telling herself that she'd take some time to relax on Mandalore and talk to Sheryl about her problems. She knew Sheryl could be trusted.

After its long journey from Ord Mantell, the Broken Horn dropped out of hyperspace and made its way toward Tempest's clan base on the surface of Mandalore. The unicorn slipped back into her armor while Blinky put the ship down on an empty landing pad. Sure enough, upon the sight of the shuttle bearing a unicorn's profile on the prow, Sheryl Nighthawk came rushing out to greet her old friend. The boarding ramp dropped down and Tempest exited; upon spotting Sheryl, she allowed herself a smile.

"I thought I'd see you around again." She said, trotting out to greet her.

"Tempest!" Sheryl chimed. "It's good to have you back." The human woman knelt down to take her diminutive friend in a hug; Tempest wasn't expecting this, but she returned the embrace with her forehooves. She had forgotten how nice it felt to be hugged.

"C'mon, I'll treat you to lunch. I'm excited to hear about your first trip offworld."

Tempest took a second to process Sheryl's words before falling into an amble beside her. She supposed that, now that she was no longer a trainee, but a full-fledged Mandalorian, Sheryl trusted her enough to dine with her, which would mean removing her helmet. Mandalorians, as Tempest had been told, were not to remove their helmets or armor in public, even around other Mandalorians, and in private, only alone or around other Mandalorians whom they trusted. Sheryl knew what she looked like, having helped train her, but Tempest had never once glimpsed Sheryl's face. Perhaps since she trusted her enough to cast off the mask, Tempest wouldn't feel so odd about opening up to her about her concerns.

"Well, it was certainly more exciting than I could have expected." Tempest said, looking up at her friend as she followed her into the compound. "It's a rough galaxy out there."

"I'd imagine." Sheryl replied. "I've never had a chance to leave Mandalore, but I think I'd feel more comfortable here than anywhere else. This is home, y'know?"

"I get that." said Tempest. "It's home for me too. But I've already come from way out in the Unknown Regions to get here. I figure I might as well see what the rest of the galaxy has to offer. I can feel it calling me. It's my destiny."

"Can't argue with that, I suppose." Sheryl's smile was hidden behind her helmet.

As they took refuge from the bright sunlight of the courtyard inside the compound proper, Tempest and Sheryl passed by a group of four human children wearing foundling robes. They were being watched over by two elder warriors, who nodded to their sisters-in-arms as they walked past.

"Are they new?" asked Tempest. "I don't remember kids being here when I left."

"Yeah, they were rescued a few days after you left, actually." Sheryl replied, glancing over her shoulder at the children. "A group of our brothers got called up as mercenaries for a conflict on Ord Cestus. One of them found the kids huddled in a culvert in a bombed-out village, hiding from all the fighting. Couldn't find their parents- probably dead -so he brought them back."

"They will make fine Mandalorians, I'm sure." Tempest said, though she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness for them.

Before long, the two had reached Sheryl's private quarters on the base: a small, spartan dwelling, much like Tempest's, but it did possess its own stove and a window to let in the sunlight. The door slid shut behind them and Sheryl quickly got to work gathering ingredients for their meal.

"Please, make yourself comfortable, Tempest." She said upon noticing her friend awkwardly standing in the middle of the room. Tempest turned her head abruptly as though she'd been startled out of thought, but quickly found a seat at the small dining table nearby.

"Would you like some tea?" Sheryl inquired as she began boiling the water.

"Tea would be fine." replied Tempest, somewhat quietly. She still felt a little uncomfortable, never having been in a situation like this before. After a few seconds, during which Tempest quietly waited for Sheryl to look at her again, she gestured with a hoof to her helmet, quizzically. Sheryl gave a quick nod, and Tempest slowly reached both hooves up, removing her helmet and setting it on the table.

