Welcome back, all. Sorry if this chapter took a bit longer than usual. I was working on Rising Hope and going back and forth on how I wanted to crank out the newest chapter for it. But hope you enjoy it.

The sea has neither meaning nor pity.

-Anton Chekhov.

Svoya Seaport.

The waters of the Svoya Sea were, on average, calm this time of year. But ever since the recent moves by the small settlement of Dragons from the South and their use of fire in the surrounding regions melting the lesser icebergs slowly brought about change. The crisp, salty air flowed the sails of the ship, directing it towards its destination. Once again, the same route as always proved to be the best, cutting down the journey for those weary who would come from all corners of the world.

''Make sure we have all we need for the small stay here, crew!'' a loud voice boomed over the sound of the rushing water soon coaxed the individual out of their thoughts. Staring back at the many distortions of the night under the day that would soon turn into night, and it always became a sight to behold every single time; the untold, fragile beauty of the natural world.

It would be a shame for anything to disturb such a natural wonder.

Hmmph. Over their dead body.

''Aye, Aye, Captain!'' the crew shouted back, running back and forth between the frigate, ensuring everything on the ship was in the best shape that it could be so nothing would make docking anymore difficult than it would need to be. This journey was certainly a long-awaited one, but also not for leisure.

It's been ages since any trip was for leisure, but the experience of traveling to and fro had to suffice. Well, no matter. The ship was beginning to set anchor, and more of these thoughts would better be discussed on land. . .and with who they were truly sent to meet.

Nearby.

''Nothing so far,'' Naofumi whispered from his semi-crouched position. The pair had chosen to wait just before the cover of darkness would be upon them in order to minimize their chances of being noticed. The otaku only hoped that Pagus's tip about the docks would not turn out to be false. ''What about you?'' Naofumi asked Valiant, who covered their rear, his eyes scanning the entire small mountain that spanned up from the coast side, not seeing much if he had to be honest. Having an alert eye and steady ear would be their bread and butter for now.

''Not much, remind me again why we don't have the other 3/5ths of our team here?'' Valiant actually knew why he would want lesser numbers in a place that was unfamiliar; to minimize issue or surprise, but that would also be a negative to them as this was in a completely different land for the both of them. Naofumi's plan so far seemed. . .unorthdox, to say the least.

And Valiant actually liked that, most of the time.

''We're just doing some light recon. We can't just rush down there without having an idea of who might who, and if they know where The Chain is.'' Naofumi said, digging his boot into the snow a bit more to get a better grip.

Valiant held a mildly curious look as he tilted his head and looked on. ''And how does this connect The Chain to Yak-Yakistan?''

Naofumi had the same question when they first set out to current position, and it actually begun to make more and more sense the longer he went and thought about it; seeing as this world was definitely in the period of time of carriages and simple locomotive trains, travel was something that had to be planned out.

One such thing that he knew that was the most unreliable from his studies in college and of Earth told him that ship travel was one of the things to be more left up to chance than anything. Yak-Yakistan sat near a major body of water that led further into other lands, so monitor the seas for any possible attack on a different nation by sea would be crippling.

"It'll connect, trust me. If Night Order is here, they may try to secure the waterways for their approach and escape," Naofumi continued to peer at the ship that just finished docking. "Pagus said he's heard of trouble of goods being stolen, so it may be that those supplies are being used to further their efforts."

Valiant huffed, a valid point. "Still nothing?"

The crew of the ship began to walk down off the plank, a few Earth Ponies carrying a few wooden barrels while a small group of Yaks began their own approach to the group. They appeared to be talking for the moment, gesturing here and there to the barrels before remaining still for the moment.

Drat, he couldn't see all that good from here, and he did not want to compromise his position behind this rock.

Wait a minute.

"Change Shield," Naofumi whispered, the familiar green glow over taking his vision for a second before it died down, revealing one of his lesser shields, which he almost questioned why it even existed, until now.

