Coves of Courageby Amethyst_DawnChaptersPrologue: The Shroud1. Marooned2. The Captain of the Damned Hydra3. Blood in the SandPrologue: The ShroudBeautiful. That was the only word fit to describe the sunset that evening. The dim glow of the clear sky shimmered through shades of orange, magenta, violet, before finally stretching out into a deep blue. The bounty of colors reflected off the endless expanse of the ocean, bouncing back up in a ripple-rent flattery of the horizon. And somewhere in the ocean, miles from the shores of Equestria, framed perfectly within the gentle glow of the sleeping sun, was a unicorn; resting her front hooves against the thin railing of the yacht she found herself on. She inhaled deeply as the soft kiss of the eastward breeze broke across her face, lightly billowing her delicately combed violet mane in its wake. Her pearl-white coat was stained by the warm yellow light of the sun, casting a blue shadow from her back across the wooden deck. Her cutie mark, a trio of sharp diamonds, rested comfortably in the shadows on her flanks. It was a picturesque moment in time that she, for once, felt content to merely enjoy rather than even spare a thought to capture. The whirring click of a camera stirred her from her meditation, and gave away that her host had also changed her philosophy for capturing the moment. The unicorn smiled, letting her sapphire blue eyes flick open as she turned her head to regard the boat's captain. "Was that why you spent so long rummaging around below deck, Applejack, darling?" The unicorn huffed, pooching out her lips in a mock pout. "Abandoning me up here, just to grab a camera?" Applejack, an earth-pony mare of similar age to her guest, smiled sheepishly. Her already-orange coat shone in the dying sunlight, and her buttercup-yellow mane even moreso. Even the emerald of her eyes glistened like polished gemstones. In place of where she normally wore a tan stetson, instead was perched a comfortable maroon breton cap; adorned with a golden trifecta of apples to match the mark on her rump, nestled neatly in the middle of a shield emblem. "Not rightly, no." Came her plain reply, laden with a thick southern accent. "Ah was fetchin' somethin' else, but when Ah came back and saw you standin' there in the sunset?" She laughed merrily, clicking her forehoof against the deck and giving a low whistle. "Y'looked prettier'n a picture, Rarity, so Ah figured Ah'd take one o' my own, if ya catch me." "Aww!" Rarity held a hoof to her chest for a moment, tearing up slightly before stepping down to wrap her friend in a near-suffocating hug. "Apology accepted, darling! Though I would appreciate more company from here on, it gets lonely without somepony to talk to!" Applejack chuckled, returning the hug readily. The embrace lasted for only a few seconds before she pulled away, Rarity's grip loosing in near synchronous time as she raised a curious eyebrow. "Though, what in Equestria were you shuffling around for? It was an awful racket just for you to come back empty-hooved!" "About that," Applejack smiled at the question, nodding her head over her shoulder as a beckon for Rarity to follow. She trotted back to the small metal hatch that lead to the vessel's cabin and quarters, which amounted to a single chamber in such a small vessel. She opened the latch and ducked her front end through the door for a moment, placing down the camera and its rigging with a minor clatter before emerging with a pair of fishing rods. "Ah figured that if you were interested, we could do a little deep-sea fishin'? Ah'm hopin' to land a sturgeon, or maybe even a sailfin." Rarity's eyes lit up as she enveloped one of the rods in a glow to match her eyes, levitating it in front of her as she clapped her forehooves together excitedly. "Oooh, wonderful!" She cooed, closely examining the rod. "You will be teaching me how to cast, won't you? I'm sure I won't know the first thing about getting a proper distance, I haven't even really fished in a river before, but I'm willing to give it my all!" She finished with a declarative stamp of her hoof, a look of giddy determination in her eyes. Applejack quirked a brow at her, never dropping her friendly smile. "Y'sure it ain't gonna be too slimy for ya?" Applejack teased, leaning in and nudging Rarity with her shoulder. "It ain't exactly the hoity-toity sterile work yer used to, y'know." "Oh, please!" Rarity rolled her eyes, waving a hoof dismissively. "I didn't accept your invitation to come out here expecting to stay completely clean, darling! A little fish slime here and there won't kill me." She paused, glancing upwards and tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Though I will absolutely insist on a thorough bath once we get back, maybe I could treat you to a full spa treatment? Pampering and all?" "Heh," Applejack chortled, patting her friend on the back, "sounds more'n fair to me. If Ah can get you slathered in fish guts, you can drag me to the works at a spa." She leaned her pole against the railing, stepping away to pull a box out from the cabin. "First thing's first, you're gonna have to rely on your hooves for the fightin' and tuggin'. Y'can use your magic to cast, and as a buffer if the fish is too strong for ya, but don't rely on it more than yer hooves." She flicked open the latches on the orange box, and pulled out a length of thick fishing wire, setting to work affixing it to her reel. "If ya snag anything bigger 'n a trout and it puts up a fight while yer holdin' it with just yer magic?" She made a popping sound with her mouth, reaching up absent-mindedly with a hoof and making a flying motion. "Say goodbye to your grip, and the whole darn rod while yer at it." Rarity listened to the speech intently, watching with an eye trained for detail as Applejack prepared her line. What clips when, what fastens where, and how to tie appropriately. She followed the steps as closely as possible, relying on her horn to manage the wire and reel while her eyes stayed on Applejack's hooves. Years of multitasking sewing with other matters was paying off in dividends, it seemed. Soon they were done with that step, and it was on to choosing their bait and tackle. Rarity had to force herself to not immediately go for the prettiest lure, and instead ask what the lures and hooks were intended for. There was a wide range of colors and shapes, from false fish to mimic squid. Rarity blanched as Applejack pulled out what looked like a cob of corn, with every kernel replaced with a hook, and enthusiastically explained how it was designed with the sole intent to catch a particularly hostile species of squid. Rarity would have felt worse if it weren't for the way Applejack described the aggressive creatures, in fact it almost sounded like they deserved such a cruel hook. Eventually, Rarity settled on a simple hook with a colorful teaser lure; ideal for catching herself a marlin. Applejack did her job as a mentor and provided ample warning that marlin wasn't exactly a beginner-friendly fish, but Rarity had insisted on a hard fight. Soon enough they found themselves staring into the night as their floats bobbed calmly on the ocean waves, basking in companionable silence. "How long does the waiting usually take?" Rarity wondered aloud, more a muttered rhetorical than an actual question. It wasn't that she was bored, far from it. The clear starlight out here was beyond anything she'd seen even in the rural town of Ponyville, and the faint glow of nebulae enraptured her. Regardless, Applejack shrugged indifferently. "Worst Ah've had is six hours, afore Ah gave up." She said flatly, not bothering to hide a slight bitterness in her tone. Rarity wanted to pry, as there was clearly a story there, but suddenly she felt… wrong. A dull chill brushed through her body, giving her goosebumps from horn to fetlock. It was a sensation not unlike when a winter wind suddenly picks up, only to vanish immediately afterwards. She shuddered, and a quick glance towards Applejack proved she felt the same thing. Though she didn't express her discomfort as outwardly, the intense look in Applejack's eyes confirmed that identical gut instincts resonated through both of them: they were in danger. The lines were haphazardly reeled in, and the rods almost carelessly dismantled so the hooks wouldn't cause any injuries in their panic. As soon as they clasped the tackle box and looked back to the east, both ponies froze. A thick wall of fog had risen between them and Equestria, and was rolling in fast. That in and of itself would have been sufficiently startling, but it was made all the worse by the intangible sense of dread that preceded the bank. As if fear itself was galloping ahead of the haze, acting as a procession for the royalty of horror that used the veil as a carriage. The ponies made a mad dash for the cabin. Applejack threw the door open, ushering Rarity in first. Her eyes were firm and focused as she ducked in afterwards, slamming and sealing the hatch behind her. "What is that?!" Rarity shrieked, staring out through the door's porthole. Applejack roughly shoved past her, an action Rarity would have otherwise been offended by. But for this, she'd excuse a lot more. Applejack turned the ignition, kicking the engine to life with an impatient roar. She nodded, gripping the helm as the boat lurched forward. "We got two options," she barked, eyeing the fog through the windscreen. Rarity snapped her attention from the looming cloud at the tone, and waited. "We can try and outrun it, but Ah don't like our chances of keeping that up for much longer." "What other choice do we have?" Applejack's eyes darkened. "If there's even a chance of a rogue wave in that thing, we'll be safer going in head-first." Rarity swallowed a lump in her throat, switching her eyes between Applejack and the fog they were racing towards. A piece of her wanted to plead for a better option, but even from behind she could see the look on Applejack's face. She inhaled deeply, forcing her fear to the side as she stepped in, and placed a fetlock over Applejack's shoulder. "Alright," she exhaled, allowing the shakiness to resonate in her voice. "I trust you, Applejack." Applejack's expression softened for a moment; a brief glimpse of vulnerability, before it set back into a determined grimace. She gripped the throttle, and set it ahead full. Her hooves danced from spoke to spoke as she wheeled the helm around, and faced her bow to the encroaching fog. The water waved and billowed with white foam as they raced ahead. The shroud rolled in to meet them, stretching up and up like a wall of wool until it swallowed them completely. There was no roar of magic, no heavy thud of collision as if the clouds were made of cotton. All was silent but for the roar of the engine and the waves spreading behind the vessel. The seconds dragged on in the weighted stillness, both pairs of eyes fixed over the bow into the murk beyond. They could barely see the darkness of the water through the white haze, and the bow of the boat was disappearing by the second. Hesitantly, after a tense half of a minute, Applejack slowed the engine to a crawl. Rarity stared in fear, but said nothing. As the boat coasted along, the farm pony gestured towards one of the portholes. "Open that up," she said quietly, "somethin' ain't right…" Rarity nodded quickly before unlatching the small window with her magic, and flinging it open with a clatter. They both listened, straining their ears for any sounds outside of the full hum of the propellers. Nothing. No rushing water, no splashes, not even a dip to indicate an incoming swell. "Wait!" Rarity hissed, flicking her ear. "What's that?" There was a quiet yet persistent sound coming from outside; a high-pitched scraping hiss, somewhere between a bath bomb dissolving and the whine of metal against metal. Applejack opened her mouth to reply, when in the blink of an eye the fog around them went from white to red. It was as if someone had flipped a switch, and colored the lights of the boat. But it wasn't just their lights, the fog itself seemed to glow a bright crimson, making the ocean look like blood. The scraping got even louder, and Rarity- being closer to the open porthole -began to cough, choking as if the air itself had turned caustic. In a flash, Applejack has sprung up to seal the cabin again with a slam, and resumed her position at the helm. The engine roared yet again, and launched them forward. "What's going on?!" Rarity gasped through hacking breaths, the burn in her throat lingering. Applejack didn't answer immediately, keeping an eye on the fog for even the hint of a shadow. "Ah… Ah don't know!" Applejack finally let dread stain her voice. "But Ah know that sound… somethin' about this fog is eatin' through the ship!" She turned her head for a moment to cast a worried glance back at Rarity, but that was long enough. "Ah'm… Ah'm sor--" The last thing Rarity remembered was the imposing silhouette of a rocky spire appearing through the windscreen. A massive spear of stone that absolutely was not there when they sailed out that afternoon. All Applejack remembered was the sound of the crash. Author's Note You all know the drill by now. Any comments, critiques, criticisms or quips are welcome below! Especially on this chapter, because if any of you happen to know anything about sailing a yacht or fishing, I will gladly accept corrections on terminology and whatnot. Until next time, God Bless You! 1. MaroonedApplejack awoke with a start, hacking violently as her lungs and throat burned. Her blurry vision could barely make out the globs of sand, saliva and seawater spilling out of her throat onto the beach underneath her. Eventually her passages were clear enough to let her inhale a deep, sharply cold gulp of desperately needed air. And immediately after, her concerns were no longer of her own wellbeing. She could remember enough what happened before she blacked out to know that Rarity was also in danger. No sooner did the unconscious thought appear than she started looking for her friend. Fortunately she didn't need to look far, though, as the distinct shape of the unicorn was curled up a few yards away on the beach. Even though the fog still lingered around them, heavily reducing visibility, Applejack liked to think she could easily recognize one of her oldest friends. She raced over without a second of hesitation, and started checking Rarity for signs of life. She was breathing, and a quick glance showed Applejack that Rarity had already hacked up her own blockages. With the doubtlessly unpleasant addition of stray wads of seaweed, she noted. The poor mare had probably collapsed from exhaustion after the ordeal, since she wasn't entirely adapted to the roughness of a true wilderness. Carefully, Applejack draped her comatose companion onto her back, and trekked away from the open ocean. Where there was land, there was probably shelter. But Applejack was no hopeful foal. She could still hear the ocean waves in the distance in front of her, that meant they were either on a small island or a sandbar. She felt that she would have remembered seeing either sort of formation on their journey out, which lead her to a single, unnerving conclusion. They weren't in Equestria anymore. How, why, or where, she didn't know. But her exploits as both an Element Bearer and member of the Council of Friendship left her with more than enough experience to know that strange things happen in the world. She reckoned that the fog probably contained some ongoing teleportation spell, or whatnot. A 'lingering thaumaturgical anomaly' as Twilight would have said. Applejack wasn't one to prefer fancy words when simple Ponish would easily suffice, but trying to imagine how her friend would explain it kept the back of her mind busy as she wandered across the island. Her main focus was finding anything to use as shelter, and it took her all of five minutes to notice that there was more than just sand, shrubbery and palm trees on the island. She slowed her pace enough to get a better look at a few of the more unnatural shapes. Wooden debris, crates and barrels. Lots of them were scattered around the beaches. Not so much that it clogged the natural landscape of the island, but enough so there was always at least one within eyesight through the fog. It almost felt like the island was sculpted with the advent of shipwrecks and beached flotsams in mind, so that the debris complimented the landscape instead of polluting it. Applejack didn't have time to ponder this, however, as a flicker of light caused her head to turn. It was a brief, dull glow of firelight just in her right peripheral, and she was sure that she'd see it again if she was patient. Sure enough, the warm glint beckoned through the fog again, and she eagerly followed. Where there was fire, there was life. Where there was life, there was company. And by now, with the cold humidity sinking in to her bones, Applejack was more than ready to either make nice or trounce whatever waited for her at the fire. Surprisingly, neither course of action was necessary. She didn't find a bonfire or campfire like she was expecting. Instead, a pair of torches aligned perfectly to make their flames seem larger than they were, each on their own side of a large cavern that looked like it was the result of two ocean-locked boulders leaning against each other. A quick perk through the opening revealed that it was less of a cavern, and more of a very thick stone gate that lead a large stream into the ocean. Still, any shelter was better than no shelter, and the fog was almost nonexistent inside, allowing Applejack to see a ready-made campfire and a pair of stools on a small ledge inside. Carefully, the mare walked along the narrow path. Her steps minded the wet and slippery stone, her own wet coat and hooves, and the equally wet passenger on her back. Granted, she could easily see that the worst a fall would get her was a dunk in a deep stream, but she didn't want to risk having to drag an unconscious Rarity out of the seawater. Thankfully, Applejack made it after only one precarious slip of a hoof, and gently dropped Rarity against the smooth stone floor. Another quick trek out and back in found Applejack prodding the campfire with one of the doorway's torches, praying that the wood was dry enough to light. To both her delight and confusion, a comfortably warm flame burst to life as soon as the torch hit it. She dropped her flanks onto one of the stools, staring blankly into the fire before a choked exhale burst out of her open mouth. Her mouth spread into a mirthful smile as the huff was followed up by a trickling stream of laughter. Genuine, giddy, stomach-deep laughter as she slapped her hindleg with a hoof. Relief was washing over her like a beam of sunlight piercing the fog. They were going to make it through the night, and now she knew it for certain. She almost forgot to hope that whatever or whoever lived in here wouldn't mind company. 