If you were to sit down at the Equestrian docks, every month for one week only, You might be able to see a ship. not just any ship however. A pirate ship. A long and high ebony Ship with cannons lining all floors and 4 masted sails atop. And at the very top of the central mast was a flag, complete black as expected, with an emblem of two wings spread wide with a familiar skull shape on top. A pony skull. And if you were to wait until night fell you would notice a pony climb their way onto deck, stare up at the moon, and salute to their rulers.
But this story does not start on this ship, nor does it start at the Equestrian Docks. For It actually starts in a small town known as "ponyville" and follows a light Blue Pegasus who goes to find what happened to her friend. And it is here, that we begin...
It was a glorious day in Ponyville once again as Rainbow Dash lay on a cloud up high. She had done her fair amount of training and cloud kicking and so now she just wanted to kick back and relax. She kicked her back hoofs and allowed the cloud she lay on to glide along the calm breeze. And as she glided along she began to pick up things, things like missing sounds or disturbances. Things were quiet. Perhaps, a little too quiet. Rainbow Dash rolled onto her front and peered through the cloud to see why things were so quiet, and realised why. The cloud had found it's way to Fluttershys cottage. Once ripe with animals and happiness now abandoned and lonely. And the odd thing was, it had been like that for almost a year. Why? Why had Fluttershy been away for a year? Why had she not come back to feed them, and if she had, then why didn't she say anything? And how come Rainbow Dash had only thought of this now?
Well Rainbow Dash had enough. She was going to find answers if it meant breaking into her house. And at this point, it seemed like something she may have to do. She fluttered down in front of the door and knocked on it, just to see if there was anypony in. No response. She knocked again to make sure they heard.
“Heloooo! Anypony in there?”
But once again there was nothing. She pulled the handle down and found, to her surprise, that the door was unlocked, and it swung right open! Dash walked in as silent as she could and began to look around. Nothing had changed much. The sofa was still near the stairs, Bird cages and food bowls were occasionally placed on the floor, and everything was collecting dust.
“Well so much for visitors.”
But lying on the table was the one thing that had seemingly less dust than the others. A letter, that was addressed simply to Rainbow Dash. Intrigued and confused, Dash went up and opened the letter. Reading it allowed I said:
“Dear Rainbow Dash,
If you are reading this then you have found out that the front door is open. What I said about going on holiday was a lie. I have in fact left ponyville forever. After the death of Angel I have felt as if it was not my destiny to take care of animals, like I was born for something else. After borrowing a book from Twilight I have found a legend saying that it is possible to change your cutie mark if you become good at something else, and if you are reading this a month after I leave and I have not come back that is what I am doing.
It hurts me to say this, and I am sorry Rainbow Dash, but I have decided to sail the seas, far away. I have a lot of secrets that I take with me, some I wish I told you and the others sooner. Some I wanted to tell only you. Once again, I am sorry, and I hope you do well.
Your best friend,
Fluttershy”
Upon reading this, Dash began to cry. Not bursting into tears, not a light sniffle. She just began to cry. She ran her hoof down the paper softly as her tears fell.
“F-Flutters. Why? Why didn't you tell me?” She said to the paper as if hoping that she would get a response. Alas there was nothing, and so Rainbow Dash left the cottage with the both the letter and tears down her cheeks. She didn't want to talk to anypony right now.
As she trotted home she found herself walking right in the middle of the rest of her friends on one of their “Play dates” in the park. The group all stopped what they were doing and just stared, not sure if they should approach or not. Applejack decided to break her stare and approach Dash, going up next to her.
“What's wrong sugarcube? Y'all never been like this before!”
Rainbow Dash looked up for a brief second, before passing the note to Applejack and continuing her walk, saying “It's from Fluttershy.” and nothing more. Applejack read the note aloud for the others to hear. There were overall gasps from the crowd but not many tears. In fact the only pony to cry was Rarity, as she had been one of Fluttershys closest friends. Not as long as Rainbow Dash however. And all they could do was watch Rainbow Dash cry, who had now given up walking and had slumped onto the floor.
“What are we gunna do? Ah' hate to have her lookin' like this!” Applejack said starting off the conversation. I was Rarity to answer first
“Well what is there we can do? None of us knew fluttershy as well as her.”
“You knew her well Rarity.”
“Yes, but they have been friends since their foalhood! I don't think anypony could beat that!” Rarity went over to Rainbow Dash and put her hoof on Dashes shoulder. “Rainbow Dash as a very good friend I do not want you to give up on Fluttershy! You have to find her!”
Rainbow Sighed “But that letter is a year old at most! She'll probably be halfway across the world by now.”
“Why that is absolutely nonsense! It does not matter where she is as long as you believe in yourself!”
The rest of the group stood behind Rarity as she spoke, showing their support for all of this, a silent encouragement one could say. And Rainbow Dash understood what they were getting at. If she tried, then she could do it.
Rainbow got to her hooves nervously. What were once tears of sadness were tears of courage. She knew what she had to do.
“You're right guys. I can't give up on any of my friends, no matter what!” She said confident but still broken. “I'll just get some stuff and then I'll be off!” Dashes friends nodded in agreement. They knew what she meant and they weren't going to stop her. Dash was doing this one alone.