2. The Silver Fruit of Apple Isle
The day on Apple Island had started like any other for its inhabitants. They had woken up, washed their faces, breakfasted, and set about their morning chores. With the winter coming in only a week, there weren’t as many of those anymore, but that made for a welcome respite to the hustle and bustle that the isle had been host to during the Ingathering, the last harvest of the year. Apple Island was one of the richest of the Thousand Islands, thanks to a brisk trade in apple cider that they provided to the rest of the vast collection of islands that lay in the sea between the continents of Cissanthema, Farasi, and Maghrib.
The islanders should have known that their riches would make them ripe targets for plunder. No pirate ship had ever attacked Apple Island in living memory – but then, no pirate ship in living memory had a quartermaster who had grown up on the island, and knew all its secrets and treasures.
They had crept ashore in the dead of night. Applebloom, the quartermaster and former inhabitant of Apple Island, had taken point, but she did not lead the crew. No – this band of scurvy scallywags was led by none other than the Dread Pirate King himself, Pipsqueak. He had sunk or taken a’ prize dozens of ships and taken hundreds of thousands of bits worth of treasure – and more, he had done what no pirate had ever been able to do: he had sacked Neigh Orleans, Equestria’s most vital southern port, and gotten away with it too in spite of stiff resistance.
But today, he had his sights set on something that would cement his place amongst the great Pirate Kings of legend: the lost treasure of Espada Noche. He possessed a third of the legendary map to it, and that map had lead him here, to Apple Island.
“It’s a good thing the first clue was so close,” Applebloom noted as she led them through the currently empty apple orchards of Sweet Apple Acres along the route the map had said. “As long as Dinky’s got Scootaloo on her crew, Ah don’t know how we’re gonna keep up.”
“Aye, the Rosedust is a fast ship,” Pipsqueak agreed with his quartermaster as she helped navigate them through the familiar waters along the route the map had said. “But don’t worry, me harteys! We’ll be done here before the Apples know what hit ‘em!”
Applebloom stopped, looking at Pipsqueak. “What’re ya talkin’ about?” she asked, eyes narrowing. “You didn’t say nothin’ about attackin’ Sweet Apple Acres!”
“Well, we are pirates,” Rumble, Pipsqueak’s first mate, observed with a flutter of his wings. Rumble was older than Pipsqueak, and the dread pirate captain knew that he desired to be captain himself. But that wasn’t going to happen – not while Pipsqueak had any say in the matter.
“Yeah, but we ain’t really gonna steal anythin’, are we?” Applebloom asked, as the group started trotting again, towards the main barn. “Ah mean, we’re only here for our treasure.”
Pipsqueak considered a moment the row between his first mate and quartermaster as they proceeded to the warehouse of Apple Island. “On account of this bein’ Applebloom’s home port,” he decided, “we’ll leave it be. But if any of the Apples stand in the way of me treasure, we’ll keel-haul ‘em!”
He said this as they entered the main barn. To Pipsqueak’s eye, it was a cavernous warehouse, stocked to the brim with apples and cider just waiting to be shipped out amongst the Thousand Islands. The warehouse had stood in the same place for a long time, as long as the Apple Clan had claimed the island – even as far back as Espada Noche’s time. Pipsqueak turned to his navigator as they entered stealthily. “Now, me mate,” he said. “What does the map say?”
His navigator was Bee Bop, and she had the map tucked away under one wing. She lay it out on the ground in front of her, and the five pirates crowded around it as her hooves traced over the text written there, squinting due to how small it was. “In amongst the Apple Clan’s hold, you’ll find the third key to my hidden gold,” she read. “Go ten paces north from the entrance, then two paces east. Look on high and deep to find the apple of me eye.” Bee Bop considered. “But what are we looking for?” she demanded, probably louder than was entirely ideal for their stealth mission. “There’s probably dozens of apples in here!”
“Might be a specific apple,” Snips ventured. The bosun of Hispaniola had been fairly quiet since their arrival on Apple Island. When Pipsqueak had recruited the unicorn colt to his crew, he had been focused on his falling-out with his friend Snails, and he still dwelled on it often, though the captain knew better than to push Snips for any details before he was ready to divulge them himself.
Applebloom frowned. “But this is the barn,” she said, waving her hoof around. “We don’t keep apples in here, just hay and tools.”
