The Raven’s Sky

by Chemtest

Ponyville

The ship sets off from the quarry, going surprisingly fast for something of it’s size. What was once to be a two day trot is now a two hour drive. The ship turns onto the destroyed road, and Captain Sparrow shouts out to the others, “Sails at full mast!”

The clones rush up to the side of the ship, and untie the ropes keeping the sails up. One of them climbs into the crow’s nest, and lights up a match. He throws it at the masts, causing fire to come from behind them.

The ship picks up in speed from the magical rockets attached to the sails, going nearly two times as fast. Almost a hundred kilometers an hour.

Louis rushes to the side of the ship, looking off in wonder. Raven trots beside him, “I am really impressed by these people. They must be smarter than I once thought to make this.”

Louis looks over at him, “They didn’t make it, at least, I hope not. I believe these ponies are smart, yes, but not smart enough to make this. That, and the fact it’s named the Black Pearl? Yeah, forgive me if I don’t believe they made it.”

Raven raises an eyebrow, “What’s wrong with the Black Pearl name? I mean, others might be savages, but this Captain seems to be good. Either way, doesn’t his name remind you of something?”

Louis smirks, “Doesn’t the name Black Pearl remind you of something?”

Raven shakes his head, “No, it doesn’t. But, seriously, I find this to be too big a coincidence to be pure happenstance. Captain Sparrow, the third best Wonderbolt.”

Louis raises an eyebrow back, “Really? This group shares the name of one of the Wonderbolts?”

Raven nods, “Think about what we’ve seen these three days, Louis. Mass Offense turning up at the same place, at the same time as me? When I’ve been dead two hundred years? Brown Smith? Captain Sparrow? Three ponies from before the war, this is no coincidence.”

Louis holds up a hoof, “Wait, Brown Smith is from before the war?”

Raven looks over, seeing Smith chatting animatedly with Captain Sparrow, “Yes, he is. He was born two years before the bombs.”

Louis smiles slightly, “Wait, hold up a second. Is this why you and Sweetie Belle were unable to go to our annual meetup?”

Raven laughs a bit, “Oh, I completely forgot to apologize for that! Uh, sorry, but we managed to do it anyway.”

Louis nods, “Yeah, yeah, I know. Believe me, nobody held it against you. We assumed you and Sweetie were on a date. And you already know that we’ve accidentally stopped them before because of stuff like that.”

Raven smiles, “Like all those times you and Scootaloo decided to go racing. You know, never found out if something was going on there.”

Louis loses his smile, and looks down, “The war was more important, Raven. We didn’t have the privilege of peace like you and Sweetie.”

Raven places a hoof on Louis’s shoulder, “Hey, hey, don’t worry. There is no war here. We can reforge Equestria, Louis, because our Stables did their job.”

Louis smiles, “Okay, okay, let’s return to what we were saying before. So, Brown Smith is from before the war? And it required both you and Sweetie?”

Raven nods, “Well, Brown Smith was the child of Black Smith, and so I needed to be there for my friend. Sweetie needed to be there for her sister.”

Louis snaps his head towards Raven, “Wait, hold up. Brown Smith is Rarity’s child?”

Raven shushes him, “Not so loud, please. Brown obviously doesn’t remember, and I don’t really want him to find out. He would be devastated. He seems very, very useful to us. He was fatally ill, and had to be magically cured. It turned him into a teenager instantly, and then the bombs fell two years later. He must have gotten into Stable 13, where ponies were frozen.”

Louis looks over at Brown Smith again, “So, he’s technically four years old?”

Raven nods, “Yes, well, technically two hundred and four. But, outside of being frozen, he is four. But he has the mind and body of a twenty year old.”

Louis shakes his head, “And he seems to only have memory of his time in this forsaken place. Well, you know about the Black Pearl? It was a creation by Scootaloo, and I’m going to find the plans for it in Ponyville. Captain Sparrow, if he was a Wonderbolt, must have had some special thing to be able to use this ship.”

Raven looks ahead, seeing Ponyville up ahead, “I will find Twilight. She must have had something to help us break out Mass Offense.”

Up above them, Captain Sparrow looks at Brown Smith, “So, mate, you going to do anything in this town?”

Brown looks at the town, “Hmm... I don’t know. Something seems to be calling me, something seems... familiar.”