Twilights Mane Passion

by Darkonshadows

93

There the captain stood at the wheel of the airship wearing a purple tricorn with a cutie mark adorned on it, the right hoof was on the wheel and the left hoof was holding a large flagon of apple cider. The captain brought the drink up to parched lips and sipped some of the life giving fluid while making sure to keep their course straight.

“I wish it were honeyed, but even I know you just can’t put honey in to make it taste that divine. First mate, care to take the wheel for a while? We need to stay to this heading, pay attention to the compass and give us a bit of altitude.” Twilight smiled as Tress came up to her wearing a red bandana on her head. She received a rather affectionate nuzzle before giving her friend the wheel.

“Yeah, yeah, I got this captain.” Tress did well to hide her nervousness of letting Twilight out of her sight even though she logically knew the mare could take care of herself. “You know the pirates could have put up a bit more of a fight until we got out of the catacombs. I think Ballad and Jasmine looked so happy together when they gave us all a good send off. I’m not exactly surprised that the sultan was magically transformed into the throne Jabber’s butt had been sitting on.”

“Are you sure you’re okay Tress, you’ve been around me a lot lately and you seem a bit… clingy. Is this about what you saw with the Slumbergath?” It wasn’t hard to notice for Twilight that her friend wouldn’t even look at her. She thought that Tress was getting exceptionally touchy feely lately.

Twilight knew that physically Tress was perfectly fine because of her regenerative qualities, mentally was a different story. For all her strength and powers Tress was and will always be just like any other pony, the only exception is that she didn’t seem to have dreams for her own future. Tress really needed a Twilight brand gentle caressing mane wash followed by some brushing and combing, especially after having to hack off some of her hair with a knife while in full Mane-iac form. Twilight’s best friend had confided that it felt like she was cut off her own limbs to stanch Ballad’s bleeding after the lamp had exploded a bit too close to him.

“I’ll live Radiance; go see how Fluttershy is doing. Get in Chrysalis and Daring while you’re at it.” Tress was glad they got a bit of vacation time to learn of a new culture. Over the course of their stay she herself personally picked up some Saddle Arabian cooking recipes, eventually things could go back to normal and she would stop leaning so heavily on Twilight for support.

The total outcome of Saddle Arabia for Twilight and her friends were as follows.

Rarity bought an outfit or two and walked away with a head filled full of dress and clothing ideas, her notebook also had quite a few pages of accessories.

Chrysalis was allowed to work as an envoy of her people to work up trade agreements with the Saddle Arabian territories.

Pinkie got to throw a huge party from the city entrance all the way to the palace. The party pony was happy to have helped put so many smiles on despairing faces and was a good morale boost to the city. Thanks to her the Trouble Takers weren’t stuck with the bill for the collateral damage to the palace, the party was very distracting.

Twilight got herself a snazzy new pirate hat that was modified by Rarity and was currently the proud owner of The Indistinguishable Plot. She had spent most of the week in a palace suite and aside from tending to Tress; she got to play with Jasmine’s mane.

Velvet and Nightlight Sparkle were flying a different ship home; it was called The Floggable Flank. They spent the week in a romantic manner befitting two ponies who needed some quality time with each other. Velvet still snuck Fluttershy snuggling into her time spent with her husband.

Fluttershy had met many wondrous and exotic animals, including some poisonous snakes and a snake charmer that was befuddled that she could talk with them on a personal level. Snakes liked smooth jazz, who knew? She had otherwise spent a nice week relaxing with the girls she was nursing back to health alongside the ever cantankerous Gilda. She was completely unsuccessful in avoiding Velvet’s coddling.

Trixie spent the week putting on shows with some of Saddle Arabia’s best street performers. Even then she would always be Pinkie’s pretty personal party prestidigitation pony first and foremost.

The vizier had survived his injuries, he might never walk again, he was never going to have any children and the jinn cursed him upon its defeat. The stallion brought it upon himself by vying for power without real allies or a stable power base.

