Ponies of the Cursed Seas

by iowaforever

First published 27th of April, 2012

18th-century sailors end up in Equestria; battle cursed pirates with Mane 6

An American naval vessel enters a whirlpool and is transported to Equestria, it's crew having been turned into ponies. With no way to get back, the new ponies ally themselves with Twilight Sparkle and her friends to find a powerful magic artifact for Princess Celestia. However, something may have followed them through the whirlpool...

Takes place after "Sisterhooves Social" but before "Cutie Pox"

Prologue

This prologue is a bit human-centric, but it makes the story work, so read on before judging. Likes and comments are appreciated.

The ocean is much more deceiving than it first seems; for an innocent person standing on the side of a cliff or on a beach, it appears to be just another vast expanse of water, not unlike a pond or a river. Most people see it as a place that separates them from lands flowing with wealth, and for young boys that had not yet taken up jobs it was the gateway to adventure and fame, and all the advantages that came from those aspects.

Reality, however, was much different. Ask any sailor, especially those in the navy, and they would say that going to sea was like asking to be hanged. Asides from storms, diseases and overly brutal captains, one out of every four ships was attacked in some way by pirates, intrusive imperial powers, and possibly sea monsters. Entire squadrons were massacred just trying to protect a few nautical miles of ocean, and currently America was engaged in no fewer than five “wars” with the major European powers and several powerful pirate organizations.

Captain Montana Mays regarded the situations that had brought him here; he had joined the navy out of necessity and he had already been a captain eight times over, and if today was any indication it was going to keep getting worse from here. He briefly mulled over the number of times he had to go back to port in a dingy before pulling himself back to reality, ducking as a massive tentacle slammed into the deck of his ship.

Like most sea monster attacks, this one had come around dawn, when everyone was least expecting it. The squid had hit Mays’ ship, the U.S.S. Concordia, and had nearly snapped the mainmast in half. Dozens of sailors lay dead from having their bones splintered by the behemoth’s tentacles, and dozens more were busy trying to hack the tentacles into little chunks.

Still, things were not going as bad as they could have.

Mays got back to his feet, picked up his boarding axe, and flung himself at the beast. The blade sank deep into the pink flesh of the squid, liquid splashing over Mays’ arm as he drove the axe deeper. Eventually something gave and the tentacle was shredded from its owner, flopping to the deck like an injured snake. Mays spun around just as another tentacle wrapped around his torso, driving the wind from his lungs and forcing him to drop his axe and his sword. He tried desperately to pry the tentacle off his body, but to no avail. “It’s days like this where I seriously begin to question my career choice.” He muttered as the tentacle began to drag him towards the ocean.

No sooner had he begun to lose his footing that the tentacle went slack and dropped him to the ground. He pulled the severed appendage off and cast a glance back at his rescuer. A giant of a man, armed with a battered cutlass and an equally battered hacksaw, towered over him, a look of mild worry plastered to his face.

“You alright, captain?” “Hacksaw” Riley said. The medic put away his saw and held out his hand to help Mays back to his feet. Mays grabbed his hand and pulled himself to his feet, wiping some of the slime from the squid’s tentacle off his coat before picking his weapons back up.

“Guess it wasn’t my day to die.” Mays looked back across the deck “And if we’re lucky, we won’t have to lose another ship. Go find Smith and help him dislodge the ship.”

“Yes sir.” Hacksaw and Mays ran off in opposite directions. Another tentacle swung at Mays, forcing him to throw himself against the deck. He rolled over and struck out with the axe, carving an arm sized chunk of flesh off the tentacle. The tentacle rose up and Mays was forced to roll out of the way before it slammed down and crushed him. He got back to his feet and hacked at the tentacle with the axe, bits of squid and slime flying in all directions.

Unfortunately, on one of his swings the axe became lodged in the flesh of the beast. Then the tentacle swung back, the axe was pulled out of Mays’ hand. He dove down again as the tentacle swiped at him, knocking a few unlucky sailors behind him into the ocean. He got up again and made his way below deck.

Down here it was unnaturally calm; the squid had not been able to break through the Concordia’s hull, and all of the ship’s cannons were still in place. Most of the crew was on deck trying to fight off the monster, but some were below preparing for the counterattack. Mays looked around and found his quarry: Master Chief Petty Officer Charles Richard, who was coordinating the preparations for the counterattack. It was fairly easy to spot him, even in the gloom of the ship; Richard was shorter than Mays, much more stout, had a thick beard and his head was perpetually wrapped in a red bandana.

“Richard, are the preparations ready?” Mays asked.

“Aye captain.” The Master Chief said, wiping sweat off his brow. “Give the order, and this fish’ll be flayed faster than what the boys upstairs can muster.” There was a crash as another tentacle took out a side railing and some loose crates. Mays found a discarded pistol and hurried back up.

“Hold fire until I’m ready.”

“Aye captain.” Mays ran to the edge of the deck, looking out into the water. He could see the dark shape of the squid, and he could see the faint outline of sharks as they swam in to feast on the scraps and the dead sailors.

Then he found his target: a massive eye, the only way for Mays to find any connection to the beast. The green irises clashed with the unthinking brutality of the creature, and the pupil locked on to Mays and stared at him, possibly through him. Mays shoved the thoughts that the thing was studying him out of his head and raised his pistol.

“Cannoneers are ready, captain.” Richard shouted over the din of the fighting.

“Fire at will.” Mays shouted back.

“Aye captain,” Richard ducked back into the ship “Okay boys, you heard the captain. Fire!” the entire port side of the Concordia was consumed with smoke as all thirty two cannons fired, the iron balls slicing through flesh like an axe through wood. Mays fired his pistol simultaneously with the cannons, the ball striking the squid right in the center of its eye. The monster roared and pulled away from the ship before diving down into the ocean. Mays watched as the sharks dove after it, swallowing chunks of flesh that broke off before diving down for more.

“Get to the helm and get us moving again.” he said to the first man who passed him “Get the marines reorganized; I want them ready in case the squid brought some friends. Richard, reload the guns.”

“Captain,” Mays turned and saw Carl Smith and Hacksaw returning from the bow, a fairly queasy and beaten lieutenant behind them. Smith had been a merchant sailor before signing on to the Concordia, and as such knew more about fighting these things off than Mays ever did “The damage to the masts is minimal, but we lost a lot of crewmen and I have no idea what happened to the rudder and keel; we might have a hard time getting under way.”

“There’s got to be a port around here where we can hire more men.” Mays looked past Smith to the lieutenant “What happened to Nolan?”

“He got snagged by the kraken. We had to pry him off, and once we did that he vomited all over Hacksaw.”

“I’ve told you before, krakens are much bigger than this.”

“Oh, it was a kraken all right; you can tell by the eyes.” Mays ignored Smith, focused more on Nolan. It was not because he had any real affection for the lieutenant, but since Nolan was a favorite of Commodore Preble’s losing him would sink Mays’ career, public opinion be damned.

“I’m fine, captain. Really, I am.” the lieutenant said, before vomiting again.

“Sure you are. Hacksaw, take him below and get him some rum to calm him down.” The medic grabbed Nolan and carried him off, passing Master Chief Richard on his way down.

“All cannons are ready sir; just give the boys something to shoot at.” Mays nodded. The captain made his way up to the wheel, which had somehow survived the attack.

“We have to find a friendly port, or a cove, or something; somewhere where we can get this ship repaired. What’s our heading?”

“Not sure, captain. The attack threw us off course a bit.”

“Smith, find us a heading. Richard, get some men to clean up this mess, then start taking inventory of who we lost.”

“Aye captain.” Richard made his way back to the main deck, pulling several men over to assist him. Smith went over to the starboard side, trying to get a fix on the sun. Mays considered going over to help him before Smith returned.

“Sir, we’ve got company.” Mays grabbed a spyglass and followed Smith “Off the starboard bow. I’m not sure how far away they are.” Mays raised his spyglass and looked.

The ship approaching them was of odd design; it was a square-rigged ship, with a large mainmast and two smaller masts behind it. The sails were soot grey and very tattered, making him wonder as to how it could still be moving. The forward deck was elongated, and attached to the front was a contraption that resembled a gigantic scythe. Mays could barely make out the outlining on the bow that looked like a shark’s mouth, sneering at the damaged American ship. Above the ship flapped a flag that all sailors of all nations feared: a white skull wearing a bandana and large hoop earrings set against a crimson field.

“It’s the Chum Maker,” Mays said, closing the spyglass “My guess is that Sammy sent that kraken to weaken us before moving in for the kill.” He turned to the helmsman “Bring us about; they have the wind on their side and we’re in no condition to fight just yet.”

“Aye sir.”

“Smith, get more men to spread all the canvas we have.”

“But sir, we can’t outrun them.”

“I know. I lost my third ship to the Chum Maker the same way. But we can try to delay the engagement as long as possible.”

“Right sir.” Smith began shouting his own orders and pulled more men away from clearing the decks. The Concordia began to move faster as the wind filled the ship of the line’s sails. Still the Chum Maker pursued them, the Scorpion-ship edging closer and closer to the fleeing Americans.

“I don’t think we’re going to get away, captain.” Hacksaw said. The medic had returned from below decks, wearing an apron that was stained brown from old blood and vomit.

“I noticed that.” Mays looked at Hacksaw. “How many did we lose?”

“About three dozen dead, maybe twice that number wounded. Most are just cuts, but there’s one man who’s got a broken leg that I may have to take off.” Riley had gotten the nickname “Hacksaw” because most of the wounds he treated, especially those to limbs, usually ended with the patient losing some part of their anatomy. Even if his hacksaw looked like it took more lives than it saved, he was very careful to make sure that all his equipment was as clean as possible. Given their constant state of travel that still was not very reassuring.

“Try not to. We don’t have enough wood to give him a new leg.” Mays looked back at the approaching ship. It was still quite a ways away, but he could swear he could see Sammy standing under that giant blade, his eyeless sockets fixated on the Concordia. Mays cleared his mind again and turned back to the ship.

It was in that moment that he spotted it. It started as an unusual patch of turbulence off the port bow, but the turbulence began to increase before forming a depression, growing in size until all that was left was a deep blue hole in the center of the ocean.

“Looks like someone actually cares about us,” Mays said. Too bad the priest got killed by Blackheart; I could have asked him for a blessing, he thought. Mays turned to the helmsman “Aim for the whirlpool.”

“Sir? We’ll be sunk.” Must be a new man.

“No we won’t; whirlpools are… weird, for a lack of a better term. Most spit you back out at some random location, but never the same place twice. We can lose Sammy before he has a chance to attack. Hopefully we’ll show up somewhere near Nassau and we can repair.”

“Nassau, huh… what’s so great about Nassau?” Mays gave Hacksaw a confused look.

“I saved Nassau from Blackheart the first time we got this ship. I expected you to remember you pulled a bullet out of the governor’s thigh. We were treated better than kings.”

“You were because the governor’s daughter took a fancy to you.”

“Wish I could say that about her. Get us into that whirlpool, helmsman.”

“Sir, are you really sure that the best-”

“Fine, I’ll do it.” Mays moved the helmsman out of the way and spun the wheel. The Concordia began to turn, the wind and the currents pushing the ship closer and closer to the whirlpool “Richard, stow those cannons. Smith, secure anything that might snap off, especially those sails. Grab hold of something, or else you won’t need to be taken by the Chum Maker.” All the sailors and marines still on deck grabbed on to the remaining pieces of railing, while Smith’s crew finished securing the sails before heading below.

The ship began to pick up speed, and Mays tightened his grip on the wheel to keep from losing control. The wind started to pick up, whipping Mays’ hair into his face and nearly taking off his hat. Hacksaw was less lucky and was knocked off his feet and would have fallen into the vortex had the railing not stopped him. The ship continued to move faster and faster and began to lean, threatening to capsize before they had reached the bottom of the whirlpool.

Mays was completely focused on keeping the Concordia upright that he did not notice a glowing light forming at the bottom of the whirlpool. The light flickered and pulsed, with little balls of energy flying out and surrounding the ship, drifting in front of sailors and whizzing through the rigging. One of the light balls floated in front of Mays, and what was most startling about it was that it smelled. Not of sea salt or sand, but it smelled of sugar, with a hint of straw.

“I don’t think whirlpools can do that.” Mays said as the ball of light began to spin around his head. It began to spin faster until it blurred his vision, almost blinding him and throwing him off course. He felt something bang against the back of his head before the entire world went white.

From above, a cloud of light had engulfed the Concordia before the waves collapsed in on the warship, the vessel disappearing in a cascade of foam and spray.

Chapter 1

I know the prologue is a little human-centric, but that's the only way the story really works. I encourage readers to continue through the whole story before making comments.
Still, your likes and comments are appreciated. And I still don't own the story.

It was late morning in Manehattan, and already the city was alive with activity. The Pegasi had been working since the early cracks of dawn clearing the sky, and all that remained of the usually heavy cloud cover were a few small clouds clinging to the horizon. Down in the city proper, ponies went about their daily business, opening shops, attending social gatherings, and making the city live up to its reputation as one of the most cosmopolitan cities in all of Equestria.

In a small field right outside the city, the grass began to wave as a small white ball materialized. The ball grew in size, kicking up a cloud of dust before flashing out of existence, leaving six ponies collapsed in a heap in the center of the field. The pony at the bottom of the pile, a lavender unicorn, opened one of her eyes to make sure they had landed in the right place.

“Yes!” Twilight Sparkle shouted, bouncing up on her hooves and throwing her friends to the ground. A twang of regret and concern rippled through her, but the sheer joy of actually having a spell like this one work was overwhelming. “The spell worked this time! We made it!”

“While I have nothing against your enthusiasm, Twilight, I simply cannot recall that spell kicking up so much… dust.” Rarity visibly shook at the mere mention of dust. She had gotten less obsessive over dirt since her sleepover with Twilight and Applejack, but she was still very resistant to anything that had the slightest chance of involving getting dirty; it had taken Applejack nearly two days to convince Rarity to go with them to Appleoosa, and she spent a fair amount of time on the trip there complaining.

“Sorry, Rarity. This is the first time I’ve actually had a mass teleport work properly.” Twilight smiled “But I’m sure that I can eliminate the dust when we go home!”

“Oh, I have no doubt that you can.” The two looked back at the others. The remaining four ponies were getting back to their feet and dusting themselves off. Applejack trotted over to one side of the field to fetch her hat while Fluttershy stood rigid, staring at the city.

“What’s the matter, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. Fluttershy tended to lock up when scared, but Twilight could not remember if she was scared of big cities.

“N-nothing… it was just so… so… sudden.”

“Well, teleportation spells do have that effect on ponies. You’ll get used to it after awhile.”

“Oh… okay, i-if you think so. I-I think I can.”

“That was totally awesome!” Rainbow Dash said, landing next to Twilight “We’ve got to do this more often, Twilight! I mean, I like flying better than teleporting, but you got us all here at once; that’s way better than having to wait for everypony to catch up… speaking of flying, I better get started on some of those moves I prepared last week.” Rainbow Dash took off and started flying towards the city, before stopping abruptly in mid air and slamming into the ground.

“Hold on there, Rainbow,” Applejack said, spitting Rainbow Dash’s tail out of her mouth “We can’t all just go runnin’ off like that.”

“Applejack’s right; if we split up then it will take forever to meet back up for the trip home. What we need to do is plan ahead and make sure we all know where everypony else is going to be.”

“Well, we don’t necessarily have to know exact locations, Twilight.” Rarity said “We could just agree to meet somewhere in, say, four hours, and then we wouldn’t have to worry about anypony being left behind… not that I would mind, that is; there were about half a dozen different art galleries that drew my attention, but I couldn’t possibly go to them in one-”

“Okay, I have an idea; Princess Celestia said there was a restaurant down by the waterfront that she and Princess Luna used to go to when they were fillies. We can meet up there in a couple of hours.”

“The waterfront ain’t too far for Aunt and Uncle Orange’s place,” Applejack said “I told them I’d stop by for a visit sometime… guess it’ll cut down on time.”

“Oh, the waterfront,” Fluttershy had snapped out of her state of shock at the mentioning of the waterfront “I heard about a huge seal colony over there, and we don’t get many seals in Ponyville… oh, I wish I brought more fish; I was only thinking of all the alligators they have in the sewer that I forgot about the seals. They won’t be too happy if I didn’t bring them anything.” The Pegasus started to get worried “M-maybe I should go somewhere else… i-if you don’t mind, that is.”

“Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy; I’m sure you’ll have more than enough food for the animals here.” Twilight said.

“You… you really think so?”

“Of course.”

“Oh… okay then.”

“Are we done with all this talking?” Rainbow Dash said “My brain’s about to give out.”

“Yes Rainbow; just remember that-” Twilight had not even finished thinking about what to say next before Rainbow Dash was gone, the sky-blue Pegasus just a small blur over the city. The rest of the group began to move off; Applejack was showing Fluttershy the way to the largest park in Manehattan, and Rarity was monologuing to herself about some kind of fabric that was sold exclusively in the city.

That just left Twilight and Pinkie Pie standing alone in the field.

“Pinkie? You haven’t said a word since we got here. What are you-?” Twilight stopped when she saw Pinkie. The bubblegum-pink earth pony had her mouth filled with half eaten cupcakes, and there was a fairly large box lying on the ground that had only five cupcakes left. Pinkie swallowed before speaking.

“I was going to tell you about this earlier but then you started talking and I figured that since you like talking it’d be rude to interrupt but anyway Mrs. Cake wanted me to take a bunch of these new cupcakes she made and pass them out to ponies here and see if they liked them and then I’d go back to Mrs. Cake and say who liked them and why and she’d work the whole thing through and then they’d be the most super amazing cupcakes anypony’s ever tasted and-”

“Pinkie! Slow down; you lost me at ‘new cupcakes’.”

“How could I lose you? You’re standing right there.” Pinkie gave Twilight a smile. Twilight looked at the box and back at Pinkie.

“Were you planning on only having five cupcakes to sample?”

“When you guys were talking, I got hungry. Ooh, there’s some new ponies now!” Pinkie picked up the box and bounced over to a trio of ponies settling down for a picnic. Twilight watched her go and made her way towards Manehattan.

It’s close to lunchtime back in Ponyville; I should probably get Spike that slice of pizza he wanted. Good thing he loaned me some of his dragonfire, or else I’d never be able to get it to him on- Twilight stopped, puzzled. Her horn had started to tingle and give off small pulses of magic. Twilight had first felt something similar to this after Princess Celestia had calmed her down when she first tapped her magical energy and got her cutie mark; the princess had said that it meant that there was an influx of magic nearby, and since rogue power surges were incredibly dangerous it was the duty of all unicorns to find the source and control it before it got out of hand and hurt somepony. Twilight was about to use her magic to locate the surge when it stopped, winking out as quickly as it had come.

“That was odd,” she said “Somepony must have gotten to the power surge before I did… I’ll have to tell Princess Celestia about it when I get back to Ponyville.” She set that train of thought aside and trotted into Manehattan.

Pinkie had never been to a lot of really big cities like Manehattan, and now that she had the privilege to finally visit one she was loving every minute of it. The pony bounced down the streets, occasionally running over to and squishing her nose up against different shop windows. Pinkie was never much of a shopper, except when the object in question was food or prank items, and Manehattan had tons of stores selling just that. Pinkie continued her happy bounce down the streets, carrying two bags full of various pranks and munching on a salt covered pretzel.

Halfway down one street, she stopped in the middle of the road and began to shake uncontrollably. None of the bags fell, but she almost lost the pretzel. She stopped shaking for a moment and looked down.

There’s a doozy on the way? She thought before her “Pinkie Sense” kicked back in and she shook some more. Down by the waterfront? Oh no, we’re going to be down there! She looked around to find somepony that could help before she shook again. Wait… at sea? We’re not going to sea, so whatever the doozy is, it won’t happen to us right away. I’ll just tell Twilight when I see her again. The Pinkie Sense had cut out for now, and the pink pony continued to bounce down the streets.

Equestria relied on sea trade a lot more than one would believe. There were territories and countries so far away that teleportation by unicorns (except for the royal pony sisters, but Celestia and Luna never left Equestria as much as they used to) was impossible. Schooners ran up and down the coast, carrying goods from places like the zebra homelands back to ports like Manehattan. There was little danger, except for the odd raid from the Diamond Dogs or an annoyed sea serpent, so most ponies that took to the sea enjoyed it immensely. Huge trading families had developed from the voyages, and nautical trade was considered one of the best ways to get ahead in Equestria.

The schooner Sea Swirl was sailing towards Manehattan, its hold full of items from the zebra homelands. This did nothing to slow its speed, and the schooner was making great time. The sailor ponies were taking the time to relax a little, allowing the wind to carry the ship north towards home.

The ship’s captain, a green and blue unicorn by the name of Sea Strider, stood at the bow of the ship. He had been around ships for most of his life, yet sailing still held enough mystery and excitement to keep him from getting bored. This was actually his second ship (he had sold his first to buy this one) and he cared for it as much as he did the pony it was named after.

“Hey boss.” Sea Strider turned and saw his first mate, a lanky Pegasus, fluttering just behind him. “When’s our next run?”

“Not for a couple of weeks once we get back to Manehattan. Once we sell the stuff and get paid I’m giving everypony some time off; you all deserve it as much as the next pony.”

“Alright then. I had some friends from Cloudsdale that wanted a tour of Manehattan. You know the city better than I do; do you want to go with us?”

“Can’t, I told Sea Swirl we’d have dinner when I got back… amongst other things.” The Pegasus backed up.

“Hey Strider, don’t get me involved in any of that personal stuff. I got bucked in the face by my last fillyfriend when I got messed up in somepony’s relationships.”

“You missed a great trip to the zebra homelands. I almost got to be an honorary member of one of the clans we met.”

“How? You suck at rhyming anything.”

“That’s why I said ‘almost’.”

“Boss,” one of his other crewmembers said “I think you should see this.” Sea Strider followed the sailor pony to the starboard side of the ship.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look at the water; see how it’s swirling like that?” Sea Strider looked. About a hundred yards away from the ship there was a patch of turbulence in the ocean. Curious, Sea Strider used some of his magic to scan the disturbance. What he got back shocked him.

“Sweet Celestia that’s a lot of magic.” He said. “Get to the helm and try to maneuver us away from the disturbance. I’d hate to think what could possibly be-” he was interrupted by the sound of rushing water. He looked back at the disturbance and saw a ship rising from the ocean. The ship was nearly twice the size of the Sea Swirl, and its three masts towered over the schooner. The ship’s deck was covered in debris and the hull was battered, and Sea Strider guessed that they might have had an encounter with Diamond Dogs or a sea serpent. But no ship he knew about could go under water.

“What do we do, boss?” the sailor pony asked.

“Their ship looks damaged; signal them and see if they need assistance. In the meantime, maintain our course.”

Mays felt like he had been punched in the face. His head ached and he could barely move his body. He was able to open his eyes and stare up at the sky.

The Concordia had not sunk, although some of the sails were torn from the wind and waves. They were stopped, and he was sure it would take awhile before they went anywhere. Already he could hear the groans of the other sailors who had been knocked around by the waves. He tried getting up, but his body gave out from under him and he banged his head against the deck.

“Hacksaw, are you still alive?” he asked.

“I think so, captain, although I’ve certainly felt better.” The medic responded. Mays nodded and rolled over, trying to get back to his feet. He succeeded for a few second before losing his balance and falling face first into the deck.

“This might take longer than I hoped; that whirlpool threw my balance off.”

“I’m not sure if that’s all the whirlpool did.” Mays shook his head in a futile attempt to clear it before opening his eyes again.

Standing in front of him was a blue horse, a unicorn to be specific. The unicorn was heavily built and had a mark on its flanks that looked like a red cross in front of two crossed hacksaws.

“Hey Hacksaw, how did a horse get on board the ship?” he asked. The unicorn tilted its head and looked at him.

“Why don’t you tell me?” the unicorn said with Hacksaw’s voice. Mays froze, trying to comprehend what he just saw. He turned and looked over the deck, and he saw that every single crewmember had been turned into a horse of some kind. Some were not taking the change very well, while others did not seem to care all that much.

A normal person would have freaked out over the recent development, but Mays controlled himself; he was a naval officer and would not allow himself to have a complete breakdown in front of his men. That would come later when his cabin was repaired.

“So, the entire crew got turned into horses-”

“Ponies.”

“What?”

“Everyone’s too small to be a full sized horse,” the unicorn that talked like Hacksaw said “And small horses are ponies. So everyone got turned into ponies.”

“Whatever. How are we supposed to be able to sail a ship as… ponies? I mean, shooting cannons shouldn’t be that hard, but actually sailing the ship…”

“Uh, captain?” a stocky white unicorn with a thick beard and bandana said, walking up from below deck “Nolan’s freaking out again; he can’t handle being a horse.”

“Pony. Okay, go find Smith and drag Nolan to my quarters. Get the men who aren’t mad about being a pony to start cleaning up the deck, and while you’re at it tell the cooks to throw away all the salted meat we have left.”

“The boys won’t be very pleased about that.”

“I’m not even sure if we can still eat meat, and I don’t want to find out.”

“Aye captain.” Richard left to carry out his orders while Mays and Hacksaw headed below to Mays quarters.

Or what was left of them; the kraken had smashed most of the windows and destroyed anything resembling furniture, and the whirlpool had made a general mess of what was left. Fortunately, or unfortunately, one mirror still remained, so Mays was able to get a good look at himself: a white pony with a blonde mane stared back at him from the reflection. He still had his tricorne and coat, which gave him a little bit of comfort.

He turned to the sound of hooves and saw the rest of the group. Richard and Hacksaw were in the center, with a yellow Pegasus hovering to their left and a green pony on their right.

“So, any explanations?” he asked.

“The Cursed?” the Pegasus, Smith, said. Mays gave him a look.

“No, the Cursed don’t have alteration powers, and if they did I don’t think they could convert an entire ship into ponies.”

“That’s another thing,” Hacksaw said “How long are we going to be stuck like this?”

“What am I, a witchdoctor? I don’t know anything about magic; I barely even know how the whirlpools work. For all I know, we could be stuck like this forever.”

“Forever?” Nolan said. The green pony started panicking. “I can’t be stuck as a horse forever. Think of the embarrassment; Preble and all the other commanders will laugh at me. They might demote me! Oh, I couldn’t bear having to do something like manual labor for the rest of my-”

“Nolan, do us a favor and shut up right now.” the green pony listened and stopped talking. Mays turned his attention to the group at large. “I don’t know how or why we’re all ponies, but I do know this; we are sailors of the United States Navy, and we will act as such. I want to continue on, no matter what form we are in, because we are Americans, and we need to show the world that we should be respected as a military force, even if we have all been turned into ponies. Is that understood?” there was a small chorus of ayes and yeses from the four ponies.

“Good. Now I need to know how damaged the ship is. Smith, check the rudder for damage.”

“How is he going to be able to check the rudder?” Nolan asked. The other four looked at him.

“Are you blind, Nolan?” Smith said “I’m not just any old pony right now… I can fly!” with that, Smith shot through one of the holes in the wall and dove down. Mays and the others waited until Smith returned, his head soaked with water. “Rudder’s been torn away, sir. I think it was the whirlpool.”

“Get the shipwrights on it; I want to be able to steer this ship. Richard, Nolan, get the crew back to work and clean up that deck. Hacksaw, go check your patients again and see if there’s anything more you can do. Who knows, maybe because you’re a unicorn you can do some kind of magic.”

“Yes captain.” The four ponies left the room. Mays turned and looked out at the ocean.

This isn’t going to be that bad… don’t kid yourself Montana; you woke up this morning expecting an easy patrol, then the kraken attacked and you got sucked down a whirlpool and spat out the other end as a pony. Perhaps when I get back to normal this would be an interesting story and someone could perform it as a play or-

“Sail ho!” one of the sailors shouted. Apparently the crew was adjusting to being ponies faster than Mays thought they would. He trotted on deck and looked out. A small schooner was approaching slowly, and they were signaling something to the Concordia.

“I think they want to help us.” Smith said. “The ship doesn’t look armed; they’re probably traders of some kind. Maybe they know a port nearby where we can stop and repair.”

“Maybe… signal them back.” Mays turned to Richard, who had come to tell him that clearing the deck was going along smoothly. “Find the marines and tell them to get ready in case these others want to start a fight.”

“How can a pony shoot a gun?” Richard said.

“Find some way.” Mays turned his attention back to the incoming ship. Smith had sent out the distress signal and the schooner responded, several flashes of light flickering above the ship. The schooner came in closer and, to a mix of dismay and thankfulness, Mays saw that this ship too was crewed by ponies.

“Hello!” the unicorn at the head of the ship said. “My name’s Sea Strider, captain of the Sea Swirl. Are you guys alright?”

“I’m Montana Mays, captain in the United States Navy and commander of the U.S.S. Concordia. We were damaged by a whirlpool and may require some assistance.”

“United States… where’s that? Somewhere on the other side of the ocean?” Mays hit himself in the face with his right hoof. It seemed that not only had everyone been turned into ponies, but that they had been sent to a version of earth where the United States, and probably none of the other world powers, existed.

“Nowhere, it’s nowhere. But getting back to the point, our rudder was torn off and we can’t steer the ship. Can you tow us to the nearest port so we can get repairs?”

“Sure thing; Manehattan’s only a few hours away, and I have a buddy there that runs a dry-dock. We’ll get you fixed up and sailing in no time.” The schooner pulled away to get in a better position. The sailor ponies on the Sea Swirl tossed ropes to the ponies on the Concordia, and the ponies on the receiving end began to tie the two ships together. Smith and his men spread all the canvas they had, while Richard and Hacksaw threw crates of meat and piles of scrap wood overboard to lighten the load. They got under way, but the Sea Swirl’s speed was severely hampered from towing the massive warship.

“When we get to Manehattan,” Mays called over to Sea Strider “Do you think you could point us in the direction of the nearest government official?”

“Sure. I don’t know if they have a lot of jurisdiction over sea trade, but I think you could get an audience with a few ponies.”

Chapter 2

I don't own any of this. I am writing it as a bit of advertising, I guess; Pirates is a fairly obscure game, and I find that a bit depressing. So I want to spread the knowledge of Pirates around and get more people interested.
Also, comments are appreciated, as are likes. First fanfic ever, and I want to get off to a good start.

“Sorry to keep you girls waiting,” Fluttershy said “Some of the squirrels were a little greedy.”

“That’s okay, Fluttershy.” Twilight said. The six of them were seated around a small table outside the restaurant Twilight had suggested. The sky was clear and they were treated to an amazing view of the harbor. Pleasure boats and trade schooners floated in the harbor, and hundreds of ponies tended to the ships as they pulled in or cast off. They even saw some of the seals Fluttershy had mentioned, the big animals flopping around in the water without a care in the world. A small breeze blew through, bringing with it the strong smell of sea water.

Twilight focused her attention back on the rest of her friends; Applejack and Rainbow Dash were having a conversation over something Twilight could not pin down, Rarity was trying on different scarves she had purchased, and Pinkie Pie was playing with a small pile of salt.

“So, Applejack,” Twilight said “Did you get a chance to see your relatives?”

“Nah, they weren’t in.” the orange farm pony said. “The pony at the door said they’d gone on some sightseeing tour down south and wouldn’t be back ‘till tomorrow. So I went and found Rainbow and watched her try and impress everypony with those stunts she’d been braggin' about.”

“I wasn’t bragging about them.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Really? Then how come every time I tried talkin’ with you, you always started talkin’ about ‘em no matter what I said.”

“Only because you kept saying that I couldn’t do them.”

“I never said that, but I ain’t a superstitious pony; I’m not gonna believe everything you say to me unless you actually show me.”

“And I did, along with hundreds of other ponies.”

“The only one you managed to pull off nearly caused you to crash a cart and hurt some poor filly.”

“How was I supposed to know there was an overhang there?” Twilight shifted her attention again.

“So Rarity, did you get all the things you wanted?”

“Oh of course, Twilight; you wouldn’t believe the quality of the silk that passes through here. And seeing all the ponies of culture gave me an idea for an ensemble for the Gala next year… if only I had some paper then I could get started right away.” Rarity eyed one of the napkins the restaurant had set out. “Well, there have been many famous creations that came from napkins.” She pulled a piece of charcoal from one of her bags using her magic and began scratching out a rough design. Twilight would have left it at that, but something was gnawing at the back of her mind.

“Hey, Rarity?”

“Yes, Twilight?” Rarity said without looking up from her napkin.

“Did you feel anything… weird, like a magic flux or something?” Rarity looked up.

“I don’t think so. Then again, I might have been distracted by everything around me. Why do you ask?”

“When I was walking into Manehattan, my horn started giving off magical pulses. Princess Celestia said that only happens when there’s a major influx of magic in the area. Those magic fluxes can be very dangerous to ponies.”

“Maybe that’s what the doozy was.” Pinkie Pie said. All conversation at the table stopped as everypony looked at Pinkie.

“You had a doozy?” Twilight asked.

“Uh-huh. I wanted to tell you all, but you were all so busy and it wasn’t going to happen until we all got here so I figured we were fine until then.” No sooner had Pinkie finished talking that she began to shake again. Twilight and the other ponies began to panic; Pinkie’s doozies usually had a massive impact on ponies both physically and mentally, and they all had walked right into it. Pinkie stopped shaking for a moment and pointed to the harbor. “There it is!” Twilight looked to where Pinkie was pointing.

Entering the harbor were two ships, one towing the other. The lead was your average trade ship, a small two-masted schooner with sea green colored sails. Twilight did a couple of calculations in her head and came to the conclusion that the ship was designed for speed, not towing, and she could see it was under a lot of strain.

The ship behind it was massive, nearly twice the size of the schooner. It was severely battered, and several of its olive sails were torn in a few places. It had three masts and a wide hull, and Twilight guessed it was designed for sailing on the open ocean. This confused her; nopony ever sailed more than a couple miles away from the coast, so why would these ponies need a ship of that size?

Twilight studied the towed ship some more. The hull had two rows of large wooden panels, counting to thirty two panels in all. She was about to question what they were for when a thought came to mind. Maybe it’s some kind of cruise ship and those panels are there to keep water out of... I don't know, windows or something. She looked over it some more when she froze, her eyes fixated on one aspect of the ship she had missed.

The standard flag of Equestria was nowhere to be seen. Instead there was a large flag with thirteen stripes alternating between red and white, and in the upper right corner was a blue field with thirteen white stars arranged in a circle.

“Have you ever seen anything like it?” she said.

“Certainly not.” Rarity said. “The flag is a nice touch, but olive is such a depressing color for sails. Now, if I were sailing a ship, I want something really eye catching and stunning, like red, or maybe even purple. And those panels add nothing to the allure of the ship; they make it look bulky and thrown together. Whoever designed that ship obviously had no sense of fashion whatsoever.”

“I don’t think they design ships for looks, Rarity.” Applejack said. “There is such a thing as practicality.”

“Well one can still be practical while maintaining beauty. Also, there is the question of why it's so... big. I’d think that whoever would have a ship like that would be rich; rich ponies do tend to slip up on fashion sometimes. Otherwise there would be no justification for something so big… and perhaps, whoever has that ship wouldn’t mind if I offered my services in sprucing up the thing.”

“Rarity, I thought you hated ships.” Rainbow Dash said.

“I think I’d be willing to set aside my prejudices for one project.”

“But that flag is wrong,” Twilight said. “Where’s the flag of Equestria?”

“Maybe they’re not from Equestria.” Pinkie said. “Which means they must want to know more about us, and I know the best way for a pony to learn about new places they’re visiting.”

“No Pinkie, we can’t throw them any parties.”

“I think we should go meet them.” Fluttershy said. The other five looked at her. “I-if you think that’s a good idea, that is.”

“Fluttershy’s right.” Twilight stood up “As Princess Celestia’s personal student, it is my duty to contact ponies from different cultures for the benefit of Equestria.”

“But wouldn’t the Princess know about something like this?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know if she does; otherwise she would be here to meet them. Come on girls; let’s go see what Pinkie’s doozy really is.”

The flag was merely a formality, but Mays had it raised to show the ponies who they were. Most of the ponies on land paid no attention, and he guessed that they had become jaded to the appearance of ships coming in and out of the harbor. He considered ordering Richard to fire off a cannon or two, but these ponies seemed fairly pacifistic and he did not want to start a riot or a war with the only group that could help him.

“I don’t think it’s going very well.” Smith said, hovering just behind Mays.

“We haven’t even docked yet. And will you please land, you’re starting to annoy me.” the yellow Pegasus did so.

“So, what do you think the markings are for?” Smith asked.

“I have no idea. Yours doesn’t even make sense.”

“Sure it does.” Smith looked at the mark on his side, a coiled snake. “Didn’t you ever see the flags at the beginning of the revolution? If anyone's doesn’t make sense, it’s yours.” Mays nodded. The mark on his flank looked like four horizontal bars beneath an upside down star. He tried thinking of all the possibilities that it could represent, but found none forthcoming.

“Maybe whoever runs this place knows more about them.” The Sea Swirl had pulled the Concordia into a shallower part of the harbor, and dock ponies began tying the two ships up to prevent drifting. Mays turned back to Smith.

“Go find the others; I’d hate to face the politicians alone.”

“Why? You didn’t seem to do that bad before we got turned to ponies.” Smith flew off. A couple more Pegasi flew up to Mays from the dock.

“Sea Strider said you needed some repair work?”

“Yes; the deck’s ruined and there’s been substantial damage to the rudder.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” the lead Pegasi took a moment to inspect one of the planks on the ship. “Nice woodwork, by the way; what is this, oak?”

“I think so; I was never really interested in trees.” The Pegasus tapped his hoof against the hull.

“Wow, that’s high quality stuff right there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen oak this good before. Where’d you get this from, the Everfree Forest?”

“Uh… I think so.” the Pegasus gave a whistle.

“Means it’s rare too; I wouldn’t want to go after trees in the Everfree Forest. I’ll get your ship fixed, but it might take some time. What happened? Did you get caught in a storm or something?”

“Kraken, actually.” The Pegasus gave Mays a weird look before flying off. Smith, Richard, Hacksaw and Nolan were standing on the main deck, with Richard and Smith organizing the repair details. Mays walked to them.

“Richard, you’re in charge until I get back.”

“Why is Richard in charge?” Nolan said. “I should be in charge; I outrank him.”

“Last time I left you in charge of anything I had to fight Blackheart’s entire fleet just to get you back. Besides, this will only be for a few hours, and I need more commissioned officers with me to make a better impression.” The Master Chief looked at Mays.

“No offense, captain, but how much better of an impression were you hoping for?”

“Mutinies and riots are no way to make yourself look good. Come now, it’s best not to keep the locals waiting.” Mays and the three other ponies made their way down a gangplank one of the workers had set up to get supplies onto the ship faster. They would have continued had not a skinny unicorn with a bag and a large book stopped them.

“I am sorry sir, but you must pay a docking fee before I can allow you to proceed. And I shall need to record your name and the name of your vessel.” Mays nodded before turning and nosing through his coat pockets for any spare change he might have had. Wish I still had hands, he thought. It would make this easier. He found two gold coins and dropped them into his hoof.

“Will this do?”

“Strange markings.” The unicorn said, inspecting the coins. “Where did you get these?”

“It’d take too long to explain.” He held the coins out to the unicorn.

“Well, they look authentic enough… very well.” the unicorn’s horn glowed and the coins lifted up and dropped into the bag. He then used a similar technique (Mays decided to call it magic and leave it at that) to open the book and pull a quill from the bag. “Your name?”

“Montana Mays.” The unicorn looked at him before shrugging and writing something down in the book.

“Name of ship?”

“U.S.S. Concordia.”

“Class?”

“Does it really matter?”

“More than you think; all the shipbuilders want to know how many of each class of ship are still afloat. Helps them keep track of potential losses. So, what class is your ship?”

“Concordia-class ship of the line, sixty four cannons and 1,750 tons, more or less.” The unicorn looked at Mays.

“I’ve never heard of such a ship. Tell me, who built this for you?”

“No one you’ve ever heard of.”

“Ah, private contractors, I see. Well, I can always add to the list.” The unicorn scribbled some more notes in his book before closing it. “Enjoy your stay in Manehattan, Mister Mays.” The unicorn left.

“What do you make of that?” he asked the assembled crew members.

“They must not have a navy, or if they do they must not have many large ships.” Smith said. Nolan was about to say something before Hacksaw cut him off.

“Think we could offer our services to them?” He said.

“Maybe. I just need to find whoever’s in charge of-”

“Uh, excuse me?” Mays turned and came face to face with a lavender unicorn with a purple and pink mane. The unicorn was accompanied by five other ponies: one other unicorn and two Pegasi and regular ponies each.

This should be interesting.

Twilight looked at the other ponies. There were four of them: a large blue unicorn, a yellow Pegasus with the weirdest cutie mark she had ever seen, a green earth pony who looked as snobby as the ponies at the Gala and a white earth pony with a blond mane and goatee who was wearing a dark blue coat and hat. The lead pony was armed with a sword and they all looked a good deal tougher than most of the sailor ponies they had seen, and for a moment Twilight was regretting having approached them.