“Anypony else concerned about the fact that it says third key, too?” Rumble asked, tapping a hoof to his mouth and squinting down at the map. “I think we’re gonna need a lot of keys, but this map only shows the way to a few of them.”
“Aye,” Pipsqueak agreed, shaking one hoof. “No doubt Dinky of the Rosedust be lookin’ for the other ones, and the third piece of the map, wherever it be, has the last. Don’t ye worry too much about that, Rumble,” he grinned at his crew. “It may be against the pirate’s code to take the treasure map of another crew, but it don’t say anything about the keys!”
“Doesn’t do us much good ‘til we have some keys of our own, though,” Snips observed, standing at the front entrance and lining himself up and looking straight ahead. “Applebloom, is this north?”
“I dunno,” Applebloom admitted.
Bee Bop rolled her eyes, trotting outside and looking around a moment. “Sun’s over there,” she said, holding out one hoof. “It’s after noon, so it’s setting. So that’s west. Meaning…” she used her other hoof to point in a direction slightly to the left of where Snips had been facing. “That’s north.”
Snips adjusted himself, then started off, counting as he went. At ten paces, he turned east and went two more. “Here,” he said, looking up. From where he was standing, all saw was bales of hay. “So…what are we looking for?”
“Gotta be up there,” Rumble decided, beating his wings. He was old enough that he could fly, albeit only over short distances, and a flat take-off was somewhat difficult. He nevertheless managed to rise quickly into the air, landing atop the bales of hay and looking around. “I don’t see any apples…”
“’Cause we don’t keep them here!” Applebloom objected.
“And the map says look high and deep,” Snips pointed out, biting down on one hay bale experimentally. “But how does that make any sense? You can’t look high and deep at the same time!”
“Yeah you can!” Bee Bop exclaimed, hopping up from hay bale to hay bale. Her wings weren’t as developed as Rumble’s, but she could still use them to get a notable boost as she leapt and landed next to Rumble – and then started digging down into the hay bale with her hooves and teeth.
“Hey!” Applebloom objected, climbing up the bales as Rumble started joining in with Bee Bop. “What’re ya doin? D’ya know how long it took us to make each one a’ these bales?”
The two pegasus foals paused, considering. “No,” Bee Bop admitted at length.
Applebloom paused halfway up the pile, thinking herself. “Actually since we got that roller, not that long. But that’s not the point! Y’all can’t just tear up our hay bales!”
“But the key is hidden in here somewhere!” Bee Bop objected, stomping her hoof.
“Aye!” Pipsqueak agreed, climbing up on the hay bale and joining Applebloom. “We might need to be makin’ a slight mess of the place, me matey.”
Applebloom tapped her hooves together pensively. “But you’ll help clean up afterwards?” she asked after a moment.
Pipsqueak blinked. “Help…clean up?” he asked. “Who’s ever heard of pirates who cleaned up after themselves? We’re supposed to ransack the port, take what we will, and then sail off into the sunset with our ill-gotten gains! And we’re in a race, remember?”
Rumble looked down the pile, at Pipsqueak. “But we’re not really pirates,” he said. “And I don’t want Applebloom to get in trouble with her sister or brother or granny.”
Pipsqueak blinked. He hadn’t considered that: this was Applebloom’s home port. It wasn’t like they could just blame it on some other group of pirates after the fact. “Fine,” he decided. “We’ll carefully ransack the port and clean up afterwards.”
And so began what was probably the cleanest ransacking in the history of piracy. The foals carefully inspected each bale of hay, pulling them apart carefully and making sure the hay was in neat piles. It wasn’t an easy process, and Applebloom mumbled the entire time about how she was probably going to get in trouble – but she dug just as hard as the other pirates. Alas, after pulling apart all the bales and going through each one as carefully as they could manage, they didn’t find a thing.
“Consarn it!” Applebloom exclaimed as they finished making the hay pile. “Now we did all this for nothin’!”
“You sure you’re reading that right?” Rumble asked, looking at Bee Bop, who had the map out again. Pipsqueak, meanwhile, started looking around the floor. It was dirt, and covered with stray bits of straw that the five hadn’t been able to gather up. He started walking along it carefully, tapping a hoof here and there.
