The Voyage of the Mareitania

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven

Chapter One

The hustle and bustle of the city of Manehattan was always a sight to behold. For ponies who called this place home, it was just like any other day as they enjoyed the many shops and restaurants that this city had to offer. For others who lived elsewhere, it was more chaotic trying to make their way around due to not being used to the increased amount of activity. This latter case was all too real for one particular pony, a red colored unicorn stallion with a brown mane and tail wearing a black uniform jacket, as he had struggled to get around since leaving his ship at the docks.

Steel Blade, Fourth Officer of the Equestrian Merchant Steamship, or EMS for short, Celestia, a small ocean liner owned by the Red Apple Line. For roughly half a year, he served aboard her. Six months of which the majority was spent at sea. He didn't mind it though. There was always a sense of peace and tranquility whenever the ship was plowing through the waves. Nothing like having to navigate his way through the large metropolis.

As he walked along, he was having to constantly avoid bumping into other ponies while also making sure to not lose track of where he was. It was all very tiring for him as he continued onward. But as he was looking upward at the buildings around him, he accidentally bumped into another stallion. Grunting upon impact, he looked back down at the stallion in front of him who looked annoyed that he was disturbed.

"Watch where you're going, you fool!" the pony said before walking away. Rather than say something back, Steel just kept his mouth shut before looking back upward. His eyes scanned the rooftops until they found what he was looking for. A white colored flag with a red colored apple in the center of it. This was the flag that represented the company he worked for. And it was also the sign that he had arrived at the location that he was looking for. That being Red Apple Line's Headquarters.

"What exactly does Dotted Line want that required me to come to HQ?" he asked in thought as he used his magic to pull a neatly folded paper from his jacket's pocket before looking at it. It was a message that was delivered to him not long after the Celestia arrived from her latest voyage.

To Steel Blade,

I know that you've only been with the Red Apple Line for a short period of time. But I would like for you to come to RAL Headquarters in Manehattan to discuss something that would be better for a face-to-face discussion rather than being written. Come as soon as you receive this letter. I look forward to speaking with you.

Signed,
Dotted Line
Red Apple Line Chairpony

"Well..." the stallion said to himself as he straightened up his clothes and put the paper back in his pocket. "Let's get this over with." With that said, he began making his way across the street, being careful to stay out of the path of any oncoming carriage. Once across, he looked up at the main entrance to the building and gulped before slowly making his way up the steps to the twin glass doors. He then used his magic to open up one of them before stepping inside.

"Welcome to Red Apple Line Headquarters," a unicorn mare said while sitting behind her desk. Looking at the nameplate sitting on it, her name was Stormy Skies. "How may I help you?"

"Uhh.... hello," Steel replied as he slowly made his way over to the desk. "I have a meeting with Dotted Line."

"I see," she replied before looking down at some papers on her desk. "Can I get your name?"

"Steel Blade."

"Ah," she replied before looking back up at him. "Yes. Mr. Line has been expecting you. His office is just down the hall. Last door on the left."

"Ok," he said while nodding. "Thank you." With that said, he started making his way down the hall, thinking of what exactly this meeting would be about. "What if I did something wrong and he wanted me to come here just so he could see my face when he fires me?" he thought as the door to his employer's office drew closer. "Come on Steel. Keep it together. You've done nothing wrong. At least as far as you know."

He then stopped directly in front of the door. Taking a few seconds to steady his nerves, he raised his right forehoof before gently knocking on the door three times.

"Yes?" A voice asked from inside the room. "Who is it?"

"Dotted Line?" Steel asked in a nervous tone. "It's... Steel Blade. You sent me a letter to come and speak with you here?"

"Ah. Yes," Dotted's voice answered. "Please come in." Upon hearing that, Steel did as he was told and slowly opened the door with his magic before stepping inside. Once inside the room, he closed the door behind him. After that, he turned and looked over toward his boss, a white colored unicorn stallion with a light blue mane, who was sitting behind a desk with several different colored binders stacked on one side.

"So what exactly did you need, sir?" he asked as he made his way over to a chair in front of Dotted's desk. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You think I'd bring you here if you did something wrong?"

"Good point."

"Exactly," Dotted said. "You needn't worry about anything, Steel. You've done nothing wrong during your time here."

"That's a relief." Steel thought as Dotted levitated a red colored binder, almost the same color as Steel's coat, from the stack of binders.

"I'm sure that you're aware of our newest company flagship that was just completed a few days ago. Right?"

"The Mareitania?" Steel asked. "Yeah. I've heard about it."

"Good." Dotted said before opening the binder. "Now the reason I've asked you to come here is because I've been looking at potential candidates for who will be in command of her when she embarks on her maiden voyage." Steel's pupils shrank as he heard this. "Bear in mind that there were quite a few who would be great Captains." He continued. "But I'm feeling that we should go in a different direction when it comes to selecting for this instance. One that will be with the ship for many years instead of just a few."

"Many years? Where exactly is this going?" Steel thought as Dotted flipped through a few pages in the binder.

"So a few days ago, I just so happened to come across your file and decided to give it a look." Dotted continued. "And I must say that I was impressed by what I saw." Steel raised an eyebrow as the white unicorn continued flipping through pages. "Graduated at the top of your class from the Equestrian Merchant Marine Academy. Skilled in sword fighting. Good vision and hearing. And according to your former teachers, very mature despite being so young."

"Woah." Steel said in his mind. "I didn't think I left that good of a reputation there."

"That brings me to where we are now." The white unicorn said. "I understand that you're currently the Fourth Officer of the Celestia."

"Yes."

"So you have at least some experience out at sea."

"I suppose you could say that," Steel said while rubbing his hoof against the back of his head. "But I'm not so sure that what experience I have qualifies me as even a potential candidate for the Mareitania. I've only been with the Celestia for about 6 months now. And that's just barely more than how long I've been with the company itself."

"Under normal circumstances, we here at the Red Apple Line would have our most experienced Captain take a brand new ship out on her maiden voyage," Dotted replied as he put Steel's binder on top of the stack. "But he's due for retirement next week. So we'd then have to find another pony to succeed him. To avoid the trouble of doing that, I wanted to find somepony who would be with her for quite a long time." After saying that, Dotted got up from his chair and proceeded to look out a window that was behind his desk. "That is why I've decided to name you as Captain."

"What?!" Steel exclaimed in shock.

"I know it sounds ridiculous." Dotted said as he looked back toward the surprised stallion. "An employee who's only been with us for not even a year is now Captain of our newest liner. But I'm sure you'll do fine. I've already cleared it with Captain Ironsides over on the Celestia. He said that he was very happy for you."

"I uh....." Steel said, still stunned by his new rank. "I don't know what to say. You really think I'm the best one for this job?"

Dotted simply nodded his head. "Now if you'll come with me..." he said before walking over to the door. "We have a ship to take out on her sea trials."

"Yes sir," Steel said before getting out of his chair to follow his boss.

The carriage ride from Red Apple Line HQ to the harbor didn't last long, only about fifteen or twenty minutes. On the way there, Dotted was telling Steel all about the specs of the new liner. Her length, beam, draft, tonnage, etc. Steel was amazed by what his boss was saying. If what he was saying was true, the Mareitania was going to be the largest and fastest ship on the sea.

"So we'll be testing her maneuverability and speed today as well as how quickly she can go from full speed to a stop," Dotted said. "These tests will take a few days to complete. But if she passes, her maiden voyage will be in a couple of weeks."

"What if she doesn't pass?"

"Then we'll have to see what needs to be done to make sure that she will pass," he replied. "But I'm quite confident that the scenario you're thinking of won't happen."

"Let's hope not," Steel thought as the carriage came to a stop outside the main gates to the Red Apple Line's largest pier.

"Take a look out the window," Dotted instructed as he slowly pointed his hoof toward the glass. Steel did as he was told and turned his head only for his eyes to widen and his jaw to drop at what was out there for him to see.

"Sweet.... mother of Luna...." He said as he just stared at the vessel that was currently tied up at the pier.

"Captain Blade...." Dotted said before opening the door of the carriage, allowing Steel to step out before he joined him. "Allow me to introduce you to your new ship. I present to you...." He then slowly raised one of his front hooves to point at the ship. "The EMS Mareitania." All Steel did in response was just stare. The first thing that caught his attention were the four giant red and black funnels. It was certainly a change of pace from the Celestia, which only had one. "Step lively now, Steel." Dotted said, snapping the red unicorn out of his self induced trance. "We're on a very tight schedule."

"Yes sir," he replied before following his boss toward a strange metal arch with some kind of green field of magic inside. Standing on each side of this thing was a pony from Manehattan's local police force. "Uh.... Dotted?" he asked before the chairpony went through the arch. "What in Equestria is this?"

"It's a changeling detector," one of the police ponies, a pegasus mare, replied. "In order to prevent changelings from disguising as passengers or crew ponies, the scientists at the research facility up in Canterlot created a way for us to detect any disguised changelings. Now anypony entering or exiting through the harbor must pass through one of these checkpoints."

"Does it work?"

"Well, we haven't caught any yet," the other pony, an earth pony stallion, replied. "But the scientists said that if a changeling tried passing through, the field of green magic would turn red. Now please move through if you're wanting to enter."

Dotted nodded his head before walking through the arch, passing right through the green magic like it wasn't even there. Once through, the police mare on the left waved her hoof to signal Steel that it was his turn. He nodded in response before slowly making his way through the wall of magic.

"Have a good day now," she said after Steel emerged on the other side. Both unicorns nodded in response before turning their respective attentions back to the ocean liner that was tied to the dock. It looked enormous from the pier as they gazed directly up the side. As they did this, Steel noticed smoke rising out of the four massive funnels.

"The tugs should be here any moment to take us out for the trials." Dotted said before he turned and started walking toward a gangway leading onto the ship.

"And the Maritime Safety Inspector?" Steel asked as he followed.

"She should be here anytime now."

"Alright then."

As both of them walked aboard, Steel's jaw dropped once again. Only this time, it was because of the luxurious interior. From highly decorated wood paneling to beautiful paintings, everything he saw could rival the finest hotels in all of Manehattan.

"Pretty nice, eh?" Dotted asked after noticing his companion's expression.

"How much.... did all of this cost?"

"Quite a lot of bits," he replied. "So please be extra careful with her."

"Y-yes sir."

"Good afternoon, gentlecolts," A mare's voice said from behind them, making both stallions turn around. Standing before them was an earth pony mare who was wearing a dark purple business outfit. "I am Ms. Harshwhinny, the Maritime Safety Inspector assigned to this ship."

"I know you," Steel said, making her raise an eyebrow. "Aren't you the Games Inspector for the Equestria Games?"

"I am a mare of many hats," she replied as she looked at Steel. "And who exactly would you be?"

"This is the stallion who is in command of this liner," Dotted answered. "Captain Steel Blade."

"Is that so?" she asked in an unimpressed tone before looking at the red unicorn, more specifically his black colored jacket. "Well if he's the Captain. Then why isn't he wearing a proper Captain's uniform?"

"He just got promoted." Dotted replied sheepishly. "He'll be sure to be in uniform by the maiden voyage."

"I see," she said before looking at her watch. "Well even though I'm having a wonderful time chatting with the two of you, there are still tests to conduct. That being said, the tugs should be arriving right.... about.... now." As soon as she finished speaking, a chorus of small whistles erupted from outside. "Right then. Now let us make our way to the bridge so the tests can begin."

Chapter Two

As Steel, Dotted, and Ms. Harshwhinny made their way out onto the boat deck, Steel's eyes grew wide at what he saw. Comparing this ship to his old one was like comparing a small house to a castle. Everything was bigger in scale. Glancing up, his mouth went agape at the sight of just how big the four funnels were.

"This is incredible." He said while looking around as Dotted led the way to the bridge. "I never thought I'd see anything like this."

"I can certainly agree with that." Ms. Harshwhinny replied. "This is quite an amazing vessel in terms of looks."

"Thank you, ma'am." Dotted said. "I was hoping you would like her."

"But looks won't matter if she can't pass these tests." The earth pony continued. "And my expectations are quite high considering the amount of bits you've invested into her."

"I'm confident that she will pass." Dotted replied before the group reached the bridge. "And it is here that I will let Captain Blade take over and run the tests."

"What?!" Steel exclaimed in surprise. This unexpected outburst made both ponies turn to look at him. Upon viewing their gazes, Steel just let out a sheepish chuckle before clearing his throat. "I mean uh... yes sir." He said before walking into the bridge.

"Trial by fire." He hears Ms. Harshwhinny say to Dotted as he walks over to the side of the ship where the mooring lines were being released.

"Don't screw this up." He said in his head. "Don't mess up. Don't mess up. Don't mess up." Soon, he could feel himself beginning to shake as the pressure slowly started getting to him.

"Captain Blade." Dotted said, breaking Steel's moment of panic. "A word in private, please."

"Sure." He replied before the two ponies made their way into a small cabin behind the bridge.

"Now Steel..." Dotted began to say after closing the door behind them. "I know you must be nervous right now. And that is very understandable."

"Nervous is an understatement, sir." He replied. "Are you completely sure about this?"

"Steel. I wouldn't have done this if I wasn't sure. I know you're nervous and I know that I just placed a large amount of weight on you. But I know you can do it. I've seen your record from the Academy. You're the top of your class. I believe in you, Steel."

"But what if I fail?"

"You won't."

"But-" Steel's response was quickly cut off by Dotted placing his hoof on his back.

"You won't fail." He repeated. "Now I wasn't going to show you this until after today's tests, but the room we're standing in will be your cabin."

"My.... cabin?" Steel asked before giving the room a more thorough look. A large bed, much bigger than his old one on the Celestia, sat in the middle along the back wall. On both sides along the wall were nightstands with lamps mounted on both. A small table sat beside one of the windows with two padded chairs, one of them for him most likely. Along the right wall was a door that, when Steel opened it, revealed a private bathroom with his own bathtub.

"Now you're free to add or remove anything in here to make it more comfortable for you." Dotted said as Steel turned around to look at him. "And I know this isn't your full uniform....." He continued before he opened one of the drawers of the nightstands with his magic and levitated a Captain's hat out. "But at least now your crew will know who's in charge." This made Steel smile a little bit before he took hold of the hat with his blue magic and placed it on his head. "Not a bad look." Dotted said, prompting Steel to laugh for a moment. He then turned and walked back over to the door leading onto the bridge. "Are you ready to get this started?"

Steel glanced upward at the bill of his hat before he breathed in heavily. He then slowly exhaled before feeling a new sense of confidence flow through him. "Yes." He replied. "Yes I am."

"Good." Dotted said before opening the door. "Let's get started then." Steel nodded before following his boss out onto the bridge. Once the two reemerged, Steel calmly walked over and propped his front hooves up on the railing of the starboard bridge wing and saw that all mooring lines have been released. He then proceeded over to the port bridge wing and found all of the tugs waiting with their lines attached.

"They're waiting on you, Captain." Ms. Harshwhinny said, making Steel look back at her. "Signal them to take us out."

"Right." He replied before going back onto the bridge. Looking around, he soon found what he was looking for. "This should do it." He thought before taking hold of Mareitania's whistle lever with his magic. Soon, he pulled down on it, sending a long blast from her whistle across the city. Once he let go, each of the tugs responded with a toot from their own horn before they all began pulling the large liner away from the dock. "Excellent."

"What are your orders, Captain?" A voice from behind asked, making Steel turn around. A green unicorn stallion with a black mane and tail wearing a black Officer's uniform stood before him.

"Who exactly are you?"

"My name is Port Side." He replied. "I am your First Officer."

"Nice to meet you." Steel said. "I am Steel Blade."

"It's good to meet you as well, Cap." The green unicorn replied.

"As for my orders...." Steel said before seeing that the tugs have pulled the ship completely away from the pier and the bow is now facing down the Hoofson River. "How about we give the tugs some help."

"Slow ahead then?"

"Yes." He replied. "Slow ahead."

"Aye sir." Port replied before enveloping each engine telegraph lever with his green magic. Steel looked on as each handle moved to the 'Slow Ahead' position. A minute later, he could feel the turbine engines begin to slowly turn the four bronze propellers. He then turned to the pony who was at the helm. "Keep us toward the middle of the river." He said.

"Yes Captain." The pony replied.

"So." Port said as Steel looked back at him. "First day as a Captain, eh?"

"Yeah."

"Where were you before this?"

"Fourth Officer on the Celestia."

"Quite the promotion." Port replied in an impressed tone. "You must have something special about you."

"Perhaps." Steel replied. "But I'm not sure."

"Hmm..." He said. "Well it looks like Mareitania isn't the only thing being tested today then." This made Steel look at him with a puzzled expression. "Seems like you're being put to the test as well." As the two ponies conversed, Dotted made his way onto the bridge.

"Ah. Good. I see you've met your First Officer." He said. "I'm hoping that the two of you will work well together."

"I'm sure we will, sir." Port replied.

"How are we doing on speed?"

"Lets see...." Steel replied. "Looks like she's doing about five knots right now."

"Good." Dotted said. "The tugs will release us as soon as we enter the mouth of the Hoofson. From there, we will navigate to the testing area just off the coast."

"Yes sir." Steel replied.

As the large liner made her way down the Hoofson River accompanied by her flotilla of tugboats, Steel looked on as crowds of ponies gathered on both sides of the river. He could see various camera flashes along with many ponies waving as the ship passed by. Seeing this made him smile as he had never seen anything like this before.

Before long, the liner had reached the mouth of the Hoofson River. Steel noticed this and grabbed a megaphone from inside the bridge.

"Release the tugs!" He shouted to the ponies on the forecastle. The ponies replied with a quick salute before going to work on removing the towing lines. As they did this, the crew members stationed on the stern did the same as well. Now for the first time, Mareitania was sailing all on her own.

"So where is the testing area?" Steel asked before Port grabbed a map with his magic.

"Not far." He replied. "Just a few miles to the southeast."

"Right then." Steel said before looking over at the pony behind the helm. "Ten degrees starboard. Course 120."

"Ten degrees starboard. Course 120." He repeated before turning the wheel to the right until the rudder indicator was at the position Steel requested. Soon enough, the liner began turning to starboard.

"Engines at Half Ahead." Steel requested.

"Half Ahead. Aye sir." Port replied before moving the levers into position. As Steel was finding his rhythm and comfort in commanding the liner, Dotted Line and Ms. Harshwhinny looked on as the ship began to pick up speed.

"He seems to be doing well so far." Ms. Harshwhinny stated as she watched him. "I'm impressed."

"I knew he was up to the task." Dotted replied. "I can tell that he'll make a fine Captain."

"We shall see." She said before looking at her watch.

Roughly 30 minutes passed until Mareitania reached the testing area. The area was a wide open space with several buoys positioned in a straight line at intervals of 100 yards.

"Alright Captain." Ms. Harshwhinny said as she looked at Steel. "Bring us up to maximum speed."

Steel nodded his head in response before looking over and grabbing each engine telegraph lever with his magic. He then moved each of them down to 'Full Ahead'. Soon, he could feel the vibrations of the engines as they sped up, driving the massive liner faster through the water.

"What's our speed?" Dotted asked after a few minutes.

"20 knots and rising." Steel replied. This response made Dotted smile.

"The fastest ship in Equestria could only do 20 knots!" He said in thought. "And we're still going faster!" He stayed like this for several minutes as Steel kept calling out the speed until it eventually stopped at 24 knots. This speed made Mareitania the fastest ship in all of Equestria now.

"Now that we are at full speed." Ms. Harshwhinny said. "I want you to perform a series of hard turns in both directions to see how she handles."

"Yes ma'am." Steel replied. He then turned to the helmspony. "Starboard 45 degrees!" He called out.

"Starboard 45 degrees." The pony replied before quickly spinning the wheel to the right until he could no longer turn it. Mareitania quickly responded to this by slowly rolling toward her port side as she went through her turn.

"Port 45 degrees!" Steel called out.

"Port 45 degrees!" The pony repeated before spinning the wheel to the left until he no longer couldn't. As the ship came out of the turn, Steel felt her straighten up before rolling toward her starboard side as she started turning to the left.

"Very nice reaction times." Ms. Harshwhinny replied. "Not exactly turning on a bit, but it's still better than most of the other liners. Now I want to see how fast she can go from full speed to a complete stop. Bring us to the beginning of the line of buoys."

"Yes ma'am." Steel replied. After a few minutes, Mareitania soon approached the line on a parallel course. As they approached the first buoy, Steel made his way over to the port side bridge wing. "Wait for it..... Wait for it......" He said in his head until the bow passed the first buoy. "Now! Full Speed Astern!" He called out, making Harshwhinny begin her timer. Port Side quickly moved each lever from 'Full Ahead' to 'Full Astern' before he joined Steel and Harshwhinny out on the bridge wing. Moments after, Mareitania's propellers stopped before her two inboard propellers began to churn in the opposite direction.

All ponies aboard looked on as the large liner began slowing down, passing buoy after buoy along the way. Time began to slow along with her as each second passed.

"Come on. Come on." Steel thought as the almost 32,000 ton liner slowed down until her bow had stopped just behind one of the buoys. Once she came to a stop, Port moved the levers to 'All Stop' before joining Steel, Dotted, and Ms. Harshwhinny on the bridge wing.

"How did she do, Ms. Harshwhinny?" Dotted asked.

"850 yards." She replied before looking at both Steel and Dotted. "Well done. That is quite acceptable." Steel and Port each looked at each other and smiled.

