The Twisted Paths of Spirits and Mares

Chapters

Chapter 0: Prologue
Chapter 1: New Beginnings
Chapter 2: Welcome Aboard
Chapter 3: Learning
Chapter 4: Opportunities and Suspicions

Chapter 0: Prologue

The bow of the Royal Fortune cut through the shallow ocean waves while gracefully avoiding the small, floating islands of debris from the once large vessel. Every so often there was the resounding thunk of flotsam that inevitably collided against the thin hull of the sloop.

”We’ll hole the hull if we hit anything big,” Lily remarked aloud as she wrenched the wheel, avoiding more of the dangerous debris. Every thunk made her wince, but the seasoned unicorn never took her eyes off the waters ahead. “But there has to be something useful left here, don’t you think?”

Iron glanced up to Lily from the starboard railing where he had been keeping a keen eye out for valuables to salvage, though his task was made all that more difficult in the dead of night with only the dim lanterns that hung around the small ship’s exterior and the waxing moon to guide them. “It was your idea to come over here,” he calmly pointed out as he returned to searching for floating valuables on the water. A moment later, the well-built earth pony stallion reached down with a metal hook and grabbed a small wooden box out of the water before it could slip past him.

“Got something,” the grey coated stallion with a fiery orange mane and tail called out as he pulled the small prize over the railing and dropped it on the deck with a muffled thud. A quick strike from his large, well-worn hoof had the ornate box open. “Jewelry.” Iron chuckled as several pearls necklaces, assorted rings with gemstones in them, and a few unfamiliar metal coins glittered softly in the moonlight. “Probably a few hundred bits worth at least!”

Lily let out a low whistle, eying up the spoils for a split second. “That right there might just make this little diversion worth it!” she called down, a faint grin on her face.

“Let’s just hope there is a bit more so we can retire, huh?” Iron amusingly remarked as he moved back to the railing and resumed scanning the dark waters for more potential retirement funds.

It wasn’t the most efficient way to search the wreckage, but the Royal Fortune didn’t have a large crew. Their line of work didn’t afford the luxury of having a full complement of ponies so they had to run on a skeleton crew of just three. With Lily busy steering the ship, it fell on Iron, the only other awake crew member, to scan the entire area for valuables before they could sink beneath the waves.

There was one thing that had been bothering Iron and Lily, setting their fur on end the longer they searched. Normally there were survivors, ponies calling out for help when a ship sailed close by, but here, there was nopony to be seen nor heard.

“Are you finding it a tad bit creepy that we haven’t found a single soul yet, living or dead?” Iron hesitantly asked, glancing up to his captain after the silence about the subject was too much for him to bear.

Lily solemnly nodded. “I was expecting us to find somepony… We are out way too far for any pegasus or unicorn to get back safely to land. And with how silent is is out here, it’s pretty darn spooky.”

“Where do you think they all are? Where could they have gone?”

“Possible that another ship came by and rescued them already, but it looks like whoever it was didn’t bother looting anything,” Lily remarked, glancing around the waters for a moment. “Just keep searching. Never know what we’ll come across.”

“Yeah, maybe. I don’t like it though. This doesn’t seem right to me,” he grumbled and went back to searching, pushing those ominous thoughts from his head.

“Oh, what have we here…” Iron mused to himself a little while later, after his nerves had calmed some, snagging a large trunk on his hook. Struggling with it for a moment, Iron’s muscles straining against the weight of the waterlogged chest, wrestling it up and over the railing before letting it unceremoniously fall down onto the deck with the squishy thud of water-soaked wood. “This one’s sealed and locked shut. Probably something really valuable in here.” With a gleam in his eye, Iron fumbled with the lock for a moment before it yielded to his powerful hoof strikes. Throwing open the lid, his hopeful mood instantly turned sour as he rubbed his hoof. “Clothes? Bah. Too much damn work just for clothes.”

The interior of said chest was filled with dresses and other formal wear, all sized for a mare and varying shades of dark blues and even fewer lighter purples. Though Iron couldn’t make out exact details in the poor lighting conditions, he could tell that they weren’t ordinary clothes. “A lot of effort to keep clothes safe,” he said with a shake of his head as he shoved the large chest off to the side and out of his way.

Lily perked up at that and glanced over the wheel for moment. “Could still be valuable!” she suggestively hinted to Iron. “A lot of nobles like to buy expensive clothes, and those looked expensive to me.”

“I don’t even know how you can tell from up there,” Iron said with a shake of his head, and returned to the railing and readying his trusty hook. There was still a lot of wreckage to explore and a short time to do so before it was all lost to the sea forever.

“A mare has an eye for such things,” she remarked with a playful grin.

<><><><><>

The moon had risen higher in the sky and Iron’s limbs were now sore as the distant sound of thunder could be heard dancing across the calm waters. They had been meticulously and carefully zig zagging back and forth through the slowly sinking wreckage non-stop, hauling out anything and everything that looked even remotely valuable. While they had recovered a vast amount of salvage worth keeping, it was slow and tiring work to pick through it all and there was quite a bit that unfortunately had to be thrown back. Most of it was simply too large or too heavy to be worth keeping in their small cargo hold and was replaced when something of greater value was discovered.

With their hold now mostly full and the debris thinning out, Lily decided it was time to call off the impromptu salvage operation and get back on their original course. They had a deadline to meet after all, and their employer accepted nothing less than what the deal stated. This deal was very time sensitive.

“Hey Iro-” Lily started to say but was cut off as Iron excitedly called up to her.

“We got somepony here! And I think she’s still alive!” Hooking the flotsam with his hook, Iron pulled over the impromptu raft, its sole passenger unconscious but still breathing, if barely.

With a bit of a struggle, Iron managed to gently pull the battered mare over the railing and onto the ship. The dark purple coated thestral coughed up a bit of water and then laid still on the deck, the slight rise and fall of her chest was the only indication that she was still alive.

Iron leaned down and brushed their new passenger's light purple mane off her drenched face only to inhale sharply as he got a good look at her. “It’s her,” he said with a grim expression on his face.

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

The grass was soft and springy under my hooves as I slowly walked through a moonlit field of never ending grass. The Moon’s silvery light shown down on upon me like a beacon of hope in the sky. Its soft light sending a happy tingle up my spine, filling me with a sense of purpose. Though, what that purpose was, I had no idea.

As I looked around, my tufted ears flicked from side to side, trying in vain to pick up any source of sound but there was only silence. A large range of gently rolling hills stretched into the distance no matter what way I turned, and beyond those where black crenelated walls of which I could barely make out through the valleys.

My leathery wings flicked in mild agitation against my dark purple coat. I tossed my head up and to the side as a lock of light purple mane drifted into my view, removing the annoying strands of hair. “Where am I?” I finally said aloud, knowing that there was nopony to answer, but the frustration made me talk to myself just to break the eerie silence.

“You are in my domain, my child,” a voice answered me, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It chimed like silvery bells in a wind, soft and gentle, but with a power behind it that sent the fur on the back of my neck uncomfortably twitching.

I spun around for a moment, eagerly seeking a source for the voice. But there was nopony around. “Who are you?” I called out, my voice echoing along the grassland, still searching for a source of the voice.

“The Moon,” came the immediate reply, its tone carried the expectation of recognition. The weight of those words reverberated deep into my very being, and I knew at that very instant that this was the creator of my tribe. My creator. The Moon herself! My Goddess.

I swallowed nervously and shifted my weight around on my hooves. Goddess had never spoken directly to me before! Why is she now? What do I do? What do I say? I started to internally panic as I looked up at the softly glowing silver disk of light in the sky. In that moment, it soothed me, and I knew exactly what to do. “Forgive me, Goddess,” I said, still a little nervous as I spoke directly with my Goddess for the first time, hoping I had not offended her too much as I prostrated myself on the ground before her with a deep bow.

“You, who are one of my Faithful Children of the Night,” my Goddess explained. ”I have summoned you here for a mission of utmost importance. You must prepare the rest of my Children for the trials and tribulations to come. The revolting Spirits of the Sun gather their forces and will soon be on our shores,” the Moon’s voice echoed throughout the land, forcing my ears back from the sheer intensity as I unsuccessfully tried to dampen the sound. “That is my will. You will not fail me, my Child.” There was a definite hint of danger in that last part that had me shuddering in fear.

“But… What can I do? How do I do that?” I desperately asked, trembling at the words of my Goddess. I only knew Spirits existed! But I didn’t know how to fight them! How do you fight something you can’t even see?! I looked up at the Moon, hoping my Goddess would grant me wisdom for this task.

“You will know what to do when the time is right,” my Goddess’ voice said with a sharp finality to it.

“But-” I tried to call out to my Goddess, not wanting to leave it on that note.

“Enough! Go and do my will, Child,” the Moon proclaimed as the world around me vanished. I felt myself in a free fall, instantly spreading my wings, but it did nothing to alleviate the sensation. Time seemed to lose all meaning as I continued falling in the black void until the sensation stopped. It was replaced by something comfortably cradling my back.

