Ponies of the Cursed Seas

by iowaforever

Chapter 7

So, once again this chapter contains more backstory, not all of which I made up on my own. Jonas Richmond was a one-shot from the game, but his backstory here is pretty close to the flavor text on his card. I tried writing a story about him once, but I was much younger and had less experience with writing and therefore he was much more Sue-ish.
Anyway, your comments and likes are appreciated; I want to know what you all are thinking

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Chapter 7

The Concordia continued on around dusk. Nolan had complained to Mays about being soaked by Rainbow Dash, but Mays had more important things to do than hear complaints.

The next day went by without much happening; the officers had their own duties, so Twilight and her friends spent the time entertaining themselves. Rarity found a spot near one of the deck cannons to sunbathe, Applejack helped some of the sailors with their work, Rainbow Dash took a nap, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie went overboard to try and talk with the group of dolphins that had been following them since last night, and Twilight spent her time trying to find out more about those ponies Mays had mentioned.

She was not getting straight answers; most of the sailor ponies she questioned just gave vague answers like “demons”, “Dead men who wouldn’t stay dead”, and more often than not “You don’t want to know.” Twilight got frustrated often, but this was reaching levels similar to her meltdown last spring. She still retained enough rationality to not go charming ponies into telling their secrets and managed to catch herself before slipping any farther. Around noon she gave up and went to speak with her friends on the matter.

“Well isn’t it obvious that you should go to the source of the matter?” Rarity said, not even bothering to remove her sunglasses and look at Twilight.

“… I’m not following you.”

“Go speak to Captain Mays. I’m sure he has lots of knowledge on your little zombie problem.”

“But I can’t just go walking up to him and interrupt whatever it is he’s doing.”

“You are right; there is a time and a place for innocent questioning.”

“Twilight you won’t believe-” Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie came over to the two unicorns. Once Twilight and Rarity focused on them, Fluttershy backed away “Oh, I’m sorry… am I interrupting?”

“Of course not Fluttershy.” The Pegasus’ face lit up and she continued.

“You should have seen all the animals down there, and not just the dolphins; there were fish and rays and sea snakes and even some sea cucumbers. Pinkie and I would have stayed down there longer, but all the dolphins left and said he’d show up.”

“Who’s 'he'?”

“I don’t know… but they seemed kind of nervous about it.” Just as Fluttershy finished talking, the whole ship came to a sudden stop. Rarity was thrown from her chair and gave a disgruntled humph when she gathered herself.

“They could at least tell us when they’re going to stop.” Rarity said before Richard trotted over to them carrying a bunch of short spears with his magic.

“We didn’t,” he said, dropping the spears next to them “You’ll need these.”

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Fish decided they wanted dinner.” He responded before breaking off, shouting orders to a group of sailors.

“Why would they pass out spears if there’s hungry fish?” Fluttershy asked. She walked over to the railing and looked down. The ship was surrounded by a constantly moving shape, and Fluttershy was about to go see what exactly was down there when Hacksaw pulled her back.

“Best not to leave the ship; we don’t want to go in after you.”

“Why? It’s just fish.”

“No, ‘fish’ is Richard’s term for sea monsters.” At first, Fluttershy got scared; when they had first met the sailor ponies, they had mentioned fighting a giant squid that was big enough to snap the boat in half. Fluttershy loved animals, but there was something about squid that made her uneasy. But then there were other large animals that lived in Equestrian waters, like sea serpents, and they were nowhere near as scary as squid.

“Maybe attacking it isn’t such a good idea.” The Pegasus said.

“What?”

“Maybe it just wants to see what we are. Nopony has been this far out, so maybe it’s just curious.”

“And if you’re wrong and it decides to eat us?”

“Oh, I’m sure it won’t come to that; most animals don’t like eating ponies anyway, so this one might not want to eat us.” Despite feeling like she was lying, Fluttershy knew she was right; there were plenty of animals that would attack ponies on land, but her conversations with sailors who stopped in Ponyville taught her that most creatures that were large enough to attack ships often were intelligent enough to not mistake ships for their normal food. She had also had a few conversations with the river serpent that lived in the Everfree Forest who confirmed that fact.

“… Captain, a moment of your time.”

“What is it now?” Mays said, spitting out a harpoon before speaking.

“Fluttershy thinks that we should try talking to the sea monster before attacking it.”

