There was something calming about the ocean breeze. At least that's what Twilight thought as she stood at the front of the boat Princess Celestia had given her and her friends for their vacation. It came as quite a surprise for everypony that the Princess had set up this trip, but even more surprising was that she had personaly paid for the entirety of it. While it most likely didn't cost much to somepony of her position, it was still generous none the less.
Her friends were ecstatic when they found out they were going to be spending three weeks on a tropical island near the zebra territories though each had different reasons. Twilight herself was extremely excited to learn more about their culture, and planned to write a few reports aoubt it. Fluttershy was very excited to see all exotic animals that would be there after hearing some of the storys from Zecora. Rarity on the other hoof was dying to see what zebra fashion was like and had said she might be able to start a new line of clothing. Pinkie Pie was excited mostly for the sake of being excited and most likely planned on throwing some sort of party when they got there. Applejack was curious about the exotic fruits and vegetables. Rainbow Dash just wanted to do what she usually did, test her flying skills and nap in the sun. Spike was coming too, but wasn't excited about it untill he learned there were gems there you couldn't get any where else. Twilight chuckled at the memory of him drooling over that peice of info.
To say the boat was impressive would be an understatement. It was at least two train cars in length, width, and height, and had the capacity of them too. It was made of a new light weight alloy instead of wood like common boat. But what really made it special was that it didn't use sails or pony power; instead it used something called a motor that was developed by a gryphon not surpisingly named 'Motor'. The boat was also equiped with a piece of glass they called a radar that was enchanted to track any other object on the water within a kilometer radius. These things alone cost a hoof and a tail but together like this the boat cost almost as much as Ponyville. And the Princess just gave it to them. Twilight had tried to convince her not to but the Princess would have none of it.
Twilight dragged herself out of her deep thought just in time to witness the sun begin to dip into the horizon. The sky slowly began to change from a bright orange to a light lavender closely resembling the color of her coat. The loud rumbling that the motor made suddenly vanished, signaling their stop. Without the motor running Twilight could hear the soft splashes of the waves as they beat against the boat. She could also hear the light clip clop of hoofsteps as somepony began to approach. She turned her head just enough to see a white unicorn stallion step on to the bow.
His name was Blink and he was one of the three guards the the Princess had commissioned to their vacation. When asked about it though all she replied with was "The oceans around the zerba territories are not very safe." He was fairly well built as the result of his guard training and specialized in teleporting, or 'blinking' as it was called in the guard. The other pony guard was a sliver unicorn stallion named Silver Shield, and like her brother Shining Armor, specialized in barrier magic. Twilight could tell that they were good friends as they treated each other almost like brothers. The third guard however wasn't technicaly a guard but had accompanied them at the princesses request. The fact the surprised them though, was that he was a gryphon named Joche. Her friends were a little sceptical at first, considering the last encounter they had with a gryphon, but, whlie he a little rude, he proved himself to be nicer than she was. He also proved that he was the only one who knew how to mantain the motor as well.
"Enjoying the view?" He asked walking to the safety railing at the edge of the boat. Twilight replied with a simple nod and turned her focus back to the sunset. The sun had almost finished it drop into the horizon and was seconds away from vanishing for the night. Blink stepped up to the huge anchor that resided on the bow and, after wrapping it up in his magic, threw it overboard. It hit the water with a large splash and sunk to the bottom of the ocean taking the extremely long strand of rope with it. This action confused Twilight, so she decided to voice her concerns.
"Um, we're in the middle of the ocean," She began, causing the stallion to turn toward her. "how do you know the rope is long enough to reach the bottom?" The guard pony just chuckled.
"The radar can be switched from horziontally to vertically, so we can detect when we're in shallow enough water to drop the anchor." He explained, inciting an embarrassed 'oh' from Twilight.
"It's alright, It's not like you can learn everything in one day." He chuckled, most likely recalling her multitude of questions earlier that day. "And before you ask it's so we don't drift off in the middle of the night." He said, somehow answering her next question, and reciving a shocked expression from Twilight.
"Anyway you should probably get to bed real soon." He said, earning himself another shocked expression from Twilight.
"What?" She replied, her surprise evident in her voice. "But the sun just set a few minutes ago!"
