Re: Ancient Equestria Arc 3: The Rise and fall of Nightmare Moon.

[Princess Blueblood]

"I'm not keen on losing all my cargo, but if it means we'll survive, sure."

------

After explaining the plan to the crew (and about an hour of stalling), Hurricane turned her ship around, turned on her turbines, and launched her ship at full speed at the fleet.

The Eagle's Fury sped towards the Frigate, firing upon the smaller Schooner's as it sped through. While the pirate ship suffered multiple hits while ramming the Captain's ship, the crew managed to knock one of the schooners out of the air, and ram the Frigate.

The Eagle's Fury smashed into the other frigate, violently rattling it. Multiple Naval Ponies fell of the side of the Frigate, while the rest tried to regain their footing.

Hurricane shot into the air, drawing her blades. She dive bombed any stragglers as her crew invaded the other ship, their high making them insane killing machines, cutting through the naval ponies with such brutality one would think it was a massacre, not a battle. Blood covered the deck, as the crews battled violently.

Hurricane spotted the captain retreating into the captains quarters, ordering his officers to guard him. The coward was preparing to use a life-ship, and fly over to one of the two schooners left.

At this point, the schooners had practically destroyed The Eagle's Fury, luckily, all of the crew was now engaged in the battle on the captains ship, which had sustained practically no damage. Hurricane felt meloncholy that her Griffon-Made ship had now been shot down, but she was trading it in for a rather larger one, as well as a better armed one. Her and Wind Rose converged on the Captains Quarters, both of them breaking away from the fight.

"Halt, Pirates! You are under arrest for the mur-" started one of the two guards, before Hurricane pulled out her two pistols and shot both of them.

"Shut up," she simply said, before kicking in the door to the captains quarters. Wind Rose signaled the crew to finish what they were doing, fire their flintlocks to create a smoke cloud, and to drop to the ground as if they were dead. The sounds of guns going off filled the air, as Hurricane entered the captains quarters.

The Captain jumped up with his flintlock, firing wildly at Hurricane, the bullet flew through the window, and went flying off the edge of the ship, as if it never existed.

"Ooooh, waste of ammo," Hurricane said, drawing her cutlasses. She watched the captain, toying with him, fluttering her eyelids as if she was an innocent mare. Suddenly the captain dived for the door, only to be kicked in the face by Wind Rose, who was guarding the door. Hurricane dove onto him, holding her blades at her neck.

"Tell your dogs that we're all dead. Call them off, and climb onto another ship. Be glad that we're sparing your life. And if you tell anyone that we're still alive, I'll bring a fleet to burn yours down," Hurricane said, her voice layered with a type of insanity that scared the captain witless.

"Fuck you!" shouted the captain, getting a gauntlet to the face for his efforts.

"Call them off, or they shall all suffer the same fate as you," Hurricane said, getting a face full of spit for her efforts.

Hurricane groaned, and brought her hoof down multiple times, breaking multiple bones in the Captain's face. "Think of them, you selfish fuck! Think about their families, their friends! Think about all the people you'll be killing because you're too fucking proud to bow down to a Pirate!" shouted Hurricane, causing Wind to look in the doorway a moment.

"Everything okay in there?" she asked, causing Hurricane to nod.

"F-fine... I'll...I'll call them off." Said The Captain, who walked out onto the deck, everypony seemingly dead.

"I need a pickup! The Pirates have been defeated, we're clear!" shouted the captain. The schooners swooped down from the sky, docking right next to the bloody deck of the frigate, helping the captain onto his ship. They started to fly away, when suddenly, they were hit by massive flaming balls, destroyed in an instant as the ships turned into flaming balls of wreckage. The crew watched in awe, as the ponies they had just let go turned to ash.

"That would be our Pirate Brethern," Said Hurricane, walking out of the Captain's Quarters.

----

After cutting their losses (Black Blossom and her gang of Crystal Cranks) and collecting what little cargo they that had survived he battle on The Eagle's Fury, The crew commandeered the new ship, and flew towards the isles.

[Guest]

Rhuno had spent a week looking through the volumes of bloodline books before he had narrowed Vera and Inysa's down to a higher class family who resides in Canterlot, the Rose's. He would need to pay them a visit.

Rhuno left the castle and used a rope to shimmy his way down to the bottom of the empy moat. He knew of a stair case that lead up to the other side. What he did not know of was what he would find at the bottom of it. What stood opposite the stairs was a cave, and inside the cave was this massive tree. But it was no ordinary tree. It was made of pure crystal, yet seemed dead. How could a crystal tree be dead? Rhuno shrugged this idea off and left the tree, heading up the stairs and beginning his journey out of the Everfree forest.

...

Rhuno knocked on the mansion's doors, soon to be greeted by a maid.

"Is this the main residence of the Rose family?" Rhuno questioned.

The maid's eyes went wide as saucers at the site before her. She stuttered out, "Y...y...yes s...s..sir."

"May I speak with Mr. and Mrs. Rose? I only have some questions pertaining to an investigation I am on. I work for the Princesses." Rhuno pulled out a royal crest, which only those who work inside the castle carry.

"Oh why yes! I will get them right away sir!" The maid scurried off to retrieve Mr. and Mrs. Rose.

Rhuno spent the next hour asking the two about there family, such as who their grandparents were, who they knew extended family wise, and if they had any children. One family member that was described fit what Rhuno felt would be the bearer. A Wind Rose, whom had left the family to find her own way, fighting for the Celestial guard, and then leaving to adventure on her own. The family had not seen her in years. Rhuno was certain that this was the pony he was looking for.

...

After Rhuno had gotten what he needed from the Rose's, he decided a little victory drink was in order. He knew who he was looking for, Wind Rose, so he felt that he deserved a little something for his detective work. He headed to a small hole in the wall pub to grab a drink.

He entered an sat down at the bar. He ordered the largest beer they offered, and a pony wearing a grey hat filled up and slid down a fresh beer to him. 

"I see the all mighty Rhuno finally made a stop by my poor little pub. What has the all mighty monster slayer been up to?"

"Oh not much. I am actually on a mission. You seen a dark gray mare with red mane and tail with a pink highlight in it. Her cutie mark is rose petals blowing in the wind."

"Actually, yes I did. And I know where she is."

"Really?"

"Yea... she is wanted for assassinating a general in the castle and is now on a airship with the pirate Hurricane, and they are on the run."

"Wait.. she assassinated a general in the castle!?"

"That is what the wanted posters say."

"Hmmm...  well... you still got that Gunboat?"

"How did you know I had a gunboat...?"

"I know things buddy. I am like a old tree. I sit still and take in that around me. Anyway..."


Rhuno plops a massive bag of gold on the countertop.


"This enough to persuade you to let me borrow your ship?"


"Oh yes! Most definitely! It is at the docks! Here is my owners pass. You have that, no one will question it is yours."


"Thanks Greyhat." Rhuno chugs his beer in one big gulp. "Now I must be off before they get too far ahead of me. Thanks for the drink Grey, I wills see you later."


Greyhat tipped his hat as he saw Rhuno get up and walk out of the pub.


...


Rhuno had the pony pinned up against the alley wall, gasping for breath.

"I am going to ask one more time you little shit. Where is the Pirate Island?"

The pony spit at Rhuno. "I ain't tellen you nuthin you big cunt."

Rhuno facepalmed.

"Well then... it has come to this..."

The pony readied for the end, tensing up in suspense, but nothing came. She opened her mouth, and saw a big bag of gold being held in front of her face. 

"You come along with me and show me the way to the island, and I will give you this whole bag of gold." Rhuno lifted his hood, revealing his true self. "For I am Rhuno, and I do not lie."

The pony gasped.

"Holy shit! The hero? The princesses big booty bitch? We he he hell then! I will take you anywhere if you are paying that much!"

Rhuno let the pony down and brushed her off.

"Sorry about that, so, what is the name of the fine well established mare that I have had the pleasure to jump in an alley?"

"Mah name is Ruby, an' don't you ferget it!"

"Well nice to meet you Ruby. Sorry for choking you, I did not expect a pirate to be so... up to the task."

