Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Letter, sent from Knight Private Emberglow to Knight Lieutenant Lofty Tale
Lofty,
Tomorrow we shove off (that’s a sailing term that means we’re leaving on a ship) to go pirate hunting. I can’t tell you where we’re going (classified and all that) but you probably won’t be getting any letters from me for a few months, at least. Please don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear from me for a while. I will write again as soon as I am able.
Port Luminescence has been a strange experience for me. It is a den of sin and iniquity. Prostitutes blatantly ply their wares on the street corners, and drunken ponies wander the streets, which are made of dirt and mud, not paved. I am told that illicit drugs are readily available for purchase, and the law enforcement officers are complicit in the trade of both intoxicants and sex. Those in charge are either part of the problem or impotent.
At the same time, paradoxically, ponies seem happy. I don’t understand.
I am told that those with deviant ideas and behaviors come to towns like this as a haven from the judgement and punishment that might otherwise fall upon their heads. The other day I saw two stallions kissing. Kissing! In public! At least other aberrant behavior, such as bestiality, is punished severely. The whores at least know to keep their business to their own races, though there are enough of the deviant creatures to cater to each race that lives in town. I asked Turquoise yesterday what would happen if somepony bothered to arrest one of the prostitutes. The answer was disappointing; apparently most of the sex workers in town avoid prosecution by offering their services for free to the arresting officers. There is a sickening fairness to the process; the whores take turns on who will ‘satisfy’ the vice officers each evening, so that nopony has to miss out on too much profit.
I have to confess that I was wounded a few days ago. Nothing severe; I merely overestimated my own capabilities in the face of some thugs that didn’t want to take no for an answer. I will save you the gory details; the fight ended with several fleeing drunks and a bleeding hole in my side. Turquoise fixed me up just fine, and I’m well healed; the only lasting wound was to my pride, both from my mistake at overestimating my own power and by the fact that I was rescued by that frustrating mare I told you about in my last letter. Please don’t mention my wound if you speak with my parents; I am going to be omitting that detail when I write my mother. You know how she worries. I might tell her all the stories when I’m home, safe, in her living room.
Congratulations on your promotion. I am so proud of you, and was so excited to be able to mail this letter to a Knight Lieutenant. Does this mean you get to be an investigator? If so, it sounds nearly as exciting as hunting pirates (I kid). Be safe, and I will write you as soon as I get back from my voyage.
Love, your friend,
Emberglow
1112 AF, South Diarchy Seas
Watching the sun rise over the twinkling waves was an experience Emberglow would never get tired of. Standing on the deck of Lady Elegant as the sky began to glow, Emberglow was struck with both amazement as the very air and clouds above her became her namesake, glowing orange and pink just like the embers of a fire. The ocean, a mirror of dancing jewels, soon became too bright to look at. She did her best to stay out of the sailors' ways as the pony crew did their tasks, her eyes fixed on the rainbow of colors that sparkled before her.
“Lady Emberglow. Anything you need?” a stallion said behind her. Emberglow turned to see the captain behind her, his wings spread out to feel the sea breeze flowing underneath. He saw her gaze and smirked. “Old sea pegasus trick. If the wings feel like they’re moving, the body catches up quicker. If I keep my wings spread as much as I can, I become accustomed to the motion of the waves more quickly. Thus, less seasickness.”
“Got it,” Emberglow said, spreading out her wings and fluffing her feathers. “I’ve just planned on taking seasickness pills until I acclimate,” she admitted with a laugh.
“The other pegasus trick is to simply take wing,” he replied with a grin. “Doesn’t help you acclimate, but it does deal with the immediate symptoms.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Emberglow said. “It hasn’t hit me yet, though.” She looked back at the waves, which were small; the wind was gentle, and the waves barely rocked the large ship.
“I see you noticed the sunrise,” he said. “Talk to Rope Trick, our pony in the crow’s nest. He might let you watch tomorrow’s sunrise from up there. It’s amazing how much of a difference a few dozen yards makes.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks, captain,” Emberglow said. She stayed on deck as long as her conscience would allow her to. While it was settling for her roiling stomach, she had other responsibilities than seeing to her own comfort. Reluctantly, she took a deep breath and headed below decks to the galley.
“Good morning, Tangerine!” she called out cheerfully as she trotted into the small galley. The ship’s mess officer, Tangerine, had her back to Emberglow, and was standing over a large, bubbling stockpot.
“Too cheerful!” Tangerine spat, without turning to look. Emberglow giggled. After two weeks at sea, she’d finally learned that the gruff navy mare was really just an adorable grandma pony underneath her tough sailor exterior. “Coffee’s not done, so you’re not allowed to be this happy!”
“Need any help?” Emberglow asked as she moved over to the wrinkled sailor. Tangerine spared her a grateful glance and motioned to a cutting board on a nearby table. There was a large pile of dried strawberries on top.
“Strawberry porridge?” Emberglow asked.
“Good source of ascorbic acid,” Tangerine said. “Chop ‘em up for me so they release their flavor better.” Emberglow nodded and went to work.
Emberglow loved the time she spent in the galley, even though it often made her seasickness worse. Tangerine was a wealth of practical information and salty sailor anecdotes, at least after she’d had her coffee. Their first meeting had been awkward; Emberglow, as a Knight, was technically the highest ranking medical officer onboard Lady Elegant and thus in charge of the health and nutrition of both sailors and marines, but Tangerine was far more experienced in the practical realities of ship life. It had taken several days for Emberglow to make the crusty old sailor mare understand that Emberglow was no threat to her position or her experienced authority.
“Here,” Tangerine grunted, sliding a mug over to Emberglow. She could smell the sharp tang of lemon and bergamot. While it had been tragically heartbreaking to give up her morning coffee, tea simply settled her stomach much better.
“You are a blessing from the Saints,” Emberglow moaned as she sipped at the hot liquid. Tangerine’s facade of gruffness cracked long enough for a laugh. “Thank you.”
Emberglow finished her task and was dumping the strawberries into the large porridge pot when a cry echoed down from above decks. After a few weeks on board, Emberglow was growing used to recognizing Rope Trick’s shouts. Tangerine and Emberglow shared a look, and Emberglow nodded and dashed out of the galley. Her duties as a Knight superseded her job helping Tangerine oversee the health of the sailors.
Once on deck, she sought out Delver, who was standing by the ship’s rail and looking off into the horizon with the captain.
“What did Rope Trick see?” Emberglow asked.
“Another ship,” Delver said.
“Pirates?” Emberglow felt a surge of excitement.
“No. A derelict, barely floating,” Captain Stratus said. “We’re going to draw closer to check it out. I was going to ask Feldspar to fly over and take a look.” Feldspar was the only pegasus on Lady Elegant’s crew. “Do you mind going with him, Lady Emberglow?” In response, Emberglow nodded and spread her wings.
There was a grim silence among the sailors as they approached the wrecked vessel. It became clear as they grew closer that there was no life on the shattered ship’s corpse. Soon enough the ship was close enough to make out a few brightly colored spots among the charred and broken wood; pony bodies, most still dressed in Diarchy naval uniforms, sprawled out like broken toys discarded by a negligent toddler. Emberglow felt the bile rise in her throat.
“Feldspar, Lady Emberglow is going to join you,” Captain Stratus said to the brown pegasus that flapped over. “I need the two of you to see if you can figure out what happened. Take a pencil and a scroll; try to write down the cutie marks of any of the deceased.”
