Storming the Crystal

The Crystal Empire look so breath taking at night. The lights of the town reflected a billions times over into the night sky.

Earthen looked at the Crystal empire through his telescope. He saw the guards on the wall and saw lights reflect from the city as the crystal residence and materials reflected the star light.

There was no moon. Earthen had chosen this night specifically because of the lack of the moon. This way they would be harder to spot in the night sky.

"Raise the sails! Activate the Wind Stone! And silently! We don't want them to hear us." Yelled Earthen to the crew. The crew of around 96 followed his orders to the point. The sails were lowered, the ropes were collected, and the weapons were brought out. The hum of the the wind stone started which was soon replaced by the sound of wind blowing.

Earthen went to his quarters to collect his gear and prepared himself for what he wished and hoped would be his last run. He put on his heavy, long black coat and tied the waist down with a long red sash. The coat had a multitude of pockets which he used to carry his magical bombs, small ceramic pots filled with a mixture of gunpowder, jewel fragments. The ceramic pots were enchanted to with a spell that caused them to burn upon breaking which caused the content to explode violently when thrown. He got his favorite sword; The Sea, and attached it to his belt. He the went over to his mirror and water basin.

"Huh. Might want to think of shaving before a I go" Earthen said to himself. He had been neglecting to care for visage quite a while now and it showed. He was growing facial hair and his bronze mane was matted and tangled in spots. His face was scared and dry, making the scars stick out even more. He metallic eyes were bloodshot and face was covered with dirt and dried alcohol. After staring at his reflect for a bit he grunted and dunked his head into the basin of water. He let his head soak in the water for a bit before he came back and shook himself dry.

He then went over to his bed and lifted it. Under the mattress was a sac and some clothes. He would need this after tonight. This was his retirement funds. His escape from this dangerous lifestyle. His ticket to supposed freedom.

He wanted this badly, more for a sense if security then for anything else. He was a pirate captain, the guy on top. But that didn't mean much, it just meant that people listen to what you said and you decided when and who you raided. Aside come those you were just another member of the crew. Meaning if someone wanted to move up in the pecking order, they could. While Earthen was a great captain, knowing which places to raid and how to go about them while also treating his crew fairly, that didn't mean someone wasn't out for his position. He would know, he had been in this kinda of business since he was 8. He was now in his mid twenties so he knew how the pirate business work from experience. His goal for this raid was to get some more money to finally be able to retire.

"Captain." Earthen heard from behind him. He turned to see his first mate, a griffon by the name of Draven, standing in the door way of his quarters. Earthen liked Draven, he was a good first mate. He knew how the captain like things done and would deal with problems correctly if Earthen felt like not dealing with it at the moment. He was loyal and always had Earthen's back, never disobeying orders unless the situation called for improvisation. Earthen was silently wishing him good luck on being the pirate captain in the future.

"What is it?"

"We will be arriving at the Crystal Empire in about ten minutes."

"Altitude?"

"400 meters." He replied efficiently. Earthen thought about it for a while and replied, "Add around 60 to 70 meters. Better if we avoid being seen all together."

"Of course, sir." He waited before leaving however which made Earthen tense.

"What is it Draven?" He asked his first mate.

"Well, sir. It seems some of the men are getting to itchy and-"

"He's riling them up again isn't he?" Earthen interrupted, feeling annoyance well up inside him. He hated dealing with him as he was a very boisterous, and cocky. Draven confirmed his suspicious by given an apologetic nod. Earthen sighed as he walked over and went out the door, preparing to give a serious talk to one of his crew member.

"Ah, there you are captain! We were wondering if you were going to join today." Said a unicorn. His name was Silver Speech and he was just as his name denounced him to be, someone who could sway people with only words. Earthen hated his type and hated him, he was lazy, slimy, cocky, self aggrandizing and selfish. He was also a coward and never fought battles he believed he had any possibility of losing. Earthen knew that he was aiming to be the captain of the ship but he would die before seeing that happen. He knew that most of the crew were thieves and cutthroats but he hoped that when he left, they would have the better judgement to not follow this craven's lead.

"What are complaining about now, Silver Speech?" Asked the captain.

"Well, sir. Me and some others were wonderin' why would we raid this place. There are so many other places that have less security and are less of a hassle to deal with?" He asked with the slimy voice of his. Earthen heaved a heavy sighed and said to the crew, " The reason we are here instead of anywhere else is because today, the Crystal Empire is having a annual of some sort. Which means people will be out and about, and what are the guards duties?"

