The following first hours of the Grand Galloping Gala at the Canterlot Castle run smoothly, with Twilight, her friends, and their plus-ones each finding their place amongst the heavily populated area. Most of the massive chambers the large castle is made of are filled to the brim with nobles with vast wealth, delegates from every corner of the world, high ranking political figures, and every celebrity of every species, shape, and size known to the common ponies, all chatting with each other and enjoying the night being served with traditional music, gourmet foods, and only the most refined drinks with hundreds of years in their production. However, the room with arguably the most activity is the ballroom. With a bright full moon and millions of stars able to be seen from its open walls, and the entire circular three-story room suspended over the cliffside city of Canterlot like a massive balcony, it is no surprise. Guests dance in the open center of the first floor as the upper two floors watch from their balconies. At the back of the uppermost floor is Twilight, standing next to a large white alicorn, a black alicorn slightly shorter than the white one, and a pink alicorn barely taller than Twilight, all princesses of their own accord. The four regal mares watch the festivities below peacefully, enjoying their view with the moonlight illuminating the ballroom.

“I must say Luna,” The white princess proclaims, “your work with the moon is perfect. The light is at a perfect angle.”

“Thank you sister,” The black mare replies, “It took several nights, but I managed to work it out.”

“Miss Sparkle,”

“Yes Princess Celestia?” Twilight responds, turning her head to her speaker in the process.

“How have things been going in Ponyville?”

“Nothing really eventful has happened over the past few months, just the usual really.”

“I see. And how about you Cadence?”

“Same here,” The pink princess answers, “Well, except for the preparations of the Diamond Eye.”

“Speaking of which,” Twilight interrupts, “When are you going to show it?”

“It’s all set in the next room downstairs. I’m just waiting for this last song to finish.”

“Are you excited?”

“Yes, it’s so beautiful. And with the moonlight at this angle, it’ll look even more beautiful when I reveal it.”

“I bet it will be.”

“Excuse me,” A stallion’s thick accented voice calls out from behind the four princesses. They look back to see it is a thin blue pegasus in a tuxedo.

“Ah yes,” Celestia replies, “Sir Garrison Valkyrie, Ambassador of Cervidas. How may I help you?”

“Pardon my intrusion, but the king and queen of Cervidas wanted to warn you of some upcoming economic troubles and possible future threats to security of your kingdom.”

“Oh dear, please do.”

“Over the recent five years, the crime rates have skyrocketed at Cervidas and surrounding kingdoms. This has mainly been influenced by pirate attacks.”

“Pirates… even the landlocked ones?”

“Especially the landlocked ones. Reports are vague, but they all seem to describe some type of large sea vessel that flies. They may sound ridiculous, but they’re our only leads and coastal cities report the same anomaly originating from ocean waters. Thus they are all classified by pirate attacks.”

“My that’s-”

“And must I remind you and how that affects our economic systems and inflation? Two-thousand years ago, there was only a one percent yearly inflation rate. A thousand years later, it increased a percent. Five hundred years after that, it grew another to three percent. These pirate attacks are estimated to exponentially increase that rate to unhealthy levels. And that’s just inflation. I have so much to inform you. There are also factors such as taxes, gross domestic production, employment, standard of living, debt, government payments, media coverage, income…”

Oh no, Twilight thinks to herself as the words of the middle-aged ambassador ring in her ears, this is going to be a long night. I’m going to have to tolerate this if I’m going to represent Equestria as a princess. Maybe this music will end as Cadence will be able to cut him off to present the Diamond Eye. When will this music end anyways?

Meanwhile outside the castle and in the middle of the royal gardens, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike are all gathered together by a fountain, each with bored looks on their faces.

“This party blows.” Rainbow Dash moans.

“I hate to admit it,” Pinkie Pie replies, “but you’re right. The dancing is so slow and all the ponies here just talk about politics and big words I don’t understand.”

“And these dresses are itchy,” Applejack adds, scratching at her belly, “Or is it just me?”

“This kind of reminds of our first Grand Galloping Gala,” Fluttershy declares, “Before we caused havoc to the gala anyways.”

“I just hope that Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are having fun on their own.”

“They’re in pretty dresses at a royal party, of course they’ll be excited. I guess the charm’s worn off for us it seems.”

“Maybe,” Spike replies.

“Why aren’t you with Twilight anyways?” Rainbow asks.

“The ballroom she’s in has a section reserved for the princesses and specific guests. I don’t qualify so I decided to hang around somewhere else until I got bored.”

“Ouch.”

“Meh, I don’t mind, I understand.”

“I’ve just noticed. Where is Rarity?”

“Probably in her little euphoria with some of the guests here,” Applejack answers, “Perhaps the ‘charm’ hasn’t run out on her.”

“Hey!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, “Maybe we can play ‘I Spy’.”

“Sure,” Spike replies, “That’ll pass the time until something interesting happens.”

