//------------------------------// // Chapter one: Return of The Dead Stallion // Story: Bleak Sails // by RedRandom //------------------------------// The rather cold morning was not the best way that one could start their day, nor was it a good way to start the end of a school day. The young foals all left the local schoolhouse without so much as a whisper, their teacher standing by the door frame of the double doors as she watched them all either trot over to their parents who had come to pick them up or just lazily trot off in the directions of their homes. She looked up at the sky, cloudy, looks like it’ll rain again. As she headed inside, one of the foals looked up and spotted something she couldn’t exactly understand, pointing at it with a hoof. “What’s that?!” she asked, her father looking up and squinting his eyes to see the sight of a lone blue pegasus among the dull clouds. “Why, if it isn’t the local daredevil,” He said with a small smile, watching as said pegasus suddenly dived bombed towards the school house, the foal and stallion being the only ones left. As soon as she almost crashed to the ground, her wings flared, allowing her to come to a graceful halt just beside the two. “Good evening,Ms. Dash,” he greeted. “Evening, Mr. Pot,” Dash replied, nodding her head in hello. “How’s life?” “Ah, you know...the usual,” The stallion responded, smiling. “And I never expected you to be so formal...specially since I work for Applejack.” “Yeah, I know...sorry Tea,” Rainbow apologized with a small chuckle. “You know Applejack makes me say that.” “Yeah…” Tea chuckled as well before looking down at the little filly. “You remember my silly filly, right, Rainbow?” “Course I do,” Rainbow answered with a sweet smile before looking down to the filly. “How are you, Dumpling?” The tan filly smiled as she looked up at the rainbow pegasus, pushing the fallen bit of her brown mane out of her eyes. “I’m okay, how are yuu?” she asked, her tone of voice practically radiating with innocence, causing both adults to smile. “Good to hear, little guy,” Rainbow said with a smile, ruffling up Dumpling’s mane with her hoof before turning to Tea. “I better get going, Spike invited me to play Pony Kombat at his place since Twilight is in Canterlot.” “Really?” Tea asked, not noticing that he was kind of extending the conversation a bit. “Doing what?” “Princess training...or at least that’s what I-” Rainbow began before the sound of an argument could be heard from the center of town, causing Rainbow to frown, especially when the sound of a bubbly and hyper active voice could be heard among them. “...I...I’m going to go check that out, you stay safe, Tea.” She then began to gallop towards the noise, Tea and Dumpling waving her goodbye. The crowd had become much larger than any normal argument gone bad would have attracted, multiple voices going off at once as they tried to see what all the fuss was about. The shouting in the opening becoming louder with Applejack standing there as one of the first of the crowd. The sight simply confusing her to no end as the scene played out before the watchers. There were three ponies in the opening, on the left was a frail looking brown Unicorn, his angry scowl, rusty coat and ginger mane being met with the equally large scowl and dreadlocks of the zebra on the right, gritting his teeth. In the middle of the two, trying her best to make sure that the disagreement didn’t escalate further, was the ever so bubbly Pinkie Pie. “C-Can we please calm down?” She asked, unnaturally timid in her speech. “We don’t have to have a party...” "Well you don't have to be an ass about it!" the unicorn yelled, ignoring the earth pony and looking at the zebra, his eyes narrowed with annoyance. "She offered to throw us a party and I think we should take it, we deserve it Black.” "We're not here for pleasure you dumb-buck, and I'm sorry but, I thought it was you who was the ass, or was that just your mama?" the zebra spat back, the unicorn taking great offence to having his adoptive donkey mother brought up like that. “You take that back you bucking little sh-” he began before being stopped by applejack, who had walked up to the two while they had not noticed and had pushed the two equines away from each other so that things didn’t get physical. "Now just a darn minute here, you fella's better not be scraping here. We're in a marketplace, not some school parking lot!" she scolded. The unicorn and zebra looked at each other for a moment, thinking before the backed off, their aggressiveness towards the other dropping, causing Applejack to sigh with relief. “Now then,” she asked with a friendly smile. “Just who are you two, anyhow?” The zebra was the first to speak up, snapping his head towards her as he seemed to be waiting for something. “I’m Black Spot,” he said before looking over at his friend, who’s eyes were zipping from side to side, the disapproving look Black gave him caused him to look back to Applejack. “And my genius yet still a bucking idiot friend