Author's Notes:

The second arc is winding down, one more chapter before the Princess Arc begins.

****

Ari

Half expecting anger to cloud my mind, it never came as I stared at the bodies, nothing more than eerie lumps under discolored material. The futures gone, their status as sisters, daughters, and…Mothers, it was all gone. All I felt was sadness and a strange, calm determination to stop this, those princesses could wait.

This shouldn’t take too long.

I looked up from the bodies in time to see a white beam whiz by my cheek, causing screams to start behind me, it was buzzing with the charge of magic, and more importantly was risking the lives of the mares. Crackling filled the air, it wasn’t my channels, and the crackle of magic was the dissipating of the beam. I snorted as the beam finished fizzing out of existence, my ears folding as anger and the urge to protect those mares rose again. Calmness dangling from the railing as my instincts slowly picked away at it.

Protect, kill threat. Comfort mares.

My head snapped to the right as another boom reached my ears.

The ship rocked again, waves sloshing against my recently won vessel, and I heard the unmistakable trickle of water rushing into our hull. More anger came and threw calmness overboard. Fuck!

We were surrounded by water with no land in sight still, but what I saw next filled me with worry, pushing down my anger.

Dark sails billowed to our north east, a large colonial styled pirate ship was turning its side to us, and the small gray patch of air blowing away in front of it the evidence to the hole it gave us. While a narrower sea vessel, smaller than my ship and the dark ship, approached us head on, its sleek lines and fully enclosed structure adding a new type of worry to my mind.

Could we escape this without more casualties?

Honestly, I naively enough wasn’t expecting more than one boat to respond to Arch’s call. But he must have mentioned I was an Alicorn; my memory of his words were a little fuzzy.

But, it was two to one, no avoiding that. I grimaced at my chance of getting us away or beating them…Well, I could beat them, escaping to land was a different matter; we were taking on water, immobile. Actually, scratch that beating them part, they knew I was an Alicorn… Technology wise I didn’t know what they might have to counter that, logically they would have a back up if the princesses ever noticed, right? They have shown their cannon balls and magic cannon, but I’m sure they didn’t make it this far by playing not have a few tricks up their sleeves. Although considering I’m theoretically one of the most powerful beings magically, not counting gods, I was willing to bet they were pulling out all the stops.

I knew I was pulling out all my tricks, really it was the only way to do this, although my spell may be all I need though. Especially with our fighting power…We had no cannons, only two pegasi that could fly, and no sail…Which is why I told the mares to let me handle it, there was nothing they could do to help from this distance. I at least had my magic, a small boon with the magic shooting ship in front of me. Speaking of magic, I could use that beam now.

Take a deep breath-

Buzzing reached my ears in time to stop me from closing my eyes, quick as I could, I created an ethereal shield. The beam deflecting off the gold shield and dissipated into the clear sky, the shield dropping as I realized they weren’t going to follow it up with more. Could they only shot one beam at a time…Did that mean they had unicorns with them? It didn’t matter though, slavers were slavers, and they were going to die.

Okay, let’s try-

A cannon boomed, the black ball soaring over my head. I folded my ears back at that. Third time’s the charm, right…Wood splintered below my snout, a second cannon ball, and I hadn’t even started my third attempt!

I guess they want me dead. Fuck planning; I’m just going to-

Thoughts were quickly scattered as a whole barrage of booms echoed from the approaching ship, muted jeers coming from the vessel reaching my ears. Reacting, I threw a shield up on my side, feathers tensing and ruffling as I prepared for the impact. This was really annoying me, there was a whole process, and charging that still needed to happen.

Wood cracked behind me, screams rose, and all while buzzing grew louder in front of me.

Looking behind me I saw what they did and red dominated my sights, not thinking anymore, I moved my shield, deflecting the beam from the small vessel. It was already one hundred feet from my ship, moving faster than I wanted it too.

This whole situation was pushing my instincts to the forefront.

Heart hammering, I struggled to focus on the incoming threats and not rush to check on the mares.

Deep breath: they were adults; I think anyway, no, they can handle this. For at least two weeks those mares had survived in worse conditions, four weeks in some cases, and maybe longer for all I knew. I didn’t need to protect them. Folami was there, she could handle treating any injuries.

All I had to do was get rid of these threats...

Pushing back my instincts that coiled in my chest was feeling near impossible though, all I wanted to bite and stomp, magic was already crackling in my leg’s channels, growing louder as the seconds ticked by.

But the ships just kept moving in closer, a hush coming from them. Twitching my ears I could hear the rising murmur of voices from the dark vessel, the outlines of the scumbags visible with trails of smoke rising in front of them, obscuring the view of my enemy.

Curiosity filled me, what were they waiting for?

