As befits one of ponykind’s oldest and most cherished legends, every colt and filly has heard some variation of the Sisters’ tale. The details are rarely consistent. In some regions the Sisters are described sailing from beyond the horizon in a tiny boat made of pure gold, shining as bright as the Sun above their heads. Other ponies tell their young the stories about a crack in the sky far beyond the horizon, and the eclipse that lasted for four days. The reclusive tribes of northern Equestria believe that one of their own had once captured the queen of kelpies; when the creature promised to fulfill any three of her captor’s desires, the mare wished for safety, stability and justice in all of Equestria for the rest of time. Impressed by the magnanimous wish, the kelpie clapped her hooves and two shining stars fell from the sky in the west.
The west. It’s the one element that shows up in every version of the fable. And yet, over the course of our kingdom’s glorious history, none of the adventurous souls who attempted to venture westward found anything of note on the open sea. Among our wizards, sages and other learned ponies the prevailing opinion is that the ‘myth of the west’ is nothing more than a hollow remnant in the pony mind from our nomadic times when the Sun’s descent – ending in the west – guided our steps.
We, however, know better. Second Lieutenant Sky Haze, who was assigned to our Princess’s personal guard days before the war, swore that Her Highness often left her quarters to wander in the castle gardens, looking west with a gaze full of longing and nostalgia.
Despite the bravery and combat prowess of all our comrades, the war has been lost the moment our dearest Princess was sealed away. Unlike the majority of our forces, who gave up their arms and lost their will to fight mere hours after the final battle, we do not treat our pledge of loyalty lightly. If there’s any chance that the legendary west will help us set our Princess free, it’s our duty to pursue this goal.
The first weeks went by without any complications; the supplies we’ve managed to fit on Nocturne and Luna’s Grace – the two ships whose captains were willing to take the risk – would suffice for a month on the open sea. After all, we didn’t need to pack much of anything else. Two magically sealed barrels of explosive powder for emergencies and a couple crates full of complicated tools for the witch Midnight filled the remaining space in the hold.
At first even the weather was on our side, water remaining calm despite the wind blowing into our sails. Looking back at it now, the morale was also at its high point. We were anxious to act; to save our Princess who was unfairly taken away from us when we needed her the most. May history forget the defeatists who abandoned her cause at the first hushed rumors of amnesty – with Luna on our side we were sure we could succeed against all enemies.
The first incident happened twelve days after we left port. Many of our crew, batponies all, were wary of Midnight. She was a sorceress who worked closely with Her Highness on several secret magical projects during the war, earning her the name ‘Bat Witch’ among her unicorn kin. When Midnight found out about the derogatory title, she only smiled and asked the Princess to make those rumors come true. The Princess – at that time already bearing the form of Nightmare Moon – agreed, sensing an opportunity to strike fear into the hearts of the loyalist forces. Midnight’s long mane became as dark as a lightless night sky and her amethyst coat turned gray. Whenever she smiled one could notice two sharp fangs, though the general impression of her new sarosian form was undermined by the lack of leathery wings that all of us possess. In turn, she has kept her horn; a trade-off that any former unicorn would be more than happy to accept. The fact that the Bat Witch was one of the first to join our desperate mission made the recent discovery all the more puzzling.
On the morning of the twelfth day, one of the sailors found a curious item among the crates brought onto the ship by Midnight. A wrought iron cage connected to a small vial of dragonfire. The captain and I have seen similar devices during the war; they enabled a two-way communication between the user and a powerful unicorn a long distance away. Our generals used them to exchange strategic information and stay on top of the solars’ logistics – we suspected that Celestia’s army did the same to monitor us. The cage was simultaneously a receiver and a sender, its bars enchanted to contain the immeasurable heat of dragonfire needed to send a letter in the instant before it was destroyed.
Now, Captain Sea Worthy was an unparalleled leader despite her young age but if there’s anything she could never tolerate, it’s her crew hiding dangerous magical contraband on her ship. Midnight argued that having a way to send one letter to the mainland might prove useful but for our captain merely considering contacting Celestia – to whom the device was tuned – was bordering on treason. She ordered the contraption to be thrown overboard, but not before confiscating the vial and a single letter that arrived in the time since our departure.