here, is Flintlock...” Applejack then began to introduce herself, with the two showing some amount of respect towards her, the sight of a very angry looking Rainbow Dash came into the corner of her eye. But, before she could react, the pegasus was already in the zebra’s face. "Hey! Who do you think you're starting with here?" Rainbow shouted, thinking the zebra was having an argument with Pinkie. ”This is a marketplace, some ponies are trying to make a profit here!" Black Spot and Flintlock looked at each other for a moment before they burst out into laughter, the unicorn’s horn glowing with a flintlock pistol appearing his magical aura while he kept laughing. The sight of the pistol caused the now much larger crowd to start panicking. "I think we will be taking those profits you mentioned, blue girl!" he shouted, firing his shot into the sky, the crowd began to panic even more so when, due to the shot, many strange ponies, griffons and even a few changelings emerged from the alleyways, attacking the crowd. The mighty Equestrian capital was in a panic as multiple squadrons of guards stormed out of the large open gate, the bolts almost being ripped off as more and more armored ponies marched out towards the small town of Ponyville after receiving reports of an attack from a massive party of those identified as pirates. As more guards marched down towards the soon to be battlefield, the princess of the sun herself and her former student stood on the balcony, waving them off as they marched. "I just don't understand,” Twilight said, bringing a hoof to her chin as she lay deep in thought. “How...and why, would pirates of all things attack a landlocked village? They could have easily used the river in order to perform an attack on Canterlot...” the lavender Alicorn pondered as she looked over the tactic that the pirates had used. “It doesn’t make sense..” "They are pirates Twilight,” Celestia reminded as she continued to wave the troops off while she looked down to her former pupil. “They are not well known for their tactical minds,” she added abruptly with an almost cold and distasteful tone. Twilight looked at the other alicorn with a small bit of surprise and shock, never really hearing such distaste from Celestia before. “Where did that come from?” She thought, still trying to look over the rather limited amount of knowledge about the situation. Just why would Pirates attack Ponyville? It didn’t make sense to her, perhaps it would be a distraction? No...that would be silly. “Your highness! Your highness!” a voice of a guard shouted as he galloped towards the two, stopping at their hooves and saluting but it was clear he was freaking out. “Something has happened!” Celestia turned to the guard with patience. “Calm yourself, private…now, what has happened?” “...The Guards…” The guard began. “T-they’re out cold...two of the merchants...are running around the castle...it seems they are responsible..” Celestia and Twilight’s eyes widened from the news, the two alicorns looking at each other in the eyes. Twilight could see the growing worry and anger in Celestia’s eyes, almost as if they both knew that this attack on Ponyville was not an idiotic attempt of robbery or other such nonsense. With deep breath, Celestia broke away from the three, heading for the door. As Twilight and the guard began to chase after her, she spoke. "WE MUST NOT LET THEM REACH THE TREASURY!!!” Minutes rolled by, the three continuing to run as fast as their legs could carry them as they made their way to the single most secured room in all of Equestria, the royal treasury. The sense of danger and urgency loomed over all three of them, the princess of the sun in particular, had a face that could only be described as fury incarnate. The clip-clop of their shoe covered hooves rang throughout the halls they ran through, turning the bend once they reached the end of one corridor only to find the unconscious bodies of several of the guard, Pony and Threstal a like. Celestia turned to the guard, her eye twitching in rage and irritation. Her horn illuminating an almost heavenly gold aura. The guard was dragged by the collar of his armor, brought face to face with the enraged alicorn. "How in the name of the gods could one damnable pirate do this?!” she demanded, shaking the guard a small bit as said guard was trying to think of an answer, his eyes darting from side to side, not sure of how to respond. "W-well it was reported that two of the merchants were acting strangely, the Griffon and the Diamond Dog, your highness...maybe they co-” “Was the griffon wearing an amulet around their neck?” “W-what?” “WERE THEY?!” The guard gasped a small bit, thinking it over, he remembered seeing the griffon by the pier, feeling awkward about it. “Y-yes...he was, said he was a veteran of the Prench Foreign Legion…” he responded, causing the angry face of the sun goddess to drop, then and there. Her face turned to that of dread, looking on into nothing, as if she had just witnessed a horrible tragedy before