//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Intruders on Board! Part 2 // Story: High Seas of Adventure // by Silver Dragon Blade Wing //------------------------------// Quick AN: Right after I uploaded the last chapter I noticed that the chapter numbers went 1 then skipped to 3, how I didn't notice that before I have no idea. Anyway, on with the story. Traveler Treasure Room The fight had been short but brutal, the Nobles never stood a chance. The figure had beat most of them down with little to no effort, however Fancy and Fleur had put up a decent fight. After the fight ended the Nobles decided 'buck the bits' and pulled the ones who couldn't walk on their own out of the room. After they had left, the figure tapped the bottom tip of his halberd against the floor, bolts of magic firing from the spike at the top into the lamps lighting the room up again. The figure was revealed to be Razor Tail, who had a large smile on his face. "That's right, run." He turned around and walked over to a large cabinet, he raised he halberd, turned it around so the hammer end was facing it, and brought it down, being careful to just break the lock. Breaking the lock he pulled the doors open, inside the cabinet was a very large amount of jewels. But Razor only had his eyes on one, reaching in his index and thumb claws gripped a diamond slightly larger then a pea. Pulling it out he stared at it for a moment with a smile, slipped it into a zippered pocket, and said; "Gather the rest of the loot," Thump Multiple thumps filled the air, Razor was not alone. "Bring it to the ship," Thump "And leave nothing... of worth." Thump Around him the fog cleared, reveling a group of heavily armored creatures; they wore red, full body plate and chain mail armor with gold trim and dark purple runes, on the bipeds a length of red cloth with black edge stripes hung from the front and back like a loincloth while the quadrupeds had them hanging over their flanks, the cloth had the same design as the banners seen on their ship. The armor had been designed to invoke the appearance of a dragon version of a Pony Alicorn, complete with wings and tails, both of which were moving as if they were a natural part of the wearer's body, and horns with magic, even with the ones who were clearly not dragons or even Ponies. The armored figures were armed with double or single headed axes of the same colors but some carried halberds of similar make. They moved and started gathering up the treasure with a smaller group fell in line with Razor as he walked out of the room. This group looked like the others but had silver armor with black trim and gold runes. Traveler Dinning Area Things were not going to well for the Traveler's crew and passengers, the pirates had been pushing hard and more and more of the ones fighting back found themselves encased in red magic fields. The guards aboard weren't having much luck either; "Oh these guys are putting up a heck of a fight!" "Yea they're mean!" "BUCKING BLUNDERBUSSES!!!" Case in point. Indeed, the blunderbuss armed pirates were giving the defenders tartarus. Made even worse when another new group joined in; This group wore large tricornes over bandannas, white shirts under leather armor, long coats, some sort of cloth sack stung over their backs, harnesses holding four pistols, belts with skull shaped buckles, red sashes under them, a small round yellow container, and plenty of slots for pistols, hard worn pants, heavy boots, and baldrics with skull buckles like their belts and modified to hold a lot of ammo. The group was armed with pistols, but later more of the same type came in armed with rifles and hand cannons. The harnesses and belts on these ones held even more ammo. The blunderbusses and hand cannons were the major problem, their spread were a major factor in the close quarters of the Traveler's halls and rooms. The pirates also outnumbered the ship's fighters, which was made worse when... BOOM A door was blasted open and a Minotaur came through followed by a group of four Earth Ponies around the size of Big Mac. The Minotaur wore a white shirt with a tattered red and black striped waistcoat that went to halfway down his thighs, leather baldrics over both shoulders and crossed over their chests with small dagger stuck through loops, two leather belts and some rope around his waist with some bags, pouches and small cannon balls hanging off them, dense leather gauntlets, blue and light blue striped pants, and heavy, dense leather boots. In his hands was a 24 pounder cannon with handles allowing it to be carried in a chainsaw styled grip with a length of heavy leather coated chain going from the cannon, over the shoulder and back again and a heavy support harness. The Earth Ponies wore similar attire but a heavy leather vest over top their waistcoat, a thick bandanna, and a pair of rune covered crates over their flanks. The Earth Ponies quickly loaded the cannon and the Minotaur aimed and fired, several Traveler crew and guard Ponies were hit by the grape shot and encased in magic fields. Things got even worse when yet another new 'unit' appeared; this one had no head gear expect a metal mask, a metal cuirass, two thick leather baldrics with heavy buckles, a thick belt with metal buckle, bags, and a small drum on the left with a blue sash under the belt, somewhat baggie cloth pants with armor, and heavy boots. They were armed with a large sword with a serrated blade and, unlike the rest of the pirates, a large round shield with a metal skull on the front. These ones were a major pain, as they were fighting the hardest and pushing back the Ponies. Night Light however was really putting up a fight, several time he alone had managed to push the pirates back. Velvet, Shining, and Cadance were also giving the pirates a hard time. Twilight, Spike, Flash, and Flare rushed out of a doorway and took stock of the situation; Rainbow, Soarin, and Sky were facing off against a snow white Pegasus Mare but she was holding out well, Rarity, Sassy, and Coco were hanging back watching the fight, Applejack and Big Mac were facing off against a giant of a Minotaur while with rest of the few Apples aboard were fighting off sea serpents, Pinkie was in a hoof fight with a Zebra Mare, A Griffin, Dracony, the three Thestrals, and a Changeling Queen watching the fight, and Fluttershy was... sitting in between two Dragon pirates? Who weren't harming or even touching her?? Twilight had had enough, she spread her wings and was about to take off when... BOOM A sudden explosion of fog and magic went off in the center of room, sending the pirates to one side and everyone else to the other. As everyone recovered a voice rang out, "That's enough!" Twilight shook her head, stood up and shouted, "Who are you?! And who is these pirate's Captain?!" "To answer your second question..." Thump A flash of blue light flared out, blinding everyone and clearing the fog. When they could see again, they saw in the center front of the pirates was a figure, a male Kirin. He had a silver coat, red, gold-striped mane on his head, neck, and top of his tail, a pair of two half-a-meter long black horns sticking out from the back of his head, a tail three times the length of a normal Kirin's tipped with three scythe shaped blades, red eyes, a pair of fangs sticking out of his upper lips, the hooves of a Pony on his back legs, the claws of a dragon on his front legs, massive wings identifying him as a Pegasus-born Kirin, and small hands at the 'wrist' of his wing arms. On the left side of his face was a decent sized scar that ran from his hair line, through the right side of his eye socket, and down his face to the tip of his nose, on the other side was a black crested sea serpent tattoo running down his face. The silver phoenix from before flew in and landed on the hammer head of the halberd. _________________________________________________________________________________________ (AN: Loonggg description ahead, sorry in advance. You can skip it if you want to.)