Across the Boundary

by Forthwith

Sailor Moon

Author's Note:

This chapter is technically a spoiler in hindsight of the main story, but it probably would take divine intervention to understand why before reaching the particular point in the story where the spoiler comes up, and it’s not that big of a spoiler anyway. No chapter yet exists where this is not true.

I shamelessly stole the pun ‘Sailor Moon’ from MLP Time Loops 89.10.

“Batten down the hatches! Furl the mainsail! I want you scallywags pulling double time! We all want ta live ta see another day!”

The crew chorused back, “Yes, Captain Luna.”

The small, blue filly alicorn barking orders was wearing a tricorn hat with three necklaces dangling from her neck. Despite the crash of the waves and the rage of the lightning storm, she made herself heard loud and clear across the ship.

“What was that, you filthy sea dogs?”

A general murmur of conversation passed through the crew on deck before they corrected, “Aye, Aye, Cap’n Luna!”

“That’s more like it! First Mate Tia, I need you!”

“Yes, Cap’n?” reported Celestia, a much larger alicorn than her little sister with a lovely pink mane and tail.

Being nearly a half hoof taller than everypony else, she managed to wear two necklaces without making it look as completely ridiculous as her sister did with three. Upon her brow was a golden tiara with a red sun gem on the peak.

Celestia was trying very hard not to trip and fall under the heaving of the boat as she approached her sister at the helm.

“I’ve lost the stars ta the fury of the trice scorned lady above! I need ya ta chart a course through clear waters as I steer!”

The boat flew off of a particularly large wave and sent Celestia flying while Luna clung to the wheel.

“Tia! No!” Luna screamed as Celestia fell overboard into the ocean, her splash being drowned out by fury of the storm. “Mare overboard! Throw her a line! On the double, you bilge rats!”

Celestia saw nearly a dozen ropes thrown overboard in her general direction. Grabbing hold of one, the crew pulled her back onto the ship while she used her waterlogged wings to help as much as they could.

With a few coughs, Celestia thanked her shipmates for helping her out of the ocean.

“First Mate, are you fit ta stand before the mast?”

“Yes, Cap’n! Ready ta resume my post!”

“Then get yer flank up in the crow’s nest before we hit a reef, ya fool!”

“Right away, Cap’n!”

Climbing the rigging awkwardly up to the very top of the main mast, Celestia hopped over the railing of the lookout and peered into the torrents a whole hundred hooves.

“It’s no good, Cap’n! The storm’s too strong! I can’t see a thing!”

Luna scowled as she screamed, “By the powers! This be the worst storm I’ve ever heard tell of! All hooves, brace yerselves! I’m turning the ship hard ta starboard ta bring ourselves against the gales!”

The boat lurched under the sudden change of direction with the aid of a wave crashing over the top of the ship and spinning the backside. Soon the ship calmed to a bucking stallion from the frenzied draconequus it had been but the deck remained as flooded as it had before.

“We’ve taken on too much water!” shouted Luna. “I want to see buckets moving before your maggoty sires were born!”

“Cap’n Luna!” Celestia yelled in panic. “It looks like we’re headin straight inta the worst part of the storm! We’ll never make it!”

“Then we’ll die at sea like proper sea dogs! Storm, I challenge ye! Give us yer worst and we’ll return it a hundred times over!”

On cue, a burst of lightning ripped a massive hole through the vessel, causing it to rapidly flood. Within moments, dozens of ponies fled from the hold below onto deck.

One of them cried out in distress, “The hull’s breached Cap’n! We have ta abandon ship. It’s our only hope!”

“I’ll be the one ta tell ya when there’s no hope!” Luna reprimanded. After a dramatic pause, she shouted, “Say yer prayers and abandon ship! May the ocean have mercy on yer souls!”

Celestia scurried down the rigging to join her sister who was standing stock still at the helm, watching the crew board the lifeboat and ensuring that nopony was left behind.

“Cap’n, we need leave! The ship won’t last much longer!”

“No,” Luna said while caressing the lower section of the wheel. “The captain always goes down with her ship.” Luna turned towards her sister, eyes overflowing with determination. “Now, go! That’s an order!”

Celestia scooped up her little sister in a tight embrace. Despite her squirming, Luna was unable to break free until Celestia let go.

“I’ll never forget you, Cap’n.”

Leaving her sister and captain, Celestia rushed down to the deck and jumped on board the lifeboat, not looking back once lest she ruin everything. Joining the rest of the crew in their labors, they lowered the boat down into the rough waters with a complicated system of ropes and pulleys.

Once they reached the water, the crew cut themselves free from the main ship and rowed away from the sinking ship.

