(Sorry about the upcoming wall of text. I have a lot to say and ask for here.)

I have an upcoming fic that I've been trying to get off the ground for years. It involves my ponysona, who I only came up with after joining this site, hence why I use the name of a different persona for my username.

This character is "Cap'n Briny Sea", a cargo ship captain who was made Captain at the tender age of 20 because of the death of his mentor, Cap'n North Star. He's also a late bloomer, as he only learned his Special Talent was sailing when he was 13 because his father's sailboat got caught in a wild storm (the ocean acts like the Everfree when it comes to weather), his father got knocked out, and he had to take over to get the ship to shore, finally earning his Cutie Mark.

This story has little connection to the mainland after Briny becomes a sailor, but there are still bits and pieces that come up. Just don't expect references to almost any character from the show who isn't a head of state or some other prominent official/famous figure.

Cutlasses, Gryphon blackpowder blunderbusses (here, Gryphons invented guns, but they're in their infancy), magic control of water, and cannons are commonly-used weapons, so the ante is upped a bit from the show, allowing more powerful characters to compensate.

As for Pirates, we have an expy of Blackbeard, but Black Tears is not the number one villain. He is but the Scourge of the Northern Seas, on par with but not exceeding Velvet Lace, Terror of the Southern Seas. Each commands a massive pirate fleet, but both serve one greater leader.

An expy for Black Pete, the freed slave who became Blackbeard's right hand and later a captain in his own right when Blackbeard commandeered the Queen Anne's Revenge, is here, too. A Captain in Black Tears' fleet, the zebra pirate captain, Striped Zeke (sorry, I needed it to rhyme with Pete and start with a Z).

Velvet Lace and her ship, the Nightstalker, were based on a famous pirate, but I can't remember who. Help with recalling this would be great. Her ship is a "stallion-of-war", so I do remember the pirate captain had a man-of-war as their ship. I also have the complement (crew size) and number of guns written down somewhere, so I can provide that if that could help.

But onto the real villain. An expy of the King of Pirates, the Arch-Pirate, the Pirate Admiral, Henry Every: The Pirate Queen, Her Terribleness, Admiral Demon Specter, a Dark Alicorn (like Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, but she's not as strong as either Princess) who is over 1300 years old, and through trying to keep her crew mostly in the family, has a crew with a very large number of Alicorns, with a steam and sail powered ironclad dreadnought as her floating fortress palace. She is the unbeatable terror, whose ship knows no equal. Most ships either flee or surrender at the mere sight of it, and those foolish enough to fight either sink or limp away after surrendering. Trying to board her vessel is considered suicide, as none have gotten very far in such a foolish attempt.

Now, I'm reaching out for ideas. Other lesser pirates. Both crew and captains, mostly based on real ones. Captains need to serve under either Black Tears or Velvet Lace (EDIT: they can be freelance and have no fleet and be beholden to none but themselves, but such would be lesser pirates who either only appear once early on, or might become something of a "goldfish poop gang" of the fic), and have their ship based on their human counterpart's real ship, with an altered or replaced name. This is at sea. Crews will vary vastly. Gryphons, Diamond Dogs (Diamond Dogs have their own home country: Ruffsia in this. Stupid ones like the ones who foalnapped Rarity are considered "Strays" by the Ruffsian Imperial Crown.), Dragons, Changelings (pre-Thorax), and more are found in crews, as no crew is all ponies except for the Pirate Queen's and military ships. (Just no Sea Ponies for obvious reasons.)

Members of Briny's crew are also welcome. I have a doctor, an engineer, a first mate (who is also his fillyfriend), a coxswain (the guy who commands steering, as it consists of the teams for the sails, the one at the wheel, and those at the tiller to operate, so this guy coordinates them. He's also Briny's surrogate son and mentee), a ship's cook, two away team co-commanders (twin teenage dragons), and a few crewponies, as well as a crewdog (Rudolph. The name means "spirit of the wolf" in Russian, so he's a Ruffsian native), and an information specialist (she's a Changeling defector, but not a Drone. She's a Soldier. Bigger than a Drone.). Some of these positions may not be from your standard cargo ship, but I decided to use them anyway, as they are constantly under pirate attack.

Also, we have a counterpart to Port Royal (a Pirate Haven): "Port Feral". Demon Specter uses it as her land base for the rare occasion she needs to rest her hooves for a bit, but otherwise, it functions like any other Pirate Haven.

But, what I need the absolute most at this time is a ponified version of the name Jolly Roger, keeping the "Jolly" part if at all possible. This is Black Tears' original ship, a former slave ship that he took over after he and several other members of the crew decided they didn't want to be slavers after all, mutinied, freed all the zebras, and combined with the slave revolt, threw all the remaining slavers and their captain overboard. (Striped Zeke was one of the freed zebras) This is now Striped Zeke's ship (yes, I understand the irony completely), which he uses to serve as Black Tears' right hoof. I really need this above all else here, because I need a name for this, as Zeke will be faced before the first direct encounter with Black Tears.

Any and all help and ideas are appreciated.

Thank you,
Dolphy Blue Drake,
Admin,
The Writing Process