Fury of the Storm

“S-sir?” he continues, unhindered by my silence. “Please, if you’re worried about something, I—”

“I am not interested in meeting your new... friends,” I state bluntly.

“B-but why? Th-they’re really, really nice!”

“I’m sure they are.”

“Is...” He pauses for a moment, and I hear his hoof clop against the door. “I-is this about their magic, sir?”

Exhaling through my nose, I open the door by a sliver and peer through. Sure enough, there was Zelac, who by some small mercy was all on his own. My eyes flick down to the sorcerous neck ring he wore in regular intervals.

“It is,” I confirm.

“Oh,” he murmurs, self-consciously touching said ring. “I... I guess I should’ve seen that coming...”

“Zelac, how in the eighteen hells are you so comfortable around all that sorcery?” I hiss. “Nevermind the actual sorcerers!”

He gives me a sour look. “They’re not abadas, Zobachi.”

“A sorcerer is a sorcerer, no matter the species. And I’ve had quite enough of dealing with sorcerers.”

His brow rises in surprise. “W-wait, what do you mean, ‘dealing’ with sorcerers?” Good, there’s my window to insert the half-false sob story.

“Don’t mistake my fears of magic as me blindly believing in foal’s tales, Zelac,” I begin. “I’ve survived a fight with an abada before. One that very badly wanted me dead.”

“Yuh-y-you what?!”

“I’m sorry, what portion of that statement was difficult to understand?”

“N-n-nothing! I-it’s just... you actually fought one?”

“To the death,” I clarify, causing him to retract with a whimper. “I don’t know why he wanted to kill me. He was a whitehorn, so I assume he was pursuing vengeance for another Imperial raid on his people’s homes. Frankly, the reason is irrelevant: all that matters is that I was his target.” My glare hardens. “Have you seen abadan sorcery up close, Zelac? Do you know what even one stray bolt of sorcerous power is capable of doing to solid stone? One well-placed strike would have killed me outright. A less well-placed one would have crippled me for life. It was like fighting a much weaker Prince, Zelac. There’s no escaping something like that. It was life or death. Me or him.”

With the infusion of truth in my tall tale, he doesn’t detect my lie like he did my lie about my dreams. He looks on with horror at my story, covering his mouth with both hooves with his pupils little more than pinpricks, all while shivering slightly.

In reality, however? It was the complete opposite. That kindly young abadan stallion was just curious, curious enough to override his common sense, and that curiosity cost him his life. It was there that I learned that my wretched, accursed Gift could absorb more than just dragonfire. And unlike Cinder and her parents, he was nowhere near as trustworthy: certainly not enough to keep the secret of a renegade Gifted. If I had let him escape, who knows who he would have told? I...

I had to kill that poor colt. It was either him or me, and not only in the immediate sense. I don’t like to kill, not if it can be avoided. It’s messy, attracts far too much attention, and with very rare exceptions, is always an inferior solution to a problem. At least with most of the other times I’ve been forced to kill, it’s almost always been overzealous Zhaaneph inquisitors: with them, I could always easily justify it to myself as a matter of survival, of self-defence. But that abada? There was no self-defence. It was cold-blooded murder. The simple arithmetic of risk management dictated that he had to die. And I made it so.

It was one of the only murders that truly hung over my head. In a way, I suppose it still haunts me. Even after Cinder helped me dispose of the body, even after talking about it with her and her parents, it hasn't quite...

I shove the thought of Cinder from my head before the thought of her brings unintended emotions into my expression and countenance. I re-harden my glare.

“So you’ll forgive me if I don’t exactly have the best experiences with sorcery and it’s horned practitioners, Zelac.”

“I didn’t know,” he whimpered.

“I didn’t tell,” I huffed. “It’s not exactly a pleasant bedtime story.”

With watery eyes, he lightly pushes on the door, attempting to open it. My own hoof remained planted on the door, opposing his force with ease and denying him entrance.

“M-may I come in?”

“You may not.” His ears fold back. “Not without leaving the sorcery at the door.”

For a moment, he just stands there, gazing at me with clear sadness. Until, with resignation in his eyes, he unclasps the sorcerous neck ring, setting it down on the ground. It’s only then that I allow him to push the door open. Somewhat expectedly, he throws his forelegs around my neck for a particularly tight hug. A pointless gesture, but it makes the giver feel like they’re helping, so there’s little reason to deny him.

“I’m sorry,” he sniffled.

I say nothing, choosing instead to displace my bad memories of the abada with more pressing concerns. Namely, how I will interact with those ponies. Sooner or later, they’ll try to talk to me, as much as I wish they wouldn’t. How I would go about steering that interaction was therefore of paramount importance, and if that Rarity mare was involved, I’d need to be exceedingly careful; socialites were adept at learning things they shouldn’t. Things like one of their prisoners secretly possessing this accursed Gift.

“S-sir?”

“You still want me to speak to them, don’t you?”

He nods against my neck. “It doesn’t have to be right now. But...”

“I’m certain I will have to at some point. I just...” I exhale with genuine exhaustion. “I need time. To adjust, and to rest.”

“Oh.” He squeezes me tighter. “R-right, I-I’m sorry. I nearly forgot about this morning. A-a lot’s happened so fast...”

That’s a gross understatement.

“Zobachi?”

“Yes?”

“I... might not make it back tonight. Is that fine?”

A single dry chuckle leaves me. “Planning on sleeping over, are we?”

“They need me to translate! B-besides, I just, er, have a bad habit of, ah...”

