After his battle with Kuma Sanji finds himself on a new island, but not for long. Edit: Now the second longest One Piece crossover on the site and the first one to be actually completed (as far as I know).
After the Straw Hats' battle at the Shabondy Archipelago, Sanji finds himself on an isolated island inhabited by ponies. There are a lot of problems to solve before he can find his captain and crew, but at least he has two extra legs to use now.
A continuation of Fullmetal Pony's Set Adrift story about Sanji. Disclaimer: This story's Sanji entered Equestria as a pegasus instead of a unicorn. It really doesn't change anything about FMP's chapter.
Rated Teen for the usual One Piece manga violence.
Edit: Wasn't easy to find a blue pegasus Sanji, but here we go. A placeholder until the purely hypothetical day that I commission a better picture. I don't think the guy (or girl?) who drew this will ever be aware of my story, or my use of his picture, but I will nevertheless credit him and link to his Tumblr. Because it's the honorable thing to do and I don't want to be an ungrateful plotface.
“Hmm hmmm hm hm hmmm,” Rarity hummed. In front of her rested multiple needles, multi-hued threads, and large rolls of cloth. Dozens of gems glinted with magic above her, listing in her telekinetic bubble. She bent down and stitched a ruby onto the dress she was designing. “Ooh, this will look fabulous!”
She looked up from the dress and at the jewels floating around her. “Now what will complement the ruby?” A green stone zoomed over to her. “Emerald? No.” A black stone replaced the emerald. “Obsidian? Dreadful!” A blue stone now rested in front of Rarity. “Sapphire? No, no, no!” All the stones lost their glimmer and fell to the worktable.
“This is horrible!” Rarity melodramatically screeched. “Why can’t I just get some proper diamonds to... to...” Rarity’s eyes widened and lit up with delight and she happily clopped her hooves together. “Of course! Diamonds!” Her horn lit up and all the stones floated into the air again. “They’ll go pe—” Rarity’s mouth became taught, her pupils became pinpricks, and her whole body shuddered. “Where are my diamonds!?”
The stones fell again, this time clattering to the floor. Rarity ignored the mess she’d just made and rushed over to the chest where she kept her reserves of stones. She flung it open and started haphazardly chucking stones out of it. “It’s got to be in here somewhere! One! Just one diamond!”
She raked her hooves around the now-empty bottom of the chest before lifting the chest and shaking it, then throwing it away in vain. “This is unacceptable! It is the worst possible th—”
“Rarity?” came a voice from the stairs. Sweetie Belle looked down at the scene in front of her. Jewels were scattered all across the bottom floor of the Boutique, the chest had knocked over a line of mannequins, and Rarity herself looked like she’d just fought a manticore. “Um... so is this what it’s like when I make a mess?”
“Sweetie, you must understand,” Rarity said, attempting to cover up the flurry she’d unleashed. “This is not just a mess, this is a disaster brought about by a tragedy!”
Sweetie slowly walked down the steps, knocking down a few stray gems as she did. “What kind of tragedy?” Her eyes widened with fear and sadness. “Did something bad happen? Are you sick? Is there another threat to Equestria?”
“Yes Sweetie,” Rarity replied. She grabbed a brush with her magic and floated it over to her mane to straighten it out. “There is a grave threat and I have an incredibly important task for you.”
The worry in Sweetie’s eyes turned to excitement. “Really?”
“Yes, I need you to watch the store and help clean up some of this mess. I have an emergency diamond run to go on.” Rarity turned to leave, but added, “Maybe you’ll earn you cutie mark.”
Before Sweetie could say anything to her sister, Rarity galloped out the door. Sweetie looked down at the mess and yelled, “I don’t want a cutie mark for cleaning!”
I’ll just run over to the jewel fields... hopefully those ruffian dogs won’t be there this time, Rarity thought. Ponyville blurred around her, ponies and building melded together into a pallet of color.
Suddenly, out of the blur emerged a cyan pegasus. Rainbow Dash’s prismatic mane trailed along with the wind while she drew closer to Rarity. “Whoa Rarity, never thought I’d see you galloping this fast. You finally realize running is fun?”
“Not now Rainbow,” Rarity huffed, “I’m on an emergency mission right now!”
“An emergency?” Dash’s brow furrowed in slight worry. “Do you need me to get everypony else? Do we need to fight a monster?” The worry on Dash's face turned to excitement as a grin appeared on her lips. Dash playfully punched the air in front of her. “We can take it!”
“No Rainbow,” Rarity replied between heavy breaths. “It’s even worse than that! I ran out of diamonds!”
Dash’s wings stopped in shock and she rolled into the dirt. She picked herself up and coughed some dust out of her mouth. Rarity was still running away from her. “Rarity! You crazy mare!”
The pegasus shook her head and took off in a fit towards some nearby clouds. “I’m taking a nap...”
~~~
“Finally,” Rarity huffed. In front of her were the jewel fields. Small common gems poked out of the earth here and there, but Rarity knew the greatest spoils of the fields were tucked underground. She paused a moment to catch her breath and a strand of her purple mane fell in front of her face. “Oh, now I’ll need to redo my mane as well.”
Had she not been so focused on obtaining her diamonds, Rarity would have noticed that aside from her mane going off in multiple directions, her coat was covered in dust, her hooves were encrusted by mud, and her neck was drenched in sweat. She looked more like she belonged at Sweet Apple Acres than the Boutique.
However, her attention was on the field in front of her. She trotted forward, her horn alight with her gem-finding spell. “Oh, why do diamonds always have to be so—”
Rarity froze when she saw a large hole ahead of her. Acting on instinct, she jumped and hid in a nearby bush. Oh no! It’s those dreadful dogs again! Maybe I should have gotten Rainbow to come along.
Rarity sat in silence in the bush, waiting for the dogs to either come out of the hole or back to it. Slowly, the sun dragged across the sky. “Where are they?” Rarity wondered. Surely they’d have...
Something sparkled over near the hole. Rarity squinted her eyes and saw a nice bright diamond on the edge of the hole. With her trained eyes, Rarity could clearly make out that the diamond was one of exquisite quality. Although still rough, it had already been molded almost perfectly by the earth. As the sun’s rays reflected off it, the white diamond created a dazzling array of light.
“It’s perfect!” Rarity swooned. Her left leg stepped out of the bush, but she stopped her other legs from following. “Okay Rarity, you just need to rush over, grab the diamond, and get out of here. It’ll just be like those spy novels.”
Images of a streamlined stallion in tight camouflage flashed through Rarity’s mind. However, she thumped herself on the head to knock the images away. “Focus Rarity!”
She took a deep breath and darted out of the bushes straight at the diamond. She latched onto it with her magic and held it aloft in victory. “Oh, it’s even better up—”
“Ugh,” came a voice from within the hole. Close up now, Rarity could see she wasn’t standing on the edge of a hole, but rather a crater. Right in the center of it was a powder blue pegasus with a light blond mane, part of which covered his left eye.
“Good heavens!” Rarity cried, dropping the diamond and rushing down to the pony. Up close she now saw he was covered in various bruises, cuts, and dried blood. She also took note of the rather odd swirly eyebrow he had.
The pony’s right eye inched open for a second before shutting again. His whole form went limp.
Without saying a word, Rarity picked the pony up with her magic and laid him on her back. She kept him secure with his magic and then took off back to Ponyville at even faster speeds than she’d left it.
~~~
The first thing he realized was that the hard earth he’d crashed into had been replaced with an incredibly soft fabric. He slowly opened his eye and saw his head was on a pillow and his body was covered with a quilt of some sort. Another thing he immediately noticed was the smell of food cooking, a soup if he was not mistaken. Where am I?
His eye moved away from the bed and to the walls of the room, which were a light purple color with the bottom half covered in a darker purple crisscross pattern. Various sketches of dresses dotted the wall. A clothing store?
His eye wandered away from the sketches and to an odd figure in the room. It was a mannequin of some kind, but it looked like it was designed for a horse rather than a human. Odd... but given the daintiness of this place...
A thin smile crept across his face. I’ve been rescued by a lady of sophistication!
He moved to get up, but winced when his leg bent differently than he wanted it too. “Ow! Damn, that fight must have taken a lot out of me.”
He fell back on the bed as the pain abated and looked at the canopy above him. If I lived, then maybe everyone else is okay too.
Relieved that his friends were probably okay but scattered, he decided to see if whoever had saved him was still here. “Hello? Is anyone here?”
~~~
Downstairs, Rarity stirred some soup around with an enchanted ladle. She also floated a knife above some greens and quickly chopped them up. She took note that the water in a pot by the soup was boiling. She placed the knife on the cutting board before lifting up the boiling water and putting it in a cup with a tea bag in it. Tea steeping, she went back to work on the salad. She collected all the chopped greens, placed them in a bowl, added some vinaigrette, and mixed it with her magic.
Well, it’s not exactly proper medicine, but I’m sure he’ll be hungry when he gets up, thought Rarity. Thank goodness they teach basic first aid to everypony in magic kindergarten.
She disengaged her magic and went back to stirring the soup. Twilight said she’d come as soon as she got back from Canterlot. Thank the stars Spike was able to send that letter.
Her mind went back to the unconscious stallion upstairs. What in Equestria could have happened to him? Was he attacked by the dogs?
Rarity used the ladle to pour some of the soup into a bowl. That doesn’t explain the crater though... or his cutie mark. Why woul—
“Hello? Is anyone there?” came a voice from upstairs.
He’s up! Rarity instantly lit up her horn and gathered all parts of the meal onto a serving tray. She quickly rushed up the stairs with the food levitating behind her. However, once on the second floor, she paused in front of her bedroom door. Mustn’t rush, don’t want to frighten him. Best to talk to him before I go in.
“Sir? Are you up?” she asked.
On the other side of the door, the pony nearly jumped with joy. The voice of a muse... I must have died and gone to heaven. “Yes, I’m up. I’m assuming you’re the one that found me?”
“Oh yes,” Rarity replied outside, “you looked absolutely dreadful. I rushed you back here and gave you some first aid.” Rarity paused for a second before nervously asking, “If you don’t mind, what exactly happened to you?”
“That? Well...” The pony looked to the canopy again. Probably shouldn’t tell her I’m a pirate. “It's a long story but basically I was fighting a cheeky bear monster.”
“What?” Rarity practically screamed. “Why in Equestria would a chef be fighting a bear?”
“Well it—” The pony’s eye widened a little. “How did you know I was a chef?”
“Oh...” Rarity looked down at the ground in embarrassment. “Forgive me for prying, I just assumed your mark meant you were a chef.”
Mark? Ohhh, I get it. The pony chuckled a little. Of course such an elegant mademoiselle would be able to tell I’m a chef. “I’m impressed, usually I have to introduce myself before someone figures out I’m a chef. By the way, may I ask my savior’s name?”
“Rarity,” she replied, smiling a little. There’s so much respect in his voice. Ohhh, maybe he works at a fancy restaurant!
The pony’s eye was starting to turn into a comedic heart. “I’m Sanji, the pleasure is all mine lady Rarity,” he exclaimed.
Rarity blushed a little. “Why thank you... I’ve got some food here for you. Given your talent, it probably won’t be much, just something to pick you up. I’ve also called a friend of mine to come over, but given what a well-built stallion you seem to be, I’m sure she’ll just be here as a formality.”
She thinks I’m like a stallion! A small dribble of blood fell out of the Sanji’’s nose. Nami, Robin, I’m sorry! I’ve died and gone to heaven!
He was broken out of his reverie by Rarity’s voice. “May I come in?”
“Of course!” Sanji happily replied. Rarity turned the doorknob with her magic. “I’d love to finally put a face to your beautiful vo—”
Rarity trotted into the room. However, the smile on her face quickly fell away when she noticed that Sanji was staring at her like she was Nightmare Moon. “Is something wrong?”
“What?” Sanji rasped.
Rarity set the food down and rushed over to her bed. “Are you hurt? Ooh, I’m so sorry! I’ve never been good at first aid. Just tell me what’s wrong and I’ll try to help you until Twilight gets here.”
“W-what?” Sanji repeated. His eye went even wider than it had been when he saw the strange unicorn’s horn light up. “S-stay away!”
“Now don’t worry,” Rarity replied. “This is just a simple pain relief spell. It’s very short term, but it will help a little.”
“No!” Sanji screamed. He jabbed a hoof at Rarity. “What have you done with Rarity?”
Rarity raised an eyebrow at this. “I beg your pardon?”
“The girl I was just talking to! The one whose voice you st—” His pupils turned to pinpricks when he saw his hoof. “Ahh!”
“What?” Rarity asked with alarm.
“My hands! What did you do with them?!”
It was Rarity’s turn to say, “What?”
Sanji backed away and tumbled out of bed. He scampered to his hooves, causing color to drain from his face. “What the hell?! My legs too? What did that bear bastard do to me?!”
“Language sir,” Rarity chided. “Honestly, I’m glad I sent my sister off. What if she’d heard you?”
“Not important right now,” Sanji snapped, completely losing the charming act. He reflexively jabbed out a hoof at Rarity. “First off, where’s Rarity? Second, why do I have hooves?”
Instead of being offended, Rarity nervously bit her lip. “Oh dear, you must have hit your head. Look, my friend will be here soon and she knows a memory restoration spell that’ll fix you right up. So just calm down and we’ll sort this all out.”
At the mention of spells, Sanji backed further away. “You’re not pulling any demonic spells on me! Now what have you done with Rarity?”
He’s delirious, and he seemed so nice before. Rarity frowned a little. “Sir Sanji, I am Rarity and I assure neither my nor my friend’s spells are ‘demonic’ at all.”
Sanji’s face drained of any remaining color. His whole frame violently shook. Finally, a broken smile appeared on his face. “N-no,” he quivered, speaking more to himself rather than Rarity. “I... I was talking to a girl. She had a nice voice that could have only belonged to fine mademoiselle.”
“Well...” Rarity nervously eyed Sanji. “That’s a nice compliment?”
“No!” Sanji screamed. “Rarity was a girl! You are a horse! Girls have nice voices! Girls have curves! You. Do. Not!”
Rarity stood frozen for a second, before tears started streaming down her face. “I... I try to keep my looks good. Maybe I’m not like those model ponies in Canterlot, but I try! This is what I get for being generous!” Rarity broke down into sobs and darted out the door, leaving a completely befuddled pony behind.
Sanji stood still for a moment taking in the scene he’d just caused. He instinctively reached for the spot where he kept his cigarettes but only found blue fur and a strange mark of a knife and a fork crossed over each other, as well as the edges of a powder blue wing. He turned up to the sky and screamed, “What the hell is going on?!”
Meanwhile, Rarity rushed down the stairs. She had no goal in mind, she just want to get away from the horrible pony upstairs. How could he? I was just taking care of him and— Rarity smacked right into a purple unicorn, causing them both crashing to the ground.
“Rarity! Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Twilight. Picking herself up, she rushed over and help Rarity to her hooves as well. “I came as soon as I landed... have you been crying?”
Rarity fell into her friend’s shoulder and let out a string of sniffles and cries. “Twilight, it’s terrible! He seemed so nice and sophisticated and then he... he...” She devolved back into sobs.
Twilight patted Rarity on the back. “What happened? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“He might as well have,” replied Rarity. “He said I had no curves!”
Twilight stopped patting Rarity’s back and gave her friend a deadpan look. “What?”
“I couldn’t believe it either,” Rarity continued to sob. “But those were the words right out of his mouth!”
Twilight pushed Rarity off and shook her head to make sure this conversation was actually happening. “Okay, you’re going to have to start from the beginning. What happened after you sent that letter?”
Rarity sniffled and took a deep breath before speaking again. “After I sent the letter, I grabbed some food supplies at the market. I thought he’d need some food after waking up. I came back, made his food, and while I was cooking, he woke up. I talked to him a little before walking into the room. He sounded like such a gentlecolt.”
“And then what happened?”
“Well, I walked in and he turned white as a sheet. He ranted that I’d stolen my own voice and then started screaming about his hooves. I tried to calm him down but he just...” Rarity scowled. “He just acted like a big brute!”
“Anything else?”
“Well, he did mention fighting some horrible monster.”
Twilight closed her eyes in satisfaction. “Ah, that might explain things.”
“It does?”
“Yes,” Twilight replied. She trotted over to the stairs and started walking up them. “Most likely he got hit in the head, causing severe trauma to his brain. It probably messed up the part of the brain that controls his eyesight.” Twilight paused on her accent and tapped her chin. “I’m not leaving memory loss out either. I’m sure anything he said was just due to shock.”
“Really?” Rarity asked from behind Twilight.
“Why don’t we find out?” Twilight finished climbing the stairs and proceeded over to the bedroom. However, she stopped short of it and stayed away from the door. She turned and looked back at Rarity. “Okay, we don’t want to upset him, so let’s talk with him first.”
Back in the bedroom, Sanji and stumbled over to a mirror. He was taking in his form and gawking at it. Okay... I am a horse. With wings, apparently. He tried to flap them a little and felt a light breeze flowing around his head. Just what did that bear guy do to me? He raised a hoof and smacked his muzzle with it. “It’s not an illusion, otherwise I’d have hit nothing.”
The image of a hand with a paw on it flashed in his head. “Don’t tell me that bear bastard had another ability. Or maybe it was that horse thing.” He sighed, reached for his pocket again, and lamented that he no longer had any. “I need a sm—”
“Hello?” came a voice from the hall outside of the bedroom. It wasn’t Rarity’s voice, but to Sanji it was still quite lyrical.
Oh thank the heavens, a woman to console me in this time! He then looked down at his form. But what sort of woman would like a horse?
Hmm, Rarity was right, he does seem quite refined, thought Twilight.
“Some cheeky monster has transformed me into some horrible horse beast and worse yet, it stole fair Rarity’s voice!” Sanji cried a few comedic tears at the last clause of his sentence. “It even threatened me with spells!”
Twilight sighed. That doesn’t sound very promising.
“I was trying to help!” Rarity shouted at him.
“You’re still here?!” Sanji galloped, with quite a few tumbles, over to the door. He rushed out of the bedroom and locked onto Rarity. “Alright you horse monster! I won’t let you threaten another fine...” He noticed Twilight standing next to her. “... lady.”
“Now let’s just all stay calm,” said Twilight. “Nopony wants to get hurt here.”
“W-what?” Sanji deadpanned.
“Look, you’re hurt and we just want to help,” Twilight explained. “We think you have some brain trauma, so I’ll need to give you a quick scan.”
“Where... where’s the girl?” Sanji stuttered.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What girl?”
Sanji pointed a hoof at her. “The girl I was talking to just now! Where is she?” He shifted his hoof over to Rarity. “And you! What is going on here?”
“Sir,” Twilight said in the calmest voice she could muster. “I assure you, we’ve done nothing to anypony else. Rarity here has been taking care of you and I came to provide assistance.”
Sanji stood frozen as he took the information in. Then he spoke in a small shaking voice that reminded the two mares of Fluttershy a little. “W-what am I?”
“A pony? A pegasus, to be exact,” Twilight nervously answered.
“Is... is everyone on this island a pony?” Sweat started dripping from Sanji’s face.
“Well, Equestria isn’t an island, but yes, everypony is, well, a pony,” Twilight explained.
The sweat was now rapidly pouring down Sanji’s face and his eye was twitching. “E-even the girls?”
“Yes,” Twilight replied, taking note of Sanji’s declining demeanor. “If this is causing you distress we ca—”
Twilight was interrupted by Sanji breaking down into tears and bawling like a foal. He flailed his hooves at the ground and wailed in sorrow. Watching a grown stallion have a complete breakdown, all Twilight could say was, “Um...”
Rarity, however, trotted forward and placed a hoof and Sanji’s back. “Surely whatever happened to you can’t be this bad?”
“It is!” Sanji sobbed. Then he noticed who was comforting him. “Oh, Rarity, forgive me! I didn’t know you’d been cursed!”
Rarity stopped comforting him. “What?”
“This island,” Sanji cried, “it must be cursed to turn whoever enters it into a horse.” His eye went over to Twilight. “What a cruel fate for such innocent girls to suffer!” He then buried himself in Rarity’s shoulder.
Rarity gave Sanji another pat on the back before looking over to Twilight. “Twilight dear, I think he’s gone into shock.”
In response, Twilight lit up her horn. “I hear ya.”
A purple aura encased Sanji’s head for a moment. His eye drooped heavily. “Huh?” He then collapsed onto Rarity.
~~~
With one skillful flick of his wrist, Sanji sent the jambalaya he’d been cooking onto nine separate plates. He ensured that two of the plates he was using were of a much higher quality than the others.
He quickly picked up eight of plates, leaving one for himself in the kitchen. Meal in tow, he balanced all of them out onto the deck of the Sunny. “Lunch time!”
Out of nowhere, a monkey in a straw hat jumped onto Sanji’s shoulder and snatched up one of the nicer plates. “Thanks Sanji! This looks great! Shishishi!”
Sanji’s eye went wide in shock. “Luffy?! What the hell? Why are you a monkey?!”
An owl with a rather long beak then landed on Sanji’s other shoulder. “Geez man, what’s wrong with you?”
“Usopp?! Why are you a bird?” Sanji screamed.
A tiger with green and black stripes walked over and bared its fangs at Sanji. “Oi, stop screaming like that! I’m trying to sleep.”
“Shut up moss-head!” Sanji replied. “Now will somebody tell me why you’re all animals?”
“We’ve always been!” A large blue gorilla jumped up from the side of the ship and onto the deck. It flipped its sunglasses up and gave Sanji a confused look. “You okay bro? You’re not looking super.”
Sanji raised a hand, causing the food to crash to ground. “Hey, I was gonna eat that,” complained the monkey-Luffy.
“Okay,” Sanji huffed, “Luffy and Franky I can understand, by why are the rest of you like this?”
“Like what?” said a skeletal dog with a large afro. “Sanji, I think you need to calm down or you’ll die of fright! Yo ho ho!”
“Not now Brook!” Sanji hissed. “Something is wrong! You’ve all become animals and you don’t even realize it!”
A teenage boy wearing a pink top hat excitedly ran over. “I’m not an animal!”
“Chopper?” Sanji’s eye went wide in fear again. “Oh no, if you’re all switched around then...” He dropped the remaining plates he had and sprinted across the ship. “Nami! Robin!”
“What are you yelling about?” came Nami’s voice. Sanji froze and turned around. Behind him were two reclining chairs. He could make out Nami’s orange hair in one and Robin’s in the other.
Sanji joyfully rushed over to the two women. He placed a hand on Nami’s “Oh thank god, when I saw the others I...” He was looking down at a peach colored horse with an orange mane. “N-no...”
“Sanji, you okay?” asked the horse-Nami. “You don’t look well.”
“Perhaps he caught something at the last island,” said Robin.
Sanji spun around and was met with another horse. This one was purple with a black mane and a horn. “No, oh god no!”
“Chopper!” Nami called out. “Can you get over here? I think Sanji’s sick.”
“No!” Sanji screamed. “I’m not sick! You are!” He jabbed a hoof at them. He gasped in horror, tumbled back, and somehow managed to fall off the boat and into the sea. He flailed around, but he couldn’t swim with hooves. Above him, the animals the rest of his crew had become looked down with crooked grins. Just before the waves washed over him, he screamed.
~~~
“Waaaahhh!” Sanji yelled. He sat up from the bed he’d been sleeping up and breathed heavily. “Oh, it was just a...” He realized Rarity was giving him a concerned look. He fell back on the bed with a fwump. “Oh no. No, no, no!”
“I knew Twilight shouldn’t have used that sleeping spell on you,” said Rarity. Sanji’s mouth dropped when he saw her horn light up with a blue aura and a wet cloth floated over to his head. “You sounded like you were having a terrible nightmare. I tried to wake you up, but when you started kicking, well...” Her eyes drifted over to a corner of the bed.
Sanji looked over at the corner and saw that one of the beams holding up the canopy had been obliterated. The beam in question was now on the other side of the room, resting under a large dent in the wall. “Oh.”
“It’s quite fine,” replied Rarity, her voice cracking slightly. “I wanted to… renovate the room anyway. Right now though, we’re more concerned about you. You sound like you’ve been through something horrible... does it have something to do with a ‘Nami’ or a ‘Robin’? You kept muttering them in your sleep.”
“They’re friends,” Sanji explained. He pushed himself up. “I need to be going.”
“Going where?” Rarity wondered.
“Back to my ship.” Sanji’s eye traced over Rarity. “This place is far too cruel.”
Rarity corked her head a little. “I don’t quite follow.”
Sanji comically sniffled a little. “Oh fair Rarity, to not even know you’ve been cursed! Such a fine and sophisticated woman trapped in the body of a horse. It’s too tragic,” Sanji whimpered.
“Pony,” Rarity corrected. “And I still don’t quite follow. I’m not ‘trapped’ in this body, I was born a pony like, well, everypony. Still, thank you for the compliment, I suppose.” Rarity leaned a little closer. “Aside from the delirium, you seem like a nice stallion.”
“Oh,” Sanji smiled a little. “So everypony is born this way. Well, I’m glad that got cleared up.” Before Rarity could even sigh in relief, Sanji bolted out of the bed and ran straight out of the room. Unfortunately, this meant running into the rest of Rarity’s friends.
“Whoa!” yelled Dash.
“Eep!” squeaked Fluttershy.
“What in tarnation?” said Applejack
“Rarity!” said Twilight. “I thought we were going to take this slowly!”
"Oooh!” said Pinkie Pie with a smile. “Are we playing a game?
Sanji stared at the mares he’d run into for a second before running even faster away from them. In seconds, he was out the door and speeding down Ponyville’s streets.
“Stop him!” Rarity called out. “He’ll hurt himself!”
Outside, Sanji’s heart was racing faster and faster. All around him, ponies with sweet girl voices stared at him and asked what he was doing. He ran faster. Behind him, he heard the voices of the ponies he’d seen in Rarity’s house.
“Geez, he’s fast,” said Dash. “And he’s not even flying!”
“So we’re playing tag then?” asked Pinkie.
“Knew Ah should’ve brought ma rope,” said Applejack.
“Sir Sanji, please wait!” yelled Rarity at the head of the group with Twilight following close behind. “We just want to help you!”
“Ahhhh!” Sanji gasped for breath as he heard the words of a concerned maiden coming from the muzzle of an animal. Running from them, he thought back to Nami and Robin again.
Dear Nami and Robin, I hope you’re safe. As for me, fate has thrust me into the darkest pits of despair!
A few ponies turned their heads at the blue pegasus galloping through the streets of the town. The pegasus in question took another sharp turn into an alley and finally stopped for a moment to catch his breath. Running on four legs was new, but by now it was already as easy to him as running on two legs had been. He didn’t know if he should be thankful for that or rather be concerned about it.
The pegasus was known in most parts of the world as “Black Leg Sanji”. He was also known as a human, which was probably the only thing the marines had gotten right about him on the “wanted” poster. Now he couldn’t even say that anymore.
Sanji carefully moved to the next corner of the alley, checking if the coast outside was clear. Pony, horse or whatever else he was now, he had still managed to outrun the group of crazy mares. Thinking about them sent a pain right through his heart; The poor girls didn’t even seem to realize the terrible fate they had been afflicted with.