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 It was four hours after Applejack's discovery when Rarity stirred, and another ten minutes until her eyes drifted open. She had been laid on a makeshift bed of fronds while she slept. Her mane and coat felt mildly sticky, as if they'd been left out to dry with a thin coating of dirt after a very ineffective bath. Her throat burned something awful, and she feared she hadn't drank anything all day. "Here," her waking mind was snapped away from its meandering thoughts at the sound of Applejack's voice, her eyes focusing enough to see her friend holding out a mug of steaming liquid with a hoof. "Drink this, you'll be needin' it." Rarity graciously accepted the offered beverage in her own hooves, and sat up so she could greedily drink it down. A few very unladylike slurps sounded out, but she found herself regarding that as uncharacteristically low on her list of priorities. The fluid tasted absolutely awful, but she doubted Applejack would give it to her if there were better options. She hazily looked around her surroundings, taking in everything she could before gathering her thoughts and meeting the gentle expression of her friend. "This isn't quite the vacation I was promised, darling." She laughed hoarsely, prompting a sheepish chuckle from Applejack. "Still, the accomodations are more than acceptable." "Ah'm sorry, Rare," Applejack scrubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, her tone spawning a frown on the unicorn's face. "Ah roped ya into a fishin' trip, and now we're out here and--" "Honestly, Applejack!" Rarity snapped, cutting the farmer off and causing her to wince. "I know I can be a little dramatic at times, but even I wouldn't think to blame you for this! You've very obviously-" she patted her hoof on her bedding as emphasis "-gone above and beyond while I was out, that's leagues more than enough apology for any sort of… unforseen disaster!" She turned a frustrated glare out to the ocean, which was still blanketed by the haze. "If anything, I should be apologizing for being a burden. Clearly you've been quite busy while I caught up on my beauty sleep." It was Applejack's turn to level an indignant glare. She opened her mouth to speak her mind, but a raised hoof from Rarity silenced her. "I know, darling. I'm being too hard on myself, but so are you. And if you're allowed to wallow in self-pity, then so am I." With her piece said, Rarity shakily rose to her hooves. Her legs wobbled slightly as they remembered the sensation of proper blood flow. It was only a few seconds before she felt confident enough to stretch, and she grunted as several loud pops sounded from along her spine, causing Applejack to chuckle. Rarity gave the farmer a look of feigned indignity as she straightened up, but the tense air had been broken. In spite of her efforts, she couldn't hide the graceful smile that spread across her features as she turned, and trotted towards the water. A brief, hesitant utterance from Applejack told her that she wasn't going to enjoy what came next, but it was something she needed to see. Sure enough, as she peered over the edge of the smooth stone outcrop into the water a few feet below, she saw her own reflection. Her delicately cared for mane was in shambles. Her matted locks were clinging heavily to her head and neck, mired with seaweed and sand, and a quick adjustment showed her tail in a similar state. It was horrid, criminal, and an abomination against everything she stood for. Her pupils shrank as she drank in the overwhelming amount of tangles and nets she'd need to comb out, and a rush of unbridled anguish ran through her. Applejack flinched heavily as Rarity belted out a shrill scream that bounced off the cavern walls and rippled the water running through it. If the creature that set up this camp was still on this island, there was no way they didn't know they had guests now. There was a distant sound of a rattling hiss, and something bursting out of the sand. Claws scraped against damp stones, and tore their way through dense foliage towards them. All this Applejack could hear just under Rarity's retching sobs, and the stoic drive for survival slowly enveloped her again. She kept her eyes on the thinning fog, and stepped up. "Rarity…" her firm tone was cautious, just below a shout. Rarity threw a good up dramatically and opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Applejack's eyes shut it down. Then, she noticed the clattering sound steadily approaching them from the inner island, soon followed by the sloshing of something running through water. Rarity bolted upright, and stared out into the fog in a panic. Soon enough, they saw the figure approaching. The thing shuffled on two legs like a minotaur, but lacked any of the bulk. It was thin and broken, ragged fabrics that could have been clothes at one point dropping in tatters around it. It resembled a timberwolf, but only in that it looked like a pile of sticks held together by a magical willpower. As it drew closer they could make out deep sockets where eyes would have been, and a time-stained white coloration. It was a dead thing. The hideous reanimated bones of some creature Equestria never knew before. It gargled and hissed as it fumbled in their direction despite lacking any vocal chords or organs at all. It reached out with both arms the closer it got, both its speed and its chattering making its intentions all too clear. Both ponies leaped into action before there was time to think. As soon as the intruder stepped a clawed foot onto their stony outcrop, Rarity seized its other leg and tripped it. It fell face-first against the stone in a heap with a crash of bone against rock, more than a few of its ribs snapping at the impact. It lifted its head to screech at Rarity, only for the skull to be shattered like glass by a strong kick from Applejack. Dust and bone fragments scattered everywhere, and the rest of the abomination fell limp. Applejack gave another kick, sending the dead creature into the water. "Well, that's just lovely!" Rarity growled, kicking away a tooth with a petrified shudder. "Marooned on an island with no spa or bath in sight, trapped in the fog, and now we have to worry about dead things crawling at us! Could this get any more interesting?" "On the bright side," Applejack offered, jovially gesturing to the mouth of the cave. "If there's more of 'em, they only got one way in, and we got two ways out!" She paused for a moment, and allowed her face to fall into a frown as her cheeks went green. Realization of what they'd just done flared in her mind. Rarity gave her a pleading look that said her mind was processing the same reality. Her voice was thin and trembling as she took a hesitant step forward. "That thing… it was attacking, right? We… we were defending ourselves… right?" Applejack nodded slowly, and looked towards the place she'd kicked the body. The rush of adrenaline faded away slowly, and left her feeling cold in a way their fire couldn't help. Eventually she spoke, a firmly gentle assurance. "We did the right thing," her eyes softened as she turned back to Rarity, "doesn't mean we gotta feel good about it." 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 It was nearing midnight when Rarity saw the lights out in the ocean. The fog had thinned enough for her to see the stars without craning her neck out of the cave, and the Sea itself was calm enough to barely made a sound. Only the wind was daring enough to make a sound as it whistled through the cave and danced across her face. She had long since convinced Applejack that her 'beauty sleep' would let her stay awake enough to keep watch through the night. It didn't take nearly as much persuasion as she was used to with the stubborn worker, and that only proved to be an example of how truly knackered the poor pony was. Now, while her dear friend slept as soundly as possible on their makeshift bed, Rarity had her eyes locked on a set of pink lights on the horizon. They were above the water, though by how much she couldn't say. The vague idea of monsters who used colored lights as lures haunted the back of her mind, though the way the lights flickered and twinkled reminded her too much of lanterns to seriously entertain the notion. What's more, they were steadily drawing closer. They at first appeared as nothing more than a glimmer through the mist that could be dismissed as a trick of the eyes. Then, as the minutes dragged on, they became a steady glow. If she squinted, Rarity would swear she could see a distinctly shaped patch of darkness linking the lights together, though the fog still wouldn't let her see anything more. With a heavy sigh, she turned back into the cave and sat by the fire. Applejack had scrounged up a few supplies from the barrels around the island while she was still awake, and though roasted mangoes wasn't an ideal supper, Rarity was far past complaining about the smaller inconveniences of their situation. She floated one of the dried fruits up to her mouth, and took a firm bite. It crunched and snapped in her mouth, spraying the hot juices that still remained against her tongue like a spitting viper. She winced, but didn't react any further as she chewed the sweet fruit. Her eyes drifted down to Applejack's sleeping form, and she swallowed. Applejack had been so excited after she bought the new boat. She had insisted on taking Rarity out with her, and seemed almost desperate to have a cruise go well after their last attempt years ago. Pity and empathy gripped at Rarity's heart as she remembered the eagerness in her friend's eyes as she showed off the new yacht, explaining intricate details about the model and technology that Rarity wished she'd retained. It was like watching a child who'd gotten their cutie mark all over again, the way Applejack leapt from place to place, pointing here and there. Now, they had shipwrecked again. Only this time the water wasn't shallow enough to wade back home. They were lost at sea, with no way home. Suddenly, the melodic wails of a distant string instrument caught her ear, and pulled her from her thoughts. It was an upbeat, cheerful tune that echoed out from the ocean and bounced through the cave. She realized that the sound had snuck up on her while she was lost in her thoughts, and it wasn't alone. There were voices! Clear, joyous voices singing to the music, as if there was a small band performing on the waves. There were ponies on these waters! Rarity leapt up with a joyful shout and raced to the ocean-side mouth of the cavern. Ponies, griffins, she'd even be grateful for a pack of diamond dogs! She leaped out of the opening and onto the beach below, mouth open wide to call out for her saviours… only to freeze in her tracks the moment the source of the music made itself known. It was a ship. A massive, triple-masted wooden ship that towered over the beach as it crawled along beside it. Two lanterns stood upright on either side of the bow, and a third rose above the highest point of the stern; each glowing a gentle, pink light. The lights illuminated enough for Rarity to see motion on deck, but the shapes that moved to and fro hardly resembled any creature she knew. She almost mistook them for Ornithians due to a similar fashion sense to the air-faring crew she encountered after the Storm King's attack, but even in the dim light from the lanterns she could tell they were featherless. Her heart stopped when three of the creatures emerged from behind their vessel on a large rowboat. One of them stood himself on the bow, and was holding up a lantern in his paw that illuminated himself and his fellows all too clearly. These creatures were flat-faced, near-hairless things that balanced effortlessly on two legs. They were easily as tall as a minotaur, but stood on flat feet similar in shape to a duck's that they covered with what looked like leather boots. Their lookout wore a thick, well-groomed brown mustache that stuck out from his pale face, and his uncovered mane was a combed towards the back of his head in a slick cap. The style of his apparel and the gleaming cutlass sheathed boldly at his him informed Rarity if everything else she needed to know. These creatures were not only without a doubt the same sort as the dry bones that attacked her earlier, and their occupation was frighteningly clear. Rarity was pulled violently out of her shock by a shout from the lookout, and she felt her blood run cold as she realized he was pointing directly at her. Before she could think, she found herself running with a frightened scream back to the cavern. She needed to warn Applejack, and fast. Far behind her she heard the splashing of one of the creatures leaping into the water, and the grinding of wood against sand as the rowboat beached. She sprang up towards the ledge in a jump that surprised herself, and fell in a tumbling heap against the stone floor. There she found Applejack staring back at her with a look of fright and confusion. She'd clearly been woken with a start at Rarity's scream, and was trying to sort out what was happening as her brain tried to shoo away the muddled thoughts of a sleeping mind. She pressed a hoof against her temple, shook the weariness out of her ears, and blinked at the panicked seamstress. "What the hay's goin' on?!" Applejack managed a shout while she rose to her hooves. Immediately afterwards, she wished she hadn't asked. As if as an answer, she saw the lantern-weilding creature leap up onto the stone platform behind Rarity with a graceful ease, and hold up the lamp to stare with beady eyes between the pair of ponies. "Pirates!" Rarity was in a fit, her heart thundering against her chest as she dove towards Applejack. She couldn't decide if she should cower behind her more capable friend or stand between the sleepier mare and the danger, settling on facing the buccaneer shoulder-to-shoulder. Seeing the ocean-side passage blocked by the pirate, the ponies turned to flee inland. Their dash ended the same second it began once they found that route blocked by the other two; a darker-skinned rotund beast flanked by a more muscle-built example of their species, each held their swords at the ready. The friends gave out a frightened yelp, and backed towards the stone wall. Rarity was shaking heavily enough that her limp mane flicked around like a nest of snakes, and Applejack quickly stepped protectively in front of her. The farmer's eyes were glaring daggers at the trio that closed around them, while the designer's eyes were wide with panic. The pirates came to a stop once the mares were backed against the wall, as if waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Like a pack of wolves encircling their prey. Suddenly, the lantern-bearer held his arm out cautiously, holding his paw open in a display that almost looked like it was meant to placate the ponies. In his other paw, he made a motion towards his companions with three of his digits. His fellows quickly stepped back, and put