The sun was shining bright as Cumulus lounged on a cloud, and a strong wind blew in his face, the kind of wind that was strong enough to be pleasant but not overpowering. The salt in the air stung at his eyes a little but even that was a pleasant distraction from the deep ache in his wings. Since finding a large and beautifully clear fresh water lake he had followed it's largest river down stream knowing that it would eventually lead to the sea, which had eventually lead him into a mangrove swamp The problem was that particular estuary twisted and turned so much that he had spent most of his time just tracing it's course, the result was he was running on empty again and needed to rest. Odds were he would be staying put for the rest of the day, which suited him just fine, he took a bit of one of the figs he had picked along the way and chewed slowly taking his time.
When he swallowed he gingerly leaned to his left and glanced at the ground below him," Nope still there." He said to himself. almost directly below him were a pair of predators standing hip deep in water. They were smaller than the Ridgebacks, with a dark green coloration and pale yellow dapples. Their skulls were distinctly similar to a cragidiles but much narrower with a curious hooked shape towards the end of the snout that caused their teeth to stick out at odd angles. They also had a single overly large claw on the inner most digit of their hands that brought the Slashers to mind. One of them plunged its jaws into the water only to reemerge a few seconds later with an impressively sized fish caught in its teeth.
He went back to his resting position," I wish they'd leave." He had been sitting on his cloud for close to an hour now and he was starting to get impatient. He looked back at the real reason he was procrastinating, the beached remains of a shipwreck it was laying on its side in several feet of water. He could not be sure how long it had been here but it was in really bad shape, one of its mast's had be broken and it was filled with holes one of its ballista was even tangled in the branches of a mangrove several yards away.
He remembered Jaffar saying something about a Pirates journal maybe there was a connection, this was why he wanted to two Fishers to go away, so he could poke around the wreck without fear of becoming something next meal. "What am I doin with my life?" He laughed. Just a week ago he would have been flying in circles at the possibility of spending an afternoon watching those two fish and interact with each other. Now he was more interested in the thought of pirate treasure than his his life's work. He sighed and glanced down at the two creatures that still stood below him still as stone, the first few inches of their snouts in the water. Odds were they would not pay him any mind so long as he kept his distance, he looked back to the wreck, then to the Fishers again, there was nearly a hundred yards between the two.
Cumulus heaved a great sigh and stood, his joints crackled as he rolled his shoulders and he spread his wings until they gave a pleasant pop. Glancing back at the creatures one last time, he stepped of his cloud and glided towards the the wreck's stern. Cumulus would be the first to admit he hardly knew anything about old sailing ships but he did know that an old rig like this one once had its name carved into a plate that was at the back end. It was a long shot but maybe the plaque would still be legible, even a name might give him some insight as to where it came from.
He groaned when he had to start flapping his wings, an hours rest had helped but his wing muscles were still sore, it would make escaping a predator very difficult. He glanced at the Fishers again just to be sure they were not heading his way. They were both watching him but after a few seconds they seemed to be content with his presence and returned to dipping their snouts in the water. Cumulus let out a breathe he did not realize he had been holding and focused of trying to find any clue as to the origin of the beached ship. Most of the stern was covered in ivy and hanging moss and he set himself to the task of clearing it, almost immediately his hoof clacked against something metallic.
Cumulus began ripping down the moss that had grown over a layer of dead vines, what he uncovered was just what he had hoped to find, a metal plaque blackened by time and caked with filth that had accumulated from many decades of exposure. Tilting his head to the side he tried to read the name,"The.. Celestial... Arrow?" He had never heard of this ship but that really wasn't any surprise, though that didn't sound like the name of a pirate ship.
"Sounds like something the Royal Navy might call one of theirs though." He muttered to himself. He had only ever seen one of the Navy's ships and as he recalled it was call something similar, the Navy tended to give their larger ships names that were meant to pay homage to Princess Celestia, it was kind of sad actually. A new thought came to him, 'What's a Navy ship doing on this side of the barrier? Jaffar said it was a pirate that figured out how to cross it.'
