Ocean Above, Sky Below

134. That is the number or islands on this world. With the world being almost completely made of water, many took to the sky and sea. Becoming pirates and merchants from sky and sea the ponies, griffons, changelings, zebras, diamond dogs, and even the occasional dragon. In ships of small crews to large scale fleets, these various races began pillaging the world and creating a legacy and treasures for future generations. One such legacy was of the king of blue, a rogue dragon pirate named Spike. With his 7 crew members on board he conquered the most dangerous of paths Maelstrom Current the sky of the Celestial sea, and the Sea of Eternal Chaos on the Lunar Equate.

  After 250 years he was captured, alone on his ship, his crew long since dead as the old king Spike awaited the Naval Marines and  Flying Army to catch him for execution. It wasn't long before he was put on the execution stand, but on that fateful day he said his final words striking the hearts of thousands of pirates and those of the next generation. ” To those who are brave and fearless to the blue that overwhelms us I leave you a legacy and a treasure only a king could leave. If you have heart a passonate flame to drive you look for my legacy, look for the treasure that is in the ocean above us and the sky below us. It awaits you at the end of my former path, good hunting.”
  With those words spoken he grinned, not daring to give the military leaders, the princesses and all the other world generals the satisfaction of him having a sad face, even after he had been decapitated.




RULES:


1. Do not power play.
2. This is AU so your character may or may not be a pirate or merchant or military before hand.
3. You can be severely injured but not killed in this thread.
4. Have a good time.

Players:


1. Ician
2. DJDemitri
3. Lightning Shield
4. Star Sentinel
5. The Notebook
6. DragonXneoN

All was peaceful in the deep blue sky, clouds drifting by lazily as the glorious golden rays of the sun shone down through the air. There were only a few birds at this altitude, flying in separate directions to destinations of their own.

Then a faint hum split the silence. It grew steadily louder and louder, and then with a startling suddenness the birds were forced to scatter by an enormous sky-blue hull, crashing through the sky with the grace and elegance that only a stiff, lumbering behemoth could have. High above that portion of the hull, further above a sea of grey, a figurehead of a golden eagle glinted in the sunlight.

The Scaphism flew ever closer towards its destination.

On the top deck, a light-grey unicorn paced the length of the ship, clad in a suit of leather armour. A sword hung by his side. On his back rested an elegant steel eagle, looking around the ship and its myriad crew, running around and generally being busy.

"Captain Schwarm!" A shout came. The unicorn rotated on his hooves and came face-to-face with a breathless crewpony.

"Yes?" Schwarm asked, the only inflection in his voice a tone of neutrality.

"We're approaching our destination soon."

"Good." He gazed out over the expanse of blue sky. "Any pirates?"

"None that we can see yet, Captain."

"Stay alert, then." Schwarm strode towards to the bow of the ship, opening the door to the Captain's cabin. "Tell me if anything goes wrong. I'll be in my cabin."

He shut the door.

((So... should I be playing Eclipse, or will Lightning Shield's OCs suffice for the Flying Army?))

As Scaphism continued flying, something approached it from the clouds to its left. Something almost invisible, until it started revealing itself.

First, a light blue figure was freed from the barrier of clouds. A figure of a viper about to attack. After a few moments, more and more of the large frigate was revealed, the color being a mixture of wooden brown on the sides and teal fences and sails. The Crystal Viper was rapidly approaching the Scaphism.

As soon as Sky Cog noticed that, she mumbled "Bloody hell!" and quickly turned the ship, now flying along Scaphism, the broadside of Sky's ship facing Schwarm's. "I freaking knew flying in cloudy weather was a god damn terrible idea.." Sky Cog mumbled again and locked the Crystal Viper's heading.

Schwarm reclined in the captain's chair, looking over the sky charts and tracking their progress on the trade route. His horn lit up brighter than it had been earlier, telekinetically pulling a miniature gold-painted eagle across the table, over the map.

"Just a little while longer." He mused. "Just a little-"

"Captain!" The door burst open. The same breathless crewpony from earlier stared at him, breathing heavily. "Emergency!"

"What kind?" Schwarm stood up briskly and strode over to the door, the steel eagle performing an impressive balancing act on his back.

"A ship came out of the clouds. It almost rammed us, and now it's flying alongside us."

"It didn't ram us, though, or I would have felt it." Schwarm said. "I don't see why that would be enough to warrant an emergency procedure..."

"Twenty-two. Procedure twenty-two." The crewpony stopped on the deck and pointed at the other ship, just beside the Scaphism.

"Twenty-two?" Schwarm raised an eyebrow. "That's for pirates. This ship isn't flying the Jolly Roger."

"We think it's hiding its identity. Look at all the cannons!" He pointed down.

Schwarm glanced downwards. "Unusual for a merchant ship, but not unheard of. Hand me the megaphone, but keep the crew prepared to execute Twenty-two. And stay by the shield generator."

"Of course." The crewpony rushed away.

No guarantee even the shield will hold at point-blank range, with all these cannons. Schwarm waited as a rudimentary cone was floated over to him telekinetically. He raised it in the air and shouted across, "Unidentified airship, this is the merchant ship Scaphism. Please identify yourself, confirm your non-hostile status, and distance yourself, in case of collision."

Sky finished drinking her mug of coffee, glad they avoided the crash, and just as she went to the coffee machine on the bridge to get some more coffee, she almost jumped as she heard the megaphone. She put the empty mug down next to the coffee machine and walked outside, listening to the megaphone all the way through.

Aah, so it was Scaphism... I knew the ship looked familiar from the first look... Sky thought to herself as she leaned on the fence, looking at the Scaphism and its captain. She levitated a megaphone from her own bridge and brought it up to her mouth with a slight smile.

