Hundreds of kilometres away from any charted land mass, with the only thing able to be seen at this point being the bright blue sea, the even bluer skies, several large white clouds, and the topaz sun, the dark brown airship gently sails amongst the rolling clouds beside it in the sky. While the crew members on and below deck prepare for their next adventure, the lookouts in their crow’s nest over a hundred metres above the deck are looking in every direction with their spyglasses, searching for the Breach their captain told them about. Eventually, on the front-most mast, a lookout peers through his glass towards the bow of the galleon and sees it. A massive pitch black rip in the world, a huge canyon that looks to be swallowing the sea as it pours into it endless, shows peering from the horizon twenty kilometres ahead of them.

“I see it!” The stallion calls out to his companions behind him, “I see the Breach, exactly ten and a half nautical miles dead ahead, we got four minutes!”

“Inform the captain immediately!” A middle aged stallion on the mast behind the first yells out.

“By thunder, it’s the edge of the world!”

“Hey,” an older mare lookout calls out from another mast, “I’m starting to see it as well. “

“Me too!” a third stallion screams, “We gotta turn back! I’ve heard legends about these types of things in the Old World, and they’re all bad things.”

“I’m with Salty Bob. I’m not going into that thing if it means risking my hide.”

“Tell Korsan to turn back!”

“Will you twos pipe down!” the second lookout proclaims, “the captain knows what he’s doing.”

“What if he doesn’t Alexander Grevious?”

“Very fine point.” A commanding voice replies far below the panicking pony. The third stallion looks down to see Captain Korsan look up at him with Juliana perched on his shoulder. “But I most certainly know what I’m doing.”

“C-C-Captain!”

“Keep The Perfection sailing straight towards the Breach, we’ll gently hover down with all cannons at the ready for any beasts that dare tangle with us. However, for safe measure, I suggest you make peace with yourself.”

“Y-yes sir,”

“Good.” The brown bipedal captain then walks around the massive deck area and supervises the preparations going on.  With ponies bustling back and forth with several various items in each of their magic grips, crew members climbing up and down the rigging, pirates fastening the frantic sails, and chattering roaring across every corner of the vessel, Korsan elevates his voice and movements as he relays commands to his minions. “Perform a maintenance check on the anchors! Batten down the hatches! Secure all sail knots! Prime all cannons! Prepare life-lines! Tie down any loose cargo! Check the rudder! Seal all the bathrooms! Lock down the anti-magic generators!”

As the captain reaches the entrance to the galley, Isyan emerges from the dining area’s doors and speaks to his cousin, “Korsan, the crew members are freaking out. They, as well as I, aren’t secure about going into that thing. I suggest we turn back around now before something terrible happens and kills us all.”

“Bah, dear cousin, we’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Korsan, for once, quit acting like a child and see the danger coming right at us at any second-”

“Give or take three minutes.”

“I don’t care! We’re already tired out from ship repairs after that joyride you pulled two weeks ago. Speaking of which, we aren’t even secure our ship’s in the best condition to go on such a perilous journey. Pull back now!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Captain Korsan?” A mare’s voice gently calls out behind the stressed stallion. Quickly, the dark pony looks over his caped shoulder to find Rarity standing behind him, dressed in a thin dark blue and black combat dress, small belted black boots, and a black tricorn hat with a golden trim and a long ice blue feather attached to it.

“Yes Miss Rarity?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No, be sure to secure your sister before we hit the Breach.”

“Yes sir.” Quickly, the white unicorn hurries back inside, where Korsan views from between the diagonal muntins of the large window her going towards the kitchen area.

“Ah, to think, about two or three weeks ago, you and your sister resented me. Now look at you, one of my most loyal tailors and your sister as one of my finest cooks.”

“’Loyal’ is a bit too soon to call. She hasn’t been part of any looting ventures, just sparring, still intends on returning to Equestria, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that she’s just trying to take advantage of your unreasonable kindness towards her. That dress she has is one of your most prized possessions.”

“Look, Isyan, I have faith in Rarity, for good reason as well. Ever since she and her sister joined our crew, the nightly galley sparring have become more entertaining, the food has become much more delicious, all of our boots are finally fixed, and the overall morale of the ship has increased drastically. Sweetie Belle is fantastic. Rarity, is even more so. She is one of the nicest, savviest, most beautiful-”

“Ahem,” Isyan snaps at his leader, “apologies for intruding on your fantasies sir, but we’re current approaching death!”

“Hold on one second.” Swiftly, Korsan climbs up to his wheel and activates the speaker pipe. “Attention all sea artists!” Almost immediately, the entire boat turns silent and all of its members look towards the pirate captain at the wheel. “Now, I know what most of you have going through your minds as we are approaching the Breach. You’re scared, you’ve lost all hope, you’re questioning my leadership, and a million more things. However, let me remind you of who we are. We are the crew, of one hundred proud unicorns, of The Perfection, the greatest band of pirates the world has ever known. We have traveled to now every corner of the known world and beyond, doing the impossible. We hunted down the Emperor Kraken yes?”

“Yeah,” A few pirates quietly reply.

“We discovered the lost city Marelantis, right?”

“Yeah,” Several more pirates answer more audibly, with one loudly cheering.

“We dethroned the Pirate King, crushed his armada of forty fifty-gun sloops, and still won the Pirate of the Year award, isn’t that right?!”

“Yeah!” The entire onboard crew shouts in unison.

“Mega hurricanes that devour continents, electric typhoons that give electric eels their deadly stings, fire tornadoes that out-burn the sun, ice volcanos that freeze the clouds above, and all other types of weather. We never have fallen to any of nature’s wrath have we?”

“No!”

“And best of all, we invaded Equestria, one of the most powerful nations of all, stole its most valuable treasure, defeated their military alongside the four alicorn princesses themselves, and took off with little resistance. We did that!”

“Aye!”

“We did the impossible!”

“Aye!”

“And now, as we approach what maybe one of our greatest challenges, possibly worse than even crossing the Ley Lines, are you, my merry crew of immortals, going to fall to such a dare, the dare to become the greatest band of unicorns of all time?”

“Never!”

“Or are we going to enter the Breach, become the first modern explorers to reach Alicorn Island, and achieve its ultimate power?!”

“Enter the Breach!”

