The Purple Mare

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

This work of fan fiction contains characters, ideas, situations, and places found in the Hasbro Studios series "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". No infringement of copyright is implied by this work of satire and parody, and this work is meant as a celebration of the people involved in the creation, development, and production of the series.

Original Release Date: August 24th, 2011

The Purple Mare

Written by The Descendant
Inspired by an image created by KNA.

Chapter 1

The fisherponies looked up to the sky as they placed their nets into the holds of their little boats. A sun unguided by magic was already gathering even as their flickering lanterns bobbed across the bows of their boats, even as their captors peered down at them over the harborside ramparts.

As they cast off and raised their sails those ponies who still were allowed to make their living on the sea looked up to the first appearance of that sun with saddened eyes.

The sky was coming alive, spreading out above them in an expansive arc of pink that fell down into red. "Red at night, sailor's delight" repeated one to his crew as they pulled at the lanyards that allowed the sails to finally come loose, to power their fishing craft across the choppy water, "Red in the mornin', sailors…take warnin'."

The crew, composed as it was mostly of earth ponies, looked up as the sun peeked across the far pinnacles of the distant eastern horizon. They looked past to where even the Everfree Forest lay unseen, and there was no joy in it for them.

The mornings had all been red, there had been only choppy and unfriendly seas for Equestria since the Mah'Qua arrived…since their armies had erupted down the slopes of distant mountains, since Canterlot had been burned, since the sisters had been thrown down, their magic spent defending their foals, their ponies.

The captain of the fishing boat worked the tiller, moving his little craft farther out into the bay, sighing as his crew readied the nets.

At once his fishing boat was thrown up and down in the wake of a larger craft, his colts being toppled to the deck.

He lifted his hoof to begin protesting the actions of the larger craft. At once though he stopped, lowered his eyes as the crew of the sloop stared down at him. The Mah'Qua sailors looked at him with disdain as their rusty brown flag flapped from its halyard.

As the sloop took its position at the mouth of the delta the little fishing boats fell into line, each one taking up it a position assigned to it.

"Red in the morning," repeated the captain of the fishing boat as he reached his assigned spot, as his crew began tossing their nets. Beyond him the sleek lines of the sloop stood out in stark repose to the beautiful surface of the Mareiterranean Sea, even as choppy as it was.

It was an ugly blemish, as much as the occupiers of the land were to what was once Equestria. He leaned his muzzle across the tiller, thought of the beautiful land, drained of its magic, its living spirit washed away as thoroughly as the regal blood of the princesses had been after their falling.

Only red skies filled the Equestrian mornings…fallow fields, the animals falling away, strife between the races, the random weather unable or unwilling to answer the call of the pegasi, the once deep rivers now trickles…only choppy seas for Equestria.

He sighed deeper, looked back over his shoulder at the city of Port-au-Prance. He looked over what was once a beautiful port city, a jewel that harvested the bounty the good sea had offered to the ponies, but which was now a fortified camp. Above it loomed a massive new fortress, its stone form angular, stark, and as little like an Equestrian building as the occupiers of the land were like the ponies.

Time slid on, and the morning had become fully bright by the time the Mah'Qua sloop had banged its drums, had signaled them that they and the other little boats were now to turn back into the harbor.

This morning he had again looked up to the sloop, had once more pondered simply making a run for it. No, he knew, it was suicide. That was the whole point of having the swift little warship there, to end quickly and decidedly any attempt to leave the barren lands that the Mah'Qua had brought down upon themselves when they had killed the princesses…that they now blamed the ponies for.

Yet the captain of the fishing boat ran his hoof through his beard, and he looked down as his crew brought in the meager catch. He once again lifted his head to look at the grim warship. Something was different. He studied the crew of the sloop, saw how some were focusing on the sea farther out and beyond the delta.

When their curiosity had failed them the Mah'Qua crew of the sloop finally began herding the fisherponies and their boats back towards Port-au-Prance. As the did so the captain of the one fishing boat looked briefly across his shoulder…

There, on the horizon, sat a trim craft. It was a fully rigged brigantine, a graceful one…a familiar one. Suddenly insight flashed through his mind. The craft was tendering, looking like it was getting ready to deliver goods into the harbor by using the little boats. It was a front, he could tell, to those ponies who knew the sea it was obvious…but why? Was it…no, could it really be…

"Brown Jug," he said in a subdued tone, "C'mere…ya' see that brigantine over mah shoulders…don't look straight on it now…is that…that her ship?"

The other earth pony shied away, pretended to look distracted, looked back up. When Jug's eyes went wide the captain knew…

"It's her…the Purple Mare."

Red in the morning, he knew, for the Mah'Qua.

"Haul, lads, haul. And get back to yer' houses quick," he said in a deliberate whisper as the sloop bobbed nearby, "Gonna be some fun in Port-au-Prance today for certain sure…"

Her ship, disguised as it was this day as a freighter, stood ready. Around Twilight her crew went over the little middling details of shipboard life, yet one or two stood looking to the horizon, panning the space where the green waters of the delta gave way to the azure blue of the Mareiterranean Sea.

"Captain?" called a voice, and Twilight slowly walked towards where another unicorn stood, his eyes focusing through a spyglass.

"Yes, Starfall?" she asked, sheltering farther beneath a borrowed wide-brimmed hat as she felt the gaze of the distant crew of the sloop fall across her once more. Nearby Spike slid off the barrel where he had been gently carving something upon a mother-of-pearl inlay, using his flames to anneal the surface after each fine chip was flaked away.

As the young dragon joined her she looked over the starboard side through the spyglass, the unicorn colt stepping away as she did, looking over the choppy waters to the small speck he had sighted.

Twilight studied the form on the horizon. It was another ship, a brigantine like hers, but more stout, erupting from the waterline in a wall of wood.

She knew it well…

"Send it, Midshipman Spike," she said without lifting her face from the spyglass, enveloped as it was in her magic. Starfall slid up to the railing once more, hiding the wafts of the magica vasto that enveloped the spyglass as his captain looked through it.

Spike lifted a scroll out from beneath his bandana. He concentrated on a familiar figure, a pony who he had once held very dear, but who now seemed worlds away even as her ship drew nearer.

With a single puff of his green flame the parchment erupted into a swirl of ash and was gone.

As she watched through the spyglass another unicorn approached her. "Captain," the younger unicorn said, lifting a piece of paper for Twilight to see, "I have that anchor rigging you wanted all planned out…"

"You have to come around to the other side, Violet," spoke Twilight sternly.

"Sorry, Ma'am," said the unicorn, crossing behind Twilight. Her captain looked upon the designs with her remaining eye, the patch that sat across where the other one lay hidden in its broken respite nearly catching on the spyglass as she turned.

Twilight looked over the designs and then smiled to the chastised figure of the other unicorn.

"They're good Violet…get started on it, we may need it soon."

Violet nodded and trotted off as Twilight sighed and rested her good eye once more against the spyglass. The other ship was closer now, much closer, and she could see that it too was disguising itself as a freighter, running lubberly and with loose rigging.

"C'mon," she breathed, "Show me that's we're still on speaking terms…I know you got the message…"

As she watched a signal flag went up, then another, and soon a message was spelt out across the sails of the quickly approaching brigantine.

"Is…is it the Parasprite, Twi?" asked Spike, jumping up to grab the railing.

Twilight was silent.

"I…I mean, Captain?"

"Yes," she answered, "And she's signaling that she wants to transfer cargo…not what I expected this to be about. I wonder what she's up to."

"It's not like she's gonna do anything…to us, right? I mean, she's our friend…" spoke Spike, lowering himself so that he was half hidden behind the railing.

Twilight returned to silence.

Spike frowned, looked up at Twilight, and then walked away in a huff. As he went he gathered up the mother-or-pearl inlay and knife and went into the cabin. "I know she's still our friend!" called Spike in a loud hiss as he jumped down the stairs.

"You are dismissed, Midshipman Spike," she called after him, dismissively, still peering through the spyglass.

The Parasprite came alongside Twilight's ship about a half of an hour later. As they did Twilight looked it over. It was perhaps a touch longer than hers, and it had a sharper chine to its hull. It was built for brawling, hers for speed, and the difference was almost as acute between the ships as between their masters.

Twilight looked on as the crew of the Parasprite began throwing cables, as hers caught them in their mouths of lifted them off the decks, began lashing the ships together. Magic was too important a commodity to waste in a show of catching the ropes…taking longer to recharge each day that passed.

Soon the gangplank went out, the two crews eyeing each other nervously.

A proud form appeared at the far end, and with certain and deliberate steps the captain of the other ship began to come across, a few of the earth pony crew following along the space between the bobbing ships.

Spike sat on his barrel, placing the inlay on his lap as he watched Twilight step a few paces towards the end of the gangplank. He looked on as the other captain approached, stood defiantly at the end, looked down at Twilight who answered the gaze.

"Permission tah' come aboard?" the other captain asked as the sun fell across them both.

"Pipe Captain Applejack aboard," answered Twilight with a nod to one of her crew.

"Always so formal…yah' got that from Celestia," said Applejack as her saddlebags shifted around her and the haw pipe sounded, never lifting her eyes from Twilight's.

"Princess Celestia, to you," answered Twilight, narrowing the only eye she could.

Time hovered in an uncomfortable instant, and between the two mares something shifted back and forth…unease and a horrible uncertainty.

Something brushed Applejack's leg.

At once she reared back, spinning. She panned her head as the crews began to react, and had only just begun to unsheathe her spur when she saw her attacker…

Spike stood a few feet away, his arms still outstretched, looking up to her with disappointed eyes. His hug had gone unanswered.

Silence once more washed over the deck of Twilight's ship. Slowly Applejack retracted the spur, walked with tiny steps across the deck to where the dragon stood.

Applejack lowered her head into his arms, let the dragon lay his head into hers. "We miss…missed you, A.J.," he said with a stutter of emotion, "We…I thought…that you might still be upset…"

"Yeah, well…" began Applejack, letting the dragon hold her for a few moments longer than she thought necessary. Around her the crews began to return to normal as Twilight looked on, pondering the scene that was playing out before her.

Applejack lifted her head, looked up to Twilight.

"Kin' we talk someplace nice and private-like?" she asked. Her head fell down, the earth pony dropping her gaze in deference to the unicorn.

"Please?" she added. Twilight let some small surprise show on her face. As she looked up a few earth ponies were coming across from the Parasprite, renewing acquaintances among her crew.

She was very glad for it.

"Sure, Applejack…Captain Applejack, come along, then…" said Twilight, motioning her towards the cabin.

As the two went Applejack's eyes darted about, taking in her surroundings. She was so much more wary now, Twilight noted, her calm certainty having departed her.

Applejack looked upon Twilight's crew, looking for movement towards spurs or pikes, but instead she found herself looking upon a single crewmember, a small winged deer…a peryton. He placed his hoof to his forelock as she looked at him, and she nodded in return.

