Scrambling to stuff the handle into his bag he levitated the locket over to himself.

"Stupid, stupid, dumb stupid idiot. What the fuck were you thinking?!" It wasn't ready. He knew it. Yet he activated the damn thing anyway.

The pounding of hooves was swiftly heading to his room. Along with a bunch of nervous voices.

"Where the fuck is that mane?" He hissed searching everywhere for the pouch with what was left of the old stallion's mane that he had 'appropriated' in the middle of the night.

Of course he would look everywhere, but on top of the side table to his bed. He mentally berated himself as he drew out a few of the precious hairs and stuck them into the locket with shaking fingers, he then draped it around his neck.

The door shook with a pounding fist. "Mr Underhill! Are you okay?!" More pounding followed.

"Uh, just a minute these old bones ain't what they used to be," he called out in his best old man voice. It was shit, and judging by the sudden stop of pounding and a renewed uproar of voices, now ladden with fear, they knew it was shit.

Instead of another forceful knocking, the door was kicked in with a resounding boom, knocking over an unlit candle as the door slammed into the desk it was sitting on.

He fell back on his ass, hand forming a fist as it closed over the locket.

"Ahhhhh….shit."

"Who the buck are you and what do you be doing on my ship?! Where is the stallion that-" The captain roared at first only to become abruptly silent.

Orion had just clicked close the locket completely on accident. The pain caused him to black out, but not before he heard them all screaming in terror.

"-m telling you Capt'n, it's dark magic he is using. I ain't never heard of no spell that can warp the body like that." A mare declared confidently.

He had the mother of all headaches as he slowly woke up, the pain pounding behind his eyes, and he was hot. They must have had him outside judging by the distinct sound of waves meeting the hull.

As he came to, he noticed that he was bound hand and hoof, with a blindfold and a gag on his face.

All things considered this was going better than he expected from pirates.

Not three days into their journey, and he put a hole in the ceiling, which then led to his instant exposure. He supposed his luck was going to run out sometime, just didn't want it to happen so soon or with villains on the high-seas.

Even if they seemed decent folks for the most part. They were still pirates, and reality never really matched up with movies so he wasn't expecting them to be good people.

He shifted around in an attempt to sit up but he seemed to be jammed between something. His movements however, did attract the attention of the people on deck, judging by the collective sharp intake of breath there were a great deal of them.

Possibly the entire twenty-six members of the crew.

No one said anything, which gave him time to mull how he wanted to play it. He could be the merciless murder and threaten them. Or he could play the hapless colt he physically was, with knowledge greater than what he should know.

No, enough lies. He would be himself. God help them all.

"Mmmfffdpoo." He didn't bother trying to actually speak through the gag, just made a bunch of noise to let them know he wanted to talk.

They had done quite a good job of jamming, what he hoped was clean, cloth in his mouth and secured it rather well. It was shoved so deep into his mouth he couldn't taste it to know. His goal was to get someone to take it the fuck off.

"Griff, remove his gag." A deep baritone spoke up. He knew that voice, it was the Captain's.

"You got to be fuckin' kidding me, Captain. What if he hexes me?!" Squawked a distinctly griffon voice.

"Huh? I didn't see him on deck when I came aboard."

"I don't see how he could, considering he doesn't have a horn anymore. Do it or I'll be looking for a new chef come next port."

Orion could hear the gulp as the paws thumped softly over to him, trembling claws fumbled before finally managing to remove the wad of cloth from his mouth.

He wretched. It was not clean.

"Ya could have at least used a clean rag fuckin' hell." For first words to his captors, they could have been better.

"You sound like an old stallion now. But I know what I did see. Your bones warped in front of us. That horn you had vanished into your skull. Was kinda magic was that, interloper?" That deep voice spoke out once again. He moved his head slowly in that direction.

Time for a gamble.

"It's Dark magic."

Gasps filled the air. He could hear the various hooves and a pair of paws retreat further away from him. Man, his hearing was really good, not being able to see would do that he supposed.

He chuckled.

"Don't fall over the edge guys. Wouldn't want to make this hostage situation a rescue at sea now would we?"

"How do you know that?" Thunder Chaser bellowed. He was further away now.

Even bound and gagged Orion was pretty positive he gave the best equivalent of a duh look as he responded. "Dude I am cooking in my fur and I can hear the fucking waves hitting the hull of the ship, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure that I'm on the damn deck."

A quiet voice spoke up, a stallion, "What's a rocket scientist?"

Well shit, how the hell was he supposed to answer that?

"Doesn't matter, the research goes over my head too so I couldn't explain it to you if I wanted to." A good lie, considering he pulled it out of his ass. Him and his grandfather built their own rockets on the weekend. Right down to fuel cells.

"Belay that Thorn." Silence. "My first mate tells me that Dark magic is evil, why are you using it aboard my ship!"

"First, it's not evil. Secondly, what I did is more akin to genetic manipulation. In incorporated a number of different disciplines, namely light magic for it's healing properties, into the spell to make it work."

Oh wow, now he was echoing Professor Coil.

"That's a Celestia-damn lie!" Shouted the familiar voice of the mare from before. "Dark magic is evil and can only cause evil!"

He gaped at her. She had completely ignored what he said and focused solely on the dark magic. "Oh this dumbass…"

"Obviously you don't know jack. Tell me something if you were to use wind to pull the air from someone's lungs, thus causing them to die by asphyxiation, is that not evil?"

Silence. Then a new voice, another female.

"He's got ya there ,Thunder." She chortled.

He couldn't tell what was going on but figured she was doing her best impression of a puffer fish. Or someone constipated.

He decided to be nice and try to explain his stance.

"Listen, one of my instructors told me not too long ago that dark magic is a tool like any other magic. When have a nail that needs to be pounded in, you use a hammer not a rope right? It's the same thing here."

He took a breath, "Yes it does have a corrupting influence. But as long as you're cautious, and take the proper steps, you can avoid the worst and the spell I used on myself is rather mild. It only causes massive amounts of pain swapping back and forth and that's only because I am literally reshaping my body to match my requirements." He gritted his teeth, something was digging into the small of the back.

There was a pause, before the Captain spoke up again. "The pony you do be now, is not you?"

"No, an old stallion I roomed with in Hollyhoof was the basis for this disguise. His name is Bulky Surfer. Pretty sure he was a pirate."

"Did he die, for this 'basis'?" The gray maned captain inquired hesitantly, with a mixture of anger and fear in his voice.

He laughed, "The very worst that happened to him, is he woke up bald. Odds are he hasn't even realized it yet. If ya can't tell, he doesn't have much mane to work with as it is." Speaking with the raspy tone of Bulky was actually rather fun, the gravelly voice lending ancient wisdom to his words.

"Give us a minute, we have to discuss this."

"Oh yeah sure, I'll just hang out here between my good friend Rock, and his buddy Hard Place." He chuckled.

It was expected, not everyday you see a shape shifting pony. By the time they returned he estimated he had two minutes before he shifted back.

"Do you be planning to kill us?"

For a moment Orion just gaped. "Seriously? That's all they want assurances for? Not to be killed. Really?"

He, of course being who he was, responded in a very cavalier manner.

"Wait, that's an option?" He laughed. One hoof hit the deck very very hard with a lot of weight behind it. "Geeze okay, okay. I was kidding of course I'm not gonna kill you. I'm just a teenager after all. Murder is not in my skill set."

