It was near noon when we came under attack, and at first I didn’t even realize what had prompted the booming shouts from the crew. The horizon was an unbroken line of blue, and I didn’t notice the dark shapes just under the surface of the waves until one breached the water, leaping up to land on the deck of the ship.
It was a pony, yet like none others that I had ever seen. Rather than fur, his gray skin was smooth and slick, and he had a long tail that was finned like that of a fish. Most distressingly, as he grinned around the haft of a harpoon, I could see rows of jaggedly sharp teeth.
The marsupials leapt into the fray, taking up daggers and clubs in their strange tiny claws, but more and more sharkponies leapt onboard. The invaders moved with a frightening speed and efficiency, taking no quarter as they incapacitated the crew.
Without a second thought, I leapt into the fray...
Ensuring my mistress’s safety was the most pressing matter...