Valiant noticed the light and turned around quickly, looking to see Naofumi sporting another shield, only this one looked very strange. "The fuck is that?"

Naofumi wanted to laugh as well, but the Spyglass Shield was able to make a debut. He did also think it looked weird, from it's overall shape of a aged golden spyglass stood up all the way to the almost comical lens that stood dead center. "What's going to help me see what's going on down there better," Naofumi thrust the shield forward a bit, the lens shrinking and jutting outward as it was surrounded in the metal of the shield. "This thing views like you were right next to the person." Naofumi said, scanning the group and barrel.

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary at first, but he wondered what were contained in those barrels.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Valiant clicked his tongue, shaking his head. "Next you'll tell me you have kind of trump card if we're in the paint."

Naofumi's flat stare from the guard would have made would have merited a small laugh, but the time was the right one. Should he tell him?

"Mmmm. . .Nah." Naofumi thought to himself. It would make for a better suprise, and also he still had to be a bit wary about revealing every little thing about him and his party, friend or not.

Smack!

"What was that?" Valiant tensed, searching around the pair, Naofumi using his shield to zoom in on what happened down by the ship. One of the Yaks looked to smack the Pegasus captain directly in the face, the force making him stumble before one of his crew caught him. The Yak wrapped in a tan cloak moved forward, pointing a hoof at the Pegasus, then his ship and finally the barrels and back from where they and their companions came from. "Sound like a bad deal."

Naofumi couldn't hear much, but he figured Valiant could. "What are they saying?"

Flopping his ear, Valiant focused in on the conversation. It was certainly a heated exchange based on the body language, but something he could make out towards the end that caught his interest.

"You brought a passenger? Are you mentally ill? Because only an idiot would bring any creature that is not part of this exchange, Captain Fleet!" The Yak sounded very angry, betrayed almost. "I don't pay you to export these goods to other lands and quadruple their profits for nothing. If you jeopardize my endeavors any further, I will see to it that you and Pony Jones's locker meet very soon." Naofumi continued to look at the Yak who looked very upset.

"That's not good, their voice is distorted, so it's kinda hard to tell," Valiant told Naofumi, who tried to get a better look of who was talking. "Pagus was half right; Yak-Yakistan's getting ripped off, but it looks like by its own citizens by flipping the product for a higher product if they sold it themselves."

"Smart." Naofumi replied, nodding in approval.

"Wait, what? You're cool with them doing this?" Valiant asked, hoping Naofumi was joking. Weren't heroes supposed to be. . .selfless and neutral, or whatever Starswirl spat in his face about the topic.

Naofumi, however did not find any problem with what they were doing, for the most part. A lot of counties often up selling products off at a lower price with an agreement for someone to else make a bigger profit and reap the dividends after paying their part to the middle party.

It may be a bit much and somewhat unethical to some for whatever reason, but money makes the world go around. Just as long as people don't immediately die or greatly suffer was good enough for him. Looking back through the lens with a watchful eye, he replied. "Just being observant from a business standpoint, is all. But what else are they saying?"

"Well, you haven't been paying me all that much, or even providing me with enough merchandise to make the profit you desire, sir," Captain Fleet pleaded with his supplier, sweeping a hoof to the barrels that his crew brought. "We had to return two units because of complaints. And to make matters worse-" a stroke from his hoof to white slowly whitening bread brought a wave to him as he paused for a second. He wanted to approach this with the upmost tact.

The last time he talked back, he lost a tooth.

"I can barely afford to pay my own crew, and they have families, and their own issues to handle. What kind of leader would I be if I don't take care to those who put their trust in me?" Captain Fleet looked on in wonder as his 'boss' looked unimpressed. "I. . .barely have enough to maintain The Calypso, and I pretty much make squat running back and forth for-MMMPH!"

Valiant winced as Naofumi looked on to see Fleet be essentially mad handled by the Yak, shaking him like a rag doll before tossing him to the ground, his crew instructed beforehoof not to do anything, should any aggression be present. It would be over before long.

