The cyber mare Pea Gravel sat in her hospital bed dazed and confused with her face hidden in her palms. The horrific image and feeling of Volm still burned to her, she tried looking at her surroundings. Not to her surprise, It seemed like some kind of military infirmary but nopony else was in it. It was rather a dimly lit room with flickering light fixtures in the ceiling. The clean, white stone-brick wall lined the long room with deep yellow curtains separating each bed. There must have been room for dozens of soldiers in there. Pea saw a little light coming from the wall, which turned out to be a door, thick and metal. Her chest still ached from being trampled by the centaur, so she decided just waiting for somepony to show up would be the best.
She heard the sound of hooves against stone and quiet voices;
"Princess," A dainty voice said. Probably a doctor or a nurse, "What will we do with her? She's committed treason to the crown, correct?"
Celestia's voice spoke quietly, "In a way, but I wasn't thinking clearly earlier. I must speak to her… alone, nurse," The door opened slightly. Pea tensed up.
"Wait, Your Highness! She could still be dangerous!" The other voice cried.
"Nonsense, she saved us from being assassinated by that thing," Celestia said warmly and she stepped inside the room where Pea lay. The head wound Pea's foot had left was gone, by healing magic most likely.
"Morning, Your Highness," Pea said flatly.
"Evening actually. I came here with some news for you. Due to your… unique situation and you crime against me and my sister I've come to a conclusion. Instead of an execution you will have no choice but to go back to your homeland," Celestia said. Pea scowled at this but the princess continued,"Another thing, a creature from your homeland told me that you had experience in fighting centaurs, is this true?"
"In small numbers, yes," Pea sighed, "If I'm so bold to ask, what did the 'creature' look like?" Pea cringed because she already knew the answer.
Celestia pursed her lip in thought, "I suppose a… blue monkey of sorts. His presence felt to have a strong type chaos magic, like the kind Discord has. I take it you know him?"
"I wish I didn't," Pea groaned, "When you want me out of here?"
Celestia straightened up proudly, "I may have been quick to judge you and that's my mistake. Since you were rather… jaded but gentle with my subjects, I've been gracious enough to let you live.."
Pea chuckled,"Before you were trying to stab me and calling me names, now you're kicking me out?"
"You're a ludicrous mare, very unpredictable," Celestia looked at Pea, recalling how she held her own against both princesses, "I don't want any more beasts inside Equestria, those centaurs or you."
Pea laughed a bit, "Their leader must have spent months to get just a small view of Equestria, that's probably why only one showed up on a empty mountain top. You know as well as I that he's going to try again, closer next time."
Celestia rejected the warning, "The blue creature, Volm, said he'd aid us if more arrived. He may have a dysfunctional magic but his heart is in the right place," Celestia said with mild interest.
"Okay, so how long till I get out of this?" Pea asked, pointing to her cast.
"Right now if you so chose," Celestia's horn glowed.
"Do it, I'm sick of this shit," Pea nodded to the princess.
In a flash, the Pea felt like nothing happened to her ribs. She ripped the cast off with her cyber hands easily and hopped off the bed. Pea looked at Celestia with a fake smile before she went for the door,"Thanks, I'll get out of your hair now."
Celestia followed her out the door, "You're not taking your nephew with you."
Pea stopped, "What?" She hissed.
Celestia looked down at her like Pea was some unwanted beetle, "He'll be far safer, if not happier in my kingdom. What can you offer him out there? Being dinner, catching the plague?"
Pea leaned against the hall's wall. She didn't mind being kicked out, she practically expected it to happen sooner or later. The idea of having Tuff Bolder living in Equestria looked like a sour promise, good in the long run but leaving painful scars. Pea didn't want Tuff to be subjected to labor or starvation, the idea of 'high school woes' seemed much more conquerable. Celestia watched Pea's clenched, thoughtful face as the cyber mare tried to decide how she was going to plan this out.
"You have no choice, besides, my pupil is celebrating in your favor tonight. I trust you'll enjoy your last little taste of Equestria tonight," Celestia said.
Pea's eyes were blinded by the flash of teleportation magic, once they could see again she looked at her surroundings. With a late afternoon sky above she looked at the building before her, the farmhouse at Sweet Apple Acres. Pea cursed under her breath, not particularly wanting to meet Applejack again. From inside, the sounds of a music and laughter met the grey mare's ears. She walked quietly to the door, nervous of who was inside.
"Ahm, goin' to the barn for another barrel of cider," a familiar voice called from inside,"Be right back!"
