Final Filly Fantasy

Chapters

FFF I
FFF II
FFF III
FFF IV
FFF V
FFF VI
FFF VII

FFF I

Prelude

In the magical realm of Equestria, peace can be found abundant. Ruled under The Princess of Friendship, the land is kept in a harmonic state.

Though this state of tranquility suited many, some saw this as a sign to claim this docile nation for their own. Many battles were fought, and the Equestrians were victorious in keeping their home. But, a new entity from the south has been making attempted strikes to claim the throne and kingdom.

With a team assembled by Princess Twilight Sparkle, four ponies were sent to cease this opposing force, ending their assaults once and for all.

"This Idea of yours is going to fail."

"Don't argue with me."

"Be quiet guys."

"Pfft, like that'll stop them."

"You can't pull something that's been done before."

"Will you put a sock in it!"

"Does this usually happen?"

"Not with confectionery."

As the grand door opens, a smokey-fur guard peers out and sees the giant three-layered cake before him. He looks back and gestures to the other bulky storm creatures to follow him outside.

As the four observe the odd confectionery, one gestures the others to stay back as he gets closer with a spear. He aims the weapon and pierces the cake.

"YEOW!"

The other storm creatures point their spears at the cake that just spoke.

"Do you get my point now?"

*groan* "PONIES, SADDLE OUT!"

The cake bursts open with four figures leaping at a guard.

The one that stabbed the cake is quickly enveloped in a light-rose aura and is flying back.

The one that opened the door is frighten at the image of a dragon coming at him and is taken down without a fight.

The one on the far left gets blind by frosting thrown at his face and is a wallop across the head by a smooth metal object.

The last one is already anticipating the target before him; however, the figure launches a current of electric-blue magic at him and the storm creature becomes stasis from paralysis. He gets pinned down by a dark orchid mare wearing a tight black fabric with dark-violet metal plates covering her torso, giving her a sleek appearance. He gets a smack by the hoof guard on her legs and loses consciousness. The pony brushes the frosting of her moderate-rose mohawk and glares a scowl from her moderate-opal eyes at one pony in general. "I told you it was going to fail, Shining Armor! If it fooled them once, it won't fool them again." she yells as the flickering of her magic is seen coming from her broken horn.

"That'll be enough, Tempest Shadow." The light gray stallion orders the soldier as he brushes off the last of the icing left on him.

Compared to the mare, Shining is more geared up with majority of his sturdy frame covered. Along with the metallic-gold appearance of his hoof guards, his crupper layers shared the same in colors. The flanchard that is tied around his chest is overlain by the warm violet design of his peytral. Hiding partially under the moderate-sapphire-blue mane of cerulean and dark-phthalo-blue streaks, is a gold coronet designed to cover the majority of his forehead with a slot for his horn to go through. Each piece is smooth to the touch, making it work well with his wavy mane.

Shining looks back at Tempest with his moderate cerulean eyes in a stern gaze. "You shouldn't argue with your higher up."

"Excuse me!?" her tone implies the irritation she got from the weak reply, "I'm a commander. I outrank you, Captain!"

"Maybe for the Storm King!" His tone is also equally in annoyance, "But in case you didn't get the memo, you're in my squad. And as such, you'll be following my orders for the duration of the mission!"

"You certainly like to make-believe, because I remember the conversation I had from your sister very differently."

"Wait. Repeat that to me again, Twilight."

In the dining hall at Canterlot Castle, Tempest Shadow sits at a decorative table across from Princess Twilight. The two of them have their own teacup resting on the furniture, currently filling up from the teapot Twilight had in her magic.

"You want me to lead a squad on an infiltrating mission?"

"That's right," the lavender princess nods. "For the past couple of months now, we've been getting constant attempts of assaults thrown at us by a group of storm creatures. It seemed like a rebellious act at first of simply stealing food or vandalizing buildings, but it's starting to become more and more frequent and severe."

"So where does this infiltrating come into play?"

"Well after arresting a couple of them, we interrogated the storm creatures to understand their motive. A few of them stated that this was all an order given to them by a monarch as a way to conquer Equestria." She receives a contort look by the ex-commander. "I know, that idea seems completely unorthodox if you're trying to overthrow a kingdom. But the most baffling thing we learned was the monarch's name, someone going by the name of, 'The Ice Queen'." The dumbfound face the princess obtains from her listener told that they were on the same page. "Did the Storm King happen to be married or have a fawness by chance?"

"I know that he didn't have a wife, but I've never heard him say anything about having a daughter."

"Well if she's related to him or not, we tried reaching out to her in hopes of coming to a peaceful end to her assaults on us; but, all our attempts keep getting brushed aside. We tried by letter, but she never replied. We tried by messenger, but she pushed us away. We even tried some neighborly attempts of offering her some food, but she seems to be a picky eater as she doesn't even try to come out for a single bite. She just keeps herself inside her castle and only allows a few individuals to get by the guards. We can't be her punching bag forever, so I've decided to ask you for a mission to infiltrate and settle The Ice Queen's issue she has over Equestria."

Tempest readjusts herself to the feeling of skepticism she was getting from all of this. "So you're asking me to break into the queen's castle, despite the fact that you have plenty of guards that could do it or even a powerful pony such as yourself doing it instead?"

"I shouldn't leave the kingdom unattended, especially when I'm heavily needed now for the preparations of 'The Gathering of Friends' coming up. And unlike the Royal Guard, who are trained on defensive strategy, you're trained on the offensive side and the most experienced one I know of that's been on the field with it. I need expert ponies who can accomplish this with only a small team, having an entire fleet barging in unannounced would undoubtedly appear as a fierce threat. I want to settle this matter peacefully, yet we're already stepping our boundaries with this intrusion, but sometimes you have to show a firm hoof to someone who's being uncooperative. It's imperative that you use excessive force only as a last resort."

Twilight levitates her teacup for a quick sip, "So can I count on you?"

Though it's been a long time since her military days, Tempest began feeling her spirits rising, "Alright, I'll take you up on your request."

"Thank you, this really means a lot."

Tempest cups her hooves around the glass drink and brings it to her mouth. Twilight notes the way Tempest accomplishes this before looking at the cup she has levitating in her magic, "That reminds me!" The mare trots over to the dresser, opening a shelf and levitates out a silver necklace with a deep blue colored crystal for the pendent. "I want you to wear this when you go on your mission."

"It's very lovely. Is there a reason why?" asks the handicapped unicorn.

"This was something that Princess Celestia gave to me when I was learning how to use advance magic under her studies. It's a one of a kind heirloom that bestows the wearer an effect that stabilizes the flow of their magic, so I simply call this a Focus Crystal. I want you to wear it because it'll help you at performing magic."

Tempest looks at the crystal again, suddenly getting a disquietude feeling in her stomach. "...i...it'd be wasted on me. I don't know any spells."

"I can teach you some."

"With this broken horn?"

"As long as you have a connected channel to it, it should work. I can't promise you levitation or teleportation, but I can teach you the spell, 'Protect', and how to transfer the effect onto others. It really isn't that hard to perform."

"...you know what, there's probably another pony out there that's more suited to lead this mission than me."

"Come on," The Princess of Friendship gives her an encouraging smile, "You told me in your letters that you were feeling depressed with the way things have been. You said that you felt like you were just drifting through life with no real purpose. Well here's your chance to change that."

Tempest averts her eyes to the discomforting sensation she's getting from the thought of accepting it.

"You wanted to a moment ago, why the sudden change of heart?"

The broken horn unicorn peers at the accessory, watching the crystal that dangles in the air.

Tempest wipes off the frosting from the crystal that dangles around her neck.

As Tempest and Shining continue fighting, a frosting covered pony watches from the side and turns to the pony next to him, "Mind if I do it this time, Flash?"

The pony he spoke to brushes the frosting off his brilliant-gamboge fur. He pulls off his helmet using the wings attached to his sides and wipes off the frosting on his gear. "Be my guest, Wind." he offers as he replaces the helmet over his sapphire-blue mane. His vivid cornflower-blue eyes can hardly be seen behind the impressionable armor that invokes an unique imagery of him. With the spikes on his hoof guards, the bat wing design of his coverts plates, the reptilian face for the helm, and the scaly imprint from the crinet down to the tail-guard, Flash's armor made him look like a violet scaled dragon.

As Wind approaches his arguing teammates, the frosting covered stallion pulls his right side back and flings the icing at the two unicorns with the wing that was covering it.

Tempest and Shining get hit and turn to the summer-lime furred pegasus that threw it. Standing in a tigers-eye brown chest leather, Wind slouches while tapping the bronze hoof guard he wears. A strand of his ruffled orchid mane springs up at the back of his head, flicking off some icing as it did. The cutie mark of a phoenix feather on his flank shows his recovering spirit and his amber eyes show the burning confidence that resides in him and the lack of experience he has on the field. "We won't get anywhere if you two keep arguing."

The lack of discipline to his posture leaves an impression on Tempest that she has to address. The mare glances at the pony she's arguing with, "Will you tell me why he's here already. This was supposed to be a team of elites. Why is a rookie here?"

Feeling a sense of reclaiming control of the situation again, Shining eyes the pony in question, "Privet Second Wind, if you would."

Second Wind lifts the frosting on his left wing and he flings it to the floor to show his prosthetic wing. Made of metal, the inside of the wing had key panels and a small window of a blue screen monitor. Using the feathers on his right wing to tap the keys, the monitor lit up with a series of images of various objects. As he taps one last key, a spark of light flashes before the pegasus and a deep-blue heater shield with a hot-pink starburst insignia appears in the air for Shining Armor to clutch in his magic on.

Wind returns to his wing and gallops over to Flash, leaving the two unicorns to talk.

"Mind telling me what I just saw." Tempest requests of Shining.

"While he can't fly, Second Wind's artificial wing was built using a form of technology that allows him to conjure up a space pocket."

"Has technology really come that far?"

"Not that I'm aware of. According to Wind, that wing was made for him by a relative named, Cider. I brought him along because he'll be very helpful for carrying supplies like armor, weapons, first aid, those sort of things."

Wind summons a double sided steel halberd and gives it to Flash. While the pole was jet black, the head portion was tinted red. Each blade is carven in a way to give itself a small dip, almost like a low valley.

"The Stratocaster." states Wind and begins to approach Tempest, "And for the lady...... The Spiorad." In a flash of light, a great sword appears for Tempest to wield. The blade is tinted in a deep violet pommel, wrapped in a black strap on the handle and a cross-guard of dark turquoise.

As she found some affection for the weapon, Tempest also found the choice baffling. A great sword is a heavy sword for almost anycreature to lift, let alone wield properly. "You don't expect me to use that, do you?"

"Just imagine the blade as an extension of your body and you'll be fine." Shining reassures.

"But the only way I can wield it is to grip the handle with my mouth. I won't be able to properly communicate or command others."

A smooth smile is given by the captain, "I don't see a downside so far."

Flash intervenes the two before they start another fight, "It might be best that you let Captain Armor lead us, Tempest. We've been trained under him, so it might be easier on all of us if we follow him."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Flash Sentry." Shining smiles for the given support.

Flash leads up by whispering to Tempest, "Besides, I don't think receiving orders from you would go too well for him, especially after the petrifying experience you caused his wife to go through."

Tempest feels her commitment to lead the team taking a steep drop at the facts she has to swallow.

"Could... could one of you take the sword already." Wind asks the team, now starting to struggle to hold up the sword.

Groaning at the situation, Tempest caves in, "Alright fine, you can lead the team."

With the roles settled, Shining looks past the unconscious storm creatures to the door to the castle and ord-

"Hey Captain,"

The stallion looks back at the mare that called him.

She gives him a snarky look, "......don't buck up."

Armor feels his patience with her starting to run dry, much like the day that only has a few minutes of sunlight left. He shoves her remark aside, "Stay together. I don't want anypony to break from the group."

"And that's the first of many to come." Tempest murmurs under her breath before gripping the handle of her sword in her teeth.

They arrive at their first obstacle at the turn in a hallway. Shining Armor halts the party and peers around the corner.

"I see three storm creatures guarding the gates to the courtyard." Shining informs his team, "Each holding a pike, be prepared for it to possibly be thrown at you. When I give the signal, we charge at them."

Wind and Flash nod while the shaking of Tempest's head goes unseen.

"They're about thirty yards away, but we should be fine. Satyrs don't have Flux Lights, after all."

Tempest drops her sword into her hoof, "And just what are those?"

"You know, the essence of one's magic. Didn't they teach you that in magic school?"

A grouchy Tempest looks at the captain with sparks snapping from her broken horn.

"Oh... right... Well to briefly go into it, Flux Lights are basically the spiritual core all magical creatures possess that allow them to use magic. Changelings can use theirs to change appearances, Cockatrices can use theirs to petrify others, but the strongest flux lights are considered to be Equestrians. Unlike other creatures, Equestrian flux lights are more versatile and can be used in almost any given situation, whether it be to shoot magic bullets or strengthening one's self. Not everycreature has it, such as Storm Creatures, so I have confidence that everything will go smoothly."

"Let's hope for all of our sake that it does." Tempest remarks, clenching the sword with her teeth again.

Shining brushes the snarky comment aside and takes his shield in his aura, "Weapons at the ready."

Flash tightens his grip on his spear and Wind unfurls his metal wing.

".....go!"

The four of them charge down the hall, revealing their position to the guards. The Storm Creatures react in different manners for the oncoming assault; the middle one takes a defensive stance, the right one pulls his spear overhead, and the left one makes a retreat.

Shining throws his shield like a disk with the right Storm Creature hurls his spear like a javelin, and while the satyr may have let go of his weapon, Shining still held his in his aura. The thrown spear is flying at the gliding pegasus, Flash Sentry. "Heads up!" the flying pony warns, arches his wings and he spirals around the projectile as it soars by him. The spear now falls at Second Wind as he gallops. He sees it coming and holds his metal wing over himself, blocking the spear like a shield.

As for the shield Armor threw, it spins at the satyr that still holds his spear. The storm creature embraces for impact from the aura cover shield, near inches from colliding with his spear. The shield jolts around the satyr in a clockwise manner and launches itself at the satyr that threw the spear. The shield bashes against the satyrs head and ricochets to strike at the surprise storm creature, knocking both of them unconscious. Shining brings his shield back using his magic and the ponies ease up upon reaching the doorway to the courtyard.

Lit up by the fading sun in a twilight glow, the courtyard is made of cobblestone flooring with cracks in erratic locations. It's very open; no porches or balconies to hide under, no bushes or trees to blend with, no fountains or ponds to dive in. The layout is far in width yet short in length like a rectangular with the ponies being near one of the corners. Its size appears that it could hold about seven, perhaps eight hundred creatures in the open lot.

The team flinch to the sound of a bell suddenly clanging outside, ringing loud enough to be heard throughout the castle. In seconds, a hoard of storm creatures comes pouring in from nearly every entrance to fill the courtyard. Each one fully ready with armor, shield, and spear on their person.

"Now the entire fortress is under high alert because of the one that got away," groans Tempest as she finally catches up with the team with the heavy sword she drags by hoof. "Now what, 'Captain'?"

Shining gives a 'don't test me' look to her, "Typically during a lockdown, those with status are held in the throne room. It's one of the most secured and heavily guarded areas to be in, so we'll be heading that way."

"Mmm-hm." Tempest says with uninterest sass, "So tell me, how are you going to get by that?"

Tempest points to the courtyard where around fifty storm creatures are waiting. All of them are guarding a specific entrance with plenty of visibility and more than enough time to prepare for impact.

"With the amount given here, the entrance they're guarding is probably the only direction we have at reaching the queen." Shining taps his chin, "But the amount of guards will be a problem."

The team of ponies think of a plan while keeping an eye on the storm creatures.

"Hey, look!" Wind points at the top of the guarded entrance within the frame, a metal sheet going from the left frame to the right, is presenting a row of spikes aiming down over the entrance. "Isn't that a portcullis?"

Shining Armor begins feeling that luck is favoring him, "We could drop it to keep the satyrs locked outside!"

"Though, I have to question," Wind wonders aloud, "why don't they use it for themselves to keep us out?"

"Because luck favors the foolish." Tempest answers and looks the other way before Shining could eye her.

"In any case," Shining refocuses, "we still need to get by them somehow."

"Then let me act as decoy."

Tempest, Shining, and Wind look over to Flash Sentry, not expecting the offer of volunteering himself for something so hasty.

Shining Armor has an unsettle on his face, "The idea of a decoy seems like an effective choice, but there's so many of them."

"I'm the best one for the job," Flash tries convincing, "I'm the fastest one on the team, and the only one that can fly. If things get dicey, I'll just fly out of their reach."

"Valid points," Shining thinks over the idea, keeping Flash’s reasons in mind, and his views on the idea changes, "...I'm starting to like this plan. If you feel confident about this, then you have my thanks and approval."

Flash Sentry gyrates his joints and loosens up his wings with a few flaps, "Okay. Everypony ready?"

"One moment." Tempest requests as she got closer to the daring pony. She lays her hoof between Flash's shoulder blades and lights up her horn. He feels a tingling sensation coming from Tempest's hoof coursing throughout his body. Tempest returns her hoof to the floor; yet, Flash keeps feeling the sensation moving inside him. "I cast 'Protect' on you. If Shining Armor thinks something is a good idea, then we better prepare for the worst."

The captain and commander exchange a glance that expresses their vexing impression they have of each other.

Flash gallops onto the courtyard before those two start to fight and swings his halberd in his wings. All the storm creatures prepare for the assault, but only a dozen of them break formation to go after the pegasus. Sentry takes careful aim as he pulls back his spear with the approaching satyr closely watching his actions.

As Flash throws the halberd, the storm creatures slide to a halt at the surprising sight that he throws the spear far too high over them. They watch his weapon embed itself into the stone surface. The satyr looks back at the pegasus and one of the storm creatures becomes a victim of being a hoofstool as Flash bounces off of the guard. Sentry goes into a glide and nabs his halberd into his hooves.

Flash Sentry flies over the storm creatures still guarding the entrance. "Not coming after me?" Flash tries to provoke, "I guess you guys are the doormats."

A few take offence and the storm creatures he jumped over rejoins the group of guards.

Flash gestures at the satyrs that they're not worth his time, "Your mother is a space mutant." Sentry flies off and almost the entire group of storm creatures chase after him, throwing their spears at the pony. Flash avoids their attacks and sees that only one guard is keeping his post.

Flash turns around and flies in close to the lone storm creature standing guard. They glare at each other and Flash Sentry uses his best insult to trigger the satyr to follow him.

"You spoony bard."

The storm creature lunges at Flash the pegasus flies away and takes the entire group of guards with him.

Shining Armor, Second Wind, and Tempest Shadow take their chance and they gallop to the unguarded entrance.

Flash Sentry continues to dodge spears as it's thrown at him. He weaves, he curves, and one particular spear comes at him that he isn't prepared for. It's unavoidable, and it's going to cost him as the spear strikes at a bare portion of his chest.

The impact sends him flying back; but, he manages to regain his balance from falling out of the sky.

The spear that struck Sentry falls to the floor and the satyr that threw it retrieves it, surprised upon seeing that the spear isn't tarnished in blood.

Rubbing at the spot he was struck, Flash reviews the aftermath and is thankful that there's no puncture wound. He still feels a sting, but it could've been worse if he wasn't under the spell 'Protect'.

Shining Armor and his squad make it to the unguard entrance. Tempest lights up her horn and shoots a ball of magic skyrocketing into the air and explodes in a dazzling display.

Flash spots Tempest's 'Firework' spell and flies to join them, leaving the storm creatures behind. He listens to the guards roaring at his retreat, and suddenly hears them gasp. Sentry begins to feel something's amiss at a crackling sound and getting an intense heat behind him. The pegasus turns his head and is immediately blind by a giant ball of fire coming up fast.

Flash takes evasive action and avoids the fireball burning past him with only a scorching impact hitting his right wing. Sentry seethes at the pain and dives for the entrance where his team awaits. He comes falling through the door and skids across the floor.

Shining kicks the winch's handle to send the portcullis dropping to the floor and turns towards the lieutenant, seeing his burnt left wing sizzling.

"A fireball," Flash informs everypony before they could ask, "one of them must've had a scroll."

"Here too!" Shining slams a hoof at the floor, "I should've cast 'Shell' on you earlier when I had the chance." beating himself up over the unforeseen mistake.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tempest asks, "I thought you told me that Satyrs can't use magic."

Wind pulls out some ointment and begins applying it on Flash, leaving Shining to answer her question, "We've been recently getting reports about creatures using various forms of magic by which they shouldn't be capable of. Shooting lasers, increasing gravity, the spells they use have always been different. Unfortunately, we haven't found the root reason as to why this has been happening, but we do know that each caster uses a scroll to execute the spell."

"Are the scrolls magical in any way?"

"That was our first assumption, but once we acquired a scroll from a fleeing caster, we found that it possesses no magic. Our best guess is that there is only a certain amount of times you can cast a spell from it before the scroll loses its magic. As for how they get these scrolls, we can't really say."

Wind finishes aiding the injury on Flash's wing and steps back for Sentry to test out how efficient of a job he did.

Flash flaps his wing, feeling completely pain free of the burning sensation. It's as if he was never burnt, literally as there's no scorches or rashes left on him.

While Flash and Shining seem casual about this, Tempest has to ask Wind, "What'd you use?"

"Just an ointment I made by mashing up some Rawst Berries."

"Berries?!" Tempest watches Wind return the ointment back to the space pocket his wing activates, "What else do you have in there?"

"Well I have some Dead Peppers to hasten one's movements, couple Jolt Tonics to wake you from a deep slumber, there's sleeping bags, a few eye drops, a smoke bomb, dozens of potions, don't ask what's in them."

"Wait, smoke bomb!"

"Mm-hmm, I've got only one and Captain Armor wants me to have it on wing in case we really need it."

Tempest grumbles under her breath as she drags her forehooves down her face, "What's the point of having it if you don't use it!"

After some time with Shining Armor leading the way down a corridor that feels like it's suspending in the air, Flash, Wind, and Tempest finally arrive at the giant double doors that lead into the throne room. The frame of the doors stretches thrice the height of any of them. The doors have a pattern of diamonds trailing down the front of it with the moonlight beaming from a high window along the wall.

They're almost there, but something at the end of the hall blocks the throne room's doors. A large figure in a red tatter cloak stands guard in wait, appearing like no storm creature they've met before. The team slows down to a fair distance away from this creature that's twice the height and width of any of them. The creature's face is completely hidden, allowing only the team the pleasure of seeing its fearsome white eyes as It narrows them on the ponies.

"I've been waiting for your arrival." it declares in a tone much too deep and rough for it to even be considered female. "You have traveled well, but I'm afraid that this is where you will fall." His cloak shifts and his bulky white hand comes out holding the end of a rolled-up scroll. "I am the holder of the spell to end all spells. The most powerful spell ever created, Ultima."

He points the top end of the scroll at the team. The scroll begins humming, emitting a low light inside as it charges up to invoke the spell it possesses.

"Hold your ground!" Shining orders his squad, "We don't know what to expect from this spell. So be prepared for anything!"

The humming of the scroll deafens the 'humph' from Tempest, but the four of them prepare for the worst.

A heavy brush of the wind begins to swirl in front of the troupe. A small sphere of pure light forges in front of them and starts to expand. The four ponies stare up as it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, violently shaking the room and only getting worse by the second.

And finally, upon reaching its full size...

IT EXPLODES!

*pop*

"............."

All five of them stand in silence, dumbfound that the spell made an explosion the size of a tiny bubble.

"Wha....what happened?" The cloak figure blares for his opponents. He scans the parchment, reading the words it contains inside, "I followed exactly what it said. Where did I go wro...!" The figure slaps his head, "I have been conned! This is not the legendary spell 'Ultima', this is the spell 'Ultimid'." He tears the scroll up and tosses it into the air. "Bah, I prefer weapons anyway." The figure grabs his red cloak and tosses it away.

"Quiver in fear ponies, for you are about to face an opponent the likes of which you have never encountered before." A ring on his right finger flashes and a red pole as tall as him with a sharp blade at one end appears in his grip.

"From distant lands I have traveled, vanquishing many powerful adversaries that dared to challenge my skills." He spins the weapon around his biped body, covered in fine cloth and protective golden leg, wrist, and shoulder guards.

"Now fate has brought me here, hired by 'The Ice Queen' herself, to stop those who foolishly venture into these halls." He grips the pole under his armpit and hones his gaze with an intimidating white painted face with red stripes going along it.

"Remember this day well ponies, for this is the day you fight against the legendary..." He pulls his right side back and lifts the leg to it. Holding out his left palm like he is pushing something ahead of himself, he poses to show off the body of a minotaur's.

"Genji Spirit!"

The four equestrians take in the sight of this showboating minotaur that keeps his pose steady. Shining looks around if the bizarre display is a decoy, Flash lifts his helmet to see if his eyes weren't playing tricks, Wind hangs his jaw to the off-putting reveal, and Tempest is irk as her horn cracks out some sparks.

"I see that my presence has silenced all of you in utter terror." Genji comments, "It is to be expected, as I've left that impression upon many others before you."

Not finding anything that suggests trickery at hand, Shining loosens up, "I think I speak for the rest of us, that we didn't expect The Ice Queen's last line of defense would be a clown."

Genji loses his balance to the remark, "Wha! Clown!?!? How could you arrive at that assumption?" He rubs the chin of his painted face, "Didn't you hear what I said about myself in my speech? I thought I nailed it."

"Look, we're just planning to have a discussion with the queen. So if you don't mind, please let us through."

"Bah," Genji grumbles, "I suppose action speaks louder than words for the likes of you." The minotaur puffs out his chest and stands firmly in front of the doors with his polearm at his side. "Approach me, and I'll prove to you who's the real clown around here."

Shining huffs a smile, finding this odd situation amusing, irritating, and hard to believe that it's happening. He gives the female of the team a sly look, "Well Tempest, you've been in a cheery mood lately. Why don't you show us what a 'commander' can do."

Tempest slouches with an eye roll, "Oh phor phuken tsakse!" she muffles with the sword in her mouth. She puts up with his order and guns for the minotaur.

Skidding the tip of her heavy sword on the ground, Tempest pulls back with signs that she intends to strike the guard's left side. Genji acts accordingly and prepares for the impact.

Once within striking range, Tempest swings her body instead of the sword, revealing her back in the twirl and swinging the blade at Genji's right side. Despite the effort, the minotaur blocks it with the polearm like a pro and locks their weapons together.

"Claymore," Genji announces, "Crafted in The Highlands, around 50 years old, near perfect condition, but forged out of poor material. My best guess is that it has a few good swings in it before it breaks."

Done with his analysis, Genji shoves Tempest. The mare stumbles back with the heavy sword pulling most of her along, "Your choice in quality is as poor as your choice in weapons." scolds the minotaur. "And YOU..." Genji points at Shining Armor, "sending a lady to fight your battle, are you or are you not a male?"

Shining response before anyone could answer that with the glow of his horn. Genji is enveloped in the light-rose aura of Shining Armor's magic. The stallion tries throwing the minotaur aside, but is surprised to find that he isn't budging.

Genji notices the magic that's covering him, "Oh that is a low blow, turning me pink like this. Fine, if that's how you prefer to fight..." the ring on Genji's right hand flashes and the minotaur points at the team a scroll that suddenly appears in his grasp, "then here's MY low blow."

The scroll shines and blasts out a ridiculously powerful torrent of wind, pushing the ponies back by the overwhelming force. The four of them struggle to keep their ground and resort to using their weapons to root them down. Flash Sentry stabs his spear down and attempts to pull himself closer to the halberd. Second Wind digs his prosthetic wing in the floor and feels like he's about to lose another limb. Tempest is having the hardest time with both weight and force against her, she can't even manage to pierce the floor with her heavy sword.

Tempest loses her grip on everything and she separates from her sword while flying back. The blade jams itself in the wall, but Tempest's hoof is caught by Shining Armor and he pulls her behind his shield, currently lodged in the floor.

They both push against their only means of protection from the gale. "YOU KEEP MAKING ONE WRONG DECISION AFTER ANOTHER, ARMOR!" Tempest attempts to yell at him over the howling wind, "YOU DON'T LEAD A PARTY TOGETHER THROUGH A FORTRESS, YOU SEND A SCOUT TO SURVEY THE ROOMS AHEAD. YOU DON'T CHARGE AT GUARDS FROM AFAR, YOU LURE THEM INTO AN AMBUSH. YOU DON'T ORDER A DECOY FOR A HORDE OF ENEMIES, YOU BLIND THEM AND TAKE THEM OUT IN THE CONFUSION. YOU DON'T STANDBY FOR YOUR OPPONENT TO CHARGE AN ATTACK, YOU CHARGE AT THEM FIRST TO BREAK THEIR CONCENTRATION. AND YOU ATTACK A SINGLE ELITE WITH UNRELENTING FORCE FROM THE ENTIRE TEAM, NOT ONE BY ONE LIKE SOME TURN BASED ROLE PLAYING GAME!"

The pressure of the wind pushes at them harder and the entire team is showing signs of faltering under the strain.

"YOU'RE GOING TO GET US KILLED AT THIS PACE, SO WILL YOU PLEASE LET ME LEAD ALREADY?"

Every one of her choices feels like a slap to the face to Shining at how much more smoother this mission would've been if she had led. Caught between fear and responsibility, he feels like he's gambling the fate of his team away, with both choices appearing to lead toward bad endings.

Shining Armor turns towards Flash and Wind, finding that dealing with the torrent to be easier than his next actions, "TEMPEST IS TAKING COMMAND."

The deafen words can hardly be made out by the two pegasi, let alone seem believable to them. They manage to turn their sights towards the captain, barely managing to keep their eyes open.

"FOLLOW TEMPEST'S ORDERS."

His lips match what they hear and the two pegasi give subtle nods.

Now that the leader has been shifted, Shining turns to Tempest, "SO WHAT'S THE PLAN?"

Tempest informs him of the idea she has in mind before the wind blowing from the scroll begins to die down.

Genji notices the shift in the wind, the scroll is giving off nothing more than a breeze. The minotaur tosses the scroll aside with a displeasing look, "Their lifespans just keep getting shorter everyday." Genji spots Tempest Shadow galloping over to Second Wind and Flash Sentry, conversing about something. Wind opens his prosthetic wing and begins typing on it.

"Okay Genji," Shining Armor regains the minotaur's attention. The stallion holds his forehooves up as he got out from behind the shield, "I'll admit it, I was wrong."

Second Wind pulls out a Dead Pepper and gives it to Flash for him to eat, leaving Sentry feeling peppy and hasty.

"You're definitely no clown."

Tempest lays a hoof on Flash's back and he starts feeling like he was earlier when he was protected.

"We don't stand a chance."

Shining's horn glows and Flash is suddenly in a magic layer that forms over his body like a shell.

Genji raises a brow, getting conflicting signals from the ponies. "So you're falling back?"

The question takes Shining by surprise, "Did you believe me!?"

Flash opens his wing and launches into the air with a swift and strong jump.

Genji prepares for the assault from the pegasus, but he shifts gears as he sees the entire team charging at him. Shining pulls out his shield with his magic and swings it at the minotaur. Genji embraces for impact and the shield stops midair just before hitting him. Genji only firms his stance further, refusing to leave an opening for a fake out. With the shield blocking most of his sight, Genji is taken by surprise as the shield flips down and reveals that Second Wind is approaching.

Genji prepares for a low attack from the pony with just enough time at the sudden shift. The minotaur sees Shining's shield facing the floor down low and realizes their strategy the moment Wind lands a hoof on the shield.

Like a spring, Shining Armor uses his shield and bounces Second Wind up over Genji. Wind has his metal wing ready to bash the minotaur as he falls and Genji shifts his weight to his upper body for the attack from above.

Genji barely blocks Wind by taking the blow with his arm. The minotaur suddenly feels his hooves sweeping off the ground from Tempest's effort of giving him a leg sweep. Wind and Tempest bounce back as Genji falls on his back to witness one more attack descending from above as Flash drops the bottom of his spear down onto Genji's stomach.

Now that the wind is knocked out of him, Shining, Wind, Tempest, and Flash get to the side of Genji and shove the minotaur out of the way of the door to the throne room.

Genji begins to regain the air that he lost through a series of gasps and coughs. He begins to return back to his hooves, "You *cough* you are indeed formidable adversaries when all of you are working together."

The four ponies put up their guard for another battle.

"But... erm... b-but I have a dentist appointment to get to, so I must cut this fight off. Just something we have to grin and bear with."

The ring Genji wears flashes and his polearm vanishes from his hands. The minotaur makes a high jump and grips to the ledge of one of the windows to the hallway. He pulls himself up and crouches on the window sill.

"Do be patient with her." Genji tells the team, "I believe she may be inflicted with something that she can't help."

Genji then proceeds and jumps out of the window, leaving the team of ponies to recompose themselves.

"What do you suppose that means?" questions Shining Armor.

"We'll find out soon enough," Tempest Shadow answers with an unfaltering demeanor about herself, "but first..." she suddenly shifts her body into a more introvert and contrite posture, "could... could one of you... help... get my sword?" Tempest points at her blade, jammed into the wall far too high for her to reach.

Shining wraps his magic around the sword and pulls, but it isn't coming out. "Could you give me a hoof with this, Flash?"

Flash Sentry flies, grips the blade, and pulls at the sword with Shining Armor; but, the weapon isn't budging.

Tempest watches the struggle a bit before turning away, finding each second of watching them harder and harder to cope with. Her eyes catch Second Wind sitting off to the side, pondering about something with a concerning look towards the ground. Wanting to get her mind off the assistance she's getting for the sword, she pursues her curiosity and approaches him.

"What's on your mind, rookie?" Tempest directly asks the pegasus.

"I'm just trying to make sense about that ring of Genji's."

"Make sense?"

"The polearm. The scroll. You caught that he was transmitting them, right?"

"I was more focused on Genji's movements, to be honest."

"Every time he transmitted something, that ring always shined just before it transmitted. Like it's a device designed to be used as a space pocket."

"A lot like your wing."

"And that's what I'm confused about. My uncle told me that he was the one that invented the space pocket component. The first and only model he built is installed in my prosthetic wing. So how did Genji come across a ring with the same properties?"

Tempest places some thought into it, reflecting upon the battle minutes ago, "...they act the same, but it's done differently. It takes a moment for you to pull out an object, while Genji can summon things on the spot. To me, it sounds like somepony came up with the same idea your uncle did."

"Maybe... it's just hard to believe that somecreature could think up of something so complex and arrive at it much differently than my uncle did."

Tempest and Wind jump at the sound of metal dropping to the floor. The two turn to see Shining and Flash had finally pulled the sword out of the wall, currently resting after the difficult struggle. The sight of their exhausted state returns the feeling Tempest just got rid of.

"Alright," Shining says while wiping the sweat off his face, "so how are we going to approach The Ice Queen in the next room?"

Tempest Shadow gestures to Shining, Flash, and Wind to gather around her for the briefing, "We're about to be dealing with someone who'll be hostile towards us; but, we have to try to get her on our good side to form a truce between her and Equestria. This is going to be ending in either an agreement or a fight, so here's what we'll do. We're going to be pulling a tactic I simply call, 'Eyes on Me'." she gestures this by pointing to her eyes and laying her hoof on her chest. "It's basically a precaution decoy tactic where two teams will be prepared for one of the possible outcomes."

"The rookie, Shining and I will be trying to settle things peacefully, while Flash will be approaching The Ice Queen unnoticed. We'll try to keep her focused on us as we try to talk her into a truce, but if things get out of hoof, Flash will be ready to ambush her and take her down without too much of a fight."

"Remember, our mission is to get her to stop her assault on Equestria through pacifistic means. Only use force if the situation demands it."

There's no objections or questions amongst the group.

"If everypony is ready, let's saddle out."

Tempest puts her shoulder to the throne room's door and begins pushing it. A cold breeze from inside hits the team, sending a chill from imagining how true this 'Ice Queen' must live up to her name. When the door opens wide enough, they take a peek inside a somewhat small throne room with a center aisle and three pillars on each side of it.

The team's eyes are immediately drawn to the ceiling and the oversized lightning megacryst. It illuminates almost the entire room, with much smaller megacrysts that fill in the areas it can't reach. The room is void of windows, but not of banners; though, that's about the only decoration the room has that isn't made of stone. Three banners, each bestowing the emblem of The Storm King, is present behind the throne at the back. Carved and brushed down, the chair to throne is made from a cold boulder that's currently... empty.

In front of the chair though, is a biped slim figure pacing about. It's of female stature, taller than the team but within reasonable size. She wears a cropped tube top that matches her thongs in a royal-blue colored fabric. The cloth shares the same color as the fingerless lace gloves on her hands, looped around the middle fingers and tattered in a snowflake design. On top of her head lays a gold tiara, cut in curves to make it look like it was housing the central gem of a sky-blue Topaz. The last bit of her accessories is the robe that covers her mouth, starting in a snowy white color and transcends down to an icy blue. Her skin is of phthalo bluish gray, visible only by her hands, face, and two toed feet. The rest of her body, from the top of her head to the end of her short tail, is covered by light azureish gray fur, making her appear quite elegant for the young faun that she is.

The faun paces left and right in front of the throne with an anxious expression. She's rubbing her hands nonstop, making her left fingers sliding over her right knuckles and repeats the pattern with her right over her left to form a circular motion. She spots Tempest, Shining, and Wind peeking their head inside and her brilliant opal eyes begin to widen. The faun gives a frustrating groan and begins striking her palms at her head like she's trying to jump-start her brain from a state of panic,

The group of ponies share a baffle look amongst themselves, already having doubts that she could be reason with.

Tempest slowly walks into the room with Shining and Wind following close behind, trying to give some time for the faun to adjust to their presence. "Might you be, 'The Ice Queen'?" the mare asks.

The faun stiffens up at the mention of her name.

"We're representing Princess Twilight Sparkle's delegators, here to negotiate a truce between your kingdom and Equestria. We only wish to do it in a manner of peace. No weapons involved and completely unarmed."