her. Without warning, she dropped the guard, galloping towards the direction of the treasury with no words to be spoken. Twilight’s horn glowed, picking up the guard and plopping him down on his hooves before she galloped after Celestia with the guard following soon after, his armor smacking against his body. They reached the treasury door after a while of running down more corridors and up a massive amount of stairs, so much so that Twilight and the guard were out of breath once they reached the top. However, Celestia moved with no hint of fatigue at all, coming towards the now unlocked door. When she was younger, she would have taken note of the red wood used to make the double door, comment on the beauty of the its framework and decoration. But, she was not the same alicorn all those years ago, she knew that was a fact. As Twilight caught her breath, she looked up and peered through the slightly open door, seeing the blurry form of a massive creature. With a scowl, her legs with into autopilot, running past Celestia and knocking the treasury doors open. The first thing she could see was the treasury itself, mountains of wealth for as far as the eye could see, the room barely being able to contain all the gold that Celestia had obtained in her long life. The gold mountains had other treasures decorating it, from rare looking fabrics to silks and gemstones, the room would have put an elder dragon’s hoard to shame. As Twilight began her trek among the pearl floor, making sure to not disturb the rather fragile pieces of wealth as she followed the sounds of the two pirates, Celestia and the guard entered the room. Celestia was silent when she entered, her horn glowing as she tried to search for the two pirates’ central magic core. “Don’t let them reach the Elements!” she shouted, chasing after her former student with the guard following suite. One the other side of the room, past the immense piles of wealth and gold, the two pirates had reached a large, elaborate glass holding case attached to the wall. The polished oak that made up the body of the case shimmered a bit when Franz approached it, the golden amulet around his neck glowing, causing the locked hatch on the case to also become engulfed in the amulet’s red aura. After a few seconds, the lock fell off, the aura now engulfing the case’s hatch, opening the case before he peered inside. Gnash looked up, inspecting the room just to be sure of no possible aerial attack from guards, what he thought was odd, however, was the old pirate flag attached to the wall just above the case, looking moist despite being pinned to the wall with dead barnacles and old rips in the fabric. “Well Gnash…” Franz Whistled, taking in a breath as he gazed upon each golden necklace that lay before him. Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter...and Magic, they were all there. “...They’re a thing of beauty, aren’t they?” “Yep...though, boss? I don’t think we shouldn’t get caught up in it,” The diamond dog responded, turning around only to see the angry lavender alicorn finally catching up to them. "How dare you!” Twilight shouted, stumbling through another small pile of coin. Her mane was messy, her face showing only fury. “You won’t be able to get away with this!” The griffon could only chuckle, a claw putting one of his brown feathers back into place as each element of harmony lifted one by one around him, spinning slightly. He turned to face her, locking eyes with the alicorn with smug plastered all over his face. "Very sorry yer Majesty, but I have to use these for the moment, I promise to bring them back when I'm done with them,” he replied, the large diamond dog jumping back to Franz’s side to protect his friend. As Twilight seemed to get angrier by the second, her horn glowing brighter as she prepared a spell, the sound of Celestia’s stern, emotionless voice caused her to stop. Franz and Gnash snapped their heads towards the sun goddess, the diamond dog looking at eye level with the larger alicorn while Franz had to look up, a smug smirk still on his beak. "No Le Mann...you won’t,” Celestia challenged, locking gazes with the griffon as she stepped forward, her eyes just as golden and bright as her glowing horn. “Even if you do escape this room, unlikely as that may be, you shall find that the only ones able to use the Elements are those who match it’s title...as I’ve already told you once before.” She then flared her wings, her voice rising in volume until it dwarfed that of Luna’s royal Canterlot voice. “YOU SHALL UNCLAW THE ELEMENTS, CALL OFF THE ATTACK ON PONYVILLE AND FACE LESSER PUNISHMENT!” She shouted, her voice cracking somewhat due to the volume of her speech. Twilight had covered her ears when Celestia shouted, as did the guard who had finally arrived. However, neither Franz nor Gnash showed any signs of pain or even acknowledgement that Celestia had even raised her voice. Franz chuckled before taking a defensive stance, the diamond dog taking one as well, his being more of a boxing