//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10--Pirates 
// Story: The Forgotten Sisters 
// by Flaming Pulsar 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 10--Pirates

The first night at sea, while a little rocky from the waves, went with little problem. After figuring out the best way to cook on a living boat without causing harm to said boat, Animia had made a good dinner for everyone. After Flagra set the ship into magical autopilot and showed Floriana how to adjust the course if necessary, everyone went to bed except Floriana who would stay up to navigate by stars. 
        “Good mornin’, Navigator Floriana,” Clover said as he came out of his quarters.
        “Good morning, Captain Clover,” she replied.
        “Wha’ be our current location?”
        “By my calculations and according to our map, we are about 22 nautical miles south of Neightucket. Also, why are you talking like that?”
        “If I be goin' t' be a cap'n, don't ye reckon I should natter like one?”
        “You make a good point. Just don’t expect the rest of us to start talking like that.”
        “Fair enough. Now, if ye wish t' stay awake fer grub, then ye may but otherwise, ye should go t' bed.”
        “I think I’ll stay for a little breakfast.”
        “Mighty well, go wake up yer sister ‘n Flagra then.”
        “Aye aye, Captain.” She went to do just that. “Ani, our good old captain told me to wake you up so you could make us breakfast.”
        “Of course, sister,” Animia replied as she came out of her quarters already ready for the day. “One round of eggs and toast coming right up.” She started walking to the kitchen.
        “How are you ready so quickly?” Floriana asked as she followed.
        “I wake with the sun as I often wish you did.”
        “Well, now I need to be awake at night to properly navigate with the stars. Thus, I must wake as the sun sets.”
        “That is true. Will you be joining us for breakfast?”
        “Yes, I haven’t eaten since my midnight meal so a little breakfast should be good.”
        “Well, I shall get started on making it if you would go wake up Flagra.”
        “Right.” Floriana went to wake up their helmsmare. Flagra, it’s time to get up.”
        “I am up,” the mare said as she opened the door.
        “Do you all wake up at the crack of dawn or something?”
        “What? Oh, no. I didn’t sleep. I was talking to a contact I have in Trottingham. He offered us a place to stay once we get there.”
        “That’s great, but how are you talking with someone who’s literally an ocean away? I didn’t think magic could communicate that far.”
        “It’s complicated. The Doctor and I have special devices that we use for communication. I could try to explain them to you, but I doubt you’d be able to understand since I barely do.”
        “Try me, I’m smarter than I look.”
        “Well, basically I have this wristband.” She lifted her hoof to show the wristband on it. “The Doctor has one too. From what I understand, our wristbands send out a signal which gets picked up by the TARDIS which is in geostationary orbit at an equal distance between us. The TARDIS then sends the signal to the corresponding wristband.”
        “Well, other than the TARDIS thing, it seems to make sense. So what is this TARDIS?”
        “That’s confidential, I’m afraid.”
        “What do you mean confidential? Are you some sort of spy?”
        “I’m not a spy but there are certain aspects of my life that can only be known by a few people and unfortunately, you are not one of those people.”
        “So who is allowed to know?”
        “Other than myself and the Doctor, only Madam Varaya, Jennet, and Schatt. They are friends of the Doctor.”
        “I want to ask more but you’d probably just say it’s confidential.”
        “Probably.”
        “Well, anyways, Ani is making eggs so come eat.”
        “Alright, I’ll be there in a bit.”
        Once everyone was in the mess hall, they ate their breakfast and continued with their day. And so the journey continued in this matter until the ninth day when something unexpected happened.
        They came across a ship much larger than their own. Since they were so close to their destination they assumed it was an escort sent to bring them to New Equestria. “Fly the colors!” Clover ordered.
        “What is that supposed to mean?” Floriana asked.
        “It means raise the flag,” Flagra explained as the started raising the Equestrian flag--an orange Alicorn Symbol on a field of blue. “And now we wait to see their flag. If they’re an ally, we anchor and meet with them.”
        “And if they’re an enemy?”
        “Well, then we do our best to fight them off.”
        “Why do I get the feeling that we wouldn’t stand a chance?”
