//------------------------------// // On the Water // Story: The Open Sea // by NahB //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle awoke to a rolling beneath her. She didn’t open her eyes immediately, instead waiting for all her senses to be drawn together. A slow awakening was always more restful. It took a moment, but her first sense was hearing. She heard voices, low and quiet. It took another moment to place the voices. Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh and Sweetie Bell were all holding a conversation, likely across the room. Twilight opened her eyes then and was met with the sight of lanterns, a warm, yellow glow. She yawned, which alerted her companions to her wakefulness. “Twilight, you’re up!” Sweetie Bell exclaimed, trotting over to her. The other two did the same. “How long was I… the storm! What happened?” Twilight stood, making Sweetie Bell step back. “Calm down, Twilight. The storm went over with little damage. Flutters and I had to repair a sail, but no biggie. You were calm, and you hadn’t slept in days, so we figured let you go,” Rainbow said, calming her. “It’s sometime around three or four in the morning. It’s hard to tell, since the princesses don’t control the days anymore.” Twilight shook her head, her multicolored mane a mess from sleeping on the floor. “What do you mean I haven’t slept in days? I slept when we got into port at Fog, and the night after that.” Macintosh laughed at that. “Twilight, we were running for two days after that. You didn’t sleep at all.” Twilight frowned. “Okay. Well. Who’s where?” Sweetie Bell spoke up. “Rarity, Applejack, and Cheers are up top. The rest are asleep in the quarters.” “Thanks, Bell,” Twilight said, smiling. Internally, she was staving off the panic of what might have happened in the storm. It had been a doozie, but apparently her good friends had been fine. “I’ll go up top, see how everypony up there is doing,” Twilight notified her sailors. “I’ll go with you,” Rainbow said. Twilight nodded. “We’ll be in here if you need us,” Sweetie Bell said. The two mares left the crew quarters and stepped on deck. The air about them was brisk, almost chilly, due to the cold air on the other side of the storm. Rarity and Cheerilee, speaking to each other, noticed the two and trotted over to them. Rarity smiled at Twilight. “Glad you got some sleep, dear, I could see bags the size of Rainbow’s ego under your eyes last night.” At that jibe, the cyan Pegasus gave Rarity a dirty look and both mares laughed. Cheerilee frowned at that. “Sweetie Bell convinced us all to let you sleep. I absolutely agreed with her. You’re pushing yourself too hard, Twilight. It’s not the end of the world if we’re a day or two late to Crest. Bon Bon will wait for us, it’s not like she has an urgent need. She always has us get cocoa for her with time to spare.” Twilght stared at the mare, and nodded. “You’re right, Cheers. Thank you everypony. I feel a lot better now, if a bit stiff. You all enjoy the night air, I’ll go talk to AJ.” The three ponies around her smiled and nodded, and left her to head to the Pilot Deck. The Free Mare was unique, when it came to ships. Most of the ships that sailed the Equestrian Sea were your garden variety wheel-in-front-on-top-in-plain-sight-pilot-easy-to-kill ships. Twilight, knowing that there were going to be a lot of ponies that would take advantage of the loss of government, commissioned her own ship. The Pilot Deck was her main improvement. Instead of being open like normal ships, her special Pilot Deck was completely covered. In front and on the sides were a pair of magically-imbued shutters that would open, close and everything in-between at the Pilot’s wish. The heavy shutters were great protection from hostile ships, and had already saved Twilight’s and Applejack’s lives twice, stopping cannonballs in their tracks. Twilight Sparkle entered the Pilot Deck and found the orange earth pony mostly draped over the wheel that controlled the ship’s direction. “You know, Twi, if you sold the designs for all this magitech stuff you make, we’d live out the rest of our lives in lazy prosperity.” Twilight widened her eyes at the statement, and then laughed, a good belly laugh that hadn’t escaped her in three or four months. She approached the earth pony and kept laughing. Applejack turned to her