Rain could not honestly believe what had transpired within the last few moments. First, he woke up to find the city of Panthera submerged underwater. Then, after regrouping with his companions, they found out that the Veritas of the Waters had infiltrated the city and carried out the attack herself in retaliation against foiling her plans at Lake Katt. Now though, after Luna had tried to take away the sacred vessel of Paladia that the Veritas had in their possession, she had undergone a transformation to the point that she was now a completely different person. She wasn’t a child like before and instead was fierce and intimidating to look at.

“I’m rather lucky to find somepony like you here,” Luna smirked as she looked directly at the Veritas, “So how about you just stop staring at me like that and attack, won’t you? Toying with you should be an acceptable warm up.”

After hearing those words, the Veritas of the Waters was slightly intimidated. Yet, they weren’t going to let a mere pony intimidate them so easily, “D-don’t you DARE mock me, girl! Do you even know who you are speaking to!?” Immediately, projectiles of water rose up from around the Veritas and began to crash down around Luna and the others. Even though Rain and the others were pushed back by the sudden force, Luna remained unphased. It was as if nothing even touched her.

“What’s the matter? Are you finished already?” the mage grinned, gripping hold of her whip in her left hand as she began to conjure magic in the right, “How cute… Looks like it’s my turn now.”

With a flick of her arm, Luna sent forth a powerful orb of magic that broke through anything that the Veritas tried to cast at her. Upon making contact, it detonated with sheer force as the blast almost knocked Rain and the others off of their feet. The Veritas of the Waters was also knocked to the ground, forced to their knees as the alicorn stood over them. They did not think that someone like her could regain the power that they lost so quickly.

“Is that really everything you can do?” Luna asked, sounding disappointed at her opponent’s lackluster performance.

Instead of replying back or casting any more magic to retaliate, the Veritas instead channeled its magic to immediately withdraw. Leaving the alicorn rather disappointed as she lowered her head and let out a sigh. “Hmm… it seems that my magic has not had the chance to fully regain its strength. It used to be that I would rid fools such as that with a single blow.”

Now though was when a bewildered Rain chose to speak up, catching the attention of the mage as she turned to face him, “Fina? You… are Fina, aren’t you?”

The mage couldn’t help but smirk and shake her head as she looked back at the crimson knight, “Oh, Rain… Really, now. You won’t make a girl feel comfortable if you gawp at her like that.”

“Huh?” the confused knight replied, scratching the back of his head as he looked away for a brief second, “Oh… Uh, sorry-?”

Luna couldn’t help but grin as she dismissed her whip, “My, my… Why go ahead and stare all you like~” the mage teased, “It must be rather inescapable, poor child.”

Yet, despite the mage’s words, some of Rain’s other companions had some serious questions. One such companion being Fidget as she looked towards Shining and Nikol, “Uh… can somebody please explain what the beak is going on? Fina’s kind of acting more… grown up, don’t you think?”

“Something happened like this once before,” Shining Armor replied back to the griffon, “Though, back then it was just a change in her voice. This time, her behavior’s even more… unaccountable.”

Yet, what the unicorn did not take into account was how rapid the mage’s response was, “Shiny, first of all, if you’re going to say anything about me, it would be easier for you to just describe it as ‘strange’,” the eyes of the alicorn glared at the azure knight, “And secondly, how dare you call me strange! If anything, I’m being more of my true self now.”

With that, Luna stretched out her arms and now looked back at every creature in the vicinity, “Now that that’s out of the way, I believe we should get down to business. Or do you not want to catch the Veritas? As long as they have the sacred ring of Paladia, they’re still a threat and can wreak havoc on any city they want as they did upon Panthera.”

She did make a valid point. If that vessel was still in the hands of the Veritas, a tide of destruction would follow them wherever they went. In order to stop them and their plans, they had to take away the vessel and the power that it holds. However, doing so was not going to be easy… for multiple reasons.

One of them being something that one of Rain’s companions quickly pointed out. “Alright, but how exactly are we supposed to go after them? We have no idea where they might’ve ran off too.”

That just had Luna chuckle as she looked back at the griffon, “Really, now? Is that all?” she asked, “I can always sense the power of the vessel. I mean, how could I forget? It did hurt me a rather long time ago.”

“You can?” Nikol then asked, “Where is it?”

At first, she just paused… before turning towards the back of the city and looking out over the ocean. “To the north. That’s where they’re trying to hide.” That caught Nikol and a few others off guard. The only thing to the north was the sea, so why exactly would she be feeling something there? Though, they did not have that much time to think as Luna spoke up again, “Also, once we get the vessel, we need to immediately head to the Water Shrine.”

“Why the Water Shrine?” El then asked as he stood next to his brother.

