Legend of the Galactic Horses

Chapters

Scum and Villainy
Heir to the Empire
Countdown to Extinction
The Phantom Menace

Scum and Villainy

Imagine a sealed can. It doesn’t matter what’s inside it, but in this case, it’s probably something that will cause a lot of damage if it spills everywhere, like the way beet juice stains just about anything it touches. This is also a convenient metaphor because the beets and their juice are not dissimilar from the colors of the pony who was stewing in undirected anger as we speak.

Take that can, and without opening it, start heating it. What’s in that can wants to boil, but for right now it’s sealed. She’s keeping a lid on it. She’s under control. Tempest started pacing, and our metaphorical yet somehow very real can shudders and starts making a worrying creaking sound.

Increase the heat, and the pressure inside the unicorn -- sorry, inside the can -- builds up faster and faster. Eventually, there’s just no way to contain it any longer, and something has to give. The seal on the can pops, and the wallpaper in your kitchen is ruined.

Starlight looked around the guest room.

“Well,” she said, eventually. “I’m going to take a wild guess here and say you’re upset.”

Tempest shrugged, still trying to catch her breath. The furniture in the room was thrown against the far wall, most of it broken. She hadn’t even used magic, just frustration and the brute strength that comes from it.

“You shouldn’t feel so bad.” Starlight looked around, found a pillow that had only been slightly torn, and maneuvered Tempest onto it, sitting her down and rubbing her back in small circles.

“They wouldn’t listen at all,” Tempest said.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are good at a lot of things, but they’re terrible at actually listening to other ponies,” Starlight said. “They don’t even listen to each other sometimes. You might not know this but they've had a few fights.”

“Why can’t they understand that ponies are going to get hurt because of this?” Tempest asked. “Ponies could die, and it’ll be my fault, again, because I didn’t finish the job.”

Starlight sat down. She idly started trying to piece the shattered table and chairs together while they spoke. “I’ve been around Twilight a lot, and one thing I’ve learned from her is that she grew up worried about everything.”

“If you’re going to tell me not to worry…” Tempest growled.

“No, that’s not it.” Starlight sighed and rubbed her head. “It’s sort of a trolley problem.”

“Trolley problem?”

Starlight smiled with the simple joy of having an opportunity to explain something. “It’s a classic philosophical problem. Imagine you’re standing at a switch. There’s a trolley coming, and the brakes have totally failed. If it keeps going down the path it’s on, it’s going to hit five ponies! There’s another path it can take, and you can throw the switch to make it go that way instead. If you do, though, it’s still going to hit a pony. But just one.”

“That’s not much of a choice,” Tempest scoffed. “Obviously you throw the switch.”

“But if you throw the switch, it means you’re personally responsible for what happens to them,” Starlight explained. “To some ponies, it’s more moral to wait and try to find a third option, and even if you wait too long and five ponies get run over, at least you aren’t personally responsible for it.”

“If they get run over because you did nothing, you’re still responsible!” Tempest said. “There’s no moral high ground in sitting on your flank and letting trouble come to you!”

“I actually agree with you. Think about Princess Celestia and Twilight, though. Celestia made that decision already a long time ago, and sent her sister to the moon, then she spent a thousand years wishing she’d found some other way. Twilight, she faced down those tough choices and made them blink and found a third way. That’s what makes her a hero.”

Tempest grunted. “I still think you’re responsible either way. That means making a choice.”

“Maybe you just need to find a way to channel your energy into something productive,” Starlight suggested. “Have you ever tried building your own kite? It’s one of those skills that’s an afternoon to learn and a lifetime to master.”

“Something productive…” Tempest stood up. “You’re right. I can’t just sit here and sulk.”

“That wasn’t as hard as I thought,” Starlight muttered. “Maybe I’m getting good at this.”

“The last time I got complacent and just followed orders it was a mistake.”

“Just to be clear about this, you’re not going to go back into the throne room and start yelling at Celestia, right?” Starlight asked.

Tempest shook her head. “No, of course not. That would be stupid.”

“Okay, good,” Starlight sighed. “I was worried there for a second! So the first thing we’ll need is some lightweight wood. Balsa is probably the best, but we can use just about anything in a pinch--”

Tempest stopped at the door. “I’ll need an airship.”

“You don’t need an airship to fly kites,” Starlight said, rolling her eyes. “I mean, that would defeat the whole point!”

“What? Why are you talking about kites?” Tempest asked.

“Well, I just assumed you liked my idea.”

“I don’t.”

“So much for a fun afternoon,” Starlight muttered.

“I’m going to take care of this myself,” Tempest said. “If Celestia won’t pull the switch, I will.”

Starlight stepped in front of her, getting between Tempest and the door. “And what? Attack a fortress on your own?”

“If I have to.”

Starlight groaned. “Even you have to admit that’s kind of crazy.”

Tempest shrugged.

“You’re going to do this even if I make a really well-constructed argument.”

Tempest nodded.

Starlight sighed. “Since I promised Twilight I wouldn’t mind control anypony, even if it seems like a really easy way to solve a problem, you have to promise that you’re not going to break the law or hurt anypony. If you can promise me that, I’ll help you.”

“Trust me, he’s the smartest pony I know,” Starlight said. “Well, aside from Twilight. And Pinkie Pie has weirdly extensive files on everypony. But aside from that, the smartest pony.”

Tempest looked around. “Why are there so many crystal castles in Equestria?”

“Technically, this is the Crystal Empire, but it’s sort of a protectorate so it’s… well, it’s a complicated political situation.” Starlight shrugged, opening a door without knocking.

Tempest saw the bear coming at her and reacted without thinking. A bolt of uncontrolled magic zig-zagged through the air and into the ursine, exploding it apart from the inside. Foam stuffing rained down around them.

“Nice shooting, Tex,” Starlight said. “I think you got it.”

“That was a stuffed animal,” Tempest said, after a few moments. “I, um. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Flurry Heart,” said the world’s most important foalsitter. Sunburst sighed, pushing the door open the rest of the way. “At least it’s not the first spontaneous toy detonation we’ve had today.”

“How’s it going?” Starlight asked, leaning in for a quick hug. “Is Flurry giving you any trouble?”

“No more than usual,” Sunburst said, which could have meant practically anything. “I was just putting her down for naptime. So what’s going on? The telegram you sent wasn’t very specific.”

“I wanted to pick your brain,” Starlight said. She held up rolls of paper, half of them scrolls and the other half blueprints. “Got a few minutes?”

“Sure! Let me clear off a table and get the tea kettle going.”

Sunburst looked over the diagrams. They detailed a complex shaped almost like a mushroom cap hanging over the peak of a stone spire. He brushed a few dice aside. The only table large enough for the maps still had most of the night’s O&O game on it.

“You drew these floorplans from memory?” he asked, looking up.

“I spent a lot of time there,” Tempest said. “These areas near the control center and the barracks are accurate. I’m not sure about the vault level or the alchemy lab.”

“This is really fascinating,” Sunburst said. “Having the docks on the underside to protect from attacks from above, with the assumption that an enemy couldn’t approach from below.”

“The water below it is full of hidden reefs and volcanic glass as sharp as knives,” Tempest said. “Even if you could get a boat through, there’s nowhere to land and you’d have to climb up a sheer cliff to reach the dock level of the Maw.”

“So you’ll need an airship, and you’ll need to find a way to get them to let you dock,” Sunburst said. “Otherwise you can’t even get in the front door.”

“But even if we do that, it’s a whole fortress,” Starlight said. “I’m pretty strong, but I don’t think I could just knock it off the foundations.”

“No,” Sunburst agreed. “But if this is accurate, there’s a weak point here.” He tapped a section with the hoof. “This is where the outer structure actually connects to the rock face. Are you sure this is right?”

“I’ve seen it myself,” Tempest said.

“If I’m right, all the support beams connect at this point. It’s like a keystone holding the whole place together.”

“He probably hired the cheapest contractors he could find,” Tempest muttered.

“If you had some kind of explosive, you could probably detach the whole thing in one go. It’d fall right into the water.”

“I am an explosive,” Tempest said. She let sparks fall from her horn for totally unneeded emphasis. Sunburst didn’t even notice her attempt to be cool, and she felt really silly about it after a moment.

“Oh, you wouldn’t want to do it with a spell. You’d want some time to get out of there first. Otherwise, kersplat!”

“The biggest problem is that it’s probably full of soldiers who aren’t going to just let us walk in. Could we teleport?” Starlight asked. “With accurate maps like this…”

“Teleporting won’t work. There are wards everywhere.” Tempest sat back. “Even the doors are magic. If you have the right token you can walk through, if not they lock you out. And they can’t just be stolen, they’re imprinted to the person they’re issued to. You'd have to rewrite the enchantment.”

“So to even get to the keystone you’d need to get through multiple security checkpoints,” Sunburst said.

“Unless somepony can crack the wards,” Starlight said. “And I know the best pony for the job!”

“Who?” Sunburst asked. There was a long pause. “Wait, me? No, no no-no. I can’t!”

“Why not? You could totally do it!” Starlight assured him. “You’re a genius!”

“Even if I didn’t have to take care of Flurry Heart until Shining Armor and Cadance get back, I’d need books on the ward construction, and references on abjuration effects, and even then it would take hours. It’s way outside my field of expertise.”

“Oh.” Starlight sat back, mildly disappointed.

“You’d need a real expert to get through all those doors as quickly as you’d want,” Sunburst said.

“Do you know any experts?” Tempest asked. “Somepony good enough to crack through military-grade wards.”

Sunburst adjusted his glasses. “The only pony I know who was that good was Celestia’s old student, but she vanished years ago.”

“...Sunset Shimmer?” Starlight asked.

“You’ve heard of her?” Sunburst was surprised. “She was pretty infamous when I was going to school. She’d break the wards at Canterlot Castle practically every night just to sneak out. There were all sorts of rumors, then one day, poof, gone and never talked about again. Where did you even hear about her?”

Tempest swallowed. That wasn’t unusual. She was in a restaurant. She clutched her hoov- her hands nervously. Her body felt all wrong. Her knees didn’t even work correctly. If she didn’t think too much about it and just let instinct take over she was okay, but nothing else about the current situation was anything like okay.

“First time?” Sunset asked.

Tempest nodded.

“It takes a while to get used to the new body,” Sunset said. She picked up the hamburger in front of her and took a bite. Tempest could smell the charred meat. “It’s nice to have some company. I’ve been working on something and I didn’t want to get the girls involved.”

“If you’re in the middle of something, we can go,” Starlight said.

“Nah, it’s cool,” Sunset said. “At least I know the idiots in the corner aren’t going to do anything to you.”

“Which idiots?” Starlight asked.

“I’d tell you not to turn and look, but I know they’re here, they know I know they’re here, I know they know, blah blah blah.” Sunset waved a hand dismissively. “It’s the three idiots with giant hair over in the corner booth.”

Starlight and Tempest turned around to see the three people sitting there pretending to act casual. One of them was actually singing a song where the only lyrics were the words ‘acting casually’ repeated over and over again until one of the others hit her.

“They’re the Dazzlings,” Sunset explained. “Sort of like villains but pretty harmless most of the time. I’m just trying to figure out what their plan is this time.”

“Sort of like villains?” Starlight asked.

“They try to be evil but they’re not very good at it,” Sunset explained. “I can’t tell if they want to be good but don’t know how, or if they’re just sort of coasting on inertia.”

“We need you to come with us on a mission,” Tempest said. “We’re going to… we’re going to… how can you eat that?”

“Hm?” Sunset looked down at her burger. “I mean it’s not gourmet, but diner burgers are still really good.”

“It’s meat,” Tempest whispered.

Sunset shrugged. “You want a bite?” Tempest shook her head. “I’d love to go with you two on whatever crazy mission you’ve got planned, but I need to keep an eye on them. They might just be waiting for me to leave, and if they weren’t stupid they could keep me from being able to stop them for a long time.”

“So you just need to deal with them first,” Tempest said. She stood up. “Starlight, you explain the plan.”

