Straw Hat Pinkie: East Blue Beginnings

Chapters

Season One Opening "Shut up and sail with me" (spoiler warning)
Wealth, Fame, Power...
The Journey begins - "Iron Mace" Iron Will
Pinkie and the Navy - Welcome to Shells Town
Execution at Dawn - Lieutenant Roter Morgan
Clash with the law - Pirate Queen and Pirate Hunter
Arrival in Orange Town - Pinkie and the Rogue
A Great and Powerful Adversary - Trixie Enters the Stage

Season One Opening "Shut up and sail with me" (spoiler warning)

Author's Note

An opening for the first season of this story. Enjoy.

Season One Opening "Shut up and sail with me" (spoiler warning)

------ Camera moving across the open sea towards a small boat in the distance
Oh don't you dare look back A shadow appearing in the water
Just keep your eyes on me …getting larger as it gets closer to the boat
I said your holding back …turning into a growing mound of water
She said shut up and sail with me The “King of the Near Sea” bursting out from the water
This woman is my destiny Pinkie Pie on the boat holding her hat with one hoof
She said …throwing a punch forward
Ooh ooh ooh …close-up of her foreleg extending
Shut up and sail with me Still shot of Pinkie hitting the fish square in the jaw

------ Shot of the story’s logo[1] over a black background
------ …fading away to a disco floor Pinkie is dancing on
We were ready for a fight Fluttershy fading into view, shuffling her hooves next to Pinkie
Ready to stand up for what is right Rainbow Dash flying into the picture to join
Stand our ground in the fading light Rarity moonwalking in from the other side in an appropriate outfit
Oh we were bound to get together Spike dropping in from above to join
Bound to get together Applejack jumping in from the side, whipping her lasso with her tail at the side of the screen . and rolling the disco background up, causing them all to fall off

She took my arm Pinkie grabbing her crew with one extending arm
I don't know how it happened …grabbing the side of a cliff with the other
We took the floor and she said …and swinging them all onto the Going Merry

Oh don't you dare look back Camera zooming in to move over the ship, going past Rarity sewing fabric
Just keep your eyes on me …Applejack bucking a tree with one hoof
I said your holding back …Fluttershy sorting her medical supplies
She said shut up and sail with me …Rainbow Dash exercising before striking a pose
This woman is my destiny …Spike making new bullets with his alchemy kit, looking up and towards Pinkie
She said ...finally moving to Pinkie sitting on the figurehead
Ooh ooh ooh …throwing up her arms…
Shut up and sail with me …and jumping off the boat

------ Picture changing to a sea map, with a chibi Pinkie
An old straw hat and unruly mane running in front of the Going Merry and
Making sure my life'd never be the same the ponies they met on their travels in the background
I felt it in my soul as she yelled my name
I knew we were bound to be together View moving behind Pinkie as she charges up to Arlong Park
Bound to be together Jumping and raising a hoof in attack at the shadowy figure of Arlong

She took my arm Jump to Iron Will and Trixie in Loguetown
I don't know how it happened …Vinyl and Marines in Loguetown
We took the floor …Pinkie standing between both groups, turning her head to look up at the dark clouds where . lightning is building
And she said Lightning shooting down and filling the screen

Oh don't you dare look back Pinkie and crew running through Loguetown
Just keep your eyes on me Neon with a squad of Marines
I said your holding back …pointing a hoof and giving the signal to fire
She said shut up and sail with me Pinkie pulling her crew into a side street, just in time to avoid the explosion
This woman is my destiny Vinyl standing at the end of the street, hooves charging with blue electricity
She said ooh ooh ooh …tensing and charging forward, then jumping
Shut up and sail with me Still shot of Vinyl hanging in the air, about to clash with Pipsqueak and his crew
Oh come on girl! Jump to the main sail of Going Merry unfolding

--- The ship sailing through a storm
---- --- towards the entrance of Reverse Mountain
--- ---- …the Straw Hats standing on the deck around a barrel
-- -- -- -- -- -- ---- …placing their hoof/claw on the barrel one by one
-- Water spraying to the right
-- Water spraying to the left
---___ The Going Merry jumping the top of Reverse Mountain and down the slope

Deep in her eyes Split screen between Pinkie getting her hat from Shanks
I think I see the future …and Pinkie looking out at sea
I realize Split screen between Rainbow getting slashed by Spitfire
This is my last chance …and raising her sword for her oath
She took my arm Split screen between Spike staring up into a rain of falling purple feathers
I don't know how it happened …and Fluttershy running through a burning field
We took the floor and she said The straw hat flying up into the sky

------ Sepia picture of past Loguetown
------ Ponies stomping their hooves as lines of marines trudge by in tact
Oh don't you dare look back Clover being led to the scaffold
Just keep your eyes on me Close-up of her grinning
I said your holding back The executioners taking position at her sides
She said shut up and sail with me Camera moving in as Clover raises her head
This woman is my destiny …saying her final words
She said …face turning to shadows again
Ooh ooh ooh Camera suddenly moving out to show the executioners having impaled her
Shut up and sail And moving out again to show the crowd bursting into cheers and throwing up their hats

Oh don't you dare look back Rainbow looking around at the Marines surrounding her
Just keep your eyes on me …knocking them all back with one strike of her wings
I said your holding back Applejack bucking another Marine into a group of them
She said shut up and sail with me One of the leftover Marines getting hit by an explosive bullet
This woman is my destiny Camera turns to Spike holding his sling, backing away from the Marines with Rarity . (levitating her staff) and Fluttershy behind him
She said ooh ooh ooh Pinkie jumping in front of them
Shut up and sail with me …and whipping the Marines away with one leg

------ Random shots of Pinkie and her crew
Ooh ooh ooh shut up sail with me running across different islands
------
Ooh ooh ooh shut up sail with me

-- Shot of Pipsqueak and his crew
-- Shot of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon
-- Shot of Shanks and Spitfire
------ Final shot of the Straw Hats in front of their ship

[1] Logo not yet existing

Wealth, Fame, Power...

[clink. clink. clink.]

"Hey! Pirate Queen!"

The mare didn't look up, trudging after the squad of stallions in uniform with her head held low.

[clink. clink. clink.]

"What did you do with your treasure?!"

They walked along the corridor of free space that cut through the crowd, the cuffs on her fore- and hind legs clinking audibly with every step.

[clink. clink. clink.]

"It's somewhere on the Grand Line, isn't it?"

Most of the soldiers split up to stand guard on either side of the corridor, leaving the mare to trot after the remaining pair of stallions.

"Did you hide it? Your great treasure, the greatest treasure in the world?!"

One of the ponies guarding the sidelines chuckled as she passed him, giving her a sideways glance. “Not feeling so clever now, are you?”

"Where is it?! ONE PIECE!"

The young unicorn mare didn’t reply, leaving her head hanging as she was walked up onto the scaffold. They stopped at the very top, forcing her down on her knees as two uniformed earth ponies took positions on both sides of her, swords at the ready.

Another stallion in uniform stepped forward, looking over the massive crowd that had gathered down on the plaza. “Ladies and gentlecolts, ponies and other creatures all over the world! We are gathered here to finally bring justice to the greatest plight this world has ever seen. The ruthless criminal you see has performed countless crimes against peace, equinity and the World Government. Her public execution is the least we can do to punish her for her sins.”

The mare looked up as the red and black captain’s hat was snatched from her head, the stallion casually lifting it up with a cruel smirk. “Some ponies have taken to calling her the ‘Queen of Pirates’… a purely hypothetical claim of legends up until a year ago. To respond to this rumor, maybe a small bit of symbolism will suffice. Just like she once set our flag, the sign of our unity aflame…” The stallion produced a match and ripped it across the side of the scaffold, holding it under the hat until the fabric had caught fire. “Let this moment officially mark the end of piracy.”

The young mare simply watched the hat with an unreadable expression, staring as it caught fire and slowly turned to ashes, blowing away with the wind.

And then, she began to laugh.

It started as a quiet chuckle, everypony and –creature on the plaza staring at her in disbelief. Within moments the chuckle had grown into a loud laugh, small tears of amusement building at the edge of her eyes.

“W-what are you laughing about? Stop it! This is your execution, how dare you laugh at your own execution!?”

“...You want my treasure, don’t you?" She raised her head, showing a grin that fit a predator rather than a prisoner. "What are you waiting for? I left it all in that place! Go look for it!“

The two swords moved down to impale her, cutting off anything else she might have had to say, but it was already too late. Ponies, griffons and other creatures of all kind on the plaza – and even more all around the world where the execution had been broadcasted – erupted into cheers. Within weeks dozens of new pirate crews would form to travel towards the Grand Line. Within a year, the number of crews travelling under their own version of the ‘jolly roger’ would triple. And they all had the same goal.

One Piece, the legendary treasure of the Pirate Queen 'Gold Clover'.

The Great Pirate Age had begun.

Author's Note

So it begins...

My goal is to get at least one new chapter per week out. But due to my habit of publishing new chapters as soon as possible (and my general laziness), there probably will be several chapters in some weeks at the cost of any possible buffer.
On that note, anyone who wants to help feel free to PM me. Some scenes will be pretty close to the original, so if someone were to ponify them for me I could add and change some details and save a lot of time (volunteers will be credited, of course).

The Journey begins - "Iron Mace" Iron Will

A lone fishing boat was sailing the breeze across the open sea, barely big enough to fit two ponies and a barrel of supplies without getting cramped. A young mare was the only occupant, leaning against the side and looking out at the waves.

A dark shadow passed beneath the surface of the water behind the mare, holding towards the boat at intimidating speed. For a second a mound of water rose from the ocean only a couple ponylengths to the side of the vessel. Then the monster’s head broke through the water, a huge feral sea serpent of a muddy brown, with teeth the size of a pony’s leg and sharp as swords. It let out a roar as it opened its maw and put on speed, intending to swallow the boat and its passenger whole.

“Hey old stinkfish.”

The mare turned around to look at the monster, grinning from under the brim of her bright yellow straw hat. Her left hoof pushed down on the top of her head to keep it in place while she threw back her right foreleg for the counterattack.

“Ready for round two?”

~~~~~

“Alright, ponies! Just hand over your valuables and nopony will get hurt.”

The ponies in the ballroom of the cruise liner cowered in fear from the pale blue minotaur who had barged through the door. Several ponies, all in different outfits that marked them as members of a pirate crew, went through the crowd to gather cash, gold rings and jewel necklaces.

Iron Will watched the scene in approval, arms crossed in front of him, a large iron mace leaning against his leg. A loud bang sounded, followed by a bullet grazing the minotaur’s arm. He looked to his left to see an earth pony in a white and blue shirt staring up at him, a rifle in his trembling hooves.

“A Marine?” Iron Will said contemplatively. He grabbed his iron mace with his right hand, slowly and effortlessly raising it into the air. The earth pony’s eyes widened in fear.

“IF YOU WANT TO DRAW BLOOD, YOU NEED THE GUTS TO BACK IT UP!”

The mace smashed into the Marine, sending him flying halfway across the room into a wall. Iron Will looked after him for a moment, then turned his head away with a snort. One of the pirates approached him while the others began to file out of the room, carrying heavy bags full of valuables.

“I think we got everything, Captain.”

“What are you waiting for, then? Get back to the ship.” Iron Will looked down at the small trickle of blood running down his arm. “And get me Fluttershy. I need her to fix this up.”

~~~~~

“What a coincidence that these pirates showed up. Today must be my lucky day.” A white unicorn peered around the corner she was hiding behind to watch the pirates file out of the ballroom, carrying large bags of loot. She turned her attention back to the lifeboat she had prepared with a smile. One of the bags was already lying in it, waiting for her.