“Well, since you so kindly asked dear kitty,” the alicorn teased, “If we borrow a bit of power from the crystal at the shrine, I can have the city return back to normal. It would be better than having all of the town submerged, wouldn’t you think?”

“Borrow… the crystal?” Rain now asked, “How?”

“Not to sound rude, Rainy, but I don’t think I can be able to explain it to you in a way that you would understand,” Luna retorted, “That’s what Crystals are, you know. They’re power. There’s nothing really else to it.”

“T-they’re… power?”

“Rain, listen,” the mage sighed as she turned away, “Look, I understand that there’s a lot going on that you don’t seem to understand and you want for me to explain it to you, but…” she then turned back up and smiled, “I simply can’t right now. So, you’re going to have to suck it up. I know that you can handle it, dear Rainy.”

As Rain was at a loss for words, Shining was trying his best to somehow understand what was happening. Though, they did not have much time to think. Though, his train of thought was interrupted as El spoke up. “Never mind all that. We now know where we need to go to stop this madness, so we should get going.”

“That’s the spirit,” Luna smiled, “The quicker the better… Now, if you excuse me, I’ll be busy trying to acquire us a ship.”

“Uh, can’t we just use an airship?” Fidget then asked the alicorn, “I have one that-”

“Aw… is some birdy a little seasick?” the alicorn teased, “Even though you make a valid point for using an airship, the problem would be that if they hear us, they would disappear before we have the chance to catch them off guard. Besides, it would be wiser if we just sailed on the open sea.”

Shortly after saying that, Luna left the others to prepare for the trip as she searched for a vessel to take them out to the North Sea. However, there was little that they could really do. Most of the shops were submerged by the Veritas and the wares inside were also trashed. Outside of keeping stock of their own inventory, there wasn’t really anything else that they could do.

It was as Rain, Shining and Fidget were preparing their wares and looking around the city that they were approached by a different figure. A light green parrot that was dressed in a standard sailor's garb and had her left leg replaced by a green crystal. “You all… Were you the ones that were hoping to head out to the north sea?”

Rain himself looked back at his companions, before looking back at the parrot, “Um, actually, yes as a matter of fact. How’d you happen to know that, miss?”

“Heh… I guess today just happens to be your lucky day,” the parrot folded her arms, “One of my crew members overheard a pony mage at the nearby port say that she was looking for somepony to take her party out to the north sea. I’m planning to leave port real soon and head out that way anyways. Want to come aboard? I won’t even ask for you to pay.”

“Hey uh,” Fidget then spoke up as she looked back at the two knights, “This may be just me talking, but am I the only one who thinks that this is kind of suspicious?”

“Fidget, relax. If Fina was the one that found them, then I say we’re in luck,” Rain replied back before looking back towards the parrot, “We’ll take you up on that offer, miss.”

That had the parrot grin as she looked back at the three of them, “The name’s Celaeno, pleasure’s all mine. My ship, the Rainbow Falcon, is docked at the north quay. Come find me when you’re ready to set sail.” After she said that, Celaeno turned away and began to walk back towards where her ship was as Rain looked back at his companions and let out a sigh of relief.

“Well, that was much simpler than I thought.” The knight replied, “And here I thought that I was going to be paying a lot of bits for somebody to sail us out there.”

“Rain,” Fidget then spoke up, “I’m sorry, but don’t you think this feels like a setup of some kind? I don’t know why, but I get a bad feeling that if we turn our backs away from her for only a minute, we’ll end up having a knife shoved into it.”

“You bring up a valid point,” Shining added on, “Yet, we are limited on options and I don’t see ourselves trying to bring a ship out into harbor.”

“Aren’t you two knights of Canterlot? Doesn’t that qualify for something?” the griffon countered.

“We are, but the division that Rain and I are part of is the royal guard, which is a branch infantry division and we specialize in ground tactics,” The unicorn explained to her, “If we had been part of the Royal Navy, then we would’ve been trained in manning vessels out on the open seas-”

That just had the crimson knight let out a sigh as he looked back at the griffon and interjected, “What Shining is trying to say is that naval ships aren’t our field of expertise. That and Shining is… well…”

That immediately had the unicorn glare back at his comrade, narrowing his eyes, “Rain, don’t even think about sharing that.”

“Huh?” Fidget tilted her head, “Sharing what?”

At that point, Shining groaned, which was a cue for Rain to explain further as he put his right hand on his waist, “There was a time during basic training where Shining would suffer from motion sickness. It was a long time ago, but I still remember our first trip on an airship where we had unexpected turbulence and he failed to hold in his breakfast and almost threw up on our instructor.”

“That was several years ago, Rain!! I rather not have a story that’s personally embarrassing be shared among everyone that we come across,” Despite the unicorn saying that, all he heard next was Fidget failing to suppress some uncontrollable laughter as the azure knight groaned, “Oh dear Celestia, I’m not going to hear the end of this now, am I?”

