Holy Land

by BlndDog

Chapter 4

Through the night Gingersnap woke up once to take painkillers. At first he thought he was being crushed under a large stone. The pills were his teeth, which he had to swallow for some reason. When he drank the water he expected whiskey, and even tasted it. His strange state of mind remained until daylight returned.

He was allowed to leave after a lunch of egg sandwiches. Coral Frond was mostly back to his senses when he awoke almost at noontime. He could not remember anything about their conversation with Morning Breeze, but he took the news rather well.

“I’ll be back by seven o’clock,” Gingersnap told him, and lowered his voice for the next part. “I saw a harbor yesterday. I'll see if we can get a ship.”

The sky was overcast, but there was no rain yet. A few children were playing in the street, kicking around an old hoofball while a few skinny dogs watched from the doorsteps. Ponies were dusting off rugs and cleaning pots. It was certainly not how Gingersnap had envisioned a pirate town. For one thing there weren't nearly enough skulls.

Guards stopped him on the road to the sea wall. They wore steel armor over a black jumpsuit, with wool caps instead of helmets; a style unique to the Chain Islands, as Gingersnap had never seen it anywhere else.

“We have orders from Morning Breeze,” said one of them, a yellow earth pony stallion much taller than Gingersnap. “You're not allowed on the seawall or the docks.”

“Right,” Gingersnap said through chattering teeth. The wind was cold and piercing on the treeless plains beyond the town, and he had nothing to wear.

A stroll around the town’s perimeter revealed a rather large island. To the southeast there was low farmland, protected on all sides by overgrown earthen dikes. To the north were hills, growing taller and rockier with each row until the steep cliffs and rookeries some miles away.

Two long walls had been extended from the island to provide some shelter for a modest dock. There were two ships, each with a single mast and no visible armaments. They had been painted blue, but Gingersnap recognized them as raiding sloops.

That’s where he took them.

Morning Breeze had been a privateer before breaking away from Equestria. There had been speculation that he had retained hundreds of the captured ships which were supposed to be destroyed. Now Gingersnap was looking at the proof.

He was frozen to the bone when he returned to the hospital. A fire had been lit, and he took his vegetable soup and bread that night practically lying on top of the crackling logs.

Morning Breeze returned at eight o’clock, wearing a form-fitting blue jumpsuit with the zipper open to accommodate his injured hoof, and a heavy black cloak on top fixed with a big silver crescent brooch. He was neatly groomed and shaved, though the wind had rustled his mane somewhat. The rain started moments after he closed the door, and grew in intensity until the world beyond the deep, narrow windows was lost altogether.

Gingersnap stood up, but Morning Breeze went to Coral Frond’s bed instead. From a pocket on his cloak he produced what looked to be a shard of tinted glass. Coral Frond’s eyes widened.

“The sea ponies salvaged this yesterday,” he said, placing it on the floor and motioning Gingersnap to join him. “It’s a piece of that coating from your ship. Give it a try.”

Coral Frond shot a nervous glance at Gingersnap, who nodded in response. There was no risk as far as he could tell, and he was curious as well.

Coral Frond closed his eyes. His horn glowed, and what looked like a trail of pink vapor reached out from its tip. The moment it touched the shard on the floor, a hole appeared in its place. Gingersnap gasped. He moved his head around, squinting at the foundation of the building. The illusion was perfect.

“Invisibility,” Morning Breeze said, picking up the plate. His entire hoof disappeared when he held it. “And you don’t know what this is?”

“No,” Coral Frond said, stopping his magic.

The crystal continued to work. Morning Breeze put it down and frowned.

“This complicates things,” he said thoughtfully. “Right. I have a ship ready to sail; the Riptide. We’re going to another island fifty miles south of here. It’s much bigger than this one. We can find skilled unicorns there.”

“What about the Spectre?” Gingersnap asked.

“It disappeared,” Morning Breeze said. “The sea ponies are on high alert, but they haven’t found it. It didn’t sink; that much we know. But obviously we can't see it, so the only chance you have is to come with me. We'll need a way to detect an invisible ship, and I'm guessing neither of you are experts in advanced magical materials.”

“And what’s in this for you?”

Morning Breeze paused and looked into Gingersnap’s eyes.

“You have no choice,” he said. “You can come with me now, or you can say goodbye to Equestria forever. So what will it be?”

“You know that we’ll lock you up again as soon as you set a hoof on the Spectre, right?”

“Will you?” Morning Breeze said. He held his gaze for a long moment before turning towards the door. “Come on. I’ll get you something warm to wear. Don’t keep the good master waiting.”