"That's fantastic!" Dotted exclaimed.

"Indeed." She said. "Now take us back to Manehattan and we will perform more tests tomorrow. If all goes well, then this ship will be ready for her maiden voyage."

Chapter Three

Two weeks had passed since the Mareitania completed and passed her sea trials. Ponies had been working round the clock to get the ship ready for her maiden voyage to Mareseilles, Prance. Chairs, beds, paintings, and crates containing various foods and drinks were brought aboard in preparation until the day finally came.

11:30 am (Manehattan)

The air was filled with excitement as hundreds of ponies gathered at the docks to catch a glimpse of the Mareitania before she departed on her maiden voyage. Ponies that already boarded were lining her rails, waving goodbye to their friends or family below. A band stationed by the main gangway leading on board was playing a joyful tune. Cranes were busy loading the last of the cargo into the holds and the sound of tug boats standing by for the scheduled noon departure just added to the excitement.

As all of this was happening, Steel sat in his cabin behind the bridge, reading a newspaper that was brought to him earlier in the day. While it contained mostly stuff that didn't really interest him, one article did catch his attention. It was an article about Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends taking a two week vacation on board the royal clipper, Solar Wind. While it would have been nice to have them on board the Mareitania for her maiden voyage, he guessed that they probably didn't want to take the spotlight away from him or his ship.

After folding up the paper and putting it on his bed, he stepped out onto the bridge before walking out onto the starboard bridge wing. The brass buttons on his new white uniform shined in the light of the sun, which made him smile whenever he looked at it. Shifting his attention down toward the pier, he could see crowds of ponies lining the dock, with various camera flashes coming from reporters and newsponies documenting this historic day.

"Captain." Port's voice said from behind him, making him turn around to see his First Officer standing a couple of feet away with a clipboard being held in his green colored magic. "My check of the preparations is complete. She's ready for departure."

"Excellent." Steel replied. "Then all that's left is waiting for our departure time." He then levitated a pocket watch out of his jacket. "Which is in less than half an hour."

"Is there any other tasks for me to complete?"

"I want you to oversee the last of our cargo being loaded on board." He said. "Make sure nothing is damaged. We wouldn't want our maiden voyage to be tarnished by some passenger's belongings being destroyed."

"Yes sir." Port replied before saluting, earning one from Steel in return before he walked away to follow the order given to him. Alone once again, Steel turned to look back down the side of his ship toward the dock below just as a carriage pulled up. However, unlike the numerous other occurrences of this type of event happening, this carriage was swarming with members of the Royal Guard. This made Steel look on in curiosity as the door of the wagon opened and a white hoof could be seen extending out.

"Well would you look at that." Steel thought as he saw Princess Celestia, the ruler of all of Equestria, step out of the carriage. But she was not alone. Soon enough, seven other ponies and a little dragon stepped out before stopping beside the Princess of the Sun. Steel recognized six of the ponies as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony: Princess Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. However, the identities of the light purple unicorn with the purple and cyan mane and the young dragon eluded him. But seeing them with the others made him shrug it off as just being their friends.

"Maybe they changed their minds and decided to come be a part of Mareitania's maiden voyage after all." Steel thought as he looked down at them. But then a memory of what the guards at the gate leading onto the pier flowed into his mind. "Or maybe....." He continued in thought while rubbing a hoof under his muzzle. "Nah. Come on, Steel. There's no way that they could be changelings. The detector would've gone off if they were."

He was still looking down at the ponies when the sound of hooves approaching made him look up and turn around to find Dotted standing in front of him with a big smile on his face.

"I'm glad to see that your uniform is fitting you nicely, Captain." He said. "I can tell that this is going to be a glorious day for the Red Apple Line."

"Yes it is, sir." Steel replied. "I will do my best to make sure that neither I nor this ship disappoints you or the company."

"I'm sure you will."

"And it looks like we've attracted some rather interesting passengers." He continued before motioning for him to look down. Dotted did as instructed and looked over the side before his mouth went agape at what he saw.

"Sweet Celestia!" The white unicorn exclaimed, making Steel quietly chuckle for a moment before acting normal when his boss looked back up. "This is so exciting!" He said in a joyful tone. "Never in our company's history have we had any member of royalty travel on one of our liners."

"First time for everything, sir." Steel said as the chairpony of the Red Apple Line danced around on the bridge wing like a young colt who just got an extra cupcake for dessert. This spectacle made the red unicorn chuckle softly again as Dotted quickly rushed off to most likely greet the special passengers. After losing sight of the chairpony, Steel levitated his watch back out of his coat pocket. "Twenty minutes til departure." He thought before making his way into the bridge. Once in, he noted how much the sunlight made the polished brass instruments shine. A feeling of pride began swelling up inside him as he looked around.

"I still can't believe that this is actually happening." He thought while placing a hoof on the helm. "Captain of the largest ship in all of Equestria."

"Captain.... Blade!" Dotted's voice said in an exhausted tone from behind. Steel turned around to find his boss panting heavily and sweating profusely in the doorway leading into the bridge, almost like he sprinted all the way from the pier to the bridge. "The Princess.... would like to meet you..... before we depart."

"Uh.... which one?"

"Celestia!" This response made Steel's pupils shrink. Never in his life had he ever seen the Princess of the Sun in public until today.

"P-Princess Celestia wants to m-meet m-me?" He stuttered. Dotted just nodded in response before quickly motioning with his hoof to follow him. Steel obliged and the two unicorns set off toward the main boarding lobby where the Princess and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were presumably waiting. Along the way, Steel couldn't help but be extremely nervous. This would be the first time he would be conversing with royalty and thus wanted to make a good first impression.

"If their experience on this voyage goes well, who knows how much the Red Apple Line could benefit from it." Dotted said excitedly as the two rushed through a corridor. "We could be the most prestigious line on the Equestrian Ocean!"

"That would be very nice, sir." Steel replied just before they went down a stairway. "But let's focus on right now instead of the future."

Dotted's cheeks turned slightly red when he heard that. "Yes." He said before clearing his throat. "I uh... suppose that is the proper thing to do." After saying that, the two turned a corner before entering the hallway leading into the main boarding lobby. Even from where they were, Steel could make out the unique mane of Princess Celestia. He gulped a bit as they approached.

"Just play it cool, Steel." He thought as they entered the room. "She's just another passenger. No different than anypony else."

"Princess Celestia." Dotted said, gaining the alicorn's attention along with the respective attentions of Twilight and the others. "I'd like for you to meet the stallion who is in command of this glorious vessel, Captain Steel Blade." Celestia's eyes fixated themselves on Steel, who shook slightly. All around the room, ponies gazed on as she held out her hoof.

"It is an honor to meet you, Captain." She said in her calm and soothing toned voice. "I must say that you have a beautiful ship here."

"T-Thank you, your highness." Steel replied before shaking her hoof. "But the honor is all mine. To have you all here is a pleasure."

"Quite so." Dotted added.

"And I must say." Steel continued before looking over at Twilight and her friends. "It certainly was a surprise to see you all here. I guess you decided to cancel your planned vacation to come be a part of this historic voyage instead. Hmm?"

"What?" Twilight asked as a confused look appeared on her face. "Oh! Yeah. We uh... definitely thought that this was a much better way to relax than what we had planned." She then looked toward her friends with a sheepish smile. "Right?" Each one of them quickly nodded their heads while agreeing with the lavender alicorn. But the look of nervousness plastered on each of their faces caught Steel by surprise. Before he could do or say anything though, Dotted cleared his throat.

"Well it is a delight to have you on board." He said before pulling a watch out of his coat pocket. "Now if you'll excuse us, we must be on our way. The beginning of our company's flagship's maiden voyage is just minutes away." With that said, Dotted turned and walked away. "Come along, Steel."

"Yes, sir." He replied before turning to follow. But as he walked away, he could faintly hear whispers coming from behind. "Is there anything else you needed?" He asked before looking back toward the group of ponies who were still smiling at him.

"Nothing that I can think of." Twilight quickly replied. "We'll just uh.... be on our way now. It was nice to meet you, Captain." Soon, they all turned and walked away. Steel did the same, but occasionally looked back at them before he had to turn a corner to get back up to the boat deck. As he walked, he couldn't help but think about the reaction they displayed when he mentioned their planned vacation. It was certainly one that he was not expecting. Almost like they didn't even know what he was talking about.

Once back on the boat deck, Steel made his way over to the port side bridge wing just as members of the crew were tying up the tow lines from the tugs. Pulling out his watch again, he saw that the time had come for departure.

"Port." He called out, gaining his friend's attention.

"Yes Cap?"

"Sound the whistle. It's time to make some history."

"Aye aye, sir." He replied before grabbing the whistle lever with his green colored magic. He then pulled the lever down, sending a long blast from Mareitania's whistle across the city. Once done, the sound of the tugs' whistles tooting in response could be heard before they started pulling the massive liner away from the dock. The crowd of ponies on the pier cheered and waved at the ponies up on main deck as the liner was slowly pulled backward into the Hoofson River.

"Looks like the tugs may need our help again." Steel said before grabbing the engine telegraph levers with his magic. Soon, he pulled them back into the 'Slow Astern' position. Down below, the engineers soon brought the turbine engines to life as the two inner propellers began churning in reverse to aid the tugs.

"45 degrees to port." Steel calmly ordered to the helmspony.

"45 degrees to port." He repeated before turning the helm counter-clockwise until he couldn't turn it any longer. After a minute or so, the bow of the ship was facing down river.

"Straighten out the rudder." Steel said. "And engines at Slow Ahead."

"Slow Ahead. Aye sir." Port replied while pushing the telegraph levers forward with his magic.

"Rudder at 0 degrees." The helmspony added.

After hearing that and sensing the engines go from astern to ahead, Steel took hold of the whistle lever in his magical grip before pulling down on it, sending another long blast from the massive whistles across Manehattan. Soon after, the large vessel slowly started to move as now all four propellers were slowly rotating, pushing the massive liner forward.

"Mareitania is under way." Port said as he joined Steel on the port bridge wing. As the two looked out at the crowd of ponies lining the shore, both of them waved as they passed by. Looking down at the boat deck, Steel could see Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight along with the rest of her friends as they all waved toward the ponies on shore. They all seemed delighted as the ship moved down the river. Seeing this made him remember the conversation he had with them. Upon making a mental note to keep an eye on them whenever he could, he turned his attention back toward the waving ponies and waved at them again.

"Let's hope that everything goes according to plan." He thought before glancing down the river as the mouth approached. From there, it was nothing but open ocean for five days until Mareitania would arrive at Mareseilles, Prance.

Chapter Four

With nothing but open ocean out in front of them, Mareitania was soon brought up to her cruising speed of 24 knots. As the wind blew across his face, Steel stood on the starboard bridge wing with both Port and Dotted alongside him. All three ponies were smiling with pride as their ship sliced through the water.

"Well. I'd say that was a pretty smooth start to this voyage." Dotted said before patting Steel on the back. "Excellent work."

"Thank you, sir." He replied before turning to look at his boss who just smiled at him. "I'm glad that you're happy with how things are going."

"Why wouldn't I be?" He asked. "We're on the largest, fastest, and most luxurious ocean liner in all of Equestria. I can tell that leaving her under your command will be a decision that I won't regret."

"I'm sure it won't be either, sir." Port replied before giving Steel a playful nudge. "He'll be fine. Especially when he's got me here as well."

"Splendid." Dotted replied. He then turned around and proceeded to walk toward the stairs leading down to the boat deck. "Now if you'll excuse me, I shall go and see how our guests are enjoying things thus far. Keep up the good work, you two."

"Yes sir." Both Steel and Port said simultaneously while saluting their boss. As Dotted disappeared down the steps, both of them turned to look back out at the ocean ahead of them.

"I'm glad to see that we've attracted quite the list of passengers." Port said as he leaned up on the railing. "The Princess of the Sun, the Princess of Friendship, and the rest of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. That alone will only add to the spectacle of our first voyage."

"I suppose." Steel replied. Hearing this, Port looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow. Surely Steel should've been excited about having such famed passengers on his ship. But from the tone in his voice, he wasn't happy at all.

"Something on your mind, Cap?" He asked.

"It's nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing to me." He replied. "Come on. Say what's on your mind."

"I'm..... just a bit confused. That's all."

"About what?"

"Give me a second." Steel replied before walking onto the bridge and entering his cabin. A minute passed before he emerged with the newspaper he had read earlier. "Take a look at the article on the second page." He said before giving Port the paper. Once secured in his magical grip, Port opened the paper and looked at the article Steel had mentioned.

"Huh." He said as he read what was printed. "That does seem a bit odd." He then folded the paper before looking at the date at the top of the front page. "But then again, this paper was printed yesterday. Maybe they changed their minds and quickly rushed up to Manehattan from Mareami to join us."

"Maybe." Steel replied.

"Well the only other explanation is that they're changelings. And that can't be true because the detectors would've gone off when they passed through."

"Yeah. I suppose you're right." Steel replied. "Maybe I'm just worrying over nothing. This whole experience has been stressing me out beyond anything else. Including the academy."

"Hey." Port said before putting a hoof on Steel's back. "I get that you're under a ton of pressure right now. I'm sure I'd be doing the same thing if I was in your position. But I just want you to know that if you ever need help or wanna talk to somepony about anything on your mind, I'm here for you."

"Thanks Port." He replied before sighing slightly. "That means a lot to me right now."

"Anytime Cap." Port said before the two looked back out at the ocean ahead of them.

As the hours passed by, the smoother things became for everypony on board. The ship was on course and at full cruising speed. No mechanical problems had been reported. And supper time was rapidly approaching as the sun started to dip beneath the horizon behind them. Choosing to take advantage of the calm, Steel decided to do something productive and was busy polishing the steel of his sword in his cabin. The metal shined brightly in the light of the lamp on his nightstand, making him smile with pride before putting it back in the scabbard and securing the strap around his body.

"There you go." He said to himself before three knocks on his cabin door made him look toward it. "Enter." He called out, prompting the pony on the other side to open it. Once open, Steel saw Dotted looking happier than he normally was. "Ah. Hello Dotted. Is there anything you need?"

"I was just wondering if I could speak with you for a moment." He replied before stepping in and closing the door behind him.

"Of course." Steel said before sitting down at the small table by his window. Dotted sat down in the other seat and was about to say something before the sound of his stomach growling cut him off. "Hungry sir?" He asked before chuckling slightly.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I am." He replied. "But I was hoping to ask you what your plans for dinner were."

"I was thinking about just having something brought up here." Steel replied. "That way if I'm needed on the bridge, I wouldn't be far."

"Nonsense." Dotted replied. "You can't just sit in here throughout the entire voyage. Another part of being Captain is being social with your passengers."

"I uh...."

"Which is why I would like for you to join me, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, and the rest of her friends for dinner." This made Steel's pupils shrink once he heard what Dotted said. "We'll be having carrot dogs, hayburgers, and for dessert, we'll be having delicious chocolate cake."

"Huh. I was expecting something fancier."

"Well for the first dinner of the maiden voyage, I think that this was a good choice." He replied. "Simple, easy and quick to make, and it would remind anypony of home."

"Well when you put it like that, I guess it makes sense." Steel said before his own stomach growled. He then sighed before looking back up at Dotted. "But eating dinner with Celestia, Twilight, and her friends makes me feel nervous. What if I say something inappropriate? What if something happens and I have to come back up here?"

"I'm sure Port can handle things for a few hours while we dine."

Steel breathed in heavily and slowly exhaled. "Alright." He said before a smile appeared on Dotted's face. "Let's get going then, shall we?"

"Yes." The white unicorn replied. "I'm quite famished." With that said, the two ponies got out of their chairs and exited the small cabin. Once on the bridge, Steel looked over at the pony at the helm. A dark blue colored earth pony with a black mane.

"What is your name, sailor?" He asked, gaining the pony's attention.

"Huh?" He asked. "Oh! Uh... My name is North Star, Captain."

"Well then, North." Steel replied. "Mr. Line and I will be away from the bridge for a few hours. First Officer Port Side will be in charge until I get back. Understood?"

"Y-Yes sir." North quickly replied.

"Excellent." He replied before giving the pony a quick salute. Once done, he and Dotted stepped out onto the bridge wing where Port was standing. "Port." He said, gaining the green unicorn's attention. "You're in charge until I get back from dinner."

"Aye Captain." He replied as Steel and Dotted made their way down the small staircase to the boat deck. While they walked along the deck, Steel looked up and was amazed by how beautiful the stars looked in the night sky.

"Pretty calm night. Wouldn't you agree, Steel?" Dotted asked, making Steel look at him.

"Yeah." He replied. "The stars are beautiful right now."

"I'd think that it's a good sign for things to come." He said as the two turned and walked inside. Once in, Steel noticed many ponies conversing with one another over different topics. But once their eyes saw him, they'd turn and smile before giving him a small wave. Steel just smiled back and waved in response. Once he and Dotted walked by and were away from the groups, he sighed slightly and looked a bit down toward the floor.

"I never had to socialize with the passengers back when I was on the Celestia." He thought as they approached an elevator. "This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought."

The dining hall was filled with many ponies as they conversed about various topics. Everywhere you looked, there were ponies sitting at tables, giving their food orders to their waiters, and sipping their drinks. At the 'Captain's Table', Steel sat between Dotted and Princess Celestia. The look on his face was one of discomfort as his eyes looked back and forth across the room at all of the ponies. Every now and then, he'd take a sip of his tea before looking over at Twilight and her friends. They were chatting among themselves just like everypony else was doing.

"Maybe Port was right." He thought while looking at them. "Maybe I am just imagining things." After thinking that, he looked down and saw that the food on their plates were left untouched. "Are they not hungry or something?" He thought just as the sound of something being hit against a glass repeatedly made him look over to find Dotted propped up on the table with his fork tapping against his glass.

"May I have everypony's attention please?" He called out. Soon after saying that, the room became silent as each pony turned to look at him. "Greetings everypony. My name is Dotted Line. I am the Chairpony for the Red Apple Line. Firstly, I would like to express my thanks to each and every one of you for joining us on this historic voyage. I have had the pleasure of seeing many fantastic ships cross this ocean. But this crossing by far will most likely be the most memorable one. And I have each and every one of you to thank for it." After saying that, the ponies in the room cheered and hollered. "And now." He continued after the crowd quieted down. "I would like to introduce you all to the pony who is in command of this luxurious liner. He is one of the Equestrian Merchant Marine Academy's best graduates and we at the Red Apple Line are proud to have him. Fillies and gentlecolts. I give you Captain Steel Blade!"

The room once again became filled with applause as Dotted motioned for him to stand up. With a sheepish smile on his face, Steel did as instructed and stood up before propping himself on the table as Dotted sat back down in his chair.

"Thank you." He said over the roar of the crowd. "Thank you. You all are too kind."

"Speech!" A pony called out from the crowd. Soon enough, several ponies were chanting the same thing.

"Speech! Speech! Speech!"

Steel kept his sheepish grin shown as the ponies in the room kept repeating themselves over and over. He knew that the only way out was to do something he never liked doing. That of course being made to speak in front of large crowds. He looked down toward his plate, closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply before sighing heavily, making sure not to groan as that would send the wrong message.

"Alright. Alright." He replied after looking back up toward the ponies in front of him, earning another cheer from the room. Once the room went quiet again, he cleared his throat while looking out at the crowd. "Well. As Dotted Line said before. Thank you all for joining us on this maiden voyage. This is actually my first crossing as a Captain. But I promise to do the best I possibly can to ensure a smooth voyage." He then turned toward Celestia and Twilight. "And I would especially like to thank Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, and the rest of her friends for joining us on this voyage as well. I'm sure you all were in quite the rush to get up to Manehattan from Mareami to be with us on this crossing."

"Huh? Oh! Y-Yes!" Twilight quickly replied. "We certainly didn't want to miss this special event." Once again, Steel found himself surprised by how she responded. The rest of her friends quickly nodded their heads in agreement. Steel looked at all of them as they smiled at him before looking toward Princess Celestia. She just seemed to be calm and relaxed as she sipped some of her tea.

"Anyways." He continued before looking back out to the crowd. "Right now, we are currently travelling at a speed of 24 knots. With that said, I'm proud to announce that we are not just on the largest ship in all of Equestria. We're also on the fastest as well." The room erupted in cheers once again, cutting off what Steel was going to say. Instead of continuing to speak, he waited until they became silent once more. "At this speed, we should be arriving in Mareseilles in roughly four to five days. I hope that each of you enjoy yourselves until then. And thank you all once more for being a part of this historic voyage." After saying that, he sat back down as the room gave one more round of applause before going back to their respective conversations.

"That was a very excellent speech, Captain." The calming voice of Princess Celestia said. This made Steel's pupils shrink as soon as he heard that as he turned to find the ruler of all of Equestria looking at him with a warm smile.

"I-It was?"

"Yes." She replied. "I have a feeling that you will be a fine leader."

"T-Thank you, Princess." He stuttered in response, visibly surprised by what she said. "Coming from you, that means a lot to me."

"You're welcome." She replies as the doors leading into the kitchen open to reveal many unicorn waiters carrying plates of chocolate cake in their respective magical grips.

"Ah. Good." Steel said as the ponies began distributing the plates to each table in the room. "It's time for dessert." He then turned to look at Twilight's friend, Pinkie Pie. "I hope you enjoy this dessert, Pinkie Pie." He said. "I know how much you love cake."