He started to feel a tingle in his forehead as the first dull throbs of pain started to thump their way through him.

"Then we be letting you out of those bindings then. Don't attempt to revert back now."

Orion groaned. "Yeah fat chance of that. This shit is on a tiiiimmmeerrrr...oh fuck. It doesn't give a damn about what anyone here wannnnnnNNNNNnts." Oh this one was going to really hurt.

A few minutes later he woke to screaming. Not his. One or more of the crew was absolutely terrified. Given what they likely saw, he couldn't blame them, he'd be screaming his head off too if he saw what they saw.

Happy to have his horn once again, he levitated the blindfold off and started healing himself with the single spell he knew. He really needed to learn more if this was going to be a regular thing.

Pain in his muscles and bones began to ebb away and he took the chance to look up, snorting in barely contained laughter at the scene the scene before him.

The deck was absolute chaos. A couple of stallions, one being the captain, were being guarded by at least eleven mares. Several of them held catch hooks and an honest-to-God boat oar in their hands.

The griffon he had heard, but had not seen, was now up in the rigging. All were looking at him with terrified eyes and gaping mouths.

"Oh come on you bunch of pussies, it's not that bad." He managed to look over his shoulder and saw the rope that bound him and severed it with a quick spell.

Sitting up he cracked his neck and started working proper blood flow back into his limbs.

The other stallion frowned, still looking a bit fearful, but was staring hard at him.

"I've seen you somewhere before…" Right after that came a mare's voice he recognized.

An all red unicorn mare with a pretty stunning looking golden mane done up in a scarf pointed a finger at him yelling. He thought her name was Gibbons if he remembered her correctly.

"Not that bad?! NOT THAT BAD?! Your horn split your forehead like cyst popping! It was horrifying!"

He stuck a finger in his left ear and wiggled. "Yeah no need to scream I can hear ya just fine." No one else had made a move.

"Jesus guys I'm not gonna eat ya in your sleep. Just a colt trying to make his way in the world. I was just forced to choose a painful way of going about it." He popped an elbow and sat cross legged, waiting for their next move.

"You're a colt?" Thunder Chaser finally had a reason to speak up. The gray maned and blue furred stallion took several steps forward, passing and ignore the objections from his crew. "What be your name lad?"

"Heh you kinda sound like this minotaur I used to know. And my name 'do be Orion Falls, yar'." He chuckled. They were going to learn one way or another. Might as well tell them now.

All was silent.

"I say we throw him over the side." Spoke the mare, Gibbons. She was so nice to him before all this too. No that was wrong, the moment he had come aboard she had pawned him off to Bright to handle.

The stallion whose name had still not been said gripped his arm hard. Eyes bulging. That was curious, and more than a little alarming.

"We will do no such thing!" The lone griffon had suddenly gone from terrified, to landing with a thud in opposition of his crewmates. "I will not see the one who saved my fellow countrygriffs from starvation and desolation be vilified." He looked back at him in wonder.

"Oh please don't look at me like I'm Jesus."

"It is you. To think I would ever meet you…."

Great, just what he needed, hero worship.

"What you be talking about? What makes him so special?" Thunder Chaser looked between his first mate and his chef in confusion.

Griff spoke up before Orion could.

"Captain, this is the very colt who taught my people how to live again. He put his future in jeopardy in order to save the very soul of my nation." He spoke fevently. "It had come out at his trial, remember the papers? Remember pulling into Nestholm? That port had been shut down for years. Then suddenly it's open, and we hauled honest steel for the first time in years."

He couldn't see the bird's face, but he did not doubt that it was bordering on zealotry.

"That was the first honest bit we had made in some time." The sea captain mused.

"That was because of him!" Orion wanted to hide. It wasn't the fact that he hated people knowing what he did. He liked the appreciation. He hated the hero worship that came with it.

"Oh he did all that for sure. He's also a fugitive. The Princess herself is seeking him. If it was anypony else looking for him I would say we turn him in for a reward, but the Princess won't turn a blind eye to our activities if she learns of us because of him." Countered Gibbons. "That's why I say we toss him overboard and be done with it."

"Well I most certainly will not be getting you any birthday gifts." Unless they really wanted to try and fight him, he figured she was blowing off stress by making that suggestion. Strong though it may be.

"Babe, what's wrong? You're shaking…." One of the mares, a blue pegasus spoke up, addressing the still protected stallion.

Everyone turned to the shaking stallion.

"Um...w-when I was a colt, he broke my arm in two places." He said shakily.

Orion really looked at the stallion. When did he break someone's arm? It hit him like a hammer.

"No way….Boulder Springs is that you?" Orion said excitedly, happy to see someone he recognized. Then he realized what that meant. "Ah shit."

He had been isolated to the front of the ship, the bow. He could have resisted. But he was already on shaky ground with the crew. Especially the five mares who seemed to have somehow married Boulder. All at once.

Suicidal was clearly the only way of describing the green maned stallion.

It had taken all of the command authority of Thunder Chaser to keep them in check. But one spiteful mare, Rare Blend he later learned, struck out at him.

Unfortunately for the green pegasus, he was much faster than she had anticipated and he ended up knocking her out with a well placed punch to the jaw.

That had scared the shit out of the rest of them and he had been "requested" to stay at the bow till they could figure out what to do.

He agreed, what else could he do, and was now sitting on his ass waiting to see what the huddled group would do. There seemed to be some arguing, some shouting, but between the waves and distance, not mention one of three big ass masts in the way, he could only make out that it was more than one yelling.

It was getting late, and he hadn't eaten since early that morning. With them bickering like cats locked in a box ,and him not having much to do besides sit there, he was beginning to get a little hangry.

Finally, as the sun dipped into the horizon, Thunder Chaser made his way over. When he stood before him he seemed at a loss for things to say.

"Lad. The way I hear it, you're a hero in some respects and a bit of a social pariah in others." He paused and shuffled his hooves awkwardly. "But I believe actions speak louder than words. You impersonated a stallion to sneak aboard my vessel, using dark magic to do it." He looked away and sat down on the rail with a heavy thump, gazing out across the gentle waters.

"I know it seems hypocritical of me of all ponies to be spouting morality. But even I do be trying to keep to some kinda moral compass."

"Heh, a pirate with morals?" Orion smiled at the older stallion.

"As my mother would have said it, 'Merchants who acquire wares through extraordinary means." He smirked, the younger stallion just chuckled having heard something similar before. "Fancy way of saying smugglers. A pirate's trade for sure, but it do be one of the less violent ones. More reputable."

He hadn't actually thought of it that way. "That's...fair. So what's the verdict?"

Thunder Chaser stared at him, he did it for so long he was starting to wonder if he died sitting there. It didn't even seem like he was breathing.

"I'll take ya as far as Tackanrog. It's a port town south of Stalliongrad. We have a minor stop in Horseululu. You can keep the room, you paid it after all, and paid well considering the tip. Tell me something, did you know you were gonna get caught? Is that why you paid so much?"

Orion burst out laughing, drawing the eyes of the crew near the stern of the ship. "Hell no! Man I thought for sure I was gonna coast under everyone's notice. Had it all planned out too."

"For true? Not meaning to pry lad, but you must have needed to use the head at some point. How were you getting around that wrinkle in the canvas?" The weathered captain asked.

