Chapter 8
In the beginning, there was the One. Faust. She with the Mane of Crimson, the Winged Creator, Author of the World.
She made the Four.
Celestia, Luna, Harmony, and Death.
Celestia, ruler of the day. She was the one charged with protecting the gentler race of ponies from those who do harm to them. Any fool that brought their might against the ponies were laid low by her power.
Luna, ruler of the night. The lunar mistress was charged with the dreams and psyche, tasked with easing the sleep of the entire world. Her soft songs and gentle encouragements strengthened the sleeping souls, and gave them courage to face their fears.
Harmony, ruler of seasons and time. He was Faust’s mouthpiece, her prophet to the world, almost everything she said was through him. His words, both Faust’s and his own, never went unheeded, from a simple spat between children to peace talks between rulers. Wherever he spoke, harmony followed.
Death, shepherd of souls. Tasked with leading the dead to their final resting place, and guarding the Gates of the Dead. He would stand by the gates, and lead the souls safely through the Darkness until they came to Paradise on the other side.
These Four and the One kept the world at peace.
But before the world, there was something else.
To call it a force would be inaccurate. So would to call it anything else.
It wasn’t truly a thing.
It hated things. All things. It even hated nothing. It was just hate. But it hated hate.
This force saw what Faust had made, and wanted to do nothing more than destroy it.
It hated the ponies. It hated the griffons. It hated the world. It hated the sun. It hated the moon. It hated Paradise. It hated food. It hated grass. It hated everything, and waged its war against it.
For a full century, it raged against the gates of Paradise.
The Four and One held it back.
In the one hundredth year, Faust then brought her full wrath against the force.
But she was not a destroyer. It was not in her nature.
So instead she created.
She gave the force a form.
Many forms.
She began writing bodies for the force, and the force hated it.
Some say that Faust wrote the forms to be hideous out of spite, others say that it was the force’s own hatred that mutilated their appearance. However, all agree that once they had physical form, they were weaker. Gaining the upper hand, Faust brought them up and threw them from the gates of Paradise, and sealed them into Darkness.
The Darkness, named Tartarus, was a place between Paradise and Equestria. Death then took up his vigil, keeping the monsters locked away.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Alan ducked, the blade soaring above him missed by inches.
Up went his magick blade, and it quickly met another steel brother.
“Man, Pinkie, you’re good at this!” Alan said.
Pink pony giggled, cutlass in hoof. “Thanks, Alan.”
The two ponies danced on the deck, swords clashing as Alan tested her. A cannon wasn’t going to be much use in the Onyx Keep, after all.
“You need to keep your arms strong, but not stiff,” Alan said, instructing the earth pony.
Trixie held the helm, while Sunny took a quick nap for the evening/early night shift. The two guards, donated by the Princesses for a short while, were effective. Twinkle was far more talkative than her morning counterpart, and as a result, Alan tended to like her a little more. Sunny was a good soldier, though, took orders without complaint or question.
Rarity stood on the port bow, holding a spyglass daintily up to her eye, scanning the horizon.
Applejack was making lunch with Big Mac, doing their best to make the rations stretch, luckily, the Apples knew more than one little trick to make their namesake fruit last.
Water wasn’t an issue either. Both Thunderlane and Dashie were both searching the surrounding area for clouds that they could squeeze some rainwater from.
Still, a quick stop at Fillydelphia wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Alan jumped backwards as Pinkie’s cutlass slashed at him, narrowly avoiding the blade.
Pinkie pushed the advantage, moving forward swinging. Alan stepped back, blocking before launching a counterattack.
Dui tempe, just to go easy on her.
“Very good, Pinkie,” Alan said with a smile. “Impressive,” he said, before a eldritch tomahawk suddenly hooked her blade, changing the tempo. “Most impressive.” The tomahawk ripped the blade away as Alan’s longsword came up to her throat.
Pinkie watched as her sword sailed through the air, before turning to her teacher and smiled. “Well, looks like you won that!”
Alan smiled, the tomahawk flipping around to lift the cutlass off the floor. The axe disappeared, replaced with a hand which then returned the sword to the earth pony. “Thank you!” she said before sheathing the blade at her side.
