Chapter 7: Mount. Aris Away

Back at Captain Celaeno's airship, the gang are watching Captain Celaeno and Sun sword fighting on the deck.

"Yeah! Ha ha!" Celaeno says, continues sword fighting.

Celaeno and Sun are giving everyone on the ship a great sword fighting competition.

"Nice!" Rainbow complements.

Celaeno laughs, and says, "I never had this much fun a while. I never knew a girl like you is good with a sword."

"Well,I kind of learned it for being in the fencing club, but manage to learn how to sword fight all the same," Sun replies.

"You're pretty good," Pinkie replies.

Suddenly, Celaeno hears the belling and turn to see Squabble squawking, and pointing out in the sky. Celaeno and the others turn to see Tempest airship flying right towards them.

"Storm guards! Looks like they found you!" Celaeno says.

"Tempest!" Princess Twilight screams in a panic.

Celaeno calls out to the crew, "Secure the rigging! Lock down the cargo! Everyone, prepare to be boarded!"

Mullet, Lix, Squabble and Boyle do what their captain is told. While everyone else is dealing with the deck. Boyle help the girls and Spike get down to the cargo hold.

Before Sun comes in, Celaeno hands Sun a piece of paper, and whispers, "Here. You'll need this in case we can't hold them for very long."

Sun nods her head, and takes the paper from Celaeno. Then goes under the deck with her. Boyle closes the cargo door and locks it.

Fluttershy whimpers, "Oh my goodness!"

Rainbow sheepishly asks, "Ya think she saw my sonic rainboom?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Princess Twilight angrily shouts.

"I think that is a dumb question to ask Rainbow," Aria replies, rolling her eyes.

Tempest airship opens a compartment to reveal a harpoon at the front. Then launches it. The harpoon mananges to burst open to the side of Celaeno's ship. The harpoon cause the airship to jerk, making hard to keep Celaeno and her crew standing. The girls and Spike end up rolling over and crashing into each other with the cargo. The harpoon then opens up, hooking the ship

"Whoa!" Spike yells

Tempest airship pull Celaeno's ship towards her own. Once both of the ships are close to each other. Tempest, Grubber, and two storm guards jump onto the ship to confront the pirates. Celaeno and her crew are stunned to see Tempest and the storm creatures here.

Grubber takes a bite on a sponge cake.

Tempest calmly walk on the ship, and asks, "Where is the Pony Princess?"

Celaeno grabs a clip board, and reads it as she answers, "'Princess?' Prin-Cess, Prin-Cess... Nope. All we're hauling is Storm King merchandise."

Squabble answers holding a bobble head version of the Storm King. He taps it with his beak and nods the head, and nods his head too.

Tempest looks to see that no one but the pirates is on board.

Tempest turns to them, and firmly says, "You do realize that if you were to shelter fugitives, the Storm King would be quite... explosive."

Celaeno gulps in reply.

In the cargo, the girls and Spike are hearing the whole conversation.

Aria grits her teeth, "Is Tempest threatening Celaeno?"

"Seems like it," Sonata replies.

Then Princess Twilight loudly whispers, "We have to get off this ship before they tell Tempest we're here!"

"We helped them get their mojo back! They're not gonna give us up!" Rainbow whispers in denie.

"No. But if Celaeno and her crew can't stall her long enough, shell try trashing this shipp looking for us," Sun whispers.

Princess Twilight is not buying it one bit. Rarity is heavily breathing, Fluttershy is whimpering and Sonata is trying to calm her down. Applejack sighs and puts her hat on her head and Aria rolls her eyes. Pinkie and Sonata are looking in one of the boxes.

Pinkie shouts, "Whoa!" As she falls in the box.

Princess Twilight and Sun sigh in reply. They both know that if they don't get out Tempest is going to find them. Princess Twilight looks around the ship to see the different stuff around. At the same time, Sun takes out the paper Celaeno has given her. She opens it up, to reveal different items that can be used for the cargo, and looks like all of them is combined to a hot air balloon. Sun look around to see the stuff around the cargo. Then both Princess Twilight and Sun look at the lever.

Both of the princesses gasp, and an idea hits them, "I've got this!"

Back on deck Tempest is not going to take no for an answer. She and two stormguard are walking towards Celaeno and her mates.

"Now, I'm gonna count to three, and if you don't tell me where they are, your ship is going down," Tempest says in a threatening tone.

Then she begins to count, "One…"

Boyle and Lix look at each other.

In the cargo, Princess Twilight uses her magic to grab a rope. Sun grabs a large fabric with the picture of the storm king.

Sun passes Rainbow the rope and says, "Hold this!"

Then Sun says to the others, "Help me get this crate here!"

Sun, Applejack, Aria, and Adagio begin to push the cargo.

"What are you doing?!" Rainbow asks.

"We're getting out of here," Princess Twilight answers.

On deck, Tempest continues, "...two…"

Celaeno shows a serious look, and has her claw clutching at the handle of her sword.

Grubber is holding his cake, and says with eagerness, "Oh, thith is inteeenth!"