The laughing from both Fidget and Rain gave Shining the only answer he needed to hear as the three of them began to walk over and reunite with Nikol and El. Both of them were thankful that they found a ship, but after the griffon mentioned her concerns with the supposed captain of the rainbow falcon, the strategist told them that they should be careful in case the situation does arise that Celaeno isn’t as friendly as she seemed to be.

Eventually, they all made their way to the North Quay to rendezvous with Luna, who was waiting at the Rainbow Falcon. At first glance, one could mistake for the vessel to be an airship. Though, with the old fashioned sails and rotaries, it looked more like a vessel that was meant for the seas than the skies. As they approached, Celaeno greeted all of them and let them come onboard the ship before her so she could pull back the walkway that was used to come on board.

Celaeno’s crew was relatively small, but consisted of various other parrots like her, many of them being bigger in size. Some had an eyepatch over one of their eyes while others looked to have scars and missing feathers on their arms or body. Yet, all of them immediately stopped what they were doing as they heard the captain speak up. “All of you, get off your butts and get to your stations! We got some guests on board today and it’s time for us to move out of port. Hop to it!!”

The rest of the crew was quick to obey her commands as they pulled up the anchor, raised the sails and made sure to tie down any crates that were below deck to make sure that they didn’t move around. Celaeno herself took to the wheel as Rain and the others watched the crew tend to the Rainbow Falcon.

So much so that they didn’t notice the skull and crossbones on the backside of the vessel itself.

As the Rainbow Falcon cruised over the calming waves of the Celestial Sea, the abyssinian named El was looking over the water. He had a lot of thoughts on his mind about everything that had happened over the last two days, from the attack on the city to Luka staying behind to purify Lake Katt and even now with the Veritas taking matters into their own paws earlier today. Though, there was only one main thought on his mind as he stared at the ocean, not even noticing his brother walk over to him.

“El, may I ask you something?”

The soldier, who was a bit surprised to hear the change in his siblings tone, turned over to him, “Hm? What is it, Nikol?”

“Are you worried about Arsha?”

Nikol’s question had El turn away from the edge of the ship as he focused on the deck of the ship instead of his brother, “Worried? Of course I am,” he admitted, before closing his eyes and letting out a breath, “Though… look at what Luka had to do to make sure the waters are purified. She’s putting her life on the line for the kingdom.”

Then, the abyssinian turned to face his sibling, “As a Warden of the Waters, I say that it’s time I did my duty too,” El told him, “I can’t just sit around and stay in the city with Arsha and wait for you to just come back. I mean, nothing will get down if we just sat around on our tails.”

“I suppose so…” Nikol replied back.

As the two brothers were discussing among themselves, the rest of their companions had just come from below deck and were walking on the main deck. Rain thought it was best for them in order to try and get some fresh air. However, there was a problem with that. For it was a few moments after Fidget stepped outside that she felt her balance stumble. As she fell to her knees, the crimson knight immediately noticed the griffon fall to her knees and place a claw over her mouth.

“Oh man. Fidget, are you alright?” Rain asked. All he got was her head shaking from side to side as the knight looked towards Shining for a moment. When he saw that the azure knight was trying to look away, Rain noticed Celaeno step outside of the captain's cabin, “Hey, Celaeno? Do you have anything for seasickness? We still have a bit of a ways to go, so a long journey would be tough for her.”

The parrot herself just smirked, before folding her arms and looking back at the knight and his friends, “Oh don’t worry… this won’t be a long voyage.”

“R-really?” the griffon croaked, failing to hold it in as she rushed to the side of the ship and hurled out her breakfast.

“Oh yes,” Celaeno smirked, as she unfolded her arms, “All of you will be getting off really soon.”

Just as the parrot said that, she snapped her fingers and the rest of her crew came up from below deck. This time though, everyone was armed as Celaeno herself unsheathed a cutlass and pistol from her belt, “Now, listen carefully. Hand over everything you have and I’ll be nice enough to leave you stranded on the nearest island instead of leaving you to swim with the fishes. What can I say? I’m feeling generous.”

“Just great,” Shining remarked as he unsheathed his blade, “If the Veritas was one problem, now we have to deal with pirates.” Rain was quick to unsheath his weapon too in defense as the other members of Celaeno’s crew closed in on them.

“Really, now? You think you are able to fight against us? You must be a bunch of morons!” Celaeno laughed. Even if they did seem strong, the parrot had the advantage in size. With the amount of parrots that were part of her crew, she believed that they can be overwhelmed with numbers.

