//------------------------------//
// 9 - For Want of a Hat 
// Story: Twilight's Pirate Adventures 
// by David Silver 
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They hurried through the dockside. Twilight took flight shortly and coasted over the majority of the crowd. Those who flew seemed more interested in avoiding any contact with others, leaving her way clear.

As if to demonstrate what happened when that failed, two soaring pirates bumped shoulder to shoulder, and were thrown wildly from the impact into the crowd below. Spike watched the sudden descent until they vanished into the crowd, though one seemed to recover at the last minute and burst back into the air. "Huh, that doesn't work so well when you're in the air, huh?"

"Momentum," spoke Twilight in a single word as if it should explain everything. "I'll explain it later."

Spike thrust a finger ahead, arm going above and to the left of Twilight's head. "Ship ahoy!"

"Got it." She veered smoothly towards it. "Do you see Celaeno and Mullet?"

"Um..." His eyes swept over the streets they were soaring over. "Not really. We should assume they'll get there."

"Yeah..." Twilight went quiet until they approached the deck. Some of the tension freed from her as she came in for a landing. "Here we are, in one piece."

Boyle, the largest member of the crew, approached, a hand and a hook at his hips. "We didn't expect you back before the captain. Everything alright?"

Spike slid free once he heard and felt the clop of hooves on wood. "We're alright, and they're coming."

"Avast that talk," came a familiar voice just before Celaeno's head popped up over the side of the ship, rapidly ascending the plank with the tap-tap of her peg leg, Mullet a moment behind her. "We be already here. Now, time to talk, Twilight."

Mullet huffed for breath, holding up one finger as he folded over. "Just... one moment... That was a good sprint."

"You can listen while she talks." Celaeno gestured at Twilight. "Go on. What'd you find that sent you running with your tail tucked?"

Twilight extended a wing in the direction they had come. "We found the Pirate Lord, Greybeard. As it turns out--"

"--He just wants someone to find his stupid hat," cut in Spike.

Twilight nodded curtly. "Well-enough said. The one that presents the hat to Greybeard first wins the island."

"And!" Spike thrust a finger straight up. "It's sitting on a big pile of gold."

Celaeno's expression brightened. "Now you're talking my language. Well, you wanted to lend a helping hoof to the island, didn't you, Princess? Now's your chance to help determine who the next Pirate Lord will be. The other princesses will be green with envy at the political moving you're doing."

Twilight's ears perked up. "I hadn't thought of that... True or not, it is obvious that the pirates are quite unhappy not having a lord, so it would behoove us to address that if we can. Do you have any idea where Greybeard may have hidden his hat where no one would have found it by now?"

"Squawk!" Squabble landed in the circle of pirates. The entire crew had formed during the conversation.

Lix Spittle fixed her eyes on Squabble. "What's that?"

"Squawk!"

"Yeah? That won't help us." She waved his noises away. "If he's not changed, it's probably in one of the caves."

Celaeno nodded in agreement. "If it was on the surface, it'd already be found. Most pirates don't go into the caves often. There isn't much down there worth the trouble."

Mullet pushed off his legs back into a full standing position. "Well then... what are we waiting for? First pirate's the winner."

Celaeno raised a finger before sweeping it over the circle. "I want one thing perfectly clear. We're a team, no matter how dazzling the prize. No double-scheming. We find it, we all enjoy the reward. We got enough enemies off of this ship t'worry about before adding our ship-mates to the number."

Boyle clapped a hand against the hard metal of his hook. "I'm with you, Captain."

Lix thrust up a balled fist. "As if you had to remind me!"

"Squawk!"

Mullet nodded firmly. "Glad that's settled. Just one thing, Captain. We still can't go abandoning the ship here in this port of all places."

"Too true." She frowned. "Well, you got to come with us last time, Mullet. I'm leaving you behind this time. Boyle, you up for some treasure hunting?"

"Aye aye, Captain." He stepped forward, rolling his massive shoulders as he went.

Spike took a quick hop forward. "And us, of course."

"Of course nothing," argued Celaeno with a frown. "We appreciate the intel, but galavanting around the caves looking for that blighter's hat isn't what paid passengers are supposed to be doing."

Twilight put a leg around Spike, drawing him close. "No, but it is what friends should do. As your friend, we would be delighted to help you. Besides, I want to see these caves."

Celaeno sighed softly. "Right right. Look, we don't have time for arguing. Moll's already hunting for the thing, and if she gets it first, then we lose." She turned back for the plank. "Move out!"

Twilight grabbed Spike in her magic and plopped him down on her back as she got to trotting. The four treasure hunters disembarked in solidarity.

Lix watched them go and huffed. "When do I get a chance for some excitement?"

"Squawk."

"Not helpful." She rolled her eyes as she turned away from the view of the plank. "Just because cooking's me specialty doesn't make me not a crewmember."

"Squawk." He bobbled from talon to talon, gesturing oddly with his hands.

"Yeah yeah. That was a good one." She patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for caring."





The sound of dripping water hitting a puddle echoed gently through the tunnel they had just started down. Twilight looked around the slick-looking walls. The stone was a pale-blue in the low light offered by her shining horn. "Are we sure this is the right way?"

