//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Ponies of the Cursed Seas 
// by iowaforever 
//------------------------------//

I still don't own anything... in this fic, that is.
Again, read, review, and like the story. I would very much like to know what you are thinking.
Also, as I'm no naval historian, I have no idea if galleys are good firing platforms or not. Mainly, I'm going by the game: The galleys of the Barbary Corsairs have incredibly weak cannons, and while they have speed if they get caught by a good sized schooner or a 5-mast ship they're in trouble. So in this fic they're bad shots.




Chapter 5

Charles Richard was unsure how the past three days had been going. On one hand, repairs had actually taken less time than originally anticipated, retraining the marines to use telekinesis to fire lead shot was going splendidly, and most of the crew had gotten used to being ponies.
On the other hand…
“Why didn’t you let me review the duty roster?” Nolan asked.
“The captain put me in charge, and I wasn’t even planning on you getting sent back here.”
“That’s not justification for anything.”
“You want justification, you can have justification; everyone is where they need to be. I don’t need you coming along and messing everything up. So why don’t you go back and keep writing out your complaints to your father and let someone who actually knows what he’s doing handle the duty roster.”
“I was not writing any such letter.”
“Sure you weren’t. You were narrating it to yourself every time I passed your quarters. ‘Dear Father, I wanted to let you know about the abysmal conditions aboard this vessel and my attempts to change it. Mr. Richard has shown me nothing but contempt and spends most of his time joking and drinking with the men rather than being the symbol of discipline a person in his position should be, much like how I have always been’. It took you this long to use the word contempt in one of your letters?”
“Well, that’s all you have done.”
“Because your brain is as stiff as your jacket. And there is something called respect for the boys.”
“I do respect them; they have their duties, and my duty is to remind them of theirs.”
“By whining and threatening to whip them? Have you ever had a decent conversation with anyone besides your mother?”
“Also, I do not enjoy you referring to them as ‘boys’. They are men and should be treated as such.”
“Wish you had the same sentiments.”
“Was that intended as an insult?”
“When speaking with you, everything I say is intended as an insult.” Nolan gasped.
“How dare you continue to insult me? I ought to report this to Captain Mays when he returns and have you court-martialed when we get back to Boston.”
“If you’re not still a pony, that is.”
“Yes, if I’m not… Don’t you start bringing that into the issue. I’ll find a way, even if it means I have to haul carts for the rest of my life.”
“Why worry, you’ll be famous; I can see it now: The World’s First Talking Jackass. People will come from all over, even from Europe, just to see you and marvel at you. You’ll have all the attention you’ll ever want.”
“Mr. Richard, I have had just about enough of your attitude.”
“Maybe you should write to daddy about that.” Nolan was about to continue the argument when there was the sound of hooves coming up the gangplank. Richard turned and saw Mays, Hacksaw and Smith boarding the ship, followed by the six other ponies that had stopped them.
“Am I interrupting something?” Mays asked.
“Not really, captain.” Richard said. Nolan started to protest again but Mays silenced him with a glare. “How are our prospects for returning home?”
“Not very good; Princess Celestia didn’t know what kind of magic brought us here and couldn’t reverse it.”
“I told you she’d be of no use.” Nolan said. Mays and Richard ignored him.
“The boys probably won’t take that well. So, how much is the ship going for?”
“We’re not disbanding; Celestia asked if we could fetch some sort of artifact called the Obsidian Crescent for her sister and said she’d pay us a good sum if we found it.”
“Maybe they won’t complain as bad. When do we leave?”
“Today, as soon as the food stocks are resupplied.”
“Got it all taken care of; the pony that helped us out was pretty generous and struck a few deals with a couple of his friends. The ship’s all fixed, and the boys finished repairing the sails.”
“It’s times like this where I wonder if I’m even needed… oh, before I forget, Richard, this is Twilight Sparkle and her friends Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy; they’ll be accompanying us on the voyage. Girls, this is Master Chief Charles Richard, and you’ve already met Nolan.” Richard gave the six mares a nod.
“Hello, ladies.”
“Richard, get them settled; I’m going to meet with the rest of the marines and explain the situation to everyone. Nolan, if you have any more complaints, tell me the ones that are actually relevant.” Mays walked off towards the bow, followed by Nolan. Smith and Hacksaw went off on their own, leaving Richard with the six mares.
