//------------------------------// // III // Story: Until We Meet the Horizon // by DunkelWars //------------------------------// Elionora thought about taking a look around but decided against it. ‘I’ll get a tour sooner or later anyways’. Instead she sat in front of the window and let her mind wander for bit. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she thought. ‘ I actually made it out! Sure, territory and all but dad won’t go that far. There’s no way he’d sacrifice even the smallest piece of his fleet to get me.’ And soon after, her thoughts were proven correct, as Blitz came into the room, now in a way better music than before. “We’ve made it out. You are now officially free. Come with me, I’ll introduce you to the others.” Elionora nodded and followed him onto the deck, where she closed her eyes and took in a big breath of air, it was nice breathing fresh air again. There was also a scent that made her spirits go even higher: the smell of the sea. She had traveled by boat few times before and had always been kept under deck, the smell of air on the open sea was a new and very nice sensation. She could have just kept on doing this for some time, but Blitz snapped her out of it with a shout. “Everybody! I want all of you to meet the pony I picked up in Lusatrin!” The ground beneath started to shake as creatures came walking from all directions towards them and a few came from the air. After a while everybody was there: 3 Unicorns, 3 Pegasi, Blitz included, 1 Changeling, 2 Griffons, 1 Deer and, what surprised her most of all, 2 Thestrals, making for a total crew of 14 creatures. The Deer stepped forward first and began introducing itself. It’s coat was a silver-ish gray and it’s eyes were yellow. It’s antlers indicated it was a female and she was the tallest member of the crew. All in all she looked rather regal. “Hello there. My name is Latania. I’m the ships navigator. If you need any kind of help, don’t hesitate to ask, okay?” Her voice only made her appear even more regal, fitting her appearance perfectly. Elionora was about to introduce herself, but Latania had already retreated back to the others and now the three Unicorns walked towards her. They all were about the same height, what meant a little taller than herself, and had definitely male features. At first, she thought they all were coloured differently, once they came close enough though she realised something; There were exactly three colours in their mane, coat and eyes. The one on her left had a bright yellow coat, green eyes and a purple mane, the one in the middle had purple eyes, a green coat and a yellow mane and the one on her right had a green mane, yellow eyes and a purple coat. The one in the middle introduced them; “Hey. I’m Crash Course and these two are Rash Story,” he motioned his head to the unicorn on her left, who waved at her, “and Swift Tap. We’re in charge of making sure the ‘Blue Storm’ - that’s what the ship’s called - doesn’t fall to pieces. We also were the cooks before and are really happy that you’ll take that burden away from us,” Crash Course said, putting so much fake emphasis on the ‘really’ that Elionora couldn’t help but giggle. She tried introducing herself again, but Crash, Rash and Swift were too walking back towards the others again, Crash turning his head around once more and giving her a playful wink. Once they had settled back in with the others, one of the Griffons and a Pegasus stepped forward. The Griffon had dark brown feathers around his head and a typical brownish-yellow coat, the Pegasus had a turquoise coat and a purple mane, with a single red streak through it.They both had green eyes, though in different shades. The Pegasus’ ones were an emerald kind of green, whilst the Griffons eyes were limegreen.The pegasus was a bit taller than her and the Griffon was taller than him. The Pegasus started the introduction. “Hello. I’m Spontaneous Combustion and,” he was cut off by the Griffon; “I’m Rubyn. We’re the ships… tinkerers? Is that the right word? Well anyways, I build stuff, he mixes fluids and usually stuff blows up. More often than not unintended.” Spontaneous took over at this point again. “What he’s trying to say, is that I’m an alchemist and he’s an inventor.” They turned around again and Rubyn didn’t lose any time retreating to the others, Spontaneous though turned around again and talked once more. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you give some infos about charms at some point? I’ve been trying to make one for a while now, but it just doesn’t work.” Elionora gave him a nod at that, having decided not to speak until this was over. Spontaneous grinned and walked towards the rest. This time another Pegasus came up towards her. The Pegasus was a bit taller than Blitz Rush. His coat was dark blue and his mane and tail were an unidentifiable mix between silver and white. “‘Sup? I’m Flick Flack. Around the ship I’m just the guy who helps out wherever he’s needed. On land though I’m the guy with the info and the connections,” he said and was off again. ‘Well, that was quick,’ Elionora thought to herself. She had no time to Dwell over it though since the other Griffon approached her. This one had gray feathers and a darker body than the first one. It was also smaller than the other one but still taller than Elionora herself. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kira. I handle the ships log and make sure that we have enough supplies before we leave. Since you’ll be cooking, we’ll probably spend a lot of time with each other. I’m looking forward to it.” She gave Elionora a smile and retreated to the group. Now it was the Changelings turn. He looked like every other Changeling, except for a scar in a cross form over his eye. He was also smaller than Elionora. “Hi. I’m Husk. I I handle all the normal jobs on land, like getting food and water or replacement materials. Other than that I’m usually the one who stays on the ship and makes sure nobody comes on here uninvited. I also tend to change my disguise very often, so just look out for the scar over my eye if you need to find me. That will always be there.” His voice died away at the last sentence, but she gave it no mind. Now Blitz approached her. “Well, you know my name. Around the ship I’m the first mate and the guy in the crow’s nest. For as long as you’re here I’m also kinda your advisor since I brought.” And with a whisper he added; “Though really you’d better ask Latania about anything, she’s better at explaining.” Neither of the two could help but to smirk. He too went back to the group. Now only the two approaching Thestrals were left. They were both rather tall, only a bit smaller than Latania but the one she guessed to be male by stature was taller than the one she assumed was female. Their coats bore the same dark grey. The male’s eyes were a cold blue, the female’s were almost golden. The stallion had a mostly dark red mane, with a dark blue stripe on the right front. His tail was the same, though the blue part was very small. The Mare’s mane and tail were a very dark green. Both of them almost radiated authority. The stallion spoke. “Welcome on my ship. I am Tenebrae and this is my sister, Lucida. We’re this ships captain.” That confused Elionora. ‘A ship can have two captains?’ she thought. Lucida reacted to her dumbfounded expression. “What my brother means, is that we both have the same authority. We started this together and there was no reason why one of us should be more important than the other, so we decided to both be captains.” Now Tenebrae took over again. “Now that you know our crew, we’d like to get to know you.” Elionora understood and braced herself; she doubted that Blitz had informed everyone about her heritage already. She prepared herself and spoke; “My name’s Elionora and I... well I am, wait no, I... was the crown princess of Zebrizca before I left.” The reactions went as she expected; Surprised gasps rang through the air and many looked surprised; expect for Blitz and Husk who had already met her, and Flick Flack, who only sighed unhappily. Tenebrae gathered himself first. “That is… surprising, to say the least. And really not that believable. Though I’m wondering why you would lie to us, I can’t simply believe you. Do you have anything to prove that you are who you claim to be?” Though it probably shouldn’t have this surprised her. Then again, it was normal that he didn’t believe her, he hadn’t been around when Lirk showed up. “I have my jewels with me. The ones that I have to wear at any kind of royal event to mark me as the princess.” Tenebrea still didn’t look convinced. At this point Blitz chimed in. "It’s true captain. The guard that was on the ship talked to her and addressed her as princess.” That seemed to do the trick. “Very well then,” Tenebrae said,“ welcome Elionora. I hope that we can count on you as a part of our crew for as long as you stay on our ship.” “Be aware though, you won’t get a special treatment from us because of your title. You’re part of a pirate crew now, you gotta work with us,” Lucida continued ‘So they really are pirates. Makes sense, I guess, who else would be willing to pick up a wanted pony and move around with a ship.’ She tought. “Don’t you worry about me captain, I didn’t expect to be treated better than anybody else.” All three of them smiled. Then Kira walked towards her. “Come with me. I’ll show you the kitchen and the storage room, you’ll need to start cooking soon.” Elionora nodded and followed her as she led the two to a door on the deck. Behind them, Tenebrae shouted. “Alright, you heard them. Dinner should be up soon and I want everybody to return to their posts until then!” and with that, the group dispersed.