He was now walking – trotting, he corrected himself – through a mostly empty street, trying not to draw any attention. A few steps ahead he noticed a tree house – an actual tree with windows in its sides and even a small balcony… By far not the strangest building Sanji had seen on his journey. What really caught his attention were the bookshelves he could spot through every window. The tree seemed to be a library or something of that sort.
Sanji trembled a little as painful memories of a beautiful woman with black hair shot through his head. He had to find a way off of this island and back to the Shabondy Archipelago. But there was still one other necessity he had to take care of.
Spike was busy reshelving books when he heard the knock at the door. At least that’s what he was going to tell Twilight. Twilight saw him taking naps often enough whenever she was around, he wouldn’t just tell her that he was even less motivated to work when she wasn’t keeping an eye on him.
“Can I help you?” The pegasus outside was no pony Spike had seen before in Ponyville, he was pretty sure of that. Still, he didn’t even flinch when Spike opened the door. Maybe they had dragons wherever he came from, too.
“Is this the local library?” the blue stallion asked. Yup, definitely from out of town.
“As a matter of fact, it is. Do you need a certain book or--?”
The stallion cut him off. “Actually, I just wanted to ask if you had any cigarettes.”
Spike gave him a slightly confused look. “`Cigarettes´? What are those supposed to be?”
The stallion frowned for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. “Nevermind. Could you maybe give me a few pieces of paper? I don’t have any money on me, though.”
“I don’t think that’s a problem. Twilight usually scraps more paper in a day than you could carry.” Spike collected a few crumpled notes and straightened them out before walking back over to the door. “These are mainly unused. I’ll just rip the top part off–“ his claws performed a mix of cutting and ripping and the top parts of the paper sheets came right off. “–there you go. They’re a little small now, I hope that’s not a problem.”
“They’re perfect, actually,” the stallion replied. “Thank you. Now if you excuse me, I really need to hurry.” With that he turned around and galloped off through the street.
“Hey! That way is the Everfree Forest!” Spike shouted after him, but the stallion didn’t seem to hear him. “What a strange pony,” he muttered to himself. “Travelling through town without any money. I wonder if he already met Pinkie Pie…”
A few streets away Twilight and her friends had stopped in front of Sugarcube Corner.
“Wow, he’s fast!” Rainbow Dash commented. “Almost as fast as I am.”
“Well, you’re only a little slower than me, so why didn’t you catch him?” Rainbow Dash shot back.
Twilight quickly intervened. “Girls, focus! There’s a very confused pony running around and we have to find him before he gets in trouble! Besides,” she jokingly added, “I think I’ve got a small trophy somewhere that says I’m faster than both of you.”
Oh, I remember!” Pinkie chimed in. “Me and Spike got to play commentators and fly in a balloon. Ooh, I should be the commentator for more of our adventures! That would be– Whoaa!” Pinkie mane suddenly jumped to the right, pulling her head along. “My Pinkie Sense! There’s a new pony at the library!” Without another word she ran off in the direction her mane had pointed.
Twilight blankly stared after her for a moment before turning back to her other friends. “That must be him. We better follow Pinkie.”
Sanji scanned the surrounding forest for anything suspicious. Now that he was away from the town he could finally relax a little. Whatever this jungle would throw at him couldn’t be half as bad as the nightmare he had just escaped from. Nightmare. Even the word itself seemed to mock him.
Still, the situation was not completely hopeless. Maybe that town was just an exception and the rest of the island was not completely inhabited by horses – or small dragons for that matter. The one at the library had been quite polite and helpful, but Sanji could only hope that the curse of this island didn’t turn some girls into dragons as well. He might not survive hearing a voice like that of the poor Rarity out of such a scaly body.
He also had some paper now, to make some makeshift cigarettes if he couldn’t find any. Finding tobacco in this forest was not very likely, but maybe he could find some sort of substitute.
He spread his wings a little and bit into the corner of the pieces of paper they had carried. He had found that they could work surprisingly similar to hands if he wanted, at least a lot better than his hooves would. He tried to flap them again, still holding the paper with his mouth, and managed to lift himself off the ground. He then set his hind legs back on the ground and tried to stand like he normally would, his wings still slowly beating to keep his balance. Maybe he could still fight.
He thought about that for a moment. His forelegs felt like actual legs just as much as they still felt like his arms, which was confusing to say the least. If he could use his wings as some kind of hands, though, and cook with them on the same level he had before – without a doubt he would need some practice first – then he had four actual legs free to use in a fight. It would take some getting used to, but the possibilities where there.
He set his forelegs back to the ground and took the paper back up with his wing. He glanced around once more as he started to move into a faster trot. Deeper into the forest, off the path, a shimmer caught his attention.
Rarity carefully stepped over roots and around muddy spots as she made her way deeper into the Everfree. Spike had told them that the stallion had left in this direction and the six of them had split up to cover more ground. Rarity wasn’t exactly happy with the arrangements.
She carefully made her way around a larger bramble, trying to keep her mane away from the thorns, twigs and vines, and found herself at the entrance to a cave. A scared and confused pony would probably try to find some shelter. Sure enough, some light reflected from the walls deeper inside the cave. Maybe he had made himself a fire.
Rarity rounded the corner further down the cave and was greeted not by the light of a campfire, but the glimmer of gold, gemstones and jewelry. A dragon’s hoard. That must belong to the dragon Spike and Twilight told us about. Rarity was about to turn around when she saw something lying at one side of the hoard. She let out a small gasp.
“Diamonds! A whole collection of them! Those are exactly what I need.” In a second she was at the edge of the hoard, singling out the best ones and floating them into her saddlebags. “Well, this adventure certainly is a success already.” Her eyes moved a little to the side. “Hmm. I’m sure he wouldn’t miss a ruby or two.”
“I’m pretty sure I would,” said a dark voice behind her.
Rarity’s pupils shrank rapidly. She slowly turned around and came face to face with a huge green dragon with yellow eyes. “Why, hello,” she nervously began. “This must be your hoard. I’ve heard a lot about you. A friend told me about you.”
The dragon blew a cloud of smoke at her. “Did he tell you that I don’t like ponies stealing my gems?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t even think about taking anything.” Rarity slowly levitated one of the diamonds out of her saddlebag. “I was simply admiring the way they– Catch!” She threw the diamond right over the dragon’s head and sprinted for the exit. The dragon’s surprise wore off faster than she would have liked and he started chasing after her. She made it out of the cave and around the bramble just in time to dodge a stream of flames emanating from the cave entrance. She felt a short pull and looked back to see a tuft of her mane stuck on a few thorns.
She let out a high-pitched scream as she continued running.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash had both followed the scream and almost simultaneously burst out of the forest into a clearing. They had barely enough time to notice each other’s presence before Rarity came galloping out of the forest on the other side of the clearing. A small tree flew over her head and landed in front of her, momentarily cutting her off from her two friends.
Before either of them could react a green dragon burst into the clearing, knocking over another tree. The dragon let out a loud roar and turned his gaze back to Rarity. “You won’t get away this time, pony.”
“Hey! Leave her alone!” Rainbow Dash had already made his way over the tree and was now flying at the dragon’s head, ready to give him a good buck. “You’re not the first dragon I’ve fought.”
The dragon sent a jet of flames right over Rainbow Dash’s head, forcing her down to avoid the heat. He brought one of his clawed hands down on Rainbow Dash who could only pull her wings in and try to avoid the claws to reduce the damage. She hit the ground a couple of feet away, which added more bruises to the ones she already had. Meanwhile Twilight had made her way around the tree and now immediately rushed to her side to check her for serious injuries.
“And now to you, pony.” The dragon looked down on Rarity, who was still trapped between him and the tree. He took a deep breath and got ready to let loose another jet of flames.
“No!” Rainbow Dash had already taken to the air again and flew towards Rarity, but had to stop and shield her head with her hooves as flames shot out of the dragon’s mouth and towards Rarity. She and Twilight could only watch as the blaze consumed everything for what seemed like minutes. When the fire died down the earth where Rarity had been was scorched and the tree had been burned to a stump.
“Rarity,” whispered Twilight. Beside her, Rainbow Dash had not landed but simply let herself fall to the ground. They just stared at the big scorch mark where their friend had been. It took Twilight a moment to notice a movement at the edge of the forest, several feet away from the burned earth.
A powder blue pegasus with a blond mane stood on his hind legs with his back turned to them, his wings slowly beating to keep him in balance. Smoke was rising from his head. The pegasus slowly turned around and Twilight could that he was looking at a shivering white unicorn lying in his forelegs. His hooves were deep red and reflected the sunlight, as if he was wearing horseshoes entirely made out of ruby.
The pegasus raised his head and stared at the dragon, then turned his head to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. In his eyes was a determination that Twilight had never seen on anypony before. She could hear the hooves of other ponies as Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy entered the clearing and made their way to Rainbow Dash and her.
“It doesn’t matter what you look like or why I am suddenly a horse,” the pegasus declared. “I WILL NEVER IGNORE A LADY’S CALL FOR HELP!”
The words were surprising, to say the least. Twilight could only stare at the blue pony that had saved her friend and even the dragon seemed to be caught off-guard by this turn of events.
Rarity, still shivering from her recent near-death experience, looked up with wonder at the pegasus that had saved her life. An hour ago the stallion had terribly confused her, acting like a perfect gentlecolt at one moment and being just rude the next. Now here he was, after rescuing her from an almost certain doom. The thought off a stallion carrying a mare in his legs seemed stupid and incredibly unrealistic even in the stories she read, and yet he was doing exactly that.
“You should get somewhere safe.” Sanji began to move towards Twilight and her friends. He was performing something between walking and flying to keep his legs free for the task of carrying Rarity. He took a short glance at the dragon. “I’ll take care of this guy.”
“The pony will not leave!” The dragon had finally shaken off his stupor and raised his right hand high in the air, only to bring it back down at Sanji and Rarity. Sanji quickly jumped up high and out of the way and away from the cloud of dust the strike had whirled up. However, now that he was in the air he was not able to avoid the dragon’s second hand that was coming down on the two ponies. The dragon’s left hand slammed into the ground on top of Sanji and Rarity, raising a second cloud of dust.
Pinkie Pie, Applejack and even Fluttershy shrieked in shock, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash could only whimper quietly. Seeing their friend die the first time had taken up all their energy.
As the dust settled they could make out the outlines of the giant hand slowly rising from the ground. The five mares stared at it, expecting it to lift up from a crater or at least the crushed remnants of two ponies. However, the hand stopped moving and as the last of the dust dispersed they saw the reason for that.
Rarity lay unconscious on the ground. On both sides of her the stallion’s forelegs were planted firmly onto the ground while his hind legs kept the dragon’s claws at bay, not moving an inch. The same smoke as before was still wafting from his face, which was almost completely covered in shadows.
"Keep your dirty paws off this lady!" Sanji's pushed his forelegs against the ground one last time and bucked the claws away from himself and Rarity. He immediately rushed at the dragon, his wings stretched out and a thin trail of smoke following his head.
In the meantime Twilight strained herself to levitate the unicorn over to the group as fast as possible. Applejack and Fluttershy stood around Rainbow Dash who was still slumped on the ground, her eyes glazed over from the recent shocks. Pinkie Pie was completely focused on the fight that was taking place way to close to them in Twilight’s opinion.
Fluttershy turned her head to face her other friends. “I think Mr. Sanji was right. We should get away from that dragon, fast.”
It took Twilight a moment to remember who `Mr. Sanji´ was. Before she could reply Applejack brought herself in, “Ah’d love to do that, but we can’t leave that guy to face a grown dragon on his own”
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie chimed in. She had somehow gotten her hooves on a bag of popcorn and was happily flipping it into her mouth. “We would miss the whole show.”
Twilight gave the pink pony an odd look before turning back to her other friends – or at least the two of them who were still responsive. “Applejack is right. We have to help him! I know the situation doesn’t look good, but we have to at least try to–“
“Um, actually it doesn’t look like he really needs our help,” Fluttershy squeaked in her usual timid voice. Twilight followed her gaze to the dragon behind her that was flailing his arms around in a futile effort to hit the pegasus stallion.
“Party Table Kick Course!” Sanji had just dodged another attack from the dragon and jumped towards its still outstretched arm. He gave one last flap with his wings to gain momentum and pulled them back against his body. He was now spinning on his hind hooves along the dragon’s arm while his outstretched forelegs continuously beat against it. He couldn’t stretch his hind legs at the angles necessary for many of his techniques, but he found that his new forelegs more than made up for this. They felt like his legs, were just as strong and fast, but also had the additional skill and control his arms had gained from the daily high-level cooking.
The dragon was heavily armored by his scales and had very little experience in fighting, as far as Sanji could tell. He was simply flinging his claws at Sanji and occasionally shot a small jet of flames at him while completely neglecting his defense. Sadly, it seemed like he had good reasons for his self-confidence; the dragon barely seemed to notice Sanji’s kicks and just kept going. If anything, they only served to make him angrier.
“Lizard meat is usually quite tough,” Sanji muttered as he dodged another swipe and finally saw an opening to reach the dragon’s main body. “Before we can prepare the meat we have to tenderize it!” He turned on his front hooves and gave the dragon’s chest a strong buck. The dragon let out a yelp and was pushed back a little by the sheer force, but Sanji was already standing on his hind legs again and kicked away at the dragon’s body with his forelegs, shouting out the corresponding pieces of meat he was `tenderizing`.
“That’s enough!” The dragon brought his tail around to swipe at the pegasus who jumped away to dodge the attack. While the pony was in the air, he opened his mouth and let out a roaring inferno, far too wide for the pegasus to avoid. Sanji was hit by the attack and was pulled along by the fire until he hit the ground as a sizzling heap.
The dragon looked down at the burned pony with a smug grin for a moment and then turned his attention to the group of mares that stood unmoving at the edge of the clearing. Everypony, save for the still unconscious Rarity, was staring at the smoking remnants of the pony they had just met and who had saved the life of one of them just a few minutes ago. He took a step towards his next target, but stopped when he noticed a movement at the edge of his vision.
“We’re not done yet.” The blue pegasus stood again, the shaking in his legs quickly subsiding. He looked quite beat up, but his fur coat was still complete and nothing about him showed that he had just taken the brunt of a dragon’s fire. “I’ve gotten worse burns in the kitchen.” Sanji took a deep breath and let out another cloud of smoke. “You should never attempt to fight a chef with fire.”
With that he raised himself up until he stood on his hind legs again, using them and his wings to gain momentum while keeping his forelegs outstretched. The dragon watched him for a second with a mix of curiosity and annoyance. A deep and irritated rumble escaped his throat and he brought his clawed hand down on Sanji once more. At the last moment Sanji stopped his spin and brought his forelegs up to block the attack. His forelegs were glowing in a bright yellow and his hooves were bright red.
His hooves met the dragon’s hand and stopped it in its tracks. Scales gave a light sizzling sound where the hooves touched them, but other than that it didn’t seem to have any effect on the dragon. The dragon kept pushing and Sanji felt himself slowly moving even with two hooves dug into the ground. There was another feeling, though.
When he had fled out of that town he noticed that he could feel the wind and air currents. He thought that it might have something to do with his new body and the wings that came with it. Now, however, he felt another sensation; the heat was pulsating through his front hooves. It was not just temperature, it seemed to be a part of him. He had used this technique several times, but it had never been like this.
The dragon was still not reacting to his glowing hooves. If he didn’t find a way to break through the dragon’s defense, this fight would be a lost cause. The six girls – mares – were still standing nearby and watching, the dragon would go after them next. Sanji thought back to them. The poor girls didn’t even seem to know what a terrible curse had befallen their island. He could picture how they might look like as humans. If he couldn’t protect them, how would he ever be able to help the rest of his crew, his captain and most importantly Nami and Robin? They were probably on their way back to their ship already, and here he was, losing against a big lizard.
The feeling in his forelegs seemed to get stronger. Sanji tried to focus on it. They seemed to get even hotter. He did his best to push the heat even further and his hooves suddenly seemed to burst into flames. The dragon let out a yelp and quickly pulled his claws back from the fire.
“Monster Barbecue!” Sanji didn’t even think to jump or run after him. His wings spread unconsciously and he shot flying at the dragon. He didn’t even notice the glow from his hooves trailing after his body like a comet’s tail. He put the full force of his momentum behind his first attack and followed up with a series of fast kicks before the dragon had time to recover. Burn marks covered the dragon’s entire chest and he staggered backwards into the woods, letting out pained groans.
Sanji jumped off the dragon’s body and beat his wings as fast as he could, rising above the forest and still going higher. Turning around, he beat his wings twice to descend even faster and started flipping over rapidly. He brought his front hooves down on the dragon’s head, yelling “Concassé Blaze!” The dragon roared in pain and slowly fell over to the side. He hit the ground with white eyes and stopped moving.
Sanji landed on four legs without using his wings and let the heat in his forelegs subside. He spit the smoking stump of his cigarette to the ground and stomped it out with one hoof. Trotting over to the group of mares he looked up at the reddening sky. “It’s going to be night soon; you should get back to your town.” He walked past them and made his way into the forest.
Twilight stared after him dumbfounded for a moment before she caught herself. “Wait!” She galloped after the stallion, adamant on getting some answers. As she and her friends caught up to him she noticed that his hooves were back to their previous black color.
Seven ponies and one dragon were currently seated around a table in the Ponyville library. After the fight with the dragon Twilight – with the help of Fluttershy – had convinced the strange pegasus who called himself Sanji to come back with them, at least for the night. Rarity had awoken from her unconsciousness just when they were entering the town and Rainbow Dash seemed to be back to her usual energetic self as well – even though she still stared out of the window and into the night from time to time.
Spike had been sleeping by the door when they reached the library, but was immediately wide awake and asked worried questions about the new pony, where they had been and why it had taken so long. He got even more worried when they told them that they – and most of all, Rarity – had been attacked by a dragon. When he heard that the new pony had saved them – and most of all, Rarity – he stared at Sanji in disbelief and wide-eyed idolization.
As soon as they settled down, however, Twilight started to bombard the stallion with questions. “I have so many questions! How did you do that? What did you do, anyway? I have never seen anypony move like that. What happened to your horseshoes? I’m sure you were wearing some kind of horseshoes. What were those made of, anyway, rubies? And what was that smoke? Ohmygosh, there’s so much to know!” Her friends leaned in a little closer as well, curious of the answers themselves.
Sanji shifted around a little, trying to get comfortable with the sitting position his new body demanded. “I’m not sure how to answer some of those questions. The smoke came from my cigarettes; I already gathered that those are not very common around here. I think those… horseshoes had something to do with it, too, but I don’t know what exactly happened with those.”
“You mentioned something about `cigarettes´ when you came here a few hours ago, right? Is that what you needed those pieces of paper for?” Spike said.
“I remember,” Twilight added. “You had something in your mouth when you were fighting that dragon. Was that the paper? But that wouldn’t make any sense… unless there’s something inside the paper. And the smoke would mean that whatever it was must have been burning. But why would you do that? Was it even supposed to be burning?”
She had floated a notebook and quill over to the table and was already feverishly writing away. The other ponies remained quiet for the moment, letting the professional student handle the interrogation. That didn’t mean, of course, that they weren’t all at least as curious about the answers as Twilight.
“They are supposed to be burning, or actually the leaves inside the paper are supposed to be. It’s an addiction, and an unhealthy one, too. Normally cigarettes contain tobacco, but since I couldn’t find any of that I had to look for a replacement.” Sanji spread his wings a little and craned his neck to ruffle through the feathers around the base of his right wing. “I was actually slightly worried if it would turn out to be poisonous, but something about those flowers just seemed like they would work… Ah.”
From between the feathers a single rolled up piece of paper fell to the ground. Sanji picked it up with a wing and set it down on the table for the rest of the ponies to see. Twilight could see something blue at one end of it.
“That… That’s Poison Joke. Why would you… How did you even get the idea to use Poison Joke of all things?”
“Is that what it’s called? I needed some kind of substitute for the cigarettes.” Sanji took another look at the blue leaves spilling from the paper. “The color is a little strange, but it works. I don’t know what it did to my fee- hooves, though.”
“The effects of Poison Joke are completely unpredictable. Usually they are more of a hindrance, though. I don’t know much about it, but it shouldn’t work this fast either, or wear off on its own.” She walked around the table and began examining the stallion. “How did you pick it up? Did you have direct contact to it? Did you notice any changes?”
“It didn’t seem dangerous, so I picked it up with my wings; carefully, of course. The hoof thing was unexpected, but beside that I don’t feel any different.”
Sanji backed away a little as Twilight tried to spread his wing. The unicorn tried it once more, but quickly gave up.
“Well, if you’ve been poison-joked, it will probably not show before tomorrow morning, so we can’t really do anything but wait. Aloe and Lotus always keep the remedy at their spa since last time, so that won’t be a problem. Still, if that cigarette already had an effect on you it might cancel out the actual Poison Joke. If that’s true then we have a new cure for Poison Joke that can be used before the joke even shows.” Twilight’s notebook was floating in front of her again and she was taking notes as fast as she could. “Not to mention that the effects of that cigarette seemed different from normal Poison Joke, positive even.” She sighed. “Of course we have no way to prove that, so in the end it’s all just a theory.”
“So let’s talk about you.” She looked up from her notebook and back to Sanji. “When we found you, you said that a bear attacked you. Rarity also told me that she found you inside a strangely shaped crater. What exactly happened?”
“Me and my friends were attacked by this guy at the Shabondy Archipelago. He was incredibly strong, and we had no chance to win. Our captain told us all to run away and meet up later at the ship. Then this bear guy, Kuma, appeared out of nowhere and started to make everyone… I don’t know. They just disappeared! He probably sent them of somewhere like he did with me. I don’t know if he got all of us, but it wouldn’t surprise me.” Sanji seemed like he could break down any moment, but he kept his composure.
Twilight couldn’t make sense of any of it yet. “Your captain? I thought you were a chef.”
Sanji took a deep breath and braced himself for the reaction. “I’m a pirate. I’m the chef for our crew, the Strawhat Pirates, and we’re trying to sail the Grand Line so our captain can become the Pirate King.”
“A pirate?” Pinkie Pie let out an audible gasp. “You mean like in those stories that Rarity always reads?”
Rarity tried to cut her off with a forced laugh. “Ahaha, what stories? I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, darling.” Her eyes shifted from side to side.
“I mean your romantic novels, silly.” Pinkie Pie put a hoof around her and started to gesticulate with the other one. “You know, those books about tough stallions and adventures and romance between-“
“Oh, those old books!” Rarity said a bit too loud, trying to free herself from Pinkie’s hoof at the same time. “I don’t think those are very accurate, so let’s never talk of them again.”
Twilight did her best to ignore the two. “You said something about a Grand Line, but I’ve never heard about a place like that. I’ve never heard of a ´Shabondy Archipelago´, either.”
Applejack took a step closer to join the discussion. “Maybe you could ask the Princess. If anypony knows about that, it would be her.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Twilight said. “We can’t just bother Princess Celestia with something like this. We’re in a library after all, I’m sure I can find something out about this Grand Line.” Her face brightened. “That does remind me of something, though. I should write a report to the Princess.“ She squeed and tried to locate her assistant. “Spike? Can you take a letter?”
“Way ahead of you, Twilight.” The baby dragon already held a quill and an empty scroll in his hands, ready to start writing.
“You’re the best, Spike. Now, take a letter… Uhm.” She stopped in her tracks, trying to find the right words. “Take a letter… Ah, I got it!”
Dear Princess Celestia,
No matter how hard you try, there might be a time when it seems impossible to help your friends, but that is no reason to lose hope. Even if you can’t help a friend, another pony might just be able to.
Today my friends and I met a stallion who seemed quite strange at first, but stood up for us when we needed help the most. Even though he barely knew us he put his life on the line for us and – as much as it scares me – without him I could have lost one of my friends. There’s still a lot that we don’t know about him and I hope to find out more about him before he leaves Ponyville again.
I’ll write another report once I’ve found out more about him and the place he came from. I have never even heard of the place he claims to have come from or any of the other things he mentioned and I feel like there’s a lot to know.
Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle
She handed the letter over to Spike and Sanji watched with interest as the dragon simply burned it with a wisp of green fire.
“Isn’t it a bit late to send the Princess a letter?” Applejack spoke up. ”Ah mean, Ah know she’s important and busy and all that, but she's got to sleep some time, right?”
“Don’t worry, Applejack.” Twilight gave her friend a warm smile. It was nice to talk about more normal things for a while. “The letters don’t just appear in front of the Princess if she’s busy or asleep. Usually they end up in a certain spot where she can pick them up and read them as soon as she has the time.” She stopped for a second to let that information sink in and turned her attention back to their guest. “Anyway, now that that’s out of the way I still have so many questions! Is this Grand Line-“
Her interrogation was interrupted by a low rumble. Everypony turned their heads in the direction the sound had come from. “I’m sorry,” mumbled Fluttershy, keeping her head down. “It’s just that I was really busy taking care of a new animal earlier today, so when you and Rarity came by I hadn’t had lunch and-“
Another stomach could be heard, this time from the other side of the table. Twilight blushed a little. “I guess all this running made me a bit hungry, too. Spike, I know it’s getting late, but could you fix us some quick dinner? It doesn’t have to be much, just some sandwiches would be fine.”
Spike started to move towards the library’s kitchen with a bit off mumbled protest, but Sanji had already passed him and was now blocking his way. “If you don’t mind, I can take care of that. It’s the least I can do after you offered to let me stay here. Just show me were everything is and I’ll prepare some real dinner.” And find out just what ponies eat in the process, he thought.
Twilight and her friends had followed him into the kitchen. “The least you can do? You saved Rarity from a dragon! Letting you spend a night in the library is the least we can do!”
Sanji continued finding his way around the kitchen, inspecting spices, ingredients and tools. “I really don’t mind making some food; I am a chef, after all. It’s my calling. Whoa!” He had opened another door to find a whole cupboard filled to the top with apples.
“That’s a lot of apples,” Applejack remarked.
Twilight turned around to her, grimacing a little. ”We… have a few left. Don’t get me wrong, Applejack, it’s really nice of you to give me some apples whenever I help you out, but… We’re just two ponies – one pony and a baby dragon, actually – and between the two of us and eating out occasionally and all of Pinkie’s parties… We eat a lot of apples when we’re at home.”
“Well, why didn’t y’all just say so? Anyway, now we’re all here, so how about we help you get rid of some of those there apples?”
Sanji pulled a few apples out of the cupboard and examined them from all sides. “These are really high quality. I’m sure I can make something out of these.”
Great, Twilight thought, more apples.
Twilight looked over the table in front of her. She couldn’t prove it, but the plates seemed cleaner than they had been an hour ago. Maybe she should repeat the experiment, just to be sure.
Dinner seemed like a dream and some of the details were already slipping from her mind. Objectively, dinner had been apples. But saying that would be like calling Princess Celestia a pony. She had never eaten anything like it and, judging from the state her friends were in, neither had they. This stallion – Sanji, she corrected herself – had somehow managed to make two different sauces based on apples, plus one seasoning. The seasoned salad was also a good part apples, mixed with lettuce, some daisies and lemons, which Twilight didn’t even remember buying. He had made three apple pies for dessert, pies the Princesses would have fought over, and which made the caramel apples almost unnecessary. When they told Sanji that dragons could eat the same food as ponies, but preferred gemstones, he picked an especially big and juicy apple. Then he scooped up some gemstone dust from the bottom of Spike’s collection – the dust that would normally just get blown away and gather on the books – and mixed it with the leftover caramel to create a gem-coated apple that looked delicious even to a pony like her.