In a few minutes, the tea was ready, and Sheryl returned with the pot and two small cups to the table. Sitting down, Sheryl reached up and removed her own helmet, looking upon Tempest with her own eyes for the first time. Tempest was a little surprised to learn what her friend actually looked like. Sheryl was fair skinned, with a sharp jawline, small nose, and some freckles on her cheeks. Her eyes were a deep brown and alluring, and she had a scar on her left brow, much like Tempest's scar on her right. Her hair was a pale strawberry blonde, looking at various times more red, brown, or golden, and was styled in a lopsided fashion: one side covered her ear and occasionally swept into her face, while the other was kept short, though not trimmed to her skin.

A smile began to form on Tempest's muzzle, slowly growing larger as her eyes scanned this new face. Sheryl brushed a strand of hair from her eyes and grinned in return.

"I'm not that familiar with humans," Tempest said "but... you look nice."

"Thanks." Sheryl replied with a suppressed chuckle. She acted as though she wanted to follow that up with something, but didn't, instead pouring the tea for each of them and bringing hers to her lips.

"I like how you've done your mane." Tempest said after sipping her warm, fragrant drink.

Sheryl actually gave a proper laugh this time, though a small one. "I call it hair, but thank you."

"If you don't mind me asking, Sheryl..." Tempest inquired with a tone of wariness in her voice "how did you get that scar?"

The young woman ran a finger over the aged wound, smirking. "It's like we're sisters, aren't we?"

The unicorn simply smiled.

"I got it when I was... twelve, I think." She continued. "A friend and I were trying to learn knife tricks and we got a little too careless." The two of them shared a chuckle; Sheryl waited a moment before asking "And what about yours?'

Tempest cradled her teacup between the knees of her forelegs. "I was much younger, just a filly. Playing with friends in the woods... went to get a lost ball and got attacked by an animal. That's also how I..." She let her speech trail off, but gestured to her horn with her eyes.

Sheryl gave a nod of understanding. "I'm sorry to hear that, Tempest... What kind of animal was it?"

"Not sure what you'd call them on other planets." She replied. "On Equus, they're called Ursa Major, a very large bear of sorts."

Sheryl shrugged. "Never heard of it on Mandalore. Heh, then again, there's not much of anything living on Mandalore."

Tempest glanced out through a crack in the window blinds. She had been taught that the surface of Mandalore had been rendered into barren wasteland centuries ago, during the planet's civil wars. She didn't quite know why, but there was something about the flat, dusty landscape stretching off into the distance that she found oddly comforting. When she turned back from her thoughts, Sheryl had moved and was standing at the stove preparing their meal.

"Do you want to come help?" She asked. "Figured I could teach you some old Mandalorian recipes."

"Uh... sure." Tempest said, getting down from her seat. It took some time, but Sheryl showed her how to prepare the ingredients, as well as their names in Mando'a. It had been years since Tempest had had a home-cooked meal, much less any meal she had a part in making. By the time the two of them sat down with piping hot bowls of tiingilar--a thick stew packed with numerous spices and vegetables--Tempest could probably have gotten by on just her personal satisfaction at how well it turned out.

But she had to admit, the food was nice too.

"The recipe usually calls for meat, but I've seen your teeth." Sheryl quipped. "You don't exactly look like a carnivore."

Tempest chuckled as she wiped her mouth. "I'm not. But still, give me this recipe! My mouth is on fire and I love it!"

Sheryl returned a jovial laugh. "I'll make sure to before you leave again... speaking of which, you haven't told me about your trip yet! How did it go?"

Tempest swallowed nervously and glanced at the floor, smiling.

"You claimed your first bounty, didn't you?"

"Yeah! Yeah, of course!" The pony replied happily, though her ears were still uneasy. "And I helped escort some stuff and fight some pirates, I've got to tell you about that, but..."

"But what?"

The room was silent for a moment. Sheryl watched her friend, concerned. Tempest sighed.

"Sheryl, I..." Tempest forced herself to speak. "I need to talk to you about something."

---

Sheryl spent the next several minutes listening intently as Tempest told her of her moral dilemma; how the culture she was raised in put a sacred value on life, and how uncomfortable she felt the first time she killed, but also how it had gotten easier when her life was at stake... and how that made her uneasy, too. During this time, they had drifted away from their bowls of food and wound up sitting on a small couch in the lounge area as Tempest poured her soul out to the only confidant she had.

