//------------------------------// // Bottled Up // Story: Prompts from Ponies // by Sycamore //------------------------------// You look through a piece of glass, magnifying what you see: a ship and all of the crew attending the deck. A yellow Pegasus is seen attending the crows-nest, a blue unicorn manning the sails, and a sharply dressed earth pony directing the helm. A small crew for such a vast vessel, but the three you see are just the ponies on the deck. There may be countless in the bows of the ship. This ship holds an arsenal that could destroy a small city, or any ship that manoeuvres towards its side. With a total of one hundred cannons split between the port and starboard sides of the ship, the vessel screams warship and of the death that plagues the surrounding waters. As the bow plows through the rough waves, you take care to steady your hands so that you may keep sight of the war machine through the glass. With a closer look, you see the name that strikes fear into those opposing the equestrian navy: HMS Bumble Bee. An ironic name for such a deadly machine, but with the black and yellow painting scheme the name makes some sliver of sense. Looking back to the crew, you see that they have assembled to create a line on the deck. Some stumble, not yet having their sea-legs, as the decks sway. More than ninety pairs of eyes stare back at the commanding officer across from them. This new crew learning how to control the ship... Seeing enough for today, you carefully set the glass back on its stand so that the water inside does not become too rough for your seafaring 'friends'. With one last look at your magic ship in a bottle, and a quick nod, you stumble away wondering if you had too much to drink out of one of the other bottles. It seems that you have grown a dependence on both the ship's, and the alcohol bottles.