“That’s the spirit! Now, to your combat positions! Brace yourselves and your loved ones! And prepare to make history!” Immediately, the entire on deck crew rapidly shuffles into the stairways and ladders to below deck as the massive airship reaches the edge between the open sea and the black abyss known as the Breach. Within seconds, everypony is set for whatever to come their way and looks outside by any safe means to see what’s going on. Korsan lowers a lever and activates the extra controls before latching both of his front claws tightly on the wheel and his hind claws into the poop deck below. As the tip of the bowsprit pokes over the edge of the ocean, a mighty wave of moisture blasts across the ship and nearly launches Korsan from his hoofing. Juliana is also hit by the vapor wave and immediately begins to squirm on her master. “Take it easy Missy. It’s just a slow dece-” Before he can finish his statement, a massive downward jolt smashes into the bow and echoes the force all the way back. “What in blue blazes is going on?! What’s going on with the anti-magic? What’s going on with the sails?” Soon, the entire airship starts to tilt forward as more and more of the unseen force pushes down on more and more of the hull poking over the edge. Korsan looks ahead at the front most sails and sees that they’re completely motionless. “Wait… ‘All inside a grand trench, of no magic nor flight, to be called as a leak, to be known as the Breach’… Oh no. Juliana, prepare yourself for an unscheduled joyride.”

The behemoth of wood soon begins to accelerate downwards into the darkness as over half of the ship peers over the Breach and is almost perpendicular with the horizon. Captain Korsan clutches onto the woodwork with all of his might as he feels his body grow incredibly heavier upon crossing over the divide. Upon the entire ship being directly above the Breach, it plummets downwards into the pitch black below. As the ship rapidly accelerates in free fall, the sky above turns to a black fog, the walls of water surrounding the ship turn into an empty void of darkness. Screams roar from inside as well as the structure of the boat creaking and snapping. For the first time in years, fear strikes the captain as he watches his vessel and crew plummet into the abyss. Terrified, Korsan screams as well, closes his one eye, and waits for whatever inevitable death follows. However, the ship eventually crashes onto something soft and straightens forward. It then immediately begins charging forward and sends all onboard backwards in surprise. Korsan, still glued to his spot, opens his shivering blue eye and sees that they’re sailing forward on the most unusual of paths. In the midst of the void, a floating current of golden sand rapidly flows, with The Perfection riding its thin path to the unknown. Shocked by this anomaly, Korsan looks over the edge to see several clusters of the sand sharply falling into the black below. He then turns forward to the bow and sees the winding sand stream ahead, leading to a bright blue dot in the distance, a tiny star in the barely visible water walls of the Breach. Seeing as he has no control of the fast speed of his ship, the caped leader of the massive vessel steers the boat along the path of hovering dunes.

Below him, Rarity peeks her head from the galley doors and is astonished at what she sees, gasping out, “Wow.” Wandering out onto the main deck, the white unicorn looks around in wonder of the unusual atmosphere. Soon, other crew members, curious of what happened just before, crawl out from below as well and marvel at the sights. Rarity climbs up the quarterdeck stairs and slowly approaches the concentrated captain as he steers. “Sorry to, interrupt, but, what is this place?”

“I don’t know.” Korsan responds, breaking his intent focus to talk, “Chaos I guess.”

“Wait, wasn’t there something like this from the Diamond Eyes?”

“’Beyond distorts of space, beyond sand grains of time, past creature of great length, and thinnest of all paths…’ That’s right.”

“Hey, look up.”

“What?” As the bipedal pony looks upwards to what Rarity has now turned her attention to, he is immediately overcome with awe. Above them, in the darkness that has overtaken the sky, glows what appears to be stars, galaxies, and clouds of cosmic energy, dancing and twirling with each other in the empty sky. “Incredible,”

“It’s so beautiful.”

“Indeed,” For the next minute, everypony becomes mesmerized by the stunning sights that surpass in beauty, more than any magic they have ever seen their entire life.

Wait, what did Korsan say? ‘Past creature of great length…’ What does that mean?

“I gotta to write this all down, I want sketch this all down, I need this documented at once.”

“Captain!” A mare yells out from the main deck below, “I think I saw something!”

“Wait, what?”

“It was long, sand-coloured, and appeared to be moving very fast right below us.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Hey!” Yin and Yu call out simultaneously at the bow over the awes of the other members, “Is that a tail?” Out of nowhere, the entire boat then jumps a metre above the sand and lands back down, causing nearly everypony to lose their hoofing.

“What was that?” Another pirate asks.

“Oh,” Korsan gravely mutters, “We are not alone.”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Isyan yells out from the deck just below Korsan and Rarity.

“Well, from what it seems we can do at the moment, we’re going to have to sail along this current to reach that blue light at the end of the-”

“Not that, the rumbling!”

“Uh… Well, I didn’t want to worry anypony, but… We, might need a bigger boat.”

“What do you mean might?” Before his cousin can answer, a violent rupture rattles the ship, sending it tilting side to side over the edges of the sand path. Uproars soon follow from the crew as Korsan immediately tries to stabilize the ship. A kilometre ahead of them, an enormous serpent-like creature bursts from the top of the sand path. It opens its mouth, which is revealed to be three separate jaws jammed with giant serrated teeth, and roars into the sky, sending a shockwave ripping over the incoming vessel.

“Scratch that. We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

“What the heck is that?!”

“A sandworm, about fifty metres thick in diameter, and maybe five-hundred metres long, give or take.”

“Give or take? This ship, the largest ship in the known world, is five-hundred metres long!” The massive scaled worm quickly slips back into the thin current and charges against the flow and towards the ship. Watching the exposed top half of the monster, Korsan sees that it and the ship are going to meet at a large inbound s-bend.

“Hold tight, we’re going wide.” With a quick turn of the wheel, the entire vessel sharply turns left on the first half of the turn, skimming the outside. The crew drifts to the starboard railing and grabs onto the railing as the speeding vessel tilts over the black abyss. The worm sticks close to the inside of the opposing curve and accelerates. With the two massive bodies approaching the middle, tension rapidly builds inside Rarity as she watches in fear. They both complete the curve, and the sandworm immediately charges at the ship straight ahead. Its head exposes from the sand. It opens its gaping mouth for the kill. However, just as the two are about to collide, the long boat veers to the other half of the sand trail. The side of the wooden boat scrapes against the thick dusty skin of the beast as it hits whatever’s free of the second part of the curve. Korsan quickly steers the slipping galleon right against the massive worm. With a third of the back of the boat leaning over the void now, the ship recklessly drifts along the thin bank of sand. It finishes the turn and as the enormous sandworm’s tail passes by, the pirate pegasus immediately sets it straight along the sand current and continues forward.