“May I help you?” the white earth pony asked.

“Um, yes.” Twilight mustered all the courage she had. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia. My friends and I were visiting when you sailed in, and since you don’t seem to be from around here I thought that it would be best if I came to ask why you are here.” The pony regarded her and her friends. She heard a small whimper that she guessed came from Fluttershy before the other pony responded.

“You seem fairly trustworthy, and if you’re a student of a princess then it’s in our best interest to make your acquaintance.” The pony turned to face her fully. “I’m Captain Montana Mays of the United States Navy, and these are some of my most trusted crew members.”

“Where’s this ‘United States’; I’ve never heard about it.”

"We're... Not exactly from around here."

"I kind of figured that out from the flag."

"No, I mean we're really not from around here. I don't think this is even the same world we started on."

"What do you mean?" Mays gave Twilight a brief explanation of how he and the others had gotten to Equestria; he told her of the kraken attack, of the whirlpool, and the balls of light.

“Then... you must be what caused the magic spike.”

“Come again?”

“All unicorns are in touch with the magic in the area around them; sometimes we feel disturbances when somepony uses too much magic or when magic goes out of control. Whatever brought you here must have triggered that disturbance.” Twilight smiled. “Maybe Princess Celestia can help get you all home; she is the most powerful pony in all of Equestria, and I think she could do it.”

“Why? This doesn’t seem like such a bad place.” Smith said. Mays ignored him.

“If she can, then I would appreciate it; I’m not big a big fan of nobility, but I won’t let my political inclinations get in the way.”

“We’re just going to let some… princess order us around?” Mays’ thoughts about everything working out fine were dashed. Nolan’s family had been patriots on the verge of fanatics during the Revolution, and this made Nolan a very bad person to bring along for diplomatic affairs, especially when patrolling European waters. Mays guessed that his family was the main reason British ships were attacking American vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Mays was just about to tell Nolan to shut up when Rainbow Dash flew up in the lieutenant’s face.

“Hey! What gives you the right to talk about the Princess like that?” the cyan pegasus shouted.

“I have my rights. I am a citizen of the United States and a Member of the American Navy, and I will not let some stuck up royal brat command me like she has-” a heavy hoof slammed against Nolan’s head, knocking the pony unconscious. Hacksaw stepped away from the scene.

“Apologies for my colleague’s behavior,” Hacksaw said. “He doesn’t know when to keep silent.” Rainbow Dash backed down, though she kept eyeing Nolan in case he woke up.

“Was that really necessary?” Twilight asked.

“He would have just complained every chance he got.” Mays turned to Hacksaw. “Pick him up; we’ll leave him with Richard and go with Miss Sparkle here to meet the Princess.” Hacksaw nodded before attempting to use his telekinesis to lift Nolan. He only succeeded in hauling the unconscious lieutenant up by his tail and dragging him across the ground. While Hacksaw and Smith carted Nolan back to the Concordia, Mays turned back to Twilight.

“Can you give us a minute to get rid of him and coordinate with the rest of my crew?” he asked.

“Of course.” Mays trotted off.

“Well, they seem nice… kind of.” Fluttershy said.

“Yes, except for that green one. I could never imagine somepony being inconsiderate and rude enough to insult the Princess; even Prince Blueblood had better manners than him.” Rarity focused her attention back on the Concordia. “Though now I can see why they would want those wood panels… they still could use something more eye catching.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to help those ponies?” Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus floating right behind her.

“I… I’m not sure; they seem a little rough, and pretty violent. Princess Celestia might not like it if we get too involved with… whatever it is that they do.”

“You’re jumping to conclusions, Twi,” Applejack said. “If the Princess did think they were dangerous, she’d want them to go home as soon as possible. Besides, maybe they they’d stop being so violent if they were around us.”

“Also, think of the parties!” the three looked at Pinkie Pie.

“What do parties have to do with anything?”

“Everything! Think about it; they’re sailor ponies from another world that’s not nearly as nice as it is here. That’s bad, but they’re sailors, which means they’ve probably seen pirates! And since everypony loves pirates, then inviting them to parties would mean super-awesome pirate stories!” Pinkie gasped. “I’ve always wanted to throw a pirate party. Mr. Cake has a recipe for rum cake that he said I could make someday, and a pirate party is the best place to try it!” Pinkie grabbed Twilight “Do you think before we leave we could get some rum? All the best rum comes through Manehattan. Can we? Can we? Can we?”

“Uh…”

“Thank you!” Pinkie Pie ran off, disappearing into the crowd before Twilight could get a coherent thought about what had just happened.

“Captain, are you sure this is a good idea?” Hacksaw said. He had managed to extend the telekinetic aura over Nolan, so he was not dragging the lieutenant across the ground.

“No. Do you happen to have a better one?”

“But what if this Princess Celestia turns out to be a tyrannical dictator and has us imprisoned for trespassing or some other ridiculous crime.”

“We have a warship. What do they have? All I’ve seen is telekinetic magic of a sort.”

“What if they have something we don’t know about? Did you see the yellow one when you mentioned the kraken? Her eyes lit up until you mentioned how big it was.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Smith asked.

“Maybe she can control them like the Cursed can.”

“If they were at all like the Cursed, we’d be dead right now. Look, this is the best option we have short of just staying here; these ponies seem very friendly, and they know a way that we might get back. Besides, how bad can it be to be a pony for a few days?”

“I was wondering that myself.” Smith said. The three ponies reached the ship and dropped Nolan on deck.

“Why are you sending him back?” Richard asked. Mays looked up at the Master Chief.

“I have no choice; the idiot let this patriotism get the best of him and he insulted some princess. Hacksaw had to knock him out before he started a war.”

“He’s ahead of schedule. Well, I’ll put him to work as soon as he comes to.” Richard turned around before remembering something. “Captain.”

“Yes?”

“I figured out how to make the marines useful again. Watch.” Richard used his new magic to lift a piece of lead shot off the deck. Concentrating, he aimed the shot at a patch of water before releasing more magic. There was a crack and the bullet flew forward as if shot from a normal gun, creating a large splash when it hit the water.

“Nice, but it’s only fitting if you can actually use magic.”

“That’s when it gets good, captain; all the marines can use magic, and quite a few of the others can too. Give us time, and soon we won’t need all the excess powder for muskets and pistols.”

“That… actually is a very good thing. Start training the men, and try not to kill anyone while you’re at it.”

“Aye captain.” Richard left, dragging the unconscious Nolan behind him. The other three ponies returned to where Twilight was standing.

“We’ve gotten that taken care of; now take us to Princess Celestia.”

Chapter 3

So, this chapter deals with some backstory for our new arrivals. The Pirates 'verse is a little sparse on backstory and characterization, so essentially I'm making everything up as I go along. All I really knew about Montana Mays before writing was that he lost seven ships and women were always chasing after him, so I decided to adress the former aspect first.
Also, before anyone calls me out for historical inaccuracies, in the game the Spanish tend to lean more towards speed and cargo space (makes them great for running gold) but at the expense of firepower (Spanish ships tend to have weaker cannons than comparable factions and lack a few good crew combos). As such, in this story the Spanish fleet has passed its prime and is a mere shadow of its former glory.
Again, I don't own the characters in this fic(save the OCs, but they don't play that big of a role... yet); Hasbro has Ponies, Wizkids has Pirates, and Spain has Spain. Let's just leave it at that.

It was starting to get dark when they returned to Ponyville. There was a flash and the nine of them were standing outside the library, the six locals acting as not much had happened while the three naval officers stood rigid in fear.

“What’s the matter?” Twilight asked. “Did I use too much power?”

“No, it’s just that I’ve never been… teleported before.” Mays said. “Whirlpools work in a similar way, but not that fast.”

“Oh.”

“So, where does your princess live?”

“Actually… you see, I used up a lot of my magic already, so I need to rest for a day before I can do any more teleporting. Also, I don’t think the Princess would like it if I just showed up without telling her everything.”

“And you’d miss the party I have planned!” Pinkie Pie said before snatching Mays’ hat off his head. “Gotta borrow this; it’s inspirational.” Pinkie ran off.

“Uh…”

“Don’t worry; it’s just Pinkie Pie. If she does something wrong I’m sure Rarity can get you a new hat.”

“Oh yes; I’ve never actually tried making a hat of that design before. Should be quite challenging. But first I have to get started on that ensemble, so I probably won’t see you again ‘till Pinkie’s party.” The white unicorn trotted off into town.

“I should be gettin’ back.” Applejack said. “I promised Big Macintosh that I’d be back before supper, so I could help with some of the last minute harvesting.”

“You own a farm?” Hacksaw asked.

“Yup. Sweet Apple Acres supplies all the apples in this area of Equestria.”

“If possible, could I accompany you to your farm?”

“Sure; it’s always a pleasure to have company.” the farm pony and the medic left the group. Twilight looked at Mays.

“Hacksaw used to be a farmer before becoming a ship’s doctor.” He explained. Twilight looked at him, confused.

“How can somepony switch from being a farmer to a doctor?”

“I’m not really sure.” Rainbow Dash began to break off from the remaining ponies. “And where are you off to?”

“Manehattan’s got too many tall buildings; there’s never enough space to move around. That’s why I like Ponyville: nice open airspace that I can show off all my moves in.”

“What kind of moves?” Smith asked, flying up to be on level with her. Rainbow Dash began explaining while the remaining three ponies focused their attention elsewhere.

“I really should go check on Angel,” Fluttershy said. “I-I don’t mean to be rude or anything by leaving, but he likes to cause trouble sometimes. I’ll see you at the party… if you go, that is, or if you want to be seen, I guess.” Fluttershy headed towards her cabin, leaving Twilight and Mays standing alone outside the library. Twilight looked at the captain.

“You’re willing to come with me if you’d like; I need to send a letter to Princess Celestia, and I’d be willing to show you anything you’d like to know about Equestria, if you’re interested.”

“Believe me, I am; I’m trying to figure out how a society of ponies could work. The only alternative is to go and retrieve my hat, and your friend seems…”

“Try not to describe Pinkie Pie; it’s bad for your mind.” Mays gave a light chuckle and started following Twilight.

“So, where is Princess Celestia?”

“She lives in Canterlot with her sister, Princess Luna. It was that big castle in the mountains you saw when we got here.”

“Ah. Then how is she going to know we’re coming? It’d take a while for a letter to get all the way there.”

“Normally it would, but Spike can send letters to the princess in a few seconds, give or take.”

“Spike? Who’s Spike?”

“Spike’s my assistant. I would have brought him along, but my teleportation spell only works on ponies, and I needed someone to watch the library for me.” Twilight used her magic to open the door and showed Mays in. “Spike, you in here?”

“Up here, Twilight.” Spike called from the loft. The purple and green dragon poked his head over the railing and looked down at the two ponies. “I was just rearranging some of the book up here like you asked… who’s your friend?”

“Oh, this is Montana Mays; he’s a sailor pony from... outside of Equestria. He’s going to be staying here for a bit.”

“Oh.” Spike made his way down the stairs to meet the new pony. “Hi, I’m Spike.”

“Hello Spike. I must say you are much friendlier than most dragons I’ve met.” Mays looked at Spike for a moment. “Smaller too, so I can presume he’s still young.”

“Uh, Twilight? Why is he looking at me like that?”

“Sorry about that; the dragons from where I come from are savage beasts and nowhere near as intelligent as they are here.”

“Spike, I need you to take a letter to the Princess.” Twilight said. Spike nodded and produced a quill and paper seemingly from nowhere. Mays was about to ask how he did that when Twilight started dictating her letter.

“Dear Princess Celestia,
I have returned from Manehattan with some very interesting news: some ponies sailed in on a ship claiming to be from a different world. If they are, I was hoping that you would know of a way to get them back home. I will be arriving in Canterlot tomorrow and I hope that there is a way we can help them

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle”

Spike finished writing and rolled the letter into a scroll. He walked over to a window, opened it and breathed some of his fire onto the letter. The letter disintegrated into a mass of green light and flew out the window towards the nearby castle.

“Amazing,” Mays said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“You haven’t seen a lot of things, have you?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I have, but your society is nothing like any I’ve seen before; everything seems so… stable.” He turned. “Except for here, that is.” The library was a mess, with books strewn about in no particular order whatsoever. Loose papers covered any empty space that the books did not, and a ridiculously orderly stack of pencils sat in the middle of a nearby table. Twilight blushed.

“Sorry about the mess; I was reorganizing the library again before I left for Manehattan. It should only take me a few minutes to get everything cleaned up, if you don’t mind waiting.”

“No, that’s perfectly alright.” Twilight gave Mays a smile and set about shifting through the piles of books. Her original plan was to first alphabetize the books before dividing them by author and publishing date, but she had gotten sidetracked somewhere in “C” before going to Manehattan.

Best if I just go through everything all over again.

Mays watched as Twilight shifted through the seemingly endless piles of books. Her organization of the different books was incredibly efficient bordering on obsessive, and he tried his best to say out of her way as she hurried about.

Feeling like he needed to make himself useful, he picked up a nearby book. He was about to put it away, but the title seemed very familiar. He opened it, found a section he knew, and started reading.

“Now will not I deliver his Letter: for the behavior of the young gentlecolt gives him out to be of good capacity and breeding: his employment between his lord and my niece confirms no less. Therefore, this letter being so excellently ignorant will breed no terror in the youth; he will find it comes from a Clodde-pole.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in classical literature.” Twilight said. Mays looked up at her.

“Sorry, was I reading aloud again? I tend to do that sometimes.”

“No, it’s perfectly alright. That’s actually one of my favorite plays. Did you have something similar where you came from?”

“Identical, actually, besides the diction. My mother wanted me to become an actor and possibly go to London for more formal training. But a couple bands of militia had other ideas and I had to become a sailor instead… not that I mind; I looked terrible in tights.” A thought crossed Mays’ mind. “Are you an actor?”

“Me? Oh no, I never really got into it; I was always focused on my studies more than my social life. Still, I always thought about doing something like that, even if I never had the time.”

“Ah.” Mays flipped through a couple of pages. “How does this one look?”

Pinkie Pie bounced over to the library, Mays’ hat clenched in her mouth. Everything was ready; she just needed to get Twilight, Mays and Spike. She was so excited about the party that she reached the library much faster than she had originally anticipated.

“Twilight! Everypony’s waiting for-” Pinkie paused. Twilight and Mays were sitting in a fairly good sized pile of books, laughing at something.

“Still, wouldn’t your parents object to you doing something like that?” Mays asked between his laughter.

“They didn’t know until I was out on the roof. My brother raised some concerns, but he really didn’t do anything to stop me. He only said I was trying to fly.”

“But you don’t have any wings.” Pinkie interrupted. The two other ponies froze in terror before Twilight spoke.

“Oh, Pinkie! Sorry about ignoring you; we were just… Pinkie, what are you wearing?” Pinkie Pie was wearing a ridiculously large hat with an equally large feather. Her hair had been tied back into a ponytail, although its natural poof was struggling with the arrangement, and a heavy coat was draped over her back. Her pet alligator Gummy was perched on her shoulder, wearing a bandana and a small eye patch over one eye.

“Who be this ‘Pinkie’ you speak of?” Pinkie asked, her voice a bit rougher than usual. “I be Diane the Pink, Equestria’s most famous pirate, and this be One-Eyed Gummy, me pet alligator.” Pinkie zipped over to where Mays was sitting, staring into his eyes. “Do ye be fixin’ fer a challenge fer me treasure?”

“Uh… what treasure?” Mays said, taking the moment to take his hat back from the pink pony and placing it back on his head. He looked down at his sword, but considered drawing it to be not only overkill but incredibly impolite.

“This treasure.” Pinkie then dumped a huge bag of candy on Mays. The pony bounced over to the door. “Arr! I’ll be seeing you swabbies at the party! Arr!” Pinkie left the library. Mays brushed the last of the candy off and looked at Twilight.

“What kind of pirates do you have around here?” he asked. Twilight merely shrugged and stood up, walking towards the door.

“Not the ones you are used to, apparently. Come on, we’re going to miss all the fun!” Twilight used her magic to grab Spike (the dragon having fallen asleep a long time ago) and ran out of the library, Mays following slowly behind her.

Pinkie had gone all out for the party; most of the town square was decked out in pirate themed decorations, and piñatas shaped like ships, parrots and hats hung from overhangs and lamp posts. Some of the younger and more enthusiastic children had dressed up as pirates and were now following Pinkie Pie to “Pillage the Candy Bowl”.

“So… now what?”

“Haven’t you ever been to a party before?”

“Not one like this.”

“Well, just have fun; talk to some ponies, have some snacks, play a game or two, that sort of thing. I’m sure there are plenty of ponies that would want to hear some kind of story.” Twilight and Spike left the captain. He took a moment to locate his compatriots: Hacksaw was talking with a white pony who shared a similar mark on her flanks as Hacksaw had, except she had hearts instead of saws, and Smith was busy talking with a brown pony with a messy mane and a grey pony with crooked eyes. He decided to leave the two of them to their business and was about to go get some food when he was mobbed by a small horde of young ponies led by Pinkie Pie.

“Arr!” the pink pony said. “This be the pony I be throwing the party fer. He’s probably got stories of all the scurvy dogs he’s had to face. Arr! I be leavin’ you to his mercy to seize meself more booty.” Pinkie disappeared, leaving Mays alone with the crowd of ponies.

“Are you a pirate?” a purple unicorn with a blond mane asked.

“Well… not really, but I have met several pirates before.” And killed several more, but let’s not go there.

“Is Pinkie right; do you have any stories?” an orange Pegasus with a purple mane asked.

“Yes I do; most have nothing to do with pirates, but they’re still good stories."

“Oh please; how good can they be?” a pink pony wearing a tiara said from the back of the group. “I mean, you spend all your time stuck on some stupid ship. That’s got to be, like, so boring.” Mays was not sure why, but he immediately hated this pony; maybe it was her smug look, her manner of speaking, or an inert sense of superiority, but he was sure that, had she been closer to his age, a verbal beating was in order. He restrained himself, however, and shifted through his memories until he found a suitable story.

“Actually, it’s more exciting than you think.” He said. “I’ve had to do hundreds of death defying feats and fight off countless others who would threaten both myself and my crew. If you think sailing around in a ship is boring, then think on this story.”

It was high noon and several clouds floated in the sky. A moderate wind was blowing to the east, creating small waves on the ocean. On the deck of the frigate U.S.S. Georgetown, Captain Montana Mays took a moment to mull on how beautiful the South China Sea was in good weather.

The American fleet under Admiral Crabtree had taken a small port from the Spanish nearly a month ago and was now using that port as a base for operations in the Far East. Their main purpose was to protect American shipping from a pirate organization called the Jade Rebellion, but they were also there to attack and capture other ships from European powers to further America’s position in the ongoing naval wars. Mays had already taken a French schooner called Le Petit Dauphin, and he had even managed to snag a French nobleman that had disguised himself as a sailor. That ship was on its way back to the American Base, and Mays had had a ransom note penned out for the next neutral ship to take to the French.

“Captain,” the helmsman said. “We’re losing some speed; I think the wind is shifting again.”

“Adjust course due southeast; we’ll make another sweep of the area and then make for home.” Mays looked to the men on deck. “Adjust the rigging; try to catch as much wind as possible.”

“Aye captain.” One of the crewmembers shouted back. The Georgetown began to turn, gaining speed as more wind filled her sails. Mays checked the time before heading below deck. There was still a small leak left over from when they took the French ship, causing a fair amount of water to slosh around on the lower decks. Several crewmembers were trying to find the leak and patch it before it got worse, but so far they had found nothing.

“Captain?” one of Mays’ junior officers said.

“Yes? What’s the matter?”

“Well, you see sir, some of the men were wondering when we’d be stopping in port again; we’ve been out here for almost a month and some of them are getting restless.”

“We’ll start heading back tomorrow; if the winds favor us, then we should be back in port by the end of the week.”

"Also, some were complaining about lack of pay..."

"As soon as we get back to port, they'll get paid. I'll even throw in a little extra for seizing that French ship."

“Sail ho!” Came the cry from above.

“Get to your post; we’ll talk on this later.” Mays hurried back on deck and found the man who had spotted the ship. “What did you see?”

“Port side, sir; they’re heading straight for us.” Mays moved to the port side of the ship, pulling out his spyglass as he went.

“Colors?”

“Couldn’t get a good look, sir.” Mays managed to spot the ship and raised his spyglass. It was larger than the Georgetown, and its hull was a mix of red and yellow. Its sails were half red and half white, and above the ship flew a flag Mays had become familiar with in recent months: two crimson bars set against a gold field with an intricate coat of arms between the two.

“Spanish; I guess they found out about that port we took.” He put away his spyglass. “Load the cannons; alternate between grapeshot and solid shot between salvos. Helmsman, bring us around. Marines, get into the rigging and target any officers you see once we close to within musket range. All other crewmembers, prepare to repel boarders.” As the Spanish ship closed, the Americans turned to bring their full broadside to bear. Mays helped coordinate the unassigned crewmen while the gunners worked fast to have their guns loaded.

As the two ships closed, Mays was able to identify the opposing vessel; it was the Salte El Tiburon, a Spanish frigate notable for taking anyone on as crew regardless of race or nationality. She was moving faster than originally claimed, meaning she had a good pilot at the helm. Mays was barely able to make out the Spanish sailors as they too prepared for battle, bringing their ship around to fire their own broadside.

“Cannoneers, on my signal.” He shouted. Mays drew a pistol and his cutlass, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

The Spanish fired first, the Salte El Tiburon’s side becoming enveloped in smoke and fire. All the Spanish shots missed, and Mays remembered why he liked this ship so much: the previous captain had nearly lost the Georgetown in an action off New Guinea, and had had the ship modified to sail low in the water, making it almost impossible for the ship to be hit at long range. This little fact had saved Mays and his crew countless times during raids in the Philippines, and now put the Spanish in a very bad position.

“Fire!” The shots slammed into the side of the Spanish ship, sending wood, canvas and pieces of butchered Spaniard flying in all directions. The Salte El Tiburon made another futile attempt to engage at long range, only for the Georgetown to tear another ragged chunk out of the hull.

The Spanish were not known for innovation in battle. The Spanish Navy had become somewhat of a joke since the end of the American Revolution, with their aging line ships being little to no match to a comparable French or British ship. However, they tended to make up for this with a small batch of fairly skilled captains, some of which were willing if not eager to throw traditional battle procedure out the window. In battles such as this one, now was when these types of Spaniards started to think; standard procedure would call for the Salte El Tiburon to maintain its current course or try to maneuver into the wind to rob opponents of speed, but the ship instead began to move closer to the Georgetown in order to engage with her deck cannons. Mays could see sailors on the other ship gathering rope, grappling hooks, and what appeared to be a large ramp.

“Sir, I think they’re going to board us.” One of his officers said.

“I’ve noticed. My guess is that the captain fought in the Mediterranean and picked up a few techniques from the French or the Corsairs.” Mays was about to give out another order when the Spanish fired.

The deck guns on the Salte El Tiburon were not nearly as powerful as her main broadside, but at this range it did not matter. Half a dozen cannon balls slammed into the Georgetown, destroying one of the American ship’s own deck cannons and knocking two sailors into the sea. The Americans fired back, grapeshot cutting down dozens of enemy sailors. The Spanish fired another salvo before a swarm of grappling hooks flew out, the barbed tips hooking themselves into the wood of the Georgetown.

Mays fired his pistol at the first Spaniard that tried to cross. He missed and the bullet buried itself harmlessly into the mast of the Salte El Tiburon. When the enemy he had been targeting managed to get on deck, Mays drove his cutlass into the man’s throat, nearly severing the man’s head as he pulled the sword out. Another man swung an axe at Mays, who ducked and then backhanded his attacker. Yet another Spaniard managed to get behind him, but a sailor lopped the other man’s arm off with an axe and shoved him into the sea.

Mays located another pistol, grabbed it, and fired it into the face of another boarder. The sailor’s left eye exploded when the bullet struck him, and he toppled over a nearby cannon and was impaled on a loose grappling hook. Mays tossed the pistol aside and attacked another boarder, his sword being blocked only inches from the other man’s gut. The boarder pulled away and swung at Mays, who parried and lunged again, this time clipping an artery in his opponent’s leg.

Another salvo from the Georgetown struck the Salte El Tiburon, throwing off the next batch of boarders. Mays used the spare time to reorganize the marines and launch a small counter attack, driving the remaining Spanish towards the stern, away from the majority of the Georgetown’s deck cannons. Mays and the marines would have been able to kill them all, but the second wave of boarders hit and they were forced to change tactics.

Mays turned just as his next target reached the ship. The man was clothed in a red cape and abnormally fine clothes, and he wore a bright red mask that covered a good bit of his face. He had a long, twirled moustache, and he was armed with a handsomely decorated rapier. Mays stopped focusing on what he was wearing and raised his cutlass.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I believe you would be Montana Mays.” The man said with a heavy Spanish accent. “Your reputation is not misplaced. Allow me to introduce myself: I am The Mask, and I have come to relieve you of your ship.”

“Only if my blood has been splattered over that fancy coat of yours.”

“That can be arranged.” The Mask drew his sword and lunged at Mays, the American just barely blocking. Mays swung for the Spaniard’s head, The Mask parrying and lunging forward again. Mays dodged, but the sword sliced his left arm. Mays paused for a moment to let the pain subside before swinging his cutlass at The Mask’s head. The Mask blocked, but Mays’ attack had distracted him long enough for Mays to slam his fist into the other man’s gut, knocking The Mask off his feet.

Mays stood over The Mask to kill him before the Spaniard kicked out with his legs. The Mask’s boot hit Mays in the shins, knocking him over as well. Mays pulled himself up and stood to face The Mask, who had also recovered. The two threw themselves at each other, attacking any weak point they could see. By now the fight between the two captains had become the major focus of the battle, with other knots of sailors moving out of their way as they dueled.

“I still don’t see why you go on.” The Mask said, blocking another thrust. “You can see that you are clearly outmatched. And your form is atrocious; however did you become a captain if you fight like that?”

“As for being outmatched, you made all of one injury, and as for my form, I didn’t get any formal schooling like you did. It may look bad, but it allows me to improvise.” With that, Mays threw his shoulder into The Mask’s chest, knocking the Spaniard over a railing and into the ocean. Mays turned to the rest of his men. “Cut us loose; there’s not much we can do here.”

“But what about their captain?”

“What about him? He’s not going to get back onboard for awhile with that big cape weighing him down.”

“But they can still chase us down.” Mays paused before getting an idea.

“You,” he pointed to a nearby cannoneer. “Come with me.” the two made their way to the stern of the Georgetown. The Salte El Tiburon was still firing, so they had to tread carefully. “What’s your name?”

“Johnson, sir.” the cannoneer replied.

“So, Mr. Johnson; do you think you can hit the helm from here?” the two had stopped by a swivel cannon near the stern. Johnson took a good look at the helm of the opposing ship.

“I dunno; it’s a far shot, and we’re under fire.”

“Do what you can.” Johnson nodded and took aim. A smokepot had been fired from Salte El Tiburon, but the cannoneer was able to get into position before-

“Going off about your heroics again?” Mays stopped and looked at Hacksaw.

“Hey, they asked me for a story, so I gave them one.”

“And got a little too into it, I see.” Mays got back down on all fours (he had somehow managed to hold his sword in his right hoof despite not having fingers) and put his sword away. He turned to the crowd of young ponies, who were staring wide-eyed at him.

“So, you should go on and enjoy the rest of the party. I’m sure Pinkie Pie had a bunch of other things planned.” Most of the ponies, including the smug pink one, broke off. The only ones that stuck around were a trio of three fillies, including the orange and purple one from earlier.

“So, what happened then?” a yellow pony with a red mane and bow asked.

“Somehow Johnson made the shot and we were able to get away.”

“Was that how you got your cutie mark?” a white unicorn with a pink and purple mane asked.

“What?”

“Your cutie mark.” The yellow pony said, pointing to the mark on his flank. “It tells you what your special talent is.”

“How come you don’t have yours?” at this, all three ponies’ faces fell.

“We… haven’t found what are special talents are.” The unicorn said.

“But we’re going to!” the Pegasus said. “For we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“We’re Crusadin’ for our cutie marks!” the yellow pony said.

“And we won’t stop until we get them!” the unicorn said. Mays regarded the three fillies for a moment; they were incredibly enthusiastic about the whole thing, but that energy was on the verge of overwhelming. Then the Pegasus looked at him.

“Hey, maybe we could help you somehow.” the filly said. “We could be… Cutie Mark Crusader Cannoneers!”

“I don’t think we’re big enough for that.” The unicorn said.

“Then what can we do?”

“We could always use more recruits…” Hacksaw muttered. The three fillies heard him and got an idea.

“That’s it! We can find other ponies to help them!"

“Yeah, that’s a great idea!”

“CUTIEMARKCRUSADERSDRAFTBOARD! YAY!” the three fillies ran off. Mays looked at Hacksaw.

“Don’t do that again.”

“Sorry, captain.”

Twilight was enjoying herself. Despite having to persuade Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo from “drafting” a few ponies for Mays’ ship, this one was one of the best parties Pinkie had ever set up.

“So Twilight, how was your time with Captain Mays?” Twilight looked at Rarity.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t try to fool me, Twilight; I passed by the library on my way here, and personally I think you make for a marvelous Queen Anne. Shame you had to switch to something else; I would have loved to hear what other talents you have. And I’ve seen how you’ve been staring at him-”

“I-I haven’t been staring at anypony.”

“There’s nothing to hide from me, Twilight; as your friend you can count on me to keep the utmost secrecy about any relations you may have with somepony. Though I can hardly blame you for showing interest; Captain Mays is incredibly handsome, wouldn’t you agree?” Twilight tried to come up with an answer, but found none that would get her out of the conversation.

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Rarity assured her. “I did, didn’t I? Oh, I’m so sorry, Twilight; sometimes I get these ideas and I just let my words get ahead of me and I-”

“Rarity, you didn’t embarrass me. I don’t have any feeling like that towards anypony.”

“Really?”

“Yes… at least, I think so. It’s been awhile since I’ve read about relationships… I probably have a book on them somewhere.” Twilight got so lost on her thought process that she did not see Rarity leave. Her heart sank a little when she realized Rarity was gone, thinking that she had scared off one of her best friends because of her indecision, but she was able to snap out of it quickly.

Everything’s going to be okay, Twilight; you’ll help these ponies get back home, and then you can go back to your life. Nothing bad can come of this, right?

“Great, I just had to think that.” She said before going back to the party.

The moon was high over the ocean, and Luna’s night had made the sea as black as tar. Beneath the waves, fish and other sea creatures had moved to shallower waters to feed, or dived deep to rest until Celestia raised the sun in the morning. Only a few ships could be seen sailing along the coast, and for now Equestria was at peace. Or at least, it seemed that way.

Far off the coast, farther than most ponies had ever ventured, lay a small island. There was nothing special about this island, save for a small shrine built on the highest point of the island. The shrine began to glow and flicker, alerting to the presence of dark magics afoot.

Near one of the many reefs that surrounded the island, the sea began to boil and ripple. A depression formed and out came a ship of a design nopony had ever seen before. It had three masts with tattered grey sails, and water poured from its deck and dripped off the blade of a massive scythe that was attached to the bow.

From the helm, the captain of the vessel looked out at the new world. He cared not that he and his crew had become ponies; to him, the body was merely a tool to be used, and it made for a great source of raw materials.

“This new ocean is perfect, my masters.” The captain said, his voice raspy and dry. “The beings of this world are innocent; ripe for the harvest that we shall carry out. They shall be taught fear, and they will learn to call you master as I have.” The captain shifted his gaze down to his crew. Not a single one among them bore any resemblance to what they once were; their flesh had turned green and was rotting, their hair long since died and fallen out, and for most only diseased bones were what was left of their past lives. The captain too had become like them, and all that remained of his face was a hideous skull with a single glowing eye.

“Let their blood stain the oceans red as we spread the power of El Fantasma.” Sammy the Skull said as the Chum Maker sailed west on its dark course.

Chapter 4

Time to get the story moving. All good adventure stories have their mysterious atrifacts, and now we know what exactly our heroes will be hunting for.
Also, I encourage readers to like this story and leave comments; I want to know what you all think of the story.
Again, I don't own any character names, places or ships, except possibly the Sea Swirl and her crew.

Carl Smith blinked. The sun was much brighter than he expected, but spending so much time below decks on a ship would have that effect on a person… or pony, as the case may be. He stretched, yawned and flapped his wings a little to get a better idea of where he was.

Rainbow Dash had taken him to the Pegasus city of Cloudsdale, and he had been impressed on what they could do using only clouds as building material. The architecture reminded him of some ruins he had seen during a tour in the Mediterranean, very fitting for a city of Pegasi. He refrained from mentioning this since none of them knew where the Mediterranean was and he wanted to avoid situations like that.

He yawned again and turned around. Rainbow Dash’s house was mostly open space, allowing for one to easily move from one room to the next. However, it also allowed Smith to hear Rainbow Dash snore throughout most of the night; he was used to snoring, but hearing someone like Rainbow Dash snore was a little out of place. He moved further into the house and found the pegasus sprawled out over a large cloud, sleeping peacefully.

While I’d hate to rouse her, he thought, we need to get to Canterlot quickly. He poked Rainbow Dash in the side, trying to rouse her. “Uh… Rainbow Dash?”

“Hrmn… yes, Spitfire, I’d love to join the Wonderbolts.” The Pegasus muttered before grabbing a small chunk of cloud and rolling over. Smith considered finding something that would make more noise before remembering he left his pistol back on the Concordia and even if he did have it he had yet to figure out how he was supposed to shoot it with no fingers. He decided to poke harder.

“Rainbow Dash, we need to leave now.” Rainbow Dash merely kicked out weakly and snuggled deeper into her cloud mattress. Smith wanted to avoid hitting Rainbow Dash, since he had seen some of the moves she could pull off and concluded that he’d get at least one bone in his body shattered if he tried anything stupid. Of course, like a good sailor and officer he knew when to improvise.

“Uh, Rainbow Dash… the, uh, ‘Wonderbolts’ are outside and they would like to have a word with you.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash said, bouncing up and grabbing Smith. “Ohmygosh! I’ve been trying to get into the Wonderbolts for years. Now’s my chance. Oh, I hope I didn’t leave them waiting; they’d never want me if I left them waiting. Gotta go show them some of those moves I practiced.” Rainbow Dash flew out of her house before stopping. “Wait… the Wonderbolts are in Fillydelphia all this week.”

“I did not know that, but we need to find the others now.” Smith said, following her out. Rainbow Dash looked at him for a moment before realizing what he meant.

“Oh yeah, we’re supposed to meet the Princess today, aren’t we?” Smith only nodded. Rainbow Dash did not respond to this and merely took off, leaving a rainbow streak behind her. Smith followed the streak, assuming Rainbow Dash was headed to Ponyville, although wind currents generated by the cyan Pegasus made flying a bit slow.

Eventually, he managed to reach the library. Mays, Hacksaw and the other six were already there, and Twilight was setting up a small group of items for the teleportation spell.

“What took you so long?” Mays asked.

“Crosswinds.”

“Right.” Mays turned to Twilight. “How much longer until we’re ready to leave?”

“Shush; I need to concentrate.” Twilight stared at the small pile of items, her horn glowing with magic. The items began to glow and soon started spinning around the group.

“Will we need to do this to get to Manehattan?”

“No; when I first cast the spell, I put a trace spell on any place we’ve been. We could just teleport to Manehattan without any components.”

“Are you sure it worked?”

“Uh… no. But Princess Celestia could still help.” The items were now blurring past, reminding Smith of the light that had engulfed the Concordia. There was a flash and Smith looked around. They were standing in a street surrounded by large buildings and sophisticated looking ponies. Pegasi in gold armor stood on every other corner, watching silently as the rest of the ponies went about their business.

“So this is Canterlot.” Hacksaw said. “Looks kind of like London.”

“What would you know about London?” Smith asked.

“When I first joined the navy, one of the merchant ships we took had a big painting of London’s waterfront in the captain’s quarters.”

“I think I saw that picture once,” Mays said. “By any chance was it a schooner you captured?”

“Yes. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Ah… I might have shot a cannon ball through the painting.”

“I see.”

“Well, I hate to butt into your conversation, but we can’t keep the princess waiting… I don’t think she’d take that very well. Or maybe she’s okay with it. What do you think?” Smith noted that Twilight seemed stressed… well, more stressed than usual. Her mane had become slightly frayed and she was sweating, and Smith thought that he saw her eye twitch.

“Are you nervous about something?” Mays asked.

“Nervous? What makes you think I’m nervous? Do I sound nervous? I’m not nervous.” Mays looked at the other ponies.

“She does that sometimes.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Show us to the princess, Twilight; I’m sure everything will work out in the end.”

Canterlot Castle was much bigger than Mays expected. It towered over the rest of the city, and the white painting was almost blinding. Huge steeples rose above the first wall, allowing anypony to get a full view of the surrounding land.

“Impressive.” He said.

“They don’t have a lot of things in your world, do they, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“No, not really.” they walked in before something crossed his mind. “Where is your accent from?”

“My what?”

“Your accent; I’ve heard a lot of accents in my life, but never one like-” Applejack was in Mays face in an instant.

“You sayin’ something funny about how I talk? I ain’t got no accent!”

“Okay, sorry for making you angry.” Mays backed down. Applejack eyed him for a moment before rejoining the rest. Hacksaw walked over to him.

“She had the same reaction when I asked her about it.” he said. “Besides, her whole family has some accent like that.”

“Ah… so, what was it like staying with them?”

“A big change from a ship, let me tell you. And Applejack’s family? Nice, honest folk; her sister Apple Bloom has almost as much energy as Pinkie Pie, and was incredibly inquisitive about the mark on my flanks.”

“I know; she was the one leading the draft board.”

“Right. Anyway, I helped them with some chores before heading to the party. I must say, farm work around here is very demanding, especially on your legs.”

“That’s why I stick to the navy. Come, we’re falling behind.” The two broke into a light trot to catch up with the other ponies, who had stopped in front of a pair of large doors. “So, this leads to the throne room?”

“Yes.” Twilight turned to Mays. “Please don’t make too much of a spectacle.”

“We’re just going to talk to the princess; how bad can it be?”

“You had to say that, didn’t you?” Pinkie Pie said. “Now everything’s going to go wrong; a chandelier might detach, the palace may catch on fire, and a bunch of mean ponies could go around hurting other ponies. You name it, it’s going to happen.”

“Uh… okay.” The ponies entered the throne room. Two unicorn guards stood by the door, watching them enter. Mays felt uneasy with the guards, but set aside that thought when he actually saw the princess.

Mays had originally expected Princess Celestia to be similar to Twilight and the other ponies, possibly a unicorn, but nothing like the pony that stood before him. The Princess was nearly twice as tall at the other ponies and had both a horn and wings. Her coat was snow white and her mane was a mix of three different colors, all blowing in some unseen wind. She wore a large golden chest plate with a purple gem in the center, and a large tiara with a similar gem right in the center. Mays had the sudden compulsion to kneel, but refrained from doing so.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said. “It has been awhile since you’ve visited last.” Twilight was about to say something before the princess looked at Mays and spoke again. “You must be Captain Mays."

“Wha… But I didn’t even tell you his name!” Twilight said.

“Oh Twilight, you’re not the only pony who sends me letters.” Pinkie Pie shuffled around nervously for a moment. The other ponies looked at her.

“I tried inviting the Princesses to the party ‘cuz then it’d be even more super amazing, but they had other things that day.” Pinkie said.

“Although I do thank you for inviting my sister and I; I always enjoy some time to get away from the monotony of administration.” The princess smiled. “Now then, you wish to return home?”

“Yes.” Mays said, stepping forward. “Although your land is very nice and welcoming, we have duties that must be performed back in our world. There are forces at work in our world that would seek to destroy everything that we live for, and we need to be there in order to protect our people from them.”

“I understand; protecting one’s kin should come foremost in one’s duties. Now, I will need to understand the full workings of the spell that brought you here before I can attempt to send you back, so if you would hold still for a moment.” Celestia’s horn glowed with magic. Mays was surrounded with an aura of yellow light as the princess scanned for any magical oddities. Mays watched the princess, trying to gain some idea of what was going through her head; at first she was as calm as she had been when they first approached, then she looked shocked, confused, annoyed, and inquisitive in short order. A minute passed before she released her aura.

“That was… eye opening, for lack of a better term.” She said. “Unfortunately, I have bad news: the magic that brought you here is way beyond my knowledge, and to reverse it would be near impossible.” Mays’ emotions sank, and he looked back at the group. Smith did not seem fazed by this at all, Hacksaw looked a bit angry, and Twilight was in a state of shock that her mentor did not know something. He turned back to the princess.

“So, we’re not going back?”

“Sadly, no. I am truly sorry.”

“But then what are we supposed to do about the Cursed?” Hacksaw said.

“While it may seem harsh for me to say this, the others in your world will just have to make do without you.”

“Stand down, Hacksaw, and don’t make a scene.” Mays said. The medic backed down and Mays turned back to Princess Celestia “Do you know who brought us here?”

