Pirates of the Alicorn: Legend of the Silver Spirit

As the cold, bitter darkness surrounded Twilight she couldn’t help but wince in fear due to the continuous blackness blinding her vision. Suddenly she began to feel heat, an extreme heat, it was as though her very skin was on fire and there was no way to put it out. Twilight then screamed in pain as the intense high temperature began to burn her from head to hoof, suddenly her eyes burst open and Twilight found herself collapse on the hard floor of her bedroom, her whole body tangled in her bed sheets.

“Twilight!” she heard Spike’s voice say. “Are you alright?”

“Wh… wha?” Twilight murmured as she struggled to her hooves. “What happened?”

“You were screaming in you sleep,” Spike explained. “It looked as though you were having a nightmare, I tried to wake you but you just rolled onto the floor.”

When Twilight finally managed to pick herself up she staggered towards the bedroom mirror, when she looked her reflection she saw the dark rings underneath her eyes and the ruffled feathers in her wings, clearly that nightmare has taken its toll on her.

“That must have been some nightmare,” she said trying to tidy her now frizzy mane. “I can’t even remember it.”

“You can’t?” Spike said with a puzzled look. “Blimey, even I would have remembered my dream if it was that bad.”

Not wanting to push the matter any further, Twilight decided to change the subject.

“Come on Spike,” she said softly. “We better go down to breakfast.”

Twilight and Spike then exited their bedroom towards the dining hall, as it turns out Twilight and her friends had spent the night in Canterlot Castle so that they could spend the next day organising Princess Luna’s birthday celebration, which was supposed to be held later that night. When Twilight and Spike finally made their way through the marble hallway and entered the dining hall they found the rest of the Mane Six already there.

“Hey Twilight!” Applejack said waving towards her. “What kept ya?”

“Indeed Darling,” Rarity added as she patted her lip with a napkin. “You cannot simply sleep in when there’s so much work to be done.”

“Sorry girls,” Twilight said as she took a seat next to Fluttershy. “I must have overslept.”

“Well I hope you got enough sleep silly billy,” Pinkie Pie said with her usual giddy smile. “Cause we got a big day ahead of us.”

“Indeed we do,” said another majestic voice as another pony entered the dining hall.

Every pony instantly turned and saw the regal form of Princess Celestia entering the room.

“Good morning my little ponies” she said with a smile. “I trust you slept well?”

Twilight would have said something about her nightmare but both she and Spike decided it would be best not to trouble Princess Celestia with such a thing today.

“Quite well your majesty,” she simply said.

“Well I’m glad to hear it,” Celestia answered her. “We have much to prepare for tonight, you all know your assignments I trust?”

At those words Twilight smiled and took out a somewhat long list of tasks, needless to say the rest of the Mane Six and Spike to silently groan to themselves, Twilight simply ignored them and turned towards Celestia.

“We certainly have Princess,” she giggled as she began to read the list aloud. “Pinkie Pie will of course be organising the entertainment for the guests, Applejack will be in charge of the catering for the feast, Fluttershy will be using her choir of songbirds to…”

Suddenly Twilight was interrupted by a loud belch from Spike who had let of a small burst of green flame along with a scrolled up letter.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack said with a raised eyebrow.

“I thought Princess Celestia could send letters like that,” Rainbow Dash said, also with a puzzled look.

“So did I,” Celestia added as she levitated the letter towards her face.

Suddenly her face lit up when she saw the seal upon the scroll.

“Who… who’s it from?” Fluttershy asked.

“An old friend of ours,” Celestia said with a smile as she unrolled the letter and began to read it aloud.

“Dear fellow Shipmates

I know it’s been a long time since we last met and we have been meaning to send word to you but we had no idea how before and as you can probably guess, the life of a pirate is a busy one. Needless to say we have missed you all terribly since we last saw each other, Rummy hasn’t been his usual giddy self ever since he and Fluttershy parted on the Equestrian shores. However there has been some good that have occurred this past year, our crew has now expanded from the few that left Equestria, we even have a new Diamond Dog named Rocky as our newest navigator, a nice fellow, you’d like him. Another bit of news I have is the fact that this Captain has finally retired, about a month after we left Equestria I passed down the mantle to Shimmer, she captains the Golden Alicorn now and I must say she has taken to the job quite nicely, however while most of you would expect this old seadog to spend his retirement on some island beach the Element of Hope has given me an energy boost that makes me feel thirty years younger, thus I decided to stick around to show Shimmer the rope of being a Captain. What can I say? This old coot still likes to have his fun. Finally I need to tell you all that we look forward to seeing you all again, as a special gift Shimmer has ordered the Golden Alicorn to return to Equestria as soon as possible.

