I'm not very fond of this chapter... it just seems bland. I guess I'm just impatient, which is bad because it makes me write worse.
Anyway, I don't own Pirates or Ponies (wish I did thought, that'd be cool), but the Ottomare Empire and Ponaeus are mine (I guess). Likes and comments are welcome.
Launching
The Manehattan docks were some of the busiest in the world; day and night schooners and trade ships would come and go, delivering their cargoes as they went. On good days the harbor was filled with ships from across the globe, their captains and crews jockeying with others for docking space and unloading various goods brought from far off places.
Dominating the usual array of ships was the Concordia, the sole ship in the Equestrian Navy. She was a third-rate, a massive three-masted vessel mounting sixty four heavy cannons and a crew consisting of hundreds of ponies, and her sheer size made most captains give the Concordia plenty of space due to a combination of fear and respect for what the ship represented. Her olive sails were stowed and two flags flapped in the breeze; the first was the standard flag of Equestria, depicting two alicorns, one white and one black, circling the sun and moon, while the one beneath consisted of thirteen alternating red and white stripes accompanied by a blue field set behind a circle of thirteen stars.
Twilight’s teleportation spell had deposited her, Fluttershy, Mays and all their luggage right next to the Concordia. The past few months had given Twilight time to perfect her mass teleportation spell, making it both less dangerous to everypony involved and much easier to cast. Still, being teleported was a jarring experience for anypony not used to it; while Twilight was walking it off fairly easily, Fluttershy was quivering like a leaf and Mays had a dazed expression on his face, as if somepony had accidentally hit him in the face with something.
“I-If you don’t mind me asking, Twilight,” Fluttershy said once she calmed down “Could you please warn us next time you teleport?”
“Yes Fluttershy. Sorry for scaring you again.”
“T-That’s okay.” Twilight used her magic to pick up their luggage and crossed over to the Concordia. Mays had snapped out of his daze and was dusting himself off.
“So, Captain, do we still have the same rooms as last time?”
“Yes, but we had to convert some of the space into storage, so it may be a little cramped and might explode if you use too much magic.” Mays walked up the gangplank, followed by Twilight and Fluttershy “Richard, are you here?”
“Captain?” the stocky unicorn that was Master Chief Charles Richard said from the bow.
“Start clearing out any unnecessary equipment from the guest rooms and get Twilight and Fluttershy settled.”
“Aye Captain.” Richard trotted over to the group “Hello again. It’s been awhile since we last met.”
“Yes it has. You seem to be doing well.”
“I’m not dead yet, so I consider that a plus.” The Master Chief chuckled to himself and twilight, unsure of what to make of it, joined in after a pause. When they were finished, Richard took the bags in his own magic and lead Twilight and Fluttershy below deck.
“So, Captain Mays mentioned an ambassador coming with us. Do you know who it is?”
“No. The Captain’s never been the kind to talk much about dignitaries traveling with us, and if he did he mostly told us to ignore them, but from what I do know it’s some unicorn he met on one of his trips to Canterlot. I swear, it seems every time we sail in, there’s always some business pony waiting at the dock to compliment us on what a good job we’re doing. He doesn’t like most of them, though.”
“Prince Blueblood is one of them, right?”
“Never met the guy myself, but he sounds a lot like Nolan.” there was silence as the ponies collected their thoughts “Anyway, hopefully this ambassador won’t mind what goes on around here, or even better keeps to himself.
“If Captain Mays knows him then I’m sure they’ll have something in common.”
“Just because the captain knows him doesn’t mean he likes him.” Twilight mused over the fact that Mays and his crew did not seem to be good at making friends. Setting another train of thought aside, she noticed that the three of them had stopped outside two of the smaller rooms near the stern of the ship. “Shouldn’t be anything in here, but give me a few minutes to clean out everything.” the Master Chief disappeared into one of the rooms, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy alone.
“Um, Twilight?”
“Yes Fluttershy?”
“We’re going to have to meet those other ponies... right?”
“Eventually. I mean, this boat isn’t that big; we’re bound to run into each other at some point.”
“Oh, okay... Uh, Twilight?”
“Yes Fluttershy?”
“I know I’m trying to be more assertive, but I don’t really want to meet the ambassador.”
“Why not?”
“Well, you know I’ve never been good with new ponies, especially not ambassadors. I-I wouldn’t want to make a bad impression. What if they get mad at me?”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I’m going to be there too, and I would never allow anypony to be mad at my friends. Besides, how could anypony stay mad at you?”
“Um, there was Gilda...”