“I cannot say; there are only a few really powerful magic users in Equestria, and only my sister and I can generate enough magic for cross-dimensional spells, and even then it’s only enough to watch other worlds, not pull ships through.”

“I see.” he turned to leave. “Sorry for wasting your time, princess.”

“You don’t need to leave so soon,” the princess said. “Even if I cannot send you back, there must be something I can do to make life easier for you.”

“We could take some of the ponies in,” Twilight suggested. “There’ve been some new building projects in Ponyville, and they can live with us.”

"I don't see anything wrong with that." Smith said. "I could get used to being a pony."

"You would, Smith." Hacksaw said. "At least you can fly."

“I wouldn’t mind takin' in a few ponies,” Applejack said. “We could use a couple more workers down at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Actually, I have a need for ponies of your… talents, if you are interested.” Mays turned around. Being stuck in Equestria with nothing to do was the worst option available, and he was not about to sell the Concordia, so taking this offer might be advantageous.

“What is it?”

“Well, in case Twilight has not told you, my sister and I had a… falling out a couple centuries ago. She tried to claim Equestria for herself, and I was forced to banish her to the moon.”

“Isn’t that a little extreme?”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing ever since that day. She has returned, thankfully, but when she became Nightmare Moon, she lost something very close to her.”

“What?”

“Twilight, what do you know of the Obsidian Crescent?”

“Not much, Princess.” Twilight said. “All I know is that it was a powerful artifact that Luna wielded, much like the Elements of Harmony.”

“Indeed. Wearing the Crescent increases the magical power of a pony, allowing Luna more ease in her tasks. When she became Nightmare Moon, I had to steal the Crescent and hide it from her to prevent her from becoming too powerful for the Elements.”

“Well, if you hid it, then why can’t you go find it?” Mays said.

“I didn’t get the chance to hide it; the Crescent automatically returns to a special altar somewhere outside of Equestria when separated from its owner, to prevent its misuse at the hooves of unworthy ponies, so it evaporated before I could find a suitable hiding spot, and only the ponies that crafted the Crescent know where that altar is. Also, it cloaks a fairly large area with an anti-divination spell, so I cannot use my magic to locate it. At least, not in the traditional sense.” Celestia’s horn glowed again and a map appeared next to her. She levitated it over to Mays and opened it; it was a complete map of Equestria and the surrounding oceans, with a large circle right in the middle of an even larger blank space.

“That circle is the anti-divination spell; the Crescent is somewhere within that circle. I cannot leave my duties to go find it myself without alerting Luna, so I need you to take your ship to retrieve it.”

“Why is alerting Luna bad?” Hacksaw said.

“Consider this a surprise for her.”

“Surprise?” Pinkie said. “Why are you surprising her? Is it her birthday? Ooh, I should throw her a party when they find the Crescent! Luna’s only been to one of my parties, and I’m sure she’ll love this one. I wonder how long it would take to make moon-themed decorations… unless she likes pirates too; I’ve still got lots of pirate party stuff left over from yesterday.”

“No, Pinkie Pie, this is merely me trying to make up for what I did to her.”

“Why us?” Mays asked. “There are plenty of sailor ponies that know these waters better than we do. Why haven’t you send some of them to find the Crescent?”

“None of these ponies have really been more than a few miles away from the coast, and only your ship is fitted for traveling on the open ocean. And the waters around Equestria are much more dangerous than you think, captain; there will always be those that would harm my little ponies, no matter what I try to protect them.”

“You have soldiers; you could-”

“There has not been a full scale army in Equestria in over five thousand years. You and your ponies, however, are trained and experienced; should anything arise, I know that you will be able to handle it.” Mays paused for a moment, looking at the map.

“What’s in it for us?” he asked.

“Though I cannot send you home, I am willing to give you whatever you wish; I do not know what you would consider fair payment, but I am sure we could agree on something.” Mays looked back at the map, then back at the others.

“Sure, we’ll go find the Crescent for you.” Mays took the map, placed it in one of his pockets, and was about to rejoin the group when Twilight spoke.

“Wait… the Crescent returns to the altar when separated from its owner, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then won’t it just go back as soon as they leave?”

“It will, which is why I’m sending you with them.” Princess Celestia said.

“Me?”

“And the rest of the Bearers of the Elements, of course.”

“Us?” the six ponies said in unison.

“One blast from the Elements of Harmony can destabilize the magic the Crescent possesses, allowing a pony to bring it back.”

“Not that that doesn’t sound practical,” Mays said “but I don’t think we could accommodate six more ponies onboard the Concordia. Also, if we do encounter something dangerous, I don’t want them panicking or causing anything-”

“You underestimate Twilight and her friends, captain; they are much more resourceful than they seem, and they may just end up saving your life.” Celestia smiled again. “I wish the best of luck for all of you, and hope to see you when you return.” Mays gave a short bow.

“Thank you again princess. We’ll get your Crescent for you… by any chance do you have a picture of it, so we know what we’re looking for?”

“You will know; the Crescent attracts magic users, so Twilight should be able to find it easily once you reach its resting place. Oh, and one more thing.” Celestia’s horn glowed once more and a large piece of folded cloth plopped on the ground at Mays’ feet. “It’s merely a formality, but I would like you to take this for when you set sail, just so other ponies know who you are.”

“What is it? A flag?” he asked.

“Yes. Although I respect your own sense of national identity, I would like you to fly it to avoid confusion and potential hostility.”

“Very well. Smith, come get this.” Mays walked over to Twilight. “We’ll stop in Ponyville for some more supplies, and you can fetch these 'Elements of Harmony' you seem to be in charge of, then we’ll head to Manehattan… by the way, have any of you ever been sailing before?”

“Well, once when I was younger.” Rarity said. “It was dreadful; the sea was rough, the ship was dirty, and the space was quite cramped.” She looked at Mays. “Please tell me this won’t be like that.”

“Uh… I can’t guarantee anything, but the Concordia’s not that cramped.”

“Oh, that’s a relief. By the way, I was wondering if you and I could take a few minutes to talk about those sails of yours; I really don’t think olive is a good color for a ship.” Mays would have replied, but Twilight’s spell activated and the nine of them were teleported back to Ponyville.

Chapter 5

I still don't own anything... in this fic, that is.
Again, read, review, and like the story. I would very much like to know what you are thinking.
Also, as I'm no naval historian, I have no idea if galleys are good firing platforms or not. Mainly, I'm going by the game: The galleys of the Barbary Corsairs have incredibly weak cannons, and while they have speed if they get caught by a good sized schooner or a 5-mast ship they're in trouble. So in this fic they're bad shots.

Charles Richard was unsure how the past three days had been going. On one hand, repairs had actually taken less time than originally anticipated, retraining the marines to use telekinesis to fire lead shot was going splendidly, and most of the crew had gotten used to being ponies.

On the other hand…

“Why didn’t you let me review the duty roster?” Nolan asked.

“The captain put me in charge, and I wasn’t even planning on you getting sent back here.”

“That’s not justification for anything.”

“You want justification, you can have justification; everyone is where they need to be. I don’t need you coming along and messing everything up. So why don’t you go back and keep writing out your complaints to your father and let someone who actually knows what he’s doing handle the duty roster.”

“I was not writing any such letter.”

“Sure you weren’t. You were narrating it to yourself every time I passed your quarters. ‘Dear Father, I wanted to let you know about the abysmal conditions aboard this vessel and my attempts to change it. Mr. Richard has shown me nothing but contempt and spends most of his time joking and drinking with the men rather than being the symbol of discipline a person in his position should be, much like how I have always been’. It took you this long to use the word contempt in one of your letters?”

“Well, that’s all you have done.”

“Because your brain is as stiff as your jacket. And there is something called respect for the boys.”

“I do respect them; they have their duties, and my duty is to remind them of theirs.”

“By whining and threatening to whip them? Have you ever had a decent conversation with anyone besides your mother?”

“Also, I do not enjoy you referring to them as ‘boys’. They are men and should be treated as such.”

“Wish you had the same sentiments.”

“Was that intended as an insult?”

“When speaking with you, everything I say is intended as an insult.” Nolan gasped.

“How dare you continue to insult me? I ought to report this to Captain Mays when he returns and have you court-martialed when we get back to Boston.”

“If you’re not still a pony, that is.”

“Yes, if I’m not… Don’t you start bringing that into the issue. I’ll find a way, even if it means I have to haul carts for the rest of my life.”

“Why worry, you’ll be famous; I can see it now: The World’s First Talking Jackass. People will come from all over, even from Europe, just to see you and marvel at you. You’ll have all the attention you’ll ever want.”

“Mr. Richard, I have had just about enough of your attitude.”

“Maybe you should write to daddy about that.” Nolan was about to continue the argument when there was the sound of hooves coming up the gangplank. Richard turned and saw Mays, Hacksaw and Smith boarding the ship, followed by the six other ponies that had stopped them.

“Am I interrupting something?” Mays asked.

“Not really, captain.” Richard said. Nolan started to protest again but Mays silenced him with a glare. “How are our prospects for returning home?”

“Not very good; Princess Celestia didn’t know what kind of magic brought us here and couldn’t reverse it.”

“I told you she’d be of no use.” Nolan said. Mays and Richard ignored him.

“The boys probably won’t take that well. So, how much is the ship going for?”

“We’re not disbanding; Celestia asked if we could fetch some sort of artifact called the Obsidian Crescent for her sister and said she’d pay us a good sum if we found it.”

“Maybe they won’t complain as bad. When do we leave?”

“Today, as soon as the food stocks are resupplied.”

“Got it all taken care of; the pony that helped us out was pretty generous and struck a few deals with a couple of his friends. The ship’s all fixed, and the boys finished repairing the sails.”

“It’s times like this where I wonder if I’m even needed… oh, before I forget, Richard, this is Twilight Sparkle and her friends Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy; they’ll be accompanying us on the voyage. Girls, this is Master Chief Charles Richard, and you’ve already met Nolan.” Richard gave the six mares a nod.

“Hello, ladies.”

“Richard, get them settled; I’m going to meet with the rest of the marines and explain the situation to everyone. Nolan, if you have any more complaints, tell me the ones that are actually relevant.” Mays walked off towards the bow, followed by Nolan. Smith and Hacksaw went off on their own, leaving Richard with the six mares.

“Well, if you’ll just come this way the. Watch your step, the deck tends to give out when you least expect it.” Twilight and her friends followed Richard below deck. There were fewer crew members down here, but even so walking was a bit difficult. Richard pushed a few loose tools out of the way before speaking again. “So, what’s Equestria like?”

“Excuse me?” Twilight asked.

“Haven’t gotten out much; might as well ask some of the locals what it’s like living here, since that’s about all I’ve got right now.”

“Well… I don’t know; what was it like back in your world?” Richard turned around and faced Twilight.

“How many times has Equestria been invaded?”

“Why would you ask that? Never.”

“What’s the crime rate around here?”

“Abysmally low.”

“Celestia, does she force ponies to quarter soldiers or pay ridiculous taxes?”

“Equestria has no army, and she hasn’t had to raise taxation in eighty years.” Richard looked at Twilight, trying to find some indication that she was lying. Finding none, he smiled.

“I think I like it already. Now hurry, we’ve still got to get the gunpowder stored, and you don’t want that stuff getting on you, especially since the only lighting we have around here is lanterns.” The seven moved along while two Pegasi lowered a large barrel full of gunpowder.

“This isn’t going to get violent, is it?” Fluttershy asked.

“If we can’t help it, or if Nolan annoys the captain enough. Still, if you have no armed forces, consider yourself protected. The Concordia is a sixty four, makes it the most heavily armed ship in the Navy; one broadside can cripple a British second rate. And the boys are highly trained in case we get boarded; any one of them will gladly lay down his life for the next guy.”

“You seem to take a lot of pride in that.” Twilight said.

“Trained them myself, and that’s saying a lot, what with Nolan trying to throw in his own opinions every few minutes. You know he wanted me to court-martial a marine just because he called him an idiot?”

“Why does everypony hate him so much?” Applejack asked. “I mean, he’s a might bit rude, but that doesn’t warrant everypony not liking him.”

“I see you’re busy spreading vicious rumors.” Richard turned around and saw Nolan standing behind him.

“If I am I’d like to hear what they are.”

“Mr. Richard, I do not want to see you turn even more people against me. If I have caused an offense against you then I wish you’d make it known.”

“If I did, then the captain wouldn’t like the stain you’d leave.”

“Oh, now we’re moving to idle threats. I find that beneath your position to resort to such methods.”

“You find everything I do beneath my position. What are you doing down here? I thought the captain had a few words to say to you.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. I just came down here to finish up my own duties.”

“You mean start a new letter? Guess daddy’s not going to be hearing from you for awhile.”

“You will not bring our predicament into this conversation. I want you to stop circulating these rumors and get back to your duties.”

“Sure.” Nolan gave Richard a glare and walked off. Richard turned back to the group.

“I’ve had to deal with Nolan longer than anyone else on this boat. You want to know why no one likes him?”

“Well, it would help to understand the justification for his snootiness.” Rarity said. “Do tell.”

“Nolan paid his way through training; his father was some big banker in New York and thought it’d be a good idea to have a son in the navy for prestige reasons. Anyway, he goes through the academy without having to learn half of what’s required. Commodore Preble takes a liking to him and appoints him as his personal protégé, and it all goes downhill from there.

“Preble’s first big assignment as commander-in-chief of the navy is to take out the Barbary Corsairs, a bunch of Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean.” He paused for a moment, deciding whether or not to explain where any of these locations were, much less what a Muslim was. He decided not to and continued. “Anyway, I was assigned to the frigate Intrepid under Stephen Decatur. Now, there was a man who lived up to his name: he was tough, charismatic, and a little bit impulsive. We got to Malta, trashed Tripoli and a couple other ports, and stayed out of the way of the other powers in the area.

“One day, we were sailing out of Malta when a courier ship arrived. Nolan steps on and says he’s been assigned to Decatur for a couple of weeks. Decatur wasn’t too happy about the arrangement.”

“Why? Did he say something wrong?” Twilight asked.

“No. Like I said, Decatur was impulsive; a lot of the battles we fought in racked up a lot of casualties. He said he needed marines and cannoneers, not lieutenants. Still orders were orders, and Nolan was onboard.

“At first, he wasn’t so bad; kept to himself at times, followed Decatur around and asked a bunch of questions the rest of the time. The other sailors and I thought he’d just fall in and act like a normal lieutenant… wish we were that lucky.

“Next day comes, and it starts off normal; we get our duties, eat, and go about our business. Then Nolan comes on deck and starts bossing some of the other lieutenants around, acting like he’s the captain. Some of the noncoms try to get him to mellow out, but he said that since he went through the naval academy that makes him better than the rest of us.

“Then a ship was spotted; it was a British ship, H.M.S. Durham, and the first thing Nolan wanted to do was have us attack it. Decatur came up and said to signal them instead.”

“I thought you said he was the impulsive one.” Twilight said.

“Yeah, stories aren’t fun if you can’t keep your facts straight.” Pinkie Pie said.

“Decatur was impulsive, but he wasn’t stupid; the British weren’t really after American ships in the Mediterranean, so we all considered it neutral ground. So we signaled them and decided to make a trade; some of the crew of the Durham had caught scurvy a couple of days earlier, so they wanted some of the medical supplies we had. We traded them for some spare wood in case we got damaged, and Nolan was complaining the whole time.

“We were going to go our separate ways when one of the Limeys-”

“Limeys?” Applejack asked.

“British sailors; they liked to eat a lot of limes. Anyway, one of the Brits spots a big flotilla heading towards us: Corsair galleys, about five of them. So Decatur and the British captain, I think his name was Lawrence, decide to team up for the day and attack the Corsairs. Nolan of course objects, saying that we didn’t need to fight with the Limeys. Decatur ignores him, but decides to humor him and assigns him to lead the first boarding party, if boarding is to be necessary.

“So, we close on the Corsairs, and they begin to split up and try to surround us. Decatur orders us to charge the nearest galley, a big green one called the Splendor. They fire a salvo of grapeshot at us and try to escape, but the Intrepid’s got longer range guns, see, and we slow ‘em down with a barrage of chain shot.

“For reference, galleys are terrible firing platforms; they got all these oars and decks that you have to compensate for, and they’re so damn fragile that you can’t put too heavy of cannons on them or they’ll sink themselves. We were able to sail right up to them without taking much damage.

“Ooh, this is when it gets good!” Pinkie said, producing a bowl of popcorn from nowhere.

“Wha… how…”

“She does that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Try not to think about it too hard.”

“Right. Anyway, we board ‘em and me and my group are the first over. Not a pleasant experience; say what you will about the Corsairs, while they can’t shoot cannons they fight like demons. They threw themselves at us, swinging anything they had that might injure someone. I took a big board to the head within the first minute; got a nasty concussion from that the next day. But Corsairs don’t do organization, so we’re able to hold ‘em off until the next wave comes.”

“What does Nolan have to do with this?” Twilight asked.

“I’ll get to that. So the next wave comes over, and we would have taken the Splendor then and there had the Brits not been overzealous with the firepots; burned the galley to a cinder, they did. We managed to get clear, but there’s a lot of money to be had in bringing back Corsair ships. So, battle goes on and we sink two more Corsairs before the rest scurry off to… I don’t know, Algiers or something.

“The Brits take a bit of treasure they looted from one of the Corsairs, we get the rest, and we go our ways.”

“But that doesn’t explain what happened to our ‘friend’,” Rarity said. “He doesn’t even show up but for the first few hours.”

“Exactly; he was hiding behind a cannon the whole time, and when we called him out over it he said it was because we didn’t set up a big enough ‘defensive screen’ and told us to fight harder next time.”

“Wait,” Applejack said, holding up a hoof “You’re tellin’ me he just hid while y’all ran out to get yourselves killed, and the he blamed you for not winnin’?”

“If you want to put it that way, then yes.” The six other ponies sat there for a moment.

“He takes losing worse than I do.” Rainbow Dash said.

“I reckon that does give y’all more reason to not like him,” Applejack said. “I mean, you can’t be all high and mighty in a place like this, and it just ain’t decent.”

“Yeah, I guess… well, sorry for boring you with old stories. Come now, we’re going to be casting off soon.”

Mays had already explained the situation to his officers, and he was now trying to help the sailors get the ship ready to sail. Trying being the key phrase; lacking hands Mays had to do almost everything using his mouth and tail, and after getting his forelegs tangled in the rigging he was not overly enthusiastic about the arrangement.

“Hey sir.” Smith said, flying over to Mays.

“Mwuh?” Mays asked before spitting out the rope in his mouth. “What?”

“You do know that there are others that can do this, right?”

“So? I don’t want to be the useless officer that just stands around looking dramatic and gives orders; that’s Nolan’s job, except for the dramatic part.”

“Sir, you can’t even get up in the rigging anymore, how can you expect to be useful?”

“I’ll find a way.” He picked the rope back up in his mouth. Richard, Twilight and her friends came up from below decks. Pinkie Pie spotted them first and bounced over to him and Smith.

“Hi! What’cha doing?” the pink pony asked. Mays spat the rope out again.

“Trying to secure a sail.” He expected Pinkie to take that a little too literally (she had a habit of doing so), but she merely said “okay” and bounced over to the next group of sailors. Mays passed the rope off to a Pegasus and went over to Richard. “Where’s Nolan?”

“In his room, probably writing another letter to his father.” Richard said.

“Thought so. Get the cannons secured; we cast off in two minutes.” Mays turned to Twilight “You all settled in?”

“More or less.” Twilight said. “We’ll try to stay out of your way as much as possible.”

“Stay out of our way? You’re members of this crew now, or at least until we return. You can do whatever you want as long as you don’t burn the ship down.”

“Oh, that reminds me.” Fluttershy reached into a small pack she was carrying and produced several metal poles and a small house. “Can I set this up somewhere… please?”

“What is it?”

“It’s a bird feeder.” The Pegasus said. “Seagulls normally don’t eat some of the snacks I brought, but they’d still want somewhere to sit on long journeys. And maybe I might see an albatross or some frigate birds; I’ve always wanted to see one of those.” She started to get nervous “But, uh, i-if you don’t want them around, that’s okay…”

“Oh no, go ahead, there should be some room over by the helm. Just try not to attract too many birds at once.”

“Okay. Thank you!” Fluttershy picked the bird feeder up in her mouth and flew over to the helm.

“Animal lovers.” Mays said. “Best to keep them pleased.” He turned around. “Smith, what is the condition of the sails?”

“Ready when you are, sir.” Smith called back.

“Richard?”

“Cannons are secure, captain.”

“Then let’s get out of here. Cast off, and get us into the wind. Smith, get us a heading. Richard, go find Nolan and try to make him do something useful.” The local Pegasi were kind enough to provide a nice breeze to the east in order to get the Concordia moving, and Twilight lent some of her magic to help the sailor ponies. The flag of the United States was flying beneath the Flag of Equestria, the two flags flapping in the breeze. To Mays, everything was going splendidly.

I had to think, didn’t I?

“Why wasn’t I informed we’d be casting off?” Nolan asked as he came up from below deck. “All officers should be present when casting off. And have the men been briefed as to where we’re going? I would expect at least something resembling normalcy aboard this vessel.”

This is going to be a long journey.

Day one, and the coast of Equestria was barely visible. The Concordia’s speed had slacked off a bit, but as they weren’t in any sort of rush Mays did not care. Applejack had gone to help some of the deckhands with their duties, Fluttershy was feeding a few terns that had decided to stop and rest, Rarity was trying to find a spot not blocked by the sails where she could sunbathe (Mays was still trying to get her whining out of his head), Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash was up in the rigging taking a nap.

Guess we should figure out where we’re going.

“So, here’s the map Celestia gave us.” Mays said, flattening out the piece of parchment on the deck. Twilight walked over to him and examined the map.

“We should be somewhere over here,” the unicorn said, using her telekinesis to poke a pencil at the map. “If we adjust our course southeast, we’ll be able to skirt these shoals here and get a clear shot towards where the Crescent is.”

“Do you have any idea what’s beyond those shoals?”

“No, but I’m not worried; if we do find anything, I brought enough supplies to make a few new maps, and I have a bunch of books and journals that should come in handy in case I need to look up a spell or identify something. I’m sure the princess will appreciate that, even if we don’t find the Crescent.”

“You seem to get pretty wound up whenever you talk about the princess.”

“… I do, don’t I?” Mays nodded. Twilight sighed. “I just want her to be proud of me, to know how good a student I’ve been. I know I shouldn’t get too worried about it, but she’s ruler of all Equestria; do you know what kind of pressure is put on a pony when you’re a personal student of the ruler of Equestria?”

“Not really, given that I’ve only met Celestia for all of five minutes. But I mean she trusts you enough to come on a trip like this.”

“Oh, this isn’t so bad; my friends and I had to stop the personification of chaos about a month before you showed up.” Mays’ mind blanked for a moment while Twilight continued. “And you all don’t seem that bad. Sure, you all are a little violent, but I think you can work out those sorts of issues.”

“Still, if I was ruling Equestria I wouldn’t let you near some…pony like me.”

“Why? Do you think you’re too ‘dangerous’?”

“Are… are you flirting with me?”

“Uh… no! Why do you think so? Does it seem like I’m flirting with you?” from the other side of the boat, for no reason whatsoever, Rarity swore to herself.

“You wouldn’t be the first.” Mays turned his attention back to the map. “Now, what kind of locator spells do you have?”

“Well… I have one that allows me to find-”

“Sail ho!” one of the Pegasi on watch shouted

“Ships; they always come at the worst times. We’ll talk later.” Mays grabbed a spyglass in his mouth and moved forward. Smith and the Pegasus on watch flew down from the rigging, followed by Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight! The views are awesome up there! You should go up there sometime.”

“Maybe later.” Mays said, turning to Smith and the other Pegasus. “Where’s the ship?”

“Starboard side, heading straight towards us.” Mays propped his front legs on a railing and balanced the spyglass in his hooves. From this distance, the ship looked to be in fairly bad condition; the sails were torn and the hull was heavily damaged. It was a miracle the thing was still sailing. Mays caught sight of some of the crew: big looking figures, bipedal, and he thought he spotted a spear or two.

“Definitely not ponies.” He said. “Twilight, what other races live around Equestria?”

“There’s griffins, dragons, Diamond Dogs, deer, and a couple other nations of ponies.”

“Any bipeds?”

“Just the Diamond Dogs.”

“Ugh, those ruffians?” Rarity said. “Those nasty brutes care only for gems and nothing for a pony’s welfare, or personal hygiene for that matter.”

“Do these guys look like them?” Mays passed the spyglass to Rarity. She looked through the spyglass for a few moments before answering.

“Definitely; I’m surprised you didn’t pick up their scent.”

“Good to know. Richard, load the guns.” Mays headed back to the helmsman “Bring us about; get our full broadside in position.”

“Aye sir.”

“You’re going to attack them?” Twilight asked, shocked.

“Uh, yeah. They’re heading right for us, and if their interests are anything like what Rarity told me they’re not coming for a party from Pinkie Pie.”

“Maybe they got lost, or got caught in a storm, and you’re going to kill them?”

“I know pirates; they lure you in and then attack you at the last second. Richard, get those guns loaded.”

“Aye captain.” Richard called back, picking up several cannon balls with his telekinesis.

“No, I can’t let you go about sinking ships out of suspicion.” Mays looked at Twilight.

“What would you have me do, Twilight? Go over there and ask them nicely to go away?”

“It may just be as simple as that; I do have a few communication spells that might get us out of this situation. Just see what they’re up to, and if they do want to cause trouble… maybe try talking them out of it?”

“Right. Richard, I still want those guns loaded in case things go wrong. So, what’s the spell like?”

“Just stand there and look at the ship.” Mays did so, his mind overflowing with potential complaints. Twilight’s magic enveloped him, and soon he saw the other ship.

It was in worse condition than he thought; most of the planks on deck were snapped and rotting, the masts were being held together by some force he did not know existed (he guessed willpower and faith), and supplies were strewn over the deck in no particular pattern.

The Diamond Dogs were surprised to see the pony onboard. It was just an illusion, but having something like this just pop up out of nowhere would still scare someone. Some of the dogs dressed in armor lowered spears at Mays’ avatar while a skinny dog with big ears and a red vest came up to him.

“How did pony get on board ship?” the Diamond Dog asked.

“Magic.” Mays said. “As to why I’m here, you are approaching a vessel of… the Equestrian Navy, and doing so without good reason will be considered an act of violence against the nation of Equestria. Change your course or provide your reason, or you will be fired upon and your vessel taken.” The dogs started laughing at him.

“Silly pony thinks he can threaten us!” the lead dog said. This caused the other Diamond Dogs to laugh harder and Mays to get angry.

“I’ll repeat myself: change your course, or we’ll be forced to attack.”

“Oh, no need for pony to get worked up.” The dog said, a large sneer breaking out over his face. “You have big ship, yes? Maybe… we make a deal, yes?”

“I’m asking you to alter your course.”

“Not yet, pony. You have goods to share, yes. We… take some of those goods, make you get home faster.”

“The Concordia is not a merchant ship and we have no interest in trading. For the last time, alter your course or you will be fired upon.”

“Silly pony won’t scare us. We see you soon, then?” the dogs continued laughing.

“Then you leave me no choice but to take your vessel by force. Twilight, we’re done here.” The spell cut out. “Richard, get to one of the ten pounders and fire a warning shot; if they don’t surrender or change course we’ll hit them with the broadside.”

“Aye captain.” Richard went to the bow of the ship. Mays turned to Twilight.

“Well, they don’t seem very friendly. We’ll just fire our warning and see what happens after that.”

“Are you sure you couldn’t have tried to talk them out if it?”

“No one calls me a ‘Silly Pony’.” Twilight gave Mays an uneasy look and they went up to the cannon Richard was standing next to. “Remember, try to miss.”

“Aye captain.” Richard turned to the cannoneer. “You heard the captain. Fire away.” The cannoneer nodded, took aim and fired the cannon.

Unfortunately, the cannoneers were still getting used to shooting as ponies, so the shot went wide and struck the Diamond Dogs’ ship just above the waterline. The hull shattered like a dropped vase, with wood and bits of metal flying in every possible direction. The ship stopped and immediately started to sink, to the shock of everypony on deck. Mays’ mouth fell open and Twilight merely gave a flat “what”.

“Captain, should I mark that as a weak spot if we see any more ships like this?” Richard asked.

“Sure, go ahead. Wow, it’s in even worse condition than I thought.” He turned back to Twilight. “Can you do anything to prevent them from sinking?”

“Why would you care? You seemed so eager to kill them earlier.”

“They may have something of value, or some more maps.” Twilight did soften a little, although she still seemed rather mad.

“I, uh, think I have a spell that might work.” Twilight’s horn glowed for a moment and the Diamond Dogs’ ship was enveloped in a violet light and stopped sinking. “I can’t send the communication spell without causing the ship to start sinking, in case you were wondering.”

“Won’t be necessary. Richard, go fetch ten marines; you and I are going over there to see what we can negotiate from them.”

“If you wouldn’t mind,” Rarity said “I would like to accompany you over to the other ship. I have dealt with Diamond Dogs before, and I know a few things to keep them in line.”

“Okay. Richard, make sure there’s room on the boat for Rarity.”

“Aye captain.”

It took a while for the group to reach the Diamond Dogs’ ship (lacking hands made rowing a bit more difficult), but the group did end up reaching the stricken vessel. The ship stank of poor hygiene and rotting fish, and Mays was beginning to question his sanity as they boarded.

The Diamond Dogs had mostly backed off to one corner, cowering in fear as the marines stepped forward. Some of them still had weapons out in case the ponies tried anything stupid, but they seemed too scared to really use them effectively.

“Whose ship is this?” Mays asked. The dog with the big ears that he had spoken to before stepped forward. Richard and the marines tensed a little, a few of them pulling bits of lead shot out of small pouches on their flanks and preparing to fire. Mays raised a hoof to calm them down before speaking. “Why did you attack us?”

“Silly pony wasn’t supposed to fight back.” The Diamond Dog said.

“Even after I told you that we would, you still pressed on… either you’re overconfident in your own abilities or you’re incredibly stupid. Now, I ask you to surrender your ship and any valuables you may have, or we will finish destroying this vessel.”

“Oh, silly pony can have whatever he wants, yes?” the Diamond Dog said.

“Richard, Rarity, go take two marines and search the ship; look for maps and spare wood that isn’t too rotten for use.” Mays took a tentative step forward before one of the planks snapped under his weight. Mays caught himself before he fell through the deck, but the accident only made the marines tenser. The Dogs flinched when the board had snapped, and now looked more skittish than ever.

“Captain, you alright?” Richard said, looking up from a battered crate.

"I'm fine.” Mays pulled his hoof out of the deck and looked at the Diamond Dogs. “This ship is in terrible condition; don’t you guys have a carpenter or a shipwright or something?” the Dogs shook their heads. “Do any of you know how to maintain a ship?”

“No, only dig for gems.” The lead Dog said.

“Figures.” Mays inspected the wood for a moment. Something was odd about it; sure, it was rotten, but rotting wood was not always that brittle. It took a moment for him to realize what was wrong.

The plank was hollow, and the top was hinged.

“And I guess you do a bit of smuggling as well.” he said. He prodded another plank. That one was hinged too, and the top slid off with relative ease. “Well well, what’s this?”

The plank was filled with gems, good sized ones too. He prodded a few, trying to see how many there were. Gems seem fairly common place here, Mays thought, since Rarity uses so many in her dresses. Still, might be worth a good chunk of money… they’ll certainly help in case we don’t find the Crescent.

“Rarity, would you mind coming here for a moment?”

“Certainly; it would relieve the tedium of having to search this awful boat. Do you know there’s a half-rotten carcass in one of the-” Rarity gasped, her pupils growing wide when she saw the gems.

“Careful, Rarity; you’re drooling.” Rarity closed her mouth before her horn lit up with magic. The entire deck (save for a few planks) lit up and revealed hundreds of gems stashed away neatly inside the wood. “Well, that explains how a ten-pounder can sink a ship of this size.”

“Silly pony can’t take that.” The lead Diamond Dog said. Mays looked at him.

“What can you do to stop me? My ship has heavier weaponry than the one that sank your excuse for a vessel; just have to give a command and this thing will be blown to matchwood. Even if you do attack, my marines can drop ten of you each before I even have to draw my sword. Now, we’re going to be taking these gems from you, and then we’ll leave; you won’t be killed unless you do something stupid. Do I make myself clear?” the Diamond Dogs merely nodded. “Very well. Rarity, start collecting the gems. Go get Richard and those two marines over here to help you.”

“Must remember to avoid silly ponies,” the Diamond Dog muttered “This pony’s almost as bad as last ones.”

“Last ones?” Mays asked.

“Yes; there were three ships, yes. Three of us, found gems on an island nearby. Two were leaving when ship with… big spiky thing came.” The image of a Scorpion Ship came to mind, and Mays got a little nervous; if the Cursed had followed the Concordia through, they could cause all kinds of havoc.

“This ship… describe it.”

“Big ship; almost as big as silly pony’s. And spiky thing was sharp; split one in half and wrecked other too. And it had teeth.”

“Teeth?”

“Not real teeth, but drawings of teeth.”

“That’s all I needed to know… oh, you might want to get into any lifeboats you may have.”

“Well, we nearly sank the boat with all the gems we found,” Mays said, hauling another box full of diamonds up onto the deck. “But we got some information.”

“Like what?” Twilight asked.

“There’s a small island nearby that I think we should check out, possibly claim it for Equestria. And there’s a second goal I want to add on to our mission.”

“Whenever you start adding more goals,” Hacksaw said “More people start dying.”

“Unfortunately, that may very well be the case. That ship was with a group of three; two of them got carved up by a Scorpion Ship near that island.”

“The Cursed followed us?” Smith said.

“That or they got sucked in by whatever brought us here. And I have a pretty good idea which Scorpion got pulled through.”

“Chum Maker?”

“Exactly; Sammy’s out there causing trouble, and we’re going to send him down to hell where he belongs.” Mays got back onto the deck of the ship. He turned to Twilight. “You can release your magic now.”

“But they’ll drown!”

“No they won’t; there are enough boats over there to hold all of them in considerable discomfort. Besides, that ship’s better off at the bottom of the ocean.” Twilight looked at Mays for a minute, her stare bordering on a scowl. Eventually, she gave up trying to convince him otherwise.

“Fine.” Twilight’s horn stopped glowing and the Diamond Dog’s ship started sinking again. “But I’m taking no responsibility if your actions get someone killed, even if they aren’t ponies.” Twilight walked off to the other side of the ship, followed by Rarity and Fluttershy.

“This is why I never stayed with those women.” Mays said. “Get the cargo stored; I need to have a word with the helmsman.”

Chapter 6

I don't try to dabble in shipping and probably couldn't write a shipping fic to save my life. Rarity, however, is not me, and she can ship whoever she pleases (in this case, Twilight/ any stallion they meet).
Anyway, I still own nothing, like and comment on the story so I can tell what you are thinking

The wind had died down significantly after the Concordia left the Diamond Dogs, making progress slow. Rainbow Dash had offered to use some of her weather-management skills to speed things up, but Twilight had shot her down. It was night by the time the wind picked up, and from Smith’s scouting it would take them a few more hours before they reached the island.

It was dawn, and Mays was still asleep. He still had to get used to sleeping as a pony, as he lay twisted up in the hammock he had had set up (the only thing that he had cared to remember from his time serving under Admiral Crabtree was that he always said the captain was on equal terms with the common sailor and must embrace that in order to be effective). He had his hat pulled down over his face and allowed the ship’s natural sway to keep him asleep.

He was dreaming of the Wasp, the first ship he got a chance to command. He had liked the Wasp; it was a little slow and its guns were fairly weak, but she had had a certain charm about her. He was dreaming of the first combat action he had taken the schooner into; he and two other captains had found a cluster of British troop ships on their way to New York, but before they could destroy all the English vessels a flotilla led by the H.M.S. Granville had attacked the Americans. He imagined standing on the deck of the Wasp, staring into the face of the British frigate’s cannons and hearing them go off with… the sound of somepony knocking on a door.

Mays blinked, pushed his hat back and got out of his hammock. He pulled his coat and sword on as best he could before opening the door, coming face to face with a certain green pony.

“What is it, Nolan?” he asked, brushing past the lieutenant.

“Sir, I would like to register a complaint about the passenger Pinkie Pie.”

“Really?”

“Yes; she won’t stop talking and woke me up at the crack of dawn with an overly cheery song about being on a ship. I’m not even supposed to be on duty until this afternoon.”

“And this is bad because…”

“Sir, you of all people should know that officers should not be disturbed by mere passengers.”

“Right. Unfortunately for you I won’t press charges, mainly because I don’t think Pinkie Pie can be affected by something like that. Go annoy someone else.”

“I do believe that my complaints should be listened to, not passed off as annoyance.”

“Allow me to disagree. Go away.” Nolan gave an indignant huff and walked off. Mays walked out on deck and was greeted by Hacksaw. “Please tell me you don’t have any complains.”

“Nothing really serious, although I would like you to speak to the Pegasi about doing unnecessary tricks in the rigging; one of the sailors almost got himself hanged when trying to pull off a stunt.”

“I’ll have Smith talk to them.” Mays walked over to the railing and looked out. “So, I was expecting an island.”

“Other side of the ship.” Hacksaw said, pointing to an island about a mile and a half away.

“Oh… guess I need to work on my sense of direction.” Mays crossed the deck, taking a spyglass from a nearby officer. He was about to get a good look at the island when Pinkie Pie popped up next to him.

“Hi!” the pony said “Are we going on that island?”

“Possibly. Why are you so excited about it?”

“Well duh, that’s where all the other interesting stuff happens; you guys go out and find treasure or get chased by natives or something cool like that. Haven’t you read any adventure stories?”

“Uh, no, can’t say that I have.”

“When we find the Crescent, I’m going to make you read all of them.”

“Duly noted.” Mays focused his attention back on the island. There were a couple of fairly wide beaches that they could land on, and the jungle covering the island was not incredibly thick. There were a few reefs surrounding the island, meaning that they would have to go in on smaller boats rather than risk the ship.

“Hacksaw, go find Richard, Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy.”

“Any particular reason why you want those three?”

“Rarity can use magic to find gems, Twilight’s got a good sense for geography and would probably jump at the chance to map out new land, and Fluttershy… well, if any wild animals have ponies on the menu, maybe she can talk them down or something.”

“That’s not very reassuring.”

“Did you hear what she did to that dragon? If there’s anyone that I want in case we get attacked, it would be her.”

“What about marines?”

“Ten should do.”

“Yes sir.” Hacksaw left. Mays was about to go find Smith to put him in charge when Twilight came up to him.

“Oh, I just sent Hacksaw to look for you. How are your cartography skills?”

“I can manage.”

“Good. Figured we might chart this island and see if there’s anything of interest.”

“Couldn’t you just draw a rough map? I thought that’s what all sailors did.”

“I’ve tried drawing as a pony; the results were unpleasant.” By now Fluttershy and Rarity had joined them, and Richard and Hacksaw were busy looking for marines to accompany them. “So, we’ll be splitting up into three groups once we reach the island-”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Twilight asked. “If there’s something on that island that might hurt somepony, then we’ll have a smaller chance of getting rid of it if we split up.”

“The island doesn’t look all that big, so we should be within reach of each other should something happen. Also, this way we'll be able to cover more ground and get moving towards the Crescent faster. If it makes you feel any better, Hacksaw, Richard and I can go with one of you when we land.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Rarity said, cutting in before Twilight could speak “I think Fluttershy should go with Mr. Richard, and I can go with our friend… Hacksaw.” Rarity muttered something about finding a better name for the medic.

“Sir.” Hacksaw said, coming up behind Mays “I found a few marines that would like to come with us.”

“Good; start lowering the boats.”

They had to take two of the smaller boats because one of the Pegasi had accidentally put a hole in the larger boat when Pinkie Pie startled him. Rarity kept her complaints about the cramped space to a minimum. Wind had caused the surf to be a little choppy, but no one was complaining… except for Rarity, who focused on the irregularities in the weather patterns to vent her frustration on.

“Tell me again why the captain wanted us to bring her along?” Richard muttered to Hacksaw. The medic looked down at the Master Chief.

“He said something about using her to locate gems… wish he could have said something about the noise.”

“Meh.”

"Well sorry for not living up to your own standards," Rarity said, turning towards them "But I do reserve my own right to express my feelings about our current situation. This wind is making an absolute mess of my hair; how am I going to be able to see where I'm going in the middle of a forest if my bangs are blinding me?" Richard had to agree that being unable to see would be a problem while exploring. Rarity looked over to the other boat. "At least some ponies aren't worried about anything."

Richard looked over at the other boat. Twilight and Mays were talking about something, with Twilight using her magic to hold one of her books up to emphasize whatever point she was trying to make. To Richard and Hacksaw, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Rarity, however, was taking it in a whole different direction.

"I wonder what they are talking about." Rarity said "Must be something interesting; Captain Mays seems fairly invested in the conversation."