“Why would we…” Emberglow began, then swallowed and shook her head, horrified. “Right…”
“You ready, Lady Emberglow?” Feldspar asked deferentially after Captain Stratus gave Emberglow a pencil and a scroll. Emberglow swallowed and nodded, trying to keep her nausea in check. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen dead bodies before; she’d dissected corpses back in medical school, after all. But the cadavers in school had died of age or disease, not murder on the high seas. They’d smelled of formaldehyde, not the sickly sweet stench that she could already…
“One moment,” Emberglow yelped in panic, lunging over to the railing just in time to expel the tea she’d managed to drink, as well as whatever was left in her stomach from last night’s meal. None of the other ponies said anything, and Feldspar politely waited for her to finish. After a few painful, stomach-cramping moments, she finally nodded to him, and the two pegasi took to the air, though Emberlgow wobbled slightly as she flew over to the wrecked ship.
“Can you see a name?” Feldspar called out. Emberglow shook her head. There was no figurehead, either, nor was there anything else to identify the ship. It was a smaller vessel, a single master, though the mast in question was shattered at its base and toppled onto the ship’s deck. Snapped stays and lines spread out over the charred deck like the limp noodles. What remained of the sails was scraps of charred canvas, and among the rubble were a dozen corpses.
The pegasi landed on the deck of the ship, which shifted drunkenly on the waves. Emberglow steeled herself to look around at the remains of the sailors around her.
“If you want, I can help to identify the sailors,” Feldspar said. “You just write down what I tell you, okay?”
Suddenly Emberglow burned with shame. This was her job, not his. She was the medical officer here. The sailor’s protective instinct was well-meaning, but she had to handle this herself.
“No, it’s my job,” she forced out. “You look around, see if you can tell what happened. Maybe see if there’s any salvage worth having?” Her hooves were shaking as she carefully approached the first corpse, an earth pony stallion splashed with dried blood. She breathed shallowly through her nose, losing her thoughts in her training as she examined the body.
The death had happened only a few days ago, given the state of decay. Cause of death was most likely the smattering of bullet wounds across his chest and barrel. She managed to peel back his uniform pants enough to note down his cutie mark, which was a dolphin breaching above a rough sea. She pulled out the scroll and noted a quick description of his cutie mark and his colors, to report back to the military so they could inform his family.
After the first, the next few identifications became easier, if only because they became rote. Emberglow found herself clinging to the objective distance her medical school teachers had once spoken about between a doctor and their patient. A small part of her hated becoming numb to her task, but she reminded herself it was necessary to perform this last service for her patients.
Meanwhile, Feldspar searched what was left of the ship, returning to report sadly to Emberglow that there was nothing worth salvaging. A storm, or even a few really tall waves, would probably break up the ship enough for it to finally finish sinking, and all the supplies had been looted. Eventually Emberglow agreed to let him finish identifying the rest of the bodies, before the two pegasi took to the air and flew back to Lady Elegant.
“Thank you for doing that, Lady Emberglow,” Captain Stratus said with a salute when she landed on deck. “The families of those who died here will appreciate having some closure, thanks to you.” Emberglow accepted his gratitude, but secretly she wanted nothing more than to go hide in her cabin for the next few hours.
For the next few days after Lady Elegant found the wreckage left by the pirates there was a somber gloom, only lifted when Captain Stratus finally ordered an extra two casks of rum cracked open for the entire crew. They drank to the unnamed ship that night.
Three weeks out of Port Luminescence Lady Elegant ran into her first storm. Emberglow was a bit disappointed that all of the non-sailors were banished to their quarters, but it made sense. Emberglow didn’t realize the full extent of the horror, however, until she retreated to her quarters to find Bubblegum already there, nearly vibrating with frustration at their very necessary confinement. Emberglow was alone, with an agitated and twitchy Bubblegum, for hours.
Some nightmares were too horrifying to ever think about, ever again.
After the longest fourteen hours of Emberglow’s life, and a very essential trip to the galley to rehydrate (even though her stomach was in no mood for anything, she knew how dangerous it was to her to lose as much liquid as she had. At least Bubblegum’s robe would never be the same again), she and the other Knights were allowed up on deck to see the state of the ship. The sailors knew their job; the sails were down, and only one of them had to be repaired. Two earth pony sailors were already hard at work patching up the canvas. There were a few minor injuries, and a single broken leg from a pony that had tumbled out of the rigging while trying to furl the sails, landing hard on one hind leg. He was a gruff old sailor type, a cliché straight out of a foal’s tale called Crusty. It probably wasn’t his real name, but it was the only thing anypony on board knew him by. He was cussing a blue streak as Emberglow splinted his leg, seemingly more upset about the work he would miss and the ribbing he would get from his fellow sailors than the intense pain of his broken leg. It was hard for Emberglow to not break down with laughter, as each time Crusty let out a string of swear words, he apologized profusely to the Knight Radiant. Once the broken bone was splinted, Emberglow put on her rune gauntlet and applied the same heal spell that weeks ago Turquoise had cast on her.
“Two weeks light duty. Keep the splint on. I’ve only accelerated the healing process; you’re not ready to go back to full duty just yet,” Emberglow told him. Crusty was still alternating between invective-laden complaints, sincere apologies, and gratitude for Emberglow’s healing. As soon as the door to the office shut behind the earth pony sailor Emberglow finally let out the floodgates of laughter, hoping desperately the old pony wouldn’t hear her. She gave Crusty a few minutes to limp away before going to Captain Stratus to report on the old pony’s work status. She was knocking on the captain’s door when she heard the cry from outside.
“Ship on the horizon!” came the shout from the door that led to the quarter deck. The Captain’s door shot open, and he nodded at Emberglow.
“Sorry, Lady Emberglow. Whatever it is has to wait,” he said, brushing past her as she nodded her acceptance. She hung back enough to give the captain space, following him after a few paces onto the deck. He hadn’t asked her to stay below decks, after all.
As soon as he was outside, Captain Stratus launched himself into flight, gracefully moving in between rigging and masts up to the crow’s nest. Once up there, Emberglow watched him retrieve a collapsing spyglass from his uniform. Unfurling the tool, he raised it to an eye towards a point on the horizon indicated by Rope Trick, the lookout pony who spent most of his time up in the tiny post. Emberglow looked the way they were both looking, but she could see nothing. She was too far away to hear what was said, but she saw the captain pat Rope Trick on the shoulder, before putting his spyglass away and descending to the deck next to Emberglow.
“There’s a ship all right,” he said to her. “Could you please locate your compatriots? Sir Delver would like to know.” Emberglow felt a thrill of excitement; her pulse picked up with both anticipation and fear. She told herself it probably wasn’t the pirates they were hunting, but that didn’t stop the hope and fear that this might be the confrontation they were looking for. She found Delver in his quarters, and quickly rounded up both Turquoise and Bubblegum from the galley. They were more than willing to leave their potato and celery chowder in order to see what the commotion was all about. A few minutes later all four Knights were on deck with the captain and the sergeant.
“It’s not the ship we’re looking for,” the captain announced as soon as all the ponies were assembled. Bubblegum groaned with frustration, but Captain Stratus ignored her, pushing on. “It’s not Black-and-White Beard’s ship, but they are approaching us deliberately. She’s close enough to have seen the Diarchy flag, and she’s bearing no colors, so it’s safe to assume they have hostile or dishonest intentions.”
“So, pirates,” Delver mused. “Just not the pirates we were looking for.”
“Probably not,” the captain agreed.
“What’s the plan then?” Sergeant Arrow asked.
“Um, duh. We smash pirates,” Bubblegum giggled, tapping her hooves in a happy dance against the wooden deck. Delver rolled his eyes but nodded.
“That’s about it, actually,” Delver said. “Our job is to hunt pirates. Knight Command sent us two more Knights hoping we’d run into Black-and-White Beard, but any pirates dead or arrested are pirates that can’t hurt our ponies any more. I’d call it a good day even if we don’t catch our prey, as long as we take out some scum.”