Together they entered the cabin, Twilight holding the door open a touch longer, looking on as Spike went back to sitting on his barrel, as he returned to carving the inlay. Her mouth opened to call to him…but soon she simply dropped her head and closed it behind her.

As she did Spike turned his head the slightest little bit, sighing deeply as the door clicked closed.

The two captains made their way through the cabin. As they did Twilight poured them both drinks, holding the bottle in her mouth rather than waste more magic.

"And how is the famed pirate the Purple Mare these days?" said Applejack, dropping the saddlebags to the floor, "Yah look thin…"

"You're not exactly betraying any gluttony yourself," replied Twilight, looking to Applejacks sunken eyes, her stark shoulder blades.

"Ain't none of us dealin' with an abundance of riches…" replied the earth pony. The two stared at each other for a long while, a haze of uncertainty hovering between them. Applejack flinched as Twilight turned her head, exposing the patch in fullness.

"I see yah got yerself a peryton on yer' crew…" said Applejack, taking a sip from the cup as it lay on the table, "Where'd ya' pick him up?"

"He joined up with us when we freed him from one of the Mah'Qua slave ships. I can't understand a word he says, but he's an excellent sailor…"

Twilight looked up to Applejack, saw her staring towards the door.

"They're suffering too, you know, the other races. The zebras, the bison, the donkeys…all the people who we had sheltered, who had gone into the west…"

Applejack kept her eyes towards the door, still not looking up into Twilight's remaining eye.

"I'll sell ya' the door if you like it that much," said Twilight accusingly.

"Does it hurt ya', much?"

Twilight shuttered to a stop. She looked back at Applejack, saw her staring at her, tilting her head to one side. All of the wariness seemed to depart the earth pony, all of the nervousness, and Twilight could see the alert tension dropping from the sunken eyes and being replaced with…concern? Guilt?

"Yer' eye…does it hurt ya' at all?"

Twilight shook her head, grabbed a can of salve off a nearby shelf.

"I've found a salve, a gift from a zebra who said he remembered Zecora…"

"Slave ship?"

"Slave ship…" replied Twilight lifting the patch, turning from Applejack, "Sometimes it gets dry…something is wrong with the tear duct…"

Before she could finish Applejack had already crossed over to her, was standing right before her. In one motion Applejack lifted the patch that much higher with her muzzle and gently placed a kiss on the deeply grooved and discolored remains of Twilight's eyelid.

"I'm so sorry, Twilight, I'm so sorry…" said Applejack, leaning into Twilight, draping her head across her shoulders.

Twilight stood there open mouthed, in a state of shock, as a pony at whom she had been enraged with for nearly two full years laid her head across her and begged for forgiveness.

"…I shouldn'ta called ya' out in front of yer' crew, shouldn't have said…said that you were a traitor fer' not fightin' harder. I was wrong…I was so wrong…"

Twilight slowly closed her mouth, listened as Applejack let out two years of guilt.

"You knew that we couldn't take on that frigate…that mah' plan were too complicated…"

Twilight remembered back to that long ago night, that night when Applejack had called upon her to do something rash, dangerous. Remembered how she had dressed her down, accused her of not doing enough to try to regain Equestria.

She had tried to explain, had tried to show Applejack the faults in the plan. Yet, in the end she had gone along…her crew landing on the beach in the moonlight, the two crews attempting to sneak aboard the frigate. The alarm going up…all in the Well breaking loose.

She remembered the long agonizing row back to the boats as the frigate slid from rowboat to rowboat, crushing them beneath its bow. The long jagged splinter of wood tearing through her eye, screaming in pain as the last of her magic evaporated…unable to heal herself in time…

Twilight remembered as this earth pony, the one now leaning into her withers and starting to sob, stood on the deck of her ship and accused her of cowardice as she fought to pull the splinters from within her own head.

She remembered a dash of her magic, called up from some place within her that she cared not to think about…one she should have used to heal herself or any of the other wounded crewponies…

…and instead using it to ensnare a belaying pin and use it to beat Applejack across the head.

She remembered the spurs that were suddenly unsheathed, the horrific sight of earth ponies preparing to slay unicorns and the same in answer…the awful, awful betrayal of all her teacher had fought for her whole long life.

She remembered the sudden shaft of fire, the erupting geyser of green flame that towered above the topgallant sails of both ships.

She remembered as Spike had berated them all, the green of his eyes flashing across the night with the horrible light of a dragon in fury as they all looked upon him in stunned horror.

She remembered how he had claimed Equestria truly dead if the races were turning on each other like this. He was ready to burn up both ships, it seemed, to burn them all alive and let the wreckage of the ships slip to the bottom rather than let them fall into such degradations, rather than let the boats be the scene of a kinslaying.

With that the ships parted ways, and as they did the little dragon had collapsed to the deck, his bolt shot, his energy expended.

"Well," said Twilight, rubbing her head against Applejacks, "You always were an obstinate one…you and Dash, bless her in the Well."

Applejack lifted her head, now red and running with tears. "Heh, yeah…do, do yah' remember…back on mah' farm, back on Sweet Apple Acres, durin' the first applebucking season you were in Ponyville…how I had kept fallin' asleep…"

Twilight nodded, smiling for what felt like the first time in months.

"Yah' were right then too…"

"You are my strongest friend, Applejack. We wouldn't have lasted through those first months…after the Sisters were ki…killed, after all of our friends…"

"Say that agin', Twi, please…the first bit," said Applejack, wiping her head with her raised foreleg.

"You are my friend, Applejack," said Twilight, smiling at the earth pony, feeling the tears begin in her…eye.

Applejack nodded, Twilight smiling at her. She had made things right, had wanted to for so long. Now, now she only had one other friend to…to try to…

"So what's wrong between ya' and Spike?"

Twilight looked back up to Applejack, a resigned expression crossing her muzzle.

"It's that obvious, huh?" she said, her hooves making soft sounds across the deck.

"Like a barn on fire," said Applejack, tilting her head back and forth, her old familiar expression of worry so evident on her face that made Twilight homesick for the times when their biggest concerns had been gathering apples, researching spells, and helping blank flanks find their marks.

"I…I've been, it's me…" said Twilight, "I…I've been keeping everyone at bay, for a while…been…"

She looked down to his basket. It was trim, tidy…unused for months.

"I've been cold to him…all of them, but mostly him…"

Twilight straightened herself, looked out across the choppy sea through the glass of the dirty windows, felt the creaking of her boat, felt it reacting oddly to being lashed to another.

"I want him to leave," she said, closing her eye, moving her shoulders to loosen the jacket, "I don't want him here anymore…he's going to get hurt…I'm, I'm going to get him killed, Applejack, he's going to die if he stays with me."

Twilight turned to Applejack. The bearer of the Element of Honesty bobbed her head and then slowly walked up to Twilight.

"I understand, Twi, I really do…" she said, staring out of the dingy windows towards her own boat, "But yer' all that dragon's ever had…and never more than now, I think, he's wanting you to rely on him…"

Twilight thought about the days after the failed raid, how Spike had been with her the whole time, how he'd changed the bandaging around her eye, how he'd guided her around the deck even as she became colder and distant.

"He ain't gonna leave on his own accord, ya' know, won't leave you…no matter how ya' try to nudge him…he'd rather go down with the ship. If Spike ain't changed…the Spike I knew, he'd rather go down inta' the Well with you than live tah' be a thousand and feel he deserted ya'…"

"I know."

Twilight stood there, quietly, watching the waves. The words of her strongest, and most honest, friend rocked at her like the waves that were lapping against the side of her brigantine.

"I…I got somethin' here for ya', Twi," spoke Applejack, returning to where she had dropped the saddlebags.

With that she lifted out a perfectly round stone, and inscribed across it was a familiar symbol. Twilight sucked in a deep breath through her teeth at the sight of it, let it slide out in a deeply saddened sigh.

"It's the Element of Laughter, isn't it? Pinkie…" said Twilight, looking over the smooth surface, taking it from Applejack's mouth with her own. After a moment of silence she walked towards a chest that sat in sheltered part of her cabin.

"I don't know either way, Twi," said Applejack, flexing her jaw from side to side, "All I can say is that she left it wit' some of the resistance up in Baltimare…ain't heard a word from her since."

"You went that far north?"

"Didn't…didn't feel like hangin' around here, after what…"

Applejack dropped her head. Twilight gave her a small nuzzle, the turned back to the table, poured some more of the drink for the both of them.

She listened as Applejack rustled through the saddlebags. At once there was an eruption of magic, and Twilight spun to determine what could possibly be the source of the once familiar but now all too rare sound of Deep Magic at work.

Around the neck of Applejack sat her element, honesty, and the earth pony hovered for a moment while the magic coursed through her. After a long minute even that Deep Magic failed, and Applejack wafted down to the deck, her hooves falling lightly upon it.

"Take mine too," she said, forcing the words to come.

Twilight didn't argue, knew that a decision had been made, that the rumors were true. Slowly she lifted the necklace from around Applejack's neck. Gently she lifted it past her ears, and Applejack looked upon it sadly. As it cleared her muzzle it returned to a solid sphere of stone, and together the two ponies looked on as the Elements of Harmony joined their compatriots in the chest.

Together the five stones wobbled, but did not roll, along the inside of the chest as the ship bounced on the uncertain sea.

"Rarity?" asked Applejack, looking upon a stone she had hoped wouldn't be there.

"I miss her," said Twilight, confirming Applejack's fear, validating the rumors without expanding, "I miss them all…"

"Me too…" added Applejack with a little sigh.

"Fluttershy is still…still out there, too, maybe," added Twilight, forcing some hope into her voice.

"I ain't seen no pegasi in over a year, Twi, flyin' or not. I'll never forget the first time I saw one fall through a cloud…was a horrible thing tah' see…"

Twilight looked back down at the stones, tried to remember the last time she had seen one of her flying kin, one of that gentle race. It had been a long time indeed.

Together they stood there, staring at the stones, sniffling at the sight of them.

"So," braved Twilight, "if you're giving me yours, that means that the rumors are true…you really are going to try to free them."

"I ain't asking you to come along this time, Twi, I know…I know what a longshot it is…"

"It's suicide!" brayed Twilight, raising her voice for the first time since Applejack had come onboard.

Applejack neither turned, scoffed, or fumed. The green eyes of the earth pony sat still upon the stones as Twilight looked upon her. Slowly Twilight's expression fell once more, and she nuzzled Applejack to get her to speak.

"Applejack, please…I, we can't lose anymore…"

"I have to try, Twi, the ponies in that fortress are resistance fighters. They'll be hung if they ain't rescued…and, and Big Mac may be one…"

Rather than continue her thought Applejack simply turned into Twilight's nuzzle, let it become an embrace, and then let it slide away.

"Well," said Twilight, sighing once more, "Giving me these, then. I guess that explains the 'Exchange' flag you flew when you came up."

"Nah, not really, Twi," added Applejack, "I got somethin' even more important I want ya' tah' keep an eye on…"

Twilight's face contorted.