"To protect stuff." Some one said from the crew.

"Not stuff. Ponies. And if they are protecting ponies, what is free game for us, huh?" Earthen asked the crew.

"Their money and jewels," said another in the crew. At this, the whole crew cheered.

"Keep it down!" Earthen bellowed and silence fell, "Yes, indeed, but that is why we are splitting up into three teams. The second group's job is to maintains an sense of attack on the people of the empire. Attack the people, draw the guards to you. The third group's job is to go and steal from the houses. Remember, don't kill the inhabitants unless they don't cooperate." Earthen said sternly.

"And what about the first group?" Asked Silver Speech.

"They will be with me attacking the royal treasury." Earthen replied and the crew began muttering amongst themselves.

"Why should we trust you not to keep all the money you get and run off for yourself?" Silver Speeh asked attempting to get others on board with his distrust.

Earthen smiled at him and simply stated, " Because, I ain't you!" This got the crew laughing and put a scowl on the unicorn's face.

"Now get ready! We drop shortly." Earthen said and the crew man scattered to their posts. Earthen walked up to the wheel and took a look at what he was leaving.

The ships name was 'Dragon's Greed' which was a fitting title for a ship such as this. For one, the bow of the ship was carved into the shape of a dragon's head, and said carving was painted in gold as was most of the ships design. Most of the ships plunder was gold and jewels. A dragon would be jealous or at least envious of their haul. However it may have seem like a dragon was envious and incurred its wrath for it is rumored that the jobs of captain is cursed.

This ship had been given to him, by its previous captain before he died; a griffon by the name of Jacom. He was a decent captain, his only downside was that he was too random of a captain to predict his mood. Some days, mellow and chill and then on the drop of a dime, angry and ready to dish out punishment. He had died attempting to escape capture and was shot in the wing with a spell. The spell was lethal and had killed him only hours after getting shot. Earthen had seen the previous captains as well, an earth pony by the name of Triscourt. He was a strict, disciplined and despicable captain who believed more on ruining a place instead of just pillaging it; burning and destroying much of the city before running away. Earthen remember the almost ironic way of his death, getting caught in a burning building because of his reluctance to stop disciplining a crew member during an attack. Though he had not seen or had been present during the rein of the captain before Triscourt, he had enough and heard that he had died as well. It was rumored that being the captain of the ship cursed you to die in some sort or horrible way. While Earthen was one not to believe in curses or hexes of any kind, he could read the pattern. That pattern said; the longer in the business was you stay, the more the likely it was for you to take the dirt nap. Earthen was determined to escape that 'curse' and live.

They were approaching the edge of the large city. Earthen held our his hoof to stop his crew from jumping out early an said, "Drop altitude to 150 meters". The lights of the house were now under them, each house glistening with its own hues. The captain still held his hoof in the air. Just before they were over the large courtyard, Earthen whispered loudly to his crew, "Third team, drop down!"

Ropes were thrown over the sides of the ships for those who couldn't fly, and those who could jumped off the sides and dived down towards the houses, bags and swords I'm hand. Once he was sure they were all off board, he yelled to the group around the float stone below deck, "Drop altitude! Go down to 25 meters, now!"

The float stone below deck was a very peculiar device. It was a stone of a dark pink hue and had a very peculiar property. Depending on the temperature of the stone, it's weight would rise and fall. If gone to a certain point the float stone will float, essentially negate its own weight which is what kept the ship changing altitudes. By warming the stone up they would rise, by cooling it down they would sink. This was a difficult task as it requires unicorns to at least know a heating a cooling spell, along with other ponies to assist by dumping cool or warm water on the stone. However, Earthen knew his 'Stoner Temps' as he called them, could do it. He had had them practice going from high to low temperatures on multiple occasions.

The ship began to drop rapidly, shifting down by 45 degrees to gain momentum. Earthen held the wheel sternly as they dived down into the crowded courtyard. As he felt the ship slow down as it was approaching the level altitude, Earthen pulled up and the ship followed by paralleling itself with the ground. As the ship was still moving Earthen called in a loud voice, "Second Team, go down, now!" The second did as instructed and jumped down off the boat, into the crowed courtyard where ponies were all looking up in confusion. Then as they began the pirates began to cut down those helpless ponies, someone came to the realization, "Sky Pirates!"

Earthen would miss that. Being called a Sky Pirate had a nice ring to it that would never really be the same as being a called a Pirate. It was like being part of some sort of nobility of pirates. Still though he thought to himself, better to miss something then death.

