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// O' Captain My Captain 
// Story: Subject 27 
// by Phyrexian 
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	This is another crossover chapter! The Co-writer is itsmyfuneral his story is The Darkness Within Us All. I strongly urge you to go read his story! We'll be doing more work together on crossovers later on.





Chapter 33 - O' Captain My Captain

        “Cloud, I’m impressed by how determined you are! You’ve proven to us how much of a valuable asset you are.” The Boss says before he blows out more smoke rings.

        “Yes Cloud, the past week you’ve been working for us, you’ve done more than anypony else has in an entire month. That’s why we decided to promote you from Hoof Soldier to Captain; with this ranking you’ll have a small crew working for you. They’ll be your responsibility, if anything happens to them; it will be your job to take care of it. Your crew will only be taking orders from you and you alone. You will be taking orders from the Boss and it’s your job to distribute these tasks as you see fit to your crew. I’m expecting great things from you Cloud. Do not disappoint me.” Razor says this as the Boss sucking on his cigar. Jeez, Razor has the best poker face I’ve ever seen! The whole time I’ve known him he’s never shown any emotion at all.

        “Thank you Razor! Don’t worry, I won’t disappoint you or the Family!” I trot in place with excitement, trying my best not to squeal like a little school filly.

        “You’ll make a fine Captain, Cloud. As you prove yourself further, your crew will increase in size. Keep up your hard work and you’ll go far in the Family.” The Boss finishes his Cigar and places it in an ashtray.

        “Your starting size will be three, you may hoof pick them yourself or I can give you a list of names that you can pick from.” Razor grabs a piece of parchment off the Boss’s desk.

        “I already know whom I’m picking, Hare, Lemon and Shell. We already make a good team, I wouldn’t have anyone else watching my back. I promise to make the Family proud. Now, when do I start?” The Boss leans back from his desk as a smile grows on his face.

        “Aren't you an eager one? That’s why I like you, Cloud. You may start when you have your crew put together, but before you go recruiting you should go pay a visit to a dear friend of the Family. Razor will show you where he’s located.” Razor puts the parchment back on the desk and makes his way towards the door, I simply follow in his wake, beaming with joy.

        We make our way through the club and out to the world outside, Razor kept to himself as I followed him. We walked through Cloudsdale’s back alleys and we eventually reach a small shop out in the middle of nowhere, a gryphon sits outside the door and nods at us as we enter. I’m bombarded by the scent of old fabric and smoke as Razor opens the door, an old pegasus looks up from his work to see Razor and I walk into his story.

        “Welcome back kiddo. What can this old timer do for you to do?” He stands up from his work and approaches us.

        He’s fairly well dressed, a nice looking white suit with a long skinny tie around his neck. A yellow tape measure hangs around his neck and a few pins rest in his suit pocket.

        “How’s business treating you, gramps?” Razor says as he and the old timer meet and give each other a hug and a kiss on the sides of each others cheeks.

        “I’ve been keeping busy doing work for the Family. Now who’s this young mare you’ve got with you?” He gives me a warm smile.

        “This is Cloud, gramps. She’s working with the Family and today is a big day for her. She’s been promoted to Captain and she needs to look the part. Do you think you can help her out?” The old colt sits there and sizes me up before turning around and heading back to his work station.

        “I’m glad she isn’t just another whore for the Black Talons, she’s a pretty one though. Be careful about this one Razor.” He gives a hearty chuckle after he says this.

        I start to blush a little as the older timer gives me this compliment, I watch him searching through his parchments and occasionally looking back up and sizing me up again.

        “Okay Cloud, I think I have something already made for your size, let me just go look in back to see what I have.” He makes his way to the back, leaving Razor and I alone.

        The old-timer doesn’t take long to return from the back. He has a black fedora with white horizontal stripes, a black suit-jacket, a white undershirt, and a skinny black tie on his back. He puts the white undershirt on me, it fits snuggly around my chest. The black suit-jacket went on next, my white coat and shirt makes the jacket stick out. He then ties the tie snugly around my neck and last but not least the striped fedora.

        “There you go, how does that feel?” I move my wings around as I adjust to the new wardrobe, the suit fits tightly against my coat but is loose enough for me to easily move around.

        “I like it, thanks. How much do I owe you, sir?” He gives me another warm smile and starts to chuckle again.

        “Call me Gramps, you’re Family now, free of charge.” He gives me a hug and kisses me on both my cheeks.

        “Thank you Gramps for everything.” Razor says as he makes his way outside. I give Gramps a smile before leaving.

