FanFic Preview: Blood and Ponies (MKII) · 9:01pm Jun 18th, 2016
And here's another preview of upcoming work. Remember that horror crossover I put on hiatus? I'm bringing it back.
The rain fell in dark, grey sheets, pouring down on the heads of those ponies stuck working underneath it, mixing with the waves that splashed over the edge of their fishing trawler. The mixed crew of earth ponies, pegasi and a few wandering giffins scrambled about the deck, more resembling the denizens of a kicked over anthill than sailors. Most raced to keep their spare nets lashed down lest the rolling motion of their ship toss them into the ocean.
Red Claw watched them out of the corner of her eye while she grappled with the controls to the two massive nets that already hung off either edge of the boat. Her rain poncho flapped in the storm’s wind, almost useless against the driving mix of rain and ocean spray. The griffin growled under her breath, dearly wishing that she had legendary weather resistance of her pegasi crewmates as the water ran down her coat and feathers in rivulets that might as well have been torrential rivers. Not that her mood was being helped by the stupid net controls, that wouldn’t stupidly raise so they could turn the stupid ship around and get out of here.
As she grappled with levers and dials half frozen by rust and a lack of repairs, Red Claw wondered what powers that be she had offended to wind up in this position, working on a fishing vessel disreputable enough to make crazed storm runs like this one.
They had steamed out of Manehatten running no lights, to attract no attention and- assuming the storm tossing them about like a cork didn’t send them to the bottom- would try and slip back into port before the morning light of Celestia illuminated everything. All so that they could sell their catch without paying any taxes on it. Oh yes, Captain Skinflint was a credit to his name, that was for sure.
“This worthless piece of junk!” she cursed, slamming a taloned fist down on the console before grabbing the control lever with both and yanking it with all her power. Rusted gears ground against each other, straining against the years of neglect that Captain Skinflint had put them through. “No...amount...of...fish…,” she grunted through a clenched beak, “are worth...this!”
With a loud banging snap the lever slammed back into the raise position, Red Claw tumbling back with a shocked squawk. Crane winches groaned and line creaked as their trawling nets were pulled from the silty ocean floor. Scrabbling upright, Red Claw watched their bounty break the surface of the eastern ocean. Even more water poured off the bulging nets, swinging precariously in the air. Red Claw frowned, her experienced eyes already picking up a problem. The right net was hanging heavy. Far too heavy for the amount of flounder and other bottom dwellers stuffed into it.
“Clear the deck!” she yelled, grabbing for another lever. “Overload coming over!”
Fishers scrambled to get out from under the shadow of the bulging net. For the moment it was holding, but Red Claw could practically see the line quivering at the strain that was being put on it. What in the name of Discord’s mismatched horns had they managed to dredge up?
More waves tossed over the deck as a particularly large swell of water slammed into the hull. The right crane was whipped by the sudden roll of the ship, the motion cracking its way down the line. Rope tore itself apart and Red Claw’s stomach dropped right along with it. Flounder, sole and halibut splattered down upon the heads of her fellow crew like some kind of Discord summoned rain. But worse than the lost profit was the fact that something else plummeted with it.
The dark shape struck the deck with a thunderous clang, so loud that Red Claw could feel the vibrations rattle through the metal and right up her paws and talons. A softer bang, this one of the door to the wheelhouse smacking open, chased right on the heels of the first.
Captain Skinflint peered down at the deck, the wind and sea spray doing a fine job of blowing his bushy white beard almost sideways.
“Sound off! Is everypony okay down there?”
One by one the calls came, the chaotic churn of the ship settling as the storm’s fury began to lessen, almost as quickly as it had arisen. Once all the sailors under his command had confirmed that they weren’t seriously injured, Skinflint scrambled down to the deck to examine what had made such a racket. Red Claw found herself looking the same direction, curiosity pushing its way to the front of my mind now that the danger had passed.
There was a great stone coffin on the deck of her ship. A stone coffin that some creature had wrapped iron weights around. Even from her position at the crane controls, she could just barely make out the indentations of carvings on its surface. The ones that weren’t covered by algae and barnacles that is. It's appreance made Red Claw immediately nervous. The coffin seemed like the kind of thing that would crop up in the adventure stories she liked reading as a chick. A weird, strange, alien thing that someone had obviously gone to great trouble to dump into the drink.
Yeah. This one is a massive change from the story as it is now. Manehattan is a much more appropriate place for a story involving a vampire to take place in anyway. 
Yes yes yes, but when?