//------------------------------// // Chapter LXXXIX // Story: Journey to the center of Equestria // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// While Rarity’s words echoed through his mind, there was a single chuckle that was being released out of the mouth of the old stallion. While he stood at the helm of the vessel, he couldn’t truly believe that they had actually managed to not just anger, but actually managed to enrage the emperor of the griffons. He wasn’t even mad about the fact that they were chasing them. If it was the imperial ship that was at their stern did they might have had a chance of survival. Any other vessel would have meant danger. But the old stallion himself wasn’t a stranger to Sharpbeak’s methods either. He knew the way through which the griffon would be fighting out his wars. “You must have stepped right on his little toeclaws in order to get him chasing you off like that. Tsk, tsk, tsk, and here I was think you lot were all good mares looking for passage,” he said to them. “Just don’t ask what we have done, okay?” Rainbow added just before she placed her binoculars back in the pocket. The old stallion nodded and then he gave a blow through his pipe. The smoke drifted off into the night while Twilight walked as far back as she could on the vessel. The soothsayer stood at the railing of the stern and watched over the seas as they were. Even in the dead of night could the moon have provided her with enough light to actually witness the ship sailing through it. Her eyes were captured by a light that shone from the distance. The mare couldn’t fully realize the facts as they were but there was indeed a vessel sailing behind them. Twilight had a bit of a better look as some clouds moved themselves out of the moonlight. The entire ocean was just lit up instantly and the sheer size of the vessel was revealed to her. The eyes of the mare went as wide as they were allowed to go. “No. That can not be!” she exclaimed to herself. The unicorn shook her head a couple of times before she returned to the helm. She took her place next to him with the expression in her eyes as if she had seen a ghost. “And, what did you see?” the old stallion asked from her when she came down the steps. A face of terror was given off by the mare. She shook her head from side to side. She didn’t wanted to believe that what she had seen, but it seemed as trouble once more had followed them. The unicorn could only have shaken her head before she would tell them exactly what she saw sailing behind them. “It’s indeed a griffon ship. A vessel that looks like the imperial one from pictures seen. I think, that they are willing to just utterly destroy us.” The words of the mare were a concerning lot for certain. “I told you that already,” the major huffed before she crossed her arms over her chest. The captain of their vessel then stroked his chin a little bit before he shook his head. There was no way that his little boat would have even stood a chance against the ship of Sharpbeak. They didn’t had a single weapon on board outside of what the mares managed to smuggle with them. That alone wouldn’t have been enough to fend off the ship of the griffon emperor himself. The mares appeared to have been out of ideas. There were some thoughts that went through the captain’s mind. “This little thing has great speed, excellent maneuverability so in theory we should be able to keep ahead of them,” the old stallion said to them. He then gave a small turn to the helm to adjust their heading. He had to just find the right wind in order to unlock the full potential of his aged and ancient vessel. The mares could only have accepted whatever he would be doing. The griffons that were chasing them on the water was one of the things they didn’t wanted. Though if they managed to remain in Equestrian waters, there still was a possible chance. “As long as the winds are favorable for us, we might stand a chance on outrunning that lump of wood he calls his ‘crown jewel’,” the old stallion said to them in a serious tone. He seemed to have experience with the kind of vessels. But whether or not they would have either found the right wind to remaining sailing ahead was another question that came to them all. It was truly going to be a one sided battle of the ship of Sharpbeak managed to give them a full broadside. One massive sweep and it would have been over for them all. The soothsayer on the other end, still was thinking about the fact of staying in Equestrian waters. Thoughts crossed her mind time and time again as she growled in the end. A growl that managed to capture the attention of them all. The mares and the stallion all looked over to her. Something had been chipping away in her mind, that much they could see. “Captain,” the soothsayer would have said in the end. She turned locked her eyes on his. “Whatever you do, stay in Equestrian waters. We’ve dealt with Sharpbeak before, not to mention his goons. We don’t lure out a fight to them, we should be safe.” The words were likely to be taken for certain, if it wasn’t for the little fact that Sharpbeak himself most likely could be found upon the vessel. The old stallion shook his head before the pipe was taken out of his mouth again. “A likely story, lass, but I would dare to say that our survival is something that stands as a top priority now. If the emperor himself is indeed sitting on his throne, we can all just shake it.” His old tone burrowed itself deep into the ears of the mares. He did happen to have a point though. Sharpbeak most likely wouldn’t keep himself to the rules of Equestria. He was mad, downright insane and couldn’t be helped anymore by anypony. He would do whatever it would have taken to get the thing that he thought belonged to him. In their case, their lives were on his mind and wouldn’t stop until he had their heads on a plate. The company