Chapter 8: Natural Chaos
There was something pressed lightly against his chest, a pleasantly warm something that felt like it was moving up against him. For a while Spike didn’t want to move. His imagination began to wander about what it might be. A snow-white pony with beautiful diamond eyes, perhaps? Or a snow-white dragon girl with passionate eyes the color of burning embers? Why did he keep falling in love with white creatures? They were beautiful no doubt, but was there something wrong with that? Why was he just lying here thinking to himself, anyway?
At last he allowed his eyes to open, trying to pull his claw to his face, but he found something holding it down. Pyralsprite was on top of his chest, dozing lazily with her wings and claws draped across the bed on either side of him. Her body was lying right on top of him, coiled somewhat around his legs and stomach in an almost scarily intimate position, but he knew she hadn’t done anything to him in the night. She probably didn’t even know she’d rolled over. He understood, he was sometimes prone to rolling around in his sleep too, especially after something exciting happened the night before.
Or almost happened, in this case. And might happen, if she didn’t get up soon.
Having her on top of him was making him seriously reconsider his stance from the night before, but he could already see the sunlight beginning to peak through the window, and if they didn’t get up soon Captain Hoofbeard might think they weren’t coming. He just wasn’t sure how to wake her up without making her grumpy. He’d seen her grumpy in the mornings during their journey. It wasn’t a very pretty sight.
After pondering his problem for a short time, Spike carefully wriggled his left claw out from under her serpentine stomach, moving it and his right claw up to gently run over the scales on her back, pressing into them and stroking in a gentle massage. Her serpentine body squished under his touch, but he knew she was able to take it, in fact the soft groaning noises that came from her throat after a short time told him he was doing a good job.
“Gguuuhhhhhh…” Pyralsprite groaned softly deep in her throat. “Wow… don’t stop that…”
“Heh, I’m glad you like it.” Spike kneaded his claws firmly into her scales, letting them scratch down her back with the sound of screeching on a sheet of metal, but she didn’t complain, instead she moaned her approval. “Twilight and Rarity liked it too, when I gave them massages… but I was a lot more careful with them.”
“You have very strong arms…” Pyralsprite agreed with a nod, her chin brushing against his shoulder. “I can see how you’d hurt a pony with them. Good thing I’m not a pony.”
“Yeah, good thing.” Spike smiled and lets his claws linger a little longer, brushing over her smooth scales until he noticed the light outside beginning to get even brighter. “We need to go soon. Captain Hoofbeard probably won’t wait for us forever.”
“Bah… he can wait until we’re good and done…”
Spike chuckled softly and sat up, wrapping his arms around her to hold her up. Her body draped limply over his shoulder like a wet noodle as he moved. “Come on, he’s doing something really dangerous for us, at the very least we don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“Aw come on, five more minutes…”
“Come on, Pyralsprite. It’s time to go.” Spike hopped off the bed with the dragon girl dangling from his shoulder. He shook her up and down with a chuckle, trying to get her to move. “Seriously, do you want me to carry you through the streets like this? It’s a bit undignified.”
“Uuuugh, fiiiiine.” Pyralsprite slithered out of his grasp and plopped down on the floor behind him, lifting to her claws a moment later with a yawn. “But you owe me more massage the next chance we get.”
“You got it.” Spike patted her shoulder before turning to head toward the door.
Celestia was still hard at work moving the sun into position on the distant horizon, but for now it was casting a bright golden glow across the town of Fillydelphia, and the ocean that lay just beyond. In the growing darkness the night before Spike hadn’t been able to tell one boat from another, but with the sun rising again he could make out the familiar shape of Captain Hoofbeard’s boat, the Salty Sea Mare, docked at the far side of the port.
A brisk breeze brought with it the smell of ocean water as the two dragons picked their way through the growing crowd of ponies towards the aged, but still sturdy-looking wooden ship on the far side. Knowing a pirate’s reputation Spike had expected to find Hoofbeard already there waiting for them, but strangely he was nowhere to be seen.