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m freeing up her schedule,” Tempest said. She stomped over towards the three sirens, mostly because she was still learning how to walk but also because stomping gave people the right impression when you were coming over to kick their butt.

Adagio stood up and stepped out of the booth, facing Tempest. “Oh? You’re approaching me? I thought you looked like another refugee from Equestria. So what are you going to do, come over here like one of those pathetic students at Canterlot High and try to hug me and make friends with me?”

“I can’t beat the stupid out of you without getting closer,” Tempest said.

“...what?” Adagio asked. She probably had a plan, but everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

“Oh horseapples!” Starlight gasped, getting up and grabbing Tempest, trying to hold her back. “You can’t just attack someone! Sunset, help!”

Sunset ran over and grabbed Tempest’s other arm before she could punch Adagio again. It took her whole weight to keep the girl from getting the hit in on the downed siren.

“I haven’t been punched like that since the fall of Rome,” Adagio groaned, from the floor.

“Holy kelp!” Sonata squeaked.

“That was a pretty good punch,” Aria said, rubbing her chin. “Usually she doesn’t go down like that without being paid for it.”

“Okay, okay,” Tempest sighed. “I’m done. You can let go.”

Sunset and Starlight gingerly let go of her.

“Are you doing anything later?” Aria asked. “I can really get behind anyone that puts Adagio on the ground. We could get dinner, a boxing match, just go back to my place…”

“Sunset, please call off your crazy attack horse,” Adagio said, rubbing her chin.

“I don’t know, Adagio, maybe I’ll let her go another couple rounds. If you’re in the hospital, I won’t have to worry about whatever you’re planning.” Sunset folded her arms.

“We’re not planning anything!” Adagio snapped.

Sunset raised an eyebrow.

Tempest cracked her knuckles.

Adagio made a sound like a terrified rabbit and scooted back, trying to get away from her. “We were planning on finding out which of your friends you’re dating, then we were going to seduce them and make you break up with them and leave you a vulnerable emotional mess!”

“Yeah, and so far she hasn’t gone on a date with any of them, so I’ve been sitting here posing seductively and getting myself worked up for nothing!” Aria yelled. “It’s a dumb plan!”

“It’s a good plan!” Adagio defended. “You just can’t understand my subtle ideas!”

“It’s because Gio wants Sunset to hug her,” Sonata said, very matter-of-factly. “I’m pretty sure she’s got a crush on and doesn’t know how to express herself so she’s just sort of scaring off Sunset’s other suitors and bullying her so Sunset won’t ignore her and will give her some kind of attention, even if it’s negative.”

Everyone shut up and looked at Sonata.

“What? I’m right!”

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m not dating any of my friends. We’re just friends. That’s it.”

“...Really?” Adagio asked.

Sunset held out a hand and helped her up. Adagio held onto her hand just a little too long, then when she did let go, she looked at her own hand like Sunset had left a mark on it.

“If you promise not to be evil until I get back, we’ll talk,” Sunset said.

“...do I have to talk to your friends?”

“No. Actually, it’d be great if you didn’t. Just…” Sunset paused. “Just stay at home. Watch movies or something.”

Adagio nodded weakly.

“Great!” Sunset smiled. “So, looks like my week just opened up. Tell me more about this suicide mission you’re planning, Starlight.”

Going back through the portal hadn’t done wonders for Tempest’s stomach. She was sure that something had gone wrong and it was still trapped in the limbo between worlds, and from the way it felt, it was doing some kind of flips and twists while on vacation.

“We still need an airship,” Starlight said. “That’s one thing Sunburst wasn’t able to help with.”

They’d gathered around a table with some hot peppermint tea. They had a few scrolls with checklists and a long list of crossed-off ideas.

“You know, you’re taller than I thought you’d be,” Sunset said.

“I get that a lot,” Tempest muttered. “Can we just borrow an airship from somewhere? I was hoping we could use one of the ships that the Storm King left in Canterlot that the Royal Guard captured.”

“The ships that are impounded in a military base?” Starlight asked. “The ships that we’d only be able to get near if we asked the Princess to let us go on this mission that she would never approve of? Those ships?”

“That’s…” Tempest sighed. “Those ships, yes.”

“We’ll have to figure something else out,” Starlight said. “If we can get a few dozen… thousand… bits, maybe we can buy one.”

“I hope you’re not expecting me to have a small fortune just lying around,” Sunset said. “I haven’t even used bits in years.”

“Starlight, you’re back!” Trixie yelled, running into the room and ignoring the ponies she didn’t care about. “Thank goodness! Trixie needs a beautiful assistant for her next show, and that means we need to practice a new illusion Trixie has developed!”

“Not right now, Trixie,” Starlight sighed. “We’re working on something.”

“But the mystery of the linking rings, Starlight! Trixie has developed a whole new routine! They link and unlink like usual, but then at the end Trixie gets caught up in them and it becomes an underwater escape act--”

“That sounds really great, Trixie, but we’re trying to figure out how to get our hooves on an airship,” Starlight said.

“Maybe we can hire somepony to take us instead of trying to buy one,” Sunset suggested. “Twilight mentioned some pirates she helped. They might have a ship and be willing to take us…”

“Anyone smart won’t want to fly into the Maw,” Tempest said. “It’s infamous for wrecking ships.”

“Oh, is that all?” Trixie asked. “You can just use Trixie’s airship.”

Everypony at the table looked up at Trixie.

Heir to the Empire

“Oh wow,” Sunset said, when they walked into the hangar and there was actually something there more inflated than Trixie’s ego. “I really didn’t expect her to be telling the truth.”

“You spent the whole train ride to Kludgetown telling Trixie she was lying, and now you’re wrong!” Trixie grinned. “That means you owe Trixie an apology.”

“We really do,” Starlight said. “But, um…”

“It’s a hunk of junk,” Tempest said, flatly.

The gasbag was so full of patches that it was more like a quilt than an envelope. The hull had clearly broken in half at some point and been nailed back together. The rigging was all knots, where it wasn’t just snapped and lying in rotting coils.

“Trixie decided that taking her act on the road will require something more extravagant than just her wagon,” Trixie said. “This way Trixie can go anywhere in the world! Trixie was very impressed by Tempest’s arrival in Canterlot. It had drama and poise. Clearly arriving by air will make Trixie even more great and powerful!”

“Thanks, I think,” Tempest said.

“Also Trixie registered herself as a Limited Liability Corporation with the ship as her headquarters. Since it’s registered in Maremuda, she can’t be tried in Equestria for complaints about her act.”

“Of course,” Starlight snorted.

“So what’s she called?” Sunset asked.

“Trixie has named the ship… the Trixie! There’s no better name, or else Trixie would be using it herself!”

“That’s very humble of you, Trixie,” Starlight said.

“And it looks like somepony delivered Trixie’s special order!” Trixie said, trotting up to a crate. “Trixie remembered your plan called for explosives and she just so happens to have a fireworks supplier who owes her a few favors.”

She patted the crate.

“So how about it? Glad you listened to Trixie now? Isn’t she just the most valuable and amazing teammate of all time?”

“How did you afford all this?” Starlight asked. “Even a heap like that had to be expensive.”

“Trixie took out a very predatory loan from a very predatory shark,” Trixie said, proudly.

“A loan that you ain’t paid up on,” said someone. A school of fish-people walked around from the other side of the ship. If one was going to describe them all with a single word, it would be ‘thugs’. “Good thing you had that delivery. It let us know you’d be showin’ up here.”

“Trixie?” Starlight looked back at her.

“Trixie already said she declared bankruptcy!” Trixie shouted. “That means Trixie doesn’t have to pay her bills!”

“First, that ain’t how bankruptcy works,” the voice said, from behind the wall of sharks. “Second, you didn’t declare nothing, you just yelled it real loud last time someone came to get the money you owe. Third…”

The sharks parted to let their leader though. It was a steel-grey pony with a white mane streaked with red. He stepped up to the front to glare at Trixie.

“That ain’t how my loans work. You’re past due. That means you got two choices. You pay up now, or else you pay up now and also we break your legs for trying to hold out on us.”

“How ironic,” Sunset said. “Ponies were the real loan sharks all along.”

“Hey, that’s a hateful term,” the pony said. “I ain’t a loan shark, I’m an independent businessman. And these associates of mine? They’re shark people who work in the moneylending industry, but that don’t make them loan sharks. It does make them armed, though.”

They pulled out weapons, mostly iron bars and clubs.

Trixie looked at Starlight, pleading with her eyes.

“I guess we have to save her,” Starlight sighed.

“Come on, girls, we have to give them a chance,” Sunset said. “They should have the opportunity to apologize for trying to threaten Equestria’s three strongest unicorns.”

“Three strongest?” Trixie asked. “So that’s Trixie, Starlight and… which of you two?” She looked at Tempest and Sunset.

“You know what? Just break all their legs and we’ll figure the rest out later,” the loan shark said.

“Starlight, do you remember how I promised not to hurt anypony?” Tempest said.

“I do,” Starlight said. She knew where this was going.

“They’re not ponies.”

“Does that mean you’re going to-- aaaand there she goes.”

Tempest charged in, dodging the first clumsy swing and leap-frogging over the shark that attacked her, landing in the middle of the group with her horn already sparking and pointing in a very unfortunate direction.

“Don’t blow up the ship!” Sunset yelled.

Tempest tossed her head to the side and fired away from Trixie’s ship, completely missing both the airship and Starlight. Two of the sharks were thrown back by the detonation, one landing safely in a ditch and the other exploring the far side of a brick wall after making his own entrance.

Trixie, being in her opinion the wisest and nearly most well-educated in the party, let the others charge directly into danger and walked backwards at a slow, stately pace without making sudden movements.

“Trixie thinks they have this well in hoof,” Trixie whispered, before turning and running and taking cover behind her crate.

The loan shark was already there, covering his head with both hooves.

“Get your own hiding spot!” He snapped.

“This is Trixie’s crate, and it’s Trixie’s hiding spot!” Trixie yelled. A stray bolt of fire slammed into the crate, setting it on fire.

Trixie glanced at the crate. The crate full of explosives. The crate full of explosives that was on fire now. She took a step back.

“On second thought, Trixie has decided you can have this hiding spot!” She said, quickly, before running. “Starlight, we need to go!”

“Can we wait a little longer?” Starlight asked. “Tempest is having fun. She and Sunset are playing volley-shark.”

Trixie pointed to the crate. Starlight took a moment less than Trixie to recognize the danger.

“Time to go!” Starlight agreed. “Tempest! Sunset! Get on board!”

“What’s wrong?” Sunset asked.

“Hah! Point!” Tempest yelled, as the shark slammed into the dirt between them.

Starlight pointed. Sunset and Tempest looked at each other, then ran for it, following Trixie up the gangplank.

“Get the, um, the…” Trixie hesitated.

“Anchor!” Tempest supplied.

“Right, that!”

Sunset stopped at the railing and spotted at least a dozen more sharks and lizards starting to pour into the hangar, even more well-armed than the first batch. “Hey, we’ve got more company coming,” Sunset warned. “I think it’s the local cops.”

“They don’t have cops here,” Trixie said.

“Well whoever they are, they’re pretty angry at us!” Sunset ducked, and arrows flew over her head along with a rock.

“Pull that rigging,” Tempest ordered. “Then drop the ballast! Prepare for an emergency ascent! Trixie, don’t touch the arrows in the gasbag!”

“But they put holes in it!” Trixie whined.

“The arrows are sealing those holes! If you pull them out you’ll make the leaks worse!”

The bulk of the airship rose into the sky, faster and faster as they dumped ballast.

“It’s kind of surprising that nothing has exploded yet,” Sunset said. “Maybe it was a--”

With traditional dramatic irony, the explosives chose that moment to go off. Smoke and fire filled the air, the sound so loud it wasn’t even a noise. A firm, gentle hand shoved at the ponies onboard the ship, and the deck pitched up, nearly throwing Tempest right over the rail.

She looked down with confusion at the multicolored sparks and bursts of light going off below them. Gravity tugged at her, and she started to fall.