"That's the captain for you." Richard said, focusing back on the approaching island. "He learns fast so he knows what to do to avoid getting himself killed."

"That seems rather paranoid."

"Captain Mays is like that, especially around women."

"Around what?"

"Girls." Hacksaw said "Captain Mays has a tendency to have governors and businessmen throw their daughters or younger sisters at him. Most of them he let down rather gently, some... well, there was always that female samurai he spoke of when he came back from Japan, and all the female pirates wanted to kill him first."

"Oh, Twilight wouldn't want to kill anypony. Sure, she might turn you into a cactus or something, but she's a very gentle pony otherwise." There was a pause before Rarity spoke again. “Do you think there’s something going on between them?” she asked.

“Uh, no. Why do you ask?”

“Oh… I just figured that if Twilight were to meet somepony she would open up and be less of a social deadweight. She has improved phenomenally since moving to Ponyville, but she tends to slip up a lot.”

“So… you are saying you want something between them?”

“At first I was hoping she’d be interested in Applejack’s brother, or possibly that cute stallion that lives next to my boutique. Then we met you and Twilight seemed… distracted, not to mention all that classical theatre she was reading through, though I don’t really see that as a good way to tell if somepony doesn’t know how to sort out their feelings. Anyway, I decided to see if she and Mays were interested in each other, and if they were I took it upon myself to get them to realize those feelings.” She looked over to the next boat “Not sure if it’s going very well; they seem fairly standoffish. Oh well, I’m sure they’ll grow out of it.” Richard looked back at Hacksaw. The other unicorn had stopped paying attention, so Richard was content to sit quietly while they continued on to shore.

When they landed, Richard and the marines were the first out of the boats, followed by Hacksaw and Mays with Twilight and her friends bringing up the rear. The sand underhoof was damp and Richard had to move farther up the beach to prevent from sinking. The marines formed a semicircle in front of the other and scanned the jungle for any signs of danger. The only things Richard saw were a few birds and a lizard, so he relaxed a bit.

“Richard, see anything?” Mays asked, coming up behind the Master Chief.

“Nothing yet, captain. From the looks of it I don’t think this island’s inhabited.”

“Not yet, anyway. You have your assigned groups so start searching the island. We’ll meet back here in, say, four hours?”

“If we don’t get killed by something we have yet to see.” Richard walked over to where Fluttershy was standing. The Pegasus cringed a bit, but otherwise did not react. “So, you’re Fluttershy, right?”

“Um, yes.”

“Nervous?”

“Yes; I… don’t really do well with other ponies. I-if you don’t mind, I would like to stay behind you three.”

“I don’t mind.” Richard turned to the two marines that joined him and Fluttershy. “Well, you heard her; get in front.”

“You’re really going through with this?” the taller of the two marines said.

“I could stay here if you’d like.” Fluttershy said.

“No, that would just be counterproductive.”

“Hey, I don’t mind,” the shorter marine said “Bodyguards get a lot more pay than we’d get.”

“No raises.”

“Eh, I should have guessed.” The taller marine said “But what are we supposed to defend her from, parrots?”

“I like parrots…” Fluttershy said, but she said it so soft that Richard did not hear her.

“If there’s evil pony-eating parrots, then yes; we’re supposed to be looking for any animals that might-”

“Animals?” Fluttershy said, running up to the Master Chief “Why didn’t you say we were looking for animals? Ooh, I bet there are whole flocks of parrots and seagulls and toucans and birds-of-paradise in the jungle. There may even be monkeys! Maybe there’s some fruit they wouldn’t mind sharing.” The Pegasus giggled and trotted off into the jungle, the two marines and Richard watching her go.

“… Right. Follow her and make sure she doesn’t get in trouble.”

The others had been gone for about two hours, and Rainbow Dash was bored. The other ponies were relaxing, and most of them did not have any interesting topics to talk about. So Rainbow Dash decided to take a nap and wait for Twilight and the others to come back from the island.

Usually Rainbow Dash would find a tree or a cloud to nap on, but some of the other ponies had gotten mad at her the last time she tried napping up in the rigging. She found a nice sunny spot near the bow of the ship and went to sleep, her snores attracting attention from several of the sailor ponies.

She had been asleep for forty minutes when a shadow fell over her face. Normally she would not have cared, but after the shadow failed to move for several minutes she opened her eyes and looked up. Standing over her was Nolan, who looked fairly pissed about something.

“What do you want?” she asked, not even bothering with getting up.

“You can’t sleep on deck.” Nolan said.

“No one said I couldn’t before. What, is there like some rule against napping?”

“You can’t sleep here; you are taking up room that could be put to better use. I must ask you to go and sleep in your cabin.”

“This space was empty when I found it, and I can’t sleep in my room; it’s too cramped and it has a lousy view.” Rainbow Dash rolled over and tried to ignore the green pony behind her, but Nolan continued on.

“I will not have you ignore me like this.”

“Watch me.”

“Uh, if I may,” Applejack said “Best not bug Rainbow when she’s napping; she might overreact.”

“If I wanted your advice, I would have asked for it.” Nolan turned his attention back to Rainbow Dash “Now would you please move.” Rainbow Dash got up and faced Nolan.

“You can’t boss me around like that.”

“You are on a ship that I am an officer on; I can use all my rights to make sure that this vessel is running properly.”

“So you take it out on ponies who just want to take naps?” Rainbow noticed Applejack backing away before Nolan spoke again.

“I don’t ‘take out’ anything on anyone; I want this ship to be a model of efficiency, unlike the deplorable condition it is in now. Above all I will not stand for a lazy, unkempt blowhard like you to undermine the authority I possess.”

“Nopony even likes you; what kind of authority is that?” but Nolan ignored her, going off on his own tangent.

“I cannot see how people put up with someone like you, especially how sloppy you are. I would expect someone like you to be much more considerate of their appearance than you are.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything; your rough and brash behavior could have you mistaken for a pirate instead of… whatever it is you wish to address yourself as. It’s simply unfitting for a lady such as yourself to be so open and boisterous.” Something inside Rainbow Dash was on the verge of snapping; she hated when somepony addressed her as ‘lady’. She was about to object further when he continued. “I don’t even see why we had to bring you six along; you’ll probably just be a burden if anything actually happens. The least you could do is try to act ladylike.”

Whatever was inside Rainbow, it had snapped.

“What did you just ask me to do?”

“Act in a way that is acceptable for someone of your sex, and straighten out your hair as well.”

“… What?”

“It is completely unacceptable for you to be going about looking like that. A little styling would be much more acceptable.” Even Rarity never made suggestions like these (unless it was for some fancy event like the Gala). Rainbow Dash was on the verge of pounding Nolan into a heap of green paste, but decided on an alternate method.

“Styling?” Rainbow Dash spotted a cloud floating over the ship. She flew up, grabbed it, and brought it back down over Nolan. “How’s this for ‘styling’?” With that, she began stomping on the cloud, sending a deluge of water down onto the lieutenant. When the cloud was empty, she struck it as hard as she could and generated a small lightning strike, hitting Nolan on his right flank. She kicked the cloud away and landed in front of the sputtering and angry lieutenant.

“Wh… Why you…”

“What’s going on here?” the two ponies looked up to see Carl Smith approaching. Nolan tried to gather himself while Rainbow Dash stood there and did nothing.

“This idiot wouldn’t stop bugging me about moving, and then he said I had to straighten up.”

“She was being incredibly rude and would not listen to a word I said. And when I pointed out that she needed to improve a few things about her personality, she attacked me with a cloud.” Smith looked at Rainbow Dash.

“Pegasi can control weather.” She said. Smith nodded and looked at Nolan.

“You’re supposed to be an officer, not an etiquette instructor; how our colleagues act is not something that warrants you to meddle with. Go dry off and get back to your post.” Nolan glared at Smith before leaving. Smith focused on Rainbow Dash. “As much as I hate Nolan, I can’t have you and your friends assaulting ponies like that, even if it was for justified reasons.”

“He was being annoying.”

“He’s always being annoying. Still doesn’t allow you to drop a cloud on his head. Look,” Smith shifted a little “I’m just going to let this blow over for now, but if Nolan whines to the captain about it and he actually listens you have to take responsibility for your actions.”

“Fine.” Rainbow Dash muttered before curing back up to continue her nap.

“By the way, thanks for that bit of information about controlling the weather; now I know a few more ways to keep Nolan in line.”

“Eh, just don’t bug me when I’m napping.”

Mays adjusted his hat a little. He, Twilight and the two marines that accompanied them were standing on the highest point they could find, and Twilight had surrounded herself with piles of surveyor equipment. He had questioned her about this earlier, and she had said that she wanted to get every single detail about the island right.

“So, is this what you usually do when you find uncharted islands?” she asked, sketching out a small stretch of coastline.

“There are specialists for this kind of work, but all the explorers that come onto ships I command tend to get themselves killed.”

“Oh. That explains why you have such poor maps.”

“We tend to go for substance rather than quality.” Twilight merely nodded and continued drawing.

“So, uh, captain.”

“Yes?”

“When we find the Crescent and return it to Princess Luna, what will you do then?” Mays was silent for a moment before he spoke.

“If we haven’t killed him by then, I’ll probably come back out here to find Sammy.”

“Who is he, exactly? Whenever anypony mentions him you get all serious and obsessed.”

“I do not get obsessed.”

“Yeah, you kind of do.”

“… Fine. Anyway, Sammy was this pirate who enjoyed killing things a little too much; some said he’d burn entire ships loaded with innocents just for a good laugh. One night he has a run in with another pirate by the name of El Fantasma, who makes him a deal: Sammy swears loyalty to him and his master, and he gives Sammy powers and more time to run around killing things. Sammy accepts, and then proceeded to rip his face off.”

“What? Why?”

“Probably because he wanted to rip his face off. He starts calling himself Sammy the Skull and declares war on all living beings. He’ll attack anything that doesn’t serve El Fantasma or his master, although he has a preference for American ships. So that’s why we’re going after him.” There was a drawn out silence punctuated by Twilight’s pencil scratching across paper.

“Is that the only reason?”

“He also sank my third ship, the Comet; two months at sea and it finally stopped smelling like limes, and then the Chum Maker shows up and splits it right in half.”

“Oh, I see… but when you do catch him, what will you do then?”

“I’m not sure, exactly. What do you do when you’re done saving the world?” Twilight laughed.

“My friends and I don’t save the world all that often; besides from Discord and Nightmare Moon Equestria isn’t ever in that much of danger. Occasionally there’s a few monsters that come out of the Everfree Forest, but most of the time nothing too far out of the ordinary happens.”

“Sounds… idyllic.”

“It is, I guess… if you’re interested, you could come and live in Ponyville if you ever got bored sailing… just a thought.” Twilight turned away, embarrassed, and continued drawing her map.

“Maybe… although I’m not sure of how much of Pinkie Pie I could handle.”

“You’ll get used to her; she’s actually fairly tame once you… Hey, isn’t that a ship?”

“Where?” Mays trotted over to Twilight, who pulled a pair of binoculars out of her saddlebags and levitated them in front of Mays’ eyes. Sure enough, there was a ship, sailing east; it was a standard three masted ship, and it looked fairly well maintained. Mays could not make out any weapons or flags, but given its speed, direction and quality he guessed that they were not pirates.

“Does it look familiar? Maybe some others were pulled through by whatever brought you here.”

“I don’t know. I’ve seen a lot of ships, but the European nations had huge fleets; this might be one that I’ve never encountered before. Or it could be an entirely different nation of ponies that own that ship.”

“But Princess Celestia said that nopony has ever sailed out this far.”

“None that we know of… they look too far away to pursue, but we might be able to follow them once we’re done-” then they heard Rarity scream. “That can’t be good. Pack up your things as fast as possible; we need to make sure your friend isn’t in danger.” Twilight was on the verge of panicking and threw most of her stuff into her saddlebags, not even bothering to make sure they fit. When she was finished gathering her stuff, the four of them began running toward where they heard Rarity scream.

“What do you think happened?” Twilight asked.

“Hopefully nothing bad. Worst case scenario is that some of Sammy’s crew decided to stick around and ambushed them. I think the marines and Hacksaw can handle themselves, but for how long I don’t know.” The jungle was thicker in this part, and some loose boulders made progress slow. “Can’t you just teleport up there?”

“I don’t know where we’re going,” Twilight said “I can’t teleport unless I or another pony I’m teleporting has some familiarity with the destination.”

“Ah.” Mays jumped over a fallen tree, but failed to clear the log entirely and faceplanted into a puddle. He shook himself off and continued running, his pace slowed only by a bruised foreleg.

“Don’t you think it would be easier to run if you weren’t wearing that heavy coat?” Twilight asked.

“It goes with the hat, and it shows I’m captain; you wouldn’t want some idiot like Nolan running things because he took advantage of the fact that I showed no rank?”

“Couldn’t Rarity make something lighter?”

“When we get back to Ponyville I’ll take her up on that.” The four of them broke into a clearing. Two more marines turned and took aim at the new arrivals, bits of lead shot hovering in front of their faces. “Whoa, calm down. It’s only us. What’s got you all… oh.”

In the center of the field, impaled on several crude spears, were six Diamond Dogs. Their armor and clothing lay in a heap to one side of the clearing, and most of their skin and fur had been stripped off. Two of the dogs had been torched and the other four had been gutted and sliced up rather badly, and one had had both eyes obliterated by gunshots. The air stank with the smell of rotting flesh, and swarms of flies covered anything they could consider food. Mays heard Twilight gag behind him and he walked up to the butchered dogs, inspecting their wounds.

“Two day, at most. Sammy’s long gone by now.”

“I just… what kind of pony could do such a thing?” Rarity asked, her already white face even paler.

“One that never had any morals to begin with.” Hacksaw muttered. The medic turned to the two marines accompanying Mays. “Help me cut them down; they might come back for recruits.” The marines nodded, using their magic to pull small knives out of their saddlebags. Mays walked over to Hacksaw.

“Find anything else?” he asked.

“No, captain. A bunch of banana plants and a few deposits of gems, but other than that there’s nothing here.”

“We saw a ship.” Twilight called from the other side of the field, trying not to watch as the marines struggled with the dead bodies.

“Really? Which one?”

“None we’ve seen, but that means there are other ponies within the vicinity. If possible I want to make contact with them and see if they’ve seen the Chum Maker.” Mays noticed that Hacksaw’s face had darkened considerably. “And the Crescent, of course.”

“Captain, you need to get your priorities straight,” Hacksaw said, walking away to help the marines bury the Diamond Dogs “Or you’ll end up just like Richmond.”

Chapter 7

So, once again this chapter contains more backstory, not all of which I made up on my own. Jonas Richmond was a one-shot from the game, but his backstory here is pretty close to the flavor text on his card. I tried writing a story about him once, but I was much younger and had less experience with writing and therefore he was much more Sue-ish.
Anyway, your comments and likes are appreciated; I want to know what you all are thinking

The Concordia continued on around dusk. Nolan had complained to Mays about being soaked by Rainbow Dash, but Mays had more important things to do than hear complaints.

The next day went by without much happening; the officers had their own duties, so Twilight and her friends spent the time entertaining themselves. Rarity found a spot near one of the deck cannons to sunbathe, Applejack helped some of the sailors with their work, Rainbow Dash took a nap, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie went overboard to try and talk with the group of dolphins that had been following them since last night, and Twilight spent her time trying to find out more about those ponies Mays had mentioned.

She was not getting straight answers; most of the sailor ponies she questioned just gave vague answers like “demons”, “Dead men who wouldn’t stay dead”, and more often than not “You don’t want to know.” Twilight got frustrated often, but this was reaching levels similar to her meltdown last spring. She still retained enough rationality to not go charming ponies into telling their secrets and managed to catch herself before slipping any farther. Around noon she gave up and went to speak with her friends on the matter.

“Well isn’t it obvious that you should go to the source of the matter?” Rarity said, not even bothering to remove her sunglasses and look at Twilight.

“… I’m not following you.”

“Go speak to Captain Mays. I’m sure he has lots of knowledge on your little zombie problem.”

“But I can’t just go walking up to him and interrupt whatever it is he’s doing.”

“You are right; there is a time and a place for innocent questioning.”

“Twilight you won’t believe-” Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie came over to the two unicorns. Once Twilight and Rarity focused on them, Fluttershy backed away “Oh, I’m sorry… am I interrupting?”

“Of course not Fluttershy.” The Pegasus’ face lit up and she continued.

“You should have seen all the animals down there, and not just the dolphins; there were fish and rays and sea snakes and even some sea cucumbers. Pinkie and I would have stayed down there longer, but all the dolphins left and said he’d show up.”

“Who’s 'he'?”

“I don’t know… but they seemed kind of nervous about it.” Just as Fluttershy finished talking, the whole ship came to a sudden stop. Rarity was thrown from her chair and gave a disgruntled humph when she gathered herself.

“They could at least tell us when they’re going to stop.” Rarity said before Richard trotted over to them carrying a bunch of short spears with his magic.

“We didn’t,” he said, dropping the spears next to them “You’ll need these.”

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Fish decided they wanted dinner.” He responded before breaking off, shouting orders to a group of sailors.

“Why would they pass out spears if there’s hungry fish?” Fluttershy asked. She walked over to the railing and looked down. The ship was surrounded by a constantly moving shape, and Fluttershy was about to go see what exactly was down there when Hacksaw pulled her back.

“Best not to leave the ship; we don’t want to go in after you.”

“Why? It’s just fish.”

“No, ‘fish’ is Richard’s term for sea monsters.” At first, Fluttershy got scared; when they had first met the sailor ponies, they had mentioned fighting a giant squid that was big enough to snap the boat in half. Fluttershy loved animals, but there was something about squid that made her uneasy. But then there were other large animals that lived in Equestrian waters, like sea serpents, and they were nowhere near as scary as squid.

“Maybe attacking it isn’t such a good idea.” The Pegasus said.

“What?”

“Maybe it just wants to see what we are. Nopony has been this far out, so maybe it’s just curious.”

“And if you’re wrong and it decides to eat us?”

“Oh, I’m sure it won’t come to that; most animals don’t like eating ponies anyway, so this one might not want to eat us.” Despite feeling like she was lying, Fluttershy knew she was right; there were plenty of animals that would attack ponies on land, but her conversations with sailors who stopped in Ponyville taught her that most creatures that were large enough to attack ships often were intelligent enough to not mistake ships for their normal food. She had also had a few conversations with the river serpent that lived in the Everfree Forest who confirmed that fact.

“… Captain, a moment of your time.”

“What is it now?” Mays said, spitting out a harpoon before speaking.

“Fluttershy thinks that we should try talking to the sea monster before attacking it.”

“I’ve heard weirder ideas.” The captain looked at the Pegasus. “Your reasoning?”

“Most ponies that sail boats say that big sea creatures usually don’t harm boats and are fairly friendly, so I think that maybe this one’s confused or curious. Please let me try to talk with them.”

“That’s not a bad idea… but how are we going to get its attention?” Fluttershy shrugged. The three ponies stood around before Hacksaw, eyeing a stack of shot nearby, picked up one of the cannon balls with his magic and dropped it over the side. The shape around the ship stopped shifting and started moving up to the surface.

“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Fluttershy asked.

“Let’s find out.” Mays turned around. “Don’t attack unless it attacks first.” There was a rush of water as the creature, a fairly large sea serpent, raised its head from the water. Its scales were bronze and shimmered as the water rolled down them. The serpent fixed the ponies, Fluttershy in particular, with its large red eyes, which were offset by even larger eyebrows.

“Who dares enter my territory?” the serpent said, its voice as deep as an angry dragon’s.

“Uh, no one really,” Fluttershy said, flying up so she was level with the serpent’s head. “We were just passing through; we didn’t know this was your-”

“Ponies,” the serpent said, seemingly ignoring Fluttershy. “Equestrians, to boot; I haven’t seen Equestrians come this far east in ten thousand years. Why?”

“We’re just passing through.” Fluttershy said.

“Bah! Equestrians never ‘just pass through’; they told me the same thing when Solaris sent out his fleets to conquer new lands. I will not have any kings waging war in my domain. Leave now and I will try to forget this happened.”

“Oh, you’ve got the wrong idea, sir; we’re not here to hurt anypony, we’re looking for the Obsidian Crescent-” the serpent laughed.

“The Crescent? Entire fleets of griffons and Diamond Dogs have been lost searching for the Crescent’s refuge. What makes you think you can find it?”

“Princess Celestia told us where it is?”

“Princess Celestia? That foal is commanding ponies now?” the serpent laughed, splashing waves over the side of the boat. “What? Did Solaris decide to take the day off and she sent you out?”

“Uh, no… we don’t know any ‘Solaris’. You know you’re being very rude; you won’t let us explain what’s going on, you laugh at us, and you don’t even tell us your name.” The serpent looked at Fluttershy again.

“My name? I have many names, but most know me as Tsuro.”

“Well, Mr. Tsuro, you can’t just go around being rude to ponies and say we’re violent; most of us are very peaceful. We’re just trying to help Princess Celestia and get the Crescent for her, and if you keep making assumptions like that then what good will any of this do for anypony?”

“But for non-violent ponies, you seem fairly bold in trying to cross my territory, especially with so many spears.”

“Oh, they’re not from Equestria; most of these ponies got pulled through from a different world where violence was much more-”

“Wait, did you say ‘different world’?”

“Uh, is there something wrong? Because I can take it back if you’d like.” Tsuro moved closer, forcing Fluttershy to back up.

“You can’t imagine what kind of beings were sent to ‘different worlds’. You don’t know what kind of trouble your ‘friends’ will release; you should have sent them back or killed them on sight.”

“I don’t know what kind of ponies you have met, but listen to me,” Fluttershy moved closer and glared at Tsuro “I would never allow anypony to be killed, no matter where they’re from, and I think it’s mean that you would even suggest I’d do something like that. Now, let us go.” The serpent laughed.

“Are you trying to intimidate me?”

“No, I’m asking nicely.” Fluttershy flew in even closer and was on the verge of doing The Stare. “Let us go.” Tsuro looked at the Pegasus for a moment before chuckling.

“I admire your spirit, little one; it’s rare to see a pony that cares so much for those around them. While I may not agree with your actions, I don’t see why I should stop you from pursuing your quest.” Tsuro straightened out and the Concordia began to move again. “However, if you desire to cross my territory again, I will need to see that you know the location of the Crescent’s resting place, or have the actual Crescent, before I can allow you to pass.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you Mr. Tsuro.”

“Do not refer to me as ‘Mr. Tsuro’; I will not be associated with any title originating from Equestria. I will not be tempted, like so many of my kin; tempted to abandon the sea, move into lochs and rivers… try to make ‘fashion statements’.” The serpent shuddered.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know about that.” Tsuro began to leave before turning around.

“If you are serious in finding the Crescent, I believe I know who may be able to help you.”

“Why would you want to help us?”

“To humor you? Why should I divulge my intentions? Anyway, there is a port city called Ponaeus in the direction you are heading; they are sailors by trade and should know the area well. If you do manage to find them, they may help you… if they don’t see you as a threat, that is.”

“Why would they see us as a threat?” Fluttershy asked, but Tsuro dived back under the water and disappeared. Fluttershy flew back down and landed in front of Mays and Hacksaw.

“See, that wasn’t so bad.” Fluttershy said.

“‘Fashion statements’?” Hacksaw asked.

“Some river serpents like to grow mustaches.” Fluttershy said, trotting back over to her friends, the two officers watching her go.

“Hacksaw, go find Smith and have him check for damage.”

That night, when everypony had calmed down from the meeting with Tsuro, Twilight took a moment to question Fluttershy. Applejack was taking a nap nearby so the two ponies tried to be quiet so as not to disturb her.

“But that doesn’t make any sense.” Twilight said “How could there be an entire city of ponies that Princess Celestia never mentioned?”

“Maybe she forgot.”

“Forgot? Princess Celestia never forgets anything! She raises the sun every day; how could she not see an entire city?”

“Maybe it isn’t that big of a city.”

“Well, maybe, but what about Princess Luna? She could have seen something during the night.” Twilight backed up for a moment, trying to calm herself down. “Or they just wanted to wait until I was older to tell me about this city. I don’t know. Applejack, what do you think?”

“Wha-?” the farm pony said, lifting the brim of her hat so she could get a better look at the other ponies. “Think about what?”

“About the city that sea serpent mentioned.”

“Jeez, you’re still worrying about that?” Applejack placed her hat back on her head and stood up. “I’m sure the princesses knew about the town.”

“But why wouldn’t they tell me?”

“Like Fluttershy said, maybe they forgot; I know if I was running Equestria I’d be forgettin’ all sorts of things like that.” Despite what Applejack said, Twilight could not wrap her mind around the idea that Princess Celestia forgot to mention an entire town.

“But… Maybe the serpent was lying and just wanted-”

“Twi, now you’re just jumping to conclusions. I can tell when somepony’s lying, and from what Fluttershy told me about dragons and other critters is that they don’t take too kindly to lying, and that serpent wasn’t lying. ‘Sides, why would he want to send us after something that didn’t exist?”

“To get us killed?”

“I don’t think he’d do that.” Fluttershy said “He might have been a bit rude, but he wasn’t that mean.” Applejack had her own ideas.

“If he did want us dead, he could have snapped us in half. Look, if there is no city, there’s no city; you don’t have to lose your head over it.”

“Besides, losing your head would make a huge mess and everypony wouldn’t like cleaning up after you.” Pinkie Pie said. The three other ponies looked at her.

“Pinkie, you’re not helping.”

“Sorry Twilight.” The pink pony bounced away.

“Well, glad to see somepony not worrying about anything.” Applejack said.

“Maybe you’re right, Applejack… I have to stop worrying about these kinds of things. I should just try and relax a little.”

“That’s the spirit, Twi. You can always ask Princess Celestia about it when you get back to Ponyville. Come on, let’s go see what the others are up to.”

“… Still, it’s not that great of a color; I would think a basic white would make this ship so much more stunning.” Rarity had pulled Mays aside to discuss the sails; really, she just went off on her own tangent while the captain stood there, unsure of how to respond. Occasionally she asked him for an opinion, and he merely nodded or shook his head to answer. “And it would also compliment your uniforms nicely. I personally would have chosen something a little flashier, like what the royal guards wear, but I do understand that practicality must come before looks; I mean you still have to do all that running around. Perhaps something a little lighter would be good.”

“Uh, am I interrupting?” Mays and Rarity looked to see Twilight come up on deck.

“Oh of course not, Twilight; I was just discussing aesthetic with Captain Mays. He’s been very helpful, although I don’t think that I could make any changes with the supplies I have.”

“What kind of changes would those be?”

“Complete.” Mays said.

“Well, could you imagine how bad mixing olive sails and white sails would be?” Rarity went off on another one of her tangents, Mays and Twilight barely listening.

“Was there something you wanted to ask?” Mays said.

“Yes; do you think that city of ponies exists?”

“Possibly. I mean, we saw that ship the other day, and I doubt that they were from Equestria. Personally, I hope there is a city; we have enough supplies for the trip, but it’d be nice to talk with some other ponies.”

“Promise me you won’t attack them if they reject us?”

“Hey, I may have bad impulses, but I’m not a warmonger.”

“You certainly seemed like one when we ran into those Diamond Dogs.”

“Being as I’d never encountered Diamond Dogs before then, I had every right to assume the worst and attack.”

“Is that what you do every time you see a ship you don’t know?” Mays wanted to answer, but could not find a suitable explanation; there had been several times earlier in his career that he had jumped the gun and attacked random ships. He could only hang his head.

“Admittedly, I did so a few times when I was younger. Usually my fears are right and they’d turn out to be pirates, but sometimes we’d just shoot up innocents by mistake.”

“And then there’s your obsession with fighting those cursed ponies; while I admit that that’s a noble cause, you keep placing it as your number one priority, and that could put a lot of ponies in danger.”

“Everyone that’s ever fought the Cursed has an obsession to kill them. Me, I try to focus on my original mission, but I slip up on occasion. At least I’m not like Richmond.”

“Hacksaw mentioned him. Who is he?”

“Jonas Richmond; he was a preacher in this place called Massachusetts until his family got caught by El Fantasma. He snapped and started hunting down anyone and anything that might be related to the Cursed.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.”

“It was; the guy was a total maniac. He wouldn’t stop at just the Cursed; traders that might have seen them, pirates that got away from them, every single shaman and witchdoctor in the Caribbean, he ‘interrogated’ them for information.” he would have said that ‘interrogating’ was more on the lines of ‘torture’ but Twilight did not need to hear that. “So, uh, was there anything else you wanted to ask me?”

“No not really. Why?”

“Well, I was wondering... do you have any combat training?”

“No... well, not really; Princess Celestia wanted me to learn some combat spells in case I needed to defend myself from whatever’s living in the Everfree Forest. I’m... not very good at them.”

“Ah... but, how would a pony hold, say, a sword?”

“For unicorns it’s easy; just use magic. But earth ponies and Pegasi usually use their mouths.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be sticking my neck right next to some other pony’s blade, if it does come to that. Even if I was partial to potentially having my throat slashed I could only attack from one angle. I managed to pick my sword up in one hoof the other day, but every time I try again it just sits there.”

“Most ponies can’t hold things in their hooves for more than a few seconds; same thing goes for standing on two legs. I suppose with some training you’d be able to stand up, like ponies who have fencing as their special talent, but I didn’t bring any books on that technique.”

“Maybe if there was a strap or something.” this had caught Rarity’s attention.

“A strap for what?” the white unicorn asked.

“We’re trying to figure out how he could hold a sword without putting himself in too much danger.”

“And you thought a strap would work?” Rarity looked at Mays before using her telekinesis to yank the sword out of its sheath. She inspected the blade and the handle before extending her right leg and laying the sword out as flat as she could. Rarity’s face lit up after a moment. “I-deaa!”

“What?”

“Oh, I think a proper strap should work marvelously for your needs. Just give me a day or two and I’ll see what I can come up with. By any chance do you have some spare canvas or some other sturdy cloth?”

“I think there may be some down in the hold. Go find Smith and have him show you where it is.”

“Thank you very much. I’ll just leave you two alone, shall I?” Rarity trotted off, leaving Twilight and Mays alone.

“... I think Rarity is trying to tell us something.” Mays said.

“She likes getting ideas, especially when things involve fairy tales; she’s always dreamed of meeting some strong, handsome stallion and become a princess. Maybe she’s redirecting that dream towards us.”

“Maybe.” Mays took a moment to look up. The moon was directly overhead, slightly obscured by a few clouds. Visibility was good, and Mays was able to see a few stars through the black. “You should get some rest; no knowing what we might find tomorrow.”

Twilight found Rarity in her quarters. The white unicorn had her back to the door and was going through a large pile of canvas, wood and rope, matching individual pieces with Mays’ sword.

“Rarity, can I talk to you for a minute?” Twilight asked.

“Of course, Twilight. Is there something wrong?”

“Well, sort of... Are you trying to set something up between me and Captain Mays?” Rarity stopped working and looked at Twilight.

“Uh, maybe? Why do you ask?”

“Rarity, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but could you let me handle my own relationships?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Twilight; I didn’t mean to be intrusive. I just wanted you to open up a little, and I got carried away. Please tell me you’re not angry at me.”

“I’m not mad, Rarity. But next time you should ask somepony before trying to pair them up with somepony else.”

“I understand that. If there’s anything I can do to make it up-”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Rarity. Just remember not to push me into any awkward situations.” Twilight left and headed back to her own room. In her mind, she felt more at ease, and she noted that a new surge in energy had given a slight skip to her step. She smiled and continued on her way, completely unaware that Nolan had been passing by at the time and had heard the entire conversation.

Unbeknownst to anypony else, a third party had listened in on the conversation.

“Sir.”

“What is it now, Nolan?” Mays asked, turning to face the lieutenant.

“I must complain about your fraternization with the passenger Twilight Sparkle.”

“Fraternization? All I did was talk with her about standard combat procedure when faced with unknown adversaries.”

“It’s not that. I have seen you and her, talking at the most inopportune times, and I have on good account that the white one is trying to get you two together.”

“Nolan, have you been spying? I can court-martial you for a breach in privacy.”

“I have done no such thing.” Mays walked past Nolan, fully intent on ending the conversation there. But the lieutenant continued on “Having such a relationship with a mere passenger promotes dissonance and subordination amongst the men, and I cannot allow you to continue.”

“Unlike you, I’m just trying to make some friends amongst the locals, one of which happens to be the personal student of the local ruler.”

“We don’t need to submit to some princess. Why do we have to fetch some piece of jewelry for a petty tyrant?”

“Best not call Celestia a tyrant, especially in such close proximity to her subjects.”

“I have my right to speak my mind. And this Crescent, we don’t even know what it can do.”

“Amplify power, according to-”

“Princess Celestia, of course. But how do you know she isn’t hiding something. Maybe... maybe we can use the Crescent against her, or possibly use it to get back to our own world.”

“The Crescent automatically returns to its altar if tampered with by unworthy ponies, and that would make this whole trip pointless. Plus,” Mays pointed at Nolan’s head “Neither of us can use it, since earth ponies don’t seem to be capable of that kind of magic.”

“I don’t believe it... You’ve become one of them.”

“Kind of hard not to when you’ve been forcibly turned into a horse.”

“You’ve picked up their style of speaking, have become friendly with them, and have started seeing their precious Celestia as a suitable exchange for a real ruler. After the Revolution, you are that willing to submit to another monarchy?”

“I only fought the Revolution because a friend of mine was accused of being a traitor and hanged, not because I thought a monarchy was a bad system of government. Whatever you see is up to you.”

“I see you and every person on this boat being manipulated by an uncaring ‘princess’ who only wants what’s best for herself. I don’t care how, but one way or another I will try and get you to see my point.”

“I see it, and reject it. If I felt that mingling with the natives and submitting to the only reasonable authority to be found was detrimental to survival, I would have gladly turned us around and went elsewhere. But I made a decision, and I’m going to stick with it.” Mays turned and began walking back to the helm.

“Is that the same thing you said at Algiers?” Mays froze. The other sailors who had known Mays began backing away as they saw Mays’ body tense with anger. Mays’ breath became shorter and more ragged, and he began to subconsciously paw at the deck. He turned slowly, glaring at Nolan.

“What did you say?”

“Come now, Captain. Everyone knows about your little incident. Did you become so convinced of your own actions that you felt what you were doing was right?” Mays continued to glare at Nolan, his leg muscles twitching slightly.

“Nolan, get the hell below deck and don’t speak to me until I actually need you.”

“Oh, are you actually going to act like you-”

“Go. Now. That is an order.” Nolan’s usually smug look cracked, and the lieutenant cringed under the intensity of Mays’ glare. Without a word, the green pony backed down and went below deck. When he was sure the lieutenant was gone, Mays relaxed a bit and lowered his head, a single tear running down his face and falling to the deck.

“Captain?” one of the deckhands asked “Are you okay?” Mays raised his head.

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine... Just tired. Tell Smith he has command until morning.” Mays turned and headed down to his quarters.

Chapter 8

Thinking about adding an extra chapter to the end of the story to talk about some of the ships I've mentioned... still an idea, no idea if I'll actually go through with it. Meh.
Also, I know "Fantasma" is not a masculine noun. That's what he's called in the game, and I'm sticking to it.
Anyway, comments are appreciated. Like the story, and if you really like it go recommend it to your friends. And I still own nothing, except the OCs from chapter 1, but even then I doubt I have a lot of control over them.

Applejack was the first of the six to wake up. She fetched her hat from a nearby peg and walked out on deck, trying her best to stay quiet so as not to disturb her friends. Normally she would have looked for something to do to pass the time until everypony else woke up, but the crew seemed to be acting rather skittish and a blanket of fog had covered the ship.

“What’s goin’ on with everypony?” she said to herself.

“It’s the fog.” Applejack looked and saw Hacksaw coming up to her.

“What’s wrong with it? A little fog never killed anypony.”

“Not the fog itself, but what in the fog.”

“... Yer not making a lot of sense.”

“The Cursed like to hide in fog banks like these, waiting for ships to come by.”

“Guess that would make a pony nervous. Still, seems a little silly.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, your freakin’ out over a little fog; it’s not like there’s gonna be something bad behind every cloud. Really, I don’t see why y’all are so jumpy.”

“What? You don’t think there are any Cursed around here?”

“I’m not sayin’ there aren’t any, but until I actually see one of them cursed ponies how’m I supposed to know they can do all the things you say they can do?”

“If Mays is still captain, you’ll probably find out eventually.” something about that sentence rubbed Applejack the wrong way, but she decided to ignore that for now and move on to a different subject.

“So, Rarity’s been meanin’ to ask what yer real name was.”

“What?”

“Well, she didn’t think callin’ you ‘Hacksaw’ was very nice, so she was wonderin’ if there was something else she could call you. Unless yer name really is Hacksaw.”

“No it’s just a nickname.”

“Thought so.” Applejack noticed that the medic was getting uneasy. “You don’t have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Sorry, I’m just not that much of a talker.”

“Oh. My brother’s like that. He never really says anythin’ more than ‘eeyup’ or ‘nope’, even when I’m tryin’ to get a decent conversation started. I’ve spent enough time around him and Fluttershy that I’ve grown accustomed to it.”

“Ah.” There was a pause.

"So, anything else you wanted to talk about?” Hacksaw said.

“Nah, I just wanted to know why everypony was so jumpy.”

“It’s what’s in the fog.” Applejack looked around and saw Smith and Mays come out on deck.

“I know; Hacksaw already explained all that stuff about cursed ponies.”

“Aw,” Smith said “I wanted to explain that. I always get to explain that.”

“Don’t worry about it, Smith; if we find this Ponaeus and they haven’t ran into the Cursed yet, you can do all the explaining you like.”

“Thanks.”

“So, Applejack, did Hacksaw answer all your questions?”

“Guess so. Anythin’ you need help with?”

“You know you don’t need to help with anything; these sailors are well trained in running the ship.”

“I know; I just don’t want to be dead weight ‘round here.”

“I appreciate that, but-”

“And it’s a whole lot better than sittin’ below and listenin’ to Rarity goin’ off about... she called ‘em ‘pairings’. I swear if she wasn’t a dressmaker she’d make a fortune in fantasy writin’.”

“What kind of ‘pairings’?” Applejack bit her lip; she never meant to say anything concerning Rarity’s fantasies, but she had just lost herself.

“Uh... nothin’ any of y’all’d be interested in.” her eyes darted around for a moment. Mays and Hacksaw looked at Applejack for a moment, trying to find anything she might be hiding.

“All right then.” Mays said, breaking the silence and starting off. “Well, I better go see what our position is, and how soon we can get out of this fog. We can continue this conversation whenever you’d like.”

“Besides, I never liked all this relationship stuff.” Smith added. “Makes me feel left out.”

“Shut up, Smith.”

“Shutting up.” the earth pony and the Pegasus left. Applejack turned to Hacksaw.

“Well, I think I better go look and see if the others are awake yet.” she turned and left. Dear Celestia, please don’t put me in any more situations like that.

The day passed by. The fog lifted and no ships were spotted, and the only thing they found were a few large sandbars that could have qualified as islands. So Mays decided to do the most sensible thing he could think of to kill time: cannon drills.

Previous experience and his own impulses had taught Mays to always carry more powder and shot than he ever needed. Not only did it keep the cannoneers accurate, it made for a nice show for those not used to being around artillery pieces.

It would have gone fine... had Rarity not decided to take a short nap in the sun when they were starting.

Mays brushed some soot off his face one the port broadside was finished firing. The target, a thrown together pile of barrels and crates, was nothing more than small wood chips, and the cannoneers were busy loading the starboard broadside.

“Well, how was it, captain?” Richard said.

“A little slower than usual, especially on the reload.”

“Can’t help it; kinda hard to load cannons without hands. The boys’ll get it before we run into Ol’ Sammy.”

“I’m sure they will. Continue with the drills and set up another target.”

“Aye captain.” Mays watched the Master Chief go and went up on deck. He expected Nolan to come out and start complaining about not being able to lead the training exercises.

Nolan he could handle; angry fashion pony, on the other hand...

“I swear, has anypony heard of courtesy?” Mays stepped back a little to get some space between himself and Rarity. Asides from an incredibly messed up mane and some soot on her face she seemed fine, but his consideration of “fine” could mean something entirely different for her.

“Sorry?”

“You could have at least warned me before firing off all those cannons. It took me four hours just to get all the sea salt out of my mane, and now it’s going to take four more hours just to get it straight again.”

“I-”

“And it’s not just my mane; what if somepony was carrying something dangerous like a pair of scissors or a candle when you fired those things? You might end up putting somepony’s eye out or setting the ship on fire or something.”

“... You do have a point. I apologize for not warning you earlier.” Rarity was about to either continue her tirade or accept Mays’ apology when Rainbow Dash flew down from the rigging.

“That was awesome! First it was quiet, then it was all like ‘Thwoom’, and then that thing exploded and... You have to do that again!”

“Well, at least somepony is making light of this situation.” Rarity said.

“Hey, you just got your mane messed up; no need to get snippy.”

“Rainbow Dash, some ponies do have standards.”