# The largest, most detailed, and most noticeable part of his outfit was his hat, which was very large tricorne: at the base was a metal frame made of bronze with spikes and a smaller gold metal rope-shaped frame under it. The bronze spikes curved upwards with the largest under the valleys in between the brims around his head with an emerald just above each spike that matched the size of each one, the hat itself extended a little over half a foot sideways from his head then curved up with the brims when up half a meter, the valleys were boarded on each side with a gold metal frame with a symbol like the one on the Dragon's sails on the top corners and hanging from the spot where the brims curved via small rings was a set of six gold and silver coins with glowing runes. The brims themselves resembled an Archducal hat as it was covered in faded red velvet with the gold design of mountains and valleys typical on crowns studded with a number of gems and pearls, in between the design and velvet were white velvet bunches with black velvet diamonds in the center, behind every second mountain was a gold band also studded with gems and pearls, at top of each band which went over the top of the brims were gold spheres each topped with a spike made of diamond, in the center of the hat right over the head was a smaller crown shaped to fit that spot with three large and long feathers colored blue, orange and yellow. The valley at the front of the hat was shallower with a section under it that had a glowing symbol of two crossed halberds behind a forward facing dragon head with a small dome-shaped orange gem to the above right and a long red feather opposite of the gem. The most noticeable feature on the hat were two sets of long teeth around the hat; the first set started at the spot where the brims curved upwards with the small coins at the base of the teeth and extended a foot each, they sat in front of the gold bands, the second set sat in between the bands at the center of the brims and extended two feet up. There was ten teeth, five at the base and five at the center, on each brim for a total of thirty teeth, which all had tiny, glowing runes changing colors all over them. On the right brim was a large cockade with the colors from center to ring; silver-red-black, a symbol pin shaped like the symbol on the Dragon's sails, a set of twelve tiny daggers stabbed through like sewing pins and a set of two blue ostrich feathers, two very long pheasant feathers, two peacock feathers, and two phoenix feathers. On the left is a sapphire pin with a large and long white-tipped blue feather, a red cockade with a large Emerald in the center and a red ribbon with a center black stripe running up to and over the edge of the brim, a large hexagon-shaped silver pin with a ruby cut into the shape of the symbol on the front of the hat with two very large and long blood red feathers behind it, a large gold pin/clip of the Dragon’s sail symbol with two small green feathers sticking up, two large gold feathers, and a length of dark red rope that ran from the near the top of the brim before looping at the curve into the valley on the back left. Under the hat was a red bandanna embroidered with dragons and further decorated with nine small gold coins with a glowing red rune on each hanging by small rings and seven small silver coins studded with a single gem of various colors each, these were complemented by five trinkets; the center one was a gold star of the Prench Legion of Honor Order of merit, to its left was a trinket made of three fangs, the top one had three emeralds wrapped in copper wire, the middle one had a gold barrel bead around it, and the bottom one had what looked like small, crude green runes carved into it. The next trinket was a silver piece of eight held by copper wire through a hole on the top and bottom with a large gold rune on the face. To the right of the medal was a trinket made from an engraved tooth of an unknown creature, and the last trinket was a set of gems made up of a sapphire, ruby, and emerald with a brasher doubloon at the bottom. His hair was done in braids that reached to halfway down his forelegs with ten behind his ears, at the top under the bandanna on each braid was a jewel cross encrusted with tiny gems, below that in order to the tips was a white skull clip with gem eyes of various colors, a series of silver barrel beads an inch apart with every third down having small chain loops connecting them to each other, red cloth hair ties under every second one, small sliver clips with sapphires in between every third and first bead, blue metal ring clips, green gem clips, black ring clips with Amethysts, red cloth hair ties with the Dragon’s sail symbol, and silver caps each with four diamond-shaped blunt spikes on the tips. At the tip through small hole and in between each bead was a short and lit very slow burning cannon fuse along with feathers of various lengths and colors sticking out of each barrel bead. The hair on the back of his neck and tail were in a similar style but shorter, sticking up rather than down, and more swept back. Around the back-center of the braids was a small silver chain. Wrapped around his neck five times was a long, red, gold, and royal purple horizontal-striped scarf with five tassels each tipped with a black pearl. a small skull-shaped ruby, and a long silver claw at the base of each tassel. The scarf had many small trinkets ranging from small teeth to beads, numerous tiny circle gems to several large diamond-shaped gem clips of various colors, and small feathers of various sizes and colors through string and even medals decorating it, most notable of these being an orange round plate with a glowing Dragon’s sail symbol, a glowing ghostly green item that looked like a dagger with a circle handle, a gold hexagon-shaped badge with a large skull-shaped ruby, and a small looping silver chain with silver coins and gold rectangle plates with either no gems or rubies and emeralds. Wrapped around the scarf multiple times was a black string decorated with many red, black and while beads, three small bird skulls with ruby, sapphire, and emerald eyes over the center wraps and a lose end hanging down to his elbow on the left from the bottom of the scarf wrap with a large and long red feather at the tip. Also around his neck were three medals with their ribbons over the scarf wraps and a gold chain on top of the scarf with a gold hexagon-shaped badge with a large ruby shaped into the sail symbol on the front hanging over the top. He wore a heavy resplendent royal purple and gold coat adored with nine medals of different origins on the left side and several pinned on the right, numerous diamond and square-shaped gems of various sizes and colors spread over the upper arms, a large gold pin shaped in the symbol of two crossed halberds behind a forward facing dragon head