****

Shallow Shale

??????

I just couldn’t relax, not knowing if they were going to kill me or not. It grated on my already frazzled nerves. Logically, I should be dead. Queen Chrysalis had said I would live as long as I was useful, and I just didn’t see any use for me anymore. Not that I didn’t want to be useful, to live…But that traitorous Mongofu probably knew more than I could tell them about Arch and his crew. Arch had Ari now, he was alive…Of course I couldn’t kill an Alicorn.

There was no doubt I would die for my attempt, now the question was just when and how.

“Mfphmpfh! MMMMFFFFFF!”

At least they have a new punching bag, that equestrian, and I couldn’t help but crack a small smile at that. According to the bull, Gennady, the bat pony’s name was Moonlit Echo. But names don’t mean much when you’re going to die and really he was just a weak flying rat. He did have guts though, for I second I almost believed he would escape…Echo had seemed so close to escaping…But like me, he was tricked by those guards that were in the Mongofu’s pockets, and now the bat pony is back.

“OH, SHUT UP, you damned pony! I have a headache.” The changeling queen hissed at the bat pony as she rubbed a hoof to her forehead, swaying as the siren hybrid supported her shoulder.

The heifer smiled and hit in the back of Echo’s head, happily knocking him out, at least I think he was just knocked out. He really had no reason to stay alive either and why he wasn’t dead yet…I didn’t know.

This whole situation made no sense to me, like right now.

“Can you last the whole trip? I-I could get one of the stallions,” Kapera queried, looking at Queen Chrysalis before glancing at the siren with a raised eyebrow.

I watched in fascination as another strange thing occurred, this odd group was full of them, but I was mesmerized watching this drama. I mean…What else was there to do?

She sniffed at the Mongofu then looked at the changeling, “I would prefer we don’t use my voice as a ‘get out of jail free card’, they do remember all their actions even if they can’t control them.”

This was an interesting dynamic. Every being was catering to these two mares, even though the Mongofu was leading this plan, she was catering to them. Here she was offering to bring the queen food and she wasn’t even a changeling. I can only guess being Ari’s mares had its perks.

“No, I-I don’t want another stallion to feed me…I will wait for Ari.”

He didn’t seem that great, annoying was more like it.

“Look here, Chrissy, I know you love him but he wouldn’t want-.”

‘Chrissy’ interrupted her, packing her things as she went. “NO! You listen here! His absence does not mean I go around feeding off any being…I want him and only him that way.” As the Mongofu went to open her mouth again, “And that is my final word on it, Lyric will have to feed me till then.”

If I didn’t know better it sounded like the queen of the changelings was weak right now…Those were her weak punches?! Well, buck, I’m lucky I guess. Those hurt plenty I don’t want to feel her punches at full power. It would explain why I haven’t seen her use any magic yet, only the siren has been using magic.

“FINE,” Kapera snarled, “You are just thinking of yourself, selfish mare. See if I care what happens, NO, you will hear plenty of this from your stallion when I tell him.” She crossed her arms as bags clicked shut and cloaks fluttered.

Something was going on here. Why was the queen so weak? It was only four days without her stallion, from the looks of it, her…Herd mate…Lyric was providing her with love. There was so much that didn’t make sense here.

But more concerning than the nonsensical nature of this group was what they were doing.

“You sure I can come Kapera?” The young bull asked, grabbing a satchel and filling it with food.

She sighed, “YES,” the heifer snorted at her, which she ignored. “How many times do I have to repeat myself,” he opened his mouth, “That was a rhetorical question you daft calf.”

As for myself? Of course I was coming to rescue the damned Alicorn, couldn’t help it when I was hogtied and being carried around like sack of flour. Not that I liked the alternative, despite disliking this situation it was still a step above being dead.

I felt my position shift as suddenly I was held away from the Minotaur, all eyes were on me now, “What should I do with her?” That damned heifer had to bring that up.