Another deep breath, I watched the approaching ships, not moving from my position.

…

My heart slowed slightly and it hit me, what was I waiting for? I can just blast them away…I’m still not used to this. I’m a walking weapon!

‘FU’ , I held the word in my mind as the crackling grew inside me, the warmth in my horn channel filling me with confidence. Urges rushed past my dominating thought, the spell, threatening to break my focus. They whispered of showing off, pushing my chest out, and flaring my wings. Essentially, what got me into this mess into the first place, but I let them go. Giving into my instincts one too many times had caused more trouble than good for me. But today was different, I had too much riding on this…I was going to free a nation.

But, which boat first?

Cannon fire made my answer for me. I turned my head and let the word go. The white at the edges of my vision disappeared, electric yellow magic exploding from the center of my sight, culminating in a chaotic mess of noise as it hit its mark.

Screams reached me next, coming from both my mares and the slavers

Exhilaration then filled me for a brief second as I saw the result. The mast being blown in half, crashing down on the slavers, and causing a panicked clamor on their deck as splinters flew. Cannons were abandoned in favor of dodging the ropes and beams.

Wow, I hadn’t even moved a single step yet; this battle seemed too easy-

“Ahhhhhh!” I squealed in pain and surprise as a magic beam tore into my bandaged shoulder, slicing through muscles and nerves that responded by losing feeling in the leg. I stopped squealing, panting as I visually confirmed it was still there.

Damn Murphy’s Law, damn second boat!

The small boat picked up speed with a growing hum, suddenly rocketing past my boat, like it had a engine or something…Airships, right. I twisted my neck to try and follow its path, but lost sight of it around the hull, its engine going quiet. Anger filled me as I sensed a plan at foot, hoof, whatever, they were up to something.

Fuck that!

Charging my horn for another ‘FU’ spell took longer as I fought to stay focused over the fresh pain, it also reawakened the stiff pain I had been healing from, my other legs tensing to try and support me, as my body was getting little support from the senseless one right now…

Whimpers brought me back from my attempt, the white being redirected to my leg channels, and reminding me the longer I stayed here the more they would be in danger. The magic boat was hiding, for what purpose I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to let-

A thump sounded below me.

Several thumps followed.

Black balls of iron flew at my ship, my mares. Folding my ears back I grabbed them in my magic, sending them careening back at the weathered hull of my opponent. Eight new wholes adorned their hull, matching the amount of cannons they had pointed at us. We were side to side now, fifty feet of water separating us.

Mares whimpered before a shrill scream made it through the air.

“Ari! They are below us!” Marble stated the obvious, coming out of the infirmary.

Snorting, I didn’t taking my eyes off the slavers on the deck, counting as I went. “I know. Lock the pantry hatch, keep everyone together, and form a barricade with any remaining tables. If this goes according to plan we will be ahead in the end.” Somehow, still working on that actually, but she didn’t need to know that.

“What?!” She just stood there, her gaze locked on my bleeding wither.

Not wasting any time I swung completely around, holding back a wince in my face, “NOW!” I tried to imitate the look I had in Saddle Arabia, the one that moved the crowds. Her eyes went big, looking at my narrowed ones in confusion, and I snorted at her, motioning to the infirmary. Already, scared faces were peeking out, and I could see rays of sunlight where there hadn’t been any before.

I turned back to the fifteen slavers looking at me in awe, letting a sigh go as her hoof steps receded back into the room, a click as she closed the door. Her voice muted into the background as I listened to the intruders making their way through the former prison cell below me, we hadn’t cleaned up the guts yet, just the bodies.

How fun for them then, I smiled at the thought. Before a new realization hit me and took my smile away, I still had an audience, one that wouldn’t be stuck in ‘Alicorn shock’ forever.

I created fifteen knifes with my magic, the golden projectiles hovering at the railing of my ship, causing nervous murmurs on the other boat, shifting of paws on the deck. A good distraction for now, fear, but I needed more time.

Where were- There they were.

Heavier splashing sounded below me again; clangs echoing closer to the hatch, followed by curses…We may have brought up all the lanterns, no pony had planned to return to that awful room.

That splashing confirmed my theory though, we were filling up fast, and I had seen the titanic. Those holes only meant one thing now.

Gazing at the slavers I noticed the holes I had added to their ship were not taking on water, too high on the hull…

I cocked my head as I really took in their ship. Dark sails billowing in the wind, pinned against the deck by the splintered mast, the mast through the roof of the captain’s quarters. But otherwise it was damage free. Eight cannons pointed sideways at my hull, and one massive one at the helm…It was almost the same layout as my ship, except with more cannons…They still had a steering wheel and half a mast. Maybe a little magic, some nails, and a hammer…I could fix that.

I want that boat.