“That was too close for comfort!” Rarity gasps out.

“Most certainly. Well, at least we now have the head start.” Triumphantly, Korsan and Rarity look back at the sandworm, only to see it stretch from the first bend, over the back abyss, directly under their ship, and into a parallel portion of the current. They, as well as the rest of the crew, see its head poking from the thin layer of golden sand and charging at them again around another curve. “Oh, this is going to suck.”

Meanwhile, far away from the Breach, on the crystal blue waters of the ocean and under the regular salty sky, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applebloom, and Scootaloo, are sailing in their new watercraft, searching for their kidnapped friends and archenemy.

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash moans, looking down at an old biscuit in her hoof as she sits on the side of a large ruffled bed, “I’d never thought I’d be saying this, but I’m starting to miss apples.”

“It’s better than the wood I found next to those below,” Pinkie replies, “I can confirm by experience.”

“Ewww,”

“Hey, how’s Applejack doing? I heard you and her talking last night.”

“It was nothing. We all had to share the same bed, so it was nothing personal.”

“Really? I thought I heard crying.”

Overhearing the conversation from outside, Applebloom decides to join in the talk and walks down into the cabin. “Hey,” the yellow filly interrupts, “You two are talkin’ about my sister right?”

“Yep,”

“Do you know what’s up with her, she’s acting really, distant from Twilight the past week or two.”

“Don’t worry,” Dash replies, “AJ and Twilight are just going through a small disagreement, nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?”

“Do I look unsure to you?” The cyan mare casually swaggers.

“…”

“…Well I’m most certainly sure now. Go please.”

“Okay then.” As the filly walks back up to deck, Rainbow Dash releases a heavy sigh and lies back onto the bare bed.

“This is stupid,”

Pinkie quickly asks in confusion, “What is? The ceiling?”

“No, AJ and Twilight,”

“Yeah, it is a fairly stupid concept when you think about it, putting such opposing forces into a heavily platonic correlation.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“What I’m saying is that AJ’s defensiveness to Korsan and Twilight’s over reaction to it is really tearing them apart, and I don’t like it.”

“What’s there to be defensive about?”

“Something about Korsan’s belief that unicorns are better, I mean, who believes that bunch of hoopla?”

“Why would AJ believe it then if it’s just hoopla? Maybe she’s trying for some ruse to prank you.”

“No, no, Pinkie. She worried that she may not be able to protect her family because she can’t counter magic.”

“Shouldn’t you help her then if she’s worried? That sounds like a serious issue.”

“Well, it’s-uh-it’s-well-uh-It’s complicated.”

“Doesn’t seem like it to me.”

“But she’s supporting the villain. We heroes shouldn’t be supporting them. What would the ponies back home think of us?”

“What about Discord?”

“Well, he’s different.”

“Really? He did become one of our best friends after we supported him when he was still a villain.”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“But what?”

“He-he wasn’t some psychopathic killer, Discord was, more of a bully.”

“A bully? I wouldn’t call nearly destroying Equestria a bully thing to do.” At this point, Rainbow Dash was stunned by the seemingly permanently gleeful nature of the pink mare beside her. “Korsan did do a bunch of meanie things, but maybe he does have a point, I don’t know.”

“Hm…”

“But of course, nopony’s better than me at juggling, baking, throwing parties, except Cheese Sandwich, he’s pretty close-”

“True. Hey, Pinkie, what were you doing on that deserted island two weeks ago?”

“Oh, doing this and that. Preparing a little surprise for the future,”

“You do realize that whatever the surprise is, it’s completely destroyed.”

“Nope, it’s still there and is waiting for the right moment to be sprung.”

“Huh-”

Before Dash can ask about the surprise, Fluttershy opens the trap doors and speaks, “Girls, if you don’t mind me interrupting, we’re about to reach the Breach.”

“Well, gotta go, I wanna get a front seat to this!” Pinkie cheers before immediately running out the room.

“Don’t worry Rarity!” Spike proclaims at the bow, “I’m-I mean we are coming to save you! …And Sweetie Belle!”

“Brace yourselves!” Twilight commands to the ponies onboard Lightning Bolt, “we are about to enter the Breach. We do not know what’s down there, we do not know how we’ll be able to fight Korsan, we do not know how to properly drive this thing, but together, we will find a way. We will save Rarity and Sweetie Belle, we will stop Korsan, and we will save Equestria from his tyranny! And we-”

“Cut the speech Twilight!” Rainbow Dash hollers out from the main deck to her at the wheel.

“Oh please, let me enjoy the moment of delivering a rousing speech that will undoubtedly make us win this fight.”

“Not that, I mean that we’re about to fall!”

“What?” Twilight quickly looks ahead and sees the massive black canyon approaching them rapidly without any sign of stopping. “Ah!” Forgetting the controls, Twilight frantically slams her trapped horn to the back of the boat, forcing the vessel to speed up. “Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait!”

As the racing longboat charges over the liquid cliff and plummets into the abyss below, Applejack remarks, “Oh, this is gonna suck,” before immediately screaming.

The Perfection fiercely swerves left and right across the sand path as the sandworm is now charging at it from behind. On the gun deck below, ponies are scrambling all over as they sloppily load their cannons. Without their magic, the pirate members find it near impossible to manage the massive weapons. At the wheel, Korsan is practically destroying the paint and hinges as he sharply twists the large wheel as quickly as his head is from the beast to where the current’s turning.

“What’s going on down there!” The captain screams into the speaking pipe, “We’ve barely landed a hit on that thing!”

“We can’t!” Aran’s voice echoes back from the steel pipe, “It’s too fast and it keeps getting out of range.”

“Well we can’t just turn sideways now can we?”

Rarity immediately yells into her new leader’s ear, “Look out!” Korsan looks back. He sees the sandworm diving in for the kill. He snaps the wheel right and flings the ship to the side. The great beast misses and gets is gaping mouth hooked onto the port anchor. The sandworm then bursts forward, yanking the chain and the entire ship along the path at an even faster and even more dangerous rate.

“Port anchor’s been snagged! Cut it!”

“We can’t!” One of the mare pirates screams out, “It’s jammed!”