“That’s what you always say. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of the ocean.”

“That is no excuse for not trying to maintain a sense of normality around here.” Mays backed away from Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who were in the middle of a full blown argument.

“Hey captain, I was wondering if- Whoa, what happened here?” Smith landed next to Mays, watching as the two mares argued.

“Something involving hair.”

“Really? And I thought the other day was bad.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t know; I wasn’t there. Take over the gunnery drills and try to break those two up before they destroy something.”

“Where are you going?”

“Back to my quarters. I need to rest for a bit.”

“But you can’t do that!” Pinkie Pie said, popping up in front of Mays.

“Please Pinkie, I don’t need to be reminded of stuff I don’t even know I’m supposed to be doing.”

“But you’re the captain! What if some big important stuff happens while you’re asleep?”

“I never said I was going to fall asleep, and if I do then just come and wake me up.” Mays walked passed Pinkie Pie and went below deck.

“Aw, he’s no fun at all.” Pinkie said before bouncing off. The ship shook again as the cannoneers fired off the starboard broadside, but Mays did not really care at the moment. Something was gnawing at the back of his mind, but he could not figure out what.

Some sleep should help, he thought.

Sleep did not help. At any rate, it only made the situation worse.

Mays was dreaming again. This time he was in a gray field with rolling hills. He had had a dream like this before, and readied himself for what was about to come.

“So,” a voice said from the shadows “You are still trying to find a justification for your actions.”

“Get out of my dreams.” Mays shot back. The voice laughed.

“Since when did this dream become yours? Is that another thing you are laying claim to?”

“Leave me alone.”

“Oh, the Great Conqueror doesn’t like attention now? How sad.” the shadow drifted in front of Mays. “That’s what you called yourself, right? Algiers, wasn't it? The governor still wants your head on a pike for that.”

“That wasn’t my fault.”

“Sure it wasn’t; one cannot commit such acts and say it’s not their fault. I must say, even I was impressed by that showing.”

“‘Impressed’? That would be a bad week for you.”

“What can I say? Even though my own acts surpass yours, I always find it amusing when you and others like you receive that little push.”

“And all the times I’ve fought you you never realized we can still push back?”

“You and I have only come face to face once, and though you fought well I shattered you like the sea destroys a wall.”

“Get to the point. Why are you here?"

“Why else would I be here?”

“No, I will not join you unless you personally rip my soul from my dying body.”

“That may very well be arranged. But I am also here to give you a warning.”

“Like I would listen to your warnings.” the shadow began to take a more solid shape, and two glowing red eyes fixed Mays with a stare.

“There are forces at work here way beyond the comprehension of a mortal such as yourself. You are being manipulated and used by almost everyone you have encountered. Go and find Sammy; kill him and fulfill your desires. Anything you do is futile when compared to the forces that are amassing.”

“Like you could really scare me off with those threats? I have sank dozens of ships that swore allegiance to you, and if you so much as lay a foot in this world I will tear you apart with my bare hooves if I must.” but the voice was off on another tangent.

“The purple one likes you; she denies it but I know her feelings. Shame if she were to die under your watch... She reminds you of that other one, right? The one from Algiers?”

“I said,” Mays drew his sword “Get out of my dreams!” Mays slashed at the voice, hoping to strike one of the eyes. He missed, and the shadow sank back into the surrounding field.

“Such anger,” the voice said again. “I look forward to meeting your friend soon.”

There was a knock at the door. Mays lifted his hat from his head and looked at the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Twilight. Smith sent me down here to see if you were okay.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Mays got out of his hammock and walked over to the door. Twilight used her magic to open it and let Mays out. “What time is it?”

“The sun just set. Why do you ask?”

“No reason... by the way, what do ponies believe about ghosts?”

“Ghosts? That’s just superstitious mumbo-jumbo.”

“You don’t believe in ghosts?”

“They’re not scientifically possible. Even with magic it’s impossible to conjure somepony’s soul. Why are you asking me? Is this some sort of weird sailor superstition, or are you just trying to scare me?”

“No, I’m not trying to scare anypony. Just... bad experiences, that’s all. Just do one thing for me.”

“What’s that?”

“If any of your friends have bad dreams involving red eyes, tell me or one of the others immediately.”

“Okay.”

It was late at night, and Pinkie Pie had nothing to do. Her friends had all gone to bed, and only a few ponies she did not know were out on deck. Not that she mind; she loved meeting new ponies, and these ponies had seemed friendly enough. She found a small knot of sailors near one of the masts and ran up to them.

“Hi!”

“Um, hello, miss...”

“Oh, I’m Pinkie Pie! I thought everypony already knew who I was. Are you ponies telling stories? I always wanted to hear more pirate stories.”

“We don’t really have any-”

“I know of one.” one of the older sailors said “Ain’t a story for the light hearted, though.”

“Ooh, this should be good.” Pinkie sat down next to one of the other sailors. The older pony took a drink and began.

“Must’ve been twenty years ago. We were sailing out of Barbados with a load of rum when we got becalmed. Three days in, and no wind; just the sun beating down on us. We started running low on water and the captain considered just turning around and rowing back to Barbados. He should’ve made that decision earlier.

“It was night, and the moon was directly above us. Couldn’t see a single star, and of course there was no wind. We were so low on water that some wanted to drink the cargo, but rum’s worth more than a few minutes of quenched thirst. The captain was picking strong men to row us back to Barbados when a kid on watch spotted a ship.

“ ‘Course we wondered how a ship could find us. I managed to swipe a spyglass off the first mate and got a good look at our guests. The ship was in a bad way; torn sails, hull looking like it’d been hit by a third rate, and one mast was snapped clean in half. Made no sense; no ship like that could even sail properly. Then I realized it was moving towards us. Not drifting, actually moving.

“I’d heard stories about a ship in those parts by the name of Revenant. They said the captain’d sold his soul to the devil or something like that. Not much for demons myself, so I couldn’t tell you if it was true or not, but back then I thought it might be true.

“So, the Revenant is coming right at us. We weren’t prepared for pirates, so we only had a few ten pounders; popguns compared to what we were facing. Still, captain was ready to go down fighting if he had to. I was young and stupid, so I guess I was ready to die as well.

“We fired, for what it was worth. Didn’t do anything; our shots just bounced off them like rain. I thought I heard laughter, but that got drowned by their first volley.

“‘Volley’ doesn’t describe it; one broadside tore us to shreds. The captain took a twenty pound cannon ball to the chest; smeared him all over the deck. The first mate didn’t last long either. The entire side of the boat was blown away, and we started to sink. Another broadside, and I remember slipping on one man’s blood after he got decapitated.

“Then they boarded... They just swarmed over the side, like ants. Most of them were little more than living corpses: some were missing eyes, some were missing ears, and quite a few were just skeletons with bits of rotting flesh still hanging on. Anyone that did try to fight, they killed... slowly; they’d start with the skin, then they’d just keep slicing and peeling ‘till all they had left was a pile of flesh and some bones.

“ ‘Bout twenty of us were captured; the rest died or threw themselves to the sharks rather than be captured. Didn’t expect a bunch of monsters to take prisoners, then I found my answer: Him.” there was a general shudder amongst some of the more experienced sailors. Pinkie was a little creeped out as well, but did not know who “He” was. The older sailor kept going.

“He was tall, about six foot. All his clothes were worn and bloodstained, and his cutlass was brown from the dried entrails of his enemies. His skin was as grey as ash and his beard as black as iron. His nose was bent like a hawk’s beak and his eyes... no man or beast on earth had eyes like his; glowing red, and as bottomless as Hell itself. I’d heard a couple of names bein’ tossed around when we snuck into Havana the month before, but the one I’d heard most was ‘The Phantom’; I was lookin’ right into the face of El Fantasma himself.

“El Fantasma comes aboard, and his crew gets all quiet. He comes over to us and looks into each sailor’s eye, tryin’ to figure out their weaknesses or somethin’. I’d always been told that if’n you ever run into demons, try focusin’ on God to drive ’em off; I was so scared right then that I couldn’t think of anything. Once he was done, he steps back and starts talking. I’d expected he’d tell his men to slit our throats or somethin’, but he was basically preachin’ to us.

“ ‘You have withheld from the true master of the seas,’ he said, with a voice that sounded like waves on rocks ‘And all shall suffer. But I am not without mercy. Join me, and you will be absolved of your transgressions.’ Somethin’ about the way he talked made me squirm; he was already creepy, but him using all those fancy words just seemed... off.

“So, four men step forward. Two were cabin boys who didn’t really understand what was going on, one was some older man, and another was an ex-pirate that somehow got on the crew. Well, El Fantasma’s crew corrals ‘em into a little knot, and then he raises his hand and says somethin’. Then all four of ‘em start screaming and writhing like a dying snake, and El Fantasma’s eyes start glowing brighter as their screams get louder. Thought I saw something like smoke flowin’ into El Fantasma’s palm, but I was too far away to really get a good look.

“When he dropped his hand, the four men weren’t recognizable anymore; they looked just like the other creatures El Fantasma commanded, rotting flesh and missing eyes and all. He laughed a little at that, then turned back to us. He had his men pick out ten of us and marched them over to the railing.

“ ‘Souls have been gathered, now blood must be paid.’ he said. He nodded to one of his men and they all pulled knives. Most pirates would just cut a man’s throat and throw him overboard, but not El Fantasma. They stabbed ‘em just above the collar, and pulled down. I don’t know how their blades could split bone, but I could hear every single one snap as the knives cut through. They gutted those men alive and watched their entrails spill out before dumping them overboard. I heard splashing and I guess it was the sharks.

“He turned to the last of us and said ‘Bring out your cargo’. Not an easy job, hauling all that rum out on deck with only six men. If he was anyone else, I’ve just said he wanted the rum, but after slaughtering most of the crew I don’t think he was interested in drink. A bunch of his crew passed us hatchets and led us over to the railing. Deck was slick with the blood of those that just been gutted.

“We looked at him, tryin’ to figure out what he was up to. Those red eyes just glared back at us and he said ‘Finish the job and return what is rightfully the seas’. We stalled, and one of the crew took an axe and split a barrel open, pourin’ it all into the sea. We cared more about our lives than the cargo, so we followed. What got me then was that he was laughing again; not a good hearty laugh, just this low chuckle. Didn’t disturb me when he killed those first four, but sure as hell disturbed me then.

“Then they tossed us in a dingy with only a jug of water and burned the ship. I thought they’d kill us, but no, the Revenant just sailed off. We had to row back to Barbados, but no one believed we’d got attacked by El Fantasma.

“Thought it was the end of that, but every night, for five years after, I saw that ship, and his eyes, comin’ toward me. Kept tellin’ me things, like join him or kill my crewmates; it got so bad I even considered hangin’ myself to get him to stop. Probably what he wanted anyway.” There was silence. Pinkie was unsure of what to make of the story; she was no stranger to being scared, and the story was a little scary, but the sheer level of cruelty made her queasy. She just could not understand how anypony, or in this case anyone, could do all those things for fun. She left the group and went below deck.

Pinkie was done with stories for the night.

Like most dreams Pinkie had, this one started with the pink pony doing what she did best: partying. She and all her friends were laughing, playing games, dancing, and eating huge amounts of candy and cake. They were all smiling, and for Pinkie that was the greatest thing in the world.

Then things went wrong; her friends faded and Pinkie found herself in a very familiar hedge maze, with very familiar laughing balloons and a very familiar draconequus staring at her.

“Aw, what’s the matter Pinkie?” Discord asked “I thought you liked a good laugh.”

“I know what you’re up to,” Pinkie said “and I won’t let you do it; you’re just a mean-meanie head who thinks it’s funny to make ponies not like each other. I’m not gonna listen to you any more.”

“I’m crushed, Pinkie.” Discord said, appearing right next to her “You know it’s terrible to ignore somepony like that.”

“My Friends Don’t Laugh At Me!” Pinkie shouted. “Even if you say they do, they don’t; I know they’re nicer than that. So just leave me alone, Discord!”

“Oh Pinkie,” Discord said, landing in front of her. “If only ‘Discord’ were actually here.” The maze began to shift and change; the dirt and hedges were replaced with the decks of a ship, and the balloons were replaced with tattered sails and flames. Pinkie looked around, trying to make sense of what was going on around her when she saw her friends lying in a pile, their faces and bodies crisscrossed with ragged wounds that gushed blood over the deck. Pinkie tried to look away but came face to face with the perpetrator of this nightmare.

It was a grey unicorn dressed in a worn, bloodstained coat. His mane was hidden behind a black tricorne and his beard draped over his coat. He stared back at Pinkie, glaring at her with glowing red eyes.

“Join me, Pinkie.” El Fantasma said, taking a step closer.

“N-no.” Pinkie backed up, trying to keep as much distance between her and the pirate.

“You know well that this will be the fate your friends will suffer should you oppose me. Join me now, and end this.”

“No, I-I won’t let you hurt my friends. Go away! I don’t want to join you.” El Fantasma stopped moving towards Pinkie. He looked at her for a moment, and deep inside Pinkie pleaded that he left her alone.

“Then die.” El Fantasma’s horn and eyes lit up with magic. Pinkie tried to run, but an aura of energy had enveloped her. She thrashed about, trying to break free, but she could not break through the barrier. She tried to think of other things, tried to change the dream, but every time she did, El Fantasma applied more magical energy

She heard voices, the voices of Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, all of them calling to her, begging for her to stop, to let go. Visions of all five of them, blooded and in pain, danced across Pinkie’s eyes, and somehow she could not force herself to look away. Soon they were joined by the Cakes, her family, everypony she had ever met, all of them calling out for her to stop. Every single move she made only caused the others to cry out louder, a shrieking crescendo that hammered away at her skull.

Then she noticed that her attacker had begun to laugh. It was just as the other ponies had described it: low, menacing, almost unnatural. The laughter began to mix in with the chorus of pain, and Pinkie’s head began to throb with the constant bombardment of sound. Pinkie tried escaping once more, but her hooves had become fused to the deck, rendering her unable to move.

All she could do was scream.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight were the first to wake to Pinkie screaming. The pink earth pony was flailing around in her hammock, crying out for help.

“Rainbow Dash, I need you to restrain her.” Twilight shouted over Pinkie’s screaming.

“What are you going to do?”

“I have a spell that should calm her down, but I can’t cast it if she’s thrashing like that.”

“Got it.” Rainbow Dash ran over to Pinkie and tried her best to restrain her, but this only made the pink pony thrash harder. Rainbow Dash tried wrapping her forelegs around Pinkie’s torso, but the pink pony clubbed the Pegasus across the face, sending her flying.

“No! Get Away! Don’t Touch Me!” Pinkie shouted, thrashing some more.

“I’m going to get my face caved in if I try that again. Hey, Applejack!”

“Wha- What’s goin’ on?” The farm pony said.

“Something’s wrong with Pinkie! I need your help restraining her.” Applejack nodded and grabbed a coil of rope hanging on a nearby peg. She quickly formed a lasso and tossed it around Pinkie’s legs, stopping most of the thrashing.

“No! Let Go! I don’t want to hurt my friends!” Pinkie cried.

“Twilight, we’ve got her secured.”

“Good. Stand back girls.” Twilight’s horn began to glow with magic. She leaned in, trying to get close enough to Pinkie’s forehead to cast the spell.

“No! Stop! Go Away! I won’t let you-” Twilight’s horn made contact and she cast the spell. There was resistance from something at first, but Twilight applied more magic and managed to break through. Pinkie’s eyes shot open and she gasped, throwing herself onto the nearest pony she could see, who just happened to be Rainbow Dash.

“Whoa... I haven’t seen her this scared since she had that nightmare a few weeks ago.” Rainbow Dash stroked Pinkie’s mane, which had deflated and taken on a much darker tone, in an effort to calm her down. Pinkie stopped hyperventilating but continued to stare blankly at the wall.

“Eyes... eyes... eyes...” she said, barely responding to Rainbow Dash’s attempts to calm her down.

“Pinkie, are you alright?”

“Eyes... it hurt... they’re all hurt... eyes...”

“Pinkie, what happened?” Twilight asked.

“Eyes... all hurt... need help... eyes...”

“Why’s she talkin’ about eyes?” Applejack said.

“Applejack, I need you to go and wake the captain; he knows what might have happened.”

“Right.” The orange pony ran out, passing Fluttershy and Rarity.

“Goodness, what happened to Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked.

“She had a nightmare, worse than that one she had a few weeks ago.” Twilight said. Pinkie was still muttering things about eyes, and she had started crying. Rainbow Dash stopped stroking Pinkie for a moment in order to wipe up a few tears.

“Good Gracious, is she alright?” Rarity trotted over to Pinkie and examined her. “What kind of dream would put her into this state?”

“I don’t know.” Fluttershy joined Rarity and Rainbow Dash in trying to calm Pinkie down.

“Shh... It’s okay.” the yellow Pegasus said “Don’t worry, Pinke; your friends are all here. It was just a bad dream, and it’s gone. You can relax now; you’re safe. It’s okay... It’s okay...” Pinkie’s color began to slowly return and her mane and tail started to poof out again.

“F-Fluttershy?”

“I’m here, Pinkie; you don’t have to be scared anymore.”

“Fluttershy... it was awful... he wanted me to do so many mean things... to you, Dashie, everyone.” Pinkie began to sob and buried her face into Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. It was about then that Applejack returned with Captain Mays.

“What happened?” the captain asked.

“Pinkie had a nightmare, something involving eyes.”

“It was terrible.” Pinkie said through her sobs. “He wanted me to kill you all. I-I don’t want to hurt anypony.”

“Who?” Mays turned Pinkie to face him. “Who was in your dreams?”

“That mean pirate they told me about, El Fantasma.”

Chapter 9

Sadly, El Fantasma in the games does not have mind-raping powers. He seems a lot scarier if he does... Anyway, more story, and a few names and plotpoints will be mentioned.
Still wondering if I should include that extra chapter of information... your thoughts?
And I still own no characters or ships, except possibly the OCs. Like the story, leave your comments; I want to know what you all think of this

Pinkie had recovered by morning, but Mays was taking no chances. Two marines were stationed outside Twilight and her friends’ rooms, Smith and his Pegasi had been ordered to fly over the ship twice a day to spot any other vessels, and all the cannoneers were required to stay at their posts. Richard and the marines began drilling more and more, and Hacksaw made sure that all the medical supplies he had were available at moment's notice.

“I don’t like this,” Rainbow Dash said. “Pinkie has one bad dream and he’s acting like Nightmare Moon came back.”

“Rainbow, somepony that they have fought before tortured Pinkie through her dreams,” Twilight said “They have every reason to be scared.”

“Yeah I know... I just wish they’d tell us more about what’s going on.”

“You’re just mad because Captain Mays ordered you to stop taking naps out on deck.”

“No I’m not.” Rainbow Dash noticed Twilight glaring at her “Okay, maybe a little, but still, everypony’s acting so... official.”

“Rainbow, if this is bothering you, you should go and ask if you can get a better explanation. It’s a better plan than just sulking around below deck.”

“I’m not sulking.”

“Yeah, you kinda are.”

“Fine, I’ll go ‘sulk’ somewhere else.” Rainbow Dash left and walked out on deck. Smith was passing out boarding axes and cutlasses to a group of about twenty Pegasi. Rainbow Dash decided that this was the best place to start.

“Hey, can you tell me what all the fuss is-”

“Can you wield an axe?” Smith said.

“Uh, not really.”

“You can still be a spotter. You’re coming with us.”

“Uh... okay. What are we looking for?”

“Ships, islands, anything that looks weird or out of place. The sky’s pretty clear, so we should be able to see perfectly.”

“That doesn’t sound so hard.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took off. This was her first real flight in almost a week, and it felt amazing; she surged forward, the wind rushing through her mane and coat. She broke through a stray cloud and spiraled through the air, laughing all the way.

“I hate to interrupt your celebration, but we need to get this done.” Smith said, flying up to her.

“Oh, right. Sorry about that.” Rainbow Dash looked around. The only things she saw were a few small clouds, the one cloud she punched through, and the Concordia. “I don’t see anything.”

“That’s what everyone says the first time they’re put on watch.” Smith said. “At least that’s what I said. We ended up getting sunk by a British sixty-four about an hour later.”

“Oh... that sucks.”

“Yes it did. So, word of advice, try to look a little harder.”

“Uh, is that supposed to be some kind of sage advice that I’m supposed to remember next time I’m in danger or something?”

“I... don’t follow you.”

“Never mind.” Rainbow Dash squinted at the horizon. She was able to make out some of the finer details, but all she could see were waves, a few small flocks of birds, and a column of smoke somewhere to the southwest.

Wait...

“Hey, I think something’s burning over there.” Rainbow Dash pulled Smith over and pointed in the directing she had seen the smoke.

“Looks far away... might be gone by the time we can sail over there. You,” Smith pointed to a nearby Pegasus “Go down and tell the captain we spotted something burning, and try to point them in the general direction we’re headed. We’ll go over there and check it out.” the other Pegasus nodded and flew down to the ship below. The rest waited for a minute or two before the sailor pony returned.

“He’s saying to go ahead, but be a little more cautious than usual.”

They had been flying for about a minute when Rainbow Dash started asking questions.

“So, I never really got a chance to talk to you that much. How’d you get on the ship?”

“Mays needed a lieutenant, and I just happened to be available. Wasn’t that bad, actually; Nolan was a pain, but it was a good crew and I adjusted pretty easily.”

“That actually sounds kind of boring. Don’t you have any cool stories like Richard?”

“I have a few, but nothing that I could tell you in a few... ah, there’s the problem.” Below them, stranded on a large sandbar, was a ship. It had been split in half and the forward half was on fire, the smoke rising up and obscuring any view of the stern.

“Start searching for survivors.”

“Want me to clear away some of the smoke?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Please do. Get one of the others to help you out.” Smith began to split the Pegasi into groups. Rainbow Dash went over to the first Pegasi she saw.

“So, do you know anything about weather control?” she asked.

“No... Well, other than what you described to the captain.” the sailor said.

“... I can work with that. Just flap your wings around in a circle and try to brush away some of the smoke. Here, I’ll show you.” Rainbow Dash found a suitably sized cloud and began to brush it away with her wings. “I prefer just to beat them apart with my hooves, but since you’re new to this whole things I should start you off with the basics.”

“Oh.” the Pegasus approached one of the other clouds and tried to disperse it. Since he did not fully grasp the technique, the sudden lack of lift sent him plummeting down towards the deck of the ship. Rainbow Dash managed to catch him before he impaled himself on a broken mast. “I thought you said this was basic.”

“It is; still takes most ponies a few tries to get the hang of it.” Rainbow Dash began to lift the other Pegasus away from the smoke when she spotted something. From where she was flying it looked like a small ball of magic. Curious, she began to fly closer, releasing the other Pegasus and letting him fly under his own power.

What she found was a knot of about twenty ponies, mostly unicorns with the occasional Earth Pony. The unicorns were using their magic to hold the flames back, but the fire was slowly creeping towards them. Some were wounded, but even lacking medial experience Rainbow Dash was able to determine that most of the injuries were superficial.

“Who are you?” the lead unicorn asked.

“I’m Rainbow Dash and I’m here to rescue you.”

“You’re a little late; half the crew is already dead, and you only bring one other Pegasus. What kind of rescuer are you?”

“Okay, I’m making this up as I go along, and no I didn’t bring just one other Pegasus.” she turned around. “Hey, we’ve got some survivors over here!”

“Wonderful.” Smith landed next to Rainbow Dash “What happened?”

“We were attacked around dawn by this weird ship. They left us here after killing most of the unicorns and all of the Pegasi.”

“The captain, did he have no face?”

“Wait, you know the pirate that attacked us?”

“Long story, and you’ll all be dead before I can finish.” Smith turned back to the other ponies. “We’ll have to carry them back to the Concordia. Leave the axes; we’ll need to save weight. Get the wounded and younger ponies first.” Rainbow Dash spotted a peach-colored unicorn mare near the rear of the group. She flew towards her, but two other unicorns and an Earth Pony stallion cut her off.

“Whoa. Hey, I’m just trying to help here. What’s with all the hostility?”

“I do not trust you.” The Earth Pony said.

“I’ve had to deal with a lot of trust issues, but this has to be the most ridiculous one ever.”

“Being as you are the scrawniest of the Pegasi present, and one of the most brash I’ve ever met, my fear is that you’ll just become self absorbed and drop her.”

“Who you callin’ ‘Scrawny’?”

“Stand down, Rainbow Dash.” Smith came over to the group of ponies. “Look, if it’s so important that she needs to be protected, I’ll take her myself. If anything happens to her, I will personally give you a sword to kill me with.”

“Uh, shouldn’t you think this through a little before you go around saying things like that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Any other day I would have agreed with that, but we’re stuck on a ship that’s burning to ash as we speak. This is no time for rationality.”

“Okay.” Rainbow Dash looked at the Earth Pony in front of her. “So, are you going to protest if I grab you?”

“Uh...”

“Didn’t think so.” with that, Rainbow Dash grabbed the Earth Pony and hoisted him up in the air. The other Pegasi followed, although Smith struggled for a moment when trying to take off with the mare.

“Are you weighed down by chains or something?” Smith muttered as he joined the other Pegasi.

“Not my fault.” the mare said. Smith was not paying attention.

“So, who’s in charge here?”

“I am.” the Earth Pony Rainbow Dash was carrying said. “Commander Tradewind, Ponaean Royal Navy. Who exactly are you ponies?”

“Well, you’ve already met Rainbow Dash. I’m Carl Smith, member of the... Equestrian Navy, Concordia.”

“Wait, ‘Equestrian’? You’re from Equestria?”

“Nice place. You should visit sometime.”

“But nopony from Equestria has been this far east in ten thousand years... Why are you here?”

“Heard there was a powerful artifact called the Obsidian Crescent in the area... Also, we’re lending our services for killing skeletons, fishmen and ghosts, if you’re interested.”

“How do I know you’re not here to attack us?”

“Would we have saved you if we were?”

“You could just be taking us back to our ship so you could torture us for information.”

“I suppose that is one way of looking at things... You must have a very morbid thought process if that’s the first potential outcome that comes to mind.”

“When you live in a city that has constantly been attacked by all manner of ungrateful beings who wouldn’t know the meaning of neutrality or friendship if it came up to them and hit them on the flank then you-”

“Dear,” the mare Smith was carrying said “You’re being dramatic again.”

“‘Dear’?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“She’s my wife.”

“Oh, that explains why you were so protective.”

“Anyway,” Smith said “We’re not here to torture anypony; we’ll just get you back to the Concordia, patch up your wounds, and get you home... if we knew where you called home.”

“So, you’re sailing east with no idea where you’re going?” Tradewind laughed “That’s like something out of an adventure story. Let me guess, next you’ll say Solaris himself approached you and told you to go find the Crescent for him.”

“Who’s this ‘Solaris’ dude that everypony keeps talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked. Tradewind looked up at her.

“How could you not know who Solaris is?”

“I flunked Basic Equestrian History when I was a filly?”

“Solaris? God of all ponies? Raises the sun every day?”

“But Princess Celestia does that.”

“Celestia...” Tradewind paused for a moment.

“His daughter, honey.” the mare said.

“Oh yeah, that’s right. I keep forgetting that.”

“You know, for somepony who was freaking out over being rescued, you seem fairly light hearted about your current predicament.” Smith said.

“I’m a sailor; it’s my duty to be unfazed in the face of capture.”

“Spoken like a true British officer.”

“A what?”

“Long story.”

“I want this deck cleared.” Mays said “Whatever it is that Smith spotted burning, there may be some injured ponies that need to be taken care of, and we can’t do that with all these crates and barrels taking up space.”

“Why do we have to take in refugees?” Nolan asked “They’re rude, they smell and they steal things; last time we took in refugees, they stole half my uniforms.”

“You actually ended up looking like a normal person, for once.” Hacksaw said. “Captain, I need some of the sailors to start tearing up extra canvas.”

“Bandages, I presume?” Hacksaw nodded “Sure, go right ahead. But don’t use too much; we still need that in case the sails are damaged.”

“Anything we can do to help?” Twilight asked.

“Do any of you have any medical experience?” hacksaw asked.

“Uh, I have to take care of some of the injuries the little animals around Ponyville get.” Fluttershy said. “I can help... if you want me to, that is.”

“You’ll do.”

“Look, they’re back.” The officers looked to where Twilight was pointing. The Pegasi were still a ways off, but Hacksaw could see that each Pegasi was carrying another pony.

“Guess he finally managed to find something.” Hacksaw muttered. “Clear the deck; we need to make room for our... ‘guests’.”

“I still think we shouldn’t let them come here.” Nolan said. Mays hit Nolan in the back of the head to shut him up.

Rainbow Dash was the first to land, dropping the Earth Pony she was carrying unceremoniously on deck. Hacksaw took a moment to size up the stallion; he was a little taller and more heavily built than Nolan, but still small compared to Captain Mays or himself. His coat was a light blue and his cutie mark was a stylized trade ship. The stallion approached Mays.

“Are you the commander of this vessel?” the stallion asked.

“Yes. Captain Montana Mays, Concordia. And you are?”

“Commander Tradewind, Ponaean Royal Navy. I would like to know why you are here, and why everypony seems to know more about what is going on than I do.”

“Long story short, asides from the six fillies here, we’re not actually from Equestria and spent a good amount of time fighting cursed pirates... that’s who attacked you, right?”

“Big ship, shark face, had a scythe on front?”

“Yep, that’s the Chum Maker. When was the attack?”

“Around dawn; the sun had just risen and there was still some fog on the ocean when they came and sliced our ship in half.”

“Dawn... they got away again. Anyway, we’ll let you rest and then try to get you back home. By any chance could you provide a heading?”

“Of course. I studied as a navigator under Admiral Iron Spar himself for five years.”

“Go to the helm, try to figure out where we’re going. We’ll take care of everypony else.” Tradewind gave a short bow and headed towards the helm. Twilight walked over and took his place in front of Mays.

“He’s from Ponaeus.” she said.

“I noticed.”

“That means that the sea serpent was telling the truth... but why would Princess Celestia not tell me about this?”

“Twilight, the whole place sound kinda freaky,” Rainbow Dash said “I mean, he thought some pony name Solaris was raising the sun, not Celestia.”

“Solaris is Celestia and Luna’s father; I thought everypony knew that.”

“Most of us weren’t taught in a big fancy castle with constant exposure to those sorts of things.”

“Sir,” the pony at the helm called “We’ve got the heading, and Commander Tradewind says we should reach Ponaeus by nightfall, sooner if the wind holds up.”

“Good. Smith, will you just land now instead of flying right behind me, and please put that mare down.”

“Sorry if flying is bugging you.” Smith said “It’s not like I’m constantly whining about it.” he began to descend, placing the mare down as gently as he could.

“Of all the ponies you had to carry back, you naturally chose the pretty one.” Mays said.

"I'm suprised they actually let him get near her." Hacksaw said.

“Not my idea, and you spent a lot of time chasing after women before we got here.”

“‘Being chased’ is the more appropriate term. Hacksaw, go check her for injuries.”

“Hey, she seemed fine to me. A little overweight, but still fine.”

“Will you please stop making comments about my weight?” the mare said. “I swear, some ponies just have no respect for-” she never finished, for in the next moment she gasped and doubled over in pain.

“I didn’t even touch her!” Smith said.

“I know, I was watching.” Mays said. He trotted over to the fallen mare “Is everything alright?”

“No... nononononononono! This isn’t supposed to be happening.” she gasped again.

“Smith, do something useful and get Tradewind over there; he should know one of his charges is in serious pain.”

“That’s his wife.”

“Even worse. Get him over here.” Hacksaw joined Mays.

“This pain, is it consistent or sporadic?” the medic asked.

“Sporadic.”

“I see.”

“Care to explain what that means?” Mays asked.

“Simple. She’s going into labor.” Mays looked at Hacksaw with a blank stare.

“You’re a ship’s doctor and you can immediately tell when a pony goes into labor?”

“Farmer, remember? We used to breed horses before switching to wheat.”

“... Right. Get her below deck so you don’t splatter blood over everything or something.” Smith returned with Commander Tradewind. The commander was not panicking, yet, but he still seemed very shaken “It’s not in my power to order you to do something, but I think you should go with them. Don’t worry, everypony else will be in good hands.”

“Th-Thank you for saving us; I know I have my suspicions, but I’m much more grateful that you managed to save as many ponies as you did.”

“You’re welcome. Now go help your wife.” Tradewind joined the small entourage that was heading below deck. Mays turned back to the helm. “Get us to Ponaeus as fast as you can; I don’t want to get targeted by any Cursed that might be tracing us.”

Fluttershy followed Hacksaw, Tradewind and his wife down below deck. She tried to remain as calm as possible, but every time the mare in front of her winced or contracted Fluttershy felt she would panic like when the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran out into the Everfree Forest in the middle of the night.

“We’ll have to use the gun deck; it’s the only place with enough room.”

“Couldn’t we use the medical ward?” Tradewind asked “I thought all ships were required to have one.”

“The captain converted it into a temporary powder room when the main powder room started leaking. We were supposed to move it back last night.”

“I don’t think I can go any farther.” Tradewind’s wife said, wincing again.

“Don’t worry, the gun deck’s only one level-”

“No, I really can’t go on.” she wobbled a little, on the verge of fainting, but Fluttershy was able to catch the pregnant mare before she fell.

“Then you just lie on down and relax,” the butter yellow Pegasus said, gently prodding the mare to lie down “We don’t want you to get all worked up, now do we?”

“Are... Are you some kind of nurse?” the mare asked.

“I take care of the animals that live around my home. Whenever they have babies, I always find that if they’re calm, they don’t really need a lot of help. So just relax and breath slowly... but not too slowly; we don’t want you to pass out or anything.” The mare gave Fluttershy a weird look. The Pegasus smiled back and turned to Hacksaw. “I don’t think we’ll be needing you anymore. You have patients that are hurt and I think you should go look at them.”

“Since when did you take charge?” the medic asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, a-am I being too pushy? Because I can let you take over if you want. I-I don’t want to be too much of a bother.”

“No it’s okay. If you need any assistance, just find me or pull over one of the other sailors.” Hacksaw left the three.

“Now, I just want you to push, okay?” Fluttershy said. “Not too hard though; you might hurt yourself. Oh, keep breathing too; some ponies tend to forget that step and start screaming instead.”

“How would you know this?” the mare asked between breaths “I thought you only took care of animals.”

“I read a lot of stories about ponies having babies; they always start screaming at each other, and they do it so often that I wonder how they keep breathing.”

“But you’ve never actually delivered a baby, Miss...”

“Oh, my name is Fluttershy. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. What’s your name?”

“What does my name have to do with anything?” the mare asked before crying out in pain.

“I always found it easier to help somepony if you know their name.”

“My name... Rising Dawn.”

“Rising Dawn. That’s a nice name. Does that have to do with your special talent?”

“No; the eldest child in my family has always been named in relation to the sun. My father said that’s how my ancestors honored Solaris for raising the sun. My special talent is leading and coordinating ponies.”

“So, you’re like a mayor?”

“A little more higher ranking, but yes.”

They spotted land about six hours after picking up the survivors. It was a fairly large island with a few rocks guarding a cove. Smith had offered to fly out and get a better view of the island, but Mays did not want the possibility that he could be mistaken for a invader.

“How long until we reach the island?” Mays asked one of the nearby Ponaeans.

“A few minutes, at least. There’s a current leading into the harbor that should add some speed.”

“I like speed.” Mays looked at the island. Something was glowing on one of the hills of the island, piquing his curiosity. “What’s that?”

“Early warning beacon; it allows the ships in the harbor to know when unidentified vessels are approaching.”

“In case of invasion, I presume?”

“Asides from the odd Diamond Dog ship, you can never be too careful.” Mays nodded. He spotted Twilight coming up to him.

“Is Fluttershy still helping that mare have her baby?” she asked.

“Well, I still hear screaming down below, so I say yes.”

“It’s taking a long time... What if something’s gone wrong?”

“I’m sure Fluttershy would have come up and got help if something was wrong.”

“I don’t know; you know how she is, always so nervous and shy."

“You’re saying this a few days after she talked a sea serpent down from killing us?”

“Sea Serpent?” the Ponaean next to them asked. “You wouldn’t happen to be talking about Tsuro, would you?”

“Yeah, you know him?”

“I have never met him myself, but he frequents the waters around Ponaeus. You met him?”

“Yeah, he said something about ponies being a warmongering race and didn’t really respect us.” Twilight said.

“From what the older sailors have told me, Tsuro may be rude, but he holds no ill will towards anypony. After his kind was savaged during some war a long time ago he’s taken a stance of non-interference.”

“That’d explain why he didn’t want us crossing his territory.” Mays said.

“Sail Ho!” a Pegasus on watch called.

“Wow, you ponies respond fast.”

“Admiral Iron Spar and the king like the fleet to be ready at a moments notice; we were nearly routed in the last war with the Diamond Dogs because somepony wasn’t ready.”

“I find it hard for those guys to really amount to anything.” Mays turned his focus to the Pegasus on watch. “How many ships?”

“Three: two galleys and... a fourth rate, I think.”

“Serious firepower, huh?”

“You’re not attacking them.” Twilight growled.

“Wasn’t planning on it. Try signaling them that we come in peace.”

“Your wife seems dedicated to keeping peace. Very admirable given her position.”

“I’m sorry, my what?”

“Your wife. You two are married, aren’t you?”

“Us?” Twilight asked. “No, we’re not married; I only just met him a week ago. Princess Celestia wanted my friends and I to come with them to find the Crescent. Why would you think that?”

“When I first came on board, I noted that you spent an abnormal amount of time looking at his flanks.” Twilight’s face flushed with embarrassment. Mays did not respond in any way; he was used to girls chasing after him, and in Twilight’s case he found it cute. Four red flashes and a green flash shot up over the fourth rate. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“They don’t trust you,” the Ponaean sailor said. “They want to come in closer for a better view.” there was a long, drawn out scream from below.

“Better hurry; I think their population is about to increase by one.”

Or down by one, depending on what happened first: either the baby would come, or Rising Dawn would succeed at breaking past Fluttershy and kill Tradewind.

“There’s supposed to be a baby right now!” the mare screamed, swiping at Tradewind with her hooves “Why isn’t there a baby?!”

“This is why I like tending to animals better than ponies.” Fluttershy squeaked “Now, you must really calm down-”

“Calm down? I’ll calm down once I either have a baby or this jackass’ head on a platter!”

“If you’re accusing me of making you like this-” Tradewind began, but Rising Dawn cut him off.

“Oh no, I’d gotten used to being a beached whale! It was you who suggested I’d go with you on that ship!”

“Isn’t it part of your duties to visit the other settlements?”

“Don’t you dare bring my duties into this! You told me that nothing would happen, and we nearly get killed by pirates! What kind of husband allows his wife to nearly get killed by pirates?!”

“I wasn’t expecting to be attacked by pirates-”

“Of course. ‘You weren’t expecting’. That’s the same thing you said when I told you I was pregnant; ‘I wasn’t expecting that to happen so soon’. Really? Have you ever taken any biology lessons at all?!”

“Um, if I may...” Fluttershy tried cutting in, but Rising Dawn was having none of it.

“I spent an entire damn year watching every single meal placed in front of me get splattered all over the floor and watching as I lost the ability to run! And you, you were out gallivanting around pretending to be a hero instead of helping me!”

“Please, I need you to-” Rising Dawn tried to force herself past Fluttershy.

“I was the only reason you needed to be a hero! Why couldn’t you have been happy with me?! You didn’t need any stupid fame or promotion; I still loved you! But no, you just had to go out and try to make yourself look good so Admiral Iron Spar would-”

“QUIET!” Fluttershy screamed. Rising Dawn and Tradewind recoiled in shock from the Pegasus’ outburst, the earth pony catching himself before tripping over a loose crate. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout.”

“No... that’s okay...” Rising Dawn said, lying down again. “I’m the one who should be sorry... I don’t know what came over me.”

“Are you still mad at me?” Tradewind asked, mock concern woven into his voice.

“Not really... Who could stay mad at you?”

“Your younger brother tried to stab me in the head with a spear when you announced we were getting married.”

“He got better...”

“Ooh, that’s good.” Fluttershy said.

“What, that my brother almost killed my husband?”

“No, I think I can see the baby’s head.” Rising Dawn started panicking again, but Fluttershy started stroking her again to calm her down. “Now I need you to push... more... more... not too much though.” The mare cried again before dropping her head against the deck, her breath coming out in ragged gasps.

“Why can’t this just end?” Rising Dawn asked between breaths. Fluttershy was not really paying attention.

“Hello there,” Fluttershy said, scooping up the slightly damp and confused unicorn foal in her hooves “I know you might be startled, but everypony begins life startled. I know somepony who should help.” the Pegasus flapped over to Rising Dawn. “Here’s your daughter.”

“My... my daughter?” Fluttershy placed the blue and peach filly gently next to Rising Dawn. The filly yawned and snuggled up against her mother, who smiled and nuzzled the baby gently. After all the three had been through, it seemed like there would be peace again.

That was, until Pinkie Pie showed up.