How unfortunate that the letter wasn’t sunk with the cage! That night, four ponies were summoned by Sea Worthy. We gathered in silence in front of the doors to her state room at quarter past two, as the notes we’ve received instructed us to. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the possible scenarios requiring such secrecy. I opened my eyes again, taking a look at the ponies waiting with me.
Nocturne’s captain and her first officer were nervously pacing in the corridor, surprised in equal parts by the request and the grave concern expressed by Sea Worthy in those few words. Compared to them, Midnight was far more collected, quietly reading an old scroll she brought with her. Although her expression was entirely hidden beneath a wide and pointy purple hat that she never left her cabin without, she seemed quite unbemused by the situation, nonchalantly humming a well-known batpony ballad about a hero who left his clan to vanquish the mountains hiding the Moon during the day. Were it not for a lone drop of sweat that trickled down the visible part of her cheek, I might’ve been fooled by the act.
The doors opened and Sea Worthy gestured for us to come inside, closing the doors as soon as the last pony crossed the threshold. She swiftly pulled a tiny key from beneath the carpet and opened a concealed safe built into the wall. She gently pushed aside the confiscated vial of dragonfire and reached for an envelope that both me and Midnight had already seen. The rich golden paper was glistening in the candlelight, drawing attention to the two broken pieces of crimson wax hanging from the page. The first was the Solar Stalwart, Celestia’s personal seal reserved for documents of utmost importance. A cold chill crept up my spine as I suddenly felt small and utterly insignificant. I quickly averted my gaze and focused on the other seal which was—
“The Night’s Vigil! –“ Nocturne’s first officer cried out, breaking the ominous silence that befell the room “– It can’t be! After our Lady’s banishment the only one who was allowed to use it was Commander Star!”
“Our worst fears have come to pass,” said Sea Worthy, meeting our startled looks with eyes shining with purpose, “the command has completely surrendered and accepted the tyrant’s amnesty. The traitors – and by that I mean both our former superiors and the damned Sun monarch – asked us to abandon our mission, promising to forget about our deeds as soon as we disembark.
“Furthermore, Celestia had the audacity to warn us against sailing west. She said that these waters are traitorous and that her magic will not protect us on what she called a suicidal journey. Bah! As if we wanted her ‘protection’!”
Midnight pursed her lips. The Nocturne sailors stared at the floor with pale faces and trembling legs. I have seen enough broken troops to know better than to let this mood persist. I swallowed hard and stepped forward.
“You’re right, captain!” I said with as much confidence as I could muster given the circumstances, “Luna’s light will guide us to the ends of the world! We all knew what we were getting ourselves into, now is not the time for doubts!”
I caught a glimpse of a smile on Midnight’s face telling me that she saw through my overly dramatic performance. Thankfully the others weren’t as observant. Nocturne’s captain calmed down and said, “We… we could still turn back. It’s not co… cowardice to cut your losses early.”
“It is cowardice, my fellow captain, –“ Sea Worthy glared at the trembling mare “– and more than that, it would be a treason to leave our good Princess when she needs our help. I am the commander in chief on this mission and if I say that we’re not running away, that is my final decision. Did I make myself clear?”
“Of course,” the first officer boldly chimed in without looking Sea Worthy in the eyes, “but we should still tell the sailors about the letter. They have to know.”
“They most certainly shouldn’t!” I said, stomping on the carpeted floor for added emphasis, “Low morale is something we need to avoid at all costs.”
“I’m afraid our newly promoted friend is right,” Midnight finally let her opinion on the issue be known, “If we might be forced to fend off threats that can’t be easily defeated with blades and magic alone, every determined mind will be of use.”
Nocturne’s first officer glared at both of us. “You are afraid of your own sailors and you dare call us cowards? Why, you—”
“That’s enough.” Nocturne’s captain’s voice was as cold as ice. “We’ve been given an order. Comply with the request immediately.”
