So, now we have the big fight scene. There will be more rant below. In the meantime, read and comment, and likes are appreciated. And the only thing I own are the OCs and possibly the Ottomare Empire, but feel free to use it in any of your fics that need a generic non-Equestria nation of ponies
Chapter 13
By the position of the sun the day before, the Concordia was less than two days outside of Manehattan. The crew was looking forward to a few days on land, and Twilight had mentioned wanting to write a few letters to the Princesses about her journey. Nolan locked himself in his room for the remainder of the trip and only came out during meal times or during brief periods just before dawn or right after sunset. Nopony tried talking to him, and he seemed to be okay with that.
The Crescent had gone into a state of inactivity, similar to sleeping. Twilight decided against using her magic to see if anything was wrong, fearing that unneeded magical intrusion could send the Crescent right back to the altar. Rarity came in occasionally to look at the necklace and drool over the diamond and silver, but otherwise nopony took notice of the Crescent.
The weather, however, had not lifted since they found the Crescent.
“Damn fog.” Mays said, swatting at the mist with his right hoof “We’ll never skirt those shoals if we can’t see.”
“Rainbow Dash is trying to clear some of the mist away.” Twilight said “We should be able to see in an hour.”
“That’s still a whole hour. A lot can happen in an hour.”
“Y’all still scared about the fog?” Applejack said “Nothin’ happened last time we ran into bad weather.”
“Just because nothing happened the first time doesn’t mean nothing will ever happen.” Mays began to pace “Call me crazy, but I think there’s something watching us out there.”
“I could cast a trace spell.” Twilight offered.
“Please do; I’d like to have an early warning in case anything is approaching.” Twilight nodded and began to cast her spell. A small disk of purple formed around the base of her horn and disappeared into the fog. Soon it returned and zipped back into Twilight’s horn.
“I... I don’t understand... There’s a strong magical presence, but I can’t tell what it is.”
“Twi, you’re startin’ to scare me.”
“Richard, if you’re up here, get the guns loaded and the marines ready in case there’s an attack.” Mays said.
“I don’t think we have to go that far. It could just be some feedback from the Crescent or the Elements.”
“Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie popped up right behind Captain Mays, startling him. The pink pony paid him no mind and instead shoved her tail in Twilight’s face. “My tail’s twitching!”
“Care to explain?” Mays asked.
“Whenever my Pinkie Sense makes my tail twitch, that means something’s about to fall right out of the sky!” the other ponies instinctively threw themselves to the deck, their heads swiveling around in an attempt to find the danger. Mays looked up and saw nothing but more mist and the faint outline of the Concordia’s masts. He looked back at the other ponies.
“Are you sure something is supposed to fall-” he never finished, for he was interrupted by the Chum Maker’s scythe slamming into the deck of the Concordia, sending the ponies flying and sticking the ship like an insect stuck to a pin.
“See?” Pinkie said.
“Now’s not the time for that.” Mays leapt back to his hooves and drew his sword, rushing towards the Cursed ship. Already, numerous pirates were leaping onto the deck of the Concordia, and two of the closest began to rush towards Mays “Richard, get the marines up here now!”
“Aye captain.” Mays turned and swung at the first pirate. His sword sliced across the undead pony’s chest, a thick stream of rotting flesh and black liquid trailing off the blade. As the first pirate die, the second jumped over the corpse and lunged at Mays. He leapt to the side, but his opponent’s axe left a small gash on his shoulder. Grimacing, he spun around and kicked out with his hind legs, the bones of his attacker shattering under the impact. A third pony struck out, but it was encased in a purple aura of magic before being slammed against the deck, splitting the attacker in half.
“Captain, are you alright?” Twilight said, running over to Mays.
“Fine. Listen, I need you and your friends to get the Elements of Harmony; it might help disable the pirates.”
“Got it.” Twilight and the other ponies made a dash towards the door leading below deck. Mays turned to attack another boarder, but this one’s head exploded from being shot by Richard.