        “You look good, Cloud. Now everyone you seek is in Trottingham today, I’ll send word for them to meet you in the center of town near the fountain. You’ll have to convince them to work for you, but that shouldn’t be too hard for someone of your nature. Keep up the good work, Cloud.” Razor flies away after saying this and I make my way towards Trottingham.

        The warm sun fills my body as I fly, the wind blowing against my face, my fedora stays tight as it hugs my head. I reach Trottingham in the matter of minutes and I head straight towards the center of town and land next to the fountain. Hare only just arriving as Lemon and Shell both trot up from the main street.

        “Woo, don’t you look nice, what’s with the new threads?” Hare landing next to me, his eyes going over my new outfit.

        “I was told to come and report here at the fountain, what’s this all about?” Lemon now reaches the fountain with Shell in tow.

        “Shell Shock reporting!” The kid gives me a mock salute.

        “Were you all just told to come to the fountain?” Each one of them nod their heads in unison.

        “I see. Okay, so here’s the deal; I’ve been promoted today and I’ve been given the task to make a team that will report to me and only me. You three where the first who came to mind, I’ve seen you all in action and I trust you to watch my back. I’m not commanding you to join my crew, but merely asking you to join. I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to. What say you?”

        “Of course I’ll join!” Shell says with enthusiasm in his voice.

        “You run a smooth operation, Cloud. I’m in.” Lemon gives me a salute. Hare takes a moment to gather his thoughts.

        “Hare, what about you?”

        “You’re my superior now... I guess I’m inclined to follow your orders.”

        “You don’t have to join, Hare.”

        “If I don’t join, I’m a dead gryphon for not obeying orders. You’ve forced my talon, Cloud. I’ll follow the chain of command, so count me in.” As Hare agrees to join, Razor lands in front of us with a piece of parchment in his talon.

        “Looks like you’ve assembled your crew, Cloud. Here’s your first mission, it’s a simple one. There’s a house in Ponyville that’s been abandoned for quite some time, there’s a secret room inside the house that holds some very important documents that the Boss would like you to retrieve. It’s on the edge of the Everfree Forest so it’ll be easy to spot. Obtain the documents for the Boss to complete the mission. This is a map of Ponyville and the surrounding area. I would advise you to set up a base of operation here in Trottingham, would make things easier for you and your crew. If you find a building that you like, then tell me and I’ll see to it that you won’t be disturbed.” Razor hands me the map and I take a quick glance over it.

        “And what if I can’t find this secret room?”

        “If you can’t find it, then there won’t be any consequences, this is just a rumor that the we heard. We would like you just to see if these rumors are true or not.”

        “Okay Razor, we’ll do our best to find the documents.” Razor simply nods before taking off.

        “Okay, here’s the plan, a hideout for the crew does sound like a pretty good idea. This seems like an easy mission so Shell and I will handle this. Hare and Lemon I want you two to go look through Trottingham for any abandoned buildings.”

        “I have a few locations already in mind, I’ll go check them out, where and when should we meet back up?” Lemon chimes in, a his frown slowly softening up.

        “Tomorrow, midday, right here. Shell and I should be back here by then.”

        “Fair enough, I’ll take to the skies and see what I can find, Lemon do what you had in mind.” Hare and Lemon both leave to go house hunting.

        Shell and I trotted off to the train station, it didn’t take us long before we arrived. The next train was leaving in the next few minutes so we both bought our tickets and got on the car where we sat away from everypony else.

        “Shell, wake me up when we get to Ponyville.” He simply nods as I start to drift off to sleep.

        Hours passed by as the train moved along, as we reach the station in Ponyville the day had already grown old. Shell wakes me up as the train comes to a stop, we both get off and I look over the map again.

        “Okay, by the looks of it the house is on the edge of town. It shouldn’t take us long to get to it if we hurry.” We both made haste towards the house.

        We near the house and decided to go around and back through the Everfree Forest, just to make sure nopony sees us entering the house. Rain clouds start rolling in as we ran through the forest. Rain slowly starts to trickle down as we reach the back door, I try to open it but it’s locked.

        “I got this, Cloud. Stand back.” Shell’s horn starts to glow as he focuses on the lock, after a few seconds the door unlocks as a clicking sound rings out.

        Rain starts to pick up and I take off my suit and hand it to Shell, he just looks at me with a puzzled look on his face.

        “Go back to Trottingham, I can handle this part on my own. Take my suit with you, please.” He levitates my clothes and makes haste back to the train station.

