Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis (A Ranger side-story)

by Wanderer D

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Drama, Original Character, Tempest Shadow, Rainbow Dash, Comedy, XCOM, Adventure, Equestria Girls, Violence, Crossover, Daring Do, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 44516

To save Sunset Shimmer from herself, Twilight, her team, and Daring Do must find an ancient magical artifact. A Ranger sidestory.

With the fate of her friends on Earth hanging in the balance, Twilight has to hunt myths to figure out a way to cure Sunset and save Templar Laetitia.

Taking Daring Do as her guide—and accompanied by a ragtag team of griffons, a Skirmisher-turned-breezie, and Rainbow Dash—Twilight must travel across the lands at war with the Storm King, to reach Ancient Fleece, find a lost city, and obtain the legendary sword of King Disc Ovis: The Algae Photis.

Cover art created for this story by the talented: LateCustomer

Before you read: This is a side-story to XCOM: Ranger.

I will provide all possible information needed for those that do not have the time—or inclination—to read the other story to still be able understand this one. It's a LOT of info, however, and I'm not just going to dump it all in one go. The backstory will emerge as the story progresses.

Published 2019-03-17 00:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2020-03-19 03:32:25 UTC

Chapter 9: Diplomatic Relations

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 9: Diplomatic Relations

"Mt. Aris ahoy!"

To say that Twilight Sparkle wasn't excited would be a lie. Not only was she closer to her objective, but more amazingly, this was the very first time an Equestrian Princess would set hoof in Mt. Aris in recorded history. Or, at least the recorded history that was available to everyone who cared to study it.

For all she admired of Celestia as a pony and as a ruler, she couldn't understand just how… insular… her home country could be for all its philosophy of friendship and tolerance. Most of her youth, the only non-pony she had met had been Spike and some griffon visitors to court. She had spied a minotaur once, before Iron Will, but that was the tip of the iceberg!

Abyssinians, fish people, yaks, whatever the hay Ahuitzotl was… so many creatures and cultures lay beyond the borders of Equestria that it was uncanny how there wasn't much more of a cultural mix. Even worse, she knew for the longest time they all existed, but Equestria had never been too encouraging in embracing other nations, and she had been obliviously content to roll with it until now.

That insularity and apparent overconfidence was the reason Nightmare Moon had defeated Celestia upon her return. It was why Discord had almost broken them all apart. It was the reason Changelings had come as a surprise, no doubt—it was unlikely other cultures hadn't encountered them before, after all, and had Equestria not been so—

Twilight sighed, and shook her head. There was nothing to be gained by thinking that way. Devolving into a mental rant over things she had already discussed over and over was not going to fix anything. Things had to change, and she would help them change.

She pushed the thoughts away as the clouds parted and their hours-long flight brought them to the mysterious Mount Aris. At first it looked like any other jagged peak, its sharp edges cutting into the sky like a decayed, black tooth. But, as the Arpia circled around for approaching the now-visible docks near the middle level, Twilight had to hold her breath at just how beautiful the golden lights of the city within looked from within the mountain, shining even brighter, thanks to the darkness around it. From the front, it was clear the sides of the mountain had been carved to resemble wings wrapped protectively around the city, which spread almost from all the way down to the beach to the top, with a winding road making its way through the center.

From her vantage point, she could see what could only be the higher-class or ruling area of Mount Aris, which had impressive stone statues that somehow resembled griffons. The whole city was impressive, and remained standing strong through the war so far.

Her thoughts went to what she had learned from Galahad—human Galahad, that is—and how defensible it could be. But the thought of her former teacher made her frown, as it brought back unwanted memories of the betrayal that had cost the lives of so many of her friends. And now a pony was betraying her homeland for some reason… and Twilight could not let that pass.

Her mood soured, she glanced at the golden lights once more. Their warmth was gone, now that the moment of beauty had passed and the reality of what she needed to do and what was at stake returned.

She turned to look at the others. "For now, I think I want to keep the team small. Daring, since you know our contact, you're with me."

"I'm going too," Alejandra said, stepping up to them. She held Twilight's eyes. "I might not be a native, but I am here to protect you. If things go wrong you need someone who will not hesitate."

Twilight sighed, but nodded. "Alright, just don't go overboard. It's not 100% peaceful in Equestria, or here, but they're not used to the kind of carnage we've seen."

Her words made more than one of Celaeno's crew exchange worried glances, but it didn't stop Rainbow Dash from flying to them. "Wait! How come I'm not going?"

"It's just until we make contact with the local authorities, Rainbow Dash, you don't have to worry too much about it. You'll all be able to get off ship soon enough."

Rainbow Dash grimaced. "It feels like the old trick of telling somepony you don't want hurt to stay back and guard the innocents."

"If you think that's safe, you should see what happens during Terror Missions," Alejandra said, shaking her head. "Trust me, it's not as simple as that."

"What about us?" Capper asked, motioning with his paw at the crew of the Arpia.

"I think you should let us make the first impression," Twilight said, glancing at him doubtfully. Tala had vouched for the cat, after all, but they had all seen he had been ready to bolt as quickly as possible and he was a thief, after all. Even now, he didn't seem so sure of being here, but somehow the Skirmisher-turned-breezy had gotten through to him.

She sighed. If the Skirmishers had been such a good influence on Sunset, maybe Tala could be a good influence on him. "Once we have established contact and we're sure of where we start with the locals, I think it will be time to stack up on supplies and some shore time, right, Captain?

Celaeno smirked. "You're paying for it."

Twilight chuckled, already turning away to lead her two companions down the ramp. The city was impressive already, and despite her earlier misgivings, she could feel the buildup of curiosity within her. The people living here… they weren't griffons as she had initially thought, they resembled them, but rather than half-bird, half-lion, it seemed they were half-bird, half-pony!

"I take it it really is the first time you've seen a hippogriff." Daring snickered next to her. "Oh Twilight, don't hold back. You can ask."

"There's so much to ask, though!" Twilight said, her voice hushed. "This is a whole kingdom which nopony knows about in Equestria! How is that even possible?"

Daring Do shrugged, her smile dimming a little. "General ignorance, schools focusing only on the information about Equestria, rather than the world at large, ponies simply assuming that nothing beyond the border matters because it doesn't affect them directly… unfortunately, unless you're an adventurer like me, which usually ends in your stories being considered one hundred percent fiction, or an adventurous trader, the average pony has little reason to know that there's anything worth knowing about other cultures, besides them being different. You told me about your Zebra friend, Zecora, remember?"

"But that's just Ponyville—"

"Is it?" Alejandra asked. "Granted, I don't know how different things here are, but before the elders, people in several countries of Earth were blissfully ignorant of anything regarding other countries, their people, culture, or plights. And we had the internet." She glanced at the city. "Big, powerful countries, usually are able to provide most of the stuff they need in their own lands, so the average person would just remain in their town and ignore the bigger picture, because it didn't affect them directly, and therefore it didn't matter what happened to others." She shrugged. "I used to think it's just human nature."

"I guess it goes beyond that," Twilight muttered.

"Well, make sure to ask questions while we're here," Daring said, motioning with a nod to a group of armed hippogriffs approaching them. "Here's the welcoming committee."

Twilight turned to face the group, studying them up close for the first time. Hippogriffs seemed to be naturally taller than griffons, or at least thinner, which made them look so. The leader of the group, was a proud-looking hippogriff with a light red coat/plumage and golden eyes. He, and the other hippogriffs were wearing armor that was very similar to the usual Royal Guard setup.

She frowned when the group, rather than stopping in front of her to greet them, spread around in a half-circle, clearly intending to surround them.

"Under the authority of Queen Novo, you are under arrest for conspiring against the crown," the hippogriff in front declared. He glanced at the others. "Detain them and everyone on board their ship."

"I don't think that's going to happen," Twilight growled, spreading her wings, and letting her magic lift her weapons. Besides her, Alejandra had assumed a fighting stance, and behind, she could hear Celaeno telling the crew to prepare for boarding.

The hippogriffs crouched, ready for battle as well.

Daring Do, however, stepped in front of Twilight, her wing open to prevent further action from anyone. "Everycreature, calm down." She glared at the Hippogriff at the front. "It seems that there is some sort of misunderstanding." She pointed her hoof to her chest. "I'm Daring Do, and I requested an audience with Queen Novo, which was granted." She proceeded to dig a parchment out of her saddlebags, which was sealed with a golden emblem. "Not only that," she added to the now-nervous-looking hippogriff, "but as you can see by the horn and wings, you have in front of you an Equestrian Princess, and her bodyguard."

"T-the security of—"

"Is of great importance, I understand," Daring interrupted. "But there are a few things you are not privy to, Captain, and creating an international incident is definitively not something you want."

"My orders come from the Royal Family."

"My invitation comes from the Queen herself."

Twilight frowned. The tension grew as the Guard Captain was clearly conflicted with his orders. Whoever had given them to him had put an enormous amount of pressure on them. He clearly owed loyalty to the Queen, but also had been blindsided by a noble who could potentially be a patron or, depending on how their society worked, have a hold of some sort on his family or position.

She sighed. "Stand down."

Alejandra hesitated for a second, but didn't argue this time, relaxing her position, just as Twilight herself re-sheathed the sword she had borrowed from the Equestrian Royal Guard. "Captain, my people will remain in the ship for now, and you can set a guard to keep an eye on them without fear of retaliation. I will leave our weapons behind and go with you peacefully, but you will take us to our audience with Queen Novo."

"Our orders were to arrest you, Princess," the Captain said, although he did nod to his troops to put their weapons away.

"Under what charges?" Alejandra asked.

The Captain shot her a glare, clearly not expecting a mere body guard to speak up, but, keeping his eyes back on Twilight, he cleared his throat and said, "Kitnapping."

Daring Do shook her head. "Captain, we have just arrived from a direct flight straight from Abyssinia, how would we have—"

"Doesn't matter," Twilight interrupted. She took a deep breath, calming herself and trying to think not only logically, but also as a soldier, and even more so, as a princess. "The captain has his orders and investigation would progress after that." She looked back at him. "Under normal circumstances, Captain, I believe your actions to be appropriate given your orders, however, it seems you were not aware of the nature of your targets. As a foreign diplomat, I believe that the treatment varies slightly, and since we have a personal friend of the Queen with us—with a legitimate invitation no less—I also believe it would also behoove you to send a courier to inform the Queen of our presence and the circumstances. We can let her and her court decide the next steps of action, don't you think?"

"I—" he gulped and glanced at his troops, before nodding. "Yes, that would be acceptable."

Twilight smiled. "Good. The less bloodshed the better. I'll inform Captain Celaeno and the others of the situation, please select the troops that will remain behind while I do so."

"Y-yes, ma'am!" the Captain said, saluting before realizing he had done so for a foreign dignitary.

"She has that effect on creatures, I've found," Daring said conversationally to the captain, but Twilight didn't stay close enough to hear a reply.

She walked up to the ship and gave her sword to Capper, who gingerly took it in his paw. "This is very suspicious," she said, "there seems to have been some sort of foalnapping for which we're being blamed for. I will find out what's going on from the proper channels, but I want Tala, Rainbow Dash, and Galahad to investigate as soon as I send word… this is no coincidence, and we can't afford to be held back for long."

"Oh no, you're not leaving me behind this time!"

"Dash," Twilight put a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Trust me. I want you here because you will be able to help me more than if you go with me. We're probably going to be under house arrest, so we won't be able to move much. But you will. And you're fast enough that you can do a lot without any of them non-the-wiser. Just listen to Galahad and Tala's advice. I'm counting on you three to find out what's going on."

"Ahem," Celaeno crossed her arms. "You don't want us to do anything?"

"Other than 'be prepared'?" Twilight shook her head. "No… if worse comes to worse, you were hired by me to transport us, and Capper is a civilian hired for the same reasons. I don't want you guys to get in trouble with the hippogriffs on my behalf."

Capper blinked, but Celaeno didn't look happy. "Fine. Then I'll do things at my discretion."

Twilight smiled, bumping her hoof on the Captain's claw. "I'll see you soon." She turned around and joined Daring Do and Alejandra. Apparently, while she had talked to the crew, the courier had been dispatched, and the guards that would remain behind selected. The Captain was looking a bit more at ease, which was good. He would probably be more willing to share information this way.

It wasn't going exactly as planned, but for now, all that was left to do was to meet the Queen.

End Chapter 9

Chapter 1: Decisions

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 1: Decisions

The Temple of the Sun in Tenochtitlan, a huge stone pyramid built by the Earth Pony inhabitants of the valley in ancient times, stood tall after thousands of years since it had been built out of rock and clay, almost as imposing as it had looked in its days of glory.

Rising high above the surrounding jungle and hiding underneath it, an impressive, labyrinthian structure. At its very top, a golden band shone, seemingly nothing but a decoration to the uninitiated, but for those in the know…

Equestria, Hidden Valley: Underground Chambers, Temple of the Sun

Daring Do usually worked alone.

Occasionally, she might team up with somepony or creature to achieve part of her objective, as she had done with Galahad several years ago—but, when all the cards were on the table, she was always on her own when it came right down to it.

Things were different today.

"Keep them busy!" Daring shouted, ducking under two burly ponies that tried to tackle her out of the air. The golden ring she had looped around her neck glistened in the torchlight, reflecting the chaos taking place all around them.

The pair crashed into each other with plenty of force, but wherever Ahuitzotl had found these guys, they were sturdier than the average pony. Even though the impact must have been painful, they were up again soon, and ready to fight.

That didn't stop Gilda from tackling both of them with an audible "Oof!" and leonine roar.

Daring had to admit, even though she still preferred to work alone, Twilight's plan had come through, the others worked well enough as a team for what was reportedly just a few days of knowing each other, and it made things a bit easier for her overall to concentrate on the artifacts when she was not being directly attacked by minions or villains. Even the youngest griffon there, Gabby, was doing her part keeping the feline minions Ahuitzotl had accumulated occupied.

Rainbow Dash, her annoying, insistent, kinda-okay, self-proclaimed fan, was flying loops around the room and avoiding obstacles like a complete pro, managing to keep the other minions guessing. Daring had assumed she was some sort of athlete, given how well she clearly took care of herself, but the flying was beyond her expectations.

Galahad, the old, charming bird, was predictably competent, if a bit less fatal in this fight, and as far as "Battle Princess" Twilight, not-Luna, and the weird griffon Alejandra went…

Daring grimaced.

Well, Twilight had promised to try and make sure nocreature died.

Twilight and Alejandra were less about jumping straight into the fight, and more about choosing an opponent and demolishing them in different ways; Twilight by using potent force-based spells that would break noses and bones at worst, and Alejandra was like watching Gilda try to imitate Galahad: the basics were there, but she was clearly not an assassin like the latter, or much of a brawler like the former.

She moved like she was just getting used to her body. It would have been amusing in its awkwardness if it she hadn't witnessed the griffon almost kill Caballeron the previous day without any remorse.

Not-Luna, however, was a close-fighter as any she had seen before, and worse, she clearly had no idea how strong Luna's body actually was. Or possibly even worse, she knew, but didn't care.

It was like watching a living version of a classical demigod hero in battle, although she looked very self-aware. She had landed between two ponies and a swipe of her foreleg had sent one spinning in place to collapse on the floor, completely still—she hoped he was just unconscious, mindless minion or not—and after bucking the other pony into a wall, she had charged straight at Daring's number one enemy.

Still, Daring had a job to do, so while Ahuitzotl panicked at the sight of a legendary alicorn charging him, she was already at the temple's center pedestal, where the other Rings of Scorchero rested. She slowly started picking them up, but by the third one it became a lot heavier than anticipated.

Clenching her teeth, closing her eyes, and pulling up, she struggled with the weight until it suddenly became a little easier to lift. Opening her eyes she saw a smirking Rainbow Dash picking up the other side. "Need a hoof?"

Daring chuckled. "Sure, why not?"

Together, the pair of pegasus lifted the heavy golden ring and threw it onto the floor, then got started on the next.

"So," Rainbow gasped, flapping her wings hard to lift the next ring. "Why… do we have to do this? It's not like these guys will be a threat to anypony soon!"

As if to punctuate her question, Ahuitzotl flew—upside down—across the room, through a pillar, through the wall behind it, and with a scream that faded as he fell far down under the temple and cut off with the sound of a splash of water.

"So it can never be used again!" Daring hissed between clenched teeth as they tipped the golden ring above the pole and let it fall, then began working on the next. "I'm fairly certain I mentioned this before!"

"I was... kinda busy... handling Twilight's... panic attack," Rainbow Dash managed to gasp out between pushes.

Thinking back on how distraught the princess had been when she had realized her complete lack of empathy for the injured Caballeron, Daring had to admit that it was forgivable for her fan to have forgotten her words in order to concentrate on the surprisingly bellicose princess.

As ostracized as Daring could make herself be from the general pony society, it had been shocking to see the changes in Twilight. The last she'd heard, Twilight had been crowned Princess of Friendship and didn't have a violent bone in her body, which was at odd contrast with the steely-eyed mare she had encountered in her home.

Daring considered herself a very worldly mare. She dealt with dangerous villains, remorseless mercenaries and assassins… she had traveled beyond the reach of any other pony in this day and age—anypony that didn't have horns and wings, that is—met mythical creatures, defeated or befriended some—if not all—of the above at one point or another, and discovered more ancient temples than anypony alive (again, excluding beings possessing both, wings and horns who probably had lived in said ancient temples at some point or another).

In a way she was not entirely comfortable about, she understood the lack of pity for ponies like Caballeron, who would have gladly left them to die of their wounds if the roles had been inverted. But at the same time, did she want a princess that couldn't think of other ways of extracting information other than taking advantage of the fear and pain of a pony?

It was one thing to see a common pony or griffon do that… or even Daring herself… but a princess represented much more than a random individual, and they would always be held to higher standards. One of the reasons for her own change of mind to help Twilight had definitely been the fact that the princess herself held those standards firmly, and understood what they represented.

That, and if she was honest, she was very curious about all the implications behind the princess' quest. A blood witch? Somepony else's mind in Princess Luna's body? A griffon bodyguard that did not behave like a griffon and carried strange weapons? There was too much going on. Whispers of magical items and different worlds, strange technology… no, she was not letting this adventure pass her by, deadlines be damned.

Besides. It definitely was new-novel material. Twilight Velvet would forgive her being tardy again, she was sure.

The last ring finally left the pedestal and was tossed to the ground, where it broke under its own weight. Immediately the whole temple started shaking. "Alright!" Daring shouted, "it's time, everypony! Go! Go! Go!"

"Nooo!" Ahuitzotl cried, having climbed up from wherever he had ended. His fur was soaked and he had little piranhas still nibbling at him as he gaped at the empty pedestal. "Daring Do! How dare you!"

He reared up, his fists shaking in the air, ready to attack when a blast of purple energy sent him flying through the wall again. They could all her his screams as he splashed into the water again.

They all followed the origin of the spell to Twilight, who shrugged. "He was getting annoying," she said. "Come on!"

The group flew their way out of the temple just in time. Seconds after they had crossed the gated entrance, the center of the structure collapsed completely, slamming into pieces and triggering the destruction of the rest of the temple.

The group kept flying until they reached a small hill devoid of jungle to watch the aftermath of their actions.

"Heh. Now I know how Sunset and the others feel when they finish a mission like this one." Twilight hoof-bumped Alejandra's claw. "Better yet, no paperwork."

With a grunt, Daring smashed the last ring on the floor and smiled at the others. "I have to admit, working as a team did make things go smoother this time around."

"Oh, yeah! Uh-huh!" Rainbow jumped and spun in the air, making Gabby giggle. "We. Are. The. Best!"

The others laughed and Daring's eyes met Galahad's. Yeah. It felt good to work with others sometimes, and it brought back some nice memories. She sighed and shook her head, bringing herself back to reality. "As cool as that was, now we need to start working on finding your ancient sword."

Twilight and the others calmed down and turned to face her.

Daring started pacing. "We'll need to find a way into the Lost City of Maretlantis."

"But I thought that Maretlantis was a myth?" Twilight spoke up immediately. Yep. She was stil a nerd. "Not to mention, it was lost at sea thousands of years ago. Even if we found where it was supposed to be off of the coast of Fleece, finding whatever remains of it underwater might be impossible!"

"And that," Daring said, "is where we will come to our first hurdle. Tell me, Princess Twilight, what do you know of the places outside the borders of Equestria?"

"Fleece?" Alejandra blurted out. "Really? Like Greece? But Fleece? Is it populated by sheep?"

Ignoring her fellow XCOM soldier, Twilight frowned. "I'm familiar with geography and history, but I haven't travelled much outside of this continent, in this world, at least."

'There it is again. The implications of that… I need them to tell me the whole story. Soon.' Daring Do arched an eyebrow, forcing herself to concentrate on the issue at hoof. "Okay. Well then, there are things you will find out that most ponies don't. But for now, we need to rest and prepare."

She flapped her wings, taking off and starting to make her way back home. "Make sure you have all of your Equipment ready, and bring whatever else you think you'll need… I need to check with my contacts before we can move, but we'll meet again in Riverbed Town in a day."

She heard them acknowledge her words, but her mind was already on the list of things she needed to do next. Who to write, who to contact, where to meet, what notes to take… yeah. This could be really interesting after all. "Just you wait, Twilight Velvet, you'll love the next book as well."

Equestria, Canterlot, Twilight's Tower

"Ah just can't believe you'd do this without us, Twilight," Applejack said, shaking her head. "Ah know y'all know how to fight, but we're your friends."

Twilight grimaced. "I know."

"Darling, just understand… we simply don't want you to get hurt," Rarity said.

"I know."

"And we're super-duper ready to help whenever you want!" Pinkie Pie added.

"I know."

"We're… worried," Fluttershy whispered, not looking up.

"I know."

The change in tone made the room quieter. She wished it hadn't been that obvious, but sitting here listening to all of them air out their worries, observations, and complaints on her decision to leave them behind was stressing at best. There were times when she really would have preferred to stay a scientist/soldier in another world.

Having to explain herself to her friends for their very valid worries was one of those times, especially given that, what had happened during said expedition, actually validated all of their points.

Alejandra, Galahad and the others—including Tala—had bowed out of this meeting, the lucky griffs and breezie. 'Lucky bastards.' The message was clear: this was most definitely not something XCOM or anyone else outside of her best friends needed to be a part of.

Rainbow Dash had remained quiet the whole time, which was probably for the best, given their friends' anxieties. Still, she looked up at Twilight when the tone of frustration made its way into her words. Her eyes said everything. Twilight needed to own up to her decision, and Rainbow Dash wasn't going to go about explaining it to the others for her. She wasn't too happy about it herself.

"Listen girls, I don't think you'll like what I'm about to say, but please hear me out."

The others exchanged uneasy glances, but none spoke.

Twilight took a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly, gathering her thoughts. "I just…" She trailed off. Even if she had spoken about it with Rainbow Dash, saying this to her best friends hurt a little. "I don't think you girls understand what's going on on Earth… not fully. Even if you have seen some stuff, seeing something is very different than living through it.

"I know that I have your support, and I know that I can't ask for more understanding and patient friends, and believe me, I know that it's hard for you to put up with how I've changed. But the fact is, you don't know, and I don't want you to know what it is like." She she placed both fore-hooves on the table, frowning as she studiously kept her eyes focused on them. "Kill or be killed is not the way things are here in Equestria. We haven't been pushed to that limit and I hope we never are, but that's the reality outside of it. And knowing that living through that can change you, is not the same as being changed by it.

"When I went with Rainbow Dash and the others in search of clues, I didn't want you to see what I was prepared to do." She licked her lips. "What I am prepared to do. I know I haven't spent as much time with any of you as I should have, and I am very sorry for that, but I'm scared. I'm scared of what I may have become." She gulped, not looking up. "I'm scared of what I can do, and what would happen if you saw that. I'm scared of making the kinds of decisions that would keep me alive in another world over here… in front of you, and losing you."

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "I can't… I just can't imagine bringing you into my reality. I want to protect you of that… I want Applejack to think of her family and farm, not of whether that sound was a grenade or not. I want Fluttershy to take care of her animals, not watch people be consumed by monsters. I want Rarity to design clothes because she loves that, not because she's someone's slave."

The others were quiet, sensing that she wasn't finished. "I took Dash with me because…" she took a moment to brace herself, "...because she's the one that went to the old soldiers. She's the one that talked to Shining and retired Wonderbolts. Because she's basically joining the military here when she's a full fledged Wonderbolt herself… but also because you girls are my conscience. You are what keeps me laughing, and kind, and honest, and loyal, and generous. I know." She smiled. "It's sappy, but it's true."

She sighed and leaned back, looking up at the roof and contemplating the sunlight seeping through the window at the top of the tower. "You are what I want to come back to, do you understand? To all of those nice, wholesome things that have nothing to do with blowing an enemy's head off."

She looked down at the others with a sad, little smile playing on her lips. "When I'm with you, I want you to see Twilight Sparkle, not… Doctor or Sergeant Sparkle."

"Oh, Twilight," Rarity said into the heavy silence that followed. "Of course we see you as yourself, that will never change."

"Plus, we know you're very worried about Sunny and Laetitia!" Pinkie added. "It would super sad if they couldn't be helped!"

Twilight gulped, finding her eyes straying over to Fluttershy, whose face was covered by her pink mane. The others shuffled uncomfortably as the pegasus sighed and looked up at Twilight, eyes searching.

"I don't approve of violence," the pegasus said softly. "And I don't want you to fight at all, Twilight… but I know you wouldn't if you didn't think it was necessary." She looked down, tapping her hooves together. "I understand that there's places where that is… um, unavoidable, and I wish that it wasn't." She looked up again at Twilight, a small smile adorning her mouth. "But you will always be our Twilight, when you are here with us."

The group let out a collective breath that apparently they hadn't realized they were holding.

"Ah'll be honest, sugarcube, Ah did not expect you to say that."

Fluttershy blushed. "Um… sorry. I just, uh… I-I talked a lot with Tala."