<><><><><>

"... going to be okay?" a deep, gruff male voice filtered into my ears, muted and muddy at first, as if there was a wad of cotton shoved deep inside my brain keeping me from fully understanding what was being said. Though, after I realized this, full clarity returned almost instantly to me.

"How should I know? I'm no doctor! She looks like she’s walking through the gates of bloody Tartarus," a sarcastic and somewhat stressed female voice stated, ending with a small huff, but her voice quickly calmed down as she composed herself. "But at least she's still breathing." Her voice was definitely the closest to me as I tried opening my eyes.

"Hey, I think she is waking up. Hey you! Can you hear me?" The deep voice had damn near shouted right in my ear! Was that a hint of anger I heard in his voice? It was hard to tell as the rest of my mind was still feeling a quite fuzzy and sluggish.

"You idiot, you're going to frighten her! Go get me a bottle of grog and few pieces of the cleanest cloth you can find." There was a quiet sigh, a stillness of sound, and a slight rocking motion. Then came the rhythmic sound of heavy hoof falls that slowly got further away before ending with the thud of wood colliding with wood.

"Miss, are you awake?" the female voice softly asked me, sounding a little closer to my face than before. At least I detected no sense of hostility in her voice. "Can you open your eyes or give me a sign you understand me?"

I tried to open my eyes again and immediately shut them as the harsh light brought nothing but pain. “... owwww,” I managed to croak out. My parched throat burned when I spoke, like I hadn’t drank anything in a long time. “Water… please…” I croaked out in a ragged voice.

“Shhh, don’t try to speak right now,” the mare’s soothing voice gently chided. “Not until Iron returns with some grog so you can wet your whistle. And here, let me get this lantern away from you till your eyes adjust.” There was soft creak of wood as the mare moved and then a click that I assumed was the lantern being placed somewhere else since my eyes weren’t complaining to me anymore from behind my tightly shut eyes. ”There, that should be better. I hear thestrals like you don’t like bright lights.”

After a moment, I dared to slowly open my eyes, blinking the sting of the light away until I was able to focus on the lightly colored mare in front of me. She had a milky white coat, a light green mane and blue eyes. “Who… are you?” I managed to ask the mare, my curiosity winning over the soreness of my throat.

“Name’s Lily and you're lucky to be alive. You look like you have been to Tartarus and back,” she answered with a furrowed brow. “Oh and try not to move too much. I‘m no real expert on wings, but I doubt they’re supposed to be bent that way.” I frowned at that, noticing that I couldn't really feel my wings at this moment.

Those thoughts were cut off as I heard the unmistakable sound of heavy hoof steps against a wooden floor along with the tiny creaks and groans as everything gently swayed from side to side, rocking me and the hammock I was resting in. At least the hammock soaked up most of the motion, dampening it considerably as it comfortably cradled me.

My eyes turned to watch a large earth pony stallion walk in, carrying a brown bottle with him as my tongue subconsciously licked my dry lips. “I brought what you asked for,” he stated with a grunt, not looking at me as he held up the bottle to Lily and put down a bundle of cloth next to the mare.

“Thank you Iron,” Lily said as her horn lit up, surrounding the bottle of grog in her soft green magical aura. “Don’t worry, I will be fine watching her. You go keep us on course and ahead of that storm.”

“Yeah, yeah. Stay out of the storm,” Iron said before he turned around and headed back up the stairs, quickly glancing at me. Did he just glare at me? What did I do to him? Sorry for interrupting your day, buddy. Damn.

Lily interrupted those thoughts by putting the small, chilled bottle up to my cracked and sore lips. “Drink,” she ordered and tilted it up, the liquid inside splashing into my mouth. I coughed slightly and nearly choked for a moment before swallowing the harsh liquid as quickly as I could. The grog burned a bit but it felt like Elysium itself on my parched throat. Lily let me drink a few mouthfuls before pulling the soothing bottle back, letting me breathe.

Swallowing and licking my lips a few times, trying to spread that wonderfully moist liquid all around before trying to speak again, I asked Lily the question burning on my mind. “Where am I?” My voice was still a little hoarse and weak, but it was starting to sound better now.

“You’re aboard the Royal Fortune. Finest sloop to ever sail the Nine Seas!” Lily proudly answered with a smile. “And to be precise, you are below deck, in a hammock.” Her eyes ran over me over somewhat intently, a small smile on her face. “Mind telling me your name?”

The question, though a very common one when meeting new ponies, caught me completely off guard. What was my name? I racked my brain trying to think of an answer, though everything was coming back blank. How could I not know my own name?! But before I could freak out too much, an answer finally came to me in a flash of clairvoyance. “Night…,” I said softly, brow furrowed in confusion. “Night Shimmer,” I finished with a bit of effort, causing a mild headache to manifest. “Why can’t I remember anything?” I suddenly demanded staring into Lily’s confused and sympathetic eyes. “How did I get here?”

“Shhhh,” Lily said putting a hoof on my chest and gently holding me down. Not that she had to work hard, I was barely able to push myself up and even that was a struggle for my feeble limbs. “You remembered your name, that is a good start. But your body is very frail. It looks like you were starved for weeks! If we hadn’t found you when we did, you wouldn’t have lasted another few hours. As for your how, Iron pulled you up out of the sea.”

She hummed to herself for a moment as I blinked at the mare, racking my brain as to why I was in the state I was in. “I am going to go make you some soup, and while you are eating that, I can tend to your wounds. You can keep the grog for now, but it’s strong stuff so don’t drink too much if you can’t hold your liquor,” she half-jokingly stated, pressing the bottle into my hooves, and I took it on reflex.

“Okay,” I automatically replied as I stared up at the ceiling, letting the feeling of the chilled bottle take over my thoughts. It was a nice distraction for the time being as I was gently rocked back and forth, letting my mind settle on a few prominent questions I had. “Who... am I? Who is Night Shimmer? Why did I say I was Night Shimmer?” I idly asked to the ceiling, my eyes following a crack in the wooden plank as it swayed with the motion of the ship while I was pondering the question of one’s existence. “Why can’t I… why can’t I remember anything?” I demanded of the ceiling. “And what was I doing in the ocean?”

With the stained wood of the ceiling not providing the answers I desperately sought, I carefully turned onto my side and promptly hissed at the unexpected pain coming from my wing. I instantly stopped and slowly rolled onto my back, the only position that didn’t send sharp, white hot lances of pain directly up my spine. “Right… injured wings,” I muttered ruefully to myself, staring at the same spot on the ceiling once more, that one knot in the wood became my sole conversational partner for the time being. “My name is Night Shimmer, and I am a thestral, nineteen years of age. My parents are…” I trailed off as my mind offered me nothing but an endless void and a small headache as a reward for demanding answers from it. “My cutie mark means…” I blinked at that and slowly turned my head enough to try to look at my flank. I couldn’t even remember my own mark! And I couldn’t see it from my current position either! Oh, that was going to bug me.

“Okay, stay calm… Just try to remember something else,” I said aloud and looked back at the knot on the ceiling. “Thestrals drink blood and use that to power their magic. Unicorns channel magic through their horns. Pegasi can control the weather and fly. Earth ponies are stronger and tougher than the others,” I said after a moment of contemplating the wood grain in the ceiling. “I remember that, but not my parents?” My snout scrunched in frustration.

Anything else I was going to say to my wooden friend was cut off by Lily coming back, a steaming bowl wrapped in her light green aura floating alongside her. “Well, you’re still awake. That’s a good sign,” Lily optimistically stated, guiding the bowl gently into my hooves. It was nice and warm to the touch and the aroma it gave off was absolutely amazing. “Eat. Slowly,” she ordered with a warm and caring smile. “Food should do you wonders, maybe even help your noggin.”

“Thank you,” I said before awkwardly holding the bowl in my feeble hooves so I could sip out of it. The thick, hot soup had a delicious and savory fish taste to it that had my stomach grumbling, begging for more, with the first swallow. The warmth did my throat wonders as well. The grog had helped with the initial dryness, but the bite of the alcohol stung, and it wasn’t all that pleasant to drink.

Lily stayed by my side, attentively watching me as I ate, though I was too engrossed in the food to really pay the mare much attention. My stomach was demanding I eat the whole bowl right then and there, but I had to pace myself, which was extremely difficult. As the last of the wonderful soup entered my mouth, I swallowed it all and rested the bowl down on my chest. “Thank you…” I gratefully stated after letting out a content sigh as I glanced at Lily somewhat awkwardly and held out the bowl for her to take.

“You’re very welcome,” Lily stated with a small yawn and took the bowl from me in her magic aura. I blinked as I finally noticed how tired and worn down she seemed. There were large bags under her eyes, and she seemed to be fighting to stay awake. “One last thing I need to do tonight. We need to fix your wings,” she stated, giving me a serious look. “They won’t heal right unless we get them back into place, and you might not ever be able to fly again.” The bottle of grog replaced the bowl in her telekinetic grasp as she offered it to me once again. “Drink as much as you can. You’ll thank me later.”