“Well, if you’ll just come this way the. Watch your step, the deck tends to give out when you least expect it.” Twilight and her friends followed Richard below deck. There were fewer crew members down here, but even so walking was a bit difficult. Richard pushed a few loose tools out of the way before speaking again. “So, what’s Equestria like?”
“Excuse me?” Twilight asked.
“Haven’t gotten out much; might as well ask some of the locals what it’s like living here, since that’s about all I’ve got right now.”
“Well… I don’t know; what was it like back in your world?” Richard turned around and faced Twilight.
“How many times has Equestria been invaded?”
“Why would you ask that? Never.”
“What’s the crime rate around here?”
“Abysmally low.”
“Celestia, does she force ponies to quarter soldiers or pay ridiculous taxes?”
“Equestria has no army, and she hasn’t had to raise taxation in eighty years.” Richard looked at Twilight, trying to find some indication that she was lying. Finding none, he smiled.
“I think I like it already. Now hurry, we’ve still got to get the gunpowder stored, and you don’t want that stuff getting on you, especially since the only lighting we have around here is lanterns.” The seven moved along while two Pegasi lowered a large barrel full of gunpowder.
“This isn’t going to get violent, is it?” Fluttershy asked.
“If we can’t help it, or if Nolan annoys the captain enough. Still, if you have no armed forces, consider yourself protected. The Concordia is a sixty four, makes it the most heavily armed ship in the Navy; one broadside can cripple a British second rate. And the boys are highly trained in case we get boarded; any one of them will gladly lay down his life for the next guy.”
“You seem to take a lot of pride in that.” Twilight said.
“Trained them myself, and that’s saying a lot, what with Nolan trying to throw in his own opinions every few minutes. You know he wanted me to court-martial a marine just because he called him an idiot?”
“Why does everypony hate him so much?” Applejack asked. “I mean, he’s a might bit rude, but that doesn’t warrant everypony not liking him.”
“I see you’re busy spreading vicious rumors.” Richard turned around and saw Nolan standing behind him.
“If I am I’d like to hear what they are.”
“Mr. Richard, I do not want to see you turn even more people against me. If I have caused an offense against you then I wish you’d make it known.”
“If I did, then the captain wouldn’t like the stain you’d leave.”
“Oh, now we’re moving to idle threats. I find that beneath your position to resort to such methods.”
“You find everything I do beneath my position. What are you doing down here? I thought the captain had a few words to say to you.”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. I just came down here to finish up my own duties.”
“You mean start a new letter? Guess daddy’s not going to be hearing from you for awhile.”
“You will not bring our predicament into this conversation. I want you to stop circulating these rumors and get back to your duties.”
“Sure.” Nolan gave Richard a glare and walked off. Richard turned back to the group.
“I’ve had to deal with Nolan longer than anyone else on this boat. You want to know why no one likes him?”
“Well, it would help to understand the justification for his snootiness.” Rarity said. “Do tell.”
“Nolan paid his way through training; his father was some big banker in New York and thought it’d be a good idea to have a son in the navy for prestige reasons. Anyway, he goes through the academy without having to learn half of what’s required. Commodore Preble takes a liking to him and appoints him as his personal protégé, and it all goes downhill from there.
“Preble’s first big assignment as commander-in-chief of the navy is to take out the Barbary Corsairs, a bunch of Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean.” He paused for a moment, deciding whether or not to explain where any of these locations were, much less what a Muslim was. He decided not to and continued. “Anyway, I was assigned to the frigate Intrepid under Stephen Decatur. Now, there was a man who lived up to his name: he was tough, charismatic, and a little bit impulsive. We got to Malta, trashed Tripoli and a couple other ports, and stayed out of the way of the other powers in the area.
“One day, we were sailing out of Malta when a courier ship arrived. Nolan steps on and says he’s been assigned to Decatur for a couple of weeks. Decatur wasn’t too happy about the arrangement.”
“Why? Did he say something wrong?” Twilight asked.
“No. Like I said, Decatur was impulsive; a lot of the battles we fought in racked up a lot of casualties. He said he needed marines and cannoneers, not lieutenants. Still orders were orders, and Nolan was onboard.
