Ok, before we do anything, we need to address a major point- why is Luna running a pirate/airship?

Some other points:

Is Celestia involved in anyway? Do the Elements come into play in any way? Is Luna aggressive or defensive in terms of diplomacy, in other words, does she attack other ships or does she defend cities? What other species are on board? Are there any major recurring villains/rivals?

These are important, so let's put our heads together and work on them! Feel free to add other important questions that I didn't list.

1842647 Equestria is unlikely to be the entire world in the MLP universe. Perhaps they discovered a new ocean, and Celestia sent Luna and co. to explore it and see if there are any civilizations. Whether the creatures of the new lands are ponies, Gryphons, or a new species altogether, whether they speak English or Cthonian, whether they are kind or harsh, could be changed from city to city, to allow for plenty of freedom in writing.

1842647 1843774 I only said Luna because it was how it was in my dream. I like SLthethird's idea. And I thought it would be pretty interesting to have any variety of species on board. Objective... explore? Dunno really. I like the idea of it just being a long adventure but there does have to be a goal. Maybe to find a certain artifact, or series of artifacts?

Lets think of a few different ideas and see what sounds best. Then we could even combine a few. I gave one but ill think of some more.

1844787 So, not likely for Luna to be there? My character's personality is based on Luna; it would be best if she was there, although if she wasn't there's still the "When I get back I'll show her what I've accomplished and then we make out" possibility.

Just to be certain, we're going with the "at sea" idea instead of the "in the air" idea?

Also, 1845218 , Luna will probably be staying in it unless the majority of the people decide against it for some reason.

1845612 I would like to think that they were searching for something. It would give a more definite objective than "defending cities" or "exploring". You know what I mean?

1845745 I understand where you're coming from. So if we wanted to go with searching for something we'd have to know what they were searching for. Also, before their goal is even talked about in the story, we could have it to where the first chapter or two is about them going around finding and recruiting new crew members. Then once a good crew has been gathers, the goal is discussed.

1845770 Yeah, that would probably good. We can get some background on each character when they're recruited.

1846010 Indeed. We just need to think of a way to start the story now, then a general plot to sprout more ideas. Thinking of an end can come later, if we get to an end. Also, I need to get together all of the OC's from the people who want to have theirs in the story. Out of all the members in this group I only have the Skype or Google contact from 2 of them. So it might take a bit to get all of the characters together.

1846171 both my google and my Skype is thelitepost. I recently uninstalled Skype though, but I have the google talk app.

1846335 I'll add you to the google folder in a bit. so would the email be thelitepost@gmail.com?

1846351 Yes, that's it.

If I had any idea for a pirate captain Luna fic's plot it would be her being sent as a explorer into the surrounding seas of Equestria.
There she starts meeting other civilizations which, for easeness, would be based on real life civilizations; like the Kirin(Chinese), Gryphons(nordic countries), Yaks(Mongolian), Gaurs(Indians), etc.
After this, Luna becomes involved into the "underground" world of pirates, privateers and other sea scum and works for the benefit of Equestria, stealing artifacts and gold to send back to Equestria.
It's a bit generic but it has potential to go somewhere rather than dabble endlessly on mindless poniery.

1846171
If you want to use my characters I'm willing to give them out.
Like I said before, I made them for a fic I'm working but they won't see any action in that fic so I wanted to take them for a walk in nature.
They are getting annoying.

1843774>>1844787>>1845745
You people need yaks.

And new gryphons.

Woops.
Add Makaras, the Navagunjara and the Timingila to 1846682

1846682 I really like the civilization idea. And your OC's are welcome.
About the stealing for equestria thing. There would have to be a reason, like , equestria is in a state of financial downfall and the situation isnt improving on its own. Or money is needed for some large scale operation of some sort.
Also, yaks. And the gryphons are pretty interesting.

1846955
How about this?
Equestria begins to expand towards interoceanic commerce and Luna is sent with a crew of hardcore guys to protect the ships.

This would make her a marine rather than a pirate, though.

1847123 We'll call them pirates. And I like the idea.

There was also the idea that someone came up with to have multiple captains on different ships. Though I like the idea, I'm not entirely sure how that would work. Well anyways. How does the idea sound?

1846682 ... I don't get it.

1847193

There was also the idea that someone came up with to have multiple captains on different ships.

I believe that was me.

1847388
Yaks are awesome.
That's all.

1847455 HA! Well alright then, that solves that mystery.

Now then, lets get a couple more idea down, then ill make a poll and a post that hopefully everyone if not most of the group will actually participate in. We'll see.

