My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Storm of Friendship

by SuperPinkBrony12

Stowaways!

Once in the cargo hold Shining quickly set to work on casting the spell that would (at least temporarily) alleviate his air sickness. Without medication any long term treatment would be impossible, so the prince had to make do on very short notice. His horn sparked to life and he shut his eyes as he concentrated, anything to take his mind off how queasy he was feeling.

"You gonna be okay, Shining?" Thunderlane asked as he put a hoof around his friend.

Shining didn't answer right away, he just focused on the magical build-up in his horn and when he was ready he gave it a flick. He felt a faint spark of magic, and then he could feel his stomach settle a little. "I should be, now that I've gotten my air sickness under control," The prince replied as he took a few deep breaths. "Now where are we, exactly?"

"Beats me, I haven't seen or heard any crew members since we came aboard," Soarin answered. "I'm not even sure if this zeppelin's going where we need to go."

"Well it was either we became stowaways, or we let Tempest capture us. I chose the lesser of two evils," Shining protested. "Now come on, there must be something here that can tell us where we are, and where we're headed. Once we know that, we can find the crew and hopefully persuade them to take us to Mount Aris."

All of a sudden, Fancy Pants happened to knock over a crate. Its contents spilled out onto the floor for all to see. A wide assortment of Storm King themed products greeted their eyes. There were Storm King action figures, Storm King plushies, Storm King coffee mugs, Storm King posters, and even Storm King calendars. "What is this?!" The fashion stallion exclaimed. "Does the Storm King think he's some kind of divine ruler or something?! Who in the world plasters their image all over everything?!" He angrily knocked the merchandise aside.

From up above came the sounds of a conversation, two unknown voices appeared to talking to each other. "Hey, did you hear that? Sounds like something's in the cargo hold." The first one commented in a gruff tone of voice.

"It must be the rats again," The second replied in a low and scratchy tone. "I hate those vermin! Always scampering around and causing trouble! One of these days I need to set some rat traps for 'em!"

Thunderlane let out a gasp, then quickly realized his mistake as he covered his mouth with a hoof. "It's a good thing Fluttershy isn't here, she'd probably give those guys a piece of her mind for that rat comment." He thought.

Meanwhile, Soarin was busy looking about the cargo hold. Suddenly he called out in a whisper. "You guys better come see this. It ain't pretty."

All in the cargo hold reluctantly obeyed even as they wondered just who it was that could possibly be shipping Storm King merchandise. When they finally joined Soarin their eyes beheld a grizzly sight! An old and torn flag rested in a corner of the hold, but the symbol depicted on it could still be seen clear as day. A skull and crossbow!

"Oh man!" Shining exclaimed. "We're onboard the ship of p... p..."

"Pirates!" All seven cried at once! Only after the fact did they realize that wasn't a very good idea.

"Okay, I know I heard something that," The gruff voice from earlier remarked. "And don't say it's rats. I'm going down there to have a look."

"Quick, hide!" Spike suggested and the stallions didn't need to be told twice. They dove for cover behind various crates and barrels.

---

Strange sounds that sounded not unlike claws pressing against wooden planks soon reached the group's ears and grew louder. Whoever was making those noises was getting closer, no doubt the one had decided to do an inspection of the cargo hold after hearing the cries earlier.

Suddenly, Fancy Pants' nose started to twitch. Everything was so dusty down here. "Ah... ah..." He began.

"Fancy Pants, no, you're gonna give us away!" Soarin whispered in protest, but it was too late!

"Achoo!" Fancy Pants sneezed quite audibly.

Everything seemed to happen at once. "Aha! I KNEW I wasn't being paranoid!" The voice cried out. Moments later, the crates and barrels were brushed aside and the group had the bright light of a flashlight shined down on them.

Now they got a good look at the one who had found them. He looked not unlike a giant, walking parrot, complete with sickly green and brown feathers, and a patch over his right eye. The bird gave a whistle as he shouted. "Hey fellas, guess what?! We got ourselves a couple of stowaways!"

In a matter of seconds the cargo hold was filled up with parrot creatures of varying colors of brown, green, and black. "What are we gonna do with 'em?" One parrot asked.

"I say we clip their wings, at least for those have 'em!" A female parrot suggested.

"Nah, let's just tie 'em up and sell 'em." A male parrot protested.

"No, we scar 'em!" Another parrot commented.

"Emotionally, then they'll never heal!" A fourth parrot cackled with glee.

The parrot who had found the group threw up a claw. "Now wait a minute. That's not we how do things 'round here. It's up to Captain Celaeno to decide."

"Captain Celaeno?" Soarin gulped.

"The toughest captain you'll ever meet. And she doesn't take kindly to stowaways," The parrot cackled and then he gave a whistle. "Captain Celaeno, we got a few no good stowaways aboard. What are we supposed to do with 'em?"

---

The crew was brought up onto the deck of the ship proper, as a parrot with grayish-green, grayish-emerald green, and sap-green feathers appeared. She sported a coat of light greenish-gray, moderate raspberry eyes, and a peg leg where her right leg should be. Clutched in her claws was a massive book. Could this be Captain Celaeno?

"Captain?" One of the parrots asked her.

Captain Celaeno took out the book and scanned through the pages. "In accordance with the Storm King's rules, all stowaways regardless of circumstance are to be thrown overboard." She read aloud.

"But Captain, some of these guys have wings, they'll just fly back up here!" The parrot squawked in protest!

"And we'll run 'em through if we must. But rules are rules and we must follow," Captain Celaeno firmly declared with a shake of her head. "Ready the plank!"

In a matter of seconds the six stallions and Spike found themselves at the edge of a hastily erected wooden plank. Below them lay the Sea of Clouds.

"What are we gonna do now, Shining?" Soarin whispered to the prince.

"Just wait for my signal. Until then, play along." Shining whispered back.

"But we can take 'em, there's only a few of 'em!" Soarin whispered in protest.

The prince shook his head. "These pirates mean business and they know the ship better than we do. Besides, we're hardly in a shape to fight back."

However, just before the pirates could force the stowaways overboard, a whistle blew. The pirates knew what that meant. "Break time, boys!" Captain Celaeno called to her crew. "We'll deal with the stowaways later. In fact, why don't we give them the courtesy of a last meal?"

The group could hardly believe their ears. "And they call themselves pirates?" They all thought to themselves.

Author's Note:

Not much to say for this chapter, next chapter is when we're gonna cover some important stuff. And yes "Time to be Awesome" will be included here.

Comments

[Comickook]

Again, very good job on the latest chapter. You did great on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. I particularly liked the reasoning gave for NOT trying to fight the pirates despite the fact that there was only a few of them and the stallions have beaten much worse in the past.

And, yes, I WILL most definitely be looking forward to more of this.

[Melody Song]

And yes "Time to be Awesome" will be included here.

Yay!