Starlight grabbed her hoof.

“I got you!” Starlight yelled.

“What the buck kind of explosives are these?” Tempest demanded. Romane candles fired up around them, and starbursts and crackling magnesium flares cascaded through the air.

“Trixie was just trying to be helpful!” Trixie yelled from behind the wheel. “Fireworks are basically explosives!”

“She’s not wrong,” Sunset said. “She’s just not right, either.”

“Let’s just find somewhere safe to land,” Tempest sighed. “We need to patch those holes.”

They didn’t have to go far. Which was good because they also couldn’t go far.

“This dock is safe?” Sunset asked.

“It should be,” Starlight said. “It’s owned by a rival gang, so they’ll keep them out just on principle. It’s one of those blood vengeance things so I don’t think we have to worry about a bribe.”

“Good, because we’ve spent all our bribe money on renting this hangar and buying supplies,” Sunset said. “I’m starting to wonder how Twilight can afford to go on friendship adventures every week.”

“Her face is on the money,” Starlight shrugged.

Sunset raised an eyebrow.

“No, really! She’s on the five-bit piece.” Starlight rummaged around in her bit purse and pulled one out. “See?”

Sunset grabbed it and held it up to the light. “That doesn’t look much like her.”

“One of the benefits of royalty is that they make your portrait look more dignified than the real thing,” Starlight said.

“Are you two going to help Trixie or not?!” Trixie snapped.

Starlight and Sunset looked up. Trixie was hanging from the side of the ship by a rope, painting the hull flat black.

“You’re doing a really good job,” Starlight said, supportively.

“Actually, she missed a spot over there.” Sunset pointed.

“Trixie! You missed a spot!” Starlight yelled. “She knows now.”

“Trixie hates both of you,” Trixie grumbled. “Why is Trixie doing all the work?”

“This is what we decided,” Starlight said. “You paint the hull, Sunset found a bunch of scary spiky stuff we can nail to the sides, and I made a cover for the gasbag with the Storm King’s logo on it.”

“Well, where’s Tempest, then?” Trixie demanded.

“I was getting my armor on,” Tempest said, stepping out of the ship’s cabin. She’d done her hair up again, and the armor still fit her like an iron glove. “You’ve all done a good job. This should be enough to fool the sentries at the Maw and get us to the docks.”

“Not bad,” Sunset said. “I like the whole evil warlord look. You look like you’re getting ready to board a rebel ship and demand they turn over stolen plans.”

Tempest’s expression was already sour, so she had to dig deep down to find the strength to frown even harder.

“I’ve done that,” Tempest said. “You can’t understand what it’s like. I’ve made terrible mistakes, and I’m still trying to redeem myself for what I’ve done.”

Sunset shrugged. “I was a demon once.”

“And I created multiple alternate timelines where Equestria was destroyed,” Starlight added.

“Trixie enslaved a town once,” Trixie said.

“We’ve all done that before, Trixie,” Starlight said. She looked at Sunset. “A demon, huh?”

“It was after I stole one of the Elements of Harmony,” Sunset specified.

Tempest stared down at them. She considered things for a long moment. “Okay. Maybe you do understand what it’s like.”

“Tempest,” Trixie said, while she painted. “All ponies do things they’re not proud of. Trixie’s--” she sighed and paused, her tone dropping a little. “My biggest mistake was hanging onto things for too long. I let a stupid grudge control me, metaphorically. Also I let an evil amulet control me, um, literally. Then I tried doing this whole redemption tour to apologize to everypony, and that almost backfired and got me eaten by a manticore.”

“...Is there a point to this story?” Tempest asked.

“I’m getting to it!” Trixie snapped. “My point is, we’ve all been in the same boat. You don’t have to justify anything to us. What helped all of us was making real friends. I assume.” She looked down. “Hey! Sunset! Did you have a redemption arc with the magic of friendship?”

“Yep!” Sunset winked up at her.

“See?” Trixie smiled. “Now let’s get this show on the road! The sky road!”

“I hate the sky road,” Trixie mumbled.

“It’s your own fault for only packing instant noodles as rations,” Starlight said. “Haven’t you ever heard of scurvy?”

“Nopony gets scurvy anymore,” Trixie huffed.

“That’s because most ponies aren’t only eating cheap noodles.” Starlight poked at her own bowl of cheap carrot broth and cheaper pasta. “It’s only been three days and I’m already starting to have bad flashbacks to college.”

“Trixie couldn’t afford anything better!” Trixie said, very defensively. “Do you know how much Trixie spent on that crate of explosives?”

“Fireworks,” Sunset corrected from the railing. “They were fireworks.”

“Trixie did her best!” Trixie snapped. “They’re basically the same thing!”

“Technically true,” Starlight agreed.

“I don’t know how we’re going to destroy the Maw without some way to demolish the foundations,” Tempest muttered. “It’s not like we can just push it into the ocean.”

“With all of us working together, you never know what might happen,” Sunset said. “Even if we can’t just go and blow it up, maybe that’s okay.”

“How is it okay?” Tempest asked. “What are we going to do, stare at it?”

“It’s technically called reconnaissance,” Sunset said. “We’re not even sure that this place is operational, right? We’re sort of going in blind.”

“They wouldn’t have abandoned it,” Tempest said. “That’s why we have to do something!”

Sunset held up her hooves. “I know. But hear me out -- maybe we can’t do anything right now. Maybe. We’re all smart ponies and we could probably figure something out, but even if all we do is fly in to look, we can get an idea of how big the problem is. It could be anything from a few stragglers to a whole army, right?”

Tempest nodded.

“If it is a whole army, we can go back to Equestria and you can tell them it’s a serious threat. If it’s just some holdouts keeping the lights on and selling anything that’s worth a few bits, maybe we don’t even need the explosives.”

“I…” Tempest hesitated. “Maybe.”

“You know, there’s a third option,” Starlight said. “You were one of their leaders, Tempest. You might be able to talk some sense into them. If you tell them to stand down, maybe there doesn’t even have to be a fight!”

“They won’t listen.”

“You listened,” Starlight pointed out.

“I should have listened sooner. I almost didn’t listen at all.”

“If you’re done being sad, that storm on the horizon is getting closer,” Sunset said. “I think we’re heading right into it.”

Tempest took a deep breath. “We are.”

Starlight stood up to look. “I thought you knew a safe passage. That just looks like a solid storm wall.”

“It wouldn’t be much of a secret entrance if anyone could find it,” Tempest said. She smiled a little. “Do you see those two rock spires on the ground?” She pointed. “They’re shaped like the Storm King’s logo on purpose. Fly us between them, and keep low.”

There was a long pause.

“That means one of you has to take the wheel,” Tempest clarified.

“But Trixie already set up an autopilot,” Trixie said. Tempest looked at the wheel. Trixie had tied a few ropes to keep it more or less on a straight course.

“That’s too bad, I was hoping to see Captain Trixie in action,” Starlight said.

“Captain Trixie?” Trixie asked, with sudden interest.

“Yeah, but if you’d rather let me or Sunset be the captain, I guess that’s fine,” Starlight said. “I’m told the position comes with a hat, though.”

“Are you trying to bribe the Great and Navigational Trixie with a hat?” Trixie scoffed. “Because it’s working. Also you all have to call Trixie Captain Trixie!”

“Aye aye, Cap’n!” Starlight said, saluting.

Trixie dove into action, running to the ship’s wheel and untying her autopilot, spinning the wheel dramatically.

“Watch in awe as Trixie--”

“As Trixie pilots exactly the course I tell her to,” Tempest said. “Otherwise this ship will hit wind shear that will tear it apart. Even a decent ship would have to be careful. Since the hull on this ship is largely being held together by several layers of paint, I wouldn’t want to test it.”

“Trixie will pilot the course more accurately than any other pony could,” Trixie said, somewhat more subdued, which still left her more bombastic than the average pony.

The ship edged toward the storm, a swirling mass of clouds reaching all the way to the ground. Spray from the ocean below reached up to meet it, and the boundary between sky and sea was all but invisible.

“Are you sure we’re not flying right into Tartarus?” Sunset asked quietly.

“Bear a little left or we’ll be going there next,” Tempest ordered. The ship slowly turned, a spire of black, razor-edge rock passing by underneath like a claw reaching up from the mist. “Lower the forward speed by half.”

“Did the Storm King make this place?” Starlight asked. Canyon walls closed in around them, and the stormclouds formed a roof on the world. The sun and moon disappeared, and the only light was a kind of diffuse glow from above punctuated by flashes of lightning.

“If he had that kind of power he wouldn’t have needed alicorn magic,” Tempest said. “No, this has been here for a long time. It has something to do with the height of the mountains, magma just under the water making the sea boil, and arctic wind from the north.”

“The sea is boiling?” Sunset asked.

“That’s steam coming up under us, not just spray and mist,” Tempest explained. “Don’t fall in or you won’t come out.”

“Good tip,” Sunset said, stepping back from the edge.

“Captain Trixie sees a fork up ahead,” Trixie called out.

“Go left,” Tempest said. “Watch for the next right. There’s a safe path, but if we go the wrong way we’ll either find a dead end or we’ll enter a corridor where the winds have broken through and we’ll get smashed into the walls.”

“This deal is getting worse all the time,” Sunset muttered. “A few pegasus ponies would have been helpful here to keep the weather away.”

“It wouldn’t have helped much even if you had everypony in Cloudsdale pitching in.” Starlight said. “How did the Storm King even find a safe path through here?”

“If you throw enough bodies at a problem, nothing is impossible,” Tempest said. “There are crashed ships all over these canyons. Some of them were converted into guarded checkpoints. It’s why we needed to disguise the ship.”

She pointed.

“The first one is up ahead. Keep your distance, but don’t look like you’re keeping your distance.”

“So… fly casual?” Trixie asked.

Tempest rolled her eyes and didn’t bother answering. They crept towards the guard post. It looked like an airship with the gasbag deflated and turned into ragged tarp roofing. Steel girders had been driven through it like huge nails, securing it to a rock spire and turning it into a tower hanging over that boiling sea.

“Bring us a little closer,” Tempest whispered. “Maybe no one is there…”

“That would be good, right?” Starlight asked.

A spotlight erupted to life, pointing right at the ship and flash-blinding them.

“No such luck,” Tempest said. “I was hoping it would be abandoned. It would be an indication they lacked discipline or had manpower problems.”

The light flashed on and off a few times.

“Is that a code?” Sunset asked.

“They’re requesting my confirmation code,” Tempest said. “Get the light.”

“What light?” Starlight asked.

“The signal light. All airships carry one.” Tempest looked around and found a distinct lack of signal lights. “We need to respond quickly! Is it below deck?!”

“Stop panicking,” Sunset said. “We’re unicorns. We basically are signal lights.” She lit her horn and created a bright cone of light, pointing it down at the guard post. “Tell me what to do.”

“Okay. Just repeat what I tell you. Long flash. Short flash. Short flash…” Tempest watched the post as Sunset relayed the code. They weren’t doing anything yet. “...and one last long flash.”

The spotlight was quiet for a long time, then flashed three shorts. Tempest sighed, almost collapsing against the railing.

“They accepted the code,” she explained. “I wasn’t sure it would work. They’re supposed to change the codes every so often.”

“These people just lost their leader. They probably haven’t bothered.” Sunset said. “You’re probably on the money about discipline starting to slip. Everything you’ve told me makes the Storm King’s army seem like a real cult of personality, and they tend to fall apart after their figurehead gets taken down.”

“Should Trixie keep going?” Trixie asked.

“If you’d be so kind, Captain,” Tempest said. “If nothing else we’ve learned one important thing - there are still troops here. Enough of them to ask for clearance codes instead of abandoning their posts.”

“So what’s the next part of the plan?” Sunset asked.

“Next, we infiltrate the most impenetrable fortress ever designed,” Tempest said. “With almost no useful equipment.”

“We’ve got a bunch of Trixie’s magic show stuff,” Starlight said. “Crates with false bottoms, fake swords, rubber snakes. That’s got to be good for something, right?”