“That one was mine.” Mays said.
“I never knew we were prioritizing targets.” Richard said, shooting another attacker in the chest. “What’s the plan?”
“The girls are going to get the Elements. We just need a clean shot to Sammy.” Mays swung and cleaved the wing off a passing Pegasus.
“So, attack? I like this plan.”
“Sir,” Smith swooped down next to Mays, killing a pirate with an axe to the head “What’s the plan?”
“Richard and I are going to launch a counterattack and get the girls to blast Sammy with the Elements. If you see any of them tell them to get their Element.”
“On it.”
“And take out that scythe so we can get moving again.”
“Aye sir.”
................
Rainbow Dash was returning from her attempts to control the weather when the Chum Maker attacked. The fighter inside Rainbow told her to dive down and start beating everything in sight, but the sane pony inside her was freaking out. This was made worse when a flight of about thirty Pegasi spotted her and charged after her. Rainbow Dash turned and shot off into the clouds, the Cursed ponies hot on her tail.
Gotta find a way to lose them... come on Rainbow, Think! She took a hard right and spun, the resulting cyclone knocking three of the attackers out of the sky. The others dodged and increased their speed, gaining on the cyan Pegasus. Rainbow Dash pulled up and climbed, finally putting some distance between her and the cursed ponies. While she was flying upwards, she smacked herself in the face with her hoof.
“Why didn’t I think of that sooner?” Rainbow Dash stopped climbing, spun around, and dove down towards the other ponies. Her pursuers halted for a moment, then continued their attack. As Rainbow Dash gained speed, a mach cone began to form around her, narrowing as she went faster and faster. The cursed ponies halted and raised their weapons, ready to strike the instant Rainbow Dash passed them.
Unfortunately for the Cursed, that was the instant she breached Mach 5.
Few ponies really appreciated the destructive power of a Sonic Rainboom. When seen in its natural state, it is strong enough to split large rocks several miles away, or at the very least knock a Pegasus out of the sky from the same distance. If directed at the ground, the resulting explosion can level a large house or, if sufficient speed is built up, a small city block. However, nopony has ever survived standing right next to somepony creating a Sonic Rainboom, and the cursed pegasi were not going to be an exception. The force of the Sonic Rainboom tore the attackers to shreds, with bits of cursed pony raining down on the battle below. As an added bonus, the explosion cleared away all the remaining fog, giving Rainbow Dash a clear view of both ships.
“Looks like somepony needs more help than clearing the weather.” Rainbow Dash turned again and headed straight for the Concordia.
.................
A salvo of grapeshot was fired from the Concordia’s deck cannons, splattering a dozen pirates across the deck. When he was sure they were out of the way, Mays leapt over the railing and landed on the Chum Maker’s deck, Richard and a group of ten marines and twelve regular sailors right behind him. The Cursed stopped their attack on the Concordia for a moment and charged the new arrivals, the sailors meeting them in the middle as a massive brawl started. Mays hacked and stabbed at anything that past in front of him, a small pile of dead pirates amassing at his hooves. The assault lessened a bit as the cursed pirates turned their attention back to the Concordia, allowing Mays and the others a chance to move forward.
Richard and several sailors and marines charged the winches that held the scythe. The Cursed noted the implications of having the sailors reach the winches and charged again, but Mays’ group intercepted them and another brawl commenced.
The first pirate was still caught in a blind charge, rushing straight at Mays heedless of anything. He sidestepped and swung, his sword catching the pirate in the chest and pitching it over the deck. Mays raised his sword and blocked an axe headed towards his head, the attacker using his size to knock Mays off his hooves. Mays struck out with his left hoof, catching the pirate in the chin and sending him reeling for a marine to finish off.