“Can we keep him?” Pinkie Pie lay on her back, all of her limbs spread out on the floor. “Everypony in favor raise their hoof.”
Applejack was lying right next to her. “Ah don’t think Ah can raise my hoof anymore. Though, if that’s the best that can happen to apples, I’ll gladly run Sweet Apple Acres for the rest of my life.”
“If you do decide to ´keep him` I hope you don’t mind if I borrow him for a day,” Rarity said. She chuckled to herself. “I always thought it would take a miracle to teach my Sweetie Belle how to cook. I certainly never expected to find one.”
They kept chatting for a bit, while Sanji went back to the kitchen to do the dishes, but they soon decided that it was time to go back to their homes. Spike had already gone to sleep and everypony was tired and exhausted by the day. Twilight showed Sanji the guest bed where he could sleep and went to her own bed.
It had been a crazy day, but tomorrow would just be a quiet and normal day of studying and showing a new pony the town.
The first rays of sunlight woke Sanji from his sleep. He pushed the blanket off and rolled himself on his stomach. It was time to prepare breakfast for Nami and Robin, and the rest of the crew. His body felt a little sore and overall strange. Groaning he stretched his wings.
He stared at them for a while as the previous day caught up with him.
Twilight awakened to the smell of Spike making breakfast. She opened her eyes and smiled at the thought of her oldest friend and ´Number 1 Assistant´. She turned around and watched the baby dragon stir in his sleep across the room, waking up to the smell as well.
It took her sleepy mind a moment to piece everything together.
Downstairs in the kitchen Sanji had prepared a simple breakfast after the feast of last night. He had apparently found the haybacon and had prepared a few sandwiches to go with it. A few pieces of bacon looked like they’d been burned, but Spike assured her that they tasted just as good and he seemed to enjoy the crunch.
They had barely finished breakfast when Twilight heard a knock at the front door. She opened to find her protégé, Princess Celestia herself, standing outside. The Princess gave her a smile, but she looked worried and the smile seemed forced.
“Princess! What are you doing here?” Twilight wondered if something had happened in Canterlot that the Princess would come to Ponyville personally.
“Hello, Twilight. Do you mind if I come inside?”
The Princess had already passed her and looked around the library’s main room. Twilight noticed her friends standing a few feet away, giving her confused looks. They had probably seen the Princess arrive and had followed her to the library.
Spike walked out of the kitchen, curious as to what was going on, and was followed by Sanji. Princess Celestia looked the stallion over and held out a hoof for him to shake. “You must be the stallion Twilight mentioned in her letter. I am Princess Celestia. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Her voice sounded as wise and regal as always, but something still seemed off to Twilight. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, though, so she simply ignored it.
Sanji hesitated, but cautiously took the offered hoof and shook it. “I’m honored. My name is Sanji. I’m a professional chef.” Twilight realized that he had deliberately left out that he was also a pirate. Maybe that was for the best. So far they couldn’t even prove that he actually was the pirate he claimed to be. He had definitely proven his talent as a chef, at least.
“It is probably best if I tell you the reason for my visit now,” Celestia said. “Twilight told me in her letter that you claim to be from a place that she had never heard of. This place wouldn’t happen to be called ´the Grand Line´?”
Twilight was only mildly surprised. Of course the Princess would already know about this place. “That’s exactly what he told us. What do you know about the Grand Line? Have you been there? What is it like?”
The Princess gestured for her to calm down and continued, “I have heard stories about the Grand Line, but I always just took them for another old pony’s tale, which is why I would like for your friend to accompany me to Canterlot to tell me more about it. Immediately, if possible.”
Twilight was already running around the room, levitating books, scrolls, quills and Spike into an empty suitcase. “Of course! I just need a second and–“
“Actually –“ the Princess waited for her student to come to a halt, “– I would ask you to stay here for a bit and see if this library has any information on the topic. Every piece of information you can find would be very helpful.”
Twilight wanted to say something, but Rarity cut her off. Her friends had followed her into the library and listened to the conversation. “Well, I don’t know about Twilight, but I haven’t been to Canterlot for a while. I’d love to see the city again and chat with some old friends.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie chimed in, “we haven’t visited Canterlot for weeks! I bet everypony there misses me and my parties.”
“I wouldn’t mind a short trip to Canterlot…” Fluttershy murmured.
“Then it’s settled,” Applejack concluded. “Twilight can look through her books later, for now we’ll make sure that our new friend doesn’t get lost in the city.”
They surrounded Sanji and started talking about the things they wanted to show him while in Canterlot, so Twilight was the only one who saw the scowl on Celestia’s face. A second later it was gone and replaced with her normal warm smile and Twilight wondered what kind of tricks her mind was playing on her.
“Very well then,” the Princess tried to get the attention of the other ponies, “I suggest you take the train to Canterlot while I invite Sanji in my sky carriage and fly ahead. I’ll meet you in Canterlot later this day.”
“Noooo!” Everypony stared at Pinkie Pie who was clinging to Sanji and obviously didn’t plan to let him go. “Train rides are always so boring, and I bet Sanji has a whole lot of stories to tell about pirates and treasures and zombies and a big island floating in the sky. We didn’t get to hear any adventure stories yesterday and the next train to Canterlot arrives in a few minutes, anyway.”
“I don’t mind a train ride,” Sanji finally spoke up. He didn’t want to leave the mares behind, either. The Princess seemed nice and the other ponies all seemed to trust her, but so far his experiences with rulers and the government hadn’t been the best.
“Canterlot Station!” the voice of the conductor carried through the train. Six mares and one stallion were gathered in one corner of the wagon. Spike had decided to stay at the library and watch over Ponyville in case a new problem would show up.
Sanji told the six mares about his time at the Baratie and Luffy’s fight against Don Krieg, as well as Zoro’s encounter with Mihawk. He had just told them how ´moss-head´ had left with their ship, taking his dear Nami with him, when the train reached Canterlot.
Pinkie Pie gave an exaggerated groan. “Awww, I hate cliffhangers!”
The Princess, along with a few royal guards was already waiting for them. Even now she didn’t seem very happy and Twilight wondered what kind of politics she had to take care of in the last days that would leave her in a mood like this.
“If you don’t mind,” the Princess said, “I would like to have a word in private with our guest. Feel free to spend some time at the town; you can meet me – us – at the palace later.”
The six mares didn’t even spend a second thought on the Princess’ proposal and quickly said their goodbyes to Sanji before heading of for the streets of Canterlot. Sanji hesitated a bit, watching them leave, but decided not to argue and instead followed the Princess and her guards to the castle. The other ponies trusted this Princess, after all.
“So, what do you want to do first? It’s been so long since we’ve all been here. *Gasp* Do you think that place in Emerald Street still sells hayfries. Those were delicious.” Pinkie Pie was bouncing around the rest of the group and happily chatting away.
“Ah don’t think they had to close down in the last two weeks, Pinkie,” Applejack remarked. “Though some lunch does sound like a good idea right now, and those hayfries were pretty good.” Everypony instinctively looked at their saddlebags to make sure they didn’t forget to take some bits with them.
Suddenly Rainbow Dash let out a gasp. “Oh no! I totally forgot I even had these!”
Everypony turned around to look at her. Applejack realized that her friend had been uncharacteristically quiet the whole morning, even though Sanji’s story had obviously impressed her. “What the hay are you talking about?” she asked.
“I still wanted to give him these cigarettes and–“ Rainbow Dash stopped as she seemed to realize something.
“´Cigarettes´?” Twilight asked. “You mean with Poison Joke? Where did you get those?”
Rainbow Dash suddenly seemed very interested in her hooves, the way she was staring down at them. “I picked them up. You know, I was up early, couldn’t sleep, so I went to fly a bit. Then I noticed that I was flying over the Everfree, so I thought I could pick up some Poison Joke and try to make some of those cigarettes. Just so I could some more of Sanji’s stunts and stuff, you know. Because it looked cool. That’s the whole reason.”
Twilight was more than a little concerned. “Rainbow Dash, Poison Joke is dangerous. If you touched it you’re going to be cursed again tomorrow. Don’t you remember the last time that happened?”
“Don’t worry,” Rainbow said, “I didn’t touch any of it. I had some equipment with me. I mean–“ She hesitated again. “Look, it doesn’t matter. Just wait here, I’ll be back in a minute.” Before anypony could say something she beat her wings and took off in the direction of the castle.
“Ya think we should follow her?” Applejack asked nopony in particular.
“Well, duh.” Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. “If we don’t help her she’ll get Poison Smoked.” She pointed a hoof at the pegasus in the distance and yelled “Follow that pony!” before galloping off to the castle.
The four remaining ponies looked at each other in confusion and quickly set after her.
“So you say you came here from the Grand Line?”
It hadn’t taken long for Rainbow Dash to spot the two ponies through one of the castle’s large windows. Princess Celestia and Sanji were alone in one of the larger rooms and the Princess had just started the conversation when Rainbow Dash found them, so the pegasus stayed on the ledge outside the window, out of sight, waiting for a good moment to enter the room. She didn’t want to interrupt them, and maybe she was just a little curious, too.
“That’s right,” she heard Sanji reply, “I’m not sure how much you know about the Grand Line, but–“
“I know quite enough about that place,” Celestia cut him off. There was a harshness in her voice that Rainbow Dash didn’t know from the Princess. “I also know more than enough about your kind, human, which is why I cannot allow you to leave this room on your own.” From her position Rainbow Dash could only see a short flicker of light. She peeked around the corner of the window and saw that Sanji was standing in a different spot than before. On the floor where he had been was now a small scorch mark. The Princess’ mane was glowing brighter than usually and seemed to flow more violently around her.
“Of course my reaction wouldn’t come as a surprise to a pirate like you. Let me assure you, though, that I will not let you escape. Cooperate, and I will simply turn you over, to the authorities that usually deal with you pirates.” Celestia sent another beam of magic at him and Sanji quickly jumped out of the way.
“Hey! Stop it!” Both ponies turned to look at Rainbow Dash, who was now standing completely on the windowsill. She would not just stand and watch those two ponies fighting.
“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing here?” Celestia asked.
“That’s what I was going to ask you! What’s going on here?”
“This does not concern you!” The Princess was obviously not happy about this turn of events. “I am dealing with a threat to Equestria. Leave, lest you get involved even more in this fight.”
“What? No! I don’t know what’s going on here, but this is not the Princess I know.” She blinked. “Of course! You’re a changeling, aren’t you? Sanji, get away from her!” She crouched down, ready to charge at the impostor. “Who are you really, Chrysalis? Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time?”
“I cannot deal with you now. Leave!” Celestia’s horn lit up and a wall of fire shot up from the ground in front of the window, blocking the entryway. Rainbow Dash jumped back to avoid the heat and kept her position in the air a few feet away from the window. She scowled at the obstacle, trying to think of another way to get into the room as fast as possible.
Inside the room, Sanji was jumping and flying to dodge the barrage of magic beams that went out from Celestia and left scorch marks all over the walls.
“Give up, pirate,” the Princess announced. “You cannot keep running away, and you cannot hope to defeat me!”
“Pony or not,” the stallion replied, “I was raised as a gentleman and I will never try to harm a woman.”
“A likely story. I can’t tell if you’re making a poor attempt to trick me or if you are really that stupid.” One of the Princess’ beams grazed Sanji’s wing and he hit the floor, skidding over the tiles. Celestia recognized her chance and began focusing her magic in her horn for one last attack. “I don’t like to resort to violence,” she declared, “but this fight has to end.”
What could only be described as a gigantic laser beam left her horn and headed towards the pegasus who was still lying on the floor. The light was enough that even the Princess couldn’t see anything for a moment. Still there was no way that the pirate was still alive, even if he had somehow managed to dodge the core of the attack.
Celestia blinked the dancing lights in her eyes away and raised her head to look at whatever might be left of the room and the wall behind it. She had not wanted to unleash this kind of destruction, but the pirate had left her with no other choice.
What she saw instead left her mouth hung open in surprise and disbelief. Where the beam had been aimed, and should have eradicated anything in its way, stood a colorful dome, glimmering in the sunlight that shone in from the window.
Slowly, the dome opened up and revealed itself to actually be a giant pair of wings made entirely out of gemstones, every single feather a jewel on its own. The base of each wing came out of the blue fur coat of a pegasus. Dark blue smoke drifted from the cigarette in the pegasus’ mouth to the ceiling.
The pegasus coughed and turned her head to look behind her. “Yeesh, do you ever get used to this stuff?”
The five mares ran up to the door as fast as they could. After they had seen Rainbow Dash back away from fire in one of the palace’s windows they had wasted no time to get to this part of the palace as quickly as possible.
Applejack sprinted ahead and buck the door open. “Don’t worry everypony, we’re here to help– Whoa!”
Twilight entered the room right behind her and quickly took everything in. Celestia stood across the room, looking aggravated about something. Right next to the door they had come in through, Rainbow Dash had positioned herself between the Princess and Sanji. Two huge wings, sparkling in all colors of the rainbow, stretched out from her sides. After a moment of shock she could make out one of the cigarettes in her mouth.
“Twilight,” the Princess said calmly, “take your friends and leave! I will deal with that stallion.”
“Don’t listen to her!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “She attacked us! I think she’s actually one of those changelings!”
“Leave now!” Celestia commanded in a much sharper tone than before. “The pirate has already corrupted you more than I had feared. Leave and let me handle the rest!”
Twilight looked from her mentor to her friends and back in panic. “I-I… What am I supposed to do? I can’t just–“
“That is enough!” The door at the other side of the room slammed open and revealed a night blue alicorn. “Stop this madness, Celestia!”
“Luna!” Celestia’s eyes widened in fear as she watched her little sister trot in the room. “Get away! You don’t understand what I am doing here!”
“I think I understand quite well, maybe better than you, sister.” Luna walked past her sister and fixed her eyes on Sanji. “I understand who that stallion is and what he did for your student and her friends. After all, an encounter with a grown dragon is expected to bring some nightmares.”
Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy all turned to face Rarity who simply shrugged her hooves in response. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was trying not to draw any attention, making herself as small as she could.
Celestia made another attempt to reason with her sister. “Luna, you cannot seriously wish to defend this human.”
“I will be the judge of that. For now, however, how about I give our guest a proper welcome.” Luna’s horn began to glow and a blue light encased her. Twilight watched with interest – and a good share of confusion – as the magic aura changed its shape and revealed a new figure in place of the Princess. The creature was bipedal and had two paws with five long digits extending from each. It didn’t seem to have any fur on its body, except for the long, deep blue mane flowing down from its head, and it was covered in a strange selection of clothes.
“My name is Princess Luna, from the Lunar Pirates,” it declared “It is nice to meet y–“ Luna blinked and an amused smile crept on her new face. Celestia on the other hand glared at something behind Twilight in disdain. Twilight thought that she had heard a muffled sound.
“My...” Luna chuckled mildly. “After all these years it seems that pirates still haven’t lost their… unique charm." She turned her attention to Twilight. "You might want to help your friend.”
Twilight finally turned around to see what the Princess was talking about. Sanji lay on his back in a pool of blood, unconscious. A small stream of blood was still running from his nose.
Sanji groaned and held his head with one hoof as he sat down at the long table in one of the palace’s many halls. Fluttershy was still fussing around him, telling him not to move while she examined him for any injuries, but the stallion seemed more concerned with the light headache from his contact with the ground than he was concerned about the copious amounts of blood he had lost.
Twilight’s attention, on the other hoof, was completely taken in by the younger of the royal alicorn sisters, who had turned back to her normal appearance. It wasn’t even the Princess’ spell that interested Twilight so much or the creature that it had turned her into and Sanji’s reaction. What really confused her, however, was what the Princess had said right after that.
“Princess Luna,” she decided to try her luck, “what did you mean when you said you were ´Princess Luna from the Lunar Pirates´?”
“Ah, yes,” Luna replied. “I guess there are a lot of things that you wouldn’t know about me.”
“Luna…” Princess Celestia wanted to say something, but Luna cut her off.
“Things that you should know about me, and that you probably deserve to know by now. I have done a bit of research on the stories my sister spread about me, without doubt to protect me, but they couldn’t be much farther from the truth.” She turned towards Rainbow Dash. “Right now, however I’m more curious about your friends interesting wings. If I know how you learned such a technique it might help me to understand how much you do already know.”
“That’s right, I still haven’t given you these!” Rainbow Dash opened her saddlebags and took out a small pouch. “I made some cigarettes. Um, you know…” her eyes darted around the room as she hoofed the pouch over the table to Sanji. “Because you helped us out yesterday…”
“Cigarettes?” Luna was now even more curious about the pouch.
Her sister only scowled as she heard the word. “He brought those with him as well. I knew he couldn’t be trusted,” she muttered to herself, but still loud enough for everypony to hear.
Twilight took another discreet glance towards the Princess, still confused about her mentor’s uncharacteristically cold behavior. In the meantime Luna had levitated one of the cigarettes out of the pouch to inspect it. “That’s interesting. I don’t remember cigarettes using a blue plant. They normally contain tobacco, don’t they?”
“I had to find a substitute –“ Sanji had watched the conversation with interest, but now he felt that he should provide some explanation. “– since I couldn’t find any of that on this island. Miss Twilight called it ´Poison Joke´, I think.”
“It’s amazing,” Twilight cut in. “Burning the Poison Joke to inhale the smoke seems to tamper with the curse on some level, leading to completely different results. Until yesterday, I couldn’t find out anything on how the magic in Poison Joke even works–“ she paused. “Well, I don’t really know more about that, but so far all the changes seemed to be positive and highly temporary, not to mention they were incredibly varied. When Sanji used one of the cigarettes his hooves seemed to turn into rubies, and later they even caught fire. The implications could be–“
She stopped herself again. Fluttershy had mumbled something in her usual way, trying to say something while at the same time not wanting to bother anypony. In the time they had been friends Twilight had trained herself to notice those moments, even if she couldn’t make out what the timid pegasus actually said. “I’m sorry Fluttershy, what did you say?”
Fluttershy let out a small squeak, suddenly finding herself the center of everypony’s attention. “I just thought… I mean…” she stumbled over her own words, “I don’t think that those cigarettes were the reason for that strange fire.”
“Really?” Twilight knew that Fluttershy would never say something without thinking. She probably didn’t say a lot of things even after she thought them over. “But how else would you explain it?”
“I didn’t notice it at first, but when his hooves started glowing even stronger, I know that was weather magic. I could feel it all the way from where he was standing!”
“Is that what it was?” Sanji spoke up again. “It was interesting. I could feel the heat and try to push it.” He folded his front legs and closed his eyes. “I’ve been using that general technique before I got here, though. It uses the friction of my spinning movement to heat up my leg – or legs, I guess.”
“What? But that’s ridiculous!” Twilight blurted out. “Doing something like that is physically impossible. You can’t build that kind of temperatures through the friction of spinning around yourself. Even if it was possible, it would affect all of your body, not just your legs. And even if that wasn’t the case, you would do far more damage to yourself than anything else!”
“I think this might be a good opportunity to cut in,” Luna interrupted in a calm voice that could still be heard over everything else. “What you’ll have to consider, Twilight, is that Sanji is a pirate. To pirates nothing is impossible. Or maybe it still is and they just don’t care?” She held a hoof to her mouth to stifle a chuckle. “They never seem to care much for rules. If you want a better explanation, though, I learned that the answers to many questions somehow lead back to Haki.”
Luna paused a moment to wait for questions. She hadn’t expected the only question to come from her sister, though. “Luna, are you sure that we should tell others about that?” Celestia’s face had the same worried look she had worn since they had entered the room to talk, but her worry seemed even more urgent now.
“Yes,” Luna simply replied. “Yes, I do. And I don’t think we will tell them anything, since you never wanted to hear my theories. This will be a good opportunity for all of you to learn something.” She turned back to the other ponies and continued with her speech.
“I assume you want to know what ´Haki´ is in the first place. To make it short, Haki is the driving power in every living creature and probably most other things as well. There are not many people who know about that, though, and even less who can actually use it.
“As far as the general knowledge goes – if you can call it that – there are three types of Haki: ´Observation Haki´, ´Armament Haki´ and the very rare ´Conqueror’s Haki´. Those are the types of Haki that can be taught and learned. However, after all I have seen I can only conclude that there is another kind of Haki. As I said, Haki flows through anything, whether someone is aware of it or not. For that reason, I feel it would only make sense that it can manifest itself through every creature, and your friend is just one example that seems to prove me right. I have seen people who took more damage than they should have been able to take and keep standing. I have seen people fight in ways I never even considered, with whatever they had at hand and sometimes even less. And most of all I have seen people who took fatal blows and kept fighting, simply because they refused to die and abandon their friends. I think you of all ponies know best what a powerful force friendship can be, but the truth is that what it leads to can be even more powerful, and that is determination.” Luna’s eyes got a distant look.
“You’re probably wondering how I saw all this and why, so let’s start at the beginning. 800 years ago, Equestria was under the rule of Discord. In the end, as you know, my sister and I were able to defeat him using the elements of harmony. However, while most of his work was undone by the elements, some of it wasn’t. To this day we don’t know if Equestria has always been inhabited by ponies as it is now, or if it was Discord’s work. We do know that one of his greatest spells was a giant magical sphere that reaches beyond the coasts of Equestria and temporarily transforms every human who enters it into one of the local life forms, usually a pony. It might also be the first of his works that turned out to be positive for us.
“Another part of Discord’s plan that the Elements could not undo was the separation of our island from the solar circle. With the power of the Elements, my sister and I decided to take that responsibility and take the control over day and night to prevent chaos. That decision was also what turned us into the alicorns we are today.
“Equestria has always been a very isolated island due to its coastline that prevents ships from anchoring. Discord’s spell did the rest to ensure that no humans have visited our island in centuries. Ponies were never curious enough to explore beyond the ocean which is the reason why the world was practically unaware of our existence.
“I was not the first pony to cross the borders of our country, though. Ninety-five years ago the first pony in centuries set out to explore the rest of the world. She was an earth pony by the name of Sea Breeze, and sometimes I think that was all the reason she needed. When she came back she told us of her adventures and showed us the amazing new abilities she had obtained on her journey. I was excited and intrigued by her stories and when it seemed that Equestria as a country was at its peak and didn’t even need its protectors anymore, I saw my chance to embark on my own adventure. That was fifteen years ago.”
Luna paused and looked at her sister, hinting for her to continue. Celestia sighed, but began her own part of the story. “I tried to talk her out of it, of course, but Luna was as stubborn as ever. She left Equestria to become one of those pirates.” She spat the word. “She would always send me letters to make sure I didn’t worry, which just made me even more worried about her when the letters stopped after one year.
“After two months without a single word from my sister I decided to look for her myself. I left Equestria and made my way to the place she had described in her last letter, the Shabondy Archipelago. Alas, I was too late. I was told by a group of bounty hunters, who had tried to capture me, that my sister had been captured and sold as a slave to a place that no one could ever escape from. It was called the home of the World Nobles, Mariejois. I didn’t care what they told me, though, I just wanted to go to that place and burn it to the ground.”
Luna cut in again. “It’s probably good that she didn’t get the opportunity, because it couldn’t have ended well. You see, I was by far not the only one they enslaved and brought to Mariejois. The ´Celestial Dragons´, as those World Nobles call themselves, held slaves simply because they could and because they were bored. Many of those slaves were Fishmen, another race from the Grand Line that most humans saw as inferior just because they were different. One day a single Fishman by the name of Fisher Tiger climbed the several miles high ´Red Line´ to reach Mariejois, free the slaves and burn the city to the ground.
“I was eventually reunited with my sister and agreed to come back to Equestria with her. She was very worried about me, even though I myself considered myself lucky to have been freed after only a few weeks of slavery. Everything seemed well until I found out about a decision Celestia had made after our return.”
“How could you?”
Celestia turned around to her sister who had slammed the door to her quarters open. Luna’s muscles were tensed up and angry tears stood in her eyes.
“How could you make a deal with them? Of all the humans you decided to work with the worst, the ones who protect those monsters.”
Celestia was well aware what her sister was talking about. She had hoped that Luna wouldn’t find out on her own, or at least not so quickly. “I did what was necessary. You are still wanted, Luna, as a pirate as well as a slave. If all they want are permission to build outside of our borders and a few of our country’s more dangerous species, then I will take that opportunity.”
“Don’t try to fool yourself! That prison has been built for decades. I have heard stories about it and I can assure you that you don’t want it anywhere near this island.”
“They would not have to ask permission at all. The prison is far off from our borders, just barely inside Discord’s spell. And I got far more in exchange than just your freedom. They are willing to completely stay out of Equestria unless my assistance is needed.”
“Your assistance? What do you mean by that?”
“They left one of those snails with me, saying that they might need to call on my help from time to time. I don’t expect anything to happen and even if it did, I can look out for myself.”
“No you can’t!” Luna screamed at her. “Your magic may be powerful, more powerful than mine even, but you have no experience with this and you put your trust in them of all people!” she turned around and walked back towards the door. A magic aura appeared around her and shaped itself into a dark blue set of armor. “We cannot just undo what has happened, so I will have to prepare the ponies for what comes next. If it comes to it, we will be prepared to fight.”
“Luna, no!” Celestia was not sure what her sister was planning, but she knew that the consequences could be disastrous.
Luna stopped, but didn’t turn back to look at her sister. “I’ve made my decision. You cannot change my mind.” If Celestia could have seen Luna’s face she would have recognized the fear and desperation in her eyes. It was the same look Celestia had worn when she found out about her sister’s enslavement.
Instead, Celestia was convinced that the trauma had finally driven Luna mad. She had feared that moment ever since they got back, and yet she had no idea how to deal with it. Luna was already at the door to do whatever she deemed right in her twisted state of mind and the armor she had summoned didn’t give Celestia much reason for hope. In her panic, Celestia used the most powerful spell she could think of to stop her sister. It was a binding spell she had designed to use as a last resort. Her horn flared up as she focused all of her magic through it and directed it towards her sister. Magic engulfed Luna in a flash and when the light was gone nothing of the Princess was left.
Celestia opened her eyes again and sighed. After all the years retelling the event was still painful to her. She had panicked and made a mistake, and she knew that.
“I had no idea where Luna was, even though I had designed the spell myself. It was supposed to temporarily imprison a person, but the prison depended on the target. It took me weeks of concentrated work to figure out what had happened to her and even longer to calculate how long the spell would last. The truth is that she the spell had not only banished her to the moon, but bound her to it as well. Still, once I knew all of those things I could start to plan how to cure her.
I thought that the one thing that was sure to help her would be the Elements of Harmony. However, without Luna’s help I had no way to tap into their power. The next decade I made preparations to help Luna and to make sure nopony would find out the truth. The holiday of Nightmare Night already had a figure called Nightmare Moon that looked similar to my sister as she looked when she was banished.
“To find someone who could bear the element of magic I arranged a special test at my School for Gifted Unicorns. When I actually found a filly that had the potential to I wasted no time to take her in as my personal student.” She paused to give her personal student a warm smile.
“A special test? You mean the entrance exam, when I had to hatch a dragon egg?”