"Yes, and we're leaving as soon as it rises and we're not stopping untill we get to the island." He explained before sighing. "I'm not going to lie to you, the ocean we have to cross and even the waters around the zebra territories aren't very safe, but thats why the Princess wanted you to have the fastest boat we had avalable, and why we're here." He said motioning to the boat and himself. "But if want to try to sleep when we weigh anchor good luck." He chuckled, leaving the bow. Twilight sighed in defeat before heading to the cabin where the beds resided.
--
WWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
That loud whine of the motor began to arouse Twilight from her sleep. She tossed and turned and even covered her head with her pillow in an attempt to hold on to the last strands of sleep. Her friends faired no better, each of them unable to sleep because of the motor's whine. Eventually the whining died down, only to be replaced by a voilent rumbling that began to rock the cabin.
What idiot decided to put the sleeping quarters right next to the engine.
The group of seven groggily got out of their beds and headed towards the exit of the cabin, too clouded by sleep, and annoyed by the sudden awakening, for any conversation. Twilight grasped the door in her magic grip, and swung it open, immediately regreting the dicision as the suns blinding light burst through the new opening.
"Turn it off." Twilight heard one of her friends say, though she wasn't sure who. However one of them endured the sun's rude brightness and stepped through the door, followed by two more before Twilight herself gathered the energy to do so. The world suddenly came into existance as her eyes ajusted to the light.
"Looks like the sleeping beauties decided to wake up." Came a masculine voice. Twilight looked up to see Joche resting on top of the cabin.
"Not like we had much of a choice." She retorted, still squinting her eyes against the sun's bright rays, only then realizing how high it was.
"Weren't we leaving right when the sun rose?" She asked, recalling her conversation with Blink the night before.
"We were, but the motor gave out when we fired it up this morning." He said as Silver Shield stepped into view. "It was an easy fix and should have only put us back an hour, but somepony decided to go and put my toolbox in with the food supplies." He finished glaring at Silver.
"Like it's my fault," He replied as Twilight began head toward the bathrooms, not wanting to get involved. "What kind of toolbox in shaped like a can?" The rest of the arguement was muffled by the bathroom door. Her friends were already in there, though she noticed that Rainbow, and Spike weren't.
The bathrooms were rather small, so there was very little room to move. Twilight, not wanting to stay in the crowded room very long, levitated a manebrush and quickly fixed her mane before stepping back out on to the deck.She saw Rainbow Dash and Spike watching the two argue.
"Alright, that's enough!" Blink said, just arriving on the scene. "This isn't going to get us moveing faster. Joche finish getting the boat ready. Silver come help me the anchor." He said pushing them away from each other. As two staillons made their way to the front of the boat, Joche gave a small huff and opened a hidden compartment, removing from it a unfamilar device. Twilight knew quite a bit about science and machines but even she couldn't tell its purpose from looking at it.
It was made up of a few different parts that were welded together, the most notiable of them being the large black box that held it all together. The box had a rectangular hole on either side, though the one on the left side was right in the middle, while the other sides hole was near the top. It also had a small peg that was connected to a small line on the right side. On one side of the box was a long black tube, and on the other was something similar to a crossbow handle and trigger, though if it were some sort of fancy crossbow, Twilight couldn't figure out where the bolt went. On the top of the box were a couple of hinges where it opened, but what was more interesting was a small rectangular piece metal near the tube that had a rectangle hole in with a small point jutting out of the bottom.
"What is that?" Twilight asked, curiously eyeing the device. She hadn't noticed that her friends, aside from Rarity had come out of the bathroom. Joche chuckled at the question.
"This, my friends, is a top of the line, GriffTech-T11-Thundercracker." He repiled with pride. Twilight had heard of GriffTech. Because gryphons didn't have any magic other than the weather vairity, they kept up with Equestria through technology instead. She had a sneaking suspision that most of the equipment on the boat was GriffTech, along with the material it was made of too. "And it's what is going to keep us safe." He added resulting in confused expressions from the group. He was immediately bombarded with questions.
"How is that supposed to keep us safe?"
"What's it do?"
"How do its work?"
"Why do we need to be kept safe?"
"How about a demonstration?" He asked holding his claw up to stop the torrent of questions. After reciving nods from everypony he grabed a tri-pod and a small box from the compartment before setting the T11 on the tri-pod next to the guard rail.