“Unjam it!”

“Can’t at this angle sir!”

“Oh come on!”

“Wait,” Yu’s voice faintly speaks from the metal, “So does that mean that we grappled it or did it grapple us?”

“Hold tight!” As the rocketing watercraft approaches a sharp series of turns, Korsan frantically prepares himself at the wheel. He steers the insane vessel right and left, right and left, right and left, switching rotations quicker and quicker. The ship begins to drift across the sand banks and lean over the edge as the turns grow more and more violent. “Gah! I’m getting splinters!”

Rarity proclaims, “Go any sharper and we’ll drop!”

“It appears so.” As the behemoth is dragged on by the even larger behemoth, over the sounds of the yelling crew and groans of the captain, a pale, yet all too familiar sound enters Rarity’s ears from above.

“Wait, do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That screaming? It sounds like…” Within a few seconds, the vague seconds grow exponentially more audible, making the white mare immediately recognize the sound. “Them?!”

“Who?” The two ponies and Isyan look up at where now ear-piercing screeches are coming from. They see a large grey object dropping from the galactic skies directly over them. “It can’t be…”

“It can’t be…” As the mysterious thing draws rapidly closer to them, Korsan realizes that it’s about to hit their ship.

“Look out!” The long wooden object slams onto the middle of the deck, smashing a half of a mast on the way down. The entire airship bends and folds to the smash attack and is nearly thrown from the edge of the sand. Everypony on board falls over and roars in terror. Still clutching tightly on the wheel, the captain looks at the grey and blue vessel upon recovering. With its large sails tangled in The Perfection’s rigging and torn up quite brutally, the bipedal stallion is able to clearly see Twilight shaking at the wheel of the unusual craft. “What?!” His eye quickly follows across the length of Lightning Rod and sees the rest of the heroes piled on top of each other at the bow. “How are yous still alive?!”

“Twilight! Friends!”

“Rarity!” Twilight nauseatingly declares as she glances over to the quarterdeck and sees Rarity. “We’re here to save you!”

“Oh no you don’t!” Korsan declares before turning to the pipe and screams, “Twilight and the others are onboard, kill them!”

“No!” Rarity immediately protests. However, her refusal is not listened to by anypony, as several tens of crew members, holding their weapons by their teeth, run towards the invading vessel. “Korsan, call off the attack!”

“No way, this is the last time those ponies are getting in my way.”

“Turn!” A crew member at the bow screams out. Korsan immediately realizes he’s left the wheel still for too long and immediately turns it right. As the massive boat snaps to the right and teeters the outer edge of the thin bank of sand, Twilight’s ship slips and slides across the deck. It’s front slams into the quarter deck and its sides smash into the masts. The Perfection brutally jolts, flinging Rarity into the air and over the port edge. The unicorn screams as she plummets down and into the abyss.

“Miss Rarity!”

“Rarity!” Twilight and the others scream as well.

“Juliana, Isyan, take the wheel!” Korsan swiftly places the ice phoenix on the steering wheel and grabs a nearby rope attached to the wheel base.

“Wait, I don’t know how to drive this thing!” Isyan frantically replies.

“That’s why Juliana is, you’re just giving her directions.” He then runs to the railing and leaps off of the ship as well, keeping a firm grip on the rope end.

“You’re mad!”

“I know!” Now far below the sand dunes, Rarity continues to scream in terror and flail as she falls into the black never ending pit. The pirate pegasus is quickly gaining up to her as he dives after. In his metal claw, Korsan can feel the life-line rope getting tighter and tighter as he descends closer and closer to Rarity. “Miss Rarity, up here!”

“Korsan!” The frightened mare shrills out, catching only glimpses of him as she aimlessly tumbles.

“Keep flat! Stretch out your hooves! And just stay calm!”

“I can’t!”

“Rarity, look at me!” The flailing mare tries to follow his orders, only to flip over herself and fall even faster.

“Ah!”

“Look at me! Look into my eye!” Rarity attempts to do it once more, this time, focusing on Korsan’s ice blue eye. Eventually, she becomes mesmerized by its power and determination, the free falling pony slowly straightens out as the captain commanded. Fear starts to slowly flow out of her head as Korsan grows closer and closer. Just as Korsan can skim Rarity’s chest with his hoof, a loud crack is then heard from the rope. All that is left to feed Korsan’s fall is whatever elasticity is left in the thick cord. Thinking on the spot, Korsan lets go of the rope end. With his body now free falling and inching closer to his target in a split second, the captain grabs Rarity by the dress with two of his metal hind claws. The pegasus immediately then clamps his teeth down on the tip of the line. The two ponies are immediately yanked back upwards by the rope’s recoil. Taking this moment, Korsan flings Rarity up some more to his side. He uses his hind claws to grab his large black cape and wraps Rarity in it as his front hooves grab onto the life-line. “Hoist me up you bag of bones!”

“Eep!” Rarity squeals as he body loosely shifts around in the cape in their ascent, starting to panic once more. Overwhelmed by what just happened, tears begin to form in her eyes and she begins to hyperventilate.

The dark brown stallion softly whispers to his tow, “Calm down. Calm down.” Gently, he then proceeds to rock Rarity back and forth while tightening the wrapping with his teeth. “I got you, I got you. You’re safe with me. I’m here for you.”

“...”

“Hush-a-by pony,

On the tree top,

When the wind blows

The cradle will rock-”

“No-no-n-no need f-for th-that,” Rarity sniffles.

“Oh…”

“Y-you saved me.”

“Of course. Why would I let you die?”

“I-I don’t know, T-Twilight, and the others,”

“Oh.”

“Please tell me you’re not going to kill them.”

“But I-…”

“Please.” With Rarity’s soft white fur brushing into his stiff torso, the pirate captain grows more and more unsure of what to do. “They’ll only be here to get me and Sweetie Belle, and I’ll tell them to go.”

“…Fine. I won’t kill them.”

“Promise?” With her shivering in his folds and her large blue eyes staring into his one, Korsan finds it impossible to say no.

“…I-I promise.” A roar rips across the Breach though, as Korsan and Rarity look over to see the sandworm heading towards them like a fish to a baited hook. “Oh come on, this?”

“What do we do?”

“…We’re going to ride it.”