“Hey Fluttershy, the others were wondering what was taking you so long- OHMYGOSH! BABY!” Pinkie Pie zipped over to the trio, accidentally knocking Fluttershy off her hooves. Pinkie Pie got real close to the foal and began babbling on about the spooked filly, to the confusion and annoyance of everypony else “Ooh you’re so cute did anyone tell you that you were cute? Because you are! The Cakes are going to have a baby real soon too and I’m so excited and you’d be excited too if you knew them because they’re real nice and own a super-amazing bakery but that’s not important right now right now what’s important is that you were just born and that’s awesome! What’s your name? Ooh, maybe I can guess it? How about Peachy Keen, is your name Peachy Keen?”

“Uh, Pinkie?” Fluttershy said, getting up from the floor “I don’t think you should be disturbing them like this.” but Pinkie was already off on her own tangent.

“Fluttershy, we have to throw a party for them! I might have my party cannon stashed somewhere, so it shouldn’t be that hard. There’ll be streamers and balloons and piñatas and everything! It will be the most amazing party anypony has ever seen!”

“If you don’t mind,” Tradewind said. “I think we’ll have to skip the party, Miss...”

“Oh, I’m Pinkie Pie. Funny, I thought I already met you two... Maybe I did and I just can’t remember; that’s always fun. Maybe some other time I can throw you a party. Well, see you ponies later.” Pinkie bounced off, leaving Fluttershy alone with Tradewind, Rising Dawn and their new daughter.

“Energetic mare,” Tradewind said “Is she like that all the time?”

“Yes.”

“You Equestrians are a hardy bunch; I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck with her for a prolonged period of time.”

“Oh, she’s really not all that bad.”

“Sir, can I ask you something?” Mays looked over at Smith.

“What is it?”

“Before they board the ship, can we establish if the ‘Equestrian Navy’ is an actual institution?”

“Well it is, isn’t it?”

“What do we have to show for it?”

“Lots of things,” Twilight said. “You saved all these ponies, charted a few islands, and then there was that thing with the Diamond Dogs; what more do you need?”

“Anyone with a ship, a piece of paper and a sword can do those things,” Smith said “Nolan can do that... not very well, but still. What we need to do is something really noteworthy, something that no one has ever done before.”

“Better think of something fast,” Mays said “Looks like they’re about to board.” the fourth rate that had pulled alongside Concordia was quite a bit smaller than the American-built vessel, but it was run with a level of efficiency and discipline that would make the British envious. While it was not strictly rank-and-file for everything, there was a sense of repetition in ever single action the sailor ponies made. About ten of them boarded the Concordia and formed two parallel lines, facing out towards the other sailors. The next pony over was a bearded, steel-gray unicorn in an admiral’s uniform who made straight for Captain Mays. Mays had met a lot of admirals over the course of his career, but there was something about seeing a pony in that position that made Mays uneasy.

“Are you the captain of this vessel?” the admiral asked.

“Um, yes.” Mays said.”Admiral Iron Spar, I presume?”

“You are very observant, Equestrian,” Iron Spar said “No doubt some of my fellow sailors have spoken of me.”

“Well, there was a name dropped somewhere...”

“And you would be?”

“Captain Montana Mays, Concordia.”

“Pleasure to meet you, captain. I would have expected Solaris to send a larger force if he wished to re-establish contact with us.”

“Actually, his daughter Princess Celestia sent us, and we’re the only ship in the... Equestrian Navy.” Iron Spar looked at Mays, confused.

“Only this ship? But why build a line ship without smaller vessels to accompany it?”

“We’re not actually from Equestria.”

“So you’re mercenaries, then?”

“No... Okay, It’s a long story involving a whirlpool, some magic and a giant squid.”

“Do you expect me to believe something as ridiculous as that?”

“Stranger things have happened...”

“Like why you have some of my sailors on board your ship.”

“Their ship got attacked by some old enemies of mine; we found them and rescued them before the ship sank.”

“Is this true?” Iron Spar asked one of the Ponaean sailors Smith’s Pegasi had picked up.

“It is.” the pony replied. Iron Spar turned back to Mays.

“I commend you for rescuing the sailors. Now, if you may transfer them over to my ship and we will send you on your way.”

“Wait,” Mays said “Could we stop in Ponaeus to pick up some supplies for the remainder of our journey?”

“I cannot allow that; you have not told me exactly what you are doing this far east with a ship of this size, and I cannot risk that you may be plotting something against the citizens of Ponaeus.”

“We’re here to find the Obsidian Crescent-”

“And why would you need to know where it is? Has it been stolen or are you just trying to secure its resting place? Even if it is out there, would that mean that more Equestrians would be moving into this area to safeguard the Crescent?”

“Hey, I’m not into that whole Imperialism thing. I respect your right to privacy and independence and have no intention of colonizing anyone.”

“And what can you say that would convince me of that?”

“Uh... the six mares that you probably don’t recognize have these things called the Elements of Harmony?” Iron Spar gave Mays a blank look. “You know what those are, right?”

“I’m familiar with the Elements, captain. Even if you do have the Elements, I cannot be certain if you don’t have some ill use for them.”

“‘Ill use’? What kind of ill use could you possibly-”

“Admiral,” Mays, Twilight and Smith turned. Coming up from below was the mare, carrying a sleeping foal on her back. She crossed the deck and stopped in front of Iron Spar “These ponies saved the lives of myself, my daughter, and many more ponies. They deserve better than to be sent off without understanding how much their heroism is appreciated.”

“Do we really count as heroes?” Mays asked Smith under his breath.

“Better than enemies, don’t you think?” the Pegasus answered. There was a pause, and Mays got nervous again; Iron Spar seemed to be a fairly commanding figure, and he probably would not take too kindly to some random mare coming up to him and challenging his authority. Mays thought he could hear Nolan snicker in the back.

“I understand,” Iron Spar said “And I may have been a little hasty in deeming these ponies dangerous. They shall be brought before the king and he should decide what their fate should be.”

“We don’t submit to kings.” Nolan said, but Hacksaw and Richard silenced him.

“Ignore that pony,” Mays said “His nationalism causes him to do stupid things.”

“A dangerous trait to have in an officer,” Iron Spar said “You should do something about it.”

“Believe me, I’ve been looking for a solution.” Iron Sparr nodded and looked back to Rising Dawn.

“Would you like to return to my ship, Princess?”

“Wait, what?” Mays asked.

“If you don’t mind, I would like to stay aboard this ship until we return to Ponaeus so that I can learn more from the Equestrians.”

“She’s a what?” Iron Spar and Rising Dawn paid Mays no attention.

“I will leave a detachment of guards to protect you and your foal.”

“If you see it necessary.”

“Would somepony please explain what’s going on?” Rising Dawn looked at Mays.

“I am Princess Rising Dawn, heir to the throne of the city of Ponaeus.”

Chapter 10

I would have updated this sooner, but school caught up with me, not to mention the other fanfic ideas I got bombarded with distracted me... Anyway, I still own none of the characters or ships in this fic, except maybe the OCs.
WARNING: the following chapter contains drunken ponies and light ship-teasing. You have been warned.
Like, comment, and recommend. I want to know what you all think of this story

The two galleys were flanking the Concordia while Iron Spar’s flagship lead them towards the island. Rising Dawn had gone below to find somewhere comfortable to lie down and rest until the ships docked, and Mays was content to let her be alone.

Twilight and her friends, however, had plenty of questions.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were a princess?” Twilight asked.

“You never asked, and it would be inappropriate for me to go about flaunting my rank like that.”

“But if you’re a princess,” Applejack asked “How come you don’t have some fancy guards lookin’ after you?”

“It is forbidden, given my current state.”

“Forbidden to have guards?”

“In a way; it has always been tradition that the royal children like myself must spend six years living amongst the populace without royal comforts. That way we have a closer bond to our subjects once we take the throne.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Yes, there are some flaws. But I feel that I understand my fellow ponies better than if I just spent my entire life locked up in some palace dreaming of how ponies were supposed to act. Can you imagine what kind or ruler I’d be?” Rising Dawn laughed. “Besides, I probably would never met the stallion of my dreams by sitting around doing nothing.”

“But when you’re living amongst the other ponies,” Twilight asked “what do you do?”

“If you were taken out of your comfort zone and told to live in a society that you knew nothing about, what would you do?” Twilight froze; she had been placed in that same situation when Princess Celestia had sent her to Ponyville, and Twilight had just locked herself in the library and avoided as much contact with other ponies as possible. She was about to answer, but Rising Dawn was off on her own tangent “You integrate yourself into society; my first day out, I volunteered to be a dockworker. I... wasn’t particularly good at it; I broke my leg the next day. You certainly meet a lot of ponies when you’re in the hospital.”

“Uh... sure.”

“But enough about my life. Tell me more about Equestria; all I know are stories my mother and grandparents told me when I was a foal. What’s it like?”

“Oh, it’s just a marvelous place,” Rarity said, cutting Twilight off before she could speak “While I can’t make any comparisons to your home, I’ve always found it one of the most beautiful places ever. Not just the ponies, but all the natural sites are simply amazing... except for the Everfree Forest.”

“Big forest with a lot of monsters.” Twilight explained when she saw Rising Dawn’s confusion.

“But really, Princess,” Rarity continued “You simply must come and visit sometime; I’m sure Princess Celestia would love to meet you, and I suppose Pinkie would throw a proper party for you.”

“She might throw a party for you the second we reach dry land.” Twilight said. Rising Dawn smiled.

“I would appreciate that. No knowing what my father will do once he finds out you saved my life. With my mother’s health declining and my brothers running off on ‘adventures’, knowing that my daughter and I are safe will certainly ease his mind.”

“Ooh, does he like parties too?” Pinkie asked.

“Probably not as much as you do. He’s always been a serious pony, even when I was little. I guess administration has taken a toll on his joy.”

“Well that’s not fun. Maybe I could set something up to make him more cheerful.”

“I’m not sure if that would work.” Pinkie gave a little sigh of defeat and left the room. Rising Dawn turned to the others. “I didn’t mean to sound so pessimistic. I know she was just trying to be helpful.”

“That’s okay. You’ve been through a lot today; your nerves are probably fried.” Twilight said. Rising Dawn nodded in agreement and turned her attention to her sleeping daughter.

“I’m surprised she’s been calm.” Rising Dawn said. “I thought she would be agitated by all the ponies around her.”

“She’s just tired.” Applejack said “I remember when my sister Applebloom was born, she just slept almost a whole day.”

“I wish that I could say the same for Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said “She screamed for almost four hours the day after she was born... still, it had a nice harmony to it. Before I go any further, what are you going to name her?”

“Tradewind and I had a few ideas. I would tell you some, but I’m bound not to tell until she is properly Dedicated”

“Dedicated?”

“More traditions: every foal born must be blessed and named when the sun is at its apex. My mother told me that it was another way we showed our love for Solaris and that he would watch over everypony as long as they lived.”

“Ah, that makes sense. I think my parents did a similar ceremony for myself and Sweetie Belle.” Twilight turned to the sound of hooves and saw Smith coming towards them.

“Twilight, the captain wants to see you on deck.” the Pegasus said.

“Okay.” Twilight turned back to Rising Dawn “I’ll be back in a few minutes. There’s still so much I want to ask you about.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to be going anywhere anytime soon.” Rising Dawn gave another smile and turned back to her sleeping daughter. Twilight joined Smith and the two walked back on deck. Mays was at the helm with one of the Ponaean sailor ponies and Nolan, and Twilight could tell that Nolan was angry at something.

“But why her?” Nolan asked.

“Twilight’s the best option for our current situation, and you have no diplomatic skills whatsoever.” Mays said.

“I do have diplomatic skills; I helped mediate a truce between the Thompson’s Island garrison and the Spanish Navy.”

“By my recalling, Preble was the one who made the first call for a truce and handled most of the negotiations. You were just his yes-man.”

“I was not.”

“What’s going on here?” Twilight asked. The two naval officers looked at Twilight, Nolan with added jealousy to his already smug look and Mays with a sense of apathy.

“Twilight, I was wondering if you would like to be our ‘ambassador’ for when we reach Ponaeus.”

“Ambassador? Me?”

“It’s only until we can get resupplied.”

“But, what kind of qualifications are you looking for in an ambassador?”

“You know more about Equestria and the Princesses than I do. Also, you understand how court politics work, and you seem to be getting along nicely with Princess Dawn. You’ll be perfect.”

“But what am I supposed to do?”

“If this king asks about anything diplomatic, I’ll leave it to you to work it out.”

“That’s not very reassuring.”

“See, she has no experience.” Nolan said “I would be much better suited for the task at hand.”

“You only care about yourself, Nolan. Go back to your cabin and don’t make a scene.” Nolan left without another word “That’s troubling... usually he would try to get some kind of comment in. Maybe Iron Sparr’s right and I should try to do something to restrain him.” Twilight went over all the possible ways Mays could punish Nolan, making another note that most of them ended badly for the lieutenant. She was about to say something, but decided against it.

“So, is there anything else you wanted to ask?”

“What has Rising Dawn told you about Ponaeus?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. It’s just the capital of a small conglomerate of trading ports. Nothing serious.”

“Really? Then how come they have black powder cannons and a rigid military structure while Equestria doesn’t even have a full scale army?”

“Iron Spar and Tradewind did mention excursions by the Diamond Dogs and griffons... maybe they just needed something to defend themselves better.”

“A small conglomerate probably does not require a fourth rate to defend it. A few frigates, maybe, but a fourth rate? That's just overcompensation.”

“Says the pony that spends all his time on a ship twice the size of their largest ship.”

“America was a lot bigger than Ponaeus, and I think the British pose a bigger challenge than a bunch of half-starved Diamond Dogs.”

“What do ‘British’ have anything to do with this?” Twilight had gotten used to Mays and his crew talking about places she would never be able to see, although times like this required a better explanation.

“The British had one of the best navies back in my world, so I kind of use them as a measuring stick when comparing other forces.”

“Oh... How do you see yourself?”

“In need of improvement.” Twilight gave him a weird look “It’s a big measuring stick, and I’ve got some problems of my own.” That told Twilight to stop the conversation. She liked trying to help ponies with personal problems, but Mays’ mind was alien to her. Most ponies she was capable of finding some form of common bond, usually through past experiences; being from a different, much more violent world, Mays had only sparse connections with anything Twilight had ever done.

Maybe I should try and find some kind of connection. She was about to say something, but entering Ponaeus distracted her.

While nowhere near the size of Manehattan or Canterlot, Ponaeus was still pretty impressive. The city was built into the wall of a natural harbor, with several buildings being carved out of the rock itself. Standing above all the building was a palace designed similar to Cloudsdale, with large columns and archways opening much of the building to natural sunlight. Higher still was a massive fortress, the sheer sight of which sent a shiver up Twilight’s spine. Castles like Canterlot were usually welcoming, with warm colors and only a few guards here and there to provide security. The fortress over Ponaeus, however, was grey and foreboding, and Twilight could barely make out gashes in the masonry that had been blasted away by either magic or weapons similar to the Concordia’s cannons.

“Impressive,” Mays said “If you’d actually seen the Mediterranean, I could have made a few comparisons.”

“Celestia did say she had a few spells for looking at other dimensions... Although I don’t think she would take too kindly to interdimensional tourism.”

“Call it research. Monarchs love research.”

“I thought you didn’t serve any monarchs?”

“I had expeditions to Europe. There are a lot of naturalists that come out of Europe, and joining a naval vessel is the best way to see new things. You would agree with that, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, yes I would.” Twilight looked back at Ponaeus “There’s so much about this city I want to know.”

“If the king doesn’t send us away or arrest us then you’ll have a day or two.” Mays turned away and headed across the deck. “Smith?”

“Up here, captain.” Smith said, dropping down from a nearby mast.

“You’re in charge until I get back.”

“What if you don’t come back?”

“Open fire and get use back. I thought we discussed this the last time Nolan got captured by pirates.”

“Well, it was Nolan...”

“Please, I’m already having enough problems with him.” The leading ships broke off and began to drop anchor. Since there was not enough dock space for the Concordia to fit, Mays instructed the sailor ponies to do the same. “Richard, has the larger boat been fixed?”

“I think so.”

“We’ll be taking that. Twilight, go get your friends and the princess... Might as well invite those guards that they sent over.”

“Sir, we’ll have to take the other boats then.”

“I don’t mind. Well, you have your orders, get to it.”

“Aye sir.” Smith flew over to one of the boats and began to lower it. Twilight went back below deck and found her friends again.

“Okay, we have to get moving.”

“Aw, already?” Pinkie said “Princess Dawn was just getting to the good part about her hiking accident.”

“I suppose that story can wait for a few minutes.” Rising Dawn said, rising to her hooves. Her daughter let out a whimper and went back to sleep, Rising Dawn turning to make sure the filly was secure. “Please, lead the way. I have such a bad sense of direction we’d probably get lost.”

“Okay.” The small group headed out on deck. The guards Iron Spar had sent were waiting for them, and Twilight saw that Richard was trying to coordinate a few more marines for the trip.

“Are you sure bringing more ponies is a good idea?” she asked Mays.

“I need someone to row and guard the boats. Really Twilight, for someone who prides herself in organization, you don’t think that far ahead.” That earned the captain a smack on the shoulder. “Smith, start lowering the boats.”

Splitting up into the boats had lead to some issues; the guards Iron Spar had sent insisted on taking Rising Dawn themselves, but the princess had stated it would look better if she accompanied Captain Mays. One short argument later, and Mays and Twilight found themselves in one of the smaller boats surrounded by a mix of Ponaeans and marines. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had elected to fly to land so as to save room in the boats, while Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie shared the larger boat with Richard and Hacksaw.

“You seem nervous.” Rising Dawn said.

“I’ve never really met a lot of royalty besides Princess Celestia... well, there was that one dragon, but I was really young back then.”

“Dragon?” Mays asked. “You mean there’s more than just Spike?”

“Of course there’s more than just Spike. What, did you think he just came out of a hole in the ground and wanted to be my assistant?”

“The only other dragons I’ve met wanted me for lunch.” the captain muttered, turning away.

“Don’t worry. My father is nopony to be scared of.” Rising Dawn said.

“But this is the first time I’ve actually spoken to a ruler of a country that wasn’t my mentor... What if I screw something up? What if I start a war?”

“I’m sure it won’t come to that. You’ll do just fine, trust me.”

“Then how come I don’t feel like I’ll do fine?” Twilight pawed at the bottom of the boat for a moment.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Mays said “I almost started a war once.”

“Why do I find that somewhat believable?”

“I don’t.” Rising Dawn said. “Sure, your ship carries more cannons than half the Ponaean Navy, but other than that green one you don’t seem to be the kind to instigate a war.”

“Wasn’t really my fault.” Mays turned to face both mares. “Anyway, there’s this place called Japan... I suppose the nearest analogue would be where the two bath attendant ponies came from.”

“You mean Neighpan?”

“Close enough. Anyway, we were stopping there for supplies, and for whatever reason I found myself outside Kyoto. There was this girl, I think her name was Katsura, and she was a member of this band of female samurai, or whatever they call a female samurai. Anyway, we had a small chat after she tried to kill me for being an intrusive imperialist. After that she kept popping up whenever I went anywhere, yet she never explained why.

“Then there was this nobleman, and he liked Katsura... a lot. He saw me as a rival, and started sending assassins. Well, after killing the tenth assassin, I went to Katsura and told her to stop following me around or this nobleman would kill me. She... didn’t take that very well.”

“Did she try to kill you?”

“No. She challenged the nobleman to a duel in my name and gutted him like a fish. As he happened to be related to the shogun, I had to sail out of Japan as fast as I could before they pinned the blame on me.”

“I... I think letting her try to kill you would be better.” Rising Dawn said.

“And your reasoning being?”

“This girl obviously had feelings for you and was trying to protect you, and then you run off like that. Imagine what she was thinking; she probably thought it was all her fault that you ran away, or worse that you didn't love her.”

“You sound a bit like Rarity.”

“I don’t know how your friend thinks, but the least you could have done was sneak back and explain why you ran off.”

“Um, I hate to interrupt this conversation,” Twilight said “But we’re about to dock.” The boats pulled up to a small stretch of dock. The ponies here seemed much more interested in the new arrivals than those in Manehattan had been, with small groups gawking at the Equestrians. All the watching eyes only made Twilight more nervous. “Why are they staring so much?”

“Don’t worry. Nopony here has ever seen an Equestrian before.”

“I don’t want to be treated like a museum piece.” Twilight grumbled. The others formed up behind them and the entourage began down the dock, groups of Ponaeans following after them. Most of them kept their distance, although a few of the younger ponies came closer and started asking questions. Twilight was about to answer some of them when the group came to a halt.

Standing in front of them, sizing up Captain Mays, was a large unicorn stallion. Like Iron Spar, his coat was steel grey, but unlike the admiral his mane and tail were showing signs of age, with streaks of white running through them. He was taller than most of the ponies present, even taller than Hacksaw, and his size combined with his piercing gaze sent a shiver down Twilight’s back.

“I am King Stone Bastion, Ruler of Ponaeus.” he said “Who might you be?”

“Captain Montana Mays of the Equestrian Navy, Concordia, and this,” Mays said, pointing to Twilight “Is Ambassador Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia.”

“Hello.” Twilight tried to muster up her courage, but she noted that she sounded a lot more like Fluttershy than usual.

“It’s been nearly five thousand years since we were last contacted by Equestrians. Is there some special reason you wish to resume contact?”

“We were searching for the Obsidian Crescent when we found one of your ships wrecked on a sandbar. We saved as many as we could and decided to bring them here.”

“Very noble of you. But why are you seeking out the Crescent’s resting place?”

“Princess Celestia wanted to return it to her sister.” there was a pause “Look, we don’t want to cause trouble; we just want some supplies so we can continue on tomorrow.”

“Do not worry; I will make sure that you are provisioned before you leave. However, this is a fairly odd series of circumstances, and I would like to know more about why you are here.”

“But we just told you,” Twilight said. “Can’t you trust us?”

“Trusting unknown ponies cost my brother his life. I do not want to risk repeating the mistake. Don’t worry, you will not be threatened. This is only a safety precaution.” Stone Bastion turned to Mays “You will accompany me back to my palace; the others will have to wait on your ship until you return.”

“I don’t mean to sound rude,” Mays said “But I don’t want to abandon my crew like that.”

“I never said you were abandoning them.”

“And I need to make sure he’s okay.” Twilight said, stepping forward “I am an ambassador; I should know what happens to one of my fellow Equestrians.”

“You may come too, if you wish.”

“And my friends?”

“I have no need for them. They’ll go back to the ship.”

“Wait, we’re not going to see the city?” Pinkie cried from the back.

“Pinkie, now’s really not the time-”

“But Twilight, this is an entirely new city! Think of all the new ponies we could meet, all the places we could see, and the food! Think of the food! There’s all that food we’d be missing out-”

“Silence, please.” Pinkie stopped babbling. Stone Bastion looked at Twilight “Despite my position, it would be hard for me to keep track of five additional ponies of unknown origins. They must wait on the ship.”

“My friends go where I go.”

“I suppose I could conduct an examination here.”

“Father,” Rising Dawn stepped forward, checking briefly to see if her daughter was still in place “These ponies saved my life. They deserve better than being stuck on a ship.”

“Dawn...”

“Mother always drilled into my head that we should show strangers hospitality. Would you betray that basic commandment? Please, just one night; my husband and I can look after them.” there was another pause. Twilight and Fluttershy were shuffling around nervously, waiting for Stone Bastion to respond. Stone Bastion relaxed a bit, then smiled.

“You are right, my daughter; I would be betraying our hospitality to leave them on their ship.” he turned back to Mays “I thank you for saving my daughter’s life. I suppose I might have been a bit overly harsh in judging you.”

“I tend to get that a lot.” Mays said. Stone Bastion chucked, then turned to one of his guards.

“Escort Ambassador Sparkle and her friends to the palace; let them freshen up and escort them to dinner. Captain Mays, if it wouldn’t inconvenience you there is still one thing I would like to clarify with you, in private.”

“Of course, sir.” Mays turned back “Hacksaw, Richard, go with Twilight and the others. Signal Smith to stand down while you’re at it. I’ll meet up with you later.”

“Aye captain.” Mays joined Stone Bastion and the two walked off, followed by the king’s guards.

“I hope he doesn’t get into too much trouble, like what happened to him and that other girl.” Twilight said.

“He told you about Katsura, didn’t he?” Twilight nodded. “Don’t worry, the captain can handle himself. Now, let’s get going.”

Mays followed silently behind the king and his guards. Stone Bastion was not much of a conversationalist, so Mays kept his mouth shut so as to avoid unnecessary embarrassment. The guards would glance back to make sure he was not causing trouble, but otherwise there was not much interaction. Mays wished he still had his sword, mainly for any security that could be drawn from it.

“Have you ever had to interrogate somepony, captain?” Stone Bastion said, breaking the silence.

“Not really.” Mays said “I’ve dealt with more black-and-white issues.” Most of the time, he added mentally.

“Well, you are not the ruler of a nation.” the king had lead Mays into a domed structure with a carving of an apple above entrance. The main room was a large open space, with only a few unicorns standing to either side. “If you would stand in the center of the room, please. I assure you this will not take long.”

“I’m not going to catch on fire or get stabbed through the head, am I?”

“Have you encountered such threats before?”

“Well, there was one tour that made a stop in Bangladesh...”

“I wish to hear more about this.” Mays took his spot in the center, noting that the unicorns that were already in the room had formed a circle around him, their horns glowing with magic. Stone Bastion took his place in front of Mays and cast the spell. Orange light rose from cracks in the ground, taking a form similar to the apple carving Mays had seen at the entrance.

“What’s this?”

“This is a Seal of Honesty. It tells me whether anything you say is the truth or a lie. Now tell me, how did you get here, and what is your purpose?”

“What if the Seal tells you I’m lying?”

“We’ll stay here for as long as it takes you to break and tell the truth. If I find it threatening to the welfare of my subjects, you will gather your companions and leave Ponaeus. Your life will be forfeit should you attempt to return.” Mays hesitated; Stone Bastion could be lying through his teeth about the Seal and could just be after either the Crescent or the Concordia, but there was something in his tone of voice that made that unlikely. Mays stumbled over just how much he had to tell Stone Bastion before deciding to explain the whole story.

“My crew and I, asides from those six mares, are not from this world. We were pulled into a whirlpool and spat out here as ponies. We talked to Princess Celestia, but she couldn’t get us back to our home world, and seeing as we did not have anywhere else to go she hired us to fetch the Obsidian Crescent for her sister.”

“Princess Celestia has a sister?”

“I’ve never met her, but yes, she does. Wait, how come you don’t know this?”

“The ships carrying the founders of Ponaeus left shortly after Celestia was born. Please continue.”

“Very well. On our way here we discovered signs that one of my old enemies, a pirate by the name of Sammy the Skull, had been pulled through the whirlpool as well. He was the pirate that attacked the ship your daughter was aboard, and I’d hate to know what would happen if he got hold of the Crescent.”

“So your mission is to prevent this from happening.”

“No. I said we came here to bring the Crescent back to Princess Celestia; killing Sammy is only a secondary goal.”

“I see. Besides saving my daughter, is there any other reason you came to Ponaeus?”

“We didn’t even know this city existed until meeting a serpent named Tsuro. He said you might be able to help us find the Crescent, granted you didn’t turn us away. We’re not out for anything; we just want to rest of a little while and find the Crescent.” Mays looked back at Stone Bastion. The king turned to one of the nearby unicorns and mumbled something, the unicorn nodding in agreement.

“Your story is... odd, to say the least. I’m no scholar, so I can’t be certain of exactly how you would be able to come from a different world. However, the Seal tells me that you are telling the truth, so I cannot justify sending you away.” Stone Bastion stepped forward “Welcome to Ponaeus, Captain Mays.”

“So, that’s it?”

“I try to keep such things as informal as possible, and my sincerest apologies for seeming too harsh.”

“I’ve dealt with numerous rulers who were much harsher than you, sir.”

“As have I. Come, we must see what your companions have been up to, and I wish to know more of this other world you come from.”

“I think I have a few stories to tell.”

Twilight shook the last of the bathwater out of her mane. She grabbed a nearby towel using her magic and finished drying off, tossing her head a bit to make sure her coat was not frizzed out. Normally she would not have been incredibly meticulous about her appearance (she left that for Rarity), but she had to admit that it felt wonderful washing off all the salt and grime she had accumulated over the last week.

“Remind me to ask the attendants for the soap they used,” Rarity said “I think the spa in Ponyville would simply love it.”

“I’m sure they have some they’d be willing to part with.” Twilight finished drying off and faced Rarity. “Where are the others?”

“Fluttershy and Pinkie went for a massage, but I don’t know what Applejack and Rainbow Dash have been up to.”

“Tryin’ to keep her for flyin’ through the roof.” Applejack said, coming down one hall followed by Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, the attendants were getting a little too close for comfort.” Rainbow Dash sneezed “Great, I’m going to be smelling like flowers for the rest of the trip.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Rarity asked.

“The only other reason I avoid your boutique besides the fact that it’s too... frilly is because that perfume you drench the place in gives me the munchies. I smell exactly like that perfume.”

“Don’t worry, you should get used to it after awhile.”

“Easy for you to say; you’re the one that’s always surrounded by these kinds of smells.”

“So, I see you all have freshened up a bit.” Twilight and her friends turned and saw Rising Dawn standing behind them. The mare had tied her hair back and put on a simple white tunic and she was followed by Tradewind and several other ponies.

“Thanks again for letting us use the baths.” Twilight said.

“You’re welcome. I used to come here a lot when I was little, mainly to try and figure out how all the water got up here. My father never really explained anything about this place until I was older.”

“Ah... Where’s your daughter?”

“Asleep; she’s been through a lot today and needs her rest for tomorrow.” Rising Dawn and her entourage turned to leave “We best meet up with the others.” Twilight and her friends began following behind them.

“So,” Twilight asked “How exactly did you two meet?”

“By accident, mainly.” Tradewind said “I was just starting out in the navy and I was asked to coordinate a docking maneuver. It didn’t go so well.”

“That’s an understatement.” Rising Dawn said.

“Yeah, it kinda is; I misjudged a distance and crashed a schooner into the dock.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I get off the ship to try and coordinate getting the ship back out when this mare ran up to me and chewed me out for nearly killing one of her friends. There was a protracted argument and she threatened to put my eyes out with an axe if she saw me again.”

“I might of been a bit hasty. He had a really cute face.”

“And how did you stop her from blinding you?” Twilight asked.

“The next day, I was still helping repair the dock. She came back and apologized for threatening me. I asked her if she wanted to go out for lunch and...”

“We had a pretty strenuous relationship, especially after I told him who I was.”

“Except for that one time your brother tried to kill me, it wasn’t that strenuous.”

“Says the pony that considered jumping off a cliff a good way to impress a girl.” this earned Rising Dawn a smack on the rump, which she responded to by flicking Tradewind in the face with her tail.

“Ah, I see our guests are enjoying themselves.” Stone Bastion was waiting near the largest exit, with Mays, Richard and Hacksaw standing behind him.

“We have been.” Twilight said. “So, are there any other issues with our stay?”

“Oh, of course not. I found no reason to turn you away, and you all seem like fairly honest ponies. Come, we’ll discuss this more at dinner, and I’m sure Captain Mays has a few stories he would like to share.” Stone bastion lead the group down another hall. Twilight fell to the back of the group so she could speak with Mays.

“What did he do to you?” she asked.

“Just asked me a few questions about why we came here... what do you know about Seals of Honesty?”

“He used a Seal of Honesty?”

“Is there a problem with that?”

“Oh no; any unicorn with access to powerful magics can cast a Seal of Honesty, but I’ve only ever seen Princess Celestia cast a spell like that and not have it malfunction.”

“He did use a few other unicorns.”

“He used a group casting too? You never see group spells nowadays... at least not for anything incredibly important. There has to be somewhere I can find the exact spell he used; it would certainly help my studies of ancient Equestrian magic, and Princess Celestia loves when I’m able to find some old forgotten spells to practice.”

“Uh, Twilight...”

“Although that doesn’t really make a lot of sense, since she’s really old and should know those kinds of spells by heart... Maybe she just pretends not to know so it can be more of a learning experience.”

“Twilight...”

“Teachers do that all the time, right? Pretend to not know what you’re telling them just so you learn better? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s pretty weird when-”

“Twilight!” Twilight stopped talking and looked at Mays “I know you’re really enthusiastic about the whole ‘unknown spell’ bit, but there is a time and a place for that enthusiasm, and now is not it.”

“Oh... sorry for rambling.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure the king can answer all the questions you want.” the two walked faster in order to catch up with the others.

“I just hope there’s no wine.” Twilight mumbled.

“Why is wine bad? Being stuck on a ship with nothing but water and rum, I could enjoy a change of venue.”

“No, it’s not that it’s bad or anything. It’s just... I don’t really have the best relationship with wine, or other alcoholic beverages, for that matter.”

“You seemed to do okay back on board the Concordia.”

“The rum was watered down there, wasn’t it?” Mays paused.

“Yeah, it was. Don’t worry, I think you’ll be fine.”

Dinner had gone off without a hitch; the greens they had served had been a little chewy, but Mays and the other sailors were used to that sort of thing. Afterwards, he and Hacksaw told Stone Bastion about a few of their more memorable encounters back when they were still humans, and Pinkie Pie and Rarity joined in with bits about Equestria and life in Ponyville.

However, that was when they broke out the wine. Twilight’s reaction had been... out there.

“So then I said to Prin’ess ‘Lestia ‘I don’ wanna do my aston’my homework. It’s Lunacy!’” Twilight giggled and flopped onto Mays’ back as he and Fluttershy escorted her to a guest room on the eastern side of the palace “She... she made me do lots more homework after that... I don’ like the moon anymore... ‘cept Luna, she’s really really really nice an’ stuff.”

“I see.” Mays said. “Has she ever done anything like this before?”

“Not that I know of.” Fluttershy said. Twilight looked over at them and continued talking.

“Captain.... Caaaaaaptainnnnn... Hey, Captain.” she said, poking Mays in the back of the head.

“Yes Twilight?”

“I jus’ wanted you to know, that I think you are rea-a-al-y hot.”

“Actually, it’s rather pleasant in here; there’s a bit of a draft but otherwise my body temperature is fine.”

“She means she thinks you’re attractive.” Fluttershy said.

“Bingo, Flutters! He’s so hot, that if he was the sun, he’d be hotter.”

“Uh, thank you?”

“Welcome. An’ you... an’ you’re always sayin’ things, makin’ yourself so big an’ important... I like that.” Twilight threw herself over Mays shoulders and tried to whisper in his ear “I think... you’n I... we should get together.”

“Uh...”

“Oh, we should, we should... we’d have fun!” Twilight hiccupped, then continued “Yup, lotsa fun, like the Cakes and my parents and Rarity’s parents all the cute couples ‘round Ponyville. You like fun, don’ you?”

“Twilight, you’re drunk.”

“I’m not so think as you drunk I am! I still wan’ youuuuuu.” She pushed her head up against his neck “C’mon, you’n me. Whaddya say?”

“Some other time perhaps?” Twilight nodded and broke off. She walked about two steps before throwing herself at Mays again.

“It’s ‘nother time now!” Twilight gave Mays a peck on the nose and giggled again “Now me.”

“What?”

“Kiss me, but not just my nose... I bet you’re really good at kissing, bein’ a sailor’n all.”

“Twilight, that’s a fairly personal matter.”

“You sound like Mom.... I really need to write her more; she knows all about relations and kissing and stuff. But you have to be... ‘least, that’s what Pinkie’d say, isn’t it. She's nice too, but she’s mad. Mad mad mad!”

“I’m beginning to have similar thoughts about you.” Twilight stepped back, beaming.

“Really? That’s lov’ly. I know...” Twilight flopped over on her back, wiggling her legs in the air.

“Please tell me she’s passing out right now.”

“No, silly,” Twilight said, wiggling her legs more “I wan’ you to buck me!”

“Uh...”

“Yup, I wanna get bucked so hard I can barely stand. Come on, right now!” Twilight continued to wiggle her legs in the air, the other two ponies staring at her in confusion.

“She’s never done anything like this.” Fluttershy said. Twilight rolled back on her stomach.

“You’re one to talk to, Miss ‘Clops to Pictures of Big Mac’. Oh, I know you’ve got a gazillion photos of him in that dresser you think I don’ know about. Well, I DO know about ‘em.” Twilight stuck her tongue out at Fluttershy, whose face had flushed red with embarrassment. Twilight stood up, grinning. “Gazillion... that should be a real number. Right after one hundred. Ninety-Nine, One Hundred, Gazillion! Yeah... that sounds good.” Twilight began to trot off, singing ‘gazillion’ as if it were one of Pinkie’s songs. Mays managed to stop her by planting his hoof on her tail.

“Twilight, I think you’re going a little out of control right now.”

“Can I go outta control on you?” she asked.

“No, you need to rest.”

“Ooookayyy.” Twilight pouted briefly before attempting to skip off. She lost control of her legs fairly quickly and plowed into a pillar “Hey, watch where you’re goin’, Mr. Skinny. I’m Prin’ess ‘Lestia’s pers’nal student. And she’s all powerful, and she’ll send you to the moon. To the moooooooooooooooooon... Bananas.” Twilight made another step before passing out, her snores interrupted by bouts of hiccups.

“I think it’s best we don’t tell Princess Celestia about what happened tonight.” Mays said, walking over to the sleeping unicorn.

“Yes... I wouldn’t mind either.” Fluttershy said. The two ponies slipped their heads under one of Twilight’s forelegs each and continued to carry her to the guest quarters.

Chapter 11

This chapter has no drunk ponies in it. It has a bit of backstory and exposition, so it may be a bit boring.
Fun fact: Concordia was the Roman Goddess of Harmony... fitting for My Little Pony, don't you think?
Anyway, I still own nothing in this story except the OCs. Like and comment on the story; I want to know your opinions.

Twilight opened her eyes, and instantly regretted doing so. Her head felt as if somepony had miniaturized Pinkie, given her a room full of drums and cymbals, and told her to play for ten hours inside Twilight’s head. Every single sound, from light conversation in the next room to a fly buzzing over her bed, was amplified to the point that Twilight could barely hear herself breathing. Her hooves were like cement and her legs were little better than limp pieces of moss. She groaned, swatting at the air in a half-hearted attempt to get rid of the fly.

“For once I wish Nightmare Moon had won against Celestia.” Twilight mumbled, giving up trying to swat the fly. She yawned and rose from her bed, swaying a little as her blood rushed to her brain. “This must be what Spike feels like when he sends a lot of letters... I should thank him for his sacrifice.” she shuffled forward, trying to keep her movement down to a minimum in order to reduce sound.

I should ask Princess Celestia if she can teach me some conjuring spells... I could really go for a swimming pool filled with coffee right now. Twilight pushed the door open and entered the main room. All the other ponies were treating themselves to breakfast and made little mind of Twilight until she reached the table.

“Good morning Twilight.” Fluttershy said “I hope you slept well.”

“It’s not the sleeping, it’s the waking up.” Twilight groaned again and set her head down on the table “Fluttershy, if you’d talk a little bit quieter, I would really appreciate that.”

“Oh, okay then. Sorry for being so loud.” Twilight nodded a little and looked across the table, finding a small spot on the wall to place her concentration.

“Good morning Sleepyhead!” Pinkie popped up between Twilight and Fluttershy. She grabbed the unicorn by the head and turned her around “How are you feeling? Does your head hurt? If it does then you should really find a spell that makes it hurt less, because it’s no fun when somepony’s in pain.”

“Pinkie, please be quiet. You’re only making things worse.”

“Oh Twilight, you’re funny when you’re grouchy, except when you start talking really fast and charm ponies. That’s bad. Here, have some coffee!” Pinkie pushed a mug of coffee in front of Twilight. Before the pink pony had retracted her hoof, Twilight grabbed the mug and drained its contents, spilling quite a bit of the coffee all over her face.

“More!” Twilight gasped, passing the mug to Pinkie.

“Sure thing Twilight!” Pinkie took the mug and bounced off. Twilight’s head had started clearing a bit, and her ears had stopped throbbing from conversation, but she still felt as if a drill had been taken to her skull. She looked around the table again.

“Applejack?”

“What’s the matter, sugarcube? I mean, besides the hangover.”

“That’s the problem. What do you do if you have a hangover?”

“Why does everypony assume I drink?” Applejack asked.

“You do work on a farm, AJ.” Rainbow Dash said.

“That ain’t a good reason and you know it.”

“Please, can we not have any shouting for the next week?” Twilight flopped her head down on the table again. “I don’t know how I let myself go last night.”

“Well, it was mighty good wine, Twi. I’m not much for fancy drink like that, but I could see why you liked it so much.”

“That still doesn’t help me.”

“Give it time, Twi. Maybe go get some fresh air; Big Macintosh always said that helped him if he hit the bottle too hard.” There was a scraping noise and Twilight watched as a plate with a cupcake and another mug of coffee slid in front of her.

“Here Twilight.” Pinkie said “Maybe some food will cheer you up.”

