Chapters The Land of the Half-Horses
Diary Part 1
Diary Entry #1: May 27/ Day 1 of Expedition
A few of my crew told me I should right a diary. That it keeps you from "ocean madness." It's a bunch of nonsense if you ask me, but I might as well humor them.
I happened to hire a few new guys just for the extra hooves, and they all seem very promising. Especially Red. Which is kind of weird when his mane is a dark green and his coat a light yellow. I will never understand some of these ponies.
My quartermaster also quit, so I'm going to be holding "auditions" for the role. I'll do like a secret spy questionnaire. I had an idea of what I would ask, something about responsibility or something like that. It will probably come to me again when I least expect it.
I guess I'll right in this thing again. Good night diary. Wait why did I write that? Why did I write that? Ugh this damn book is going to give me some type of madness before anything else.
Diary Entry #2: June 1/ Day 5 of Expedition
It's been 5 days, and still no sight of land nor creature. That's fine. When we went fishing we would be out for weeks. One time we were out for a month. Good times.
I finally found a suitable first mate. Turns out Red is a natural born leader. Almost like yours truly. The kids got real talent. A few of the crew lost their send of optimism, and damn did Red give a fine motivational speech. Just wish I remembered it. It would be good for future adventures.
In other news, turns out we had a meteorologist on board. He was saying some stuff about heavy waves and head winds. I don't really believe all the scientific mumbo jumbo. Unicorn magic is where it's at.
I hear some yelling on deck. Going to check it out real quick. Oh dear Celestia, one of the unicorns slipped and stabbed his horn into a bucket. I hope someone on board knows how to remove buckets from horns. Ha ha. Today was a good day.
Diary Entry #3 June 4/ Day 8 of Expedition
That meteorologist was right... The storm hit hard. And is still hitting. The first thing I thought to do was right in this. I just hope the crew is ok.
The Land of the Half-Horses
A Few Moments of Adversity
The Few Moments of Adversity
"ROUGE WAVE OFF THE PORT SIDE!"
That's the first thing I hear after leaving my cabin. Diary in hoof, I try to give order to the chaos. I run to the ships top deck. Luckily Red had things (mostly) under control. He was barking orders like a drill sergeant. If you didn't have an order, he would give you one.
"Get the water off the deck!"
Every word he spoke was pained by the piercing rain hitting us. Every moment we stood there. Navigating this storm. We were losing hope. The sea took our crew in seconds. Every wave that struck. They destroyed us. Piece by piece. We were dead before we knew it. But a few weren't so lucky. We made it to the only life raft we had. In hopes it would save us, and it did.
The ship was gone. The storm was gone. The crew was gone. All that was left was me, Red, and two of the deck hands, but it wasn't just the four of us for long. Out of desperation and anger, one of the deck hands killed the other deck hands. We didn't do anything about it. We were to broken to intervene. The last deck hand disappeared into the night. We went to sleep together on the boat, then woke up without him. It was just me and Red left.
It was inevitable. Red eventually starved. It was only 2 days on this small boat, and my quartermaster couldn't even make it. Now I'm all alone. All I want to do is sleep, and hope I don't wake up.
May Celestia guide me.
The Land of the Half-Horses
Steven The Sand King
"Excuse me stranger. Are you in need of assistance?"
Ugh... My lungs hurt, and I can't help but cough up some sea water. I barely find the strength to stand, let alone open my eyes. What is this underneath me? Is this sand?
WHAM!
AWW! My head! Did something just hit me with a stick?
"Hey! What's the deal?" I yell.
"It's alive! Darn, now I owe Countess 5 bits."
"Who the heck are yo..." My words were hijacked by my eyes.
It was only then did I actually notice who, or what I was talking to. It was a pony... with a shell on it's back? Oh dear Celestia, don't tell me this is some cruel game Tartarus has set up for me.
"Wh.. who are you?" I asked him.
"I AM STEVEN! THE SAND KING!" He shouted loudly as if he wanted everyone in a mile radius to hear him.
Oh great. I'm on an island of insane turtle-ponies. Also, does the introductory have to be so loud?
"And your name might be?"
"My name is Onyx... Onyx Tides."