Cautiously taking the bottle of grog, I glanced between Lily and the still cold bottle for a moment before nodding and exhaling, mentally preparing myself as I put the bottle to my lips and drinking as fast as I could. I nearly gagged at the repugnant taste and odor now that my mouth wasn’t a desert and I could actually taste it, but I got half the bottle down in one go. “Blech!” I gargled out, my head feeling like it was being shoved back full of cotton again. Lily’s aura pushed the bottle back up to my lips. I plugged my nose and went for round two, somehow managing to get the rest of the foul liquid down my gullet without it coming back up. Happy that I had finished off the grog, Lily moved the bottle away from my lips.

“Now, turn over on your belly,” she ordered, using her magic to help me before I could start on my own. The pain in both my wings and back gave me more than enough motivation to continue moving on my own as my head was getting fuzzier by the minute. “Bite down on this,” she added, practically shoving a small but thick length of rope into my mouth.

“Ok-,” I tried to say before I was magically forced to bite down on the rope. It briefly registered in my mind that the rope tasted like salt before Lily’s aura moved from my muzzle to wrapping around both my wings, making them feel slightly warm and tingly.

“On the count of three, I’m going to set your wings back in place,” Lily calmly stated as I started to get very anxious and nervous, biting on the length of rope in my mouth in anticipation. “One-”

All I heard after that was a sickening grinding sound as I felt both my wing joints at the base of my back shift in a very unnatural way. A moment later, there were two dual pops that resonated throughout my body, and then an overwhelmingly sharp pain like no other burned its way through my entire spine, emanating off the bases of my wings. I cried out and nearly bit through the thick rope as my mind reeled from the sudden trauma, the fuzziness rapidly expanding before everything was black once again.

<><><><><>

Slowly I awoke from my dreamless slumber to sound of the ship’s creaking timbers, that ever present noise echoing in my ears. I was still in the hammock, rocking gently back and forth with the ocean waves. There was sunlight filtering down from the deck above through the tiny cracks in the ceiling, making miniature spotlights that lit up the small motes of dust that hung effortlessly in the air around me. However, my wings felt much better, though they were still fairly sore.

“How long?” I quietly asked myself and tilted my head to the side curiously looking around the room. A sudden loud snore from my left side nearly had me jumping out of the hammock in a wild panic. My wings helpfully let me know that they couldn’t spread themselves open still as a small burst of discomfort filled my back. Glancing over my shoulder while still laying on my belly, I noticed that a wide strip of white cloth had been tied around my barrel, pinning my wings snugly to my sides.

Calming down, I glanced over at the source of the loud snoring. It was the earth pony stallion from earlier. I think his name was Iron? Now that I could get a better look at him, I swallowed somewhat nervously. He was at least twice as large as I was and looked to be all muscle as well. His mane and tail were a bright, solid orange and his coat was a slate grey. His ears kept flicking back and forth. Either something was annoying him, or more likely from the snores, he was having a dream.

My wings wanted to spread out of habit as I looked around for a way out. I didn’t want to be alone down here with this unknown stallion who seemed a little standoffish towards me. Carefully I slid out of the hammock and silently crept towards the stairs up. I paused partway through as I pasted Iron, my eyes drawn to the sleeping stallion’s neck. I licked my lips for a moment as a different kind of hunger started welling up inside me. I could almost taste his blood on my tongue... Shaking my head, I fought the hunger down, pushing it to the back of my mind, and instead climbed up the stairs and opened the hatch, slipping out into the warm daylight and salty air.

Chapter 2: Welcome Aboard

Hesitantly, I emerged from the hatch, blinking a few times to stave off the bright sunlight of what seemed like a nice day before scanning the surrounding area, not knowing what to expect. The first thing that caught my eye was the large, solitary mast in the middle of the ship. It was there that I saw Lily using her magic to mend a hole in the ship’s only rectangular sail. I carefully closed the hatch behind me and went to the port side railing, staring out at the blue, near cloudless sky, not wanting to be a bother while Lily was busy. Taking a deep breath of the salty air, I silently sat and mused for a while before my wings started to bother me. Shifting them didn’t seem to help much either as I wished that the Moon was out right now. At least it could have given me some comfort.

“Hey, you’re finally awake!” A high-pitched, possible young, female voice called out from left, a little above me. Somewhat startled out of my thoughts, I quickly jumped to my hooves and turned to face the voice and made the mistake of trying to open my wings again out of reflex causing them to hurt once more.

“Oww…” I caught sight of a blue coated filly with a two tone orange mane looking down at me from the raised deck where the ship’s wheel was. She had a wide smile on her face as she curiously stared down at me. “Uh, hi?” I said somewhat awkwardly to the filly. Huh, red eyes. Makes her look a little… sinister.

“Hi! Your wings hurt?” the filly excitedly asked as her eyes swept over my form and locked onto the makeshift bandage over my wings and barrel.

“Yeah.” A frown crossed my face as I glanced back at my bandaged wings. “Not sure how badly, but I passed out when Lily set them,” I remarked, turning back to the inquisitive filly. “So… my name is Night Shimmer?” I offered a hoof up for the filly to bump.

“Waterspout,” she happily offered in return and bumped my hoof with her own. “But are you asking me if your name is Night Shimmer? Because how am I supposed to know what your name is, huh?”

“Uhm, I think that is my name?” I hesitantly offered with a forlorn sigh. “I can’t seem to remember much of anything past my name.” I nervously rubbed my left leg with my right, glancing out to the open water.

“Well, at least you look cool!” Water said before she flew up over the railing, revealing a very impressive wingspan for a filly that looked to be about five years old, and then landed with a thud on the deck beside me, inspecting me with a critical eye. “You even have fangs! That’s awesome!”

I blinked in surprise at that reaction before regarding what was said. “Well, I am a thestral. And thestrals have fangs,” I explained to the filly with a soft smile. “Wait… Why do I remember that?” I furrowed my brow as that information had easily popped into my mind.

“Because you can feel them with your tongue?” Water surmised with a grin as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “So, do you remember why you were floating out in the ocean in the middle of all that wreckage? Or how your wings got hurt? Oh! Maybe you were attacked and you valiantly fought off the interlopers!” Water excitedly remarked, doing a few kicks and punches while making accompanying noises to go along with her display.

“I…” Blinking I trailed off, a sudden rush of images flickering through my mind too quick to understand. Fire, screams, pain, and finally, cold. Then as suddenly as it arrived, it was gone, leaving just a vague sense of unease. I staggered back a step before shaking my head a few times to try and clear it. Quickly deciding to only say things I knew for sure. “I know my name and that I am a thestral. I can’t remember anything else before I woke up,” I answered with a bit of finality to my tone.

“That’s kinda sad...” Water said, driving a purely unintended spike of pain into me. Even a filly was feeling sorry for me… Before I could dwell on that too much, she kept talking. “Well, Lily and Iron will keep you safe now. They are good at that kind of thing. And who knows, maybe you will get your memory back soon. Oh crap!” Water suddenly exclaimed as her pupils dilated in panic. “I’m letting us drift off course!”

With a surprisingly powerful flap of her wings, the filly flew back to the upper deck and grabbed the wheel, turning it hard to adjust our heading which sent the whole ship pitching to one side. My legs bent as I automatically leaned in the opposite direction as to not be thrown off balance. “Huh…” I quietly remarked to myself in amusement. Apparently I was experienced at being on a ship or at least my body was.

“Hey! Careful with the wheel, Water!” Lily unhappily shouted from her position at the mast. Turning to look at her, I could see there was now a larger hole in the sail then there had been before, glad that I wasn’t the one responsible for causing Lily to rip the hole larger.

Seeing that Lily wasn’t in the best of moods right now, I walked across the deck and up the small set of stairs to the slightly elevated deck and stood beside the filly adjusting the comically large wheel compared to her. “So… Where are we going?” I casually asked, wondering how she knew we were headed off course with no points of reference besides the sun and the waves to guide us.

“El Marado!” Water chirped happily, ignoring the angry look I could see Lily giving her, though the older mare just sighed after a moment and went back to fixing the sail. She had a look on her face that seemed the things like this was a common occurrence, and Water didn’t seem to be all that worried about it to begin with.

“What is El Marado?” Furrowing my brow, I tried to figure out what that place was as I searched my criminally small amount of memories. But just as before, my mind seemed to be drawing nothing but a blank as to what El Marado could possibly be.

Water let out a gasp and looked at me with wide eyes. “You don’t know what El Marado is?! The lost city of gold?!” she demanded with a tone of disbelief and shock.

There was a flicker in the back of my mind at that, but it was gone as quickly as it came. I really needed my memories back... “Okay… I know what gold is. But no, I don’t know anything about a lost city of gold.”

“I can’t…” Water trailed off, staring at me like she didn’t believe me. “You really don’t know about the lost magical city that’s made entirely of gold?”

That sent a flicker of annoyance through me, and I let out a huff before I replied. “I can’t even remember my parents names… So apparently not!” I shot back at her, making me wonder if I was ever able to get along with foals before all this happened.

“Well,” Water continued, showing no signs of caring that I was agitated with her. “It is a lost, magical city made entirely of gold! And we are going to find it and become the richest ponies in the world!”

“Okay, so you are doing it to get rich then...” I recapped with a slight tilt of my head to study the filly’s reaction.