Twilight blinked. "Tala? The same Tala that roundhouse-kicked me in the head when I was human?"

Fluttershy nodded nervously. "Yes. I mean, I didn't know she had done that! But, she's been mostly calm when she's with me and Mr. Sticks in Ponyville."

"Mr. Sticks?" Twilight repeated, feeling a bit lost.

"Tala tamed a Timber Wolf!" Pinkie said excitedly. "She lets foals ride it!"

Twilight blinked. "But Timber Wolves are created of wild magic an—no." She rubbed her forehead. "No. I'm not getting into that."

"So what are your plans now, darling?" Rarity asked amidst the chuckles. "You mentioned earlier you were planning on heading out?"

Twilight nodded. "I'm heading to Fleece with Daring Do and find a very special magical item." She raised a hoof when they opened their mouths. "Yes, she's real. No, you're not going. I'm only taking Galahad, Rainbow Dash, Alejandra and Tala with me."

"The hay we're not goin'!" Applejack practically shouted, standing up and glaring across the table. "Ah get you want to protect us, Ah can respect your wishes to keep the violence of that world away from us, but this here ain't Earth!"

"I have to agree, Twilight," Rarity said, a displeased frown crossing her features. "We are far from useless."

"You're not useless, but while this is not Earth, it is going to get violent," Twilight stated.

The others frowned and slowly sat down, all but Fluttershy, who looked straight at Twilight. "Explain."

Her friend's eyes were intense, but Twilight had meditated a lot on this and had made up her mind. Still, she'd have to thank Tala for talking to Fluttershy, or that might have been a real Stare. "I'm not pulling my punches if they are needed," Twilight said. "This morning I received a report from Princess Luna… Fugue killed everyone in a city back on Earth."

The others gasped, and she let that hover in the air for a few moments. "Small cities there start in the thousands of people. She is practically unstoppable unless they used Sunset's methods to do so, and that would kill both her and Fugue..." she narrowed her eyes. "It would be, in fact, worse than simple death. In light of that, I do not have the luxury of playing nice."

Fluttershy cringed, closing her eyes and sitting back.

"I don't intend to go anywhere with violence in mind," Twilight said gently, reaching out to touch Fluttershy's hoof, "but I will need a team that will be up for that if necessary. I can't ask you to do that, Fluttershy," she said gently, then looked at the others. "I can't ask that of any of you." She sighed. "The only reason Rainbow Dash is going with me is because she knows how to keep me in line, but I can't be in the middle of a life or death situation and argue ethics at that moment. Thousands are dead, and I fully intend to stop that from happening ever again. Especially if they are dying at the hands of my friend."

"So what do you expect us to do?" Applejack asked eventually, her voice subdued. "Just sit here while you take on the world?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, I have a mission for you girls… there's a pony here in Canterlot I know can help with some research. I have left my notes for her here…" she motioned at a pile of scrolls. "But I haven't been able to get in touch with her for some time. I want you to convince her to help… please."

She waited as the others glanced dubiously at each other before Fluttershy, of all ponies, spoke up. "Okay, Twilight. I trust you," she said with conviction and just the slightest tremble in her voice. "Who do you want us to get help from?"

Twilight smiled. "Her name is Moon Dancer."

End Chapter 1

Author's Note

Like what you read? Remember that by joining my Patreon, you are helping the creation of more stories to enjoy!

Chapter 2: World at Large

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 2: World at Large

"Twilight?"

"Oh, hey Spike," Twilight mumbled, barely sparing him a glance, instead looking with bafflement at the pile of books on her bed, then, looking down to her tactical backpack with distress. "I don't think I can fit them all."

"So uh," the little dragon ventured as he hopped on the bed and started sorting through the books, making three smaller piles for her and watching the smile creep up her face as she chose one and slid those books into the backpack. "You're leaving. Again."

"It's only for a small while," Twilight said, turning around and levitating her guns with a critical eye. The gun was dismantled in the air and a cleaning kit got to work on it. Seconds later it was back in one piece and secured in its rear-leg holster. "Take that, Bradford! Let's see you chew me out for being too slow."

She started doing the same on her assault rifle. "I need to make sure to pick some Equestrian weapons, can't be firing these all over the place."

"But, you're like, going on an expedition, right?" Spike asked, slowly walking over to where a pile of equipment lay, which he started sorting and packing together for ease of use. "You know, looking at ancient ruins and stuff, right? Don't you think you'll need some help?" He puffed his chest. "I've studied a lot of history with you! And I have claws! I could be a ton of help!"

Twilight walked over to where he was and took each item or set as he passed them along, slowly organizing her backpack and making sure the weight would be distributed properly, which was tricky.

"Well, I have Rainbow Dash, Alejandra, Tala, Daring Do, and Galahad going with me," she said once the equipment was orderly stored. She zipped up the bag and went over to a nearby desk to get a set of gems she had enchanted earlier. She scooped them into a small pouch before walking over to check on GREMLINICIOUS.

"Well, yeah, but if you're doing a bunch of research, won't you need your number one assistant?"

Twilight's hoof paused, barely touching her drone. Slowly, she turned to look at Spike, who wasn't looking back at her, simply pretending to be busy double checking her things.

"I can help you carry stuff, you know," Spike said, not looking up, "and you know I'm really good at taking notes for and from you… and also contacting the princesses if you need to send them a scroll."

When Twilight gently levitated her backpack and armor off the bed, he didn't move, simply letting the items slide from his claws and sitting down and staring at them while she went to lay down next to him. "Why can't I go?" he finally asked in a low voice.

"Oh, Spike." Twilight wrapped him in a tight wing-hug. "I'm sorry, this is going to be very dangerous, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Shouldn't you bring your friends, then?" Spike asked, looking up. "Please? Or me?"

"I am bringing my friends," Twilight said gently. "And I would bring you if it wasn't… well, something that you could really get hurt doing."

"I know you're bringing some of your friends, but what if you need the Elements—"

"They're in the Tree of Harmony, remember?"

Spike narrowed his eyes at her smile. "Fine, but you know what I mean."

Twilight sighed. "I know, and I really wish I could just change my mind, Spike but… I see danger differently now, and dragging you all with me into a crazy adventure again is not the best way to relearn trust right now. Not when there's so much at stake."

"We've done things like that before!" Spike said, his words urgent. "Remember Nightmare Moon, or Discord, or Sombra?"

"I know," Twilight answered, pulling him back into her hug. "But I need to do this this way, Spike. I can't second guess things, worry about the others, and also do what I need to do."

"I don't think you're thinking clearly," Spike muttered, hugging her back tightly. "Think about it, Twilight. we've all been in danger before. We've all been by your side."

"Spike, what if we went all the way there and the bad guys attacked us?"

"We all know how to fight!" Spike replied, pushing back and looking at her, holding her by the shoulders. "We were all in that fight with the Changelings, remember?"

"I also remember how quickly the others decided to not trust me." Twilight stood up and walked to the balcony. "I also remember how Pinkie jokes around all the time and complicates things, or Applejack second-guesses me to prove a point, or Rarity delays things because she needs to keep clean, or more importantly and obvious, how Fluttershy jumped in front of a loaded gun!" She forced her shoulders to relax. "I can't allow this mission to fail or rely solely on good luck or our enemies having some sense of decency.

"We were very lucky that Discord is a prankster and that Sombra was just smoke at the time. Right now I don't have the luxury of leaving things to chance. If they don't trust me, more people die, Spike. I'm not the naive Twilight they remember. I'm not doing things a certain way just because I'm insecure, or someone that is blind to reality."

"But how to you expect them to trust you again if you don't give them a chance?" Spike countered. "How can they get to meet the new you if you leave them behind?"

"What if we find ourselves in a dangerous area?" Twilight asked. "Will they try to send me back again? Like they did in the Everfree?"

Spike narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "You know that's not how it works. They were worried and they learned their lesson. What if you decide to shoot your weapons and all you needed was some kindness?"

When Twilight cringed, Spike's face softened. "Come on, Twilight. Even if Alejandra and the others are better fighters, they're not from around here. They don't know Equestria like we do."

"We won't be in Equestria, Spike," Twilight said, straightening up. "This is a military operation, and they are civilians. I don't have time for another wedding incident. And I don't have time to get them to stay in line if needed."

"Twilight, we are your friends, please let us help more!"

"I said no, Spike." Twilight's horn shone and her equipment floated to her. She started getting into her armor as she spoke. "I love you all, but you all still think things will just work out with love and friendship... and I won't let anything happen to you when you find out the hard way it's not that easy." She gave him a regretful glance, her magic enveloping her in a purple-red aura.

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks for the help."

And with that, she was gone.

Daring Do lowered the last of her equipment into The Mareia, glaring at the small crew of parrots, goats and one malicious-looking dwarven fish. "Alright, get it all secured! My companions should be here soon!"

"Some of us are already here."

Daring gasped and turned around, her hoof already flying to knock out the creep, only to be dodged with a chuckle. "Galahad!"

"Guilty." The griffon smiled.

"And the rest of us are also here," Twilight spoke up, walking up to them with Alejandra at her side and Tala sitting on the griffon's head. Rainbow Dash landed next to them, trying to hide her eagerness at being in Daring's vicinity once again.

She hated to admit it, but it was kind of endearing. Still, they had things to do, and little time to do them. That and she needed to get them ready for what was coming. "Alright everycreature," she called out, "gather up!"

Twilight and her friends walked to stand as a loose circle around Daring, with her own crew in the boat, looking over the rails.

"First, is this all of you?" Daring asked. "Where's Gilda, Princess Luna and the kid, Gabby? And are we really bringing a breezie?"

"They're staying," Twilight replied. "Lae… Luna needs to be in Canterlot, and I trust my friends to keep her out of trouble."

"And Gabby…" Alejandra rubbed her foreleg. "She's a bit young for this one, I asked Gilda to stay and keep an eye on her. She also apparently needed to talk to some of Twilight's friends."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash chuckled. "She wasn't too happy about it, but she's going to apologize to Pinkie and give her and the others a chance."

"As for Tala," Twilight motioned at the breezie, "trust me, you don't have anything to worry about. She can really do a lot of damage."

Daring shrugged and nodded. "Alright then." She started pacing in front of them in a tight circle, her eyes focused. "We're taking this boat as far down south as we can. Our first destination is Klugetown, so we won't be able to ride the river all the way there since the desert cuts us off, but we'll be close enough for a short flight.

"We'll organize provisions and equipment, and from there we'll head over to Mount Aris to meet with my contact." She pressed her lips. "You should know, Abyssinia and Mount Aris are currently allied in the war."

She expected a stronger reaction, but only Rainbow Dash gave any sign of being anxious. 'Interesting.' It wasn't strange that they had been unaware, if their widened eyes was any indication, but their body language was way too calm. Galahad, she expected this from. The others? Not so much.

"What war?" Twilight asked, eyes narrowing.

"There's a creature called the Storm King," Daring Do elaborated, "who has been causing up trouble far, far, southeast. Not much is known about him, but he has an army, some sort of propaganda machine, and recently, he's made moves northward.

"Right now, the only thing stopping him from taking control of Panthera and Klugetown, and what remains of Abyssinia is Mount Aris, so expect some danger on the way and for creatures all over to be on the edge." She stopped pacing and faced them again. "Any questions so far?"

"Does Princess Celestia know about this?" Twilight asked, her tone slightly disbelieving.

Daring sighed. "Yes. And before you ask, the reason she's not doing anything about it is because… both Mount Aris and Abyssinia downright refused to have her assist them. In their own words, ponies already held too much sway over the world as it is… that and Celestia doesn't want to lose ponies."

Twilight frowned, shaking her head. "That's ridiculous. Both Celestia and the rulers of Abyssinia and Mount Aris are just being obtuse!" She sighed loudly. "She and I are going to have a long talk after this is all over." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay then. War. It won't be the first time most of us venture into a battle zone."

Daring raised an eyebrow. "I noticed. I'm very curious about the exact nature of your experience, but, we can touch on that later. If I may continue?"

Twilight glanced and the others, a doubtful look in her eye, then she glanced at the sailors before looking back to Daring. "We'll have to see."

"Great," Daring said, making a conscious effort to not display a reaction to that. "From Mt. Aris, we'll be sailing west, to Ancient Fleece."

"Why don't we just go there first?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Y'know, skip the war?"

Before Daring could answer that one, Twilight spoke up, "Because Ancient Fleece is not an actual place, Rainbow Dash."

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash looked honestly baffled. "Walk me through that one? Fleece is a country, right?"

Twilight nodded, "Yes, but Ancient Fleece was a great empire thousands of years ago, it covered several modern countries, including what we currently know as Fleece itself. If I'm understanding right, Daring's contact will be able to give us a much more accurate location to head to, whether it happens to be in Modern Fleece or not."

"That's right," Daring said, nodding. "Now, my contact will receive a message that we're on our way a few days before we get there, so depending on how things are at the moment, we might have to wait a little bit for the information, but knowing her, she'll probably want to be rid of us as quickly as possible."

"So friendly," Rainbow Dash muttered.

"She has a lot on her plate," Daring replied. "Don't take it personal. You'll understand when you meet her."

"So, once we know our destination, where are we going to resupply?" Alejandra asked, wings opening a little, betraying her interest in the matter at hand.

'This group is way too comfortable around war,' Daring thought. "Ideally there, but worst case scenario we can fly back to Klugetown and find something there. Unfortunately, this boat is not designed for open seas, and it would be too long a flight with all the extra equipment."

Alejandra nodded, and the others seemed to have understood her outline, so Daring smirked. "Alright. Adventure and treasure awaits! Come on!"

Dash's grin almost split her face. "Oh, yeah! This is going to be awesome! Come on, everypony!"

Daring watched the group jump in, waiting on the shore with Twilight. While the others were distracted getting organized, she glanced at the princess in her strange armor. "Are you ever going to tell me what's really going on?"

Twilight grimaced. "I will. But the less creatures know the whole extent of it, the better." She glared at Daring. "And don't you dare publish it in your book."

Daring chuckled. "We'll see, princess. I reserve the right to decide what goes and not."

Twilight shrugged. "I'll tell my mom to edit it out if it happens."

Daring blinked as Twilight took off to land in the ship. "Wait… your mom? Twilight Velvet's your mom!?" she called out, following her into the boat. "How come I never knew that?!"

"You never asked."

End Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Background

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 3: Background

Equestria, Serpent River, Badlands

Note: I will, in the interest of future dealings with our XCOM allies, remove the names of security-sensitive individuals, as knowledge of their counterparts in Equestria runs the risk of affecting the perception of any who could potentially read this.

Personal log:

It's been a full day of travel by boat downriver through the badlands towards Klugetown, a small city at the very southern end of the Bone Dry Desert, right next to the coast. I had heard of Klugetown before, mostly relating to imports from Abyssinia, but my history books talk about a place that has traded hoofs, claws and paws in ownership for several centuries.

As academically intriguing as documenting the floral, faunal, geographic, environmental, and thaumatic discrepancies with the pony lands has been, I haven't been able to fight the anxiety that comes from Daring's revelations this morning.

What worries me the most is this almost willful ignorance coming from Celestia, ignoring the threat of war to this extent. I've seen what it can do… and so has she, through centuries of ruling. And yet, she chooses to ignore that and worse, keep people—her little ponies— ignorant of the lurking danger.

I understand that we ponies tend to panic at the drop of a hat, but ignorance? For someone that has so much accumulated experience, she sure acts naive sometimes. She might be confident that the Abyssinians and Mount Aris (whoever they are, information is sketchy) can together hold back this Storm King, but if they lose, what do we risk? What guarantee do we have that he will stop there and not threaten Equestria?

It makes me wonder: Is this what Commander [REDACTED] had to deal with twenty years ago, telling the governments of Earth about the alien menace only for them to wilfully ignore the threat beyond sending some soldiers and token financing?

And how did that end? With that world's [REDACTED] dead taking down a spaceship, the Commander captured, most of XCOM on the run, and their whole world at the mercy of the Elders. Isn't this what would have been the eventual fate of Equestria if Cadance and Shining hadn't managed to magically save us all at the same time?

Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Discord… now the Storm King? What else is she ignoring or pretending will be solved on its own? Three of those she was well aware of. What new enemy from Tartarus will I have to defeat with my friends because she didn't prepare for a negative outcome? I love Celestia with all my heart, and she is a wonderful, amazing pony and an inspirational, knowledgeable teacher, but… wishful thinking or ignoring things doesn't solve everything. We can't rely on Spike's lucky stumble to save the day, or on a random unicorn outwitting ancient evils every time.

Perhaps my time on Earth has made me cynical, but I know that other leaders deal with as much as she does, if not more, and they know not to ignore threats like this. I hope I'm wrong. I hope Celestia has agents in these other countries, keeping tabs on things so nothing like the wedding happens again. I hope she has a plan. I hope.

I'm already missing the girls. Even if they're naive and all they could do is tell me that things will be okay… I'm starting to think that's an important thing that I might have forgotten. Maybe I should re-read my friendship journal.

And I still hope… I hope I'm worrying too much. I hope we don't live to regret things we could have prevented. I hope the girls are fine and they'll forgive me for leaving them behind. I'm not the pony I used to be… and it hurts me as much as it hurts them.

I should go talk to Daring, maybe I can learn more of what is coming.

Signing off,
Princess Twilight Sparkle

Daring Do sensed Rainbow Dash's presence just as the other pegasus walked up to her. Even if she had used other creatures' help during her adventures, it was still difficult to figure out how she felt about having others along for the whole ride. Or was she the one along for the ride?

Ugh. She hated working with others, but she'd never let them be the heroes of her story.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash," she said, pushing her thoughts away, "what's up? Here to ask me when the next book is coming out? Because it'll take some time."

Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head. "What? No! I wasn't going to. I mean, we're doing all of this, so uh, I don't suppose you brought your typewriter with you?"

"I did not."

"Figures," the Wonderbolt hopeful said, sighing. "That's too bad, but really, what I wanted to say was thank you for doing this. It means a lot for all of us."

Daring glanced back over her shoulder. Twilight was out of sight, probably either studying or planning, and Galahad was currently occupied teaching a griffon wrestling technique to Alejandra. Tala was probably standing guard somewhere out of sight. How an armored breezie could look intimidating rather than hilarious was probably a question best left for another day.

"So what's the story with Alejandra? She doesn't really fight much like a griffon."

Rainbow Dash's smile became forced. "Oh, does she? I hadn't noticed!"

"Huh," Daring Do deadpanned. "And here I thought you were friends with a few." She looked at Rainbow Dash straight in the eye. "So the Battle Princess has been fairly tight-lipped about the whole thing. At least directly, but let's see what we already know, right?

"First, she has a friend who is a transformed Blood Witch. If that was somewhere in Equestria, this would be a well known fact by everycreature. Blood Witches don't tend to care if they're noticed.

"Second, Twilight and Alejandra are both military trained. Which is unusual because Twilight is the Princess of Friendship, at least officially, and the griffons don't really have an army... since two centuries ago. And before you say it, no Galahad is not army-trained."

Rainbow Dash squirmed in place, looking around the boat as if trying to figure out a way to get out of the conversation.

"Third, and kind of obvious, but, "Alejandra" is not really a griffon name at all, is it? She also happens to look, sound, and even acts like an aged-up version of Gabby. They don't behave like siblings, or mother and daughter either. If anything, they're kind of awkward with each other. It's endearing, but odd.

"Fourth," Daring continued, smirking at Rainbow Dash's cringe, "some of them talk about, and are comfortable with, the concept of war as a matter of fact. I expect this from Galahad to a degree, and sure, Alejandra could be his apprentice and also be more worldly, except that she's really not as good at claw and wing combat as she should be… but I definitely would not expect that from the Princess of Friendship, and certainly not from a breezie either.

"And last, but not least, you are not that comfortable with the concept. I see you flinch every time I bring it up. You're brave, but you act like I would expect regular ponies to do so. It's not that you don't understand the concept, but you're squeamish and anxious about it. And it's not just from my books and me kicking supremacist flank."

"I really can't tell you without Twilight's—"

"My what?"

Daring Do was impressed. She hadn't even heard her get close. And for that matter, neither had Rainbow Dash—if the chromatic contrail heading straight up was any indication. She tore her eyes away from it and looked at Twilight. "I was asking Dash about what's really going on with you and your crew."

Twilight sighed. "Are you familiar at all with Starswirl the Bearded?"

Daring rolled her eyes. "Not nearly mythical enough for me, but yes. I've heard of him."

"Not nearly mythi—" Twilight screeched, "Do you know who he is?! He's the father of spellcasting! A legendary hero and sorcerer who banished monsters, created new spells, figured out a decidedly flawed version of time travel and—" she gritted her teeth. "It's not funny!"

"You're just such a nerd." Daring Do laughed. "I can totally see your mom in you."

"Right." Twilight narrowed her eyes, before clearing her throat. "Well, he— created an artifact that allows you to travel between worlds. Princess Celestia's adoptive daughter used it to cross into another dimension several years ago. That whole world is going through a losing war against really powerful enemies. I was stuck there for a few months and came back with some friends… the portal… adapts your nature to fit the environment."

Despite herself, Daring was impressed. "So you're… you've been to other worlds… and that's where…" she signaled with her hoof at the others.

Twilight nodded. "It's a secret for now, although I hope once the war on Earth is over, I can open relationships with the Earth government, but for now, if it were to become public knowledge, it would start a panic."

"So what does she look like back in her world, then?" Daring asked.

"Bipedal," Twilight said, "similar to primates, but not covered in fur, their faces are also smoother than a gorilla or chimp, or even an orangutan. They wear clothes out of necessity originally and now out of cultural taboo. Opposable thumbs, small eyes, females have mammaries on their chests."

"Oh yeah, and they don't reproduce through eggs," Rainbow Dash added helpfully and with no small sign of pride. "Laetitia explained it to me one time when I uh… was curious."

"Right," Twilight said, evidently choosing to ignore the latter part of the statement, "mammaries. As in mammals."

Daring bit her lip, glancing at her sailors who were non-the-wiser, entertained as they were by the training match between Alejandra and Galahad. "So why does Alejandra look so much like Gabby?"

Twilight sighed. "She's her counterpart. They have their own version of Rainbow Dash there, as well as several other ponies and creatures I know. As far as we can tell, there was some sort of temporal interference between both worlds. Probably because the statue was damaged by alien weapons and didn't start a thaumatic repair cycle until it was used again twenty years later."

"Huh, I wonder if I have a counterpart there too."

"Maybe," Twilight shrugged. "If she wasn't killed."

Daring felt a chill down her spine. "Right. How bad is it? Really?"

"Millions died during the invasion," Twilight said gently, her eyes straying to follow the river coastline. "And in the years after as well. Cities are abandoned or infested, free settlements are always at risk, and the new ADVENT cities are under total militaristic control… it's very bad."

"And on top of that, they need to deal with a Blood Witch that has been active for over three years." Daring could see how much the statement bothered Twilight, but she needed the Princess to understand that not everycreature could be saved just because they were still alive, so to speak. "What will you do if you can't save them?"

"I'll do everything I can for Sunset and Laetitia," Twilight said, "even if they die, I will at least know I put it all into it."

Rainbow Dash put her hoof on her shoulder. "If anypony can do it, Twilight, it's you."

Twilight's frown lessened and she slowly smiled, looking up at Rainbow Dash. "Thanks. I'm glad you have faith in me."

"Of course!" Rainbow Dash replied with a grin. "You're the Battle Princess, after all!"

Twilight shook her head.

"So, anything you wanted in particular Princess?" Daring Do asked after a moment. "I get the sense that you had some questions for me."

Twilight nodded. "I do, and it's about—"

"Twilight," Tala interrupted, fluttering down to land on the princesses' head. "We're being followed."

"What?" Daring asked, leaning over to look behind them. "I don't see anything on the water."

"Not the water… in the sky," the breezie said, pointing upwards. "It's dark and metallic, and has been with us for at least half an hour."

"I'll go check!" Rainbow Dash said, before she was tackled by both Twilight and Daring.

"No!"

"But—"

"They don't know we're onto them," Twilight said, getting off of Rainbow's back, followed soon after by Daring. "We'll keep an eye out… prepare. We need to keep this advantage from them."

"We don't know who they are either," Daring said. "it could be just an airship following the river down to Klugetown."

"Whoever they are," Tala pointed out, "they have maintained the same altitude and speed since they caught up to us."

"Come on," Twilight said, "let's go inside and plan what to do in case of an attack."

"Welp! There's definitely a Princess on that ship, alright!"

"See?" Ahuitzotl said, a serrated grin splitting his face. "I told you I could make it worth your while."

"The Storm King will be pleased by this," Tempest Shadow said, her eyes reflecting the red lights of the instruments. "It's not often that an Equestrian Princess leaves the safety of their little country."

"Yeah, yeah," Ahuitzotl growled. "She's a princess and all that, and you can have her and everycreature in that boat… but Daring Do is mine! This will be the last time she sticks her nose into my business!"

"So why is this princess out of her castle, huh?" Grubber asked, jumping from the seat next to the window to walk up to them. "Shouldn't she be like, having tea parties and eating cake?"

Tempest Shadow glanced at Ahuitzotl, who glared right back. "I have no idea! I just know that they helped Daring Do destroy my plan! And that was the last straw! She will rue the day she eve—"

"Yes, yes, we know," Tempest interrupted, rolling her eyes. "You have been repeating that for the last day."

"So what's the plan, boss?" Grubber asked. "Are we going to get the drop on them now?"

Tempest walked forth to the floor window that allowed them to look straight down to the clouds below, where, through the occasional gap, she could see the boat below. "No. Let's wait a little more until most of the crew is asleep. Then we strike."

End Chapter 3

Chapter 4: Ambush

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 4: Ambush

All was quiet in the Bone Dry Desert this late at night. No insects or animals made a noise, and other than the occasional arachnid or snake, the area around the river bend where the Mareia waited was empty of living creatures. From nearby, Tempest stood on a hill, holding a telescope to her eye as she watched closely, studying the situation. She watched as one gruff pony made its way up to the bridge an sat down, head drooping slightly. "Only one guard. But then again what can be expected of an Equestrian Princess?"

