//------------------------------// // Chapter 017: November Winds // Story: Ultimate Equestria // by Leo Pachino //------------------------------// Within less of a minute’s time, The Perfection’s cannons below were manned by the crew, all scampering around with torches, cannonballs, and kegs of gunpowder. “Hmm, new record.” Korsan said to himself, hearing the commotion from his speaking pipe. “I need a full report of the enemy ship now!” He then yelled out to the unseen ponies at the top of the seven masts. “The thing’s a wreck Captain!” One the onlookers replied back. “A snapped mast, three out of four sails torn, severe damage in the upperparts of the hull, six loose cannons, a missing keel, a malfunctioning rudder, and the bowsprit broke halfway through!” “Are these mares mad?” He asked, genuinely curious. “Course of action, Captain?” Maria asked as she climbed up from below deck. She looked towards Korsan, seeing a more relaxed expression on his face. “Don’t waste your ammunition. Fire one round in the middle of the bow and another in the middle of the quarterdeck. Shoot to disable, not to kill.” He said. “Yes sir.” Promptly, the mare hurried back down to relay the message to the gunners below. Korsan then called out, “Juliana!” He was immediately greeted by his ice phoenix pet on his right shoulder. “Good girl, get ready for your new job.” Two loud blasts erupted from the downward tilting side of the airship. Korsan observed from afar as two large metal balls flew from his vessel and down towards Twilight’s ship. It was a long drop, so the shots had to be precise. Three seconds of silence follows just before impact. In a matter of moments, the tiny boat below exploded into a large gush of water, wood, and smoke, obscuring Korsan’s view of his rival. Though, screams can be heard as their ship crumbles to pieces. The brown pegasus turned and looked at his bird friend. “Juliana, perform Artic Wind.” He contentedly commanded. The phoenix replied with a chirp before leaping from Korsan’s arm and flying overboard. It dove into the dark cloud below and towards Twilight and the others. “Captain! Incoming pegasus!” One of the crewmembers yelled. “Incoming what-” From behind the wall of fog and rain in front of Korsan emerged Rainbow Dash, charging at the captain at full force. She delivered a kick to his face, knocking him backwards a metre or two. “Give it up Korsan!” Dash proclaimed as she blitzed at him once more. The stallion reacted in time and rolled away from the dive attack, causing Rainbow to miss. She circled around for another attempt. He quickly pulled out his crossbow and aimed it at the flying mare as she charged at him again. He said to her, “Dodge this.” With a flick of a claw, the crossbow fired a metal bolt at the incoming pony. Dash ducked down below the speeding projectile however, and smashed her body into Korsan’s, sending the two careering overboard and towards the smoke cloud. “Dodged it!” Rainbow boasted. As a ball of two ponies, the fighters tumbled aimlessly through the ash and towards the ocean and dizzying speeds. The two fighters broke from each other in freefall and continued their brawl. Korsan rebalanced himself in the air first and fired his crossbow at the tumbling pegasus eleven more times. “Get a load of this!” Rainbow recovered as well just in time. She used her wings to create gusts of wind and pushed away the rods shot. They barely skimmed her body, but it proved his weapon could be deflected. “Are you even trying?” Dash teased before flying away. She previously noticed how a lot of lightning had struck in a section of the sky. She soared into the area for a bit, building up electricity throughout her entire being. As the rainbow-maned pony then made her return back towards her nemesis, Korsan put away his crossbow and pulled out his two cutlasses. With his swords primed and Dash’s body practically growing from electricity jumping around her body, a mass burst of energy was inevitable. The two collided together with such powerful force, a small electric shockwave ruptured from Korsan’s blades and Dash’s hooves and blasting any nearby rainwater and fog away. Meanwhile, on the now destroyed remains of the SS Raindrop, Twilight and the others onboard were now gathering at the middle of the deck. Both ends of the ship were blazing on fire, trapping them on both sides. Surrounded by smog and a panic-filled atmosphere, Twilight and her crew looked around for any sign of an advantage. “This is the end!” Applebloom and the other fillies coughed and screamed as smoke filled their lungs. “Now it’s not!” Applejack retorted before gagging as well. “What do we do?” Fluttershy whimpered