their swords away. "Easy now," The lantern-bearer's hoarse voice came out just above a whisper while he crouched, and his movements were slow and deliberate. "We ain't gonna hurt'cha, ponies. We're sorry for scarin' ya." Applejack eyed him warily as he set the lantern down, and held up both paws in the same gesture. She didn't trust this creature as far as she could likely buck him, but he wasn't attacking and his crew only watched on with passive interest. It looked like he was making sure she saw everything he did. Eventually, he'd say himself on his haunches, and reached a paw out towards the ponies. The offered shake was accompanied with a kind smile, and his eyes showed no hostility. Slowly, she reached out, and shook his paw with her hoof. "I'm Nine-Pace Nathan, First Mate of the Damned Hydra." He stated politely, standing to his full height as he released Applejack's hoof. "Welcome, little ponies, to the Sea of Thieves!" Author's Note And now we get into the proper story! Swashbuckling adventures await! As always, your criticisms, compliments and critiques are more than welcome in the comments section! Feedback is important, after all. 2. The Captain of the Damned HydraIt took a few minutes for Applejack and the pirates to calm Rarity down from her hysteria, and reassure her that they were in no danger. Within minutes, the ponies found themselves on board the rowboat as Nathan personally rowed them towards the galleon he’d referred to as the “Damned Hydra”. The deck of the great vessel bustled with activity as the crew-- humans, as they called themselves --made ready to greet their new guests. Doubtless they could see from aboard that their visitors weren't human, and that alone seemed to cause quite a stir indeed. Shouting and shuffling sounded from the ship, and Applejack could've sworn she heard a faint sound like metal stabbing into wood at a steady rhythm. Once the rowboat slowed to drift just behind the massive ship, Nathan stood up and snatched the end of a rope that dangled down just within reach. He looped it around what could generously be called the rowboat's bowsprit, and gestured behind Applejack as he started tying the cord into knots. Applejack nodded wordlessly, and reached for the rope off the stern with her forehooves. They were just barely too high for her to reach, until a blue light gently encircled the frayed end of the line and pulled it down for her. Applejack turned, gave Rarity a grateful smile as the unicorn dimmed her magic, and set to work securing the lifeboat. After a quick examination from Nathan to make sure Applejack's knots were secure, the boat was hoisted into the air. It was a brief, albeit unsteady lift that reminded Applejack of the times she'd ride on the hay bales while they were hoisted into her family's barn loft. She turned her head to check on Rarity, who barely looked nervous to the untrained eye, save for the shakiness in her hooves. Applejack knew better. There was a wet shine in her friend’s eyes, a glint that she’d seen so many times before whenever they were on adventures. It was the telltale sign of an uncomfortable, miserably unsettling fear. The primal anxiety of predators looming in the tall grass, or just under the surface of a peaceful river. As their rowboat latched into place, Applejack carefully stepped over and held Rarity in a reassuring embrace. "We're gonna be fine, Rares." She said calmly, pulling back from the hug and giving her friend a meaningful look. "Ya trust that, right?" "I can't say," Rarity tried to return the smile, but her words were hesitant as her eyes lingered on Nathan. Applejack followed her gaze, and realized the cause for caution. The pirate had stood to his full height, towering over them both by barely over double their height without even trying. With him standing so close, the difference in size was all too obvious. "But," Applejack's attention snapped back to Rarity, who was letting out a deep breath with her eyes closed. "I know that I trust you, and if you're willing to promise that, I'm willing to at least go along." Nathan had been waiting patiently through their moment before he hurriedly ushered them around the walkway that stretched across the stern of the Damned Hydra. He led them through a small door on the port side, and into what could only be the Captain's cabin. It was lavishly decorated, with curtains hanging over a wide set of windows that looked out over the walkway they had used to board, a very obvious detail that Applejack was baffled that she hadn't noticed on the way in. There were shelves lined with various precious stones and other knick-knacks and trinkets, a few paintings scattered on the walls, a cupboard with glass windows that displayed a few fine dishes, and a few chests for personal storage. A white parrot crowed loudly from its cage near one of the desks, and in a forward corner rested a fine white bed. Perfectly centered in the ceiling was a dangling chandelier that looked like it was fashioned from a spare helm. In the back of the room, a plain wooden table in front of the port windows. It wasn’t very lavishly carved, made more for practical use than anything. It was sparsely decorated with several scrolls stacked in separate piles, an open logbook, and an inkwell that played home to a proud green feather. If viewed from the front, it would have been flawlessly framed by the windows. Behind it sat a sturdy wooden chair, decently cushioned where it needed to be. And in that seat sat a tall, black-haired woman who slowly turned to look at them. She was bulky in build. A healthy balance of natural fat and dense muscle gave her a powerful presence. Her neatly-combed hair ran down her shoulders to her chest, with several locks kept together by small silver bands. Her clothes were a fetching display of greens and dark grays with ruffles and frills enough to be fashionable without being overbearing or reducing practicality. The large, wide-brimmed brown hat on her head would have been the most immediately eye-catching details in her entire ensemble, with a massive golden feather sticking confidently out of the band. But one key feature distracted both ponies from her outfit. A massive, jagged pink scar ran across the left side of her face from forehead to jaw, crossing over the blank white orb that was her right eye. While her left eye was thin and slanted, her right was left wide open as if the eyelids didn’t exist anymore. Rarity shrieked at the sight of the disfigurement, and almost stumbled back out the door. She likely would have backpedaled until she fell off the ship if it wasn't for Nathan blocking her escape. Her outburst earned her a stern smack on the back of her head from Applejack, which in turn thankfully revived some sense of manners to the overwhelmed mare. Much to Applejack's relief, the Captain-- for this woman was clearly the ship's captain if ever there was one --calmly bade them sit and make themselves comfortable with a gesture of her hand. She hadn't seemed to take any offense to Rarity's panic, instead only fixing both ponies with an even stare. As the ponies slowly made their way to the opposite side of the Captain's desk, all four parties in the cabin shared a thoroughly uncomfortable silence. The woman regarded her guests carefully, as if considering her words with the utmost caution. Her good eye was fierce, and deep. Rarity thought it reminded her of the eyes of a calculating villain from one of her novels, or perhaps one of the love interests from her more obscure collection of literature, and felt very much like a rabbit in the sights of a dragon. There was no immediate danger, but a thorough aura of intimidation cast itself over her like a shadow. Applejack saw something far different in that eye, however. Applejack saw experience, and no small amount of trepidation. This was a woman who was frightened deeply, but chose to face that dread in a battle of wills instead of fleeing from it. A woman who had fought fearsomely against things she couldn't dare imagine, and emerged victorious. Though the reason why she was so wary of creatures less than half her size, Applejack didn't dare guess. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Captain spoke. "Forgive me for staring," her voice came out gruff, but paradoxically smooth. Her tone was courteous, but strict and dispassionate. Her accent reminded Rarity of nobility in Canterlot, though with far less artificial pompousness. "I didn't think we'd see more of your kind on these seas, let alone living in the caves of an isle like Shark Bait Cove. I'm Captain Silver-Eyed Sara, welcome aboard." "It's a right pleasure to be aboard, Cap'n!" Applejack said enthusiastically, holding out her hoof for a shake. She wanted to put her best hoof forward, and prove she wasn't somepony to be scared of. "Ah'm Applejack, and this here's Rarity. Ya wouldn't believe how much of a relief it is seein' some honest folk after the welcome we got!" Nathan stepped in from his place behind Rarity as his Captain shook the offered hoof, and he leaned down to place a fractured jawbone on the table. "We found this in the stream inside the cave, along with the remains of a skeleton." He gave Sara a meaningful look. "No signs of the rest of the skull, 'cept a couple fragments. Quite the nasty welcoming party for newcomers, I'd say. But they managed." "So I see," Sara picked up the bone, eying it critically before snapping her eyes back to the ponies. "Your handiwork, I take it?" "Didn't give us much of a choice, ma'am." Applejack kicked herself mentally. As true as that statement was, destroying the only other creature she'd seen probably didn't help her appear friendly. "Sorry if it was a friend o' yours." The Captain scoffed, and tossed the bone shard into what looked like a rubbish barrel. "Wretched, mindless creatures born from dark magic. They're nobody's friend but their own. Even the ones that still have any sanity left will only try to kill you on sight for the crime of still having flesh. One less skeleton haunting the seas is a boon by any measure." Both ponies visibly relaxed at that information, Rarity especially so. Nathan chuckled, but otherwise stayed silent as he stood back at his post. Sara switched her focus to Rarity, and briefly flicked her eyes towards the unicorn's horn. "Did you stab the bastard with that?" "Certainly not!" Rarity's eyes went wide with horror, and she recoiled as if the very concept had tried to bite her. "I would never allow some decayed creature anywhere near me! Let alone close enough to touch my horn! I merely tripped him with it, and Applejack kicked him!" Both of the pirates waited silently for a few moments. When it was clear that no more details were coming, Sara lazily rolled her hand on her wrist as a gesture to continue the story. Rarity blinked, and looked to her companion. "Well… that was it, really." Sara's brows rose with clear interest at that, and she rested her chin on curled fingers. "So you're telling me you just kicked him," she laughed with a clear tone of disbelief. "His head is powder except for a few teeth and a piece of his jaw, after a kick?" "Yeah," Applejack leaned back now, tilting her head curiously. "Is that strange? Now, normally Ah don't kick livin' things that hard, but that thing was all kinds o' not livin', and seemed like he wanted company in that department if ya catch me. So, Ah didn't hold the girls back! Ah figured y'all did the same, since y'said yourself less of 'em is better! Ain’t you able to do that?” Whatever composure Nathan had maintained was broken immediately at the earth pony's words, and he bent down with a booming guffaw. The captain slowly closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. She stood up, slowly, and lifted her right leg onto the table. Both Rarity and Applejack winced at the sight. Below her knee, where there should have been a long leg that ended in a duck-like foot, there was instead a gilded spike of black iron and polished gold. Fancy as it was, the implications of a pegleg weren't lost on anypony, but the captain continued on. "My kicking days are a little behind me, Applejack. And even when I still had both legs I couldn't kick hard enough to break through solid bone. Nobody on these waters can." Her tone shifted slightly, sounding more than a little indignant. "Worst we can do is kick the skull away like a football, and disorient the wretches. Or if we feel so inclined, we can stomp down from above; shatter their heads against stone." Her peg slid down from the table, and landed heavily on the floor. The image of a skeleton's head speared underneath it came easily. "But even then, they're in fragments, chips, more likely in chunks scattered here and there. Not. Reduced. To dust. "If we want those kinds of results," Sara leaned over the table, resting a balled fist against it as she reached behind her back with the other hand. There was a metallic clicking noise, and she pulled it back out holding what looked like an iron trumped fastened to a block of wood. "We'd have to use one of these." After a brief pause, Sara groaned and sat herself back onto the chair, carefully setting the odd instrument onto her table. “Bah, I’m getting distracted from why I allowed you aboard. I can offer you a deal, if you like.” Applejack squinted, and studied the woman closely. “What sort of deal are we talkin’ ‘bout, here?” 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 Rarity did her best to keep a wary eye on the pirates that scurried around the ship without seeming impolite as both she and Applejack were escorted below deck. Nathan confidently led them to a curtained-off section forward on the middle deck, and dramatically pulled the thick fabric aside. Inside the wide space was a set of chests and boxes sat in organized chaos, accompanied by a stuffed figure on a pole that Rarity immediately recognized as a simplistic dummy for clothing display. Nathan dug around in a few of the boxes, and readily gave her and Applejack each a spare set of tools. Pails, shovels, spyglasses, compasses, and a plethora of other pieces of equipment that quickly piled around them. "And just what in the pickled pony feathers am I s'posed to do with all this?" Applejack wobbled on her hindlegs, struggling to hold everything that Nathan had handed her. The sight admittedly made Rarity giggle, which earned her an indignant glare from the farmer. Nathan, for his part, smacked himself on the head and motioned for Applejack to drop everything. An offer she didn’t hesitate to accept. “Spend enough years on this sea, and ye forget what it be like to first sail here.” He laughed, standing himself up straight. “What ye need to do is take yer tools, and think like yer puttin’ ‘em in a pocket that ain’t rightly there. Watch!” To the astonishment of both ponies, Nathan quickly pulled a large shovel out from his side as if he was taking the thing out of a saddlebag. The rounded, blue-stained blade seemed to grow out of this air when he reached back, and the wooden handle slid out of nothing. He showed it to them with a couple gestures, and then reached again as if he was just going to put it in his pocket. Sure enough, the process reversed, and the shovel shrank awkwardly until it vanished at his side. He gave them a wink, and gestured to their tools. “... it’s an entire ocean of them.” Rarity muttered once her brain had unscrambled enough. She raised a hoof to massage her forehead, and cast a worried look at Applejack. “We’ve wrecked ourselves into an ocean of Pinkies.” 