By now, Richard and the others had reached the winches, allowing Mays’ group to move farther ahead. Another group of Cursed rushed forward, this time with some actual coordination. Mays ducked to dodge an oncoming axe, but the pony next to him was not so lucky and was killed. The attacking pony smacked Mays across the face with the flat of the axe, a small stream of blood flying out of his mouth as he fell. Mays struck out with his hind legs, snapping his attacker’s forelegs into an unnatural angle. Mays staggered back to his hooves and struck out, his sword being blocked by another wrapped in a grey aura of magic.
“Captain Montana Mays,” Sammy the Skull said, his face twisted into the closest representation of a smile given his lack of a face “How pleasant of you to join us.”
“I was never much for pleasantries.” Mays broke out of the block and lunged forward. Sammy sidestepped him and delivered a sharp kick to the side, knocking him over. Mays rolled over and swung out, his sword slicing off a bit of Sammy’s coat. He got back to his hooves and jumped away from another swing.
“For someone who styled themselves as ‘The Great Conqueror’, you’re not much for fighting, are you?” Sammy said, stabbing forward at Mays’ chest.
“Don’t call me that.” Mays blocked the thrust and swung for Sammy’s head, the pirate dodging and swinging for Mays legs.
“Why? Do you think you can just repress such an act of violence?” the two locked blades again “You mortals are so funny when you try.”
“Believe me, I’ve done better than try.” Mays smacked his head against Sammy’s, breaking the lock and knocking both captains back.
“Then it will only be more entertaining once I’m through killing you.” the pirate said, picking his sword up from the deck and charging.
“You’ve tried before; it didn’t stick.”
...................
For all the Cursed knew, she was hiding behind one of the barrels. The problem was, she was fast... really fast. One of the pirates, spotting movement behind a barrel, lunged and struck out with an axe. The barrel was splintered, but there was no pony behind it. The pirate looked around in confusion before his target popped out of the next barrel.
“Hi! Are you still looking for me?” the pink pony chirped. The pirate swung the axe around, but the pony was gone, popping out of another barrel.
“You really should stop swinging things around; you might hurt somepony.” A second cursed pony attacked, but again the target disappeared. Three times the pink pony appeared and disappeared, and three times the Cursed attacked to no avail. Eventually, one came up with the idea to smash every single barrel in order to flush the pink menace out. After smashing the barrels, the pirates prepared to pounce on the pony, eager to slash her to tiny bits.
Instead, they found themselves looking down the barrel of a baby blue cannon, with the pink pony grinning from ear to ear.
“Surprise!” Pinkie shouted before firing, the force of the party cannon knocking the pirates into the sea.
..................
Upon coming out on deck and seeing the mess of cursed ponies and normal ponies, Fluttershy had done what she did best in situations such as these: panic and hide.
She had found one of the boats and hid under that, peaking out occasionally when the fighting started to drift away from her hiding spot. She had mustered enough courage to not faint, but that was not saying much. When one of the cursed ponies was slammed violently against the deck right in front of her, Fluttershy curled up into a ball and started whimpering.
The fighting drifted again, and Fluttershy heard the sound of hooves on wood. She peeked out of her hiding spot and saw a familiar set of green hooves fussing with some of the ropes holding the boat to the deck.
Nolan... But what’s he doing? Her thought was answered when the earth pony lifted the boat and spotted her.
“Oh, it’s you.” He said, finishing lifting the boat and rushing to find some oars.
“Um, what are you doing?” Fluttershy said, uncurling a little and standing up.
“Leaving. What does it look like I’m doing? I’m not going to die like some animal to stroke ‘Captain’ Mays’ ego.”
“But he’s just trying to save everypony-”
“Save? You think he’s doing this just to save everyone? If he was a halfway decent commander, there would never be anyone to save, and I will not allow myself to die for his failures.” Nolan turned and grabbed an oar, dragging it back to the boat. “Now get out of my way.”
“But shouldn’t you at least try to help? It’s part of your duties, isn’t it?”
“If you were not present yesterday, I have no more duties. There’s no reason for me to say here, and honestly I am going to take the chance to get out of here while you all die like the animals you are.” Fluttershy cringed.
“I-I’m not an animal...”
