The crew covered Rainbow Dash in warm blankets. The damp atmosphere of the ship’s interior made it difficult for them to dry her.
She turned in her sleep. Mumblings softly with a scrunched face. Nightmares or memories haunted her. The crew didn’t know what to do for her. Only a single purple pegasus had enough courage to land a hoof on the twisting mare.
“AAAAH!” Rainbow tackled the pegasus to the floor.
She glanced around, seeing the entire crew step away from her. It was obvious to her that she was on a pirate ship. Didn’t need to question the wooden cabin, leaky walls, and the feeling of being swished side to side. Even a pebble would know they were on a ship. Her attention quickly went to the pegasus she tackled.
“Twilight?”
The pegasus stood up. She brushed some dirt off her blue vest and flicked her mane. She was a direct reflection of Twilight (without a horn). Rainbow was confused as to why her friend didn’t have a horn and looked like a pirate.
“My name’s Bookworm. I’m the ship’s navigator,” Bookworm smiled, “And you are our new captain.”
Rainbow pumped her hoof and cheer ‘Oh yeah’ before remembering what happened to her before, “Wait, I can’t! I have to help my friends! I have to fight that weird rock guy! I gotta save Equestria!”
The crew roared with laughter. Bookworm grabbed Rainbow’s hoof with concern.
“Daw, you must’ve hit your head hard. I’m sure Choppy can help you.”
“Choppy?”
“Our doctor,” Bookworm paused a few seconds, “He’s a griffin.”
Rainbow pulled away and took flight, “Woah woah woah! I’m fine! I don’t need a doctor!”
The crew unsheathed their weapons. All eyes were on Dash. A sense of intimidation and bloodlust filled the deck.
“Are you ready to take the ship, captain?” one of the crew mates asked.
“We’ve waited so long to take this ship! Let us attack No-Beard now!”
“Attack No-Beard!”
“YYYYAAAAAAARRRRRGGG!!!”
The entire crew left to go after the ex-captain, captain No-Beard.
“Don’t worry. You’ll get full control of them once the ship’s yours,” Bookworm assured.
“Are you listening to me? I can’t be a captain! I have to go back and save my friends from that weird rock guy that looked like Discord.”
“We can listen to your fantasies when No-Beard walks the plank.”
“No! I want you to understand here and now!” Dash flared her wings in front of Bookworm. She blocked the exit so she would force Bookworm to listen, “My name is Rainbow Dash! Element of Loyalty! I was with Princess Twilight Sparkle, who you look a lot alike, and my friends when some werido that looked like a scarier version of Discord walked up to us and beat the living snot out of everyone in the room. Including me! Now I’m stuck here wondering how the hay I can get back before something really bad happens to my friends!”
Dash huffed and puffed after her rant. The message stuck with Bookworm well enough.
“Ok, captain,” she stated despite Rainbow’s groan, “We’ll get to your friends after you pick a replacement.”
Dash could only sigh and roll along with it. She followed Bookworm to the top deck. She expected this ’No-Beard’ to be tied up. She did not expect No-Beard to be standing on top of several dozen unconscious ponies. The ruthless pirate wore a smirk that sent shivers down the spine. He held a cannon in his hoof and used it to hit a stallion into the mast like a baseball. Bookworm stood far away and waved.
“You got this captain! Show No-Beard who’s boss!”
“WHAT THE HAY AM I SUPPOSE TO DO?!”
No-Beard loomed over Dash. She could feel his warm breath. The smell of rum and limes assaulted her nostrils. She slowly turned her head. Eyes shrunk to pin needles when she show his cannon above his head.
Thinking quickly, Dash flew out of the way. The cannon made an indent in the deck, splintering the wood. Dash held her hooves high.
“Wait! I don’t have anything to do with this! I just woke up!,” she pleaded, “Listen, I just want to get back to my friends! You can deal with these guys later, ok?”
No-Beard glared at her.
“You shouldn’t have said that,” Bookworm told Dash.
“Do you not know who I am?” No-Beard growled, “Do you not realize you’re in the presence of the great No-Beard?!”