"Y-Yes I do." She replied just as a plate was placed in front of her. "I just love eating cake."

"Well then enjoy." Steel said before the rest of his table were given plates of chocolate cake. As he began eating, he made sure to glance over toward Pinkie as she looked at the cake. Soon, she leaned forward and took a bite out of the cake. He looked on as she chewed it for a few seconds before swallowing. After that, a smile formed on her face until her whole face turned green. "What the buck?" He thought just as Pinkie raced out of the room.

This predictably made a few ponies scream while others spat out their cake.

"The chef's trying to poison our protectors!" One of them cried out as Twilight and the rest of her friends rushed out of the room in the same direction that Pinkie Pie did.

"Calm down, everypony." Dotted called out. "Please. Remain calm." He then stood up and walked over toward the door leading into the kitchen. "I will have a word with the chef. Just please. Remain calm. There's no need to panic." With that said, he opened the door and walked in. As he did this, Steel looked down at his slice of cake. It was absolutely delicious. Probably one of the best slices of cake he ever had. He then looked over at Princess Celestia who hadn't touched her slice of cake yet.

"I'm so sorry about this, Princess." He said. "I'm sure that there's some explanation for this."

"I'm sure there is as well." She replied before getting up. "If you'll excuse me. I'm going to go check on how Pinkie Pie is doing."

"Of course." He said as she walked away. After she disappeared through the doors leading out of the dining room, Steel got up and walked over to where Pinkie's plate was. He then used his magic to pick up a fork before taking a chunk out of the uneaten portion of the cake. After examining it closely, he put it in his mouth. Much to his surprise, it tasted exactly like his slice. "There's nothing wrong with the cake." He thought as he chewed and swallowed before looking to see that the crowd was watching him.

"Captain?" One of them asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." He replied. "I'm perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with the cake at all."

"B-But then why would that pony have a reaction like that?"

"I'm not sure." He said. "But I can assure you that the cake is not poisoned. Please. Continue on with your meal." After saying that, he heard multiple sighs of relief. "I better go see how Dotted and the chef are doing." He thought before he started making his way toward the kitchen. With each step he took, he could hear pans falling to the floor, plates shattering, and the distinct sound of the chef arguing with Dotted. Stopping just outside the door, Steel breathed heavily before gently pushing the door open. "Uh... hello?" He asked while poking his head into the room to find Dotted in front of him arguing with the head chef.

"How dare you accuse me of trying to poison somepony!" The chef yelled. "You insult my honor and integrity as a chef!"

"Well how else do you explain her having that kind of reaction?" Dotted yelled back.

"Uh... guys?" Steel said just as the chef picked up a pan that contained a whole cake covered in chocolate frosting.

"Would you like to try some for yourself?" The chef asked. "Here!" After saying that, he immediately threw the pan in Dotted's direction. But the white unicorn ducked out of the way, allowing the cake pan to smack Steel directly in the face. The sound of Dotted gasping was soon heard as the pan slid down his face until the edge of it caught the tip of his horn.

"Steel!" Dotted said before using his magic to get the pan off of his friend's face. "Are you alright?"

"I'm.... fine." Steel grunted in response before his eyes opened up and glared at the chef who threw the pan.

"Captain Blade!" The chef said. "I'm so sorry! I did not intend to hit you with that pan."

"What's your name, chef?"

"Michelin." He replied.

"Well then. Chef Michelin." He said. "I wanted you to know that your cake is not at fault for what happened."

"See?!" Michelin called out as he looked toward Dotted. "I told you it wasn't my cooking!"

"Then what could've caused Ms. Pinkie Pie to have such a reaction?"

"I'm not sure." Steel replied. "But I tried some of her cake. It was exactly like mine."

"I see." He said before turning back toward Michelin. "Well. It would seem as though I owe you an apology then, Chef. I'm terribly sorry for accusing you."

"Apology accepted." Michelin replied. "Now if you don't mind. I have a mess to clean up."

"Indeed." Dotted said before turning to look at Steel. "Well. I suppose we should be on our way then."

"Agreed." He replied before grabbing a rag and wiping off the remnants of the chocolate cake on his face. "If you need me, I'll be on the bridge."

"Understood."

"If you would like, Captain." Michelin said as he started to pick up the pans on the floor. "Allow me to bring you some freshly made tea as a token of apology for what happened."

"Sounds good." Steel replied before turning and walking out the door with Dotted close behind.

"Well..." He said. "I certainly hope that this unfortunate incident doesn't paint the company in a bad light."

"I'm sure it won't, Dotted." Steel replied as the two ponies got onto an elevator to go up to the boat deck. But as the elevator began to go up, Steel couldn't stop thinking about what would cause a pony to react the way Pinkie Pie did to eating a piece of chocolate cake.

Chapter Five

The light from Luna's moon filled the sky as Steel appeared on the boat deck. The smell of the fresh air made him breathe a calming sigh as he looked around. Even though his new ship was beautiful in the daytime, it was just as beautiful in the night. Many lights illuminated the four red and black funnels, making them stand out in the darkness and the deck was lit up in a warm glow as he started making his way toward the bridge.

As he walked, the sound of somepony throwing up caught his attention. Looking behind him in the direction of the sound, he found Pinkie Pie slumped over the railing with the rest of her friends around her. Her loud sounds made him feel uneasy as he continued on.

"I still don't know why this is happening." He thought to himself before he reached the staircase leading up to the bridge wing. "Her cake was perfectly fine. Nothing at all was wrong with it." As he started to climb though, the sounds of his hooves on the metal steps alerted the pony on the wing to his presence.

"Hey Cap." Port said as he turned in time to see him get up the steps. "How was dinner?"

"Eh. It was alright until it was time for dessert." He replied. This response surprisingly made Port chuckle for a moment.

"I bet." He said before pointing at Steel's uniform. "Looks like you got in a fight with some cake and lost."

"Huh?" Steel asked before looking down to find chocolate stains on his white uniform. He then groaned while lightly smacking his muzzle. "Not really the reason why though."

"Well what happened?" Port asked as Steel propped himself up on the railing.

"You know Princess Sparkle's friend, Pinkie Pie. Right?"

"Who doesn't?"

"And you know she likes cake."

"I'd say more love than like." Port replied as the two stared out at the open ocean in front of them. "Why?" Steel simply replied by pointing his hoof back toward the deck. Port looked back to find Pinkie Pie still vomiting as her body was halfway over the railing with Twilight and Princess Celestia patting her back with their hooves. "What's her problem?" He asked as he kept looking.

"Beats me." Steel replied. "Her cake had nothing wrong with it. I tried it myself. And you don't see me vomiting my dinner overboard."

"Weird." He said. "Maybe she's seasick or something."

"It's possible."

"Anything else happen?"

"Chef Michelin and Dotted got into an argument after Dotted accused him of trying to poison everypony. I kinda got caught in the crossfire."

"Ah. So that explains the stains on your uniform."

"Yep." He said before he yawned heavily. "Well. I guess it's getting to be that time."

"Gonna head for bed?" Port asked as Steel yawned again.

"Yeah." He replied. "Gonna have to be up early for the day watch." After saying that, he turned and started walking toward the bridge. "Good night, Port. See you in the morning."

"Good night, Cap." Port replied as Steel walked inside the bridge toward his cabin. Once inside, he looked at North who was still at the helm.

"Good night, North." He said, making the pony look at him. "Your relief should be here soon."

"Yes sir." He replied. "And good night to you too." After hearing that, Steel made his way into his cabin before closing the door behind him. When he heard the latch click shut, he let out a sigh of relief before undoing the strap that kept his sword strapped to his body. He then looked at the scabbard for a bit before he levitated it up to the mounting hooks above the door. He was glad to have some time before the voyage to install them himself. Once the sword was placed, he removed his uniform before bringing the white jacket up to his face. As he did this, he could see the chocolate stains that Port had mentioned.

"Good thing I have more than one of these." Steel said in his mind before he looked at his dresser. He then tossed the dirty uniform into a hamper before he walked over to his bed. After a long day, he eagerly looked forward to getting some sleep. As he got closer, a long yawn escaped from him before he hopped up and laid down onto the comfy mattress. Once his head hit the pillow, his eyes drifted closed as he used his magic to pull the blanket over him. "Good night, Mareitania." He said in a soft tone before yawning again. With the gentle rolling of the ship from side to side with the waves, he soon found himself on the path to his dreams.

The next morning, Steel awoke to a beautiful sunrise on the horizon. The clear sky and calm sea made him grow confident that this was going to be a good day. After rolling himself to the edge of his bed, he sat up and stretched out his forehooves before getting out of bed and going to his personal bathroom. Just as he closed his door behind him, he heard three knocks coming from the door leading into his cabin.

"Who is it?" He called out.

"It's Port, Cap. Just checking to make sure you were up. You got some visitors here that want to speak with you."

Steel rolled his eyes after hearing that as he looked in the mirror above the sink. After last night's incident, socializing with the passengers was the last thing he wanted to do. He then sighed quietly to himself, realizing that turning passengers away when they wanted to speak with him wouldn't look good either.

"Fine." He replied. "Just give me a few minutes."

"Understood." Port replied.

After a minute in the bathroom, Steel emerged from it and quickly put on a clean uniform before walking over to the door that led onto the bridge. Just before opening it though, he gave himself a quick check to make sure he was presentable. Nodding to himself afterwards, he proceeded to open the door to find Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, and Pinkie Pie standing in front of him.

"Ah. Good morning to you all." He said before bowing. "Is there anything that you need from me?"

"Not at the moment." Celestia replied. "Though I'm sure Pinkie Pie here has something that she'd like to say." She then looked down at the pink mare, who looked up at her with an odd expression. One that a filly would give their parent if they were told to do something that they didn't want to do. "Isn't that right? Pinkie?"

Pinkie's eyes then shifted over to Twilight.

"Well don't look at me!" The purple alicorn said, surprising Steel as he never thought he'd hear the Princess of Friendship say something like that. "You're the one that got sick and made a scene." The stallion's eyes went back and forth between Twilight and Pinkie before she sighed and turned to look at him.

"I'm... sorry that I ruined dinner last night." She said while looking down and rubbing one of her forelegs with the other. "Can you... forgive me?"

"Sure... I guess." Steel replied, unsure of how to properly respond to what was going on. "Just uhh.... try not to do it again."

"Oh you don't have to worry about that." Celestia said, making Steel look up at her. "I'll be sure to watch what she eats from now til the end of this voyage. And do excuse the way my student is behaving. She's never really been in this position before. I'll be sure to talk to her about this in private once we're done here." Twilight's eyes shot open after hearing that before she turned and looked at Celestia with a frightened expression.

"Very uh.. well then. Is there... anything else you need?" Steel asked.

"No. That is all that we came here to accomplish." Celestia replied. "We'll be on our way now. Have a good day, Captain Blade."

"Thank you. Same to you as well." He said before the three of them walked away. Steel followed them outside and watched them until they disappeared inside. "Well..." He thought before turning to walk back onto the bridge. "That was... interesting."

As Steel began to take charge of the bridge, Dotted Line walked through a corridor in the First Class section of the ship. A few beads of sweat could be seen on his forehead as he moved along.

"I hope everything is alright." He said to himself as he looked down at a paper in his magical grasp. It was a passenger manifest containing the names of all the passengers on board and which room they were staying in. As he walked, he glanced between the paper and the numbers on each door he passed until he stopped in front of a door. "Room A5: Princess Celestia + 8." He said in his mind before putting the list back and knocking on the door.

He could hear a few whispers behind the door before he heard hoofsteps approaching from the other side.

"Password?" A mare asked on the other side.

"Password?" Dotted asked. "I'm sorry. I don't have time for games. I am Dotted Line, Chairpony of the Red Apple Line and owner of this liner. I wish to come in and speak with Princess Celestia." A few more whispers could be heard before he heard somepony undoing the lock before opening it. In the doorway stood a light purple colored unicorn mare with a purple and cyan streaked mane.

"Sorry." She said. "But uh... Princess Celestia isn't here at the moment. I'm sure she'll be back in a bit though."

"Oh." Dotted replied as he looked at the mare, who seemed nervous as she stood in front of him. "Well. Would you mind if I come in and wait for her then? It's important that I speak with her."

"Uhh.... sure. I guess." She replied before stepping aside and allowing him to enter. Once inside, Dotted heard the mare close and lock the door behind him. "Right this way." She said as she walked in front of him down a small hallway. "Uhh... girls? We have a visitor so make sure you're presentable!" A few more whispers could be heard as the two of them stopped in front of a closed door that Dotted knew led into the parlor room of the large cabin.

"So how long will it be before Princess Celestia returns?" He asked.

"Shouldn't be too long." She replied before opening the door. "I think they just went to go speak with the Captain." Dotted nodded as he walked inside to find Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack lounging around on the various chairs and couches in the room.

"Uh... Starlight? What's he doing here?" Rainbow asked as she looked at the mare. Dotted recognized that name from the various newspapers he read before looking at the mare.

"He's just gonna wait here until Princess Celestia returns. Apparently he needs to speak with her."

"Oh. Uh... alright then."

"So..." Dotted said as he took a seat next to Fluttershy on the couch she was on. The butter yellow pegasus quickly scooted to the far side of the couch in response. "Are you all enjoying the voyage so far?"

"Oh I'd say it is wonderful so far, darling." Rarity replied. "Except for what happened last night."

"Yeah." Applejack added. "I uh... didn't expect Pinkie Pie to throw up her meal."

"I don't think anypony did." Dotted replied. "How is she by the way?"

"She's doing alright, I suppose." Starlight said. "She's with Celestia and Twilight." After she said that, the room fell into an awkward silence as each of the mares kept glancing between the lone stallion and each other. Dotted himself was growing a bit uncomfortable by this. But he needed to stay and speak with Celestia.

As he opened his mouth to speak again though, the sound of the door leading into the room opening cut him off.

"Oh Chrysalis!" An unexpected voice said. "This pony food is not sitting well for me." Each of the mares immediately looked at the door with frightened expressions as the door swung open far enough for Dotted to find a changeling standing in it. His eyes shrank in horror as Starlight hit the changeling in his head with her hoof.

"Scythe! You idiot!" She called out.

"What'd I do?" He asked as he rubbed his head before looking at Dotted. "Oh..."

"Ch-ch-changeling!" Dotted cried out in horror before he was suddenly tackled to the floor by Fluttershy. Dotted struggled as she stood over him, trying to get up. But she had the leverage to keep him down. "What... in Equestria is going on here?" He grunted while still trying to get up.

"Well... So much for keeping a low profile." He heard Starlight say before seeing green magical flames engulfing each mare in the room, revealing a room full of changelings. Dotted looked on in horror as they all circled around him before one of them spat some green gunk on his horn. He tried using his magic, but found that whatever that stuff on his horn was, it nullified his magic. "Help! Somepony help me! Changelings!" He cried out at the top of his lungs, hoping somepony nearby would come to his rescue.

"Scream all you want, pony. No one can hear you." The one holding down his limbs said. "Our brilliant Queen has soundproofed this room."

"Wh- what are you doing here? What do you want?"

"We'll let our Queen answer that." Another one replied before they lifted him onto the couch. Once done, one of them continued sitting on him to make sure he wasn't able to escape. Dotted continued struggling to get up, but the weight of the changeling on him proved too much to overcome. Eventually, he stopped struggling and just silently observed as the various changelings conversed with each other about what to do with him.

After a few minutes, he heard three knocks on the door leading into the cabin. The changelings all looked at each other before one of them transformed into Starlight Glimmer and left to go answer it. Each changeling froze in place, some visibly shaking while others gulped audibly as the sound of the door closing could be heard.

"What do you mean we have a problem?" A loud voice called out before the changeling disguised as Starlight got thrown into the room. Soon after that, Dotted's eyes grew wide as he watched Chrysalis, former supreme leader of the changelings, enter the room.

"I'm sorry!" He said in her voice as he quickly crawled before groveling in front of her. "It just sort of happened and I didn't know what to do."

"Drop the disguise." Chrysalis bluntly ordered. "I can't take you seriously in that."

"Yes! Of course!" He replied in Starlight's voice before shifting back to his true form, still trembling in front of her as two other changelings flanked her sides.

"And you two..." She growled before hurling both of them to the ground beside the trembling one. "I should've known better than to have you two come with me to speak with the Captain. Especially you!" She continued before pointing at one of them, who just curled up into a trembling ball. "You better hope that he doesn't know Twilight that well. Otherwise this whole plan could be ruined!" She then looked up at the others who were shaking before narrowing her gaze at Dotted. "And who was it that created this whole mess?"

"Scythe!" The one who was on top of Dotted replied. "He's the one that came in here without being in disguise."

"Aw, come on! I didn't hear that he was here. And you all know I don't like having to pretend to be that little dragon!" Scythe protested before a growl from Chrysalis silenced him. Chrysalis then approached him while the others made sure to be away from him.

"Well then. How about I stuff a rag down your throat, tie a rope around your wings and hooves, and throw you overboard in the middle of the night! Would you like that?"

"N-no!" He stuttered.

"Then prove to me that you deserve another chance."

"H-how can I do that?"

"Simple..." She replied before pointing toward Dotted. "By taking his place."

"What?"

"And you'd better make sure not to draw any suspicion and blow your cover again. Because if you do, I will personally give you a beating like you've never experienced before!"

"Y-yes, my Queen!" He quickly replied before transforming into an exact duplicate of Dotted.

"Now get out of here before somepony notices that he's gone."

"Of course!" Scythe replied in Dotted's voice before racing out of the room.

Chrysalis chuckled softly, amused at how quickly he rushed out before turning her attention to her new prisoner. She proceeded to walk over and sit down beside the couch before gently running a hoof through his mane. This made him shiver with fear, which brought a smirk to her face.

"And what am I to do with you?" She asked rhetorically. "You're not the pony I'm here for. But I can't let you leave this room now that you know our little secret."

"Wh-why are you here then?" Dotted asked. "Who are you here for?"

"Well..." She replied. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you the plan. Especially since you're not going anywhere." She then cleared her throat. "I'm sure you're aware of what happened at the hive, right?"

"You getting your kingdom taken from you by Starlight and her friends? Yeah. I heard about that." This response made Chrysalis growl and glare at him.

"Yes." She said through gritted teeth. "My number of loyal followers decreased dramatically after that. To where I hardly have any competent soldiers left." This made each changeling shiver in fear. "So in order for me to reclaim my throne and exact revenge on Starlight Glimmer and the rest of those ponies she calls friends, I need an army. Not one like I had before. No. A much better army. And somepony to rule beside me as King of the changelings. Somepony who, with the right amount of training and guidance from me, could make a most feared and ruthless leader."

"And... wh-who are you after?" This made Chrysalis chuckle for a moment before looking Dotted right in his eyes.

"I'm here... for your Captain."

"Steel?!" Dotted exclaimed in surprise. "Forget it! He'd never join you!" After hearing his response, Chrysalis merely smirked before patting the restrained stallion on his head before getting up and going over to the window, looking out at the calm waters.

"Oh. I'm sure I can persuade him to join me." She replied before turning back to look at him. "After all. It'd be such a shame to see this ship that he loves so much being sent to the bottom of the Equestrian Ocean." This only made Dotted's pupils twitch in fear as Chrysalis began to laugh in a maniacal fashion.

Chapter Six

Chrysalis smirked confidently as she watched Dotted lay helplessly on the couch. The sight of seeing him in this state pleased her. She knew that her plan was a risky one. A single misstep is all it would take for it to all come apart. But there was no way she was going to back down. It took a lot of skill and luck to get where she was. Several weeks of scheming, scouting, and training all led up to this point. But now with the unexpected addition of a key pony in her custody, she felt things would progress easier. Especially with that pony being the owner of the very ship they were on.

"Now what should we do with you?" she asked in a rhetorical tone. "Obviously we can't trust you to remain here by yourself. Even with your magic being blocked."

Dotted just silently glanced up at his goo coated horn in response. The green slime felt weird yet warm on it. Whatever it was made of certainly proved to be too much for him to overcome on his own. He sighed as his eyes drifted back to look toward Chrysalis.

"Can't we just throw him overboard and be done with him?" One of the other changelings in the room asked.

"No," Chrysalis replied. "If we do that, there's a chance he'll get rescued and reveal us."

"What should we do then?"

Chrysalis rubbed her chin as she looked back and forth between Dotted and the rest of her soldiers. "One of you will remain here and make sure that he doesn't go anywhere," she said before pointing over at a door that led into a small closet. "And just to make it easier, we'll put him in there."

"Of course," the changeling replied before the small group swarmed around the captured stallion and lifted him up before taking him over to the closet. With one of them opening the door, the rest tossed him into the small area. Dotted grunted as he landed on the floor with a thud before the door was slammed shut behind him. Soon after, he heard the sound of furniture being moved, presumably in order to block the door from being opened again.

Dotted just laid quietly on the floor and glanced around at his surroundings. The only source of light in the room was from the keyhole just beneath the knob. A tear slowly formed in his eye as he repeated what Chrysalis had said over and over again in his mind.

"What do I do?" he thought before getting up into a sitting position. "I need to get out of here and warn Steel. But how?" As he thought about various ideas, his eyes glanced up at his goo-coated horn. "First things first though. Let's try and get this cleaned off. Hopefully my magic will be usable once this stuff is removed." With that decision made, Dotted began feeling around the small area, hoping to find something to help get the goo off of his horn.

