//------------------------------// // A Pirate's Life For Me // Story: Origins of a Rainbow - A Dashie Tale // by Shorty Sparkle //------------------------------// A Pirate’s Life For Me The two Pegasi were flying away from Cloudsdale now, the massive Pegasus city fading away as they gained speed. They both talked about how that story didn’t exactly tell them much. However, it did show them that their fathers did do their jobs well. After a long and mostly quiet trip they saw the port in the Neigh Area. Massive ships floated amongst tiny fishing boats, the two Pegasi landed at the port where they had learned to find the Pirate. They walked up to the bar which was filled to the brim with screaming sailors as they fought over one thing or another. Beer flowed like water and profanities seemed to overpower all the other words. The ponies here had muscles too big for their own good. Dash and Spiritfire walked up to the barkeep. “Hello sir!” Rainbow Dash had to yell to be heard. “Hrg? What?” The Barkeep peeked over the bar at the two Pegasi. “Ah, what can I get a few,” he took a look at Spitfire, “’fine’ mares today?” Spitfire nearly gagged at the complement from the burly horse. “Listen, we just want to know where one ‘Pipsqueak’ is at.” Most of the bar went quiet. The barkeep shot them a look of displeasure. Then he laughed. “Ah, I see that the old coot already got you two reserved then! I can’t say he doesn’t have fine tastes!” This time it was Rainbow’s turn to gag. “If it be Pipsqueak the Pirate you be looking for though, you be too late. He sailed off earlier today saying something about never returning.” The two mares shot each other looks. “If ye wish to find him. Out into the water ye must go. He went to the west. You should find him out there.” They didn’t waste any time, not even to hear the warning that came from the barkeep. “Be careful! There be a storm coming!” There is a downside to being a Pegasus. It isn’t the point that you don’t have any magic, or that they can’t pull as much as an earth pony. No, their biggest downside is their ability to control weather. They don’t expect a storm to hit when it isn’t scheduled. It is the reason you will see so few Pegasi fair the oceans where weather roams free. It is also why these two Pegasi got into such a huge mess. They had seen his ship right as it entered the rain. They flew as fast as they could to get to the ship to help him. A quick flight and they caught it. The pirate on the ship refused to help us keep his ship from sinking. Wind was knocking the boat around as it caught the sails. The lightning in the distance was getting much closer. The waves were nearly 10 feet tall and crashing into the side of the boat. “Come on Spitfire, keep the mast upright!” Rainbow Dash screamed over the howling storm. Another massive gust of wind knocked a board straight off the boat and onto her head. She shook it off and kept a hold of the steering wheel, trying to turn the boat to be with the wind. The sooner they could get out of this storm the better. Spitfire put all her power into holding the mast so it didn’t fall over, sending a glare over to the earth pony watching them do their work. Pipsqueak had wanted to die when they saw him, and driving straight into the blasted storm was his way of doing it. “I told you a long time ago! Get off my ship!” Pipsqueak screamed at the two Pegasi. “I have no need to live anymore and I am not about to be stopped by two intolerable mares!” He was furious that these two would just get on his ship and try to save him! “We flew from Cloudsdale to talk to you and gosh darn it we are going to talk to you!” Spitfire was doing all the talking. Rainbow was too busy biting down on the wheel. “I do not wish to talk to anypony anymore! I have lost every reason to live and you can’t take my death from me!” “We will have to see about that then wont we?” Spitfire gave him a challenging look. “Go ahead and jump off the ship then. You wanted to die, so here is your chance!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe her ears. Spitfire did know that we wanted to SAVE him right? As much as Rainbow Dash expected the sailor to jump off the boat he didn’t. He yelled back at her. “I am here to die with my boat! That is how a true pirate should die!” “I am sure that Captain Sparrow would disagree!” With those words the old stallion looked at the mare holding his ship in place. “You know about Captain Sparrow?” He didn’t even give her a chance to answer. He ran over to the mast and brought down the sails as quickly as he could. He slapped on a line to hold them in place and walked up to Rainbow. “How about ya step away from my wheel there missy! I have a ship to save!” She let go and he grabbed the wheel with his forearms. He spun the wheel to change directions and this time without the wind hitting the sails, the boat turned. Now riding the waves and the wind from behind it lurched forward, crashing into the waves in front of it as it went. After a pain staking amount of time and throwing up by the two mares they finally got out of the storm. “Now, we need to be talking about how you know the name of Captain