“Hatching a dragon egg has barely anything to do with the entrance exam to the school. Not only are dragon eggs incredibly rare and hard to obtain, your failure at the test was all but expected and would not have had any impact on your score at the exam. After all, there are a lot of students at that school, but Spike is the only known domesticated dragon in Equestria.”
Twilight looked down in thought. How did she miss something obvious like that.
“Anyway,” Celestia continued, “I knew that potential bearers of the other five Elements were spread over Ponyville and that one bearer would automatically be drawn to the others. The spell would wear of at the day of the summer solstice, so I forged a book with a fake legend of “Nightmare Moon”. I also moved the Summer Sun Celebration to Ponyville and spread fake news that it would be the 1000th year of the celebration.”
“When I appeared back in Equestria I was confused,” Luna said. “I had not just been on the moon, I had been the moon. All I remembered was that I needed to protect my sister and that I needed to find powerful ponies to help me with that. I kidnapped my sister and laid out simple traps for the ponies who would chase me. Enough to prove a challenge, but not so much to seriously injure a strong pony. I think you remember the rest.”
The ponies sat around the table in silence for a moment. Sanji decided to wait until later and ask one of the mares about what had happened. Pinkie Pie for example seemed like she would be more than happy to tell him the whole story in detail.
Finally, Twilight spoke up, “Wow. So… what happens now?”
Celestia sighed. “I think that won’t be for me to decide. We are dealing with a human and pirate now, and that is something my sister knows far more about than me. Whatever decision she makes, I will respect it. She can teach you a lot and is far stronger than me.” She gave her sister a sad smile. “I just wish I had realized that earlier.”
Luna reached over with a wing to comfort her sister. She looked back to the other ponies to tell them her plans for them. “Now that you know all this, I would like to teach you how to use Haki. The truth is that ponies already seem to have a stronger connection to Haki, and from what I’ve heard you six have even stronger abilities than most other ponies.” She began to address the ponies personally.
“Pinkie Pie’s ´Pinkie Sense´, as you call it is a form of Observation Haki, as well as Rarity’s gem-locating spell. Armament Haki strengthens Twilight’s magic and makes Rainbow Dash faster. The apple-bucking technique of the Apple family is a combination of both.” She looked at the last member of the group of friends. “Fluttershy is a special case. Her “Stare” indicates a disposition for the Conqueror’s Haki, which is incredibly rare. If you accept my offer I would like to teach you how to learn about and build on all those abilities and more.”
Rainbow Dash trotted through the door of the city’s sports hall where Twilight had set up magical tennis ball launchers to help with the training of Observation Haki. One of the machines was aimed at the unicorn and followed her movements. Twilight was wearing a blindfold over her eyes and blindly dodging the tennis balls that were flying at her – most of them, at least.
“Hey Twilight. You’re getting better,” Rainbow Dash said. They had been learning how to use and control their Haki for the last week and had already made a lot of progress. Princess Luna said that ponies seemed to naturally have a much better grasp of Haki.
“It’s definitely an interesting experience,” the unicorn replied without turning her head. I wondered what Pinkie is doing here, though. I thought she wanted to learn about fighting from Sanji, like you and Applejack.”
“Hi, Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow Dash looked over to the pink pony who was excitedly waving at her with one hoof. She was wearing a blindfold just like Twilight and three of the ball launchers were aimed at her in a futile effort to make at least one of the projectiles connect. Pinkie didn’t seem to pay them much attention, happily dodging the incoming tennis balls with a hop, skip, jump and the occasional cartwheel.
Rainbow Dash turned back to Twilight to answer her. “Fluttershy and me gave Sanji a special training lesson about weather magic… Well, I guess Fluttershy taught most of the lesson, but I helped!” Actually, Rainbow Dash had probably learned almost as much as Sanji. “Applejack is probably training her Armament Haki with Rarity.” Rainbow Dash raised a foreleg to look at it, coating it with the metallic sheen of her Armament Haki for a short moment.
Twilight noticed the short spike of Haki. “I’m impressed Rainbow Dash. You really made a lot of progress with your training. I never thought you were the studious type.” She chuckled.
“Uhm, yeah… You know me, always up for a challenge.” Rainbow Dash was glad that Twilight couldn’t see her face through the blindfold. Images of her friends’ silhouettes disappearing in a sea of fire flashed through her mind.
“A-anyway, I’ll stop distracting you,” she said. “Gonna look what Pinkie is up to.” Maybe Pinkie’s randomness would help take her mind off other… things.
“Hi, Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie greeted her happily, turning around to her, even though she couldn’t actually see her friend through the blindfold. Rainbow Dash was sure that at least one of the three machines would manage to hit her now, but the pink pony skipped around the projectiles with ease. Rainbow Dash would probably have problems dodging all three launchers even without the blindfold. “I know I already said ´Hi´, but that was when you were actually talking to Twilight and not to me, so I thought I’d say ´Hi´ again, because now you came over here to talk to me.”
Rainbow Dash made sure to stay out of the ball launchers’ range and chuckled at her friend. Pinkie Pie loved to say whatever was going through her head, no matter how trivial it seemed. “Hey Pinkie, how is the training.”
“Oh, it’s super fun!” Pinkie Pie was making her way around the flying green balls towards the pegasus, the machines slowly swiveling around to follow her movement. “It’s like you’re dancing to a really fast and random and funny music, and if you do it right the balls all dance around you.
Rainbow Dash eyed the three ball launchers that were slowly turning in her direction. “Uhm, Pinkie? Maybe you shouldn’t come so close–” She looked back at Pinkie Pie to find that her friend was not there anymore.
“…But I bet it would be even more fun if we trained together!” Rainbow Dash turned towards the voice to find Pinkie Pie standing right next to her. She felt something on her leg and looked down to see that her right foreleg was tied to Pinkie’s left foreleg with a piece of cloth and a very complicated-looking knot.
“How did you–?” was all that Rainbow Dash managed to get out before the first ball hit her.
Twilight Sparkle used her magic to turn off her ball launcher and pulled the blindfold off of her head. She had trained for over two hours, as far as she could tell, and she had enough bruises to last her the rest of the day. She proceeded to trot over to the other three machines, turning them off as well, before checking on Pinkie Pie to see how she had taken the workout.
When she turned around, her jaw dropped. She had assumed that Rainbow Dash had just left after talking to her and Pinkie. She hadn’t bothered to confirm that, of course, instead focusing on the ball launcher so as not to get hit too often. What she had definitely not expected was seeing her friend sprawled out on the ground completely exhausted and gasping for air, with one of her hooves tied to one of Pinkie Pie’s hooves.
“Rainbow Dash, what happened?” Twilight cantered over to the pegasus who was still lying on his back, all four legs spread out.
Rainbow Dash gasped for breath one last time and raised a shaking hoof to point at the pink earth pony who was still innocently staring down at her with a smile. “Pinkie Pie happened… That mare is completely insane!”
Pinkie Pie stifled a giggle – with the hoof that had been tied to Rainbow Dash’s hoof just a moment earlier – and poked her friend with the other hoof. “Come on, Dashie! You just don’t want to admit that you had fun.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’d admit that if I could still move my anything. Someday you’ll learn that not everypony runs on smiles and sugar like you do, Pinkie.” She let out a few groans as she moved into a sitting position to face Twilight. “You should totally try this, though, Twilight. It’s a lot easier to concentrate on those attacks if somepony like Pinkie already pulls you in the right direction. I’m telling you, those last ten minutes I haven’t been hit one time.”
“I told you, it’s just like dancing,” Pinkie said happily.
“Excuse me?” One of the castle guards stood in the doorway and watched them with a raised eyebrow. “Princess Celestia asks that you meet her at the castle.”
The guard led them through the castle and to a small hall that they had not been in yet. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Sanji were already waiting. Princess Luna was present as well and observing one of the room’s walls. As soon as the guard had left the very part of the wall that Luna had been staring at lit up with a white magic aura and swung open to reveal a rectangular entrance to another small room.
“Please, come in.” Celestia had appeared in the doorway of the new room and motioned for them to enter.
“Nopony except me has ever entered this room,” the Princess explained while the other ponies took in the details of the small office. A small magic orb at the ceiling did its best to imitate the sunlight and a wooden desk stood at the other side of the room. A few papers sat on the desk, as well as a pot of ink and three quills. What was most interesting, however, was a curious-looking snail that sat on one side of the desk, and seemed to be asleep.
The Princess walked over to the snail. “This is a Den Den Mushi,” she explained. “It is used by the Marines, pirates and other people to communicate. An hour ago I got a call from the world government, for the first time in years. They called to ask for the assistance I assured them of thirteen years ago. A war is coming and they want my help in defending their headquarters against a powerful pirate whom they expect to attack soon.”
“And did they tell you the name of that pirate?” Luna asked in a suspiciously calm voice.
“He is called Whitebeard. I don’t know much about–“
“No!” Luna interrupted. “Not against him. Sister, this pirate is one of the four ´pirate Yonko´ and possibly the most powerful pirate alive since the pirate king was executed. I cannot let you go if it means you will have to face him and his men.”
Celestia sighed and replied in a calming voice. “What I have called you here for is to tell you that I will leave Canterlot in your hands while I am away. I expected your concerns, but I’ve already made my decision. I may not be as powerful as you are, but know how to defend myself and will pick my fights carefully if it comes to that. Most importantly, I have been promised that all my debts will be considered paid once the execution of this ´Fire-fist Ace´ has been carried out.”
Luna wanted to argue, but another pony was faster than her.
“Hold on! Princess, did you say that Fire-fist Ace is supposed to be executed?”
Everypony looked at the blue pegasus that had unexpectedly spoken up. “Indeed, Mister Sanji. I take it you have already heard stories about that pirate. From what I was told he is one of the most dangerous criminals in the world.
“That’s not good…” Sanji muttered to himself. He looked around the small room at all the ponies present as he announced, “That man is the brother of my captain, Straw Hat Luffy. And if Luffy knows about this, he is already on his way to try and rescue him.”
“You say that this Fire-fist is the brother of your captain?” Celestia was the first to speak up after Sanji’s announcement.
“Ohh. He’s the fire guy you met on that desert island, right?” Pinkie looked around at the confused stares of her friends. “I told you he would have a lot of stories to tell and I wanted to hear them. I don’t think he told me even half of them yet.”
“Whatever your captain’s relationship to this man is,” Celestia said. “Right now he is waiting for his execution on the deepest level of the underwater prison Impel Down, one of the pillars of the Marine. No one has ever been able to escape. No one would be so foolish to enter that place on purpose.“ She raised an eyebrow as Pinkie Pie suddenly burst into a fit of giggles.
Sanji eyed the giggling pony as well. “I think you underestimate Luffy. If he knows about the execution he won’t think twice to go to that place.”
“Even if he wanted to,” Celestia replied, “there is no way he could reach the prison, much less enter. It is simply impossible to him.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie was still lying on the floor from her giggling fit. Now she raised her head again. “Unless he ended up on the island of another warlord where he could make some friends and have adventures and fight two giant snakes and in the end protect the Warlord’s secret which made her fall in love with him and in the end she would smuggle him inside the prison so he could free his brother,” she rambled at her highest Pinkie Rambling Speed. She ended with a blink and showed her widest innocent grin to the other ponies.
“How do y’all even come up with those stories of yours?” Applejack asked.
“Wait.” Luna turned to her sister. “Might I use the Den Den Mushi to check something?” Her horn lit up and a piece paper appeared in front of her in a small flash of light. She proceeded to pick up the receiver of the Den Den Mushi and dial a number. The snail woke up and made a quiet “Purupurupuru” sound.
“Hello?” The snail’s face seemed wrinkled and old all of a sudden as it spoke up in the voice of an older female.
Luna brought her head a little closer. “Elder Nyon? Is that you?”
“Who is there-nyo?”
“It’s me, Luna!” The Princess was happy to recognize the voice. “We met only for a short while thirteen years ago, so I won’t blame you if you don’t remember me…”
“The pony princess Luna? Of course I remember you-nyo. You escaped from Mariejois together with Hancock and her sisters, didn’t you? It has been a while.”
“Yes; yes! That’s why I’m calling; I need to talk to Hancock!”
“I’m sorry Luna, but Hancock just set sail a few hours ago-nyo. She should be back in a few days, if it can wait that long.”
“No, it really can’t,” Luna mumbled. Then her ears perked up again. “She just left, you say? This might sound strange, but you have to tell me, please! Did someone besides the Kuja enter Amazon Lily in the last week?”
“Someone else?” The snails voice sounded slightly nervous now. “You know no man has ever been allowed to set foot on this island, and barely any woman that wasn’t a Kuja did. Who would visit our island at a time like this?”
Luna turned around to look at the other ponies for help. She sighed and decided to just come right out. “Straw Hat Luffy,” she said flatly, then repeated. “We think that the pirate Straw Hat Luffy might have come to your island and that he somehow convinced the Warlord Hancock to help him infiltrate the Impel Down.”
“Why would you think–“ The snail paused and turned its voice down to a whisper. “How did you find out about that?”
“It was barely more than a lucky guess, as you would call it,” Luna said. “If that is really what happened, though, we have to make preparations on our own. I’m sorry to cut this short, please give Sonia and Marigold my regards.” Before the snail could respond she placed the receiver back in its spot. The snail’s face changed back to its original appearance and it blinked a few times before going back to sleep.
“It is true then,” Luna announced to the rest of the ponies. “If he is with Hancock then this Luffy might actually be able to enter the prison unseen –” She walked up to Sanji. “– not that he will be able to leave it again. What are you going to do now, pirate chef Sanji?”
Sanji closed his eyes and sighed, then opened his eyes again to look at the Princess. “He’s my captain. I’m going to try to follow him.” He turned to the other alicorn and bowed his head slightly. “Princess Celestia, if you see a way to get me inside that prison unseen, I would ask for your help.”
Celestia was taken aback by the request. “You cannot seriously even consider going after him.”
Luna on the other hoof just chuckled. “I haven’t seen this kind of stubborn determination in years. I would have expected no less from you,” she announced. “Your captain really has loyal nakama.” She turned to address her sister. “Please, Tia. If anyone can stop this war yet it will be them, I am convinced of that. I am sure together we can find a way to help him.” She looked over the other ponies once more. “Twilight, I would like you and your friends to help Mister Sanji prepare. We will meet you back here in one hour.”
“How did you know that?” While the other ponies had gone ahead to help Sanji prepare for the trip, Twilight had stayed behind to question to Pinkie Pie about her ´hunch´.
“I didn’t, and I don’t,” Pinkie replied, as chipper as always. “I just keep talking, but stop thinking about what I’m going to say. That way whatever I’m going to say surprises even me, and I love surprises. I learned that trick from Madame Pinkie.” She leaned in closer to Twilight and whispered conspiratorially, “Don’t tell anypony, but Madame Pinkie is actually me in disguise. I keep it a secret to avoid my fans.”
“Your… fans?” Twilight asked, confused. “Pinkie, you’re not making any sense!”
“Well, duh!” Pinkie happily poked her friend’s head a few times. “You’re thinking too much. If you think about the things I say when I wasn’t thinking, you’re overthinking them!”
“Ugh…” Twilight just sighed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, Pinkie.”
Pinkie grinned. “Exactly!”
Back to "Tartarus" – Infiltrating the World Prison
It was already getting late when Celestia landed at the foot of the mountain range that enclosed Equestria at the eastern side. She stopped to fold her white wings to her side and then slowly paced towards the entrance of the canyon that presented the only way to get past the mountains.
“Impressive,” a voice said from just behind her head. “So this is what keeps people out of Equestria.”
“Indeed,” Celestia replied, still looking ahead. “The whole island is protected by steep cliffs from the seaside, leaving no place for ships to anchor. Behind those cliffs lie other obstacles that separate the country from the sea. On the eastern coast these mountains keep ponies inside and pirates away. I have sealed of a few of the ways around them and now this is the only open way out of Equestria.”
The conversation was interrupted by a creature charging at Celestia at top speed. It was a huge black dog, more than twice as tall as the alicorn, with three bulldog heads. It skidded to a halt right in front of her and panted happily.
“Oh, you got a cerberus here?” the voice spoke up again. “And it looks right, too. The last one I’ve seen was just stitched together and had a fox head.”
The Princess raised an eyebrow. “I can assure you that this one is genuine.” She looked up to the edge of the canyon walls. “They live in these mountains. I have trained this one to watch this canyon. He doesn’t really make a good guardian, but he still manages to scare of any ponies that might come here.” One of the cerberus’ heads turned around and dropped a yellow rubber ball with a light blue line around its equator at her hooves. “Hmm… I didn’t give him this ball. I wonder where he got it.”
She lifted the ball with her magic and tossed it ahead for the cerberus to fetch as she continued her way through the canyon. “The legends say that Cerberus guards the gate to Tartarus and in a way they’re right. Tartarus is a fitting name for the world out there.”
They came to another crossroad and the Princess took a left turn. “It’s not much further now, so this will probably be our last chance to talk. The passage to Impel Down won’t take more than an hour or two, so we’ll stay on deck.
“This invisibility spell is certainly convenient,” the voice replied. “Invisibility was always a goal of me. I had already given up on it, actually.”
“Just make sure not to let go of me or I won’t be able to keep the spell going,” Celestia explained. “Once we reach the prison they will most likely suppress my magic with seastone, which is why we gave you that necklace. The gem it holds was enchanted with the same spell by Luna and should last for another few minutes. That is the last we can do for you, I’m afraid. After that you’ll be on your own.”
“That’s alright. Luffy and I will probably try to find our nakama as soon as possible, so I don’t know when we will see you again. I promise that we’ll visit your island someday, though.”
Celestia frowned. “You caused enough trouble by yourself. I don’t know if I want more pirates coming to Equestria.” They passed another corner and were greeted by the sound of waves and the sight of a small bay, hidden away from the actual ocean. A medium-sized battleship of the Marine lay at anchor not far from the shore.
Celestia could hear the shouting of orders from the ship as they noticed her and the ponies on deck immediately began to launch a rowing boat to pick her up. She didn’t give them the chance, though and spread her wings to fly the short distance.
As she crossed the water she realized something about the last thing Sanji had said. The pirate hadn’t just hoped that he might rescue his captain. He didn’t even seem to acknowledge the possibility that they might not leave the prison again.
Before she could pursue this thought further she landed on the ship and was greeted by one of the ponies, a pegasus with white fur and an auburn mane. He was wearing a cap with the symbol of the Marine that covered most of his mane and a short version of the jacket most high-ranking Marines seemed to wear wherever they went. It was short enough that Celestia could see his cutie mark, a broken sword with a thick layer of rust.
“Welcome aboard, Princess,” he said. “I’m Marine Captain Shu. If you’re ready, we’ll leave for Marineford immediately.”
“We’re not heading for Marineford yet,” Celestia replied. “I’d like to make a short visit at the Impel Down first.”
“I’m sorry Princess, but we have orders to get you to Marineford before–“
“I know what your orders are, captain.” The Princess put her whole authority into her words. “I have been declared a Warlord, even if it is only temporary. I have the right to make that decision as long as we stay on schedule, and while I’m not happy with the situation I’m going to make use of my rights. It lies on the way and I promise you that it won’t take long.”
“Very well then.” the captain raised an eyebrow. “It might interest you that you’re not the only Warlord who decided to visit that prison before the war starts. Fire-fist Ace seems to be quite popular this close to his death.”
Celestia snorted. “I have no interest in that pirate. The person I want to see is the former Warlord Jinbe. He is the reason I have to participate in this war. I want him to know that his country is not the only one to suffer from his selfish actions.”
The warden of Impel Down waited for them at the entrance of the prison. He was pegasus with a black mane, two long horns sticking out on either side of it. His fur coat was of a poisonous-looking deep violet and his cutie mark showed a skull in a slightly darker and possibly even more dangerous- looking violet. The strangest thing, though, were his wings which – unlike his fur – were of a leathery black.
“Welcome to Impel Down, Warlord Celestia,” he said. “Since you are expected at Marineford as soon as possible I was asked to keep the formalities to a minimum. We will take you to see the prisoner Jinbe as soon as we have conducted the standard security check on you.”
“Just as well, I didn’t want to stay here longer than necessary, anyway,” Celestia said in a condescending voice. “I take it the prison is secure, at least?” she added.
“We did have an intruder a while ago,” the warden replied. “I have seen to it personally and he won’t cause any more trouble. We’re still looking for an escaped prisoner, but I can assure you that you have nothing to be worried about.”
“Really? That’s good.” Celestia didn’t say anything more and she could feel that Sanji had tensed up as well.
A light pink unicorn mare led Celestia to the examination room for visitors. The foremost part of her blonde mane was particularly long and covered her right eye. The other eye wasn’t visible, either, since she was wearing shades with light violet glasses. As soon as they had entered the room Celestia felt a weight drop off of her back when Sanji deserted his position on her back, careful to avoid any sounds.
“I will make this as quick as possible,” the unicorn said. She looked Celestia over and announced, “I suppose a body check won’t be necessary. I will, however, have to put this seastone ring on your horn.” She approached the Princess with a metal ring in her mouth.
Celestia lowered her head and the unicorn used her hooves to pull it over the tip of Celestia’s horn. The moment it made contact with her horn Celestia felt her magic being interrupted by it. Her flowing pink mane died down and reverted into normal hair and even her connection with the sun was cut. It was no pleasant experience. To her it felt as if she had just lost more than just one of her senses.
The unicorn led her through the other door of the room. A moment later the warden joined them from another room. “I apologize,” he said flatly. “It’s that poison soup I ate earlier.”
Making it through the first level of the prison had been easier than expected. The spell in the necklace had lasted longer than the Princess had made it sound like, and by the time it wore off and he became visible again, Sanji had already found something resembling a well that led him further down. Now he was flying over a red landscape looking for another well or some other way downwards.
The ground below him was covered in a red kind of grass and trees with red leaves stood spread out in this level. Sanji noticed that quite a lot of the plants were of another color, more brown than red and that it looked suspiciously like they were covered with old blood stains. The more he concentrated on the color, the more was he convinced that it really was blood on the leaves and the blades of grass.
He also noticed the abnormally blue color of Poison Joke sticking out from the red grass, probably as an additional way of torture. Sanji was glad that he could avoid all those things using his wings. The flying practice with Rainbow Dash came in really handy now.
It wasn’t long before he spotted another well that could lead him to the next level of the prison. It might have involved a lot of luck, but so far traversing this prison had been a breeze. Whatever trouble Luffy had gotten himself into, at this pace Sanji would find him in no time. Maybe even quick enough that they could still get to Luffy’s brother in time.
Sanji dropped himself down the well and landed on the stone floor of the next level. Everything here looked just the same as it did on Level one. It didn’t look like there were any traps, either. Sanji had seen one of the creatures that guarded the prisoners back on Level one, maybe this level had other guards like that.
Sanji turned around when he heard a buzzing sound behind him. A tiny yellow ball of fluff was hovering in front of him. It had insect wings and a pair of large, black and friendly eyes and didn’t look the least bit intimidating. He stared at the creature and the creature stared back at him.
Then it opened its mouth.
“Do you hear that?”
“What are you on about now?”
“Sounds like somepony is running this way.”
“Somepony, eh? It’s probably one of those four guys from earlier who tried to escape. I’m surprised one of them survived this long. Get away from that door, the beasts are going to notice you!”
“Wait, I think he’s coming this way… Yeah, he’s–“
Crk.
“Did you hear that?”
Crk. Crack.
“Uh-oh”
Sanji didn’t care where he was going, right now he only wanted to get away from those creepy bugs, five of which were chasing after him now. They had small, round bodies, colorful fur not unlike his own, tiny insect wings, and somehow they were still gaining on him!
He raced around another corner and four of the bugs went after him. The fifth one was too fast and flew almost straight ahead into the wall, which meant it bit a good chunk of stone out of the wall before it resumed the chase, catching up to its friends far too quickly.
Sanji jumped and turned around to kick at least one of the bugs away with his hind legs. Instead, the bug in question just opened his mouth to encompass the two legs in a black void while flying. Sanji could beat his wings only just in time to pull himself away before the bug closed its maw. Apparently this approach wouldn’t work.
Another one of the bugs was now quite literally on his tail and opening its mouth to make take its first bite of pegasus. In a moment Sanji would be short a tail and from that point on it wouldn’t be much longer until he was missing more important parts. He needed a plan, and fast.
Crack.
Rocks fell. Coming completely out of nowhere, Sanji had no time to react. All he could do was keep running and hope for the best.
Strangely enough that was exactly what happened. When the rumbling of falling rocks stopped Sanji realized that he didn’t have as much as a scrape. Looking behind him he also realized that none of the bugs were visible anymore, which was enough to make him come to a halt.
Instead of the bugs, five rocks of different sizes were lying on the floor of the hallway. Sanji stepped closer to inspect the unexplained rocks that seemed to have saved him.
Crick. Crack.
Sanji looked to his right, where the sound had come from. A noticeable crack formed an almost rectangular shape around one of the cell gates. I was just making its way the last few inches back to the floor.
Silence followed. Then, with a creak that slowly grew louder, the gate tipped over outwards and crashed to the ground sending a cloud of dust in the air. As the dust settled Sanji could see a pony standing in the newly formed exit, staring at him. It was a young earth pony stallion, as far as Sanji could tell. His fur coat was a deep blue and his mane and tail were dark grey. A line of white fur circled the stallion’s left eye.
“Aheh… Sorry,” the stallion said with a sheepish grin. Behind him an old pegasus stared at his cellmate and the steel gates that had fallen to the door with a slack-jawed expression on his face.
The blue earth pony walked out of the former cell and up to Sanji. “My name is Clutterstep –” he extended a hoof at him. “– and I have no idea why I’m here.”
Level six of Impel Down, the "Eternal Hell" remained silent even though visitors were usually a rare sight. The only sound was the whimpering of the poisoned ponies from a few hours ago, when the Warlord Boa Hancock came to see Fire-fist Ace. As Celestia had been informed the Warden was not very patient with pirates and had nearly killed them with his devil fruit powers for causing a tumult. No one wanted to be the Warden’s next victim, so they kept quiet while the Warden led Celestia along the cells.
It didn’t take them long to reach the end of the cell block. At the very end of the hallway two ponies shared a cell, both chained to the wall with just enough chain that they could still lie down if they wanted to. One of the ponies looked up when it noticed the group approaching the cell. He was an earth pony with bright orange fur and a fiery red mane which split the giant tattoo on his back – a grinning skull with a symmetrical white sickle in place of a mustache – in two halves. His cutie mark showed an orange hat, the brim of which was on fire.
Celestia ignored him, instead looking at the pony beside him. It was a sea pony, which was a rare sight in itself. This one, however, was simply massive. Bigger and stronger than any earth pony stallion Celestia had ever seen, the Princess didn’t doubt that this pirate could earn his fame with his strength alone. What little information she had on his other abilities was more than just unsettling, as well. His black mane and light blue fur was rather plain in contrast to the gills on both sides of his neck and his shark teeth showed that he probably didn’t object to eating other animals. What really surprised Celestia was the large, sun-shaped brand on his chest that looked a lot like the Princess’ cutie mark. The sea pony’s cutie mark was a smaller version of said brand, distorted by two circular waves.
“You have a visitor, Jinbe,” the Warden spoke up. “This is Princess Celestia. She takes your place as a Warlord during the execution, since you refuse to carry out your duties.”