In minutes, the last of the ship slipped below the waters and Celestia sent up a magical signal flare. The storm abated and the seas calmed. Everypony on the rowboat remained soaked, but at least the biting wind and bone-chilling waves had ceased as the moon and stars returned to the sky.

Addressing the assembled ponies, Celestia said, “Thank you all for humoring my dear sister.”

“Anything for you, Queen Celestia.”

“It was fun, my queen, in its own way.”

“Perhaps a bit too over the top.”

“How many times must I say this?” Celestia asked pointedly. “Don’t call me a queen. I have no wish to be anything like that vile Discord. If you must insist on foisting titles upon me, go with princess at most.”

“Of course, qu–princess. But will your sister really be alright?”

“As long as she isn’t silly enough to go down too far. She doesn’t really need to breathe, but she can still suffer from…uh…what did she call it? The narrows?”

“I think it was the bends, Your Highness.”

Celestia scowled inwardly at the title but said nothing. “Right. From the books she’s been reading from the pre-Discordian era, it’s supposed to be rather painful. She would be rather too distracted to use her magic and it paralyzes a pony which would prevent her from swimming.”

“Is that where she got the idea for that wooden monster?”

“Yeah. She called it a boat. Or a ship. I don’t really know what the difference is, if there is one.”

“Do you know how it manged to float in the water without telekinesis? I mean, I’ve seen sticks and stuff float in creeks, but that thing must have weighed tons.”

“No idea. Luna babbled on about some sort of buoyant force for a little bit, but none of it made any sense. The first three she conjured sank right to the bottom of the bay, but the fourth one stayed up.”

Sighing, Celestia continued, “It’s all she’s been doing lately. Reading that is. Her most recent binge has been these boats and star-based navigation. And something about…pirates? That sounds right. I think we were reenacting some story or something.”

“Is that why she made us speak with those weird accents?”

“Yep,” confirmed Celestia, “but I think she was the only one that really got it right.”

With a splash, Luna surfaced next to the boat.

“Welcome back, captain,” Celestia said, levitating Luna into the boat with her.

“That was so much fun, Tia! Can we do it again sometime?”

“Maybe if you ask your ‘crew’ nicely enough and don’t forget to thank them.”

“Oh, right.” Turning to her crew, Luna said, “Good work, everypony. You’ve all proven yourself capable hooves before the mast.”

Bumping Luna on her head, Celestia said, “That’s not a thank you, Luna.”

“Ow,” Luna moaned and then quietly said, “Thanks.”

“They didn’t hear you,” chided Celestia.

Melting under her sister’s glare, Luna lifted the restraints on her voice. “Thanks.”

“Better,” Celestia said, “but you could be a bit more verbose in the future.”

Once she had finished, the other ponies gave their responses.

“It was no problem, little princess.”

“You can ask me again anytime. I really enjoyed it.”

“Anything for a cute little filly like you.”

“We’ll never let our captain down.”

Gently petting Luna’s head, Celestia said, “Now that that’s all settled, I’ll teleport us home.”

With a flash of her horn, all of the ponies disappeared in an explosion of light with an accompanying crack of the vacuum left behind filling itself back up with air.

Comments

[Lelouch Vi Britania]

Luna is best captain

[the other sans]

She doesn’t really need to breath

1. Breathe.

The first three she conjured sank right to the bottom of the bay, but the fourth one stayed up

... The first time I saw this was in Galactic Civilizations 2 and it was under the... Green colored tech tree, I think it was for being able to terraform yellow colored tiles under the description of;

A king decided to build a castle in a swamp. It sank. He built another. It sank. He build a third one and it sank as well but the fourth one stayed up!

Pardon because it's heavily paraphrased but the king and castle thing stays true.

[Kontaro]

4394020 Dat Monty Python referance :D Yeah, the king and castle bit was from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.... 'Everybody said it was daft to build a castle in the swamp, but I built it all the same!... It sank into the swamp... So I built a second one, it sank into the swamp. So I built a third one, and it sank too. But the forth one stayed up! And that's what yer inheriting boy! The strongest castle in these Isles! (note, might have misquoted a bit, but still, considering it's been years since I saw it, I'd say I got it fairly close)

[FinalFan]

All those tantalizing "Pre-Discordian" references! (Well, one here, and bunches elsewhere.)

One nitpick:

“I think it was the bends, your highness.”
Celestia scowled inwardly at the title but said nothing.

I don't get it. Isn't "your highness" an appropriate form of address for a princess, while "your majesty" would be the address for a queen?

[Queensarrow]

4414731
The third castle burned up, fell down, then sank into the swamp.

[Pinklestia]

This was really cute.