Chapter 1

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"Now remember, you are meeting King Obataiye and Queen Aceria of Zebrica, so please remember your manners." Queen Celestia said to her daughter

"Yes Mother" Came the despondent reply of the petite Cyan coated, Rainbow maned pegasus

"When will you speak?"

"Only when spoken to."

"When shall you eat?"

"Only after our guests and yourself have been served."

"How will you speak to them?"

"With my head held high whilst keeping eye contact."

"Good. Now, go and prepare yourself, our guests will be arriving on the hour."

"Yes Mother."

Princess Rainbow Dash dragged herself out of the great hall and into her be chambers, where her personal hoof-maiden Fluttershy and lady-in-waiting Pinkie Pie had already set out her clothes and make-up. Princess Rainbow Dash smiled, despite having to put the stuff on, because she knew that no matter what her mother did or told her to do, she still had her best friends. Both her friends smiled back.

"Come on Rainbow, we better get this stuff on you before your guests arrive." Fluttershy spoke softly

"OMG! You are sooooo lucky! You get to meet the King and Queen of Zebrica! I mean, last week it was Saddle-Arabia, the week before that it was Japony and the week before that it was Griffonia! I wish I got to meet all theses ponies. OOH! Do you think they'll let me organize a party for them?" Pinkie rambled. Rainbow Dash chuckled

"Don't think so Pinks, you know how the Zebras are, all uptight and no-fun.

"Awww, not even just a little one?"

"Well, I guess after this we can have our own little party."

"YAY!"

"Oh, um, Princess Rainbow, please, we must get this make-up on you. I know you dislike it, but wear it for your mothers sake...If it helps, I think you look pretty when you wear make-up"

"Ahh, alright 'Shy, but, drop the formal act, will you? And, thanks for the compliment."

Her two friends then began to dress her up, ready to meet the Zebrican king and queen. Pinkie Pie had chosen a lovely, pale pink, flowing dress, with lilac accents and a thin, white, sparkling layer over the top. Fluttershy carefully dabbed small amounts of make-up onto the cyan Princess, a little blusher, eye-shadow and lip gloss were enough to bring out her features, but not enough to hide her natural beauty.

Then, at five to nine, Princess Rainbow Dash walked regally out of her bed chambers with her Lady-in-waiting and personal hoof-maiden following her. When they reached the dining hall, Queen Celestia went to send them away.

"Lady-in-waiting Pinkie Pie, and Hoof-maiden Fluttershy, please leave and retire to your bed chambers unt-" However, she was cut off

"Please mother, let them stay. It will be good company for me and it will show to King Obataiye and Queen Aceria my importance as well as yours." Her mother stood quietly for a minute "If I have my hoof-maiden and lady-in-waiting with me, it will show them how highly we are thought of, to have at least two personal servants at a constant, will deter them from any possible attacks they may plan. It will prove us strong." Princess Rainbow tried not to wince when she said 'servants', she hated calling her friends that, but she knew that to her mother, that is just what they are,

"Very well, they may stay at your side and accomplish any tasks needed at the dinner. But they must be quick, sharp and quiet about it."

"Thank you mother." Just then, the huge doors to the dining hall were opened and the doorpony announced in a loud voice

"King Obataiye of Zebrica, Queen Aceria of Zebrica, and their two children, Prince Adofo of Zebrica and Princess Zecora of Zebrica."

"You didn't tell me they were bringing their children."

"Well, I thought it would be a nice surprise."

"The artifact is mine!" Captain Derpy hooves of the Bubble pirates yelled, while swinging her cutlass at the white unicorn Captain Rarity of the Diamond pirates

"T'will never belong to you, Scallywag!" Captain Rarity retorted as she parried her opponents swing with her own, gem encrusted cutlass.
The two pirates continued to fight, stepping back and forth, swinging their blades at each other almost like a dance. Both Captains were two of the most feared pirates on the six element seas and they were rivals. Captain Derpy had only become a pirate in recent years, but she had made quick work to get to where she was, but Captain Rarity was the daughter of the most feared pirate, she had been a pirate all her life and had trained hard as a filly, despite never wanting to be a pirate.

The Bubble pirates had ambushed the Diamond pirates as they sailed into the cove, supposedly holding the ancient artifact of Burrowers, a species of pony long since extinct. The Burrowers were fairly large ponies who had sharp curves at the end of their hooves for digging and could carve miles of caves in just hours. They had powerful, yet soft hind hooves to push themselves forward quickly and able to squash the dirt piles to the side of the tunnels and caves, they had amazing night vision and were said to have more strength than an earth pony. But they were also said to be an extremely developed race.

They both wanted the artifact for the same thing, money, but they both wanted it fir different reasons. Captain Derpy wanted the gold all to herself, to prove how great a pirate she is, but Captain Rarity wanted the gold to look after her family and crew, Her mother was ill and she could not afford the medicine, and Rarity would not tolerate her crew eating scraps of food they find.

The Diamond pirates were currently winning, fighting on their own ship, despite having been ambushed, meant that they had the advantage of knowing the best spots on the ship for fighting and were trained for fighting in the different areas of their ship. They were pushing back their attackers and now, realising their losing position, some of the Bubble pirates were abandoning the ship, back to their own. Soon, there were only 4 Bubble pirate crew members left, not including Captain Derpy, who remained still in battle with Captain Rarity.

"First mate Applejack! Tie them up and force them to walk the Plank!" Captain Rarity called to the orange earth pony, "Most of your crew is either dead or has fled, surrender now or the last of your crew get to feed the fish." She threatened, turning her attention back to the grey pegasus pirate Captain, who now stood still, the point of a blade against her throat.

"I will never surrender" She spat out, and attempted to spin around and buck the unicorn, however, it didn't work, as Captain Rarity thrust her cutlass forward as Captain Derpy spun around, the sharp tip cut through flesh and ripped a gash in the pegasus's side.

"Gah!" Captain Derpy gasped and stumbled

"Last chance!"

"I've said it once, and I'll say it again, I'll never surrender!"

"Then your crew will walk the plank." She pointed her sword at her first mate, who nodded, smirked and then bucked all 4, tied up, Bubble pirates off of the plank, "You will be next if you don't flee." Sensing her defeat, Captain Derpy muttered one last thing, before jumping back into her own ship

"I will kill you, if it's the last thing I do."

Chapter 2

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Dinner with the royal family of Zebrica was fairly quiet, nopony said anything, however, Pinkie Pie had to force herself to stay by Rainbow's side so that she didn't just jump up to say hi to the royal Zebra family. As Queen Celestia finished eating, she broke the silence,

"I hope that all is well in the Lands of Zebrica, King Obataiye?"

"Oh yes, food is growing by the plenty, especially now that Spring has sprung upon us." King Obataiye was a joyful Zebra, getting on in his years, he wasn't an immortal Alicorn like Queen Celestia or Princess Luna, but he had held the throne for many years and was known as the longest reining, mortal, monarch on the Eastern side of the Globe. Queen Aceria was much younger than him, and she wasn't the first of King Obataiye's wives, she was, in fact, his third. Although, she was the only wife to bear him foals, heirs to the throne. King Obataiye now had two blossoming young children, a young stallion and a young mare.

"Indeed." Agreed Queen Aceria

"I'm glad to hear that. I'm also glad to hear news that the dispute raging within your borders has finally settled. I'm sure your both glad to have won against the rebels. A good thing too, Equis knows what would have happened should Mwamba have won."

"Yes, though only thanks to my sister, Folade, did we really win. She certainly has a way with words to argue out a peace treaty with the Democracy, which eventually lead to their defeat." Queen Aceria said

"Wonderful."

"We're also very grateful for your help, Queen Celestia." King Obataiye said

"Mother." Princess Rainbow Dash said, interrupting the conversation, "Would you mind if I head back to my bed chambers now?"

"Really, Princess Rainbow? If you must, but please be a dear and take Prince Adofo and Princess Zecora with you? I'm sure they'd love to be given a tour of the palace." Queen Celestia, with a little more than suggestion in her voice

"Yes mother. Come on Prince and Princess, if you want a tour you'd best follow, otherwise we'll be heading straight to my bedchambers."

"I would like that very much, Princess Rainbow." Prince Adofo said "And you? Dear sister?"

"Of this palace a tour, I would very much adore." Princess Zecora said,

"Let us go then. Come on then, and you Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie." With that, the five young ponies walked out of the room. Queen Celestia looked questioningly at Queen Aceria

"Don't worry about my daughter's speech, it is a habit she has had since her first words."

As soon as the large dining room doors behind them had shut, all three royal children slumped their shoulders and sighed. They then looked at one another, suddenly panicking that they had been caught acting 'like a commoner', only to find that the others had done the same. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie looked on, slightly confused at their actions, and not having dropped their act yet. The three royals shared a quick laugh before introducing themselves properly,

"Name's Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer and the most awesome pony in all of Equestria!" Rainbow Dash introduced herself

"Adofo, King of pranks and Zebrica's greatest joker." Adofo held out his hoof

"Zecora is my name, rhyming is my game. Although I do believe pranking and joking to be quite the same."

"Heh, no-zebra rhymes like my little sister. And FYI, Joking and pranking are two completely different things."

"Yup, you can't mix the two up, oh and, we'll see who's the King of pranks! I'll have you know that nopony has ever beaten me at a game of Prank wars."

"Well maybe it just needs a zebra to knock you off your throne."

"I don't want to sound mean, but doesn't being a mare make you a queen?" Everypony turned to look at the Zebra princess, who was looking at Rainbow Dash in slight confusion

"Uhhh, It's a saying, Zecora."

"Umm, Princess Rainbow? I don't want to interrupt, but, shouldn't we get this tour going?" A worried Fluttershy said

"Seriously, Flutters? Drop the 'princess' and, maybe. Do you two still want this tour?" Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to the Zebras

"Meh, not really." Adofo said,

"As much as a tour would be nice, I will agree with my brother to make the answer of no, twice."

"Uhh, OK. Well, lets head to my room then. Come on Pinkie! Flutters!"

"Captain Rarity." Twilight, the sea-artist of the ship, said, gaining the attention of the ivory unicorn, "The artifact has been located and we are currently sending some of the crew to retrieve it, also, Sweetie Belle has spotted a navy ship to the east."

"Drat, how far off?"

"She was unable to give an accurate answer, but she says about half a mile off possibly further., they haven't spotted us yet, which is good, but we may want to stick around here until they have gone."

"Righty-o. Tell Spike to take over from Sweetie and get him to call if they leave."

"Yes Captain. Anything else you wanted?"

"Yes, tell me, who left to get the artifact?"

"First-mate Applejack, Master-gunner Thunderlane, Third-mate Octavia and I believe that Cabin-foal Scootaloo managed to sneak away with them."

"Right. We'll stay here until they get back, and until the navy ship has gone. But that Cabin-foal needs to learn that she can't run off like that, or I'll make sure to drop her off at Equestria."

"Is that where you want to head next then?"

"Yes, as soon as possible, set sail for Equestria."

"Yes Captain." With that, Twilight walked off to inform Spike of his new task. Captain Rarity walked to the side of the boat, a little way's off, going deeper into the cave, she could see the boat that was sent off to retrieve the artifact. She sighed, once they had obtained the artifact, she was going to have to sell it at the black market. As much as she'd have liked to donate it to a museum, for it's beauty should be viewed by all, she couldn't let her name be shouted out to the public, she'd soon be recognised by somepony, for being a pirate, and if not know, then she would in the future, somepony would remember her name, or remember her face, and see her and her crew stealing some priceless jewels. That wouldn't end well. She shook her head. She couldn't just leave the artifact at the entrance to the museum either, she wouldn't get the money needed for her mothers medicine then. She hated this life, she didn't want to be a pirate, but being the daughter of Pirate Captain Magnum Black, made sure that her want did not become reality. She didn't hate her father, really, it was just, he wanted her to take after him, become the best pirate there ever was and he brought her up so, unfortunately, he never asked his daughter what she wanted to be, she was more or less forced into this role, especially since, her mother was very poor and her father died a few years ago (Very few ponies knew that though), so her life as a pirate was the only way for her to earn any money. paying for the ship and taxes, and wages and food for the crew took up a lot of money too. Again, she sighed, won't be long before they return to Equestria.

"Captain." A voice from behind her said, It was Surgeon Red-heart. Captain Rarity also spent her money on finding the best surgeon around, and it just so happened that Red-heart here (an old friend of Rarity's) was a fully trained doctor now,

"Yes Red-heart?"

"Master-carpenter Macintosh suffered a number of injuries during that skirmish with the Bubble crew. A cutlass has managed to wedge itself deep into his leg. We've run out of medicine to treat it properly. The leg may last a few days, but it will most likely become infected, and it the infection can't be treated on time, then he'll have to lose his leg before the infection spreads, and it may spread quicker than we can risk. Or, we could chop it off now and save the risk of infection. It will probably be better overall, he'll have to suffer with a peg for the lower half of his leg for the rest of his life, but it will be better than having infection spread through his body."