“Good enough for me,” Captain Stratus said. “Let me fill you in on the strategic situation.” He pointed out onto the horizon, where the assembled ponies could just barely see a spec of sails in the distance. “Her captain holds the weather gage. That means he’s upwind of us. That puts us in a bad spot; he can choose to engage us or keep his distance. We, on the other hoof, can only choose to flee.”
“Is there a middle ground? Let them get closer slowly, while still moving generally in the direction of our destination?” Delver asked. Captain Stratus shook his head.
“Only if she allows us to,” he said. “If the other vessel doesn’t want to close, or wishes to close more quickly, there’s nothing we can do but turn and run.”
“What kind of guns does the other ship have? What kind of loadout?” Delver asked.
“It’s hard to tell at range, but she’s smaller than we are. Only one mast. At least half our size, but faster and more maneuverable. Which makes her actions all the more confusing. Why is she trying to close with us, if she’s outgunned? There’s something here we don’t know.”
“Can you make an educated guess, captain?” Delver asked. The captain nodded.
“They’re herding us. They want us to turn and run. There’s another ship out there, somewhere, and the vessel in front of us has some way of communicating with them.”
The assembled ponies stared at each other in silence. That was a frightening thought.
“Unicorns?” Turquoise asked. The captain shrugged.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what unicorns can do. It’s just the only situation I can think of that explains the other captain’s behavior.”
“You have Rope Trick watching for another ship?” Delver asked.
“Yes sir,” the captain said.
“Very well. Let’s let them herd us for now. Knights, get below decks and get dressed for action. I’d like to avoid the chance of us being spotted in our armor until we make contact. Marines to the deck. Prepare the big guns, and arm the cannons. Let’s get ready for a fight.”
While marines prepared their weapons and Emberglow and the other Knights quickly donned their armor, a marine relayed updates from the captain to the Knights. A cry went up on deck as the second ship was spotted; a three master, proudly flying a black and white striped flag bearing a red pony skull.
“I hadn’t heard that Black-and-White Beard had a second ship,” Delver commented conversationally when the captain informed him of the sighting, coming down below decks with Sergeant Arrow to speak with the Knights. The four Knights were just inside the door that sat below the quarterdeck, hidden from sight in the hallway that led to the captain’s quarters. “Captain, what is our best course of action if we intend to destroy them both?”
“Push hard for the second ship, the larger one. Engage as quickly as possible, and cripple the second ship before the first can reach us and press us hard,” the captain said confidently. “If we can get the Knights on board the other ship and disrupt their ability to make war, we won’t have to be caught between two broadsides. You’ll have to swing aboard their ship by line, however.”
“Um, excuse me?” Emberglow asked, flapping her wings with a grin. The others laughed.
“Okay, most of you will have to swing over. Lady Emberglow can fly,” the captain said. “You have shield spells that will protect against small arms fire?”
“Yes, anything moving over a certain velocity. Bullets are useless against our armor and shields. Blades, clubs, and hooves, however, are an issue,” Delver said. “This will be our strategy, then. Gearsmith and the other marines will keep the pirate’s heads down as much as possible, while Bubblegum and I will swing over and clear a spot for Turquoise to swing over and Emberglow to land. The Adamant will be the tip of the spear, stabbing into the pirates while the two of you remain behind us as support. You’ll watch our backs and keep us safe. Once the four of us are over, we will try to disable any cannons.”
“Yes, sir,” Turquoise said, and Emberglow nodded.
“Now ponies, check your spell batteries, mentally go through your common spells, and get ready for action,” Delver said. Emberglow looked at the glowing light indicators on the rune gauntlet; the red, yellow, and green gems were all lit, indicating a full and connected spell battery. “Once we’re over there, stay close, and don’t go off on your own.” He said that last with a particularly sharp look at Bubblegum, who smirked unrepentantly at him. “I mean it, Bubblegum.”
“But sir! We have a Radiant! I can go as crazy as I want, cuz she can put me back together again when it’s all over!” she protested.
“I can’t heal dead,” Emberglow shot back. “Or stupid.” The cream colored earth pony gave her a glare and opened her mouth to respond, but Delver pushed forward.
“We’re not taking unnecessary risks. I want your word, Knight Bubblegum, that you’ll stay close to me and the other Knights,” Delver said sternly. The younger Adamant slumped a bit, her ears drooping as she nodded.
“Yes sir…” Bubblegum said grumpily.
“I need you to say it, Bubblegum,” Delver said, his voice softening. Emberglow watched the exchange, confused.
“I give you my word, Sir Delver, that I’ll do my best to stay close to you and the other two,” Bubblegum said, her voice formal. “Happy?”
“Thank you, Bubblegum,” Delver said, as if she hadn’t added the snark at the end. “Any questions?”
There were none, and Sergeant Arrow trotted off to issue orders to her marines. Emberglow’s heart caught in her throat; she suddenly felt the weight of the last few weeks, the distance that had grown between her and Gadget, and she suddenly wished things could have been different. What if this was the last time she ever saw her friend? The thought chilled her. Death was no stranger to Emberglow. In medical school, as a teenager, she’d worked with corpses as part of her education. It had been hard at first, but she’d adapted. Later on, the students had been introduced to actual sick ponies, suffering from disease and injury. But now, the potential of death for her friends, and her compatriots, was suddenly very real for her as battle loomed.
“Very well. Knight Turquoise, could you lead us in prayer?” Delver asked, and Emberglow could have hugged him for it.
“Lady Rainbow Dash, guide our hooves and hearts. Keep our minds clear and our weapons sharp. Lady Rarity, guide our Emberglow’s magic. Keep her safe so she can keep us safe. Lady Pinkamina, bless us that we shall all live to embrace as friends in the joy of faith after the fires of battle. Lady Twilight, keep us from dark magics and hateful sorceries. All Saints keep us.”
“All Saints keep us,” the others intoned, and the captain and Sergeant Arrow departed above deck.
“Sir, it may help morale if I go and pray with the soldiers and sailors on deck,” Turquoise said. Delver hesitated, but nodded.
“Keep your helmet off and your head down. Hopefully your armor won’t be noticed, but they deserve the blessing of the Saints as much as we do.”
“Thank you, sir,” Turquoise said, and removed her helmet before following the captain and Sergeant on deck.
While they waited for more news, Emberglow picked up her spear. Even after years in the Ivy Seminary, hours of personal, one on one tutoring with Lofty Tale, and countless practice sessions with Turquoise, she still wasn’t as proficient with the weapon as she wanted to be. She realized she’d never be a match for ponies like Lofty Tale, who was a natural at combat, but she was good enough to defend herself. She hoped it would be enough. She clutched at the weapon, resting it against her shoulder with the spear point up. Bubblegum stood next to her, similarly armed, but looking much more comfortable with the hafted weapon than Emberglow was.
“Huh. Your armor’s different,” Bubblegum said, pointing at the smaller spell battery placed just between the wing slits on Emberglow’s armor.
“Yes. Pegasus armor has a smaller spell battery on the back, between the wings. It’s just there to generate a constant shield effect on the wings, because we can’t wear armor there. They taught about that in the Ivy Seminary. Weren’t you listening?” Emberglow asked, trying not to sound impatient. Bubblegum’s eyebrows shot up, and she smirked, as if to say, ‘do you really need to ask that?’ “Nevermind, of course you weren’t.” The other mare snorted.
“I’m jealous, you know. Of your wings,” Bubblegum said softly, glancing at Emberglow’s wings. Her voice was quiet enough that Delver, a few feet away, probably couldn’t hear. Emberglow was silent; she didn’t know how to respond to that. Fortunately, Bubblegum’s notorious lack of a filter saved her from having to. “Ever had sex while flying?” Emberglow couldn’t help herself; she stared open-mouthed at the bizarre Knight.