Back on the main deck, a vicious battle between Twilight’s crew and Korsan’s crew continues to escalate. With Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Dash, Spike, and the foals trapped on Lightning Rod, firing its small cannons into the incoming hordes and sloppily armed pirates rushing the heroes, all on a ship at the whipping whim of an enormous carnivorous worm, chaos is all any pony’s eye can see. Several pirate members eventually reach the deck of the invading vessel and attempt to enter below deck, only to be met by a large, blue party cannon, which blasts them off with a blast of confetti. The Perfection suddenly takes a sharp turn to the left. The speed cruiser slides towards the starboard edge and grinds along the railing to the bow, bashing into each mast on its way. The unicorns that are caught in the path of the skimming boat are squished under the thin keel and pop out the other side onto the quarterdeck.

In the kitchen, avoiding falling pots and pans, Sweetie Belle hears the blasting noise outside and asks to Ivan who’s nearby, “What’s going out there? Some sort of battle?”

“Aye,” The black pony nauseously replies.

“With what?” Curious, the white filly charges out of the kitchen, across the galley, and out to the main deck, where she sees the thin grey ship drifting across the deck. She immediately runs towards it, but is stopped when she notices a familiar pair of orange and yellow mares sneaking along the port side away from the pirate crew’s view. A surge of joy and shock overwhelms the child as she darts towards the two sisters, screaming, “Applejack! Applebloom!”

“Sweetie Belle!” Applebloom yells back before darting towards her incoming friend. The two foals soon reach each other and greet each other with a tight, warm hug.

“How did you find us?”

“Twilight found out Korsan was going to be here, so we got this really, really fast boat and came here after escaping from an exploding island.”

“That sounds so cool!”

“It was! Scootaloo is practic’ly dyin’ to tell you about it.”

“So, are you here to save me and Rarity?”

“We are,” Applejack answers, “I just have to take care of somethings first.”

“Like what?”

“Eh…”

“Wait, a minute, some of my friends are out there!”

“You’re friends?” Applebloom asks.

“Yin, Yu, Horus, they’re friends I made and now they’re going to get hurt fighting our other friends. We got to stop them!”

“The pirates?!”

“You two tell Twilight to stop fighting. I’ll try to convince Captain Korsan to stop as well.”

“Wait, what?! Captain? Stop? What’s going on with ya?”

“Where is he?” Soon, several hundred metres away from them on a parallel sand path, the massive sandworm’s head bursts from the golden surface. Everypony on the boats looks over to the roaring monster, only to have their jaws drop on sight. There, riding the top of the great beast, is Korsan and Rarity. With their life-line wrapped around themselves and lassoed over the worm’s upper jaw, the two ponies proudly stand on top of their foe. “No… way…”

“I am the master of all beasts!” Korsan triumphantly roars to his crew.

“Very nice!” Isyan yells back in a deadpan tone, “Now set us loose!”

“Got it!” The brown stallion then turns to Rarity at his side before calmly speaking, “You ready for this?”

“With you?” Rarity half-confidently answers, “Even when we’re about to do the stupidest things imaginable, you make it sound so easy.” The white mare then firmly wraps her hooves around the pirate captain before he bends down and starts their way to the lodged anchor.

The onlooking ponies slow down their fighting and fretfully watch Korsan and Rarity climb down the side of the living train, with Spike mumbling in distaste, “You better stay away from Rarity you little p-” The two climbers suddenly slip downwards a couple of metres, halting the battle immediately and releasing a shockwave of gasps. However, Korsan quickly recovers and continues to dig his claws into the sandy scales towards the black anchor just ahead. At this point, everypony watching has dropped their weapons and is now leaning on their ship’s railings. Soon, Korsan and Rarity eventually reach the anchor. The caped pirate then swiftly dislodges the rope from the sandworm’s mouth and ties it to the massive weight. Seeing his partner secure herself on the iron mass, Korsan instantly delivers a powerful punch into the flesh wall, causing the sandworm to roar and loosen the anchor.

“Get hoisting the anchor now!” Korsan screams before violently pounding the sandworm again and again with a series of devastating jabs and hooks.

“Is he punching that thing?” One of the crewmembers, Hans, asks out loud.

“He’s insane!” Lazarus, another pirate, answers.

“It looks to be workin’.” Yin declares.

“Hey!” Yu calls out to his fellow members, “Who wants to call bets on whether or not they’re going to survive whatever Captain’s doing?”

“He always makes it out alive. He’s impossible, that stallion.”

“Shhh, don’t tell them that.” Upon delivering a devastating final strike to the jawline, the sandworm frantically shakes around. The anchor soon dislodges and quickly swings down into the black abyss, fading away from bystander view. Several seconds pass before the thick chains slowly begin to lift, bringing forth anxious unrest at the bow.

“Are they dead?” Aran asks.

“Did they slip?” Lilis asks.

“Were they too heavy?” Butch asks. After just under a minute of waiting, the anchor emerges from the black haze with Korsan and Rarity. The entire collection of ponies cheer as they watch the two then climb up the anchor chain into the chamber below the forecastle deck.

“Wait,” Yu asks out loud upon realizing the oddly peaceful atmosphere, “What about Twilight and the others?”

“Oh,” Yin replies, shocked at the realization as well, “Kill ‘em I guess. That’s what the captain said.”

“But we agreed back in Gorgonzola to never attack a non-retaliating enemy. They’re not fighting us.”

“Oh, that... But that was so many years ago, and things are different.”

“Don’t!” Sweetie Belle screams out as she runs towards Lightning Rod. “Don’t hurt my friends!”

“Sweetie Belle!” Twilight, the mares, and Spike, onboard the speeder cheer as they finally see her after two weeks of worry and terror.

“Can’t we sort this out without fighting?”

“Sorry,” Yin solemnly states, “Captain’s orders,” After replying, the yellow stallion quickly grabs his katana and walks towards the heroes, soon followed by the other pirates.

“No!”

“Sweetie Belle,” Twilight commands, “stay back.” The purple alicorn then rushes back down to the gun deck along the others as they aim their cannons, ready to continue the battle.

“Wait! These guys are my friends!”

“Wait, what? You made friends with these, these villains?!”

“Wait, should we fire or not?” Dash asks.

“There’s a lot of waiting around here it seems,” Pinkie speaks out.

“Is this a truce or something?” Yu asks.

“No!” Maria Vanshwitz barks with her dagger clenched in her teeth.

“Maybe?” Yin confusingly replies.