"Oh," answered Applejack, "Sorry…"

Chapter 2

The Purple Mare

Written by The Descendant
Inspired by an image created by KNA.

Chapter 2

Spike had sat on his barrel carving at the inlay, stopping only to look over the deck of the brigantine as the crews went about pretending to be transferring cargo, hoping not to attract the attention of the Mah'Qua naval vessels within the harbor.

As he went back to carving his inlay he felt the soft, wet, warm touch of a muzzle on his back.

He turned around as a familiar voice called his name.

"Hiya, Spike!"

"Oh, hey Applebloom!" he said, spinning around, leaning down to her, "Been a while since we saw you! You look…"

Spike looked the filly over, saw her sunken eyes, saw how her shoulders and hips were evident beneath her coat.

"…awful. You look awful. Here," he said, jumping from the stack of crates where the barrel stood, rummaging through a haversack nearby, "have one of my apples."

"Oh, I couldn't do that to ya'," she said. Her eyes though darted to the haversack as he fished out one of the bruised red fruit.

"Not a problemo," he said, reaching for the knife so he could cut it in half for her, "We took one of their treasure ships last week…I can always eat my share of the take, so it's no big…"

Before he could finish his sentence, before he could even slice it for her, she had reached in and taken a bite of the apple as he held it loosely in his hand.

She looked up at him sheepishly, blushing with embarrassment, and then leaned in again. He placed both of his clawed hands around it, spinning it for her as she ate gingerly.

When she had finished it he reached for another, holding this one as well so that she wouldn't have to chase it across the bobbing deck like an animal.

He offered her a third, and the filly ate it there as the dragon held it, Spike looking on her piteously as she made sure to eat every last bit of the fruit that could possibly be eaten.

With that he threw the thin shaft of the core overboard and sank down against the barrel, tapping at the deck for her to lay down and join him.

"We're just comin' back from up north," she said, resting against him, "Things are really bad up there…no provisions tah' be had at all."

"Well," he said reaching up for his knife and inlay, "it's not like there's buffets set up around here either…"

"You…you don't look so hot yerself," she said, noting the mottling across his scales.

"The sea air, the salt, it doesn't do me any good…I'm not a sea serpent."

Together they sat looking out over the sea as he worked away, first chipping at the surface with his knife and then annealing it with his flame.

"Whattcha makin'?" she asked, resting her head on his shoulder as he lifted it up to show her.

Inside the tiny wooden frame sat the mother-of-pearl, squared away to match its container. Within it a figure was taking shape, each perfect little mark with the knife and dart of flame revealing the beautiful outline of a unicorn with flowing mane and elegantly twisting tail. It looked back over its shoulder to them, the radiant mare looking at them from beyond death with a soft expression that aided her graceful stance.

"Oh, Spike," said Applebloom, her voice falling down into a whisper, "It's beautiful…she woulda' loved it."

Spike looked at the figure for a moment, danced his claws across it, before continuing. "I'm going to make one of each of them…all of our friends, before…before I forget what they looked like."

Applebloom looked down at the little figure appearing slowly in the inlay, her expression falling.

"I miss them, Applebloom," said Spike, wiping his face across the back of his arm.

"Me too," she answered, "but we…we still got tah' stay with ponies we love, mah' sister, Twilight…we still have them."

Spike looked up to the delta beyond, watched the green waters swirl into the blue of the sea. His claws fell to the deck, the knife and the inlay still grasped within them.

"She…she's trying to scare me off, Applebloom, wants me to think that she doesn't love me anymore."

Applebloom's mouth fell open.

"Why…why would she…why is she?"

"She's afraid."

Applebloom silenced herself, folded her legs up beneath herself to listen as Spike spoke, his head dropping slightly.

"I'm all she has left, and she's afraid I'm going to die out here, with her, on the ocean. She doesn't believe in herself anymore…she's, she's become fearful…since she lost her eye…she, she's hiding it…like, like she's colder. She's gonna try to make me leave, I think…maybe with you…"

Applebloom stood and placed her head across his shoulders.

"Well, that wouldn't be too bad, would it? We could use ya' on the Parasprite…but, I know you don't wanna leave her…she does love ya' Spike…"

"I know…she's always been a lousy liar. She keeps coming out to check on me at night, pretending that she's not. She makes me call her 'Captain' and calling me 'Midshipman Spike' but at the same time she's still writing 'With Love from Spike and I' in her letters to her parents."

"Her momma and poppa made it outta' Canterlot?" said Applebloom with a growing smile.

"No," said Spike, his face dropping down to the deck once more. Applebloom's expression fell in sympathy, remembering the fire upon the mountain that signaled the fall of the capital, the deaths of the unicorns that defended it, and the Sister Sovereigns with them.

"But," continued Spike, wiping his eyes again, "She, she keeps writing to them, hiding the letters in the trunk in the cabin."

Applebloom lowered her head, tried to gauge the expression on his face, peering on as he rubbed his claws across the inlay.

"I wonder…wonder if they would reach them in the Well of Souls…if I sent them," he said with a little false laugh, "She'd probably just get mad at me."

He was silent as the ocean breeze fluttered across the deck. He looked up to Applebloom with another small smile, this one a real expression of relief, and rubbed her foreleg with his clawed hands.

"I'm…I'm glad you guys made it back down safe. It's good to see you again," he said as she smiled back.

He stood and together they walked over to the capstan. Checking to see that it was free of any running gear they stood together behind one of its poles and slowly began to push it around and around and around in a useless and futile circle.

The crewponies looked up as the sound began, and seeing that the two young creatures were assisting in keeping up the farce returned to their own mimicry of usual shipboard life.

"Spike," asked Applebloom as they inched around the capstan, "If ya' were like other dragons, would ya' be by yerself' by this point, or would ya' still be with yer' parents? I mean, if Twilight really is serious about you leavin'…"

"I don't know," he added.

They had gone around the capstan in a complete rotation before he spoke again.

"I haven't done any reading about dragons," he said after they had crossed back into the shadow of the sails, "I met an uncle of mine once, but I'm not a regular dragon…I'm not like them. I…I love my life…I, I want to stay this way…I'm…"

He looked up, saw a familiar shape, that of the peryton.

"I'm an Equestrian."

Applebloom looked at him, saw that he was staring at the horizon as they went around slowly, saw that he was trying to form words.

"That…that's what Equestria was, I think. An experiment. You ponies were just the beginning, I think, it was supposed to be about how different races, species, could come together…the earth ponies like you, unicorns like Twi, the pegasi…but, but more…like Glaesdir there, and I."

Applebloom missed a step, raced to catch up to him as they went around the capstan; her imagination caught up in what Spike was trying to articulate.

"I think…huh, I wonder if it had been able to last, if we hadn't lost…if the magic of Equestria could real have spread…like the donkeys, the perytons, the bison…how we were all coming together…being friends with everyone…"

Together they went around again, the two pushing the capstan in needless circles as the day wore on.

"A world where every critter and everypony are friends? Do, do ya' think such a thing were' really possible?" asked Applebloom, her voice going quieter as she asked, as though the optimism itself was a limited commodity, a rationed indulgence.

Spike took a deep breath, then spoke again.

"Princess Celestia had Twilight raise me for a reason," he answered, "I only realized that a few months ago, as I watched the stars come out. I looked up from my barrel on a cloudless night and I saw all the different constellations…as I saw meteors and planets sharing the same sky. They are all different, so far from one another, but together they make up something more…each dancing around one another and making a bigger picture…I guess, kinda…"

They stopped turning. Spike looked up to Applebloom, his expression betraying a deep certainty and resolve.

"I'm staying with Twilight…even if I have to claw at these decks and burn and fight and bite…I'm not leaving her. She's in pain, she's afraid, she's all I've ever had…I'm all she has…"

He sighed, fought for more words.

"There, there was something the princess wanted us to accomplish, something that we were supposed to do, together…maybe, maybe we still can…maybe we can still save…save Equestria…she…and I…together…"

Spike's voice failed, and he looked back over sea once more.

"I'd feel the same way," she said, lowering her head down to his, "I…I couldn't leave mah' Big Sis…"

Spike nodded, looked up to her. She'd grown in the last two years, and despite the hunger and want she'd managed to grow a touch taller than him, the faintest hint of the little body of the filly beginning to fade into that of a young mare.

He smiled at the dichotomy of his growth rate to hers, as he looked up to her eyes as she continued her declaration.

"…it would take an unholy fuss tah' get me tah' leave her behind."

With that an explosion of activity burst across the deck of the boat as Twilight and Applejack exploded from the cabin of the ship, rolling across one another…spurs drawn, a terrible look across their eyes.

Applejack stood first, looking at all who surrounded her, retreating towards the gangplank.

"Applebloom!" she called, her voice high, the tone demanding, "Here! Now!"

Spike and Applebloom looked at one another, and the startled expressions that flew across their faces were matched by those of the crews of both ships, the disbelief growing in all who looked on.

"Applebloom!" the earth pony called again, her fierce eyes switching among the crews, looking for movements.

"Twilight, what's goi…" began Spike, looking to the unicorn with growing alarm.

"That's Captain Twili…" she began, her eye not moving off of Applejack.

"Captain Twilight!" brayed Spike, his tone now both confused and hurt, "Ma'am! What in the Well is going on?!"

"Stand your post, Midshipman Spike," she said, not looking to him as startled ponies moved to the far side of the deck.

"Applebloom!" called Applejack again. To her right there was movement, and something shimmering caught a trace of sunlight that fell beneath the sullen sails.

"No," spoke Twilight, "She's mine…none of you are to move, stand to your posts…"

"Applebloom! Here, now!" called Applejack once more, her eyes flying around in the same wide alarm they had betrayed when she had fist set hoof upon the ship.

Spike and Applebloom looked to one another with waves of apprehension passing between them, Spike's face sinking down into a disbelieving one, painted with grief. Applebloom looked back to her sister, met her gaze, and then back to Spike.

"I'm so sorry," she said, clamping down her eyes, turning from him.

"No," thought Spike, "Not again…not like this…please…"

At once Applejack gathered her younger sister into herself, her spur above the filly, shielding her from whatever may come next.

Twilight circled towards the amidships, keeping her remaining eye on the earth pony, her spur raised. Applejack pulled Applebloom deeper beneath her, the sunlight glinting off of her spur as she tracked the unicorn across the deck.

"Applebloom," she whispered, "Applebloom, look at me."

As dozens of startled, angered, and fearful faces looked at her a trembling Applebloom turned her head to look up into the face of her older sister.

Applebloom was at once confused. Applejack's expression had changed somehow, become somehow softer as she had pulled her in closer…

"Applebloom," said Applejack, still staring to the closing, circling figure of Twilight, their spurs still lifted to one another, "Applebloom…I love you."

A moment of silence reigned across the deck.

"Applebloom," repeated her sister, her expression falling down into something even softer, the faintest of tired smiles appearing on her face, "Didja' hear me? I love ya' Sugarcube, love you until the end o' time…ya' understand that?"

