//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14 
// Story: Ponies of the Cursed Seas 
// by iowaforever 
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So, final chapter for this story. There will be more ranting below. I still don't own My Little Pony or Pirates; all characters and ships go to their respective owners, and the only things I own are the OCs and possibly the Ottomare Empire. Like, leave comments, recommend to friends.




Chapter 14

The sun had been set, and business in Canterlot was dying down. Ponies were closing up shop, night guards took their places on the city walls, and what nighttime social gatherings had been planned got under way. There was no adverse weather scheduled for the next few weeks, allowing the populace a beautiful night of stars.
Too bad Princess Luna was not getting a chance to enjoy it.
The Princess of the Night sighed as she gazed through yet another pile of reports. The one thing she had not missed during her time on the moon was paperwork, and for some ungodly reason she always seemed to get more than her sister. She used to think it was because her “loving” subjects wanted to ease Celestia’s workload and leave it with Luna, but logic noted that, for whatever reason, there seemed to be more problems dealing with the night than the day. Celestia being sole ruler for a thousand years, yet still managing to be a lousy book keeper, probably had something to do with it.
What was it that Father always used to say... Oh yes “Mortals are wonderful ponies, but sometimes they enjoy a bit too much order for their own good”. She sighed again before pulling a form out of the stack, grabbing a fresh quill from a nearby table as she did so. At least the servants were kind enough to procure refreshments.
After nibbling on a small pastry for a minute, Luna pulled one of the sheets out of the pile and got to work. It was long, tedious, and in many cases redundant, but Luna was happy that not only was she doing something constructive for Equestria, but that Celestia was the one who had to deal with the nobles that sent in the reports in the first place. In any other situation Luna would have laughed, but she adored her sister too much to let herself go like that. After going through about a dozen forms and one plate of baked goods, she decided to take a short break and possibly catch up on what history she had missed.
She was about to put that plan into action when there was a knock at her door. She sighed again; her sister was always sending servants to check up on her, to make sure she was adjusting properly and not scaring ponies off with her mannerisms.
“WE DID NOT REQUEST THY PRESENCE; PLEASE STATE YOUR-” Luna managed to catch herself, slapping herself in the face with her right hoof. No, bad Luna; no Royal Canterlot Voice. She relaxed and started over. “I mean, I did not send for anypony. Is something the matter?”
“I think I may have put you on edge with all those servants I keep sending.” Celestia said as she entered the room. Luna cringed and looked away, embarrassment causing her face to flush.
“Oh, Tia. I-I didn’t know it was you.”
“That’s quite alright, Luna; We all have our moments.”
“Is there something you wished to speak to me about?”
“Yes, actually. I knew you were still having some trouble adjusting to your duties, so I decided to get you a gift.” Luna rolled her eyes a little; she was not much for gifts, but it made Celestia happy so she decided to go ahead.
“May I inquire as to what exactly it is?” Celestia smiled before turning around.
“You may come in now.” There was the sound of hoofsteps as two ponies entered. The mare she recognized: Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic and Celestia’s personal student. Luna had only spoken to Twilight a few times, but she was friendly enough and was a great help in getting Luna reintegrated into society.
The stallion she was with, however, was a complete unknown; his coat signified he was a military official of some kind, but Luna had personally inspected every single guard she and her sister had employed and could not recall ever seeing this particular one. Worse, he looked as if he had been attacked by an angry manticore; his overcoat was torn in several places, there was a massive bruise on his face, his side and shoulder were wrapped in bandages and he looked as if he had not slept in almost a day. Still he carried himself with as much pride as he could muster, which did not seem to be too much compared to some of the stallions Luna had met in her life. Then again, her skills at reading ponies had fallen dramatically, so he could have been showing humility for all she knew.
Twilight’s horn glowed with magic as she reached for something behind her. Luna found her old sense of curiosity welling up, and she had to restrain herself from fidgeting around. To let off some of her nervousness, she flicked her tail slightly, the starry mass wavering only slightly.
She also had to restrain herself from gaping when Twilight produced the Obsidian Crescent.
“M-Mother’s Crescent? You found it?”
“I sent Twilight and Captain Mays to retrieve it for you.” Celestia said, smiling again “I knew how much you missed it, and I wanted to help.” Luna took the Crescent with her own magic, turning it over a few times.
“This is the only possession of hers I have,” Luna said, tears pooling under her eyes “my father gave it to me the night I raised the moon for the first time...” She beamed at Twilight and Mays “Thank you, thank you so much for finding it.”
“Our pleasure, your highness.” Mays said, bowing to the best of his abilities given his lacerated shoulder “If there’s anything more we can do-”
“Oh no, this is more than enough! I-I can’t express how much this means to me... look at me, I’m flustered; a princess should never be flustered.”
“We understand how you feel.” Twilight said. Mays merely nodded in agreement. Luna turned the necklace over in her magic again before raising the Crescent and placing it around her neck. The chain was cold and the pendant a bit heavy, but none of that mattered to Luna. She smiled again.
“Thank you once again. I shall always remember you for this.”
“You’re welcome,” Mays turned to Princess Celestia “If there’s nothing more to be said, I’d like to get my shoulder reexamined before I make things worse.”
“You are free to go, my little ponies. And captain, if you are still available later this week I would like to discuss a few things regarding your employment.” Mays bowed again and left, followed by Twilight. The two struck up a light conversation, but Luna was too far away to hear what they were staying.
But something had caught Luna’s eye; when she had dismissed the captain, Celestia’s left ear had twitched. A normal pony would have passed this off as a natural thing for somepony to do, but Luna knew better.
“You’re hiding something from them.” Luna said once she was sure the captain and Twilight were gone. Celestia looked at Luna, confused.
“What makes you think I’m hiding something?”
“Your left ear twitches whenever you’re hiding something.”
“Maybe it was coincidence that my ear happened to twitch.”
“I’ve always been able to tell when you’re lying because you were never good at it. Tia, what is it that you’re hiding?” Celestia struggled for a moment before sighing, hanging her head as she spoke.
“Captain Mays is not from our world. He and his crew were brought through by some form of magic. But I... may have bent the truth a little when I said I did not know the magic that brought them here.”
“‘Bent the truth’?”
“Luna... they were brought here by Chaos Magic.” Now it was Luna’s turn to be confused.
“Chaos Magic? You mean... Discord?”
“That’s what I thought at first, but the spell was fresh; it had only been cast a few days before they arrived here. There is no way Discord could have cast it without alerting us or the Elements of Harmony.”
“Sister, you are not making a lot of sense. Nopony else can use Chaos Magic. Even Father cannot use it.”
“I know. Which is why I think...” There was a pause. Luna noted that Celestia was shuffling her hooves. Celestia never shuffled her hooves.
“I think someone is trying to break into our realm.”
“Who?”



