Pirates of the Alicorn: Legend of the Silver Spirit

While the Mane Six and the Pirates prepared the Golden Alicorn for the voyage, Heatwave paced back and forth across the floor of the cave in the side of the mountain where he and Fedora Green were hiding, evidently he had already discovered his unfortunate situation with the Crystal Scrolls.

“One scroll,” he growled in anger. “I go through so much time and effort in planning that theft and all we manage to bring back is one damn scroll!?!”

“P…please sweetheart,” Fedora said nervously. “You need to calm down…”

“HOW THE HELL CAN I CAN DOWN!?!” Heatwave screamed at her. “WITHOUT THE OTHER TWO SCROLLS, WE’VE GOT NOTHING!!!”

“W…well at least we still have…” Fedora began only to be suddenly pinned against the cave wall by an angry Heatwave.

“Don’t try to tell me the bright side of this Fedora!” he snapped. “You know full well it won’t make me any less…”

Suddenly Heatwave stopped in midsentence after seeing a huge shadow lurking over him, nervously he turned his head to see a dark figure standing in the dim torch light, needless to say he was alarmed by the mere sight of it.

“I… I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow.” He said nervously.

“Situations have changed Heatwave,” the figure said in a cold feminine voice. “News of your theft has already spread all across Canterlot.”

“It… it has?” Heatwave asked anxiously.

“Indeed, however that’s not the only news I have been hearing,” the figure continued. “It would seem that two of the scrolls you have tried to steal have somehow landed within the hooves of a bunch of pirates that are staying in Canterlot castle. Care to explain how that could have happened Heatwave?”

It was at that moment Heatwave fear of the figure got too much for him.

“It... it wasn’t my fault!” he said trying so hard not to wet himself. “Fedora was the one who…”

“SILENCE!” the figure screamed, instantly shutting the scarred Unicorn up. “I don’t care for your excuses Heatwave, when I ask you to do something I expect you to do it right, not botch up a simple robbery and dishearten me, I have already suffered enough disappointment when my entire hive was scattered to the winds after our failed invasion of Canterlot.”

“I… I understand mistress,” Heatwave said instantly bowing to her.

Suddenly the figure stepped out of the shadows and revealed herself, she appeared to be a tall, black pony with a twisted horn, a pair of tattered insect wings, a pair of fangs and wore a small, black crown atop her tatty green mane, it was Queen Chrysalis.

“Honestly, what am I going to do with you Heatwave?” she said coldly. “You know I can’t allow failure to interfere with my plans, I did not spend so many years plotting my revenge against Canterlot just for a pair of incompetent ponies I found shivering in the snows of the Icy boarder to present me with yet another disappointment.”

It was at that moment Fedora decided to speak up to the Changeling queen.

“But… but we didn’t completely fail your highness,” she said showing her the one remaining scroll. “We… we did manage to get this.”

As Chrysalis quickly looked over the scroll and read the Changeling writing upon it, an evil looking grin spread across her face.

“Heatwave,” she said looking towards the frightened Unicorn. “Would you please ignite your horn?”

Though confused by this request, Heatwave did what he was told at set used his magic to set his horn alight, instantly Chrysalis lifted the scroll to the flames on Heatwave’s horn and it instantly caught ablaze. At first Heatwave and Fedora gasped in horror after seeing what Chrysalis had just done, however after the flames dispersed and the scroll revealed to be both unharmed and renewed, they understood why she did it.

“How predictable,” Chrysalis said. “My Grandmother always said Starswirl couldn’t resist such an obvious riddle. Ah, the island of Trotkyo, this must be where one of the keys is located.”

“M… my lady?” Heatwave said, obviously still confused.

Seeing the muddled look in his and Fedora’s faces, Chrysalis simply rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Why do you think I ordered you to steal these scrolls for me?” she said in an irritated tone. “I would have thought the legend of the Silver Spirit would be well-known within your kind, however judging from your faces I can clearly see I was mistaken. However we must not dwell on the ignorance of you ponies, for now we have business to take care off.”

“B…business?” Fedora said nervously.

“Judging from the gossip I’ve been hearing throughout Canterlot, those mangy pirates have already discovered the secrets hidden on the other two scrolls and they plan to set sail as soon as possible to the locations marked upon them with one of the princesses in tow.”

“W…what do you want us to do, your majesty?” Heatwave asked.

At those words Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed.