“Duh~! Who isn’t?” Water instantly replied with a roll of her eyes. “Why else would we be here out on the ocean? Besides it being awesome, that is.”

Groaning at that answer, I let my eyes sweep over the ship. Probably only sixty feet long I guessed. Barely twenty feet wide. There were only two cannons on the ship, small ones that were pivot mounted at the bow and aft of the ship. Good for discouraging boarding if you loaded it with grape shot, but not good for much else. “I am guessing you are a merchant ship. You aren’t heavily armed enough to be military, and you would have a scarier looking armament if you were a pirate.” I answered without really thinking about it and blinked in surprise at what I had just said, it had felt natural and the words slipped out of my mouth without my brain having much say on the matter.

“Well, trade ships are out here to make money too, you know,” Water replied, though I wasn’t really listening to her anymore. “And we could be pirates!” she huffed. “Just really sneaky ones!”

“Who am I?” I said aloud with a confused look, ignoring the inane ramblings of this filly, eyes on the horizon. My thoughts were still focused on what I had just said.

“You are Night Shimmer, the confused and flightless!” Water half-jokingly told me with a grin.

That once again got the anger flaring up inside of me. “Thanks,” I snapped back sarcastically, and winced at what I had just said. I figured I should be politer to the ponies who had saved my life, and besides, Water was just a young filly, she probably didn’t know any better. “Sorry… I just,” I let out a drawn out sigh, eyes fixated on the horizon, “feel so lost right now.”

“I can see that, just trying to make you think of sillier things,” Water stated with a toothy grin, brushing her unkempt mane from her eyes. “Do you remember how to fish?”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, I looked at the small rising and falling waves for a moment before shrugging. “I don’t know…” I replied before looking back at Water. “Maybe?”

“You better because I was told you ate my breakfast last night!” Water said, her mood shifting mercurially from happy to annoyed in an instant. “Hey Lily!” she called out, looking down at the mare still attending to the rip in the sail. “Can you get Night the fishing pole and teach her how to catch my lunch while I keep us on course?”

Lily sighed and glanced up at us, stopping work for a moment. “Right now?” she asked, softly groaning.

“I’m hungry~ Unless we have any more food packed away somewhere?” Water whined, sitting back and making a display of holding her stomach.

“Well no, that was the last of it.” Lily smiled towards me as she spoke and her horn lit up, untying a fishing pole from the port railing and walked up to the raised deck at the aft of the ship. “I guess you get to learn how to fish,” she said stopping in front of me. “But, how are you feeling? I assumed well enough since you are up and moving.”

“Better,” I answered honestly, glancing at my wrapped wings for a moment. “Still sore in a few places, and my wings hurt like Tartarus every time I try to move them.”

“I bet they do,” Lily said with a soft smile. “I didn’t make the wrap too tight did I? I can loosen it a little but not too much, your wings need time to heal. At least another day or two without stress on the joints.” With that said, she gestured me to follow her to the railing at the back of the ship, about ten feet behind Water.

I followed her to the railing, gently testing the bandage with my wings. “Uhh no, the bandage is fine for now.” Then I asked her a question which suddenly felt very important. “So... who is in charge?” My voice was carefully neutral, and I wasn’t exactly sure why.

“Who is in charge? Well, you’re looking at her,” Lily said with a grin and then magically pressed the fishing pole into my hooves.

I managed to grasp it in my hooves after fumbling for a moment, not sure how one should properly hold a fishing pole. “You’re the Captain of this ship?” I asked, an odd inflection of respect and curiosity in my voice. It felt like there was a certain way I should be acting around Lily now, and I decided not to fight it.

“I am,” Lily casually replied as if being captain was no big deal as she changed the subject. “Now, I know you have a bit of memory loss and all, but do you recall if you know how to fish with a fishing pole? I know most fliers don’t use one.”

Looking down and studying the pole in my hooves, I searched my thoughts. But, as with most things, it annoyingly eluded me. “I don’t know if I ever knew how, but… how do I even hold it?” I asked, glancing back to Lily as I awkwardly held onto the rod.

“Alright, from the very basics then…” Lily said before spending the next half hour giving me a crash course on how to fish from the back of a moving ship. I learned how to hold the rod, what baits and lures to use. What to do when you got a nibble on the line and how to properly reel in a fish once you caught it. I listened, giving her my utmost attention the entire time. There was a deep seeded part of my brain telling me to respect and obey this mare as she was the Captain.

“...that pretty much cover all the basics,” Lily finished with a nod. “Now, when you catch a fish, which I know you will, we will go over how to prep and cook it too. Anymore questions?”

I shook my head, feeling confident I knew what I was doing now. “No, I ‘m ready to get started now, Captain,” I respectfully said before turning and casting the baited line into the ship’s wake.

“Please just call me Lily dear,” Lily said with a warm smile. “Just remember to let it trawl between our wake. If you have any issues, just come find me. I won’t be far. Don’t bother asking Water, she won’t fish with a pole.” I flicked my ear at that, wondering how she fished then. “Says it is not the way pegasi are supposed to, but I say whatever puts food on the table works for me.”

Nodding, I replied. “Yes Captain… I mean Lily.” That was apparently going to be a hard habit for me to break. I heard Lily walking away as I watched the line spool out, vanishing into the depths below. So many strange things I seemed to know, yet obvious things were a total blank to me. It was very frustrating to say the least.

I had a few minutes to myself to ponder the things I could remember before there was a sudden yank on the pole. Whatever was on the end of the line nearly tore it right out of my hooves! I immediately leaned back, bracing my hind legs against the railing as I fought against the strength of the fish. At least I hoped it was a fish. “Oh no you don’t!” I growled out, my wings tried to spread out to help my balance, their only help, if you could call it that, was in driving another spike of pain up my spine.

My vision swam for a moment as I fought through the pain and somehow managed to hold onto the rod at the same time. “Stupid fish!” I shouted as I struggled to reel it in.

I was too busy fighting with the fish to even notice that Lily had walked up behind until she spoke in my ear. “Easy Night. Remember what I said, don’t try to fight it like you are. Just let the fish tire itself out. Let it run until the line goes slack and then reel it in until it starts fighting again. Repeat that and you will get us some lunch.” The whole time I could hear Water laughing in the background, but quickly filtered that out.

Blinking, I managed a nod to Lily and started doing what she had instructed. “Yes Cap… Lily,” I coughed, trying to cover the fact that I kept automatically calling her Captain. I tightly gripped the pole but stopped trying to reel the fish in, starting to play a game of cat and mouse, or would it be a game of thestral and fish? Whatever, I was busy with other things to really care. After a few more moments of ferocious struggling from the fish, the line eased up, signaling that it was my turn to play. “That’s right… Got you now!” A predatory grin spread across my face as I started meticulously reeling the fish in, eager to see what I had on the line.

“I know you can do it,” Lily said, placing a hoof on my shoulder. I was too engrossed with my current activity to even notice. “Now bring’um home!”

“Yeah Night, catch my lunch!” Water chimed in with a happy tone, her laugher finally subsiding.

Giving a brief nod to Lily to show I heard her, I kept my focus on reeling in my prize. It fought back once more, and I waited patiently, knowing how to play the game now. It got tired, and I reeled it in with relative ease. A few minutes later, I gave a mighty heave, straining my recovering limbs as the fish was pulled out of the ocean and onto the deck. “Got ya!” I happily exclaimed, giving it a grin as it flopped helplessly around on the deck.

“Oh! You caught a Tarpon. Big one too!” The creme colored mare happily stated congratulating me.

“I did,” I said with a blink before smiling happily at my catch as it struggled to get free.

“Go ahead and catch a few more. Then, I will show you how to prepare them,” Lily told me before using her magic to free the hook from the Tarpon.

“Yes Cap… Lily,” I replied as I turned away and baited the line with some insect parts that Lily had brought me. Why did I keep wanting to call her Captain? I mused on this as I cast the line out, trolling for another fish. It was a little perplexing at how strong the instinct was.

I heard Lily’s soft hoof steps fade away, replaced by a small chuckle. My ears flicking behind me for a moment as I kept an ever vigilant watch on the line. I wasn’t going to let another fish get the jump on me.
“Keep catching fish like that and you’ll be our new fishy fisher,” Water stated, giggling, poking my flank with a hoof.

That made me sit up a bit straighter, annoyance flickering through me. For some reason, being the ‘fishy fisher’ wasn’t something I really wanted to be. “Is there anything else I can do on the ship?”

“Sure! Lots of things. We all share roles. Have to with only three of us. Well, four now,” the cheerfully annoying filly explained.

I thought about that for a moment before speaking up again. “I think I might have been a sailor… before I mean.” Saying it out loud it did feel at least somewhat correct. “I am not sure, but it feels right.” Most of my attention was on the line floating the water as I tried not to let Water distract me any further.

“You were a… Well, duh! We found you on some flotsam in the middle of the ocean,” Water said with a laugh. “Of course you were a sailor.”

I didn’t bother looking back at the filly. “Not everypony on a ship is a sailor. There can be passengers as well,” I explained patiently, lightly tugging on the rod.

