Book of Lore - Shanty's Chapter

by Galgus

Rating: everyone
Tags: Them's Fightin' Herds, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Adventure
Length: 1971

A Them's Fightin' Herds story, and an attempt to write a Book of Lore entry for Shanty.

The Book of Lore is an old series of articles for the game Them's Fightin' Herds which are considered quasi-canon unless overridden by the story, as some parts have been.

Otherwise they are a good source of lore and character development for the first six characters and their native culture: but there are no entries for Shanty, Stronghoof, Texas, Nidra or Baihe.

This is my attempt to write a chapter for Shanty using parts of her Character page background from the official site, unpublished lore from devs talking on the Discord, and in-game lines and information.

This is not a crossover story with MLP.

Part of the Fight for Foenum continuity, with the rest of my stories here.

To be fully clear, the writing from her Character page background appears in the first section only and is replicated in its entirety in Author's Notes.

Shanty has a heavy Jamaican dialect, speaking bilingually between English and Jamaican Patois, so I tried to work that into the dialogue for her and other goats: I have no personal experience with that dialect, so please tell me if I handled it incorrectly.

I attempted to mimic the format that the Oleander, Tianhuo, and Pom chapters share with present tense, and the third person internal monologue that every chapter other than Pom's uses.

Published 2024-04-25 19:30:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-04-25 19:30:00 UTC

Shanty's Chapter

The Islands are a haven for adventurers, scoundrels, hermits, explorers, and any creature who values freedom and independence over all else. The goats who dwell here pride themselves on their ability to reach the unreachable, to attain salt and splendor in places past the edges of modern maps. The native sugar cane and exotic spices create lucrative trade routes for merchant ships of all kinds, which in turn attract pirates looking for an easy score. With a long history as sailors and a penchant for nonconformity, many goats are attracted to that wild life with dreams of wealth.

They hold to a strange insular loyalty and sense of honor known as the Pirate’s Code: mostly preying on foreign ships while being surprisingly generous with their own kind. Of those scoundrels, there is none more striking than Captain Bravura (and First Mate Ruvido) of The Capricorn, a masterpiece galley said to be built from secret plans stolen away from Jarl Stronghoof’s own shipwrights. They say she’s assembling an elite crew of only the most ruthless pirates, to ends unknown. Whatever she’s planning, it’s sure to be an exploit worthy of the Goatani Greats.

Shanty, named after a song with no title, was taken in by her after being orphaned at a very young age. She studied the ways of salt and sail, instilled with the belief that the only ones who make it in life are those brave enough to fight to the last.

A ship pulls into the cove under the cover of night, bearing the skull of the Goatani Greats. As the crew finish securing the anchors, their captain stands to address them.

“Now who’s ready fi some action?”

The crew cheered with hooves clacking on the deck, and Bravura stamped twice to regain their attention.

“Who’s ready fi some payback against our ol’ bilge rat of a captain, Subito Dal Segno?”

The cheering dulls with some murmuring, and she scans the crowd daring anyone to challenge her: smiling at a distinctive “AYE!” from their youngest member.

“Good fi hear some of ye are brave enough.”

With that she hands out tasks: sending her first mate Ruvido to lead their strongest fighters and make a diversion while she directs the slyest to sabotage his docked ship.

Goats were assigned to one team or the other until just the kid remained.

“Orders, cap’n?”

“Watch duty.”

“But ma - Cap’n! I can -”

“I need someone keeping an eye out,” Bravura stated, “yuh have ya orders.”

“But dem don’t even know we ah here!”

“Another word, an’ you’ll be swabbin’ da deck.”

“But -”

“I’ll get yuh a souvenir, kid.”

Shanty growled, mop in hoof, as the last goat left.

“Why dontcha come say that to my face, yeh -”

Bravura locked eyes with her.

“Would’ya like to clean below decks also?”

“No, cap’n.” Shanty grit her teeth in a smile.

“Then less chatter.” She turned to glare at the flinching commentator. “Goes fi you too.”

Shanty’s cleaning enthusiasm crashed as soon as they were out of earshot.

“Watch duty?! Cleanin’? Bah, I’m better than all o’dem!”

She threw a kick at an imagined opponent.

“Just let dem try me,” She stood on her toes for a headbutt, “I’ll - AGH!”

Her shadowboxing footwork connected with the the bucket, launching it and a stream of suds across the deck.

“...”

“Yeah, forget dis.”

A hook latches onto the wall of the port fortress, trailing a rope that Shanty barely uses as she scrabbles up.

She stashes the rope in a corner and runs down the battlement, eyes peeled for anything screaming “treasure”, but skids to a stop as she spies the courtyard. A portly old goat with a black hat walks through the door alongside a massive reindeer and an equally burly sprite: Subito and Stronghoof, traitor captain and Jarl, she guesses.

Curiosity keeps her eyes trained on them for too long before she finally glances up and spots a pair of guards: a deer and a goat walking down the wall towards her.

She dives under the edge of the wall and latches her hooves on the worn stone, hoping she wasn’t seen. Fortunately the guards are too lost in chatter to notice, but unfortunately they decide to linger.

“So di predators are really back?” The goat says. “Ain’t seen any outside di water.”

“Probably haven’t crossed to the islands yet.” The deer waves his hoof. “From wherever they come from. But as long as we get the key, it won’t be a problem.”

“Wha’ key?” The goat asks Shanty’s question for her.

“The prophet’s key? The key she made to seal the predators from our world? Don’t tell me you haven’t - “

“Never heard’a it.”

The deer groans.

“The predators are coming back, but this key can keep them where they belong.”