The sea pony slowly raised his head to look at Celestia. “I see. I’m afraid I’ve never heard of you Princess. I’m actually surprised that the government found someone to fill the role on such short notice. Did you take the position for political reasons? In hope that it would gain your country some favor in the eyes of the world government, maybe?”
Celestia scowled at that. “Don’t you even dare imply something like that! My country doesn’t need your precious government to thrive. I did not want to make that decision and if anything goes wrong it will likely shatter the foundations of my country and corrupt its people. And all because of your selfish actions!” She was falling into the booming volume of the Royal Canterlot Voice now. “I know of the consequences your decisions will have on your own home, Fishman Island. Be aware that you have driven not one, but two countries to ruins!” Her voice died down, almost into a whisper. “That is all I have to say to you. If you can live with what you’ve done, you’re even more despicable than I thought.”
She stared down at the sea pony for a few more seconds, the guards closely watching the two. He met her gaze with his own emotionless stare, but the Princess could tell that her words had struck deep. The silence was suddenly interrupted by a roar coming from behind her.
“CELESTIA!”
Celestia didn’t turn around to the female changeling that was clinging to the bars of her cell, the cell just across the hallway from the one the sea pony was sitting in. The changeling’s eyes were wide open and showed only senseless rage and her voice cracked a little as she continued to yell. “How dare you ignore me like that? Do you really think you could just lock me away in here? Mark my words, Celestia, someday I will return to Equestria and it will not go the way it did last time!”
The guards had already turned around to watch the furious changeling. Now the warden slowly turned to face her as well. A purple hydra head made out of liquid poison emerged from his back and swayed from side to side.
The rage in the changeling’s eyes became fear in an instant and her voice evolved to a high-pitched shriek. “NO!” she scampered backwards into a far corner of the cell and cowered, hiding her head under her hooves. “No poison! I’ll be good! No poison!”
The warden stared down at her shivering form and the poisonous hydra disappeared the same way it had appeared. Celestia made a few steps back towards the exit, still not giving the other cell just a single look. “I am done here, warden, and I don’t want to stay in this place any longer than necessary.”
The Warden nodded and gestured for the guards to follow them. Moments later the Level was just as silent as it was a few minutes earlier.
The changeling hesitantly trotted back to the cell door. She fearfully poked her head outside to confirm that the guards had all left.
“Pathetic,” Her cell mate mumbled. He was a pegasus with a sandy fur coat, a black mane and the picture of a small sand tornado on each flank. A visible scar ran across his face right above his nose and his left front leg ended in a golden hook instead of a hoof.
The changeling took one more look across the hallway and relaxed visibly. She let out the breath she had been holding and began to chuckle.
“Hehehe. Ahahahahah! That was wonderful! I thought my talents might have withered away in this cell, but I’m just as good as I ever was, and it’s just as exciting, too!” Her laughing died down to a chuckle again. “Ahh, I’m sorry everypony,” she said to no one in particular, still grinning from ear to ear. “I didn’t want to hog the spotlight, but nopony else seemed willing to make a move and somepony had to, after all. I’m glad I did, too, it was rejuvenating!”
She ignored the few odd looks from some of the other cells and focused on the cell right across from her. “But now I’m curious, fishman,” she shouted. “What did Celestia say to you?”
The sea pony looked up at her, his face without any emotion. “I thought that was clear enough for everyone to hear.”
“Don’t try to play me for a fool, dear,” the changeling replied in a condescending tone. “On any other day that little speech would have been exactly what I expected from Celestia, but today something was different. I can sense emotions, you know, even with this cursed metal around my horn." She raised a hoof to rub her horn right below the seastone ring that was stuck on it. "I can’t quite put my hoof on it, but this visit had more reason than just to make a few petty insults. I was so considerate to provide a distraction for you two and now I’d like to hear what she really came to tell you.”
The sea pony remained silent for a while before he finally decided to speak up. “´You did what you felt was right, and I can’t fault you for that. Help is on the way.´ That is all that she told me. Boa Hancock told Ace that his brother was coming for him. I don’t know if those messages are connected to each other, but it seems that there are two parties on their way to rescue him… and us, if we’re lucky.” He fell silent again, and the changeling went back to her corner as well, satisfied with his answer.
Nopony knows why the changeling race exists and where we came from. Even we don’t know why we are what we are, or why we look the way we do until we decide to look different. Most of us believe that it is a curse, some think of it as a blessing. As far as the “normal” ponies know, changelings are shape shifters that feed on love, or more simply put: “Monsters”.
It is true that we can alter our appearance at will, and that we can “feed on love”. It is part of our digestive system, and while we could survive without it, it would not be a good life. Feeding on love is in no way an evil act, either. Ponies radiate emotions and we can gather the love they radiate simply by being in their near vicinity. Walking past a flustered filly can be enough to last a changeling the whole day. If we could feed on the love of other changelings we wouldn’t have to seek out other ponies at all, but sadly that’s not possible.
Alas, our appearance makes us monsters and taking a different appearance makes us deceivers. The other ponies wouldn’t believe a word we say, so we travel through their towns under the mask of other ponies to gather love for the rest of the hive, trying not to be spotted. But not once have we intentionally harmed another pony.
As a young mare, I travelled to Canterlot. Nopony except my brother knows about it, but I studied three years at the Canterlot academy and became a certified actress. To this day the pony Crystal Love is a welcomed guest actress at the Canterlot Theater.
Now I am the leader of the hive. I am not a “Queen”, though, and I don’t rule over anypony. If anything, the role that I take is more that of a big sister; I do my best to take care of everypony and try to organize things. My mother passed this duty on to me and it is the reason I am in this place.
Everything was prepared for the big day; the day the changelings would invade Canterlot. The six bearers of the Elements of Harmony had come to Canterlot to oversee the preparations to the grand wedding. Changelings stood ready to strike everywhere in the town. The real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was locked away in the caves beneath Canterlot and nopony suspected a thing; not her husband, not the bearers, not even Princess Celestia herself. Well… One pony – the sister of the groom and bearer of the Element of Magic – saw right through Chrysalis’ disguise, but none of her friends believed her.
In the end the unicorn even came to her room to apologize. It was the perfect opportunity to send her away with a spell, down to the caves where she could join the young Princess. And sure enough, the two of them had escaped right in time to interrupt the wedding ceremony. As soon as Chrysalis had dropped her disguise and announced her plans Celestia fired a beam of magic at her. She countered with her own magic, but she never expected it to actually be strong enough to hold her ground, much less defeat the Princess. Shining Armor’s love for Cadence was still directed at her due to the spell he was under, and was stronger than anything she had ever encountered – without doubt Cadenza’s special talent contributed to that.
The six bearers ran away to get the Elements of Harmony, but were quickly retrieved by the other changelings after a small struggle. In the end the pony to take action was Princess Cadence. Her special magic was able to break the spell Shining Armor had been under and she lent him as much of her magic as she could so he could drive the changelings out of the city with his own spell. That was the end of the invasion. Princess Celestia followed right after Chrysalis and to make sure that she didn’t escape and not even two days later the Changeling Queen found herself in the very same cell she was still in today.
Everything was prepared for the big day; the day the changelings would finally be freed from their past. For more than two years they had moved to Canterlot, one by one, disguised as ponies, and lived in the city until finally the perfect opportunity came along.
Locking Princess Cadence away in the Crystal Caves and taking her place at the royal wedding was almost too easy. As an experienced actress Chrysalis knew how to act as much out of character as possible without making it too obvious, and yet nopony seemed to notice. Or maybe they just didn’t want to notice. Once they had made a decision, ponies could be incredibly stubborn about it.
Only one pony – Twilight Sparkle, the sister of the groom – saw through her disguise. Even then her best friends and her mentor, Princess Celestia, did not believe the unicorn. That made Twilight so insecure that she came to apologize. Chrysalis had to do something about that, so she decided to push her a little further. She magically sent the unicorn to the Crystal Caves and even set up a bit of a show to make sure that her message got across.
Sure enough, Twilight found the real Princess Cadence and the two escaped from the caves just in time to crash the wedding ceremony. Chrysalis immediately dropped her disguise and started boasting about her “plans” to invade Canterlot. She had written her little speech in advance, and it was completely ridiculous and more than just a small hint for ponies that things were not as they appeared. Not only did the changelings have no need or desire for power, invading a city would be quite literally a love-killer. The only thing that might be even bigger strategic nonsense was sealing away Princess Cadence, the one pony who could amplify love with a small spark of magic.
Chrysalis was more than a little surprised when Shining Armor’s love for his bride provided his magic with enough of a boost to match that of Celestia and even defeat her. Luckily the other changelings managed to prevent the bearers from reaching the Elements of Harmony, but that left her without any contingency plans. Luckily, Chrysalis knew how to improvise and there was still one more pony left to save the day.
Princess Cadence was actually brave enough to make a move on her own. She ran over to Shining Armor to try and break the spell he was under with her own magic. Chrysalis wasted no time to help her and quickly released the stallion from the spell, all the while keeping up her act as the great villain. The young alicorn might even have broken the spell on her own, but as much as it pained her to use a spell like that on a pony, Chrysalis couldn’t completely give up her control over the stallion yet. She needed his help for a few more seconds.
After breaking the spell Cadence gave Shining Armor as much of her magic as she could. With her help he was able to cast a spell that drove the changelings out of Canterlot. Chrysalis used the last bit of control she had over the stallion to make sure that the spell was concentrated on her so that none of the other changelings got injured.
Now she was somewhere in a prison that supposedly nopony had ever escaped from, surrounded by criminals and sharing a cell with some kind of pirate of all things, from what she was told. But she was happy. Their plan had worked. The invasion had failed just as planned. Now her hive could finally live their lives in peace, all the lives that they had so carefully constructed over the last two years, in Canterlot, between all the other ponies. Some of them had been really creative, even building whole businesses with the help of each other and Chrysalis old savings. And even if it would take years, Chrysalis knew that she would return to Canterlot and get to see all those new lives led by new ponies.
She had a hunch, and she knew that in Equestria hunches were not to be taken easily.
Meeting Up and Parting Ways – A Pony Searches for his Captain
The two ponies – one blue pegasus and one blue earth pony – rounded another corner and trotted along the hallway behind it. A few ponies in the cells to each side looked after them with interest but said nothing. They already had been freed once today, but with the dragon guarding the exit and all the other beasts running around, the cells were the only place on this level that was guaranteed to be safe.
“So you’re saying that your whole cell door just fell over because you happened to bump against it?” Sanji asked.
“You’d be surprised how often things like that happen to me,” Clutterstep replied. They kept walking for a while until he spoke up again. “What about you? How did you get out of your cell?”
“I didn’t, actually,” Sanji said. “I’m breaking into this prison to help my captain rescue his brother. That’s why I will be going further down when we reach the stairs. If you want to try and escape the prison, you’re on your own for now.”
“Really? That’s pretty– Whoa!” The two ponies stopped in their tracks. Before them, the hallway led to a huge room, with a pair of stairs leading up and down respectively on the other side. In the center of the room the floor was completely gone and a gaping hole led down to the next level, presumably.
The ponies stepped closer to the edge of the hole to look down into the dark. “Taking that way might actually be safer than going down the stairs.” Sanji stretched his wings and gave them a testing flap. “I guess this is where we part ways again. I’ll be back with Luffy once I’ve found him. Maybe we’ll meet again later.”
Clutterstep looked up at him thoughtfully. “You’re doing a lot for that pony. I’ve met a few ponies like that. Did some really stupid things to help them. It’s… I guess it’s nice to see that I’m not the only pony like that.” He began making his way around the hole, over the parts of the floor that were still intact.
“´Only pony´… Wait! Are you from Equestria?” Sanji shouted after him.
Clutterstep stopped and turned back around to the pegasus. “Are you from Equestria, too? Nopony else I’ve met in this prison seemed to know about it. Not that I managed to talk to many of them… Maybe if we meet up again I can tell y–“ Clutterstep took a step towards Sanji, but for some reason it seemed to sink a little deeper into the floor. All around him the stone burst and stood up at different angles.
The Earth pony looked down at his hooves with wide eyes as the floor dropped another inch. Finally the stone wasn’t able to hold itself up anymore and dropped down into the abyss, taking the earth pony with it.
“Why meeeee…”
“Are you okay up there?” Sanji turned his head to look at the pony that was draped over his back and clinging to his neck.
“Considering that I’m still alive I probably shouldn’t complain. Thanks for that, by the way. You must be one of the fastest pegasi I’ve ever seen.”
“I had a good teacher.” Sanji examined the desert ground rushing past below them. They were still pretty high up, and gliding was a lot faster and easier than walking. “It’s actually not that difficult once you’ve learned the basics. Besides, I only had to drop down. I’ve only been a pegasus for a week, so I couldn’t do any stunts yet.”
“So you didn’t use to be a pony?” Clutterstep asked. “The guy in my cell told me that none of the ponies in this prison are actual ponies. It sounds strange… but on the other hoof it’s not the strangest thing I’ve heard or seen in the last weeks.”
Sanji looked back at the ground that was now coming ever closer and prepared for the landing. To his right he could make out the gate behind which the stairs to the second and first level lay. He slowed down and set his hooves firmly on the ground. He stumbled a little, but otherwise managed a good landing.
“The way back up is over there,” he said, “if you want to try to escape again.”
“Actually, I think I’ll stay with you for a while. Knowing my luck, I’d end up deeper down this place no matter what I do.” Clutterstep extended a hoof towards the pegasus. “If you don’t mind, that is. I know that I come across as a bit clumsy, but nopony has ever gotten hurt because of me. Well, nopony except me, at least…” he muttered.
Sanji bumped the hoof with his own. “I won’t just leave you standing here. Let’s not waste any time then.” He trotted back towards the desert.
“G-g-g-Gah! How did they get the level this cold? Shouldn’t we be right under that sea of lava?” Clutterstep was rapidly shivering as he examined the frozen wasteland in front of him. In the distance a few cell blocks and a group of spruce trees stuck out of the ice and snow.
Sanji seemed unimpressed by the temperature as he stepped next to the earth pony. His breath was clearly visible in the air. “I think Celestia mentioned something about that, but I can’t remember what it was right now. I just hope we’ll find Luffy on this level.”
They had spent the last hours searching the third and fourth level for the pony Sanji had come here to find. Avoiding the guards had been easier than expected and so far it didn’t seem like they had been spotted. Clutterstep was more than glad that his bad luck had apparently decided to take a break.
Sanji had taken the time to tell Clutterstep a bit about his own adventures in Equestria; How he had fought a dragon and convinced the two princesses to help him infiltrate the prison. The earth pony was still skeptical about some parts of the story – most parts of the story, actually – but after everything else he had seen in the last days he at least didn’t want to rule out the possibility.
“Aaaaahh!” The two ponies turned their heads to see a cloud of snow rising at the horizon. Three ponies were galloping towards them, a horde of brown figures chasing after them. As they came closer they could see that the figures were actually wolves, build out of sticks and branches.
“Timberwolves!” Clutterstep shouted. “They have those here, too?”
“They’re coming our way,” Sanji said. “Think we should help them?”
“It’s no use! Even if you destroy them, Timberwolves will just resurrect later. We should start running before they get here!” Clutterstep turned around to choose a direction to run to.
“What do I do with an animal that doesn’t have any meat?” Sanji said. Clutterstep stopped and turned his head to look at him. The pegasus stood on his hind legs, forelegs spread out to his sides. His front hooves were glowing bright red. Sanji dropped back to the ground and the snow around his forelegs quickly vaporized. “…At least they’ll make good firewood.”
Clutterstep was able to make out more details now. The pony on the right was a light blue unicorn mare with a silvery-white mane. The one on the left was a pale white earth pony stallion with a slick black mane which formed a large “3” over his head. The stallion in the middle was an earth pony as well. He had orange fur and a blue mane, but all attention was drawn to the big red sphere that seemed to grow out from his muzzle.
“I just wanted to get out of here!” The mare was blindly galloping forward and almost didn’t notice something whisk past her. She turned her head to see a blue pegasus whirling around between the Timberwolves, dishing out hits with his front hooves. His forelegs drew glowing streaks in the air with every movement. Whenever he hit the wooden bodies the wolves yelped in pain. After a short while the Timberwolves began to retreat – the ones that were still standing, at least.
Sanji gathered the wood lying around before it could resurrect and lit a fire with the last of the heat in his hooves. It probably wouldn’t have worked if he hadn’t spent part of the last week learning how to channel it with his pegasus magic.
“That was amazing…” The mare noticed her own jaw hanging down and quickly cleared her throat to cover it up. “I mean… The Great and Powerful Trixie is very grateful for your assistance.” She stepped towards the two new ponies who were throwing the last pieces of wood into the fire. “Trixie must say, she has never seen– YOU!”
Clutterstep looked up at the accusing hoof pointed in his direction. “Oh, Celestia,” he muttered. “Of all the ponies…”
“You know each other?” Sanji asked, stepping up to them.
“Know him?” The unicorn mare roared. “That confounded stallion is the reason Trixie is in this place at all! All Trixie wanted was to settle down in some quiet, far corner of Equestria, until that mess on four legs crossed Trixie’s way.”
“Alright, calm down,” Sanji interrupted. “What exactly happened? From the beginning, please.”
“As you wish.” The unicorns horn lit up and her mane started to shimmer and flow in the air. “I am the Great and Powerful Trixie. You might have heard of me, and let me assure you that only the best things you might have heard are true. Trixie is–“
“She’s a travelling showmare,” Clutterstep interrupted, breaking Trixie’s concentration on the spell. “When I met her, her cart had just lost a wheel. It might or might not have been my fault, I’m not sure actually, but she made me chase after it regardless.”
“Trixie knows that it was your fault and she was entirely justified in demanding your help.” Trixie was still glaring daggers at the earth pony, mostly because he had interrupted her well-practiced speech. “A normal wheel wouldn’t have rolled that far, and definitely not uphill, either. And just when we’d finally found it in that canyon, that… monster appeared out of nowhere!”
“Well, you definitely can’t blame me for that,” Clutterstep shot back. He noticed Sanji’s questioning look and explained, “When we turned around to take the wheel back to her cart some kind of giant three-headed dog was suddenly blocking the way. It chased us the whole way through the canyon, and just when we thought that we had lost him…”
“That idiot ran right into a tree,” Trixie continued. “The first, dried out little tree since we entered that canyon and he runs right into it. For some reason that was enough to have the whole ground crumble away under our hooves and the next thing Trixie knows she is clinging to a piece of wood in water that is for some reason salty.”
“We were floating there for hours until we saw a ship. The things on that ship weren’t ponies, though. They barely had any fur, were walking on two legs and it seemed that all of them were wearing the same kind of outfit. As soon as they saw us they decided to lock us up below deck and brought us here. They didn’t even tell us why.” Clutterstep looked back from Sanji to Trixie. “That was the last I’ve seen of her since then. I did try to apologize to her, several times, but that boasting plotface would have none of it, even though we were clearly in the same situation.”
“Hey, unicorn…”
“Do you really think a simple apology is going to make up for this? Because Trixie certainly doesn’t think so!”
“Do you know why…”
“What else am I supposed to do, then? I can’t just teleport us out of here, can I?”
“Candle Muzzle!”
The wax appearing over the two ponies’ muzzles wasn’t held in place by anything and slid right off, but it was enough to divert their attention to the other two earth ponies standing nearby. The white stallion with the weird manestyle spoke up first, “Does anyone have any idea why our big fire just went out like a candle?”
The three ponies hadn’t even noticed, but the fire was indeed gone. The wood was still lying on the ground and looked suitably burned, but somehow it was already frozen over. Trixie tried to step closer, only to find that she couldn’t. She looked down at her legs to see that they were frozen to the ground. She looked back up to see Clutterstep in the same predicament, ice quickly spreading up his legs.
“What the… What is happening?” Clutterstep tried to break free from the ice, but to no avail.
“Celestia told me about that,” Sanji said. “I think she called them ´Winterghosts´?” He examined the snowstorm raging around the group and the shapes of icy-white horses that flashed up for seconds inside it.
“Windigos?” Trixie screamed. She noticed the four ponies giving her odd looks. “What? I’ve taken parts in many Hearth’s Warming… Look that’s not important. If those are really Windigos…” She paused and turned her head to face Clutterstep again. She grimaced in hesitation, until she finally released an exasperated sigh and said, “I’m sorry.”
Clutterstep just stared at her. “…What was that?”
“I’m sorry, okay?” She shouted. “Trix– I apologize for being rude, bragging, and whatever else you want to hear! Listen, those Windigos are drawn to hatred and disharmony. It makes them stronger! I’m sure you’ve seen the Hearth’s Warming Play at least once.” She raised an unfrozen hoof for emphasis. “If we want to get out of here, we’ll have to end this argument now – or at least postpone it until we’re somewhere warmer,” she added.
Clutterstep sighed. “You’re right. I’m very sorry for getting you into this situation and I think we can agree that we both want to get out of here as soon as possible.” He raised his own unfrozen hoof towards the unicorn. “So… Truce?”
Trixie took the offered hoof and shook it once. “Truce.”
“Well, that’s great, really.” The earth pony with the strange nose stepped up to them. “But it doesn’t seem to impress them very much.” He pointed at the snow storm around them. It seemed to have retreated a bit, but the Windigos were still as agitated as before. “What are we going to do about those things?”
“It must be this place,” Trixie said. “With to a whole prison full of criminals behind them, five ponies in begrudging cooperation won’t really be enough to scare them of.”
“I don’t think normal attacks will do anything against them.” Sanji spread his wings to reveal a small pouch, strapped to his body and previously hidden by his wing. “So I better use everything I have right from the start.” He opened the pouch with his mouth and took out a cigarette and used his wings to take a small set of matches out of it as well. He paused for a moment and put the matches back into the pouch, unused, and closed it again.
The other ponies watched him as he rose to his hind legs with both forelegs stretched out to the sides, using his wings to keep the balance and flapping them until he started spinning. When he stopped his front hooves were glowing the same way they had when he had fought the Timberwolves. He raised one hoof to his muzzle and pressed it against the tip of the cigarette to light it up, then took a first breath of the smoke. “I wonder what’s going to happen this time,” he mumbled.
Sanji stared at his hooves. One moment they were glowing red with the heat of his special technique, the next moment they looked just like before, just a pair of powder blue hooves. From a corner of his eye he saw the blue smoke of his cigarette. Maybe he had the wrong expectations. From what Twilight told him, contact with Poison Joke always had completely random and usually bad consequences. Expecting the burnt plant to have only good results seemed almost naïve in hindsight.
Suddenly the heat was back, snapping him out of his thoughts. Sanji looked back at his hooves.
His forelegs were glowing red.
His hind legs were glowing red.
His chest was glowing, too, as were his wings, and he could only imagine what his head looked like. It didn’t feel like they were burning, either, they just felt… warm. Around him the snow had already melted to reveal a small spot of frozen ground.
Sanji thought back to the pegasus who had made the cigarettes for him, and her friends. Once he found Luffy they could make their way out of this prison and gather the rest of their crew, especially Nami and Robin…
He was still staring at the snow storm in front of him. Or rather, he was staring through the storm at the horses galloping around them. Those things didn’t like good emotions like friendship and Love? They really hadn’t made a good choice picking their prey.
He was slowly stepping up to the storm now. One of the horses seemed to notice him and broke out of the circle, galloping right towards him. Sanji didn’t flinch as it reared up right before. The Windigo let out a whinny and brought his front hooves down onto the frozen ground that the pegasus had just been standing on. Instead, Sanji was now right beside him and whirling around to get into the best position for a good buck. The Windigo howled in pain as the hit sent it flying into the wall of the snowstorm and right out on the other side. Sanji was already back on all four hooves, wings spread and ready to jump into the snowstorm himself.
“For the ladies of this world!”
The other four ponies watched as the snowstorm around them was destroyed by another storm. Sanji was whirling around and dishing out hits to the Windigos, but it seemed like just the storm of heat, going out from his body with every movement, would be enough to scare them away. In fact, more than once Sanji used only that heat to attack; beating his wings to unleash a torrent of heat, slicing through the snow like a desert wind, and using his weather magic for control.
Within minutes the last of the Windigos galloped away towards the horizon and the ground around their fireplace was almost devoid of snow. Sanji trotted back towards the group to light the fire once more, before spitting out the stump of the cigarette and turning to the other ponies.
Clutterstep and Trixie were still doing nothing but staring at the pegasus, while the other two earth ponies tried to take the wood from the side of the fire that wasn’t burning yet.
“That was… How did you do that?” the unicorn asked, still in a state of shock.
“He’s probably a Devil’s Fruit user or something,” the orange stallion with the strange nose shouted at them from the fire. “Now stop standing there and help us get this wood out of the fire. We’ll want to have some spare firewood if we want to stay here, and I don’t think that stuff is going to put itself back together anymore.” He pointed at a few logs lying next to the fire.
“And why would we want to stay here?” Trixie said, nonetheless stepping up to the fire and levitating a few logs that the fire hadn’t reached yet. “Trixie thought that we wanted to get away from this place.”
“After the ruckus earlier we should lay low for a while,” the stallion explained. “We’ll make another attempt to escape later, but until then we have a nice fire going down here and everything that wanted to eat us wants to avoid us now.” The stallion let out a laugh. “Gyahahah, things are finally starting to look up, don’t you think?”
Clutterstep turned to face Sanji, rubbing the back of his head with a hoof. “Uhm, listen… If you don’t mind, I’m going to stay with these ponies here. I mean, they want to go up and you want to go… Yeah…” he let his voice trail of.
“It’s a reasonable decision,” Sanji replied. “If you’re going to wait for a while we’ll probably meet again on the way up. Either way, good luck.” He turned around and wandered off in a random direction, away from the fire and the group of ponies.
“What is that guy doing?” the stallion with the weird nose asked. “If we want to get out of here we should try to stick together!”
“Apparently he’s not trying to escape the prison, or at least not yet,” Clutterstep replied. “He told me that he actually broke into the prison to help his captain. Apparently he’s a pirate or something like that.” He put a hoof to his chin. “I think his captain’s name is ´Luffy´, if I remember that right.”
“Straw Hat?” The weird-nosed stallion shrugged his shoulders and turned back towards the fire. “That boy must be attracting that kind of idiots.”
He blinked.
His head detached and turned back around – now floating at the side of his neck – to look after the pony in the distance. His eyes popped out and his lower jaw dropped to the frozen ground, no longer connected to the head.
“EEEHHHHHH?”
The Hidden Resistance – Changelings and Campfire Stories
Sanji shivered as he trotted through the small forest. Slowly the cold was starting to get to him, but he was getting closer. Hopefully that last lead would turn out to be the final one.
He looked around the forest. The Timberwolves still didn’t dare to come to close to him and no other animals were around. Everything was unnaturally quiet.
“We didn’t expect any visitors today. What brings you here?” Sanji looked in the direction the voice had come from. Something white moved between the trees and a pony turned to face him, revealing itself. The pony was a pegasus stallion. His right side – mane, fur and feathers – was completely white and the reason Sanji hadn’t noticed him before. His left side was bright orange and stood out from the snow as much as the white side blended in with it. He was wearing a pair of glasses with the same color scheme and his cutie mark showed a pair of orange and white scissors, half of which was barely visible on against the fur on either flank.