Yet, when her crew members began to attack, something else happened. Quickly, the two knights swung their blades and used the blunt edges of their swords to disarm her crew. Before they could scramble to pick up their weapons, the unicorn used wind magic to blow them away while the mage that was with them channeled a water spell to keep them on the deck. Even when her deckhand Boyle and Mullet joined the fray, they found themselves overpowered by their tenacity. The way they wielded their weapons and used magic was unlike anything that she had seen. Even the blonde one was able to use it and he didn’t look like some kind of mage at all.

Not to mention when the abyssinians joined the fray. The first one, who had white fur and wore a scarf, was able to have magic form from the pages of a book they carried and freezed any attackers that were defeated by the abyssinian that wielded a spear. Like the others, they did not kill any of her crew. Instead, they either knocked them out or bound them to the deck with magic.

At one point though, when the rest of her crew had been defeated, Celaeno herself stepped in, “Who do you think you people are to do that to them?! Even if they are deemed as rogues by society, they’re still important to me. I do everything that I can to watch over them and keep them healthy.”

“So, that’s why you chose to become a pirate?” the crimson knight asked.

“All of us were outcasts from our home in Ornithia. We did not need parents or family in order to help us survive! Instead, we relied on each other. We treated each other as our own family,” Celaeno glared at Rain, aiming her pistol at the knight, “And if you think that you can just hurt my family and get away with it, then you’re sorely mistaken!!”

That had Rain let out a sigh, before he gripped his blade again, “Guys… let me handle this one.”

“R-rain, are you nuts. You’re gonna get hurt-?!”

“Fidget, let him,” Shining stopped the griffon before she could finish speaking, “He knows what he’s doing.”

As Rain stood firmly, he took a brief second to analyze the two weapons that the captain was holding. The first one seemed to be an ordinary cutlass, but the pistol was different. There looked to be a glowing green crystal on the top of the barrel that matched the crystal that was her peg leg as the pirate captain readied her weapon. When she pulled the trigger, a bolt of energy shot forwards towards the knight, who only had mere seconds to hold up his blade in a defensive stance as the energy bolt bounced off of his blade and nearly tore a hole through one of the sails.

“Dear Celestia, that’s fast!” Rain grit his teeth as he repositioned and ran towards the captain. As the captain fired a few more shots, one of them grazed the knight's left shoulder and another barely missed his leg before deflecting two more. For a moment, he thought that the captain still had more bolts to fire. Though, when he swung his sword forward, his blade collided with the captain’s cutlass as he noticed smoke coming from the crystal as well as a slight change in color.

His opponent’s next move was to force the knight back with a sweeping kick and a swing of her blade. Once the captain was at a distance, she clicked a side lever on the pistol and popped the crystal out, before grabbing a second one and locking it into place. “So that’s how it works… Now I know my opening.”

“Standing still’s not going to get you anywhere,” Celaeno taunted, before she readied her pistol and began to fire again. This time, Rain took it upon himself in order to not stay in one place as he kept moving along the deck of the ship and utilized what he could find to his advantage. Brute force was only going to get him so far, so he needed something that could help him out.

“Carbuncle, if you’re listening, I got an idea,” he mentally told the Esper what he had in mind, before charging in again.

As Nikol and El were watching from afar with the rest of Rain’s companions, the tactician thought that the crimson knight had lost his mind. Why would he fight by himself, especially against an opponent that was unknown to him.

Yet, before he could figure out what was happening, he felt something tug alone the back of his satchel. Yet, when he looked, the abyssinian found himself rather surprised, “What the-?”

“Psst, hey! Keep your voice down,” A green colored creature with a red gem whispered to him, “Also, I need to borrow some of these smoke thingy’s that you have. It’s really important. K, thanks, bye!”

Just as quickly as it was there, it disappeared. Not to mention that Nikol’s satchel was lighter than before. Which… only left him with one question, “What the fluff-?”

“Okay, Rain! I got them. Whatever you’re going to do, do it now!!” Hearing Carbuncle’s voice was a sign of relief to Rain, who felt the esper drop what he needed in his right hand. As he charged, the knight tossed the smoke bombs he had Carbuncle retrieve towards his opponent.

“Really? You’re throwing stones now-?” Celaeno said. Yet, as she squeezed the trigger and the energy bolt struck what he threw, the whole deck began to be covered in grey smoke, “W-what in Tartarus-!?”

“Gotcha!!” Rain smirked as he began to channel his own magic now, “Alright, let’s go even the odds.”

As he charged, his blade began to glow red around the edges as he channeled his power into his saber. Several more shots were fired his way as he deflected each one, before striking her cutlass as he turned his weapon and knocked it out of her claws.

“Don’t think that we’re done just because you got a lucky shot in-” Celaeno snapped, reloading her pistol as she prepared to fire. However, something was wrong. Nothing was glowing and no matter how hard she tried, nothing was firing. “What? Where are those crystals?”

“Would you happen to mean these?”

As the smoke cleared, the captain’s eyes widened in shock as she saw her opponent holding onto the same crystals that she used for her pistol. “What-!? How?!”