“Ah.” the goat grunted. “Must be pretty valuable den.”

“Priceless.” The deer deadpanned. “Stronghoof would pay anything for it.”

Shanty’s mind whirred at the notion of priceless treasure.

“So where is it den?” Avarice flashes in both goat’s eyes.

“If we knew that we wouldn’t have predators.”

Shanty silently curses before he continues.

“..but the Champion of the Tundra is following a lead in Reine, and she’ll have it in no time.”

“Him scrawny daughter?” The goat smirked. “Dat’s not reassuring.”

“Tell her that yourself; if you’d like to spend time in an icecube.”

But Shanty barely heard that last bit: thinking only about the ultimate treasure being one easy job away.

BOOM

An explosion startles the guards and they run in its direction: spotting Shanty on the side of the wall with an extra surprise in their eyes.

“Stop!” The deer yells. “Intrud -”

She throws herself over the wall into a roll in one smooth motion, tumbling behind them before he could turn or finish the sentence.

“Watch’cha back!”

A leaping kick sends the deer flying off the wall and into the ocean, with a panicked sprite flying after him.

The goat jumps out of the way and tries to land a kick of his own, but glancing back at his colleague costs him as Shanty sidesteps, positioning herself between him and the sea wall.

He tries to dash in with a jab, but is caught off guard by Shanty jumping up and grabbing onto him.

“Heeave ~” Shanty pulls herself into a tumble, bringing the larger goat back with her. “Ho!”

She releases her hooves, sending him off to join his friend.

Splash!

“So who’s dis ‘champion’ again?” Shanty props her hooves over the battlements. “What she look like?”

She gets swears in response, alongside what she assumed to be swears from the sprite as they both tried to help the deer swim.

The conversation is cut short by a door slamming open and Subito rushing out: but Shanty is already in motion before he can react. She cartwheels over him with a moment of eye contact as he looks up, before snatching his hat in her teeth and running through the open door down the hall. With a wink at the burly winter sprite as he fails to grab her, she quickly gains a headstart.

Only briefly stopping at an open salt chest, she stuffs its contents and anything shiny into the hat and makes a break for the main doors. With their minds and eyes on what was happening outside of the fortress and the gates opened for their response, the guards fail to spot her until she’s out the gate, dashing into the darkness of the trees.

Shanty perches herself on top of a particularly large palm tree as they run by in a shouting panic, smirking down on them before heading off.

The mission was a resounding success: Subito’s sails had been torn, half his supplies dumped or stolen, and everyone accounted for to make their getaway.

Everyone aside Shanty.

Bravura had run ahead of her crew to check, her face lined with a worry that she would never show publicly.

She scours the rest of the ship and the surrounding area, and eventually finds her captain’s corridors unlocked: the one place she hadn’t thought to search.

Inside she spots a familiar hat stuffed with salt and trinkets, and a random key with a small hoofprint beside it.

Her eyes widen as she guesses its meaning: Shanty means to go after the key herself! How did she even know about it?!

She waits without hope to see her kid return with the crew, but she keeps her face stoic as she finishes the roll call.

“Shanty’s missing.” Ruvido remarked. “Are ya goin’ to wait fi her?”

“She’s off on ‘er own.” Bravura shook her head. “She knows where fi find us.”

He leaned in to whisper, “Are yuh sure?”

“Yes.” She gave one last look to the path and turned away. “She can handle herself. She learn from me, after all.”

On a different ship, a barrel’s lid popped out alongside a goat with a simple plan: follow that doe, get the Key, and grab whatever loot she can find.

Author's Note

My amateur attempt at a Book of Lore entry for Shanty: I hope it was enjoyable and consistent with the lore.

I would like to write more in the setting someday, particularly on the prologue-mentioned Equines of the Steppes, but it's daunting.

Reading Pom's Chapter — A Novelization of a Story That Doesn't Yet Exist here inspired me to try, though.

EPom's Chapter — A Novelization of a Story That Doesn't Yet Exist

MLP: FiM

Them's Fightin' Herds

Adventure

An adventure detailing Pom's unwilling journey through Foenum for the Prophet's Key.

Other

AIPomgeon · 45k words  ·  33  0 · 811 views

With the development of the Story mode gone for good and its plans a mystery, it falls to fans to build out the lore and story.

For completion's sake, I will quote her official Mane 6 website character background here:

A QUEST FOR FAME AND FORTUNE

It is well known among the creatures of Foenum that when a goat sets her eye on something, it’s only a matter of time before she gets it.

Shanty, named after a song with no title, was taken in by notorious pirate captain Bravura after being orphaned at a very young age. She studied the ways of salt and sail, instilled with the belief that the only ones who make it in life are those brave enough to fight to the last.

For Shanty to earn a place as a true member of her pirate crew, she has to prove her worth. And it isn’t enough to meet the bar, Shanty aims to blow it out of the water. That means stealing the most valuable treasure in the world: which just so happens to be the Prophet’s Key! Only one who’s worthy? It’s gonna be Shanty!

GOATANI GREATS

The Islands are a haven for adventurers, scoundrels, hermits, explorers, and any creature who values freedom and independence over all else. The goats who dwell here pride themselves on their ability to reach the unreachable, to attain salt and splendor in places past the edges of modern maps.

Of those scoundrels, there is none more striking than Captain Bravura (and First Mate Ruvido) of The Capricorn, a masterpiece galley said to be built from secret plans stolen away from Jarl Stronghoof’s own shipwrights. They say she’s assembling an elite crew of only the most ruthless pirates, to ends unknown. Whatever she’s planning, it’s sure to be an exploit worthy of the Goatani Greats.