After he was sure Second Team had gone he yelled down to the Stone Temps, "Raise altitude to 304 meters! First team get ready, were are going to go through the hard way!" They gave a loud cheer as they heard this. They knew what this meant and they loved to see it in action.

"Get out the M Canon!" Earthen yelled at the crew. They roared in jubilation as some of the crew went and opened a hatch on the deck while some others and began to turn a wheel. As the wheel turned, a one and a half meter long and a half a meter wide canon came from the below deck.

The M Canon was very self explanatory. It was large canon that shots out compress magical energy. It was the ship's way of making a big entrance and to allow easier destroy both magical and physical barriers.

"Fire on my mark!" Earthen yelled to the crew. He turned the ship in the direction of the large tower that stood in the center of the Crystals Empire. The ship speed towards its target a quite a fast speed. Earthen held his gaze at a certain point in the tower where he knew would be the best places to assault from.

"Steady!" He called. The ship got closer to its target.

"Steady!" He called. The ships seem to roar as it destroyed the roofs of house.

"Steady!" He called. He saw his crew ready weapon and bombs as they held onto railings or ropes of the ships.

"Fire!" He shouted. The canon let out an strange sound as the magical bolt discharged from the cannon, almost like the sound of a small rock falling into a large pound except with its volume turned up to extreme high. The magical bolt was releasing a multitude if colors as it blazed a trail through the sky directly into a certain section of the tower. An explosion that followed was devastating, as now a giant hole was in the tower. The hole was his entry point.

"Come on boys and girls! First Team with me! Draven, stay with ship and collect the other teams, it will take a while to find the treasury so get the other first!" Earthen said as he followed First Team as they jumped off the boat and into the tower. Draven nodded as he directed some of the other crew members to do certain things and prepare for rescue of the others. Earthen smiled as he jumped off the ship, yet on the opposite side and opposite direction his other crew mates had done. As he was falling, he looked around for any sources of water. He found one, a fountain, small but exquisitely built. Earthen opened his wings and soared down to it, drawing The Sea and extending it towards the water.

The water trembled a bit before moving towards the cutlass hilt. The Sea was Earthen's favorite sword for a reason; because it was a magical blade. It worked as such; there was no blade on the sword as it was just a handle of an ordinary cutlass. Within the blade of the cutlass was some sort of enchantment that allowed it to control and shape any liquid he choose to. There was no limit to how much water he could collect with the blade but it became harder to control the more water you collect. With the blade made of water, it was more flexible and can change shape at will. Of course, this required a lot of willpower which made it something very hard for other pirates to use.

Once the blade of water was formed, Earthen pulled up from his dive and flew up towards the hole that he had created. His crew had already started their attack on the tower and had already began defended themselves from the soldiers. They weren't doing so well and this, Earthen concluded, was his own fault for not giving them the proper equipment. He had forbid his crew to use of bomb for raid because many of them were too loose with them. He had lost ten men due to a bomb thrown incorrectly, and since then Earthen only allow Draven an himself to use bombs.

"Come on, you dogs! Put your pack into it!" Earthen said from above them as he threw one of the multitude of ceramic bombs he was carrying into a large crowd of guards. The bomb exploded with such force that most of the guards in the blast zone were knocked back into walls and other guards an those that weren't knocked back sufferers from the shrapnel the jewel shards inside the ceramic bombs. Then to help his crew further, he drop down behind the line if guards and began to cut them down.

Though they were the royal guards and train for fights such a these everyday, Earthen was a pirate and fights likes these determined if he would live through the day, so while he was having quite some trouble fighting three armed guards in his own, he didn't falter nor retreat. While guards were trained fighters, their repertoire didn't include the occasional misleading comment or the back and dirty handedness that people learn as they grow older and are accustomed to fights. A pirate is closely similar to the opposite; never training in any formal way and instead training in how to be deceitful in combat and using every dirty trick in the book. Because of this, it was close to a stalemate for both sides. However, this wasn't a fight, this was a raid, and the goal wasn't to kill there opponents, it was to take their valuables. So many of the pirates Earthen had chosen for the raid, weren't fighting at their best. They were fighting well enough to take advantage of any falter their opponents gave them. Which happened when you seem to be holding down a vicious pirate.

The pirates quickly dispatched the group of guards and began moving. They spew down corridor after corridor until the reach a crossing. Earthen didn't know the layout of the tower, he was guessing at this point but he didn't see a reason to stop but he saw a reason to speed the process up a bit.

