Ultimate Equestria

by Leo Pachino

Chapter 028: Desert Hurricane (Part 1)

The Perfection was now hundreds of kilometres away from any charted land mass, with the only thing able to be seen at this point being the bright blue sea, the even bluer skies, the several white clouds, and the topaz sun. The brown airship gently sailed amongst the rolling clouds. While the crew members on and below deck prepared to land at their next destination, the lookouts in their crow’s nest looked in every direction with their spyglasses, searching for the Breach their captain told them about.

Eventually, one of the lookouts saw it. A massive pitch black rip in the world, a huge canyon swallowing the sea as it pours into it endless depths, peered from the horizon twenty kilometres ahead of them.

“I see it!” The stallion cried out to his companions behind him. “I see the Breach, exactly ten and a half dead ahead, we got four minutes!”

“Inform the captain immediately!” The lookout behind the first yelled out.

“By thunder, it’s the edge of the world!” The stallion continued, absolutely awestruck.

“Hey,” a mare lookout calls out from another mast. “I’m starting to see it as well. Is that where Korsan wants us to go?!”

A third stallion then yelled, “We gotta turn back! I’ve heard legends about these types of things in the Old World, and they’re all bad things.”

“I’m with Salty Bob. I’m not going into that thing if it means risking my hide.” The mare pirate agreed.

“Tell Korsan to turn back!”

“Will you twos pipe down!” the second lookout proclaimed. “The captain knows what he’s doing.”

“Does he, Alex?”

“Very made point,” a commanding voice replied far below the panicking ponies.

They looked down to see Captain Korsan looking up at them with Juliana perched on his shoulder.

“But I most certainly know what I’m doing.” Korsan declared.

“C-C-Captain!” One of the lookouts exclaimed.

“Keep The Perfection sailing straight towards the Breach, we’ll gently hover down with all cannons at the ready for any beasts that dare tangle with us. However, for safe measure, I suggest you make peace with yourself.” Korsan commanded.

“Y-yes sir,”

“Good.”

Korsan walked around the massive deck area and supervised the preparations going on. Ponies were bustling back and forth, carrying several various items in each of their magic grips. Crew members climbed up and down the rigging, fastening the flapping sails. Chatter roared across every corner of the vessel.

Korsan elevated his voice and movements as he relays commands to his minions.

“Perform a maintenance check on the anchors! Batten down the hatches! Secure all sail knots! Prime all cannons! Prepare life-lines! Tie down any loose cargo! Check the rudder! Seal all the bathrooms! Lock down the anti-magic generators!” He commanded to his crew.

As the captain reached the entrance to the galley, Isyan emerged from the dining area’s doors.

He spoke to his cousin, “Korsan, the crew members are freaking out. They, as well as I, aren’t secure about going into that thing. I suggest we turn back around now before something terrible happens and kills us all.”

“Bah, dear cousin, we’ll be perfectly fine.” Korsan casually dismissed Isyan.

“Korsan, for once, quit acting like a foal and see the danger coming right at us at any second-”

“Give or take three minutes.”

“I don’t care! We’re already tired out from ship repairs after that joyride you pulled two weeks ago. Speaking of which, we aren’t even secure our ship’s in the best condition to go on such a perilous journey. Pull back now!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Captain Korsan?” A mare’s voice gently called out behind the stressed stallions.

Korsan looked over his caped shoulder to find Rarity standing behind him. She was dressed in a thin dark blue and black combat dress, small belted black boots, and a black tricorn hat with a golden trim. A long, ice blue feather fluttered from the hat.

“Yes, Miss Rarity?” Korsan asked.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, be sure to secure your sister before we hit the Breach.”

“Yes, sir.”

Quickly, the white unicorn hurried back inside. Korsan watched her from between the diagonal muntins of the large window as she went towards the kitchen area.

“Ah, to think, about two or three weeks ago, you and your sister resented me. Now look at you, one of my most loyal tailors. And your sister is one of my finest cooks.” Korsan spoke to the glass, fully knowing Rarity couldn't hear him.

“’Loyal’ is a bit too soon to call.” Isyan stated. “She hasn’t been part of any looting ventures, just sparring, still intends on returning to Equestria, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that she’s just trying to take advantage of your unreasonable kindness towards her. That dress she has is one of your most prized possessions.”