“And here comes the long winded speech…”
“The grand pirate who sailed through treacherous seas. The magnificent gentleman who woos all wenches of all species. The captain of the Leaky Lamb who sank many navy ships. The grandson of the renegade Wonderbolt-“
“Long-Beard? Oh yeah, I read he was the only Wonderbolt that quit because of his facial hair,” Dash giggled, “His last words were ‘If I can’t wax my whiskers than I shall send a hail of iron to Cloudsdale’ Oh ho man was he crazy!”
“He was not! He did eventually launch an attack on Cloudsdale.”
“Yeah but he ended up hitting nothing. The cannon balls went through the clouds and landed on empty ground.”
“It was a minor set back.”
“uh huh…”
“Well what do you know? A mare like you could never be a Wonderbolt!”
That statement made Rainbow rage harder than a bull with a stubbed toe.
No-Beard flew overboard. A single punch left a horseshoe imprint on his face. Rainbow frowned, rubbing her hoof as a satisfactory splash glided over her. She didn’t even notice the crew get back up and cheer their new captain.
“Thank you, captain! We couldn’t have done it without you! What do you want to do now captain?”
Rainbow flinch at the last question, “I’m not your captain! You can ask Bookworm why I can’t be captain. Right now I have to save my friends!”
“Save the captain’s friends! We set sail to save captain… uh…”
“Rainbow Dash,” Bookworm told the crew.
“Let’s save captain Rainbow Dash’s friends! YYYAAAAAAAARRRRRGG!!!”
The crew went back to their stations as though nothing happened.
“What is wrong with everyone? Have you all been drinking sea water?”
Bookworm wrapped a hoof around Rainbow, “They’re not used to doing things without a proper leader. Just stick with us for a while, ok?”
“No, it’s not ok. I have no idea where I am. No idea how to get to my friends. And now a crew of weirdo pirates want me to be their captain! How is any of that ok?!”
“Listen, we really don’t have all day to discus-“
“ENEMY SPOTTED!” the look out shouted as he shot down a messenger bird, “BULLSEYE!”
“Looky Lou! That was a messenger gull! It could’ve had useful information for our new captain!”
“Sorry captain Dash!”
Rainbow face hoofed with a sigh, “Whatever just grab the bird and give me the message.”
“Um…”
“What now?!”
“The messenger gull landed on an island.”
Dash looked at the close by island. It was a simple small island with few palm trees and several rocks. The bird was laying motionless on the sandy beach.
“Fine, just get a row boat or something and let’s get it.”
A small team consisting of Rainbow, Bookworm, and a couple random crew mates took a row boat to the island. Once they reached the island, Rainbow reached for the bird. To the surprise of everyone, the bird got up and flew away. Rainbow growled in frustration but followed the bird anyhow. This repeated several times around the island until Rainbow finally gave up.
“I’m done! I am so done!” she raged, “This is stupid! What’s with that dumb bird?”
Bookworm walked towards the bird. As expected, the bird flew off. Bookworm didn’t show any sign of irritation. Instead she smacked the space in front of her with a wing. This caused a gust of wind to kick up and make the bird plummet to the ground. Bookworm then retrieved the papers from the bird and gave them to Dash. Dash’s response was an open mouth of anger.
“Anything else, captain?” Bookworm asked.
“No,” Rainbow grumbled, “Let’s just get back to the ship.”
“Aye, the ship,” No-Beard said.
The group jumped with swords and guns raised, “What are you doing here?! Shouldn’t you be shark food by now?”
“We were apparently in vegan shark territory,” No-Beard shrugged.
“Vegan what?! How does that even work?! You’re lying,” Bookworm accused.
“Nay, I tell you, those sharks don’t eat meat at all. Not even cheese! They just kicked me on this here island.”
“Is this kind of stuff a running thing with you guys or is it because I’m with you?” Rainbow sarcastically questioned.
No-Beard threw sand in her eyes and grabbed a sword, “Now I be taking me ship!”
Bookworm clashed her sword against his, “How dare you attack our captain like that!”
“No mare can ever be a captain,” No-Beard slammed his sword against hers twice, “Know your place wench!”
