Verve

The cold Lunar chill was easily circumvented by the pile of blankets clinging to Tempest and her small lover, the dark moonlight thick with falling flakes of ice and frozen dreams. Tempest’s eyes traveled the valley of Copse Vale, the massive lake below now only a distant memory in her mind; a doom now circumvented.

“I-I don’t believe you when you say you’ve never kissed another mare, hon,” Pumpkin mewled from her side. “At Crystal Horn Cove, I was shocked I didn’t faint after the first one.”

Pumpkin’s stuttering improved dramatically with time, along with her confidence. Simply being near Tempest gave that effect - the stalwart Commander rarely faltered in the face of adversity, and that same feeling filled Pumpkin with determination to improve her flaws.

“It wasn’t experience, my sweet. Just sheer confidence. It helps when you just melt at my touch, too - for example.”

She slid her hoof across Pumpkin’s mane, much to the sweet mare’s delight. The autumn mare’s pastel green eyes slid shut, cooing quietly at the touch. When her muzzle tilted up to meet Tempest’s soft petting, the Unicorn slid down to catch her lips in a syrupy liplock. And just like that, she was at her complete and total command.

When Tempest slid away, her little lover’s cheeks were colored a soft crimson in the faint light. And just like that, the moment was over - much to the little baker’s frustration.

“W-Wait, n-no, I wasn’t finished…” She frowned, pawing at the Commander’s leg in need.

“Nuh uh uh, my sweet. Later. For now, I should pay attention. We’re almost at the Twin Peaks, and I…”

Her ears flicked, swiveling around to the sound of something rushing through the air. Immediately, she clicked the gears and killed the engine - the airship running adrift in the billowing wind. No light save for the moon, Tempest scanned the approaching mountain with worry.

A flash of a rainbow mane and tail, as the sound arched over the hills - barreling towards them at a hard to control speed. It crashed into the silent, pitch black ship’s railing with a splintering shatter of wood. Instantly, the vessel rocked from the impact - several of the dozens of ropes binding the balloon above snapping with a crack through the air. Rainbow Dash rolled across the deck in a flurry of wings and tumbling yelps, knocking the brig’s door right off of its hinges as she slid and careened inside.

“By the stars above!” Tempest called - the wood creaking heavily as the balloon strained to keep the vessel aloft. She had no choice but to spring into action, throwing the blanket from her shoulders as she jumped to the deck below

“Pumpkin! Rouse Arin and the others - tell them to be ready for battle. I’ll stabilize the balloon. Go! Now!” she ordered, the chipped horn Unicorn leaping from the rail to the deck below. Ropes straining against the leathery fabric above, she seized several spare cords in a desperate slide against the icy deck - tossing lengths and binds around the closest stable structures she could; from frame-tied banisters to dock knobs, her hooves were quick in their action.

Now, the hard part. Securing the blimp above before it was too late. A groan gave way as another taut rope snapped - flying into the air from the released tension.

Within seconds, Pumpkin sounded the alarm below - a clatter of hooves and feet rolling out of hammocks. The Captain’s cabin door swung open with a grunt, Oarkin struggling to fit through the only exit in confusion.

Vee was the first to appear, fluttering her flapping wings to Tempest’s side. The wine-colored mare was quick to act on this, throwing an order to the pegasus.

“The balloon! Double time!” she yelled, tossing the lengths of ropes as high as she could - Vee shooting up high like an arrow to grab them. Regrettably, she had to use a bit of her magic to seize all the ties - but it only confirmed how dire the situation could very well be.

Arin and Umbra were next, followed by the groggy Celestia. Arin held Sun Song aloft, clenching it with both hands as he inspected the deck for any danger.

“Arin! Umbra! Check the brig! Oarkin, Celestia! Help me tie this down - we need strength! Pumpkin! Find more rope! Move!” Tempest snatched a far length of cable in her muzzle from Vee - throwing it loosely around her waist as her hooves kicked and jumped off the deck. Using her body as an anchor to squeeze down the cord over the quickly escaping balloon. Like a well orchestrated machine, the group set to work.