“Of course I am!” Bee Bop objected, loud as usual. “It says ten paces, Snips walked ten paces!” She considered, eyes narrow. “Maybe it’s in a different pile of hay? Some ponies take longer steps than others…”
“Hey!” Snips objected, hopping forward as Pipsqueak continued to comb the ground. “Was that a short joke? I’m not short!”
“You kinda’ are,” Rumble said, standing next to Snips for comparison. “No offense.”
“You can’t just say no offense when you’re being offensive!” Snips objected.
Pipsqueak paused in his search, looking to Applebloom, who heaved a sigh. “Okay, break it up,” she said, pushing the two colts away from one another. “Ah’m quartermaster so if Ah say you have ta’ stop fightin’, then ya have ta’ stop fightin’. Captain’s orders.”
Rumble bristled a little. “What’s Pipsqueak the captain for, anyway?” he asked. “I’m the oldest.”
“Aye, but I be the one with the most pirate-like accent,” Pipsqueak countered. “And I was captain back during out sack of Neigh Orleans!”
“Talking like a pirate isn’t exactly a qualification, and that was back over the summer, anyway. Plus, you brought us a treasure map that doesn’t work!”
Pipsqueak squared his shoulders against the older colt. “You tried to give me the black spot back during the summer, Rumble,” he said, drawing his sword of finest Caballerian steel from his back – well, wood, but whatever – and balancing it on the ground with one hoof. “But I won then, and led us to victory against the Neigh Orleaneans too, I did! You want to tip me the black spot now, you can, if’n you think you got the votes for it. But I think the scales might be tipped in my favor today, by thunder!”
Pipsqueak used his sword to stab at the ground he’d been inspecting. Instead of a dull thunk the foals were expecting, they instead were rewarded with a hollow thud, and the ground seemed to shudder a little beneath the dirt.
Pipsqueak smiled as he put his sword away. “Miss Bee Bop, if you please,” he ordered.
Bee Bop responded quickly, cantering over to where Pipsqueak had struck the ground, wings buzzing rapidly to blow away dust even as she cleared it with her hooves. After a few seconds, she revealed a small, wooden trap door. It was only a few hooves wide, not big enough at all to climb down, but easy enough to open once Bee Bop got her hooves under it and lifted. Snips was next-closest, and he reached in eagerly, pulling out whatever was inside. It was, predictably, an apple. What had not been anticipated, however – not even by Captain Pipsqueak, who found himself doing a double-take – was what the apple was made out of: silver.
“Whoa,” Bee Bop said, unusually quietly, as she stared. The rest of the foals all trotted over, looking at the apple. Pipsqueak tapped a hoof against it, and found that it was definitely a metal of some kind…and it definitely looked like silver.
“Uh-um…” he said, forgetting his pirate accent for the moment. “I, uh…wow.”
“No kidding,” Snips said as he looked it over. “That’s gotta be worth, like, at least twenty bits!”
“But there’s no way that Pinkie Pie would use real silver,” Rumble objected, trotting around the apple Snips held to look at it from all angles, then reached forward and rubbed at the apple with one hoof. “It’s gotta just be silver paint or something, and the apple’s actually made of tin, or something else like that.”
“Maybe,” Snips said. He shook the apple a little, but didn’t hear anything from the inside. “This is a lot of work to go to just to hide one clue, though.”
“But if she put this much effort into just one clue,” Bee Bop said, smiling, “imagine what the real treasure is like! There could be a hundred bits there! Or two hundred! Or more!”
“We gotta get movin’!” Applebloom exclaimed, hopping from one hoof to the next. “Dinky’s got Scootaloo on her side. That filly’s fast! She’ll get more keys than us, and then what’ll we do?”
“Right!” Pipsqueak exclaimed, charging towards the barn door, the other foals following, Snips carrying the apple in his telekinesis, while Bee Bop carried the map tucked under one wing once more. They had to get off this island and back out into the sea. The next key to Espada Noche’s treasure awaited! Captain Pipsqueak looked over his shoulder as he ran. “Anchors aweigh! Cast off the lines! Bee Bop, plot us a course – oof!”
The last came from Pipsqueak, not looking where he was going, charging headfirst into something big and red that didn’t move in the slightest from the collision.