Tempest stood at the bow of the ship, keeping herself as visible as possible. It was important to be seen, to give the troops here a look at her, someone known to them, who they might think twice about shooting at. This was important because despite their efforts to disguise Trixie’s ship, it was still ultimately a hunk of junk. Clouds and mist had helped sell their disguise before, but that wouldn’t work in the center of the maw.

The little ship broke through one last wall of swirling mist and into the clear.

“We’re here,” Tempest said. “Stay back and stay low.”

They’d piled a few of Trixie’s trunks and assorted junk on the deck to provide the three other unicorns at least a little cover. Trixie refused to give up the wheel, so she’d been given a cloak instead, something made out of patchy colorless ground tarp instead of her usual stars and bangles. She hadn’t liked that either until somepony had pointed out that if she was camouflaged she wasn’t going to be shot first.

Tempest had seen the Maw before. She knew her blueprints and diagrams and maps didn’t really capture it. Nothing could really prepare a pony for what was ahead of them. It was the eye of a hurricane, trapped by the earth and lashing out in every direction. The sky was a roiling vortex, and waterspouts reached like blind, groping fingers of some caged beast. Smoke poured out of the water, and the light rain shifted to what Starlight thought was hail at first until she realized it was tiny stones.

“Is it always this bad?” Starlight asked.

“It’s why the Storm King’s ships are all so heavily armored. This is why I said the fortress couldn’t just be besieged,” Tempest said. “Without a guide, it’s impossible to get in.”

“Right now I’m more worried about getting out,” Sunset said.

“We’ll be fine,” Tempest said. “Just remember to follow the plan when we dock. It will work but you have to play your parts, even if they’re…”

“Humiliating?” Starlight asked.

“Mm.” Tempest nodded. “Sorry.”

The huge dome shape of the fortress made sense now. It was like a huge shield turned towards the sky to protect what was inside it from the fury of the storm. Lightning strikes and tornadoes simply rolled off of the thick bunker walls, keeping what was inside safe. The fact it would do just as well against an attack from more conventional targets was just a bonus.

The armored edge of the fortress passed over them like an umbrella, and the torrent of stones and rain was cut off. The ship itself seemed to sigh in relief. This was concerning for a great number of reasons, not the least of which was that the gasbag couldn’t afford any extra holes.

The docks were hanging catwalks, raising and lowering on pulleys to service airships of all shapes and sizes. Tempest waved to the dockworkers, and they threw down ropes which Tempest tied to the mooring points, tugging at the line once they were secure.

“Trixie, cut the engines,” Tempest said. “They’ll pull us into place.”

“There must be two dozen airships here,” Starlight whispered. “Look at the size of that one!” She pointed across the hanging web of walkways and rigging to a ship big enough to be a cruise liner and with the weapons to conquer a small city. Which it had, if Tempest remembered its service history correctly.

“Think we can trade up when we leave?” Sunset asked.

“We might have to,” Tempest whispered back. “We were lucky enough to make it here in one piece. Does everyone remember the plan?”

“It’s not exactly complicated,” Starlight joked. “Still not a huge fan of your idea, though.”

“Of course not,” Tempest said. “Just let me do the talking.”

“MOVE, YOU USELESS MULES!” Tempest roared, yanking on the rope connecting the other three ponies. They shuffled along, hoofcuffs keeping them from moving quickly enough to avoid being screamed at.

Tempest huffed in annoyance and shoved the rope into the hands of the first soldier she saw. He fumbled for it, dropping his spear at her hooves with a resounding clang.

“Did you just drop your service weapon?!” Tempest snapped. “What is your malfunction?!”

The soldier made a series of sounds in a language Tempest had never bothered learning because she’d never cared about the answers they had to give. Part of her regretted it now, but she couldn’t let it show. It bent down to reach for the fallen spear and Tempest bucked him in the face. He collapsed, more surprised than hurt.

“I didn’t give you permission to pick it up! Especially without saluting me first!” Tempest yelled.

The yeti gave a shaky salute from the ground. Tempest nodded.

“Better. Now pick up your spear and fall in. I don’t know who thinks they’re in charge around here, but it’s obvious that they’ve been slacking off.”

“Is that-- it is! Tempest Shadow, my cute little morsel! You’ve come back to me!”

Tempest froze up at the sibilant, seductive voice, every word like steel and silk. The storm creatures parted as something much larger slithered through the gathering crowd. If somepony only saw her front half, they’d think they were looking at a deer grown as tall as Celestia, with the metallic gleam of copper from her backswept antlers and cloven hooves almost beautiful enough against her pale green coat to keep somepony from seeing the mouth full of fangs, or the eyes like solid black orbs.

She reared up, her back half a massive snake with pitted iron scales like they’d come out of an alchemical crucible and been nailed in place on a serpent large enough to coil comfortably around a small house.

“Euryale,” Tempest said. “Ah, I didn’t know--”

“Well of course not, morsel!” The gorgon lunged forward. Before Tempest could do anything, she was swept up in a gigantic, bone-creaking hug. “I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too,” Tempest said, with what little air she had available.

“I’ve been positively bored stiff without you,” Euryale sighed, releasing Tempest from her grip. Tempest sucked in a few breaths while she could. “Worried, too, of course. But mostly bored. After all, I haven’t had my tiny cute marefriend!”

“You dated a gorgon?!” Trixie blurted out.

“Shut up, prisoner!” Tempest snapped, trying to look professional despite the way her cheeks burned like coals.

“She did,” Euryale said. Her forked tongue flicked at Tempest’s ears. “You know what the worst part of this whole thing has been? Aside from the paperwork, I mean. I’d much rather be in the lab than having to tell these idiots what to do, and writing reports on it? Awful.”

“Yes, it must have been… awful,” Tempest agreed.

“But not as bad as learning the Storm King fell,” Euryale said. “He will be… well, not missed, but he rubber-stamped my expense reports, and that was easier than trying to do the budget myself. And that’s still not the very worst part!”

“What was the very worst part?” Tempest asked.

The gorgon lifted herself a little higher, looking down at Tempest. “The very worst part was learning that my marefriend or, rather, my ex-marefriend, decided to turn her back on everyone and turn traitor!”

“...Oh,” Tempest said, taking a step back. “You heard about that.”

“I heard about that,” Euryale agreed. The tip of her tail whipped around, catching one of the soldiers and flinging him off into the abyss below. She didn’t even watch him fall.

Tempest ran, like she could have done anything to actually catch him, and Euryale moved to block her.

“You betrayed him. More importantly, you betrayed me. That really hurt, my little morsel.”

“I did what I had to do,” Tempest said. “You can make the same decision I did. Leave all of this behind. We could go to Ponyville or Kludgetown or anywhere you want. We don’t have to enslave anyone or aggressively market Storm King merchandise! Maybe we could even use this stuff for good - Kludgetown could use a police force to keep the gangs in control, Equestria could use a competent military force, you could be heroes instead of conquerors!”

“That’s so cute,” Euryale giggled. “I know what this is! This is the famous Equestrian ‘magic of friendship’, isn’t it?”

“It can be,” Tempest said. She decided to ignore literally everything she knew about her marefriend and lie. “You’re a good creature, Euryale.”

“I’m not, but that was a nice try,” Euryale sighed, slithering away. “I’ve got an even better plan than taking early retirement like you. I’m going to crush Canterlot with my new weapon, conquer Equestria, and sell their land to the highest bidder.”

“New weapon?” Tempest paled. “What new weapon?”

“You should feel honored. I made it because I was thinking about you!” Euryale turned and smirked, her tongue flicking out mockingly. “You spent so much time conquering cities that we only had a few nights to spend together.”

“How does that even work?” Trixie asked. “She’s really big, and a snake--”

Starlight shushed her.

“I wanted to build a weapon that could turn a whole city full of ponies into stone in an instant,” Euryale said. “Imagine it. One launch from a catapult and you have the world’s largest statue garden! And the best part is, all the buildings and valuables will be left right where they are, ripe for the picking. I call it the Sun Crusher, since it was going to help us defeat Celestia.”

“You can’t do that!” Tempest shouted.

“Please,” the gorgon rolled her eyes. “Don’t pretend you’ve changed. You brought three ponies in hoofcuffs here to be slaves! Kneel, beg me for forgiveness, and I’ll allow you to serve as my right hoof. I promise I’ll be more fun than the Storm King.”

“They’re not just ponies,” Tempest said. “They’re two of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria.”

Trixie cleared her throat.

Tempest sighed. “Three of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria if it stops them from complaining when I’m trying to be dramatic.”

A beam of coherent force lanced past Tempest’s shoulder, close enough to make her coat stand on end from the static discharge. It slammed into the assembled guards and threw an entire squad into the rigging of one of the docked ships, the ropes tangling them like a spider’s web.

Tempest looked back.

“What?” Starlight asked. “I’m allowed to shoot, right?” She slipped off Trixie’s rigged hoofcuffs, the restraints as fake as Spoiled Rich’s mane color.

“Of course you are,” Sunset replied. “Just don’t knock them into the water!” She grabbed two guards and slammed them together, bouncing them like a ball a few times before bowling them through the crew of one of the nearby warships and down into its hold.

“The hard way, then,” Euryale said. She ducked to the side like a striking viper, avoiding another one of Starlight’s force-bolts.

“For her next illusion, Trixie will show the guards the power of the magical binding rope!” Trixie said. The rope wrapped around her, Starlight, and Sunset pulled away without even having to be unknotted, looking like it had simply passed through their bodies. Trixie tossed her head dramatically and the rope caught the guard nearest to her, binding his hands and legs. “Unlike Trixie’s hoofcuffs, that’s going to be pretty hard to get out of. I’ll give you some tips once we’re done.”

Euryale slithered around a line of guards, disappearing from Tempest’s view. Tempest crashed through them like they were just cardboard cutouts, and found the other end of the catwalk empty.

“Where--?” Tempest asked.

A shadow loomed over her, and she threw herself to the side. Euryale’s tail slammed down where Tempest had been standing. Tempest rolled to her hooves and looked back. The gorgon was wrapped around the heavy chains holding up the platforms like a snake climbing a vine. Tempest blasted one of the links, and the whole platform lurched, tilting to one side before the others picked up the strain. Euryale scrambled to keep herself from falling, just barely catching herself.

“Give it up,” Tempest said. “I won’t let you destroy Equestria!”

“I never asked for your permission, morsel,” Euryale hissed.

“It’s over. I have the high ground,” Tempest said. “I don’t want to have to hurt you, Euryale.”

“You have the high ground, I have a hostage,” Euryale said. She pointed.

One of the soldiers was holding Trixie.

“I suggest all of you stop before I do something unfortunate to your friend!” Euryale shouted. Sunset and Starlight stood down, backing up from the soldiers closing in around them. Tempest paused, then started charging her horn again.

“She’s not really my friend,” Tempest said.

“Hey!” Starlight shouted.

“You’re setting a very bad example,” Euryale teased. “Give it up, Tempest. I always knew somewhere inside you was still that soft little Fizzlepop that I met as a foal.” The gorgon climbed back up onto the catwalk, smirking down at Tempest.

“I…” Tempest growled and looked away, the sparks from her horn fading. “Promise me you won’t hurt Trixie.”

Euryale sighed and patted her head gently.

“That’s why Equestria deserves to be conquered. You can’t make the hard choices.” She reared up like a cobra to address the soldiers. “Put them in restraints! Hoof and horn. I don’t want them able to cast anything! And- no, don’t use the hoofcuffs they brought! They’re not real! I swear if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

Tempest seethed as the restraints were locked around her limbs and horn. The other ponies were marched over to stand next to her.

“You put up a good fight,” Euryale assured her. “And these two did seem quite powerful. Maybe I’ll find a buyer for them somewhere. Ponies might be an endangered species soon, after all!” She giggled.

Trixie cleared her throat. “All of us are powerful.”