She began to untie the ropes holding the boat with her hooves, while at the same time untying the bandana on her head with her magic, revealing her curled purple mane. “Now, I’d hate to make any prejudices, but those ponies seemed to be just as simple-minded as their captain looked. They didn’t even notice that I wasn’t part of their crew.”

“I thought something about you was fishy. You better get your flank away from that boat, sweetie.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. She slowly turned around to see that one of the pirates had snuck up on her. He was pointing a gun at her, grinning lewdly.

“Oh my, you’ve caught me.” She theatrically threw a foreleg up to her forehead, inching a little closer to the pirate in the process. “I… don’t suppose you would consider letting me go.” She slowly trotted past the stallion, brushing against him. “Maybe we could even run away together, and find a place to…” Her tail brushed up against the stallion’s muzzle, teasingly flicking his nose as she whispered in his ear. “Hide out.”

“I, uhm…” The stallion tried to find a rational thought, staring at the purple tail between his eyes. Before he could say anything else, something hit him over the head, knocking him out.

Rarity took the three parts of her polished wooden Bo Staff apart, throwing them into the boat. She grabbed the bag of loot sitting behind the unconscious pirate and carried it over to the one already lying inside the boat. Then she climbed into the boat herself and turned her attention back to untying the ropes, still ignoring the unconscious stallion. “As I said, today must really be my lucky day.”

~~~~~

“Hey, look at that.” One of the pirates that had been left on Iron Will’s ship bent over the railing, gesturing for his comrade to come over.

“What’s up? Did you find something interesting?”

“There’s a barrel floating in the sea.” The first pirate grabbed a grappling hook. “Probably fell from that liner. Come on, help me fish it out of the water!”

~~~~~

“Fluttershy!” Iron Will bellowed, stepping back onto his own ship while the rest of his crew prepared to set sail again. He impatiently stomped his hoof, arms crossed in front or him.

“I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m already here, oh my…” A yellow pegasus stumbled out of one door, trying not to drop any of the medical supplies in her hooves. “What can I do for… Oh my, you’re bleeding.” She stared at the minotaur’s arm with wide eyes for a moment.

“It’s just a scratch.” Iron Will grunted. “Still, Iron Will thought you should patch it up with some bandages. That’s what you’re here for, after all.

“Y-yes, of course.” Fluttershy waited for the minotaur to sit down before inspecting the wound. She sprayed some disinfectant on it and bandaged it, having to use almost all of the remaining fabric on the roll to get around the huge arm.

Fluttershy backed away quickly as soon as she was finished, giving the minotaur space to stand up again and inspect his arm. She looked down at the near-empty roll in her hoof. “I-I’ll have to get new supplies from the storage. The ones I have at hoof are almost exhausted.”

“Yes, yes, you know your way around.” Iron Will waved her off, already directing his attention elsewhere. “Just don’t try any funny business on Iron Will’s ship.”

“I-I’d never…” Fluttershy squeaked, scrambling away.

~~~~~

Fluttershy slowly trotted through the door into the storage, stopping in her tracks as soon as she noticed the three pirates already inside, standing around a large wooden barrel. “O-oh, I’m sorry. I just need some… medical supplies.” She quickly dashed over to a shelf on the left wall of the room.

“Well, if it isn’t little Fluttershy.” One of the ponies looked up from the barrel. “False alarm, guys, it’s only Fluttershy.” He took a few steps towards her. “You’re not going to tell anypony what we’re doing here, are you?”

Fluttershy backed away instinctively, trying to hide behind her mane. “Why? What… What are you doing?”

“Yahahaha! Wouldn’t you like to know!” The pirate threw his head back in laughter. “We found a barrel, probably full of sake. It was just floating in the water, so it’s not part of the loot, strictly speaking. And if it’s not part of the loot… Finders Keepers, I say.” He brought his head back down to stare Fluttershy in the eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Oh, I won’t tell anypony.” Fluttershy tried to move back to the door, but the stallion was still in her way and she didn’t dare try to push past him. “I can get the medical supplies later, too, if you want. It’s not that important…”

“Yahahaha, that’s the spirit! Don’t try to be brave, that can’t end well for you.” He turned back around to his partners. “Come on, guys, open the barrel already. We’re gonna have a real party down here.”

The largest of the three ponies raised an axe, while the other two took a few steps back. He aimed and brought the axe back down towards the top of the barrel.

“DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY!?!”

A pink earth pony exploded from the barrel, hitting the pirate with a front hoof and knocking him out.

“Ah, that was a good nap. I wonder where I ended up?” The pink pony stepped out of the barrel and looked around herself curiously, noticing the unconscious pirate lying on his back next to her. “Eh? What’s wrong with him?”

“You knocked him out, idiot!!!” The two remaining pirates yelled. They quickly drew their swords and pointed them at the pink pony, who was still looking around and blissfully ignoring them. “We won’t let you get away with that.”

Two blades flew upwards, embedding themselves into the ceiling. The two pirates looked at the sword-stumps left in their hands, then at the mare in front of them. They stared at her for a second before simultaneously turning around and dashing for the door.

“You should be more careful! You could hurt someone with those, and that would just be no fun!” the pink pony shouted after the two fleeing pirates. Then she turned her attention back to her surroundings. “Seems to be some sort of storage… Ooh, I wonder if there’s some food in here.”

She trotted over to a shelf at one side poking her head into one of the barrels in front of it. “Ooh, pickles. I wonder if they have cheese, too. Or maybe some hard candy.” She pulled her head back out, cheeks stuffed with pickles, and moved on in her search of edibles.

“Mmpf?” Next to the barrel was a yellow pegasus, trying to hide her head under her forelegs and shivering. “Ouw, hemmpf…” the pink pony stopped, blinked and swallowed the pickles in her mouth with one large gulp. “Oh hey. Who are you?”

The pegasus opened her eyes and lifted her head to stare at her with wide eyes, but didn’t answer. The pink pony tilted her head. “Hellooo… What’s your name?” She waited a few seconds, then offered her hoof to the pegasus. “I’m Pinkie Pie.”

The pegasus tried to back away even further, staring at the hoof. “I’m Fluttershy... Please don’t hurt me.”

“Fluttershy, huh? Nice to meet you. Why would I hurt you?” Pinkie absentmindedly looked into another barrel, fishing out a piece of cheese and stuffing it into her mouth whole.

“You… I-I mean… but you just… eep.” Fluttershy closed her eyes in panic, trying to hide under her hooves again.

Pinkie looked down at her for another second, then turned her attention back to the barrels. “You’re kind of a wimp. What’s somepony like you doing on a pirate ship?”

“Well, I…” Fluttershy looked down to the floor in shame. “I didn’t want to be here. Iron Will raided the village I lived in a week ago. He found out that I was a doctor and said that he needed one for his ship, so he captured me and made me work for him.”

“Hmm…” Pinkie Pie was looking into another barrel again. She felt inside with a hoof, before pulling something out and offering it to Fluttershy. “Pickle?” She waited for a moment as the pegasus stared at her hoof in confusion, then pulled her hoof back and flicked the pickle into her own mouth.

Pinkie Pie crossed her arms in front of her chest, and chewed with a serious expression. “So he foalnapped you and forced you to work for him, huh?” She swallowed. “That’s not very nice. I’ll have to talk to that guy and ask him to let you go.” She turned around and began to scan the room for an exit. “Any idea where I can find him?”

“W-What? Wait, you can’t just…” Fluttershy watched the pink pony trot towards the door.

“Oh, yeah…" Pinkie Pie stopped, one hoof on the door, and turned her head. “When I’ve talked to him, do you want to join my cr–“

The door exploded, sending Pinkie Pie flying across the room. She ended up on the other side of the room, leaning upside down against the wall, face on the floor.

“What’s going on in here?!” A blue minotaur stomped into the room, steam blowing from his nostrils.

Pinkie Pie got back to her hooves, shaking her head and making sure she still had her straw hat. “Woo, that was a doozy. Are you Iron Will?”

“Who wants to enquire about Iron Will’s name?” The minotaur noticed the shivering pegasus trying to hide in a corner. “Fluttershy, who is that pony?!”

The pony in question happily walked up to him, extending a hoof. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie. And I’m not enquiring about Iron Will’s name, I already know the name. I just don’t know who that name belongs to yet. Is it you? If you are Iron Will, I wanted to ask you to let Fluttershy go. I want her to be my doctor and she can’t join my crew if she’s still in your crew, and–“

“Are you making fun of Iron Will? Iron Will does not enjoy being made fun of!” The minotaur brought his mace down on the pink pony. Pinkie Pie jumped out of the way, landing right next to the panicking Fluttershy.

“You look angry. Did you skip breakfast? I always get grouchy when I didn’t have breakfast.” Pinkie Pie talked at the minotaur who was already turning around to face her. She reached to the side just as Iron Will raised his weapon for another attack and jumped towards him, slamming an open barrel over his head. “Have some Pickles!”

Without warning she grabbed Fluttershy, who was effectively frozen in fear by now, and leaped over Iron Will, who was still struggling to get the barrel off his head. She dashed through the door past several surprised pirates and down the hallway, still holding onto the rigid Fluttershy.

~~~~~

“Whew, that was a close one. Who was that guy?” Pinkie looked back at the yellow pegasus, who was staring at her with wide eyes, not moving in the slightest. “Eh? What’s wrong?”

“Y-you…” Fluttershy began to tremble, and frantically backed away from the pink earth pony. “You made him angry,” she squeaked. “You made Iron Will angry. That’s terrible, horrible, I-I… I have to get away from here before he comes.”

“Hey, wait!” Pinkie bounced after her. “Don’t just go and leave. You can join my crew. You’re a doctor, right? I don’t have a doctor in my crew, yet. Well, actually I don’t have anypony in my crew yet… But I will, soon. I’ll have the best crew ever and we’ll sail everywhere and you can be our doctor.”

Fluttershy stopped, but didn’t turn around to Pinkie. Her head and her ears drooped down. “You don’t want me in your crew… I’m not a pirate. I’m not strong, or brave, I’m just…”

“Hey… Hey, look at me.” Pinkie put a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder and pulled to turn her around to face her. Tears were shimmering in Fluttershy’s eyes. “You’re sad, and we can’t have that, so stop it!” She took her straw hat off and held it in her front hooves, looking down at it with a smile. “I made a promise, you know? I promised to the pony who gave me this hat, that I would make as many ponies smile as I could. So, please, I don’t mind if you don’t want to join my crew… I just want you to turn that frown upside down, okay?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond. The pegasus was completely stiff again, staring with wide eyes at something behind Pinkie.

“You laugh at me, I’ll wrath at you!”

Pinkie Pie turned around curiously, just in time to see the large iron mace charging at her head from the side. Before she could react, the club connected and sent her head flying over the railing of the ship, her neck extending between head and body.

Her body waited patiently, tapping its hoof until the head snapped back. “Whooo, that was a doozy.” Pinkie shook her head, then looked up at the pale blue minotaur in front of him. “Oh, hey there. You’re that Iron Will guy, aren’t you?”

“A Devil Fruit user…” the minotaur looked down at her angrily. “So they really exist… Doesn’t matter, I’ll crush you like the bug you are.”

“That’s not very nice…” Pinkie hummed, brushing a little dust off the straw hat in her hooves before putting it back on her head. “I don’t mind, but…”

With a loud roar Iron Will brought his mace back down on her. Pinkie nimbly jumped to dodge the attack, throwing her right hoof back, extending it past the boundaries of the ship. The rest of her ended up in the air beside Iron Will, her head right next to the minotaur’s.

“…You scared my friend.”

Iron Will’s eyes widened as the hoof stopped and began to retract, accelerating on the way.

“Gummy Gummy Pistol!”