Before Pea could react the door swung open with Applejack waltzing out, bumping the cyber mare to the side,"Sorry, sugar-cube" Applejack said without stopping,"Didn't see ya there."
Pea groaned and walked inside, finding Twilight and her friends drinking cider and dancing in the main room of the farm house. Balloons and confetti filled the air and Pinkie Pie hopped around wildly to the beat of the quick music, the other mares did their best to follow. Along with the team of six, Spike and Daring Do were present. The adventuress' eyes lit up when she noticed Pea.
Daring Do walked up beside Pea Gravel holding a mug of cider, "You finally showed up!" Pea could see a buzzed look in Daring's eyes, "You were gone all day since you met Celestia."
Pea smiled at the celebration,"Sorry, business stuff. Sooo… what's this party about, or are you all just trying to get drunk?"
Daring scoffed, "Haven't you been keeping track of the days? It's been three months today since you first showed up in Ponyville," She leaned up closer, "I've heard some rumors about you from the villagers, they think of you as some kind of elusive celebrity! Isn't that great?"
Pea blushed slightly, "Really," She shook back into a serious mode, "That's great but I have to tell you something-"
She was interrupted by a mug of cider shoved in front of her face. Applejack smirked behind it,"If you want to be in the party, ya gotta be all social. I hope you fighter ponies can handle mah famous cider,"
Pea took it gingerly, examining it, she said; "You drink apple juice at parties?"
Daring and Applejack stifled a giggle. Pea shrugged and took a big swig of it, the burning sensation of alcohol catching her by surprise. She coughed with wide eyes as the two mares laughed.
"Come on, iron pony," Applejack laughed, "Get over here an' party with us!"
Pea didn't resist being dragged over to the rest of the mares while music blared. They danced in debauchery as mug after mug of cider was drunk. Pea, now ready for the hard cider, chugged mugs of it with the cheers of the other mares. Big Mac walked in unnoticed and drug a buzzed Spike out of the house, not wanting him caught up in something he was too young for. As the night went by, the music track became less and less rambunctious and the mare's dancing subsided. Pea sat on the floor with Daring Do and Rainbow Dash propped up on her, the rest were strewn about on the floor giggling to themselves.
The radio that blared music before now had some late night talk show airing. It had a bubbly mare's voice and a suave older stallion's both talking about current, tediously menial, events. The drunk mares tuned in to the radio, listening intently.
"...I'm more of a book pony myself," The mare said, "Once I find a real page turner, I can't put it down until it's done, duh! What about you?"
"Well, I'm more interested in...alternative novels then the usual cutesy fairy kind of things," The stallion's voice said through the fuzz of the speakers, "Such as...as...Oh! That new book that A.K. Yearling helped write, do you remember it?"
Pea tuned into the conversation as well. Over the radio the mare was audibly disdained,"Eeeh, that one? It's got… you know… death and stuff. It's gross! Not to mention how bad the language is, I mean come on! Just cuz some mare puts a 'bitch' or something in her story doesn't make it any more edgy," she grumbled, "Go on, I need some more to drink."
"It's only natural," the stallion defended as the sound of pouring liquid was heard,"Fights happen a lot and death is something everypony has to deal with, I think books like that one put a different spin on that we're used to. Oh, thank you," The stallion paused, drinking some kind of alcohol.
"Ahhh, delicious," He continued, "Back to what I was saying: Looking at Yearling's other works, I think it's great that she’s going into different styles in her writing. Could you imagine Daring Do wielding a sword and fighting roving bandits?"
Pea smiled proudly, tuning out the rest of the conversation having heard enough. Twilight and her friends began chatting, about what Pea didn't know, nor cared. She lay out on the floor on her belly as Daring was talking to Rainbow Dash. Pea wanted to say to her 'So I guess I am kinda famous, eh?'
But saying that may bring up the dreaded news of her departure. Pea decided it would be best to sit and wait instead and not disrupt the fun night the mares were having.
Pinkie Pie rolled up to Pea with a bubbly grin,"So I heard that you talked with Celestia, like all day. Did you fight her and her sister in a brawl on some desolate place only to be interrupted by some awful monster?" She blinked contently as if guessing the truth exactly was common.
Pea rubbed her eyes,"N… no, what are you talking about? That's crazy talk," Pea said hiccuped.
Daring Do looked at Pea,"What were you doing then, hmmm?"