"Why're you asking me? I'm the captain, not the surgeon."

"Y-yes captain, but I wanted to check with you first, see what you see fit to do? Like, will we make it to next land within a day or so? Is it worth risking the possibility of Macintosh's life?"

"Hmm, TWILIGHT!" She called, instantly, the purple unicorn had made her way back to Captain Rarity's side

"Yes Captain Rarity?"

"How long will it be till we reach Equestria?"

"From where we are, assuming we run into no navy ships or storms, we should reach Equestria within two days."

"Red-heart? Does Macintosh have that long on his leg?"

"He should do, even if infection does start to settle in, I might be able to keep it at bay, just for a little bit though. It won't do wonders, but I'm sure I can hold off infection for a few hours at best."

"Right, if infection does settle in, then can his leg be treated once we reach Equestria?"

"As long as I can get the medicine needed, then yes."

"Right, then we'll pick up more equipment when we reach shore." She nodded, then sighed again, silently. This was going to cost a lot, hopefully she could sell the artifact for enough to cover everything.

Chapter 3

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"Well your room is certainly...interesting..." Adofo said

"*sigh* Yeh, as much as mother spoils me, she doesn't ever give me anything that I actually want, or even need. It's all, 'Oh here's a crate of make up!' or 'Here's your fifty sixth vanity! This one is briiiiiiiiight pink. Oh and it has lots and lots of flowers too!' and sometimes 'I cleaned you room! I redecorated too! Now it's at least 20% more girly.' Ughh, mother is sooo annoying." Everyone laughed at Rainbow Dash's impressions of Queen Celestia.

"Your room I shall not judge, for to my mother I also bear a grudge." Zecora said "My room is so prim and proper, You'd never guess that I'd seen a party popper."

"...Wait, I don't get what you mean...How can your room be so girly that ponies, or Zebras, would think you've never seen a party popper?" Rainbow Dash asked, Zecora shrugged

"It just rhymes." She stated. Everyone burst out laughing

"Heh, you guys are definitely not what I expected, from the way mother talks about you, I always thought that Zebras were uptight, a bit like the Canterlot snobs." Rainbow remarked

"Well, there are lots of Zebras who disagree with party's and that, they're mainly the zebra's who followed Mwamba. But most of us love a good party or two." Adofo said

"Speaking of Parties..." Pinkie started "Let's have a party!" All of a sudden, Rainbow's room was covered in streamers and balloons, Zecora and Adofo stared in awe and surprise at the speed this party was set up. Rainbow nudged them and said

"Don't bother asking, I don't know how she does it either."

It started getting late, a maid came and knocked on the door, saying that prince Adofo and Princess Zecora were to be escorted to the guest suit where they will be staying, also, that Queen Celestia and Princess Luna wanted to see Princess Rainbow Dash in the dining hall. The three royals sighed, but knew they had to go. Prince Adofo and Princess Zecora followed the maid out of the door, whilst Princess Rainbow Dash signaled for her two friends to join her in her walk to the dining hall.

When Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie reached the dining hall, they were greeted by Princess Luna, who looked very awake for a pony who lived during the night.

"Your here! Finally, I've been waiting for this for soo long!" she cheered gleefully

"Waiting for what?" Princess Rainbow asked

"Well, after you and your friends left, your mother asked for me to see her. At first I was a right disgrace to be woken up before my domain, but, after everything was explained to me I was instantly awake. I'm so so so glad that this day has finally arrived! Forgive my un-lady-likeness."

"What day? What's so special about today?"

"Well, not today exactly, but in the next few days!"

"But what's so special about it?"

"Ah, well, you are aware that it is your birthday soon, yes?"

"Yeh, how could I not be aware...but what's so special about this birthday? I mean, all we do is invite a few stuffy nobles and eat very little." Princess Luna giggled at this

"They are not stuffy nobles Rainbow, they are very close friends of Celestia's, and as far as I'm aware, you still get to stuff your face with cake."

"Well, I would, if the cake wasn't so rich that it made me throw up...and even if the couple hundred cupcakes that are made are some of the nicest cakes ever, I still don't get to eat them until the five layer cake is completely gone!"

"I am also aware that you sneak out large slices of cake for your friends, especially Lady-in-waiting Pinkie Pie. And she also bakes you treats." Rainbow Dash blushed, realising that her aunt knew "You know, it's not very smart to have a party under the cover of night, whilst trying to hide from the one pony who can see anything that goes on within her domain."

"Hehe, sorry aunt Luna, I'll invite you to the next one, I promise!"

"Oh, they'll be no need to do that Rainbow, for this birthday is your 15th."

"Yeh, so?" Luna frowned

"Did you not read up on royal traditions in your lessons?"

"Ehehe, I, kinda, maybe, umm, didn't really pay attention, to my lessons, at all." Rainbow looked away, sheepishly, while Luna just burst out laughing

"AHAHAHAHAA! That, is the funniest thing I've heard all week!"

"Well, since you never really speak to anypony, I'm not surprised."

"Ehehe...yeh. Anyway, to enlighten you, on a Prince, or Princesses 15th birthday, they have a coronation. This announces them officially to the public, so all those ponies who have never seen you before can get to see you, and maybe even meet you. The coronation will also announce your position to take the throne. Being the Queen's daughter means that you will be heir, and I the 2nd in line. After this, you will also be allowed outside the castle to roam at your own pace, and will be eligible for marriage. Although that doesn't usually happen for another few years. Yes, that's all the important details. And, in the next three days, you will be taking lessons on how to act 'properly' in public." Rainbow groaned, "Oh, but don't worry, you'll be taking those lessons with me, as Celestia will be busy setting things up. You are also permitted to bring Pinkie and Fluttershy along. And I'm pretty sure that Prince Adofo and Princess Zecora will join us in touring the city for the lessons." Rainbow perked up, just a little bit, when she heard this.

"Yes! Thanks aunt Luna! You're the best! ... When's mother getting here?"

"She should be along any moment." The door at the end of the room opened "Ah, here she is now."

"Good evening dear sister, daughter." Queen Celestia said as she entered the room, Princess Luna just nodded in reply

"Hello, mother"

"I assure that Luna has already told you what is coming up?"

"Yes mother, she has, and I'm very excited."

"I would hope so. Now, you will be assigned your own personal tailor, who will design and make all of your clothing, so you won't have to go and buy any yourself. During your training this week, she will come in and gather your measurements. You will also be assigned a body-guard, your body-guard will follow you around whenever you go outside. Hoof-maiden Fluttershy and Lady-in-waiting Pinkie Pie will also accompany you. You are to go no-where, outside, without your body-guard. Do you understand?"

"Yes mother."

"There will also be no stunt flying, you are a princess, not a performer."

"But mother, wh-"

"No buts! You are a princess, and you shall act like one, I will not have you flying through the streets of Canterlot like a mad-mare and tarnishing our reputation!" Princess Rainbow went silent "As I was saying, you will walk with grace, your wings are only a decoration, to be used only to show off beauty. I will have a few of my friends come in to show you, you remember Jubilee June, don't you?"

"Not her! Anypony but her!"

"Now now, a lady mustn't complain! Jubilee will come by in two days to show you how to act properly, and you better pay attention, if you cannot behave like a lady by your fifteenth birthday, then you will wait another year for your coronation. Do you understand me?"

"Yes mother."

"LAND AHOY!" Came the shout from the crows nest. Captain Rarity was instantly on her hooves, barking orders

"Raise the sails! Twilight, Get the wheel! Get us to the horse-shoe bay! Applejack, what supplies do we need?"

"We're runnin' mighty low on food, Capp'n, we're gonna need more ammunition an' medical supplies. We could also do with a few more cutlasses."

"Right, when we hit land, you sort out the cutlasses, I'll deal with the food, and Red-heart can gather the medical equipment. Speaking of Red-heart, Red-heart!"

"Yes Captain!" Red-heart called, as she galloped over

"How is Macintosh doing?"

"He's fairing well, I've managed to hold off all infection, despite my lack of equipment, and when I get hold of a proper splint, his leg should heal within a few weeks."

"Good, when we get to land, you need to gather all the medical equipment we're gonna need...Have you seen Bonbon anywhere? She's going to need to come with me to gather food."

"I Just saw her heading into the galley, Captain."

"Thanks Red-heart."

Captain Rarity walked down into the ships Galley, where all the cooks were rushing about, taking stock of what they had. Bonbon was walking around, noting what was missing and what was needed. Captain Rarity trotted over to her.

"Bonbon, I need you to come with me to gather food supplies. Most of the ponies in the town we're heading to won't recognise me, but I'm going to need some back up in case the royal guards show up. I'll also need you to tell me what food we need."

"Ay ay Captain." Bonbon responded "Might I ask when we be docking?"

"We'll be docking in the next hour, and we'll head off to collect food on the fourth day of our arrival. Our ship needs a few repairs that need to be done, so we'll be docked until then, it should only take a week. Do we have enough food to last four days?"

"Yes Captain, just about, we'll have completely run out by then, and there'll be no breakfast the fourth day."

"We can live with that."

"Captain, what are you doing on the first three days?"

"I was going to head to the black market and get the artifact sold for a good price, you know it takes a few days to get a really high bid, and I also thought that we could relax sometime, have a little break from pirating until we can leave, I really need a day at the spa to put my mane and coat back into pristine condition, and it would be nice to just relax on the beach for once, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose. Right, I'll continue to make notes on what we need food-wise. Oh, it would also be a good idea to grab some more cutlery, most of it's gone overboard." Captain Rarity groaned, every, single, time, they had tea, somepony would lose their knife or fork to the swaying of the ship and it would fall off through the decorative boarding around the ship. Rarity nodded in response, she'd have to buy reserves this time, so she didn't have to buy cutlery every time they docked ship. She supposed she could also buy less expensive cutlery this time, if it was going to be lost to the ocean, she'd rather not have spent hundreds of bits on it.

Rarity sat in her cabin, staring blankly at the wall. She was thinking. Thinking about her life as a pirate. She knew she was good at being a captain, and caring for her crew, but she just felt she wasn't cut out to be a pirate. She didn't even like it, but then, she didn't dislike it, either. It was more of a neutral feeling. Her father had pushed her into the role, and seeing he was Captain Magnum Black, she couldn't just back out of it.
They would be reaching shore within the next 10 minutes, and Rarity had already made all the preparations necessary. She sighed, and thought back to what her filly-hood dream had been. To be a princess, to find a handsome prince, fall in love with him, eventually marry him, and then help him rule over his kingdom. It was all she had ever wanted. She remembered that, one time, as a filly, her parents allowed her to go and see the Queen's parade. She had been ecstatic, the clothing Queen Celestia wore was gorgeous, and Princess Luna's mane flowed behind her like the starry night sky. What really got Rarity though, was the little blue pegasus filly, who rode with them. She was the newest Princess, about the same age as Rarity herself, perhaps a little older. The little princess was shown to everypony in Canterlot on that day, presented to show the strong line of Queen Celestia. It was then she realised that being a princess was what she wanted, to be able to strut around in fancy clothing, be friends with the elite of the elite, and become the most popular mare in history. It didn't matter where she was, as long as it wasn't running around, hiding from those who she wanted to join. Unfortunately, that is where she ended up.

A knock was heard on the door.

"Come in." Captain Rarity said, a second later, Applejack walked in, "What is it, Applejack?"

"We're landin' now Capp'n. An' a few ponies on th' docks are a might curious ta what's goin' on."

"Tell them were simply here for supplies, they shouldn't bother us too much. Oh, and do be a dear and find Wooden Plank? He'll probably be at the Golden ocean. Tell him that Magnum's daughter needs a hoof with her ship, he'll fix it up for us."

"Yes Capp'n."

Chapter 4

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"I wish to be able to waltz down the street and drown myself in the fountain, rather than to sit here and listen to you dribble on about the same thing over and over. I am perfectly capable of talking like a princess, and I am most certainly capable of acting my age, thank you very much Mrs, Jubilee June." Princess Rainbow Dash said, in a perfect Canterlot noble accent. Jubilee June frowned at her, but kept her composure

"I understand that very clearly Princess, but as it stands, Queen Celestia has asked me here to teach you how to not lose you composure if somepony upsets you, and to not tell them that you would prefer to kill yourself."

"I would not have to tell them I'd rather kill myself if they weren't as boring as you, and I know for a fact that there are ponies who much more interesting to talk to."

"Well sometimes a lady must subject herself to talking to those she finds boring to show that she truly does care."