The hoof connected, slamming right into Iron Will’s chest, sending him flying off the ship and even further, until he was out of sight. Pinkie Pie looked after him, before turning her attention to the figures in front of her.

One of the pirates pointed his sword towards her, trembling slightly. “H-how dare you defeat our captain? We’ll kill you for that, you hear?!”

“More pirates? Well…” Several of the pirates flinched as Pinkie Pie threw her hoof back once more. It extended and snaked around the pony standing behind her.

“Run away run away run away…” Pinkie pulled Fluttershy towards her and turned around to gallop away, which caused the pegasus to swing a whole 360° around before she was carried away by the pink pony.

“You’re just running away like that?!?” the pirates yelled after them.

Pinkie Pie kept galloping, ignoring them as well as Fluttershy’s terrified squeaks. She grabbed a small sword from the floor with her mouth and jumped into one of the lifeboats. Then she turned around to the pirates and saluted, grinning around the sword in her mouth. “It’s been fun guys, but we have to go. Thanks for the food and all, I hope you won’t miss your friend too much, but I really need a doctor for my crew!”

With that she swung her head around to cut the ropes that held the boat on both sides and disappeared behind the railing with a joyful “Wheeee!”

~~~~~

On the upper deck, the door to Iron Will’s cabin opened up to reveal a colt with a white coat containing brown spots in a calico pattern, and a brown mane and tail. He rubbed his head as he heaved an exhausted sigh “Why do I always have'ta clean the cap’n’s room? All of his stuff’s so heavy an-” He noticed a pink limb stretching out past the boundaries of the ship, then traced it back to a pink pony who was rearing a hoof back for a punch directed towards-

The colt’s eyes were wide as dinner plates as he saw the pink pony go head-to-head against Iron Will and watched from behind the railings, clenching two bars with his forelegs “Blimey…” He whispered “Who is that mare?”

Author's Note

Pipsqueak's scene was suggested and written by Dirty Bit.

Pinkie and the Navy - Welcome to Shells Town

“Hellooooooo, Shells Town!”

Pinkie grinned, one foreleg spread out in a grand gesture while the other one pulled her new friend to her side. “At least that’s what the sign says. I have no idea where we are. Do you know anything about this place?”

“Oh, uhm, a little…” Fluttershy, the only other passenger in their small boat, rubbed her shoulder nervously. “I heard some of Iron Will’s men talk about it, since we were anchoring in the area. And, well, actually I don’t think we’ll want to stay here very long.”

“We don’t? But why wouldn’t we? This town seems nice to me.” Pinkie let go of her to tie their ship to a pole at the small harbor, jumping onto the relatively dry land.

Fluttershy gulped and fluttered after her slowly, hiding her face behind her mane. “W-well the local Navy base is located on this island. And then there’s… her.” She flinched back a little.

Pinkie gasped and leaned in close to the pegasus mare. “Her? Who’s Her? Do you think I could meet Her?”

“I-it’s just a rumor… Some of the crew heard that a really dangerous mare is staying on this island. Ponies call her ‘Pirate Hunter’, they say she’s a monster!” She fluttered off the ground in her panic, eeping and quickly landing on the ground again. “I-I don’t like monsters. They’re the second scariest thing I can think of.”

Pinkie giggled, pulling her close again. “Aww, come on, I bet she’s actually really nice if you get to know her.” She gasped again. “I know! I’ll make friends with her and ask her to join my crew!”

“W-what? No! That’s a really really… Pinkie?” Fluttershy looked around, finding Pinkie already bouncing down the street towards the large Navy base. “Pinkie! Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear…”

~~~~~

“Is that her?” Pinkie leaned forward to get a better look, squinting her eyes. Fluttershy had found her already clinging to the large wall that marked the perimeter of the Navy base, looking over it into the courtyard.

In the center of the dusty open space was a makeshift wooden cross, with a mare tied to it by her forelegs. She seemed to be a pegasus, with her cerulean blue wings tied to her sides and her body hanging from the wood, head down. What was most notable about her, however, was her colorful mane and tail which displayed all colors of the rainbow.

“Hey, you two up there.” Fluttershy eeped and tried to hide behind the wall as the mare lifted her head to give them a dangerous smile. “Think you could untie me? I promise I’ll make it up to you… Just find me a criminal and I’ll beat them up so you can have the bounty.”

“See? She can’t be a bad pony, she’s smiling.” Pinkie grinned, waving over at the mare. “What do you think, Fluttershy… Those ropes don’t look very complicated to untie.”

“That’s not a good smile, that’s an ‘I’m going to eat you and do other horrible things’ smile. We should just–“ Fluttershy paused when something to her left moved, noticing a long wooden ladder suddenly leaning against the wall. A small orange pegasus filly with violet mane climbed up, looking at them and putting and making a shushing motion before she jumped over the wall and ran up to the bound mare in the courtyard.

“What’cha doing here, squirt? Scootaloo, was it? You’re going to get in trouble if you talk to me.” Rainbow Dash frowned, looking down at the filly as she started to fumble something out from under her small wings. “Go on, get back over the wall already.”

“I, I brought you some food.” The filly stumbled a step back, holding out a paper napkin with two rice balls on it. “I made them myself... I felt really guilty that you got arrested just for helping us.”

The mare grimaced, glaring down at the filly. “I told you to leave, didn’t I? I’m doing this on my own and if you get yourself into trouble I won’t just be there to bail you out again. So shoo. Fly off. Amscray!”

“B-but I… I just…” The filly took another step back, slowly tearing up.

“Now what do we have here? Don’t you know that blank flanks aren’t allowed on a navy base?”

The mare looked up and turned her head. A matte pink and a light grey earth pony filly were walking across the courtyard towards them, flanked by several navy soldiers. They had a smug look on their faces, holding their heads high. The pink one smirked and stopped right in front of the cross. “You’re still alive, Pirate Hunter? It’s been nine days now… That’s almost impressive.”

“I just have to stay alive for a month and you’ll let me go, right? That was the deal.” The mare gave a wry, but dangerous smile.

The pink filly shuddered and took a step back, bumping into one of the marines and snapping her head around to glare at them for invading her personal space. She slowly turned back to the mare, smiling haughtily. “Indeed, that was the deal. I wonder if you’ll make it…”

She turned her head to the pegasus filly that had been trying to slowly sneak away. “That blank flank was never a part of the deal, though. However, some food might put me in a better mood.” Without waiting, she stepped forward and snatched one of the rice balls from her, taking a large bite.

“Hey! Those aren’t for you, Diamond Tiara!”

The pink filly froze, her eye twitching lightly for a few seconds until she suddenly spat out and threw down both rice balls, stomping on them a few times with her hoof. “Bleagh! These taste terrible! Are you trying to poison me!?”

“T-they weren’t for you in the first place! Stop it!” Scootaloo scraped at the ground, trying to somehow save the food from the dirt.

“There, now they’ll poison the ants.” She turned around to the marine she had bumped into. “You. Throw her out.”

The marined saluted, giving her a nervous look. “Y-you want me to escort her to the exit?”

Diamond Tiara scowled, stepping up to him. “Did I stutter? I’m the niece of Lieutenant Morgan, and I told you to throw. That blank flank. Out!”

“Y-yes, Ma’am!” The marine saluted and quickly dashed over to the pegasus filly, grabbing her by the neck despite her protests.

Fluttershy squeaked and ducked as the filly soared in a wide arch right over the wall, flailing and screaming. She barely noticed Pinkie kicking off the wall and wrapping her forelegs around the filly, shielding her as they hit the ground.

“Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear…" Fluttershy whimpered and flew down to them as fast as she dared, looking them over. "D-don’t move, I-I think I have some bandaids!” She squeaked and backed away as Pinkie stood up again, leaving the filly on the ground.

“I’ll be right back.” Pinkie turned around, looking back at the wall to the courtyard.

~~~~~

“You're still around? Just leave, or else that brat will tell her uncle about it.” Rainbow raised her head slightly to glare at Pinkie, who had jumped back over the wall and walked up to her just moments after the marines and the fillies had left.

Pinkie simply bounced up to her with a grin, completely ignoring the glare aimed at her in return. “I still haven’t gotten to talk to you yet. I wanted to ask you if you’d like to join my pirate crew.”

“You’re a pirate?” Rainbow scoffed, leaning back a little. “So you’ve already given up on life and decided to just become a crook, huh?”

Pinkie sat down and pouted lightly. “Heeeey… There’s nothing wrong with becoming a pirate…”

“Sure, whatever…”

“So… that’s a ‘no’, then?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Ugh... of course that’s a no.”

Pinkie looked up at her blankly, slowly tilting her head. Then she suddenly jumped up, smiling and bouncing in place. “Oki-doki-loki. I’ll just start looking somewhere else, then.” She twirled around and began to bounce back towards the wall.

Rainbow blinked, then shook her head. “Hey, pirate!”

“Hmm? Anything else?” Pinkie stopped and turned her head, tilting it at the same time.

Rainbow fidgeted for a second, then gestured her head downwards. “Can you… can you pick that up for me?”

“These?” Pinkie trod over to the rice balls, slowly scraping them together to pick them up. “You sure you want to eat them? They’re all muddy and squished.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Just fork them over already. Not like I have many other options.”

Pinkie tilted her head, then shrugged and made a bounce over to the pegasus, stuffing the mush into her mouth before the other mare could object. She watched as the pegasus choked, then swallowed painfully.

Rainbow took a few deep breaths, then gave a strained smile. “Tell the squirt… tell her they were delicious.”

~~~~~

“Really? She liked them?” Scootaloo grinned up at them, her wide eyes shining with joy.

“Hmm-mm…” Pinkie nodded and grabbed another piece of fruit, stuffing it into her mouth whole before swallowing. “So, who were those two fillies?”

“Just some dumb bullies…” Scootaloo poked at a grape, her chin on the table. After they had introduced themselves and left the navy base the pegasus filly had led them to one of the town’s cafes where she apparently lived and helped out after school. “Captain Roter Morgan is the uncle of Diamond Tiara. Silver Spoon is her best friend, so the two can pretty much do whatever they like in this town. So now they’re the biggest bullies around and nopony dares to do anything about them.”

Fluttershy frowned, hiding behind her mane again and nibbling on a piece of pear. “They really didn’t seem like very nice ponies… But why did you want to help that mare back there? Isn’t she a monster?”

“Rainbow Dash isn’t a monster!” The little filly slammed her hooves on the table, startling Fluttershy and causing her to try and hide under the table. “She’s the coolest most awesome mare I’ve ever met!” She paused and pondered for a second. “Well, the second most awesome… but that’s still pretty awesome.”

She settled on her chair again, calming down a little while Fluttershy started to slowly come up from behind the table again and Pinkie munched on the complimentary fruit platter Scootaloo had gotten for them.

“She saved my life, you know?” The filly shook herself a little. “Diamond Tiara has this huge awful pet wolf she always takes around town. Everypony in town is scared of it and nopony dares to do anything about it because of her uncle. About a week ago they came into this café and the wolf tried to attack me.” She shook herself again, then looked up again determinedly.
“Rainbow Dash grabbed it when it tried to pounce me and threw it out the window, just like that. We haven’t seen that stupid runt in town ever since.” She gave them a smug grin, then her ears drooped down again. “A few hours later the marines came to take her into custody. Said they would let her go if she can survive a whole month without food. And it’s all my fault! If she hadn’t tried to save me, she…” She wiped her nose, sniffing quietly.

“You got that right.” All three of them looked up to see Diamond Tiara standing in the door, giving them a smug grin. “That mare got what she had coming. I was going to just watch her starve, but that stupid pegasus is taking forever, and it’s just gotten boring. So I figured I’ll just ask my uncle Morgan to execute her. That’s always fun to watch.”

“Didn’t you say you’ll give her a month?” Pinkie stood up, tilting her head at her.