“I don’t like this confusion!” Fluttershy squeals.

“Horus?”

The albino pony stampers, “Uh…”

“Isyan,” Yu calls back to the boatswain, “Should we attack?”

“How should I know?” Isyan screeches back, “Ask Horus!”

“We did!”

Korsan soon emerges from the trapdoors leading down to the anchor deck with Rarity at his side, loudly asking, “What’s with all of this shouting?” The captain becomes stunned upon actually noticing the absence of a battle between the pirates and Twilight.

“Hey!” Spike yells at the bipedal pony, “Get away from her!”

“How about no?”

“Don’t make me come down there and teach you a thing or two about messing with Rarity!”

“Oh, and what are you going to do about it?”

“Captain!” Horus calls out from the other side of the intruding vessel, “What’s your call at this point? They aren’t resisting us anymore.”

Before answering, the captain takes a quick glance at Rarity at his side, remembering his promise. “Well… Detain them, nicely. Throw them in the brig.”

“Nicely?”

“…Yeah. Just capture them. We’ve taken care of the bigger issue-”

“Incoming pinpoint turn!” Isyan screams, “And the worm’s coming back!” Korsan and the other ponies responsibly look behind them, and are greeted with the sigh of what lays ahead of the sand current. To their calamity, the path makes a devastatingly sharp two-hundred and seventy degree turn, too sharp for The Perfection to handle.

The captain hastily changes his mind and announces, “Okay, never mind, leave them. Battle positions, quickly now!” With mild hesitation, the pirates follow their leader’s orders and head back down below to the gun deck. He then turns his attention to Twilight and the others, who are peering out from the cannon windows at him intently with a disdained look on their faces. “I’ll deal with the lot of you later. Right now, we got bigger issue. If you all want to stay alive, then keep out of our way.” The bipedal pony then runs across the main deck to the wheel, leaving behind Rarity and Sweetie Belle with their original friends.

As Korsan climbs his way up the stairs, the dark beige stallion screeches at him, “We aren’t going to be able to make the turn at this speed!”

“I figured.”

“What are we going to do? We’re going to drop!”

“We aren’t, just keep your brain inside your head for a wee bit longer. Just gotta figure out something…”

“Like what? The anchors won’t cling to the thin sand, the anti-magic controls are non-existent, and there’s a monstrous sandworm coming right at us!” Peering over to the parallel track, the brown pegasus sees the beast sinking down into the sand as it reaches its end of the turn. Korsan remembers how tough the worm’s scales were. He then examines the now returned port anchor, followed by the cannons. In an instant, an idea goes off into his head.

“We’re going to club haul.”

“Wait, what?!”

“Attention sea artists!” Korsan declares into his speaking pipe, “All arms to starboard cannons, prepare to drop port anchor on my command.”

“Are you daft?! The sand’s too thin! And the beast is-”

“-going to be what’s getting us out of this mess and give us a free shot at it.”

“You’re-you’re mad!”

“Yes, we’ve been through this. Make yourself of some use and get to a cannon.” Seeing as he has no other option, Isyan grumpily stomps down to the gun deck, muttering inaudible sayings on the way down. “Alright! Here we go! Five…” The captain sets himself to the wheel, letting his ice phoenix friend climb up his left leg and onto his shoulder. “Four…” The great beast reaches the two-thirds point of the turn. “Three…” The speeding galleon is now only a hundred metres away from hitting the start of the deadly bend. “Two…” Korsan’s claws dig into the wood and his muscles tense. “One…” The sandworm reaches the underside of the ship and begins to rise into the keel, leaving its long body directly under the anchors. “Drop!” In an instant, the port anchor drops once more and sinks below the golden water. A loud clang sounds out from below. All of a sudden, the entire bow starts to drip into the veil of flowing sand. Meanwhile, the back and middle portions of the long behemoth swings around the anchored front and drifts along the sharp bend. Twilight’s ship slides across to the starboard side alongside Rarity and Sweetie, having been overtaken by the unexpected maneuver. As the airship finishes the drift, the sandworm’s alien head is yanks above the sand and is dragged out into the open void. The crew below deck see the yellow beast and get a clear aim at its head.

Butch roars out as he sets his hoof on the trigger string. “Lead’s drop some lead on this f-”

“Fire!” Immediately, all fifty cannons on the starboard side of the drifting ship fire onto the monster. Metre thick balls of solid metal bash into the sandworm, causing it to roar in pain and release the anchor that was wedged in its side. The captain swiftly straightens the ship forward on the dunes and speeds forward. The now furious sandworm dives across the paths and enters another parallel stream alongside them, preparing another charge attack to the keel. The captain looks ahead and sees another super sharp turn, this time towards the right. “Hoist port anchor! Prepare to deploy starboard anchor! All arms shift to port side!” Upon the beast diving underneath once more and about to rise as The Perfection his the turn, Korsan declares, “Drop!” and the anchor immediately drops. The black weight digs into the scaly skin of the monster once more. The great boat drifts once more and slides along to the parallel path, where both the sandworm is pulled from hiding and the crew fires onto it once more. The sandworm shrills once more and the anchor drops from its body and is hoisted back. Twilight and the others still on the main deck hang on once more as the unwelcome vessel chaotically slips across the larger vessel.

“Who taught this pony how to drive?” Dash yells out in anger and nausea.

“Himself really!” Rarity answers.

“You doing okay up there Rarity?!” Korsan calls out from across the great length of the ship, “Why didn’t you go below?!”

“I’m fine, and I was just distracted Captain!”

“Very well then!”

Fluttershy softly shouts, “I need a barf bag!”

“I’m still trying to figure out if we’re allies with Korsan or not! I need an answer!” Dash angrily declares.

“Hey, where’s AJ and Applebloom?” Scootaloo asks.

“Loud noises!” Pinkie randomly shrieks. “Also I think I saw them go to the quarterdeck area.”

“Captain?!” Twilight loudly asks in surprise.

“It’s very complicated.” Rarity proclaims to her friends above.

“That’s no understatement, I want answers, now! Are you now one of his?”

“No-yes, I mean, I can’t exactly explain it now.”

“Why?”

“It’s not the best time you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh really?” the purple alicorn retorts, growing more forceful towards the peculiar pony, “A bit of tension always leaks the truth.”

“Do you even hear yourself? You’re talking to me like I’m the enemy.”