“Look, Isyan, I have faith in Rarity, for good reason as well. Ever since she and her sister joined our crew, the nightly galley sparring have become more entertaining, the food has become much more delicious, all of our boots are finally fixed, and the overall morale of the ship has increased drastically. Sweetie Belle is fantastic. Rarity is even more so. She is one of the nicest, savviest, most beautiful-”

“Ahem,” Isyan snapped at his leader. “Apologies for intruding on your fantasies, sir, but we’re current approaching death!”

“Hold on one second.”

Swiftly, Korsan climbed up to his wheel and activates the speaker pipe.

“Attention all sea artists!” His voice echoed across The Perfection.

Almost immediately, the entire boat turned silent and all of its members looked towards the pirate captain at the wheel.

“Now, I know what most of you have going through your minds as we are approaching the Breach. You’re scared, you’ve lost all hope, you’re questioning my leadership, and a million more things. However, let me remind you of who we are. We are the crew, of one hundred proud unicorns, of The Perfection, the greatest band of pirates the world has ever known. We have traveled to every corner of the known world and beyond, doing the impossible. We hunted down the Emperor Kraken, yes?”

“Yeah,” A few pirates quietly replied.

“We discovered the lost city Marelantis, right?”

“Yeah,” Several more pirates answered more audibly, with one loudly cheering.

“We dethroned the Pirate King, crushed his armada of forty fifty-gun sloops, and still won the Pirate of the Year award, isn’t that right?!”

“Yeah!” The entire onboard crew shouted in unison.

“Mega hurricanes that devour continents, electric typhoons that give electric eels their deadly stings, fire tornadoes that out-burn the sun, ice volcanos that freeze the clouds above, and all other types of weather. We never have fallen to any unit of nature’s wrath, have we?”

“No!”

“And best of all, we invaded Equestria, one of the most powerful nations of all, stole its most valuable treasure, defeated their military alongside the four alicorn princesses themselves, and took off with little resistance. We did that!”

“Aye!”

“We did the impossible!”

“Aye!”

“And now, as we approach what maybe one of our greatest challenges, possibly worse than even crossing the Ley Lines, are you, my merry crew of immortals, going to fall to such a dare, the dare to become the greatest band of unicorns of all time?”

“Never!”

“Or are we going to enter the Breach, become the first modern explorers to reach Alicorn Island, and achieve its ultimate power?!”

“Enter the Breach!”

“That’s the spirit! Now, to your combat positions! Brace yourselves and your loved ones! And prepare to make history!”

Immediately, the entire on-deck crew rapidly shuffled into the stairways and ladders to below deck. The massive airship reached the edge between the open sea and the black abyss known as the Breach. Within seconds, everypony was set for whatever to come their way. Korsan lowered a lever and activated the full ship controls before latching his front claws tightly on the wheel and his hind claws into the deck below.

The tip of the bowsprit poked over the edge of the ocean and a mighty wave of moisture blasted across the ship, nearly launches Korsan from his hoofing. Juliana, also hit by the vapor wave, squirmed on her master's shoulder.

“Take it easy, Missy. It’s just a slow dece-”

A massive downward jolt smashed into the bow, the force rippling all the way back.

“What in blue blazes is going on?! What’s going on with the anti-magic? What’s going on with the sails?”

Soon, the entire airship started to tilt forward as more and more of the unseen force pushed down. The more the hull poked over the edge, the more violent the gravatonic force became. Korsan looked ahead at the overhanging sails and saw that they were completely motionless.

“Wait… ‘All inside a grand trench, of no magic nor flight, to be called as a leak, to be known as the Breach’… Oh no. Juliana, prepare yourself for an unscheduled joyride!”

The behemoth of wood soon began to accelerate downwards into the darkness as over half of the ship peered over the Breach. In moments, the ship jad turned a full 75 degrees downward. Captain Korsan clutched onto the woodwork with all of his strength as he felt his body grow incredibly heavier upon crossing over the divide. No longer hung to the sea, The Perfection plummeted downwards into the pitch black below. The ship rapidly accelerated in free fall, clocking in at speeds no pegasus could compete with.

The sky above turned to a black fog and the walls of water surrounding the ship turned into an empty void of darkness. The falling water slowly dissipated in the depths, turning into foggy veins along the dark walls.