with emerald eyes on the right collar, the Dragon’s sail symbol in silver pinned to the left side of coat under the cape, a small and long length of gold chain around his chest going over his right shoulder and under his left arm, eight small diamond-shaped emeralds on the collar, and two blue cloth bands and a small black bird skull with sapphire eyes and three large red feathers sticking out of the back on the left upper forearm with a black metal armring or armband studded with large hexagon-shaped rubies and black string tied into bands with red, black and white beads on the right. The coat has numerous small gold square-shaped studs and several glowing orange spots of various shapes and sizes visible on the front and arms. Attached to the cape on the right above the clip is a red lanyard with a large badge displaying the Dragon’s sail symbol. Also around his neck were three medals with their ribbons over the scarf wraps and a gold chain on top of the scarf with a gold hexagon-shaped badge with a large ruby shaped into the sail symbol on the front hanging over the top. Under it was a decorated red waistcoat that was longer than most, a hardened steel cuirass covered with runes of various sizes, a black leather armor vest, and a white silk shirt with more frill. Over the coat was a red royal cape with white, black spotted collar with a small length of silver chain attached to two gold buttons, the cape's clip had a Dragon’s sail symbol badge next them and numerous rune tiles and carved rune bones with the glowing runes of various colors, a thick leather pauldron on the left with a ruby shaped into the Dragon’s sail symbol, a pauldron made up of four metal plates with the outer halves glowing orange on the right, two blue feathers sticking out and angled towards the back from under the pauldrons and red cloth straps with silver rings extending from under the pauldrons over and through slits in the cape. Through tears in both the coat and cape rune covered chain mail armor could be seen. His wings had simple gold, red, and blue rings and beads on the wing fingers while on the wrist hands were gauntlets like the ones on his forelegs. Black string ran through small loops on the rings all over both the dorsal and ventral sides of the wings and connected to each other via knots with several loose-hanging strands. Red, black and white beads were all over these lines of string with clusters of two large red feathers at several spots along with both double and single feathers at the tops of the loose strands, and on the dorsal side of the wings behind the wrist hand was a small black bird skull with emerald eyes and three large red feathers behind the skull on each wing. The front side of the wing armor had layer steel plates held onto the arms by thin leather straps with small steel buckles that feed through the wing membrane. Hanging on the ventral side of each wing are two small lanterns, one from the wing arm wrist and one from the middle of the wing forearm. Each of the four lanterns were a red crystal in the shape of an Earth Pony skull missing the lower jaw with a black metal hexagon-shaped frame with silver pieces resembling claws on the side corners and a diamond-shaped ruby on the bottom corner. Two black baldrics went over his shoulders then crossed over his stomach with a large steel buckle, a second steel buckle with a steel cover at the end, and all three were studded with diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. On the left baldric was a round metal frame with four sections holding an emerald, ruby, sapphire, and amethyst. Attached to the baldrics along his back were two small leather stacks, four small scrolls with leather clips holding them on, several clusters of two feathers of various colors, a small satchel bag with a dagger on one side. On the shoulder areas of the baldrics were seven red glowing crystals, under the right baldric was a red sash, and attached to them where they crossed over on his back was a holster holding a custom bolt-action rifle of Germane origin. Under the wings and attached to the baldrics and belt like suspenders were two more smaller baldrics, the one on his right held two large black leather pouches held closed with a silver button and a silver metal band around the middle towards the front. Behind the pouches was a large leather-bound tome with a dark red cover, gold-plated outer corners, a horizontal gold metal band with pointed ends on the middle of the spine, a heavy silver metal lock, and a large tan pad that took up most of the cover with a very large and complex glowing red rune held onto the baldric with two very short three-linked silver metal chain that attached to the ends of the spine of the tome with strong looking clips. On his left, from front to back: was a pouch holding three large and three small test tubes filled with glowing liquids of various colors and capped with corks and a smaller pouch with a lid held closed via a gold button, a large teardrop-shaped potion bottle filled with a glowing red liquid and capped with a cork, a large satchel held closed with a gold button in the center of an Enchantment arcane symbol with three round potion bottles filled with yellow, blue, and orange glowing liquids and capped with corks held onto the satchel via nets, and a pouch with rune-covered tools. Around his waist was a heavy leather black belt with a large buckle with a diamond-shaped ruby on the tip of the loose hanging end, a green cloth wrapping with a large gold symbol pin of the two crossed halberds behind a forward facing dragon head, a long red ribbon held wrapped on with a small round plate clip with the Dragon’s sail symbol, two daggers, a rope belt with a small bottle and two large ones under it, a flat leather bag with gold frame, studs, and a ring with a ruby inside attached to the belt with as small gold chain, and a brown leather Spyglass holster with a large glowing red rune on it and a large red map on either side. Under the belt was a sash just like his scarf with trinkets consisting of a large disk with the Dragon’s sail symbol, a small diamond-shaped emerald, nine gold coins attached with rings, and a small gold bead chain hanging from the top of the sash and traveling from under the belt for about two inches at the lowest point before the chain looped back up under the belt and under the top of the sash again. Holes in the cape allowed the baldrics, belt and wings to feed through. Sitting over his flanks were a large brown leather satchel with the Dragon’s sail symbol on the face and two large scrolls on either side on the right and a chest shaped and styled saddlebag on the left with a symbol on the front; a mast with full white mainsail under crossed 110 pounder cannon and broadsword. His lower forelegs and hands were covered by steel gauntlets with four layered plates with a blade on top of each plate over the arms with the layer at the wrists lifted slightly to allow the red coat cuffs to stick through, the finger tips of the gauntlets were shaped to fit his claws. On the knuckles of the gauntlets are three diamond-shaped gold studs with two emeralds of the same shaped just behind those and a rectangle-shaped metal plate with glowing orange ends, a ruby shaped into the Dragon’s sail symbol on a leather plate on the back of the gauntlet, six small square-shaped gold studs and a dome-shaped orange gem behind the index finger knuckle, and red cloth wrapping with