//------------------------------// // The Story of Black Mane // Story: Cutie Mark Crusaders: Treasure Hunters // by iloveyouderpy //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle was lying down in the library reading a book on Star Swirl the Bearded. It was quiet and that was just the way she liked it. But the quiet didn't last long for the poor lavender pony. Spike came walking down the stairs from the bedroom and began to speak to Twilight. "Hey Twilight, what's going on outside?" "What are you talking about Spike?" Twilight said looking up from her book. "Outside the library there are three fillies digging a ditch. I think it's Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo but I could be mistaken." "Those fillies," the unicorn said with a slight smile on her face. "always getting into some kind of mischief." Twilight got up off the floor and made her way to the front door. --------------- Pinkie Pie was in the park, rolling around in the grass, enjoying the nice cloudless day. But then out of nowhere her tail began twitching. Pinkie began to worry. What was she going to do? Her tail was twitching and she left her umbrella hat in her room, back at Sugar Cube Corner. This wasn't good, not good at all. She took cover in a bush and waited, her tail twitching like crazy. --------------- Twilight opened the front door and took a step outside, but there wasn't any ground for her to step on so she fell forward down into a deep pit. She landed on top of three young fillies who she was quite familiar with. They all groaned in pain, especially the crusaders who were being squashed by Twilight's body. --------------- Pinkie Pie's tail stopped twitching. --------------- "Twilight?" Scootaloo said in a grunt. Twilight got off the three fillies and just shook her head, breaking her own confusion of what just happened. She got up out of the hole, stood for a second or two by the open door of the library, and turned back around to the three young fillies. "Girls," Twilight exclaimed. "what in Equestria are you three doing?" "We're looking for Black Mane's buried treasure." Sweetie Belle spoke. "Black Mane's buried treasure?" Twilight repeated out of confusion. "Yeah," Scootaloo spoke up. "Ms. Cheerilee told us all about her and how she buried treasure somewhere here in Ponyville." "Listen girls," Twilight said as if breaking slight bad news. "you can't just go around digging holes all around Ponyville. You could really do some damage to somepony's property. Also, I don't mean to burst your all's bubble, but the treasure of Black Mane is just a mare's tale. It doesn't exist." "But Ms. Cheerilee said that 'legend says Black Mare discovered this land and buried her treasure because she knew she was going to be captured and she didn't want anypony stealing her riches.'" Applebloom said with disappointment in her voice. "Exactly," Twilight said. "it's a legend, not a true story. Black Mane did exist and was put away for life after years of robbing and sinking hundreds of ships, but the concept of burying treasure into the ground in a big red chest is just plain fantasy." "Oh" The three fillies said quietly. The crusader's lowered their heads. "Now, cheer up you three." the lavender pony said, trying to lighten their spirits a bit. "If you want to learn more about pirates and Black Mane you should come in the library. I'm sure there are numerous of books on the subject." This did cheer them up, well at least it cheered up Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. "You want me to read?" Scootaloo asked with surprise. "No thank you." "Come on Scootaloo." the librarian said. " No way. Reading is for eggheads, and I'm not an egghead." Wow! Twilight thought to herself. It's Rainbow Dash in the hospital all over again. "That's not true." The lavender unicorn said. "Reading can be enjoyed by anybody. There's books about pirates, ninjas, assassins, adventurers, and even monsters." "I still think reading's lame. Rainbow Dash doesn't read books and she's the very definition of cool." "Actually Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash reads all the time." Twilight said. "What?" Scootaloo said in shock. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle just sat in silence, watching the two other ponies talk. "Yeah, she comes in like twice a week to check out new books. In fact, it's getting quite hard keeping track of which books are checked out and which aren't." "Well," Scootaloo said not feeling to comfortable about any of this. "Maybe I'll just come in and read only for a little bit." "That's the spirit." Twilight said. She helped the three fillies out of the hole and led them into the library. The purple unicorn began searching the bookshelves, pulling out every book with the words Pirate and Equestria History in the title. She laid them in a large stack over on a small wooden table. "Now I'll leave you too it then. Just let me know if you need any anything." "Thank you Twilight." Sweetie Belle said as the librarian walked up the stairs to her bedroom, carrying her Star Swirl the Bearded book with her unicorn magic. Applebloom grabbed the book from the very top of the stack, it was titled Pirate Tales of the Early Century. She placed the book on the table and began flipping through the book, looking for any sign of Black Mane the Pirate. It didn't take her long to come across an entire section dedicated to Black Mane. Applebloom began to read it aloud. Black Mane The Devil of the Sea The moon was full, fog blinded the crew of a cargo ship sailing about a hundred miles off the coast of Canterlot. It was cold and the wind played a tune so terrifying the sailors nearly trembled before it. Up in the crow's nest a stallion was looking out into the foggy sea, with a long silver telescope, searching for any signs of land or passing ships. The stallion spotted a silhouette of a large ship with in the fog. This was nothing out of the ordinary, but something about this ship sent chills down the stallion's spine. He kept looking through his telescope and watched as the ship was drawing closer and closer. The closer it got the more the stallion was able to make out its features. It had black sails and the whole shipped looked like it was coming back from war. "Captain" the stallion called out. The captain, who was on deck, looked up towards the crow's nest. "There's a ship, about a hundred yards from our position, heading this way at dangerous speed. I think it might be a pirates." "Alright everypony," The captain shouted to the crew on the ship's deck. "release the sails, we need to get the hay out of here, quick." A giant shadow cast itself over the entire ship. The captain turned around and saw the large, black massed ship, passing, along side the ship, only a few feet from the edge of the ship. And with in a blink of an eye twenty ponies, wearing all black, came swinging from ropes onto the cargo ship. The unicorn pirates began firing a deadly spell, which killed anything in it's path. The earth and pegasi pirates wielded swords and all together began killing off the entire crew. It was chaos. The captain galloped down into the ship to hide with cargo, but it wasn't long after till the pirates got to him and the cargo. The stallion in the crow's nest fought hard against the oncoming horde of pegasi. He looked down at the pirate ship and saw a mare wearing an orange pirate's hat and leathery green coat. This distracted the stallion and he was bucked off the crow's nest, by a pegasi pirate, and he landed in the water. As fast as the whole thing started, the ship burst into flames and began falling apart. It was hard for the stallion to keep afloat, but soon enough a plank of wood dropped from the cargo ship and he used it to stay afloat. As the black massed pirate ship sped away, in the direction from which it came from, a song was echoed into the air. "On cold foggy nights, we fill your small hearts with fright. sailing the deep blue, Black Mare is coming for you" The stallion was picked up by a passing ship, the next morning, and was brought to shore. He later shared his story of Black Mane to the princess. About a week later, the hunt for Black Mare began and she was finally caught, a year later, by a group of bounty hunters. After she died, her cell mate said to a royal guard that Black Mane's last words were "It's on the other side, by the three rocks. That is where you'll find it." She died right after. "Hmm, what'd yall think she meant by 'it's on the other side, by the three rocks'?" Applebloom asked her friends. "Maybe she meant on the other side of Ponyville." Sweetie Belle suggested. "Wow," Scootaloo said. "That was awesome. Her crew just swooped over on ropes and destroyed that ship. That was amazing." "Maybe the treasure is buried in Sweet Apple Acres," Applebloom said. "I mean that's on the other side of Ponyville from the Everfree Forest." "Worth a shot." Sweetie Belle said smiling. Scootaloo was reading another story in the book and had to be dragged out of the library by her friends.