“I’m looking for my captain. He wears a straw hat.” Sanji didn’t even flinch at the pony’s appearance. So far the stallion didn’t look like a guard, at least.
The other pony raised an eyebrow. “That’s not a very detailed description. This is a prison, how do you know if he’s even still wearing it?”
“I'm not sure what he looks like as a pony,” Sanji replied, “but if he’s still alive he is wearing that straw hat. Have you seen him or not? I heard that he has been poisoned, and I want to find him as soon as possible.”
The pony stared at him for a moment – or maybe he didn’t, it was hard to tell with those glasses. Then he turned around and started walking away through the forest. “Follow me.”
“Gyahaha, what did I say? We have a warm and safe spot just to ourselves.” The earth pony with the weird nose who had introduced himself as ´Captain Buggy´ let out another deep laugh, mouth wide open.
“At least as long as those horses don’t come back,” muttered the other stallion, who was apparently called ´Mister Three´. Clutterstep looked at him more closely. He seemed like a normal earth pony, despite his unusual manestyle, but apparently he could shoot wax from his hooves, just like the other pony could split off parts of his body. They had called it ´Devil Fruit Powers´ and it seemed like it was the only explanation they would give for now. Maybe it really didn’t make more sense than that, Clutterstep wouldn’t be surprised.
“They are called Windigos,” the unicorn, ´Trixie´ spoke up. At least Clutterstep knew that she was a normal pony… As normal as one could consider a pony like her, anyway. “Trixie agrees with you, but as long as we don’t start arguing again, there should be nothing to worry about.”
“Then it’s good that I have these…” Buggy pulled two bottles seemingly out of nowhere. “Swiped them from the guard’s room on Level Two when we went through. We’re going to form an alliance to get out of this prison, and we can’t do that properly without some good old sake.”
He took a long swig from the bottle and let out a content sigh; then he handed the bottle over to Clutterstep. Clutterstep took a sip and immediately had to cough from the strong alcohol. Trixie had the same problem, but Mr. 3 seemed used to it.
“Gyahaha! Looks like we have some lightweights here. I won’t complain, though, if that means you leave more for us.” Buggy left the bottle with Mr. 3 and opened the second one for himself. “Well, what now? We have some time to waste and nothing to do.”
“Ah, this is good” Mr. 3 said, setting the bottle down next to him. He turned his head to look at Buggy. “I’m still curious. How do you know the Straw Hat?”
“That’s right, you’ve met him before, too, haven’t you?” The fire and the alcohol seemed to considerably lift Buggy’s spirits. “Well then, I’ll tell you my story if you tell yours.” He let out his loud laugh again. “Gyahaha! I could get used to this! I’m almost forgetting we’re inside a prison!”
The two-colored pegasus led Sanji to a secret entrance and down a row of corridors. In the end they stopped at a large doorway. Inside dozens of black, insect-like ponies were sitting around tables in a large room, laughing and cheering at a group of insect-ponies that was dancing a Cancan on the stage. From what Sanji had learned in Equestria, he concluded that they were probably part of the Changeling Ponies Twilight had mentioned – or more likely, pirates that had the appearance of changelings.
As soon as they entered the room the cheering and laughing stopped and the Changelings left the stage. Everypony went quiet except for one big changeling with a strangely big and poofy purple mane. He was still dancing with his back to the crowd, completely oblivious and humming the tact to himself.
Sanji stopped next to the pegasus that had led him here and who was now staring up at the changeling on stage, with no visible emotion. “Are you the leader of this place?” The changeling on stage completely ignored him and kept humming and dancing, which looked ridiculous without anyone else on the stage. Sanji carefully stepped closer to the stage. “Excuse m–“
“WELCOME!” The changeling spun around without a warning and struck a pose, standing on his hind legs. His head seemed too big for his body, his mane seemed too big for his head, and he was wearing more makeup than could be considered reasonable. Unlike the rest of the changelings in the room he also had a horn.
Sanji waited for him to say something else, but the changeling seemed content to just hold the pose he was standing in, mouth still open in a strange grin. After a few seconds he slowly tipped over and fell face first to the ground. Sanji continued to watch him, but he didn’t move at all. After a minute Sanji decided to jump up onto the stage and reached out with a hoof to poke the changeling’s mane.
“I’M OKAY! HEE-HAW!” The changeling was suddenly standing on his hind legs again, in the same pose he had taken earlier. Sanji hadn’t even seen him move.
All around the room the changelings burst into laughter and threw their forelegs in the air, shouting in unison, “You got us, Iva-sama!”
Sanji ignored the noise around them. “Look, if you could tell me where my captain is…”
The changeling seemed to notice him only now. “You! What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be on– …Eh? What was I talking about?” he said.
“Have you heard of me already?” Sanji wondered who would recognize him as a pony. Because of his stupid wanted poster, people wouldn’t even recognize him as a human.
The changeling took a closer look at Sanji’s face and walked around him to examine him from all sides. When he was back in front of Sanji he paused for a moment and cleared his throat loudly to make sure he had the attention of everyone.
„The Straw Hat is behind that door. I have given him my Special Hormone Treatment six hours ago. We also chained him up so he won’t hurt himself”
“Mugiwara!”
“You shouldn’t get your hopes up, though. The treatment takes 24 hours. Even if his will is strong enough, there’s only a 2% chance that he survives.”
“Mugi-Chan!”
“Your friend came here immediately after he woke up. He’s been in front of that door for hours, cheering the Straw Hat on and completely ignoring his own injuries. Maybe you can convince him to get some rest.”
“Mugiwar– “
The rest of the word was cut off by a coughing fit. Drops of green ichor hit the floor to join the ones that already covered the ground. The changeling broke down to his knees trying to catch his breath. He could hear the sound of hooves as someone trotted up to him.
The changeling looked up to see a blue pegasus stallion with a blond mane standing next to him, staring at the huge bolted door. Even as a pony and after everything that had happened lately the changeling immediately recognized him. They had fought each other once. The pegasus had defeated him, which was good, because he had been fighting for a friend. Now they were friends, too.
The pegasus looked down at him, then back to the door. He took a deep breath.
“LUFFY!”
The changeling’s eyes widened as he stared up to the pegasus, who was shouting at the top of his lungs.
“LUFFY! HURRY UP AND GET OUT OF THERE!”
“MUGI-CHAN!”
“LUFFY!”
Down the hallway, Emporio Ivankov watched the two ponies with interest. The changeling was back on his feet and yelling even louder than before. Just who is this Straw Hat boy, he thought.
“Luffy!”
“Mugi-Chan!”
A crowd had formed behind the two ponies in the hallway. It had been eighteen hours since the Straw Hat had received the Special Hormone Treatment and for the last twelve hours the changeling and the pegasus had cheered their friend on. By now every pony in the Secret Level 5.5 of Impel Down had gathered to watch. At the back of the crowd Ivankov was still watching as well.
Now it seemed like the two had finally reached their limit.
Ivankov took another look at the two ponies who had collapsed in front of the door. The pegasus was exhausted, emotionally just as much as physically. That the changeling was even still conscious was a miracle on its own. He should order some ponies from the crowd to take them away, so they could get some much-needed rest–
“MUGIWARA!”
Every pony in the crowd turned their heads to look at a brown unicorn stallion with a deep blue mane. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.
“DON’T GIVE UP, MUGIWARA!”
A few ponies in the crowd joined in. Some of them had tears in their eyes, others were openly crying. Soon every pony in the crowd was shouting, yelling, screaming and cheering.
“Straw Hat!”
“Mugiwara!”
“Keep fighting, Straw Hat!”
“LUFFY!”
“MUGI-CHAN~!”
Ivankov stared at the crowd in disbelief, and at the two ponies who were standing once again, on shaking legs, but standing nonetheless, and who were cheering louder than any other pony in the hallway.
Ivankov had watched for almost an hour as every pony on the Secret Level 5.5 cheered the Straw Hat on. He could still hear the Straw Hat’s screams in all of the noise, which meant that the boy was still alive. With all of this, he thought, the Straw Hat could muster up the will that is necessary. Still his survival is very unlikely.
Suddenly all the noise of the ponies in the hallway was drowned out by a single scream from behind the giant door. Silence followed. The cheers from the crowd had stopped. More importantly, the screams from the other side of the door had stopped as well.
Ivankov gave them a moment, then he cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “I’m sorry,” he said, hanging his head down. “I had really hoped he would make it.” He turned around and started walking back through the hallway.
Clang.
Ivankov stopped. The sound of metal had come from behind the door. One of the chains probably got loose, he thought.
Cling. Clang.
The sounds had definitely come from the room the Straw Hat was in. Everyone had turned their attention back to the door.
Thump.
The sound of something hitting against wood came from the door.
Thump.
A few of the ponies went to open the door, but the pegasus had spread his wings to hold them back.
…
With a loud crash, the massive wooden bolt in front of the doors broke and the door slammed against the wall of the hallway. In the darkness of the room behind them the silhouette of a pony stood perfectly still, its head hanging down and almost touching the ground.
A wave of tension seemed to wash over the crowd as the silhouette slowly raised its head.
“I can’t believe it!” Rarity turned her head left and right to inspect as much of the shimmering walls as she could. “Just look at all those crystals. I usually prefer regular gemstones, but I’ve never seen crystals of this quality outside of the Crystal Empire, either. Oh, just imagine the dresses I could design with these,” she sighed, little stars appearing in her eyes.
“So, these caves have been right under Canterlot this whole time? I’ve never heard anything about them,” Applejack said, looking around.
“Yes they have been here for quite some time. Of course we have made some… adjustments in that time.” Princess Luna examined the crossroad they had stopped at and confidently turned left. “If I remember right, Twilight has already been here once.”
“I’d rather not talk about that.” Twilight cringed at the memory of that day. Her friends let their heads hang in shame. None of them liked to think back to the changeling invasion.
After a moment Rainbow Dash looked back up. “Now that you mention it, there is one thing I’m curious about.” She pointed a hoof at the Princess. “Where were you during that invasion? I mean, not only are you a princess, apparently you’re some kind of famous pirate, too. We could have really used your help with those changelings.”
“It seems the memories of that day are rather unpleasant to you.” Luna noticed the confused stares of the other six ponies. “Ah, I’m sorry, what I said was uncalled for.” She started walking again, partially to hide the expression on her face. “To answer your question: I did engage some of the changelings in battle that day, and I met some interesting ponies. But that story is not mine to tell. Anyway, I believe we have reached our destination.”
Applejack looked up at the crystal wall that signaled that they had reached a dead end. “Ah don’t mean to be rude, Princess, but what exactly is our destination.”
Luna didn’t answer and instead concentrated on the spell she had prepared. The crystals in front of them started to glow and slowly vanished like a mirage.
“Whoa…” The six ponies could only stare at the sight before them. What had previously seemed like a dead end now gave way to a large cave that was dominated by a lake. The water was completely still and extended into the dark further down the cave.
The Princess simply trotted down the way to the lake, towards the only other thing that had been waiting in the cave besides water and crystals. She looked up to take in the whole sight of it. “It has been a while, my friend,” she said, smiling softly. “You haven’t changed a bit. Well…” She lit her horn again and levitated a piece of cloth from the plain saddlebags she was wearing. “…except for one thing. We can’t really have an adventure without this, can we?” Her horn lit a little brighter and the cloth began to float upwards.
Luna turned around to the six mares. “What do you say, my friends? Do you want to follow me? It will be dangerous. It will be exiting.” She unfolded her wings. “It will be the greatest adventure you ever had!”
Nopony answered. Twilight and her friends were still staring at the thing in front of her. It was huge, made from strong wood and painted in a midnight blue color.
A piece of cloth unfurled at the top of the mast. The deep black of it was only broken by the white of a full moon. Dark dots resembling moon craters outlined a unicorn horn and two wings, the same symbol that could be found on the backside of a bit coin.
Ivankov trotted closer to the three ponies who seemed completely oblivious to everything around them as they shared stories. The Straw Hat was talking the most, showing no signs of his near-death experience, any traces of the tons of food he had just devoured.
“Shishishi. It’s great to see you’re safe, Sanji. Did you break into the prison, too?” The Straw Hat asked a blue pegasus in front of him.
“Don’t be silly, Straw Hat,” Iva spoke up. “There’s no way he could have–“
“Yeah,” the pegasus said, ignoring him. “One of the Shichibukai helped me get inside. I heard you came here with Boa Hancock?”
“EEEHH?” Iva’s jaw dropped. “That’s how you got here?”
The other ponies were still ignoring her. “Shishishi. Yeah, she was a little strange at first, but she’s great. Without her I wouldn’t have found out about Ace.” Luffy’s expression got serious. “That’s right, I have to get to Ace!” he shouted, turning to Iva. “Bon said that you’re an important guy here. I need your help to find my brother.”
“I already heard about that,” Iva said. “I can tell you where Fire-Fist Ace’s cell is, but I won’t come with you. Inazuma and I are part of the Revolutionary Army. We’re hiding in this secret Level until we get orders from Dragon.”
“Dragon?” Luffy tilted his head. “Oh, so you know my dad?”
“Yes, your dad was the one who…” He blinked. “EEEHH? Your dad?”
“Monkey D. Dragon is my dad,” Luffy replied flatly. “At least that’s what Grandpa told me. I’ve never really met him.”
“Dragon mentioned that he had a son, but to think that I would meet him here…” Iva mumbled to himself. He stared at Luffy. “That boy really is a lot like him. Okay,” he said, “I’ve changed my mind. We’re going to help you rescue your brother.”
He turned to the crowd of changelings who had been watching the whole conversation. “What do you say?” he shouted. “Do you want to go up and escape from this prison?”
Some changelings shouted “Yeah!” while others just nodded their heads excitedly. Iva waited a moment for the crowd to calm down again.
“WELL, WE’RE GOING DOWN FIRST! HEE-HAW!”
“You got us, Iva-sama!”
Iva walked past the crowd and stopped on the other side, turning around. “Alright, everypony!” he announced. “Let’s show them the Okama Way, and don’t forget to smileWhere did that come from?”
A grey unicorn stallion with a green and yellow mane was frantically looking over the different screens in the room. “What do you mean you’re being attacked?” he screamed into the Den Den Mushi in front of him.
“We have four attackers down here, Vice-Warden!” the snail replied. “One of them is the intruder ´Straw Hat Luffy´. He’s accompanied by ´Okama Queen Ivankov´, ´Revolutionary Inazuma´ and a pegasus we weren’t able to identify yet! None of the traps were able to hold them off and they’re just charging through the Gaolers. They’ll enter Level Six soon!”
Vice-Warden Hannyabal continued to stare at the snail. This was bad, but it could also be his chance to prove his worth. “Let them through and initiate the Level Six Isolation Protocol,” he said, trying to sound confident. “I will be Warden– I mean, we will trap them on Level Six!”
“ACE!” Luffy stood in front of a large cell. Inside a pair of empty, blood-encrusted chains were hanging from the wall.
“Is this the right cell?” Iva asked the guard she had picked up on the stairs.
“Yes, yes, I’m completely sure!” the guard exclaimed in panic. “This is the cell where Fire-Fist Ace was being held!”
“Are you ´Straw Hat Luffy´?” Luffy noticed that there was another pony inside the cell. It didn’t look like a normal pony, though.
“How do you know my name?” Luffy asked
“There’s no time for that!” the strange pony roared. “They just came to take your brother to Marineford. They used the elevator, if you hurry you can still make it!” The pony pointed towards a large open stone cylinder. Inside it a set of strong ropes disappeared into the ceiling.
“Strange, my tail won’t stop twitching…” Iva mumbled to himself.
Sanji stepped forward to examine the shaft. “It will be the fastest solution if I fly Luffy up there. It seems big enough.” He looked upwards into the shaft and suddenly jumped away from it. A second later a tablet of spikes the size of the elevator came crashing down, causing the shaft to collapse.
“Well, there goes plan A,” Sanji mumbled, examining the rubble. His head shot up when large metal bars smashed down in front of the stairs they had entered through. A faint hissing sounded and a cloud of green gas began to drift through the bars.
“Hey! Let us out!” Luffy galloped a few steps towards the barricaded exit before he reached the green smoke and dropped to the ground snoring.
“Sleeping gas,” Iva stated. “They’re trying to lock us in here until they can take care of us personally. Can you do something about that gas, Inazuma?”
The two-colored pegasus was already at work. His wings had taken on a metallic sheen and he used them to cut through the stone floor like two hot knifes would cut through butter. Whenever he was done with a part of the floor he would lift it up with his wings as if it was a sheet of paper and throw it towards the steel gate in front of the stairs. In less than a minute the stairs were completely sealed off, not letting any of the gas pass into the level.
“That was impressive,” Sanji commented, eyeing the other pegasus with interest.
“It’s the power of the Choki Choki no Mi,” Inazuma stated flatly. “I’m a scissorman.”
“But now we’re trapped down here.” Luffy was already back to consciousness. “I need to follow Ace!”
“Even if we had a way to get out of here,” Iva spoke up, “we’d never get to him in time. Fire-Fist is probably already on his way to Marineford.”
“Then I’m going to follow him to Marineford!” Luffy was racing across the corridor, looking for another way out.
“You can’t be serious, Straw Hat! Whitebeard and his men will be there, and the elite of the Marine on the other side. You wouldn’t stand a chance! Besides,” he added, “it doesn’t matter if we have no way out of here.”
“Kuhahaha. It seems that you have quite a problem.” Hooves clacked on stone and a pony stepped up to the bars of his cell. He was a pegasus with a sandy fur coat and a black mane. A visible scar ran across his face right above his nose and his left front leg ended in a golden hook instead of a hoof. His cutie mark showed a cloud of golden sand, outlining a hook. “I didn’t think that there was anything of interest left for me outside of this prison, but I can’t miss a chance to take that old guy’s head.”
Sanji stepped closer to examine the stallion. “You look familiar…”
“Huh?” Luffy had stopped his running to watch. “Do you know that guy, Sanji?”
“I think that’s–“ Sanji began.
“Crocodile!” Iva shouted. “I haven’t seen you in a while. I didn’t know you were in here, too.”
“Kuhaha. You can thank the Straw Hat for that.” Crocodile gave a dark grin towards Luffy. “But I won’t hold any grudges if you let me out of here.”
“Don’t trust him, Iva!” Luffy shouted. “That guy tried to destroy Vivi’s country.”
“I’ll have to agree with Luffy,” Sanji added. “That guy is nothing but trouble.”
“We don’t have much of a choice,” Iva said. “Besides, I’ve known Croco-Boy back when he was still a rookie, and I know a great weakness of his.” Crocodile cringed at that. “But,” Iva continued, “I’ll keep quiet about it if he is willing to help us out of here.” Inazuma was already working to open the cell door.
“If you are really escaping” – everyone turned their heads to the cell that had held Ace captive – “please take me with you!” the seapony inside roared. “I swear that I will do all that I can to help you!” The seapony’s eyes were wide in desperation. “I’ve known Ace for years, since he first joined Whitebeard. He told me stories of his younger brother. I’m only in this prison because I refused to participate in the war!”
“Okay,” Luffy replied nonchalantly. “If you’re a friend of Ace we’ll take you along, too.” He turned to the other ponies. “Hey, scissor-guy! Can you help him out of that cell?”
“Thank you, Straw Hat!” The seapony bowed his head deeply. “I am indebted to you.”
“If you are willing to accept those two into your group –“ out of Crocodile’s open cell trotted another pony “– perhaps you will hear my plea as well.” She was another changeling, her mane a washed out blue. Unlike the changelings on the secret level she had a black unicorn horn and two insect wings folded to the sides of her back. “I am not much of a fighter,” she said, “but I’m sure that I can be of assistance to you.”
“Vice-Warden?”
Hannyabal stared at the Den Den Mushi in front of him. “What is your status?”
“They’re not here.”
“What?”
“They escaped Level Six through a hole in the wall. As it seems they freed three more prisoners from this level: ´Knight of the Sea´ Jinbe, former Shichibukai ´Sir Crocodile´ and ´Changeling Queen Chrysalis´.”
“That is not good. That is really bad!” Hannyabal picked up another Den Den Mushi from the desk. “Warden?” He paused and set the snail back to its place. “No. This is still a chance to prove myself. I can still capture them!”
He picked up another one of the snails. “Saldeath, Sadi-chan! Rally all of your troops at Level Four. We’re going to confront them there. I will be Warden– I mean, they will not escape!”
“OAHH! Iva-sama, those Vigor Hormones were strong. I can’t stop spinning!”
The horde of changelings shivering in the freezing wind of Level Five didn’t pay much attention to the high-strung Mr.2. Right now all of them where focusing their attention on the speech their leader was holding.
“…and open as many of the cells as possible,” Iva shouted. “We are going to cause a panic the likes of which this prison has never seen! Let’s start moving, Straw Hat!”
“He already went on ahead,” Inazuma stated flatly.
“Such a determined spirit! Hee-Haw!”
“The execution is planned for three pm. We have about five hours left to reach Marineford and rescue Ace-san.” Jinbe galloped up the stairs to Level Four. Beside him the Changeling Queen and Sanji were trying to keep up with Luffy. Crocodile was already flying further ahead towards the large door leading to Level Four.
“Doors mean nothing,” Crocodile said, placing his right hoof on the wood. “I’ll just turn them into dust.” Spreading out from his hoof the door quickly turned into dust as all the moisture was drained from it.
The other four ponies stopped next to him as the last pieces of the door fell to the ground. On the other side hundreds of guards were waiting from them, guns ready. Behind them towered a giant Rhinoceros, a giant Koala and a giant Zebra – all standing on their hind legs – as well as a grey Minotaur. Three ponies stood in front of the guards. On the left was a very small, white unicorn stallion with a light beige mane. The pegasus mare on the right had a deep pink fur coat and a blonde mane, and was holding a whip with her wing. The big grey unicorn stallion in the front had a yellow and green mane, and was carrying a pole that had a long blade on each end in his magic aura.
“Stop right there, pirates!” the grey unicorn announced. “I will be Ward– I mean, we will not let you go any further!”
Luffy stepped forward. “Get out of the way! I’m going to rescue Ace!”
The level fell completely silent after his outburst, the guards still keeping their guns aimed at the escapees. The only sound that could be heard was a group of hooves clicking on the stone floor, coming from somewhere on the level. Some of the guards began to look around to spot the source of the sound.
Clutterstep slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He had fallen asleep near the fire, which was now little more than a small pile of ember. It was enough to keep the area around it warm, but the cold had already started to seep through to him. Looking around he noticed that no more firewood was left. Trixie and Buggy still seemed to be fast asleep.
“Ah, you’re awake,” Mr. 3 said as Clutterstep slowly got to his hooves. “I’ve kept the fire going with my wax for a while, but I think it will be best if we start our escape soon.” He trotted over to the sleeping Buggy and poked his head. “Hey, Buggy. Wake up!”
“…the cat’s guided with the salad…” Buggy mumbled in his sleep. Mr. 3 poked him a little harder. “…the French Toast… What?” Buggy opened an eye to stare at the pony that had woken him. “Who are you?” he mumbled, rising to his hooves as the last day came back to his memory. “Oh, Mr. 3… How long was I asleep?”
“It’s hard to tell down here.” Mr. 3 looked at the frozen plains around them. “The fire burned down, though, and we’re out of firewood, so I thought now would be the best time to make our move.”
“Alright!” Buggy stepped over to Trixie, who was slowly waking up as well. “Get up, unicorn! It’s time to go.”
“Trixie only hopes that we will not be pulled back down again when we’ve almost reached the exit.”
The four ponies stretched themselves and began walking towards the entrance to Level Four, leaving the fireplace behind.
…iwara!
Clutterstep paused and turned around to let his gaze wander over the white hell around him. “Did you guys hear anything?”
Mr. 3 looked over his shoulder at him. “It was probably just the wind, or maybe one of those wolves.”
“All the more reason to leave this place as soon as possible,” Trixie added. “Keep walking!”
Clutterstep watched them walk ahead and turned around one last time. Whatever it was, the sound was now drowned out by the icy wind that was picking up around them. He shrugged and fell into a canter to catch up with the rest of the group.
Clutterstep led the other three ponies through the desert sand of Level Three. They had made it here in record time, thanks to a streak of good luck – which was rather unfamiliar to him – and the fact that the three other ponies seemed to know surprisingly much about the layout of Level Four. After they had made it to Level Three Clutterstep had taken the lead. He knew his way around the Level quite well, better than Buggy and his companions. He had spent quite some time here with Sanji, looking for the way to Level Four.
“This seems familiar. It can’t be much further to the next level.” Mr. 3 craned his neck to examine the desert around him. In the distance to his right a small cluster of cell blocks stuck out of the sand. And right ahead of them…
“Treasure!” Buggy flew past them, his hooves galloping after him. The other ponies followed him until they reached the spot where large stones lay scattered across the desert sand. Pieces of Buggy were already flying between the rocks and collecting gold, gemstones and jewelry that were strewn all over the place.
“That must be the parts of the Dragon’s hoard that came down from Level Two with us!” Mr. 3 exclaimed. “We can sell those for a fortune when we’re back on the Grand Line!” He started picking up treasure, forming a bag out of his wax.
“Just look at those two,” Trixie said turning towards Clutterstep, “losing their heads over a few simple gemstones.” She watched Buggy’s laughing head, sitting on top of the biggest rock in the center while his body parts collected more treasure. “…Literally. Though Trixie supposes there is no reason not to take a few souvenirs back to Equestria.” She levitated a few pieces of jewelry in front of her to examine them.”
Clutterstep trotted forward and began to scan the rocks. “Well, if we’re already pilfering I might as well join in.” He noticed that a few of the rocks had a different color than the rest. “Hmm. Not much left in this part.”
Clac.
Clutterstep felt something on his right front hoof and raised his leg to inspect it. A pair of hoofcuffs had been hidden by the sand and he had right stepped into it, causing it to snap shut around his leg. The second metal ring was still stuck below the sand. Clutterstep tried to pull it out, but was met with resistance. Slowly a long metal bar emerged from the sand, caught in the second ring of the hoofcuffs. Short remnants of another metal bar crossed it on both ends, trapping it inside the locked hoofcuff.
Clutterstep sighed. “Well, that lasted longer than expected, at least.” He took a few steps forward, dragging the metal bar along… and promptly tripped over it. Lying on the heated sand he opened his eyes to watch the three other ponies continuing their way towards Level Two without him. “…Just great,” he muttered.
A few of the prisoners watched Clutterstep with interest as he carried the metal bar past them in his mouth. From what he’d gathered Buggy had freed them, probably to divert attention from themselves as they escaped. Most of the prisoners were crowded together in this part of the level now, staring ahead at a turn of the corridor.
Clutterstep rounded the corner to find the other three members of this group standing in front of a violet wall. He dropped the metal bar in his mouth and collapsed on the floor. “Finally! What were you thinking, just leaving me there?”
“Oh hush,” Trixie replied. “We didn’t see you anywhere and thought you had already gone ahead. Besides, you made it here just fine, didn’t you?”
Clutterstep decided to ignore her, instead getting back to his hooves and staring up at the violet wall in front of him. “What is that thing?”
“The Warden sealed off the whole level with his Devil Fruit powers,” Mr. 3 explained. “That wall is made from poison. We have no way to break through.”