Euryale rolled her eyes and snatched Trixie’s hat off her head. “I’m amazed your ego can fit in this. You’re so weak I can’t imagine why my dear morsel brought you along.” She shook the hat, and a dozen cards, all of them the three of clubs, fell out, along with two doves, a flask of whiskey, and parking validation for Trixie’s wagon.

“Give Trixie her hat back!” Trixie snapped.

“You won’t need it,” Euryale said. She took a deep breath.

“No!” Tempest yelled, knowing what was about to happen.

The gorgon exhaled, not at Trixie but at the guard holding her. Green gas poured across his face and the storm creature turned to stone, his hands locking around Trixie’s forelegs like concrete shoes.

“I promised I wouldn’t hurt your friend,” Euryale said. “Oh, wait. I never actually promised that! How silly of me. Oh well, when life gives you a pony strapped to a boulder, make lemonade.”

She shoved the petrified guard over the edge, and Trixie fell with him, bound and attached to a boulder and shrieking in terror as she vanished into the mists below.

“Trixie!” Starlight screamed.

“Here, you’ll want something to remember her by.” The gorgon put the hat on Tempest’s head. “If you behave yourself while you’re in the cells, I’ll let you watch me conquer Canterlot in one stroke with the Sun Crusher. We’ll look back on this and laugh about it someday!”

“We won’t,” Tempest growled. “You just killed--”

“Somepony who you said wasn’t even your friend,” Euryale said. “Really, which one of us was the bad guy here? Me, obviously, but I’m sure you and your real friends will want to discuss the subtle philosophical points.”

Tempest glanced at Starlight and Sunset. She wanted to say something defiant. She wanted to say they’d find a way to stop the gorgon. When she looked at them though, all she could think of were apologies and none of them were good enough.

She lowered her head and let the guards lead them away to the cells.

Countdown to Extinction

The Maw’s dungeons weren’t the same five-star accommodations one might get in Canterlot. There, a prisoner could expect a cot, clean water, food that probably hadn’t been spat in, a distinct lack of rats.

In the Maw, you started to hope you saw a rat because if you were able to catch it you might get dinner.

Starlight curled up around Trixie’s hat. It still smelled like her, expensive shampoo and cheap perfume covering up the telltale smells that came along with keeping one or more living animals in one’s chapeau.

Sunset rubbed her back gently, at a loss for words. Tempest was just collapsed in the far corner, not even able to look at them. She hadn’t even aimed for the dirty straw that was theoretically bedding - she’d just slumped down in defeat and stayed there.

“Trixie was the first new friend I made when I really started putting my life back together,” Starlight whispered. “It was when I didn’t even think I could make new friends. I didn’t think anypony could understand me, but then there was Trixie, and she knew exactly what it was like being in my shoes.”

Sunset nodded and kept rubbing.

“Twilight didn’t approve of her, and I think that’s what made it exciting at first. But when I really got to know her, she was the most amazing mare. She came up with all her tricks on her own, from scratch. Most of them didn’t even use magic! She could do things with just a pack of c-cards and one hoof that Twilight Sparkle couldn’t do with her whole library, a-and she never- she never really thought she was good enough.” Starlight rubbed her eyes, sniffling and trying not to cry.

“I didn’t get a chance to know her, but she reminded me of myself,” Sunset said. “I used to be Celestia’s student, and then I threw it all away because I thought she was holding out on me. I know just what it’s like to think you need to live up to some impossible standard, but unlike me, Trixie actually made ponies believe that she could do it.”

“Yeah,” Starlight whispered. “I just can’t believe-- I can’t believe she’s gone. And she doesn’t even have her hat. She loved this thing.”

“She probably would have wanted you to have it anyway,” Sunset said.

“This is all my fault,” Tempest muttered. She started to sit up and stopped halfway, leaning with all her weight on one hoof before giving up and collapsing to the floor again, rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling. “This was all my idea. I thought I knew better than Celestia and every other pony in that conference room put together.”

“And that was…” Sunset hesitated. “You really dated a gorgon?”

Tempest groaned. “Yes.”

“How did that even work? She’s so…”

“Evil?” Tempest asked. “Psychotic?”

“I was going to say ‘big’.”

“She likes to hug.”

“Of course she does,” Sunset said. “So how are we going to stop her?”

“We’re chained up in a cell with our magic restrained,” Tempest said. “It’s impossible to escape. All we can do is wait for whatever happens and hope we can take advantage of it.”

“If we just wait, all of this really will have been for nothing,” Sunset said. “Tempest, no matter what mistakes you made, you were right that this place was too big of a threat for Celestia to ignore. If they get the Sun Crusher working, they could turn every pony in Equestria to stone before the Royal Guard even knows what’s happening.”

“And Trixie would never forgive me if I didn’t at least try to avenge her,” Starlight said, getting to her hooves.

“Right,” Sunset agreed. “Hey, there was a bunch of stuff in Trixie’s hat. Did she miss anything? Maybe there’s something useful in the brim or in a hidden seam or pocket or something.”

“Let’s see…” Starlight flipped the hat over and started rummaging around.

“Our first priority has to be getting the restraining rings off of you two,” Tempest said. “Neither of you can fight without your magic.”

“I might be able to pick the locks,” Sunset said. “I’ll need two or three pieces of wire. It’s a little skill I picked up in the human world. You wouldn’t believe how many lockers and desk drawers I’ve had to pop open.”

“I found something!” Starlight pulled it out. “It’s… the three of clubs.” She sighed and kept feeling around.

“We should call for a guard, Sunset said. “One of you act like you’re sick, then when the guard comes in to check, we attack him! It always works on TV.”

“I don’t know what TV is, but it’s not real life,” Tempest countered. “I trained most of these soldiers myself. They wouldn’t fall for such a simple ruse.”

“Do you have a better idea?” Sunset asked.

“We could…” Tempest started, trailing off when she failed to immediately think of anything better. “It wouldn’t work on me,” she said, decisively.

“The good thing is, you’re in here with us,” Sunset said. “You pretend to be sick. I’ll hold you up, and Starlight goes in the far corner. When they open the door, you act like you’re going to throw up and I’ll shove you into them, and you… do your thing. Starlight can use Trixie’s hat to blind them from behind, and we’ll get the keys and escape!”

“...I can’t act sick,” Tempest said.

“What are you talking about? You just groan and hold your stomach.” Starlight demonstrated. “Bleeeeh! I’m a sick pony! Like that, but, you know, less like I’m mocking you and more like you’re sick.”

“I’m just not comfortable with it,” Tempest said. “Can’t one of you do it?”

“You’re the best pony for it,” Sunset said. “The guard knows who you are. They might care that you’re sick.”

“They didn’t care enough to not throw me in the dungeon.”

“We’re going to be kicking them a lot and stealing their keys, so we’ll call it even on both sides. Once we’ve saved Equestria we can figure out some kind of friendship lesson.”

“I’ll give them a few extra kicks for Trixie,” Starlight said.

Sunset smiled and nodded. “Okay. Let’s get into position and--”

The cell door creaked open, the guard walked in the door, and the whole plan went out the window. Tempest grabbed for their collar and threw them to the floor, keeping her weight on their chest, pressing the ill-fitting armor to the floor.

“...aren’t you a little short to be a storm creature?” she asked.

“Get this helmet off me!” the guard whined.

“It can’t be,” Starlight whispered. She pulled off the steel helmet, and a silver mane bounced out. “Trixie?!”

“Tah-dah!” Trixie said, from the floor. “Can Trixie get up now?”

Tempest stepped back, and Trixie got up, obviously a little shaky. Starlight grabbed her, pulling her into a hug.

“How are you alive?! You big dumb idiot!” Starlight sobbed into Trixie’s shoulder.

“Trixie has been doing escape acts since her daring break-out from the School for Gifted Unicorns. Did you really think Trixie could escape that, and not manage to avoid certain death when plunging hundreds of feet to the ocean, with her hooves and horn bound, chained to a petrified horror? It was so easy Trixie is thinking of doing it again in her next live performance.”

“We’re really glad to see you,” Sunset said. “I don’t suppose you’d like to help us with our own little escape artist trick?” She held up a hoof as much as she could with the cuffs on, jangling the chains for emphasis.

“You haven’t managed it already?” Trixie asked, mildly surprised. She pulled a slim piece of metal out of her mane and jammed it in the seam between the lock and the shackle, wiggling it around for a moment before the whole lock popped open. “Don’t tell the scary mare in the corner but they cut a lot of corners around here. Even if I wanted to try picking them instead of using a shim, I could rake them open in about five seconds.”

“The Storm King was never big on details,” Tempest sighed. She watched Trixie take apart the rest of the restraints as easily as if she had the key. “He probably hired the lowest bidder just to get something with his own branding on it.”

“Well, Trixie admits branding is important,” Trixie said. “Trixie once tried investing in Trixie-themed snack foods. In retrospect, I regret trying to market them as pony snacks, because the uninformed consumer got the wrong idea entirely about the contents. They still sold well in Griffonstone, for some reason.”

“Why would you-- never mind,” Tempest said. “Trixie, I need to give you an apology.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t think you were a valuable asset on this mission, and when Euryale asked me if we were friends, I…” Tempest trailed off. It was hard to find words when you were being crushed by shame.

“We’re not friends,” Trixie said.

Tempest nodded sadly.

“But since you apologized…” Trixie smirked. “Trixie is willing to give you a chance to become her friend, which would make you part of an exclusive and extraordinary group of ponies which even Twilight Sparkle is not allowed to join.”

“I’d like that,” Tempest said.

“Good. Now, since Plan A failed, what’s Plan B?”

“Without explosives, there’s no way we can destroy the fortress,” Tempest whispered. “Maybe we could do some damage, but there’s something more important we have to do first.”

“The Sun Crusher,” Sunset said.

“Exactly,” Tempest nodded. “If it can really affect an entire city at once, it’s too dangerous to exist. We have to get into the lab and destroy it. If we do as much damage as possible, we might set them back months. Even just a few weeks would give Equestria time to prepare a real invasion.”

“And you know where the lab is?” Starlight asked.

“The good news is we’re not very far from it,” Tempest said.

There was a long, empty pause.

“And the bad news?” Sunset asked.

“I know where it is because I used to drag test subjects there from these cells,” Tempest said. “I couldn’t always trust the storm creatures to do it because, well…”

“Because they’re somewhat less competent than foals playing dress-up?” Starlight asked.

“They’re not natural fighters,” Tempest said. “They’re stronger than they look, but they need a lot of training to actually use that strength.”

She ushered them down the corridor. The lights above them were jarred lightning, giving everything a flickering and unnatural cast. They turned a corner and nearly ran into a storm creature. Tempest jumped it before it could react, bucking it in mid-air hard enough to slam its head against the wall, the soldier sliding down to the ground in a heap.

“Great, are we supposed to take him with us?” Starlight asked. “If we leave him here, they’ll see it.”

“Search him for a key,” Tempest said. “It’ll be a card.”

“Is this your card?” Trixie asked, pulling -- predictably -- a three of clubs out of his pocket.

“Trixie, just because we’re relieved to see you alive doesn’t mean this is the time for tricks,” Starlight sighed.

“Maybe you need to look closer!” Trixie waved her hoof over the card, and it transformed into a brass-colored card with the Storm King’s logo printed on it. “Because I think this is what we were looking for.”

Tempest made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat.

“Oh come on,” Trixie huffed. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“That’s not it,” Tempest said. “The problem is this won’t get us into the lab. There are different layers of security. We need a higher level pass.”

“Let me see that,” Sunset said, grabbing it in her magic and examining it closely. “Okay… That’s what I thought. I might be able to use this.”

“It won’t open the warding around the lab,” Tempest said.

“We’ll see about that.” Sunset winked.

“Okay, so basically magical locks can work one of two ways,” Sunset whispered, while she worked on the glowing seal across the steel bulkhead door. “Sometimes the key is the complicated part, and sometimes it’s the lock. If the key is complicated it’s hard to replicate. That could be something like requiring a certain magical signature or one half of a broken gemstone or whatever. Those kinds of locks are supposed to make it so only one pony has access.”

“There are a lot of access keys for these areas, though,” Tempest said.

