After several days and nights of sailing, with the only land last seen was the coast of Vanhoover a week ago, the seven ponies still continue their journey aboard their ship to catch Korsan. This night, with a half-moon in the sky and several stars twinkling in the sky, the group is in the galley, eating apple pie quietly, each spread out across a large table.

More apples, Rainbow Dash thinks to herself as she pauses from her meal, at this point I might well be eating those hard biscuits in storage for a better tasting meal.

“Hey Twilight,” Fluttershy asks to Twilight at the other end of the long dining table, “how much longer until we reach Thieves’ Hold?”

“Halfway, another week probably,” Twilight answers with a mouthful of pie.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy,” Applejack proclaims, “I’ve still got plenty of apples.”

“Why does it have to be so far away?” Rainbow impatiently barks out, feeling her stomach growing queasy from the apples.

“The Antlertic Ocean is huge,” Spike replies, “it would be a great place to disappear from the world.”

“You know what’s strange?” Rarity asks out loud, “Throughout our entire time at sea, we haven’t seen a single pirate ship or any ship for that matter ever since we left the harbour. What’s up with that?”

Twilight gulps down her mouthful of pie and answers, “You heard what the princess said about this ship. If any small pirate ships were to see us in the distance, they’d probably get away and not pick a fight. Though, you do have a point about there not being any friendly ships that we’ve seen. I guess rumors of powerful storms and sea monsters drive most ponies away from this area, making Thieves’ Hold a much more ideal place for Korsan to go.”

“Speaking of rumors,” Pinkie speaks, “How about we tell some ghost stories while we’re all here together?”

“In the middle of the night?” Fluttershy protests, “I’d rather not.”

“Of come on Flutter, it’ll be fun. I’ll start. Once upon a time, there was a trading ship that was set to sail to the kingdom of Ti, but was sent off course by a large hurricane. The sailors on board didn’t know and continued to sail forwards, and eventually fell over the edge of the world. Legend says that if you’re lucky, when approaching Ti oversea, you’ll see a ghost ship sailing towards it before it sinks underneath the waves and disappear.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Twilight retorts, “The world’s round, not flat. And there is no such thing as ghost ships or ghosts in general.”

“My turn,” Rainbow Dash calls out, “this one will make you all unable to sleep tonight. Once, there was a stallion. His name was Pablo. Pablo was not a very good pony. He liked to… have-”

“Inappropriate story Dash!”

“What? It’s just us seven.”

“Who even told you that story?”

“Who told you?”

“…”

“Seeing as you know how it ends.”

“…Well…”

“How does it end?” Applejack asks out of growing curiosity.

“Not well. Who’s next?” A small snicker is heard coming from the cyan mare as silence draws over the candle lit room.

“I guess me…”

“Good. Make sure it’s an acceptable story.”

“Okay… Here is the legend of the Dark and Crimson Mare. There once was a young mare that lived alone in a house at the edge of a cliff that stood over the ocean. One day, during a very windy night, the cliff edge collapsed and fell into the ocean, taking the house and the sleeping mare, dressed in her sleeping gown, down with it. The mare drowned in her sleep in only a few minutes. Now, when you go to the missing cliffside at night at a new moon, you might be able to see the ghost of the mare hovering where she slept, with her fur coloured red, her gown completely black, and her eyes wide open, staring at you.”

“Ooh! That is scary!” Pinkie exclaims.

“Too scary,” Fluttershy squeaks.

“How about you Fluttershy?”

“Me? No, I’ve had enough scary stories for tonight.”

“Oh come one,” Rainbow Dash replies, hovering over to the yellow mare and giving her a noogie on the top of her head. “Just tell us a story and then you can go, please.”

“Well, okay I guess. Once upon a time, some fillies went into a haunted house. A ghost showed up and spooked them. But then the fillies remembered that ghosts were real, and discovered that the ghost was just a stallion with a blanket over his head. The end,”

“It’s Pablo!”

“Quit it Rainbow Dash!” Twilight barks as Rainbow starts laughing uncontrollably in the air, eventually falling onto the floor in her laughing fit. ”Sorry Fluttershy for that little instance, it was a… enjoyable story.”