“I used the smoke as cover and had a little friend of mine switch out your crystals for stones that I conjured with my earth magic,” the knight told her as the esper now took form on his shoulder. Much to the surprise of those who have not seen Carbuncle before. The crystal chamber on Celaeno’s weapon now had a rock jamming it as the parrot dropped it to the ground. Moments later, she dropped to her knees, tired and weak.

“Fine then,” the parrot glared at Rain as he looked at her, “Do what you want then,” her comment was followed by Rain looking towards Nikol and Fidget as they approached the crimson knight while Shining, Luna and El watched over the rest of her crew. Yet, as time passed, the captain was waiting for a verdict as impatience was beginning to settle in, “Well, what are you waiting for? You have us at your mercy, so hurry up and do it.”

“... Look, I don’t know about you, but we do things differently,” Rain sighed, looking back at the parrot as he helped her back onto her feet, “Just take us to the north sea, like we agreed upon. That’s all we’re asking.”

After hearing that, the parrot couldn’t help but stare at the crimson knight in shock and disbelief. “T-the North Sea?! You want to… go there?”

Rain nodded his head, before clearing his throat as he continued, “There’s someone out there that's causing trouble that we need to stop. They’ve already done enough damage to Abyssinia and if we don’t stop it now, there’s no telling what else they can do.”

“Listen kid,” Celaeno replied back, now sounding more fearful with each passing moment, “Take it from me. You do not want to go out there. Whatever you were planning to do, just forget about it and turn back,” as she took the rock out of her pistol and placed it back in her holster, the parrot said one more thing, “The north sea is cursed. Even my crew stays away from there.”

“Hold on,” Nikol responded, “Cursed?”

“That’s what I said,” Celaeno retorted, “Those waters are cursed. Ghost ships appear there. Every creature who has sailed the seas has heard the tales, and anyone who does try to go through the north sea are never heard from again.”

“G-ghost ships?” Fidget shivered, “Y-you gotta be kidding… right? T-there’s no such thing! There can’t be real ghost ships.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” the parrot captain questioned the griffon. Before Fidget could answer, they felt the winds around them begin to blow and the calm waves from before we’re now churning violently. “Kid, get your friends to free my crew, quickly.”

“Huh? What do you-?”

“We got a heavy storm brewing that’s coming straight at us,” she replied, her tone coming off as more serious as the rumble of thunder echoed in the distance and storm clouds were quickly rolling in, “If we don’t act now, we’re all going to be ending up sleeping with the fishes!!”

As the force of the winds began to pick up, Rain immediately turned to his companions and had them free the rest of the crew from the magic that bound them to the deck. Once they were free, every creature on board scrambled to the designated stations that Celaeno ordered them too in order to hold down the ship as the storm rolled in. The winds were now howling and lightning flashed while they did what they could to ride out the onslaught they were facing. Yet, everyone had to do what they could in order to lock the ship down or they would all be thrown overboard.

Over the course of what felt like hours, the storm intensified. It felt as if a hurricane was trying to rip the Rainbow Falcon out of the ocean as the crimson knight was forced to plant his saber on the deck to make sure that he didn’t fall off the ship. His companions had to take up other means to make sure they did not fall overboard either, whether it was magic to hold themselves to the deck or grabbing hold of something that was already locked down tight. Either way, all of them were praying that what they had to go through would subside eventually.

Yet, some time after it began, the storm eventually subsided. The clouds still hung overhead, yet the worst was over… for the moment at least. As Rain began to come back up to his feet and place his weapon on his back, he looked back at the rest of his companions, “Ugh… I-is everyone okay?”

At first, the only replies that he heard were from Nikol, El and Fidget as all three of them stood back up and tried to get the water out of their fur and feathers, much like Celaeno and the rest of her crew. As for Shining Armor, he had to sheathe his katana and place it back on his shoulder, before taking a moment to get a strand of seaweed that was stuck in his mane. Though, it was as he got back up on his hooves that a new question surfaced in the unicorn’s mind. “Wait… Rain, where’s Fina?”

That single question immediately had Rain realize something. Luna was nowhere to be found. He was sure that she didn’t fall overboard, but why wasn’t she with everyone else? Celaeno and the rest of his companions were fine, but there was no sight of the mage anywhere on the main deck. A quick search underneath led to him realizing that she wasn’t inside the ship either, and with no one at the stern of the ship, that left only one place that he didn’t check yet.

The bow of the ship. As he looked towards the front of the vessel, he found the mage standing on the railing, looking out over the ocean. “There you are, Fina,” the knight let out a sigh of relief as Rain approached her, “I’m glad to see that you’re okay.”

“It appears that we’ve survived the worst of it,” Nikol said with a sigh of relief as the rest of Rain’s companions soon joined him. “It shouldn’t be too difficult going forward.”