Alan smiled before nodding to Silver and Soarin. “You’re up!”
Silver smiled, throwing the training hammer off his shoulders. Didn’t want to crush the little lightweight, after all.
“Remember to stay on or directly above the deck, Soarin, we’re working on your CQB.”
“CQ what?” Dash asked, slowly squeezing a cloud into a funnel.
“CQB, Close Quarters Battle,” Twilight explained as she stood near the rail.
“Where did you learn all these acro...acron...those word things?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Acronyms,” Twilight corrected.
“Lived a few miles from a military base,” Alan explained, “you pick things up.” He turned to the pegasus and earth pony in the middle of the deck. “Alright, guys, let’s see what you got!”
“Go Soary!” Pinkie cheered, somehow now in possession of pompoms and cheerleading outfit.
At this point, both stallions had been around the Pink Terror long enough to know not to question it, and quickly got into their spar.
Alan walked up the stairs to the top of the quarterdeck as the two fought. “I’ll take it for a bit, Trixie, go ahead and grab some lunch.”
“Are you sure?” Trixie asked.
Alan raised an eyebrow. “You know this is my boat, right?”
“Alright,” she said, surrendering the helm. “The Great and Powerful Trixie shall go down and grab an apple.”
Alan nodded, and as the unicorn left, he disengaged the helm and quickly began to spin it. “Woosh!”
<<<|Ω|>>>
The stop in Fillydelphia lasted only an hour. In fact, it would have been more accurate to say that it was a stop above Fillydelphia. Soarin, Thunderlane, Spike, and Rainbow Dash all flew back and forth, picking up a few more supplies until Alan was confident that they’d be able to make the trip.
Alan watched from the port side, Twilight standing next to him as Rainbow Dash finished the last trip. “Sure I can’t talk you girls out of it?” Alan said.
She gave him a look that would stop a stampeding manticore.
“Can’t blame me for trying,” he said with a shrug.
“Yes, yes I can,” Twilight said.
Alan sighed, before giving a small smile. “Yes, dear, I’m sure you could.”
“Alright! That’s it!” Dash said proudly.
Alan nodded. “Trixie, full speed ahead.”
“Aye, aye! Full speed ahead!”
“Keep a heading of ninety degrees East.”
“Aye, aye!” Trixie echoed. “Ninety degrees East.”
“Flutters, keep an eye on the rigging!”
“Aye, aye!
“Pinkie, how are the small guns looking?”
“One’s up, working on the second!” Pinkie said, standing next to the newly installed hoof cannon.
“Rarity?”
“Sky’s looking delightfully clear, darling!”
Alan smiled, as he walked up to the bow of the ship. “Only one thing left to do now…” he said under his breath. Then he turned, and began to bellow.
“Oh! What do you do with a drunken sailor?
What do you do with a drunken sailor?
What do you do with a drunken sailor,
Ear-ly in the mornin’?”
<<<|Ω|>>>
The open sea stretched before the Victory like a massive sparkling blanket.
Nothing but blue in every direction except for the sliver of green to the west.
“Wow…” Twinkle said, staring off towards the setting sun, blinking to try to keep the light out of her eyes. “That’s...that’s actually very beautiful.”
Sunny grunted at the helm.
“Gentle Luna. You’d think I would have seen this by now...”
“Seen what?” Alan asked, as he walked up behind her.
“An Eastern Sea sunset,” she answered. “I’ve seen a Western Coast one, where the sun disappears into the ocean. But I didn’t think watching it do the same over land would be just as beautiful.”
“They’re all beautiful,” Alan said. “Kind of ironic, actually. The most beautiful time of the day is the end of it.”
She looked over at him. “Is that some night love I hear? Does our Pendragon have a favorite Princess?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny the fact that Luna is best Princess,” Alan said with a smirk.
She laughed.
“Regardless, don’t tell Celestia,” he said.
She laughed harder, falling to the floor.
Sunny gave a snort.
