“What do you mean, Goldleaf was left behind?” questioned the Princess harshly, failing to keep her anger in check.

“We had no choice but to leave.” said Lady Silver, sighing in impatience. “It was us or him, I chose us.”

“And where is Hemlock?” Luna tapped a hoof on the ship's deck, which was carrying them swiftly back to Equestria. They'd be leaving the cove any moment now.

“She decided to stay too, apparently.” Silver replied, rolling her eyes. “Her choice, though. Maybe she'll learn a thing or two.”

“What!?” Luna exclaimed. “You abandoned your own daughter to the enemy!?”

“Princess, do try to remain calm. Hemlock made a calculated choice to stay. Whether it was a good choice or not will remain to be seen, but whatever it was, it was hers.” Luna got the feeling Lady Silver was treating her like a child. “Contrary to common opinion, I was not cruel with my daughters just because I could be. I was cruel with them so that they would know how to survive in this world. It was all for their own good, and I trust my lessons have stuck with Hemlock. She'll make it home eventually, and wiser for it, I hope. If not, I have a cousin to replace her in line for Castle Greatfall.”

Luna snorted. She could not believe this wicked, heartless mare! Were I more like Celly, I'd burn you to a crisp right here, Luna thought. She was in a real foul mood now, that was for sure. Goldleaf and Hemlock, both left behind in Sarathûl! Now she was back where she had started this spring; alone and friendless but for her increasingly distracted sister.

“Very well.” said the alicorn, gritting her teeth. “Should anything happen to either of them, you will be personally responsible.” she threatened. “In fact-” Lady Silver looked over her shoulder, over the bow of the ship.

“Princess, as much as I enjoy being berated, this isn't a good time...” Silver sounded almost worried. Almost. Luna followed her gaze, past the passing cliff sides that guarded their cove. There were a pair of three-masted ships coming up from the south, bearing blue serpents on their mainsails, and streaming banners of yellow. Rows of oars beat back and forth like they were two giant waterbugs, and she could spot cannon muzzles poking out from the round bastion at the front of each. Galleasses, Luna identified. And from the Kingdom of Lûndôvîr, too.

Luna saw the flashes before she heard the thunder, but the shots fell far short of them. “For once, We agree,” growled the alicorn. “Sound the alarm!” she ordered to anypony that could hear. A unicorn rang a bell, which spread to other ships. There were still a dozen more behind this one, perhaps the humans didn't know what they were getting into?

“Do you have any idea of what you're doing, Princess?” Lady Silver asked, frowning at the two galleasses bearing down on them. “They'd tear us apart if they get any closer.”

“We thought you relished the idea of a good fight.” countered Luna, coldly.

“I do not shy from bloodshed, but I cannot say this is my battlefield of choice. Pegasi and vast amounts of water do not get along well. Only underground is worse...” Silver said, sneering in disdain at the thought. “Underground water is right out.”

“We are facing neither.” the Princess stated. The ship's unicorns had deployed a ballista, a common anti-pirate weapon. She doubted how effective it would be; though she had to admit, she'd never seen one in action. In fact, Luna had only ever been in one battle, and that was against a force far more ethereal and primitive than mortal men.

Another boom of thunder and wave of smoke came from the bastions at the front of the two Lûndôvîn ships. The vessel behind them had a hole punched in its side, though well above the water line. “We need to get our hooves on those.” remarked Silver, glancing up in annoyance as a shot screamed over their heads.

“All things in time.” Luna said, gritting her teeth at the waves of din coming off the human warships. Their own ship shuddered as it was hit by two shots that failed to do any real damage.

“Princess!” shouted a unicorn from the main deck. “We request permission to attack!”

“Make it so.” ordered Luna, waving a hoof down at them. There were three ballistae in all for ever ship, each one with a crew of four ponies. One to aim, one to load, and two to use their magic to winch back the torsion spring-powered levers, which could hurl a hundred-pound missile over five hundred yards, she was to understand.

With a crack, the ballista loosed its projectile. It spun as it flew, and arced straight into one of the cannon ports on the approaching galleass. A second buried half its shaft in the wood bastion, and the third followed the first in. Not bad shots, noted Luna. The missiles would never even scratch the enemy ship, but they could kill their sailors. A gruesome reality of war. Behind them, the ballista crews of the other ships let loose their shots; some were aimed at the rigging and sliced through the ropes of the sails. One ship was even sending over burning balls of pitch, though the wind pushed them just off course enough to miss. Somepony hadn't done her math right...

The humans responded with another volley from their bastions, still closing in as fast as they could. Their rounds crashed into the side of the Equestrian vessel, sending splinters flying every which way. Luna pulled up a magic shield for herself; and one particularly large shard of wood bounced off it.

“For somepony who doesn't like me at all, you seem intent on saving my life.” Silver commented, looking at the shard which would have otherwise hit her.

“It was an accident.” growled Luna, ears going flat.

“Then fate is truly on my side.” Silver said with a smile. You arrogant- the princess exhaled slowly, trying to calm herself down. Silver had just abandoned her only two friends to die, and she had the nerve to act like this? Unforgivable.

The galleasses were now getting uncomfortably close, adjusting their rudders to keep their prows pointed ahead. The one closest to the shore had pulled ahead of its partner, perhaps on account of a better angle with the wind. At this close range, their cannons were becoming more and more effective... so was the aim of the ballista crews, though, who had taken to targeting individual members of the crew. Luna saw an arquebusier in armor impaled through his chest, and knocked clear off the bastion by the force of the impact.

“I don't like the looks of that.” Silver pointed to the galleass farthest from them. It was roaring straight for the fourth ship in the convoy.