As this was happening, Steel stood on the starboard bridge wing. He smiled as he looked ahead, seeing nothing but calm blue water. This made him feel confident in his ability to command. Everything as far as he knew was under control and going smoothly.

"Just a few more days before we'll reach Mareseilles," he said to himself before the sound of hoofsteps approaching him. Turning to look at the source of the sound, he found Port coming toward him with a small paper in his magical grip. "What you got there, Port?"

"Ice warning, sir," he replied before giving it to Steel. Once he had it, he took a look.

"It's from the Cadenza," he said as he began reading. "Says they've spotted a few icebergs well south of where they usually are." Once he took a look at the coordinates that were mentioned, Steel folded the paper and placed it in his pocket. "If anypony needs me, I'll be in the chart room."

"Yes sir," Port replied before Steel started walking toward the bridge. As he walked, he was hoping that the location of the bergs weren't going to pose any hazard to his ship. Upon entering the bridge, Steel gave a quick salute to the helmspony before entering the chart room which was located right next to his quarters.

"Alright..." he said to himself while bringing up a chart for the Equestrian Ocean. He then took the message out of his pocket in order to find the location of the reported bergs. After a few minutes, he found that the supposed location of the bergs were close enough to the route they were on to pose a risk. "Looks like we'll have to divert course," he thought before turning to walk out of the chart room and back onto the bridge.

"Everything alright, Cap?" Port asked from outside.

"Just need to adjust our course. That's all," Steel replied before looking at the helmspony. "Turn to heading 110 and proceed on that course until I say otherwise."

"Aye aye, sir," the stallion replied before he started turning the wheel to the right, making the ship list a few degrees to port. Once on the new course, Steel looked at the clock that was mounted on a nearby wall before making note of the time.

"We'll take a bit of a southeastern detour," Steel said as he walked back out on the wing to join Port. "That should hopefully keep us away from any stray icebergs."

"Good thinking," Port said as the two of them looked out ahead of the liner. During the day, icebergs would pose no risk to the ship due to them being as visible as a cloud in a clear blue sky. It was during the night that concerned the young Captain. If there was no moon or waves, icebergs would be nearly invisible until it was too late to avoid colliding with them. With the new course, Steel was hoping to avoid that problem.

As the minutes passed by, another thought came to his mind.

"Have you seen Dotted anywhere?" he asked before looking toward his friend. "He's usually somewhere around here, but I haven't seen him in a while. Figured he'd be up here asking why I turned the ship or something by now."

"Last I heard he was gonna go talk to Celestia about the incident during dinner last night," Port replied. "But that was hours ago." He then rubbed his muzzle in thought for a few seconds before looking back at Steel. "I'll go see if I can find him. Want me to send him up here if I do?"

"Sure," Steel replied. "I've been meaning to ask him about what to do once we get to Mareseilles." Port silently nodded before proceeding toward the stairs leading down to the boat deck.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Cap," he said before descending the stairs.

Scythe walked down a corridor filled with ponies conversing about random topics. Some of them would stop and smile or wave at him, prompting him to quickly wave back before moving on as quick as he could. Being disguised as a pony was much better than a little dragon, but this one was difficult. He had no idea how to act or behave like the stallion he was pretending to be.

After several minutes of walking, he found a door leading out on the boat deck. Once outside, he breathed in the fresh air and looked up to find himself near the third funnel which was just spewing out black smoke. He then turned his head and looked out toward the open ocean and breathed deeply, trying to calm his nerves.

"Just play it cool, Scythe," he thought while looking out at the sea around the ship. "No reason to panic."

"Oh hey there, Dotty," a stallion's voice said from behind, causing the disguised changeling to freeze up. "How was your meeting with Princess Celestia?"

Scythe slowly turned around to see a green unicorn stallion in a black Officer's uniform in front of him.

"Are... you talking to me?" he asked in Dotted's tone.

"No. I'm just talking to somepony else while looking at you," the stallion replied in a sarcastic tone. "Of course I'm talking to you."

"Oh... right. My mistake."

"Anyways," the stallion continued. "Cap wants to see you up on the bridge."

"Cap?" Scythe asked while looking confused. The green unicorn tilted his head slightly. This made the disguised changeling begin to panic in his mind. "Crap! He's on to me!"

"You alright, sir?" the stallion asked. "I mean I get that you're under a lot of pressure right now. But you seem.... a bit off."

"I'm.... fine," Scythe replied. "Now uh... I'll just be going now to see... Cap." With that said, Scythe began to move away from the stallion as quick as he could.

"Other way, Dotty!" he heard the stallion call out before looking back to see him pointing in the opposite direction from where he was going.

"I know that. I was just uh... wanting to take the scenic route."

"Uhh... alright," the stallion replied. "I guess I'll see you up there then." After he said that, the stallion turned and walked away, leaving the disguised changeling alone. Once he was sure that he was in the clear, Scythe breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. After an experience like that, maybe pretending to be a little dragon wasn't so bad after all.

Back on the bridge, Steel kept looking at the clock mounted on the wall behind the helm, keeping track of how long they were on the new course. He had decided to keep on the course for at least an hour before turning back to Mareseilles. Soon, he heard hoofsteps on the steps leading up to the wing. Turning his head toward the sound, he saw Port had returned but without Dotted.

"Where's the boss?" Steel asked while looking behind Port for any sign of Dotted.

"He's coming," Port replied. "I bumped into him on the boat deck near the third funnel. He seemed.... a little off though. Not sure if it was because of his talk with Princess Celestia or just stressed because of this voyage."

"Is he usually stressed from voyages?"

"No. He's always had a calm attitude on crossings," he said. "Maybe it's because of the 'important guests' onboard."

"That's possible," Steel replied as he kept looking between Port and the deck below. "Where is he now?"

"He said he was gonna take the scenic route here," Port replied. "So I'm guessing he's gonna come around on the other side."

"Well. If he isn't here in the next 15 minutes. I guess I'll go out and find him myself. I really would like to know what all is needed to be done once we arrive in Mareseilles."

After circling around the boat deck to the other side, Scythe eventually made his way toward the steps leading up to the port side bridge wing. During the journey to this point, he realized that he'd soon be face to face with the pony that was the target for their mission. But he'd be doing so disguised as a pony he has no idea how to behave like.

"Well.... Here goes nothing," he thought to himself before beginning the climb up the stairs. Once on the wing, he looked out ahead at the water in front of the ship.

"Ah. There you are," a voice said, making the changeling freeze up before he turned to where the voice was coming from. Standing just inside the doorway leading into the bridge was the pony that his Queen had so much interest in. "I was beginning to think I'd have to come find you myself."

"Well. Here I am," Scythe replied in Dotted's tone. "What uh.. was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Follow me," the unicorn replied before motioning for him to follow. "I just want to talk about what all needs to be done once we arrive in Mareseilles."

"Crap...." Scythe thought while nodding with a sheepish smile before following the pony inside. As he stepped onto the bridge, the changeling looked around at all the stuff in the room as he followed the unicorn through a doorway leading into what he could only assume to be the pony's personal room.

"So since this is my first crossing as a Captain," the pony said before sitting down at a small table beside a window looking out at the boat deck. On the table were some folders with different labels on them. "I just wanted to be aware of anything that needed to be done once we arrive." As he was talking, he was also looking through some of the folders that were on the table. Scythe just stayed next to the door, trying not to be visibly freaking out while mentally panicking on the inside.

Steel looked up from the folders to see his boss still standing near the door. As he looked, he couldn't help but notice that something was indeed off about the chairpony, just like Port had stated earlier.

"You can take a seat if you want, sir," Steel said before gesturing for the other pony to sit down.

"Na-na-nah. I'm fine right here," Scythe quickly replied.

Steel just raised an eyebrow in response while tilting his head. Something was definitely wrong here. But he wasn't quite sure what.

"Are you alright, Dotted?" he asked. "You seem like you're about ready to have a panic attack."

"You have no idea how right you are," Scythe thought before clearing his throat. "I'm... fine," he replied. "Just uhh... got other things on my mind right now."

"Well. Can you at least answer some questions for me?"

"Uh... Sure. I... guess."

"So..." Steel said before looking through a folder. "How many tugboats do you think we'll need at Mareseilles? Just so I can get a message out before we arrive."

"Uhh...." Scythe replied while his heartbeat increased. He had no idea about anything involving ships. "I don't know?" This answer made the unicorn look up from the folder and look directly at him.

"Oh...kay?" Steel replied before looking back down at the folder. "I guess I'll try and figure that out myself then." He then looked at the report about the amount of coal in the bunkers. "Who would I need to talk to for getting more coal once we start getting ready for the return trip?"

"I uhh.... don't know?" Scythe replied while slightly shaking. That's two questions that he's sure the pony he was impersonating would've had answers for.

"I see," Steel replied. By this point, he was beginning to think that something was very wrong here. The two questions he had asked were something that Dotted should have known the answers to instantly considering the amount of times he had been to Mareseilles. A possible explanation was starting to form in his head, but he wasn't sure if that really was the reason.

"Is this really Dotted?" Steel thought while looking at the other pony in the room. He looked like Dotted. He sounded like Dotted. But the way he was standing mere inches from the door instead of sitting at the table like he did yesterday was sending a signal of something not so pleasant to think about. On top of that, he didn't seem to know anything about what to do about when they arrive at their destination. As he kept looking at what seemed to be his boss, an idea came into his mind. He'd ask one more question. But this one was going to be so easy for Dotted to answer that if he didn't say the correct response, he'd know for sure.

"Alright boss. I have one more question to ask," he said. "But first, I need to show you something."

"Like.... what?"

"Well come over here and I'll show you."

Scythe nodded quickly before he started to make his way over to the table. Once there, he slowly sat down in the chair on the other side. Once he was seated, he watched as the unicorn's horn lit up in a bluish glow before hearing the door that he was nearby close. The sound of the latch on the door made his pupils shrink before the unicorn made something long and black with a brown colored handle float over to them in a blue aura of magic. The changeling's heart began to pound as he watched what soon was revealed to be a sword floating in the unicorn's magic.

"I just wanted to show you how clean my sword is," Steel said while holding up the blade in the light of the sun. "It's so clean, you could see your reflection in it." Scythe sheepishly smiled as he indeed saw the reflection of his disguise in the polished steel of the sword. "So anyway. Last question, Dotty," Steel said while looking directly into his eyes. "What is.... this ship's name?"

Scythe immediately froze up in the chair upon hearing that question. He couldn't understand why he'd ask a question like that. Unless he figured out that the pony he was speaking to wasn't the pony he thought he was. It was at this moment that the disguised changeling knew he was cornered. He had no way out of this situation. If he answered wrong, the jig was for sure to be up. But if he answered right, then maybe he'd be able to escape and quickly make himself scarce.

"I'm waiting, Dotty."

"Umm...." Scythe replied, trying desperately to think of the name of the ship. "Boaty...McBoatface?"

"Boaty.... McBoatface," Steel said before chuckling. "Well. That's quite an interesting name." His facial expression then turned to a more serious one before looking directly at the pony in front of him. "Too bad that it just isn't the name of this ship." Immediately after saying that, Steel used his magic to grab 'Dotted' by the neck and squeeze tightly. Scythe immediately grabbed at his neck in desperation before he was hurled against the wall behind him. Still trying desperately to breathe, he could only watch as the unicorn got out of his chair and come up to him before placing the blade of his sword gently against his throat. This sudden shock was enough for Scythe to lose focus and drop his disguise, revealing himself before the stallion in front of him.

"Well would you look at that," Steel said as he was now looking at a changeling being held by the neck in his magical grip. "Now I've got two more questions for you. First. Who are you? And second. Where... is... Dotted Line?"

Chapter Seven

The scene inside Steel's cabin was tense as the stallion continued to hold this new prisoner of his against the wall with the blade of his sword against the changeling's neck. The look on the stallion's face was one of anger. Yet he seemed to be restraining himself from taking any further actions than what he was already doing. The look on Scythe's face however was one of shock and fear. He never thought he'd be in this position so quickly. As he tried relentlessly to escape from his captor's grip, the sound of the stallion clearing his throat made the changeling stop struggling and look directly into his eyes.

"So," Steel said. "Are you gonna answer my questions?"

"Scythe!" the changeling blurted out. "My name.... is Scythe!"

"Scythe huh?" the stallion replied while maintaining the pressure of his blade against the changeling's neck. Not enough to slice through the skin, but sufficient enough to get through to the changeling not to try anything. "Alright then, Scythe. Why are you-"

"Captain? Are you alright in there? I could've sworn I heard something hit the wall." Port's voice called out from the other side of the cabin's door to the bridge, interrupting Steel's question.

"Port! Get in here!" Steel ordered, prompting his First Officer to open the door and come in. Once inside, Port gasped at what he saw.

"Captain! What's going on?"

"This changeling here was impersonating Dotted," Steel replied. "And now I'm trying to get some information out of him." He turned back to look at Scythe before narrowing his gaze. "Why are you here, Scythe?" he asked. "And where is Dotted?"

"Your friend... is with the others," Scythe replied, struggling to speak as the blade against his neck was making it difficult for him to breathe. Sensing this, Steel released his grip and allowed the changeling to fall to the floor with an audible thud. Scythe instinctively gasped and breathed heavily before coughing a few times. "My Queen has him as her prisoner," he said as he looked up at Steel.

"And where would they be?"

"They're close. That's all I'll say."

"Port. Summon the Master-at-Arms," Steel said while keeping his eyes on the changeling. "I want him in shackles and his power blocked with a dampening ring."

"Yes, sir!" Port replied as he looked at Scythe. "Should we also take him to the Princesses and the Bearers? Surely they'll know what to do with him. And they can help us get Dotted back too."

"That's not a bad idea," Steel replied. "But we don't want to alarm the passengers by taking this changeling through the corridors. Get the Master-at-Arms. Then get the Princesses and the Bearers and have them all come up here."

"Aye, Captain!" Port said before rushing out of the room, leaving Steel alone with the changeling. Steel's eyes continued to watch Scythe, who just remained still on the floor.

"You're smarter than you appear," the changeling said before looking up at the stallion in front of him. "It's no wonder my Queen is interested in you."

"What are you talking about?"

"The reason we're here in the first place," the changeling continued. "It's you. You're the one my Queen wants."

"Me?" Steel asked while raising an eyebrow. "Why me?"

"I wasn't sure to be honest," Scythe replied. "I was questioning it myself until now." He then looked up at Steel who immediately pointed the tip of his sword just mere inches away from the changeling's face. "You seem smarter than the average pony. But then again, I wasn't really giving you a challenge since I don't know anything about ships or this... pony that I was pretending to be."

"That's true, I guess," Steel replied. "You clearly weren't prepared at all. Dotted would've easily had answers to the questions I asked." He then shook his head a few times. "What the fuck! Why am I giving you advice?!" he shouted. "Where is Dotted?!"

"I already told you. My Queen has him as her prisoner." One of Steel's eyes twitched as his patience was wearing thin.

"You realize what's gonna happen once the Princesses and the Bearers get here. Right?" he asked.

"I know exactly what's gonna happen, pony," Scythe replied. "My Queen's plan for you and this ship will succeed."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"You'll see," Scythe replied before looking down toward the floor. Sensing that the changeling wasn't going to continue talking, Steel just kept his sword ready in case he tried anything.

As the situation in Steel's cabin was progressing, Port was making his way through the corridors of the ship. Following close behind him was a gray colored earth pony mare in a black colored uniform with a MPD badge pinned to it. On her back was a pair of satchels containing various tools to do her job. As they passed by the passengers, they made sure to keep their expressions calm. But some of the passengers could be heard whispering as they went by.

"I don't like this," Port said as he walked. "Something's off. I can feel it."

"What do you mean?" the mare behind him asked as the two ponies stopped in front of a door leading into a cabin.

"This feels... too easy," he replied while making sure that no passengers were around. He then knocked three times on the door before stepping back. Soon, they heard hoofsteps on the other side before the door opened. Both ponies were soon surprised to find Princess Celestia standing in the doorway.

"Can I... help you?" she asked in a confused tone.

"Sorry to disturb you, Princess," Port replied. "My name is Port Side, First Officer. And this is Detective Copper Top, Master-at-Arms."

"Greetings, your Majesty," Copper Top added before taking her hat off.

"Again. Sorry to bother you," Port repeated. "But Captain Blade requires you, Princess Sparkle, and the rest of the Bearers on the bridge immediately."

"Oh? What for?" Celestia asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Well," Port replied before once again making sure that no passengers were around. "We've got... a changeling... being held by Captain Blade as we speak. He's requested your assistance."

"I see," Celestia replied. "Well then. Let me get the others and we'll meet you there shortly."

"Yes, ma'am," Port replied as Celestia closed the door leading into her cabin. "Come along, Detective. Let's get going."

"Right behind you," the mare replied as the two began walking away from the door. "You know. When I volunteered for this assignment from the MPD, I never thought that something like this would be happening. I figured it'd be an easy gig."

As the two ponies walked away, Chrysalis dropped her disguise and pressed her ear up to the door, making sure that they had indeed left. She then walked back into the parlor room where the rest of the changelings she had brought with her were. Inside, the seven remaining changelings were seen just sitting around on the furniture.

"Not even two hours," she said as she entered the room. "Scythe couldn't even last two hours out there."

"Yes!" one of the changelings blurted out before pointing to another one. "You owe me fifty bits!" Chrysalis cleared her throat, making the excited changeling freeze before looking back to her with a feared expression. Meanwhile, inside the small closet, Dotted Line's ears had perked up when he heard that the changeling who replaced him was caught.

"Ha! I knew making Steel Captain was a good idea," he thought while pressing his ear up against the door, trying to listen in on the conversation.

"Who was at the door, my Queen?" another changeling asked.

"Two ponies who claim that Captain Blade has Scythe in his custody. They're requesting that we go up to the bridge."

"All of us?" another one asked.

"No," she replied. "Just the Princesses and the Bearers." She then pointed at the one sitting on the couch in front of the blocked door leading into the room where Dotted Line was being held. "You will stay here and guard the prisoner. Make sure that he stays in there."

"Yes, my Queen," the changeling on the couch replied.

"Right," Chrysalis said before transforming back into Princess Celestia. "Let's not keep the Captain waiting." Hearing her say that last sentence in Celestia's voice made Dotted's spine shiver. One by one, he could see green flashes through the keyhole before listening as all but one changeling had left the room. Soon enough, the only sounds that could be heard were the waves and the occasional groaning of the ship's hull.

"Now. How can I get out of here?" Dotted thought to himself, sensing an opportunity now that there was only one changeling in the room instead of eight. As he thought of ideas, one suddenly came into his mind. One that should work. "Hey uh... changeling?" he called out through the door.

"What do you want, pony?" the changeling replied.

"I had a big breakfast with a few mugs of apple cider before I came here," he said. "So I uhh... need to use the bathroom."

"Go in there then."

"I really would advise against that. This whole room would smell awful then." After saying that, he could hear the changeling sigh before the couch in front of the door could be heard getting moved.

"Fine," the changeling said. "But don't tell the others that I let you out. I'm supposed to keep you in there."

"You have my word." Dotted replied as he was getting into position for his next move. Soon, the latch on the door was undone and the changeling opened the door, only to receive two back hooves to the face as Dotted bucked as hard as he could. The changeling was flung across the room, crashing into the wall on the other side. Dotted turned around to find the changeling had been knocked out and seemed to be not getting up anytime soon.

"Excellent," he thought to himself before he quickly rushed out of the room, making sure to stop in the bathroom to use a towel to wipe the goo off of his horn. Once done, he tried picking up a toothbrush on the counter. As expected, with the goo off, he was able to use his magic once more as the toothbrush was held in a blue aura of magic. A smirk appeared on his face before he went back into the room where the unconscious changeling was. Seeing that he was still out cold, Dotted wasted no time in exiting the cabin.

"Gotta warn Steel!" he said to himself before he began running as fast as he could toward the bridge.

Despite what was happening, everything else seemed to be going on as normal. The ship was still plowing through the waves at 24 knots but was off course. With Steel distracted by what was going on, he wasn't in a position where he was able to tell the helmspony to return to the heading for Mareseilles.

Inside the cabin where everything abnormal was happening, Steel still had his sword at the ready in case Scythe tried anything. The changeling hadn't moved at all since Port left. The silence around the two was deafening until it was broken by three knocks at the door.

"Captain!" Port called out from the other side. "I'm back with Detective Copper Top!"

"Enter!" Steel called out in response, prompting Port to open the door and allow the mare to step inside before entering himself. Once both were in, Steel used his magic to close the door.

"Alright changeling," Copper Top said while reaching into a satchel before pulling out a set of shackles. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, one will be provided for you by the country of Equestria. Do you understand these rights as I've read them to you?"

"I suppose," Scythe replied before Port used his magic to place the shackles onto the changeling's legs. His eyes then watched as a magic dampening ring was placed onto his horn before it started producing a yellow glow.

"Now that he's in shackles, what do you want done?" Copper asked while turning her head to look at Steel.

"We'll let the Princesses decide that," Steel replied just before another three knocks on the door leading into the cabin could be heard.

"Captain Blade?" a familiar voice could be heard asking through the wood. "You asked for us?"

"Yes. Come in," he replied as Port opened the door and allowed Princess Celestia and the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony to enter. Once inside, all eyes were on the now shackled changeling as he was surrounded on all sides.