        I open the door and flew into the house, I was in the kitchen and I can barely see in front of me as the clouds block out the moon’s light. My wings become tangled up in some kind of webbing as I try to fly through the doorway leading to the living room. I come crashing down to the floor, laying there for a few seconds as I try to untangle myself. I hear the floorboards above me creak as heavy hoofsteps could be heard. I desperately try to free myself as the hoofsteps start to move closer to the stairs, my eyes dart around the living room trying to find someplace to hide; I see a couch sitting near the window and I quickly dashed behind it as the hoofsteps made their way down to the first floor.

        I finally free myself from the my restraints as the owner of the hoofsteps walked into the kitchen. I quickly fly up the steps and into a unknown bedroom and hide under the bed, waiting for the owner to go back to sleep so I can keep on searching through the house. The pony crawls back into bed and shortly after starts to snore, I wait a few more minutes before I decided to crawl out from under the bed.

“Oh there you are, I was beginning to think I lost you, but don’t worry now we can play!” The voice says as he sees me crawling out from the bed.

His left hand yanks me by my tail violently, sending me flying back into the wall as he lets go of my tail; my body slams into the wall, I grunt in pain as my body makes contact with the wall, creating a meaty thud. I hear him starting to charge at me, I fly into the air and buck him in the face; he’s only stunned for a breif second and catches my hoof as they rocket towards his face again. The light suddenly comes on and blinds the both of us.

“Colt what are you doi-Cloud?!” Bell shouts as she stands in the doorway.

“Cloud?!” Daimon and Colt both say in surprise.

“Colt?! Bell?! What a small world we live in...” I scratched the back of my as I begin chuckle lightly.

“Mind telling us why you broke into MY house at this hour?” Colt ask as he lowered me to the ground.

“I didn’t break in! The back door was unlocked! And I was just seeking shelter from the rain...” Thank Luna I can think quick on my hooves.

“Oh, wait, we have a back door?”

“Yeah, it started to rain and I flew low under the trees so I wouldn’t get too wet. I saw this house and thought it was abandoned so I decided to seek shelter in it... And Bell, why are you here with Colt?” I’m surprised to see Bell living with Colt.

“What, can’t a guys’ marefriend live with him?” Colt says grinning at Bell as she blushes.

“Way to go Bell! I knew you could do it!” I give Bell a wink.

“That and the others live here as well.” He states.

“By others, do you mean Pinkie Pie and Trixie?”

“Eeyup.” He laughs after answering my question.

“Hey Colt, I’m sorry for attacking you, I didn’t know it was you until Bell turned on the lights, we cool?”

“Sure why not, after all I did throw you into the wall pretty hard.”

“Yeah, you did... I’m going to be sore in the morning... question for you Colt, why do you have three mares living with you? Pinkie already had a place to begin with.”

“Like I said before, is it a crime to have a guys’ marefriends living with him? Well except for Fluttershy, she has to stay at her cottage and take care of the animals.”

“And how did this come to be?”

“Well after Bell told me how she felt I began to think about how the other girls felt, I realised that they felt the same way and I was almost flat out ignoring their feelings.”

“Fair enough, do you have a towel I could use? I don’t want to catch a cold while I’m dripping wet in your room.” I start to shiver a little bit as the cold starts to set in.

“Sure, can’t have a soaking wet mare running about, bathroom is just down the hall, Bell will show you.” Colt says as he looks over to Bell who is giggling like a school filly.

“Thanks Colt. Mind if I crash here for the night?”

“No problem, all I know is you can’t sleep in my bed, before I know it the other girls will think something of it and I will disappear, never to be heard from again.” He laughs after saying this, which throws me off.

“Do I even want to know?” I tilt my head to the side as his statement confuses me.

“Don’t worry Cloud, Colt would never do anything like that so he wouldn’t have to disappear.” She says in a mischievous tone.

“I see... changing subjects, I can just crash on the couch if that’s cool with you.”

“No, you will stay in my room, that couch is horrible for your back.” Bell states matter of factly.

“Oh, thank you Bell, looks like we’re having a sleepover tonight, but first I still need to dry o-”

*snore*

Bell and I look up to Colt, during our short talk, Colt had fallen asleep, standing up. . .

“Humans are such a strange species...” I’m astonished by the way Colt has fallen asleep.

“In a good way if you ask me, after all you rutted one.” Bell says as she laughs.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right... I do miss him a lot though, let’s go before I start to get all teary-eyed again.” Bell simply nods before they both left the room and headed towards the bathroom.

I grab a towel off the rack and start to dry myself off, Bell leans in the doorway just watching me.

“Hey Cloud, need any help?” Bell asks, trying to be helpful. I simply nod with the towel hanging in my mouth

Bell levitates a towel from the rack and starts to dry me off, my wings slowly start to expand as she gently rubs the towel against them. My wings become fully erect just after a few strokes of the towel.