Tempest displays this by showing her sword. The Ice Queen watches the mare lay the blade on the floor and slides it off to the mare's left, allowing Flash to bolt through the air to the first pillar on the right.

Tempest looks back at Shining, he catches the message and follows suit. She looks over to Wind, he shrugs with his empty open wings and an awkward smile.

"We didn't want to infiltrate your castle like this," Tempest apologizes, "but your constant isolation was giving us little options to work with."

The Ice Queen looks at Tempest stern eyes and immediately looks away as if the mare's gaze is frightening.

Tempest catches this and softens her expression, "Would you please tell us why you're attacking Equestria?"

The Ice Queen looks at Tempest's gentle eyes and immediately looks away as if the mare's gaze is frightening.

"I-i-i-it's... th-that I... um..." outside of the obvious fear, The Ice Queen's tone is constantly changing, like she can't find the right pitch to use. She keeps shifting her position, rubbing the back of her neck and watches the floor.

Flash zips to the second pillar.

"Is this the thing Genji was talking about?" Wind whispers to the group.

"She's acting like my daughter when she's trying to make up a lie." Shining replies in a hush voice, "She might be planning to deceive us."

"...no." Tempest replies at an average tone, loud enough for The Ice Queen to hear. "I'm starting to see the issue here. Your odd actions, the frantic agitations in your movement, that wild meltdown you displayed coming in, the lack of eye contact you're making."

"You have Autism, don't you?"

Ice Queen wraps her robe around herself for security. Her head from the nose up are the only things visible that show her shock expression.

"That's why you've been dodging us, because you have a disorder with communication and social interactions. You wanted to avoid a situation like this one."

She looks down her robe, now hiding her nose inside the garment.

Flash flies to the closest pillar from the queen, flipping his spear with the intent to hit her with the bottom of the weapon if need be.

"Please," Tempest reassures, "don't be too concerned about us. Just take your time, and tell us when you're ready."

The Ice Queen still couldn't look at the mare in the eyes, but the words got through nonetheless.

While they wait, Shining and Wind ease into a comfortable stance showing no hurry. Flash loosens up that he doesn't appear to be needed. But Tempest is starting to see something. There's something about The Ice Queen's face that's starting to become familiar to Shadow.

Tempest watches the queen taking swift glances at the team before turning away, feeling like each second of watching them is getting harder and harder to cope with.

The Ice Queen shifts in her robe.

"Are you ready to talk?" Tempest asks in a benevolent tone.

".......urk!"

All of their ears perk up to the sound she made.

The Ice Queen falls on her knee, clenching at her chest.

Tempest, Shining, and Wind approach the fallen faun and stop after the first step. The three of them trace back, more startle than concern that The Ice Queen suddenly starts to glow a shade of blue. They feel a freezing gale blowing at their fronts and get launched across the room. As the team slides on the floor, Flash struggles to keep his position behind the pillar as this breeze refuses to give up.

A violent tundra engulfs around The Ice Queen, wrecking up the room with hail and frost. The banners over the throne swiftly shred to pieces and all the lightning megacryst flicker as if the room was possessed.

The phenomenon vanishes as fast as it appeared and the ponies begin to stagger back onto their hooves. The area feels much different than before, much colder with flakes of ice dancing in the air.

"Just what in hellblazes was that?" Shining asks.

"It feels like we're in a giant freezer." Wind shivers.

"...what about her?" Tempest suggests to the faun's state.

As they look at the creature in question, something was getting up in her place.

With the lightest of touches, the queen flattens her hand on the floor and pushes herself up. The sound of the floor cracking echoes through the chamber from a heavy wave of frost spreading from her palm.

In supple and graceful motions, she stands up to reveal a complete overhaul in her physical features. Starting at the bottom of her five toed feet, up her tone legs, past her tail-absent waist, trailing her smooth stomach and arms, over the soft hills on her chest, skimming the elegant neck she bares, along the enchanting curves of her face, and stopping at the top of her forehead, bares her light grayish azure skin from any fur, leaving only the garments intact upon her form. The only part of her body that bears any resemblance to her fur is the long flowing hair that shimmers like frozen icicles.

None of the ponies are quite certain at what they're seeing, but there was something otherworldly to her. The way she sways her willowy figure has a calm and controlling flow. She gazes at the perplexing faces the ponies gave with her cold expression and tosses her robe aside no longer as a faun, but a species resembling that of a 'homo sapien'. The Ice Queen closes her eyes while stretching her arms up. An orb of light appears above her palms, producing an eerie sound.

"Tempest!?" Shining's voice is full of concern.

"Orders?!" Wind's tone is swelling in panic.

The eyes of The Ice Queen shoots open at them.

"MOVE!!"

Tempest and Wind roll to the left with Shining dodging to the right and avoids a beam of icy magic blows from The Ice Queen's palm in a howling roar. The stream of magic slams the door the team came in and begins to form a large layer of ice against it, sealing everyone inside.

Even without touching it, the ponies feel their skin being the victims of frostbite with the temperature in the room exponentially plummeting into a chilly breeze.

The monitor installed on Second Wind's wing begins to static and powers down. "THIS TEMPERATURE IS FREEZING OUT THE POWER ON MY WING!" Wind yells at Tempest over the loud gale.

"WHAT?"

"I WON'T BE ABLE TO SUPPLY YOU WITH ITEMS FOR THE TIME BEING."

With things looking bad and no sign of getting any better, Flash Sentry takes action and made an assault in the form of a dive at The Ice Queen.

The queen glazes her sight on the approaching pegasus. She swiftly turns to snatch the spear in her right hand just mere inches away from in her expressionless face. Flash jerks and pulls at his halberd, but he's not even making The Ice Queen struggle with the frozen grip she has on the weapon.

The Ice Queen gently lowers her arm to where she meets Flash at eye level. She observes him struggling and lowers him to the point where he nearly touches the floor. Flash glares up at her, a little worried at what she's doing. The Ice Queen raises her left hand, and with the snap of her fingers, Flash's legs and torso are immediately encased in a block of ice. She toys her captive victim, crouching down and scratching under his chin and sends chills through his body in the literally form.

"Negotiation is over," Tempest declares to the team. "Attack the rear." she commands while looking at Shining, then turns to Wind with the order to... "Provide us support."

Shining and Wind brake formation. Tempest grips her sword in her teeth and gallops to save her teammate head on. The blade of her weapon clangs on the floor's surface is making it very obvious of her approach.

Tempest swings the heavy sword at the queen with the sharp end of her blade, hearing it cling upon impact and feeling a shiver coursing through her body.

The Ice Queen's posture is unfazed, acting like she was never struck. Tempest puts all her strength to at least make her budge, but it feels like she's pushing against a glacier.

Finally, The Ice Queen turns her attention to the unicorn that's trying to graze her, locking their eyes on one another with no wavering from either of them. Tempest glares at the icy gaze she's receiving, getting a cold feeling at who's before her.

Gracefully rotating her wrist, The Ice Queen pinches the sword between her thumb and index finger. Frost begins to appear on the blade, crackling under the intensity of the freezing temperature. With a flick of the queen's wrist, the blade snaps off effortlessly.

Tempest falters, she eyes her weapon that is now nothing but a hilt and a stub for a blade that's short as her broken horn.

The broken blade in the queen's clutches shatters into snow powder from the overwhelming temperature. With the remaining dust in her palm, The Ice Queen blows it in the mare's face and she slides back across the room.

Tempest rolls along the floor and is met up by Wind. "You think we can restrain her, Tempest?" asks the pegasus while helping her up.

She spits the broken sword to the floor, "I don't know, but that thing isn't the same creature we met coming in here."

The Ice Queen stands back up and immediately bends her body by the hip, just barely dodging Shining Armor's shield thrown at her from behind as if she anticipated it. Shining pulls the magical grip he holds on the shield back at the queen. She jerks herself forward and slides on her knees like the floor is made of ice, resulting in the captain to miss again as she limbos under the shield.

Shining continues to swing his shield at The Ice Queen; but, the queen keeps swerving around the weapon like she's skating on ice.

"The control she has over her body," Tempest states, "it's completely contradicting to what an autistic creature should be struggling with."

"Why does she keep dodging it?"

Tempest turns to Second Wind from his comment.

"I mean she caught Flash's lance and she took the blunt force of your sword. Catching a shield should be as easy as catching a disk, so why is she dodging his shield?"

Tempest snaps her attention back to the fight with this new information. Despite as he might, Shining Armor isn't landing a single hit, even when The Ice Queen isn't looking at the shield encase in a light-rose color aura.

"...THE MAGIC!" Tempest blurts, "The difference is the magic the shield has around it."

"Then that means only you and Shining Armor pose a threat to her." Wind clarifies.

"Go try and free Flash." Tempest commands Second Wind while she gets back into the fight.

Tempest Shadow takes steady aim while her horn charges for a shot. As The Ice Queen makes a leap over a low attack, Tempest shoots the 'Firework' spell at the queen. Just like with the shield, she anticipates the move and swings her arm, casting an orb of ice to take the impact of the mare's spell.

"Tsk." Tempest expresses her frustration, "It's like we have to be right on top of her if we want to leave a scratch."

Despite missing her, The Ice Queen expresses a hint of bitterness from the attempted attack and she twirls her wrist with a gentle glow at the fingertips. A zephyr of snow twirls around Tempest, and with the clenching of the queen's fist, Tempest is encased in a light-rose color layer of magic, shielding the snow that's trying to envelop her. The snow slides off the mare and both the ladies turn to Shining Armor, currently casting his magic to 'Shell' Tempest from The Ice Queen's assault.

Shining wraps his aura around his shield again and continues where he left off by attacking The Ice Queen. She dodges just as before and slides herself towards a pillar with the shield following her. The queen lays her right hand on the column and spins around it clockwise. Shining guides his shield counterclockwise around the structure for a surprise attack. The Ice Queen glides her feet farther from the pillar, sliding herself down the column to avoid the shield. The moment she sees Shining Armor, she kicks out a sharp icicle from her foot that soars towards the stallion. The display takes Shining by surprise; but, the icicle shatters in a display of flickering light from an intercepting 'Firework' shot from Tempest Shadow.

Second Wind reaches the trapped Flash Sentry, still residing in the block of ice. Wind pulls back his metal wing and begins to chip away at Flash's icy prison.

The Ice Queen is showing signs of her struggle with the two unicorns as they keep defending each other and attacking her. She keeps up her attempts and spots in the fray that Wind is trying to free her captive. It's becoming clear that she's losing control of the situation.

In a vehement display for control, The Ice Queen glides to the center of the room and begins to spin in place, forming hail around herself. Shining's shield goes for The Ice Queen and it's pushed back by the tornado of hail. The hailstorm quickly fills the room and the entire team is getting pummeled in an onslaught of ice the size of peas.

The hailstorm ends as fast as it came, exposing The Ice Queen from her hiding spot. Shining shakes off the hail and continues to attack with his shield, but his shield isn't reacting. Tempest brushes off the hail on herself and casts 'Firework' at The Ice Queen, but nothing is appearing.

Tempest and Shining look at each other, then at the other’s horn and see that the other's horn is embed with hail. The unicorns try casting a spell, but the hail is stopping their horns them from casting any magic. They both share a face of dread to the impending doom they're in and look upon their executioner.

The Ice Queen sweeps back her hair and glares her unflinching cold gaze upon Tempest and Shining. She keeps looking between the two vulnerable ponies, lifting her left hand with the thumb and middle finger pressing together.

The chipping sound of ice catches the queen's attention. She looks past the unicorns towards Second Wind, still using his wing to break Flash Sentry free.

Shining Armor sees the glare she's giving Wind. As The Ice Queen extends her arm at the pegasus, Shining pushes Wind out of the way, resulting with the captain being encased in an ice block to the queen's clicking fingers.

The Ice Queen looks at Second Wind outside the block of ice, but refocuses her attention on the only pony that pose a threat to her, Tempest Shadow.

Tempest backs up, reevaluating the situation. She jerks her head to the entrance that's been sealed in ice, swings her head to the concern pegasus with a frozen system to the supplies, darts her sight on the queen that's resilient to everything but magic, zips her head to one of two magic users currently frozen in a block of ice, and flicks her eyes to her broken horn that is now unusable. She bumps her rear on the wall behind, nowhere to run from this unwinnable fight.

The Ice Queen folds her arms as she approaches the mare, taking her time as she ponders on what to do with the pony.

Tempest Shadow's heart is beating like crazy, registering just how hopeless the situation has become. She watches The Ice Queen getting closer, and with each step that's taken, Tempest begins to settle down.

Second Wind reads the pony's ominous expression and takes quick action.

The Ice Queen taps a finger on her cheek and ceases her approach. She pulls back a hand, forming a glowing orb in it.

Tempest relaxes her body, waiting for The Ice Queen's cold embrace.

The queen swings her arm with Second Wind getting between her and Tempest with Shining Armor's shield and block a flurry of tiny ice crystals being blown from The Ice Queen.

The dust shimmers like diamonds with temperatures well below zero. The shield isn't enough to completely protect the two ponies and Wind resorts to using his metal for support. He looks back at Tempest, getting a 'why are you even bothering' look from her, "Why are you just standing there?!"

"Rookie, it's over." the anguish audibly present in Tempest's voice, "We have nowhere to run, we have no way of stopping her, and we have no way of protecting ourselves for very long. We've lost this fi-"

"WE NEVER LET LOSSES STOP US!" Second Wind's outburst silences Tempest, gaining a sliver of optimism from her. Ice begins to creep around the makeshift barricade, "Broken ponies like us don't let their losses stop them, they forge new paths that lead towards uncharted possibilities." He puts on a smile to fight the chill of the ice slithering across his body, "If there's any chance we have left to get out of this alive, it's in your hooves." Wind begins shivering, but he refuses to drop his grin, "J-just.... f-f-focus...."

Tempest takes a sharp inhale to the sudden wave of ambition flowing life back into her. She looks at the Focus Crystal hanging from her necklace. "....bestows the wearer to stabilize their magic." she looks through the fog of ice at the frozen Shining Armor then over to her broken sword on the floor, "Imagine the blade as an extension of your body."

Tempest Shadow displays her reinvigorated spirit by jumping out of the icy fog and gallops for her broken sword. The Ice Queen ends her attack and studies the mare as she scoops up the broken weapon into her mouth. Tempest charges at the queen like a jouster, reflecting in her eyes the housing magic inside that desires release. Her broken horn tries to glow, but the hail is halting her from shooting out a spell.

The Ice Queen shows no concern and forms a sharp icicle directly above the trajectory Tempest is charging for.

As Tempest is about to pass by the queen, the mare quicken her galloping with a sudden burst of speed, dashing by the icicle before it falls on her.

Tempest slows down her charge. She looks back to see that The Ice Queen is still holding the icicle in the air, only now dropping it after a long delay. The queen falls on a knee, struggling to bear with the seething pain she's getting from her leg.

The Ice Queen looks back at Tempest, her horn is still embedded with hail. The queen looks at the pony's weapon in her mouth, a broken sword, wrapped in a black strap on the handle with a cross-guard of dark turquoise. The blade is but a stub tinted in a deep violet pommel color, and beyond that, extends an electric blue blade made entirely out of magic.

The Ice Queen takes another sharp hiss to the pain before she sits on the floor in a hunching posture. The ice in the area begins to melt at an alarming rate, but the temperature of the room feels no different.

And suddenly...

An orb of light gently flies out of The Ice Queen, leaving a trail of heat that's both colorful and fleeting. It hums a soft sound that Tempest can't quite compare to anything, but the sound leaves her feeling calm and at ease. It's soothing to her ears, but there's also some sorrow to it that pulls at her heart strings.

As mysterious as this sphere is, another flies out of the queen. And then another. And another. And more continue to as the previous orbs of light begin to fade away.

The Ice Queen's image of the 'homo sapien' begins fading away, slowly revealing her faun figure. Almost like a second layer of skin, both of her forms are synced up, moving together for the time being.

Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, and Second Wind begin to break out of their icy prison, gathering by sight of what's happening around them.

Tempest lays her sword, void of the magic blade to it, "So..." the mare begins to converse with The Ice Queen again, "are you going to stop these assaults on Equestria?"

The queen gives a droll chuckle, "Why did I even bother trying? I was never cut out for this life, let alone to be a queen."

"Why were you attacking Equestria?" Tempest asks The Ice Queen again.

"Because that's how he did it, how he ruled. He was never into monarchy, and I can see why. This country was slipping through my fingers. We needed more of this, we needed more of that, and I could only see that solving the issue was to take over other kingdoms." The Queen's prior appearance is nearly gone with her faun form becoming more solid as the orbs continue to leave.

"If you were low on resources, why didn't you just accept Princess Twilight's kind gestures of just being friends? I'm sure she would've helped."

"Because it was just too hard. I could never get the hang of making friends, let alone maintain them for long."

"Because of your Autism."

The faun nods as the 'homo sapien' is now completely gone with only the orbs of light remaining, "I would just make things worse because of that cursed limitation, so I resorted to taking down Equestria from the inside."

"You could've always just handed the kingdom down."

"And then what? What do I do after that? I'd just be drifting through life with no real purpose."

Shadow's eyes widen. The faun is beginning to appear transparent.

"Stepping down, my mind wouldn't take all the questions I'd be asking myself."

"How will I live?"

"I can't survive!"

"I'll find a way!"

"What if I don't?"

"The kingdom will fall without me!"

"I'd rather die than to continue ruling!"

"Will they understand?"

"I'm just acting selfish!"

"No... I'm NOT SELFISH!"

"But, what if I am selfish?"

"This is all because I'm Autistic!"

"I'm just using that as an excuse!"

"No, it really is because of Autism!"

"NO, IT'S REALLY BECAUSE IT'S ME!"

The queen slams her forehead on the floor, creating a loud 'bam'.

"I hate this!"

*Bam*

"I HATE HAVING IT!"

*BAM*

The Equines flinch to every impact she makes. Tempest wouldn't stand watching this self abuse any longer. She attempts to place a hoof on The Ice Queen's shoulder and...

"It's... it's just..."

...she goes right through the faun. The queen is completely transparent now, only a vague image of her can be seen. As the orbs of light leaving her body start to run dry, it takes away the last bit of the autistic faun from their sight.

"No matter how hard I try, I just can't look life in the eyes."

The room lingers in silence.

Tempest, Shining, Flash, and Wind, struggle to make sense of the events that just transpired, but they just keep coming up short.

Tempest still holds her gaze at the spot where the faun vanished, "...mind explaining this one, Armor?"

"...I don't have one."

"What do you mean, 'you don't have one'?" Tempest bargains for an answer, "You've been helpful at bringing me up to speed so far. What happened to her?"

The aware and concerning look on her face tells Shining Armor everything, "I think you and I have reached the same conclusion."

"That creature," Flash spoke in, "...when she touched me, it felt so unnatural."

"Unnatural how?" Shining pushes.

"Like... like if you gave magic a body, that would be her."

"That might be why she was so unfazed by weapons and susceptible to magic." Wind gives his opinion.

"A creature made of pure magic?" Shining ponders aloud, "That can't be the case. The Ice Queen was a faun that morphed into that thing."

"Whatever it was," Tempest wraps up the conversation, "I can't help but think that she was a victim in this."

"Hm? What makes you say that?"

"......." Tempest shakes her head, "It's... it's just a feeling."

The team of ponies begin to gather their things and prepare themselves for the trip home. Shining takes his shield, Flash grabs his halberd, Wind reboots his wing, and Tempest picks up her broken sword. Though the mission to stop The Ice Queen's assaults ends in a success, it feels more like a hollow victory to them.

"Come on," Shining Armor tries to remotivate the squad, "let's report back to Princess Twilight." He leads the team out the door, "We'll put this incident behind us once we get back and return to our daily lives."

Tempest halts her pace upon hearing his words.

The sound of the amount of hoofsteps being made felt a bit light to Wind. He scans his team and sees the handicap pony standing in place, "Tempest?"

She stares out into space, not even aware that her name was spoken.

"Hey Tempest?"

".......now what?" A hint of quivering is heard in her mumble tone.

Second Wind gives the mare's shoulder a little shake, "What's wrong?"

Tempest snaps out of her trance and quickly gathers the situation. "I-it's nothing." she shakes Wind off and continues her return back to Equestria with a sullen face and a jitter to her steps.

FFF II

Prelude

The mission to quell The Ice Queen's assaults, has concluded on a tragic note. Though the four ponies were there during her final moments, they were riddled with questions to what brought this unforeseen outcome.

What exactly did they face? What brought forth this transformation? Is this the doing of fate or was this orchestrated by an unknown enemy? What they were certain on however, was that this was an omen of what's to come.

They march their way home with this in mind, yet some are foreboding the thought of what the future may be holding for them.

The stars paint the night sky, and the four ponies have already set up a campfire on a monadnock to rest by for the night. All of their heavy equipment is back in Second Wind's wing, but they haven't settled down for the night just yet.

All four of them preoccupy themselves in their own way. Tempest Shadow is watching the campfire with a troubling mind, Flash Sentry is lost in thought as he stares at the sky, Second Wind is more active as he's writing in a book, and Shining Armor stands afar with his gaze viewing the horizon. The captain can barely make out the festive lights flickering in Ponyville with a feeling of guilt inside him.

"So you didn't make it in time for 'The Gathering of Friends'." Flash Sentry tries to console his captain, "I'm sure Princess Cadance will understand that you were on a mission."

"I feel like I let Flurry Heart down as well," Shining answers with low spirit, "but after everything that's happened, I really think the team needs some time to rest. Galloping through the dark with an exhausted team could be risky." He plops himself down by the fire, rejoining with the other three ponies that surround the flames.

"Two years." Flash thinks aloud, "It's a bit strange that we're honoring a day that was about bringing down, rather than building something."

"But Equestria became a more unified nation after those three tried to take control of everything. It even shows from last year when everycreature came back to celebrate the event."

"Still..." Flash returns back to his silence.

Shining reviews the team and spots Second Wind scribbling away in his book, "What are you doing there, Wind?"

"Updating my journal." he replies, still focusing on the words he writes.

"A journal, that's something I hardly see ponies do nowadays."

"Well I want to keep a record of all the experiences I've had as a Royal Guard."

"I see... so what made you want to join the Royal Guards anyway?"

Wind freezes, turning his attention towards Shining Armor with a fluster look on his face. "It's silly... but... I want to try and relive the amazing stories I was told about my mom. Thrilling tales like proving her worth to the king of dragons, climbing up the tree of life, riding on a phantom train full of ghosts, flying to the moon on a ship, and stopping a witch that controlled time."

"Your mom really did all that!?"

Second Wind turns in embarrassment from Armor's interest.

"What's her name?"

His face quickly fades to mellow expression, "....her name was Wild Rose."

"Wild Rose...." Shining places some thought into it, but shakes his head after a moment, "No, can't say I've heard that name before."

Wind has a bittersweet look on his face, "You wouldn't have."

An awkward silence falls on the group.

"...what about you?" Wind asks towards Shining, "Why did you become a Royal Guard?"

Armor waves off the question as if there's no great significance behind it, "It was actually a last minute career choice."

"You see, while Twilight was basically the prodigy of the family, I was more of the struggler of it. I could tell a good joke and get others to smile, but I wasn't smart or talented at anything particular really. I eventually needed a career, and while everypony my age was already aiming towards one, I still couldn't find one that worked for me."

"I was dating Cadance at the time, and while her career choice was pretty much already set, she suggested that I should be a Royal Guard. I was thinking that I would never be able to withstand a month, but she said I had what it takes to be a great guard. So, I gave it a shot and got to the point where I am today."

"She had you pegged right from the start." Wind smiles at her insight.

Shining shrugs, "What can I say? She knows me more than I know myself."

Wind turns over to Sentry, "What about you, Flash? Why did you become a guard?"

Flash keeps a straight face as he goes into thought, "....I .....I was hoping to gain something out of it."

The crackling of the campfire continues. Shining and Wind share a moment of bewilderment to his answer. "...care to go into more detail?"

The pegasus subtly ruffles his wings, giving off a melancholy impression about himself. "I rather not reflect on that now, if you don't mind."

"Well alright," Wind respects, "perhaps Tempest could give a much more elaborate story about her reasons for joining instead?"

Wind, Shining, and Flash turn to Tempest, who hasn't moved from the spot during the entire conversation. She's only been watching the flames of the campfire dancing throughout the entire time.

"....I'm going to sleep." Tempest declines and begins to adjust herself into a more comfy state.

She lays her head on her folded hooves, hearing Shining say, "We should probably get some sleep too." before she drifts asleep.

At Canterlot Castle, Tempest converses with Princess Twilight Sparkle over a cup of tea in the dining hall.

Tempest is giving her report on the events that have happened during the course of the mission to the pony sitting across from her. The sympathetic look of shock and sorrow is clearly visible on Twilight's face. She covers her forehooves over her mouth, trailing her eyes towards the reflective floor after hearing everything Tempest said.

"This is tragic," Twilight empathizes with The Ice Queen, "do you have any idea of what might have caused this change?"

Tempest shakes her head, "No, none of us really do."

The princess shuts her eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath to calm her nerves, "Thank you again for your help on this matter. I can promise you that I'm going to see through to what caused this and make sure it never happens again." Twilight takes another sip of her drink before looking back at her guest. "So now that you're done with the mission, what will you do next?"

Tempest straightens up and speaks with confidence, "I'm going to continue to spread the news of the Storm King's defeat."

"Ugh, that excuse again?"

Tempest stiffens to the surprising remark. The pony across from her begins to stir a spoon in her tea with the use of her magic. Twilight rests her head on a hoof, making her bangs cover any information given from her eyes.

"Who are you trying to fool, me or yourself? You're just going to keep moving from town to town, doing little jobs to get by before heading to the next place and repeating the process there."

Shadow looks down at her drink, seeing images of her past playing in her teacup.

"Spreading the word of the Storm King's defeat, heh!" Twilight laughs, "You're just doing the same thing you've been doing before you met him. And you're going to be doing the same thing after meeting her."

Tempest looks away from the tea, finding it too irritable to watch.

"The faun was onto something, wasn't she?" the voice of the princess sounds capricious in a mocking manner, "'Drifting through life with no real purpose', I believe you said something exactly like that. But that cute description she gave, it was much more different than yours."

Tempest sees herself on the reflective floor and swerves her eyes away before she could scan up her body.

"'Cursed', that's such an innocent and wishful way of thinking it, while your description for it was much more truthful and accurate. What was it again... ah yes, you said you were 'Damned'."

Tempest snaps her head towards Twilight and sees The Ice Queen in the pony's place, imitating exactly what the princess was doing.

"So how much longer are you going to go on? How long are you going to keep 'looking away'?"

The handicapped mare begins to tremble, struggling to face down the faun before her and turns her sights away.

"WAKE UP, TEMPEST!"

"COME ON, TEMPEST! WAKE UP!"

The mare feels herself being shaken out of her dream and back into reality. Tempest sees Second Wind disturbing her and gives him a groggy face as a reply.

"We have to get going!" there's a sense of urgency in his voice.

She looks up at the night sky still overhead, "It's still dark."

"Not over there!"

Tempest rubs her eyes, looking to where his hoof points. Her eyes dilate at the site of Ponyville in the distance. The town is hardly visible, but what can be seen is a colossal sized barrier covering it with a kilometer radius of at least a hundred.

She jumps at the terrifying size of the dome that covers over Equestria. The barrier glows a radiant of colors of streams swirling and spiraling up towards the top where a single pillar of light is connecting itself with the ground. At the distance from where the four of them stand, the pillar is as thin as a hair strand, but at the bottom of that thread, sits Ponyville.

Shining whips his sights back on the team with a look of fear, "COME ON!"

The captain leads his team charging towards the barrier that's miles away. He feels his sense of dread getting worse at visible signs of a rainbow forming at Ponyville and striking at something still too small to see. There's a fight happening there, and each second that passes feels like an eternity that only keeps building.

After ten agonizing minutes, the dome begins to shrink along with the pillar of light. Smaller and smaller until the entire spectacle is gone from sight, leaving everything intact with no destruction of any sorts.

The team of ponies soften their pace, sharing the same expression on what to make of this event.

Still, after an event like this, they refuse to stop until they reach Ponyville.

Standing in the center of town after hours of galloping, the team is relieved and disturb that everything is intact.

Decorations of balloons and streamers are still up, concession stands of confectionaries and gems aren't spoiled, even the buildings and streets aren't damaged.

There are fewer creatures about, understandable given the late hour, but something is amiss. Earth Ponies and Yaks are struggling with issues involving strength. Pegasi and Griffins aren't flying about, and every single Unicorn is performing tasks using their hooves and mouths.

Shining looks at his teammates, "Split up, gather what information you can and meet back here in an hour."

Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, and Second Wind each went in their own direction. Tempest Shadow did the same, galloping through the streets and seeing everycreature looking tired and exhausted, yet it doesn't seem like it's from any kind of celebrating.

Tempest pauses the moment she sees a familiar face and starts galloping towards a busy princess conversing with the leaders of other races.

"The Great Dragon Migration is going to be starting in a few weeks. We're going to need to fly by then."

"You should be happy where you are, half of the Hippogriff can't even return home now."

"Changelings might be able to adapt, but we might be in trouble if a maulwurf attacks."

"YAK NO CAN SMASH!"

Twilight Sparkle rubs the temple of her forehead to all the delegating, but she's finding some relief to see Tempest approaching. "Just go to The Castle of Friendship and we'll settle things there." the princess asks of the leaders, "I'll be with you all shortly." All of them continue to bicker with each other, but they still do according to her wishes. Twilight turns towards Tempest and staggers before turning to the leaders, "And don't eat the walls, Ember!"

"I'll keep an eye on her!" spouts the griffin with the blind left eye.

Twilight gives a heavy sigh, expressing the stressful situation she finds herself in.

"I saw the dome from the outside of it," Tempest tells, "so could you fill me in on what happened inside?"

"The magic was stolen."

"Who's magic?"

"Everyone's and everything else." there's a tension sound in her voice.

Tempest gives her a moment before continuing, "Let's begin from the start, just what in Equestria happened here?"

"Well..."

"...as all of us were celebrating and reconnecting, one of us pointed out a light floating in the sky. Many of us were wondering what it was, but eventually, it made itself known when it landed in town."

"Well don't keep me in suspense," Second Wind insists on the young stallion with the spring bud fur, "what was it?"

"It was a fortress, a big one, one that's taller than town hall!"

"...on second thought, maybe it was better when you were building it up." Wind regrets.

"The structure was designed like three towers, with two of them connected to the third thicker one. It was almost like looking at a giant armored knight, or just a machinified living castle."

"Living?"

"There was always something moving with that thing, either it was adjusting itself with its two side towers or it was blowing steam, but the head portion is where it seemed to be alive the most. A red light, glowing from a miniature watchtower, was darting everywhere down at us. It felt like I was being judged by that thing."

"Okay, so what happened next?"

"It launched a projectile skyrocketing into the air. Within moments, we were encased in that dome and faltering as our magic was being drained." the bearded unicorn informs, "That pillar of light, it was our magic that you saw. First being pulled out of us to the surface of that barrier and then being shot down in a beam of light."

"Didn't any of you tried to stop it?" Flash Sentry asks.

"Of course, it seemed foolish that this mechanized behemoth would pick now of all times to strike us down. All of Equestria was here, The Power of Friendship would settle this issue in a blink of an eye, even if we were partially drained. But... I'm ashamed to declare that even with our combined efforts, we couldn't even phase it. That thing is completely impervious to magic."

"Did you try anything else?"

"We tried the old forceful way, but mere weapons and strength were of no good. Some were daring enough to be thrown at the beam of magic it was draining in hopes to replenish, if but for a moment. However, the eye on that machine would shoot lasers whenever we made an attempt, bringing down those poor souls. We simply had no way of stopping it until ultimately it drained us out of all our magic. We were fortunate that it was the only thing it did. Once it was satisfied, the barrier began shrinking and the trinket it shot began to fall, revealing itself to be a panel that was forming that pillar of magic. That panel reconnected itself to the main body of the machine and the bottom portion of it began glowing. The machine started to lift into the air and headed east until it vanished from our sight."

"And that was it?" Shining Armor asks Princess Cadance, "No, take over Equestria or anything like that?"

"No. Just stole our flux lights and left."

Shining looks down at his daughter, Flurry Heart. He gently rubs the filly's back as she sleeps in the comfort of her father.

"I'm glad you both aren't hurt." Armor tells with a gentle smile on a discouraged face, "I'm sorry I wasn't here when this happened."

"Don't be." his wife reassures, "I doubt any of us could've stopped that thing."

"No, I should've at least been here so you two wouldn't have gone through that alone."

Shining feels a soft pressure on his back, "But your absence might've just given Equestria a chance to recover."

He looks over his shoulder, feeling the vibration of Cadance's voice as she has her head on his back.

"You still have your magic, you and your team. The four of you might be the only creatures left that still possess Equestrian magic in them. Things don't seem that hopeless now that we have a fighting chance of getting our magic back."

The two of them enjoy a comforting moment of being together in silence.

"...Shining," Cadance breaks the moment, "Can I count on you to return the magic to Equestria?"

"I'LL DO IT!!!"

Twilight pulls back from Tempest's sudden outburst, "I didn't even ask you anything yet."

"You want me to retrieve Equestria's magic back, right?"

"Well, yes, but your eagerness was just so abrupt."

The handicapped mare reflects on the actions she's made and pulls back with a feeling of embarrassment.

The Princess of Friendship studies the mare with concern, "...what happened with The Storm Queen?"

Tempest begins explaining about everything that's happened on the mission to stop The Ice Queen. Proceeding with encounters of scroll wielders, the queen's transformation, how they barely were able to stop the magical creature they fought, and The Ice Queen's unfortunate fate.

Twilight shuts her eyes, going into thought after hearing the report. "...Tempest," she begins, "I know you've already offered to help us, and I thank you for that, but I'm afraid there's not much I can do to help you on this mission you're about to undertake."

"Outside of that machine heading east, I'm completely in the dark as to what you might uncover on this quest or the trials you might have to face. Something that can withstand The Magic of Friendship is something new to me, and I've never been more lost for an answer on what to do than now. But while we can't affect the enemy forces with friendship, that doesn't mean you can't affect your teammates, much like how Second Wind did with you." Twilight locks her eyes on the handicapped mare, "Keep that in mind, and support each other on this task to recover Equestria's magic."

Taking Twilight's words into consideration, Tempest Shadow nods.

"While my magic is gone, the rotation spell me and Starlight cast on the sun and moon months ago should still be in effect, so I suggest that you and your teammates think of a plan and rest up for tomorrow. I won't be going to sleep anytime soon, what with all the issues I need to make calls on now with the lack of magic, so I'll try and get some supplies by the time you're all ready to leave."

A thought suddenly strikes Tempest and she realizes that now would be a good opportunity to ask. She's experiencing that discomfort feeling of contrite twisting her insides, but it would be very helpful if she had this with her.

"If you're going to help supply us," Tempest hesitantly asks, "then could I ask for a request for a certain item."

Twilight tilts her head, "What do you have in mind?"

"A specially made sheath."

Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, and Second Wind converse over what they've learned over the past hour. Eventually, Shining sees Tempest Shadow rejoining the group, "We've been waiting for you."

"I was reporting to Twilight," Tempest avoids an apology with her reasons, "she's requesting us to hea-"

"Head off east and retrieve the stolen magic." Shining finishes her sentence, "Cadance asked the similar thing and we're talking abo-"

"About a plan to approach this giant machine."Tempest interrupts him. "I guess we're all on the same wavelength."

"So now that we're starting a new mission," Second Wind begins to ask, "who's going to be leading it?"

Tempest and Shining glance at Wind, "I am." The two leaders look at each other with a challenging glare.

Wind covers his mouth with his hooves and wings, "I made a boo-boo, didn't I?"

Flash nods.

"I thought we agreed that I was going to lead." Tempest asks with a little aggressiveness in her tone.

"That was 'then' and this is 'now'." Shining answers in a stern voice.

"How is 'then' different from 'now'?"

"'Then' was an infiltration mission. 'Now' is a national crisis."

"Which is why I am going to lead it."

"Not this time, too much is on the line here for me to put my faith on an offensive tactician."

"Okay, then what's your plan?. Tell me, what is daddy's plan?"

"We'll chase after it. Now that the fortress passed by Ponyville and how it brought everycreature to exhaustion, it probably wouldn't expect anyone tailing it. When we catch up to it, we'll cast 'Shell' and 'Protect' as a precaution if it tries to absorb our magic and assault it from behind when its guard is down."

Tempest slaps her hoof on her face.

"You got a problem with that, private?" Armor asks in a stern voice.

"Funny you should say that, because the obliviousness in that question just reflects how oblivious that plan is."

Flash and Wind begin conversing amongst themselves.

"One, do you really think you can outrun an aircraft in order to catch up to it? Two, if hoards of creatures all over Equestria were assaulting it and failed, how is the assault of four ponies going to differ? Three, we'd lose our magic before we could even get close to it for an attack, even if we cast 'Shell' and 'Protect', it can absorb magic and the spell cast upon us . And four, it's probably heading for Manehattan to steal their magic as well and will probably continue east over the sea, do you honestly think that the ferry would be open after an assault to help us continue our chase?"

"Then how would you handle it?"

"We fan out, try to find any clues or tips on the structure. We then exploit its weakness and flaws to get by its magic drainer and take it down from there."

"That's a good idea, BUT, that could take days. The structure would get farther away and the trail would go cold to where we have no chance at catching up to it."

"It could take days, or it could take an afternoon if we ask the right creature. That structure was built, wasn't it? So somecreature should be familiar with it."

"From the description everyone gave on the structure, the creature we would need to find would have to be a genius at mechanics in order to know how that thing works, which there doesn't seem to be any that around here to my knowledge. Our best shot is to go after that castle first thing at dawn."

"We can't stop it even if we catch up unless we can get intel!"

