Sea

The door was ajar. Twilight looked through the small hole between the door frame and the door as best she could, but she could only catch small glimpses of what was going on. Somerset was walking along the side of the ship, yelling something. There was a series of booms, and the side of the ship erupted into white smoke. When the smoke cleared, Somerset was gone and the sound of clashing metal rose from somewhere out of her view. She saw a number of stallions holding strange wood-and-metal rods that they would point at some unseen target. After a few seconds, a loud crack would ring out and the stallion would put some strange powder and a small metal ball into the front of the weapon.

After a few minutes, the sound died down, and all was quiet again. She noticed that one of the twelve ponies that had been holding those strange weapons was conspicuously missing, leaving a hole in their line. She spotted Somerset walking to the door just before he arrived; she had no time to see anything else before she ducked back further into the room.

"It's safe to come out whenever you desire, Miss." Somerset said through the door. "Just come and see me if you're going somewhere besides the main deck."

Within seconds, Twilight was out of the door and looking around. The mainmast's cloth covering was still removed; the 'cannons', she'd heard them called, were still rolled up to the side of the ship. She pondered for a moment if that was what'd made the sound and smoke, before noticing someone yelling at her.

"Hey!" a voice called out from the gundeck. She looked around for a second before spotting a stallion leaning against the mainmast. His forelegs were cuffed together, but he seemed to be fairly comfortable with his situation. His coat was a light blue, and his mane a much darker shade. He was an earth pony, but had a fairly weak-looking body. "What's a pretty mare like you doing stuck on a ship like this?" The stallion sniffed the air with his muzzle. "Man, does anyone ever clean this deck? It smells like month-old powder down here!"

Twilight quickly made her way down to the gundeck and walked over to the stallion, looking at him cautiously. He chuckled at her, rolling his yellow eyes. "I don't bite," he said after she hesitated for a second. As she approached, she felt something in the air. Something felt off; her horn was tingling. She slowly, carefully, came closer. As she got closer, she noticed little specks of red across his body.

She felt a sudden jolt of energy that almost threw her to the floor. The crystals in the stallion's fur began to glow. "What's going on?!" he asked. "What in the blazes are you doing? Stop that spell!"

Twilight looked at her own horn, only to notice it glowing very brightly. She almost saw thin wisps of red energy channeling into it, before she managed to retreat only a few steps. A deep bass boom echoed throughout the ship, and she was thrown against the back wall of the gundeck. She slowly made her way back upright, only to find herself being held by two ponies dressed in some sort of yellow uniform.

Somerset ran down to the gundeck, looking around. "What the hell happened?" He looked at Twilight. "What did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear. There was a stallion chained to the mast. He wanted to talk to me. I came close to him, and then my horn suddenly lit up and these wierd red crystals all over him started glowing. I could feel them trying to channel... something... into and out of me."

Somerset looked at her with an uncertain face. She could be trying to destroy the ship, but the same time the twitching stallion with the fur dotted with glowing red dots provided at least some credibility. He sighed heavily. "Alright. Somepony check if he's dead." A stallion walked over and placed his hoof on the captive's neck. When he felt a pulse on the unconscious body, he raised his hoof and nodded.

"He's alright."

"Good." Somerset turned around. "Now, I'll ignore the fact you didn't come and see me - after all, I know how you protected types can be a bit impulsive - and instead ask the more obvious question: Why in the Sun Goddess' name did you try to get up close and personal with a dangerous smuggler? I mean, from the fact he was tied to the mast, it should have been pretty obvious that he might not be the kind of pony to socialize with." He sighed again when he received no answer. "Alright. I need one of you to go tell the helmsman to change course. We're sailing straight for Sunsport."