“And who are you?” Diamond scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Only a complete idiot would believe something like that. She was going to be executed eventually anyway.”

“Well then…” Pinkie cracked her neck, walking up to the pink filly.

“You got a problem with it, fluffhair? If you try to do anything I’ll tell my uncle to kyaaaargh!”

“I’ve made up my mind, Fluttershy…” Pinkie stepped around the still-twitching filly lying on the ground, straightening her hat with the same hoof that had hit Diamond square in the face just a second ago. She stopped outside, looking up at the marine base overlooking the town.

“I’m going to ask that Rainbow mare to join my crew.”

Author's Note

Three chapters in this part. Second one will hopefully be ready by this time tomorrow, after that there'll be a break until the next weekend.

Execution at Dawn - Lieutenant Roter Morgan

“Money and power…”

“P-pardon?” A yellow earth pony stallion with chestnut mane and tail as well as a short-trimmed beard framing his muzzle shifted nervously in place watching the large, golden brown griffin sitting on the other side of the desk. He quickly straightened up, though, putting a hoof to his head in salute.

“Money and power.” The griffin inspected the golden Bit between his claws for a moment, then placed it neatly on top of the small stack of coins on his desk. “Those are the two most important things in this world. As Marine Captain, I have more than anyone else on this island of both.” He looked up, his predatory eyes piercing the poor stallion. “I noticed that the tributes seem to be… decreasing, lately.”

The marine nodded, sweating a bit. “Ah, about that… The citizens are having their, uhm, financial problems as well. They don’t have as much money to pay in tribute anymore.”

The Marine Lieutenant of the 153rd base, 'Execution at Dawn' Roter Morgan, narrowed his eyes. “Those tributes secure my position and status on this island and in this whole sea. It’s not financial problems… the problem is that they don’t respect me as they should.”

“L-Lieutenant, you can’t-“

“Uncle!” The door banged open and Diamond Tiara stormed in, a large bruise under her right eye.

Morgan barely reacted, only glancing over at her. “What’s the matter, Diamond?”

Diamond glared at the Marine stallion before pushing past him, grimacing in rage towards her uncle. “Some mare from town punched me! I demand that you have her executed, right now!”

~~~~~

“So, what’s up?”

Rainbow gave Pinkie a flat look, her eye twitching a bit at the large grin that was far too close to her own face in her opinion. “Are you serious?”

“No, I’m Pinkie Pie. I was here earlier today and asked you to join my crew, remember?” Pinkie’s grin didn’t budge, though she did pull back a few inches to a more reasonable distance.

Rainbow groaned, straining a bit against her ropes just from the urge to facehoof as she muttered, “I can’t believe this…” She looked up again, frowning. “Listen, nutter. I don’t know what you want from me, but I don’t need your help and I don’t want it either.”

Pinkie’s grin slipped a bit and she tilted her head. “Come on, don’t be like that. I bet there’s some way I can help you.” Her ears perked up and she bounced up and down. “Oh, oh, I know! I heard you’re a swordsmare, right? I’ll just go and get your sword for you and then we’ll be best friends forever. Where are they?” She looked around, trotting in a small circle before looking down and turning over a small pebble to look under it.

Rainbow cringed. “Oh for Spirits’ sake… Listen, just leave and find somepony else to annoy. The marines took my blades, so there’s nothing you can do anyway.” She gestured over to the large building of the marine base with her head.

Pinkie stood up straight, looking at the building before she moved a hoof up to readjust her hat. “Alright, then I know where to go. And when I got your sword you’ll have to join my crew if you want it back.” She grinned, galloping off past Rainbow Dash and towards the building.

“Wait, what? You’re seriously going to blackmail me?! Come back here you pink psychopath!”

Pinkie ignored the shout, already too far away to make out what the mare wanted as she arrived in front of the multi-story building. “Oooh, fancy. Welp, I guess I’ll just walk up to the front door and knock.”

She pranced past the tall flagpole bearing the flag of the marine, then turned straight around and back past the other side of the flagpole, giggling. “Well, that would be silly. I’m breaking in, I don’t want them to know that.” She walked a couple ponylengths back, then turned around again and looked up at the tip of the flagpole, aiming for a window through her hooves. Then she threw her forelegs forward, grabbing the tip of the flagpole. “And Gummy Gummy…”

“Rocket!”

There was a metallic twang and her forelegs retracted rapidly, pulling the flagpole with them and bending it down until the tip was almost directly above her. She blinked and stared at it, a bead of sweat slowly running down her neck. “G-gee… that wasn’t supposed to ha-“

[twang]

~~~~~

“That mare hit me, uncle! Why won’t you execute her?!” Diamond Tiara stomped her hoof, huffing angrily.

The large griffin looked down at her with a stony expression, rubbing the talons of his left arm over the back of the large and heavy steel axe that had long ago replaced his right talons and part of his lower arm. “Do you know why I never hit you?”

Diamond paused looking slightly confused as she looked up at him. “It’s because I’m your niece, right?”

“It’s because even hitting you wouldn’t be worth my time!” Morgan raised his left arm, slamming the side of his talons into the filly and flinging her away with one strike.

“Why do I have to clean up your mess?” He sat back down again, looking bored. “I’m not even your uncle, your father is barely related to me at all. But he is my superior and you always follow your superior’s orders without question.” He looked over the other marines gathered on the roof of the building, giving some pointed glares. “I don’t care what you do as long as you don’t get yourself killed. I only punish those who oppose me.”

Lifting his left arm, he gestured across the roof to the huge marble statue being pulled into a standing position by over a dozen ponies in marine garb. It was a statue of himself, easily five times as tall as the already large griffin it represented; standing in its final position it would stand on its hind legs, wings spread and brandishing both the sharp talons of its left arm and the massive axe of the right arm. “This statue is a symbol of my power and wealth! Standing at the highest point of the base it will strike fear into the hearts of all criminals and demand respect of everyone else who sees it. A statue that has finally been finished today after years of work.”

There was a loud scraping sound, making everypony flinch as they watched the left wing of the statue scrape along the small observation tower housing the stairs into the building proper. The yellow stallion from earlier grimaced around the rope between his teeth, looking up nervously as the Lieutenant loomed over him. “S-sorry, Lieutenant. I was being careless.”

Morgan leaned in, glaring. “This statue represents me and my reputation. Damaging it is equal to an attack on me and an act of insubordination.”

He raised his right arm, the blade of his axe glinting in the sun. “I don’t allow traitors in my base!”

“…haaaaaaaaappeeeeen!”

Everypony, including Morgan, froze and turned their heads to stare up at the pink blur shooting past the roof and into the sky. Pinkie was flailing a bit to keep her balance, grabbing the head of the statue just as it was almost fully upright.

“Oh boy, that was close. I almost would have flown all the way back into town. Uhm…” Pinkie hung in the air for a moment, looking down at the gathered Marines while the statue lifted a few inches off the roof as if in slow motion. Then the first of the ropes snapped and it began to topple over, falling backwards with Pinkie Pie still clinging to the head.

Everyone watched in shock as the marble statue crashed onto the edge of the roof and broke clean in half, the top half breaking clean off at the barrel and falling down off the building. They rushed over to look down, staring at the broken pieces of marble and the still intact head of the statue, the beak burrowed deep into the ground.

“Who was that?”

“Did she get crushed under the rubble?”

“Open your eyes, idiots!” Morgan pushed past them, glowering down at the remains of his statue. “See those glass shards between the rubble? They must’ve gone through one of the windows… and that means they’re in the base now!”

“U-uncle! That mare was the one I told you about earlier, the one who hit me!” Diamond staggered to her hooves, trembling in indignation. “Will you finally go and kill her now?!”

Morgan glared at her for a second, then turned to the assembled marines and pointed at about half of them. “You, get moving and capture that pony! The rest of you, after me!” He turned back to look down the roof, but further away to the execution site. “Take your weapons. There’s someone down there with the pirate hunter, and I will not tolerate any more traitors today.”

“Y-yes, Sir!”

~~~~~

Pinkie’s hooves beat on the tiled floors of the Marine base as she ran down the hallway, looking from door to door. “Oh come on! I don’t have time to look through every room, don’t they have a storage room somewhere? Or at least a map of the building for fire drills?”

“Hey you! Pirate!”

Pinkie skidded to a halt, turning around to look at the pony stepping out of a side hallway. “Eh? Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

~~~~~

“U-uhm… Miss monster, I-I mean Miss Rainbow Dash? D-do you need any help?”

“What, more of you? Are you with that pink weirdo?” Rainbow Dash raised her head to look at Fluttershy, who flinched back and tried to hide behind her mane at the attention. She paused, then looked past the nervous pegasus at the little filly trailing after her. “What the hay, squirt! I told you not to come back here, didn’t I?!”

Scootaloo flinched, but then straightened up and rushed past Fluttershy towards Rainbow Dash, starting to fumble with the ropes. “I don’t care what you said! I came here to free you, and since you’re tied up you can’t stop me.”

Rainbow frowned, looking down at her. "You're just as stubborn as I was when I was your age you know? Doesn't always make what you do the right thing, or the smart thing."

Fluttershy nodded, nervously coming over to them. “But Scootaloo’s right, Rainbow Dash. That filly, Diamond Tiara said that-“

[Bang]

“Aaaah!” Fluttershy screamed and fell down as the bullet grazed her, holding her bleeding shoulder and whimpering on the ground.

“Did you think I would just let you walk into my base and do as you please?” Morgan locked the rifle he was holding and shoved it back into the hooves of the Marine ensign he had taken it from. “I don’t tolerate ponies trampling all over my reputation like this. Men, shoot all three of them!”

“What?!” Rainbow yelled, straining against her ropes. “You liar, you said you’d let me free if I survive a month out here!”

“You’re really as dumb as you look, aren’t you?” Diamond stepped out from between the marines, smirking. “Did you really think that deal was for real? What kind of idiot are you?”

Rainbow growled, glaring at her, but couldn’t move more than half an inch against the ropes. Diamond just laughed it off, stepping back to watch.

“Lieutenant, one of those ponies is a little filly.” One of the ensigns spoke up nervously, clutching his rifle against his chest as he stood on his hindlegs with the others to aim. “Are you sure we should kyaaargh!”

Morgan’s axe hit the ground and burrowed into it, leaving a large gash across the ensign’s chest as the stallion collapsed. “I am the highest ranking in this town. You have no rights to go against my orders. Anyone else who wants to act up?”

“N-no Sir!” The rest of the Marines quickly raised their rifles and aimed.

“Rainbow Dash… I have heard your name a lot over the past months, but don’t underestimate me. Before my great strength and resources you are nothing but garbage.” Morgan raised his axe to point at them. “On my mark!”

Rainbow’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks as she stared at the rifles aimed at her. 'N-no… I can’t just die here.'

“Aim!”

She watched as Fluttershy stood up again, trembling but nonetheless moving her own body in front of Scootaloo.

'I… I’m sorry… dad.'

“Fire!”

~~~~~

“Just so you know, I’ll tell everypony you held me hostage.”

Pinkie tilted her head, looking down at her companion as she fumbled a bit to secure everything to her barrel. “What do you mean?”

“W-what? I mean all this here! Leading a pirate through the base? I’ll make sure everypony knows you forced me to do that!”

Pinkie looked at her for a moment, then giggled. “Of course everypony will know that you only did this because I forced you to. I’m a pirate, after all.” She hummed and smiled, looking over to a large double window in the wall and taking a few steps back from it. “Hey, can you open that window for me?”

~~~~~

“Fire!”

Small clouds of smoke exploded from the Marines’ rifles as they all fired at once, a dozen weapons all aimed at Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Scootaloo. There was a pink blur and all bullets impacted in the pony that had thrown herself between them.