"Sir, I have a horn. I was teleporting my waste right into the water every time I needed to go. I never planned to leave the room till I got to a subtle location that I thought I might be safe at."

"That, would have actually been a brilliant plan. Now, I do be wondering how you put a hole in my ship." He frowned, "also, why you be running in the first place? The way I hear of it, you're free and clear. You be going through an awful amount of effort to remain hidden. So why?"

The Captain of the 'Ocean Spirit' did deserve an answer, but he wondered how much he should tell. He figured he would starte out with the truth in regards to his extreme departure, but chose to keep the fact that he had been attempting to make a lightsaber when he had gotten bored a secret. That would reveal a particular skill set he would rather no one know about.

"I got bored, started practicing some spells, I may have missed a step in one of the matrices...and uh...yeah. Sorry. I didn't hit anyone did I?"

"No, but you not be doing that again on my ship. Use what you know and nothing else." The gruff sea pony stated. "Now, about the other thing. Why the running?"

"Ah yeah...ummm what do you know of me?"

Thunder Chaser put his hand to his chin, scratching the tidy fur there. Thinking about it, Orion had never heard of a "clean shaven" pirate before.

"Well, I know you were on trial as some type of spy. Heard about that in Manehattan. But by the time we got to Hollyhoof, word was that you had been set up and was innocent. As far as you personally, not much other than what I stated. Griff was more interested than I, as I have a vessel to run and don't care for the goings on of mainlanders unless it impacts me ore my business directly."

That was the longest the stallion has spoken without 'do be' and 'I be'. He would learn why in a minute he had a short, half-story to tell.

"Well, what you may not know, and why it's a big deal is…"

He kept it minimal, only explaining his direct relationship with the Princess and his involvement with Griffonia.

"I see…." Thunder Chaser's eyes were wide with shock. "To know the Princess and her personal student personally, lad, I'm not sure I want you on my ship another hour much less two months." He rubbed his face. "No, I made a commitment, and Thunder Chaser doesn't back out of a promise. I'll get you to Tackanrog. After that, you're on your own."

"That sounds fair." He sighed.

"And no more dark magic." He laughed and agreed.

"Alright, anything else?" Of course there was.

There ended up being a fair amount he had to abide by.

He continued to take his meals in his room. The cook, Griff, actually knew of his proclivity to meat, having read about it in the news. So his meals became much more filling then at the start of the journey. Though that fish stew he constantly liked to cook was just nasty.

The crew avoided him for the most part. Thunder Chaser, Griff, and Boulder were the only ones to interact with him on a daily basis. Though the second day after his deception had been discovered, one of Boulder's wives pulled him aside.

Turns out, they had foals aboard. Their own, not kidnapped or anything. He was told in no uncertain terms to stay away from third deck as that was where the ship's nursery was. It was heavily implied that the thick ropes they had aboard left no bruises.

He could respect that.

He also, with Boulder Springs, had to explain their early relationship as well apologize to Rare Blend for knocking her ass out.

He didn't want to, but Thunder Chaser didn't want animosity to reign over his crew for him.

The apology he got from her was a surprise, but judging the way she constantly looked to a surprisingly stern Boulder made him believe it was forced.

Speaking of the one time fellow orphan, it turned out he never got adopted either.

Something the pair of them shared if only one of them constantly lamented the fact. Turns out Swift Charge was the reason behind that. His constant goading and ordering around of the poor colt resulted in Boulder being the only one to get in trouble repeatedly. Seems even herds looking for prospective colts wouldn't adopt a constant troublemaker.

Speaking of Swift, his lucky ass got adopted by a rather well to do earth pony herd. They were steel manufacturers, and while the process was slow it didn't cut their profits not a bit. So he got the rich life he felt he so rightly deserved. Prick.

Last heard, the stallion had joined the guard under the sea patrol division. May they never encounter him.

No one had seen Jester, that colt vanished one night a couple of years after he had been whisked away to Canterlot. No sign ever showed where he might have gone on to and there was no sign of a kidnapping.

He said a small prayer for the kid, no doubt a stallion by now. But he decided not to dwell on it.

Boulder, when he had graduated, had gone right to the docks and began looking for work. His first and only job had been to sign on with the 'Ocean Spirit'. He had no idea it was a smuggler's vessel until much later.

The Captain took him under his wing, literally considering that he was a pegasus, and soon he fell into a herd with Bright Star, his daughter. The one whose ass Orion had ogled when he first came aboard.

Now he has five wives, and five little growing goblins. All of them pegasi. He must have a thing for wings.

When it was announced that he would remain aboard till Tackanrog, well it was met with a little resistance. Mostly from the unicorn mare Gibbons.

The red bitch had accused him of planning to sacrifice them all, children first of course, to some dark lord named 'Sombra'. Whoever the hell that was.

If not for Boulder's testimony on the fact that as I child Orion had kept to himself and that he never started any confrontations himself, she would have likely whipped the crew into a frenzy all over again. His former antagonist had really gone the extra mile in easing the fears of the crew.

But he was allowed to stay. If only it was just to satisfy the Captain's sense of honor, he could understand that. Though he hated stepping like he was on eggshells.

He stayed below for the first few days, not wanting to shake things up too much. On the fourth day he had enough of the inactivity and decided he needed to exercise in the mornings, or he was going to lose all the progress he had made back in Canterlot. He had been imprisoned for a time after all and no doubt that played havoc with his endury and mass.

If nothing else a dozen or so laps would keep him in at least moderate shape. Maybe they would let him do curl ups on the spar.

So the fourth morning just as dawn broke the eastern sky, Thunder Chaser, and crew that were awake, were treated to a sweating, shirtless black stallion running laps up and down the deck. A muffle spell had been placed into the wood to keep his hooves from waking anyone still asleep below. Mostly for the foals likely still sleeping.

"Lad, what the buck you doing?" The bewildered stallion asked as he passed him by.

"Bored as hell, and felt like," he ran by huffing, "getting a morning workout in." He responded when he came back around.

He kept that up for another hour, the crew ignoring him for the most part, before finally diving into the ocean from the bow to rinse off. This set everyone on deck to panic, a few threw ropes and even a life ring into the water after him.

It was rather touching if unneeded, Orion skipped all that by literally rocketing out of the water, his fingers guiding the flames from his palms. He landed on the deck with what would have been a heavy thud, if not for the spell still bound to the deck, and smiled at their bewildered faces.

"Lad….w-what was that?!" Thunder Chaser hollered from the bow. He didn't take a step toward him. No one did.

Rather than shout, he just teleported in front of the sea captain, startling him. "That was me rinsing off. I worked up a bit of sweat after all." His horn was still ignited so he began to dry off, first pushing the water from his fur as best he could, water pooled at his hooves. "What?"

"Is there going to be a thing with you? Everyday a new terrifying surprise do be your plan?" He fumed.

"This was just normal exercise, captain. And are you not supposed to be speaking proper Equish? Wouldn't want to damage your grandkids' futures with all that salty sea dog talk, now would you?" He smirked at the glare of the older stallion.

Turns out, when Thunder Chaser was either out of sight of his daughter, or in a panic, he speaks as a pirate would. His daughter, Bright Star, had been harassing him on his manner of speech for some time and had made him vow to attempt to use proper sentence structure.

It was wildly entertaining for Orion when the stallion would get busted, and he cheerfully played the part of sarcastic helpful cabin colt in reminding him every single chance he got.