"That just makes it obvious that you don't, you just do it, to make you look like you care, when you don't. You just do it so that they will see you as a lovely pony who would give up anything if somepony needed it, but in reality you would not! You would just turn your nose up at a homeless pony as if they were simply a speck of dirt! You and all of your friends are just stuffy Canterlot nobles who only care for themselves, money and seeming like the most generous pony ever! You give not one bit to charity out of your own kindness, only so that you can sidle up to my mother!"

"Princess! First of all, it is 'do not', not 'don't', second, I do care about other ponies, and a lady, nor a princess, should accuse anypony of not caring. Finally, I do happen to give one bit to charity out of my own kindness, the educational program charity for Canterlot."

"Well, that does not make it any better. In my opinion it makes you worse, that program only spends money on the unicorn noble's schools. You know, the ones you can't get into if you're not a unicorn, or a noble."

"Yes, well. Canterlot is mainly compromised of unicorns, there are very few pegasi or earth ponies, so there simply is no point in spending money on the pegasus or earth pony noble's schools. And, if you recall, there are no charities that support the non noble schools."

"Support For Foals does, Educational Needs does, Screw Nobility To The Moon And Back does. And besides, just because Canterlot is mainly made up of you stuffy unicorns, does not mean that you can just ignore us other races!"

"Those charities don't base in Canterlot, and SNTTMAB does not stand for 'Screw Nobility To The Moon And Back' Princess, that would be quite the stupid name, don't you think?"

"Well, what do you think it means? And just because the other charities don't base in Canterlot, does not mean you can just ignore them! You nobles, especially the unicorns like you, don't give a flying feather about anything but yourselves and whether or not what you're doing benefits you!"

"'Do not', Princess, not 'Don't."

"I don't care how I'm supposed to say it, if it's just going to make me look like you snobs."

"Queen Celestia has asked me to make sure that you are able to speak properly for when you go out into public. We do not want you talking like the common folk and putting yourself down to their level. So, we shall start this lesson over. First, it is 'do not' not 'don't', it is 'I am' not 'I'm'-"

"Gahh!"
---

"So, Capp'n Rarity, haven't seen ya in a while. Hear ya're making quite the name for yarself out there, even excluding who yar father is." Wooden Plank said, whilst examining the ship.

"Well, of course, if ponies are to know who I am, and know just what I can do, then I have to be at the top of the food chain, no?" Rarity replied

"O' course, and that makes ponies afraid of ya, fair few will dare engage ya and yar crew in a fight."

"Quite. Now, down to business, how long will it take to repair it?"

"Well, If I had all meh ponies, then 'bout three days at best, but currently, half meh crew has gone off pirating, just to keep the practice, ya know?"

"So, how long will it take?"

"A week at least."

"Is that really the best you can do? I was hoping to be able to leave the island within that time." Captain Rarity pleaded

"Sorry, that's the best I can do, what I can do for ya though, to make up for it, is ta build the boat a little better than t'was, stronger and more streamlined, t'will take 'bout the same amount o' time, maybe a day or two longer."

"Well, I suppose, that'll assist in getting to my destination faster, and maybe avoid some unnecessary conflict with that 'Bubble crew', yes, I've had a few run in's with them."

"But ya beat 'em ev'ry time, d'aint'cha?"

"Yes, but that's not what's bothering me, it's the damage they cause, we can beat them, but at what cost? We've already lost several members to them in previous skirmishes, so now, with Macintosh having his leg repaired, if they attack, I don't think we'll have enough crew to get our next booty."

"Aye, I see yar point. So ya want the upgrade?"

"It better be worth the extra time, Plank, I'm running on a schedule."

"T'will be Capp'n Rarity, t'will be."
Rarity nodded and trotted off, heading towards the center of Trottingham.

Chapter 5

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Princess Rainbow Dash walked the streets of Trottingham, she was accompanied by her two best friends, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, as well as her new bodyguard. He was a muscular white unicorn with a blue striped mane. His cutie mark depicted a blue shield with a purple star in the middle, and the blue stars above the shield. His name was Shining Armor. Queen Celestia had insisted the her daughter visit every town and city, even the small villages, in Equestria, so that she knew the land she would rule over, and for the last few days, that is exactly what she had been doing.

"Princess Rainbow Dash, please, your mother instructed you to visit these towns and cities so that you could see your country and show yourself off to the public, not so that you could mess around at the beach." Shining Armor insisted, but he was ignored by the mare, Pinkie Pie, however, who was bouncing along merrily, turned around mid-bounce, and, whilst continuing to bounce backwards, looked him in the eye with a wide grin and said

"Yeh, but Dashie's the Princess, so, she can go to the beach if she wants to, no-pony is gonna stop her, plus, don't the coastal lines count as part of Equestria. And besides, we're not even there yet, how do you know how long she'll take?" Then Pinkie Pie turned back around and continued to bounce along.

"That may be, but Queen Celestia has carefully scheduled out where we are to go in each town, city and village, and the beach is not one of those places."

"Be quiet, Shining, if I want to go to the beach, then I will go to the beach, I don't care what mother put on that schedule, I am not going to follow it, I will do this at my own pace, and my pace includes going to the beach to relax for a bit. Besides, you wouldn't tell her, would you?" Rainbow turned her head to the side slightly, and turned her eyes to look behind her, just enough so that he could see that she was staring directly at him "After all, you wouldn't want her to find out that you've had eyes on Princess Mi Amore Cadenza from the Crystal empire, now, would we?"
Shining Armor tensed up, and his eyes widened with horror

"You wouldn't." He croaked, he knew he was trapped, 'Damn, how did she know?' he thought

"I won't tell if you don't tell." Rainbow smirked, she knew she had him, Shining gritted his teeth for a few moments before relenting

"Fine, we never went to the beach, and I don't like Princess Cadance"

"Ooh, she lets you call her that?" Her smirk grew bigger as Shining Armor blushed heavily, his white coat not hiding it in the slightest. "Well then, we're almost there. And don't worry Shining Armor, I've made sure that mother never goes into the West guest wing whenever Princess Cadance visits." Pinkie and Fluttershy thought that neither Rainbow's smirk, nor Shining Armor's blush could get any bigger, they found out just how wrong they were. "And look, here we are, Horse-shoe beach. Ponies say that there's a bay around here, hidden between the rocks, and only pirates know how to get there, from both land and sea. You can't see it from the sky, that's why no pegasus has ever reported it."

"Dashie, you know that Pirates wouldn't dare come anywhere near Equestria, Queen Celestia would have them beheaded the moment she knew about them." Pinkie giggled

"*sigh* Yeh, I know, still, it's nice to imagine it's real, don't you think? What about you Shining? What do you think the likely hood is that pirates actually do come to Equestria?" But Shining Armor didn't reply, Rainbow turned around, only to find him staring out across the beach at somepony, "Shining? Who are you looking at? Shining! I thought you liked the Crystal Princess, not...who is she anyway? You know her?...Shining!" Shining Armor snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head

"Yes, Princess?" He asked, sheepishly, Rainbow sighed

"I said, who is she? That purple unicorn you've been staring at for the last minute?"

Rarity walked the streets of Trottingham, she had just been to the spa, and what a wonderful job they had done. She felt amazing. She had already tasked one of her crew-Star Hunter-to put the artifact on the black market. The artifact was said to have been used by the Burrowers as a form of ability enhancer, of course, nopony nowadays knew how to use it, as the last pony who did, died a little over 2000 years ago. The artifact could enhance the abilities of any creature who possessed it, as long as they knew how to use it, otherwise, it was just a gorgeous idol, crafted out of a metal called Damascus steel, a metal which, the secret to creating, had long been forgotten. The idol was made in the shape of a dragon, the beautiful wave pattern of the metal flowing along it's sides. It's wings were held out in a landing position, it's legs stretched out beneath it, ready to touch the ground. In each eye socket, there remained a beautiful emerald, each the size of a pea.

Rarity sighed, several potential buyers had already made themselves know, all offering good prices, but none of them were enough, no amount worth the idol, and no amount enough to keep her mother's medicine going another month, the time it would take for her mother to be cured enough to stop taking the medicine. She sighed again, she had worked so hard to find and get that artifact, she had put aside so many other things, and other treasures she could have collected, because she thought that this artifact would give her the money to keep her mother on the medicine for 30 more doses. But alas, so far, not so good, she had been in Trottingham a few days already, and had restocked all her supplies with the remaining money from the last looting. She no longer had any money to pay the hospital where her mother was kept for more medicine, and if she didn't pay soon, then the hospital didn't have enough to afford the medicine for her mother. Only 3 more doses of medicine, that's all her mother had, but she needed another 27 doses on top of that. Rarity sighed a third time, just for dramatic effect. 'Oh woe is me' She thought 'Whatever am I to do?'

She looked down at the ground, not caring if it would make her mane droop out of place, she could always go back to the spa tomorrow. She slowly trudged along the streets, down towards the beach. When she got there, she noticed that Twilight had already set up their sun beds and umbrellas. She was currently sitting on one of them and reading a book, as usual. Rarity trotted over to her,

"Hello Twilight, aren't the others coming?" Twilight , having been to caught up in her book to notice Rarity approaching, jumped a bit, and looked up,

"Oh, hello Captain, you startled me. Oh, yeh, the others are coming, they're just...well, you know them, Applejack and Octavia are probably overseeing Wooden Plank's work, Big Mac's with Red heart having his leg fixed, Spike's insisted that he clean up the ship with Bonbon, Star hunter's still at the black market and that just left Thunderlane and Braeburn to look after the fillies, and well, when you have those two idiots looking after those three...maybe I should have stayed to make sure they were okay, but I had to be here for when you came....I uh, have some information you might like to know."

"What information?"

"Princess Rainbow Dash is here, in Trottingham. They left the beach a while ago, but, uhh, well, her bodyguard is somepony I knew a long time ago."

"The Princess is here? What about Queen Celestia, or Princess Luna?"

"As far as I know, they aren't here. It's just princess Rainbow Dash with a bodyguard and two mares, who I presume are her hoof-maidens." Twilight's eyes shifted around a bit

"You said you knew her body guard? How?"

"Well, I-I, uh, well" Twilight was struggling, she didn't want to admit the truth,

"Twilight?" Rarity looked concerned, Twilight waved a hoof, took a deep breath in, and let it out

"He, he's my brother, I haven't seen him in years."

"Your brother! Your brother is part of the royal guard? Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I didn't think it was that important, he doesn't know I'm a pirate, and, well, he was only a new recruit when I left. I didn't think he'd get to become the princess's Royal body guard!"

"You could have at least informed me that he was part of the guard! Ohhh! Does he know you're here?"

"No, I'm sure that if he had, he would have come up to me. I ran away from home years ago, there's no way he'd pass up the chance to see me after all those years. I'm pretty sure I had my family thinking I was dead."

"Right, well, that's okay then, you'll just have to be more careful. Do you know why Princess Rainbow Dash is here?"

"No, but while they were here they just relaxed on the beach. I heard some ponies mention that she turned 15 not long ago. And, when prince or princess turns 15, they get a public coronation, and they travel around the country they live in so they know everything they'll rule over. That could be why she's here."

"Ok, that means she's not aware of us, nor is the Queen, that's good, but, it also means we'll have to get moving as soon as possible." Twilight nodded in response, then went back to reading her book. Rarity sat down on the other sun bed, pulled a pair of sunglasses on, lay back, and started to sunbathe.

Chapter 6

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Rainbow Dash trotted down the dark streets, eyeing each stall they passed with intrigue and caution. Pinkie bounced happily beside her, a large grin stuck on her face as she waved at every pony, griffon and even the odd zebra they passed. Fluttershy hid behind them, trying to keep out of everyone's view. Shining Armor, at Rainbow's insistence, walked at the back of the group. This was the black market. Despite Shining Armor's protests, Rainbow had insisted that it was the best place to get souvenirs for her aunt and mother, and so they had walked over to the shady side of Trottingham. They had made their way down a series of ally ways, following directions given to them by an old griffon, and they eventually reached a set of streets invisible from above, due to the ceilings. The houses surrounding the market place had all built an outcrop from the side to create a sort of tunnel, that now housed the black market.

So as not to cause commotion and to be on the safe side, all of them had taken off any clothing that would pin them as working for, or being part of the royal family. They all had varying opinions on the matter. Pinkie felt happy, but only because she always was, so none of them really knew how she felt about not having to wear her gown. Fluttershy felt slightly uncomfortable, she was glad to have gotten rid of the itchy gown, but wearing nothing but her locket made her feel slightly naked. Shining Armor felt weird, he wasn't used to not wearing his armor around any of the royals. Rainbow Dash felt awesome, not having to wear her crown allowed her more movement of her head, she didn't have to keep it held high and straight just to stop the crown from falling off, and not wearing make-up meant that her face no longer felt covered and uncomfortable. But, the best bit was not having to wear the long flowing dress, that would drag along the floor if it weren't for the magic coat that was it's under layer, preventing the actual dress from touching the ground.