“Tiring yourself out in all the excitement?” Another chuckle, this time more salacious. “My, my, I didn’t take you for such a swinger.”

“Siiir,” he whines, “It’s not like that!”

I laugh, and he huffs. It’s a small source of humour, but one sorely needed.

“I’m only interested in you, anyways,” he murmurs.

“Well, aren’t we the romantic?” I chortle.

He lets out an annoyed hum before pulling away, his cheeks puffed out in said annoyance. But his expression falls to a more saddened one soon after, his now free hoof tapping against the floor as his eyes flick between me and said floor.

“Y-you will give them a chance, yes?”

I sigh. “Yes, I’ll give them a chance. Just not now.”

He gives me a cute little smile. “Thank you, sir.”

With that, he takes his leave. I see him reach down for his neck ring as the door closes behind him, and hear it click back into place a moment later. But before his hoofsteps can get too far away, I hear the door to the room next to us open, and the voice of that imperial stallion calling out to him, asking to come with him. He’s soon joined by the plains stallion, picking up on his cohort’s very obvious angle: a chance to shoot his shot with their pony crushes. They all leave together, suddenly friendly with the one stallion who can facilitate communication with the ponies.

Zelac’s a smart stallion: I’m sure he knows they’re being insincere. I can’t help but grin at the jealous, annoyed whine the mare made, providing the perfect note to climb onto my bed. I sit upright in a meditative pose, doing my best to plan my next moves through the lingering haze of exhaustion and the ever-present presence of that alien.

This was going to be a long day. And I’ve a horrible feeling the dream will be even longer.

“Wow,” Twilight murmured, eyes lingering at the dozen or so honourguards lined up before her. “They all want a translator, too?”

“They do,” Zakurai admits beside her with some mild surprise. “Seems your creation left quite the impression.”

“It’s just... after what you told me about magic being so feared, I thought that...”

“Nozebra else would be interested?” he finishes for her. “To be honest, this showing is a surprise to me, too. But I have a hunch that supplying them all is out of the question for the moment, no?”

“It’s a pretty powerful spell,” she admits. “I could probably make one, maybe two more today. I mean, I could make more, but...”

“We need to be ready for any threats,” he finishes for her once again, eliciting a nod from the princess that he returns in turn. “Please, don’t feel pressured to produce those devices en masse, Twilight.”

“No, I’m just thinking that...” She rubs her chin in thought. “Maybe I could get the unicorn guards to help me.”

He hums in approval at the thought. “We could make a sort of collaborative exercise of it. Our two guard forces, working together to better understand one another?”

Twilight’s eyes light up with stars and a wide smile splits her face at the idea. “Yes! Ohmygosh, that’s a great idea!”

“Then why don’t we spend a little time planning this out?” Zakurai intones with a knowing smile. “I’m sure our respective guards would like to hear of this idea, too.”

Twilight takes off with an excited little neigh to find her guard leaders. Zakurai, in turn, orders his own honourguard leaders to meet with him, with some of them already present in the assembled group. Before long, the two sides have assembled in the Elements’ room, busying themselves with hashing out the details of this impromptu collaboration. Twilight sharing the spell details was a particularly lengthy and complex component of the process, but her guards did their best to understand, with some of the honourguards looking over with intrigue at the magic instruction, incomprehensible as it may be to them.

All the while, the other Elements got acquainted with the ship and it’s avian crew again. They also socialized a bit with the two extra zebra prisoners that had returned with Zelac, but it was fairly obvious that they were more interested in a specific pair of mares than the girls as a whole. The plains stallion in particular was rather pushy, but the object of his eye, Rarity, very easily let him down in such a way that he thought he still had a chance. The smarter imperial stallion, on the other hoof, was at least trying to be nice and understanding with Fluttershy, and even asked the others about the things she enjoyed. Ultimately, he too was let down, but he took it rather well, stating a willingness to make—and stay—friends instead, which was received much better.

The pair left after nearly an hour of talking, and the group returned to the Elements’ room to gawk at Twilight's ongoing collaborative exercise. Though their focus soon returned to Zelac when he let out a sad little sigh.

“Is something the matter?” Fluttershy asks, returning the gentle nuzzle he’d given him before.

Zelac reciprocates the nuzzle for a moment before answering. (“I just wish my, ah, friend was here. I really wanted him to meet you all.”)

“By ‘friend’, do ‘ya mean that big stallion y’all were with before?” Applejack inquired. When Zelac nodded, she pressed further: “What’s the big feller’s name, anyhow?”

(“Oh, i-it’s Zobachi.”) He rubs the back of his head. (“I, er, asked him to come, b-but he said no. N-not yet, anyways.”)

“What was that guy’s deal, anyways?” Rainbow asks aloud. “He looked pretty spooked when we first met.”

“And he really didn’t like surprises,” Pinkie mopes.

(“H-he’s just, er, really private. A-and he, well, really doesn’t like magic. Like, even less than most zebras.”)

“Whatever for?” Rarity presses.

(“Bad experience,”) he summarizes, taking on a noticeably sad demeanour as he said it. (“I-I’d rather not talk about it.”)

“Well that’s a right shame,” Applejack sighed.

(“I did convince him to talk tomorrow, though!”) Zelac exclaimed. (“Just, you know, maybe not all at once? H-he’s kind of overwhelmed by everything, you know?”)

“I wonder about that,” Rarity hums.

“What’s up, Rares?” Dash interjects.

