//------------------------------//
// Frozen Heart 
// Story: Night Wing 
// by Gravity012 
//------------------------------//

Night Wing

Assorted creatures gathered on walkways as our ship parted the water through one of the gargantuan icy doorways. Griffins were the main denizens I noticed, though I spotted a few Zebras, Yaks, a couple Minotaur, and even one or two Ponies, gathered above the entrance. They were all rough looking, some more than others, and all of them watched us with careful glares. Half of them were probably wondering if we were trouble, and the other half were probably wondering if we were worth the trouble of robbing. I glared right back up at them as I snorted in annoyance. I wasn’t here to start a war, nor to fight every single being in this filthy place. I was here for a specific purpose. Greenhorn had given me two pieces of information with his map. A location, and a name. Captain Dragon. I really hoped they weren’t an actual Dragon.

The ship drifted slowly through the calm port waters as it approached the docks. A few braver Griffins and one large Minotaur stood on the piers, waiting to see what we were all about. “Caaaw!” I let out a call and Silver pushed through the crowd on the deck to see what I needed. ‘Gather together a small landing party Silver. We are stopping here to take care of some business. And get all non-essential Ponies back below deck.’ Silver was already moving before the glowing letters had faded completely from my feathers. As the crowd dispersed from the deck, the ship finally came within range of the piers. Two Ponies jumped off the side to secure ropes to the anchor points.

A dull chatter reached my ears from all around. Business had started to go back to normal around us. We didn’t present any immediate threat it seemed, so most of the creatures had gone back to their daily lives. Buildings and walkways were built all along the sides of the large iceberg, including the walls. My eye followed the spiraling and crisscrossing walkways all the way up the walls until they met a large building suspended from the ceiling. Most of the chatter seemed to be coming from their, and I guessed it was some sort of pub. As the ropes were secured to the pier the Ponies called up the all clear at the same time as Silver came back up behind me with a small group of Batponies. I glanced back to see them all wearing their old Guard armor and weapons. My wing came up to rest over my eyes as I sighed in exasperation, yet I couldn’t make them remove it because we most likely needed it. 

‘Alright! Let’s head up to that pub and ask around for a Captain Dragon.’ The ship slowly rocked and creaked as our group of six made its way down the now deployed gangplank. I glared around the pier as various lowlifes glared back at us. While we had come into their port with no governmental flags flying, we also had a well cared for ship and a clean looking crew. I was also sure that most pirates didn’t roam around casually in shiny armor. We stuck out like a sore thumb, and that caused an issue as soon as we got halfway down the wooden walkway.

“Hey!” A random Griffin approached us with a smirk. “You gotta pay the tax to dock here!”

‘Really?’ I extended a wing to write upon so he could see. He seemed slightly surprised, but didn’t react otherwise. ‘I see no such sign. Perhaps you should put up some signage for new comers. We won’t be here long.’ I folded my wing and made to walk around him.

“Listen here you mutated pigeon!” The dark red Griffin glared at me and blocked our path again. “Pay the tax, or you don’t get in.” I glared right back down at him and held out my wing to calm down the guards behind me. Several other Griffins and the Minotaur I noticed earlier were starting to close in on us. Typical pirate behavior.

‘How much is this tax?’ The Griffin smirked once more as I appeared to give in.

“Well, normally it’s twenty gold pieces. But, uh, with your lovely attitude I think we’ll take forty.” Laughter echoed around us from the small group trying to block us in. A few Griffins glanced over as they passed by, but didn’t stop. This must be pretty common.

‘Well then. How about a counter offer.’ I yanked my wing back and grabbed him in my magic. A quick shove down introduced his face to the ground with a resounding thud. A quick toss and splash later, one less Griffin occupied the pier. The others quickly backed away with a look of shock on their faces. ‘Anyone else?’ The crowd quickly dispersed, leaving us free to enter the icy port city.

Whispers followed us as we made our way off the wooden docks and onto the bottom layer of the city. This lower area seemed to be where most of the shops were. A shop selling rum here, one selling maps there, a couple selling shoddily made clothes over there. What you would expect of a pirate port really. I had to stop at a shop selling eye patches and pirate hats of course. Apparently losing an eye was common in piracy. “Night, you have both your eyes.” Silver tried to ruin my fun as I dropped about forty bits out of a portal onto the shop keepers counter. I doubted they used bits, but I don’t have any of whatever the pirates used, and the cashier didn’t seem to mind. 

‘Silver, when in Rome.’ That statement only caused the Batponies more confusion, but I didn’t really care as I grabbed a couple eyepatches and a black captains hat with dark blue stitching. The shop keeper seemed to be drooling over my money as I levitated the articles from the racks behind him. The hat I put on, while I sent most of the eyepatches back to my room on the ship. One, that was black with gold stitching, I sent to a certain white horse I knew. The other I handed to Silver as my portals all closed. ‘Put this on.’

“Why would I put that on.” Silver had a confused glare on her face.

‘You, do you want Silver to wear this?’ I motioned to a random Batpony.

“I, uh...I don’t....Uh....” The poor stallion just stammered while trying to think of a response.

‘See, your subordinates want you to wear it. Put it on.’ I tossed it at her and turned to keep walking through the port. Once we reached the wall we took a stair case up to the next level. We slowly made our way up through the crisscrossing paths, passing through the main housing area on our way up. As we got higher up the building started to improve slightly. They were still run down, but most of them had actual doors instead of tied together wood bits or sheets. Finally, after too many suspended bridges, we reached the level with the pub. This was a busy area it seemed, with a couple hundred beings all eating, chatting, and drinking too much. I looked at the roof of the cavern where thick chains had been drilled in and were holding up the pub. This seems totally safe. Time to go find us a captain.