The Mareia was anchored for the night, its unsuspecting crew completely unaware of what was going to happen to them soon, a single pony dozing away next to the steering wheel their only warning. Too easy.

From the darkness of the desert dunes nearby, about twenty furred and armored bipedal creatures with wicked-looking claws emerged slowly to stand in a loose half-circle around the ship, the "watch" completely unaware of them.

"Can we get on with it?" Ahuitzotl hissed next to her. "Why didn't we just drop on them earlier?"

"Because, despite the fact that the princess is not a fighter, she was still an extremely powerful unicorn before she became an alicorn. We should take whatever advantage we have to dominate the battle entirely. Right now she's snug in her bed, probably dreaming about befriending some random creature." Tempest said, then smirked as the pony guard finally curled up and closed his eyes. "And now that all of them are asleep, is the perfect time."

Silently, the creatures charged, joined by Ahuitzotl and Tempest, who galloped downhill, readying her magic, her thoughts dark. 'Typical, unprepared Equestrian id—'

That's when the footsoldier at the front suddenly was hit by something invisible, stopping it in its tracks. It stood still for a second before its arms went wide and its body began shaking just as visible electricity crawled over his body so powerfully his skeleton could be seen for the briefest of moments. Before its unconscious body even hit the sand, two more footsoldiers were in the same condition.

Eyes widening, Tempest slid to a halt and gasped as a griffon emerged from the shadows behind another of her soldiers, knocking it out (or killing it), before bouncing like a cat to tackle the next. A rainbow contrail shot past her, just over her shoulder, taking with it three more soldiers before they could even react to what was happening.

From the boat, a black-armored alicorn pounced out, horn flaring. An incredibly bright flash of light had her blinking away spots in her eyes, just as two more soldiers were violently blasted across the desert floor.

Tempest would have followed their fate if she hadn't dove to the side instinctually as soon as she had lost sight of her enemy. She braced herself, noticing the alicorn's magic flare again…

...but she wasn't the target. She watched as Ahuitzotl was yanked from the ground, arms and tail bound tightly, eyes wild, and wailing a high-pitched scream of terror as the princess used him to mercilessly bat four more of her soldiers, two on either side, before throwing him over her shoulder to smack wetly on the shore at the hooves of Daring Do.

It was an ambush! Tempest rolled to her hooves, eyes wide and confused. They were waiting for them to attack! "How?!"

The whistling, familiar, sound of arrows slicing through the air took with it two more soldiers just as her brain started working a plan.

"Flash incoming!" Tempest shouted as she acted, blasting a ball of white-red plasma into the middle of the field, right in front of the princess, and lighting up the whole area with light, similar to the Princesses' own surprise flash spell from earlier.

The two soldiers standing had covered their eyes with their arms as soon as they had heard her, but the playing field had been severely changed, so she immediately relayed orders. "Get Ahuitzotl!" Tempest shouted. "Retreat!"

She gritted her teeth as she trotted away, shame burning inside of her. This was NOT what she had anticipated. Twilight Sparkle was not supposed to know how to fight. All her research and information on her pointed to a very smart, if naive, alicorn that had no experience in battle. This should have been a simple ambush, taking out a civilian shipful of creatures with little training... and now she was running away.

Tempest and Ahuitzotl had a lot to talk about.

"Well, you have to give it to her," Twilight Sparkle said, her hoof poking at an unconscious simian creature. "She was smart enough to recognize this was a lost cause."

Daring shook her head, looking over at the princess. "These are the Storm King's goons, so that was an officer of some sort with Ahuitzotl. I'm not sure what's worse: that they're here, all the way up North, or that that villain is with them."

Twilight frowned. "So we're dealing with a traitor."

Daring blinked, detecting the tinge of venom in Twilight's voice.

"You need to focus. The real problem is that now that we showed that we're not complete amateurs, whoever the Storm King's officer was, she's going to be a lot more careful," a voice said.

Daring looked around, finally noticing the breezie sitting on top of Twilight's head. "I'm sorry?"

"I said," Tala repeated calmly, "that it's a problem they now know we can defend ourselves." The breezie's tiny arm encompassing the unconscious simians with a gesture. "This was a simple ambush, indicating they were not anticipating our resistance to be so orderly. Most likely they thought we were the usual civilian targets."

"So what are you saying?" Rainbow Dash asked, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice as she joined them. "Are you saying that we were just lucky?"

Tala shrugged. "What I'm saying is that the only reason our counterattack worked so effectively is because they were severely underestimating us. Now that they know we're not harmless or unprepared, whatever they do next will not be so easily countered. Things will escalate, and with the enemy officer getting away, we can expect a much stronger attack in the future."

"I'll just channel my inner Commander," Twilight said, a hint of worry betraying her bravado.

"Being a rookie survivor and continuing training is not the same as being as tactically sound as the Commander of XCOM," Tala pointed out. "At least Sunset had lessons under Galahad and others on Equestrian military history and tactics before she even got to training under me and Mox… and that was before she was taken in by Central and personally trained as his second in command, and then she was trained by XCOM veterans."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, Sunset is better at this than I am," Twilight groaned.

Tala shook her head, patting Twilight's head. "That's not the point and it's not what I said. The point is that you can't let your relative success here so far get to you and give you a false sense of security, and you can't let your previous experience with a traitor stop you from thinking logically. You need to take a step back and remember that the surprise element is gone and that these are not all amateur villains or minions you'll be facing. This Storm King has an army, and that means you'll be facing an enemy that cannot just be blasted with rainbows once and declare it a victory."

"Long war, got it."

Tala shook her head, amusement clear in her voice. "You'll do fine, just remember those deep breaths."

"So what do you want to do with these guys?" Alejandra asked, walking up to them behind Galahad.

"Mooks are notoriously oblivious to what's going on," Galahad said. "Trying to get information out of this lot is mostly pointless, no doubt why their superior left them behind with no qualms. They follow orders without question."

"Mooks?" Alejandra asked. "Is that really the name of their species?"

"Oblivious, barely developed simians," Daring confirmed, lifting the head of one of the unconscious bodies long enough to give a disgusted grunt and letting it fall back into the sand. "The usual grunt troops available in large quantity for your local megalomaniac. Uneducated, never interested in improving the status quo for anycreature other than themselves personally, uniquely likely to join any cause that makes others miserable. I've fought my share of them."

"Like that time in Daring Do and the Monument to Pride, right?" Rainbow Dash asked, eyes glinting.

Daring smiled. "Good catch."

Twilight frowned. "So you're saying that we won't get any information out of them?"

"We could always torture them," Tala said, shrugging.

Twilight grimaced, and Daring had to wonder if she was thinking back on her brief encounter with Caballeron.

"No. We won't do that. How far away are we from Klugetown?" Twilight finally asked.

Daring looked at the stars. "Half a day or so before we have to make land at a river port and then fly there."

"We'll tie them up and leave them at the river harbor for Klugetown's guard to pick them up." Twilight stated.

"I can fly ahead and alert the authorities to send somecreatures over there," Galahad said, ruffling his wings a little. "Should take me just a couple of hours to get there."

"But..." Alejandra blinked, turning to look at her mentor. "What about my training?"

Galahad grinned. "I thought you didn't want to be an assassin."

"I don't, but it's really useful for getting used to this body and my role as a bodyguard," she said.

He shrugged. "You should rest a little, you did well during this fight, but it was too flashy for my tastes. When we're all in Klugetown I'll take you to a place for some proper training while Daring sorts out our trip to Mount Aris."

"Do I want to know where you're going to be taking her?" Twilight asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Is this the sort of training that could benefit me and Rainbow Dash as well?"

"You really don't," Galahad said, looking at Twilight in the eye, "and no offense, Princess, but I can take Alejandra there only because she's my apprentice. Taking the lot of you there would only end in bloodshed."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Just make sure you bring her back in one piece."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Alejandra asked, feathers puffing out. "I'd rather stay by Twilight's side."

"Don't worry, you'll get to cuddle her later," Galahad teased, making the younger griffon sputter and Twilight's wings to flutter. "Now, unless we have any urgent business right now, I shall get going." With a final nod to the others, he shot up to the air and was out of sight soon enough.

"We'll meet you at the dock," Twilight called out, trying her best not to glance at the flustered Alejandra.

Daring sighed, reminding herself that these were young ponies (and griffons) and had yet some growing up to do. "In any case, I believe it's time to get some rest. Clucker!"

"Yes ma'am?" one of the parrots in the ship asked.

"Think you can navigate us to the Klugetown river dock on your own?"

"Aye, I could do it in me sleep, lassy!"

"Try to do it while you're awake," Daring chuckled. "I'm getting everycreature else back to sleep in the meantime."

"Aye, aye, ma'am!"

"Hey, Tempest, the boss wants a word with you."

Tempest grimaced, taking a deep, calming breath before she turned to face Grubber. "Put him on."

Grubber nodded, tossing a glowing blue vial into the brazier in the middle of the bridge. Immediately, it burst into blue flames and the furred, horned, apelike face of the Storm King emerged like an apparition floating among them.

"Ah, Tempest."

"Your majesty."

"Hey, I heard the funniest thing today. I heard that you had found one of your Equestrian Princesses in the desert. How funny is that?"

Tempest glared at Grubber for a second before turning to face the king. "Yes. She has left the security of Equestria and now travels towards Klugetown."

"So," the Storm King studied one of his claws. "If she's there, why haven't you captured her? You promised me power, shouldn't you be working on that?"

Tempest growled. "To defeat all the princesses we still need the Malachite pieces."

"So you're saying you can't capture her?"

"No… I'm saying we need to be more car—"

"Listen, Tempest," the Storm King interrupted, a gentle smile decorating his face. "You know I like you, right? You're vicious, effective and reliable. All things I admire. Plus! You know I'm the only one that can help you with your little issue, right?" His smile disappeared, his face turning into a threatening grimace. "So let me make myself clear. I want the princess. I want this so-called unlimited power that you promised me. And if you don't get started in obtaining that for me, you can kiss your little horn goodbye for good, because I won't be in any mood to make you whole."

Tempest cringed. "Yes, your majesty. Right now they're headed to Klugetown. We'll have to be careful ab—"

"I don't think I heard right," the King interrupted again. "Careful?"

"The territory is currently under Mount Aris' protection and—"

"Mount Aris," the King repeated in a mocking tone. "I'm almost done with those clowns. But I guess you are right." He looked pensive. "If the princess is heading to Klugetown that means that she's on her way to to Nova as well. There is literally nothing of value in that town other than as a stepping stone." He nodded, smiling. "Then let's proceed with the original plan, you and Grubber infiltrate Mount Aris and obtain their legendary magical pearl. If you manage to do that, I might even fix your horn right then and there. If the princess is there, you can capture her."

Tempest grimaced. "About that, this princess is different, she doesn't seem to be as clueless about war as—"

"Are you saying you can't do it?"

Tempest shut her mouth and took a deep breath. "No. I can do it."

The king smiled again. "Good! We have a deal then! Call me when you have the pearl and the princess!" He waved. "Ta!"

And with that, he was gone, the blue flame dying away into nothing.

"Wow. That was like, totally tense!" Grubber said excitedly.

Tempest gritted her teeth. "Bring that idiot Ahuitzotl here, and set course for Mount Aris. We need to figure out a way to sneak in there."

"Righty-oh!"

Tempest glared angrily at the small boat far down below as it made its way down the river, before she turned around and trotted out of the bridge.

End Chapter 4

Chapter 5: Klugetown - Scum and Villainy

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 5: Klugetown - Scum and Villainy

The Mareia sailed the rest of the night slowly but surely, Clucker staying true to his word and managing to navigate the ship safely all the way to the river docks, where Galahad waited with several sourly, heavily armored fish men and an official-looking Abyssinian. Nearby a large metallic cage on top of a cart waited for the mooks they had tied up on the deck.

Twilight walked over to the Abyssinian, whose eyes widened at the site of the wings and horn, and quickly saluted. "Y-your highness, we did not expect a foreign dignitary or I woul—"

"No need, officer," Twilight said, saluting in the Royal Guard fashion. "I am not here as a representative, just on my way. We were attacked by these mooks belonging to the Storm King and figured you were more than capable of taking them off our hands. Hoofs."

The Abyssinian nodded, excitement barely contained. "I… understand you're not here in "official business" but… is it possible that Equestria will help us defend our land?"

"Careful," Daring spoke out, "remember that Mt. Aris and Pantera have requested no official aid—"

"But if they do, be sure that Equestria will not leave our friends waiting," Twilight interrupted, eyes hard.

The Abyssinian officer straightened up and nodded, directing his subordinates to start loading the mooks. "Thank you… princess."

When he walked away, Twilight turned to face a proud-looking Rainbow Dash and Alejandra, an amused Galahad and Tala (judging by her body language) and an irritated Daring Do.

"You can't promise that kind of thing, Twilight," Daring hissed.

"I can," Twilight responded, eyes narrowing. "You might know my mom, and we might even be building on a real friendship here, Daring. But I am also a princess of Equestria, and if it's within my power to help my neighboring countries instead of shutting them away or ignoring them, then I will act as my conscience dictates."

"But—"

"Celestia made the wrong call," Twilight insisted, pointing her hoof at the cage. "They weren't a random encounter past the lines. They were in Equestrian territory, working with an enemy of the nation. If we ignore them, and if we don't support Abyssinia and Mt. Aris, mark my words, Daring… it will cause problems for all of us."

Daring grimaced, but nodded, unable to argue much against that logic. She had seen it first hoof, after all. "Come on, let's get this show on the road."

Klugetown was—not surprisingly—an inherently colorful melting-pot of different cultures and species. And it showed.

The buildings, rather than having a unique but quaint style to them as they would in Ponyville, or the solid architecture one would expect of Canterlot, were a hodgepodge of flimsy-looking, half-rotted planks of unidentifiable materials haphazardly painted in what could only be the nearest color at hand.

Rarity would have hated it.

"Huh," Alejandra said, gazing at the mess. "It's like being back in the old settlements before I joined XCOM."

"XCOM?" Daring asked, tilting her head.

"Oh, hey! There's Galahad! Better go do training!" Alejandra chuckled nervously. "Adios!"

The others watched her go and Daring glanced over to Twilight. "Adios?"

"That's her native language," Twilight said, watching the griffon run over to meet Galahad. "Although maybe I should have mentioned to her you knew about the mirror by now."

"Nah, it's funnier this way."

"I do wonder where Galahad is taking her," Twilight said, her gaze following Alejandra's lithe form as she met with the other griffon and the pair walked into the masses of creatures.

"Probably some secret assassin safe house or something along those lines," Daring said. She smirked. "I take it you like looking at her."

"It's nice." Twilight blinked, then slowly her face tinged red. "But don't read more into it! She's my bodyguard!"

"Sure." Daring shrugged. "Just making sure you both knew that. You kept your eyes on her a bit too long not to be interested."

Twilight sighed. "Laetitia already talked to me about that. I told her too that Alejandra is just infatuated because we both survived. She really isn't in love with me."

Daring chuckled, shaking her head. "Oh? And since when can you speak for what some other creature feels?"

Twilight shook her head. "Can we please get on with this?"

"Sure, sure. Come on, it's this way."

"So," Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Now that we're not talking about mushy stuff, what's the deal with this place? It's full of creatures I've never seen!" She motioned at the bipedal fish-people, cats and parrots that mingled in front of them.

"As I said," Twilight explained as they made their way down the main street, "this place has changed han-hoofs several times through the centuries. The people that lived here at those times stayed, and their descendants are still here."

"So, I don't see any other ponies…"

"There are a few," Daring said. "Equestria does trade with Abyssinia, and the main trade route is through here." She glanced around. "Having said that, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

"Huh." Rainbow Dash glanced around, nodding. "Has anyone seen Tala?"

"Boss! Boss!" the shark-like humanoid shouted excitedly, dangling a small cage in his stubby hand. "Look what I caught! A breezie!"

The "Boss", a larger version of the same species grinned diabolically. "They sell for a good price in the black market."

He leaned down to stare at the breezie.

"Huh. I didn't know they wore armor."

Tala smirked under her helmet.

"So what are we doing with it?"

"Eh," the boss brought up the cage closer to his face. "We can probably sell it in the marketplace. I'm sure somecreature can use a pet."

Tala was about to speak up when a scuffle made everyone look up. A cat-person with his muzzle tied up was thrown into the trash and the loud laughter of two more fish creatures interrupted her thoughts.

"Look who we found, Boss!"

"Well, well," the big fish man said, "if it isn't Capper. I think selling this thing can wait until we gut the little bastard for that stunt he pulled on us." He grinned and slid out a long, serrated knife. "Let's see you talk yourself out of this one, you little thief."

Capper's eyes widened as the Boss approached, and shook his head desperately, looking around for help.

Tala sighed. It looked like her fun would be cut short. But… at least it would be entertaining. "Hey, blowfish-face!"

The Boss looked down at her cage, blinking. "Whu?"

"You ever heard of hanging fish out to dry?"

"She'll be fine," Twilight said. "I gave her shore leave earlier, she wanted to check out the area. She'll meet up with us at the docks."

"So where are we going now then?"

"We're hiring a different crew," Daring said, weaving through the creatures around them with plenty of familiarity. "They're not… one hundred percent on the legal side, but I hope that won't be a problem?"

"Oh my gosh!" Rainbow whispered, eyes glinting. "Pirates?"

"Pirates."

"Eeeee!"

Daring and Rainbow Dash turned to face Twilight, who gazed at them impassively.

Rainbow Dash smirked. "Did you just—"

"I certainly did not!" Twilight said, face rigid as a slight pink tone crept to her cheeks. "I would never be excited enough to relive the scene from The Coast of Monte Prieto that I would screech like a little filly."

"So that would be a yes," Daring drawled. "It seems like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Your mom loved adventuring with pirates." She grinned. "One day you should ask her about her and the Pirate King Sandokan."

Twilight frowned. "Wait. The one that terrorized half of Bajau?"

Daring shrugged.

"Hold on, how come you never told me my mom used to seduce pirates?"

"You never asked."

The walk through the city had been educational for her companions, but for Daring herself, there was a certain feeling of belonging. She loved being in the hustle and bustle of a culture she didn't even speak the language of, and while she could talk just fine with the locals of Klugetown, it was such a mixed place of cultures and creatures, that it gave her that familiar exhilaration of being outside of her element, and yet be fully part of it.

The smells of the food, the disparate colors of the stalls, it was all invigorating and refreshing. It never got old, unlike Canterlot and most of Equestria. Sure, they were charming sometimes, but it was all… too ordinary.

'Still,' she thought, glancing over her shoulder at the two mares behind her, 'this brings back memories. I wonder if Velvet ever thought that one of her kids would end up with me on an adventure? It's been years… I shouldn't have let that friendship degrade so much. I've truly become a recluse.'

She glanced around, getting her bearings. Had she been any other species, she probably wouldn't have felt the difference in air quality over all the different sources around. The heat from the food stands, the dry air from the desert and the labyrinthine quality of the streets of Klugetown were enough to confuse just about anycreature, more so those that did not possess the ability to fly and therefore were so intimately attuned to air currents.

As it was, the humidity and salinity of the coast tingled her feathers East and that's where she headed, not even looking up to confirm her location with the position of the sun. Her thoughts returned to Velvet and their eventual estrangement.

Velvet and Daring had a lot of history, and as much as she had put it behind her, (half out of bitterness that Velvet had decided to settle down, and half out of envy for her ability to do so) she had allowed things to get to the point where Velvet was just her editor and agent… and that was it. A friendship—almost sisterhood, really—that had devolved into a polite, professional, acquaintancy.

The only reason she knew Velvet had a son was because she kept track of royalty just in case someone decided to ban an area of the world from access, and she was therefore aware that there were a couple of new princesses and that one had married the other's brother.

So Shining Armor was Twilight's brother, and they were Velvet's kids. One was the former Captain of the guard and now was married to the Princess of Love in charge of an ancient Empire that had reappeared after thousands of years, the other had become the Battle Princess of Friendship. Quite the clan.

If she had settled down she'd be… 'Auntie Do'? Was that something she could even want? She chuckled inwardly. No. This place made it clear, she was in her element. This is what she wanted. But… she glanced over her shoulder. 'Maybe reconnecting with my friend's family is possible.'

The city around them eventually opened up to the docks, where both, airships and marine ships of all sorts waited. This was where Klugetown's real importance played out in the grand scheme of things: the imports from several countries came together here and then were redirected north towards richer countries, like Equestria.

It was hard to see most of the sea, as the docks were also home to several large warehouses, but she had been around enough places like these to know what to look for. Soon enough, she was guiding the other two mares up the rafts to the second level docks, where several airships were docked.

"Now we just need to figure which one we shou—"

"There!" a voice said desperately. "I told you I could help you find them! Can I go now?"

"We shall see," a more familiar voice replied.

The three ponies turned around to face an Abyssinian, who was breathing hard and giving scared looks to the armored breezie fluttering next to him.

"Oh, hey Tala," Rainbow Dash said, giving the Abyssinian an odd look, "made a new friend?"

"Of sorts," Tala said. "He owes me a life-debt, and taking me to the docks is not enough to repay that."

"How does he owe you a life-debt?" Twilight asked.

"This is Capper. I saved him from being murdered in a dark alley," Tala said. "Some goons had captured him and were about to gut him."

Daring was about to ask how she had saved him when she remembered the battle. Still, it didn't explain why he was so terrified of Tala. "Is this true?"

"W-well," Capper said straightening up and chuckling nervously. "I wouldn't say—" he caught sight of Tala casually looking at a device on her hoof. "Yes. It's true."

"Hm." Twilight glanced at Tala. "Where are the goons?"

"I took care of them. The authorities will find them."

Twilight arched an eyebrow. "Will they find them alive?"

Daring grimaced. Her friends' daughter's simple acceptance of death and war was unsettling, even if she understood where it came from."

Tala shrugged. "They're alive. They're just hanging around until they're found."

Capper visibly shivered when Tala said "hanging", but Daring simply shook her head. "So Capper, was it? Why were those goons ready to kill you?"

"Well... " he used a claw to loosen his shirt around the neck. "It just so turns out that they needed something obtained and I, uh, knew how to get it."

"A thief." Twilight glanced at Tala. "You got us a thief?"

"There's always traps and locks in ancient temples if we go by Daring's stories," Tala said. "So Capper here can probably help us a little."

Daring brought a hoof up to rub at her temple. "I'm not sure if I want a thief going with us. We're going to some very important places before we even head to Fleece."

Capper's ears twitched. "Did you say Fleece?" He grinned. "How about I take you to an airship that has a crew from there? That would help, right?"

Daring and Twilight exchanged glances.

"I'm not sure if I trust the word of a thief."

"Capper wouldn't lie to us," Tala said, making Capper give a terrified yelp, "would you, Capper?"

"N-no! These are legitimate Fleece creatures!"

"Isn't anypony here concerned about how terrified he is of Tala?" Rainbow Dash asked, waving her hoof at the Abyssinian. She looked around. "Anypony else? I am. I am kind of concerned."

"Not really, Dash," Twilight said. "She scared a lot of people before we became friends. I'm used to it."

Daring snorted. "How did you become friends with her?"

"I kicked her in the face," Tala said.

"Right," Daring said, shaking her head. She turned to look at Capper. "Well then, you have your chance. This better be legit."

Capper grimaced, taking a couple of steps forth. "Uh… this way, ladies…" he shook his head as they followed him. 'These ponies are crazy!'

End Chapter 5

Author's Note

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Chapter 6: Jolly Parrot

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 6: Jolly Parrot

"Do my eyes deceive me, Mullet, or do I see a carrion-eating, gutter-crawling, landlubber sorry excuse for a bilge rat scurrying around the deck of my ship like he has any right to breathe?"

"Celaeno, what a nice surprise to see you here!" Capper exclaimed, smiling wide and solicitously at the parrot captain.

"I don't suppose you're here to pay me back for that jolly old adventure we had near Cape Storm?" Celaeno continued, her eyes ignoring the trio of pegasi that had walked onto deck behind the Abyssinian. "You know the one, right? Immense rewards, was it? Unquestionable wealth, you said. Right in the middle of the Storm King's territory..." she trailed off, leaning down slightly to glare at him, claw on the pommel of her scimitar. "...oh wait, that part you forgot to mention."

"Ah, uh, that might take some time-e-e-eeee—" Capper's voice went an octave higher when the tip of Celaeno's scimitar pressed against his throat.

"Then," she hissed, eyes narrowing, "what could have possibly possessed a scallywag such as yourself to set paws on my ship?"

"That would be us," one of the ponies—the only one who was clad in strange armor—spoke up. Celaeno turned to look at her, still frowning, but couldn't fight the surprise when she noticed that she wasn't looking at a pegasus, but an actual, honest-to-goodness alicorn. Next to her, looking up at Celaeno with starry eyes and slightly pink cheeks, was a cyan-coated pegasus with rainbow mane and matching tail.

"I'm not hiring, savvy?" she stated.

"Hey, what's your—" the blue pegasus spoke up, red eyes flashing.

"We're not here for a job," the alicorn interrupted. "Well, not for us."

The other pony, a golden-furred, gray-haired mare wearing a pith helmet stepped forth. "We're heading to Mt. Aris and then to Fleece. Capper here was just made our acquaintance, and he mentioned that you might be able to help us."

Celaeno's eyebrows had shot up and she turned to stare incredulously at Capper… who wasn't there anymore. She glanced up, growling just as he made it to the taffrail. However, just before he could vault over it and make his daring escape, he froze on the spot, body shaking and fur standing on edge, looking for all Celaeno could tell as if he had been struck by lightning.

Then he collapsed onto the floor, twitching.