“I can’t explain it yet, but there’s something strange about that zebra,” she muses aloud. “He seems awfully cagey, more than I’d expect, given what I’ve seen so far. And he’s sharp, too: very sharp.”

(“I-I mean, that’s not too surprising, i-is it?”) Zelac murmurs, once again rubbing the back of his head. (“I mean, he is a super-talented criminal.”)

“Talented how, now?” Applejack asked with narrowed eyes.

(“W-well, when we were first, er, brought along,”)—he self-consciously touched the metal collar as he spoke—(“P-P-Prince Zabraxas personally, a-ah, read all our criminal records out loud.”)

“Well that’s right strange,” Applejack chortled. “But what of it?”

(“Er, Z-Zobachi’s record is, w-well...”) He swallows dry. (“Long. Really long. Like, h-he’s been bad since he was a colt, a-and it shows.”)

Rarity smirked a bit at the subtly impressed—even somewhat smitten—tone Zelac took as he said that.

“And... he’s been nice to you anyways?” Rainbow asks point-blank.

Rarity’s smirk grew at Zelac’s beaming smile and rapid nod. More specifically, at the subtle tells that gave away his attraction to the zebra in question.

“Huh.” Rainbow blinks. “Weird. Didn’t strike me as the ‘nice’ type.”

Zelac’s slightly embarrassed nervous laugh all but confirmed Rarity’s suspicion that he was deeply attracted to that Zobachi stallion, if not outright in love with him. She returned her smirk to a more normal smile, content to just sit on that information for the time being.

“So what are y’all in for, anyhow?” came Applejack’s next question.

(“M-me? I, er, w-well...”) There was the nervous laugh again, only much more nervous than before, and accompanied by some sweating. (“I-I, ah, h-hahah, th-that’s kind of a...”) His eyes flick around for a moment, his pupils constricted. Until finally, he swallows dry and all but bleats the word: (“Adultery!”)

The moment the words leave him, he falls to the floor and covers his head, shivering and fearful of judgment from his new friends. In so doing, he failed to notice their looks of confusion.

“I’m sorry, adultery?” Rarity exclaims, speaking on everypony’s behalf. “That’s a crime in Zebrica?”

Zelac’s shivering stops, and he pokes an eye out from the cover of his own forelegs to look at her. (“I-it isn’t in Equestria?”)

“Oh, don’t mistake me, darling: it’s hardly a good thing.” Zelac’s ears fold back again after their brief rise from his question. “But it’s not a crime in and of itself.”

“So yer tellin’ me that y’all can get thrown in prison fer sleepin’ around?” Applejack blurts in disbelief.

(“I-I, er...”) He swallows dry again. (“W-w-well yes, buh-b-but technically I wasn’t the one who—”)

Heavy hooffalls with accompanying metallic jingles rang out in the hallway, heralding the arrival of Prince Zabraxas. Zelac had already dropped into a low, shaky bow towards the door before it even opened, and when it did, the visibly exhausted stallion strode into the room, headed straight for Prince Zakurai. Said counterpart was in the process of overseeing his zebras helping with the initial circle-writing phase of Twilight’s translation spell, with the mare’s own guards also aiding in that process. Zabraxas’s mere arrival interrupted Zakurai, and he wasted no time in speaking to him, his tonality making it clear that he was not here for conversation.

“What’s he saying?” Rainbow wonders, looking over towards Zelac.

(“Uhm, th-that he wants P-Prince Zakurai to take over his shift.”) He shuffles somewhat nervously as Zakurai leads Zabraxas off to the side for a moment. (“Er, I-I’m not really sure what they’re taking shifts on.”)

“They’re watching Anonymous,” Rarity intones, displeasure thick in her voice.

Zelac emits a tiny, fearful “eep” at the name. (“Y-y-you mean th-that ‘great evil’?”)

“The very same.”

(“Ohhnononono,”) he murmurs, clapping his hooves to his ears. (“Idon’twanttoknow!”)

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy soothes with another small nuzzle. “As long as we’re here, you’ll be safe.”

Zelac only replies with a small whimper, content to just be comforted by her. A short while later, the duo of Princes come back, this time with Zabraxas eyeing a fresh mug of coffee in his hoof with suspicion. Only at Zakurai’s urging does he begin to drink from it. It’s obvious he doesn’t care for the taste, but there’s no denying the immediate effect it has on his energy levels.

Zakurai goes over to Twilight to more formally take his leave for the time being. As he makes for the door, he stops by the other Elements, letting them know he’ll be in the cargo bay if they need him for anything. And with that, he departs for his post. Zabraxas sits over on a nearby table, nursing his drink while warily watching the spell circle being drawn by both sets of guards, opting to withhold his commentary for now.

For a while, nopony quite knew what to do, the Prince’s presence doing a wonderful job of sucking the conversational energy out of the room. That is, until Pinkie opted to bounce on over towards the Prince completely unprompted, plopping herself into the seat next to him. This caused him to slowly turn his mildly curious and greatly skeptical gaze towards the excitable pink mare in question, who flashed him a big, expectant smile all the while.

“What’cha doooin’?” she opens.

His only response was a slow blink.

“Uhh, Pinkie?” Applejack spoke up, the others following soon after she began walking up towards her. “Ah don’t think the big feller wants ta’ be bothered right now.”

Zabraxas’s ear pivots towards Zelac, picking up on the live translation. Still, he says nothing.

“But we’ve only ever talked to Zaku-raku!” Pinkie half-whined. “I want to hear what Zabby-wabby has to say, too!”