“Thanks Pinkie.” Twilight picked up the cupcake and took a small bite “This is coffee flavored.”

“Yup! I was thinking ‘What would make Twilight really happy’, so I made the coffee cupcake. If you like it I’ve got a whole batch back in my room.”

“Where did you get the time to make a whole batch of cupcakes?”

“I always have time to make cupcakes!” Pinkie smiled and bounced off again. Twilight finished eating the cupcake and took a sip from the coffee.

“If we weren’t on a tight schedule, I’d go back to sleep.”

“I’m with you there.” Mays said as he walked into the room “No offense Twilight, but you snore really loudly when you’re drunk.”

“Sorry.” Twilight took another sip and set the coffee mug aside “It won’t happen again.”

“I won’t tell Princess Celestia about it.” Mays walked over to the table and sat down “I talked with Stone Bastion before coming here.”

“Oh, what’d he say?”

“He said he’d show you and I around the library a bit before we left.”

“Really?” Twilight could feel the hangover rushing from her head, replaced by the prospect of study and knowledge. Certainly beats lying in bed feeling like Derpy dropped an anvil on me again, she thought. “When?”

“As soon as you’re done eating. Take all the time you want; it’s not like the library is going anywhere.” Twilight nodded before noticing that Pinkie had placed yet another cupcake in front of her. She gave Pinkie a silent thanks and ate the cupcake.

“Uh, captain?”

“Yes?”

“I... don’t really remember a lot of what happened last night. I didn’t do anything really bad, did I?”

“Like...”

“You know, accidentally get married, set something on fire, that sort of thing.”

“No, you didn’t get married, but I think you should talk to Fluttershy and myself in private if you really want to know what you did.”

“... That bad?”

“Believe me, I’ve seen worse.”

“Oh, captain, before I forget.” Rarity pulled something covered in a piece of cloth from under the table and placed it in front of Mays “I took some time after dinner to finish up with that little project we talked about.”

“I’m guessing you mean the strap for my sword?”

“Of course. Well, I may have gone a bit overboard on the definition of strap, but it’s still the same principle. Go on, have a look.” Mays pulled the piece of cloth off his sword. The sword itself was unchanged, but a wooden frame resembling a brace was attached to one side. There were a few joints connecting the sword to the frame, and a quick prod showed that the sword could be unhitched if needed.

“So, how does it work?”

“Well, you just slip it onto your foreleg there.” Mays did as instructed, sliding the brace onto his foreleg. The sword fit snugly against his leg, even if the tip scraped against his jacket a little “Don’t worry about the tip; Twilight enchanted your sword the other day so that when it’s stored like this you won’t cut anything.”

“That’s...”

“Don’t say it; I may be paranoid about a lot of things, but shredding your coat and bleeding out would be the worst possible thing. Besides, I think you look much better in blue than red. If the scraping annoys you, just adjust those two straps there.” Rarity pointed at the two straps with her horn.

“Thanks you, but this is a bit more sophisticated than I was expecting.”

“Oh, there’s more. Fluttershy, if you would be so kind as to step back.” Fluttershy did so. “Now then, if you would raise your right hoof and think about... I don’t know, drawing your sword.” Mays nodded and concentrated on his sword for a bit. There was a pause before the sword snapped forward, startling everypony in the room (especially Fluttershy) except Rarity and Twilight.

“Sorry if it’s a little sudden,” Rarity said “Twilight and I could never figure out how to make the action a bit slower.”

“But how did it know I wanted to draw my sword?”

“I cast a spell that links your mind to the sword.” Twilight said “I use that spell sometimes when I don’t want to use too much magical energy studying.”

“I see... so if I wanted to put this away?”

“Just think about putting it away.” Mays paused for a moment, and the sword collapsed back into its original position, only without the suddenness that it had taken to draw it. “Now we just need to teach you to balance on your back legs for extended periods of time.”

“That might take too long.”

“We’ll think of something.” Twilight finished drinking her coffee and set the mug aside. “I just need to brush my mane out and then we can meet up with Stone Bastion.”

“Take all the time you need.”

Mays and Twilight followed Stone Bastion farther into the palace. Guards were becoming less frequent, and Mays noted quite a few more attendants and even some young foals running about.

“Don’t mind the foals; my father set up a system of caretakers to watch after the children of my servants while they work.” Stone Bastion said.

“Oh, you mean like a daycare?” Twilight asked.

“I suppose.” Mays looked at the foals again. Most paid them no mind, but a few of the younger ones watched him and Twilight, with one or two following behind the two Equestrians.

“Why haven’t you tried to make contact with Equestria earlier?” Mays asked.

“Fear, mainly. Many of my predecessors believed that Equestria might try and absorb us back into their country. I personally find those fears a bit silly, but there are many who vehemently oppose any attempt to reestablish contact. Iron Spar is probably the staunchest isolationist I know.”

“I noticed. He was really suspicious about why we were here. Is there someone else that is less of a problem?”

“While Iron Spar’s views on the world are less than satisfactory, he is one of the best officers the navy has. I can’t just get rid of him and immediately find a replacement.”

“What about Tradewind?” Twilight asked “He seems like a good pony.”

“He is, but he’s a bit reckless at times. No doubt my daughter told you about his cliff diving experience.”

“She mentioned that last night.”

“I see. Also, I’m not a big supporter of nepotism; it tends to create subordination amongst lower ranks.”

“I have an issue like that with one of my officers.” Mays said.

“You should see to it that you find a new officer; you don’t want to have a mutiny on your hooves.”

“Believe me, I’ve tried.” Stone Bastion nodded before stopping in front of a large door.

“Here is the Pathfinder library; it contains every map, book, play or poem written or collected by Ponaeans. If you wish to take something with you, the librarians inside know several spells to create an identical copy to whatever you’d like. I would show you around more, but I have my Granddaughter’s Dedication Ceremony to attend to. If you have any questions, feel free ask before you cast off.” Stone Bastion turned and left. Mays looked over at Twilight.

“Look for any maps that might give us a lead on where the Crescent is.”

“Do you mind if I look at some other stuff as well?”

“Sure, just remember to look for anything about the Crescent.”

“Okay.” Twilight used her magic to open the door. Inside was a massive room dominated by a huge circular table. A map of Ponaeus and the surrounding islands was carved into the top of the table, with small flags representing different cities. The table was surrounded by row after row of bookshelves, each one filled with hundreds of books and maps.

“There’s got to be hundreds of years of history here...” Twilight said, her voice no more than a whisper. “I... I don’t even know where to begin.”

“I’ve always found the beginning the best place to start.” Mays said “Remember to keep looking for the-” Mays noticed that Twilight had run off down one of the aisles, the unicorn only a speck amongst the darkened columns. He shrugged as best he could and walked over to the table. He frowned; none of the locations labeled on the map meant anything to him and merely added to his confusion. Fortunately, a unicorn stallion noticed this and approached.

“May I help you, sir?” the unicorn asked.

“Can you find me anything mentioning the Obsidian Crescent?”

“I’m not sure; most of the records here on magical items regard those that have already been found. But I think I know something that might help.” The unicorn trotted off down another aisle. A minute later he returned carrying a book and a few scrolls in his magic. Mays took the book and set it down on the table.

“ ‘The Travel Journal of Pathfinder the Unicorn, Concerning My Trip to the Nations of the World and Other Territories’... Long title.”

“That might contain some information to your liking.” The unicorn said “I also pulled out several maps Pathfinder made on his journeys. I hope I was of help.”

“Thank you.” while the unicorn walked off, Mays opened the book to a random page and began reading

May 23rd, 1324 A.F. blown off course by out of season storm... I suppose we’ll have to skip re-establishing contact with Equestria and continue on. Ran into several ships filled with brutish creatures called Diamond Dogs. They paid us little mind, although they seemed very interested in the various trinkets I had brought as peace offerings to newly discovered nations... Will make note of this in case further contact is made.

“He was right about that one.” Mays flipped a few pages.

June 7th, 1324 A.F. I must admit, while the residents of the Ottomare Empire are harsh in most things, they are great for hospitality; there was much dancing and I think the first mate got roped into a marriage proposal. I’m not the one to deny his happiness, so I suppose I’ll have to find a new first mate.

What really intrigues me is their mythology. They believe in something they call Tirek, but refrain from describing anything about the beast. They say he’s a great demon who challenged Güneş kral (That is their name for Solaris, I suppose) for control of the world. To quote from their scripture: “And the Great Demon Tirek, amassing his armies of beasts, arose and challenged the Sun King; The Moon fell and the Demon fled, waiting for his time of vengeance”. They don’t speak much of what else happened.

Mays searched his thoughts a bit, trying to connect to any other religions that had similar stories. Most did, but none said the offending demon got away. He flipped a few more pages and kept reading.

July 23rd, 1324 A.F. Neighpan is an interesting place with a high sense of honor. I admire that in a pony. They also seem to know of the Ottomare Empire... they are not on the best of terms however.

They do seem to know a bit about this demon Tirek that has been troubling me since we left the Ottomare Empire. Unlike our sand loving friends, these ponies seem more open about him; they call him by some name I can barely pronounce, let alone write out, and say he’s some kind of shape changer that commands the dead and all the evil beasts of the world... they said nothing of Solaris or The Moon, however.

“A better description would be nice.” Mays flipped again.

September 1st, 1324 A.F. More open ocean... I don’t mind, but after a month of sailing with no sign of land the sailors are getting antsy. I personally could do for a nice beach to walk on.

The next entry he read, however, contained more information than he could have hoped for

April 5th, 1325 A.F. Given our current positioning we are only a few days outside of our home archipelago... my hooves are trembling as I write this. We landed on an island sometime in the morning, and after searching we found an altar. Closer study showed it to be covered in carvings of Ancient Equestrian writing; even my linguist could not translate it, it was that old. The altar gives off powerful magics, on a scale that not even I could hope to harness without shattering my mind like a twig. In a bout of stupidity I touched it, and it sent me a vision: a massive green... thing, striking out at a black alicorn. The alicorn fell, but the green mass was consumed by a wave of light.

I believe that the green mass was Tirek, or whatever the Equestrians call him. The black alicorn eludes me, but a stop by the Royal Archives should help, I hope.

Then I saw Solaris himself standing over a filly, weeping. The vision ended before I could learn more. I tried to reconnect, but every time I did the magic of the altar would throw me back. I cast a few spells, hoping to glean more information, but the result was the same: the magics of the altar would repel my own, sometimes throwing me to the ground. I wanted to keep trying, but my linguist and first mate suggested giving up less I kill myself. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, I conceded and returned to the ship.

Perhaps that altar contains some magic only the gods are allowed to harness, possibly the mythical Elements of Harmony... If the king is willing, I could guide an expedition to Equestria to see if they have any information.

“That must be where the Crescent is resting.” Mays looked at the map, trying to locate where exactly the island Pathfinder found was. When he failed to find it, he flagged down the unicorn that gave him the book. “Where is this island?”

“Somewhere in the Islands of the Moon.” The unicorn pointed to a crescent shaped chain of islands “Pathfinder never gave an exact location as to where this island was.”

“I want a copy of this page, and a copy of every map Pathfinder made, especially ones dealing with those islands.”

“Yes sir. Just give me a moment to locate some extra paper.”

Twilight was in her element. Stacks of notes surrounded her, and she rifled through book after book, finding any and all information that could possibly have been of use. Her excitement over learning about Ponaeus was trumping her normal meticulous nature, and she was recklessly tossing books over her shoulders in her mad rush to learn.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Twilight looked up and saw Mays standing behind her, a saddlebag filled with papers resting on his back.

“Oh no, I’m just doing research. You can join me if you’d like.”

“I don’t see why not.” The captain brushed a few books aside and sat down next to Twilight “What is it that you’re reading now?”

“Just some more about this pony Pathfinder.” Twilight said, not looking up from her book “He was this great explorer rivaling Star Swirl the Bearded in fame. He claimed to have met Solaris and Celestia in a dream once and spent a few years traveling the world to find new cultures.”

“I looked through his journal. He really traveled around.”

“That’s not even the half of it. His write-ups on religion in the Ottomare Empire and Neighpan are much more detailed than anything I’ve ever seen. All the stories about Celestia and Luna, all the tales about them protecting ponies, everything!” she sighed “Do you ever wish you could go back in time and meet some of these famous ponies face-to-face?”

“No. I’m a sailor, I tend to think to the future more than the past.”

“Oh... But all those places you’ve visited, they must have stirred your curiosity a bit.”

“A little, I suppose.”

“See, the problem with you is that you’re too focused on being a captain. You have to loosen up a little.” Twilight turned back to her book.

“I do try and loosen up.” Mays said.

“Sure you do...”

“Hey, at least I’m not like Nolan.”

“Just because you don’t get on everypony’s case about everything doesn’t mean you loosen up. I saw you at the party back in Ponyville and the only time you seemed to be enjoying yourself was when you were talking with those foals about your past adventures. Why can’t you be more like that?” there was a pause “If it’s a personal reason we don’t have to talk about it.”

“No, it’s fine. I guess I’m still adjusting.” There was another pause. “Twilight, what else do you know about religion in the Ottomare Empire.” Twilight set her book aside and turned to Mays.

“Not much; they call Celestia and Luna a couple of names I can barely pronounce, they worship the Royal Family as gods, and they have much stricter laws than Equestria. That’s about the extent of my knowledge.”

“Have you ever heard of some demon by the name of Tirek?” Twilight frowned.

“No.”

“Celestia never told you anything about it?”

“No. She never really talked much about the Ottomare Empire, except when talking about politics. I wasn’t interested in politics, so I never paid much attention during those lessons.”

“Did she ever say anything about a major cataclysm or war in the past?”

“No.” Twilight paused, perusing through her memory in case she forgot something. “Well, there was something...”

“What?”

“The Fall of the First Golden Age. Something happened shortly after Luna was born; many ponies were killed and Celestia’s father ended up stepping down as king once Celestia and Luna were old enough. Most records were destroyed from that era, so I don’t know what the cataclysm was.”

“Maybe it has something to do with this Tirek.” Twilight chuckled a little.

“I don’t think there’s some sort of evil demon running around trying to kill the princesses. Discord comes close, but he was more for causing chaos than slaying gods.”

“I don’t know; killing a god would cause a lot of chaos...”

“But he liked to rub his victories in ponies’ faces. You can’t really do that when somepony’s dead.” Mays nodded in agreement.

“Maybe you should ask Princess Celestia about it when we get back to Equestria.”

“I don’t want to sound intrusive.” Twilight said “I may be her personal student, but it might be some private issue she doesn’t want to talk about.”

“I see.” Mays stood to leave “I’m going to look around more; there might be some more information that I missed.”

“Okay.” Twilight turned back to her book before a few thoughts perked her interested. She searched back through the pile of books until she found a large book titled ‘Guide to Demons and Mythological Creatures’. She flipped a few pages and found her entry.

Tirek (also spelt Tirac): a demon originating from Ottomare and Saddle Arabian mythology, Tirek is a demon of destruction often seen in control of dragons or other beastly creatures. In certain sects Tirek is closely associated with storms and tidal waves. Due to superstitions of accidentally summoning Tirek, there remains no image of this demon.

“Well, that could have been better,” Twilight muttered. She wrote the definition down for later and set the book aside “I think there’s a book back in Ponyville that I can cross reference this.”

Twilight paused for a moment and began thinking. I hope everything’s okay in Ponyville. Spike’s taking care of the library, but what if there’s some major crisis going on right now... I’m sure Princess Celestia or Princess Luna could handle it. But what if it’s some local disaster, like the dam breaking or something... I bet there are other ponies that can handle it, but still!... Maybe I’m just overreacting to all this. Twilight noted that her head had started hurting again.

Yeah, I think I’m just overreacting... I wonder if there’s any more mythological creatures we should be worrying about?

The last shipment of supplies was on its way to the Concordia, and the only things remaining back on shore were Mays, Twilight and the others. The sailors were content to leave as soon as possible, while the six mares had a few goodbyes left.

“I hope that all of you can return soon.” Rising Dawn said. Twilight finished putting the way the last of her books and turned to face the Princess.

“So do I; there’s still so much I want to learn about your city.”

“Perhaps a longer stay would help.”

“Yeah... preferably one where I didn’t drink too much wine.” Rising Dawn laughed.

“Same thing happened when I had my first drink, except without casting all the dreamy eyes at every colt in sight.” Twilight blushed and turned to get on the boat when she noticed something fuzzy brushing against her left leg. She looked down and saw Rising Dawn’s daughter brushing her head against her leg. The filly looked up and giggled before returning to brushing up against the older mare.

“Um...”

“Oh, sorry about that.” Rising Dawn used her magic to pick her daughter up. The filly cried in protest, but calmed down after a few soothing words from her mother “If you’re interested, there are many different meanings for a filly nuzzling one’s legs.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Usually it’s a sign of good luck, and if it was your front legs she was nuzzling then that’s a sign of good fertility.” Twilight laughed.

“I don’t think I want a filly of my own just yet.” Twilight got into the boat before she remembered one last thing. “What did you decide to name her?”

“Well, we talked about it for a bit, and we decided to name her Concordia Sun.”

“Ooh, is that because she was born on a ship? Because that’s always a good reason to name a foal!” Pinkie said from her position at the back of the boat.

“That, and I always want to remember the ship that saved my life, as well as hers.” Rising Dawn smiled again. “I wish you all a safe journey and I hope you find the Obsidian Crescent.”

“Goodbye Princess.” Rising Dawn turned and left while the boat began to head back to the Concordia.

“Hey Twilight.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yes Rainbow?”

“Do you think one of these days you can teach all of us ‘dreamy eyes’?” Twilight looked away.

“Why would you be interested?”

“I know a few colts around Ponyville, and I want to see how you can attract them all.”

“Come now, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, poking the Pegasus in the side “You mustn't pressure Twilight into a situation that she feels uncomfortable about. That was all a misunderstanding involving too much alcohol.”

“Yeah, she was proclaiming that to the entire city.”

“I was?” Twilight grabbed Rainbow Dash by the head and pulled her closer “What did I say?”

“Uh, that you liked Captain Mays or something like that... I don’t know, I was trying to get some sleep so I couldn’t really hear you.” Twilight let go of Rainbow Dash’s head and sat down again. “Did I say something wrong again?”

“Of course not, Rainbow; I’m sure Twilight understands fully what she did.” Rarity looked at Twilight “You do, don’t you?”

“Yeah... I guess so.”

Chapter 12

Now that school's out for me I can devote more time to this story. I'm seeing at least two more chapters in the future, and possibly a sequel to tie up loose ends and plotlines.
Anyway, I still own nothing, and comments and likes are welcome. Thanks again to everyone who has viewed this story

It had been two days since the Concordia left Ponaeus, and things aboard ship had fallen back to their usual routines: Rainbow Dash and Applejack helped out around the ship (although in Rainbow’s case, it usually amounted to not napping where crewmembers were working), Fluttershy would tend to the birds that visited the ship, Pinkie Pie did whatever she was in the mood for (usually pretending to be a pirate), Rarity would either sunbathe or join Fluttershy, and Twilight spent her time trying to learn more about the sailor ponies and their lives prior to coming to Equestria. Mays and the other officers kept to themselves for a bit, and Nolan was content to silently pout about the whole situation.

“Twilight, can you help me with something?” Mays asked.

“Sure. What’s the problem?” Twilight noticed that Mays had another sword resting against his left leg. “What’s with the sword?”

“Well, you said earlier that your combat skills are lacking a bit, and I need to practice using this brace. So I was wondering if you’d be interested in being a sparring partner.”

“Me? A sparring partner? I suppose I could try for a bit, but I don’t know the first thing about sparring.”

“You’ve never read anything about fencing?”

“... Wait, there was that one book my brother left out the day he signed up for the Royal Guards; it had a bit about swordplay and how to defend from potential attacks by griffins or Diamond Dogs.”

“Do you think you can remember anything from that book?”

“That was fourteen years ago.” there was a pause.

“I think we can work this out. Take the other sword.” Twilight used her magic and did so. Mays walked out to a clear space on deck and flipped open the brace. “Now, I want you to attack me.”

Attack him... That sounds easy. Using her magic again, Twilight swung the sword at Mays, the captain raising his own sword to block. However, since Twilight was not yet used to wielding a sword with her magic, she put too much force behind her swing and sent Mays flying. Her concentration broke and the sword clattered to the deck.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” Twilight said.

“That’s okay; that’s why we’re practicing. Pick the sword up and attack me again.” Mays got back into position and Twilight picked up her sword. Using less energy this time, she made another swing. Mays swatted the sword away and rushed forward, and in a panic Twilight dropped the sword yet again and shrunk back.

“Is something wrong?” Mays asked.

“Sorry, I’ve just never been charged by somepony with a sword before.”

“Oh. I didn’t mean to startle you. You’ll get used to it after awhile.” Mays backed up and got into position, Twilight once again picking up the sword.

This time, Mays struck first; he rushed forward, swinging his right front leg in a downwards arc. Twilight raised her own sword and sidestepped the oncoming captain, accidentally tripping him as he rushed by. Mays stumbled and fell in a heap on the deck, but hopped back to his hooves just in time to intercept a thrust from Twilight. He knocked her sword away and rested the blade against her neck.

“Are you hiding some secret skills from me?” he asked, collapsing the sword back into his brace and standing on all fours again.

“No I’m not. Why do you ask?”

“For somepony who hasn’t picked up a sword in her lifetime, you’re not that bad of a fighter.”

“Really? I just felt like I was flailing around.”

“Give it some time, that flailing might actually produce something. And don’t worry about form or anything; most of the sailors here, myself included, are self-taught when it comes to fighting.” That makes a bit of sense, Twilight thought. She used her magic to pick up the sword one more time.

“Do you think we have some more time to keep practicing?” she asked.

“Let’s find out.” Mays looked up into the rigging. “Have we spotted anything?”

“No sir.” one of the Pegasi on watch shouted back.

“Yeah, we have time.” They were about to continue sparring when there was a crash near the stern of the ship. “Now what?”

“I hope Rainbow Dash remembered to pull up.” Twilight said.

“Uh, Twilight, I’m right here.” Rainbow Dash said, landing next to the two other ponies.

“Well, let’s go find out what’s the problem.” the three ponies made their way towards the stern. When they reached the stern, they saw that Fluttershy’s bird feeder had been knocked over, its contents spilled out over the deck and on Nolan.

“This is your fault, you know?” Nolan said, pointing at Fluttershy. “If you hadn’t set this thing up in the first place then no one would be covered in this filth.”

“I-I’m sorry.” Fluttershy said, backing away “Nopony complained about it before...”

“Because no one saw that it was a hazard!”

“What’s going on here?” Nolan and Fluttershy looked at Mays.

“She set this contraption up in an incredibly dangerous spot and I tripped over it.”

“I didn’t mean to-”

“Quiet you.”

“Nolan, I really don’t see what the problem is; I said she could put the bird feeder there, and up until now nopony ever-”

“Will you stop that! I am sick and tired of hearing you and everyone else use such language as ‘somepony’ or ‘anypony’. Can’t anyone speak like a normal person anymore?”

“Why bother, then no one would understand a thing I’d say.”

“I should have assumed that earlier. Now, given that this pony here has clearly made an attempt on someone’s life-”

“What.” Twilight said. Nolan and Mays ignored her.

“I demand that she be punished properly.”

“What would you have me do?”

“You know the punishment for disrespecting an officer. She deserves thirty lashes.”

“That’s an idiotic idea; I’m not going to whip an innocent pony-”

“Whip?” Fluttershy and Twilight said, shocked. Again, the two officers paid them little mind.

“- Just because she spilled bird seed on you.”

“So you won’t take discipline into your own hands. I should have expected as much from someone like you. You’ve been corrupted by this society, and now you’re trying to spread dissonance to the rest of these men.”

“‘Spread Dissonance’? I haven’t seen any mutineers yet... besides you.”

“I am the only one who is willing to maintain a sense of normality, and you call me a mutineer?”

“I have my reasons. You have complained about every single thing that has gone wrong, you think I should be a trigger happy tyrant and whip half the crew to death because they looked at you funny, you have shown nothing but total disregard for the men since the first day you entered my command, and you think that the world revolves around you and everything must go your way. You constantly try to undermine my authority, and you’ve insulted our companions multiple times over the course of this trip.”

“You consider them equals? They’re just a bunch of animals!”

“Have you seen yourself? You’re no more human than this ship.”

“I will get back to Boston, even if it means I have to be the antagonist for a little while. I’d even steal that stupid necklace you have been obsessing over.”

“You were going to steal the Obsidian Crescent?” Twilight asked.

“I would destroy an entire city if it meant I could go back home.”

“Nolan...”

“I will not bow into your commands and listen to that trollop of a princess that you are so subservient to.”

“Nolan.”

“Furthermore, once we do get back, I will make it so you can never walk down a street without people-”

“NOLAN! Shut up!” the lieutenant did so, although Twilight could see his jaw twitching. Mays took a step forward and glared at Nolan.

“I have tried to put up with you,” Mays began, his voice much darker than usual “I have tried reasoning with you, I’ve tried ordering you to back down, I’ve even tried to be nice, but you continue to resist and act like the spoiled aristocrat you are. Now you’re going about insulting the closest thing we have to allies, mock their ruler, and threaten to steal a powerful artifact for your own personal gain.”

“I hardly consider-”

“Silence.” Mays took another step forward “I’m only going to say this once. When we get back to Equestria, I want you gone.”

“... What?”

“Gone. I’m terminating your commission as soon as we reach land. You leave all your stuff here and disappear. I never want to see you anywhere near this ship, or any ship, ever again. Write all the letters you want because no one will ever hear them. Now, I suggest you go down to your cabin and think about what you’re going to do without a job.” Nolan sputtered for a little bit, trying to come up with a coherent sentence. Eventually, he found one.

“So, you’ve finally fallen to their corruption.”

“That’s enough, Nolan.”

“Now you are removing the only person willing to execute any sort of discipline in this god-forsaken world. I used to think you could be a capable commander, but now I see that you are woefully unfit for commanding.”

“I said that’s enough, Nolan.”

“Is that the same thing that you said when you shot that little tramp in Algiers?” Twilight was getting nervous; she noticed that Mays’ muscles had been twitching ever so slightly, and that he was scratching the deck with his right leg. She looked for anything that might defuse the situation, but something was holding her back. She silently prayed that nothing too bad would come of this, and maybe the two officers would part ways and continue on.

She was completely caught off guard by what happened next.

Mays threw himself at Nolan, knocking the lieutenant on his back. After pinning him with his left hoof, Mays raised his right hoof and slammed it down on Nolan’s face, a loud crack echoing across the ship as Mays’ hoof collided with Nolan’s skull. He threw his hoof back once more and struck again, this time a thin stream of blood trailing off Nolan’s face. Each strike was harder than the last, with more and more blood staining the captain’s hooves. Nolan tried to bring his forelegs up in an attempt to defend himself, but Mays switched to his left hoof and continued his attack.

“SHE! WAS NOT! A TRAMP!!” Mays screamed, switching to hitting Nolan with both hooves now. He reared back for another strike, but an aura of blue magic enveloped him and pulled him away from the battered lieutenant.

“Captain, control yourself!” Hacksaw said, running over to the scene “Nolan’s an ass, sure, but you can’t beat him to death for that.”

“Why not? He deserves it for everything he’s done!” Mays thrashed about, trying to break free of the medic’s restraints. Nolan spat out some blood before getting back on his hooves.

“See?” the lieutenant said, his voice no more than a hoarse croak “You are unstable, unfit. You are a disgrace to every officer everywhere.”

“You’re no better!” Mays shot back and continued to struggle. “I should have left you on that island with Blackheart when I had the chance!” Mays kept thrashing, but he could not break free of Hacksaw’s magic.

“Captain,” Twilight said, stepping forward “You already gave your punishment; he doesn’t need anything more.” Mays stopped thrashing and looked at Twilight “Is it really that important that you’re willing to kill somepony because of it?” there was a pause. Mays hung there, suspended in Hacksaw’s magic, just staring at Twilight. She thought that he might lash out at her now, but instead he just hung his head.

“... No. But I wish it was.” Hacksaw let go of Mays and the captain fell to the deck. Twilight readied her own magic in case Mays acted up again, but instead he walked past her and went below deck.

“Uh, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said “What exactly happened here?”

“I... I don’t really know.”

“First rule when sailing with Captain Mays.” Hacksaw said, turning his attention to the beaten lieutenant “Never mention Algiers. This idiot forgot that rule.” He looked at Nolan “Were you trying to get yourself killed?”

“If mentioning a bit from his past is unreasonable-”

“Don’t start with that or I will finish the job he started.” Hacksaw pulled several bandages out of a saddlebag and began wrapping them around Nolan’s head.

“Why is Algiers bad?” Twilight asked.

“You’ll have to ask the captain about that. I wasn’t serving with him at the time, so I don’t know exactly what transcribed.”

“How can you not know?” Nolan asked “Every man in the Navy knows about Captain Mays’ little episode.” Nolan flinched as Hacksaw purposely tightened a bandage too much.

“My previous threat still stands.” The medic said, tearing another piece of fabric.

“If this is getting into deep seated emotional problems, I’m not going to be anypony’s shoulder to cry on.” Rainbow Dash took off and disappeared into the rigging. Fluttershy began to clean up the mess, with a few sailors pitching in. Twilight decided to help as well, using her magic to pick out the smaller seeds the other ponies may have missed, but she something was troubling her.

What happened to Captain Mays that made him so angry?

The next day, Mays did not come out on deck. The crew acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary, but slight changes in behavior told Twilight that something was wrong. Smith and Richard said it had something to do with Algiers, but failed to specify what. She tried asking what exactly happened at this “Algiers”, but nopony was willing or able to give an accurate description.

Around lunchtime, when Mays still failed to show up, Twilight decided to take matters into her own hooves.

She stood outside the door leading to Mays’ cabin. She decided against entering, since Mays might take it as an invasion of privacy, so she knocked three times before stepping back. When there was no response, she knocked again.

“Who is it?” a voice called from inside.

“It’s me, Twilight. I just wanted to see if you were okay.” there was a pause.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound like it.”

“Really, I am.”

“Captain, something’s troubling you, and as your friend I want to help.”

“Friend... no one’s really called me ‘friend’ before. Usually it’s ‘Captain’ or ‘sir’, never friend. The only time I ever get called ‘friend’ is when my enemies are mocking me... or when I’m with you ponies.” Twilight was not sure how to respond; she had had her own issues with understanding friendship, but she had grown out of them fairly quickly once she arrived in Ponyville. She decided to set that train of thought aside for now.

“You are my friend, and friends listen to each other’s problems. What’s wrong?” there was silence. Twilight wondered if there was another way she could go about this, but Mays started talking before she could think of another way.

“It was back when I had my second ship. I was stationed in the Mediterranean and we made a stop in a city called Algiers. Big city, lots of people there.” Twilight knew better than to ask what exactly he meant; she had gotten used to the sailors using strange words “Anyway, I was invited to eat at some nobleman’s house during the visit. Food was lousy, but there was this girl there. She had long black hair and green eyes... and she smiled at me. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I asked her if I could see her again.

“Over the next week or so, we crossed paths a few times. She’d talk to me about life in Algiers, I’d talk about being a sailor. She was a bit shy, but intelligent; she was probably the smartest woman I ever met... You remind me of her a bit.

“Anyway, the night before I have to leave, she comes and asks if she can come with me back to America. She always wanted to see America, and she said she’d love to see it with me. I said that I couldn’t right now, but if and when I got called back, I’d come and fetch her.”

“Did you... y’know, love her?” more silence.

“I think so. We never really discussed anything like that... and we never got the chance.

“Two weeks later, my squadron attacks a fleet of pirates and scatters them. My ship chases some of them for a few days until they seek refuge in Algiers. I send an ultimatum to the governor demanding that the pirates be turned over, but the governor said I was in no position to make demands. I... got angry.

“I ordered my cannoneers to begin firing on civilian housing and sent the sailors and marines to sack the city. Two hours of complete destruction, and I felt good. I called myself ‘The Great Conqueror’ and claimed Algiers for America.

“But it started to get out of hand; when I sent word for the sailors on shore to return to the ship, they wouldn’t listen and continued to sack the city. I got mad again and came ashore to force them back on the ship. When I landed, someone took a shot at me. I fired back...” there was a long pause. Twilight thought she heard sniffling, as if Mays was trying to stifle a cry.

“It was her. I shot her right between the eyes. Dead. Only girl I’d ever cared for, and I killed her. Bam. Just like that, and it was over. Last thing I ever saw of her, and her eyes were fixed on me as if she was asking ‘Why’. I asked myself that same question a few times later, once I’d gotten my men back under control.

“That night, after we left, El Fantasma appeared to me. He ‘congratulated’ me on sacking Algiers, said it was just another step towards becoming like him. I tried to drive him off, but he showed me... her. She was crying, suffering, asking me why I killed her. He said it was because I thought she was a waste, scum of the earth, a whore. I struck out in a rage, trying to get rid of him, but once again I only saw myself shooting her.

“I broke; four days just sitting in my cabin, barely any food or water. I was ready to turn in my commission and leave the navy, but our ship got captured by the British and my instincts kicked back in. Now every time someone brings up the Algiers Incident... well, you saw what happened.” Twilight noticed that she was pawing at the ground. She stopped and took a step back.

“Almost every night, El Fantasma comes back and goads me about Algiers. That’s why I want to destroy the Cursed: to stop him from reminding me of that day.”

“Have you forgiven yourself?”

“How can I? I’m the one who screwed up; it’s my fault she died.”

“I realize that. But,” Twilight took a step forward “If you can’t forgive yourself, wouldn’t he still win in the end?” there was another pause.

“What?”

“It sounds like he’s trying to make you feel guilty and slip up, and make you angry with yourself. And I think that every time you get angry about it, you step closer to joining them. That’s what he’s after right?”

“... I suppose so.”

“Besides, would she want to see you like this, mulling over a mistake you made when you were younger? Wouldn’t she want you to move on?” another pause. Twilight started to paw at the floor again. In her mind, she thought that she had screwed up big, and that everything she had said was wildly out of context. There was the sound of hooves and the door slowly opened.

“You’re right.” Mays said “She wouldn’t want to see me like this. I’m sorry for how I acted the other day.”

“That’s okay. You’ve come to terms with it now.” Twilight gave Mays a smile. He gave a small chuckle and smiled back. He’s actually kind of cute when he smiles, Twilight thought.

“Captain!” Smith called from above “We’ve reached the islands.”

The Islands of the Moon were not much to look at; asides from sparse vegetation on the closest one the islands looked like nothing more than small piles of volcanic rock. Clouds had blown in, blocking the view of most of the islands, and strong winds threatened to throw the Concordia off course.

“I didn’t know my personal issues had this kind of effect on the weather.” Mays said.

“This started blowing in before you caved Nolan’s face in.” Smith said, landing to prevent getting battered by the wind “We’ve had to stow a few sails before anything bad happened.”

“I tried breaking up the storm,” Rainbow Dash said “But every time I tried it just threw me back down here.”

“Wait, I think I have an idea.” Twilight galloped back down below deck.

“So, you’ve calmed down, sir?” Smith asked.

“Yes Smith. Twilight helped a little...”

“You didn’t get all mushy or anything, did you?”

“No Rainbow Dash, we did not get ‘mushy’. Why would you be interested?”

“I’ve been stuck on a boat with Rarity for almost two weeks; she’s starting to rub off on me... Wait that’s bad. I don’t want to be like Rarity.”

“That’s not all that's bad,” Twilight said “Look at the Elements.” Mays had never gotten a chance to see the Elements of Harmony, except the drawings in that reference guide Twilight carried around everywhere she went. Looking at the five necklaces and giant tiara, each with its own gem cut in the shape of the Bearer’s cutie mark, he admitted he was impressed. All six were flashing with some sort of magical energy, the pulses strong enough that Twilight’s magic was straining to restrain the Elements.

“I take it that’s not supposed to happen?” Smith asked.

“This has never happened before. I think it’s the Crescent; Celestia said that it attracted magical users, so maybe it has a similar effect on the Elements.”

“Are you feeling anything out of the ordinary, magic-wise?”

“Well, my horn started getting magic impulses at random intervals when we reached the islands, and then the Elements started acting up.”

“I have an idea.” Smith said. “You said the Crescent does weird things with magic. We can use the Elements like some kind of beacon to lead us to where the Crescent is. We did something similar a few weeks ago when we found that little statue near Tortuga.”

“You mean use the magical impulses to direct the ship?” Twilight asked. “That should be rather easy; I can just wave the Elements around and try to pick up magic impulses.”

“Twilight, do you know anything about navigation?”

“A little, but if it’s just directions I shouldn’t have to do much.”

“Okay. Go stand at the bow and hold the Elements somewhere where we can see them.” Twilight nodded and carried the Elements to the bow. Mays looked at Smith “Go to the helm and point the ship in whatever direction she tells us.”

“Yes sir.” Smith walked off. Mays decided to join Twilight at the bow and began walking in that direction, followed closely by Rainbow Dash. Rarity and Applejack joined them soon after.

“So y’all are thinkin’ the Elements are screwin’ up the weather?” Applejack asked.

“Either that or the Crescent.”

“Well, not to sound like Pinkie Pie,” Rarity began “But that’s a bit predictable, don’t you think? I mean, magical artifacts that affect the weather when brought within close proximity. That sounds like something out of a boring fantasy book.”

“Obviously we haven’t been living in the same stories.” Mays said.

“But you seem rather calm about all this.” Rarity continued. “Why?”

“Because he’s a super awesome sailor, that’s why!” Pinkie said, popping up in front of Captain Mays. “He’s probably found a bunch of cool magic stuff when he’s out fighting pirates. You have, haven’t you?”

“A few bits and pieces here and there, but most of the ‘cool’ artifacts tend to attract trouble from imperialists and the Cursed. Besides, usually they only really work once or twice.”

“Well that’s no fun. We’d all be in trouble if the Elements only worked once.” Mays and the others reached the bow, taking position behind Twilight. Twilight raised the Elements into the air and began to move them back and forth, trying to get a better reaction from the Elements. At first, nothing more happened, but after one sweep the Elements began to flicker faster when passing one of the islands.

“The pulses are strongest here.” She said.

“Set course in that direction.” Mays shouted back to the sailors at the helm.

“Aye sir.” the Concordia began to turn and more importantly gain speed, and as they near the island the Elements began to flicker faster and faster.

“This won’t do anything life threatening, will it?” Rarity asked.

“Just because I destroy one oven everypony thinks everything I touch is dangerous.” Twilight grumbled. Mays stepped back from Twilight and looked back at the Elements. They had stopped flickering and were glowing now, with each Element giving off a different color based on the gem planted inside it.

“Richard.” Mays called out, turning away from the main group.

“Captain?”

“I want you to get one of the smaller boats ready. I’ll be taking Twilight and her friends ashore.”

“Should I find some marines to go with you?”

“No.”

“Taking more risks I see? I’ll get the boat ready and make sure the boys cover you when you land.”

“Thank you.” Mays turned back to the group “Twilight, you can row a boat, right?”

“It’s simple telekinetic manipulation of the oars; any unicorn could do it easily.”

“Then you’re rowing. So do you have a fix on the position yet?” as if to answer his question, a small ball of light appeared in the middle of the Elements, slowly growing in size. When it was about the size of a large cannonball, a thin rainbow shot out of the ball and struck the island near the top of its highest hill.

“And we have our location. Richard, get that boat ready.”

At Richard’s insistence, two marines accompanied the party to the island. While the marines remained to guard the boat, Twilight lead the group farther into the interior of the island. Twilight had distributed the Elements to their respective owner, reasoning that they could control their powers a little better than just herself.

“Now, we should be looking for something like a temple or an altar.” Twilight said.

“Hey, I can just fly up and look around.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took flight, but a powerful gust of wind slammed into her from the south and sent her tumbling head over hooves into the ground.

“Silly Dashie, the Crescent doesn’t want you to cheat.” Pinkie said “What would the fun be if you just flew up there by yourself?” Rainbow Dash scowled at Pinkie before joining the group again.

“Twilight?” Mays said.

“Yes?”

“I remember reading something about this altar. I don’t think it’s safe for anypony to touch it.”

“Hopefully the Elements can destabilize the magic before somepony gets hurt.”

“How, exactly? You’re not just going to wave the Elements over the altar and expect everything to work, are you?”

“Did you have to do that with some of the artifacts you found?”

“... Sometimes.”

“To answer your question, no, waving the Elements around would be a waste.” Pinkie looked like she was about to say something, but decided them finding the altar was more important.

The altar itself was nothing more than a giant stone table that appeared to have been carved out of a boulder. It was covered in small carvings, with several pictograms spaced in between columns of text depicting various ponies the group could not identify. The altar flickered a little when the ponies approached, but otherwise did not react.

However, it was missing one very important thing...

“Where’s the Crescent?” Mays noted that Twilight had started twitching a little at this turn of events. “It’s supposed to be waiting on the altar. Somepony must have stolen it! Quick, somepony go back to the ship and find my book on trace spells! I’ll stay here and look around.” Twilight rushed towards the altar before being thrown back, a magical barrier flickering around the altar as Twilight collided with it. Fluttershy and Rarity rushed forward to see if Twilight was okay while Mays, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie inspected the barrier.

