Cadence's Crackship Collection

Tempest Shadow looked off the port bow of the ship she was on as it soared through the skies. Not that the view was anything spectacular. At best, the most she could see was the landscape of Equestria mostly obscured by the clouds that the ship passed through.

Such constant observation did not go unnoticed by the captain at the helm. “We’re almost there, Tempest. It’ll just be a little while longer.”

“I’m just admiring the view,” Tempest responded, still looking down off the side.

Captain Celaeno rolled her eyes. “Because if there’s one thing you’re known for, it’s that you love to stop and smell the roses.”

“Well it’s not like there’s much to do on the ship when it’s in motion.” Tempest said, pacing back and forth on the desk.

“You could always sit your flank down here and keep me company instead of trying to wear a hole through my ship,” Celaeno suggested.

With a small grunt, Tempest conceded and sat next to Celaeno at the helm.

As the ship sailed through the skies, Tempest felt like she should be saying something, but there was nothing to really talk about. The weather was the same pleasant sunny skies she came to expect out of Equestria, and she was terrible at small talk anyway. Still, sitting in silence didn’t quite sit right with her.

She looked over at Celaeno’s leg, seeing all the dings and scratches on the faces of the emerald gem. “You’re really just taking it for a replacement, huh?”

Celaeno turned her head, looking down at her leg. “Yeah, figured it was time to make it all shiny and new again, why?”

“I mean, if you’re going to get a new one, I would be getting something that’s a little more useful than just an emerald…”

Celaeno blinked. “...It’s a leg. It gets me from place to place, what other use would my leg have?”

Tempest scooted a little closer, tapping against the chipped areas. “Well, a cannon wouldn’t be a bad idea…”

“Aaah, yeah. There it is.” Celeano nodded, looking straight ahead again.

“What? ‘There it is’ what?” Tempest asked, getting defensive.

“If it’s got no combat purpose, it’s useless to you, aye? That what you’re implying?” Celaeno asked with a cheeky grin.

Tempest immediately scoffed. “You know that’s not what I mean! I just think it’d be in your interest to always be prepared for an ambush or a hijacking.”

“By strapping a fully loaded heavy cannon under my knee?” Celaeno said, laughing at the absurdity. “You think I’ll have time to aim and fire while standing on one leg? Not to mention the recoil…”

Tempest put a hoof up to her face to hide the blush of embarrassment as her argument was being picked apart. “Still, I’d rather you have something in case your back’s against the wall. Catch them by surprise, you know?”

Celaeno lightly pushed Tempest’s hoof back down to reveal her cheeks. “Yeah? Who says I’m gonna be in that position to begin with? You don’t think I can take care of myself in a scrap?”

“Of course not, I…” Tempest pouted and started muttering under her breath. “...I just want you to…not get hurt.”

With a soft chuckle, Celaeno put her hand on Tempest’s back. “Well if you’re so worried I’ll need protection, why not just stick around with me full-time instead of being that broody vagabond traveler? I don’t know anypony that can kick ass like you can.”

Tempest cracked a small smile, “I dunno, sky travel gets pretty boring after a while…”

“Then I can start flying into the uncharted territories and see who we can pick a fight with,” Celaeno suggested, half-jokingly. “That sound fun for you, Fizzy?”

Immediately, Tempest’s cheeks flared up with blush. “H-Hey!”

“What? It’s just you and me on this ship.” Celaeno chuckled.

Tempest grumbled to herself, turning her head away from her parrot companion.

“We’re almost there, anyway.” Celaeno turned, tapping her claw against the base of Tempest’s horn. “Maybe while I’m getting my replacement fitted, you can ask about adding a sword there.”

As Celaeno chuckled at her own joke, Tempest was seriously considering the merits of having a weapon attached to the base of her horn.

The ship started to lower itself into the town. After docking, Celaeno and Tempest stepped off the ship.

Celaeno took a deep breath and puffed out her chest. “Ahh, Hope Hollow. Just as quaint and colorful as I remember!”

“Almost too colorful…” Tempest rolled her eyes, looking at all the bright and shiny happy ponies skipping around. She was practically waiting for the town to break out into a song any second now.

Tempest’s snarky comment got a soft chuckle and an eyeroll out of Celaeno. With all the different ponies she had met on her travels, none of them were ever as cynical or edgy as Tempest was. Even the scrappier ponies like Rainbow Dash still had a bright cheeriness to them that Tempest wouldn’t be caught dead showing.

Not that she didn’t understand why Tempest was like the way she was. If she lost her leg the same way Tempest lost her horn, maybe she’d have a surlier outlook on life, too.

But that pessimism was part of what Celaeno liked about her. Her cynical outlook was useful in getting by in places where things weren’t all friendship and rainbows.