“Lady Bubblegum!” Delver called out angrily. “Too far! Show some respect.”
“Yes sir,” she said, after jumping at the shout. Her ears and tail drooped, and she glanced up at Emberglow from where she had shrunk down slightly. “I’m sorry, Emberglow.”
“Forget it,” Emberglow said, meaning it. Bubblegum sounded genuine; her sincerity wasn’t the problem. Bubblegum was very sincere. She was just also forgetful, and a bit socially inept.
“I’m sorry, Lady Emberglow,” Delver said. “She means well,” he said with a scowl in Bubblegum’s direction.
“I know. Please, just forget it,” Emberglow waved a hoof dismissively. “Everypony is tense, I get it. Bubblegum just deals with it in weird ways.”
“Yup!” Bubblegum agreed cheerfully.
“Sir Delver!” A marine cried out as he entered the hallway. “The second ship is close enough to make out the ponies on board. Most of the pirates are zebras, sir, and a few earth ponies, but Rope Trick did spot a unicorn on board.”
“And the first ship?” Delver asked.
“Zebras and earth ponies as well, with two griffons. Two cannons to a side on the first ship, five cannons on the second. Multiple rifles seen on both ships.”
“Thank you, marine. Did Rope Trick say anything else about the enemy?”
“Um, yes sir. The unicorn, sir. She’s naked,” the marine said uncomfortably.
“Naked?” Emberglow said with a gasp. “Why?”
“Don’t know, ma’am,” the marine said.
“A sign of deep heresy,” Delver said. “I wish we had a Mystic, to counter her spellcasting.” He shrugged. “Heretics often reject the teachings of Saint Rarity about decency and modesty. Is it going to be a problem to fight against her?” he asked. Emberglow and Bubblegum both shook their heads. “Good. Don’t be distracted. Unicorns can cast the same shields we can; she’ll be immune to the higher velocity projectiles, we’ll have to get in close to her with our spears. Bubblegum, if you see an opening to finish off the unicorn, you need to take her out. If she’s adept at combat magic, neutralizing her as a threat will be more important than staying close.”
“Yay!” Bubblegum cheered, a response that made Emberglow feel a little disgusted; nopony should feel that cheerful about risking their life, or taking another’s.
The last few minutes before the battle were awful. Each breath Emberglow drew in as she waited filled her stomach with a light, floating nausea; not enough to actually vomit, but certainly unwelcome. She felt trapped, imprisoned in this hallway as the time oozed by glacially. Turquoise remained outside, praying with the marines, while the rest of them, however, stayed hidden in the hallway.
Emberglow was detached from whatever was happening outside, and it made her skin crawl. She looked at Bubblegum beside her; the cream mare was twitching with impatience, her hooves tapping against the wooden hallway floor in an agitated dance. Bubblegum glanced back; they shared a silent moment of understanding. The young Knight Adamant nodded at her, smiling sympathetically. There was no judgement in Bubblegum’s bright blue eyes, merely comprehension. A blue-armored hoof patted Emberglow on the shoulder.
“We’ll keep you safe, and you’ll keep us alive,” Bubblegum said confidently, and in that moment Emberglow forgave her for every annoyance, every verbal ejaculation, and every rude interruption. She reached up to put her hoof over Bubblegum’s. “You’re gonna be the best thing that ever happened to this team.” Delver remained silent and let the mares have their moment, though he had a confident, if grim, look in his eyes.
The relative silence was broken by the sudden barks of gunfire from a distance. Emberglow jerked in surprise, her breath coming in short, tense bursts. The sound was muffled, but the sounds of battle, of gunfire and battle cries and screams of pain, all separated from her by wooden walls and doors, made her twitch with energy. She tried to focus on what was coming, tried to remind herself of all her training over the years, but every single thought was ephemeral, drifting and dancing out of her grasp like cobwebs. It was an odd sort of blending of nervousness and excitement, and she couldn’t make herself think straight.
Suddenly the entire ship rattled with a sudden intensity, a loud, booming roar ripping through the air around them. Emberglow’s every muscle tensed in alarm, and Delver held out a comforting hoof.
“Close enough for cannon fire,” Bubblegum whispered. Even her voice was full of anticipation. Emberglow could see it in her eyes; the mare was eager to jump into the fray. Honestly, Emberglow didn’t blame her; sure, she was terrified herself, but waiting was agony. She couldn’t even see what was happening, and she hated it.
The door swung open with a loud bang, and Emberglow jumped again. it was one of the sailors. “Boarding lines are ready. We will be in range for the three of you to swing across in seconds, sir,” he said. Bubblegum gave a little cheer, and Emberglow couldn’t help but feel a rush of adrenaline.
“Very well. Knights, make the Saints proud. Shields up.” Delver said. All three Knights raised their gauntlets and cast the basic high velocity shield that would keep out small arms fire, but that wouldn’t interfere with hoof to hoof combat. “Go.”
As soon as Emberglow’s hooves began moving, the burn of nausea in her stomach disappeared. She felt like a snapped rubber band, pulled tight for too long until the strain was too much. At least she wasn't waiting, though. She had a goal, a pair of ponies to gallop behind. Bubblegum and Delver were both faster to react than she was, and she fell in behind them. A single called order brought Turquoise in next to her, and the three earth pony Knights and single pegasus approached the three boarding lines that had been prepared for them.
By now, the two ships were close enough to clearly see the pirate crew on the other ship. There were mostly zebras, but the most frightening thing was a pale yellow unicorn mare, standing proudly next to an older zebra bearing a polished scimitar and wearing an ostentatious tricorn hat that simply screamed ‘pirate cliché’. The two of them stood at the center of a storm of armed zebras, shouting and snarling as they fired their rifles towards the sailors and marines. Emberglow spotted Gadget and her father; Gearsmith wore a heavy harness, with two huge round-barreled weapons attached that Gearsmith had called ‘rotary cannons’. Gadget was there to manage the large chains of ammunition and help clear malfunctions or weapon jams.
“Lady Rarity keep you safe,” Emberglow said, sotto voce. Gadget looked her way; it was much too far to hear what she said, but Emberglow saw her lips move, and the earth pony marine smiled at her, and tapped her head. She had no idea what Gadget meant, but it didn’t matter. She had Gadget’s support. It filled her with a warm sort of elation. Suddenly the crew of vicious pirates on the other ship didn’t seem nearly as daunting.
Shouts of dismay from the pirate ship brought Emberglow’s attention back to their enemy. It seemed that the Knights had been spotted. It was too late, though; the three earth pony Knights had already reached the boarding ropes and were preparing to swing over. The two ships were running parallel, their prows faced in opposite directions. Zebra pirates began to crowd the front and rails of their ship, armed with rifles, blades, and boarding ladders.
“Nopony fall into the water,” Turquoise called as the two Knights Adamant leaped off the side rail towards the pirate ship. Turquoise followed a second later, and Emberglow counted a single breath before launching herself into the air behind her. A dozen pirates lined along the rail of the enemy ship, the barrels of their weapons pointed at her. Through her shield, she could feel the slight pressure of the bullets from their rifles striking against the magic. It felt like gentle taps of pressure; gentle taps full of hateful, killing intent.
Bubblegum and Delver had already landed, and Turquoise was right behind. Emberglow glided to a landing next to her mentor, her spear pointed downwards toward the pirates who scrambled to get out of the way of the charge. The Knights had an obvious effect on the pirates; zebras and earth ponies alike backed away from the implicit violence of the armored magical figures landing on their deck. A few were fumbling with knives, having realized their rifles were useless.