"I did not say your life-debt was repaid," a voice said. This time it wasn't just Celaeno who blinked in surprise, as her crew, who had gathered around to see what the argument was all around, also bore witness to a tiny, pony-like bug in armor… who had apparently electrocuted the cat.

Evercreature on deck—save for the armored pony—took a decent step back from the tiny bug-pony.

"Seems like there's a bit of a story behind that reaction of yours," the pegasus said, "but hear us out—"

"No," Celaeno snapped, sheathing her scimitar and crossing her arms. "I refuse." Her declaration was echoed by the crew, most of them saying something along "aye". Not that Celaeno expected any less. They knew her well enough.

"Aww, come on," the rainbow one insisted, "you're pirates! Isn't adventure part of your deal?!"

"Not when it doesn't end up in some sort of reward," Celaeno said, "and whenever Capper has been involved, that has never been the case."

"We have bits," the alicorn said, "I'm sure we can reach a mutually-profitable arrangement."

Celaeno grimaced as the denial from the crew turned into grunts of consideration. She faced the ponies. "Fleece is the one land I don't fly back to, savvy?"

"As a Princess, I can guarantee that the agreement we come to will be profitable for you. If you are indeed pirates, I can even sign a pardon for all of you in Equestrian lands," the thrice-damned alicorn added. "Provided you're careful after that, it would open merchant routes to the north for you, with no more hiding."

This stopped Celaeno despite herself. She slowly turned around. "Why me?"

"Capper sold your reputation very well," the pegasus said. "He said you were from Fleece, and that you knew the place like the back of your claw. He said that you had been to every corner and every city there, and that you were well-versed in their mythology."

"Did he, now?" Celaeno muttered, glancing angrily at the unconscious Abyssinian. She should have known better than to open up to that little scoundrel.

"He did!" The rainbow one said excitedly, flying up to Celaeno, wings flapping skillfully to keep her hovering at that height. "He said that you were the best pirate he had ever seen, and that you could get us there and back without a hitch!"

Celaeno wavered. It was a good deal. "So why should I take you there and not just hold you for ransom, princess?" she asked, hoping that her crew would take the hint and the ponies would be dissuaded. As intended, her crew laughed evilly, giving blood thirsty looks at the pegasi and peace-loving-alicorn.

They all blinked in confusion when the whole ship shuddered. It took Celaeno a moment to realize the whole thing was enveloped in a magenta magical aura. Just for effect the ship shook a little.

"Several reasons," the armored alicorn said, smiling widely and innocently, "one, you can't fly on your own. Two, I am being very generous with my offer. Three, as of right now, you need us more than we need you."

Despite the shuddering of the ship and her own nervousness, Celaeno slowly drew out her scimitar. "And how do you figure that last one?"

The alicorn smirked. "Remember how I pointed out you can't fly on your own? Well, since airship docks are on average forty five meters high to avoid collisions with smaller buildings or other non-flying vehicles, there's nothing between you and the rocky shore below, Daring, Tala, Rainbow Dash, and I have wings… and I can snap this ship like a twig if I really wanted to."

"By Celestia's mighty beard, Cap'n," somecreature behind her whispered in awe, "this wench is one cold-hearted b—"

"Go back to the kitchen, Spittle," Celaeno hissed. She cleared her throat and sighed. "Fine, let's go to my cabin and talk it over."

Daring had been in a fair number of pirate ships—most of the time as a forced "visitor"—and had developed an eye for the quality of sea (or air)-faring misfits based on the condition of their equipment, not limited to their weapons and clothes, but also their vehicles.

Unlike Rainbow Dash, who kept gasping at everything with almost childish excitement so far… Daring herself was quietly impressed.

Celaeno's ship was well-maintained, but carried within it the character that could only grow out of careful care, and professional upkeep. It felt lived-in, solid, and ready. The crew was rough, as was to be expected, all save Celaeno herself, who was very attractive as far as parrots went, her beauty not marred by her missing leg, but rather enhanced by the choice of gemstone she had it made from.

The ship had history within and without, from the markings and nicks of many battles, still carefully treated to stop the wood from further damage, to the state of the sails, ropes, engines and deck.

The interior was as organized and well-maintained as Sandokan's very own flagship. And that was saying something. Rough, they might look. Illiterate, most of them certainly were. But professionals? No doubt. To a single bird.

Celaeno opened the door to her cabin and stepped in, not waiting for them. Twilight marched in right behind her, Tala on her head, followed by Rainbow Dash. Daring stepped in and to the side, letting a large, muscular parrot who had been earlier identified as Boyle, step in with Capper slung over his shoulder.

The grunt dropped Capper like a sack of potatoes and, after a nod from Celaeno, stepped out of the cabin, closing the door behind them.

She watched her best friend's daughter calmly take a seat across from the wide, heavy, wooden table that was Celaeno's desk. She took a moment to appreciate the quality of the finish, along with the several carefully drawn maps, stacks of bits and gems, and most importantly... the very sharp and silvery blade resting in front of Celaeno, before returning her eyes to the other pony.

Twilight's stunt earlier was almost expected by now, but highlighted a big problem. Twilight was not only trigger-happy and brash, but also very powerful. It was easy to forget sometimes she was travelling with a pony that had been considered a prodigy even before she had achieved what very few ponies ever would and ascended into alicornhood.

Now wasn't the time, but she needed to talk to her about her gung-ho approach to things. Celaeno had been clearly trying to weasel herself out of that deal. Twilight's response was not proportionate to the situation, and if she didn't start realizing that now, it would become a problem later.

Leaving that for later, her eyes returned appreciatively to the short sword on the table. It was an ancient style of Fleecian sword, usually made of cheaper material. This one looked like a family heirloom, and her practiced eyes studied the curve, the design, the edges… it was ancient.

"Well, Capper had one thing right," she said, looking up to Celaeno's eyes. "You clearly have a long history with Fleece. That xiphos bears the mark o—"

"My past," Celaeno, who had followed her gaze to her sword, interrupted. "I do have a lot of history there, but it is also very personal history. If the Storm King wasn't making a mess of the skies and seas, I wouldn't have even considered doing this... and I am still not convinced, regardless of whether you can really break my ship in half or not."

"Fine," Twilight said, "if you don't want to share that, it's okay."

"But, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said, "don't you think—"

"Dash, we have a lot of things we can't tell Celaeno ourselves," Twilight said, placing a calming wingtip on her friends' shoulder. "Not everyone wants to share their life story, and this looks like a painful subject for Captain Celaeno."

Rainbow Dash winced, looking at the parrot with an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"It's alright, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, "just remember different people take things at their own time."

"Right."

Daring noticed Celaeno's eyebrow rise with the appellative, but the captain's face quickly went back to neutral.

"Having said that," Tala spoke up, "we should be honest regardless in that this trip is not without dangers."

"Oh?" Celaeno asked, eyes narrowing. "What type of danger?"

"We have an enemy after us," Daring said, "and they've teamed up with one of the Storm King's ponies."

Celaeno stood up. "There's only one pony that works for the Storm King, and that's Tempest Shadow! That pony is ruthless! She won't give up! If I take you, I have no doubt that she'll—"

"Face the consequences of betraying her country." Twilight's icy voice cut through Celaeno's rant, making her stammer before blinking at the alicorn. "I don't have patience for traitors."

"Right," Celaeno said carefully.

"Look, Captain," Twilight said, "we have bits, I do have the authority to grant your pardon and passage, and as long as we get what we need, I don't mind if you and your crew get your claws on some treasure."

Daring opened her mouth, but slowly closed it, frowning. Twilight had already spilled some of the beans on that, there was little she could do now. Daring knew little about Twilight from before, but the nervous, friendly, eager-to-please, detailed-to-a-fault mare that Velvet had mentioned in the letters had yet to find balance with who she had to become in the other world. Right now, all she could really do was find the time to talk to Twilight and, with Rainbow's help, help her find that balance.

Celaeno sighed. "I'm going to need a better reason for this. Your deal is amazing. I know you have the bits… but this is not a place I am eager to return, regardless of the Storm King's involvement."

Twilight bit her lip. "It's for my friends. They're dying, we need a cure, and what we're looking for is the only thing that might help them."

From the corner of her eye Daring saw Capper's ear twitch. It was clear that the thief was listening in, but perhaps this was for the best. Twilight's honesty had been one of the reasons she had initially agreed to help her, after all. She smiled a little. There would always be a big core part of Twilight that never changed.

Celaeno's surprised reaction at the answer slowly faded, as she looked at the map of ancient fleece she had framed on one of her cabin's walls. She looked at the four, as if slowly things were clicking together. She pointed at Twilight. "You want to go to Ancient Fleece to find a way to cure something that normal magic cannot cure…" she turned to Daring. "You're the real deal… you're Daring Do."

"I am," Daring said. "I pretended not to see the books in your shelf."

Rainbow Dash was immediately over there.

"You have a team… you go to Fleece… you brought a thief… and you needed someone who knew…" she gasped, both claws slamming on her large desk. "The Algae Photis?!"

"Congratulations, Capper," Tala spoke up, making the Abyssinian jump onto all four paws, eyes wide and terrified, looking up at her. "You found us the right pirate."

"But…" Celaeno sat down on her seat, "but that's… it's not real!"

Daring smirked and nodded at the sword on the desk. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

Celaeno looked down at it too, then at the map. She stood up slowly, walking over there, her claws carefully tracing dusty old tomes as she passed until she stood in front of the map. "It's… older than my legacy."

She caressed the map. "It's… it's a myth. It's in a lost city… it's—" she turned around, facing them. "It's to be found when most needed…"

Daring's smile grew, while Twilight nodded solemnly.

Celaeno turned to the map. "I'm going back home?" she whispered. "I'm going to find the the most ancient legend…" she chuckled. "I guess I really am going back to Fleece."

Daring, Twilight and Dash all three walked up to Celaeno, pulling her into a tight hug, which she returned. The trio remained there as Celaeno gathered her wits, clearly surprised but enjoying their support.

"Ahem."

The three ponies and the parrot looked over to Capper, who was grinning uncertainly. "So… we're all good then?"

He froze, fur on end, when Tala landed on his shoulder. "Not even close."

End Chapter 6

Chapter 7: Life Choices

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 7: Life Choices

Capper sighed, walking across the deck to the stern and resting on the rail as he watched with passing interest Daring's crew help load Caleano's ship with Twilight's equipment. He had spent the whole day on this so far, and he yearned to just go back to his little hole-in-the-wall and work on some other projects he had plans for.

Caleano wasn't going to help him out for the foreseeable future, so he'd had to find another crew. Preferably ones that weren't too noisy, as they'd need to be very quiet. Still, that wouldn't happen unless he was allowed to leave, and that pesky breezie was making that impossible until she decided he had paid his debt. "So, how long am I going to have to do favors to these ponies still?" he muttered, leaning over to look down at Kludgetown.

"It depends: how much do you value your life?" Tala asked, landing on his shoulder.

"Gah!" Capper turned to glare at Tala, who smugly floated over to land on his shoulder. Capper went still, keeping an eye on her gauntlet, behaving carefully, as if he had suddenly had a giant wasp the size of his head land on him. "Are you going to zap me again?"

"I am merely curious, how much do you think your life is worth? A hint in the right direction? An eye-for-an-eye? Nothing more than a thank you?"

"Well, to me it's worth a lot," he replied, crossing his arms and looking away. "Doesn't mean you get to hold me against my will."

"Perhaps."

"What is it for you anyway?" he asked, "it's not like I'm really that much of a bonus. Daring Do has taken care of more than one trap if any single book of hers is true."

Tala didn't answer immediately, sitting down and staring at the crew for a minute before speaking. "Back home my kind doesn't have much of a history," she said, making his ears twitch with interest, "so we borrow from that of others to build our own identity as a people. One of the things we borrowed and amalgamated is the concept of honor and responsibility."

"Oh, great," Capper snorted playfully, "I didn't know you were a knight." He suffered through Tala smacking his ear with a grin.

Tala shook her head and continued, "One of the cultures we took some lessons from had warriors in their past who believed that if you saved someone's life, you were responsible for it in some way."

He blinked at that, then frowned. "What do you mean?"

Tala shrugged. "Simple: the person you saved could be a farmer and feed a town. They could be or become a doctor and heal many people. Or a great leader who would improve lives far and wide… or... they could be a murderer. Or a thief. The first few sound great, but the last? That means that all the lives lost, all the crimes committed, inevitably would fall on your shoulders."

"Why would you choose to believe and practice something like that?!" Capper countered. "You can't be responsible for what someone does with their life!"

"Because we are few, and our brothers and sisters are slaves with little control of their actions and less understanding of their own individuality. My own life was saved by Betos… she allowed me to live, trained me and gave me a home. She showed me the potential I had and that I was free to choose my own destiny. What I become now, will be a result of her choosing not to kill me. I saved you, and chose to put myself in a position where your future can be great or… well."

"You don't have to worry about old Capper," he said with an uncertain smile, a fleeting moment of remembrance reminding him of how terrified for his life he had been in the alley. "I'll be alright. Won't harm a fly."

"How many more criminals do you owe bits to?"

"Uh…"

"How many more scams can you pull before you end up back in an alley?"

"Look, I—"

"Why do you insist on living in mediocrity, when you have more in you?"

Capper's eyes were wide. "I-what?"

"You have much more in you," Tala repeated. "You're like me. Or Twilight. Or Alejandra. We all have a lot to learn and balance out… but I know a few things…" She trailed off and pointed at Twilight, who was at that time talking with Caleano, "If Twilight doesn't find her balance, she'll lose what makes her great. She'll lose a lot besides that. Family. Friends. Happiness."

She turned pointing towards the city. "If Alejandra doesn't admit that she needs to change to achieve what she wants, she won't make it. She'll fail and put others at risk. She's fighting back becoming better at what she does because she can't decide what and who she wants to be."

Her hoof went to her chest. "If I don't take my experiences here to heart, I won't have anything to teach my people and save them." She then poked his cheek softly with her hoof. "The question now is, do you want to achieve something other than living like you have lived day-to-day until you found yourself tied up and about to be skewered? Or do you want to see if the grass is really greener?"

Capper said nothing as Tala's wings buzzed, making his ear twitch. She lifted into the air, flying to hover in front of his face.

"You're free to go, if you want, Capper," she said, "I kept you here because I wanted you to see what we were doing and where we were going… that there's creatures out there with their eyesights on becoming better and helping others and you could join them." She shrugged. "I have no doubt you won't intentionally hurt or kill anyone, but down there, in Kludgetown, that is your past. It's up to you if you want to stay there or aim for a new future."

Alejandra dropped into the dirt, jumped forth over the spinning, padded beam, dodged right, dodged left, tried to fly—and was smashed onto the floor with a loud "Oof!" by another padded beam coming straight down in the middle of her back.

"Again!"

Standing to the side, two griffons stood, watching impassively as Alejandra gathered herself up, wincing and muttering, and made her way back to the beginning of the track.

"This new apprentice of yours," Gaius said, "she fights like she was born last month."

Galahad glanced over at his old friend. The scarred assassin had a long history with the order, and indeed outranked him. At a glance, the griffon next to him was the type that would walk straight into a bar fight and stay in it until everycreature was knocked unconscious (or worse).

But oddly enough, it had been Gaius who had changed the old ways when he had challenged the previous head of the order, and helped them all become something greater.

"You visiting your daughter in Ponyville?" Galahad asked lightly.

Gaius mock-glared at his friend. "Don't change the subject." He coughed into his claw. "But yes. I want to see my granddaughters if possible."

Galahad chuckled. "You might have to go to Canterlot for that one," he said, but turned to look at Alejandra as she gave the training course another try. "Alejandra was trained to fight with long-range weapons. Other than some very basic training—which focused on endurance and cardio—she was never supposed to find herself in close quarters."

"Ridiculous, even if she were firing arrows with an enchanted bow, enemies might reach her position and overwhelm her!"

Galahad shrugged. "Hence why she's here with me while the others are securing transportation."

"Give her to me for a month and a half, and I will have an engine of mortal combat in griffon shape for you."

"I'm afraid I can't," Galahad said, "she's a loaner of sorts, and she's been assigned to assist Princess Twilight by… a lot of important creatures."

Gaius considered the other griffon's words. "Are you sure you don't need any more help?"

Galahad shook his head. "I will visit our Fleece brothers and sisters if necessary, but her training falls on me."

"What happened to your other apprentice? The pony?"

Galahad grimaced. "Sunset… was more of a student of war who I mentored…. she was not really suited for this and I never intended her to join our order. She's doing… not well right now, but she's gone far. We're trying to help her."

"I see."

The pair turned to look critically at Alejandra as she tried one more time to cross the field.

"I hope you succeed, Galahad," Gaius said.

"Me too." Galahad tilted his head. "Oh. And you might want to have a talk with your eldest granddaughter about war."

Mt. Aris stood proud and full of life in the middle of the island, rising high above the waves, it's several peaks impressive even at a distance, and in the valley at the top, the lights of Hippogriffia shone golden and welcoming to all… except those that, like Tempest Shadow, worked for the Storm King.

She stood on the bridge, peeking from within the clouds at the city, face impassive, mind running a thousand miles an hour. Despite the orders from the Storm King, her mind was not on her current mission—not that she could do anything about it at this time—but rather on her battle.

Again and again she ran the ambush in her mind, trying to figure out when exactly and how, things had gone sideways. The trap had been perfect. Her knowledge of the lackluster effectiveness of ponies to predict and prepare for danger was her greatest tool against Equestria, and she had operated under the assumption that this group would be equally useless.

She had waited, sprung her trap and… they had been waiting. At some point, somecreature had noticed them, and rather than send everycreature in the ship into a panic, they had remained calm and pretended things were normal. The tactics to counter an anticipated ambush were not that complicated, but usually outside the reach of an average pony. The Princess of Friendship was notoriously naive and should have been an easy victim.

What was different this time? Who could have been behind countering her ambush?

Was it the ponies she had surrounded herself with? Daring Do was a famous explorer, mentioned occasionally when obtaining magical items came up on the table. Maybe she had organized things? Or perhaps the griffons? Those birds hadn't acted like the usual brawlers, they could have been mercenaries or even assassins. They had more than enough skill to anticipate her attack, if she was spotted.

But that didn't explain why neither the princess or the pegasus had been able to fight as they had. Where were the cowering ponies she knew? Since when did the princesses actually take the lead in a battle?

And why had she been unable to predict all of this? She needed more information, but her contacts in Equestria were few and far in-between. She could potentially infiltrate them herself, but the Storm King would never allow that, and she needed her horn fixed to at least appear normal.

The thought of her horn made her shake her head and concentrate on the task at hoof. In the end, the princess was a secondary thought. Or she should be. She sneered, looking down at the city. Tempest's first objective was to be made whole again, and Queen Novo possessed a magical item strong enough to do it.

"Soon, I will be complete," she whispered venomously, slowly walking forward to the edge of the bridge, where the window started. "And once I am, nopony, no creature will look down on me again."

The door to the bridge opened and Grubber ran in. "Boss! The Ahuitzothing is coming back!"

Tempest blinked and turned her head, scanning the air around the ship and finally spotting the small flying raft that was making its way to them.

"I can't believe that guy did it!" Grubber said, whistling. "I thought he'd be dead for sure!"

"Or imprisoned," Tempest said, smiling coldly. "Come, let's meet him."

Tempest and Grubber waited impatiently for the raft to be lifted within their ship. Several mooks behind them shuffled nervously, but stayed put, as ordered. Eventually, the raft was secured and the side opened, allowing a grinning Ahuitzotl to emerge from within.

Held between his claws, was a tied and bundled-up shape that wiggled and strained, trying to break free of its binds. Whimpering, scared sounds came from within and Tempest couldn't help but feel a slight amount of vindication. 'Good. Be afraid. Be terrified, just like I was.'

"As promised," Ahuitzotl said, dropping the bundle on the floor.

Tempest nodded to one of the mooks, and they quickly picked the bundle up, taking their prisoner deep into the belly of their ship. "Did anycreature see you?"

Ahuitzotl rolled his eyes. "You're not dealing with an amateur, Tempest. I've sneaked into the most protected places all over the world without being seen. This was not a problem."

Tempest nodded. "And the note?"

"Left where you wanted it," the tomb-thief said. "Now that this is done…"

"Patience," Tempest hissed, "The Storm King's mission comes first. I won't back on my promise, however. As soon as this is done, we'll go hunt down Daring Do again if necessary, but my spies inform me she's coming here anyway."

Ahuitzotl's eyes narrowed, but eventually, he simply nodded. "A good foalnapping can get a lot of things done, if done right."

Tempest's eyes narrowed. "She is a prisoner of war, not the by-product of a cartoonish villain's attempt to destroy a hero."

"Don't see the difference," Ahuitzotl said.

Tempest chose to ignore the remark and Grubber's nod. "It doesn't matter. We now have a bargaining chip to play against all of our enemies. It will be good to see them taken down a notch or two before we eliminate them."

Ahuitzotl grinned again, serrated teeth splitting his face. "And then my revenge will be complete."

Tempest Shadow rolled her eyes, but a smile played on her lips as she turned to look down at the city. "It's your move now, Sky Beak," she whispered. "I wonder, what will you do?"

End Chapter 7

Chapter 8: Buildup

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 8: Buildup

She had actually hoped to have an uneventful day for once before setting sail the next day. Big surprise: it wasn't peaceful—their new companions had plenty of equipment to bring, and added to that, they and her crew had to purchase, transport and load supplies for a long, long trip. It was a good thing Princess Twilight had brought some bits to spare.

Celaeno sighed, walking away from the others and up the stairs to the quarter deck, until she stood behind the wheel of The Arpia, watching the sunset and surveying her crew and guests from her vantage point. The plan was to set sail that night, in order to reduce chances of being caught by any of the Storm King's patrol ships.

She silently wished that she could have taken the day off and just lay in her hammock drinking a cocktail and reading the latest Daring Do, which she still hadn't finished—just be away from everycreature so she could have some peace and quiet to contemplate where life was taking her.

She had argued with Mullet, Spittle, Daring, and Twilight about how much to buy, how long it would last, whether the diet would be healthy for all species—including Capper—and whether it was best to buy it all now, or wait until they reached Mount Aris.

Of course the decision came to her, and given the need for speed, she'd decided to bring enough for most of the trip. They could recalculate once in Mt. Aris if needed, and it wasn't like there weren't any trading routes along the way where they could stop to restock.

Still, after settling that small dispute, she had left things in Mullet's capable claws for now and headed up to take a moment to herself. Too much had happened too quickly, and not in a good way. She could handle action and piracy-related surprise after surprise, but it wasn't just an unexpected twist of fate that could be solved by flying away.

Sure, the ponies had been fairly supportive when she had let herself get emotional… but it was not something she had intentionally wanted to reveal to them. There was much she had left behind in Fleece, and she hadn't left it with any intention to return, or even regret… but a certain nostalgia had always delved deep within her heart when she thought about her home.

It was about all that she had hidden in her past. The legacy she had to live up to there… and the choices she had made to be free. It hadn't been easy, breaking tradition, lore, and hearts. Family was a big thing in Fleece. Blood wasn't something you left behind, and legends spoke ill of those who tried, as they would inevitably be drawn back. She remembered scoffing at that, and now she was sailing back there, bringing everything that made her be who she was with her.

Leaving in order to be yourself. To search fortune and fame and… life away from what's comfortable and familiar. Few creatures ever did that. Few set paw, claw, or hoof outside of their domains, much less their countries. Much less their continents. And even less with the intention of staying away.

The Arpia had been her stalwart companion since leaving home with her chosen family: her crew. She knew every inch of the ship; every plank, every scratch, every nook… this had been her home for a decade of pirating and adventuring.

She named her ship so that anycreature who knew her well enough would know that it was her home—much more so than any single sedentary spot could ever be. She and The Arpia had survived when the odds were against them, air battles, escaped the Storm King's ships once or twice, and even smuggled politicians from Abyssinia past war-time inspections across disputed lands and into Mt. Aris and back in an uncomfortable—if silent—admission of which side of the war she was on, even if she wasn't activelly fighting… but in all that time, she had never set sail back to Fleece.

She dreaded to see what her family would make of the name of her ship, if they didn't know already. She was kind of infamous, after all, and pirate infamy usually sailed side-by-side with the names of notable crew and ships.

Celaeno leaned on the wheel, beak twisting into a grumpy pout. She turned her head to look down at Klugetown, which was starting to get ready for the night. Here and there lamps were already turned on, and the crowds in the street were thinning. Soon, only the guard, criminals and… those of dubious professions not criminal in nature (including those who requested such services) would remain in the streets. Klugetown was nothing like the cities of her past, however. It was clunky and dirty and… how had that Abyssinian noble put it? Ah. Picturesque.

Her home… she frowned. Her birthplace was clean. The houses small, building up the side of the mountain, mostly painted white, with maybe some blue lines of decoration. The people didn't try to mug each other. The marketplace was a place of happiness and friendly rivalry, not an invitation to fight. Not that she minded though… she really enjoyed punching creatures in the face, after all.

She hadn't really been running away from her past as much as just… wanting to do her own thing. And yet, doing her own thing meant leaving family, friends and home in exchange for the wide world. And now, life was taking her back to her old haunting grounds and she just couldn't figure out how to deal with that.

She had more than enough loyalty and she knew where her choice would always lay. So why was she dreading going back so much? She groaned, rubbing her temples. "This is why I hate thinking about that place!" Just as her thoughts threatened to go back into memory lane, she noticed something from the corner of her eye.

Celaeno sighed and turned around, facing the pegasus who had landed behind her. "Can I help you?"

Rainbow Dash grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't realize you were like, concentrating and stuff, I can come back later."

Celaeno shrugged, the feeling of the headache still threatening the edge of her mind. "Too much thinking can sometimes be a bad thing," she said, shaking her head.

