//------------------------------// // 8. Dark Clouds over Caimán Town // Story: Treasure Hunt // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// The Flowering Isle was a place of abiding beauty among the Thousand Isles, a dead volcanic caldera that was overgrown with blooms of every shade and color. While the isle had a spring of fresh water on it to support the gardens, there were other, larger islands nearby with better coves and harbors and more usable resources. Thus, the Flowering Isle was untouched by the hooves of true civilization, the only residents a small tribe of native earth ponies who sustained themselves on flowers and water and needed nothing else, living in perfect harmony with nature. They were a peaceable folk who had never caused any trouble for anypony and whom nopony had ever troubled before… …except once, a hundred years ago, when a certain Caballero pirate had traveled to their shores and asked them to hold onto a key for him. Perhaps Espada Noche had intended to come back for it…but he never had, the Caballeros having caught up with him. And so the Flower Key passed down from one tribal leader to the next, the reason for the task basically forgotten save for the importance of preserving the Flower Key. Captain Pipsqueak observed the Flowering Isle from his spy-glass, still humming to himself at the sight. “Naught but flower-fed natives lay before us, me maties,” he said, clapping his spy-glass closed and turning to his crew as the Hispaniola drifted to a stop near the Flowering Isle. “This will be even easier than Neigh Orleans!” “Neigh Orleans weren’t that easy,” Applebloom objected. “It took us all day to take it.” Pipsqueak had to concede that point. He’d also commanded a far larger flotilla during the sack of Neigh Orleans, rather than just his single ship and crew. “Aye, ‘tis true. Cap’n Dinky put up a mighty stiff defense for a land-lubber. But we won the day! And this…” He waved a hoof at the Flowering Isle. “This be nothin’!” “We’re right here, you know,” one of the native ponies said, her ordinary talking voice somehow reaching all the way from the beach to the decks of the Hispaniola, despite Hispaniola still being nearly five hundred feet from dry land. “You can’t hear us, we’re still on our ship!” Bee Bop informed the native pony, shouting to be heard over the distance. “You’re ashore! You have to wait for us to get off our ship!” “Oh. Okay.” Pipsqueak tried to think of how to start up addressing his crew again, but couldn’t think of anything after an interruption like that. Sighing, he directed his crew to the jolly-boats so that they could go ashore, putting in at a sandy beach that quickly gave way to a bright and colorful jungle full of flowers. Some of the jungle had been cleared away for the native ponies’ village, simple huts made of felled palm tree beams and leaves and grass. Even these were covered from stem to stern in flowers. The pirate crew was met by a trio of native earth ponies. The one in front had a very pale yellow coat, a red mane, and was wearing a skirt made of palm leaves and was covered in intricate tattoos that looked like roses, or at least as far as the foals were concerned that was what she looked like. Beside her were two other mares in similar attire, both with pink coats, though one had a blond mane and tattoos that suggested lilies, and the other a green mane and tattoos that looked like daisies. The native ponies looked the pirates up and down. “So are you ashore?” Pipsqueak ground his teeth together in frustration at dealing with the natives of the Flowering Isle. “That there be the ship,” he said, pointing a hoof to the Hispaniola where she lay moored, then pointed to the sandy beach beneath him. “We be hardly swimmin’!” “Okay, okay,” the blond-maned one said as she raised her hooves. “We just wanted to be sure this time.” She coughed into her hoof, looking to the other natives. “Well, then. I’m Lily, and this is Daisy, and over there is Rose. And we’re the natives of this island! You have to complete a – ” “You’re using your real names?” Snips interrupted. “Yeah, that’s not as fun,” Bee Bop said. Her wings fluttered and she hopped a little. “Ooh! Ooh! Use the Old Unicorn names for your flowers! Like what Miss Cheerilee taught us about tacks-anatomy…” she noticed Pipsqueak turning the baleful glare of the Pirate King on her, and coughed into her hoof. “I mean, I learned that in school. When I went to school…which I didn’t ‘cause I’m a priate!” “The Old Unicorn word for ‘rose’ is just rosa, it’s not all that different,” Rose observed. “Same,” observed Lily. “Lilium.” “Ooh, but mine would be,” Daisy pointed out. “Bellis perennis for common daisies. Argyranthemum