The noise of the battle was intense. Gunfire was everywhere, from the single cracks of rifles to the rolling rumble of Gearsmith’s weapon. Cries of rage, screams of pain, and weeping moans filled the air. The oddest thing was Bubblegum; the mare was totally silent as she swung across the gulf between the ships, and as she slashed her spear in a wide arc, driving back those pirates that dared get close enough to threaten the Knights. It was eerie; Emberglow had expected battle cries, snarls, shouts, or even joyful elated noises from Bubblegum, but instead she was a picture of silent intensity.
“Brace!” Delver cried out suddenly, shortly after Emberglow’s hooves had hit the deck. The ships had drawn alongside each other, and an earsplitting cacophony surged over the ambient sounds of battle as the two ship captains ordered their cannons to fire. The air was suddenly full of wood splinters and smoke, and Emberglow had to flap her wings to keep her balance as the ship rocked violently. She could see all five cannons exposed on the top deck of the pirate ship, but Delver and Bubblegum were ignoring them pushing towards the unicorn and the captain. Clearly, her magic was by far the greater threat; her cursed horn was glowing with a pink light as she fired beams of energy towards Lady Elegant. Each destructive blast left scorched, splintered holes in the deck of the ship, or even sliced through rigging and sails. Ponies struck by the blasts were thrown backwards, overboard off the ship to splash into the waters below.
Meanwhile, the pirates were drawing melee weapons and surging towards the Knights. A pink earth pony stallion lunged at Bubblegum with a club, while two zebras tried to flank Delver with a pair of long knives. Turquoise drove back one of the zebras with her spear, while Delver faced off with the other.
With a start of shame, Emberglow realized that she had been frozen with indecision as the other, more experienced Knights had engaged the enemy. She spotted two more zebras charging at Bubblegum, who was furiously pushing back against the pink, club-wielding earth pony pirate. He was turning aside her deadly thrusts while the zebras started to circle to her sides, menacing her with clubs of their own.
A cry tore from Emberglow’s lips as she lunged for the zebra on the right of Bubblegum. It wasn’t a particularly intimidating cry; as the dramatic opening of Emberglow’s first real battle it was a little underwhelming, more of a whimper than a bellow. But it was all she had, and it did the job.
The zebra looked up, peeling away from attacking Bubblegum to bring his club sideways in a parry. He swept her spear aside so that the blade missed his right foreleg, but she didn’t let the parry halt the momentum of her charge; rather than leading with her spear, she went in with a shoulder tackle. Emberglow was a little tall for a mare, and wearing full metal armor; she knew she had the advantage of weight over the zebra.
She had enough time to see the look of shock in his face; he’d expected her to try and keep the advantage of her spear’s greater reach; instead, her armored shoulder slammed into his chest. He tumbled sideways, away from Emberglow and Bubblegum and onto the deck of the ship, while she used just enough lift from her wings to keep herself from falling. Meanwhile, the other griffon was sweeping around Bubblegum’s side, lunging with his club. Emberglow dashed between them, parrying the blow with the haft of her spear.
“Thanks,” Bubblegum said, thrusting with her spear at the earth pony stallion she’d just knocked off balance with her own shoulder tackle; there was a gasp of pain as the blade entered the pink stallion’s chest just below his neck. Bubblegum jerked the weapon free with a spray of blood, and the stallion fell limply away.
She looked at Emberglow and pointed her spear at the captain; the zebra pirate was standing with his unicorn, alone, and only the zebra that Emberglow had slammed into was defending them. Emberglow read the question in Bubblegum’s eyes, and nodded.
Knights were trained to fight alongside one another. Even though Emberglow had very little real-life experience, she had practiced for years to move in concert with her fellow Knights. The two mares thrust with their spears at the same time. The zebra tried to parry Emberglow’s stab while sliding out of the way of Bubblegum’s strike. He didn’t move quick enough, though, and the Knight Adamant’s spear sliced along the zebra’s leg and barrel, cutting a wide, bleeding slice into the equine pirate.
Neither mare paused long; even if the zebra was still alive, the wound was deep enough to keep him out of the fight. They blasted past the crumpling zebra towards the pirate captain and his unicorn witch. Black-and-White-Beard was directing the cannon fire that was bouncing between the two ships, and the unicorn was casting something as she continued to speak with the captain; her horn was glowing with pink light as she stood in readiness.
Suddenly, the unicorn let out a shout of alarm that Emberglow heard even over the cacophony of battle and pointed her hoof at the two mares charging towards the captain with leveled spears. This close, Emberglow could see the unicorn mare’s cutie mark; it was five pink lightning bolts arranged in a star shape. She could also tell something else; the unicorn was young. She was practically a foal, and still had the skinny, gangly limbs of a filly barely into her teenage years. The teenaged filly screwed her eyes up with concentration, and the aura surrounding her horn suddenly blazed larger.
“Watch out!” Emberglow called, her hoof whipping through the air in the runes of a common counterspell. Bubblegum hesitated for a breath, stopping in her tracks just as the unicorn’s spell fired off.
Emberglow’s counterspell proved pointless; no offensive hex or violent beam was forthcoming. Instead, a solid pink shield came into being around the filly and the pirate captain. It was a translucent dome, faceted in a pattern similar to a tortoise shell.
“You can’t come in,” the filly shrieked at the Knights. “You hear me, bitches! You can’t hurt him!” Behind them, Sergeant Arrow’s marines were beginning to swing over on boarding lines to support Delver and Turquoise, who were keeping the other pirates away from Emberglow and Bubblegum.
“He has to answer for all the ponies he’s killed, filly,” Bubblegum said grimly, tapping at the shield with her spear. The unicorn filly opened her mouth to retort, but the pirate captain cut her off.
“Umeme! You listen to me. A showdown is not to be,” the zebra captain rhymed. “You will follow Order Nine, and you will be safe, daughter mine.” He seemed calm and relaxed, though he drew a long, shiny cutlass, glaring at the two Knights from the other side of the barrier.
“Daddy, no! I will not!” The filly was weeping.
“Mutiny, then, is it? You promised to obey without fit,” the captain said with a grin. “Follow your orders now, no more of this foalish row.”
“Daddy… please,” she said, straining to hold her magic. The shield began to flicker, and Bubblegum tensed to leap.
“Now, Umeme!” the pirate shouted, for once not rhyming, and with a yelp of frustration and fury, the unicorn disappeared in a flash of light and a pop of sound. The barrier winked out as soon as the unicorn disappeared.
Bubblegum’s reflexes were lightning fast; as soon as the barrier disappeared, she leapt, leading with her spear and the full commitment of her earth pony strength. The captain backed away, swatting at her spear with his cutlass. The two equines began a furious dance; lunge, parry, thrust, and counterattack. Emberglow circled outside them, looking for a chance to help, but the two were moving too quickly. She was concerned she would just trip up the more skilled fighter if she tried to help.
The zebra scored a few hits, though they did little damage; besides a small scrape on Bubblegum’s cheek, and a few missing hairs from her mane, most of the pirate’s hits merely scratched off her armor. Bubblegum, however, had yet to land any significant hits. The pirate captain was an artist with his blade; it flashed and danced in front of him, keeping Bubblegum from using the reach of her spear or even her magically enhanced strength to her advantage. Every time Emberglow tried to circle around behind him, or to his flank, he managed to maneuver to place a barrier in her path, using the masts and railings on his ship to his advantage.
Two of the pirates, an earth pony and a zebra, jumped in between Emberglow and the captain, brandishing sharp knives threateningly at her.
“Please, I don’t want to hurt you if I don’t have to,” Emberglow said, but the two ignored her, closing in with their knives. The earth pony lunged first, diving towards her throat with his blade glinting in the sunlight. She blocked it with the haft of her spear, but the zebra’s blade was already slicing towards her face, forcing her to stumble backwards.
