Turmoil Rising

by JFT

Chapter 66: Ship Ahoy!

Author's Note:

Finally a new update everybody.
And right on my birthday.

KRAKOOOOOM!

Equestria wasn’t the only one plagued by the storm. There was another that raged further south, in the direction of the setting sun. But this one, however, wasn’t a product of an individual. This was a natural, magical phenomenon, born from the world itself. It was eternal, looming over a vast area of the sea, and underneath it, a single island stood. Its natives had to adapt to the harsh conditions, yet even then, nature itself provided them with a natural deterrent against the threatening element. Some time ago, the whole island was littered with large black metallic protrusions that offered the native satyrs a form of protection, as it caused the rains of lightning to bounce off them. That all changed when among them, a single one rose to power and domination, subjugating the rest, and building a dark foreboding fortress on the high peaks of the island with the metal that was immune to the elements. That was a long time ago, and without their ruler around, without the Storm King to command them, the satyrs were left without a purpose, the aggressive tendencies that were forced into them being replaced with passiveness. And in that, they found a substitute: They had a large fleet of airships at their disposal, the only one capable of traversing the surrounding thunderstorms, and they capitalized on that, using it to ferry outsiders across the area in exchange for goods. At this time of the evening, the final zeppelin docked on a platform on the beach to deliver the daily payout.

“Evenin’,” a yawning voice came up.

A short figure awaited them on the dock. It looked unlike any other satyr on the island, probably because he wasn’t one. It was a hedgehog – his fur as gray as the rest of the natives, his back spines just as white as their fur, and around his neck, he wore a bib with a cupcake on it. Grubber, once the former lieutenant of the Storm King, then reduced to Tempest Shadow’s right-hand man, and now an overseer of the operations on the Thundering Isle. And with the end of the day, he came to inspect the daily income…. And his fair share.

“Alright guys, let’s see what you brought.”

One of the satyrs opened the trap door to the hold below, and the hedgehog jumped in, followed by another of the storm guards. The lights inside the cargo hold gently jiggled as the small overseer examined the items of the day, ranging from basic building materials like wood and metal, furniture and books, and food of all kinds such as vegetables and fruits.

But the hedgehog was looking for something very specific. “Where is it, Jeremy? I know there’s got to be some.” The satyr walked past him and opened one of the crates, pulling out a quiche and presenting it to the short beings, making him cringe. “Ewww! Are you trying to gag me or something? Come on, Jeremy, you know what I want.” The storm guard let out a sigh, tossing the baked food to the side, and opened another crate, pulling out a chocolate cake, bigger than the overseer himself. “That’s the stuff!” Grubber couldn’t contain his excitement, immediately sticking his hand into it, ripping out a piece, and sticking it in his mouth. “Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah…” He ripped the cake out of the storm guard’s grasp. “Alright, tell the rest to get this unloaded. I need some me time right now.”

As the rest of the satyr began unloading the cargo, Grubber made himself comfortable on a beach chair nearby, with a chocolate cake on a table close to him, and a strange umbrella-looking rough sculpture made of dark metal.

KRAKOOOOOM!

Thunder roared above and a lightning bolt shot down at his location, only for it to bounce off the metallic object and fly off into the distance. This was common on their island. Previously, when the Storm King still ruled, he ordered to gather all the resistant metal on the island to build his fortress on the mountain peak, but with their master now gone, the stronghold was torn apart and spread throughout the island so that the natives could once again enjoy the natural protection the island’s mineral offered.

“Yep. This ain’t half bad,” the hedgehog said to himself. “We get a daily job done, we get paid with stuff, I get to eat my favorite food.” He reached for another piece of cake and went into a momentary daze as he enjoyed it. “This sort of life’s pretty good. I honestly don’t know what could possibly spoil it…” As he reached for another piece of the desert and was ready to gobble it all up, he was suddenly interrupted by a strange sound. “Hey, which one of you guys is making that weird noise?” he asked them.

The satyrs shrugged though. They clearly weren’t the ones making it, but they could hear where it was coming from, and one of them pointed in the north-eastern direction of the island. They saw something strange in the sky above. There was lightning, visibly trailing through the thick storm clouds, towards the island. It quickly became obvious to everybody that this wasn’t a natural phenomenon. And that noise - it sounded like music, and it kept growing stronger as it got closer, until it reached the middle of the island, finally going silent.