        “Probably because we wouldn’t. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
        As they waited for the other ship to show their flag, they sailed at what they hoped was a safe distance from it. After a few minutes, they saw the other ship raise a flag. But rather than the New Equestrian flag--a small Equestrian flag in the top left corner with diagonal yellow and white stripes--they saw the universal skull-and-crossbones flag of-- “Pirates!” Clover yelled. “Arm the cannons!”
        “What cannons?” Flagra asked.
        “I don’t know. We need some way of defending ourselves,” Clover replied, dropping his phony accent in the seriousness of the situation.
        “Well, I can fire acorns at them but I’m not sure that will help much,” Floriana offered.
        “I feel like we should have planned some form of defense for something like this.”
        “I know some attack spells,” Flagra said.
        “Well why didn’t you say so? Start firing at them!”
        Flagra complied with the orders and started firing balls of energy at the pirate ship. But after only a few shots, they fired back a strange device that attached to her horn and canceled out her magic. The others tried to get the device off of her but it wouldn’t come. Clover then tried using what little attack magic he knew but again they fired the strange device and it attached to his horn cancelling his magic. The princesses were about to do their best to fight back but two more magic-cancelling devices were fired at them. The pirates then fired a grappling hook at them and reeled them in. With the lack of Floriana’s magic, Old Oakie slowly reverted to its natural form and the pirates generously planted it in the pot that Floriana had brought as they threw them in the brig.
        About an hour later, someone whom they assumed was the captain came down to the brig to talk to them. She was a blue figure and she did not appear to be solid. She appeared to be an earth pony mare and she spoke with a very fluid voice. “Welcome aboard El Botín,” she said. “I am Captain River. You will address me as Captain or Captain River; nothing else. You have already met my first mate, the naga. You will call him Naga as he does not give his name. You need know no more. As our prisoners, you will work for for us until we find a better use for you. While on board, you will wear the anti-magic braces we have placed on your horns. These braces block not only unicorn magic but also flying magic thus you will be unable to fly. You will receive two meals a day; one in the morning and one at night. Perform well, you will be treated well. Perform poorly, you will be punished. In time, if you do well, you may be rewarded. You will start by swabbing the deck. You can find the materials you need in the closet over there. I expect it to be complete by the end of the day. Fail in this regard and you will be punished. That is all.”
She opened the door to the cage-like brig to let them out and started to return topside but Clover said, “Captain?”
She stopped and turned back to them. “What is it?”
“Pardon my asking, but what are you?”
“I suppose you wouldn’t recognize something like me, being Equestrian and all. My kind are known by many names but one you might understand is Elemental, specifically Water Elemental. I have taken the form of a female pony simply to give you something to look at but I can take on any form. I suppose I should show you the form that I typically take.” She transformed into a bipedal form with long limbs and strange phalanges at the end of them. Her head shrank back and extended upwards and her chest grew two strange spherical things.
“What kind of form is that?”
“This is the form of a human. Though you wouldn’t know that as most races don’t. This is the form you will see me in around the ship so get used to it. Now get to work.” And with that she left for them to get to work.
“Well, I guess we just have to do what she says until we can find a way off of here.”
And so began their days of imprisonment. After about 2 weeks, Captain River started to treat them as a part of her crew. They still weren’t allowed to use magic but they were given two rooms to share between the four of them and their jobs became less menial as Captain River learned more about their skills. Animia was sent to be an assistant in the kitchen, Floriana was assigned to help with navigation, Flagra helped man the sails, and Clover, surprisingly enough, was assigned to help plan the plundering. As time went on, they began to forget about their original quest and started to accept their lives as pirates. After a couple months, it was discovered that Flagra was pregnant by Clover and she was thusly given less demanding duties.
About a week later, Flagra and Clover were in bed when Flagra started up a conversation. “Hey Clover.”
“Yes?”
“I was thinking. Maybe we should have our foal on land, not on this ship.”
“What makes you say that? We’ve kind of made a life as pirates.”
        “But what of our original quest? And your family? And aside from that, I don’t want to raise a child on a boat.” She didn’t mention the fact that she was sent to the past to make sure that the quest was successful.
        “I guess you do make a point. But how do you propose we go about doing that?”
        “Well, if you’re as close to the Captain as you say, you could try asking her to let us go.”
        “Do you really think that will work?”
        “It couldn’t hurt to try.”
        “Actually, she’s the captain of a ship full of pirates, most of which are carnivores, so it could quite easily hurt to ask.”