The pegasus grinned. "That's what I keep telling Twilight!" now, feeling obviously more comfortable, the mare trotted up next to her and rested her hooves on the rail, looking down to the deck. "So, this is what you look at while you're flying your ship?" she asked with soft-spoken awe, "this is… it's amazing! I can't even imagine how cool it must be to captain a ship like this, much less a pirate ship! How cool is that?!"

"Best job in the world," Celaeno said with a grin, unable to keep the pride out of her voice. Rainbow's excitement was definitely contagious, and it brought back the actual feelings that drew her to doing this kind of… well, work wasn't exactly what you'd call piracy. She cleared her throat. "We occasionally do privateering as well, but it's not often we get to go on adventures with crazy ponies, princesses and literary characters."

"Oh, we're the craziest of all," Rainbow Dash said, glancing down. "Daring Do, pirates, ancient cities, aliens, crazy enemies… yeah, this will be awesome."

'Aliens?' Caleano leaned down. "That's adventure for you."

"Hay yeah!" Rainbow Dash said, eyes gleaming.

"So, why don't you tell me a little about you girls?" Caleano asked, "there's more to all of you, and if we're working together, we might as well share some stories, right?"

"Ahoy there, matey, where d'ye think you're headed?"

Daring blinked, turning to look at… what was his name? Brutus. He had stopped Galahad, who currently had a knocked-out Alejandra laying across his back.

"Hey Brutus, it's alright, they're part of my team."

The large, muscular pirate glanced at Daring, but then nodded, stepping out of the way and allowing the griffons through.

"I see you put her through the grinder…" Daring walked around them, wincing at the state Alejandra was in. "Are you sure that's okay?"

"She's just exhausted," he answered, following her after she motioned with her wing to do so. "She worked herself to the point of passing out, but she really improved in the short time we had." His voice, although gruff, still had a gentleness to it. "She's something else alright. I think she could fight most griffons on the ground or air as well as most experienced fighters." He chuckled. "I wonder if all her friends back home have this sort of dedication."

"Oh, come on," Daring shook her head. "You can't be that naive, Galahad." She gave him a knowing look, smacking his beak with her tail. "We've been around young creatures before. She's infatuated to the point of endangering herself."

Galahad's beak twitched and he shook his head. "What better way to make sure they're both fine than making sure she's ready for this world?"

Daring sighed. "I keep forgetting that."

"You are also underestimating both of them, I think," Galahad said as they went deeper into The Arpia. "Alejandra's devotion to Twilight is not simply kitten love. Especially now that Alejandra met Gabby. There's a lot more to her, even if I'm taking most of her time right now and turning it into inner focus and training."

Daring grimaced. "Probably for the best." She glanced at the slightly snoring griffon on his back. "I don't think Twilight knows what to do either," she whispered.

"Of course not. It's not something she anticipated, and she justifies it by rationalizing Alejandra's resolve as caused by them being the only survivors of her mission, but while that might have strengthened their bond, it is not the cause of Alejandra's love for her."

They walked in silence after that, passing a few crew members who gave them curious looks, but did not interrupt them, until they reached a room.

"Celaeno said they'd had guests before and this is where they stayed," Daring said, opening the door and motioning them inside.

"Lovely decor," Galahad observed. "I particularly like the manacles and chains."

"I guess pirates have different ideas as to what constitutes as "guests"," Daring drawled. She nodded with her head at a nearby empty bed. "But the place is clean, and they removed the bars."

"Right," Galahad said, slowly and carefully lowering Alejandra onto one of the mattresses. "Well, it'll serve its purpose."

Galahad covered Alejandra with a light blanket and sighed. "To be young again."

"Don't say it like you're that old," Daring chuckled, patting him on the back with her wing. "You'll make me feel old too. Plus, you know as well as I do that Griffons and Ponies do match up sometimes."

Galahad smiled and shook his head, walking her to the door. "Yes. I've heard that too."

The sharp, jagged rocks of the eastern shores of Mt. Aris cast slowly elongating shadows on the dark gray sand, looking—in concert with the deep red of the sunset—like claw marks leaving behind bloody trails.

A lone, light blue hippogriff paced on the sand, clearly upset. He kept glancing around, nervously studying the sky, the rocks, the area where he had flown from. He nearly jumped when a low, mocking laugh echoed in the area, and an equine figure strolled out of the shadows.

"Well, well, well," Tempest grinned, opal irises gleaming with malice focused on him. "What a surprise, you did come."

"Where's my daughter, you monster?!" he growled, but she merely scoffed at his threatening tone.

"Alive and well… for now." She smirked slowly walking around him. "And she will remain like that, as long as you do what I want you to do."

"You're a monster… stealing young chicks from their beds, like a nightmare."

Tempest smirked. "Oh, I am worse than nightmares," she said leaning in to speak into his ear. "I am all too real."

She sniffed his mane and twisted her head, nuzzling his neck slightly with a laugh. "Tell me, Sky Beak, what will you do for your dear Silverstream?"

"I—"

"I don't want you to hurt anycreature… or even want you to suffer," she said walking past him, her body still pressed against his. "No. I want information… and a favor."

Sky Beak shivered and gulped. "W-will you give me back my daughter?"

"But of course," Tempest said, once again circling him. "But you must do two things for me, as I said."

He closed his eyes, clenching his beak as a slight shudder ran down his back. "What do you want?"

"I want you to tell me where Novo's power comes from. Who guards it. Where it is hidden."

"I would neve—"

"And, I want you to make sure to… intercept some guests that are headed this way."

He swallowed. "Guests?"

She grinned. "Oh yes. They will come here tonight or tomorrow. I want you to detain them. I want them to be… a distraction for all. That way I can get Novo's power without… harming too many hippogriffs."

"A-and my daughter…"

She chuckled, flicking her tail across his beak as she turned to head back into the shadows. "Oh, she'll be fine. She'll be back with you in no time. Just you wait."

"But… how will I know…"

"You will find another note with instructions," Tempest said, already fading into the shadows once more. "Don't fail… and she will be back with you in one piece."

"W-what happens if I don't do what you say?" he asked into the darkness, but there was no reply.

End Chapter 8

Chapter 10: Negotiation Position

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 10: Negotiation Position

After Twilight, Alejandra, and Daring Do had gone into the city, it hadn't taken long for the others to return to the bowels of The Arpia, although that did not mean all of them were patiently awaiting news.

"I don't like this," Rainbow Dash said, pacing back and forth in Celaeno's cabin. "That idiot army guy didn't even think about things! How come we get arrested when we weren't even here?"

"Well, technically not arrested, but certainly detained," Celaeno said, pulling out a map and looking over it. "There's a difference since one goes into your permanent record. Nothing to do about it but wait for now," she added. "The Princess will let us know how things go."

"How?" Rainbow Dash asked, "I mean, she won't be able to come all the way here if she gets in trouble!"

"I know you are more used to action, Rainbow Dash, but you need to think about this calmly," Galahad said from the corner where he had sat down at. "Assuming Twilight is forcibly arrested, which seems equally unwise as it is unlikely, we should hear about it soon enough."

"It's just… I hate feeling useless."

Celaeno smiled and stood up, putting a comforting claw on Rainbow Dash's shoulder. "I understand. If any of my crew were being held by the authorities, I'd be completely crazy about this… but remember who we're talking about here. This is the Princess of Battle and Daring Do."

"Friendship," Rainbow Dash corrected gently. "Yeah. I know they'll be fine, but staying here doing nothing just makes me want to do more."

Galahad chuckled. "Relax, duckie. Why don't you take a break? You need to clear your head to be ready to act as soon as we hear back."

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to argue, but shook her head. "Fine. I'll try, but if I can't fall asleep, I might just head out on my own."

She walked out of the cabin and down to the room they'd been given, closing the door behind her. She took a deep breath and stretched her wings, holding them tight before releasing them so that the muscles would relax.

Just as she lay down on her mattress, a small vibration and glow from her saddlebags drew her attention. With a groan, she pushed herself up and walked over to slide out the diary with her cutie mark on it. Taking a deep breath, she opened it and started reading.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

The girls and I have discussed how to use the diaries Celestia gave us and decided to each respect our privacy. As such, you will notice that none of us will be answering questions not asked directly… and we won't be sharing our diaries with one another, unless we want to do so for a specific reason. Celestia knows that Pinkie is more than ready to shove her own diary entries down our necks at the slightest provocation, but I have the sense that we all have little secrets to share; small pieces of advice and personal history that we don't want the others to be privy to quite yet.

I don't know if the others have written you, but I took it upon myself to reach out now.

How are you doing so far, darling?

My grandfather recently came to Canterlot with news that he had met Galahad and Alejandra in Klugetown. It seems the dear is taking her role as bodyguard over there as seriously as she did here in Canterlot, and trust me, after the training she did, and the training she'll do in the future with other friends of theirs, she will be a force to be reckoned with.

Why, my heart swoons just at the thought of that daring griffon finally confessing her true feelings to Twilight! Tell me, has she done so yet?

I'm sorry, as you well know I am very… intrigued... by these types of situations between love-struck ponies. Or griffons. Or humans-turned-griffons with alicorns-turned-humans-turned-alicorns, as the case may be.

Back on topic, I shared the gist of the news I heard from Grandfather with the others, omitting some of the dark parts so far.

We are all glad you arrived safely, and that you are continuing to distant lands with a trusty crew. As you can imagine, we all would love to be there. Oh, how I wish I could witness the adventures you're embarking on! The distant vistas, flying above the untamed wilderness, visiting Fleece and Mount Aris! Even if the situation is not great with the Storm King, what an adventure it must be!

~~Had I taken my grandfather's invitation so long ago, I suppose I'd be used to—~~

I should mention that I'm well aware of what's happening south of the border, although everypony else seems… okay with not knowing the details. As much as I want to pretend everything is fine, it's ultimately unavoidable, I suppose, when I am related to who I am, and I do what I do… merchants are well informed, afterall. The others… you'll have to forgive: they are a product of Ponyville's educational system.

In a way, I think I understand now why Twilight never went into details of her own when writing to us. It puts things into perspective when you know certain ugly truths that you wish to hide from your friends for nothing else than their own piece of mind.

I had to confer with that brute, Gilda, and the ever lovely Gabby about this as well to convince them to not share these distasteful news about threats from the south with the others. Do be careful, Rainbow Dash, what I hear from Klugetown alone is not encouraging, and as you go further into distant territories, you are bound to face many more enemies than the Storm King alone.

I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so pessimistic. Tell me, how is dear Twilight doing? Has she… recovered a little? I wish I could offer advice, but right now she needs to find herself, I understand. I'm just glad she's got you and Daring Do to bring back the Twilight of old.

The others are ~~lovely~~ ~~charming~~ ~~nice~~ interesting creatures to be sure, but their culture is very different than our own, and their values are also very different.

My, this letter took a downturn very quickly, I suppose… darling, I'm just worried for you both, but I place all my trust in all of you. Please be careful. Please come back. We'll be waiting for all of you.

Love,
~Rarity

Rainbow Dash blinked at the information. She didn't recall seeing any ponies besides Daring and Twilight in Klugetown, but she had lost track of Alejandra and Galahad at some point, so she figured it was entirely possible to miss some old pony that might've been Rarity's grandfather.

She shrugged and sat down to think of what to write back.

It had been years since Daring Do had stepped into Hippogriffia. The city had always been beautiful, and, despite the war, still kept that solid sense of strength that she had felt the first time she had laid eyes on it.

Few homes had been added, with the population never really exploding to the extent of having to expand beyond the caldera of the dormant volcano. The city was about a thousand years old, and yet it felt older in a good way—the culture and love of the hippogriffs permeated every inch of the city and spoke of generations having lived there, each hippogriff contributing to making the city more their own.

Here and there, young hippogriffs played or walked with their parents, chatting amiably, only stopping to stare at her, Twilight, and Alejandra as they were escorted past the market area (which was the outermost part of the caldera for ease of access for airships or merchants bringing up their wares from the bay) and into the living quarters, where the hippogriffs had lovingly carved their homes out of the sheer volcanic rock.

"What is that?" Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at colorful little squares of cloth, decorated with twirls and other drawings, and all of them, inevitably with a feather. They were all over the place, decorating windows and doors.

"Those are Birdkalis," the captain of the guards responded. "Little hippogriffs make them to protect our homes from the evil stare of the Storm King, but they have been part of our culture for centuries. The common belief is that those that wish you ill can do so with witchcraft, but only if they can see you in their magical dwemers. Birdkalis are meant to cover the witch's view with cloth and feathers."

"That is beautiful," Alejandra said, next to Twilight, "reminds me a little of my home country's traditions against the evil eyes."

The captain laughed. "Then you know what I'm talking about, young griffon."

The captain—while initially wary of Twilight's enthusiasm—had slowly succumbed to her adorkableness and slowly warmed up his responses to include more details, his newfound empathy even extending to Alejandra as well, as the latter seemed somewhat nostalgic whenever she saw one thing or another that reminded her of her home.

Daring Do considered this as they slowly came into view of the palace. Looking at her companions she realized that the city had awakened Twilight's inner nerd. This was the filly that Velvet had told her about so many years ago. Wide eyed, excitement all but exploding from here as she took in the sights, studied the decorations, listened to the sounds and music, looked at the architecture.

It was slowly starting to dawn on her that this trip was not only going to save this mysterious and loyalty-inspiring blood witch named Sunset Shimmer and her otherworldly friends. This adventure—these moments and future discoveries… they were going to save Twilight from herself.

While the soldier persona was certainly… intense, it shouldn't cost Twilight her friends, or her future happiness. It shouldn't take away her ability to be surprised or engaged with her passions. Whatever that other world was going through was certainly horrible, and Equestria had its own share of problems, but now that she was home, they needed the Princess of Friendship.

Her thoughts drifted away as they reached the palace, however. She could tell that the war was really taking its toll here. It wasn't just the added security, that was to be expected, it was the tired, almost haggard look of some of the guards. It was the intense look of distrust when they turned their way, and the way that they shifted, as if ready to pounce.

Even though she was coming back to visit an old friend… Daring Do felt like she was an enemy. Even the captain had quieted down and both Twilight and Alejandra had been quick to notice the change in atmosphere. Whoever the noble was that had accused them of foalnapping, they were influential enough to have the whole guard on edge.

She just hoped for their sake they could keep their heads cool. As bad as the Storm King was, his troops, just like the hippogriffs and many of the races that populated this world, it was unlikely they would intentionally attempt to kill their opponents. Twilight might hold back, but Alejandra certainly wouldn't, and a lot hinged upon maintaining a working relationship with the queen.

They were lead up a set of stone stairs to the entrance to the court, and the captain stopped them there, stepping before them so he was facing straight at where the two large, wooden doors met. "Announcing Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria and her entourage!"

The walls rumbled as the doors slowly swung open. Unlike the last time she was here, the looks from the hippogriffs in the room were not curious. They were downright hostile, and worst of all, Queen Novo was scowling at them.

"When I invited you back, Daring Do," the Queen spoke, "I never thought you would be part of a conspiracy to bring us under Equestrian dominion."

Daring opened her mouth to speak, but Twilight took a step forward. "That is a bold accusation, your majesty," she said, seemingly not intimidated by the group of guards that stepped forth the moment she did. "I came here, in peace, seeking advice and assistance so I could continue my journey. And what do I find? Accusations of kidnapping despite the fact that we were in Klugetown this morning. Threats of being arrested. Is this how you welcome all of your visitors?"

Queen Novo rolled her eyes. "We have a witness that saw a winged, horned pony stealing Silverstream in the night. Given the limited number of alicorns in the world, it doesn't take much brainpower to figure out who was involved."

Twilight snorted. "I highly doubt brainpower was used at all. I would have my accuser stand forth and face me here."

"You will be arrested and tried, your accuser will make his appearance then." Queen Novo leaned forth. "Don't argue with me on this, Princess, or you will force my claw."

Daring Do looked at Alejandra with wild eyes. Things were not going well.

"Do you really think you have the means to hold not only a Princess, but the chosen Element of Magic against her will in your castle?" Twilight asked demurely.

Novo growled. "We have stopped the likes of the Storm King from reaching us. We can keep you contained."

"The Storm King is out there," Twilight retorted, flapping a wing in the general direction of the West. "I'm right here."

The nobles in the room didn't look so sure anymore.

"Y-your majesty!" Daring Do spoke up, taking advantage of the thick silence. "Please, I assure you this is a misunderstanding. Princess Twilight speaks the truth, we were in Klugetown this morning. A flier could check the records for the Arpia at the docks there to confirm this. I'm your friend… a friend of your people, I would never betray that trust like this!"

Novo glanced at Daring and took a deep breath. "Daring Do, you are indeed a friend of my people, which is the only reason we've come this far… we owe you a debt of gratitude, after all. But a member of the royal family was foalnapped by a pony. This cannot stand."

"It wasn't me." Twilight rolled back her shoulders.

Novo tapped her claws on the throne's armrest. "Leave us."

The nobles muttered, but left the Queen with her visitors and the guard, either flying out of the windows or marching past their visitors with distrustful looks. When they were gone and only a few chosen guards remained, Novo sank into her throne.

"You like complicating things, don't you, Princess Sparkle?"

Twilight smiled a bit, surprising Daring Do. "I supposed I could have just ran along with it, but I'm not Celestia."

"Indeed you're not." Novo huffed. "At least you got rid of the nobles. You understand that despite your bravado, we do need to reach an accord."

Twilight nodded.

"Well then," Novo said, raising her head and looking down at her guests. "Let's talk."

End Chapter 10

Author's Note

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Chapter 11: The Backup

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 11: The Backup

"You stand accused of foalnapping," Queen Novo said, looking down at her guests. "A most heinous charge under any circumstance, but made even worse by the identity of the victim: my niece, Silverstream."

"Your majesty, you understand that it is basically impossible for us to have done this?" Twilight asked.

"Nevertheless," Queen Novo replied, eyes narrowing, "my niece is missing and an alicorn was reported leaving the area. It is quite the coincidence that you would suddenly arrive the next day. When I last met with Princess Celestia and the terms of non-interference were drawn, she simply teleported all the way back to Canterlot after our discussion was over." She raised her head and looked down at the ponies and griffon. "Are you telling me you couldn't do the same from Klugetown?"

"To what end?" Twilight asked. "I came here for help and information, not to make new enemies. Can you tell me at least what the known circumstances were?"

Queen Novo sighed. "One night ago, Silverstream was abducted from her room. Your accuser saw an alicorn flying down to the beach at the north east end of the island, and followed them, until, upon landing with her prisoner, the alicorn teleported away. When the guard arrived, they found hoofmarks belonging to a pony."

"That is very circumstantial evidence," Twilight said, frowning.

"And yet, coming from one of my most loyal subjects, and family no less, I have no reason to doubt them."

"Your Majesty," Daring Do spoke up, "you know me, you can't believe that I'd allow something like that to happen."

Novo sighed. "I don't want to, Daring Do, but you are a pony, and your home is not Mount Aris."

Daring felt her anger rising. "Are you really accusing me of this?"

"The griff that accused you is also a member of the royal family," Novo reminded her, "and I don't know if you were directly involved, or simply just happen to be an unsuspecting ally to the princess."

Daring was about to speak again when Twilight lifted her hoof, giving her a look. It took her a moment to understand, but it was obvious that unless the accuser rescinded their claim, nothing was going to be achieved. Sometimes, she really hated the monarchy.

"I understand this is frustrating," Novo said, "and it puts on the line the word of one of my very own family members, but until we have our trial, I must ask you to remain in the palace as my guests."

"Twilight…" Alejandra growled.

"We will be happy to," Twilight said. "But we are not your prisoners."

Queen Novo gave Twilight a searching look before she nodded. "But of course. You are welcome to stay as guests in the palace, but until the issue is resolved, you are not allowed to leave."

Tala watched in silence from the shadows as Twilight and the others were escorted out of the room. She was about to fly after them, when another hippogriff stepped in.

"Why are they remaining free?" the hippogriff asked. "They should be in prison, answering for their crimes!"

Queen Novo did not look pleased. "Need I remind you, Sky Beak, that Princess Twilight Sparkle has the title of Princess right to go along with her name? She might be the newest alicorn, but she is royalty, and potentially starting an international incident with Equestria and the Crystal Empire, however remote, is not a great idea?" She snorted. "We are lucky indeed that Princess Twilight chose to take this with enough grace."

"She challenged you in front of the whole court!"

"Please. Anygriff with two brain cells knows that the charges against her wouldn't hold upon closer inspection. You gave me your word on what you saw, Sky Beak. I'm risking international relationships for family, at a time when we can ill afford to make more enemies. Princess Twilight is nothing like we had been led to believe, and she is accompanied by formidable allies."

"If you mean Daring Do—"

"I do mean Daring Do," Novo interrupted. "But not just her, even if she should be enough to give you pause. That mare is a friend to our people."

Sky Beak looked away.

"Did you not notice her body guard's garb? She was no normal griffon. Not with that armor. Not with that material. I don't even recognize it. Twilight came ready for battle, not with us, but ready for it nevertheless. It's by her understanding and grace that we don't have something worse in our claws."

"Is her power that great?" Sky Beak whispered, "that you would fear her at the risk of your niece?"

"Don't presume to tell me what I would or wouldn't risk for family, brother!" Novo snapped. "I am your Queen, first and foremost. My people, my whole people have to take precedence over my own family! Only a fool of a ruler allows their personal matters and interests to interfere with their only duty!"

"I'm sorry, my queen…"

"You are family, and I love you. And Silverstream is a ray of happiness in the life of anygriff fortunate enough to meet her. I love her dearly, brother, and I am worried for her. I'm doing what I can, but you have to help me," Novo said, her voice taking a pleading tone. "Please. You know it makes no sense for Twilight Sparkle to have done something like this. Daring Do would not be a willing participant in such an act. Captain Celaeno, for all her pirate ventures has always been a friend to our people in spirit and action. The griffons being part of her entourage can mean many things, and none good for us if we are not careful. Laying such accusations on the princess was a gamble, and I am just glad she chose to play along… Celestia wouldn't have. Luna might have. Brother, we can't risk—"

"It was a pony!" Sky Beak shouted, closing his eyes. "I'm not lying. It was a pony! The guard confirmed it. I just want my daughter back."

Novo took a deep breath. "Twilight and her companions will remain our guests in the palace for now. They are not prisoners, but will not be allowed outside the palace. I had prepared a banquet to receive them… We will continue the search, however." She bit her lip. "Sky Beak. Please consider what actions you want to take. I will take your word every time over that of a foreign dignitary, but this is very suspicious."

Sky Beak looked away. "I know. I'm sorry Novo but I would not say what I have without reason."

Queen Novo sighed. "If we must play this game, so be it. I will announce the princess as a guest, and the banquet will take place. Maybe then we can reveal who or what is behind all of this."

Sky Beak cringed, but nodded, leaving the queen alone in the room.

Tala was already flying from shadow to shadow, heading back to the Arpia.

Hey Rarity,

So, your grandpa saw us here? I didn't see any other ponies besides Twilight and Daring Do! Even the crew of Daring's boat was mostly creatures from down South, so what was he doing all the way here? Daring said that only merchants came all the way here from Equestria, is that what he was doing? Let me tell you, your grandpa is one tough pony if that's the case, Klugetown was, well, not nasty, but really not inviting. Like, at all.

The trip has been mostly awesome, though. We kicked flank on the way down the river, just like in a Daring Do adventure! I guess Ahuitzotl decided to follow us and tried to surprise us, but we caught on to their plan and turned the table around on them!

~~There is that whole thing with the Storm King, but we really haven't~~

Look, I know you know more than the others, and I'm sure that it sucks keeping stuff from them… so, I'll be honest. We met one of the Storm King's generals on the way here. Twilight outsmarted her, but Tala and Galahad don't think our luck is going to hold steady too long. I get the feeling that Twilight is winging this, and they know it. I know she's tough but… we all know she's not really up there with Sunset or even Shining Armor.

I want to help her, but she treats me like I'm about to do something stupid all the time! She left me behind when she went to meet the Queen of the ~~Hipo… Hip.~~ Sorry, I had to dig one of my Daring Do novels to write it. Hippogriffs. Anyway, she left me behind! Can you believe it? Me! Rainbow Dash!

That's like… the stuff they do to sidekicks! I'm not going to throw a tantrum but it's just. I don't even know what to say. I came here not just for adventure, but to keep an eye on her, you know? Get back that old Twilight in some way or another. I know she's not ever going to be the same, but she doesn't have to be… it's just, this personality doesn't fit her. There's something wrong with the way she's looking at things. I mean, she's not doing stupid stuff, but I dunno, I just get that feeling, you know?

Like she's faking it.

And it's really hard to say how. I wish I had a chance to talk more to Shining or Spitfire. I'm sure they'd probably help me understand what this feeling is? Hey, maybe you could ask them for me? It's like… okay, I already said that she's faking it. Just, think of it like this: She seems to know what she's doing, right? And when she talks about it, it makes sense, right? But it's all over the place. Sometimes she's ready to jump in. Sometimes she's cold. Sometimes she's like Celestia's little clone. I don't know. It's weird okay? It's just that whenever she talks, I hear somepony else in my head, if that makes sense? Like it's somepony else talking, not her.

Ugh. This is giving me a headache.

Anyway, I hear Celaeno calling me. Uh. Celaeno is like, this really cool Pirate Captain. She's like, the best pirate I've ever seen. Not that I have seen a lot, but she's like… almost as awesome as I am. Like, I could really just go pirating or adventuring with her and not care about stuff for a while, you know?

Anyway. I think I'm writing too much. ~~Give my love to the girls, just don't tell them I wrote.~~ Okay, that was stupid. Just. If they ask, let them know things are good so far, but don't worry them. Like you said, they don't really know what the world out here is like.

~RD

Rainbow Dash put down the quill and left the diary open, flapping her wings gently for a few seconds to dry the ink. When it didn't look that wet—she didn't want ink stains—she carefully closed it and put it inside her saddle bag. This diary was like her own adventure book, and she wasn't going to let anything happen to it.

"Rainbow Dash!"