The rest of the partying mares looked over eager to hear the gossip. Pea groaned at being the center of this kind of attention. She was about to tell of her plan but the reason of the party, her, made the mare hesitant. Pea put a finger to her lip,"It's a secret."
"Come on," the mares insisted ,"You can tell us!"
Pea nudged Daring Do and Rainbow Dash off her so she could see all seven faces clearly, or as clearly as she could. She drummed her fingers on the ground thinking of how she should put the words together.
Fluttershy spoke up, "It's not something bad, is it?"
Pea waved her hand at these words like annoying flies, "No, no...did I ever tell you all about my friends, from my home?"
Rainbow Dash rose a hoof up, "Oh! Oh! The book you and Daring Do wrote had somepony named Dew Berry, she's one of them right?"
Pea was about to respond but was interrupted by Daring Do, "Yes, that's it! The other three besides Dew are boys. Oza, Joe and Rochi."
"She told me a bit about Rochi,-" Twilight said.
Daring butted in, "-that he was very close to Pea Gravel," a hint of jealousy was in the pegasus' voice.
"Then that leaves Oza and Joe," Pea said happily. It looked like their names brought good memories to her troubled mind,"Oza is a dragon, kinda like Spike. Oh, he had the funniest way of speaking," Pea giggled.
"Well some baby dragons have a hard time talking, it's only natural," Fluttershy defended.
"No, not like that. I meant he was like Spike as in he was friends with ponies, not a baby. He was a teenage dragon when we all were together, he stood almost three heads taller than me," Pea spaced out dreamily then blinked back to reality,"Oh… sorry. Say, save you all ever seen a clown fish?"
"Yeah, did Oza's scales look like a clown fish's?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Yep, he had blue eyes and a blue mouth too, even his blood was blue," Pea recalled with a grimace, "Besides making a good campfire he was an amazing healer, I'd be dead a dozen times over if not for him. He'd always tell me,'Now pony needs to stop being reckless when she fights, Oza grows tired of seeing red on her', " Pea mimicked in a deeper voice.
Rarity chuckled, "Mmhm, Oza sounds like a riot, now you mentioned a 'Joe'?"
"Joe, right. That big lug was our muscle. One of the bigger mules I've seen," She looked more happy reminiscing her old friends then drinking all of that cider by a mile, "It was hard finding him at night because his coat was such a dark blue and his mane was almost black, but you could hear him a mile away," She rose an eyebrow and looked wryly at them, "Dew really liked him, you know really, really."
Twilight looked puzzled, "Is… Joe Tuff's father? I thought mules were… you know… sterile."
Pea looked sad all of a sudden, "His biological father, no. This traces back to Dew and her first owner, the one before Alia."
"So it is bad," Fluttershy said quietly.
"The pony that Alia bought Dew from was a carnahorse," Pea recalled,"His name was Black Berry and he's the kind of thing you'd need to watch out for… poor Dew..."
"She was a slave to one of those?" Daring gasped,"Don't tell me that he's Tuff's..."
Pea nodded sadly,"It was a god damn coincidence that we met again.. .it was the worst for Dew… Tuff doesn't know about this though, I don't think I'll ever tell him," She saw the cheerless faces of the once gleeful mares, "I'm sorry girls. I didn't want to you know it like this, but… I'm leaving to go find them," The small weight of Volm's pearl felt like a ton of woeful bricks, "I have a ship waiting for me in Horseshoe Harbor," she lied.
The mares grew quiet, the sudden weight of the information taking a few moments to be absorbed. Each of the six mares sat quietly, some more shocked then others. Rainbow Dash straightened up, "So I take it you're going back out there alone?"
Pea was about to say something but the moment Applejack's green eyes caught Pea's, she stopped. Applejack gave a venomous look, "Just who do ya think you are? Everypony 'ere has been nothing but nice to you an', after all the bad things you said about your home, you're going back?"
"I have to. I can't just leave them," Pea pleaded.
'If you have to go, let us go with you," Twilight offered," I'm sure we can help, right girls?" Twilight's friends hesitated an answer ,"Well… I'm sure we could try," Twilight encouraged.
Rainbow Dash stood up,"Come on, let us go with you! Nopony can run a ship on their own anyway, you have to have some help," Rainbow Dash made a very good point, a painfully important one. She looked Pea down with a confident look.
Pea put a fist to her temple,"Ladies, I can't thank you enough for wanting to help me," She paused,"But if anypony here has remotely enough experience it'd be Daring Do here," Pea pointed to the surprised pegasus, "But I couldn't."