"Alright! You 15 go down stairs and check for the treasury. You find it, you take what you can carry and you go straight back to the ship. If don't find anything after 7 1/2 minute of searching, go back to the ship. The rest of you are coming with me to do the same thing upstairs. Let's go! Let's go!" Earthen ordered. The pirates grunted in response and followed his orders.

Earthen didn't know what to expect as he climbed the stairs, going higher into the tower. He did expect to find resistance to which there was quite a bit of, but nothing a well-placed ceramic bomb couldn't deal with with haste. Earthen was getting weary now, as he was running out of bombs and it didn't look like they would find anything of value soon. Then, as the group of pirates climbed higher they reach a large door to which they immediately broke open. The room they had now broken into was the throne room of those out in charge to rule the small empire, and there were two ponies in the room. One of them was sitting on the one of the thrones in the back of the room while the other was in the center of the room, with a spell readying itself on his horn while in a battle stance.

"Captain Silver Trail," said Shining Armor. That was his alias as a captain. The reason for this was because if he reached a certain flight speed, he would leave a path of silver in the air. This was cause by the ends of his feathers being tipped silver instead of just staying one color.

Earthen was shot with a sense of pure dread and fear. This was a strong pony, one of the more powerful unicorn ponies out there if you didn't count any of the princesses. He knew that his sheer magical force could blow a couple of them away and he would do so. Earthen thought fast, his crew was at stake, and even though this was his last raid before he officially retired, he still wanted them all to come back safely so that they could send him off. His only thought right now was; 'Getting out of here alive with my crew!'.

And this is exactly what he tried to put in motion. He pulled out one of his ceramic bombs and threw it at Shining Armor. He knew that this was a futile effort because Shining could just destroy the bomb before it got within 15 feet of him but that's is what he wanted, to discharge the bolt of magic against something small and meaningless than a large group of pirates.

As predicted, Shining saw the ceramic ball and moved his horn towards it and shot our of he sky, basically disintegrating from the air. As this was being done, Earthen jumped into the air, flapped his wing thrice to climb higher, then dived down onto the captain of the royal guards. Shining saw this and brought up his magical shield to defend himself. Earthen's water blade connected with the shield, both captains screamed out order's to different people at the same time.

"Cadance, get out of here!"

"Men! Get back to the ship!"

Both parties seemed to disagree at the same time as well and both spoke up.

"I am not leaving you dear!"

"But captain, we can help!"

Now both captain, again, spoke to at the same time to their respective groups. However, while one was more negotiable, the other was stern and ordering.

"Now is not the time, please get to safety!"

"I said get back to the ship! That's an order!"

Earthen took his blade back from its constant push against Shining's shield and lobbed to ceramic bombs in his direction. Again not to do pain or damage, but to be a distraction.

"Get back to the ship and tell the crew to haul ass! I will meet with you guys later, now go!" Earthen yelled at his crew, turning the water blade into a whip in whipping the air in front of them to instill urgency. After three second of standing still looking as though the would disobey his commands, they relented and began to run out of the room. Shining saw this and began to aim at them, while saying, "I will not let you escape!"

Earthen whipped around and swum his sword at the stallion. As expected however he dodge the strike and Earthen threw two ceramic bombs in retaliation. Shining was forced to shoot down one the and then redirected the other bomb right back at him. Earthen saw this come forward and thought fast again, he probably couldn't dodge and he didn't have enough water collected by the sword to use it as a shield. He realized however, that he was pretty close to the bomb's landing spot. Seeng this, he jumped forward and caught the bomb before it landed. He then buckled down, rolled and threw the bomb at Shining again. Shining was about to redirect he bomb again we he saw the Earthen had made the water shift into its whip form and was aiming for the bomb. He immediately brought up his shield to defend himself.

Earthen waited to see the affect of his improvised tactic but, of course, the prince wasn't harmed in the slightest.

"You seem intent to protect your crew, pirate. I didn't think there was any loyalty between criminals." Shining said.

"Just like any organized group, there are always some loyalties. Do you not have them in the army?"

"Do not compare the army to a pack of merciless thugs!" Shining yelled back, "The royal guard all swear loyalty to the princesses of Equestria. We have more to each other loyal to than you!"

"True. But I do not see any guards coming to your aid." Earthen replied solemnly. Something had just clicked in his mind, and it was something that he dreaded and had tried to avoid. But it looked like some curses cannot be overcome by sheer will power.

"I have sent them to protect the citizen that you are so quick to butcher, and I can ask the same of you. Where are your pirates thugs to back you up? If I recall you sent them away to flee, what you should be doing now. Why aren't you with the rest of your crew? I thought the saying goes, 'A ship should never go down without a captain' right?"