KRAKOOOOOM!

From the dark clouds, a single bolt of lightning descended, narrowly evading all the stationed protection, hitting the ground, causing the earth to heave from the impact, tossing everybody and everything, including Grubber, who ended up with the cake landing on his face after he finally made contact with the ground again.

“MY CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!” he cried out in terror, then angrily marched in the direction of the impact site. “Alright, who’s the wise guy?! You think you can just come and ruin my meal time?! You’re gonna regret…” his voice soon trailed off.

A large crater was left in place where the lightning struck. The cloud of dust that it generated slowly cleared away, revealing a kneeling form at the bottom. It rose to full height and soon the spectators gazed upon its shape. It wasn’t just the hedgehog that was left short on breath - other satyrs were as well, as this black statue was chiseled to resemble their former king.

“Hey, Marty!” Grubber called out, making one of the nearby satyrs rush to his side, while he picked up a stick that he pulled out of the debris before handing it to him. “Go down there and poke that thing so we can see if it’s real or did I just think it moved.”

His underling took the stick and slid down into the crater, walking to the towering black statue, while everybody watched in anticipation on the descent’s edge. When he was nearly at arm’s reach he extended it and nudged it. It remained unmoving. The satyr turned and looked up to inform his superior, but before he could even utter a coherent sentence, a glow, followed by a sparking sound, emerged. He only had a moment to turn his head and glance at the statue’s yellow eyes as they opened, its arm extended, and a source of power flashed in his extended right hand.

KRAK!

The satyr screamed as a force blew him out of the crater and sent him flying into the hills, leaving everybody else speechless.

“Oh no… It’s real.” Grubber followed his trail.

And just as he said that he felt something coiling around his belly and shocking him. A trail of lightning extended from the black construct to the hedgehog, wrapping around him. The animated statue pulled on the lightning like a rope, and Grubber flew across the air, straight into the heart of the crater, just before he hit the ground, the statue extended his other arm and grabbed him by his head spines. The hedgehog now had a full view of the creature that stood before him. This animated statue was a spitting image of his long-since departed king, the only noticeable difference about him being the yellow in his eyes and the sigil that was carved across his chest.

“You know, who I am, don’t you?”

There was a noticeable rumble in his voice but otherwise, the hedgehog recognized it. “Y-you… you’re the Storm King, r-right…?”

After a short pause, he resumed. “Yes, but actually no. But that explanation can wait. While we’re on the matter, I recognize you, but your name escapes me. Who are you again?”

“G-g-grubber, sir.”

“Oh right. You’re the pint-size that I replaced as my right hand until the “horse that will not be mentioned” took over. Now that we’re done with introductions, let’s get down to business.”

He crouched and leaped in a trail of lightning, arcing across the air, and landed outside the crater, still holding the hedgehog, who was in even more shock after what he had just gone through. He then raised his arm and wiggled his hand, motioning other satyrs to come closer. After a moment of hesitation, they slowly crept out of their hiding spots one after another and came into proximity of their returned king.

“Now then, Grubber,” the construct addressed him, “I expect you’re able to account for your actions?”

His eyes shifted left and right, unsure what to say. “My King… I’m not sure I follow.”

The Storm King lowered the arm in which he held him, raising his other to rub his face in frustration. “Am I really gonna have to point it out?” He then raised the hedgehog in the air, facing him towards what was left of his stronghold. “My fortress is in complete shambles.” He pointed him to the nearby iron construction that stood nearby. “Its remains are littering the whole island.” Then directing him to the moored airships. “My vessels are docked when they should be airborne and raiding some distant land. And…” His gaze stopped at a pair of satyrs who had gone motionless in the middle of a dance once they noticed they were being watched. “Are you having a dance party?”

“Well yeah, I mean, the guys were working really hard today. It’s Friday and so we decided-”

“That’s beside the point,” the Pillar of Fear interrupted him. “What happened with my island?”

“Your Omnipotence, I… I’m not sure how to tell you this…” Grubber twiddled his fingers.