“Maybe there’s another exit. We have to keep the moral up while all those prisoners are still loyal to me.” Buggy turned around to trot back through the corridor. “With all of those strong pirates under my command I can–“ He tripped over the metal bar lying next to Clutterstep and stumbled. A small red ball fell out of his hoof and rolled over the floor.
“The Muggy Ball!” Buggy, Trixie and Mr. 3 all screamed at the same time. They raced back through the hallway away from the marble.
“The what?” Clutterstep turned around to look after them in confusion, forgetting about the metal cuff around his hoof for just a moment. The metal bar swung around, scraping over the stone floor. It hit the red ball at an angle that made it bounce off the floor and fly towards the poison seal.
“They broke through the seal!”
“They really did it!”
“Three cheers for Captain Buggy!”
Clutterstep found himself in a pile of pony bodies laid against the wall opposite of the poison that sealed off the level… Or rather, the spot where the poison had previously been. The explosion had annihilated the whole poison and parts of the stone wall around him, while the four ponies had been blown in the opposite direction. Mr. 3 lay below him, Trixie was sprawled out on top of him, and parts of Buggy were spread all around them.
“I guess that worked, too,” Buggy’s head groaned.
“You’re welcome?” Clutterstep couldn’t help but chuckle at the situation.
“Trixie has the feeling that none of you are fans of the subtle approach,” Trixie muttered.
“Could you maybe get off me first?” Mr. 3’s voice came out of the pile.
The ponies untangled themselves and got back to their hooves. “Alright, men! The way is clear, we’re going to Level One!” Buggy announced, earning a round of cheers from the prisoners.
Clutterstep held Trixie back as the prisoners herded into the stairway to Level One. “Wait! You’re good with magic, can you open those hoofcuffs for me?” He held out his right leg.
“How did you–? Nevermind. A simple lock is no challenge for the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie concentrated and lit her horn to channel her magic towards the lock. For a moment nothing happened, until Trixie let the glow die down again. “…Unless the lock is made of seastone, of course,” she huffed. She poked the metal bar and shivered. “That thing is pure seastone, too. I’m afraid Trixie’s powers don’t work on that confounded metal. You really are one unlucky pony.”
“Seastone?” Clutterstep asked. “Another trick of this prison?”
“Indeed,” Trixie replied. “They put some of that stuff around my horn when we got here. It completely blocks a unicorn’s magic. But apparently the real reason they use it is that it completely negates the powers of those Devil Fruit users when they touch it.”
“So I’m stuck with this thing on my leg until I find the key?” Clutterstep rubbed his temple with a hoof.
“Not to worry, as always Trixie knows a solution,” the unicorn boasted. “That wax guy can craft a key for you if you ask him. They freed the prisoners that way.” She pointed at the stairway.
Clutterstep watched the last of the prisoners disappear up the stairs. “And the scavenger hunt goes on,” he muttered. “Wonderful.”
Buggy and Mr. 3 had already begun to hand out keys to the other pirates to free the prisoners on Level One. They were standing further down the corridor, watching the cell doors being opened and hoofcuffs being taken off. “Gyahahaha. That’s right, everyone. The great Captain Buggy is here to save you!” Buggy was floating in front of a growing crowd of prisoners, boasting about their great escape.
Clutterstep approached the white pony next to Buggy and held out his right hoof. “Hey, Mr. 3, can you make me a key for these?”
“No problem. I’m already warmed up, anyway.” A small clump of wax floated between Mr. 3’s front hooves and quickly formed a small white key. He held it out to Clutterstep. “Here you go.”
Clutterstep took the key with his mouth and worked it into the lock of his hoofcuffs. “Finally,” he mumbled around the key in his mouth. “I can’t wait to get this key of.”
The sound of the metal ring falling to the floor and Buggy’s boasting was drowned out by the grating sound of the large metal door beside the stairs slowly sliding open. Every prisoner turned their head to watch the inside of an elevator come into view. Two guards lay unconscious on the ground. A large violet pegasus with a black mane and leathery black wings towered over a small orange earth pony with hoofcuffs around his forelegs. A purple hydra head emerged from his back, staring down at the earth pony.
Both ponies turned their heads to stare at the crowd of prisoners. Then the earth pony dashed forward. Prisoners screamed and started to turn tail as the Warden began to follow the earth pony, the poisonous hydra head swaying above him. The earth pony kept galloping towards them, away from the Warden. “A key!” he yelled. “Do you have a key?”
Clutterstep had unconsciously fallen in step with the others. Everypony was galloping away from the large pegasus. “Who is that guy?” he shouted over at Mr. 3.
“Are you serious? He’s the Warden of this prison! He ate a Devil Fruit that lets him generate poison. Like my wax powers, but if it hits you, you’re done for!”
“I need a key– Oof!“
Clutterstep turned his head and stopped when he saw that the hoofcuffs around his legs had caused the orange earth pony to trip. He was lying on the floor, front legs stretched out in front of him. Clutterstep realized that he still had the wax key for his own hoofcuffs in his mouth. Down the hallway the Warden was coming closer.
He dashed back to the earth pony and bent down to fumble his key inside the lock of the hoofcuffs. If he thought about his decision he would probably regret it, but he didn’t have time to do that, anyway. The hoofcuffs opened and fell to the ground. Clutterstep looked up to see the Warden towering above them, just two or three ponylengths away.
The last thing he saw was a purple hydra shooting towards him, baring its fangs.
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Then the world turned to fire.
The Great Captain Buggy – Ponies Against Warden Magellan
Clutterstep stared at the orange pony in front of him. Flames leaked from all parts of the stallion’s body and where his red mane had previously been a single line of fire emerged from his back. He was crouched down in an offensive stance, ready to charge at the Warden, while a firestorm raged on all around them.
Clutterstep realized that the firestorm had somehow saved them from the Warden’s attack. The fire around them was hot, but it still didn’t feel uncomfortable. He remembered that Buggy had mentioned something about a pirate named ´Fire-Fist´. Was this stallion that pirate?
The pony turned his head to look at Clutterstep, a confident grin on his face. “Thanks for opening those cuffs. I’m Ace.”
Clutterstep stared back at him for a moment before he remembered to say something. “C-Clutterstep,” he stammered.
“Well, thank you, Clutterstep.” Ace turned his head back to the wall of fire that was slowly clearing to reveal the Warden and two of his poisonous hydras. “I’ll take care of this guy. Still got a bone to pick with him.” He reared up and stomped his front hooves down, sending two lines of flames along the ground towards the Warden.
Clutterstep stood there for a second before he remembered to start moving. He galloped back to Buggy, Trixie, Mr. 3 and the other prisoners who were watching the fight between Ace and the Warden.
Buggy turned around to the crowd of pirates. “What are you waiting for? We can’t do anything to help Fire-Fist. Let’s move on to the exit!” The crowd cheered and began to move, led by Buggy and Mr. 3.
Trixie kept to Clutterstep as they galloped to the front of the crowd. “You are the most insane pony Trixie has ever seen,” Trixie told him, “and Trixie has seen a lot of nut jobs.”
“It never seems to work out for me,” Clutterstep chuckled, “but I guess it always does, anyway.”
Trixie and Clutterstep caught up to Buggy and Mr. 3 and galloped alongside them. “I never expected to run into Ace,” Buggy said to them. “They probably wanted to escort him to Marineford for the execution. I didn’t think that was today already.”
“Wait a moment,” Mr. 3 said. “If they were going to escort him, doesn’t that mean–”
They turned around a corner and were suddenly facing a squadron of ponies in white and blue vests. Clutterstep noticed that one of the ponies had a white and blue coat draped over his back like a cape. “Erk–“ Buggy staggered a few steps back as the ponies all aimed their rifles at them.
“Candle Wall!” Mr. 3 jumped forward, shooting a flood of wax from his forehooves. Within seconds the corridor was sealed off. “That should hold them off for a while.” He panted a little as he trotted back to the rest of the group.
“I don’t get it. I know they’re a problem, but we already took on the guards on Level Two, right?” Clutterstep asked.
“This is different,” Mr. 3 replied. “If those Marines are really the escort for Ace, they have at least someone the rank of a Captain with them. Whoever it is, they’re going to be too strong for us to take them on in a fight.” He looked back to the white seal. “My Candle Wall will buy us some time, but right now we’re pretty much trapped here.”
“Alright,” Buggy commented, “we’re going back to Fire-Fist. If anyone can break through all of those Marines, it’s him.”
Clutterstep could hear the roar of the fire before they even got close to the fight. The walls of the hallway were burned and had scorch marks, and a few holes showed where drops of the poison had melted the stone. Ace had already driven the Warden all the way back to the stairs with his attacks, but it seemed that he was starting to grow tired. His attacks were slower than they had been at the beginning of the fight and he had to retreat a few steps as the Warden sent another shot of poison in his direction.
Unlike Ace, the Warden was fighting more violently than at the beginning of the fight. He had covered himself completely in his poison and three gigantic hydra heads towered over his head, ready to strike. He was sweating, but showed no other signs of fatigue.
Clutterstep watched as Ace lost more ground to the poisonous demon. If the firepony couldn’t defeat the Warden, nopony else in their group stood any chance. He hesitantly took a few more steps towards the fight… and tripped.
He looked down to see a pair of hoofcuffs tangled with his forelegs, the same pair he had taken off Ace a short while ago. Clutterstep groaned. Fortunately, neither of the cuffs had snapped shut during the accident. He had lost his wax key – it had probably melted in that firestorm – and he would have had to get another to get those annoying metal rings off his legs – again.
He blinked.
Clutterstep looked back towards the fight between Ace and the Warden. Not far away from them – right at the wall – lay the metal bar and the pair of hoofcuffs he had dragged there all the way from Level Three. They were still exactly where he had taken them off.
Clutterstep’s mind raced as he tried to remember everything he had learned in this prison, trying to make sure he got all the facts right. If it really worked the way he thought… Was it really that simple? He scrambled back to his hooves as fast as he could, the pair of hoofcuffs in his mouth. He galloped back to the three ponies he actually knew, who were standing in front of the other prisoners, watching the fight, and dropped the hoofcuffs in front of them.
“I need your help with something!”
Clutterstep started galloping as soon as he saw the Warden make another move. Ace countered the attack with one of his own and Clutterstep saw some of the poison splatter to the sides as he quickly came closer to the battle. Within moments he had reached his goal. He quickly bent down to adjust the position of the metal bar. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another attack of the Warden get blocked by a jet of fire – far too close for his liking. He could hear Trixie groan loudly as a drop of poison hit his back and tried to burn itself through the protective spell, but the unicorn’s magic held up.
Clutterstep decided not to waste any more time and turned on the spot. Shifting his weight onto his forelegs he gave the best buck he could manage – and hit the metal bar at the completely wrong angle. It bounced high into the air between the two fighting ponies, spinning around wildly. It hit the wall and bounded off with little force, harmlessly falling onto the Warden’s shoulder.
The Warden screamed in pain. The three purple hydra heads collapsed behind him. It was a mere second before the bar of seastone fell off his shoulder and clattered onto the ground, but it was enough that the Warden was only barely able to block Ace’s next attack.
“You won’t get away with this!” New poison began to form around the Warden. “I will– ARGH!”
Clutterstep, Ace and everypony else stared at the Warden’s left foreleg. A metal ring had snapped shut around it. A white rod was attached to the first ring of the hoofcuff’s chain.
The head that had held the wax rod in its mouth floated back towards the prisoners. “Gyahahahah! Look at me! No one can stand against the Great Captain Buggy!”
“Captain Buggy!” the prisoners cheered. Some of them were crying.
“He defeated the Warden!”
“He really is a great pirate!”
Buggy reunited with the rest of his body, laughing loudly. I thought I was going to die, he thought. I can’t believe that worked. He turned away from the cheering crowd. “Alright, Ace. Now that the Warden is taken care of, you can help us get out of here.”
“Ace went back down to find his brother,” Mr. 3 remarked flatly. “Clutterstep and Trixie already went after him.”
“What?” Buggy galloped back towards the stairs to Level Two. “Hey! Don’t just leave me here!”
“Look! Captain Buggy selflessly wants to help Fire-Fist again!”
“He can’t wait to get back into the fight!”
“We’ll follow him to the end of the world!”
“Captain Buggy!”
Clutterstep, Trixie, Mr. 3 and Buggy walked up to Ace, who was standing on one of the higher points of Level Four, a stone platform with a good view of the exit to Level Five. Clutterstep noticed a small army of guards in front of the large wooden door, staring at it. He flinched as the doors suddenly crumbled and turned to dust.
Five ponies stepped out of the doorway. Clutterstep recognized one of them as Sanji.
“Stop right there, pirates!” The leader of the guards announced. “I will be Ward– I mean, we will not let you go any further!”
A tan pony with a Straw Hat stepped forward. “Get out of the way! I’m going to rescue Ace!”
Ace grinned and walked up to the ledge. "I’d listen to him, you know!”
Fight For Your Freedom! – The Great, The Powerful and Trixie
Luffy stared up at the orange earth pony that was standing at the edge of one of the platforms. “Ace…” he whispered.
“Ah, Mugi-Chan! Is that your brother?” The ponies of Level 5.5 appeared behind him, led by Ivankov, Inazuma and Mr. 2.
Luffy kept staring at the orange pony. He took a deep breath, inflating his chest. “ACE!”
Ace met his gaze and his grin grew even wider. “It’s been a while, Luffy. How is your journey to become the Pirate King going?”
Luffy couldn’t stop laughing, tears in his eyes. “I came here to rescue you! How did you get away from the Marines?”
“I had some help,” Ace replied nonchalantly. Four ponies stepped up behind him. Luffy didn’t know the blue earth pony, but he recognized Buggy and Mr. 2, as well as the light blue unicorn that was with them. “So…” Ace turned his head to look at the panicking guards. „Need any help rescuing me?“
He didn’t wait for an answer and leapt off the platform, right into the mass of guards. A blazing pillar of fire shot up where he landed and flung a dozen of guards out of the way.
“Gomu Gomu no Stampede!” A group of guards who had aimed their guns at Ace were assaulted by a flurry of hooves from above.
Ace smirked as Luffy landed in front of him. “You’ve gotten stronger since the last time.” He was interrupted by a large spiked mace swinging through his head. For a second he was missing half his face until fire began leaking from the remaining half to resurrect the head. Turning around he saw a giant bipedal zebra holding the mace on a long shaft. “Should we take that guy together?”
The two ponies jumped to the sides as the mace came crashing down again. The Minozebra roared out as a jet of flames hit it right in the chest. Ace sent another attack at it, but the zebra moved out of the way and swung its mace around towards Ace. A pony appeared out of thin air between Ace and the weapon, steam rising from his body.
“Gomu Gomu no Jet Buck!” Luffy’s hind hooves slammed into the mace with so much force that it bounced right back, stunning the Minozebra for a short moment. Luffy didn’t waste any time, jumping high into the air, taking a deep breath and biting on his right foreleg just above the hoof. “Gear Third!” he yelled as his leg inflated to an impressive size. “Gomu Gomu no Gigant Horseshoe!”
The giant hoof came down on the Minozebra’s head and slammed it into the stone bridge, knocking the Demon Guard out and making a noticeable indention in the stone. “Careful, Luffy!” Ace shouted. “We still need this bridge.”
Trixie snuck around another corner, away from the sounds of the fight. Those pirates could manage just fine without her. She didn’t want to move to far from that ´Fire-Fist´ pony or the other powerhouses, but she didn’t want anything to do with the fight, either. She had gotten her share of close encounters in this prison, and it was larger than she felt comfortable with.
Something smashed into the stone pillar to her right. Through the dust Trixie could see a spiked iron mace indented in the stone. A grey minotaur slowly pulled it out and rested the short shaft on his shoulder. “Going somewhere?” his deep voice rumbled.
“Oh Celestia, not you!” Trixie screeched. “I thought we got rid of you!” She stepped backwards, trying to get as much distance between them as she could.
The minotaur walked towards her menacingly, the mace held high. “I’m smarter than those mindless animals.” He pointed at the fight in the distance where the giant zebra had just been slammed into the floor by the rubber pony. “I take on the enemies that I can defeat. Last time I was unlucky and underestimated those ponies. But I know that you are no match for Steel Wall’s power, unicorn!”
Trixie felt a wall behind her. The minotaur readied his mace for another strike. “I, Um…” she stammered, frantically looking for a way out.
“You can’t be that smart if you’re so easily fooled by a simple illusion spell!”
The minotaur turned his head and saw Trixie standing several ponylengths away. Her eyes widened as the minotaur turned around to charge at her. “What Trixie meant was… Um… Ignore me, I’m the illusion, I–“
The minotaur’s charge was broken as a hoof slammed into his side and sent him sliding across the floor. A blue and silver blur bounced away in the opposite direction, coming to a stop on its two hind legs.
“Stop joking around! You can’t defeat the great and powerful Trixie!”
“What?” was all a dumbfounded Trixie could say as she stared at the scene before her.
“Desert Wing!” Crocodile sliced through a group of guards with his right wing, which had turned into a sand blade, leaving the guards completely dehydrated. Other guards stepped in front of him, training their guns at him. Crocodile beat his wings and a sandstorm split away from them, lifting the guards off the ground. Feathers made of sand whirled around inside the storm, cutting through anyone inside.
Crocodile looked up to see the Minokoala stomping towards him. Before it could reach him, though, a blue streak slammed into his head. “Flambage Shot!” A blue pegasus set down on the ground next to Crocodile.
“I didn’t need your help for that,” Crocodile stated.
“I don’t like you and you don’t like me,” Sanji replied. “But there are more than enough guards to vent our frustration on.”
“Whatever. My target is Whitebeard, not you.” Crocodile watched the Minokoala get back to his feet.
“Say…” Sanji looked at Crocodile. “You’re a pegasus, too, aren’t you?”
The Minokoala focused on the two ponies again and charged at them once more, preparing his spiked knuckles for an attack. Crocodile beat his wings and a sandstorm lifted the Demon Guard high into the air.
The Minokoala spun around just in time to see the pirate send another sandstorm his way, though this one was much smaller. A blue pegasus rode inside the tip of the storm, his hooves glowing bright and heating up the sand. As it shot towards the beast, the whole top part of the sandstorm started to glow red, surrounding the pegasus.
“Alabastan Instant Roast!” A huge explosion shook the sky above the level floor. Sanji dropped back to the floor and fell into a hover next to Crocodile. “Good work. That was a lot more effective than my normal attacks would be.”
“Pegasus Magic, huh?” Crocodile commented. “It feels different from my normal sandstorms. I should look into that.”
“Stop hiding!” the minotaur roared. “I know that this is some kind of trick!”
Two Trixies hunkered down behind an empty cell. Green flames surrounded one of them and a changeling appeared in her place. “He’s strong! Last time I had the help of Mugi-Chan and Mr. 3. Your magic doesn’t seem to do much, either.” he turned around to the other Trixie. “Which one are you, anyway? Are you the real Trixie, or…?”
“No, I’m an imposter as well,” the unicorn replied. “I wanted to help, but I guess there isn’t much I can do against that minotaur. I’m not much of a–“ She paused. “You! You’re a pirate, aren’t you? I’ve seen you hit that minotaur with a really strong kick!”
“Of course I’m a pirate!” the changeling exclaimed a bit too loudly. “I am a master of Okama Kenpo!”
“Okama– …Nevermind. My mother taught me this spell. I don’t like casting it, but it might help us win this battle.” The unicorn’s horn lit up with green magic.
“Stop there, fishman!” A group of guards were galloping towards the large blue seapony, carrying pitchforks. The seapony didn’t move as he watched them come closer.
“This form is still unfamiliar to me,” he mumbled. “I’ll have to adapt my Fishman Karate to it.” He reared up and let out a silent roar. The guards stopped and braced themselves for the impact, but no sound came out. For a second, no one moved. Dust on the ground began to vibrate in ripples, moving towards the guards. “Cannonball Current,” Jinbe said flatly. Guards started to fly away as they were hit by an invisible force.
The seapony looked up at the raging Minorhinoceros charging towards him through the unconscious guards, a spiked mace in each hand.
“Death Wink!” The Minorhinozeros was hit by a shockwave and tumbled backwards. A changeling with a poofy purple mane stepped next to the seapony. “Do you need any help, Fish-Boy?”
Jinbe looked at the figure beside him. “Emporio Ivankov from the Revolutionary Army… My goal was to stop Ace’s execution and the war that would come with it. It seems that Ace has been freed without my help, so all I can do is to try and free the way for him.”
“You’re really concerned for Fire-Fist. Is there–“ Iva stopped when her tail began to twitch and jumped to the side, just in time to dodge an attack that slashed across the floor, leaving a deep scar in the stone.
A deep pink pegasus mare with a blonde mane was hovering above them, holding a whip with her wing. “How dare you do that to my lovely minions? Mmh, I’ll make you pay…”
“I’ll take care of that pegasus,” Iva exclaimed. “Can you finish off the rhinoceros?”
Jinbe examined the Minorhinoceros, which was already back on its feet. “That beast shouldn’t be much of a problem, even on dry land.”
“Very good.” Iva opened her mouth and two fangs appeared in the upper row of teeth. She raised a foreleg and sunk her fangs into it. Green fur sprouted all over her body and a pair of wings grew from her sides.
“This form has brought me some interesting new Hormone techniques. This one is one of my personal favorites,” the newly formed alicorn said.
The stone pillar behind Trixie collapsed under Steel Wall’s attack. “There you are!” the minotaur rumbled.
Trixie disappeared in a bright flash, only to reappear a few steps further away. She stumbled and fell to the ground. Fighting the minotaur with those two strange copies of her she had used up almost all of her magic and now she had nothing left. Not that it made any difference, the way he had just shrugged off her attacks.
“Any last words?” the minotaur asked. He was standing right in front of Trixie now, towering over her.
“I’m… just another illusion spell?” she asked half-heartedly.
Un!
The minotaur laughed. “This shouldn’t hurt you then.” He raised his mace over his head.
Deux!
Trixie didn’t move as the mace came down on her. She didn’t have the will to run anymore. Even if she did, without her magic she couldn’t hope to escape the minotaur, much less the prison. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact. Her end would be just as pathetical as she was.
“TROIS!”
Nothing happened. Trixie opened her eyes to see the weapon hanging in the air just a few inches away from her head. A changeling stood to either side of her. They looked exactly the same and both held the same strange pose. And both had set one of their hind legs between the spikes of the mace, stopping it in its tracks.
“Changelings?” the minotaur said, pulling his mace back. “I knew there was some kind of trick. It doesn’t matter, though. I beat you last time and I’ll beat you again.”
“Stop joking around!” Both changelings replied in unison, moving into a new stance on their hind legs, forelegs held up high. “The combined power of our Okama Kenpo makes us much stronger!”
They jumped at the minotaur and aimed at his head with one of their hind legs each. The minotaur blocked the attack with his mace, but both changelings already dropped to the ground. As soon as their hoof touched the floor they spun around again, kicking the minotaur into his ribs from both sides. Trixie watched the minotaur falter under a flurry of kicks from all sides.
“Okama Kenpo: Mirror Ballet!”
“Get out of our way!” Another barrage of kicks hit the Vice-Warden. “You’re really annoying,” Luffy said.
Hannyabal slowly stood up again and picked his double-bladed weapon, Kessui, up with his magic aura. His fur was covered in blood and clung to his body, but he didn’t give up. “I won’t let you pass, pirates! If you leave this prison we have failed our duty to protect the people outside!”
Luffy prepared for another attack, but Ace put a hoof on his back. “You’re barely standing anymore,” the orange pony stated. “We’re out of your league. We’re going to leave this prison and you have no way to stop us.” The other pirates trotted up behind them. “If you want to do something you should get an antidote for your Warden. We left him tied up on Level One.”
Hannyabal’s eyes widened and his pupils shrank. “Oh no. Warden!”
“Candle Release!” The prisoners stared into the corridor behind the wax seal. The corridor was empty and nothing moved inside it.
“Eh? Where are the Marines?” Buggy and Mr. 3 looked around the wax wall they had been waiting behind.”
“They must have gone back to their ship to wait for Ace or alternatively face us outside the prison where they have the advantage,” Jinbe said.
“Hey,” Luffy turned to face Iva, "Where is Bon-Chan.”
“He went to take care of something,” Iva replied. “He should be back in a minute.”
Five guards were staring at the various screens in the monitor room, observing the levels. One of them turned around as the door opened. “W-Warden! What are you doing here? The prisoners are escaping! They already–“
The Warden pushed the orange earth pony that was at his side, causing it to collapse on the floor. “I secured Fire-Fist Ace, that is the most important thing. I’ll take care of the other prisoners soon, but first I need you to open the Gate.”
“T-the gate? What–“
“The Gate Of Justice!” The Warden stepped up to the guard. “Open it! Marineford sent us reinforcements to deal with the rioting prisoners.”
“I-I… I never got any notice from–“
“Now!” The Warden roared.
“Y-Yes, Sir!” The guard scrambled back to his control panel and pushed a few buttons. One of the screens changed to show the picture of two large metal doors in the middle of the ocean.
“Good.” The Warden watched a line of light appear between the doors as they slowly opened. He looked down at the control panel and brought his fist down, crushing it.
“Wha–“ The guard was knocked out by a hoof to the side of his head. The other four guards quickly followed.
The Warden was surrounded by green flames and Mr. 2 appeared in his place. He turned to the orange pony standing in the doorway. “That went well,” he said. “Thanks for your help.”
“I didn’t really do anything…” The orange pony disappeared in a burst of green flames and a female changeling with a pale blue mane appeared.
“It was more convincing this way. Besides, it’s always better to work with a friend.”
The female changeling smiled warmly. “Thank you… my friend.”
“Hey, Bon-Chan! Where have you been?“ Luffy turned to the changeling that had just caught up with them. They were trotting towards the exit at the front of the prisoner’s group.
“I opened the Gate for us. If we’re going to leave with a ship that will be the fastest way,” Mr. 2 replied.
“We need to get closer to Marineford,” Ace added. “The Old Man is probably already on his way. I just hope that the war hasn’t started yet.”
“I see the exit,” Ivankov exclaimed. “The Marines will without a doubt already expect us. We should think of a strategy before we– EH?” He stared after Luffy and Ace who were galloping ahead towards the exit.
The two ponies stepped out into the open and squinted against the bright sun. A dozen large Marine battleships were floating out on the ocean. Two giant metal doors were slowly opening in the distance. The Marines on the ships began to shout as they spotted the two ponies and grabbed their guns.
“Aw,” Luffy groaned. He ignored the bullets that pelted his body and bounced back. “There’s still a whole lot of them.”
“This is annoying,” Ace commented. “Everyone’s already tired from the escape. Fighting off all of the Marines will take forever.”
Sanji stepped out behind them, making sure to stay out of the bullet’s reach. “They have a lot of troops here. It’s hard to believe that they already called part of the usual number to Marineford.” He squinted and focused on something in the distance. “That doesn’t look like a Marine ship…”
A single ship came into sight between the Gates of Justice, sailing towards the prison. The Marines’ shouts became more hectic as the ship came closer. Sanji was able to see that the flag of the ship didn’t belong to the Marines or the World Government, but was the black that signaled a pirate crew.
“It seems to me that our timing couldn’t be better.” A night blue alicorn with a flowing mane stepped up to the ship’s bow. “Are you ready for your first real fight?” Six more mares trotted into view behind her, each with a different expression on her face.