Rainbow had already found souvenirs for her mother and aunt, now, she was looking for one for herself. She was looking along each stall when a certain figurine of a dragon caught her eye. It looked like it was made of wood, but when she got closer, she realised it was made of a type of metal. The wave pattern on the dragon's body flowed downwards, starting at the head and ending at the tail. The dragon had it's wings open in a landing position, and it's legs were stuck out. It stood on it's hind legs, on the claws, as if they had just touched down, it's body bent forward ever so slightly, with the forelegs reaching to grasp at the ground. It had two, diamond shaped, pea sized emeralds as it's eyes. It looked awesome. Rainbow looked up at the pony who stood behind the stall, he was a middle aged pegasus, with a deep blue coat and a lighter blue mane.

"See you've got eye's for the Damascus Dragon." The stallion said, Rainbow listened with curiosity "T'was made by a race called the Burrowers, thousands of years ago. Said that it contains some powerful magic, but no-one knows how to use it. Can give any creature strength, they say. Course, that's just what they say 'bout it, no-one really knows for sure." He picked up the dragon, and traced his hoof along the waves "Made of Damascus steel, this is, no-one know's how to make it any more, makes it very valuable. If you want it, your gonna have to have a fair amount on you."

"Do you take gems as payment?" Rainbow asked, motioning to Fluttershy to give her the saddlebags

"Oh yes, I'll take any form of currency as payment, from Draconian silvers to Griffonian dimes." Rainbow Dash smiled, and reached into the saddle bags with a wing, she then pulled out a small silk bag, a simple gold pattern sewn onto it. Opening the bag, she took out two red diamonds, both about the size of peas.

"Would these do?" Rainbow smirked slightly when she saw the stallion's face, oh, the perks of being princess. The stallion regained his composure and eyed the diamonds suspiciously

"They authentic?" He asked

"Yup, you can examine them if you want." Rainbow held out one of the diamonds between two of her feathers, careful to keep the other enclosed in her wing, lest the stallion try to make a run with the gem and dragon. Fortunately though, the stallion did no such thing, as he carefully took the diamond in one of his own wings, and took out an eyepiece from his own saddlebags with the other. He then began to carefully examine the gemstone, turning it over several times, looking at each cut with great detail. After a few minutes he put the eyepiece back and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Authentic." He said, after a lengthy pause, his eyes were slightly wider than normal due to shock, and a small smile graced his lips. "These two together? Be about 16 million bits in equestrian currency. You, lassy, have got yourself a deal." And he held out a wing to which Rainbow grasped it in her own wing, and shook it. "There you go, the Damascus Dragon is all yours."

"Thanks." Rainbow replied, she picked up the idol and held out the other diamond for him to take.

Rarity was heading back to the ship for a night's rest, Wooden had said that the repairs wouldn't interfere with any of the cabins and they could still use them if they needed to. She walked along the docks with weary steps, it hadn't been an especially long or tiring day, but the stress of things was starting to get to her. She had just reached the ship and was about to board it when,

"Capp'n!" A voice shouted from behind her, she turned around, it was Star hunter

"Hello, Hunter, what prices were offered today, any good ones?"

"Umm, yes Capp'n, a real good 'un" His eyes darted to his left, then to the right, as he remembered that he was supposed to ask Captain Rarity before he sold the idol

"How much? 7 million bits? Remember, if it's any less than that, then we can't afford to sell it, running a pirate crew is expensive, what with all the food and medical supplies, not to mention how much Wooden is charging us for these repairs, you really can't trust anyone anymore. And where's the idol?"

"Uhh, well, you see, Capp'n, I already sold it. Didn't want to lose the chance."

"What chance? I told you to contact me before you sold it! Now you've probably gone and wasted it! The money's probably fake! Do you have any idea how easy it is to fake bits in Equestria? Extremely easy! In fact, Equestrian bits were rated the second easiest currency to fake! Right after Hippocampi shells!" Rarity fumed

"Capp'n, well, t'wasn't bits I was payed in. T'was diamonds, Capp'n Rarity, authentic too! Examined them myself." At this, Rarity calmed down, if Star hunter said they were authentic, then she believed him, his knack for gem's was part of the reason he became part of the crew.

"How many, and how much are they worth?" She asked, still laced with a bit of anger, but much calmer now

"Two red diamonds, Capp'n, worth 'bout 8 million bits each." Star hunter's eyes glistened happily, "Didn't want to lose that chance. Mare looked proper fancy like, nice and clean, no dirt or nothing, might not have been in the market tomorrow, had a big stallion with her an everything, not wearin' anything fancy like, but didn't fit in that's for sure, brought up in high class society that mare. Up and offered 16 mil for the idol, had to sell it there and then, you understand, don't you Capp'n?" Rarity just stood there and stared, the corners of her mouth twitched up a bit

"Sh-show me the diamonds." She ordered. With a quick nod, Star hunter took out the two red diamonds that he had traded the idol for, and handed them over to Rarity. She took them in her magic, and examined them both carefully, she gained the approximate weight from them both-4 carats, very rare for red diamonds- both diamonds were cut in the cushion cut pattern, and they were a brilliant red, 16 million bits would be the least they'd get for these. "I can't believe it." Rarity murmured to herself, a small smile growing on her face, finally, a lucky break. She could easily pay for the rest of her mother's medicine, and the extra treatment that would help speed up her rehabilitation. She could easily pay Wooden Plank for his hard work, and she could start her own hoard like every other pirate. Her smile started to fade though, as she realised something, "You said that the mare who bought it looked like she was from high class society?"

"Y-yes Capp'n, was accompanied by two other mares and a stallion. All looking out of place in the dark streets of the black market." Rarity's gaze hardened

"We'll need to be more careful, she could have just been to the spa, like I, to get that nice and clean, but we can't take that risk, there's a big chance she's a noble working for the Queen, if she knows where the black market is, then she could easily figure out how to get to the cove. Let the other's know to be on guard at all times, we might have to deal with some royal guards soon."

"Aye Aye Capp'n."

Chapter 7

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Rainbow Dash was bored, she had finally returned home from going around Equestria, and now she was sitting in her room with Pinkie and Fluttershy doing her make-up, as was the usual when they had guests. Her mother had invited several of her friends around to Celebrate Rainbow's public coronation. So she had to dress up in her best outfit, now complete with her crown, shoes and, neck plate? She didn't know what it was, and truthfully, she couldn't care less.

Zecora and Adofo were to leave with their parents the day after she had her coronation, but since they had gotten along so well, and the meeting had lead to the two kingdom's allying internationally, they were gifted their own private rooms in the castle, where they could stay whenever they wanted. The same was gifted to Rainbow in the Zebrican palace, but they all decided it was easier staying in Equestria, especially for the celebrations. They had not been, however, allowed to accompany Rainbow on her tour of Equestria, as the Equestrian coronation tradition states that 'Only maids and guards may join the Prince or Princess on their coronation tour'.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had just finished getting Rainbow ready when a knock was heard at the door, it was Shining Armor, here to collect her to take her to the celebration, as was tradition. She was about to open the door when Pinkie shouted from behind her

"Don't forget to get me some of that cake, Dashie!" Rainbow chuckled

"Do I ever?" She replied, looking back at her bouncing, pink friend, then, she looked at her shy, yellow friend "I'll get some for you too Fluttershy, I know how much you love it, almost as much as miss Black hole does." She smirked as she tilted her head towards Pinkie, Fluttershy let out a small squeak of embarrassment, the memories of her gorging down on the incredibly rich cake surfacing from previous parties. Rainbow sniggered, knowing what Fluttershy was thinking of.

"Oh, you don't have to Rainbow, I mean, it must be hard to smuggle out that cake from under your mother's nose, and you know how your mother gets if she finds any kind of stain on your clothes."

"Don't worry about that Fluttershy, it'll be fine, and besides, this time, I've got Shining Armor to hide the cake for me." She smirked, as she opened the door, letting said pony stumble into the room, having been just about to knock again. He quickly stood upright and regained his composure.

"I am here to take you to the grand hall, Princess." He said with a bow, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes ad followed him out.

When they reached the grand hall, it was already full of all the nobles and other rich ponies there were a few griffons there too, the royal family from saddle-Arabia, the Hippogriff King and Queen from Japony and the Zebra royals. Adofo and Zecora waved at her when they saw her come in. her mother stood at the other end of the hall, talking with Jubilee June. The door guards opened the doors in sync for them, and the Herald announced their arrival, causing everyone to cease their chatter and turn towards them. Once everyone was quiet, Queen Celestia called out in a loud voice

"May I present my daughter, Princess Rainbow Dash, officially as the heir to my throne." Rainbow blushed in embarrassment, she hadn't realised that so many ponies would be there. At least that was it, once everyone had cheered, the celebration would continue and she would no longer be the center of attention, not that she hated being the center of attention, she loved it, it was only when it came to being royalty did she hate it. Everyone cheered, Prince Adofo and Princess Zecora being noticeably the loudest, at least, until their parents glared at them to tell them to be quieter. "And with that title," The Queen continued, Rainbow was confused, why was she carrying on? "I bestow upon my daughter, the gift of magic." her mother smiled as she walked towards her, her horn glowing a gentle yellow, but filled with power.

'What is she doing?' Rainbow thought 'The gift of magic? What's that supposed to mean? I thought she'd just announce me and that would be that!' She smiled back up at her mother, nervously. She watched as her mother stopped several lengths from her and bowed her head down so that the tip of her horn brushed her forelock. There was a brief flash of white, as her mother cast a spell. Then, when the light faded and she could see clearly again, she noticed that her head was heavier than it should have been. Her mother brought her head back up and proudly smiled at her daughter. Rainbow looked up to see her mother's face, was that a tear? then, after a few moments, she put a hoof to her head to see why it was so heavy, maybe it was just a side affect of whatever spell her mother had cast. But what spell had she cast? her question was quickly answered when her hoof collided gently with something sticking out from her forehead. Her eyes widened slightly, and she placed her hoof on the object. She could feel it, she could feel her hoof through the object. Her eyes widened more, surely her mother couldn't have..she wouldn't. She looked up at her mother again, with an almost pleading look, and with a small gasp of realization, her mother produced a mirror. one look into it, proved that her worst fear had come true. She was an alicorn.

It was late when Rarity trotted back to the ship. She had traveled down to Manehatten that morning, so she could pay her mother a visit and pay her medicine bills. Her mother was overjoyed to hear that her daughter had finally made enough money,

"Oh, I'm so proud of you Rarity, I hope that, once I'm out of this hospital, you'll let Sweetie Belle see me. I know you feel protective of her, and you don't want to risk her in case anyone recognizes you, but don't you think it's a little unfair that she can't see her mother?" Her mother had said

"Yes, I know mother, I'm sorry, I just, can't risk taking her here, I'm a wanted mare, granted none of the guards actually know what I look like, but..I can't take the risk that somepony does. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let Sweetie get caught, you know what Queen Celestia does to Pirates." Rarity replied, whispering, in case anyone was listening from outside the door, and she was right to do so, because, not a few seconds later, somepony knocked at the door, and a doctor walked in. She was a different doctor to the one her mother had last time she visited.

"Hello Mrs Belle." She said, cheerily, "I see you have a visitor, well, I'll be quick about this then." She grinned, and then quickly trotted over to Mrs Belle's side. Rarity quickly recognized what the doctor was doing, as she had seen it several times before. The doctor got out a syringe, and gently pushed it into her mother's left foreleg. "There, now, I'll just put a plaster on that, and you'll be good for today." She smiled again.

"Excuse me." Rarity said, "You're a different doctor to the one my mother had last time I visited, did something happen to Doctor Stable?" The Doctor shook her head,

"I'm Doctor Snowheart, I've taken over Mrs Belle's care from Doctor Stable since I became a doctor. He's perfectly fine."
Rarity smiled, and nodded in understanding, "Ah, thank you, and congratulations on your promotion."
Doctor Snowheart blushed, thanked Rarity for the compliment and left the room.

Rarity had spent the whole day with her mother, telling her stories of her adventures, and how much Sweetie Belle was growing up. Her mother insisted that once she was better, she would join Rarity on her pirating adventures. At first, Rarity had protested, but she eventually gave in, her mother was more stubborn than herself sometimes. She smiled at the memory, it was great to finally see her mother again, but she did feel terrible for not letting Sweetie Belle see her. She made a mental note to take her to the ice-cream parlor the next day.

When Rarity reached the ship, she noticed that the gangplank was up, preventing anyone without wings from boarding it.