“Just be blunt, I don’t have time for word-mincing.”

The hedgehog gulped. “Well, you see Your Exuberance, after your… departure, we were left without a leader and without work, so we returned to the Thundering Isle. Since nobody was living in the fortress anymore we decided to…” he paused, fearing to speak with his king’s judging eyes motionless set on him, “take part of it apart, and then use the bits to cover the rest of the island with them, so that everybody could go about their business without having to worry about getting zapped by lightning. But we still needed a way to feed ourselves, so we decided to use our airships to transport people and stuff, and they paid us for it. And we decided to have a party in… remembrance of you, sir. Look, we even have a cake.”

Grubber waved at one of the satyrs and he brought over a cake, frosting as black as the iron spikes, and on top of it was a drawn image of a bunch of figures that resembled the locals dancing around happily, and under their feet was a mishmash of what looked like rubble, one of them looking like a head with crosses for eyes. The hedgehog could only laugh awkwardly.

“Awww, well isn’t that sweet, you guys.” A few seconds after saying that, the construct swung his empty hand and the cake flew in the air, disappearing in the increasing darkness. “But unfortunately, in my current condition, I couldn’t stomach it.” He finally let go of the hedgehog, making him fall on his butt, while he walked off in the direction of the moored airships. “Anyway, back to business as usual. Grab your arms and board the ships, we’ve got places to go.”

Grubber got back on his feet. “But Your Majesty, we can’t. We’ve just finished our daily shift and we were about to retire for the weekend. Besides we don’t do any-”

His words we interrupted by an increasingly loud sparking sound. The form stopped on the spot as the lightning sparks in his hand began to flash brighter.

The animated statue slowly turned his face and glanced at them. “Excuse me, did I just stutter or something?” He made a full turn, his words suddenly turning thundery. “Let me put it in a way that you lot are gonna understand: This is a hostile takeover. The company is being restructured. The current leadership is being replaced by a new-old one. GOT THE PICTURE YET? OR DO I NEED TO REMIND ALL OF YOU WHO IS THE LORD OF THE THUNDERING ISLE?” He raised his sparking right arm in the air. “WHO IS THE KING OF ALL STORMS?”

KRAKOOOOOM!

Lightning shot in the air from the arm on which he had the Staff of Sacanas attached. It disappeared into the storm clouds, and then a consistent clash of thunder could be heard. The dark clouds suddenly parted and strong light emerged, garnering everybody’s attention. A giant orb made of lightning levitated above the island, almost dwarfing it. It immediately became clear to just about everybody that if it descended, the entire island would get wiped out from the face of the world. But that would not come to pass, as the conjurer snapped his stone fingers, and almost instantly, the orb dispersed, discharging lightning bolts in every direction. As the thunder echoed across the sky, for a brief moment, the skies above the Thundering Island cleared, and stars could be seen in the night sky before finally being covered by the dark clouds. The leader of the satyrs lowered his head, and finally saw what he had hoped: His people kneeling on all fours before him in complete subordination.

“Good,” he finally spoke again. “Now that we’re finally on the same page… MOVE OUT!” The satyrs quickly scrambled in all directions, going off to fulfill their tasks in preparation for departure, but he stopped the smallest one. “You. With me.”

He turned and walked off to his moored airship, with the hedgehog rushing right behind him. “Mighty One, I do not want to sound insubordinate,” Grubber excused himself, “but the guys just pulled through a day’s worth of shift. If there’s going to be any sort of fighting or raiding I don’t think they’ll be of much use to you.”

“No need to worry about that,” the Storm King assured him. “Right now, I require the fleet to transport a couple of my coworkers and their armies to a distant location. In which case, they’ll have plenty of time to rest up while they practice on their instruments.”

“Instruments, Sir?” He gave him a confused look. “You mean their weapons?”

“No, I was being literal.”

“What? What good are instruments gonna be to you, my Mighty Storm King?”

He stopped and the shorty who barely even reached his knees bumped into him. “I’m not “the Storm King” anymore, Guppy. I rebranded myself. Now I’m the SL/SK.”