Unfortunately, this also got him the cabin colt treatment. Every morning as part of his exercise, the captain had him scrubbing the deck. It was annoying, and his back hurt, but it did help put him in the tentative graces of everyone else aboard. Except of course Boulder's wives.

He was allowed to do his morning exercises, but he was forbidden from jumping into the water to cool off. That sucked because it had been fun, and worked off a lot of the stir crazy energy he had built up since escaping Equestria.

After a few days of this, the crew had come to terms with him being aboard. Not going out of their way to avoid him as much anymore.

Something was bothering Orion, and he wanted an answer.

It looked like it was shaping into a slow afternoon, the deck had long been washed. The equipment looked over. Even writing in that book he had started to jot down notes about the simpler spells he no doubt would forget without a reminder hadn't kept boredom from creeping into his skull.

It had been about a week since his identity had been revealed to the crew, and they often enough treated him as part of the back ground.

The question that had been in his head since he first laid eyes on Captain Thunder Chaser returned with the boredom.

Putting his book back in the cabin he wandered to the captain's cabin. Hand on the wall to steady himself as the ship rocked sluggishly up and down.

He was never going to get sea legs.

He had to knock a few times before the door was answered.

Bare chested, Thunder Chaser answered with a disgruntled expression. He must have been asleep.

"What do you want now lad? A new horror to grace my evening with?"

"Heh, no. But I do have a question that I believe only you can answer."

They looked at each other for a long moment, the older stallion clearly deciding if he was going to take time to indulge him.

"Buck it, I do be awake now. Come in lad, and mind the trinkets." He turned around and walked like it was nothing to his desk and sat down in his chair, snapping the arm in place to keep him from sliding out.

Orion followed him in sitting in the other bolted down chair across from him.

The room was filled with items that were likely picked up from the sea stallion's travels. Many looking time-worn. He focused on the pony in front of him.

"This has been bothering me awhile, since I met you actually. I have seen wealthy stallions in charge of their own businesses. But all at directions from herds." He paused to collect his thoughts. "I've never seen any stallion be willing or allowed to work the worst of the jobs that civilized society had to offer. Except maybe farmers, and hell with Ponyville, everyone worked. But most stallions work secretary jobs. Shop keeps, and maybe a warehouse manager or too."

"Why there be no mare in charge of the 'Spirit' be what ya askin'?" The frowning captain asked.

"Exactly. Sorry if it seems rude to ask, but with the way pony society is set up, it's just a surprise to see someone like you working in what is arguably considered a hard line or work, and in charge no less."

"Nay, lad. I get your meaning. I do be even understanding the meaning." He smiled and pulled a bottle from a drawer in his desk, with a glass following shortly afterwards. He poured, put the bottle away, and took an appreciative sip.

Orion licked his lips. He could really use one of those.

"Me mother was a captain. As did her mother before her. I was me- my," he finally corrected himself, "mother's only child. Father had died with the last vessel and she raised me alone, though she had never really wanted foals of her own."

He took a sip, and smiled.

"But she did love me. And taught me the love of the sea. I learned everything I knew of the sea and of pirating from her."

"She passed away in a storm some time ago. Working for another captain she owed favors too. I inherited this ship from her." He frowned, relieving memories that Orion could only imagine.

"When I first started out, nopony took me seriously. A stallion captaining a ship? The thought must have been laughable to them." He barked a laugh.

"It took time, and I ended up with a lot of what other smugglers considered worthless. I spent months training my crew, showing them what my mother taught me. They now crew this ship. And I dare you to find a better group than they." He smiled, clearly proud of how far they came.

"That is something I can respect. Hard work and faith in others is a tall order. I….I can do the hard work, but having faith in others, I can't do that." He couldn't really trust anyone in this world. The moment he did he feared that would be the biggest mistake he would ever make.

"We all have our hang ups, lad. Some more than others, and I won't pry. You deserve your secrets considering what you're running from."

He pulled another glass and poured more, sliding the tumbler to him.

Orion looked with surprise, and took it carefully. Taking a sip he hummed at the surprising smooth burn as the liquid cascaded down his throat.

It was good stuff.

"That, right there is just one of the many mysteries that surround you, young Master Falls. You know and enjoy the taste of liquor. You understand conversations that should be over your head. Don't look so surprised. You are not the only one that watches when others would be oblivious."

Damn he had been busted. Truth be told he was studying them all. Here were ponies that had grown outside on the fringes of society. Pony society. They seemed to be much better adjusted than the ones in the small towns and cities that dotted the country. They were harder, and knew the realities of going without. Yet they still retained their kindness despite the darkness of the world.

He wondered if it might actually be genetic. That ponies were just naturally more forgiving than anyone else. It was a weird concept to accept, kindness as a genetic trait.

They siped rum together, and Orion started to tell a bit more of his story to the stallion across from him. He couldn't bring himself to trust him with secret details, but he could with the little details that made up his life. They ended up drinking into the night.

Thinking of it, he noticed a trend with the crew.

Other than Boulder and the unicorn mare, Gibbons, the entirety of the crew was flight bound. Meaning they were either pegasi, or the lone cook's case, a griffon.

And the thought had only occurred to him later.

It had come as quite the surprise when a few of the crew approached him about his flight capabilities, and then their great disappointment when he informed them that it was essentially functionally useless as anything other than a modified jump spell.

He tried to explain as more of a running leap that's extended. It's still falling. Just with some style.

Some of the mares had been hoping he could fly them about as if he were some fucking magic carpet. He snorted at that and kept his distance, he knew what that meant. He was grateful that he wouldn't be aboard when estrus season came around once more.

Gibbons, the only other unicorn aboard, kept her distance from him. Anytime he walked onto the deck she would head below. When they ran into each other in the halls below, she would just go into a room and close the door.

Clearly she suspected him of something nefarious. It annoyed him, but other than that he chose to ignore her.

That was life for a while. It wasn't bad.

"Okay Captain why are we parked at least twenty miles off the coast of the island, and not in the port itself?"

It was day sixteen, and he had been informed they were nearing Horseululu two days ago. When he came topside that morning, he found that the crew had lowered the anchor, and now sat like a lump in the middle of the windy ocean.

Looking to the right he could see the massive island in the distance, if barely. Using the enhanced vision spell that Shining had taught him, he could clearly make out the port town. Looked busy with the amount of ships in port. Plenty of room for their cargo to be unloaded.

What puzzled him was the fact that they were nowhere near it, and we're loading up crates from the hold onto the deck as if they were gonna just dump them overboard instead.

Thunder Chaser ignored him and flew over the rail, waving a red flag in the air before unlatching the rail on the left side, which he learned was called the starboard side. He had no idea why they just didn't call it the left side.

He was answered by Griff. Who had come up to watch as well.

"It's because the port is not our stop. This is." He said simply.

He turned his eyes back to the crates only to see Boulder, with a huge ass board about ten feet across, just shove all of them over the side at once. No wonder they had hired him on, dude is strong as hell.

He looked over to Thunder Chaser, an eyebrow cocked. How in the hell were they supposed to turn a profit if they were dumping their shit right into the ocean?

Those crates were weather sealed so they would float for some time before rot got to the wood and they sank, so they could still salvage them if they wanted. But no one moved. In fact no one was looking down at the water on that side, choosing instead to wait on the bow, stern and port side of the ship.