“Exactly,” Sunset agreed. “That means the complicated part is in the lock, and the keys are simple and easy to replicate. Now, the Storm King doesn’t strike me as the type to bother investing in an expensive security system, so I’m betting all these keys are basically the same. Since we’ve got the lock here, and a key here, we’ll see how far it goes and where it gets stuck, then just adjust those bits.”

"You'll have to adjust it so you can use it," Tempest warned. "They're keyed to the assigned keyholder."

"No problemo." Sunset held out a hoof. "Pretending I'm giving a thumbs-up."

“You make it sound easy,” Trixie said.

“It is easy,” Sunset said. “Celestia’s locks are way tougher. Just to open her journal you have to use her magic signature or all the pages seem blank.”

A whooping alarm filled the halls, sirens and bells ringing from all directions.

“That wasn’t me,” Sunset said, before anyone could blame her. “I already checked for a tripwire here.”

“They must have noticed we’re not in the cell,” Tempest said. “We were lucky to get all the way here without being seen. How much longer do you need?”

“I don’t know, Call it ten minutes?” Sunset shrugged.

“We might not have that,” Starlight said. “We’ve got company!”

Down the hallway, soldiers had stormed out of a side room and spotted them almost instantly. One pointed at the ponies with a spear and grunted something in their language, a beautiful and poetic statement somewhere between a war cry and a haiku which none of the ponies could appreciate at all.

Starlight blasted him before he could recite more poetry, proving that brute force is sometimes more important than culture.

“We’re sitting ducks here out in the open,” Tempest said. She blasted a thrown spear out of the air. “We need to retreat to cover!”

“If we do that, we’ll never get into the lab!” Starlight shouted.

“Trixie can make us some cover!” Trixie said. She reached under her cloak and pulled out two very distinctive orbs.

“Gorgon venom spheres?” Tempest blinked. “Where did you get those?”

“The same place Trixie got the armor she was wearing. There was an armory right outside the dungeons.” Trixie smirked and tossed one to Tempest, Tempest bouncing it into the air like she was juggling a soccer ball with her hooves before back-flipping and kicking it at the nearest soldier. Trixie followed her lead, throwing the second at the next storm creature. The two crashed into each other mid-petrification, the stone creeping up their limbs joining them into a barricade of twisted limbs and surprised expressions.

“Much better,” Tempest said. The next wave of spears bounced off of the petrified soldiers. “Sunset?”

“I’m working on it,” Sunset said. “Just try to keep the noise down!”

“Really? Keep the noise down?” Starlight asked. She fired again, bouncing a bolt of force off of the ceiling to hit the approaching soldiers from the rear.

“It’s delicate work,” Sunset countered. “Unless you’d like to try doing this part yourself? I’d be happy to play around while you show me your expert ward-cracking skills. Oh wait, you aren’t an expert at this! It’s why you asked me to come! So maybe shut up and let me work!”

“Somepony’s moody,” Starlight mumbled.

“I’m moody because I’m trying to focus and--” A spear hit the door next to Sunset’s face, missing her by a hoofwidth. She roared in frustration and threw a wall of fire without looking. Starlight shoved Trixie out of the way. A storm creature who had been climbing over the barricade caught it full-on and was thrown back, fur blackened by the heat.

“Careful!” Tempest shouted, “You caught my tail with that!”

“And my hat!” Trixie wailed. She looked up at where the tip used to be.

“Sorry!” Sunset yelled. “I think I’ve just about got it!”

The ward changed color, and the brass key pinged. The door slid open. Tempest charged through, jumping and holding her hooves out, catching the guards on either side of the other side of the door in a massive clothesline and sending them to the floor.

Sunset held the key up.

“Get inside!” she shouted. “I’ll close this behind us!”

Starlight and Trixie ran in, and Sunset followed at their heels, slamming the door closed and turning the security back on before turning around and running right into where her friends had stopped, only a single pace beyond the open door.

“What are you-- oh.”

“If you’re thinking about blasting me with magic, please think twice,” Euryale said. “Some of this equipment is delicate, fragile, and full of things that would eat the flesh off of your bones. I’d be fine, of course. Gorgons are rather immune to alchemical accidents. Ponies aren’t.”

The lab was massive, a room the size of Celestia’s throne room, the lower level a maze of chest-high stone tables packed with alchemical gear, barrels full of reagents and alchemical waste stored haphazardly here and there, and an upper balcony running the whole length of the walls. A wrought-iron cage surrounded two glass spheres, each one as big as a pony was tall. One was green, the other swirling with purple gas. Both looked incredibly deadly, odd shapes forming in the mist like something invisible and angry was trapped in the fog of venom.

“I knew you’d come here,” Euryale said. “I’m a little disappointed at how long it took you to escape.” She looked up at the balcony, and soldiers marched in, crossbows drawn and pointed down at what is usually called the kill-zone, which was as the name implies not a very good place to stand.

“Please don’t do this,” Tempest said. “Equestria doesn’t deserve this.”

“Doesn’t deserve this?” the gorgon snorted. “Do you know why I’m doing this? Well, mostly it’s because I’ll be able to make so much money they’ll have to invent new adjectives just to describe it. But also, I’m doing it because you broke my heart.”

“I didn’t… I mean…” Tempest hesitated.

“Oh, I’m kidding!” Euryale laughed. “You ponies are so soft. Tempest, you were cute, but you’ll still always be that dumb little foal you were when we first met. You used to want revenge on all those ponies that wronged you. What happened to that? Don’t you remember how they treated you?”

“I do,” Tempest whispered. “I remember that I didn’t give them a chance. They were scared because I couldn’t control my magic. They were scared because I got hurt. Foals don’t understand things like that. I thought they hated me, and instead of trying to fix it I ran away. I’m done running, Euryale. I have to face my choices and live with them.”

“That’s very deep. Such pathos.” Euryale rolled her eyes.

“I held on to being hurt like I was prodding my own wound and not letting it heal,” Tempest said. “It wasn’t worth it. I could have been happy. Really happy. I got a glimpse of it when I was in Ponyville, and I have to protect it.”

“We all used to be evil too,” Starlight said. “I led a cult.”

“I tried to topple the monarchy with an army of brainwashed teenagers,” Sunset added. “I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids and their dog.”

“Trixie is perfect and blameless,” Trixie said.

Starlight coughed and nudged her with an elbow.

“Fine, Trixie once might have possibly taken over a town with an evil artifact. But Trixie was, legally, under the influence of dark forces. I have paperwork from my lawyer to prove it, so I’m not liable for damages.”

“Are you all applying for jobs?” Euryale asked. “Because that would be a bold move, which I would applaud. Not the slow, sarcastic kind of applause, either.”

“What’s the pay like?” Trixie asked. Starlight nudged her again, harder.

“If you won’t give up willingly, I’ll have to stop you,” Tempest said.

“We used to wrestle almost every day,” Euryale laughed. “You couldn’t even win when we were playing. Do you really think you can beat me when it counts?”

“I’m fighting for something bigger than myself.”

“No, Tempest,” Euryale hissed, rearing up. “You’re just fighting something bigger than you are.” Euryale’s tail lashed across the space between them, catching Tempest by surprise, hitting her breastplate hard enough to dent it and throwing her through a table full of beakers.

“Tempest!” Starlight yelled. She started running for her, and a red shield appeared in her path, crossbow bolts bouncing off the barrier. Starlight looked back at Sunset, who was blocking attacks from both sides.

Tempest rolled to her hooves, shaking chemicals out of her mane. “I can handle her! This is my fight.”

“Trixie, give us some cover!” Sunset yelled, moving the shields around in anticipation of the attacks, having to concentrate in two directions at once.

Trixie ran over to the nearest table, grabbed one flask, then a second, and poured one into the other, mixing the contents like a bartender before throwing it against the floor. Smoke billowed out around her hooves, filling the lower level with an opaque, bluish-grey cloud. The rain of crossbow bolts from above slowed, and Tempest lost sight of her friends. She also, unfortunately, lost sight of Euryale.

“You never asked what I did with all of those prisoners you brought me,” Euryale said, her voice seeming to come from all around Tempest.

“You experimented on them,” Tempest said. “Let me guess, you’ve got some nice little statue garden and you’ve got a place picked out for me and my friends.”

“That sounds more like something Princess Celestia would do,” Euryale hissed. Tempest caught a glimpse of something moving and threw a bolt of force at it, the cracking sphere shattering a table full of beakers.

“Where are you?” Tempest muttered.

“I don’t have a statue garden. I can’t keep them long enough. There’s nothing as delicious as petrified pony! They crunch between your fangs so sweetly!” Euryale giggled. “Sometimes I keep my favorites around for weeks, savoring one bite at a time.”

“I’m starting to wonder why I dated you,” Tempest said.

“Don’t be sour, my morsel. After all, you brought me dinner and a show!” Euryale lunged out of the smoke, spitting a thin plume of acid-green gas. Tempest threw herself to the side, but the groping fingers of the breath weapon latched onto the armor along her left forehoof, and shoulder the metal warping with a sound like cracking ice as it started to turn to craggy stone.

Euryale stomped down, and Tempest barely avoided it, the stone weighing her down even as the metal squealed and set in place. Tempest stumbled behind one of the lab tables before the gorgon could attack again.

Tempest grunted and tore apart one of the straps, kicking the sleeve off before it could spread to her flesh, shedding it and the shoe like a snakeskin and letting it shatter on the floor. She glanced at what she was sharing her hiding spot with and smiled.

“This is the most fun I’ve had in years!” Euryale laughed. She loomed over the lab table where Tempest was hiding. “I see you~”

“Catch.” Tempest said. She threw something up at Euryale. The gorgon caught it on instinct, looking down at the red barrel in her hooves.

Tempest blasted it, and as the laws of the universe demanded, it exploded gratuitously.

Euryale roared and backed off, the volatile chemicals burning on contact with the air. If Twilight had been there, she probably could have identified what they were based on the color of the flames. Tempest wasn’t really into the science side of blowing things up.

“I should say something clever,” Tempest said, stepping out of cover. “I think I’ll just enjoy the moment instead of trying to come up with a one-liner.”

The flames had spread across a few tables, and Tempest lost sight of the gorgon through the wall of fire.

“Is it too much to hope that you stay down?” Tempest muttered, squinting through the haze. Something exploded on another table, glass popping and even more volatile chemicals leaving the air smelling like sulfur, burning tar, and hot metal. It was the kind of smell that made a pony wish there was a fume hood and an eyewash station, but mad scientists weren’t known for their lab safety procedures.

Something made of magnesium got hot enough to start burning and Tempest winced at the flare of white light. At that same instant, hot iron scales coiled around her, lifting her off her hooves and denying her any kind of leverage.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Euryale hissed. She wiped at her black eyes, not burned but covered in cinders from the explosive debris. “I warned you about how fragile the lab equipment is, Tempest! Do you know how many bits I’ll need to replace all of that?!”

Tempest fired a crackling bolt at the gorgon, and it just rolled off her scales.

Euryale lifted Tempest up to eye level, leaning in until their snouts almost touched, her forked tongue tickling the unicorn’s nose. “What did you even hope to accomplish? You must have known you couldn’t win.”

“I know,” Tempest grunted, trying to breathe with the heavy tail squeezing tighter and tighter. “I wasn’t even sure I’d last this long.” She was struggling not to pass out. It was like an oven was giving her a hug. The iron scales were so hot they were practically cooking her.

“Then why bother?” Euryale asked. “You could have tried to escape.”

“Because I’m your little morsel,” Tempest said, smiling a little. “So I knew I’d be a perfect distraction while my friends took care of business.”

“While your…” Euryale blinked. It dawned on her that the sound of fighting from the upper level had died off a while ago. The smoke bomb Trixie had made started to clear, the fire and temperature change burning off the mist.

Sunset was hooves-deep in the iron cage around the Sun Crusher’s two glass spheres, tweaking whatever mechanism was within.