“It’s Grubber, You Omnipotence…” He waited for a moment in case he was going to receive a shocking response to his words and only continued when that didn’t happen. “While we’re on that subject, I’m not sure we have anything on the island that could qualify as… well, instruments.”

The construct rubbed his chin. “If that’s the case, we will have to go on a small raid to the nearest high-quality music store on our way to the meeting point.”

The rainy night was not pleasant to the radiant unicorn that had to stay at Twilight’s old castle. Others who were spending the night here were the lucky ones; they were already whisked off to the dreamland and as such didn’t have a problem sleeping through it. The same was not true for the fashionista, who lay in bed and could hardly get an eye shut from all the pounding of the rain. The tapping eventually faded away, but by then it was already beginning to dawn on the horizon. She moaned from the lack of sleep, miffed that she couldn’t lay in bed any longer no matter how hard she tried to keep her eyes shut. She got up in a daze, trying to stay still on track as she was trying to get to the bathroom. She managed to reach them, but just as she jiggled the handle…

SPLASH!

The door of the bathroom burst open and water washed all over her. She was so out of it that she couldn’t even muster the urge to scream, only her eyes shot open to see what caused it. Inside, a deer was desperately trying to work a faucet, and failing.

“Please help, Miss Rarity!” Bramble begged as the water stream eventually hit him in the face.

Without saying anything, her horn lit up and a blue aura enveloped the handle of the faucet, finally shutting down the water stream.

“Thank you, Miss Rarity. I have no idea how this thing worked.”

She tapped the side of her head to force water out of her ear. “You’ve never used a sink before?”

“We don’t have any of these things in Thicket. We have a stream diverted to run through our trees so we have fresh water constantly at our disposal. These things are alien to me…”

She budged in haste, trying to look at the mirror above the sink. She unwrapped the wet cover over her head; she had to make sure of what had happened. She soon sighed in relief - the hard work she spent on her mane last night did not go to waste, it seemed that the protective isolation she applied managed to safeguard her from water.

“Wait… Miss Rarity, why are you here?”

“Let’s just say, we had an emergency meeting in the middle of the night, after which SOMECREATURE decided to make it rain, so I was forced to spend the night here to avoid the unpleasantries.”

“Emergency meeting? Why wasn’t I informed about that?”

“The key personnel gathered and it was urgent. Don’t worry, once Twilight comes back I’m sure she’ll fill you in before we set off.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?”

“That’s right. We just got a heading to where we have to go, but unfortunately, we’re lacking the guide to the destination so she and the princesses went to look for the information, along with Zecora.”

“Well, wherever you’re going I’m coming along. Father will want-”

“With all due respect, Prince Bramble, but this is a dangerous mission where our lives will be put at stake, just like several times before that. And last I checked, you were sent here as a liaison between your kingdom and ours. I’m pretty sure your father wouldn’t have approved of you suddenly running off to some foreign country and risking your life. Besides, you’ll be plenty occupied by what’s happening here… not to mention my sister.

“Who?”

“Sweetie Belle!”

“Oh… you mean the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“Well, yes, but her especially?”

“Why?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice?” she rolled her eyes.

“Notice what?”

“Haven’t you noticed the way she acted?”

“I don’t know…? Eager and serving?”

“Aha! So you did notice!”

“I… just figured she was trying to make a good impression on a royal visit.”

“Oh for the love of… Are you unable to read a woman’s actions? She’s got a crush on you.”

“She… she does…?” the tone in his voice gave away that he was taken off guard.

“Surely you’ve seen it? The glint in her eyes, the skip in her movement, the over-eagerness in her actions.”

“Well, now that you mention it…”

“And I expect you to do right by her while I’m away.”

“Do… right by her?”

“When I come back, I’ll want to hear everything she has to say about her experience. And if you’ve done something that will hurt her in some way, I promise you, Bramble, I may not be able to do something, but I’m sure Twilight will be willing to send a message to your father about poor etiquette. Did I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes, madame,” he answered in a scared tone.

“Good! I’m glad we had this chat.” She traipsed out of the bathroom with a smile, leaving the deer royal behind as he tried to process his situation. “Now I don’t have to worry about talking to Sweetie Belle in case I have to go before she wakes up,” Rarity thought to herself. “Now, I wonder if Starlight will be willing to treat me with a breakfast, I’m feeling a bit peckish.”