“Well,” the Mongofu’s claws grasped my muzzle, looking me in the eyes as I fought to keep my body from shaking. Damn it, I felt a shiver travel down my back. “I don’t think she knows much about where Arch will be visiting. Do you zebra?”

Still shaking, I shook my head no, not trusting my voice.

“So I don’t see why we should bring another mouth to feed.”

“Hey!” The bull piped up from bringing the fifth bag to the door, they had quite a pile going.

Every being was watching Kapera, even the mares who had been giving me the stink eye seconds ago. “Don’t be so sensitive calf, you are going to be a big help. No, this is just a predicament.” She sighed, “We don’t have a use for her, can’t exactly let her roam free anymore like that lunar guard, and we can’t kill her here.”

“Let’s just bring her anyway; she can be sea serpent bait or something. But we have to get going!” Queen Chrysalis was already under her cloak, saddle bags on, and was looking anxiously at the clock above the doorway.

We had less than two hours before sunset.

Every being looked at the clock before nodding, bags being double checked, latched, and loaded onto the minotaur’s backs. I was placed on my side beside the unconscious stallion as the heifer went to the back room.

“So stripes,” I turned to the rodent, she was coming at me with a chain in her paw. “It looks like your coming with us then. I hope you can share!” Wrapping the chain around my muzzle and giggling as she made spoke the last part, I could only stare at her.

What-

Heavy hoof steps came from behind. Turning my head I saw the mares snicker at me, why-

Oh, Tartarus no, anything but that.

Turning back to the one in charge of this, I pleaded my case, “Plrmrmppmrpmrp!” I heard a hollow thump behind me, “Arrrrrrmph!” The heifer lifted me by my bonds, “Nrr, nrr, nrr! Arr lmmpg krr mr ommph!”

“Let me think…No, now shut up already!” With that response from the changeling I was unceremoniously dropped.

It was a very small crate.

Although you might not believe me I am afraid of confined spaces, now you may wonder then why I became an assassin since that can involve hiding in small spaces, and simply put: I can leave those spots if I need to. Here I was trapped, curled around myself, and unable to-

BUCK!

They dropped that damn bat in here with me. He really emphasized just how small the crate was, I already was cramped in here and now my nose was trapped somewhere I would rather not think about.

“Come on Dinny, we have a boat to borrow!” With that ‘Dinny’ nailed on the lid…Wait a second, where were the air holes in here?!

****

Somewhere on the Narrow sea

Ari

It was like I could feel everything and nothing all at once, the sensations were so many that it amounted to nonsense to my senses. Worse than the time I ended up in the infirmary after taking on an asshole who also happened to be a bodybuilder. Let’s just say that after that I wasn’t allowed to defend my friend’s honor anymore, and now at thirty two I really shouldn’t have to anymore. I couldn’t now…But that point aside, I felt like hell.

“…Ari…”

Explaining the sensations is hard, there was too many to focus on one part. I guess starting at the top would help. My horn feels sore, like some- Never mind, Arch did kick me there. But I also feel better than I should have, lighter, happier. It was probably the breeze, gentle wafting over my fur. It spoke of freedom; it told me inhibitor was gone!

My fur felt sticky, the ground, no wood, was wet. Did it rain?

The clip clop of many hooves reached my ears, getting fainter then louder.

Keeping my eyes closed, I focused on the rest of my body. Throat, dry, torso, well, that felt like it was stiff and burning. Don’t ask me how, it was hot, dry, and something told me that moving would be a bad idea. I was going to listen to that thought for now. Forelegs, stiff and sticky, okay next would be my wings. Pain lanced through me as I accidently moved the tip of my wing. Wait-

“C-can you hear me Ari?” That voice seems very familiar. “Ari, if you can hear give me a sign. Please!” The sound of hooves growing fainter by my sides, before growing louder, closer to me, and my ears twitched as I tried to track the pony. Or was it ponies? There was a lot of hooves clip clopping now, a lot of gasps and murmurs too.