The Dusk Watch guard slowly began to compose herself, dragging herself back up to the rail. “Luna’s Moonlight! Who knew our Pendragon had such a sense of humor!”
“Never had it removed once I took over. Missed the doctor appointment,” he said winking.
She chuckled.
Alan chuckled back, before suddenly stopping.
“What?” she asked, worried, looking around.
“You...you’re not wearing your armor…”
She looked at him and blinked. “Wait...was I supposed to? I’m sorry! I thought you wouldn’t mind! I—”
“No, no,” Alan said, waving her off, before pointing at her. “You’re not wearing your armor, but you still look like a bat.”
She blinked, her large yellow eyes giving him a blank stare. “Oh…” she began before her eyes suddenly lit up. “Oh! Oh you think it’s a glamor! Oh! No, no, the Dusk Watch doesn’t do that. It’s natural.”
Alan blinked. “So...you guys really are bat-ponies?”
She snickered. “Sorry, it’s just been a long time since I’ve heard ‘bat-pony’ in a sentence.” She rolled her eyes. “If you want the ‘proper’ term we are Thestrals. I never liked the name though.” She smiled. “Bat-ponies though…”
Alan blinked. “I’m...I’m sorry if this sounds racist, but I thought there were only three pony races?”
“There are!” she said with a smirk.
Alan blinked, bewildered.
She laughed. “Alright, alright, you’ve got a high enough pay-grade. I can let you know. We’re vamponies.”
The Pendragon’s eyes widened.
“Well, half-vampony...it’s a little weird,” she explained. “About two thousand years ago or so, a vampony swore allegiance to Princess Luna and became the head of the Dusk Watch. Now this guy, Able Von Nix, knew the blood hunger was going to drive him nuts, but still wanted vamponies to run the Dusk Watch. Now, I won’t get into the details of how they got a corpse to get it up, but it involved a lot of complex, ancient magic. Once Able was finally able, though, and with an amazing pegasus volunteer, the bat ponies started.”
“So...is part of being a half-vampony being able to stay in sunlight?”
“It’s...weird. Very weird, actually. Yes, that is one of the things we have going for us, but we have a few others.”
“Like?”
“Well, I’m not bloodthirsty. I mean, I can drink it, sure, but I don’t need to. Oh! And Bat-ponies don’t change their prey...er...is there a better word for that?”
“I...I knew what you meant.”
“Right. So, we go some other stuff, low-light vision, increased strength, increased speed, the ability to turn into fog, incredibly long life, minor healing ability, but not too much more than that. In sunlight they all go out the window though, so we normally like to work a night.”
“Just long life, not immortality?”
“Yes, sir. Unlike great-great-grandaddy Able, us bat-ponies are actually alive. We have a lifespan of three hundred years or so, but we only really get old in the last thirty or so. At 270, time hits us with the age hammer. Hard.”
“Interesting. So, Thestrals are more of a family then?”
“Exactly!” she said with a smile. “The Dusk Watch is made entirely out of me and my cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. We’re not a race, there aren’t that many of us, but we are just enough to make anything the world throws at us think twice!”
Alan smiled. “Sounds like it.”
She nodded, as the sun finished setting. She smiled. “Well, I better get my armor on then, keep ponies from asking too many questions. But, now that the sun’s down, I guess I can do this the cool way. If you’ll excuse me,” she said, before suddenly fading away into a small cloud of fog.
Alan blinked before waving a hoof into the small cloud. “Okay, that’s pretty cool.”
Two small orbs of yellow light formed from the cloud and winked at him, before the mist slipped away.
“A half-vampony...huh…” the Pendragon said, before he quietly drummed on the railing.
It was quiet for a moment.
“Permission to speak freely, sir?” Sunny said, breaking the silence.
Alan glanced at him, surprised. This was perhaps the first time Sunny had spoken to him outside of responding to orders. “Granted…”
“You seem to be a good pony, sir. You heard her story and didn’t jump to any conclusions. You didn’t scream in terror. You didn’t even move to protect your neck.” He mumbled something that sounded a lot like ‘unlike me.’ He paused before continuing. “But I know ponies who didn’t take the news so well, so, please sir, can you not say anything to the others?”