"The reason we need this thing is because its not very safe out here." He began to explain as he set up the device. "The ocean out here is full dangerous things, like sea monsters, a few giant bird that live out here, and of course the occasional pirate. For those of you who don't know, and I'm not sure how you don't, a pirate is a mean pony, gryphon, heck even dragon, that goes out to sea to steal things that dont belong to them." He finished. Twilight notced a few aduible gulps from her friends. As he attached the smaller box to the T11, he grabbed a eight small, round glass plates from the compartment.
"Would you please throw these as high and far out there as possible Twilight?" He asked handing her the plates. She complied, using as much telekinetic force as possible, sent the eight plates flying.
"Cover your ears." Joche commanded. They did as he said, though Twilight just used a spell simulate the same effect. They waited as the plates flew away from the boat. Twilight couldn't help but wonder what he was waiting for. After a few more seconds, when the plates where the size of bits, he pulled the peg back and began to aim. He gave a cocky smile before he finaly pulled the trigger.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
With that roar the end of the tube seemed to ignite in flames. Even with the muffle spell it was still loud. The T11 was vibrating heavily, and with each shake, a small gold shell flew out of it. Twilight turned her attention to the plates and was surprised to find two of them already gone. She watched two more shatter one after the other but couldn't figure out what was causing the shattering. There was no way the fire from the tube could be reaching that far. When the rest of the plates shattered the roar from the weapon died down. Twilight removed her spell, as her friends uncovered their ears. Each of them stared with their jaws droped. Joche just chuckled at this.
"Allow me to explain." He said to the bewildered crowd. He grabed another box from the compartment and opened it to reveal a long belt of pointy metal objects. "The T11 Thundercracker fires 50. cal bullets, these," he pointed to the metal objects. "at near super sonic speeds. At close range these thing can tear through just about anything."
"Wouldn't that..um, hurt somepony?" Fluttershy asked, shyly as usual.
"That's the general idea, but we aren't going to use it unless its absolutely necesscary, nor do we want to even if it is necesscary." Joche replied, partially putting the shy pony's, and a few others minds at ease. Twilight wasn't comfortable with a weapon like that on board, but if it would keep them safe she wasn't going to complain. She could only hope it wasn't needed though.
--
Twilight found herself once again alone at the bow of the ship, the ocean breeze whipping at her mane as the boat sped through the waters. For its size it was surpisingly fast, due to the motor propeling it faster than most ships. She sat there letting her mind drift off to their destination. She had to admit she needed a vaction, she didn't even remember the last time she had one. Her thoughts were once again interrupted, this time by soft thud as somepony landed next to her.
"What'cha doing up here all by yourself?" The new pony asked, revealing herself as Rainbow Dash. She walked up to Twilight side awaiting her answer.
"Nothing much. Just thinking." Twilight replied.
"Thats all you seem to do." Rainbow chuckled, before walking away, motioning for Twilight to follow. "Come on, Pinkie said she invented a new game and she wants us to try it."
"Tell her I'll be there in a minute." She responded, before Rainbow nodded and took off. Twilight chuckled to herself, wondering what crazy idea Pinkie came up with. Of course actually predicting it would be impossible. Twilight gave one last look at the ocean and was about to leave, but something caught her eye. She grabbed a nearby pair of binoculars and levitated them to her eyes. What she saw looked like a thick mist rising out of the ocean. It seemed to stretch across the horizon. She rushed to the deck where her friends where waiting.
"Does anypony else see that?" She asked pointing out at the mist. Her friends quickly made their way to the edge to see what she was talking about.
"See what darling?" Rarity asked. Twilight held the binoculars up to her eyes. Rarity gave a light gasp.
"Well that looks...ominous." She said, taking the binoculars in her own grip.
"What does? Let me see!" Rainbow commanded, before snatching the binoculars and holding them up to her own eyes. "Whoa, you've gotta see this." She said, more amazed than worried, and gave Applejack the binoculars. Twilight took a step back as her friends viewed the anomally. She turned to see Blink step on to the deck.
"Blink do you know what that is?" She asked him, pointing to the mist. It was close enough now that they didn't need the binoculars.