“And I could have been born a dragon,” Water replied with an amused tone, obviously trying to rile me up. “The ship wreckage we found you in wasn’t carrying any passengers. Prisoners maybe. But no willing passenger would ever set hoof on that ship.”

That got my attention. Though a simple flick of my ear the only outward sign I gave. “What do you mean?” I asked turning my head to glance at Water. “What ship?”

“Oh, you know, just one of the most dangerous pirate ships to ever sail these waters,” Water idly replied with a twirl of her hoof as if it was no big thing. “The Eclipse.”

Chapter 3: Learning

As soon as Water said ‘Eclipse’, I froze as a spark of recognition jolted in my head. It was just a hint of familiarity, but I had definitely heard the name before. It meant something dear to me. Or at least I thought it did. Frustratingly, my mind supplied no details to go along with that sudden, yet all too brief flash of enlightenment. “So, it sank?” I finally managed to ask after far too long of a pause.

“If it didn’t, then I don’t know where it went with all that stuff missing from it. Looked like it was destroyed to me or else there wouldn’t have been pieces of it all floating over,” Water replied with a shrug. “Why, do you remember something about it?”

“The name is familiar… though I don’t know why.” A troubled look grew on my face as I answered. “I am drawing a blank on anything other than the name.”

“Weeeeird~” Water spookily remarked, but I was distracted by a nibble on the line. “Well, have fun fishing,” she stated, turning back towards the wheel as I fought with the fishing rod. “I have to keep us on course while you get us lunch, Miss Breakfast Eater.”

I could only grunt in reply as I fought to keep the rod from being pulled out of my hooves as the nibble turned into another battle of skill.

<><><><><>

An hour of non-stop fishing later had me fairly tired and hungry, and Water hadn’t stopped moaning about eating for a full thirty minutes now. In that time, I had only managed to catch one more fish, two had broken the lines, and the other had been too small to bother keeping much to my chagrin when Water laughed at the poor thing.

I picked up my latest catch and looked it over with a hint of pride. It was smaller than the first one but not by much, different species too, but still looked tasty all the same. “Night,” Lily called from behind me on the main deck. “Bring that over here, and I will show you how to descale and filet it.” Turning around, my stomach growled as I picked the fish up in my mouth and started trotting down the small flight of stairs to the middle of the ship.

The taste of fish in my mouth had me wanting to just sink my fangs into it right now and eat. But I had caught this to be cooked! Not just to be unceremoniously devoured like a feral would, although my stomach grumbled in protest at my decision, and my brain half shared its sentiments.

“Here you go Cap, err Lily,” I said, stumbling over my words and got a playful bat on my left ear from Lily for my troubles. I really needed to get a hold of that quirk, but I just couldn’t resist the urge of calling her Captain. It was her rank, dammit!

“Stop that~” Lily softly chided me, smirking as she took the fish in her aura and walked over to a small, iron bound chest. With a flick of her magic, it opened letting me feel the sudden rush of cold air coming out of it, perplexing me for a moment. “This is where we keep our perishable food.” I took a step closer and examined the inside. Lily wasn’t kidding when she told Water that there was no more food as the only thing I could see inside the chest was the fish I had caught earlier.

“I know it looks bad but the ocean provides a plentiful bounty. That, and Water can really fish when she wants to. Though she mostly just flies around and dive bombs fish. Why just fish when you can fish and show off, as she likes to remind us,” Lily stated in an amused tone, glancing up to the filly at the wheel for a split second.

“She dive bombs for fish? Like, directly into the water?” I asked, confusion plastered all over my face. How can a filly half my size be able to fish like that and with no fangs to grasp them? It just didn’t make any sense to me. I would definitely have to see Water in action. Maybe I could even copy her technique if it was worthwhile.

“Oh yes and she’s good at it too. If not a little overzealous at times,” Lily quipped as I followed her over to a small wooden counter top with a few drawers filling out the bottom. It seemed to be built into the railing, which was kinda neat. Watching as a knife was pulled out of a drawer in an aura of light green magic, the mare smiled and turned to me. “Now, any questions before we begin?”

“No, but I want to do my part and help out,” I honestly stated, plus I really didn’t want to be labeled as the fishy fisher. “You saved my life, the least I can do is pull my weight around here.”

“That’s a good attitude to have,” Lily approvingly stated, floating the knife towards the fish. “Now, the first thing is descaling. I don’t know about you, but we don’t eat the scales…”

Just as before, Lily took me through the whole process, step by step. Descaling, gutting and filleting. She was quite a good teacher, and had me preparing the second fish in no time at all. I only made a single, small mistake that left a small chunk missing from the other filet, which I decided to rectify and popped the small piece of raw fish down my gullet. “Well done! That is how you prep a fish,” Lily said, carefully watching over my shoulder the entire time. I was glad she didn’t say a word about pilfering that small bit of meat, and my stomach momentarily thanked me for it.

Honestly, I didn’t mind the work. It wasn’t too hard or mind numbingly tedious and it let me feel useful, which I did enjoy. Plus, I was learning useful skills. My stomach on the other hoof, wasn’t as happy at the whole process, it hadn’t stopped complaining the entire time as the smell and taste of raw fish now saturated the air around us. “Okay, I am pretty sure I understand it now. But we probably need more fish,” I remarked, glancing over to the hatch that marked the entrance to below the deck. “What about the stallion? I think his name is Iron, right?”

“Ironsides is his full name, but you are correct. He just goes by Iron. We don’t need to worry about him right now as he usually takes the night shift. So we’ll let him get his sleep for now,” Lily explained as she took out a small pan and matching burner, feeding it a few chunks of coal. When it was sufficiently heated, she added the fillets, causing them to instantly sizzle. “How you feeling? We could use some more fish after you eat, if you’re feeling up to that is.”

“I’m fine for now…” I half lied. I was sore and felt weak, but on the other hoof, I didn’t want to come off any weaker than I already appeared, plus the smell of fish being grilled had my stomach protesting, and that wasn’t something I could really hide as it grumbled. “But I am definitely hungry.” Fighting back the desire to drool was difficult, but I managed it. Barely.

“I would imagine so,” Lily idly remarked, looking me over as her magic kept the fish cooking. “You are practically skin and bones. I didn’t know if you were going to hold the soup down or not.”

Lily sounded a bit concerned as her eyes examined my form. I had to fight back a shudder at her choice of words. Skin and bones. A thestral was a warrior, proud and strong, not feeble and sickly. “Right, I need to get my strength back,” I replied, choking down the disgust I held for myself before it could manifest in my features.

“The cooking is the easy part,” Lily remarked, luckily not noticing anything, as she glanced at a barrel beside off to the side and frowned. “Water! We need more fresh water!”

I blinked slightly at that slight absurdity of that statement and turned to look at the filly on the raised deck. “On it!” Water replied as she spread her abnormally large wings, launching herself into the sky, leaving me feeling very envious of the feat. I lost sight of her briefly as she flew behind the sail, but she was back a moment later with a cloud half the size of the ship. I briefly wondering what in the world she was going to do with a cloud that size as it was being anchored it to the tip of the mast. Water pulled off a small chunk, floating it down over the empty water barrel, and to my amazement, started jumping on it, making it rain into the barrel.

While she was doing that, I anxiously eyed at the forgotten wheel. It was probably fine, though I didn’t like it being left alone like that for some reason. “So Water navigates and provides fresh water?” I curiously asked, trying not to think about the empty wheel.

“And a lot more. We don’t just do one role around here. We wear as many hats as we need to,” Lily explained, watching Water start to fill the fresh water barrel, using most of the large cloud up in the process.

“Right,” I distantly remarked, tired of watching Water freely fly around. “I am not sure what else I can do besides catch fish and clean them.” That made me frown, though I wasn’t sure why. “But I think I was a sailor before. It just feels right to me,” I stated out loud for the second time today.

“Oh, you’re a sailor alright. There is no denying that,” Lily plainly stated without looking at me as the cloud Water so enthusiastically jumping on dried up, leaving the barrel filled to the brim with fresh water. “Thank you, Water.”

“No problemo!” Water kicked the leftover cloud, disperse it into the atmosphere and did a few loops, kicking my envy of her up a few notches, before heading back to the helm.

“What makes you so sure?” I asked with a furrowed brow, curious as to why she sounded so confident about my prior job in life.

“I have my ways.” She chuckled with a shrug, nonchalantly flipping the fillets over in the pan. “Call it intuition. Call it magic if you will.”

That extremely unsatisfying answer left me feeling very suspicious. A part of me was screaming that Lily was either lying, holding something back, or a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B, I wasn’t sure which. I studied the mare intently for a moment before I decided to let this go for the moment. I was a guest on their ship, and they hadn’t done me wrong yet. Plus, I didn’t feel up to fighting anypony in my current state. “Okay… What should I do now?” I asked as casually as I could, thought I could feel my right eyebrow beginning to twitch.

“For now, I want you to relax. You have been pushing yourself hard for somepony in your condition. Don’t need your injuries to worsen now, do we?” Lily asked in a motherly tone that somewhat set my hackles up. She only looked to be a few years older than me. She doesn't need to coddle me like a filly... “There is a hammock below, or you can relax at the bow of the ship. That’s where I like to sit at times. I’ll come get you when the food is ready, which won’t be too long now.”