Applebloom's confusion was shared with those standing on the deck. "Yes, yes, ah' know," she answered through a mix of emotions, "I love ya' too Big Sis…what, why…"

With that Applejack turned her face down to that of her little sister, taking her eyes off of Twilight, looked at her with a forced smile painted across a large sad expression.

In one fluid motion she then smashed the bash plate of her spur across the little filly's skull and, looking into her eyes as she fell down into unconsciousness, caught her up in the free side of her hoof, wobbling to catch her before she could thud to the deck.

Silence once again crossed the deck, sharing the space with the confused ponies and the gently breeze that failed to lift the shrunken sails.

There were metallic sounds, Twilight sheathing her spur as Applejack did the same. At once the sounds of clawed feet crossing the deck sounded out as Spike sped over to the teetering Applejack.

Catching up the still form of Applebloom Spike let her body fall against him until her head rested in his lap as he lowered himself to the deck. He looked up to Applejack, an expression of understanding growing on him as she talked.

"I can't take her wit' me this time…wouldn't be able tah' keep an eye on her durin' the fight…might, might not be comin' back from this one," she said, rubbing her hoof through her sister's red mane, across the bow that had once been hers, looking on the small filly with tender eyes.

At once she stood, straightened herself, and called over the railing to her crew.

"I ain't gonna lie tah' ya', this one is gonna be tough. I won't put mah' sister in a place o' safety and then tell ya'll that ya' gotta stand by yer' stations, so…if anyone wants off, gather up yer' things and yer' free tah' join up with Twilight's boat until we get back…if we get back…"

On the Parasprite dozens of sets of eyes stared back at her, yet no pony moved. Applejack regarded them all with a grimace, and then spoke again.

"I'm gonna rephrase that…we're about tah' go and get ourselves killed, so anypony with youngins' back home better prepare tah' debark. I'm looking at you two…Wintergreen, Basil."

At once two stallions at opposite sides of the railing opened their mouths in protest, but as she shot them each stern glances they blanched. With sullen expressions they turned their heads and went to gather up their belongings.

Normality returned to the decks of the two ships, and as the stallions said their goodbyes the crews began transferring cargo again…this time in point of fact.

All the provisions aboard the Parasprite were moved to Twilight's boat, as well as any weapons that Applejack wouldn't be using in her raid. These they moved briskly less there be any interest in what was transpiring on their boats from those who stood on the unfriendly shore.

"You'll take right good care of her, won'tcha Spike?" said Applejack to the dragon as two crewponies came to where they stood.

"Yeah, yeah, of course, A.J., until you come back," said Spike, wrapping his arms around her head as she leaned down to him, a single tear running down both of their faces at the truth behind the pleasant lie.

With that Applejack laid kisses upon her sister, and as the crewponies carried her into the cabin she followed along, going with them right up to the door, speaking to the unresponsive figure of her sibling as they trotted along.

"Love ya' Applebloom, love ya' forever, Sugarcube, me…Big Mac, Granny Smith, Ma and Pa, we're always with you from the Well, we love you…I love you, Little Sis…love you forever…"

With that they gently and quietly closed the door, leaving Applejack staring at it as Spike and Twilight looked upon her.

She stood there for a good long while as the preparations came to a close, until Twilight came over to her.

"If ya' like the door that much," said Twilight, lifting Applejack's muzzle with her own, carrying Applejack's head so that it rested across her shoulders, "I'll sell it to you."

"Yer' plan worked right and proper," said Applejack through some stifled sobs, Twilight feeling the moisture across her back, "A fair bit of acting…I, I had to do it, right, Twi? She would of fought 'gainst it…bein' left behind. There's, there's nothing else to be done, right?"

"Yes," answered Twilight without hesitation, "We'll take good care of her, A.J., until you get back."

Applejack sniffled some more, let out one sob disguised as a sigh.

"We…we have to do these things, sometimes," Twilight said with a great long sigh as Spike looked upon them both, "To protect the ones we love."

The statement flew through Spike. He lifted his eyes just quickly enough to meet Twilight's hurried gaze, but in an instant she was walking with Applejack down the course of the deck to the gangplank.

"I can't talk you out of it, can I?" asked Twilight with a sigh as Applejack placed a hoof upon the board that connected the ships.

"Hmmm…nah," said Applejack, forcing a smile. The two ponies stared at one another, the gangplank raising and lowering beneath Applejack as the crews stood by.

"You'll take good care of her…Twi?" asked Applejack.

"As if she were my own," answered Twilight, "until you get back."

"You are my friend, Twilight," said Applejack.

"I am your friend, forever, A.J.," said Twilight, "Play Captain Applejack off, Wind Whistler."

As the hawpipe sounded Applejack smiled to Twilight one last time, and crossed back over to her own boat. At once the gangplank came up and the thwack of axes were heard snapping the taught embrace of the cords that had lashed the two ships together on the bouncing sea.

As the Parasprite wheeled away Twilight moved to the railing, watching as the ship began to unfasten its sails. There, behind the helmspony, Applejack was already calling out orders. As the stern of the ship played out before her Twilight raised her hat, risked having her identity as The Purple Mare revealed, and waved it towards the departing boat.

As her crew gathered around her on the railing Twilight saw Applejack look back at her one last time, nod, and then was gone.

"Whistler," said Twilight, covering herself once again, "Play 'Paying Off'."

As the Parasprite slid away, moving towards the harbor, the song lifted among Twilight's crew, wrapping them in remorse as they watched the other brigantine's sails catch the wind…begin what was likely to be its final journey.

"Paying Off", a song played for a dying ship, one on its way to be broken up, or scrapped, or scuttled…yet this time played for the crew…

The last notes had sounded, had evaporated out over the waves, before Twilight was able to speak again.

"Okay," she said, "We have to look as though nothing is happening…we could be being observed from the fortress. Get these decks cleared…Violet, are the anchor lashings coming along?"

"Ready to cast them now, Ma'am," answered the unicorn, stifling a little sob as she did.

"Gather yourself up," said Twilight, looking past the crewpony to the helm beyond, "Calm. Once you're ready, get it overboard…make it look like you really screwed up…I want to be ready for them…"

"Yes, Ma'am…"

Most of the crew moved back to their positions, looked to stowing what they had just taken aboard, or working any of the many small endless tasks that sailing ships require.

Starfall crossed back over to where his captain stood, his large body shielding her magic once again from any eyes that might be peering at them from the distant city.

As she peered down the spyglass at the departing Parasprite she felt Spike leap for the nearby railing, felt the sway through the railing as he began to swing back and forth, matching the bobbing of the ship upon the choppy waters.

For all appearances, nothing had changed in the hours since the two ships had first spotted one another. Yet, in reality, their little world had changed utterly, and Spike now voiced these facts.

"You'll have a lot of explaining to do to Applebloom when she wakes up," he said, carefully avoiding saying Twilight's name, "Especially if A.J. gets herself ki…doesn't, doesn't come back."

Spike looked up to her, saw her hat bobbing on the breeze as she concentrated on the seascape, the city, and the retreating form of the ship.

"Have you thought about how…how you'll tell her? I mean, it's…it's not going to be easy…for her. I'll help," he said, lazily tapping at the inlay as he held it dangerously over the side of the ship, "I mean, I'll…she and I, we get along, so that's why you let her on…so that I could help you…right?"

Twilight said nothing, focused once more through the spyglass.

Spike felt himself twitch, the growing irritation in him making him shake. At once he retreated a bit, carefully brought the inlay and his knife back with him as he turned his back to the railing, to her.

"Is that how it's going to be, when you try to make me leave?" he said, smirking as he felt Twilight jump a touch in surprise. He felt the bounce transmitted to him though the deck as he carefully avoided saying her name.

"I know…know what you've been doing. I'm not going to make it easy on you, you know," he said, feeling his body get tenser, "I'm not going to go willfully, I'll fight it…fight it like Applebloom would have if she'd had a second longer, if she'd figured out what you two were doing."

He turned to face her, yet she still peered out over the ocean, looking upon the small doomed ship that slid farther away.

"I'll fight, bite, burn…I'm not leaving you…in Celestia's memory, I'll not do it…are you ready for that?" he said, fixing her with an uncompromising stare even as she still looked over the railing, "Ready for a screaming, biting, burning dragon whelp? Is that how it has to be, Twilight, are you really…"

"That's Captain Twilight to you, Midsh…" she spoke, pouncing on the opportunity.

At once there was a horrible sound, a collective rattle that rose up into a high-pitched scream of consuming frustration, of pure unbearable aggravation. It raged higher and higher, becoming unworldly, then dropping down at once into a driving clatter of hopelessness.

Even before the scream had finished leaving his lips, before Twilight had begun to juggle the spyglass in surprise, before the crew had reeled around in shock, Spike had already thrown them…the inlay, and the knife.

Before they hit the ground he had already covered his mouth. The knife drove deep into the planks of the decks with a solid thwack. The inlay crashed down to the deck with a splintering crack, tumbled, spilled its contents out across the deck and laid still.

Twilight gave a small gasp, watched Spike's eyes become vacant, watched as he dropped his arms to his side in realization and horror of what he had done in his frustration.

Spike raised himself up and walked over to where the shattered form lay. He rummaged through it as Twilight slowly came up to him, as she looked down over him as he picked up each half and placed them side-by-side back within the box.

In the box the image of Rarity now sat cracked vertically, the elegant likeness now divided so thoroughly and completely by the crack as the unicorn herself was divided in death from the living that now occupied this unhappy world.

"Spike," said Twilight, her voice soft, her concern close to the surface, "I'm…I'm sure we can…fix it, just, just let me charge some extra magic…maybe, maybe tomorrow…"

"Yes, Captain" he said, stumbling forward.

Twilight cringed as he passed by her, his eyes vacant, his body deflated. As he went past her he lifted one hand, as though to catch a wafting bit of her mane. Yet, he did not touch her, did not speak, and instead he crossed amidships and went up the stairs to the forepeak. As Twilight watched he sat himself down facing out across the bow, towards Port-au-Prance beyond, and did not move.

Twilight looked to the deck, to where the inlay sat, untouched, where the knife still sat resolutely.

She too now turned, concentrated back to the space beyond the railing. So it was that even though they were now only a few yards apart the distance between the designate and her summoner, the mare and her dragon, the student and her number one assistant…Twilight and Spike…that distance was now the greatest it had ever been in their mortal lives.

At once there was a chiming of a bell, and it sounded out across the waters.

Twilight concentrated on the Parasprite in the distance, saw how they had nearly ran the pilot boat over. With a smirk she imagined that the Mah'Qua pilot was now berating them while at once sounding out an alarm.

Twilight could almost picture his face go ashen as Applejack dropped her flag, the Cider Press Jack, and revealed her true identity as the second most feared pirate in the Mareiterranean.

At once the Parasprite disappeared into the harbor, cutting into the lines of tethered naval ships, sending them reeling around uncontrolled. Hopefully, Twilight thought, they could catch one or two on fire with her hidden ballistae if the plan went off as Applejack had, uncharacteristically, planned it.