Twilight became edgy,"So an alicorn isn't good enough for you?"
Pea smacked her forehead, "No, it's just that a princess isn't meant for this kind of work. If you die, who will replace you?"
"What if Daring Do dies," Applejack asked,"Or you do?"
Pea made a predatory smile that sent chills up the other mare's spines, "I stopped worrying about death a long time ago, Applejack."
Rainbow Dash butted in again. "We've been on a pirate ship before, we've dealt with buccaneer ponies."
"Did you leave the Dead Ring," Pea asked, knowing the answer, "You have know of it, the edge of Equestria's ocean."
Twilight looked puzzled, "Dead Ring?"
Pea sighed, "It's a giant, no enormous still ring of water as a border for your ocean. There's some magic making it do that, it never moves and no wind ever blows. Not to mention the schools of sea monsters that breed there."
The Equestrian mares were aghast. They each trusted Pea, in a way, for what she said. But a dead water border around Equestria? How could they not know about it? Besides these warnings, the thirst for the quest still clung to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow stamped a hoof, "I still don't see why we couldn't go with you. Give me one good reason we couldn't."
Pea stood up, being taller than Rainbow Dash the cyber mare's pissed off stare became more intense. Pea smiled coldly, "You're a sporty chick right? So that means you've seen an accident or two, seen a pony get injured… bleed?"
Rainbow Dash felt a lump in her throat. Her friends looked up at her and Pea with extreme concern, causing Rainbow Dash not wanting to look sheepish. She stepped closer to Pea Gravel with her neck erect proudly, "Yeah, I've seen some serious cuts and broken bones. I've had them too!"
Pea bared her teeth in a smile, "So have you killed anyone, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow fought back a growing fear, "No, I've never had the reason to!"
"Don't give me that bullshit," Pea cast a glare to the rest of the mares, "None of you! You couldn't kill another if your life depended on it. Out there you wouldn't last a week, maybe."
Rarity huffed, "Where did this barbarism come from?"
Pea punched the floor with a growl ,"I'm done with this, thanks girls but I'm leaving. Keep an eye on Tuff, only if 'land-crawlers' can fit into your agenda," She stormed outward to the door, ignoring the mare's pleads for her to stay. She had only a few feet left to being outside then Twilight appeared in a flash before her, blocking the path.
"What's the meaning of all this?!" Twilight cried angrily, "After our support and generosity you choose to abandon us and trust us with your nephew? We offer to help you in your journey and you turn away, why?"
"Twilight, I'm sure you'd understand if you were in my place," Pea said flatly, her face devoid of remorse, "If your five friends were in danger and you were the only one who could save them, would you want anypony else getting hurt while you tried?"
Twilight's anger subsided. She understood, though she didn't want to. Twilight stepped aside and let Pea walk into the night air, leaving the seven mares in a cheerless, shocked state. None of the mares were sure what to do or say, neither did the one walking outside.
Pea knew her nephew was still at the farm, where else could he go? She searched the area, the weight of saying goodbye to Tuff felt like a wrecking ball on her esteem. She heard the sound of children's laughter from inside the barn. She peeked inside to find Tuff and the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing in the hay while Big Mac and Spike snored nearby. Pea opened the door quietly, Tuff looked up bright eyed at his aunt. Her angry attitude melted away looking at the foals.
"Pea Gravel!" The three fillies cheered. The four children rushed up to Pea and each hugged a metallic leg.
"So you were gone with Celestia all day, was she nice?" Tuff asked.
Pea chuckled, "The nicest in the world. You tired, Tuff?"
"No, not at all," the colt yawned.
Pea's stomach churned for the moment she'd deliver the news to her nephew. The three ponies walked through the quiet night on the path back to Ponyville, only the sounds of crickets and frogs were heard. Pea bit her lip when she looked down at the colt.
"Tuff, I need to tell you something..." Pea's voice trailed off at the worried looks from the fillies.
"What auntie, are we moving again?" Tuff asked.
"No, I just..." Pea looked glanced at Big Mac, who was now awake. Under a watchful eye Pea continued,"I'm going to go back… out there," Pea winced, thinking Tuff would begin crying.
"How long will you be gone?" The colt asked rather calmly.
"I'm not sure," Pea was a bit surprised, "...I'll come back in at least eighteen months weather I find my crew or not, to check up on you," Pea smiled reassuringly.
"That's...an while. You said 'I'," He looked at her with a goofy smile,"You're not taking me?"
