(A/N: Most of this Chapter takes place from a second-person point of view. Only this chapter is second-person. Also this chapter might be a bit dark too.)
*Normal POV*
Night had fallen a few hours ago and all was calm, the water was still and the night was quiet. Up on one of the wall of the fort overlooking the town below two Royal Guards, both Earth Ponies, walked along chatting.
"Been real quiet lately huh?"
"Indeed, though the weather could be better."
"Yes, bleak, very bleak tonight.
The weather had been clear but now a very thick fog was rolling in over the water, no one in the fort was worried as there hadn't been an attack on this town in two decades.
If only they knew...
Down below, hidden by the fog, a gigantic shape slowly moved towards the bay, stopping at the entrance of the port.
Up in the fort the two guards heard a faint boom.
"What was that?" one asked confused.
A second boom followed, the other looked towards the bay entrance as they heard a steady whistling that slowly got louder, like it was coming towards them!
"CANNON FIRE!!!"
The two guards, along with the few others about dived as an explosion tore a hole in a tower quickly followed by one of the fort's 68-pounder cannons being blown off its carriage and into the courtyard below. The fort's commanding officer rushed out shouting orders to return fire, but was cut off as multiple moaning/screaming-like sounds filled the air. Many projectiles shot out of the fog trail long tails of smoke, most headed for the town while others rained down on the fort.
"INCOMING ROCKETS!!"
The guards dove for cover as the rockets impacted with fort around them in large explosions, but instead of for doing damage, trails of blue and black energy shot from the impact zones into the air around the fort, forming into an energy shield that the guards soon discovered trapped them with in, leaving the town at the mercy of the attackers.
Down below more and more shots rang out through the night air, Ponies on the dock and beach running for their lives as cannonballs, shells and rockets impacted near them. The town was also under barrage, with pieces of buildings blown off as the townsfolk fled for their lives towards the inland. At the beach and docks numerous shapes emerged from the fog, longboats and a type of boxy medium sized vessels moved towards the shore, all carrying many individuals from different species.
Pirates, lots of pirates.
The pirates cried out battlecries and cheers as the jumped of the longboats while the boxy vessels lowered ramps on their fronts like that of a castle's drawbridge, the pirates aboard charging out into the shallow waters and onto the beach.
*Second Person POV*
You had been relaxing on a balcony of you mansion's four floor when the battle had started, you got up and watched the whole thing. You watch as the townsfolk fled as pirates came ashore, looting everything of value, and burning everything else. The pirates didn't kill anyone fleeing however, they were letting the townsfolk go. The fog soon cleared away, reveling the monster of a ship that sat in the bay, along with a small fleet of other ships behind it. Even at the distance your mansion sat and in the darkness of the night you could somehow see the flags flapping in the wind;
Red flags with a black quadruped Dragon in flight above a maelstrom, clutched in it's claws was a small chest on each.
Your eyes slowly widen in horror.
"No... no no NO!"
They had found you! They were here for your blood.
You saw movement at the heavy iron gates, looking down you see two pirates set up what looks like a red barrel of some sort. One lit a fuse on top and the two ran like heck, a few seconds later, once the two were clear, the barrel exploded obliterating the gate. Once the smoke had cleared a massive horde of pirates charged towards the mansion, you turn and run into the hall, the terrified screams of the servants as they fled before the horde, again the pirates let them go from what you could see.
The main doors were blown wide open, pirates surged in followed by a commanding voice shouting,
"Take everything of value but remember, he is ours!"
You heard the thump of a hardened steel halberd hit the floor as it's owner walked in, even over the the din of the pirates cheers and shouts.
You turn and run to your office, hoping they wouldn't find you. As you knew you would be unable to flee from them this time.
Later, in Your Mansion Office
You were in your dark office curled up in fear behind your desk, praying the pirates wouldn't find you. You could hear the sounds of the pirates looting everything they could, you didn't care if they took everything, for you feared what was to come if they found you.