"So how exactly did this happen, Captain?" Celestia asked. "How did you discover that this changeling was aboard?"

"He was impersonating Dotted Line, our Chairpony," Steel replied. "Quite poorly if I might add. He clearly didn't know how to behave like him at all." The changeling could only produce a sheepish smile as he watched Celestia circle around and stand beside the Captain. Steel looked up at her as she gave a stern look toward the changeling. "He was also saying that Dotted was still on board. Though he wouldn't tell me exactly where he was."

"I'm... right here, Steel!" a voice called out from the door, prompting everyone in the room to look in that direction. Standing in the doorway was Dotted Line, who was clearly out of breath from having sprinted all the way to the bridge.

"Dotty!" Port exclaimed. "Is that you?"

"Of... course," Dotted replied while gathering himself before looking up at all of the ponies in the room. He then turned his attention to Copper Top. "How many shackles do you have in those satchels of yours?"

"Just a few left?" Copper replied. "Why do you ask, sir?"

"I want all of these changelings placed under arrest!" he ordered before looking directly into Celestia's eyes. "Especially her!"

"Change...lings?" Steel asked before looking around to find Princess Sparkle and the rest of her friends having panicked expressions on their faces. He then looked up at what he thought was Princess Celestia, who only glared back at Dotted.

"The jig is up, Chrysalis," Dotted said before pointing a hoof at Celestia. "For you. And the rest of you lot." Steel could only look back and forth between Dotted and Celestia before he heard her sighing, making him look up at her.

"I should've known better than to leave you with only one incompetent guard," Celestia said in an angered tone before Steel watched her horn light up in a greenish glow. Immediately afterward, he could see green colored magic around the necks of Dotted, Port, and Copper Top. Each of them began struggling as Steel watched on, seeing the Bearers reveal themselves to be changelings. He stepped back in shock and awe as he watched what he thought was Princess Celestia, the kind ruler of Equestria, reveal herself to be none other than Queen Chrysalis.

Soon, the small group of changelings turned their attention to Steel. They all pounced at him at the same time. Seeing this, he tried his best to defend himself with his blade. But one of them spat some green goo onto his horn. Steel's eyes grew wide as the blue aura of his magic around the handle of the sword disappeared, making it drop to the floor before he was overwhelmed by the small group of changelings. The stallion struggled as best he could, but he wasn't strong enough to resist the combined strength of six changelings.

"What... are you doing?!" Steel grunted as he looked at Chrysalis before seeing that each of the ponies she had in her magic were struggling to breathe. "Let... them go!"

"In due time," Chrysalis calmly replied. "But first I want you to promise that you will surrender and not resist me."

"Steel!" Dotted grunted. "Don't.... do it!"

"If you don't," Chrysalis continued saying. "Then you will watch as your friends perish before I unleash my changelings on every other pony that is on board this vessel."

"Steel!" Port cried out as his hooves flailed around, trying desperately to get free.

"Enough!" Steel cried out. "I surrender!" Hearing this, Chrysalis smirked before releasing her hold, allowing the other ponies to gasp for air. She then signaled to the group of changelings to get off of him, which they did immediately. After they got off of him, Steel only glanced up at the goo on his horn. It felt warm and slimy, which made him feel uncomfortable. He then looked over at his friends, who were still catching their respective breaths. "Are you all good?"

"Yeah..." Port replied. "I think... we're good."

"Now," Chrysalis said, gaining everyone's attention. "I want all of you ponies, every passenger, and any other crew you have off of this ship." She then turned to look at Steel. "Except for you, that is."

"No!" Dotted protested. "We're not going to just abandon this ship!"

Chrysalis glared at the pony who dared to defy her before her eyes landed on Steel's sword. A smirk appeared on her face before she grabbed Dotted by the neck once more. Only this time, she also took hold of the blade and placed it against his throat.

"You will do as I say," she said in a commanding tone. "Otherwise this one will perish." Steel could only look on as a changeling spat more goo onto Dotted's horn before another did the same to Port's. With all the unicorn magic in the room now nullified, the sense of danger was increased.

"I'm still down here," Scythe said, making Chrysalis look down at him. She then used her magic to remove his restraints before letting him get back up. Once back on his feet, Scythe turned his attention to Steel and just winked before joining the rest of the changelings. Steel merely just glared back at him in response before looking back at Dotted and Chrysalis.

"So how exactly are we going to get this ship completely abandoned?" Port asked. "Yeah we have 16 lifeboats. But that's not enough for all of the passengers and crew on board."

"Not to mention the fact that it would only be a matter of time before they'd get picked up by another ship," Steel added. "Then you'd have every possible ship in the Navy out looking for this ship." After hearing this, Chrysalis rubbed her chin in thought while keeping the blade against Dotted's neck.

"You have a good point there, Captain," she said. "I knew I wanted you for a reason."

"What exactly... do you want me for?"

"You'll find out. In time," she replied. "But first. I want you to stop this ship." Steel just stood there for a bit, prompting Chrysalis to motion with her eyes at his sword against his friend's throat. He then sighed before nodding.

"Very well," he said before exiting the cabin with Scythe and another changeling escorting him. Once on the bridge, he looked at the helmspony before whistling to get his attention. The helmspony looked over only to audibly gasp at the sight of the changelings. Steel signaled for him to remain quiet, prompting the pony behind the wheel to nod. Steel then went over to the brass engine telegraphs before getting up on his hind legs and moving each lever to the 'Stop' position before moving them to the 'Finished with Engines' position. As he was doing this, Chrysalis turned her attention to Port Side and Copper Top.

"Now I want you two to follow me," she said before exiting the room with Dotted and her remaining changelings in tow. The two remaining ponies did as requested and followed her out onto the bridge. Chrysalis then stepped out onto the bridge wing with Dotted and the blade at his throat next to her. Once out on the wing, she looked up at the wireless telegraph cables that went up to the transmission lines strung up between the masts. With one magical blast from her horn, she vaporized all of the cables. "Wouldn't want any unwanted messages getting sent out now. Would we?" she asked rhetorically.

"So how exactly are you going to have all 2,000 passengers and 799 crew members get off of this ship then?" Port asked. "Since using the lifeboats is no longer an option."

"Simple," Chrysalis replied before she then used her magic and shot at one of the doors on the boat deck. "Go see for yourself." Tilting his head in response, Port obliged and went down the stairs before going over to the door. Once he got there, he opened it to find a field full of grass on the other side. "Now," Chrysalis called out. "You and this mare here will get every pony on this ship and send them through to that location. And make sure to tell them all not to try anything heroic. Or else," She then motioned with her eyes down at the blade. "Is that understood?"

"Yes.... ma'am," Port replied before he and Copper Top began doing as they were told, with the remaining five changelings following them to make sure that they didn't try anything. As the liner drifted to a halt, Steel, the helmspony, Scythe, and the other changeling stepped out on the wing and saw what Chrysalis' plan for getting the rest of the ponies off was.

"You do realize... how long it's going to take them to get every pony through that one portal?" Steel asked. "We're going to be here for a while."

"I've waited for weeks to get to this point, Captain Blade," Chrysalis stated as she watched the first ponies go through the portal. "What's a few more hours?"

Chapter Eight

As time slowly passed by, Steel could only look on as he watched his passengers and crew be shuffled through the portal. Where the location on the other side was eluded him as Chrysalis didn't say. From time to time, the stallion would glance over at the changeling Queen as she continued holding Dotted as her leverage to get what she wanted. The sight of his sword being used for evil intentions made him feel sick. But there was nothing he could do with his magic being nullified by the goo on his horn.

While continuing to watch, he kept a wary eye out on the horizon. He prayed silently that a random ship would spot them and investigate. But each time he looked, there was nothing but open ocean. Suddenly, a loud hissing sound could be heard coming from the four funnels. This made each pony and changeling on the deck jump in surprise before covering their ears.

"What... is the meaning of this?!" Chrysalis shouted over the noise while covering her ears as best as she could. "I told them not to try anything!"

"Just calm down!" Steel shouted in response. "They're venting the steam from the boilers since the engines are stopped!" Chrysalis just groaned after hearing that while Dotted did the best he could to keep his ears covered as well. Steel, however, didn't bother covering his ears. He was used to the loud noises after having served on steamships for so long. But with the crew below now venting the steam out through the funnels, that meant that there wouldn't be any steam left for the turbines. Mareitania would soon be adrift without any way to move under her own power until the pressure was built back up.

"Not exactly sure where this is going," he thought while looking on as the changelings began to guide the other ponies through the portal again. "Why would Chrysalis go through all this trouble just to get me alone on this ship?" As he continued to think, he looked up at what remained of the wireless telegraph cables as they hung from the transmission lines above. The ship's main means of communication with other ships destroyed with just the top portions of the cables swaying with the gentle rolling of the ship from side to side. This made him gulp as he wondered just what else she was capable of doing.

After roughly 20 minutes, the hissing sound of the steam being vented died down as the last of it escaped through the valves on the funnels. Once the noise stopped, Chrysalis uncovered her ears and smirked before looking down at Steel.

"Soon it will just be you, me, and my changelings on board," she said. "And then, my plan for revenge can begin."

"Revenge?" Steel asked. "What do you mean? And why would you need me and my ship?"

"All will be revealed once we are alone," she replied. "And I can assure you that you will benefit tremendously from it."

"If I even agree to go along with it," he thought to himself while watching the changelings herd the ponies on deck into a steady line. One by one, he'd watch as the ponies enter the doorway and go through the portal. Most of them would look up at Steel with looks of fear plastered on their faces before going through. This made the stallion feel powerless as there was nothing he could do to help them. He then looked over at Dotted, who gave up struggling against his captor's grasp. His eyes remained locked on the doorway that each pony on the deck was being ushered through. "So where exactly is that portal going to?"

"Hmm... I made sure that the portal would lead them to a field located somewhere in Equestria. Exactly where though, I'm not sure. And to be honest, I could care less."

"And what exactly is stopping them from trying to get help once they go through?" he continued. "I guarantee as soon as one of them gets a message out to the right ponies, the entire Equestrian Navy will be out looking for this ship."

"That would be true," she replied. "Except for one little... surprise I have in store for all who go through. You see. Once they go through the portal, they're free to do whatever it is they want. However, they won't remember what is going on here." This made Steel look toward her with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "My magic will wipe their memories of everything that they've done in the past week. How will they know what we're doing if they can't remember even being here to begin with?"

"Okay. That's some advanced level of magic there," he said in his mind. Soon, the last of the passengers were sent through the portal. All that were left were the stokers and engineers from below. As they came up onto the deck, Steel could see that some of them looked beat up. As if they tried resisting against the changelings. Each of them were then turned and guided by the changelings toward the portal.

"Captain Blade!" one of them shouted before stopping and looking directly up at where Steel and Chrysalis were standing. "Why are you letting them do this to us?" This only made Chrysalis chuckle as she moved to stand directly beside him.

"Because he doesn't have a choice! That's why!" she shouted back at the pony. "I am the one in charge here now, pony!" Before the stallion could respond, he was shoved through the portal by two changelings. Chrysalis smirked before turning her attention to the rest of the crew on the deck. "I suggest you all hurry along now," she said. "I'm beginning to grow bored."

"And if we refuse?" a stallion coated in coal dust asked.

"Just do as she says!" Dotted cried out. "Or else she's going to kill me!"

"Not if we all rush her at once!" another stallion shouted.

"Do you really want to take that chance though?" Chrysalis calmly asked before levitating Dotted up and over the side of the wing all while the blade was still against his throat. "Now. Should any of you try anything other than going through that portal, I will slice his throat and then send him down into the water below. And with the amount of blood that will just be gushing out of his neck, he'll be shark food within minutes." She then turned to look at Dotted. "Mercifully, you'd hopefully be dead before the first shark arrives."

"Please!" Dotted cried out desperately. "Just do what she wants!" Steel just stood quietly while looking down toward the wooden deck. He couldn't bear the sight of seeing his boss dangling several stories above the ocean with his sword at his throat. The stallions on the boat deck could see that by continuing to defy the Queen, they risked the life of their employer.

"You failed us, Captain Blade!" one of them called out before the group began to go through the portal. "I hope you realize that!" Steel only closed his eyes as tightly as he could while clenching his jaw after hearing that. His pride and confidence were already shattered before that. But hearing that just made him feel as low as he had ever felt before. Tears were beginning to form in his eyes as he tried to keep himself together. Chrysalis looked over at him and could see that what his crew was saying affected him immensely. Seeing his spirit now visibly broken pleased her.

Once the last of the stokers and engineers were through the portal, all that remained were Port, Copper Top, the helmspony, and Dotted as the last to go. Seeing this, Chrysalis brought Dotted back in from floating above the waves.

"Alright, you three," she said. "Leave us. Now." Copper Top just glared at Chrysalis before she was forced to go through by three changelings.

"Get moving, pony!" Scythe said to the helmspony before kicking him down the steps from the wing to the deck. The thud from him landing made Steel open his eyes before looking at what the changeling had done. Sensing that he had nothing left to lose at this point, he looked over at Scythe before hitting him in the face with his right hoof as hard as he could. This sent the changeling falling down the same set of stairs before landing on the deck next to the helmspony.

"Steel!" Dotted cried out while his eyes darted back and forth between the blade at his throat and the pony that owned it, worried that Steel's actions might have just cost him his life. "What are you doing?!"

"Oh calm down, pony," Chrysalis replied. "I've threatened to do more to that one for less." She then smirked while observing Steel breathe heavily with a look of anger on his face as he looked down at the downed changeling.

"Cap?" Port said while looking up at Steel after doing his best to help the helmspony up. Hearing his friend speak made the Captain's anger slowly fade before he looked at both his First Officer and the helmspony.

"I'm sorry, Port," he said. "I'm sorry that I failed you all."

"You didn't fail us, sir," the green unicorn said. "You're just sacrificing yourself for our safety. If anything, you've saved us." Steel just looked away once he heard that. "I know you don't feel that way now, sir. But I hope that you eventually will."

"Alright. That's long enough," Chrysalis said, interrupting the moment before setting Dotted down and grabbing both ponies on the deck with her magic. She then hurled both of them through the portal. Once that was finished, she turned and looked at her group of changelings as they were helping Scythe up. "Search the ship and make sure that there are no other ponies aboard."

"Yes, my Queen," one of them replied before they all went off before disappearing through various doors. With just the three of them left, Chrysalis turned her attention to Dotted.

"Now it's your turn. I suppose I'll let you say your goodbyes. But make it quick," she said before going down the stairs before stopping outside the door where the portal was. Once it was just the two of them, Dotted scooted the sword over to Steel. The blade stopped just in front of the red stallion, allowing Steel to see his reflection in the polished metal.

"Steel," Dotted said, making him look up at his boss. "I don't know if we'll see each other again after this. So I just want to say... thank you."

"You're thanking me?" Steel asked in a surprised tone. "For what?"

"For doing your duty," the white unicorn replied. "As a Captain, you're responsible for each creature on board. And because of your actions, no pony perished from this. That was the best possible outcome from this situation." He then rested a hoof on his friend's back. "I don't know what exactly she has planned for you and Mareitania. But I'm confident that whatever it is, it isn't anything you can't handle."

"I'm not so sure about that, sir," Steel said after sighing. He then looked down at Chrysalis, who still had her eyes locked on the two stallions. "I'm about to be left alone with her and all of her other changelings. Anything can happen once you go through the portal."

"That's true," Dotted replied as he glanced over at Chrysalis before looking back at Steel. "But whatever does happen, I just have this feeling that... things will work out. I don't know how or when. But something in my gut is telling me that you'll be alright."

"We don't have all day, pony," Chrysalis called out, making both stallions look at her.

"Guess that's my cue to head out," Dotted said before saluting Steel. Seeing this made the young Captain's eyes begin to water as he saluted him back. "Take care, Captain. And be safe."

"You too, sir," he replied while trying to keep back the tears. After hearing that, Dotted took one last look around before descending the stairs, leaving Steel alone on the bridge wing. Once he got to the door, he stopped and turned to look back up toward him one final time before entering the portal. As soon as he was through, Chrysalis slammed the door shut before using her magic on it again, presumably closing the portal. Steel just gulped as she slowly turned her head to look up at him.

"Now we're all alone, Captain Blade," she said while beginning to walk toward the steps. "Just you. Me. And what's left of my changeling army."

"I suppose so," Steel replied while watching her climb the stairs. "So why exactly did you need me and my ship?"

"Well. Now that it's just us, I'll tell you," she said as she climbed back onto the bridge wing. She then walked over and stood directly in front of Steel, closer than the stallion would've liked. But he didn't dare to move since she was the one in control now. "It all began after Starlight... Glimmer... turned my hive against me." The stallion in front of her could tell that whoever this pony was, she had quite the amount of hatred if just saying her name angered her. "After I managed to escape, I rounded up as many changelings that were still loyal to me as possible. Sadly though, that number was very small compared to what it once was." She then ran a forehoof along Steel's mane, making him shiver in response.

"I was now a Queen without a hive and hardly any subjects left," she continued. "For months, we were forced to hide ourselves among you ponies. Feeding off of any amount of love that we could find. But it sadly wasn't enough. Some of my followers abandoned me, choosing to return to that traitor, Thorax!" She then reached around the back of Steel's head and pulled him close, making him feel very uncomfortable as she pressed him up against her body.

"However. Things suddenly took a turn when I saw a flier for this voyage," she went on to say. "And as soon as I finished looking at it, an idea came to mind. I was in need of a new hive. And a new source of love to feed off of." This made Steel's pupils shrink once he heard what she said.

"Sweet Celestia!" he cried out in his mind as he trembled. "She's not gonna do what I think she's gonna do. Right?"

"So that is why I've done all of this," she said. "We're going to turn this ship into a mobile hive." She then looked down at Steel before using her magic to levitate him off the deck and up to where their eyes were on the same level. "And you... will be my new King. And together, we will exact my revenge against all who have wronged me!"

"Woah woah woah. Back it up there," Steel blurted out. "King? As in King of the changelings?"

"Why yes," she replied. "A big leap from the rank of Captain, I suppose."

"Why me though?"

"Well. You are the Captain of this ship," she replied. "So already that made you a leader. And if I'm being completely honest. You aren't so bad to look at. For a pony."

"I uhh... Thanks? I guess?" he said in response as his cheeks began to turn a brighter shade of red than the color of his coat, completely caught off guard by what she had said.

"And as my new King, you will rule beside me as we create a new generation of changelings who will, in time, allow me to get my revenge against Glimmer, Thorax, and anypony else who has wronged me!"

"Wait. You're saying that you... and I.... are gonna...."

"Of course. How else are we going to create a new generation of changelings?" she asked.

"Why would I agree to do that?"

"Well. I can assure you that if you agree to be my King, then you will have all kinds of.... benefits," she replied. "I know how to please a stallion like you in ways that you never thought could be possible. My methods of extracting love has left legions of stallions... wanting more."

"I uh..."

"So what do you think, Captain Blade?" she asked in a seductive tone. "How would you like to become my King?"

"Can I... at least think about it for a while?" he asked, making Chrysalis frown before she looked away as if she was thinking. Soon, her eyes widened before a smirk returned to her face once again.

"Of course," she said as she placed him back down on the deck. "I want you to fully appreciate just how rare of an opportunity this is." She then turned around and began walking toward the stairs going down to the boat deck, giving her flank an added swing. Steel couldn't help but notice it before quickly looking away. "I'll give you some time to think it over, Captain," she said before descending the stairs. "But I can assure you that you won't be... disappointed if you say yes."

After saying that, Chrysalis finished walking down the stairs and began walking aft toward the stern before turning to walk through a doorway, leaving Steel alone. Once he saw her disappear inside, he looked down at his sword as it laid on the wooden deck. Instinctively, he tried picking it up with his magic before remembering about the goo on his horn. As his eyes drifted up, he decided that this wouldn't do.

"Time to get this gunk off," he said to himself before going back inside the bridge. Seeing it now devoid of activity made him sigh as he entered his cabin. Once inside, he went over to his personal bathroom. As he stepped in, he tried to turn on the light. However, nothing happened. "Oh. Right. No steam. So no generators. Which means... no electricity." Thankfully, Celestia's sun was shining bright enough to allow him to still be able to see. Once he saw his towel hanging on the rack, he reached out and took hold of it with one hoof before wiping the green goo off of his horn.

"That... should do it," he thought while looking at the goo on the towel. He then shivered before tossing it into the hamper. He then turned and looked at a bottle of soap on the ledge of his bathtub. The white bottle was soon engulfed in his blue colored magic as he levitated it over to him. Seeing the bottle floating in the air made a smile return to his face before putting it back where it was.

Once finished, he made his way back out onto the bridge wing before picking up his sword, making sure that no changelings were around to see him do it. After being fairly sure that he wasn't being watched, he took the blade back into his cabin before placing it back in its scabbard. He then levitated it and secured it back on the mounting hooks above the door. Having his sword back where it belonged made him feel slightly better as he exited his cabin again.

As he stepped out onto the bridge, he went over to the helm, resting a hoof on it after stopping beside it.

"I don't know how things are going to play out, Mareitania," he said. "I'd really rather not see you become a changeling hive. But I... just don't know how we're gonna get out of this." The ship's hull just groaned after he finished talking, as if the ship itself was responding to her Captain. Steel just looked through the bridge's windows out ahead of the liner. The water around the ship was calm and the skies above only had a few clouds.