“At first, he wasn’t so bad; kept to himself at times, followed Decatur around and asked a bunch of questions the rest of the time. The other sailors and I thought he’d just fall in and act like a normal lieutenant… wish we were that lucky.
“Next day comes, and it starts off normal; we get our duties, eat, and go about our business. Then Nolan comes on deck and starts bossing some of the other lieutenants around, acting like he’s the captain. Some of the noncoms try to get him to mellow out, but he said that since he went through the naval academy that makes him better than the rest of us.
“Then a ship was spotted; it was a British ship, H.M.S. Durham, and the first thing Nolan wanted to do was have us attack it. Decatur came up and said to signal them instead.”
“I thought you said he was the impulsive one.” Twilight said.
“Yeah, stories aren’t fun if you can’t keep your facts straight.” Pinkie Pie said.
“Decatur was impulsive, but he wasn’t stupid; the British weren’t really after American ships in the Mediterranean, so we all considered it neutral ground. So we signaled them and decided to make a trade; some of the crew of the Durham had caught scurvy a couple of days earlier, so they wanted some of the medical supplies we had. We traded them for some spare wood in case we got damaged, and Nolan was complaining the whole time.
“We were going to go our separate ways when one of the Limeys-”
“Limeys?” Applejack asked.
“British sailors; they liked to eat a lot of limes. Anyway, one of the Brits spots a big flotilla heading towards us: Corsair galleys, about five of them. So Decatur and the British captain, I think his name was Lawrence, decide to team up for the day and attack the Corsairs. Nolan of course objects, saying that we didn’t need to fight with the Limeys. Decatur ignores him, but decides to humor him and assigns him to lead the first boarding party, if boarding is to be necessary.
“So, we close on the Corsairs, and they begin to split up and try to surround us. Decatur orders us to charge the nearest galley, a big green one called the Splendor. They fire a salvo of grapeshot at us and try to escape, but the Intrepid’s got longer range guns, see, and we slow ‘em down with a barrage of chain shot.
“For reference, galleys are terrible firing platforms; they got all these oars and decks that you have to compensate for, and they’re so damn fragile that you can’t put too heavy of cannons on them or they’ll sink themselves. We were able to sail right up to them without taking much damage.
“Ooh, this is when it gets good!” Pinkie said, producing a bowl of popcorn from nowhere.
“Wha… how…”
“She does that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Try not to think about it too hard.”
“Right. Anyway, we board ‘em and me and my group are the first over. Not a pleasant experience; say what you will about the Corsairs, while they can’t shoot cannons they fight like demons. They threw themselves at us, swinging anything they had that might injure someone. I took a big board to the head within the first minute; got a nasty concussion from that the next day. But Corsairs don’t do organization, so we’re able to hold ‘em off until the next wave comes.”
“What does Nolan have to do with this?” Twilight asked.
“I’ll get to that. So the next wave comes over, and we would have taken the Splendor then and there had the Brits not been overzealous with the firepots; burned the galley to a cinder, they did. We managed to get clear, but there’s a lot of money to be had in bringing back Corsair ships. So, battle goes on and we sink two more Corsairs before the rest scurry off to… I don’t know, Algiers or something.
“The Brits take a bit of treasure they looted from one of the Corsairs, we get the rest, and we go our ways.”
“But that doesn’t explain what happened to our ‘friend’,” Rarity said. “He doesn’t even show up but for the first few hours.”
“Exactly; he was hiding behind a cannon the whole time, and when we called him out over it he said it was because we didn’t set up a big enough ‘defensive screen’ and told us to fight harder next time.”
“Wait,” Applejack said, holding up a hoof “You’re tellin’ me he just hid while y’all ran out to get yourselves killed, and the he blamed you for not winnin’?”
“If you want to put it that way, then yes.” The six other ponies sat there for a moment.
“He takes losing worse than I do.” Rainbow Dash said.
“I reckon that does give y’all more reason to not like him,” Applejack said. “I mean, you can’t be all high and mighty in a place like this, and it just ain’t decent.”
“Yeah, I guess… well, sorry for boring you with old stories. Come now, we’re going to be casting off soon.”


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


Mays had already explained the situation to his officers, and he was now trying to help the sailors get the ship ready to sail. Trying being the key phrase; lacking hands Mays had to do almost everything using his mouth and tail, and after getting his forelegs tangled in the rigging he was not overly enthusiastic about the arrangement.