“YOU will be staying here and figuring out how we can reach the island of Trotkyo without drawing any attention to ourselves, Fedora on the other hoof will be doing something far more crucial for my plans…”

The next morning, Jack Silver awoke to the sounds of clamping hooves about deck, when he finally managed to pry himself out of his hammock and stretched his tired, old body out, he clambered up the wooden stairs and walked out onto the deck of the Golden Alicorn. When his eyes finally adjusted to Celestia’s late morning sun Jack saw that the entire deck was completely full of ponies and Diamond Dogs, some of which he didn’t recognise.

“What in the name of…?” He mumbled.

Deciding to get to the bottom of this, he walked down the gangplank to where Slash was sitting at a small wooden work desk on the dock writing what looked like a list of ponies’ names.

“Good morning Jack,” Slash said with a smile as he jotted a few more names down on the scroll. “Nice to see you can finally join us.”

“Morning Slash,” Jack said in a quick reply. “Hey, who the hell are all those ponies on board the ship?”

“Oh they’re a bunch of new recruits,” Slash explained. “After word got out that we were on a mission for the princesses, sailors from across Equestria have been showing up all morning offering their services, so Shimmer thought it was a good idea to welcome them into the crew as a temporary workforce.”

“Why?” Jack said with a raised eyebrow.

“Need I remind you that he last time we were short-handed we all almost passed out due to exhaustion,” Slash said jotting more stuff down on the scroll. “This way we’ll be able to get to each country without the loss of any speed, Heck its only 11 o’clock and I’ve already got at least twenty new recruits in the logs.”

As Jack peered down at the list of names Slash has been writing down he had to admit Slash brought up a good point, if the crew was to reach the keys before Heatwave tried anything then they needed all the help they can get. Shimmer was indeed turning into quite the Captain for making such a decision.

“So where is our dear Captain now?” he asked.

“She said she was going to help out Twilight and her friends prepare for the voyage this morning,” lash answered. “And Rummy and T-Cog went with her, I think they’ll be back in about an hour or two though.”

Hearing this Jack simply nodded and began to walk back up the gangplank

“I’m going to see how Rocky’s doing with those maps,” he said. “Call me when the others come back.”

“Will do,” Slash answered as Jack disappeared from view.

As Slash filled in the last of the information on the document he was working on, he suddenly noticed the shadow of someone standing above him, when Slash looked up he saw two ponies standing in front of the desk, one a white unicorn with a frizzy blue mane and tail and wearing sunglasses and the other a grey earth pony with a long black mane and wearing a pink bowtie, however both ponies seem to have a musical note for a cutie mark and have a suitcase next to them.

“Um, excuse me sir,” the grey earth pony said. “But is this the Golden Alicorn?”

“Of course it is Octy!” the unicorn stated “Don’t you see the name on the side of the ship?”

“I was trying to be polite Vinyl!” the earth pony snapped. “Sorry about her, my name is Octavia Melody and this is my friend Vinyl Scratch.”

“And what is it that I can do for you two lovely ladies?” Slash said, trying but obviously failing to put on a charming face for the unimpressed earth pony.

“We understand that you intend to travel to Prance as soon as your ship is ready to leave,” Octavia explained. “And since the Princess has ordered all the other ships that were supposed to be leaving Equestria to remain docked until further notice, this seems to be the only ship that is allowed to leave the country at this point.”

“Basically we were wondering if we can hitch a ride with you guys until we reach Prance?” Vinyl Scratch added.

At words Slash’s expression changed from a smile to a look of concern.

“Okay firstly how did you know we were heading for Prance?” he said sternly. “And secondly, what do you think we’re running, a taxi service?”

Needless to say Octavia was taken aback by the baby dragon’s rude attitude towards her, however she soldiered on and tried to talk him down.

“At this point every pony knows you pirates are on a mission for the princesses, granted none of them know what the mission is given all the secrecy.” She explained. “As for how we know you’re all going to Prance, we just happen to be walking by the door when your Captain was discussing it with Princess Celestia.”

“How’d you…?” Slash puzzled. Suddenly realising what Octavia meant. “Wait, that’s right you were that pony you was playing the cello at Princess Luna’s birthday party back at the Castle, I must say you play quite brilliantly for someone without claws.”

“Indeed,” Octavia said, slightly flattered that the dragon can appreciate such fine music. “And I simply must get to my Auntie’s estate in Prance, I’m expected to play at her daughter’s wedding in a week.”

“And I have to come along because SHE thinks I’ll burn down our apartment as soon as she leaves.” Vinyl added.

Suddenly Slash’s eyes narrowed in frustration.

“Look, I told you the answer is no,” he said sternly, “Unless either of you has any experience in sailing a ship then there’s nothing I can do.”