At once alarms went up in Port-au-Prance.

Applejack's attack had begun.

Chapter 3

The Purple Mare

Written by The Descendant
Inspired by an image created by KNA.

Chapter 3

The crew of Twilight's ship sprang to the railing.

The sounds of fighting had already begun to echo out across the waves as they had all gathered on the forepeak, as they leaned out wide across the starboard side in hopes of catching a glimpse of what was transpiring.

"We can't cheer," she said to them as she walked back and forth along the forepeak, "We can't risk giving away that we helped them. Meditate for them, if you wish, but keep looking like we're just as surprised as anyone…"

The crew looked on, their faces a sea of worry, concern…and perhaps more than a few betraying just a little smirk of vengeance.

Many bobbed their heads, their mouths moving in time with soundless words, their eyes closed as they concentrated on friends aboard the other ship…asking that if victory was not be that their transition to the Well would be painless.

Twilight's head swung slowly, almost imperceptibly. She followed the sounds that echoed through the city streets, watched as little puffs of smoke went up, heard the cries of soldiers running through the streets.

Twilight closed her eyes, pictured Applejack and her ponies making their way from the harborfront to the fortress gates.

In her mind she saw the quick spur darting in and about confused groups of Mah'Qua soldiers, watched as the sailors made their way up the High Street to the citadel beyond. In her mind she saw the soldiers dropping to the ground as the blood began to run into the gutters, as Applejack and her crew drew ever closer to the prison.

Bells were peeling now throughout the city, their clarion call reaching out to them even on the ship. Were, were the locals helping them? Were they rising up?

No, no…that would be too much to ask for. It wasn't time for that, it was not yet the time, not yet the time.

The sounds were approaching the citadel. Around its monstrous gates grew clouds of smoke, and sharp metallic sounds.

At once there was a flash of purple lightning, visible in a great arc even across the mid-day sky. It coursed alongside the great stone walls of the fortress, illuminated the face of the walls even as the afternoon sun beat down upon them.

Twilight allowed herself one quick smirk. Her one contribution to the raid had succeeded, and she felt the Deep Magic waft away through the city and out across the rippling waves to where the ship sat. It buffeted her face, and she took a deep breath of it, as though trying to regain that magic now spent…now spreading in a wave of magica vasto out into the rolling sea.

The gate, she knew, was gone…blasted out of this reality to wherever things go when Deep Magic assails them.

"They're in! Look!" called out the voice of one pony. Twilight opened her…eye, and began to look towards the fort once more.

Smoke was now rising from within the gatehouse itself. At once there was a shimmering effect, and even at the great distance that they were from the fortress they could see the flag begin to come down.

The Mah'Qua flag, its rusty brown field and white lettering, that hated flag, that flag began to descend the flagpole quickly and without regard to decorum and proper ceremony.

Aboard the ship the crew looked on with baited breath, ponies literally wrapping their forelegs around one another, pounding their hooves into the deck. Twilight bit her lip…

At once they cheered, and Twilight did not stop them. At the moment, she knew, those who defended the citadel had other things running through their minds than spying on a bobbing boat far out in the delta…

…she hoped that what was being run through their minds at the moment were swords, pikes, and spurs, but that was besides the point.

Instead she joined her crew in the cheer. Let them have this one instant, let them rejoice in seeing what they had been denied seeing for so long…what they might not see again.

Something else was moving up the flagpole.

It was crimson, and everypony…no, every Equestrian on the boat stood to see it, climbed the rigging to catch a glimpse of it.

At once a breeze drew over the delta, the harbor, the city beyond…drawing out the smoke, catching the banner that had so tenderly and carefully been lifted up the pole. The wind picked up, and caught what waited there.

The Sun and Moon Pendant, the flag of Equestria, lifted itself, and for a few happy moments it were as if the ghosts of all who had been lost were filling it, letting the city of Port-au-Prance once more sit beneath the happy folds of the crimson pendant, the half sun and moon upon it standing proudly as the twin tails flapped about.

It was obviously home made…nothing much to look upon under any other circumstance. Even from this distance its rough construction was evident, and Twilight laughed to herself as she imagined the lost figure of Rarity standing besides her on the deck, the pirate outfit of her own design laying across her.

"Yes, most proper," she would have said, that phantom, running her hoof beneath her chin, "Yet a touch…underwhelming. I do wish she would have commissioned me to work on the piece…"

To Twilight's left somepony began to sing "Beneath Sun and Moon". Soon others had joined in, and for a few lingering moments Equestria existed again. There was a happy breeze, the sun shined, and ponies…no, Equestrians of all types, be they pony, dragon, peryton or any other who believed in the lost magic, rejoiced in it.

Immediately though the singing stopped, the breeze died down, and the flag began to go limp.

The smoke rose up again, and a new sound filled the city streets. It rolled around, echoing off of buildings, flashing down the angular streets.

"Oh no!" sounded Violet's voice, the pony herself unseen in the crowded forepeak. Soon that sound, the sound of thousands of soldiers on the march, reached up the hill and moved towards the fortress.

Twilight bit her lip, closed her eye. In her mind she saw Applejack ushering the last of the prisoners out into the street, into the forelegs of the resistance fighters who whisked them away into hidden places of safety.

She imagined Applejack looking through them even as she helped them along, ushered them out of the fortress. Yet, even as she did so she wass looking past them, through them. At once her eyes lit up, and she flew in a leap.

Twilight felt the moisture come to her eyes, both of them, as in her vision she saw A.J. embrace her brother. Twilight smiles, saw the happy surprise that crossed his face as the gaunt figure of Big Macintosh, the lash marks still wet on his back, grabbed up his little sister and kissed and hugged her over and over, wheeled her about even as his legs wobbled in his weakened state.

Together they had come up from the prison, stood at the intersection of the street as Big Macintosh chided her for risking her life…and Applejack told him that Applebloom was safe. As Applejack gave her brother one more hug she pressed a sword or a spur or some weapon into his hoof, and as the soldiers appeared upon the High Street they placed their backs to the walls of the shops and began fighting. They fought to buy the sailors time, to let the other escapees flee down the shadowed corridors…

Twilight bit her lip harder, her face twisting as she imagined each sibling calling to the other, each demanding that the other leave…flee, live for another day, live for Applebloom…she bit it harder as she imagined each one deny the request, refuse to leave the other alone…

Twilight saw the soldiers fall in heaps, saw the street start to clog as entire companies of Mah'Qua light infantry fell to their spurs.

Too soon though the sky resounded with the hiss of arrows, and Twilight saw the Apple siblings crash against the walls…saw them struggle to stand, sees them fall and lay there breathing heavily as the shafts stand out from their flanks.

She saw them look into each other's eyes as three massive Mah'Qua, each one a huge berserker, stepped forward and lifted their axes high…

Twilight opened her eye, did not let the vision reach her. Instead she looked on with her silent crew as the smoke wafted over Port-au-Prance, as the winds died down again. Yet, she knew, trails of water were sliding down her face, each one as salty as the ocean that had now been robbed of a noble mare, a master pirate…and a dear friend…

All too soon the Sun and Moon Pendant was jostled, and soon it was dragged down just as spitefully as the previous tenant. At once the deep iron brown and white flag of the Mah'Qua was lifted over the charred fort.

Once again, Equestria died.

There was sniffling, some sad rolling stifled sobs among her crew.

"She…she," began Starfall, "She wouldn't have gone down without a fight…wouldn't have let herself be taken captive…"

"No, no she wouldn't have," agreed Twilight, "We can't mourn them now…we have to make ready, have to be prepared to finish the job…they can't leave ships in that harbor…look, the big frigate is on fire…"

The crew turned their heads from her to the harbor. There, amongst the chaos and the wreckage caused by the Parasprite's death ride sat a large ship, encased in a sheet of flame, the glow of it reaching high up the masts.

The crew smiled, almost began to cheer.

"We have to be ready!" she called to them, snapping them back to the earnestness of the situation, "If our count was right then there are two corvettes and a sloop in there as well, the one we saw herding the fishing boats this morning."

Her mind began to race, already putting her crew to work in her mind.

"In short we have three ships to beat, and in a matter of minutes they'll be exiting that harbor. All it's gonna take for them to come over here is one of them remembering that the Parasprite was lashed to us for a time. As soon as that happens we'll have visitors…"

The crew looked to their captain, saw her intensity, knew what they had to do.

"So, like we discussed, get the flags up, the anchors messed up, and everything looking lubberly and a mess. To stations."

At once her crew began to move, each member beginning to look to his or her duties.

Twilight slowly walked the deck, looking over the crew as they went about their tasks, watching their practiced proficiency.

There was a rustling overhead, and up went the signal flags. "I've fouled my anchor chains," they read, and she smirked at the half-truth behind it.

"Captain?" called a voice, and she saw an older unicorn stallion motioning to her from the rigging, "Captain, I've counted masts...one of the corvettes must have been caught up in it too, I don't see enough sails going up to account for two corvettes and the sloop…one must have burnt as well…"

"Good job, A.J., well done," she thought.

"Very well," she answered, "Very well Golden Spell. Is there any sign of movement from the harbor?"

"Yes Ma'am," answered Golden Spell. Twilight smiled to herself, noting how the image of a pony high in the rigging still looked so odd even after all this time.

"I see the sloop getting underway, the corvette is still raisin' sails…I think they're a little befuddled…but, yes, Ma'am they're on the move…"

"Good, alright then, everyone…now is the time…ready?" The crew looked to one another for an instant and then sped to nearby lockers and cases. They laughed to themselves as they prepared to partake of something that had been denied to unicorns, forbidden by the harsh law of the Mah'Qua.

"Hats," she said, and soon their identities were disguised. Now they appeared as earth ponies, the only ones who the Mah'Qua occupiers still allowed to sail.

There was movement of the corner of her eye, and Twilight turned to the railing, sliding up to it gingerly, now more cautious. Ships were indeed leaving the harbor.

She felt a twinge, and at once her eye, her torn one, felt dry again. She turned from the railing and called for her first officer.

"Starfall," she said, running the back of her hoof across her patch, "Tell me what you see…"

Starfall did an impression of a sailor looking unperturbed, watching as the other ponies began fiddling about with the anchor chains, calling to each other with curses and swearing in the language of ponies who had spent their life on the sea.

"It's the sloop, the local patrol boat," he said casually tossing his head about, "and a corvette…though it's a little charred looking, yeah, there's holes in the sails on their starboard. They must have just got it out in time."

"I have to get off the deck," she said, knowing that her coat color alone would be enough to attract their attention, that becoming an infamous pirate had already cost her that anonymity, "You have command…"

"Ma'am," he answered, "The poor bastards have us outnumbered."

Twilight tossed him a knowing smirk, then called across the deck in an authoritative tone.

"They're coming close, so…every non-Eque…" she immediately halted, rephrased her words, "Every non-pony needs to find cover."

