“Are you sure potion making is a good idea, Apple Bloom?” asked Sweetie Belle. She and Apple Bloom were currently sitting together in the Cutie Mark Crusaders' wagon while Scootaloo pulled it.
“We’re not going to Zecora’s for potion making cutie marks,” Apple Bloom sighed. The Everfree forest blotted out the sun over her and the other two Crusaders. “Trust me, I learned that the hard way.”
Scootaloo stopped pulling the wagon with her scooter and looked back at Apple Bloom. “Then what are we going to Zecora’s for?”
“Well,” said Apple Bloom, “Ah was thinking, since Zecora’s from out of town, maybe we could get our cutie marks in learning about other places.”
“That sounds boring,” Scootaloo retorted. “I mean, who would want to learn about places, especially if they’re too far to visit. I’d rather get a cutie mark exploring lands instead of just hearing about them.”
“Scootaloo does have a point,” Sweetie commented.
Apple Bloom frowned at yet another wasted attempt at getting a cutie mark. “Ah suppose you’re right, but Ah still want to go see her to apologize for the Gabby Gums article.”
“For when we caught her speaking normally?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah, Ah felt pretty bad about it, especially since Ah still owe Zecora for that time she fixed ma to–” Apple Bloom stopped when she heard a rustling in the forest ahead of the Crusaders. “W-what do ya think that is?”
Sweetie shifted herself a little closer to Apple Bloom. “I-it’s not that cockathing again, is it?”
Scootaloo backed up a little “If it is, we’ll just go get Fluttershy.” . “I mean, she took care of it be–“
“Heads up!” a pony called out as it swung over the Crusaders. In place of a vine, the pony had used an oddly elongated leg to swing over the them. They all ducked to avoid its legs and when they looked up to see where the strange pony was, it was gone.
“What was that?” Scootaloo asked after a moment of taking in the bizarre scene.
Sweetie’s eyes darted around the forest. “It... it looked like a pony,”
“Did ya see its leg?” Apple Bloom yelled. “It was all freaking and stretched out! Ah bet it was some crazy monster like the bug-ponies ma sister warned me about!"
A devilish grin emerged on Scootaloo's face. "Girls, I think we just found a way to get our cutie marks!”
Sweetie's expression went from panic and confusion to befuddlement. “How is a weird swinging pony gonna help us get our cutie marks?"
“Think about the possibilities," Scootaloo giddily replied. "We could try being doctors on it if it has a disease, or mystery solvers to figure out how it did that, or we could even learn how to swing like it did!”
“Ah don’t know...” Apple Bloom looked up at the shacking branch the pony had launched itself off of. “That was pretty weird.”
“Ugh,” Scootaloo groaned. Before she could complain more, a whooshing sound filled the air. “Now what?”
“Get back here!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she zoomed through the trees toward the Crusaders.
“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo squealed.
“Huh?” Dash turned her head at the noise. It only took that amount of time for her to not notice the tree in from off her and run straight into it.
“Ouch,” Sweetie said. Dash slowly slid down the tree.
“C’mon girls,” Apple Bloom jumped out of the cart and trotted over to Dash. She tenderly bit into one of Dash's limp blue limbs and pulled her over to the cart. “Mphh mffle mff Zphphas.”
“What?” Scootaloo asked.
Apple Bloom stopped dragging Dash for a second. “Ah said, let’s get her to Zecora’s. We’ll deal with the weird pony later.”
“Soarin,” Dash moaned, “you and Spitfire have the best jokes.”
“We should probably hurry.” Sweetie jumped out of the wagon and picked up one of Dash's limbs.
~~~
“Darn it!” Luffy yelled as he swung on the branches of the forest. “Where’s the edge of this island? If I can just find that, I can build a boat and get back to the Archipelago!” The collection trees around grew thinner. Ahead, they stopped completely. “Ah-ha! That must be the edge!”
