//------------------------------// // Set Adrift: Rumble // Story: My Little Pirates: Luffy's Adventures in Equestria // by Fullmetal Pony //------------------------------//         Fluttershy took a slice of bread from her saddlebag and tore it into tiny bits with her wings before flinging the pieces into the lake she was standing by. She smiled as she watched a school of fish of various sizes and colors swim up and hastily devour the bread. “There, there. I hope you all like it. Pinkie and I worked extra hard to make that bread super nutritious. Winter’s coming up you know and it’s almost impossible to get you all food when the lake freezes over.” The fish just happily partook of their meal and then darted off to other parts of the lake. “Oh... please don’t swim too fast,” Fluttershy murmured. Unfortunately, the fish didn’t seem to listen and quickly left. Fluttershy looked out at the lake and sighed. She looked down at the water near her hooves. “The water makes it so hard for them to hear me. Oh, some days it just makes me want to...” Acting on impulse, Fluttershy raised her front hooves and prepared to strike a blow to the lake. Her hooves raced down... and produced two small ripples. The water didn’t even splash. To Fluttershy’s horror, a frog jumped out of some nearby reeds and croaked at her. Fluttershy bent down and looked at the frog with eyes on the verge of tears. “Oh no, no, no! I’m so sorry Mr. Frog! I... I just lost my temper and I—” The frog interrupted her with another croak and rolled its eyes. “W-what?” The frog croaked again. “I... I didn’t disturb you? Oh thank goodness! I’d never want to upset a little guy like you... I have some food, would you like that?” The frog croaked once more. “Oh, you already ate? Well, I guess I’ll just be on my way then. I’ve got some other animals t—” The frog let out a chorus of ribbits and looked at the sky with eyes as wide as dinner plates. Fluttershy’s eyes mimicked the frog’s and she rapidly spun around and looked up. “Mr. Frog, w-what are you talking a-about? T-there’s nothing in the sk—” The sound of snapping wood filled the air. Whitetail Woods was normally a peaceful place, a stark contrast to the Everfree Forest. Occasionally, one of the forest’s nastier residents would enter the woods, but nothing that made this much noise. That many tree branches snapping at the same time meant whatever was breaking them was big and they were breaking very fast, meaning the creature was also very agile. “Oh no! Oh no!” Fluttershy quickly turned back to the frog, only to find that it had already fled. The sound was getting closer. “I... I’ve got to hide!” Fluttershy’s eyes darted around and locked in on the nearby reeds. She dashed into them and pressed herself into the water and the mud below it. Her whole body shivered waiting for whatever creature was about to appear. Please don’t be a dragon! Please don’t be a dragon! The sound of branches snapping grew to a roar when a giant translucent paw zoomed over the forest, knocking over the tips of a few trees. It zoomed over the lake and then disappeared off into the horizon. It wasn’t until birds began chirping and other ambient noises returned to the forest that Fluttershy emerged from her hiding spot. She was covered head to hoof in mud and a few reeds were sticking out of her mane. She looked down at her messy form and sighed, “Oh, Rarity will be so mad if she sees me like this.” She turned her head up and looked at where a few trees had been broken. “What was that?” ~~~         “I’m bored,” complained a rotund brown dragon. He bit off a piece of a ruby and then chucked the now-deformed gem into a large pile of other stones.         “Shut up Quake,” hissed a nearby red dragon. “I’m bored too, but you complaining about being bored doesn’t help.”         “But Garble,” Quake continued, “we’ve been watching these gems for hours nothing has shown up. Bet those stupid dogs finally realized not to mess with us.”         Garble got up and gave Quake a stiff punch in the arm. “That’s just what Boil was thinking when he fell asleep at the job and got his part of the hoard stolen. There’s a reason he’s now just a skinny loser.” His eyes went down to Quake’s gut. “You could probably deal with being a little thinner.”         “Hey!” Quake bared his sharp teeth at Garble. “This is all muscle!”         “Really?” Garble joked, backing away and assuming a pouncing stance. “You said you were bored, right? Then why don’t I beat the snot out of you for some entertainment?”         Quake also got ready to pounce and growled, “Couldn’t have said it better myse—” His eyes lost their aggressiveness and his form slacked. He raised up a claw and pointed to the sky. “Um, Garble, what’s that?”         “Ha!” Garble sneered. “You know how old that trick is? It’s old just to call you out on i—”         Quake didn’t listen and instead darted for a nearby rock. This just made Garble chuckle. “This is too rich! Aw, when I tell the other dragons about this, you’ll be a bigger joke than that stupid little wannabe dr— ” Garble was interrupted by his hoard exploding. Gems went flying everywhere. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a group of diamond dogs emerged in the chaos and started catching the gems or picking them up from the ground. “Hurry!” one of the dogs yelled. “While dumb lizard is distracted!” “Lizard?!” Garble roared. He spat out a  jet of flame straight at the dogs, but they were too nimble and easily dodged. With gems still falling and smoke now rising from Garble’s fire, the dogs slipped away with a hefty amount of gems that they’d quickly stuffed in their bags. Just before escaping, one of the dogs spotted an odd shaped gem in the smoke. He reached out and grabbed it. The gem was definitely a strange one: part of it was hard yet velvety, but the rest of it felt very soft and plush. The diamond dog didn’t care; a gem was a gem and that was what mattered. He caught up with his brothers and fled beneath the earth. Garble swatted the smoke away only to belch out more fire when he saw what had become of the hoard. Very few whole gems were left, most were shattered or missing. In the center of where the hoard had been, there was now just a large paw print. ~~~         “Good haul,” said a lanky diamond dog.         “Yes, very good,” said another dog. This one was very short and slightly rotund. He raised up its bag and put it on a table-like stone in the middle of a large cavern. “Stupid big lizards!”         A large third dog also raised up his bag and put it on the stone. “What was boom? We didn’t plan boom.”         “Who cares?” the short dog chuckled. He quickly undid the knot on his bag and looked over the gem, then he moved onto the lanky dog’s bag. “I like boom. We should get it!” He then moved over to the large dog’s bag and spoke as it undid the bag’s knot. “We could steal even more ge—”         A pair of large eyes stared back at the small diamond dog. They belonged to a small creature with a pair of horns. The dog paused and looked over the creature’s form. It somewhat looked like a diamond dog, but it’s limbs were more even with it’s torso and ended with cloven hooves. It also had a strange hat atop its head. The dog’s eyes narrowed. “This not gem.”         “Ahhhh!” The creature screamed. Its body shuddered but didn’t move beyond that. “Ahh! I can’t move! Someone help!”         The small dog quickly reacted and placed a paw over the creature’s mouth. “Screaming thing annoying!” He glared over at the large dog. “We only get gems!”         “Thought it was gem,” the large dog replied.         “Doesn’t matter, we throw it ou—” The small dog’s eyes then widened. It turned back to the creature. “If it not gem then maybe it boom.”         “Oooh!” The other two dogs awed. “But how do we know if it is boom?”         The small dog raised a leg and scratched his head. “We ask.” He focused back on the creature. “I move paw away if you don’t scream. Understand?” The creature nodded. “Good.”         The dog moved his paw away. The creature breathed a little and then screamed, “Where am I? What’s going on? Who are yo—” The dog raised his paw and silenced the creature again. “You yell again and we throw you to lizards! Stupid horned thing! Reminds me of...” His muzzle turned into a deep scowl. “Her.” The other dogs gasped at this. The lanky one rasped, “It bad, but not that bad. Maybe lizards scared it. Maybe it want food?” The creature weakly nodded at this. “See?” said the lanky dog. He walked over and removed the small dog’s paw from the creature. “We not hurt you horned thing. Horned thing wants food, yes?” “I am hungry, but I can’t move,” the creature weakly replied. “Give me a few minutes and I should be fine.” “That okay,” replied the lanky dog. “We need to stay quiet for a little anyway. Lizards will be listening.” “Lizards?” the creature asked. “Big lizards,” said the third dog. “Lizards have wings and shoot fire, but they have good gems.” The creature’s eyes widened. “Those aren’t lizards, those are dragons! What sort of crazy island did I land on?” “This not island, this cave,” the lanky dog chuckled. “You silly horned thing.” “I’m not a ‘horned thing,’ I’m a reindeer,” the creature huffed. “And my name is Chopper.” “Never heard of reindeer before,” the lanky dog sighed. “Hooves remind us of pony though. You strange pony?” “No,” the small dog whispered. “Pony have butt tattoo.” “You mean a brand?” asked Chopper. “Call it whatever,” the lanky dog replied. Chopper shifted around a little, causing a large diamond to clatter to the ground. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the sheer amount of treasure he was resting on. “Eh?” The small dog grinned. “You like? If you boom, then you get us good gems. We like you if you boom.” “S-so much treasure,” Chopper stuttered. “Yes,” the small dog chuckled, “we like gems. Lizards stupid. They only eat gems.” The image of a raging orange haired girl flashed through Chopper’s mind. Nami would kill them. “What a weird place. Can you tell me anything more about this place? Anything dangerous here?” The dogs looked at each other and then back at Chopper. “Lizards stupid,” said the small one. “Easy to steal from. But ponies... ponies very dangerous.” Chopper’s cheeks puffed up and he tried to hold back a laugh, but failed. His laughter rang throughout the cavern. His managed to raise up his hoof. “How could a pony be dangerous? Even the horses I’ve met were nice.” “You have not met her,” the small dog shuddered. Chopper raised an eyebrow. “Her?” “The screaming one. She was evil. She would not stop complaining. We tried to cover ears, but her voice got