Spike folded his arms across his chest curiously. “Huh… I guess he’s not here yet.”
Pyralsprite slapped him on the shoulder. “See? We could have taken five more minutes! Impatient jerk…”
“Ahehe… better safe than sorry…” Spike rubbed his shoulder with a soft blush.
Before Pyralsprite could complain anymore more they both heard a voice from the direction of the ocean. “Spike! Yer finally up! I was beginnin’ ta think ye were gettin’ cold hooves. If ye had hooves, a’course.” Captain Hoofbeard was just swimming towards the shore, climbing up on one of the lower docks and shaking himself dry before making his way up towards them. “The Salty Sea Mare is ready ‘n waitin’ ta go.”
“Oh, yes! Of course! Sorry to keep you waiting!” Spike elbowed his companion in the side, who stuck her tongue out at him in return. “Come on, let’s get on board and get moving! The sooner we can get to the dragon lands the better!”
As they made their way up the plank, Spike saw that there was a small crew of ponies manning the various parts of the ship, and even one cleaning up the deck with a broom clenched in her jaws. Captain Hoofbeard had managed to get himself a new crew since last time Spike had seen him, plus one extra special member…
“Hoofbeard!” The beautiful mermare, Jewel, was floating comfortably in a large glass tank up near the ship’s steering column, her face lighting up into a broad grin when she saw him come aboard. “I told you I would check the ship’s rudder so you didn’t have to.”
“Nonsense, Jewel. I couldn’t stand ta make ye work after all I went through ta find ye.” Hoofbeard’s smile was unusually soft for a pirate as he approached the tank with the two dragons close behind him. “Besides, I still need the practice gettin’ these ta work. It’s a lot harder than it seems like it would be.” He gestured to his neck, where a row of barely-visible gills could be seen just underneath his coat.
Jewel giggled. “Well, if you insist then. The sooner you can get under the waves without worrying about drowning, the sooner I can show you everything the ocean has to offer.”
“Aye, we’ll get there soon, I can feel it.” Hoofbeard pecked the mermare’s lips softly, then turned back toward his ship and approached the steering wheel to shout across the boat. “All of ye get the ship ready ta depart! We’re headin’ out in ten minutes!”
“Aye-aye!” The crew echoed back at him and set about their tasks in double-time under his watchful eye.
Spike leaned against the glass tank with his claws folded over his chest. “It’s funny, this doesn’t really feel like a pirate ship anymore… the ponies are so happy and clean.”
Jewel sighed with a bright smile. “That’s because this is a pirate ship no longer. Hoofbeard has turned it around and made it into an adventure ship. We roam the world seeing all there is to see.”
“How is that different from pirating?” Pyralsprite asked curiously.
“We help ponies instead of taking their things.”
“I’m sure you have something to do with that, huh?” Spike asked.
“The right female has a way of making even the most headstrong male settle down, doesn’t she?” One of Jewel’s fins slapped lightly into Pyralsprite’s side, drawing a goofy grin out of the dragon.
Spike rolled his eyes and turned away from the two girls. He pushed off from the glass tank when he saw something strange in the sky, almost like a sickly yellow orb just hovering a long distance over the ocean before suddenly vanishing again. Spike rubbed his eyes and tried to look again, but the sky was clear of strange floating orbs.
“Spike? Are you okay?” Pyralsprite asked.
“Yeah… just thought I saw something weird. I’m fine.” Spike shook his head and turned back to the girls.
Hoofbeard’s voice cut through the crowd and the chatter. “We’re settin’ off now, me harties! Hoist the mainsail and raise the anchor!”
“Aye-aye, captain!”
The ship moved away from the harbor and out into the open sea, heading straight towards the sun halfway above the horizon. The boat cut through the water at a pretty fast clip, the mainsail catching the generous wind and bearing them eastward towards the land where the dragons lived. Spike found himself becoming more eager at the thought of reaching it and seeing what it was really like. The dragons during the migration hadn’t gone as far as the dragon lands, he had only caught up to them within Equestria…
Hoofbeard approached the dragons and mermare with a powerful stride after making sure they were on course. “We should be approachin’ the dragon lands by nightfall, if the wind keeps up.”
