Author's Note

Sorry for this chapter being so late! I had a block and life got in the way, BUT! A Youtube channel that I follow put out a new song and it helped me get past that block. Hopefully I won't have this problem again for the chapters left in this story.

(In case you want to know what song it was, Just click this link.)

Changing Course

The four of them sat in shock as they listened.

“This is the Crystal Empire Flotilla, calling for any help. We’re under attack, I repeat, we are under attack from belo-.... Holy Celestia... it’s the Moon’s Shadow.”

Under attack? Twilight felt the fur on the back of her neck stand up, How could they? Even the Moon’s Shadow wouldn’t want to take on an entire Flotilla. She looked around at the others to gauge their responses. Everyone seemed to be taking it the same as she was, everyone but Rainbow Dash. Her eyes narrowed, and Twilight watched her clench her jaw.

The prismatic mare in question was the one to break the silence saying, “Welp, time to head anywhere but the Crystal Empire.”

“We can’t just leave them to die, Rainbow,” Zephyr said, a small frown appearing on his muzzle while he turned to look at her. “I mean, the ship has space for at least a few dozen in the hold.”

“We won’t be able to withstand a single assault from a destroyer,” Tempest said.

“We won’t have to if we approach from the right way,” Twilight said distractedly, her mind racing.

“Twi, I’m grateful that you broke us out, but there’s no way we’re going to go there,” Rainbow said, shaking her head.

Twilight was interrupted from commenting on the sudden nickname asa new voice suddenly spoke up from the entrance to the bridge saying, “Could you be quieter? Trixie is trying to sleep.”

Turning to the doorway, they all saw a light blue unicorn with a two-tone silver mane with a sleeping mask over her eyes.

Rainbow looked at Zephyr and said, “Great, we were trying to not be accused of foalnapping, and you go and do it anyway.”

“Hey, last I heard she was in jail,” Zephyr said as he held his hooves up defensively.

“Yes, that... Trixie... found the door to her cell open suddenly after all of the guards left to do something,” Trixie said with a yawn, turning to head out of the bridge. “Make sure you don’t damage Trixie’s ship.”

Rainbow threw her hooves up and said, “Great, we have an actual criminal that escaped. No, scratch that, we stole the ship of a criminal that escaped.”

“Hey, relax Rainbows, we’ve already gotten away from danger,” Zephyr said placatingly.

“Well we’re going to find more. Turn our heading for the Crystal Empire,” Twilight said, looking to Rainbow.

Rainbow looked at Twilight for a few long seconds before saying, “I knew you were insane. There’s no way we’re going to go hoof to hoof with a destroyer.”

“I’m not saying for us to try to fight the Moon’s Shadow. Look, my thought is this; they’ll be expecting us to go to neutral territory that isn’t very dangerous. The last place they’d think to look for us is a place that everyone knows will be dangerous. Plus, the Crystal flotilla is allied with Canterlot, it isn’t likely that word would spread there for them to be on the lookout for us.”

“And what’re we gonna do about the literal demon from the War?” Rainbow asked.

“We stay out of the Moon’s Shadow’s sight and keep our radar signal quiet.” Twilight turned the comms unit off. “Besides, my brother will expect us to go anywhere that’s safe and out of Canterlot’s range of influence. With the Crystal Empire being neither of those right now, it’s the best place for us to go. I’ll turn off the transponder before you change our heading.”

Rainbow shook her head. “I still don’t see why we have to risk something like this just to be safe.”

Twilight stood up and headed for the door to the hallway. “Because we can do good by getting ponies out of there, make it so there’s more good than bad that comes with us being still alive. If you have a better idea to clear our names, go ahead and ignore me.”

Rainbow just stared at the doorway after Twilight left until Tempest spoke up, “You know she’s right. This is a good opportunity to try to get Canterlot to drop charges.”

Zephyr nodded and said, “I’d rather head to Kludgetown, but she has a point.”

“It’s also a pretty good opportunity to get blown to smithereens…” Rainbow added on, trailing off. Tempest shrugged and left to go about preparing the ship.

Twilight groaned as another bolt fell out of place. Whomever maintained this ship was doing a poor job, or half of it, depending on how you looked at it. Fixing the transponder was easy, it was putting it back that Twilight was still currently working on.

“I think if you look at that bolt hole any harder, it’s going to end up wider.”

Twilight jumped, and stepped back and away from the open systems. She spun, and saw Zephyr standing in the small doorway that led into the systems space just in front of the engine.

“Here.” He trotted forwards, leaned down, and scooped up a wrench in his wing in a smooth motion. Twilight, still too out of it to respond, watched as he displayed an incredible series of several actions at once. The component lifted into place, bolts spun into sockets, and were tightened down by the wrench. If Twilight hadn’t literally seen him do it with his own hooves, she would have suspected he was a unicorn in disguise.

“There.” He said, patting it like a proud engineer would.

“You didn’t tighten it all the way.” She used her telekinesis, gently shaking the part in question, it wiggled, like she expected.

“Well you haven’t checked if it works yet, right?” He shrugged, “That, and we can finish later, you’re hungry.” He said, more as a statement than a question.