“I don’t know, are you?” At that moment, Twilight becomes dumbfounded at herself. As she retraces her words, the great pain, even worse than impalement, slices into her heart. She is at this moment, walking the thin edge between friendship and enmity. “Wait! I-I didn’t mean it!”

“Is that all that runs through your head? Black and white?” The white unicorn now brutishly snaps at Twilight, “Maybe you shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quick with me and Captain.”

“Hey!” Spike screams out from Lightning Rod’s gun deck alongside the mares, “What’s with the captain name? Korsan! If you pulled some sort of mind control trick on them, I-”

“Save your words,” Korsan interrupts, “things might be getting tricky!” Curious of what that means, Spike, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo look at what’s ahead and their jaws instantly drop farther than even before. Now, ahead of the racing airship, is a sharp curved drop with a sudden end to it several stories down a final vertical stretch, with a new path forming many, many metres across a void with a vertical incline.

“We’re going to fall!” Twilight and the others, including Rarity and Sweetie Belle, scream at once at the top of their frightened lungs.

“Pipe down. Sheesh, you all sound like my cousin, nothing but screaming and chaos.” The pirate captain looks behind him and sees the sandworm bolting straight them from behind. The stallion then looks across the gap to the other sand current and sees the blue star straight ahead at the end of it. “Hmmm…”

“We’ll talk about this later,” Rarity coldly speaks to Twilight and the others with her. She then starts to run across the deck to Korsan, with Sweetie Belle behind her, screaming, “Captain! What are we going to do?”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.”

“It’s a giant gap in our path, there’s no way we can get over-”

“I got it!”

“What? What is it?”

“…Double club hauling.”

“What in the,”

“No time to explain. Prepare to drop both anchors at my command, lock at my second, and cut on my third! Five…” Clutching the wheel and floor tightly, Korsan’s mechanical suit begins to rev up as all of his gears and pistons begin to move rapidly. A loud collection of grinding and screeching noises then erupt from the whirring machines.

“How is something like that even going to work?”

“You don’t need to know. Four…” The Perfection hits the beginning of the downward slope and begins to sink into the darkness, accelerating rapidly.

“The sandworm’s going to hit us!”

“Great! Secure yourself and your sister to the life-lines, now! Three…” The entire vessel jerks forward a bit at that moment, a sign that the beast is right on their tails. Korsan takes split-second glance behind him and takes not of the worm’s position right over the edge of the stern.

“Are you sure we are going to make it?”

“No. No I don’t. Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Juliana, make peace with yourselves now, this may be your final moments in this world that has been all that you’ve known. What lies ahead is beyond me at this point. If we die, we die as explorers. If we fall forever, we fall as adventurers. If we make it, we make it as legends.  Two…” The vessel is pushed forward once more and slowly begins to enter free fall. The sandworm continues to chase its target, growing more and more vicious as it bumps into the long galleon.

“Captain, Korsan, before whatever becomes of us, I want you to know this. You are the most interesting and insane pony I know. And that is saying something.”

“…Thank you. And you, Miss Rarity, are as well, and much more, excluding the ‘crazy’ bit… One…” Both The Perfection and the monstrous worm reach the vertical drop. Rarity and Sweetie are secured on the life-lines, Juliana is tightly clutching in Korsan’s metal shoulder piece, and Korsan’s claws are deep into the woodwork of his pride and joy. As the great boat enters free fall, the anchors levitate upwards along the deck. “Drop!” The anchors are immediately released from their locks, are dart back from the length of the ship towards the incoming beast. They snag in the sandworm’s giant teeth. “Lock!” The weights’ massive chains quickly stiffen. At that point, the caped pirate lets go of the wheel and runs back to the sandworm. He runs up the side of the erect poop deck, digging his hind claws into the floor to climb up. With his metal armour at full power, Korsan swings a clutched fist at the tip of the monster’s upper jaw. He lands the punch and sends shockwaves across the entire scaly mass. The worm roars and pulls back from the ship with the anchors still inside it. With the chains still attached, the ship’s bow pulls down into the diminishing sand current. The back flings forward over the gap, almost turning upside down. Lightning Rod begins to fall from its perch from the deck, but is caught in the masts, sails, and rigging. “Cut!” The chains are promptly released from inside the bow area and slip out into the abyss. The flipped front tosses up and over the airborne mass. It crosses the massive gap and lands perfectly along the opposing sand current, with its bow facing towards the gravity defying flow. However, the ship begins to slink downwards and over the forming edge of the path.

“Come on, come on, come on!” Korsan frantically yells as he punches his hooves into the floor, attempting to force friction between The Perfection and the loose sand. Just as the entire boat is about to fall, some of the keel gets caught on the speeding sand and is pulled with it. The galleon jolts upwards. Soon, the boat slowly begins to make its way up the vertical incline and climbs the slope to the flat sand current ahead. Everypony on board cheers as their boat reaches the top, racing upwards onto the clear main deck to see that it’s now a straight shot to the blue star in the distance. “We, we did it! We made it!”

“We made it Rarity!” Sweetie Belle squeals in joy as she slips out from her life-line, “I’m going to tell the others!” As the filly runs down to the main deck and towards the now suspended watercraft, her older sister silently watches, still upset at how her friend just acted towards her.

Korsan, still zealous over his victory, runs up to Rarity and talks, “Whoo! I had no idea it was going to work that well. Ha, ha, now to sort this Twilight issue out. What do you say Rarity? The brig?”

“…”

“Rarity?”

“I don’t know.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I know who you are. You’re an adventurous, joyous, intelligent stallion.”

“I am indeed-”

“But you’re also a murderous psychopath, and this is making you one step closer to wiping out all Earth ponies and pegasi, including my friends.”

“…”

“However, after seeing, hearing, and experiencing what you’ve been through to be here at this moment, and a recent discussion with Twilight, I’m not sure who’s side I should be on. I’m not even sure if I should be talking to you of all ponies about this, I’ve practically been your captive for two weeks.”

“Huh. It’s a cruel world isn’t it? Can’t tell the line of what’s good or bad, that’s my problem as well. I know I’m insane, I know what I’ve done and will do is strip the living from most. However, whatever my choice is, I’m doing what I feel I deserve, and what everypony else deserves, a chance to actually do things equal to all others in this wretched and twisted world. I can fix it. Whatever you choose, I’m fine with. Just, stay away from me when you’ve reached your final decision, I don’t want to hurt you, nor your sister. From what I’ve seen from you twos on my boat, you two have been some of the best crew members, no friends, I could ever have.”