Like a chaos orchestra, booms sounded from their side of the water, causing cracking that covered the whooshing of the wind instruments. Fifteen sharp, precise instruments sang out as they launched themselves through the air and straight into the pirate’s hearts, assuming they had any. They dropped to the deck, clutching their chests, wet sounds of agony rising as more squeals sounded inside. Fishmen, diamond dogs, and vildkatts alike, all were dead…I was glad, almost proud.

There were fifteen less slavers out there now, two ships worth, not bad for a new pony.

With a snort I started levitating the bodies off the deck and into the sea, it wouldn’t do for my- the mares to see the corpses, ponies had a different culture. They didn’t see images of gore on television like I had on earth, or really have television, I think…Anyway, in that way I was partially desensitised to it, and really, this wasn’t the worst. That griffin’s spine jutting out still bothers me. It was certainly different seeing that carnage in front of you.

Golden magic enveloped the first corpse, a poorly dressed blue fishman, and I looked at his empty eyes before I tossed him. They answered nothing. Why had he chosen to become a slaver? Confusion filled me as I waited for my next opponents to appear. Splash, I dropped him as I grabbed the next slaver. A vildkatt, a female one…Why? I had seen them running very successful fish market stalls in Shallow Shale. Next, a Diamond dog…It didn’t make sense, sure it was a business, and we were bits. But who started it and better yet, will some other being start another one when I destroy this ring of slavers? I knew the dragons were the main clients, maybe the Saddle Arabians too. They did want Chrissy really badly. What it boiled down to was more work, to start I needed to meet with the Zebrican officials and-

It was too silent.

They should have made it up by now.

I looked at the hatch leading to the cell, surely they couldn’t have gotten that lost…Did they knock themselves out? No, I would figure if any were Vildkatts they might have night vision like regular cats did, they could see the bars.

Stomping the floor awkwardly with one leg almost useless, I listened for a response, and only heard the creak of wood.

…

No more curses or voices rang out…Did they drown-

Bangs suddenly rang from the direction of the infirmary, the other hatch…More bangs and muffled curses confirmed that Marble did listen. What a nice mare, she actually did something helpful, well, when I thought they weren’t going to be much help.

With a new feeling of calm I moved back into the infirmary, the bodies could wait. I wanted to greet my guests. Maybe they would know more about this ‘king of pirates’ I heard about; since none of the beings on the dark ship seem to match the description I was given, he obviously wasn’t on either ship…Well I couldn’t see in the small boat, but I’m sure some hot shot pirate who goes around calling himself the ‘king of the pirates’ would come see me, especially in such a small ship. He had an ego…And officially, as many ponies had pointed out, there weren’t any Alicorn stallions. I didn’t exist.

Fifty heads turned and looked at me.

“We have some guests below,” I gave them a calm smile, my confidence growing even more as many eyes brightened at my approach, and I could actually deliver some good news. “The other crew was kind enough to leave us their ship before they went for a swim.”

I looked to Folami, her eyes already losing their fear, determination filling it. In fact the fear was slowly leaving every pony’s expression. “I need you to bring every pony on deck; we are switching ships as soon as I kill the rats in our hull, since they blew too many holes in our ship.” She looked at the other mares for a second, looking to open her mouth before closing it. “I think I’m just going to blast them to oblivion so get ever pony ready to board the other ship, this one is going down.”

She nodded, opening the table barricade, and started directing the mares.

Now, I had slavers to kill…Well, that sounded more homicidal than usual, although not entirely uncalled for, these beings used other lives as currency. Snorting, I refocused on the task at hand.

The hatch was weighted down with the two apple barrels, the remaining bales of hay, and a table…Excessive, but effective as well. But with every attempt they made I saw small slivers of cracks spread through the wood that showed. The crack from my earlier overpowered opening of it probably the reason it was starting to break like this…

…

Boredom replaced my calmness, they were making little to no progress, and all m-the mares were on the deck already giving me looks. What could I say to them? Talking to the slavers was really important, learning all about their ‘boss’ was top priority if I was going to stop him. Know your enemy and all that.

Turning my ear, I could hear muffled panting down below, and their attempts stopped.

Sighing, I gave the mares a nod, we didn’t have all-

As if to prove my thought right, the ship lurched to my left, staying like that. Shrill screams echoed in the air, we were going down.

I guess I was winging it again.

‘FU’, crackles filled my inner channels as my core directed more magic to my horn channel, white began to dance on the edges of my vision. I waited a minute, the boat tipping more, and panicked yells sounding off before I released the spell.

“Buck, that was awesome!”

Marble had made it back to my side sometime during that. She was almost falling over with the ship, gazing at the gaping hole filling with water. Rapidly filling actually, no bodies in sight, the water was dyed red. Hello predator attractant, sea serpents if I had heard right.