You laid there for what felt like hours, crying and shaking in fear, the crimes you had committed over the years for your wreath had come back to haunt you.
After some time passes you ears perked up, no sound, perhaps the pirates had taken what they came for and left, perhaps thinking you had fled again. Slowly you lifted your head over the top of the desk, listening very carefully.
Nothing.
The only sounds were the building creaking, the sound of fires burning, and you own breathing. You let out a sigh of relief.
Thump
You nearly jump out of your skin, breath caught in your throat.
"No..."
Thump
Terror coursed through you, someone, or something was still here!
Thump
And it was coming your way!
As you watch, you see the light at the bottom of the double doors to your office disappear to shadow. The door knob slowly turning.
You dive under your desk again, fear surging anew through every inch of your body, greater then ever before.
From under the desk you watch as the doors slowly opened, light coming through and shining on the wall behind the desk,
and a terrifying silhouette.
You could see what looked like a large head with many spikes atop it like a crown of horns and a large halberd gripped in it's right claws. Like a demon from Tartarus that came for your soul.
Thump
It walked forward, the halberd's bottom spike thumping against the floor. You begin to sweat heavily as the figure slowly approached the desk, stopping in front of it. You watch in terror as the figure lifted the halberd over it's head, about to bring it down on your head!
He knows I'm here!! You think in terror.
Body surging with fear powered adrenaline, you shoot out from behind the desk. The figure swung the halberd at you, it missed and slammed into the desk, breaking it in two. You fire out the door at full speed, you hear the figure chase after you.
"You can't run forever coward! We'll find you and you will Pay for what you have done to us!" The figure shouted.
You duck into a nearby room, closed and locked the door, blew out the lamp, and hid in a locker. A few moments later the door was felled by the hardened steel blade of the halberd. The figure entered the room with a low growl and looked around.
You saw the figure's blood red eyes sweep the room, a tail tip of three silver blades glinted in the faint light like the Reaper's scythe, the halberd's blade hungry for blood, small amounts of fog around him, and the very faint sound of a pipe organ in the background. You knew this figure, a Kirin* (more specifically, a Westren Kirin), one you had wronged so long ago, a Kirin that was now back for revenge.
The Kirin turned his head this way and that, before walking up to the lockers. He open the one next to the your's.
"I know your here somewhere filth, the seas demand you soul for you crimes." The Kirin walked to the door, stopped, and slowly turned his head til one eye was on your locker, a slasher smile slowly appearing.
Your breath stops dead in you throat.
The Kirin looked long and hard at the locker, then said calmly; "Do you fear death, do you fear that dark abyss, all your deeds lay bear, all your sins punished? You have caused much pain to many, and the deepest pits of the abyss await your soul."
With that the Kirin walked out the door and left down the hall, still with that smile on his face.
Breath studding in fear, you exit the locker and slowly looked out door.
The Kirin was gone. No trace what so ever.
You leave the room and went left, away from the Kirin's path. You walk for about five minutes when you hear;
"This him?"
"Yes, he's the one our lord told us about."
You jump and spin around. Behind a door way blocked by wreckage, were a quadruped Dragon** and a Longma***. You couldn't make out their features in the faint light of the fires but you could see their shapes, eyes, and maws of razor sharp teeth.
"He looks frightened." The quadruped said.
"I would like to kill him" The Longma said bearing his teeth.
"As would I."
"But we can't yet, our lord want's him alive."
"Of course, but it's not us he should be worried about right now."
"Indeed he shouldn't."
With that, the two move back, disappearing into the darkness.
You fearfully wonder what they mean by that when...
The sound of a gun firing and a vase a few feet behind you breaking causes you to spin around...
only to freeze mid-step.
There at the end of the hallway in front of a tall window was a figure putting something away. Lightning suddenly flashed revealing a Pegasus mare wearing a large tricorne hat, a coat with many pistol strapped to it, and an eyepatch over her right eye which bore a large scar.
She also had a big, terrifying smile on her face as she run a hoof along the side of the serrated cutlass that she held.