“Hey Fluttershy are you okay?” Twilight walked towards the bow of the ship, the shy mare squeaked flapping her wings before calming down and looking at her with those innocent eyes.

“Yes, I was so happy that I could help you and every pony Twilight.” Fluttershy smiled before looking up at the stars, she could swear that some stars were converging towards the moon ever so slowly. Some of them weren’t in the same place they were last night. “Nightmare Moon is coming soon isn’t she? I hope to be as much help to you then as I was this time.”

“Of course you’ll be helpful Fluttershy, you’re a good friend and I trust you to do your best.” Not seeing any problem with the pegasus, Twilight decided to go after Chrysalis as they have avoided each other long enough.

Fluttershy silently watched as Twilight trot away, she soon reached up to touch a hoof to her lips remembering Gilda forcefully kissing her back before they left Saddle Arabia. The griffon promised she’d drop on by Ponyville eventually looking for Rainbow Dash and she wouldn’t give up until her true feelings were known, even if they were lame mushy dweeb feelings that she’d rather not deal with. The so called wallflower sighed; Gilda would be okay as she just needed some time to come to terms with herself.

Twilight walked into the galley to see Chrysalis being fed love via Pinkie happiness, Fluttershy wasn’t the only pony that easily kept Chrysalis fed. The changeling just let the hyper mare hug her and fed on the ambiance.

“Chrysalis, I want a few words with you.” Twilight would not abuse their existing friendship or try to end it. She just wanted to know why Chrysalis did something so permanent, something that she once felt like personally doing to Jabber.

“I’ll be back with some cupcakes.” Pinkie warily hopped off to get a snack for the tired captain.

“Chrysalis I don’t like violence, though I accept that sometimes violence is just a part of life and that one should defend themselves to the fullest of their abilities. What you did was a little bit… how should I put it? I think overkill would be close enough.” Twilight was of course referring to the rather devastating use of the napalm spell. It made her sick to her stomach to watch Jabber writhe in pain like he did, even if admittedly a small part of her thought he deserved it alongside the curse he now had.

“Aiming below the belt is something I know ponies won’t do. I made sure he learned a lesson from treating all those mares and my friends badly, so what’s done is done. I made a sound decision and he would have lost it anyway, Saddle Arabian law would have seen to that.” Chrysalis didn’t take full enjoyment in making Jabber know agony, she didn’t fully regret doing it either. “The jinn’s curse for his failure to protect it was overkill. Truly a buck to where the sun can no longer shine.”

“It’ll take me a while to get over the fact that you horribly crippled and disfigured a pony. I don’t hate you Chrysalis; all I ask for is time.” The look on the changelings face was sad with wilting ears and Twilight almost regretted being bluntly honest about how she felt.

“I don’t want to stop being friends because of this. While she didn’t say it was right, Fluttershy told me everything would be okay.” Chrysalis’s mood was rather somber and then Pinkie popped in with the cupcakes to cheer them up.

One snack break and an hour of searching the ship later, Twilight couldn’t find the one pony she really needed to talk to. Tress spent a lot of time saying that Daring, despite her misgivings and suspicions of others, was some pony you could look up to. Sitting on the deck of the ship not having found the pony anywhere, Twilight looked up at the balloon of the airship. Lighting her horn she launched herself off the side and flew up to where she saw the mare staring at the sky. Landing on the top of the balloon, Twilight slowly approached the pony resting on her back.

“So what did you want to ask me Twilight?” Daring didn’t even look at the unicorn to know she was the one that landed on the balloon. She knew that Twilight could fly, just not the method or the spell that allowed her to do so.

“What’s Celestia truly like?” Twilight decided she didn’t want to truly know the answer to the question she truly wanted to ask for her new friend’s sake.

“She’s just like any other pony, she has her flaws and she paves a road of good intentions. Not a perfect leader, but she’s much better than all kinds of alternatives I’ve met with visions of world conquest.” Daring rolled over onto her belly to stare Twilight in the eyes. “I know that’s not the real question you wanted to ask me is it? Go ahead Twilight, I’m willing to answer anything.”