She walked down the hallway to where the gathering room was, slowly opening the door and peeking inside, finding the two unicorns to be asleep, the younger one on a chair and the elder one on the map table. She walked in and gently nudged the pink one to try and gently wake her up.

“Starlight? Starlight darling? I don’t want to intrude, but I was wondering if I could-”

FLASH!

The sound of teleportation echoed through the foyer of the castle, and straight through the opened door, waking up the two unicorns in shock, Star Swirl raised to attention with a snort, and Starlight rolled off her chair and onto the floor. The fashionista turned to the origin of it, only to find the castle’s former owner, her companion, mentor, and a zebra materialized.

The headmare moaned. “Thanks for the wake-up call, Twilight…”

“If it’s any consolation to you, Starlight, I was trying to wake you up anyway,” Rarity said.

“Sorry about that, everypony,” Celestia replied. “But we figured we waited until sunrise to give you a little more respite before you set out.”

The greying unicorn rubbed his eyes. “I assume you’ve found our target?”

There was a sudden knock on the door that stopped the answer from being delivered. The Element of Magic quickly opened the door without even inquiring who was it, she knew already. There were four mares on the other end, looking slightly groggy, but no worse than they were some time ago.

“Seriously,” Applejack yawned. “Princess Luna needs to invent a better system to wake others up that doesn’t involve ruining their dreams…”

“Let me guess, another apple-related one, AJ?” Rainbow Dash smirked.

“Ehem,” the purple alicorn cleared her throat. “As we said last time, you were gonna get called once we found what we needed.” She brought out a piece of paper. “This is what we managed to get: Seasaddle was previously employed at Baltimare’s Shipping Yards. The employment office kept the records of his address when he was still working there. So, if we’re lucky, we may be able to get to him.”

“Oh goody, then we finally know where to go,” Pinkie Pie clapped excitedly.

“And while we’re looking for one who will do the steering, some of you will have to go and inspect the kirin,” Zecora suggested.

“Oh my, you’re right!” Fluttershy remembered. “We’ll have to get to the train soon to make sure we get there.”

“Hold on!” Rarity halted them. “What about preparations? Provisions, rations, and everything else? What about breakfast?”

Spike’s tummy rumbled. “I agree.”

“I’m sorry, everypony, but that will have to wait. As for the preparations, I ordered the airship to be prepared for when we get back so we’ll be all set to-”

“Erm, guys… You may wanna check this out,” Starlight called.

Everybody came to her side wondering what she was talking about, and it didn’t take them long to notice it. South of Macintosh Hills, which separated the central equestrian from the jungle and barren lands, a lone hill, known as the Peaks of Peril, stood. It was surrounded by flickering flame, just as Griffinstone was.

“It wasn’t like that a few moments ago,” Star Swirl answered.

“Oh no! It happened! Somebody used one of Turmoil’s fragments at the home of kirin!” Fluttershy panicked.

“And if my eyes don’t deceive me it’s the same one that was used at Griffinstone,” Celestia noted.

“We have to go then! Quick!” Rainbow Dash urged.

“Hold up!” the purple alicorn stopped them. “We need to split into two groups. Here’s how it’ll go: Myself, Spike, Zecora, and Pinkie Pie will go to Baltimere to look for Seasaddle, and the rest of you get on the next train south and get to Peaks of Peril, and help the kirin. Once we get our helmsman and navigator we’ll take the airship to pick you all up.”

“As for how to save up on travel time, don’t worry, we’ve got that covered too,” the dragon answered, pulling out a postcard featuring a metropolis by a bay, and “Baltimare” written on it in big letters.

“I’ll teleport us there and back to Cantrlot again once we find him. It’s a recent release so we’re not risking teleportation into something unpredictable,” Twilight confirmed, then turning to the workhorse, the wonderbolt, the animal caretaker, and the fashionista. “Now go before miss the train.”

Applejack nodded. “All right, y’all! Let’s go!” She dashed off, followed by the blue and yellow pegasus, with the white unicorn being the last to depart.