“You enjoying this Cloud?” She giggles at me as I start to blush.

“You’re such a tease, Bell...” I hang the towel back on the rack after I dry myself off.

Bell trots off with me in tow to her room, she pushes the door open with her magic and shuts it behind me as I step inside. Bell’s bed is a little small, but can still fit two mares easily. Bell hops into bed and I follow suit, we both get under the covers as I lay facing right next to Bell.

I lay my wing on Bell’s side as I move in closer to her, our bodies barely touching one another’s. I move my hoof and rests it against her barrel, moving my muzzle right next to her ear and I begin to whisper seductively into it.

 “You know the one thing I really miss about not having 27 here? His warm body pressing against mine when he and I would sleep together.” Bell starts to breath a little heavier as I whispers sweet nothings into her ear.

“Or the scent in the morning when you first wake up; that just sticks with you, how it fills your nose and doesn’t leave.” I blow a kiss on Bell’s horn, causing her body to shiver.

        “C-Cloud,” Bell stutters as I pull us closer.

“After that kiss in the bar, I knew you were lying about not being a filly fooler. You were afraid of what Colt might think of you if he thought you were.”

        “I-I wasn’t lying, I just didn’t want Colt to get the wrong idea.” Bell says looking away.

“I saw that little spark in your eyes as we pulled away, you’re at least a little curious, aren't you?” A grin creeps its way onto Cloud’s face.

        “I-It wasn’t that. . . It was b-because he was watching us, or I thought he was. . . “

        “So, that’s it... Well I’m watching you right now, and you’re not trying to stop me either.”

        “Sorry Cloud, it isn’t the same if it isn’t Colt doing it.” Bell says as she sighs.

“If you want, we can take this party into his room. Or perhaps you and I could have some fun of our own.” I start to giggle after the mere thought of this.

“Or I could ask the real reason why you are here, still doing work that Colt doesn’t approve of?” Bell asks raising an eyebrow, the ball was in her court now.

        I slowly retract my wing and hoof from Bell, her words start to sink in as a contemplative look makes itself known on my face as I try to think of something to say.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that question, but.... yes, yes I am... I’ve gotten in too deep to come out... I’ve been working hard to repay a debt for somepony close to my heart and the more work I do, the more I find myself enjoying it... B-Bell I’m scared of what I’m becoming, but yet I’m excited at the same time...”

“Well I could just tell Colt that they were mean to you, your problem would be solved in a matter of hours knowing him and Daimon. He kicked the flanks of a gryphon and four stallions when he was completely drunk, and still drinking.”

“N-No, this is my burden... I need to stop relying on others to do my work for me, and there’s one big problem; I don’t know where their actual headquarters are at and the branch I’ve been working at is up in Cloudsdale. Colt doesn't have wings so he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

        “Oh well, more time for him to spend with me!” Bell cheers.

“Yeah, enjoy it as much as you can Bell; don’t let go of him like I did with 27... It will just cause a lot more pain. And has anypony figured out your secret yet?”

“Not yet, but the sudden appearance of all these guards and the captain of the guard doesn’t feel like a coincidence.” Bell says in concern.

“They might be looking for me Bell, you’ve been keeping your head down as far as I can tell. I, on the other hoof, have been making a rather big name for myself and somepony might’ve tipped the guards off as to where my next mission would be. They should only be here for only a few days more, a week at the most.”

“You didn’t see the way the captain of the guard glared at me. He looked like he was ready to jump me any minute, I couldn’t let my guard down for the entirety of the party.”

“The only pony who knows is me, Bell. And I’ve not spoken a single word of it to anypony. And if anything did happen and Colt couldn’t save you, I would break you out in a heartbeat. I’ve got some connections in Canterlot and all I would have to do is pull a few strings.”

        “But besides your coltfriend, is there anything that can stop him?” Bell asks seriously.

        “Besides Celestia bringing the sun down on him, no.” My voice goes from sad to a more serious tone.

“I hope you’re right. Mom won’t be very accepting of him when they meet. I just hope she is okay with him afterwards.” Bell solemnly says

“Trust me, the only thing that can stop those two is each other. And don’t worry, I doubt Colt would cause any serious damage to her, he’ll have you to control him. Now, get some sleep Bell, you look like you need it.” I peck Bell on the head with a tender kiss before rolling over to go to sleep.

I lie there awake in bed, I can hear Bell lightly snoring as she starts to drift off to sleep. I wait an hour before quietly getting up from the bed, not trying to wake her up before making my way downstairs and leaving the house.

Credits

Editor

frieD195