"And what good would the intel be if we lost the thing!"

"THEN LET'S GO TO KLUGETOWN!"

Tempest Shadow and Shining Armor turn to Second Wind's outburst.

"We could visit my Uncle Cider for advice. He's a wiz when it comes to machines, he made my prosthetic wing after all."

"Plus," Flash Sentry squeezes in, "we might even find a faster mode of transportation there."

Tempest and Shining glare back at each other for a moment before turning to the two pegasi, "Tomorrow, we head for Klugetown."

FFF III

Prelude

In one night, Equestria's magic was stolen by a machine of unknown origin. Resilient and prepared, the machine left no magic intact with the one who possessed it. The four ponies however, were fortunate to only witness the event unfold from a far.

Fate has decided to test these four ponies, and they accept this trial for family, friends, and themselves. But how can one take down something that can withstand The Magic of Friendship from an entire nation?

With the future of Equestria now riding on their shoulders, the ponies begin their search in Klugetown where someone named, Cider, could hold the answers they need to save their home from this new threat.

Walking through the bazaar within the shady town, Tempest Shadow, Shining Armor, and Flash Sentry follow Second Wind to meet with his uncle. All of them are fully armored like they were prepared for a battle, but in truth, it's just a facade for the creatures on the streets.

One merchant is entice by Tempest's sheathed broken sword swinging by a leg buckle strapped around the mare's right foreleg, but jitters back the moment they see the pony's right scarred-eye glaring at them.

A passerby gives a look of interest as they eye Flash’s halberd that's currently wrapped in cloth, but as they trace their gaze along the wing that carries the weapon, they falter away to the dragon appearance that Sentry's armor gives them.

"So intimidating them is the only way?" Shining verifies with Wind.

"With Klugetown having a reputation of being the place where everything has its price, the only way to shoo off the haggling of the common folk is to scare them away or to just blend in." the pegasus reassures, "And four quadrupeds in a city full of bipeds, isn't going to cut the latter."

"So what's your excuse?" Tempest points out Wind's attire, "Wearing chest leather, hoof guards, and a metal wing doesn't seem intimidating to me."

"It's because they know who my uncle is." Second jokes, despite how true it likely is.

"That's not very comforting to hear moments before meeting him." Flash comments.

"He's really a nice guy, but a very stubborn one at keeping commitments and holding onto grudges. You'll understand when you meet him."

The seasoned soldiers wonder about this Cider as they walk by the hovel looking stores, until they pass by a mediocre one that stood out from the garage entrance it has. The words, 'Hammerhead Garage', are faintly painted on the garage door. Wind leads them around towards the entrance of a simple structure that sticks out from the garage.

Opening the door, the team is met by the sound of a bell attached to the framing and step into a lounge of sorts. Firm chairs, a dirty table, and there's a heavy dose of grease in the air that they can smell. The absent wall on their left leads directly to the garage portion of the shop, appearing mostly in a wide open floor and walls cluttered in tools, chains, ropes, and splotches of oil in small quantities. A metal-sheet roof is being held over them by the wooden beams going along it with an electric lamp over the center of the place, and upon looking back at the lounge, there's another electrical lamp in the center as well that they'd overlooked.

"Be with you in second."

A firm voice, with hints of brittleness to it, attracts the team of ponies to the corner of the garage where an overhead electrical light is casting down on a messy workbench, along with a pale-maple fur abyssinian sitting on a stool and tinkers away at something with a screwdriver. He lays the tool down after a moment, turning towards his guest after rubbing the grease on his paws off with the prussian-blue apron he wears. The feline has a relatively old face and a strand of wheatgrass in his mouth to which he nibbles. He looks at the ponies through the aviator goggles he wears, shifting the headgear up soon after in order to get a better look at them with his sky blue cat eyes.

"Well take one of my lives and consider me renewed," the abyssinian jumps off his stool with a gleeful look, "Second Wind!" he exchanges hugs with the handicapped pegasus, "Always have a way to lighten the spirits, but judging by your friends," he reviews them, "I take that you're not here to keep this old fur-ball company."

"Forgive the intrusion." Shining removes his helmet in courtesy as he addresses the cat, "My name's Captain Shining Armor of the Canterlot Royal Guard. My teammates and I would like to request a conversation with somepony named, Cider."

"You're looking at him," the abyssinian states.

Armor is dumbstruck, noting the difference in species of uncle and nephew, but refocuses on the matter at hoof, "We came here hoping that you could possibly shed some light on an incident that happened last night."

Over the next half hour, the small team of ponies explain everything that occurred in great detail for Cider. The events they saw, the description of the magic draining machine, the capabilities it had, the aftermath that it left, and their desire to seek out a way to negate the magical defense and absorption the machine can pull. Cider nibbles the wheatgrass in his mouth as he listens to everything, but an abysmal look on his face becomes more apparent the further they explain.

Upon finishing, they wait for Cider's insight on the matter with anticipation. And after finishing off the wheatgrass, he begins, "I'm gonna be honest with ya, Captain. I don't know the first thing about magic."

Disappointment and confusion befalls on the team.

"I'm a guy who's used to working with his paws. Tinkering, melding, forging, pretty much anything involving metal is something I excel at. I can give you a rough idea on this machine you're talking about, but anything involving magic, that's something I can't quite help you with."

"But Wind's prosthetic wing," Shining grasps to understand, "it forms space pockets all the time. You're telling me that there's no magic involved in that?!"

"Absolutely none, just technology at work."

Armor drags a hoof down his face as he ponders for the next course of action, "So what should the next course of action be?" he murmurs to his team.

Shining, Tempest, and Flash debate amongst themselves, "Oh! That reminds me." until Wind recalls something and turns towards his uncle, "We met a minotaur the other day that was making objects appear and vanish similar to your space pocket."

Cider's ears perk up with an expression like someone just challenged him, "How?!"

"He didn't say, but I believe he was doing it with the use of a ring."

"But the H.A.M.M.E.R. component takes up at least half your wing!!! It shouldn't be possible to install it into something as small as a ring."

"We think he might be using something different. The time it took for him to use it was instantaneous."

Cider scrambles to his work bench, digging around the messy top until he finds a small notebook and begins flipping through the pages of formulas and concepts written down inside, "It defies the laws of strings. You have to keep in mind the energy level and the quantum states molecules possess. There's no way to control all that from just a ring." Cider pauses mid-page when he suddenly thinks of a concept to the answer. He looks over to the ponies, down to his formulas, and then out into space. As he thinks, Cider's face begins to bear his fangs in a scowl. He slams his fists on the workbench, shaking the tools and startling the ponies, "That rat bastard." the cat drags his claw across the table.

"Captain," Cider calls out, "I can't help you at taking down a machine that absorbs magic, but if my hunch is correct, I can tell you the one who stole Equestria's magic."

The entire team of ponies nearly jump to the news.

Cider takes a moment to settle down and grabs a fresh wheatgrass to nibble on before he begins. "Yimeck the Burmecian, ever heard of him?"

The ponies shake their heads.

"No? Well neither have I in the past couple of decades, but that's a name that threw a really stubborn wrench in my life at one point."

"A long while back, during my youthful days and across the sea, there was a company I used to work for called, 'Grease Kittens'. It was a decent job for the young tom that I was, but it got bought out one day by an upshot entrepreneur, named Yimeck, and he immediately fired all of us with no say on the matter. He didn't need a bunch of mechanics for his business, but I wasn't going to let that stop me, so I tried to show him my worth somehow."

"Now the reason why I brought this up is because of two things. The first is that my answer of proving my worth was with the H.A.M.M.E.R. component, the space pocket. He's the only fella I showed the schematics to, and he was quite impressed by them, but the second reason is when things turned sour. I was telling him that it could only be done with technology, but he was demanding it to be done in something he strongly believed in. The conversation ended with him saying, 'There's only one resource that terrifies the competition, whips the defiant, and mesmerizes the consumers. Magic.'"

"Magic is a bit hard to come by where I'm from, so running a business off it seems a bit ballsy. If I'm correct however, he stole my idea and constructed one of his own with magic as the main component."

"Call it vengeful wishing, but Yimeck is the only one I can think of that has the means, and possibly the business needed by now, for stealing Equestria's magic." Cider nibbles on the wheatgrass in his mouth as he notices the astound expression on all the ponies, "Sorry if this old tom rambled on for too long."

"No, in fact, thank you!" Shining reassures, "All of that information has actually filled in a lot of questions we've been struggling with. Using magic as a means of making a monetary profit was something that never occurred to me. Just what kind of business was Yimeck running?"

"Well the last time I met him, he was working on ways on how to incorporate magic into products."

"Like the scrolls!" Flash connects, "The scrolls with a limited amount of magic in them, they're just expendable products!"

"I think we have our thief," Tempest declares, "Where can we find Yimeck?"

"Shoot if I know, but if his business is doing good as it seems to be, you shouldn't have trouble finding him. I suggest searching in Ivalice, that was where I last met him."

"Is that a town?"

"It's a realm overseas to the east. You can get there by catching a ferry here in town. It's an eight hour ride, but in order to get on, you're going to have to buy a ticket for a hundred bits, each."

"WHAT!?!?" the entire team cries.

"That's a ridiculous price for a ride!" Shining voices, "Even if we turn a blind eye to it, we don't have four hundred bits on us!!"

"Well then you're lucky to be in Klugetown." Cider expresses with his arms open wide, "With everything having a price, there are bits flying everywhere. You just gotta find a good deal and work from it."

Shining, Flash, Tempest, and Wind exchange looks for any better ideas, but it appears that in order to save Equestria, they need to tackle this sidetracking procedure.

With each of them carrying an empty leather pouch on themselves and standing in front of the Hammerhead Garage's door, Tempest Shadow, Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, and Second Wind prepare to embark on their own to collect a hundred bits to cover themselves for the boat ride.

"So once you collect a hundred bits, continue to earn some more in case one of us comes up short. At the end of the day, we'll randevu back here." Shining requests of the team.

With everything appearing to be in order, Armor waves the others goodbye, "Good luck, everypony. I'll see you all in a little bit." a grin forms on his face as he trots away.

Tempest rubs the side of her head from the joke he made, "Yeah... he's a dad alright." she turns to Flash, "Know what I mean?"

"Not one bit." Sentry gives her a smile.

".......not funny." she replies with a straight face.

Flash takes his leave, walking down the street with his concealed halberd in his wing.

"Well, I'm off." Wind informs his superior.

Tempest, however, stops him from getting too far, "Before you leave, rookie. Sense you're familiar with the place, would there be a guild somewhere here in town?"

She gains an eye raise from him, "Why would you want to look for a guild?"

"Well guilds usually would have job flyers, so I thought about finding a job there."

"But they usually have hunts for some very nasty creatures. I know you're a tough commander and all, but wouldn't a less threatening way to make money be better?"

Tempest gives a huff, "Look at the creatures around us."

Second Wind looks at the various creatures. There's a fishman giving a haircut with a pair of scissors, a lizard sculpting a clay pot, a turtle carrying a barrel in his arms.

"They're all bipeds that can grab, lift, hold, carry, and reach things with their arms and hands, something that would've been easy to imitate." Shadow's broken horn snaps a spark, "Creatures are smart, they know a good deal when they see it. Those that are capable will pursue the good jobs and the ones that are hiring will pick the most helpful; after all, why would they hire someone that struggles?"

"Doesn't mean that you have to abide towards dangerous jobs."

"It's just how I've been living." there's a melancholy look in her eyes as she gazes to her lower right, "Dangerous or degrading tasks that no one wants is really the only option a defected straggler, like me, has."

"Don't say it like that." Wind gives Tempest a solemn look, almost in a scolding manner, "Listen, I know someone who can really help you out. You see that building with the awning?"

Tempest follows the direction he points and sees a shady looking place.

"There's a fella that goes by the name, 'Mino'. Tell him that you're a friend of mine and you're hoping to earn some extra bits. He'll get you all set up for a job that's mild."

Tempest shifts her weight, giving this choice some thought.

"Look, I should really get started with my share, so I'll let you take it from here."

She watches Wind galloping away before looking back at the store, "...only because he didn't leave on a pun." and approaches the building.

To the awning above the entrance, the place uses a single drape in terms of a door. Immediately to its left is a white leather scroll sprawled over a wooden sign hanging on the wall with the words, 'Synchronized Wonders', written on with red, purple, and yellow paint.

Tempest lifts the drape that covers the door and the first thing that hits her is a strong scent of raspberry tickling her nose. She pursues in to find an array of warm colors covering the walls with the many minerals and edibles shelved inside jars and containers. Some of the ingredients are illuminating, but the majority of the place is lit up by candles and the main attraction in the center of the room, a giant cauldron. Being heated by burning logs below, the pot bubbles a warm pink glow from the liquid content inside while it's stirring from a wooden handle within the grip of an odd looking creature. The creature stands on a mahogany platform, on level with the top of the cauldron where one can easily fall inside.

The creature notices the approaching pony. They leave the handle and proceed down a ramp towards the mare. It's a biped creature half her size, wearing a blue robe as it shuffles toward her. Though they're small, the yellowish-brown pointy hat they wear can nearly reach Tempest's eyes, weren't for the red fuzzy sphere at the tip that made it flop down. The short creature looks up at her, and other than the yellow eyes that study her, she can't tell the creature's species from the shade that's hiding their face.

"Can I help you, kupo?" it asks her.

Tempest raised an eyebrow to that last word, "I was told that I could get a few extra bits here from a friend of mine named roo-" she shakes her head, "I mean, Second Wind."

"Second Wind? Been awhile since I heard that name, kupo." The small shop owner extends a paw out, "I'm 'Mino Orpiment Glitz', kupo."

The mare imitates and bumps her hoof against his paw, "Tempest Shadow."

Mino turns back to his concoction and Tempest notes the bat wings poking out of the back of his robe. He starts looking over his inventory, leaving the mare to wonder.

"So what am I going to be doing?"

"You're going to scavenge for ingredients, kupo. Wind's metal wing really came in handy for this sort of thing. But I'll give you a basket, kupo." Mino picks up a rock and shuffles over to Tempest, "I need water stones that look like this one. I'll give you one bit for every ten you bring, kupo."

The offer is very conflicting for her to agree to, "If it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to get at least a hundred bits by the end of the day, Isn't there something else you're short on that I can find?"

"A hundred bits by the end of the day?" Mino looks at his inventory, "That'll be a bit difficult, kupo." He begins to use his bat wings to fly up to the higher shelves as he looks around, "Mythril is too far to get, and Adamantite is too hard to find."

Tempest looks at the inventory as well, ".........what about Allural Shallot?"

"Too dangerous." Mino replies as he scans the next row.

The lack of a word catches Tempest, telling her how focused he is, ".....where could I find them?"

"The city tunnels."

"How many would I need?"

"Twenty."

"Where's the basket?"

"By the counter."

Tempest looks to the counter, seeing a wicker picnic basket just as he said, "Alright then."

As she wraps a foreleg around the handle of the container, the realization suddenly strikes Mino and he frantically flies for Tempest, "Wait! No no, kupo!" He manages to stop the pony as he blocks the door, "It's very scary there, kupo! A big scary monster lives there, I nearly got my pom-pom bitten off from it, kupo!"

Staring down at the small creature and the mild vibe he's been giving her, Tempest has doubts about taking Mino's words too seriously, "I'm sure I can handle whatever is in there. If things get too bad, then I'll just use my sword to stop it." Shadow shows her sword on her foreleg.

Mino sees the blade, but his eyes are drawn to the Focus Crystal hanging around her neck. He ponders for a second and looks back at Tempest, "If you really do stop it, then I need you to also bring me something it has for me to properly reward you, kupo."

Galloping down the street with a halberd concealed in cloth, Flash Sentry looks at the many stores and stands that are open. From fabrics to animals, every place is trying to make a profit from a potential buyer with these goods, but one particular building catches his attention. An open coffee shop with a swarm of creatures surrounding it with an impatient look upon their faces, making this the ideal situation to take advantage of.

Flash looks at the buildings in the immediate area. A merchant is trying to sell some useless junk, a fruit stand with some questionable products, but Sentry's eyes settle on an outdoor teahouse without a single customer under its roof. Clean tables, empty stools, and a lizard-like anthro behind the counter with a sleepy expression on his long face. There's a bit of an exotic style to this shirtless lizard, what with the baggy pants and the scaly flaps that come off as dreadlocks from afar.

As Sentry makes his way over to him, the teahouse owner perks up, "Is there something I can get you?" the lizard asks in a surprise tone.

"No, but there's something I can get you." Flash leaps his forelegs on the counter to get a better eye level with the owner and points at the coffee shop, "How would you like it if I got all of those creatures over here in your shop?"

"I would like that a lot." comments the lizard, "I would also like to be fifteen years younger, but neither of those are going to happen anytime soon. Creatures today are too addicted to caffeine, they're hardly attracted to tea anymore."

"Well what would you say if I said, 'I could bring them here?'"

"I would say, 'What's your angle? Fifty percent?'"

"Ten percent."

He pulls back, reviewing the pegasus with that enticing offer, "You don't look like you could bring in much, but that's a deal that's hard to pass up. Alright, if you can give me a good crowd going, I'll give you ten percent of the income."

"Fine." Flash shares a hoof/handshake with the owner before hopping down. Sentry sweeps a stool over to a decent open area within the teahouse.

"So what are you going to do to attract customers? Pull a Viera out of your helmet?"

Flash doesn't answer as he sits on the stool. He unclothes his halberd from the rags and starts looking at the pole. Finding a handle blending along the body of the weapon, he gives it a pull.

Elsewhere in town, Shining Armor scans the residents of Klugetown passing by him. Many creatures ranging from the girthy to the slim are trying to buy a variety of things off each other, and the sight of it has caused the unicorn to wanna test something.

Eventually, Armor sees a creature that looks qualified and proceeds towards him with the hope that he'll buy into his ploy.

"Excuse me, sir." Shining grabs the attention of a biped twice his size.

The pony stares up an anthropomorphic male tiger with a black horn at the center of his forehead. Most of his body has a winter fur growing from his burly form, perfect for the barbaric getup he wears. He focuses his attention down at the pony, giving the stallion a stern look of unamusement.

"How would you like to challenge your strength for a hundred bits?" Shining Armor asks.

The tiger appears indifferent to the suggestion.

"For one bit, if you can break through my barrier of magic," the unicorn demonstrates with a light rose aura encasing him in a dome, "I'll give a hundred bits in return."

The tiger cracks his knuckles and swings a fist without warning. A loud thud is heard as the fist hits the barrier, halting his strike from getting any closer. The tiger pulls back, baring its teeth in a growl and reluctantly flips a bit at Armor.

Shining catches it in his magic while the tiger continues on his way.

"Hey," a bulky biped fish calls to the unicorn, "I saw that bet you made. Let me give it a shot."

A few more creatures around Armor are now observing him. He places the bit in a pouch with a pleased look on his face, glad to see the chain reaction starting.

Down below Klugetown, within the system of tunnels, Tempest Shadow pulls at the stalk of a ripe Allural Shallot buried in the ground. She's gripping the veggie in the clutches of her teeth while yanking and tugging until the shallot pops out. That's the fifteenth shallot and she has yet to meet this 'big scary monster' that apparently lives down here. Mino promised that if she took care of the monster and brought back the additional materials, he'd help her Focus Crystal in some way. It doesn't bother her that much at first, but now as she stands here with her horn lighting the area, this entire situation is starting to bring up some bad memories for her.

Treading through the darkness of a cave alone, retrieving something with limited visibility, and the knowledge that there's a beast in the area. Everything about this situation just keeps reminding her of that day. The day where her life was taken from her.

"......." Tempest tosses the shallot in the basket she brought and shakes off her nerves to refocus on foraging.

Tempest grips onto the next one and starts pulling. She can hear the clopping of her hooves as she adjusts herself to get a good grasp at the vegetable, but starts to get the jitters again upon hearing an unsettling sound. It's faint, but it sounds like a few dozen slaps being made on the rough terrain by some flabby skin. The odd sound reverberates the cavern, there's so many slaps being made that she can't even tell where it's coming from.

Shadow slowly moves towards the sheathed broken sword on her foreleg, keeping her eyes and ears open as she gently pulls out the blade.

She hears a distinct gurgling growl coming from her left, but it wasn't within the light emitting from her broken horn. A powerful aroma hits her that causes the pony to scrunch up her nose at the horrendous stench. Tempest gets a surprise startle as a series of moldy green tentacles sweep back and forth across the floor. They keep getting closer until Shadow understands that they're all attached to a giant creature that's greeting her with an unsettling smile.

It's a giant moving plant, twirling the lower portion of the many tentacles that cover its body to swivel itself at the pony at a slow approach. Blending in with the many tentacles are dozens of eyestalks that's solely focusing on her. But the only feature that stands out from the rest is the gigantic mouth that bares razor-sharp teeth from exposed gums that can effortlessly snatch anypony whole.

The frightening sight of this creature is enough to make Tempest anxious, but it's the flashbacks that's making her tremble. She feels like the small filly she once was, utterly terrified by that celestial giant through this nightmare inducing monstrosity.

She recalls the fear she had back then, the pain she felt from it, the frustration to the struggles, the bitterness of her failures, the jealousy she had towards others, the irritation from her pursuing efforts, the anger in coming out fruitless, the fury from the repetitive searching, the rage of what her loss has brought her.

Tempest form the missing blade to her sword with magic and charges at this creature with relentless intentions as the plant monster takes a deep breath.

As the day starts to draw to a close, Second Wind makes his way back to The Hammerhead Garage while he types on the key panels of his metal wing with a sour look on his face.

"Note to self," he speaks aloud as he types, "get.. revenge.... on the... 'Queen of Cards'."

Wind's resentment suddenly begins to falter. His ears flap to the calm sound of music being played. It's a soothing melody that's leaving a comfortable feeling inside of him, giving a gentle easy feeling that's very out of place in the busy city of Klogetown.

Letting his ears lead the way, Second Wind follows the sound to its source. He takes a brief glance at the coffee shop he passes, completely void of a single customer. As Wind begins to approach the teahouse, a crowd of creatures are sitting at tables, leaning on walls, and even sitting on the floor in silence as they listen to the music being played. Many of them are drinking tea, and the ones that aren't are waiting patiently at the counter of the teahouse. And as Second Wind finally finds the source of the music, he nearly feels his metal wing fall off to the unexpecting sight of who's playing on a guitar, Flash Sentry.

Using his feathers on the strings going along the jet black neck of the guitar, Flash is solely focused on his playing as much as everycreature is on him. The steel body of the instrument rests on a leg in the smooth dips at the side of its tinted red body.

The melody approaches its end and everycreature listens until the last note fades away before they go into an applaud for his performance.

"Alright everyone," the teahouse owner voices aloud, "as much as I love business, I have to close up shop."

The atmosphere gets a bit sullen to that notice, but it's accepted nonetheless. Everycreature takes these last few minutes to finish up their tea or to get one more order through before making their leave. Second Wind made his approach over to Flash while the musician reviews his instrument along the back of its neck. Sentry identifies a panel on the guitar, and upon pushing it, a spring inside of it is let loose.

The neck of the instrument suddenly gets longer as a compartment opens along it and the strings hide themselves inside. The red body flattens and its smooth side begin to appear much more sharper now.

Second Wind watched the entire transformation from what was only a steel guitar a second ago, now presenting itself as a double sided halberd. It leaves him agape when he makes it to Flash, "Your halberd was also a guitar all along!?!"

"Why else do you think I called this, 'The Stratocaster'?" Sentry asks and proceeds to reconceal the weapon in cloth and ties it on.

A 'cling' sound is made from Wind slapping his prosthetic wing on his head, "Where'd you learn to play like that?"

"Nowhere, it was just something I picked up on my own."

"Really!? What made you want to play the guitar?"

There's a sudden hesitation in Flash's movements, "......hey owner!" Sentry dodges the question, "You got my share ready?"

The lizard waves that he's getting it and Flash finishes wrapping up his halberd. Second Wind pulls back, gaining the sense that he shouldn't have asked that question and just lets Sentry focus on getting his bits.

Wind waits for his friend, and after a few minutes, Flash rejoins him with a pouch full of bits and the two of them make their way to the Hammerhead Garage.

"So how'd you fare?" Flash sentry converses with Wind.

"By just enough. I decided to head to my old stomping grounds to win and sell cards, but it appears they added some new rules that nearly cost me."

"So instead of working, you decided to gamble for your bits."

"I wouldn't call it gambling, but rather strategic profiting. Now the other guy, the one I nearly lost to, he was gambling."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because he based most of his moves off of coin flips."

As the two pegasi continue past a rowdy crowd, Flash stops the both of them the moment his eyes catches a light rose glow from within the group of creatures. He gets a better look by flying a few meters higher and receives a surprise of who was at the center, "Captain?"

Flash Sentry and Second Wind fly and push to the eye of the crowd and witness Shining Armor blocking another blow with his barrier from a four-armed, purple-fur biped. The creature stomps in irritation of his failure and chucks a bit at the unicorn to which the pony catches to put it with the rest he's collected.

"How much do you have?" Wind asks his captain.

Shining looks at his teammates and blocks another strike, "I lost count somewhere around thirty-two, but I'm pretty certain I've hit a hundred by now."

"Then shouldn't you call it quits?"

"From these guys? I can do this all night." he scuffs the suggestion, "They're not even a hassle."

"Then a true challenge is in order!"

Everyone turns to the commanding voice, easily spotting the creature that spoke as he towers over all of them. Plated in a silver breastplate and jet black arm guards, stands an eight foot giant with a set of black curved horns that grants him at least another foot. His moderate gold face of a bull suggests that he's a minotaur, but everything else leaves the impression of a demon. As the crowd opens a path for this beast to approach the ponies, he reveals that he's a smokey gray centaur with two hind legs and two sets of front legs.

He shadows over Shining Armor, gazing his red pupils down at the unicorn with a curved steel sword in his right grip. "Your magic appears daunting, but a test against my blade should prove if your magic is august."

The centaur is undoubtedly intimidating the pegasi, but looking at their captain, they see that did little to sway him. The foreboding sense makes Flash and Wind sweep over to their captain before he makes any decisions.

"You're not seriously planning to accept his challenge, are you?" Flash questions.

"Of course I am." Shining dismisses.

"Take it from somepony who nearly lost all of his bits in a conflict, 'stop while you're ahead'." Second informs.

"Don't worry, my barrier of magic will stop his sword just like I've been doing all day."

"Exactly," agrees Flash, "which gives spectators, like him, a chance to plan out a strategy."

"So did everyone else, but they still didn't succeed."

"Here," Wind pulls out Armor's shield and offers it to him, "have it just in case."

"I appreciate the concern, but it isn't necessary."

"Then at least cast 'Protect' on yourself." Sentry insists.

"Guys!" Shining Armor tries to get them at ease with an upfront attempt, "Everything is going to be fine, have some faith in me."

"CAST 'PROTECT'!!!" Flash and Wind order.

Shining huff a straight face at them. His horn glows a lights-rose aura and begins to ripple along Armor's body from the 'Protect' spell he's casting, "Happy?"

"No, but we're less tense." Wind admits.

The captain shoos his subordinates back for him to return his attention to the centaur. Armor is intimidated by him, but he's confident that his barrier is the perfect defense, "Give it your best shot." the unicorn entices.

They both anchor their stances, Shining forms the dome of magic and the centaur crouches closer to the dusty ground, arching his back to get a good angle at the small pony. The crowd scurries back along with the pegasi for this battle between sword and shield.

Shining watches this scary giant carefully, and when he swings his sword, the unicorn begins to experience an adrenaline rush coming over him. Armor takes in an increased amount of information, up to the point where almost everything he sees is going in slow motion, including the sword that's blowing the dust on the ground. Armor strengthens his barrier and braces for impact.

Upon contact, the sword doesn't break the barrier, and the barrier doesn't stop the sword. Shining Armor feels a pit in his stomach when he watches the barrier fazing for the sword, and only the sword, to pass through.

Shining stiffs up and goes flying through the air like a rag doll as the blade hits him, dropping the barrier in the process.

Flash and Wind wince at the sound of wood breaking as their captain slams and gets buried under boards and crates. The pegasi gallop over and toss the wooden debris aside with great concern for the unicorn under the pile. They eventually find him, conscious, if not dizzy.

Shining Armor also feels a stinging sensation all over his body, if it wasn't for that 'Protect' spell, his injuries would've been more dire. He's undamaged, all except for his right side, the exact spot where the sword struck him. Shining twinges at the touch of his right side, completely confused for a reason to why it's only there.

"How regrettable." the centaur straightens up, "Wielding such malleable magic, I was hoping for a challenge, but your magic couldn't even fare against the blunt end of steel."

Gasping, Armor now understands why.

"You may keep your bits," the centaur takes his leave, "there's no worth in claiming what wasn't a challenge."

"That sword!" Shining blurts, catching the centaur's attention for at least one more moment of his time. Armor staggers to his hooves, still shaken up by the wallop, "Where did you get that sword?"

"The Zantetsuken?" the centaur reflects on the weapon in his grip, "It was forged in a land far to the east from here." and back at the unicorn, "A realm called, 'The Magick Kingdom'."

Shining Armor can't help but make a grin at the information; however, it suddenly contorts to a disgusted look as an awful scent invades his nose. Everyone begins to do the same and cover their nose to this horrendous smell. Someone pushes Shining to the side, soon finding himself that the entire crowd is doing the same and runs down the street. They all leave him, excluding Flash and Wind, as they appear to be avoiding something from down the other end of the road. And upon looking, they couldn't believe what was approaching.

Casually walking down the barren street, is a dark orchid mare with a broken horn and an odor that smells like bile and cigarettes. It's Tempest Shadow, keeping up her tough-girl appearance with a cool demeanor, despite the stench she's giving. The stallions tense up to the disgusting smell the pony is bringing with her approach, so much in fact that they're not even noticing that her Focus Crystal is missing.

Shadow stops in front of the boys with a look of unamusement. It's a straight expression, but they can tell that she's extremely annoyed right now.

"What is that," Wind fans the smell away in a concerning tone, "the latest perfume?"

Tempest slaps him across the face.

Armor chooses his words carefully, "Why do you smell lik-"

"A monster with bad breath belched on me." the mare answers before he could finish.

"Monster?" Wind spoke, rubbing his cheek, "Mino usually sent me on scavenger hunts."

"And I got him twenty Allural Shallot and six of the monster's tentacles."

The three stallions groan to the last part in a, 'I can't believe I just heard that,' manner.

Once they made it back to the 'Hammerhead Garage', Tempest went straight to washing herself of the stench that plagues her in the back of the building. After a while however, it became obvious that the smell wasn't going to come out so easily. As for everyone else, Shining Armor has been counting the bits everypony has earned today in the lounging area, Flash is leaning against the wall as he's lost in thought, Wind is updating his journal, and Cider is working on Wind's prosthetic wing over at his table. All of them, however, are starting to let the bad odor get at them.

Cider pushes himself from his work table and makes his way over to Shining Armor, "Alright Captain, how much did you make?" the abyssinian asks him.

"Four hundred thirty-four bits." Armor answers.

"Thank Bastet. Wind," Cider calls the one wing stallion, "mind taking those thirty-four extra bits and head on over to Artnia to get all the 'rogue tomato juice' you can buy? We're going to get rid of that stench the old fashion way."

Second Wind didn't need to be asked twice. He pouches the bits and makes his escape from the foul smell.

Shining Armor snorts in an attempt to push the odor out of his nose before looking at Cider, "Thanks again for giving us a place to rest for the night."

"Think nothing of it." the abyssinian waves off the gratitude, "It's been many moons since I got anyone I could sit and chat with that wasn't work related."

"Speaking of such, I'd assume you'd be an engineer for building Second's wing, but this place comes off as being more along the lines of a repair shop. What do you do exactly?"

"I'm an engineer by trait," the old timer takes a seat across from Shining, "but being one doesn't mean I'll always be given work, so that's where this repair shop becomes my main source of income."

"Does it make up the difference?"

"As of late, no. I usually fix watches, music boxes, even carts if need be, but hardly anycreature comes by nowadays. It's gotten to a point where I've been working on a pet project of mine on building an airship."

"An airship?" Armor gives it some thought, "If Wind's wing is anything to go by, then there must be something about your airship that makes it stand out from others."

Cider winces as he studies Shining, "You're a father, aren't you?"

The question stuns Armor, "Y-yes! How'd you know?"

"Cuz I'm one in my own right and I've developed a few habits when I first started, and I'm seeing some of those coming from you. Overconfidence, protective of others, a need to be dependable, and being a sharper listener was what gave you off. Before you know it, you'll get your fatherly instincts entangled with your daily life."

"Well, I've been a father for a few years now, and I've never noticed anything like that." Shining rubs the spot where the centaur hit him earlier today.

"Well in any case," Cider waves off, "Getting back to my airship, there actually is something more potent about her than most ships. She ain't done yet, but I'm planning on making her the only airship in the skies that can match any ship without a balloon."

Shining is wonderstruck by his claim, "That would certainly be revolutionary!"

"Darn right it would! The space pocket may have gotten grazed over, but I'm certain I'll make a craze with this beaut."

Armor leans back, reflecting the idea on a more broader scale. "It's beginning to feel like technology is making big leaps as of late. I can't really help but imagine that it'll drive magic out of existence at this pace. You know, I even encountered a centaur today who had a sword that sliced right through my magic barrier like it was butter. He even seems to support that theory about Yimeck being behind all this. He told me that he got that sword from, 'The Magick Kingdom'."

Cider gives an amuse chuckle along with an eye roll, "That does sound like something Yimeck would pull. With hardly any magic back in my country, he probably would think that he'd be running a kingdom."

The conversation settles down for a moment, Shining Armor looks over to Flash Sentry and he's still standing where he was since the start of the conversation. "You've been quiet for a while now, Flash." the captain states the obvious, "You asleep over there or what?"

"I've just been thinking about something." Flash throws in his two cents and looks over to Cider, "You said that magic is hard to come by from where you're from, yet Yimeck has made products that not only uses magic, but also nullifies it like what the machine did with The Magic of Friendship back in Ponyville. Magic as powerful as friendship is something that no creature has ever withstood before, even when they possessed immense magic themselves."

"You also said that the last time you met Yimeck was when he was trying to find ways to place magic in products, I'm no unicorn, but enchanting an object shouldn't be that hard. Can you confirm that, Shining?"

"Well, I can't, but my sister was able to make her old toy the desired object of the town with a spell once." Armor confirms, "And that was when she was still a unicorn."

"So it's difficult, but not completely out of the question for a unicorn to perform." Flash makes certain of. "So Yimeck, with little to no knowledge of magic, was able to find a way to nullify the most powerful form of magic, while residing in a land where there's hardly any to begin with, and was also able to steal Equestria's on his first attempt?"

"What are you getting at?" the abyssinian asks.

"That something's been supplying him with Equestrian magic."

"Think about it, he would've had to perform tests on Equestrian magic if he wanted to make his attack successful on the first attempt. I mean, you wouldn't walk into a fire right after making your first fireproof boots, would you? So I've just been wondering," Flash says as he rubs the temple of his head, "where did this domino effect first begin?"

Back on the streets, where oil lamps are lit for the nocturnal creatures to do business in, Second Wind arrives in front of the building with the words, 'Artnia', painted above the entrance. He sees the dozen or so creatures as he trots inside this café, but Wind's attention focuses on the stubby smoky-skinned pig standing behind the counter on his right. As the pig finishes making a lemon-flavored drink, Second approaches him with his own order.

"Hey Weskham," Wind calls as he plops the bag of bits on the counter, "I'd like to have all the 'rogue tomato juice' I can get for thirty-four bits as a carry out."

Weskham gives him the 'you got it' gesture and prompts into the back with the bag of bits in grip.

The handicapped pegasus hunches on the counter, tapping his forehoof on the surface of it.

"Another pony!" the creature next to Wind states.

Second looks over at the sapphire blue stallion in a short magentaish gray hooded cloak staring down at the lemon-flavored drink he ordered moments ago. Wind notes the pale, light grayish tone the pony has, signifying he's currently living through his mid-late years. Outside of the muzzle, only a dark gray mane is poking out of his hood in a messy fashion, and that's all he can be made from his face. His cutie mark however is a single, spiraling arc of a golden ratio.

"I never thought I'd encounter one here." spoke the stallion, still staring at his glass.

"You probably wouldn't have." Wind converses, "I've lived all my foalhood here and haven't met one once during that time. You just caught my team and I passing through here."

"Team, huh? Sounds like you and your team are on a mission." a brilliant white aura surrounds his drink and it lifts for him to take a sip before it returns back to the table, "Well it turns out that I also have a mission of my own, one that should've ended years ago."

Wind lays on his left wing, only to yelp as he nearly falls from the absence of his prosthetic limb.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Wind reassures, "I just keep forgetting that I don't have my wing on."

"...I see." the tone in his voice sounds empathetic to that knowledge, "It must be hard to lose the capability to fly."

"Oh, it doesn't bother me anymore." Second shrugs it off, "I may have lost a wing, but I still got my life."

"No creature should go through life impaired." there's a genuine expression of sorrow in his posture, "The adversity they experience on their solus journey, lost within an isolated world much different from the reality they live in. Why does fate condemn them in such a manner?"

Wind takes a moment to think how he should respond to that jarring statement, but comes out short.

The aura around his drink appears again and the stranger gulps down the last of its content. He turns slightly towards Wind and offers a hoof to him, "I want you to have this." he has an empty hoof until a white crystal, the size and shape of a small marble, begins to suddenly take form within a brilliant white aura.

Second Wind shifts his gaze between the crystal and the stallion that hasn't even made eye contact once. The pegasus watches the odd pony as he cautiously grabs the crystal with his right wing.

"If you ever feel in need for a change, ingest that crystal and you'll regrow that lost wing of yours."

Wind analyzes the object in his wing before giving the stallion a judging look, "I'm not sure if you think I'm stupid or you're just plain drunk."

