Author's Notes:

I know it needs a lot of work, I write fanfiction as practice so I can have some hope if I need to write a story in school.

A man sat alone, thinking to himself. Thinking, ‘if things had been different, what would the world be like today?’ That is, if the old ones hadn’t nearly destroyed the planet. Over one-thousand years ago now, a cataclysmic event melted both of Earth’s ice caps, and underground water sources, all over the world burst open, flooding the Earth to levels we’d only imagined. If things had been different, would he be doing this job, maybe he would be pissing all of his money away at a whorehouse in Madrid, or maybe he’d be one of Her Highnesses royal asskissers. It didn’t really matter, thinking things like this, was just his way of passing time in this shitty, dead-end job. The man tilted his head back, and sighed a long sigh of boredom, that is, until his door swung open.

“Captain de Stansfield! An Imperial ship has been spotted to the west on the horizon, what are your orders?” You know what, scratch that, he loved this job.

“Hmph. Get all hands to their stations. This baby may be a relic, but she can still kick some español ass!” Yelled the captain of the ancient, yet still alive and kicking ship, formerly known as the USS Olsen named after one of the last Presidents of the United States, a particularly fast frigate, she’s saved the asses of the crew time, and time again.

“Aye, captain.” The man left to ready the crew for an upcoming fight. The captain made his way to the helm to find his lieutenant, Kurt Anola steering the ship in lieu of the regular pilot who had died of alcohol poisoning after three months at sea.

“Ahh, Michel!” Kurt yelled, so he could be heard over the droves of sailors scrambling to their allotted cannons, or grabbing a rifle, one poor bastard crawled up into a jury rigged crow’s nest with a sniper rifle. “The men are improving, their all nearly ready, in a fourth the time of the last battle.” He continued.

“Yes, they certainly are a fine crew, maybe someone will get a gold medal.” Michel joked. It should be known that gold was an even more valuable commodity these days, especially since almost every mine is underwater, the pressure alone makes it nearly impossible to get, that isn’t even to mention the hand the empire has in keeping such abilities away from the general populace, they want to control everything they can, it’s part of the reason he became a pirate. Michel never particularly liked laws, always found them rather constricting. “Enough joking, let’s destroy them, try to salvage any supplies we can, we’re not running low yet, but it’ll help until we can reach a port.”

“That it will, FOUR HUNDRED METERS!” Kurt yelled, alerting the crew to be ready quick. “You might want to hold onto something Michel. We’re about to speed up.”

“We’re not ramming them, are we?” Michel asked, worried, not about the crew mind you, but the ship, as it was a gift from his father after he passed.

“No! What do you take me for ya crazy bastard? Our last stop in New Denver, we got this baby fitted with some new parts I wanna test.” Kurt responded, cracking a smile, showing his little fangs.

“Kurt, what the hell did you have done to my ship?”

“A new engine, and advanced rudders we took from an Imperial ship. I watched ‘em put the things on, there are no bombs on the damn boat, if that's what you're asking."

“You’d better hope you’re right, cause if you aren’t, and we all die, I’ll chase you into whatever hell God sends you to, and I’ll kill you again.” Michel said, as he braced himself for the acceleration, the ship was faster, he’d admit that, and the rudders let them get so close to the enemy ship, you could almost touch it when they turned. Michel was so close could see the confusion on the faces of the Spanish sailors. He took their moment of weakness as an opportunity. “FIRE ALL WEAPONS!” The roar of cannon fire echoed for miles in every direction, Michel found it almost euphoric, he’d grown up hearing that sound, and he hoped he’d die listening to it. His happy thoughts were only interrupted when the ship was almost thrown into the enemy. At first the crew thought it might be a Spanish ship coming to rendezvous with a scout, but when everyone looked to the south, what they saw was much more horrifying.

“IT’S A STORM, EVERYONE BRACE!” Kurt yelled from the helm, into a PA system so the whole crew could hear. Another wave came, this one stronger than the last. It pushed the Olsen clear over the opposing ship, and damn near horizontal onto it’s side. The ship managed to right itself with the help of stabilizers from Saeloun Pyeong-yang (New Pyonyang). To survive the storm, they expected. What they didn’t expect, was to be surround by five ships of unknown allegiance.

-

“That was wonderful nephew!” Said Princess Celestia, as she complemented Prince/Admiral Blueblood on his display of Equestria’s newest military capability. “In all my years, I’ve never seen such a splendid commander.” She told him with an earnest smile.

“Thank you aunty. Truthfully, I’m just glad I can finally be of use to Equestria in some way.”

“Well, I’m proud of you, and I’m sure your wife will be as well.”

“Oh! Yes, I’m sure Rarity will want to celebr-” He was cut off by one of his subordinates barging in. “What’s wrong sailor?”

“Admiral Sir, an unidentified ship just appeared in the middle of the battlegroup!”

“You can’t tell what nation it’s from?”

“No sir, it has no distinguishing markings, but it does have something vaguely Equestrian written on the side.”

“Well,” Blueblood said impatiently. “ What does it say?”

“BFS Olsen.” The sailor answered.

“Aunty, do you have any idea what ‘BFS’ means?”