as she curls herself into a ball next to the mast. “We’re going to have to jump into the water.” Twilight said sternly, looking out over her friends. “Then what?” Spike asked at the purple mare’s side. “No idea yet, but-wait, is that Rainbow Dash above us?” The eight mares and Spike looked up at to see Rainbow Dash and Korsan falling towards them, both bathing in electrical sparks as they trade blows. A light blue blur caught Spike’s attention as it drew closer to the two. “What’s that other thing heading towards us?” Spike pointed out. “Wha-” Before Twilight could ask or even get a good look at the ice bird, Juliana begun rapidly circling above the downed vessel. The incoming rain froze into spikes of ice and hale in the bird’s pressence. In a matter of moments, the ice rain’s front reaches the crippled vessel and sends the mares and Spike into a scampering frenzy, desperately trying not get impaled by the razor sharp frozen water. Near the edge of the collapsing boat, Korsan and Rainbow Dash reached sea level and fall into the chaotic waves and deep underwater. The cold of the icy ocean sent pulses of cold through the two battling pegasi as they slowly punched and grappled each other in a bloodthirsty fury. Amidst one of Rainbow Dash’s punches towards her rival’s face, Captain Korsan swiftly returned one of his cutlasses into his back and grabbed the incoming hoof, digging his claws deep into her skin. He discharged, releasing any electricity in his body and pumping it deep into her. The cyan pony mutely screamed as sparks of sharp energy and cold metal pierced into her muscles and bones before a wave of massive exhaustion soon washed over her. After several long seconds of cold water sucking up her bodily heat, fighting against the stormy weather, and being socked in the face and body by metal armour, Dash’s senses finally caught up to her and came back hard against her mind and will. Succumbing to the pain and tiredness of her aching body, Rainbow Dash fell unconscious and slowly drifted upwards towards the surface, followed by Korsan still holding onto her hoof. Bursting through the water surface, Korsan saw Twilight’s ship, now at the brink of bursting into millions of splinters. He also saw the fallen anchor’s chain several metres ahead. Immediately, the gears in the brown stallion’s head started to spin and a plan came to mind. Just as a large wave of foaming water stuck his behind, Korsan yelled out, “Juliana!” Hearing her master’s call, the ice phoenix stopped her attack on Twilight and the others and flew down to him. “Iron Head!” He commanded. The large bird screeched in agreement to the command and swiftly flew back up high into the sky before diving back down. He, Twilight, and the others watched as Juliana rapidly accelerated downwards and dove into the waves next to the portside of the ship. The surface water froze around her, turning into a sheet of solid ice. A second later, the ice bird breached from the water off of the other side, causing all sides of the trapped vessel to be encased in stiff ice and freezing the wood of the hull as well. As Juliana flew back upwards into the thick of the rain, Korsan dragged his soaking body as well as Rainbow Dash’s onto the frozen sheet of new land before. He gently dropped the pony and ran towards the chain ahead. The anchor was surrounded in ice, and Korsan had a clear line to it. Twilight and the others heard the metal hoofsteps on the hard ground in the distance. They broke their glance at the bird to see their frozen friend laying unconscious and Korsan running away. “Hey!” Twilight screamed, “Get back here!” The purple pony then jumped off of the boat and gave chase to the captain. “You’re going to pay for hurting Dash!” She proclaimed. Remembering that Twilight doesn’t know that he wasted his ammo on Dash, Korsan turned around and pulled out his crossbow, aiming it right at Twilight’s forehead. Seeing the black metal weapon now poised to fire, Twilight frantically stopped only a couple of metres short of her target. Korsan now had the lead. “Don’t take another step. Don’t flap another wing.” He coldly demanded. “What are you going to do with Rarity and Sweetie Belle?” Twilight asked in a nervous pant. “You know what I plan to do with Rarity. But don’t worry Princess Twilight. I won’t hurt her, nor her sister.” “Let them go, give us the Diamond Eye, and stop this villainous plot all together now.” Twilight begged. “It may be a longshot, but if you give up now and come with us to Equestria, you could redeem yourself and become a beneficial member to Equestria. You’re a bright stallion, a genius that probably knows things that most scientists can’t