He laughs a 'hm' along with an amused smile, "That's wise of you to be skeptic, and I don't blame you either, trust is a very deceitful temptress that thirsts off the desperation of its victims. You're free to throw it away if you like, it won't bother me any."

Second looks at the crystal once more. He shakes his head, smiling at the absurdity of such a thing. Wind pulls back his right wing with his eyes on the bucket near the entrance.

"Though you might regret it later."

The pegasus hears the eased voice behind him. Looking back to the pony that's been watching his empty glass.

"We never really know what the future holds. If we're unprepared or incapable of doing something, we could find ourselves right back here regretting it. Drowning our choice in liqueur for throwing away the chance we'll never gain again at avoiding that one injury or that fallen ally for the limitations we bear."

The handicapped pony loosens his right wing, glancing down to the left side of his torso and finding nothing. Second Wind takes another look at the crystal in his wing, judging the rare opportunity in his grasp. "Why would you give me this? Why would you go out of your way to give me such a life changing opportunity?"

The stranger jumps off his seat, "I just don't want others to go through that same suffering." and proceeds to the entrance.

"...what amputee wouldn't want that lost part again." Wind keeps reviewing the crystal at the enticing offer, but keeps getting that there must be more to this. He shakes his head, but he can't bring himself to throw it away. Second looks up to find the odd pony, but he was already gone, "Just who was he?" Second murmurs to himself until it finally dawns on him, "Wait... he still had his flux light!"

FFF IV

Prelude

Cider was indeed a spring of enlightenment for the ponies, but instead of a weakness they were hoping for, they were given knowledge of the mastermind behind everything that's happened thus far.

Yimeck, a business tycoon, is believed to be the one behind Equestria's attack, and more. Selling scrolls for spells and anti-magic swords, he's not one to be taken lightly, as his influence has spread far and wide from his monopolized empire.

With the four ponies rested, they are ready for a voyage across the grand ocean for Equestria's stolen magic. However, Tempest Shadow has to make one more stop, before she is can traverse this journey.

Pushing the drape aside with a groggy look on her face, Tempest Shadow covers a yawn as she walks into Mino's store. A scent of cinnamon hits Tempest's nose this time upon entering, but it did little to drown the aroma of tomatoes that lingers on her body. She rubs her bare neck as her eyes adjust to the indoor lighting, quickly spotting the small owner of the place using a bellow to warm up the giant cauldron with liquid that emits the spicy scent she got coming in.

Tempest eases her stance in her battle gear, falling into a daze as she waits for Mino.

"Stayed up late, kupo?" Mino asks, still attending his work.

"I... just had some trouble sleeping last night."

"Because of the smell, kupo?"

Tempest shakes her head, "It's because I had another ni..." she pauses for a moment, releasing a tiny bit of her breath as she clears her mind. "Let's just get back to the reason I'm here. The other day, you said that if I got you six tentacles from that creature in the tunnels, then you would help make my Focus Crystal stronger in some way over the course of the night."

The tip of Mino's hat bounces as he nods. He scampers over to a worktable to retrieve the necklace.

"So how do tentacles fit in with upgrading an accessory?" Tempest speaks louder to fit Mino's distance.

"By synthesizing six of those tentacles, six steel pipes, and six bottles of my special remedy, I made a 'Solomon Ring'." Mino digs out the necklace from a table drawer and makes his way back to Tempest, "I purified it to make a 'Ring of the Lucii', and then synchronized that with your crystal, kupo." Mino bestows the accessory for Tempest to take, "No longer a 'Focus Crystal', but now a 'Guardian Crystal', kupo!"

Tempest scoops up the lace of it and lets the crystal sway before her eyes, studying the deep blue mineral for anything different about it. "...nothing's changed."

"It has changed, kupo." Mino blusters, "I swear on my pom-pom it has."

"Then what's different about it?"

"It has two new properties to it, kupo."

The liquid inside the room's giant cauldron begins to bubble, signaling Mino to retrieve a bottle and make his way over to the pot, scooping some of the liquid into the container.

"Do you know how energy is, kupo?" Mino asks as he corks the bottle.

"It's something that I'm lacking right now," Tempest's dry sense of humor ironically has a yawn at the end.

"Energy, in physics, is something that can only be transferred from one thing to another through the result of work, kupo. Moving around, making a sound, those are a form of energy being used, kupo. Even your soul plays a part in this as it transfers its own energy into the body heat you're emitting. And your flux light acts in the same way as your soul does, but with magic, kupo."

"So what does all this have to do with the crystal?"

"Your Focus Crystal could only keep some of this magic from escaping your body, kupo. But this improvement will seal all magic within your body until you want to use a spell, allowing you to make the most out of your magic, kupo."

The news interests Tempest enough to escape her drowsy state, but part of that is due to the issue she notices, "It sounds helpful, but it also sounds like it would give me some problems if I don't keep casting spells."

"It would, that's why the second feature will fix it, kupo. The extra magic you'll possess won't truly be sealed within you, but rather transferred over to the crystal for storage, kupo. When the crystal begins to shine yellow, it won't take in any more magic and it'll begin to emit the extra magic it gains from itself, kupo. Once it does turn yellow, you'll be able to use the magic stored inside to make a big powerful spell, kupo."

Tempest looks at the crystal, waffling over this change, "And what kind of spell can that be?"

"Your choice, kupo." Mino waddles his way over to Tempest, carrying the bottle in hand. "Just use any spell you like and push yourself to the limit, and it'll break your spell to greater heights if you do that, kupo." He points the bottle's head at the pony, "Making a powerful and effective burst of magic!"

Mino pops open the bottle and the cinnamon scent it holds comes charging out towards Tempest's sinuses. The powerful smell snaps all the drowsiness out of her and leaves her at full attention.

"It'll take some time to refill after each use, so pick your times wisely, kupo."

"Time!" Tempest exclaims with fresh ambition. She flips the necklace over her head and lets it fall around her neck. "I gotta hurry over to the docks!"

At the edge of town, where there's a port hanging off a steep cliff, dock airships begin to sail off into the clouds. But directly below the suspending haven, all the way down to sea level, lies a harbor with a series of boats being loaded. One ship in particular, The S.S. Liki, is an average sized ship that's a little on the small side. It's a ship that mainly transports goods, but it carries a few travelers along with it as well, acting as a cargo-ferry ship. Passengers are already boarding the vessel, conversing and taking glances over the ship's railing, giving them a view of the early morning sun over the ocean. The crew members though are busy working, loading up the ship with the crates and barrels still on the dock. It's near one of those crates, the one that contains bags of flour inside, that stands Second Wind and an armored Flash Sentry, the latter studying the former's skill on operating his metal wing's keypad.

With one final tap on the panel, Sentry's armor flashes out of sight. "Stored," Wind informs as he sees the monitor of his wing updating, "your suit is right next to the ribbon and the... comb?" Wind sounds uncertain in his answer and leans closer into the shade being cast from the crate he stands by. He winces at the monitor more intensely, "Bomb! I meant 'bomb'. Sorry, it's hard to read the screen when the sun is reflecting off of it."

Wind returns back to typing, looking a lot more at ease and leaving Flash a lot more confused, "Not going to correct yourself on the 'ribbon' as well?" Sentry asks.

"Nope. I remember storing that one."

"Why store a useless thing like that?"

"For the heck of it." Wind pauses after a moment, catching that he's still getting a bewildered look from his higher-up, "You develop a habit of improvising when you're missing some pieces," Wind waves at Flash with his prosthetic wing.

"Speaking about a habit," Flash turns his head to Shining Armor, who's pacing around in circles, "still performing the carousel, I see."

Armor's face expresses his worry, and the constant glancing around displays his agitation.

"Take it easy, Captain." Sentry pitches, "She'll be here any minute now."

"And it's within those minutes that Equestria is left weakened and magicless," Shining reminds the pegasus. "I'm tolerant at allowing moments for us to rest, and I understand why we needed to sidetrack yesterday, but now that we can progress, I want to use this time to get back Equestria's magic as soon as possible."

"We'd still leave only when the boat does."

"True, but I would feel a lot better if all of us were on the boat, and Tempest is cutting it close for me. I don't want to miss the boat and waste this day away for tomorrow."

"I would prefer it if all four of you didn't leave, to be honest," the scruffy voice of Cider's discloses.

Shining Armor turns to the abyssinian staring out at the sea with an uncomfortable look on his whiskered face.

"It's been a while since I last sailed a vessel on the ocean, but this old cat's bones are telling him that now isn't a good time for a voyage."

Taking into account what he said, Shining takes in his surroundings. It's a clear, sunny day with a salty smell coming from the breeze that brushes his fur, "Far be it for me to question your sailing experience, but this looks like the perfect weather to travel in."

"But is it the perfect waters to sail through?" Cider points out, "I've come to understand that the ocean is a lot like a lady in many regards. It can be gentle, it can turn rough, and if you're caught when it turns violent, you won't be able to escape its wrath."

"Tell me about it," the married unicorn recollects, "but the route we'll be taking shouldn't have any problems. The captain told me that the ferry has been sailing this route for years and it's been nothing but calm waters."

Cider shakes his head with an amused smile, "I appreciate the reassurance, Captain, but I'm not easily swayed. I tend to keep firm on my first instincts, and after years of experience, I've learned that you can't always tell what the ocean is hiding. It's a mystery, something that you can't understand, not unless you take the time to learn how it flows. And my nautical senses are ringing over something that doesn't agree with these waters."

Shining bites his tongue from asking Cider if he isn't confusing his nautical senses with his feline, "Well if we happen to come across anything unwelcoming, then I'll just form a barrier around the ship. I've managed to keep a barrier up around Canterlot for days once, so keeping a barrier up for a few hours won't be an-" he stops short of his sentence upon seeing the face everyone was waiting for, "Tempest!"

Sentry and Wind glance towards the name and Shining gestures at them to get on board. Armor excuses himself from the conversation with Cider by giving a nod and gallops for the boat's ramp. As the pegasi head up on deck, Shining pauses at the ramp's bottom for Tempest, who slows into a trot as she approaches.

"You were cutting it close," Shining squeezes in a conversation with the passing mare, "was that errand really necessary?"

Tempest pauses at the ramp. She looks up at her forehead with a broad expression on her face, "Unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?"

She glances over to Shining's horn, quickly gaining a disinterest in the small talk. "You wouldn't understand," Tempest brushes off the question and resumes up the rump.

Tempest studies the ship as she gets an onboard look of the vessel the closer she gets. The pathways of the boat are pretty wide for passengers to walk through freely in small groups, yet there are a few piles of crates tied down to the walls that would undoubtedly cause traffic issues. The helm stands in the cockpit near the ship's center, giving a clear view of the ocean and the opened deck below it. The rails that go around the boat aren't the best as almost anyone can slip under the railing, the only thing that's there to stop you are the spread-out vertical bars of metal and a single horizontal bar that goes around the boat, separating the top rail from the wooden floor in the middle.

There's a few crew members within Tempest's sight as she steps onto deck. The passengers are barely surpassing crew members in numbers, but the majority of them are sea folks and bipeds, leaving her team of ponies to stick out amongst everyone. And speaking about Tempest's teammates, Second Wind approaches her with his prosthetic wing out at the ready to be fiddled with, "So now that you're here, do you want me to store away your armor?"

The cool breeze hitting Tempest suddenly feels a lot colder to her, "No!" she abruptly responded. Tempest takes a few steps back with her tail curled around her plot, "No, that's alright. I'll just keep it on, thanks."

Tempest heads off to survey the ship some more, leaving Wind with Shining Armor as he walks on board after witnessing the scene. "She's the one that I can't understand," Armor admits to Wind.

With it stocked up and the anchor weighed, the transport ship begins its journey to Ivalice. Shining Armor stands with Second Wind as they wave goodbye to Cider down on the docks.

Cider returns the gesture, "Keep that featherbrain in order, Captain."

The informal nickname leaves a smile on Shining, "He's a pretty interesting character, your uncle."

"Had a feeling you'd see him that way, the two of you are a lot alike in many ways. Protective, committed, and the two of you can really be stubborn."

"Am I really?"

"At times," the stallions lower their hooves, easing themselves for the long ride ahead of them. "He also had a habit of smoking back in the day."

"Smoking's for dragons," Shining shakes one more wave towards the idea, "but since we're on the topic, mind filling me in on how you're related to Cider?"

"I guess the 'uncle' title wasn't fooling you," Second sighs that the cat's out of the bag, as well as the family tree. "Well it's pretty much as you see it. Him and I don't have any blood between us, but he's been a lot like a father to me throughout my life."

The two of them make their way over to a wall and rest against it.

"So what brought you two into meeting each other?" Shining continues.

Wind leans his head back to gather his thoughts, "It was a few months after I was born, so I don't quite remember it happening. I was told that my mother was dealing with something at the time and she needed somebody to care for me in her absence."

"So he's basically someone your mother knew?"

"She placed a lot of faith in him for my sake, even though I might've gotten his whiskers twisted at times."

Shining grins at the relatable experience, "I'm sure you couldn't be any more difficult than what a baby alicorn can bring."

"It's a good thing that you have Cadance to even the playing field then."

"Heh, that's true, but it doesn't mean that she's always there when I need help. She could be in a meeting or making a public appearance, just to name a few. One time, Cadance was late coming home, so I had Flurry Heart for the entire day." Shining makes an audible 'oof' just from recalling that day, "No amount of guard training was as exhausting as putting Flurry Heart to bed. I eventually got her to tire herself out through various games where I intentionally lose. While she placed everything she had into beating her old stallion, I just paced myself until she began to fall asleep."

"And how long did it take to accomplish that?"

"A lot shorter than you'd think. After galloping around the castle in a game of tag and magically lifting things eight times her size in a competition to see who was the strongest, she was out like a light."

"Eight times her size!" Wind astonishment gives Shining a proud feeling for his little girl's feat, "I knew Alicorns had powerful magic, but I wouldn't have imagined that Flurry could lift something roughly the size of an elephant."

"Alicorns are indeed powerful, but they're still like any other creature, they become fatigued by overexerting themselves. The greater the feat, the faster you'll fatigue. She's still a little girl that hasn't gotten a complete control over performing her magic yet, and sense building a spell is the most difficult part in casting with maintaining it being only second, outlasting her was a cinch," a gentle smile forms as Armor reinvasions the adorable site of Flurry Heart sleeping, "watching her after that was a very soothing experience. It really calmed me down from Cadance's lengthy absence."

"What kept her?"

"It was the day that The Storm King's army invaded Canterlot. So..."

"I was collecting water stones for Mino on that day, so I missed the entire event. I even missed the princess when she and her friends came through town as I was down by the shorelines." Wind rubs his chin, "If I remember right, they were running away from a group lead by The Storm King's commander, who just so happens to be the 'nonunderstandable' one of our team," he plays with his captain's depiction on Tempest. "Was there a reason why she'd go so far as to capture the princess?"

Shining shifts, "To what Twilight told me, Tempest was following orders of The Storm King's with the promise that if she helped him steal the princesses' magic, then he'd use the magic to restore her broken horn."

Wind casts his eyes down, giving a shallow look at his prosthetic wing, "I guess her horn must really mean a lot to her."

"But to give up the kingdom, her home, as a sacrifice to regain her horn?" Shining scoffs the question, "Just how low can one get?"

Second Wind catches the firm sound in his captain's voice, warning him of his stubborn thoughts on the matter, yet Wind ponders for a moment before a smirk appears on his face, "...why don't we try answering that. Just how low can one go?"

Armor quirks a brow to what end this will bring.

"Tell me, would you shave your mane for Equestria?"

"I still have a couple more years before worrying about going bald, it'll grow back."

"Alright," Wind taps a feather on his chin, "would you give up your job?"

"I wouldn't be much of a guard if I chose my job over Equestria."

"True, true, then how about this... would you give it up for your daughter?"

A sudden chill quakes throughout Shining Armor.

"If you had to choose between giving up Equestria or Flurry Heart, which would it be?"

Shining feels his mouth running dry as this question seems impossible to answer. "Th...th-the comparison you're trying to make between Tempest's circumstance and these question isn't similar at all," Shining attempts to dodge at giving an answer. "One is a selfish backstab, while the other is a 'sacrifice the few for the many' quandary."

"But they're what both choosing parties care deeply for. So much so that they'd give up Equestria for it."

"It's still choosing between a life and an object," Shining continues to defend his reasoning, "One can't be replaced, but the other can at least be compensated to an extent."

Both stallions stay silent for a moment, letting the tension settle down before it gets out of hoof.

"...have you noticed," Second Wind asks, "ever since we met her, that Tempest has never smiled?"

Armor shifts his eyes about, reflecting on the past events with her.

"After proving a point or even being cocky to your expense, she hasn't given a smile to anything, not once this entire time."

Shining shakes his head, "No, I didn't pick up on that."

"'Hatred can blind us from the truth, and desire can cloud our better judgement.' That's something Uncle Cider used to tell me."

"But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's related to the loss of her horn. I mean, it had to be years ago since she lost it. She must've moved on by now."

"Perhaps you have a point, but sometimes, we never really recover from a part of us we've lost," Second Wind stares up at the clear sky, "whether it be something attached to us, or someone we're attached to."

Resting her forehooves on the boat's railing, Tempest Shadow feels the salty wind hitting her right side as she looks out to the ocean they sail across. It's chilly, but she's too lost in her mind to notice it.

"..."

"So is this anything like your early days working under The Storm King?"

The voice breaks Tempest's contraction and she shifts her sight to the left, seeing Flash Sentry talking to her, "Taking long journeys around the world, riding in giant vessels and easing to the breeze in your face." He asks again, " Was it anything like what we're going through now?"

"It was like having hyperesthesia," Tempest makes clear, "always staying aware of your surroundings with no interest at offering pity in a fierce, yet dignified, manner."

"Because you needed to put up an act to keep your subordinates in line," Flash receives a raising eyebrow from Tempest and he returns a smirk from his insouciant expression, "right?"

"..."

"But now, where you can just be yourself, you're finding it difficult to not be reserved."

Tempest looks out at sea, "...I'm ashamed to say that I really do miss it. I really didn't have much going for me in my life before that. I was basically just heading from place to place, getting whatever small job that was available at the time. My options were very limited after all." Shadow lays a hoof on her fractured horn, "I don't have the strength of an earth pony, or the schooling for any particular careers, so taking up on Storm's offer as a soldier was like a breath of fresh air."

"Hmm," Flash nods to her words, "I can associate with that. I didn't really have much of an education either, so my career options basically came down to military choices."

"What made you decide that it should be palace guard?" Tempest continues the conversation with her own question.

"They always came off as admirable to me. A strong presence in the room that many would acknowledge towards."

"I have a tough time believing a guard would stand out sense many of them look the same."

"Well it was basically how I saw it in my younger days, but you're unfortunately right, I'm just another pony in armor among the majority." Flash heaves out the fact in a sigh that's heavily lacking in spirit, "the grand image was just a façade overflowing from a young colt's aspiration into his adulthood." Sentry passes by Tempest, "It's ironic how nothing's really changed now that I'm here."

"Was that what you were hoping to gain?" Tempest's question causes Flash to abruptly stop with his composer in check, "Recognition?"

"..."

Sentry continues down the pathway, ignoring her question with a stone face.

Shadow goes back into her pensive mood. Her eyes wonder until they're drawn to a soft radiant glow below her neck. She ganders in amazement that the crystal that she's wearing has turned yellow. She lifts the crystal closer to her face, it's just like what Mino said it would do, which would mean that she has some of her reserved magic inside.

"...wonder how much it's housing," Tempest speaks her mind with a feeling of contentment for having this necklace, but the more she looks at the accessory, the more she starts to resent the jewelry. Shadow drops the crystal back and places her forehooves on the railing of the ship. She watches the water that's passing below her, making out her reflection on the ocean's surface. The ripples and waves distort the image for her to see it clearly, but she can almost make out a much different looking unicorn staring back at her.

A more complete unicorn.

Suddenly, another pony appears next to her reflection. Tempest looks up to her right and sees Second Wind mimicking her posture.

"That gloomy face of yours looks more gloomier than usual," Wind teases in a friendly manner.

Tempest gazes back at the water and rests her head in her folded forehooves, "Are you here to ask me something too?"

"Well sense you're offering, I was wondering if you could share something with me," Second Wind makes light of the conversation, but takes a moment to choose his words carefully before continuing, "...I'm hoping if you could tell me how you lost your horn."

The request of her 'conversation starter' leaves Tempest with the need to suspire,

"If it's too painful, then you do-"

"I've been asked about my horn so many times before that I'm pretty much numb to the pain it brings me now," Tempest cuts Wind off, "...I was a filly when it happened, back when I was a run-of-the-mill flicka. I was among others I could relate to, all young and foalish without a care in the world."

"Your friends, I presume."

"I guess you'd call them acquaintances... I played with them. Until one day, when I ventured into a cave to retrieve a ball that bounced inside, I was attacked by an ursa minor. I was terrified, but instead of running away like any other pony would, I tried to fight it back with my magic. And as a result..."

Tempest pauses. Wind watches silently as she shut her eyes, giving him a good look at the scar over her right one. Her broken horn sparks as she reopens her eyes again.

"I remember the faces of those foals the next day, when I tried levitating that ball and my magic started to crackle and snap as I struggled, their expressions weren't showing concern or pity from my failed attempts. ...it was terror. My incapability to cast magic was striking fear into them no different than from what that ursa was with me. They took the hint however and ran away from me the moment they got the chance, but as I watched them leave me behind, it occurred to me of just how different my world was going to be from then on. How it will be filled with nothing but hardships for the things that I took for granted, like being in another reality that resembles the one I knew, only it's more hellbent on snuffing you from its garden than the prior one was."

Wind reflects on Tempest's words for a moment as he begins to consider something.

"...and you?" Tempest asks, breaking Second Wind's concentration.

"Hmm?"

"How'd you lose your wing?"

"Eh, it wasn't anything as amazing as facing an ursa minor," Wind downplays his loss. "just a really bad case of angel wing that resulted from a bone infection. It started when I began to feel my wing getting sore one day, but I didn't put much thought into it and considered that I might've sprained it somehow. I decided to lay off flying for a short while, but it only got worse, so I went to see a doctor to get this under control. Attempts were made, pain was endured, and once my wing was unable to tuck at my side, it was time to amputate it." A smile of bittersweetness gently appears on his face as he looks at his prosthetic wing, "Honestly, it was harder to deal with the pain my wing was giving me, rather than dealing with the fact that I lost it."

Tempest glances at the specially crafted wing of his, "You were lucky in the end though. You may have lost your ability to fly, but you got a metal wing with a space pocket out of it," Shadow nestles into her folded forelegs on the rail. "It's better than losing your control on magic and getting an ugly stub in the middle of your forehead."

"Oh I don't know," Wind tries to reassure her, "I think that broken horn of yours makes you look kinda cute."

Tempest holds her pose, keeping her head planted and swerving her eyes towards Wind with a mirthless look against his sunny smile. "........" she turns her head away from him, "...you have poor eyesight," and buries her cheeks into her forelegs.

Dunking the head into the bucket of water before slapping it on the floor, a bulky creature below deck wipes the floor with the mop in his hands. Hunching over in the tight space and humming a tune, he minds his work with the utmost care.

"Hey, new guy!"

He turns to his temporary nickname, bumping his horns on the hanging lamp and pinches it from swinging around. He looks down at a biped turtle that bears a shell that appears too small for his long, thin limbs to retract inside.

"Go have a ten minute break," orders the reptile, "be back on time."

He bows, "Thank you, Captain." and dunks the mop's head into the bucket. He watches where he places his hooves, tending not to slip on the wet surface and makes his way to the outside deck.

He adjusts his eyes to the late morning sun, breathing in the smell of the ocean and lets out a poem.

"Ah, the open sea.
Fresh air in a land so free.
.....but not much to see."

The crew member straightens the striking fabric he wears and gyrates his guard-covered shoulder. He loosens up with a twist at the waist, turning to his right to see a few crates roped against the wall, then turns to his left to see a few passengers resting on the rails.

"...wait a minute," he places the aerobics on hold upon recognizing two of the passengers conversing with one another, Tempest Shadow and Second Wind. He gasps, pointing a finger at them, "YOU!"

Tempest and Wind turn to the loud outburst, instantly recognize the creature from his giant stature. minotaur frame, and painted face, Genji Spirit.

Genji springs back and slams with a 'thud' on top of a large crate with the word, 'FLOUR', printed on the side. Genji perches himself like a gargoyle in a bell tower, "So our paths have finally crossed again, and soon," he stands up as the ring on his right finger flashes and a large two-handed sword with a wide golden fuller appears in his grip, pointing its tip at the Equines, "our swords will too!" Despite the threat he makes, he shows signs of struggle at keeping the heavy sword pointing at them with only one arm, "I have waited a long time for another chance to finish what we started, and The Arbitrator will settle our tussle!"

The display of his actions begins to catch the attention of the other passengers on board.

"'Long time'? We've only just met a few days ago." Second Wind points out.

"Long, short, time is an irrelevant spiral of twelves. What matters is the continuation of our conflict! Come, call forth your teammates so we can make history together!"

Tempest Shadow makes an audible groan. She hops back on all fours, "Better get the other two," she orders Second Wind, "I get the feeling that he's too bullheaded to let up on this pointless conflict. I'm already geared up, so I'll keep him occupied till you return with Shining and Flash."

Wind nods without questioning her methods and gallops off, gaining a few more eyes from the passengers. Tempest lifts up her right foreleg and pulls out her broken sword from its sheath.

"That is your weapon of choice?" Genji glances over at Tempest's broken horn, "How symbolic."

Taking one more glance at the crystal around her neck, Shadow gives a 'humph' and whips herself into a fighting stance, channeling her magic to form the blade as she gives the minotaur a blasé look.

Genji pushes his jaw forward, "...very well. We shall make this our warm-up!"

Genji jumps at Tempest with his giant sword over his left shoulder. Tempest reads the posture, he's going to swing down at her in a diagonal, so she charges Genji at his left. Genji isn't able to redirect the weight of the swing enough and Tempest weaves under to manage a strike at Genji's thigh with the tip of her sword's magic.

The impact leaves a perturb sensation over Tempest, as she doesn't feel any resistance to it.

Tempest doesn't get the time to think of a reason as Genji turns around, sweeping his giant weapon in the form of an attack. Being so close to the large minotaur, Tempest uses her stature by laying low to the ground and lets the heavy blade wheel overhead. With another opening available, Tempest springs up and hits him with a good amount of her sword's magic.

Once again, Tempest meets with no resistance. Armor, flesh, or bone, the only thing that she feels she's cutting at is the air.

Before Tempest can even consider this to be an illusion, Genji shoves her away, forming distance between the two. Genji pulls back his sword with the tip of the blade pointing at Tempest and lunges at her. Tempest hops back to let the weapon pull Genji out of his stance and she goes for the counter. Genji jerks his arm back, bracing for impact from behind his sword as Tempest swings at him.

Both parties are in vain as there isn't any impact, just Tempest's magic sliding along Genji like the rain rolling down an umbrella.

Tempest distances herself from Genji and glances at her sword. She taps the tip of it on the floor.

*Dung dung*

The magic portion of the blade is solid upon hitting the surface.

"Your eyes lack that resolve you had the last time we met," Tempest turns to Genji, listening to his words as he loosens his stance, "is this the reason why your strikes fail to connect?"

Tempest ponders over the reason herself until glancing down at Genji's equipment, discerning the sword and armor. She sheaths her sword to speak, "Your equipment, did you get them from The Magick Kingdom?"

"Hmm..." Genji answers in a tone that he was impressed by the question, "I may have misjudged your eye in craftsmanship."

"So not only do their weapons cut through magic," Shadow murmurs to herself, "but their armor can nullify it too."

Tempest's ear makes a twitch, picking up the sound of something flapping in the air. Flash Sentry suddenly drops in next to her, wings folding with his halberd in hoof. Tempest turns to the small crowd of watchers, seeing Shining Armor brushing the passengers aside with his shield for both him and Second Wind to get through, joining her and Flash into the four-pony team that they are.

"Ah, so the gang has finally assembled," Genji smirks as he stabs the sword into the deck. He raises his right hand, the ring on his finger flashes for a scroll to appear in his grip. "You were fortunate to catch me off guard the other day, but I'm really feeling it today," he swings his arm and flexes the scroll's tip at himself, "witness my 'Bravery' in action!"

The scroll shines and a yellow bullet made of magic shoots out into Genji. He stands firm, but a yellow aura begins to emit over his body. Gripping a firm hold on the two-handed sword with only his right hand, Genji yanks it out of the floor and easily swings it around as if it's a one-handed weapon.

Genji flips the sword over his head and catches it in his left hand, swinging it behind himself in stylish fashion and rocking the boat, "Any last minute changes before we conclude our epic battle?"

Tempest Shadow steps back and glances at the team, "We could be outmatched fighting him as he is now, but if that scroll is intended to be a consumable product like all the other ones, then the spell must have a duration before it wears off. Staying on the defensive would work best till then."

"So there should be no complaints for a Captain of The Guard to lead the team," Shining challenges the mare for command, "right?"

"I have no objections," Tempest straight faces him, "only if you know you can handle it."

Armor almost glares back at Shadow for her doubts on the credibility of his title, but he hesitates upon seeing her expression. Noting how she doesn't seem to indulge in her remark with a grin or a smirk.

"...well?"

"...spread out," Shining takes the lead, "keep your distance from him, but strike periodically to keep him on edge."

The ponies disperse and surround the minotaur to the best of their ability within the confined space the deck has to offer.

"Ah, the old Round Pounce," Genji comments like a veteran, "a formidable choice, but also a foolish one!" he jumps in place and slams down with force, causing the boat to bob and give everyone a shift in their balance, "Now to pick you off!"

Genji dashes at a wobbling Tempest, but he gets thrown off his attempt by a shield covered in a light pink aura as it rams into his blade via Shining Armor's interference. Genji watches the shield flying around and directs its trajectory back at him. He smacks the shield away like a fly, appropriate as the shield curves right back at him like a persistent pest.

Summoning another scroll into his hand, Genji points it at himself and activates it. A barrier forms around him following with another barrier over that one and another one over that. The barriers fade in the order they came in and then Genji stands there firmly as Shining's shield spirals for him again. Genji makes no attempt to defend himself from the magic-controlled weapon, and as the shield hits him, it springs back without so much as fazing him.

Shining Armor attempts another assault with his shield, but finds his hold over the weapon unresponsive as it flies at himself faster. He dims down the aura around his horn, but to his surprise, his shield continues to fly at him, still within his aura. Armor takes the impact of his weapon, sending him back to the edge of the growing crowd.

Genji laughs to the resulting actions of his 'Reflect' spell, "Your hocus-pocus will be your downfall," he lectures in a pompous manner, "for I am rubber, and you are glue," his robust posture suddenly sags, "Ooooh, I just realized the irony in that one."

A rushing impact rams Genji's right shoulder blade, shoving the minotaur off balance by a purple-armored Flash Sentry bolting through.

Genji steadies his equilibrium to the rocking deck, enough time to catch Flash circling back for another rushing charge with his halberd in grip. Genji pulls back his sword, and as the two of them are within range of each other, they make their move with a swing of a sword and an acrobatic backflip, avoiding the blade and allowing Sentry the opportunity to strike a kick at the minotaur's arm.

Genji swings Flash off and the pony returns to the sky while the minotaur summons another scroll from his ring. Genji points the scroll at himself and casts a red orb into his body. A red aura covers the minotaur as he shields for impact upon Flash diving at him. Just as Flash is about to stomp a hoof on the weapon, Genji vanishes, effectively resulting in the pony to crash into the deck.

"Aha!" Genji showboats around Flash, leaving afterimages of himself under the effects of his 'Haste' spell, "Nothinginyourrepertoireofskillscanbestmenow!" he blurts out his words.

Flash adjusts to the rocking boat as he gets up and continues to fight the minotaur, all while Second Wind is swiftly fiddling with the keypad on his prosthetic wing.

Sentry spins the halberd in his wings at a horizontal angle, coming across as a helicopter to ward off Genji's attempt at finding an opening, but his huff implies otherwise. "Yourtechniqueislacking," Genji spouts and proves his point in the blink of an eye by halting the rotation simply by holding his sword in the halberd's path, "itneedstobemorethanjustflashy."

Genji makes a sudden flinch upon feeling something hitting his skin from behind. He glances back, seeing a dart sticking out on his rear. Following the angle of the dart, Genji traces the trajectory toward a blowgun that's being held by Second Wind.

Breaking away from Flash, Genji focuses on the pegasus that shot him, "It's impolite to interrupt." His eyes suddenly widen, realizing how casual that sounded, "My 'Haste' spell! What happened to it?"

"It was countered," Wind informs with a smirk, "you're still under the effect of 'Haste', but the tranquilizer shot I gave seems to have brought you back to normal speed."

"Biological warfare to my magic enhancement, huh?" Genji flicks the dart off him, "You think that this will be enough to stop me, Genji Spirit?" he gives the pegasus a firm glare in a dynamic pose, "I have only just begun to fi-"

*Splash*

Before he could finish his statement, Genji suddenly gets hit by a body of dirty water from the crowd of creatures that's formed around him and the ponies during the course of the fight. Despite his soggy state and tilting floor, Genji maintains his pose like an unmovable statue.

"You're late, new guy."

Hearing those words from a familiar voice however, broke his composure into a shiver. Genji immediately identifies the biped turtle in the crowd that's holding an empty bucket with a stern glare on his face, "C-Captain!"

"I allowed you passage on my ship in exchange for your work, and yet here I find you picking fights with the passengers that paid for theirs."

"M-my apologies, I just got cau-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" the sea captain rebukes Genji's attempt to avoid punishment.

In the midst of this scolding, Tempest, Flash, and Wind gather around Shining Armor, sharing their expressions to the scene before them. The situation appears to be getting under a calm control now, despite the verbal fight that's happening. The ponies try to steady their balance to the swaying ship as they continue to watch the lecture.

"This is a ferry, not a showboat!" the captain scolds as he maintains himself on the swaying carrier, "I wanted you scrubbing the floors to make this vessel look fresh out of the yard, not to jump around trying to rock this ship belly up!"

Tempest lifts a forehoof over her mouth, catching something very off about the captain's remark. She sees some of the passengers gripping the boat's railing, she notes her teammates leaning up against the walls, and she finds a sudden need to drop her hoof to the floor before she falls over. It dawns on Tempest that something isn't subsiding despite the missing action, and before she can dwell on the thought any further, the cause reveals itself through a tremor.

The ship suddenly shakes, violently rattling every creature on board. Some stumble to the floor while others let out a cry, but nevertheless, they all heard the sound of something hitting the boat.

Everyone tries to get their bearings straight from the abrupt shock, but Shining Armor looks over to his lieutenant instead. He flicks his head to the side, giving Flash a silent order to investigate the situation.

Flash Sentry takes to the sky with a mighty flap of his wings, leaving his halberd and focusing solely on scouting the area. He starts by gliding along the starboard side of the ship, noting the amount of work placed into making a smooth surface until he reaches a dent, and a large one at that. The size of the impact nearly matches his stature, but they could be dealing with something much bigger than this.

Flash glances at the rough waves around him. He ascends high into the clear skies for a bird's eye view, but he's finding it hard to make out anything with the water slushing about. The crewbeasts and passengers steadily move to the starboard side to make their own sense of the situation.

Wind, Tempest, and Shining move across the deck with caution as well and wrap their forelegs over the railing to fight the wild ride. The waves only get rougher with water splashing on deck. A large wave comes rolling at everyone and Shining forms a wall of magic to cover them. It blocks the impact and stops the water.

Literally.

Like blowing out a match, the waves suddenly stop. The ship gradually steadies, but everyone can feel their nerves shaking to the ominous events.

"I'M SEEING SOMETHING!" Flash yells to every creature below, "Can't really tell what though," he mutters to himself. Flash watches the murky creature circling the boat at a gentle pace, forming an image of them much like Sentry is doing on it. He can see some faint shimmers of multiple colors coming from it from time to time, but it's body mostly blended with the water it was in.

It finishes a lap around them before swiftly swimming off.

Flash makes certain of its retreat as he watches it get farther and farther away until it stops. It takes only a moment for him to realize its intent, "IT'S GONNA CHARGE US!"

Sentry's warning sends everyone into a panic state and they all tend to it in their own way, but for Tempest and Wind, they look to Shining Armor, already psyching up to use his magic.

The figure starts rushing towards the boat, "IMPACT IN FOUR... THREE... TWO..."

Shining lights up his horn and forms a dome of magic over the starboard side.

"ON-" Flash stops mid number as the figure makes a sudden shift down and vanishes into the dense ocean, "IT JUST DOVE DEEPER!"

Armor quickly expands the barrier across the hull of the ship, cupping the patch of water the boat bobs in. He braces for impact...

*SPLOOSH*

...but he, along with everyone else, turns to the sound of the creature leaping from the water on the other side of the ship.

Everyone sees the creature's figure as it goes over them, but Flash sees a mouth that's ready to chomp him whole. Flash frantically backs up just before the jaws snatch him inside and now leaves him tumbling on a long muzzle. Bouncing along its moist azure scales, Flash catches a reflection of himself off of the monster's dark-butterscotch eye to this beshemoth. Flash is slapped by a pectoral fin that consists of gradient colors of lavender to lilac at the tip. Water droplets fall off her and showers the passengers below as she soars over them. The sun glinting off her scales leaves everyone a wynorrific sight of this creature, this giant sea serpent.

The serpent slams back into the ocean after her overarching leap, finishing off her ostentatious display by splashing a hill of water that sprinkles the air for a spectrum of colors and sends every creature into a state of hysteria.

Flash Sentry stumbles onto deck and the other ponies gather around him. He lays a hoof on his head, disoriented from bouncing on the serpent's body. "She nearly ate me!" Flash groggily reports.

Second Wind tends to Sentry and Tempest looks over at Shining, "So how are we going to confront this, Captain?"