Still, it wouldn’t kill her to lighten up a little, right?

The two didn’t need to take a step away from the ship when they heard a gasp of joy as a pegasus started sprinting towards them.

“Eeee! Oh my gosh I can’t believe you’re finally here!” the mare squealed, immediately wrapping her hooves around Celaeno’s waist to hug her.

“Heh, nice to see you too, Kerfuffle,” Celaeno looked down with a warm smile, ruffling up her mane.

“And how! Oh, it’s been too long since you came to visit!” Kerfuffle giggled.

“You act like we’ve been gone for years instead of a few months,” Celaeno chuckled.

“Well, it feels like years, sometimes! It gets so lonely just being here on my lonesome while you’re off having epic adventures somewhere else.”

Celaeno pointed her thumb towards Tempest. “Well, like I said, nothing stopping either of you from joining my crew.”

Kerfuffle let out an even louder gasp as she moved on. “Oh. My. Gosh! Hiiii, Fizzy!” she screamed out loud as she gave Tempest a hug.

Tempest felt her face get all hot immediately. The public display of affection, the screaming of her nickname where other ponies certainly heard her, causing them to turn their heads to see her getting hugged…All of it was humiliating beyond belief, yet she couldn’t find it in herself to be angry…or even break away from the hug.

Kerfuffle kept squeezing the poor embarrassed unicorn. “I didn’t even know you were tagging along with Celaeno!”

“Yeah? Is there a problem with me visiting?” Tempest snarked, swearing that she could hear whispers of the other townsfolk.

“Oh, not at all! I’m just super-duper stoked to see you!” Kerfuffle giggled, squeezing her tighter. “I missed you both so much!”

“Easy, girl, you might break a rib,” Celaeno jokes. “Then she’d have to stay in the hospital and we’d have no choice but to take care of her for months until she got better.”

Kerfuffle put her head on Tempest’s chest. “Aww, but would that really be so bad?”

Tempest exhaled sharply, desperately trying to suppress a snarl.

Kerfuffle could at least take the hint and let her go. “C’mon! I know what you came here for.”

The two followed Kerfuffle over to her shop, moving past the mannequins and display outfits and moving onto the back of the store where her workshop was.

The back room had things you’d expect a fashion designer to have: sewing machines, inspiration boards, and boxes hastily stuffed with different fabrics. But there was a specific corner where it seemed more suited for a mechanic than a fashion designer. With blueprints, toolboxes, and buzzsaws, it almost looked like a completely different room had carved out a corner for itself.

Right in the middle of the table was what Celaeno and Tempest came for. It was a massive emerald crystal, coming to a point on one end, and with golden rings at the base, almost like a handle. Scattered nearby the table were screwdrivers, smaller chunks of emerald, and various sheets of blueprint paper with cross-sections and scrapped designs.

Kerfuffle hastily rushed over to the table, lifting up the crystal with her hooves. “Uh…Ta-daaaa! Kinda wish I put it away before coming over to see you two. Would’ve been great if there was a little fanfare with the big reveal, ya know?” she sheepishly chuckled.

Tempest rolled her eyes, but Celaeno chuckled alongside her, holding the crystal in her claws. She ran her hand against the gem, feeling the smooth, polished faces and the sharp edges. “Wow, this is impressive work!”

“Oh, it’s nothing!” Kerfuffle said, trying to be modest. “This was just a little fun project for me, is all!”

Celaeno scoffed. “Are you kidding? I think this thing looks better than my current leg did in its prime!”

“Well, don’t just keep looking at it then, try it on!” Kerfuffle goaded, pulling out a seat and patting the cushion.

Celaeno sat down, putting her prosthetic leg up on the table. She put her hands on the base and started twisting, letting out grunts of effort as she started to unscrew her leg off at the socket.

With both legs on the table side by side to compare, it was increasingly clear how worn and weathered her old one was. There were plenty of chips, cracks, and scratches on the emerald’s faces and edges, done in by scrapes and tumbles and blocked blades. The golden socket ring had dents, and despite Celaeno’s best attempts at polishing, it had lost its overall luster, it just didn’t shine as bright despite being in the same light.

After Celaeno screwed in her new leg, she gave it a few light kicks and bends, trying to get used to the subtle but still significant weight difference, then made wilder movements to see if it would get knocked off with significant force.

Kerfuffle tried to look excited, but her grin was mostly masking her worry. With Celaeno going off on her adventures, she didn’t exactly get that many opportunities for a proper fitting. As such, she was designing and building the prosthetic using multiple references and a lot of prayer.

Thankfully, it seemed to hold, as now it was time for the real test: walking around.