In a motion she was heading for the cabin as the crew kept up the farce of working the anchor cables. Behind her entered the peryton, Glaesdir. She felt herself holding the door open a touch longer, hoping that…

…but he did not come, and instead the motion across the deck of a barrel spinning around on the forepeak indicated where he had taken to hiding.

Inside the cabin she found the nurse, Comfort, sitting over the still form of the little earth pony. Twilight grimaced as she looked at the massive welt that was forming on Applebloom's head.

"Is she alright?" asked Twilight to the harried pony who wiped the wet cloth across the unfortunate orphans brow.

"She'll be out for hours…I, I don't see any swelling along the spine, so, so that's good…" said Comfort, rummaging through her little medical bag.

"You know what to do if she starts to wake up during the action," said Twilight, running her hoof through Applebloom's mane.

"I, I…I don't like the idea…of injecting a little filly with…I…" stated the nurse.

"There's not much to like," interrupted Twilight, sighing, looking to the little unused bed, "about the whole situation."

Comfort went silent. "Glaesdir and I will tip these tables, give you something to hide yourselves behind if they start firing their ballistae," she said, motioning to the peryton, "But we're going to need you on deck as soon as the action ends."

Together the winged deer and Twilight set up a little fortress, stopping frequently to check through the spyholes to see if anything were happening on the deck.

They had completed their work with ample time to spare, and Glaesdir looked on as his captain crossed back and forth, anxious…worried…

Twilight sighed, danced her hooves across the cabin floor. She took another breath, went back and forth once more, stopping short of the windows. Her eye, the disfigured one, began to ache, and she fumbled along the shelf looking for her salve.

"Eez dis for what search, Cap'n?" came an unfamiliar voice. At once Glaesdir picked something up from the floor and held it to her in his mouth.

"Yes, yes, thank you Glaesdir," she said, taking it, turning from him to lift the patch, "You've been learning Equestrian Common?"

"Yee," he answered, not looking at her, giving her some measure of privacy, "Spehk, Spehk de dragon, e' 'ah been tutor, teach to speak, yes?"

Twilight finished rubbing the salve into the remains of her eye, let the coolness spread through it. There wasn't that much left in the tin. With a sigh she turned, and gave it to him, and the peryton placed it back on the shelf.

"Cap'n is…disturb, ummm… nervøse…nervous?" he asked as he turned back to her, as she had begun to pace once more, "Cap'n is been nervøse since lose eye…"

Twilight shuttered to a stop, unbelieving in the bold declaration. She spun to see if Comfort had heard it. The nurse however still sat over Applebloom, either intentionally ignoring their conversation or lost in her duties.

"How, how dare…" Twilight began, but soon stopped. The light hoof falls of the winged deer sounded so different from the regular hooves of her crew, and as he laid his head across her shoulders the weight of his antlers was transmitted to her, his jaw shifting in response to their weight.

"Spehk, he…he is worry over de' Cap'n. Powerful worry. But me, I know good Cap'n, serve wit' many…he, Spehk, he tells me of you, how it was for ponies before…"

Twilight stood there listening, something of the fear and doubt that had filled her over these last few years left her as the deer drew out some of those faults, as the world seen through the eyes of this other creature…this new Equestrian, comforted her.

He lifted his head from her, continued to tell her many things. About how the crew believed in her, how they had all been terrified for her after the failed attack on the frigate. How their hope had grown as Spike had lead her around the deck. How they had been so worried for her as she had begun to become more distant.

He shared with her his world, Cervia, that land to the north that Equestria had long sheltered. How they had suffered in the holds of the slave ships, what his rescue had meant to him personally. The peryton fought through his uncertain speech to remind her of who she was, the world she was serving, of a time when she and a dragon that loved her earnestly and completely sat in the shade of trees and flew kites under a divine sun.

"…if dere' is any who can make dat' world spin back, is Cap'n…dee' Purple Mare."

Twilight, the Purple Mare, lifted her head, nodded to him, and painted herself with certainty and a deep resolve.

Before long there were voices, and she drew her spur. Glaesdir did the same, and she pointed him towards one of the faux oak doors that lined the entrance to the cabin.

She took one quick peek out the window; saw the little sloop coming alongside the starboard…saw the large corvette slipping alongside the port. She thought of Celestia, the last time she had seen her sovereign, seen her about to face down the masses with a look of calm I her eyes, her sister Luna by her side.

Twilight affected her own certainty…the rest would be easy.

She nodded to Comfort and slid into the faux oak doors, looked out through the cleverly disguised screen into the cabin, listened to the muffled voices from the deck.

"The Fall Running out of Manehattan…yes, yes, Grand Mahghak City as I suppose you call it," called Starfall, answering the heed of some unheard voice, "We have papers…yes, of course…Wind Whistler, play him aboard."

Twilight focused on the sounds. Across the way there was slight rustle, and she knew Glaesdir was looking out through his disguised panel as well, awaiting her command.

At once there was a purr of a voice, haughty, judgmental, "Hah! You ponies did bugger it up! It is a poor sailor who can't keep his chains straight."

"Our papers are in the cabin, and the crew list," answered Starfall, dryly, "Shall I show them to you?"

"No," answered the Mah'Qua, his voice a confident swagger "But you can tell me why that ship pulled alongside yours today…"

Twilight imagined that the Mah'Qua had expected to surprise Starfall with the observation. She smiled to herself imagining his expression falling down into disappointment as Starfall recited the practiced lines without a hitch.

"At first they wanted to help us with our anchors, but when they saw that there was nothing to be done they just began giving us provisions and the like. They even left a passenger with us…"

"Really?" mewed the Mah'Qua voice, "Perhaps I will look the cabin over…meet this passenger…"

"She's…she's just a little filly, ill or hurt, we don't know…but I'll be happy…" added Starfall.

"No," called the Mah'Qua, "I'll do it myself…in case I find anything I like in the cabin…"

"Oh."

Twilight snarled at the pompous arrogance of whoever this voice was. She wondered if he'd have so much swagger if he didn't have two warships over his shoulders.

In a second she'd find out.

She charged her magic, began pulling at it from all directions, grasping at the invisible tendrils of it that still wafted silently around what was once Equestria, begged it to answer her.

It did.

At once the doors of the cabin came open, and she heard Comfort give a small gasp as the arrogant Mah'Qua and three of his sailors entered, letting the door slam behind them

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Comfort," she heard the healer call, "Comfort, I'm the ship's nurse."

"This is the garbage they dumped on your ship before running off?" he said, looking Applebloom over as the sailors, or in reality marines by their uniforms, began to rummage through the cabin.

Twilight scowled.

"She's not gar…" began a disgusted Comfort.

The arrogant Mah'Qua slapped the nurse across the head.

Enough.

At once Twilight burst out of the door, Glaesdir doing the same. Quickly and skillfully their spurs slid deep within two of the marines before they had even begun to turn, their lives stolen out of them in an instant.

Glaesdir had spun as the other marine had whipped his sword around in a wide arc, the blade catching the quick little peryton along his right antler, sending it spinning through the air.

Before it had even hit the ground Glaesdir's spur had cut a deep line across the marine's throat, the feline features of the Mah'Qua going wide as it gave one cackle and fell to the deck.

The arrogant Mah'Qua felt himself being lifted within a tomb of magic, resounding black magic that enveloped him, made him feel as though her were drowning in it. He gave one quick look to the mare before the magic began thudding him from post to pillar, dashing him against the furniture, beating him across the cabin mercilessly.

"That," said Twilight, stepping forward into the light of the windows that fell across the cabin, "was for making fun of my crew."

The feline eyes began to grow wider as something of a memory filled the Mah'Qua. As he looked upon Twilight he suddenly became very fearful, and he attempted to call out. Her magic squeezed the breath from him.

"This," she said, lifting her one eye to him from beneath the hat, "Is for beating my nurse."

Once more the magic flung him between the uprights, causing dust to fall from them as the air was repeatedly beaten out of him. His body made horrible sodden sounds with each impact, his fur tossing, his tail whipping.

As he fell to the floor his simpering began, a group of little cries of pain and fear.

"And this," she said, "Is for making a mess of my cabin…"

"No, no, please!" he called, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, "I'm just following…"

"You're under new orders now," she said, tossing aside her hat, regaining her breath. The use of this much magic, the attempt to draw what little there was left in what was once Equestria, would take a toll on her. She knew that.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yes!" he cried, through his pathetic little cries, "Yes, you're the Purple Mare…the Purple Mare."

"What is your name?"

"Commander Dju."

"Dju, your life has only one purpose now…the better you fulfill that purpose the longer you live. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

At once his body was no longer his own. Twilight began a very deep and very powerful spell. She took control of his body, his tongue, and his mind.

It drained her to make him move, every step was difficult. Yet, she thought of Celestia, Luna…how they had given all, and the rest became easy.

The door of the cabin came open, and as a thin carpet of purple magic slid unseen along the deck Twilight propelled Dju's body forward until it reached where the crew of the ship still worked on the anchor chains.

Starfall looked on as the Mah'Qua, Commander Dju, waved to both his crew on the sloop and the captain of the corvette.

"They're papers are in order…my marines are, searching, for anything they might…find interesting," called Twilight, usurping Dju's lungs, voice, and body.

Dju turned back to look out over the sloop, his imprisoned eyes wanting to go wide, Twilight forcing them to look casual. She looked at Starfall, saw him looking to the big cat.

"I have him, Starfall," came Dju's voice, dripping from his possessed body, "Move on to the next step."

Starfall took one look to the deck. There he saw the thin, almost imperceptible trace of purple magic that connected the Mah'Qua thrall to his captain.

With a smirk Starfall began berating his own crew. Soon they were answering him with curses of their own. Some of the ponies were hanging over the side of the ship in attempts to free the anchors. As they did so they gestured to their first officer inappropriately and cursed at Starfall in wavering soliloquies, and the entire scene took on an almost comical bent.

On the sloop below the Mah'Qua began to laugh. They looked up to their commander, Dju, and seeing him unconcerned they began to roll with laughter.

Soon they were harassing the ponies. Cursing them out, they spoke of their poor abilities as sailors as the ponies floundered, got caught up in the rigging, one or two even theatrically falling onto the deck of the sloop.

As Commander Dju looked on, trapped inside his own body, the gunports quickly came open beneath him as Twilight's best archers pelted the deck with arrows.

The ponies who had fallen to the deck of the sloop stood at once, unsheathing the spurs they had hidden on themselves and slaughtered those whom the arrows had not found.

As Starfall kept berating his crew, and they shouted back in reply, it masked the horrible screams of those few Mah'Qua who were just coming onto the deck of the sloop…and being cut down as they did.

As Dju was forced to watch more ponies slipped aboard. They revealed themselves as unicorns, dropping their hats, using their magic to pull out any Mah'Qua who had not yet been made aware of the situation.

So it was that the sloop was reduced to a ghost ship, pools of blood covering its deck while its commander was forced to look on and the crew of the large corvette only a deck away looked upon its attackers and laughed at their antics, unknowingly witnessing its fate.