“I-”

He rolled his eyes, though his smirk betrayed his amusement. “It’s practically sundown, you’ve been down here for hours.”

“I have?” Her stomach grumbled just then, as if it too had just been reminded of its existence.

“Yes. Dinner’s ready, come up topside and fill your belly first, head bosun.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she headed for the door saying, “I doubt I’ll ever hold that title again with how I helped get Tempest and Rainbow escape. Kind of a deal breaker when you side with supposed criminals instead of your boss.”

Zephyr chuckled as he followed after her. “I’d suspect that’d be a deal breaker no matter where you go, but at least you now have friends for life.”

Twilight stopped to look back at Zephyr in confusion, but he passed her without saying another word. She shuffled in place for a second before following after him. It took a few minutes for Zephyr to lead the way, but they eventually came to the dining room where Tempest, Rainbow, and Trixie were already eating.

“Ah, the final two of the group. I had thought you might’ve taken a bedroom,” Trixie said teasingly, earning her a silent glare from Rainbow.

Twilight blushed a bit as she moved to sit down and said, “No, your ship just needs a lot of work. Looked like someone partially took the transponder apart and gave up on trying to put it back together.”

“Well yes, Trixie is a performer, not a mechanic. It broke and... well, not many are willing to pay for entertainment.”

“How do you make your money, then?” Tempest asked, a cautious look on her face.

“Taking ponies where they want to go, occasionally taking a cargo job, you know, the usual stuff.” Trixie shrugged as she glanced around at them. “Speaking of which, I do enjoy a good story myself. I’m curious as to why you took my ship.”

Twilight nods and gives Trixie a wave saying, “That would be because we needed a way off of Everfree and needed enough space for the four of us. Nothing smaller than a cargo ship seemed like it would be big enough, and with you said to be in jail, your ship was the only one we knew would be empty.... Well, it was presumed empty.”

“And why was it you needed a way off?”

“Twi and Zeph busted me and Tempest out of jail,” Rainbow said suddenly. “What is it with the twenty questions?”

“If I’m going to make a story out of this, I do need details.”

Tempest scoffed and rolled her eyes, swallowing a bite and saying, “Sure, while we’re at it we might as well share our life stories.”

“That... might actually be a good idea,” Twilight said with a thoughtful expression.

Rainbow shook her head as she said, “I’m gonna need a bottle of Sunshine if I’m gonna bring up anything.”

“If you don’t mind, I could tell it,” Zephyr said, setting his spoon down. “You told me everything I wasn’t there for anyways.”

Rainbow sighed and stood up, heading for the bridge. “Fine. Gotta make sure that the autopilot hasn’t taken us off course.”

Twilight watched silently as Rainbow left the room, waiting until she was gone before looking at Zephyr and saying, “I... get the feeling that we won’t like what we’re going to hear.”

Zephyr shook his head. “It’s... not something that can be brought up a lot, and Rainbow blames herself for what happened. Hell, I blame myself for the gate malfunctioning.” They sat there for a few moments in silence before Zephyr chuckled a bit. “First time I’ve left someone speechless. Anyways, when she was about twelve and I was ten, her and my sister.... Well, they were playing in an empty pen while I was learning how to replace the controls for the doors. The power was supposed to have been turned off and there wasn’t supposed to have been anything in the habitat connected to the pen, but... I connected the last wire to the console in the wrong place, and that shorted out the whole thing. Opened up the door that led to the habitat and the door to the control room started to close.”

Zephyr closed his eyes and took a deep breath, pausing for a few moments to steady himself. “I-it was Rainbow’s family’s ship, so her parents were watching over the three of us and when the doors started to move, they went into the pen and tried to get Rainbow and Fluttershy - my sister - out, but the door closed before they got to it.... I guess the Storm Creature had been a dragon before it was mutated as it was spewing fire as Rainbow’s parents tried to fight it while Stripped Gear - the pony teaching me - fixed the controls for the door. He got it partially working and I was pulling on the door to get it to open faster, but it stopped part way open. I managed to pull Rainbow through the opening, but.... The creature noticed us as Fluttershy was getting to the door.”

There was an even longer pause, and when Zephyr spoke again his voice was thick with emotion. “I-I don’t know why she stopped and turned back, but she did right before the creature sent a wave of flames towards her. I know the fire would’ve gone around the door a-and killed the rest of us, so she did the smart thing and saved us by using the emergency close in the pen, but she didn’t deserve to go like that....”

Suddenly Tempest stood up and moved around the table, putting an arm around Zephyr’s shoulders . She made a face like she was about to say something, but the words died, and she leaned into the hug. Zephyr’s wing opened and went around Tempest, pulling her a bit closer as a quiet sob escaped him.

Twilight stared on in silence. Of course, things like that weren’t uncommon in the flotillas, but Twilight was always above it, reading the reports on a paper. She’d never seen… This… It was raw and painful, and the empathy in her made her feel guilty for all of the deaths she’d seen come and go. Before she realized it she was up and part way around the table, moving to give Zephyr a hug from the opposite side from Tempest.

Zephyr moved to say something, only to stop and put his other wing around Twilight as tears finally started to leak from his eyes.