Soon she was involved in her own deadly dance. Both of her foes clearly had more experience than she did, but she had the advantage of training and superior equipment. They acted in concert, moving nearly as one. Every time Emberglow tried to thrust her spear at one of the pirates, the other would feint or thrust with his knife, forcing her to back off or respond. She was considering what she could do to break the stalemate when the pink armored form of Turquoise bulldozed into one of the pirates, knocking him up against the railing on the side of the pirate ship. A quick buck with the Knight Jubilant’s back hooves sent the earth pony pirate over the side of the railing with a startled scream. The other pirate backed away nervously, trying to keep himself between the two Knights and the captain, who was also retreating from Bubblegum.
A cannonball from Lady Elegant careened wide, shattering the deck and ship’s railing in a storm of splinters and debris. Emberglow and Turquoise both put hooves in front of their eyes, shielding their faces from the sharp chunks of wood. Emberglow grunted in pain as a particularly large piece of wooden shrapnel lodged itself in her leg.
“You okay?” Turquoise stepped over next to her former squire. Emberglow nodded, flinching as she put her injured hoof down. The pirate they had been fighting was dead; the cannonball had struck right next to him, and the zebra pirate was limp on the deck, littered with shrapnel and resting in an unnatural, twisted state.
“I’m fine, how’s…”
“Delver’s on his way. We took out two of the cannons, and our marines have started to swing over. How’s Bubblegum?
“She was fighting the captain, last I saw. The unicorn he was with escaped. Teleported. I didn’t see…” Emberglow said, panting. Turquoise cut her off.
“Teleported to the smaller ship. They never got to us. Sergeant Arrow reported a flash of light on the other ship, then it turned downwind and began to speed away.”
“Coward!” came Bubblegum’s voice, screaming with frustration. Emberglow and Turquoise found her amidst the smoke and terror. Bubblegum was coughing and choking, rubbing at her eyes as she backed away from a cloud of sickly green smoke, which rose above a shattered glass bottle. The other two ran to their comrade, Emberglow running awkwardly as her gauntlet traced blue runes in the air.
“Breathe normally,” Emberglow said as her glowing gauntlet rested on Bubblegum’s chest, her spell clearing whatever foul concoction had exploded from the bottle out of Bubblegum’s lungs and eyes. The two helped the stumbling earth pony knight away from the cloud, which was slowly dissipating in the wind.
“Thanks,” Bubblegum said, pointing at the door in the pirate ship’s quarterdeck. It was open, it’s door swung wide haphazardly. “The coward fled below decks. We should…”
“Delver! Going below decks after the captain!” Turquoise shouted. Bubblegum rushed in first, this time with Emberglow right behind her. They entered into a hallway lined with four doors, ending in a hatch going downwards. None of the doors were open, but the hatch gaped.
“There!” Bubblegum said, dashing for the hatch, Emberglow trailing right behind. She heard the hooves of the others behind her. The crazy earth pony Knight didn’t even take the time to climb down the hatch’s ladder; she simply leapt into the opening, curling her body into an acrobatic roll and landing. Emberglow also bypassed the ladder, opting to use her wings instead. “Hurry!” Bubblegum shouted, barely giving Emberglow enough time to find her bearings before charging down this new hallway. She didn’t even bother landing; even though the hallway was tight, there was just enough room to spread her wings and swoop down the hallway.
“Bubblegum, be careful!” she called out, but there was no indication that Bubblegum had heard her. At the end of the hallway, a second hatch to the lowest deck stood open, just like the first. Bubblegum took this hatch just like the last one. “Slow down!”
Emberglow heard the gunfire before she even made it to the hatch. She jumped, startled, before reminding herself that Bubblegum was probably just fine. She slipped through this hatch, pausing to note Delver and Turquoise having just made the bottom of the first ladder.
The lowest deck of the pirate ship was the hold. There were crates and barrels everywhere. A section of the hold, walled off by iron bars, formed a brig, though it was also filled with barrels. There was a screech of rusty iron as the door to the brig slid shut. The zebra pirate captain had just locked himself inside his own brig. He carried with him a rifle that he aimed at the pony Knights, but nothing else.
“What?” Bubblegum called out, confused. “He’s an idiot!” she said to Emberglow. “You’re an idiot! You think we can’t get into your little cage? We could even kill you from out here!” She shook her spear at him.
“Whatever you think you can do with your spear, you are the ones who need to fear,” the captain said with a fearsome grin. He pulled a trio of matches out of his long coat, and grinned devilishly at the Knights. “Do I need to imply it louder? These barrels are full of black powder!”
“You’re nuts!” Bubblegum cried out, instinctively backing away from the caged zebra while the pirate captain pried the lid off of one of the barrels. Sure enough, the barrel was full of silvery black gunpowder. Emberglow backed away as well, motioning to the older two Knights, who were just making their way down the last ladder. She was no demolitions expert, but there were enough explosives in that cage to blow a sizeable hole in the side of the ship, and probably kill anypony too close.
“Back up,” Emberglow whispered harshly to Delver and Turquoise. “He’s going to blow up his whole ship!”
“Perhaps not,” Delver said, as his experienced eyes analyzed the room. “He hasn’t yet. Maybe he wants something.”
“You are wiser than you seem, Knight. Your hasty assumption is right,” the captain smirked.
“Your crew is dying, dead, or captured. Your allies have fled. There is no outcome of this battle that ends with you free,” Delver said. “I have to ask for your surrender.”
“Oh? What do you offer me, if you will not let me free?” the zebra asked, his hoof holding the unlit matches hovering over the open barrel.
“Not much, I’m afraid,” Delver said. “If you surrender, I can promise you a painless execution at sea.”
“Such generous terms!” the captain laughed sarcastically. “You can take your surrender to the worms!”
“Conversely, if you do not surrender, you will be captured and hauled back to Port Luminescence in chains. You will be given to the mercies of Blingshine, the governor there. I’m told you and he are not on good terms; you’ve cost him a great deal of money, nearly as much as you’ve cost the Diarchy military. I don’t think you’ll last long in his care, but the days leading up to your execution will be a nightmare.”
“’Tis blasphemy to invoke Her old name, but only your ignorance is to blame,” the pirate muttered. “You offer no real choice, so I will not listen to your voice!” With a swift flick, he lit one of the matches.
“Knights, shields!” Delver screamed, and all three Knights began frantically casting whatever shields they could manage. The dark hold was alight with green glows, and the flickering orange of the match. With a cry of fury, the pirate shoved the burning match into the black powder, just as Emberglow’s spell, more powerful than all the others, flickered over everypony in the hold. She tried to clench her eyes shut right as a bright flash filled the room. She didn’t have time to cover her ears.
Debris and shrapnel battered her shield. She felt her body airborne, then it hit something hard and the breath was knocked out of her. The world was blackness and fire, and then suddenly nothing but water. Saltwater burned in her eyes and nostrils, and she felt herself being dragged down by the weight of her armor. The only thing she could hear was a high pitched ringing in her ears.
Emberglow’s first reaction was sheer panic. She was in her armor, and it would sink. It would sink, and she would drown. Her limbs flailed in the dark, cold ocean, her legs dancing about and her wings and tail flapping uselessly. She was lost; she had no idea which way was up. Her hooves occasionally came in contact with other things in the water; broken shards of wooden planks, pieces of cargo, maybe even other ponies.
Suddenly something grabbed her hoof, and she shrieked; bubbles jetting out of her muzzle and into the water. She nearly inhaled the water before whoever had grabbed her hoof tapped at her gauntlet. She opened her eyes, and saw Bubblegum, her throat glowing with the green light of an active water breathing spell.