“Hey sir.” Smith said, flying over to Mays.
“Mwuh?” Mays asked before spitting out the rope in his mouth. “What?”
“You do know that there are others that can do this, right?”
“So? I don’t want to be the useless officer that just stands around looking dramatic and gives orders; that’s Nolan’s job, except for the dramatic part.”
“Sir, you can’t even get up in the rigging anymore, how can you expect to be useful?”
“I’ll find a way.” He picked the rope back up in his mouth. Richard, Twilight and her friends came up from below decks. Pinkie Pie spotted them first and bounced over to him and Smith.
“Hi! What’cha doing?” the pink pony asked. Mays spat the rope out again.
“Trying to secure a sail.” He expected Pinkie to take that a little too literally (she had a habit of doing so), but she merely said “okay” and bounced over to the next group of sailors. Mays passed the rope off to a Pegasus and went over to Richard. “Where’s Nolan?”
“In his room, probably writing another letter to his father.” Richard said.
“Thought so. Get the cannons secured; we cast off in two minutes.” Mays turned to Twilight “You all settled in?”
“More or less.” Twilight said. “We’ll try to stay out of your way as much as possible.”
“Stay out of our way? You’re members of this crew now, or at least until we return. You can do whatever you want as long as you don’t burn the ship down.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Fluttershy reached into a small pack she was carrying and produced several metal poles and a small house. “Can I set this up somewhere… please?”
“What is it?”
“It’s a bird feeder.” The Pegasus said. “Seagulls normally don’t eat some of the snacks I brought, but they’d still want somewhere to sit on long journeys. And maybe I might see an albatross or some frigate birds; I’ve always wanted to see one of those.” She started to get nervous “But, uh, i-if you don’t want them around, that’s okay…”
“Oh no, go ahead, there should be some room over by the helm. Just try not to attract too many birds at once.”
“Okay. Thank you!” Fluttershy picked the bird feeder up in her mouth and flew over to the helm.
“Animal lovers.” Mays said. “Best to keep them pleased.” He turned around. “Smith, what is the condition of the sails?”
“Ready when you are, sir.” Smith called back.
“Richard?”
“Cannons are secure, captain.”
“Then let’s get out of here. Cast off, and get us into the wind. Smith, get us a heading. Richard, go find Nolan and try to make him do something useful.” The local Pegasi were kind enough to provide a nice breeze to the east in order to get the Concordia moving, and Twilight lent some of her magic to help the sailor ponies. The flag of the United States was flying beneath the Flag of Equestria, the two flags flapping in the breeze. To Mays, everything was going splendidly.
I had to think, didn’t I?
“Why wasn’t I informed we’d be casting off?” Nolan asked as he came up from below deck. “All officers should be present when casting off. And have the men been briefed as to where we’re going? I would expect at least something resembling normalcy aboard this vessel.”
This is going to be a long journey.


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


Day one, and the coast of Equestria was barely visible. The Concordia’s speed had slacked off a bit, but as they weren’t in any sort of rush Mays did not care. Applejack had gone to help some of the deckhands with their duties, Fluttershy was feeding a few terns that had decided to stop and rest, Rarity was trying to find a spot not blocked by the sails where she could sunbathe (Mays was still trying to get her whining out of his head), Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash was up in the rigging taking a nap.
Guess we should figure out where we’re going.
“So, here’s the map Celestia gave us.” Mays said, flattening out the piece of parchment on the deck. Twilight walked over to him and examined the map.
“We should be somewhere over here,” the unicorn said, using her telekinesis to poke a pencil at the map. “If we adjust our course southeast, we’ll be able to skirt these shoals here and get a clear shot towards where the Crescent is.”
“Do you have any idea what’s beyond those shoals?”
“No, but I’m not worried; if we do find anything, I brought enough supplies to make a few new maps, and I have a bunch of books and journals that should come in handy in case I need to look up a spell or identify something. I’m sure the princess will appreciate that, even if we don’t find the Crescent.”
“You seem to get pretty wound up whenever you talk about the princess.”
“… I do, don’t I?” Mays nodded. Twilight sighed. “I just want her to be proud of me, to know how good a student I’ve been. I know I shouldn’t get too worried about it, but she’s ruler of all Equestria; do you know what kind of pressure is put on a pony when you’re a personal student of the ruler of Equestria?”