one edge colored gold wrapped around the hand under the symbol plate. The cuffs are large with split between the top section to allow the blade to run in between them with a small square-shaped gold stud on each side and a rectangle-shaped metal plate traveling around the rest of the cuff boarder with glowing orange ends that stop just before the studs. The gauntlets have two diamond-shaped rubies on the second plate from the top, small diamond-shaped rubies bordering each plate, a dome-shaped sapphire on each plate bolted joint, the top half of the plate blades glow orange, four green diamond-shaped emeralds on the plates, four orange dome-shaped gems around the blades with two on each side, red cloth wrapping with one edge colored gold wrapped around the top plate with a rectangle ring to allow the blade through and two short blue feathers under the wrapping on the inner top sides. There is a gold chain wrapped around the gauntlets behind the hand and the fingers of the glow like flames with claws being orange/yellow and changing to red as it reaches the knuckles. On his fingers were eight rings, one for each finger and thumb; a silver skull ring with ruby eyes on his thumb, a silver and jade oriental dragon ring on his right index, a gold ring with an emerald on his right middle and a gold ring with a ruby on his right ring finger while his left hand had a gold ring with an amethyst index, a ring of outward-facing skulls with gem eyes of alternating colors on the middle, and a gold skull ring with a vertebrae wrap on the ring finger. Over his back legs were slightly baggy pants with Purple on the front half and red on the back half and a blue flame or Kraken-like design, black leather padding on the groin and extending a little down the front of the thighs that tapered into points with a small gold diamond-shaped stud just above the tip, two thin steel strips with glowing orange ends under the belt and three small green hexagon-shaped and one red diamond-shaped gems above the gold studs. Wrapped three times around the left thigh under the leather front tip was red cloth, a length of brown rope traveled from under the belt buckle before looping around the left outer thigh and up to the left center of the belt. Several spots of various sizes glowed like fire. Attached to the flanks via straps attached to the belt and knees was a set of three large scale-shaped armor plates and one the legs below the upper knees was a set of layering plate armor that covered the both knee sets and the front of the shins with the cuffs of his boots sticking out from between the lower kneepads and top plate of the leg armor. His tail had a set of similar scale-like layered armor on his flanks covering the sides from the base to the tip at the base of the blades and held on via many thin but dense leather straps. Nine thin silver rings along the tail were visible through the top and bottom gaps and at the spot where the base of the three blades met the tail tip was a small gold-colored lantern shaped like a four-sided triangle with the tip cut-off and widened a bit with a hexagon-shaped plate fitted close a little under it, at the bottom of the crystal side panels are two gold lines angled down with the tip being a diamond-shape with a small square pointed stud in the middle on two sides while the other two have a hexagon-shaped plate with the Dragon’s sail symbol curved from a ruby on them. On the corners at the bottom are silver claw-like extensions and on top is a red "dial" with a length of gold chain with silver cloth under it that wraps around the tail. On his back hooves was a pair of heavy royal purple boots that went up his lower knees with layered necks. The cuffs were double layered with a triangle-shaped cutout in the front, the bottom layer being red, and the top layer having two small diamond-shaped gold studs close to the sides of the cutout. The cuffs had large gold rings on the top outer sides attached with leather loops, a silver strip at the very top of the top cuff that when under it, four silver square studs on the top layer next to the cutout, gold trim around the edges of both layers with a silver skull clip pined to the tip of the bottom cutout and a red ribbon going over the top of the cuff, a gold coin pinned on the outer side of the right boot bottom cuff with a red feather and a blue one, a length of brown rope around the middle of cuffs’ top layer attached with a loop on the back and a badge in the shape of the Dragon’s sail symbol, and three large leather loops over the front and sides on both boot cuffs. Around his legs from the upper knees to the lower ones was a set of black greaves with a dragon head as the knee pad and set so the leg when through the open mouth, the greaves had eight small diamond-shaped emerald studs, three lengths of red cloth attached with a large silver ring, red cloth with one edge gold wrapped around with a single silver coin, and a large length of gold chain wrapped around the armor from under the nose of the dragon head to the tops of the boots. in pinned on the outer side of the right boot bottom cuff with a red feather and a blue one, a length of brown rope around the middle of cuffs’ top layer attached with a loop on the back and a badge in the shape of the Dragon’s sail symbol, and three large leather loops over the front and sides on both boot cuffs. The boots themselves were a single green diamond-shaped gem on each just under the cutouts, a small length of green cloth wrapped around the neck of the boot with a red cloth with one edge silver wrapped around the left neck and red leather strips wrapped around the front, back, and under the boots and held on with a large silver ring on the sides of the boots. There were large silver buckles with brown leather straps around the ankles with gold trimmed spats around the boots under the buckles with a rectangle cutout for a claw-like blade and a strip of metal on the front where the toes would be with the ends glowing orange along with three small diamond-shaped gold studs and a gold sole with a large front point. Like the pants parts of the boots had spots of various sizes glowing like fire. One unusual item that really stood out was also one that looked very out of place: a very large, blue bow similar to the one Applebloom wore just much larger on the second left from the back braid instead of a cross with long ribbons that hung down to his shoulders, the cross opposite to it was a bit larger and more ornate then the others. The bow itself had several tiny gem clips of various colors hanging off it and the ribbons. Held in his right wing hand was a large silver, rune covered halberd in the shape of a dragon; the large wing formed the ax blade with a scythe shaped spike at the top, the head with ruby eyes formed the hammer, the front legs claws formed a hook with small gears visible showing that it could extend outwards when needed, and the tail formed the handle with a large diamond-shaped sapphire on either side of the body. The tail handle had a red gem in the shape of the Dragon’s flag symbol just under the base with two red lengths of cloth with one edge gold, one large wrapped around twice and one small wrapped around once and hanging off about a foot or so, with a silver round plate with the symbol of two crossed halberds behind a forward facing dragon head on it and two red feathers under the plate. Under the red wrapping was a plain gold length of