This actually made Earthen laugh, a sad and mad kind of cackle, but laugh all the same. This made Shining Armor a little weary of his opponent. He didn't seem all that right in the head to him. And he would he right; for Earthen had accept the fate of 'the captain'.

"The reason I am here and not on my ship blasting you with my cannon, is because I have excepted my fate. My ticket had been predestined to by finally be punched and it seem the ticket collector is you, Captain of the Royal Guard. It seems that this will he my final fight and how fitting would it be to go against a captain a well. Do you not agree?" Earthen said in a solemn yet cheerful tone. He didn't give Shining anytime to retaliate however as he immediately pulled out a ceramic bomb and threw it at the ground in front of Shining. He was down to three more bombs and he was going to make them count.

Shining brought up his shield and backed up a step. Earthen took this time to jump up into the air and turned the water back into a blade, this time longer than a normal cutlass. As that happened Shining charged up a magical bolt and shot it at the air born pirate. Earthen was quick to dodge and threw up his second to last ceramic bomb into the air on between both him and Shining. Shining saw this and attempt to shoot the bomb outbid the air but Earthen wouldn't let him as he dived from the air down on the prince. The two clashed again, sword against shield and both of the back stepped from their respective action. However Earthen didn't let up, as as soon as his four hooves touched the ground, he took off again, swinging an citron at Shining. The royal guardsmen retaliated with his shield and magical bolts attempt to shoot down the sky pirate an avoid getting cut.

Earthen was counting in his head. There was only a couple more seconds...
5
He swung again with his blade of water.
4
He swung again.
3
He brought out his wings and flapped once, keeping himself on the ground and creating a gust of wind.
2
He flapped again. Harder than before. Bringing himself into the air a bit.
1
He took off. High into the air.
0
The bomb landed behind him. While Earthen was in the air, Shining was on the ground and in range of the explosion. The bomb landed around 7 to 10 feet behind Earthen. Though it wasn't close enough to do serious damage it was still able to hurt Shining who didn't had his shield up at the moment.

Earthen didn't know how magic, nor could he explain any of the actual mechanics behind his magical cutlass but he can understand it to a point. He understood that, shields that unicorn used to defend themselves from attack, only would defend on what they considered to be a direct threat to them at the time. Meaning that if the unicorn perceived thrown objects as a danger, it would defend against any object coming at them at a speed probably to vein thrown, however it would not protect against natural elements, meaning even if the wind was blowing at around the same speed, it would not be deflected by the shield. Earthen had used this to slightly blind Shining a bit so that the bomb in the air wouldn't be the first thing on his mind.

As the bomb exploded, the jewel shards inside the bomb shot out and a fraction of them managed to hit Shining as he was unaware of the bombs detonation. Some fragments shot into the front body area of Shining, causing him pain. He was lucky to have moved his hoof to shield his eyes earlier for some of the jewel shrapnel imbedded themselves into his arm. He screamed in pain as they stuck themselves into the arm of the prince. Earthen took this chance and tackled the stallion from the air. They tumbled on to the ground and wrestled each other for dominance of the tussle, but due to the shrapnel in his body, Shining was at a disadvantage. Earthen overpowered him with trouble but managed to do it all the same.

"Come on you loyal dog!" Earthen yelled at Shining, "Aren't you supposed to be capturing me and putting my head on a pike!" He kicked the prince in the gut, "Why am I winning?" He smashed his hoof in the guardsman's chest. Earthen was furious at the turn of events. He was expected to be captured then killed like the pirate he was, not to pin the Shining Armor down and subsequently win this fight. Earthen now would not be able to leave this life unless death was involved. You could get out of the business if you got lucky and didn't do anything that would make you easily identifiable to the public. A pony who wears a mask all the time and never shows his cutie mark can simply remove his mask and become a member of society. This would not be an option for Earthen now as he had just walked into the royal throne room beaten the prince and led a small army of pirates to pilfer the treasury. He wasn't going to be able to just put down the coat and expect to live a normal and pirate free life and because of this, he was angry.

Earthen pulled the sword of water from his side and said, "Don't make me be the bad guy!" Earthen pulled the sword into the air, an action resembling the executioner raising his axe.

"No!" Came a shout from in front of Earthen. He quickly looked up to see the princess, Cadance, charging up her own magical bolt. She was nearly at the firing point and there was a sense of emotional power that emanated from her. Earthen had heard the emotions greatly affect one's spells.