“No, you are a vile, deceitful little cretin who is no better than the Cursed. That little stunt with the birdseed was probably your attempt at sabotaging me.”
“I would never do that.”
“That’s what you say, and now you go about stalling. Get out of my way!” In a rare instance of bravery, Fluttershy planted her hooves.
“No! I won’t let you run away while other ponies are being hurt.” Nolan dropped the oar, almost in shock, before advancing on Fluttershy. What courage she had disintegrated and she shrank back as the lieutenant advanced on her.
“Stand aside now, or I swear I will force you to move.” Fluttershy gave a small whimper and started to move, but stopped when a pair of hooves grabbed Nolan from behind and pulled him away. Fluttershy felt relieved, but relief turned to terror when she saw that it was two cursed ponies that had grabbed Nolan.
“Wait, let go of me! You can’t do this! Kill her first, I beg you! Please, kill her first!” Nolan thrashed about, trying to break away, but this only made his attackers more riled up. The larger of the two produced a greasy knife and shoved it into Nolan’s chest, drawing a scream from the lieutenant. Satisfied, the second pulled a sword and stabbed that into Nolan’s side, creating a ragged gash along his side. Three more pirates came over and joined in, and as they continued to hack away Nolan’s screams devolved into shrieks far more animalistic than anything Fluttershy had heard before. Even when shrieks were replaced by moans the pirates kept attacking until they were practically stained red.
In a normal situation, now was when Fluttershy would faint, vomit, run away, or perform a combination of all three, but today was different. The pirates started to advance, but froze once they made eye contact with Fluttershy. What were once looks of malicious intent were replaced by sheer terror as the little Pegasus glared at them, eventually forcing them to run and throw themselves overboard to their dooms.
“Whoa.” Smith said, gliding over to Fluttershy “You need to teach me that sometime.”
“I can’t; I do it at random times.”
“Shame. Go get your Element, I’ll make sure the Cursed don’t attack you.” as if to emphasize his point, Smith cleaved the head off an oncoming pirate “Go, now!”
...................
Getting the winches unstuck was easy; with six sailors pushing against them with all their strength, the giant blade easily slid out from the Concordia, allowing the ship to move slightly and allowing sailors and shipwrights to start patching up major leaks. The Cursed launched attack after attack on the ponies at the winches, but reinforcements managed to hold them off.
Keeping the blade from getting loose and damaging the Concordia further was shaping up to be a difficult task; one of the salvos from the Concordia’s deck cannons had shattered the locking mechanism, so every time the sailors slipped or let out a bit of tension, the blade would descend and risk slicing the Concordia again. Richard had tried to use some of his magic to hold the blade in place, but he was no Twilight; his magic could barely hold the blade, let alone keep it from sliding.
“Noticed you were having some trouble with the winches.” Richard turned and saw Hacksaw standing behind him, the medic’s hooves caked in blood and rotting flesh.
“Shouldn’t you be treating someone?”
“That can wait until no one’s shooting at me. What’s the plan?”
“Short of holding this thing until the captain’s done pounding Sammy into dust, I’m fixing to blow it up.”
“Pleasant. How are you planning to do this without sinking our ship?”
“Nice cannon shot should do the trick. I just need someone to hold it up.”
“Let me guess, you want me to do it?”
“Yup. Get to the winches.” Hacksaw grumbled and trotted over to one winch, stepping over a few dead sailors and cursed ponies on his way. The medic reared up and planted his hooves on the winch, the giant scythe shaking a bit from the amount of force.
“I think the Cursed have an idea of what you are doing.” Hacksaw said, nodding his head to a group of pirates amassing around the Chum Maker’s main mast. Richard found a discarded axe and picked it up using his magic.
“I doubt it.” Richard raised the axe and charged the Cursed. The pirates were caught off guard by the Master Chief’s attack, and some panicked and fled elsewhere. Those that did stand and fight tried to surround the charging pony, but to no avail.