Everypony froze, staring at the pink pony who had shot right into the line of fire, standing on her hind legs with her forelegs stretched out wide and skidding marks in the ground in front of her hooves. A dozen spots in her arms and barrel were stretching several feet behind her, implying the bullets that had shot right through her and now seemed frozen in the air, stopped by her rubber body. One of them had hit straight through the string around her barrel, causing it to snap and the sword scabbard as well as the two long, partitioned blades to clatter to the ground.

Pinkie stayed in that pose for a few seconds, grinning and holding her head low before she suddenly tensed, sending the bullets flying back out in the direction they had come from.

“I’m baaaack!”

Author's Note

Next chapter and the last one in this short arc will be out sometime next weekend, hopefully. Since I can't write on weekdays it most likely will be only that one next week.

Clash with the law - Pirate Queen and Pirate Hunter

“I’m baaaack!”

Everyone stared at Pinkie as she grinned obliviously at the Marines, holding her pose for a few seconds. Then she dropped down on all four hooves again and scooped up the blades she had dropped, ignoring everyone else while she walked up to Rainbow Dash and held them out to her. “Two wingblades and one sword. These are all yours, right?”

Rainbow stared at her for a moment, then blinked and started to strain against her ropes again. “Don’t act like nothing happened! What the hay are you?! What was that?”

“I’m a rubber pony.” Pinkie unceremoniously dropped the blades and let them clatter to the ground, raising herself up on her hindlegs again to try and undo the knots on the ropes around Rainbow’s barrel. “Wait, let me get these for you…”

“What the hay are you all doing?!” A young voice filled with indignation shouted across the grounds, quickly followed by Diamond Tiara running onto the scene. She stopped to look at both the Marines and Pinkie’s group, stomping her hoof angrily. “What are you just standing around like that for? Why haven’t you killed them yet?! Rrrrgh… Shaggles! Shaggles! Get over here, right now!”

Several of the Marines flinched as a low growl behind them made their fur stand up. They quickly stepped aside, parting to let a huge male wolf through… easily larger than even the adult ponies and about three times as tall as the filly he belonged to. He looked around for a moment, finally focusing on Diamond Tiara.

Diamond stomped her hoof down again, then pointed it at Pinkie’s group. “Shaggles, sic ‘em! Attack! Go and kill those ponies, all of them!”

The wolf turned his head to look at the ponies its owner had pointed out, then growled again and slowly moved towards them, the rage and bloodlust in his eyes focused especially on Rainbow Dash as he remembered the mare that threw him through a window.

Rainbow gave a nervous glance at it, then looked down at Pinkie. “You know, this would be a really good time to finally untie me! What’s the holdup?!”

Pinkie chuckled sheepishly, a bit of sweat running down her forehead. “Uhm, don’t worry, I almost got it. I’ll take care of that wolf and everything as soon as I, uhm… get this one solved out.” She held up her forelegs, which had somehow tied themselves into a neat pink bow.

“Seriously?!” Rainbow let out an exasperated groan and started to pull against the ropes again, then let out an even louder yell. “Oh come on, you made them even tighter than before!”

‘Shaggles’ took another step towards them, the fur on his back standing up as he prepared to–

“Oh you poor thing.”

He stopped, directing a slightly confused expression at the yellow pegasus who had spoken, and who was even now stepping toward him. He took a step back, then flinched and growled at her, baring his fangs.

“Oh my, you are really hurting aren’t you? That’s a nasty limp you got there, Mr. Shaggles.” Fluttershy looked down at the wolf’s right front paw, then turned her head to direct as much of an angry glare as she was capable of towards Rainbow Dash. “Miss Rainbow, I think you accidentally broke poor Shaggles’ leg when you threw him out of that café. Now, I’m not saying anypony is at fault here, but the little guy seems to be in an awful lot of pain right now and I’m sure he would feel much better if he got an apology from you.” Shaggles pounced forward and snapped at her in the middle of her talk, but she stepped back and to the side to dodge without even looking at him.

“You... What… I… Seriously?” Rainbow tried and failed to move her foreleg to point at the wolf, who was even now jumping and snapping at Fluttershy again, forcing the mare another step back. “It attacked ponies!”

Fluttershy frowned. “First of, Mr. Shaggles is a ‘he’, not an ‘it’. But you are right, that really wasn’t… really wasn’t very nice of…” She dodged two more attacks and turned her head to frown at the wolf. “Listen, I know you are angry and hurting, but this behavior really isn’t making it any easier for me to help you.”

Shaggles let out another growl and jumped forward to snap at her. Fluttershy stepped to the side and raised a hoof to flick it against his ear, making him yelp in surprise and retreat a few steps.

Fluttershy sighed and shook her head, giving him a disappointed frown. “I tried to be nice, but if you want me to help you you need to calm down. The bone in your leg grew back together all wrong, and if I want to fix that it will really hurt for a moment. Now, if you are nice and just lie down like a good boy, I will give you something to make the pain go away and make you feel better until I’m done.”

Shaggles stared at her for a moment, visibly confused and unsure what he should do now. He turned his head to look at his owner and saw her glaring angrily at him.

“What are you waiting for! Kill her already, you stupid mutt!” Diamond Tiara stomped the ground and jumped around angrily, working herself into a tantrum.

Shaggles blinked, then turned back to Fluttershy and growled at her. He ducked down, ignoring the pain in his leg as he tensed and jumped at her.

“I really didn’t want to do this…” Fluttershy sighed and shook her head. She took a step to the right, staying just out of reach of the fangs as she grabbed the wolf’s right front paw with a hoof. Then she raised her other hoof, bringing it down at the wolf’s leg with one swift, practiced motion.

[CRACK]

“Arooooouuuuuuwwwwhhh!”

The entire execution grounds were silent, save for the quiet whimpering of Shaggles as he tried to make himself as small as he could. Everyone watched as Fluttershy gently and carefully bandaged the foreleg up to the paw, then started petting the large wolf.

“There we go, in a couple days you’re going to feel just like new again. Just try to stay off that paw until it has healed properly, okay? I knew you were a nice doggie, you were just scared and confused because your leg was hurting.” She put the bandages back into her saddlebags, pulling out three brown, bone-shaped dog treats instead. “Here you go, a little reward for being such a good boy now.”

She petted him a little longer, then looked up and turned her head to look at Rainbow Dash. “Now, I think somepony still–“

“I’msorryIthrewyouthroughawindowandbrokeyourleg!” Rainbow yelled in a high pitched staccato, eyes wide. Her head snapped down and she started to squirm around again. “Filly, get those ropes off me before she goes and breaks my leg next!”

The Marines stood frozen and stared at them for a few seconds before Morgan’s voice shook them out of their stupor again. “What are you imbeciles waiting for?! If guns don’t work, use your swords!”

The stallions flinched, fumbling a bit as they drew their swords one by one, holding the handles in their mouths as they charged forward towards Fluttershy. The pegasus whimpered and pulled Shaggles closer, trying to hide herself behind the wolf.

[Clang Clink Clang]

“What, seriously?” Rainbow smirked down at the other mare, talking effortlessly through the sword handle in her mouth. Her wings were bent over her back, holding back the swords of all the Marines at once, the edges of her blades shimmering a faint purple. “You take care of that wolf like it’s nothing, but these goons scare you?”

Pinkie grinned, nudging Scootaloo’s shoulder as the younger filly watched with wide eyes. “Oh, I totally need her for my crew now. Good idea cutting the ropes with her sword, by the way. Quick thinking.”

Morgan growled through his beak, watching. “Can’t you idiots take down even one mare?”

“W-we’re trying to, but we can’t break through! This is crazy!” One of the Marines yelled back, wincing as his sword started to slip a little.

Rainbow chuckled, glancing back at the stallions. “Sorry guys, but for you I don’t even have to break a sweat. Come back when you’re a bit stronger.” The purple shimmer in her blades faded into a faint red as she tensed, whirling around and knocking back all twelve stallions at once.

“I don’t know why I expected more of you. It looks like I will have to take care of these intruders myself.” Rainbow turned her head to see Morgan walking towards her, spreading his wings. The large griffon looked down at her for a second, then flapped his wings once and turned, shooting towards Pinkie Pie instead. “The devil fruit user first!”

“Duck!” Pinkie shoved Scootaloo aside and jumped in the other direction, narrowly evading Morgan’s attack. The griffon’s large axe hit the ground and cracked it open, a shockwave of the strike traveling forward and splitting the wooden cross Rainbow had been tied to neatly in two.

“Wow, you really are strong. Duck!” Pinkie held her hat as she crouched down, Morgan’s axe swishing over her head.

“I’m a Marine Lieutenant! You are no match for me!” Morgan swung his axe the other way, lower this time.

“Duck!” Pinkie jumped over the strike, rolling around once in the air before her back hooves shot out, extending and hitting the griffon’s head. “Goose!” The griffon let out a garbled yell at the hit, being kicked backwards and ending on his back. The griffon groaned and raised his head, then fell down again, staying on the ground.

“Everypony freeze!” Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy all turned around to look at Diamond Tiara. The filly was holding a revolver, aiming at Scootaloo from two steps away. “Can’t any of you do anything right? You three, stop fighting or this filly is dead!”

Scootaloo was trembling, staring at the gun before she turned her head towards Rainbow Dash in fear. “I-I… I don’t…”

“Hey Squirt…” Rainbow closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again and gave the pegasus filly a cocky smirk. “You’re not gonna let some bully push you around like that are you?”

Diamond Tiara took a step back. “W-what? Stop spouting nonsense, you featherbrain! I have a gun here, drop your weapons already!”

Rainbow ignored her, keeping her eyes on Scootaloo instead. “You snuck into this base twice to help somepony you barely knew. I like your guts, kiddo… you’re gonna be a great mare someday, I’m sure of it.”

Scootaloo stared at her for a moment, then gulped and closed her eyes, stopping her shaking. “I-I…” She opened her eyes and turned back to Diamond Tiara. “I’m gonna work to become strong and awesome like Rainbow Dash! And I’m not scared of you!”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” Rainbow Dash smirked, stretching her wings. “But you’re still a filly yet. How about me and my new friends help you out this time?”

Pinkie gasped, eyes sparkling. “You mean you wanna be friends with me after all?!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, but smirked. “Eh, at the very least you’re gonna make life interesting. On one condition, though…” She moved her wing towards Diamond Tiara.

“Aaaaaalready on it!” Pinkie grinned and shut one eye to aim, angling her hoof back. “Gummy Gummy…”

“W-wait! Stop that! Uncle, do something!” Diamond looked up behind Pinkie, where the large shadowed form of Lieutenant Morgan had stood up and was looming over the mare again, axe raised to strike.

“Pistol!”

Pinkie’s foreleg extended forward, the hoof hitting Diamond Tiara straight in the face and knocking her out, the gun falling to the ground harmlessly. Pinkie retracted her arm again, holding the pose for a moment without turning around. “Nice one…”

She fell back on all four again, still not turning around as the griffon behind her slowly keeled backwards, eyes white and several large cuts across his chest. “…Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow turned back around from where she stood behind Morgan to give her a cocky smile, a faint blue glow slowly fading from the edges of her blades. “The future pirate queen, huh? You won’t make that with such a small crew… how’s the world’s fastest pegasus sound for a crewmember?”

Pinkie grinned and turned around as well. “You sure about that? I know what I said, but I really don’t want to bully you into anything.”

Rainbow shrugged, acting aloof. “Yeah, sure, why not. I’ve already been branded a criminal here, might as well act like it.” She slumped a little and looked down. “And, well… almost dying here, like this. It made me realize something.”