“Stop that!” Euryale yelled. “Get away from it or else--”

“Got it!” Sunset shouted. The green gas from the top sphere started flowing down into the purple haze at the bottom like an hourglass full of two terrifyingly dangerous chemicals. As soon as they touched, the whole rig began vibrating like a kettle or poorly-sealed pressure cooker. Sunset backed off, Trixie pulling her way from the mess.

“Oh no!” Euryale gasped, dropping Tempest and rushing towards the Sun Crusher. “You idiots! That’s going to affect the entire fortress!”

Tempest grunted as she landed, sucking in a deep breath and coughing when the air proved to be full of a chemist’s nightmare of volatiles. There was a flash of light, and Starlight appeared next to Tempest, helping her up.

“Ready to go?” Starlight asked.

“Very ready,” Tempest coughed, her throat feeling like she’d gargled with embers. Sunset waved from the balcony and vanished in a flash with Trixie. Tempest looked at Euryale wailing in defeat as she watched the Sun Crusher start glowing with light in a nameless color between purple and green, and in the last moment she even saw the glass crack.

And then she was between. It was only a flash, like blinking, like being so exhausted you close your eyes and an hour has passed, a sense of disorientation. It wasn’t black, it was the color a blind person sees, the echoing nothing of deaf ears.

The world reappeared, and gravity made itself known. The storms of the Maw raged around Tempest, and the only thing there to stop her fall were clouds. By all rights, she should have plunged right through them and into the boiling sea below.

The laws of physics weren’t up to the task today, though. The clouds caught her like a mattress, letting her sink in a few inches and bouncing her back up.

“What?” She gasped.

“Cloudwalking spell,” Sunset explained. “I got you with it while you were falling.”

Starlight, glowing with the light of her horn and an impressive skill at self-levitation, slowed to a halt next to her, just above the surface of the clouds.

“Nice work,” Starlight said. “Teleporting into the fortress would have been tough, but out of it and into the open air? Easy!”

“Are you sure you set it up correctly?” Trixie asked, taking each step on the cloud carefully, like she expected to find a pitfall. “Trixie thinks you should have opened up all the dump valves.”

“I’m pretty sure I saw it--” Tempest started. There was a sound like a door slamming, a huge burst of compressed air, not quite the sharp report of an explosion but heavy and solid. Gas poured out of the underside of the mushroom-like fortress, rolling down to the sea.

“Look at all that,” Starlight said. “It really would have been enough to cover a whole city!”

“Yeah,” Tempest sighed.

“Are you upset because you had to fight your girlfriend?” Trixie asked.

“No.”

“Is it because you had to betray countless creatures that used to be your subordinates?”

“No. Well, yes, now that you mention it.” Tempest winced. “Mostly I just think I have a few broken ribs. I’d really like a doctor.”

“We’ll get you one once we’re back in Equestria,” Sunset assured her. “Actually, um, how are we getting back?”

Trixie smirked. “Trixie recalls dozens of airships being parked in the fortress. I suggest we return in style!”

“...and then we flew back,” Tempest said. She winced, and immediately regretted it. Twilight let her settle down before continuing wrapping bandages around her chest.

“Well, that explains why a Storm King warship is parked just outside of Ponyville city limits,” Twilight said. “And why Trixie is asking around about wholesale deals on glitter paint.”

“She has ideas on redecorating it,” Tempest nodded. “I told her she’d be better off selling it to pay off her debts before somepony comes to collect on them.”

“I just wish Sunset could have stayed longer. I’d love to pick her brain on some of the finer points of the wards you encountered…”

“She said she wanted to get home before the Dazzlings did anything stupid,” Tempest said. “I’m not sure if she was worried or excited.”

“Probably both.” Twilight stepped back to examine her work. “There. How does it feel?”

“Better. Thank you.”

“I’m always happy to help,” Twilight said, snapping a book on pony anatomy shut, then shelving it along with the other first-aid books she’d taken out of her library. “Speaking of which, it’s time for us to have that little talk about what you did.”

“I’m prepared to accept any punishment,” Tempest said. “It was my idea, so please don’t punish the others. Starlight just came along to keep me out of trouble, Trixie was practically an innocent bystander, and Sunset--”

“Woah, woah, I didn’t say anything about punishment!” Twilight offered Tempest a hoof, helping her stand up. “You know, you saved Equestria.”

“I also disobeyed a direct order.” Tempest followed Twilight into the hallway.

“A direct order that was wrong,” Twilight said. “You did what you thought you had to do. It’s a fine line, isn’t it? A few years ago I did the same thing. I was sure, absolutely sure, that my brother’s fiancee was an evil monster. Everypony told me I was just being crazy about things, and when I put my hoof down and tried to do something about it, I almost ruined his wedding.”

“How did you fix things?”

“In my case, I got lucky. She really was an evil monster! There was this whole thing where she invaded Canterlot, evil monologues, fighting Celestia, all the kinds of things you don’t really have on your checklist for wedding planning.”

Tempest snorted. “So you were right all along.”

“No, like I said, I was lucky. My friends were right. I was being crazy about things. I was paranoid and jealous. If she hadn’t been a monster, I’d still be trying to make it up to my brother. On the other hoof, if you’d been wrong you just would have gone on a trip with friends and come back feeling silly.”

“I left without saying anything to you.”

Twilight shrugged. “You’re not a prisoner, Tempest. You’re my friend. But if you really feel bad about it, I wouldn’t mind a friendship report on everything you learned. Starlight is writing something up, but I want to know your feelings, too.”

“Yes, Princess,” Tempest said. Twilight stopped in front of a door.

“Now, I know Rarity wanted to talk to you,” Twilight said. “Apparently it’s a fashion emergency, but I don’t know if it really qualifies. When you’re done with her, Starlight is in the library. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Thank you,” Tempest said. Twilight opened the door, and Rarity was inside, waving for Tempest to come over.

Tempest limped inside. Her armor was on a ponyquin, hanging limply. It looked as banged up as she felt.

“I wish I had better news for you,” Rarity said.

“How bad is it?” Tempest asked.

Rarity took a deep breath. “First, remember I work mostly on fabric and gems. I’m hardly an expert. That said, the steel plates are bent out of shape all around the chest and barrel, half of the buckles and fittings are loose or broken. Almost every single exposed surface is tarnished and corroded. It’s a wreck, darling.”

Tempest sighed and nodded in agreement.

Rarity looked worried. “I’m not even sure how to begin repairing it. You might need to send it to a specialist in Canterlot. I’m so sorry.”

Tempest touched the dented, scratched chestplate. Looked at the missing sleeve. The broken straps. In a way, the armor was Tempest Shadow. She used to feel naked without it. Now she just felt free.

“It’s okay,” she decided. “I think… I’ll just hang it up.”

“Are you sure, darling?” Rarity asked. “I’m sure I can find you somepony if you give me a day or two to ask around.”

“Yeah.” Tempest took a deep breath and smiled, putting her hoof down. “It was a little too snug this time anyway. Maybe I’ve outgrown it.”

“You looked fetching in that dress you had on before,” Rarity said.

“It felt good,” Tempest agreed. “I felt like a different pony.”

“Oh?”

“I want to feel like that pony again,” Tempest decided. “And I could use some help finding her. Maybe you could help me with my mane again? And… a few makeup tips?”

Rarity squealed in excitement and launched into motion, starting to excitedly describe what she could do, ideas she had on styles and eyeshadow and braids.

Tempest looked into the mirror along one wall. Rarity hadn’t even started the makeover yet, but the smile on her face wasn’t the kind Tempest would ever have worn. Even with her mane up, and her scars on display, it was Fizzlepop looking back.

The Phantom Menace

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had caused very few disasters since they had actually gotten their cutie marks. While the number was not down to zero, this was considered a marked improvement by most ponies in town. Only the ponies working at the spa mourned the good old days when they could sell whole gallons of shampoo specially-designed to remove tree sap from one’s mane.

“Are you sure this is something we should talk to Twilight about?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I’m not really sure this is Princess-level stuff.” To her, Princess-level stuff meant formal meetings, important ponies, and the vague sense of government that everypony had until they found out that it was mostly just paperwork, which would still have very much been in Twilight Sparkle’s wheelhouse.

“We know better ‘n anypony that bullies ain’t something teachers can deal with,” Apple Bloom countered, who was sure this was Princess-level stuff because Twilight outranked Cheerilee and could order her to actually do something about ponies tormenting others in her classroom.

“And we voted,” Scootaloo added. “We voted two to one that this was something Twilight could handle.” Like Apple Bloom, she was sure that this was something for a Princess to handle, though for a different reason. She was hoping Twilight would blow up the school with horn-lasers.

“Okay,” Sweetie sighed. “We’ll tell her about Dinky, and ask her for advice. There’s got to be something she can do…”

Apple Bloom knocked on the front door of the huge crystal palace and prepared to wait. With how large the place was, and how Twilight refused to hire staff, it sometimes took a few minutes for Spike to answer--

The door slammed open, and Tempest Shadow glared down at them, her eyes like burning embers, her form like a huge armored behemoth ready to trample over the fillies.

“What?” she demanded.

“I, um…” Apple Bloom swallowed. The glare was very effectively intimidating the words she wanted to say right back down her throat before they could get out.

“W-we just wanted to--” Scootaloo started. This was a mistake, because it meant Tempest’s gaze fell on her like a spotlight.

“We can come back later!” Sweetie squeaked. She turned and ran, leaving the others to their fates, which was why unicorns tended to fill officer roles in the army where they could stay far behind the front lines and flee with dignity instead of unseemly haste.

Apple Bloom turned to follow and her ankle caught Scootaloo’s extended hoof, the pegasus at least having enough shame to look back with eyes full of apology as she offered her friend up as a sacrifice to make good her own escape. She lay on the ground, reaching out to Scootaloo as if asking why, why she would betray her own best friend?

Tempest loomed over Apple Bloom and picked her up, putting her down firmly on her hooves like somepony might right a tortoise that had slipped.

“Thanks?” Apple Bloom asked, several questions implicit in that single word.

Tempest sighed and rolled her eyes. “Just go,” she said. Apple Bloom nodded and ran off after her friends.

“Did anypony ever tell you that you’ve got a real way with foals?”

Tempest sighed and turned around. “No,” she said. “Is there something you wanted, Miss Glimmer?”

“I was going to get the door, but you took care of that,” she said. She smirked, but her smug grin faded when she really got a look at Tempest’s expression. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Tempest said. She slammed the door. The handle came off in her hoof. She looked at it for a moment before Starlight took it out of her grasp, putting it aside.

“Don’t worry, Sunburst taught me some spells to repair crystal,” Starlight assured her. “I’ll work on it later. I’ve been meaning to give them a try anyway. They’re all old Crystal Empire spells he dug out of an archive, and he wanted me to test them.”

Tempest sighed. “Sure.”

“Hey, I know what it’s like,” Starlight said. “It takes some time to adjust.”

Tempest nodded.

“You try to turn your life around, but it’s been so long since you were anything close to ‘normal’,” Starlight continued. “It’s so hard, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Tempest agreed. “I don’t really know what to do, and every time I try to relax I feel guilty about it.”

“Exactly! It would be so easy to just enslave them all!” Starlight said. “But if you enslave them even a little with magic they get on your back about mind control and you have to apologize and it means extra friendship homework!”

“...What?”

Starlight paused. “I’m working through some things. It’s been a Trixie week.”

“What’s a ‘Trixie week’?” Tempest asked, not sure how worried she should be.

“You know what might help?” Starlight asked, changing the subject away from a certain somepony before her name could be repeated enough times to summon her. “A haircut and a bottle of wine. It was basically the first thing I did when I was in your position.”

“It must feel so nice to be out of that stuffy armor,” Rarity said. Tempest flinched as the designer ran a comb through her coat, snagging here and there on curled, gnarly patches over old scars. Every tug was a reminder of bad times and a temptation to hide. Was it a punishment for scaring Rarity’s sister, some penance handed down from a higher power?

Maybe, but only if that higher power was haute couture.