"Well, this place is real nice. You have some real friends here, Tuff," Pea felt like she was being drug down by the children's worried looks.
Sweetie Belle looked over at Tuff, "So...you're alright with her going away for awhile?"
Tuff nodded,"Yeah. It's been a long time since I've seen mom and pops, Auntie will bring them back safe. Right Auntie?"
Pea sighed with relief, "I was so worried you'd be upset with me," Pea leaned over and kissed the top of the colt's head, "That's my Tuff Bolder!"
Pea slid out from their grip and hugged her nephew tight. With one last kiss on his forehead, she turned and walked out into the darkness of the evening. Tuff waved at her until she was out of sight,"Come back soon..."
Tuff's lip began quivering. Scootaloo looked at him with surprise,"Hey, are you okay?" She asked.
Tuff held back a lonely tear and nodded. Eighteen months? How long was that going to feel like?
Pea didn't want to ride a train, she didn't want to be involved with anyone else on her quest. In the dark of the dying night, she grabbed her belongings from Twilight's house hurriedly and headed east to Horseshoe Bay. With a few provisions, medicine, and mess kit in her pack she moved through the empty streets for what felt like the last time. Pea didn't look back as the town dwindled away and the Everfree Forest enveloped her. The sound of Pea walking was quiet in the night air, passing tree after tree Pea's mind and body were tearing at each other. She couldn't have anypony to drag her down in her quest, nopony was going to get in her way, even benevolent ones.
Pea's eyes felt dry but alert as she moved through the Everfree Forest, a small smile crept onto her face. Though the little life she built up here had been shattered, she was beginning to miss violence and the thrill of the hunt, now it wasn't to far away. The trip felt like a blur to the grey mare, she didn't even notice the sun rise as she exited the other side of the forest. Pea walked and walked, her artificial legs carrying her with unnatural endurance. Towns came and went as she traveled east, she became more and more excited the further she went. The environment changed many times in her trek back to the coast and eventually she arrived to Horseshoe Harbor.
The town was a large, busy port with a tropical wet mist in the air. All of the buildings and ponies looked tough and used to the sea air. Pea walked down the market streets with a proud grace as many eyes watched her, she was beginning to enjoy it. Pea neared the harbor and looked out at all of the ships anchored. She sat on the dock as sailors carried crates and packages to and from the ships tied down. Pea's green eyes met a Carrack ship near the end of the dock, It was painted in a dull green and had the bustling of crew members on deck. Only a ship ready to leave would be so busy.
"There's the one," Pea said to herself, "I'll just drop in and say hello."
She began walking to the green ship, avoiding sailors carrying crates she made it to the ship. A ramp connected the carrack's deck to the dock while supplies went in and off the ship. Not to Pea's surprise five armed pirates came down the ramp to meet her. There were rough, tough looking pirate ponies with scars and cutlasses. The ringleader, a dull orange unicorn, stepped forward.
"Pardon me fer blockin' yer path, miss," The unicorn grinned with yellowed teeth,"But me an' me mates couldn't help but notice that you were looking at our captain's ship."
Pea rose an eyebrow, "And what's wrong with looking, maybe I was going to hire you. Is this how you treat potential clients?"
The pirate squinted his eyes, "We're pirates miss, don't work for nopony."
Pea smiled, "Well then, sorry to bother you. I'll just take my leave, have a nice day fellas!"
The pirates were puzzled at the seemingly random encounter, shrugged, and went back on the ship. Pea waited on a bench further up the dock until it was dark, eagerly biding her time. As the sun set some lamps were lit on the docked ships, shedding faint light on the dock's planks. Like a panther's shadow, the cyber mare crept expertly to and on the deck of the green ship, completely undetected. She pulled herself onto the deck and past a sleeping guard, tip-toeing over to a stack of crates. Once hidden she controlled her breathing in the sea air of the dark harbor night. She crammed herself further behind a crate stack out of sight and waited, dozing off finally.
After an hour of napping a single off centered creek in the flooring shot her back to her senses. Her heart raced, every little creak sounded like it could compromise her plan. In the quiet ambiance of the ship she feared being found, she could get to where she needed without a crew's labor. Eventually she settled down and dozed back into a light sleep. At the crack of dawn, the rock of a ship at sea woke Pea up. It had been so long since she was on a boat her sea legs were getting rusty, she'd have time to get back into the swing of things. After stealing an apple from the crate she hid behind, the mare decided it was best to wait and plan how she was going to take over the ship.