through. Every dog knows and fears her: the rarity.” “Okay...” Chopper replied, confusion all over his face. “But why was she compla—” Something plopped onto the ground. Chopper and the dogs looked as a small orange ball rolled across the ground and came to a rest at the dogs’ bottom paws. The small dog bent down and picked up the ball. “What this thing? Candy?” “No!” Chopper yelled. “That’s a rumble ball. It’s not candy!” “What is it?” asked the big dog, curiosity growing in his eyes. “It’s mine! Please don’t eat it! It could be dangerous for anyone else to eat it besides me,” Chopper continued yelling, his eyes growing a little desperate. “Well, it ours now,” the small dog sneered. It overdramatically raised the ball up and placed it over his mouth. “We hungry anyway.” “No!” Chopper pushed with all his strength and launched himself off the gem pile and snatched the ball out of the small dog’s grasp. However, he snatched it away with his mouth and accidently ate it. He then tumbled to the ground. The dogs rushed over and glared down at him. “That was stupid thing to do,” the large dog growled. “Bad to steal from dogs.” “You stole it from me!” Chopper yelled back as he pushed himself back onto his bottom hooves. He involuntarily smiled at being able to move again, even if his legs were a little wobbly. “I don’t like horned thing anymore,” the lanky dog hissed. “We should put in cell.” “I should have known thieves were no good,” Chopper growled. He then smacked one hoof on top of the other. “Oh yeah, I guess I’m a thief too. But pirates are still better than jewel thieves!” “Horned thing talk too much!” The small dog complained. “We shut mouth now!” He, along with the other dogs then lunged at Chopper. “So that’s how it is? Fine! Arm Poin— Huh?!” Even as he spoke, Chopper’s form shifted. He went onto all four of his hooves, which became rounded and thicker. His muzzle pushed out a bit and his horn disappeared beneath his hat. Oddest of all, a beaker with a pink liquid in it with three cherry blossoms in front of it appeared on his flank. “What?! Why is my form messed u—” Chopper didn’t get to finish as the dogs all tackled him at once. He couldn’t even be seen under all three of them. The big dog smiled. “We get horned thing good. Now we throw it in ce—” “Guard Point!” A voice emanated from under the dogs. All three of them were all suddenly pushed away by a giant furry ball. Out of the ball emerged Chopper’s head. “Phew, at least this form seems normal.” His eyes looked over the the dazed dogs. “Better move now.” He shifted forms again. This time, his horns grew out, his hooves stayed thin, and his fur thickened around his chest. “Walking point will get me out fastest.” He then darted out of the cavern. A few minutes later, the dogs recovered. They  rubbed their heads and looked around. Finally, the lanky dog spoke up. “It had butt tattoo.” The other dogs shook their heads. Together, all three snarled, “It pony spy!” They all then took off, growling deep into the caverns. ~~~ Gotta keep running! There’s gotta be an exit somewhere! Chopper thought as he dashed through the tunnels. He took a whiff of the air and caught traces of a smoke and fire that differed from the rest of the cave’s scent. Where is everyone else? How long was I flying? Darn it! I need to get back to the Archipelago! He skidded to a stop and raced down a tunnel he’d almost missed. “This way!” The small dog’s voice then echoed throughout the cave. “Pony! We’ll find you!” Pony? Chopper thought as he ran faster. Is that what I looked like with Arm Point? Why would the rumble ball mess up like th— His thoughts were interrupted by him smacking into a stone wall. “Ow! What’s going on? I thought this is where the exit... was.” Chopper shifted back to his normal form and rubbed his head. He then looked up and saw a glimmering of light far at the top of the cavern. “Okay, I gotta get up there, before...” “We’re coming pony!” The small dog yelled. “No time! Jumping Point!” Chopper’s body shifted once more. It grew in size, but also became sleeker. He went onto all fours again and grunted a little when his back started to burn. He turned around and stared in shock as wings sprouted out of his back. “What the hell? Darn it!” He rapidly flapped his wings and slowly and haphazardly rose, continually bumping into the cavern walls. “Come on! Just work until I get to the top!” He dared glance down and saw that the dogs were at the bottom of the cavern. The small dog waved a clenched paw at Chopper. “Stupid pony! We’ll climb and get you!” True to his word, he and other dogs began climbing the walls and racing up to Chopper. In response, Chopper flapped his wings even faster and pushed against the stone walls to propel himself up the cavern. Above him, the exit’s light was getting brighter. “Almost there!” Chopper huffed. He reached out a hoof to the exit’s ledge right as his wings gave out. With a last heave, he pulled himself out. “Made it.” “Well look, a stupid pony working with even dumber dogs,” a voice hissed. Chopper turned and stared straight at  bright yellow reptilian eyes. “Bad move stealing from dragons.” “W-wait I...” Chopper stuttered. Garble said nothing and instead released a huge stream of fire that engulfed Chopper. He didn’t even have time to feel the burn before everything went black.