But Octavia wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

“Look, clearly you aren’t willing to listen to reason,” she said, suddenly obtaining a sly grin. “But I think we know a way to convince you to let us on board.”

“Oh yeah?” Slash said in response, just dying to see what the earth pony was planning, “And how exactly are you planning to do that?”

“By speaking your language buddy” Vinyl smirked, levitating a somewhat large ruby from her suitcase.

Slash’s eyes suddenly widened at the delicious cherry-flavoured stone staring him in the face, however after years of learning to control himself around gems he wasn’t going to let these two ponies push him around over just one stone.

“Keep talking,” he said with a sly grin.

At those words, Octavia nodded her head and Vinyl levitated a small bag from her suitcase and emptied it out onto Slash’s work desk to reveal several gems of different sizes. Now Slash was satisfied.

“Yep this’ll do,” he said smugly as he put all the gems back into the bag and stuck it under the desk. “Welcome aboard the Golden Alicorn ladies, just head below deck and ask for Marina, she’ll show you to your sleeping quarters.”

At those words the two ponies smiled, grabbed their luggage and walked up the gangplank, witnessing the whole thing from the mast, Dripfang flew down to the dock.

“Do my eyes deceive me Slash?” he said sternly. “Did I just see you let two civilians on board?”

“Maybe,” Slash said sheepishly.

At first there was silence for a few seconds, all of a sudden both the baby dragon and the Changeling burst out laughing.

“Oh man, this is going to be hilarious!” Dripfang smirked.

“You bet it is,” Slash giggled. “Just imagine the looks on their faces when they find out that they just paid a load of gems to WORK on board this ship.”

“Oh Slash you sly son of a seadog!” Dripfang said giving him a playful slap across the back. “But in all seriousness though, Jack was just wondering if there was anything else we needed before shipping off.”

“Well after those two and our missing crewmembers that should be returning within the hour I’d say we’re alright for sailors,” Slash said looking over the paperwork on the desk. “The cargo hold has already been filled to the brim so we should be okay for supplies for the next few months and Rocky should already be setting our quickest course for Prance at this very minute.”

“So we’re all good to go then?” Dripfang asked.

“We’ll be ready to leave as soon as Shimmer and the others come back,” Slash said backing everything up. “Although for some reason I keep thinking we’re forgetting something.”

Indeed they were forgetting something, due to the events of Heatwave’s theft Slash and Dripfang had completely forgotten the prank they pulled on Prince Blueblood, in fact he was still hanging upside-down from a tree, still dressed up in a filly pink skirt and with his mane and tail tied up into pigtails, right where Slash and Dripfang left him.

“Get me down from here!!!” Prince Blueblood screamed. “For love of Auntie Celestia get me down! Please! I have to use the Bathroom!”

That scream echoed throughout the entire Canterlot gardens however no pony bothered to help him out due to the other ponies simply not caring what happened to him due to his pompous attitude or the fact that they were just too busy laughing their heads off at his expense.

“Eh, I’m sure it’s nothing,” Dripfang said shrugging the idea off. “Come on, we better get ready to cast off.”

And with that Slash and Dripfang folded up the wooden desk and the paperwork and walked up the gangplank. An hour later, A small group of ponies consisting of Shimmer, T-Cog, Big Rummy, the Mane Six, Luna, Celestia and a few castle guards came  walking up to the docks.

“Are you sure you have everything Luna?” Celestia asked her sister.

“Tia, please stop worrying,” Luna said reassuring her. “I have all the necessities I need in my trunk.”

At those words two of the castle guards walked ahead of the group and lifted a somewhat medium sized trunk onto the Golden Alicorn.

“Well at least you packed lighter than SOME ponies” Shimmer said glaring at Rarity and her fifteen suitcases.

“Hey, I may have been traveling rough the last time I was on board this vessel but this time I plan to have all the necessary requirements I need,” Rarity stated flipping her mane. “After all I must look fabulous when we arrive in Prance.”

At those words Shimmer couldn’t help but give small groan.

“Fine,” Shimmer sighed. “But if we end up slowing down due to weight problems, every single one of those suitcases will be thrown overboard, understood?”

At those words, Rarity gasped at the very thought of such a thing, however after seeing the serious look in Shimmer’s eyes she nodded in defeat. Shimmer then turned towards Applejack and Twilight who seemed to see down in the dumps for some reason.

“Are you two okay?” she asked. “You seem to be pretty quiet.”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, we’re fine,” Applejack said lifting her head. “Just had a little trouble at home is all.”

“What happened?” Shimmer asked inquisitively.