As he stood beside the helm, the sound of hoofsteps on the stairs leading up to the wing made him turn to see a pair of changelings approach him. They both soon had looks of surprise on their faces as they noticed that the unicorn no longer had goo on his horn.

"I see you removed the nullification gel," one of them said as they stepped inside the bridge. "Not many ponies realize how easy it is to do that."

"I mean. All it took was a towel," Steel replied. "Wasn't that hard."

"Indeed," the changeling said. "It's so simple. Yet many ponies in a similar position to you are in tend to let their fear of us control their actions. Thus their magic remaining useless." Steel just rolled his eyes as a silent response while looking at the two.

"So what brings you both here?"

"We were told by our Queen to give you a message," the other changeling replied. "She would like to have dinner with you at sunset."

"Sunset?" the unicorn asked while checking the time on the clock mounted on the wall. He then had to mentally remind himself that without electricity from the generators, even the clocks on the ship were useless. So instead, he turned and levitated a pocket watch out of his coat pocket. The usual time for sunset was still several hours away.

"She hopes that you will have made your decision on whether or not to join us by then," the changeling continued to say. "Trust me when I say this to you, pony. This should be the easiest decision of your life." With that said, the two changelings exited the bridge, leaving Steel alone once again. He let out a long sigh before looking at the large wheel beside him.

"What am I going to do, Mareitania?" he asked before looking out at the ocean ahead once more, thinking deeply about Chrysalis' proposal. "What am I going to do?"

Chapter Nine

While the sun began sinking down beneath the horizon behind Mareitania, Steel merely just sat in the crow's nest at the front of the ship. He never had the opportunity to do this before. So with his ship mostly abandoned aside from those he didn't want on board, he decided now was as good a time as ever to experience something new. As he sat high above the deck, he could see for miles around. From this perch, he'd be able to spot any ships in the distance. But to his surprise, he hadn't seen a single ship at all.

This lack of maritime traffic concerned the young stallion as he was certain that the ship was in a part of the Equestrian Ocean that was well traveled by other merchant ships. Then again, Mareitania had been adrift for several hours now. So it was hard to tell exactly where they were. As he continued looking around, he soon heard the fluttering of multiple sets of wings approaching. He soon found himself surrounded on all sides by eight changelings.

"Greetings, pony," one of them called out.

"Uh... hello," Steel replied as he looked at all of them.

"It is time, pony," another one said. "Our Queen is expecting you."

"Alright," he said. "So where are we going to eat?"

"Our Queen said that she would like to eat in your cabin," the changeling replied.

"Fine," the unicorn said. "What are we having for dinner?"

"You'll find out as soon as you get there," Scythe replied, making Steel look at him. Upon closer inspection, the stallion could see a bruise where he had struck him in the face just hours before. "Get moving," he continued. "Our Queen is famished!"

Steel simply rolled his eyes before climbing onto the rope ladder and descending down to the deck. Each of the changelings followed him to make sure he didn't try to escape. Not that there were many options available. Even if the stallion tried jumping overboard, he was certain that they'd catch him before he'd even touch the water. Once down on the deck, he looked over toward the bridge, sighing as he knew that the decision he'd have to make would have to be made soon. Would he join Chrysalis and her small army, turn his beloved ship into a floating hive, and betray his country? All to become King of the changelings. Or would he refuse and risk Chrysalis killing him and sinking his liner in an act of rage?

With all eight changelings escorting him, the lone stallion started his journey. Once he reached the superstructure, he climbed up one of the two ladders to get on the boat deck. He then walked over to the stairs leading up to the starboard bridge wing and slowly made his way up to the bridge. His group of followers merely continued looking on as the unicorn entered the bridge before stopping just outside the door leading into his cabin.

He sighed to himself before opening the door and stepping inside. Once through the door, he found Chrysalis sitting at the small table next to the window. On the table were two glasses filled with what looked to be apple cider. He could see that the one in front of the changeling Queen was half empty. After hearing the door open, Chrysalis turned to look at who it was. Once she saw it was Steel, her facial expression turned into one of seduction as she motioned for him to take a seat at the other end of the table.

Steel silently nodded before he started walking to it. He was then startled by what sounded like the cabin door being slammed shut. He then turned around and had his thought confirmed as the door was shut before the Queen used her magic to lock it, ensuring that it would just be them in the cabin.

"Welcome, Captain," she said as Steel walked over and sat down at the other side of the table. "I trust my subjects didn't give you too much trouble?"

"I suppose," Steel replied as he got comfortable in his chair. He then used his magic to levitate his hat off before placing it on top of the dresser on the other side of the room. "All they did was escort me here."

"Good," she said. "At least they can manage to do that right." After she said that, Steel looked down at the drink in front of him. It looked like apple cider. But it didn't really smell like it.

"What exactly is this?" he asked while pointing at the glass.

"That?" she replied. "Just a drink that I like to have on... special occasions." Steel simply raised an eyebrow while looking between the glass and her. "A little... appetizer that I like to share with those I deem worthy before the feast can begin."

"You mean... dinner. Right?"

"Feast. Dinner. It's all the same. Isn't it?"

"I guess so," the stallion replied. "So uh... what's in it?"

"It's a secret," she replied. "But I haven't had a complaint from any other stallion I've served it to." Steel once again looked down at the drink, looking for anything out of the ordinary. But aside from the smell, he couldn't see anything in there aside from the liquid. "Why don't you give it a try and see for yourself?"

Steel's eyes just kept looking back and forth between the glass and Chrysalis. Deep down, he had a feeling that something was off about the drink. But he really wasn't in a position to refuse to do as she wanted. Even with his magic fully restored, he was still outmatched by the Queen given what she was capable of doing.

"Guess I don't really have a choice," he said in his mind before he used his magic to pick the glass up. He then placed the rim of it against his lips and began drinking it. Chrysalis looked on as the stallion gulped down half the drink before setting the glass down.

"Well?" she asked. "What do you think?"

"Has a bit of an.... interesting taste," Steel replied. "Can't quite put my hoof on it. But it was good, I suppose."

"Good," Chrysalis said while a sly smirk could be seen on her face.

"Can I ask you a question though?"

"You just did," the changeling Queen replied before chuckling.

"Smartass," he said. "But seriously though."

"Go ahead."

"How did you and your changelings get by the checkpoints back at Manehattan?" he asked. "I thought those things were designed specifically to detect changeling magic."

"Well," Chrysalis replied. "When you're disguised as Sun Butt and the rest of those... annoyances. Ponies tend to not question what you do. When we arrived at the gate, I simply told the ponies guarding it that we were in too much of a hurry to go through their little device."

"So they just... let you through?" Steel asked before taking another few sips from his drink. "No questions asked?"

"Indeed," she replied. "You ponies can be so easily fooled sometimes." As Steel listened to her, he couldn't help but begin to feel a bit light headed. He shook his head a couple of times, which seemed to do the trick. He then took hold of the glass once more before downing the rest of the liquid content within. Once the glass was empty, he looked over at Chrysalis, who was just staring at him with her eyes half lidded and a seductive smirk. "Feeling alright, Captain?" she asked in a tone that made the stallion feel like she already knew the answer.

"I'm.... fine," he replied right before his vision started to become blurred. The light headed feeling returned once more. However it felt stronger now. He rubbed a forehoof against his head, shaking it a few more times while his breathing became slow and heavy. "What.... exactly was in.... that drink?"

"Shhh...." Chrysalis replied. "Don't worry about it, my dear." Steel shook his head a few times once more before getting out of his chair. As he stood, he felt like the room was spinning rapidly. He tried staggering over toward the door leading to the bridge. But he soon fell over roughly halfway there and had no strength to get back up. As he laid on the floor, he could hear Chrysalis chuckling before seeing her hooves stop in front of his face. "And now... the fun begins," she said before Steel drifted off into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, back somewhere in Equestria, Dotted Line sat on the side of a dirt road. The sun shined brightly in the clear blue sky, making him sweat as he just silently looked around at his surroundings. His mind, however, was struggling to figure out exactly how he got there when the last thing he remembered doing was falling asleep at his home in Manehattan. This whole situation was strange as when he woke up in a field seemingly in the middle of nowhere, he wasn't alone. He was in the middle of a large group of ponies ranging from those clearly extremely wealthy down to ponies covered in coal dust and oil.

As the hours ticked by, the ponies all wondered off in different directions, leaving him alone with just one other stallion. At least this one was one that he knew.

"Port?" he asked, gaining the green unicorn's attention as the two sat by the road. "How exactly did we get here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, sir," he replied. "Last thing I remember was sleeping in my hotel room. Next thing I know, I'm waking up surrounded by ponies who I have no idea are while in a place I don't think I've ever been to." Dotted nodded as his friend's situation was similar to his own. He then couldn't help but notice that he was wearing his First Officer's uniform.

"Why are you in uniform?" he asked. "I thought I told you that those clothes were to stay on the Mareitania."

"I.... could've sworn I left it there, sir," the green pony said as he looked down. "This whole situation... is strange."

"Agreed," Dotted said while nodding. He then looked around before seeing a large red colored earth pony pulling a cart of hay bales and buckets filled to their brims with apples approaching. He got up before motioning for Port to do the same. Once his friend got up, the two walked out into the dirt path and signaled for the stallion to stop. The earth pony came to a stop just in front of the two unicorns as his path was now blocked by them.

"Can I help you?" he asked in a thick country accent.

"Good day there, kind sir," Dotted said while smiling at him. "My name is Dotted Line, chairpony of the Red Apple Line."

"And I'm Port Side," Port added. "First Officer of the EMS Mareitania."

"Well. Nice to meet y'all," the earth pony replied. "Name's Big Mac."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Mac," Dotted said before bowing.

"You two look more lost than a peach farmer at an apple sale," Big Mac went on to say.

"An astute observation, my good sir," the white unicorn replied. "If you could be so kind as to tell us where exactly we are, it would be very much appreciated."

"Eeyup," Big Mac replied. "We're right outside of Ponyville,"

"Ponyville?" Port asked. Big Mac silently nodded before pointing his hoof in the direction he was going.

"Town's just down the road from here," he replied. "If y'all want, I can give you a ride down there."

"Splendid!" Dotted replied. "How much would we owe you?"

"Shoot. You guys wouldn't need to pay me," he said. "Looks like y'all could use some help anyways."

"Thank you," Dotted said before he and Port climbed on the cart. The two unicorns took a seat on the hay bales as Big Mac began pulling once again. As they went along the road, Dotted felt it polite to continue having a conversation with the stallion. "So uhh... Big Mac. Do you live around here?"

"Eeyup," he replied. "Sweet Apple Acres. I live there with my granny, Granny Smith, and my two little sisters, Applejack and Applebloom."

"I see," Dotted replied. "Well. I'll be sure to tell them about your good deed if we see them in town."

"Well. Applejack ain't here right now," Big Mac replied. "She's with her friends on some sailing trip."

"Ah. I see," he said. "You know. We're actually having a voyage of our own soon as a matter of fact. In roughly a week."

"Oh yeah?"

"Indeed," Dotted replied. "The maiden voyage of the Mareitania."

"Well. I wish y'all the best of luck with that then," Big Mac replied while approaching a hill. The two unicorns observed as he pulled the cart with ease up the slope. Once at the top, they could see the town that Big Mac was referring to. Port looked around until his eyes caught sight of the train station just on the outskirts of the town.

"Could you drop us off at the train station, big guy," he asked.

"Eeyup," Big Mac replied.

"Excellent," Dotted said. "Once there, we can get tickets back to Manehattan. And once we get back there, we can continue making preparations for the voyage." He then looked down at Port's uniform before another thought came to mind. "I'm sure Captain Blade is wondering where in Equestria we are."

"Yeah," Port added as Big Mac approached the train station. "Hopefully he's doing alright."

"Oh.. Celestia.." Steel softly groaned as his eyes slowly opened. "Where... am I?" Once his eyes were fully open, he could see that he was in his cabin, laying on his back in the middle of his bed. The only source of light coming from the moonlight shining through his cabin window. He then felt that each of his hooves spread apart from each other. As he tried to move though, he found that he couldn't. Looking over, he could see his forehooves were restrained to the mattress by green colored magic. His eyes drifted down to find his hind legs in a similar state before noticing something else.

"What..?" he asked while looking at his shaft, standing fully erect.

"Ah. Good," a familiar voice said. "You're finally awake. I didn't think that my drink would've been so... effective on you."

"Drink?" Steel replied, his mind still clouded as he watched Chrysalis approach him before stopping beside the bed. He watched her eyes look over the stallion's body before stopping to look at his shaft. She then licked her lips before turning to look back into Steel's eyes.

"You certainly are bigger than most of the other stallions I've done this to," she said. "I'm sure we'll have all kinds of... fun."

Before Steel could think of a response though, Chrysalis moved her head forward until her lips made contact with his. He could feel her tongue force its way into his mouth. The slimy intruder rubbed itself all over the stallion's tongue, mixing her saliva with his. The taste was weird to say the least. After a few minutes, Chrysalis broke the kiss and moved her head back while a thin strand of saliva was the only thing keeping them connected. The changeling Queen then licked her lips once again, moaning softly in approval.

"Mmmmm. Yes," she moaned. "I can already taste the love."

"What... are you... doing?" he asked as his senses were still dulled by the effects of the drink.

"Don't worry, my dear," she replied before gently running a hoof along his horn. "Like I said. I know many ways of pleasing stallions like you. Just relax. Don't fight it. And let it happen." After saying that, she climbed onto the bed and straddled herself above his body. She then moved her head down and opened her mouth, showing off her fangs and forked tongue. Steel could only look on as her tongue made contact with his face. She licked his lips, sending a shiver down his spine, before it started working upward. The stallion's eyes closed as the wet appendage glided between them and up his forehead until it reached the base of his horn.

Soon, he could feel it work its way up to the tip of his horn. This inadvertently made a moan escape from his mouth. Hearing this, Chrysalis smirked before she started to take the horn into her mouth, gently suckling on it as her tongue wrapped itself around it. The feeling was warm and slimy as he could feel something else happening once his entire horn was inside her mouth. After a minute or so of this, she slowly took his horn out of her mouth before licking her lips again.

"There," she said as she stared lustfully at what she had done. Even though he was still feeling the effects of the drink, he could feel what she did. His horn was once again coated in a thick layer of green nullification goop. The warm and slimy liquid felt strangely good, making him moan again. Seeing that he was still under her influence, Chrysalis lowered her flank down and gently rubbed her wet pussy along the length of his shaft. This made her let out a moan of her own as she continued this a couple more times.

"Mmmmm...." Steel moaned. "That... feels... good."

"Likewise, you handsome stud," she replied. Clearly her drink had taken full control and his will to resist her was blocked. Coming to that conclusion, she turned herself around and presented her flank to him. Her pucker and marehood were exposed for his eyes to see. She then laid down on top of him, pressing her juicy marehood and asshole up against his muzzle. "Time for a little fun," she cooed as he could feel her drooling on his shaft. "Pleasure your Queen."

After saying that, she opened her mouth once again and allowed her tongue to begin lapping at the cock in front of her. While she was doing that, Steel began doing as instructed and began licking her wet folds. Even though a portion of his mind was internally screaming to stop, the effects of the drink pushed him on as his tongue glided up and down. Chrysalis moaned loudly before she took his shaft into her mouth and began to suck on it. Once she had his cock inside her mouth, Steel could feel her tongue wrapping around it and starting to jerk it as she was sucking. This sent waves of pleasure surging through his body as the pressure of his inevitable orgasm began building in his sack.

As the two continued pleasuring each other, he dipped his tongue inside her soaked pussy. This made her let out a long and muffled moan as she welcomed the penetration of her love canal. The love she was sensing from him was delicious and overwhelming. Something she was eager to have more of. While his tongue was acting like her own personal toy, she pushed her head down until the stallion's entire shaft was in her mouth. The tip of his cock was halfway down her throat as her tongue wrapped around the base of his cock.

Steel's moans were growing longer and louder as his orgasm grew closer and closer. His precum was steadily leaking out the tip and was giving the changeling on top of him something new to taste. She quickly lapped it up and started sucking on the tip like a straw, wanting more of the delicious liquid. As the stallion's tongue explored her pussy further, it brushed up against a sensitive spot, making her gasp and press her flank down against his muzzle.

When he felt this, his tongue started focusing on that area. The taste of her sweet juices fueled him on. While his mind was pleading to stop, his body was behaving on its own and just kept going. Suddenly, Chrysalis moaned loudly around his shaft as her orgasm occurred, sending a wave of fluids into his mouth. Steel swallowed all of it as she grinded herself on his muzzle.

Feeling satisfied for the first time in so long, she wanted to repay him by giving him what he wanted. She dipped her head down once again, taking his entire cock into her mouth. The stallion's moans were being muffled by her flank, but she pressed on. She even lit up her horn and began massaging his sack with her magic.

"Cum for me, my King," she said in her mind as she moved her head back, lapping at the tip of his cock. "Stuff my stomach with your seed!" After several minutes, Steel could no longer withstand her onslaught of pleasure. As she licked the tip of his shaft and squeezed his sack with her magic, she was rewarded with the first of many spurts of hot, fresh stallion seed. Spurt after spurt of his cum was shot out like being fired from a cannon. She let out a lustful moan as she swallowed all of it, not letting a single drop escape her lips.

After draining his sack of cum, the changeling Queen took the cock out of her mouth and gave the tip a soft kiss before getting off of the stallion and laying down beside him. Seeing that he was worn out from this, she lit up her horn and made the magical restraints disappear, sensing that he was going to be fully cooperative from this point.

"Mmmmmmm....." she moaned softly as she gazed at him. "I haven't felt this good in so long. My stomach is simply bulging with the amount of delicious seed you put in there." Hearing this, he looked down to find that she wasn't kidding. Her belly protruded outward slightly as she ran a forehoof along it. "I can't wait to feel you fertilize my eggs and create a new generation of changelings," she cooed while looking at him.

"Oh... yeah?" he asked as he breathed heavily.

"In fact. Why don't we find out just how good that would feel," she seductively suggested as her horn lit up once more. Looking down, he could see his shaft and sack be enveloped in her green colored magic before feeling a tingling sensation. After several seconds, her magic faded as his shaft was once again rock hard. Seeing this, she moaned as she got up and once again straddled herself above him. But as she was doing this, he could feel the effects of the drink beginning to wear off. Soon, he felt like he was fully back in control of himself just in time to get a sense of the situation. His eyes darted back and forth between her eyes and her flank as she lined her marehood up with his shaft and slowly started lowering itself down. Seeing this, the will to resist finally appeared as he shook his head a few times.

"No!" he shouted, making the changeling stop as her flank was mere inches above the tip of his shaft.

"What... was that, dear?" she asked in a tone that was mixed of seduction and annoyance.

"I said no!" he repeated, his sense of resistance gaining more strength. Hearing this, the Queen frowned at him.

"Why?" she asked, clearly upset at this show of defiance. "You were happily enjoying my body just mere minutes ago. What changed?"

"That... drink of yours wore off! That's what changed! Now get off of me!"

Upon hearing that, the Queen huffed as she remained in her position. She was honestly bewildered by the resistance that this stallion had. She had just given him a preview of what he would have if he had chose to join her. Pretty much any of the other stallions she had done this to would've happily agreed to be her King had they proven to be satisfying to her. This one though. He was different. He was the first one that truly satisfied her. But it was he who was rejecting her.

This made a new feeling emerge within her. The feeling of rejection. The pain that she had inflicted on so many was now being inflicted on her. This pony had the audacity to reject her? A Queen? She was gracious enough to spare the lives of his friends, his passengers, and his crew. And this is how he repays her? This made the feeling of anger build up inside her as she got off of him and got off the bed.

But just as he started to get up, she took hold of him with her magic and threw him across the room in an act of rage. Steel cried out just before smashing through his private bathroom's door, coming to a stop within. Once that happened, he let out a long and painful groan as he slowly rolled over and tried to stand.

"You.... have made.... a big.... mistake!" she said through gritted teeth as her horn lit up once again. This time, it was enveloped around his neck as she lifted him up and brought him close to her. His hind legs flailed in the air as his forehooves tried in vain to help him escape. "Unlike so many before you. You were the first to truly satisfy me," she said, making him look at her. "And yet. You reject me? No stallion rejects Queen Chrysalis!"

"I... just... did!" he said defiantly. This only made her angrier as she tightened her magic around his neck.

"You would've had anything you wanted," she continued. "Power. Adoration. Love. Pleasure that most stallions could only dream of." She then let out a sigh before glaring at him. "I gave you a mere glimpse of that. And you choose to not give me what I want?"

"Fuck.... you!"

"I thought that you would be different," she said while looking into his blue colored eyes. "I thought that you'd be my King and give me a new generation of changelings to rule over. But now. Now I see that you're just like the rest of my useless subjects."

"I... am... nothing.... like them!"

"Clearly," she replied before releasing her hold on his neck, letting him drop to the floor. "At least they know when to obey their Queen." He then watched as she turned and began walking toward the door leading out to the bridge. As he started to catch his breath, he could only lay there and watch as she stopped and turned around to look at him. "Enjoy these last few minutes while you can. Because after all," she continued before glaring right into his eyes. "No ship should go down without her Captain!" After saying that, she slammed the door shut. The stallion then watched as the perimeter of the door became encased in green magic. Shaking his head a few times, he got up and quickly made his way over to the door before trying to open it. However, it wouldn't budge.