Zelac paled slightly at Pinkie’s casual nicknaming of the zebras he and others considered all but outright demigods. But once again, the Prince in question remains stone-faced. But doesn’t remain silent.

(“I am a warrior. Not a diplomat.”) His words are as flat and monotonous as ever. (“You will not enjoy speaking with me.”)

“But you will speak to us?” Pinkie punctuated her question with a few sparkly-eyed blinks.

The only sign of his annoyance was a light snort. (“If you wish.”)

Pinkie let out a little squeak of joy, followed by pulling a very nervous Zelac close by for his passive translation assistance. He and the other girls find their own seats at the table, but it’s obvious to all but Pinkie that this particular encounter was already proving to be incredibly awkward.

“Sooo, uhh,” Rainbow opened, “Zakurai told us you chased the Storm King and his goons out of Zebrica. I wanna hear more about that!”

(“You may not hear more.”)

Rainbow blinks, taken aback at how blunt he was. “Oh. Uh. Why not?”

(“You do not need to know.”)

Her nose wrinkles in a mixture of surprise, annoyance, and aggravation.

“Oookay then,” she mutters.

“Well,” Rarity attempted next, “I admit, I am very fascinated by your homeland, your highness. Perhaps you could tell us a bit more about it?”

(“I will not.”)

Rarity did her best to hide her offence. “Erm, why is that?”

(“You do not need to know,”) he repeats.

“Is there anything we do need ta’ know?” Applejack deadpanned, not shy about hiding her feelings.

(“The layout of this vessel. Entrances and exits. Chokepoints. Defensible positions. The capabilities of the soldiers on board. Plans and contingencies for attacks on the vessel. The identities of groups and individuals most likely to mount an assault on this vessel. Disaster plans in the event that the statue in storage has been stolen.”) A brief pause. (“Those are a portion of the things all of us need to know.”)

“‘Ya know,” she continues, “You can take this whole thing deadly serious and still make nice with everypony at the same time.”

(“A waste of time and effort. The security of this ‘Anonymous’ creature is of sole and paramount importance. All other matters are tertiary.”)

“All due respect, yer’ highness, they ain’t ‘tertiary’ in any respect. An’ frankly, that was mighty rude of ‘ya.”

(“I do not care. I warned you in advance that you would not enjoy speaking with me. If you are not going to discuss the security of the statue, we have nothing further to discuss. It is as simple as that.”)

“Then you misunderstood my question,” Rarity cuts in before Applejack could say more. “I was not asking about Zebrica as a sightseeing tourist, your majesty: I was asking as an ally, one that wishes to be prepared for that leg of the journey.”

(“You are mistaken on multiple fronts. We are not allies; we are temporary cooperators. I do not care from which place you ask about Zebrica: the location in which the statue will be sealed is a state secret of paramount importance. As such, my determination remains: you do not need to know.”)

Rarity takes a moment to pinch her snout, gently exhaling to try and ameliorate her frustration with the Prince. “Darling, cooperators we may be, that still requires cooperation from all parties.”

(“You are cooperating by providing the statue and agreeing to help secure it. That is a sufficient level of cooperation. You are attempting to overstep your bounds by conflating cooperation with fraternization. I am uninterested.”)

“Oh my gosh, we’re just trying to be friendly, dude!” Rainbow finally exclaims, her hooves slamming on the tabletop. “Hay, we’re even trying to make friends with you!”

(“I am uninterested.”)

“Why?!”

(“It is unnecessary. Friendship provides no benefit to the execution of my duties.”)

“How can you say that?”

Everypony and everyzebra at the table turned to the source of those hurt, softly spoken words: Twilight Sparkle. A matching hurt look crossed her face as she looked up at Zabraxas.

“Friendship is what makes us strong,” she continued. “It’s why we were able to defeat Anonymous in the first place. It holds all of us together, bridges our divides, resolves our differences. You saw it with your own eyes when you visited us. How can you just dismiss friendship out of hoof like that, knowing what it can do?”

Neither a teary-eyed Zelac nor the other Elements had time to let her words sink in before Zabraxas began speaking again.

(“Our societies are not comparable, and you assume too much. You assume I attribute friendship to your land’s peace and high social cohesion. I do not. I attribute it to a fortunate and plentiful homeland; to your powerful racial abilities of strength, flight, and sorcery; to a strong military presence enforcing peace and cohesion within and beyond your land; to the intrinsic herd mentality within all equine beings. The most important factor I have observed is the presence of an immortal caste of demigod rulers, combining all of the racial traits of ponykind into one being: the ultimate foundation upon which your cohesion may be built. Unto my observations, your ‘friendship’ is a simple consequence of these symbiotic factors.”)

Twilight shakes her head sadly. “You’ve got it all backwards. Those came because of the magic of friendship. Our land was frozen and inhospitable before friendship restored it. The earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns were all weak when separated, and friendship made them strong together. Our military is called the EUP, because it’s only strong with all three races working together in harmony. The magic of friendship, of harmony, goes much further than just herd mentality: it’s the reason that alicorns even exist in the first place.”

(“I repeat: our societies are not comparable. Our species are comparable only on the genus level, and incomparable on all other levels.”)

She smiles. “I don’t believe that, your majesty. I won’t believe that.”

(“You may believe what you will. It will not alter the course of reality.”) The smallest of frowns creases his still-neutral expression as he gets to his hooves, taking his lukewarm coffee with him. (“Further discussion is pointless. I shall be in my quarters. Inform me immediately if danger befalls the vessel.”)