Alan nodded. “Of course.”
Sunny turned and saluted. “Thank you, sir. It’s just I’ve known her since I was sixteen, she’s a good pony.”
“I understand, Sunny. It does not leave the three of us.”
“Thank you, sir,” Sunny said again, before he went silent and focused back on the helm.
Alan nodded, and began to head down to the deck. As he passed by, he could have sworn he saw a small scar on Sunny’s neck.
<<<|Ω|>>>
A deep techno beat thudded through the deck. Alan hooked up his iPod to a hidden speaker system (it’s amazing what money can buy) and was throwing one last dance party while they were in Equestrian waters and relatively safe.
Alan played DJ, head bobbing as he searched for the next song to play, while the others danced. They were jumping up and down, dancing as if they were mad.
Or as if they were having a seizure in the case of the DJ’s wife.
“Hello Seattle!” the speakers sang, followed by a rapid beat and a piercing flute.
Alan bobbed his head as though his neck were a spring, and the boat gave of the faintest rock. Even Julius joined, dancing as though his problems could be shaken from his body. The only one who did not dance was the now off-duty Sunny.
He stood to the side, sipping a bottle of apple ale, his face an utter deadpan. He was thinking about going to bed soon anyway. Maybe relieve Twinkle for a few hours in the early morning.
“You know, somehow, I’m not surprised,” a voice whispered behind him.
He jumped at the sound, his brain quickly telling him that a whisper should not be so loud as to be heard over this music.
He turned to see two yellow eyes staring at him, connected to a very tangible body of a bat-pony. “In all of my two hundred and forty years, I have never seen such a downer as you, Sunny.”
He recovered, barely saving his grip on the bottle. “Celestia’s Crown, Twinkle! Don’t do that!”
“Well I wouldn’t have been able to if you were enjoying yourself.”
Sunny rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be watching the helm?”
“It’s locked, we aren’t going anywhere we shouldn’t.”
Sunny blinked. “Well, I...you...you, uh...you know I don’t like it when you do that whisper thing.”
She gave a faint smile. Before she sauntered over, almost cat-like in her gait. A predatory glint shimmered in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said, “is there anyway I can make it up to you?” she said, getting much too close.
The stallion’s brain shut down as she got closer, their fur brushing against each other as she moved by. Her tongue passing over the scar on his neck.
To this day, he would swear half-vamponies have seduction magic.
Twinkle called it pure, unadulterated talent.
His tongue struggled to form a sentence. “Y-y-you’re...ng...da...on...slg...duty.”
“Mh? I’m on duty? Oh, what a terrible thing!” she said, her fangs flashing. “I guess I have to follow orders.”
Sunny did not like the way she said that.
He blinked, and suddenly she was next to the Pendragon, whispering into his ear.
He blinked again, and the bat pony was in front of him.
He hated it when she did that.
“Guess who has some new orders?”
And he really hated it when she did that.
“Now shut up and dance with me.”
Sunny sighed, downed the last of the apple ale, and followed the mare onto the dance floor.
She was going to kill him, whether by draining him or exasperation was yet to be seen.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Clear skies and absolutely nothing to do.
It had been three days since they had left, and while they had made excellent progress it did not change the fact that the skies were empty.
Alan walked across the deck, before coming up to one of the hoof cannons on the bow. He took it by a pair of mana hands and gave it a good swivel. Made sure it had a full range of motion.
He was trying very hard to not say “Are we there yet?”
Rainbow Dash hovered nearby, taking a quick flight to stretch her wings.
Rarity, the designated lookout, was still below decks, getting ready. Apparently, even though she had made some “heroic” sacrifices by only taking half her normal supply of makeup, it was still half her supply of makeup.
Alan sighed. “Man, I’d almost wish something would happen…”
Alan blinked, and then sighed. “Which of course means something is going to happen now. Way to go, Al.”
Slowly the ship began to wake, Rarity taking up the spy glass with poise as Pinkie did some basic stretches before sparing with Soarin.