The first found an axehead lodged in his throat. Richard yanked the axe out of his target and swung around, snapping the neck of his next target when the axehead collided with the pirate’s skull. Grabbing another axe, Richard tackled one pirate, smashing his chest with a few stomps before relieving another pirate of his forelegs. The final three pirates attacked simultaneously, two from the sides and one straight on. Richard used one axe to hold off the attacker on his right before jumping at the one in front of him, the pirate being slammed repeatedly against the deck. The last attacker managed to strike, his sword slicing along Richard’s flank and leaving a nasty wound. Richard swung the first axe around, but the pirate dodged and struck again, clipping a bit of fabric off of Richard’s bandana. This got the pirate’s skull caved in for his troubles.
“Going for heroics again?” Hacksaw said when Richard returned to the blade.
“Simple practicality; pirates don’t handle individuals all that well.”
“You’re lying.”
“You’re a medic; what do you know about demonic pirates?”
"I've been serving just as long as you have; I don't need your lectures."
"Fine by me."
“So, are you going to destroy this thing already?”
“Just need a cannon and good timing.”
“For what?” Richard turned and saw Twilight and her friends as they finished leaping to the deck of the Chum Maker. They seemed to be in good shape, as if they had somehow managed to avoid the heaviest of the fighting, but Richard had seen enough civilians get caught in shootouts between pirates or other powers to know traumatization when he saw it.
“We’re going to destroy the scythe and get the ship unstuck.”
“Wouldn’t you want to wait until we’re back onboard the ship before you destroy the scythe?”
“No he wouldn’t.” Hacksaw said. Richard had to admit getting the ship unstuck was his first priority, and he had forgotten to get up an escape route once the Concordia was free.
“We’ll be working on this. You girls go help the captain. And take a couple of marines with you so you don’t get killed.”
“Okay.” Twilight and her friends charged down the deck of the ship. Richard found a sailor pony and pulled him aside.
“What’s your name, sailor?”
“Johnson, sir.”
“Go fetch me a nice long fuse and some gunpowder; we’re going to blow this blade and get us unstuck.”
“Yes sir.”
.................
Getting thrown against a mast hurt, but fortunately for Mays his pony form could absorb more brute force than a human. Still, all the air was forced from his lungs and he briefly felt like throwing up, but her regained his focus in time to block another strike from Sammy.
“Give up trying to kill me yet?” Mays asked, blocking yet another strike and backing away from the mast.
“I find it amusing that you haven’t given up.” Sammy said “I don’t see why you continue on.”
“Unlike you, I still have something worth keeping my soul and face for.” Mays jumped out of the way.
“What? Still holding out for that girl? Or perhaps the purple one that my masters keep telling me about?” Mays paid little attention, instead pressing his attack and trying to knock Sammy over the railing “You’ll probably just end up driving her off, or even better killing her.” Again, no response, but Mays’ attack became stronger. Sammy decided to try harder “Maybe once you’re gone I’ll have to pay her a little visit.”
That caught Mays attention. He stopped aiming for Sammy’s head and tackled the pirate, slashing with all his might at Sammy’s hooves. With a crack, the sword cut through one of the joints and severed the lower half of Sammy’s right leg. Satisfied, Mays slammed his left hoof down on Sammy’s throat and pointed the sword between the cursed pirate’s eye sockets.
“You listen to me. I was just planning on killing you in the fastest way possible, but threaten her or anypony like that, I’ll just have to be more creative.”
“So the Great Conqueror has found a new conquest.” Sammy sneered “How quaint... Enough to distract you.” Mays raised his sword to strike, but yelped in pain as Sammy rammed a knife into his side with enough force to knock him to the deck. Mays pulled the knife out with his teeth and tossed it across the deck before Sammy kicked him in the face, knocking him down again.
“You honestly believed you could kill me that easily?” Sammy asked, rising from the deck.
“For a minute,” Mays chuckled a little “Yeah, I kind of did...”
