Broken Caliber

Morning broke as Fiore and Killian walked to the docks of Waterdeep. There resided dozens upon dozens of ships, each of varying makes and sizes. Killian’s eyes scanned the docks before he spotted one of the ships. It was rather unique of the bunch, with its red, almost plastic-looking hull. Its bow was modeled after a sabre and its flags were red to match the hull.

“There.” Killian pointed to and then rushed to the ship. Fiore followed him. As the two got onto the ship, they saw a man with a red coat and short brown hair. He wore a black jacket with red fabric inside the jacket, a gray waist coat, and a dark red cloth underneath. “Yo! Nash!” He said. The man turned around.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Jonesy.” Nash walked down. The two slapped their hands and gripped tightly. “How ya been? It’s been a while since I saw ya.” He said.

“Oh, nothing much.” He said. Killian looked behind and pointed his nose towards Fiore.

“Is that…” Nash asked.

“Yes, yes it is.” Killian said. Nash pointed to the pony.

“What’s with her…” Nash struggled to say it, but Fiore instantly cowered away and hid the stub of where her wing was.

“She needs your help.” Killian said. Nash sighed.

“Who did you piss off this time?” He asked.

“No one. We just need to get to Equestria.” Killian said.

“Okay, I’ll bite. Why do I need to take you back to that diabetes inducing land? Didn’t you say you’d rather die than spend another minute there?” Nash asked. Fiore looked at Killian.

“This isn’t about me. This poor girl just lost her mother to a fish monster and I need to take her back home.” Killian said.

“… You know, I’d really wanna help you, but I’m done being an adventurer. And don’t you make any damn deals with me. I got so much gold from our last raid that I don’t know what to do with them!” Nash said.

“Will you do it for her then?” Killian showed him Fiore, who began to whimper and cry.

“I’m not Henk.” Nash muttered. “Her charms won’t work on me.”

“Then how about this: this fish monster? He was prostituting her mother. Seemed to have a vast amount of authority. Ate the mom when she wanted out. Classic tale of the strong overwhelming the weak. And unless she gets to safety, he’s gonna eat her too.” Killian said.

“Why don’t you protect her then? You’re the Dark One, after all. Next time this fish monster comes, just fillet him.” Nash said.

“I’m teaching her how to do it herself.” He said.

“… There’s more to this. I know there is.” Nash said. There was a brief silence before Kilian spoke up.

“… Okay, there is something I need to find out. Fiore here knows about it, and I need to take her there so that I can find out what happened to me and why I’m here.” He said.

“Of course.” He muttered. “It’s always about you, isn’t it?” With that, he patted him on the back. “Well, thanks for being honest about it, at least. I’ll get you there before sundown.” Nash went to the steering wheel as he shouted to his men. “WEIGH ANCHOR! WE’RE DEPARTING! NEXT STOP: EQUESTRIA!” He shouted out. Several men shouted to each other as the ship began to depart the docks. Killian took this time to turn around and look as the ship left Waterdeep.

On one hand, he hated leaving this place, especially with so many memories and friends attached to it. But on the other hand, he could remember his old life and how it was suddenly ripped away from him. He headed to inside the ship’s cabin. He knew that the answers that burned inside him rested in Equestria’s sacred tree.

And he was not gonna let anyone stop him from his goal.

Fiore trotted around the deck an hour into the trip. The ship was made for humanoids to operate, and thus there wasn’t a lot of things for the pony to do. She did, however, figure that it would be time to learn some of that magic.

So she went to where Killian went: the cabin. There she saw him looking at a map that had been unraveled. She saw him marking the map with a pencil and a divider.

“So, day one we go here… then cut through the woods there… Before we know it, we’ll be there by the end of the week… or even the tenday…” He muttered. Without so much as shifting his body, he spoke up. “Hey, Fiore, do you ponies have a different calendar to measure out weeks?” He asked.

“Y-yes... A week is usually seven suns.” She said.

“So seven days… Alright, so it works like my world then.” His voice was reduced to a mutter as he looked back on the map.

“Y-your world?” Fiore also muttered. She went up to Killian and, with her hooves on the table, hoisted herself up to see what he was doodling on. Her eyes widened as she saw the map of Equestria.

“A marvel, isn’t it? To think, your world was simply a small country.” Killian said as he petted her on the head. She groaned a bit, but she rather liked the feeling of fingers running through her hair. “I had that reaction when I was a kid. Seeing that blue and green globe for the first time really opened my eyes. I always wanted to explore the world.” Killian smiled, just a bit. “And I’m doing that right now… Though… not in my world.” That smile turned into a frown.

Fiore immediately pointed to something on the map to distract him.

“This was where I used to live. See?” She asked him. She pointed to a series of clouds which contained vast waterfalls colored like the rainbow.

“Cloudsdale…” Killian spoke out the name of the location before his eyes shifted below. There he saw a gigantic, crystalline castle that seemed to be in the shape of… “… The tree.” Killian smiled and held Fiore. “You’re magnificent! You solved my conundrum!” He said.

“I… I did?” She asked.

“Yeah! I was totally stumped on finding that tree, but you helped me find it!” He said.

“I… I guess y-you’re welcome? Eeeee…” She grunted as Killian squeezed tightly. He realized that he was applying Henk levels of force and simply let go.

“Sorry… Just… I spent a good chunk of the hour looking for the tree, and it’s right here under my nose! Hah! Twilight Castle! Get it? In between the Luna Oceans and the Celestial Sea? PERFECT!” Fiore backed away from him.

“It’s Twilight’s Castle, actually.” She said.

“Huh? Yeah, Twilight Castle.” Killian said.

“N-no… Twilight’s Castle, as in, the castle belongs to Princess Twilight.” Fiore said.

