//------------------------------//
// Piracy is Magic 
// Story: Side of Beans 
// by Irrespective 
//------------------------------//

“That’s it?” Twilight blinked several times, dumbfounded by the sight of the wreck before her. “That’s the RES Friendship?

“Now, ah know what yer thinkin’,” Applejack replied with a nervous chuckle, “but it ain’t as bad as it looks. Ah’ll admit that the Friendship hasn’t been seaworthy for several years now, but with a lick of paint and some patches on the sails, she’d be the finest frigate on the high seas.”

That statement was hard to take seriously, and Twilight’s face showed her disbelief. “Really? That’s all?”

Applejack cleared her throat. “Well, strictly speaking, the sails should just be replaced, obviously. Tain’t much more than threads up there at the moment. And ah’ve been meaning to patch that hole, but them durn pirates took everything not nailed down and Ah ain’t had the money for the timber. And Ah’m sure that list to port could be straightened out, somehow.”

“What about the mizzenmast?” Twilight asked.

“What about it?”

“It’s not even there!” Twilight gestured to the blank spot on the ship’s aft deck. 

“Oh, that. Ah’ve always said a good ship doesn’t need it. Slows you down and adds extra weight, right?”

Twilight rubbed the sides of her head with her hooves. “This isn’t a ship. This is a pile of lumber, held together with some rope and a barrel of wishful thinking.”

“Ah’ll have you know that the Friendship is one of the finest ships in Celestia’s fleet!” Applejack stomped a hoof on the dock. “She is the only ship to have survived an encounter with the Endless Night, after all.”