"It's a mist." He said flatly, earning him a look from Twilight. He gave a soft chuckle before continuing. "It's most likely being caused by high temperatures under the water." Twilight gave an annoyed sigh.
"I know that, is it going to be a problem?" She asked.
"Sort of," He replied, "We might have to sail around it if we don't want to get lost but that's about it." Twilight gave a sigh of relief as the guard pony turned to leave.
"Hey! There's another boat out there!" Pinkie, who just got her turn with the binoculars, exclaimed. Blink stopped in his tracks, rushing over to the guard rail, and looking out in the direction Pinkie was pointing. Sure enough there was a small black dot that sort of resembled a boat. Suddenly another dot seemed to apear from nowhere. Their boat came to a slow stop as Silver came rushing out of the captin's cabin, where the radar and wheel were, Joche following behind him, a pair of high tech binoculars hanging from his neck.
"Blink! We got two boats on the radar!" He yelled.
"Yeah, I know, I'm looking at them." He repiled calmly. Suddenly the two dots began moving toward them at a disturbingly fast speed. Joche put his binoculars up to his eyes, and his expression changed from confusion to horror. But the two guard ponies didn't need them to understand what was going on.
"They have motors, dont they?" Blink said seriously, but surprisingly calm. The boats were now close enough now that Twilight could see a few ponies, a gryphon, and even a couple of zebras on them.
"That's not the worst of it! Get Down!" He yelled pushing as many ponies as he could against the deck.
CRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACK!
Twilight covered her ears with her hooves as the boats whizzed by, spraying their boat in what she could only assume were bullets. The noise quickly died down, and Twilight dared to take a peek.
"How the buck did they get a hold of GriffTech!" Joche roared.
"Silver, get a shield up now!" Blink ordered. Silver's horn began glowing, and the boat was surrounded by a silvery bubble. The pirates, as they most likely were, turned for another pass. This time however, the sounds of their weapons were muffled, though they still cringed as the bullets bounced harmlessly off the shield, Silver grimicing at every hit. Twilight was able get a better look at the ponies that were trying to hurt them.
They all wore red. Weither it was red shirts, red bandanas, even red hats, everypony on the boats wore one, along with a strange tatoo running down their left forelegs. Their weapons, while using the same method, had almost no simularities to Joche's Thundercracker. They had the same handles, triggers, and the peg on one side, but instead of a box they had a half rectangle-half oval peice of metal holding all together and had a curved rectangle sticking out of the bottom, and had a tiny tube with a small peice of metal sticking out, instead of the long one the T11 had.
"Blink get this thing moving!" Joche shouted as another slew of bullets hit the shield, "Silver can't hold this forever!" Blink nodded before rushing to the cabin door.
"Girls, come in here with me!" He ordered, motioning for them to enter the captain's cabin. They obeyed each of them quickly heading to it. "Except Twilight." He said causing them to look at him with shock.
"Look, I don't want to do this," He said, "but I need you out here to help Silver in case they some how break through the shield." Twilight nodded before rushing to Silver's side.
"If she's staying out here then I'm staying out here!" Rainbow proclaimed.
"Fine! Just don't get in anypony's way!" Blink said sternly before disapearing in the doorway. Rainbow flew next to Twilight as the boat began to rumble. Joche stepped into sight, the Thundercracker in his claws, and two more weapons strapped to his waist, along a few boxes of ammo. They were the smallest of the weapons they had seen, one was just the handle and trigger, with the barrel attached to it, while the other seemed to be designed with pony use in mind, the handle and trigger designed to attach to a ponies hoof yet still be used.
"Here," He said handing Rainbow the pony one, resulting in a look of suprise from her and Twilight. "If you want to stay out here you need to make yourself useful. If one of them somehow get on the boat and I don't see them, you shoot them. Do not hesitate!" The boat lurched as Blink pushed the motor to its fullest.
"Why me?" Rainbow asked, eyeing the weapon warily. While she would try her hardest to protect her friends, the power that thing had could kill somepony, something she never wanted to do.
"Silver and Twilight are going to be busy with the shield, and I already have two!" He explained. Seeing how she still wasn't sure he added "Look, there's a good chance you won't have to use it, but it never hurts to be safe." Upon hearing this she reluctantly nodded. Now that Rainbow was convinced, Joche quickly grabbed new box from his belt. This one was smaller than the others but had what looked like a poorly drawn explosion on the top. He attached it to the T11, just as one of the pirate boats pulled up their right side.