“Yeah, yeah,” I replied, trying to come up with a way to get fifty mares across before we sunk, well, flipped first. I turned around, grabbing and holding her to my back in my golden field. Hobbling as best as I could, we made it to the now panicking group of half-starved mares; they were gazing at the approaching water with wide eyes. Creaks and groans came from the ship; it was perilously close to flipping over. Those pirates must shot out some support in our side.

For a brief moment my eyes raced across the deck, nothing was left to use as a plank, not that fifty foot plank existed but my levitation plan would take too long. The bodies, both alive and dead, were being pressed to the railing. I felt like a foal, unable to- wait, that is it! Foal magic. Point and shoot, or in this case, bridge.

“Get ready!” They all snapped their eyes to me, glancing at the water slightly. “We are now boarding!”

Picturing a simple board bridge, I willed it to appear, be solid like the stairs I had made once, and it did. Like water flowing into an empty cup, the golden bridge filled the space perfectly, connecting at just the right points on the railing.

Amazed looks went on their faces; at least that is what it looked like to me. It was different reading pony faces. Some looks were odd, but awe was the best emotion I could place. Right, “Come on!” I motioned to the bridge, “It’s perfectly safe.” I pleaded with them, grabbing the most injured ones in my magic.

Herding them with my muzzle, I placed Ayodele on my back, one less pony to carry in my magic. This was harder than it looked. My focus divided twelve different ways, and mares trying to hold a conversation with me. I quickly placed the remaining eleven blanket bound mares on the new ship, earning me grateful nickers and ‘thank yous’. Now I just had to wait for the rest to cross, Folami waited with me.

“Go on.” I pointed my muzzle to the bridge.

“You first,” She said with a cheeky grin, giving me a mock bow as the mares on my back squirming as they tried to watch or it could have been them being eager to get off this boat.

Snorting I raised an eyebrow at her, “Don’t be silly, get moo-ving. This ship is sinking.” She didn’t move still, raising an eyebrow in return. Didn’t she see this wasn’t the time?! “I said move!” This time I started moving behind her rump, giving fake snaps at her butt, a clear threat on why she should move.

Folami was nonplused by it. “Anything else you want to say?”

I didn’t know where she was going with this, I could practically feel my hooves slipping on the tilting deck, and we didn’t have time for whatever this was. Narrowing my eyes at the frustrating mare, I grabbed her in my magic, floating her in front of me.

“HEY!” Snickers answered her from my back.

Mares made no sense, women I could understand somewhat, having been one, but mares were a different story. I mean pulling this while the ship is sinking? I wish the god had given me knowledge on them. That would have been helpful, I would have known about the heat, and instincts…Anything would have been better than this stumbling around!

With a frustrated snort, I was crossing the bridge. The final loud crack coming from the ship, I grunted as the deck pressed down on the bridge, feeling like something was pressing against my channels, my head, damn that hurt. Hurried by that, I trotted with a limp the rest of the expanse. Dissipating the bridge as soon as my hooves touched the deck, relieving me of the pressure almost instantly, it had felt like I was holding up a boulder with my head.

Every pony paused and watched as the boat sank; even Folami stopped squirming to watch it. Huge bubbles of air broke the surface, a white frothy torrent as water filled the ship. I could see the magic shooting boat now too, getting crushed under the larger vessel, the crunch of glass and creaking of wood, signally the end to a much easier battle.

I guess I can say I sunk a ship now...And now I had a new, okay, newer ship. It needed repairs, which I could do thanks to my uncle, but first I had to take stock of what we had. What our rationing would be.

Putting down Folami I looked around, wincing at the pain as my muscles protested flexing. She looked at me, nodding, and splaying her ears.

“Okay, Folami what was that about? That-,” I pointed at the faint shadow in the water that was our old ship, “-is why we needed to move. I thought you were on the same page as me. Do you need to talk about something?”

She looked at the water then over my shoulder, folding her ears back. “No, it was silly.” Her eyes glassed over a second before they locked slightly lower on my body, “You hurt yourself again?!”

“Now you notice? They did it, some magic cannon thing.” I waved it off with a hoof, turning to look at the scene of the deck, and knew I would need some help. “But that can wait, we have to get our act together, get moving!”

“F-fine,” a snort, “But you need to rest eventually mkaidi!”

I gave her a gentle smile, “Agreed, thanks for caring Folami. It is nice to have good ponies around; I couldn’t have done what did for them.”Her passion for healing was evident, even if I will gladly take Lyric’s magic over the ‘natural’ way any day. I was really glad to be able to have her around. She was just like a calm rock through the whole ordeal so far, mind you this is probably is just another part of her life, normal for her…I wonder what Zebrica is like?