"Onyx? That's a weird name."
"Well to me Steven is a pretty weird name too."
"Fair point."
At least we can agree on something here.
"So.. uh.. where the heck am I?
"You are on my beach!"
"Your beach?"
"It always has been and it always will be."
"I'd hate to impose, but why do you have a turtle shell on your back?"
"Oh that thing?" He taps his shell with the stick he used to hit me. "We don't know. What we do know is that everyone has something special to them."
"Wait. Everyone has something like this to them?"
"You should see my friend Nate. He's part snake."
"Does everyone have some assonance to their name?" I asked jokingly.
"I mean there's some assonance and some alliteration. A few rhymes too." He stated plainly.
"Is there somewhere I can like... eat something? I'm starving" Not eating for a few days can do that.
"Of course. Please follow me to my house."
With the hope of a good meal I find the strength to get up, and with so many questions it hurts to think.
Dear Princess Celestia, what did I do to disserve this?
The Land of the Half-Horses
Celestia's Orders (prologue)
Author's Note
This whole series is just an idea I had. I probably will not continue it if there is too much negative feedback. If there is good feedback then i will gladly continue it. If you also have a good idea for a character (must be reasonable generic with base traits) then it might get added.
Celestia's Orders (prologue)
Celestia's Orders
"Are you sure you are ready for this mission, Captain?"
Look at me. Sitting in the royal castle, and getting a direct order from the princess. Not many ponies get this sort of privilege, but I'm not here to sight see. I'm on a mission. A mission of exploration! Now what do you need for exploration? A ship. Can you guess who gets to captain that ship? That would be me.
My name is Captain Onyx Tides. That's not really my name. I forgot my name long ago, and the name I have now was more or less given from an old mare friend I once had. She just called me that because of my super dark mane, and my love for the ocean. Boy do I love the ocean. So much that I got a ship, and a crew to match. We became the greatest fishing ship Equestria had seen (it was good trade for the griffons), and now we were on a new mission.
The princess sent us west. To the unexplored waters that no thinking animal would dare tread, but who really knows what is out there. Treasure, civilization, more water, or even just wastelands. We were the few to find out.
The unknown awaits us.
The Land of the Half-Horses
The Sand House on the Sand Beach
The Sand House on the Sand Beach
"Please come in. I'll get the tea started."
The inside of this sand house isn't that bad. It's as big as my quarters on the ship, and has even more space. All the needs of a house in one room. The kitchen in one corner, sand couch in another, the outside door in another, then a stair case going down in the last corner. I can only assume it leads to his bedroom.
"So what brings you all the way out here stranger." Steven said as he puts a kettle on a sandstone stove with burning coals underneath it.
"I'm actually shipwrecked, so to speak." I hive a sad light chuck at the end.
"Oh really now? I didn't see any ships crash?"
"Well we were on an exploration of unknown lands. I think I'm the only one who.. who survived." I said with a little sorrow under my breath.
"That's very unfortunate. My condolences for the fallen crew." Steven let out a sigh as if to think of the lost ones. He then hands me a slice of bread with honey on it. For a turtle pony he sure know how to treat a guest.
I took a seat on the couch and looked out the window. It wasn't really a window. It was just a hole in the wall roughly covered with a stick frame and leaf shingles. Upon looking out of the aforementioned window, I noticed a dark figure jump from tree to tree. "Hey Steven, you don't happen to have any friends that are part monkey?"
"No. Why?"
Before I could say anything a small cat slams me in the face through the window. Which it proceeds to scratch me.
"AHHH Get this thing off!" I scream for help.
All Steven did after that was a bit unexpected. He ran up to the window and proceed to yell. "Dang it Countess! I said to stop throwing cats into my house! Bah"
Steven tore the cat from my face then patted it out the door. He then handed me a leaf telling me to cover the scratches. Steven must be a doctor of some kind. The cuts heal almost instantly, but not without a lot of stinging.
"Mind explaining to me why I got a cat thrown at me?" I asked a tad ticked off.
"Not now, we need to go for a walk. I have some business to attend to."
"Just drag me everywhere why don't you." I mumble.
And we forgot the tea...