"Oi! Twilight! Lower the gangplank!" She shouted up, and a head popped over the side of the ship, but it wasn't Twilight's head, it was a griffons.

"Hmm, nah, I think I'll keep it up." The griffon said, smirking "Keeps out all the pests." Down below, Rarity fumed,

"How dare you! Get off'a my ship you scallywag!"

"I think you mean my ship." He laughed "It's much better than my old one, much cleaner, and I do so love my new crew." He reached behind him and yanked something forward-no, not something, someone. Rarity gasped

"Release Twilight now!" She yelled, Twilight was gagged and had a magic inhibitor surrounding her horn, well, that explains why she didn't just blast him, hmph, well, she's not the only one who can do that.

"No, I will admit that she can be mouthy, and she won't shut up, but I can't deny that she's a good source of information. Isn't that right Rarity?" His eyes narrowed, Rarity gasped, she looked at Twilight, who looked crestfallen.

"Hmph, yes, Twilight knows almost everything, but there are a few things that even she doesn't know."

"And what are those 'few things'?"

"My own ability in magic." Suddenly Rarity let forth a laser of pure magic energy, it struck dead center of the griffon's head, and there was a loud 'poof' before the griffon disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Several blocks away, anyone who was wandering around, would hear a loud shout, a crash, and some very colourful language, as a griffon suddenly crashed into the bins down a small alleyway.
Twilight looked around, blinking, slightly confused, before realizing that the griffon was gone. She smiled and quickly lowered the gangplank to let her Captain on board.

Chapter 8

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For the rest of the celebration, Rainbow Dash forced smiles and greetings, she thanked her mother for the 'gift' and told her how much she loved her. Queen Celestia was pleased by this, and let her be for the rest of the night. As much as possible, Rainbow stuck with her friends, who shared her distaste for becoming an alicorn. Shining Armor hung around with her for half of the night, but he kept looking over his shoulder at a certain pink alicorn from the Crystal Empire. Rainbow eventually let him run after her when it was time for the dance. As the guest of honor, Rainbow had to dance. many stallions asked her to dance with them, she really didn't want to dance with any, but she had to pick one and Prince Blueblood was the only one she knew. He was her cousin, which made the dancing weird, but at least he wasn't dancing with her for...those reasons. As the dance ended, he said

"I know how much you dislike me, but think I could get a 'thank you' for getting you out of dancing with the stuffy Canterlot nobles?" Rainbow smiled at him, sure, he was a snob, arrogant, boastful and attention seeking, but he could be nice... sometimes,

"Thanks, but don't think I'm gonna forgive you for calling Pegasi 'birds' just from one kind act." She narrowed her eyes, but kept her smile, Blueblood smiled back

"I don't expect you to, after all, now you're a 'pin head' just like the rest of us Unicorns."

"Yeh, but, unlike you, I don't have pins for brains as well as a horn." She smirked as he scoffed, turned and walked away.

For the rest of the Celebration, Rainbow hung out with Adofo and Zecora, avoiding everyone else as much as possible. She remembered her promise to Pinkie and Fluttershy, and hid large slices of the cake in Shining Armor's Armor, something he wasn't entirely happy about.

Soon, the celebration ended and Shining Armor escorted Rainbow back to her room. He gave her the cake, wrapped up in napkins, that had been hidden under his chest plate, and then trotted off, likely to the west guest wing.

As soon as he was gone, and the door had closed, she cried out in agony. Immediately, Pinkie and Fluttershy, who had
been playing cards shot out of their seats to see what was wrong. It was obvious to them, the moment they saw her.

"Dashie!" Pinkie cried, "You're an alicorn!...I thought you didn't want to be an alicorn?"

"I don't! I never wanted this! I thought she understood! I thought she knew! I told her! I told her I didn't want to be an alicorn! But does she ever listen to me? NO! Why can't I have a normal life? Why does she keep trying to make me all prissy and girly, and, and...princessy!?"

"Well, you are a princess."

"Not, helping, Pinkie. I mean, it's not like I have to take the throne. Mother's immortal, and so is Auntie, she could take the throne! Why does it have to be me?...*sigh*, ughh, now I have to deal with this stupid thing." Rainbow indicated to her head

"It's not stupid Rainbow." Fluttershy gently scolded, "Besides, I think it looks lovely on you."

"Great...I just...I can't. I need to get away for a bit. This is too much for me right now."

"We could go into town tomorrow." Fluttershy suggested

"No...I need something longer than that, I need, like, a vacation."

"Oooh! Well we could always go to Trottingham to see if we can find any pirates! I mean, sure, they'd be dead, but, we could always hire a boat and go looking for them out in the ocean!"

"Heh, great idea Pinks, just one tiny problem, do you really think that my mother would let us search for pirates?"

"Of course not, silly, that's why it'll have to be a secret operation!"

"Pinkie, as soon as my mother finds out I'm gone, she's gonna send the entire royal guard out looking for me, and even if we have made it out of Equestria by then, it's not exactly hard to tell who I am. They'll ask everyone if they've seen me, they won't even have to give a description. I mean, my name is Rainbow Dash. Yeh, that Rainbow maned alicorn who left Trottingham port Saturday morning definitely isn't her. They'll find us within a day, and then I'll be grounded, and you two will be fired. *sigh*. Not to mention that almost everyone knows me now, the only ponies who won't are the ones who live under rocks."

"Well, you, umm, could always tell Queen Celestia that you want to go on a cruise with us." Fluttershy proposed, Rainbow's face instantly lit up with a large grin

"Fluttershy! You're a genius! Mother'll let us hire a ship and go around the Magic sea for sure!"

"I'm so sorry Captain!" Twilight apologized "I didn't want to tell him everything, but he threatened to kill the fillies!" They were both sitting in Rarity's cabin, Twilight looked distraught.

"Yes Twilight, I understand that you would never give away any important information without a good reason. What I want to know, is how a single griffon took over my entire ship."

"W-well, he kinda, well, you saw that chest plate he was wearing?" At Rarity's nod, she continued "Well, it had a sort of enchantment on it. It only protected his body, and not his legs, wings or head, but it was enough for him to be able to get past us and get the magic inhibitors on us."

"Hmmm...well, he certainly didn't expect me to have that much magic."

"Neither did I. From the way you usually use magic, I expected you to have a smaller mana pool that what you demonstrated. No offense, of course, I just mean-"

"Twilight, I understand, in fact, I'm quite glad that's what you thought."

"W-what?"

"Well, If everypony knew I had magic like that, then ponies would come at me more prepared, wouldn't they?"

"So, you make ponies think you are weaker than you look?! Wow, no wonder other unicorns haven't bested you through magic!" Rarity gave a sly smile "I always thought it must have been a special shield enchantment that prevented sneak attacks!" Twilight was amazed, and she now saw her Captain in a new light. Rarity stood up, and trotted to the door.

"Well, it's been almost a week, I'm going to see how Wooden's getting on with the repairs.

"Of course Captain." Twilight replied, getting up as well, "It's late, I'm going to head to bed, if that's alright with you?"

"Sure Twilight, make sure someone stays up though, ok? Maybe take shifts. Don't want any uninvited guests." Twilight nodded in response, and both mares headed out onto the deck.

Spike was up in the crows nest, keeping an eye out, while Applejack and Big Macintosh were playing a game of cards. Big Mac was winning, something that seemed to frustrate Applejack. Looking over at the bow of the ship, Rarity noticed that Wooden Plank wasn't there.

"Where's Wooden, Applejack?" She asked

"Wen' home early, said he'd be done sooner than he thought. Didn' see reason to continue late, Capp'n."

"Finishing sooner than he thought? How soon?"

"Said he'd be done by evenin' tomorrow."

"Oh good. We'll be right on schedule then." Rarity smiled, She looked up, it was fairly late, the sun had set some time ago, and the moon was shining over low over the ocean. It really was a beautiful sight. There were no clouds, the stars shone bright and only the gentle lapping of waves, and the occasional shuffle of cards could be heard. It was peaceful, and it gave Rarity time to relax.

"Ya wanna join us fer a game Capp'n?" Applejack called

"Sure."

Chapter 9

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"No! I will not allow you to go gallivanting off around the seas!" Queen Celestia shouted
"But mother-"
"No! That is final! You are a princess of Equestria and you shall act like one! You have had your coronation so such things should be beneath you! Sailing is for Pirates," She spat the word "for shippers, for the navy. All ponies who are beneath us! Before, you were a mere child, a filly who did not understand who she was and how to act like she is supposed. Now, however, you are an alicorn, it is your duty to rule over the ponies of Equestria, to lead them into the future, just as it is mine and Princess Luna's. I may sit on the throne, and I may be the figure head for equestrian royalty, but all us alicorns rule, including you. We are royalty, so we must act like it, we look down upon our ponies as they look up at us. We are what they aspire to be, we are idols, to be praised, we teach our ponies what is right and what is wrong by our actions not by our words. If they saw you, sailing of all things, then pony-kind would soon spiral back into what it once was; a primitive, disgusting race made up of savages." With that, Queen Celestia turned around and stalked off.

Rainbow Dash's ears flopped and she looked down at the floor. She moped for a few seconds, before she began to feel angry. She looked up, defiance on her face, she watched as the queen walked out of the room through the far door, her head held high and a condescending look on her face, then, when she could no longer see her mother, she turned around and trotted back to her room.

She slammed the door shut behind her as she entered, causing Fluttershy to hide behind Pinkie Pie.
"Are you OK Dashie?" She asked, looking up from her dinner
"I'm fine."
"Did Queen Celestia let us go on the sailing trip?" Fluttershy inquired, creeping out from behind Pinkie
"No, but we're going anyway."
"B-but won't we get into trouble?"
"So what? It wouldn't be so bad if mother had just said that we can't go, but the fact that she wants me to grow up to be just like her, she expects me to just follow whatever life she has planned out for me, and that she thinks so lowly of everypony who does sail...just, arghh! It's like she doesn't care at all what I want! I don't want to be a princess! I don't want to be an Alicorn! I never have! I've told her that so many times, but did she listen? OBVIOUSLY NOT! So from now on, I'm going to make my own decisions, if it gets me into trouble, I don't care, and even if she does fire you, she can't forbid you from visiting me, not when you two are my only friends." Rainbow calmed down, just a bit, and looked to her friends with soft, almost hopeful eyes,
"But, Rainbow, we need the money!"
"I have my own treasury! I don't care if it's money that mother and aunt Luna gave me, it's still my money, and I can use it however I want. I'm also now legally allowed to employ whoever I want, no matter what mother says."
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy glanced at each other, they knew that their friend was right.

"I'll go with you." Fluttershy said after several seconds of silence
"Me too," Pinkie quickly agreed, coming up to hug her friend from behind. Fluttershy joined them not seconds later, and they all stood like that for almost a minute before stepping away.
"Thank you." Rainbow all but whispered "I want to start packing now, and be gone by morning, if that's alright. Make sure mother doesn't have time to put precautions in place."
Pinkie and Fluttershy smiled and nodded, then headed off to pack, though not before they finished their dinner.

During this time, Rainbow Dash walked back out her door in search of Shining Armor. She found him where she expected him, with Princess Cadance. She knocked on their door, and waited for an answer, hoping she wasn't just about to walk in during one of their make-out sessions. It was Princess Cadance who answered the door.
"Oh, hello Princess Rainbow Dash, is there any way I can help you?"
"Umm, yes, actually. I'm, err, planning on going on a trip, and uh, well, I need Shining Armor, and I guess you too, to maybe teach me magic?"

It was late morning when Rarity woke up, the bright sunlight filtered through the window of her cabin and lay on her face, just on her eyes. She tried rolling over, but that just kept one eye in the dark and the other exposed to the light. So she pulled her covers over her face, only then it got too hot and she started to sweat, to which she shot out of bed and ran to have a shower. Once she was finished, and nice and clean, she looked around her cabin, seeing how messy it was for the first time. So, she set about clearing it up, straightening her bed covers, organising her desk, and dusting the shelves to name a few things. When that was finally finished, she looked out of the window, it was almost noon, and she realised how the lack of curtains made the room feel slightly empty, and blindingly bright.

There was a knock at her cabin door,
"Come in." She called, carefully, the door opened and Twilight walked in,
"Captain, since the ship is almost fully repaired and we're fully restocked on supplies, Applejack and I were wondering if you'd join us for a shop around town, maybe buys some souvenirs, and go to a restaurant, or we could just go and see the sights."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea Twilight. It will also give me a chance to buy some curtains for this room, stupid morning light. Just give me a few minutes to freshen up, and then I'll be with you. OK?" Twilight smiled, and Rarity thought she caught a glimpse of relief, or was she just imagining it? But it was gone, and Twilight walked out, giving her captain some privacy.