"Well when you got a bag o gold like that, Ahm sure any pirate would be up fer it! So, which boat is yers?"

"Follow me, and I will show you."

Rhuno and Ruby made there way to Greyhats gunboat. They hopped aboard, churned the engine's, and began there journey after Hurricane and Wind Rose.

[Cloudchaser]

Wind Rose was inspecting the ship and putting the crew into work on the more modern equipment when suddenly the ship shook and made everyone loose their balance. Wind Rose was just about to get up when the ship was hit again and this time the fire alarm rung throughout the ship and she got up and flew out of one of the cannon windows and saw that the ships they had mistook for fellow pirates were black and dark blue warships and they were shooting flaming balls at them. The ship was on fire and the engines were failing quickly, Wind Rose swore to herself before she flew back in and grabbed hold of the nearest officer.

"Tell your men to dump anything that could explode, this ship is going down and fast. If we want to increase the odds of survival we need to dump anything explosive over board, we're still over the sea-" Wind Rose was cut off as the ship shook again and suddenly a creaking noise could be heard and Wind and the officer's jaws dropped as they saw one of the massive turbine engines fly past the window and crashing into the sea with a loud "splash".

"Shit, Hurricane, I gotta find Hurricane.." Wind Rose started running up the stairs to the helm of the ship where Hurricane probably was as the crew under the deck was throwing out as much of their gunpowder kegs before they'd hit the ocean and explode into bits. Just as Wind Rose got up to the helm of the ship and saw Hurricane aiming the small back cannon to try and inflict whatever damage she could to the warships their ship hit the ocean and Wind was flung right into Hurricane and knocked them both into the ocean as the airship crashed into the ocean and slid right into sky pirate island before exploding into flames and smoke.

Wind Rose and Hurricane were washed up onto the shore coughing up water as they regained their senses, the view that met them was all but nice. The sky pirate's island base was in ruins, ships lie broken in their docks, either burned to the ground or shot to pieces presumably by the very same warships that had shot them down. Wind Rose looked around for any survivors and was pleased to find Candle Wick alive, although knocked unconscious from the crash, she shouted for Hurricane to come and help her drag him up from the water.

[Arualsti]

Wick grabbed the mast with all his strength. He didn't have wings and wasn't as sure footed as an earth pony, and he could feel his magic straining. He had re-packed his possession when the attack started, but he hadn't been much use. His explosives weren't designed to take down an airship, and his aim was getting worse and worse as he could barely summon the magic to lift and light his bombs. His skull seemed to be tearing down the middle in pain, and cold sweat made his mane stick to his head.

The ship took a lurch to the side, and Wick felt himself slipping. He could barely will his limbs to cling for dear life anymore. He lifted his head weakly in time to see Wind crash into Hurricane and for them both to tumble overboard in a ball of fur and feather. Wick reached out lamely, as if he could catch them. Instead, he lost his grip and tumbled after them.

They hadn't been flying that high, but the distance between the ship and the water was just enough for Wick to pull the tiny cork out of a vial he had strapped to his fore hoof. He drank down the spicy liquid and felt the change instantly. His hind legs bounded together and itched like made, burning hot and then freezing cold in the space of seconds. He felt a similar sensation on his neck and front legs, which began to shrink and split, webbing appearing inbetween the nearly formed spines. Then he plunged into the water.

The force knocked the breath out of him, and when he tried to inhale, he choked on water. He inhaled again, this time he felt the rush in his newly formed gills, and relief swept over him. He dove into the water as wreckage from the ship rained down over him. His clothes stuck to his new sea pony body in all the wrong ways, making swimming hard. His saddlebags slipped and threatened to fall off him completely and into the inky blackness below. He looked up, the surface of the water was red with burning ship. He felt the tide tug him, he should head toward land.

The sea pony potion was a piece of genius. Invented by one of the College's founders. It completely changed the physiology of pony. He also had ones to turn ponies into pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies. He even had ones that could turn you into a griffon or minotaur. Unforunately, the more drastic the change, the sorter the affects. You could barely even make it all the way into becoming a griffon before you changed back. A sea pony potion lasted about 3 minutes, and Wick needed every second of it. He was further out than he had anticipated, and wreckage still rained down from the sky making it hard to surface. He could feel his front and hind legs returning, an the gills shrinking, making each breath a struggle. He could see the surface now, almost feel it, the rocky sea bed was now soft sand. So close, almost there. Then darkness.

[Princess Blueblood]

Hurricane sat on the beach, a small line of blood running from her split lip. Her head was swirling and she could barely think straight. She had not only just lost her ship, but also had lost a crew that she had practically grown up with, going through naval training together, and even more.

For the first time in a long time, Hurricane felt hopeless. Small droplets of tears fell onto the sand, as she quietly sobbed, looking at the destroyed wrecks of pirate ships on the island. She slammed her hoofs into the ground, her sobs turning into a full blown crying fit. She curled up into a ball, weeping for her lost comrades, her lost friends. Her life had taken a turn for the worse.

After a few minutes, Hurricane stopped sobbing, and walked over to Wind, her eyes bloodshot red. She put her hoof on one side of Wind's head, inspecting it. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of her face, the cut covered by her mane.

"You're hurt," Hurricane said, pulling out one of her powder rags. She quickly cleaned the cut with the rag, dipped in salt water, before tying it to Wind's head.

"You should be okay for now. As soon as Wick gets up, we need to find another boat, and get out of here," Hurricane said, sitting down on the sand, sighing loudly. "Thanks, by the way. I'd be dead, if it weren't for you."

[Cloudchaser]

After dragging Candle Wick up on shore they had sat down on the shore just staring at the burning remains of what had once been 4 mighty ships. Bodies were floating in the water, unmoving or being eaten by sharks and other creatures that were driven there by the smell of blood. It was a horrendous sight to be seen and it took every effort Wind Rose had to not kneel over and puke from the stench of burning flesh, she was used to killing monsters and the occasional pony or other civilized creature but seeing half burnt corpses was more than she could handle really. Her kills were always fresh and clean but this.. this was mass murder, who would've done such a thing?

Wind Rose's thoughts were disrupted by Hurricane who had managed to recover from her small mental breakdown, Wind had thought it best to leave her alone or she would just get in the way. She had mostly lived on her own and having "befriended" this pirate mare was a whole new feeling for her, sure she had "friends" among the nobles in Canterlot but that was a false friendship, Hurricane and her had come together in an twist of events and now they were here.

"You're hurt," Hurricane said, pulling out one of her powder rags. She quickly cleaned the cut with the rag, dipped in salt water, before tying it to Wind's head.

"You should be okay for now. As soon as Wick gets up, we need to find another boat, and get out of here," Hurricane said, sitting down on the sand, sighing loudly. "Thanks, by the way. I'd be dead, if it weren't for you."

Wind Rose stared at Hurricane, she wasn't sure what to say.. One moment they had been aboard Hurricane's airship and being inches away from being shot down and then jumping ship to avoid being shot down to then crashing down on the island and now she was thanking her for saving her life?

"You're welcome I guess? I'm not really sure how to feel, I never really had any friends as a child and the nobles of Canterlot can hardly be called friends, as long as you act as a noble they will treat you as one of them.. But now here we are together with Wick over there and we've come together from some very peculiar twist of events and I have a feeling this is just the start and the sooner we learn to trust each other enough to trust that we have each other's backs covered the easier it will become to sort out this mess." Wind Rose finally said after a moment of odd silence, a part of her felt like embracing Hurricane and just trying to comfort each other but the other part of her had a really, really bad feeling about what they would find once they got to the pirate base.

Suddenly a groan from Candle Wick diverted their attention to him as they walked over to him just as he woke up again, Wind Rose hadn't lost her pocket water flask that was attached to her belt and she lifted Wick's head up so that he could drink some water.

"There, you should be just fine in a few minutes. You inhaled a lot of salt water so it's a miracle we found you before you inhaled any more, how you feeling? That horn of yours doesn't look very healthy, did you injure it in the crash or?" Wind Rose asked Candle Wick as he began to regain his senses.