“And you were the one that said nopony would be injured.” Mays said.

“I’m fine, just a little startled.” Mays looked back at the altar in time to see Pinkie throw herself at the barrier, bouncing off it with a giggle. “At least we know that the magic’s still working. But how could somepony steal the Crescent without getting thrown back like that?”

“Hey Twilight, can we just use the Elements and get out of here?” Rainbow Dash asked “This place is starting to creep me out.”

“I must agree with Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said “This altar is a bit spooky, and I don’t want to risk you or anypony else getting themselves hurt.” Twilight moved closer to the altar, but not close enough to activate the barrier. She circled the altar a few times, cast a spell, then rejoined the group.

“I don’t see any hoofprints besides ours, and the magic traces show that this barrier hasn’t been activated in almost three thousand years.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“Well, we know that the Crescent wasn’t stolen, unless they somehow bypassed the magical barrier, but this is powerful magic were dealing with; nopony besides the Princesses could break through a spell this strong.”

“Pathfinder did say he was able to walk up to it without any problem.” Mays said.

“Yeah, but that was thousands of years ago... when Luna still had the Crescent...” Twilight’s face lit up and she ran back to the group “Okay, we’re going to use the Elements now. Captain, you might want to stand back.”

“Please, don’t tell me what might happen if I don’t.” Mays stepped back while the six mares arranged themselves in a semicircle, with Twilight standing in front of the other five. The wind picked up a little, lashing out at the seven ponies, and small drops of rain started to fall. The ponies paid little mind, focusing instead on the altar before them.

Twilight lowered her head and the crown on her head began to glow. Not sporadically like before, but a steady glow which increased as the spell gained power. The other Elements also started glowing, and there was a faint humming sound that grew as the Elements brightened. Mays shielded his eyes and took another step back, slipping a little on loose rocks.

There was a crack and a giant lightning bolt shot down from the sky and struck the crown in the center. Mays’ first instinct was to rush over and pull Twilight and the others out, but not only had Twilight not shown any concern that her crown had just been struck with lightning, she was actually smiling. He backed off again, but only after detaching his sword from the brace to make sure no lightning sparked and hit him.

Smaller bolts of lightning arced off the main bolt and struck the other Elements. The Elements flashed for a bit before launching the lighting back out, each bolt being absorbed into the star atop Twilight’s crown. The humming intensified before a rainbow-colored lightning bolt shot out of the crown and struck the altar, the resulting explosion throwing Mays and everypony else off their hooves. A wave of magical energy washed over all ponies present, causing their coats to stand on end and small sparks of energy to arc between them.

“I... I think that was supposed to happen.” Twilight said, getting back to her hooves..

“Awesome as that was, I don’t want to do that again.” Rainbow Dash said. Applejack nodded in agreement and trotted off to go find her hat. Rarity, meanwhile, was panicking.

“It took me four hours to comb all the salt out of my mane, and now it’s ruined. Ruined, I say! How am I supposed to go through life looking like this?” She pointed to her mane, which resembled a giant ball of purple string “Could you imagine what everypony would think if they were to see me like this? I would be the laughing stock of Ponyville!”

“Rarity, we don’t have time for that right now.” Rarity opened her mouth to reply, but relaxed a bit and nodded.

“You’re right, Twilight. I suppose my appearance is not high on our list of priorities right now.” Rarity collected herself, straightened out her mane as best she could, and gave a weak smile. Pinkie was grinning from the experience, but otherwise said nothing, and Fluttershy had fainted in shock. Mays decided not to go find where his hat had gone, but he was surprised to see that his sword had stayed in one place.

“Not that that wasn’t impressive, did it actually achieve anything?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. We’ll have to check the altar and see-” Twilight froze, her mouth hanging open. The altar was gone, and in its place was a necklace, hanging in the air by some unseen force. The center pendant was a mix of diamond, obsidian and onyx, held together by a frame of silver and arranged in the shape of a crescent moon. a ring of diamonds surrounded the design, and the whole thing was supported by a large silver chain. Magic sparked off the necklace, forming small representations of the sun and moon before disappearing in the atmosphere.

“The Crescent was inside the altar the whole time?” Twilight said after a long pause. “I should have noticed that earlier.”

“So, is it safe to pick up?”

“I... I hope so.” Twilight used her magic to gently pluck the Crescent out of the air. The necklace offered little resistance, and had stopped sparking as soon as Twilight’s magic closed around it.

“Make sure to put that somewhere where no one will steal it.” Mays said “I don’t think we can trust Nolan to keep to himself and I really don’t want to come back here.”

“I know where I can hide it. Come on, we’d better get back to the ship.”

Unbeknownst to anypony, they were being watched; on the other side of the island, hidden behind a small cliff, the Chum Maker lay moored, its crew awaiting the orders of its captain.

“So, they finally found the Crescent.” Sammy the Skull said to nopony in particular. He chuckled a little and began pacing the deck of the Scorpion Ship “My master’s prediction was off by a few days. Shame he could not enter this world fully; I would have liked to present it to him in person.

“No matter. The storms shall slow them down for a day or two. The other city is a problem; it is too close, and they may seek refuge there if I act too soon.” The pirate pulled out a crudely drawn map and looked at it for a moment.

“There,” he said, jabbing at a part of the map “there is where we’ll make our strike.” he turned to the helm.

“Chart a course to the shoals near their home port, and prep the blade.”

Next chapter, Concordia vs. Chum Maker. Predictions?

Chapter 13

So, now we have the big fight scene. There will be more rant below. In the meantime, read and comment, and likes are appreciated. And the only thing I own are the OCs and possibly the Ottomare Empire, but feel free to use it in any of your fics that need a generic non-Equestria nation of ponies

By the position of the sun the day before, the Concordia was less than two days outside of Manehattan. The crew was looking forward to a few days on land, and Twilight had mentioned wanting to write a few letters to the Princesses about her journey. Nolan locked himself in his room for the remainder of the trip and only came out during meal times or during brief periods just before dawn or right after sunset. Nopony tried talking to him, and he seemed to be okay with that.

The Crescent had gone into a state of inactivity, similar to sleeping. Twilight decided against using her magic to see if anything was wrong, fearing that unneeded magical intrusion could send the Crescent right back to the altar. Rarity came in occasionally to look at the necklace and drool over the diamond and silver, but otherwise nopony took notice of the Crescent.

The weather, however, had not lifted since they found the Crescent.

“Damn fog.” Mays said, swatting at the mist with his right hoof “We’ll never skirt those shoals if we can’t see.”

“Rainbow Dash is trying to clear some of the mist away.” Twilight said “We should be able to see in an hour.”

“That’s still a whole hour. A lot can happen in an hour.”

“Y’all still scared about the fog?” Applejack said “Nothin’ happened last time we ran into bad weather.”

“Just because nothing happened the first time doesn’t mean nothing will ever happen.” Mays began to pace “Call me crazy, but I think there’s something watching us out there.”

“I could cast a trace spell.” Twilight offered.

“Please do; I’d like to have an early warning in case anything is approaching.” Twilight nodded and began to cast her spell. A small disk of purple formed around the base of her horn and disappeared into the fog. Soon it returned and zipped back into Twilight’s horn.

“I... I don’t understand... There’s a strong magical presence, but I can’t tell what it is.”

“Twi, you’re startin’ to scare me.”

“Richard, if you’re up here, get the guns loaded and the marines ready in case there’s an attack.” Mays said.

“I don’t think we have to go that far. It could just be some feedback from the Crescent or the Elements.”

“Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie popped up right behind Captain Mays, startling him. The pink pony paid him no mind and instead shoved her tail in Twilight’s face. “My tail’s twitching!”

“Care to explain?” Mays asked.

“Whenever my Pinkie Sense makes my tail twitch, that means something’s about to fall right out of the sky!” the other ponies instinctively threw themselves to the deck, their heads swiveling around in an attempt to find the danger. Mays looked up and saw nothing but more mist and the faint outline of the Concordia’s masts. He looked back at the other ponies.

“Are you sure something is supposed to fall-” he never finished, for he was interrupted by the Chum Maker’s scythe slamming into the deck of the Concordia, sending the ponies flying and sticking the ship like an insect stuck to a pin.

“See?” Pinkie said.

“Now’s not the time for that.” Mays leapt back to his hooves and drew his sword, rushing towards the Cursed ship. Already, numerous pirates were leaping onto the deck of the Concordia, and two of the closest began to rush towards Mays “Richard, get the marines up here now!”

“Aye captain.” Mays turned and swung at the first pirate. His sword sliced across the undead pony’s chest, a thick stream of rotting flesh and black liquid trailing off the blade. As the first pirate die, the second jumped over the corpse and lunged at Mays. He leapt to the side, but his opponent’s axe left a small gash on his shoulder. Grimacing, he spun around and kicked out with his hind legs, the bones of his attacker shattering under the impact. A third pony struck out, but it was encased in a purple aura of magic before being slammed against the deck, splitting the attacker in half.

“Captain, are you alright?” Twilight said, running over to Mays.

“Fine. Listen, I need you and your friends to get the Elements of Harmony; it might help disable the pirates.”

“Got it.” Twilight and the other ponies made a dash towards the door leading below deck. Mays turned to attack another boarder, but this one’s head exploded from being shot by Richard.

“That one was mine.” Mays said.

“I never knew we were prioritizing targets.” Richard said, shooting another attacker in the chest. “What’s the plan?”

“The girls are going to get the Elements. We just need a clean shot to Sammy.” Mays swung and cleaved the wing off a passing Pegasus.

“So, attack? I like this plan.”

“Sir,” Smith swooped down next to Mays, killing a pirate with an axe to the head “What’s the plan?”

“Richard and I are going to launch a counterattack and get the girls to blast Sammy with the Elements. If you see any of them tell them to get their Element.”

“On it.”

“And take out that scythe so we can get moving again.”

“Aye sir.”

Rainbow Dash was returning from her attempts to control the weather when the Chum Maker attacked. The fighter inside Rainbow told her to dive down and start beating everything in sight, but the sane pony inside her was freaking out. This was made worse when a flight of about thirty Pegasi spotted her and charged after her. Rainbow Dash turned and shot off into the clouds, the Cursed ponies hot on her tail.

Gotta find a way to lose them... come on Rainbow, Think! She took a hard right and spun, the resulting cyclone knocking three of the attackers out of the sky. The others dodged and increased their speed, gaining on the cyan Pegasus. Rainbow Dash pulled up and climbed, finally putting some distance between her and the cursed ponies. While she was flying upwards, she smacked herself in the face with her hoof.

“Why didn’t I think of that sooner?” Rainbow Dash stopped climbing, spun around, and dove down towards the other ponies. Her pursuers halted for a moment, then continued their attack. As Rainbow Dash gained speed, a mach cone began to form around her, narrowing as she went faster and faster. The cursed ponies halted and raised their weapons, ready to strike the instant Rainbow Dash passed them.

Unfortunately for the Cursed, that was the instant she breached Mach 5.

Few ponies really appreciated the destructive power of a Sonic Rainboom. When seen in its natural state, it is strong enough to split large rocks several miles away, or at the very least knock a Pegasus out of the sky from the same distance. If directed at the ground, the resulting explosion can level a large house or, if sufficient speed is built up, a small city block. However, nopony has ever survived standing right next to somepony creating a Sonic Rainboom, and the cursed pegasi were not going to be an exception. The force of the Sonic Rainboom tore the attackers to shreds, with bits of cursed pony raining down on the battle below. As an added bonus, the explosion cleared away all the remaining fog, giving Rainbow Dash a clear view of both ships.

“Looks like somepony needs more help than clearing the weather.” Rainbow Dash turned again and headed straight for the Concordia.

A salvo of grapeshot was fired from the Concordia’s deck cannons, splattering a dozen pirates across the deck. When he was sure they were out of the way, Mays leapt over the railing and landed on the Chum Maker’s deck, Richard and a group of ten marines and twelve regular sailors right behind him. The Cursed stopped their attack on the Concordia for a moment and charged the new arrivals, the sailors meeting them in the middle as a massive brawl started. Mays hacked and stabbed at anything that past in front of him, a small pile of dead pirates amassing at his hooves. The assault lessened a bit as the cursed pirates turned their attention back to the Concordia, allowing Mays and the others a chance to move forward.

Richard and several sailors and marines charged the winches that held the scythe. The Cursed noted the implications of having the sailors reach the winches and charged again, but Mays’ group intercepted them and another brawl commenced.

The first pirate was still caught in a blind charge, rushing straight at Mays heedless of anything. He sidestepped and swung, his sword catching the pirate in the chest and pitching it over the deck. Mays raised his sword and blocked an axe headed towards his head, the attacker using his size to knock Mays off his hooves. Mays struck out with his left hoof, catching the pirate in the chin and sending him reeling for a marine to finish off.

By now, Richard and the others had reached the winches, allowing Mays’ group to move farther ahead. Another group of Cursed rushed forward, this time with some actual coordination. Mays ducked to dodge an oncoming axe, but the pony next to him was not so lucky and was killed. The attacking pony smacked Mays across the face with the flat of the axe, a small stream of blood flying out of his mouth as he fell. Mays struck out with his hind legs, snapping his attacker’s forelegs into an unnatural angle. Mays staggered back to his hooves and struck out, his sword being blocked by another wrapped in a grey aura of magic.

“Captain Montana Mays,” Sammy the Skull said, his face twisted into the closest representation of a smile given his lack of a face “How pleasant of you to join us.”

“I was never much for pleasantries.” Mays broke out of the block and lunged forward. Sammy sidestepped him and delivered a sharp kick to the side, knocking him over. Mays rolled over and swung out, his sword slicing off a bit of Sammy’s coat. He got back to his hooves and jumped away from another swing.

“For someone who styled themselves as ‘The Great Conqueror’, you’re not much for fighting, are you?” Sammy said, stabbing forward at Mays’ chest.

“Don’t call me that.” Mays blocked the thrust and swung for Sammy’s head, the pirate dodging and swinging for Mays legs.

“Why? Do you think you can just repress such an act of violence?” the two locked blades again “You mortals are so funny when you try.”

“Believe me, I’ve done better than try.” Mays smacked his head against Sammy’s, breaking the lock and knocking both captains back.

“Then it will only be more entertaining once I’m through killing you.” the pirate said, picking his sword up from the deck and charging.

“You’ve tried before; it didn’t stick.”

For all the Cursed knew, she was hiding behind one of the barrels. The problem was, she was fast... really fast. One of the pirates, spotting movement behind a barrel, lunged and struck out with an axe. The barrel was splintered, but there was no pony behind it. The pirate looked around in confusion before his target popped out of the next barrel.

“Hi! Are you still looking for me?” the pink pony chirped. The pirate swung the axe around, but the pony was gone, popping out of another barrel.

“You really should stop swinging things around; you might hurt somepony.” A second cursed pony attacked, but again the target disappeared. Three times the pink pony appeared and disappeared, and three times the Cursed attacked to no avail. Eventually, one came up with the idea to smash every single barrel in order to flush the pink menace out. After smashing the barrels, the pirates prepared to pounce on the pony, eager to slash her to tiny bits.

Instead, they found themselves looking down the barrel of a baby blue cannon, with the pink pony grinning from ear to ear.

“Surprise!” Pinkie shouted before firing, the force of the party cannon knocking the pirates into the sea.

Upon coming out on deck and seeing the mess of cursed ponies and normal ponies, Fluttershy had done what she did best in situations such as these: panic and hide.
She had found one of the boats and hid under that, peaking out occasionally when the fighting started to drift away from her hiding spot. She had mustered enough courage to not faint, but that was not saying much. When one of the cursed ponies was slammed violently against the deck right in front of her, Fluttershy curled up into a ball and started whimpering.

The fighting drifted again, and Fluttershy heard the sound of hooves on wood. She peeked out of her hiding spot and saw a familiar set of green hooves fussing with some of the ropes holding the boat to the deck.

Nolan... But what’s he doing? Her thought was answered when the earth pony lifted the boat and spotted her.

“Oh, it’s you.” He said, finishing lifting the boat and rushing to find some oars.

“Um, what are you doing?” Fluttershy said, uncurling a little and standing up.

“Leaving. What does it look like I’m doing? I’m not going to die like some animal to stroke ‘Captain’ Mays’ ego.”

“But he’s just trying to save everypony-”

“Save? You think he’s doing this just to save everyone? If he was a halfway decent commander, there would never be anyone to save, and I will not allow myself to die for his failures.” Nolan turned and grabbed an oar, dragging it back to the boat. “Now get out of my way.”

“But shouldn’t you at least try to help? It’s part of your duties, isn’t it?”

“If you were not present yesterday, I have no more duties. There’s no reason for me to say here, and honestly I am going to take the chance to get out of here while you all die like the animals you are.” Fluttershy cringed.

“I-I’m not an animal...”

“No, you are a vile, deceitful little cretin who is no better than the Cursed. That little stunt with the birdseed was probably your attempt at sabotaging me.”

“I would never do that.”

“That’s what you say, and now you go about stalling. Get out of my way!” In a rare instance of bravery, Fluttershy planted her hooves.

“No! I won’t let you run away while other ponies are being hurt.” Nolan dropped the oar, almost in shock, before advancing on Fluttershy. What courage she had disintegrated and she shrank back as the lieutenant advanced on her.

“Stand aside now, or I swear I will force you to move.” Fluttershy gave a small whimper and started to move, but stopped when a pair of hooves grabbed Nolan from behind and pulled him away. Fluttershy felt relieved, but relief turned to terror when she saw that it was two cursed ponies that had grabbed Nolan.

“Wait, let go of me! You can’t do this! Kill her first, I beg you! Please, kill her first!” Nolan thrashed about, trying to break away, but this only made his attackers more riled up. The larger of the two produced a greasy knife and shoved it into Nolan’s chest, drawing a scream from the lieutenant. Satisfied, the second pulled a sword and stabbed that into Nolan’s side, creating a ragged gash along his side. Three more pirates came over and joined in, and as they continued to hack away Nolan’s screams devolved into shrieks far more animalistic than anything Fluttershy had heard before. Even when shrieks were replaced by moans the pirates kept attacking until they were practically stained red.

In a normal situation, now was when Fluttershy would faint, vomit, run away, or perform a combination of all three, but today was different. The pirates started to advance, but froze once they made eye contact with Fluttershy. What were once looks of malicious intent were replaced by sheer terror as the little Pegasus glared at them, eventually forcing them to run and throw themselves overboard to their dooms.

“Whoa.” Smith said, gliding over to Fluttershy “You need to teach me that sometime.”

“I can’t; I do it at random times.”

“Shame. Go get your Element, I’ll make sure the Cursed don’t attack you.” as if to emphasize his point, Smith cleaved the head off an oncoming pirate “Go, now!”

Getting the winches unstuck was easy; with six sailors pushing against them with all their strength, the giant blade easily slid out from the Concordia, allowing the ship to move slightly and allowing sailors and shipwrights to start patching up major leaks. The Cursed launched attack after attack on the ponies at the winches, but reinforcements managed to hold them off.

Keeping the blade from getting loose and damaging the Concordia further was shaping up to be a difficult task; one of the salvos from the Concordia’s deck cannons had shattered the locking mechanism, so every time the sailors slipped or let out a bit of tension, the blade would descend and risk slicing the Concordia again. Richard had tried to use some of his magic to hold the blade in place, but he was no Twilight; his magic could barely hold the blade, let alone keep it from sliding.

“Noticed you were having some trouble with the winches.” Richard turned and saw Hacksaw standing behind him, the medic’s hooves caked in blood and rotting flesh.

“Shouldn’t you be treating someone?”

“That can wait until no one’s shooting at me. What’s the plan?”

“Short of holding this thing until the captain’s done pounding Sammy into dust, I’m fixing to blow it up.”

“Pleasant. How are you planning to do this without sinking our ship?”

“Nice cannon shot should do the trick. I just need someone to hold it up.”

“Let me guess, you want me to do it?”

“Yup. Get to the winches.” Hacksaw grumbled and trotted over to one winch, stepping over a few dead sailors and cursed ponies on his way. The medic reared up and planted his hooves on the winch, the giant scythe shaking a bit from the amount of force.

“I think the Cursed have an idea of what you are doing.” Hacksaw said, nodding his head to a group of pirates amassing around the Chum Maker’s main mast. Richard found a discarded axe and picked it up using his magic.

“I doubt it.” Richard raised the axe and charged the Cursed. The pirates were caught off guard by the Master Chief’s attack, and some panicked and fled elsewhere. Those that did stand and fight tried to surround the charging pony, but to no avail.

The first found an axehead lodged in his throat. Richard yanked the axe out of his target and swung around, snapping the neck of his next target when the axehead collided with the pirate’s skull. Grabbing another axe, Richard tackled one pirate, smashing his chest with a few stomps before relieving another pirate of his forelegs. The final three pirates attacked simultaneously, two from the sides and one straight on. Richard used one axe to hold off the attacker on his right before jumping at the one in front of him, the pirate being slammed repeatedly against the deck. The last attacker managed to strike, his sword slicing along Richard’s flank and leaving a nasty wound. Richard swung the first axe around, but the pirate dodged and struck again, clipping a bit of fabric off of Richard’s bandana. This got the pirate’s skull caved in for his troubles.

“Going for heroics again?” Hacksaw said when Richard returned to the blade.

“Simple practicality; pirates don’t handle individuals all that well.”

“You’re lying.”

“You’re a medic; what do you know about demonic pirates?”

"I've been serving just as long as you have; I don't need your lectures."

"Fine by me."

“So, are you going to destroy this thing already?”

“Just need a cannon and good timing.”

“For what?” Richard turned and saw Twilight and her friends as they finished leaping to the deck of the Chum Maker. They seemed to be in good shape, as if they had somehow managed to avoid the heaviest of the fighting, but Richard had seen enough civilians get caught in shootouts between pirates or other powers to know traumatization when he saw it.

“We’re going to destroy the scythe and get the ship unstuck.”

“Wouldn’t you want to wait until we’re back onboard the ship before you destroy the scythe?”

“No he wouldn’t.” Hacksaw said. Richard had to admit getting the ship unstuck was his first priority, and he had forgotten to get up an escape route once the Concordia was free.

“We’ll be working on this. You girls go help the captain. And take a couple of marines with you so you don’t get killed.”

“Okay.” Twilight and her friends charged down the deck of the ship. Richard found a sailor pony and pulled him aside.

“What’s your name, sailor?”

“Johnson, sir.”

“Go fetch me a nice long fuse and some gunpowder; we’re going to blow this blade and get us unstuck.”

“Yes sir.”

Getting thrown against a mast hurt, but fortunately for Mays his pony form could absorb more brute force than a human. Still, all the air was forced from his lungs and he briefly felt like throwing up, but her regained his focus in time to block another strike from Sammy.

“Give up trying to kill me yet?” Mays asked, blocking yet another strike and backing away from the mast.

“I find it amusing that you haven’t given up.” Sammy said “I don’t see why you continue on.”

“Unlike you, I still have something worth keeping my soul and face for.” Mays jumped out of the way.

“What? Still holding out for that girl? Or perhaps the purple one that my masters keep telling me about?” Mays paid little attention, instead pressing his attack and trying to knock Sammy over the railing “You’ll probably just end up driving her off, or even better killing her.” Again, no response, but Mays’ attack became stronger. Sammy decided to try harder “Maybe once you’re gone I’ll have to pay her a little visit.”

That caught Mays attention. He stopped aiming for Sammy’s head and tackled the pirate, slashing with all his might at Sammy’s hooves. With a crack, the sword cut through one of the joints and severed the lower half of Sammy’s right leg. Satisfied, Mays slammed his left hoof down on Sammy’s throat and pointed the sword between the cursed pirate’s eye sockets.

“You listen to me. I was just planning on killing you in the fastest way possible, but threaten her or anypony like that, I’ll just have to be more creative.”

“So the Great Conqueror has found a new conquest.” Sammy sneered “How quaint... Enough to distract you.” Mays raised his sword to strike, but yelped in pain as Sammy rammed a knife into his side with enough force to knock him to the deck. Mays pulled the knife out with his teeth and tossed it across the deck before Sammy kicked him in the face, knocking him down again.

“You honestly believed you could kill me that easily?” Sammy asked, rising from the deck.

“For a minute,” Mays chuckled a little “Yeah, I kind of did...”

“Now, I’ll be having my leg back.” Sammy’s horn glowed with grey magic, and the severed limb rose and floated towards the pirate. Black flesh-like tendrils snaked out and fused themselves to Sammy, pulling the severed leg back into place with a wet squishing sound. With his leg in place, Sammy charged Mays again, stabbing at his chest. Mays was able to redirect the attack, but the sword still sank deep into his shoulder, splashing the blade and his chest with blood.

“I would love to see the look on your little friend’s face once I’m done killing you.” Sammy raised his sword up for another strike, but a purple aura seized the sword and tossed it into the ocean. Perfect timing, Twilight.

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Sammy turned and saw all six mares, arranged in a semicircle with Twilight at the front. More importantly, each one had their Element of Harmony, and from the looks of things the spell behind the Elements was charging.

“No...”

“Oh yes.” Mays said, pulling himself away with his right hoof “If you run into El Fantasma, would you give him a message?” The Elements continued to charge, and Sammy looked in vain for some way to fight back. Mays finished crawling out of the way and grinned.

“Buck you.”

In that instant the Elements fired, a massive rainbow arching out and hitting Sammy in the chest. The pirate tried to run, but the Elements wrapped around him, preventing his escape. At first nothing really happened, but slowly little bits of the pirate began to flake off, like sand blown in the wind. These little bits began to grow in size into chunks, and more started to flake off as the elements increased power. Sammy stopped thrashing and started screaming as his whole body was torn apart by the Elements, the flecks disintegrating in the chromatic onslaught.

Mays expected another explosion similar to how the Elements destabilized the Crescent, but after disintegrating Sammy the rainbow shot back into Twilight’s crown and the Elements stopped glowing. Twilight and company opened their eyes, and all were surprised at what happened.

“I was just hoping he might get turned to stone or something,” Twilight said “I guess disintegration works too...”

“Believe me, I am very appreciative of that.” Mays staggered back to his hooves, limping slightly from his shoulder wound.

“Captain, you’re injured.”

“I’ve noticed. Hacksaw can look at it once we get back to the Concordia.” Several marines surrounded them to hold off any ponies that might attack, but with their captain gone the Cursed were gearing up for a retreat rather than one final push. The group made their way back to the bow of the Chum Maker where Richard had place a nearby deck cannon next to the blade.

“Captain, everything is set up for our escape.” The Master Chief said.

“You’re not going to fire that thing now, are you?”

“I got a long fuse; it should give us more than enough time to get back to the Concordia.”

“And your plan for preventing the blade from dealing more damage?”

“I could probably hold it in place.” Twilight said.

“Even after using the Elements?”

“I may be a little winded, but I still have my magic reserves.”

“I guess we can work with that. Richard, finish getting that cannon set up and loaded. Twilight, take over and make sure that blade does not fall. Hacksaw, help me out here before my shoulder kills me.” Twilight’s magic enveloped the blade while Richard and the other sailors finished prepping the cannon. Marines took time to snipe the fleeing pirates, aiming for anypony that might be considered a leader amongst the Cursed in order to create more confusion. Finally, the cannon was prepped and Richard’s group joined the rest back onboard the Concordia.

“Hey, captain,” Smith said, landing next to Mays “Don’t you think shooting that thing might be a bit dangerous?”

“How so?”

“Well, the blade’s still overhead, so won’t it fall and kill us all?”

“I can keep holding on so the chunks don’t come crashing down on us.” Twilight said.

“Oh... I should have thought of that.”

“For someone who was so enthusiastic about becoming a pony, you still need to learn a lot.” Smith responded with a shrug before walking off. “Captain, I don’t want sound like I’m complaining, but when is that cannon supposed to g-” there was a loud bang as the cannon went off, startling Twilight. She was able to hold her concentration, but only just, and despite the force of the cannon the blade barely wavered, even as the base exploded in a shower of wood splinters and shards of metal. Twilight guided the blade over to a small patch of ocean and let go, the giant piece of metal crashing into the ocean and disappearing from sight.

“You were saying?”

“... Okay, so I may have gotten a little impatient.”

“I know. Richard,” Mays tuned to the Master Chief “Load the guns.” Richard nodded and hurried below deck, shouting orders to anypony not otherwise involved with repairs. “Twilight, if you want to take your friends below and rest, you’re welcome to do so.”

“You’re just going to be firing off cannons anyway; how much rest do you expect any of us to get?”

“Point. Smith, get us alongside, but not too close.”

“Is this because I almost got us killed when we sank that Spanish transport ship last month?”

“Yes, yes it is.” Smith rolled his eyes and spun the wheel, the Concordia slowly drifting away from the Chum Maker. Mays took a position near the bow of the ship, Twilight and her friends right behind him.

“Guns are loaded captain!” Richard shouted up from below.

“Send that ship back to Hell where it belongs.” There was no response, and right now Mays did not need one. He was even ignoring the wounds to his shoulder and side, if only to see one more of the many ships the Cursed controlled be destroyed.

Many a superstitious and paranoid sailor said Cursed ships could not be destroyed, at least not permanently. They said that their crews would rise up from the deep and rebuild the ships piece by piece, then refloat them when the tide was low or the moon full to spread death and destruction. Fire had no effect, cannons were merely an inconvenience; nothing would stop the Cursed from returning.

Thirty-two 32-pound and 24-pound cannons would beg to differ.

The starboard side of the Concordia was consumed by smoke and flame as her broadside fired. No ship, no matter how soundly built or shielded, could withstand the onslaught of iron shot. The Chum Maker crumpled like a dried leaf, wood and canvas turning into missiles as the shot tore into the ship. The cursed ponies that were still on board chose to leap into the ocean rather than be splattered across the deck.

It was in this moment, amongst the destruction, that the Equestrian Navy became a legitimate force.

So, rant time. I wanted to drag this fight out longer (at least another page or so). Some things that didn't get worked in were Twilight using her telekinesis and a nearby cannon ball to improvise a flail/meteor hammer (From an earlier idea involving Luna using a similar technique only with asteroids or the moon) and Rarity going Lady of War and kicking ass. Maybe I'll add those later, or in another fic, but for now, this is what I have.
Also, a reason I didn't drag this fight out is that naval battles with this level of technology tend not to last very long, a few minutes at most. For example, the first Suprise vs Acheron fight from Master and Commander lasts only for a few salvos before the British have to run for it. Another example would be most of the ship vs. ship fights in Pirates of the Caribbean (save the big battle in the whirlpool, but that's something else entirely); usually there's a few salvos of cannon fire before the pirates throw themselves over to board, and given a ship is a lot more valuable than a bunch of bits of a ship, this makes a bit of sense.
Finally, another thing is hand-to-hand combat when written in a medium such as this, from someone whose only experience with such fighting is a few fencing lessons, is hard. It's hard not to get repetative in what your characters are doing in a combat situation (especially when most of them don't have magic), and I'm a bit of a dialogue person so giant walls of text scare me (Yes, I just so happen to be writing one now...). I figue that with a bit more experience I can get a good fight scene, but I wanted to make it a little shorter so I don't make myself look like an idiot trying to cram a bunch of description down your throats. Meh.
As for what's in the fight, in-game a Scorpion ship is at a big disadvantage when fighting a ship the size of the Concordia, a five-mast and the second biggest ship in the game (that's not a squid or ridiculously overpriced); the blade is fixed forward, meaning that unless you are really good at planning and maneuvering, you'll have to take the full force of a ship's cannons in order to use that thing. Even if it's an instant hit, unless you have a captain on board that will allow you to shoot the turn you move, if fighting a ship such as the Concordia you will have to take upwards of four shots before you can return fire, and being that Scorpion Ships only have three masts means they have a good chance of being sunk. Eventually, if I decide to write a sequel, we'll have a few old-fasion gun battles, but for now we have this.
My apologies for ranting, I just had to get this out here. Next chapter has Luna.

Chapter 14

So, final chapter for this story. There will be more ranting below. I still don't own My Little Pony or Pirates; all characters and ships go to their respective owners, and the only things I own are the OCs and possibly the Ottomare Empire. Like, leave comments, recommend to friends.

The sun had been set, and business in Canterlot was dying down. Ponies were closing up shop, night guards took their places on the city walls, and what nighttime social gatherings had been planned got under way. There was no adverse weather scheduled for the next few weeks, allowing the populace a beautiful night of stars.

Too bad Princess Luna was not getting a chance to enjoy it.

The Princess of the Night sighed as she gazed through yet another pile of reports. The one thing she had not missed during her time on the moon was paperwork, and for some ungodly reason she always seemed to get more than her sister. She used to think it was because her “loving” subjects wanted to ease Celestia’s workload and leave it with Luna, but logic noted that, for whatever reason, there seemed to be more problems dealing with the night than the day. Celestia being sole ruler for a thousand years, yet still managing to be a lousy book keeper, probably had something to do with it.

What was it that Father always used to say... Oh yes “Mortals are wonderful ponies, but sometimes they enjoy a bit too much order for their own good”. She sighed again before pulling a form out of the stack, grabbing a fresh quill from a nearby table as she did so. At least the servants were kind enough to procure refreshments.

After nibbling on a small pastry for a minute, Luna pulled one of the sheets out of the pile and got to work. It was long, tedious, and in many cases redundant, but Luna was happy that not only was she doing something constructive for Equestria, but that Celestia was the one who had to deal with the nobles that sent in the reports in the first place. In any other situation Luna would have laughed, but she adored her sister too much to let herself go like that. After going through about a dozen forms and one plate of baked goods, she decided to take a short break and possibly catch up on what history she had missed.

She was about to put that plan into action when there was a knock at her door. She sighed again; her sister was always sending servants to check up on her, to make sure she was adjusting properly and not scaring ponies off with her mannerisms.

“WE DID NOT REQUEST THY PRESENCE; PLEASE STATE YOUR-” Luna managed to catch herself, slapping herself in the face with her right hoof. No, bad Luna; no Royal Canterlot Voice. She relaxed and started over. “I mean, I did not send for anypony. Is something the matter?”

“I think I may have put you on edge with all those servants I keep sending.” Celestia said as she entered the room. Luna cringed and looked away, embarrassment causing her face to flush.

“Oh, Tia. I-I didn’t know it was you.”

“That’s quite alright, Luna; We all have our moments.”

“Is there something you wished to speak to me about?”

“Yes, actually. I knew you were still having some trouble adjusting to your duties, so I decided to get you a gift.” Luna rolled her eyes a little; she was not much for gifts, but it made Celestia happy so she decided to go ahead.

“May I inquire as to what exactly it is?” Celestia smiled before turning around.

“You may come in now.” There was the sound of hoofsteps as two ponies entered. The mare she recognized: Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic and Celestia’s personal student. Luna had only spoken to Twilight a few times, but she was friendly enough and was a great help in getting Luna reintegrated into society.

The stallion she was with, however, was a complete unknown; his coat signified he was a military official of some kind, but Luna had personally inspected every single guard she and her sister had employed and could not recall ever seeing this particular one. Worse, he looked as if he had been attacked by an angry manticore; his overcoat was torn in several places, there was a massive bruise on his face, his side and shoulder were wrapped in bandages and he looked as if he had not slept in almost a day. Still he carried himself with as much pride as he could muster, which did not seem to be too much compared to some of the stallions Luna had met in her life. Then again, her skills at reading ponies had fallen dramatically, so he could have been showing humility for all she knew.

Twilight’s horn glowed with magic as she reached for something behind her. Luna found her old sense of curiosity welling up, and she had to restrain herself from fidgeting around. To let off some of her nervousness, she flicked her tail slightly, the starry mass wavering only slightly.

She also had to restrain herself from gaping when Twilight produced the Obsidian Crescent.

“M-Mother’s Crescent? You found it?”

“I sent Twilight and Captain Mays to retrieve it for you.” Celestia said, smiling again “I knew how much you missed it, and I wanted to help.” Luna took the Crescent with her own magic, turning it over a few times.

“This is the only possession of hers I have,” Luna said, tears pooling under her eyes “my father gave it to me the night I raised the moon for the first time...” She beamed at Twilight and Mays “Thank you, thank you so much for finding it.”

“Our pleasure, your highness.” Mays said, bowing to the best of his abilities given his lacerated shoulder “If there’s anything more we can do-”

“Oh no, this is more than enough! I-I can’t express how much this means to me... look at me, I’m flustered; a princess should never be flustered.”

“We understand how you feel.” Twilight said. Mays merely nodded in agreement. Luna turned the necklace over in her magic again before raising the Crescent and placing it around her neck. The chain was cold and the pendant a bit heavy, but none of that mattered to Luna. She smiled again.

“Thank you once again. I shall always remember you for this.”

“You’re welcome,” Mays turned to Princess Celestia “If there’s nothing more to be said, I’d like to get my shoulder reexamined before I make things worse.”

“You are free to go, my little ponies. And captain, if you are still available later this week I would like to discuss a few things regarding your employment.” Mays bowed again and left, followed by Twilight. The two struck up a light conversation, but Luna was too far away to hear what they were staying.

But something had caught Luna’s eye; when she had dismissed the captain, Celestia’s left ear had twitched. A normal pony would have passed this off as a natural thing for somepony to do, but Luna knew better.

“You’re hiding something from them.” Luna said once she was sure the captain and Twilight were gone. Celestia looked at Luna, confused.

“What makes you think I’m hiding something?”

“Your left ear twitches whenever you’re hiding something.”

“Maybe it was coincidence that my ear happened to twitch.”

“I’ve always been able to tell when you’re lying because you were never good at it. Tia, what is it that you’re hiding?” Celestia struggled for a moment before sighing, hanging her head as she spoke.

“Captain Mays is not from our world. He and his crew were brought through by some form of magic. But I... may have bent the truth a little when I said I did not know the magic that brought them here.”

“‘Bent the truth’?”

“Luna... they were brought here by Chaos Magic.” Now it was Luna’s turn to be confused.

“Chaos Magic? You mean... Discord?”

“That’s what I thought at first, but the spell was fresh; it had only been cast a few days before they arrived here. There is no way Discord could have cast it without alerting us or the Elements of Harmony.”

“Sister, you are not making a lot of sense. Nopony else can use Chaos Magic. Even Father cannot use it.”

“I know. Which is why I think...” There was a pause. Luna noted that Celestia was shuffling her hooves. Celestia never shuffled her hooves.

“I think someone is trying to break into our realm.”

“Who?”

Rain splashed across the deck of the Spectre. The old galleon was moored in a small archipelago several miles south of Tortuga, close to a trade route pirates preferred for quick prizes. It was not that the captain wished to remain inconspicuous; indeed, the Spectre’s primary weapon was the unnatural glow it was wreathed in, drawing pirates greedy for treasure like moths to a candle, and hiding that would deprive the crew of much needed targets. Rather, these islands made for the perfect place to conduct dark rituals.

El Fantasma looked back at his crew. He expected no real response, with the possible exception of glee, since any response would mean his conversions were slacking off. When he received none, he turned back to the altar at the bow of the ship, and the young blond bound in front of it. He smiled, his eyes flashing a brighter shade of red than normal. The woman cringed, but at this point there was no amount of cringing that could save her.

El Fantasma drew his sword and approached, dismissing the two pirates he had instructed to guard his prisoner. When he was sure the guards had rejoined the rest of the crew, he raised the sword and swung downward, the blade ripping through clothing, flesh and bone with ease. The woman let out one final scream before sinking to the deck, her blood mixing with the rainwater and running down the planks of the ship. When he was sure she was dead, El Fantasma raised his left hand to the open ocean before him.

“Great Terrox, come and claim your prize!” he shouted, his voice drowning out the sound of the waves and rain. For a minute nothing happened; the rain continued to fall and spread the sacrifice’s blood across the deck. Then there was a splash and a giant crimson tentacle snaked across the deck, wrapping around the corpse before retreating back over the side with its prize.

He approached the altar, speaking in a tongue that few mortals knew, and even fewer risked speaking. When he was finished with his incantation, five more tentacles broke the surface of the water and rose into the air, as if awaiting instructions. El Fantasma turned to his crew.

“Tonight,” he said, a feral grin breaking out across his face “We hunt.”

And thus concludes Ponies of the Cursed Seas, my first foray into the realm of fanfiction (yay me). I must say, I'm pleased that I managed to attract a few followers, and I want to thank everyone that stuck through to the end. I hope I was able to deliver a story you all enjoyed.
I mentioned a few times in the last two chapters that there may be a sequel to this story. At this point, I'm going to say yes; there are a bunch of plot points I did not adress in full (namely, what exactly went on five thousand years ago), and there are probably a bunch of other races and nations out there beyond Equestria's oceans that our heroes can go visit. Plus, the Pirates universe has tons of characters and ships that I can utilize if need be (probably not for earlier stories, but later for sure). Also, I had fun writing this crossover, and that counts for something. If you guys have any story ideas I am open to hearing them.