It was indeed early the next morning that Twilight and her friends boarded the train headed for the coast. Rarity had been forced to part with much of what she wanted to pack, a decision the conductor had learned to regret, given how much she had shouted at him on the platform. Sure, she sounded like a spoiled brat, and to an extent, she was, but what was he gonna do about it?

The train was rather special, in that there were few other passengers besides the Mane Six and their personal attendees. They each were given their own train car, with the three conductors staying far in the front to make sure the engine and everything else that kept the train going was running smoothly. Fifteen train cars made up the entirety of the locomotive, with several being designed specifically to house the coal for the engines and three for the dining halls, which would normally be used up by a full load of passengers.

The rolling hills and wide river valleys were the first things to greet the passengers aboard that coast-bound train. Green, with flowers dotting the hillsides like little bursts of color, was a fairly pleasant view, if a bit monotonous. The day dragged on, and by noon, everypony aboard was terribly hungry, so to the dining cart they went. It was not the most spacious cart in the train, but it was large enough that any private conversation would remain private.

After having been served at their own private booth near a window, Twilight Sparkle looked at her friends whilst they ate. “Though we have to do this, I still don’t like it,” she muttered. "I'll never trust that queen, no matter what Princess Celestia might think."

Applejack swallowed a sip of iced lemonade. “Twilight, don’t ya think ya might be... I don’t know, lettin’ yer feelings about yer brother’s wedding cloud yer judgement? I mean, sure, what Chrysalis did was downright despicable, but that was some time ago.”

“I’ll never forget what she almost did,” Twilight said, her grip tightening on her fork. “I’ll never forgive her for it, either.” She had almost ruined her brother’s wedding, and invaded Equestria, had Cadence not been able to intervene.

“I don’t think Applejack was saying you should forgive or forget Chrysalis for what she did,” Rarity said after daintily wiping her mouth with a napkin. “I think she was only saying you shouldn’t let the past dictate how you should determine your future is all. Or at least, don't let the negative parts affect it. You'll need a clear head to properly dictate terms of peace, after all.”

“That’s exactly what I’m sayin’,” Applejack said after finishing a bite of her salad. “Thanks fer making it clearer, Rarity.”

“My pleasure, Applejack,” Rarity said with a smile. “What are friends for?”

“Well, even if we can meet her, I doubt she’d be in the most receptive mood,” Rainbow Dash added, having drained her lemonade and waiting for her attendee to pour her another glass. “She, I don’t know, might be a little be a little upset at the sight of us? I mean, even though we technically didn’t expel her from Equestria, we did kinda hurt a big portion of her army.” She smiled slightly in a melancholy way: she had beaten up sooo many changelings...

“Yeah: that was scary,” Fluttershy added, her eyes wide as she nodded along with Dash’s statement. “Besides, she might hate Twilight as much as Twilight hates her: she did blow her cover by finding the true Cadence.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Twilight muttered, stabbing her last piece of lettuce with particular violence. She turned to Pinkie Pie, who had been too engrossed in eating her own food to participate in the conversation. “What about you, Pinkie Pie? What do you think of all this?”

Swallowing the equivalent of an entire head of lettuce without much difficulty, Pinkie Pie put on a thoughtful expression. “Well, it seems to me that Chrysalis is always such a grumpy-pants because she has no friends! That, and she never smiles, unless she’s doing something really mean and nasty. We should try and make her smile, at least, and then become her friends!”

Everypony else inwardly groaned at this: Pinkie Pie was the most optimistic of the group, and likely in almost all of Equestria, but they highly doubted Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, would want to be friends.

Much later and far removed from the realm of Canterlot...

The sound of the waves and seabirds was audible, even this far uphill and away from the coast. The city of Port Royale was very different than its sister city of Port Royal, on an island many miles to the Southeast. It was indeed a sprawling place, built in the natural cliffsides of a sheltered harbor. The walls provided a great protection from much of the sea’s more temperamental times, though the city itself was not immune to her wrath. However, the eroding nature of many of the cliffsides and the subsequent instability of their surface areas meant no defensive cannons or forts could be built. In fact, the only structures that could be built there were two small lighthouses, fitted with magical lamps to light the way for sailors.

