Chapters Off the shores of Equestria, twilight stood looking over the boat she was about to board. The vessel was a simple wooden ship, large and with sails bearing the royal marks. Twilight looked over the list she had been working on for the boat, checking off the supplies and ponies who worked on the vessel. In doing so, she bumped into the very captain she was planning to meet with, dropping her list.
“You certainly behave as miss Celestia described you.” The captain smiled at her as she grabbed the paper. He was a muscular stallion, wearing a white uniform with a dolphin crest. His grey mane was speckled white from the salty water he worked with. Twilight gave a nervous chuckle and placed the paper under her wing.
“Sorry. This will be the first time I've had to move outside of the main area of Equestria. This wouldn't be so bad if I had my friends, but Celestia wanted me to go solo to settle the trade.”
“No worries miss, we'll make sure you get back to your friends soon enough.” He walked up the plank to the ship, shouting orders to the pegasi who were working on the sail. Twilight made her way up the plank and headed underneath, finding her small living quarters.
It was a small wooden dorm, with a hammock hanging inside and a small table attached to the side. She sighed, and placed her books onto the small table. She made her back up and into the charting room.
“Ahh twilight, what can I do you for?” The captain looked over the map on the large table. Twilight glanced over the large sheet, dotted with islands and sea routes she had never seen before. She walked over beside him and shook her head.
“im fine captain, just trying to get used to the aspect of sailing off of Equestria.”
“It can be hard to fathom a world outside of Equestria, but I've been sailing these seas since before you were born. That is, if you weren't born like that.” He tapped her on the wing, making her blush a bit. Twilight made her way out of the room, heading back to the small room she had.
“It's going to be a long trip. Might as well get the paperwork done before we end up sailing my ability to write straight away.” She jumped into the small hammock, and began to write in her books as the ship began to sail away, drifting out of Equestria by pegasi.
Twilight awoke to the sound of thrashing waves and lighting bolts. She quickly shot awake, scattering the remains of her paperwork onto the floor and jumped off her hammock. She then stumbled out the door and headed to the deck, but not before almost falling from the ships rocking.
The ship above was much worse, the sky was a vast sea of darkness, pelting the ship with heavy rain. Twilight used her magic to shield herself and see along the deck. A few unicorns stood around the deck, securing some of the smaller objects to bring them below deck. Twilight stumbled into the chart room, where the captain looked over the charts he had in concern.
“What's happening? I thought we were going to have a smooth trip to the outskirts!” Twilight had to shout to be heard over the rainfall. He simply shook his head and rolled up the chart.
“It normally is, but it seems we're being targeted by something. This storm is clearly magic in nature, as our course was steadily drifting towards a set of unmarked islands.”
“Can't your crew do something about it? I don't want us to sink.” The captain simply shook his head, the two stumbling as a bolt of lightning almost struck the deck. The two ran outside to see what was happening.
A large whirlpool suddenly opened up in the sea ahead, and the worker behind the wheel tried to move the ship away. The ship began tilting violently down, and twilight was thrown into the dark ocean below. Once under, she swirled and span under the waters, trying her magic and legs to swim to the surface. Something struck her on the back of the head, and she fell unconscious, her last sight of the world being a bolt of lightning above the water
A set of herolds swam into the room and blew a set of trumpets, causing the room to silence. Twilight looked up to see a squire, wearing a cloak and brandishing a scroll.
“For the convenience of the trial, the quotation shall be in the equine tongue.” As he spoke, a nearby pony repeated what he said in the language twilight didn't understand. The squire swam up beside the podium and gestured to the ceiling.
“Welcome, Storm Bringer the Leviathan.” The water above them began to swirl, as a large figure blocked out the light shining above. Twilight gasped at the sight, and Saltwriter closed her mouth quickly.
The beast slowly slithered into the small chamber, his scales glowed like a rainbow as the light bent around him. Despite the small arms on his figure his size was immense. He slipped into the pedestal, his body slowly wrapping around it to have his head on the top. He looked to twilight with dark blue eyes, making her shrink into her seat. The crowd stayed silent as the herold swam to his side.
“Ms. Sparkle, of the equine kingdom. Bestowed the element of magic and current protector of ponyville. You have sailed into the seas of the leviaponies without the proper signal flags, as stated by the law of the ocean article 4, section 7. The great king shall now decide your fate.”
“Please, hear me out. I know...” Twilight was cut off as Storm Bringer glared at her, his eyes sucking any bravery out of her. He then began to speak in the strange language, his voice booming in the small room. When he had finished, a murmur began in the room, which was quickly silenced by a snap of the herolds finger.
“The king has decided to allow miss sparkle to return to her home, along with the captain of the ship, as the fault has been linked to crew intolerance. The remaining members shall stay behind to be used as we please. Court adjourned.” With that, the herald swam down and close to twilight and writer, the remaining crowd filing out through the various halls. The king swam back through the hole in the ceiling and headed out to the open sea.
“You will need to stay for three days while we prepare the ship for departure. Writer here will see you are taken care of. Don't do anything to make us regret this decision.” With that, he swam behind the podium and into a separate room. Saltwriter gave a sigh of relief and wrote in her book, a smile on her face.
“Wow, I'm surprised the king was so generous with you. You must have quite the reputation if you are being spared like you are.” She began to swim back to the room, twilight following close behind.
“Generous? I'm leaving with only one other pony from our crew, I wouldn't call that generous. What will you do with them when I leave?” The two broke through the water barrier, writer taking the necklace off of twilight and putting it back in her bag.
“Probably eat them. Pony meat is quite rare to find so I'm sure our chefs will cook them well. As for you and the captain, you'll be back in Equestria in a week's time, so if you want info about our culture, you better ask me now.” Twilights face paled at the mention, looking at the girl in a new light. But she shook off her fear, and followed her back to the room she had been staying in. Saltwriter sat back on the couch and pulled out her notebook.