Dju felt his body turn, felt it walk towards the corvette. "Worst sailors I've ever seen. Damn ponies!" he felt himself call up to the captain of the corvette.

Meanwhile, Commander Dju went into the small place within his own mind that Twilight had left for him. There he bawled in loss and fear, the horror of what he had just seen filling him.

"Okay you scurvy-ridden jackals!" called Starfall to his ponies, stopping one before he could come back up on deck without his hat, "We're gonna pull this anchor free or break yer' backs doin' so!"

The crew of the corvette looked on, hollering insults, curses and even some genuine advice.

At once the ponies heaved, and the bow anchor lashing groaned alongside the railing. Immediately though something changed, something that they had not been expecting, and the crew of the corvette looked on perplexed as one of the ponies smashed a deck axe across the lashing…apparently causing the ponies to lose their anchor.

There was a flash of magic, and dozens of hats went flying into the air.

Chapter 4

The Purple Mare

Written by The Descendant
Inspired by an image created by KNA.

Chapter 4

At once the crew of Twilight's ship used their combined magic to pull on the kedge anchor chains, and the laws of physics took effect. The ropes went taut, and the brigantine began to spin around in place, wheeling to its starboard.

As she felt the ship move Twilight launched Commander Dju into the air like a rocket, tipping him gently in the general direction of Port-au-Prance. His trajectory was such that, if he had hit the water, there was something resembling a very reasonable chance that he may very well have lived.

Somebody had to survive to tell tales of the Purple Mare, of course.

If, however, he had hit the nearby swamps, well…Gummy's relations had to eat too.

Twilight stumbled a bit, fought to stand. She took comfort in feeling Glaesdir catch her, the use of the powerful magic having taken much from her.

She nodded to him, smiled, noting his shorn antler. "Fall off soon, grow new ones come spring," he said, helping her to the deck. She soon began to climb the stairs to the helm. It made her a little giddy to feel the motion as the ship spun around her, yet she climbed quicker, not wanting to lose an opportunity to deliver the theatrical portion of the action.

The crew of the corvette yelled at the ponies, denouncing their poor handling of their ship, only a few realizing that magic should not be at play.

That realization was only reinforced when the figure of Commander Dju suddenly obtained what appeared to be escape velocity.

At once though their shouting stopped, and the wreckage of the sloop beyond was revealed, the wholesale slaughter of its crew coming into view in the late afternoon sun. The crew of the corvette went stark white as they beheld the massacre that its deck showed them in horrific detail.

They had not started to move, to take their eyes from the butchery, before the stern of the pony ship came before them. The nameplate fell from it, crashing over their deck, revealing Mah'Qua writing on its reverse…the name of a treasure ship they knew had been taken by pirates…by a pirate…

They looked up, saw the real name of the ship, and a few of the bravest began to run to their stations. Most simply stood aghast, looking upon Equestrian writing…knowing the real name of the brigantine before them, some screaming it aloud…

"Princess Celestia's Revenge! It's the Princess Celestia's Revenge!"

The bell began to ring on the corvette's deck, calling the crew to their duty. Yet some could not move, could not but help but stare at the figure that now stood above the carved representations of the Crown of the Moon, the Crown of the Sun, and the Crown of the Principle of the Elements…could not help but call out her name over and over as she smirked down at them…

"The Purple Mare! The Purple Mare, damn everything, it's The Purple Mare!"

With that the black flag came out over the halyard, Violet letting the Sovereign Cross Jack ripple on the still wind…

"Get to your posts! Go!" called the Mah'Qua captain, begging his crew to anything other than just stand around in horror.

The Mah'Qua raced for their stations, reached for swords and pikes. Yet even as they lifted their heads to deal with the brigantine it completed its wheel, and they were left staring down the already opened gun ports of the pirate ship.

The ballistae hidden there sprang to life, and death whipped across the deck of the corvette. The Mah'Qua fell in groups, some bodies flying into pieces as the shards from the ballistae wiped across the deck.

"Fire away!" called Starfall, trotting up the deck as the Equestrians grabbed for weapons, as the most powerful unicorns among the crew created shafts of light with their magic. These shafts materialized as bows, and from the deck lockers came fine arrows. These were quickly laid in quivers before the archers, and soon they sped across to the Mah'Qua craft.

The surprise had been utter, and as even those few Mah'Qua who were able to organize a defense came to their stations they soon realized that the smaller boat, the ponies, had already taken a serious immediate advantage.

Aboard his ship the Mah'Qua captain called to a group of three marines, pointed towards the fighting top. Soon the marines were climbing the rigging, their own quivers and bows across their backs.

As Twilight came down the deck, began pacing it quietly and certainly, she saw the rapid movement in the rigging of the corvette and knew that the Mah'Qua were not going to go quietly.

"Shield yourselves!" she called as the marines pulled their draw.

From overhead came a reply of arrows. The Mah'Qua marines, snipers in the tops, came into play.

Thin round shields of magic went up, the arrows bouncing off of them, the ponies dropping their fire in an attempt to defend themselves.

Yet doing so came at a cost, and in the lull a Mah'Qua ballista fired off, and now it was ponies who were thrown across the deck, crying in pain.

"Partner up!" she called, trotting the deck, "One shields, the other fires! Double up! Keep up your fire!"

A few well-placed arrows connected with the deck where Twilight had just spun to address her ponies, and she danced her hooves a bit in recognition of how close it had truly been.

Someone though had witnessed her close call, and as green eyes lit in rage the small figure leapt to the Mah'Qua ship and began climbing the rigging.

At once the ponies replied again, and the fire resumed. Soon the whistling sound of arrows fought with the moans of the wounded of both ships for dominance over the ears of the crews.

There however came a troubling sound, challenging both of these in the minds of the Equestrians.

"Uh oh," called Starfall.

Twilight turned to see his shield begin to splinter, deform, and finally crack. There was a disturbing sound, a "shasshhhisss" that sparked in time with the fading disk…and at once Starfall's magic failed utterly, having been totally spent.

The first officer looked to his captain, began to say something…and at once there was a sound like tearing paper, and he collapsed to the deck, screaming in pain.

The Mah'Qua archers, the marine snipers in the topmasts of the corvette, had always been disdainful of the sailors, had always thought them boastful and unprofessional.

The actions of this day had proved it. Yet, there would be another chance, they thought. They'd simply kill as many of these ponies as they could, possibly even the infamous mare herself, and then jump ship and swim to shore.

It wasn't that far, only a few of miles, and in the late day light they could easily pass undetected. Then, being as they were the only survivors, the story of their heroism would be the only one that mattered…

Even as they fought on, congratulating each other on each hit, a small figure filled with wrath was making its way up to their roost.

One of the Mah'Qua marines looked down into a set of illuminated green eyes and the small body of a creature he's only ever read about in fairy stories. He tugged on his compatriots and pointed to the rigging below them, and all of their feline eyes went wide in horror.

"Go to the Well," said Spike, taking a deep breath.

Twilight looked up from helping Starfall just in time to see a cascade of green flame burst across the rigging of the corvette, just in time to see the screaming forms of three Mah'Qua marines fall from it and burst into ash.

She watched as Spike made his way cautiously back to the ship, swinging from a rope ungracefully, uncertainly. He looked a little pathetic, in truth, dangling there above the fight, yet in her mind he was at that moment as dashing as any of the heroes of the endless supply of adventure books that had once filled her library.

The battle began to wear down, the cries became less pronounced, and upon the corvette only those who stood in small groups around the ballistas remained. Some had even abandoned their posts, fleeing as the flames Spike had started began to spread among the sails.

At once Twilight heard more of the unhappy "shasshhhisss" sounds, the sounds of failing unicorn magic, and saw members of her crew begin to shelter along the railings, begin unsheathing spurs for an assault.

Across the way only two ballistae remained operating. Twilight looked up as one began to fire, the crew pulling at its release. At once she raised a shield of her own, yet it too began to make the horrible sound. Spinning to the side she managed to dodge as the shards of metal, each one as sharp as a scalpel, crashed through her shield.

"Agghhh!" she cried as one streaked along her flank, opening up a cut that tore across her body all the way to her mark.

"No, no!" called a voice overhead, a familiar one. She though concentrated the faltering remains of her magic on the reloading ballista, and her magic scythed across it, snapping its cords and sending the crew to the deck.

With that Twilight Sparkle fell to the deck, exhausted, her body heaving to regain what it had sacrificed. She listened as a few more arrows flew out across the deck, heard the sounds of the dying Mah'Qua…and another, a click, click, click.

She opened her eye to see the last ballista on the corvette preparing to fire, the wounded gun crew slowly going through the paces…

…saw how it was aimed directly at her face, the few dozen yards between her and it seemingly inches in her perception.

She tried to stand, tried to move, even to just fall over on her side. Yet, yet she could do none of these…she was spent, he body drained, the magic having taken the entirety of her will and strength to use.

"Help," she said, quietly at first, then louder, "Help!"

The ballista whirled to life. Something flew through the air, and Twilight's vision went dark.

There was a deep thwacking sound, like carrots being cut or an ax hitting wood. Twilight held her breath, but there was no deep rush of water, no sound of voices echoing up through the Well to her…no calls of her parents, her teacher, welcoming her.

Twilight opened her eye, tried to breath, and realized that something was on her face. Something was holding her head down.

At once it released its grip, and as Twilight blinked Spike stood before her. Twilight quickly turned her head to see Violet leading ponies across to the corvette, see the last of the Mah'Qua fall…yet her attention was entirely someplace else. She looked back down to the little dragon.

"You've got, got to be more careful, Twili…Captain," he said, looking to her with a tired smile, "You've only got the one eye left…you need, need to be, more…careful…"

"Spike," she said, standing, looking to him, "Did, did they miss…the shards, the ballista shot…or, or…"

The little dragon smiled to her, put his clawed hand on her leg, wobbled.

"Spike, turn around, turn around, that's an order…"

"Hey, hey," he said, waving his hands through the air, his expression the one of confidence that he had always affected when speaking of his positive traits, "Remember, tough…tough scales…tough…"

At once there was an audible pit-pat-pit-pat sound, one that grew in rapidity. To her horror Twilight could see a pool of blood forming beneath him, see it growing with each drop that was becoming a stream…

"Tough scales…tough…I…oh, oh no…"

At once she gathered him to her, forcing her body to move using a part of her resolve that even the possibility of her own death could not have mustered.

Spike leaned into her, fell into her, grasped onto her neck as she looked across his back. At once she brushed out many of the shards, the tough scales indeed having stopped most of the pencil length splinters. Some came out easy, defying the barbs, some took more work…two were in deep, very deep…

…far, far, far too deep…

Spike began to shudder, drop to his knees. She scooped him up, the trickle of his blood flowing over her forelegs as she began to yell.

"Comfort! Comfort!" called Twilight, as the stream continued to flow, "Coommmfffooorttt!"