First…

Stomping my hoof for their attention…Which turned out to be was pointless. Really, they had been watching our talk the whole time. Some looked tired, but most looked excited, ears forward and eyes shining.

“Thank you for your attention and welcome to our new ship. The first order of business is to search the ship, make sure we have no pirates hidden away, and dispose of the trash.” I lifted several corpses in my magic and dropped them overboard. That got me a round of hoof stomping and several nearby mares preceded to help, rolling and awkwardly lifting the remaining corpses over the railing, “Well, I wasn’t expecting that.” Really, I was just expecting a couple laughs, maybe a cheer, not for them to join in. “So, the trash is gone then. I guess we should start searching the ship. Hmmmm,” I looked at the mares in front of me, “I will admit, I don’t know every pony’s condition, so I will trust you to know yourself. Anyone that can’t walk up and down stairs will stay with the medical team and help search the deck, any mares that can handle stairs will come with me, Okay?”

And they were really okay with it. I had a group of twenty mares in front of me quicker than I could shake a stick. It was almost unnerving, all of them looking eager to help. So I gave them thank you and nod, this shouldn’t take long. How-

“HEY! Give back my helper!” We paused and looked back at Folami.

I was confused for a second, “Wh-.”

“Awww, come on! I can help, really!” Marble spoke from my rump, I had forgot I placed her there…She was really light, very skinny actually.

Folami could use the help.

With a sigh, I levitated her over to Folami, “Sorry Marble, she is right. Besides I think we have enough ponies to search below deck.” Twenty was a little crowded, but I didn’t want to go into a trap underprepared. She was frowning now, “And you should rest and get better, we all will soon, after we clear the search we are moving off, land Ho and all that!”

“Then why is Ayodele coming? She can’t walk and needs her rest more than me!” Marble’s eyes narrowed as I felt a muzzle tuck under my wing.

She had a point.

“That is a great point-.”

“Kumwambia nihitaji kuja kwa afya yangu!” Ayodele said in a desperate tone, switching Zebrican for some reason. Zebra mares started to gather.

Folami snorted and pinned her ears back, “Kwa nini nitafanya hivyo? Uongo, sio uongo!”

Ayodele replied in zebrican, snorting, and pointing a fore hoof at our medic. Folami replied in a cold tone, stomping a forehoof in retaliation.

What the hell was happening? Obviously it was a private issue since they switched to the language they must know I don’t know, Marble and the other equestrians looked just as confused as I did. The brown earth pony even gave me an apologetic smile, seeing as she had brought this up.

Ten minutes seemed to have passed and they still were arguing in Zebrican, more zebra mares were jumping in, adding quips with small smiles and sly grins. At this point I was annoyed, my legs were screaming at me to rest, and we still hadn’t moved the boat.

I tried being polite.

“You know what?! We have a timeline, so you two talk. I’m going to search the ship, be back soon.” With that I placed a surprised Ayodele on a blanket already occupied by another mare, said mare just shook her head at Ayodele.

“Wai-.”

Interrupting her, I repeated myself, “Talk it out. I expect to be quick but if not please let me know, I can always take a nap or something.”

And I was gone, ignoring the mares I continued across the deck, dodging the ropes and stepping around the half dried red puddles. Hoof steps followed me as my helpers joined me.

Like on the old ship, there was a large hatch behind the mast, except this one was wrought iron bars, not wooden. Bars were never good news. The last bars I met shot you backwards if you touched them wrong. Every pony knew this too, giving it a wide berth. Looking around grabbed a mop, levitating it over the hatch, I held my breath and dropped it.

Dull clangs reverberated around the hull, the mop rolled side to side for a second before a collective expelling of breath marked our relief.

Something was normal for a change.

I opened it and we filed down the stairs, not needing to adjust to the change in light thanks to the eight new windows I installed recently.

The room was the same size as our old cell, same plank walls, except for two differences. One was the hatch in the back; it was wooden and stood out, slightly ajar in the middle of the room. It worried me actually, there were many prints in the dirt around the opening, and a foul smell was permeating the room, seemingly from there. Not any less ominous was the second difference, a wooden plank style door standing in the back wall. Bloody prints led to it…

Already I could hear some gag reflexes going, the smell and sight implied a lot.

“If any pony wants to help Folami or take a breather I wouldn’t think any less of you. I don’t think we are going to find any…” Think of a nice word, “Threats down here.” Twelve left at my permission, eagerly rushing up the stairs.

Fuck my decisions, why- No, just get it over with. The faster we search the boat the faster I can fix the mast, and get us moving, resting really. My legs hurt.