Fear swells in you heart, you knew this mare.
"'Ello poppet."
She said, the smile growing even bigger.
With a scream you turn and run as fast as your legs can carry you away from her.
"You can't escape me this time, my husband's and foal's souls cry for you blood! And you money and connections wouldn't save you this time!"
You enter a room, lock the door, and duck under a bed. Not even a second after the blade of the cutlass sliced through the door and the crazed mare enters.
You try your hardest to control your breathing so she doesn't hear you, she walked through the room for a minute and, she started to sing while looking around.
"I was enslaved, tortured, my family taken from me. When I think of You Did, I get angry. But I dream a dream so great, that I feel calmer. It soothes my rage, and helps me sleep.
The sound of your screams of fear, your blood dripping on rock, your final breath. That's my lullaby!
My husband's cries of pain, my... my foals.
You see tears of rage, pain, and sorrow fall from her remaining eye at this line.
The things they did to me, to us. I will see it avenged! It might be bloody, but that works for me.
She took wing.
The melody of sword clashes, a counterpoint of firestorms, a chorus of cannonfire, oh my. That my lullaby!
She landed, her sword glinting in the little light.
I was a broken mare, but then I meet him. The one who pulled me from the jaws of death, and healed my ravaged body. So i could can my revenge! And finally lay my family to rest.
She walked towards the bed you were under.
The pounding of drums, the thrill of the fall of an empire, and our flag will fly, against a blood-red sky. That my lulla-by!!
As she sang the final verse of the song, she swung her sword in a upward swing, hitting the bed and sending it flying.
You look into her eyes, never in your life would you think that ice-blue eyes could look so horrifying.
With a scream you roll to the side, barely dodging her cutlass as it slammed against the floor. You run over beds with the mare hot on you tail. As you were running, you spot an open dumbwaiter on the far wall. Making a beeline for it, you do a leap into it, the mare's cutlass slicing through your hairy tail.
You enter it and fall a few stories but mange to avoid any injuries other then some bruises. As you pull yourself up as you hear the mare above give an evil and crazy laugh. Looking at your tail you see that all that remains is the hairs around the dock which the mare missed, but only just.
You stand up and step out of the dumbwaiter and into the room with two doors, one double with windows and one single blocked by a large crate. Looking out the windows you see a room full of crates, after thinking for a minute you choose the single door. You push the crate, which turns out to be quite heavy, with you head and front hooves. You get halfway when you hear a shout;
"There he is!"
Snapping your head up you see out the double door windows two Thestrals, one Cave and one Horned, running towards them. You started pushing harder as the two Thestrals slam into the doors, which are ,thankfully, locked. In response they begin body slamming the doors, throwing their weight into the blows.
You finally push the crate enough to open the door when the other doors burst open with a loud crash, you enter the next room shutting and locking the door behind you. As you do that you hear one of the Thestrals shout, "Go around!" with the other responding, "We'll flank that motherbucker!"
Not wanting to know what they would do if they caught you, you turn and run down the hall. Coming up to another door with a window you reach to unlock it, only of the Cave Thestral to slam into the door from the other side. Nearly jumping out of your skin you run down a different way, the Thestrals joining up.
After running for what seemed like an hour you come across a hole, you jump over it as the door way behind you collapses, blocking the Thestrals path.
"You slipply little worm!" The Horned one shouts.
You breath a sign of relief and turn around,
only to come face-to-face a white furred, pink-eyed, Winged Thestral twice the size of the others, who were normal sized, holding a large boarding axe.
And he was swing the axe towards you!
"OH BUCKING...!!!" You shout as you duck the swing and slip past the large Winged who gives chase. You run down the hall the door ahead burst open with the two other Thestrals coming out. You turn down another hall and run like taratrus, You glance behind you and see to your horror that the large Winged is gaining on you!
Oh BUCK he's fast as Taraturs!