“Well, I guess it’s our turn then,” the party planner said as she turned to the alicorn, who nodded.

“Okay, everypony, ready?”

“Princess Twilight?”

They were stopped at the last moment by a voice that came from the side. It was the blue griffin.

“Gallus? You’re out of bed already?” she regarded him.

“Well, all the noise from earlier made it kinda hard to keep an eye shut. Are you leaving already then?”

He received the answer in a nod. “No need to wake everycreatue up to tell them that, okay?”

“I wasn’t going to. Actually, I was hoping to get you alone before you left. Princess Twilight, I have a request.”

She gave him a look of confusion. “Okay, I’ll hear you out.” The student walked to her side and whispered something into her ear that others didn’t hear, only noticing the surprised expression she made. “Wait… you really mean that, Gallus?”

“Twilight, what did he say?” her former mentor inquired.

She just smiled. “Princess Celestia, when you return to Canterlot, please tell Flash Magnus to meet me on the airfield.”

The older mare glanced at the griffin before smiling. “I’ll do that, Twilight.”

“Thank you.” She turned her attention to the rest of the group. “Okay, everypony, gather around.”

The pink earth pony and Zebra came closer to her side as her horn lit up.

“Good luck, Twilight Sparkle,” Star Swirl said his farewell, with Starlight just nodding.

FLASH!

And in a moment, they were gone.

FLASH!

The quartet found themselves on the lookout point, with the view that mirrored the one postcard, as the vast city with many skyscrapers by the side of the aptly named Horseshoe Bay opened before them. They didn’t wait about, immediately descending to the settlement. Baltimare was smaller than Manehatten in comparison, but there was a distinct charm compared to it. With the largest port in all of Equestria, ships were coming and going, bringing in goods from all over the known world. But charm was something that the group was trying to ignore, much to the failure of the party planner who got distracted several times when they passed the pastry shops. After some time, they finally arrived at the destination that was written down on a piece of paper, and it was in a set of multicolored rowhouses, the one on the far end, colored aquamarine.

“This is it,” the princess said. “I hope he hasn’t moved away…” She pressed the doorbell.

“Twilight, are you sure it’s a good idea?” her companion asked.

“What do you mean, Spike?”

“Well, according to the book he wrote, he was locked up in the city of Zecora’s homeland for a long time. How do you think he’ll respond to us asking him to come along?”

“He’ll probably shut the door in our face, lock it up, and while we’re pleading to him, he’ll slip out the side window and make a run for it.” The rest looked at the pink earth pony who just spilled out a very possible outcome. “But hey, that’s just me, maybe it’ll play out differently.”

The doorknob suddenly clanked, the way slowly opening, but only partly, halted by the door chain, as a teal, slightly bearded pony looked through the door. “Can I help you?”

“Seasaddle?” the purple mare addressed him.

He stared for a bit, then closed the door to unshackle the chain to open the entry a bit further, finally seeing her in full. “Princess Twilight Sparkle…? What an honor. And to what do I owe the pleasure of visiting a humble former sailor like-”

His voice instantly halted, as he fully opened the door and saw the full company that what with her, including a small purple dragon, a pink puffy-headed pony, and next to her… a zebra. He instantly shut the door and the clank of the lock followed.

“Huh… I guess I was right,” Pinkie Pie quipped.

Twilight ran to the door and knocked. “Mister, Seasaddle please, just hear me out-”

“There’s nothing to explain!” the muffled yell came from the other side, accompanied by the sound of moving. “Take that THING away, I’ve seen too many of them for one lifetime!”

“Mister Seasaddle, I understand you’ve had past experience with the place you’ve mentioned in the book you’ve written, but this is serious and you’re the only one who can help us!”

“Forget it! You’re not getting me out, you hear?! Horseshoe Bay will freeze over before I deal with any of their kind again!”

“Please, Mister Seasaddle, let me expla-!” She felt a tap on her shoulder, as the shaman got to her side to make her go quiet and then waved to step aside.

“I thought you would be singing a sea shanty, about the one that helped you get free,” Zecora said.

Soon, the sound inside the house went quiet, and then the hoof steps followed to the door once more. The door opened and the old teal stallion peaked out the chained door.