Oh.
Her throat and lungs burned, but she dragged her gauntleted hoof slowly through the water, forming the runes necessary for the spell. It took her two tries, her panic beginning to rise again before she felt the spell take effect with the cool touch of magic in her throat and lungs. Hesitantly, she tried to take in a breath, expecting her lungs to be suddenly filled with the cold saltwater. Instead, it was just like breathing normal air. There was no way to thank the other mare for her reminder, so Emberglow settled for an underwater hug instead. Bubblegum looked shocked at first, then smirked. She pointed up.
Her panic receding, Emberglow tried to take stock of what was going on. She was underwater, that was clear. Debris and shattered boards swirled around her, most moving up as she and Bubblegum sunk. She cast a second spell, much more calmly, a buoyancy spell. Bubblegum did the same. It didn’t make either of them float to the top; the spell merely made them neutrally buoyant, so that they could begin swimming to the surface. The two mares moved at a diagonal, towards the light to the sides of the two dark shadows of the ships above them. They weren’t the only two ponies in the water; there were others, but they were the only ones moving. Emberglow tried not to wonder if she knew any of the corpses floating among the ruins of the pirate ship. Alongside the other Knight, she began to swim for the nearest patch of light she could see.
The two ponies breached the surface with an instinctual gasp of air, even though the spell was still intact. The first thing Emberglow noticed was Lady Elegant, battered, pitted with cannon fire, smoldering in two places, but still afloat. Sailors scrambled along the deck, some of them armed with rifles, some not. Though the ringing in her ears was fading, Emberglow still couldn’t hear anything.
There was frantic motion coming from the deck, and Emberglow looked up to see one of the sailors pointing at them. Two more sailors poked their heads over the railing, and soon enough a pair of ropes had been tossed down to the two floating Knights. Emberglow tried to launch herself from the water, but her water saturated wings would not get her airborne. Bubblegum laughed and said something Emberglow couldn’t hear, and the two of them caught the ropes in the turbulent waters. They did their best to pull themselves up on the ropes as the sailors hauled them up at the same time. Soon the two soggy Knights were heaved onboard, trying to ring the saltwater out of their manes and tails. Somepony tapped Emberglow on the shoulder, and she looked up to see Gadget, the blue mare’s face full of worry and relief all at once. She was saying something; Emberglow could barely make out the sounds. The words were impossible to understand.
“What?” Emberglow asked, too loudly, because Gadget flinched away from the noise, and then grinned. Gadget shook her head and pointed with one hoof. Emberglow looked, and there stood Delver and Turquoise. They were both bloody, and covered in shrapnel wounds, but they were standing on their own power. Emberglow and Bubblegum both ran over to the other two, and immediately began casting healing spells. The effort it took to raise her hoof, and the stiffness and pain she felt, reminded her of her own injuries, but she ignored it.
The spell she cast was simple and clumsy; a mere first aid stopgap intended to simultaneously ease pain and stop minor bleeding. She would do more thorough examinations later. Delver and Turquoise both nodded gratefully, and Bubblegum smirked. Turquoise said something, and Emberglow quirked her head to the side, her ears following the mare, but still not hearing anything. Bubblegum shook her head, and with both hooves, covered her ears and shook her head. Turquoise nodded, and tapped Emberglow’s rune gauntlet, then pointed at Bubblegum.
There was a spell to restore damaged hearing. Unfortunately, nopony outside of the Radiant was likely to have specialized so much in healing magic to even be aware of it. Emberglow could cast the spell, but not on herself. Still, she could fix Bubblegum. She cast the spell, and Bubblegum did a little happy hoof dance before giving Emberglow a quick hug.
“What happened? How is everypony?” Emberglow asked, trying not to shout. In response, Delver pointed first at the pirate ship. It was sinking; a tremendous hole gaped in the side of the ship, which was sitting in the water at an unhealthy angle. There were pirate bodies draped over shattered timbers and smears of blood on the broken wood. “How many of ours did we lose?” Delver’s expression fell, and he held up one leg, tapping the deck with his hoof four times. He then pointed over to a space beneath the center mast, where several wounded ponies were laid out side by side.
Triage. Emberglow understood this. Motioning for the others to follow, she galloped over to the wounded ponies, making quick assessments of the wounds and their relative danger. Gearsmith she passed with a friendly smile and a pat on his shoulder; he was wounded, yes, but it took Emberglow only a glance to realize that neither his sprained rear leg nor the bullet graze on the underside of his barrel were life threatening, and somepony had already assembled a clumsy bandage for him. She moved on to the next pony, passing on her broken wing as well. Emberglow could set that later.
The third pony was unconscious, a bleeding bullet wound just above his left eye. The exit wound was in the back of the pony’s head, and much, much larger; she had to steel herself to look. The pony, a sailor, was being held in the hooves of another sailor, a mare. Emberglow remembered seeing the two of them canoodling on deck when they thought nopony was looking. She didn’t need long to assess this patient, either. There was a hitch in her throat as she looked up in the mare’s eyes, shaking her head. It was a blessing that she was deaf, and couldn’t hear the sobs.
The next patient could be saved. She cast a heal spell as quickly as she could, binding and sealing the three bullet wounds, two through his barrel, one through his right foreleg. The one bullet had perforated his stomach and intestines; it would have been a slow, nightmarishly painful death. Now it would be a few weeks of hard recovery, followed by a full life, hopefully. The pony after that was Sergeant Arrow. A compound fracture in her leg had the bone jutting out in a jagged mess of sharp bone and torn skin. Emberglow looked up at the Sergeant’s face; besides a little paleness in the mare’s face, there was no reaction to the fact that she had two inches of razor sharp bone protruding from the flesh of a hind leg.
Delver was right behind her, and she quickly gave him instructions. His muscled hooves wrapped around the sergeant, bracing her for the impromptu operation. Emberglow took hold of the wounded leg; with a practiced jerk and a twist she shoved the bone back in place. She wasn’t looking at the sergeant when she did it, but after she had cast another healing spell over the wound, she looked up to see the sergeant’s eyes closed and her head drooped in unconsciousness. It was no matter; rest would do her good.
Emberglow went through the rest of the patients, emptying her spell battery on the most dire, moving past those who could be made to wait. Nopony seemed angry or impatient at being made to wait for the more dire cases. When her magical battery was finally exhausted, Turquoise handed her another; it was half depleted already, and Emberglow realized it was from Turquoise’s own gauntlet. She healed everypony she could, even burning through the dregs in Bubblegum and Delver’s gauntlets. Then she began washing and bandaging the wounds of those she didn’t have the power to heal magically. It took hours, and in that time, four deaths became five. By the time the soldier with the head wound finally breathed his last, raspy breath, Emberglow’s hearing had come back just enough to hear it.
Once the sailors and marines had been seen to, Emberglow saw to the pirates. There were eight prisoners that had been taken alive; none had surrendered and taken Delver’s offer of a quick and painless execution at sea. Every single one of them would be delivered to Port Luminescence for trial, execution, and probably torture and humiliation as well.
And worst of all, in her last, split second of spellcasting, Emberglow didn’t have the time to refine her spell, making it affect only specific ponies. At the moment of the blast, she had protected the lives of every pony in that hold.
The pirate captain, known by his enemies as Black-and-White Beard, was currently chained in the hold of the Lady Elegant.
Stats
Page generated in 0.054 seconds
Total duration
557 users online
698,462 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
10407938
Bubblegum was always going to be straight (and therefore not a suitable love interest for Emberglow), but there was a time (during outlining) where she was going to fulfill a very different role in the plot. As I started writing her, however, I realized just how much she and Emberglow would simply not get along. It's kinda a happy accident; Emberglow just sort of naturally didn't like Bubblegum nearly from the beginning. In many ways, they're natural opposites. I won't say much more, but the new direction I ended up taking Bubblegum's story line in ended up being much cooler, in my opinion. I can't wait to share chapter 14 with you guys.