“Not really, given that I’ve only met Celestia for all of five minutes. But I mean she trusts you enough to come on a trip like this.”
“Oh, this isn’t so bad; my friends and I had to stop the personification of chaos about a month before you showed up.” Mays’ mind blanked for a moment while Twilight continued. “And you all don’t seem that bad. Sure, you all are a little violent, but I think you can work out those sorts of issues.”
“Still, if I was ruling Equestria I wouldn’t let you near some…pony like me.”
“Why? Do you think you’re too ‘dangerous’?”
“Are… are you flirting with me?”
“Uh… no! Why do you think so? Does it seem like I’m flirting with you?” from the other side of the boat, for no reason whatsoever, Rarity swore to herself.
“You wouldn’t be the first.” Mays turned his attention back to the map. “Now, what kind of locator spells do you have?”
“Well… I have one that allows me to find-”
“Sail ho!” one of the Pegasi on watch shouted
“Ships; they always come at the worst times. We’ll talk later.” Mays grabbed a spyglass in his mouth and moved forward. Smith and the Pegasus on watch flew down from the rigging, followed by Rainbow Dash.
“Twilight! The views are awesome up there! You should go up there sometime.”
“Maybe later.” Mays said, turning to Smith and the other Pegasus. “Where’s the ship?”
“Starboard side, heading straight towards us.” Mays propped his front legs on a railing and balanced the spyglass in his hooves. From this distance, the ship looked to be in fairly bad condition; the sails were torn and the hull was heavily damaged. It was a miracle the thing was still sailing. Mays caught sight of some of the crew: big looking figures, bipedal, and he thought he spotted a spear or two.
“Definitely not ponies.” He said. “Twilight, what other races live around Equestria?”
“There’s griffins, dragons, Diamond Dogs, deer, and a couple other nations of ponies.”
“Any bipeds?”
“Just the Diamond Dogs.”
“Ugh, those ruffians?” Rarity said. “Those nasty brutes care only for gems and nothing for a pony’s welfare, or personal hygiene for that matter.”
“Do these guys look like them?” Mays passed the spyglass to Rarity. She looked through the spyglass for a few moments before answering.
“Definitely; I’m surprised you didn’t pick up their scent.”
“Good to know. Richard, load the guns.” Mays headed back to the helmsman “Bring us about; get our full broadside in position.”
“Aye sir.”
“You’re going to attack them?” Twilight asked, shocked.
“Uh, yeah. They’re heading right for us, and if their interests are anything like what Rarity told me they’re not coming for a party from Pinkie Pie.”
“Maybe they got lost, or got caught in a storm, and you’re going to kill them?”
“I know pirates; they lure you in and then attack you at the last second. Richard, get those guns loaded.”
“Aye captain.” Richard called back, picking up several cannon balls with his telekinesis.
“No, I can’t let you go about sinking ships out of suspicion.” Mays looked at Twilight.
“What would you have me do, Twilight? Go over there and ask them nicely to go away?”
“It may just be as simple as that; I do have a few communication spells that might get us out of this situation. Just see what they’re up to, and if they do want to cause trouble… maybe try talking them out of it?”
“Right. Richard, I still want those guns loaded in case things go wrong. So, what’s the spell like?”
“Just stand there and look at the ship.” Mays did so, his mind overflowing with potential complaints. Twilight’s magic enveloped him, and soon he saw the other ship.
It was in worse condition than he thought; most of the planks on deck were snapped and rotting, the masts were being held together by some force he did not know existed (he guessed willpower and faith), and supplies were strewn over the deck in no particular pattern.
The Diamond Dogs were surprised to see the pony onboard. It was just an illusion, but having something like this just pop up out of nowhere would still scare someone. Some of the dogs dressed in armor lowered spears at Mays’ avatar while a skinny dog with big ears and a red vest came up to him.
“How did pony get on board ship?” the Diamond Dog asked.
“Magic.” Mays said. “As to why I’m here, you are approaching a vessel of… the Equestrian Navy, and doing so without good reason will be considered an act of violence against the nation of Equestria. Change your course or provide your reason, or you will be fired upon and your vessel taken.” The dogs started laughing at him.