[Arualsti]

Wick pulled back, covering his horn with his hoof. It was a sensitive subject, what unicorn stallion wouldn't be sensitive about the prowess of their horn. 'No' he gasped, not realising how faint he felt after the whole ordeal 'Old injury. I'm fine.'

He stood and looked out at the burnt and bloody sea. 'So, apart from you and I' He looked just behind Wind 'ah, and miss Hurricane, I presume there has been no one else wash up on shore?'.

He grimaced and looked down at a long scratch on his foreleg, the salt water seeping into it and making it sting. It was superficial but he reached into his sopping wet bag for some balm for it.

'If either of you two have injuries, let me treat them. This might not be much but it will dull the pain a bit and most importantly it'll stop you getting an infection'

[Princess Blueblood]

Hurricane looked at her torn sleeve, which exposed a rather small cut, a nail protruding from the side. Hurricane pulled the nail out with her teeth, grimacing and grunting in pain. The spit the nail out, a small tear of pain running down the side of her face, before walking over to Wick.

"Mind if you could put some balm on this one?" asked Hurricane, her face still contorted in pain. Wick obliged, rubbing the thick balm onto Hurricane's arm. Almost immediately, the pain left Hurricane's wound, and she sighed in relief, her strained expression turning into her usual, hard captain's scowl.

"Thank you. I suggest we get up to the fortress."

--------

The fortress was a blood bath, bodies all over the place, some charred, some dismembered. No signs of the attackers, though. Hurricane saw a few friends, a few enemies. But all associates.

"Who could've done this?" Asked Hurricane, looking around. Blood pooled on the floor, the trio's hooves slopping around in the muck.

The group climbed up one of the cannon towers, to get a better look on things. Night was falling fast, and lightning clouds loomed in the distance. The trio decided to quickly barricade the rather large surface area of the cannon tower, using the destroyed chassis of the cannons as wood boards for the windows. The metal balls kept the massive door shut, and the unspent powder to light a small fire. They set a small camp fire on the cobble floor, and sat around, not speaking. Finally, after a long awkward silence, Hurricane piped up.

"I'm glad that at least some of us survived," The Captain said, her eyes focusing on the flames of the power-fire. "Lost a good deal of good ponies back there. Best crew a captain could have. A lot of 'em left families behind. Like Gunpowder. He was a family man above all, just trying to make enough coin to make sure his little girl could go to school. While none of us were exactly saints, we did what we had to do to make sure the others who depended on us survived. We had been together for a couple years by now."

Wind raised an eyebrow, the flame's light flickering off her eyes. "When did you guys meet?" She asked leaning over the fire, the cool coastal breeze ruffling her still wet wing feathers, spread out over the fire to dry.

"About 5 years ago. I was on The Lunar Eclipse, and we had been captured by the Griffon Navy. About 15 of our 60 some crew were executed before one of our passengers, I believe a political envoy from the Shadow Clan Guild, decided to go and kill the whole griffon crew. We made out with our lives, and used the Griffon's ship, which I renamed The Eagle's Fury. We dropped the passenger off in the Griffon Badlands, and we started our lives as pirates. We were good at it too. Never got caught once. But after a while the whole crew, even some of my best officers, got hooked on poppy poison, magic mushrooms, and Crystal Residue. My best friend, Eyelander, lost his mare-friend and child to her poppy poison addiction. One too many doses, and down the drain she went," Hurricane said, sighing.

"What about you? What's your guys backgrounds?"

[Arualsti]

Wick waited for Wind to answer, he was more interested in hearing about them than about himself, but when they were met with her silence, he began.

“I was born far north of here, outside of Equestria, in a city called Solstice. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't, but it is a town quite unlike any to be found here. It was founded by all manner of creatures running from persecution from their prospective homelands, so it's population consists of Griffons, Minotaurs, Zebras and Donkeys as well as ponies, and more too, which I understand is also a  rare occurrence in Equestria.

In Solstice, our pride is our College, specialising is everything but magic. Graduates become great healers or inventors and spread far and wide across the world and we are taught that we have to help the world, though of course many take that to mean anything they like.

I came from a poor family, though not unreasonably so, we always had food and warmth enough, and I was happy, and like all the young colts and fillies I applied for the College, and of course, I got in. We study everything at the College, and we are all expected to have a basic knowledge in every field taught, my favourite subject was explosives, like gunpowder. Fantastic stuff, we discovered so many different uses for it and I bet there are a thousand more just waiting to be found out. It was in one of these lessons that I got this injury to my horn. I can still do magic of course, but my strength in it is much more limited. Just think of me as a better looking earth pony who can levitate small objects'

Wind and Hurricane didn't seem to react to that comment. He continued.

'At any rate I graduated fairly recently and came to Equestria, then I got dragged along in a crazy adventure with 2 mares who are wanted for murder.'

[Cloudchaser]

Wind Rose sat in silence at the fire, warming her wet wings, she sure wouldn't be flying anywhere until the morning. She listened as Hurricane told her story about her life and crew and when she finished there was just silence for a couple minutes, Rose really didn't feel like talking about her life it wasn't interesting at all. She felt like they had more pressing issues than recapping their lives together, thankfully Candle Wick spoke up when he noticed that she was being silent. Wind Rose's thoughts floated away to trying to make sense of this whole mess, one day she had been living the life and being offered a fairly normal assassination job which quickly turned into a mess and then the next day she's running away with Equestria's most wanted fugitive. The dagger in the general's room had had the crest of a moon on it that resembled Princess Luna's cutie mark and royal crest.. Luna was a benevolent ruler like her sister surely she had no malicious intent on murdering a general in her own army, did someone want to frame them as Luna's loyal guards to frame her for the murder? She got up on her legs and stretched them before walking over to a nearby window, "Just getting some fresh air." She mumbled as Candle Wick continued with his story.

As Wind Rose approached the window to sip some fresh air she thought she saw something moving in the darkness, she shook her head and excused it on being tired or it being some animal that was preying on the dead. Candle Wick finished his story and Wind Rose again saw that dark shadow moving around but this time her eyes had adjusted a bit more to the darkness and she made out the contour of a pony.

"I think there's someone alive down there, someone's running around between the houses and unless it's a cannibal then it's either a survivor like us or one of the ones that attacked us and this base." Wind Rose called out to the others, Hurricane came up to her and looked out to where she had pointed and saw the same figure moving about.

"I don't think it knows we're here yet, doesn't seem like it's interested in this tower at least. I reckon we should check it out, it just disappeared into that building there, seems like whatever it was after it found." Wind Rose said and Hurricane nodded and together with Wick they creeped up to the building they had seen the creature disappear into.

Once inside the building they saw no sign of where the creature had gone, there was no hole or anything that a creature the size of a pony could have escaped into, they walked into the house and the door slammed close behind them and a trap door opened beneath them. They tumbled down a small slide and landed on top of each other in a dimly lit room with an old pony staring at them.

" 'Bout damn time you three showed up, I wus wonderin' how long I'd had to be runnin' around out ther' b'fore you noticed me, Welcome to my humble abode, the soup's on the fire and should be ready in a minute if you care ta join me fer dinner. The happenings today must've been quite shaking, eh cap'n Hurricane?"

[Guest]

Ruby stood by the rail, looking out over the ocean. Rhuno sat back at the steering wheel, keeping them on course.

"Sorry about being rough with you back there in the alley Ruby."

"Oh no biggy. Ah've been in tuffer situations then that. So.." Ruby turned to face Rhuno. "What is a big hero like yerself doing wanting to visit the pirate island? Hmm?"

"I am looking for someone. Think of it like a quest. Like one of my quests from the old days. Ever heard of those?"

"Only the Dragost one. You were quite brave to go in and save your friends."

"Well, what else would I have done? Anyway, you obviously know more about me then I do you. What is your story Ruby?"

"Oh, not much to it. I was born into a wealthy family. Hated it. Ran away. Became a pirate. Now I am here. Stuck on a dinky gunboat with a hero."

"That you are."