“It’s a good thing I had the last bottle of that shampoo,” Rarity continued, with her ability to see the smallest detail yet ignore obvious discomfort. “I have no idea what you used to get your mane like that, but it’s much better now that we’ve let it down.”

Tempest gave Starlight a look. It was the look of a proud pony brought low with no way to save themselves, a wordless cry for help. Starlight saw it. Like a Romane Emperor pronouncing judgment on a fallen gladiator, the only mercy she could offer was death and it was denied to Tempest.

“Tell me, darling, do you think a Prench braid would be better, or a bun?”

“Oh, well, um--” Tempest started, as if Rarity had actually wanted an answer.

“Yes, you’re right. A bun is so professional and uptight and we’re trying to get away from that. A simple braid, for now, to keep your mane out of your eyes.” Rarity nodded to herself. “We can go to the salon later and find something a bit more sophisticated.”

Tempest winced as her mane was pulled in three directions at once.

“I’ve been hoping you’d come down for a fitting for some time. I didn’t want to press, but you seemed like a pony who knows how to really make their look work for them. It can be so difficult to break out of old habits, though, hm? I learned that the hard way myself. There was a rather demanding client and it took me some time to-- well, you know the phrase ‘the customer is always right?’”

Tempest nodded, and Rarity’s field held her head still.

“Don’t move your head, darling! I want to keep this braid straight. Anyway, the phrase means that the customer is always right about what they want, even if their taste isn’t the same as yours. Most ponies don’t like hot sauce on their cupcakes, but Pinkie Pie adores it. She’s not wrong for simply having different tastes, nor was a certain customer of mine wrong for her own choice in dresses, even if it did end up looking rather like a combination of cellophane and swiss cheese. She was happy with it, I did my very best making it, and that’s what really mattered in the end.”

Tempest swallowed and tried to stay perfectly still. She felt fabric settle on her body, but didn’t dare move her head to look down. This was probably for the best, because she didn’t see the needles and thread making a few minor adjustments at what would, for most unicorns, be reckless speed and dangerously close to Tempest’s skin. For Rarity it was simply a quick touch-up.

“There!” Rarity declared. “What do you think?”

Tempest finally felt like she could move. A mirror was levitated in front of her, and what she saw took her breath away. Rarity had draped her in turquoise and white, and if she held her head just right, turned her face to only show her good side, just for a moment she could pretend she could look at somepony who hadn’t made so many bad decisions in her life.

Distantly, Tempest heard a knock on the door. The two seconds it took Starlight to cross the room were apparently too long, because the pony on the other side decided she’d been standing there long enough and flew through the window.

An open one, to be precise, because we’re talking about Rainbow Dash and it wouldn’t be unlike her to crash through a closed window just because it was faster.

“Hey!” Dash said, almost landing then thinking better of it after Rarity looked at her unwashed hooves and made a noise. She hovered halfway between floor and ceiling instead. “Twilight needs everypony. Something big came up. Do you know where her new evil friend is?”

“Is that me, Sunset Shimmer, or Tempest?” Starlight asked.

“That last one. You should come too, though.” Dash said, without the half-ounce of apology one might expect after calling somepony else evil to their face. “Oh hey, she’s over there! I kinda thought you might have skipped town. No offense.”

Tempest narrowed her eyes. Dash was hovering, but it was no excuse to look down on her.

“So, uh…” Dash hesitated. “You look good out of uniform?”

“Thanks,” Tempest growled.

“This is getting pretty awkward.” Dash nodded to herself. “I’m gonna leave before it gets worse. Just kinda… bowing out. Anyway, I’ll see you at the train station.”

She looked at the door, all the way across the room, then flew out the window instead because it would save her half a second.

“Did anypony catch what this is about?” Starlight asked.

“No. Because we were not informed.” Rarity huffed. “The next time somepony complains about how much luggage I bring, I will remind them that I am often expected to be on-hoof for a task that might be anything from a trip to Yakyakistan to defending myself against monsters to secretly teaching Princess Luna how to dance.”

“You taught Luna how to dance?” Starlight asked.

“No. Because if I did, it would be a state secret and I couldn’t tell you, darling!” Rarity laughed.

“Um,” Tempest said. “Where should I leave this dress?”

“Hm?” Rarity asked. Tempest watched with trepidation as her armor was packed away in a travel bag along with several additional bolts of fabric, a box full of assorted gems, one rubber duck, and roughly a gallon of assorted perfumes and soaps. “You should wear it.”

“But--”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there in case there are any minor stains or adjustments to be made,” Rarity said. “But in return, perhaps you could help carry one or two of my bags?”

“Is your back feeling any better?” Starlight whispered.

Tempest stretched and winced. “We were already going to a castle. Why did she bring bags full of bricks?”

“I don’t think they were literally full of bricks, even if they felt like it,” Starlight said. “Are you sure I can’t do anything to help?”

“I’ll be fine,” Tempest said, speaking as an expert at abusing her own body. “Why did they need me if they were just going to have us wait outside the room?”

“Who knows?” Starlight shrugged. “Maybe Twilight wanted to get you out of the castle for a while. I mean we went right from one castle to another castle, but at least it’s a change of scenery, right?”

“Actually, I wanted her to take a look at something,” Princess Twilight said. Tempest bowed as she approached. Twilight sighed. “You don’t have to do that, Tempest.”

“I don’t have to, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t,” Tempest said. “How can I help?”

“Follow me,” Twilight said, motioning with her head.

They passed a few guards as they walked through the corridors. They tried not to look at Tempest but she spotted a few dirty looks when they thought she couldn’t see them.

“There was a robbery last night,” Twilight said. “The Royal Treasury was shipping newly minted bits from Fillydelphia. The robbers got away cleanly.”

“And you need my help tracking them down,” Tempest said. She nodded with approval. “I’m an expert at hunting ponies down, as you know.”

“Ah, actually, no,” Twilight said, with the kind of smile a teacher reserved for a student who wasn’t only wrong but who was so wrong it actually lowered their future expectations of them. “The bits they stole are commemorative, so it’ll be easy to tell if they try to spend them. There are guards looking for them, but we’re more worried about this.”

Twilight opened a door into what was usually a ballroom but was being used as something between an infirmary and a statue garden.

“When the train arrived at its destination, everypony who had been guarding the treasury car had been petrified, as you see here.” Twilight motioned to the dozen ponies standing in various poses of surprise.

“You haven’t revived them?” Starlight asked.

“We wanted to confirm something first,” Princess Celestia said. Maybe all the white and gold in Canterlot was purely to serve as camouflage for her, because she somehow managed to surprise Tempest when she stepped towards them. “Thank you for joining us.”

Tempest bowed again. “Your highness.”

“Can you confirm if these ponies were petrified by the same method you used on my sister and I?” Celestia asked, going right to business.

Tempest swallowed down her nervousness and stepped over to the nearest statue. She stepped around it, needing less than a minute to make her decision.

“It’s gorgon venom,” Tempest said. “I’ve seen it enough to know. The same thing I used on you.”

“And not a common thing to come by,” Celestia muttered.

“A gorgon?” Starlight asked.

“Imagine a snake with the front half of a deer,” Tempest explained. “Bronze hooves and antlers, steel scales, incredibly strong and fast and able to breathe a gas that turns living things to stone.”

“I’m surprised you know about them,” Twilight said. “They’re very rare creatures. I’m not even sure where you’d buy gorgon venom…”

“You don’t need to find somepony selling it if you have your own gorgon,” Tempest said. “I know what they’re like because the Storm King hired one. The same way he hired me.”

“That raises some disturbing questions,” Princess Celestia said. “It means whatever weapons are left must be making their way to the black market.”

“It could be worse than that,” Tempest said, the bottom falling out of her stomach. “The Storm King fell, but everything he built is still out there. He’s gone, but there are soldiers and fortresses and factories…”

“I guess I got spoiled.” Twilight groaned. “Most of the time when I beat a villain everything they did just sort of fades away.”

“I’m so sorry,” Tempest whispered.

“You know the Storm King’s army better than anypony else,” Princess Celestia said. “Would you be willing to brief the head of the Royal Guard, along with the Royal Cabinet, about what we might expect?”

Tempest steadied herself and nodded. “Yes, your highness.”

Tempest coughed.

There were a lot of eyes on her. Three princesses. Five more ponies who’d saved Equestria a few times. A half-dozen members of the military and nobility. Starlight Glimmer. Spike was there too, but he was taking a transcript instead of actively staring at her.

“I’d like to start by apologizing to everypony here,” she said, her voice a little hoarse. “Most of us have only met once before when I was, ah, conquering you. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I’m trying to atone for what I did.”

“And that includes getting a spa day and a new dress?” Prince Blueblood asked, from the back of the room. Tempest winced like she’d been struck. “Is this about finally putting her in prison?”

“Princess Twilight has assured us that Tempest Shadow is learning the value of friendship,” Princess Luna said, without looking at Blueblood. She was watching Tempest like a hawk. “I tend to believe her.”

Starlight waved and smiled, nodding for Tempest to go on

“Thank you,” Tempest said, swallowing past the lump in her throat to continue. “So, I assume everypony has been briefed on the robbery?” She waited for nods. “After examining the victims, I believe that the same weapon I used on the Princesses was used to petrify them. It’s based on concentrated gorgon venom, and I believe they were constructed here.”

She pointed to a spot on the map.

“There’s nothing there,” Blueblood scoffed.

“Actually, that’s not true,” Rainbow Dash cut in. “There’s a huge storm system there that never goes away. You can see it from like, forever away.”

“The Maw of Thunders,” Tempest said, nodding. “It’s a hurricane, hovering over and around a huge, broken mountain range. Picture cliffs of volcanic rock and glass going right from sea level to a few thousand feet, totally sheer, with canyons between them dropping down to the water. It’s a maze, with dangerous winds and zero visibility in some spots.”

“Let me take a wild guess,” Applejack said. “It ain’t no coincidence he’s called the Storm King.”

“There’s a fortress in the eye of the storm,” Tempest said. “It was his headquarters. Just to reach it you have to know the path through the maze of cliffs, and even if you do there are armed checkpoints along the way.”

“And these gorgon venom weapons come from there?” Celestia asked.

“They were designed there. It’s mostly factories and docks. They make everything from armor to airships. Everything you need to supply an army.” Tempest frowned. “And his ‘merch’. I doubt it’s selling very well right now.”

“Maybe that’s why they needed the bits,” Dash suggested.

“It’s possible,” Tempest agreed. “The fact the attack happened at all means the power vacuum is being filled and someone is giving orders to the troops.”

“We’ll have to increase defenses along our southern border,” Celestia said. “If we set up patrols to watch for airships in the corridor directly to and from this ‘Maw of Thunders’, we can turn them away before anypony can get hurt.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Tempest said, quickly. “You have to attack!”

Celestia frowned.

“The Storm King’s army is probably still regrouping,” Tempest explained. “They lost a lot of soldiers and equipment here in Canterlot, but they’ll rebuild. The longer you wait, the more time they have to gather strength. An immediate strike can capture the fortress before they’re a threat!”

“These monsters aren’t ponies,” Blueblood said. “It’s much more likely they’ll simply destroy each other with in-fighting without us having to lift a hoof.”

“More to the point, Equestria does not attack,” Luna said. “The EUP and Royal Guard are self-defense forces. There is no need for us to strike at a phantom threat, especially one in such a precarious position.”

“But--” Tempest started.

“I understand your feelings,” Princess Celestia said, gently but firmly. “You need to relearn how ponies do things. We are not going to attack, especially without definite proof. However, if there are remnants in this fortress, we might be able to open dialogue with them.”

“If you don’t attack, they’ll think you’re weak,” Tempest growled.

“Strength doesn’t come from a willingness to hurt others,” Celestia said. Her tone soured slightly, just enough to let Tempest know she was displeased. “A weak pony is one who is so afraid that they would rather hurt others before they can be hurt themselves. A strong pony is one that is willing to extend the hoof of friendship even to an enemy.”

Tempest deflated, looking down. “Yes, your highness.”

“You’re dismissed,” Celestia said, not even looking at Tempest. “Thank you for your advice.”