//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirty-four // Story: Freedom Through Harmony // by Electricut //------------------------------// Chapter Thirty Four Year 498; EverFree Forest, House of the Hylian Twilight Spike stopped his storytelling at this point, pausing dramatically for his statement to set in. Twilight shook her head in wonder. How deeply are all of us tied already? When we all met at the Lunar Festival, we were almost all complete strangers. And yet, it seems like we were bound to each other long before... Rarity, on the other hand, only laughed quietly in amazement. She spoke, but seemed at a loss for words. “I mean... I really knew as soon as you mentioned House Icarus and my mother’s name... And, she did once say that it was thanks to me that she escaped a group of bloodthirsty pirates, so I know it’s true... But I never would have guessed it was the Guardian Dragons that saved us... Did you know it was me this whole time?” “The whole time.” Spike confirmed. “You hadn’t noticed, but I’ve been into town every once in a while to check up on you, as a favor to Cybel. I’ve realized a while ago that I basically serve as a guardian to almost every single one of you in some way or another.” “That’s the way to do it, mate!” Xekora applauded. “Now, er, before we continue, can we get one thing out of the way- Has anyone else run into one of these mysterious black-cloaked Order gents?... No? Alright. Let me say this now: I know not what this group is after, or who indeed any of them are- in all my time here, I’ve not run into a single one of them. But allow me to clarify this: they are not your primary concern. They seem to want to stay out of the general path of danger, so I’d advise not trying to hunt any of them down and drag them into this. “Still... It surprises me that this group has managed to slip past my view for so long. Perhaps... Perhaps I should find some time to look into this... But I digress. Spike, by all means, please continue.” _______________ Year 482; Equestrian Waters; HMS Longsword Spike The next morning, I reported straight to the captain’s quarters, which was furnished well with pirated loot. None of it appeared to have been touched, though, and Irath didn’t cast it a second glance. On the wooden desk in the center of the room, he had lined up two maps- one salvaged from our ship of Tellius and its surrounding waters, another with an unfamiliar landmass and oceans- I assumed it must have been Equestria. He seemed to be trying to estimate the distance remaining between the two using both maps, with little success. “They don’t appear to share any common landmarks...” He commented. “There’s a few islands near Equestria, but they’re not far out enough to show up on the Tellius map... However, if those pirates abducted you from a ship sailing around to a different part of the continent...” Cybel stood beside him, assisting him with lining up the charts. Neither one seemed to have noticed my entrance. “They did make land at a small island to stock up on supplies two days previously, so... we’re about here, I think... We actually might reach the easternmost coast well before nightfall, if we shoot for this port town here, and sail at the pace we’ve been going...” I walked up to the desk, drawing their attention. “Hey, what’s going on?” I asked casually. “Ah, Spike. I’m not sure if you overheard, but it seems we’re much closer to land than we previously thought. Tell the others to raise the sails immediately. Tonight we make port!” I nodded excitedly. At last, Equestria! I wonder what it’s like... Whatever, really, I’m ready to be rid of all this endless water. “Aye aye, captain! I’ll round up everyone who’s not up already. But, er... have you seen Fafnir around? I haven’t seen him all morning.” “Over here.” I heard him say from the side of the room. I hadn’t seen him on my way in, as the layout of the captain’s quarters were completely different from what I was used to. He was sitting comfortably on a small padded bench, bouncing Rarity playfully on his knee. “Keeping her occupied while her mom’s working on getting us where we’re going.” Rarity made a grab for his hair, and I decided to just get everyone else together. He seemed preoccupied. I ran outside, scrambled up to the crows nest and, hanging from the edge next to Fenrir, announced loudly: “All hands on deck! Raise the anchors, trim the sails! Tonight, we dine in Equestria!” My words were met with cheers from the crew, and in a few minutes the ship was racing forward, the salty air rushing past pleasantly. The hours passed with the waves, and the sun crawled across the sky at a decent pace. As we manned the ship, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one with excited thoughts running trough my mind. At last, our journey would soon be over, and we would make the first solid contact with this new people. I had no real idea what to expect, but with the balance of magic, flight, and strength they claimed to have, I guessed it must have been nice-looking at least. As the sun began its descent, and the western sky became illuminated with brilliant orange light, I heard an exclamation from above: “There, on the horizon! I can see land!” It took a few minutes for it to clearly come into view without a viewing glass, but soon I also saw it- the faintest of outlines of the ground and tall buildings rising from it. The outline gradually grew in view, until we could make out more detail- the distant forms of ships coming and going separated themselves from the port, and soon it became that clear a city of some size was built around it. The illusion was broken, however, when we approached the port more closely. As the Longsword drifted closer, our pace slowed at last, a booming voice echoed around us. It had the strangest quality of coming from everywhere and nowhere, and I guessed it must have been some kind of magical amplification. The voice said only this: “Pirates. You are under arrest. Do not attempt to flee or to otherwise resist capture, as you are surrounded. Do not attempt violence, as you are vastly out-armed. Approach the port and prepare for arrest.” The rest of the crew had joined me on deck by now, and as the message ended, all other sound was drowned out by our worried chatter. Irath climbed to the upper deck and yelled for our attention. The talk died down as he addressed us: “Men! It seems we’ve been mistaken for the pirates we defeated, as they can only see this no-doubt stolen ship from where they are. I think it best to let them lead us to port, then we can explain that it isn’t us. Cybel, can you help with that? They may not value the word of a total stranger much more than a criminal.” “Of course.” She said, nodding vigorously. Irath gave the orders necessary, and the Longsword began to creep forward towards the port again. We had about halved the distance when we came parallel to another ship heading out. We had just about passed it fully, when... The floor under me shook violently, and most of the crew was thrown off their feet. I scrambled up as quickly as possible, drawing my weapons and running to the back of the ship to get a better look at the attacking vessel. What I saw made my blood run cold. The opposing deck was heavily manned, with a dozen cannons trained on the Longsword. The people in question were far from the look of state soldiers, and upon the helm, I was able to see for a split second a black-cloaked figure, who gave me a phony salute before disappearing in a sphere of darkness. “No... More pirates...” Cybel whispered next to me, before running for cover. I slammed my fist into the railing angrily. The hooded guy! He must have hired more pirates to get back at us! But why so close to port? Surely they’ll just get apprehended like this. Our ship continued on its path as the remaining ten crew members scrambled to man the cannons aboard our own ship. We had little gunpowder to speak of, but none of us intended to go down without a fight. I nearly tripped down the stairs in my haste. We didn’t stop or turn the ship to fight- if all else failed, we could escape into the harbor, and it looked like nothing else was going to happen. We were out maneuvered and outgunned, and currently had enemies on both sides. Two cannons were mounted at the back of the ship, and we were currently pouring all our resources into those, in the hopes of slowing the ship behind us. I remained on deck to direct our path towards port, but felt all hope we had rebuilt drop like a stone at what I saw next. A split second before they hit, I saw the huge volley of cannonballs. I threw myself forward to duck for cover, just before the shots ripped through both vessels. What are they doing?! I screamed in my mind, though all thought processes by now had firmly shut down, putting me in full survival mode. Do they not eve care anymore? They’re just trying to kill all of us! Our ship was in utter chaos- fire from both directions tore through us, and it was clear that nothing that stayed on the Longsword was going to make it. What was worse (I hit myself for realizing it could get worse from there) was that we had only two five-man lifeboats, and fourteen and a half people to evacuate.