Luffy launched himself off of one more branch and landed on the ground. He raised his head and looked forward. A medium sized town stretched out before his eyes. Most of the buildings had thatched roofs, but a few were tiled. Vividly colored ponies strolled in and out of the buildings, some with wings, some with horns, and some without either. “Huh... guess horses live like people here.
He tapped a hoof to his forehead and scrunched up his face in concentration. “Let’s see, if horses built those houses and shop then they're like people… that means...” An epiphany reached Luffy and he stomped the ground. “That bear jerk must send everyone who likes meat here! Hmm, why turn them into horses and not just seal their mouths?”
Luffy’s stomach gave a low grumble. He sighed and started walking over to the town. “Guess I’ll just have to eat something else then.”
Suddenly, a pink mane obscured Luffy's vision. “Huh?”
“Oh, wow!” the mane exclaimed. It shifted away from Luffy to reveal that it was attached to a pair of sapphire-blue eyes. “I’ve never seen you before! Are you new? Are ya?”
“Um, I guess,” Luffy replied as he backed away to see that he was talking to another horse. This one was pink all over except for its eyes.
“You are? Oooh, I’m so happy! We’ll have to throw a party for you! We’ll have music, and games, and tons of food!”
Luffy's tongue dropped out of his mouth and wagged like a dog's. “Food?”
“Of course!" the pink pony exclaimed with a smile. “It wouldn’t be a party without food!”
"Darn, I’m kinda in a rush right now, so I don't really have time for a party. Is there anyplace I can go get some food really fast?”
“Well, if you’re in a hurry, then I could take you to Sugarcube Corner. They’ll have your food ready lickity split!”
“Let’s go then!” Luffy marched towards the town.
“Um, do you know where it is?”
“Oh yeah.” Luffy stopped. “You should probably lead the way.”
“Oki-doki!” The pink pony trotted forward and Luffy followed behind her. “I’m Pinkie Pie by the way. Nice to meet you!”
“I’m Luffy. So, is this place really good?”
“Of course it is! I’ve taste tested everything at the shop at least twice. The only thing I didn’t like was the sapphire thingy they made for Spike. It tasted good, but it chipped one of my teeth.”
“Whatever, I’ll eat anything they have.”
“Wow, I haven’t seen a pony that hungry since, well, me,” Pinkie giggled. “Guess the Cakes will be busy today.” She stopped in front of a building that looked like it was made out of sweets. “We’re here!”
“Woah!" Luffy drooled as he eyed the store. "Can you eat this whole place?”
“No, that’d be silly. If it were made out of sweets, it’d be all stale and yucky. Plus...” Pinkie blushed a little. “I kinda already tried eating it the first time I saw it. Mr. and Mrs. Cake weren’t that happy.”
“Oh well,” Luffy sighed as he walked up the steps to the store. “I’ll just order everything inside.”
“I like your style, Luffy!” Pinkie trotted up to the door and held it open. Once Luffy was inside, she came in too. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake! I’ve got a new pony in town who wants everything!”
Mr. Cake trotted to the front of the store with a confused look on his face. “Um, I’m sorry Pinkie, but did you just say one of everything?”
“No.” Luffy pressed his face up against a glass display. His drool ran down the side of it as he looked as the sweets on the other side of the it. “I think I want everything.”
“Everything?!” Mr. Cake legs shook a little. He twisted around and yelled to the back of the store, “Honey!”
“What’s wrong, dear?” Mrs. Cake asked as she entered the front of the store. Her attention went from Mr. Cake to Pinkie and Luffy. “Oh, why, hello Pinkie. Who’s your friend?”
“This is Luffy.” Pinkie gabbed Luffy and shoved him just a few inches away Mrs. Cake’s face. “He’s new in town and he wants everything in the store!”
“Can… can he eat that much?” Mrs. Cake asked.
“Yep!” Luffy bluntly replied.
The situation slowly dawned on Mrs. Cake and she looked to Mr. Cake for support. “Dear, please don’t tell me this is happening.”
Mr. Cake mets Mrs. Cake's gaze with microscopic pupils and sweat dripping from his forehead. “I think it is.”