"Come, my changelings!" he heard Chrysalis call out from outside. "We're leaving!" He then rushed over to the window to see Chrysalis hovering just off the side of the ship.

"Yes, my Queen!" a changeling shouted as he watched her eight changeling followers join her. He then pounded on the glass a few times as they all put a little distance between themselves and the ship.

"What are you gonna do?!" he shouted before seeing Chrysalis turn to look back at him. Once her gaze rested on the liner, her horn lit up once more. As the seconds passed, it grew brighter and brighter before she sent a blast of magic directly at the ship. Steel braced himself as best he could for impact. But the liner heeled over toward the left side upon being struck, sending Steel falling backwards onto the floor of his cabin, sliding over to the opposite side of the room. Soon, he felt the floor level out as the liner slowly righted itself. The hull groaned loudly as the ship then began tilting to the right. As soon as he felt this, Steel's pupils shrank as he slowly got back up and made his way back to the window in time to see Chrysalis and her followers fly away from the ship before disappearing from view.

As the seconds ticked by, he could feel the ship listing more and more to starboard.

"I need to get out of here!" he said before making his way into the bathroom and repeating the process of removing the goo on his horn. Once it was off, Steel rushed out before trying to open the door to the bridge again. Like before, he couldn't get it to open at all as the green colored magic continued enveloping the edges of it. "You fucking bitch!" he called out while looking up to find his sword still on the mounting hooks above. He then took hold of it with his magic before removing it from the scabbard. The polished metal blade shined brightly under Luna's moonlight. He then put it back in before securing the strap around his body.

As the stallion continued struggling to think of ways to escape the cabin, the liner's list to starboard increased by a few degrees. Steel estimated that if this kept up, it wouldn't be long before the liner would capsize. His attention then turned to the window. His blue colored magic enveloped the latch as he undid it before slowly opening it. A sigh of relief could be heard as he climbed out of the window, thankful that Chrysalis had forgotten about it. Once outside, Steel quickly grabbed his hat with his magic and placed it back on his head before he rushed back onto the bridge, looking for a specific instrument that would tell him how bad the situation was.

"Where are you..." he said to himself while using his horn to provide light before his eyes rested on a gauge mounted on the wall behind the helm. It was the ship's clinometer, a tool used to see how bad a ship is leaning to one side or the other. Thankfully, it didn't need electricity to function. As the stallion squinted his eyes, he found that the ship had an eight degree list to starboard. "Okay," he said after looking at where the needle was. "I still have time."

Steel then made his way out to the starboard bridge wing. Once there, he tried looking over the side as best as he could to hopefully see the extent of the damage. Unfortunately, he was unable to see anything. He then descended the stairs down to the boat deck. Seeing all of the lifeboats still secured in their davits made the unicorn shudder as visions of what the situation on deck would've looked like had there been passengers aboard still played through his mind.

"I need to get down and see the damage," he said while rushing down the deck. However. Trying to navigate a listing ship in darkness with the only source of light coming from his horn was something he didn't really want to do. In order to get down there quickly, he'd have to do something that he learned about in school, but had never tried to do since. That being teleportation.

He breathed deeply before closing his eyes as he pictured Boiler Room One in his mind. He then channeled the magic in his horn before executing the spell. Soon, the stallion found himself on a metal floor instead of a wooden deck. He then used his horn to illuminate the room before looking around to see that he was in fact inside a boiler room. The hull around him groaned loudly from down where he was before the sound of water could be heard not too far away.

Looking in the direction of the sound, he found that it was coming from Boiler Room Two, the one located directly in the middle of the ship. Struggling to keep on his hooves, he passed through the open watertight door between the two boiler rooms. Once through, he went over to the small space between the boilers where the stokers would keep the fires lit. But now, each boiler was cold and dark. Seeing this sent a chill down his spine as he then looked ahead at the wall of metal separating the boiler room from the two coal bunkers on the starboard side. He could see water shooting out through the small spaces between the four doors that would open to allow stokers to get more coal and the wall around them.

Out of instinct, Steel lit up his horn and closed the huge watertight doors, sealing himself in the boiler room. He then looked back at the four coal doors as water continued coming in. Lighting his horn up once more, he started encasing their perimeters with his magic, much like Chrysalis did to his cabin door. Once done, the water ceased coming through them. But now the metal wall began groaning loudly. The stallion knew that the thickness of the wall wasn't much. Those bunker walls were designed to hold back coal. Not water. Something he was trying to get this one to do. But as the minutes passed by, the groaning of the metal told the Captain that it wouldn't be long before the wall would give way to the sea. One by one, he watched as the large sheets of metal started bulging out toward the room, signaling that the pressure inside the bunker was at the wall's breaking point.

Steel reacted to this by widening his magic to now envelop the entire wall. At this point, the whole side of the room now glowed bright blue as the stallion's magic was now the only thing keeping it up. He knew that as soon as his energy was spent, it wouldn't take long before the wall would collapse, sending water crashing into the boiler room and dooming him to a watery grave.

"You're right, Chrysalis," Steel said as the final words she said to him played in his mind over and over. "No ship should go down.... without her Captain." He then gritted his teeth and began to increase his magic's power. "But I'll be damned if I go down.... without a fight!"

Chapter Ten

As the light of the coming dawn cracked over the horizon, a lone vessel could be seen slowly navigating through the waves. This ship was a large wooden vessel, painted white with a single gold stripe wrapping around the hull. Three masts towered above the deck with each having enormous sails attached to them to catch the wind, thus propelling the ship forward through the waves. On the stern, the name Solar Wind could be seen in big gold letters as the flag of Equestria flew proudly from the flagpole just above.

On the deck, members of the Royal Guard and Equestrian Navy were seen doing various tasks ranging from washing the deck and tightening the ropes connecting the sails to the masts to standing watch and cleaning the thirty cannons housed below on the gun deck. Toward the back of the ship, a blue colored unicorn stallion could be seen standing next to the ship's wheel. This stallion was wearing a white Captain's uniform along with an eyepatch covering his left eye with ends of an obvious scar seen protruding from both the upper and lower parts beneath.

Standing next to him was none other than the Princess of Friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn was visibly happy as she held a compass in her magical grasp, glancing down at it every once in a while before setting it aside. The ship was sailing on a northwestern course after sailing northeast ever since they left the seaside city of Mareami several days earlier. The reason for their trip? Relaxation. The stresses of being a Princess were starting to become too much for the young alicorn to handle without some time to relax and not worry about anything. So it was suggested by Princess Celestia that she and her friends take the royal frigate out for a pleasure cruise on the Equestrian Ocean.

"Well, Princess Sparkle," the stallion said as he looked out ahead of the ship. "Looks like we're in for another calm day of sailing."

"That looks to be the case, Captain Broadside," the alicorn replied. "Not that I mind, of course. I'd rather we not run into any storms out here." After saying that, she let out a small yawn as she had just woken up not long before coming up on deck. The rest of her friends were still sound asleep below. This didn't bother the young Princess as she enjoyed watching the sunrise from time to time, depending on how much sleep she had gotten the night before.

With the ship on its current course, Twilight looked out toward the starboard side as she could see the sun begin poking up from the horizon to the east. In a few days, the ship would arrive in Horseshoe Bay to take on some supplies before setting off for Manehattan. As she watched the rising sun, her quietness was interrupted by three loud clangs from the crow's nest high above.

"Ship spotted off the port bow!" the lookout called down, making both Twilight and Captain Broadside look up before looking in the direction the pony above was pointing to. From where they stood, the two ponies could only make out that it was a large ocean liner, evidenced by the four huge red and black painted funnels. However, something was clearly off. There wasn't any smoke coming from the funnels, indicating that the ship wasn't moving. And the entire vessel was listing heavily toward her starboard side.

"Looks more like a shipwreck to me," Broadside said as he turned the ship's wheel to the left. When he did, the Solar Wind leaned over toward the right as the ponies on the deck signaled for the sails to be folded up. Slowly, every other pony on the deck began pulling on ropes. This in turn made each of the sails get folded up, making the ship slow down. "We can at least see if they need some assistance." As they got closer to the liner, Twilight looked on as a sense of worry started creeping into her mind. From where she was, it seemed as though the ship was completely abandoned. However, all of the lifeboats were still aboard, locked in their respective davits while covered up with canvas. "Wait a second..." she heard the Captain say as he walked away from the wheel and over to the side closest to the other ship.

"What are you doing, Broadside?" Twilight asked while grabbing the helm with her magic. As the frigate drifted to a stop with some distance between it and the liner, the Captain's eye widened as he stared at it.

"I recognize this ship!" he replied. "It's the Mareitania! My little brother's ship!"

"Your brother?" the Princess asked after letting go of the wheel now that the frigate had stopped. "Who's your brother?"

"My little brother, Port Side," he said while not breaking his gaze on the ship. "He's the First Officer." As they talked, they could hear the large iron hull groaning as it sat in an unnatural position with many of the portholes on that side slipping beneath the waves only to come back up again. "Port!" Broadside called out. "Port Side!" Sadly, no response was heard from the massive liner. As the two ponies kept gazing at what was in front of them, hoofsteps from the stairwell leading up to the deck could be heard.

"What's going on, Twi?" Applejack asked as she, Starlight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all came up onto the deck. But as soon as she asked, she could see clearly what was going on as the large ocean liner dwarfed their ship considerably. They all let out a gasp while they made their way over to where their friends were, both fascinated and horrified at the scene before their eyes.

"I know this ship," Rarity said as she gazed at one of the flags flying at the top of the mast near the stern. It was a white flag with a red colored apple in the center. "My shop was commissioned by the Red Apple Line to make uniforms for the crew."

"How long do you think it's been like this?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm not sure," Twilight replied. "I can't imagine that a ship this big could stay like this for more than a few hours."

"Isn't this ship supposed to be on its maiden voyage or something?" Starlight asked. "I could've sworn I saw an ad for it in the paper before we left Mareami."

"Well if that's the case, I'd say it's off to a pretty bad start," Rainbow replied as she stood next to her. Always seeking to have an adventure, the rainbow haired pegasus then took to the air and flew out toward the seemingly abandoned ship. As she flew, the lack of any signs of life aboard sent a chill down her spine. Once she arrived over the ship, she landed on the boat deck between the second and third funnels, making sure to balance herself on it before looking around.

"Rainbow!" Twilight called out as she and Starlight followed the pegasus mare before both of them landed on the deck as well. "Be careful! We don't know what happened here." After she said that, the hull groaned once again before the deck slanted further toward the starboard side. All three mares stumbled before regaining their balance and then watched as a couple of deck chairs slid off the side of the ship and down into the water below. Looking up, they all saw the ends of three cables hanging from some other cables strung between the two masts.

"Are there any other ponies aboard?" Starlight asked. "If so, we need to get them off before this ship sinks!"

"A ship this big would take a lot of time to search," the alicorn replied. "I have no idea how damaged it is. So I can't know for certain how long we'd have to even attempt a search."

"Well. What about a thermal detection spell?" the unicorn asked. "We could use that to at least see if there are any ponies aboard without actually going inside." Twilight's eyes widened as she listened to her pupil's suggestion. A thermal detection spell would be the answer to their problem. The spell would allow them to detect any source of heat. It was normally used at night when searching large areas for lost ponies. But here, it would be perfect. The cold waters of the Equestrian Ocean would make any source of heat, no matter how small, be visible to them.

"Alright," she replied. "We can give that a try." Starlight nodded silently in response. "With this ship being so big though, we'll have to split up and meet in the middle." She then looked over at her pupil as she began floating in her turquoise colored magic again. "I'll head up to the front. You start from the back. We'll meet here in the middle of the ship."

"Got it," the unicorn replied before she and her friend flew off in different directions.

"Be careful, guys!" Rainbow called out while choosing to hover just off the side of the tilting liner. Soon, both mares arrived at their respective starting points and landed on the deck. Each of them then lit up their horns and started to look all around the ship. As they walked, both mares' vision changed. All they could see now was blue, with a tiny bit of orange coming from where Rainbow was hovering. As each mare began making their way back toward the middle of the ship, both of them started to see something else. A new source of heat could be seen down in the bowels of the ship.

Sensing this, Starlight cut her spell and rushed off toward Twilight, meeting her on the deck next to where Rainbow was still hovering. "I got something!" she called out before stopping in front of the alicorn.

"So do I," the Princess replied before cutting her own spell. "I think we've got the same one."

"Wait. There's only one pony aboard?" Rainbow asked. "How?"

"I'm not sure," Starlight replied. "But whoever this pony is, they're producing a large amount of heat."

"Where are you picking the heat up from?" Twilight asked.

"Down there," the unicorn replied before pointing her hoof back behind her. "Go next to the third funnel and they'll be straight down." Seeing this, Twilight nodded before looking back at Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow," she said. "Fly back to the frigate and tell Captain Broadside that there's a pony still aboard this ship."

"Can do!" the pegasus mare replied before flying away, leaving the two mares behind.

"Come on," Starlight said. "Lets go get that pony!" And with that said, both mares disappeared in a flash of magic.

Inside Boiler Room Two, Steel could be heard panting and grunting as he desperately tried to keep his magic together. Holding back a solid metal wall against the incoming water for so long had clearly taken a toll on the stallion. His forehead was covered in sweat as his legs were starting to wobble. Each sheet of thin metal had bulged outward to where they were touching the magic barrier. From the glow, the stallion could vaguely see a small pool of water had already started to form between the wall and the magic.

"I guess... this is.... how I.... die..." he said between gasps for air as he could feel his magic weakening. The glow of his horn slowly started fading as the groaning of the wall grew louder. Soon, Steel no longer had the strength left as the magic around his horn disappeared, making the magical barrier do so as well. The stallion collapsed onto the metal floor as water began shooting through the coal doors once again. As he laid there, he looked helplessly up at the wall while listening to the groaning of the metal being pushed to the breaking point and to the sound of rivets breaking under the stress. This kept up until a seam between two of the sheets of metal split open, allowing a torrent of cold seawater to surge into the boiler room.

Steel instinctively closed his eyes and put a hoof up in a useless attempt to shield himself from the incoming water. But as the seconds passed, nothing happened to him. This made the shaking stallion open one eye and peek over his raised limb to see a mixture of purple and turquoise colored magic holding back the wall of water. He raised an eyebrow while tilting his head before the sound of two mares grunting behind him caught his attention.

Looking back, he spotted where the sound was coming from. In the mixed color's glow, he saw a light purple unicorn with a purple and turquoise colored mane standing next to who looked to be Princess Sparkle just as he found himself being grabbed by the turquoise magic. Glancing back at the water as he was pulled back, he could see only the purple magic was now holding back the water.

"I got him, Twilight!" he heard the unicorn say as they moved toward the watertight door leading into Boiler Room One. Seeing that it was closed, the unicorn set him down before using her magic to open it. As soon as it was opened, she looked back and grabbed Steel once again. "Come on!" she shouted as she raced through, pulling the tired stallion along with her. Once in the other room, they both looked on as the alicorn slowly backed her way out of the room. Once she was through the doorway, the unicorn closed the watertight door, prompting the alicorn to cut her magic once the door was closed again.

After doing that, they all could hear the water surging into the boiler room. Luckily, no water was entering the room they were in. As they listened, both mares lit up their horns to allow them to see, illuminating the room in turquoise and purple. Steel however just laid there, having no strength left to stand.

"If you're here to finish me off, then just do it already," Steel quietly said, prompting both mares to turn and look at him with confused expressions on their faces.

"Excuse me?" the alicorn asked.

"You heard me."

"What are you talking about, sir?" the unicorn asked while looking at the alicorn who was equally as confused before they looked back at the stallion. "We're here to save you."

"Don't lie to me," he weakly replied while looking at the two of them. "You must've seen that this ship was still floating." He then chuckled softly. "So you two came back to finish the job."

"I don't understand, sir," the alicorn replied. "We're not here to hurt you. I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Starlight Glimmer." From where he was, the stallion could only look at the two mares in front of him. His eyes darted between the two of them several times before he looked down at the metal floor and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry," he softly said before slowly standing up, slightly wobbling in the process. "But how do I know you're telling the truth?" Twilight just raised one of her eyebrows and started rubbing her chin in thought as Starlight smacked her own forehead and groaned.

"Why would we lie about that?" she asked in an annoyed tone while looking at the stallion in front of her. "Did you hit your head or something?"

"What's your name, sir?" Twilight asked.

"Steel," he responded. "Steel Blade." He then dusted off his uniform of any coal dust. "Captain of this ship."

"Okay," she replied. "Do you think we're changelings or something, Captain Blade?"

"Well... At first, yeah," he answered. "But now, I'm not sure. I don't think changelings would've been able to do what you two just did."

"Why would you think that we were changelings?" Starlight asked.

"Because this ship was taken over by them," he replied as he shook. "They were disguised as you two, Princess Celestia, and the other Bearers." After hearing him say that, the two mares looked at each other once more.

"That doesn't make any sense," Twilight said. "Why would the changelings do this? I thought they were reformed. Thorax would never allow any changelings from his hive to engage in this kind of activity."

"It wasn't Thorax, whoever that is," he said, prompting both mares to look at him again. "It was Chrysalis." Hearing that name stunned both mares as they just gasped while staring at him with shrunken pupils.

"Did you just say.... Chrysalis?" Starlight asked. "As in... Queen... Chrysalis?" The stallion just silently nodded. Seeing this, a look of anger appeared on the unicorn mare's face. "What would Chrysalis want with this ship?"

"She wanted... to turn this ship into a mobile hive," he answered. "And she tried to get me to join her."

"And you clearly refused," Twilight said. "So she must be the reason why your ship is like this."

"Eeyup."

"How damaged is this ship anyways, Captain? Or do you know?"

"If I had to take a guess from what I watched that bug do," he said. "I'd say just one compartment is damaged. Boiler Room Two. But I'd need to check on Boiler Room Three to be sure."

"One compartment," the alicorn repeated. "Out of how many?"

"Twelve," Steel answered. As they talked, Steel could sense the floor beneath him become easier to stand on. Feeling this, he looked back toward the flooded compartment. Now that the water had the entire boiler room to flood instead of just the bunkers on the starboard side, the ship began to return toward an even keel, with only a slight list now.

"How many can flood before this ship sinks?" Starlight asked.

"Two," he answered. "Any more than that, and she's finished."

"Alright," Twilight replied before wiping her forehead in relief as she was happy to hear that the ship wouldn't sink. "So. How exactly did this all happen, Captain?"

"Do you want the long version? Or the short?" he asked.

"You can tell us once we get back up on deck," Starlight replied before turning to Twilight. "I'm sure the others are probably worried about us."

"I suppose you're right," Twilight replied as her horn glowed brighter. In a flash of purple, Steel found himself back up on the boat deck with the two mares. He then turned around to find a small frigate floating not too far from his liner. As he looked, Twilight stepped over to the railing and waved at the ponies on board the frigate as she lit up her horn once again, teleporting the trio onto the Solar Wind.

Once they appeared on the deck of the frigate, all of the ponies around them cheered as they saw that Steel was rescued. The stallion just smiled sheepishly until he saw another stallion wearing a uniform similar in style to his walk up to him.

"Welcome aboard the Solar Wind, Captain," he said before saluting, prompting Steel to salute in response. "Captain Broadside, Equestrian Royal Navy."

"Steel Blade," Steel replied before both stallions stopped saluting. "How did you find my ship?"

"Just a case of right place, right time it seems," Broadside replied. "We were sailing for Horseshoe Bay when we found your ship." He then looked over at the Mareitania before looking back at Steel. "Tell me. Where is my brother?"

"Your brother?" Steel asked, surprised by what was asked. "Who's your brother?"

"Port Side," he replied. "Your First Officer. Where is he? Rainbow Dash said that you were the only one aboard that liner. Yet no lifeboats have been launched from what I can see. So where is my brother? Or I guess I should say. Where are your passengers and crew?"

"I'm sorry," Steel replied. "But I... don't know where they are." An awkward silence filled the air as the frigate rocked gently from side to side after he said that.

"You don't know?" Broadside asked as his eye visibly twitched. "What do you mean you don't know?!" At this point, the naval Captain's tone had changed to one of anger, frustrated that this stallion had no clue where any of the other ponies that were on his ship, including his brother, were located. "You're the Captain! How do you of all ponies not know where they are?" Steel visibly shook as the stallion stepped to within inches of their muzzles touching. "Answer me!" Broadside demanded. The red stallion continued to silently shake as his eyes closed. He was doing his best to hold himself together in front of all the ponies on the deck.

"Easy there, Broadside," Twilight said in a calming tone, stepping in between the two stallions while facing Broadside. "Captain Blade's obviously been through a traumatizing experience. Getting angry at him isn't going to solve anything."

The naval Captain looked at the alicorn in front of him before leaning to the side to see Steel still shaking with his eyes closed. He then breathed in deeply before sighing heavily, calming himself down while nodding.

"You're right," he replied. "I apologize. I'm just worried about my brother. That's all."

"I understand," she said. "But taking your anger out on him isn't the way to go." After saying that, she turned around to face the other stallion wearing a white uniform. "Captain Blade. Do you know what happened to all of the other ponies on your ship?" Hearing her ask that in a calm tone, Steel's shaking slowly stopped as his eyes opened to look at her and Broadside.

