The Treaty
Twilight stared down at the hardwood desk in front of her, though in truth it was more like she was staring through it. She again grabbed the metal tumbler of bitter amber liquid that sat nearby, taking another drink. Originally a celebratory drink, though it took on a much more mournful tone from the news she had just got. The drink threatened to come back up into her mouth as her stomach wound itself into knots, but a sobering gulp helped her to keep it down as she rose to her hooves from her seat.
She gave a second cautionary glance at that cursed piece of off-yellow paper before turning and stepping away. She growled as she thought back to it, the large printed letters at the top burned into her mind like a toothache that refused to go away.
NOTICE OF RELIEF OF DUTY - CAPTAIN SPARKLE, TWILIGHT
Her sailors were still celebrating the announcement of the end of the war. She could hear them even through the cabin walls, even as she struggled to hold back tears. Tears of anger, tears of betrayal. How many years? How many years of her life had she given at this point? How much gold had she given them, how much land had her efforts helped to liberate? And this was how they treated her. Discarded like trash.
‘For your faithful service to Her Majesty’s Royal Navy as a privateer, executing the privileges and obligations of your Letter of Marque with distinction, you are to be paid an officer’s pension for the rest of your days.
However, you have not been selected to remain in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, and as such, you will be expected to relinquish both your position of command as well as the commissioned ship which you captained for the duration of your Letter of Marque. Her Majesty’s Office of Navigation thanks you again for your service, as does both Parliament and Her Majesty Herself. By opening this letter after it has been relinquished into your custody you verify that you have seen it, read it, and submit to the terms of this notification. You have two months (11/03/07) to comply with the terms of this notification, under penalty of the withholding of pension and further penalties and decided by Her Majesty’s Department of Naval Justice.’
All that bullshit topped off by the lovely parliamentary seal stamped at the bottom in ink like an execution notice. An officer’s pension was barely enough to live on the streets of Baltimare, much less to send back to her retired mother and father. A far cry from the buckets and crates and chests of gold, silver, and precious gems she was sending back to Canterlot for the entire war. She was one of the top-attainers in the Royal School for Navigation! She even surpassed her brother! They couldn’t find anywhere for her? Not an instructor, not a captain position to be gained anywhere? What did they expect her to do, become the captain for a merchant company? Toad around tea, tobacco, cotton, and rum to and from the new world she helped conquer for a nation that didn’t want her?
Maybe it was the brandy running through her now-dilated veins, but that didn’t seem fair. That didn’t seem fair in the slightest. And the more she thought about it, the angrier she was getting. Though, she came to realize that it was well and truly hopeless. No matter her rage, she was ultimately trapped. Bound by the chains of command. She sighed, walking past her desk towards the cabin door and running her hoof on the smooth, waxy finish. One last night of revelry with her crew, then she’d lose this place forever. The Star of the Sea had become like a home to her, and that attachment almost hurt more than the decommission hurt her pride.
Twilight pushed up against the door which opened after much persuasion as always. She forced the best smile she could in her current state, as she immediately was confronted by the sound of music on both hoof-drums and accordions, flutes and fiddles as the crew of her frigate were enjoying the night air and the triumphant spirit of knowing their privateering efforts had won the war. Twilight meandered her way over towards one of the groups of mares congregated, who seemed to be telling stories over a game of cards.
"...For a moment, all was deathly silent. All you could hear was the gentle distant howling of the winds, a wave here or there. But then, all at once, BOOM! Like a bomb going off, the wind picked up, the waves rolled over the top deck and just like that, the figure was gone." The Storyteller relayed to the other crew mates as they all gathered around the orange glow of an oil lamp; the closest thing to a campfire you could have on a ship without the whole thing burning down.
"...And you're saying all of this happened just last week while we were all asleep in our hammocks just below deck during a storm strong enough to throw water over the top deck?" One of the critical deckhooves questioned. "We're a long way from Tall Tale." The deckhoof parroted some idiom Twilight had heard once or twice, basically a way of saying someone's story was hard to believe. It was a strange saying, considering the name of the town had nothing to do with the phrase 'tall tale'.
"...Well I don't know if you all slept through it, I just know you weren't up on the deck with me when the tall pony appeared!" The Storyteller admitted with a shrug. "Either ors, it's the gods' honest truth. Swear ya." The stallion placed a hoof on his chest as if to accentuate his truthfulness.
Twilight couldn't help but stare up at the dark inky nighttime clouds and the splendid light of the stars as the chittering of her crew became background noise, just a distant droning she could only faintly make out.
"...Right captain?" First-Mate Yew, the skeptical sailor, asked for her agreement after some statement or objection or something, though it was only him calling her that woke her from her thoughts.
Twilight cleared her throat, doing her best to regain her posture and focus, blinking several times before looking down to get a better bearing of her surroundings. "Uh, yes, of course." Twilight concurred thoughtlessly.
"Sheesh cap, the news must've hit you harder than we expected. I guess should've known you'd take it hard."