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 “They hay is this?” Applejack grimaced as she held up a trumpet similar to the one the captain showed them in her cabin, but far more worn and stained. “Some kind o’ musical weapon? Y’ can hurt the skeleton folk with it, right?” "That be a blunderbuss," Nathan said laughingly, "just a type o’ musket." When that explanation earned nothing but an owlish stare from the farmer, his smile dropped. He stared back for a moment before he shook his head, and scratched his mustache thoughtfully. "I guess they don't have them types where you’re from, but uhh… here, think of it like a small cannon. But instead o' ships and castles, ya use it on people. And that one? She be specifically made fer bein’ very, very effective face-to-face." He playfully tapped the barrel with his finger, and made an exploding motion with his hands. Applejack's pupils shrank as she conceptualized the powerful tool she held in her hooves, and she stared at it with a mixture of fear and awe. "And yer jus'... givin’ it to me?" Her voice was openly hesitant and suspicious, though Nathan continued as if he didn't notice. "Ye'll be able to afford a bette' one in time, don't worry." He shrugged, as if he misinterpreted her concern. "Yer going to need at least one of this sorts o' weapons if'n ya want to survive the Sea of Thieves, Applejack. A good portion of your enemies will be more'n willing to shoot first." "And what about these?" Both parties turned to see Rarity levitating a pair of muskets with much thinner barrels in front of her, taking care to keep both aimed away from anything living. One looked to be as long as her own body with a spyglass bolted on top, the other barely longer than her horn with a curved handle. Nathan's eyes seemed to light up at seeing them, and he crouched down to Rarity's eye level. "Those're fer a more… refined approach t' dealin' with yer enemies." His tone was still jovial, but held an unmistakable air of reverence as he carefully caressed the longer gun. "The Eye of Reach is me personal favorite; an elegant weapon what can pop a skelly in a single shot, and with enough practice can hit reliably from ten hulls away! And this one," he switched his focus to the smaller gun, and lost most of the admiration in his voice. "This be a flintlock. Good for when yer foe ain't near enough fer yer cutlass, but ain't far enough fer the Eye." "Mr. Nathan!" Before Rarity or Applejack could ask any more questions, the chunky dark pirate from before burst down through the stairway behind them, rounding the corner and stopping to catch his breath. The news came after a minute of slow, heavy wheezes. "The scouters done found where they think the loot’s at!" Nathan clapped his hands together, and stood up straight. "Perfect! Little ponies, take heed! Yer about to get a feel for the life of a--" "Wait, 'ow's she doin' tha'?!" The large crewmate interrupted, his hand lifted to point shakily at the weapons floating around Rarity. The unicorn glanced over her shoulder, then back to the pirate, and back again. "Is... is this odd?" She asked gently, looking just as confused as the sailor. Author's Note I should definitely clarify now for future reference: this story is not going to be 100% accurate to the deeper lore of Sea of Thieves. It's going to be a mix of my knowledge of the lore (which is not a lot, in spite of my love for it), a few of the game mechanics, and how I think this world would interact with ponies. This will become more apparant to those of you more familiar with the game's stories as time goes on. I'm not saying that to deflect or discourage lore corrections, if there are any SoT lore guys/gals who are bugged by inaccuracies you are more than welcome to comment about it. Will it affect this story? Admittedly, maybe not. But will I find it interesting and helpful? Absolutely, I love that stuff. As always, please leave any comments, criticisms, critiques and compliments down below. Any feedback from amusing observations to grammar corrections is greatly appreciated! Until Next Time, God Bless You! ~Amethyst Dawn Also, background of the new cover image was stolen borrowed from the book Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire. I haven't read it yet but I've heard good things. 3. Blood in the Sand“Another one,” Applejack mused as a small golden-brown pig raced out of the foliage to the company’s right. The animal ran in a panic in random directions at the sight of them, trying desperately to avoid the party of two ponies and three humans. Nathan calmly raised his flintlock and fired once, and the pig stumbled and fell still with a heartbreaking squeal. The large dark-skinned sailor ran up to the lifeless corpse of the swine and hoisted it up under his left arm, leaving him holding two hogs on either side. He grinned excitedly with uneven teeth, and held his prizes tightly against his sides. "I'll head these piggies back to the boat," he beamed, waddling back towards the triple masts towering over the palm trees. "If the captain allows it, ol’ Clarence got a mind to make a roast!" Nathan only responded with a nod, sending Clarence jogging with a spring in his step. Rarity watched the entire exchange with an uncomfortable grimace, only speaking when she was sure Clarence was out of earshot. "I cannot fathom how a creature can be so enthusiastic about eating other mammals," she muttered, shuddering. "Way Ah hear it, animals in this world ain't what they are back home." Applejack shrugged, her expression even and indifferent. "Can't say Ah'm particularly comfortable 'bout it either, but this ain't our world. Ah just try to imagine every animal is a fish." Rarity opened her mouth as if to rebuke the idea, but paused. She closed her lips, considered Applejack's words carefully with a tilt of her head, and nodded reluctantly. As discomforting as the concept of pig meat was for her, Applejack's reasoning was solid. Once again, the farm pony was more prepared for their predicament than Rarity could ever hope to be, and that fact weighed on her mind. Just how much would she be coming to rely on Applejack for guidance? A foreign emotion swelled up like a dull ache in Rarity's gut. It wasn't resentment or envy, but at the same time it was. She felt motivated and downtrodden in the same moment as her eyes wandered around the group, seeing how well Applejack was adjusting. Applejack walked with a confident gait, each step was firm and careful. It was the same sort of walk Princess Twilight would do whenever she figured out how to defeat a villain, or that Pinkie Pie would do when she had finally figured out what would make some stubborn pony happy. Applejack was completely in her element in this strange world. So why wasn't Rarity? Nathan and the third human of the troop walked at a calm pace in front, muttering over a tattered parchment in a calm debate. Their words weren’t always clear, but Rarity could tell that they were trying to figure out what landmarks were where. Nathan pulled out his compass, turned to his right, and nodded towards the inner rings of the strange island. “It be buried up north, by the whales. We be on the wrong beach!” “And who’s fault is that?” The crewmate slapped his leg with a hoot, clapping his other hand on Nathan’s back. “I told ye that five minutes ago!” “You did,” Nathan rolled his eyes, “after spinnin’ a tale ‘bout how we could use the ship’s lanterns to figure its location without leaving the deck!” As the pair continued to banter, Rarity slowly blocked them out again. A rustle in the bushes as they changed their course caught her attention, and she glanced over to catch sight of a brown hide ducking out of view at the last second. Even if they weren’t intelligent, she didn’t feel like outing the poor animal to these carnivores. When she returned her attention ahead of her, Rarity was startled by her entire field of vision being taken up by a scrutinizing pair of green irises. Applejack had noticed Rarity’s preoccupied mind, and stepped in front of her friend swiftly. Concern tugged at her chest as the normally vocal unicorn was shuffling dejectedly behind the group, and her gut told her that now was a calm enough moment to address the situation. Rarity had turned back and frozen in her tracks with a yelp just an inch away from bumping head first into Applejack, earning a small smile from the mare. “What’s on yer mind?” Applejack’s voice was soft, but firm. The look she was giving Rarity reminded the unicorn of the same concerned stares her own sister would give when she had stayed up all night working to catch a deadline. Applejack noticed a reluctance in Rarity to meet her eyes, and shouted over her shoulder. “Nathan! Ah need to talk with Rares for a moment, is that alright?” The pirates turned back to look at the ponies, and the first mate gave them a dismissive wave. Applejack smiled, and turned her attention back to Rarity. “Sit with me?” Rarity slowly acquiesced as Applejack quietly led her towards the shade of a small palm tree that jutted out from the rest of the shrubbery. They sat under the thick leaves, and took a moment to silently breathe. The ocean wind blew the scent of salt, flowers and fish across their faces. The noonday sun was mercifully warm, and their small patch of shade was just cool enough to be calming. After a little under a minute of just tranquility, Applejack broke the ice. “You’ve been awful quiet since we got aboard the Hydra, Rares.” She started, staring off to the horizon. “Deal be darned, Ah’m not gonna ignore that yer havin’ a rough day.” Rarity smiled softly, her chest heavy with conflicting feelings of thankfulness and exhaustion towards Applejack’s perceptiveness. She stared with Applejack into the distance, turning her head so the farmer was just out of sight. The bushes rustled again, another panicked pink pig racing onto the swirling beaches from behind them. Rarity watched the cute little creature run around, the encompassing silence mixing with the sight of the animal and reminding her of tea parties with Fluttershy back home in Equestria. She took in a deep sigh, and closed her eyes. “I just… I miss home,” she admitted, “quite desperately. I’m more than a little afraid that I won’t make it back, that I’ll never see our friends or my family again, that we’re marooned in these hostile seas. And though I’m ashamed to admit it, I’m more than a little envious of how well you’ve taken to this.” Applejack made a coughing sound, and something warm and sticky hit Rarity’s cheek from behind. Rarity shuddered with a wince, and wiped at the substance with a hoof. “Oh, honestly, Applejack! Chuckling at this time is bad enough,” she turned to level an irate look at Applejack, “but can you at least aim your phlegm else… where…” The sight that greeted Rarity left her blood running cold. Applejack was staring with wide, panicked eyes that flicked this way and that. The rest of her body was immobile, steadily going limp with each passing second. Her mouth hung open, a steady trickle of blood flowing from the corner of her lips. Out of the front of her throat stuck the rusted tip of an aged cutlass, stained red with a mix of rust and the earth pony’s blood. The bleached-white bones of a skeletal hand bolted out of the bushes, and savagely gripped Applejacks head. The rest of the undead menace slowly rose after, and yanked the blade carelessly out of her neck. It let out a hoarse hiss of a cackle, and walked towards Rarity. Rarity couldn’t think. She couldn’t move. She didn’t dare to even blink. All she could do was watch as her best friend’s body fell to one side. What must have taken under a second dragged on for hours, and Rarity watched every second pass through Applejack’s eyes. At first there was confusion, then a steadily growing pain, grim realization and panic, until finally there was nothing. By the time her head hit the sand, Applejack’s eyes were staring ahead blankly; and the last traces of life had left them entirely. Rarity Screamed. 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 Next thing Rarity knew, she was sitting in the hold of the Damned Hydra. A blanket was wrapped over her shoulders, and vague, blurry shapes were pacing to and fro around her. Some shapes paused to mutter words that sounded hollow and distant, others flittered past. Rarity didn’t notice any of them, the events that took place on the beach playing over and over in her mind’s eye. Blood, bones, a gargling hiss, the flash of a stained blade and a flash of green fire. Gone. One moment of cruelty, and Applejack was gone. Rarity didn’t feel fear anymore. She didn’t feel anything at all anymore. All she could manage to do was stare into the foggy mass of colors and formless shapes that was in front of her. She felt emptier than she ever had before. There was no wailing, no bemoaning of the worst things to happen. The only sound she made was the still, consistent hiss of emotionless breaths. She wasn’t even sure how she got back aboard the ship. Was she carried here, or did she run like a coward? She’d never known herself to run when her friends were under any genuine threat. But then again, she’d never seen her friends bleed. She’d never seen her friends die. In the back of her mind, she resolved to assume that she ran. That she abandoned her most reliable friend. She couldn’t do anything anyways, could she? Two feet away, and she couldn’t even realize there was any danger before it was too late. She didn’t feel nothing. No, she felt one thing. Useless. 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 “So, another one o’ your kind has found your way into the Sea of Thieves?” Applejack felt strange. As if she wasn’t complete, or some piece of her was missing. The sand was cold beneath her body, and a chill breeze brought the scent of dead fish and old wood across her nostrils. Had she fallen asleep? The last she remembered was talking to Rarity, and then pain. Everything after that was… fuzzy. Distant. She groaned as her aching head thundered, and rose to her hooves. She opened her eyes, and immediately felt more lost than she ever had before. She wasn’t on Shark Bait Cove anymore, that was for sure. The island she found herself on was much larger, and looked sickly. The rocks were dark and jagged, the plants either dead or dying, and save for a few green torches scattered around, the only light came from what looked to be a perpetual eclipse. Everything from the clouds to the vast expanse of waves glowed with several shades of a sickly green. “Where am I?” She asked idly, starting to remember the voice that had disturbed her rest. A ghostly figure emerged to her right, and knelt down beside her. She took note of the man’s features quickly. His black hair encircled his apelike face as if it were the mane of a lion or a baboon, his features were gaunt and slender, his skin was a deep green, and one of his eyes was covered by a worn and decayed patch. His clothes were thick and warm, and a longcoat hung loosely around his body. His left hand was replaced with a hook of jagged metal, and his right foot with a prosthetic crudely carved from wood. His face was stern as he regarded her, and waved his hand out to a small scrap-built dock that jutted out from the beach. “Somewhere you’re not meant to be, little one.” His voice was tired and ageless, bearing the weight of a thousand years with grim determination. “Board my ferry, and I’ll escort you back to the living world.” Those words shook Applejack to her core, and the full reality started to dawn on her when she saw the ghoulish vessel anchored by the rickety dock. Every inch of the boat was ragged and torn, entire chunks missing in several places. Where there wasn’t wood, there was an ethereal glow that was almost more white than it was green. Several more ghostly figures stood idly on the deck, chaperoned by phantoms clad in dark cloaks. “The livin’ world?” Applejack muttered, turning back to the man beside her. “Y’mean Ah kicked the bucket?” The man nodded silently. “An’ you can just… take me back?” He nodded again. Applejack bit her lip, and glanced over her shoulder. Something about this didn’t sit right with her, but that part of her was beaten down by a steadily growing hopefulness. She forced herself to turn back to the figure, and opened her mouth to ask a pressing question. Before even the first syllable could escape her lips, the phantom held up his good hand to silence her. “These waters are a part of the Sea of Thieves, little pony.” He stated firmly, giving her a firm look that was not yet absent of empathy. “I cannot retrieve souls that passed on beyond the Shroud. I am sorry.” Applejack lowered her head, and kicked the sand with a huff. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy to see them again. She had half a mind to pester the man about it, but she could tell there was no lie in his voice. In a flash, her foolish selfishness caught up to her, and the realization of her hazy memories stirred her to start looking around frantically. “Oh no, if Ah’m dead… where’s Rarity?!” “Another of your kind, I take it? No more souls like yours have passed into the Sea of the Damned, little one. I can only assume she is alive and well.” The gaunt man rose back to his full height, and motioned for her to follow him. Applejack obeyed, albeit hesitantly. She kept pace a healthy distance behind the apparition as he led her to his ferry. The closer she got to the ship, the less uneasy she felt. That way was the path back to the living world, back to her friend. Back to that scared Unicorn she needed to protect at all costs. She would not waste this second chance. Author's Note Eesh, took me ages to actually have the motivation to finish this update. Finding motivation to do much of anything has been rough, especially with writing. But I promised I'd be back to writing on here, and- even if it takes me forever to update -I intend to keep that promise. Even if only to myself. Going dark fast with this story, but that's Sea of Thieves for you. I'm hoping this chapter did well in setting up a few plans I have for the future of the story, the arcs that Rarity and Applejack respectively are going to be on. I've noticed that the stories I put the most thought into tend to either feature Rarity, Applejack, or both. I don't even know if I'd consider them my favorite characters, I guess they're just the easiest for me to write for. You know what to do. Any comments, critiques, criticisms and whatever are more than welcome. Feedback helps.