“What did you say?” he asked.

The shaman smiled. “I don’t believe it, pony, that you of all would forget about me.”

He shut the door once more to remove the chain, and then fully opened the door, staring at the mare in front of him. “Turn to the side,” he ordered.

She obliged, turning, showing off the swirly sun mark on her flank.

His eyes widened. “Well, I’ll be a seahorse’s uncle… Zecora?”

“Forgive me for giving you such a shock, I was expecting my sight you wouldn’t have blocked.”

He traipsed out the door into her personal space and put his hoof around her, as she did in kind. “It’s been a long time.”

The bystander just looked in surprise. “Hold on, you two know each other?” Spike wondered.

“It’s a long story, I’ll make it short – Seasaddle’s the one who brought me to an Equestrian port,” she answered.

“Only after she set me free.” He let go of her. “Would you believe she was just a wee little filly when she sprung me out of prison?”

She gave him a playful shove. “Please don’t wag your tongue, I wasn’t that young.”

The teal stallion chuckled. “Apologies for my early reaction. A friend of my rescuer is a friend of mine…” He looked about. “Say, where did the pink one that was with you go?”

Only when he mentioned it now did the rest realize that the Element of laughter disappeared. “Oh no… Don’t tell me that Pinkie Pie made tracks for one of the bakeries we passed earlier,” Spike moaned.

Twilight groaned. “We can’t look for her now, she’ll come back, we’ve more pressing matters.” She turned her attention to the bearded former sailor. “Mister Seasaddle, as I said this is an emergency and you’re the only pony in Equestria who can help us right now.”

“Well, I’ll do what I can, but I’m not sure how I can help the Princess of Equestria in any way.”

The alicorn brought out a book with which the teal pony was more than familiar. “In this book, you’ve described your stay in a far-off land, and you’ve given the details of the culture and people that Equestria never had contact with. The book unfortunately does not give directions on how to reach it. That is why we’ve come to you for aid.”

“Of course, I didn’t write that,” he spoke. “It’s the last place I’d want anypony else to visit. It’s best that nobody else but the author knows the way.”

“So, you do know how to get to Farasi then?” the dragon asked.

He was about to speak, but stopped himself, realizing the pattern and where this line of questioning was going. “Wait, you’re not seriously asking what I think you are?”

“Mister Seasaddle, will you please be our guide to the land of Farasi?” the Element of Magic asked.

The silence lasted for a bit, and then the stallion raised his hood. “Will you excuse me for a moment?”

He traipsed to the door, but just as he was about to enter he bumped face-first into another. A pink one.

“Were you going to leap through the back window and run off while pretending you’re looking for something?” she asked with an innocent smile.

He yelped, staggering backward. “Wait… How did you…”

“You opened the window earlier when you shut the door on us, so you were likely preparing to ditch us right away, that is if Zecora hadn’t stopped you. I climbed through it while nobody was looking since I figured you weren’t gonna be cooperative. Oh!” She pulled out a chocolate-covered pastry and took a bite. “I also had a quick piece of bunt cake from the shop on the other side.”

She walked out of his house and shut the door behind. The former sailor was now feeling completely surrounded.

“Seasaddle?” Twilight waited for a response.

“You have no idea what I was put through, Princess…” he said. “A storm forced me to land on a foreign shore, and to make my luck worse, a parasprite snuck onto my ship and attacked the city of Musa. The locals managed to contain the pestilence but the damage was already done, and I ended up being blamed for everything. I spent such a long time in their prison that I almost lost track of time. There was never going to be a trial or anything. I was going to spend the rest of my life rotting away in a cell for an act over which I had no control. I would probably still be there if it wasn’t for her…”

“So… you’re not going to help us? Even though the fate of Equestria depends on it?” Spike asked.

He didn’t say a thing. He couldn’t get himself to do it.

Finally, the shaman stepped in. “Seasaddle, please listen to me, I know what we’re asking is more than something you can agree. But remember back, when you were alone, I helped you get back on the right track. All I asked was that you take me along, and you happily agreed, while you sang your song. I never would’ve asked you to face the source of your despair, unless there was something worse that could not compare. So, I’m asking you, please, for the old-time sake, will help us prevent an outbreak?”

