(hello, everybody, Firehooves here! for the next addition to my journal, a log entry from theDreamValley vessel, the saucy mare)

Chief Officer Salty Shores
First Mate aboard the S.S. Saucy Mare
May 26th, in the year 1981, by human-world reckoning.

My dearest and most beloved Fizzy,

It's so cold out here...as I write this, our ship is sailing south from the arctic round, following the coast of Saint Ponysburg. Six hellish months on these hellish icy waters; the unicorns in the crew's horns are all frozen, and the Pegasus' wings are all covered with ice. Our cargo hold is full of the treasure looted from over a dozen ships, and our swords red with the blood of nearly a hundred goblins, griffons, and yaks who crewed the treasure ships we plundered and sank. All of us stallions sing sea shanties as we work on the deck, trying our hardest to ignore the bitter cold eating away at our coats.

Out on the forward deck stands Captain Barnacle, the wind whipping away at his long coat and tri-corner hat, as he proudly stood upon his back hooves, defying nature itself with his fierce spirit. As I approached my old friend, I saw his face was hidden by the evening darkness. He didn't even move to acknowledge my approach, and I had to muster all of my courage to finally speak.

"You wanted to speak with me, cap'n?" I asked keeping my voice low, so as not to surprise him, if he had failed to hear my approach. "What are yer orders?"

At first, his only response was to lift his hoof, and strike a match against his long coat, before using it to light the pipe in his mouth. The glowing fire lit in front of his face made his one good eye blaze like the burning sun, as smoke and the sweet smell of cherry tobacco coiled all around his head.

"Mister Salty, make sure me sailors keep their eyes open for the light of Celestia's Beacon, I don't want ta miss the mouth of the rainbow river, and sail on past our way home in the darkness." The captain stated simply. "And be sure ta have the lads in the crew stuff their ears with cotton before midnight, will ye? The mares have nothing ta fear, though."

"Aye, cap'n!" I replied with a salute. Turning back towards the others to relay Barnacle's orders, I stuff my own ears with wax. As I look down into the water, I see the reason for this order. Nearly forty merponies are following our boat, their honey-filled voices calling out to us with sweet promises, in order to lower us over the deck, and to a watery grave. It would be very hard for any of my crew mates or I to resist their siren call, or their beauty... so hard do we burn for our mares, who we have left behind. Oh Fizzy, how I long for you... your crystalline eyes, your soft and warm laugh, and the six milkshake cutie mark that adorns your supple flank.. there is no other mare on the seven seas that could get me to pull hard into port like you could!

We all stuff pour ears to block out the noise... but not Cap'n Barnacle. He just stands there on deck, as the song fills his ears, and he does not even flinch as their powerfully magic song called to him. The merponies songs call to the love and longing in a stallion's heart... but Barnacle, his heart is frozen like the ice water in the northern sea we are now leaving. He is probably the most steel-willed pony on this planet, having faced horrors that would've made the dainty alicorn princesses of old soil themselves in fear. I have seen him face down the ten thousand cannons of the orcish armada, launching himself from our fore deck at their flagship, a flintlock pistol in each front hoof, and a cutlass in his teeth. He has cut down griffons, yaks, diamond dogs, shark men, and even a sea dragon (which took his right eye) and came back to tell the tale. The only thing that can melt that old pirate's heart, is the gentle heart of North Star, the Pegasus mare who waits for him, back home in Dream Valley. I am certain the cap'n can get us home to Ponyland.

Evening is come, and as I sit here in me quarters, I cannot help but think back to that grand adventure where I first Met the cap'n. Aye, I know ye remember it, for ye were there, as well as our dear friend North Star. We were all so young then, and we were eager ta prove ourselves on a grand adventure. I still can't believe how long ago it was, when barnacle first ran into us with that map he claimed he had found in the tomb o' Princess Celestia. We foolishly left the safety of the pony lands, to seek out fame and fortune in the wide and dangerous world. I still can't believe we-

"Mister Salty!" Wave Runner, our crew's lone Pegasus mare, cries out as she came running below decks. "The storm be getting worse, and Captain Barnacle needs you on deck!"

Looking out the nearby porthole, I can see she is right... we may not make it out o' this storm in one piece. So I'm afraid I must finish up my writing here, and go above deck to help me shipmates.

This is not good, dear Fizzy. The sky is filled with clouds and fog, and our navigator cannot make out where we are. But the captain will not take my advice to drop anchor and wait for the fog ta clear, even though I am the ship's first mate. And so here we are, three hours later, and I am writing this, uncertain if I shall make it back to you, my dear Fizzy. I'm giving this bottle to the ship's bo'sun to throw overboard, in the desperate hopes it is found by a friendly freshwater sea pony, and delivered to you. Oh, my dearest sweet little Fizzy, if I do not come back to you, me love, I only ask ye tell our children I died in service to Dream Valley and Queen Majesty... and remember me when the gentle sea breeze rolls over Dream Valley.

Mister Salty

First Mate, the S.S. Saucy Mare