But it was a haven of a city for much of the area, as its railroads, docks and drydocks made it a very commercially successful city. Businesses flourished, with the in-town fortress that stretched along the small shallow shoreline providing the defense needed for such an important port. Towns and villages dotted the countryside behind it, bringing in much food and similar goods for the trade that was the city’s lifeblood.

It was such a view that greeted the windows of the local mayor’s residence. It was situated the farthest from shore, high up on a hill, and indeed it was a spectacular view. However, the one looking out over the coastal city was anything but awed by the sight: there was too much on his mind, and with a sigh he turned away from the window.

“Such a deceiving scene,” Prince Blueblood muttered to himself, looking over a table that was absolutely covered with maps. “Just beyond that horizon lies our enemy, and yet we cannot do a blasted thing about her.” His eye drifted across the map, pausing every now and then on something important: a railroad, a port city, a fort. The list and markers went on and on, with three particularly conspicuous sets of them standing out in the area marked as the seas. There were green dots for ships attacked by the Sea Wraith and her mysterious captain, and red dots for those attacked by obscure pirate ships. However, the ones that gave him the greatest source of frustration and anger were the black dots, where ships had not been seized like others: it was where they had been sunk, often with almost all hands lost or captured, never to be seen again. Horror stories came from the few ponies who managed to survive the sinking and evade capture, and they spoke of an unnaturally fast ship that struck without warning, and showed little if any mercy.

The Phantom: it was a ship that was equally as feared as the Sea Wraith, and was piloted by a much, much nastier captain. There had been no confirmations of the wild stories that followed it, but Prince Blueblood absolutely knew who piloted that curse of the seas. There could be no other being filled with such malice and cruelty, nor with such a burning desire for vengeance.

“Queen Chrysalis,” he muttered angrily, lightly slamming his fist on the edge of the table. Oh, how he hated that mare: imprisoning him on that wedding day, only to place a curse on the door that would give horrible hallucinations to anypony who tried to open it. As soon as she was defeated, he had managed to break out, but at a terrible cost to his clothes and mane, and then his hallucinations had made him try and murder a watermelon in the royal gardens. Oh, how he had been a laughing stock for weeks!

“Is something wrong, sir?” the prince’s personal aide asked, his mustache quivering as he carried with him a piping hot kettle of tea and a small platter of biscuits.

“Yes, something is wrong,” the prince snapped, looking up from the table. “My dear aunt will not allow me to fortify our coastal areas with more ships! We are replacing them as fast as we lose them, but it is costing the taxpaying elite more than their fair share of bits to do so! Ships and the training to man them are not free, Geoffrey.” A mare like that, even with all that power, had let her ideas cease to be relevant almost twenty years ago. If only she would give him more leeway, a little more power, he could stand up to these devils of the sea and put an end to the suffering along the coast.

“Indeed, sir,” the unicorn said, his magic shutting the door behind him as he laid the tea and biscuits on a small, non-map-covered table. “What do you propose to do, sir?”

“The only things I can do, Geoffrey,” the prince said, rubbing his temples in frustration as he walked over to the butler’s side. “Increase the complement of troops on our ships, replace those ships and crews which we have lost, and strengthen the coastal defenses as well as we can. More guns, more forts, more scouts ready to raise the alarm should we catch sight of those blasted pirates.” It was all he could do to not have the unicorn ship-builders to start making massive dreadnoughts filled to the brim with cannons and soldiers. His aunt would never allow it.

“What of the ships already out at sea, sir?” the butler asked as the prince wearily munched on a biscuit and sipped some tea.

“We will have to arrange for many of the smaller merchant fleets to be escorted by whatever other ships we have available,” Blueblood said, his pompous hairdo wafting slightly as a breeze filtered through the window. “No more lone or duo scouting ships: after the disappearances of the Sunstrider and Moonskimmer, ships shall always travel in groups of greater than three.”

