Manehatten: New Jersey District, Grape and Trixie's shared apartment...
"Mmm... Can please somepony close the drapes?" Trixie moaned as the sun shined in her and Grape's shared bedroom window, which had the blinds up and was wide open. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon casting it's orange and yellow glow over the sprawling cityscape of Manehatten. Grape looked out the window to see the sun behind the Statue of Liberty illuminating it in its warm and comforting glow. The weather was a far cry from what it had been last night, the pouring torrential rain being replaced with not even a cloud in the sky.
"I rather like the change of pace." Grape commented as he bathed in the warm sunlight with the old song "Sinnerman" playing in the background on a recording crystal. There was a distinct odor of sweat, and... something else as well perforating throughout the room, thanks to last night's activities between him and Trixie.
"That damn weather last night wasn't really my idea of a good time. Soaked to the bone, we were." Grape commented in an offhoof manner. "Cold and wet. Could have caught Pneumonia or some other Tartarus damned disease, like Diphtheria or somethin'."
"Pretty sure some rain won't give you Diphtheria, Trixie thinks." Trixie remarked. "Now close those damn drapes and get back in bed and give the Great and Powerful Trixie some Loving and Affectionate cuddles. Trixie demands it!"
Grape sighed, and closed the silver star covered drapes which were a dark blue color which worked nicely with Trixie's purple cape and wizard's hat that had been hung on a hat stand in a corner of the room near the bedroom door which led to the kitchen. Grape then got under the covers and put his glasses on the bedside table to the right of him and snuggled his head into the crook of Trixie's neck as Trixie wrapped her forelegs around his body and breathed in Grape's scent, which unsurprisingly, given his Floridian heritage smelled like oranges and given that he worked in a restaurant for vegetarians, other fruits as well, the most prominent being (Trixie chuckled softly to herself) grapes.
"I hate it when you get all assertive with me..." Grape mumbled as he nuzzled her and Trixie smirked at him.
"Don't think you were thinking that way last night." Trixie put in and Grape sighed. She was right, as always. There was never any use in arguing with Trixie, you always lost and she got her way in the end, for better or for worse. To be honest, Grape needed somepony like her in his life, somepony to smack him around the head when he was being an idjit and whenever he needed some sense knocked back into him, just as he often tried to do with his adoptive father.
"...In fact, I seem to remember you crying "Celestia above, Trix, just like that, make me your assistant!" over and OVER again." Trixie continued and Grape blushed a deep red. He actually said that? Grape took a long hard look at Trixie, her every feature, right down to her pale cerulean mane and eyes that were like a mirror he could lose himself in and sighed to himself. She was so beautiful and he wasn't exactly the picture of a handsome stallion nor was he particularly assertive or brave, or even being able to make it through the week without making a fool of himself somehow. Trixie looked at him quizzically, confused as to why he had stopped his cuddling of her.
"Something wrong?" Trixie asked in confusion and slight disappointment. Grape's cuddles always felt so nice. He was so loving, so attentive no matter what the situation, from something as simple as cuddling to something like dressing her up for one of her street shows.
"Trixie, why do you like me? I'm not brave, I'm not handsome, and I can't stop making a fool of myself. Why do you stick with me?" Grape asked desperately, hoping to finally find an answer to the question that bugged him ever since he and Trixie started dating.
"Because you're-"
And just before the answer could be given, Grape Vine woke up with a start and found himself in his bed on the Moby Dick. It was just a dream... No, it was more than that, a memory. A memory of the last morning she and him had spent together before he'd left on this Tartarus be damned crusade. Grape took out his pocketwatch from under his pillow and opened it, and upon seeing Trixie's face smiling back at him, he completely broke down and tears started streaming down his face and he put his face into his pillow and sobbed into it and cursing "Damnit Trixie, I said I loved you but then I left you and now look at all of what's happened..."
He could only hope he could make it up to her, somehow...
Elsewhere on the Moby Dick, Twilight sighed to herself sadly after letting out a big yawn, her mane not tied in its usual bun and in a messy fashion. She hadn't slept a wink at all last night. Ever since last night, she had felt incredibly guilty for accidently dragging Spent Thrift into the memories of his past and his late wife.
"Spent... You were the Number One aboard the Sharptooth?" Twilight asked in shock.
"DON'T CALL ME BY THAT TITLE!" Spent suddenly shouted, tears still coming from his eyes. "I failed her! I don't deserve that title anymore! Tartarus, I don't even deserve to be called her husband!"
"W-What happened?" Twilight asked nervously, suddenly very scared of Spent's fury. He took notice and looked ashamed of himself for scaring the young mare.