"I know what happened to them," he replied before taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. "I just don't know where they are." Soon, the memory of what happened the previous day flooded into his mind. He then took another breath and looked at the ponies in front of him. "Like I said before. Mareitania was taken over by changelings." This statement made all around except for Twilight and Starlight gasp in surprise. Even Broadside looked stunned by that. "Chrysalis had my boss being held as her hostage," he continued. "With my sword against his throat. I couldn't do anything about it since my magic was.. blocked by some magic nullifying substance."

"Go on."

"She wanted the ship completely abandoned aside from herself, me, and her little group of changelings she had with her."

"How does she have any changelings still loyal to her?" Twilight asked before looking over at Starlight. "I thought Thorax said he got to all of the changelings that weren't at the hive the day he took over."

"We'll have to have a talk with him when we get back home," she replied. "Let's focus on what happened here though."

"Right," the alicorn said as she turned to look back at Steel. "Sorry. Please continue."

"At first, she thought we could fit all of the ponies on board in the lifeboats," the stallion continued. "But when she realized that the boats wouldn't be able to carry each pony, she came up with a plan to send all of them back to Equestria through some magic portal."

"A portal?" Broadside asked. "You're saying that she had every pony aside from you go through a portal?"

"Yes."

"Where did the portal send them?" Twilight asked.

"Chrysalis told me that it sent them to a field somewhere in Equestria. And that it would erase the memory of everything they did in the last week to cover up what she was doing here."

"I see," she replied as she rubbed her chin while thinking. "Well. That might be a problem when we get back. But it'll have to wait until then. There's nothing that can be done about it now." She then looked back at Steel. "So why exactly did she want you to join her?"

"I'd.... rather not talk about it," he replied before shivering again as the memory of what happened in his cabin and the thoughts of what would've happened flooded into his mind. Sensing that particular issue was one that the stallion clearly didn't want to discuss, the alicorn decided not to push further. Instead, she turned around and walked over to the railing while looking at the now fully abandoned Mareitania. The list that the ship had originally when they first saw it had clearly decreased. But now, the liner posed a navigational hazard if left alone to drift.

"What are you thinking, Twi?" Applejack asked as she, Starlight, and Rarity joined her at the railing.

"I'm just trying to think of what we should do next," she replied. "We can't just leave this ship behind while we continue on to Horseshoe Bay."

"True," the earth pony said. "I don't think this boat can pull that ship either."

"No. That ship is way too heavy to be towed by the Solar Wind."

"Preferably, I'd rather not see anything else happen to a ship that beautiful," Rarity said. "Just think of all the time spent by artists and interior decorators. All of their hard work and time on the verge of slipping beneath the waves."

"Well. What should we do?" Starlight asked.

"Captain Blade?" Twilight called out, making the stallion walk over to them. "How many ponies would you say would be the absolute minimum needed to crew your ship?"

"The minimum?" he replied. "What are you suggesting?"

"Well. We can't leave it here," she said. "It'd pose a hazard to any other ship, especially at night."

"True," he said while rubbing his chin in thought. "With Boiler Room Two completely flooded, we'd really only have Boiler Room One that we can use for getting steam."

"I don't think that would be necessary, Captain," the alicorn replied.

"What do you mean?"

"How many engines does your ship have?"

"Four," he answered. "Four steam driven turbine engines."

"Well," the alicorn said. "Starlight and I could use a spell on two of them to make them run on their own."

"Hold up," Applejack interrupted. "Are you talking about that same spell you used on a snowplow back when we were wrapping up winter?"

"Yep."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? It didn't work out so well back then."

"Hey. I've learned how to control it since then," she replied. She then looked back at Steel. "So how many ponies would you need?"

"Let me think," he replied while looking over at his ship. "If the two of you can get some of the engines going, then I'd still need at least two pegasi to be lookouts and a couple others that can fix up some meals. It's going to take at least a couple of days to get back to Manehattan." He then looked at the alicorn and the rest of her friends. "So you're... offering to help me get Mareitania back there?"

"Of course," Twilight replied. "What do you say, girls?"

"If it means keeping such a beautiful ship from meeting a dreadful fate," Rarity replied. "I'm in."

"I'm sure Rainbow and I can help out with what you need," Fluttershy added.

"Sure we can!" Rainbow exclaimed. "We'll keep an eye out for anything you'd want to avoid."

"Pinkie Pie and I can definitely help out when it comes to providing food," Applejack added. "Provided there's enough on there."

"We were stocked for a voyage from Manehattan to Mareseilles," Steel replied. "And for the return trip as well. I'm sure that the pantries aboard will have plenty of items for you." He then looked back at his ship. "There's still the matter of the damage to the hull," he said. "Even if we get the ship moving again, more water will just get forced in."

"Leave that to me, darling," Rarity said. "Patching a hole is the same anywhere you are. Whether it is for a dress or in this case, the hull of a ship. I'll have that taken care of for you in no time." As he listened, Steel looked over and saw Captain Broadside walk toward the group.

"We'll sail along with your ship as your escort back to Manehattan," he said while walking before stopping in front of his fellow Captain. "The Solar Wind may not be as fast as your ship would normally be. But I think we can keep up with you now."

"Yeah," Steel replied. "I'm sure we'll be lucky to hit 10 knots."

"Well what are we waiting for, girls?" Pinkie shouted as she bounced around in a circle before stopping next to the side of the ship. "We've got a ship to save!" After saying that, she jumped overboard, making every other pony rush to the side where she jumped from. They all then watched as her tail began spinning around rapidly like a tiny propeller, pushing the mare through the water toward the liner.

"Did.. you all know she could do that?" Steel asked while looking what she was doing before looking toward Twilight and the others. They all just started chuckling in response.

"It's Pinkie Pie," the alicorn replied. "Don't question it. Trust me."

Chapter Eleven

As the sun rose above the sea in a clear blue sky, the plan for getting the derelict liner back to Manehattan was soon put into motion. Twilight and Starlight were busy down in Boiler Room Two, clearing it of water before Rarity could begin her work on patching the hull breach. While they were doing this, Steel showed Applejack and Pinkie Pie the large pantry which was used for storing ingredients for delicious meals that Chef Michelin would've had prepared for the passengers. With the generators still without steam to power them though, that meant that all the refrigerated foods had gone bad. It also meant that the ovens couldn't function properly. So the meals would have to be as basic as possible.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash flew above the listing ship, watching the horizon from above. Fluttershy meanwhile waited in the crow's nest for when her friend would get tired. Then she'd take over. Their task would be to keep an eye out for any other ships or hazards that would need to be avoided. With no electricity or steam, the rudder and steering gears were locked in the position they were in when the steam was vented out. Luckily, that was not going to be a problem since they were locked in the position they'd be in if the liner was simply going straight.

In order for the ship to maneuver however, Twilight and Starlight would have to use their respective magic to slow or speed up the two turbines they'd have running. Thankfully, Mareitania was equipped with a voice pipe for just such a situation. A means of communication from the bridge to the engine room and vice versa. Steel would be positioned on the bridge. And should the ship need to turn, he'd relay the information down the pipe to the two ponies in the engine room.

With the water being cleared from Boiler Room Two, Steel could sense the floor beneath him leveling out. This made a genuine smile appear on his face for the first time since yesterday. Standing alone on the bridge, he placed a hoof on the large wheel beside him and sighed before tapping it a few times.

"Don't worry," he said as though he was talking to the ship itself. "We're gonna get you back to Manehattan."

"Captain Blade!" Twilight's voice called out through the voice pipe. Hearing this, Steel turned around and walked over to the pipe.

"Yes, Princess Sparkle?"

"Please. Just call me Twilight," she replied. "We've got most of the water in your boiler room cleared out and that hole in the wall is now patched up," she replied. "Rarity and Starlight are going topside to inspect the damage from the outside. Can you meet them up there?"

"Of course," the stallion replied. "I'll be waiting for them."

"Great," she said. "I'll still be down here if needed." After she said that, Steel exited the bridge out onto the starboard bridge wing. Once outside, he looked over at the Solar Wind as it waited for the liner to get moving once again. Having the royal frigate escorting his ship back to Manehattan will obviously be something that will be plastered in the headlines of newspapers all across the country, something that was both good and bad. Good for the extra free publicity for the Red Apple Line, something that he was sure Dotted would be very grateful for. But also bad as this extra attention would surely alert a certain changeling Queen that this ship and the one pony aboard didn't go to a watery grave as she intended to.

But with the protection of the Bearers of the Elements, he felt as though everything would be alright. Soon, the stallion descended the stairs down to the main deck before walking aft. As he walked, he kept thinking about how lucky he was. Had Princess Twilight and her friends shown up any later than they did, he certainly wouldn't be alive. Soon, his eyes caught sight of Starlight Glimmer and Rarity as they appeared on deck in a flash of turquoise colored magic.

"Hello there," the stallion said, gaining the attention of the mares.

"Hello there, sir," Starlight replied. "I'm sure Twilight already gave you the details about that hull breach."

"Yes," he said before stopping in front of them. "I'm very thankful for everything you all are doing for me and my ship."

"Darling, it is our pleasure," Rarity replied. "And honestly, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that this ship makes it safely back home." This made the stallion smile as the two mares walked over to the railing. He joined them as they all looked down, trying to find the damage to the hull.

"So what exactly are you going to do for the damage out here?" he asked as he looked at the others with him.

"I'm going to lower Rarity down into the water with my magic," Starlight replied. "Then she's going to find and assess how big the hole out here is. Judging by what the condition this ship was in when we first got here, I'm guessing it's going to be a fairly good sized hole."

"It wouldn't surprise me," he said in response as Starlight ignited her horn, enveloping her friend in the process before the white unicorn was lifted off of the deck and over the railing. As he looked at Rarity, he gave her a quick salute before she was lowered down.

"Once she finds the damage, she'll do what she did down in the boiler room and patch it with a magical shield," the mare continued.

"As long as it will be watertight for the duration of the trip back, that'll be fine," he said as he watched Rarity be lowered into the water. He then watched as she slipped beneath the water. "She can still breathe. Right?"

"Of course," Starlight replied while not breaking her focus. "She's perfectly fine down there." Steel just silently nodded as he looked over the railing. After a few minutes, he could see the water glow with a shade of sapphire blue before the deck beneath him started leveling out. His eyes grew wide as soon, the ship returned to an even keel. Looking back down, he could see what looked to be the top portion of a white colored shield attached to the side of the ship. Shortly afterward, Rarity's head poked back up above the water.

"We're good to go, darling!" she called out as Starlight lifted her out of the water. Once she was lifted back on to the deck, she turned around and gave a small salute to the stallion. "I can promise you that those patches will hold until we get back to Manehattan."

"Thank you," Steel replied as a tear formed in his eye. Not one of sadness. But one of joy as he was overwhelmed by feelings of happiness. In a show of gratitude, he gave each of them a hug. They both smiled before returning the favor in the form of a small group hug. Once done, the stallion stepped back and looked out at the Solar Wind. He could easily see that Captain Broadside was watching the liner for when it would begin moving again. "Well," he said before turning to look back at the mares in front of him. "Let's get this ship under way again."

"Yes, sir," Starlight said before saluting and smiling. "I'll head back down to the engine room and wait for your orders." After saying that, her horn lit up. Seconds later, she disappeared in a flash of magic. Once she was gone, Steel waved out to the frigate. He then watched as Broadside looked to salute before he could be seen turning around and presumably giving orders to his crew. Seeing that, Steel and Rarity began making their way to the bridge.

"How long do you think it'll take for us to get back to Manehattan?" she asked as the two walked.

"Depending on the speed, maybe a couple days or so," he replied. "Could also depend on the weather too."

"I haven't heard of any storms coming up," she said before they started climbing the stairs up to the bridge wing. Once up there, they could see Rainbow and Fluttershy resting in the crow's nest. As Rarity stayed on the wing, Steel entered the bridge and went over to the voice pipe.

"Prin... Twilight," he said into the pipe, remembering what she said before. "Are you both ready?"

"Yes, Captain," her voice replied. "We're ready to go."

"Alright," he said. "Let's go. Half ahead then."

"Half ahead," she repeated. "Got it." Down in the engine room, Twilight had several lanterns hung up to provide a sufficient amount of light. She then walked over to Starlight and stopped before looking at what was in front of them. Two massive turbine engines that would spin the two central propellers. When they first arrived in the engine room, the two mares decided that it would be easier to control these two instead of trying for the two outer ones since they were directly next to each other.

With each mare lighting up their horns, the two turbines were enveloped by purple and turquoise colored magic respectively. Each mare grunted as the engines slowly started to come to life. As a result, the two bronze propellers they were connected to began turning once again.

"This... is a lot bigger... than a snowplow," Twilight grunted as they pushed the two engines up to half their speed. Beads of sweat were forming on her forehead, making her wonder if they'd be able to sustain this all the way back to Manehattan. "You doing okay, Starlight?"

"Never... better," the unicorn replied as she was in a similar position to the alicorn. "This... is definitely going to be... a workout." With two of the four propellers now churning once again, the large liner slowly started moving through the water. When he could sense this, Steel couldn't help but smile. But soon, the first test of maneuvering would have to begin. Once he felt the ship was up to a good start, he walked over to the voice pipe.

"You both doing alright down there?" he asked.

"We're... fine," Twilight replied. "It's just... a little bit harder than I imagined it'd be."

"Alright," he said. "Well it's time for us to begin the turn toward Manehattan. So I'm gonna need the starboard engine to go astern while the port engine stays ahead."

"Starlight!" he heard Twilight call out. "Reverse your engine!" He heard an audible groan in the background, making him feel bad for the two mares down there. Stepping away from the voice pipe, he walked over to the compass mounted in front of the helm. After a few minutes of nothing happening, the direction of the ship started to change. With the starboard turbine reversing and the port one still going ahead, the bow of the liner was slowly beginning to turn to the right.

On board the Solar Wind, Captain Broadside watched the ship as it very slowly circled around his frigate. The sight of the ship moving on its own without any smoke coming from the funnels made him feel uneasy. However, as the ship got turned in the right direction, he motioned for his crew to lower the sails. With the large sails now catching the wind again, the frigate was on the move once more. It didn't take long before the smaller vessel was sailing side by side with the enormous liner. One being propelled by the wind, the other by the efforts of magic. With a speed of between roughly 7-8 knots, the voyage ahead of them would certainly be a long one.

On the port side bridge wing of the liner, Steel stood watch alone. Rarity had volunteered to go assist Twilight and Starlight, figuring the magic of three would be better than two. With the morning sun now facing his back, Steel breathed a sigh of relief before turning his attention to the frigate sailing next to them. He watched as the crew of the small vessel worked hard, washing the main deck and tightening the ropes while a couple were seen climbing the large rope ladders up to the crow's nest.

Seeing this made a sense of relief come to him. He was thankful for not having to do that while in the academy. He was also thankful for having an easier time navigating the ocean without relying on the wind. Steam power was now the preferred method of propelling ships through the water. Something that he wished he had instead of having to rely on Princess Twilight, Starlight, and now Rarity to do.

"Gettin' hungry, pardner?" he heard Applejack ask from behind him. Turning around, he found the earth pony mare holding a plate that had what looked to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on it. The sight of the delicious food made the stallion's stomach growl as he realized that it had been almost an entire day since he last had really anything to eat. "Hope you like it," she continued to say. "We don't really have many options to work with."

"Given the fact that I haven't eaten since yesterday, I'll eat just about anything at this point," he replied before taking hold of the plate with his magic. As soon as he took the first bite, he let out an approving moan of satisfaction. He then followed it up by devouring the rest of the sandwich. This made the mare in front of him chuckle before she stepped aside to show that she brought a small serving cart with her filled with mugs of apple cider. The stallion picked one up with his magic as she picked up another with her hoof.

"Here's to a safe trip home," she said before the two clinked their mugs together. After that, they both chugged down the liquid contents within their respective mugs. Once they were finished, Applejack chose to stay on the bridge wing to keep Steel company. As they stood and watched, they could see Pinkie Pie climbing the rope ladder leading up to the crow's nest where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were while keeping plates of sandwiches perfectly balanced on her mane and tail.

"Okay. Seriously," Steel said as he watched the pink mare. "How is she able to do that?"

"Like Twi said," Applejack replied. "It's Pinkie Pie. Don't question it." This response made the two laugh as the two ships continued on their course to Manehattan.

~Three days later~

At the Red Apple Line headquarters in Manehattan, Dotted Line sat alone in his office with stacks of papers in front of him. But his focus wasn't on them. It was more toward the fact that once he and Port Side arrived back in Manehattan, they found that the Mareitania wasn't there. Neither was Captain Blade.

"Why does it seem like some kind of elaborate prank is being played on me?" he asked himself as he got up before turning to look out one of the windows. The sky above the city was clear, signaling a perfect day. "Why does every pony I talk to say that today's a different date than what it really is? And how exactly did I manage to lose track of where my brand new 32,000 ton liner is?"

The white unicorn remembered arriving at the pier where he thought the ship was docked only to find it empty with workers saying that the ship had already left. But when he tried sending out a message to the liner, he got nothing in response. He then remembered having a message sent out to Mareseilles yesterday in hopes that somehow, the ship would be there. But the Harbor Master there said that the liner had yet to arrive.

After spending several minutes looking out his window, he turned and walked to the door before going out into the hallway. Looking to his right, he saw Port Side talking to what appeared to be some reporters, each of them wearing press caps, satchels, and cameras strapped around their necks. As soon as the green stallion saw his boss, he waved for him to come over. Raising an eyebrow, Dotted began walking toward them.

"Dotty!" Port called out as the white unicorn entered the main lobby. "I got some good news for you!"

"Oh yeah?" he asked in a depressed tone as he continued walking toward them. "Like what?"

"Well. You know your new ship?" one of the reporters replied. "The one out on her maiden voyage?"

"Yes?" Dotted asked while looking at the reporter. "What about her?"

"She's been spotted by one of our pegasi reporters," the stallion replied. "But she ain't alone. She's being escorted by the Solar Wind it seems." After saying that, the stallion levitated a photo out from a satchel pocket before allowing Dotted to take hold of it. Once he did, the white unicorn's blue eyes grew wide as he couldn't believe what the picture showed. It was definitely the Mareitania. But it looked to be moving without any smoke coming from the funnels. And sailing just off her port side was indeed the royal frigate, the Solar Wind.

"How... long... ago was this taken?"

"About an hour ago," the stallion replied. "Which means they should be coming into the harbor any time now."

"Well. Why are we still standing here?" Dotted asked before rushing over to the glass doors, making sure to give the photo back to its owner. The stallion opened the doors and rushed down the stairs to the street as he could see groups of ponies looking to be rushing toward the harbor. Seeing this, Dotted, Port, and the reporters followed suit and began running as quick as they could toward the docks.

"Sir?" Port called out as they ran. "What should we do once we get there?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!" Dotted replied. After several minutes of running, more than the white unicorn had spent in Celestia knows how long, the small group arrived at the docks. Both stallions quickly went through the security checkpoint before they rushed along the Red Apple Line's pier, hearing various tugboat whistles as they ran. When they reached the end of the pier, the sight before them was something they never thought they'd see.

"Dear... Celestia..." Port said as he and Dotted just stood motionless while looking at what was in front of them.

Down the river from where they were, they could see the Solar Wind being escorted by two tugboats, one on each side. Not much further behind them was the enormous Mareitania along with a flotilla of ten tugboats. Ponies could be seen lining the piers while they watched the ships pass by as pegasi flew overhead. The sounds of cheering could be heard from all of them. Many camera flashes were seen by reporters as they documented what was going on.

Soon, the liner arrived in front of the pier Dotted and Port were standing on. Looking up toward the deck, the two stallions saw what appeared to be Princess Sparkle along with the rest of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony standing on the forecastle just next to the first mast. They were all waving at the two stallions, prompting them to wave back. Looking up toward the bridge, they saw Steel and a purple colored mare with a purple and turquoise colored mane walk on the starboard bridge wing before stopping at the side. The stallion then saluted the two of them as the mare used her magic to float down to the others standing on the bow.

However, it appeared that the ponies on board the liner seemed to be the only ones as no others could be seen. The two stallions then noticed the large white magical shield on the hull. This made Dotted groan as he could feel the financial impact of having to put the ship in dry dock for repairs.

"Captain Blade better have a good explanation of what all is going on here," he said while looking at Port.

"Don't worry, sir," Port replied as the tugs began maneuvering the ship into the berth. "I'm sure once everything settles down, he'll have quite the story for us."

As all of this was happening, a lone unicorn mare stood on an old abandoned pier. One that was surprisingly devoid of spectators. This unicorn had a green coat along with a brown mane and tail. On her flank was a ladybug cutie mark and around her neck was a camera, similar to the reporters. The mare stood still, looking at the scene going on just across the river from her.

"Hmm...." the mare said to herself as she looked through the camera at the stallion on the bridge wing. "I certainly wasn't expecting to see you or your ship again, Captain Blade." Putting the camera down, she watched silently as the tugs pushed against the liner. As she was doing this though, she licked her lips while thinking about the stallion in command of it before sighing as she remembered that fateful night. "You really were the first one that ever truly satisfied me. Perhaps it's a good thing you somehow managed to survive after all."

After saying that, the mare turned and began walking away from the edge of the pier. "Don't think that you've seen the last of me, my dear. One way or another. You will be mine! Because like I told you before," she said as her eyes flashed bright green. "No stallion rejects Queen Chrysalis!"