Prologue: The ShroudBeautiful. That was the only word fit to describe the sunset that evening. The dim glow of the clear sky shimmered through shades of orange, magenta, violet, before finally stretching out into a deep blue. The bounty of colors reflected off the endless expanse of the ocean, bouncing back up in a ripple-rent flattery of the horizon. And somewhere in the ocean, miles from the shores of Equestria, framed perfectly within the gentle glow of the sleeping sun, was a unicorn; resting her front hooves against the thin railing of the yacht she found herself on. She inhaled deeply as the soft kiss of the eastward breeze broke across her face, lightly billowing her delicately combed violet mane in its wake. Her pearl-white coat was stained by the warm yellow light of the sun, casting a blue shadow from her back across the wooden deck. Her cutie mark, a trio of sharp diamonds, rested comfortably in the shadows on her flanks. It was a picturesque moment in time that she, for once, felt content to merely enjoy rather than even spare a thought to capture. The whirring click of a camera stirred her from her meditation, and gave away that her host had also changed her philosophy for capturing the moment. The unicorn smiled, letting her sapphire blue eyes flick open as she turned her head to regard the boat's captain. "Was that why you spent so long rummaging around below deck, Applejack, darling?" The unicorn huffed, pooching out her lips in a mock pout. "Abandoning me up here, just to grab a camera?" Applejack, an earth-pony mare of similar age to her guest, smiled sheepishly. Her already-orange coat shone in the dying sunlight, and her buttercup-yellow mane even moreso. Even the emerald of her eyes glistened like polished gemstones. In place of where she normally wore a tan stetson, instead was perched a comfortable maroon breton cap; adorned with a golden trifecta of apples to match the mark on her rump, nestled neatly in the middle of a shield emblem. "Not rightly, no." Came her plain reply, laden with a thick southern accent. "Ah was fetchin' somethin' else, but when Ah came back and saw you standin' there in the sunset?" She laughed merrily, clicking her forehoof against the deck and giving a low whistle. "Y'looked prettier'n a picture, Rarity, so Ah figured Ah'd take one o' my own, if ya catch me." "Aww!" Rarity held a hoof to her chest for a moment, tearing up slightly before stepping down to wrap her friend in a near-suffocating hug. "Apology accepted, darling! Though I would appreciate more company from here on, it gets lonely without somepony to talk to!" Applejack chuckled, returning the hug readily. The embrace lasted for only a few seconds before she pulled away, Rarity's grip loosing in near synchronous time as she raised a curious eyebrow. "Though, what in Equestria were you shuffling around for? It was an awful racket just for you to come back empty-hooved!" "About that," Applejack smiled at the question, nodding her head over her shoulder as a beckon for Rarity to follow. She trotted back to the small metal hatch that lead to the vessel's cabin and quarters, which amounted to a single chamber in such a small vessel. She opened the latch and ducked her front end through the door for a moment, placing down the camera and its rigging with a minor clatter before emerging with a pair of fishing rods. "Ah figured that if you were interested, we could do a little deep-sea fishin'? Ah'm hopin' to land a sturgeon, or maybe even a sailfin." Rarity's eyes lit up as she enveloped one of the rods in a glow to match her eyes, levitating it in front of her as she clapped her forehooves together excitedly. "Oooh, wonderful!" She cooed, closely examining the rod. "You will be teaching me how to cast, won't you? I'm sure I won't know the first thing about getting a proper distance, I haven't even really fished in a river before, but I'm willing to give it my all!" She finished with a declarative stamp of her hoof, a look of giddy determination in her eyes. Applejack quirked a brow at her, never dropping her friendly smile. "Y'sure it ain't gonna be too slimy for ya?" Applejack teased, leaning in and nudging Rarity with her shoulder. "It ain't exactly the hoity-toity sterile work yer used to, y'know." "Oh, please!" Rarity rolled her eyes, waving a hoof dismissively. "I didn't accept your invitation to come out here expecting to stay completely clean, darling! A little fish slime here and there won't kill me." She paused, glancing upwards and tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Though I will absolutely insist on a thorough bath once we get back, maybe I could treat you to a full spa treatment? Pampering and all?" "Heh," Applejack chortled, patting her friend on the back, "sounds more'n fair to me. If Ah can get you slathered in fish guts, you can drag me to the works at a spa." She leaned her pole against the railing, stepping away to pull a box out from the cabin. "First thing's first, you're gonna have to rely on your hooves for the fightin' and tuggin'. Y'can use your magic to cast, and as a buffer if the fish is too strong for ya, but don't rely on it more than yer hooves." She flicked open the latches on the orange box, and pulled out a length of thick fishing wire, setting to work affixing it to her reel. "If ya snag anything bigger 'n a trout and it puts up a fight while yer holdin' it with just yer magic?" She made a popping sound with her mouth, reaching up absent-mindedly with a hoof and making a flying motion. "Say goodbye to your grip, and the whole darn rod while yer at it." Rarity listened to the speech intently, watching with an eye trained for detail as Applejack prepared her line. What clips when, what fastens where, and how to tie appropriately. She followed the steps as closely as possible, relying on her horn to manage the wire and reel while her eyes stayed on Applejack's hooves. Years of multitasking sewing with other matters was paying off in dividends, it seemed. Soon they were done with that step, and it was on to choosing their bait and tackle. Rarity had to force herself to not immediately go for the prettiest lure, and instead ask what the lures and hooks were intended for. There was a wide range of colors and shapes, from false fish to mimic squid. Rarity blanched as Applejack pulled out what looked like a cob of corn, with every kernel replaced with a hook, and enthusiastically explained how it was designed with the sole intent to catch a particularly hostile species of squid. Rarity would have felt worse if it weren't for the way Applejack described the aggressive creatures, in fact it almost sounded like they deserved such a cruel hook. Eventually, Rarity settled on a simple hook with a colorful teaser lure; ideal for catching herself a marlin. Applejack did her job as a mentor and provided ample warning that marlin wasn't exactly a beginner-friendly fish, but Rarity had insisted on a hard fight. Soon enough they found themselves staring into the night as their floats bobbed calmly on the ocean waves, basking in companionable silence. "How long does the waiting usually take?" Rarity wondered aloud, more a muttered rhetorical than an actual question. It wasn't that she was bored, far from it. The clear starlight out here was beyond anything she'd seen even in the rural town of Ponyville, and the faint glow of nebulae enraptured her. Regardless, Applejack shrugged indifferently. "Worst Ah've had is six hours, afore Ah gave up." She said flatly, not bothering to hide a slight bitterness in her tone. Rarity wanted to pry, as there was clearly a story there, but suddenly she felt… wrong. A dull chill brushed through her body, giving her goosebumps from horn to fetlock. It was a sensation not unlike when a winter wind suddenly picks up, only to vanish immediately afterwards. She shuddered, and a quick glance towards Applejack proved she felt the same thing. Though she didn't express her discomfort as outwardly, the intense look in Applejack's eyes confirmed that identical gut instincts resonated through both of them: they were in danger. The lines were haphazardly reeled in, and the rods almost carelessly dismantled so the hooks wouldn't cause any injuries in their panic. As soon as they clasped the tackle box and looked back to the east, both ponies froze. A thick wall of fog had risen between them and Equestria, and was rolling in fast. That in and of itself would have been sufficiently startling, but it was made all the worse by the intangible sense of dread that preceded the bank. As if fear itself was galloping ahead of the haze, acting as a procession for the royalty of horror that used the veil as a carriage. The ponies made a mad dash for the cabin. Applejack threw the door open, ushering Rarity in first. Her eyes were firm and focused as she ducked in afterwards, slamming and sealing the hatch behind her. "What is that?!" Rarity shrieked, staring out through the door's porthole. Applejack roughly shoved past her, an action Rarity would have otherwise been offended by. But for this, she'd excuse a lot more. Applejack turned the ignition, kicking the engine to life with an impatient roar. She nodded, gripping the helm as the boat lurched forward. "We got two options," she barked, eyeing the fog through the windscreen. Rarity snapped her attention from the looming cloud at the tone, and waited. "We can try and outrun it, but Ah don't like our chances of keeping that up for much longer." "What other choice do we have?" Applejack's eyes darkened. "If there's even a chance of a rogue wave in that thing, we'll be safer going in head-first." Rarity swallowed a lump in her throat, switching her eyes between Applejack and the fog they were racing towards. A piece of her wanted to plead for a better option, but even from behind she could see the look on Applejack's face. She inhaled deeply, forcing her fear to the side as she stepped in, and placed a fetlock over Applejack's shoulder. "Alright," she exhaled, allowing the shakiness to resonate in her voice. "I trust you, Applejack." Applejack's expression softened for a moment; a brief glimpse of vulnerability, before it set back into a determined grimace. She gripped the throttle, and set it ahead full. Her hooves danced from spoke to spoke as she wheeled the helm around, and faced her bow to the encroaching fog. The water waved and billowed with white foam as they raced ahead. The shroud rolled in to meet them, stretching up and up like a wall of wool until it swallowed them completely. There was no roar of magic, no heavy thud of collision as if the clouds were made of cotton. All was silent but for the roar of the engine and the waves spreading behind the vessel. The seconds dragged on in the weighted stillness, both pairs of eyes fixed over the bow into the murk beyond. They could barely see the darkness of the water through the white haze, and the bow of the boat was disappearing by the second. Hesitantly, after a tense half of a minute, Applejack slowed the engine to a crawl. Rarity stared in fear, but said nothing. As the boat coasted along, the farm pony gestured towards one of the portholes. "Open that up," she said quietly, "somethin' ain't right…" Rarity nodded quickly before unlatching the small window with her magic, and flinging it open with a clatter. They both listened, straining their ears for any sounds outside of the full hum of the propellers. Nothing. No rushing water, no splashes, not even a dip to indicate an incoming swell. "Wait!" Rarity hissed, flicking her ear. "What's that?" There was a quiet yet persistent sound coming from outside; a high-pitched scraping hiss, somewhere between a bath bomb dissolving and the whine of metal against metal. Applejack opened her mouth to reply, when in the blink of an eye the fog around them went from white to red. It was as if someone had flipped a switch, and colored the lights of the boat. But it wasn't just their lights, the fog itself seemed to glow a bright crimson, making the ocean look like blood. The scraping got even louder, and Rarity- being closer to the open porthole -began to cough, choking as if the air itself had turned caustic. In a flash, Applejack has sprung up to seal the cabin again with a slam, and resumed her position at the helm. The engine roared yet again, and launched them forward. "What's going on?!" Rarity gasped through hacking breaths, the burn in her throat lingering. Applejack didn't answer immediately, keeping an eye on the fog for even the hint of a shadow. "Ah… Ah don't know!" Applejack finally let dread stain her voice. "But Ah know that sound… somethin' about this fog is eatin' through the ship!" She turned her head for a moment to cast a worried glance back at Rarity, but that was long enough. "Ah'm… Ah'm sor--" The last thing Rarity remembered was the imposing silhouette of a rocky spire appearing through the windscreen. A massive spear of stone that absolutely was not there when they sailed out that afternoon. All Applejack remembered was the sound of the crash. Author's Note You all know the drill by now. Any comments, critiques, criticisms or quips are welcome below! Especially on this chapter, because if any of you happen to know anything about sailing a yacht or fishing, I will gladly accept corrections on terminology and whatnot. Until next time, God Bless You!
1. MaroonedApplejack awoke with a start, hacking violently as her lungs and throat burned. Her blurry vision could barely make out the globs of sand, saliva and seawater spilling out of her throat onto the beach underneath her. Eventually her passages were clear enough to let her inhale a deep, sharply cold gulp of desperately needed air. And immediately after, her concerns were no longer of her own wellbeing. She could remember enough what happened before she blacked out to know that Rarity was also in danger. No sooner did the unconscious thought appear than she started looking for her friend. Fortunately she didn't need to look far, though, as the distinct shape of the unicorn was curled up a few yards away on the beach. Even though the fog still lingered around them, heavily reducing visibility, Applejack liked to think she could easily recognize one of her oldest friends. She raced over without a second of hesitation, and started checking Rarity for signs of life. She was breathing, and a quick glance showed Applejack that Rarity had already hacked up her own blockages. With the doubtlessly unpleasant addition of stray wads of seaweed, she noted. The poor mare had probably collapsed from exhaustion after the ordeal, since she wasn't entirely adapted to the roughness of a true wilderness. Carefully, Applejack draped her comatose companion onto her back, and trekked away from the open ocean. Where there was land, there was probably shelter. But Applejack was no hopeful foal. She could still hear the ocean waves in the distance in front of her, that meant they were either on a small island or a sandbar. She felt that she would have remembered seeing either sort of formation on their journey out, which lead her to a single, unnerving conclusion. They weren't in Equestria anymore. How, why, or where, she didn't know. But her exploits as both an Element Bearer and member of the Council of Friendship left her with more than enough experience to know that strange things happen in the world. She reckoned that the fog probably contained some ongoing teleportation spell, or whatnot. A 'lingering thaumaturgical anomaly' as Twilight would have said. Applejack wasn't one to prefer fancy words when simple Ponish would easily suffice, but trying to imagine how her friend would explain it kept the back of her mind busy as she wandered across the island. Her main focus was finding anything to use as shelter, and it took her all of five minutes to notice that there was more than just sand, shrubbery and palm trees on the island. She slowed her pace enough to get a better look at a few of the more unnatural shapes. Wooden debris, crates and barrels. Lots of them were scattered around the beaches. Not so much that it clogged the natural landscape of the island, but enough so there was always at least one within eyesight through the fog. It almost felt like the island was sculpted with the advent of shipwrecks and beached flotsams in mind, so that the debris complimented the landscape instead of polluting it. Applejack didn't have time to ponder this, however, as a flicker of light caused her head to turn. It was a brief, dull glow of firelight just in her right peripheral, and she was sure that she'd see it again if she was patient. Sure enough, the warm glint beckoned through the fog again, and she eagerly followed. Where there was fire, there was life. Where there was life, there was company. And by now, with the cold humidity sinking in to her bones, Applejack was more than ready to either make nice or trounce whatever waited for her at the fire. Surprisingly, neither course of action was necessary. She didn't find a bonfire or campfire like she was expecting. Instead, a pair of torches aligned perfectly to make their flames seem larger than they were, each on their own side of a large cavern that looked like it was the result of two ocean-locked boulders leaning against each other. A quick perk through the opening revealed that it was less of a cavern, and more of a very thick stone gate that lead a large stream into the ocean. Still, any shelter was better than no shelter, and the fog was almost nonexistent inside, allowing Applejack to see a ready-made campfire and a pair of stools on a small ledge inside. Carefully, the mare walked along the narrow path. Her steps minded the wet and slippery stone, her own wet coat and hooves, and the equally wet passenger on her back. Granted, she could easily see that the worst a fall would get her was a dunk in a deep stream, but she didn't want to risk having to drag an unconscious Rarity out of the seawater. Thankfully, Applejack made it after only one precarious slip of a hoof, and gently dropped Rarity against the smooth stone floor. Another quick trek out and back in found Applejack prodding the campfire with one of the doorway's torches, praying that the wood was dry enough to light. To both her delight and confusion, a comfortably warm flame burst to life as soon as the torch hit it. She dropped her flanks onto one of the stools, staring blankly into the fire before a choked exhale burst out of her open mouth. Her mouth spread into a mirthful smile as the huff was followed up by a trickling stream of laughter. Genuine, giddy, stomach-deep laughter as she slapped her hindleg with a hoof. Relief was washing over her like a beam of sunlight piercing the fog. They were going to make it through the night, and now she knew it for certain. She almost forgot to hope that whatever or whoever lived in here wouldn't mind company. 