cloth that wrapped around the tail handle six times with nine gold and silver coins and fangs with glowing runes of various colors hanging off it at various heights, below that several bands with blunt spikes for better grip and a sword with a sapphire at the end. Six custom cap and ball revolvers or rather, hand cannons judging by their size, were slipped through loops on his belt and baldrics of a total of twelve along with four butterfly swords on his shoulders (one sheath with two swords each on each shoulder) and a sword that looked like a mix under his left wing but it was hard to tell what kind actually was due to the wing. (AN: End of the description, again sorry about that.) _____________________________________________________________________ "The Captain would be me." With him were eight pirates in heavy armor armed with either duel axes or halberds, the Kirin continued. "And to answer your first question," He thumped the bottom tip of his halberd against the floor, the phoenix flew off and land on the Kirin's shoulder. "The name's Razor Tail. Archduke Razor Tail." Twilight froze, memories of research when under Celestia's teaching came back to her. At some point during that time, Twilight had come across some books holding information on Kirins. According to the books and Celestia's word of mouth, Kirins had lived just outside Equestria since before the Pony tribes came, but most of that history had been lost at some point. First contact, which had happened some time after Discord's first defeat, had not quite been pleasant, thanks to Starswirl. During the meeting between the Princesses and the Kirin Clan leaders at the time he had, perhaps due to his racism against Dragons, had insulted the Clan Leaders (by accident or not was up for debate, ever long after). The Kirin, being half Pony and half Dragon, had understandably not taken kindly to this, the insult had apparently been bad enough they had threaten war, something that Equestria at the time was not ready for. Thankfully the Princesses had manged to calm the peeved Clan Leaders down, but even long after relations between the Ponies and kirin hadn't been to good. While relations had improved over time, only a tiny number of Ponies, unless vouched for, were allowed in the Kirin Mountains. Starswirl had become something of a pariah to the Kirin, even today. It was for these reasons that Kirins were considered very rare in Equstria, even though they had a very large population. Twilight, reading those books, had come across something that really caught her interest, because of the race of Dragons the Kirins had been born from a Dragon race that was immune to magic. The Kirin couldn't use magic the same way other Pony races could, so they had created their own. Somehow, someway, they had discovered how to make runes that could draw in loose magic in the air like a magnet and store it. These runes then allowed the Kirin to use magic through items imprinted with these runes. Twilight, being Twilight, had asked Celestia if she could study and research this. Celestia had sadly said that she couldn't due to agreements between her and the Clan Leaders, Kirins were extremely protective of the secrets of rune magic, and for good reason: items enchanted with rune magic would allow anyone to use magic. Only Kirin Runesmiths fully knew how they worked, though any Kirin could learn it through trial and error. But these runes, unless either the Kirin had learned from a Runesmith or one had improved them, were far weaker. Twilight had understandably been unset that she couldn't study Kirin Rune magic. Kirins were also known for being formidable fighters, being taught almost from the day they hatched on how to fight, in fact Kirin born in their home mountains were taught how to use their claws and teeth to defend themselves before they could speak or even walk, their ability to breath fire and immunity to magic added to their capabilities. They shared a very close bond with each other and would often refer to each other as brother or sister. This did extend outside to other races or species but this was rarer. In modern days Kirins keep to themselves, not really interested in outside events unless it threaten their homes. But there had been efforts to further improve relations, in fact, before the disaster at Ponyville, The Kirin Leaders had talked with Celestia, Luna (who they had welcomed back), and Cadance about having a small group of young Kirin live among Ponies as a start to putting the past behind them, the selected town was going to be Ponyville. The disaster hadn't changed anything, just delayed the plans while the town was being repaired. Twilight snapped back to realty as Rainbow shouted, "HE'S the Captain?! He looks like a pirate King of some sort!" Razor chuckled, "Well, I was born into Nobility, and I do have the papers to prove it." The Nobles, who had been sitting back, saw Razor and one shouted, "No wonder we got our tails handed to us, we were up against a KIRIN!!" Twilight stepped forward, Razor turned to look at her. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, Equestria's newest Princess and the one of friendship, We finally meet." "I take it you've heard of me." It was a statement, not a question. "Indeed I have, of you and your friends. I take it you and them have met my Head Officers." Pinkie answered before Twilight. "Yeah and the Zebra shot me in the rump!" Razor facepalmed, "Zzeennitthh..." then looked at the Zebra. "What did I say about shooting the opposition in the rear like that?" Zenith's ears folded back, "Ahhhh... don't?" She squeaked "Yes. We're having a talk later." He turned back to Twilight. "Anyway, tell me miss, how did you and you friends fare against my Head Officers?" "Um... not so grand." Spike said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Twilight turned and glared at him. Razor give a light smile and shook his head. "Well anyway, it's time for us to take our leave, but first..." He raised his halberd and thumped it against the floor again, only this time the runes glowed brightly for a moment as a ball of blue light and white fog appeared, when it cleared there was a large chest with its lid open revealing a huge amount of treasure within. The Traveler Ponies could only stare in surprise, Razor chuckled that that. "It's payment for the cargo and other items we took, also the Sea of Legends isn't really a safe area for a cruise ship, so if I were you I'd set a course for the closest port of repairs and to get you bearings." The Traveler's Captain looked up from the chest. "Well... were is the closest port?" "That would be Imperator's Grave, a three day trip from here, just drop my name to the shipwrights there and they'll repair you ship at a reduced price. You can't miss it, just look for an island made of shipwrecks, leviathan bones, and rocks." Shining Armor recovered and glared at Razor. "Paying for the damages or not, your still a pirate and attacked an Equestrian ship." "True, but I'm not like some of the pirate gangs that roam these waters." "And how are we to believe your Nobility? You just a bragged pirate!" "Okay first, that was rude. Second, some of the pirate gangs in these waters would have just killed you all or worse. And third," He pulled a scroll out of one of the chests on his flanks, then had Atlas float it over to Cadance. "Destroying it wouldn't do you any good, I made sure to make copies long ago." Cadance grabbed it