“Thanks.” Fluttershy cheers, “I’ll be going to bed now. Good night.”

“Okay. Good night.” Slowly, the yellow mare exits from her chair and makes her way to the door leading downstairs. “So, who’s next?”

“I guess I will,” Rarity declares as the sound of a door closing erupts behind. “There once was a pair of young unicorn brothers. The only family they had was their mother and each other due to their father leaving years ago. One day though, the mother died from disease, leaving the two heartbroken. Desperate to have her back, the two attempted a forbidden magic. However, instead of it bringing her back, what they brothers created was a monster, at the unseen cost of the older brother losing two legs and the younger losing his body, having his soul sealed inside a nearby empty suit of armour. It is said that they now roam a distant and unknown land, seeking a way to return to their original bodies at whatever the cost.”

“Ooh, deep.”

“Thank you, I heard it from the ambassador of Saddle Arabia during the gala.”

“Cool. You want to have a go at it Spike?”

“Wait!” Fluttershy’s voice calls from underneath, “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” After a second of silence, Fluttershy suddenly bursts from the door with a frightened look on her face.

“That laughing, coming from outside”

“I don’t hear any, just us and the candles.”

“Must be because I was in the dark and below the main deck,”

“Could be, we should investigate.”

“Wait, what if it’s the Dark and Crimson Mare? Or the ghost trading ship? Or Pablo?”

“There are no such things as ghosts, nor Pablo. You can stay in here.”

“Okay… Just be careful.”

“Everypony else, follow.” Quietly, the five other ponies and Spike scramble up to the main deck and start to hear the faint laughing as well. They wonder around the dark, searching for a source either onboard or on the ocean.

“I hear it,” Spike whispers, “but I don’t see anything.”

“Sounds like a whole lot of laughers to,” Applejack softly replies, “Has anypony checked under the boat?”

“That’s stupid,” Rainbow Dash retorts, “who’d be laughing underwater?” As Rainbow and Applejack soon engage in a silent argument, Spike turns his attention to the port edge of the deck, seeing Pinkie Pie looking up into the sky with her pupils shrunken, with a green tint reflecting in her eyes and her mouth at a gape.

“Pinkie?” Spike nervously asks, “Do you see something?”

“What if,” the pink Earth pony cryptically responds, “the laughing’s coming from right above us?”

“That’s ridiculous, no pegasi would be flying this far out to sea. And the pirate ship we’re after is way ahead of us.”

“Then what’s that?”

“What?” Spike turns his head up and is shocked at what he sees. “Oh…” Spike and Pinkie see that Korsan’s airship is hovering right above the SS Raindrop, and is the source of the mysterious laughing noise. “Twilight! Rainbow Dash! Applejack! Rarity! It’s Korsan’s ship, it’s right above us!”

“What?” The four mares exclaim as they look up and see the green glowing underbelly of the pirate ship as well.

“How is that possible?” Twilight asks out loud, “Korsan had a head start.”

“Who cares?’ Rarity joyously replies, “We can just take care of that creep and his crew now and head back with the Diamond Eye.”

“I guess, but I haven’t really figured out how yet. We can’t teleport on board with the ship blocking any good teleporting location in view. We can’t fight it directly with the size and artillery it has. What can we do?”

“I got it.” Dash pridefully cheers, “You, Fluttershy, and I can just sneak on board, grab the diamond, and sneak back down. Simple.”

“It’s a heavy diamond, probably guarded. Are you sure we can do this?”

“Yeah,”

“I’ll go get Fluttershy, you go ahead and scout things out. Good luck.”

