A Legend Of The Equestrian Seas

Elias sat on the beach, resting his feet for a bit as he watched the others retrieve bits of wood and nails from the beach. The storm that had blown through had dashed some poor ship against rocks somewhere, as all that washed ashore now were the pieces of it. Bit's of rope and broken barrels as well as torn sails and pieces of broken glass were strewn about as they were carried in by the waves.

This was an incredible bounty as far as they were concerned and Midnight mentioned as much while she sat next to him, munching on a piece of coconut. Now that she had her crutch, she could move about as she pleased. But lately she felt far more comfortable and far more safe near Elias. She wasn't sure why, but she thought maybe it had to do with the fact that he could keep them safe. Whatever it was, she didn't mind it at all. Whenever she sat with him, he'd start scratching behind her ears and rubbing them. He was doing that now as they watched the wave roll in and out, and he was effectively snapped out of it by Star calling his name.

"Elias! I found something!" she said excitedly as she ran over to him and her sister. On her back was a curved scabbard that still had the sword sheathed within it. Elias raised an eyebrow and plucked it off her back while she stopped to ask Midnight if she needed anything. Elias however was more enamored with the blade in his hands. It was a cutlass that looked as though it had seen it's fair share of battle on the high seas. The scabbard was a bit rusted where the metal fitting were attached, but the blade was spotless and had obviously been given an incredible amount of care.

He gave a low whistle and sheathed it before tying the leather thong attached to it, to his belt so that it would seat right. He turned to the two mares to show off his new weapon. It was hanging now from his left hip just forward of his knife, while his axe remained on his right hip. Star giggled, but Midnight looked him up and down and a slight blush filled her cheeks as she realized just how dashing a single sword happened to make the man. Luckily for her though, it went unnoticed and she was able to compliment him regardless.

As the sun hit its peak in the sky, the other came over and began setting up for lunch on the beach. Or at least Gourmet was trying to. Free was busy down the beach with Pip as they worked on finishing out the rest of the wood planks from what Elias had started calling the Boat Tree. And now that they had a veritable pile of rusty and not so rusty nails, they'd be able to melt them down and make new ones. That was another reason for their trip to the beach today. Gourmet needed some of the junk that drifted ashore if he was going to make any headway on building a furnace that he could belt the iron down in.

Over the last few days, Gourmet had stocked up and saved up every piece of charcoal he could from their campfires. After he would need a lot of it if he wanted to raise the temperature to be hot enough for metal working. He had found a good spot with plenty of clay but he would definitely need to wet it down and it would more than likely need to be water from the pool rather than the ocean. Ocean water contained too high of a salt content and wouldn't allow the clay to bond and stick together easily. Once they had nails, he would convert the furnace into a kiln and use the rest of the clay to start making containers that they could store provisions in.

They wouldn't be good as a standard Equestrian barrel, but they would definitely suffice and nopony on the island wanted to stay there forever. All of this he pondered as he prepared some fish soup using some of the fish Elias had helped him catch earlier. There were six fish roasting over the fire they built and as each one was done, Gourmet would descale them and fillet them using Elias's knife. When all the fish were filleted and ready, he tossed them into a wood bucket covered with clay. It wasn't a perfect cooking pot, but it had done the job relatively well lately. It was already full of fresh water with a little bit of sea water added to salt it.

Gourmet took a carved stirring stick and kept the soup stirring while he added in minced seaweed. It wouldn't be the tastiest fare that Gourmet had made, but it would certainly fill their stomach's and keep up their energy. While the soup cooked, he turned to finishing his carving of wooden bowls. He spent a good portion of their time carving plates and bowls for them to use while they had been stuck in the cave.

As he carved, he listened to the conversation that went on between Elias and the two mares who were now sitting on either side of him. He could see the way Midnight looked at Elias and he knew that filly had started to develop some kind of crush. She may have not realized it yet, but he knew she would eventually. Or at least he hoped she would, he really didn't want to deal with the awkward situation of having to point it out to her. Elias on the other hoof was a bit harder for him to peg down.

The man was different from anypony or anycreature he had ever encountered. Now after years of sailing and meeting creatures the world over, Gourmet was able to read most with ease. But he couldn't read the strange human, and he often found himself wondering what went on in his head. He came up with a rather wide assortment of crazy scheme's and ideas that he routinely shared with the group. Things no pony would have ever thought of, such as the use of sea water to flavor a soup. He gave a chuckle at that and continued to stir his concoction.

He just hoped that when the time came for that filly to confess her feelings, Elias would recognize it as such and would respond in kind. Otherwise he could only see her ending up broken hearted and Elias confused or uncomfortable. After all, he had no idea if the man was even in to interspecies relationships. Granted they weren't very uncommon in Equestria, his great aunt was a gryphon, but he did wonder what Elias would think about it.

The smell from the soup about a half an hour later had sent a siren call to the two hungry working ponies down the beach and they too joined the group to chow down. Once everypony was fed, Elias gathered them around the fire and when everypony was comfortable, he spoke up.

"Alright everypony, It's time to tell stories. Normally I'd say they had to be scary stories, but we're kind of already in what could amount to a life or death situation. No need to go making us all skittish for no reason." he explained, and he then spent the next few minutes explaining the order they would proceed in.

"Alright, so Star, your up first." He said, gesturing for the pegasus mare to take center stage. She stepped in front of the fire and looked around with a look of thought before she spoke, and started her tale.

"Long long ago, When pony kind were still separated into the three tribes, each warring for territory in respective area's that would benefit them. The unicorns wanted the mountains for its security and the inability for the pegasi to pass over them. The pegasi wanted to build a cloud fortress bigger than any other. One big enough to hold back any creature. And last but not least the earth ponies, who laid claim to the land and chose to grow food for themselves more than anypony else.

The tribes fought ferociously and many battles scarred the land. For many it was family against family and brother against brother, and they knew it could not stand. It was however the discovery of very special nature magic, by two very special fillies over one thousand years ago that changed pony kind forever. By this point Equestria already existed, and it's beautiful lands were soon to be cast in darkness, at least until the two fillies stepped forward and wielded the nature power they had come to control.

Celestia rose the sun as her sister Luna lowered the moon. Their power echoed out through the ranks and all of pony kind could not ignore that the two now possessed wings and horn. They had become something new to pony kind and all ceased their fighting at the behest of the sisters, for who could stand against the might of their magic and magnificence. With the wars quelled, the two were crowned Princesses of Equestria and from then on, they ruled over us, keeping us safe and secure so that we may live long and fruitful lives."

Star smiled as her story came to an end, she took her seat once more and motioned her hoof toward Gourmet. He too stood and took his place as he regaled them with a swashbuckling story of attacks on the high seas by nefarious pirates searching for gold and glory. Pip told a similar story with variations that took the crew of his story beneath the seas to adventure with sea ponies. Free told them a story of a legendary ship builder who lived long ago, a pegasus mare who had built even the largest of the ships contained in the Equestrian Royal Navy. Midnight shuffled uncomfortably as everypony shifted their attention to her while she spun a tale of foals exploring an enchanted forest where they learn how to use magic.

When she finished, everypony turned to Elias. He was the last one, and he had been saving up quite a story for them. After all, he had read the books enough times. He practically knew them word for word, and that would definitely make his version of this story telling a lot easier to do. With a quiet whisper he spoke, as though a lowly bard telling a simple story in a tavern in a far off place.

"Gather around and listen up, for I've a tale to tell of mythical elves, grand adventure and an elusive tale that speaks of the ones that all races called The Dragon Riders..."