She heard the hustle of hoof steps on the top deck, some kind of meeting was going on. She peered around a corner at the crew of pirates. She counted about thirty crew members along with the captain and the first mate she met on the dock.
The captain, a young looking orange unicorn with a navy blue cloak, was standing with his first mate at the helm of the ship. The captain was rambling on about being the leader of the toughest pirate crew in Equestria and how they were off to raid some islands to the south east. Pea looked to see how far the coast was, to her delight the land of Equestria was only a faint black line on the horizon. She pulled herself on top of the crate she was hiding behind and bit down loudly on the shiny red apple. The pirates looked to her with shock, not expecting a stowaway like her.
"Morning fellas!" Pea said cheerfully, "I'm in need of service. Could you big, strong pirates help a poor mare like me?"
The first mate stomped on the deck with a wrathful look, "I told ya, we're PIRATES! Don't work for nopony 'cept the captain!"
The young looking unicorn stood proudly ,"Indeed, you're right. Now, boys, capture that mare and bring her here!"
The big crew of pirates turned with dreadful smirks. Pea got off the crate and waited until a pirate drew a sword to her neck. Through his teeth he chuckled,"Come on quietly, missy!" Through the handle in his jaws. In no time, Pea quickly grabbed his sword and wit the other hand smashed the half eaten apple into the pirate's eye.
The pirate reared back and howled in pain, before he knew it Pea had a sword to his throat. He blinked in horror but his eyes became permanently open, once Pea lopped his head clean off. His torso landed on the deck with a thud and his shocked head rolled a bit, leaving a trail of red. The rest of the pirates looked at Pea with petrified looks, she wiped the pirates blood off the sword with the owner's body. She looked up casually,"Now, I'm taking over this ship. Whoever want's to follow this one to Davy Jones, step forward."
The pirates, being from Equestria, weren't used to such brutality. Some dropped their swords with slacked jaws and others scooted away from the deadly mare. The captain however, was unfazed.
"You call yourselves pirates?" He mocked, "Being scared of a mare?!"
The first mate leaned over with a worried look, "Captn'...she may not be a real mare...what if she's some evil spirit?"
Pea caught onto the sailor's superstition, she had a wild look in her eyes as she stepped to the crew.She kicked the corpse out of her way and the once deadly looking sailors now shank back like frightened foals.
Pea put on a predatory smile, "That's right! I'm a demon from another land, I've had my fill on Equestria and now want to go back home," With a false mask of danger on her face, Pea felt sick looking at her victim.
The captain looked to his terrified crew, "Yes, yes. We'll take you...let us put the dead to rest first." Pea held onto the stolen cutlass in her teeth as the crew carried their comrade for a burial at sea. The saddened crew listened their captain give a hurried yet eloquent funeral speech, all the while Pea readied two of the four lifeboats and turned a loaded deck cannon to the mourning crew. One yelled in surprise at the cannon barrel pointed at all of them, Pea leaned over the primed cannon with a wick lighter in one hand and a cutlass in the other.
"What's wrong with you!?" The first mate screamed, "Is one not enough for you?"
"Sure," Pea had her deadly mint eyes fixed on the crew,"But not really. Now, get of my boat."
The pirates looked to each other in horrified confusion, frozen in place. Pea nonchalantly waved the lighter over the cannon wick and it began sparking. Before all of them could jump over board Pea smothered the wick, chucking as she watched the pirates jumping overboard in a blaze of confusion and terror. They shouted and cried in the water, almost landing on top them two lifeboats fell into the water.
Pea called down to them, "If you all paddle back now, you can make it back to mommy's before dinner!"
The pirates had no choice as to get into cramped lifeboats and watch their ship being taken, sailing in a direction they were avoiding.
Pea wasted no time in searching the Captain's Room for a map for reassurance in her navigating. Plowing through stacks of paper she found it in a shelf, along with a bottle of fermented Pineapples called 'Sourbite'. She nodded thoughtfully at the strange drink. Going back outside she put her bottle on top of the map and went below deck looking for a hammock.
It was noon now, Pea lay dozing in a hammock tied to either side of the lamp posts on the poop deck with a half empty bottle of Sourbite held to her chest and the cutlass sheathed at her side. The tropical sun beamed down warmly on the lone pony along with her new ship. Pea smiled to herself, "Damn, that was easier then I thought!"
Far into the cargo hold, inside a crate, two frightened souls hid. They were worried about the pirates, or lack thereof, on the ship.