He began circling the hulking structure, there was absolutely no hope of repairing it the keel was broken in several places and parts of the hull looked shredded, like some huge jungle cat had been using it as a scratching post. With his curiosity in overdrive, he delicately landed near one of the gaping openings, his wings still spread in case the wood did not hold his weight or that some hungry beast wanted to make a meal of him. "H-hello!" He called knowing full well there would be no response. After a few tense moments he poked his head into the wrecks interior," Yoo hoo! Be thar any ghooosts about?" He snickered at his own bad pirate impression.(1) However it seemed to yield unexpected results! Hundreds of tiny points of light filled the dark interior of the ship and rushed towards him!
Cumulus screamed like a filly, as he back-winged away as hundreds of tiny frilled lizards scrambled into the open air and running for the nearest tree branches. It took several minutes for the little creatures to scramble away and as the last few scampered away he saw fresh scratches in the wood. Cautiously he dropped onto the wood again and crept towards the opening and poked his head inside again,"Anything else want to jump out at me!?" He heard a snort off to his right and turned to see the two Fishers staring at him, one of them had a look that if he did not know better would have been amusement, he chose it ignore that and climbed into the ships dark interior.
He dropped onto the tilted floor and slid a little on something that squished under his hooves, he was fairly confident what it was and resolved to give his hooves a thorough washing once he got out of here. He reached into his saddlebags with the only hoof that was still clean and pulled out his flashlight, he had not had to use it yet so it had a full charge. He cast its light around the room and fought down the urge to be sick, the room was covered in accumulated filth and nothing else. There was no noticeable odor but it was still disgusting, he quickly found a door and tried to pull it open. The hinges the door hung from crumbled to dust and the the heavy wooden door fell with a loud thump and noisily slid across the floor carried by the angle the wreck sat at.
He looked around the larger space moving the flashlight to wherever he chose to look, it was fairly empty as most anything loose had fallen to the far side of the room as the door had just done. He surveyed that part of the room, there were bits of smashed furniture, crates and, barrels as well as many corroded chunks of iron and rust. It was not until his light reached the farthest corner that he saw anything interesting, and by interesting he meant terrifying! The mummified remains of a pony, it was impossible to tell if it had been a stallion or a mare, but without a doubt it was a pony. Its skin was pale and leathery looking and its eyes sunken in and its lips pulled back showing cracked yellow teeth, this was not the first dead pony he had seen but to see it desiccated like this stabbed at his heart. It was wrong to think this poor pony had been left to whatever ends nature had in store for it.
He stared at the corpse for a long time unsure what he should do in this situation, it felt wrong to just ignore it but it seemed just as wrong to tamper with it. Cumulus grappled with this conflict in morality until he noticed an rusted metal box under on of the mummies hooves," What could be so important that you would want that with you when you went?" His curiosity getting the better of him, he slowly stepped towards the little box sitting under the ponies cracked dry hoof. He tenderly reached out and pulled it towards him, the thin weakened metal warped under the little pressure he exerted and easily broke when he tried to open it. There was no gold inside the box, no precious jewels or historical treasures, there was only a weathered looking leather bound book. Gingerly he picked it up and read the first page.
7, April
This is my first assignment as Commodore of Her Majesty's Royal Navy. As such I have chosen to begin a new diary for this new chapter in my life. I still find myself struggling with it at times, I have been made Commodore!!! Lord Hood says I am the youngest mare to ever achieve the rank, I truly wish I had the time to celebrate this. However as soon as I had received my promotion I found myself standing before Princess Celestia herself, it is not the first time I had met her but this was the first time I had seen her so distressed. Now I find myself sitting in my cabin aboard The Celestial Arrow! With her under my command! I had always dreamed the Arrow would be mine. I always thought it just a fantasy yet here I am.
Though I cannot bring myself to be happy. My mission would normally be quite simple, to hunt down a pirate ship. Perhaps even below the need for the Arrow's might. However who we hunt fills me with dread, Princess Celestia has sent another accomplished Captain and myself after Jack Sparrow and The Black Pearl. He apparently attacked the Princess's estate in Manehatten and stolen something, what he took I do not know. Though the Princess does not seem to want it back, only for us to eliminate both Sparrow and The Pearl.