And with that, the Prince took his leave, leaving more than just a sour impression behind.

“Of all the hard-headed...” Applejack muttered, visibly frustrated.

“I want to be frustrated, but...” Rarity exhales slightly. “I’m just sad.”

“What the hay are you sad about?!” Rainbow exclaims.

“All work and no play,” Pinkie murmurs, her mane partially deflated. “That’s what I’m sad about.”

Rarity hums her agreement. “I don’t think that stallion has ever known a life outside of his role as Prince. A life where everything important to him must be tied to his work. Where everything else is just... discarded.”

“I know we can get through to him,” Twilight spoke up. “I just don’t know if we can get through to him before our journey is over.”

Rainbow Dash emits a tired sigh. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high. I’ve worked with flyers like that guy before. Getting them to do anything that isn’t work is like pulling teeth.”

“Eyup,” Applejack agrees. “Got a fair few cousins, aunts, n’ uncles like that, too. In mah experience? They only turn around when life gives ‘em a square buck to the jaw. They ain’t got a choice but to change then.”

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Fluttershy whimpers.

“I don't want it to come to that,” Twilight concurs. “But there’s no way I’ll give up. I can’t.”

Light sniffling breaks up the girls’ discussion, the source being a particularly watery-eyed Zelac doing his best to keep from outright crying.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy murmurs, patting him on the withers. “Are you okay?”

(“I’m sorry, it's just...”) Fluttershy emitted a small ‘eep’ when he wrapped her in a surprise hug. (“You’re the nicest people I’ve ever met.”)

A few knowing smiles were shared between the girls before they all descended upon their translator, making him the centre of a group hug. The dam burst, and he began weeping openly, a big, happy smile plastered onto his face as he did his best to hug everypony back.

(“I wish I could do more than just translate and hug,”) he whimpered.

“We’re very thankful for all you’ve done so far,” Twilight assuaged.

“Besides,” Rainbow chuckled. “If you really want more to do, I’m sure we can think of something.”

The group hug broke up, and Twilight went straight back to coaching the guards on the final steps of the spell. Working together, the alicorn’s magical burden was eased considerably with the other unicorns working together, resulting in the creation of yet another translator in the form of yet another neck ring offered by one of the honourguards. All of said honourguards looked on at the spell’s completion with varying degrees of awe and fear, but none questioned the results when Twilight added charge to the device and the honourguard the ring belonged to began to converse in both languages, this time translating in a simulacrum of Twilight’s voice to match the purple glow of the symbols on the ring. Disbanding for the moment, the group promised to meet tomorrow to create yet another translator together, the spirits of the guards and honourguards noticeably higher as they left.

(“I er, hope I’m not being replaced,”) Zelac half-jokingly murmured, rubbing the back of his head again.

“Not now, not later, not ever!” Pinkie exclaimed, quick on the draw with a side hug.

Zelac laughed a little in response. As a group, him and the girls cleaned things up in the Elements’ room, and then left to the mess hall for a much needed last meal of the day. The tribulations of the day had taken a surprising amount of time; they hadn’t realized that the sun was already setting by the time they started eating.

(“I-if, ah, you don’t mind my asking,”) Zelac piped up from his soup, (“I-I know we're heading back to Zebrica, b-but, uh, where are we going next?”)

“Oh, tomorrow, you mean?” Twilight continued at Zelac's nod. “You remember that Storm King we mentioned before?” She flashed him a reassuring smile upon seeing his fearful nod. “Don’t worry, he was defeated.”

(“Ohthankthegods,”) he exhaled.

“Well, when he was defeated, both our army and the hippogriffs teamed up to defeat the rest of his army. We pushed them out of their base on Storm Island, and now we’re using it as our base, to help keep us all safe from his soldiers if they ever try to attack us again.”

(“Oh wow,”) he murmurs. (“Er, h-hippogriffs? W-was that what that one other creature at your big castle was?”)

“That was Queen Novo, and yes, she is a hippogriff,” she answered. “We’re getting more help from them once we get there, to make extra sure that Anonymous doesn’t escape.”

He swallowed dry at the mere mention of his name. (“Y-you’ve got the Princes helping, P-Princess. No way he’ll escape.”)

“Ah hope so, pardner,” Applejack chimed in. “Last thing we wanna do is rein that varmint back in.”

Things fell into relative silence after that as everyone resumed eating. Twilight, however, couldn’t help but worry about how their arrival at Storm Island would go. Not because of the aid they would receive; that she had total confidence in. No, she was worried about how one pony in particular was going to react to their expedition.

A pony that, even after her travels, even after Cadance had helped her reconnect with her past, had confined herself to the island ever since the defeat of Anonymous, throwing herself at the task of hunting down the Storm Remnant forces.

After finishing their supper, the group retreated to their room once again, this time to begin settling in for the night. With the exception of Twilight, who had to keep watch over the statue once Zakurai’s shift was over. And as half the girls plus Zelac fell fast asleep, a gentle series of knocks on the door rang out, and Twilight opened it to find the Prince in question waiting on the other side, his exhaustion now quite apparent.

“My turn?” Twilight asked.

“Your turn,” he echoes. As she waved goodbye to her wakeful friends, however, he continued to speak. “A few things before you begin, however.”

“Of course, what is it?”

“I don’t know how well it would work for you, but our alchemists can provide potions to stave off the effects of sleep deprivation. I’m told it’s much stronger than that miraculous coffee of yours, but the nature of our Gift makes it... ineffective on us. I’ve ordered the honourguards to provide it for you on request, if you wish to try it.”