“After we told Applebloom that she and her friends couldn’t come with us on the voyage, they got terribly upset.” Applejack explained. “We tried to explain that it might be too dangerous for em but they wouldn’t hear of it.”

“And the same thing happened with Spike,” Twilight added. “After what happened with Blackhorn last year I couldn’t bear the thought of Spike going through that kind of ordeal again, so I made him stay behind.”

At those words, Shimmer couldn’t help but feel sorry for the two mares, even Rarity and Rainbow Dash looked as though they felt guilty for telling the little fillies who admired them to stay behind while they went off on another adventure without them.

“In all honesty guys I was actually surprised YOU all said yes to my offer,” Shimmer admitted. “I would have thought after what happened last time you would want to sit this one out but instead you just said yes without any hesitation.”

“We all know the risks Shimmer,” Twilight reassured her. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t just sit back and wait for something to happen while you guys are sailing half way across the world trying t find those keys.”

“Yeah, and besides why did you offer us a spot on the crew if you felt this way?” Rainbow Dash added.

“I don’t know,” Shimmer said sheepishly. “I suppose it felt right to ask, after all we wouldn’t have found the seventh Element of Harmony without your help so I suppose having you with us now just seems… right.”

“The Captain does bring up a good point lass,” T-Cog added as he pulled one of Rarity’s heavy suitcases with his hook. “After all, it wouldn’t be the same without you guys.”

“And Rummy and I only just reunited,” Fluttershy pointed out. “I couldn’t even bear the thought of spending any MORE time away from my Rummy-bun.”

“Hehe, Me neither Flutter-cup,” Big Rummy giggled.

Rainbow Dash instantly tried to hold back her laughter at that last remark, Fluttershy and Big Rummy were already giving each other nicknames? Luckily she managed to hold back her tear-filled giggles long enough for Shimmer to change the subject.

“Either way I’m glad you’re all coming along again,” she said with a smile. “And I am also honoured that you could join us Princess Luna, it will make the discovery of the Silver Spirit that much more special when the Princess of the Night is there is claim it.”

“I’m glad you’re so welcoming Captain Shimmer,” Luna said expressing her gratitude as she and the others walked up the gangplank. “I just hope my presence on the ship won’t be too much of an inconvenience.”

“Oh that’s just nonsense your nibs” T-cog smirked, pulling Rarity’s suitcase onto the deck. “It will be a pleasure to have you with us.”

Luna smiled at the albino Pegasus’s remark, she was indeed glad to be welcomed aboard the ship. When everything was loaded onto the ship and every pony was on board, all that was left to do was to say their farewells.

“Goodbye dear sister,” Celestia said with a teary-eyed smile as she gave Luna a tight squeeze.  “And good luck,”

“She will be in good hooves your majesty,” Jack said walking up to say his goodbye to her, “You have my word as a gentlecolt.”

“Thank you Jack,” Celestia said gently as she gave the old Unicorn a slight pat on the shoulder. “I wish you all the best of luck, I hope you find it.”

“As do we princess,” Shimmer said giving a slight sigh, “As do we.”

When everyone finally said they’re goodbyes, Celestia walked down the gang plank onto the dock.

“Ugh… I don’t feel so good y’all,” Applejack said, suddenly turning green.

“We haven’t even cast off yet!” Rainbow Dash said face-hoofing. “Are trying to tell me your already getting seasick!?!”

“Guess the memories of the last voyage kicked in the ol’ stomach a little early,” Applejack said shrugging.

“Good job I stalked up on the tonic then, eh lass?” T-Cog chuckled, giving her a small, familiar-looking bottle from his vest pocket.

“Thanks Cog,” Apple jack said gulping down the entire contents of the bottle in one gulp. “There was no way I was going to go through all that again.”

“Alright that’s enough chit-chat,” Shimmer stated. “Let’s get this ship out to sea!”

“You heard the Captain lads!” Jack called out to the crew. “Raise the gangplank and let’s cast off!!!”

Instantly reacting to the command, every pony and Diamond Dog gave a salute to their captain ad screamed “AYE-AYE CAPTAIN!”

In an instant all ponies and Diamond Dogs ran to their posts and began preparing the ship for cast-off, even the Mane Six suddenly found themselves getting back into their old jobs and assisted in getting the ship  out to sea. When Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Big Rummy finally managed to raise the anchor the ship finally began to leave port and sail towards the horizon. As Celestia stood upon the dock and watched the golden Alicorn sail into the distance she couldn’t help but sigh in awe.

“Good luck my friends,” she said quietly as she saw the Alicorn disappear into the horizon.