At once the nurse was with them, bandages already trailing out behind her. The healer gave a concerned gasp, then tried to lift Spike from Twilight. The dragon refused to release his grasp, wrapping his arms tighter around her, almost choking her, pained at the thought of leaving the embrace.

Comfort looked to Twilight, and the mare nodded. As Comfort used the medical tools at her disposal Spike wiped his head along Twilight's neck, shoulders, withers, giving small cries as the nurse dug at his flesh.

Twilight ran her head across the top of his, ran her hooves across his side.

There was a stretching sound and with two whimpers from the dragon the barbed shards of metal went clanging to the deck. There was an illumination of magic, and soft healing energy wafted over them.

"Spike," asked Comfort, "Spike, I need you to try to cough, can you cough on this handkerchief?"

The face of the dragon turned to her, still not releasing Twilight, and gave a little cough. "Deeper, please," said the nurse. Spike blushed, then gave a rolling cough, hacking a bit. The nurse lifted the cloth, rolled it over and over, a look of relief spreading over her face.

"It…they must have just missed the lungs…just barely missed them. I, I've closed the bigger ones, the deeper ones, but if you could…could hold these on there until the smaller ones stop…I, I have to conserve my magic."

"Of course," said Twilight, as the nurse moved to her flank, "Don't mind mine…see to the rest of the crew."

"You are the last, Ma'am," said Comfort, working Twilight's wound. Only then did Twilight remember seeing the nurse on the deck during the fight, see her already tending to the wounded as the arrows flew.

"You're a credit to this ship, Comfort," said Twilight.

"Thank you Ma'am!"

Golden Spell came to Twilight as Comfort went back to check on her patients. The old stallion laid a sword on the deck. It was of obvious Mah'Qua construction.

"He," began Golden Spell, "the one who was most likely their captain, asked to surrender it to you…I told him you was' hurt, so…so he asked me to bring it to you…before he died."

Twilight nodded, rested her head on Spike's as she looked the sword over. It was obviously older, the officer perhaps having had a long career on the sea, having seen many things, having fought many battles.

And here she was a young mare not five years out of university. Odd world.

"Take it back over, please, and lay it with his body, it should be with him when we burn it," she said. Golden Spell saluted.

As Spike clung to her Twilight watched as Violet lead the crew in scouring the corvette for anything they could use. As they looted it passengers were brought up, a young mother Mah'Qua not much older than Twilight with a kitten in her arms, and two twin girls who were so excited that they jumped around in apparent delight at the thought of being on a pirate ship, apparently oblivious to the scenes of horror around them and the blood beneath their feet.

There was also a cabin boy, perhaps no more than nine years old, his knees knocking as he was brought before the Purple Mare.

"You will tell them what you saw here," she said to the little cat, his uniform revealing just the tiniest splatter of blood.

She looked to him from where she still lay with Spike, holding the bandages on the dragon, "You will tell them that I will burn, and destroy, and take all that I can from your people, that they will have no peace from me, that the waters will always have a slick of blood upon them…until they leave, until Equestria is free. I swear that. You will tell them that, do you understand?"

The cabin boy shook his head, saluted timidly. As the Mah'Qua survivors were put into rowboats the two twin girls waved as though they had simply had a wonderful adventure.

Twilight sat there, watching the sun begin to dip as her crew came and gave small reports. Fifteen injured, four critically, none dead.

"That's how we win, A.J.," she thought aloud, "That's how we win…four of their ships to one of ours…that's how we win. But, but your way is awesome too."

She smiled at the setting sun, pretended that Celestia was yawning, Luna awakening, her teacher heading to bed.

All was silent, and around her the ponies began to light the deck lights, and some joked with Glaesdir about the loss of one of his antlers.

The warm breeze of the sea wafted around them, and the sweet smell of sea air drew away the smell of blood and gore…and Twilight dared breathe easy.

"Please don't make me leave."

Twilight looked down. Spike's head was still buried into her, the wetness of the tears he had been fighting having long since soaked her coat.

"Please don't make me go," he said, his voice muffled by her body, "Please don't make me go…you're, you're the only family I've ever had, and…and you do, do need me, right?"

The little dragon rolled his head around a bit, moved it so that he was now speaking past her, to the side, not wanting to look up into her eye.

"I…I won't fight, I'll…I'll be a good boy…if you say I have to, but please, please don't make me go…I love you Twi, I'm afraid for you, out here…please don't make me go, please don't make me leave…"

Twilight rubbed her head against him a bit more, looked for the words. Soon though a sound reached them, a pathetic voice, one just only beginning to understand what had happened to it.

"Applejack?" the voice cried from the cabin, from behind the thick door, "Applejack!? Apple…"

Sobs.

"Apppllleeejaccckkk!?"

They both listened to the pathetic sound, listened until it broke down into tears that the door muffled.

"You'll help me take care of her, right?" said Twilight, looking down to Spike. The dragon lifted his head, turned to the cabin door to face the heartwrenching sounds…heard his friend calling out in futility, beginning to sob.

"Of course, Twi, of course I will…" he said, wiping away his tears, smiling to her. Twilight saw something laying nearby, and lifted it to him.

"I'll fix it as soon as I have the magic for it, I promise, Spike," she said, smiling to him. He embraced her once more, holding the inlay carefully so that it did not spill out.

"Captain?" asked a limping Starfall, "Orders?"

"Turn us to the east, we're going. There's not a Mah'Qua naval ship within two weeks sailing time and I want every merchant, slave, and treasure ship we can catch…sink these piles," she said, motioning to the drifting remains of the sloop and the corvette.

Together she and Spike stood, watched as the late day sun revealed the two ships beginning to erupt into flame. Now, she knew, there was no Mah'Qua presence in the delta. Now, she knew, they'd have to bring in ships from other patrols, weaken those approaches or risk letting smugglers and blockade-runners simply take over…

…and all the while they'd be wondering where she was, listening to rumors, their fear growing, the resistance gaining strength.

As the Princess Celestia's Revenge wheeled into its new course Twilight saw something she'd not seen in a great long while.

"Spike!" she called, "Look at that sky!"

Spike lifted his eyes. "Oh wow!" he called, "Red at night…sailor's delight!"

They looked to the red sky, and after a moment they went together to go comfort Applebloom. As they did they shared the hope that perhaps tomorrow could, perhaps, finally be a glorious dawn for Equestria.

The vision began to shudder, shake.

As her tears fell down into her Pool of Ends she sniffled a little, let what she had just seen wash over her. Her tears mixed with the enchanted waters, and the vision fell away…a reality that never truly existed falling away, a ghost of a possibility fleeing off into the ripples.

Celestia lifted her noble head, and as the attendant brought her the towel she first wiped the tears from her eyes. Stepping out the attendant wiped the water from the sovereign's hooves before she slid them once more into the boots.

"Is it bad news, My Princess?" asked the Minister of War nervously, "Have the Mah'Qua broken through?"

"No," she said, walking up to him as he bowed, the Royal Guard falling in on her as they went through the palace.

"No, they are in point of fact already beaten. Beaten quite badly in fact. Blue Army Group has prevailed, my sister has lead them well. I should have told you that earlier…my apologies…"

"I was only worried because My Majesty appeared so worried," said the unicorn as Celestia slowed herself, letting him catch up to her longer strides, "May I ask then what it is that is making My Sovereign well with tears?"

Celestia blushed, self-conscious at letting him see her so emotional.

"I…I allow myself to see visions, from time to time, of what would happen if we failed…if Equestria should ever be broken, defeated. This one was particularly…nautical, one should say, in its effect."

The Minister of War blanched, missed a step. He looked to the marbled floor, then asked, "That sounds rather horrible…why would you subject yourself to such horrors, My Princess?"

"To remind myself…"

The Minister of War waited, trotted alongside his Sovereign.

"I remind myself of the quality of those I love and trust, the love they have for one another, and how they are always striving for one another. I beg that I may never squander that gift they have given me, or betray the trust they have placed in me."

"I remind myself of what Equestria is, dear minister, what my parents meant for it, what I have set it to be…what my sister and I are always, eternally, working towards. I beg that we should reach that, one day, that happy world."

"And, finally, I remind myself of what would happen…happen if I am weak."

The Minister of War looked up to her, saw his ageless and seemingly divine sovereign still fighting the tears. He went on wordlessly, the hoofbeats of the assembly around him echoing through the palace.

As they came out onto the terrace overlooking the courtyard there was a rumbling shock, and a blue filament of light condensed upon itself, and then exploded out into the form of another beautiful and grace-filled alicorn.

"Sister!" called Luna, bounding towards Celestia, "A victory! Have you seen it, had you watched in the pool?"

"Yes, yes I have!" called back Celestia, lowering her head so that she could answer the hug of her sister, "You were a great comfort to them, our ponies, you were their strength, as you were in ages past…you're becoming yourself again, my beloved sister."

"Come!" called Luna to her sister, to the bowing Royal Guard and Minister of War, "I bring you a guest!"

Together the Sister Sovereigns of Equestria moved to the edge of the terrace, the assembly falling in behind them.

"May I present to you the Grand Mahghak of the Mah'Qua, here to discuss what the final form of the unconditional surrender of his entire nation will take…" said Luna, in a particularly bubbly way.

Below her Celestia saw the entire assemblage of the Mah'Qua nobility supplicate itself, bow before the sisters, the umbrella bearer trying to shield the deflated figure of the Grand Mahghak while trying to bow to them.

Before the entreating nobles lay a stack of flags, the rusty brown and white flags of the Mah'Qua laid out in defeat, their invasion shattered before it had even cleared the mountains. Above Celestia snapped of the Sun and Moon Pendant, flying over a Canterlot unbowed, unburnt, and Equestria awakening to a day where there was still a living dream of peace.

She closed her eyes, let her consciousness fly out over her dominion. In Ponyville she found her designate and her summoner, Twilight and Spike, just beginning their day. The little dragon making them breakfast as the pony read to him all that they were to do that day.

Celestia was very, very happy for them.

Her mind flashed across her sovereign lands to Sweet Apple Acres, and there she saw an Apple family already wide-awake. Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Granny Smith were seeing Applebloom off to school, kissing her and hugging her before she headed down the road, humming happily as she went.

Celestia was very, very happy for them.

Celestia opened her eyes, felt them settle on the prostrate form of the Grand Mahghak below. She remembered what her dominion would have looked like if he had triumphed, and the vision of that failed Equestria snapped at her with powerless teeth.

In the seemingly immortal and apparently divine alicorn the playful side, her defense against such unpleasantness, rose up as she looked at him from above.

"Aaarrgghhh! That scurvy dog!" she said in a rumbling voice, "We'll make the bilge rat walk the plank!"

"Sister?" asked Luna, her eyes going slightly wide.

"Heh, nothing, I'll explain in time," laughed Celestia, "Come, sister, let us see to trying to extend the Equestrian Experiment to another race. I am grateful for it. Did you chance to see my sunset? It was red, the sky…sailors would say that means a good day is to come…"

End.