//------------------------------//
// First Port of Call 
// Story: Barnacle's Adventure: Pony Pirates on the High Seas 
// by Paradise Oasis 
//------------------------------//

The voyage continued for several days, as each of the crew settled into their daily routines. The exciting life at sea that North Star had hoped for, dissolved into an endless tapestry of on-ship chores. Deck swabbing, flying over the side with tools to help Wave Runner make repairs on the ship and spending the evening shift in the crow's nest; the Pegasus was greatly disappointed that sailing seemed nowhere near as adventurous as her father had made it sound.

Fizzy learned her way around the kitchen, and began to prepare dishes for her shipmates. The others, however, didn't exactly taker well to her cooking. 

"All right, everybody eat up." Fizzy growled, doling out bowls of hot porridge with a ladle."I slaved over a hot oven for three hours to make this, so you all better like it!"

Tho other four ponies gathered in the ship's tiny kitchen each took a bite, and the two other mares among the group contorted their faces into looks of sheer agony.

"So? What do you all think?" Fizzy demanded, looking back and forth between all of them. "How is it? What do you think of my cooking?"

"Um, it was, very.... strong!" North Star replied, trying to hide the fact her face was turning green. "Blimey, I've never tasted a meal that powerful!"

"Aye, 'tis a feast I'll never forget!" Wave Runner agreed, trying to keep from crawling under the table blowing chunks. "A delicacy that defies description."

"Hmph, I know you're both being sarcastic." The unicorn rolled her eyes, before trotting over to ladle out more of her cooking for the two stallions. "Oh well, at least two ponies appreciates my cooking on this ship."

"Appreciate your cooking?! I absolutely LOVE it, lass!" Salty replied, slurping down the swill like there was no tomorrow. "I'd come aboard ANY voyage you were cooking for, just to get some more of this tasty stew!"

"Aye, yer cooking tis' decent." Barnacle admitted, quietly spooning his bowl into his mouth with a free hoof. "I'd be extremely pleased if ye could join us on more voyages at cook fer us." 

"Leave it to the bloomin' stallions to have no sense o' taste."  North Star sighed, as she and Wave Runner shook their heads sadly. "Those two are gulpin' that nasty broth down like it was candy, they are." 

Later, North Star was Helping Wave Runner scrub the sides of the ship, scraping the barnacles off as Star flew along the port side, and Wave flew along the Starboard side.

"Ewww, these things are bloomin' gross!" The pink Pegasus gagged, sticking out her tongue in disgust at one-eyed, clam-like creatures she broke off the boat side with her scraper. "I can't believe our great and heroic captain is named after there disgusting little buggers!"

"Aye, these nasty little parasites attach themselves to ships on the open ocean." Wave Runner agreed, scraping hard to get the ones on her side off. "It's a serious pain in the flank to get these annoying little creeps off."

But as they were finishing up, one of the barnacles extended it's feelers, and grabbed the end of North Star's hoof.

"EWWW! Wave, it's got me!" North Star shrieked, her eyes going wide in a panic. "I think it's bloody trying ta eat me!"

"Good grief, just calm down, North." Wave replied, rolling her eyes. "These things only eat plankton, you have nothing to worry about."

"I don't care!" North Star shrieked, pulling her hoof back in horror shaking it around wildly. "Those things are icky! Ew ew ew ew GET THEM BLOOMIN OFFA ME!" 

"Oh come on, they're just barnacles." The other Pegasus sighed. "You're a grown mare, stop acting like such a sissy!"

And when North Star was helping Salty swab the deck, she mopped right where he was about to trot... and sent the poor stallion slipping and sliding across the deck. 

"Hey, North! You forgot to mop up the- woooahh-oooooah!" The stallion went sliding across the deck, spinning out of control as he went sliding over the edge, and landed in the water with a loud SPLASH! "North Star! Why didn't you tell me you mopped- glub glub glub...."

"Oh no, Salty!" The pink mare wailed, flying overboard to pull him back onto deck. "I-I'm sorry I didn't warn you!"

"Arrrr! Nice going, you scurvy scalawag!" The dripping wet stallion snorted, shaking the water out of his coat. "I knew having a mare along on a sea voyage would be bad luck!"

And the poor mare experienced all sorts of other problems on the trip, not taking very well to the sailing life. But things were about to change for the poor beleaguered mare... and perhaps not for the better. 

As the Celestia's Revenge sailed on through the southern sea, the five ponies were going about their business of running the ship. It was North Star, high up in the Crow's nest, who spotted the distant outline of a shore through her blurry telescope, and yelled down to the other members of the crew; 

"LAND HO!"

The call from about immediately set Salty and Wave Runner in motion, altering the sails so as to head towards the nearby landmass. Barnacle steered the ship towards the shadowy continent, bringing the ship within sight of the mysterious landmass. 

"Avast there, I can make out the tops of towers in the distance!" Salty called out, gazing through the telescope as the fog around the shore cleared. "Huh, that's strange... the buildings and towers resemble the architecture of Zebrica."

"But that's impossible!" Barnacle exclaimed, taking the spyglass from him. "We are thousands of nautical miles  from Zebrica! The only nation that could have a similar culture around here would be...."

The earth pony's words were cut off, as the last of the fog lifted, and the sailors saw a grand city of towers, palaces and temples. As the ship drew closer, the pony crew then saw several humanoid cat folk walking along the shore, and the three sailors suddenly knew where they were.

"....the kingdom of Abyssinia."