Rarity’s chair squeaked as she leaned back, tilting her head toward the ceiling. She wrapped her curled locks around her index finger and hummed a nameless diddy. A yawn interrupted her chorus, turning into a squeak as it escaped. Judging by how low her candle had burned, the night had worn on quite a bit.
Strewn across the table in front of her were several maps in addition to the one she had relieved from Twilight Sparkle. Being centuries old, Rarity needed to see if anything in the ocean had changed since the map had been drawn up.
She rubbed her eyes, the weariness hitting her all at once. It wouldn’t do for a captain to wake up with bags under her eyes. She gently rolled up the maps and stowed them away in the top drawer. As Rarity pulled off her boots and prepared for bed, someone rapped against her door.
I told Applejack to get some sleep. She’s worrying over nothing. Rarity pulled the door open, finding not her first mate, but Sweetie Belle, rubbing her eyes. “Sweetheart, what’s the matter?”
Sweetie yawned. “I can’t sleep. I keep having weird dreams about ghost ships and a creepy lady.” She turned her adorable green eyes on Rarity. “So, can I sleep with you tonight?”
Rarity couldn’t help but giggle. She took Sweetie by the shoulders and led her inside. “May I sleep with you tonight.”
“I asked you first.”
This time, they both broke into fits of giggles. Sweetie’s laughs doubled when Rarity tickled her sides, punishment for her quip. When Rarity decided her sister had been tortured enough, she gave Sweetie a gentle push toward the bed. “I’ll be along in a second.”
Sweetie curled herself between the satin sheets and quilt blanket while Rarity extinguished the candles, leaving only the natural light the crescent moon provided through the bay window. She tucked herself in next to Sweetie and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Goodnight, Rarity.” Sweetie yawned and snuggled against Rarity’s shoulder. While many things around them had changed, it moved Rarity to tears that their sisterly bond remained the same.
Rarity’s eyes slid shut, and she found a lullaby in Sweetie’s light snoring. Whatever nightmare had troubled her before, it was long gone now.
Rarity stood on the deck of the Good Fortune, hands on the wheel as she steered it across the night waters. The full moon hovered above her, filling more of the sky than normal. The ship also seemed quieter than usual.
A light fog drifted over the sea, growing steadily thicker as time went on until Rarity believed her ship had taken to sailing on clouds. The moon still shone blindingly from above.
“Do not… continue…” a voice drifted out of the fog.
“Who’s there?” Rarity asked, taking her hands off the wheel. As hard as she looked, she couldn’t divine anything beyond the gray veil.
“Do not follow my map.” The voice sounded distressed, filled with sorrow. “Please…”
“Where are you? Who are you?” On her left, the silhouette of a ship appeared. It’s sails looked torn and there appeared to only be one person aboard, standing at the bow.
“Please… do not follow the map. There are no dreams… only darkness…”
Rarity squinted her eyes, trying to see the person better, but the harder she tried, the more obscured they became. They drifted further away, taking the fog with them.
Rarity opened her eyes, a chill running down her spine. By the way darkness still enveloped her room, Rarity guessed she hadn’t been asleep long. She placed a hand over her heart, willing it to slow down. Goosebumps clung to her forearms in spite of the warmth Sweetie provided.
The dream, while being blurry and gray, remained squarely at the forefront of her mind. The voice, pained and urgent, repeated its message over and over again in Rarity’s ears.
Being careful not to wake Sweetie, Rarity gently slid out of bed, moving her sister’s arm up to the pillow, which she quickly clung to. Rarity walked over to her desk and pulled the treasure map out of the drawer. Feeling the old parchment between her fingers, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Something lingered in the map, something that hadn’t been there before. Rarity stared hard at it. Could it be haunted? She knew better than to dismiss tales of cursed treasure and ghost ships, her encounters with Sunset had been lesson enough.
From the corner of her eye, Rarity saw a darker shadow out on the water, but when she turned to face it, it had vanished. She pursed her lips and set the map back in its place. Haunted or not, I won’t let it get the best of me. Of course a treasure like this would have a few hurdles to overcome. Rarity got back into bed and let Sweetie’s arm fall across her face. While usually annoyed by Sweetie’s sleep-flailing, Rarity took the close contact as a comfort.