A odd silence fell between the two. Rhuno seemed to lose himself in thought.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh... nothing... just that it has been a while since I spent this much time with pony. On a journey of sorts. Just bringing back memories is all. Anyway, I'm getting a bit drowzy. Course is set, so I am going to catch some shuteye."

"Aren't you worried I'll rob ye blind and make off with the boat, dumping you overboard?"

"Not at all. I can see a good heart. I have lived a long time Ruby. I can just... tell things. Anyway, goodnight."

Rhuno laid down on a small blanket he brought and soon fell asleep. Ruby turned back toward the ocean and kept watching.

One thing the tales got wrong about that one. He ain't no big bad minotaur. He is a fricken softy. Stuck on a gunboat with a big soft Minotaur taking him to Pirate Island. Couple days away... this will be interesting...

[Cloudchaser]

The trio looked at each other then back at the old stallion with a confused look, he just smiled at them and waited for Hurricane to answer. Wind Rose looked around the place as did Candle Wick, it was a pretty small underground hut if one could even call it that.. There were pictures of families with happy faces covering the walls and a dusty old book case that almost looked like if it would be touched the books would crumble to dust.

Meanwhile Hurricane was having a hard time coming up with anything to say, the pony in front of her felt familiar but she couldn't place where she would have met this old pony.

"Ah, well no matter. I completely understand if you're in too much of a shock to answer, Hurricane. Come in, come in, the soup is almost ready." The old stallion gestured for them all to come into his "kitchen" which was mostly just a big kettle inside a closed fireplace from which a lovely smell came.

The trio went after the old stallion and sat down on some lounger chairs that seemed to almost fit them perfectly as if he had gotten them knowing that one day they would come. He stirred the soup for a minute or two before pouring up a bowl for the trio and then he sat down himself, resting his hooves on an staff that Wind Rose only just noticed he had. He seemed very peculiar, he wasn't eating anything himself and it was quite a co-incidence he would have eaten and had freshly cooked soup ready just as they came. The events of the past few days kept becoming weirder and weirder, it was almost like fate itself had decided that the world needed a nudge in the right direction, obviously that was just hocus pocus, Wind Rose thought.

Eventually she couldn't help it and just as she was going to ask who the old stallion was he looked over at her and smiled. "Wind Rose, you've grown up to such an beautiful mare, It feels like yesterday you were just a filly and I saw you for the first time.."

"Who are you? You feel familiar yet I have no memory of ever seeing you and I have a feeling you're way older than you appear.." Rose said and awaited an answer from the old stallion who seemed to be lost in memories.

"Hm? Who? Oh you mean little old me? I'm no one special, I'm just an old wanderer. I nudge ponies in the right direction, some call me fate others knew me as Eagle Blade once, I'm nothing more but a spirit of an old stallion come to help the world back on it's feet." Suddenly the spirits expression grew serious and the smile vanished from his face.

"There is a great darkness about to sweep across the land and Celestia will need all the help she can get, an old friend is on his way after you but you have yet to find out who you really are." He stopped to let everything sink in for the trio, Rose's jaws were wide open, Hurricane was just about equally stunned and Candle Wick had a confused look on his face.

"What do you mean find out who we really are? I know I'm Wind Rose, born into a noble pegasi family with strong bloodlines even before the age of chaos, what more is there to know?" Rose questioned the old stallion who chuckled before he continued.

"You're so like your great great great mother, Rose. I'm sure she would have loved to have been tasked by the ancients to be one who's here to nudge you in the right way, you two are very much alike." He turned to Hurricane.

"Hurricane, my kin. It brings me great pride to see that my family lived on and gave birth to such a charismatic young mare, you along with Wind Rose have some family history to catch up on." He turned his attention to Candle Wick.

"Hmm, you're not from any bloodline I recognize yet you have strong ties to Balm. I hope you're as proficient with potions and herbs as he was, Wind Rose and Hurricane will need your help more than ever now." The trio exchanges looks of confusion with each other, Hurricane and Rose looked at each other almost as if asking if they knew who Eagle Blade was but no one came up with a response.

"Ah, I see the age of Discord did some harm on the history, ah well then you have a bit more homework to do before I send you on your way to find your other companions. You must go to the old castle of the two pony princesses, Luna and Celestia. There you shall find a book detailing the bloodlines of all the important families of Equestria, find yourself in it and everything will become clear. My old friend will meet you there and he will help you on your next quest." The old stallion that used to be known as Eagle Blade said and the trio got up and headed for the exit when Hurricane stopped.

"Just one problem." Hurricane said, "We ain't got no airship and we sure as hell ain't swimmin' across the sea."

The old stallion known as Eagle Blade simply nodded. "True, true. That is why I have prepared a small boat for you, it will take you across the sea over the night and after that it's a day's march to the castle in the Everfree forest where you will find the book and meet up with my old friend who will be providing you with an airship again, Captain." With that the old stallion was gone in the blink of an eye, it was almost as if they had been cooking everything themselves and just talking to thin air but they knew deep inside them that they had been nudged into a direction that would take them on a long journey. A journey that would test their strengths, weaknesses and friendship, they found the boat at the shore and untied it and set off toward the castle.

[Princess Blueblood]

Hurricane looked around, and then raised an eyebrow.

"That was some magic mushroom shit right there," Hurricane said. "Either way, we should get some sleep."

Suddenly, a loud bang sounded off, and a small flicker off moonlight peered through the cracks in the ceiling. Hurricane peered through, and then scrambled outside, to see a small boat, a small sail on top of it.

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," Hurricane said, sighing. "Okay everypony, get your asses on bored. Lock your doors and close your blinds, we're going for a ride."

The trio jumped onboard the rinky dink sail boat and set off, Hurricane piloting the sail with nothing more than a rope and compass. By the time the sun was rising, the trio had washed up on shore. The crew flipped over the ship, and gotten some rest, before they continued on.

[Arualsti]

Wick woke feeling like shit.

His throat was parched and his skin was dry from the hot, dry wind that had buffeted them all night. His hair was limp and frazzled, far from his luxurious auburn locks. He glanced over at Wind and Hurricane. Even though he was certain the pair who sooner cut off his cock than bounce on it, he felt a certain sense pride in his image around good looking ponies. He was the first to wake, and quickly gathered some food from the tree line, and placed them by a slowly awakening Wind and Hurricane and excused himself.

He found a small stream slightly further into the woods. Not deep enough to bath in, but nough to clean in. Using his magic he levitated a small orb of rippling water and dumped it on his head. The cold water trickled down his face and neck, washing away the dirt and sand of the previous night. He repeated it several times, wincing as the water cleaned his small wounds. He returned to the pair of mares who were now fully up and ready to move out. Wick readied himself, and the trio set out, Wind and Hurricane behind them. Not that he didn't enjoy the view.

The walk was mostly easy, travelling across fields and soft sloping hillocks. It was made hard by constantly avoiding the road and any settlements completely. Wick stumbled upon a medium sized patch of poppies, and he managed to grab a good supply whilst Wind and Hurricane weren't looking. Eventually the forest appeared on the horizon. A green black smudge that grew with every step.

[Cloudchaser]

Wind Rose awoke next to Hurricane as Candle Wick was bringing back some food before excusing himself. The night had started out peculiar before just getting horrible as they got out onto the sea, the small boat they had rocked in the waves horribly and Rose was used to flying or being on airships. She definitely didn't belong on the sea, the air was still foul from the decaying corpses and the sea sickness didn't help keep the soup in her stomach, it was a miracle she didn't throw up everything over the railing.

After a quick breakfast and wash they walked onward towards the Everfree forest, Wind Rose didn't quite like it. Having lived on the borders of the forest for 5+ years she had hunted pretty much every beast and monster that lived here but she had never dared to venture into the depths of the forest where the old castle lay. Going in alone would be suicide, you would get overwhelmed and mauled to death before you would even be able to run away.

As they neared the forest Wind Rose stopped Wick and Hurricane and briefed them on what kinds of nasty things they could encounter. "Okay listen carefully, the Everfree forest is full of dangerous beast and monsters. Do not wander off anywhere alone, even the plants here are lethal to ponies, if we stay close to each other they will only observe us from a distance and as long as we stay clear of the plants we should be able to arrive un-harmed."