But what was more important was if I should move. Exactly how much damage did my body take on? There was only one way to find out.

Right, what was after the torso?

My lower half, okay, that was sticky, stiff- Get your head out of the gutter! Not that, no, I felt like my skin was pulled taut, stretched thin, and the fur was clumped. Hind legs and rump felt the same, just like my torso….

Why did my tail feel so light?

Flicking it again I realized I couldn’t feel the breeze my tail used to make, I hadn’t even paid much attention to that before, as it usually acted on its own.

I had to see this, everything just felt wrong. I could understand some of what happened to make my body sore and stiff, it had to be the whipping I took, but…Where was the rest of my tail?

No.

Where was my other wing?

Opening my eyes was hard, not due to the gunk that builds up from sleeping, but from the dread of what I might see. Last thing I remember was a blinding whiteness, and whiteness always makes me think back to that endless white plane the god had me trapped in. Despite my status as an Alicorn I still feared that god, crazy bastard.

Blue, a bright, cloudless, light blue spanned above me, filled with small dots circling, birds. The waves swayed the boat, gently, like they knew already that I was in pain. Voices conversed in the background, hooves slowly made their way towards me again.

“Ari!” Casting my eyes down, they froze, my eyes not the ponies.

It wasn’t the bloody and battered group of mares making their way towards my form, no, it was what was behind them. More accurately, something was missing.

“Are you okay? Can we help you up?” The brown mare asked while supporting a swaying zebra. They were walking over, slowly, and almost cautiously. No, that wasn’t right, in fact this whole picture didn’t add up.

I couldn’t focus on them when the ship was missing its mast, steering wheel. Heck, everything above the deck level in front of me was just gone. A jagged stump showed where the mast used to be. Behind that, the jagged points of wood indicated where the captain’s quarters used to be, the entire frame just GONE!

Fuck, what did I do?!

“A-Ari?”It was the mare again, looking at me uncertainly.

Exactly, that was how I felt, “What the hell happened?!” More mares came up from below and I felt relieve as it sunk in: we won.

“You…Beat Arch…Are you feeling okay? You were unconscious for awhile.” She scuffed her hooves on deck, bringing up dark shavings.

It took a couple blinks to come to my senses from her question, “I feel like I was run over by a semi-,” A round of confused stares and opening mouths. “Never mind, it’s an earth thing. I feel a lot of pain. All the dogs are dead?”

“Yes, b-but we lost some ponies.” She looks like she is going to be sick as she says that, not that anything would come up from her boney frame, but…To come from a paradise to end up like this, seeing all this. I can relate, sure earth is bad, but it isn’t this bad. At least not my corner of it.

“I-I’m sorry,” and I was, no pony, zebra, or human should have to see this. I sighed, “Nothing can make that better but we need to live. There is still plenty to do…Can I get a hoof up?” I held up a hoof, not trusting my own strength or muscles, I was so stiff, and I still didn’t-

“HOLD IT!” A zebra mare shot forward, grabbing the outstretched hoof that the brown mare was extending to me.

This zebra had such a serious look on her face that I lowered my hoof again. She had that look, the look that demanded you listen, ears back, eyes narrowed, and mouth set in a grim line.

“Marble! Didn’t I just explain why we moved him to the open area? Did you forget about that?!”

“OH! Sorry Folami, I f-forgot.” Marble took her hoof back and looked and me, grimacing.

Folami sighed and pointed behind me, “Take her to the cabin and bring me back a plank-” she glanced at me. “-about four feet long, not any longer than that, and don’t forget the wrappings!”

With Marble and her group gone Folami turned back to me, looking slightly more relaxed, but with a tired look in her eyes.

“So, we won huh?”

All she could give me was a sad smile, “This battle, yes, but we still have to make it back to Zebrica before the other ships become aware of our victory…You are still going to help us?” Her eyes roamed my body, not sexually, more like analyzing my ability to help.