******
Am I a hypocrite?
Shining sat at his desk, head in his hands, his default position for the last four days. His chin had started to sprout stubble and the rest of his hair sat upon his head in a disheveled tangle.
His mind had wandered adrift for the better part of his solitude; his thoughts lost in dark and cold fog. His heart drowned in a churning ocean of sorrow, dropped into the deepest chasm of regret and failure.
Failure.
No one had said it, but that’s what he was. His entire support ship was dead, and he had lost one member of his own crew. Most importantly, he had lost his sister. To add insult to the mortal wound, she had given herself up to save him!
It was brave. It was moving. It marked him as a failure. If he couldn’t save his own sister, what kind of officer was he?
A rough and choppy voyage through the turbulent waters of his mind led him back to the question. Am I a hypocrite? He remembered finding Rainbow after their last infamous pirate chase. Staggering drunk, unable to finish a cohesive sentence, crying her eyes out. He told her that was no way to act and that she needed to pull herself together.
Here he sat, not drunk on alcohol, but on emotion. Shut off from the world to perpetually mourn. He couldn’t go on like this. But knowing he would never see Twilight again…. He slid his hand up and down his face, finding a few tears. The idea hurt him more than any bullet wound or gash with a saber.
What do I do now?
The question buried itself in the center of his mind, an island that his thoughts circled around, keeping it in sight but never daring to explore it. He glanced at it through a spyglass. He didn’t know. Maybe he didn’t want to know. How could he go on like nothing was wrong when his baby sister was enslaved to pirates? Immortal, demon pirates.
A harsh, hysterical bark of laughter escaped his dry throat. Once upon a time, everything had made sense. Shining upheld order, bringing supplies to islands in need, stopping pirates, and occasionally fending off some of the larger beasts of the deep. Then Sunset Shimmer walked out of the pages of folklore. Did this mean Sirens and seafolk were real too? Had the ocean gods really existed? Were the stories told from sailors from the distant parts of the sea true?
What did it matter now? Unless some legend existed that told him how to beat Sunset and save Twilight, Shining couldn’t bring himself to care.
Another mournful sigh rose in his breast, and he released it slowly, running his hands back over his head and down the nape of his neck. I can’t stay in here forever. But I don’t know what to do. Four days he’d been stalling, drowning in his sorrow. Moving on felt so wrong. It felt more twisted and broken then when he had done it before. When his mother had died, it had been a hollow, empty feeling. One day she had been there for him. Then she went out and never came home. It hadn’t been easy, but she traveled frequently. Shining just had to pretend she had gone on a very long trip. When their father passed away from sickness, it had been a building anticipation. Shining had time to prepare for this loss when it became evident Night Light wouldn’t make it.
This time, Twilight, who had been a constant in his life, who he could confide all his pain as he did for her, had been ripped away before his very eyes. Perhaps it was the fact that he knew she wasn’t dead that made it impossible to look forward. Every instinct in his body told him to go charging after her. But the look in Sunset Shimmer’s eyes… and the fire in her hands…. It was suicide.
Bam, bam, bam!
Shining jerked his head up, hand reaching for his revolver still strapped to his hip.
“Captain!” Rainbow’s scratchy voice came through the wooden door. “Open up! We need to talk!”
“R-Rainbow, you can’t address him like that!” Fluttershy’s urgent whisper managed to find its way to Shining’s ears as well. “Especially now, after…”
“Well if he wants to come mark me for it, he needs to face me!”
Shining scooted his chair back and got up from his desk as Rainbow started pounding the door again. He threw it open just as Rainbow drew her fist back. “What is it, Dash?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
Rainbow lowered her fist and straightened her back. “We’ve been docked here in this town for three days, and fine, before you ask, yes I went and got a little drunk on the first night.”
Fluttershy mumbled about it being more than a ‘little’.
“But you’ve been cooped up in your room the entire time!” she said, casting an irritated glance at Fluttershy. “I know what happened sucked—I’m not understating that. But we can’t just sit here forever. Sir,” she finished, lowering her voice.