“Okay, I spy with my little eye… something that is tall.”

“The castle?” Rainbow Dash asks.

“Correct! Your turn,”

“Okay. I spy… something itchy.”

“Applejack!”

“Correct.”

“Yay!”

“Oh ha, ha.” Applejack sarcastically snaps, “You try wearin’ this hunk of sandpaper.”

“Okay, my turn. I spy with my cutesy little eye… something brown.”

“Brown?” Spike confusingly asks.

“Yep.”

“The dirt?” Applejack asks.

“Nope,”

“A tree?” Fluttershy asks.

“Warmer…”

“Warmer?” Rainbow Dash responds, “Hmmm…” Dash takes a moment to examine Pinkie’s eyes. She sees that they are looking off into the middle of the night sky in a much squinted manner.

“My eyes are blue, so you’re getting colder…”

“What are you even looking at? Some rock in space?”

“Nope,”

“We give up,” Applejack proclaims, “What is it?”

“An ominous airship heading right at us,”

“A what?” The mares and Spike quickly gather around Pinkie Pie as they look to where she’s looking. “I don’t see anything…”

“See that dark spot in the sky, the one without any stars?” The four others squint tightly at the starry sky and eventually see the dark spot.

“I see it!” Rainbow exclaims, “It’s a little brown, black, and… green?” As the mysterious dark spot grows, a very faint green glow surrounds the brown bottom half of the thing. “What is it?”

“I told you, an airship.” Pinkie answers, still in her cheery tone.

“There are no such things as ships that fly on air,” Applejack retorts.

“Then what do you call that silly?” Drawing closer, the dark figure soon forms into shapes in the observers’ vision.

“It is a ship.” Fluttershy mumbles, “A very… big and scary ship… that’s flying without magic.”

“Yep,”

“Hey, Dash,” Spike nervously speaks, “could you maybe fly up there and get a closer look at it?”

“Well…” Rainbow Dash gulps, “I can try.”

“Be careful.”

“…And with that all said and done. Let’s move on to how the concepts of income have been changing.”

Nooo! Twilight screams to herself internally. How do Celestia, Luna, and Cadence not go insane after this much talking? How does this music keep on going? And how has this ambassador keep talking after just one glass, a fancy thin glass! The music in the room soon starts to die down, much to Twilight’s relief.

“Excuse me sir,” Cadence speaks, interrupting the ambassador’s lecture, “I have to present the Diamond Eye now. Perhaps we can continue later.”

“I see,” the stallion calmly replies, “Proceed. In fact, I want to accompany you.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary-”

“Please do!” Twilight accidently shouts. She quickly catches her tongue before continuing, “It would be good for the citizens of Cervidas to hear a close up report on the diamond.”

“…I guess so. Follow me Garrison.” As the two ponies shuffle out the back door, Cadence looks back at the relieved Twilight and gives a sharp stare at her, one that immediately translates in Twilight’s head.

You owe me, Twilight translates the stare to in her head.

“Well,” Twilight proclaims, “That was quite a-uh… An interesting lesson,”

“Stupid Cervidasian bigwigs,” Celestia grumbles, “Always thinking we can’t run a kingdom. If I could, I would certainly take their thick scrolls on politics this stallion reads from and shove them-”

“Ease sister,” Luna calmly retorts, “it’s just a couple days a year we deal with them. And they’re all not so bad-”

“Oh shut up, you want to do the same thing.”

“Yeah, I would.”

“Hmph, stupid lot of them.”

“So, Celestia,” Twilight nervously says, “Are you exited for the presentation of the Diamond Eye?”

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

“Shush,” Luna barks, “it’s time.” With the final note of the dancing music fading away and the dancers retreating to their seats at the edge of the room, a finely dressed staff member walks to the center of the chamber .

“Ladies and gentlecolts, ponies and griffons and yaks and all other great species of the world,” the grey stallion proclaims, “It is my honour to announce to you, her royal majesty of the Crystal Empire, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and her unveiling of the Diamond Eye.” Soon enough, a large pedestal with a large blue cloth covering the top hovers in from the unseen parts of the first floor and onto the center of the ballroom in a pink glowing aura. The aura dies down as Princess Cadence gracefully walks up to it and begins to circle it.

“Welcome everypony,” she announces to the onlookers, “This artifact was found a year ago shortly after the re-foundation of the Crystal Empire, several metres beneath the ice and snow of the Crystal Mountains. This gemstone is an absolute wonder in its design, construction, disappearance, and purpose, in that it’s a complete mystery. However, one of the few things we know about it, is that it is a symbol, a symbol of the rich culture of the Crystal Empire that thrived thousands of years ago and continues to now. And now, without future ado, allow me to present,” With a flick of her horn, the blue cloth gently hovers off of the pedestal and falls to the floor, revealing the artifact on top of the while pillar. “The Diamond Eye!”

