The first few days of the voyage were exhilarating for For North Star-;the smell of the salty sea air, the fresh sea breeze whipping through her mane, and the splashing of the white-capped waves against the ship. It was like something out of her wildest dreams, finally leaving Ponyland behind, and exploring the world around her. All of the excitement seemed to make her cutie mark tingle, as if this were what she had always been meant to do.
"Blimey, I can't believe how wonderful it is out here." The pink Pegasus whispered in awe. "Isn't this totally incredible, Fizzy?"
But when the Pegasus looked over, she noticed her unicorn friend's face had turned green, and she had her head over the rail.
"Oh yeah... all this 'up and down' motion on the waves is really great." Fizzy replied, in a nauseated voice. Putting her hoof to her mouth, the blue unicorn put her head over the rail again, and let it all out. "BLEEECCCCH!"
"Oh dear... I never thought about you getting seasick." North Star added sympathetically, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Well, I'm terribly sorry I got you along on this adventure, then. Maybe we should see about getting you back to land, somehow."
"What? You don't think I can take it?!" Fizzy sputtered angrily, looking back up at her. "No way, I'm staying right here, I'll get used to the motion of- the-the- BLEEEECCCH!"
"Hm, sounds like yer pretty little friend thar is having a wee bit o' trouble dealing with the waves on the open sea." Salty laughed, pulling up and tying some of the rigging. "She shouldn't be ashamed of getting seasick, aye lost me lunch on me first voyage, as well."
"You got sick on your first voyage?!" North Star replied in disbelief, trotting over to the earth pony. "Crikey, I can't believe a sea dog like you, ever had a problem with the sea."
"Aye, lassie, 'tis true." Salty replied with a sigh, finishing up with the ropes, and pulling out his sextant. "When I was a lad, me dad owned a fishing boat on the rainbow river. I so wanted ta go with him on him on his craft. But when we first pulled out o' the dock, I got sick and lost me lunch o'er the side."
"But you did get over your seasickness eventually, right?" North Star asked hopefully, looking back at her seasick friend. "I mean, you're a sailor and all now, after all..."
"Aye lassie, I so wanted to be a stallion of the sea like me dad, so I made meself get use to the motion of the ocean." Salty agreed, studying his nautical instrument. "Then, I grew to become the scurvy sailor ye see before ye today."
"Oh great, I just have to wait several years to adjust to the waves?" Fizzy grumbled, keeping her head over the side. "This is going to be a really horrible voyage, isn't it?"
North Star tried to comfort her friend, when Wave Runner called out to her from the crow's nest high above. "Hey, North Star! Mind giving me a hoof up here?"
"Coming!" The pink Pegasus called back, flapping her way up to the crow's nest. There, she found her fellow winged pony gazing out at the sea through her telescope, scanning the horizon for any other ships or island. "Wotcha, Wave Runner, what can I do for you?"
"I heard you and your friend talking to Salty down there, and I was hoping that you don't get seasick, too." Wave Runner commented, putting her telescope down. "I'd hate to think we have two land lubbers along on this voyage."
"Me? Golly no! I do just spiffing at sea!" North Star replied. "Why, did you ever honk your lunch at sea as a wee lass?"
"Me? Oh, no! I've never gotten seasick." Wave admitted. "But I was originally a little frightened of the ocean. When I was little, my friends always used to tell me stories that the mer-mares would get me; it was what made me afraid to go to sea, and become a sailor like my mother."
"Really? How cruel of those little twits to say something like that!" North Star shook her head. "How did you finally get over your fear, and follow in yer mum's hoofsteps?"
"My mother threatened ta make me walk the plank, if I didn't go on a voyage with her." The other Pegasus laughed. "I've been a child o' the sea ever since."
"Well, that's one way to get over your fears. Though I find it bloomin' hilarious a pony with a seahorse cutie mark was afraid 'o mer-mares." North Star replied with a smile. "In all seriousness though, I'm guessing you wanted me up here, so you could take a jolly good break from the crow's nest, eh?"
"Aye, I'm going to go down to the hold, and get me some grog." The other mare agreed, flapping her way down towards the deck. "Just keep an eye out for any trouble, and try not to get into any yerself!"
North Star nodded, and picked up the telescope to gaze out upon the open ocean once more. But it wasn't long before she noticed the sound of hooves trotting across the deck. And looking down, she once again laid eyes on the mysterious captain who had captured her imagination in the first place. Barnacle had come out of his private quarters, and was currently standing on the starboard deck, starting to light his pipe.
"Just who are you, my dashing captain?" The pink Pegasus thought to herself, gazing down at the handsome figure. "And why do you haunt my dreams so?"
It seemed nobody in the crew knew much about the mysterious pony, though Salty had been able to piece together rumors and tall tales he had heard from the other sailors back at the tavern. Some old sea dogs claimed Barnacle was the son of old King Leo, the alicorn of the sea, and was born to a Ponyland mare who had washed ashore in neighboring Equsetria after a shipwreck. The wounded mare gave birth to Barnacle before she died, and he was raised in an orphanage in Baltimare.
The story's Salty had heard claimed the Equestrian orphans treated the Ponyland colt, who was slightly shorter and stockier than they, with cruelty and contempt. Barnacle came to despise them, and spent all his free time gazing longingly out at the sea. When he reached adulthood, Barnacle had left the orphanage, and started his life as a sailor on various pony ships, working his way up from Cabin boy, to Swabbie, to deck hand, before finally striking out on his own. Barnacle was after the treasure to prove his worth, the fantastical stories said, by finding a lost treasure, and proving himself both the Equestrians who bullied him, and to the alicorn father who was not even aware he existed.
North Star didn't know if she believed a word of these fish stories. But as the mare was lost in her thought, the voice of the stallion she had just been thinking about suddenly filled her ears.
"Avast thar, Miss North Star! Keep a sharp lookout!" Barnacle called up to her in the crow's nest. "There are many unseen dangers ahead, and I'd like to avoid them, if we can!"
"Aye aye, cap'n!" She replied proudly, looking back out at the ocean again through the telescope. "Don't you worry! I promise you nothing on these seven seas can possibly get by me!"