Tempest and her guards are standing on one side of the ship. Celaeno and her crew are standing on the other side. Both of them are facing each other. Grudder stands away from the battle and is eager to see it.

"Three!" Tempest shouts.

Suddenly, they hear screaming. Tempest and the guards turn around to hear the screaming.

"What?" Tempest says with a glare.

Celaeno gasp, and realized what has happen. Princess Twilight and the others have found the cargo drop. The cargo drop is open, and the gang is falling out of the sky

"Oh, for Celestia's sake!" Rarity screams.

Pinkie screams in fright.

By then begins to laugh, and screams with a smile, "Whee!"

Fluttershy yells as she falls down. She looks down to see that they are getting closer to the ground.

"I can't look!" Fluttershy yelps, and shields her eyes with her wing.

Rarity screams falling down.

But sees the mirror,"Ooh!"

Then she begins to admire herself in it.

Once the mirror is gone, Rarity lets out a dramatic scream with her hoof on her head.

Sun turns to Princess Twilight, "Now!"

"On it!" Princess Twilight says.

Princess Twilight uses her magic to catch, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Spike, Sun, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, and Rainbow. Rainbow crosses her arms with a frustrated look. Princess Twilight then puts her friends in the crate. And then uses her magic to grab the rope.

"What in the hay is she up to?" Applejack asks.

Princess Twilight then begins to work with her magic. She grabs the cloth and the rope, and then tie it together into. Then Princess Twilight tie the clothe and the rope to the crate. Then tie a big not on it. Then she flies into the crate.

Sun grabs Spike, and holds him up, "Spike, breathe your fire into the balloon as hard as you can."

"You got it," Spike answers with his thumb up.

Spike takes a deep breath, and blows his firebreath with hot air into the balloon, filling it up. At the very last second, the balloon tied to the crate begins to fly, taking the gang with them. Soon the gang are flying in their homemade hot air balloon.

Pinkie cheers, "Whee-hee-hee!"

The girls sigh in relief.

"Thank goodness," Rarity says.

Applejack cheers, "Phee-yew! Quick thinkin', Twilight! You too Sun!"

"Yahoo! Ha ha!" Princess Twilight screams in excitement.

Pinkie happily says, "That was fun! Can we do it again?"

Adagio glares at Pinkie, "Not. On your. Life."

Rainbow get behind the crate, and shouts, "Next stop, Mount Aris!"

Rainbow then begins to push the hot air balloon towards the mountain they're supposed to go"

"We're home free!" Princess Twilight cheers.

Then everyone begins to cheer happily. And so the group of friends are on their way to Mount Aris.

Meanwhile, Tempest has the storm guards look around for her runaway. She and some of the guards are keeping Captain Celaeno, her crew, and Capper in one place.

Grubber comes back up from the cargo, and says, "There'th no ponieth. But I found thith. It'th a... "

Grubber then holds a cupcake that is covered with sprinkle with a cherry on top, "kind of a cupcake... with thprinkleth…"

"Oh, yeah, and I found thith, too," Grubber adds, holding the map that Princess Twilight has earlier.

It has a trail leading to Mount. Aris, along with a drawing of a heart, and a picture of Pinkie.

" Huh," Tempest says, taking a look at the map

Grubber looks at map too, "Wow, this is a real artitht!"

"Looks like they're heading to Mount Aris," sa

Really?" Capper says acting surprised.

Then hernerovusly laughs, and stammers, "Mou- Mount Aris? I... Well, that's my mis— I didn't know that... Mount Ari... My bad, I didn't... That's my... I'm sorry, I'm very very sorry."

With an evil glare and lighting up her horn, Tempest says, "Now, about your betrayal…"

Tempest then begins to blast Celaeno's airship with her magic. Soon the airship is being blasted with magic that brings out multiple blasting colors. That ends up destroying the ship and possible the ones who are on it.

After a long flight, the eleven friends are able to reach Mount Aris to where the Hippogriffs live. However, there has been a bit of a problem. They end up crashing the balloon on the bottom of the mountain, so they have no choice but to climb on the mountain by foot.

Rarity who is behind the group of friends began to whine and complain, "We had to crash the balloon at the bottom of the mountain! That's it! I simply... cannot... even! I have nothing! The bad guys have won!"

Then collapses, and cries, "I'm so sorryyyyyyyy-y-y-y!"

"Don't give up Rarity, we get to the mountain," Sun says.

"Easy for you to say. Humans are used to climbing on stairs and not rely on magic for everyday needs," Rarity says.

"Aw don't be such a drama queen. You act like Adagio when she get a bad hair day," Aria remarks.

Adagio glares at Aria and shouts, "I heard that."

Then Rainbow flies up, and calls out, "We're almost there!"

Rarity growls in ager, "Will you stop saying that?!"

"No, really!" Rainbow shouts.

Then Rainbow flies up to where Princess Twilight and Sun are.

She happily shouts, "We're actually here!"

Soon, everyone are able to reach the top of the mountain to see an opening of two tall stone hippogriffs.

Princess Twilight happily gasp, and says, "This is it!"