“Don’t worry about costs. Since Luffy’s a new pony in town, I’ll cover him this time.” Pinkie produced a large stack of coins seemingly out of thin air and leveled them over to Mrs. Cake, who took a moment to realize the coins were even there. “C’mon Luffy, let’s find a seat. It might take them a bit to get everything ready.”
“Okay,” Luffy replied as he followed Pinkie to a nearby table and sat down. She gazed at him with wide eyes. “What?”
"Where are ya from? I always love meeting new ponies and learning about them!”
“Well, I was raised in Windmill Village, but I don’t really live anywhere. Hmm, guess you could say the Sunny is my home.”
“What’s a ‘Sunny?’”
“My ship.”
“Oh, so you’re a cruise captain then?”
Luffy smiled. "Nope, I'm a pirate!"
Pinkie let out a large gasp and started hopping around Luffy excitedly. “Oh my gosh, a pirate! I've never seen a real pirate before! I thought they were just stories! That’s so cool! Wait a minute…” Pinkie stopped bouncing around and gave Luffy a slanted stare. “How come you don’t have a peg leg, or an eye patch, or even a hook?”
“Not every pirate has stuff like that. Oh, but I did once fight a guy with a hook for a hand. Plus, I have a robot on my crew, if that counts.”
“Wow! You’re a pirate and you have a robot! You’ve got to show me your ship some time!”
“Okay! Can you show me how to get off this island so I can get back to it? You can even join my crew if ya want to!”
“Silly, Equestria’s not an island. We’d be surrounded by water otherwise.”
Luffy sunk into his chair. “Huh, that’s weird. I guess this must just be a really big island if you don’t even know you’re on an island. Darn, that means it'll take longer to get back to the Archipelago.”
“The archiwhat?”
“The place where my ship is and where my crew and I promised to meet if we got separated.”
At the mention of "separation" Pinkie's demeanor calmed down and her smiled wavered. “What happened with you and your crew?”
“Food!" Luffy screamed instead of answering Pinkie's question. Mrs. Cake had appeared on the other side of the room with a cart filled to the brim with various sweets of all shapes and sizes. Luffy stretched out his hooves and grabbed the entire top portion of the cart. Mrs. Cake’s mouth dropped and she fled the room.
“Oh my gosh! How’d ya do that trick?” Pinkie gasped.
“Af aph ta dphil fruph!” Luffy replied as he stuffed the sweets into his mouth.
“What’s a devil fruit?” Pinkie was no stranger to talking with her mouth full of food, so Luffy's answer sounded normal to her. Even as she asked the question, she also stuffed her mouth with cake.
Luffy swallowed all the food he'd grabbed in one big gulp, and then replied, “It’s this weird fruit I ate as a kid. It lets me stretch, but I can’t swim either.”
“Ooh!” Pinkie’s eyes shined with excitement. “I’ve got to find one! Wait, do they all make you stretchy?”
“Nah.” Luffy shoved more food into his mouth. Half the cart was already gone. “They all do different sort of things, like making you sprout extra limbs, or turning into a skeleton, or other weird stuff.”
“A skeleton?”
“Yeah, my crew’s musician is a skeleton.”
Pinkie raised and eyebrow and scrutinized Luffy's face. “But he’s nice?”
“Of course he is. I wouldn’t have him on my crew otherwise.” Luffy swallowed some more food but didn't pick up any more. “Hope he’s okay.”
“Why?”
“This stupid bear guy sent my whole crew flying. Then he sent me here and turned me into a horse.”
Pinkie scratched her head at the odd use of the word "horse." “Don’t you mean pony?”
“Oh, so you’re all called ponies? Weird.” Luffy snagged an entire cake and inhaled it. “Anyway, the whole pony thing isn’t too bad, but what kind of jerk sends someone to an island without meat?!”
“Um…” Pinkie pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t having a strange dream. “You’re gonna need to start from the top.”