"Nope." Celaeno marched past Twilight. "But we don't have better clues, so we start looking until we find it."

Spike looked around from on top of Twilight, ducking just in time as a low-hanging rock threatened to knock him free of her. "We may be looking for a while."

Boyle took up the rear, brushing aside the smaller stalactites that dared to  be in his way. "Then that's what we do."

The tunnel opened up into a great cavern that fell to darkness quickly. The tunnel itself became a ledge that ran along the wall in a narrow line. They advanced onto it, carefully shuffling along. Celaeno peeked back at Twilight, brow raised. "Princess, you do have wings."

"Oh, right!" She colored as she pushed away from the wall and hovered there. "I forget sometimes... I wasn't born with these, you know." Her eyes rolled as she thought. "Happens to Daring Do all the time, and she was born with them, hmm."

Spike poked the back of her head gently. "Focus."

"Right right." She flapped along gently alongside the two still shimmying along the narrow ledge. "Spike, while we're here... how did, you know... How did it happen?"

Spike tensed a moment, his claws gripping Twilight all the tighter. "W-well... you were captured by the Storm King, and we were fighting our way through Canterlot to get to you."

Mullet nodded. "I remember that. That was quite a show, wasn't it?"

"Yeah..." Spike squirmed. "Just on the steps of the castle, there were so many of those big guards. Capper grabbed me and told me to breathe fire when he squeezed. I wasn't really thinking about it. I was scared! I mean... it was... yeah..." His arms went limp with shame. "So, uh, yeah, I kinda went along, and he pointed me right at the guards and... we started setting them on fire."

Twilight peered over her shoulder at Spike. She reached with her magic to gently brush away a few tears, her face more of a scowl. "Spike... That wasn't your fault."

"What? How? I was the one doing it!" He put a claw on his chest. "How can that not be my fault?"

"Capper is an adult, you... are a beloved but immature dragon." She squeezed him in her magic gently. "I mean, you are very mature, for your age, but you're not an adult. You were in a crisis situation, and did what an adult told you to do. He deserves this blame, not you." She perked an ear. "How did you end up facing them alone anyway?"

"Oh, uh, the other girls were there."

"What!?" Twilight almost threw Spike clear in her mighty twitch. "Okay, okay, calm down..." She began the breathing exercises taught to her by her foalsitter and sister-in-law. "I'll... discuss this with them, later. For now, you are... Spike, you won't do that again, right?"

Spike shook his head violently, hugging tight to Twilight's back. "I'm sorry!"

"Then I forgive you. You have great power, being a dragon. But you have a heart, and a mind. You know what can hurt people, and you will avoid making that mistake again." She grunted softly as she flew ahead a little. "That Capper," she grumbled under her breath.

Celaeno stopped as she withdrew her peg leg from where the ledge had given away under it. "Not to interrupt, but do you see anything up there?" She set down her leg carefully beyond the break and slid forward.

"Oh, right." Twilight shook her head free of the distracting thoughts and cast out the light of her magic light a spotlight, sweeping it slowly around. "I see another tunnel up ahead."

"What about down?" asked Spike, pointing into the gloom beneath them.

Twilight turned her horn that way, squinting as she followed with her eyes along the jagged wall. "One moment, I'll be right back." She dipped down and began to circle deeper into the darkness. They found a waterfall, burbling an easy stream of water out into a much larger pool of water. It was more of an underground lake. "Fascinating..."

Spike reached for Twilight's head and pulled it up and to the right. "Look!"

With her light and eyes focused on it, it became clear that there was a ship down there, an old one, crashed up against some rocks, a hole clearly visible in its hull. Moss and barnacles dotted its surface, implying it hadn't moved in some time. Twilight giggled with nervous excitement. "Now that looks like somewhere you might hide a hat, or at least it's worth investigating."

Spike and Twilight shared a nod before she ascended towards the two who were just reaching the end of their ridge. "We need to go down." She pointed into the gloom. "It's a long drop, about.... Too far to jump."

Celaeno crossed her arms once she was on solid ground. "That's good, really, but how do we get down there?" She reached out a hand and helped Boyle take the last step to security. "Do you figure this tunnel here winds down there?"

Spike shrugged. "Couldn't say for sure. Twilight, can you get them down, you know, with some magic?"

Twilight's nose wrinkled. "One at a time would be better." She wrapped Boyle in her magic and things grew darker, with only the glow of her magic around Boyle to see by. "Ready?"

Boyle saluted even as he lifted from the ground in her power. "No time to lose."

Celaeno made a shooing motion at the lot of them. "Get going and grab me. Moll may have already found it if it's that easy to find. I doubt Greybeard made it that easy, but who knows, the codger's pretty senile from the sound of it."

Twilight nodded once before she dived, carrying both of the males into the depths of the cavern on wings and magic. As the magic illuminated the top of the lake, Boyle whistled appreciatively. "That's a mighty big fish."

Spike followed where he was pointing and saw it, a many-fanged huge monstrosity, swimming towards them purposefully. "Uh, Twi? Can we not be here anymore?"