“Silly pony thinks he can threaten us!” the lead dog said. This caused the other Diamond Dogs to laugh harder and Mays to get angry.
“I’ll repeat myself: change your course, or we’ll be forced to attack.”
“Oh, no need for pony to get worked up.” The dog said, a large sneer breaking out over his face. “You have big ship, yes? Maybe… we make a deal, yes?”
“I’m asking you to alter your course.”
“Not yet, pony. You have goods to share, yes. We… take some of those goods, make you get home faster.”
“The Concordia is not a merchant ship and we have no interest in trading. For the last time, alter your course or you will be fired upon.”
“Silly pony won’t scare us. We see you soon, then?” the dogs continued laughing.
“Then you leave me no choice but to take your vessel by force. Twilight, we’re done here.” The spell cut out. “Richard, get to one of the ten pounders and fire a warning shot; if they don’t surrender or change course we’ll hit them with the broadside.”
“Aye captain.” Richard went to the bow of the ship. Mays turned to Twilight.
“Well, they don’t seem very friendly. We’ll just fire our warning and see what happens after that.”
“Are you sure you couldn’t have tried to talk them out if it?”
“No one calls me a ‘Silly Pony’.” Twilight gave Mays an uneasy look and they went up to the cannon Richard was standing next to. “Remember, try to miss.”
“Aye captain.” Richard turned to the cannoneer. “You heard the captain. Fire away.” The cannoneer nodded, took aim and fired the cannon.
Unfortunately, the cannoneers were still getting used to shooting as ponies, so the shot went wide and struck the Diamond Dogs’ ship just above the waterline. The hull shattered like a dropped vase, with wood and bits of metal flying in every possible direction. The ship stopped and immediately started to sink, to the shock of everypony on deck. Mays’ mouth fell open and Twilight merely gave a flat “what”.
“Captain, should I mark that as a weak spot if we see any more ships like this?” Richard asked.
“Sure, go ahead. Wow, it’s in even worse condition than I thought.” He turned back to Twilight. “Can you do anything to prevent them from sinking?”
“Why would you care? You seemed so eager to kill them earlier.”
“They may have something of value, or some more maps.” Twilight did soften a little, although she still seemed rather mad.
“I, uh, think I have a spell that might work.” Twilight’s horn glowed for a moment and the Diamond Dogs’ ship was enveloped in a violet light and stopped sinking. “I can’t send the communication spell without causing the ship to start sinking, in case you were wondering.”
“Won’t be necessary. Richard, go fetch ten marines; you and I are going over there to see what we can negotiate from them.”
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Rarity said “I would like to accompany you over to the other ship. I have dealt with Diamond Dogs before, and I know a few things to keep them in line.”
“Okay. Richard, make sure there’s room on the boat for Rarity.”
“Aye captain.”


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


It took a while for the group to reach the Diamond Dogs’ ship (lacking hands made rowing a bit more difficult), but the group did end up reaching the stricken vessel. The ship stank of poor hygiene and rotting fish, and Mays was beginning to question his sanity as they boarded.
The Diamond Dogs had mostly backed off to one corner, cowering in fear as the marines stepped forward. Some of them still had weapons out in case the ponies tried anything stupid, but they seemed too scared to really use them effectively.
“Whose ship is this?” Mays asked. The dog with the big ears that he had spoken to before stepped forward. Richard and the marines tensed a little, a few of them pulling bits of lead shot out of small pouches on their flanks and preparing to fire. Mays raised a hoof to calm them down before speaking. “Why did you attack us?”
“Silly pony wasn’t supposed to fight back.” The Diamond Dog said.
“Even after I told you that we would, you still pressed on… either you’re overconfident in your own abilities or you’re incredibly stupid. Now, I ask you to surrender your ship and any valuables you may have, or we will finish destroying this vessel.”
“Oh, silly pony can have whatever he wants, yes?” the Diamond Dog said.
“Richard, Rarity, go take two marines and search the ship; look for maps and spare wood that isn’t too rotten for use.” Mays took a tentative step forward before one of the planks snapped under his weight. Mays caught himself before he fell through the deck, but the accident only made the marines tenser. The Dogs flinched when the board had snapped, and now looked more skittish than ever.
“Captain, you alright?” Richard said, looking up from a battered crate.