That was the day Orion learned that seaponies were real, and not at all as pretty as what the stories claim.

Suddenly, from the starboard side of the ship, a sucking noise could be heard as if something was being pulled under. It was at that moment he had become very alarmed. Activating his detect life enchantment with barely a flicker of magic, he saw what the ship and water blocked from sight.

He lost count after thirty-five or so. The waters below the ship teeming with life. Everywhere else was a void, other than the twenty-six members of the crew above on board the ship of course.

The lifeforms he was picking up were large, bigger than any pony he had ever met before and they were fast.

"Um-" a clawed hand covered his mouth and he saw Griff shake his head.

Five minutes later, the waters were empty save for one, and it was rapidly rising up under the ship. He was alarmed, and he believed it was with good reason.

Contact. The 'Ocean Spirit' listed slightly to starboard, and a gray and clammy looking clawed hand rose from over the side, gripped the deck and pulled.

With the hand came another, pulling as well up came a grayish green horse head. The mane looked more like seaweed. It had fur, if sparse, but it looked like it was coated in blue grease instead, scales made up for much of the rest that he could see.

He later learned that their fur was just like that for some reason.

His eyes were drawn to it's face, try as he might not to look for long. The first thing that stood out was exposed sharp teeth, with what looked like molars in the back. They were off-white drifting into sea green much like the rest of it.

The eyes had no pupils. Just a sickening shine of puke green and yellow.

Like a pony, they had ears. Unlike a pony, there was a membrane of milky gray and white that was inside those ears. Every noise seemed to make those surfaces jiggle. No wonder no one spoke.

Another detail he had started to realize was as she looked about, her neck exposed the gills that ran from base of the jaw to shoulders, with sharp red protrusions intermingled within them. They pulsed in time with the way her mouth gaped regularly, her jaw gaping wide then closing again.

The way she moved her body about as it settled into the deck, reminded him of an eel.

The final detail made him very happy to have been reborn on land.

She was a female. A heavily endowed female who did not bother with seashells to cover up. Little Mermaid lied to him as a kid.

Everything about this mare, could he call her that? Everything about this mare scared seven shades of black off his hide. He did not wish to be here any long and he damn near teleported, but he couldn't grab onto his magic for some reason.

She gazed around the deck for a moment, pausing to size up the crew, before her eyes locked onto him. His spine wanted to crawl right out of his body.

"Heeeeee iiiisssss neeeeewwwww. Saaaaallleeeee?"

When Orion was a child, a human child, his grandfather had his own tool shop behind the house. A few employees worked for him and they specialized in tool making.

One day, when he was ten or so he had wandered into the shop looking for the old man. He had long forgotten what it was he wanted from him, but the moment he had walked in he heard these sounds all at once.

The smelter, which had steel or iron being melted, was burbling and hissing. Someone was putting more into it causing it to blurp up. Somebody else was wet sanding in the corner of the shop. And then there was Rodney, the only person he actually remembered because he shared his weed with him when he was fifteen, was lubing up some bearings for some job that needed to be done that afternoon.

The voice of this creature was that, all at once, and feminine. His mane wanted to stand on end.

"No Grenola, you know I don't be into that trade." Thunder Chaser said carefully, slowly interposing himself between Orion and what amounted to a sea monster at that point.

"Is this what the psychic pink horse was talking about?" He was in full panic mode.

Pinkie Pie sneezed rather hard sending flour everywhere in the small work kitchen at the back of Sugarcube Corner.

"Oh my Pinkie, are you okay?" Called Mrs Cake called from the counter. It was late, but the special they had going was still pulling ponies in. So it was all hands on deck to make sure everypony was satisfied.

"I'm fine! Somepony was just thinking of me!" She called out giggling.

"A special somepony?" The older mare responded, a salacious tone to her voice.

"Well he is special to a few ponies but not to me." Pinkie giggled back, cleaning up the mess.

She only got a quiet humm of disappointment in response, and just shrugged her shoulders.

"Silly Orion, she's not the monster." She giggled to herself, singing a happy tune.

"Sssssshhhhaaaammmeeee. Heeeeee iiiisssss pppprreeeetttyyyy."

"Oh Jesus!"

"I don't see it, Grenola. Payment?" Both of them chuckled, hers made Orion want to puke.

"Yeeeeesssss, wwwweeeeeeeeee aaallllmmmooossstttt beeeelllliiiivvvveeeddd yyyyooouuuuu nnnnoootttttt cccccoooommmmeeee." She dragged from somewhere behind her a large fleshy gray sack and placed it on the deck. The clinking of gold could clearly be heard from inside. "Wwwwwwhhhhhhyyyyyyyyy lllllaaaatttteeeeee?"

The slow speech only made this living nightmare worse. She pushed the bag toward Thunder Chaser who picked it up and held it, not bothering to count what was within.

"The pretty colt here delayed us a bit. We didn't know we had a stowaway aboard." He chuckled again.

That got her attention, she pulled her entire bulk up over the side and nearly knocked over the captain with alarming speed.

Griff locked up, clawed hand still over Orion's mouth. The almost stallion couldn't even piss himself in fear as her face came within an inch or two of his own.

Her breath was terrible, and if he wasn't so scared he would have vomited all over her, griffon hand in the way or not.

"Heeeeeeeee brrrreeaaaakkkkkssssss rrrrruuuuullllleeeeessssss? Iiiiiiiii tttttaaaaakkkeeeeeee." She reached for him.

He squeaked.

"NO GRENOLA!" Roared Thunder Chaser, pushing both Orion and Griff away from her.

Her face morphed into pure rage. "WWWHHHYYYYY?! HEEEEE BRRRRREEEAKKKK RRRRULLLLLEEESSSSS. HEEEEEEEE NNNNOOOTTTTTT PAAAAAYYYYY!"

"HE DID PAY!" He shouted back. "He did pay, he just hid who he was from us. I misspoke as a jest. If anything he paid more than he should have," he calmly spoke and raised his hand in a placating gesture.

The creature's heavy breathing was the only thing that could be heard besides the waves. She actually looked worse now. Maybe too long out of the water?

"Iiiiiii ssssssseeeee." She finally spoke. Eyes narrowed. "Nnnnnnneeeeeeexxxxxtttttttt mmmmooooooooooooonnnnn tttttthhhhheeeeennnnn." And with that, she slipped back into the sea, the nightmare was over. The last thing Orion had seen of her was the backend of an eel like body.

"Well lad, at least you didn't faint like I did my first time meeting her." Thunder Chaser chortled. Both of them were in his private study. Him counting coins, and Orion taking very long pulls from a rum bottle.

The Captain hadn't made any interjections when he had made a beeline for the liquor cabinet that he had spotted on his last visit into this room.

"R-r-r-realy?" He chattered out.

"Heh yes, when I was your age, me mother introduced me to Grenola. Just as her mother did before her. I do be telling you for true that I soiled meself then passed out. This was the first time she hadn't brought it up." He made another neat stack of the gold, now having five of them.. "Going to have to get these cleaned."

Orion reached out a still shaking hand and used a charm spell to clean the gunk that had built up on the coins, burning the filth away.

"Thank you Rarity."

The older stallion blinked and laughed. "I should get you to teach that to my First."

He took another swig of the rum, his nerves slowly steadying. "Why was, she, so intent on taking me?"