The two ships had been named in honor of both of the princesses, and Blueblood had been severely angered to learn of their disappearance. Other ships had combed the area where they were last seen, but there were no trace of them: wreckage, bodies, survivors, anything at all, really.

“What of the larger fleets?” the butler asked as the prince sipped a bit more of his tea.

“Group themselves closer together, for starters,” Blueblood said, pointing at his scribe. “Did you get that last part?”

The earth pony, who was furiously scribbling down everything the prince said, nodded: he hadn’t said a word, as it wasn’t in his job description to talk unless asked to. The prince never asked him to anyway: he liked to listen to himself talk most of the time.

“Good: I wouldn’t want us to forget anything,” he said, knowing full well everypony else knew “us” meant “you”, as the prince was faultless in his own mind. The world just happened to be unfair to him many times. “Now then, where was I?”

“Grouping ships closer together, sir,” Geoffrey the butler said with impeccable timing.

“Ah, yes: thank you, Geoffrey,” the prince said, knowing full well a compliment towards his butler would get better results than an off-hand remark. His butler was one of the few ponies he trusted, and actually liked: well-groomed, on-time, polite and always, always obedient. “Yes, grouping the ships together: I don’t want stragglers being picked off like a calf being separated from a herd by timber wolves. Most of our commercial ships do not carry the firepower or crewponies to repel boarders, or at least, they don’t for now.”

“What do you mean by that, sir?” the butler asked as the prince finished his tea. With a nod from Blueblood, he poured himself a cup: only when the prince had finished was he allowed to drink some tea. Gingerly, he also bit into a biscuit: cooked to perfection by the cooks downstairs, like every other time he had served them.

“I mean, the new designs for the replacement ships,” Blueblood said, glancing back towards his scribe to make sure he was still writing. “I want out newest “commercial” ships to be slightly larger, in order for the surprise they will have hidden in their hulls.”

“A surprise, sir?” Geoffrey asked. “If I may ask, sir, what kind of surprise?”

“The kind that will send those pirates to the bottom of the seas, Geoffrey, the prince said, growling slightly at the word pirate. Oh, how he hated them so: he had to clean this entire mess up, and without any help whatsoever!

Then, there was a knock at the door. The unicorn butler set his tea down and calmly walked to the door, cracking it open slightly to see who was on the other side. A letter slipped through the crack, held aloft by a pony with curiously chameleonic eyes. With a smile she flew off, knocking over a piece of furniture as she zoomed out the window.

“Well, what is it?” Blueblood asked as Geoffrey shut the door and walked back to his master’s side.

“A letter it would seem, sir,” the butler said.

“I know fully well it’s a letter, Geoffrey: what’s it say?” the prince asked. He was “clearly” too busy to bother reading the letter himself.

Opening and extracting the paper carefully, the unicorn butler cleared his throat and spoke.

“Dearest nephew, I write you this letter to inform you of some soon-to-be-arriving guests in your abode. The Elements of Harmony have been dispatched to help you with your troubles, and I suspect they will be there in a few hours. Please, do try and be an accommodating host, and be on your best behavior, as they report directly to me and will only take orders from you unless I say otherwise.

Sincerely, your Aunt Celestia.

P.S. They have a mission of their own, and I want you to support them in their endeavor. If they ask for something pertaining to it, it is theirs: no questions asked.”

The prince’s expression had gone through several phases as his butler read the letter aloud: surprise, disappointment, exasperation, and finally, a disgruntled frown.

“Ugh, those six mares,” he muttered as Geoffrey placed the letter back in its envelope and tucked it away. “Of course my aunt doesn’t think I can take care of things by myself: of course she would send her favorite “weapon” to deal with the situation.” That weapon being the Elements of Harmony, of course.

“Pardon, sir?” the unicorn butler asked, finishing his own cup of tea.

“Those six are going to be nothing but trouble, Geoffrey,” Blueblood spat, holding his hands behind his back as he walked back to the table covered in maps. “I know full well why they are truly here: to see how I’m behaving, to see if I’m doing things right. Well, they are not going to ruin this opportunity for me, I’ll tell you right now. I will solve this problem, and then Celestia will have no choice but to elevate my position in the royal court.”