~~~
“Woowee!” Applejack chucked an empty bucket into her equally empty apple cart. “This has gotta be one of ma best days at the market ever. Sold out before five, Ah probably set a new record.” As she congratulated herself, she passed by the Sugarcube Corner. “Ah guess saying hi to Pinkie couldn’t hurt, since Ah got time.” Applejack set the cart down next to the store and went inside. “What the hay?”
Minus the busted roof, Sugarcube Corner looked almost as bad as the time Spike had gone greed crazy. Smatterings of frosting covered the floor and cake crumbs were strewn everywhere. The Cakes were huddled in a corner with the infants tightly pressed to their chests.
“What in tarnation is going on here?” Applejack asked.
“Horror,” Mrs. Cake whimpered, “sheer horror.”
“N-n-nopony,” Mr. Cake stuttered, “nopony has ever been able to match Pinkie in eating or energy.”
“We’re doomed! Doomed!” Mrs. Cake wailed to the heavens. “Celestia save us!”
“What the…” Applejack stopped her questioning when a smacking sound emanated from the sitting area of the Corner. She cautiously walked over and saw two ponies, one familiar and the other unfamiliar, laying waste to a smorgasbord of confections.
“Hey Applejack!” Pinkie smiled as she took a huge bite out of a chocolate cake. “Good timing, you’ve probably got five minutes left to eat any of this.” She went to take another bite of the cake, but it was snatched away by the unfamiliar pony. “Aw, Luffy! I was gonna eat that!”
“But it’s really good!” Luffy said before he devoured the cake in one huge bite.
“Hmm, ya got me there… oh well.” Pinkie shrugged and ate a whole cherry pie instead.
“So, um…” Applejack didn’t exactly know what to make of the scene. “Did ya make a new friend?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie said as she stuffed an éclair in her mouth. “He’s this ultra fun pony, only he’s not a pony. He’s this thing called a human, but some meanie sent him here and now he’s a super awesome pony!”
“What?” Applejack corked her eyebrow so high it should have popped off her head.
“Oh, did I go to fast?” Pinkie pulled Luffy over.
“Hey, I was eating,” Luffy complained.
“I know, but I wanted you to meet my friend Applejack.” Pinkie forcefully stretched out one of Luffy's hooves and extended it over to Applejack.
Applejack let out a yell and clambered away from Pinkie and Luffy's hoof. “Ah…ah knew it! Ya really can break physawhatsit, can’t ya Pinkie?!”
“Break physawhatsit?” Pinkie tilted her head. “That’d be silly." She let got of Luffy's hoof and it snapped back to the rest of his leg. "He just ate a magic fruit that makes you stretch, but apparently it tastes horrible, so I don’t really want to eat one anymore.”
Applejack’s mouth dropped and her eyes went crooked for a second; she brought a hoof to her head to steady herself. “Can ya maybe explain this whole story?”
“Ugh, again?” Luffy sighed as he took a chunk out a cookie cake.
“Don’t worry, I’ll explain this time.” Pinkie said as she turned back to Applejack. “This story is too good not to tell. It’s kind of a long one though.”
“Ah get the feeling Ah’ll be confused either way, so ya might as well give me the whole story.” Applejack sat down and barely managed to scoop up a small macaroon.
Pinkie took a deep breath and began. “It all started wi—”
“Hello? Is anypony her– Sweet Celestia! Sugarcube Corner’s been robbed!” A white unicorn dashed into the room and spotted Pinkie and Applejack. “Pinkie! Applejack! Somepony raided the Co– what are you all doing?”
“Rarity!" Pinkie grinned. "Great! Now I’ll just need to tell the story three more times and then everypony will be covered!"
“Pinkie?" Rarity shouted. "What is going on? Are you saying this mess wasn’t caused by a ruffian?”
“Nope, it was caused by me and him.” Pinkie pointed a hoof at Luffy. “Does a pirate count as a ruffian?”
“It most certainly does!” Rarity retorted. “Although, some of the stories with them do sound quite dazzling."