“Now, I’ll be having my leg back.” Sammy’s horn glowed with grey magic, and the severed limb rose and floated towards the pirate. Black flesh-like tendrils snaked out and fused themselves to Sammy, pulling the severed leg back into place with a wet squishing sound. With his leg in place, Sammy charged Mays again, stabbing at his chest. Mays was able to redirect the attack, but the sword still sank deep into his shoulder, splashing the blade and his chest with blood.
“I would love to see the look on your little friend’s face once I’m done killing you.” Sammy raised his sword up for another strike, but a purple aura seized the sword and tossed it into the ocean. Perfect timing, Twilight.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Sammy turned and saw all six mares, arranged in a semicircle with Twilight at the front. More importantly, each one had their Element of Harmony, and from the looks of things the spell behind the Elements was charging.
“No...”
“Oh yes.” Mays said, pulling himself away with his right hoof “If you run into El Fantasma, would you give him a message?” The Elements continued to charge, and Sammy looked in vain for some way to fight back. Mays finished crawling out of the way and grinned.
“Buck you.”
In that instant the Elements fired, a massive rainbow arching out and hitting Sammy in the chest. The pirate tried to run, but the Elements wrapped around him, preventing his escape. At first nothing really happened, but slowly little bits of the pirate began to flake off, like sand blown in the wind. These little bits began to grow in size into chunks, and more started to flake off as the elements increased power. Sammy stopped thrashing and started screaming as his whole body was torn apart by the Elements, the flecks disintegrating in the chromatic onslaught.
Mays expected another explosion similar to how the Elements destabilized the Crescent, but after disintegrating Sammy the rainbow shot back into Twilight’s crown and the Elements stopped glowing. Twilight and company opened their eyes, and all were surprised at what happened.
“I was just hoping he might get turned to stone or something,” Twilight said “I guess disintegration works too...”
“Believe me, I am very appreciative of that.” Mays staggered back to his hooves, limping slightly from his shoulder wound.
“Captain, you’re injured.”
“I’ve noticed. Hacksaw can look at it once we get back to the Concordia.” Several marines surrounded them to hold off any ponies that might attack, but with their captain gone the Cursed were gearing up for a retreat rather than one final push. The group made their way back to the bow of the Chum Maker where Richard had place a nearby deck cannon next to the blade.
“Captain, everything is set up for our escape.” The Master Chief said.
“You’re not going to fire that thing now, are you?”
“I got a long fuse; it should give us more than enough time to get back to the Concordia.”
“And your plan for preventing the blade from dealing more damage?”
“I could probably hold it in place.” Twilight said.
“Even after using the Elements?”
“I may be a little winded, but I still have my magic reserves.”
“I guess we can work with that. Richard, finish getting that cannon set up and loaded. Twilight, take over and make sure that blade does not fall. Hacksaw, help me out here before my shoulder kills me.” Twilight’s magic enveloped the blade while Richard and the other sailors finished prepping the cannon. Marines took time to snipe the fleeing pirates, aiming for anypony that might be considered a leader amongst the Cursed in order to create more confusion. Finally, the cannon was prepped and Richard’s group joined the rest back onboard the Concordia.
“Hey, captain,” Smith said, landing next to Mays “Don’t you think shooting that thing might be a bit dangerous?”
“How so?”
“Well, the blade’s still overhead, so won’t it fall and kill us all?”
“I can keep holding on so the chunks don’t come crashing down on us.” Twilight said.
“Oh... I should have thought of that.”
“For someone who was so enthusiastic about becoming a pony, you still need to learn a lot.” Smith responded with a shrug before walking off. “Captain, I don’t want sound like I’m complaining, but when is that cannon supposed to g-” there was a loud bang as the cannon went off, startling Twilight. She was able to hold her concentration, but only just, and despite the force of the cannon the blade barely wavered, even as the base exploded in a shower of wood splinters and shards of metal. Twilight guided the blade over to a small patch of ocean and let go, the giant piece of metal crashing into the ocean and disappearing from sight.
“You were saying?”