Shining sighed, finding an answer to his first question. He wanted to tell her to get lost and let him mourn, similar words she had said to him a year ago. Instead, he opened the door further and gestured for them to enter. He returned to his chair and collapsed into it, massaging his temples. “What are they saying out there?”
Rainbow took a seat in one of the smaller chairs across the desk. “A lot of them know you have a right to be angry. But they also want to know why we haven’t gone back to Canterlot yet. Or why we haven’t done anything yet.”
“They’re worried about you, Captain,” Fluttershy said. “We’ve never seen you like this. I know you’re sad. I’m sad too. But I’m also worried about your health. Have you eaten anything at all recently?”
Shining had to pause and think. And as the seconds wore on, he knew he hadn’t eaten anything in a good while. He didn’t feel hungry, but he certainly felt weak.
Fluttershy gave him a stern look. “I’ll be back with some fruits and bread. I know this is difficult, but you need to eat.” She turned on her heel and marched out the door. Timid as she could be, Shining saw in her what other naval officers overlooked: her compassionate heart.
Rainbow tried to look Shining in the eye, but he kept his gaze down on his desk. “Captain—”
“Lieutenant, I know what you’re going to say.”
“Then let me say it,” Rainbow said firmly. “Because this is for your own good.” She took a deep breath and clenched her fists resting in her lap. “Our last rescue mission… when we tried to save those families from being sold as slaves. And we almost did it too.” Rainbow closed her eyes as her voice cracked. “We saved everyone except those girl’s parents. The pirates thought it’d be better to kill them than let us get the satisfaction of completely beating them. And she saw it—dammit, Shining, she saw them go down!” Tears flowed down Rainbow’s face. “And I had to carry her back to the ship while she cried the entire time. She had looked at us like we were heroes when we came to save her. Then… that dead look she had. I still see it when I go to sleep, Captain.”
“I know you do, Rainbow.”
“And you told me the pain I felt made me human. And that it should drive me to do better so that no one else would have to lose family members like that girl.”
“And I guess you’re here to tell me the same thing? That I should use this pain to make sure no one else has to go through what I’m going through?”
“No.”
Shining lifted his head. Rainbow was still crying.
“I came to tell you that I’m sorry.” She dropped her head, her bangs falling over her eyes. “I couldn’t prevent you from losing Twilight. I failed. And I’m sorry.”
Shining’s mouth made a small opening through which he breathed softly. “Rainbow… no, it wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have… none of us could have stopped… her…”
Rainbow wiped her tears and looked at Shining with a flicker of fire. “Then you can’t blame yourself either. She’s a demon. An actual fire-throwing demon. We shot her six times, Captain, and she got up like nothing happened. I know you’re in here mourning, but I also know you’re in here thinking it was your fault. All those nights I sat in the bar, I kept thinking ‘how could I have saved that girl’s parents?’ I still don’t have an answer. But you don’t have to have an answer, Captain. No one could have prevented this.”
“Maybe not.” Shining slumped in his seat. “But I still lost her, Dash. I promised I’d always watch over her. I was saving up so I could move her to Canterlot where she’d be safe. Now she’s gone.”
“Yeah, but she’s still alive. You can still go save her.”
“How?”
Fluttershy knocked before opening the door and stepping inside with a basket of bread and fruits on her arm and a canteen of water in hand. “The crew scavenged this together for you.” She set everything on his desk and pointed at the loaf of bread. “Now, eat and drink up… Sir,” she said with a blush.
Shining did as told, his stomach growling upon seeing food before him. He tore off a piece of bread and chewed it thoughtfully, reflecting on Rainbow’s words. His spiraling stemmed from his failure to protect Twilight. Whether or not it was actually his fault was irrelevant. But like Rainbow said, Twilight was still alive out there, and that fact both drove nails into his heart and filled him with a taunting hope.
He took a massive swig of water and sighed in contentment. “Thank you, Fluttershy.”
She looked away with a bashful blush. “You’re welcome, Captain.”
“Like I said, Sir,” Rainbow continued, “we all know you have a right to mourn. But… we need a direction, an order, something to do. We’re not telling you to move on, but we can’t keep mooching off this tiny town.”