“On it,” Swiftly the blue pegasus flies upwards to the bottom of the airship, hearing the laughing grow louder and louder. As Rainbow Dash makes her way up the side of the hull to the quarterdeck, a bright golden glow is seen emanating from the windows where the joyous hollers are coming from. Curious, Dash peaks her head up from the bottom and is immediately surprised at what she sees. A massive galley, five times bigger than theirs, lit up by hundreds of candles inside. The large room holds a gigantic a U-shape table, lined with one hundred chairs, with most of them being seated upon by unicorns of all shapes and sizes. Stallions and mares, young and old, tall and tiny, shaved and bearded, bare and fully dressed, bald and lengthy manes and tails, fat and skinny, bearing every colour of the rainbow and more, each had their own unique combination, with only a few being similar to one another. All seated are jubilantly laughing and cheering as golden bits, jewels, clothing, and large plates of food of every variety are being passed all around in the air by their magic. At the center of the room is a large serving table, with large black pots holding tons and tons of plants, breads, fruits, vegetables, drinks, and more delectable, making the spying onlooker drool beyond control. However, the main focus of activity lies beyond the serving table, with a young, pale mare with a long red mane and tail with a small dagger in her control fighting against an old, dark blue stallion with a small grey braid wielding a large two-bitted axe. The seated pirates watching the fight cheer each time the two fighters’ weapons clash, growing louder and louder and throwing around more and more items as bets. Yet the thing that grabs Dash’s attention the most is at the far end of the room, opposite of the dining and serving table. There, sitting upon a large chair on an elevated platform, with his own large table with food and treasures sitting on it, is none other than Korsan, quietly watching the fight with a smile on his face.

It’s him… Rainbow thinks to herself as she continues to spy inside the lively galley. Soon the fight ends by the mare tripping over the stallion with her magic and disarming him in the process. Immediately, the galley roars in both excitement and short-lived anger as massive amounts of stuff is sent soaring across the dining table to the watchers that won the bet, soon obscuring their faces with the amount of stuff they won. As the old stallion rises back to his hooves, the young mare outstretches a hoof, prompting him to calmly shake it with his own. The two combatants then quickly head into a room to the right of Korsan’s behind with their weapons in tow. That might be the armoury where they keep the weapons. Wait a minute Dashy, remember, find the Diamond Eye and get out. Don’t get distracted. Suddenly, her train of thought is interrupted by her vision turning completely light blue and a blast of cold hitting her face. Rainbow Dash backs away in shock and sees with her recovering vision that it is Korsan’s ice phoenix attacking her. It loudly shrieks at her before charging in for another strike. Rainbow quickly reacts and flies back down to her ship. Stupid parrot! I’m not going to get back that diamond with that thing making a noise.

Inside the galley, with the post-fight chaos still roaring through the atmosphere, the fighters return from the armoury and walk onto Korsan’s platform and walk to the other end of the captain’s table. The two then bow their heads to him, prompting the onlookers to quiet down, knowing that their captain will now be talking.

With silence now the only thing being heard, Korsan tranquilly speaks, “You both did well. Miss Maria Vanshwitz, mechanic, your use of surprise and overwhelming your opponent are quite adept. However your technique and stamina are still lackluster. Please try to exercise that.”

“Yes captain.” The young mare responds in a pant before walking to the dining table and taking an empty seat.

“And Butch Taylor, cook, your strength and intimidation are well used. Yet your vigilance and speed need attention. I know you’re growing old, but please don’t let your age get the best of you.”

“I understand captain.” The old stallion responds before also heading to a seat.

“Crew of ‘The Perfection’, it has been a fine night with you all. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to get to my chambers early to further study the Diamond Eye. Good night.” However, as Korsan starts to exit his chair, the ice phoenix soars into the room from an open door, screeching as it flies to him. “Juliana, what’s wrong?” As Juliana reaches her master’s outstretched hoof, a small feather from Rainbow Dash is spit out of her beak and into Korsan’s claws. “A feather?” Holding the small feather close to his eye, Korsan examines it thoroughly before lowering it to his nose and sniffing it. “Northwester Equestrian Oak and refined steel,” Quickly, the pirate captain jumps from his seat and runs to the door with Juliana leading him. “Follow me!”

“Yes captain!” The pirates at the table sharply respond as they follow behind him and his pet as they reach the port edge of the main deck. With Korsan and his crew watching, the ice phoenix flies overboard and towards Rainbow Dash still heading down to Twilight’s ship below.

“It’s that blue wench from Equestria!” A middle-aged stallion crew member calls out.

“What?! Why didn’t the lookouts see her?”