“I think I will go lay down at the bow,” I politely stated, trying to not let my reaction to being mothered show. I didn’t wait for her response as I quickly made for the front of the ship, eyes locked on the horizon, scanning it automatically for ships or land.

Once at the bow, I gently laid down and tried to relax, keeping my eyes on the horizon while the ship gently rode over the waves. Relaxing was harder than it sounded. My mind kept replaying what Lily had said to me, over and over, and the more I thought about it, the more I was sure she was hiding something from me. But what?

Before too long, the scent of pan fried fish had wafted its way back up to me, and my stomach grumbled, rousing me from my thoughts. Out of pure reflex, I scanned the horizon once more, still not seeing anything except the ocean meeting the still blue sky. Getting up and doing a light stretch, I turned around, looking down the length of the ship just as Lily called out. “Lunch is ready!” As I started making my way back, I watched Lily set three steaming plates down on the table that wrapped around the mast.

Water easily beat me there, swooping down from the upper deck, grabbing the plate with the biggest piece, earning her a strong enough glare from Lily to make her drop it and frown. “But I want the big piece!” the filly whined, pouting.

“Where should I sit?” I asked Lily as I arrived at the table. Lily pointed at the spot with the big piece of fish, I took a seat and glanced at Water for a moment. Water was still pouting, having been denied the biggest serving as she sat down to my left, eyeing my plate. “Thank you, Lily.” I was slightly worried about what Water would do now that I was given ‘her’ meal for the second time in a row.

“Thank you for catching it,” Lily stated with a smile, floating over three mugs of what smelled like grog for each of us. I wasn’t going to complain, but I wasn’t going to refuse the drink either.

With the cooked fish directly in front of me, I couldn’t deny my hunger anymore, grabbing the piece of fish, I started devouring it, not caring what the other’s thought. It didn’t last a single minute as my jaws went to work chewing and swallowing my meal as quickly as it could.

Finished, I leaned back and sighed happily as my stomach no longer complained about the lack of food. “Did you even taste it?” Water asked, eyebrow raised, biting into her own food at a slower pace.

“I did, it tasted good,” I replied with a chuckle as I picked up my mug of grog and sipped it, wetting my throat. It still tasted horrible, but a little bit should be fine. A quick glance at Lily revealed that she was eating her own food and pretending to not notice this discussion. “But a full stomach is what I wanted,” I added, rubbing my belly as I glanced at the filly.

“Well okay then,” Water said before taking a big gulp of her grog. How she could stand the taste, I couldn't fathom. Better yet, why was Lily letting Water drink at such an age? Oh well, not my problem.

“Easy on the grog,” Lily chided, using her magic to lower Water’s mug back to the table. “Remember what happened last time.”

“I know. I know...”

"So... are you seriously going hunting for, umm, what did you call it?" I questioned, turning my attention to Water.

“Gold?” Water replied, finishing off her last piece of fish and slightly cocked her head at me.

“No, the city of gold…” I said, peering into my mug of grog, wondering if I had liked the foul liquid before I lost my memory. Water and Lily didn’t seem to mind it one bit.

“You mean El Marado?” Water asked with a enthusiastic grin. I heard Lily softly sigh at that, Water didn’t seem to pick it up though.

“Yes, this magical lost city of gold of yours,” I said, glancing at Lily for a moment who just rolled her eyes, though Water couldn't see her. “Is that what you are hunting for?”

"Sure is!" Water excitedly exclaimed to me, her mug of grog was now strangely empty I noticed.

"Excuse me," Lily softly said, getting up now that her food was done as well. "You two have clean up duty."

"Awww," Water deflated a bit.

Lily’s reaction had me wondering if this city of gold was real or, most likely, just the work of Water’s seemingly overactive imagination. I decided to let the subject go for now. Standing up, I started gathering the plates and mugs to be cleaned. “So, why are you sailing around like this?” I asked, watching Lily head below deck out of the corner of my eye.

"We have been sailing the seas for hundreds of years looking to remove a curse that has beset us all!" Water dramatically stated, waving her hoof in a big arc as she hammed it up.

“No you haven’t,” I flatly said, giving the little fabricator my best bullshit look.

"Well then I guess we are looking for El Marado, huh?" Water remarked with a smug grin that made me want to slap it off her face. I was trying to be serious here, and this is the company I end up with? Moon save me.

"Or you are traders? Couriers?" I asked, glancing at the ship once more, trying to deduce the reason for them being out in the open waters before turning my focus back to her.

"Treasure hunters!" Water boldly proclaimed, giving me an odd look. "I thought telling you we were searching for a lost city of gold that you would have figured that out by now."

"If you say so..." I shook my head at the situation. I needed to stop getting bogged down discussing this very implausible explanation. "I am going to finish cleaning up." I went back to wiping down the plates and the mugs, rinsing them with the fresh water before putting them back in the cupboards after a little bit of exploration to find the right places.

Water did decide to help me, somewhat. Declaring that we were finished, which didn’t need declaring at all, she headed back towards the helm and I followed her, noticing that she was having a slightly hard time keeping her hooves fluidly moving. We had been drifting during lunch, but it didn’t seem like much, at least I didn’t think so. But, I seemed fairly sure of that for some odd reason.

The filly took the wheel for a moment, turning it a few degrees to starboard. “Hey, you want to see some real fishing?” she asked, a worrying with a gleam in her eyes.

“Umm, sure?” I cautiously remarked. That loose confirmation was all Water needed as she abruptly let go of the wheel and headed for the railing, nearly tripping over her over hooves.

“Do you want me to hold us steady while you do this?” I asked, already finding myself on my hind legs and holding the wheel steady in a natural position. “Huh…”

Water blinked, looking between the wheel and then me. "Yeah, surrrre. Anyways, watch this!" Launching herself off the deck, like a newly fired arrow, Water’s massive wings unfurled as she leveled out about a hundred feet above the waterline. I watched her lazily circle the boat a few times, intensely staring down at the water. It wasn’t long before her circles got very tight over a specific spot. In the blink of an eye, Water propelled herself straight down into the ocean. I expected a large splash, but it never came. The small filly seemingly melded into the waves like she was made of her namesake. As I watched that spot for her return, I started to get worried when she didn't pop back up after twenty seconds had gone by. I was just about ready to jump into the water after her when she broke through the surface with a fish as large as she was tightly clasped in all four of her hooves as it tried its best to wiggle free. Water kept flying upwards over the deck, wrestling to hold onto her prize. Once she was about fifty feet up, she grinned down at me and let the fish free fall down to the deck below. I cringed a little at the resounding wet crack it made when it connected with the deck.

Water landed next to the dead fish shortly after it hit, grinning from ear to ear as she sized up her catch. "That's... how you fish!"

I let out a low whistle, taking in the size of the dead fish that had to weigh as much, if not more than Water did. “Well done. How did you learn how to do that?” I curiously inquired.

Water’s smile was ear to ear as she proudly answered, “I taught myself!”

“Good skill to have,” I remarked, doing a quick scan of the horizon and then tried to gauge our course off the position of the sun. “So where are we going right now?”

"Now? Umm, oh! To some port I can't pronounce so I call it Port Kitty," Water remarked between clenched teeth as she hauled her catch over to the ice chest, fighting with it to lift it up and get it in. I debated going over and helping her, but this was a little bit of passive payback in my book. “Going to stop there and probably trade some things we got from the flotsam for fresh fruits and veggies. Oh! You should look through some of it. Since you were on there, you might find something you remember."

My hooves adjusted the wheel slightly as a crest made the ship want to list to port. Trying to keep us heading in the same general direction we had been heading with no compass made that difficult as I had to guess off the position of the sun. “I guess I should. Couldn’t really hurt...” I remarked. “Where did you store the stuff you found?”

"Umm, the only place we have for storage? Below deck past the hammocks,” Water oh so helpfully stated before puffing herself up trying to look important, or whatever it was she was trying to accomplish. “Speaking of, I want my hammock back tonight,” she demanded, looking directly into my eyes.

"That's fine,” I coolly replied. “I prefer sleeping under the stars anyways." I stopped for a moment and shook my head. "I keep remembering useless things.” Ugh, that sounded whiny even to me. Water must be rubbing off on me. "I know my name, my tribe, and that I like to sleep under the stars. But... I can't remember what I did for a living or where I am from." My voice was rife with frustration. This was getting old, and fast.

"I hope you like getting wet then. Going to storm tonight. Not bad, but... Have fun," Water immediately answered, pointing at the sky for a moment before looking back at me, not caring about my mental state one bit it seemed.

I followed her pointing hoof to the sky, but I didn’t see any indications of a storm at the moment. Must be a pegasus thing. "Maybe I will sleep inside then..." I said with a chuckle. "Not many stars during a storm."

"No there aren't many stars during a storm. Too many clouds. That's why I want my hammock tonight. Usually I sleep up in the crow's nest though," Water explained, glancing up to the top of the mast. "That's where I was last night when we came upon the wreckage. I was too tired to help though."