Celaeno pushed herself backwards in her seat, putting both legs against the floor, and tentatively standing up straight.

After shifting her weight around a bit, she took her first few steps around the workshop. After ambling, she started walking, then skipping, jumping, running, hopping, and flipping around the room with more and more excitement as all the motions started to feel natural to her again.

“Woo! This is amazing!” Celaeno laughed, lifting her prosthetic leg up high to admire it some more.

Kerfuffle let out a huge sigh of relief when Celaeno gave her approval. “Oh, you really mean that?”

Celaeno picked the mare up and spun her around, pivoting off her prosthetic. “Of course I do! You did fantastic work on this!”

Tempest still cracked a little smile when she saw how happy Kerfuffle and Celaeno were with the leg.

“Feels even better than the old one already!” Celaeno slapped her thigh. “Can’t wait to take this baby out for a spin on the ship later!”

“Don’t go wearing it out too fast!” Kerfuffle warned, almost taking on a motherly tone. “Emeralds that big don’t come cheap, ya know!”

“No promises,” Celaeno chuckled. “If you wanted me to keep it safe, you should’ve put a cannon on it or something!”

Kerfuffle tilted her head. “A cannon? On your leg? How’s that supposed to work?”

“Dunno, ask her.” Celaeno pointed her thumb towards Tempest with a smirk. “She’s the one who suggested it on the ride here.”

“...Really?” Tempest glared at Celaeno for daring to bring that up.

Kerfuffle examined Celaeno’s old legs, already running schematics in her mind. “Well, there’d be the issue of aiming and recoil, but I guess it could catch someone by surprise if you were ambushed!”

“Well at least you get it…” Tempest scoffed, giving Celaeno a look similar to the one she gave her.

“Hey, what’s this thing you added here?”

Celaeno put her leg back up on the table, gesturing towards the purple gemstones that adorned the golden bands at the top of the prosthetic. “I don’t recall asking to add any amethyst to the design…”

“Oh, that! I was in the middle of tinkering and I thought I could spruce it up a little!” Kerfuffle sheepishly admitted. “Do you…like it?”

Celaeno looked at the gems and the golden engravings. “It’s a nice touch.” Her gaze went over to Kerfuffle’s own prosthetic, spying some very design choices, and even a few emeralds that definitely weren’t there before. “It’s very…familiar.”

Tempest looked back and forth between the two legs and rolled her eyes, though her surly look did not go unnoticed by Kerfuffle.

“Oh, don’t worry, Fizzy, I got something for you too!” she said, patting Tempest before walking off.

“Hey, I-” Before Tempest could finish a sentence in her flustered state, Kerfuffle came back with a little black box.

Squeaking with excitement, Kerfuffle opened up the box to reveal a golden ring inside. “Ta-daaaaa!”

While Kerfuffle was excited that she finally got to do her dramatic reveal, Tempest and Celaeno were stunned, still processing the scene of a pony walking up and opening a small box with a ring inside to another.

Kerfuffle blinked innocently until she realized what she looked like she was doing. “Oh! Uh, that’s not for that! I mean, not yet, I think!” she said, quickly becoming as blushy as her two girlfriends. “This one’s just a regular horn ring for you!”

Once the initial shock wore off, Celaeno burst out into laughter. “Wow, way to make us both jealous in five minutes, girl!”

Tempest put a hoof to her chest, feeling her rapidly beating heart, still too stunned to speak as Kerfuffle put the ring onto her horn.

Kerfuffle slid a full-body mirror in front of Tempest, letting her see how it looked on her. “Soooo, whaddya think? I know it’s not extravagant or combat-applicable, but I didn’t want you to feel left out!”

Tempest looked at herself in the mirror, seeing the new golden ring that was at the base of her broken horn. She saw the little amethyst and emerald gems placed between the heart engravings. She didn’t even give Kerfuffle her horn size and yet it fit perfectly.

It was beautiful. It made her feel beautiful.

“I-It’s…nice. Thank you,” Tempest managed to choke out, trying to keep a straight face, though her welling eyes, quivering lips, and trembling hooves didn’t help.

One look at Tempest desperately trying to stay serious made Celaeno snort. “Are…Are you crying?”

“No, of-of course not,” Tempest said, her voice obviously cracking as a few happy tears went down her cheeks.

Kerfuffle pulled Tempest and Celaeno in for a hug. “See? Now when we go out, everyone will know that we’re besties!”

Celaeno let out a hearty laugh, joining in on the hug as she wrapped her arm around them. “Heh, besties!”

Tempest looked at the legs of Kerfuffle and Celaeno, then back up at her matching horn ring. She smiled and leaned against Kerfuffle’s shoulder into the hug. “...Besties…”