Alan disappeared down below deck for a moment, and walked up to the galley. Applejack was inside, preparing some apple and cinnamon oatmeal.
“Mornin’ Al!”
“Morning,” Alan said, moving around the island in the middle. Now standing opposite the oven, Alan opened a cabinet. A silver hand rummaged through it before he pulled out an Equestrian Army granola bar.
“You’re gonna ruin yer appetite if’n yer gonna snack,” she said.
“I’m pretty sure it’s for the best,” Alan answered.
Soarin suddenly burst into the galley. “Alan! Alan we’re in trouble.”
Alan sighed. “Right on cue.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
A large airship was following them. The black, spearhead-shaped envelope told the crew of the Victory everything they needed to know.
Pirates.
Sky pirates.
Of course it would be sky pirates.
The hull of the pirate ship was covered in large metal spikes and plates, making it look like some sort of floating porcupine. A large, white talon was painted on the sides of the envelope, and two large bladed wings stuck out of its sides.
“Recognize it?” Alan asked.
“Of course I do,” Julius growled, closing the spyglass. “It’s the Ocean’s Dagger, the most annoying pirate ship in imperial skies. Captained by Alexander Whitetalon, who is wanted for the plundering of numerous small civilian crafts, and the murder of three hundred lionesses and hatchlings. He currently has a bounty of three thousand, eight hundred Guineas on his head, which is far too short for his crimes.”
“Attention Equestrian pleasure craft!” a voice echoed from across the sky. “Shut off your engines and prepare to be boarded!”
Alan growled. “Not on my boat.” Alan quickly looked around, before suddenly he began barking orders. “Sunny, fly us towards those clouds now, Rainbow, Soarin, keep any of the pirates away from the ship! Thunderlane, Flutters, close the clouds behind us! Trixie, once we hit the cloud cover, use any illusion spell you have to camouflage us!”
“Yes, sir!” they called as ponies began scrambling.
“Rarity, Spike, follow me, I’m going to make an announcement. After that, Rarity, go help Trixie, Spike, you help Big Mac and Silver to keep the deck clear.”
A warning shot fired from the pirate ship.
“Shining,” Alan said, wincing as a cannonball came whistling by, “keep my baby safe.”
“Yes sir!”
Alan approached the aft, Spike and Rarity in tow. He cleared his throat, and motioned to the white unicorn. Her horn shimmered, and Alan felt her magic around his throat. “Attention pirate ship the Ocean’s Dagger our response is as follows: Take your own advice and go soak your head!”
Alan waved a hoof to tell Rarity to cut off the magic, and she quickly left to help Trixie. “Spike,” Alan said, “on three, I want you to roar and breathe fire.”
“Ah, I see. Double Dragon Roar of Fury?”
“Double Dragon Roar of Fury.”
“One,” Alan began counting, “two, three. Fastali Vistes Jotum!”
Two jets of flame erupted from the back ship, followed by two incredibly loud roars.
The pirate ship slowed.
“Good, we’ve stalled them. We should be able to get to the clouds now without too much difficulty.”
“Not quite!” Julius said, leaning over the edge.
The ship was gaining on them now, the hesitation they had seen lasting only a brief second.
“Morons! That was two dragon roars. Can’t they take a hint to back off?”
“I don’t think we’ll make it,” Twilight said. “Either way, it’s going to be close.”
“I’ve got just the thing!” Pinkie called, as she bounced up to the quarterdeck.
What?” Alan asked.
The pink pony paused mid-bounce before she reached behind her. With a flourish, she pulled out a massive iron cannon shaped like a dragon’s head, its mouth open wide.
Julius’ eye twitched.
“I call it the Party-ggeddon cannon! Chain-assisted aiming, double sighted, fires 20mm payloads that deliver enough fun to celebrate sixty birthdays at once!”
Julius poked Pinkie.
“Fire at will, Pinkie!” Alan said.
“Sir, yes, sir!” she said, a grin growing on her face even as her mane began to straighten. She hopped behind the Party-ggeddon cannon and began to take aim, the cannon clink-clink-clinking with every degree. “Alright!” she said with a smile. “Who’s ready to turn eighty?”
