Chapter 2: The start of a journey
Author's Note: Thank you, WickedHex, for everything! And thanks to my other viewers, too!
Also, in this story, the MLP kingdoms are more scattered and separated by the seas in order to fit the story. Also, the details of basic war might be inaccurate, so feel free to correct me. Thank you, and here we go!
Five years ago...
The Changeling War was over. Finally, ponies, both soldiers and citizens, all over Equestria could rest peacefully. For years, they had laid waste to villages surrounding the main kingdoms in order to intimidate them to subordination, to intimidate them to change...
Princess Twilight woke up in her makeshift tent shivering and sweating. The idea of being forced to submit and transform into a changeling... She had nothing against changelings in general. (Some rebel changelings had, in fact, supplied her soldiers with canned goods and water during the war.) But, their queen Chrysalis often acted immorally, making her loyal followers terrorize towns, attack ponies, and feed on their love, sucking them dry.
Her memories of last week's battles were not so pleasant either. But, she supposed her nightmares were an appropriate reaction; it was her first time leading a division to victory. It was all so new and terrifying to her, but peace in Equestria was the sweetest reward, and it made every painstaking and tragic event in the war worth it.
The Changeling War had started long before Starlight Glimmer was even born. But by the time she was, the changelings had conquered almost half of Equestria with their numerous ambushes and brutal attacks. Twilight Sparkle knew her father-in-law's army, even with the assistance of all the other kingdoms, was in grave danger of being snuffed out. Changelings grew stronger with every taste of a pony's love, and love was apparently easy to obtain because the changelings soon became unstoppable.
So, while in bed beside her sleeping spouse, the princess made a very risky decision; she requested that she join and lead troops in the war.
The king knew Twilight could lead better than anypony he had ever known. In addition, her magic had proven time and time again to be a powerful asset in combat. She herself had participated in several battles before she married Sunset.
After the young princess and her troops defeated the changelings in the western changeling lands, King Comet Swirl ordered them via urgent letter to move eastward. The commander in chief and the main set of troops were losing in the east. The changelings in the north and south kept the rest of the sets of troops occupied, and the main set was dwindling quickly and dangerously. They needed the band in the west, for it was their closest ally. They sadly lost Cloudsdale to the changelings by the time Twilight's army could arrive. Luckily, the tables turned in their favor and they won that time.
Unfortunately, they won after twenty losses and thousands of casualties. Sometimes Twilight wondered if her father-in-law was senile for permitting her to lead the troops...
No! She scolded herself. You both knew what you were doing. My magic rivals that of even the Changeling Queen, and I was the freshest and most available ruler at the time.
But could everything have been prevented if I didn't lead? Or would my absence have made things worse?
Twilight did not have much time to contemplate her former decision. Her adopted little brother/assistant/scribe/drummer Spike woke up beside her, yawning and groggily rubbing his eyes.
"Being the drummer dragon is such hard work!"
The violet mare grinned fondly at him and stretched her limbs. "Good morning, Spike."
"G'morning, Twilight. Did you sleep well?"
Twilight shrugged and ushered him out of their tent. "I guess." She used her magic to take down the tent and put it in her large satchel. "I just miss my family."
Spike slumped disappointedly. "What about me?"
"Oh, Spike!" She gave him a quick hug and took a moment to watch Celestia's golden sun peek out from the towering mountains. "You are family, but so are Sunset and Starlight and, you know, the rest of my family."
"Yeah, it's been five years..." Spike whistled and kicked a stray pebble aside. Since he considered Twilight his older sister, Starlight was like a niece to him. "Can you imagine how much Starlight's grown?"
The unicorn princess sighed, her eyes never leaving the rising sun. "No, I can't. That's why we have to go home." Her countenance instantly hardened, and she turned back to the dragon. "Spike!" The baby dragon saluted. She was back in business. "Wake up the others. Our ships will be in the port soon. The captain assured me they'd all be here in less than two hours from now, so I expect all my soldiers to be bright-eyed and alert for her."
"Her?"
"Yes, Spike. A captain can be a mare. Now go! That's an order!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Spike saluted one last time and scurried off to get his drum. Meanwhile, Twilight gave the sun one last look before she searched her satchel for her magical crown. Sometimes a nourishing breakfast had to come from her magic.
The boats arrived right on time, and all Twilight's soldiers got on to their assigned ships. The captain herself insisted that all members of royalty and nobility should be on her personal ship, the biggest, safest one, Tank's Glory.