“Um… if you’re sure…” Now Twilight could honestly say she understood Fluttershy being hesitant on some things, swallowing she went for it. “Is Scootaloo your daughter?”

“Figured out at least that much have you? Yes she is, but quite frankly I can’t take her with me on my job and I can’t quit it either. I don’t think I can even bring myself to raise her or be what she truly needs, some mother I am huh?” Daring gave out a mirthless chuckle even as she wilted under Twilight’s blank stare. “The things I do are way too dangerous for a little filly and I have a ton of resourceful enemies, ones that are always trying to keep an eye out for me. Even Ponyville is barely safe for me to be around for too long, it takes a whole lot to even get into town without paranoia of them finding out about my daughter riding my flank.”

“Did you know that Scootaloo’s wings were being clipped?” It seemed to Twilight that the world traveling mother wouldn’t hide anything.

“If they are it's definitely Celestia’s idea, she likely has her reasons. So tell me everything you know and I’ll fill you in on what you don’t.” Daring rested in comfortable position on the envelope while she listened to Twilight’s information as she rattled off everything she found out from her personal secretary and librarian enchanted toy Smart. “Well I can see you don’t know how Scootaloo came about, much less a few other things.”

“Well enlighten me, I Pinkie Pie promise not to tell any pony. Trust me, if I broke that promise Pinkie would know and she doesn’t like it when some pony breaks a promise.” There was a sudden weight on the envelope that caused the two mares to turn to the party pony in question scribbling something down in a little red book.

“Pinkie Pie promise, late evening, between Twilight Sparkle and Daring Do… say you wouldn’t happen to be related to a Ditzy Do-gooder would you?” Pinkie’s question was met with a blink of surprise.

“Wait, there are still Do’s out there? I thought I was the last one. Look never mind that now, I’ll talk to you later about it later.” Daring wondered when Pinkie would take the hint and leave. “We were kind of in the middle of a private discussion here, until you showed up!”

“Oh right, sorry about that, I didn’t hear single thing! Remember not to break whatever that promise to Daring was!” With that Pinkie slid down a rope back to the ship leaving the two alone.

“Scootaloo wasn’t exactly conceived in the nicest of manners, then again rape is never a pretty or even happy thing. Those slave traders got what was coming to them in the end though. I kept adventuring until it came to a point that Celestia had to put her hoof down on me and hard. It was to keep me safe when I was too far along.” Daring saw the look of pity cross Twilight’s face, but she didn’t get angry at the young mare that still had a lot to see and experience. “It’s all in the past now and it was how I got started into writing books in the first place, being kept under constant guard for those few months was really boring and so was the hospital stay when I finally had brought her into the world on my own. Working with Celestia has its perks; my little Scooter Do is provided for at least, given I can’t be a stable part of her life. The only thing left is to explain how Rainbow Dash got her job in Ponyville and then you’ll be able to see the whole picture.”

“Wait, you’re the reason why Rainbow Dash got a job in Ponyville?” Now that was a perplexing bit of information and Twilight hadn’t said much about Rainbow Dash except when she was injured by the Wyvern a while back. “I always did wonder how Rainbow managed to get through all that paperwork to be head manager of the weather team. That was your doing?”

“What can I say? My kid needs a role model to look up to, one that would fit the bill better than some imaginary hero that is always jumping at shadows.” Daring just adjusted her helmet with a hoof and gave a wan smile, before taking off for a quick flight she had one last thing to say. “Never lose that spirit to push forward, no matter the dangers or the obstacles ahead of you. The future is always worth fighting for!”

Comments

[raw666]

Knew it, though I wonder who Scoot's father he is a villian that will play a role later and maybe at large. It would explain if Scootalo wings resembled her fathers.
On a side note, so they know Nightmare Moon is comming. I wonder what will be going on. Keep up the good work.

[______1]

You...

YOU TEASED ME WITH THIS SHORT CHAPTER!!

I hate you