We started with the back door, although I had four mares watch the hatch in case anything popped up from there. The door was locked. With a snort, I made an ethereal looking hand saw. Slipping the familiar tool in the crack, I followed it along till I felt the magic teeth hit something solid, the latch. For a long minute my mind ached, the scraping of the tool being doubled in my magical senses, until finally I was sawing thin air.

Staying silent, I motioned for the hatch guards to stay as we pushed the door open, blinking at the dimly lit…Food storage room.

“Okay I wasn’t expecting this.” I grabbed a mushy looking oblong purple fruit, sniffing it. I realized it smelt fresh still and swallowed it whole. “At least we have more food.” It wasn't half bad.

Next was the hatch, it didn’t take much to lift it, the creak of the hatch causing shuffles and rapid steps to be heard inside. We all shared a nervous look before we descended into the dimly lit, rank depths of the ship.

My heart seized at the room.

Beside me the zebras whimpered and whispered in their language, luckily no equestrians had come; this was giving even me a heart ache.

All around this level many zebras lay about, most alive, a couple I wasn’t so certain on. There were no bars here, just many chains and shackles. The smell was obvious as well, these poor ponies didn’t get the Arch wash treatment, this was weeks of travel in one room.

“Tell Folami to get ready.” At my voice many heads weakly turned my way, dull eyes of green and brown looked at me, ears slowly moving forward.

She left and I began the painstaking process of freeing them; I had thrown every slaver in the water, the keys probably with them. Moving forward to the nearest mare, she looked at me in awe, Alicorn shock. Tapping the chain didn’t send me flying, her look of confusion changed to fear as I reared up, anger flowed through me. Smashing my good hoof down on the chain I watched as it cracked, my leg vibrated slightly, and I grimaced. That was a stupid idea. Creating the hand saw again I began to saw.

After a minute I realized the only thing I was gaining was a headache.

“Damn it!” I let the magic dissipate, they must be enchanted to resist magic, anger bubbled up in.

Letting my core direct more magic to my legs I reared up and crash my hooves down on the chain, the mare recovering her shock as the unmistakable crunch and clang of metal echoed around the room.

Dry, scratchy voices began whispering louder as the first mare moved towards me, her broken chain dragging behind her wobbling legs. Brown eyes searched mine, looking for something, “Why?”

Such a silly question, I smiled down at her. “Why not? This is wrong, evil, and I can stop it. So I am.”

Whatever she was looking for she found, giving me a weak smile as two mares went to either side of her, supporting her and leading her to Folami.

This left me with a large amount still chained, so moving to the next mare I reared up, ignoring my aches and blood dripping.

…

…

For at least a hour I had reared, smashed, and sent mares upstairs. My sides heaved, exhausted from the effort, and my hooves were not to be trusted. They were numb from the abuse I had put them through, over fifty chains smashed. A small waif of a mare poked into my back, half conscious as we made it to the deck.

Letting my supports lead me to the open door, I tried to maintain my posture, and was quickly fussed over. But I didn’t care anymore, the smells coming from the kitchen held my interest. I levitated the mare off my back, as I searched the room for a plate of food, soo hungry.

“Lay him down already.” Folami rushed over, a bowl of paste on her back and red bag balanced on her rump.

“Who’s steering?”

She ignored me, pushing me to a blanket that I swear wasn’t there a second ago, “Laaaayyyy,” Her forehead was pressed against numb wither, pushing me. “Dooooowwwnn,” I finally relented, realizing she was not even thinking about the possibility of more slavers coming.

“How many were there?”

“Seventy one,” was her terse reply, focused on my wounds.

Like a well oiled machine she started unwrapping the soiled bandages, Marble Cake and Feather quill appeared out of the kitchen with a basin of water and a sponge. This same treatment of ‘wash, dry, treat, and wrap’ was going on around the room; it was pretty cool to see, if a bit overwhelming. I mean, the room was packed with one hundred twenty one mares. Still haven’t seen a stallion yet.

“Stand,” I complied and tried to keep my muscles steady as I was washed, water dripping red and foaming white with my sweat. Quick as she could I was dried, wrapped, and back to lying down.

When every pony had been treated she returned. I was busy eating by then, some of the mares having heard my stomach scream.

“So how are you feeling?”

I frowned at her, “Better than you are looking right now.” Rising before she could protest, I placed her in my spot, her mouth imitating a fish. “Get some rest, I should be back soon; I’m feeling antsy to get going.”

Her reply was a snort, I’m sure her ears were back too, but I wasn’t ready to handle this new Folami yet. Arguing for ten minutes when we are in a rush to get going? Refusing to cross the bridge when we are sinking to have a conversation? Not making any sense and I didn’t have the time to work through it right now.