Arin charged into the shattered door, finding Rainbow Dash heaving gulps of chilling air into her sweat soaked body. Blade drawn and unsure, he approached the muck-covered pegasus. Umbra was quick by his side, horn flashing in an oh so familiar detection spell over her struggling body.

“I do not sense corruption within her, Arin. Stay your blade. She needs healing - and shelter. She will die of exposure if we do not act soon. The sweat will dry, and she will freeze beneath her fur.” Umbra withdrew the rainbow pegasus from the crumpled pile of broken boards and twisted metal with a flash of emerald magic, laying her out in the recovery position. “I will find warmth. Tend to her wounds.”

The Seraph nodded, sheathing Sun Song in a hurry. He ran his hands over her limbs and chest, finding the worst damage to be several broken bones in her wings and barrel. A hindleg was also swollen and tender, skin ripped along her side in a scarlet ribbon of blood.

With damage this bad, he started with a Blessing - a sigil of magic that amplified healing power on the struggling mare. Next, Antithesis…

Celestia’s empowered magic seized another rope - a bit unsure on how to tie it down, it took Oarkin’s booming voice to give her a hint.

“Not the rail! You want strong, sturdy wood. Frame wood! It supports much of the ship. Try the…” He idled at the thought, before the terminology sprung in his mind. With a massive finger, he pointed to a two prong hitch on the floor. “The cleats! Yes. Very strong.”

“Right!” Celestia nodded; every day is a school day, after all. Using the arms of the iron hands as leverage, she ripped her magic back steadily until the balloon above creaked taut, throwing a random knot in place to keep it down.

Pumpkin soon reappeared with more rope, the massive coils of it wrapped around her chest. The heavy weight made her stumble, bumbling about until she tripped on the ice-slick floor with a squeak. Tempest quickly darted back onto deck, after looping the length of her binds through two sections of the cannon windows. Breathing deep, she was quick to find more places to tie straps down on the port side of the vessel, the tension deflating slowly with each new rope settling in place.

Unsurprisingly, Pumpkin’s work was ignored - left to sit under the massive pile of coils, as the group settled the final on-deck binds in place.

Umbra was quick to find Rainbow Dash’s side, while Arin surged the bones back in place. With a scream from the speedy pegasus, he popped the jutting femur back into position. Her spare legs crashing and kicking at the deck in overwhelmed agony.

“By the Feathers, Rainbow Dash - what were you thinking?” he asked, using Resurgence to help stifle the coursing, molten sting shooting through her bones.

“Bucking… didn’t see… ship…” she coughed hoarsely in reply, the Seraph sighing in frustration.

“Of course not, you’re flying at night. In blizzard conditions. In unknown territory. Alone, and with no guidance. Really, the fact that you didn’t crash into the mountain first is more surprising.” Another flash of Antithesis soon followed, and he gave a nod to the dark Unicorn - who threw the blankets from above across her seizing form.

“You aren’t… hypnotized?...” she panted out. Umbra shook her head.

“If you stay out of the Lunar Magic, Nightmare Moon’s presence simply can not reach you. Curious how you are unaffected…”

“Curious?! I... I’ve been fighting… for my life!” Rainbow Dash thumped a tired hoof against the wood in frustration, Arin seizing one of her wings to inspect it in his hands.

“Any more breaks?” he asked, touching over the hollow bones with a frown.

“No. Just… give me a minute. I’m… I’m fine. I don’t… suppose you guys have… water, or… something?”

Arin and Umbra shared a look, before the dark Unicorn shrugged - trotting to fulfil her request.

On the deck side of things, Tempest seemed to have ripped the unmaintained ship into some form of stability - wiping her brow of the freezing sweat building there. Her ocean eyes gazed up at the balloon netting, sighing. Safe… for now. This ship wasn’t designed for combat nor neglect, and either of them could capture the party in a fireball. The moment she could, she was ditching this vessel for solid ground.