“Gilda was a bully, and bullies never really like anyone.”
“I... I guess that’s true.” Fluttershy shuffled a little before Richard exited the room, various bits of equipment gripped in his magic.
“That should be good for now. If there’s anything else just find me or somepony else.” Richard left, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy alone again.
“I... I think I’ll go unpack.”
“We can do that later. Let’s go back and catch up with the others.”
“Um, I’d rather not right now.” the Pegasus shuffled around again “I-I’m trying to be more assertive here, and I really wouldn’t mind unpacking.” Twilight would have tried to maneuver Fluttershy into a position where the Pegasus would have been more open to meeting ponies, but an image of Fluttershy tackling and stomping on Rainbow Dash made her change her mind.
“Oh, I’ll leave you to it, I guess.” Twilight left and headed back out on deck. Mays was speaking with Richard while a yellow Pegasus with a coiled rattlesnake for a cutie mark hovered behind them. Twilight trotted over to them, but the sailors did not make note of her.
“Did you remember to purchase the extra powder?”
“Had to stop by a fireworks maker to fill the quota, but yes I got your powder.”
“Good. Go make sure those cannons are stored.” Richard left and Mays turned his attention to the Pegasus “Smith, I need you to control your sailors.”
“Why? They haven’t burned anything down yet.” Carl Smith said, landing.
“No, they’ve settled for trying to get themselves killed by flying through the rigging. I’ve told you before not to do stunts in the rigging, and you seem to be ignoring me every time.”
“I figure that if we can navigate the rigging, then we could get around the ship easier. Besides, flying around is fun.”
“This is a military vessel; ‘fun’ is not in the job description. Look, I’m not trying to be Nolan’s replacement, but I don’t want to deal with a bunch of ponies breaking limbs, so no more stunts of any kind or I’ll be forced to take action and dole out punishments.”
“Fine, I’ll spread the word around. Anything else?”
“Have you seen Hacksaw around?”
“He’s down below. One of the marines tripped over a cannon during drills and got banged up pretty good.”
“Tell him when he’s finished to check the crew for anything I might have forgotten; I don’t want another feather flu outbreak like last month.”
“Aye Sir.” Smith flew off, pulling over a few other Pegasi as he went. Seeing her opportunity, Twilight stepped forward.
“So, when’s the ambassador going to show up?”
“Soon. He never specified when, though, so we could be waiting for a few minutes.” Mays looked up to the sky “I’d rather not though; the Pegasi screwed with the crosswinds and that could slow us down a bit.” he looked back at Twilight “Where’s Fluttershy?”
“She’s unpacking... she insisted on it.”
“Oh.” there was a pause “This may seem like an awkward question, but have you practiced your combat skills?”
“A little. I read up more on certain spells and I had Rainbow Dash tackle me once a week to improve my reflexes and strength.”
“How does that work?”
“I don’t know but it does. Are you asking me this because you’ve changed your mind about this trip being dangerous?”
“... Possibly. I forgot to mention what route we’re going to be taking to the Ottomare Empire... Twilight, have you ever heard of The Gauntlet?”
“I think you told me about it once. That’s where all the Diamond Dogs are, right?”
“Exactly. Now, we both know Diamond Dogs are not exactly the best sailors, but I’m anticipating at least one or two sightings, if we’re unlucky.”
“And you see nothing wrong with taking a very important ambassador straight through one of the most dangerous spots on the planet?”
“We’re not going straight through. If I had a map I’d show you our exact route, but it’s right along the edge of The Gauntlet, so we should be fine.”
“This is when you start bragging about how powerful this ship is, right?”
“If this was your first time aboard I would, but you’ve seen what we’re capable of so it would be wasted on you.” Mays looked around the deck.
“You seem to be getting impatient.”
“Habit I picked up. Too many delays might mean more mistakes once the crew starts getting bored. As soon as the ambassador shows up we should be on our- oh, how convenient, he’s here.” Twilight turned to the sound of hooves coming up the gangplank. It was a white unicorn, dressed in a fairly nice overcoat, bowtie and monocle. He was followed closely by a second unicorn, a tall and thin mare who gave Twilight a small smile before turning her gaze back to the leading pony’s flanks. Twilight attempted a logical greeting, but fumbled.
“Fancypants? You’re the ambassador?”
“Of course... Twilight, was it?” Fancypants said, giving Twilight a cheerful smile “You didn’t think I spent my entire life living off of Canterlot garden parties, did you?”
“Uh, well... no. But I’ve met most of the ambassadors when I lived in Canterlot, and Princess Celestia never mentioned you.”