Shining opens his mouth...

"I don't know."

...but the boat's captain answers instead, misunderstanding to whom the question was for.

The Equestrians turn their attention to the sea captain, the stern look he had moments ago has melted to a concerning one as he helplessly watches the serpent, "This is just a transport ship. We don't have things like harpoons or cannons to defend with." His eyes suddenly widen as the serpent's dorsal fin begins to slice through the water in their direction, "EMBRACE FOR IMPACT!" the sea captain alerts everyone.

Before everyone went hysterical again, Shining Armor forms a magic barrier around the ship and encases part of the ocean in a light-rose sphere.

The serpent slams into the barrier, achieving nothing but a winch from Armor. "Get everyone below deck," Shining orders the sea captain, gaining his attention and a glance at the light-rose aura around Armor's horn, connecting the dots of with the barrier. "This ship is going to be rocking and we can't risk the chance of passengers flying off it. Get them secured and try to keep them settled until this is over. As for the serpent, let me and my team handle it."

The sea captain studies the group of ponies, noting the way they carry themselves with the weapons and protective gear on them. He clicks his tongue, finding the idea of trusting these new faces to be in charge of his ship unsettling, but he has little option other than to hope that the ponies live up to their suits.

The captain refashions his authoritative stature before addressing everyone on board, "ALRIGHT CREATURES, HEAD BELOW DECK!"

Shining let's the captain handle it from there and focuses on the creature outside his magic forcefield, wincing on maintaining the barrier from another strike by the serpent outside. "I'm open for suggestions," Armor asks of his team. He glances at them, "Tempest, Flash, Wind, Ge-" Shining shakes his head upon seeing Genji Spirit among his teammates , waiting and willing to help in any way possible.

"We're in the same boat here," Genji clears up Armor's confusion, "it would be best if we worked together on this."

Shining keeps his eyes on the minotaur for a moment longer as he turns back to the team as a whole, "Got any ideas?" Shining asks the group again.

"Let me see what I got up my wing." Wind offers, proceeding with reviewing his inventory.

Armor withstands another strike and looks over to the lady of the team, "I could really use your expertise in combat right now, Tempest."

"It's not looking too good, Armor. Going by how she reacted to your barrier and then following it up with an assault on our aerial vantage point, we're dealing with something that can strategize and form out plans to engage with. What makes matters worse is that she can move around in the ocean more easily than the ship can. With those tactics, that freedom to strike, and how unprepared this ship is for an assault, the best option for us is to defend ourselves until we reach shore."

"That's easier said than done." Shining flinches to another impact on the barrier, "To ensure we won't get a surprise attack, I've encased us in a sphere that won't allow anything in or out, including water." He recoils to another strike, "There needs to be a flowing system to take in and push out water. Without it, we won't be going anywhere that isn't within this sphere; but the more complex a barrier becomes, the harder it'll be at maintaining it." He winces to another strainful ram, "The pressure of strong blows our friend outside is giving is already making things difficult on me. The nearest land is still hours away and we don't know when or if the serpent will give up during that time. With those extra hurdles, I'm bound to slip my hold on the barrier."

"May I make a suggestion that we use magic in a way to supercharge the boat's speed for a grand escape?" Genji adds to the conversation. "We could try using some of my scrolls to blow us forward at an accelerated rate."

"One of the fundamental rules of flying is that you need to maintain a sense of balance at all times," Flash comments. "We'll need to outrun this thing, so we might find ourselves losing control of the ship and start making flips through the air."

As everyone continues to debate over an answer, Second Wind continues to fiddle through the inventory in his wing for something useful. His eyes start narrowing and pulls his metal wing up closer. The monitor is displaying his items, but the sun's glare is making it hard for him to read the screen, all he's seeing is his own reflection on it. Wind gyrates his prosthetic wing and tries to shield the sun from the monitor until something catches his eye.

On the monitor, the one that's reflecting Wind's appearance, shows another vague image of some creature slithering up to him slowly. Its skin matches the ocean with a body that comes across as a serpent, but the face it has isn't distinct at all, it blends in too well with the rest of its body.

The creature arches its back, standing up like a snake ready to lunge at its victim.

Second Wind tenses up with the creature and he takes the initiative first with a spin around, smacking the creature with his prosthetic wing in the turn.

Everyone hears the impact of a loud slap, drawing their attention to the splashing sound that follows as the unknown creature hits the wall and spatters into droplets of water.

Before any of them can figure out what happened, a series of splashes come from the ocean and many water streams come flowing up to the deck, all with the same appearance as the sea serpent. The copies waste no time at charging the party while more continue to jump out of the sea.

Tempest Shadow gets her weapon ready just like the rest of the team to this wave of creatures, yet before she could grit her teeth oh the handle, she feels a clamp on her hind leg. One of the water creatures has gripped her in its mouth and yanks Tempest off her hooves with a thud. Everyone is already dealing with a creature of their own as Tempest pushes herself up and sees another one leaping at her. She charges her broken horn and shoots a 'Firework' spell at it to blow the body of water apart. Another tug pulls at her, the creature on her leg is dragging her closer to the edge of the ship.

The body of water slides its lower half off the boat with Tempest in its jaw, but the mare catches herself by holding onto the railing. It wiggles as Tempest pulls both of them up, far enough to take aim and shoots another 'Firework' spell to splash apart.

Tempest promptly gets back on her hooves with newfound vigor. Taking out these copies is starting to look like that it'll be foal's play, but upon seeing her teammates, Tempest's certainty begins to waver as all of them appear to be struggling. It's understandable for Shining with him maintaining the barrier; however, Flash and Wind are placing extra effort behind their swings just to send them flying.

The sight bothers her, but it's Genji's attempts that's really making Tempest uncomfortable. He's placing just as much effort as the pegasi are, but she's finding that he's pushing off the liquid creation with his sword to be very off-putting to her.

Tempest's ear flicks to the sound of a few water creatures charging at her side. She lights up her broken horn and she zaps a current of magic at one of the creatures, which chains to another creature and continues to another one. Tempest breaks the magical connection and the creatures burst into puddles of water. She takes another look at Genji with a puzzling expression on her face.

Over where Shining Armor stands, he keeps his shield close to him in his aura as he fights off the manifestations that surround him with quick swings from his weapon. He's fighting off a dozen water copies, far more opponents than what the rest of his teammates are facing. His hold on his shield staggers as he endures another ram against the barrier he's maintaining in the midst of this endless swarm, but he still tries to tough through it.

Five of the copies make an attempt to pounce Armor, and as Shining bashes two of them into puddles, Flash Sentry suddenly swoops in and drives into the other three. Sentry hops back to cover Shining's flank, "You and I both came to the same conclusion that these things are magical manifestations made by the serpent, right?"

"I've never heard of such a spell that controls water like this," Shining swipes a copy apart, "but there's no doubt that this is all the result of magic."

"But to make so many copies like this?" Flash bats away another clone, "She must be exhausted by this point."

Shining begs to differ upon receiving another wallop on the barrier, this time leaving a crack in the magical shield. Armor tries to focus on recementing the fractured portion, but nine copies come sliding at him and forces Armor to fend this approaching threat. He breaks apart two of them and Flash pushes back three with his halberd, but that fifth copy starts giving Flash problems as it clenches his halberd in its mouth, locking the weapon in place. Flash tugs and pulls for control of his halberd, but the fifth copy isn't allowing it and the sixth copy wraps around Flash to restrain the pegasus. The last three water manifestations manage to also get themselves around Armor as well and they're wrestling for submission from the unicorn; one pulling to get him off his hoof, the other gripping around his waist to weaken his breathing, and the last squeezing around his neck to tear focus from the barrier.

Without the magic to reinforce its durability and Shining's focus being pulled everywhere, the sea serpent shatters through the barrier and rockets towards the ship. She lurches her body up and slides onto deck, brushing into Shining and Flash and smacking them back and splashing her copies back into puddles. She slithers around and coils her body up like a snake as the two ponies stagger to get back on their hooves while the serpent already has her back arched up.

She strikes her head at them and Shining lights up his horn. He shoots a bit of his Equestrian magic at the serpent and grazes the scales on her cheek, just enough to make her flinch back. She hisses at him as he and Flash make it back to their hooves. The serpent makes another round of water manifestations to splash on deck and follows up with another attempt to lunge at them, only to receive a smack from Shining's shield this time.

Shining continues to ricochet his shield off the serpent with the use of his magic while Flash fends off the water manifestations that are surrounding him and his captain. Driving, ramming, each stallion is putting in strong and relentless strikes in their attempts, but the number of copies aren't decreasing and the hits the serpent receives is irritating her skin at best.

Flash Sentry takes a few steps back, "Any chance you could break her concentration, Captain? Something that'll interrupt her focus or control over these water clones."

"If the raging assault she's giving hasn't changed the flow of those water sprouts yet, then I don't know what'll break that focus!" Shining snaps, frantically smacking the serpents ceaseless attempts as they get more aggressive. "Pain can be distracting, but her scales, belly, fins. No matter where I'm striking, nothing seems to be leaving her with severe pain.

Flash glances at the serpent, observing the furious glare she's making. "'Life and Death Battle with a Bengal Tiger'. Familiar with that poem?"

"There better be a purpose to that question."

Sentry pulls his halberd closer to his chest, "Give me a moment."

Flash takes to the air and Shining forms a small barrier of magic around him, shifting to defense to guard against both the water manifestations and serpent as they begin to pummel the protective dome. They completely ignore Flash, a grave mistake for what the pegasus that's carrying the sharp weapon is planning. Flash arcs and propels himself at the serpent's face from her blind spot.

Flash Sentry pulls back his halberd, and in a powerful swing, the deadly weapon goes right into the serpent's eye.

The serpent halts herself. All of the water copies suddenly fall on the floor, dispersing like the liquid that it is.

Shining Armor, Tempest Shadow, Genji Spirit, and Second Wind look about and ease up at the welcoming ceasefire. Armor lowers his barrier, the rest of the team on deck gather to him and they look up at Flash as he holds his halberd in the eye of the serpent. The sight leaves everyone feeling a twist in the bottom of their stomach.

Flash flaps there, still applying pressure into the serpent's eye socket with the tip of his razor-sharp weapon, but it hasn't even punctured the eye itself.

Sentry feels his feathers stand on edge to the sound of his halberd scraping against the serpent's eye as she rolls it to settle her sight on the pegasus. Her pupil dilates with the sharp blade pressing against it, breaking focus on her water copies not from the feeling of pain, but the feeling of rage.

The serpent's temper begins to boil out of her in the form of a low growl. She swings her head into Flash to send him spinning through the air. She opens her mouth wide, she stretches out at the pegasus and suddenly receives a wallop by Shining's shield from the side of her head.

Shining trades glances with the other ponies, "You don't suppose..." he begins to ask them.

The serpent cuts Armor off with a hiss and a piercing gaze that she's had enough of Shining's interference. She dives at Shining Armor and he lights up his horn for another barrier around himself to receive the strike, but he doesn't immediately receive it. The serpent zips past the magic dome and coils around it.

A heavy strain begins to rip through Armor's horn as a strong pressure begins to squeeze his magical dome. He almost feels like his horn has cracked upon finally receiving that strike from the serpent, and he continues to endure a fury of blows from her as she attempts to crack the barrier open.

The other members of the team quickly respond to spare Shining of this pummeling and start striking the serpent. Flash, Wind, and Genji make attempts with their weapons at breaking the serpent's hold, but the result isn't any different than from what Flash got earlier as she's completely unfazed by their efforts. As for Tempest Shadow, she pulls out her broken sword and forms the blade with her Equestrian magic while swinging it into the serpent's tail. And as a result, Tempest leaves upon her a deep gash.

The serpent screeches a piercing cry that ripples the ocean. She throws a leering gaze at Tempest and the broken sword in her mouth that emits her Equestrian magic. The serpent makes a hasty retreat, uncoiling her hold on Shining's barrier and diving back into the ocean.

Armor drops his barrier in a daze. He wasn't prepared for the rushing barrage of assault like that, but he managed to withstand it with only a sore horn.

Flash sees to him, leaving Tempest and Wind to their thoughts, "It's almost like that time..."

"We're not done, comrades."

The ponies look over to Genji, standing at the railing with a finger pointing out to sea, "She still has some fight left in her."

The group of equestrians gallop over, lifting their forelegs over the railing to get a better look at the serpent that's watching them from a lengthy distance. She's exposing half of her body above the ocean surface as she swims back and forth. There's no clear idea of what she intends to do, but the team knows that it's going to be more devastating than what she's shown thus far.

"So..." Genji gathers the attention, "are we going with my plan about outrunning her, or what? I'm certain I have a few scrolls with some powerful winds magic to them."

Flash rubs his chin, "Say, Genji, would it be possible to hit her where she's at now with one of your scrolls?"

"What's that now?"

"We've encountered something like this before," Second Wind explains, "a creature with impenetrable skin that's only susceptible to magic. It's not exactly the same species, but..."

"I got ya!" Genji's ring flashes and a scroll appears in his hand, "I've been saving this one for a while now. Stand back, she's about to taste the magic of The Kingdom's finest."

The edge of the scroll lights up as Genji steadies his aim, lining the shot up with the serpent. Everyone feels their fur stand up to the sound of a sharp crack coming from the scroll as a lightning bolt comes blasting out. It soars over the sea as a bright light, too fast to be prepared for, not even for the serpent as it strikes her head on and engulfs the sea monster in a dome of electricity.

The party closes their eyes and covers their ears to the loud, blinding attack. As it fades and everyone clears their vision from the lasting effect it gives them, they consider on repeating their actions from what they see, a serpent pacing about without so much as a scorch mark on her.

"Unbelievable!" Genji shreds up the scroll in a scornful manner, "I paid good money for that spell!"

Tempest gives the minotaur a skeptic look before turning down to her sword.

"Then it couldn't be like..." Flash checks over with his teammates.

The serpent makes a dive under the water, making everyone jump back to prepare for the worst. The party cement themselves on the floating boat, gently rocking on the vessel with no sign of any danger. Manes and fabric gently brushes to the breeze hitting them as they slowly shift their bodies for a better stance.

Everyone sees the spot where the serpent sank starting to splash with mounds plopping up. The ship begins to tilt while the patch of water begins to form into a growing spire. It becomes a tower of spiraling liquid that reaches high into the sky and plumes out steely clouds that overtake the bright clear day. The clouds shade the boat along with the five members of the team who stare up in amazement and suspense that the serpent made this waterspout, this tornado that they must confront. They see brief exposures of the serpent's fins poking out from the spout as she along the column of water, likely to maintain her spell's form.

The spire twirls the water as it pulls towards its base, spreading across the surface and catching the ship into the water flow. The ship makes a sudden jerk that throws the party off their hooves; Shining falls against a wall, Tempest drops to her knees, Genji catches himself with the railings, and Flash braces against the mast.

Second Wind trips headfirst at a large crate in his tumble. He pushes off the box and he catches the word, 'FLOUR', printed on the container. Wind hesitates, looking at the serpent residing in the spire of water before turning back to the crate. He contemplates over the thought, turning to Genji upon settling on the idea.

The rest of the team reacquaint themselves to the ship's erratic turning. The ferry is flowing straight towards the waterspout, but Shining Armor fixes that issue by looking to the only member of the team who can fly against the current, "Flash, take over the helm!"

Sentry nods in Shinning's direction and soars for the ship's wheel with haste.

With the struggle for control over the boat is being attended to, Shining Armor receives some breathing room from the suffocating spot they're all in. but it doesn't loosen his mind that's digging over what their next course of action should be. Fighting off this serpent with weapons and magic aren't proving useful, but defending or escaping doesn't seem like a possibility either. She must be getting tired from the excessive magic she's been making, that's the only hope he sees at getting out of this, but will they be able to outlast her assault until she wears herself out?

Shining feels his body trying to cool down to this intensity with sweat. He firms his stance to fight off the quivering in his legs and shakes the doubts from his head, but it's starting to become clear to him that they're outmatched and could very well be spending his last few moments alive. He struggles to hide his fear under his determination, maintaining a calm stature will help fight against any hysteria that could botch their success.

Shining Armor considers that now is more than an important time to reassure his team that they're going to get out of this alive. He starts with Tempest Shadow, and as Armor views her, he's lost for words upon seeing how solid and strong her stance is. Tempest is staring up at the waterspout with no visible signs that the stacking odds is of any hindrance to her. The scowling glare she makes at the waterspout tells him that she's concerned about the situation, but it also expresses that she doesn't have a clue on how to face it.

They're at the mercy of a life-and-death situation that could make any creature fear for survival, but with the way she's handling it, Shining can't help but wonder if there's anything that does scare her.

"And an alley-OOP!"

Through the loud roars of the water sloshing ahead of them, Armor's attention snaps over to Genji Spirit and follows the wooden crate of flour being thrown from the minotaur's grip. Being under the effects of 'Bravery', the crate flies an outstanding distance towards the waterspout and plunges inside the vortex. It leaves no changes, but after a few seconds, a brief flash appears in a small area within the spout. The water starts to change in appearance as it gets thicker and begins to collapse into sticky mounds of batter, revealing the serpent that's struggling to move in the restricting gooey substance. The sea monster topples back into the ocean, bringing an end to the waterspout.

As Shining and Tempest exchange an unclear look, Genji and Wind exchange a clap of their hand and wing respectively. The two unicorns turn towards the supplier of their party, and Second Wind catches their expressions that asks for an answer, "I had a bomb in my inventory, so I lit it, placed it a crate of flour, had Genji throw said crate, then watched it explode to release the flour inside for it to mix with the water and interrupts the serpent's magic as it becomes a hindrance on her."

Tempest still holds her sword in her jaw, leaving it to Shining Armor to speak up their conflictions on the matter. "Next time, run your thoughts by your superiors first before you make another brash decision like that again. A team not in line with each other during crucial moments can lead to some unwelcoming outcomes." he firmly states, "...but, that was a clever solution nonetheless."

"We should take this moment and start making preparations for her next assault," Genji addresses, "that batter isn't going to stick around for long if she's in the ocean, she'll likely try to attack us again once freed."

Shining places some thought on Genji's suggestion to strengthen their defense, but looking out at sea and taking into account how calmer the ocean has gotten, he considers another choice, "I think we should focus on escaping for now. Casting offensive spells like those water copies and making a giant waterspout must've taken a lot out of her. If she's the persistent strategist that she's proving herself out to be, then she must be keeping her distance to formulate another plan while mustering up what little magic she has left in her."

The conversation starts to diverge from Tempest Shadow's focus towards the ocean. There's nothing worth noting, but the female of the group is feeling her fur to be very sensitive to the breeze in that particular direction.

"Are you sure we're safe to travel again?" Flash drops into the conversation, in both senses of the phrase.

"I know it's safer than waiting and seeing what the next act is to her water show," Shining makes his point.

*...dung ding*

The sound catches the boy's attention and all of them glance back at the broken sword that rests on the ground next to Tempest. They trace up her body towards the mouth that dropped it and study the entranced look on her face. The four of them follow the direction Tempest stares, the ocean horizon. It's subtle, just like the faint sound of growls in the air, but everyone can see the surface of the water bending towards them as it rolls closer. It shouldn't be possible by natural standards, it's even exceeding in stature by covering the entire horizon, and it only keeps growing into what will certainly be a horrendous tsunami.

"Dear Yevon," the words escape Genji's lips, "the amount of magic this serpent possesses is terrifyingly monstrous."

"Shining," Tempest mutters, "be honest, how confident are you with your barrier magic?"

Shining feels the likeness of surviving beginning to bite at his skin, "...have you ever stepped on a chicken egg?"

The vigor everyone has begins to drain to the severe reality of the situation. Each member can feel their anxiety bubbling inside them as they reflect on their memories for solace and answers out of this, yet the hopelessness of the situation is starting to sink into them and drown any slim chance they may have at besting this.

Tempest Shadow eases herself, having to admit that there isn't any way of fighting this. She stares into space with a blank look and notices her sword is out of her sheath. She lowers her neck to return it back to her sheath, but before grabbing the handle, she feels something sliding up the back of her neck and stop upon hitting her ears. The yellow-glowing crystal around her neck suddenly swings into the mare's vision.

"..." Tempest straightens up. She looks at her teammates, seeing the gestures of suspense, regret, and anger as they try to cope with the situation. Resting her eyes for a moment, she expresses a lamenting sigh before glaring at the lethal force of nature, now only miles away at the height of a royal castle, "...I'll handle this."

The boys observe the mare with dumbstruck looks on their faces, skeptic doesn't even begin to define their thoughts to her statement.

Tempest aligns herself with the formidable obstacle around the best position to leave the ship intact in the end. It's unclear to her if this'll make any difference, relying on an object that's considered unnecessary by many, but it's the only option left. Overcoming this challenge with aided support, Tempest inlights her horn for this final effort.

"'Just use any spell you like,'" Tempest coaches herself with what Mino told her earlier, "'and push yourself,'" her horn begins to emit brighter as she charges up a spell. She can't create a barrier to protect anyone, but she has another idea that involves a spell she's strongly familiar with.

Each passing second adds more anxiety over the party, weighing them down to the taste of the grim fate that's coming for them.

The wave now towers before them at a height that only mountains can reach. In turn, Tempest Shadow arches her neck up with a horn that's spilling sparks of magic as it overflows from her charged up spell.

Feeling the droplets hitting her face, the tsunami begins to topple over them and Tempest feels a charge of magic traveling up the back of her neck to her horn as she exerts a 'Firework' spell directly at the collapsing wave.

The supercharged magic bullet flies at a much faster pace than normal, and it's much brighter than what the spell usually looks like, but the size isn't what Tempest hoped for as it didn't change in the slightest. A little spell versus a monster sized one, it's uncannily like watching the casters charging at one another.

Tempest's spell splashes inside the falling wave and continues to travel through it until the bullet suddenly glints and detonates an explosion that far exceeds what Tempest can normally do. The shockwave of the blast ripples the wave and brushes it aside for a clear sight of lights buzzing, hissing, and crackling in performance for the team to witness. A marvelous sight, and it leaves no party member disappointed as the lights dim to leave them a wide and open sight of the cloudy sky in the missing portion of the tsunami.

With the tsunami now bearing a giant hole through it, the wave comes slamming down around the boat that resides inside the liquid's missing portion.

The impact pushes the water under the boat and the ship is thrown high into the air. Shining Armor already has his horn illuminating to shield the ship when it falls back down, and upon reaching the peak, everyone hears the thunderous roar of the serpent.

Long, giant streams of water sprout out of the ocean and begin to curl towards the boat like a Venus fly trap planning to crush them like the tsunami should've done.

Shining Armor quickly forms a sphere barrier around the ship, just in time to keep the streams outside the light rose forcefield. The water splashes apart as it comes crashing at the barrier with loud thuds.

The water only streams down the barrier and a sigh of relief falls over everyone from the near hit, but it soon evaporates when they notice that something else wasn't falling with them, the ship.

Starting at the bottom, the streams of water begin to form together and start to rise up around the magic barrier with the water being collected. All of them watch as the water covers the sphere, unable to do anything else but to place their faith in Shining Armor's magic.

The liquid caps the top, yet the stream continues to add upon the layer of water. A loud thud causes everyone to jump, everyone but Shining, who winces at the serpent slamming into the barrier. She begins to swim in straight lines and starts orbiting around inside the water that's being collected.

"It's beginning to feel like we're in an aquarium," Tempest comments on the majesty behind it.

"An unsupported one!" Shining instates, immediately gaining everyone's attention. The look on Armor's face shows that he's enduring a lot of strain over his body, "She's building pressure. Every second, that serpent is steadily placing more and more pressure on the water." Shining shrinks the barrier to condense it's strength, "If it keeps increasing like thi-" a sharp sound of a crack forming on the barrier cuts Armor off and some water begins to seep through the fracture.

Shining shrinks the barrier further and places some magic to fix the crack in the process.

"THIS IS INSANE!" Flash yells out his frustration, throwing his weapon to the ground, "No creature, not even an Alicorn, is capable to perform such unheard spells in waves stronger than the last! Even the greatest ponies in history would've lost all of their Equestrian magic by this point!"

Tempest ponders on the comment for a moment before the floor suddenly vibrates her out of thought. The barrier has locked the ship in place upon shrinking to the point where it would be crushing the boat if it diminishes any further. Cracks start to form more rapidly and water begins to seep in.

Flash flies to cover up the patches out of reach by pressing his body against the force field, but he's only one body to a growing problem.

A roll of duct tape forms in Wind's wing and he calls out to Flash to catch the extra aid, but that too isn't changing much.

What seemed like being at an aquarium to Tempest a few moments ago is now reshaping her thoughts into thinking that they're inside a coffin, trapped in a container that's slowly rupturing under the weight of an element. The lives of everyone on board is resting on this spell to hold, but as Tempest monitors Shining Armor while he exerts his magic on maintaining the barrier, signs of an approaching demise is in store for everyone upon seeing him drop to his knees.

A sense of contrite rattles in Tempest for just standing there, focusing on Shining's horn radiating brighter to keep up the control over the barrier. He's in desperate need of help, he needs another caster to reinforce the spell, but as she looks up at her broken horn... Tempest tears her eyes away from the disfigurement with a dejecting groan escaping from her.

"This...spell...won't..." Shining says through his teeth.

"I got your back, pal!" Genji yells. His ring flashes and he grips a scroll containing the spell, 'Shell', "Some of Magick Kingdom's finest."

He aims the scroll, but his arm soon lowers down as a hoof slowly pulls it lower. Genji traces the hoof to Tempest, completely lost in thought with an austere gaze that keeps darting about at nothing. Her eyes start to shift faster. but her face... "...there's three variations..." ...her face softens even quicker. Tempest whips her head to Genji, "Cast it on me!"

Genji nearly questions her loyalty to the selfish request, but as he studies her, he begins to see that it's there now. The resolve she was missing throughout their fight earlier is now there, sparking in those fierce eyes glaring at him.

"HURRY!" Tempest pleads.

Genji nods and points the scroll at Tempest, casting it and his trust on her.

Tempest is hit by a light-pink magic bullet, and before she can feel the spell spreading through her body, she already is galloping to the ship's railing. She passes Shining Armor, "Keep the barrier up!" Tempest orders in an abrupt manner as she goes by.

Shining barely catches what she said, "What ar-"

"I'M DIVING IN AFTER IT!"

"BUT YOU'LL BE STOPPED BY THE BARRI-"

"KEEP IT UP!!!"

Leaving her sword as she passes it, Tempest jumps the rails and allows gravity to propel her down into a dive.

Tempest shuts her eyes and locks her breath for the approaching collision. She detects the moment her hooves touch the solid forcefield, feeling the impact of the magic wall gliding around her body no different than the layer of water she reaches on the other side. The liquid breaks her fall to a slow halt and begins to push Tempest back into the sphere. She doesn't fight the water pressure, allowing it to take her back to the barrier and she plants her hooves on the solid surface. She feels the weight of water pushing her down into a crouch and the bellowing roar that's vibrating her skin draws her attention to the approaching sea monster. Tempest's sight clashes with the serpent's as she's coming around at her in a thrashing state of rage, clear intention that she's going to deliver hell on the pony who dares to challenge her in her domain.

Tempest holds her stance, letting the layer of water made by the sea monster's magic caress her and focuses on keeping her breath. With her sights on Tempest now only being seconds away from impact, the serpent's eyes suddenly contract upon Tempest's broken horn as it begins to discharge sparks.

In an explosive display, Tempest unleashes her Equestrian magic to engulf the water in a flurry of branching bolts that make up her magic, causing the sea monster to helplessly convulse about. The water pressure the serpent holds with her magic slowly begins to lighten, enough for Tempest to stand up straight and to float off the barrier.

Despite losing the weighted force and her realm turning into a plain filled with thunder, the serpent still keeps the entire sphere intact and struggles to fight against Tempest's magic, now making this endurance match between the two of them.

A few air bubbles escape from Tempest from her lungs tightening. Her spell wavers and surges back to keep the sea monster convulsive. Tempest is aware that she can't keep this up, but she refuses to let up, and places all that she has to quickly take this serpent down.

Their stubbornness to overcome the other continues until finally, after all her effort, Tempest's magic comes to an abrupt end.

And the layer of water begins to collapse immediately after, splashing back into the ocean.

Everyone on the ship feel themselves getting lighter as the barrier falls and lands back to sea level. Shining Armor drops the barrier as well as himself the very next moment, exhausted with an aching horn that feels like it's on fire. He tries to soothe the pain of his horn with a hoof until Second Wind attends to him by wrapping a damp towel around Armor's horn. A pair of wings flapping draws his attention to Flash Sentry as he finishes his own attending by bringing Tempest Shadow out of the ocean and back on deck, coughing out the sea water that got inside her lungs.

Tempest tries to catch her breath with the others holding onto theirs. Her coughing subsides and everyone bounces her with the same question, "How were you able to faze through the barrier?"

"With some of The Magick Kingdom's finest," despite her soaked body, Tempest's humor still stays dry. "All this time, we've been assuming that magic acts the same way no matter how it presents itself. If a sword can cut through my magic, then it must cut through the serpent's. If a scroll can't harm a creature, then my magic won't either. If I collapse using these spells, then they'd collapse too. Like understanding the fact that liquid evaporates, we've been viewing water, cider, and blood to be the same. But we've been dealing with three drastic variations of magic this entire time, each with a weakness and a strength to one of the other two."

Tempest looks over to Shining Armor, "You once told me that Equestrian magic is the strongest there is due to its versatility, but the Kingdom's magick has been proving itself to be superior in every way with each new encounter we have with it. Weapons, armor, spells, everything made by the Magick Kingdom is specifically intended to dominate over Equestrian magic. Kingdom's artificial magic pretty much makes our Equestrian magic void or uncooperative, but that serpent, her magic trumps over Kingdom's just as strong."

"That would explain why the lightning bolt from my scroll didn't do anything against her!" Genji realizes.

"And why you couldn't cut through those water clones while you could with my sword, which is where things come full circle, as Equestrian magic is this third kind of magic's weakness. Genji cast some of Kingdom's artificial magic on me, allowing me to get through Shining's barrier made of Equestrian magic. The serpent's magic forming the water canceled out the Magick Kingdom's magic on me, and my Equestrian magic turned the serpent's swimming pool into a blast zone. Which means that this serpent could still be just like..."

The ponies look towards the boat's railing, the side where the sea monster fell, and all four of them say the same thing upon seeing an array of ascending orbs of light, "IT IS!"

The four ponies gallop to the rails and swing their forehooves over it, inspecting the sea serpent. She's floating at the ocean's surface on her side, eyes shut while the orbs float out of her, making her transparent, as well as showing another serpent inside that's making the exact same pose.

Gradually the inner serpent becomes more clearer to see, and the equestrians eerily pull back at the unnatural composition of this bitter-lemon creature. The fringes on her head are severely uneven and a few of her facial scales bend at an awkward angle that shouldn't be anatomically possible. The jaw she's hanging open is alarmingly small, but the uneven air she's breathing shows more of a concerning issue.

The ponies are at a complete loss, finding it difficult to think of anything from seeing the serpent's true appearance.

After taking his time walking over, Genji studies the situation of their surprise, "What's going on here?"

Both serpents open their eyes in sync to Genji's voice. They manage to tilt their heads enough to spot the five individuals that brought them to this weakened state. While the serpent they fought has a sharp gaze, this new serpent's eyes have a downward slant to them.

"...what?" the serpent finally speaks, "Haven't you seen a sea serpent from the planet Betelgeuse before?" she gives a tame laugh at her weak joke, but with no one else joining her, she turns away and attempts to hide her face behind the tip of her tail. The gash Tempest made on the bigger serpent is clearly visible on the smaller serpent as well.

Shining recollects himself and takes initiative action, "Why did you attack us?"

"Attack?" the serpents lift their tail away from her face. She ponders the thought, "...I think ...I think I was attacking something in my sleep."

"Your sleep?!"

"Yes," she genuinely admits, "in my dream at least. An amazing dream where I was the most beautiful sea monster in the world." a weak smile briefly stays on her face, "Pretty silly, huh? Using the word 'beautiful' to describe a monster."

The orbs finally finish at getting the bigger serpent to disappear, and now continue with the smaller one.

"No, 'beautiful' is meant for creatures that can attract others to them, emanating off blissful feelings from the glances they receive. But I, the uneased look of discomfort I leave on others only drives them away."

Tempest tightens her grip on the boat's railing.

Shining hastens his need for answers, "What's happening to you? Why are you fading away?"

The serpent brings her tail close to her face. She can see through it towards the five passengers that's looking at her. "...so I am," her serene voice expresses tranquility at this information.

"How can you be so calm about this!?" Armor snaps at her.

She lowers her tail and meets the unicorn's solemn expression with her own, "Why should I act any differently?"

Shining Armor finds that he's at a loss for words on how to address the situation any further. The serpent might as well have told him that breathing is optional.

"Fear is only meant to be a reflection of ourselves, something that's meant to be reacted upon in our own ways. We might distance ourselves, ignore it, fight it off, or even laugh at it, but the process will always end the same way for fear. It's condemned to be a forgetful passenger, to fade away like a trivial memory in the lives of others."

On that observational note, the orbs of light escaping from the serpent's body starts thinning out...

"Perhaps, if the fear in everyone's hearts were to vanish forever, we could find purpose as to why we exist. And maybe, give us a reason to continue on existing."

...and pulls the sea monster out of sight.

"It'd be a bland life, but at least no one would be a monster."

The band of ponies slump back. Their second encounter with these creatures is now over, and while they narrowly escaped death for a second time, they feel a deeper guilt stronger than the first time they went through this. What makes matters worse is that they're still left in the dark on many things about these creatures in general, the only thing they can do now is try and think of what the connections are between the two incidents.

"'Why should I act any differently,'" Shining repeats the serpent's statement, "just what kind of response was that?"

"It's likely because of her Mandibulofacial Dysostosis."

The stallions turn to Genji.

"It's an inherited condition where the bones and tissues of one's face don't develop properly, often impairing many skills; from hearing and seeing to chewing and breathing. Judging by the way she spoke, she must've felt tormented by her condition and felt ostracized because of it."

"But there must be more to it than that." insists Shining Armor. "You just said that it's an inherited condition, meaning that she must've had it prior to birth. She grew up with it from the start, she must've accepted it just like any creature would with their own strengths and weaknesses. She may have felt left out, and perhaps even discouraged, but to act so casually for her well being in a moment like that... It's like her emotions got the better of her."

Genji nods, "All of us are emotional creatures first, and we can't help but feel it overwhelming us at times, which leads me to suggest that we postpone our bout for now. It would be disrespectful to her name if we continued our battle right after the tragic departing of such a great warrior. Let us part ways for today, we will continue our fight the next time we cross paths. Until then, let us remain as fellow passengers for the remainder of the trip."

Shining perks up to the word, "Passengers!" After the hectic experience the boat just went through, he can already feel a headache approaching as he thinks of the riled crowd that'll be asking questions and demands from him. Armor begins to massage the base of his horn, "We better tell the boat captain that the problem has been dealt with. If everyone isn't badgering him about the danger they were in now, then they're bound to be with us as soon as we get there."

Flash Sentry and Second Wind exchange glances, "We'll handle it, Captain." Flash voices. "After the amount of effort you placed on maintaining the barrier, you should focus on resting for now."

Shining refuses the offer, but before he can even say a word, the two pegasi leave him in his exhausted state. He gives in and plops his rear on the ground, gently laying pressure on his horn to sooth the strain he placed on it.

As for Genji, he's been watching Tempest for a while now. She hasn't moved from the spot since the serpent vanished. He turns over to Shining Armor, walking up to the unicorn and stands side-by-side with him, "Overcoming a disability may be a challenge all on its own, but learning to live with that disability, is an even harder one."

Shining doesn't respond and just listens to what Genji has to say.

"Not many can truly grasp the hardships that one is forced to endure on that road. They don't get to tread the path that's paced upon every day, theirs is a solus stride across severe terrains with no clear destination in sight. In a sense, they're lost, they can see this every time they're reminded of their limitations, and while some build their own paths off it, others might seek to return to that road they'll never encounter again. Searching for something that can't be reached can warp the mind in drastic ways, making them think or even consider on acting upon selfish choices that no one wins in."

"..."

"It takes a strong will to carry that weight through their life, and living with it only gets harder to bear the longer they let it stay over their head."

The words settle in Shining's head for a brief pause. He looks back to see Tempest, still supporting herself with her forehooves on the railing as she stares at the sea's horizon. His eyes rests on her shattered horn, and as he lowers them, he notices that her forehooves are trembling.

FFF V

Prelude

The encounter with a second creature of pure magic, has left the ponies concerned for what may lie ahead for them. But none more so, than Tempest Shadow.

Seeing herself through these misfortune souls, Tempest is reminded that she's but a slave to her broken horn.

Though the ponies may have only started their march through the land of Ivalice, Tempest could already tell, that it'll be by the beat of the ever looming weight that crowns her.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Tempest Shadow stares at the horizon as the wind pushes her closer towards it. The corner of her eye catches sight of something sailing on the starboard side, a unicorn sailing in a personal-sized boat. Tempest turns to the right and sees another unicorn in their personal-sized boat as well. A quick spin in her own small craft gives Tempest a view of a fleet of boats being sailed by individual unicorns as they head in her direction.

Shadow shifts her hoof, and suddenly jerks as the wood beneath her breaks open. A loud crack bellows from the boat as it quickly falls apart, sending Tempest into the cold ocean. She frantically kicks her legs, finding it difficult to stay above the surface, yet she ignores the other unicorns in their own boats and searches for something to keep her afloat. She spots a lifesaver ring nearby and manages to fight against the water towards it. She pokes her head through the hole and grips it from the outside, finally able to catch her breath for the time being.

Tempest feels a tap on her forehoof. She turns her head and sees a large crystal attached to the lifesaver, floating there on the surface. She takes another look at the floatation device around her, identifying it to be her necklace.