“Thank you so much, I really can’t thank… you… enough…” Spike glanced up in surprise as the mainsail suddenly went limp on the mast, dangling like so much useless deadweight in what was suddenly an eerily calm ocean.
“Hey! What’s goin’ on over there? Did somepony let the rope slip!?” Hoofbeard marched up to the wheel to look out over the ship.
“No, captain! The wind’s just… gone!” One of the mares near the sail tugged on one of the limp ropes. “I can’t even feel anything.”
Hoofbeard looked up at the sail with a curious gaze, then turned his attention to the water. A soft gasp escaped his lips as he approached the side of the boat. “My Goddess…”
Spike rushed up beside him to see what he was looking at. The ocean around them was calm… spookily calm. So calm even the ripples in the water had died, fading away to leave a surface that looked more like glass than water. It was still water though; the boat was still bobbing softly for a moment until the stillness of the wind and water alike brought them to a complete standstill.
“Captain? Have you seen something like this before?” Spike asked.
“Not once in me long life.” Captain Hoofbeard marched back to the front of his ship, past his confused and worried crew. “Jewel, do ye have any ideas about what this may be?”
Jewel’s jaw was slack as she looked around at the water, but she composed herself as the captain approached. “I’m sorry, no… besides to say this can’t possibly happen in nature.” Jewel shook her head.
“Aye, nothin’ natural about this.” Hoofbeard turned back to his crew, who were mumbling and ranting among themselves. “Shut yer mouths, all of ye! You are not gonna turn into a panicky bunch of useless fillies, yer gonna man yer stations and stay there until I says otherwise!”
“Yes Captain!” The crew scattered back to their positions around the ship.
Hoofbeard turned back to the dragons and mermare. “We gotta get this boat movin’ again before me crew goes bonkers.”
“I could move it.” Jewel splashed her fins through the water in her tank. “I could go down and make the water move myself. It’ll be slower than using the wind, but at least we won’t be at a standstill.”
Hoofbeard grunted, “I don’t know, Jewel. Who knows what be lurking in that ocean? It could be dangerous.”
“Hoofbeard, the ocean is my domain; I promise I’ll be perfectly fine,” Jewel assured him with a smile. “If I see anything dangerous I will come back on board the ship immediately.”
Hoofbeard looked out over the glassy ocean for a few moments before nodding. “Aye, you make a fair point. Do yer thing, and we’ll keep an eye on you.”
“Aye-aye, captain.” Jewel flashed him a swift salute with one of her flippers, then jerked herself down to the bottom of her water tank. She flung herself up like a bullet, flying from the water with her fins spread wide almost like wings, sailing over the side of the ship to vanish into the water below. The splash from her entry made small ripples that reflected off the side of the boat, but these soon faded back into the smooth, glassy surface.
Jewel’s voice came from behind the boat. “I’m going to move the ship now, everypony hold on!”
Spike looked around quickly, then wrapped one of his arms around the mast while the other wrapped around Pyralsprite, holding her against his side. The dragon girl clung to him surprisingly tightly, her wings wrapping around him to keep herself secure.
Once all the ponies had found their own anchor points, Hoofbeard called out, “we’re all ready, Jewel! Do yer worst!”
“You asked for it!” A moment later it felt like an elephant slammed into the back of the boat. A tremendous spray of water flew over the sides of the ship as it rocked forward from the force of the impact. Pyralspite shrieked and ducked her head down inside her wing while the rest of the crew shouted and struggled to hang on, but the boat didn’t flip. It lurched forward across the glassy water, buffeted along by more waves that added to the momentum rather than slamming harshly into the hull.
“Pyralsprite?” Spike squeezed her body softly in his arm. “Are you okay? You’re shaking…”
“Uh… I…” Pyralsprite gulped. “I uh… can’t really swim…”
“But you can fly… you could fly away if you need to.”