"Alright, already!" She shouted back over her shoulder, trotting out the door and closing it behind her. "What's going on?!" She shouted as she made her way down the Arpia, her mind briefly wondering at how quickly she had become comfortable within the airship, before her attention was drawn to the open door to Celaeno's cabin, where Galahad and the others waited.

She immediately noticed Tala fluttering around the room only to land on Celaeno's desk. "Twilight's mission was successful, we know where to start," the breezie said.

Rainbow Dash blinked, her mind processing the information. "Mission? Wait what mission?"

Tala nodded. "By confronting Queen Novo, she has the court and the guard's attention on herself, Alejandra and Daring Do. We can now take action."

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in comprehension. "Oh… so she wanted us to stay here and… oooh." She chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. "Hehe. Now I feel silly."

"Captain Celaeno and her crew will remain on the ship or at the dock's bars for the most part, further taking attention away from us," Tala said, "we now know who accused Twilight, and where he supposedly saw us kidnapping Silverstream. Capper has offered to explore the city—"

The Abysinnian shrugged at Rainbow's curious look, but then smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

"...while we investigate the area where Sky Beak supposedly saw a pony and the guards confirmed the footprints." The breezie started pacing on top of the table. "It'll be her job now to investigate within the court and figure out if anything can be learned from them."

"It is fairly obvious that the pony general that works for the Storm King might be involved, given her alliance with Ahuitzotl," Galahad spoke up, "Tempest Shadow is probably behind the whole thing, but until we figure out where they took their prisoner, there's not much we can do."

"There's something else to this," Capper said, crossing his arms and frowning. "Why go through all of this just to stop Twilight? Tempest Shadow is not the type to give up a chance to blow us out of the sky, there has to be an ulterior motive." He looked around. "It's a classic thief tactic, create an obvious distraction to keep everycreature from noticing your true objective. But what could it be?"

Rainbow Dash smirked, feeling a lot better now that she understood why Twilight had left her behind. "If anyone can figure it out, it's it's our nerd princess. Let's do our part first… I can't believe this was all part of Twilight's plan."

Tala shrugged. "She did spend a lot of time with the Commander."

End Chapter 11

Chapter 12: Isolated

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 12: Isolated

Sky Beak paced around the room, not daring to face the scowling image in the crystal ball he had been given. He brushed back his feathers in desperation, trying to figure out how to explain… "They know I'm lying!"

The unicorn in the crystal sphere rolled her eyes and shook her head with contempt. "Sky Beak, you should know better than that. If they knew, you'd be questioned right now, wouldn't you?"

"Well, it doesn't help that it's my word against that of an Equestrian Princess!" he retorted, turning to look at his blackmailer. "She's nothing like you said she would be! She's not shy, introverted or bumbling! She's ready for murder!"

"Equestrian Princesses are full of hot air," Tempest replied, unconvinced. "Just keep confronting her and creating the distraction. Soon it will be all over."

"Tonight is the banquet," Sky Beak grimaced. "Novo will do the job of distracting Princess Twilight as well as anygriff, but that still doesn't mean that I can simply steal my sister's key. The pearl is our most powerful magical artifact! You don't understand how—"

"Difficult it is?" Tempest interrupted, her tone bored. "Oh, I can imagine, but that doesn't mean it's an excuse you can use. Do you think it would be easier for a common griff or a soldier? No. You are close enough to her that you have access to it. Do not mistake me for a fool, Sky Beak. Digging for time will not solve this. It's the key for your daughter, or you lose her forever."

Sky Beak was quiet for a few seconds. "Can I talk to my daughter?" he asked in a soft voice.

"No." Tempest held his desperate gaze with a completely dispassionate one of her own. "You are asking for a reward when all you can do is try and find excuses to not do what you need to?" She snorted. "Don't make me laugh. You see her when we get the pearl."

"But—" the communication cut and he was suddenly just talking to an empty glass ball. It took all of his self-control to not scream out in frustration and shatter the damned thing.

When the transmission cut, Tempest sighed. She walked over to the window and stared down at the clouds below and the rocks protruding around them. She had little respect for the Storm King's generals as a whole, outside of herself. But the fact that such weaklings were causing so much trouble… to the extent of keeping the brunt of the Storm King's forces at bay was inexcusable. This land should have been theirs—would have been theirs if the Storm King had deigned to leave her in charge instead of his simian minions.

Even Ahuitzotl would do a better job of conquering the hipogriffs and he barely understood the modern world!

As she was about to make her way up to the deck, her ears twitched. Tempest growled, turning around and stomping off to the metal doors that would lead to the room below. She made her way down the metal staircase until she stood right across from where a young hippogriff sat, sobbing inside a cage made of iron. "Stop that whimpering!" she ordered, making the child jump in surprise and hit her head.

The room where their captive was held was within the airship, and was right above the engines. It was uncomfortably warm, smoldering even, when the ship was moving, which it wasn't at this time; a small blessing for her current prisoner, even if the hippogriff was not aware of it herself.

Tempest grunted, glancing at the whimpering, sobbing figure that slowly pushed itself up to sit up, rubbing her head. Silversteam had been pathetically simple to steal from her home. Barely any effort had gone into breaking in and procuring her, according to Ahuitzotl.

And even though she painted a pathetic figure, it did not stir any compassion within Tempest. It just made her angry. "I said: quiet! Do you think I have time for a weak little hatchling?!"

Silverstream sniffled, looking at her with watery, red eyes. "I want to go home."

Tempest snorted. "You will, when your father does what he's supposed to do."

"Why are you doing this?" Silverstream asked, grasping the cage bars with her claws. "We haven't done anything to you!"

Tempest glared at her. "You didn't have to." She leaned in, horn-stub sputtering plasma. "I didn't do anything to the creature that did this to me either!" she snarled, before leaning back and looking down at Silverstream in contempt. "But it didn't care, and as it took away my horn, it also taught me a lesson." She smirked. "Do you want to know what it was?"

Silverstream gulped pushing away from the enraged unicorn as much as she could. "W-what?"

"That power makes right. That—if you're strong enough—it doesn't matter what others feel, or what you take from them, because they are not worthy of defending what they care for." Tempest leaned in. "Someday you might have to choose. And then you'll have to decide if you're weak, like your father… or strong." She grinned viciously. "Like the pony that put him in his place."

"My dad's a good hippogriff!" Silvestream said, raising her head. She was still terrified, however, trembling and hesitant to Tempest's eye.

"And where has that led him?" Tempest snorted. "He's pathetic. Breaking down the moment you were taken. Barely able to even do the mission I demanded of him for your release!" She smacked the cage with her hoof. "All he needs to do is provide me with the key to the room containing the Pearl and keep Princess Twilight Sparkle and her "friends" distracted. And he can't even do that!" She narrowed her eyes. "Not even for you. This is what I mean by "weak". He can't do anything about you being captured, and he can't do anything to rescue you. He is, in a word: pathetic."

"My dad is scared that you'd harm me," Silverstream hissed, her face twisting in anger. "He'll get here and find you and—"

"And what?" Tempest asked, leaning in suddenly with an eager grin and making the young female hippogriff yelp. "What do you think he will do? Do you think he has it in him to fight me? The Storm King's strongest general?"

"H-he'll show you! He's stronger than he looks!"

Tempest laughed. "He's a whimpering knave. Gutless and cowardly. I've been right in front of him and all he could do was grovel for mercy."

She turned around, smirking at the furious look in Silverstream's face. "I'll have to figure out how to put you to good use when he fails completely to deliver."

She laughed as she slowly made her way out of the room, her anger at the weakness of her prisoner somewhat abated as her smile faded. "I hate weaklings."

"So what can you tell me about Queen Novo?" Twilight asked, glancing at Daring Do with some annoyance. "All of this could have been handled differently if you had actually shared with me who we were meeting."

Daring Do sighed, sitting down and glancing at her with a bit of an apologetic smile. "I know, but I was under oath to not share my relationship to the Hippogriff nobility… you might notice that they keep mentioning I'm a friend to their people.... and yet there's barely any mention of hippogriffs in my books."

Twilight nodded. "I did notice that. Why is it?"

Daring leaned back. "I found my way here several years ago, before the war with the Storm King had begun. At the time, Queen Novo had heard of me, not as an adventurer, but as an expert on certain magical artifacts. I had no idea what I was going to find but… I came anyway. Turns out, there was an ancient prophecy about a subterranean cave under Mount Aris, where "fire would consume the unworthy"," she said with a smirk. "Classic volcano-spell left behind by an old sorcerer. Could only be deactivated with a specific item that had been lost in the forgotten, sunken ruins of Old Griffonia. Partially submerged in water, partially buried under the mountain itself. The way was—"

She coughed, interrupting herself and physically wincing. "Needless to say, we're all here, and that awarded me their trust… but even back then, the hippogriffs did not trust Equestria's insular attitude and as such made me swear to never reveal everything that I saw, or even my relationship to the Queen, or her entire race. They placed an enormous amount of trust in me when the let me go, so I was not going to betray them by writing the whole thing in a book… until they release me of the promise, I mean." She smirked, then frowned. "When your problem arose, I wrote to Queen Novo directly, explaining some of the situation, and asking for her blessing to bring you here for help. Since you're a princess, she figured you were bound to learn about them from Celestia at some point or another, and well…" she shrugged, motioning to the room. "Here we are."

"I can't understand how a people so forgiving and so… embracing for the most part, can be so insular," Alejandra said, looking back at them over her shoulder. "Equestria seemed so… idyllic, it's hard to equate that to a country that would close their borders or refuse to help others."

"It's not as simple as that," Daring Do said before Twilight could say anything. "The lack of world experience has made ponies in general very soft and unwilling to deal with problems in a way that doesn't involve crying out in dismay or downright fainting. Ponies are content to not involve themselves in the matters of others because it's more simple to live a life where you are not questioning your beliefs, where you can simply pretend that you're the center of the world because you have more than everycreature else."

Alejandra sighed. "That sounds sadly familiar… at least before the war back home."

Twilight shook her head. "Princess Celestia closed the borders about a thousand years ago. When Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon."

"That's correct," Daring Do said. "There were many reasons at the time—griffons, zebras, yaks… all creatures had seen the night overwhelm the day. I still find the occasional temple or story passed along by generations about that terrible moment. Who was to blame if not the Queens of Day and Night? What other creature besides the goddesses of Equestria could do that?

"There was strife at the borders, as armies approached, especially when they perceived Equestria to be weak. Some came to aid. Some came to lay claim to lands. Celestia of course was in no mood at the time to take prisoners or calm their leaders." Daring took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "History says that they never dared to attack again. Celestia closed the borders except to a select few and Equestria was sealed from the rest of the world… each day and night reminding the other creatures of her power."

"And until Luna came back," Twilight added, "Celestia was wary of anyone even getting close to her… like Sunset."

Daring nodded. "I imagine that now that Luna is back, the borders will slowly open, we'll have the whole world again as part of our identity… but it's not a process that most ponies are ready to face, ignorant as they are of there even being a world out there, outside of Equestria."

Twilight shook her head. "It's still not right. And I'm going to change it."

Daring smirked. "Well, we first need to deal with this current situation."

"She's here," Alejandra said, pushing open her window a little bit, and allowing Tala to sneak in.

"Well?" Twilight asked.

"Rainbow Dash is working on it," Tala replied. "Galahad thought that I would be needed here."

Twilight nodded, smirking back at the others. "That is a good call. And I have just the mission for you."

"So this is the beach where they say they saw an alicorn?" Rainbow Dash asked, landing on the hard, gray gravel. The jagged boulders around the beach broke the waves as they approached the land, spraying salty water into the air.

"Doesn't look like much," Capper muttered, staring at the desolate beach.

"And yet, this is so far the only clue we have," Galahad replied.

"Alright, everypony," Rainbow Dash said. "Let's spread out. See if we can find some clues."

The small group did as told, with Capper sticking close to the base of the mountain, while Rainbow Dash and Galahad did sweeps of the area in general.

"Hey! I found something!" Capper shouted, drawing their attention.

Rainbow Dash was the first to arrive, landing nearby and trotting closer. "What did you find?" she asked, frowning as she studied the area.

"This," Capper said, moving some of the rocky sand out of the way. "It's close enough to the sea that it will be covered easily, but if you know what to look for, you can find them… it's a ferry hook."

"A what?"

"It's a contraband thing… if you're bringing in merchandise to one of the islands, especially where there's guards, you don't want to waste too much time if your boat drifts away," Capper said, digging in and pulling up slightly a metallic rod. "This is buried deep enough that it's not going to be dragged out, but that way if you moor your ship and the tide comes up, it's not going to just float away. This one is not rusted, so it's fairly recent."

Galahad scratched under his beak, before turning around and studying the area around them. "If they're using a rowboat, that means that they can't be too far away, but they must be somewhere around here where they can hide their actual airship."

Rainbow Dash followed his gaze to a nearby rocky island with no beach to speak off. It rose, like so many around them, up to the clouds. She grinned. "Time to take a quick look."

End Chapter 12

Author's Note

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Chapter 13: Truth

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis
by Wanderer D
Chapter 13: Truth

"I know Daring Do said this was my chance to connect to Queen Novo," Twilight whispered to Alejandra as the pair followed the guard. "But I'm not sure what to do here."

"Well, I'm just your bodyguard," Alejandra said, "but I suppose you should decide where to take this conversation with her. Are you going to demand information for our mission?" She glanced at her, wing-shrugging. "Or take advantage of the fact that this is the first real meeting between the leaders of two countries?"

Twilight frowned. "You think I should ask her—"

"Twilight," Alejandra interrupted, "I think, once you're sitting in there with the queen, you should do as your conscience dictates and take the conversation to where you feel it needs to go. Whatever you do, just remember who you are, and what you represent, not only to Equestria, but the hippogriffs too."

Twilight gave her a look. "What do you mean?"

There was no time for Alejandra to answer, as their guide stopped in front of a pair of large, decorated doors, announcing them before guiding them in.

"Ah, princess Twilight, thank you for joining me at such short notice," Queen Novo said from the end of the room, where she was standing next to a large window.

"Your Majesty," Twilight said, bowing down slightly.

"Please," Novo gestured with a claw at the nearby table. "Take a seat, I hope you like tea."

"I do, thank you," Twilight replied, warily walking down to the tea table and sitting down. Near the entrance to the room, far enough not to be intrusive, but close enough to act, Alejandra took her place next to the door, counterpart to the hippogriff guard that glared at her for a moment. "Thank you for indulging me on bringing Alejandra along, she's learning still, and I think it would do her good to observe other more experienced guards."

Novo's smile grew a little. "She is a very interesting griff, that is for sure." She sat across from Twilight and the pair waited patiently for the servant to serve the tea, then step away. "I must admit, I did not expect to entertain an alicorn any time soon."

Twilight grimaced. "It has been pointed out to me that Equestria didn't anticipate any formal ventures with your Queendom either. Something, I think, to the detriment of both."

Novo chuckled. "You really are a conundrum, you know?" At Twilight's raised eyebrow, she waved her claw. "I knew a little about you. Just enough, I thought, to predict the type of mare you'd be once in power. From hearing about you becoming Celestia's protege, to your alicornhood, my informants passed on positive observations about you and your friends. However, they never gave me any information that would have prepared me for meeting you. You are very different from what I heard… and that is unusual."

Twilight felt a tinge of self-consciousness. The reminders of how she wasn't who she used to be were never a welcome thing. "I've changed a lot… circumstances just forced my hoof."

"It would appear to be the case," Queen Novo said, nodding. "So I imagine Daring Do has updated you on our situation."

"As much as she was allowed to say, yes," Twilight said, then grimaced, leaning back and staring hard at the table. "I don't like it." She looked up, meeting Novo's eyes. "We aren't that different… our people, that is. We shouldn't be isolated from each other. Equestria should be here to support you… even if we take away the moral side of things, even if we want to look at it simply as politicians, if you were to fall… then Equestria would be next. The Storm King doesn't strike me as someone that would stop just because he defeated you. He would continue on, and in the off-chance that happens…" She frowned. "It would have been our own folly that let that happen. We shouldn't let our friends bear the full weight of this responsibility."

Twilight sighed. "There's a pony working for the Storm King. I don't know her… never seen her before, but she attacked us on the way here. What kind of pony betrays everyone—" She bit her lip. "Politically, how can I allow one of my own people to side with a tyrant and not support you in your defense?

"But even worse, we are failing at what we so casually flaunt!" Twilight said, hooves on the table as she leaned forward. "Equestria draws its strength from everyone—every pony, griffon, dragon or minotaur or diamond dog that is part of our community. We throw love and tolerance in people's faces; we have bonds of friendship that just don't break. It's what stopped Nightmare Moon, and changed Discord... and yet, here we are, when you need us, with our borders closed and ignoring anything happening south—why? Just because you said you didn't want us to get involved and Celestia accepted it without a fight."

Novo's eyes narrowed. "We chose to protec—"

"I know!" Twilight interrupted. Her eyes widened and she retreated into her seat. "I'm sorry. I'm… I've seen things. I understand you don't need us to save you. But you need friends. And we're not here when we should be."

Novo was quiet, studying Twilight with an inscrutable face. The hippogriff queen frowned and took a sip of her tea, remaining quiet while Twilight slowly regained her composure. "You are different, Twilight Sparkle," she finally said, her voice barely over a whisper. "You remind me less of the pleasant Princess Celestia I met at the border so many years ago, and more of my generals returning from the frontlines. There is anger within you, resentment and a need for action." She shook her head. "You understand that what you are suggesting goes against everything Celestia and I agreed upon."

"That was years ago," Twilight said. "Before I ascended—before I was born! I might be the new alicorn in the world, but just because I get to live forever, it doesn't mean the people around me have the luxury of that time. Celestia has changed since. If she heard back from you…"

Novo leaned back, her demeanor colder. "Asking for help?"

Twilight shook her head. "Accepting my offer. You didn't beg. You didn't ask. I barged in and told you my thoughts… and I appreciate the fact that you have enough faith in Daring Do to not throw us into a dungeon at this time, and that you made time to talk to me… but I am being honest. Divided we all fall. I'm offering to stand besides you because you have held the line so long."

She thought about XCOM, about Sunset and Chrysalis. How would they handle this? Oddly enough, the image that came to her wasn't her battle-sister, or the Commander. It was Fluttershy, smiling and nodding.

Slowly, tentatively, she stretched her hoof across the table, just until she was touching the Queen's claw. Immediately Novo's body tensed for a second, and her eyes searched Twilight's, confused.

"Let us help. Not because you need us to win this… but because we can help you do it. Let us be your friends."

Novo didn't pull back immediately, leaving her claw there just long enough for Twilight to feel reassured before she leaned back. "Thank you for the tea, Twilight. I need some time to think." She hesitated. "I look forward to seeing you soon at the dinner."

Twilight nodded, feeling strangely subdued. "Yes, of course. Thank you for your time, Queen Novo."

Alejandra waited next to the door until Twilight was out, then fell into step next to her, the pair following the guard escorting them back to their room.

"I'm proud of you," Alejandra said after a moment.

Twilight blinked, and looked curiously at her friend and bodyguard. "Why?"

Alejandra smiled. "Because you sounded like you at the end there."

Grubber threw some snacks into his mouth and chomped happily as he and a large monkey guard made their way down to the cage where Silverstream sat. "Hey, kid! Why the long face?"

The young hippogriff simply looked away and sniffled.

"Aww, come on! Don't be like that," he said. "Look! I brought you lunch and everything. I heard you crying and I said to myself, "myself, what would cheer you up if you were having a bad day?" and the answer was, and will always be, food!"

He presented a plate full with some sort of gurgling contents with chunks of unidentifiable brown things. Despite herself, Silverstream looked at it and grimaced. "W-what is it?"

Grubber's smile became slightly less big. "Uh. You know, I didn't ask. I'm told it has everything you can possibly need, though! Protein. Vitamins A through ∞. Calcium. Cardboard. Starch. Tree bark." He stuck a finger in the slop and then slurped the goop before nodding in delight. "Just think of it like somecreature threw a box of your favorite cereal into a blender along with the milk, orange juice, some onions, a good serving of coffee and fish. A whole daily meal! In one plate!" He looked at the mess in the plate with something akin to awe. "What will they think of next?"

Silverstream shook her head. "It sounds disgusting."

"It is! But it will help you grow tall and strong, like Sinew over here." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at the large guard, who took a pose, flexing his muscles. "Don't you want to be like him?"

"Not really, no."'

"Aww," Grubber patted Sinew in the arm as the guard deflated and muttered something. "Don't sweat it big guy, we all appreciate your bodybuilding dedication."

Sinew muttered something.

"Right, right, but she still might be of some use, right?" Grubber said, then turned to Siverstream. "Anyway, with the General gone, it falls to me to take care of you, and I think you're hungry."

He offered the plate to her, making her flinch. "I-thank you mister Grubber, but I don't think I'm that hungry." Just then her stomach grumbled.

"Huh." Grubber shrugged. "You sure about that?"

"Please let me go home?" Silverstream asked, kneeling down to get closer to the short hedgehog-like creature. "Please?"

"Sorry kiddo, you're our prisoner, and th' boss lady wouldn't be happy if you were gone when she came back."

"Or," said a new, raspy voice Silverstream had never heard before, "how about I take her with me, and you tell your "boss lady" where she can stick her hoof?"

Grubber blinked, tapping his chin. "And where would that be? There's a number of places…" he trailed off, blinking again, and slowly turned to face the chromatic-maned cyan pegasus standing on the stairs. "Wait. Who are you?"

"I'm Rainbow Dash, and I've come for the kid."

"I uh… don't think that's going to happen." Grubber's smile turned wicked as he displayed all of his fangs. "Sinew. Break her wings."

Sinew growled and took just a single step before his whole body convulsed. Silverstream could almost see electricity arcing around his body as he collapsed heavily on top of Grubber. Fluttering above him, Silverstream could barely see the tiniest pony-creature she had ever seen.

"Hehe, now that's how you use that thing," Rainbow Dash said putting up her hoof for the little creature to hoofbump. The pegasus then turned to face her and approached her cage. "Hey kiddo, there's a bunch of Hippogriffs worried about you. How about we take you home?"

Silverstream gulped. "I-I would like that."

"We have a problem," another unfamiliar voice said.

Silverstream watched an elder griffon step halfway into the motor room. He wore a dark leather armor, designed to allow him to move and fly freely. It didn't seem as sturdy as the one her dad used but… it seemed more dangerous. "Their general is gone. And so is Ahuitzotl."

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked. "But where could they be?"

Silverstream took a sharp breath. "Oh no…"

Sky Beak watched with trepidation as the last of the guards fell, unconscious, then slowly emerged from the shadows.

"This better not be a trick, Sky Beak," Tempest said, casually looking over her shoulder at the hippogriff.

"You give me your word?" he asked. "That this is the last thing you need? That I can take Silverstream home with me?"

Tempest sighed. She hated whimpering fools. "Yes,' she groaned. "Yes. I give you my word."

She watched as the fool nodded and stepped up to the stone doors. He reached out, touching the gates with his claw and whispered something.

The area around them trembled as the wall simply split open, revealing a gaping jaw into a spiraling cavern that sunk deeper and deeper into the mountain.

Tempest felt herself smile. "Excellent."

End Chapter 13

Chapter 14: The Greater Good

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 14: The Greater Good

When Twilight, Alejandra, and Daring Do walked into the hall where all the guests were, silence immediately fell. Hippogriffs turned to look at the trio with expressions ranging from surprise to distrust.

"It seems some of them still buy into the theory that we kidnapped Sky Beak's daughter," Daring Do whispered as they made their way to the center of the room.

"It's moronic, Queen Novo knows that's not the case," Alejandra hissed.

"Friends!"

The trio looked up as a young hippogriff giddily skipped across the room. All hippogriffs bowed to her as she did, although her bright eyes never strayed away from them.

"That is Princess Skystar," Daring said to Twilight, who immediately smiled at the boisterous young princess and bowed slightly in greeting.

"Princess Skystar," Twilight said, "a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, the pleasure is mine!" Skystar said taking Twilight's hoof and shaking it before walking over to give Daring Do a hug. "How nice to see you again auntie!" she said, then stepping back she grinned as she studied Alejandra up and down. "And wow! A Griffon! I have never met one before!"

"Um. Nice to meet you?"

"Oooh, your accent is so exotic! Do all griffons speak like that?"

"No…"

"Skystar," Queen Novo called, emerging from the back of the room with her royal escort around her. "You need to give our guests some space to breathe."

The princess didn't stop smiling as she bowed. "Oh, I will! I mean, I intend to. I mean… I'm not cutting off your breath, am I?"

"No, Skystar, you're fine," Daring Do answered with a chuckle. "It's good to see you too, kid."

"My daughter may have already broken protocol, Princess Twilight Sparkle," Queen Novo said, glancing around her as she emphasized Twilight's title, "but please allow me to introduce Princess Skystar of Mt. Aris, my daughter and heir to the throne."

"Still a long time for that, mom!"

"It is an honor, your majesty," Twilight said formally, "thank you for your kind invitation to join you and your other guests for dinner."

"The pleasure is mine, Princess," Novo said, her right wing opening to encompass the room. "Drink and be merry, for tonight we dine as friends, may this be the first step in a long-lasting relationship of mutual benefit."

This both made Twilight smile and the hippogriffs around to whisper, but soon she was following Queen Novo to the main table. It seemed that, for now, her attempt at friendship had worked.

Tempest didn't pay attention to the hippogriff guards as they were taken down systematically by her minions. Next to her, keeping pace as they advanced deeper and deeper into Mount Aris' secret rooms, Ahuitzotl kept unusually quiet, even stepping off on occasion to study ancient hieroglyphs on the walls, more than one representing several interesting-looking items; weapons, gems, monsters… the whole wall was some sort of ancient storyline.

"Yes… yes, this makes sense," Ahuitzotl said motioning with his tail at the wall. "You see here, my dear Tempest Shadow, the Hippogriffs were not the original dwellers of Mount Aris."