Geoffrey made no response to that, as he was far too loyal to roll his eyes or sigh in disappointment at the prince’s shrewd judgment. “Shall I prepare them their rooms, sir? The letter did say they would be here sooner than later, and I know that some of the spare rooms are going to need quite a bit of dusting.” Very few guests stayed in the mayor’s mansion for long, as most were not nigh-permanent guests. Blueblood had relived the mayor of many duties, giving him more leeway and allowing his to be in charge of “maintaining order” within the city. To do that, the mayor almost never left his cozy secondary home in city hall.

“Yes, yes: go off and do that, Geoffrey,” Blueblood said, waving his hand behind him without looking in the butler’s direction. “Be sure to inform me of their arrival, but delay them until I get there: I will want to look my best, after all. Though it will likely not take long; I always look my best, after all.” The prince chuckled slightly at his own joke, his gaze sweeping once again to the docks and wharves alongside the water’s edge.

The butler bowed and retreated from the room, carrying with him the platter with an empty tea pot and biscuit crumbs.

Many hours later, as the sun was hanging above the distant horizon, the train from Canterlot finally arrived. It was an express train, after all, as a normal train ride would have taken nearly three days instead of an afternoon. With a torrent of steam letting loose from the engine, and a whistle sounding as the train finally pulled to a stop, Geoffrey the unicorn butler arrived at the station, having sent Blueblood a magical paper-airplane message that the Mane Six had arrived.

Indeed they had, for the first one off the train was none other than Pinkie Pie. In fact, her exit was rather odd: a complete cartwheel, with the landing being worthy of a perfect score in a gymnastics competition. The others at least waited for the ramp, which Applejack was the first to stroll down. Then came Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy, with Rainbow Dash bringing up the rear.

“Ah, your ladyships: I am Geoffrey,” the unicorn said, stepping forward and giving a slight bow. “I represent Prince Blueblood, who will be with us momentarily. The servants will take your things to your rooms.”

“Why thank you, Geoffrey: that is awfully kind of you,” Rarity said, pleased to have met a unicorn with a sense of refinement around him. She still wasn’t all too happy about having to stay in the same house as Blueblood.

“It is nothing, my dear,” the stallion replied with a polite smile, clapping his hands softly.

At this, quite a few ponies appeared out of the woodwork and began quickly but cautiously loading up all of the Mane Six’s things into several carriages. Fluttershy dashed behind Applejack, quivering slightly as two ponies simply stepped out from behind her luggage and carried it off.

“Must have taken lessons from Pinkie Pie,” Twilight muttered to the others. “So, Geoffrey: where exactly are we staying? The princess said it would be under Prince Blueblood’s “watchful eyes”, but she wasn’t specific as to where.”

“Oh, that is simple, my dear,” the butler responded. “You will all be staying with the prince in the mayor’s mansion, up there,” he said, politely pointing up and off to his side. Their gaze following the finger’s direction, the six mares saw indeed what could only have been described as a mansion. Beautiful architecture reflecting the ideals and costs of living in a coastal city, with a much more slanted roof and trees planted all around to prevent erosion during more intense storms. Even from here, they could tell it was a beautiful place indeed.

“Ah, the Elements of Harmony,” a voice said, causing the six mares to look away from the mansion high on the distant hill. In an instant, their eyes settled upon...

“Prince Blueblood: how nice of you to greet us,” Rarity said, an icy tone entering her voice as she involuntarily remembered how repugnant the prince had been back at the Grand Galloping Gala.

“It is a nice thing, is it not?” the prince said, flashing what he must have thought was a dashing smile. Well, it was, and would have been attractive to any socialite mare, but the Mane Six were unaffected.

“Prince Blueblood, I know we are intruding on your time, but we promise we will try and stay out of your way as best as we can,” Twilight said, having deemed herself the one who would have to speak to the prince, if need be.