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 It was four hours after Applejack's discovery when Rarity stirred, and another ten minutes until her eyes drifted open. She had been laid on a makeshift bed of fronds while she slept. Her mane and coat felt mildly sticky, as if they'd been left out to dry with a thin coating of dirt after a very ineffective bath. Her throat burned something awful, and she feared she hadn't drank anything all day. "Here," her waking mind was snapped away from its meandering thoughts at the sound of Applejack's voice, her eyes focusing enough to see her friend holding out a mug of steaming liquid with a hoof. "Drink this, you'll be needin' it." Rarity graciously accepted the offered beverage in her own hooves, and sat up so she could greedily drink it down. A few very unladylike slurps sounded out, but she found herself regarding that as uncharacteristically low on her list of priorities. The fluid tasted absolutely awful, but she doubted Applejack would give it to her if there were better options. She hazily looked around her surroundings, taking in everything she could before gathering her thoughts and meeting the gentle expression of her friend. "This isn't quite the vacation I was promised, darling." She laughed hoarsely, prompting a sheepish chuckle from Applejack. "Still, the accomodations are more than acceptable." "Ah'm sorry, Rare," Applejack scrubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, her tone spawning a frown on the unicorn's face. "Ah roped ya into a fishin' trip, and now we're out here and--" "Honestly, Applejack!" Rarity snapped, cutting the farmer off and causing her to wince. "I know I can be a little dramatic at times, but even I wouldn't think to blame you for this! You've very obviously-" she patted her hoof on her bedding as emphasis "-gone above and beyond while I was out, that's leagues more than enough apology for any sort of… unforseen disaster!" She turned a frustrated glare out to the ocean, which was still blanketed by the haze. "If anything, I should be apologizing for being a burden. Clearly you've been quite busy while I caught up on my beauty sleep." It was Applejack's turn to level an indignant glare. She opened her mouth to speak her mind, but a raised hoof from Rarity silenced her. "I know, darling. I'm being too hard on myself, but so are you. And if you're allowed to wallow in self-pity, then so am I." With her piece said, Rarity shakily rose to her hooves. Her legs wobbled slightly as they remembered the sensation of proper blood flow. It was only a few seconds before she felt confident enough to stretch, and she grunted as several loud pops sounded from along her spine, causing Applejack to chuckle. Rarity gave the farmer a look of feigned indignity as she straightened up, but the tense air had been broken. In spite of her efforts, she couldn't hide the graceful smile that spread across her features as she turned, and trotted towards the water. A brief, hesitant utterance from Applejack told her that she wasn't going to enjoy what came next, but it was something she needed to see. Sure enough, as she peered over the edge of the smooth stone outcrop into the water a few feet below, she saw her own reflection. Her delicately cared for mane was in shambles. Her matted locks were clinging heavily to her head and neck, mired with seaweed and sand, and a quick adjustment showed her tail in a similar state. It was horrid, criminal, and an abomination against everything she stood for. Her pupils shrank as she drank in the overwhelming amount of tangles and nets she'd need to comb out, and a rush of unbridled anguish ran through her. Applejack flinched heavily as Rarity belted out a shrill scream that bounced off the cavern walls and rippled the water running through it. If the creature that set up this camp was still on this island, there was no way they didn't know they had guests now. There was a distant sound of a rattling hiss, and something bursting out of the sand. Claws scraped against damp stones, and tore their way through dense foliage towards them. All this Applejack could hear just under Rarity's retching sobs, and the stoic drive for survival slowly enveloped her again. She kept her eyes on the thinning fog, and stepped up. "Rarity…" her firm tone was cautious, just below a shout. Rarity threw a good up dramatically and opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Applejack's eyes shut it down. Then, she noticed the clattering sound steadily approaching them from the inner island, soon followed by the sloshing of something running through water. Rarity bolted upright, and stared out into the fog in a panic. Soon enough, they saw the figure approaching. The thing shuffled on two legs like a minotaur, but lacked any of the bulk. It was thin and broken, ragged fabrics that could have been clothes at one point dropping in tatters around it. It resembled a timberwolf, but only in that it looked like a pile of sticks held together by a magical willpower. As it drew closer they could make out deep sockets where eyes would have been, and a time-stained white coloration. It was a dead thing. The hideous reanimated bones of some creature Equestria never knew before. It gargled and hissed as it fumbled in their direction despite lacking any vocal chords or organs at all. It reached out with both arms the closer it got, both its speed and its chattering making its intentions all too clear. Both ponies leaped into action before there was time to think. As soon as the intruder stepped a clawed foot onto their stony outcrop, Rarity seized its other leg and tripped it. It fell face-first against the stone in a heap with a crash of bone against rock, more than a few of its ribs snapping at the impact. It lifted its head to screech at Rarity, only for the skull to be shattered like glass by a strong kick from Applejack. Dust and bone fragments scattered everywhere, and the rest of the abomination fell limp. Applejack gave another kick, sending the dead creature into the water. "Well, that's just lovely!" Rarity growled, kicking away a tooth with a petrified shudder. "Marooned on an island with no spa or bath in sight, trapped in the fog, and now we have to worry about dead things crawling at us! Could this get any more interesting?" "On the bright side," Applejack offered, jovially gesturing to the mouth of the cave. "If there's more of 'em, they only got one way in, and we got two ways out!" She paused for a moment, and allowed her face to fall into a frown as her cheeks went green. Realization of what they'd just done flared in her mind. Rarity gave her a pleading look that said her mind was processing the same reality. Her voice was thin and trembling as she took a hesitant step forward. "That thing… it was attacking, right? We… we were defending ourselves… right?" Applejack nodded slowly, and looked towards the place she'd kicked the body. The rush of adrenaline faded away slowly, and left her feeling cold in a way their fire couldn't help. Eventually she spoke, a firmly gentle assurance. "We did the right thing," her eyes softened as she turned back to Rarity, "doesn't mean we gotta feel good about it." 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 It was nearing midnight when Rarity saw the lights out in the ocean. The fog had thinned enough for her to see the stars without craning her neck out of the cave, and the Sea itself was calm enough to barely made a sound. Only the wind was daring enough to make a sound as it whistled through the cave and danced across her face. She had long since convinced Applejack that her 'beauty sleep' would let her stay awake enough to keep watch through the night. It didn't take nearly as much persuasion as she was used to with the stubborn worker, and that only proved to be an example of how truly knackered the poor pony was. Now, while her dear friend slept as soundly as possible on their makeshift bed, Rarity had her eyes locked on a set of pink lights on the horizon. They were above the water, though by how much she couldn't say. The vague idea of monsters who used colored lights as lures haunted the back of her mind, though the way the lights flickered and twinkled reminded her too much of lanterns to seriously entertain the notion. What's more, they were steadily drawing closer. They at first appeared as nothing more than a glimmer through the mist that could be dismissed as a trick of the eyes. Then, as the minutes dragged on, they became a steady glow. If she squinted, Rarity would swear she could see a distinctly shaped patch of darkness linking the lights together, though the fog still wouldn't let her see anything more. With a heavy sigh, she turned back into the cave and sat by the fire. Applejack had scrounged up a few supplies from the barrels around the island while she was still awake, and though roasted mangoes wasn't an ideal supper, Rarity was far past complaining about the smaller inconveniences of their situation. She floated one of the dried fruits up to her mouth, and took a firm bite. It crunched and snapped in her mouth, spraying the hot juices that still remained against her tongue like a spitting viper. She winced, but didn't react any further as she chewed the sweet fruit. Her eyes drifted down to Applejack's sleeping form, and she swallowed. Applejack had been so excited after she bought the new boat. She had insisted on taking Rarity out with her, and seemed almost desperate to have a cruise go well after their last attempt years ago. Pity and empathy gripped at Rarity's heart as she remembered the eagerness in her friend's eyes as she showed off the new yacht, explaining intricate details about the model and technology that Rarity wished she'd retained. It was like watching a child who'd gotten their cutie mark all over again, the way Applejack leapt from place to place, pointing here and there. Now, they had shipwrecked again. Only this time the water wasn't shallow enough to wade back home. They were lost at sea, with no way home. Suddenly, the melodic wails of a distant string instrument caught her ear, and pulled her from her thoughts. It was an upbeat, cheerful tune that echoed out from the ocean and bounced through the cave. She realized that the sound had snuck up on her while she was lost in her thoughts, and it wasn't alone. There were voices! Clear, joyous voices singing to the music, as if there was a small band performing on the waves. There were ponies on these waters! Rarity leapt up with a joyful shout and raced to the ocean-side mouth of the cavern. Ponies, griffins, she'd even be grateful for a pack of diamond dogs! She leaped out of the opening and onto the beach below, mouth open wide to call out for her saviours… only to freeze in her tracks the moment the source of the music made itself known. It was a ship. A massive, triple-masted wooden ship that towered over the beach as it crawled along beside it. Two lanterns stood upright on either side of the bow, and a third rose above the highest point of the stern; each glowing a gentle, pink light. The lights illuminated enough for Rarity to see motion on deck, but the shapes that moved to and fro hardly resembled any creature she knew. She almost mistook them for Ornithians due to a similar fashion sense to the air-faring crew she encountered after the Storm King's attack, but even in the dim light from the lanterns she could tell they were featherless. Her heart stopped when three of the creatures emerged from behind their vessel on a large rowboat. One of them stood himself on the bow, and was holding up a lantern in his paw that illuminated himself and his fellows all too clearly. These creatures were flat-faced, near-hairless things that balanced effortlessly on two legs. They were easily as tall as a minotaur, but stood on flat feet similar in shape to a duck's that they covered with what looked like leather boots. Their lookout wore a thick, well-groomed brown mustache that stuck out from his pale face, and his uncovered mane was a combed towards the back of his head in a slick cap. The style of his apparel and the gleaming cutlass sheathed boldly at his him informed Rarity if everything else she needed to know. These creatures were not only without a doubt the same sort as the dry bones that attacked her earlier, and their occupation was frighteningly clear. Rarity was pulled violently out of her shock by a shout from the lookout, and she felt her blood run cold as she realized he was pointing directly at her. Before she could think, she found herself running with a frightened scream back to the cavern. She needed to warn Applejack, and fast. Far behind her she heard the splashing of one of the creatures leaping into the water, and the grinding of wood against sand as the rowboat beached. She sprang up towards the ledge in a jump that surprised herself, and fell in a tumbling heap against the stone floor. There she found Applejack staring back at her with a look of fright and confusion. She'd clearly been woken with a start at Rarity's scream, and was trying to sort out what was happening as her brain tried to shoo away the muddled thoughts of a sleeping mind. She pressed a hoof against her temple, shook the weariness out of her ears, and blinked at the panicked seamstress. "What the hay's goin' on?!" Applejack managed a shout while she rose to her hooves. Immediately afterwards, she wished she hadn't asked. As if as an answer, she saw the lantern-weilding creature leap up onto the stone platform behind Rarity with a graceful ease, and hold up the lamp to stare with beady eyes between the pair of ponies. "Pirates!" Rarity was in a fit, her heart thundering against her chest as she dove towards Applejack. She couldn't decide if she should cower behind her more capable friend or stand between the sleepier mare and the danger, settling on facing the buccaneer shoulder-to-shoulder. Seeing the ocean-side passage blocked by the pirate, the ponies turned to flee inland. Their dash ended the same second it began once they found that route blocked by the other two; a darker-skinned rotund beast flanked by a more muscle-built example of their species, each held their swords at the ready. The friends gave out a frightened yelp, and backed towards the stone wall. Rarity was shaking heavily enough that her limp mane flicked around like a nest of snakes, and Applejack quickly stepped protectively in front of her. The farmer's eyes were glaring daggers at the trio that closed around them, while the designer's eyes were wide with panic. The pirates came to a stop once the mares were backed against the wall, as if waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Like a pack of wolves encircling their prey. Suddenly, the lantern-bearer held his arm out cautiously, holding his paw open in a display that almost looked like it was meant to placate the ponies. In his other paw, he made a motion towards his companions with three of his digits. His fellows quickly stepped back, and put their swords away. "Easy now," The lantern-bearer's hoarse voice came out just above a whisper while he crouched, and his movements were slow and deliberate. "We ain't gonna hurt'cha, ponies. We're sorry for scarin' ya." Applejack eyed him warily as he set the lantern down, and held up both paws in the same gesture. She didn't trust this creature as far as she could likely buck him, but he wasn't attacking and his crew only watched on with passive interest. It looked like he was making sure she saw everything he did. Eventually, he'd say himself on his haunches, and reached a paw out towards the ponies. The offered shake was accompanied with a kind smile, and his eyes showed no hostility. Slowly, she reached out, and shook his paw with her hoof. "I'm Nine-Pace Nathan, First Mate of the Damned Hydra." He stated politely, standing to his full height as he released Applejack's hoof. "Welcome, little ponies, to the Sea of Thieves!" Author's Note And now we get into the proper story! Swashbuckling adventures await! As always, your criticisms, compliments and critiques are more than welcome in the comments section! Feedback is important, after all.