“Oh, thank you! I’ll definitely keep it in mind. Anything else?”

“Actually, I was hoping to speak on this next subject with your friends, if you don’t mind?”

Nodding, Twilight stepped back into the room with Zakurai following suit, the girls rousing their cohorts awake. They tried to leave Zelac alone, but he wound up waking anyways, shooting upright upon realizing his Prince was in attendance. Zakurai asked the alchemist to have a private moment with the Element bearers, and Zelac was quick to comply, rushing out of the room.

“In normal circumstances, we can wake as we please from our dreams, like any other. However, things are nowhere near as simple when a hostile dreamer is present.” The atmosphere tensed immediately, and the girls all listened in intently. “When that happens, awakening only becomes possible when one side or another is either defeated, or makes an escape. And I’ve never seen a successful escape in all my years, much less attempted one. That said, I'm very curious about the possibility of you ladies remedying this situation.”

“What do ‘ya need?” Applejack asked instantly. “Jus’ say the word!”

“For now, I’d like one of you to watch over us while we sleep. When our dream turns to a nightmare—and you’ll know when it does—I’d like for you all to try anything you can to rouse us. Nozebra has been able to do it, but I’d like to know if anypony can pull it off instead.”

“I’m game!” Rainbow clopped her front hooves together. “We’ll have you guys out of that tailhole’s nightmare in no time!”

“I hope so,” Zakurai hums. “Again, I must thank you all for your help so far.”

“Thank you for yours!” Pinkie retorts.

With that, Zakurai left with Rainbow Dash, while Twilight left for the cargo bay. The remaining girls all went back to settling in for the night, but not before informing Zelac that he could come back, which he did quickly and promptly. He didn’t ask about what happened, in no small part because he didn’t want to know. But the apprehension of whatever unknown topic they discussed ate at him for a moment in spite of that, keeping him awake for longer than he would have liked. He was the last equine in the room to fall asleep as a result.

But sleep he did, fitfully unaware of the somnolent war that was about to take place.

My hooves struggle to remain firmly planted on the floor of the metal trawler ship as it tosses and turns in the churning, turbulent waters of the dark ocean. Freezing cold rain falls in sheets all around, and the howling wind only accelerates their impact, said wind carrying the scent of sea salt and ozone. The sky above is completely black, the only light in this terrifying storm being the frequent flashes of lightning. And, of course, the yellow sun that hovered above the enclosed steering wheel I was taking shelter in, enabling me to at least see the ship and some of the surrounding ocean. I could hear the non-stop hissing of steam as the rain collided with the sun, vaporizing the water instantaneously while the wind continuously forbade any trail of such steam to exist for longer than a split second.

It takes me a moment to realize the significance of this ship: it’s the same trawler I’d attempted to flee Farasi in with Cinder.

Cinder...

I feel the sun flaring up in time with my anger, as if experiencing it with me. But rather than embrace it’s tempting expression of power, I instead order it to reduce it’s luminosity and size, as I was used to doing by this point. It floated back into the cabin with me once it was small enough, shrinking until it could once again fit between my hooves with ease. For now, I let it float by my side, using it’s light to observe the uncertain and characteristically dream-like instrumentation before me. I could navigate well enough with just the lightning, and this way I could quickly conceal the light for when the other Princes arrive. It wouldn’t be long now.

If ships on an ocean is to be our venue for this dream, I am beyond nervous about what form the alien’s vessel will take.

The pressure of the Princes washes across my body, and the yellow sun hides behind my neck in response. I keep my eyes peeled for their suns, and I’m not kept waiting for long: I can see them far off in the distance, shining high and bright above a pair of Imperial Navy warships that sailed in formation side-by-side, too large to be toppled by the ongoing storm. Their distance should be enough for me to avoid their detection, but unfortunately, we were headed directly for one another. I’d need to turn this ship around immediately.

But try as I might, the ship will simply not steer effectively; the storm was too violent, and my vessel too small to properly navigate even this hellish storm. I was only able to turn at a slight angle: enough to pass them by, but not enough to evade their light.

For the first time, I begin hoping that the alien would arrive to deal with them.

I was not kept waiting for long. I felt the all-too-familiar shockwave of alien pressure, visibly distorting the Princes’ suns. But my relief turned to ash when the suns, instead of shrinking away, ballooned in size to meet the challenge, intensifying their light. Greatswords of power flew from the blue sun’s core and hovered at the ready, while the red sun spat forth several massive fireballs that flew in a slow orbit around it, also ready to react.

This is bad. My ship will enter their light radius in only a minute at this rate! They’ll spot me for sure! Gods, where is that damned alien already?! Of all the times I want him to be here, he just has to drag his feet, doesn’t he?!

I make ready to duck and take cover, already clasping the yellow sun to my chest with one hoof to hide it. Second after agonizing second passes as I look out towards the approaching light. Until finally, at the last stretch, I hit the deck. The light of the suns begins to wash over the ship, but I keep on taking cover. It’s only a matter of time now. Best case scenario, they destroy the ship and miss me completely. Which leaves me to drown in the ocean.

But then something happens that I did not expect. Abruptly, the loud CLANG of metal reverberates through the ship, and the entire vessel begins to tilt sharply to one side, as if it were being beached. I cry out in surprise and grunt in pain as I slide down the floor and fall against the enclosure wall, the ship coming to a complete and abrupt stop.

A loud fog horn sounds, and the green light of the alien sun makes itself known all around me, it’s intensity drowning out all other lights. Risking a glance, I peer out from my compromised hiding place to see what unholy vessel the alien has opted to conjure up.