for marguerite daisies…” Pipsqueak groaned, burying his head in his hooves. The other foals noticed his frustration with the immersion-breaking tangent, while Daily, Lily, and Rose – the Flower Trio of Ponyville, clustered around their mobile flower carts as was their usual habit when they weren’t tending their greenhouse – were now talking about all the official, scientific names for various flowers they sold, quizzing each other in their knowledge. It was Rumble who tried to bring things back to the Thousand Isles, stepping up to the three tattooed native ponies. “So,” he said. “Espada Noche came here a long time ago and give you the Flower Key, right? Or, like, your grandparents or something. So now we have to do something to get it, right?” The native ponies all looked back to the pirates. “Oh, yes, of course,” said the one with the daisy tattoos. “Well, we put a lot of thought into it, and we wanted something that five foals – ” “Five pirates,” the native with lily tattoos corrected with a smirk. “Yes, of course. Five pirates could do. So…a singing competition!” Bee Bop perked up notably at that, leaning forward. “Singing?” She asked. “I can sing! I’m great at singing!” The natives all took a reflexive step back at the volume. “Oh,” the one with rose tattoos said. “W-well, that’s good! We didn’t want to pick something too hard.” Pipsqueak finally glanced out from behind his hooves at that. “Not to…?” He echoed quietly. Nopony else heard him as the three Flowering Isle natives all bunched up together, and started singing, and even doing what appeared to be an interpretive dance: “Five spring flowers, all in a row. “The first one said, ‘We need rain to grow!’ “The second one said, ‘Oh my, we need water!’ “The third one said, ‘Yes, it is getting hotter!’ “The fourth one said, ‘I see clouds in the sky.’ “The fifth one said, ‘I wonder why?’ “Then BOOM went the thunder “And ZAP went the lightning! “That springtime storm was really frightening! “But the flowers weren't worried–no, no, no, no! “The rain helped them to grow, grow, GROW!” The five pirates stared at the natives, who all looked pleased with themselves as they ended their little song on their hind legs, hooves thrown in the air to make themselves as tall as possible. They held their pose for several seconds before coming back down to all four hooves each again. “So,” said the rose-tattooed native. “Can you beat that?” She held up a single rose. “Because if not…you’ll never get this.” “…Crew meeting!” Pipsqueak roared. “Back t’ the ship! Crew bloody meeting right bloody now!” The three native ponies all gasped at Pipsqueak’s language, the rose-tattooed one almost looking like she was going to faint. The other pirates, more used to sailor language and also feeling at least a modicum of their captain’s annoyance, all climbed back into the jolly-boat, rowed back to the Hispaniola, and got on board. The figurehead was staring pointedly at Applebloom. “Ah know, Ah’m not t’ use that language,” she assured it. “That was, like, a song for yearlings,” Bee Bop said in annoyance, as the five huddled together. Against all odds, she was actually keeping her voice low, not wanting the natives to somehow overhear them despite the distance from the shore. “If I had a little brother I wouldn’t sing that,” Snips said. “And in a singing contest?” “They look happy with it,” Rumble observed, glancing up from the huddle and to the Flowering Isle natives, who indeed continued to look happy with their song. And yet not smug, not confident. Like they’d given a good challenge to the yearlings they thought the pirates were but were eagerly waiting to see how they’d overcome it. It would be cute to them. Pipsqueak drew his sword and stabbed it down into the deck. “We be pirates,” he said. “I be the Pirate King and I will not be mocked like this! This isn’t about the Flower Key anymore, mateys. Oh, we’ll take it…but we need those natives to understand what they’ve done! Put the fear of the seven seas in ‘em!” Rumble looked uncertain for a moment, but then shuddered – probably remembering the dance that went with the song. “Agreed, captain.” “Aye-aye!” Applebloom, Snips, and Bee Bop all confirmed. Overhead, dark stormclouds had begun to gather in spite of what should have been wonderful weather – what had been scheduled as wonderful weather. Pipsqueak the Pirate King had no way of knowing that through some series of contrived coincidences, the weather pegasi of Ponyville in the heartland of Equestria had realized that there was an error in the weather schedule and a light drizzle had been called for overnight, and so the pegasi there were scrambling to make up for lost time. Coincidentally, the effect was similar