See you soon, hopefully with the next full moon.

Forever your friends,

Jack Silver and the Pirates of the Alicorn

P.S. We hope Princess Luna would accept the enclosed relic as a token for her birthday. Don’t worry we didn’t steal it; it was the result of Shimmer’s first treasure hunt as Captain.

P.P.S. I apologise in advance if this letter should arrive soggy, Big Rummy got a little confused with how this letter delivery works and he tried to shove it down Slash’s throat.”

When Celestia finally finished the letter, every pony couldn’t help but smile, especially Fluttershy. It had been over a year since they had seen their friends aboard the Golden Alicorn and yet they still remember each and every one of them… Dripfang, the Changeling with an incredible sense of devotion; T-Cog, the albino Pegasus with two missing limbs and a love for machinery; Gem la Stone, The Unicorn with a skunk-like mane and an eye for gem inspecting; Slash, the baby dragon who can easily kick someone’s flank despite his missing eye; Big Rummy, the ship’s gigantic cook and the stallion who stole Fluttershy’s heart; Marina, the kelpie with a heart of gold; Shimmer, first mate now turned Captain of the Golden Alicorn and of course there was her father, the Unicorn stallion who first built the Golden Alicorn and became the bearer of the Element of Hope, Jack Silver. The Mane six then thought back to their grand adventure together, braving storms, surviving the challenges in the Burmuleda Triangle, and saving the lives of everyone in Ponyville. No pony will ever forget friendship like that.

“They’re… they’re coming back?” Fluttershy said with a tearful smile.

“Well ain’t this a pleasant surprise,” Applejack added.

As Celestia then inspected the golden coin stuck to the bottom of the scroll, realising what it was she too smiled.

“The Moonlight Pendant,” she said as she gazed at the ancient carvings upon the relic. “Rumoured to have been lost when the ship carrying it sank to the bottom of the sea, Luna will be most happy to see this.”

“I still can’t believe they’re coming back,” Rainbow Dash stated.

“Indeed” Rarity added. “Although I must admit it will be a grand day for all of us when they arrive.”

“Indeed it shall” Celestia said with a nod. “And we will be sure to give our friends a proper welcome when they arrive, but for now we had better get back to preparing for Luna’s birthday, she may be exhausted from lowering the moon but she won’t stay asleep all day.”

“Then we better get to it” Twilight said in agreement.

While every pony else gathered around Twilight so that they could confirm what they had to do that day, Fluttershy however simply looked out of the window and sighed. As she gazed out towards the horizon towards the glimpse of the sea all she could think about was her sweetheart, Big Rummy, the goofy cook who stole her heart was finally returning to her, it was at that moment she couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing at this very moment.

Meanwhile, just a few miles from the coast of Equestria a ship was riding the gale towards the shore, a ship with deep red sails. As an aging navy Unicorn raised his spyglass to his eye and spotted the small glimpse of land far off in the distance, he couldn’t help but put a smile across his bearded face.

“Are we close?” said a teal coloured earth pony standing next to him.

“If we keep up this speed, we’ll be there by nightfall Captain,” the Unicorn replied.

“Father, I told you not to call me that!” Shimmer said with a blush.

Needless to say Shimmer was still a little embarrassed whenever some pony called her by her new title, it may have been a year since she became Captain of the Golden Alicorn but she still couldn’t help but wonder whether she was the right choice. Then again who could ever follow in the hoof steps of the great Captain Jack Silver?

“Oh come on Shimmer,” Jack laughed. “You know you like it, after all I didn’t pass down my hat for no good reason.”

And Jack didn’t mean it figuratively, now that Shimmer was Captain she was the one who wore Jack Silver’s dirty brown hat topped with a phoenix feather, she would have worn the coat as well but Shimmer found it more comfortable with her own vest, thus Jack kept the coat. As the two ponies stared towards the shores of Equestria, they couldn’t help but sigh.

“I still can’t believe it’s been a whole year since we left this place,” Shimmer said. “It’ll be wonderful to some familiar faces again.”

“Indeed,” Jack said in agreement. “And just in time for the dear Princess’s birthday bash as well.”

At those words the two couldn’t help but laugh, imagine the looks on every pony’s face when a bunch of pirates decide to crash the party.