She looked up again, narrowing her eyes and pointing a hoof at Pinkie. “We both have pretty ridiculous goals, and if I want to reach mine I need to work myself a lot harder than I’ve been doing. So don’t you dare slack off and fall behind, Pirate Queen, or I can’t accept you as a captain.”

Pinkie just grinned, extending her foreleg a bit to bump Rainbow’s hoof while her other foreleg went through a set of peculiar motions. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. That’s a Pinkie Promise, and I never break a Pinkie Promise.”

Rainbow chuckled, relaxing a bit. “Well then, you got yourself a navigator. If that position isn’t already taken, I mean.”

“Oooh, you can navigate? That would be supertastic, being lost at sea is no fun at all, even with friends.”

Rainbow poked her own head. “Pegasus instincts and I had a good tutor for it. Trust me, I almost always know where I am and where to go.” She turned around. “Now let’s get out of here before those Marines wake up or get reinforcements.”

Pinkie, Fluttershy and Scootaloo all stared at her, watching as their new navigator walked away from the gate and towards the main building of the Marine base. Fluttershy shuffled a hoof, speaking up timidly. “Uhm, Miss Rainbow Dash? I, uhm… I think the exit is this way. I-if you don’t mind me saying I’m sorry.”

Rainbow froze, standing still for a few seconds. Then she began to tremble and burst into laughter. “Ohmygosh, I wish I could’ve watched your faces. Did you really all think I… I mean, nopony could possibly be that bad at directions.” She turned and walked past them, still giggling to herself. “Totally nailed it.”

The other three stared after her for a moment, before Pinkie suddenly giggled and bounced after the pegasus. “Oooh, I like her. I think we’ll get along just superiffically.”

~~~~~

“Nice ship.” Rainbow plopped down on her rump in the little dingy, putting her saddlebags down next to herself.

“You, uhm… don’t think it’s a bit small?” Fluttershy asked, eyeing their new companion nervously.

“Pfff, nah. It’s not like mine was any bigger.” Rainbow waved off. “We should probably get a real ship at some point, but for now this is just fine for getting to the next island.” She lay down, crossing her forelegs behind her head just like Pinkie was doing on the other side of the boat. “Bit of a shame the kid couldn’t be here to see us off, but I guess it doesn’t matter where we said our goodbyes.”

Fluttershy nodded softly. “I think it’s nice that she wants to clean the house before her mother comes home. Must be hard, having parents who are away so much.”

“Eh, you get used to it.” Rainbow closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.

“Hey, Pirate! Pinkie Pie!”

Her ears twitched and she opened her eyes again, sitting up and turning around to look back to the port. “Hey, isn’t that brat number two? What’s she doing here?”

Silver Spoon was running down the pier, stopping at the edge to shout after them. “I signed in with the Navy, you hear me?! Next time we meet, I’ll arrest you!”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, glaring back at the filly. “Is she serious? Man, what a brat… Hey Captain, you wanna say something to that?”

Pinkie didn’t move, grinning under the brim of her head. “Just wait a moment.”

Back at the pier, Silver Spoon tensed and grit her teeth, then snapped up a foreleg in salute, eyes closed as she screamed after the boat. “Thank you for everything!”

~~~~~

“So, why are you helping me? Aren’t you with that other filly?”

Silver Spoon didn’t look up, focusing on their destination instead. “I’m not some kind of lap dog who’s always by her side.” She stopped, turning to a door and pulling out a key. “This is her room. The bounty hunter’s weapons are in there…” She pulled the key away again. “But before I let you in, I need to ask a favor of you. You see, I always wanted to join the Navy and become a Marine.”

Pinkie tilted her head a bit. “I won’t leave any of my friends here for your arrest, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Silver Spoon shook her head. “It’s nothing like that. It does have to do with staying here, though.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked up at Pinkie confidently. “You’re a pirate right? You broke into a Marine base twice for somepony you apparently don’t even know. If you’re really as strong as your acting… I need you to defeat the Lieutenant!”

Pinkie blinked, then giggled. “Wow. You’re really bad at being a Marine, aren’t you?”

“It’s not a joke!” Silver Spoon stomped her hoof, then pointed it at Pinkie. “This whole base is rotten at the core, and it’s Morgan’s fault! As long as he is the Lieutenant of this town, I can’t join the Marine and feel good about it, but nopony on the island could hope to stand up to him.” She faltered a bit, tearing up. “And I’m too weak to do anything…”

She felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up, seeing Pinkie smiling down at her. “You’re not too weak to do anything. You got me to help, didn’t you?” The mare snatched the key and unlocked the door, walking inside and looking around with a thoughtful smile. “A Marine who isn’t too proud to ask a pirate for help? That’s either very strong or very stupid.

Silver Spoon just stared at her as Pinkie found the blades and started strapping them to her back. The filly grit her teeth and looked down, then blurted out, “Just so you know, I’ll tell everypony you held me hostage!”

~~~~~

Silver Spoon slowly put down her hoof again, staring after the boat. Another pony suddenly stepped up next to her, causing her to flinch and look up. Her eyes widened as she recognized the yellow earth pony stallion as Warrant Officer Gunpoint, Morgan’s second in command and now the leader of the base by default. “W-Warrant Officer? I wasn’t… I mean, I-I didn’t.”

The stallion took a deep breath, then saluted sharply, looking after the boat. “Thank you, Straw Hat!”

“Thank you, Straw Hat!”

Silver flinched again, turning around to find the entirety of the Marine base behind her, all of them saluting as one. She stared at them in disbelief, not sure if she was really seeing what she did.

Gunpoint lowered his hoof again, then turned around to his subordinates. “Men, we just saluted a group of pirates. Is that acceptable?!”

“Sir, no, Sir!”

“I think three days without food sounds like an appropriate disciplinary action, don’t you?!”

“Sir, yes, Sir!”

“Then get back to base! We have a mountain of food we’re not gonna eat and the town is hungry! Double time it, I don’t want anything to spoil just because you move at the pace of snails!”

“Sir, yes, Sir!”

The Marines turned as one, marching down the street back to the base. Gunpoint took a step, then stopped and turned his head to look down at silver. “Did I stammer? Get your hooves moving, Marine!”

Silver jumped, then gasped and grinned, running after the others. “Sir, yes, Sir!”

~~~~~

“Hellooooooo, Shells Town!”

Pipsqueak looked over the small harbor town with an excited grin, his small pirate boat tied to the pier behind him. “The first step on my journey. I wonder if Fluttershy and that pirate mare were here, too. Aww man, I bet all the strongest ponies here already joined her crew.”

He pondered, then stomped his hoof. “Well, that just means I have to look even harder! I bet I’ll find the perfect crewmember in this town.”

Author's Note

I have many good reasons for the long delay, but most of them would be terrible, terrible lies.

That being said, I have a question for all of you. You see, I have an opening video for this story in mind... And while I can't animate, I can write it out as a bonus chapter.
The thing is, obviously the opening includes some spoilers for the rest of the first season. Some minor ones and probably two or three major ones. So the question is, do you want me to write and publish it now, or wait until this season is finished and then release it afterwards?

Comment, people. Comments are what keep artists from emotional starvation.

Arrival in Orange Town - Pinkie and the Rogue

“Really? That mare defeated the Captain of this town’s Marine base?” Pipsqueak stared at the pegasus filly, in the short moments between devouring the lunch he’d bought.

“No, I told you it was Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo glared back, buzzing her wings in agitation.

“But you said that Rainbow Dash is in her crew now?” Pipsqueak swallowed his mouthful, then grabbed the loaf of bread and ripped off a large chunk with his teeth. He really had to pack some food before traveling to the next island, instead of just whatever money he could find like he did on Iron Will’s ship.

Scootaloo paused, then nodded. “Yeah. Even though she could totally be the captain of her own crew. But I guess Pinkie Pie was pretty cool, too.”

Pipsqueak’s ears perked up and he looked down at his plate in thought. ‘Pinkie Pie… is that her name, then?’

“But Rainbow Dash was definitely the more awesome of them. You should’ve seen her! When I grow up I’m gonna become just as strong and fast and cool as her.”

Pipsqueak looked up at her, giving the filly a thoughtful look before he smiled. “So, you want to become a pirate, too? Because I’m looking for crewmembers.”

“You? Aren’t you a bit young to go out to sea?” Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, then sighed and shook her head. “Well, even if I wanted to join you, I can’t just go running off like that. I’d have to at least tell my mom, and she’s–“

“Now what is that about telling me something?”

Scootaloo gasped and turned her head, looking towards the door with an excited grin. “Mom? You’re back home?!”

A middle-aged pegasus mare was standing in the door, looking at the two foals and giving her daughter an amused smirk. “Indeed, I’m back. Now who wants to explain to me why my little filly suddenly wants to go out to sea and become a pirate?”

~~~~~

Pinkie Pie sighed, hanging over the side of their boat staring out over the wide expanse of blue surrounding them. “Boooooooored…”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, slowly polishing one of her wingblades. “We should be seeing the next island soon. Just take a nap if you’re bored, it’s what I always do.”

“Nah…” Pinkie rolled onto her back and looked up at the third member of their group. “Hey Fluttershy, do you have any ideas to pass the time?”

Fluttershy looked up from where she’d been cowering, staring at them for a few seconds. “Oh dear, I… uhm…” Her ears perked up and she turned to Rainbow Dash. “Oh yes, I’ve been meaning to ask. Are your swords supposed to look so, uhm… blunt? Not that I want to imply that they’re not good.” She shuffled her hoof, scraping it across the wood planks.

Rainbow hummed and lifted her wingblade up into the light, showing off the several parts connected by joints. “Good eyes, Flutters. Yeah, they’re supposed to be blunt. It’s how wingblades work.” She spread her left wing and brought it around, carefully pulling it onto the edge of her wing and securing it with a few clicks. She flexed and bent her wing a few more times, then spread it wide.

“You see, wingblades aren’t just a weapon. They’re a catalyst for pegasus magic. Once you learn to channel it through the blades and into your wings the right way…” She picked up her sword’s scabbard and tapped the end of it against her wing, producing a soft metallic clang. “See? Hard as steel. The better you are, the harder and sharper your wing becomes. Of course, if you want to see a more classical weapon…” She pulled her sword and pointed it towards Fluttershy, smirking as the pegasus shrunk away from the dangerous glint of sunlight on sharp steel.

“Of course you can’t just take any old slab of metal and use it as a wingblade.” She sheathed her sword again and put it away. “There’s a few things you need for a good wingblade. If it’s too light, you can’t rely on it to protect your wing and provide the necessary density. If it’s too heavy, it’ll hamper your ability to fly. And most importantly, you need to be able to wear it without chafing or even worse, molting, for hours if you have to.”

She spread her other wing, fastening the other wingblade onto it. “These aren’t exactly Master class blades, but they’re custom made for me by the most talented blacksmith I know. I can wear them for days without even noticing.”

Pinkie crossed her forelegs and nodded sagely. “That makes sense. You can’t just draw them like regular swords, and in a real fight you won’t have the time to put them on properly. And the blunt edges make sure you don’t just accidentally cut yourself all the time.”

Rainbow smirked and buffed a hoof against her chest. “Well, for most ponies that’s true. I can put on a set of wingblades in ten seconds flat.” She paused and blinked. “You know, I honestly didn’t expect you to listen to all that exposition. No offense, but I kinda expected you to-“

Pinkie’s ears perked up and she whipped her head up to stare into the sky. “Oooh, is that a bird?”

“…that. I expected that.” Rainbow chuckled and lay down again, looking up. “Yeah, looks like a bird to me. You know, birds at sea usually mean that you’re close to an island. Unless it’s the news ‘gulls, but I don’t see a mail bag on that one.”

Pinkie gasped and jumped up, grinning. “Finally! How much further do you think it is?” She stopped and gasped. “Oh, I know! Maybe I can already see it if I can look from higher up. Gummy gummy…”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened as Pinkie reached up and wrapped her hooves around the top of their boat’s short mast. “Uhm, Pinkie, I really don’t think that’s a good idea… That bird is-“

“Rocket!”

The two pegasi yelped, clinging to the sides of the boat as it started to shake from the recoil of Pinkie’s launch. Rainbow caught herself first, wings twitching. “Okay, yeah, I’m starting to see what I got into here.”

“Hey girls, I got good news and bad news!”

They looked up, trying to spot where Pinkie’s voice had come from against the sun.

“Good news is, I can see the island from up here. Bad news is… uhm…” Pinkie made a face, struggling a bit. Her head was stuck in the beak of a giant bird, the rest of her body hanging uselessly down from a several feet long neck. “Yeah, I might need a moment to get out of this.”

Rainbow stared up at her with an open mouth, then facehoofed. “Oh you gotta be… hang in there, I’m coming!” She spread her wings, then stopped and groaned. “Hang in there, I can’t believe I said that…”

“Wait!” Fluttershy yelled, then backed down. “I-I mean, uhm… p-please don’t leave me alone back down here.”

Rainbow gave her a confused look. “I’ll literally be gone less than a minute. If you don’t want to be alone, you can come along and maybe do with that bird like you did with that wolf.” She shivered a bit at the memory.

Fluttershy whimpered. “I’m scared of open waters. And even more of flying over open waters. W-what if a strong gale hits me, or I get a cramp, or my wings lock up because I’m thinking too much about strong gale and cramps? I’ll fall into the sea and drown and mmph!“

Rainbow stuffed a hoof in her mouth. “Fine, I get it! You’re scared of everything and its shadow.” She looked over her shoulder and groaned. “Gah, that bird is getting away! Alright, change of plans. If you’re scared of leaving the boat, and you’re scared of staying here alone, how do you feel about high speeds?”

Fluttershy gave her a nervous look. “I, uhm… t-terrified?”

“Welp, tough luck.” Rainbow zipped past Fluttershy, then turned around and grabbed the edge of their vessel, beating her wings and quickly speeding up both herself and their boat.