Though, it was then that the mage spoke up and pointed towards the ocean, “Don’t be so sure,” Moments after saying that, a dark fog rolled over the sea as a shadow was moving in the distance. As it got closer, everyone found themselves staring at a ship that was surrounded by dark magic as it moved closer on the ocean. Even Celaeno herself was startled by the sudden arrival, yet Luna herself remained unphased, “Clever bastard.”

“Huh?” Shining Armor spoke, “What is it, Fina?”

“The one that we seek is using a ghost ship to keep themselves hidden from us,” the mage explained, “I can feel the Sacred Ring from that ship. The Veritas must be on board,” she immediately turned towards the knights and their companions, “Every creature, get ready. We are going to capture that ship before it gets away.”

“W-what, are you nuts?!” Celaeno spoke up, “No one comes back when they encounter a ghost ship.”

It was then that Rain turned towards the captain, before giving off a small smirk, “Then we’ll be the first.”

Some convincing was needed, though, after talking with Celaeno, the parrot allowed for Rain and his party to use one of the lifeboats that the Rainbow Falcon had stored in case of an emergency. As the group got on board, Luna instructed Rain and the others to not cast any spells while they were in the water. If the Veritas felt even a single drop of their mana being used, they could relocate in an instant and their window of opportunity would be gone. Meaning that they would have to row up to the ghost ship the old fashioned way.

Fortunately, the ocean waves were not as rocky and rough as they were during the storm, which made approaching the ghost ship a lot easier. Though, another problem was that the presence of the haunted vessel had got the monsters that lived under the waves up in a frenzy. Rain, Shining and El would have to take turns guarding their boat in case it was attacked by sharks or other monstrosities from the deep. Two of them would row the boat with the oars they had while the other was on guard duty.

Just as they arrived at the back end of the ship, things got complicated when an Architeuth attacked the small vessel and broke the oars they were using to guide themselves. They were able to defeat it, but the only way that they could now enter the ghost ship was to dive into the water and swim through a giant hole that was there.

All six of them did not have to do this for very long, for once they were inside, they found a sturdy section of the ship to pull themselves up as they were inside. Even though they no longer had to deal with the monsters from the sea, Rain and his companions had a new problem they needed to go through before they could catch the Veritas of the Waters by surprise. That was the ghosts and undead that wandered through the hallways of the vessel.

“Fina, where exactly did you feel this presence?” Rain whispered, “I don’t think any one of us want to look through the whole entire ship, only to realize that they’re gone.”

“Follow me then,” Fina whispered back, taking the initiative and leading the group herself, “They’re on the main deck, but they don’t seem to have noticed us. Even after we were attacked by the monsters in the ocean.”

“O-okay, but how do we get up there?” Fidget asked nervously.

“Patience,” the mage told her, before placing a hand on the floor and closing her eyes. With enough focus, she channeled a small bit of magic into the wooden floor, before opening her eyes and looking back to the others. “Figures. There’s a set of stairs that goes up the next floor of the ship, but there are monsters guarding the hallway over.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Shining asked.

“You and Rain guard us from the front while El would watch our backs in case we have any monsters lurking around to blindside us,” Luna instructed them, “We push forward together. Whatever lurks in here would want for us to split up, so instead, we stick together as one single force,” as the alicorn finished explaining, she then looked towards the tactician of the group, “Any objections?”

Nikol himself only shook his head, “I don’t see any issues as long as we don’t break formation.”

“Then it is settled,” Luna then turned towards both Rain and Shining Armor as the two knights drew their blades, “Lead the way, boys.”

Both knights could only nod as they did what Luna explained to them. Despite the fact that this pony was not quite the Luna that they knew, there were still some characteristics that were similar. As they fought through the corridors of the ship, both of the knights were supported by the tactician, engineer and the mage while El watched their backs. No matter if it was a zombie, ghost or any other kind of monster, they were able to make short work of their foes while moving as a group.

Once the halls of the ship were cleared, they all moved to stairs and carefully proceeded up. Careful not to attract any attention as they made it to the deck of the ship. The Veritas of the Waters was on the main deck and had no idea of their presence. That was, until they turned and saw Rain and his companions, with weapons at the ready. “W-what in Tartarus?! What is going on here!?”

“For someone of Aldore, you are a novice if you can’t conceal your own presence,” Fina taunted, “No wonder it was so easy in order to find you.”

“Let’s just assume that’s all, for the sake of appearance,” Nikol himself commented as the pages of his tome began to turn rapidly, “We got you cornered. So, what will you do now?”

The Veritas growled in response, summoning their staff as the waters began to form around them, “I’m warning all of you! Don’t think for a second that this will go down the same way as before!!”

