Quarterdeck, Half Size

by Chrome Masquerade

Chapter 7: Black Flags

A few days thence, the ships Tenacious and Lord Woolmer had their courses righted. As it turned out, the storm, terrible as it was, had blown them off course. Now they were a good three days sailing behind schedule. But now, their courses righted, the two ships made for Halifax.

Rainbow Dash even taught the new Pegasi how to fly and use their own powers. This allowed them to get past any calm areas swiftly, with a few gusts of wind to their sails.

It should be noted that not everyone aboard was ponified, but with as large a crew as Tenacious had, there were a fair few on either side.

Similarly, Twilight and Starlight had been teaching the new Unicorns aboard. Chiefly among those were Bryant and Hougton themselves(1). Being grown men (or rather, stallions and mares, with about a 40/60 split respectively), they were fairly quick to catch on to the lessons they were taught.

Any Earth Ponies aboard were taught by Pinkie Pie and Applejack, who helped to ground the excitable mare somewhat. As it happened, there were some aboard who weren't as daredevil-ish as those who had become Pegasi, nor as intelligent as those who had become Unicorns. As such, they had become Earth Ponies, so Pinkie explained at length. These were mostly cooks and errand-boys, that kind of thing

Anyway, Applejack had some seeds and soil in her enchanted hat, so she taught those with such an aptitude how to grow plants magically. This allowed them to quickly replenish the stores of food, and simultaneously spruce up the place a fair bit, to the approval of all involved. The portholes allowed for sunlight to filter in, enough to help with the plants' survivability.

Things were going swimmingly, at any rate. But suddenly there was the report of a cannon nearny. A second or so later, a cannonball splashed into the water nearby, attracting the attention of the Pegasi first, who turned their heads.

As it turned out, there was a trio of pirate vessels coming around a large rock nearby. They'd figured that the two ships were battered, their crew worn out, and thus would make excellent prizes.

They were only partially right.

Rainbow groaned. "More trouble? Seriously?" she sighed audibly. "Well, there's nothin' for it. Pegasi! Get your weapons and i'll show you how to fashion wingblades real quick!"

The assembled fliers went to do just that.

Meanwhile, Twilight used a spell to enhance her voice so it would carry to all parts of the ship without hurting any ears. "Attention all hands -and hooves-: Blackguards to port! Arm and take battlestations immediately!"

Starlight queried, "How do you know those terms?"

"WHA- (ahem) What? I read. A lot." Twilight countered, only just remembering to disable the spell.

Everyone among the crew retrieved what weapons and armor they could use. When the Pegasi returned to Rainbow Dash, she channeled a bit of Pegasus magic on two pieces of armour. The energies sparked across the pieces of armour, sharpening them and shaping them to fit on her wings. When she was done, her wings had black armour, sharpened to a razor's keenness.

After the other Pegasi were similarly armed, Rainbow Dash said, "I'm sure you all know this, but it bears repeating: Kill or be killed. These buggers will show no mercy. We can't either. Savvy?" At their nods, she said "Alright! Take down as many as you can, but no grandstanding! I'm no pinnacle of virtue myself, but don't be careless! CHARGE!"

The assembled flew toward the enemy with gusto, surprise largely on their side. This kind of combat was new to these pirates, understandably so. Thus, many among their number were felled before they could react accordingly.

At the same time, a volley of cannonfire rang out. Rarity said, "Ideaaaa!" and headed to the upper deck, where she could more easily see the enemy ships. As the cannonblls headed toward the Tenacious, Rarity snatched the balls of iron with her magic, them adding those to the stores of cannonballs they had, or just manually rearming the empty cannons. As Tenacious, as said before, was a 64 gun ship, this took a lot of effort. Soon enough, Twilight and Starlight started to help Eventually the pirates began to understand that they were outnumbered, outgunned and stood little chance against the onslaught altogether. Those still alive surrendered. The battle was won handily and the pirates -and their ships by extension- were taken relatively peacefully. One small victory for their country, but that meant three fewer ships that would be terrorizing the waters nearby.