He continued to just sit there for a while longer before finally glancing at her. “You’re really going to twist my hooves on this, aren’t you?”

“So, will you do it then?” The princess of Friendship asked.

“Under protest,” he replied. “I don’t want to go back to that land… But I’d feel guilty knowing that all hopes for saving Equestria are pinned solely on me…”

“Yay!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “He said yes… Well, sort of, but we’re all good!” She pulled out a cake. “See? I also bought one of these earlier just in case. Let’s celebrate our new crewmate joining us!”

“Crewmate?” the dragon raised an eyebrow. “Where did that come from?”

“He’s gonna be our captain, Pinkie. Save the celebrations for when we’re on the ship,” the alicorn pointed out.

“Captain…?” he got confused. “Princess, with all due respect, but I don’t have a ship of my own. I left the sea years ago.”

“No worries about that, Seasaddle, we’ve got that covered. Everypony, come together.”

The group stood next to one another, and then…

FLASH!

They dematerialized, only to reappear on an open field. The wind was blowing, and not far from them, their vessel was already waiting, along with somebody else.

“Ma’am, welcome back,” a centurion-looking pegasus stood nearby. “Celestia told me to wait for you with further instructions.”

“Flash Magnus,” Twilight greeted him, staggering a bit from using magic to teleport herself and multiple people to a great distance, then turning to the party planner. “Pinkie, take Seasaddle to the airship so he can get familiar with it. Spike, Zecora, go with them, I’ll join you in a moment.”

“Alrighty,” Pinkie Pie enthusiastically replied. “Come on, CAPTAIN, and meet your new ship.”

As they all went off to prepare for take-off, the princess approached the drill sergeant. “So, what was it that you needed me for, Ma’am?”

“Flash, I would like to inform you about a potential new recruit for the royal guard.”

The Lavender Spirit Airship took off and traveled southward over Ponyville. After some time, the greenery disappeared, leaving behind only the dusty rocky lands, most of which belonged to the bison. Eventually, the mountain range of Macintosh Hill split the land, opening the vast jungle lands of the south.

Pinkie Pie hopped over to the steering wheel that its new captain and navigator occupied. “Soooooo, Captain… How does it feel to be back in the SADDLE that isn’t exactly SEAworthy?” she snickered.

“It’s taken a bit to get used to it. Steering an airship is another matter than just a regular ship. You don’t have just left and right to worry about, but also up and down… And the probability for us to crash is significantly higher.”

“Oh…” she said in a tone of grim realization.

“That being said though, you all need not worry. There’s yet to be a ship that I’ve mishandled and that’s not about to change,” he reassured her.

“Oh, that’s a relief.” She pulled out a plate with a piece of cake on it. “Enjoy!”

She hopped out on the deck where the rest were – the princess and her companion were reviewing the local map, while the shaman sat at the front of the ship and stared at the distance.

“Okay, if these coordinates are correct, then the train station but close by, which means the Peaks of Peril should be as well.” Twilight pointed.

“Yeah but…” Spike looked at the front, seeing blackness in the distance. “I fear we may have a storm coming our way.”

“I don’t know, Spike. Those don’t look like storm clouds.”

“In this case you are correct,” Zecora answered. “If what we saw in the morning on the map, it’s what we should expect. If the mark resembled what we saw at griffin’s home, then we should expect the same symptom.”

They remember what happened at Griffinstone, but it took them a moment to remember the mark that was shown on the Cutie Map in its aftermath… the same mark that then appeared over their destination.

And there they saw it – Peaks of Peril, engulfed in red, opal flames.

Comments

[GamePlayer64]

Good chapter and happy birthday

[Great White Prime]

Happy Birthday

[nightshroud96]

Happy birthday \ovo/

[JFT]

11679220
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Thanks.

[Doctor_Den]

11683929
if there is a good reason to go home and, for example, finish an unfinished business, then that’s fine, but if I didn’t have an important reason to return home and at the same time there would be an opportunity instead of going home in the rain to spend the night somewhere else, then I would definitely would have used.

[nightshroud96]

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Yee