They got into the forest and started walking slowly but determined not showing any fear, Timberwolves crossed their paths chasing some prey but paying them no mind. Wind Rose pointed out some of the un-harmful herbs for Wick and made sure Hurricane recognized the plants that she needed to cut down before they spewed poison in their face.

About a few hours later Wind Rose found a good open spot where the plant life wasn't as dense and the trees up above let the sun through and if the creatures hated anything more than ponies it was sun. Although Timberwolves didn't mind the sun for a couple of hours but too long exposure would melt the sap keeping their bones together. Wind Rose deemed that this was a safe spot to set up a campfire and cook some lunch before they ventured on.

"I hope one of you brought something to cook the herbs in, doesn't need to be anything big a bottle that is strong enough to resist the heat of the fire will do since the herbs are meant to be crushed anyway." Wind Rose said and waited for the other two to settle down.

[Princess Blueblood]

Hurricane was mostly silent the entire trip, completely out of her element. The forest was definitely not her favorite place in the world, and she was pretty sure she had caught malaria (If she hadn't already from all the tropical islands she had been on). She glimpsed back at Wick once or twice to catch him absent-mindedly gazing at the rumps of the two mares. Not that Hurricane minded. Wasn't like he had a snowflakes chance in hell of getting with Hurricane.

Finally when they stopped, the sunlight opening gave Hurricane a chance to wash off. She stripped naked, throwing her clothes down in the sunlight to dry, and walked down to a small stream. She washed the sand and mud off her thoroughly, running her hooves along her multiple tattoos. She then tied her mane and tail quickly, redressed herself, and sat down.

"I can see the castle from here. We should be there soon," Hurricane said, feeling fresh. "Then we can see what all this shit is about. I want to find out who the hell set us up, and kill them."

-------

The group arrived at the castle, where they set up camp for the night. Hurricane, her powder finally dried out, was on first watch, sitting on the top of a castle tower with her flare pistol. She sat on the flagstones like a hawk, her wings at half-spread, ready to dive off the tower at any given moment. Meanwhile, Rose and Wick went off looking for the book the old pony who called himself "Eagle Blade" had told them about.

[Arualsti]

Wick glanced at Hurricane perched, ready to strike, still as a statue. He shivered, the entire forest set him on edge. It wasn't just wild, the trees and wildlife seeped evil. There was a cold, dark pressure pushing in on them all. Wick chewed a few poppy seeds, just to set his mind at ease. Dark creatures lurked in the corners of the old fortress, nothing as serious as a timber wolf or manticore, but rats and bats that would take a chunk out of you if you weren't paying attention. Between them, they managed to kill any that came too close. He had even managed to strike a rather large bat in mid air, with a throwing knife, and have it land on top of a rat that was scurrying too close. He tried to give Wind a nonchalant look, as though that sort of thing happened all the time. She didn't seem impressed.

They searched the old castle as briskly as they dared. Their hooves clanked off the hard stone floor, and parts of building would creak or crumble unexpectedly. Some rooms were almost destryoed entirely, the forest slipping inside and claiming it for it's own. Other parts were almost untouched, tapestries and furniture preserved perfectly as it was in the last day it was in habited. They walked past a room where the wall had crumbled partially to give a slight glimpse of what was inside. Wind pulled her head back from the crack.

'It's the library by the looks of it, that is probably the best place to find it.' She said in hushed tones. They made their way to the door, as the holes into the room were far too small to crawl through. The doors were heavy metal, an image of the Princesses rearing, surrounded by the sun and moon and stars. Time had rusted away the finer parts of their features turned dark orange, making them look like they were fighting a bloody battle to the death. Wick gulped, something about that image frightened him more than the monsters outside. Wind did not seem to notice or care, she was testing the doors, pushing, pulling, bucking, but they would not budge. They were locked tight.

Wick tapped her lightly on the shoulder and took over. He extracted a small paper parcel from his bag. A lot of his powder was wrapped tightly in leather skins, that had kept out the worst of the moisture, and over the last day he had ensured it had returned to it's bone dry state. He stuffed the paper parcel into the lock of the door, fused in place with rust. He then stuck a fuse in to the package tightly and lit the end with a tiny spark from the tip of his horn. He moved purposefully, but not overly quickly back to Wind, and ushered he back a few feet. A second or two later the lock exploded, the sound only slightly muffled by the door. A small black hole was left where the lock had once been. The pair then pulled on the heavy doors, and they swung outward.

[Guest]

Rhuno and Ruby got to know each other more during there trip to the Pirate Island. They hit off pretty well. Their humor was similar, so they joked a lot. Rhuno spent most of the journey napping, for with his old age, sleep was a gift. He spent the last leg of the journey fast asleep.

...

Rhuno was woken up by a hoof poking him in the side.

"Hurry and get up. Somethin happened."

Rhuno stretched and got up off his sleeping mat. He walked over to the railing and gazed down. Before them was the Pirate Island, or what was left of it. The entire settlement was blasted to bits. Large craters scoured the entire island. Buildings were torn open and the ground was black from the ash and smoke of cannon fire. Among the ruins, a figure moved in and out of sight.

"Did you see that Ruby?"

Ruby did not reply. She was frozen stiff, looking over the ruins of the island.

"Are... you going to be ok Ruby?" Rhuno asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"This place was so fulla life like a week ago. Now..."

"They are gone now Ruby. Nothing we can do but find out who did this and buck em where it hurts, eh?"

"Exactly."

Rhuno and Ruby parked the gunboat at a empty dock and hopped off. They made their way into the ruins, keeping an eye out for the thing that Rhuno thought he saw earlier. Rhuno glimpsed a pony walk down into a cellar.

"Hey Ruby, over here."

The two made there way over to the cellar stairs and went down. What met them at the bottom took Rhuno by surprise.

"Long time no see old friend."

Rhuno stumbled up to the pony and grasped him in a hug, doing his best to hold back his tears.

"Umm... obviously you know this pony. I sure don't. Mind tellin me?" Ruby.

Rhuno stopped hugging the pony and turned back toward Ruby. "This here is Eagle Blade, one of the ponies whom I fought with back in the day. Just a ghost of his former self I am guessing." Rhuno turned back toward Eagle. "I feel this is not a chance meeting. What have you to tell me?"

"The ponies you are looking for... were just here, but have gone. I sent them to the old castle so they may find who they are and what they mean to this world. You all are needed if you wish to stop Nightmare Moon."

"Nightmare Moon?"

"She is the one behind the attack on this island. She is the one who the dark force is working through. She is the one you need to stop with the Elements of Harmony."

Ruby hissed at the two and made a motion to keep quit. They all hushed, as a loud whirring sound came from overhead. Ruby made her way to the cellar staircase and looked up into the sky. A giant armada of ships sailed overhead, bearing a symbol of a moon surrounded by purple mist. After the armada passed, Ruby made her way back to Rhuno and Eagle Blade.

"It was some sort of fleet, bearing a the mark of a moon with purple mist."

"That was the fleet that destroyed this island. That fleet flies under the command of Nightmare Moon. She is trying to stop you all from uncovering your potential. You must make haste after the 3 ponies I sent to the castle."

"Well then, we will leave at once." Rhuno hugged Eagle one more time. "It was nice seeing you old friend."

"Likewise. Now go! Every second you waste is another that Nightmare Moon has!"

Eagle Blade vanished into thin air, and Rhuno and Ruby made their way back to the gunboat, setting sail back toward Equestria.

...

Ruby stared out at the vastness of the ocean, the two having traveled half the distance back to the mainland. She has a question dwelling on her mind. Rhuno had told her of his closeness to Princess Luna, and she did not wish to hurt him, but she just had to ask.

"Rhuno... you know this Nightmare Moon? Do.. do you think she has anything to do with Princess Luna?"

Rhuno was standing next to Ruby, gazing out at the ocean as well. His hands were settled on the handrail. After Ruby asked the question, the rail cracked under Rhuno's hands, causing Ruby to back off a bit.

"I sincerely hope not Ruby."

The next couple hours were spent in silence.