"Ah that, seaponies like to hold to a certain set of rules. You keep the law, no matter where you are, and you always pay, to name a couple. She believed you had broken both, and thus she was going to take you. To them, your free cargo at that point and they do be loving their salvage." He finished.

"Fuck me…...thank God I paid extra." And that the Captain was a pony of his word. "Heh. When I was in school, seaponies were depicted as beautiful colorful ponies of the sea. That they shimmered in shallow water."

"Reality do be disappointing, eh lad?" He responded with a snarky grin on his face.

"Aren't you supposed to be practicing speaking proper Equish, sir?"

He kicked him out with an angry grunt, but let him keep the bottle.

They didn't pull into Horseululu. Instead they went around the island and headed north. The reason was due to sea patrols by the Equestrian Navy. The fuckers were everywhere apparently, and a directly route would almost guarantee an encounter.

The island that they had left, actually had a base on the other side. So it had been a very risky stop, but the seaponies would trade nowhere else. It felt like years had been stolen from him in that encounter. Fortunately, he still wore the 'dreamcatchers', so if his dreams were haunted, he didn't know it.

The event had had a net positive come out of it though. The crew had gotten over almost all their hang ups over him after that. Apparently seeing the 'dark wizard' nearly shit himself was enough to make them realize he was just what he appeared to be, an on the run colt that knew a few tricks that made him seem scarry. He was eating with them now, and for the first time saw Boulder's kids.

They were friggin' adorable.

Even Gibbons stopped giving him death glares.

That was in part due to Thunder Chaser forcing her to sit down with him and actually learn the charm spell he had used to clean the coins with. With that first lesson came more as the only spell she knew was levitation.

She had never had formal schooling from what he could gather, and it showed.

The older mare absorbed all the common spells he knew like a sponge, often being seen on deck practicing religiously. That was cute as hell watching her concentrate so hard, tongue stuck between her teeth. He had to stop her from doing that, telling her that she might bite her tongue off if something went wrong.

All in all they weren't a bad group. Like many ponies, easy to be forgiving given enough time. Just a bunch of outcasts making it through the world as best they could. At night when there was nothing to do they would share stories with each other. Even he told the funnier ones that happened to him over the course of his life.

They all agreed that his 'Hondo Flanks' story was the best story and he had to repeat it often much to their delight. Ha ha. Dicks.

But the good times couldn't last. About two weeks from Tackanrog trouble came in the form of three Equestrian Naval Warships appearing on the horizon late one afternoon.

Gibbons had been the first to spot them, using the spell Shining Armor had taught him and she eagerly learned. She had scampered down the ship's mast in a rush, using an air cushion spell she had been practicing, to land lightly on the deck.

"CAPTAIN! EQUESTRIANS! AFT AT OUR 5!" She belted out the moment she hit the deck.

That woke the entire ship up, and set the crew running to their stations.

Orion ran to the stern and took a look for himself. His vision was much better with the spell as he had been able to modify it long ago, and he saw all three with crystal clarity.

On the deck of the lead ship was a green unicorn mare seeming to look right at him, a grim look on her face.

Flying off the deck of all three was entire flights of pegasi, already there were more in the air before the vessels.

They were doing something in the air, but he couldn't tell what yet.

Thunder Chaser came up beside him. "Your vision is still better than hers', lad, what do you see?"

"Three ships, she's right on the colors they are certainly flying the Equestrian Flag. Seems they are stocked with mostly pegasi, but I see at least six or seven unicorns so far." He dispelled the spell. "They are doing something in the air above and in front of their ships. I'm not sure what."

"I do." He growled out. He had been getting better about his speech lately, much to his daughter's delight. "They are creating a storm front. They're gonna shove it at us to slow us down."

"They can do that?!" Orion yelped.

"Yes, they can. It's a common tactic they use against smugglers and pirates alike. That storm will disrupt the wind in our sails. They know they can't catch us. We are lighter and faster. But by morning they will have launched that at us and we won't be able to avoid it." He cursed. "They must know who we are if they started it up right away."

The young stallion sat down hard on the rail.

"What if they somehow tracked me?! Did I put these people in danger?"

"I don't believe this is your fault." He looked up at the older stallion. "They likely have been tracking us from Horseululu. Picking up supplies and an additional ship or two. I should have trusted my gut and waited." He mumbled the last to himself but was clearly heard.

The rest of the crew not working on prepping the ship lined up behind them.

"It's the goods or our lives. We can get more wares. But I'll be damned it they take my grandfoals from me." He growled again, harsher this time. "Alright ponies. Everything not essential goes over the side. Gold included. If we can throw off enough weight we may outrun that storm the flank-kissers are brewing." He paused looking at them sharply. "YESTERDAY PONIES! ARE FAMILIES ARE AT STAKE HERE!" He roared at them.

Turning to Orion he asked a question the young stallion had been regretting before it was even uttered.

"Lad, can you disrupt what they're doing? Not asking you to kill, just keep 'em from making it for a while?"

He shook his head. "I wish I could tell you yes. But the issue here isn't strength, it's range. I'm….I'm stunted Captain. Not trying to toot my own horn here but I am extremely strong." Unnaturally so considering he was cheating. "But I have a max range of thirteen, maybe fifteen, meters. If I was unhindered I could likely cut holes into their hulls with ease if you asked."

"PONY FEATHERS!" In any other situation, he would have laughed at the sea stallion's use of swears. But he was thinking hard. Anything from a torpedo to a bomb on a parachute flashed through his mind.

An idea popped in his head.

"I may not be able to interrupt them," he spoke softly, his voice gaining confidence. "But I may be able to push us along faster. I'm gonna need Gibbons for this."

"You have her. Do what you can, lad!"

The idea was simple. Compress air behind the ship and shove it into the sails at constant pulsing rate, and wouldn't you know it? It worked.

The spell he had created on the fly took a massive amount of power from both of them. It forced them to take long breaks in order to keep putting on bursts of speed.

Supplies were dumped, and wind was created. But it was futile in the end.

Sometime early in the morning, just before the sun broke the horizon, they released the storm.

By dawn the waves were already churning violently. The wind kept changing direction so quickly Orion couldn't even keep up to channel it in a workable direction. Lightning flashed violently blinding him as well as making the crew jump constantly with how close the bolts hit.

Lines of blue and white courses acrossed his vision anytime he blinked. He was going to need glasses if this kept up.

The Equestrian Naval ships were drawing nearer, their path being cleared by a team of pegasi that wrangled the wind and cleared the sky as they got closer to the floundering smugglers vessel.

In another hour, maybe two, it would be over, they would all be captured. The scarred unicorn was at a complete loss on what to do.

A hand clapped him on the shoulder. "Thank you, lad. You've done everything you know to do. More than any passenger I've ever heard of or had the pleasure of carrying. I'm sorry I couldn't hold up my end of the bargain." There was no cheer in his voice.

In fact most of the crew looked worn out, those not trying to keep the ship from flipping over just hung their heads, he could hear Boulder and his wives crying below deck, likely holding their children for what was likely to be the final time.

"This is so fucked. This could not possibly get worse." Griff muttered.

You know how you should never test fate? How life positively delights in exceeding expectations? Yeah. This was one of those moments.

A low sonorous noise echoed across the waters. It seemed to rise up all around them in one ominous tone, with more following shortly afterwards.