“I’ve heard weirder ideas.” The captain looked at the Pegasus. “Your reasoning?”

“Most ponies that sail boats say that big sea creatures usually don’t harm boats and are fairly friendly, so I think that maybe this one’s confused or curious. Please let me try to talk with them.”

“That’s not a bad idea… but how are we going to get its attention?” Fluttershy shrugged. The three ponies stood around before Hacksaw, eyeing a stack of shot nearby, picked up one of the cannon balls with his magic and dropped it over the side. The shape around the ship stopped shifting and started moving up to the surface.

“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Fluttershy asked.

“Let’s find out.” Mays turned around. “Don’t attack unless it attacks first.” There was a rush of water as the creature, a fairly large sea serpent, raised its head from the water. Its scales were bronze and shimmered as the water rolled down them. The serpent fixed the ponies, Fluttershy in particular, with its large red eyes, which were offset by even larger eyebrows.

“Who dares enter my territory?” the serpent said, its voice as deep as an angry dragon’s.

“Uh, no one really,” Fluttershy said, flying up so she was level with the serpent’s head. “We were just passing through; we didn’t know this was your-”

“Ponies,” the serpent said, seemingly ignoring Fluttershy. “Equestrians, to boot; I haven’t seen Equestrians come this far east in ten thousand years. Why?”

“We’re just passing through.” Fluttershy said.

“Bah! Equestrians never ‘just pass through’; they told me the same thing when Solaris sent out his fleets to conquer new lands. I will not have any kings waging war in my domain. Leave now and I will try to forget this happened.”

“Oh, you’ve got the wrong idea, sir; we’re not here to hurt anypony, we’re looking for the Obsidian Crescent-” the serpent laughed.

“The Crescent? Entire fleets of griffons and Diamond Dogs have been lost searching for the Crescent’s refuge. What makes you think you can find it?”

“Princess Celestia told us where it is?”

“Princess Celestia? That foal is commanding ponies now?” the serpent laughed, splashing waves over the side of the boat. “What? Did Solaris decide to take the day off and she sent you out?”

“Uh, no… we don’t know any ‘Solaris’. You know you’re being very rude; you won’t let us explain what’s going on, you laugh at us, and you don’t even tell us your name.” The serpent looked at Fluttershy again.

“My name? I have many names, but most know me as Tsuro.”

“Well, Mr. Tsuro, you can’t just go around being rude to ponies and say we’re violent; most of us are very peaceful. We’re just trying to help Princess Celestia and get the Crescent for her, and if you keep making assumptions like that then what good will any of this do for anypony?”

“But for non-violent ponies, you seem fairly bold in trying to cross my territory, especially with so many spears.”

“Oh, they’re not from Equestria; most of these ponies got pulled through from a different world where violence was much more-”

“Wait, did you say ‘different world’?”

“Uh, is there something wrong? Because I can take it back if you’d like.” Tsuro moved closer, forcing Fluttershy to back up.

“You can’t imagine what kind of beings were sent to ‘different worlds’. You don’t know what kind of trouble your ‘friends’ will release; you should have sent them back or killed them on sight.”

“I don’t know what kind of ponies you have met, but listen to me,” Fluttershy moved closer and glared at Tsuro “I would never allow anypony to be killed, no matter where they’re from, and I think it’s mean that you would even suggest I’d do something like that. Now, let us go.” The serpent laughed.

“Are you trying to intimidate me?”

“No, I’m asking nicely.” Fluttershy flew in even closer and was on the verge of doing The Stare. “Let us go.” Tsuro looked at the Pegasus for a moment before chuckling.

“I admire your spirit, little one; it’s rare to see a pony that cares so much for those around them. While I may not agree with your actions, I don’t see why I should stop you from pursuing your quest.” Tsuro straightened out and the Concordia began to move again. “However, if you desire to cross my territory again, I will need to see that you know the location of the Crescent’s resting place, or have the actual Crescent, before I can allow you to pass.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you Mr. Tsuro.”

“Do not refer to me as ‘Mr. Tsuro’; I will not be associated with any title originating from Equestria. I will not be tempted, like so many of my kin; tempted to abandon the sea, move into lochs and rivers… try to make ‘fashion statements’.” The serpent shuddered.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know about that.” Tsuro began to leave before turning around.

“If you are serious in finding the Crescent, I believe I know who may be able to help you.”

“Why would you want to help us?”