[Cloudchaser]

Wind Rose and Candle Wick entered the doors into the library Wick had just opened and they were greeted with the sight of hundreds of rows of bookcases running all over the room. Wind Rose saw a dusty plaque on the wall and went over to it and wiped off the dust to see what it read.

"Library wing 3.." She read out loud, the rest of the letters that indicated what books this wing hosted had been worn out with age. Rose turned to Wick who had begun to pluck down some books. "It's going to take weeks to go through all this! We don't even know what the book is called or how it looks! I'm gonna go call Hurricane down to help us search, be right back." Wind Rose walked out of the library slightly annoyed and didn't notice she took a wrong turn going back out, she was mumbling for herself and complaining about how she got dragged into this mess.

When she had been walking for what felt like half an hour she stopped and looked around her, not recognizing anything. Cursing she berated herself for getting distracted and not paying attention where she went. She traced her steps back from where she had came but got even more confused, after running around for an hour she sat down and knelt against a suit of armour from times she'd only read of in books in school as a filly when it suddenly creaked and threw her into a slide. Tumbling down the slide and knocking her head every now and then she slid down and was cast into the open air, she was still dizzy from tumbling down the slide and didn't notice a golden magical aura catching her before she fell.

"Be careful, darling. In this darkness, you don't know which edges are your friends, and which are your enemies. I suggest you make good use of your wings, and not plummet to your death," A sweet voice said, Rose couldn't quite make out where it came from but she understood what it said.

"Uh.. Yes, yes. Just lemme outta this aura and I'll fly by own accord." Rose said and the magical aura around her dropped and she fell for a split second before catching herself and spreading out her wings to keep her afloat in the air.

"Much better. I was afraid you wouldn't be able to support yourself." Rose looked over to where the voice came from and saw an elderly mare dressed in a golden linen robe look at her with a soft smile on her face.

"And who might you be then, miss?" Rose asked the elderly mare in the golden linen robe.

"It's Mrs, darling. Gold Blade, at your service. Wife of the former Pegasus Warlord Eagle Blade. I saw you wandering around, I was afraid you'd doom us all by starving while walking in circles. Now, where might be my penta-fold great granddaughter be? I believe we should go and get her. " Gold said and begun hovering away to where Hurricane was sitting Rose guessed and flew after her.

About 5 minutes later Hurricane came into view, she was sitting still and scouting the forest ahead for any signs of activity when Wind Rose snuck up on her from behind and sat down beside her.

"Soo see anything interesting?" She said and Hurricane was just about to say there wasn't anything moving the forest almost as if the creatures feared the castle when she caught herself. "Rose?! What are you doing here? Where's Wick?" Hurricane burst out.

"Ah, there she is" Said Gold Blade, seemingly appearing out of thin air. "Don't you worry, I'm sure Wick hasn't noticed you're gone. There hasn't been trouble in this castle for years. Why should that change?" Gold Blade responded to Hurricane's questions.

"Who the fuck are you?" Hurricane says and gaining a worried look from Rose and a displeased look from Gold.

"I am your great great great great grandmother and I have been tasked with helping you find your way in this castle, it used to be so beautiful once. I spent a lot of my time wandering these corridors, memorizing the libraries and the books here." Gold answered and making Hurricane's jaw drop.

"Yeah, shit's getting weird, I know. So tell me if you and this Eagle Blade we met earlier are some great grandparents to Hurricane will I ever get to meet mine or am I not of an important blood line?" Wind Rose asked.

"Now, I suggest we return to Wick's company. The ancients will alert me of any sign of trouble, so there is no need for your being of lookout. Come, we have much work to do, and very little time."

The next few days where spent studying their blood lines and getting history lessons from Gold Blade.

[Princess Blueblood]

Gold tutored Hurricane first on her blood lines, the history of her family, and what she was to the world. It was quite a shocker to hear what Hurricane's family meant to the world only a few generations back. While her close family had been simple lowly nobles, almost middle class, her great grandfather by five generations was the infamous Eagle Blade, the great Pegasus Warlord. While Hurricane had only heard of him in mythology and tales of legendary ponies, but she had no idea he was real. She thought her group had been tripping off of some magic mushroom shit when those ghosts appeared, but apparently not. Hurricane was completely sober, and was now being taught by the ghost of her great grandmother pentafold. She was also a direct descendent thereof not one, but TWO elements of harmony, The Element of Magic and The Element of Bravery. She had magic running through her veins, as well as the blood of one of the most resilient ponies in history. Something inside Hurricane clicked, as if she now had a higher sense of purpose (Not much though. She was still angry that her crew had been killed and her airship destroyed). She felt as if there was something greater than robbing ships and slaughtering ponies now.

Afterwards, Gold had gone to Wind Rose. She had taught her how she was a direct descendent of Night Vera, the great leader of the Shadow Clan guild, and Inysa, her wife. While Rose questioned the logic of how two mares could have a child, Gold just winked lightly, and Rose got the idea. Same as Hurricane, Gold told Rose that she was as well related to two elements, The Element of Kindness and the Element of Loyalty. It grasped Rose with wonder, awe, and everything inbetween. She had gone from being a blade-for-hire, to a descendent of two great warriors. From the battle of Dragost, to the death of Starswirl, both mares had found they were much more than each of them previously expected to be.

On the second day of study, after Gold had taught Wick, Rose, and Hurricane about their bloodlines, Gold tutored the group on what was to come. It surely wouldn't be easy, and not everypony would survive. It was improbable that they would survive at all.

"A war is coming," Gold had said. "You have already experienced the first skirmishes, in the air. It will escalate, and you will need all the help you can get."

"Well, if those assholes hadn't destroyed my goddamn ship, maybe we would have some help," Hurricane said, watching Wick fiddle with his cherry bombs.

"Language, Hurricane. And they wouldn't have survived anyway. You'll need ponies who were made for this. Your crew was a bunch of drug addicted freaks. You need the highest class of warriors, strategists, killers. You may have to pay a price, you may have to prove your worth. Some may join you freely, already hurt by the oncoming storm."

"What about groups that we are already a part of?" Asked Rose, gesturing towards Wick at the same time. "Both Wick and I are apart of groups that could readily help us in this."

"Likely already infiltrated by Nightmare Moon. Trust nopony except strangers. Everypony must prove themselves to you, before you are ready to take them in. Put them up to the test," Gold said, before sighing. "Make no mistake, much of this journey will be immoral and tragic. You will have to forgo every part of your past life. Throw away everything that you knew before. You will have to become new ponies to do what the ancients ask of you."

Hurricane, Wick, and Rose looked at one another, their eyes filled with something along the lines of caution and fear. Finally, after a moment of silence, Hurricane spoke up.

"I for one, have a bone to pick with this fucker, Nightmare Moon. I'm in," Hurricane quickly said, before standing up.

"I as well. She set me up just as well she set up Hurricane. I'm in," Rose said.

"I guess this is a responsibility I never asked for, but I'm in far to deep to back out now," Said Wick, sighing. "I'm in, I guess."

"Good, good. Before you leave, your part is incomplete. There are still two more ponies, and a figure of great importance awaiting to join your group. Two of them are on their way now, the last one you must find yourself," Gold said, her eyes narrowing. "I sadly do not know where he is, but last I heard, he was in the Changeling Wastelands."

"Anything else you could give us? Kinda hard to find a pony in a place called a wasteland," Wick said sarcastically.

"The ancients are forbidden access into the wasteland, but I have seen him once before. A unicorn of rather high standing, or at least, he was. He bears a sign you might all be too sheltered to know, even for how worldly you three are. But I can give you his sign," Gold said, before pointing at the wall.

A shimmering image of a wolf's head appears, its eye glowing bright red. It's mouth was wide open, and the shimmering image seemed to make the sign to be made of metal, as well as blood dripping from its jaws. While Hurricane and Wick simply stared at the image with a look of confusion, Rose shook her head in dismay.

"Great. A bloodborne. Freaks of the pony world, huh?" Rose mumbled to herself, obviously unhappy. "Well, I guess if he will help us with where we're going, I'll just have to put up with it."