Orion had always been fascinated with how pony fur could just drain of color. He had seen it a few times but he could never figure out how it happened, and as he watched Thunder Chaser's face, it captivated him for a moment.

"Oh buck me."

Suddenly the whole ship jerked to the side, as if a great arm had just slapped it to the left. The groan of wood splintering came up from below.

"The fuck was that?!" Whispered Griff.

"That, is you jinxing us asshole." The black stallion looked to the Captain. "Seriously though. The hell is that?"

"Get everypony to the lifeboats. Now!" The pale stallion whispered. "Now!" With more urgency as he barreled his way below deck.

Shouts broke out as others began grabbing emergency supplies and rope and heading aft.

Orion didn't wait and ran down after him, making his way to his own room. Inside he found a large crack going down the middle, a trickle of water leaking in from the base.

"What in the hell did that…"

He wasted no time in grabbing his things. It was easy with the fact that he kept everything packed as if he was leaving in a minute anyway.

If he was to be captured, he wouldn't stop trying to escape right up to the last moment. He grit his teeth, throwing his satchel over his shoulder he cast a keeping spell and an attachment spell to keep the bag with him no matter what. Water would remain out for at least three hours.

Those spells made the older tired orange maned pony sag to his knees, just as another blow struck the ship on the port side. The groan from the ship was far more audible as wood splintered throughout the room, he slammed into the bolted down bed and fell into the shallow water that had begun pooling on the floor. The crack had widened even if he couldn't see it yet. The water was no longer a trickle.

Cursing he went to rise, but halfway up he noticed a book on the small table in his room.

He weakly grabbed the book off the table, something he had first been writing in for himself now intended for another. She better appreciate it, he wrote a lot of instructions.

Stumbling his way out and into the hall he could now see the entire ship was listing heavily to port. Not good.

Up on deck things were not as chaotic as he had thought it would be. There was no one there. At all.

He got cold chills.

"ORION! LAD! GET YOUR SKINNY FLANK OVER HERE!" Shouting from the aft drew his attention to Thunder Chaser. They hadn't abandoned him.

He fought down the feeling in his chest as he dashed over to the stallion.

"Get in the boat, it's our only chance, the Equestrians are already turning around and running. Cowards. They caused this mess!"

Both of them made it to the rear to see two emergency lifeboats already gone, being tugged away by three pegasi, they were making a beeline right for the fleeing naval vessels. They would easily catch up to them considering the lumbering hulks were having trouble turning around quickly.

He spotted Boulder and his family in both boats. That was good.

At the third lifeboat was Gibbons, Griff and a few others he never bothered to learn the names of. He prepared to jump in.

Something caught his eye. A long slithering thing was making its way to the rear fleeing lifeboat. It was quickly closing the distance at unnatural speed.

He didn't think he just struck out, a bolt of black and gold lightning came down from the clouds and struck the thing causing it to shriek and dive back under. That had been eighteen meters away. How had he done that?

He shook his head, questions for later. He noticed more tentacles speeding toward the small boats. He struck again and again, the light of his strikes searing his vision.

Thunder Chaser was screaming something at him but he couldn't hear him, the sound of thunder the only thing in his ears. He looked at Gibbons, fear etched on her face.

He made the decision. He grabbed her and stuffed the book he had spent so much time writing in, down her shirt.

"LISTEN TO ME!" He shouted into her face, gaining her attention immediately. "WHEN THEY CATCH YOU, THEY ARE GOING TO LIKELY PUT A NULL RING ON YOU!"

The deafening roar of the storm above would drown out any words spoken in secret.

"ALL OBJECTS IN THIS WORLD HAVE A RESONANCE FREQUENCY, WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT IT! YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING!"

She blinked, and he realized she knew what he was about to do. She nodded anyway, biting her lip. Another more powerful blow struck the ship once more.

Staggering, he remained upright. "ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MATCH THE FREQUENCY OF THAT RING AND IT WILL BREAK! BIDE YOUR TIME! WAIT! THEN FREE EVERYONE AND TAKE THE SHIP IN THE NIGHT. EQUESTRIANS ARE FUCKING STUPID, THEY WILL LIGHTLY GUARD YOU IF AT ALL!" She laughed with him, the rain hiding both of their tears. Tears of fear.

"LAD! WHAT THE BUCK DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!?" The captain of a ship no longer, gripped his jacket, eyes wide with realization as Orion stunned him with a shock spell from his hand.

"GET HIM THE FUCK OUTTA HERE! GO I WILL COVER FOR YOU! DON'T FUCKING ARGUE!"

They left, it was just him, the monsters, and the storm. He watched as the arms slithered again toward the now trailing third boat, and struck them down. Even the ones below water did not escape the strikes of lightning that rained down upon them. That eerie black and gold color blinding and dismissing all colors as they struck, blanketing the world in gray.

Mana poisoning. He was actually suffering mana poisoning. "Fuck it."

He began to send out vibrating pulses into the water. This thing, or things, went after anything that moved or made a noise. So he made a noise. A lot of it.

It wasn't long before the ship began to suffer for his actions, water rushing up to his hooves as the monstrous limbs relentlessly battered the hull.

He stared up into the sky, the pounding rain making him squint. He glared hatefully at it all.

"IS THIS ALL THERE IS FOR ME?!" He screamed. "IS THIS WHAT A SECOND CHANCE WAS FOR?!"

Oh his heart hurt, and it had nothing to do with the overuse of his magic. The bands on his arm burned hot.

"I KNOW I FUCKED UP! I KNOW I DESTROYED LIVES IN MY LAST LIFE! BUT COULD IT KILL YOU TO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE FOR ONCE!?" He roared. His own regrets tore at his thoughts as he vented on everything around him.

One of those limbs had come aboard, the end opening up into a mouth of horrors that he scarcely paid attention to. He struck it down, blasting the head apart in a fountain of gore.

Deep below there was a roar and the ship groaned as it was jerked away from under him. He stumbled, barely staying upright.

"IS MY LIFE JUST A LIGHTNING ROD OF ANGUISH AND PAIN!" That seemed to be all this world was for him, one disaster to the next. Just barely keeping ahead of what fate had planned for him.

"Lightning rod…." Much like the bolts he somehow wielded, the thought struck him.

He didn't think just reached up to the sky, before he really knew what it was he was doing a matrix formed over what was left of the entire ship. Much larger than anything he had ever made or tried to. Another layer formed under that one, and another after that. Equations forming in spinning patterns suddenly locking into place.

Five matrices, in descending order of size, now hovered above the stricken vessel.

"You're hungry, eh? Hurt? Angry?" He grinned. "Good." If he was going to go, it would be on his terms. And he would be damned if he was going alone.

"Open wide you sack of shit." He whispered.

As if physically pulling something down, his hands descended, and with them the sky fell and his world turned white.

Thunder Chaser had jerked awake. The roar of the storm was still in his twitching ears, though it sounded further away than it should. He looked at a horrified Gibbons, who clutched the book that fool of a colt stuffed down her shirt, before turning awkwardly around to see what she was seeing.

He gaped.

Some type of giant circle hung into the air above his once proud vessel. No, there was more than one, but the black and gold glow was equally dark and too bright to make out how many there actually were.

As he watched, the seas around them calmed as the storm, made by those whorses, coalesced above what he had to assume was a massive spell.

"Orion…." He breathed.

