-Some time later, The Ardent Survivor, Jacky-
It took longer than I thought to get the ship going, but things went pretty well.
“So where are we going this time captain?” Well this might go poorly, but I wasn’t about to lie to Flotsam about where we were going. “If it’s an undersea palace, then I want to respectfully stay out of it and with the ship.”
“No we’re heading for a coastal town called Saddle Sore Shores.” What I had stated made Flotsam freeze up. “Yeah, didn’t think you’d be happy to hear that. After a quick stop there we’ll be heading for a place called ‘The Volcano’, I wanted to stop somewhere quiet before we go to a place with a name like that. You know, since we’re going to a volcano… highly dangerous knowing my luck. We have several other short stops before we arrive in Saddle Sore Shores, so please get your head on straight before then Sammy.”
“You told her?” Crossing her hooves Flotsam glared at a smugly smiling Savannah waiting on the deck below.
“Nope, I made a promise and I kept it.” Yes, but what Savannah wasn’t saying was that she circumvented the promise she made entirely.
“You said you wouldn’t tell anyone!” She didn’t Flotsam, but I’ll let her explain herself as you looked angry.
“I didn’t tell anyone, in fact I never said a single thing to Jacky, Gene, Belfry or even Nefer.” The grin on Savannah’s face widened. “Not a single word went past my lips and still hasn’t.”
“Then how did you… what promise did I have you make precisely again?” Quite sure that Flotsam knew the promise, I turned to Savannah.
“I can’t talk about it without breaking the promise…. and I keep my promises fairly well.” Putting both her arms behind her head, Savannah continued cat smiling and wagging her tail.
“Then how did Captain Blackcap find out about it?” Flotsam pointed to me with a hoof.
“You said I couldn’t talk about it, so I won’t.” There was something that Savannah had to teach to Flotsam about Abyssinians. “You never said anything about not writing it down and leaving the knowledge where it can easily be found though. It’s not my fault Jacky and Gene have eyes, also you left me with plenty of loopholes and openings. Still, I kept my word, but it was you who had to define how I kept my silence. You only asked me to never talk about it and I haven’t.”
“I think I’m mad at you now.” Flotsam grumbled.
“You’ll forgive me eventually Sammy!” Savannah stated loudly as she came up and hugged the sea pony. “Just you wait and see… pony. Get it… sea pony?”
“You’re all horrible people.” Flotsam muttered flatly while putting her finned hooves to her face. “Unfortunately you’re my horrible friends.”
She learned that just about any Abyssinian can be clever.
-Some time later-
We’ve made two stops on our way to Saddle Sore Shores, ended up fighting a pirate crew and faced off against several flying monsters and had to make an emergency landing or two. We bought two spare balloons, they would only be useful if we crashed into the ocean or if the ship doesn’t break the keel slamming into solid ground.
My usual level of luck was running smoothly and it’s taking us a while to get to where we were going. In fact, I think the summer sun celebration was some time tonight.
Flotsam was still a little upset, but she didn’t stay mad at us, she was mostly just nervous about going back to her old stomping grounds. Well more like the grounds that stomped on her, we were her friends and we’d side with her on anything. If she wanted to leave and quickly at that, we’d do so.
Flotsam had a past that we, mostly I, wondered about. I wanted to know more about where she came from and how she ended up being taken by slave traders, it was a given that her town was likely raided. I at least wanted her to have some form of closure if it was completely destroyed.
There was also the curiosity that was Nefer’s past, but Nefer didn’t seem to have much of an idea about his past and I’d look deeper into that later. I didn’t think Nefer had anything dangerous hiding behind his past, but I could be wrong.
I was in the middle of piloting the ship and making sure we were on course. Today was going to be one of the more boring days, at least until Gene came up to me to remind me about something.
“Hey…” I looked to him and he seemed a little… skittish. “So… it was your birthday a while ago, I’m not sure if you forgot and I’m sure everyone else did. I’m having Savannah bake a cake, what would you like it to be?”