“Finally acting reasonably, I see. Officer Vigil,” Sea Worthy said to me with a nod, “escort our guests to their ship and report back. Midnight, stay here a bit longer. I have a few more questions for you.”
The three of us marched in silence interrupted only by the echoes of our hoofsteps and the distant swearing coming from the galley. Our cook always woke up in the middle of the night to prepare breakfast for the sailors; being alone in the kitchen didn’t stop Moon Shine from cursing everything and everypony that caught his attention.
Once we made it to the top deck, Nocturne’s first officer flew back to their ship, a task made significantly harder by the raging storm that started a couple hours ago. The captain, however, closed her wings, turned towards me and said, “It would be best if you headed back to Sea Worthy right now.”
She kept her eyes peeled to the deck but I couldn’t have missed the veiled threat in her words.
“Why would I?” I said, deciding to stall for time by playing dumb. “You’ll be off to your ship any moment now, won’t you?”
“They deserve to know,” The mare drew a short dagger from one of the purses in her jacket, “Right now, my first officer is almost done with waking up my crew to tell them that we’re coming home. As for yours, well, don’t make it any harder than it needs to be.”
I thought about running away. She was armed and determined, the blade she held in her wing making it clear what would happen were I to continue standing in her way. Thankfully, I heard quiet hoofsteps from down the hall. With some luck, all I needed to do was stall for a moment.
“Every mare and every stallion on this ship willingly signed up knowing that our chance of success is tenuous at best.” I paused. “What gives you the authority to sabotage our mission?”
“My conscience,” she said, shifting her gaze to the Mare in the Moon. “If she was still here, she would’ve never asked us to lie to the very ponies we’re responsible for.”
“But she isn’t,” I interrupted, “and fixing that is why we’ve started this journey in the first place. I won’t let you take that last bit of hope from us.”
“I’m sorry,” she half-whispered and galloped at me.
She was fast, much faster than me. I dodged the slash of the dagger so narrowly that I felt it shave off some of the hair on my cheek. She pressed the advantage. I saw her dagger being thrown into the air, only for her to jump and dive at me with a lightning fast flap of her wings, catching the weapon mid flight. I ducked away.
Too slow. Before I could get up I felt a sharp sting on my flank and crimson drops mixed with the puddles of rain water on the deck. I thought that it was just a shallow cut but it bought her the time to once again close the distance and go for the finishing strike aimed at my neck.
I was saved by a frying pan. The unlikely projectile forced the traitor to make a hasty and imprecise dodge, which in turn left her open long enough for me to land a buck on her unguarded side. She flinched, dropping the dagger.
Apparently my hooves still had some strength left in them because the moment she left the ground to reposition herself, the wing I kicked bent in the wrong direction, sending the screaming pony crashing into the ship. She gritted her teeth and jumped at the cook who had just saved my life.
And then… she slipped. Before we could do anything, the ravenous waves devoured the poor mare. A loud thunder split the silence of the night as Moon Shine threw the rope into the blackness of the rough sea. It was a pointless endeavor – we both knew that – and yet we did it regardless. I fought through the pain and the dizziness that appeared in my head while the cook continued to stare at the waves. I could swear that he was paler than a ghost. His hooves were trembling so badly that I feared he might collapse any moment now.
“Damn it! I… I didn’t…” he stammered, “I swear… It was an accident…”
“You did nothing wrong,” I tried to assert, but my voice was less confident than I had hoped. “A shame it had to come to this but she was a tra– a misguided pony, and you saved my life.”
“Right, but” – Moon Shine averted his eyes from the sea – “Bloody Tartarus! Sir, you’re bleeding out!”
I looked at my flank; he might’ve been right. The dagger cut much deeper than I initially thought. Out of the corner of my eye I saw several startled sailors leaving their cabins downstairs, surely woken up by the fight.
“You there!” the cook bellowed at the nearest batpony. “Find the surgeon and bring him here immediately. We don’t have much time!”
“No need for that, I can walk there myself” I said, and promptly fainted.