“Not if I can’t tell which way land is…” Pyralsprite shook her head. “Out here, in the middle of the ocean, and especially under the water… I really am blind.”
“Oh… well don’t worry, you won’t have to do any of that.” Spike clung to her even tighter as another wave rocked over the ship, sending them lurching forward. “Just focus on me, the ship is just fine. There won’t be any swimming or trying to fly away.”
“O-okay… I’ll try…” Pyralsprite jumped in his arms when a shriek erupted from the back of the boat, which was just settling down from the latest wave.
“Hoofbe-“ Jewel’s voice cut through the air like a siren before it suddenly disappeared.
“Jewel… Jewel!” Hoofbeard took off towards the back of the boat, shrugging past his confused and worried crew until he leapt over the side of the ship, splashing into the water below.
“Captain!” One of the crew ponies rushed to the back rail of the ship, looking down into the still water. “I can’t see them anywhere!”
“Oh no… what if they’re in trouble down there?” Spike stepped forward. “A-a dragon hero would do something!”
“Dragon hero?” Pyralsprite huffed. “Spike, I told you, that Kindfire tale we heard in Appleoosa was probably just a load of crap.”
“Even if it was… I want to be that kind of dragon! And-and there are ponies in trouble here and now! Besides, if we don’t rescue Jewel, we’re stranded here in this creepy place. If only I could breathe underwater…”
Pyralsprite sighed. “Well… if you were really determined, you probably could.”
“What? Really?”
“I felt your magic… I’d be surprised if you couldn’t use a water-breathing spell. Dragons with much less magic than you do it.”
“Wow! Okay, I’m gonna try!” He hesitated a moment. “H-how do I use it?”
“The thing to remember is that your magic and your fire are the same thing.” Pyralsprite reared up on her hind claws and pressed one claw against her chest. “You gotta infuse the spell you want to use into your fire. Focus on shaping the flame, on making it do what you want.”
“Oh… so it’s like how I always used to send letters, but instead of teleporting a letter, I’m doing other things.”
“That sounds about right.” Pyralsprite dropped to her four claws again and took a step back. “Just keep your focus so you don’t burn down this ship. If you burn down this ship I will kill you.”
“Heh, yeah, I’ll try.” Spike looked down at himself and spread his legs, beginning to deepen his breaths.
He could feel the fire inside of him, where it always was. It had always been easy, and actually quite natural, to use it to teleport things over distances even unicorns couldn’t possibly cover in a single bound, but he’d never stopped to think about what else it could do. Now that he was focusing on it, he could feel how malleable it really was. Like the fire in his belly was a piece of clay waiting to be shaped… but how to shape it into something that would do what he wanted was a bigger question. Obviously he wanted gills, or maybe to change his lungs for a while. Yeah, that could work…
He took a deep, steady breath, feeling the flames rolling inside of him, then let it out slowly. The emerald green fire trickled out of his lips, but he didn’t release it yet. He took several more breaths, letting the fire churn inside of him, until he lowered his head and let it out in one long stream across his legs, where it burned and swept up his body quickly. The boat was left untouched, but he could feel the change happen… though he wasn’t yet sure it did exactly what he wanted.
“That was cool.” Pyralsprite stepped closer curiously. “Did it work?”
“One way to find out.” Spike clenched his claws at his sides, then took off running towards the back of the boat, where he dove over the side. A hero never stopped to think, after all, even if being wrong meant terrible, terrible things.
He plunged into the ocean water headfirst, sinking several feet. He held his breath by instinct, but eventually he forced himself to take a deep breath… and found that no water entered his lungs. He wasn’t sure how it worked, but it had worked! He was breathing underwater!
“Yes!” Spike pumped his fist happily.
“No! Get yer tentacles offa Jewel, ye beast!” Captain Hoofbeard’s cry drew his attention away from his own success.