Outside the rain fell in sheets. In a warehouse down the street the two ponies from Equestria were given heavy wool bodysuits and oilskins. Gingersnap was grateful, but Morning Breeze still made him uneasy.

A trail of lanterns marked the road down to the dock. In a stone archway they got some respite from the rain. Morning Breeze finished off a cigar stub before leading the way onto the boardwalk.

The Riptide was the sloop on the right side of the dock. A few ponies were waiting on the boardwalk, dressed in oilskins with deep hoods. They helped the passengers across the narrow ramp, and the ship was moving as soon as they were onboard.

Morning Breeze immediately led them below deck and bid them to stay in quarters. All the space below deck was one big room except for a head and a half-wall for the kitchen. Beds ran parallel to the ship in three tiers against the hull, and a big table took up most of the space in the middle. A small furnace was burning beside the ladder, barely matching the three gas lanterns in heat output.

Gingersnap and Coral Frond left their soaked outer layers in a pile behind the ladder and sat down near the furnace. Overhead the rain made a muffled drumming on the wooden deck. It was no trivial matter to sit in one spot on the deck on such rough seas. Gingersnap had to brace himself against one of the bunks.

In less than ten minutes Morning Breeze returned. He threw aside his cloak and settled down beside the two. He did not say anything. Gingersnap and Coral Frond could not help glancing at him regularly. They were in the custody of the most notorious pirate of all time.

Gingersnap had imagined him to be much bigger.

“Why did you do it?”

Gingersnap bit down on his tongue. It took him a moment to realize that he had not voiced the question.

“Do what?” Morning Breeze asked. Gingersnap had expected him to be angry. Instead his eyes had taken on a warmer glow. He was smiling ever so slightly, and not in a malicious way.

“Why did you become a pirate?”

“Well, first it was a job,” he said, putting a hoof on Coral Frond’s shoulder. The latter's ears flattened in fear. “Privateering was a respectable job, you know. I think it still is. Proper privateering, I mean.”

“I mean actual pirating,” Coral Frond said.

“That was actual pirating,” Morning Breeze said, barking out a laugh. “I captured other ponies’ ships, carried off their cargo and took prisoners back to my base. You think that was okay just because Celestia told me to do it?”

“But…”

Gingersnap lunged at Coral Frond and grabbed his muzzle, clamping his mouth shut.

“It’s alright,” Morning Breeze said, using his good leg to push Gingersnap back to his spot. “It’s a good question. A sensible question. I was hoping you would ask eventually.

“Equestria betrayed me. It’s simple as that. I had some bad blood with powerful ponies, and it was no small matter. Yes, I was the one who started it. No, it was not entirely my fault, and don't you ever suggest it. But in the end my only choices were to die in Baltimare or get out of Equestria altogether. And where was Celestia? Wringing her hooves in Canterlot.

“Here's what I want you to know. Here's what I learned from this whole mess. If you hit your head again and forget all about me, just remember this: Celestia doesn’t want justice. She wants order. She will sacrifice anypony for the sake of order. As long as the trouble doesn’t reach Canterlot, it's no trouble at all.

“So I came here and built an empire of my own; one where rich and powerful ponies can’t leer down over me. Where they can’t have their way with me. And one day I’ll go back to Baltimare and bring my family here. Then I will have no more business with Equestria.”

Gingersnap stared slack-jawed at Morning Breeze. The anger on his face had grown and died. For a moment he had seemed like a giant; now he looked tired, and once again as remarkable as his guests.

“Now you know,” he said, staring thoughtfully into the glowing heart of the furnace. “Just relax here for a while. Sleep if you want to. The wind is strong tonight; we should make port before sunrise.”

He took a pillow and blanket off one of the beds and lay down on the floor. Gingersnap dared not look away. After a few minutes his breathing became deep and slow. Then he started to snore softly.

After some time Coral Frond took a blanket for himself. Finally Gingersnap did the same. He was not cold; the wool made sure of that. But he felt vulnerable.

That night he dreamt of Baltimare. And the train ride to Baltimare. And three ships, and boot camp…

He woke up in a cold sweat.

He was ancient. Somehow he had lost track of time. Six years in the navy, and six years eking out a living on the shipping lanes before that. The itching of sea salt, his cracked lips and cankered tongue... it had driven him mad a long time ago. He was scared and hurt, with whip scars all over. It was time to go home. He hadn't even eaten breakfast, he had left in such a hurry.

Fortunately home was not far away. A few hundred miles of open ocean was an easy swim, and then he could walk the rest of the way. By sunrise he would be back at that little brick house in ...ville and go up the stairs, and turn left and open the door to a little blue room, and pick up Mr. Huckleberry, and climb onto his bed.