When all was said and done, Sheryl sat pensively for a moment, her hands interlocked with two index fingers pressed against her lips, chin resting on her thumbs. She had to think carefully about what she wanted to say, and how to say it. Tempest waited, ears back, unsure of how her friend might respond to this flood of information and emotion. Finally, she spoke, looking at her friend somewhat awkwardly.

"Tempest..." She paused and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad that you trust me enough to tell me all of this. Really, I'm glad that you think that highly of me. But that being said, Mandalorians aren't usually emotional creatures, and I'm not quite sure I'm suited to help, so... take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt, okay?"

The mare nodded silently.

"I can't claim to know everything about your former culture, Tempest, or how things work on your home planet; and, even if I did, it wouldn't be my place to say that those beliefs are right or wrong. But notice that I said former culture. As in, yours no longer. Because you cast that aside when you became Mandalorian. Actually, from what little you told us about yourself when you showed up at our gates, it sounded like you had cast that aside before you even left your own planet. You were searching for a new life, and left behind everything that weighed you down to find it. That search lead you here, and you chose to follow the way of Mandalore. Do you regret that?"

"No." Tempest said firmly. "I meant those words when I said them. This clan has given me more than I ever had before. For the first time in my life, I feel free of stigma, free to pursue my own destiny."

"Then embrace it." said Sheryl. "A true Mandalorian knows that when she kills, she kills with purpose. To avenge, to make right, to defend herself or those she protects. So long as she doesn't slay her own kin, any death dealt by a daughter of Mandalore is death rightfully dealt. Kill with discretion, but do not be afraid of it."

Tempest took a few slow breaths to calm herself. She focused her eyes on a spot in the middle distance as she repeated Sheryl's words in her mind. Indeed, she was a Mandalorian, and glad to be one. Everything that happened to her before--her scarring, her time with the Storm King, the Separatist invasion--were just stepping stones leading her to now.

She silently thanked her past for bringing her here, and then she let it die.

Damn Equestria, damn the Storm King, damn the entire planet of Equus... Tempest Shadow was a child of Mandalore.

And she would never look back.

---

Tempest and Sheryl embraced each other in a hug as the Broken Horn's landing ramp extended. It had been about three days since their talk in Sheryl's quarters, and Tempest had reaffirmed her commitment to the Mandalorian way of life. She had Sheryl take her for target practice to try and improve her aim with her weak aura--it was getting there--and she insisted on only speaking in Mando'a the entire time, which wasn't required by tradition, but it made Tempest feel better.

Blinky beeped and whistled from the ramp, alerting Tempest that the ship was ready to take off. She and Sheryl bowed to one another in one last goodbye.

"Ret'urcye mhi, ner vod." said Sheryl, calling Tempest her friend, or, in the literal meaning of the word, her sibling.

"Ret'urcye mhi, Sheryl." Tempest replied. The phrase could be translated as "goodbye," but more literally meant "maybe we'll meet again." Being a Mandalorian had numerous associated hazards, after all. The two locked unseen eyes through their helmets once more before she turned and entered her ship.

Taking her place in the pilot's seat, Tempest carefully brought her ship up off the landing pad and sent it hurtling upwards through the atmosphere, headed for the moon of Concordia. The young bounty hunter was ready to hunt another criminal, and this time there would be no remorse.

Author's Note:

Title is pronounced {vo-day ON}. For those who don't already know what this is, punch it into YouTube and you're in for a treat.

It translates to "brothers all", but in Mando'a, there's only one word for brother and/or sister, so it still works for these two. Besides, it was too fun a reference not to include.

(Behind the scenes, this song got stuck in my head while writing this chapter. So I'm going to say it got stuck in Tempest's head too once she heard it.)

Comments

[Armageden]

Ahhhh... yes Vode AN a.k.a Brother all and The Republic Commando Video-game opening.