The captain was floating in the water nearby with his sharp sword clutched in one hoof, facing what looked like the strangest octopus… squid… thing… Spike had ever seen. He couldn’t even tell how many tentacles the thing had. It looked like it had to be at least thirty, if not more.
The squidopus just laughed in a bubbly voice. “Are you asking me to do your job for you? Hmph, some good guy you are.”
“Hoofbeard, be careful.” Jewel struggled against the tentacles that had her wrapped from neck to tailfin like a cocoon. “I’ve never seen a creature like this…”
“And ye won’t ever again once I get through with it!” Hoofbeard lurched forward through the water, bringing his sword around in a furious slash that sliced through the water, but one tentacle easily snatched the blade away while another stroked under his chin.
“If you want to make any progress may I suggest a stabbing motion?” One tentacle lifted the sword into his stunned hoof, jerking it forward into a stabbing motion in the water. “There you go; slicing simply won’t do under the water like this.”
“Ye mock me!?” Hoofbeard lashed out again, stabbing at the creature’s main body, but it easily floated out of range. “Release me beloved, monster!”
The squidopus turned around to aim all of its tentacles at him, each opening into a miniature mouth that blew a giant raspberry powerful enough to blow Hoofbeard back through the water. “If you want her, you’re gonna have to heroically waste time chasing me into the horizon after her!” The mini-mouths sang before the creature jetted through the water.
“Hoofbeard! Heeeeeelp!” Jewel screamed as she was dragged away quickly through the water.
“I’m comin’ for ye, Jewel!” Hoofbeard began to swim with all his might after the creature.
Spike took a deep, steadying breath for a moment, finally regaining his senses from the frightening and strange scene enough to follow after Hoofbeard. His smaller, lizardlike body allowed him to cut through the water much better, and he quickly caught up with the pony captain.
“Captain! I’m going to swim ahead and find Jewel!”
“Eh!? Spike!?” Hoofbeard whirled on him with wide eyes. “How are ye…”
“That doesn’t matter! Just follow as quickly as you can! I’ll meet you there!” Spike surged ahead, cutting through the water and keeping a sharp eye out for anything strange. He couldn’t feel any kind of tide or normal movement in the water. It was almost like swimming in thin Jell-O, in a weird way, but he still had no trouble moving around.
His body shot through the water in the direction the squidopus has disappeared, his eyes scanning the ocean for any sign of them until finally he caught sight of a mass of swirling tentacles resting on one of the ocean reefs. Jewel was still cocooned inside dozens of the tentacles, her entire body covered except for her head.
“What do you want with me?” Jewel demanded. “I have done nothing to you! Leave me be!”
The squidopus responded with a deep yawn from the central mouth on its body. “Such drama, there’s really no need for that. But what’s a chase through the high seas without a beautiful prize for the hero to rescue?”
“This is a game to you?” Jewel’s eyes flared. “You kidnapped me for fun? S-surely you don’t mean to…”
The squidopus barked out a bubbly laugh. “Oh please, I’m less interested in you than I am in a carp, though I’ve seen some very shapely carp over the years. In fact there was this one some time ago-”
“Halt!” Spike clutched his claws at his sides once he was close enough to the creature that he was sure it couldn’t get away. “Release her at once!”
The creature whirled on him, sickly yellow eyes looking him over in stunned surprise before the creature collapsed across the reef in halting fits of laughter. “Baaaaahahahahahahaha! Oh my word that is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen!”
Well, that certainly wasn’t what Spike had wanted to happen. “Uh…” He lifted one arm to point an accusing claw at him. “I mean it! Release her or I’ll be forced to save her!”
“And how will you do that?” The creature raised itself up on the reef with one tentacle wiping tears of mirth away from its eyes, a strange motion considering they were underwater. “Will you scratch me with your tiny claws? Or breathe your underwater compatible fire at me? Bwahahahahaaaa!” The squidopus fell over again, waving its tentacles so hard in the water that Jewel was flung back and forth.