“I understand, Ms. Sparkle,” the prince said, the lack of pompousness in his voice surprising them. It was like he had done a complete one eighty and was actually respectful. “Perhaps while we ride the royal carriage up to the mansion, I could fill you in on the situation in more detail?”

“That would be wonderful: thank you,” Twilight said as another pony brought around a larger carriage. Blueblood entered first, his pompousness leaking back through his exterior, though Geoffrey was the perfect gentlecoat by helping the six mares into the carriage. Once settled in, the butler too joined them, and shut the door. With a lurch, the unicorn managing the carriage let loose his magic, the wheels turning themselves as the cobblestone streets passed underneath.

Meanwhile, only a few miles away...

“I don’t know about this, captain,” Grund said as the Sea Wraith bobbed gently in the waves. The ship, as large as it was, easily hid behind the jagged rocks and spare trees that the inlets provided, which easily shielded it from unwanted eyes. The purpose of the hiding spot was simple: what better place to lie in wait for the execution of a plan than near where such a plan would come to fruition?

“Relax, Grund: I would not let a plan come this close to completion if I did not think it had a very large chance of success,” the captain said, his gloved hands resting on the ship’s railing as he looked out at the sunset. It was a beautiful sight, really, and he never missed a sunset if he could help it.

“But what about the fort’s guns?” the first mate asked as the rations for the prisoners below were brought down by a couple of deckhands. “I mean, they won’t fire on what you’re gonna be bringing in, but what about on the way out?”

“Call it a sense of honor, Grund,” the captain replied. “I have it, and the entire crew knows it. The mayor and that arrogant Prince Blueblood knows this as well, and will no doubt wish to display how “superior” their own senses of honor are. I mean, after all, they are politicians.”

The two figures got a good chuckle out of that. After standing in silence for a little while longer, the first mate looked back at the captain, a weariness exuding from his frame.

“You know, sir, she’ll be wanting to meet you sometime in the future,” he said. “You did disable and take prisoner those two ships, and their crews, in what she said were her waters.”

“Yes, I know Grund: I know,” the captain replied, his own voice sounding a bit... weary. “No doubt by now she’ll have heard of my progress in the area and seek an audience with me, no doubt questioning why I did what I did and why I didn’t include her in the spoils.”

“Ah, yes: the spoils,” Grund said, rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward manner. “About that: the crew has been wondering when we’ll split that up.”

The captain turned to his first mate, his mask hiding the brief flicker of annoyance that passed over his features. “It is as I told them before: once the crew is whole and reunited once more, only then I shall divvy out the plunder. It was what we all agreed on, by vote, and it is what we will do.”

“I know, I know captain: I was just... curious was all,” Grund said.

“Curiosity is fine, Grund, but too much is detrimental to one’s state of mind,” the captain said, turning away from the sunset.

“And once this plan of yours is through, what do you propose we do about the new arrivals?” Only Grund, the captain and the quartermaster knew of the six important figures that had arrived in the city. Their spy network was quick, their methods of sending messages quicker, and as always, they were very reliable.

“Then begins a new plan, one I have been forming since we took the crews of the Sunstrider and Moonskimmer aboard our ship,” the captain replied, looking down into the waters below. He had specifically chosen this spot to “drop off” the remaining wrecks of the Moonskimmer and Sunstrider. Local pearl divers came out here in the morning when the waters were calm and would no doubt report the ship’s locations to Blueblood. “It will require all of our ship’s speed, firepower, and most importantly, her ability to slip by unnoticed.”

“Aye aye, sir,” the first mate said. “She’ll be silent in the waters, though not as fast with all your cargo.”

“Prisoners are worth far more alive and safe, and as such they will stay that way until they pass out of our hands and into those of the prince,” the captain replied.

The two of them were silent for a moment until the captain blew his whistle: it was time to cast off. As they did, the first mate went to direct the orders, yelling especially at the two new crewmembers who had failed to scrub some barnacles out of a corner. The captain retreated to his quarters, deeper inside the rear of the ship.