2. The Captain of the Damned HydraIt took a few minutes for Applejack and the pirates to calm Rarity down from her hysteria, and reassure her that they were in no danger. Within minutes, the ponies found themselves on board the rowboat as Nathan personally rowed them towards the galleon he’d referred to as the “Damned Hydra”. The deck of the great vessel bustled with activity as the crew-- humans, as they called themselves --made ready to greet their new guests. Doubtless they could see from aboard that their visitors weren't human, and that alone seemed to cause quite a stir indeed. Shouting and shuffling sounded from the ship, and Applejack could've sworn she heard a faint sound like metal stabbing into wood at a steady rhythm. Once the rowboat slowed to drift just behind the massive ship, Nathan stood up and snatched the end of a rope that dangled down just within reach. He looped it around what could generously be called the rowboat's bowsprit, and gestured behind Applejack as he started tying the cord into knots. Applejack nodded wordlessly, and reached for the rope off the stern with her forehooves. They were just barely too high for her to reach, until a blue light gently encircled the frayed end of the line and pulled it down for her. Applejack turned, gave Rarity a grateful smile as the unicorn dimmed her magic, and set to work securing the lifeboat. After a quick examination from Nathan to make sure Applejack's knots were secure, the boat was hoisted into the air. It was a brief, albeit unsteady lift that reminded Applejack of the times she'd ride on the hay bales while they were hoisted into her family's barn loft. She turned her head to check on Rarity, who barely looked nervous to the untrained eye, save for the shakiness in her hooves. Applejack knew better. There was a wet shine in her friend’s eyes, a glint that she’d seen so many times before whenever they were on adventures. It was the telltale sign of an uncomfortable, miserably unsettling fear. The primal anxiety of predators looming in the tall grass, or just under the surface of a peaceful river. As their rowboat latched into place, Applejack carefully stepped over and held Rarity in a reassuring embrace. "We're gonna be fine, Rares." She said calmly, pulling back from the hug and giving her friend a meaningful look. "Ya trust that, right?" "I can't say," Rarity tried to return the smile, but her words were hesitant as her eyes lingered on Nathan. Applejack followed her gaze, and realized the cause for caution. The pirate had stood to his full height, towering over them both by barely over double their height without even trying. With him standing so close, the difference in size was all too obvious. "But," Applejack's attention snapped back to Rarity, who was letting out a deep breath with her eyes closed. "I know that I trust you, and if you're willing to promise that, I'm willing to at least go along." Nathan had been waiting patiently through their moment before he hurriedly ushered them around the walkway that stretched across the stern of the Damned Hydra. He led them through a small door on the port side, and into what could only be the Captain's cabin. It was lavishly decorated, with curtains hanging over a wide set of windows that looked out over the walkway they had used to board, a very obvious detail that Applejack was baffled that she hadn't noticed on the way in. There were shelves lined with various precious stones and other knick-knacks and trinkets, a few paintings scattered on the walls, a cupboard with glass windows that displayed a few fine dishes, and a few chests for personal storage. A white parrot crowed loudly from its cage near one of the desks, and in a forward corner rested a fine white bed. Perfectly centered in the ceiling was a dangling chandelier that looked like it was fashioned from a spare helm. In the back of the room, a plain wooden table in front of the port windows. It wasn’t very lavishly carved, made more for practical use than anything. It was sparsely decorated with several scrolls stacked in separate piles, an open logbook, and an inkwell that played home to a proud green feather. If viewed from the front, it would have been flawlessly framed by the windows. Behind it sat a sturdy wooden chair, decently cushioned where it needed to be. And in that seat sat a tall, black-haired woman who slowly turned to look at them. She was bulky in build. A healthy balance of natural fat and dense muscle gave her a powerful presence. Her neatly-combed hair ran down her shoulders to her chest, with several locks kept together by small silver bands. Her clothes were a fetching display of greens and dark grays with ruffles and frills enough to be fashionable without being overbearing or reducing practicality. The large, wide-brimmed brown hat on her head would have been the most immediately eye-catching details in her entire ensemble, with a massive golden feather sticking confidently out of the band. But one key feature distracted both ponies from her outfit. A massive, jagged pink scar ran across the left side of her face from forehead to jaw, crossing over the blank white orb that was her right eye. While her left eye was thin and slanted, her right was left wide open as if the eyelids didn’t exist anymore. Rarity shrieked at the sight of the disfigurement, and almost stumbled back out the door. She likely would have backpedaled until she fell off the ship if it wasn't for Nathan blocking her escape. Her outburst earned her a stern smack on the back of her head from Applejack, which in turn thankfully revived some sense of manners to the overwhelmed mare. Much to Applejack's relief, the Captain-- for this woman was clearly the ship's captain if ever there was one --calmly bade them sit and make themselves comfortable with a gesture of her hand. She hadn't seemed to take any offense to Rarity's panic, instead only fixing both ponies with an even stare. As the ponies slowly made their way to the opposite side of the Captain's desk, all four parties in the cabin shared a thoroughly uncomfortable silence. The woman regarded her guests carefully, as if considering her words with the utmost caution. Her good eye was fierce, and deep. Rarity thought it reminded her of the eyes of a calculating villain from one of her novels, or perhaps one of the love interests from her more obscure collection of literature, and felt very much like a rabbit in the sights of a dragon. There was no immediate danger, but a thorough aura of intimidation cast itself over her like a shadow. Applejack saw something far different in that eye, however. Applejack saw experience, and no small amount of trepidation. This was a woman who was frightened deeply, but chose to face that dread in a battle of wills instead of fleeing from it. A woman who had fought fearsomely against things she couldn't dare imagine, and emerged victorious. Though the reason why she was so wary of creatures less than half her size, Applejack didn't dare guess. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Captain spoke. "Forgive me for staring," her voice came out gruff, but paradoxically smooth. Her tone was courteous, but strict and dispassionate. Her accent reminded Rarity of nobility in Canterlot, though with far less artificial pompousness. "I didn't think we'd see more of your kind on these seas, let alone living in the caves of an isle like Shark Bait Cove. I'm Captain Silver-Eyed Sara, welcome aboard." "It's a right pleasure to be aboard, Cap'n!" Applejack said enthusiastically, holding out her hoof for a shake. She wanted to put her best hoof forward, and prove she wasn't somepony to be scared of. "Ah'm Applejack, and this here's Rarity. Ya wouldn't believe how much of a relief it is seein' some honest folk after the welcome we got!" Nathan stepped in from his place behind Rarity as his Captain shook the offered hoof, and he leaned down to place a fractured jawbone on the table. "We found this in the stream inside the cave, along with the remains of a skeleton." He gave Sara a meaningful look. "No signs of the rest of the skull, 'cept a couple fragments. Quite the nasty welcoming party for newcomers, I'd say. But they managed." "So I see," Sara picked up the bone, eying it critically before snapping her eyes back to the ponies. "Your handiwork, I take it?" "Didn't give us much of a choice, ma'am." Applejack kicked herself mentally. As true as that statement was, destroying the only other creature she'd seen probably didn't help her appear friendly. "Sorry if it was a friend o' yours." The Captain scoffed, and tossed the bone shard into what looked like a rubbish barrel. "Wretched, mindless creatures born from dark magic. They're nobody's friend but their own. Even the ones that still have any sanity left will only try to kill you on sight for the crime of still having flesh. One less skeleton haunting the seas is a boon by any measure." Both ponies visibly relaxed at that information, Rarity especially so. Nathan chuckled, but otherwise stayed silent as he stood back at his post. Sara switched her focus to Rarity, and briefly flicked her eyes towards the unicorn's horn. "Did you stab the bastard with that?" "Certainly not!" Rarity's eyes went wide with horror, and she recoiled as if the very concept had tried to bite her. "I would never allow some decayed creature anywhere near me! Let alone close enough to touch my horn! I merely tripped him with it, and Applejack kicked him!" Both of the pirates waited silently for a few moments. When it was clear that no more details were coming, Sara lazily rolled her hand on her wrist as a gesture to continue the story. Rarity blinked, and looked to her companion. "Well… that was it, really." Sara's brows rose with clear interest at that, and she rested her chin on curled fingers. "So you're telling me you just kicked him," she laughed with a clear tone of disbelief. "His head is powder except for a few teeth and a piece of his jaw, after a kick?" "Yeah," Applejack leaned back now, tilting her head curiously. "Is that strange? Now, normally Ah don't kick livin' things that hard, but that thing was all kinds o' not livin', and seemed like he wanted company in that department if ya catch me. So, Ah didn't hold the girls back! Ah figured y'all did the same, since y'said yourself less of 'em is better! Ain’t you able to do that?” Whatever composure Nathan had maintained was broken immediately at the earth pony's words, and he bent down with a booming guffaw. The captain slowly closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. She stood up, slowly, and lifted her right leg onto the table. Both Rarity and Applejack winced at the sight. Below her knee, where there should have been a long leg that ended in a duck-like foot, there was instead a gilded spike of black iron and polished gold. Fancy as it was, the implications of a pegleg weren't lost on anypony, but the captain continued on. "My kicking days are a little behind me, Applejack. And even when I still had both legs I couldn't kick hard enough to break through solid bone. Nobody on these waters can." Her tone shifted slightly, sounding more than a little indignant. "Worst we can do is kick the skull away like a football, and disorient the wretches. Or if we feel so inclined, we can stomp down from above; shatter their heads against stone." Her peg slid down from the table, and landed heavily on the floor. The image of a skeleton's head speared underneath it came easily. "But even then, they're in fragments, chips, more likely in chunks scattered here and there. Not. Reduced. To dust. "If we want those kinds of results," Sara leaned over the table, resting a balled fist against it as she reached behind her back with the other hand. There was a metallic clicking noise, and she pulled it back out holding what looked like an iron trumped fastened to a block of wood. "We'd have to use one of these." After a brief pause, Sara groaned and sat herself back onto the chair, carefully setting the odd instrument onto her table. “Bah, I’m getting distracted from why I allowed you aboard. I can offer you a deal, if you like.” Applejack squinted, and studied the woman closely. “What sort of deal are we talkin’ ‘bout, here?” 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 Rarity did her best to keep a wary eye on the pirates that scurried around the ship without seeming impolite as both she and Applejack were escorted below deck. Nathan confidently led them to a curtained-off section forward on the middle deck, and dramatically pulled the thick fabric aside. Inside the wide space was a set of chests and boxes sat in organized chaos, accompanied by a stuffed figure on a pole that Rarity immediately recognized as a simplistic dummy for clothing display. Nathan dug around in a few of the boxes, and readily gave her and Applejack each a spare set of tools. Pails, shovels, spyglasses, compasses, and a plethora of other pieces of equipment that quickly piled around them. "And just what in the pickled pony feathers am I s'posed to do with all this?" Applejack wobbled on her hindlegs, struggling to hold everything that Nathan had handed her. The sight admittedly made Rarity giggle, which earned her an indignant glare from the farmer. Nathan, for his part, smacked himself on the head and motioned for Applejack to drop everything. An offer she didn’t hesitate to accept. “Spend enough years on this sea, and ye forget what it be like to first sail here.” He laughed, standing himself up straight. “What ye need to do is take yer tools, and think like yer puttin’ ‘em in a pocket that ain’t rightly there. Watch!” To the astonishment of both ponies, Nathan quickly pulled a large shovel out from his side as if he was taking the thing out of a saddlebag. The rounded, blue-stained blade seemed to grow out of this air when he reached back, and the wooden handle slid out of nothing. He showed it to them with a couple gestures, and then reached again as if he was just going to put it in his pocket. Sure enough, the process reversed, and the shovel shrank awkwardly until it vanished at his side. He gave them a wink, and gestured to their tools. “... it’s an entire ocean of them.” Rarity muttered once her brain had unscrambled enough. She raised a hoof to massage her forehead, and cast a worried look at Applejack. “We’ve wrecked ourselves into an ocean of Pinkies.” 