became split over the idea that they had to get to Canterlot as fast as they could. It was perhaps their only option in order to make it out alive. The ships of the navy would without a doubt be able to scare him off. Twilight calculated the odds with and against them, the mare shook her head in the end as everything seemed hopeless. But if the captain of the vessel knew what he was doing, there was no place for her to actually argue. So there was only one line of words that could be said to him, “do what you have to do, captain.” A grin came to the face of the old stallion before he turned the helm even more. Whether it was madness that guided him or years of experiences on the high seas was unknown. Most likely it was a mixture of the both of them as he sailed even further and further away from the from the shores. At open seas would the winds have been the most favorable for them all but it meant that they could travel to unclaimed waters. It was in those waters that the greatest of problems would happen. All of the anthronies went back to their stations but only Rarity made an exception for herself. The unicorn pirate went over to the railing of the stern. There she would just look around if there was anypony watching over her. With her trench coat being a little bit darker of color did she blend right in with the dead of night. Her only worry would have been the moon so she had to be quick with whatever it was that she had planned out to do. The unicorn watched over the waters beneath her and noticed how it all splashed against the bow of the ship. It made her hunger for something. Hunger for a something that she had to miss for such a long time. Yet the mare found that it was time to reclaim what was hers. A deep exhale was given off from her nostrils as she closed her eyes for a moment. Just the rolling of the ship alone greatened the hunger, the hunger to sail upon her own ship again. ‘The Vengeful Belle’ would soon be needing to sail out of port again. It had been sitting idle in the waters of the pirate port for too long. There had to be a little bit of action and Rarity could exactly give them that. A strange and crazy idea had come to her. Crazy enough that it might work. Her eyes were opened up again as she stared to the horizons ahead of them. The line where sky met water was naturally shrouded in darkness, Rarity couldn’t even see the end of it. The perfect place for an ambush, she thought to herself. Albeit it being an ambush that would never happen. The great explorers of years ago had already mapped out the land as it was and with that the world. The eyes of the unicorn turned back over to see whatever the captain was doing before she looked back to the dark waters. In her mind it was then or never. She had been planning to make her resignation from the company for such a long time already. The time had come to turn her thoughts into cold actions. There wouldn’t have been any turning back for her then. It was either do what she had promised to herself all those days ago, or continue to go to Canterlot and risk being trailed at the hands of Applejack. Rarity was a mare who valued her freedom perhaps a lot more than anything else there was. The unicorn pirate was ready to do what needed to be done. She had to call upon them. She had to call upon them and tell them that they needed to get moving as soon as possible. The unicorn thought about her on ship for a moment or two before she nodded. It was worth it, the plan that she had come up with was deemed as worth it. What the actual cause of it was going to be remained to be seen though. Her horn quickly managed to coat itself in the sapphire blue aura before an arcane scroll was being conjured up. Everything was done quick and silent because she wanted to keep it all hidden from everypony. Especially Applejack may not have gotten any kind of scent from the plans that had been made up. The unicorn wrote down the words upon the paper with haste. They were followed up with the coordinates that she could be found as well as the direction that they were heading. There was no doubt in her mind that the little letter would have been crystal clear to the anthronies it was being meant to. Rarity then continued to look over it once or twice before it was dropped. The little arcane scroll was just dropped down to the waters where it would burst into flames. The horn of the unicorn discharged itself as she nodded once powerful. She seemed to have done what she needed to be doing and could return to her work. The deck still needed to have some scrubbing and most likely would it have been her that was placed on the job. Yet when she turned herself around to do her job, the unthinkable did happen. For the green rimmed, disguised eyes of Rarity were looking straight into the genuine green rims of Applejack. How the unicorn didn’t hear the heavy hoofsteps of the admiral coming up behind her, was a mystery left unsolved.  “E-Evening Jackie,” tried Rarity to say a tone that sounded not surprised at all. But she couldn’t hide it from the admiral. The eyes of the earth anthrony scanned the whole body of Rarity as she tried to talk her way out of her dire situation. “What, what are you doing here, if I may ask?” Applejack released a gentle huff through her nostrils as she narrowed her eyes. “Ah don’t know what yar up to, Brittenburg. But if ya even think ‘bout engaging the griffons, Ah highly reckon ya get the thought out of yar head. Ya ain’t doing something that stupid that it most likely will kill us all.” The words of the admiral were harsh, cold blooded even. But the unicorn just decided to go on with the act. One hand was placed upon her chest before she gasped for air. It made it seem that whatever Applejack told her was one massive false accusation. “I don’t know what you’re telling me here, darling. I have seen the arsenal of ourselves and