“Strawberry cake if you can, vanilla if you can’t and chocolate is last resort after anything else.” One would think I would also ask for something else, so I might as well. I placed a hand on my hip and looked at him with a coy grin. “There is one dessert that I really want. Its name is Generic, it’s a special kind of dessert and I’m sure you can only find it in one place.”
“Well glad to know you think I’m tasty… so I’ll go tell her and get back to you with some things I wanted to talk about.” Nodding to my favorite griffin, I went back to staring at the skies, the sea and everything in between.
The balloon was good, the ropes were tied tight and triple checked and we haven’t been attacked in the last hour by any airborne creatures. So today was looking pretty good with clear skies and a sturdy, moderately modified ship.
“Captain Blackcap, why didn’t you tell us your birthday passed us by?” I turned to Nefer who came up to me looking slightly upset.
“I didn’t want to make a big thing of it Nefer, that and I already have almost everything I could possibly want.” Rolling my eyes and looking off to the side. “Like I need much more, still have plenty of treasure from that last pirate fight and our supplies are actually decent.”
“So I can’t give you a present?” Nefer asked curiously tilting his head.
“Do you have a present to give?” He stared blankly at me. “Didn’t think so.”
“I could always make one!” Nefer said after a moment.
“Look, Nefer, it’s not that important. It’s not like I see your bugging your sister about her birthday.” I watched as he froze up and then went charging off, presumably to find out what day his sister’s birthday was on. That is what ponies call ‘passing the buck’, fairly useful for my needs.
“I told Savannah, though I’m not sure about the quality we’ll be getting.” Gene, I really didn’t care about the quality of the cake or the food, just that there would be enough of it and that I’d be sharing it all with my crew. “We happen to have some fresh strawberries and she can get the cake finished easily enough.”
“Well hopefully it’ll be big enough for everyone. Since we’re digging into Flotsam’s past… can I dig into yours a little more?” It was just fair, I wanted to know more about everyone I had on my ship. I’d eventually get around to asking Nefer if he even remembered where he came from, hopefully he was not an escaped unicorn experiment. “You already know most of mine. Born on Turtle Toga, parents absent for most of it and grew up in with pirate school before getting some Equestrian schooling afterwards. Jade helped me escaped my island life and I’ve wrecked just about any other ship I’ve touched that didn’t have a name that specifically makes it survive bad luck.”
“Well, what can I say about Soar Way? There’s nice brisk air year round, plenty of icy mountainous areas and things were somewhat eventful given Sky Vikings are a thing around there. I was raised alongside my two brothers who were sometimes termed as dim and dimmer. I don’t think my brothers were stupid at all, just lacking more sense than most. Not that Vikings were great on education, but some of us have a lot more common sense than others. That’s where I consider myself lucky in that respect.” He sat down next to me as he talked and wrapped his left wing around me. I liked it when he did that. “Until we ended up at Airship Mauled we grew up trying to find our places in combat, engineering, fishing or growing food. It’s just about all we Vikings tend to do, Flamberge and Fortitude were only good at combat. I was not exactly a strong fighter, but I eventually did make a mark for myself in combat by being able to counter or evade most projectile attacks launched at me. Me and my brother’s earned our titles with our actions, Fortitude was just unfortunate that his title has nothing to do with his endurance and bulky profile.”
“You say you have good common sense, but then you’re dating me.” A fact I was quite happy about, I’m still surprised it was even happening at all. “Not exactly the most sensible choice you could make for a girlfriend. I don’t consider myself to be sensible or actually suitable for a relationship like ours.”
“No you’re quite sensible Jacky, I’m not scared that the world is actually out to get you. Your steadfast spirit is really admirable.” He nuzzled up against me affectionately. “That and you’re really beautiful for someone who gets knocked around so much.”
“You flatterer, buttering up your captain like that?” I planted my beak against his cheek before continuing to scan the horizon. “What ever could you possibly want?”
“To know when you’re ready and only when you’re ready, I am at your command Jacky and I will not overstep my boundaries in any way shape or form.” He was clearly quite honest about that, never was he pushy about anything. “If you want me to marry you, then you’re going to have to tell me when… because I’m not exactly going to know when to pop the question given how often disasters just happen around you.”