I knew I mustn’t look very impressive right now.

“Yes, if my magic can do that-,” I pointed where the chunk of the ship was missing, “- then I don’t think I should have a problem. Only…” I hesitated not sure if I should wait to tell her.

“Only?”

Sooner was probably better, I didn’t know how many pirates, slavers, whatever, were coming or what they would have with them. They had teleportation and magic transmitters, theoretically they could have bullets, guns, and quite frankly I don’t think I could survive a bullet in the brain.

“Only that I have to get back to my mares too.” She blinked, looking at me strangely, ears splaying and with an odd look in her eyes. That wasn’t quite what I meant to say, but it was true none the less. “And I overheard Arch talking to some being over the jewel communications device thing…Which is now gone.”

Then it sunk in. No, not the fact that Chrissy and Lyric were guaranteed to be worried sick now, I already knew that, I mean four days is self explanatory. It was the fact that I had blasted away our steering system. No mast meant we didn’t have any sail, no wheel meant we had no rudder control, and no communications meant exactly what it sounded like. I messed up, we were stranded.

“Buck, just buck,” Folami cursed, stomping the deck. I wasn’t sure to what exactly; anything about this situation was applicable to swearing.

Marble returned then, a plank in her mouth and a red bag on her back.

“Perfect, set it down there.” The earth pony placed the items by my right wing, “Great, now go place your hooves on his chest, hold him down when I say ‘one’, okay?”

That sinking feeling was coming back to me as Marble got into position. “Wait a second…” I turned my head to the right, my wing, oh shit. “D-don’t you guys know a spell? Or something magical, not THIS,” Folami moved my wing to slide the plank under it, pain tingled through those nerves, and she was being gentle with it.

“No Ari, we don’t have that sort of magic. But I was my town’s healer so I think I can handle this, it’s just like a broken leg.” I guess that’s what her cutie mark of a bottle pouring out means.

“No-ssssss,” I was about to protest but Marble’s hooves pressed down into my open wounds.

I bite my cheek as the pain increased; she was plucking feathers around the bone sticking out. She was going fast but between the agony I had already been in, Marble’s hooves, and Folami’s plucking it was hard to think straight.

“COMING THROUGH!” A blur of stripes galloped past me to the room behind us.

“Three…” I closed my eyes, “two…” A deep breath through my nose, and I began tensing of my muscles, shit-“ONE!”

A loud crack sounded, I think, my screaming dominated my mind. Somewhere in my mind I knew it was mine. It was loud, I know, but I couldn’t keep it in, damn this hurt.

Hmm, What?

“Up, get UP!”

Bleary I did, my eyes swimming with tears. I swayed for a second, wanting to vomit from the pain.

Something was wrapping around my torso, blinking, I slowed my breathing and looked back. They were wrapping my wing to my body…Okay. I guess that solves that problem.

Damn I miss Lyric’s horn now, it was gentle in comparison to this method…I miss her, really, both of them in general. I had to get back to them, wherever that was.

“Are you going to be okay?” I nodded, slowing my breathing as the pain faded to a dull ache. “Good, come on, I have more ponies to tend to and they need to see their leader.”

Leader?

Tucking my other wing to my body I saw the door the zebras had ran to. We walked stiffly to the room; although I was the most injured of the three of us they weren’t unscathed. Folami had a scratch on her face and many on her rump, while Marble had three long scratches on her back. This was pretty good considering this was after being fed very little for an extended period of time, so I was impressed.

“Buck!” I swore, looking inside the room, it was a little shocking to see.

What I’m sure must have been the mess hall was now a make shift infirmary. Tables pushed to the side walls with blankets on them, now makeshift beds, and all of them were filled. Lanterns hung from the ceiling, swaying in time with the ship as the most able ponies hobbled around to tend to the most injured.

There was a lot of bloody gauze and bandages; it almost looked like we had come from a war movie.