Whatever this vessel was, it was enormous: easily at least two hundred metres long, and at least sixty metres wide. It’s size wasn’t the unexpected part, however: the deck was. It was unbelievably, inexplicably flat, almost as if trying to emulate a strip of land. Surmising it’s purpose is of a low priority, however: I immediately turn around to find the alien and his sun. In the centre of the vessel, offset to the ship’s right side, there was a huge, building-sized command deck, easily at least five or six stories tall. The alien sun hung directly over it, it’s connecting threads spread out evenly from all the windows on the topmost storey.

No sooner did I drink the sight in than the sun split itself apart once again, each shard charging with power and unleashing massive projectiles of unstable energy towards the Princes. An all-out naval brawl ensued, with energy blades cutting into the ship’s deck and great fireballs blowing craters into it, forcing me to take cover again. But none of the impacts seemed to faze the vessel: it continued to sail forth, straight and true. The same could not be said of the Princes’ ships: the alien struck them with ruthless precision, the projectiles creating columns of explosive steam when they punched through their hulls. Despite the Princes’ best efforts, their vessels were torn to shreds, and their suns were struck with the green projectiles next, battering them into the ocean. There, they boiled the water with incredible force, but were ultimately shoved down into the depths by the unrelenting tide of destruction.

Before long, even the glow of their light from under the dark waters ceased, and the pressure of their presence faded out. Only then did the projectiles cease fire.

“Girls!” Rainbow yells, slamming the door to their room open. “It’s happening!”

Zelac bolts upright with a yelp, but all the girls simply bolted upright. Instantly, they sprang into action, jumping out of their beds and rushing out of the door, heading straight for the Princes’ room while Rainbow Dash peels off to fetch Twilight next. Zelac looks on at the door they left through for several seconds before he finally reacts, shakily rushing out of the room next and catching the tail end of their entrance into the Princes’ room.

Unsurprisingly, the honourguards deny him entrance. He didn’t have time to turn back, however, on account of Twilight and Rainbow Dash rushing over. Twilight quickly allows him inside due to his status as their translator, leaving the zebra to gape at the sight inside the room, frozen in shock: the girls were all crowded around the two Princes, thrashing and grunting fitfully in their sleep.

And they were trying their hardest to wake them.

“Dang it, wake up!” Applejack exclaimed, fruitlessly shaking the sleeping Zakurai.

“Jeez, how hard do these guys sleep?!” Rainbow adds, repeating the same shaking for Zabraxas. “Come on, get your flanks up!”

It was no use. Despite several minutes worth of attempts at this point, both Princes continued to toss, turn, thrash, and grunt in their sleep, trapped in the throes of their intense shared nightmare. The girls had all tried multiple things to wake them by this point, many times as a group, but no matter what they tried, they simply would not wake up. Even giving them small portions of magic didn’t help.

All the attending honourguards could do was look on helplessly, the gathered ponies now experiencing the same helplessness they did in this situation.

“Dang it!” Applejack turned towards Zelac next, shaking his withers. “Ain’t there somethin’ y’all can do?!”

(“N-no,”) he admits, still shaken by the entire display. (“I-I don’t know what to do.”)

“What about you guys?” Rainbow asks of the honourguards, to which they only offer a sad shake of their heads. “You’ve gotta be kidding! We can’t just leave them like this!”

The girls went back to debating what to do between each other, interspersed with small bouts of shaking the Princes even more, all while the honourguards looked on at their sovereigns, powerless to help. None of them noticed how Zelac’s countenance had slowly shifted as he continued to look on at the thrashing Princes. With a window to think now available to him, his brow began to furrow in concentration as his alchemical and medical training began to kick in. He’s dealt with intense nightmares before, and knew of solutions to try. But his treatment planning was arrested as his recollection of past patients slowed, zeroing into the memory of one zebra in particular.

A very recent patient of his, one that displayed very similar symptoms to this.

And then, at once, both Princes cried out simultaneously, giving one last involuntary thrash as they shot wide awake, breaking into fits of violent coughing this time. In an instant, everypony and everyzebra was upon them. Everyzebra but Zelac.

“Oh thank goodness you’re awake!” Twilight exclaimed, more to Zakurai than his cohort.

“Dude, are you all right?!” Rainbow demanded of Zakurai.

The Prince in question needed another moment to finish coughing and wheezing before he could speak properly. “So that’s what drowning feels like,” he remarks aloud.

“Drowning?!” Twilight cried. “What happened? What did he do to you two?”

“He dealt us another sound defeat,” he admitted, sitting upright with some assistance. “Our arena was a great, storm-gripped ocean, each of us on a ship. He destroyed ours with ease, and he plunged us deep into the water, left us to drown. We tried to fight, but it wasn’t even a contest.”

“Monster,” Rarity bitterly remarks under her breath.

“Couldn’t agree more, miss Rarity.” Zakurai groans again, clutching his head. “I don’t suppose I could trouble you all for some more of that ‘coffee’, could I?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Pinkie hollers, throwing up a salute and darting off.

Zelac remained off to the side, remaining temporarily forgotten for the moment. Were he to become the centre of somepony’s attention now, they could be forgiven for assuming his newfound expression of utter shock was due to witnessing the Princes being reduced to such a state. His mouth was covered with both hooves to stifle his whimpers, while his pupils shrank to pinpricks and his body shivered from a mixture of raw dread and that aforementioned shock.