You burst through a door leading into the main entrance hall, and put on the breaks as figure suddenly drops in front of you, the figure was a Royal Changeling mare. She held a large claymore sword in one hoof, you duck just missing the blade as it is swing towards you. You take off past her and rush up a flight of stairs, kicking some crates and barrels down to block the Queen before running again. You eventually come up to a wall of wreckage with a gap just big enough for you to fit through standing on your hind legs, just entered the gap when suddenly something strong grabbed your fore leg.
"Little Pig."
You were yanked out by a massive male Minotaur then thrown over the railing to the floor a story below, as you recover from the pain from the fall the door at one end of the large room was blown open by a Zebra mare with a smoking hand cannon in her forehooves and an evil smile on her face. You jump to you hooves, ignoring the hard flash of pain, and ran out of the room.
You weren't sure how long you ran for, but you stop seeing the outline of a male Griffin in front of you, behind you was the outline of a male Dracony Wyvern****. Looking for an escape you jump out the window next to you and hang on, moving to the one next to you and the next one after, the pain flaring with you hold in will as much will as you could. Above you you hear;
"Dear Odin he vanished."
"Vanished without a trace."
"I detect sarcasm."
"it was my intention."
"He thinks we're flankholes."
"Or stupid."
No, just flankholes.
"Let's pull him up and slit his belly open."
"Remember, our Lord want's him alive."
The voices fall silent then, you look down, wondering if you drop down and flee. That idea went out the door fast as you discover your over a steep drop that even uninjured you wouldn't survive. You slowly look in the window you were hanging from.
No one was there.
You pull your self up, wincing as pain flares again. You walk for a while, moving around burn areas before entering a large room. You look around, no one was around so you move forward, getting halfway,
Before the blade of a familiar halberd came the double doors suddenly in front of you.
Horror surges through you as the blade shoved the remains aside, the red eyes of the Kirin in the darkness. He then slowly enters the room, you back up as he comes forward. You had only taken three steps when a pair of hooves wrap around you from behind, and a snow white feathered wing came over you left shoulder, a needle held in it's grip.
The needle comes down and into you neck before you could do anything, the clear fluid within entering you bloodstream in an instant.
You fall to the floor, your vision fading as sleep overtook you. The Pegasus mare (who you notice has your missing tail, which had been braided, tied behind her left ear like a trophy) steps into your vision and shows you the needle.
The Kirin walked over and leaned his head down til he was more or less eye level with you.
"I told you that you wouldn't escape this time, Father." he said the last word with no small amount of venom in his voice.
Then you fall asleep, the other creatures coming into view just before you completely pass out.
*Normal POV*
The Kirin watched as his "father" was dragged out of the mansion before turning around and walking to an area that was painfully familiar to him. It was a small cupboard deep in a more or less abandoned area only about four feet by four feet in size, leading down he saw the still broken lock on the very heavy door which had many deep claw marks on it, the same as the walls inside. Something was once held in here a long time ago and it had be trying to escape for seven long years as the different sizes of the claws marks showed.
The Kirin's lips pulled back show a maw of razor sharp teeth, the very cupboard had been a prison once, his prison. Seven years, seven long years of half-starvation, of sleeping in his own waste, of spiders crawling and biting all over, and of other things he would even think about.
But now it would no longer haunt him, for it was time to destroy this place for ever, and let it rot and be forgotten. He dropped his growl as he glanced to the side, seeing one of his officer pirates approach.
"Sir, we've cleared this place and the town out of everything of value. All that's left is for you to tell where you want the demo teams to set the explosives."
"Tell them I want the most powerful ones for the mansion placed here, in this cupboard, and that I will set them off."
"Understood me Lord, anything else?"
"Yes, salt the earth. I want to make sure this town never raises again."
"Will do sir." The Officer saluted and walked away, soon followed by the Kirin.
Later
The Kirin watched as the demo teams finished laying the trail of gunpowder and setting up the explosives.
"It's ready sir and we're all clear."
"Thank you."