“Thank you, all of you. You’ve prevented a disaster here - but now, we have many questions, and few answers. Come. We either have a new ally, or a prisoner, to talk to.”

Tempest made her way to the brig on shaky legs, the adrenaline of almost plunging to the Copse Vale below simmering down with her heart rate. Celestia gave a sigh of relief, quick to follow along to see what happened. Pumpkin was still smothered in a rope, unfortunately - and quietly ignored by all, save Oarkin who pried it off.

“T-That’s it! I hate being the shortstack! W-We need a smaller pony that I can bully!” Pumpkin huffed, crossing her hooves as Oarkin readjusted her hat.

“Hush now, small one. You are safe. You did good! Thank you.” He gave her a firm pat on the head - the cute mare letting out an "Eeeep!" as he knocked her to the floor.

“...Woops.” He frowned. When she didn’t immediately respond, he just kind of… quietly put the rope back on top of her. And whistled as he walked away. If any of the other crew members asked, he was never there.

“Rainbow Dash?!” Celestia gasped, galloping into the small confines of the brig right past their Commander - quickly settling by the tired mare’s side. Umbra soon returned with a mug of hopefully clean water, in one of Vee’s many abandoned coffee cups - much to the displeasure of the Purple.

“Princess!...” Rainbow called quietly, as Celestia gently scooped the Element up in her wings for a damp, sweat-soaked hug. “Your mane! It's… red?”

“Neigh,” Vee whispered quietly, mostly out of habit - Celestia slapping her with a wing out of reaction.

“This is what it’s supposed to look like! At least, before I used the Elements to banish Nightmare Moon the first time. But that’s not the point… how did you get here? Wait - Arin, is she?...” Celestia’s magenta eyes turned to their resident White Mage, who shrugged.

“She’s fine, a little battered - but untouched by Lunar Magic. At least from what we can tell.” Arin gave his patient’s hoof a gentle squeeze, the Pegasus rolling her eyes in frustration before ripping it away. The work of a healer was a thankless job, after all.

“Of course I’m fine! I wouldn’t have been able to fly all the way here if I wasn’t!” she spat, as Umbra offered the mug to the exhausted mare. “I escaped the Canterlot dungeon to find you guys! Which was like… a terrible idea. EVERYTHING hurts! I may have hit a couple of trees in the dark, too. Use more of that healing light on me, big guy.”

Rainbow seized the cup greedily, gulping down the cool water in seconds. Arin sighed, clenching his fists in a swift cast of Resurgence.

“You flew… from Canterlot, all the way here?” Tempest stared right through her, in absolute disbelief. “Impossible. How long have you been flying?”

“For like, hours! I would have gotten here faster, too, but I didn’t want to be followed. Nightmare Moon has all my friends under some weird hypnosis! They tried to get me to join them, but like… no! I couldn’t. I couldn’t give up on Equestria! Not on the Princess! We all went up there to kick some flank and save Twilight, but the next thing I knew, I was in this… horrible dream. Like I was a foal again, and Nightmare Moon was there, and…”

Rainbow Dash shivered. “It was like she was trying to trick me into thinking she’s been this weird… ‘queen’ or whatever, since I was a filly! And I almost thought so too, but I refused to believe everything I saw about you, Princess. She like… tried to make me think you molested ponies, and banished anypony who fought back to the moon, or that you were crazy and ate fillies, and like… you had this weird thing for bananas…”

“...That… what?” Celestia cringed at this revelation; okay, maybe the banana thing was true… a thousand or so years ago, but she never touched an unwilling lover. Excessive banishment was wrong, and eating ponies… that was just a pure falsehood.

“Yeah! And this dream felt like it went on for years and years, and when I woke up, I was so mad, I punched Nightmare Moon in the face. Well, I tried to. She threw me in the dungeon in the end, and started a bunch of other… weird… things, to try and convince me to join her. Like, she tried to get Twilight to do it, and Twilight is terrible at persuading ponies. Especially me. I almost felt bad for her, because she was just… so… dumb. Like her egghead brain turned into soup.”