"Well, I'm afraid my time has come," Gold simply said, before sighing. "The other two are almost here. I will hopefully not have to see you soon, because that would mean you'd either be dead, or you'd have failed."

"Thank you for everything, Gold," Hurricane said, getting a simple smile from the old pony, before she evaporated.

Suddenly, two figures walked into the room, one a large minotaur, and the other a smaller mare.

"So, you three must be the ones we're looking for," Said The minotaur, before he walked out of the shadows, presenting an old, white Minotaur. "I'm Rhuno."

---------------

In the darkness of a small abandoned castle, a lone, grey pony with a dappled coat sat in the throne of the castle, spread out over the throne in an unruly way, his hind hoofs up. In his magical grasp was a small book, his horn illuminating the area around the book, just enough so that he could read it. His yellow eyes ran over the pages silently, studying the book for the fifth time that day. Ashes was a pony who could easily be entertained, and reading was among his favorite things to do. At least books didn't shun him for who he was.

There was a lot of down time from hunting monsters. Work wasn't the worst of his problems, he could easily fend for himself. It was only when he got the itch to put something down did he go out, risking being discovered by the rest of ponykind, did he go out looking for work. Now? He just sat around, reading, eating, training.

Always training.

As he read, he noticed movement out of his periphrial vision. Probably just another giant spider. With one swift move, Ashes drew one of his flintlocks, and fired a bullet at the movement. If it wasn't for the protective sheilding around it, he would have hit it dead on. Instead, the bullet deflected and flew all over the room, destroying priceless relics as it smashed around. Ashes looked up from his book, uninterested, as a small letter slowly floated down.

Ashes' horn flared, lighting up all the candles in the room, as he approached the letter. He picked it up with his magical grasp and quickly opened it. He groaned and dropped the letter, uninterested, and went back to reading, blowing out all the candles in the room with his magic.

The letter simply said "Join us, or die." The mark unbeknownst to Ashes.

"Just another attempt to get me out of my castle and kill me," Ashes dismissed the letter quickly, returning to reading.

[Cloudchaser]

Meanwhile at Nightmare Moons castle Darkholm in the Echo lands.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T FIND THEM?!" Nightmare moon yelled at her commander who had come to report on their mission to shoot down the Eagle's fury.

"I-I-I'm.. uh.. terribly sorry, Mistress but there's no sign of them, they switched ships to the royal guards flagship and we shot it down but we can't find their bodies anywhere, they could have drowned.." The commander was sweating furiously, his mistress wasn't exactly known for being the most calm pony. Rather she's known for executing those who fail her too many times or let her down on an important mission.

Nightmare Moon got up from her throne and started walking around, thinking of what she should do next. Her commander stood there silently, watching her walk back and forth in front of him. She thought she should kill him for his failure, instead she stopped and started at him. She could smell his fear, good. That would keep him loyal, he would do anything to please his mistress just to avoid her wrath.. Maybe she still had some use for him.

"Tell me commander, did anyone except the targets I wanted dead escape back to let my sister know of the ambush?" Nightmare Moon had to make sure her sister was being kept out of the loop as much as possible if her deception war would work, foolish Celestia still thought Luna was her itty wittle sister who would do anything for her older sister but little did she know that she had created a monster by neglecting her sister.

The commander stood silent for a few seconds, shocked at the sudden change in tone from his mistress before he straightened up and responded. "No, ma'am. The Eagle's fury rammed the commanding ship and we shot down the two other royal guard ships on their retreat. They're all resting on the bottom of the ocean and the only ship that didn't crash into the sea was the commanding ship which crashed into the pirate island before blowing up."

"And what of this pirate island? Did they witness what happened? Those ponies are only after money and I'd rather not have them take the side of my sister." Nightmare moon asked the commander.

"We bombarded the island before the Eagle's fury arrived, there were no survivors. We burned any remaining structures that could have had survivors in them and with no means of transport over to the main land they will starve to death or drown while trying to swim." The commander responded with pride in his voice, he was sure his mistress would approve.

"You've done well, Commander. You shall live to see another day, I think it's time to go after some smaller targets until our big ones reveal themselves again. Let's attack their kin, kill their families and relatives. I do not want anyone affiliated with original bearers of harmony alive. I shall return to Canterlot and make sure to keep Celestia on the blind side while you attack Canterlot, disguise your ships as pirates so her "wise" eyes are turned onto the wrong enemy, you're dismissed commander. " Nightmare moon chuckled at the mere thought of keeping Celestia blindfolded while her forces attacked her beloved city and killed what at first would seem as random targets. She had no doubt that Celestia would find out who the real targets in the raid were but by then it would be far too late and they would think it was pirates at first.

The commander left to carry out his orders and re-join the fleet waiting for his return just outside the borders of what once was the pirate island. Nightmare Moon returned to Canterlot to take on her role as Celestia's beloved little sister Luna again and she begun to manipulate Celestia into thinking it was the changelings who had attacked and killed her general and then taken on the disguise of Hurricane and a random assassin. If she wondered where the real Hurricane and assassin were then they were probably being kept for changeling breeding or had been killed off, Hurricane's crew would probably have been too high to notice any strange behaviour in their Captain.

Yes, everything was going according to plan for Nightmare moon and soon she would begin the real war, she would take over the land little by little until Celestia and her army were forced back to Canterlot and then she would reveal herself to her beloved sister, she would reveal to Celestia in her dying breath that she had been betrayed by her very own little sister, little Luna had grown up and now it was time for eternal darkness to rule. Everyone would enjoy her moon, stars and night and no one would be there to tell her to do things.

[Guest]

*FYI no more accent for Ruby, too hard for me to think and write. Normal talking for her now*

Rhuno watched as Equestria passed below them, the edge of the Everfree forest coming up in the distance. He and Ruby had not spoken much during the trip. He felt she was holding something back, not telling him something.

"Ruby, quick question... do you have something you want to tell me but are too afraid to?"

Ruby stiffened at this question... a droplet of sweat forming over her brow.

"What, me? Oh no! Not at all... hehe..."

"Yea right. Lay it on me. You are obviously hiding something." Rhuno glared at Ruby.

"Ruby let out a sigh. "Fine... what if I told you that when that ghost of Eagle Blade appeared, I knew who he was? Why I knew you when you grabbed me in the alley? Why I am going on this quest with you? And it is not for the bits..."

"Oh? Pray tell then Ruby."

"Well... I am related to your good friends Wind Catcher and Needlepoint..."

This took Rhuno by surprise. And then he started to chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Ruby asked.

"Don't you see? The pieces are already falling together! Hehe, you see, the elements of harmony work in mysterious ways, and lo and behold, I end up with you, who just so happens to be related to my old friends. Huh... I feel us being together is not of chance..."

"Same here Rhuno... you see... before you grabbed me in the alley... I had been having dreams... weird ones... and they all had you in them."

Rhuno squinted his eyes at Ruby. "Were they naughty dreams?"

"Well of course no- WHAT!? NO! JEEZUS! Anyway, same feeling here. This is not chance, not at all. There are forces at work behind all this... I can feel it.."

"Well, now that we got the weird things out of the way and figured out... feel better?"

"A little bit... the ghosts from the past are still kinda freaking me out..."

"Ahh don't worry about them. Big Rhuno here will keep you safe from the scary ghosts."

Ruby rolled her eyes at this, just as the ship started passing over the edges of the Everfree forest.

...

Rhuno and Ruby moored the ship in a small clearing a couple hundred yards from the castle. They trekked up to where the bridge was, and found it to be back in place since the last time Rhuno had visited. Someone was here, and had fixed it.

The two made their way across and into the castle. They jumped in fright as a small golden orb of light passed by them. It seemed to be calling on them to follow it, bobbing up and down in front of them.

"Uhh... I... guess we follow it?" Ruby questioned with a shrug.

The orb bounced happily and made its way down a corridor, the two following behind it. When they arrived at a set of doors, the orb flew into them and vanished. They could hear voices behind the closed doors. Rhuno opened them to find 3 surprised ponies looking at him and Ruby. Rhuno walked up to them, Ruby following suite.