Repairing the mast was easy, sailing would be easy, but dealing with the feelings was hard. I felt tired, mentally exhausted, and I didn’t want another confusing and awkwardly timed conversation with any mare. So I did what my uncle taught me, I worked through the feelings.

Starting with the mast of course, its circumference was the size of a medium pine tree and would be easy enough to line up. The floor below me held spare planks and it was easy find some nails, no wood glue, but that was just dreaming. Using my magically made saw I cut off the splinters, made grooves, and levitated the ends till they were snug together. After that it was easy to make a hammer and add some supports.

“Wow!”

Marble was looking at the restored mast, the sails starting to billow and catch the breeze.

“Yah..." I trailed off, feeling calmer. "Did you want to help me steer?” I motioned to the wheel.

A pause, “You aren’t coming back?” She looked at the doorway, ears splayed in confusion.

I gave a weak wither shrug and started to the wheel, “After I set our direction…” She came trotting to my side.

“This doesn’t have to do with the argument between Folami and Ayodele?”

“Slightly, I’m just tired you know?” She nodded, pressing into me. “It is just…” Sighing I pushed on, “I know my mares must be worried sick, it has nearly been a week!” We finished climbing the stairs, the view from there capturing my attention.

It was blue and white for nearly the whole horizon. Fluffy cumulus had formed, making fake mountains in the sky that taunted me, reminding me I still couldn’t rest. To my left a small dark mass was a pinprick in the horizon. We had drifted evidently, the odd floating plank showing where we had come from. Currents pulling the boat towards the dark horizon, land, I hoped.

“A-Anything else bugging you Ari?” She looked up at me, eyes trying to communicate something while her ears splayed.

Grabbing the wheel in my magic, I thought on it, and it occured to me that maybe she might know something on mares. Marble was a mare. “Well, I just don’t get all the strange behavior around here.” She gulped, “I mean something like, snapped in some of the mares. One night every pony is happy and recovering, then the next day it’s like the x-files.” A ‘what’ look was my answer, “It’s an earth…Play, I meant the conversation that Folami had at the bridge…No, and even before that. She was trying to insist that I was a leader.” Turning the ship, I gave a snort. “I mean ME! My family and friends would laugh; the only thing I have lead is a foal!”

“A foal?”

“I foal sat for my friends.” Looking away from her, I watched a flock of birds fly towards the horizon. “And that argument…I don’t understand them. Were they friends before, when they were imprisoned?” She shrugged. Right, I guess it would be hard for a pastel colored society to tell stripes apart, aside from the cutie marks they were very similar at first. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter, I don’t get mares.”

Marble laughed, stomping her hoof, “I don’t believe that, you don’t form a herd by accident! Somewhere in there-,” She booped my nose, “-you know about mares.”

We were riding a strong wind towards the hopeful land mass now.

“Really?” She nodded, giving me a nuzzle. “I beg to differ, culturally, I was so dense that I had two mares literally flagging me and I didn’t realize it till after my marefriend explained it to me.”

Her head went back, mouth moving up and down, “HOW!” Several heads popped out of the infirmary. “That is pretty bucking obvious!” Her surprise was turning into frustration, ears going back.

“Earth was different, body language was different, and I hadn’t been on the dating scene for years. I was working on my fertility issues. But, my point was that I don’t understand mares…Chrissy and Lyric were still teaching me about this world when we were separated...So I know some things like nuzzling as friendliness, and flagging, obviously. But there is still a world of social cues I’m sure I miss, if it wasn’t for my base instincts I wouldn’t know how to react sometimes…Imagine not knowing anything from what to eat to where anything is.” Her face was one of realization, eyes wide, and lips forming a ‘o’.

Marble never responded to me, but it was plenty clear by her look and further pulling the two zebras aside that every pony understood. Folami and Ayodele never argued again that day. In fact it ended quite calmly and happily, we found a spare ring of keys in the captain’s quarters. Shackles were removed, chaffing treated. As to my whole explanation that I was tiredly expecting to make, I was pleasantly enough, not having to do it. Folami had been answering questions for me while I had been working, and most of the mares were over Alicorn shock then. Excitement and hope was in the air, a bright, optimistic energy seemed to come over the group. Talk of home and freedom was going around as food was dispensed, although a couple mares did eat to fast and vomited, but it was all good in the end.

The wind was guiding us to the land.

…

Unsurprisingly I was one of the last ponies to wake up, my body protested, as did the sleepy heads on and around me. As usual I was the center of a pile of ponies, a part that I think I will miss when it is just my mares and I again. It brought a great sense of peace to my soul being like this. Warmth in and around my wrapped fur, many scents mixing harmoniously, warm breaths blowing gently on me, I could have stayed like that all morning.

It was not to be, it never was it seemed.