“I know.” Shining glanced out the window, seeing a fraction of the village he had docked them in. Big enough to be included on most maps, but small enough to be overlooked, it was a good place to lay low. Shining knew he still had a job. He still had to report in to Princess Cadence. He just couldn’t find the strength to pen his shortcomings on paper.
Still, he had to do something. He didn’t have to move on, but he had to move forward. But forward to where? He had thoughts and inklings. Dangerous ones at that. Ideas he wouldn’t have considered a week ago. He lifted a red apple from the basket and looked at his faint reflection on its shiny skin. Things had been different a week ago. His world had changed.
Maybe he would have to change with it.
“I appreciate what you both have done,” he said solemnly. “I promise, I’ll have an answer for you tomorrow. Right now, I just need to think on something.”
Fluttershy looked like she wanted to say something, but closed her mouth and nodded. She stood up and waited for Rainbow who watched Shining a little more critically.
“All right,” she said slowly. “Tomorrow.” She got up and followed Fluttershy out the door.
Shining watched it shut behind them. He took a bite from the apple, keeping it pressed against his lips as he chewed. Tomorrow.
******
While Twilight’s lot in life hadn’t changed, she went about it with a different attitude. Because she could no longer point her anger directly at Sunset, she did her assigned chores with a sense of obligation; sort of like a job, where Sunset had already paid her by saving her life. It didn’t make her work any more enjoyable, but she carried herself in a lighter manner now that she didn’t have all that negativity weighing her down.
And perhaps it was her imagination, but when Sunset gave her an order, it wasn’t with cold indifference anymore. Sure, Sunset still barked the order in her blunt, emotionless manner, but Twilight felt it was the same tone she gave the rest of the crew. She saw Twilight as equal to them now.
Twilight carefully thought about this as she rested in her hammock after another galley cleaning session. If she was treated as an equal, that meant she was no longer a slave. But if she wasn’t a slave, then what was she? She couldn’t be a pirate. She didn’t feel like a pirate. She didn’t want to be a pirate. But she was on a pirate ship, getting to know its crew and helping them find a lost treasure. It wasn’t done willingly but Twilight couldn’t say she was doing it at swordpoint anymore.
She tried not to dwell on it too long. She found that if she did, it tended to lead to some deeper philosophical questions that she also didn’t have an answer to. It was best to just roll with the waves and see where they took her. Twilight had to admit, it was an odd feeling not having a plan for the future. Sure, she had never had a concrete idea of what she wanted to do ten years from now, but she knew she wanted to save up and buy her own house just to have a little more freedom away from Shining. And if Mr. Novelty happened to pass on and leave the bookstore to her well, that would have been a sad but welcome bonus.
Her mood soured as Shining crossed her thoughts again. She had wanted a little freedom from him. Not this. “Well, be careful what you wish for and all that.” She yawned, tempted to fall asleep. But she was in good graces with Sunset now, she didn’t want to risk getting yelled at again.
She got to her feet and stretched her arms out. It dissolved into a wild flail as the ship lurched beneath her and threw her back into her hammock. She untangled herself and got up again as the Crimson Heart repositioned itself. Did we hit a reef? Twilight hurried above deck, finding the crew backing away from the sides of the ship and a terse silence weighing over everyone.
“What’s going on?” she whispered to Sunny Flare.
“We’re under attack,” she said, drawing her sword.
Twilight scanned the horizon, finding nothing but calm waters for leagues on all sides. The afternoon sun hung lazily in the sky with not a cloud to keep it company. Yet everyone on deck had their mouth set in a thin line, and a sword or pistol drawn. A few of them, the more nervous looking ones, manned a cannon. Twilight looked up at Sunset who stood behind Indigo at the wheel of the ship. Sunset had a long cutlass drawn, a silver blade with a ruby encrusted hilt. It dazzled in the sunlight and left red reflections against the wood.
Sunset had her eyes narrowed and her mouth turned in a scowl. “Come on, beastie,” she said with a hint of annoyance. “We know you’re here.” Not even the wind answered her. Twilight then noticed, the sails were not billowing out like they normally did. They laid flat against the mast, and without their wild flapping in the wind, the ship held an eerie silence.
The hairs on the back of Twilight’s neck stood up, and she pressed them down. What in Equestria was going on? She wanted to ask more questions, but the silence was so profound, so all-encompassing, she dared not to say a word. Only Sunset could speak, and every word was uttered to the rippling sea.