It was a comfortable set of quarters, though most likely a bit sparser in ways of trinkets than one might expect of a pirate. A large bed, with a set of maps on the wall and a single desk where deals were made and numerous writings penned. Walking past the admittedly large closet, the captain sat himself down at the desk, the motion of the ship barely disturbing the quill in the ink bottle. The wall behind him held a pair of swords, the only other thing in the room signifying he was actually a pirate and not some regular commercial captain.

He sat down and stared at the paper in front of him, as if willing the words to write themselves. He had so much to do before the plan came into motion early the next morning, and rightfully so, as many lives were hanging in the balance of whether or not he could pull this off. He knew the crew would be eager to get their share of the spoils, and as such, be able to spend them on the vices of life. Or at least, they would when they reached a port where the alcohol flowed freely and the streets were paved with hookers looking for some paid fun.

He never was tempted by things such as that, as he had a standard appearance to maintain for the sake of the crew. He drank only in private, and from good wine rather than common ale. He saved his money, often sneaking out in disguise in a city to deposit it in a back. Curiously, none of his crew had ever questioned why they didn’t land on shore and rob banks: perhaps they thought it too difficult a task, even, for the legendary captain of the Sea Wraith.

So, not only did he have to write out the instructions for the captors, and the treaty he would convince the prince to sign, but he also needed to write a letter to the pirate whose waters he now patrolled. She would not be very happy with the news of his spoils, but she still owed him at least one favor, and they got along well enough. If only she’d stop pestering him every now and then: he knew she always got a kick out of seeing his crew squirm with discomfort in her presence.

“Might as well write it anyway, while I’m still coherent and wide awake,” the captain muttered, pulling the quill from the ink and setting it down on the paper. With that, he began to write, the scratching of the quill’s tip the only noise besides the water occasionally splashing against one of his few windows. The room became darker as the night drew in, leading him to whistle for his cabin boy. He was a bright lad, small and easily misplaced, but extremely loyal and with dignity few saw in one his age.

The small pony came out of his own room, having just swept the last bits of dinner away from the mess hall down below. He looked around in the gloom, struck up a match, and lit a small lantern, so as to see better in the cabin. “Sir, you called for me?”

“Henry, be a good lad and light my own lanterns, would you?” the captain asked politely. “It is rather hard to write and re-ink my quill in the dark.” That was somewhat of a truth, as it was harder to move one’s arm and still keep the sleeves from dragging across the paper when re-inking: the other part, about it being harder to see.... not so much. “Be sure not trip on anything as well.”

“Yes, sir,” Henry said, rushing around like a rabbit, the flame from his own lantern bobbing here and there as he lit the few lanterns in the cabin. Soon enough, the cabin was lit to the point where nopony would have trouble walking around, but the tone was soft enough that if one wanted to sleep, the light would not be a burden to their eyes.

“Excellent work Henry: you can go to bed now,” the captain said, knowing full well the small colt would go apply some finish to the outer hull if the he asked for it.

“Thank you sir: goodnight,” he added, skittering out of there.

“Goodnight, Henry,” the captain softly called, finishing up on his last bit of a letter. He was always amazed on how magic worked, and as he rolled up the scroll that was due to be sent, he never imagined it could be a permanent thing. Walking over to a cupboard, he opened it and found exactly what he was looking for: a square slot, like one would use to sort mail through. Under it, on a small golden plate, lay the destination: the Phantom.

“Here we go,” the captain muttered, placing the rolled-up paper in the slot. Closing the cupboard, he waited for a few seconds, as a very dim flash of green light emanated from within the woodwork. Opening the cupboard once again, he found the scroll to be gone: whisked away on a trail of magic he had no interest in studying.

Opting for sleep over staying up all night, he removed his clothes and set them where they belonged: draped over the desk and on the small bedside dresser. Climbing under the covers, he rolled over once and fell promptly asleep, his soft snores filling the cabin as the ship gently rocked under the moonlit ocean.

Author's Note

Just introductory jibber-jabber here, and soon enough, the fun will begin. But when will the REAL fun begin?

.... I don't know. (insert trollface)