Only ten minutes later, Rarity walked out her Cabin and onto the deck. Applejack and Twilight were already waiting patiently by the gangplank, or rather, Twilight was waiting patiently, Applejack was tapping her hoof in boredom, whilst looking out at the city through the gap in the cove. Her ears pricked up almost in excitement when she heard the familiar clip clop of Rarity's hoofsteps on the wooden deck, and she turned around to face Rarity with an, almost too big for her face, smile.
"C'n we go now? Ah'm gettin' a might sea-sick." And, as if to prove her point, she suddenly ducked her head over the side of the ship, and emptied the contents of her stomach into the sea below. Rarity and Twilight looked at each other, Twilight with a slight glare, Rarity with a sheepish grin. "Sorry 'bout tha' capp'n. Ah'm more used ta the ship movin' an' rockin' together, not jus'-" She interrupted herself by once again, throwing her head over the side of the boat to make, in Rarity's opinion, the most disgusting sounds ever.

Chapter 10

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Rainbow Dash walked back into her room, having finished her lesson in magic. Learning magic was surprisingly easy, and the spells she wanted unexpectedly simple. She found Pinkie Pie trying to shove her party cannon into a very small suitcase. It seemed to fit. Pinkie looked up when she heard the door close and saw Rainbow looking very befuddled.
"We can't leave without my party cannon silly! Otherwise we won't be able to throw parties! Can you imagine? Life without parties! It would be horrible!"
"Umm, sure Pinks, where's Fluttershy?" It was at this point that Pinkie noticed something wrong with Rainbow, but she couldn't place her hoof on what it was.
"She's sleeping, she said that we should get a bit of rest in before we go."
"Ok, good idea, are you guys almost done packing your things?"
"Almost!" Pinkie chimed "What about you Dashie? You still need to pack your things."
"Yeh, I'm not really planning on taking anything, a few pillows and blankets maybe, but that's it."
"What? No games, or clothes? Or Books? Cupcakes?" Rainbow Dash smiled and shook her head
"Pinkie, I'm not bringing cupcakes, that's your job, isn't it? And, why would I bring clothes? It's not like I ever wear them willingly, and games? What games do I own? Mother thinks that it's not proper for a princess to play games, and I am bringing a book or two, actually, to help with my magic, I asked Shining for a magic lesson, so I can learn some disguise spells." That's when Pinkie realised what it was that was different. Rainbow no longer had her horn.
"Dashie! You've lost your horn!"
"I haven't lost it Pinks, it's still there, I've just got a 'hidden' spell on it, I think that's what Shining said it was called. It means no-one can see it."
"Oooh."

From the attached room-the one Pinkie and Fluttershy slept in-the two mares heard the sound of their friend waking up.
"Hey Fluttershy!" Rainbow called, she got a half-muffled 'hey' in response. Half a minute later, Fluttershy walked out of the room, her mane looked brushed, but still rough and her eyes were only half open. Yawning, she rubbed a hoof over one of them.
"Hello, Rainbow Dash...did you get a new manecut?" Fluttershy narrowed her eyes blearily, a thoughtful look on her face as she tried to figure out what was different about her friend
"Nope, I just had Shining armor teach me a few disguise spells to hide my horn."
"But I thought you didn't want magic?"
"I didn't want the horn, to be an alicorn. Magic's cool an' all, but, being an alicorn means that I've gotta rule Equestria someday, and that's not something I want. Besides, if we snuck out with an alicorn, of all things, there'd be no way we'd get even to the gates of the courtyard!"
"I suppose, but, even without your horn, wont the guards notice your mane? And your cutie mark?"
"I got a few spells for those too, but I'll put them on later, for now, we gotta finish packing."

It was late when Rarity, Twilight and Applejack finally returned to the ship, and they were all fairly tired. Despite this, Rarity still trotted up the gangplank with her head held high and a smile painted onto her face. She held a single bag in her magic, which she floated just above her head. Twilight followed after her, a slightly smaller smile on her face, and looking ready to snuggle into her hammock with one of the multiple books she was currently floating beside her own head. Applejack trudged after them, an exhausted frown upon her face, as she carried, on her back, several rolls of fabric which Rarity would eventually use to make curtains for her room. In her mouth, Applejack also held several heavy bags of shopping, all of which belonged to her Captain, who was far too lady-like to bother carrying them herself.

As soon as they were all on deck, Applejack spat the bags to the ground, and dropped the fabric unceremoniously.
"Applejack! Be careful with that! I don't want you ripping up my fabric not hours after I've bought it!" Rarity shrieked, Applejack rolled her eyes and grumbled a bit before replying,
"Sorry, Capp'n, but Ah'm a mite tired, an wus hopin' ya could le' me go ta bed now?" Her voice was sluggish and carried a yawn with it, mostly to prove her point. Rarity turned to look at Applejack for the first time since exiting the last shop, and was surprised to see how disheveled she looked.
"My Goodness! Applejack! I'm ever so sorry, of course you can go to bed, but be a dear and brush your mane before you do, alright?" She apologised,
Applejack chuckled, "Thanks, Capp'n." Then she trotted off to the stairs down into the lower deck.

Twilight turned to Rarity,
"I'll check with Wooden, to see if he's finished. I take it you want to depart in the morning?"
"If possible, Twilight, yes. You are the navigator, I'll let you see to that."
"Right, so, where did you want to head?"
"I recently picked up some news about another artifact, I hear that it's located in the sea of Kindness, about 7 nautical miles off the coast of Neighgeria. It's called the Heartless amulet. It was apparently made a few thousand years ago, by some ancient tribe apparently, and evidence found in the remains of that tribe, shows that they had some knowledge of boats, and lost one of them, with the artifact in what appeared to be a storm."
"I think I've heard of that before. I heard that it was a Zebra tribe who made it, and it had been cursed by a witch as punishment for banishing her from the tribe. That's why they were getting rid of it, because anyone who wore it would die, usually by their hearts bur...umm, you get the idea."

Rarity looked mildly horrified at that, but it soon passed and she composed herself.
"Right, well, you check with Wooden, pay him if he's finished and then we can leave in the morning, setting a course for the sea of Kindness."

Chapter 11

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Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie all quietly trotted down the streets of Trottingham, each of them disguised under Rainbow's spell, Pinkie as a dark grey earth pony with a black mane, Fluttershy as a green pegasus with a pale yellow mane and Rainbow as a white coated, blue maned pegasus. At Fluttershy's insistence, they all wore a cloak of sorts to stay warm. The streets were quiet and mostly empty, with only the odd homeless pony, sleeping in the alleys. It was early in the morning, the sun wasn't even peeking over the horizon yet, which was good, because Rainbow Dash wanted to get out of the country before that happened.

"How are we supposed to get a ship at this time, Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked from her left

"I'm sure they'll be plenty of ships that are leaving at this time, we can hitch a ride on one of them."

"B-but, we don't know where they're going! And what if they don't come back to Equestria for months! Or even years!"

"Relax, we'll ask them where they're going first, and how long they'll take, besides, some of them will only stay in a port for a few nights before leaving to come back to Equestria again, so, we shouldn't take that long, a month and a half at most."

"Hey Dashie?" Pinkie butted in before Fluttershy could reply again

"Yeh?"

"Why don't we go back down the black market and see if any of them know of a ship leaving this morning?"

"Why? You know most of those are smugglers, right? And that they don't really care what they smuggle? I mean I doubt they actually participate in pony trafficking, but I really don't think they'll care if three ponies just happen to ask for a lift."

"Well, if they do, you can just whip out your horn and zap them until they let us go!"

"Yeh, there are several things wrong with that; 1, I can't use magic that well, 2, they'll outnumber us and not even I'll be able to handle them all, 3, they'll probably threaten to harm one of you if I use magic, 4, if they see me as princess Rainbow Dash, it'll either mean that it would be harder for us to escape or they'll inform mother and I'll be grounded for life."

"Well, we could at least try, right? I mean, we don't have to actually get on the boat, do we? Also, what if some of them are pirates?! I mean, sure, the chances are low, but it's possible, right?"

"I guess..."

"Oh, no, Rainbow. B-but, what if.." Fluttershy started

"Don't worry, Shy. Like Pinkie said, we don't have to get on the boat, we're just looking, kay?"

"Oh, alright, if that's what you want..."

Rainbow nodded, and so they changed course, heading down one of the alleys into the black market.
Getting there was easier than they expected, it must have been bigger than any of them knew. It was drastically different in the market, unlike the quiet, calm and empty streets, the alleys of the market, were loud, hectic and cramped. Making their way through, the three mares eventually found their way to a vendor who seemed to be closing down her stall for the night. The vendor did seem to know of a ship that was leaving in the morning, and she lead them down to a large cove, where several ships were lined up. They ranged from long sea sloops to bulky frigates, but the one the vendor lead them to was a middle sized brigantine.

It's sails were down, and it was darker in the cove than out in the streets, but the complete blackness of the sails was clear, a pirate ship.

Rarity awoke to knocking at her cabin door, opening her eyes, she noticed that it was dark, darker than it should have been in the morning, even with her new curtains. Furrowing her brow in confusion, she permitted whoever was at her door to enter.

Twilight walked in,

"Captain, there are three ponies outside who seem to be looking for a ship to take them somewhere."

"...Where to, specifically?"

"The didn't say, just that they needed to get out of the country." Rarity thought for a moment

"Would we have enough food to take them to Neighgeria?"

"Yes, but Captain, there's something odd about them."

"Odd, how?"

"They appear to be wearing disguise spells."

"Many ponies wishing to escape the country would wear a disguise spell."

"Yes, but, the magic is coming from one of them and none of them are unicorns." Rarity almost jumped out of her skin at that

"You think one of them is an Alicorn?"

"It's likely, but if it were Queen Celestia or Princess Luna, they'd have already had our heads, not to mention that they'd have a while army of guards swarming the rest of the place. And it's unlikely to be Princess Rainbow Dash, since the whole country knows how she despises the position and has asked the Queen multiple times not to ascend her. However, it's also a well known fact that the Queen dislikes her daughters attitude towards royalty and would probably do it anyway. In which case letting them onboard would mean we're harboring a royal Princess running away."

"So we'd be more at risk of being found..." Rarity murmured to herself "Do you know for sure if one of them is the Princess? I mean, it's rare, but I have heard of Pegasi and Earth ponies being able to cast simple spells."

"It's likely, and if it was the Princess, she'd still have to take her body guard, as he likely wouldn't be allowed to leave her side, ever, until, of course, she goes to the bathroom, but those are too secure to leave from, and I should know, my brother told me before I ran away, not that he's been in the mares bathrooms, but, he heard from the guard-mares. Anyway, that means that it's very likely it's not Princess Rainbow Dash, and one of them just happens to be able to cast spells. But I can't check either theory, unicorn magic doesn't allow the caster to see if a disguised pony is anything other than a unicorn, unless you use a specific spell that was made for changelings, but there aren't spells like that for the other pony races. Besides, I'm not quite sure which one is the magic user, and if I use too much magic, or use it for too long, then whoever is casting the disguise will know."

"So, we can't know who it is. Hmm, well, Neighgeria isn't that far from where we are now. How long did you say it should it take to reach Twilight?"

"About a week, possibly longer, depending on the weather, which, unfortunately, none of the Pegasi aboard our ship have experience with. We could ask if one of the ponies asking for a lift had any experience, but we can't know if any of them are actually Pegasi."

"Right..." The Captain tapped her hoof, looked at the floor and thought for several moments 'We'll have to port at Neighgeria anyway, and should one of them turn out to be the Princess, the guards shouldn't be able to track us down so easily, we're leaving in a few hours at most, before anyone should notice the Princess is missing, and no-one but us criminals know where this bay is, so a week should be enough time for us to take her to Neighgeria, drop her off and leave for our treasure before anyone gets suspicious. Plus, if one of them is experienced in weather, they may be able to warn us about rough weather, if they aren't, then we have more hooves on deck anyway, so they can help run the ship. We've been needing more crew members anyway....' She looked up and cleared her throat, "Tell them, that if they agree to our terms, they can hitch a ride with us to Neighgeria but no further, and we will not provide a return trip should they decide that they want to come back."

Twilight nodded her head

"Yes Captain."

Chapter 12

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Captain Rarity's- as the three mares had discovered her name was -conditions were fairly simple, and not as demanding as Rainbow Dash had been expecting to come from a pirate, and was fairly suspicious. When Twilight- the navigator and quartermaster of the ship -stated her terms, Rainbow's suspicion grew. Captain Rarity, had simply stated that they were only being taken to Neighgeria, they were not to speak of the encounter to anyone and that they had to help on the ship as much as they could, Twilight had demanded that they tell her who they really were or else she could not trust them.