“To humor you? Why should I divulge my intentions? Anyway, there is a port city called Ponaeus in the direction you are heading; they are sailors by trade and should know the area well. If you do manage to find them, they may help you… if they don’t see you as a threat, that is.”

“Why would they see us as a threat?” Fluttershy asked, but Tsuro dived back under the water and disappeared. Fluttershy flew back down and landed in front of Mays and Hacksaw.

“See, that wasn’t so bad.” Fluttershy said.

“‘Fashion statements’?” Hacksaw asked.

“Some river serpents like to grow mustaches.” Fluttershy said, trotting back over to her friends, the two officers watching her go.

“Hacksaw, go find Smith and have him check for damage.”

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

That night, when everypony had calmed down from the meeting with Tsuro, Twilight took a moment to question Fluttershy. Applejack was taking a nap nearby so the two ponies tried to be quiet so as not to disturb her.

“But that doesn’t make any sense.” Twilight said “How could there be an entire city of ponies that Princess Celestia never mentioned?”

“Maybe she forgot.”

“Forgot? Princess Celestia never forgets anything! She raises the sun every day; how could she not see an entire city?”

“Maybe it isn’t that big of a city.”

“Well, maybe, but what about Princess Luna? She could have seen something during the night.” Twilight backed up for a moment, trying to calm herself down. “Or they just wanted to wait until I was older to tell me about this city. I don’t know. Applejack, what do you think?”

“Wha-?” the farm pony said, lifting the brim of her hat so she could get a better look at the other ponies. “Think about what?”

“About the city that sea serpent mentioned.”

“Jeez, you’re still worrying about that?” Applejack placed her hat back on her head and stood up. “I’m sure the princesses knew about the town.”

“But why wouldn’t they tell me?”

“Like Fluttershy said, maybe they forgot; I know if I was running Equestria I’d be forgettin’ all sorts of things like that.” Despite what Applejack said, Twilight could not wrap her mind around the idea that Princess Celestia forgot to mention an entire town.

“But… Maybe the serpent was lying and just wanted-”

“Twi, now you’re just jumping to conclusions. I can tell when somepony’s lying, and from what Fluttershy told me about dragons and other critters is that they don’t take too kindly to lying, and that serpent wasn’t lying. ‘Sides, why would he want to send us after something that didn’t exist?”

“To get us killed?”

“I don’t think he’d do that.” Fluttershy said “He might have been a bit rude, but he wasn’t that mean.” Applejack had her own ideas.

“If he did want us dead, he could have snapped us in half. Look, if there is no city, there’s no city; you don’t have to lose your head over it.”

“Besides, losing your head would make a huge mess and everypony wouldn’t like cleaning up after you.” Pinkie Pie said. The three other ponies looked at her.

“Pinkie, you’re not helping.”

“Sorry Twilight.” The pink pony bounced away.

“Well, glad to see somepony not worrying about anything.” Applejack said.

“Maybe you’re right, Applejack… I have to stop worrying about these kinds of things. I should just try and relax a little.”

“That’s the spirit, Twi. You can always ask Princess Celestia about it when you get back to Ponyville. Come on, let’s go see what the others are up to.”

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

“… Still, it’s not that great of a color; I would think a basic white would make this ship so much more stunning.” Rarity had pulled Mays aside to discuss the sails; really, she just went off on her own tangent while the captain stood there, unsure of how to respond. Occasionally she asked him for an opinion, and he merely nodded or shook his head to answer. “And it would also compliment your uniforms nicely. I personally would have chosen something a little flashier, like what the royal guards wear, but I do understand that practicality must come before looks; I mean you still have to do all that running around. Perhaps something a little lighter would be good.”

“Uh, am I interrupting?” Mays and Rarity looked to see Twilight come up on deck.

“Oh of course not, Twilight; I was just discussing aesthetic with Captain Mays. He’s been very helpful, although I don’t think that I could make any changes with the supplies I have.”

“What kind of changes would those be?”

“Complete.” Mays said.

“Well, could you imagine how bad mixing olive sails and white sails would be?” Rarity went off on another one of her tangents, Mays and Twilight barely listening.

“Was there something you wanted to ask?” Mays said.

“Yes; do you think that city of ponies exists?”

“Possibly. I mean, we saw that ship the other day, and I doubt that they were from Equestria. Personally, I hope there is a city; we have enough supplies for the trip, but it’d be nice to talk with some other ponies.”