The Veritas of the Waters was quick to make due on their threat as they lifted up a hand and had a cloud of mist roll over the deck of the ship. The mist itself was hard to see through as Rain and the others tried to stay together. Yet, the mist itself was only in place to hide a second attack that their foe was conjuring. Within seconds, a barrage of aqua missiles began to rain down on the party, just as Nikol cast an enchantment to shield them.

Rain knew that he needed to push through the mist in order to combat the Veritas. Yet, it was hard for him to do so when the mist made it hard for him and the rest of his companions to see anything. The only times that they could see something was just as an attack was about to hit them, making it to where they were forced on defense.

To make matters worse, the Veritas also had the capabilities to use poison magic as well as paralyze them, making them unable to move from incoming attacks. Luna herself though did not seem to be affected by the paralysis, but the mist and poison were still affecting her like the rest of their party members. To make matters worse, this Luna did not seem to have access to healing magic and only had elemental magic. Which made it much harder for them to tend to their wounds, even though Fidget had a gadget that slowly mends wounds.

Though, Rain did have one last idea. Yet, he was unsure if it might work. “Carbuncle? Is there anything that you can do to… I don’t know, help? We can’t be able to fight what we can’t see.”

“I’m sorry, Rain. I don’t know any spells that could cure these ailments,” the esper told him, “My powers only work to defend against incoming attacks, not ones that have already happened. You need to come up with another plan.”

In Rain’s mind, that was easier said than done. Though, as he was trying to defend himself from another attack, he noticed Luna channeling magic through her palms as she aimed her hands forward. “Physical Fall.”

At first, he wasn’t sure what the mage did. Yet, as the knight looked back through the fog, he noticed that it began to lighten and he could see a glowing light that came from a paw of sorts. “What sorcery is this!? Which one of you has the resolve to try and weaken me?!”

“There,” Fina spoke as she turned to Rain, “I’ve weakened their strength and defenses, but it will not last forever. If you’re looking for an opportunity to hurt them, now is your best chance.” Quickly, the knight rose to his feet and acted upon the mage’s words. Risking his own safety, he charged forth through the mist as he channeled his power through his blade.

Once he was through, the knight swung forward. His attack caught the Veritas off guard as his blade made contact with the waterlord’s armor, knocking them down to the floor of the deck. When the Veritas hit the deck, the Sacred Ring that they held onto rolled out of their hands as the mist began to evaporate.

“Whoa… thank goodness, that is over,” Fidget let out a sigh of relief, “I barely could see anything during that fight.”

“Even though they had power to face us directly, they still chose to hide behind it,” Luna grit her teeth as she walked over to the Veritas on the ground, “For someone who is a warrior of Aldore, I expected much more.”

“Now all we need to do is take that ring and make sure that this Veritas or any of the others won’t be able to use it again,” Rain let out a sigh of relief. After the Knight looked around, he soon found the ring on the deck and walked over to pick it up. Yet, just as he bent down to grab it, that was when Luna spoke up. “

“Rain, stop! Don’t touch it-!!”

Her words of caution came too late, for the knight left hand had already touched the ring and with it, a swift chain reaction. The knight felt as if his hand was on fire as all he felt was searing pain as the ring glowed.

“Rain, what’s happening?!” Shining now asked, concerned for his friend. Yet, the crimson knight’s only reply was a pain-filled scream as the light from the vessel glowed brightly. He fell down the deck, dropping the ring as it rolled to Luna’s hooves. Yet, the pain that was in his hand did not go away. If anything, it continued to escalate with each passing moment.

As he did his best to try and ignore the pain, something else was happening. The same hand that he tried to pick up the ring was now glowing and emitting a golden yellow aura. All of the knights' companions had no idea what was going on. However, there was one creature that did. That one being the Veritas that they had just beaten. “That light… it can’t be. So this child truly is…” they panted, trying to muster whatever strength they could to escape, “I must hurry… and warn Darklord about this…”

El though, was the only one who noticed what the Waterlord was doing while the others were tending to the knight. “Hey! Hold it right there!!” the soldier snapped, rushing to try and prevent the Veritas from escaping. Yet, just like before, they vanished in a pillar of water just like how they escaped from Panthera, “Nikol, they just-”

“I know… but with their injuries, they won’t get far without succumbing to their wounds,” the tactician countered, “In the meantime, we have more pressing concerns. Fina, do you know what this is?”

Fina looked back to the abyssinian for a moment, before letting out a sigh, “It’s… power. Not foul in nature by any means, but it’s pouring out of him right now.”

The knight grit his teeth, looking back at the mage with a look of confusion. “P-power? This is… my power? T-then why is it-?”

“Painful?” her question was followed by a faint nod from Rain as Luna continued to speak, “That’s simple. It’s because you’re not ready for it. Your body is not ready to handle such magical power and you don't have the strength to control it just yet,” At first, Rain looked a bit relieved by the explanation, but that was when Luna mentioned something else, “You’re going to need to find a way in order to control it and make it your own.”