"So... you three must be the ones I am looking for..." Rhuno said, eyeing the three closely. "I am Rhuno."

Rhuno nudged Ruby to introduce herself as well. "And I am Ruby. Nice to meet ya."

[Arualsti]

Wick felt like an odd one out for the next couple of days. Hurricane and Wind had an air of destiny and fate about them, the blood of ancient heros and leaders pumping through their veins. Descendants of the 'Heros of Dragost'. A name that kept popping up over and over. At least his was in the right place to research it.

Gold told him about his bloodlines, nothing interesting. His ancestors left a town in notheren Equestria over 200 years ago and were amongst the first to settle in Solstice. Since then it has been mostly farmers or fisherponies, the occasional few like Wick, rising above what was expected. She did tell him of Balm, one of the founders of Solstice. He had not expected him to have been a great hero. All he was to Wick was a faded name on the Founder's Stone and a blotted entry in the Founder's Book, which labelled him a healer. The name below his however, Elixir, was a name that had endured the years, the father of modern alchemy, and the inventor of at least half of the potions in Wick's saddlebags. He would sometimes wish Elixir had been his ancestor, and he was now following in his hoofsteps, but alas, he was the descendant of no one important.

A sound broke him from his train of thought. He turned to see a huge white minotaur and a small pony next to him. He could see Wind and Hurricane stiffen ever so slightly. Minotaurs still faced prejudice in Equestria, a lot of it deservedly. It seemed that Solstice was one of the few places where Minotaurs could live side by side with ponies without anypony batting an eye.


'I'm Wick' He said with an easy grin, turning his attention to the mare 'And who might you be?'

[Cloudchaser]

"So... you three must be the ones I am looking for..." The Minotaur said, eyeing the three closely. "I am Rhuno."


'I'm Wick' Candle Wick said with an easy grin, turning his attention to the mare 'And who might you be?


Rhuno nudged Ruby to introduce herself as well. "And I am Ruby. Nice to meet ya."


"Hmm I guess you're the friend Eagle Blade told us were coming, he didn't say anything about you having company though.." Wind Rose said suspiciously and began walking in a circle around Ruby examining her. "Hmm, I don't recall Gold saying anything about you. Why are you here? With the minotaur that helped our ancestors 200 years ago nonetheless..?" 


"I am related too Needlepoint and Wind Catcher, my grand parents were away during Discord's rampage and my bloodline was never lost unlike yours, as for why I am here? The ancestors talked to me in my dreams and told me to find Rhuno and well he found me first and now we're here and we're going to help whether you like it or not." Ruby answered proudly.


"Well, this just took an interesting turn. I'm related to Night Vera and her lover Inysa and it just so happens to be that Wind Catcher was Vera's sister so that does make us like cousins or something. Small world, Hurricane here is my cousin as well and we're your cousins. Fate really works in a funny way, now where's your airship we've got to get going fast." 


Wind Rose chuckled a bit before they got going, fate really was funny sometimes. Here they were a gang of cousins minus Wick and Rhuno, sent out on a mission by long dead ancestors to stop some ancient evil, Wind Rose was having a hard time keeping her giddiness down, she was finally only the epic adventure she'd dreamed of since she was small.


Rhuno and Ruby led them to the little airship they had parked outside the forest, Hurricane instantly face hoofed at the sight of it. 


"This won't fucking do! We're not fucking going to fucking fit in this fucking thing." Hurricane was trying to quench her emotions as best she could.


"Yeah I gotta agree with Hurricane here, we're not going to fit into this ship. Me and Hurricane can fly for most of the journey but the ship is still too small for our needs, we've got to find the others that will help us and they might not be pegasi." Wind Rose began prancing around in a circle, thinking hard on how to best solve this new problem when the golden orb that had led Rhuno and Ruby to the castle appeared again and seemed to motion for them to follow it.


Deciding they didn't really anything too loose if the ancestors where nudging them along they followed the orb into a open glade where the patrol frigate ship form Celestia's army was lying. It was in a fairly bad condition but there were plenty of trees around here and the balloon was still intact it just needed to be re-inflated.


"Well I guess this as good as we get, let's fix this motherbucker and set out on our quest." Wind Rose commanded and together with Hurricane they inspected the damage the ship had taken and guessed it was probably an unfortunate patrol ship that had ran into the same fleet that had shot them down. With a little bit of love they ship would be back up in the air in no time.


The rest of the day was spent fixing up the ship and in the night they set out towards the changeling wastelands but opting for a longer route along the backside of the mountains, they didn't want to fly right over the changeling territory. Even as a neutral faction they were known for kidnapping ponies for use in their brood, no one really knew what happened in the wastelands but they sure weren't up for finding it out.

[Princess Blueblood]

Hurricane piloted the new frigate the whole night. By the time the sun rose, she was exhausted. Despite being a rather calming job for the time being, a pilot was one of the hardest and exhausting jobs on the deck. Intense amounts of concentration were needed. As soon as Rose came up from sleeping, Hurricane called her over.

"I don't suppose you'd want to figure out how to pilot one of there, huh?" asked Hurricane, trying her best to sound wide awake.

"I suppose we'll need shifts, seeing as how you can't fly this thing forever. You're probably exhausted from fixing up the ship yesterday, so I don't blame you for asking for some help," Rose said, seeing right through Hurricane's poker face.

Hurricane nodded, and pointed to the wheel, as well as a gauge next to the wheel. Two pedals were on the deck of the ship, and a small clutch was next to the pedals.

"Okay, its rather simple. Since this is a newer ship, it can operate all speed, altitude, and navigation mechanisms remotely from the captains perch. It's always faster with a crew, but we don't have on right now. So, lets go over the basics," Started Hurricane, pointing to the wheel. "This changes what your direction is, but it doesn't adjust it on the x-axis. It will simply tilt the ship in said direction you turn the wheel, causing it to turn. Turn it too much, you'll capsize. Turn it too little, you won't turn enough. Then, you have the turbines." Hurricane pointed to the gauge next to the wheel, going from blue to bright red in a series of colors. "Blue means no engine activity. Red means you're going balls to the wall fast, which I never want you to go on. You may be a pegasus, but even at that speed, its hard to keep aerodynamic focus. In combat situations, if you want to make a sharp turn, turn down the speed." Hurricane then pointed to the pedals and the small clutch. "Right pedal elevates you, left pedal is for descending. Be careful to keep moving when lowering yourself, or else you'll practically drop straight down from the airships elevation engine shitting out. The clutch is for the side sails, the manual mode of movement. The farther the clutch is forward, the more wind the sails will catch. If the clutch is at the base, the sails will be folded at the side."

Rose nodded, before taking the wheel. Hurricane watched her for a few moments, shimmying with the controls, before retiring to sleep.

----------------

Ashes walked out into the forest, his metal armor clunking loudly as he left the castle. His cowl covered his face, as he walked into the open air. The sky was a depressing grey, and the trees were shriveled and black, lacking any type of life at all. Ashes' slow trot was slowed even further by all the gear he insisted on carrying: Two flintlocks, a silver greatsword, a damascus steel zweihander, a bow and arrow, massive amounts of armor, and the ammunition for both his flintlocks and his bow and arrows. As Ashes walked, creatures moved in the forest, slowly surrounding Ashes. The only reason that Ashes was going out was to visit a town about half a days travel round trip from his home in the Beyaz Forest. He needed food, some new ammunition, and perhaps some work.

As he trotted along, he could sense, he wasn't alone. The constant sound of scurrying alerted him to something, or somepony following him. And judging from how well it was hiding itself from Ashes sight, it probably wasn't friendly.

After trotting another 100 tail-lengths, the creatures following Ashes surrounded him. Big, brutish, purple ponies, decked in dark colored armor. Their pupils were slits, and the color of their eyes were an amber color, much like Ashes own.

"Look, I don't want any trouble," Said Ashes, in his thick Germaney accent. "I'm just traveling."

"We gave you your chance, horse. Join, or die," Said one of the ponies, drawing his sword in his mouth. There were at least 7 of them, too many for Ashes to fight on his own. "You chose to die."

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