“Promise me you won’t attack them if they reject us?”

“Hey, I may have bad impulses, but I’m not a warmonger.”

“You certainly seemed like one when we ran into those Diamond Dogs.”

“Being as I’d never encountered Diamond Dogs before then, I had every right to assume the worst and attack.”

“Is that what you do every time you see a ship you don’t know?” Mays wanted to answer, but could not find a suitable explanation; there had been several times earlier in his career that he had jumped the gun and attacked random ships. He could only hang his head.

“Admittedly, I did so a few times when I was younger. Usually my fears are right and they’d turn out to be pirates, but sometimes we’d just shoot up innocents by mistake.”

“And then there’s your obsession with fighting those cursed ponies; while I admit that that’s a noble cause, you keep placing it as your number one priority, and that could put a lot of ponies in danger.”

“Everyone that’s ever fought the Cursed has an obsession to kill them. Me, I try to focus on my original mission, but I slip up on occasion. At least I’m not like Richmond.”

“Hacksaw mentioned him. Who is he?”

“Jonas Richmond; he was a preacher in this place called Massachusetts until his family got caught by El Fantasma. He snapped and started hunting down anyone and anything that might be related to the Cursed.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.”

“It was; the guy was a total maniac. He wouldn’t stop at just the Cursed; traders that might have seen them, pirates that got away from them, every single shaman and witchdoctor in the Caribbean, he ‘interrogated’ them for information.” he would have said that ‘interrogating’ was more on the lines of ‘torture’ but Twilight did not need to hear that. “So, uh, was there anything else you wanted to ask me?”

“No not really. Why?”

“Well, I was wondering... do you have any combat training?”

“No... well, not really; Princess Celestia wanted me to learn some combat spells in case I needed to defend myself from whatever’s living in the Everfree Forest. I’m... not very good at them.”

“Ah... but, how would a pony hold, say, a sword?”

“For unicorns it’s easy; just use magic. But earth ponies and Pegasi usually use their mouths.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be sticking my neck right next to some other pony’s blade, if it does come to that. Even if I was partial to potentially having my throat slashed I could only attack from one angle. I managed to pick my sword up in one hoof the other day, but every time I try again it just sits there.”

“Most ponies can’t hold things in their hooves for more than a few seconds; same thing goes for standing on two legs. I suppose with some training you’d be able to stand up, like ponies who have fencing as their special talent, but I didn’t bring any books on that technique.”

“Maybe if there was a strap or something.” this had caught Rarity’s attention.

“A strap for what?” the white unicorn asked.

“We’re trying to figure out how he could hold a sword without putting himself in too much danger.”

“And you thought a strap would work?” Rarity looked at Mays before using her telekinesis to yank the sword out of its sheath. She inspected the blade and the handle before extending her right leg and laying the sword out as flat as she could. Rarity’s face lit up after a moment. “I-deaa!”

“What?”

“Oh, I think a proper strap should work marvelously for your needs. Just give me a day or two and I’ll see what I can come up with. By any chance do you have some spare canvas or some other sturdy cloth?”

“I think there may be some down in the hold. Go find Smith and have him show you where it is.”

“Thank you very much. I’ll just leave you two alone, shall I?” Rarity trotted off, leaving Twilight and Mays alone.

“... I think Rarity is trying to tell us something.” Mays said.

“She likes getting ideas, especially when things involve fairy tales; she’s always dreamed of meeting some strong, handsome stallion and become a princess. Maybe she’s redirecting that dream towards us.”

“Maybe.” Mays took a moment to look up. The moon was directly overhead, slightly obscured by a few clouds. Visibility was good, and Mays was able to see a few stars through the black. “You should get some rest; no knowing what we might find tomorrow.”

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

Twilight found Rarity in her quarters. The white unicorn had her back to the door and was going through a large pile of canvas, wood and rope, matching individual pieces with Mays’ sword.

“Rarity, can I talk to you for a minute?” Twilight asked.

“Of course, Twilight. Is there something wrong?”

“Well, sort of... Are you trying to set something up between me and Captain Mays?” Rarity stopped working and looked at Twilight.

“Uh, maybe? Why do you ask?”

“Rarity, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but could you let me handle my own relationships?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Twilight; I didn’t mean to be intrusive. I just wanted you to open up a little, and I got carried away. Please tell me you’re not angry at me.”