Black-gold lightning arced violently above, one, twice, then struck.

It was like all the rage in the world poured out onto the waters below. Multiple strikes tore straight through what was left of the deck of his ship, racing into the depths below.

More and more strikes came, somehow increasing in speed, looking for all the world like one giant lightning strike.

The storm vanished, the seas calmed. And as the morning sunshine graced the waves once more, the ship was gone. Orion Falls, was gone.

Three weeks later a packet came across Raven Inkwell's desk, late in the evening.

CLASSFIED.

It was an after action report from the eastern naval fleet, 3rd theater. The 'Victory in Repose' had spotted and pursued a smuggling vessel leaving the waters of Horseululu.

In the course of the chase they hooked up with brother ships, 'Her Blazing Glory' and 'Hammer'. Staying out of sight till they were ready to strike.

That's when the report took a strange turn.

The smuggler vessel had noticed them, and started shedding cargo and picking up massive bursts of speed every hour.

At that point the captains of all three of her Highness's royal navy ordered all hands to battle stations and launch pull teams to tug the three vessels forward while still generating the Storm Trap. A standard method to slow and disorientate ship and crew alike.

The following morning they judged they were in range and launched the magically created cumulus front at the fleeing vessel.

By sunrise the ship was trapped, and they were swiftly closing the gap. All seemed to be going according to standard.

She gasped as she read the next passage.

A mournful sound had been recorded echoing all around the ships, with more following the first. The captains turned their ships around correctly assuming leviathans were in the water. Likely attracted by the sudden frothing of the waves due to the generated storm.

The creatures attacked the floundering ship and it began to go down. The crew predictably abandoned the vessel though one was reported to have remained behind. They were reported to look like a black stallion in ragged clothes, with a red or orange mane.

As Raven read further, she realized that this had to get to the Princess immediately. No wonder Reign Command sent it directly to her the moment they had received it.

She ran from the room, her hooves breaking the silence of the halls in the night.

The swift knocking on her bedroom door startled Celestia.

She had been drinking wine and reading one of her older journals, from before her and her sister came to an unfortunate split.

She didn't feel like getting up, angry that whoever it was had interrupted some very good memories. Instead she magiced the door open, allowing whoever had dared disturb her see that she was relaxing and think better of it.

Her secretary strode in, mane looking like it hadn't seen a good brush in days.

Before she could speak Raven Inkwell did.

"I am so sorry for interrupting your evening my Princess. But I received an after action report from the 3rd theater. I believe that you, should read it, your Highness." She offered the packet to her.

"The third? That would be the eastern fleet, yes?" She took it from her and opened it, scanning the contents. Stopping. Blinking, and then reading much slower. This time really focusing on the pages and their stale words.

"Yes, Highness."

She quickly got to what alarmed her secretary, and it alarmed her!

As the leviathans struck at the ship. A spell matrix was reported to form from above the slowly sinking vessel. The details could not be made out. But the effect was noticeable as the generated storm altered its properties, an impossibility once a pegasus had made it so, and struck down all as one into and straight through the ship.

The storm expended the massive magical energies that had been built up, and dissipated. Nothing was left.

The crew of the sunk smuggler's vessel was taken into custody aboard the 'Hammer'. But questioning was met with silence. The foals that were with them were separated, which had caused a fight as the females and the single stallion laid claim that they were theirs.

They were sedated and the foals given into the care of the medical deck, to check for health and keep for the journey back.

The lone unicorn mare of the crew was fitted with a null ring.

They had yet to identify who the ship captain was but suspected the red unicorn mare.

About a day out from Horseululu, a fog bank in the evening had swarmed up and surrounded all three ships in the middle of the night.

By morning, the fog bank was gone, and with it the 'Hammer'. The crew of the vessel were found unconscious and tied to empty barrels. Pirates with a conscious.

Currently no ship matching the 'Hammer's' description has been found as of the issue of the report.

'See attachment for recorded evidence of the storm events'.

Her heart was beating hard. Could it be him?

"Have you looked at this crystal yet, Raven?" She pulled a small blue green gem from the folder.

"No, your Highness. Once I knew the nature of the report….well I believed it was best to anger you then let you not see this first."

Celestia smiled. A good mare, willing to upset her evening rather than catch her by surprise in the morning by parliament. Those filthy leeches.

"Well then. Let's see if my suspicions are true." Her magic activated the crystal.

"So, he is alive." She didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand she was furious that he had somehow gotten that far away before she even knew where he was. That he lived.

She had wasted thousands of bits trawling the lake and river below Canterlot for his corpse.

At the same time she was filled to the brim with excitement. He was alive, and had shown his immense potential in a devastating way. Calling down a lightning storm like that, incredible. Rare the unicorn with weather magic.

That spell he unleashed was the largest she had seen since 'The War'. Even then not many were able to harness the very storms themselves to their whims. Less a creation of another.

Yet here he was, pulling off something she believed she would never see again.

Not for the first time she wondered what would have happened if he had become her student instead of Twilight.

"Alive, Princess? Forgive my doubt, your Highness, but there could be no foreseeable possibility that he survived whatever that was! If the magic he wielded didn't kill him, those monsters most certainly did."

She fixed her secretary with a smug look. "Somehow I doubt it. How much time and bits have we wasted searching the lake and river? The forests? Yet here he is, over a thousand miles away from our shores and he shows up."

She stood and began to pace. "No, that stallion possesses unusual luck. We ran the tests. The moment a pony hit a body of water from as high up as he dropped, the body's internal organs would have suffered massive trauma leading quickly to death."

The tests involved dropping murders, rapists, and thieves from the mouth of the cave. None survived the fall and all were easily found.

"Could he have been added by…..Him?" Raven Inkwell gulped audibly. The name was known but never spoken. He had been imprisoned since long before the three tribes came together as one.

That ancient menace.

"No. He is still bound in his prison." His was one of stone and darkness. Trapped at the center of the vast labyrinth at the base of the castle. It had been the masterpiece of the last ambassador of Minos, and she thought it brilliant to move His prison there in the center, where nopony could ever reach.

"Then how?" Whispered her secretary.

How indeed. How had Orion Falls survived a fall that killed anypony else, and somehow manage to get so far without alerting anypony before then?

Was it his own skill? Or was he perhaps, the recipient of the divine? She shuddered at that thought and its implications.

Author's Note

So how the hell did Orion create a spell using power from someone else's?

That's likely a question some of you will likely have. Or the fact that it was so massive. Both will be answered in the coming story, one earlier than the other. I swear to God the amount of notes I have is boggling my mind.

You may also notice I am doing more than one person's perspective again. That's because the story cannot be told for very long in only one persons POV. Plus your the audience, you're gonna know way more about whats going on that dumb-ass Orion.

As you can also see, I am starting to post regularly again. "But Morgan, what happened to post every two weeks?" My brain said, "Fuck that", and has me pressing the gas pedal through the floor of imagination. Seriously, the damn thing won't leave me alone. That and I've begun writing at work which has actually been a huge boon for me because I do not have any distractions other than my actual job. It seriously works for me.

So while I will be keeping to the two week maximum, If I get a chapter done within a week, I will post it. Now this chapter was done entirely by phone, including editing. So it may or may not have errors. Forgive me!

But thank you all for coming, please leave a comment on what you thought of the end of this chapter.

Hope to see you again.

Thanks for reading.

Peace!