“They might have fallen asleep from that last joyride you did.”

“Get me a spyglass!” Almost immediately, a small telescope is levitated in front of Korsan. He swiftly grabs it from the air and holds it up to his eye, looking through it and getting a better look at the ship below. “It’s Princess Twilight, from Equestria. She’s with five others and a baby dragon. They’re probably here for the Diamond Eye. They’re following us with a galleon, fifty metres long, twenty small cannons, six sails, thirty centimetre thick hull, must be royal class.”

“Easy pickings, let’s just sink them already.” An older mare calls out from beside her captain.

“No.” Korsan retorts as his sights set on Rarity looking up at his ship.

“What?”

“There’s a mare on that ship down there, a unicorn. She could serve very well in our crew.”

“So? We can just drop down, snatch her up, and then sink ‘em.”

“I’m afraid it’s not as easy as your initiation as yours Barbara Shores. We have to be more welcoming to this one, but it will be worth it. And I don’t want to distract myself from our goal by having to do repairs. We’ll instead run down their defenses, give them and her some distress without getting our hooves dirty.”

“How so?” The old stallion that fought in the galley asks.

“We’ll take them through Siren Gulch.”

“Are you sure captain? Very few travelers have ever made it through alive.”

“We’ve seen it in action plenty of times. It is possible for a ship of this sort. And for the crew, that’s the funny thing about these ‘hero’ types, they always do manage to ride out that slim chance.”

“You mean that there’s such thing as fate?”

“In a scientific sense. Prepare yourselves sea artists! I’m going to need one of you to keep an eye on that ship and sketch me their faces. As for the rest of you, we’re changing course to Siren Gulch,”

“What is going on up there?” Twilight asks out loud as the massive airship above turns. “They’re changing their course. I would’ve thought for certain they were heading for Thieves’ Hold.”

“Rainbow Dash was caught by that weird blue bird up there. What if they’re trying to throw us off course?”

“Maybe,”

“Get away from me!” Rainbow screams at Juliana as the phoenix turns back towards Korsan’s ship. Dash then flies back down to the deck of the galleon alongside her friends. “Sorry guys, I couldn’t find the Diamond Eye. That stupid bird probably ratted us out.”

“That’s fine,” Fluttershy comforts her, “Did you at least learn anything about the pirates.”

“Their galley is on the lowest portion of the quarterdeck and the armoury is right next to it. And they have mountains of food in there.”

“That’s quite a lot of food.”

“Are you kidding?! It’s practically heaven on a boat!”

“Oh no,” Twilight interrupts Rainbow, “This isn’t good.”

“What isn’t good?” Rarity asks.

“After doing some calculations, I just discovered where they’re going now.”

“Where?”

“They’re heading towards the tip of the Central Ley Line. It might be to throw us off, but it’s just as likely that going to Thieves’ Hold is throwing us off.”

“What’s so bad about some Ley Line?” Spike replies, “It doesn’t sound that bad.”

“Do you even know what the Ley Lines are?”

“No.”

“Anypony else?” No response is given by the others as they blankly star at her in confusion. “The Ley Lines are large uncharitable sections of land that surround the known world. Usually seen with extreme weather and abnormal phenomenon, they’ve been regarded as impossible to go through. And for the few explorers that go into the Ley Lines, it is said that no two ponies experience the same thing, if they even come back.”

“Eep!” Fluttershy squeaks, “We should go to Thieves’ Hold.”

“I’m with Fluttershy.” Rarity adds, “Wherever Korsan’s going is definitely not there. He’s just trying to throw us off.”

“Wait,” Applejack replies, “If Korsan sees us still going to Thieves’ Hold, then wouldn’t he know not to go there?”

“You’re right.” Twilight responds, “If we’re ever going to take him, we’re going to have to play along. Who knows, the Ley Lines may give us an upper hoof for when we confront him.”

“Wait,” Rainbow asks, “If he already knows we’re here, then why isn’t he attacking us? He’s got a giant flying ship with giant cannons.”

“I don’t know myself. Something doesn’t seem right. But if we’re going to get any answers, we might as well follow him.”