“Thank you.”

“So, what’s your call on what to do to these mares? And dragon,”

“Why aren’t you choosing?” The mare already knows what her captain’s purpose of this was, but wants to know what he’ll say.

“I feel this is something for you to decide, a test of your loyalties.”

“I guess...” Rarity squints towards the tangled boat and thinks about her friends inside. Her mind races with memories, thoughts, and impacts the souls on that mysterious boat have made for her. She remembers her recent two weeks on The Perfection, volunteering as a tailor. She recalls the nightly spars during dinner in the galley, and how each time Korsan sparred with her, she’d always come one step closer to beating him. She recalls the teachings Korsan gave her from his books and tales of his adventures, each time growing more and more interesting. She recalls the subtle nods of generosity by the captain, always giving her and her side small gifts and kinder words whilst barking demands to his other members. She remembers hers and Sweetie Belle’s cabin that they were given, and how they would add decorations and even receive a visit by one of the more fun crew members. Most importantly, she recalls about how much she, her sister, Korsan, and the others have slowly changed over time. From hating the captain and desiring to escape at any chance, Rarity now respects Korsan and treats him like a friend. From jumping at the presence of every pirate, Sweetie Belle now enjoys cooking for and alongside them, excluding Chopin, he’s still creepy. From being a cold, mean, and savage hermit, Captain Korsan now is an upbeat, intellectual, childlike friend, now actually trying to gain her heart. From suspicious and reclusive from Rarity and Sweetie Belle, the crew now loves them, and treats them like one of their own.

“So, what will it be?”

“As soon as we reach open water, let them out onto the sea. There, we’ll give them a choice, either follow us and resist, in which we’ll fight back, or stay put, and wait until we’ve finished business on Alicorn Island and let them join us back to the surface.”

“And after the latter option? Will you join them?”

“…I haven’t figured that out yet. Just please, don’t hurt them too much, they’re still my friends.”

“…Very well then. Missy, please keep ‘er straight till I return.” Korsan gently sets the ice phoenix onto the wheel and proceeds down towards Twilight’s boat with Rarity trailing behind.

As they reach the center mast, Isyan walks up his cousin at the side and screams at him, “You lunatic! You daft, insensitive, lunatic!”

“Oh boy,”

“Do you know how much damage you caused?”

“I’m starting to sense a pattern in you whenever I do something.” The captain crudely remarks in a deadpan tone.

“We have lost two anchors,”

“We have spares,”

“Incalculable damage to the hull on all sides, a nearly non-existent keel, an absolute terror of tangled rigging, twelve ripped sails, a leak in the anti-magic storage tank, a demolished restroom,”

“I told them to seal it,”

“And heaven knows what else!”

“Super interesting dear cousin, you can manage all that right? And don’t be all whiny with me, I saw you kissing the main deck after I landed that double club haul.”

“Of course I would, just like everypony else who’s happily they got lucky. We wouldn’t even have to fear of imminent death if you didn’t go on this insane venture. Heck, things would be better off if I was captain.”

“Well you aren’t, boo-hoo. Now get to fixing all of the ‘critical’ problems while I deal with these stowaways.”

“No, I’m not going to let you just talk me off and-”

“Do you want to relive what happened one year ago when you?” The pirate pegasus reaches behind him and partially pulls out one of his cutlasses. Isyan instantly backs up a step. “Do you?”

“No.” Gently, Korsan returns the sword to rest and claps his metal hooves together.

“Very well then, back to your place,”

“…Fine,” Frustrated, Isyan walks back from his captain and towards the quarterdeck.

“Sheesh, drama queen,” With Lightning Rod being lowered onto the deck by the crew members, Korsan and Rarity stop just in front of the long dark hull. At the other side, they notice Sweetie Belle hopping up and down and shouting to her friends above.

“Captain,” Horus calls out from above, “Want us to, nicely, detain them once more?”

“No, I have a different idea this time.”

“Okay then.”

“Twilight Sparkle and company!” At first, no response is given from the boat. Eventually though, the two leading ponies on deck see Twilight’s tense face peering over the edge of her boat.

“What?” She sternly asks, attempting to avoid eye contact with Rarity.

“Instead of capturing you, I have decided to give you a choice.”

“We don’t negotiate with pirates, like you specifically.”

“Upon reaching open waters, we’ll set your fine little boat off free. Now, you can chase us, in which you will be met with strict resistance. Or, you can simply wait until return and give yous all a lift back up. How does that sound?”

“What about Rarity? And Sweetie Belle?”

“That is to be decided later, but be rest assured, no harm will come to them. What matters now is whether or not you want to put yours and your other friends’ lives on the line.”

“…”

“You have a few minutes, choose wisely.”

“Is it that Korsan jerk?” Spike’s voice hollers from inside, “If he hasn’t backed off of Rarity, I’m gonna-”

“Sir,” a voice beckons from the bow ahead, “We’re about to reach the end.”

Korsan quickly replies, “Alright then,” Quickly, the bipedal pirate and his mare friend rush around Lightning Rod and head for the edge of the bow. There, the two see the blue star now less than hundred metres ahead of them, encompassing their whole vision beyond the boat with light. “Here we go.” As the massive galleon pierce into the blue star at the end of the sandy current, the intense light instantly bathes across the entire vessel, blinding everypony with pure white light. “Keep her straight!” A few seconds later, the light dies as soon as it appears, revealing that The Perfection is now sailing on normal water. The surrounding sky has turned into a completely blank night blue shade, with no stars and only a bright blue moon present in the center of the slate. The endless sea the galleon rides on is a completely still body of black water, being only disrupted by the gentle ripples of the gliding giant. Behind the great ship is the blue star, floating halfway above the still ocean. As the boat continues forward, the hull begins to glow its faint tint of green once more and the crew realizes they can use magic again.

“Hey! We got our magic back! Where are we?”

“The second pulse of the dark heart of the Breach. This means, spyglass.” Near immediately, Juliana flies up to her master with a telescope in her talons. Korsan swiftly grabs the looking glass and looks through it straight forward, seeing a small grey dot on the far horizon.

“Means what?” Some of the other pirates ask out loud, having eavesdropped on their captain.

“Alicorn Island, is right ahead.”