//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: The 6 element seas // by Randomateverything //------------------------------// The week on the ship had almost passed, with heavy storms delaying them by a few days, so it was more like a week and a half had almost passed. According to Twilight, the ship would reach Neighgeria in a day, leaving Applejack's Captain relieved. Since she got on the ship, Rainbow Dash had been non-stop asking her and the rest of the crew what it was like being a pirate. At first, the crew had been happy to answer her questions, if a bit curious as to why the worlds greatest pirate hater's daughter wanted to know about pirates. But then, the questions just kept coming, Applejack didn't know there were so many questions to be asked. Recently, the amount of questions asked per day had dwindled quite a bit, but the colourful Pegasus seemed to think of at least one new one every day. The most annoying question the Pegasus had asked, and the only one she repeated, was how to be a pirate. All out of 'Curiosity' apparently. Applejack shook her head and looked over to their three 'guests', who were working together on their chores. Her gaze lingered on the pink Earth pony. Pinkie Pie, at times, was more annoying than Rainbow Dashes Questions, and she even had some of her own. She had asked to join the crew, and had tried to drag her meek friend Fluttershy with her, while Rainbow Dash was working with Spike in the crows nest, teaching him how to detect storms with air pressure and humidity, and a bunch of other Pegasus stuff Applejack didn't really care much for. But Pinkie Pie had made a request to her Captain, about joining the crew. It was vehemently refused, with Captain Rarity shouting out the door after the two, one giggling Earth pony, and the other an almost crying Pegasus, that she refused to have any direct relation to Royalty amongst her crew. And that included the personal hoof-maidens of the Princess. Also the Princess herself. Even if she was running away. That was a fun day. It had only been the third day of sailing, and Rainbow Dash, upon hearing her friends being shouted at, and seeing one of them cry- almost -she had pretty much lost it. There had been a massive argument between her ad Captain Rarity, and Applejack had to admit, it was pretty funny. Rainbow Dash was yelling at the Captain to apologise to her friends for how rudely she treated them, while the Captain refused, stating that they insulted her by even thinking she'd let nobility into her crew. The argument had ended about twenty minutes later, when Twilight decided that she'd heard enough, and broke between the two. She managed to convince the Captain to apologise to at least Fluttershy, who really was crying now, partially out of fear for what Captain Rarity threatened to do to her and Pinkie if they asked again, partially out of guilt that her friend now has to face the Captain to defend her, and partially out of joy that she had such a great friend. Applejack broke out of her reminiscences- of about 5 days ago -when a purple hoof jabbed her in the side. "Applejack!" Twilight shouted in her ear. Applejack shook her head to remove the lingering thoughts, and looked at her friend "U-Y-yes, Twilight?" She fumbled "Are you alright? You were staring into space there for quite a bit." "Yeh, ah'm fine. Jus' thinkin' over the pas' week. How quick it's gone an' all." "It has been pretty eventful huh?" "Yeh, too eventful. Ah'm gonna miss all this commotion, when they leave." "I know. It's pretty weird to think about. Anyway." Twilight cut of, bringing Applejack's attention back to her "Captain Rarity said that when we get to land, she's gonna have to do the digging around for information by herself. Neighgeria apparently has had some, issues, recently, and they're pretty suspicious of outsiders. They've got guards disguised as common citizens all over, keeping tabs on everything everyone does, anything suspicious, they report. The Captain thinks that by doing the digging around herself, it will be easier to go unnoticed. So, instead, she wants us to just go and relax, I've been practicing my Neighgerian over the past week and a half, so we should be fine with most things, like communicating with the locals and such. However, lots of Neighgerians also speak Yoruba, which the Captain already knows. But, we don't have any books on that, and the Captain wasn't willing to share, so, I won't be able to understand anyone who speaks only that language, which is quite a few, actually." "Alright. Guess we'll jus' look around, all touris' like...Ah noticed ya kept sayin' everyone, uhh, is Neighgeria made up of more than jus' Ponies?" Twilight smiled "Actually, very few Ponies live in Neighgeira. The citizens are pretty much all Kitsunes, with possible the odd Minotaur from Minotoon." "Kitsunes?" Applejack scrunched up her face in confusion "Wha-" "A Kitsune is a large Fox with lots of tails. Traditionally, the King or Queen would be the Kitsune with the most tails, so throne order with royal cubs was sorted out by which cub had the most, no matter what age order the cubs were born in, or their gender, like many places. This also meant that if a Kitsune was born outside of royalty, and they had more tails than the current King or Queen, Princes or Princesses, they would be made King or Queen. As you can imagine, this didn't happen often, as any kitsune born outside of royalty with more tails than them, was immediately killed, or married by someone in the royal family if they got past that. Only recently, Neigheria decided it didn't want to be a monarchy, and became a republic. So, they are now ruled by an elected government." "Gian' Foxes, huh?" "Well, not giant, about the size of average ponies. They're actually really interesting, they have their own magic, which is different to ours. Theirs is based on elements, like fire or river. Usually that's depicted in their colour as well, and each Kitsune only has one element. The powers usually run in families, so if both your parents are fire Kitsunes, then you are probably a fire Kitsune too. But sometimes they can receive different powers. There are thirteen different elements a Kitsune could have, but I'll let you see for yourself. It's more amazing that way." "Huh, this'll be a mite interestin'." Was Applejack's only reply.