to what was happening over the Thousand Isles. The native ponies looked up in concern, taking their gaze away from the Hispaniola – their mistake, for Bee Bop had gone to one of the cannons so that the pirates’ revenge could begin perfectly: “BANG-BANG! BANG-BANG! BANG!” The natives leapt in fright, and saw that the crew of the Hispaniola had guided her closer to the shore. The crew had seemed to multiply, dozens of Appleblooms, Snipses, and Bee Bops swarming over the Hispaniola, clutching knives and axes and cutlasses and calling out to the natives. But there was still only one Rumble, who gradually guided the crew into a morbid chant: “We’ll see your bones sink far below “Yo-ho, yo “We’ll see your bones sink far below “Yo-ho, yo “We’ll see your bones sink far below “Yo-ho, yo “We’ll see your bones sink far below “Yo-ho, yo!” There was only one Pipsqueak, too, who came to the fore of Hispaniola and jabbed his cutlass towards the natives. “All you pox-filled scurvy dogs who crossed me lay there laggin’, “You'll end up heeled beneath my keel - it's dinner for the kraken! “All the rest can meet yer ketch and be my cannon fodder, “Because now you foals you’re ‘pon the shoals, come kiss me gunner's daughter!” The Hispaniola opened fire again, cannonballs wreaking havoc on the native village and even starting a few fires. The pirates swarmed from the ship’s decks to the jolly-boats and quickly reached the shore, surrounding the natives. “Call they all and all they fall “And call they all today! “All the foals they meet their end “And on the rope they sway! “Yo HO yo HO come on mate let's play! “Call they all and all they fall “Come ride the hemp today!” The natives of the Flower Isle would never know where the pirates had gotten so much rope from, but before they knew it the three were bound together tightly as Pipsqueak appeared before them again. “I’ll see you lined with cat-o'-nine's across yer pretty backs “And wail and flail beneath my sail with gullies in yer sacks! “If you wish to feed the fish then dance with ME today “I'll see you home beneath the waves and wash your deeds away!” He had jabbed his cutlass at the ocean at that last point, but then grinned and ordered more rope from his crew as they began singing once more, the native ponies now reduced to quivering terror at the sight of a pirate king in wrath. “Call they all and all they fall “And call they all today! “All the foals they meet their end “And on the rope they sway! “Yo HO yo HO come on mate let's play! “Call they all and all they fall “Come ride the hemp today!” A nearby tree had been found and three ropes strung over its sturdy branches, with nooses at the end. Pipsqeak leapt expertly up among them, using them to swing towards and away from the Flower Isle natives, sword tip coming inches from their muzzles. “A swing and a swish a dying wish, the swift gift of the cutlass kiss!” “Feeling down? Just come on ‘round we'll rest your crown fifteen leagues down!” “Yer caught and rot, you’ll wear your guts you maggot-munching-mewling-mutts!” “So come on mates, let's set 'em straight, and send them to a watery grave!” The crew of the Hispaniola gleefully described the incoming fate of the Flower Isles natives. “We'll see your bones sink far below “Bloated, floatin’ all alone “We'll see your bones sink far below “Bloated, floatin’ all alone “We'll see your bones sink far below “Bloated, floatin’ all alone “We'll see your bones sink far below “Bloated, floatin’ all alone!” The nooses were now thrown over the native ponies’ necks, who shrieked in terror, eyes wide at the sight but powerless to stop the pirates. “Call they all and all they fall “And call they all today! “All the foals they meet their end “And on the rope they sway! “Yo HO yo HO come on mate let's play! “Call they all and all they fall “Come ride the hemp today!” And Pipsqueak joined in for the final verse as he took the other ends of all three ropes in his hooves, glaring madly at the Flowering Isle natives. “CALL THEY ALL AND ALL THEY FALL “AND CALL THEY ALL TODAY! “ALL THE FOALS THEY MEET THEIR END “AND ON THE ROPE THEY SWAY! “YO HO YO HO COME ON MATE LET'S PLAY! “CALL THEY ALL AND ALL THEY FALL “COME RIDE THE HEMP TODAY “HEY!” The Pirate King gave the lightest tug of the ropes – just enough to scare the natives as the nooses tightened just a little around their necks. Almost as one, the three fainted away, Pipsqueak letting go of the ropes and allowing them to fall to the ground. The one with rose tattoos fell with one foreleg outstretched, the Rose Key lying in her hoof. Pipsqueak trotted up to it, flipping it up into the air with his cutlass and catching it in his teeth. “I’ll take that as a concession of defeat