The thought of confronting a Pirate Lord... The Last Pirate Lord, is both exhilarating and terrifying. I have full confidence that the Arrow will succeed but I am already concerned about the mare that commands The Lunar Wind. Captain Seafoam is one of those ponies that thinks the Princess a goddess. I heard her praying with her crew for fair winds and straight shot, it was... unnerving. I doubt that her fanaticism will hamper our cause but I fear that it may push her to take unnecessary risks.
10, April
It has taken us three days but we finally found him. Sparrow seems to be heading South, maybe he is heading towards the Zuban Archipelago but he should be more Westerly oriented for that destination, I would think the one thing even pirates can do right is sail.
15, April
Sparrow is not heading for the Zuban Isles! I have absolutely no idea where he is going, he would have to turn around completely to be heading there at this point. Seafoam seems to believe that he is just fleeing before the Princess's 'Divine Wrath' her actual words. However I am not of a like mind, Sparrow did not become a Pirate Lord by being a coward. Perhaps it has something to do with what he stole from the Princess? Or perhaps Seafoam is right and he is just running for his miserable life. Only time will tell now.
19, April
I cannot believe it! I had heard tales, read the stories, but to see the Barrier with my own eyes... It is like nothing I had ever imagined. The whole sky is just one angry storm. How does something like this even exist? I suppose it does not matter or at least it would not if The Black Pearl were not sailing straight for it. Could Sparrow really mean to sail through it? He must know that it would be suicide to even try, or maybe he plans to try to get us to cut short our chase? I must admit that I am considering letting Sparrow take back his lead so as to keep my distance from that evil storm.
Seafoam has taken the Lunar Wind ahead of us and she seems determined to catch the Pearl but what difference does it make how Sparrow ends up dead as long as he dies? I fear that this is the very type of foolish risk her faith would drive her to take. I cannot let her do something stupid that will needlessly cost lives. The question is how do I keep her from getting herself killed?
19, Aprill
It has been only a few short hours since my last entry but I feel I must put my thoughts to paper. The Barrier does not strike me as impassable squall I have heard sailors speak of. The winds are strong but I have sailed harder typhoons in my time, the waves barely break twenty feet and, the rain is anything but torrential. I am reminded more or a summer thunderstorm than the storm to end all storms that legend speaks of. What could this mean could this be something Sparrow has done? The thing he took from Celestia! Could it be calming the Storm!? Could we be riding on the coattails of his grace zone?
Seafoam has her own theory of course, that Princess Celestia has blessed our mission and even the Demon Squall bows before her radiance. I almost pity her at this point, to think that she can view every single lucky break as divine intervention, is heartbreakingly pathetic. How did somepony like her ever become a Captain? I suppose it does not matter right now.
21, April
We made it! I still cannot wrap my mind around how it could be possible! We sailed through the Southern Barrier and lived! It is simply unbelievable, perhaps Seafoam was right about the Princess. No. I still cannot bring myself to worship her, if she had the power to protect us from that storm then why has nopony tried this before? No, it was either luck or whatever Sparrow took that got us through that squall in one piece.
Speaking of Sparrow, he was gain quite the depressing lead on us. He clearly is pushing his crew hard and it is bound to ware them out sooner or later. They are just a rabble of parasite ridden outlaws after all. The Pearl is just viable on the horizon and every time I use my spyglass I can catch the glint of light off another glass, Sparrow knows we are still stalking him.
21, April
I have just returned from the Lunar Wind and a very vocal argument with Seafoam. I have been going over our trek through the Barrier in my mind again and again. I keep coming to the same conclusion, I do not know how we did it! So logically my next question is a simple one. How in Tartarus are we going to get home again!? We have no way of knowing what let us get through or how to do it again! So as I have come to a decision, We are going to take Sparrow alive and interrogate him until I am confident that we can survive our second attempt.