“You need to take some charge in this two way street too you know, but I can kind of see where you’re coming from.” I glanced at him curiously. “You’re really quite honorable and nice. So what’s the story behind that?”
“Most Vikings typically are honorable for a given definition of it, but that’s also kind of why we’re considered violent barbarians at times. I think it’s the education system seriously needs to upgrade and it currently leaves something to be desired.” Gene sighed and shook his head. “I was told by a great warrior among the people I grew up with that most Vikings tended to follow a particular honor code that has a high tendency towards vengeance against those who wrong us. It was these words he said to me, ‘I will always speak clearly, keep my vows and will seek revenge for any wrong done to my family or those of my allies unjustly’. Our tribe respects both genders as long as they had the spirit to keep pushing themselves towards some cause no matter what. To pursue at least something, even if they could never be good at it or ever actually achieve it, is considered highly respectable. A spirit like yours would earn you more respect than however strong, swift or able bodied you happen to be.”
“Determination is pretty helpful even if it is grim in form.” My curiosity would definitely not be deterred now. “Was it always pleasant growing up or were there problems?”
“No, it was kind of dreadfully cold year round really, but at least our tribe didn’t have the most injuries out all of the other surrounding tribes. Yaks smash a lot, dragons breathe fire and are aggressive, and griffons can be greedy or bloodthirsty, but our home was much friendlier than all of those stereotypes that many others portray.” That was something Gene could tell me more about, even when stereotypes were hard to shake he and his brothers didn’t exactly follow any of them. “I vaguely miss it all, but I and my brothers decided to go our own ways at Airship Mauled and we now do our own things to pursue new avenues in life. Other tribes wouldn’t have been nearly as lenient about us leaving as ours was. It helps spread the teachings and culture around to let some youths go after other pursuits, I know I’m currently pursuing a pretty pirate parrot.”
“So if I wanted to do something with you tonight… would you be willing to?” I felt him rub his wing across my back and tighten around me to keep me warm as a chill wind blew across the ship.
“I’d always say yes Ms. Chickadee La Perm, of that you will find no doubts from me.” He place his head against my neck. “I’m loyal to a fault for my brothers, for Airship Mauled, for our friends and this crew, but most importantly I’m choosing to be loyal to you above all else.”
“Well you're being quite romantic at the moment, even your body language is saying more than that.” My cheeks felt hot, as I looked at his right wing.
-That night-
That round of cake wasn’t too bad and we were outside near the bow together.
“There’s something in the air tonight, the mood even seems right somehow.” I looked up at the moon. “The moon seems a bit fuller than usual.”
“Maybe because that mare is no longer there?” He patted a spot next to him near the bow and held open the blanket he had with him for me. I joined him and got cozy under the blanket.
“Yeah, I think that’s the whole Nightmare Moon thing….” I took Gene’s left claw into my right hand as we huddled together under the blanket. “Gene… can we… do you want to…”
“If you’re trying to ask what I think you’re asking, then I’m nervous too.” We turned to look each other in the eyes. “I’ll follow your lead if you follow mine. If you are sure, then we should take this inside.”
-Savannah-
I was at the wheel watching the two love birds snuggle together and then they got up to go inside. I think Gene and Jacky were about to do some interesting things together.
“Flotsam, make sure Nefer gets to bed and keep Belfry away from Jacky’s room.” I sighed as I leaned against the steering. “It seems that love is in the air.”
“What is it with you and bad puns lately?” Well aren’t you grumpy Sammy.
“I can’t exactly help it if I’m feeling catty.” She gave me a disapproving look.
“Can you please stop?” She groaned out. “You’re making me sick just listening to them.”
“Oh really, but I’m feline fine though!” My smile only got broader as she grunted loudly.
“Right, I’m doing what you said to do.” She slithered off in a mood. “I’m also washing my hooves of this conversation!”
“Don’t forget the wash the rest of the conversation off of you while you’re at it!” I should probably stop… nope.
“Ugh!”