that of this little vessel. If we would be taking it up against the ship of Sharpbeak, we would lose it in less than half a minute.” “Aye, that’s right. Keep on telling yarself that, Brittenburg,” said Applejack before she turned back around and just walked away. For perhaps the only time in her life, was Rarity granted an easy getaway by the admiral. She couldn’t help herself but to release a deep of relief. Her note had gone unnoticed by the admiral and surely had gotten to the anthrony who needed to read it. From that moment was it just a matter of time before everything would have fallen in their places. Manehatten laid even higher than pirate port which meant that they had to cross one another at one point or the other. A nasty grin came to her face while she felt that everything was just going like she had planned it. Everything would finally have fallen right on the spot for her. She then just walked away from the spot and began to help with the duties that needed to be done onboard of the vessel. ~~~~ In the meantime and literally in the dead of night, aboard perhaps the most infamous pirate ship that there was, laid its crew vast asleep. But by one of the hammocks appeared a sapphire blue piece of arcane scroll. It dropped down upon the nose of a wide faced stallion and managed to cover the nose and the mouth. So the next inhale that he took caused him to almost suffocate. What in and of itself resulted in him almost jumping right up in the hammock. “What for the devil’s..!” he growled up in a deep tone the piece of arcane could be found on the blanket. The golden, yellowish rimmed eyes had a glance over the piece of arcane and rose an eyebrow to it. He took it in two of his fingers and began to read the words on it again and again. “Interesting, truly interesting. Hehehe, seems like we finally can get some action ‘round here,” he chuckled to himself. With one swift motion did he jumped right out of the hammock and crushed the arcane scroll to just nothing. He pulled his trousers back up and locked them at the required height before the throat was scratched. What happened next were a series of words spoken in a low, but loud tone. “Alright you filthy maggots! Get out of your hammocks and prepare to sail out!” Almost a dozen of other anthronies all of the sudden woke with tired heads as far as the eye could reach. The blinks that they made didn’t seemed to be helping them out too much either. They all had a faded expression upon their faces as they didn’t wanted to get out of their beds just yet. “Let us sleep boatswain, we have been prepping until an hour ago!” one of the sailor grumbled up and dropped himself back in the hammock. “Oh, yes, I’ll let you pretty ladies sleep. But who is going to tell the captain that we didn’t came to her aid when she needed it?! We’re going to pick up the captain, you morons!” the boatswain spoke to them in a growling tone. Instantly did the eyes of all of the antronies turn over to the stallion and the all didn’t knew how fast they had to move. Everything was possible if they didn’t heeded the call of their own captain, the stallions gulped deeply as they began to fear the wrath of the mare. “Good, see you all at deck in five minutes,” the boatswain bellowed up before he left the spot and went topside. So said, so done. Five minutes later were all of the anthronies there and they looked over to the boatswain who stood at the helm. What was surprising of the crew was that they were all bat anthronies. And only one captain in the entire world seemed to be having a crew that consisted out of them exclusively. The boatswain himself was a stallion that was taller and broader than all then all of the other bat anthronies. Compared to him, they were just shrimps. Whatever his secret was had never been revealed by anypony. But they had been called for a reason. A reason they wanted to know as well. “I just got a message from our captain, she’s sailing from Manehatten to Canterlot with a group. Our task is to pick her up and then we shall see further. So whatever you do, don’t engage on the ship the captain is on, have I made myself clear to you?!” The sheer volume of his voice went through the airs of all the other bat anthronies, they all knew what they had to be doing. The other members of the crew released a deep and loud ‘yeah’ in unison to clarify that they knew what was asked of them. The boatswain nodded to the crew as they then got to work. He took the helm and looked off into the distance. They had to get out of the caverns first and then it was still half a day’s away before they would have reached the location where they could possibly meet up. The stallion took the helm in his hands and shook his head lightly from side to side. A small exhale was released through his nostrils as he couldn’t believe where the captain of the ship had managed to work herself in. Or better said, into what massive troubles she had gotten herself again. Half a day worth of sailing, before they would see their captain again. It almost seemed like both a nightmare and a dream at the same time. Naturally were they glad that they could see their captain again and have her in command once more. On the other side it would have meant that they had to face the rest of the things she had caused. That was the very thing that worried them. None of them knew whom or what the unicorn had startled. They were sailing on the high seas and in the dead of night. It was literally the perfect time for a bat anthrony to be awake and the entire crew noticed that. With the moon standing high above them, it provided enough light for them to see everything around them. That also meant that they could be sailing through the darkness without any other kind of light required on deck. The element of stealth was given to the ship as it glided almost in silence through the waters. The winds were