If only they knew what connection the nervous alchemist had just made. What hypothesis now dominated the forefront of his mind.

Fortunately for him, nopony and nozebra paid him any mind, especially not when Pinkie returned with two fresh mugs of coffee, suspended in the protruding curls of her mane. Zakurai took his and wasted no time in thanking her and drinking, while the still-silent Zabraxas begrudgingly accepted his. Pinkie squinted at the Prince’s grimace as he drank, then fished around in her mane and procured milk and sugar to add to it, stirring them into the drink before hoofing it back to Zabraxas. This time, he was far more appreciative of the drink, even going so far as to utter a single word of thanks. A tiny gesture, but one Pinkie was over the moon about.

“This can’t go on,” Twilight pleaded to Zakurai more than she observed.

“It can’t,” he agrees. “This is far beyond the limits of our training. I...” He pauses to wipe his brow. “We’ll go mad if we hide from him, and we’ll go mad if we fight him. I just... don’t have a solution for this, Princess.”

“We’ll find one,” Rarity vowed, garnering cheers of agreement from her friends.

“Anything you can find will be of tremendous aid.” He pauses for a moment, his features eventually falling into a tired smile. “I... find myself quite admiring this camaraderie of yours, I have to admit.”

“Hey,” Rainbow exclaims, “What are friends for?”

“Friends...” Zakurai mulled the word over for a moment, as if appreciating it properly for the first time. “Hah. Not a familiar feeling for me. But... pleasant, all the same.”

Zakurai found himself in the middle of one of the girls’ patented group hugs a moment later. He couldn’t help the dumb little smile on his face, in spite of all that had just happened. Interrupting it, however, was the light thump of a body falling to the ground. All eyes turned to the source: the forgotten Zelac, toppled over onto his side, passed out on the floor.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy softly exclaimed, breaking off to see if he was all right.

“How that colt survived in a prison, I’ll never know,” Rarity hums.

“At least he’ll be sleeping well,” Zakurai remarks.

An eerie quiet descends, in spite of the ongoing storm. I swallow dry as the reality of my situation sets in: the Princes were gone now, yes, but now I had him to deal with. My deep regret of ever hoping for his arrival comes to a head when one of the shards descends down towards my beached ship, it’s power licking along the hull and leaving scorch marks as it slowly hovers around, as if searching for something. Searching for me.

The yellow sun pulses within my hooves, begging to be let free. Begging to protect me. But I wait. Not to deny it, but to find the right opportunity to take the shard by surprise. I will not go down without a fight, hopeless as that fight may be.

The exact moment the shard’s power rips the roof off the enclosure is the moment I let the sun loose. In an instant, it balloons to it’s initial size, and unleashes a concentrated cone of flaming projectiles, arcing straight towards the shard. The shard flinches back at the sudden impacts, though they don’t appear to have done any real damage. I didn’t care. I gave the sun leave to act as it saw fit, and it chose to press the attack, spewing a constant stream of arcing fire projectiles.

I had fully expected it to destroy me for this. To send me back to reality in intractable pain, just like it did the Princes. But instead, the shard simply hovered out of range, both it and it’s cousins refusing to retaliate. Confused, I order the sun to cease fire, opting instead to stare up at them to ascertain what, exactly, their game here was. Slowly, another shard lowers towards the base of the ship’s building-like command deck, a thread of fire-lightning snaking down to... open the door? And not only that, but create a pathway of energy for me to follow?

I look on with my mouth agape, lost for words as the alien sun reunifies back into it’s fracturing whole without further incident. It’s pressure has changed significantly, almost as if being... conciliatory? There couldn’t have been a clearer sign: the alien—this Anonymous—he wasn’t trying to kill me. He was trying to meet me. But... why? Why meet with me?

I look back up at the yellow sun. I could reach out to it now. I could escape. Gods above, I seriously considered it. But would he allow me to escape? And if so, for how long? It was clear that he chose to protect me from the Princes here. If I leave now, is there any guarantee he would keep doing so? Keep trying to make contact with me? If I snub my nose at him now, he may well begin attacking me, rather than being, at best, neutral.

I swallow dry again, more nervous than I’ve been before. The yellow sun stays close, almost as if riding on my back. I truly, sincerely did not know what to expect. But now, experience kicked in: experience dealing with powerful criminals. I did not know what his game was, but running now would be a tremendous show of disrespect. For now, it was in my best interest to, at the very least, ascertain what his intentions were.

I’m just as likely to be destroyed no matter what I choose.

With that, I begin to walk forward, towards the opened door. The rainwater steams and evaporates off my coat courtesy of the yellow sun once I step indoors, it’s warmth and protection never more welcome. Inside, beyond several blurry and nondescript hallways leading nowhere, was a stairwell leading up. I can’t help but notice that everything inside is sized and proportioned for tall bipeds: bipeds like him.

With nowhere else to go, I begin the climb. Before long, I clear the last flight of stairs, finding the door to the alien already opened and waiting. Carefully, I begin walking towards it, scanning my surroundings for threats as I go. And as I enter, I see the alien in the flesh again. He stood at the far end of the room, his connecting threads spread out along the floor like cables. His hand rested on a nearby railing as he looked out through the window at the environment outside, the rain continuously beating against the glass all the while.

Steeling my nerves, I begin slowly walking towards him, careful to avoid stepping on his connections. Halfway into my approach, he slowly turns around to face me, hand still on the railing. The movement stops me in my tracks.

His smile is at once friendly, intrigued, and absolutely chilling.