"I'm sorry... I never meant to frighten you." Spent said, pulling her into a hug. "As for what happened... I was there, for every second of it. I watched... Celestia above, I watched, as my wife was killed, all by that BITCH of a Griffin, Gilda, who dared to call herself Greta's most loyal, shoot my beloved wife three times! In the back! IN THE BACK! They forced her to turn her back to them, just as one last piece of humiliation towards her! Those damned greedy pieces of FILTH I shared a ship with!" Spent roared before his voice turned heartbreakingly soft once more. "She... She never had a chance. If... if only I could have defended her and got the scene quicker!" Spent whispered and for the first time Twilight noticed a marriage bracelet around one of his legs.
"You would have been overrun, it sounded like it was the whole crew after all, and probably would have been killed as well." Twilight replied, in an attempt to reassure her crewmate.
"...It would have been better that way." Spent growled before he walked off with Twilight watching him every step of the way with a sad expression on her face and let a tear slip from her eye...
"What have I done?" Twilight whispered to herself as she wandered aimlessly through the hallways of the Moby Dick not looking where she was going and accidently bumping head on into her adopted uncle, Fancy Pants, sending them both sprawling to the floor and knocking Twilight's glasses from her face and Fancy's monocle from his eye.
"Sorry! So sorry, if I had been looking where I was going...!" Twilight frantically apologized to her uncle as she scrambled for her glasses and hastily put them back on her face.
"Something on your mind?" Fancy asked as he put his monocle back into place and adjusted his suit and tie and dusted them off with a hoof.
"No... It's nothing..." Twilight lied, but Fancy could see right through her.
"Twilight, I know you're lying, and you haven't looked like you've slept a wink." Fancy replied sternly before his voice became softer again and put a hoof to her chin and lifted her tear stained face up to face his. "Now tell me what's the matter."
Twilight sighed, and dabbed away at her tears before telling her uncle everything, and he sighed deeply as he took it all in.
"By Celestia..." He murmured. "I knew Spent was always hiding something, always keeping secrets and he never told us why, but now I understand."
"What do I do Fancy?" Twilight asked desperately, unsure of what to do next.
"He can't keep this bottled up forever. He needs somepony to talk to." Fancy replied after a few moments of deep thought. Twilight suddenly got an idea.
"And I think I know just who that might be..." She smiled.
Sudoku Quartermane's Office
Currently, right now the pony in question was in the middle of a therapy session with a pure white feathered Griffin by the name of High Wind, alongside his wife, a unicorn with limestone grey fur.
"Okay, just to be clear now, she (Here he pointed to High Wind's wife) did not marry you for your penis. She married you just because she loves you." Sudoku sighed, a throbbing headache beginning to form. Little did he know it was about to get worse. And before you ask, this was the same couple Wild Fire was talking about in the previous chapter. Odd relationship, these two had if you ask the writer. Divorce might be a good suggestion.
"Then how come she always manages to fake her finish?" High Wind asked Sudoku who slapped a hoof to his forehead and sighed. Sometimes he really hated his job.
"And you know that how?" Sudoku questioned, a raised eyebrow from behind his glasses.
"B-Because a husband always knows these things!" High Wind stammered out. With a groan, Sudoku tossed two identical books from a nearby bookshelf to both High Wind and his wife. Both had different reactions. High Wind's wife screeched out "Book of Evil!" and burned it at once while High Wind himself took the book and began beating Sudoku over the head with it shouting "You dirty perv!"
After they'd stormed out, Sudoku nursing a big fat goose egg on his head sighed in resignation and thought "How did I ever get a degree as a relationship consular with this success rate? And besides, I thought all Griffins loved the dirty stuff? That's a new one, a prudish Griffin." as he reached for an icepack.
Meanwhile Grape was wandering the halls to Sudoku's office when he heard the sound of screaming coming from a bedroom. Eyes widening, he reached for one of his Colts and kicked the door in only to be met with a... rather interesting sight indeed involving Mister Gallants and Solar Blitz.
"OH MAH SWEET FAUST!"
"Aaah, ahh! Harder!" Solar Blitz panted out as she was in the middle of an... Well, guess.
Grape rapidly shut the door and thought to himself "Okay, firstly, need to discern between the different types of screams. And secondly, seriously talk to the Captain about inputting some serious internal fraterization rules aboard this ship. Yep, serious internal fraterization rules..." Little did he know he would never get that chance...
Eventually, he did make it to Sudoku's office and politely rapped on the door with a hoof and heard "Alright, already, I'm coming. I swear, if this is those two sisters coming to talk to me about constantly being mistaken for a couple..." and the sound of hoofsteps against carpet and then the door opened only for Grape to be greeted with an irritated Sudoku with an ice pack on his head, although that irritation soon changed to a smile when he saw Grape's face.