"Odd name," Twilight mused to Spike, as she hopped on board with the baby dragon on her back. After looking around, she stopped at the forecastle. On the ship, sailors shouted around her, adjusting the sails and preparing to raise the anchor. Soon, she found that she had company. A lovely white unicorn adorned in a purple cape, signaling her royal status, approached her with a kind smile and a polite greeting. Soon, three earth ponies and a shy pegasus greeted her as well. The orange earth pony wore an emerald green cape, as did the red stallion, so Twilight assumed they were of noble birth, too. The pink earth pony and yellow pegasus, however, wore no capes, but they did wear lovely, golden necklaces around their necks.
Twilight knew them all: Princess Rarity of the Diamond Kingdom, Princess Applejack and Prince "Big" McIntosh of the Appleloosa kingdom, and Lady Pinkamena Diane Pie and her adopted older sister, Lady Fluttershy.
Finally, Twilight spotted her: Captain Rainbow Dash. Sweating profusely, the cyan pegasus noticed them and immediately landed to bow before them and kiss the hooves of the three princesses.
"Everypony!" The cyan pegasus snapped in a raspy voice. "Bow! Now!" Her crew members did so, eyeing the princesses curiously. Twilight could not say she blamed them. Not many Equestrian princesses in history had risked their lives and went off to battle.
Big McIntosh decided to help some of the crew members. Rainbow Dash bowed again, her iridescent mane damp with sweat. "Captain Rainbow Dash, at your service, princesses."
The yellow pegasus blushed and shyly dipped her head. "Um, well, actually..."
The other pegasus perked up at the sound of her voice. "Fluttershy? Is that you? What are you doing on this boat ride? It's reserved for royalty and the loyalist members of my crew!"
The pink earth pony pouted at the captain. "You know her?"
"We grew acquainted. I was helping the cause before I came for the boats."
"My sister and I were told to get on this one. You hear?"
"Oh, really?" Rainbow Dash drawled out sarcastically.
Twilight narrowed her eyes stubbornly at the captain. "Yes, she was, captain, because this is Lady Pinkie Pie. Did I not mention to you in my letter that this mare saved my life?"
"It's true," Fluttershy insisted meekly, feeling obliged to stand up for her sister. "I mean, uh, she did push Princess Twilight out of the way before a falling building could crush her."
"Oh..." The captain blushed and bowed briskly. "Forgive me, princess. Very well then. I better, uh, get things moving." She gestured to a magneta earth pony, who obediently came over to her. "This is my first mate, Cherilee. She'll show you around. We should be leaving the port and sailing shortly."
As Rainbow Dash flew off and shouted more commands, Cherilee beamed and bowed. "It's an honor to meet all of you. I can humbly say I've never met a lady or a prince or a princess in all my life." She looked at Spike and gushed. "Aw! And who are you, sweetie?"
"I'm Spike, scribe and assistant of Princess Twilight Sparkle. She took me in."
Fluttershy peeked out from her light pink mane and stared at Twilight in amazement. "You raised a baby dragon all by yourself? How noble...And he's adorable!"
Spike blushed a little. "Thank you."
Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "Lady Fluttershy, pardon me, but what brings you here?"
Fluttershy blushed and bit her lip. "Um, w-well... P-Pinkie and I need to return home to our mother and father. She's probably worried sick..."
"Yeah, and Daddy's sick!" Pinkie added. "Literally!"
"That's awful," Rarity commented sympathetically. Twilight nodded in agreement.
"Weeellll... It's kinda my fault. There was this sparkly, wondrous, shiny box in our house that Daddy told me never to open. Well, I couldn't resist! It was so pretty, and I was so young then! I just had to, had to open it so I did!" She looked more and more crestfallen with every word spoken.
"It cursed our home and Papa..." Fluttershy sniffled. "He made us go to war and bring back honor, if there was every any to begin with..."
Twilight frowned with concern. "And you haven't heard from them?"
"Mother wrote to us, but Papa's just too sick."
Her younger sister embraced her. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy! Super triple double sorry!"
Fluttershy just smiled sweetly at Pinkie and shook her head. "It's not your fault. It's just like you said; you were so young. Besides, Papa should've told us more about it, namely that it held so much... evil. He knows how curious you can be."
Applejack patted Pinkie's shoulder. "Don't sweat it, sugarcube. Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes, you have to." And with that, Applejack went to see if any of the sailors needed any help. Rarity noticed that her shoulders slouched ever so slightly as she trotted off.
"Is she okay?"