The accessory suddenly shrinks in a blinding second, clenching tightly around her neck. It feels like a neck collar that's strangling her, but no matter much she tries, her breathing becomes impossible.

Tempest's body jolts with rapid kicking, shaking her eyes open and breaking free from her dream in a state of panic. Her breathing is heavy and she lays a hoof on her throat, feeling it expand and deflate while she gets her fill of air without any hindrance. She traces along her neck, feeling her fur bending with her stroke and ends on the firm mineral hanging by the thread that goes around her neck.

Tempest Shadow refamiliarizes with her surroundings in this mountainous region that's near a low ridge. There are cactuses and dried out bushes in this environment of dirt and gravel, but her vision of the area is limited to what the moon reflects its light on. She views her teammates, though everypony is experiencing their first night in this land, Shining Armor and Flash Sentry are sleeping soundly around the campfire. As for the last member...

"You alright over there?"

...Second Wind is further away with his back turned. Using the moonlight to aid him with another journal entry, he glances over his shoulder to check on the mare.

'Alright' isn't a word Tempest would consider after that dream. She can't find the desire to sleep anymore, and it's still too early in the night to simply ignore the need for it. She needs to get her mind off it, and striking a conversation with the only other pony up could remedy this.

Tempest glances at her sleeping comrades for a moment and softly makes her way over to Wind. Tiphooving past Flash Sentry and stepping over Shining Armor. The tip of her tail tickles Armor, enough to disturb his sleep in the process. He opens his eyes to see nothing of interest, but he listens to Tempest's hoofsteps until she lies down with Wind.

Tempest breathes deeply, settling herself down from that nightmare. She looks down at the Guardian Crystal hanging around her neck. Lifting the crystal closer to her face, she stares deeply into it with an empty look. Getting lost in the illuminating yellow glow it makes.

Second Wind begins to feel like he's just been forgotten and tries to strike up a conversation before she gets too lost, "That's a pretty stone."

"...I thought the same thing upon seeing this as well." Tempest recalls, "Twilight gave me this to help with the matter of my broken horn, as this crystal gives me a better control over my magic." a sigh escapes her, "She meant well, but upon receiving it after hearing that and what she hoped it would compensate for, ...it ...it felt like she was giving me ...giving-"

"A crutch?"

The sudden reply catches Tempest off guard and she turns an astound look at Wind, like something was just lifted off her, "Y-yeah."

Wind opens his prosthetic wing, "I was viewing my wing the same way, back when I got it." he fiddles around at the wing's base, "Outside of the emotional loss, one of the challenges I had to adjust to was being able to simply walk. All the weight on my left side was gone, making me off balanced and falling over on my right side. I got it back with the prosthetic wing; however, I'd often collapse from the strain of carrying it everywhere."

A gentle hissing comes near the spot Wind is messing with. He pulls at his prosthetic wing and it slides effortlessly off the little stub of what's left of his original wing .

"It acts a lot like a sphygmomanometer by inflating around my humerus bone and locking itself in place. It's also so it can register the twitches in my muscles, so it can move and act accordingly like my original wing. But wearing it for too long can bring infections, so I'd have my freedom from it every now and then. Eventually, I was able to keep my balance without it, so I saw no reason to wear such a thing anymore. Though, after a couple of days without it, I realized just how much I still needed it. Trying to do things one winged was a lot tougher than I thought, so..."

Tempest looks back to her crystal, "...say, how do you handle things when others get involved?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you received your wing from your uncle, after all those hours he must've placed on it for you, how did you feel about yourself upon receiving your wing?"

"Well..." he scratches his cheek to the odd question while he tries to recall that time, "...I guess I felt a bit special. For him to go out of his way like that, I felt that he really loved me."

"..."

"...why do you ask?"

"..." Tempest drops the crystal, letting it pull at her as it hangs around her neck again, "...no reason."

The flicking of Shining Armor's ear goes unnoticed.

She was seeking for something, that much Wind is certain about, but it looks like Tempest doesn't want to go into details, "...have you ever considered keeping a record about your daily experiences?"

"Naw," Tempest shakes her head, "I never really saw the point to it."

"If I'm allowed to use myself as an example, I tend to find it to be a therapeutic way to get things off my mind."

She humphs, "Such a cheesy answer."

"I suppose it is, but a little cheesiness is really all it takes during the roughest moments."

"..."

"At times, I reflect on the words I've written in this book. Maybe I'm hoping to get a laugh, or seeking a reminder of something I've overlooked. But whenever I ever feel gloomy or ever think that something is hopeless, rereading my thoughts have always helped turn things around for me."

"..."

Their conversation dissolves apart.

Feeling his eyes getting heavy again, Shining Armor shuffles and finds a comfy position to fall back to sleep.

The sun peeks from the horizon the following morning, overlaying its light on the amber colored land. Hot as it may be in this humid environment, Second Wind slips his chest leather on and singes his skin to the heated equipment. Wind seethes at the pain.

"I know it hurts," Shining consoles Wind as he puts on his metal armor, toughing through his own pain, "but this is foreign territory. We don't know what we'll find here, so I want us to be fully prepared for any encounter that may come our way by being equipped and ready."

"Traveling in this heavy thing," Flash stares into his helmet, mentally preparing himself for the heated battle he'll be enduring, "makes me wish I had something lighter like Wind's or Tempest's attire."

"Is she even wearing an attire, or is that just part of her skin?" Shining looks over to the mare in question, sleeping in the equipment she had on the entire night. "Mind waking her, Wind?"

Second Wind obliges and heads over to the resting mare. Tempest was the last one to fall asleep between the two of them last night, waking her from her slumber feels like a harsh thing to do in the pegasus' eyes, but...

Wind gently shakes Tempest's shoulder, "Hey, come on, we're about to head out."

Tempest opens her eyes very subtly. Wind was expecting her to be groggy, but she seems well rested without a hint of a yawn. More awake than he's ever seen her to be.

Wind steps back from Tempest as she gives a stretch, "So how did you sleep? No troubles this time?"

She shakes her head, "No, it went a lot better actually." Tempest gyrates her forelegs, "I feel that a weight is lifted off my shoulder," she lays a hoof on the part she mentions and feels a cold chill. Tempest traces up her neck and starts patting it, feeling her fur every time. She glances down and her face goes pale, "Oh god, where's my crystal?"

Tempest begins to frantically search around herself for the necklace and Second Wind helps her out. She ruffles her mane, wiggles her tail, and spins in circles if it may be on her or around where she slept. Their actions meet a point where Shining Armor and Flash Sentry notices their odd behavior.

"...ah! There it is," Wind points to it.

The necklace is hanging off of a just-under-pony-height plant, looped around a sprouted arm to a green stalk like a tie on a coat rack.

Second Wind reaches for the accessory, "It's just caught on this cactus."

Suddenly, the prickly plant bolts away from the pegasus, catching all four ponies by surprise to see it dashing across the soil. The plant bounces and spins about from a fair distance until it sticks a landing to display that it's no ordinary cactus, "Cunno cmufbugac, pid drec ec seha huf."

Tempest, Wind, Shining, and Flash reevaluate this thing, uncertain if it's creature or plant. It appears biped, but it's a cactus. It has arms and legs, but they're hardly moving them. It just spoke to them, but it didn't even move its oblong mouth. It's posing as if it's ready to run away for dear life, but the black holes that make up its eyes show no life in them at all. The only thing that really comes across to imply that this thing is a sentient creature is that it's wearing clothes; a brown belt and a green bandana that matches with the rest of this living cactus.

"Oui tuh'd uvdah veht dnyjamanc dryd fayn zafamno cu ubahmo," it bends its arm to show the Tempest's necklace wrapped around it.

Tempest glares at the cactus with her horn illuminating and she casts an abrupt 'Firework' spell at it. The green thief bounces aside hastefully and effortlessly, letting the spell pass right on by and explode far out of range.

The cactus scurries off, leaving a cloud of dust trailing behind as it passes by the Tempest and Wind faster than they can react. The two turn around, seeing it circling around Shining and Flash, causing the two stallions trouble as they keep up their guard from a creature they can hardly track.

"Fryd yna oui kioc, y pihlr uv LARPers?"

"Grab that thief!" Tempest beseeches them.

Flash Sentry is hesitant to assist that request, "The needle-covered cactus? You want me to grab that?!"

Shining Armor lights up his horn and clench the cactus in his aura, but his magic isn't slowing the plant down in the slightest, "Tsk, the effects of Magick Kingdom's products is going to be a major issue while we're here."

"Oui kioc tuh'd ryja yhodrehk kuut uh oui," the cactus decides and suddenly bolts off into the distance as it escapes the ponies, "Mydan, LARPers!"

Tempest and the others gallop after it, but any attempt they have on catching up to it is being lost in the dust that's fading further away. The four of them find themselves slowing down to a halt as it becomes clear that they've lost the cactus.

The party catches their breath after that short-lived chase, "How can something so stiff be so fast?" Flash asks.

Staring in the direction the cactus went, Tempest Shadow holds a troubled look on her face. She shifts her head a smidge to the stallions behind her, then lowers her face to the knots she's experiencing throughout her body.

Shining Armor is also feeling very torn to the situation. He sees the plight that engulfs Tempest, but as he thinks about it... "Let's just continue with the mission to get back Equestria's magic."

Reluctant on the idea a moment ago, any hesitance within Tempest immediately vanishes at Armor's orders, "You can't just ignore this!" Shadow franticly panics as she dashes over to Shining, "I need that necklace, I won't be able to control my magic effectively otherwise."

"That's all in your head. You can perform magic just as efficiently if you set your mind to it."

Tempest shakes her head, "It's not that simple."

"You don't want to rely on that crystal forever, do you? Well now's your chance to break free from it."

The idea feels conflicting to Tempest, but... She glances down at the broken sword sheathed along her foreleg. Tempest pulls it out of its casing and lights up her horn. Sparks snap and streaks fall from the edge of the sword, but the portion where her magic forms the blade, isn't manifesting itself. Tempest places more strain on her broken horn, attempting this feat with all that she's got in her. With a final push, Tempest achieves magic from her sword, shooting it out as a bullet. It rams into a dead tree and disperses the magic in a blast. Everyone hears the tree cracking as it slowly tips over as it falls to the ground.

"No, no, it's not possible, Armor," Tempest resumes the disagreement.

"It was your first try, you'll get the hang of it eventually."

"But what if I don't? What if I never succeed by the time where it's really needed? We'd be better off if we spent a few hours hunting down that thief now rather than backtracking later."

"And what if we don't catch them? What if we waste hours, maybe days, hunting that thing down? Equestria would be struggling more and more the longer we preoccupy ourselves with sidequests."

"It isn't a sidequest if it'll help us in the long run. We need to get it back."

"Tempest," a little of Shining's exasperation escapes him through a sigh, he can read the pleading look in Tempest's eyes, an expression that's comparable to his daughter when he was weaning her off of bottles, "you can't keep pushing the bigger problems away by exhorting to the little ones."

Tempest is dumbstruck.

"Is it a hindrance, yes, will it make things difficult, without a doubt, but we can't dwell and attend to our losses if we have any hope of achieving the main objective. We have to look past ourselves and focus on others with their own problems. Equestria is depending on us, and attending to our personal burdens first will only hinder everyone's faith for change."

Tempest maintains her stature, passing a moment in it, feeling the words rooting inside her, and ends it with her glowering at the stallion, "...then I guess we're splitting up from here." Tempest pivots on her hindlegs, "I'll deal with this by myself," and stomps the forelegs in the direction of the cactus.

Shining Armor now bears the dumbstruck look, quickly catching up to a glare that matches with the mare that's marching away, "You're not to break from the group!"

"All of us would be better off if I did."

"That's an order!"

Tempest ignores Armor.

"It's too early for this," Shining mumbles his irritation, "Wind, follow Tempest and provide any assistance she needs."

"I don't need or want the rookie's help!" Tempest yells.

The pique expression on Wind's face tells that Shadow might as well throw him under the chariot while she's at it.

"Well I'm enforcing it regardless. You obviously feel that you're incapable without your necklace, so I'm going to assign backup for that sullen envision you have for yourself."

Tempest pauses. She twinges as she suppresses her scorn, but it escapes as a furious growl at Shining, "FINE!!! At least he'll be following somepony who won't lead them by optimistic ignorance!" She turns to look at Second Wind as he approaches, getting him to stop with the unwanting look on her face. She displays her fury once more in a groan and continues towards the cactus with Wind following at a safe distance behind her.

Hours pass with the sun climbing up the sky. Tempest Shadow hasn't made any progress since she began her search for the thieving cactus, nor any success at taming her temper. She's calmer than she was before, but Second Wind can still see the tension through her pacing and glare.

Wind has been silent this entire time as he follows her, but it's beginning to drive at him for doing nothing and simply following her like a puppy, "...so outside of the locals, this is quite a majestic place." Wind directs attention towards their surroundings , "Beautiful landscape, exotic environment, ...rolling tumbleweeds."

"It looks like any other place," Tempest bluntly comments.

"This awe invoking sight?"

"I've galloped through places like this on a daily basis, and when you travel for as long as I have, everything begins to mesh together that arouses no sensation."

Wind muffles a groan, "...so this isn't your first adventure."

"Adventure? You call what we're doing an adventure?"

"Well can you blame me? Traveling through lands foreign to us, facing difficult challenges that come our way, gambling our lives for the sake of saving others. It's the kind of tale you hear when you're a foal, the ones you look towards to find inspiration from."

"You're romanticizing the idea. Most of what happens in my travels are shallow at best. Gaining sores and scratches from walking miles, fighting against nature's many obstacles, managing off of limited supplies you can carry, making due with hardly any currency on you, facing the following day as it approaches anew. There's no real glow in my travels."

Tempest's description leaves an impression on Wind, "...so then, why are you travelling all the time if you don't like it?"

"I do it so I can spread the word of the Storm King's fall."

"The Storm King's fall? But he fell years ago. That kind of news must be common knowledge by now, so why are you still doing something like that?"

Tempest freezes up. Her eyes wide, there's a lack of any real sign of surprise or fear coming from the expression she's making, "..." Tempest bats her eyes and shakes her head back to the question, "I... I just want to make certain that everyone knows."

"...okay," Wind tries to divert from pushing in that area, "...so, going off your experience, what are some noteworthy things to keep in mind within an environment like this?"

"Don't get close to any plants."

Second Wind gives an awkward chuckle, "I see that you're honed on answering a death wish."

"You'll be answering your own too, if you go anywhere near those plants."

Tempest points to a bed of ankle-high stalks that strongly resemble Cobra Lilies. Focusing off one, it has a mossy color with a darken yellow pigmentation across the head. There's a silver colored leaf that glistens on the head's underside, giving the impression that the plant is imitating a claw.

"Ochu Stalks appear to be native in this area. Those things have a strong toxin coating the 'talon' portion of its body, one brush by it and your entire nerve system paralyzes in seconds. It takes hours before you're able to move again, so don't get caught up in them."

"A plant that paralyzes you..." Wind ponders aloud, "...hey, I have an idea on how to catch that cactus."

"Then dispose the thought of it, because I'm going to be handling this alone," Tempest insists. "This is my own punishment for failing at being attentive with my surroundings."

"You were asleep."

"That isn't an excuse."

"It is if that nightmare that woke you halfway through your first attempt is taken into account."

Tempest groans, "My point is that I've brought this upon us, so I should be doing all the work to fix it! This isn't the first time I've hunted down a creature, so let me handle things from here on out."

Second Wind gives off a short sigh, "...but just how are you going to find a mobile cactus by yourself in a place like this?"

Tempest takes a moment to survey the area. They're in a twisting canyon with various spots where the sunlight is hitting, but there are plenty of shaded locations to hide in. The bottom layer they stand in is covered in sand, making things easier to follow tracks, but branching paths that lead to higher altitude are rough and rigid with unflatten routes. Many locations are potential spots to ambush others from and plenty of caverns around to escape them through darkness.

It would be difficult doing this alone, but for Tempest, she refuses to resort to anything else. "A thief in an area like this would rely on the 'stand hunting' technique by watching from afar until they see a target suited to their liking for an ambush."

"So something like fishing, but without the bait."

Tempest nods, "Our thief is also a cactus, so they would likely want their hiding spot to be sunny all day long. With everything down here being shaded at some point of the day, the only locations would be..."

The two look up at the cliffs around them and they identify a green figure standing on the edge of one of them. Five stories high and half a dozen yards away on a small plateau, they easily identify that it's the same cactus they're looking for, because it's looking at them in the same pose it ran away in.

"Fuimt oui kioc rinno ib yht bycc po ymnayto?" the cactus asks of them, letting their echo speak loud enough for the two ponies to hear, "Oui'na tecdinpehk dra vecr."

Tempest Shadow abruptly lets loose a 'Firework' spell towards the mocking cactus, who in turn scrunches up to jump out of the way. The compressed bullet of magic makes contact with the cliff and blasts off a portion of the rocky surface, sending only that portion to fall as the cactus pushes back to a stationed surface. Tempest continues to cast 'Firework' as she approaches the plateau, repeating the same results she got from the first attempt. It's really the only option she has at the moment, a direct strike with her magic wouldn't result in anything, given the anti-Equestrian magic equipment it has on.

Rocks of various sizes are flying off towards her, some as big as her hoof, few the size of her head, and plenty the size of herself. Despite the danger, Tempest gallops forward, slowly chipping out the places the cactus can run to.

Second Wind attempts to keep up with Tempest, but evading these rocks are starting to become a problem. "Easy," Wind uses his metallic wing to block an incoming rock, "not all of us have 'Protect' cast over themselves."

"I don't have it cast over me either."

Wind staggers at Tempest's reply.

"Without that necklace, the only magic I can perform is an up-close shock and the spell 'Firework'."

Tempest's capabilities are the least concerning matter on Second Wind's mind. He took her to be more cautious before taking action, but this behavior of thrusting herself in the center of danger is a bit too abrupt for her to pull, especially without any magical protection.

One of the shots eventually knocks the cactus off with the falling rubble, sending it into freefall. Tempest sprints ahead, jumping and leaping on the rocks to be there when the plant hits the ground. Unfortunately, she doesn't make it in time, but she does see the thief cartwheeling to the floor.

The cactus lands on one of its limbs and spins on it to see an upside-down Tempest charging at them. It springs to its legs and scampers into a nearby cave. The plant shortly meets up with a dead end and runs back to encounter Tempest as she blocks the entrance.

The cactus skitters back to the dead end as Tempest steadily approaches the trapped thief with her horn at the ready, "Time to return that crystal, you bristled canteen."

"Dryd ec y rika secluhlabdeuh yht E's uvvahtat po dryd dedma!"

"Look, anything you say to me isn't going to save you now, let alone be understood."

"Drah ruf ypuid fa bmyo y kysa uv, 'Count the Needles'?"

Tempest hesitates, "I understood that one."

The cactus leans forward and gyrates their arms, throwing hundreds of its needles at the mare. Tempest shuts her eyes, lowers her ears back, and lifts a foreleg over her face before feeling a barrage of needles pricking at her. She winces as the needles pierce into her with no sign of it stopping, enough to get her to walk back to the cave entrance.

Brushing up on her side and hearing the sound of clinking, Tempest notices Second Wind pushing into her, using his metal wing to cover a portion of the both of them from the rain of needles. The two make their way outside and cover next to the entrance as the cactus continues.

The Equestrians take a moment to relax, now that they're out of the line of fire. Tempest looks at the needles embedded into her, "Why did I think I would be safe with such little armor?" the mare wonders aloud.

"Speaking about reevaluating our choices, mind if we give my plan a go?" Wind requests, "I'm just going to-"

"No!" Tempest interjects.

The needles stop flying out of the cave, and a second later, the cactus zips past them.

Tempest staggers, adjusting to the irritating sensation of the needles as she attempts another chase.

"You need to mend those wounds," Second Wind informs.

She can't deny that the pain is really starting to get to her.

Wind is already searching his wing for the first aid kit, "Just sit down and I'll attend to yo-"

Tempest rushes after the cactus, leaving Wind to drop what he's doing and scrambles to catch up with her.

The two of them gallop in what seems like will be a repeat of the first time it escaped, but the cactus breaks before falling into danger. A narrow gorge, too far to jump, too steep to climb, and too deep to land in safely is before the thief. The cactus spins towards the ponies, they're only seconds away, so the cactus does the only sensible thing and jumps off the cliff.

Tempest and Wind skid to a halt before they could fall off with it. Looking into the gorge, they're speechless to see the cactus using its limbs as a cushion against one wall and springs off it to do the same with the other side, rebounding itself as it gets deeper until it finally lands at the bottom. Tempest and Wind can only watch as the thief dashes down the path, eventually disappearing from their sight in another successful escape.

"I guess the advantage of being a plant is that you have no bones to break," Second Wind leans back feeling cheated, "and having cell walls help with the inertia... this cactus is a real prick. So what's our next move, Tempes-" the question ends as an apocope the moment he eyes her.

Tempest is staring down at the one-way drop into the gorge, practically frozen solid without any shifting in her stance. It's as if her brain has shut down all control over her body, all except the eyes. It doesn't come across as if she's scared, it doesn't really come across as anything, but there's something faint to the way they're dilated. It's like she's soaking in the site, every last bit of detailed information like a newborn foal implanting the first image they see into their mind.

Second Wind tries processing what could be going on in her head, but a vague answer breaks into his mind upon seeing Tempest subtly crouching her hind legs, "Tempest!"

She shakes her head and stomps away from the cliff, giving a roar as she begins to pace about, "It's expressionless, it's quirky, I can't even understand what it's saying! This walking weed is impossible to figure out!!!"

Wind is now more reluctant than ever to make any kind of a disturbance for Tempest. There's no doubt that any interaction he makes with her will result in something abrupt and likely unpleasant, but if he doesn't try to assist her in some way, then it'll only get worse.

Second Wind clears his throat, "Now I know you said that you'll be handling things from here on out, but I have an idea."

Tempest pauses.

"It's not the greatest idea, but it's something that'll work."

She shuts her eyes, taking a deep breath to the rising antipathy.

"If you could give me a minute to explain it, I'm sure that it'll help yo-"

Tempest bares her teeth, "STOP TRYING TO TURN ME INTO A BURDEN!"

Her deathly leer shrivels Second Wind back, but after a moment to reflect, he loosens up, "Wait... make you a burden?"

"..." Tempest averts her eyes toward the ground, "...I don't feel the same way as you do when somebody helps me. I don't gain a special sensation from others assisting me in things that could be solved by levitating or creating barriers. I don't think I'm loved for others filling in to compensate for my broken horn. ...I see myself as being a nuisance, and I feel ashamed that the problems my broken horn brings is now being carried with others as well."

"Isn't that what 'helping' is all about?"

"That's what 'attending' is all about. This horn isn't going to work right after one act of kindness. It's going to keep going and going, constantly needing to be worked around as it brings everyone down along with me again and again. I don't want to live like this, but I have to; why would anyone else say different when they're free to escape it? And even though I have to bite the bit at times to ask for help, I'd rather handle things on my own than to receive assistance, just to avoid that feeling of being a burden."

"So Shining Armor was onto something when he said that you push away the bigger problems for the little ones. This isn't so much getting your necklace back for you to perform, it's about getting your necklace back so you can keep your dignity."

"Me? Attempting to reclaim that necklace for my dignity?" Tempest shakes her head to Wind's reasoning, "...I despise that necklace. I want to turn around and never think about that thing ever again, but I need it regardless. I ravish the thought of destroying it, and yet, I've been doing the exact opposite. I've been making it better, been depending on it more, only to keep a fragment of what it feels like to be a normal unicorn. That's what I'd call, ‘an addiction’. I'm solely relying on something so measly, just to function in life as a normal unicorn, even if it's just partially."

Second Wind is now at a complete loss on how to converse with Tempest. She's miserable with the necklace, she feels incapable without the necklace, he can't even help her in any way without her belittling herself because of it. They may have similar circumstances when it comes to their disfigurement, but their viewpoints on it are drastically different.

"I won't lie that I'm focused more on the little problems than I am with the big ones, but just doing those small problems first makes me..." Tempest searches for the word, "...it ...it makes me feel... protected."

Wind really wants to help Tempest out on reclaiming her necklace, but she'll just take it as an insult if he does. Her persistence on doing this without help is making things difficult for the two of them, that can't be denied, but if he can just get by that stubborn nature of hers... he just can't see any way of reaching her.

Tempest walks past him in the direction the cactus ran for, "Please, just, let me handle this on my own, rookie."

Wind lays a hoof on his forehead, shaking his head at her choice of word with an amusing smile, "...so instead, I have to play the part of the burden, again."

Tempest Shadow stops, giving the pegasus an inquiring look.

"Do you recall how our team was decided? How the four of us left that day to stop a queen from harassing Equestria? Do you remember the part each of us provided to the team, and are still providing? You provide the experience in offensive tactics to the team, Shining's is his years with defensive strategy, Flash displays his training through the dexterity for almost any given situation. And what do I bring? I'm just the guy that carries the supplies. You three are the professional soldiers that take the spotlight and dive into the action, I'm just the luggage boy, the new guy, the tagalong, ...the rookie."

Tempest's expression changes to an unamusing one.

"If you ask me, I think I have the bigger reason to be labeled as a burden. A nobody that stands in the background, catching the glow off the main stars of the show."

"...do you think your audience has caught on to what you're insinuating?"

"Come on, Tempest." Wind tries to push his velleity through, "If not because you don't want the help, then allow it because you'll be helping me instead."

Tempest Shadow turns her gaze, rattling the thought.

"Shining Armor said, 'We have to look past ourselves and focus on others with their own problems. Attending to our personal burdens first will only hinder everyone's faith for change.' Through all your years as a commander, all the experience you've gained by it, do you think that he may be onto something?"

She looks down at her chest. Though her crystal is absent, the memory of the other day comes to mind. When they were on the boat, turning her gaze from the enormous tsunami towards her broken sword by her hooves. Tempest recalls that tension leaving her mind as she went to sheath it, the resentment she felt from the necklace tempting her, and the familiar looks on the faces around her. Their frustration, their fear, their sorrow, and the coaxing sensation she was receiving from it.

Resting her eyes for a moment, she expresses a lamenting sigh just as she did before in the comparable situation, "...you were saying something about an idea."

In the late hours of the morning, Tempest Shadow has encountered the cactus once again and she makes an effort into taking down the swift thief. She attempts to whip it with her tail, trample it with her hoof guards, but she's just no match against this quick plant.

The cactus runs around Tempest, kicking the ground to surround her inside of a dust cloud and makes another escape by hiding behind a rock formation close by.

Tempest clears out the dust with a hoof and scans from where she stands for any sign of the thief. Having no success, she gallops off in search.

The cactus peeks from its hiding spot, watching the pony galloping away, "Cra'c rihdehk sa tufh yc ev cra fana yh Endwalker!"

"She's a hoofful alright."

The cactus jumps to the reply and immediately aims its needles in a firing position towards the voice's direction. Resting his side against the wall, Second Wind's interest lies on the berries that he's eating in his prosthetic wing. There's a few left, bright red berries with green curly stems cupped in his wing.

Wind picks a few berries with the feathers from his other wing and tosses them inside his mouth, "Sorry for speaking with my mouth full, we've been chasing you all morning that we've missed out on having breakfast. Hope you don't mind."

"Fydlrehk oui tajuin panneac? Oui'na tacbelypma!" lashes the cactus.

"Hey, I'd offer some, but I'm assuming that you photosynthesis for your nutrients." Wind eats the rest of the berries, "Anyway, I wanna have a talk, about possibly striking a deal between the two of us."

The cactus swings the stolen necklace around its arm in an attempt to tighten the grip.

"That's right, I want that necklace back, and I'm willing to trade for it with the best accessory I have up my wing." Lifting his prosthetic wing over himself to cover the process from the thieving cactus' gaze, Second Wind searches through his inventory, "How would you... like to have... your personal... one-of-a-kind..." he pulls out a rosy-colored strap of cloth, tied up as a cute bow, "...ribbon?"

The cactus stares at the fabric accessory being presented. It slowly spins on its grounded foot to face Wind, "...ev E luimt uhmo asuda."

"This is no ordinary ribbon. Hailing from Equestria, this baby has been magically infused to withstand any form of status ailments that may come your way. Poison, petrification, paralysis, blindness, transformation, even the common cold can't penetrate through these defenses. Confused? You won't be, as long as you carry this ribbon on you."

"Var," the cactus expresses, "tu oui dyga sa vun y vuum? E'ja vypnelydat paddan meac eh so holdehycdo."

"I take that remark as something of a disbelief in what I claim this ribbon can do. Well..." Second Wind lifts up his left foreleg and ties the ribbon around it, "I'll prove to you that it works as I said it does. And I see the perfect thing that'll do it, right over there," Wind nods in the direction where a large patch of ochu stalks have taken residence at, "With this ribbon, not even the highly infectious ochu stalks can influence me with its paralyzing effects."

The ribbon tightly secured around his foreleg, Wind heads to the bed of ochus to prove his word. "Dra LARPing ryc kuddah dra paddan uv res," remarks the thief.

Second Wind ignores the cactus, stomping on the first stalk as he makes his way to the center of the patch. The paralyzing leaves cling to the fur around Wind's ankles and the pony feels a sudden chill as the toxin enters him through his skin. His entire body feels the paralyzing effects coursing through him, and with that, Second Wind continues to walk casually to the center.

"Hyhe?!"

Wind plucks a stalk with his right wing and waves it at the cactus, burying any doubts it had on the accessory's capabilities. Tossing the ochu aside, Wind makes it out of the bedding of plants, "My friend really needs that necklace back, so I'll ask again," Wind slides off the ribbon, holding it in his wing as an offer, "will you be willing to trade it for this?"

"...E drehg E vuiht so delgad du muca draca kioc!"

"So was that a 'yes'?"

The cactus swipes the ribbon and bolts the scene. leaving Second Wind to watch as his plan plays out.

The cactus turns the corner and flips back through the air to the shocking surprise that Tempest Shadow is blocking its path. She's been anticipating the cactus to come her way with her horn at the ready, displaying her rage through sparks of magic.

"Yr, zicd dra LARPer E fyhdat du caa," the cactus spins in place with blinding speed. It stops, facing the mare with the ribbon tied around its torso, "Mad'c ku vnumelgehk drnuikr dra cdymgc."

The cactus dashes to the patch of ochu stalks, bouncing to taunt Tempest to follow, "Lusa, tyhla fedr s-"

Frozen in place, the cactus continues to hold its pose as it stands there in silence until a gentle breeze pushes it over.

Second Wind strolls into the patch of ochu stalks, still unaffected by the plant's paralyzing toxin. He wraps his metal wing around one of the cactus' spiny limbs and starts dragging the thief over the stalks.

"F... fro?" the cactus mutters.

"I don't need to know what you're saying for me to identify your character," Second Wind informs, "and despite your display of cockiness, you're very skittish when it comes to close confrontations. I don't know why a cactus would be scared of anything when it's covered in needles, but then again, I've never seen a walking cactus before. Our physical makeup must be completely different, but when I learned about the ochu stalks and their paralyzing effect, I wondered why a skittish plant who's familiar with the area didn't use this stalk on us in the attempt to steal our belongings. You obviously have agility over us, just one brush of the stalk and we'd be helpless, unless you were vulnerable to toxins just as much as we are. ...well ...as long as we didn't skip out on our breakfast."

"...dra panneac," it groans.

"'Cheri berries,' to be exact. They're known to cure many forms of paralysis, and I took a shot at the possibility that it might be strong enough to withstand the ochu."

Second Wind pulls the cactus out of the bed of ochu stalks and leaves it in the dirt to bask in the sun. Wind retrieves Tempest's necklace from the paralyze thief.

"It'll be hours before you can move again, so you can keep the red ribbon. Having one tied around a cactus is supposed to ward off evil spirits, you know."

"...LARPers."

Wind turns to Tempest, she's already avoiding eye contact with a guilty look on her face. It's obvious to him that she's still uncomfortable about the fact that he's helping her, even if it's a roundabout tactic they're trying to commit to.

Second Wind ponders over his next words, "...this is pretty fun," he says smiling, "being the one that can make a difference at bringing solace for others."

"..."

He extends the necklace to Tempest, "I wouldn't mind being that leading pony again, no matter what that circumstance may be."

"..."

Tempest extends her hoof, leaving it to Wind to place the accessory in it as she upholds this one-sided eye contact.

"...thanks, Wind."

His smile immediately drops to a surprise look on his face.

"..." she glances at him, "...what?"

"That was the first time I've ever heard you address me by my name."

"..." Tempest turns away with an unamused look.

"Now if only I can get you to say my full name."

"Let's just hurry and catch up with Shining and Flash," Tempest flips the lace of her necklace over her head, "one can only guess what trouble Armor got the two of them into."

FFF VI

Prelude

The encounter with a second creature of pure magic, has left the ponies concerned for what may lie ahead for them. But Shining Armor intends to face it head on.

With the weight of Equestria resting on his back, he is determined to reclaim Equestria's magic with utmost haste.

His duty is his resolve. His family is his drive. And his team is his strength. And yet...

Tempest is dumbstruck.

Shining Armor now bears the dumbstruck look, quickly catching up to a glare that matches with the mare that's marching away, "You're not to break from the group!"

"All of us would be better off if I did."

"That's an order!"

Tempest ignores Armor.

"It's too early for this," Shining mumbles his irritation, "Wind, follow Tempest and provide any assistance she needs."

"I don't need or want the rookie's help!" Tempest yells.

The pique expression on Wind's face tells that Shadow might as well throw him under the chariot while she's at it.

"Well I'm enforcing it regardless. You obviously feel that you're incapable without your necklace, so I'm going to assign backup for that sullen envision you have for yourself."

Shining displays a humph before turning around to march on with the mission. "Let's get going," he commands Flash.

"Are you sure this is wise?" his lieutenant asks, "Splitting up the team over a little offtracking?"

"If she doesn't want to put in the effort to try, then let her wallow in her world until she's ready to face it."

"But think about what you're doing here. The team will have half the horse power through this action."

"And think about Equestria's future for a moment. Take into consideration the current struggles everyone is facing back home. Earth ponies and Yaks can't use their strength, Pegasi and Griffins can't take to the air, Unicorn and Changelings are defenseless. and Alicorns and Dragons lost a good chunk of all three of those from their lives. With so much taken from everybody, so many creatures that are wishing to escape their shambled lives, what do you think they're going to do if nothing changes?"

Sentry's eyes drift with a melancholy look to them, "...they accept it."

"Perhaps some, but a good majority of them are going to take action, making drastic decisions that could force others to pay a price. I'm talking sudden bursts of aggression over little things, rebellious movements to take matters into their own control, hoarding and stealing to maintain what keeps them going. This is a time where everyone needs to make sacrifices and try to support one another, keeping that chaos from happening for as long as possible. We should follow that example as well, but Tempest..." Armor snorts his anger, "You know, I tried to understand, showed some patience, and attempted to reassure her, but she STILL has to defy my orders. I'm making an attempt, why can't she?"

"It's likely because you two approach things from opposite corners."

"Opposites," his tone expresses his unamusement, "a soldier trained in offensiveness and a guard trained in defensiveness. Heh heh heh, very funny."

"I'm serious. You see things going right, but she sees them going wrong. You act off the cuff while she thinks on the fly. You deal with the problems head-on while she confronts them indirectly."

Shining Armor leers at Flash's observation, "If I didn't know any better, I would assume that you're implying that I'm leading by 'optimistic ignorance'."

"While you know your limits, you do tend to act off of your emotions more than anything else. It often leads to some oversight in your decisions."

"Oh pish posh, since when has that ever happened?"

"Well you did just order the pony carrying all of our supplies to follow her."

Shining nearly replies to the remark, but he suddenly realizes the troubling situation his actions have led them to, "...let's just focus on the mission."

Sentry shifts the halberd on his back while maintaining a sigh, leaving the argument to linger in air as he follows his captain towards their destination.

Stopping on the grass blades that reside just before the cliff, Shining Armor and Flash Sentry arrive at a viewpoint of the valley below them. The wind hits them as they peer down to see a morning fog that's cloaking the valley. There's no signs that there's a bottom, leaving much to the imagination of what to expect down there. Still, there's some majesty being mixed with the mystery to this landscape, yet they'll need to traverse through it regardless.

They need to get down there somehow. The thought of Flash flying them down crosses Shining's mind, but with the last command he made still fresh in his mind, he reconsiders his options for something less brash. Shining looks about, "I'm not seeing any slopes or trails that lead into the valley. Maybe an aerial view will lead to better results?" He turns to Flash, but the message seems to have fallen on deaf ears as his officer is mesmerized by the valley's appearance, "Flash?" he snaps some magic sparks from his horn to break the trance.

Flash flusters subtly through in swift jerk towards Armor, "Sorry, I was just thinking about something. It's irrelevant."

Armor doesn't fathom, "I don't recall you ever spacing out like that over something trivial before. What was it about?"

He rubs the back of his neck, directing his sights on the valley, "It's silly, but I was wondering if this scenery was something Silver Star saw everyday."

"And who's that?"

"Just some fictional character from a book," his fixation begins to get the better of him, "He often climbed up a hill to stare at a monument of a fallen hero, having dreams of becoming a Dragonmaster and rebranding his life that he found unfulfilling." the appeal he gets from the sight turns triste, "...that story ...really spoke to me."

For a moment. Shining sees a little bit of his sister's love for literature in Flash, but he shakes the thought, "Let's get back to the matter at hoof. Would you do a quick flight around for a safe pathway into the valley?"

Stabbing his halberd into the dirt, Flash follows his orders and dives into the valley, catching the wind to lift himself back up and begins to scout for a route.

Shining Armor taps his hoof impatiently before long, staring at the mountain range further into the distance. His eyes roll to the sky, noticing an airship far off from the general direction they came from. Armor makes a sigh, illuminating his horn and directing magic to his throat as turns towards Flash, "Well?" Shining's magic amplifies his voice to be heard, "Any luck?"