"This is a cargo ship Crystal Viper and I do not have a reason to be hostile, as my cargo bay is full enough!" Sky said and chuckled, making her way back to the steering wheel and turning her ship a few degrees away from Scaphism, while still staying in range. After that, she returned back to the fence and leaned on it, watching the other ship.

"Crystal Viper..." Schwarm murmured. "Very well." He shouted across. He put the cone down and watched the other ship carefully, cocking his head to one side in thoughtfulness.

He picked the cone back up. "Still a little close for comfort there. Could you move a little further?"

Sky sighs at Schwarm's requests and walks back to the steering wheel, turning it slightly and then walked back to her coffee machine, about to prepare another mug of coffee. "A whole god damn large cargo ship could fit in the area between our ships, but noo, still not comfortable..." She grumbled to herself while she waited for her coffee to be done, and after walked back outside with a mug floating next to her.

"Far enough." Schwarm lowered the cone and trotted below deck. He gestured to the nearest crewpony. "Lower the red alert to a yellow again. Watch out for pirates, and make sure we can raise the shield at a moment's notice."

"Yes, Captain." The crewpony hurried off to deliver the message to the rest of the crew.

With that, Schwarm emerged back onto the top deck, observing Sky with her mug of coffee. The eagle on his back spread its wings and took to the sky.

Sky sipped her coffee while watching the other ship. She noticed the eagle flying up, but decided to not give it much attention.

"So, how's your travel so far?" She asked Schwarm with her megaphone.

"It's alright. Fair winds throughout." Schwarm paused, collecting his thoughts. "Forgive me if the conversation gets stale. I'm not one for small talk."

Above him, the eagle performed a double roll in the air, proceeding later to cut out in the middle of a third roll and rocket towards the Crystal Viper.

Sky was slightly intrigued as she saw the bird flying towards her ship with great speed, the cannons on board of Crystal Viper already turning towards the bird, ready to shoot if the bird tries anything funny. Sky, meanwhile, decided to rather focus on the Scaphism.

The eagle opened its wings wide, catching a lot of air and slowing down enough to effect a graceful landing on the fence of the Crystal Viper. It folded its steel wings back to its side and stared at Sky, cocking its head to one side in apparent curiosity.

Sky moved slightly away from the bird, finishing her mug of coffee. "What the bloody cloud do you want..?" Sky asked a bird, knowing that it can't speak. She turned back towards the Scaphism, picked up the megaphone and said "Please keep your pets on leashes, thank you."

Schwarm called over the megaphone, "Don't worry, it's not going to hurt you."

The steel eagle regarded Sky with expressionless eyes, cocking its head to the other side, then extending its head and exposing its neck, as if waiting to be petted.

"Its name is Talon." Schwarm informed her.

"Talon, huh.." She said, looking at the bird with slight interest, but not touching it. "Another nice example of how metal comes to life.." Sky said to herself and decided to ignore the bird for now. She remembers seeing the Scaphism at least once before in one of the docks, but she continued being on full alert, ready to engage if the other ship does so first.

"So..." Schwarm called over the megaphone, but paused. He shook his head. "I think we're too on edge right now, aren't we? I'm not going to attack you, I'm a merchant vessel. Notwithstanding the fact that I have no cannons to speak of, and that I have nothing to gain from it. You have a lot of cannons, though. Where did you get them?"

Sky sighs. "Please pardon me, captain... it's just that these skies are not to be trusted. And why don't you have any cannons, in case of self defense?" Sky wondered and listened to Schawrm's question before answering "Made them on my own. Like them?"

"I have other means of self-defense." Schwarm answered vaguely. "And I'm sorry, but you're right. These skies aren't to be trusted. So forgive me if I don't quite trust you right now."

Sky Cog nodded "That's quite alright, I sorta don't trust you either, but, ohwell." She said and slowly made her way to the Crystal Viper's front, enjoying the lack of sailors on her ship and still ignoring the metal bird.

The steel eagle took to the air as she walked to the front of her ship, following her along. It landed along the fences at the side of the Crystal Viper every now and then. Schwarm's eyes, however, were fixed on Sky, watching to see if she was doing anything suspicious.

Gin made is way to the deck of the ship. "Capitain, I have done!... Oh." He looked at the opposing ship with its mass of weapons and oddly position of not ramming our ship. "This seems like a bad time..."
Him slowly pushed his way back down to the lower deck halls. "Oh darn... And I was so close too. If I had been a little faster maybe piracy won't be a problem for us anymore." He shrugged it off as another inconvenience and went to go pack and destroy his precious experiments.

"No, no, stay." Schwarm said loudly, motioning to Gin. "Don't worry. This ship isn't hostile, at least purportedly. I'm not expecting a confrontation. It's a merchant ship, like ours. Though more heavily armed than some pirate frigates I've seen. They haven't tried to fire on us yet, and if they wanted to they would have a while ago. I'd put it at a seventy percent chance that they don't have hostile intent."

A head peaked out from behind the door. "How can you be so sure that they aren't just messing with us? What about winter when we ran into those fat beasts too drunk to take our cargo so they did laps around us for hours making jokes so we couldn't leave." Gin pushed his round glasses back into his face.

"That was an anomaly." Schwarm answered. "Either way, that's why the rest of the ship is prepared for a Twenty-two. We'll be able to defend ourselves at any time if we need to. We'll be fine." He gestured to the Crystal Viper. "Besides, she's not trying to block or obstruct us yet. So long as nothing changes, we'll arrive at our destination on schedule, as expected."