“… Wait, what?” He checked out the map. He noticed just how close it was to Ponyville. “… It’s not gonna be easy, isn’t it?” He sighed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked. Killian looked to her and smiled.

“Well, onto your first lesson in magic.” He said. Fiore glared at him.

“H-hey! Don’t change the topic!” Fiore shouted.

“Lesson 1: Making deals.” He said.

“Deals have nothing to do with magic! I agreed to learn how to cast spells, not be a flimflam!” She said. Killian shook his head.

“Well, deals come hand in hand with the magic you’re about to learn. All magic comes with a price, as they say.” He said.

“So what? If I cast magic, does it take energy from me?” Fiore asked.

“If you wish.” He pulled out a drawer and with one finger on his lips, he pulled out a sheet of blank map paper. “Or, you could take something ordinary and make it…” He whipped the map and unfurled it. In an instant, the map dissolved into a cloud of thick, purple smoke, before it changed into a green quilt cape. “Extraordinary.” He said. Fiore’s jaw dropped at the transformation she had witnessed. Killian folded the quilt up and spoke up.

“Now, I noticed a bit of a problem.” With one point of the finger, Fiore already recoiled and hid her stub. “You’re self-conscious about your figure.” He said. Fiore frowned and nodded. “I can give you this quilt for you to hide it… So long as you don’t bug me about Twilight Castle or anything related to it.” He said.

“Twilight’s Castle.” She corrected.

“Whatever! Do we have a deal?” He asked.

“…” She simply nodded. Killian flung the quilt around and laid it on Fiore’s back. The quilt almost completely covered her before the quilt shrunk to a size where it could be appropriate for a filly like her. Killian secured the quilt with a knot and let the quilt flop to cover the stub.

“And that is how you make a deal. Figure out what you want and what your target wants, and deals will be like a second nature.” Killian patted her on the back.

“… When am I gonna learn magic spells?” She asked. Killian got off his chair and scrolled up the map.

“When you’re ready, dearie.” He said.

“And when will that be!?” Fiore asked. That’s when the two heard a loud, monstrous noise.

“… You’ll know.” With that, Killian left the cabin. With nopony to talk to, Fiore sighed and followed Killian upstairs.

“What’s the situation up there, Nash?” Killian said. He saw Nash looking through a spyglass.

“You know, you’re like a bad luck magnet. Last time I took you on a trip, a freaking dragon nuked the town I was supposed to deliver my goods to. Now? Well, take a look for yourself.” He handed Killian the spyglass as he saw red tentacles looming over the distance. “Congrats, we have a Kraken on our ass.” He said.

“Eh, he’s not so tough.” Killian muttered. As Fiore got to the same area, the Kraken rose up. It had red skin, eight tentacles, and a bright orange, spiky mohawk. “I take that back.”

“This coming from the guy who fought Tiamat?” Nash rolled his eyes.

“It was a joke, Nash.” Killian readied his sword as one of the tentacles slammed into him. He swung and easily cut it off. The tentacle wiggled a bit before it seized up and went limp. The kraken screamed out in pain as it used two of its tentacles to lob a large rock at him. Killian smirked and flicked his wrist. The rock soon exploded in a puff of purple smoke. It faded away as Nash fired a flintlock pistol at it.

“Alright, let’s just finish off this monster before he puts a dent in my baby. Men! Let’s get showy!” Nash shouted as his men shout back. The ship began to offer broadside as its cannons aimed to the Kraken. With its seven tentacles, the Kraken twirled them around and created a thundercloud.

“Fiore! Get back inside!” Killian shouted back as Fiore squirmed back. Killian held up his hand as a ball of fire appeared.

“No! Protect the ship, let my Galleon handle this beast!” Nash said. Killian groaned.

“Fine!” He lobbed a fireball at the Kraken, blinding one of its eyes as he held up a barrier. Lightning struck, though it clashed against the shield. As the lightning clashed, the cannons fired. Cannonballs lobbed right into the face of the Kraken as it screamed viciously. Fiore could see the volley of cannonballs slam into the Kraken, bruising and even rupturing the skin of the octopus, all while the thunder did nothing to affect the ship.

She imagined herself as Killian, holding up the shield and protecting her friends… She then thought of her mother. Eventually, one of the cannonballs caved in the Kraken’s skull and it began to sink in a lifeless heap. Fiore looked upon the death stare of the fallen beast and pretended it was Tahm Kench’s own face. She shivered as the thunderstorm subsided. Killian panted wildly as he let go and the shield dispersed. The ship rocked and Killian fell down, sitting on the deck.

“Good job, boys! Davy Jones won’t be seeing us anytime soon!” Nash said. As he raised his hand, his fellow sailors cheered with him. Fiore trotted to Killian.

“It’s alright, kid. I’m fine.” He said, brushing his hand across her chocolate mane. “I’ll teach you all this soon. But first, we dock…” Killian said.

“Uh… Problem.” Nash said. Killian got up and went over to Nash, who had his telescope out. “The dock’s out.” The two could see planks of wood drifting from the shoreline of a city. Nash scanned the area and noticed the dock itself was torn up. That’s when he noticed the dock was getting closer. Fiore saw the dock pass the galleon.

“… Okay, that’s a problem.” Killian said as the Galleon knocked past the planks of wood. As the ship got closer, the crew could see skyscrapers in the distance. Eventually, the Galleon came to a stop as its bow poked one of those skyscrapers, shattering the window it touched. Inside the skyscraper were a plethora of ponies, each of varying races.

“Erm… Hello!” Nash waved to the ponies. Killian stepped forward.

“What caused this?” Killian asked. The ponies began to shudder and chatter. However, all the ponies soon said the same thing:

“Calypso...”