The ship rocked again, and everyone looked to the starboard side. “Over there!” someone shouted.
Twilight caught a quick glimpse of… something before it sank back into the deep, leaving only lapping waves behind.
“Now it’s just toying with us,” Sunset growled.
A static of fear rippled through the crew, disrupting the silence. Breaths came out fast and heavy, boots tapped against the deck, arms swished swords around, keeping them loose. Twilight kept to the door for a quick escape. She remembered the cannonball, and how it had torn through the ship with ease. There is no safe place.
The ship tilted up from the port side, bumping and shuddering like wheels against cobblestone. Everyone staggered over to the starboard while Indigo got them straightened out. “I’m really getting sick of—”
A giant spout of water erupted off the port side of the ship, releasing a squealing, squelching roar like Twilight had never heard. As the water crashed back down, a massively long purple worm loomed over the ship, reaching as high as the mane mast. A red mane flowed around its pink head, sporting a tripartite jaw with beady black eyes on each section.
The static of fear evolved into a shockwave that left Twilight shivering. “I-is that a—”
“Tatzlwurm!” Pip shouted.
The beast roared, its three sided mouth splitting open and revealing a mass of writhing black tentacles. One shot forward with ferocious speed, grabbed one of the crew members, and pulled him into its mouth. Its jaws snapped shut, and it dove back into the ocean, leaving the crew in a screaming fit of unrest.
“Stop yelling and keep your eyes peeled!” Sunset shouted. “They liked to dart and weave! Odds are, he’ll probably pop up on the other side. Prepare the cannons to fire!”
The team at the cannons readied their torches, keeping the fuse just within their reach and leaning on their back legs. Sunset’s prediction came true. The Tatzlwurm emerged again, slower this time, but with its massive form, it still sprayed the deck with gallons of water. The artillery men did their best to protect the fuse and the flame, and managed to light two of the cannons. While the fuse wound down, the rest of the crew peppered the sea serpent with a hail of bullets.
It roared in aggravation, then struck several of its tongues out. The black appendages grabbed several weapons and hoisted them back to its mouth. Lemon, who had just finished reloading, shouted, “Hey, give it back!”
The cannons went off, nailing the Tatzlwurm right in its center. It coughed violently, and spat out a gun that hadn’t made it down its throat yet.
“Thank you!” Lemon yelled.
The iron balls didn’t pierce the serpents stomach, but left several black bruises. It roared and dove under again, leaving the Crimson Heart to rock in its wake. Everyone reloaded their guns and moved to the other side of the ship, waiting for it to resurface.
Twilight stared where it had been, mesmerized. She had never seen a creature that large. She had heard tales of Tatzelwurms and their horrifying tongues. Getting wrapped in one was more or less a death sentence; they secreted a toxin that numbed any part of the body it touched. They were an incredibly rare sight on the sea, to the point where many didn’t think they existed.
At this point, I think it’s safe to say that anything is possible now.
The waves went still again, leaving everyone to stand in an anxious hush. The minutes started to drag out, and Indigo asked, “Is it gone?”
A sharp gust of wind threw the sails out and made everyone jump. The boat pushed forward with the brief surge of momentum before the wind died again. Several of the pirates laughed uneasily, including Twilight.
The Tatzlwurm burst from the deep on the same side it had gone down on and struck its tongue out again. Twilight didn’t register the tentacles lashing out for her until they were wrapped around both her wrists. The paralyzing toxin soaked into her arms, generating pricks and needles through her muscles before turning them into useless noodles.
Her throat, however, worked just fine.
She screamed louder than she ever thought possible as the worm hoisted her toward its drooling mouth. She flailed her legs, but that was all she could do. The maw closed in on her. The world became darker and darker. A flash of silver and scarlet streaked before her eyes, and Twilight fell back to the deck, landing hard on her hip. The sharp pain reverberated through her body, but she couldn’t lift her arms to rub it down. She looked at her wrists, coiled by severed tentacles, still feebly squirming.
Above her, cutlass in one hand, a fireball in the other, Sunset fought the beast off, cutting another one of its tongues before yelling, “Eat this!” in her demonic voice and hurling the fireball down its throat.