That sudden revelation left Twilight genuinely speechless. They knew? How did they know? She opened the letter in the cabin, the note was still sealed when it got onto her desk! There should have been no way-
"Chin up, Cap'n. The Changelings got off easy this treaty, but there's always next war. I doubt this is the last we've seen." Yew reassured with a stained smile.
Oh. They meant the peace treaty. To be fair she hadn't heard the terms yet, though she had kind of assumed they would be lenient. Demanding an end to the Trans-Lunar Oceanic Slave Trade was a hefty ask, a lack of concessions made sense. "Shame for them natives though," Yew added on at the end with a slightly downward inflection.
That caused Twilight to pause and require a double take. A shame? "What, you prefer they stay in bondage, sailor?" She demanded to know, leaning in slightly with an insinuating of a touch of offense on Twilight's part.
"Uh, Cap'n, Miss, have ya not heard?" Yew questioned, a sympathetic look beginning to take root across his face as he gestured with his hoof to another crewmate, who gave a large, folded up slip of paper to Twilight.
Twilight immediately put her lightning-fast reading to use, blitzing her way down the printed pamphlet which detailed the terms and conditions of peace with the Changelings which had been printed in the newspaper. Annexation of all territory between the Crisálinda river and the Rockiest mountains, Conditional access up and down the Maressissippi river for the Changelings, a cessation of all Changeling espionage and Equestrian privateering…
But nothing about the slave trade or the natives. Not even a single line?! But that was what the war was about! The Changelings were enslaving native ponies, draining them of love or working them until they dropped! Cutting off their horns, hooves, and wings if they didn't bring enough gold! That was what the war was about! And they didn't even get a mention in the treaty?!
"Where is the rest of it?" Twilight demanded to know,flipping the pamphlet with her magic only to see the blank reverse-side. "This can't be all there is. What about the slave trade? Or the practice of love harvesting? What about all those poor natives?"
The crewmates that now watched the frustrated public display simply shrugged, with Yew reaching to put a hoof on the captain's shoulder. Despite how well-intentioned this gesture might have been, the captain quickly pulled her shoulder away in refusal to be touched.
"This is an outrage!" Twilight roared, lifting the paper with her magic. "This is a betrayal! What did we bleed for if not for liberty?! What did we kill for if not for our common mare?! So that Equestria could get a few more miles of dirt in the New World? Is that why we buried crewmates?" She scowled deeply. "These terms wouldn't do to wipe a swabbie's arse…"
"Cap'n, I get you're mad, plenty of us were too. But is it really that great to be spoutin' off all this? The war's done. The fight's won. We don't gotta kill nothin' anymore." The level-headed swabbie did their best to calm Twilight down. This failed utterly, however, as the rage and alcohol swelled together and came to a boiling point as Twilight raised her voice to the top of her lungs. “First they demand I give up my ship and my crew and retire, then they spit in my face?! I won't stand for it! Seven years sailing for the crown and this is what it gets us! I say damn the Crown, and damn Parliament too!” Twilight tore the pamphlet apart with her magic, first into halves and then effectively shredding it into dozens of tiny pieces, before throwing it up into the wind.
Twilight had no intention of ever, in her life, giving orders while drunk. It was against everything they had ever taught about Gentleponily conduct in Her Royal Majesty’s Naval Academy. But she couldn't handle what she was being asked, and she knew she probably couldn't muster the courage sober. “Mister Yew, you said you and the others weren't happy about the terms of the treaty, correct?”
Yew snapped back to reality, still flabbergasted by the display before him. Was she serious? “Um, yes, Captain. That's what I said, and from what I heard from the others it's true,” Yew cautiously admitted.
“Then gather the crew. Let them know this ship no longer bears a letter of marque from the crown. Or a commission from the crown. As a matter of fact… Mister Yew, have some pony haul down the colors.”
“Captain, maybe we-”
“Are you thick between the ears? That was an order! Have somepony haul down the Royal colors! We don't need colors where we’re going! And if anypony doesn't like it, they're free to leave!” Twilight’s teeth-clenched grimace softened bit by bit, until it was a stoic frown. “I'd understand if any number of you want to leave. But they're going to have to drag me off this ship, and if there are enough of you willing, I’d like to be gone before they can try.”
The crew all stood in stunned silence, not only the ones stood before the captain bug all three decks of ship worth of sailors. It seemed word had traveled that something was happening above deck, and just about the whole crew gathered around to hear Twilight’s last few lines, and those that didn't hear had it whispered by those who did.
“Now, as you all know, we are here in port. All of you who want to leave may do so. I will be returning to my cabin to chart a course. I don't know where to, yet, but I’ll sail alone, somehow, if I have to.” Twilight choked up, being overwhelmed by emotion. “And to all of you, every single one of you, thank you. Thank you all for making me a real captain. Thank you for making the Star a real ship. Thank you for making these years the best of my life.”
Twilight turned away, fully expecting that to be the last time she saw even a single face that peered up at her, though they grew fuzzy from the blur of tears. She sauntered back into her cabin as not a single hoof or voice stepped out of line to comfort her. The door closed, she felt the walls closing in as she tore a map from the pile of parchment and began to get to work.