in this challenge, then,” Pipsqueak said to the fainted trio, directing his crew – now back to its usual numbers – to once more board the jolly-boat and Hispaniola. The figurehead was once again glaring at Applebloom. “We weren’t really gonna hang ‘em!” she promised. “Right, Cap’n?” Pipsqueak laughed, as he set the Rose Key down with their other keys. “No need! I said they be flower-fed weaklings, didn’t I?” “Plus, we’re pirates,” Bee Bop said. “We’re the bad guys!” “Speaking of which,” Rumble said as the ship got underway, the figurehead not seeming terribly pleased but powerless to do anything about it as long as Applebloom could hold the five missing barrels of cider over her brother’s head, “I think it’s time to put our plan to get the other keys into effect, right, captain?” Pipsqueak grinned and nodded. “Aye, me first mate, it be time. Back to Caimán Town! Rosedust and Diamond Tiara are likely there now. Perhaps Sweetie Belle and her allies have even made their move…” “So now there’s four pirate crews,” Snips said. “This is complicated…” Pipsqueak scowled. “Not quite, Mister Snips. Diamond Tiara aren’t pirates really, and Dinky and her crew be pirates by circumstance rather than choice. Sweetie Belle may be a filly o’ fortune herself…but her new allies are no pirate neither!” He turned to face the rest of the crew. “No. Tootsie Flute and Truffle Shuffle be something every pirate hates right down to the core of their beating black hearts…” In the far away town of Ponyville, the Sun may still have been shining in the sky, but somehow night had begun to fall on Caimán Town despite existing at a similar longitude, since a twilight glow suited the mood better. Rosedust put in at the dock and her crew disembarked into the rough-and-tumble home-away-from-home for the town’s many rapscallions and raiders just as the Sun was dipping low on the horizon, the shadows growing long and the sky a bright orange. “You sure this is a good idea?” Featherweight asked Dinky. He pointed across the docks, at a familiar, ornate ship that seemed out-of-place amongst the more ramshackle pirate vessels at Caimán Town. “That’s the Diamond Tiara. The Equestrian Navy is here!” “True,” Scootaloo said, answering for her captain, “but this is neutral ground. Right, cap’n?” “Right,” Dinky agreed, as the five entered Caimán Town’s largest and most visited tavern. “Nopony will try anything here. It’s against the Pirate’s Code.” “Good pirateth have a code,” Twist pointed out. “But Pipthqueak ithn’t a good pirate.” “I dunno, he did sack Neigh Orleans…” Snails observed. “He must be pretty good.” “I mean he’th not a good pony. Of courth he’th a good pirate, he’th Pirate King.” “Oh by the Stars, please, no more…” a new voice demanded. The five members of Rosedust’s crew came up short inside the tavern, which was exactly as rough-and-tumble as it should have been to their eyes. Looking distinctly out-of-place were the five members of Diamond Tiara’s crew, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara herself in their clean and proper Equestrian Royal Navy uniforms, while Alula, Sweetie Belle, and Firelock may have been dressed in plainer clothes, but they were still in much better condition than one usually expected from pirates. It had been Diamond Tiara who had spoken, and she pressed on. “Can we please stop while we’re here?” She asked. “Depends,” Featherweight said as the five from the Rosedust all sat down at a nearby table. “Can we go back to Equestria and stop being considered pirates?” Diamond Tiara started to answer, but Silver Spoon spoke up first. “That is not within our power,” she observed. “Only the Princess could issue a pardon like that.” She got a glare from Diamond Tiara at that, and both fidgeted and blushed a little, but didn’t break character. “What about the Princess’ niece?” Scootaloo asked, looking pointedly at Alula. Princess Alula Plutonia started at that, adjusting the adventurous noble fineries she wore to try and look like a common pony (and failed miserably in that regard) and ruffling her wings. “I’m not a princess…” she mumbled. “Oh, right, yeah,” Scootaloo said, winking. “Right, not a princess. But, um…if you were, you could put in a good word for us with Princess Luna, right?” Alula swallowed as she thought that over. “Well, if I was a princess, then I guess I could…but I don’t know why Princess Luna would listen to me. I’m not a princess, I’m not her niece.” “Right,” Scootaloo agreed, though she once more gave a theatrical wink as though she was in on a secret. Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, looking to Dinky. “Look, I just want to get this over with,” she said, reaching down beneath the table and bringing up a two items, a wooden cup and a wooden spoon. As she did, Silver Spoon carefully untied a black feather from her hair. The three items were set down on the table. “Here’s our keys. Where are yours?” Dinky considered the three items, then looked to her crew. Featherweight produced the ball of ice containing trapped lightning, Snails the purple crystal that glowed in the dark, and Twist the foal-sized lyre, the three being set down on their own table. “Right,” Dinky said. “So…here’s six of the keys. What do we do now?” “Give me your keys,” Diamond Tiara said simply. “No,” the five crew of the Rosedust said as one. Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Well I’m not going to give you any of my keys! So where does that leave us? Each of us has three keys and each of us needs all nine to open the stupid treasure chest!” “Yeah…we don’t have much of a bargaining position,” Silver Spoon admitted. “Either of us, or Pipsqueak, wherever he and his crew are.” “And none of them are actually keys,” Firelock observed. “None of these will fit into the lock, and there’s only one lock – ow!” She exclaimed the last when Diamond Tiara hit her over the back of the head, but it was too late, as Twist’s eyes were already narrowing at what she said. “Wait…how do you know that?” She asked. “Unleth you’ve theen the lock, how could you know? And know that there’th only one lock…?” “Because, my fine filly o’ fortune, they be dirty, rotten cheaters!” Another voice exclaimed, and the blood of all decent seafaring ponies went cold at the sound of it. Ten sets of eyes turned to the door of the tavern, and saw striding in none other than Pipsqueak the Pirate King and the crew of the Hispaniola, each of them more of a scurvy sea-dog than the last. They strode confidently up to another free table, glaring at and daring any other rapscallion in the tavern to stop them. None did, and soon the three seafaring crews were all looking at one another. “Diamond Tiara,” Pipsqueak said, placing his hooves together before him, “was given the map what had the location of Espada Noche’s treasure on it. They already dug it up and put it aboard her ship!” Dinky and her crew recoiled at that, eyes widening. “What?” Scootaloo asked, turning to look at the Equestrian Navy crew. “But that’s cheating!” “No it’s not!” Diamond Tiara objected, getting out her cloth map and waving it in the air. “We had a map and it showed us where the treasure was and we got it! That’s exactly what we’re supposed to do! That’s how treasure hunts work!” “I’d still expect better from the Royal Equestrian Navy!” Dinky said. “Equestrian Royal Navy,” Silver Spoon corrected with a sniff. “And it is our duty to keep the treasure out of the hooves of pirates!” Rumble tsk-tsk’d from the Hispaniola’s table. “The Royal Navy should be better than this…but really, what did you expect? They’re honest. And you can never trust an honest pony to be honest when you really need them to be. That’s why it’s better to be dishonest. You can always trust a dishonest pony to be dishonest.” Dinky’s head tilted to the side as she tried to parse through that. She wasn’t the only one, as Applebloom stared at Rumble. “But…mah sis says that you should always be honest,” she objected. “‘Honesty is the best policy’, that’s what she says.” “Not when you’re a pirate,” Bee Bop insisted. “Ah s’pose…” Pipsqueak held up a hoof before the conversation could continue. “Look,” he said. “Before anything else, a member of my crew has something to say to a member of the Rosedust’s.” He turned to look at Snips. The green colt looked back at his captain for a moment, then nodded and hopped down from the table, and trotted over to the Rosedust’s – specifically, just before Snails’ seat. He let out a long breath. “Snails…I’m sorry that we were fighting over going to Diamond Tiara’s tea party.” “I didn’t invite you,” Diamond Tiara said from her table. Snips looked to the earth pony. “But I wanted to go! I can be cool and cultured and stuff! If you’d give me a chance instead of always making it a fillies-only thing!” Before Diamond Tiara could retort, Snips looked back to Snails. “But I’m sorry that I blamed you for not getting invited. It’s not your fault that everything you like to do usually gets us dirty. And I like doing stuff like that too! It’s not like you make me.” He cast his eyes down. “So I’m sorry.” Snails considered, but only for a moment. “Aw…I’m sorry too,” he said, hopping down from his seat and drawing his friend into a hug. “I shouldn’t have said that you were just trying to be cool. Just ‘cause I don’t like tea parties doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be allowed to go to them. And just ‘cause you want to go