Celestia thought for a moment. “Yes, in ancient times, before nations claimed the seas, pirates ruled them. They formed a loose association and called themselves, ‘The Black Flag Fleet.’

“A pirate?” Blueblood opened a view-window to look at the ship, and sure enough he looked at the very highest point, and saw a pitch-black flag flying in the wind. He looked to Celestia, who looked back and nodded, something you wouldn’t have never noticed if you didn’t grow up with such a woman. He turned to the sailor. “Tell the men, report to their stations, now.”

“Aye, sir!” The sailor gave a salute before running to ready the crew.

“Blueblood, proceed with caution. We haven’t seen a pirate in over a millenium.”

“I understand, but I’m not going to wait for a goddamn pirate to kill my men. ALL SHIPS, FOR A RING AROUND THE INTRUDER, AND FIRE!” The ships did as he said with shocking efficiency, and fired almost simultaneously. It was all for nought though, their 16th century cannons were no match for the armor plating of the Olsen, which deflected every shot, and returned fire with a light volley, not knowing where they were, or who would be stupid enough to challenge them with ships even older than theirs. The battle lasted for four minutes, before all five Equestrian ships had their weapons disabled. After the battle was over, both Blueblood and Celestia were requesting parley with the captain of the Olsen, they expected someone of extreme power, who commanded fear in the hearts of his crew, not a twenty-one year old boy, with his hair pulled back into a short ponytail, with his crew patting him on the back and passing him beers as he walked over the gangway, with a spring in his step only a child was capable of possessing.

“So.” The boy started. “I am Captain Michel de Stansfield of the Black Flag Ship, Olsen, and who was the wise guy that tried to fire on my ship?” Amazingly, he didn’t seem angry, or spiteful, simply annoyed that he had to spend time out of his day to fight such unworthy opponents.

“That was me.” Blueblood said as he stepped up to speak with the boy.

“Well.” Michel said. “You’ve got balls like a goddamn whale! Have a beer.” He said, tossing a bottle to a confused Blueblood, who mimicked Michel’s way of opening the foreign object.

“Y-You aren’t even angry?”

“Why? Because you tried to bring down my ship? Nah, you couldn’t have done any harm anyway, but once I got a good look at your flags, I realized I wasn’t exactly where I would like to be.”

“And where is that?”

“Madrid, Spain. A brothel preferably.”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I’m not familiar with these places.” Blueblood said apologetically.

“Yeah, I’m not expecting you to know of them, I don’t know where you’re from either.”

Princess Celestia had quietly listened to the entire conversation, but had to butt in when she heard that. “How could you not have heard of Equestria, we’re the second largest nation in the world.”

“I apologize miss, but, who are you?”

She look positively shocked by his honest response, of course being who she was, he might as well have said ‘bitch I don’ know you!’ “I am Princess Celestia, I rule this nation alongside my sister, Princess Luna.”

Michel simply looked on with a face that showed how little he cared. That is until he saw Celestia’s expression change from one of shock, to one of confusion, then one of welcoming, he turned to see what had happened, and he liked what he saw. A tall woman, just over six feet, a light tan, and gorgeous prismatic hair. “Hello, there lass. What might your name be?”

She was taken aback by the man before her. It was rare for her to find men as tall as her, let alone taller than her by five inches, his dark sun tanned skin was enticing, his dark blonde hair was ruffled, and pulled back, showing his attempt at looking both adventurous, and charismatic, he also had a youthful energy about him that gave her a feeling not unlike the thrill of a race. “I-I’m Rainbow Dash, and you are?”

Without missing a beat, he gently grabbed her hand, kissed it and spoke. “I’m Captain Michel de Stansfield, of the Black Flag Ship, Olsen. Would you like to come aboard?” He asked with a small smile.

She had to admit, the offer was tempting, but she had a job to do. “Sorry, maybe later, but I came to see if the princess was alright.” She said, with a sincere smile.

“Aye, young lady.” He gave her a small bow before moving out of her way so she could see Princess Celestia smiling.

“Hello there, young Rainbow Dash.”

“Hello your Highness, you seem to be alright. What happened?”

“We had a small altercation with Captain de Stansfield, but no one was hurt, and all seems to be well.”

“I’m glad, and Prince- I mean, Admiral Blueblood, how are you doing?”

“Very well Rainbow Dash, how is everyone in Ponyville?”

“Great, everyone misses you, especially Rarity.” She said, giving him a slight bump with her elbow.

He chuckled slightly at the girl. "I miss you all as well, say if you're here in Canterlot?"

"Yep, Rarity's here too. She's up in the castle with Twilight and the others, Captain Sentry asked me to wait by the shore in case something went wrong out here."

"That was wise of him, I think we should return to shore, the ships will need some light repairs."

"Sorry 'bout that mate. If you want some help with that, my crew is plenty willing." Michel offered.

"It would be greatly appreciated." Blueblood said, extending his hand, which Michel quickly shook.

"In the meantime, I should figure out what the hell just happened to my ship."

"What do you mean?" Asked the admiral.

"We were caught in a tropical storm, and wound up here. No idea how."

"That...That is truly strange. Maybe I could help you figure it out." Said Celestia, now the one making offers.

"And I think I'll take you up on that, thank you." Michel said, smiling.