So... 1847455 , 1847388 , 1846335 , 1842647 ... any more ideas?

1848084 Hmm... perhaps they get locked into a continuous battle against one specific empire as they explore, and the empire's leader/general is the recurring villain?

Personally, I think that the idea of different civilisations is genius. I think the background idea of having found a new ocean and Luna wanting to explore it would work well.

1848487 I kinda like that idea. And we could have to where later in the story that leader/general attacks Equestria at one point in time.

1848498 It is a pretty great idea. And going back a bit to Celestia and the Elements. Like it's been said, Celestia could be the one to send Luna out. As for the Elements, I'm not exactly sure how to put them in but if someone can come up with a good enough idea we could do it.

Now I'm going to give a little bit more time for the others to get in their final ideas so we can get a good plan finalized.

With the possibility of whole new civilizations and creatures as yet unexplored, will Luna be recruiting members of these new species to join her crew because they feel their homelands are in need of someone to stand up on their behalf? Possibly to allow members of each of these new species to stand out as individuals.

1849250
To that end, I can create a few OCs. Funny coincidence, I'm actually writing about a Qirin named Ryuu at the moment. Perhaps I can work her in somehow, maybe an alternate universe version of her.

1849250 That could be a possibility, it would definitely add some more story to it. And if someone has an OC from that land, it could be introduced there.

1850208 That would be pretty cool. I remember when I was first trying to come up with the design for Flintlock, he was originally going to be a Kirin. That's why when I describe his cutie mark I say that there are dragon scales on the inside. On top of the fact that he can breathe fire. In the end I decided to go with unicorn. Also, is it Kirin or Qirin? Ive seen both used.

1850379 I don't actually know, personally I use Qirin, but that's just me.

1850379 Well, a few of us could come up with thoughts of different countries and races. (It'll give me a chance to not use the OC I submitted... I decided I don't want to get my story mixed up with what we're doing here XD)

1850415 Understandable, so I guess I should make a thread about possible countries and races?

1850427 Yes, that would seem good. Then we could all vote on what we like.

I apologize for any ignorance on my part, but have we established a definite time period for these events, are they before the Rise of Nightmare Moon or after the time of the Mane Six? If so, would we be open to creating links back to the Equestria from the show that we all know and love, such as grown up fillies/colts from the time of the Mane Six to anchor this series to MLP.

I could create a few OCs for creatures like Zebras, Griffons/Hippogrifs, Deer, and maybe as a homage to A Song of Ice and Fire, Direwolves.

1850900 I was thinking During the time of the Mane 6. Though I'm not sure if it should be future(like the cmc are older), present(twilight is a princess), or past(before the coronation). Also, Im thinking that because there are a lot of OC's that could be used, some could even be one that shows up when the crew reaches a certain place and that OC is only seen there. Possibly coming up again. But thats only for minor OC characters if someone made a ton of extras or something. Could be interesting that way.

1842647 If you're still looking for a recurring villain then feel free to make use of Captain Bone Marrow.

He's a griffon privateer with undying loyalty to his homeland who got his name from the rumor that he eats and then sucks the marrow from the bones of his greatest foes (and also keeps one of their teeth in an ever-expanding necklace he wears around his neck). Personality-wise, he's a patient and intelligent predator, stalking his prey for as long as he needs to until an opening lets him slip in and make a kill. He's also a griffon supremacist and captains a tri-lateen war scow (headcanon griffon ship design) ship/blimp hybrid called the Sparrow.

Quick sketch:
Seaborne mode vs airborne mode

It has one and a half cannon decks, one on the main deck and another half-deck on the raised middle platform and can fire all of them in either mode. It doesn't have a large hull capacity, but Captain Marrow is more for killing than he is for taking treasure. His typical mode of attack is to strike at an opportune moment, crippling a ship and then boarding it to kill everything on board (taking the enemy captain and making a feast on them in the process).

Due to the flat-bottomed nature of the scow design, it cannot traverse open seas unless in airborne mode for fear of being capsized (as well, this makes Captain Marrow try to avoid open-seas combat if at all possible for fear of losing his air bags and having his ship destroyed by open seas). However, the design does let it traverse shallow rivers that something like a caravel or carrack design would not be able to due to their deeper hulls and the ship can traverse water close to land.

1842647 Kinda late, but perhaps Luna gets bored of the dull Canterlot life and decides to go on a grand adventure! She goes to a tavern or something to get the latest info on different rumors floating around and goes off of those.

1847193 I second this idea!