<<<|Ω|>>>
“Move faster ya’ lazy dogs!” Alexander Whitetalon called. “I want to be aboard that ship yesterday!”
His crew, a motley band of griffons and minotaurs, scurried across the deck of the Ocean’s Dagger, running to keep up with the captain’s orders.
That was a clever trick, what those ponies had done. All that fire and noise really had made the crew lose their will to fight pretty fast, but Whitetalon was smart. He knew better. It was all some basic magic tricks. He had seen a little show in a small port town where this unicorn mare did a lot of stuff like that. This was just another show.
There was a faint boom.
Then a whistle.
“What in the name of the Nine Hells is tha—”
The deck exploded in a pink cloud, followed by tons of latex and paper. Millions of balloons followed by a metric ton of confetti pushed outward, sending two minotaurs over the railing of the ship. A griffon began to choke as a hundred pounds of cake was being forced down his throat, and another’s feathers were ruined as icing got caught in them.
The last one wouldn’t have been so bad, if it weren’t for the hundreds of party games that pushed him over as well.
“What in the name of the Nine Hells happened!?” Whitetalon roared.
<<<|Ω|>>>
“No wonder we lost,” Julius remarked, still wondering as to how this Earth Pony, one that supposedly could not cast spells, had summoned a weapon.
“Good work Pinkie, I think it’ll be just enough,” Alan said.
“Goodie! Now I have to put this baby away, It’s really hard to get ammo for him.”
“Probably for the best,” Alan said as he watched the pirate ship’s envelope overflow with balloons like an upside down glass.
With that, Pinkie shoved the massive cannon behind her, and into...well...hammerspace I suppose, before bouncing away.
It’s Cannonspace, silly goose!
Of course, it is.
The Ocean’s Dagger began to catch up again, but this time, Alan was confident that they’d be able to get up into the clouds before they were too close.
“Sunny! Once we hit the clouds, get some altitude!”
“Aye, aye!”
“So we’re going to let them fly underneath us?” Twilight asked. “Catch them from behind?”
Alan answered by unbuckling his baldric and wrapping the belt around Judgement’s sheath. “Hold this for me, Twi, and get ready for a teleport.”
“What?” she asked in the most confused voice she was able to summon today.
“No point in getting it dirty.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
Whitetalon followed them into the cloud.
Those little pieces of manure would pay for what they did.
Four of his crew had died in that single blast of...whatever that was, and now his band of sailors had almost completely lost their spines.
“Find them! I want their heads!” he roared.
The crew scrambled, the griffons taking flight. They began to spread out, searching for the ship.
And then he came.
There was a flash of light, and the pop of teleportation magic. There, standing in the middle of the deck, was a white unicorn wearing a black, armored duster and wide-brimmed hat. “Told you to take your own advice,” he said as two ethereal cutlasses formed.
They all stared at him for a moment.
“Get him!” Whitetalon cried.
The crew charged.
Alan answered with a circle of flying knives, shooting out in a shockwave of death.
The knives caught griffons and minotaurs in the throats, legs, wings, and arms, either halting or killing the first nine that charged him. The others, the Pendragon met with his swords.
A huge minotaur charged him, swinging an axe that was twice as tall as Alan was. The Pendragon moved to the side as the large blade bit into the deck, and Alan quickly moved up along the creature’s arm to slash along it’s neck.
Two griffons approached him from behind, and two tomahawks formed and flew backwards, burying into their skulls.
Two more knives flew across the deck, stabbing at two more pirates, and Whitetalon blinked.
What is going on? Who is that? Why is he on my ship? When did ponies learn to fight like this, and how is he killing everyone!?
His thoughts went no further than that, as a he heard a pained scream of a griffon. He turned just in time to see one of the boarding crew that had flown out to find their quarry fall to the water below, wreathed in fire.
The purple and green blur that followed forced the captain up against the helm.
Was that a dragon? An honest to feathers dragon!?
More screams of death began to sound as Alan continued to cut through the crew. “How is it that some of the most feared pirates in the skies fight as though they were a bunch of two-year-olds!?” the unicorn yelled.