stance. “I be incredibly sorry, your highness...but We don’t plan to be giving up our chance of freedom after so many years of pain…” Franz then turned to Gnash, who stood closer to his smaller friend. “But, now we must be off, for ye have made me plan a bit more difficult…Ta ta, your majesty.” His amulet began to glow brighter, both the bodies of the griffon and diamond dog being covered in the red aura, as well as the Elements. But before anyone could react, both Celestia and Twilight fired their magic towards the two pirates, the two magical beams spiraled around each other before they struck the amulet, causing both Franz and Gnash to be thrown against the case from before, crushing it. The combined magic forces combining caused a massive wave of magical discharge to spread throughout the room. Celestia gasped in horror when the wave washed over the black, barnacle ridden flag, ripped slightly more than usual as it appeared to be moving in an non existing wind. What terrified her, though, was the small amounts of water that dripped from the old, equine skull and crossbones in the middle. Franz seemed to get up straight away after he was hit, not even being winded. Gnash on the other hand, was still on the ground. “Ye bleeding tarts!” he shouted, his amulet powering up again as he gazed daggers at them...But, neither of the two alicorn were looking at the griffon, they were too busy looking at the flag. But, before anyone could do anything, the small droplets of water seemed to meld, twisting and turning as the made their way down the walls and onto the floor, meeting in between the two parties. The sound of raspy laughter could be heard as the water began to enlarge, contracting until it began to take a solid form. Franz looked confused at the sight before looking over and seeing that the princesses were too busy staring at the...monster, Twilight looked on with awe and fright while Celestia looked horrified, shaking a little. Franz then looked out the window, in the direction of the town. His angered frown slowly turned into a smirk when he saw the sight of a flare go into the air, looking down to see that the maremaid was making it’s way out to sea already. “Good timing as always, lads,” he whispered to himself before he took both Gnash and the elements in his magic before disappearing. Ponyville was in a massive panic, the sounds of screams and fighting could be heard all around as multiple ponies had tried to put up a fight against the attacking pirates. But, even though they put up some fight, they were like kittens going to fight against gorillas. Most of the civilians had been tied up, rounded up just outside of the town hall. Two pirates were walking past some of the captives, one of the captives looking upon the two with hatred and fury. “This the guy?” the small, almost feminine stallion asked the other. “Yeah, Blake.” the other pirate sighed. “This be the noodle shop owner who beat the living shit outta me.” "I would have done even worse if you actually hurt her!" the tan earth pony shouted back, the mare beside him looking at him with concern. "Please Chopstick, please calm down,” she asked her sibling, who turned his head towards her with tears in his eyes. "No! he punched you in the face, he nearly broke your nose!” Chopstick argued back, looking back and forth between his sister and the pirates before he was suddenly smacked hard by the mare-like stallion, grabbed by the neck so they could look eye to eye. "You're lucky we didn't cut your throat in front of her for that,” Blake warned, the stallion shutting his mouth but continuing his hateful gaze. He was thrown to the ground, his sister rushing to check on him as the pirates started to laugh, walking away. The two pirates walked down the road, trotting towards the stern looking form of Black Spot. As they approached the striped stallion they gave a salute, the zebra returning the gesture before speaking. "So, I take it that most of the townsfolk are tied up?" he asked, the two straightening themselves before answering. "Yes, Black Spot, though we are not sure where the rest are...” Blake said with a frown, the other remaining silent. “My guess would be the farm we passed making our way here.” "Well you would be correct in that assumption,” Black Spot noted, looking to the captives. “Make sure that the captives don’t try anything...rough ‘em up a bit but no killing, understood?” Both pirates nodded as they returned to their posts. Applejack stared down at the group of pirates that had just been defeated, some normal ponies or Zebra, even the few changelings were some tough varmints for her. Her bones and muscles ached as she scanned for any more opponents. It was then that she heard the sound of a metal object hitting something hard, then the large thud of something heavy hitting the ground. After she made the connection, her eyes widened. She rushed around the corner only to see the sight of two pirates, Big mac on the ground, out cold. She looked furious as she raced towards