Off the shores of Equestria, twilight stood looking over the boat she was about to board. The vessel was a simple wooden ship, large and with sails bearing the royal marks. Twilight looked over the list she had been working on for the boat, checking off the supplies and ponies who worked on the vessel. In doing so, she bumped into the very captain she was planning to meet with, dropping her list.
“You certainly behave as miss Celestia described you.” The captain smiled at her as she grabbed the paper. He was a muscular stallion, wearing a white uniform with a dolphin crest. His grey mane was speckled white from the salty water he worked with. Twilight gave a nervous chuckle and placed the paper under her wing.
“Sorry. This will be the first time I've had to move outside of the main area of Equestria. This wouldn't be so bad if I had my friends, but Celestia wanted me to go solo to settle the trade.”
“No worries miss, we'll make sure you get back to your friends soon enough.” He walked up the plank to the ship, shouting orders to the pegasi who were working on the sail. Twilight made her way up the plank and headed underneath, finding her small living quarters.
It was a small wooden dorm, with a hammock hanging inside and a small table attached to the side. She sighed, and placed her books onto the small table. She made her back up and into the charting room.
“Ahh twilight, what can I do you for?” The captain looked over the map on the large table. Twilight glanced over the large sheet, dotted with islands and sea routes she had never seen before. She walked over beside him and shook her head.
“im fine captain, just trying to get used to the aspect of sailing off of Equestria.”
“It can be hard to fathom a world outside of Equestria, but I've been sailing these seas since before you were born. That is, if you weren't born like that.” He tapped her on the wing, making her blush a bit. Twilight made her way out of the room, heading back to the small room she had.
“It's going to be a long trip. Might as well get the paperwork done before we end up sailing my ability to write straight away.” She jumped into the small hammock, and began to write in her books as the ship began to sail away, drifting out of Equestria by pegasi.
Twilight awoke to the sound of thrashing waves and lighting bolts. She quickly shot awake, scattering the remains of her paperwork onto the floor and jumped off her hammock. She then stumbled out the door and headed to the deck, but not before almost falling from the ships rocking.
The ship above was much worse, the sky was a vast sea of darkness, pelting the ship with heavy rain. Twilight used her magic to shield herself and see along the deck. A few unicorns stood around the deck, securing some of the smaller objects to bring them below deck. Twilight stumbled into the chart room, where the captain looked over the charts he had in concern.
“What's happening? I thought we were going to have a smooth trip to the outskirts!” Twilight had to shout to be heard over the rainfall. He simply shook his head and rolled up the chart.
“It normally is, but it seems we're being targeted by something. This storm is clearly magic in nature, as our course was steadily drifting towards a set of unmarked islands.”
“Can't your crew do something about it? I don't want us to sink.” The captain simply shook his head, the two stumbling as a bolt of lightning almost struck the deck. The two ran outside to see what was happening.
A large whirlpool suddenly opened up in the sea ahead, and the worker behind the wheel tried to move the ship away. The ship began tilting violently down, and twilight was thrown into the dark ocean below. Once under, she swirled and span under the waters, trying her magic and legs to swim to the surface. Something struck her on the back of the head, and she fell unconscious, her last sight of the world being a bolt of lightning above the water