//------------------------------// // A Game of Dragon Whispers // Story: Reformation... It's a Pony Thing // by Lets Do This //------------------------------// Captain Celaeno had returned to the helm. She watched the soldier, who seemed to be peering down through both ship and ocean at something only he could see. "I think we're getting close," Boyle said hopefully. "Maneuvering speed, then," Celaeno ordered. "And stand by all stop. We don't want to overshoot!" Boyle nodded. "Aye, Cap'n." "Captain Celaeno!" She turned, and found Captain Skyranger storming proudly up to her, several of his fellow guards behind him. "It's time for some answers, Celaeno! We've been put wise to your little scheme!" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Then you have the advantage of me... Skyranger. This is the first I've heard of it." "Don't play innocent! Your Princess and those thieves working for her are plotting with the Great Whites -- and the scum from Klugetown -- to take our Queen hostage so they can finally get their traitorous hooves on the Pearl!" "Is that so? Really? Hmmm." Celaeno pretended to consider it for a long moment. "Nope, still sounds like bilgewater to me. I know the Princess is trustworthy... and if she vouches for Tempest, that's good enough for us!" "I was told you would defend her! That you're working for her as well! How much is she paying you? What price buys the loyalty of pirate scum like yourselves?" Celaeno's eyes narrowed. "A civil tongue wouldn't be a bad start!" She casually dropped a claw to the hilt of her sword. "Just who's been feeding you this line of week-old bait?" Then she caught sight of the small, cloud-like shape, lurking behind the hippogriff guards. "What! Strife? How did that poisonous sea-snake get loose?" "He managed to escape from the brig that you were holding him in," Skyranger replied, "because he was likely to tell us the truth about you and your accomplices!" "Captain Skyranger!" Celaeno said sternly. "That mendacious little smoke-puff was clapped in irons for good reason! Anything he's told you is a self-serving lie. And what makes you believe you can trust him, anyways?" Skyranger drew himself up haughtily. "I can see I'm not going to get the truth from you. I'm afraid I'm going to have to impound your ship. And then when Princess Twilight and her friends return, we'll get answers from them!" "Cap'n?" Boyle called tensely, glancing around. "Steady as she goes, helm." "Aye!" Boyle called. Captain Celaeno turned back to the hippogriffs. "Skyranger," she said levelly, "you are welcome to try!" The hippogriff captain simply stared back haughtily. Then he gave a short, sharp whistle. And as one, the hippogriff squadron circling the Phoenix wheeled about and came barreling in towards the deck. Celaeno, with a loud shout, drew her sword and leapt forward, putting her in striking range of Skyranger and his guards, who drew back, readying their spears. She danced backward as they swung at her, then she whirled about and began blocking and dodging spear after spear with quick swipes and sidesteps. Step by step she circled the guards, attempting to keep them bunched together, so they were constantly in each other's way. For once, she was grateful for the low overhanging ceiling beneath the airship's balloon -- it kept the hippogriffs from being able to use their wings to advantage against her. At the wheel, Boyle ducked as one of the aerial squadron swept past, nearly raking him with its talons. He came up... and found another one diving straight for his face. The diving hippogriff suddenly met hard steel in its path. CLANG. It fell to the deck, stunned. Boyle glanced at the soldier beside him, in whose paw the spear had just appeared. "Thank ya, matey!" The soldier nodded silently. Then it pointed past him. Boyle ducked again as it clubbed another guard who'd just landed behind him. Boyle hooked the wheel with his metal claw, drew his short sword with the other, and parried a blow from another attacking guard. Then the guard was whacked by the soldier's spear and fell hurriedly back. All at once, the soldier hooted urgently, pointing down toward the deck. "Looks like we're there, Cap'n!" Boyle called. "Then lock down the helm!" Celaeno replied, still darting about. "And come join the party!" "Aye, Cap'n!" Boyle swiftly lashed the wheel and throttle in place, while the soldier kept back attacking griffs. Then drawing his short sword, Boyle and the soldier fought their way aft to Celaeno's side. Once they were together, the soldier swung its spear in broad, powerful overhead arcs, which somehow kept missing the two pirates standing right beside it, yet kept the griffs from getting too close. Celaeno and Boyle danced forward to block blows, back to avoid swings, and in between attempted to club or bowl over the guards where possible. Glancing toward the rear of the ship, Celaeno saw Lix climbing up the gangway from the deck below. She had a cast iron cookpot in one hand, and a rolling pin in the other. She immediately closed with the guards nearest her, and set about with the pin, smacking spear-tips downward, then simply stepping on the shafts and using her weight to drive them out of the griffs' weaker grasp. Then, seeing an opening, Lix wound up with the cookpot and bowled it across the deck, dropping several of the guards like ninepins. Mullet appeared from the rear bulkhead door, along with another of Tempest's soldiers, and the two began tag-teaming the guards from that end, making short work of them. And with a mad squawk, Squabble came swinging down on a rope from his hiding place up on the balloon's riggings, crashing into the guards and sending even more of them sprawling. Ducking blows and dodging spear-thrusts, Squabble danced excitedly about through the melee, creating havok simply by being constantly underfoot at the wrong moment. Whether from the hippogriffs' lack of recent training in land- and air-based combat, or simple home-turf aggression from the pirates, the battle seemed to be going their way... the numbers of groggy or incapacitated hippogriffs on the deck was rapidly increasing. "How long do we pull our punches, Cap'n?" Boyle asked cheerily, dodging as a griff spearhead jabbed a little too close for comfort. "As long as it takes! Until the Princess sorts this all out!" "Aye! Uh...Cap'n?" "Yes?" "What do we do about those guards?" Celaeno threw a glance the way he was pointing. And saw an entire wing of hippogriff guards descending on them from the skies to the east. "That... could be a challenge!" she admitted, parrying a blow that nearly took off her hat. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "If I may, Mama Orcina?" Twilight said cautiously. A magenta glow surrounded the gilded box, lifting it from the orca's grasp. There were a couple of clicks and sparks from inside it. The jewelled box suddenly hummed, and projected a sphere of shimmering light into the waters above it. Twilight smiled. "There, just a loose connection. There'll be no charge!" "Ah! Pony magic very good! Is working now!" Mama Orcina took the box as Twilight's magic released it, and set it on the table again. Within the shimmering sphere above the box, dim images swam into view... spectral and fragmented with age, but clear enough still: large, whale-like, speckled creatures swimming through the sea. And each of them with a spear-like horn projecting from its snout. "Long time back... before even Mama's great gran'mama... there were magic creatures of sea, with horns and great power. Power to control elements: water, air, lightning! Power to make things appear and disappear! Power to heal... and power to kill, if they were threatened. They rule sea, for generations. Then one day, puf! Gone, all of them! No one know why." "Narwhals!" Twilight breathed. She glanced at the others, shrugging. "What? I've read about them. They did exist, though it's not known whether they're still extant. The horn isn't a horn, actually. It's basically just a single large, asymmetrical tusk. And because of it, they're rather fancifully called the unicorns of the sea." "Da!" Mama Orcina nodded. "Unicorn of sea! With great magic. And perhaps..." she hinted, "even magic to change form? To live above surface, on land and in sky, like ponies do? Mama hear of this, from seaponies, want to know more. Mama want to find spell to give Mama her own horn -- like how you say, narwhal's -- so Mama has magic power to change shape. Then Mama visit land and sky, above the sea! Would be wonderful! Even more wonderful than Mama's beautiful home! Mama would want to travel, to see such things!" "So all this," Applejack said, in disbelief, "havin' ponies dragged from their homes and all the way down here... is just so you can ask them about a magic horn spell?" Orcina shrugged. "Mama not hurt ponies! Ponies talk to Mama, then Mama send ponies home. Maybe even go with ponies, to visit!" Orcina added. "Trade ideas about decorating home, and about fashion!" She smirked at Rarity, who smiled back uncomfortably at the thought. Then Mama shrugged, indifferently. "Horn-spell is all Mama needs." "Oh my gosh!" Twilight said, shocked. "It's like a game of Dragon Whispers! Uhh... no offense, Spike!" "How can I be offended?" Spike stared at her. "I don't even know what it is!" "It's a game we used to play at school. You get a group of ponies, and line them up. You whisper something to the first pony in the line, a random sentence or two. They whisper it to the next pony, who whispers it to the next, and so on down the line. And when you get to the end... even with the best will in the world, every player trying their best to pass along the exact message they hear, the end result is usually so badly garbled it bears little relation to the original!" "Huh. Yeah, right!" Spike frowned. "Now I'm offended!" Twilight pointed at the orca. "Mama Orcina requests magic-using ponies, so she can talk to them about a horn spell. And then, through all the intervening layers -- the sharks, the Abyssinians, the peddlers in Klugetown, the poachers -- it morphs into a demand for the horns themselves!" Tempest nodded. "And our friend the Storm King, he simply added to the problem. He likely heard of a demand for horns coming from the south, so he bought up a trunkful of them to use as appeasement, creating even more of a market for them... not even realizing there was no one who actually needed them!" "Mama Orcina," Twilight said urgently, "I understand you wanted to learn about magic. And we'd be happy to teach you, if we can. But don't you see that your request has put ponies -- and other species -- in danger? There were poachers roaming through the streets of our town in Equestria, capturing unicorns to be sent down here! Maybe even taking their horns outright!" Orcina looked sour. "Why should Mama care?" "Excuse me?" Rainbow said, disbelievingly. "What Mama care what happen up on land? Mama cannot go there! Mama cannot find out what happen there, even if Mama want to know. If Mama could go, could see... then maybe Mama would care. Else, what Mama care what creatures of land do to each other?" "But that's the whole problem!" Twilight objected. "You make a request from the sharks, they put out orders to their associates, who make deals with creatures from Klugetown and Abyssinia... and because each group acts on their own, not talking with the others, or understanding the whole picture, there's very real harm done! Unwitting harm, but harm nonetheless!" Orcina scowled darkly. "Again, why should Mama care! No one ever talk to Mama, all Mama's life! No one care about Mama. Why should Mama care about others? And... if whatever Mama wants happens anyway, why should Mama care how it happen? Especially when so far away!" Applejack shoved her hat forward with a forehoof. "Reckon we might need to explain this to her a little more clearly!" "Applejack!" "Yeah, a little one-two action will get the point across!" "Rainbow!" "Oh dear, I can't look!" "Fluttersh... uh, look after her, Pinkie!" Orcina just laughed hugely. "Ponies no threat to Mama! My boys, they teach you to behave!" The orca who'd most recently been to the surface to breathe swiftly returned. And then all three glared at Twilight's party, their peg-like teeth bared in nasty-looking grins, as they crowded in threateningly. To Be Continued... My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro. No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.