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 “They hay is this?” Applejack grimaced as she held up a trumpet similar to the one the captain showed them in her cabin, but far more worn and stained. “Some kind o’ musical weapon? Y’ can hurt the skeleton folk with it, right?” "That be a blunderbuss," Nathan said laughingly, "just a type o’ musket." When that explanation earned nothing but an owlish stare from the farmer, his smile dropped. He stared back for a moment before he shook his head, and scratched his mustache thoughtfully. "I guess they don't have them types where you’re from, but uhh… here, think of it like a small cannon. But instead o' ships and castles, ya use it on people. And that one? She be specifically made fer bein’ very, very effective face-to-face." He playfully tapped the barrel with his finger, and made an exploding motion with his hands. Applejack's pupils shrank as she conceptualized the powerful tool she held in her hooves, and she stared at it with a mixture of fear and awe. "And yer jus'... givin’ it to me?" Her voice was openly hesitant and suspicious, though Nathan continued as if he didn't notice. "Ye'll be able to afford a bette' one in time, don't worry." He shrugged, as if he misinterpreted her concern. "Yer going to need at least one of this sorts o' weapons if'n ya want to survive the Sea of Thieves, Applejack. A good portion of your enemies will be more'n willing to shoot first." "And what about these?" Both parties turned to see Rarity levitating a pair of muskets with much thinner barrels in front of her, taking care to keep both aimed away from anything living. One looked to be as long as her own body with a spyglass bolted on top, the other barely longer than her horn with a curved handle. Nathan's eyes seemed to light up at seeing them, and he crouched down to Rarity's eye level. "Those're fer a more… refined approach t' dealin' with yer enemies." His tone was still jovial, but held an unmistakable air of reverence as he carefully caressed the longer gun. "The Eye of Reach is me personal favorite; an elegant weapon what can pop a skelly in a single shot, and with enough practice can hit reliably from ten hulls away! And this one," he switched his focus to the smaller gun, and lost most of the admiration in his voice. "This be a flintlock. Good for when yer foe ain't near enough fer yer cutlass, but ain't far enough fer the Eye." "Mr. Nathan!" Before Rarity or Applejack could ask any more questions, the chunky dark pirate from before burst down through the stairway behind them, rounding the corner and stopping to catch his breath. The news came after a minute of slow, heavy wheezes. "The scouters done found where they think the loot’s at!" Nathan clapped his hands together, and stood up straight. "Perfect! Little ponies, take heed! Yer about to get a feel for the life of a--" "Wait, 'ow's she doin' tha'?!" The large crewmate interrupted, his hand lifted to point shakily at the weapons floating around Rarity. The unicorn glanced over her shoulder, then back to the pirate, and back again. "Is... is this odd?" She asked gently, looking just as confused as the sailor. Author's Note I should definitely clarify now for future reference: this story is not going to be 100% accurate to the deeper lore of Sea of Thieves. It's going to be a mix of my knowledge of the lore (which is not a lot, in spite of my love for it), a few of the game mechanics, and how I think this world would interact with ponies. This will become more apparant to those of you more familiar with the game's stories as time goes on. I'm not saying that to deflect or discourage lore corrections, if there are any SoT lore guys/gals who are bugged by inaccuracies you are more than welcome to comment about it. Will it affect this story? Admittedly, maybe not. But will I find it interesting and helpful? Absolutely, I love that stuff. As always, please leave any comments, criticisms, critiques and compliments down below. Any feedback from amusing observations to grammar corrections is greatly appreciated! Until Next Time, God Bless You! ~Amethyst Dawn Also, background of the new cover image was stolen borrowed from the book Sea of Thieves: Heart of Fire. I haven't read it yet but I've heard good things.
3. Blood in the Sand“Another one,” Applejack mused as a small golden-brown pig raced out of the foliage to the company’s right. The animal ran in a panic in random directions at the sight of them, trying desperately to avoid the party of two ponies and three humans. Nathan calmly raised his flintlock and fired once, and the pig stumbled and fell still with a heartbreaking squeal. The large dark-skinned sailor ran up to the lifeless corpse of the swine and hoisted it up under his left arm, leaving him holding two hogs on either side. He grinned excitedly with uneven teeth, and held his prizes tightly against his sides. "I'll head these piggies back to the boat," he beamed, waddling back towards the triple masts towering over the palm trees. "If the captain allows it, ol’ Clarence got a mind to make a roast!" Nathan only responded with a nod, sending Clarence jogging with a spring in his step. Rarity watched the entire exchange with an uncomfortable grimace, only speaking when she was sure Clarence was out of earshot. "I cannot fathom how a creature can be so enthusiastic about eating other mammals," she muttered, shuddering. "Way Ah hear it, animals in this world ain't what they are back home." Applejack shrugged, her expression even and indifferent. "Can't say Ah'm particularly comfortable 'bout it either, but this ain't our world. Ah just try to imagine every animal is a fish." Rarity opened her mouth as if to rebuke the idea, but paused. She closed her lips, considered Applejack's words carefully with a tilt of her head, and nodded reluctantly. As discomforting as the concept of pig meat was for her, Applejack's reasoning was solid. Once again, the farm pony was more prepared for their predicament than Rarity could ever hope to be, and that fact weighed on her mind. Just how much would she be coming to rely on Applejack for guidance? A foreign emotion swelled up like a dull ache in Rarity's gut. It wasn't resentment or envy, but at the same time it was. She felt motivated and downtrodden in the same moment as her eyes wandered around the group, seeing how well Applejack was adjusting. Applejack walked with a confident gait, each step was firm and careful. It was the same sort of walk Princess Twilight would do whenever she figured out how to defeat a villain, or that Pinkie Pie would do when she had finally figured out what would make some stubborn pony happy. Applejack was completely in her element in this strange world. So why wasn't Rarity? Nathan and the third human of the troop walked at a calm pace in front, muttering over a tattered parchment in a calm debate. Their words weren’t always clear, but Rarity could tell that they were trying to figure out what landmarks were where. Nathan pulled out his compass, turned to his right, and nodded towards the inner rings of the strange island. “It be buried up north, by the whales. We be on the wrong beach!” “And who’s fault is that?” The crewmate slapped his leg with a hoot, clapping his other hand on Nathan’s back. “I told ye that five minutes ago!” “You did,” Nathan rolled his eyes, “after spinnin’ a tale ‘bout how we could use the ship’s lanterns to figure its location without leaving the deck!” As the pair continued to banter, Rarity slowly blocked them out again. A rustle in the bushes as they changed their course caught her attention, and she glanced over to catch sight of a brown hide ducking out of view at the last second. Even if they weren’t intelligent, she didn’t feel like outing the poor animal to these carnivores. When she returned her attention ahead of her, Rarity was startled by her entire field of vision being taken up by a scrutinizing pair of green irises. Applejack had noticed Rarity’s preoccupied mind, and stepped in front of her friend swiftly. Concern tugged at her chest as the normally vocal unicorn was shuffling dejectedly behind the group, and her gut told her that now was a calm enough moment to address the situation. Rarity had turned back and frozen in her tracks with a yelp just an inch away from bumping head first into Applejack, earning a small smile from the mare. “What’s on yer mind?” Applejack’s voice was soft, but firm. The look she was giving Rarity reminded the unicorn of the same concerned stares her own sister would give when she had stayed up all night working to catch a deadline. Applejack noticed a reluctance in Rarity to meet her eyes, and shouted over her shoulder. “Nathan! Ah need to talk with Rares for a moment, is that alright?” The pirates turned back to look at the ponies, and the first mate gave them a dismissive wave. Applejack smiled, and turned her attention back to Rarity. “Sit with me?” Rarity slowly acquiesced as Applejack quietly led her towards the shade of a small palm tree that jutted out from the rest of the shrubbery. They sat under the thick leaves, and took a moment to silently breathe. The ocean wind blew the scent of salt, flowers and fish across their faces. The noonday sun was mercifully warm, and their small patch of shade was just cool enough to be calming. After a little under a minute of just tranquility, Applejack broke the ice. “You’ve been awful quiet since we got aboard the Hydra, Rares.” She started, staring off to the horizon. “Deal be darned, Ah’m not gonna ignore that yer havin’ a rough day.” Rarity smiled softly, her chest heavy with conflicting feelings of thankfulness and exhaustion towards Applejack’s perceptiveness. She stared with Applejack into the distance, turning her head so the farmer was just out of sight. The bushes rustled again, another panicked pink pig racing onto the swirling beaches from behind them. Rarity watched the cute little creature run around, the encompassing silence mixing with the sight of the animal and reminding her of tea parties with Fluttershy back home in Equestria. She took in a deep sigh, and closed her eyes. “I just… I miss home,” she admitted, “quite desperately. I’m more than a little afraid that I won’t make it back, that I’ll never see our friends or my family again, that we’re marooned in these hostile seas. And though I’m ashamed to admit it, I’m more than a little envious of how well you’ve taken to this.” Applejack made a coughing sound, and something warm and sticky hit Rarity’s cheek from behind. Rarity shuddered with a wince, and wiped at the substance with a hoof. “Oh, honestly, Applejack! Chuckling at this time is bad enough,” she turned to level an irate look at Applejack, “but can you at least aim your phlegm else… where…” The sight that greeted Rarity left her blood running cold. Applejack was staring with wide, panicked eyes that flicked this way and that. The rest of her body was immobile, steadily going limp with each passing second. Her mouth hung open, a steady trickle of blood flowing from the corner of her lips. Out of the front of her throat stuck the rusted tip of an aged cutlass, stained red with a mix of rust and the earth pony’s blood. The bleached-white bones of a skeletal hand bolted out of the bushes, and savagely gripped Applejacks head. The rest of the undead menace slowly rose after, and yanked the blade carelessly out of her neck. It let out a hoarse hiss of a cackle, and walked towards Rarity. Rarity couldn’t think. She couldn’t move. She didn’t dare to even blink. All she could do was watch as her best friend’s body fell to one side. What must have taken under a second dragged on for hours, and Rarity watched every second pass through Applejack’s eyes. At first there was confusion, then a steadily growing pain, grim realization and panic, until finally there was nothing. By the time her head hit the sand, Applejack’s eyes were staring ahead blankly; and the last traces of life had left them entirely. Rarity Screamed. 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 Next thing Rarity knew, she was sitting in the hold of the Damned Hydra. A blanket was wrapped over her shoulders, and vague, blurry shapes were pacing to and fro around her. Some shapes paused to mutter words that sounded hollow and distant, others flittered past. Rarity didn’t notice any of them, the events that took place on the beach playing over and over in her mind’s eye. Blood, bones, a gargling hiss, the flash of a stained blade and a flash of green fire. Gone. One moment of cruelty, and Applejack was gone. Rarity didn’t feel fear anymore. She didn’t feel anything at all anymore. All she could manage to do was stare into the foggy mass of colors and formless shapes that was in front of her. She felt emptier than she ever had before. There was no wailing, no bemoaning of the worst things to happen. The only sound she made was the still, consistent hiss of emotionless breaths. She wasn’t even sure how she got back aboard the ship. Was she carried here, or did she run like a coward? She’d never known herself to run when her friends were under any genuine threat. But then again, she’d never seen her friends bleed. She’d never seen her friends die. In the back of her mind, she resolved to assume that she ran. That she abandoned her most reliable friend. She couldn’t do anything anyways, could she? Two feet away, and she couldn’t even realize there was any danger before it was too late. She didn’t feel nothing. No, she felt one thing. Useless. 0=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=°=0 “So, another one o’ your kind has found your way into the Sea of Thieves?” Applejack felt strange. As if she wasn’t complete, or some piece of her was missing. The sand was cold beneath her body, and a chill breeze brought the scent of dead fish and old wood across her nostrils. Had she fallen asleep? The last she remembered was talking to Rarity, and then pain. Everything after that was… fuzzy. Distant. She groaned as her aching head thundered, and rose to her hooves. She opened her eyes, and immediately felt more lost than she ever had before. She wasn’t on Shark Bait Cove anymore, that was for sure. The island she found herself on was much larger, and looked sickly. The rocks were dark and jagged, the plants either dead or dying, and save for a few green torches scattered around, the only light came from what looked to be a perpetual eclipse. Everything from the clouds to the vast expanse of waves glowed with several shades of a sickly green. “Where am I?” She asked idly, starting to remember the voice that had disturbed her rest. A ghostly figure emerged to her right, and knelt down beside her. She took note of the man’s features quickly. His black hair encircled his apelike face as if it were the mane of a lion or a baboon, his features were gaunt and slender, his skin was a deep green, and one of his eyes was covered by a worn and decayed patch. His clothes were thick and warm, and a longcoat hung loosely around his body. His left hand was replaced with a hook of jagged metal, and his right foot with a prosthetic crudely carved from wood. His face was stern as he regarded her, and waved his hand out to a small scrap-built dock that jutted out from the beach. “Somewhere you’re not meant to be, little one.” His voice was tired and ageless, bearing the weight of a thousand years with grim determination. “Board my ferry, and I’ll escort you back to the living world.” Those words shook Applejack to her core, and the full reality started to dawn on her when she saw the ghoulish vessel anchored by the rickety dock. Every inch of the boat was ragged and torn, entire chunks missing in several places. Where there wasn’t wood, there was an ethereal glow that was almost more white than it was green. Several more ghostly figures stood idly on the deck, chaperoned by phantoms clad in dark cloaks. “The livin’ world?” Applejack muttered, turning back to the man beside her. “Y’mean Ah kicked the bucket?” The man nodded silently. “An’ you can just… take me back?” He nodded again. Applejack bit her lip, and glanced over her shoulder. Something about this didn’t sit right with her, but that part of her was beaten down by a steadily growing hopefulness. She forced herself to turn back to the figure, and opened her mouth to ask a pressing question. Before even the first syllable could escape her lips, the phantom held up his good hand to silence her. “These waters are a part of the Sea of Thieves, little pony.” He stated firmly, giving her a firm look that was not yet absent of empathy. “I cannot retrieve souls that passed on beyond the Shroud. I am sorry.” Applejack lowered her head, and kicked the sand with a huff. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy to see them again. She had half a mind to pester the man about it, but she could tell there was no lie in his voice. In a flash, her foolish selfishness caught up to her, and the realization of her hazy memories stirred her to start looking around frantically. “Oh no, if Ah’m dead… where’s Rarity?!” “Another of your kind, I take it? No more souls like yours have passed into the Sea of the Damned, little one. I can only assume she is alive and well.” The gaunt man rose back to his full height, and motioned for her to follow him. Applejack obeyed, albeit hesitantly. She kept pace a healthy distance behind the apparition as he led her to his ferry. The closer she got to the ship, the less uneasy she felt. That way was the path back to the living world, back to her friend. Back to that scared Unicorn she needed to protect at all costs. She would not waste this second chance. Author's Note Eesh, took me ages to actually have the motivation to finish this update. Finding motivation to do much of anything has been rough, especially with writing. But I promised I'd be back to writing on here, and- even if it takes me forever to update -I intend to keep that promise. Even if only to myself. Going dark fast with this story, but that's Sea of Thieves for you. I'm hoping this chapter did well in setting up a few plans I have for the future of the story, the arcs that Rarity and Applejack respectively are going to be on. I've noticed that the stories I put the most thought into tend to either feature Rarity, Applejack, or both. I don't even know if I'd consider them my favorite characters, I guess they're just the easiest for me to write for. You know what to do. Any comments, critiques, criticisms and whatever are more than welcome. Feedback helps.