even comprehend. It doesn’t matter if you’re a pegasus, a unicorn, and Earth pony, or an alicorn, you can still be special and live a good life. You might even make a few friends and find your special somepony. Please, it’s not too late.” Korsan remained silent, as if thinking about what she said. However, this was dashed, as Korsan mearly waved a dismissing hoof at her plea. He casually told her, “Save your boring lectures and rants, I’ve heard it all before. And everytime I hear it coming from somepony that thinks she’s the wiser, it just makes me sick to my stomach. You have no idea of the true torture I and many others will endure in this Tartarus of a world. I’ve given you plenty of chances, but your resistance has forced me to leave you all for dead.” The pirate’s gaze slowly shifted to over Twilight’s shoulder and to the ship behind. Twilight noticed this and looked back as well, just in time to see Juliana return in another dive-bomb. She smashed into the middle of her boat, causing it to shatter into bits and small specks of wood and ember. Screams quickly followed, echoing from the ship to the two rivals at the edge of the slowly eroding ice field. “You monster!” Twilight cried in terror and rage. She turns back towards Korsan, who was now slowly backing up towards the large black chains behind him. “You will not interfere with my quest to end the suffering.” Korsan told her. “You think Rarity won’t after hearing that you killed us? She’ll never join you, and neither will her sister.” “I’m not going to kill you. It’ll either be the natural elements or your own selves that’ll do the killing. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Korsan stops his sentence midway. He jumped back into a large chain hole behind, tucking himself in tightly. “Adieu.” He said. Korsan then looked up to the crew of his ship and yelled, “Hoist the anchor, manually!” “You’ll never get away with this!” Twilight roared. “I always do, Twilight Sparkle. I always do.” With the crossbow still aimed at her, all Twilight could do was watch as Korsan was lifted into the sky and into his floating ship. Juliana and the anchor soon followed out of the water and up into the pirate ship as well. In a matter of seconds, the flying brig balanced itself flat and took off into the raining night sky. Defeated, Twilight headed back to the wreckage that was once her prized transportation to see the damage. Dash’s body was no longer to be seen out on the ice. “Is anypony okay?!” She asked. “We all are!” Spike announced from inside the massive pile of wood. “Even Rainbow Dash?!” “I think Dash’s coming to!” Applejack called out from inside the icy wreckage. Relieved to hear her friends’ voices, the princess darted into the wood ruins and saw the other six others, huddled around Dash’s laying body on top of a large portion of deck still in one piece. Edging herself into the circle alongside the others, Twilight was greeted by a faint gag from the cyan pegasus. “Rainbow Dash! Wake up! Are you okay?!” Rainbow responded with a violent cough and warm water spewing from her mouth. “Please be okay,” Scootaloo nervously yelped . “I-I’m f-f-fine,” Rainbow finally replied after a quick burp. “It-it’s c-cold.” “Thank goodness you’re okay!” Fluttershy enthusiastically cheered, leaping onto and hugging the waking mare. “Ouch.” Dash moaned. “Oh, s-sorry,” Fluttershy replied. “What do we do now?” Applejack uneasily asked Twilight. “Our boat is ruined, we’re in the middle of an intense storm, we’re surrounded by ice, and we’re out of food.” “Not exactly,” Pinkie Pie replied, aimlessly looking around the area. “We have this raft that we’re sitting on, Dashy and Flutter can calm the storm a little, the ice will go away in time, and we have most of each other.” “Wait, before we get ahead of ourselves-” “Pinkie has a point,” Twilight interrupts Applejack. “We can get out of this storm and-” “And then what?” Applejack asked. “We go after Korsan.” Dash answered. “Again?! He just destroyed our only means of protection and transportation. Not to mention that he’s disabled Twilight from using magic and our only unicorns that came with us are now on his ship.” Applejack explained. “As long as our friendship, will, and hope stay true, we can do anything.” Twilight comforted her. “But…” “Do you have a better idea?” Dash nasally snapped at her orange friend. “Well, I guess not. But this might take some time.” Applejack said, still leaning toward caution. “Give or take a few days,” Twilight optimistically said. “We’ll do it.” “I just hope that Rarity and Sweetie Belle don’t get hurt on that scary ship.” “I don’t even want to know what’s going on up there right now…”