“Whoa!” Twilight exclaims. Oohs and aahs erupt from the audience as they gaze upon the Diamond Eye. It is a large, clear half-circle with a jagged edge along its diameter. Mysterious symbols and patterns can be seen either engraved into the crystal or are bevels sticking out from its relatively flat surface. With the moonlight beaming into the crystal, these engravings and bulges project onto the walls of the ballroom, causing more roars of awe to wake.

“Any questions about the Diamond Eye?”

“How much is it worth?” A mare from the second floor calls out.

“In its current condition, five-hundred million bits, but that’s merely for its physical value. In all truth, it’s priceless.”

“Where’s the other half?” A stallion on the first floor asks.

“We don’t know, but the search it active.”

“Any idea on what those markings mean?” Another stallion on the first floor yells.

“We have no idea. It is a very ancient language that’s been dead for hundreds of years.”

“Do you have any current hypothesis on what its purpose was?” Luna loudly asks.

“Well, we have a few theories. It could have been a monument to somepony, a decoration, or even possibly a doctrine or creed of some kind. Any more questions?”

“Yes,” a mare on the first floor responds, “What’s that thing outside coming towards us?”

“What?” The pink princess slowly turns around to see a rainbow coloured blur outside one of the opening, charging right at her. She ducks as the mysterious figure flies right over her and brutally crashes into the closed door ahead.

Twilight speaks to herself after seeing the crash, “Was that… Rainbow Dash?” In a pair of flashes of light, Twilight teleports herself next to Cadence and approaches the figure. “Rainbow Dash?” In a matter of moments, the figure reveals herself as Rainbow Dash and frantically runs up to Twilight.

“Bad! Bad! Bad!” She hollers, shivering with her pupils shrunken into pinpoints.

“Rainbow! What’s going on?”

“P-p-p-p-p-p-pi-pi-p-p-p-”

“Spit it out!”

“P-pi-p-pirates!”

“Wha-” All of a sudden, a series of explosions blast along the outside walls, shaking the entire ballroom. Screams erupt momentarily as ponies scramble around the chamber in terror. Stone and rubble fall from the ceilings and walls and onto the floor as the chaos ensues. Another volley of explosions erupts against the castle, this time with several bursting inside the room. The room then fades into darkness with the only light being a faint green hue coming from outside. “What the hay is going on?”

“They’re right outside!” Twilight looks back towards the outside world, only to see a wall of dark brown planks of wood with small grooves glowing the faint green glow. A line of black cylinders are seen poking out of the wall of wood, emitting thick smoke.

“Cannons?” The chaos and havoc continues with seemingly no end as screams and hollers fill the air. Twilight knows there is no hope in calming them down. However, after a long while of panic, the screams of terror are cut short by a loud, sinister, group of laughs echoing from the wall of cannons. A long and wide wooden plank then drops down from the top of the glowing wall and lands one end at the edge of the ballroom with the other tied to the wall. Now frozen stiff in fear, the onlookers inside the castle watch as a line of shadowy figures walk from the wooden barrier, down the plank, and into the ballroom, clustering around the edge of the plank.

“Well, well, well…” A young stallion’s voice calls from the top of the wall, “If it isn’t the Diamond Eye.”

“Who are you? What’s going on? I want an explanation now! If this is an invasion, prepare to get your flank kicked!”

“Don’t fret. I have no quarrels with you. I’d be happy to explain what’s going on.”

“Who are you?”

“Allow me to introduce myself.” A sequence of metal steps is then heard as the mysterious pony walked down the plank. Reaching the floor of the castle room, he then starts to make his way up to Twilight. The purple mare makes her horn glow and reveals the stallion in the bright light of her horn. He has a dark brown coat of fur that nearly matches the color of the wood outside. His mane and tail are a mess of jet black hair, looking as if it hasn’t been cut nor styled in years, yet it somehow looks somewhat proper and neat. He’s walking on his hind legs without any sign of strain, with his front hooves swinging back in forth in tune with his motion. On his left side of his face is an icy blue eye staring dead straight at Twilight, while on the right side, he wears an eye patch that covers his other eye and a scar that peeks from the top and bottom of the black patch. His hooves each has what appears to be a silvery, metal shoe with five spikes protruding from them over the front of his limbs. Connecting to these shoes are long connections of copper gears, pistons, and other pieces of mechanical parts that stretch along the sides of his limbs and into the back. He wears a black metal battle harness on the upper part of his chest with a sickly blue and green light originating from the center circular buckle piece and through small grooves engraved in the straps wrapping around his entire torso, similar to the lights of the wall. Around his back is a large black cape that stretches down to the floor with its corners trailing and dragging against the wood.

“What the…” Twilight terrifyingly mutters as the abnormal looking pony towers over her, smiling. Stopping only a few centimetres away, the bipedal stallion spreads his front hooves apart, displaying himself triumphantly.

“I am the terror of earth, sea, and air. I am the ultimate pirate captain. I am Korsan…”