“You okay?” A deep voice asked. Pipsqueak looked up, and saw himself looking at the biggest stallion he’d ever seen in real life before, red-coated, straw-maned, with shaggy fetlocks and a wooden collar about his neck. Hitched up to the collar was a cart, currently empty.
“Big MacIntosh!” Applebloom exclaimed, dashing forward and nuzzling her older brother. “Sorry! We’re just huntin’ treasure. It’s a race! Not against each other, though. It’s us against Dinky and her crew.”
Big Mac nodded, looking at the apple that Snips held in his telekinesis. “Wondered if anypony’d ever find that,” he remarked as he started trotting again.
Pipsqueak smiled brightly, before realizing what Big Mac had said. “Hey, wait a minute!” he exclaimed, hopping in front of the stallion. “You knew about the key?”
Big Mac considered. “Eeyup.”
“Do you know about any of the other ones?” He grabbed the wooden plank that was their treasure map from Bee Bop, and held it up. “Maybe some of the keys that aren’t on this map?”
Big Mac considered for a few moments, tapping a hoof to his mouth. “Eeyup.”
“Tell us!” Pipsqueak exclaimed.
“Please,” Rumble added on.
Big Mac considered for a few moments, looking between the foals, in particular Applebloom, who’s eyes had grown wide and lip was quivering. He sighed, however. “Eenope,” he said, making sure to add “Pinkie promise.”
The foals all groaned at that. Each of them understood that Pinkie took her Pinkie Promises very, very seriously. None of them even considered asking Big Mac to break it. Still, it was annoying at the moment that it was getting in their way.
“Well, thanks anyway – ” Pipsqueak began, getting ready to charge off as fast and as far as his hooves would carry him.
Applebloom held out a hoof to stop him. “Just a sec,” she said. “Big Mac, can you at least help us by takin’ us around town? Dinky’s got Scootaloo on her crew, and that ain’t fair!”
Big Mac considered. “Ah just got back from deliveries,” he said, pointing to the empty cart.
Applebloom looked at her older brother with eyes half-lidded. “Ah know that don’t tire you out none. And I know that you don’t have nothin’ else to do today. And…” she stepped up close to Big Mac with a smug look on her face, “Ah know what happened to them five cider barrels.”
Big Mac bristled, eyes wide. “Well, Ah know who broke the new plough,” he tried to counter.
“Which d’ya think is worse, though? ‘Cause Ah also know who got them barrels and why ya skimmed ‘em – ”
Big Mac held up a hoof, eyes closed. Applebloom’s sly grin widened, and nopony around was much surprised when Big Mac let out a slight whicker of annoyance. “Hop in,” he said to the five foals.
They did so, Pipsqueak grinning almost as much as Applebloom was. The cart, in his mind’s eye, wasn’t a cart anymore. It was his Hispaniola, the most dreaded pirate ship in the Thousand Islands, rescued from the Apple Island port where it had been impounded thanks to his quartermaster Applebloom greasing a few hooves and pulling some strings with her clan.
“Anchors aweigh!” he tried again. The anchor was pulled up as the Hispaniola turned about and away from the island, rounding in the cove she had lain in and set back out to sea. “Unfurl the sails!” Her apple-red sails were dropped by his loyal crew as the mighty ship of the line got underway. She was far larger than the schooner Rosedust that Captain Dinky was using, far more powerful, with more guns and a stronger hull. Hispaniola wasn’t as fast, either, but she could spend much longer at sea: she wouldn’t need to put into port to rest up as often.
It was missing only one thing, but Pipsqueak had prepared for that. He reached into his coat pocket, and produced a carefully-folded up square of linen. “Mister Rumble!” he commanded, hoofing over the linen. “Hoist the colors!”
Rumble did so without complaint, running it quickly up the ship’s main mast. It unfurled easily in the wind that favored the Hispaniola, revealing a black flag upon which was stitched a pony skull with a pair of red lines crossing down over the left eye, atop a pair of crossed cutlasses. It was Pipsqueak’s personal pirate flag, which his mother had sewn up for him.
Pipsqueak’s grin was wide indeed as he trotted across the deck to Bee Bop. “Now then,” he said, “plot us a course! Treasure awaits!”
A chapter with just the crew of the Hispaniola, so as to get a feel for them and also set up how the treasure hunt will work.