~~~~~

“Aaaaaaaaaah!”

“I can’t believe that mare tricked us. What are we going to tell the captain?”

“We can worry about that when we actually get back to Orange Town. Now shut up and row.”

“And with what?!”

Three earth pony stallions were sitting in a tiny boat, trying to move it without oars or a sail. A small empty treasure chest was the only other company they had, other than the swords strapped to their backs.

“Aaaaaaahhhh!”

“Uhm… guys?”

“Why did you both follow me here?! Couldn’t at least one of you stay behind and make sure that helpless starved mare wouldn’t steal our treasure, our boat and everything we had?!”

“For the love of the stars, shut up!”

“Seriously guys, do you hear that? It sounds like it’s coming closer…”

The three stallions all turned their heads as one, staring at the small dot on the horizon that was very quickly coming closer.

“AaaaaaaaaaBOAT!”

“Did you say boat?!”

[CRASH]

Rainbow blinked, looking back over her shoulder at the mess of planks and splinters where they had just passed through. Then her gaze wandered down to the three ponies clinging to her legs. “What the… No hitchhikers! Getoff!”

The three glared back at her, trying to look menacing.

“You smashed right through our boat, you idiot!”

“You’re the ones getting off the boat. We’re part of the Trixie Pirates, you don’t want to mess with us!”

“Glub glub gurgle!”

Rainbow’s eye twitched as she let go of the boat and slowed down, slowly rising until all three stallions were hanging above the water. “You have five seconds… to let go… of my hooves.”

~~~~~

“Get back here, you damn thief!”

Rarity groaned as she galloped down the street, knowing the pirates were slowly catching up. She didn’t even have one minute in their treasure room before those two walked in on her. A full hour of sneaking through the city and cracking a magical lock, all for #*%’§.

She screamed in frustration and put on another burst of speed, trying to ignore the sound of their hooves coming closer.

“Iiiiiincomiiiiiiiing!”

Rarity looked up as a shadow passed over her, then yelped and jumped back just in time to avoid something smashing into the ground in front of her and whipping up a large cloud of dust.

She had to stop and shield her eyes, coughing as the cloud of dust settled. Finally being able to see further than her own hoof again, she noticed a pink earth pony mare standing in the middle of the street, looking around obliviously and apparently none worse for wear from the fall she must’ve taken. Rarity stared at her, stumped for the moment and wondering where the mare had come from.

“Hey, who’re you?!”

Rarity’s eyes widened and she turned around to see the two stallions that had been chasing her, only a few feet away with their swords brandished at them. She looked at them, then at the mare who was just now walking up to her with a smile that she thought was entirely out-of-place in this situation.

“Excuse me, is this–“

“Boss!” Rarity exclaimed, entirely too loud and happy, dragging the word out as she hooked a foreleg around the mare’s neck and pulled her close. This mare was quite literally heaven-sent and she had no intention to waste this distraction. “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you and then these two fellows started chasing me but now you’re here and you can take care of that can’t you okay thanks see you later~!”

Pinkie blinked, staring after the mare in confusion as Rarity bolted off and around a corner. She turned back to the two stallions, pointing over her shoulder. “What was that all about?”

~~~~~

Rarity leaned against the wall, panting lightly. “Well, that was… quite horrible, actually, but at least I got away. Shame about that other pony, but it can’t be helped. She was probably part of their own crew, anyway.”

“Part of whose crew?”

Rarity shrieked and whipped around, pressing against the wall with a hoof against her chest as she stared at Pinkie with wide eyes. “You… how… darling, don’t do that to my heart. How did you get away from those ruffians?”

Pinkie looked over her shoulder. “You mean those two stallions? They didn’t even try to talk to me, they just attacked me for no reason.” She shrugged. “So I had to knock them out, sorry. Were they friends of yours?”

Rarity just stared at her with an open mouth, then shook her head. Here she had a pony who was apparently just as strong as she was gullible. She gave Pinkie another one of her best fake smiles. “Nevermind those two. How would you like to help me with something, darling? Work together, hmm?”

~~~~~

“We’re terrible sorry, really. Of course we didn’t know that we would be meeting the famous ‘Pirate Hunter’ out here.” The stallion gave a sheepish smile and rubbed his hooves together nervously, the two stallions at his sides rowing with similar expressions. All three of them had several bruises and welts on their faces.

Fluttershy was cowering at the other end of the boat, glancing nervously between the three pirates and her own equally intimidating friend, who had closed her eyes and was already snoozing again.

The stallions slowly stopped rowing, looking down at Rainbow Dash in disbelief. “Did she really just…?” They slowly glanced at each other and started to grin, drawing their swords with their mouths as quietly as they could and moving forward towards Rainbow until they were right above her.

Rainbow twitched and kicked out with one hindleg, hitting the middle stallion right in the stomach and causing him to spit out his sword in reflex.

Rainbow caught it with one hoof, swinging it around to knock the left stallion’s sword off the boat and then back around to press it against the third stallion’s neck in one fluid movement. She half opened one eye to look up at them. “You guys suck at rowing. Double time it or I’ll kick you three off the boat again.”

“Y-yes, Ma’am!” The three of them bolted back into their positions before Fluttershy could blink, rowing two times as fast.

Fluttershy leaned down nervously, opening her mouth twice before she finally got up the courage to say something. “Uhm, Rainbow Dash? Wouldn’t it be faster if you kept pushing the boat? And, uhm… safer?”

Rainbow stretched and closed her eyes again. “This is a matter of principle. Gotta teach those colts a lesson. Besides, we’ll still be at the island in ten minutes or so. How much trouble could our captain get into in that time.”

~~~~~

Pinkie looked around at the solid iron cage around her, then strained lightly against the ropes that tied her forelegs to her barrel to test them. “You know, I’m starting to get my doubts about this plan.”

Author's Note

This chapter was originally supposed to be longer... well, actually it was supposed to be about this length, I just thought I'd get further through the story with it. This way you won't have to wait another week for the next chapter, though. Hope you enjoy. :twilightsheepish:

A Great and Powerful Adversary - Trixie Enters the Stage

Rarity smiled, whispering without turning her head to look at her. “Don’t worry, darling. I have everything perfectly under control.” She took a few steps forward towards the crowd of pirates, most of them dressed or painted in a circus theme. “Hello again, everypony. I came here with the intention to join your crew, and I captured my former boss as an offering.”

Pinkie cocked her head, looking around. “Your boss?”

“So the thief has returned to make amends, has she?”

The crowd started to mutter and look around for the source of the disembodied voice, most of them grinning knowingly. There was a loud bang followed by a plume of blue smoke bursting from the ground between Rarity and the crowd, and a powder blue earth pony mare with a silver-grey mane stepped out. She was wearing a deep blue, star-spangled cape and a pointy wizard’s hat of the same color, studded with even more stars and moons and the word 'WIZZARD' stitched onto the front in silver letters.

The mare took a few steps forward and cleared her throat, then threw her forelegs up in a pose, cape blowing behind her as two more plumes of sparkling smoke erupted on both her sides.

“Welcome! To the greatest show in the East Blue!”

Rarity took a step back, forcing a nervous smile. “T-Trixie, I presume?”

Trixie settled back down, bowing humbly with a smirk. “The Grrrrreat and Powerful Trixie! But you may call me Captain Trixie, if you want. And if you pass a… rite of induction, so to speak.”

Rarity gulped and glanced around. “And… what would that rite entail, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Trixie hummed and pretended to mull the question over for a moment. “Well, usually it would be a simple show of skill. But you gave us quite some trouble, didn’t you? And since you already brought your former Captain here…” She smiled, the expression turning slightly sinister. “Bring it in, boys.”

“Right away, Captain-ji!”

“Loaded and ready-ji!”

The crowd parted to let two earth pony colts through, both of them barely visible behind the huge cannon on wheels they were pushing. They stopped it next to Trixie, then quickly scampered back to the front of the crowd.

“Thank you, boys.” Trixie smiled after them, then turned back around, gesturing grandly towards the cannon. “Behold, the Great And Powerful Trixie’s masterpiece: the Grand Finale!”

She put a hoof to the cannon and effortlessly turned it until it was facing a row of houses. Then she waved her hooves once, producing a box of matches. “Years of research have gone into the special ammunition, the Trixie ball. And now all Trixie needs is one shot…” She lit the fuse, everypony watching with bated breath as it burned down.

[KHOOOOOOOOM]

A massive blast of energy shot out from the cannon, blindingly bright and wider than the houses it had been aiming at. It took several seconds to simmer down again, leaving nothing but a large gash in the ground where the houses used to be.

Rarity gulped audibly, smiling nervously. “That’s… very impressive? Quite a good show. Now if you don’t mind I should probably–“

Trixie cut her off, turning the cannon around and pushing it towards the unicorn. “Now now, Trixie insists. You see, after all the shenanigans you caused she is just not quite convinced you really want to join her crew. But there’s a simple solution.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to shoot your former boss with this. Nice, clean and simple.”

Rarity looked between Trixie, Pinkie and the cannon, stammering. “T-that… you mean… O-oh, of course. Nothing easier than that, y-yes?”

“Trixie sees we have an understanding. Boys, load’er up.” Trixie pushed past Rarity and strutted up to the cage while the two colts from earlier returned with a large blue cannonball. “As for you…”

She frowned and leaned in towards the bars. “You are a very unlucky mare, you know. Trixie would have just let you run off with your tail tucked between your legs if you hadn’t had the gall to show up here… wearing that hat!”

Rarity blinked, thrown off enough to forget her problems for the moment. “Her… her hat? It’s not exactly in season, I know, but don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?”