“I hope you like reading and board games, because we don't have much else to do down here.”
Twilight awoke with a throbbing headache, her vision blurry to what was around her. She tried to get up, but found that her head prevented her from doing so. She instead blinked and tried to register where she was.
She began to see that the ceiling was a dull red color, with alot of holes in it. The bed she was lying on was made from the same substance, but had a bed layer over it. She looked to her left and saw a creature of some kind, writing into a book.
The creature had a bright green coat, with a notebook cutiemark. It had a long tail and claws, similar to that of a dragons. Her eyes were brown with blue irises, and her claws were a dark green.
But what stood out most to twilight was it's mane, which was a flowing body of water. A small fish swam inside it, moving around as it waved. Twilights movement made the creature look at her, the scales on its upper torso glowing in the light. It sighed, and closed the book it was writing in, setting it in a pouch by the side of the bed.
“finally, you're awake. I was starting to get bored.” She stepped up to twilight and picked her up quickly, placing her in a sitting position on the bed. Twilight groaned and cluched her head, the headache flaring up from the action.
“Ohh yeah, you'll be feeling a bit under the weather for a bit. The corral on your horn will see to that. But I don't make the rules, no magic and all.”
“Who are you? And where am I? Where is mmph.” Twilight was interrupted by the creature, who closed her mouth with it's clawed foreleg. She shook her head and looked twilight in the eyes.
“I'm not here to hear you ask questions. I'm here to translate and keep you secure. But, I'll answer the important questions. My name is Saltwriter, a member of the book department of the leviaponys. You'll be trialed by the great king of our land, and your crew is waiting in a separate area for reference. The king will decide their fate.”
Twilight looked at her in shock, then fell back onto the hard wall of the room. The news was a lot to process, but she quickly got off the bed and looked to the door.
“Will the trial start soon? I don't want to keep them waiting, or worrying about me.”
The creature mumbled something in a language twilight didn't understand, then waved a claw to the door and walked out, twilight following close behind. As they walked twilight noticed various rooms connected to the hall they were in, each with the same creatures as Saltwriter. They had different colors, yet all shared the same cutie mark, something twilight would have to note if she made it out of this.
The halls were rough on twilight's hooves, as the corral they were made of was something she wasn't used too. She ran right into Saltwriters claw as she stopped by a outcove. A waterfall ran just past the area, softly sounding as it flowed without a drop over the door. Saltwriter reached into her bag and pulled out a small necklace made of pearls, with a small shell on the end.
“You're gonna need this if you want to see the trial.” Twilight tried to grab it with her magic, but the corral on her head prevented her from doing so. With a grunt, she took it in her hooves and placed it around her neck. It glowed softly as it touched her neck.
“So, how is this supposed to…” her words were cut off as she was thrust through the water and into a open room. She closed her eyes, holding her breath and expecting to drown. She was bopped on the nose by Saltwriter, making her open her eyes. She looked around and saw she was breathing fine, a bubble of air sealing her off from the water.
“Let's get a seat, I'd rather not keep them waiting.” Saltwriter swam over to a set of seats, the set like that of a trial area, and twilight walked down to sit in it. As she walked, she noticed each row had the same cutie mark and color to separate them from each other, the ponies sitting in equally spaced seats. She sat beside Saltwriter and looked around nervously at the large podium before them, wondering what will happen
The days went by quickly for twilight, spending most of her time shadowing Saltwriter and her daily routine. Through this she learned about the structure of the society, along with how the corridors and social structure worked. The one part she regretted was the food, which had meats, shellfish, and very few greens. She had to eat seaweed salad for each day she was their and grits for breakfast.
Soon the time came, and Saltwriter walked twilight down a alternate set of rooms and corridors. They walked into a small chamber, and twilight gasped at the sight. The vessel in front of her was in the design of a dragon, made of various colored Corral's and plated with metal. Saltwater chuckled and nudged twilight forward.
The two made their way to the ship, and the vessels captain greeted writer in the odd language twilight didn't know. After speaking, they went on the ship, writer leading her down to the chambers.
“You'll love seeing the ship taking off, so leave your stuff here and let's go.” Twilight hesitated, then placed her bags down on the floor.
“Where's the captain? Shouldn't he be watching this too? And what about my horn? I'd like the corral to be removed soon.”
“It'll dry up once you get to land. As for your friend, he'll be down below. Follow me.” Writer began to walk back up to the deck, twilight following behind. Once on the deck, the two stood near the center, as the captain called out the final commands to his crew.
Twilight jumped when two crew members began playing on instruments on the deck. One used a set of corral pipes, while the other used a violin like instrument. The doors of the yard began to open, and a torrent of water rushed in. Writer held on to twilight's waist, and the swirling water launched the ship up and out of the room.
The ship quickly floated up to the surface, breaching the top and beginning to sail out. A wild storm brewed around them, and the instruments continued to play in the rain. Twilight shivered on the deck, while writer whistled along to the fast paced song that played in the storm, the rain adding a new level to the music.
It didn't take long for the ship to reach the coast of Equestria, the storm and music ceasing as they made it to port. Twilight stumbled off the deck, before vomiting on the shoreline. Writer placed a small note in twilight's bag, then stepped back onto the ship. The captain who had traveled with her initially was thrown off the ship onto the sands near her. He angrily stood up and shook a hoof at the ship.
“I'll be filing a lawsuit for the crew you made me lose!” The ship turned off of the shore, and the song began again, the ship quickly sailing out of the coast. The captain grabbed twilight under his foreleg and began to take her up to the hillside. She vomited once again and gave him a sad smile.
“I don't think I'll be sailing again anytime soon.”