Princess Celestia nodded, sighing in frustration. “This sounds like sleepclopping to me.”

“Please don’t call it that, we have a Small-fry about. Right, Small-fry? ...Smols?” Vee turned to look over the gathered crowd, wondering where her sister went. When Pumpkin didn’t make a noise or say anything in particular, Tempest grew a little worried too - and broke free to find her.

“Isn’t Pumpkin like… twenty two years old?” Arin questioned. Vee raised a wing to preen, shrugging.

“I don’t keep track of her carriage license or birth certificate. That’s my filing cabinet’s fault for losing both of them. But yes, she’s twenty two. Probably.” Vee plucked a feather from her wing, quietly sticking it in Celestia’s flowing mane without the Princess’s knowledge. Celestia continued to croon over the tired Element, continuing her thought.

“As I was saying. Sleepclopping-”

“Just call it sleepwalking, Ugly-mane-fry,” Vee interrupted. Another three purple feathers slipped into the Princess’s billowing red hair. By now, Arin had caught on, and had trouble keeping a serious face.

“...Sleepwalking is an odd state between the real world, and the dream. It’s hard to explain, but it can occur naturally - oftentimes with the victim being entirely unaware that they’re still asleep. I’m assuming this is how Nightmare Moon intends to control all of Equestria. And with the abundant Lunar Magic, and Luna’s own ties to the dream realm - it’s an easy feat for Nightmare Moon to accomplish, especially on a broad scale. And with years of Luna’s magic stored away, she’ll be able to maintain this hold for… decades, even. Which is all it will take. It just takes one generation to undermine a nation, but the world won’t survive that long to begin with.”

After the seventh dozen feather slipped into Celestia’s mane, Vee had reached her quota for preening for the day… on her left wing. The fact that she switched wings and continued, nearly made Arin tear up holding back laughter - Umbra soon catching on as well. The usually stoic mare, who had issues even thinking about a smile - had to stop herself from snorting with a hoof.

“If we can’t break - can I help you two?” Celestia wheeled on Arin and Umbra, who quickly looked away to less interesting parts of the room. By now, the Princess’s entire red mane was nothing but purple feathers, and Vee had started working on her tail.

Celestia turned back to face Rainbow Dash - who was mostly unaware of the intense preening occurring just inches away. Tempest returned, with Pumpkin on her back, nosing her little marefriend in delight after saving her. Upon seeing the spectacle unfolding before them both, Tempest sat by Arin’s side, nudging him with a hoof.

Her eyes said it all. ‘What’s going on here?’

Arin steadied his breath, pointing to Vee as she basically had a stream of preening trash flutter and stick to the wavy strands of Celestia’s tail. Pumpkin lowered her hat in embarrassment, Tempest closing her eyes in an attempt not to laugh.

“I promise you, Rainbow - we’ll save your friends, and we’ll take back the Castle. You have my word - OKAY, what is SO FUNNY?” The Princess nearly shouted, in the royal Canterlot voice - Arin collapsed to the floor, sobbing with laughter. Umbra joined his spectacle with a moderate giggle, stomping a leg in delight.

When Celestia spun to face the group, her mane turned with her - the tangled pinions now facing Rainbow Dash.

“Uh… Princess? Are you supposed to grow feathers in your mane, too?...”

She froze on the spot, Vee reaching forward with a feather in her muzzle to press it into the mass of billowing red, right by her cheek. At that point, even Tempest lost her nerve - Arin banging his fist against the wall while the Commander rested a leg over Umbra's back, cracking up just the same.

“Alright, Much-Prettier-fry. I’ll help you with dream policing and all that jazz.” Vee smiled, admiring her handiwork. And thus, a sip of her coffee followed - and the party’s day could truly begin.