.................


Rain splashed across the deck of the Spectre. The old galleon was moored in a small archipelago several miles south of Tortuga, close to a trade route pirates preferred for quick prizes. It was not that the captain wished to remain inconspicuous; indeed, the Spectre’s primary weapon was the unnatural glow it was wreathed in, drawing pirates greedy for treasure like moths to a candle, and hiding that would deprive the crew of much needed targets. Rather, these islands made for the perfect place to conduct dark rituals.
El Fantasma looked back at his crew. He expected no real response, with the possible exception of glee, since any response would mean his conversions were slacking off. When he received none, he turned back to the altar at the bow of the ship, and the young blond bound in front of it. He smiled, his eyes flashing a brighter shade of red than normal. The woman cringed, but at this point there was no amount of cringing that could save her.
El Fantasma drew his sword and approached, dismissing the two pirates he had instructed to guard his prisoner. When he was sure the guards had rejoined the rest of the crew, he raised the sword and swung downward, the blade ripping through clothing, flesh and bone with ease. The woman let out one final scream before sinking to the deck, her blood mixing with the rainwater and running down the planks of the ship. When he was sure she was dead, El Fantasma raised his left hand to the open ocean before him.
“Great Terrox, come and claim your prize!” he shouted, his voice drowning out the sound of the waves and rain. For a minute nothing happened; the rain continued to fall and spread the sacrifice’s blood across the deck. Then there was a splash and a giant crimson tentacle snaked across the deck, wrapping around the corpse before retreating back over the side with its prize.
He approached the altar, speaking in a tongue that few mortals knew, and even fewer risked speaking. When he was finished with his incantation, five more tentacles broke the surface of the water and rose into the air, as if awaiting instructions. El Fantasma turned to his crew.
“Tonight,” he said, a feral grin breaking out across his face “We hunt.”



And thus concludes Ponies of the Cursed Seas, my first foray into the realm of fanfiction (yay me). I must say, I'm pleased that I managed to attract a few followers, and I want to thank everyone that stuck through to the end. I hope I was able to deliver a story you all enjoyed.
I mentioned a few times in the last two chapters that there may be a sequel to this story. At this point, I'm going to say yes; there are a bunch of plot points I did not adress in full (namely, what exactly went on five thousand years ago), and there are probably a bunch of other races and nations out there beyond Equestria's oceans that our heroes can go visit. Plus, the Pirates universe has tons of characters and ships that I can utilize if need be (probably not for earlier stories, but later for sure). Also, I had fun writing this crossover, and that counts for something. If you guys have any story ideas I am open to hearing them.