and unrolled it, her eyes widened. "He is Nobility! This is an official document!" Shining looked at it and paled a bit. "Oohhhh...." "Relax, I'm not going to have you head roll because of a minor insult." Razor said as Atlas took the scroll back. "Wait," Rarity suddenly said, "If your actually Nobility, then why are you a pirate?" "I prefer a life of adventure, not sitting in an office gossiping about things and acting "high and mighty" and "better then everyone else" all day." "Isn't the pirate life dangerous?" Razor just shrugged. "I'd prefer a death at sea if it came to that, better creatures have met far worse fates. Anyway, time for us to go, I got what I came for," Razor flicked his wrist, revealing a tiny diamond in between his index and thumb claws. "Till next time we met." He raised his halberd and slammed the bottom against the floor, the runes glowed very brightly and a lot of fog filled that side of the room, when it cleared the pirates were gone. It wasn't just them either, their ship was gone too. The Ponies trapped in the magic fields suddenly found themselves freed. Sky was the first Pony to say something. "Is it just me or is anypony else having trouble wrapping their heads around this: Pirates who are lead by a Noble and...pay for the stuff they took?" "I find that mighty hard to swallow." Applejack said scratching her head. "They did seem more considerate then other pirates... I mean, they didn't kill anypony and payed for what they took." Fluttershy said. "Yeah, I mean, pirates steal, but they never pay for the things they take?" Pinkie wondered out loud. The Traveler's crew was looking through the chest, inspecting the contents. "This will pay for the stuff they took, the damages, and then some." "All these gems are perfectly flawless too." Everypony else was not sure how to take all this in. A bit later "Princesses!!" The Captain shouted in a panic. "What is it Captain?" Cadance asked. "We just went over the passenger list, we have a small number missing!" He handed the list over to Twilight who looked it over, most of the passengers were accounted for but there in fact a few missing. Twilight's eyes went wide as she read the names of the missing passengers: Angel Wings Vapor Trail The CMC The Ponyville foals The Young Six And The SOFS Students Twilight almost had a heart attack, she had promised the students parents and guardians that they would be safe. Soarin and Sky also looked quite panicked, the CMC's families weren't looking so well either. "WERE ARE THEY!!??" "We don't know, we searched the entire ship and found no trace of them." "I hope their alright..." Fluttershy said quietly. Velvet and Night Light, who had been sitting off to the side with Rainbow's parents, suddenly had a terrible thought; nopony had found them, because they weren't on the Traveler! Slowly, the four of them looked in the direction the pirate's ship had been, the other Ponies followed their gaze. "It can't be... The pirates must have taken them!" Night Light said in shock. Everypony else soon had the same look of shock, if the pirates had them, finding them would be very difficult. The Sea of Legends was a massive area, it could take mouths, a year even, to locate even a ship that big. And most importantly; what would the pirates do to them? Everypony knew, they had to find them, fast. The Traveler set sail to Imperator's Grave, hoping to start from there. Dragon of the Depths One of the forward cargo bays In a somewhat dark room, the lid of a large crate slowly opened. Lifting the lid was a light tangeloish grey hoof which was attached to a young Pegasus mare. Angel Wings slowly and carefully looked around, seeing nothing of danger, she turned her head to look back into the crate. "All clear." She stepped out of the crate followed by Vapor Trail, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Button Mash, Tender Tabs, Rumble, Dinky, Pipsqueak, Chipcutter, Ruby Pinch, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Sandbar, Ocellus, Silverstream, Gallus, Smolder, Yona (who slipped and landed with a crash, causing everyone to freeze for a minute), Vellum Codex, State Sentiments, End Zone, Popsicle, Berry Blend, Golden Wheat, Raspberry Scoop, Grapeshake, Apple Betty, Crescent Stars, November Rain, State Tales, Cobalt Firer, Steamsail, Monkey Wrench, Goldtile, Summer Meadow, her twin sister Mulberry Flowers, Citrine Spark, Sun Field, Honeycomb, Sugar Maple, Huckleberry, Ocean Note, Sky Slicer, Patty Peppermint, Soaring Virtue, Pizzelle, Rainbow Catcher, Love Melody, Juno, Burning Heart, Lucky Clover, Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof (The last two weren't wearing their cheerleader outfits). They looked around the room, many barrels and crates of all sorts, most tied together in bundles but a large number hung from the ceiling in nets or rope lines. The older Ponies felt some of the foals press against their legs. Dinky shivered in fright, Summer Meadow leaned down and gently nuzzled her. "It's okay Dinky, we'll be okay." She said softly. "Us on board a massive pirate ship with who knows how many pirates, yea we'll be okay." Smolder said, her voice laced with sarcasm. The others glared at her. "Not helping Smolder." Gallus snarked. "Okay before a fight breaks out, let's get our bearings first." Sandbar said hoping to calm the two down. "Agreed." Everyone said. Raspberry Scoop turned to Steamsail. "Steam, your father works on ships, what would be our best course of action?" Steam rubbed his chin for a few minutes before answering. "It would be to find a lifeboat and launch it. The problem is their kept on the main deck were the pirates work." "So that's out of the question?" Applebloom asked. "Not necessarily, last we checked night will be coming soon. So most of the pirates will head to bed, which would allow us to get one as long as we can avoid the night watch." "Alright we have that, let's find our way up." Scootaloo said. Quietly, they began to move through the room with Sugar Maple taking point. They ended up getting lost as the cargo was stacked in a maze like setup. Sandbar: " A dead end again." Vellum Codex: "Wait, we're back were we started!" Apple Betty: "Okay seriously, I've done mazes on paper that weren't this hard! And I've done some hard ones in the past." Huckleberry: "Who stacked this stuff? This is awful!" Smolder: (Frustrated snort) After at least an hour wandering in the maze they ended up back were they started, again. They sat down for a minute to calm down then discovered that some of the stacks could be moved. After moving some they finally found a way out, Sandbar walked up to a door, pressed his ear against it listening for a moment, then opened it, only for some loose barrels to crash to the floor on the other side, scaring the crap out of them. November Rain was not amused. "You motherbucker!" They entered the room which was very dark, the Unicorns lit up their horns bathing the room in faint light. The room was another cargo bay, thankfully easier to navigate. After walking for a few minutes they were suddenly thrown off their hooves and feet when a strong wave hit the side of the ship, putting the horn lights out. What followed was; Rumble: "ACK!!! You're crushing me!" Summer: "Oh sorry Rumble." Vellum Codex: "Here let me help you up Rumble. ????, Hey Rumble, I know you're a strong colt but... why do your shoulders feel all soft and smooth?" Summer: "Because those aren't his shoulders!" Vellum: "!!!! OH I'm so sorry Summer!" November Rain: Codex, I know your my best friend and Summer is a beautiful Mare but she's also my marefriend." Vellum: "You do know Rain that herding is legal in Equestria if each member is willing and not of the same family." Summer: "Alright boys, not in front of the foals. Besides, nether of you have taken me out for dinner yet." Gallus: " Oh just get a room you three!" Ocellus: "Please could we not fight among each other." Stage Tales: "I agree with Ocellus, we have more important things to worry about right now." After the Unicorns relit their horns, the group continued on. Eventually they found their way up, passing through the next six decks which all held cargo, they entered the seventh deck up and found what seemed to be the prison deck as the entire deck held small, one-creature cells with thick, heavy hardened steel bars and locks. The cells held nothing within, not even a bed or carpet to lie on and even had wooden shutters to isolate anyone inside from the outside world. Much of the group gulped fearing that if they were found, they'd end up in those same cells. The next deck up held the bottom cannon deck, they came up the stairs and very carefully lifted the hatch. The room they were now in was what looked like a cafeteria or mess hall, there were many tables with seats, a counter leading into a kitchen on the right from the hatch and eight double doors, four behind the hatch and four on the opposite wall. Careful moving one of the doors, they found a series of hallways, stairs, and doors, picking one at random they entered the port side gun deck. Inside they found a long hallway with 68 ponder cannons on one side with enough space behind them to make up a little over half of a gun deck on a normal sailing ship, in between each of the cannons were some support structures, the space held several sets of stairs leading up to the next level and support structures. Behind those was a series of pipes with flared ends, a manual winch, and metal slots. A closer look at the slots revealed them as ammo dispensers while the two ropes from the winch traveled up to and along the ceiling, and through two holes above the gun port. The cannons themselves were in their stored positions and were longer by one and a half times the normal length. They a a set of four rings on the barrel; a silver ring with six thick spikes at the front, a red ring with ten small gold spikes, a silver ring with four medium sized domes, and a gold ring with eight tiny domes. After the rings was a twin set of gold spikes traveling to the back of the cannon. There were two things that really had the groups attention; the first was a piece of round plastic disk with a red dot in the center and red black lines in the shape of a plus sign each with four smaller lines through them at different levels held up by a small metal frame. The second was a system like that of a cap and ball revolver; the hammer, when triggered by a length of rope, would slam down on a primer which then fired the cannon. A closer look revealed the primer was fitted to a short cylinder akin to one on a revolver facing into the chamber, complete with the action of the cylinder rotating when the hammer was pulled. Steamsail took a look at a stored cylinder showed that the side that went into the cannon was covered by a layer of was, thick enough to protect the power within but thin enough to light the power charge in the cannon. "Wow," Steam said putting the cylinder back in the crate it came from. "These pirates are far more well equipped then the typical pirate or even most navies. How do they have this much advanced gear normally reserved for elite or specialized branches. No one in the group could answer, but they had a feeling there was a lot more to this then what meet the eye. Leaving the cannons behind they moved up to the next deck, Steamsail paused at the steps and looked back. I'm glad the pirates boarded us, this is only the lowest cannon deck. I don't think even an ironclad could withstand a broadside from a ship like this. Sweetie Belle tapped him on the leg to snap him not of his thoughts. "Come on Steam, we need to move." Steam nodded and followed her up the stairs. Dragon of the Depths Razor's Office Razor and his Head Officers were sitting around the large rectangle table in the center of the room. The table had charts, books, items of various origins, rum bottles and goblets filled with fruit preserves, smoked meat strips*, sweets, and in Razor's, Gold Fire's, Shadow Fire's, and Fire Gem's cases, small gems. The room itself was massive, besides the pipe organ on the back wall, there were two spiral stairways leading up to the floors above and down below in the back corners and a door on each side of the pipe organ. The front wall had the door leading into their private meeting room, four banners, and some large paintings of the Outcasts that Razor had commissioned from an artist. The right wall facing from the door cabinets with counter tops holding various items and a length of square windows looking out over the sea and the darkening sky. The left wall facing from the door had a long table which held a number of mannequin heads each wearing a hat of some type or another, under each of the mannequin heads was a flag each with a different design and in front of each head was a sword of various types. The entire table top was in a glass case and there was a similar length of square windows. Hanging from the ceiling above the table was a large anchor like the one in their meeting room and a large number of lanterns lighting up the room. Through out the room were shelves filled with books. Razor was reading the book Night and Dark had retrieved from the Traveler while the others were watching him and waiting, expect for Snow who had Silver in her lap and was cuddling with him rubbing his neck while the little hybrid had a look of pure bliss and was purring as Snow ran her hoof up and down his neck. "So Razor, if you don't mind us asking, why did you what us to retrieve that book?" Night asked after Razor looked up. "Well to answer that, it turns out there's more to the key then we thought." He picked up the diamond. "This diamond and the crystals will not work without the item known as a the Power Ring." He set the diamond down, lifted up the book and showed them the page Dark had been on earlier. "This power ring will allow the crystal's power to combine into this diamond, showing us the way to the Lost Tombs. Without it, the crystals are just trinkets." "So were do we find the power ring Dad?" Silver asked. "Well son, the last known location of the ring was a Panish Treasure Galleon named the Explorer. Unfortunately, the ship vanished years ago and I've been unable to get any info passed that." Atlas Spoke next. "Well, according to the whispers in the tavern on Imperator's Grave, and Intel from our coves in Panish waters, The Explorer was last headed for Blackcap Peaks when it disappeared." "Blackcap Peaks? That's far from their waters. Why would they head there?" White asked. "The Explorer was used for finding new locations, hence the name." Gold Fire said. "A Treasure Galleon as an exploration ship?" I find that hard to believe." Zenith said. "Treasure Galleons have some of the largest cargo holds, so it might have been based on that." Steel said taking a swig of rum. "That's true, the Outcasts use Treasure Galleons for moving large amounts of cargo." Apollo