"Listen to me. . .I have promised you all of the money you could ever want, but I only told you that under the condition you do what is asked if you," Fleet rubbed his sore cheek as he looked on quietly, silently fuming in the inside. "Things change, and so must we. Everything each one of you has been shorted will be paid back, in due time. But, we have a. . .problem."

"What's that?" Fleet asked, hoping he wouldn't be crossing the line by a simple question.

A exhale of a breath and the rearranging of their hood came before. "We have visitors, asking questions they should not be, and they may catch wind of what we are doing here. And as such, we will be ceasing operations for the time being. Tell our mutual friends that, from me."

Captain Fleet tensed. Tell? The customers? E-Even?

"He won't be so happy to hear that, sir."

"And you think I care why? You report to him, not me. My own tail is covered, my friend. It is you who needs me if this goes awry in any way." Captain Fleet frowned and looked at the ground at those words, knowing they were final. "I do expect you to be swift with our message, and give our kindest regards."

Naofumi instantly knew what they were talking about. Them. He had a good feeling that he would be heckled, even in a new world. He obviously didn't have a lot to go on with that. And the better question would be who that particular Yak was, and who they were referencing.

"What's the play?" Valiant asked. He had personally heard enough of the exchange, and wanted nothing more than to go down there and give that Yak a piece of his mind. But that was the young him, and he couldn't really afford to do such a thing.

Princess Celestia would have his head so quick.

Naofumi pursed his lips and thought. Just going down there wouldn't be the best course of action, especially not with them being so close to the water that something could happen. But before he could form another thought, Captain Fleet was pushed aside by the Yak, intent on releasing his wrath on the other object of his aggression.

"And where is this so-called passenger of yours? I do hope you know that you just doomed this traveler. Any not of us in this exchange will promptly die," the Yak ventured onto the ship as his two follower did the same, watching around the cargo that was skewed about on the deck.

"Come on out, sea traveler. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your life took a turn for the worse when you decided to get on this boat, of all boats. I will promise, if you come out now, I promise to be-OOOF!" a figure zoomed straight into the Yak, knocking him off his hooves and on the ground with a sickening crunch.

Captain Fleet and his men looked on with suprise. "Mmmmlh! Mmmmph!" Naofumi angled his shield over the ship, unable to see much except the Yak holding a hoof over his mouth as his friends were switfly tackled and stomped on, the unrelenting fury of strikes becoming too much for them before a final buck to the chin took them out of commission.

"What the? Who are-"

"-Don't worry about it, Captain. You and your crew are safe, I can tell you're not doing this because you want to, but I can sure as hell see what this really is." Naofumi spied the figure to be a pony of some kind, once again hidden by a black cloak. She was female, that much was for sure from what Valiant told him. She seemed familiar to the Unicorn, but what was it?

"What was that about killing me?" the figure looked back to the Yak who sneezed and spat a few of his teeth out.

There was a fire in his eyes, Naofumi could feel it. That burning rage inside of him that wished for release. He almost wanted it to be free. But the pain he was feeling out shadowed that.

"Oh, sorry. Guess you can't speak with what I did. But I know you can listen, I don't know what your deal is, but I don't care about your little smuggling ring; I have bigger fish to catch," the figure unfurled her wings through the holes in her cloak, nearly blasting off like a rocky into the night sky, her silhouette soon melding into the darkness as she disappeared, a dark blue streak of what looked like magic following her.

"Whoa." Valiant said, mystified. He now knew who that was, where they had met, a few times before, but only just. "I think I know who was; Storm Song." Naofumi quirked a brow at the name. Storm Song? Reminded him of that American movie about a mermaid girl. What was it called, again?

"We should care about her, why?" Naofumi asked, looking on at the dock to see the aftermath of what Storm Song did. Captain Fleet and his men looked visibly confused and scared while the three Yaks were in bad shape.

"Starswirl's ex-wife, otherwise known as the Storm Pegasus.