"We finally made it to the Hippogriff's kingdom," Sun happily adds.

"Ooh!" Pinkie replies.

"We made it!" Sonata cheers.

"Well, I'll be," Applejack replies.

Applejack laughs, and says, "Hippogriffs, here we come!"

Rarity sighs in relief, "Time to rest my hooves!"

"I agree. I'm way do for some relaxation from this trip," Adagio says.

"I'm sure we all can get some rest," Sun replies.

The group of friends walk through the stone statues and are excited to enter into the city. But when they walk inside, they are stunned to see what they're looking at. They can see the place is cloudy and deserted. The houses look like they haven't been used, and there isn't a hippogriff in sight.

"Are we sure this is the right place?" Rarity whispers in fright.

Applejack calls out, "Hello?! Is anypony home?!"

"Is anyone here?!" Sun adds with a loud voice.

Pinkie looks at a table where a teapot covered in cobwebs, and says, "No Hippogriffies here!"

"Or here!" Pinkie shout in a tree.

Then she appears on top of a house, "Or here!"

Then Pinkie appears at different places, shouting, "Or here or here or here!" "

Waaaaaiiit!" Pinkie says, and quickly looks under a rock.

Then says, "Nope! This place is emp-ty!"

"But... Celestia... The map. They have to be here," Princess Twilight says, shocked to see the place is empty and not a hippogriff in sight.

Spike looks at a statue as he worriedly says, "Something bad happened here. Something that turned this whole place into a ghost town."

"A g-g-g-g-ghost town?!" Fluttershy scaredly says with shivers on her back.

"You don't suppose the Storm King had anything to do with the Hippogriffs' disappearances," Sun theorized.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did," Princess Twilight agrees.

"Yeah. After what Capper and Captain Celaeno told us about him, I wouldn't be too surprised if he invaded Mount Eris as well, "Adagio adds.

Suddenly, a strange sound appears that cause Fluttershy to gasp in fright. Princess Twilight gasp as well. They are hearing a strange sound as well.

The Dazzlings, being an expert in music, are able to tell what the sound it.

"It sounds like… humming," Aria says.

"Almost like someone is singing," Sonata adds.

"And someone must be making music. Which means, this place may not be deserted like we thought," Adagio add.

The others look and listen to hear the humming melody coming from a strange building covered in rocks.

"It's coming from over there!" Princess Twilight says.

"Maybe someone in there can help us," Sun replies.

"I sure hope so," Applejack says.

The group of friends head to the building to see if they can find an entrance. Luckily, Princess Twilight is able to find a way to get in. She light up her horn, and crawls inside under the rocks. Sun and the others begin to follow. The girls and Spike walk inside, deep in the cave to find out where the singing is coming from.

After walking through the cave, they are able to walk out to see a large chamber with a large pool of water in. In the middle of the pool is a giant pink water lily. The friends look to see that something or someone is glowing in the flow.

Sun whispers, "There's someone in that flower."

"And that must be where the humming is coming from," Princess Twilight agrees.

The group of friends begin to walk down the stairs to see who or what is in the pool.

Suddenly, a rock chips off of the stair as Pinkie nearly trips on her hoof.

The being in the flower gasp, "What was that?!"

Then dives back in the water.

Pinkie goes after her as she shouts, "Hey! Wait up!"

Pinkie runs to the and jumps as she cries, "Cannonball!"

She curls herself up like a ball, and goes into the water .

"Pinkie!" Princess Twilight panics.

The girls quickly runs down stairs and walk into the water.

Pinkie comes out of the water and squirts water from her mouth.

"She's gone!" Pinkie replies.

Sonata turns to Adagio, and asks, "Adagio, was that a merpony just now? Like a real merpony."

"For once Sonata, I think you're right," Adagio answers.

"And that must be the one who is singing in the flower just now," Aria says.

"Twilight, can you change us back to merponies? Maybe my sisters and I can talk to that merpony we just say?" Adagio asks.

"A merpony? Is that was we saw?" Princess Twilight asks.

"We think so," Aria answers.

"Alright," Princess Twilight says with a nod.

Princess Twilight uses her magic to change the Dazzlings to their merpony forms. The girls hands becomes hooves, their upper body becomes a pony featured, while their legs has transform into tails. Soon, all three dive into the water.

Sun, Princess Twilight, and the others wait for the Dazzlings to find the merpony so they can all get help.

Suddenly, they hear a strange sound.

With a frustrated expression, Princess Twilight says, "Now what?"

"Huh?" Pinkie replies, realizing they are being being pulled by the current.

The flower goes down to reveal a whirlpool. Soon all eight of the friends are being sucked in.

Rarity groans, and says, Oh, boy. I hate epic adventures."

Soon everyone are being sucked into the whirlpool heading straight into the water. They all have been pushed into a cavern under the water and the entrance closed. Princess Twilight and Sun look to see they are having trouble breathing under the water, and the Dazzlings can't get the entrance to open back up. The girls feels like they are unable to keep the air in anylong, and close their eyes fearing the worst.