Also almost every time Bubblegum opens her mouth I worry I'll have to add the 'Sex' tag to the story...
Oh, Ember just made herself her first major enemy. I have no doubt Black-And-White-Beard is gonna be pissed when he finds out who robbed him of his glorious last stand.
Monsters, those pirates. Whatever fair motives they might have once had were long ago drowned in blood.
This fight scene isn't quite as coherent or polished as previous ones, and I noticed a bit more LUS in this chapter. Still good though.
10408034
Fight scenes have always been my achilles heel. And thanks for the note about the LUS, I'll keep an eye out in future editing.
I've just hit chapter 3 and had to pull myself away just to say that I'm really enjoying your work. I've been hoping to stumble across something captivating for a long while now, and this scratches that itch perfectly
I'm hyped to see how this lovingly crafted story unfolds!
10408056
No problem. 👍
10408034
LUS, huh...?
Yeah, I see that now
Thanks for the feedback! 
Love iiiiit!!
Gib. Want more
Curious how you spared the unicorn filly. That hints to me of some kind of future return. It was interesting seeing one finally in action, being an important focus for their tactical decisions. I definitely think they are going to make a return later, and the fact they captured/ are going to kill Black and White-beard will lead to some interesting conflict with Emberglow when she has to reconcile the filly's adoptive father was captured in part due to Emberglow's work.
Crass as always, I expected Bubblegum to do some more ribbing at Emberglow if she announced that she was still a virgin, when that whole "You ever fucked on a cloud" conversation came up.
Not too much else to say, though I am curious as to the relative technology level when it comes to the fireams and weaponry. I assumed the gauntlets and wing armor were some sort of sci-fi magitech, but ponies seem to be operating on an industrial-era level of technology otherwise. Is it the tech disparity between Emberglow's home city and the more shantytown outer regions, or are guns hovering at a kind of gatling/ world war 1/2 era style?
10410150
It's not something I've gone into a great deal of detail on in the story, but basically guns and gun technology is loosely somewhere between WW1 and WW2. Nearly all major gun technology advancements are made by Zebras, later to be stolen/reverse engineered by Diarchy spies (in fact, that's where Lofty Tale's family fortune and fame originally came from, something I did put in a side mention of earlier).
I figure gun technology fills an odd niche in my AU. The Diarchy doesn't use them as much as the zebras, because they're less effective against dragons (hard scales), very expensive to produce (the Diarchy has few natural sources of the materials that make gunpowder, because I said so), and a few other reasons that might be a bit spoilery. They see the most use in the navy and marines (like Sergeant Arrow's team), because naval battles are usually against pirates of some sort, often zebra or crystal ponies. Regular army troops may have a few firearms in a team, but spend more time training with closer combat weapons like spears and swords. As a result, there hasn't been a strong push or drive to advance the technology much further than it's gone.
I can't go into too much detail on where the rune gauntlet technology comes from (that enters into some really huge spoiler territory
) but it was designed to replicate unicorn magic as closely as possible, though it can't do telekinesis or teleportation. I also see it as kinda sci-fi magitech, though in this case the needle edges closer to the 'magic' than it does the 'tech'. They've just managed to refine magical spells in very scientific ways, even creating a unit of measurement (the mote) for the smallest discrete piece of magical energy possible, though the measuring is imprecise at best, an estimate at worst.
As for the unicorn filly, who can say?
I don't think we're done with Umeme (which is, according to Google Translate, Swahili for 'electricity' or 'lightning'. If somebody out there actually speaks the language, feel free to correct me, please). Do remember that teleportation magic, in the show, is extremely rare and only the most powerful of unicorns can use it. 
10410399
I see. I was never very fond of guns in pony settings. I typically see it as human tech stapled onto ponies with threadbare explanations for how it works or fits into the narrative. However it's not something which hampers my enjoyment, and as a side thing it's a very minor thing I can accept (especially if it's bootlegged tech from another species + 1000 frickin' years since the show). When I approached weaponry in my setting, it's something much more interwoven with the core premise. Simple - shadows are bad and aggressive, so ponies use "flashlight"-type devices. No guns or even really melee weapons either, so it's a way i've written both a lore-friendly instrument, and one that lets me skirt those other issues. However yeah, it works fine here, and I have no ill will against it.
Can't wait for more development for this story and exploring its world. Emberglow's reaction to the difference in life is great. It reads as a confounded and somewhat frustrated pure pilgrim sort discovering degeneracy for the first time, which is a fun contrast.
10410410
Oh yeah! I don't remember that being there! (The Note in Chapter 8). I love it! Really shows how Royally Pissed Flurry Heart can be! Oooh and I'm glad to have been some inspiration! :D *wiggles in delight.*
Oooh and I'm almost there too, about halfway through chapter 9 for my reading as a 'normal' user heh and still just loving it! Can't point out any specific changes just yet (though the interlude chapter with the crying dream, bits of that seemed different...) but ooooh I'm just so excited to see the changes you made for chapter 10! Will be sure to comment on what I see. ^.^
10410558
Haha, uh, I think you accidentally left a chunk of copy pasted text in there, Chryssy
Anyway yeah, Chapter 10 was a doozy, hope you like the changes
10410943
Oops yeah I did XD fixed now! Just shows I shouldn't reply when half asleep! XD
Hmm that seems strangely similar to Twilight's cutie mark. I wonder if there is any correlation because of the star pattern? I'm thinking it probably means she is more than just your average unicorn. Still, it's nice to see that there are some unicorns that are still alive.
Seems to me that Emberglow might be headed onto ascension. Or, possibly, I'm looking too much into what is just a slightly above average pegasus. But I don't think so.
I really love this story! The head wound guy made me cry. Keep up the good work
Somehow I wasn’t notified of the new chapter when it came out, but I’m so glad I caught it!
Alright, what did I miss y'all?
*reads the last 3 chapters*
Well I'll be...
Harkening back to the olden days eh.
Oh shirt, this is going to lead to some drama.
Interesting that he knows if Nightmare Moon but the Diarchy doesn't. But then, they can't have their perfect goddesses also be devils, now can they?
It felt uncomfortable to read Emberglow's team slaughter the pirates, who are ostensibly the good guys here. Especially when the unicorn cried for her daddy.
Oh come, Emberglow, It can't possibly be that bad! I think Bubblegum is a lovely mare.
That was some intense fighting. And that young unicorn was quite powerful! I'm glad she got away, it would have been horrible seeing them slaughter this adorable little cutie. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of her yet.
Why did Emberglow not cast water breathing spell before the battle as she was instructed to do? From the previous chapter:
Who is female pegasus with the broken wing?
The captain said that Feldspar was the only pegasus in the crew.
This implies the spell by default only protects specific ponies and needs to be modified to protect everyone. Recommend change to "Emberglow didn’t have the time to refine her spell to make it affect only specific ponies."
Sorry for not elaborating more. On mobile right now but can provide more info if not clear.
These are rather minor but your writing has been quite impressive in its level of detail and consistency that these stood out.
I like that you described gunpowder as silvery black instead of simply black.
Also, your use of the word ejaculated in a non-sexual context was interesting. I've seen it used as an example in academic writing as relates to writing/grammar rules for dialog, but it so rarely cums (I'm not sorry
) up in actual writing in the wild.
How do ponies/zebras fire guns in this AU? Are their guns different in some way or are they just exactly the ones between WW1 and WW2?
So, I had a sudden thought, and I have a feeling I know what the spell throwers are made out of...