Nodding in acknowledgement, I let my thoughts drift for a moment before I asked a question that had been troubling me, “How did you find me?”

"I didn't find you, Iron did. I was asleep," Water answered, making me want to face hoof as she sat down right beside me.

"I will have to talk to him when he wakes up then," I said, letting a small frown show through. Anything information I could get about who I am was number one on my top priority list.

"He should be up for diner in a few hours," Water stated, looking up at the sun. That couldn’t be healthy for her eyes. "Well more like six or seven hours. That stallion lives to sleep I think," she added with a small smile.

"What about Lily?" I asked, my eyes automatically scanned the horizon. I seemed to do that on reflex a few times a minute. "What's her story?"

"You know? I'm not too sure,” Water genuinely replied, scrunching up her nose in thought. “She never talks about her past much and when she does, it's always a cryptic sentence here, a baffling statement there, or misdirection over there... So I gave up. She's really kind though."

"How long you been sailing with her?" I asked after a few moments thinking over that answer. I wasn’t sure why I was going down this line of inquiry, but it felt like the right questions to ask.

"Since as long as I can remember, actually... I think I was born on this ship or something," Water said with a shrug.

“You don’t remember?” I asked, turning to look at her for a moment to confirm her statement. “Who are your parents?”

"Iron and Lily as far as I am concerned. They could be my real parents for all I know, but I doubt it." Water shrugged, truly unbothered by it if I had to guess.

I went silent for a minute while I steered the ship. "Okay then... Are you going to go back to steering, or am I doing it for the next few hours?" I finally asked.

"Ehh, I would rather go catch a few more fish and spread my wings, unless you want to do that, not the wings part, but this fish I mean, then I can steer I guess. Gets boring though." Water walked over to the railing, eyes fixed on the surface of the ocean.

“Well, I would rather have some more fish to eat, and you did a good job with that first one. So I will handle steering while you go catch some more fish,” I said with a smile. Steering the ship had me feeling useful, and I actually enjoyed doing it. She could go be the fishy fisher. That made me crack a smile.

"Thanks, Night. You're okay in my book," she said grinning as she took off into the sky, the gust of wind ruffled my mane as a spike of envy hit me again.

I let myself relax, eyes automatically scanning the horizon as the liked to do while I hummed an upbeat tune under my breath. I let the melody take a life of its own, content right where I was for the time being.

Chapter 4: Opportunities and Suspicions

I found myself glancing at the horizon again when Lily came back on the deck from below. The mare did a double take when she saw me steering the ship, looking slightly confused. “Wait, where is-”

Water interrupted whatever Lily was going to say with a loud cry, echoing over the calm ocean waves as she plummeted rapidly downwards in a tight ball of blue fur. “WOOO! CANNONBALL!” The small filly sent a huge splash of water, much larger than should be possible for a pony her size, over the side of the ship, drenching Lily and myself from head to hoof. Murder doesn’t sound so bad right about now...

“-she?” Lily finished as she looked out from under her freshly ocean-scented mane at me.

“Fishing,” I replied, flicking my own water logged mane out of my eyes. The resulting wave had shifted the ship slightly off course, and I adjusted the wheel to account for it. At least I had gotten a quick and easy bath.

Lily facehoofed for a moment and then solemnly asked without looking up, “She drank the whole glass, didn’t she?”

“The whole glass,” I confirmed with a nod, doing my automatic sweep of the horizon. It seemed to be akin to blinking. I couldn’t stop it, it just happened. Still, there were no ships or signs of land. Just the endless blue of the ocean and sky.

LIly sighed and used her magic to get as much of the salt water off herself as possible, throw it back into the ocean. Must be a nice skill to have. I was contemplating shaking the water off like a dog, but thought better of it. I wanted to impress my captain, not embarrass myself. I watched as Lily walked to the side and looked down at the surface, obviously searching for something. Probably the rambunctious and drunk filly if I had to guess.

Keeping my silence, I kept the ship on course as Lily started to grow worried, or at least it looked like it, when Water didn’t resurface right away. I guessed it had been no more than a minute, but longer than one normally stayed under water without their lungs starting to burn. Then I spotted a shadow in the ocean off the starboard side that was easily bigger than the ship. It was surfacing, and fast.

Before I could even think of steering us away from it, a large blue whale breached the surface, blowing a billowing jet of water out its blowhole, making a shortly lived rainbow. I blinked in disbelief when my eyes caught what was riding on its back. It was Water, and she was furiously flapping her wings, trying desperately to lift it out of the ocean. “... stupid thing! COME BE MY DINNER!”

The whale splashed down only a little way off the starboard bow, and I had to turn the wheel hard, causing the ship to list heavily as I maneuvered us around the gigantic creature. “Why is she trying to catch a whale?!” I demanded of Lily, a slight edge to my voice as I couldn’t believe my own eyes.

“Because she’s drunk…” Lily replied calmly to me, shaking her head as if this was a normal recurring thing for her. “Water thinks she can do anything when she gets a bit too much to drink.”

“GET IN MY BELLY!” Water’s cry came from the direction of the whale, making me wince at the sheer volume and stupidity of what was being said.

“Okay…” I replied with a shake of my head as I closed my eyes. Taking a deep breath for a moment to clear my thoughts, I breathed out, calming myself before looking back out to where I last heard the filly yell. Having no desire to be crushed or sunk today, I adjusted our course to take us safely away from and around the living island that Water apparently wanted in her belly. “Are you going to rescue her?” I asked, worried not only for the safety of the ship but for Water’s as well.

“Nah. I’ll just let this run its course like usual,” Lily nonchalantly replied with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Do you know what you are doing with that thing?” she suddenly asked, looking up at me.

“I think so,” I said glancing down at the wheel that I currently have my hooves all over, then I turned it slightly to put us roughly back on the same course we had been on before Water had so graciously gifted us with a little detour. “I just took to it and it felt… right? I think I know what I am doing,” I softly reiterated, not sounding too confident, even to myself, so I could only imagine what it sounded like to the Captain.

“Damage this ship, and it’s coming out of your hide, understand?” Lily demanded, staring me right in the eyes, her tone very firm as granite. “It’s my baby. Usually only let my crew steer it, but you do look like you know what you are doing, so I’ll give it a chance. One chance.”

“I won’t,” I replied, this time slightly more confident now that my abilities were truly being put to the fire. Though a slim smile grew across my lips. “That whale might though.”

Water picked that moment to roughly land on the deck right next to me, completely soaked. She had the most pissed off expression that was likely possible on her face as she whipped an errant strand of her mane off her face.

“I think that might have been a little big for you,” I told her with a deadpan tone.

Water gave me a glare and then huffed. “I wanted to catch a big fish for you!”

Lily chuckled and gently patted Water’s head. “A whale isn’t a fish, it’s a mammal. Besides, it wouldn’t fit on the ship, let alone your stomach.”

“Yeah huh! It would too fit on the ship! You would just-”

“Well, I appreciate the effort,” I told Water with a grin, cutting her off before she could continue her very well thought out and intelligent argument about whale to ship sizes. “You look like you gave it a good try though.” Was I humoring the filly? Yes, but she was too adorable right now to be mean to. Plus, she tried to catch and eat a whale. That is pretty impressive, if not insanely idiotic, and that was putting it lightly.

Glancing to the side, I spotted said whale heading away from us. I guessed it didn’t want anything else to do with crazy pegasus fillies trying to eat it. Good for you, buddy. I wouldn't either. Unfortunately, Water spotted it at the same time I did and flew off the deck after it. “WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING MR. NOT-A-FISH?! GET BACK HERE!” she shouted, making my ears flatten to my skull, before vanishing under the waves, hot on its tail.

Lily sighed from beside me. “I swear that filly is going to be the death of me.”

“She seems… driven,” I politely offered, keeping my hooves steady on the wheel. Now that we were alone and not busy dodging ocean mammals, I figured now might be a good time to ask some pertinent questions. “Lily, I have to ask… How did you find me?” I glanced over at Lily somewhat awkwardly.

“How? Easy, we were salvaging the Eclipse after it went down. Found you clinging onto a chunk of wreckage, passed out from exhaustion and injuries. Well I didn’t, but Iron did. We were on our last circle too. You were lucky we even found you with such a dark coat you have.” Lily explained in a casual tone.

“No other ponies there?” I asked with a furrowed brow before doing a quick horizon sweep. Water and her hopeful dinner were still out there, and I didn’t want to run into them, or risk them running into us.

“Plenty of dead ones,” Lily quickly said and gave my shoulder a pat with a solemn look on her face. Something felt off about her tone, but I couldn’t put a hoof on it…

Before I could think any more about it, or ask Lily to elaborate, there was a splash to my left. I turned to see Water, this time riding a swordfish three times as big as she was. All I could do was dumbfoundedly blink as my eyes followed her through the air. “WOOOO! FLYING FISH!” she happily screamed out, flapping her large wings hard, carrying the fish higher and higher into the air. She soared above the ship and released the poor fish with a terminal arc. My eyes went even wider as I processed where exactly the pointy end of the fish was going to land, my hooves furiously rotating the wheel.