“Oh, 'cause Luffy’s a pirate.”
“He…” Rarity screeched as she pointed a hoof at Luffy, who was currently shoving a whole bowl of pudding into his mouth. “Is a pirate?!”
“Nif ta meef ya!” Luffy said with a full mouth.
“Blasted novels over-romanticized the whole thing!” Rarity cursed.
“Anyway,” Pinkie said, “you wanna hear his story? It’s pretty neat!”
“I suppose,” Rarity sighed. “I was going to ask about a cake for Sweetie’s birthday, but it looks like you’re, um…” Rarity looked around the messy room and shuddered. “... indisposed at the moment.”
“Okay, I’m gonna start.” Pinkie took a deep breath. "It all started with the pirate named Gold Roger who got wealth, fame, power, and everything else the world had to offer. He was such a good pirate that he became the king of pirates! Isn’t that awesome?”
“A king and a pirate?” Rarity tapped a hoof to her face. “Hmm, no stories I’ve read ever combined the two.” She looked over at Luffy. “What sort of fellow was he?”
“I dunno,” Luffy replied. “I never met him, but he sounds so cool!”
“Yep,” said Pinkie. “Especially because of his treasure.”
“Treasure?” Rarity’s eyes went wide.
“Yeah. See, right before he died, Roger said this,” Pinkie lowered her voice to make it sound gruff and manly, “‘You want my treasure? You can I have it! I left everything I gathered in one place! Now you just have to find it!’”
“So there’s a bunch of treasure just buried somewhere?” Applejack asked as she tried to grab another dessert, but Luffy got to it before she did.
“Not just any treasure, the treasure!” Luffy said while he chewed on the pilfered sweet. “Whoever gets the One Piece becomes the king.”
“Ah guess, that’s what you’re aiming to do?” Applejack asked.
“I was, until this big bear jerk used his weird paw hand things to send me and my crew all over the place.” Luffy frowned a little.
Applejack tilted her head a little. “Why in Equestria were ya fighting a bear?”
“Not a bear, I haven’t fought those since I was a kid. It was this big mechanical guy, we beat a copy of him, but then the real one showed up and blasted us all away.” Luffy slammed a hoof to the ground. “Now I’ve got to get back to my ship and my friends.”
“Um.” Applejack tilted her hat back. “Ah think you’re gonna need to tell us the whole story of how exactly ya got to that point.”
Luffy sighed. “Pinkie can you tell it? I’m still hungry and sweets just aren’t as filling as meat.” Luffy scooped up more food and started chowing down on it.
“Oki-doki-loki,” Pinkie replied with a smile. “Anyway girls, Luffy started out as a pirate when he met this nice captain named Shanks and then...”
~~~
“Geez, that was a long story," said Applejack. By now, the sun was beginning to set. The room, which had been filled with every kind of confection imaginable, was now barren, save for a few flecks of frosting and a couple of crumbs. “Ah still can’t believe there was so much of the world beyond Equestria and just how strange it is.”
“Yeah, I guess it is pretty strange that I used an afro to win a fight,” Luffy slouched on the floor and patted his distended stomach.
“Ah was referring more to stuff like fighting somepony made of lightning or sand. How does that even work?”
Rarity brushed her mane to the side. “I must admit, Mr. Luffy, you may not be the classiest gentlecolt, but you seem quite heroic.”
“Heroic?” Luffy stuck out his tongue. “I don’t want to be heroic.”
“But all your valiant deeds… saving a country, climbing a mountain to save a friend, or taking on an entire government to save another friend. Oh, it's like something out of one of my stories! How is it not heroic?"
“Because, say you have a ton of meat, heroes share their meat." Luffy crossed his front hooves across his chest. "I don’t want to share my meat.”
“I beg your pardon?” Rarity asked.
“Oh yeah, ponies don’t have meat.” Luffy tapped a hoof to his muzzle. “Um, I’d rather eat a lot of cakes then share them.”