“Where did they come from?” bellowed one of the Marine captains, a grey earth pony with a dark violet mane and a metal war helmet on his head.
One of his subordinates stepped forward. “I recognize that flag, Sir. It has been over a decade since I‘ve seen it, though.” He hesitated. “That flag… belongs to the so-called ´Lunar Pirates´. They caused some trouble on the Grand Line for a few months, fifteen years ago. Their only known member was their captain, ´Princess of the Night´ Luna… With a bounty of 92.000.000 Berry.”
The prisoners of Impel Down watched the pirate ship come closer as a few of the Marines’ battleships turned to face them. “I’ve never seen that flag before. What are they doing here?”
“They must be here to help us,” Sanji said. “Those are my friends from Equestria.”
“Equestria? That name is new to me,” stated Inazuma.
“I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to tell you,” Sanji commented. “They were the ones who helped me get into this prison.”
“They can help us, but they won’t be able to take all of those Marines themselves,” Jinbe spoke up. “We don’t even know how many men they brought–“
“Seven…” Sanji remarked absentmindedly.
“–but they’re here with a ship. That will make things easier for us. We should still try to commandeer one of the battleships.” The seapony pointed to the one closest to the prison. “We’ll be able to reach some of the closer ones from here. The more ships we damage, the less problems we’ll have escaping.”
Rarity stood in the crow’s nest of the ´Moonbeam´, concentrating on the world around her. Her horn glowed and shot small beams of magic in all directions, each beam hitting a cannonball aimed at the ship. The unicorn turned her head in different directions to improve her aim, but that wasn’t really necessary as none of the magic shots seemed to miss its target either way.
“You won’t put a single dent into this ship as long as I’m here,” she announced to nopony in particular. “The design is rather simple, but it still has a raw beauty.”
“Whoa!” Luffy dodged a saber strike that was aimed for him. Before him stood a large grey earth pony with a dark violet mane and a metal war helmet on his head. He was holding two sabers in his mouth and his mane stretched out to form six appendages, similar to spider legs. Each of them was holding another saber, adding up to a total of eight weapons the pony was wielding.
“Kageru!” Ace shot a stream of fire from his hoof at the pony, who blocked the attack with his blades. “Be careful, Luffy! That is Vice Admiral Onigumo! He’s extremely dangerous!”
“I was here to escort you to Marineford, Fire-Fist Ace,” Onigumo said. “These complications were unexpected, but you’re not going to escape the punishment for your crimes. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure of that.” He raised the six swords in his hair-legs and pointed them towards Ace and Luffy. Then he lunged forward at them.
“Spring Tide!” A wave of seawater hit the Vice Admiral from the side, washing him away. A night blue alicorn stepped between him and Ace and Luffy. “I won’t let that happen! Nopony will gain anything from this war and it will only bring more death and chaos.” She turned around to the two ponies. “I’ve heard stories about you, Straw Hat Luffy. Don’t worry about your brother. I will not allow anything to happen to either of you, as long as I’m here.”
“Alright everypony, who wants some punch?”
The whole battleship was covered in confetti, balloons and streamers. Marines were dancing, laughing and playing ´Pin the tail on the pony´. One group of ponies was forming a Conga line while Pinkie Pie was teaching another group the Pony Pokey, offered some ponies beverages and participated in two party games simultaneously.
The pink pony paused for a moment to look around the party she had set up. “Hey, no fighting!” she shouted in one direction. “Leave your swords below deck. Careful with that bazooka; use more confetti and less streamers, and remember: Balloons only fit in a cannon – trust me, I tried. Oooh, neat trick; you have to teach me some time. Careful, that cupcake is made with hot sau– okay, nevermind… water is over there.”
“Desert Flurry!”
“Ocean Ripple!”
Dozens of Marines were sliced and dehydrated by the storm of sand feathers while others were pushed backwards and collapsed from an invisible assault.
“You’re adapting fast to your new body,” Crocodile stated, not even looking at the pony beside him.
“You have some interesting new attacks, too,” Jinbe replied.
“Uhm, excuse me.” The Marines on the battleship turned around to see a yellow pegasus with a pink mane standing at the mast of the ship. The pegasus noticed their stares and tried to make herself smaller, hiding her face behind her mane. “I-I mean…”
Fluttershy took a deep breath. She couldn’t just give up now. That wouldn’t be fair to her friends. She tried to remember everything she had learned about Conqueror’s Haki.
She still didn’t like the name. Fluttershy didn’t want to conquer anything. She didn’t want to use it to fight other ponies, either. From what she had learned about the Marine, these ponies were only doing what they thought was right. She wanted to help her friends, but how could she be of help here without harming other ponies.
She had almost given up on her training because of that. She understood everything, but she just couldn’t use it against another living being. Princess Luna had probably found that annoying. She was a strong pirate, and Fluttershy had wasted her time with her shyness and meek personality. But Fluttershy couldn’t change who she was, just like the Princess couldn’t change who she was.
Fluttershy had almost wanted to tell her friends that she couldn’t help them with this, when she heard Applejack and Rarity telling Sanji stories about their younger sisters. It had given Fluttershy an idea.
Fluttershy raised her head a little and looked at the Marines in front of her. This was no time for doubts. She wanted to do her part and help her friends and she could do it – her way.
She closed her eyes.
“Hush now, Quiet now It's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, Quiet now It's time to go to bed”
Fluttershy could feel the Conqueror’s Haki. She let it flow out with her voice and wash over the ship.
“Drifting off to sleep An exciting day behind you Drifting off to sleep Wait for wonderful dreams to find you~”
“Hush now, Quiet now It's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, Quiet now It's time to go to bed...”
Fluttershy opened her eyes again and looked over the sleeping ponies lying in front of her. They looked peaceful. Those nice ponies would surely agree that this was a better solution than violence.
“Gyahahaha! The great Captain Buggy is taking over this ship!” Buggy was stomping around the ship on giant white legs. He turned to Mr. 3 who was wearing the same armor. “Your wax powers are really handy.”
“Those Marines aren’t too strong,” Mr. 3 replied. “And with all of those powerhouses around we’re completely safe.”
“You mean Sanji and his friends?” Clutterstep and Trixie walked up to them. “They already went over to the other ships.”
“EHH?” Buggy raced towards the next ship. “Hey, you’re supposed to protect me!”
“Look at Captain Buggy!” The other prisoners had just tied up the last of the Marines. “We’ve only just secured this ship and he’s already running to the next fight.”
“He’s risking his life to protect us! He really is a selfless soul!”
“Captain Buggy!”
Twilight stood at the bow of the Moonbeam, examining one of the battleships that was firing cannonballs at them. She was confident that she had figured out its design now. She concentrated on her Observation Haki and lit her horn brightly.
All over the Marine ship, screws and bolts were surrounded by a purple glow and snapped out of their place. Planks sprung out of the deck and the mast slowly tilted over to the side. Twilight watched Marines jump into the ocean as their whole ship fell apart.
“Whew!” She wiped the sweat from her brow with her foreleg. That wasn’t as easy as I thought.” She looked down at the ponies and mostly intact planks floating in the water. “Hmm… They should be able to build some rafts for themselves.”
“Death Wink!” Marines were blown away to all sides by the attack.
“Is that the only attack you use?” Sanji asked. He dodged a sword strike and kicked the attacking pony down with his front hoof. He jumped at another group of Marines and whirled around, striking them from all sides.
“Don’t talk to him like that!” Mr. 2 yelled while twirling around himself and lashing out at the Marines. “Iva-Chan is the Queen of the Kamabakka Kingdom and a Miracle Worker!”
“Whatever…” From the corner of his eye Sanji noticed a pony rising into the air. “This should be interesting to watch.”
“Ha! Missed me!” The blue pegasus dodged another attack and pounced one of the Marines. “Are you ready yet, Applejack?” she asked the orange earth pony that was examining the mast.
“Just a few more seconds, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack replied. “Can you hold them off?”
“I’ll manage.” Rainbow Dash flew out of range of a few swords and watched her friend place a hind hoof against the mast.
Rainbow Dash rose into the air above the ship, leaving Applejack in the center of the Marines’ attention. Applejack ignored them and concentrated. She ducked down, shifted her weight to her front hooves and bucked the mast with all of her power. The Marines hesitated for a moment and stared up at the mast towering over them. It didn’t move. It didn’t even tremble.
Then the giant wooden log cracked. Cracks moved up the wood at right angles and split it apart. Firewood of almost identical size and shape rose a few inches into the air and proceeded to fall down, covering the whole deck except for the area just around the mast’s base, where Applejack was standing.
The orange mare adjusted her Stetson hat with a hoof. “Not as good as applebucking, but it has its merits.”
Rainbow Dash had watched Applejack to make sure the earth pony didn’t run into any problems. Now she was rising even higher into the air. She stopped and hovered in the sky, singling out one of the few ships the fight hadn’t reached yet.
This was it. She had trained harder than any of her friends for this stunt. She looked down at the battleship. It was a huge wooden construction reinforced with massive wooden beams and steel. More importantly, though, it was going to try and hurt her friends.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and concentrated on her Armament Haki, covering her whole body in it and focusing it in her wings. She narrowed her eyes at the ship below her and put all her power into the wingbeat.
The battleship shot towards her. Another beat of her wings and she could feel the air against her body, trying to push her back. The third wingbeat smashed her right through the barrier. She barely even felt it through her Armament Haki. She was almost at the ship now, but she could still make one more beat of her wings. Just one more…
Water. She adjusted her wings to change her angle, stabilizing them with her Haki. The water slowed her down and she had lost most of her speed when she broke the surface. She fell into a hover and looked back to the battleship. Something had pierced an impressive hole right through it and knocked most of the ponies off the deck. Rainbow Dash hadn’t even felt the impact.
She took a deep breath and immediately started coughing. “Seriously! Who the hay put all that salt in the water?!”
Five large ships sailed across the bottom of the ocean. Figures were moving on each.
“Prepare yourself! We’re almost at Marineford!” The voice of the large man carried across the whole ship even without an amplifier. “We’re going to–“
Purupurupuru
The man stopped immediately and turned to the table at his side with wide eyes.
Purupurupuru
He picked up one of the snails on the table, one with an orange and black color scheme. “Hello?” he said slowly.
“Oyaji!”
The man stared at the snail in disbelief. “Ace?”
“Oyaji! Don’t attack Marineford! I’m safe! Luffy came to rescue me!” The snail had tears in its eyes and a wide grin on its face.
“Ace… How–“
“We don’t have much time,” the snail said in a female voice. Its expression was much calmer now. “Call your ships off. This war can still be avoided! We’re sending you a sign right now.”
“Oyaji!” a different snail spoke up. “Something’s happening out here!”
“Namur...“ Whitebeard said.
“I’m on it!” a small shark fishman replied. He shot off into the ocean and returned only a few seconds later. “It’s… a giant fireball. In the sky over the Tarai Current!”
“Ace…” The man cried openly now.
“We have to take another way and we’re out of the signal range soon,” the snail said with the female voice. “We have a stronger Den Den Mushi where we’re going, so you can resume contact later.”
“Wait!” the man said. “At least tell me who you are.”
“My name is Luna… I am just a pirate, like you.”
Ace watched the Den Den Mushi go back to sleep. “Do you think they’ve seen it?”
“I think the people in Marineford have seen that,” Luna chuckled. She was the only one on the Marine battleship the prisoners had taken, who was still a pony. “It was quite impressive.”
“So, where are we going now?” Luffy spoke up. “Didn’t someone say that we can’t leave this current until someone opens that gate?”
“That’s right,” Jinbe commented. “The Tarai Current is surrounded by other currents that make it impossible to escape, except through one of the three Gates Of Justice. What is your plan, Luna?”
“Why do we need a plan?” Luna smirked. “Trust me, those currents are no problem. We’ll just follow the tides.”
The stallion watched what was left of the Marine battleships from the bow of his ship. He was a dark grey unicorn with a black mane and the cutie mark of a black spiral on his flank. “Zehahaha! They actually got away. I never thought I would meet that Straw Hat here, but his fate really leads him on an interesting path.”
“What are we going to do now?” asked one of his comrades, a pale white earth pony with a similarly black mane. “Without Fire-Fist, Whitebeard won’t push into Marineford.”
“We’re going to stick to our plan. I only became a Shichibukai to get access to this place, and now those prisoners have cleared the way for us. That Ace got away is unfortunate, but you cannot change fate, Zehahaha!”
“Princess Luna! We have somepony at the castle gate who requests an audience.”
Luna looked up from the paperwork in front of her to narrow her eyes at the Royal Guard who had entered her private chamber. "Tell them they’ll have to wait. I don’t want to be bothered right now.”
“Is that a way to welcome an old friend?” A pegasus stallion with silver fur and a white mane entered the room. His cutie mark showed a simple silver coin with a sword on it. “I got into a storm and had to swim all the way through the Calm Belt to get here. You wouldn’t believe how awkward it is to swim with hooves.”
“Hey! These rooms are private! Who do you think you are?” The pony completely ignored the guard’s shouting and his frantic attempts to push him out of the room.
“Let him stay,” Luna said, gesturing for the guard to leave them alone. “Silvers Rayleigh… What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for Straw Hat Luffy.” The stallion settled himself on a bench. “It’s a long story. Shakki said that he probably ended up on Amazon Island. I’ll never doubt that woman’s intuition again. Anyway, Hancock and her sisters told me that he went to Impel Down to rescue his brother, and that you and your sister apparently had some part in the whole event. So when Luffy and his brother both disappeared I decided to pay you a visit.
“Hey, blue princess!” A tan-colored pony with a straw hat popped his head through the fifth story window. “Are you sure that ponies can’t eat meat? The food here is great and all, but I haven’t had any meat in days! Eh? Who are you?”
“Luffy, you’re really here,” Silver Rayleigh said. “It’s good to see that you’re okay. Did you really manage to free your brother from Impel Down?”
“Rayleigh? What are you doing here?” Luffy climbed into the room to give the pegasus one of those ´hoofbumps´ the ponies used. “Yeah, Ace is here, and I found Sanji, too. I still don’t know where everyone else is, though.” He let his head hang.
“About that… Hancock told me that you seem to have the disposition for Conqueror’s Haki. But if you want to use it, someone needs to teach you. I could give you some lessons, but–”
“Can you teach me?” Luffy shouted. “I’ve been thinking those last days and I need to become stronger! I couldn’t protect my crew…” Luffy shivered at the memory. “I wasn’t really able to rescue Ace, either. I’ll do everything I have to to become stronger!”
“I expected something like that.” Rayleigh smirked. “Alright then, we’ll have to make a plan.” He turned around to the alicorn who was getting rather annoyed by ponies invading her private chambers. “Luna, would you be willing to help us as well?”
“Hurry up, my arms are getting tired!” The pink-haired girl was holding a newspaper over one of the beds in the mansion with both arms.
“Stop complaining, I’m trying to think!” the green-haired man on the bed replied. He was covered in bandages and staring intently at the first page of the newspaper. “That is completely unusual for Luffy,” he muttered. “I know that he is trying to tell us something, but what is it?”
He looked at the article again. ...under the flag of the Straw Hat Pirates, nine days after the cancelled execution of Portgas D. Ace and the supposed breakout on Impel Down. On the ship were said “Fire-Fist” Ace, “Straw Hat” Luffy, the Shichibukai “Knight of the Sea” Jinbe, “Okama Queen” Emporio Ivankov, the member of the Revolutionary Army Inazuma, and the former first mate of the Roger Pirates “Dark King” Silver Rayleigh, who was believed to be dead. After entering the town to buy supplies they left in an unknown direction.
Next to the article was a photo of the mentioned pirates in front of their ship. Luffy and Ace were standing at the front, arms crossed in front of them. On Luffy’s right arm was a tattoo, written in black ink.
“I’m sorry, the library has been closed for the night. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.” The young dragon stifled a yawn and turned around to the door of the library. “Twilight, you’re back!” He jumped at the purple unicorn and put his arms around her neck.
“I missed you too, Spike.” Twilight chuckled and leaned into the hug. She turned her head a little and examined the library. “Wow, everything looks great. Maybe I should leave more often.”
“Well,” Spike replied, “my job was a whole lot easier without Rainbow Dash crashing into the library once a week… Or a neurotic unicorn reorganizing all the books every second day.”
“Yeah, I guess it would be– Wait, was that a jab at me?”
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to use that one.” Spike stuck his tongue out at Twilight. “Since I had some time on my claws I thought ´What would Twilight do?´ So I made a list with witty comebacks.”
“As if you would need to make a list for that,” Twilight laughed and sat down nest to Spike on the couch. “Ah, I have so many stories to tell you. We’ve had a real pirate adventure. Rainbow Dash can probably tell them better than me, though. He’s already told us three different versions of the story, and we were all there. But enough about us, how was your week all alone in the library? Did you have any problems?”
“Well, it’s Ponyville, it never really gets boring around here.” Spike grinned. “Though, now that I think about it, it was a lot calmer without you six. Oh, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders caught a wild manticore when it appeared on the marketplace,” he added.
“They what? How did they manage that?”
“Nopony really knows, even those that were there at the time.” He laughed. “I don’t think they know, either. But I do remember Scootaloo saying that none of them got their knitting cutie mark that day.”
“By the way Octy, have you heard the stories about these weird ponies yet?”
“Weird ponies? I can’t say I have.” Octavia looked up from her salad. She and Vinyl were sitting outside one of the cafés in Canterlot, having a small lunch.
“You know that pony I told you about, Works? Anyway, he told me some stories about a group of ponies staying at Canterlot Castle. And apparently some of them can do really freaky stuff. Like, split themselves in half, or stretch their legs like rubber, or even turn into fire.” Vinyl was getting really into the story now, completely ignoring her food.
“I don’t know,” Octavia replied, “that sounds rather far-fetched, even for a rumor.”
“That’s what I thought, too. But Works is, like, the master of information. I think he has hundreds of contacts from his job. If he’s telling me something like that, there must be something behind it.” Vinyl paused. “Or he’s just messing with me. Or maybe both. You never really know with him…”
“Vinyl! Totter!” A grey pegasus with a blond mane set her hooves carefully on the street and trotted over to the table. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Ditzy Doo!” Octavia exclaimed. “Are you on business in Canterlot again?”
“Yup, just finished my assignment,” the pegasus replied happily. “Were you talking about those ponies in the castle?”
“So I’m not the only one who heard about that?” Vinyl asked. “That’s– Wait a minute… Were you eavesdropping?”
“It kinda comes with the job.” Ditzy put a hoof to her neck and gave the couple a sheepish grin. “I was only flying by overhead, I swear.”
“Don’t mention it,” Octavia smiled. “After all, we owe a lot to your work experience.” She turned back to her salad. “I’m still not convinced about that story, though.”
The three ponies turned around when they heard a noise down the street. An earth pony with a straw hat and two large bags over his back was galloping in the direction of the café. Another – orange – earth pony and a blue pegasus were chasing after him.
“Luffy!” the pegasus yelled. “Give those cupcakes back now! They’re for everyone!” He swept down to the ground and lounged at the earth pony. The earth pony dodged with a ridiculously high jump, but was intercepted in the air by the pegasus. He placed a hoof on the earth pony’s side and kicked him back to the ground with so much force that the pony’s head smashed a hole into the stone.
The three mares watched with open mouths as the earth pony scrambled back to his hooves and tried to pull his head out of the street. His neck stretched for a moment until the head finally snapped back up. The pony looked around for an escape but found himself surrounded by a circle of fire.
The orange pony slowly trotted up to him, his mane a blazing line of flames. “Sorry, Luffy, but you’re not going to get away with my food.”
“I was going to share with you,” the pony with the straw hat whined, “honestly!”
“I’m telling you, they’re here!”
“Seriously Lyra, can’t you just stop with that stupid obsession for one week?” The beige pony with the blue and pink mane let out an annoyed groan and rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “I thought a few days in Canterlot would take your mind off of those ridiculous claims, but I guess I should have known better.”
“I’m serious, Bon Bon!” Lyra leaned closer to the table and fell into a conspiratorial whisper. “I’ve seen one of them last night.”
Bon Bon had put a small bag on the table and took four bits out of it to pay for their drinks. “Really?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I only caught a glimpse,” Lyra conceded. “But I know what I’ve seen!”
“Listen, Lyra.” Bon Bon put her front hooves on the table to emphasize her point. “I have no idea why you’re so hung up on those crazy theories, but it’s really getting on my nerves. I’m telling you for the last time: There is no such thing as a ´Devil Fruit´!”
Lyra didn’t listen. Her eyes were fixed on a point on the table, right beside Bon Bon’s front hooves. Bon Bon rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics, but followed her gaze nonetheless. A pair of hooves was slowly trying to pull the bag of bits off the table unnoticed. No legs were attached to the hooves.
“Got you!” Lyra pounced over the table and pinned one of the hooves under her own front hooves. “Where’s the rest of you, huh?”
“Hey! Let go of my feet!” A pony head floated out from behind a cart, followed by the pony’s body and lastly a second pair of hooves trotting over the stone independently. He had orange fur and a blue mane.
Lyra gasped. “A Devil Fruit user! I’ve finally found one! Don’t try to deny it, I know what you are.” She was examining the confused stallion from all sides, taking mental notes of dozens of important and unimportant facts about him.
“There you are Buggy.” A second stallion trotted around a corner. “What are you doing here? We’re supposed to set sail in three hours.”
Lyra gasped again. “You! You’re the one I’ve seen last night. You’re a Devil Fruit user, too, aren’t you?”
The white stallion with the black mane tried to back away from the hyper unicorn that was staring at him with wide eyes and an even wider grin, only inches away from his face. “Uhm, yes, but–“
“Can you show me? Please?” Somehow the unicorn had brought her head even closer.
“Yes, yes! Just… personal space.” The white stallion watched the unicorn sit down a few feet away to stare at him expectantly noticing the golden lyre on her flank. He let a small amount of wax flow out of his front hooves and gave it form. “Here! This wax is extra hard, keep it away from fire and it should be fine.”
Lyra watched the two ponies move back towards the castle. When they were out of sight she looked down at the small white lyre in her hoof. “Ha-hah! Look Bon Bon! Here’s the proof that Devil Fruits are real. Who’s the obsessive lunatic now?”
Bon Bon just stared in the direction the two ponies had galloped off to with an open mouth. “Bwuh–?”
Lyra sat back down at the table with a wide grin. “You just can’t admit that I’m right, can you?”
“Princess Luna?”
The night blue alicorn turned away from her preparations to the pony behind her. A pink unicorn mare stood on the street, looking up at her. Her black mane was shimmering with a green hint and her cutie mark showed a red heart with a green glow in its center. “Can I help you?”
“I’ve seen your flyers. You’re looking for crew members for a pirate crew?”
“That’s right,” Luna replied. “I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually sign up…”
“A friend showed me the flyer,” the unicorn said. “I don’t know much about fighting, but I can still be of assistance.”
“I didn’t expect anypony in Equestria to have much battle experience,” Luna laughed. “If you would like to join my crew, I certainly won’t turn you down. But first, what is your name?”
The unicorn gave her a warm smile. “My name is Crystal Love. I’m pleased to meet you, Princess.”
“Led by Captain Harisenbon… It’s the Sea-Urchin-cloaked Spike Squad!”
“Time to riddle that leg-fighter with holes!”
Sanji looked with slight disinterest at the fishmen surrounding him, each of his enemies covered in long, shimmering spikes. He slowly pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
~~~~~
“You need to stop smoking, Sanji. Particles of the ash are already starting to cover your lungs! It’s just a small amount so far, but there’s no telling what reactions it could cause with its magic…”
“I already told you, it’s an addiction. As long as you don’t find me some tobacco, I’ll have to stick with this substitute.” Sanji took out another cigarette and tried to light it.
The match was quickly snuffed out again by Twilight’s magic and the cigarette floated away from him. “I said stop it! Do you want to end up poison joked for life!?”
“I didn’t have any problems so far, and it can’t be more dangerous than normal smoking.” Sanji was already holding the next cigarette. “Besides, I promised Rainbow Dash to train with her, and Pinkie wanted to see what would happen this time, too.”
Twilight groaned and let her head hang. “Suit yourself, I guess there’s not much I could do to stop you, either way. Just… promise you’ll be careful with those.”
“I still think you’re worrying too much about this, but I will be careful.” Sanji trotted towards the door and out of the library. “Tell the girls I’m making a casserole for dinner tonight, if they want some.”
Twilight’s stomach growled quietly as he left. “I’m sure they won’t mind a sample…”
~~~~~
“There’s nowhere for you to run now!”
“Everyone with me! Hari… sen…” The leader of the group leaped forward, his spikes extending outwards as a dozen fishman jumped at Sanji from all sides to impale him. “Boooooooooon!”
Sanji took a slow drag from his cigarette, thinking to himself as he looked up, ignoring the attacking fishmen. It’s quite nostalgic, looking back at it now. Flying through the air, trying to keep up with that crazy mare.
“Sanji-San!” Brook shouted from somewhere to the side. “It’s dangerous to just stand there! What are you–“
Of course I would lose the wings when I left the island. I can’t say that I’m not glad to be human again, but still… A bit of blue smoke lazily trailed up from his cigarette.
“Leg-fighter! Your head is ours!”
~~~~~
“Now, remember to be careful with those. We don’t know how humans react to them, and I doubt you will want to find out. Keep them under glass unless you need them and don’t let anypony tou–“
“Hey Sanji, when did your friend get wings? And what are those flowers for?”
“…don’t let anypony touch them.” Twilight continued, lifting Luffy with her magic to stop him from prodding the blue herbs. The rubber man struggled a little before she unceremoniously dropped him again.
“I’ll take good care of him. But you should probably go back now.” Sanji took the glass box with the flowers. “Franky said that we’ll set sail for the Fishmen Island any moment now. Besides, your new castle needs you.”
Twilight laughed, lighting her horn to let her magic wrap around her. “It’s going to be more quiet without you. Not much, but still.” She smiled as the magic got stronger. “Everypony is going to miss you… Especially your cooking. Don’t forget to visit with your whole crew next time.”
There was a flash and she was gone. Sanji looked at the spot for a few more seconds, then nodded and turned around. His crew and captain were waiting for their cook.
~~~~~
“Uwoooooaaahhh!”
“Owww! What–?”
“He’s gone!”
Sanji didn’t look down at the fishmen that had effectively impaled each other with their own spikes. His focus was on the group of fishmen that were riding their bubbles higher up.
“We’ve got her now! The princess is right ahea– …eh?”
The leader of the fishmen’s flying squad barely had time to stop as Sanji shot up right in front of him without warning, carried by two powder blue wings.
“Hey there, punks! If you’ve got business with Shirahoshi-San, you’ll have to get past me first.” The cook hovered in front of them for a moment, giving the Mermaid Princess behind him a thumbs up. “You’re Royal Guard is here~!”
“Diable Jambe…”
Sanji started to spin in the air, his right leg quickly heating up until it was bright red.
“Poêle À Frire!”
He raised his glowing leg, the limb suddenly turning into that of an equine. His foot turned into a hoof just as he began to bring it down towards the fishmen in a series of swift kicks, leaving burning hoofmarks on the enemies’ bodies even from a distance.
