Day 3

I’m writing this from my cabin onboard the Storm King’s Mistake. I think I made a mistake with this entire expedition.

Midnight is handling the organizing. Moon Dancer did the research. The crew and Captain handle the ship. Lieutenant Moonglow leads the guard garrison.

I have literally nothing to do.

I didn’t expect this to happen, but I’m basically a passenger at this point of the journey, even if I suspect that once we reach our destination I’m going to have a lot more to do-

XXXXXXX

I looked up from my journal at the knock on my door. My actual cabin was small and contained basically a narrow bed, a small desk and a chest for my belongings. It was likely a good thing that Luna or Sunset came along because not even Sunset would have fit on that bed with me, yet alone Luna. Then again, I actually had private quarters, something far from everypony else did.

But what I did have was a porthole window showing the landscape of Equestria passing by beneath us beneath the clouds.

“Enter.”

The door opened and Tempest entered, “You wanted to see me, Commander?” she asked and stopped before my desk.

“Ah, yes,” I agreed and put my pen down, “I was mostly curious about how your magic practice has been going, not easy to do onboard.”

Tempest's ears twitched and then she shook her head, “I have been working on my telekinesis spells. But otherwise… it has been difficult,” she admitted.

I nodded, “I figured. Luckily, I also have a solution.”

“Sir?”

“Now when we’re underway, Midnight is way less busy than she was before we left and she’s a literal alicorn of magic,” I said, “What do you think?”

Tempest nodded, “I will ask her, sir.”

“Oh, she’ll love it,” I said and then looked at her for a long moment, “How are you doing, Tempest? Being back on board and all.”

Tempest scraped her hoof against the deck and looked to the side, her ears flicking back for a second before she shook her head, “I’m fine, sir.”

I regarded her for a moment before I nodded, “It’s just… I’d feel weird about it. I mean, it’s your former flagship.”

Tempest sighed and then finally nodded, “...It is. Weird. There are a lot of memories, but everything is different. It just reminds me of things at times. But I’m fine, sir.”

“If there is anything I can do, just let me know, okay?”

Tempest actually flinched.

I frowned at her, “Tempest?”

She sank down to sit on the deck, “...You have just done so much for me already, sir. You gave me my horn back, you got...you got turned into what you are now to do it. For me.”

I got up from the desk and sighed, moving over to her, “Tempest, I made you a promise. Yes, the entire deal might not have been what I was expecting from Discord, but it’s not bad. You know where I am really from by now. First I’m a pony, then an alicorn, then a different kind of alicorn. That’s all,” I told the tall mare before I spread my left wing and looked at it, “Besides, it’s far from bad, just different. Sure, I don’t handle cold as easily as before and moving clouds around is more difficult, but my wings are way quieter, I can see in the dark and my hearing is better, and seriously, how often did I do cloud work?”

“That’s not the point.”

“No, the point is that it pointed out the difficulties of possibly thousands of ponies to me,” I told her seriously, putting my hoof on her chest, “That’s what it did. That’s why we are right here, right now. To help them and make their lives better. If not for all this, it might have taken longer for me to find it, maybe a lot longer.”

Tempest looked uncertain, “I don’t…” before she sighed, “That’s not what I mean to happen. It was an accident and it ended up good.”

I let my hoof drop back onto the floor, “Eh… that’s the thing with choices,” I said and shrugged my wings, “You very rarely know what the result is going to be from your actions or choices. You can guess the most likely result, yes, but knowing it? That’s beyond anypony… unless maybe if we end up with an alicorn of time at some point I suppose.”

I quickly glanced around for possible time travelers. Because that timing was way too good for anypony like that to pass up.

Tempest sighed softly but she finally nodded, “...You’re right, Commander. But what I di-”

“Is why we are here and why you are a Warmage,” I told her, “For the betterment of Equestria. You didn’t run away, you didn’t leave. You wanted to make up for everything that has happened and you are doing that right now.”

Tempest scraped her hoof against the deck and then took a slow deep breath before she nodded firmly, “Yes, sir.”

“Besides,” I said with a smile, flashing my fangs, “I kinda like parts of it.”

I hope you know what you are doing Cadance.