"Twilight, when I tell you to, open a hole in the shield, right where their boat is." Joche commanded. Twilight nodded in response. While she wasn't sure what he had planned but questioning it wasn't going to help. The pirates opened fire, their weapons flashing as more bullets hit the shield.
"Now!" Joche cried, as the bullets died down. Twilight immediately ripped a hole in the shield, followed by the familar roar of the Thundercracker. She looked in horror as she figured out what the little picture on the new box meant. Joche returned fire, sweeping bullets along the entire length of the boat, each bullet creating a small explosion when it hit, effectively cutting the boat in half. A few pirates were unlucky enough to be caught in the spray, and Twilight could barely keep her lunch down as their bodies exploded in a red mist. She released her hold on the shield, causing the hole to vanish.
"Before you say anything, I'm just doing my job." Joche said, noticing the disgusted look on her face.
"We've got two more boats coming in from behind!" Blink shouted from the cabin before she could reply. She looked behind them, and sure enough two more boats, with more red pirates, were following them. However, one of the pirates had what looked like a long tube with a handle. Before she could say anything, the tube flashed, and a bright firey projectile flew from and collided with the shield in a massive explosion. Silver cried out in pain, and Twilight did her best to mend the spiderwebing cracks in the shield before the bullets could break through.
"Who the buck are these guys?" Joche growled, before shouting "Twilight! Hole! Now!" She complied, tearing open another hole in shield. The T11 roared again, but this time firing normal bullets. While not as effective, the bullets still tore through the metal and wood, and hit the intended targets. A few of the pirates fell in spurts of red mist, but most importantly Joche hit the pirate with the tube, and the driver, causing both to fall overboard and the boat to swerve out of control. Twilight reformed the shield, and other two boats drove out of range.
"Um where did that come from?" Rainbow suddenly asked, pointing out toward the front of the boat. From nowhere a massive gold and white ship had apeared, red pirates dotting its riggings. The windows on the side of the ship opened revealing at least ten cannons pointed directlly at them.
"T-they have an Equestrian battleship?" Joche asked, fear evedent in his voice. Twilight ran every scenario she could think of, and even with the Thundercracker and their shield there was no way they could over power that beast. But she had one idea. She rushed to the captians cabin.
"We need to head into the mist!" She shouted, reciving looks of fear and shock from the ponies around her. "If we hurry we might be able to lose them!" Blink took a second to contemplate this before turning to the mares around him.
"She's right, it's dangerous but its the best chance we've got." He said, turning to the wheel and lever that controled their speed. He pushed it to max and turned the boat toward the mist. Twilight heard a soft boom in the distance, followed by a large splash nearby. The battleship had begun firing on them. The two smaller boats continued to follow at a distance as not to be hit by a stray cannonball. The soft booms continued, but Blink skillfully piloted the boat so their path was unpredictable.
It wasn't untill they got closer to the mist that something began to give Twilight a second thought. The mist seemed to give off some sort magical radiance that unnerved of her of the idea. It wasn't untill she looked at the radar that she figured out why. Every time the radar sweeped through the mist it fizzled. As they got closer, the fizzles became more violent. Right when they were about to hit it something finally clicked in her mind.
"That's not a mist! That's a magic suppressor!" She cried, but it was too late. As they crossed through the mist she cried out in pain along with every unicorn on the boat. The pain vanished as quickly as it apeared but the damage had been done. Twilight, and everypony else looked in horror on what was waiting for them on the other side of the mist.
Three more battleships, each of them fully loaded, along with a small fleet of smaller boats waited in the harbor of a jungle island, completely surrounded by mist. And worst of all, Silver's shield was gone. The ships seemed to explode in bodies as dozens of gryphons and pegisi flew toward them.
"Get out, into the water." Blink commanded, "We might be able to swim to safety." Twilight was the first one out of the cabin, right as a cannonball smashed into the deck sending her flying toward the water. She barely had time to hold her breath, and hit the water hard. Pain surged through her body as she tried to find out which way was up. Her vision began to fade as she felt a claw grab her foreleg.
The last thing she saw was a gryphon smiling evily before she fell into unconsciousness.