them, only to be stopped in her tracks, feeling the tingling sensation of being locked in a magical grip. As she was forced to slightly calm down, she could see that the smaller one of the two, the one she knew as Flintlock, had trapped her in his magic. The other one, standing over the unconscious body of her brother, stood just as big as Big Mac himself, his dark red coat almost mixing in with the barn doors just behind him. His bald head, showing a scab or two, and slightly ripped left ear showed his damaged form. His beard and tail were a chestnut brown, the beard being a large lumberjack in style, combed and maintained as it extended past his neck. The curled, barbershop styled mustache on his upper lip showed some sort of care done to himself, but Applejack didn’t care for his face that much, all she could see was the metal cannon that had replaced the large stallion’s left forehoof, the small amount of blood on it suggesting that it had just been used. "Now ms,” Flintlock started, panting softly. “I do have to give you credit, you and your kin are good fighters with taking out most of our guys. But please, just give up...its obvious from your friend over there and your brother here that, you aren’t winning.” “I’m not giving up till you all leave, partner!” Applejack shouted, looking over to where the unicorn had mentioned only to see the knocked out form of Rainbow Dash. This seemed to only anger Applejack more, so much so that her struggling against the magic hold. The unicorn sighed, he didn't know why he always tried the diplomatic route against those they attacked. He turned to his massive friend. ”Blunderbuss, could you please use the new ammo type I gave you?" he asked, the larger stallion nodding in response. Blunderbuss then proceeded to lift the only organic part left in his arm as he aimed for the trapped mare and fired, a goofy smile never leaving his lips. Before Applejack could react, the cannonball-shaped projectile that flew towards her split into four quarters, freeing the clustered net that was crammed inside an hour ago. The net flew onto her. The four parts of the ammo's shell combined together, trapping the earth pony. "Wha-what the hay!?" Applejack shouted with confusion in her voice as the two pirates stepped forward, the unicorn having a satisfied look on his face. "Well, that worked better than I thought it would,” he said with genuine surprise in his tone at the sight. The red giant turned to his smaller friend with confusion and annoyance on his face."You didn't test this out? what if it exploded my cannon like last time!?” he roared, his stalliongrad accent being quite thick, the unicorn chuckling as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it’s still a prototype Blunderbuss, and besides...it worked, didn't it? come one and help me get these guys back to Black Spot,” he retorted, grabbing a part of the net with his teeth, Blunderbuss doing the same as they pulled the captured trio back to town. As the three last ponies were put into the center of town, tied up with the rest of the captives, Black Spot stepped forward calmly, a rather smug look on his face. By the time everyone was captured, Rainbow Dash woke up slowly, looking around until her gaze went to Black. "Now...Mares and Gentlecolts, I must thank each and every one of you for remaining as calm as you could during this whole thing and I-” he started before Rainbow Dash rushed towards him, the other pirates not noticing until a second later before they began to creep forward. "YOU CREEP! YOU'RE GONNA WISH YOU'D NEVER STEPPED HOOF HERE WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!" she threatened, the zebra sighed as she was grabbed by the pirates, dragging her back to her spot. "Well, you certainly are a fighter...I like that, But you won’t be able to do much…”” he admired as one of the other captives began to speak. "But what have you done with our things you roughian?!" she asked, gritting her teeth at the memory of her jewels being taken by the seafaring drunks, how much they had scared her when they attacked. Blunderbuss quickly poked his head to the white unicorn with the purple stylish mane, his smile confusing her. ”Little baby mare need not worry. We take good care of belongings,” he mockingly reassured as his accent swept into her ears. Black spot looked at the gigantic stallion and smiled. "Now that you mention it Blunder, could you please fire the signal? I think it's time to leave,” he gestured with a wave of his hoof. Blunderbuss nodded as he raised his cannon into the air once more, the sound was deafening to those around as the flare flew into the air. It burst into much smaller pieces of fire and disappeared into the dreary sky. As the sound of the royal guard's hooves could be heard and the sight of their almost holy shining armor bringing hope into the eyes of the captive townsfolk another bright shine of light blinded everypony in the area. When the crowd opened their eyes, the pirates that had attacked their town were gone.