As he prepares to yell back, Flash's breath falters from a bizarre sight. He points a hoof in the direction of his captain, and before Armor can even question the response, Shining's ears swerve to the sound of crunching grass and metallic thuds.

Shining Armor views over his shoulder at something rolling towards him. It's roughly on the shorter side of a pony's height with a dark-steel coloring to it, but the shape of this thing looks exactly like a polyhedron of at least twenty sides. The odd geometric object bounces off its corners periodically upon the ground, making clunking noises against its iron plates as it approaches faster at the unicorn.

Armor maintains his position while shifting the control of his magic to levitate his shield within a light-rose aura. Positioning the equipment nonchalantly between him and the rolling object, he blocks the object and springs it back. Shining keeps illuminating his horn as the polyhedron rolls back, slowly coming to a halt and slowly continues to roll at the pony.

"Alright then," Armor levitates his shield behind the polyhedron and pulls it closer, only to step aside and push the object over the cliff. He watches the shape fall into the valley, vanishing into the gray fog. Shining spins his shield ostentatiously, "And there we ha-" a light-rose glow suddenly shines within the fog.

The polyhedron levitates itself out of the fog, encasing itself in a faint magical aura to make it possible.

Shining Armor steps back and narrowly blocks the enchanted object swooping at him with his shield. Caught in a shoving match, Armor sees Flash flying back to help him out, yet Shining hoof gestures to hold back. He'll admit that he's putting in more effort than he was a moment ago, but this is nothing more than an irritation.

Shining Armor pulls back and lets the polyhedron to flyby him. He takes this chance to catch it in his magic, effortlessly succeeding a little bit too well as the object doesn't fight to break out. Armor tries to use his magic to move it, but he's finding his Equestrian magic unresponsive to that command.

As Shining struggles, the polyhedron's surface begins to emit heat and distorts the air around it, with a few of its sides suddenly go aflame. Perhaps it's the mirage being formed from the gas, but Armor can swear that he's seeing a devilish face appearing on this object.

Flash is getting antsy from simply spectating, "Perhaps it be best if I he-"

"I got this!" Shining persists as he takes a different approach. He charges up his horn, "I won't be bested by an oversized dice!" and shoots a magic bullet from it.

The shot hits the polyhedron, but it isn't pushed back or unfazed, it greatly expands in size. Three times of what it was before.

Shining Armor feels a twist in his stomach. It finally dawns on him that this thing has been absorbing his magic this entire time, and judging by the way it's vibrating, it's planning to return it in some way.

Shining casts 'Protect' over himself and covers behind his shield for what may come, Flash disobeys his order and makes an attempt to rescue his captain, and the polyhedron suddenly flickers a light and forms an explosion of magic in a self-destructing move.

The force of the blast blows Flash's halberd off the cliff in one direction and throws Shining Armor over the edge as well in another direction. Flash suddenly gets rammed by Shining and he struggles to maintain control as the two of them fall into the fog within the valley.

Both ponies cry during the fall as they smack against rocks and bounce off the ground. Shining grunts and growls in his tumble, the result of receiving minimum injuries thanks to the 'Protect' spell over him, but basing off the screams and yells Flash is making...

Shining's fur gets wet as he slides on the morning dew of wet grass until he slows down to a complete stop. His eyes adjust to the foggy environment. He gently pushes himself up and tries to identify the location more clearly, but at best, Shining can only make out a sea of grass with the short range of visibility.

"FLASH?" Armor yells for his absent comrade.

The grass tips tickle Shining's ankles to the strolling wind.

Shining turns his ears up, picking up any sound as he gently moves about, "SENTRY, TALK TO ME."

As he walks about, Shining Armor lays a hoof on nothing and suddenly begins to topple down a tor formation. He hits even ground, scaring the field mice and grasshoppers off into the mist.

Shining sits up, and soon does his ears. He hears the faint sounds of babbling in one direction and starts heading there. A soft sound of a metallic bang emits below Shining, as well as his hoof meeting resistance. Taking a step back, he discovers his shield at his hooves. Shining illuminates his horn and lifts up his weapon within his light-rose aura. He sees the glowing magic clearly through the fog, sparking an idea and begins to levitate the shield along the grass, using it as a lantern to see where he's going.

The babbling gets a little louder the closer Shining gets, only to arrive at the source to discover a stream of water. It's making a calm sound as it flows, but a loud groan suddenly breaks the gentle atmosphere.

Shining spins his shield in the direction of the new sound and shines light on Flash Sentry, limping as he struggles to push himself off the ground.

Relief and concern washes over Shining as he rushes over. He wraps Flash's wing around his back for leverage, but the moment he touches the wing, Flash lets out a painful cry, leaving Shining Armor to imagine the worst.

Dunking a dented helmet into the stream, Shining Armor pulls it up and uses his magic to carry the water over to Flash Sentry. The helmet of water settles near the pegasus that's laying by the outcrop, but he's too caught up in his pain to really care.

Shining takes another look at the state of his subordinate before turning his gaze away, berating himself through silent means for bringing Flash to this point. Two of his legs have fractured bones with at least one more fracture in his right wing, and who knows how many internal injuries there are. Just because Flash wasn't cast with 'Protect'.

Armor tries to clear his mind as he takes off his own helmet and dunks it to pitch some water for himself. He levitates it to his mouth, but to his disappointment, the content drains through the opening of where his horn goes through.

A melancholy expression falls on Shining as he watches the water pour out of his helmet, finding it comparable to his life. No medical supplies, no helpful assistance, no clue of where they stand. Flash is going to be down for a few weeks and is in need of something more than just water to make a full recovery, but moving him around too much wouldn't be a good idea in his weakened strength.

Nothing is going to change at this pace, it's likely to get worse unless some kind of action is taken soon, but the likelihood of fixing everything doesn't seem possible in this case. Shining's thoughts waver between Flash's health and Equestria's state, "..."

Sentry studies Armor's posture, "Thinking of leaving me behind?" he makes light of the offer.

"..."

"I'd understand if you decided to go through with that."

"..."

"...if you don't, the nation will lose hope."

Shining whips his head around, feeling like he's reliving a moment of his life. The last time he felt like this was during King Sombra's attack on the Crystal Empire, when he had to leave his wife to meet up with Twilight and her friends. He recalls the fatigue look she had as she maintained a barrier for the empire, seeing it replay through Flash's weakened state with Equestria's fate in the balance, "...I'm going to search around the area for a while. Food, herbs, anything that could be helpful right now. There just has to be something we can use."

There's a malaise look on Flash's face, "Don't fool yourself. You won't find anything that'll be helpful around here. Just focus on fulfilling the mission."

Armor levitates his shield over to Flash, "With your halberd lost, you'll be needing something else to protect yourself with until I return."

Sentry huffs, "I guess we're both asking for the impossible," and accepts the shield in his good wing.

Shining notes the sound of the stream as he looks into the sky. The sun will likely clear this fog the longer the day goes by, but until then, he'll use the stream as a landmark to find his way back. He takes in a breath of fresh air, lights up his horn, "Stay safe," and gallops off into the fog.

An hour passes since Shining Armor began this search. His endeavor hasn't produced anything fruitful so far, but it has been growing the anxiety inside of him.

The clouded atmosphere still poses as the biggest obstacle. It's beginning to feel like he's running through his own mind, searching for an answer that isn't taking form. No clues, no hints, nothing that provides any idea of where to go. Every direction he takes just keeps resulting in a setback or more fog.

Armor stomps his hoof and rips the air with a roar. The sounds of his exasperation echoes the land, slowly fading like his withering drive to continue this hopeless ordeal. Releasing the rest of his frustration through a sigh, Shining Armor eventually encounters an outcrop to lean his weight on for a moment.

Shining takes a moment to collect himself. It seems as of late that every action Armor's decided upon has resulted with them getting farther and farther away from the main objective to their journey. His hold on everything is slowly slipping out of his grip with nothing gained from it. The only times where they seemed to make any progress would be when Tempest was in charge, "...optimistic ignorance, huh?" Armor reflects upon the experience he had that night Equestria's magic was stolen. Recalling the torturing feeling he felt for not being there with them, repainting the frightened expressions his imagination made of his family, reconstructing the worst scenarios that led to a tragic fate for everyone involved, "..."

Shining Armor stares into the dull environment, seeing nothing but fog, but something suddenly flies over his head. Long and white, a small ferret leaps from the top of the tor he lays against and lands onto his level. It dashes into the fog and quickly vanishes from Shining Armor's sight.

Steadily pushing off the tor, Shining soon finds the need to get low to the ground upon feeling it start to rumble. A giant figure suddenly leaps over him and shakes the surface as it lands. It leaves little time for Armor to register its features as it vanishes in the direction of the ferret.

Shining slowly stands up. It looked like he had a close encounter with a bulky creature, one that could flatten him with a body slam. Being cautious, Armor casts 'Protect' over himself.

The sound of loud crumbling gravel echoes the air, following with the piercing roar that's comparable to a tiger's.

Shining Armor is completely stiff, his brain is telling him to move his legs, but the peril he finds himself in is keeping every muscle locked. No weapons, in this barren field, within a land of magic nullifying equipment, is a gigantic beast that displays predatory behavior, and it is roaming somewhere in this thick fog. He's completely helpless, and whatever this thing is, Shining doesn't want to encounter it again.

Another tremendous roar echoes up ahead, and suddenly, Shining sees a giant boulder flying right at him. Armor reacts instinctively and catches the debris in his magic just before it hits him. He keeps it encased in his rose colored aura, illuminating it in the foggy environment. His eyes widen, realizing how he's standing out in this mist and immediately drops the chunk of rock with a thud.

"..."

Shining's ears pick up the heavy beats of an approaching creature. He shuffles back and quickly enters into a gallop as he tries to lose it in the fog. His mind begins to race, trying to take in as much information as he can with the limited visibility. Shining thinks he hears something on his left, but he thought he saw something on his right, it's getting to a point where he's questioning if he's possibly in a never-ending void.

Armor slows down and begins to spin around, trying to figure out where to go. He hears the distinct sound of snorting and manages to only get a glimpse of a large purple tail, just before it slaps him, sending the pony rocketing through the air.

Shining Armor slams into a tor, results with the formation to crumble apart and tombing him under a pile of boulders. He feels the weight of the rocks squishing his abused body, and while he may be feeling an aching pain right now, it would've been very severe if he didn't have 'Protect' over himself. Nevertheless, Shining can still feel the sting from the strike even under the spell. It might be wise if he refrains from making rash actions for now.

Shining hears heavy stomping and sees a figure approaching through a gaps of the rubble. He shuts his eyes upon hearing the sound of the beast sniffing Shining's hiding spot, giving him a clear idea on how he was tracked down in this fog.

"..."

The beast grumbles as the sound of footsteps takes its leave.

Armor looks at the silhouette of the beast through the fading fog. It's big, almost three times as big as a manticore, and if it's as vicious as one, then Shining wouldn't stand a chance against it.

The beast abruptly halts. It lifts its head, getting a scent of the area with distinctive sounds of heavy sniffing. It's tracking something, Shining can't help but sweat to the thought that it was about to charge right back at him.

It draws its attention towards something on its right, approaching this thing in a quadruped-like manner to smell it.

Shining rests easy now that he isn't going to be a victim of this creature again, though he can't help but wonder now, just what is this beast analyzing? He squints through the fading fog at this thing that has everyone's attention. He identifies a long pole-like object, sticking out of the ground at a tilted angle. It's not bent, but there's curves at the base, one on each side.

Armor considers that he's looking at an ax or perhaps a spear, and as he continues to try and match the object with a name, his pupils begin to shrink. Shining's blood begins to turn cold as he realizes that this object, is Flash's Halberd. As the beast begins to snarl with its fangs bare, the unicorn begins to feel his veins burning.

Shining Armor's magic explodes the rocks that tomb him, blowing them off and making lots of noise to draw the beast's attention back to the unicorn it took for dead. The two sizes the other up with glares as the fog clears up.

The creature is a bulky looking beast, one built like a lion, but runs off the strength of its double-muscles. It has a deep-dark-orchid tone to its skin with black spines going along its backbone. Untamed garnet hair resides around the two giant horns at the side of its head, lining up in the direction his yellow eyes face. He sweeps his tail and uses it for balance as he stands on his hindlegs, giving him freedom to swing a pair of devastating claws. The piercing-sharp teeth that this beast displays tells that he's no herbivore, and going off the feral quirks he's made thus far, he's craving for an intense fight with the stallion before him.

Shining firms his stance upon noticing the many scars visible all over this beast's bare body, feeling more confident than he was a moment ago. With no signs of any weapons, body armor, or accessories on this beast, Shining's magic will actually be effective against this creature.

The beast makes a threatening roar which Shining takes as a sign that he's about to attack. He swings a claw into the ground and launches himself at Armor with his other claw raising overhead. Shining Armor produces a barrier around himself as the beast throws his claw down, slamming into the conjured dome of magic with a reverberating sound of the impact before his claw shatters through Shining's defense.

Armor staggers back, just inches away from the beast clawing him. Shining feels a pit in his stomach from how easily this beast overpowered him, too focused on the fact to see the other claw swinging at him from the side.

The beast strikes Shining Armor, launching the pony far across the valley.

Shining bounces and tumbles through the grass until he manages to skid to a complete stop. Though this beast may be defended against with magic, his ferocious strength makes up the difference to overpower it. Shining works his way back to his hooves, bearing the pain that not even his 'Protect' spell can fully withstand.

The beast makes a blaring roar to which Shining bares his teeth at the charging beast, this time with his horns as the assaulting threat. Shining Armor illuminates his own horn and shoots a few magic bullets at him, the result only makes the beast twitch at best. Armor makes an attempt to restrain the beast by taking it by the horns, using his own horn to grab them in his aura and pushes to slow the charging beast down.

Horn-locked, the two fight for control. Armor is beginning to strain himself, just to keep the beast to a strolling speed, until a wave of force shoves him back. The beast is using his claws to dig into the ground and uses the earth as a leverage to pull forward. Each burst of pressure nearly causes Shining to lose his grip on the horns, and each time, a little closer to him.

With a feral grunt, the beast makes a mighty shove to slip out of the magical hold. Shining reinforces 'Protect' just in time as the beast rams him, but it does little against the stinging sensation. Armor feels his hooves leaving the ground as the beast whips him across the field.

Shining Armor slams into a boulder, cursing his luck as he plops to the ground. For once when his magic can be used against an opponent, he finds that he just can't muster enough to match such brutal strength. He knows that he isn't going to win this fight, an escape might be his only chance at surviving, but the beast's next likely target would be..

Shining struggles to his hooves, leaning on the boulder for support. The ferocious roaring the beast makes gets a growl out of him, irritated by their persistence. Illuminating his horn, Armor attempts to use his magic again. If he had his shield, then maybe he could use his magic to indirectly attack the beast with a blunt object.

Shining Armor shifts his rear against the boulder to face the charging beast.

Only yards away with eyes locked on the unicorn, the beast sees the boulder behind Shining glow in a light-rose aura.

Shining swings the boulder overhead at the beast, and to the pony's surprise, the beast gets on his hindlegs and catches the boulder in their forepaws.

Pulling, pushing, jerking, and yanking, Shining isn't having any luck at reclaiming the boulder the beast's grip. It's the only weapon he has, the only tool he possesses to defend himself with, Shining is desperate to get it back. He places all of his strength into pulling it in one direction despite of all the strain he's placed on his horn already.

The boulder slowly slides over the beast's forepaws, until finally, Shining Armor collapses. He just can't muster enough strength under the seething pain his horn is giving him.

With victory now within his paws, the beast lifts the boulder over his head with a mighty roar. Shining grunts, hearing that roar is really driving on his nerves, up to the point where he wants to silence it.

The beast scowls down at a glaring Shining Armor, aiming the boulder at the pony with the dimly lit horn and a tightness in his chest.

The beast pulls back the boulder as a light-pink aura covers Armor's throat.

The beast makes his move and Shining rips out a thunderous roar, magically enhanced to make it much louder than what any creature his size should be capable of.

Shining's voice surprises the beast, startling him to lose his grip on the boulder. With a loud thud, the boulder drops on the beast's head. It rolls off to the side of the beast's head as they just stand there.

Shining sees a trail of blood rolling down the side of the beast's head, and while he believes that now would be a good time to act upon something, he hesitates upon hearing the beast... chuckling.

The beast lets out a bellowing laugh, "That was quite a crafty decision, Traveler," the beast spoke to Armor, "There have been very few who've been capable of breaking me from my berserk state," his laughter softens down, "Inform me, what's your job?"

It's bothersome to Shining on how he's acting so neighborly after the many attempts of killing him, but if he wants to bury the hatchet, it would be best to do the same, else he picks up where he left off, "I'm... I'm the Captain of the Royal Guard."

"A guardian," the news impresses the beast, "one that not only serves royalty, but also leads others like him! With a stature like that, it's no wonder how you could handle my strikes."

Shining turns his attention, fighting off the desire to clench his sore body, "..."

"You're well suited for the title."

The aches quickly fade off. Hearing those words given to him aloud, there's a weight on his mind that's beginning to become too insufferable to bare, "...no."

The beast slants his head.

"You couldn't be more wrong. I couldn't get there for my family when they were in trouble, I should've lost a quarter of our savings to a reckless gamble, I would've delivered us as fish food for being completely clueless, I've failed to keep my team together because of a personal disagreement, and my last teammate is now crippled because of my arrogance." Shining forms a sigh, "I'm not suited for that title. I'm not fit to be called, 'Captain'."

"You were accepted by royalty to be their guardian, they must've seen something in you to invoke that choice."

"And I could've sworn that I saw it too. A depiction of a strong stallion that could meet any expectations that's needed for the many roles he plays. Son, brother, husband, prince, father, but a palace guard... Everything of late has been showing me that when I'm outside those walls, I'm not a shining example of perfection.

The beast bellows another roaring laugh, "A perfect guard is just a false notion, there will always be a flaw in one's defense."

"That's probably what drove me into being a captain in the first place," Shining admits, "I often find myself reflecting on my loved ones at almost every given moment, and the thought of something happening to them begins to stir inside of me to the point where I feel that if I don't keep up on what I'm doing, I'm going to lose them. I try emptying my mind of all thought and focus on the task at hoof, pretty much until my body goes into auto drive."

"Appears to me that you suffer from your own berserk state as well."

"The real kick in the face is that having control out of my hooves and placing my faith in the leadership of others ...it frightens me. One too many times has my nation been saved by my sister, one of the rulers that I've been sworn to protect, one of the ponies in my life that I'm deeply concerned about, is often the one that does all the protecting as she stands in the forefront of the cavalry. If they fail, then I blame myself, because maybe I could've changed things if I were in control. And if I fail, then I know who's really at fault."

The beast makes a low growl, closing his eyes as he ponders, "..." he looks at Shining, "'A strong guard is one that finds strength from those that they protect, but a mighty guard can also use that strength to reinforce them in turn.' That was a quote once given by an ancient king. It was his way to describe the flow of energy we share with others and how our strength is still protecting them, regardless of our presence or roles."

Shining reflects on the words of wisdom, "That... that isn't helpful at all. I don't have problems with finding strength, my problem is that I keep failing at being a captain."

He scratches near the cut on his head, "I suppose going off of intuition was a bad choice this time."

Shining sulks for a brief moment, letting his mind wander in the process, "...tell me, did that ancient king ever dealt with a series of difficult choices?"

"Hard to say, given that his time was eons ago. He was considered to be a wise miracle worker, if that gives you any ideas."

"Miracle?"

"Stuff like bilocation and astral projecting."

"Sounds a lot like Twilight with her teleporting and her long distance conversions by music box figurine." Armor muses the comparison of those miracles to magic, "..." and something dawns on him, "'...finds strength from those that they protect...'" he reflects on the king's quote for a moment. Shining peers up at the cut on the beast's head, giving the wound a hesitant look, "...would you bend down for a moment?"

The beast willingly complies with the request and Shining places his forelegs up on the beast. He follows the trail of blood, arriving at the gash that was made by the boulder, "'...use that strength to reinforce them...'" Shining Armor illuminates his horn and forms a light rose aura over the wound.

Now placing his idea into motion, Shining begins to recall the times he spent with his family, remembering the feelings he had during those moments. Bold, hopeful, responsible, the rush of vigor is rejuvenating his spirits once more.

The beast experiences a salubrious sensation flowing over his wound, and before long, the injury repairs itself to form a healed layer of skin.

Shining Armor stumbles back, too transfixed at the very sight of achieving such a feat.

The beast touches the spot and hardly believes it as well, but upon looking at Shining, "You seem more surprised than I, pray tell."

"...I wasn't expecting it to work," Shining confesses, "Nopony back home has ever been able to cast healing magic before, but upon reflecting on that quote... I was conflicted on going through with the idea, it could've ended up like all of my other decisions and made it worse, but somehow, I lucked out by pursuing my intuition."

“Who knows what is good and what is bad?” the beast shakes his head with an amuse look, "Placing a quick end to stories with a label of it being good or bad and you'll likely to miss opportune moments such as these. I guess that unsuitable quote really was just the cure you needed."

A blank stare befalls Shining for a moment before beaming at the thought, "Yeah, it's just the 'Cure' I needed for someone."

Slowly opening his eyes, seeing his left wing wrapped around himself, Flash Sentry gradually wakes up from his slumber. He stretches his wings, hearing the right one cracking.

"Careful, I just fixed that."

Flash turns his head to Shining Armor, who's casting 'Cure' on Flash's hind leg, "Oh, sorry." Flash gives a yawn, then wraps himself up with his left and right wi-

Flash jerks up. He begins to analyze his once-broken wing.

"I found your weapon as well," Shining makes small talk.

Flash looks back at the leg that's currently being healed, quickly connecting the dots, "A unicorn that can cast healing spells from their horn? ...I would've considered it an old wives' tale if I wasn't already proven wrong."

"I wasn't aware of performing such skills either, let alone from me," Shining releases his magic, allowing Flash time to adjust to his healed leg, "but my intuition is telling me that there's going to be a lot more self-discoveries like this throughout the course of the mission."

The conversation ends when a layer of shade slides over them. As the two stallions look up, they stare from within a shadow of an airship flying by as it makes its way over the valley.

FFF VII

Prelude

Rueing her limitations and deeming herself as a burden, Tempest Shadow shows little concern for her well being, as she prefers to strive alone. With Second Wind's assistance at redirecting her focus, the two were able to recover her crystal from the thief who pilfered it.

This small victory did not deter Tempest's views on her worth, but she’s beginning to open up to Wind. An indication of trust, but can it break through her clouded vision? Wind knows that bold choices will need to be faced for this to occur.

Perhaps this chance will occur as the two ponies attempt to catch up with Shining Armor and Flash Sentry.

Standing at the edge of the grassy cliff, Tempest Shadow and Second Wind find themselves in the same predicament their teammates went through and try to figure out a way to cross the steep and wide valley below them. Wind is fiddling with the panel of his metallic wing for something that could lower them safely into the valley, but he's searched through nearly his entire inventory, "I'm not finding anything that could be helpful, Tempest."

Tempest Shadow has been letting her eyes wander about, taking in the landscape as she drifts her sight until it catches something by her hoof. Steps back, observing a small white flower as it sways to the breeze, "A Shining Bird."

"Hmm?" Wind looks up into the empty sky, "...where?" he looks at Tempest and follows her gaze, "...the flower?"

"They're often sought after for their healing properties, so it's rare to find these in the wild."

The information leads Wind's mind to reflect back on the Ochu Stalks, recalling how Tempest identified those as well, "You seem to have an interest in plant life, Tempest. Are you into botany?"

"It's just something I once read about in a medical book."

"Medical!" Wind now begins to remember the conversation they had with The Ice Queen and how Tempest identified her autism, "So you have an interest in becoming a doctor!"

"No," she casually denies, "I often read a lot of books, mostly medical ones when I was a filly; but, I was never interested in becoming a doctor."

"Then what got you interested in reading about such a difficult subject?"

"I was hoping that I could... find something," Tempest gently lays a hoof on her broken horn.

Wind rubs the back of his neck, trying to find a way to handle the spot he dug too deep into, "...you know what, we should try to come up with something that can capture you!"

"Capture me?"

"Like when I lost my wing. When it was gone, I also lost the ability to fly, something that expresses what it means to be a pegasus. To me, it felt like a thrilling experience, something that got the heart pumping and dared me to face any challenge. I needed something to help me with recapturing that feeling again. Becoming a royal guard and having an adventure like the one we're on now is really helping with that feeling of flying. So I'm suggesting that we should find something similar for you!"

Tempest shifts her vision.

"Well? What do you think?"

"I think we found a way over the valley."

Tempest deflects the topic as she points towards a giant airship that's resting on the same plane they stand on. It's a stroll away, but the only option they seem to have at the moment.

"Let's ask if we could hitch a ride." Tempest makes her way towards the aircraft.

Leaving him to huff at her disregard for answering, Second Wind gallops up alongside Tempest and continues his attempt to motivate her, "Now let me think. If I recall correctly, unicorns tend to rely on their emotions to perform spells. So we need to focus on something that has a lot of emotion to it, like singing or writing poetry."

"I don't think I have it in me to be a poet, and singing... I can't open up my eyes to the idea."

"Well, I can think of one more option that could work, but..." he eyes Tempest, "...I'm having a tough time just fracturing the surface layer."

"..."

"...maybe we should try a different approach, one that addresses you more directly, a passion for something."

"Don't have one."

"There's that layer again," Wind miffs aloud, "...then let's start at square one and work our way from there to find out what thrills you. Tell me, what's your cutie mark?"

Tempest stops on a hoof with a stomp. She maintains her composure with a deep breath, "...this perusement is completely redundant. I don't need some kind of hobby to compensate for anything."

"You don't, huh?" a coy smile appears on him, "Then there shouldn't be any issue if I asked you to tell me the last time you had fun."

His request doesn't falter Tempest, but the mundane look in her expression tells that she's not inclined to reply.

"Something that felt exciting or made you want to toy around with. I'll even accept an incident that made you blush, just tell me a moment where you felt like you were alive."

"...the thoughts escape me," Tempest continues for the airship, a bit quicker than before.

With her decision made, Wind surrenders to her strong will with the rolling of his eyes, "Maybe it's a unicorn thing to act off of their emotions."

As they plant their hooves on the grass before the vessel, Tempest and Wind stare up at an airship that's not like the ones they're familiar with. While airships tend to use balloons to elevate and sails to traverse the sky, this ship uses four propellers to gain height and a few more propellers to soar through the air. It's bulky, short, and there's a sense of an aristocratic feel from the decorative design choices of towers and the giant dome that resides on what should be the main deck. The back of the ship had to be the oddest design choice as a large portion of it was missing, giving a balcony appearance that lacks any form of railing. The vessel itself is being supported by retractable keel blocks, designed in a way to level itself on a relatively flat plain. The landing gear is accompanied with an anchor system, having dropped with no real purpose in aiding the ship in any way, but it does allow one to sit on it, much like the creature they're seeing right now.

Blending with the fumes from the cigarette in her paw, a smoky-furred werewolf sits on a copper anchor that's laying flat on the ground. Wearing an attire that's a bit outdated, it matches her indolent demeanor as she observes the ponies approaching.

"I'll do the talking," Tempest whispers to Second Wind. She focuses on the werewolf that has yet to break out of her idle state, "It's a grand sight, this motor ship," small talks Tempest, "I don't recall ever encountering one that's landed in the wilderness like this. So what's the occasion?"

"We had an emergency landing," the werewolf taps the ash off her cigarette. "A giant explosion happened around here earlier. We were far away from it at the time, but the ship still got hit by the shockwave it made."

Tempest ponders on the occurrence, but quickly dismisses it, "Any chance that the ship will be flying soon?"

"Within the hour, I assume," she shifts her weight, "but you can kiss tonight's performance goodbye."

"Performance? What performance?"

"'I'm Captain Basch'. A lot of players got injured during the shockwave and won't be able to perform." She takes a whiff of her cigarette, blowing out her frustration with the smoke, "And after rushing all week over that stupid dress."

"That's... unfortunate..." Tempest replies, more confused than sympathetic, "...speaking about dresses, perhaps you should address the finer details. Who are you?"

"I'm Ashen, sole costume designer of The Atys Auditorium Actors."

Tempest looks up at the vessel, "So that makes this a..."

"A theater ship." Ashen finishes.

Second Wind flickers his eyes. He looks up at the theater ship and gazes back down at Tempest, focusing on her broken horn and begins to smirk.

Tempest shakes her head to get herself back on their goal, "Say, would it be possible for us to get a ride?"

"With many of us out of commission, I'm sure the director will allow it in exchange for labor."

"Nothing new to me," Tempest huffs, "so we'll take up the offer of being-"

"Actors!" The girls look at Wind's abrupt statement, "We volunteer ourselves to be actors for your director."

Tempest bares a look that's both shocked and irked, "What?"

"Oh, sorry," Wind clears his throat, "actor and actress."

Her face changes to betrayal.

"It might mean more work," Ashen finishes off the cigarette from the very thought of it, "but I could use a good laugh." smearing what's left of it on the anchor.

"Now hold o-"

"Get ready," Ashen grips the tether that’s connecting the anchor to the ship and wildly shakes it. She whisks up into the air as the tether begins to retract itself back up the ship, "Act fast now."

Tempest Shadow and Second Wind stare up in bewilderment at Ashen, but her words suddenly make sense as the anchor begins to lift up from the ground. Wind steps on one of the anchor's arms and steadies his balance, but Tempest hesitates to this fleeting chance. At the last second, she makes the split decision and jumps at one of the arms. She catches it in her forelegs and hangs from the retracting anchor.

With a little bit of swinging, Tempest gets herself on top of the arm. She attempts to stand up and is suddenly tossed upwards from the anchor's finished assent, only to now grab the ship's banister. Tempest pulls herself up halfway when Ashen and Wind provide assistance with the rest.

Now on deck, Tempest and Wind look up at the werewolf that's twice their height, "Come along."

The two ponies follow Ashen as she takes them through the ship, giving time for Tempest to vent her vexation at Wind, "Acting?! I was trying to become a stagehoof and do some heavy lifting... but acting?!?!"

"Yeah, acting is the perfect way that'll recapture the feeling of what it was like to be a unicorn for you."

"You're still on that!!" Tempest lashes with her gritting teeth, "Did it ever occur to you if I even wanted to act?"

"It did, but knowing my company, they'd view it to be too embarrassing to agree with."

Tempest remains silent for a moment, focusing on fighting against Wind's proud smile with her grumpy glare, "...let me throw some caution at you, Wind, ...I CAN'T ACT!"

"Nonsense," Wind waves at the idea, "everything about you practically screams that you were meant for the theater."

Sparks of magic begin to snap from her broken horn in anger.

"See! You're acting out right now." Wind nods at her expressing horn, "Your talent as an actress is overflowing."

Tempest holds in her breath, calming herself through this method, "...alright. If that's how it's going to be, then I'll play along and let you do all the talking from here."

"Really?! You're up for this?!"

"Yes. Because if you say that I'm so great at being an actress," she leers a grimful look at Wind, "then I should have no problem at giving the dullest audition imaginable."

After such a threatening promise to his ploy, Wind gives Tempest a brightful smile, "I'm happy to hear that you're giving this a chance."

"Faith!" Ashen's voice breaks the pony's conversation and snaps their attention to where they have been led. It's a moderate-sized room, cluttered with fallen objects both large and small along the walls that have yet to be returned back to their proper location before the ship's emergency landing. Fancy attires, dignified portraits, potted plants, housed wine bottles, if these materials weren't enough to give this room a ritzy appeal, then it was the detailed rug that they stand on. At the other side of the room, beyond the oil lamp that's lighting up the room from a table stand, are doors that are folded open with a figure rummaging through various chests and tossing out scripts, "Faith!!" Ashen yells louder at the figure, "I got a few extra bodies that want to help."

The figure straightens up, carrying one of the scripts as he approaches them in a waddling manner that befits his species, a penguin. He stands at the height that meets up with the ponies, though his attention is focused at the script he possesses as he starts to read. He flips through the first few pages with the oversized sleeves of his red garment. His eyes scan the words from behind the goggles he's bearing, suddenly stopping with disappointment on his face, "TIME TRAVEL!?!" he groans as he tosses the script aside, "Why do I even have that play? I hate sequels!"

"Well guess what you're about to receive, Faith," Ashen displays Tempest Shadow and Second Wind in a sarcastic tone, "more auditions."

Faith lifts a sleeve in defeat, "We need the help."

Ashen looks over to Wind as she passes by the pegasus, "He's the director. Take it away, hotshot." Ashen spins, laying her back against the wall to watch the events, "And, try to 'sell' your performance."

Second Wind steps forward, taking a deep breath with Faith's eyes on him, "Greetings, good sir," the flamboyant tone in Wind's voice is given an over-exaggerating bow with his wing, "we heard of your plight and wish to offer our services. I am Second Wind. My associate is Tempest Shadow. And we," he puffs out his chest with a dynamic pose from his good side, "are the greatest stage performers that have placed hoof on this land."

Faith keeps shifting his head between the two ponies before him.

"Should we display our talented performance?"

"Talented performance? You sound just like the rehire from this morning, and he's currently assigned as a stagehand."

Second Wind slumps over, feeling the weight of Ashen's snickering at him.

"As for your colleague," Faith notes the bland expression on Tempest, "I can be a bit of an idealist, but she doesn't look like she's fitted to be on stage. In fact," he sniffs in her direction, "...am I ...am I smelling tomatoes off her?"

"That just shows how committed she is," Wind hastefully diverts the suspicion through improv. "You see, she's a method actress, living the part of her role in her everyday life to fully understand the essence of what makes her character so unique."

"Oh?" Faith plays along, "And just what part is she currently playing?"

"The Tsundere! The role of a cold and hostile lady that guises the warm and sweet nature she carries in her heart."

Tempest fights from expressing a peeved look as Faith studies her.

"But don't just take my word, let her show you just how skilled she is! Tempest, give us some of your fine acting."

Tempest narrows her glare directly at Wind, humphing at him for thinking that she'll cooperate. She only comments on his foolish thinking, "...idiot."

"BEAUTIFUL! Don't lose that motivation!"

She winces at the motivator.

Faith lays the end of his garment's sleeve against his mouth, sizing up Tempest with a thought in mind, "...you know, I've been meaning to try a certain play for quite some time now," he points at the unicorn, "and I think you'd be perfect for the lead."

The scowl on Tempest shatters as she nearly falls over in shock. She lays her hoof over her face, "Please, let me be wrong this time... what?"

"Yep-yep," with enthusiasm building from the idea, Faith heads over to a pile of scripts, "you're going to be the central star in our next play!"

Tempest moans into her hoof for hearing right while scripts are being tossed aside from Faith as he digs through the pile.

Wind reads the script titles as they fly by; 'To Tame a Lion's Heart', 'The Guardian of my Dreams', 'Dragon and the Sea'. He turns to the director, "You seem to have a lot of plays dedicated to romance."

"I find that the audience loves a good romance."

"That mushy stuff is what'll get creatures these days?"

"These days?" Faith chortles, "One of my earliest works pretty much started a genre centered around romance. The audience just loves to pair up two creatures together into a romantic relationship. They pretty much do it instinctively, often yearning for it to happen, so I tend to have a character declare their love near the end to win the crowd's praise. It helps in a pinch, but this time, this time I want to try something different," he lifts up a script titled, 'The Sword is My Neighbour', "I made this play a while ago and I've been waiting for the right time to perform it, and your 'idol' would fit the part of the lead perfectly without changing her 'method acting'."

"That's wonderful!" Wind beams with joy, "Right, Tempest?"

"Every word..." Tempest rubs her forehead to soothe the migraine, "It gets worse with every word of his...."

Faith flips through the script, making marks on the pages as he does, "We'll have to cut out a lot of scenes with the given bodies available, but it should be good enough for tonight's performance."

Tempest's ears perk up, "Tonight!? But It's mid day. No one will be ready by then."

"That's what theater is all about," Faith dismays the attempt at shooting down the performance, "it's not a simple reenactment that'll always be the same with each showing, it's an ever changing creature that breathes life as it lives for the moment, so we need to think fast and move accordingly to survive with it. Even the moral can change as forty percent of plays are by the script with the other sixty being improvisation, just like how you two are improvising by making yourself out to be actors as a means to get a free ride on this ship."

Second Wind feels that weight again, "It was that obvious?"

"I deal with performers all the time. I know an act when I see one."

"And it never gets old from seeing them try," Ashen chimes in with a satisfied look on her face.

"Life is a story, we need to adjust to the events that take us by surprise if we have any hope of seeing a happily ever after. So with that said," Faith looks between Tempest and Wind, "will you two be performing an encore for tonight, or am I currently witnessing your last performance?"

For the rest of the day, as they traveled by airship, Tempest Shadow and Second Wind prepared themselves for the play by reading and rehearsing through the script. The play will be a short one comprising two acts with a fifteen intermission break between them. The two of them managed to memorize the first half upon sundown, but with time against them, they had to use the remaining moments to prepare for their appearance and decided to read the rest of the play as they’re getting ready in the costume room.

Second Wind flicks the play's script in his wing, "'And so, as the two make their run from the garden, the knave gets pierced by an arrow from one of the guards, ending his life. The princess mourns over him and blames herself for bringing this because of her desire for escape. With the castle guards approaching to condemn her to a life she can't abide towards and the loss of the only one that could understand her plight, she picks up the knave's sword and takes her life, staying true to her beliefs that a shackled life with no promising hope, is no more than a doll that's waiting for death.'" Wind lowers his wing, "it's quite unorthodoxing that this was written by someone named, 'Faith'."

Behind the room's folding curtain, Tempest endures Ashen's pestering, patting her down and making needed adjustments to the costume she's wearing, "It doesn't sound very moving, either."

"Plays are heavily dependent on their performers to get any kind of emotion out of them," Ashen pierces a needle into Tempest's attire. "If you want to capture the audience, you'll need actors who're committed to the role."