Pinkie let out a deep gasp. “You really are a villainous pirate! Still, you sound a lot better than some of the guys you beat up.”
“Yeah, they were pretty big jerks,” Luffy smiled.
“The way ya and your crew took down that whole evil organization had me on the edge of ma seat,” Applejack said. “Plus, I really like the story behind your hat, reminds me of how Ah got mine.”
“Oh yeah…” Luffy looked up at the hat on his head and then at the same hat on his flank. “What's up with this tattoo thing anyway?”
“It’s a cutie mark,” Rarity explained. “Everypony gets one when they find out their special talent. Do ‘people’ not have them as well?”
“That’d be pretty weird for people to get tattoos on their butts,” Luffy nonchalantly stated.
“Nopony really seems to mind and I think it’s really neat!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I just wish we could meet the rest of your crew!”
“Yes,” Rarity said, “this ‘Robin’ character sound quite intriguing. Oh, the work I could do with an extra set of hooves.”
“I thought you said unicorns can use magic or something?” Luffy tilted his head at Rarity. “Can’t you just float stuff around?”
“Try to understand, Mr. Luffy. Dressmaking requires a certain touch that only hooves can provide.”
“Hee,” Luffy chuckled, “You kinda sound like Franky!”
“That macho-headed mechanical man?” Rarity raised a hoof to her head in anguish and sunk into her seat.
Luffy shrugged at Rarity over-dramtics. “Well ya sound like he does when he’s fixing the ship, or how Ussop used to sound.”
“I suppose if he's your friend it’s okay,” Rarity replied as she regained her composure.
“Doesn’t seem fair that ya’ll have been separated by this Kuma fellow though.” Applejack started to get out of her seat. “Ah mean, sure ya ticked off that World Goverwhatsit, but to be thrown away from your friends, that’s just outright wrong!” Applejack stomped the ground to emphasize her point.
“Don’t worry! We’ll get you back to your friends!” Pinkie stood in a triumphant position, but then turned back to Luffy. “On one condition.”
“Whatever it takes to get back to Shabondy!” Luffy said with a stern face.
“When you reunite with your crew and become the Pirate King, promise you’ll come back here and we can have a super awesome party!”
Luffy grabbed Pinkie’s hoof as hard as he could with his own. “Deal!"
“Now let’s get you to a ship!” Pinkie smiled.
“There’s just one issue,” said Applejack. “Where’s the ocean? We’ve spent our whole lives thinking there was Equestria and only Equestria. How can we find something we’ve never even known existed?”
“Perhaps there’s a book on it,” Rarity suggested. “I’m sure Twilight has to have something on it in the library.”
“Huh, wonder why that name sounds familiar,” Luffy pondered before falling prey to one of his narcoleptic fits.
Before anypony could answer Luffy, Sugarcube Corner’s door burst open and Fluttershy, Dash, and Twilight galloped into the room. The latter two had bandages wrapped around their heads.
“Pinkie!” Twilight yelled.
“Twilight!” Pinkie yelled back. “Are we having a screaming contest?”
“Twi?” Applejack rushed over to check on the group. “What the hay happened to ya and Dash?”
“We’ve got a problem!" Twilight exclaimed. "There’s a strange monster on the loose!”
“Well, we can take ‘em!” Applejack stood on her hind legs and quarreled her hooves. “Must be a pretty nasty one to do this to ya and Dash though.”
Dash awkwardly scratched her head. “I kinda rammed into a tree.”
“So did this monster actually hurt anypony?” Applejack asked.
“He broke my barrier spell and the backlash sent me flying, scared all of us, and probably traumatized Fluttershy ” Twilight explained.
“But he was nice about it,” Fluttershy spoke up. “He did say he was sorry.”
“A foul beast that apologizes?” Rarity gave her friends an odd look. “That seems quite peculiar, perhaps a description would help us find it.”
“It looked like a pony,” Twilight started.
“But it could stretch,” Dash continued.
“And it wanted to eat other animals.” Fluttershy finished. “I was so scared because it kept saying it was hun…” Flutteshy trailed off as she looked around the mess that the room was. “...gry.”