“... Okay, so I may have gotten a little impatient.”
“I know. Richard,” Mays tuned to the Master Chief “Load the guns.” Richard nodded and hurried below deck, shouting orders to anypony not otherwise involved with repairs. “Twilight, if you want to take your friends below and rest, you’re welcome to do so.”
“You’re just going to be firing off cannons anyway; how much rest do you expect any of us to get?”
“Point. Smith, get us alongside, but not too close.”
“Is this because I almost got us killed when we sank that Spanish transport ship last month?”
“Yes, yes it is.” Smith rolled his eyes and spun the wheel, the Concordia slowly drifting away from the Chum Maker. Mays took a position near the bow of the ship, Twilight and her friends right behind him.
“Guns are loaded captain!” Richard shouted up from below.
“Send that ship back to Hell where it belongs.” There was no response, and right now Mays did not need one. He was even ignoring the wounds to his shoulder and side, if only to see one more of the many ships the Cursed controlled be destroyed.
Many a superstitious and paranoid sailor said Cursed ships could not be destroyed, at least not permanently. They said that their crews would rise up from the deep and rebuild the ships piece by piece, then refloat them when the tide was low or the moon full to spread death and destruction. Fire had no effect, cannons were merely an inconvenience; nothing would stop the Cursed from returning.
Thirty-two 32-pound and 24-pound cannons would beg to differ.
The starboard side of the Concordia was consumed by smoke and flame as her broadside fired. No ship, no matter how soundly built or shielded, could withstand the onslaught of iron shot. The Chum Maker crumpled like a dried leaf, wood and canvas turning into missiles as the shot tore into the ship. The cursed ponies that were still on board chose to leap into the ocean rather than be splattered across the deck.
It was in this moment, amongst the destruction, that the Equestrian Navy became a legitimate force.
So, rant time. I wanted to drag this fight out longer (at least another page or so). Some things that didn't get worked in were Twilight using her telekinesis and a nearby cannon ball to improvise a flail/meteor hammer (From an earlier idea involving Luna using a similar technique only with asteroids or the moon) and Rarity going Lady of War and kicking ass. Maybe I'll add those later, or in another fic, but for now, this is what I have.
Also, a reason I didn't drag this fight out is that naval battles with this level of technology tend not to last very long, a few minutes at most. For example, the first Suprise vs Acheron fight from Master and Commander lasts only for a few salvos before the British have to run for it. Another example would be most of the ship vs. ship fights in Pirates of the Caribbean (save the big battle in the whirlpool, but that's something else entirely); usually there's a few salvos of cannon fire before the pirates throw themselves over to board, and given a ship is a lot more valuable than a bunch of bits of a ship, this makes a bit of sense.
Finally, another thing is hand-to-hand combat when written in a medium such as this, from someone whose only experience with such fighting is a few fencing lessons, is hard. It's hard not to get repetative in what your characters are doing in a combat situation (especially when most of them don't have magic), and I'm a bit of a dialogue person so giant walls of text scare me (Yes, I just so happen to be writing one now...). I figue that with a bit more experience I can get a good fight scene, but I wanted to make it a little shorter so I don't make myself look like an idiot trying to cram a bunch of description down your throats. Meh.
As for what's in the fight, in-game a Scorpion ship is at a big disadvantage when fighting a ship the size of the Concordia, a five-mast and the second biggest ship in the game (that's not a squid or ridiculously overpriced); the blade is fixed forward, meaning that unless you are really good at planning and maneuvering, you'll have to take the full force of a ship's cannons in order to use that thing. Even if it's an instant hit, unless you have a captain on board that will allow you to shoot the turn you move, if fighting a ship such as the Concordia you will have to take upwards of four shots before you can return fire, and being that Scorpion Ships only have three masts means they have a good chance of being sunk. Eventually, if I decide to write a sequel, we'll have a few old-fasion gun battles, but for now we have this.
My apologies for ranting, I just had to get this out here. Next chapter has Luna.