In the book Treasure Island, Hispaniola is actually a schooner, not a ship-of-the-line. She only had a crew of about twenty-five or so, all told, including the Squire and his company. A ship-of-the-line, meanwhile, would have a crew of dozens or even hundreds. Still, since Pipsqueak and his crew are getting Big Mac and his cart, making Pip's Hispaniola into a mere schooner doesn't seem right.
And now, ze cards!
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Next chapter: Captain Dinky and crew make port at the Isle of the Pirate Queen!
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Nice, loved this chapter. The pirates have a sturdy ship, no doubt. Good thing they found it after Big Mac finished his work for the d-Iiiiiiiiiii mean 'it was recomissioned after taking heavy fire in the sacking of Neigh Orleans.' I also liked seeing the 'keys' as part of the hunt, keeping DT and her crew from insta-winning due to having the end-part of the map.
Now I'd like to see BEE BOP! try to get the others to sing along to something like this.
Wow the skull cutie mark i requested to be made for second life is yet again being put to use. I guess the creator really was right after all. This does contribute to the community.
You know, this is really fun. You make it really simple for me to get immersed in the game myself. You've really captured the essence of imagination and the games played as children. Can't wait for future installments!
i like how you kept the cmc seperated here! come on captain dinky!
Loved Applebloom blackmailing Big Mac.
Now Pipsqueak has the coolest ship ever!
So Bee Bop can speak in lower case if she wants.
This is brilliant. Mac is ultimate horse battleship.
Big Mac is definitely best figurehead/sail.
And that's what Bee Bop looks like? Huh, I had always pictured her as a miniature, winged Vinyl.
I'll predict that Pinkie got the silver apple, and any other treasures, as gifts from Blueblood. And later he'll likely be stunned that she would use them to make foals happy rather than put them on a shelf and luxuriate in the cool trinkets that she has.
Awesome chapter!
Apple Bloom you sneaky filly!
This chapter title sounds like it could've been an episode of Legends of the Hidden Temple.
4438032 I fully support this headcanon, hahaha! The BluePie ship is nearly as sturdy as the Hispaniola!
I do love how Pippers has the same strength and weakness, and how most of the chapter is narrated in Pirate Mode. Silly Applebloom, breaking character!
The tonal shift is hilarious and great.
I imagine Big Mac's figuirehead like the ones in Muppets Treasure island, cue the heckling!
I like this story.
It's quite easy to explain how Pinkie came by the silver apple: Pinkie Pie gets whatever Pinkie Pie wants!
Nopony can stop the Pink One's plans!
Her only weakness is Baked Bads.
4438032 This is my headcanon, now.
Great chapter.
Great
Minor thing, when Bee Bop speaks the first letter of each word should be capitalized to really convey that she's speaking loudly, "Blah Blah Blah."(her normal speaking voice). Then full capitalization when she excited and stuff, "BLAH BLAH BLAH!"(loud for her, shouting for everyone esle). Then use bold when she's really trying to be loud but limit it to single words or really short sentences, "BLAH!! "(might generate a slight breeze).
You've done it again! Another excellent chapter, and I'm looking forward to more. I love where this is going, and the little nuances (like ScootaTiara) and how Rumble wants to be cap'n. Just awesome. Not to mention. ... Okay I'll mention it; the cards at the end of each chapter are fantastic. Love em.
Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!
Didn't You mean Bee Bop?
Actually by the early 19th century (admittedly well passed the age of piracy in the traditional sense though the barbary corsairs were still about among others) the smallest Ships of the line, the third rates at smallest had crew of 500 but the largest could have crews exceeding 850. Even the smallest 6th rate vessels (light frigates with no more than 32 guns but at least 24 guns such as Jack Aubrey's Surprise) had crews of at least 120 and up to 195.
So your little author's note may need adjustment but otherwise, I'm liking what I'm reading.
4589592
True enough about ship sizes, but it's worth noting that Treasure Island, while written in the 1800s, took place in an indeterminate year of the 1700s. Stevenson's own map of Treasure Island is dated to 1754. A reference to being concerned about running into "the odious French" and needing to fend them off suggests that it takes place during a low point in English-French relations. Personally I've always pegged it as taking pace either shortly before or shortly after the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), and most probably before the French Revolution.