“Oh no! Pinkie!” Twilight rushed over to her pink friend. “Did anypony or anything come in here and eat your stuff?”
“Nope,” Pinkie replied.
“Darn!" Twilight slammed her hoof to the floor in frustration. "I guess it was a good thing I sent a letter to the Princess. The royal guard should be able to help us with this.”
“Oh, but I met this really cool pony!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“What? Where?!” Twilight's eyes darted around the room.
“Right here.” Pinkie pointed a hoof at the other side of the table to reveal a now sleeping pony.
“That’s him!” Twilight jumped back. “That’s the monster!”
“Silly, he’s not a monster, he’s a pirate,” Pinkie smiled.
“But… but his hooves!” Fluttershy quivered. “They were stretching!”
“Well, he ate a weird fruit that lets him stretch” Pinkie explained.
“There’s a fruit that can do that?” Dash asked.
“I said the same thing," Pinkie replied, "but it tastes bad, so I don’t think I really want to try it."
“He didn’t try to hurt you though?” Twilight asked.
Fluttershy chewed her lip a little.“Or eat you?”
“Girls,” Rarity said, “I don’t know what happened between you and Mr. Luffy, but I assure you, while he is a bit uncouth, he is a kind soul who would never hurt an innocent creature… unless he wanted to eat it. Regardless, as the Elements of Harmony, I say we make it our duty to send him back to his destination.”
“I think you’re gonna need to explain this to us.” Dash scratched her head as she tried to understand Rarity’s statement.
“Sugarcube.” Applejack trotted up to Rarity and lightly elbowed her in the side. “Ah guess it’s our turn to tell the story.”
“Oooh, I love hearing this story!” Pinkie jumped up and down in excitement. “It gets better each time.”
“Ya might wanna sit down,” Applejack said to her friends. “This’ll take a bit and afterwards we’ll need to go to your library Twi to figure out how to get him home.”
“That won’t be necessary!” came a regal voice. Suddenly, Celestia trotted into the room.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed as she and all the other ponies, except for Luffy, bowed to their monarch. “What are you doing here?”
“I came in response to your letter, my faithful student," said Celestia. "Have you had any luck in locating this monster?”
“Yes, your highness. He’s right over there.” Twilight got up and pointed a hoof at Luffy. "I was wrong to send you that letter. He’s just a lost pony who wants to get home.”
“I wish it were that simple, Twilight.” Celestia’s horn started to glow. “I’m sorry you had to see this.”
Celestia and Luffy disappeared in a flash of magic.
~~~
An unnaturally bright light was the first thing Luffy noticed. “Ugh, is it morning?” Luffy got up and looked around. He was in a large hall with stained glass windows decorating the wall.
“It is not morning.” The light said as it’s flare began to die down, revealing a pure white pony with wing, a horn, and a crown.
“Oh hey, you must be the Princess pony all the ponies were talking about.”
“Yes, I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria.”
“Neat. Hey, if you’re the ruler, do you know how to get off this island or where to get a ship?”
“I could give you both things, but I’m afraid I won’t.”
“Why not?” Luffy pouted.
“Because, the day I serve a pirate will be the day I breathe my last!” Celestia’s horn glowed as she pulled up a piece of parchment. At the same time, golden brand materialized out of the air and chained Luffy's legs to the ground. “I don’t know why you’ve come to my land of Equestria, but you are not welcome here Straw Hat Luffy!” The parchment was the wanted poster that contained Luffy’s bounty.
“Hey, how’d you get that?" Luffy struggled against the chains but they wouldn't budge. "I thought nopony on this island had even thought pirates were real!”
“You are correct,” Celestia explained. “Nopony in my land knows of the villainy you pirates bring upon the islands you pillage, nopony except my sister and me. I cannot allow you to roam free in Equestria! That is my duty as both Equestria’s ruler and a Warlord of the Sea!”
“You’re a Warlord?!”