"That's a lie!" Sky Beak exclaimed angrily trotting up to him, "I might have no choice but to help you now, but I won't let you spread lies on top of it!"

Ahuitzotl back-slapped the hippogriff. "Fool. I am not talking to an ignoramus idiot like yourself. I'm talking to her."

Tempest had stopped. "Why is this relevant?"

"Because!" Ahuitzotl laughed, "there is a lot more to the Pearl than these miscreants know. The Pearl was carried away by ancient harpies—the ancestors of the current tribe of parrots that now populate most of Fleece—in order to protect it. It is part of a much bigger design… a design that I believe Daring Do is aware of… for why else would she have brought that despicable Twilight Sparkle and her crew here?"

This had drawn Tempest's attention. She signaled her minions to guard the room, then approached the wall, her eyes now trying to discern what Ahuitzotl had learned. "Explain."

"Didn't you wonder why Daring came here?" he asked, "If her mission is in Fleece like Sky Beak informed us… why not stack up in Klugetown and head straight there?"

She ignored Sky Beak, who was now standing up and glaring at Ahuitzotl. "The thought crossed my mind. I assumed they needed additional information."

"Daring Do knows most of Fleece like the back of her hand, and our information said that she hired a local for help. No, Daring Do knew about this…" Ahuitzotl glared at Sky Beak. "She had been here before. In this room. With the Pearl."

Sky Beak clamped shut his beak.

"Well?" Tempest asked.

When the hippogriff didn't answer, Ahuitzotl chuckled darkly. "There is no need for you to tell us. I can see right here. The Pearl was tied to Mount Aris… and the volcano under it." He pointed at the beginning of the wall, far back. "But it needed to be activated with a ritual involving the sea and the sky... " his hands traced another part of the wall. "Your people wouldn't know how to do this, but Daring Do?" He smirked. "Daring would know."

"Interesting." Tempest drawled.

"Oh, it is!" Ahuitzotl said. "And especially of interest to you, my dear Tempest." He motioned with his hand at the wall. A grand display of a room with several gemmed columns depicted a flaming sword of some sort, the pearl above it… and something under, but that part of the wall had crumbled away to time. "You see… the Pearl is an integral part of the Algae Photis."

Tempest raised an eyebrow.

"The Algae Photis can cure any illness…" Ahuitzotl explained, and his many rows of sharp fangs were revealed when he smiled wickedly at Tempest. "And heal any wound. Restore any limb."

Tempest's eyes widened and she approached the wall even more, gazing at the device. "How?"

"It has immeasurable magical properties, but it is only reachable with the Pearl's power."

"So what you are saying is that Twilight Sparkle was brought here by Daring Do… to obtain the Pearl?"

"Yes," Ahuitzotl said. "There might be other, smaller reasons… but if Daring helped Queen Novo to save Mount Aris, then she must know more about the Pearl, and at least what's mentioned here." He growled. "They must be after the Algae Photis! It's the greatest treasure of ancient Fleece! Magic never seen since! Power that that idiot king of yours doesn't even comprehend!"

"Careful," Tempest said, a warning tone to her voice as she glared at the creature. Nevertheless she considered his words. "The Storm Kind is plenty powerful."

"Is he?" Ahuitzotl asked, "Why? Because he has an army and hostile intentions? If he were that powerful, why does he need to steal magic? Why does he need to inflate his own ego constantly and show off empty victories?"

"He just needs more power to achieve what he wants and fulfill his pledge to me," Tempest hissed.

"Tell yourself what you want," Ahuitzotl said with a disdainful sort. "But he thinks the Pearl is a trinket that will give him "power". He doesn't even know what that means!" he snarled. "Power! How vague can he get? Power how? Energy? Magic? What kind? To what purpose? He clearly has no idea what the pearl can do at all." He crept closer to her and leaned in to whisper, "But you… you know what you want that power for exactly, and you I'm willing to help… because if you get what you want… then I get what I want too."

Tempest glanced at him. "And what do you want?"

"Revenge."

Tempest was quiet for a few seconds. "Come. Let us get that Pearl… and plan our next move."

Ahuitzotl's smile never lessened. "As you wish."

"I insist, your highness. I mean no disrespect to our esteemed guest, but we have handled things so far without incident. The Storm King is not enough of a threat to request external assistance!"

Alejandra watched Twilight's ear twitch.

"I couldn't agree more, General, I understand that you are capable enough to prevent the Storm King's victory, but again, Queen Novo did not request my assistance; it is something I offered, as a friend and someone interested in seeing our friends secure rather than at risk. I'm not offering to do anything other than support you in pushing the Storm King back, in fact—"

"So," a voice next to her made Alejandra blink, and she turned to face Daring Do, who had walked up to her. "You really only have eyes for her, don't you?"

Alejandra shot her a look, but Daring didn't back down and so, she simply sighed. "Fine. Yes." She turned to look at Twilight once more. "She's such a strong woman, Daring. I don't even know how I can begin to deserve being her companion."

"Mare," Daring corrected. "At least in this world, that would be the correct term." She grinned at Alejandra's annoyed glance. "I know, but you need to be able to mix a bit more with other species, and they would be confused by words like everyone, anyone, or woman."

"Yeah, yeah," Alejandra growled. "Galahad said the same thing."

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Daring asked.

Alejandra grumbled under her breath. "I'm here, aren't I? I could be back home, fighting the good fight, but this w—mare, the moment I heard she was going away I was ready to drop everything to go with her, no matter where." She lifted a claw and gazed at it. "I even gave away my humanity… and it barely crosses my mind." She shifted a little, glancing around, but noone seemed to be paying too much attention to them at the moment.

Twilight was taking the spotlight.

"I met Gabby through her and now… I'm torn about my place in my world, in her world… in Gabby's world," she confessed. "I feel that I'm doing the right thing, but not just for myself, but others… here we have a real chance at helping Sunset Shimmer, and she is far more useful to XCOM than I am." She glanced over at her pegasus companion and shrugged. "I'm just a sniper, and mostly a rookie by XCOM standards. My contributions in combat over there are much less impactful than my support here."

Daring Do patted her on the shoulder. "The greater good is not going to make you necessarily happy."

"Maybe not, but… I've met… me as a young griff here. And I'm with Twilight… I think that's all I need."

"Twilight needs time," Daring said after a moment. "She knows how you feel."

Alejandra licked her beak. "I—"

Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by an argument outside of the hall, which drew their attention, and then the doors to the banquet were smashed open and a young hippogriff, flanked by Rainbow Dash and Galahad rushed in.

"Silverstream!" Skystar shouted, flying up to embrace the young hippogriff. "You're back!"

"What is the meaning of this?" Novo's voice carried over, and soon the mass of guards that had followed the trio in, and the nobles already in the room, stepped to the side to allow the queen to join her daughter and niece.

"Rainbow Dash and the others saved me, auntie!" Silverstream said quickly, "but not before Tempest Shadow forced my daddy to help her!"

Novo's eyes narrowed and she looked around . "Where is Sky Beak?"

"Auntie…"

Alejandra had made her way to stand protectively next to Twilight when Silverstream spoke next.

"They forced him to take them to the Pearl."

Novo and Daring Do stared at each other in horror.

"Guards!" Novo roared. "To me! We must protect the Pearl!"

"Come on, everyone!" Twilight shouted, dashing after the Queen and her guard. "If that traitor is involved, I want to be there to take her down!"

Alejandra joined the others on the mad dash across the palace and then outside the main building, running around and down into caverns protected from outside view by the large cliffs around them. It only took them a few minutes to reach a large, circular, ancient-looking slab of stone, which had been pushed to the side to reveal several structures within.

In the middle of the floor, right next to the entrance were several unconscious hippogriff guards, but other than a couple of guards, no-one slowed down until they were much deeper in the caverns, where a pedestal rose within a domed, empty room.

Empty, except for the bloodied body of a hippogriff.

"Daddy!" Silverstream screamed as she dove down to hug him. Several guards rushed to help, but Alejandra noticed that Novo's eyes were not on her brother, but rather on the empty pedestal.

"Well, crap," Daring Do muttered. "The Pearl is gone."

End Chapter 14

Chapter 15: Scions

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 15: Scions

"They're gone, your majesty."

The guard's words cut through the muttering of several hippogriffs at court, and they all turned to look at Queen Novo, who shook her head sadly. At the bottom of the stairs leading to the throne, Sky Beak sighed and looked away. He didn't look like the proud hippogriff of the previous day; his front leg had been bandaged and hung in a sling. His ribs and his left hind leg were also wrapped in bandages.

He had no restraints, but the two guards on either side of him were clearly intended to keep him in place, even though he didn't look like he'd be attempting any sort of escape. Silverstream hovered behind her dad, worryingly looking up to the Queen and back to him.

"The Pearl was to be our last line of defense, were anything to go wrong in our war against the Storm King, we will have no escape."

"I-I know, my Queen."

"And even though you did all of this to save your daughter, my beloved niece… brother… I can't let this go unpunished."

Sky Beak gulped and nodded, kneeling down unprompted, and lowering his head in submission. "I await your command."

"Sky Beak, despite the circumstances, your actions have resulted in an international incident through your false accusations of Princess Sparkle and her retinue. Furthermore, you are personally responsible for our enemies obtaining a powerful magical item used to protect your country against them. Thanks to your actions, several guards were injured, although thankfully none of them died. In light of all of this, I am first revoking all of your titles. You are no longer a noble of Hippogrifa, while we might be related by blood, you can no longer claim kinship to the crown. Furthermore, your military rank has been stripped, although you will not be removed from military service." She sighed. "You will still serve your country, but no longer in a position where you might endanger national security more than you already have."

Sky Beak cringed, but didn't argue.

"But!" Rainbow Dash made to move forward, but Twilight's hoof stopped her. She looked over at her friend, and frowned when the princess shook her head.

"Do you understand, Sky Beak?"

"Y-yes, your majesty."

"It's not fair," Rainbow Dash hissed to Twilight. "He was being blackmailed!"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, shaking her head. "But even if he was, he could have acted differently."

"Daddy!" Silverstream barged through the crowds to hug her father, who hugged her back.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Sky Beak said, "I did the best that I could."

"I know. I'm sorry…"

Queen Novo cleared her throat. "Court is dismissed, I must speak to our guests privately. Sky Beak you may stay, whatever information you might share could be important."

Slowly, with some grumbling, the rest of the hippogriffs left, all except for Queen Novo's guard—who took their place at the entrance—Sky Beak and Silverstream.

"Princess Twilight," Sky Beak spoke up, "I'm sorry for what I did, I—"

"No need," Twilight interrupted. "I know you were under a lot of pressure. Especially with your daughter being kidnapped by Ahuitzotl."

"But still, our Pearl is now in the hands of the Storm King," Novo said with a sigh.

"I… don't think so," Sky Beak said. When all eyes turned to him he took a deep breath. "Before they reached the Pearl, Ahuitzotl told Tempest about some sort of artifact, which could only be acquired with the Pearl… something called the—"

"The Algae Photis," Daring Do said.

Everyone in the room turned to face the adventurer, who shrugged. "You didn't think we were here just to ask for directions, were you?" she asked the others.

"What is this Algae Photis artifact you mentioned in your letter, Daring?" Novo asked.

"It's an ancient weapon… or an ancient device," Daring explained. "We're not sure. It's described as a sword but, how can you use a sword to heal?" She shook her head. "It's a magical artifact of some sort that could heal any illness, cure any wound… magical, mental, physical… it didn't matter. According to legend, the Algae Photis is hidden in an underwater sanctum, a palace made for the kings of what ponies call Maretlantis." She started pacing, gazing at the walls as her mind turned to old lore. "It is said to have existed before anything else. Temples older even than the battle between the hero Icetlacatl and the Shadow Mage, Tonameyotl.1"

Alejandra blinked. "Oddly Aztec."

Daring Do nodded. "Indeed. But Maretlantis never seemed to really exist as a place reachable by the normal sheep, pony, hippogriff or harpy of the time. It existed… away. Far, far under the water, unreachable, save for one way…"

"The Pearl," Queen Novo whispered. "That's why you wanted Twilight to study it?"

"Yes," Daring Do said, nodding. "Even if you wouldn't let us take it, I thought Twilight might be able to design a spell based on its properties if she saw it used a couple of times."

"And what would that be?" Twilight asked.

"The Pearl is—was, the last line of defense we had against the Storm King; not because it was to be used as a weapon, although it can, but because it would allow me to evacuate everygriff in my nation in one magical reaction… by turning us into Sea Ponies."

"So you would rather run than die defending your lands?" Tala asked, forelegs crossed as she sat on top of Rainbow Dash.

Novo turned her head to regard the Skirmisher with a cold look. "Yes. The safety of my people takes precedence over my need to keep control of land. Even if it took a hundred years, I'd have my revenge, but my people come first."

Tala didn't respond, but she did bow slightly to Novo, conceding the point. The Queen sighed, turning around. "But now that is gone. Besides that, the Pearl has served other purposes, such as controlling the weather in ways that can hide our capital from the Storm King if needed."

"But you're not alone," Twilight said, stepping forth. "If we make an agreement, we can have a letter delivered to Princess Celestia quickly enough for her to mobilize troops and bring them here to support you."

Novo smiled a little. "Even then, it would take a month to reach the princess."

"Not necessarily," Galahad spoke up. "I can make sure that it is delivered within a week."

"That still leaves the problem of the Pearl being in the hooves of that General Tempest," Novo said. "Unfortunately I cannot mobilize the troops without risking the unwanted attention of the Storm King."

"We do have an advantage," Daring Do said, looking at all the gathered creatures. "If what Sky Beak heard was right, then we know where Ahuitzotl and Tempest are headed. And it is not towards the Storm King's army."

"It's nice to see he commands the loyalty of his soldiers," Twilight said with a smirk. "And don't worry, Queen Novo. Our objective was the Algae Photis in the first place. We'll bring back the Pearl with us when we catch up to Ahuitzotl and Tempest."

"What makes you think you will make it in time?" Sky Beak asked bitterly.

"Simple," Daring Do said, "Ahuitzotl will have figured out we want the Algae Photis from the context of the murals in the caverns, but he just figured that out. We've been planning and researching this for much longer, and I have done research on Marelantis on my own before this came up."

"Wait," Rainbow Dash spoke up, raising a hoof. "So what you're saying is that we don't need to be faster than them? We just need to head straight to where Maretlantis is?"

"I am saying just that," Daring replied, nodding. "Ahuitzotl is not stupid so he'll figure out the general location of where the entrance is supposed to be. He'll head over to the coast of Phoeris, thinking that Maretlantis is located between that and Archaia."

"And I'm guessing it's not," Tala spoke up, her drab tone almost hiding a hint of amusement.

"Sort of," Daring said with a sigh. "You see, this is why I didn't try ever to reach it. Because of what Maretlantis actually is, there is no way for an air-breathing creature to reach it." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "My investigation led me to believe that the location is deep underwater where Ahuitzotl would look, but not just that, it's an undersea cavern, only accessible from the caverns in a lake further East, Locked Trees, and close to the border with Arctodia."

"They named the place Locked Trees?" Alejandra asked.

"There's an ancient legend about how a king was very protective of the trees there, so he had them caged and locked," Daring said.

"Oh." Alejandra blinked. "Really?"

"No, but I'm not going to spend time guessing why they did that," Daring replied, getting a snort out of Rainbow Dash. "The name of the city is not important, what is important, is that there's several layers to this whole thing. We need to get to Arctodia. We already have a local guide who is familiar with the legend of the Algae Photis…"

Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide. "Captain Celaeno! But how did she know about it?"

"The sword she had in her cabin." Twilight turned to look at Daring Do for confirmation. "You said it had a mark on it."

Daring Do smirked. "Yes. She has the mark of King Secrops on the sword. Only a descendant of the line, or a descendant of his Elite Royal Guard would have owned one of those, and have it passed down for generation after generation."

"So you're saying she's royalty?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No," Novo replied, frowning slightly. "Our people hail from that land, my ancestry can be traced back for generations, and we have documented well plenty of our history. If I recall correctly, all of Secrop's descendants were murdered during a succession war by a later king."

"That is correct," Daring said. "Not only that, but according to legend, Secrop was supposed to be a Hippocampus, half-pony, half-fish. His guard, however, did include several Harpies." She hovered up with her wings and crossed her forelegs in a self-satisfied way. "Which helps us, because, if she really is a descendant of his guard, then she might have a full set of armor somewhere."

"And what good does rusty armor do us?" Tala asked.

Daring Do winked at her. "Spoilers."

Twilight raised a hoof. "Alright, we can find out more about that later. Right now, we need to come to a decision." She turned to face the three Hippogriffs in the room that were not part of the guard. "Queen Novo, will you accept the help of both Equestria and my team? Equestria will assist you in securing your borders, and my team and I will find Tempest and return the Pearl safely to you."

Novo considered her guests carefully, then sighed. "It's not like I have much of a choice in the matter now."

"You do," Twilight said, "you can choose to trust me."

Novo smiled, then nodded. "This is true. I choose to trust you and our friendship, Twilight Sparkle. I will draft the letter for Celestia, and pass it over to Sir Galahad to ensure it makes it in time."

Twilight grinned. "Excellent. I'll make sure we're ready to depart soon. We need access to your markets for provisions."

Novo looked at her guards. "Please escort Princess Twilight to her ship, and assist her in obtaining anything she might need."

"Yes, your majesty."

She then turned and regarded Sky Beak with a small frown. "As for you brother…"

"No need to say more, your majesty," Sky Beak said, bowing deeply. "I will clean up my office and await further commands."

Novo hesitated, but pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," he confessed.

The others looked at each other awkwardly before Daring Do motioned with her head towards the door. It was best to leave them alone.

Silverstream hadn't been able to stay long with her father. Even though she had been kidnapped from her own bed, she still felt responsible about the whole thing. "I just needed to be stronger. Faster. Smarter," she whispered as she watched the crates being piled up one after the other for transportation to the Arpia. "Now dad is paying for it…" she narrowed her eyes. "I won't let things stay like this."

She slowly made her way between stalls and boxes, to where an Abysinnian was arguing prices with one of the merchants. Their backs were turned away from the crates. This was the perfect chance.

She would make everything better.

End Chapter 15

Author's Note

1) As mentioned in XCOM: Ranger Chapter 220: Fallen

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Chapter 16: Final Preparations

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 16: Final Preparations

Rainbow Dash had to admit: there was a unique type of energy in the anticipation of setting out on a voyage to a completely new place. The whole of the docks were ablaze with movement and focused, organized, chaos. She hovered just above everypony's heads, keeping clear of the many creatures moving about.

The Arpia was currently undergoing a final, careful checkup, and therefore had most of its crew running all over it, inside, while several hippogriff engineers flew around the outside, checking the hull, cleaning it and notating any possible needed fixes before it set out.

Mullet, the first mate of the ship stood off to the side, surveying the effort with an engineer by him, who was listing their observations so far. "The hull seems to be intact and well taken care of, we have removed some barnacles from it and polished the wood," the hippogriff was saying, flipping the page in his claws. "The keel has some chipping on it, maybe some sort of narrowly-avoided collision? I have my team sanding that down and should be insulated soon enough. My main concern is the gaff for the mainsail, as you can see, it's beginning to show its age. And, if you're flying to Fleece…"

Rainbow Dash moved along, ignoring the rest of the conversation. Most of that information was not something she could help with, and if she went around trying to find problems with the ship itself, chances were she'd get in the way more often than not. She next spotted the cook, Lix Spittle, at the dock that went around The Arpia, next to the crane that would load all the supplies into the ship, checking the list of items that Capper had procured. "These are all the things I asked for, right?"

"Yes, yes," Capper growled. "I told you, I went over the list three times. I got everything."

"Good. Since we're pressed for time, I don't think the captain is going to try and go around the Gate of Aeolus, so that means we're not stopping until we get there."

Capper's eyes went wide. "Damn. In any case, Spittle—"

"Lix!"

"Everything you, the Captain, and the Princess asked for is here." He motioned with his paw to the crates, clearly labeled as: Food; Supplies; Princess. "The vendors assured me of the quality of the produce, and considering what we're going after, I don't think they would back-stab us and their own country on account of a few legumes."

"So you say, and you'd better not be lying, Capper, or I'll cook you!" Lix Spittle gave him a hard look, then turned and nodded to the crew, who started lifting the crates and moving them over to The Arpia. "Make sure you goofs organize the crates properly! I want everything marked with this symbol—" She pointed to a nearby crate "—closest to the kitchen!"

"Gate of A of Lus?" Rainbow Dash muttered, flying up and looking around. She immediately saw her objective: Celaeno sat on a large table that had been placed behind the wheel, a large map spread open next to her logs as she calculated their route.

Rainbow Dash flew down to land next to her, and Celaeno—upon seeing her—flashed her a smile that made her cheeks warm up under her fur, motioning with her claw for her to get closer. "How can I help you, Rainbow Dash?"

"H-hey," she responded, playing it cool. "So, I heard that we're going to cross something called "the Gate of Ay-Olus", and I was wondering what that is?"

"Aeolus," Celaeno corrected, and pointed at something on the map. "A legendary spirit of air and water. Supposed protector of the lands of Fleece. The story goes that as she beheld the bountiful lands of Fleece, she knew enemies would attempt to take what belonged only to them, so she raised an eternal storm that crackles through the sky and churns the sea, so only those worthy—or possessing her blessing—could ever reach the coast of Fleece safely."

Rainbow Dash flew up, glancing down at the drawings. She could easily spot Equestria, although the rest of the world map was unknown to her, she followed the map south to Mt. Aris. The place Celaeno was pointing at was a few nautical miles away, and it looked like some sort of outline that expanded several more north and south.

"It really can be counted as a wall of sorts, made of storm clouds and mist and strong wind currents," the captain explained. "It stretches across the ocean, and is usually best avoided if it's an option. It's by no means sentient as the legends claim, but it is a barrier that affects the whole region. A lot of towns and trade posts were created along the different routes to circumvent it, in ways that have shaped their economy for centuries... but we are very pressed for time, so we'll have to push through the Gate itself."

Rainbow Dash nodded.

Celaeno took a deep breath. "It's not an easy flight. It's very dangerous and more than one ship has lost its way or been brought down in there. The thermals and pressure are all over the place…" She shrugged. "But we don't have much of a choice if we want to make it on time to save Twilight's friend."

"Right." Rainbow Dash sighed. "So why all the food?"

"It's still going to take a couple of days to fly through, since we have to be careful, and a couple more to reach our destination once we're out of it, even at top speed." Celaeno explained. "And that is assuming we come out at the intended location. Once in there... it's complicated. Without being able to stop at any location to resupply, or worse, if we lose our way and are stuck there longer than anticipated, we'll have one thing less to worry about if we're prepared with enough food for all."

"Gotcha." Rainbow Dash said. "So, what are you doing here? Planning our route even if you won't be able to use any landmark or even the stars?"

"Basically," Celaeno said, moving to the side so that Rainbow Dash could take a look. "We're betting a lot of things here, so I'm trying to be as efficient as possible. Ace is already trying to sleep so that he can take over piloting at night, so the route has to be laid out very clearly for him to use."

Rainbow Dash followed the line that Celaeno traced with her claw. "I guess that makes sense; we also do similar things with the Everfree Weather Patterns during the late Summer, when it gets pretty crazy."

"Then you understand," Celaeno said, looking town at the map. "We have very few options, and if Tempest's ship captain is somewhat competent, their headstart will count for something even if they have to play it a bit safe." She frowned. "I want to make sure we make it there before them. I can't let them abuse the history and artifacts of my country for their benefit."

"Hey," Rainbow Dash said, placing her hoof gently on top of Celaeno's claw, "don't worry. I know good flying when I see it, and I know good weather prediction… and you're great at both."

She glanced at Celaeno—who didn't move her claw away—and shared a confident smirk with her.

"Yeah," the captain said, clearing her throat, but still smiling. "That is true."

Alejandra lept forth, claw-extensions glistening. Galahad, however dodged just in time and she only managed to heavily scratch the stone wall behind him. Above them, the Hippogriff soldiers watching cheered and hooted.

She didn't let that distract her, however, completing the motion and planting her claws on the floor to use as a pivot. Her wings didn't open fully, but allowed her to keep her balance as she turned on the spot and her rear legs rested on the damaged wall for barely a second before uncoiling, adding the additional speed boost to her follow up. Claw, claw, and peck!

Despite the violence and speed of her attack, Galahad not only avoided it with a smirk on his beak, but the moment her claws were on the floor again and she was regaining her balance again, he had already lept forward and used her back as a springboard to hover above her.

Not allowing herself to think, she forced her body to push to the side, pressing her wings tight against her body as she rolled, avoiding the three knives that embedded themselves on the floor in her wake with dull thuds.

She knew he was coming in for the kill so she rolled once more to lay on her back, her own knife flashing up and stopping just as it was about to plunge into his neck.

She smirked, then frowned, realizing his foreleg was already positioned to stop her attack from getting closer, and that had his own claw extensions pressing against her exposed belly. "Dammit."

"Still a bit green to do that, Alejandra," he said, chuckling.

She let out a big sigh and dropped her knife. Resting her back on the cool stone floor, she sighed again and grudgingly admitted her defeat. "Fine. You win."

The cheers died down as the guards that had gathered to watch slowly dispersed, conversing among themselves. To Alejandra's surprise, however, from what little she could hear, the whole discussion was admiration—for her.

Galahad stepped back and offered her a claw, which she took, allowing him to pull her to all fours. All fours. Sometimes she forgot this wasn't her real—or at least original—species. She had gotten so used it to it that the days where she would fly sideways were an unpleasant memory.

Thinking back on who she was when she had arrived, she understood just how much she had changed. If the plants that had captured her in the Everfree Forest had come across the Alejandra of today, she would have never been trapped, she was sure of it. She was a completely different being. Reactions, instincts, flight perception, her brain worked in a completely different way than it had before.