The other two crew mates jumped No-Beard from behind. No-Beard kicked one in the gut and chopped the other’s gun out of his hooves. The two looked at No-Beard and threw sand in his face. No-Beard covered his eyes and blocked an attack from Bookworm. Rainbow couldn’t see what was going on but heard swords clanging against each other. Rainbow eventually found some water and cleaned her eyes… Which was a mistake.
“AAAAAAAHHH IT BURNS!” Rainbow yelled.
The two crew mates attended to their captain while Bookworm and No-Beard fought. They had fresh water to cleanse Rainbows eyes. She blinked twice and saw the two fighting. Rainbow grabbed a sword and rushed to help Bookworm. The crew mates followed her lead and attacked with sticks they found lying around.
“Four against one? Tis seems unfair,” No-Beard taunted, “For you.”
“Afraid of getting your butt whopped by a couple of mares?” Rainbow laughed.
No-Beard growled and broke his sword against a couple sticks the crew mates found. The strange fact that the sword broke against wood left all of them staring with stunned expressions. Logic seemed to be absent on this island.
“NAVY’S HERE NAVY’S HERE!” Looky Lou shouted.
The pirates turned to see a navy ship drop anchor. Rainbow smiles while the others whimpered.
“Finally, someone who’ll take me back home,” Rainbow sighed with relief.
The navy crew stormed the island in organized fashion.
The captain of the navy ship stood in front, waiting for something.
“Sir! Report on the pirates, Sir!” a grunt handed the captain a few papers.
The captain read the papers in a maliciously angry tone, “No-Beard, worth 7000 bits. Bookworm, worth 5000 bits. And Rainbow Dash, the element of loyalty…”
Rainbow stepped forward with a happy expression, ”I’m so glade you guys are here! Look, I don’t know who there pirates are but-“
“Shoot on sight, no questions asked.” The captain finished.
“WHAT?!”
The navy opened fire. The pirates ran away screaming. Dash flew off to the pirate ship. A hole in her heart weighed heavily on her. She felt betrayed. The navy refused to help her. The only choice she had left was to go with the pirates. She glanced to her right and saw No-Beard.
“Oh no you don’t!” she kicked him in the face.
No-Beard tumbled back and was captured by the navy. Rainbow swore she heard cursing and screaming from him but didn’t care. Right now the only thing that mattered was getting on the ship.
The group boarded the ship and sailed off.
The navy followed them, firing cannons as the pegasi blew wind into the sails. Rainbow noticed this while flying around the ship and ordered all pegasi to do the same. The crew made full efforts to blow wind in the sails. Earth ponies gathered the cannons to fire back at the navy. Unicorns did all they could to steer the ship. All members of the crew listened to Rainbow as she barked orders left and right. With the luck of a stray cannon ball taking out one of the navy sails, the crew broke free to the open ocean.
Dash sighed with relief, wiping the sweat off her brow. With the way clear and calm she sat next to a couple barrels and read the papers from the messenger bird. She was instantly shocked by the first thing she read.
“WHAT THE HAY, DISCORD?” she continued reading. About a few lines in Bookworm came up to her.
“Is everything alright?”
Rainbow shushed her and continued reading. Her mouth hung open as her eyes grew more interested in the article. When she finished reading, she tossed the papers away and asked Bookworm to follow her. The two went into the captain’s cabin.
“Is something wrong, captain?”
“Everything’s going to be ok,” Rainbow laughed, “I just found out my friends are ok. We have a long time until we can get together again.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means I have a lot of free time.”
Bookworm raised her eyebrow, “That’s… nice?”
“But I’m not going to spend it all sleeping like I used to,” Dash’s face became serious, “I have to get better at fighting, better at flying, better at anything if I’m going to take down that rock guy.”
“Why are you telling me this and not the crew?”
“You remind me of a great friend of mine,” Dash shrugged, “More importantly, the crew only needs to know I’M their captain and I only accept loyal members in my crew.”
“Understood.”
“One last thing, Bookworm.”
“Yes, captain?”
“I need to learn how to be a pirate…”