"You will not hurt him!" Cadance yelled at the pirate on top of her husband. Earthen thought fast. He needed to protect himself from this or he could get disintegrated. He looked around and saw a large barrel of wine or some sort of alcohol. He guessed that the royals had probably wanted to spend this night alone and without interruption so just ordered the barrel to stop the need of servants. It didn't matter though as he pointed his sword at it and the barrel exploded from the inside and the discolored liquid flows through the air and soared across the room to him. She shoots her bolt.

"Defense ball!" Earthen yelled into the cutlass. The water of the blade shifted and swirled around till it became a ball around him. Earthen took in a deep breath before the ball fully enclosed around him, attempt to get as much oxygen sane could as the ball of water didn't allows air in or out of the ball once done.

Not even half a second after the ball had fully enclosed itself around him, Cadance shot her magical bolt.

The cutlass' shied form has to be noted as not an actual shield that deflected attacks. It was more of water membrane that redirected the flow or force of an attack. A sword would swing straight down against the shield and finish its swing at an different angle. However the shield only seems to block physical strikes and not those of the magical kind. So in essence, the shield that had formed around Earthen was nothing more that just a tennis ball while Cadance bolt was was the racket.

Earthen was pushed back hard and fast, to the point where he crashed through the window behind him. The magical bolt didn't slow or lose power and continued to push him back, now into the air. Earthen was focusing the power of the cutlass to the point where the magical bolt was hitting him. He couldn't and wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. This would probably be his final moment; flung into the air being propelled there by a magical bolt shot by a princess.

Could have been worse, Earthen thought to himself, I could have been killed by Silver Speech.

The water around him broke.

The magical bolt made contact with Earthen's chest.

A large and violent explosion sent Earthen flying even further.

He was now dead. He didn't feel or hear or see anything more. The last thing that he truly remembered before the explosion was the smell of a light perfume, elegant but not strong.

Apple Jack was out early that morning. She wanted to get a good idea of what the day was going to be like tomorrow. While she and her brother had already finished most of the harvest yesterday, there were still other things to do. She was making a mental checklist as she lightly jogged around certain parts of the farm.

"Gotta feed th' pigs." She said to heralded as she passed the pig pen. She continued down her path and saw a that some branch of a tree had broken off. She went to make a closer inspection and saw that it wasn't just one tree but a few. What was more strange was how straight then line was.

"Well ain' this a bi' strange." She said to herself. She began to follow the line of broken branches trying to asses the damage on each of the trees as she went. They weren't all serious but some of the branches that had broken off were quite bit and she wondered what could has chased this.

She saw that the damages were getting less severe as she went on and she continued to wonder what had cause this strange destruction. She didn't have to look hard or hard for her answer.

As she had not been paying much attention to the ground because if the damages were in the trees she didn't realize that she had stepped in the perpetrator. She was still stepping on him and only realized when her hoof, that was on the body of the perpetrator moved slightly out of pain.

AppleJack jumped up in fright as body on the ground moved. The body was that of a Pegasus who seemed unconscious. He had a coat of dark metallic blue and his mane was a bronze or copper color. He was wearing what loot like a heavy coat with a belt made of some red linen or cloth. On closer inspection, there were three scares on the pegaus' face and his one of his wings were bent in an odd position. He seemed to be in lots of pain.

"He's gonna need a doctor!" Apple jack said as she began to pick the pegasus up and drag him to her house.

Hey guys!

I don't really know what I was writing here, but I recently watched the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the idea of pirates started to take a hold of my mind annoyingly and this story idea popped into my head. But if you read the title, Its not all about pirates in Equestria which I believe has been done before but more of the 'retirement plan' of a pirate. I thought that would be kinda fun to explore just because no pirate really believes in retirement and it would be fun to get a character who has been ingrained with a violent and cut-throat nature to attempt to live a peaceful life.

The 'Sky' pirates thing came from the boredom of pirates. I know that pirates have always been on the see, but I feel that that really restricts your options on what to do in Equestria. Has there ever been an actual town set near the see in the entire show? So that's why I made them SKY pirates. Still Pirates, but with a fun twist that give them the kinda of freedom to be pirates anywhere they want to be. The idea of the ships creation and general flight came from a book i read so long ago i can barely remember the characters of the title, f you guys remember try to leave a comment to tell others of the book cause I'm sure it was pretty good.

Anyway, if you guys liked it, please follow and review. If you want more, which I'm not sure I'll do, please write something in the review box.

Have a great day