Screams of terror roared from the crew. The airship snapped and creaked, crying alongside its members. For the first time in years, an air of fear struck the captain as he watched his vessel and crew plummet into the abyss. Terrified, Korsan closed his one eye, and waited for whatever inevitable death that awaited him. He was going down with the ship he made and pilotted, like a true captain.

After a minute of falling however, the ship eventually land onto something soft and straightened up. It immediately rocketed forward, sending the crew onboard backwards in surprise. It was like the ship had landed in another ocean in the midst of a current and survived.

Korsan, having realized he’s survived, still glued to his spot, openned his eye and saw what was going on. The Perfection was sailing in the midst of the void, on floating current of golden sand rapidly flows. Where the sand path was taking them was unknown, but it was going fast. Korsan looked over the edge to see several clusters of the sand breaking from the floating river and falling into the black abyss below. He then turned forward to the bow and saw the winding sand stream ahead, leading to a bright blue dot in the distance, a tiny star in the barely visible water walls of the Breach.

He had no control of the fast speed of his ship, so all he could do was steer the boat along the path of hovering dunes.

Below, Rarity peeked her head from the galley doors and was astonished, gasping out, “Wow.”

She wandered out onto the main deck, looking around in wonder of this new world. Soon, other crew members, also curious of what happened just before, crawled out from below as well and marveled at the sights. Rarity climbed up the quarterdeck stairs and approached the concentrated captain as he steered.

“What is this place?” She asked him.

“I don’t know.” Korsan responded, breaking his intense focus to talk. “Chaos, I guess.”

“Shouldn’t the Diamond Eye have warned us?”

“It did, just cryptically. ’Beyond distorts of space, beyond sand grains of time, past creature of great length, and thinnest of all paths…’”

“Hey, look up.”

“What?”

Korsan looked upwards to what Rarity had now turned her attention to and was immediately overcome with awe. Above them, in the darkness that has overtaken the sky, glows what appeared to be stars, galaxies, and clouds of cosmic energy, dancing and twirling with each other in the empty sky.

“Incredible!”

“It’s so beautiful!”

Everypony became mesmerized by the stunning sights that surpassed in beauty, more than any magic they had ever seen their entire life.

Wait, what did Korsan say? ‘Past creature of great length…’ What does that mean?

“I gotta to write this all down, I want sketch this all down, I need this documented at once.”

“Captain!” A mare yelled out from the main deck below, “I think I saw something!”

“Wait, what?” Korsan asked.

“It was long, sand-coloured, and appeared to be moving very fast right below us.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Hey!” Yin and Yu called out simultaneously at the bow. “Is that a tail?”

Out of nowhere, the entire boat jumped into the air and slammed back into the sand, causing nearly everypony to lose their hoofing.

“What was that?” Another pirate asked.

“Oh,” Korsan gravely muttered. “We are not alone.”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Isyan yelled out from the deck below.

Korsan replied, “Well, from what it seems we can do at the moment, we’re going to have to sail along this current to reach that blue light at the end of the-”

“Not that, the rumbling!” Isyan snapped.

“Uh… Well, I don’t want to worry anypony, but… We, might need a bigger boat.”

“What do you mean ‘might’?”

Before an answer could be given, a violent rupture rattled the ship, sending the whole thing tilting. It wobbled side to side, over the edges of the sand path. Uproars followed as the ship was about to capsize. Korsan tried to stabilize the ship, grasping the wheel with all of his machine strength.

A kilometre ahead of them, the source of the distress revealed itself. An enormous serpent-like creature bursted from the top of the sand path. Opening its mouth, it revealed its three mega-sized jaws, jammed with giant serrated teeth. It roared into the sky, sending a shockwave rippling across the incoming vessel.

“Scratch that. We are gonna need a bigger boat.” Korsan bluntly stated.

“What the heck was that?!” Isyan exclaimed, rife with panic.

“A sandworm, about fifty metres thick in diameter, and maybe... five-hundred metres long, give or take.”

“Give or take? This ship, the largest ship in the known world, is five-hundred metres long!”

The massive scaled worm slipped back into the thin current and charges towards the incoming ship. Korsan saw that it and his ship will meet at an S-bend ahead.

“Hold tight, we’re going wide!” Korsan declared.

What would follow will perhaps be the greatest risk Korsan had ever taken, putting the lives of his crew, himself, his ship, his legacy, Rarity, and a filly, all on the line in the battle against the leviathan of the Breach.