captain, stared a moment, and started laughing too. Twilight, finally able to breathe, wiped a tear from her eye. “Oh dear, what would be the fun in that?” Applejack prodded her with a hoof. “One of these days, we’re gonna have to settle down, and you’ll finally rediscover books.” Twilight didn’t have books on the Free Mare. She couldn’t. Where one book was, she’d gather more and more until she’d be inundated by books and be unable to captain the ship. She didn’t want that. Though the Flood had been terrible, and things now were harder than ever before, every pony on the Free Mare loved the life they lived. The Free Mare was just that – a place for ponies to pry a living out from the Sea that had claimed their previous lives. Freedom. “So, Applejack, how’d you do in the storm?” Twilight asked, calm now. She leaned against a wall, staring through the open windows. “Did great, no thanks to my sleepyhead captain. Only had to open the drains once. These shutter things you designed really are great, Twi.” Twilight smirked. “So, why did you want to do this in the first place, AJ? You seemed really adamant, and I only agreed because I wanted to find out why. I have to know stuff like this.” Applejack sighed, and turned to the lavender unicorn. “All the time, during times of duress, you’ve been in here, shouting orders out the door. Storms, battles, everything. You’re always in here, helping me navigate this darn ship. So I wanted to show you that I can do it myself. We have the map. We have the compass. I know where to go and how to do it, Twi. You’re more needed out there with everypony else during duress, and you know it.” Twilight stared at Applejack a moment, and broke out into a big smile. “Good, because I was gonna stop doing it anyway. You’re a big girl. How much farther to Crest, miss navigator?” “Woah, hold there partner. I want it in a promise. You be out there helping during an emergency unless I come shoutin’. Got it?” “Okay, I promise, AJ.” The orange mare stared at Twilight. “What? Oh, fine. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight did the motions, and when she put her hoof to her closed eye, Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in front of the ship, dangling by a rope. The pink mare stared at Twilight and put her hoof out. “What they hay, Pinkie! I asked you to not do that when I’m in here usin’ the wheel,” Applejack exclaimed. Pinkie Pie just narrowed her eyes at Twilight as the trio heard Rainbow Dash speak. “Pinkie, I need that rope!” she said as the rope, holding Pinkie, was hoisted up. Twilight Sparkle and Applejack laughed, shaking their heads. Applejack turned to Twilight. “Four days to Crest. That storm actually made us faster, and we got a favorable wind right now.” Twilight walked to the door and opened it. “I’ll let everypony know. Oh, and Applejack?” “Yeah Twi?” “Good job.” Twilight left the deck, closing the door behind her. Twilight walked through the ship, telling everypony that it was only four days to Crest. When Twilight went to tell Rarity, however, she found the white unicorn in the starboard hold again, using the mirror. Twilight walked over to Rarity and nudged her. Rarity flinched and looked at Twilight. “Rarity. Scrying doesn’t work anymore. You’ve got to stop. It’s not healthy.” Rarity stared at Twilight a moment, and then nodded.’ “You’re right. I’ve got to stop worrying about them and get on with it. They’ll be fine. They’ll find what they’re looking for, and help us all.” Twilight nodded as Rarity set the mirror down, and exited the room. Twilight was right behind her. “Four days to Crest,” she told Rarity. “That’s good news, I’m due for a good hooficure and Fog Island simply couldn’t offer what a girl really needs.” Twilight laughed, buoyed by all the good news. She’d been wrong about the storm – it had simply propelled them to their destination, and nothing could bring her down. Far along, on the horizon, sailed a lone ship. Its captain raised a telescope to her eye, looking at the red sails of the Free Mare, barely visible in the moonlight. “The Free Mare. Twilight Sparkle. We’ve caught you, and you’re going down as soon as we catch up to you.” The captain turned to a brown Pegasus at the wheel. “Follow the Free Mare. But don’t let them know we’re here. Stay away from them.” The Pegasus nodded. “Yes, mistress.”