in their favor and they blow both strong and powerful. The black sails of the ship caused it to become even more unrecognizable in the darkness of night as it gained speed. Far out of the neighborhood of the shore it would have continued to go upon the quest to get the captain back. The boatswain constantly adjusted the heading of the ship while the crew continued to work. All of them shared the same characteristic which made it almost impossible for anypony to differentiate the bat anthronies. Only the boatswain himself had a different posture to him, perhaps that was the sole reason why he occupied the profession. Yet their captain seemed to have been able to tell them all apart from one another. A feat that was truly amazing to begin with actually. The thoughts of the boatswain were both focused upon the seas ahead as well as the crew. He knew that they hadn’t had too much sleep before the note appeared and he would make certain that they wouldn’t be cutting any slack. If luck was on his side, he would have been able to get the vessel to the captain even faster than that half a day worth of sailing. Only the wind needed to stay as strong as it did. To him it felt like they were riding on the outer edges of a massive oceanic storm that was brewing. In the dead of night he did saw how the clouds managed to swirl themselves around in a circular formation. “The stuff of nightmares,” he mumbled to himself. Then he turned the helm about two clicks. The massive ship responded straight away and it transferred over from one current in the wind to the next. Time and speed were both of the essence and all of the sails were deployed. All of the cannons were retracted and unloaded. Speed was the only thing that they needed in the moment. The entire crew worked as fast as they could to the constant required adjustments of the vessel’s needs. Moans and groans that came out of the very belly of the beast, terrified the bat anthronies. They were pushing the vessel to a unknown limit. Only the boatswain knew that they were pushing the vessel further, faster and stronger than they ever had done before. One of his hands began to pat over the railing before the helm as if he was actually cherishing the entire ship. “It’s going to be alright, lass, it’s all going to be alright. Soon your real captain will be back and you will be sailed properly.” The groaning of the ship almost seemed to go paired with the words of the stallion. If one wouldn’t have known any better, it would have seemed that the inanimate ship in fact talked back to him. One way or the other, it remained an unpleasant sight to behold. The stallions of the crew were still busting their flanks off to get everything in the shape it needed to be as the rolling of the ship didn’t made things any easier. Luck happened to be on their side that they were actually bat anthronies. Which naturally meant that they had the ability to fly. So if the seas got a little bit too rough, they all would have taken straight for the air and still do their job. Almost like a flock of seagulls that constantly went from one place to the other they would have appeared. In the darkness of the night they felt themselves the most comfortable but the light of the moon was fading quickly. The oceanic storm that was thought to be brewing, had actually come. And they were sailing right at the outer tip of it. The best part of the whole thing had to be the fact that they carried it with them. It almost felt like the storm had chained the ship to itself and that the ship was pulling it forwards. One of the sailors rushed over to the poopdeck and looked over the stern statues. He had to see whether or not there was thunder heading their way as well. Rain would come, that much was certain. Thunder and lightning on the other hand remained two questionable factors. The eyes of the bat anthrony continued to glance over the skies behind them until he saw what he was looking for. “Oh hell,” he muttered to himself just before the rumbles could be heard in his ears. Thunder had been struck all over the place and it was literally going with them. At worst, they would be sailing right at the edge of a typhoon. A typhoon with the powers to just destroy their little wooden vessel as if it was nothing. The stallion returned to the boatswain and assumed the pose only a commander in chief usually would assume next to him. What followed was perhaps the most dry sounding conversation to have ever been said upon the ship. “Let me guess,” the boatswain said, “there’s a storm brewing right upon our tails?” “Yep,” the bat anthrony said while they didn’t even look at one another. “Massive amounts of thunder and rain as the clouds keep on moving over and ahead of us?” “Most likely.” The boatswain narrowed his eyes while he gained a grin across his face. Whether he had allowed himself to fall into the grasp of madness or he had just set everything on everything remained unknown. “Bring it on,” was all he had to add to the matter. The other bat anthrony finally dared to shift his eyes over to the larger stallion with a truly worried expression visible upon his eyes. “What, are you afraid to get wet?” the boatswain asked before he erupted out in a massive chuckle. The other bat anthrony could only do a step or two aside before he shook his head from side to side. It was madness on that where they had begun. A deep exhale was given off by the sailor before he just spread his wings and took off. It was perhaps just for the better part that they would have left the boatswain and relief-captain alone. ~~~~ The sun had begun to rise itself above the dark gray clouds and the light finally revealed everything that needed to be revealed. All of the mares that were aboard the smaller vessel looked to the griffin ship from the windows of the captain’s cabin. All of them were equally terrified about the sheer