“I’m not mad, Rarity. But next time you should ask somepony before trying to pair them up with somepony else.”

“I understand that. If there’s anything I can do to make it up-”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Rarity. Just remember not to push me into any awkward situations.” Twilight left and headed back to her own room. In her mind, she felt more at ease, and she noted that a new surge in energy had given a slight skip to her step. She smiled and continued on her way, completely unaware that Nolan had been passing by at the time and had heard the entire conversation.

Unbeknownst to anypony else, a third party had listened in on the conversation.

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

“Sir.”

“What is it now, Nolan?” Mays asked, turning to face the lieutenant.

“I must complain about your fraternization with the passenger Twilight Sparkle.”

“Fraternization? All I did was talk with her about standard combat procedure when faced with unknown adversaries.”

“It’s not that. I have seen you and her, talking at the most inopportune times, and I have on good account that the white one is trying to get you two together.”

“Nolan, have you been spying? I can court-martial you for a breach in privacy.”

“I have done no such thing.” Mays walked past Nolan, fully intent on ending the conversation there. But the lieutenant continued on “Having such a relationship with a mere passenger promotes dissonance and subordination amongst the men, and I cannot allow you to continue.”

“Unlike you, I’m just trying to make some friends amongst the locals, one of which happens to be the personal student of the local ruler.”

“We don’t need to submit to some princess. Why do we have to fetch some piece of jewelry for a petty tyrant?”

“Best not call Celestia a tyrant, especially in such close proximity to her subjects.”

“I have my right to speak my mind. And this Crescent, we don’t even know what it can do.”

“Amplify power, according to-”

“Princess Celestia, of course. But how do you know she isn’t hiding something. Maybe... maybe we can use the Crescent against her, or possibly use it to get back to our own world.”

“The Crescent automatically returns to its altar if tampered with by unworthy ponies, and that would make this whole trip pointless. Plus,” Mays pointed at Nolan’s head “Neither of us can use it, since earth ponies don’t seem to be capable of that kind of magic.”

“I don’t believe it... You’ve become one of them.”

“Kind of hard not to when you’ve been forcibly turned into a horse.”

“You’ve picked up their style of speaking, have become friendly with them, and have started seeing their precious Celestia as a suitable exchange for a real ruler. After the Revolution, you are that willing to submit to another monarchy?”

“I only fought the Revolution because a friend of mine was accused of being a traitor and hanged, not because I thought a monarchy was a bad system of government. Whatever you see is up to you.”

“I see you and every person on this boat being manipulated by an uncaring ‘princess’ who only wants what’s best for herself. I don’t care how, but one way or another I will try and get you to see my point.”

“I see it, and reject it. If I felt that mingling with the natives and submitting to the only reasonable authority to be found was detrimental to survival, I would have gladly turned us around and went elsewhere. But I made a decision, and I’m going to stick with it.” Mays turned and began walking back to the helm.

“Is that the same thing you said at Algiers?” Mays froze. The other sailors who had known Mays began backing away as they saw Mays’ body tense with anger. Mays’ breath became shorter and more ragged, and he began to subconsciously paw at the deck. He turned slowly, glaring at Nolan.

“What did you say?”

“Come now, Captain. Everyone knows about your little incident. Did you become so convinced of your own actions that you felt what you were doing was right?” Mays continued to glare at Nolan, his leg muscles twitching slightly.

“Nolan, get the hell below deck and don’t speak to me until I actually need you.”

“Oh, are you actually going to act like you-”

“Go. Now. That is an order.” Nolan’s usually smug look cracked, and the lieutenant cringed under the intensity of Mays’ glare. Without a word, the green pony backed down and went below deck. When he was sure the lieutenant was gone, Mays relaxed a bit and lowered his head, a single tear running down his face and falling to the deck.

“Captain?” one of the deckhands asked “Are you okay?” Mays raised his head.

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine... Just tired. Tell Smith he has command until morning.” Mays turned and headed down to his quarters.

Comments

[Codexwriter476]

First!...... huh, not very sastifued saying that.

Good story so far

[iowaforever]

551934 It gets better. I'm still trying to flesh out the Pirates 'verse, so expect to see more backstory in the next chapter

[musicluvr1974]

*whistles in astonishment and apprehension* Nolan better watch his darned mouth, or he's liable to find himself at the wrong end of a sword or rope someday soon...