"You've grown a lot since I got you out of the hospital in Canterlot," Galahad said, as if he had been reading her mind.

"Yeah… I just sort of realized that," Alejandra replied, opening and closing her claws as she looked down on them. The feathers and fur still sent the myriad sensations they had before but now, somehow, she understood what they meant. Could she ever be human again after this?

She thought of Earth, of her brother, parents, her uncles and aunts, her friends. Then her thoughts went to Twilight and to Gabby. To Gilda and Galahad. Rainbow Dash and the others.

She had a duty to Earth, but…

"You'll have a home here too, whatever you do."

"Alright," Alejandra growled, glancing at Galahad. "How the hell do you know what I was thinking?"

He chuckled. "I can't read your mind, if that's what you're wondering," he said, motioning for her to go sit down with him at the edge of the training grounds. Once they were seated and had removed their weapons, he continued, "I just have seen that look before in other apprentices. It was the dawning comprehension of change. More so for you than any of them, I'd imagine."

"Right." Alejandra glanced at the sky.

"After that familiar expression, followed the one that I've seen happen the most to my apprentices, and even soldiers. The slow realization that their family has grown. That their world is wider." He grinned. "In the end, what you choose is up to you, you're my apprentice, but you're a special case. You won't be an assassin, you can choose to go. You can choose to stay. But soldiers and heroes have a right to be happy too."

"Heh," Alejandra leaned back, glancing at the exotic houses of the hippogriffs. "That'd be amazing. I could bring Gabby here and visit places I've never seen." Her smile faded a little. "Maybe even bring my friend Twilight with me whenever she's free."

Galahad patted her back. "These things take time," he said, "especially for ponies like her. She has a ton of responsibility, and she's dedicated to a fault." He smiled at her. "I think you have a chance, but you can't hurry it. Some things in life have a natural cycle to grow and flourish."

"Listen to you, now you sound like you're about to start reading poems."

"Poems are powerful," Galahad countered. "Maybe you should try reading a few, I think you would like them."

They remained in silence for a few minutes, allowing the adrenaline from their fight to dissipate, their breath to slow down, and their comfortable silence to stretch... then he stood up. "Alright, I should go. I must deliver that missive to Canterlot."

"Galahad," Alejandra said, touching his shoulder. "Thank you."

"No." He shook his head, patting her claw with his. "Thank you for listening to this old bird. Now go catch up with your princess, and tell me all about the adventure when we meet again."

End Chapter 16

Chapter 17: Ahoy!

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 17: Ahoy!

Silverstream had always wanted to be a pirate. That is, whenever she didn't want to be a princess, or an aquanaut, or a baker, or a bank-teller, or a Stair Designer. She wasn't exactly sure why she wanted to design stairs, except that half her life she had spent underwater with her mother, and only got to see them with her father. And no hippogriff ever used them because... well, they had either flippers or wings, so the best they had at Hippogriffia were the jagged protuberances from the rock cliff that some dared to call "stairs", but to a real connoisseur like herself, they were at best… something. But not stairs.

Eventually, as she had grown up into the young, dashing pirate-baker-to-be that she was today, she had even built herself a little studio to draw schematics for stairs. And by the Pearl there were a lot of types of stairs!

Straight Stairs, L-shaped stairs, U-shaped Stairs, Spiral Stairs, Circular Stairs, Curved Stairs,
Ladder Stairs, Split Staircases… a lot, basically. And even more to discover! But, after being captured by Tempest and Ahuitzotl, she had little time to think about whether the stairs should be at a thirty or fifty degrees angle from the horizontal. She couldn't be a Stair Designer now. She needed to be a pirate!

"Yarr!" she whispered, trying not to be overheard by the crew.

She shifted in place, trying to make as little noise as possible within the crate she was hiding inside. True, she didn't know how many pirates started their careers inside a large wooden box with the food in it, but Pearl-dammit, there had to be worse starts to piracy, and besides, airships were little more than flying wooden boxes with food and creatures inside, right?

All adventures began with a small step outside the door, after all, and if she wanted to avenge her father, then she needed to be there when the thing happened.

What "the thing" was, exactly, she was not entirely sure of, but it involved recovering the Pearl, which was certainly important, then finding and fighting the bad guys, which was also important and then getting some sort of magical items lost to time.

That was also important. Because they were going to use them to heal some vampire siren from another dimension. Silverstream knew this because she was good at taking notes, and when she was focused on something she was some sort of savant, according to Queen Novo, who also said it was very rare for Silverstream to actually concentrate on any one particular topic, which was nonsense, because she had proven several times that pineapple did actually mix well with rice and coconut.

Granted, that had been irrelevant to her math class, but she was already ahead of the curve with that. So much ahead, in fact, that she was at a 360 angle from every other griff in her class!

Satisfied that her logic was absolutely on point, she then pressed her eye to the hole in the plank next to her. She could see most of what was happening outside. There was the Abyssinian and he was talking to what could only be… a hag! Or maybe a parrot. If it was a hag, she looked perfect. If she was a parrot… she had seen better days. Maybe.

Silverstream silently resolved to ask her fellow pirates how they got a hag to work for them.

Either way, they were loading the crates! This was it! No turning back now! She stifled a giggle when she noticed the parrot approaching and slid back away from her peephole. She held her breath as she heard the parrot do something to the outside of the crate, then felt as the whole thing was suddenly lifted into the air.

It was terribly disorienting, considering that she knew she was in the air, but she had no frame of reference. She instinctively wanted to open her wings, but if she did, she might knock things over and betray her presence in the crate.

She felt the crate move through the air and risked another peek outside, watching as a burly parrot in the most pirate-like getup she had seen so far motioned for her box to be lowered into the hold.

Silverstream grinned and was about to clap excitedly at the idea of her plan working out, but she resisted the urge. All she had to do now was wait until they were underway. Then it would be her turn to shine.

Twilight Sparkle smiled when she spotted Alejandra, and walked over to the griffon. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," she replied, rolling her wings back. "I'm still just a bit sore from the pounding I got at training."

Twilight nodded, wrapping a wing around her friend as she guided her back to the Arpia. "Will you be alright?"

"Yeah, it just… brought back a lot of memories working with him, you know? Good ones for the most part."

"Yeah, I know." Twilight said. "I can still see Ghalahad's face when the Assassin killed him if I close my eyes and listen to the one here."

She felt the griffon sigh and lean into her. She didn't mind, right now in Equestria, only she and Alejandra knew the loss they had suffered. Having Galahad here had helped, but it still didn't erase what had happened across the mirror.

Finally, Alejandra straightened up, glancing at Twilight fondly before stepping back. "Thanks Twilight. I needed that hug more than I knew."

Twilight smiled. "Anytime." True, her feelings about Alejandra were mixed when it came to romantic issues, but when it was a straightforward friend-in-need situation? That she could handle without a problem.

They walked up the plank and into the ship. Things were wrapping up, and Twilight could barely suppress the urge to tell them to just finish already and get going. Tempest was already on her way to the Algae Photis, and who knew what she would do with such a powerful item.

Twilight paused on the deck and glanced at the city. "Do you think I'm abusing my station?"

Alejandra gave her a small smile. "I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with what royalty can—or can't—do."

Twilight sighed, feeling the weight of the whole mission resting on her shoulders. There was so much to do. So many dangers already creeping up on Equestria, and so many people in peril. She had wondered, before going to Earth, what kind of duties she would have as a princess. Who knew it was going to end up like this?

Her eyes studied Hippogriffia for the last time. How would have things been if she had brought the girls with her? All of them? How much fun would they have had, Fluttershy exploring the city, Pinkie Pie making friends… even maybe expanding their markets in the case of Applejack and Rarity?

"The team would have been too large," she whispered to herself, "I would have a really hard time keeping them under control. Especially Pinkie."

"What was that?" Alejandra asked, making Twilight blink and look at her friend.

"Oh. Nothing," she said, chuckling. "Just… missing my friends, a little."

Alejandra nodded, looking back at the city as well. "I think they would have liked visiting here."

"Yeah." Twilight didn't look, but she could feel Alejandra's eyes on her.

"Do you want to talk about them?"

'Yes,' "Not right now…" 'Because I feel guilty. Because I'm afraid for them. Because I don't want them to be broken, like I am.' "We have much to prepare, and our enemies are already underway. Let's talk to Celaeno and get going."

"Sure thing." Alejandra said, and even though the griffon probably didn't notice it, Twilight did hear the soft sigh of disappointment.

For a moment she wanted to berate Alejandra. She didn't know her friends that well. She didn't know how Equestria had been mostly in peace for centuries until recently everything started hitting the fan. She didn't know how unprepared ponies were… always relying on Princess Celestia, who wasn't unbeatable!

She wanted to tell her how the Commander's much less efficient counterpart had managed to overpower the princess. She hadn't seen how easily Discord had thrown everything into chaos and time and again it fell on her shoulders to rally her friends to risk their lives to help save Equestria.

That it felt like a lifetime when they had stepped up and guided her instead of her fighting an uphill battle to get them to just trust her. That ever since fighting Nightmare Moon, she had had to get them on her side again every time. At the wedding. When Discord appeared. When she came back from the mirror and they wanted to send her back to Ponyville while they faced the vines on their own. She had to prove to them again and again despite the fact that they were her friends and they should trust her. At least Discord's spell to change their natures was outside of their control but...

What was she supposed to do? After all she'd seen?

Her friends were trying to stifle and "protect" her when 'it was them' that needed to wake up and smell the bacon. They were her friends, little town ponies for the most part that were blissfully unaware of the dangers out there.

They weren't supposed to end up dead inside an inn, burnt to the ground by aliens and monsters. They weren't supposed to drown in their own blood while another listened to them pass away without being able to do anything! They were supposed to be kind and gentle and take care of animals, not… head a band of rebels against fascist human-hybrids that hunted them down! They were supposed to create fashion and be dramatic, not serve as bodyguards to alien figureheads!

"Twilight!"

She snapped her head up, blinking at Alejandra. Twilight realized she had been gritting her teeth and slowly relaxed her jaw, and forced herself to close her wings, and dispel her magical aura. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry. I just… I need to be alone. Please coordinate with Captain Celaeno. We can get going, I just have to think."

She left before Alejandra could say anything.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

How is everypony doing? Or should I say everycreature? I don't want to offend anypony, so please make sure to let me know if I did!

Things have been interesting here in Canterlot. We found Twilight's old friend, but she refuses to come out of her house. She seems deeply hurt somehow, and I just want to pull her into a hug and tell her it will be alright, but I'm afraid she'll dump a library on me if I try.

Spike says that she was Twilight's friend before she met us, but Twilight said that she didn't have friends before us… I wonder if she just… didn't know? It saddens me that she might have thought that way, who knows how much it would have helped her to know these kinds of things?

We will keep trying of course, but I feel like Twilight is needed to get Moon Dancer out of her shell. She'll do things if Laetitia orders her to just because she thinks it's Princess Luna, but Twilight's human friend is naturally not comfortable with that.

Speaking of which, I've taken her flying with me, and she's spent a lot of times at my house in Ponyville, getting to know my friends and going on long walks with me. It's nice but knowing that she's dying… it makes me sad. I hope your adventure is a success and you can cure her, she's a very gentle soul.

I also wanted to ask you, did something happen? Yesterday my cutie mark started glowing for no reason, but I immediately thought about Twilight. It felt like she was there, all stressed out and I just wanted her to know that we love her and that I could be there for her whenever she needed me.

It's strange, but I feel we were somewhat connected for just a moment! I hope she's doing well. Even if it was my imagination, it made me think of her, and how she could use some more kindness now that things have changed for her so much.

How are you doing?

~Fluttershy

Shortly after all the crates had been loaded, there had been a lot of excitement outside. Creatures were shouting and running, but it wasn't in fear—no, it was the organized chaos a pirate ship needed to set sail!

Silverstream had heard loud noises all around her as the ship got ready, then felt it shudder as it pulled away from port. There was no swaying in the ship, since it was flying and not sailing on water, but the wood of the hull still creaked whenever there was a turn. Soon after they had taken flight, she had heard the captain shouting more orders, and then felt as the ship accelerated.

That had been… probably hours ago. At first she had been excited. This was her first foray into piracy after all! Something that her brother had always said she'd never do.

"Eat that, Terramar!" she whispered. This was so exciting! She had plans that involved sword-fighting, bandanas and treasure! Also, the Pearl. No proper pirate would ignore the Pearl. And she needed to bring it back to help her dad. That was more important than piracy. It was more important than stairs or having fun.

However exciting things were in concept, in practice, she was still stuck inside a large box with bags and smaller boxes of dried fruits and fish, and there were too many creatures about for her to get out while they were still within reach of Hippogriffia.

She'd have to wait a few hours for the ship to leave Seaquestria entirely behind and be too far away for them to just send her flying back, or even turn around. That meant… she was going to get bored. Thankfully, she hadn't slept at all last night, so she made herself comfortable—using her little knapsack as a pillow—and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, it was mostly quiet. The only sounds were the creaking wood, the wind, the crackle of ropes stretching or tightening with movement, and the occasional clinking of metal and glass bumping onto something. She peeked out of her hole, noticing the cause of the latter were the lamps in the hold.

She waited, both to allow herself to wake up fully, and to make sure there was nocreature around. She licked her lips. She really, really needed to use the Little Bird-Fish Room. Carefully, she pushed the top of the crate open.

Or she tried.

It was then that she realized a tiny problem. "Oh no… they put another crate on top of mine!" she whispered. She glanced around herself, barely able to make out anything inside the crate itself, and the more desperate her condition, the more desperate she was to get out.

Maybe the plank with the hole was lose enough? She tried shaking it, but it wouldn't budge. She was going to be trapped inside! For days! Without access to the Little Bird-Fish Room! She threw herself at the plank, trying to break it, but only succeeded in hurting her shoulder.

She sniffled.

This was not what piracy was about!

It was then that she heard a loud scraping noise above her.

Eyes wide, she watched as something wedged itself into the crate at the corner, and then heard a grunt, soon her whole crate was washed in the dim light of the hold, and two parrots—one large and brutish, the other the harpy she had seen earlier—were glaring down at her.

"Toldja I heard the food snorin'!" the harpy said.

"Looks like we have a stowaway," the bigger parrot growled threateningly.

"Well lass," the harpy asked, sneering down. "What do you have to say for yerself?"

"Yarr?"

End Chapter 17

Author's Note

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Chapter 18: Anticipation

Daring Do: the Legend of the Algae Photis

by Wanderer D

Chapter 18: Anticipation

Dear Princess Celestia,

Ever since I ended up on Earth, I wondered how a leader should react to unexpected things happening. I know the girls and I dealt with plenty of powerful enemies, but that's not what I mean. What I mean is, how did Commander Chrysalis feel when I suddenly appeared on Earth, with one of her team having to suddenly take care of me? How do you, or her, or Queen Novo prepare yourselves mentally for such unexpected events as suddenly having more lives under your care?

I'll be honest… since it's you and me only in this diary… I admire you so, so much. You know how I looked up to you all through my younger years, and all through most of my adult life so far. I owe you so much (I do) and I can't think of a better pony to still look up to. And yet I see flaws now that I never realized were there. Things that, in hindsight, I want to say you could have prevented… and things I know you could have. On Earth they say that hindsight is 20/20 (which is an expression humans use to define their visual acuity, so naturally the implication is that looking back on things, what was going on is not as hazy as being in the moment.)

Anyway I am upset—perhaps irrationally so—at you being less than perfect. It hurts, and I'm not going to lie, I think I have a lot more to find out that will upset me more.

Because you are my inspiration. Here and on Earth Chrysalis a little, for different reasons. At least for what a leader of a country or an organization like XCOM, I want to take the best examples from you both and… I'm so out of my depth, Princess. More and more I have people adding into my team.

I started with Alejandra, Galahad, Daring, Rainbow Dash, Tala, and Daring Do. Now we have an Abyssinian thief named Capper, and a whole crew of pirates under Captain Celaeno. Sure, she's the captain of the ship, but they are all working for me. They're my responsibility, and even more so as they grow from associates to friends.

Did you know my wings just… rustled when I wrote that? It makes my heart warmer to write that. Friends. And yet I left mine behind. It wasn't until Alejandra pointed out how I was "me again" for a short period of time during my dealings with Queen Novo that at that time I didn't think of what you or Chrysalis would do, but rather what Fluttershy would.

I left my friends behind, Princess. Even if I'm with other friends, the girls did bring out the best in me. I can't ask them to risk themselves over this… ironic, given how Applejack wanted me to be the one to stay behind when I came back to deal with the vines.

But I've seen too much… done too much to wish it upon them. I just wonder… in keeping a distance—even if it's for their sake—what am I doing to myself? As a leader I feel I still leave much to be desired, and as a friend I haven't been the best to the girls… justified in certain ways but understanding must come from both sides, correct?

I hope to hear from you soon, Princess.

~Princess Twilight Sparkle

Twilight had barely put down her quill and closed the diary when Rainbow Dash burst into their cabin, breathing heavily. "We have a problem."

"Hey, I think we can talk about this, right?" Silverstream asked as she was dragged out of the brig by her forelegs by two burly parrots and half-carried across the hall towards the stairs. "Um. Avast? Ahoy?"

She paused to note with interest the framing device for the staircase. The slope of the frame was almost seventy degrees, with a distance between steps of about twenty five centimeters at a glance. Give or take two it felt slightly less than that, but without her tools a guesstimate was the best she could do. 'Very interesting.'

After some thought, she decided that the spread and angle were designed like that out of necessity to conserve space in the ship rather than visual appeal. Not that it looked bad! It looked pretty sturdy, and obviously had served well for its purpose, the steps were also pretty thick, probably to support additional carrying weight from the decks below, but very few public places would benefit from such a narrow frame.

'I wonder if these kinds of steps would be useful i—' She was dragged again to reality when the cold wind ruffled her feathers and she realized she was now on the ship's deck. She attempted once more to appeal to their better natures. "We're all pirates here, what about some professional courtesy and—"

She didn't finish talking before she was in the air, having been tossed across the deck. She quickly spread her wings and glided into a slightly bumpy stop and roll that ended at somecreature's hooves.

Silverstream gulped and looked up at the unamused face of Princess Twilight Sparkle. 'Or should that be Pirate Princess Twilight Sparkle?' she wondered. She straightened up and smiled as pleasantly as she could. "Priiiincesss!"she squeaked out at a much higher pitch than she had anticipated. "How nice to see you! My, what a wonderful boat you have."

The parrot behind her, wearing the captain hat sputtered. "The Arpia is a ship! Not a boat!"

Unable to argue the point, Silverstream simply nodded. "Yarr."

"Do you think this is funny?" Twilight Sparkle asked without a hint of amusement in her voice. "We were just accused of foalnapping you when we arrived at Mount Aris, and now you decide to sneak into The Arpia without telling anyone that you're coming with us?"

"I-well, I wouldn't say I didn't tell anyone…" Silverstream responded quickly, quivering under the look the princess gave her. "I told Snuggles."

"Snuggles."

"M-my pet goldfish a—"

Twilight gave her a very unimpressed look. "You told your pet goldfish, Snuggles, that you were going to hide in a crate to be carried into a pirate ship that is on a deadly race with the Storm King's general and an international menace flying through and across one of the most dangerous areas of the whole world in order to beat them to a hidden temple that is likely to be protected by deadly spells and traps, potentially endangering everyone involved in a mission that affects the lives of billions because…?"

Silverstream gulped. "Um… I uh—" She cleared her throat. She was suddenly very aware that she was very literally, out of her depth. "I w-wanted to—"

"Be a pirate?" the parrot lady asked, crossing her arms. "What with the 'yarr' and 'avast'?"

Silverstream clamped her beak shut, taking a deep breath and looking down at the deck, feeling every judging eye on the ship focusing on her. "I… want to help my dad…"

"Your dad is alive and well back home," Twilight said. "Where you should be."

"But it's my fault that he lost his rank an—"

"It's not!" Twilight interrupted. "You were foalnapped, Silverstream. That was against your will. You had no choice. Your father had to make a choice and while I can't say he made the right one for your people, he made the right one for you and him." She sighed. "Unfortunately that had additional consequences."

"But he shouldn't be punished!" Silverstream argued, feeling her eyes watering up. She didn't want to cry, but… it was so unfair!

"That's Queen Novo's decision," Twilight pointed out. "We don't know if it's permanent. It might just last until the war is over, maybe less. Risking your life without thinking of the consequences is not going to help anyone, much less your father." She groaned and lifted a hoof to rub her temple. "We can't turn around. Who knows how many people will die if we leave this longer!"

Silverstream winced. Was this mission really that dangerous? Were that many creatures really at risk? She had never considered that this could be anything but an adventure and now...

The parrot lady, who Silverstream just now realized was wearing a captain's hat, spoke up. "Twilight, we can send a messenger once we get to Fleece, but we can't spare anyone right now."

"I know." Twilight sighed. "I know. I sincerely doubt that Snuggles told anyone in Mt. Aris that Silverstream had escaped. I hope they don't think we foalnapped her. This is just… ugh." She paced a few times in front of Silverstream, trying and failing not to glare at her. "Fine, I guess there's nothing we can do about it." She shook her head and glanced at the parrot lady. "Celaeno, what would be the best place to put her?"

The pirate captain studied Silverstream for a moment. "Well, since she stowed away in my ship, she'll need to earn her keep. Brutus!" She called over to the burly parrot that had dragged Silverstream up to the deck, "Have her work with Lix Spittle for now. Best case scenario we get something edible out of it. Worst case, she's out of harm's way. Mostly."

Silverstream didn't dare look up at Twilight or the Captain, so she followed sullenly after Brutus down into the ship again.

"Careful now," Daring Do said, beating her wings steadily as Princess Twilight, Alejandra, and Rainbow Dash flew to just a couple of meters away from the clouds.

The Arpia had stopped and hovered in the air, tiny in comparison to the almost literal wall of deep, dark clouds in front of it. Thin arcs of electricity crisscrossed it occasionally, and it seemed to move with deceptive gentleness, although any pegasus worth their salt would have known that—however gently it rotated—constant movement like that was not conductive to a long, healthy life, which is why Alejandra was being guarded by Daring herself, and Twilight by Rainbow Dash when it came to the cloud system itself. They weren't weak flyers anymore, but if they got caught on the storm, it would take a lot of experience to pull them out, if it was even possible.

After a few minutes, Twilight gave them the signal and they all flew back.

Daring had seen the Gate of Aioros (or as the Hippogriffs called it, Ay-Olus) several times, but it always left her feeling small and in awe. The magical cloud construct reached from barely an inch above the surface of the water below, to far, far, up in the air, to where even the strongest pegasus would be unable to survive for long, and then it curved in for miles and miles of treacherous winds and rain.

Without a trip that would cost them days if not weeks to go around, they'd have to navigate through the storm itself and risk life and limb to get through in one piece. But there was a way through. And it was tricky. And it happened once a day. And if you were not fast or skilled enough…

"...we'll die." Celaeno finished explaining to the whole crew, including their newest stowaway as they gathered around a table with a large map open on it. It was an incredible contrast. The blue skies, the calm breeze, the sun shining on them… and just a few meters ahead a storm that could break the ship apart if they were not careful.

Daring Do saw her chance to speak up, so she did. "As you can see, the Gate of Aiolos does work a bit like a lock. There is a moment during the day where a breach in the clouds appears. This is called, 'Aiolo's Arrow'. This breach breaks apart shortly after, collapsing fairly quickly as the wind that creates it makes its way through." She took a deep breath. "Provided we are able and fast enough to ride the Arrow of Aioria, we'll find ourselves in a calm area where a number of sky islands are available for us to make port and rest before the next Arrow comes through and we can ride it to the second calm area and finally ride it one last time to get through to Fleece. It's the safest and fastest way to do this, but it will still take us three days at least to do so."

"Would we be able to ride the current all the way to the second safe area at least?" Twilight asked.

Celaeno shook her head. "We won't even make it to the first area while riding The Arrow. It gives us an advantage, but nothing else. Once riding it, we'll probably make it half way there, or if we're lucky, three fourths of the way. The rest will be navigating through the full blast of the storm."

Twilight didn't look pleased, so Daring spoke up. "Captain Celaeno is right, Twilight. I've gone through a few times, but only with a capable captain at the helm. Every time the storm caught up. There's just no way to fly fast enough and compensate for the changing conditions to get there. Despite the name it's not just a straight flight through, the wind curves around, dips and climbs with the changing factors inside the storm. It's not just speed, but skill that is needed to read those patterns and make it through."

"Right," Celaeno said, "and we only have so much time before today's Arrow comes through." She glanced around. "I'm going to have to ask all of you except for my regular crew to stay inside. Do not open windows, and do not step out while we're going through the Gate. The only time you can step outside is when—and only when—I tell you it's safe."

"I'm staying here with you," Rainbow Dash said, surprising Daring Do. Sure, the mare had an obvious crush on the pirate captain but—

"Look," Rainbow Dash continued, "I know that it's dangerous, but I'm a weather mare back home, and I deal with stray weather from the Everfree all the time. I'm not going to try to fly in it, but I do have experience, and I want to learn."

Daring closed her mouth. 'Okay then, not just the crush. Actual professional interest.'

"And I—" Twilight began, but Rainbow interrupted her with her wing.

"Twilight… I know you know your way around combat and magic… but this is weather."

It was obvious the princess wanted to argue, but thankfully seemed to make up her mind fairly quickly and nodded. "Okay, but Captain, where would be the safest place to watch this through? I'd like to take notes for future reference."

'Hurray for common sense!' Daring thought. "I'd guess the Captain's quarters. The windows there have been enchanted and between that and any additional protection you could cast in an emergency, we should be safe and still have a great view."

When Celaeno nodded, the group started dispersing.

"How much time do we still have?" Daring asked Celaeno.

"Little less than an hour," Celaeno said. "Be ready. We'll be in the middle of it before you know it."

End Chapter 18