It clamped its mouth shut and smoke rose from its lips. It coughed, releasing a great cloud of ash before roaring mournfully and sinking back into the ocean. Everyone stayed on their guard as Sunset descended to the deck. She stalked toward the door, sparring nary a glance to any of them, not even Twilight. The door slammed shut behind her. Only then did the crew release a collective sigh of relief.
Lemon and Sunny rushed to Twilight and carefully pulled the tentacles off with the pommels of their blades. They each took one of Twilight’s arms over their shoulders and hoisted her up.
“How you feelin’, Sparkle?” Lemon asked.
Twilight opened her mouth but nothing came out. She felt better than the last time she had courted death, at least emotionally wise. Still, she knew she was experiencing some sort of shock. The tentacles were gone, but if she closed her eyes, she could still feel their wet, slimy texture around her wrists. And she could feel the hot breath of the Tatzlwurm against her skin as it pulled her in…
She let out a shuddering breath. “I need to lay down.”
Sunny nodded as she and Lemon helped her below deck. “You’re lucky to be alive. I’ve never seen the captain move so fast. I mean, I know it was probably terrifying for you, but it was kinda cool to watch her save your skin again.”
Again. Twilight bowed her head. That made three debts Twilight owed Sunset. She had marched away without saying a word. The three girls passed Sunset’s door on their way below deck. Somewhere inside, Sunset was probably fighting to regain her senses, or lamenting the fact that she had lost control again.
Because of me, Twilight thought, feeling a self-loathing begin to rise. If I wasn’t so helpless…. Maybe I could have fought off those tongues. Maybe I could have fought off Rarity when she tried to use me as a bargaining chip! Then I wouldn’t have to be rescued all the time.
They laid Twilight down in her hammock, and Sunny rushed off to fetch a flask of water. This was the nicest they had ever treated Twilight. She supposed surviving mortal peril had a few advantages. But this is the last time! I’m going to learn how to fight! She tried to clench her fists, but the toxin still had her arms rendered useless.
“Don’t worry,” Lemon said, noticing the crease in her brow, “the venom should run its course in an hour or so. At least, that’s what I heard.” She shrugged. “That was my first time seeing a Tatzlwurm too. It was so cool!”
‘Cool’ was the last word Twilight would use to describe the experience. Sunny returned with the water, tipping it into Twilight’s mouth. She and Lemon kept her company for half the hour before Sugarcoat came down and told them they were both needed above deck. They left, but to Twilight’s disappointment, Sugarcoat stayed.
“You know, this might not have happened if you weren’t so helpless,” she said the second the door closed.
“I’m well aware,” Twilight said through clenched teeth. She could feel a slight prickle down the length of her arm. If her feeling returned quick enough, maybe she’d start her self-defense training by slapping Sugarcoat.
Sugarcoat leaned against the wall and pulled out a pocket-sized book from her jacket. Twilight squinted her eyes to read the title on the spine.
“Is that Oxthello?”
Sugarcoat looked up, surprised. “Yes, it is. I picked it up from the town we were just in.”
Twilight smiled in spite of the fact the book had been stolen only a few nights ago. “You should let me know when you’re done. I love Shakeshoof's work, and I’ve read that one twice.”
“Really?” Sugarcoat cleared her throat and resumed her usual nonplussed look. “And I thought you were one of those pompous scholars. It’s nice to know someone else on this ship appreciates good literature.” She resumed reading, but Twilight could see the tiny smile on her lips.
Almost an hour later, all of the feeling returned to Twilight’s arms, and she stood and stretched them, rolling her shoulders and flexing her fingers. She took a step forward and winced, her left leg nearly buckling. Her impact against the deck had been harder than she thought; something was certainly bruised at the least. She ignored Sugarcoat’s silent eyebrow and limped upstairs, trying her hardest not to put pressure on her injury. She approached Sunset’s door, took a deep breath, and knocked.
It took a full minute before Sunset answered. She had her cloak on and hood up. “What is it?”
“I, umm…” Twilight cleared her throat. “I wanted to say thank you again. And, I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
Twilight ran a hand up her other arm. “I made you use your powers to save me. If I had defended myself, maybe that thing wouldn’t have gotten me.”