Try as I might, the swordfish hit its mark, smashing into the deck. The force of the impact buried its nose straight through said deck with a loud crack. I just dumbfoundedly stared at the wobbling swordfish buried face-deep in the planks as Lily looked livid. “WATERSPOUT! I AM GOING TO TAN YOUR HIDE! GET YOUR FLANK DOWN HERE NOW!”

Glancing at Lily, then the wheel, then the limp fish imbedded in the deck, and finally back at Lily. I cleared my throat. “That doesn’t count as being my fault,” I stated in a subdued voice.

Lily sighed in response and sat back, rubbing her temples. She was muttering something under her breath that I couldn’t make out. Probably for the best.

Before I could stop myself, I asked a blunt question that slipped past my inner filter. “Why do you even give her grog?”

"Because... before she could make us fresh water from the clouds, it's all we had to drink. After a while, she developed a taste for it, and I don't want to deal with her constant whining about us getting some but she can’t. Then I would have to worry about her sneaking a whole bottle of it or something if we keep it from her, so I try to let her have a little her and there." Lily replied, still rubbing her temples with her eyes closed. Poor mare looked like she had one hell of a headache brewing upstairs.

I stayed quiet for a little bit and then asked a question that had been bothering me for a while. “Why are you out here on the waves?” giving Lily a glance as I asked. “Because I asked Water and got some very odd answers.”

"We are going to Port Kit Kasunei to deliver some goods," Lily replied, glancing up to the sky where Water was lazily flying around the ship, no doubt waiting for Lily to cool off before coming back down, at least that is what I would be doing in her position.

"Ah, the 'Port Kitty' Water was talking about,” I idly replied and looked back at the horizon for a moment. I was actually rather enjoying this. Just steering the ship and keeping an eye for anything of note. Barring Water, it was pleasantly peaceful.
My idle thoughts turned to the salvage that they had found. “Could I go through the salvage and see if anything jogs my memory?” I hopefully asked.

"I don't see why not, but whatever we salvaged is ours. I don't care if you claim something was yours before, if you remember anything from it. We gotta make a living somehow. Delivery doesn't pay for everything and it’s finders keepers on the open water," Lily stated as Water landed on the deck, lightly panting as she shook herself dry like a dog, like I wish I could have earlier.

Well, what Lily said was a bit… harsh. But then again, I wasn’t in much position to complain. They had saved my life after all and it’s not like I really remembered any of my possessions. Not that there was likely to be any aboard anyways. “That seems fair, I do owe you my life,” I honestly stated before glancing to the vertically flopping fish and then Water. “I think you stabbed the ship.” I added, being a bit cheeky to lighten the mood.

“That she sure did,” Lily said with a firm stare at Water. “You are going to fix that hole, missy.”

"Yeah, sure, no problem. But look what I caught us! Tell me you are not impressed. Tell me!" Water rebutted with ease, grinning like the Cheshire cat as she motioned with both hooves towards the barely moving swordfish. Poor thing needs to be put out of its misery already. "It's awesome, right Night?"

"Well, you caught a swordfish with your bare hooves... I am fairly sure that counts as awesome," I remarked with a quiet chuckle. One look at Lily told me not to be encouraging, so I quickly switched gears to placate her. "But you also damaged the ship, so that makes it less awesome."

Lily let out a small approving grunt, eyeing up Water. "I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm glad you have a level head on your shoulders, Night. Celestia knows we need more of that around here."

"Oh, come on! Not you too, Night! I'll fix the boat, but I caught us a swordfish. It's so awesome it even has sword in its name!" Water exclaimed with annoyed tone, trying not to let us level headed mares ruin her excitement as she stared at me, hoping I would flip to her side.

"Yes, but imagine how much more awesome you would have been if you caught it and hadn't damaged the ship?" Was my counter, too bad it even sounded lame to me, as I adjusted the wheel once more. "Do you even have enough time to properly patch that hole before the storm tonight?"

"Umm… Maybe?" Water glanced at the swordfish and then to the deck as her wings spread out, shifting from side to side like she was searching for something, or nervous. Perhaps both?

"No ‘maybe’ about it. You're going to fix it whether you have to be out here in the rain or not," Lily chided, raising an eyebrow to the young mare.

"But...but Lily!" Water quickly remarked, looking like she was thinking hard for a valid excuse. “I caught us a big fish!”

"Don't you but, but me. You better get to work right away, unless you want to be soaked doing so. And, thank you for the fish, but you are lucky I'm not tanning your hide right here and now for what you did to my ship."

"Yes ma’am..." Water remorsefully replied, fidgeting with her hoof under Lily’s harsh gaze.

"She's a good filly, just needs a little heavy hoofed guidance at times," Lily whispered to me with a warm smile before glancing back to Water. "Well, looks like I have a big fish to cut up and pack away for later." The mare grinned.

I just shrugged at that. "If you say so Captain." I replied absently as I continued to steer the ship, not really all that interesting in foal rearing techniques. "At least we won't go hungry."

Lily nodded and went down the small flight of steps to the main deck, pulling out the limp swordfish after a brief struggle with her combined magic and muscles.

After watching that quick spectacle, I glanced over at Water, I decided I should probably remind her about her current task at hoof. “Better get to work patching that hole, kiddo.”

Water glared at Night for a moment and then huffed, heading down below deck without saying a word, hopefully for supplies to patch the hole with. Oh well, her problem, not mine.

"You're going to get on her bad side that way, Night," Lily stated with a half grin, glancing over her shoulder at me from the food prep area before starting to descale the large fish.

"She will get on my good side if she doesn't wreck the ship, Captain," I replied evenly without looking at Lily. A moment went by before I realized what I had just done. "I am sorry... I don't know why I keep calling you that."

"Ehh, at least you aren't wrecking my ship," Lily stated, cutting up the fish, a small scale floating in her magic that suspiciously looked like it was pointed in my direction. "So, what's your plans after we get to port?"

"Find work..." jumped to my mind as I immediately answered. I trailed off for a moment and thought about a real answer to give her. "I have to earn a living. I just hope I remember who I used to be..." I despondently sighed. "It is beyond frustrating... to not know who you are."

"Mmm, I can only imagine what that is like,” Lily said with a soothing tone. “Oh, ah, do you speak Neighponese?"

That caught me off guard and pulled me from my morose thoughts. "I have no idea..." I said after a moment of thinking about it, but the fact I had to think about it meant that, no… no I did not. "Do you?"

"I do. Mother was Neighponese, so I grew up with it. Port Kit Kasunei is a Neighponese port," Lily explained. I spotted Water come back up hauling tools in a saddlebag and a sturdy, but small, piece of wood in her mouth that was making her tip forwards. It was slightly comical and made me thinly smile.

"I don't think I speak any other languages," I admitted reluctantly after I probed my mind once more and drew another blank. It was worth a shot. "That is probably going to be an issue at that port, isn't it?" I already felt like my prospects were slim, but now they were quite non-existent if I was to be dropped off at this port.

"Yeah, it might be if you're looking for work. Kinda hard to negotiate things like pay and what have you when you can't even understand them," Lily stated as Water began sawing the piece of wood she brought up. "You're more than welcome to stay with us if I think you can cut it by the end of the trip. Could use another flier, and having a level headed one that doesn't break my ship will be a boon."

"Hey! I heard that!" Water poked her head up from her work for a second to scowl at Lily. I thought it was kinda cute.

Wait, why did Lily suddenly want me to stay with them? Was I missing something? It seemed before she wanted me off the ship, now she wanted me to stay. "Let me think about it..." I said quietly. "I do appreciate the help you gave me, but I need to find out who I am."

"Understandable," Lily stated, starting to hum as she worked on the fish even more, completely ignoring Water's remark, much to the filly’s chagrin.

“Lily, why do you think I was on the Eclipse?” I asked after about ten minutes with nothing more than the crash of the waves, Lily chopping, and Water sawing and hammering. It was an odd cacophony of competing sounds, but had a strange rhythm to it all.

"Hmm? Oh. Well, the Eclipse was one of the most dreaded and feared pirate ships of all time. It was a legend already when I was a foal, crewed by some of the most seaworthy ponies ever to grace this world. They were all said to follow the Way of the Moon. Thestrals, every single one of them. Every captain worth their weight in salt knew all about the Eclipse and to give her a wide berth. The captain, Black Wing, was known for his cruel ways, but rewarded loyally, or so it is told. I still can't believe that the Eclipse went down." Lily shook her head. "Something just doesn't add up about it."

My hooves tightly gripped the wheel as those words were uttered. "The Way of the Moon?" I repeated the phrase aloud, not really to Lily, but for my own ears so they could hear that phrase spoken again. Something about those few words was tickling the back of my mind and wouldn’t stop. Did I know it? Did it mean something to me? It had to!

"What's the Way of the Moon?" Water curiously asked, stopping her work for a minute to listen in, or eavesdrop, depending on who you asked.

"It's a form of worship towards the moon, just like some worship the sun," Lily explained, glancing to the filly and then back to me somewhat intently. "Ringing any bells yet?" she inquisitively asked, waiting for my reply. I wondered if I should tell her the truth or not.