“Did I ask for your opinion?!” Trixie snapped at her before turning her attention back to Pinkie.

“Trixie would recognize that hat out of thousands. Elore gave it to you, didn’t she?! Admit it!”

Pinkie blinked, then gasped and leaned forward excitedly. “You know Shanks?”

“Know her? Know her?!” Trixie reared back and stomped her hoof on the ground, shrieking in anger. “That stupid old two-bit clown and her infuriating grin ruined my life!”

Pinkie frowned and tilted her head. “That doesn’t sound like Shanks at all… Are you sure that you’re thinking about the same pony? The Shanks I know always tries to make everypony happy?”

“She–“ Trixie raised a hoof, then froze, her left eye twitching a bit. “…Trixie does not need to explain herself to the likes of you. You won’t live to remember the story anyway.” She turned around and strutted back to the cannon. “Well? What’s the holdup?”

“Everything’s prepared-ji!”

“Fire in the hole-ji!”

Rarity took a step back as Trixie turned to her, smiling nervously. “Y-yes, darling?”

Trixie narrowed her eyes, pulling a box of matches out of her cloak. “Light the fuse.”

The unicorn gulped and nodded, taking the matches and nervously pulling one out. She pulled it across the side of the box in her magic several times, breaking it on the fourth try and chuckling awkwardly. “Oh dear, they don’t seem to be working… So sorry, Miss Trixie.”

“That’s Captain Trixie to you, and Captain Trixie is getting the impression that you aren’t even trying.” Trixie sat down and pushed her forehooves together, pulling them apart again to reveal a small flame floating between them. The flame took the form of a butterfly under polite applause and cheers from the crowd, slowly flapping its way over to the cannon.

Rarity could only watch, standing beside Trixie, as the butterfly settled on the fuse and lit it, disappearing as the fuse quickly lit down. She shifted in place, nervously looking around.

Trixie glanced at her, frowning. “Is something wrong?”

“N-no, of course not. I was just…” Rarity looked around before suddenly gasping and pointing behind Trixie. “Hey, is that a demonic duck of some sort?!”

Everypony – including Pinkie Pie – turned their heads to look; except for Trixie. The mare simply looked down at Rarity, raising an eyebrow. “Did you really think I would fall for an obvious diversion like that?”

[Shinnnnng]

There was the sound of steel and soft clop of hooves on the pavement, the tip of the cannon’s fuse falling to the ground, cut off cleanly. Rainbow Dash was standing right in front of it, wearing a cocky smirk with her wingblades ready. “So what, this a party?”

There was a dead silence as everypony stared at her, broken when Pinkie grinned and wiggled around in her ropes, trying to wave. “Hey Rainbow Dash, how’s it going?”

Rainbow turned her head, keeping one eye on the pirates and the other on Pinkie. “We’ve been separated for less than twenty minutes. How did you manage to get yourself into this mess?”

“Would you look at that…” Trixie slowly stepped forward, looking the pegasus over. “Aren’t you that infamous bounty hunter? What is somepony like you doing associating with these mares?”

Rainbow tilted her head, ears perking up. “What do you mean, ‘these mares’? I’m only with her.” She pointed at Pinkie.

“Oh, and what about–“ Trixie turned to her left, pausing as she saw only empty air. “Oh, she’s good.” She turned back to Rainbow. “I suppose you are here to take me in, then?”

“Hey, when in Roam…” Rainbow shrugged, smirking. “I’m feeling generous, though. Just give me the key for this cage and we’ll be out of your mane.”

Trixie chuckled, standing tall. “A tempting offer. How about instead I finish you off and then we continue with blasting your friend into an obnoxious pink speck on the ground.”

Rainbow looked her over, raising an eyebrow. “You really want to go at me? You don’t even have a weapon.”

“Oh really? Well, let me show you one of my most popular tricks, then.” Trixie smirked and raised herself onto her hind legs, throwing her cape out with a hoof. “Lulamoon!”

“Whoa!” Rainbow brought her wings up as far as she could, yelping in surprise as a dozen different swords and knives flew out from the inside of the cape, all headed for her and clattering against her wingblades as she deflected them with three fluid movements. “What the heck, where did those come from?!”

“Years ago I have eaten of a devil fruit, the Weapon Weapon Fruit.” Trixie declared, taking off her hat and aiming the opening at Rainbow. “I can summon any kind of weapon I want and send them at you fast enough to take your head off. Lulamoon!” The hat bulged and shot out a torrent of knives like a gatling gun, the crowd behind Trixie cheering and stomping their hooves at the show.

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow grunted, her wingblades taking on a purple sheen at the edges as she blocked the weapons one by one, flinging them away or letting them harmlessly clatter to the ground around her. After several moments the assault ended, leaving her panting lightly but still smirking confidently. “Not such a great power if you can’t hit me, is– Ugh…” She froze, twitching.

“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie gasped and squirmed in her cage, staring at the knife that had pushed itself deeply into Rainbow’s barrel without warning, blood dripping down the handle.

“Oh dear, did I forget to mention that? You see, I can also control the weapons I summoned. While you parried my initial attack, you unknowingly laid the trap that would lose you the battle.” Trixie smirked haughtily, the knives and swords around Rainbow shivering and slowly rising up.

“D… dirty cheat…” Rainbow coughed a bit of blood, wings drooping onto the floor at her sides as she grit her teeth, fighting to keep standing.

“It’s a pirate’s world. There’s no such thing as cheating.” Trixie shrugged, rubbing a hoof against her chest casually. “It’s nothing personal. Now, do you have any last words before I kill you?” The cloud of metal around Rainbow tensed, each blade pointed directly at her and quivering in anticipation.

Rainbow coughed again, then smirked. “It’s a pirate’s world…” She brought up her wings to reveal the box of matches. “There’s no such thing as cheating.” Before Trixie or any of her crew could react she quickly struck one of them against the side and turned to jump past the cannon, lighting the short remains of the fuse as she passed it.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Trixie screeched, the weapons dropping in surprise as Rainbow seemed to take cover behind the cannon, moving her right into the line of fire. Her eyes widened as Rainbow crouched right under the front of the cannon, pushing her front hooves against the underside and trying to push it up. “Hey, don’t touch that!”

Rainbow chuckled through the pain in her side, gritting her teeth. “Sorry, but I’m on a schedule. Yeesh, that thing is heavy…” She tensed up, muscles in her forelegs bulging as the front of the cannon slowly rose. “Yeeeaaaaahhh!”

With a mighty heave, the cannon turned over, swinging over before landing upside down with a heavy THUNK. Rainbow quickly scampered away to escape with Pinkie’s cage as fast as she could, while the pirates started to panic, running around and making a last, desperate attempt to escape from an attack that could obliterate whole buildings.

The fuse burned down the last inch.

[KHOOOOOOOOM]

~~~~~

“Well… that was a bust.” Rainbow dropped Pinkie’s cage in front of the tavern Fluttershy had been waiting at, shuffling over and collapsing on the porch of the building with heavy breaths, chest heaving.

“Yeah, you busted them up good.” Pinkie grinned from inside the cage, now rid of her ropes but still locked in. Her smile quickly faded as she looked at the gash in her friend’s side. “Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

Rainbow nodded, groaning softly. “Yeah, I’ll be fine… just need to sleep it off.” She looked up as Fluttershy came out of the tavern with a small scraggy brown dog by her side and scampered over with her first aid bag, quickly disinfecting the wound and fussing over it. “Oh right, I got a doctor now. You seem awfully calm about all this.”

“You’re hurt and you need medical attention. I can panic later, but I won’t let my personal problems get in the way of providing help where it is needed.” Fluttershy mumbled around a needle in her mouth. “I’m just glad you are both safe, but you will need some stitches on this, so hold still.”

“Well, would you look at that. I honestly didn’t think you would survive that encounter.” Rarity walked up the street, looking them over and frowning as she saw the injury. “Oh dear…”

“Hey Rarity!” Pinkie waved cheerfully from inside her cage, turning to face the unicorn.

Rainbow looked up, shooting a suspicious glare at the new arrival. “Aren’t you one of Trixie’s cronies?”

“Why, I’ll have you know that I’m not, and if you hadn’t just provided the distraction I needed, I would be offended by just the implication.” Rarity huffed and walked up to the cage. “But as it is, I feel that I owe you a favor. Do you maybe need some help getting out of that cage?”

Pinkie grinned. “That’d be super swell. Do you have the key?”

Rarity struck a small pose. “Oh darling, don’t be silly. Why would I need a key when I can open doors through the sheer power of my fabulosity~”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “What, are you going to flutter your eyelashes at the lock?”

Rarity simply smiled and hummed, prancing past the cage before stopping. Her horn lit up and her tail uncurled like a snake under her telekinesis, jabbing into the lock. There were a few twitches and a click and the door swung open, Rarity’s tail curling back into its usual style perfectly. She turned her head to Rainbow and gave her a smug smile. “Ten seconds flat, darling~”

“Finally! I was starting to get cramped in there.” Pinkie giggled and jumped out, stretching her legs and then stretching them some more the way only a pony made of rubber could. After a few moments she paused, ear twitching. “Hey, do you girls hear something?”

Rainbow didn’t answer, snoring quietly as she lay on the porch, her barrel wrapped up in bandages now in a way that they didn’t hinder her wing movements. Everypony else turned their heads however, looking down the street at the sound of hoofsteps and metal grinding on stone.

They watched curiously as a small, light brown earth pony came running down the street, awkwardly dragging a sword almost their own length across the ground. They stopped a couple paces away from the group, huffing and panting to catch their breath, then picked up the sword again and ‘charged’ the rest of the way towards them, yelling around the handle in a raspy voice. “Get out of town you dumb pirates!”

Pinkie watched as the foal ran towards her, slowly lifting a hoof and casually pushing it down against their forehead, easily keeping them at distance. She waited for the foal to push and squirm against her for a while, kicking up dirt until they slowly tired and finally sat down, dropping the weapon but shooting a defiant glare up at Pinkie.

Pinkie stared down at them for a moment, then turned to the others. “I thought this was a ghost town. What’s a colt doing all alone out here?”

“I’m a filly!” The not-colt yelled, flailing furiously before going back to glaring at Pinkie.

Pinkie blinked, looking her over again for a moment before tilting her head. “Huh… you could’ve fooled me. What’s a filly doing all alone out here then. Are you looking for your parents?”

The filly jumped up, pushing her chest out slightly in an attempt to look bigger and more intimidating. “I’m here to liberate this town from you and your crew, pirates! I’m Babs Seed, the mayor of this town!”

Everypony stared at her for a moment, until Pinkie turned back to her friends. “No seriously, who is this kid?”

~~~~~

Steam and dust wafted across the plaza, slowly dissipating to reveal a crowd of pirates, all cowering in some way or another. One by one they lifted their heads to look around, some of them gasping as they looked at where their certain death had loomed just a moment ago.

“Everypony, look!”

“It’s Captain Trixie!”

“She did it again!”

“Incredible!”

The two colts from before stepped forward, looking in awe at their captain.
“That’s the true strength of our Captain-ji.”
“Stopping an attack with the sheer power of her will-ji.”

Trixie was standing tall and proud, her cape flapping in the breeze and her hat under one foreleg as she looked out in the direction Pinkie and Rainbow had disappeared. Only inches away from her hooves the edge of the road was sizzling and glowing with red heat, a clean edge separating a short crater from the point at which the blast seemed to have been stopped suddenly.

Trixie narrowed her eyes, smiling despite her visible exhaustion. “Everypony, get ready… the show has only just started.”

Author's Note

That took waaaaay longer than I hoped, and I'm really sorry.

Kudos for anyone who can guess who the two colts in Trixie's crew are (it's not Snips and Snails).
Extra kudos if you know Shanks' full name.