"Oh good, I thought it was somepony else." Sudoku sighed as he invited Grape in. His office was colored in pleasing and soft warm colors like yellow walls and pictures of things like kittens playing and other calming scenes. Grape and Sudoku sat on two couches opposite each other and the tan pegasus took out a notepad.
"Okay, first off, do I really want to know what that was all about or why you have an ice pack on your head?" Grape asked curiously and received an annoyed look in response.
"No, and definitely no." Sudoku repiled before his expression became soft and caring and Grape felt immediately at ease, unlike he had with about every other psychiatrist he'd been to, possibly because he knew this one beforehand. And so Grape explained his problems.
"...A-And that's just it. I feel inadequate. I mean, I'm not handsome, I'm not brave, I prefer to be shut in with my adventure novels, imagining myself in far off situations that'll likely never happen or studying music and for all I know Trixie's laughing at me, and going off on rendezvous with other stallions. I'm... I'm worthless to her, just like I'm worthless here." Grape whimpered and Sudoku actually got up off the couch and wrapped his wings around him in a hug before he released it and gave Grape a serious look.
"Listen, never tell yourself that. You're not worthless, you were appointed the ship's morale officer for a reason. Those songs and jokes of yours? They keep the crew happy and their minds off their problems, if only for a little while. Being appointed to that position, that shows how much the Captain really trusts you."
And he wasn't done yet.
"And as for bravery, facing down that Death God in the Ship Graveyard to give your fellow crewmates a chance to escape? If that's not courage, then I don't know what is. If I was in your position, I doubt, and I'm ashamed to admit this, I would have done the same thing."
"Now as for Trixie, if she truly loves you, you'd know, and from what you've said about her relationship with you, I think she does. If she doesn't love you and really is gallivanting off with other stallions, then she's a fool not to see you for what you really are."
He noted Grape fiddling with something in his jacket pocket and urged him to bring it out. When Grape did so, Sudoku gasped as in Grape's hoof was a small black box.
"Saved up all my money to get it, and I swear, if we ever get back from this journey, I will propose to her, especially with the confidence you've just given me."
Sudoku, with a smile and a tear in his eye watched as Grape left the room and a few minutes later, got another knock on the door. His job wasn't done yet it seemed...
"What do they call it? The never ending battle? But it's one I'm proud to fight." Sudoku mused.
Moby Dick: Bridge
Meanwhile, Rainbow Blaze was frowning to himself. The food stores for the pegasi and the Griffin's particular diets were running low, and although pegasi could eat fruit and regular pony food if they had to, the Griffins could not. Meat was needed, and it was needed now.
"Target, we have a problem with our food stores." Rainbow explained.
"Yeah, I'm aware. I checked when I was going for a mid-night snack last night." Target replied, and Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
"What, don't judge me! We all do it, feel the need to splurge on food from time to time." Target said defensively and Gallants nodded along with her and said "Mare's got a point."
Rainbow sighed (After sniffing the air, Gallants had a rather odd odor about him) and rubbed his temples with a hoof. "...Anyways, you've heard the problem. I need you to lead a small team and nab us some meat. A good few schools of fish will do I suspect."
"Oh oh!" Blast Powder piped up excitedly. "Can I help? Me and my sis can cook 'em up, Cajun style just like our daddy taught us!"
"NO! We need the fish intact, not blown to smithereens." She deadpanned and Blast Powder looked offended.
"I can show restraint. Is that so hard to believe?" She asked and everypony present gave her deadpan looks as Target continued.
"Yeah, sorry, but I'm not leading anypony out on a suicide mission. This particular stretch of water, it's a game trail. And do you know what hunts on game trails? Sharks! I'm not chancing a meeting with one of those bastards. Could swallow you whole in one gulp. Now see, there's another problem as well. Captain, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everypony says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hooves. Everypony gets stupid and everypony dies. End of story. Just like a Greek tragedy." She snapped, and she wasn't done yet. "And for the record, I'm not going to waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a hot lunch on his date with a Kraken if it ever shows up!"
Just when Rainbow was about to snap at her, Gallents suddenly spoke up.
"Sir... We've got a problem. Something big just popped up on our scanners, and it's moving fast."
Rainbow's eyes widened.
"All engines, full stop, now, and go to Red Alert." He ordered. Back in Sudoku's office as he finished talking to Spent, (The contents of which will be covered in the next chapter in a flashback) he felt the Moby grind to a halt and the alarms began to blare and muttered "Oh, that can't be good."
Back on the Bridge, the entire Bridge crew just saw black outside their window. Pure black, until one truly gigantic red demonic like eye opened in front of them and the blackness began to move and writhe about... Almost... Almost like tentacles and then they glowed bright seaweed green with ancient runes. Rainbow's eyes widened in fear, along with everypony else as Rainbow whispered one word, the word that had haunted his nightmares for five long years.
"Kraken..."
(To Be Continued)