Every pony froze and looked at us as we entered…There seemed to be less than I remembered or it could be because the room was bigger than the cell. Then I remembered Marble’s words, some had died in the fight.

“H-how many did we lose?” My voice sounded dry to me, cracking as I felt a sadness descend upon me.

“Ten…So far,” Folami answered solemnly, moving from my side to the back of the room. There was a collection of bags, wrappings, and bottles set before a fireplace. “But there are still more on the edge…Can you help grab some bales from the hull.” She looked back at me, probably seeing my confusion, “You have your magic back and we don’t have the strength to lift them right now. Some food would do us a world of good.”

Bales, like hay bales? Well I guess we are horses technically.

I nodded to her. Then looked to the ponies as many went back to work, while many more began murmuring, whispering among themselves as they looked at me. Seven zebra were dead. But many more ponies were alive at least. There was four pegasi I could see, two of which looked much like me, their wings wrapped up. Four earth ponies were left. I scanned the crowd again; I couldn’t see the yellow one.

Marble was still pressed into my side, “Did the yellow pony die?”

She nodded, looking away from my gaze. “Y-yes, Pumpkin Spice was…She was losing it, I think.” Marble gulped, turning back to me. “Can I help you?” She gestured to the door leading to the kitchen and I nodded. What else could I say? We were stuck in this together and she didn’t seem like she was going to pull a Pumpkin Spice on me, her eyes were shimmering with unshed tears.

But…

“A-Ayodele?” I stuttered out, feeling somewhat attached to the brave mare, the only one willing to do something to get free, I owed her one. Okay I owed her more than one, she had helped distract Arch, and helped give the others courage.

“Yes, she is alive. On one of the tables I think. She was almost trampled during the fight.”

I released a breath I didn’t even realize I had been holding, I’m glad she is alive.

Entering the kitchen I was immediately reminded of an important fact, I hadn’t eaten in almost five days.

The setting sun shone in through the window, casting the island countertop and sinks in an orange glow. I looked around, not seeing the food, my stomach grumbling my confusion as I tried to make sense of this.

“Where are the bales? Better yet where is any food?” A hollow tap made me look down, a hatch blended in with the floor; I gave her a sheepish smile. “Thanks Marble.”

My magic crackled as soon as I thought of opening it. Even faster than before, with just the slightest bit of will and it shot up…I might need to work on that. Marble had jumped at how fast it moved and I almost did too, the hatch was thankfully very sturdy, it only cracked a little from the force.

Even though I wasn’t imagining my channels I still heard them, like I couldn’t ‘unhear’ them once I was in tune with them…Cool! With a pained bounce to my step I went down the staircase.

Heaven was a pantry.

Pantry was the wrong word for it, it was a whole room, double the size of the mess hall, and filled with food. Not all of it was useful mind you; I could see barrels marked with pictographs of steaks, cows, fish, and pig heads. That would have been useful had I been a human still. But I was a horse now, which is why those stacks and stacks of hay looked mouth watering to me.

*Drip*

I looked down, huh? Oh! I was still bleeding. Going to have to take care of that eventually.

Let’s see…Five bales should be a good start, they instantly became trapped in my magic. And…I looked around, spotting something that looked even better; I grabbed that barrel in my magic as well.

“Uhh,” Marble looked at me then the food. “Can I grab one?”

Chuckling I turned around, heading up the stairs, “Sure, grab one.” I started snickering as she snorted at them, me really.

“You know I can’t when you have them up there!”

They might have been touching the ceiling, just maybe.

“Mhmm,” I stopped giggling, feeling calmer as she approached, “You know are helping just by being with me, I don’t need help with the food. Besides it is nice to get away from the gore a little you know?” She returned to my side, silent. “You know I was just a civilian on my planet, right? I lived a nice peaceful life, far away from stuff like this.” I motioned to the ‘infirmary’ as we entered it.

She had a new look to her face, I didn’t know what it meant, and I’m sure the rest of the group was listening in now too. “R-really?”