Whitetalon watched, horrified, as two more pirates fell to the spinning cutlasses.
And then the Pendragon’s eyes fell on the Captain.
Eye contact in three…
Two…
One...
>>>(⏀)<<<
Alone.
Totally alone.
It was that day. That day twenty years ago.
Alexander, only eleven years old, watched his home burn to the ground.
His family was in there.
Burning.
And he was out here, alone.
His home had been too close to the southern border for too long, and now the Ligers had torched it.
He could only watch.
Why don’t you do something?
Do something?
C-could he have done something?
Could you? Or were you too much of a coward?
The fire raged, and two eyes, neon green with red irises formed. They glared down at him from the flames. You could have saved them. They would still be alive today if you had done something. Now look at you.
The house was gone. Instead he was huddled in a back alley of Caesarea Talima, surrounded by cardboard walls.
He was broke.
He was alone.
And he could have done something.
But he didn’t.
All because he was a coward.
Coward...coward...coward…
>>>(⏀)<<<
“I think I’ve answered my own question,” Alan said as the pirate captain stood frozen in fear. “You’re nothing but a bunch of cowards!”
The word caused the griffon to jump.
“You attack the weak and helpless, taking easy prey while avoiding the true threats, pathetic cowards!”
The griffon stumbled as he stared into the green and red eyes of the pony that was bearing down on him. “Dimitri!” he cried, calling for his first mate. “Dimitri!”
But Dimitri didn’t answer.
He was alone.
“You’re nothing but scum,” Alan said.
“Dimitri!” Whitetalon called frantically. He needed someone, anyone to be next to him, just so he wouldn’t be alone.
A silver hammer head slammed into his face, throwing the griffon to his back.
Whitetalon’s eyes widened, panic began to flood his mind, those green and red eyes were staring down at him from everywhere he looked.
He was going to die alone.
Two knives stabbed into his wings and the griffon roared in pain.
Two hands ripped out his primary feathers, and Whitetalon screamed as the knives ripped out of his wings, leaving him flightless.
"Twilight,” Alan said, “get me back on board.”
He was leaving? “Y-you’re leaving me alive?” Whitetalon asked, confused.
Alan looked at him, the green fading away to white. The anger in his eyes cooling as he deadpanned. “The captain goes down with his ship.”
That day, Alexander Whitetalon faced his deepest fear.
That day, he died alone.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Most interesting...
The two red and green eyes gazed at the Pendragon from afar, and the unicorn definitely held his attention.
He was certain that the little pony didn’t even know what he did.
Well...at least he has some talent.
The shadow chuckled.
Yes. Talent indeed…
<<<|Ω|>>>
The rest of the day was quiet and calm.
No more attacks, no arguments, just relaxation and games for the remainder of the day, and it begat an equally quiet morning.
Sunny skies left nothing on the deck of the Victory untouched by the sunlight.
Light even streamed through some of the portholes, basking Twilight’s sleeping face in warm light.
Of course, Twilight didn’t want her face to be basked in anything, but she was asleep, so she really couldn't do much about it.
Stirring, the lavender unicorn woke up, and she smiled.
She looked around the room, and decided that she could manage to stay in bed for a while.
You’re forgetting something.
She shifted under the blankets, moving to snuggle against her husband.
You’re forgetting something.
Of course, that nagging voice in her head was starting to bother her.
You’re forgetting something.
“What? What am I forgetting?” she asked herself.
No answer.
“Well that’s helpful.”
She scooted back into a comfortable position, closed her eyes, and was completely content with going back to sleep when her brain told her one very important thing.
The date.
Her eyes snapped open.
But that means that—
And that means that—
Which means that I—
She stared up at the ceiling, her eyes wide.
“Oh dear...”
--------------------------------
Oh sweet sun pony…
“Bad time?”
So...much...block…
“Aw...poor Miner...why don’t you take a break and play some Terraria?”
Mining...that sounds good…
“Next time, the trek into the Empire begins!”
Here’s the song:
“And we’ll see you guys next time!”
Bye!