“Well, I’ve been ‘off the list’ more or less for quite some time; there was this nasty engagement over in the Baletic regions I’d rather not discuss right now.” He turned to Mays and nodded “Captain Mays. Good to see you again.”
“Good to see you too. Our last meeting was... less than satisfactory.”
“Demanding that Blueblood accept your offer of a duel would lead to that.”
“Nopony’s going to let me forget that, are they?”
“You made headlines.” Twilight said, with slightly less emotion than normal.
“That’s not important now. Anyway, we should be ready to leave soon, so you may want to make yourselves comfortable for the trip.” Mays turned to Twilight “Do you mind showing them down to the guest quarters?”
“Uh, sure.” Why do I feel like he’s just trying to get rid of me? Mays nodded and walked back to the helm, leaving Twilight alone with Fancypants and his wife.
Fortunately, Fluttershy took that moment to come out on deck.
“Twilight, I was just wondering what you wanted to do with...” the Pegasus froze before starting to shuffle around again. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”
“Of course not, Fluttershy.” Twilight turned to the others “You remember Fancypants, right?”
“Um, yes...” Fluttershy shuffled some more “I-It’s nice to see you again...”
“Likewise. We didn’t get the chance to talk much last time we met, and you seem like a fairly nice pony. Perhaps we’ll get to know each other a little better on this trip.”
“Oh... that sounds nice.” again, the Pegasus was shuffling her hooves. “S-sorry, I’m not very good around ponies...”
“Don’t worry. I had similar issues when I was younger, what with my parents always trying to introduce me to new ponies. I found that sometimes it’s okay to just wait for everypony to say their piece and move on, so then you don’t feel so nervous around them later.”
“I... I suppose that works.” Fluttershy had stopped shuffling and brushed some of her mane out of her face. Twilight smiled again.
“Well, I’m glad to see that everypony’s getting along. I’m going to finish unpacking.”
.................
That night, the Concordia drifted silently out of Equestrian waters and into The Gauntlet. Most of the ponies aboard had finished their duties and gone to sleep, but a few remained on deck to make sure the ship continued to sail properly. And then there were those that, for one reason or the other, were prevented from sleeping.
“Rabbits,” Richard muttered, taking a drink from a small flask “All a bunch of rabbits.”
“Well, it’s not like there are laws preventing that sort of behavior.” the ship’s medic, “Hacksaw” Riley, said from his position.
“Still, least they could do was be more private about it.” Richard took another drink “This is why I hate carting politicians around.”
“I’m sure the captain hates it for the same reasons.” Hacksaw looked across the ocean and sighed.
“What’s your problem?” Richard asked.
“Nothing really. It’s just that ever since we got here there’s been little chance for me to exercise... what did they call them? ‘Special Talents’?”
“So you actually want to saw somepony’s limbs off?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“I don’t see why you’re upset. The boys not getting injured tends to make things more pleasant around here.”
“I don’t know. I shouldn’t feel upset, but I am.”
“Don’t worry. Something will come up.” another drink, and Richard noticed a third pony walking towards them. The lighting was bad, so Richard pulled over a nearby lantern to see better.
“Um, Mister Richard?” Fluttershy said.
“Yes ma’am.”
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I think there’s something wrong with your boat.”
“Oh?” Richard took another drink.
“Yes. I was trying to sleep, and I kept hearing these... noises.”
“What kind of noises?”
“Um, I can’t really describe them, but they don’t sound normal for boats...”
“Eh, lots of things don’t sound normal for boats.” Richard leaned back a little and looked away.
“But, um, do you know what’s wrong?”
“He was complaining about it two minutes ago.” Hacksaw said, walking over to the other two ponies.
“Complaining?”
“Yeah,” The Master Chief said “It’s all down to decency.”
“What about decency?”
“Nothing. Fancypants is just practicing his diplomatic skills with that mare he brought with him.” Richard took another drink and set the flask aside.
“Oh, well I guess that isn’t so bad. I mean, he needs to be ready when all those important leaders start asking questions.” this drew an odd stare from Richard which caused Fluttershy to back up “Did I say something wrong?”
“No, you’re fine. Go back to sleep and everything will be fine.” Fluttershy smiled and trotted off into the night. Richard set the lantern down and retrieved his flask.
“Think she know what you meant?”
“I certainly hope not; poor girl’s like a child, and I don’t think she’d take that very well.” Hacksaw nodded and walked off, leaving Richard alone to enjoy his drink.
Next chapter: an explanation as to why there are Diamond Dog pirates