Spike had to admit he hadn’t thought that far ahead. What was he supposed to do here to rescue the girl? That creature’s flesh was probably thicker than his claws were long, and his fire wouldn’t work underwater…
Would it? Pyralsprite’s words from the night before came back to him.
“I think you’re breathing almost pure magic.”
Water may stop fire… but would it stop magic?
Spike took several deep, steady breaths, once again trying to focus on shaping the flames in his belly. He could feel them churning like lava, spreading through his body and making their way up towards his throat. The creature was still too busy laughing to pay him any attention as the emerald green flames began to leak from his lips with each breath, sending tendrils of bubbles rising towards the ocean’s surface.
With one last deep breath, Spike let the fire out in one massive stream. Bubbles erupted like a thunderclap, but they couldn’t stop the flame that surged through the water straight up the center of the squidopus’ tentacles, engulfing its body in emerald fire. A hideous, pained screech split the ocean as the tentacles thrashed in pain instead of mirth, so wild and aimless they sent the mermare flying through the water upwards, where she corrected and turned to face her abductor.
“How dare you take me against my will, you vile creature!? Begone!” Jewel shot through the water towards the creature before it could recover and lashed out with her fins, creating a powerful current that blew the creature right off of the reef and sent it plummeting through the ocean and further into the dark, murky depths at the bottom of the sea. “And never return!”
“Hah… haha! Yeah!” Spike pumped his fists over his head. “We did it!”
“You did do it, little one.” The mermare floated over to him and wrapped him in her fins in a tight hug. “You have my gratitude!”
“Hehe, aww…” Spike blushed. “Don’t worry about it, it was nothing really…”
“Jewel? Yer safe?” Captain Hoofbeard finally caught up to them.
“I am. This little one rescued me.” Jewel floated up to the captain to give him a brief, but strong kiss. “Thank you for coming though.”
“Haha! Aye, I did me best, but it looks like this day ain’t mine.” Captain Hoofbeard gave Spike a strong pat on the back, sending him cartwheeling through the water. “What’s more, I can feel the water movin’ again. Let’s return to me ship, and we can continue on our way.”
“Heh, that sounds pretty good to me,” Spike agreed with a wide smile and a blush.
The journey back to the boat was thankfully calm, and when they broke the surface Spike could immediately tell that everything was back to normal. The sail had been lowered so the ship wouldn’t sail off in the strong wind that had kicked up over the rolling ocean surface.
No sooner did Spike’s head break the surface then a winged dragon girl swooped down to pluck him out of the water like a fish, carrying him back towards the boat.
“Waaaaahhhh! Ooof!” Spike grunted as he slammed into the deck with Pyralsprite on top of him, holding him tightly in her claws and her body.
“You scared the Hell out of me you jerk!” Pyralsprite squeezed him tighter.
Spike’s head was about to explode from the furious blush on his cheeks, fueled by the crew ponies who were watching with bemused expressions. “P-Pyralsprite, I’m sorry. I’m fine, you were totally right about everything… and I did it.” A smile spread across his cheeks as he returned her hug. “I managed to be a hero… now… please let me go…”
Hoofbeard helped pull Jewel aboard and into her tank, where she floated upright again gracefully. Once she was aboard he turned back to his crew. “Raise the mainsail, me harties! It be clear sailin’ to the dragon lands now!”
“Aye-aye, captain!” The screw immediately went back to their assorted tasks, leaving the two dragons alone on the deck.
Now that they weren’t being watched, Spike was more okay with the tight hug…
___
His skin was smoldering. Scorched fur covered his body as he slowly pulled himself from the ocean on the beach near Fillydelphia. Smoke continued to pour from him despite having just spent the last two hours in the water, making his way towards the shore. He felt something strange coursing through his body, something that had slowed him down tremendously and made it difficult to think well enough to use his magic.
Was the master of chaos himself in pain?
“Nnngh…” Discord rolled over onto his back to rest on the sand, taking deep, steadying breaths. “Well played, little dragon.” He spoke to nobody in particular. “Well played… but of course, this is far from over…”
To Be Continued