“What are they doing...” wondered Luna. The way its bow broke the waves caught her eye... there was something down there.

“They're trying to hit them!” exclaimed Silver, more in awe than fear. Before any warning could be sent, the galleass smashed up into the Equestrian ship, revealing a flat-headed iron ram which tore a gaping wound in the hull. A mighty cheer went up from both galleasses, as the Equestrian vessel began to take on water and list. The close one was rowing right for them, now.

“Turn north!” shouted Luna, in the greatest voice she could muster. The unicorn at the helm didn't need to be told twice, he wheeled the wheel about and they began to spin away from the oncoming warship. Without wasting anymore breath, Luna took to the air and summoned up a mighty wind to pull their sails harder. She was only half-aware of how she was doing it.

Their ship did bump a little as the galleass's ram hit it, but it didn't hit hard enough to break through the hull. Luna sighed in relief; they were safe- Oh no, Luna realized. They weren't safe at all. The cannons that could in the bastion opened fire, raking across the length of the ship, killing some and wounding many. Only five managed to traverse themselves enough to do so, luckily. One of their own ballistae had been ruined, but the other two kept up their attacks, pouring missile after missile into cannon port and exposed crew alike. At this range, there was no way they could miss with such accurate weapons. Luna winced as the entire port broadside of the galleass opened up on the next Equestrian ship, in a deafening roar and blinding white smoke.

“Princess!” shouted Silver, who had taken cover behind the wale of the bow.

“This is not a good moment!” replied Luna, sneering down at the pegasus. “We do not have time for your trite-”

“Shut up and listen to me!” Silver snapped, in such a harsh and angry tone that it struck a tiny sliver of fear into her heart. “Those ships rely on their oars more than sails, break them and we can easily escape onto the open ocean!”

Damn her, but she's right, Luna thought. But how to break their oars? Light them on fire? That was Celestia's power, Luna was never good at it. Celly would have come up with something by now, she lamented. What would her sister do here if she couldn't burn the problem away? Something glinted in the sun, a metal buckler belonging to a dead unicorn soldier. That was it!

She levitated the buckler up, and held it in place while she spun it around and around. Luna darted towards the stern of her own ship, while the occasional arquebus shot whistled by. After dipping down near the water, Luna let the spinning buckler go, and watched as it smashed through half the starboard oars on the galleass before falling into the water. For good measure, Luna used her magic to tear out some of the rigging on the forward mast. That should cause them a bit of trouble. A crossbow bolt bounced off her magical shield, reminding her to get back to her own ship quickly. Immediately, the enemy vessel slowed down, its oarsmen ceasing to row as they realized what had happened. A wise captain was letting momentum and wind carry his ship forward, while he tried to figure out the oar situation.

While the five cannons in the bastion harassed their own ship, Luna took a moment to see what was going on further down their convoy. Except for the rammed one, the others had all gone around the second galleass, and were sailing out behind the one now chasing Luna's ship.

One of the Equestrian vessels in particular had broken off, and was speeding up behind the first galleass. It cut a very different figure from the hulking human ship, sleek and swift with its lateen sails and lower to the water. Like a dagger, it came up and crushed the remaining starboard oars of the galleass, snapping them all like twigs. There was a brilliant flash of light, the roar of cannons and more, and then the Equestrian ship was free, passing out the human's fire arc. It had taken very heavy damage to the side, but as Luna soon noticed, they had done what they set out to do.

“That was impressive.” Silver said from below, seeing what Luna was seeing. Black smoke was coming out of the cannon ports on the galleass's starboard side, the orange and red tongues of flame were crawling out of the hatches on the deck.

“What did they do?” wondered Luna out loud, watching the fire spread further. An explosion ripped through a part of its deck. That fire is going to reach their powder magazine, Luna realized. She was glad they were getting well away, as were her other ships. Even the humans were abandoning ship, throwing off armor and weapons and grabbing planks to use as floats. Her ballista crews ceased their action, there was no honor in attacking an enemy out of combat.

“I'd guess they had a unicorn of some power on board, who teleported something in there...” Silver theorized. “We'll find out soon, Princess. Enjoy the show in the meantime.” She grinned wickedly, eagerly gazing out to the growing inferno they were leaving behind. The other galleass had withdrawn to a safe distance in the opposite direction, now nearly a mile away from them. A few more explosions flared up. “Here we go!”

With a tremendous FWOOM, a column of fire screamed into the sky; pieces of wood and metal flying every which way. Lady Silver's were wide like a foal's, absolutely delighting in what she saw. The shattered, burning ruin of the ship that had sailed so proudly into battle not half an hour ago did not take long to sink beneath the waves. “Stars above.” whispered Luna. It was the most destructive act she'd ever seen, aside from anything done by Discord.

“Beautiful.” said Silver, watching the raining debris land in the ocean amidst the survivors. Far off, the other galleass was sitting near the overturned hull of the one it had rammed. They may have been intending to tie it to their own ship and use it to bring the surviving sailors ashore, but Luna wasn't intent on finding out.

“Set course for home.” she ordered. “Lady Silver, if anything should happen to Hemlock or Goldleaf because of your actions, or lack thereof, you will be held responsible.”

“I'm sure.” Silver replied, an unspoken challenge in her voice. Just you try, she seemed to say.

Watch me, Luna thought back.

Author's Notes:

Remember the ship Luna noticed throwing balls of flaming pitch instead of bigass arrows? Guess which ship had a mid-tier power level unicorn who could mass teleport. The ship with the flaming pitch. With our two month quota of action in, it’s time to get back to slow paced character and plot building. This chapter is pretty short, but it ended in a very good place, so that's where we'll leave it.