Seafoam disagrees of course. She kept screaming about our orders. She actually said that it did not matter if we never got home, so long as we did as 'Her Radiance' decreed! To think that I was beginning to actually believe her dogma!? Princess Celestia would never want us to carelessly throw our lives away! I ordered her to follow my plans but I already question her intentions. What ever ends up happening, I just want to see my home again.
22, April
Idiot! I am such a blithering idiot! I do not know when or how but Seafoam sabotaged us! Some time in the night, while most of us slept The Lunars crew boarded us and cut down our sails ! The canvas is untouched but it will take days to get us underway again. I plan to see Seafoam Court Marshaled for this! Assuming I can get us back to Equestria in one piece .
The Pearl and The Lunar Wind are both gone beyond our sight, Seafoam actually kill the crew on watch when she pulled this stunt. I must stop writing now, as it is time to give my sailors a proper burial. I always hated this part of command...
26, April
Four days... Four grueling days getting the sails repaired but we are finally done. Making all haste to find Seafoam and The Lunar Wing. I still plan on capturing Sparrow but now I want to see Seafoam in chains for the deaths she ordered. My crew would accept nothing less and neither will I. First Seafoam, then Sparrow.
30, April
I have not made an entry in a while, so I will now though nothing of note has happened yet. I was forced to order out the oars, those coupled with the strong tailwind has helped us to cover some of the the distance between us and our prey. In the spirit of fairness, and to give me something to do while the time rolls by, I have been taking stints at the oars with the crew. I believe it is helping with morale a bit, though in all honesty I have been imagining that we are dragging Seafoam bound and gagged behind us. It feels good to indulge that little evil thought.
3, May
I never expected this. We just fished Seafoam and seven of the Lunars crew off of a piece of the Lunar herself! They are all dehydrated and sun-crazed, Sea foam was ranting about some death dragon tearing the Lunar Wind to shreds. The damage done to the fragment of her hull we recovered says something happened. Could there really be dragons down here? Or is Sparrow more dangerous than I thought? Never the less Seafoam is in chains as is her few remaining crewmares, I intend to start interrogating them to see if I can discern what really happened to the Lunar. I refuse to believe anything Seafoam says anymore.
7, May
I do not know what happened out there, but it must have been truly terrible to have done this to these ponies. The only thing I can get out of them is some mumbled prayer, a pony that joins in this idiotic worship, who is under my command I may add, says it is a hymn meant to ward off evil. I honestly do not know what to make of this, they are all terrified. Seafoam seems to be the only one willing to talk and every word she shrieks is just more of her Dogma. I had her gagged again, but she is still making an awful racket.
7, May
As if I do not have enough to deal with! Now there is a hurricane on the way! It will be on us before noon tomorrow, and there is no way we can ovoid it. Our only option is to weather it out and hope the Arrow is strong enough to take it. I have everypony keeping an eye out for for a sheltered cove but so far nothing seems adequate. This whole thing has just been one disaster after another, but I refuse to give up.
8, May
One month, I had not even realized it until somepony said something. We have been out here for a month, how could so much have gone wrong in so short a time? It does not matter, all that matters right now is making it though this cyclone alive. We found shelter, it is awful shelter, but it is the best we could find. This mangrove swamp is the last place I wanted to ride this out but we were out of time.
The wind is howling outside, I can hear the rain picking up in intensity. It is actually kind of ironic, this gale is far worse that what we faced in the Barrier. I still wonder about it, how we survived. It does not matter right now getting passed this is all that matters, then I can worry about catching Sparrow and making him explain how he passed through the Barrier. Yes I just have to take things one step at a time right now.
Cumulus turned the page but it was blank. There was no other entries and it was not difficult to imagine why, 'They didn't make it. He thought solemnly. He closed the diary and sighed," Well Commodore, if that is in fact you, I'm sorry. I will make sure this gets back to Equestria." He flipped through the pages one more time," And I will be sure to find out what your name was." He looked around and saw other places in the ship to explore, but he already knew what he would find, and it did not feel right to to tread on these ponies tomb anymore than he had.