to them doesn’t mean that you’re trying to be better than me.” “I invited Rumble, it wasn’t supposed to be fillies only,” Diamond Tiara added. “Oh, so that’s what the fight was about?” Dinky asked, as Snips returned the hug. “I’m sure that if Diamond Tiara knew you wanted to go to a tea party, she would have invited you!” She looked to Diamond Tiara expectantly. “Right?” The pink earth pony’s eyes widened. “What? No! He’d track mud all over my nice house!” “Hey!” Snips objected, breaking away from the hug Snails was giving him. “I clean up nice! And Snails does too! Just ‘cause we’re not afraid of getting dirty doesn’t mean we’re always dirty!” “And you invited me,” Scootaloo pointed out. “I get dirty at least as often as those two. Like, not digging for bugs, but plenty of stuff that I do to try and get my cutie mark gets me dirty. Sweetie Belle knows, she’s usually there with me. Right, Sweetie?” Sweetie Belle started. Her horn had been glowing green, but at being addressed she quelled its light. “Oh!” she said. “Um…yeah, sure. Tree sap.” Pipsqueak eyed Sweetie, and grinned. “Ye be lookin’ a bit distracted there, Sweetie Belle,” he said. “That leads me to the second incidence of cheating from the crew of the Diamond Tiara. One that even her captain didn’t know about! What kind of captain be ye, Diamond, if’n ye don’t know about a mutiny brewin’ in yer own ranks?” The fifteen foals grew quiet at that, before Diamond Tiara turned to Sweetie. “What?” she asked. “What’s he talking about?” Sweetie glanced left and right. “Oh, uh…I have no idea! None at all. He’s just a lying pirate – ” “Aye, I be that, but not when the truth serves me better!” Pipsqueak objected, and looked to Applebloom. “But don’t take my word for it. Surein’ the word of an Apple be worth more!” Applebloom grinned brightly as she stood up from where she sat, looking at the other two crews. “Sweetie Belle,” Applebloom said, “was plannin’ on stealin’ the nine keys out from under us all here, and makin’ off with ‘em and the treasure. We heard it with our own ears! She was gonna get help from Tootsie Flute and Truffle Shuffle to steal all the keys and the treasure, and keep it all for herself!” Diamond Tiara glared at Sweetie Belle, who wilted, ears folded against her head. “I…I mean…” she intoned, then swallowed and glared at her captain. “You don’t even want the treasure! So why’s it matter?” “It matters,” Bee Bop said, hopping up onto the Hispaniola crew’s table, then leaping on top of the table for the Diamond Tiara, “because it makes you a traitor! A mutineer! And there be nothin’ worse than a mutineer!” Dinky stared at Sweetie Belle. “You were going to take everything for yourself?” She asked in a quiet, level voice as she got from her chair. Sweetie looked to Dinky, at first with indignation in her eyes, but that look swiftly disappeared as she made eye contact with Dinky. “I…I mean, no?” Sweetie insisted. “I was going to share with Truffle and Tootsie!” “By stealing it from your own crew!” Dinky exclaimed, feeling heat flush through her body. “Even if Diamond Tiara doesn’t want it Silver Spoon or Firelock or Alula might, and what about the rest of us, second place was supposed to also get a share ‘cause that’s fair, even Pipsqueak agreed to that and he’s the biggest pirate there is, but how is anypony supposed to get anything if you and Tootsie and Truffle have stolen it all?!” She’d advanced towards Sweetie as she talked, rearing up on her hind legs so she could put her forelegs on the edge of the seat and glare at Sweetie directly in the eye. The edges of her vision had turned red, and for some reason her flank was itching terribly, only worsening the broiling heat in her stomach and face. “Your crew is supposed to be your friends and you were just gonna steal from your – ” “Now!” Pipsqueak bellowed. There was a sudden whirlwind of activity from the crew of the Hispaniola before anypony else could react. From atop the Diamond Tiara’s table, Bee Bop quickly scooped up the three keys in her hooves and threw them to Rumble, who leapt into the air, caught them, and turned tail and flew out of the tavern as fast as his young but strong wings could carry him. Scootaloo let out a cry of surprise and made to go after him, the only one who could have kept up, but then she heard another shout from her own table and turned to look. Snips’ silvery-blue magic had grabbed the Rosedust crew’s keys and tossed them over to Applebloom, who caught them in her teeth and tail and also made a quick getaway. Snips took a moment to give another hug to Snails. “I really was sorry, honest!” He called out as he ran off. Even as he did, Bee Bop leapt over several tables, wings buzzing, and out an