“Yup,” I placed the bales and barrel down in the middle of the room, “I was just a civilian, a nopony before coming here. This-,” I gestured to the injured ponies, many with wrappings dotted with red, “-isn’t my old normal. But I want to stop this from being my new normal. So I need to stop these slavers and those, your princesses.”

As I opened the barrel she looked at the floor. I inhaled an apple before holding out an apple to her.

“They really aren’t my rulers anymore, I-I don’t know if I can follow them, live in their country after seeing this.” She grabbed the apple from me, ears splayed as she looked at it.

With a nod to her, darkness snuck into the room, the sun was gone.

I lay down, wincing as my skin protested; she joined me soon after, looking to be deep in thought. “Well that’s okay. I don’t want to follow them either…No, I won’t be joining Equestria.” The equestrians were giving me their full attention now. “Besides I have many things left to do. Most pressing is how we are going to make it to land, where ever that is…And,” I took a deep breath. “Arch had got a call out before I could stop him so we have a deadline now.” I started distributing more apples as more ponies joined us in the middle, looking worriedly at me and hungrily at the food.

Folami approached me, “Can you gently levitate the ponies off the table? The body heat here will help them heal.”

I nodded, levitating the twelve ponies on their blankets to the growing pony pile. Now where was- There! I gently lowered Ayodele in front of me, frowning as I took in her form. It was mostly wrapped up in bandages, bulging from the amount of gauze that was under them. With a small splint on her hind hock she really looked like she was almost trampled.

Snapping the binder twine on the bales, I sighed before I looked at the assembled ponies. We certainly were an unlikely group, but we would have to win, families were at stake here.

Distributing hay and apples I looked around, “Ok so here is the situation. The good news is we have tons of food, water, and all the slavers are dead. We are still fifty ponies strong, I broke the magic inhibitor-,” happy murmurs started up, but I cut them off, “-but the bad news is Arch managed to send out a call before I killed him.” And I wiped off like half the deck, the important steering half too. “So we need to come up with a plan to handle whoever might come. Who knows anything about these slavers, anything at all?”

“They use a variety of species in their crews!”

“Except for Arch, he only liked working with the Diamond dogs.”

“They pick up new loads every eight weeks!”

Folami sighed, “The pirates have our leaders ensnared, some are bribed, but most are held hostage by the same fear we have.”

Again, the timeline of families at risk.

“Okay, so are they organized? Are they competitive over their areas? Are they separated by fleets? Cause Arch was definitely calling for help.”

The munching of hay filled the room as every pony dug in, and I had to restrain myself. Eating slow was hard as I waited for her finish her bite.

“I wouldn’t call them organized but they definitely have a code of some sort. There is one group of slavers that no being will cross…Rumor has it that the captain is from beyond the Endless sea,” a hush spread through the room as we all leaned towards her. “He is said to be as tall as the princesses, walks on two legs like a Minotaur, but remains as flexible as a Vildkatt!”

Raising a hoof I looked at her.

“Yes?”

“What’s a Vildkatt?”

Marble interjected as Folami sighed, “It was what Arch was.” I nodded to her, nuzzling her in thank you, before turning back to Folami.

“As I was saying, they all differ to him. If he wants what any pirate has they give it to him…Or die. He isn’t known for being merciful. I don’t know his name but he is called many things, ‘The Pirate King’, ‘God of the Seas’, and many other ones. But those two are the most common.”

That gave me a lot to think about, he was making Arch sound like a baby. If he has garnered the fear of a whole nation, the fear of his fellow pirates…I mean, he sounds pretty bad to me, evil even. “So how long do you think we have till he, or some other pirate gets here?”

“A couple of days at best, more if we can move this ship, somepony destroyed the navigation room.” I winced at Folami’s words.

That was my bad. What else can I say? I have lots of magic in me, but I have no idea how to control it. Especially now that I can access my magic reserves.

"Well, we should get planning then!"