"I'm going through this, aren't I?" Tempest notes.

"I'm talking about syncing with the part you're playing. Some of the best kinds of actors are ones that place everything into their performance; up to the point where their health could be at risk."

"Method acting indeed."

"One such example was when someone got hospitalized after trying to make 'em laugh. Another was some buster that broke his neck from a stunt he did and walked it off; the guy didn't even know that he broke it for thirty years. Even this troupe has done daring performances with the usage of status effects."

"Status effects?"

"Things like poison, paralysis, petrification. The state fades over time, most of the time, but we don't do it very often due to how pricy spells can be these days." Ashen claps her paws, "Okay, you're all set. Your mask is over there and your finalized dress will be done by intermission. Now," she shuts the blinds and points a finger at Wind, "you. We hardly have any costumes for quadrupeds, so we need to get creative. Let's see..."

Ashen skips away, leaving Second Wind to admire her work through Tempest's appearance. Swaying near her hind hooves and up to the crystal around her neck, Tempest wears a light-lemon colored gown. Plain in style, it helps at drawing attention to the moderate-pink mane that's hanging over it, directing the eye up to the split ends to the bangs, draping over Tempest's forehead. The subtle makeup highlights her face in places that Wind has never noticed before; her smooth cheeks, her captivating lips, and her flawless right side.

His gaze catches Tempest's attention, "...how do I look?"

Second Wind is finding it difficult to come up with a word that best captures all of the elegant details that's bringing out the best in her, all but that expressionless mouth of hers. After a moment, Wind sees something might help with that, "Well, why don't you see for yourself with the mirror behind you?"

His assuring smile is telling Tempest that she'll enjoy the sight of seeing her reflection. Tempest gives Wind an unamused look, but turns anyway to see her reflection. She locks with the image's eye, spotting the scar and tracing it up to the broken horn that glares through her mane. "..." she stretches out for the last needed accessory for her character. Tempest lays over her eyes a white domino mask with a red-feathered style pattern along its upper edge, matching with the peacock feather that covers her broken horn, "...hmph."

The room's lightbulb suddenly flickers, impairing everyone's sight with the warning that the curtain will soon rise.

"...let's get this over with." Tempest brushes the stallion aside.

Second Wind sighs out his disappointment as she heads out the door.

"The least she could've said was that it fits her," Ashen comments with a costume in paw.

Wind looks over to the chair, seeing Tempest's combat armor resting on it, "It's the first time I've seen her out of uniform, so that's something to consider, at least."

"She's a workaholic?"

"I don't think so. She was pretty rattled when I offered to store her suit in my wing before."

A perplexed look crosses Ashen. She studies Wind's wing, folded and is partially covering his cutie mark. Shaking her head, she turns back to her job, "Ponies, such an enigma."

Shining itself as the brightest location, a spotlight flashes on stage. There, stands the director of the show, Faith, "Ladies and Gentlebeasts! Tonight's performance is a tale that's familiar to us all, yet spoken in silence in our daily lives. It contains a powerful, fierce commander that once led armies into battle, and now leads a kingdom as king in his old age. But this is a story of his daughter, the flower he's nurtured over the years, and carries her father's spirit within her own. And now, fellow creatures, The Atys Auditorium Actors proudly present, 'The Sword is My Neighbour'!" he waddles off to the sound of the audience clapping.

The curtain rises. A scene is of a dark-orchid quadruped, the king, who's eating in a dining hall setting. His appearance of royalty appears naturally on him with the white wool that's grown along his back, over his shoulders towards his chest, and covering his head with an almost-like mohawk style to it. The unique horn at the end of his muzzle speaks in volumes to his coat, curving over his head to nearly the back of his neck in a way that can best be compared towards a scythe.

The king sit before a table with food spread across it; bread, fruits, a pitcher of milk. He bites into the muffin in his hooves as Tempest trots by him, "Good morrow, father."

"My little rose petal has ventured from her den," his high spirit is heard in his voice, but his joyful expression quickly fades with a heavy sigh, "and she still dons yond mask over thy grace." Tempest sits at the other end of the table, "Thou are filly no more, bloom thy beauty to the land."

"Father, we've waltz this topic ere."

"To keep visage enshielf for few to gaze upon, unsheathing only for her other," he slumps, "but even to thy father?"

She ignores his wishes and begins to eat.

The king sits up straight with a grunt escaping from him, "My little rose petal, tis time to cease this defiance and take inherited duties that art thine."

Tempest groans, "Resided in my quarters I should've."

"Hark, young maiden, for wisdom yon father bares holds experience and truth."

Tempest turns away from the oncoming lecture.

"To girth, to worth, to birth, three purposes of existence which all must abide for refuge in life. The feast before thee have ripened thou, these walls have molded thou to princess stature. I've given enough room to grow within these halls to take my place as overseer of the land, yet thou keep refusing the crown, refusing to uphold its responsibilities."

She rolls her eyes with the turn of her neck.

"I've provided the first two, but it seems that I must also provide thou with the last."

"Father?" Tempest looks with concern.

"A husband, one to break thou foalish ways into a committed monarch."

"Surely thou jesting!"

"Wild, I once was, yet my habits shifted upon marrying thy mother. Bestowing purpose and reasons for taking charge of the kingdom that held my wife and the foal she was carrying."

"But Father, I cannot amount to ideals so great. I'm one that lives amongst my creatures, not over them."

"Precisely why thou must take upon thyself the crown. By coronation or death, my reign approaches an end with each passing of the sun. What creature will there be when none bare the crown to maintain order?"

"I may in time, Fa-"

"For time be damned!" he stomped his decision, "Given time upon time for thee, yet nay sign of bewitchment, nay show of teasing, nay talk of attempts. Therefore, matters come down to my hooves to arrange."

"Prithee, Father, I beseech thee to-"

"ENOUGH!" he roared, "I shan't father a shrew any longer! Invoke a suitor. If thou isn't wrapping forelegs with a son of Adam Apple by next dawn, then pick one I shall."

Crackling sounds come from behind Tempest's mask's feather that currently covers her horn, announcing to everyone her rebellious choice of challenging her father if her angry expression wasn't enough.

"MY LORD!" a voice proclaims off stage. Tempest and the king turn as a pony marches into the scene, Second Wind. Attired with a crimson cap that drapes over his prosthetic wing and a feathered cavalier hat to match with it, Wind kneels down before the king, "Sire, I carry news from the battlefield."

Tempest snorts out her frustration, leaning on the table and aggressively bites into her breakfast.

"The Imperial Legion, they've yielded with the fall of their captain."

"Doth thou speak true!?" the king steps up from the table, "Of what method was this accomplished?"

"When meeting a swarming assault, our commander briskly weaved through the fray and smote the opposing captain like the bite of lightning."

The king makes a hearty laugh while clapping his forehooves, "The Gringolet Charge, few have dared such an attempt."

Tempest flips her mane in a haughty manner.

"Tis truly the dawn of a new day, one that deserves praise. Knave, send word, prepare a banquet for tonight!"

"Yes, milord."

"And make certain that commander is aware of the celebration. I seek them to be the guest of honour!"

Tempest lurches forward with a series of coughs, attempting to suppress them as she does.

"Er... um... they art not of this world anymore." Wind informs.

"Wherefore? By what means?"

"...choked on their loaf."

Tempest takes a gulp from the pitcher of milk.

"A pity to hear, but it shan't damper this joyous occasion," the king pats his lips with a napkin and follows up with a stern look at Tempest, "Little rose petal, I expect thou to take chance of this feast and seek out of what was spoken between us."

Regaining her breath, Tempest turns to him with a scornful look, "...will do, Father." She wipes her mouth with a napkin of her own, watching along with Wind as the king leaves the stage. "..." Tempest slams the napkin to the table, "When swine taste the heavens."

"Tis good to reunite with kin, eh?" Wind wittedly asks.

"It reignites what made the depart." Tempest rubs her eyes that hide behind her mask, "My heart heavies for the battlefield already."

"But conflict is over. The Phantom Commander hath little meaning to go on now."

"Fate, poetic prankster of encores, how I feared this day. If he just relinquishes his suffocating upbringing."

"He does so with love. Thou know that thine in his garden as the sole rose."

"Under glass within the castle of this beast," Tempest slams her hoof on the table once more, "His arrogant mind shan't listen to any thought but his own, overlooking the wishes of others for selfish demands. The stubborn nature of his is... is..." as Tempest tries to find the word, her ears swerve to the sound of suppressed chuckling. She looks at Second Wind with his head turned and a hoof to his mouth, "And to what doth these ripples of air arise from?" Tempest sternly asks with a glare.

Wind gesture her to ease with the other hoof, "My apologies, my lady, but the way thou act with such riled spirit," he smiles at Tempest upon regaining control, "Tis just like thou father's."

Tempest softens her demeanor, turning her gaze down, "...pray tell," she looks back with a gentle tone to her voice, "how doth thou put up my... my shrew nature?"

"Tis my duty."

"Yet when I request to venture beyond these walls, thou chooses to break that duty to fulfill my wish. Even when I don the guise as the Phantom Commander, thou didn't halt my attempt. I could've perished out there, the blame would fall on thou from father, who shan't be merciful as thou have." her eyes are filled with uncertainty behind the mask on her face, "Wherefore such lenience?"

"..." Wind kneels down, "Tis cruel to pour a bottle of happiness for those who cannot fetch it for themselves. Residing in this castle without sinned, ordered to be walled from a world that many travel to and fro at leisure," he smiles reassuringly, "I simply wish for thou to enjoy a world beyond thy limits."

Tempest continues to stare at Second Wind, mouth agape very subtly. She gently breaks eye contact, "...after all that's happened, I wish to make one final request. ...aid me to escape the realm, abandoning the country I'm bound to inherit, never to tread its soil again."

Wind springs up, "Doth thou assume to be acting hasty about this? What difference is there between leading an army to leading a kingdom? If a fork pierces a meal, would it matter if it's meant for a salad, dinner, or cake?"

"We're all winners of life's most important race, but we aren't given the choice of what our reward will bring. I may've been born to inherit the throne, but my soul isn't fit to resign in its chair."

"A new test that'll dare thy prowess in different ways," Wind attempts to sway, "thou shall master it beautifully."

"Tis my life, one that chooses not to live in such ways."

"Then what shalt thou live for?" a small hint of frustration in Wind's tone, "Tales of The Phantom Commander shan't invoke souls without opposing forces, so what's thou aim?"

Tempest maintains a pause between them, "...during the celebration, help me escape, my dear friend."

Wind now carries the silence of the conversation, he relinquishes a humph as he backs down and kneels once more, "...my lady."

As the two keep their pose, the stage's curtain begins to drop. The audience give a moderate applause for the first half of the performance coming to a close. With a flop of the curtain, Tempest eases herself, but suddenly finds herself being forced to walk, "Wha? Hey!"

"Come on, come on," Tempest hears Ashen behind her, pushing the mare along, "we gotta get you ready for the next scene!"

Second Wind quickly gallops up to them, maintaining the pace with the girls as he pulls the script out from his cape, "And we need to rehearse the rest of the play."

While everyone was already focusing on preparing for the second act, Tempest is finding herself lost in what's happening around her. One moment she was playing the role of a princess, the next, being pushed into the sewing room. She hears Wind speaking about something as Ashen tugs at her clothing, stripping her out in the open before a body-sized mirror.

"So when we get on the floor," Wind reviews aloud, "your line is, 'My nursemaid, my doppelganger, is ackno...'"

With the prolonged pause apparent, Tempest glances at Wind to see the reason. She catches him staring at her flank for a brief moment before the two make eye contact. Judging by the concerned look she's receiving, a sense of dread rushes over Tempest as she realizes how exposed she is. Mortified, because he knows.

The two ponies turn from each other, too guilty to look at the other with the fact floating in their minds.

"And... all set!" Ashen steps back to get a better look at her work, a black dress befitting for a princess with some smoky colored patterns to touch upon the hemline and a portion of areas to bring out an investing elegance of the attire, "Hmm... It's a little saggy on you, but it shouldn't interfere with your performance if you take it slow and easy to avoid tripping over it. What do you think?" she looks Tempest Shadow, noting the bleak expression on her face, "What's with the meek look?" Ashen turns to Second Wind, seeing that his expression isn't that much different, "And why are you acting so shy?" she looks back and forth between them, trying to make sense of things, "...I wouldn't think that getting dressed in front of someone would be a big deal with quadrupeds. They walk around naked all the time, and she has nothing to hide."

Tempest winces to the comment.

After getting no answer, Ashen goes out the door, giving up with an irritated groan, "Once again, my work goes unacknowledged."

Ashen's footsteps leave the room in complete silence. The uncomfortable weight in the air is beginning to become too much for Tempest and Wind, pressuring the two to do something other than to stand there.

"...well..." Wind tries to overcome the awkward situation, "...it's...it's an overrated feature anyways."

Tempest remains quiet, ignoring his reassuring attempt.

"...were there any you were striving for?"

"...more than I can recall. So many roles I thought I would be playing in life, so many parts I imagined I would be performing for the world, I could see them all with the eyes of a foal every time I saw my reflection." Tempest views the body-sized mirror, staring at the mare that stands before her in the mask, "This amazing mare that I wanted to be, just who was she? I'll try this, I'll try that, just what made her so unique? ...eventually, they were all attempted, but nothing came from it. I can still see a few more, yet they're blocked off... by that stub," she removes her mask, glaring at the broken horn that resides on her forehead, "Would it be in casting, developing new spells, or perhaps something more thematic like Shining with his barriers? Or maybe... maybe I'm just fooling myself. Maybe, in the end, there was nothing special about that pony in the mirror."

"..."

"...so where do I stand in life? I'm not much of a unicorn with a broken horn, but I'm not much of a pony without a cutie mark."

Second Wind lays a hoof on his head, conflicting on how to respond to Tempest's remark. Reassuring words to a grown disheartened mare won't work like it would with a young impressionable filly.

Tempest continues to get lost at the sight of her disfigurement, "...sometimes, I often think, maybe this horn of mine is intended to be my missing cutie mark."

Wind flickers his eyes.

"A stub of lost potential and a leftover with inutile hope of being anything but an insipid blemish in the end."

On the verge of voicing his words, Wind hesitates. Given Tempest's nature, the scenario that's playing in his head tells him that proceeding through this manner will only be cut off by her. Wind backs down, rethinking his approach that could reach her... somehow... "...Ashen ...Ashen really shouldn't jump over the finer details."

Tempest Shadow glances back at him.

"Hold on," Second Wind unfolds his prosthetic wing and begins to fiddle with the panel until an accessory flashes into his grip. A silver brooch, forged to appear as two angelic wings, but the gashes and a broken feather told that it had seen better days. He extends it to Tempest with a hearten smile, "put this on."

His request is met with Tempest taking a defensive step back. The last jewelry given to her was something she finds a distaste in for its purpose. This one could be no different, "What's your hidden intention?"

"To complement your best feature."

Her unamusement sparks from her horn, "Are you going to tell me it's enchanted to cast some kind of illusion over me or something similar to that nature?"

Wind eases his smile to a playful one, "If I did, would you believe me?"

"After the con you pulled on that cactus earlier today, I wouldn't believe a word of it."

"That's a shame," he shakes his head, maintaining the act, "I took you as someone who had an open mind."

"I'm open-minded, just..." she averts her gaze.

"...nothing coming to the top of your head?"

A spark of magic snaps from Tempest's horn, "..."

Wind proceeds to pin the brooch on Tempest without any struggle from her, "There's nothing magical about this brooch. No enhancements, no spells, just another accessory amongst the many other brooches out there."

"I'm not buying that," Tempest protests with a stern look, "not if you're so insistent on this. There's something about this brooch that you're not telling me."

"Oh really?" a coy look forms on Wind, "So if I got this right," he turns Tempest around to face the mirror, "you're saying that this scratched and broken thing... is capable of something that you're not seeing? Like, something that makes it special?"

Tempest has her sights on the brooch on her chest, but her eyes begin to trail up for the scar on her face that leads to the fractured horn on her head. She tenses up, allowing the silence to speak for her, "..."

The lights to the room suddenly flicker in a rapid display, breaking the moment and reminding the two of them the approaching task needed of them. Tension leaves Tempest, only for it to build on Second Wind, "Aw crud! We didn't practice the lines for the act! We're going to have to improvise."

"..." Tempest looks down at her mask, "...shouldn't be a problem."

"You sure?"

Tempest straightens the mask over her face, "A roll about a mare with wishes that'll shatter from the risk she acts on?" she walks past Wind, "What's there to improvise?"

Second Wind talks a deep breath to endure the antipathy he's feeling, "A question I ask myself every time you talk that way."

The stage curtain rises with the audience clapping to it, revealing the scene of the party already underway. With a backdrop of a ballroom on display, various creatures are playing out a role to push the illusion for the audience.

A few white anthropomorphic rats dance in the center of the stage to the music that's being performed by three distinct creatures on the left side of the stage: a round frog on drums, a short mouse on horns, and a tall avian on the harp that hangs from his arm. The band's music softens after a moment to allow the actors at the other end of the stage, the king and Tempest, to take the scene from here. Both actors sit on the throne with conflicting postures to convey their emotions, with the king showing a grinning face that bounces to the music and the princess slumping over with no interest in the event before her.

The king turns to Tempest, catching her expression, "Invest on this occasion, my dear petal."

Tempest pushes up her mask.

"Prance out, converse, be merry as you grace the floor with your presence, for thou shan't gain a suitor with such a sulking visage from up here."

A flopping sound rings in their ears, drawing their attention to a bowing stallion before them. Tilting his head under the red cavalier hat, Second Wind looks up to Tempest with an extending hoof, "May I request a dance, my lady?"

The king watches intensely at Tempest as she takes the stallion's hoof and is pulled to the floor with Wind, "Epona, rein her trail."

Tempest and Wind make their way to centerstage, exchanging a bow within the sole spotlight that continues to shine while all others begin to dim. The scene heavily implies to the audience the seclusion of this intimate moment. Facing their partner with their left forehoof up, gently pressing against the other's, the two of them pace right, rotating in a circle.

Tempest takes the first line, "My nursemaid, my doppelganger, is acknown of the situation and stands at the ready to permanently taketh the role of myself. How fares thee with the escape?"

"Grim," the two change hooves and reverse direction, "Guards art stationed against many walls tonight. Uncovering a path seems bleak, forging one appears frail, and failure towers over this plan's success."

"Tonight of all nights," they pull away, stretching their forelegs while still hoof-locked, "why must it be sore?"

"Thine father knows his daughter well," they draw back, closing the distance between them, "...many, know his daughter well."

Tempest gradually shifts her gaze away from the dance partner who's so close, "...the world it would mean, if thou were to accompany my side on this life-long journey I face."

"I swore to protect the princess, not a traveler. If thy wish is to keep hidden, then stay behind I must to keep this ruse from surfacing."

She turns her sight to the floor, "...then ...tis my last night with thou."

From the downcast she makes, Wind's mind is pulling him to the event that happened in the sewing room, "...doth thou despise the thought of baring the crown so much?"

She glances back at him.

"Valiantly venturing into battle at the frontline, leading her nation to victory with scattered rose petals in her wake. The flower with the spirit of a lion is choosing to scurry off with her tail between her legs?"

Giving a huff, Tempest looks off to the side, "Must we touch upon this?"

"And she chooses to falter from this as well?"

"..."

"Thy father is too frail to make another heir, he'll seek thou down no matter the cost."

"This is folly."

"I concur, the princess I know is no recreant."

"..."

"Art thou planning to fight forever, never to sheath thy sword for peace to flourish from within thy being?"

"If it must, then it shalt be."

"Then black clouds will accumulate thou, reshaping thine image inside a vortex cloak."

Tempest Shadow stays silent.

"Nation, kin, even soul is being cast aside for this escapade, all because thou refuses the crown?"

"Twill scar me, but such is sacrificing."

"Not if thou sacrifices this plan and challenges the crown, dawning its weight upon thy head."

Faint sounds of static emits from her broken horn.

"...what of foals, doth thee ever consider to bear?"

"...mayhaps."

"Then how shall ye upbring whilst sprinting?" Wind shifts his body to be caught in the corner of Tempest's eye, just enough to share a moment and quickly broken as she shuts them, "Bliss can still be found under the crown. Living with it shan't deter thou into isolation nor will it take away bliss that a commoner can experience. Masking thou face from that truth sha-"

"ENOUGH!" Tempest lashes her voice, placing pressure on her face at keeping her eyes from looking at him, "Cease this banter! Just... just where doth thine allegiance lie? Art thou acting on father's behalf?"

"Who's acting."

His blunt statement snaps all of Tempest's attention to Second Wind, shaken by how the line was delivered, how direct it was. His penetrating eyes leaves her lost on what to make of him and where this conversation was going. Is he playing his part to the pony behind the mask, or is he addressing the mare beyond the role?

With a sharp breath, Tempest breaks herself out of the trance and out of Wind's forelegs.

The dimmed lights brighten up the stage again to bring an end to their moment.

Turned away, Tempest speaks over her shoulder, "I trust that thou keep thine oath to our agreement."

Wind huffs, but still stays in character by bowing to her. Tempest marches forward with Wind leaving the other way shortly afterwards.

Tempest passes by the king, "Yond stallion seems worthy for thou."

His opinion slows her to a pause, "...he deserves a maiden more fairer than I."

Second Wind halts.

"More fairer than my daughter?!"

"...goodnight, father."

Tempest walks off as the lights dim once more, this time with a spotlight focused on her alone. All the other creatures on stage use the darkness to their advantage by scrambling and setting up the next scene. Props are taken with new ones to take their place, and the backdrop begins to rise in beats by a single stagehand pulling a rope. The stagehand grumbles, "Traveling the world, meeting new faces, experiencing fierce battles, and the old troop places me back to being the guy who does all the heavy lifting," he yanks the rope and ties it to the anchor. He studies Tempest as she turns, "I should be just as skilled as this actress after all. She's a traveler too, right? ...hmm ...she looks familiar," and rubs the chin of his painted face.

Tempest faces the scene as the lights brighten up the stage for a big, wide garden as its setting, but she's too into her character to focus on details or her direction as she drifts, "Bear the crown. To hear that from father is one thing, but him!?"

Tempest stops by a shrub, turning her sight up, "Unforgiving stars, out of all the lives that desire for greatness, why does thou choose to challenge the one that seeks to be amongst the common? Free to choose their own venture, unchained from the limits of a crown. The plight of a princess is befitting for quietus, for can it be considered living if one must accept a life that they despise? ...but ...can it be called life if there's nothing to be living for?"

Tempest treds across stage, glancing at a filled birdbath. She studies her reflection on the cold surface of water, "Irony, thy cruel sadist, donning this mask no matter where my place stands in this world. Holding my doubts from those that are near, cloaking my anguish during ventures across the many plains, hiding behind a window to the harsh world of being alive."

Wandering to a backless bench, Tempest rests on the stone furniture, "They speak truth though, life is but a fleeting moment given to us from the union of two. It soothes the soul to be held by another, hearing their hearts sync in euphoric rhythm for their love towards the other. ...yet, to what chance does one have with a body that's broken when there are so many that are whole? The fragile grace, the elegant visage, delicate to the touch is the body of a mare that others seek." She lays a hoof on her mask, "Just what sort of stallion would be drawn towards a scarred face that'll greet him every morn?" Tempest gently lowers her mask, revealing the scar over her eye and the broken horn to the audience.

While the audience murmured with mixed reactions, the stagehand gasps, "AH! It's her!" he quickly begins to act without thinking.

"Calling soil," Tempest looks at the ground, "am I destined to bed thee in misery?"

A figure swings into the scene by rope. Upon the apex, it lets go and drops to the stage with a booming sound that draws everyone's attention to a creature. Sliding his hooves along the floor, arms up like he's ready to throw anyone who charges him, a familiar minotaur stands in a fighting pose, Genji Spirit, "Thought you could pull a fast one on me by guising yourself, eh?"

Tempest pulls back with a gasp, "Gilgamesh!"

"...Gilgamesh?" Genji lifts an eyebrow.

Maintaining her posture, Tempest nudges her head and darts her eyes towards the audience watching.

"Huh?" Genji turns, "...uh-oh, ah y-y-yes! Tis I, Gilgamesh. The very one thou bested at the battle of Carteneau. My army fell that day and I seek vengeance for them. I knew thou would attend a celebration for thine victory, but to think that thou were Princess... er... Princess Lightning Storm. Yet, my will sways not," the ring on Genji's right hand flashes as he swings his arm, forming a rapier in his grip, "unsheathe thy sword, for our conflict commences once more."

Tempest takes a step back. She left her sword back in the dressing room, but even with it, it would do little against Genji's anti-magic equipment. With another step back, she walks on her dress and begins to recall Ashen saying something about her costume being a hindrance to her movement. She can't put up a fight under these conditions, but the matter of keeping the show going, "Nature such brash will best thee!"

Genji crooks his mouth, finding the truth of it very bitter until something catches his eyes, just beyond Tempest. He smiles and begins to run at the pony, "The end is nigh!"

As Genji attempts to strike at Tempest with his sword, the figure gallops from behind her, "NAY!" and clashes the weapon with a metallic wing, "Thou shan't harm my princess!"

Tempest gasps, "Sir Cloud Gazer!" she identifies Second Wind.

Genji leaps back from Second Wind, "To what is this for my eyes show me? A champion? An assassin?"

"I stand for providing Lady Lightning with the support she needth," Wind answers in an aspiring voice.

"Ah, a naive. Step aside, or my sword shall be stained with thy blood."

"Never!" Wind summons Tempest's sword with his prosthetic wing and extends it to her. "I'd risk my life for fair maiden."

"To what reason?" Genji said, completely lost in his character. "Tis a personal match between us two. For what reason doth thou have for interference?"

"Because..." Wind's eyes shift, thinking up an excuse to get out of the tight situation he's in. He recalls a comment Faith made earlier, "...because she is for who I love!"

While the audience gasps with one of them saying, 'I knew it!' Tempest leans back, sinking into her mane.

"For you love her!?" Genji sounds his disbelief, but his face gives away an intrigued look that tells that he's plotting something, "How can one love this creature who always glooms?"

"She may lament while darkness surrounds her, but I'll be the starlight that'll shine a path out, even from afar."

"Next claim thou'll jest is that love will be as bright as the sun."

"Nay, for it will outshine it."

Tempest shrinks her posture, restraining herself with an irritated groan as she does before placing her mask back over her face.

Second Wind unties the red cape he wears and tosses it on the stone bench, "I shan't stand by as you strike down my beloved."

"That so," Genji snaps his fingers as an idea struck and tosses his rapier into his ringless hand, "then this shall test thy devotion!"

On that claim, Genji charges at Second Wind in a way that shows little severity. He swings his sword horizontally-downwards, easily blockable for Wind with his prosthetic wing. The clanking sound of metal echoes the stage with a single impact as the two lock their weapons into a shoving match.

Wind is finding it surprising that he's holding his own against a powerful minotaur, but the shock quickly vanishes upon realizing that they're currently performing in a play. A little disappointed, but eases his mind that he'll see this through without any trouble.

"Let us begin!" Genji's ring flashes with a scroll appearing in his hand, aiming point-blank at Wind's face. The pegasus fails to register the approaching spell and gets hit with a black puff of smoke, surprising the audience.

Wind's vision becomes impaired as all he can see is darkness. Genji jumps back, giving Second Wind the chance to break the cloud with a series of wing beats. The smoke dissipates, revealing his face unscaved, yet Wind doesn't cease his wings. He swings harder at the open air around him, making himself look like a fool at this point.

"What'd you do to him!" Tempest breaks her character's dialect with the abrupt command.

"Tis said that love's blind," Genji states, "hence he must challenge me while under the state of 'Blind'." His claim causes Second Wind to flinch and plants his hooves to the stage to maintain his balance while under this condition. "Now," Genji locks eyes with Tempest, "let us witness," his eyes make swift dashes towards Wind, "if love will find a way."

Tempest Shadow quirks a brow as Genji rushes Second Wind. He turns his shoulders in a very exaggerated manner that tells her how he'll strike. Tempest widens her eyes as she shifts her sight between the minotaur and the unaware pegasus, "He's coming from your left!"

Wind quickly covers behind his prosthetic wing to clash with Genji's oncoming sword. He shoves the minotaur back.

Genji regains control of his stance and turns his attention at Tempest, standing behind the pegasus that's protecting her, "But of course, love is a team effort!" The ring on Genji shines to deliver another scroll into his grasp, "I must account for two."

Tempest doesn't hesitate, "He's planning to launch another spell at-"

Genji crouches and springs into the air with the scroll pointed at Tempest, "You!"

A purple orb shoots out the scroll. Tempest covers behind her foreleg in time for it to receive the impact, hardly phasing her while the spell bursts into a cloud of smoke.

The puff of air shortly dissipates with Tempest Shadow in perfect condition. She takes quick review on herself, but both body and mind is still within her control. Tempest lifts a brow, "Othingnay appenedhay?" and follows it up with the other brow, "Ywhay amway iway alkingtay ikelay isthay!?"

"Love is something that can be understood without the need of speech," Genji states about his philosophy. "Being short on 'Silence' spells, I've cast thou with the 'Curse' spell. Until the fight is through, you will only speak Piggish."

A spark of magic snaps from Tempest's horn, "Wotay ornhay ododay!"

"Now, let's see how thou block this!" Genji raises his sword overhead.

"Aboveway!"

Genji swings down and collides with Wind's metal wing, "Lucky block!" He attempts again.

"Eftlay!"

And Genji clashes with Wing once more.

Genji Spirit jumps back, "I figured that her diverse tongue would slow thy reaction. How doth thou respond so swiftly?"

"Tis our bond," Wind straightens and extends an open wing at her, "Take note of the brooch yond princess wears.

All the creatures look at the accessory, including Tempest.

"Twas given to her by me, a keepsake of my mother's and the only thing I have left of her before journeying to the farplane."

His claim flabbergasts Tempest to say the least. Looking between Wind and the brooch, she wonders if she should take his word as truth.

"Carrying it gives me strength. A mother's protection, if not, wishful thinking. I know my princess will protect it, like my mother will be for her."

Tempest pushes her mask up, grumbling.

"Thou hast given me a lot to consider," Genji speaks, cryptic on his meaning, "perhaps I should-" Genji dashes with another scroll in hand, surprising Tempest and pointing the parchment at Second Wind, "SLEEP ON IT!"

Genji shoots the scroll's spell, catching Tempest off guard and engulfing Wind within a white cloud. He doesn't fall back this time like he's done with the other spells, there's little reason why as the cloud vanishes to reveal Second Wind, head lowered as he stands there, sleeping.

Astonished, Genji marvels how 'Sleep' has affected Second Wind, "So they do stand while they doze!" He looks past the stallion, seeing the anticipating Tempest looking about. Genji makes a 'humph' and makes his way past Wind, "Tis said that behind every bold stallion, there is an encouraging mare. However, I have yet to discover what that mare takes away from said stallion."

Tempest Shadow frantically shifts her head to find something that could help. She notices the birdbath not that far from her sleeping friend, but she needs to get by that approaching minotaur first. She continues to look and catches sight of the red cape Wind had on, resting on the stone bench next to her. With Genji's words still fresh in her mind, Tempest hops over and picks up the garment, waving it at the biped bovine in a taunting manner.

Genji stops, shaking disapprovingly at the sight, "That is specist." his muscles gradually start to vibrate, "...but ...but it's true!" He crouches and dashes at the red cape with his neck bent, presenting the horns on his head that he'll be ramming with.

Timing it just right, Tempest whips the red fabric away, introducing Genji with a backless bench for him to tumble over and fall into a shrub.

While Genji recovers from that short faena, Tempest quickly makes her way to Wind and reviews his sleeping state. Shaking him, patting his cheek, Wind isn't walking up. She glances over to the water in the birdbath, grabbing the bowl portion and swings out the cold water at the pony, splashing Wind with a shock that's enough for him to wake up from. He rubs his eyes, wiping the water off his face and giving a few blinks.

Wind focuses his gaze on Tempest, adjusting his returning vision at the mare who catches it, "Ouyay ancay eesay againay!"

Genji jumps back to his feet and gives himself a quick brush down. He smiles at the ponies with another scroll forming in his grip, "Tis time to bring this to an end!"

Pointing that scroll at Tempest, Genji shoots a green ball at her. She covers behind a hoof and Second Wind, now able to see the oncoming attack, jumps to take the hit with his wing. The ball bursts into a green gas, encasing the stallion inside of it.

The gas disperses. Tempest lowers her hooves, seeing that Second Wind has vanished. She scans the area and discovers the hat Wind was wearing, miniaturized and fitted perfectly on of all things that's sprawled on the ground, a frog. As the amphibian sits up, Tempest notices two large warts are on his sides, and while the right side matches the color of his green skin, the left wart was silver. She scoops up amphibian, bringing him to eye level as she gets a distinct feeling about his croaking face. There's no doubt in her mind, this frog is Second Wind.

Now without her guard, Genji approaches, "The end is nigh." Tempest covers her forehooves around Wind as the minotaur lifts his sword at them like a fencer, "Any last words, Princess Lightning Storm?"

The emphasis he placed on the word, 'Lightning', doesn't go unnoticed by Tempest, but for what reason? She's physically incapable of putting up a fight, she can't phase through his anti-magic equipment, she can only glare as sparks form from her broken horn.

And suddenly, she gets it.

Tempest lets out a flurry of lightning bolts at Genji from her horn. He yells and shakes violently, imitating as if he's being electrocuted by her attack. It's convincing enough for the audience to believe, none the wise that his equipment is nullifying the Equestrian magic.

Yielding her magic after a shocking display, Genji drops his word. He stumbles back with a hand over his heart, "Alas, I let my guard down," Genji coughs, "and so have thou, Lightning Storm."

Tempest, still holding Wind, who's a frog, watches Genji fall to his knees.

"As I die, I relish with the knowledge that I scourged thy lady's proud image," he falls to his elbow, trying to support himself with what strength he has left, "for the only way to break yond stallion's froggy state... is through... a maiden's... kiss..."

A sharp gasp that sounds like a abrupt squeak comes out of Tempest, "A-A-ATWHAY!!!" she hollers at the sprawled out Genji, receiving a thumb up from the minotaur. Lost for words, she just keeps turning between the troublesome minotaur, and the frogified stallion in her hoof. The audience's patience is of the essence, and she's quickly drying it up.

"Little rose petal," the actor playing the king gallops onto the stage, providing assistance as his character, "to what-" he looks down at the frog in Tempest's hooves, "I say, the leaper thou clings closely to, ease thy father's fears and tell that this isn't thy chosen love."

"Ah... bu... I... ah..." Tempest tries to explain, but she can't even figure out how she found herself in this position.

"I shan't allow it! My flower must wed a stallion, not a frog." a distinct sound of him clearing his throat is heard, "Of course, if thou could make him into a stallion, I'd have a change of heart."

Tempest clenches her teeth. She makes a short whine with her expressive eyes rolling, closing them and rushes her lips on the frog's. The slimy and cold feeling on her lips immediately blows itself away for a tingling and warm sensation to sweep over her. She peeks at Wind's amber eyes, no longer holding a frog in her hooves, but a stallion, his head drawn in close with her hooves along his jawbone.

Tempest breaks the contact in a swift darting of her head, focusing at keeping her eyes to the floor.

"Little rose petal," the king acts in astonishment, "is this thou chosen one?"

"..." laying a hoof on her mask, Tempest throws it to the ground, "..."

"Her mask, tis removed!" the king puts it together and gives a joyous grin, "Her vow to bear her face to her husband has come to pass! Thank the day and praise the night, for this shall be a new chapter for all to enjoy!!"

With a good place to finish an improv performance, Faith enters on stage to seize it, "And thus, as our story closes, take heed of its message. While we all may choose our paths to follow, be it for grandeur or descent, a breeze of love can shift the course of our journey. Though incapable of pushing us down this path, our volition is the deciding factor if we should answer it. Accept, decline, be ready to act, for one never knows when a gust will pass by. "

The audience begins to applaud for the performance they just witnessed.

Second Wind takes a bow along with everyone on stage, and as he looks over at Tempest, he sees that she hasn't even moved after throwing off her mask. As the curtain finally falls, Wind expresses his concern, "Is everything alright, Tempest?"

"...W ...W-wind," signs of 'Curse' is beginning to wear off on Tempest, but she's now having trouble to simply look at the stallion, "w-what just happened, will never be spoken again. ...GOT IT?!"

Even though her back is turned, Second Wind picks up on the threat of those last words. Taking a moment, he chooses his words very wisely, "...that won't be a problem," and a mischievous smile begins to appear on his face, "because it'll only be written in tonight's journal entry."

"..."

"Entry #82 - Tempest Shadow starred in a play today as the main lead."

"..."

"She was so invested in her character that everyone was completely moved by how she performed."

"..."

"Even when Genji steered the play completely off script, she adjusted flawlessly."

Tempest walks off...

"A fight broke out, but even though I was blind, I have no doubt that she glistened a captivating beauty during those moments."

...stopping before an object...

"And when I turned into a frog, she overcame her shyness and expressed her loving nature by giving me a... a..."

...and lowers to grab it in her teeth.

Second Wind sees Tempest Shadow rising with Genji's rapier by its handle. He begins to hear her seething, slowly getting louder and heavier. As she takes a sharp breath of air, she whips her head around and glares at him over a pair of blushing cheeks. She screeches as she charges and begins to swing the sword at the stallion relentlessly and constantly keeps getting blocked by Wind's prosthetic wing, "I was playing! I WAS PLAYING!!" he laughs, enjoying the sight of Tempest expressing herself more openly for a change.

Ashen, Faith, and other crew members stand at a distance as the two fight, cautions about the event before them. Ashen looks over to Faith, "Should one of us stop her."

"No, no, let things play out." Faith smiles, "You gotta respect the commitment to her 'method acting'."

She snickers, "Praise the tsun."