The Kirin walked over to the end of the trail which was just out of the entryway, breathed a light sign, then drew a large breath into his open mouth. The other pirates around him watched as a sulfur-colored gas formed at the back of his throat and a tiny but very bright sphere of flame form just before that. He then shot his head forward releasing the built-up fire in a stream of purple and blue onto the trail and into the doorway. The lit trail surged down down until it reached the cupboard were the more powerful charges were sitting, they exploded in a massive fireball that surged through every open, setting off explosives as it went. Outside the pirates watched as fire shot out of the windows and the doors as the mansion was rapidly consumed by the fire.
The Kirin stop breathing fire as this happened, looking at the burning building.
"Burn my prison, burn to the ground and never raise again. Be nothing but ash." He turned around and started walking away.
"Come, there is one more thing we need to do before we leave."
The Stallion slowly awakened to find his hooves tied together and his mouthy tied shut with rope and himself being dragged along the ground by a Diamond Dog by the stuff of his neck. All around him were members of different species; Ponies, Changelings, Griffins, Zebras, Donkeys, Mules, Hippogriffs, Deer, Ahuizotls (The species the show Character of the same name is), Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs, Yetis (Storm Creatures), and even Dragons of both kinds among other species.
Behind him were a group of heavily armored Ponies wielding halberds glaring at him through their helmets, their armor was made to invoke the image of a dragon version of an Alicorn so he couldn't tell what races they were.
As they moved to an unknown destination, the pirates stared to sing.
Shiver my timbers, shiver my soul.
Yo ho, heave ho
There are hungers as dark as night
Yo ho, heave ho
Two Changeling drones came up on his right side.
And we sailed our ship 'cross the seas, a vengeful Captain and an outcast crew
A Longma appeared on his left.
It's as dark a tale as ever told, of the search for the one who hurt us all
The pirates pulled him over a few bumps in the path.
Shiver my timbers, shiver my spine
Yo ho, heave ho
There are tales as strong as the storms
Yo ho, heave ho
Two Earth Ponies sang next.
And we drowned our pains in cider and rum
A Griffin added;
Taraurs itself would have to call us victims
Two Pegasus continued.
Every Creature aboard had lost someone close to them, for another's status or blood money
A quadruped Dragon thundered.
Blood Money
A Dracony said.
Blood Money
A group of Changeling soldiers added.
There will be a reckoning
The pirates dragged him over a hill, ahead he saw the Kirin, the Royal Changeling, and the Pegasus mare at the front of the group.
Three Zebras chanted.
Tonight's the night
Three Minotaurs continued the chant.
That our lost ones are laid to rest
The Zebras ended the chant with;
And we can finally move on
Two Cave Thestrals went next.
When there's fire lighting the sky, there's smoke on the winds
Two Unicorns sang,
Smoke on the winds
Sure enough, the town and mansion burned in a great firestorm behind them. The Stallion knew why the pirates had let the townsfolk go, they had only wanted him, for the crimes he had inflicted on them long ago.
The Queen at the front shouted.
One more time now
With greater strength in their voices, the pirates sang on.
Shiver my timbers, shiver my skull
Yo ho, heave ho
There are stories that sleep with old Davy Jones
Yo ho, heave ho
Ahead the Krirn lifted his halberd and sliced through a cluster of vines, leading into a cave. They dragged the Stallion into it center of it and leaned him against a rock.
With the sails set and the course plot there's no turning back.
And when the wronged sail the seas, you can bet your blood that there will be vengeance!
Vennnggeeance!!
Before the pirates could continue the song the Kirin raised his left wing, signaling them to stop.
"Come on sir, we were just about finished." A Zebra stallion wined.
"I know, but right now we have work to do."
He walked forward till he was in front of the Stallion. The Kirin let out a growl and started speaking.
"Father, thirty years ago when I was born, you hated me just for being a Kirin while Mom was very happy. Five years after I was born you sent her to the deeps,"
He stepped forward and pressed the tip of the halberd's scythe-like spear tip against the Stallion's neck, drawing a tiny bit of blood.
"and made the next seven years became a living nightmare for me."