Sunset’s hood swished. “Don’t flatter yourself, Sparkle. That thing was getting on my nerves. I decided it was just best to burn it and be done.”
Twilight stared into the darkness of her hood. Something in her heart couldn’t quite buy the lie Sunset tried to sell.
“If that’s all, then I bid you a good night, Sparkle.” Sunset put a hand on the door.
“Wait!” Twilight stuck her foot out to stop it from closing. “Even so, I feel so… useless any time there’s a confrontation. And I know there’s going to be more in the future. I want to learn how to defend myself.”
“And?”
“And…” Twilight forced herself not to shrink away. “I was hoping you could teach me.”
Sunset opened the door again and lowered her hood. Twilight saw curiosity and genuine confusion on her face, like the night they had first met. “Why?”
“Well, you’re probably the best, right? You’ve been around the longest out of anyone here. And you were a legend even in your time. They called you a Pirate Lord.”
Teal eyes examined Twilight up and down. They narrowed. “You understand that I’ll be the hardest instructor out of anyone here, right?”
Twilight gave a shaky nod. “But if you’re going to learn something, why not learn from the best?”
Sunset flashed a smile before her mouth fell to a hard line. “Fine. I’ll teach you, if only so both of us have something to do again. And I hope this isn’t part of a desperate plan to escape. I’ll only teach you just enough. Don’t ever dream of besting me in any combat.”
“O-of course not! Thank you, Su—Captain!”
“Hmph,” was Sunset’s only response before she closed the door.
*******
The entire crew gathered on the main deck. Shining stood above them at the wheel, clean shaven, the bags mostly gone from under his eyes, his hair neatly combed again. They looked up at him with relief, anticipation, even hope.
He had spent all night thinking over this, only getting a few hours of sleep. Still, it had been the first real sleep he had since Twilight had been taken. As long as she was out there—as long as Sunset was out there, he could never truly rest.
I hope I’m making the right choice.
“We are loyal naval men and women for Her Highness, Princess Cadence. Our job is to protect the seas of her kingdom,” he said loud and proud. “In spite of the tragedy we suffered, this remains our duty. However…” The word hung in the air as Shining assessed their faces again. Only concern remained. “Circumstances have changed.
“The princess expects us back in Canterlot in ten days time. But I cannot go back.” The crowd began to murmur, turning their concerned gazes onto one another. “I am the captain of this ship. I was in charge of this mission. The failures we suffer fall squarely on my shoulders. And as such…” his voice fell, “I cannot go back as things stand.” He turned his head out to the ocean, sparkling under the dawn of the new day. “Demons exist. Monsters that pose a true threat to our land. But if they’re out there, then surely there’s a way to beat them, too.” He faced his crew and raised his voice again. “I am taking it upon myself to venture out and find a way to defeat the immortal demon Sunset Shimmer! Yes, for the good of Equestria, but as some of you are no doubt thinking, yes, to rescue my sister as well!
“I understand what this means; the consequences that are to follow. That is why I am not asking any of you to join me. Another ship bound for home will be here dawn after next. I encourage you all to take it. It has been an honor to serve as your captain, and I thank you for your hard work. You’re dismissed.”
He watched over them as his words rolled around in their heads. Some of them hesitated. Some walked off the ship without a second thought. A few stared back at him, refusing to move. The minutes passed, and a few more soldiers walked down the gangplank and back into town. Soon, Shining was down to twenty faces lined with resolve. Among them were Rainbow, Flash, and to his surprise and gratitude, Fluttershy.
“You realize this is insubordination, correct?” he asked. “The punishment is imprisonment. Even death.”
Fluttershy trembled but stayed where she was. Rainbow puffed out her chest. “I’m not letting you take all the glory of beating Sunset Shimmer by yourself.”
“You’re the bravest captain I’ve ever known,” Flash said. “I’d follow you to world’s end.” The remaining crew gave a hearty cheer.
Shining closed his eyes, allowing a single tear to fall. “Very well then.” He gripped the wheel. “Raise the gangplank and weigh anchor!” A renewed fire stirred in his heart. “We’re going to slay a demon.”