open window. Scootaloo was torn between too many directions, not sure which way to go. Everypony turned to the exit of the tavern, where Pipsqueak was waving at them, having made his own getaway. “Thanks for the distraction, Cap’n Dinky!” Then he was off. The ten remaining foals stood stock-still in shock, before Featherweight cleared his throat. “Um…” he observed. “Won’t…won’t they also need the treasure chest?” “The ship!” Silver Spoon exclaimed. With that, the ten foals all rushed outside, where the sun has set over the Caimán Town in their eyes. But their hesitation had been long enough for the five corsairs of the Hispaniola to assault and ransack the Diamond Tiara. The two figureheads looked incensed, trying to disconnect themselves from the prow of the ship. “Miss Silver Spoon!” One exclaimed when the silver earth pony drew close to where the vessel lay moored on the dock. “My apologies, but five miscreants just broke into the carriage – ” “We told them to stop, but they wouldn’t listen,” the other figurehead interrupted. “And before we could get out from this, they made off with that treasure chest you and your friends dug up!” The ten foals all stared with dropped jaws and wide eyes, scarcely believing the ruse that they had all fallen for, the way that the Pirate King had played them like foals (which they were, but that didn’t take the sting away). “Those…” Diamond Tiara finally voiced, “those no good…rotten…thieving…PIRATES! THEY STOLE MY TREASURE!” “HE USED ME AND TRICKED ME!” Dinky exclaimed. “HE GOT ME MAD AND USED ME AS A DISTRACTION!” “HE RUINED MY PLANS!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “I WORKED SO HARD ON COMING UP WITH THIS PLAN! No! It’s even worse than that! HE STOLE MY PLAN! THIS WAS MY PLAN!” Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, and Dinky looked between one another in the glistening light of the moon and stars. “Truce?” Dinky asked. “Truce,” Sweetie Belle agreed. “Truce,” Diamond Tiara echoed. She jabbed a hoof at Sweetie Belle. “I’ll deal with you later, but for now, come on! We need to get the treasure back!” She rushed off towards her ship, climbing aboard quickly with the rest of her crew following. Dinky turned to her own crew, horn glowing an angry lavender. “To the ship!” She exclaimed. “We’re not out of this yet! None of those keys can open a lock, there must still be more than has to happen. And we need to teach Pipsqueak a lesson!” They all rushed across the docks and into the Rosedust, Scootaloo putting them to sea with incredible speed. She pulled up alongside the Diamond Tiara as it made a somewhat more laborious cruise into the open water. “Okay!” Diamond Tiara called down to them from her own vessel. “You’re faster, you can find them! Let us know where they’ve gotten off to, and then we’ll come and make them pay!” “Ohhhh yes,” Firelock said, horn sparking a little in excitement. Alula let out a slight squeak and used her wings to fan the sparks away from the Diamond Tiara, letting them fall harmlessly to the water below. “Not like that!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed, swiping quickly at Firelock’s horn. She missed, but Firelock got the message and stopped the sparks. “I mean…probably not. Maybe. We’ll see what my mood is. But it’ll be two against one!” “Just a little more than that, actually,” Sweetie Belle said, pointing up. Everypony looked up at the masts of the Diamond Tiara, and their eyes widened when they suddenly realized that there were two new ponies there, dressed all in black, including black masks that covered all of their faces except for the eyes and, in the case of the smaller of the two, her horn. The larger of the two had a black bundle in his hooves, which he dropped down into Sweetie Belle’s waiting telekinesis. She retreated out of sight. “Wait…” Twist said from the Rosedust, squinting a little. “Are thothe…are you thuppothed to be…” “Yup!” Sweetie exclaimed as she climbed up the mast of Diamond Tiara herself, joining the other two. She had donned the black garb that Truffle had provided her with. “Since Truffle Shuffle and Tootsie Flute weren’t pirates, and since if we were another pirate crew it’d be cheating, Tootsie said that we could get away with it if we weren’t pirates. So instead, we’re…” “Ninjas,” Tootsie provided, striking a pose. Truffle and Sweetie joined her, Sweetie in the center. “The natural enemy of pirates.” “Sorry we didn’t stop them from escaping,” Truffle said. “We weren’t expecting that. But we’ll be better next time! Honor demands it!” Dinky stared, then chuckled. “Oh…Pipsqueak is going to hate this,” she said, then clapped Scootaloo on the withers. “Full sail ahead! Let’s go rescue our treasure!”