The Kirin growled deeper.
"Your words were "You are not my son." and you kept me locked in a cupboard most of the time, a bucking cupboard, all because you despised having what you saw as an "inferior creature" as a son, when you had something great. You either forgot, or didn't care, I would guess the latter, that Kirins are very, very rare in Equestria. You could have increased you own status by showboating the fact you had such a rare Pony race as a son!"
He pulled his halberd away with a scowl.
"But no... Instead, you locked me away, barely feeding me til I escaped to the seas. I didn't even get my cutie mark til I was I was nineteen years old, much older then other foals. While that was happening you were busy babying my younger brother to be the "perfect son" that he ended up becoming too dependent on you, and then you simply left him to die to a rival gang."
His then rammed the scythe-like spear tip of the halberd in to the rock next to Stallion's head, large cracks forming.
"And that's not even counting what you did to so many young Ponies and families, and not just Ponies either."
He first pointed to the Changeling Royal,
"Atlas Moth, who's hive you destroyed along with most of her subjects and sister."
The Royal held her hat over her chest as anger and pain-filled tears fell down her checks.
He pointed to the three Thestrals,
"White Fang, Night Mist, and Dark Rock, who's family was killed by your loan sharks who also took White's right eye."
White Fang reached up and thumped the back of his head popping out his right eye which was a hunk of pink quartz smoothed in to a sphere with a line of black quartz for a pupil.
He then point to the Pegasus mare,
"And Snowheart, You sold her family to the Caribou! THE! BUCKING! CARIBOU! to pay a dept you owed them, knowing full well what they do to Ponies!"
Snowheart had a scowl on her face as she ran a hoof along the side of her cutlass blade.
"I may not be that familiar with Equestrian laws, but I do know that is High Treason! One of the only crimes to still have the death penalty. That's not even counting you other crimes."
The Kirin then let out a laugh.
"But the Caribou are in quite the pickle right now, for the last ten years we have been raising Taraturs in their waters rescuing prisoners and setting up rebellions. Even as we speak, their many enemies; the Griffin Kingdoms, the Minotaur Republics, all of them are gearing up to finally take them down."
He than looked at his 'father'.
"Your "Noble" line ends tonight, and with it the blood feud you had with the Wolf Packs. As you made sure the world never knew about me, I'm free to start a new line. One without the baggage yours gathered over the years. The funny thing about you being my "father" is two simple facts; one, she wasn't even married to you. And two, you forced yourself on her!"
The Kirin snarled, then stood tall and proud, giant wings flared.
"I took the name mother gave me all those years ago for the new blood line; I am Archduke Razor Tail, Leader of the Outcasts of the Abyss, the Pirate Lord of the Sea of Legends!"
He leaned his head forward, glaring at the Pony who had been his sire.
"You however wouldn't get to see it. Don't worry, it will be quick. As much as I want you to die slowly after what you did to all of us, we have overstayed our welcome and it won't be long before Celestia comes. Only she wouldn't know about this talk or what happened in this cave, your tomb, because..."
He gave a flick of his tail while Snowheart moved in front of the Stallion, and the rest finished the song from earlier.
Shiver my timbers, shiver my sails
Snowheat pulled out a pistol, which wasn't a flintlock but a cap and ball revolver, She leveled it, pulling the hammer back.
The dead tell no tales
She pulled the trigger. It was over in a heartbeat.
Later
The Kirin gently laid a claw on Snow's shoulder.
"Are you okay Snowheart?"
After finishing the deed, the pirates had returned to their ship. Snow sighed then nodded her head, " Yes, I think so. What about you Razor?"
The kirin nodded back, "Better, now that my "father wouldn't hurt anyone else never again. let's put this Taraturs pit to our rudder, and never return." He turned to the rest of the crew.
"Hard to port, full canvas, let's go, set a course for the Sea of Legends. Let's go home."
The ship with it's fleet behind it turned and sailed into the fog, leaving behind dying fires, blacked wrecks, and ash as the sun rose over the horizon.