size that it had. If they didn’t know any better, it was the airship that had just cut its balloons and was literally dumped straight into the water. The two vessels had an awful lot of similarities together. Of course it could just have been plays of lights in their eyes, but they were still worried about the facts as they were. Rarity shook her head from left to right as she was the first one to leave. Her disguise was still maintained and she placed her arms behind her back. “Oh this isn’t going to be good if we get in a silent zone,” she said to herself, but loud enough for the others to hear. “Silent zone?” Twilight repeated before she rose an eyebrow to the matter. She had heard a lot out of the pirate’s mouth, but that was a new word to even her. Rarity nodded as she turned back to face the group of mares. The attention was gently taken away from the chasing ship and given to Rarity herself. The mares were all little bit curious what she had to say. Applejack was the only one who left the cabin of the old stallion in order to help on deck. She was an experienced sailor, she knew all the terms as if she had invented them. “Silent zones are spots where no wind can be found. Spots at open ocean where the wind just drops down to nothing and you can be stranded there for days. This part of the ocean, is notorious for those kind of things, come to think of it,” explained Rarity to the mares. Fears took them all gradually over before they shook their heads. They couldn’t believe the facts as they were. The unicorn could have been right though. They could have entered a silent zone any possible second from that moment outwards. Then it was Rarity who turned herself back around and left the cabin in silence. The remaining four mares wanted to argue about the matter of course. But they all knew they lacked the knowledge of finding such parts in the vast ocean they were in. The other four mares looked once again through the window while Twilight mumbled some words to herself. Even though they were meant for only her ears, the rest of the group could have heard them as well. Perhaps she silently was looking for help from the others. “Now have they been chasing us for so long,” she started as she removed a strand of hair from her face. “Yet in all that time, they never even made an attempt to board us. Would Sharpbeak have gone sane again and realized that if he charged, Equestria would declare war on him? Instead of the griffon nation?” Rainbow and Fluttershy first looked at one another before their heads slowly managed to make the way over to Twilight’s direction. The unicorn soothsayer seemed to be talking in doom scenarios already and they didn’t like it for one bit. The pair of them needed fresh air. The musky air in the cabin made them just feel sick. The two pegasi of the company left the room in silence as Pinkie followed quickly afterwards. As much as she liked Twilight, she couldn’t bare standing against the tales of horror that she spoke sometimes. The lamia slithered all the way up to the bow of the ship where she coiled her tail around the railing and just watched over the skies in front of them. The dark clouds predicted something she had seen countless times in her own little hole. More often than not, when the clouds turned dark there would have been something falling out of them. The old stallion at the helm had been accompanied by Applejack who just stood there in silence. Her eyes were fixated upon the storm they were sailing straight towards. If there would have been another way that they could have travelled, she gladly would have taken it. The very storm was looking just nasty. Chill winds and spine shattering rain were going to be standing on the menu if they kept on going. A small exhale was released through her nostrils before the words came. “Trouble on the horizon. Always, there’s trouble on the horizon.” “Sounds like you have had your fair share of it,” the old stallion replied. Applejack could only have nodded to the words he said. For she had indeed seen the fair share of it. Perhaps a little bit too much of it even. The minutes went by as if they were nothing before Pinkie noticed something else happening. Her eyes were narrowed as she looked even further, or tried to. Much to her own surprise it was another ship that sailed the ocean. One that had seemingly gotten out of the storm and was heading their way. “Ship!” she yelled as loud as she could. Rainbow’s attention was immediately taken by it and she took out her binoculars. The thing was placed before her eyes and she looked through it with a set of careful eyes. The eyes spied over the entire horizon before she indeed noticed the ship with the black sails. But she didn’t had any straight up memory of the vessel. “Hey Applejack, catch!” she said before she threw her binoculars. The admiral caught them with a firm grip and looked to Rainbow. “Look to the horizon, look to the other ship. Can you tell which one it is?” “Ah can try. But Ah don’t know all of ‘em by name!” Applejack yelled back to the major. The glasses were set before her eyes and she glanced over the horizon. In her eyes she then caught the ship she had been looking for. Almost in an instant had she turned as pale as snow. It couldn’t have been the vessel she thought to have seen. Certainly must her mind have played some trick upon her. But no matter how many times she looked at it, it just remained to be that way. As impossible as it seemed to be, that impossible it actually was. The eyes of the admiral turned over to Rarity who hung in the stays of the forward mast. A growl was given off by the mare before she had one last look over the ship that had been spotted. “The Vengeful Belle,” was then muttered by her. Just loud enough for the captain of the vessel to have catch it within his ears. Trouble had really come for all of them, no matter what.