"I'm fine.” Mays pulled his hoof out of the deck and looked at the Diamond Dogs. “This ship is in terrible condition; don’t you guys have a carpenter or a shipwright or something?” the Dogs shook their heads. “Do any of you know how to maintain a ship?”
“No, only dig for gems.” The lead Dog said.
“Figures.” Mays inspected the wood for a moment. Something was odd about it; sure, it was rotten, but rotting wood was not always that brittle. It took a moment for him to realize what was wrong.
The plank was hollow, and the top was hinged.
“And I guess you do a bit of smuggling as well.” he said. He prodded another plank. That one was hinged too, and the top slid off with relative ease. “Well well, what’s this?”
The plank was filled with gems, good sized ones too. He prodded a few, trying to see how many there were. Gems seem fairly common place here, Mays thought, since Rarity uses so many in her dresses. Still, might be worth a good chunk of money… they’ll certainly help in case we don’t find the Crescent.
“Rarity, would you mind coming here for a moment?”
“Certainly; it would relieve the tedium of having to search this awful boat. Do you know there’s a half-rotten carcass in one of the-” Rarity gasped, her pupils growing wide when she saw the gems.
“Careful, Rarity; you’re drooling.” Rarity closed her mouth before her horn lit up with magic. The entire deck (save for a few planks) lit up and revealed hundreds of gems stashed away neatly inside the wood. “Well, that explains how a ten-pounder can sink a ship of this size.”
“Silly pony can’t take that.” The lead Diamond Dog said. Mays looked at him.
“What can you do to stop me? My ship has heavier weaponry than the one that sank your excuse for a vessel; just have to give a command and this thing will be blown to matchwood. Even if you do attack, my marines can drop ten of you each before I even have to draw my sword. Now, we’re going to be taking these gems from you, and then we’ll leave; you won’t be killed unless you do something stupid. Do I make myself clear?” the Diamond Dogs merely nodded. “Very well. Rarity, start collecting the gems. Go get Richard and those two marines over here to help you.”
“Must remember to avoid silly ponies,” the Diamond Dog muttered “This pony’s almost as bad as last ones.”
“Last ones?” Mays asked.
“Yes; there were three ships, yes. Three of us, found gems on an island nearby. Two were leaving when ship with… big spiky thing came.” The image of a Scorpion Ship came to mind, and Mays got a little nervous; if the Cursed had followed the Concordia through, they could cause all kinds of havoc.
“This ship… describe it.”
“Big ship; almost as big as silly pony’s. And spiky thing was sharp; split one in half and wrecked other too. And it had teeth.”
“Teeth?”
“Not real teeth, but drawings of teeth.”
“That’s all I needed to know… oh, you might want to get into any lifeboats you may have.”


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


“Well, we nearly sank the boat with all the gems we found,” Mays said, hauling another box full of diamonds up onto the deck. “But we got some information.”
“Like what?” Twilight asked.
“There’s a small island nearby that I think we should check out, possibly claim it for Equestria. And there’s a second goal I want to add on to our mission.”
“Whenever you start adding more goals,” Hacksaw said “More people start dying.”
“Unfortunately, that may very well be the case. That ship was with a group of three; two of them got carved up by a Scorpion Ship near that island.”
“The Cursed followed us?” Smith said.
“That or they got sucked in by whatever brought us here. And I have a pretty good idea which Scorpion got pulled through.”
“Chum Maker?”
“Exactly; Sammy’s out there causing trouble, and we’re going to send him down to hell where he belongs.” Mays got back onto the deck of the ship. He turned to Twilight. “You can release your magic now.”
“But they’ll drown!”
“No they won’t; there are enough boats over there to hold all of them in considerable discomfort. Besides, that ship’s better off at the bottom of the ocean.” Twilight looked at Mays for a minute, her stare bordering on a scowl. Eventually, she gave up trying to convince him otherwise.
“Fine.” Twilight’s horn stopped glowing and the Diamond Dog’s ship started sinking again. “But I’m taking no responsibility if your actions get someone killed, even if they aren’t ponies.” Twilight walked off to the other side of the ship, followed by Rarity and Fluttershy.
“This is why I never stayed with those women.” Mays said. “Get the cargo stored; I need to have a word with the helmsman.”