The morning proved to be odd, not my urges, it was the usual in that regard. It was the mares. As soon as my eyes opened it seemed that every one that could hobble over did, thanking me and asking simple questions. Those that were bedridden called out their thanks. Okay, maybe that wasn’t strange considering what I did. But, never in my life have I received so many thanks…It filled me a happiness, pride, and the ‘fuzzies’.

Protesting was useless. I learned this most when I was fed. Literally, they were bringing me food. It felt amazing, but eventually like with all good things, something annoying, realistic, and bad came along. This happened to take the form of a shrill buzzing noise.

I looked around the room, seeing confusion around me. No pony here was making this noise.

Getting up I stumbled a little. Off balance as a certain zebra clung to my back, repositioning her body so that she was snug between my shoulder blades, and holding her injured hock away from my butt. All the while the shrill buzzing seemed to grow more insistent, grating on the peace that I had been enjoying.

Spotting Folami, I raised an eyebrow; she always seemed to know a lot.

“Don’t give me that look, I don’t know what that sound is!” She narrowed her eyes for a second, looking past me, before the buzzing started to get to her. “But it really is annoying!”

“Exactly!”

Folding my ears back I began to walk around the room, trying to get closer to whatever was making that noise, it only took half a circuit of the room to realize that it was coming from outside. But it wasn’t like the sound of the magic beam, which was a different kind of buzzing.

Stepping outside, I quickly identified the source of the noise, well, the room. It was coming from the captain’s quarters. The roof was partially collapsed in still, and from here I could see a eerie pink glow coming from inside the room. Walking slowly I approached the room, hushed whispers, and quiet clip clops following me.

Opening the ornate door I gazed around the room, it was exactly how we left it. The large bed unmade and cold, the map curling on the wall, and the desk in the far right corner was still there. But the jewel in the center of the desk glowed bright pink in the daylight, almost making me cover my eyes.

A gasp announced Folami’s arrival.

“What do I do?”

“You have to answer it! If they think these ones failed they will send more, more than before!” The panic was evident in her voice.

Smiling at her, I slipped the headset on with my magic, “Okay, on it. How do I answer?”

“Just keep it in your hoof and push some magic into it.”

I did, regretting it as several voices blared loudly into the room, one was clear though. “Oy! Rrrroooorrrra, youuu alive there? What spoils did Arch leave yah?!” An enthusiastic and gruff voice answered, sounding drunk to me. Before I could answer he continued, “Nefermind deearr, I seeee yoouu!” He hiccupped, and we all moved outside, horror blooming on everyone’s faces.

Fuck a duck! There goes my whole morning.

That drunkard was only two hundred feet away, as was a dark Cliffside that he was following. Even more worrying was the fleet of boats further ahead of his boat, all following along the same route despite the different flags and sails flying.

“DEAAARRR! Answar me, I can hear youuuu.” He sing songed out in response, the sound of sloshing coming through.

I closed my eyes, letting out a deep breath, “I haven’t been called dear in quite a while.” A smirk grew on my face as I heard a gasp; I climbed the steps to the wheel, confidence growing with each step. “Did you hear about that Alicorn?”

He actually responded, no fear in his embodiment of stupid drunk. “Uhhh, Yerr? Weren’t that why yous was called out there? Is *hiccup* this Nolo?”

“Nope,” I mouthed ‘load the cannons’ to the mares watching me, until they finally started moving, balls rolling across the deck. Folami saluted me, a happy grin on her muzzle now. “Any other guesses?” I turned the boat slightly, quietly grabbing more power from the wind.

“Errruuummm?” He asked uncertainly.

‘FU’, yellow energy moved from my side channels and legs, rushing to my center channel.

A chuckle escaped me, “Nope. Hey, is your crew resting too? If not you should send them to rest, have a drink to my success.”

Cheers rang out over the headset, “Alreaaadyyyy onn itttt!” The clangs of glass on glass echoed, “Here is a twoast tooooo….Whooo’s cwalling?”

He called us, but I didn’t mention that, “Ari.”

“Toooo Arriiiii!”

I placed the headset and jewel down on the deck.

‘FU….’, white light blasted from the center of my sight, gasps came from the deck, and the target ‘s cabin was wiped off the ship. I didn’t hit the hull or mast this time. A small swiping sound came from the jewel before it went silent.

Cheers rang out from the mares, stomps echoing in the hull, as they celebrated our easy victory.

My ship approached the crewless vessel, which I quickly boarded. All the while enjoying the light, playful nips from the mare on my back. Really I just felt great in general.

Another ship down and…One, two, eight more, that I could see anyway, no small ships. It was just large slave ships. None of the specks of ships were turning back and I wasn’t either, my mares were probably frantically pacing Kapera’s shop right now, if not combing the city...

This would be over before they even knew what was happening.