Sparrow.” The pirate had sat back and pulled out a whisky from his hold. “Captain Sparrow served alongside our fathers as a wonderbolt. From what I understand, he saved your life once.” Spitfire was the first to speak to the stallion. “Aye, he did in fact save my life. I was just a colt at the time. If it wasn’t fer him, I never would have become Pipsqueak the Pirate.” ---{Story}--- I was walking along the road running around my father’s trade cart. He worked as a merchant and sold a lot of things to ponies who would buy them. Personally, I liked to just tag along and help him sell things. However, I always seemed to love boats and every chance he got he would buy me a toy boat or something to play with. He was a great man and a great influence on me. One day we got a call to set sail and bring some goods to the Equestrian Isles. While on the trip a few peculiar looking boats came and crashed alongside us. Stallions from both ships lunged aboard and ransacked our boat, stealing everything we had left and then started killing the mares. It wasn’t long after all of it had begun that a group of five fliers flew straight onto the boat. The lead stallion pulled out a sword and started fighting the others that had boarded our boat; screams had filled the air as they killed the pirates who had attacked our boat. The battle was amazing. One of the stallions branched off and grabbed the wheel for the ship; he turned the boat in a way that managed to unhook the two others. Another of the Pegasi with an eye patch flew up and used his wings to blow air into the sail, causing our boat to get quite the burst of speed as the three others fought the pirates on board. When the battle was all said and done they looked around for survivors. My father was not amongst that group. I can’t say that I didn’t cry, losing your father is no easy thing to do. It was Captain Sparrow who came to my side. “What did you lose son?” He had asked. In between sobs I did my best to answer. “My father, I lost my father sir.” “Well, we will have to see what we can do about that then.” After they had fixed up the ship with a route and got everyone safe the Captain came back for me. “Come on little one, you will be coming with us.” He flew me over the sea to a port of harbor. The other four waited for him to speak with the owner of a boat leaving me with them. I don’t exactly know what he told the man on that boat, but I do know that from that day on I lived with the man on his boat. I came to respect certain pirates who go by a code. I have since then done my best to enforce that code amongst others. ---{Main}--- “So you see there girls, that is why I am a pirate. The attack on my boat was by no means in the code and because of that I to this day enforce it immensely.” The two mares pulled themselves away from the story. “Thank you so much for telling us your story. I am sure it can’t be easy for you to talk about your father.” Spitfire again was the one to talk. “Yeah, I lost my dad before I was even born. I ended up growing up without my parents either.” The sailor looked at the two mares and realized they went through a lot too. He still wanted answers though. “Now tell me girls, where exactly did you meet the Captain?” “We didn’t, My dad was the stallion who blew wind into your sails.” “I have no doubt that my dad was the one who navigated the boat in the way it was done. That was his special talent after all. You see, our fathers worked alongside Captain Sparrow until he retired. The next mission they did, didn’t end well.” “Ah I see, ya ladies went through a lot to hear my story. I am glad you did too. I would be at the bottom of an ocean if you didn’t.” He grabbed an extra bottle of Whiskey and handed it to Spitfire who accepted it. “Hey, what about me?” Rainbow shot him a mad stare. “Sorry, last one.” She screamed before seeing the bottle move in front of her face. “Want a sip?” She looked over to see Spitfire giving her the bottle. “I don’t mind sharing.” Rainbow Dash took the offer. “Thanks.” They all laughed as the boat approached the shore. Dash and Spitfire helped the sailor dock his boat before bidding him farewell. They flew off to find a place to stay for the night. The two mares were exhausted. When the two mares walked into the hotel they were quickly greeted and quickly in their rooms. They had no mood to talk to the people around and were more than happy to be left alone. They both fell asleep in their beds before their heads even landed on the pillows. --- Hey Everypony! Sorry about the short chapter again. It actually looks like this is going to be the norm for a good chunk of these first chapters. That will be until I get more into the character development stages. I would like to give a shout out to my editor Penguin. An awesome guy and a great editor for sure. He knows what he is doing! Finally, I got a message asking about if this was going to become a Dash/Spitfire ship fic. All I have to say is... Really? I don't see any reason that Dash should be shipped with another mare. As for shipping in general, I am having a few bits of it but it will not be the full driving force behind the story.