The Twisted Paths of Spirits and Mares

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.