“Fina, what exactly is happening to him?” Shining then spoke up, sounding both concerned for Rain and also like he was demanding a response from the mage.

“Sorry dear Shiny, but I’m not bound to explain anything to you. This is somewhat of a a special circumstance between both Rain and I.”

“Excuse me!?”

The mage then turned to face Shining directly, letting out a sigh as she placed her left hand on her hip. “Oh Shining. You know that jealousy is very unbecoming of a stallion such as you.”

The unicorn was going to retort back, but it was then that somebody else interjected, “Would you two give it a rest already!? We clearly have more important matters to focus on,” Fidget snapped at both of them, “First off, Rain, are you feeling okay? Do you need rest at all?”

As the knight stood up, he just shook his head. “I’ll be fine,” he reassured the griffon, “Besides, we don’t have time to stop now. We might’ve stopped the Veritas here, but we still need to help the people of Panthera,” when he said that, he looked back at Nikol and El briefly, “We need to get to the Water Shrine. The sooner that we do so, the better.”

“That’s the spirit,” Luna told him, “Now, let’s not delay any further.”

Once Rain and his companions returned back to the Rainbow Falcon, they had a lot of things to explain to Celaeno. Though, once they got it out of the way, Celaeno was personally thankful. Not only did they not have to worry about a ghost ship for a while, but her crew was glad that they weren’t going to get turned over to the authorities.

Though, the captain wanted to pay them back. So the first thing that she did was help tend to Rain. “There we go. That should work for now,” the parrot told him as she finished tying off the bandages around his left hand, “Wouldn’t be a good idea to see that arm and start asking questions.”

“Thanks, Celaeno,” Rain replied back, “You’ve been a major help.”

That just had the captain smirk as she looked back at the knight, “Don’t mention it. I’ll be sure to help you out anytime you need it. My crew and I decided to… uh… ‘temporarily retire’ from piracy, given the state of the seas.”

“And what about after things have returned to normal?” the knight asked.

“Well… I was thinking that… maybe we try a different approach,” Celaeno explained further, “Steal from other thieves and give what we stole to those who need it most. Sounds like a good way to do some good around here.”

That definitely sounded promising for sure. Especially since there might be a lot of things that her crew might take, even though they don’t necessarily need it. As the bridge extended outward towards the shoreline cliff that was next to the Rainbow Falcon, he had one last thing to say, “You know… I do happen to know one of the princesses of Equestria. Surely she might find your newfound cause admirable and want to help.”

“That sounds lovely and all, but I think it would be better for us to stick to Abyssinia for now and start small,” Celaeno smirked, waving goodbye as the knight walked off the bridge and onto the cliff basin. Once he was off, the knight looked to see that El was looking out over the ocean, possibly waiting for him.

“El, you ready to go?” he asked. The abyssinian turned around, faintly nodding as he walked past the knight. Though, that was when Rain noticed something that was on the ground and walked over to it, finding a necklace as he picked it up, “Hey, El, what’s this? An amulet?”

“Yeah, Arsha gave it to me. Even though I told her I would be fine,” the soldier told him, “Personally, I think that she doesn’t have a lot of faith in me.”

“I wouldn’t think that,” Rain shook his head and handed it back to him, “Besides, if you must brood, I think it would be better to do it over a problem instead of a blessing. Personally, I can’t imagine myself sulking about if I had a beautiful fiancée who worries about me.”

As the knight handed the soldier the amulet and began to walk from the ship. That was when El asked him a question, “Rain… do you really think I’ve really been any help in the end?”

Around then, the Rainbow Falcom began to part away from the shore as Rain looked back at the Abyssinian, “What on your mind, El? It’s… a little weird to be asking a question like that out of the blue.”

“Be honest, please.”

Rain closed his eyes for a moment, taking some time in order to process his thoughts before telling the abyssinian his answer. “El, how things turn out in the end is not what matters… To me, what matters is doing everything you can, for as long as you can. If you can do that, then… well, you did all that you could.”

“Everything you can… for as long as you can…” Rain heard the abyssinian repeat what he said. Of course, it was when he heard that, the knight casually mentioned one more thing.

“Oh, and besides all of that… you got good instincts in battle, El. So as long as you keep training and keep striving to improve, you’ll be a great warrior someday. Take my word for it.”

That had El chuckle, before looking back to Rain as the two of them started walking over to where everyone else was waiting for them. “Thank you, Rain.”

Author's Note

After Luna's transformation, Rain and his companions go after the Veritas of the Waters to catch them by surprise. Yet, not everything is what it seems and this Luna isn't inclined to share everything.

Though, what's an adventure without a little bit of risk?
-Frost