Rainbow Dash excused her small party of ponies to discuss the terms with her friends. Twilight accepted. Jerking her head to the side, Rainbow beckoned her friends out of earshot of the purple unicorn.

"Isn't that the same purple unicorn we saw your body guard looking at?" Pinkie asked before anypony else could speak

"I think so, which causes a problem. If Shining Armor knows her, then he may ask for her help in looking for us when everypony realises I'm missing. Whether or not she'll agree, we don't know."

"I doubt Shining knows what she does though." Fluttershy spoke up "Think about it, if he knew she was a pirate, he would have arrested her the moment he saw her."

"....That...yeh, that makes sense....So, either Shining doesn't know what she does, or she's a different purple unicorn."

"No, I think she's the same unicorn, remember, Shining Armor said that she reminds him of someone he used to know? But that she wasn't necessarily the same pony."

"Oh yeh..."

"Umm, Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeh Flutters?"

"Didn't you say we were only looking, and we didn't have to get on a boat?"

"Well...I mean yeh, that's part of the reason I'm so skeptical about this. We don't actually know what they plan to do. Like I said before, I'm not so sure any of these ponies would really have an issue with taking advantage of our situation if we asked for a lift out of the country."

"So, does that mean we can just say no and look for another boat....not run by pirates?" Fluttershy asked hopefully

"Of course not, silly!" Pinkie pitched in "My Pinkie sense isn't telling me that they're gonna foal-nap us, so we'll be fine!" She smiled

"huh, I...didn't realise your Pinkie sense could be so specific, Pinkie..." Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow, Pinkie just shrugged "Anyway, I still don't trust them. Twilight wants our real identities, and I don't exactly feel comfortable giving them to her."

"We could always use false identities." Pinkie suggested

"I think Twilight would notice. I mean, she already noticed that we're wearing disguises. I think she'll notice if we use another disguise."

"A-are we really doing this? Getting on a pirate ship?" Fluttershy gulped nervously

"....I'm not sure. Thinking about it now, if our disguises are gonna be found that quickly by a pirate, and the docks have several unicorn guards knocking around, then I don't think we'll be able to hitch a lift that way, and even if I use my authority to get past the guards and onto a boat, they'll still tell Mother. Besides, Neighgerian is one of the few languages Mother made me learn, so we'll be able to communicate with the local residents."

"B-but, we're not getting a lift back."

"We can get a lift from someone else in Neighgeria, like I said, Neighgerian is one of the few languages I know. Don't worry Fluttershy, we'll be fine. Besides even...even if they do foal-nap us, and hold us for ransom, or put us into slavery, Mother will find us...and yes, I'll be grounded for life, and you two will probably be put in the dungeons for a year-minimum, If I can convince her that it was all my fault -but, we'll be alive, right?"

"Yeh!" Pinkie agreed "But that's not gonna happen!"

Fluttershy looked between her two friends, her face conflicted between wanting to run away and wanting to stay with them. Finally, her expression broke into one of reluctant acceptance

"Okay...Okay. Right, okay. Fine, we can go on the pirate ship." Rainbow Dash almost cheered, but was interrupted when Fluttershy spoke again "But...you two have to make it up to me at some point." She held a look of assertiveness for all of 3 seconds "Umm, if that's okay with you."

"Alright!" Rainbow Cheered, "Thanks Fluttershy! Your the best! Right Pinkie?"

"Of course!" She beamed, obviously just as excited "How about I throw you a huge party? *Gasp* A 'Thank you for letting us travel with Pirates!' party! And we'll invite all of...us...three...Aww, it'll have to be a small party then!" Pinkie's face appeared to deflate when she realised that she couldn't tell anypony else about the pirates.

Fluttershy smiled and shook her head at Pinkie's excitement.

"What are we going to do about our identities though?" She asked "If we agree to reveal them, we can't do it out here, we're too exposed. I mean, anypony could see us, and what if they let your mother know?! We'll be caught for sure, and you'll be grounded, and Pinkie and I will probably be banished!" Rainbow Dash thought for a moment.

"We could say that we'll only show our real identities when we're out of the cove. I mean, Twilight could probably take our disguises down if she tried...I mean, they're not exactly built for defense...maybe I should have asked Shining to teach me some shield spells as well...Oh well, too late now. I mean, this is our only ticket out of here, we could always ask to just use our disguises, but...I understand Twilight's want to be on the safe side...she can't trust us if she doesn't know who we actually are...but then...she won't be able to trust us if she knows who I am...I guess we'll have to risk it. It is our only option." The other two nodded their agreement

"So...this is it then?" Pinkie was oddly quiet "This is where we...actually disobey your Mother...and leave Equestria with Pirates?"

"...Yeh...I guess." Rainbow looked to Fluttershy, who hesitantly nodded.

The group paused a moment longer, before heading back to Twilight.

Reluctantly, Twilight had agreed to letting the mares show their identities after leaving the cove, and so had let them aboard. The ship had set sail about an hour ago, so the three mares had had a while to settle in.

As the cove was now just a speck in the distance, Twilight decided that it was time for the mares to reveal their identities. So, she trotted down the stairs to the lower deck, and made her way to the back, where the mares were staying. She cleared her throat to get their attention,

"Nopony is going to see who you are now but me and the rest of the crew. As per our conditions, you must remove your identities." She glared at them impatiently. The white pegasus sighed and nodded.

"Ok. Just...don't freak out." Twilight was confused, why would she freak out? Were they hideous? Is that why they wore disguises? Not to not be recognised, but so other ponies didn't repulse at the sight of them? 'no' she scolded herself 'That's stupid. The only logical explanation for why I'd freak out is if one of them were...'

Her train of thought was cut off, and proven true, when the white Pegasus started to cast magic from somewhere above her head. About where the tip of a long horn would sit. The white of her coat faded to blue, and the blue of her mane became surrounded by multiple other colours. Twilight looked to the other two, the Grey Earth pony turned pink, both in coat and her mane, which also sprung from the droopy, flat state, to a hectic, curly state. The green Pegasus became a yellow one, and her yellow mane became pink. Twilight paled as she saw a pirates worst dream come true. Being discovered by the royalty of Equestria. She tried not to freak, honest she did, but when one is faced with almost certain doom, it's hard not to. So, naturally, Twilight freaked out.

Rainbow Dash cringed as the purple Unicorn screamed and began running in circles around the lower deck. Then, as quickly as the freak out session started, it stopped. And Twilight's horn was blazing a bright magenta. She glared, fearfully, at the three

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blast you all right now." She demanded, she knew it was stupid, she knew there were plenty of good reasons, but she wanted to hear them

"One" Rainbow Dash began "I'm Queen Celestia's daughter, if you harm me, or either of my friends, she'll know and come to kill you. Two, I'm running away, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't let my Mother know where I am. Three, my magic may be weak, but that doesn't mean I'm that susceptible to your magic. Four, it does nothing in your favour." She stopped listing. Twilight looked between them, and bit her lip. Finally, she sighed

"Fine. But if you try anything funny I'll-" She was cut off

"Funny!? Ooh! Ooh! Can I try something funny?" Pinkie asked, bouncing up and down. When Twilight glared at her, she stopped, and began to pull funny faces. "Mmneh, mnoo, muhh" Somehow, she seemed to be grinning at Twilight the whole time. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy began giggling, and it proved to be infectious when Twilight began chuckling too.

After a few seconds, and Pinkie had stopped making faces, the laughter died down. Twilight composed herself,

"Right. Well, you guys can stay, it was a potentiality that could have happened, which it did, so I'm not, not prepared for this." She sighed and looked at the ground, after a second she looked back up "If I may ask, why are you running away. I mean, everypony knows you hate your position as Princess, but it just..." She trailed off.

Rainbow Dash sighed

"Mother ascended me. Even after I'd begged her plenty of times not to. My position as Princess is fine, I guess. I love my Mother very much, but she often thinks that her opinion is the only one that matters. I just don't want to be the ruler of Equestria. Mother can do it fine, and Aunt Luna can take over if she really needs to retire, I know how much she wants to at least experience running the country. I had to get away for a while, I originally asked if I could hire a boat to sail around Equestria for a while, but...she hated the idea, so I ran away. I'll go back, probably, sooner or later, but not now."

Twilight nodded and smiled,

"I noticed you cover up your horn, why? I mean, everypony can tell you're the Princess without it, so it doesn't hide your identity."

"Like I said, I never wanted to ascend, I like being a Pegasus, and Pegasi don't have horns. I'll admit learning disguise spells to hide my horn so I can imagine never having it is a bit ironic, but...I can't just rely on other ponies to do it for me, especially if they're not always gonna be there." Twilight frowned

"That brings up more questions. but I'll leave them for now." She turned to leave, she turned back, blushing "I'm sorry, I forgot to ask your names. I mean, Everypony knows Rainbow Dash but you two..."

"That's Okay! I'm Pinkie Pie! And I'm Rainbow Dash's Party planner. Though technically, my title is 'Lady-in-waiting Pinkie Pie' Maybe when I throw Fluttershy that 'Thank you for letting us travel with pirates' party, I can invite you! Yay! Then it can be a 'Thank you for letting us travel with pirates' party and a 'Yay, we made a new friend' party!" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes

"Yeh, Pinkie can get a bit overexcited. Anyway, like Pinkie said, this is Fluttershy. She's a bit shy around strangers, but she'll warm up to you. Go on Shy, introduce yourself." Fluttershy looked around nervously, then took a deep breath

"My name is Fluttershy?" She squeaked, it was audible, and Twilight smiled

"Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Though I've already introduced myself." She turned to leave again, but then turned back, again "Oh, and before I forget, Captain Rarity says you don't need to start work until tomorrow, and if any of you happen to know anything about weather, she'll appreciate it." Twilight nodded once more, as a finality, and then left.

Chapter 13

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The week on the ship had almost passed, with heavy storms delaying them by a few days, so it was more like a week and a half had almost passed. According to Twilight, the ship would reach Neighgeria in a day, leaving Applejack's Captain relieved.

Since she got on the ship, Rainbow Dash had been non-stop asking her and the rest of the crew what it was like being a pirate. At first, the crew had been happy to answer her questions, if a bit curious as to why the worlds greatest pirate hater's daughter wanted to know about pirates. But then, the questions just kept coming, Applejack didn't know there were so many questions to be asked. Recently, the amount of questions asked per day had dwindled quite a bit, but the colourful Pegasus seemed to think of at least one new one every day.

The most annoying question the Pegasus had asked, and the only one she repeated, was how to be a pirate. All out of 'Curiosity' apparently. Applejack shook her head and looked over to their three 'guests', who were working together on their chores. Her gaze lingered on the pink Earth pony. Pinkie Pie, at times, was more annoying than Rainbow Dashes Questions, and she even had some of her own. She had asked to join the crew, and had tried to drag her meek friend Fluttershy with her, while Rainbow Dash was working with Spike in the crows nest, teaching him how to detect storms with air pressure and humidity, and a bunch of other Pegasus stuff Applejack didn't really care much for. But Pinkie Pie had made a request to her Captain, about joining the crew. It was vehemently refused, with Captain Rarity shouting out the door after the two, one giggling Earth pony, and the other an almost crying Pegasus, that she refused to have any direct relation to Royalty amongst her crew. And that included the personal hoof-maidens of the Princess. Also the Princess herself. Even if she was running away.

That was a fun day. It had only been the third day of sailing, and Rainbow Dash, upon hearing her friends being shouted at, and seeing one of them cry- almost -she had pretty much lost it. There had been a massive argument between her ad Captain Rarity, and Applejack had to admit, it was pretty funny. Rainbow Dash was yelling at the Captain to apologise to her friends for how rudely she treated them, while the Captain refused, stating that they insulted her by even thinking she'd let nobility into her crew.
The argument had ended about twenty minutes later, when Twilight decided that she'd heard enough, and broke between the two. She managed to convince the Captain to apologise to at least Fluttershy, who really was crying now, partially out of fear for what Captain Rarity threatened to do to her and Pinkie if they asked again, partially out of guilt that her friend now has to face the Captain to defend her, and partially out of joy that she had such a great friend.

Applejack broke out of her reminiscences- of about 5 days ago -when a purple hoof jabbed her in the side.

"Applejack!" Twilight shouted in her ear. Applejack shook her head to remove the lingering thoughts, and looked at her friend

"U-Y-yes, Twilight?" She fumbled

"Are you alright? You were staring into space there for quite a bit."

"Yeh, ah'm fine. Jus' thinkin' over the pas' week. How quick it's gone an' all."

"It has been pretty eventful huh?"

"Yeh, too eventful. Ah'm gonna miss all this commotion, when they leave."