        “You make a good point but what other choice do we have?”
        “I guess we don’t. Alright, I’ll ask her tomorrow.” As they went to sleep, Clover tried to think of how he would word his argument.
        The next day, while planning their next move Clover said, “Hey, Captain, could I ask you something?”
        “I suppose. Just remember your place.”
        “Is there any chance that you would ever let my companions and I go?”
        “Let me tell you something. I’ve been on this ship for many years. When I was given this ship by Herensuge, he told me that if ever there was a time when someone in my custody asked for freedom I was to take them to him. If you truly wish for freedom, then I shall take you to his dwelling in Aneto. It’s not far from our original meeting spot. It will take two days to reach land and then we must walk for about 8 days. He will meet you and your fate will be determined afterward. We shall set a course to Valencia. Please go alert the navigators.”
He left to seek out Floriana and the other navigators. “Change of course,” he said when he found them. “We’re headed to Valencia.”
“Aye,” the head navigator, a bipedal dog named Jinro, said.
They carried on with their duties until they arrived at port in Valencia and the Captain came out to make an announcement. “Attention crew,” she said. “As I’m sure you know, we have arrived in Valencia. Clover, Flagra, Floriana, Anima, and myself have business to attend to on land. As such, we will be docked for just over a fortnight. If you wish to stay on the ship, you may but if you wish to stay in town, that is on your own dime. The same goes for food. The five of us that I’ve already mentioned will be heading farther inland and thus will be unreachable so if you have anything to say to us, do so now. we will be leaving in one hour.” She returned to her cabin, presumably to ready whatever she needed on the land.
An hour later, they set off for Aneto. The Captain had taken her pony form and was also wearing a long hooded cloak. “Captain,” Clover started but she stopped him.
“When we’re on land, you call me River. People hear ‘captain’ and they start to get curious.”
“Alright, River, might I ask why you’re in your pony form and what’s with the clothes?”
“My kind are not always received well. Some races see elementals as evil beings, which isn’t entirely false. Fires tend to support this stereotype but Waters and Airs are typically gentle and Earths are rather neutral. The main problem with this is that Fires are the only ones that make regular contact with the mortal races so their personas are what’s remembered. I take the form of a pony on land because most races see ponies as a gentle race. The clothes are to hide my watery appearance.”
“I suppose that makes sense. So how far is this Aneto place?”
“About 225 miles to the northeast. It will take 8 days to get there provided we walk 12 hours each day. Does that sound reasonable?”
“I suppose. Is there any chance you could take these magic blockers off of us?”
“Hmm, I suppose you don’t really know where you are so the chances of you escaping successfully are low. I suppose, but don’t try anything stupid.” She reached out a watery tendril from beneath her cloak and inserted it into each of the magic blockers and they each clicked and released from their horns.
“What are those things anyways?”
“Old human technology. I could explain it in full but you probably wouldn’t believe me.”
“I’m a scientist, I always accept anything as a possibility until it can be proven otherwise.”
“I suppose I could tell you then. About 6 billion years ago, humans were facing inevitable extinction. The being we Elementals call Chaos was making sure of that. In their desperation to survive, the humans placed some of their kind in a long sleep. In addition to this, they created many races to inhabit the world of the future. The earliest of these was the alicorns. However, the humans did not want the alicorns to have magical power over them so they created these magic blockers. They also needed something that would be able to remove the magic blockers so they created hive-minded nanobots. But they needed to make the nanos in a way that they would fit in as a part of the world thus the Elementals were born.”
“So you’re over 6 billion years old?”
“Me? No. The Elementals of were implanted with the information to create more Elementals as well as the information to create more magic blockers. I’m one of the newer generations but the legends have been passed down--and they are known to be true because we Elementals have perfect memories.”
“Perfect memory?”
“Being consisted of nanobots, we have enough internal memory storage to hold as much information as we need with the exact perfection of computational data.”
“I didn’t understand exactly what you just said but I suppose you did warn me about that.”
“Indeed I did. Well, this is where we’ll be staying for the night.” She said as they approached an inn at the edge of Valencia. “We’ll start the long trek at dawn so try to get some sleep.” She paid the innkeeper for three rooms and they all went up to the rooms and went to sleep.