said nibbling a piece of meat. "I still find it a little hard to believe." "So how far to Blackcap Peaks?" Snow asked. "It's a far distance, I'd say about... a week to two weeks trip." Apollo said. Razor at this point had grabbed his rum bottle, picked up a small power horn, poured a tiny amount of power into the bottle, and blew a tiny flame into it. A small, but loud, puff of fire shot out of the bottle and scared the heck out of the others. Dark looked up from the mango he'd been munching on. "Razor, why do you do that?" Said Kirin just shrugged. "Adds flavor." "Sir, with all due respect, even other Kirin, your own kind, think your crazy." Fire Gem said. "Well, I do have a reputation to uphold." The others just facepalmed or went back to their treats. After a few minutes, Shadow Fire spoke. "So, it was a bit of a surprise to come up against the Bearer of the Elements of Harmony." There was a round of laughter, with Atlas speaking next. "Yeah that was quite the interesting encounter. I got Rarity, who was a bit taken aback by my beauty." She a hoof along her braids. "I went against Applejack and her brother Big Mac, they put up quite the fight." Steel smiled a the memory. Those three Wonderbolts were a little challenging, but had a hard time against me." Snow said with a laugh. "Shadow and I just kept an eye on..." Gold Fire stared. "...The shy one, Fluttershy." Shadow finished. "An noble and honorable thing you two, if one ain't willing to fight, why start one." Apollo said. "Speaking of noble, where were you Razor for most of that?" Zenith asked. "I was taking "care" of the Nobles on board." "And by "taking care of" you mean beating them into the floor." Fire Gem deadpanned. "All but two of them went down with no effort, those two at least put up a fight." "Razor, every time we find out there "High-Born" indiviuals on board a ship we're attacking, you use some of the tactics you got from Blackmane to scare them, render them powerless in magic terms, then attack from the fog and darkness. Why, you are a Noble, by blood i might add, isn't that a bit hypocritical" Atlas asked. "Maybe, and I might of end like them if my so called father hadn't shown me that side." "Also, the crew and us as well, have called Razor is a rare competent Noble, and remember, he's not afraid to get dirty with the rest of us." "And let you guys have all the fun, yeah right." Razor leaned forward. "And I also wouldn't send my fellow Outcasts into something I'm not willing to do myself. I lead those who chose to follow, we're called the "Outcasts of the Abyss" for a reason. You all know as well as I do that for many of the Outcasts, this is all they have. Many of them didn't even have homes before they joined, I would never force any to join, it's their choice, like it was for all of you." The other nodded in agreement, it was true. Many of the Outcasts didn't really have anything left outside of the Outcasts. The Head Officers each knew it had been their choice when the first met Razor. "I may be a Noble and a pirate, but I'm one that cares about his people, and those people are you, All. Of. You!" He thumped a fist against the table. "I may be a hypocrite by attacking other Nobles, but they attack each other all the time, ruining lives of the "commoners" at the same time. Atlas and I started the Outcasts to give those same "commoners" something to live life again. I maybe be a Noble, but I'm not what they are; nothing but a bunch of nose-in-the-air idiots who believe their untouchable." Atlas gently put a hoof on Razor's shoulder. "Easy Razor, we all know how strongly you feel about that." He let out a calming sigh. "Sorry about that everyone, it's just... ever since my mom was cast to the waves, I've always felt like I failed her because I wasn't able to protect her from my waste of flesh father." "She would have been proud of you Razor." Zenith said. "You didn't fail her, you hadn't known what your father was really like until it was too late." She stood up and walked over to him, followed by the others, Snow spoke next. "I still remember when you found me on that rock, very close to death. You and Atlas found me and nursed back to health, you saved me that day, and not just me; many of the souls on this ship had nothing left, you gave them something. Heck, look at how many former members of the four Empires had joined the Outcasts over the years, either from poor treatment or being left for dead." She leaned over and pulled the Kirin into a hug. "You pulled all of us from the holes we were in, healed us, give us a new life, and many other things without asking for anything in return." She then looked him in the eye. "That is why we chose to follow you, Archduke Razor Tail." Fire Gem spoke next. "I've talked with the crew many times and they have all said, and I quote: The Captain give us and our families a home, a better life, pays well, and most importantly; actually gives a crap about his people." Razor then felt something give his tail a light tug, looking down he saw Silver looking up at him. "Dad, I remember long ago you said to Mom that you were scared that you wouldn't be a good father, after what you had been through with yours." Razor blinked in surprise. "You heard that, that was years ago." Silver nodded and continued, "You did tell me once that Kirins have long memories. I may not have known your father, but from what I have heard that was for the best. My point is, I believe you've been a good father. You've played with me, helped me when I was having trouble, and, despite my young age, being teaching me many things that you had to learn on your own." Silver stood on his hind legs and wrapped his forelegs around his dad. "I love you dad and as far as I'm concerned, you haven't been a good father, but a great one." Silver finished tightening his hug. Razor sat there for a moment, the wrapped his own forelegs around his son. "And you are my greatest treasure Silver, don't forget that." The others joined in on the hug. They stayed that way for a few minutes when the moment was ended by... KA-BOOM Everyone jumped in surprise. "What was that sound?!" Dark asked. "An explosion of some sort." Apollo said. "If one of the Dragons got dunk and lit the gunpowder up again there's going to be tartarus to pay!" Fire Gem said angrily. They moved through the doors and out on to the deck, only to find the crew chasing after a group of Ponies and some other creatures. Razor leaped from the deck he was on, spread his wings, and landed in front of the running group who put on the breaks. The crew blocking off any escape behind them. Standing at his full height Razor looked over the group; mostly Ponies: nineteen Earth Ponies, fourteen Unicorns, and thirteen Pegasus Ponies, twelve of those were foals. With them was a Jewel Beetle Changeling**, a Mountain Hippogriff***, a young Dragon, and a Yak. All covered with soot with some singed hairs, looking up he saw some crew members in similar conditions. Looking back at the group who were staring a him with terrified expressions, he drew in a breath. He knew this group wasn't part of his crew, he knew them all by name. "Alright, My Head officers and I were talking about our next course when we hear an explosion, we come out to find you chasing... them." He gestured to the group in front of him. "A group of Ponies with a few other creatures who aren't members of the crew. So, will someone please tell me what the hay is going on here!!!"