"I know. It's pretty weird to think about. Anyway." Twilight cut of, bringing Applejack's attention back to her "Captain Rarity said that when we get to land, she's gonna have to do the digging around for information by herself. Neighgeria apparently has had some, issues, recently, and they're pretty suspicious of outsiders. They've got guards disguised as common citizens all over, keeping tabs on everything everyone does, anything suspicious, they report. The Captain thinks that by doing the digging around herself, it will be easier to go unnoticed.

So, instead, she wants us to just go and relax, I've been practicing my Neighgerian over the past week and a half, so we should be fine with most things, like communicating with the locals and such. However, lots of Neighgerians also speak Yoruba, which the Captain already knows. But, we don't have any books on that, and the Captain wasn't willing to share, so, I won't be able to understand anyone who speaks only that language, which is quite a few, actually."

"Alright. Guess we'll jus' look around, all touris' like...Ah noticed ya kept sayin' everyone, uhh, is Neighgeria made up of more than jus' Ponies?" Twilight smiled

"Actually, very few Ponies live in Neighgeira. The citizens are pretty much all Kitsunes, with possible the odd Minotaur from Minotoon."

"Kitsunes?" Applejack scrunched up her face in confusion "Wha-"

"A Kitsune is a large Fox with lots of tails. Traditionally, the King or Queen would be the Kitsune with the most tails, so throne order with royal cubs was sorted out by which cub had the most, no matter what age order the cubs were born in, or their gender, like many places. This also meant that if a Kitsune was born outside of royalty, and they had more tails than the current King or Queen, Princes or Princesses, they would be made King or Queen. As you can imagine, this didn't happen often, as any kitsune born outside of royalty with more tails than them, was immediately killed, or married by someone in the royal family if they got past that. Only recently, Neigheria decided it didn't want to be a monarchy, and became a republic. So, they are now ruled by an elected government."

"Gian' Foxes, huh?"

"Well, not giant, about the size of average ponies. They're actually really interesting, they have their own magic, which is different to ours. Theirs is based on elements, like fire or river. Usually that's depicted in their colour as well, and each Kitsune only has one element. The powers usually run in families, so if both your parents are fire Kitsunes, then you are probably a fire Kitsune too. But sometimes they can receive different powers. There are thirteen different elements a Kitsune could have, but I'll let you see for yourself. It's more amazing that way."

"Huh, this'll be a mite interestin'." Was Applejack's only reply.

Chapter 14

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Two days later, the ship finally docked. Twilight had cast an illusion spell on the ship's flags- the only indicator that it was a pirate ship -so that they no longer looked black. Instead, they were plain white.

A few Kitsunes on the side of the dock watched the ship with interest, but no-one bothered them.

"Well, Princess." Rarity started, staring at the trio of non-pirates, Rainbow glared back "This is your stop. I do hope you find whatever vacation you're looking for here, but this is as far as I said I'd take you and no further. So this is likely the last we'll be seeing of each other. I'll let you collect whatever things you brought with you, but then I expect you to leave and not return."

"Fine, thanks for the lift." Rainbow replied stiffly. Then she motioned for her friends to follow her and they walked back down below deck to collect their belongings. Twilight followed them.

"Excuse me." She politely announced, when they looked at her she continued "I- sorry." She cleared her throat "I was wondering if you needed any help around here. I know most Kitsunes don't speak Equestrian, so I thought you might need help communicating with the locals."

"Nah, thanks for the offer though." Rainbow Dash said "Mother made me learn Neighgerian, and I know at least a little Yoruba, so we shouldn't have too much trouble...I should be good with reading too, the basics at least, long sentences get a bit more confusing. We'll be fine." Then she turned back to tightening her saddlebags around her barrel.

Twilight blinked, slightly startled, but recovered quickly.

"Oh. OK. Well, if you do need anything, I'm pretty sure there's a library down the street from here. I'll probably be in there." Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her "Sorry. I know I was a little stern with you guys, and how the Captain has been, uptight, this past week, but now that the stress of smuggling a Princess across the ocean is dying down, I think we can get along better. I know some of the crew have taken a liking to you, and that they would like to spend more time with you. If that's alright with you."

"Yay! More time with the pirates!" Pinkie cheered, jumping up in front of Twilight, dressed up in a traditional pirates hat, eye-patch, fake peg leg and a mug of cider. Twilight jumped back in shock.

"What? Where d'you get that stuff from? How?" Rainbow chuckled, while Fluttershy smiled

"Like I've told you almost everyday. Don't question what Pinkie does, you'll lose your sanity. Anyway, we're good to hang out, right 'Shy?"

"Oh, um, yes. I don't mind, I think some of them are really nice, even if they are a bit scary..."

"Well, there you go. As long as your Captain doesn't kill us for it, we'll hang out." Twilight grinned awkwardly

"Yeh, we'll have to keep that one from her. Just between you and me, I think she's jealous of you guys, and that's why she doesn't want you here."

"Jealous!? Of us? Why?"

"Because she secretly wants to be a Princess."

"Well, if she can find a magic potion that lets us swap roles or something, then that's fine by me. She can be the Princess and I'll be the pirate." They shared a laugh at that.

A small while later found them in the library with a few other members of the crew. Despite her captain's wishes of searching for information by herself, Twilight decided they'd have an easier time if she did a bit of research too.

"Hey, uhh, Twilight?" Applejack said, raising her head from the book she was reading

"Yeh?"

"Ah've jus' realised...Neighgeria's full o' Kitsunes." Twilight looked at her with a raised eyebrow

"...uh, yeh. I know. I was the one who told you." Applejack blushed in embarrassment

"No, tha's not what Ah meant. Ah mean, ya'll said tha' this artifact was made by Zebra's a few thousand years ago. An' tha' they tried ta get rid o' it by sailin' out ta sea and such. But, if it was made by Zebras...then why is it supposed ta be in the sea of a Kitsune's country?"

"Oh! I see what you mean. Well, yeh, the artifact was made by Zebra's, there are several found recordings of that. We don't actually know if it's at the bottom of the sea, that's just speculation, hence why the Captain is asking anypony if they know anything about it. Umm, there were both Zebra and Kitsune tribes here when that artifact was made, but the Kitsunes were more advanced and eventually took over the Zebra tribes, chasing out the remainders. That's why there aren't any Zebras living here now. At least, not en mass. There might be the odd one, but I wouldn't know." Twilight explained. Applejack nodded in understanding and turned back to her book.

"So, Twilight?" Rainbow spoke up "Why are you looking for this 'Heartless Amulet' thing?"

"Honestly? I don't really know. Obviously, since we're pirates, it's for the money, but Captain Rarity doesn't like to hoard money like other pirates. Usually, she'd use the money to pay off her mother's medical bill, but since that's now been payed off, there's nothing much she needs the money for. And we don't need it much either."

"Ah, personally, think tha' the Cap'n wan's ta quit piratin' and live a normal life, but she can' do tha' since she's a wanted criminal. Maybe she's gonna use the money to pay her bail or somet an' live out here."

"The Captain would never just leave us though!" Twilight exclaimed

"She'll leave ya in charge, ya know how she don' really wanna be a pirate."

"Well, yeh. I guess it's not fair of me to just assume she'll stay a pirate for our sake, but..." She trailed off, "Maybe she just wants to keep her reputation up around the other pirates. Stop them from thinking that we've gone soft and weak. I don't know. Sorry, Rainbow." She said, turning back to the Pegasus, who just shrugged and smiled as if to dismiss the unhelpful answer.

Chapter 15

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The time they'd spent in Neighgeria had been very interesting. Captain Rarity hadn't wanted to stay long, but information on the Heartless amulet was few and far between, and what information there was only brought up more and more questions. It was also incredibly hot. Even sitting inside a cool library with air con and fans blasting in her face, Twilight was still sweating buckets.

After spending a week with the pirates without the stressful conditions, Rainbow and her friends had decided to stay and help them look for the amulet, of course without Captain Rarity's knowledge. They were wearing their disguises again, slightly different this time, and of much better quality, thanks to Twilight, to hide themselves from both the captain and the Kitsune citizens, who, most likely, knew by now that Princess Rainbow Dash was missing. The information they had currently gathered on the Heartless amulet had recently brought to light a series of other objects, that according to myth, were once used to defeat a great evil that had taken over half the world and put many of the citizens into slavery. So they had begun to search the library for answers, looking in any book that contained myths or artifacts or magic or history. Unsurprisingly, not many books contained even the slightest bit of information on the amulet, but those that did often had useful information.

Currently, Twilight was reading a book called 'Ancient Civilizations and Cultures' and more specifically, reading the chapters relating to the Zebra tribes. She was laying down on a beanbag, completely lost in the book. The information she held in her hooves didn't tell her much more than she already knew about the amulet, it didn't even mention how it was supposedly lost, but it did give a fair amount of detail on how the amulet worked. For instance, the amulet was cursed by a witch to kill those who wore it, but only if they weren't pure of heart, and those who were pure of heart were granted the powers of the witch herself. Of course this was just speculation from the knowledge of the amulet being passed down as, well, according to history, no-one had worn the amulet and survived to actually confirm the latter case.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were sitting either side of her, reading -or in Rainbow's case, absentmindedly leafing through- their own books about artifacts or myths. Fluttershy had gone out with Applejack and the fillies to keep them occupied, and the rest of the pirates had gone out themselves-mostly to the pubs.

"Hey Twilight?" Rainbow suddenly piped up

"Yes?"

"Do you think the myth about this 'great evil' is real?"

"What? Of course not! To be fair, I don't think I quite believe that the Heartless amulet was actually cursed by a witch. Made by Zebras, yes, but cursed? Unlikely. It's probably just a story someone made up so that they could put several artifacts from across the world in a single display at a museum or something."

"...But I thought no one had ever found the amulet?"

"...Well I don't know then! But 'great evils taking over the world? Witches cursing amulets to kill anyone who wore it?' It's all just hoopla to me."

"Didn't the amulet actually kill ponies who wore it though?" Pinkie asked, joining in the conversation

"Zebras, I'm not sure anyponyhas worn it before, but yes, although the more logical explanation is because it had some form of toxin in it that made the pendant poisonous to the touch."

"Then how are we gonna handle it?"

"With care."

"Oh."

There was a moment of silence that Twilight took to get back to reading.

"Wouldn't it be cool if it was real though?" Rainbow once again piped up.

"Ughhh." Twilight mumbled under her breath, knowing that she likely wasn't going to get another moment of piece for a while.

---

A few blocks away from the library, Captain Rarity trotted down a street, she had collected a fair bit of information, and it still didn't really help her. She decided to head back to the ship, or maybe pop into the library to discuss the information she had found with Twilight. If she poked around for information for much longer, she might look suspicious. She had spent the last week chasing up a lead about the whereabouts of the amulet, and while that had lead somewhere, she hadn't been able to extract all the information she needed.

"Heh, you won' find the Heartless amulet if you keep searchin' as you are Missy. Oh no. That ain't how it works." The 7 tailed Kitsune said with a rough laugh.

"Yes, as I've been told." Rarity replied "I've also been told that you are one of the few kitsunes who know how to find it. Is that right?"

"Heheh. Not quite. You see, the Heartless amulet can only be found by whom it wants to be found."

"That's a bit cryptic, don't you think?"

"You think I'd just go around tellin' everyone who came up to me what that means?" The Kitsune shook his head "No no no. You see, this is a secret that has been passed down to me through generations of trust. And it will continue to be passed on through trust, whether that be only one more generation or fifty more." Rarity thought for a minute before clearing her throat

"So, this secret will be passed on to your children? And your children's children?"

"No, I'll only pass this secret to those who I think will eventually cross paths with whoever is mean' to find the amulet."

"I thought you said that the secret may be passed down for another fifty generations, or maybe even more."

"There will always be one who is mean' to find the amulet, whether they know it or not, and if they die before they find the amulet, then someone else is born who's mean' to find the amulet."

"So, how do you know, or think you know who will cross paths with whomever it is who is meant to find the amulet then?" Rarity asked

"Only a pure hearted soul can wear the amulet without croaking, and then only the one can use the amulet. Part of my secret is learnin' how to spot a pure hearted soul."

"So, are there any 'pure hearted souls' in this room, then?"

"Hehe, not quite. You're the closest, missy, but the definition of pure hearted is more complicated than you think. Though, lookin' at you know, I suspect you've probably been around a pure hearted soul or two a fair bit recently, and so I'll tell you this. The rumor has you believe that the amulet is deep in the sea of kindness, but really, the witch's curse means that it'll be drawn to the one when they get close."

Rarity frowned, remembering what the Kitsune had told her only reiterated the point that she still didn't really know how that helped her. And he'd refused to give her more information 'Unless you stop takin' what's been offered for granted'. She groaned, that had been even more cryptic. Nothing had been offered to her, she'd had to go out and pry information out of everyone. She sighed and shook her head, she'd discuss it with Twilight.

The 6 element seas

by Randomateverything

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15