Fluttershy shrugged. "I hope so. I'll go check on her." She followed Applejack to the quarterdeck.
Twilight turned to Pinkie. "So your family is in Ponyville?" She nodded earnestly. Twilight then turned to Rarity. "And Princess Rarity? Do forgive me, but why were you here of all places? I never had the chance to ask you." Twilight also wanted to ask if the rumors were true, that the "most beautiful princess in all of Equestria" had two of the richest princes fighting for her hoof in marriage. But, she bit her tongue, resisting the temptation to indulge in trivial gossip.
Rarity grimaced and twiddled her front hooves. "Because, darling, have you ever been in love?" Twilight nodded, picturing her beautiful wife. "Well, I want that badly! But the princes who fought over me... Prince Fancy Pants and Prince Blueblood...They fought over me, but they did not love me. When I looked in their eyes, I saw nothing but lust, not love."
Spike cocked his head. "What's - "
"Spike!" Twilight quickly thought of a believable distraction. She did not feel like explaining anything vulgar to the innocent dragon today. "Go make an inventory of all the supplies on the ship. We need to know how much we have to work with."
"But the captain probably did that already -"
"Make another one!" Twilight commanded desperately, giving him a pleading look. Spike took the hint and took out a piece of paper from his smaller satchel. Then, he went to grab a snack from the galley.
"That's terrible. What did you do?"
"I ran away," Rarity explained casually. Twilight was taken aback. "I mean, could you stand to be with anypony like that for the rest of your life? My parents told me I could either marry either of those honored princes or die an honorable death in the war. I know it was somewhat cowardly of me but I'd rather be dirt poor and lonely than rich, married, and unhappy. So, I let them believe I was dead, except my dear sister Sweetie Belle. I wrote to her confidentially." When she noticed Twilight's concerned look, Rarity grinned amiably at her. "But it hasn't been all that bad, darling! Why, I've made quite a living as a seamstress, at least before this war. Now that it's over, I plan on starting over in Ponyville, far from the Diamond Kingdom, and opening up a boutique." Her eyes gleamed with pride as she daydreamed. "All the possibilities... all the freedom... And after I do that, I'll ask Sweetie Belle if she would like to join me."
Twilight grinned back at her. "Wow, your majesty... That's very brave of you."
"Call me 'Rarity', Twilight! I have feeling we're going to be good friends by the time this voyage is over. Well, enough about me! What about you? It seems like you're the only princess here who's not running away from an unhappy future."
This baffled Twilight. Who on this boat had half as interesting of a story as Rarity's?
"Who else would be running away?"
Rarity sighed dramatically and tossed her curly mane to the side. "Well, Applejack is running because..." She looked around wildly before leaning closer to Twilight. "I heard," she whispered, "that ponies back in Appleloosa called her crazy."
Twilight eyed her skeptically. "She doesn't seem crazy at all."
"Well, other ponies have called her a compulsive liar. It depends on who you ask, actually. I've heard all kinds of stories from my fellow comrades." Rarity took a moment to view the changeling lands that their boat was about to leave. "But, they all have said that she claims she can predict the future, at random times. She confided to me that a dashing but relentless suitor wanted her hoof in marriage. When Applejack rejected him, he hired a powerful sorcerer to put a curse on her. This curse, she told me, makes her predict but also makes her predictions unbelievable to other ponies."
She stopped as they heard Rainbow Dash shouting orders at a pony heading for the crow's nest. "And the captain? That's Princess Rainbow Dash. Nopony from her kingdom, Cloudsdale, can kidnap or defeat her in a sword fight or flight. So, eventually, they gave up and allowed her to remain a captain. I don't know why she would want to exchange her crown for a cutlass, but who am I to judge?"
These two other stories simply dumbfounded and humbled Twilight. Among these brave, adventurous mares was her, a princess prancing back to her happy life back in a a loving family and a luxurious palace
Rarity turned to her with her kind smile. "So, what's your story?"
"Ooh! Ooh! OOH!" Before Twilight could respond, Pinkie Pie, who had been oddly silent the entire time, began hopping up and down like a filly on a sugar rush. "Are you engaged? Expecting?"
Twilight turned tomato red. "Um... No, but I have a wife and daughter waiting for me back in my kingdom. Well, technically, it's my father-in-law's kingdom."
"How sweet!" Rarity gushed. All of the six mares did not know it yet, but they would soon become close friends over the course of their adventures on land and sea.
Author's Note: The Mane 6 minus Twilight are based on famous women from Greek mythology. If anyone has questions, please let me know.