“I’ve never seen most of these creatures.” One of the Batponies mumbled. It was my first time seeing a lot of them as well.  Minotaurs, with giant hammers and axes resting beside them, drank huge mugs of......something, while a group of tropically colored Griffins wearing leather jackets tore into a large fish carcass of some sort. A couple tables of Ponies were scattered around here and there, Yaks were being loud and rowdy, and Griffins glided around the area. A hefty female Minotaur seemed to be running the pub, taking orders from various patrons. We slowly cut our way through the crowd toward the bar, the crowd parting around us and distrustful eyes following us as we went. 

“What you want?” The heavily built Minotaur asked in a brisk tone.

‘I’m looking for a certain Captain I heard was here.’ My wing extended to carry across the message. Her eyes narrowed at that.

“Order somethin or get lost.” The heifer abruptly turned and threw a large axe across the bar, embedding it in the wall between a beer keg and a Griffin who was trying to get a free drink.

‘Do you always keep an axe under the counter?’ My eyebrow was raised at the casual axe toss.

“It helps. Now order or shoo.” She walked over to retrieve her axe and glare at the Griffin before returning to glare at me instead.

‘Sure, we’ll take a mug of whatever for each of us. Surprise me.’ I opened a small portal and dropped six bits on the counter. Based on the sign behind here, six gold pieces would cover it. I hoped that bits were equal to gold pieces. The bartender got an evil look before grabbing the handles of size mugs in one giant hand. She went to the farthest barrel and filled each mug with a black liquid.

“Order up. We’ll see how those sit with ya.” She laughed before slamming the mugs down and turning to leave.

“Chirp.” I grabbed her attention. ‘One more thing, We are looking for a Captain Dragon.’ The Minotaur looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“Finish yer drinks, then we’ll talk.” With that, she spun around and left to deal with the next customer. With no other choice, I grabbed my mug and went to sit at the nearest table. The Batponies all grabbed a mug as well and followed behind me.

“Is this stuff safe to drink?” One of them asked while stared into their mug suspiciously.

“I doubt it.” Another one responded. “Probably get twenty diseases from it, if it doesn’t outright kill you.”

“Well, this day can’t get much worse, so why not.” Silver looked adorably miserable in her eyepatch, the silver stitching matching her hair wonderfully. She threw back the mug and downed it all in one go. When it was drained, she slammed it back on the table and let out a rough sounding cough. “That burns.” The others watched her for a minute to see if she would fall over dead. When she didn’t show any immediate side effects they took that as an ok to drink theirs.

“Well, no point in living till I’m old I guess.” The guard that said that wound up bent over the table coughing after he tried to imitate Silver and drain the whole mug at once.

‘As fun as that looks, I’d rather not repeat my last drinking incident.’ A chuckled broke through my beak as the poor guard tried to recover. My eyes mainly followed the large bartender as she ran back and forth. After a good while she finally had a moment where someone wasn’t ordering something. The floor vibrated from her steps as she approached our table with a sour look in her eyes.

“It don’t look like you finished yer drinks.” The glare was directed at me. I glanced down at my full mug before shoving it over to a random guard. His head smacked the table loudly.

“Join the Guard, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.” The poor stallion raised the mug to his lips and drained it in three big gulps. Then he slammed the mug down and promptly fell out of his chair. “I regret everything.” His complaining assured me he was fine as I refocused my attention on the bartender. A loud snort left her as she pulled over a chair from another nearby table.

“You the ones sailing in an unnamed ship? That’s bad luck ye know.” The Minotaur started off casually.

‘Is it? First I’ve heard of it. What would you recommend for a name?’ My eyes held an amused look at her conversation starter.

“How bout Wreckless? Or Conspicuous? You people have certainly attracted attention around here.” She motioned around the Pub. “Haven’t heard this much chatter since tha boat sank in the port last week.” A laugh came from the bartender at that. “But yeh didn’t come here fer stories. You wanted information.”

“Don’t normally share this information.” She began with a quick glance around. “However, Dragon has quite the tab they have yet to pay. This here stays between us. I wha’nt ever here.” A meaty hand lifted off the table to motion at the side of the pub opposite of us. “Them pretty birds over ther, the ones with the colors and such. They are part of Dragon’s crew. You want to find Her, you talk to them. I doubt they will cooperate easily. Good luck to ya.” With that, the heifer shoved her chair back and made for the bar again. Her? Didn’t expect a female pirate lord. I should have gotten used to surprises by now.

I nodded at Silver and stood up to approach the tropical Griffins across the deck. The other Batponies stood to follow but I motioned for them to stay. The one on the ground looked relieved as he fell back over. Silver and I made our way between tables, conversations stopping at every table we passed. The other patrons seemed to notice where we were headed and watched on with rapt attention. The group we were approaching hadn’t seemed to notice yet and I managed to hear bits and pieces of their conversation. I decided to call them Macaws until I discovered their actual species.

“-ook forever to break! Those are the fun on-“ One of the male Macaws was laughing boisterously. I only caught half of what he was saying before a more feminine one slapped him with a wing, shutting him up. She was looking right at our group with an almost bored expression.

“Can we help you?” The tavern fell into hushed whispers as the female Macaw called out to us. Bags were being passed around among the patrons as they took bets on what would happen. As we got within a few feet of their table I held out my left wing, Silver stopping beside me on the right.

‘That depends. Are you working for someone called Dragon?’ The entire crew tensed as the glowing words scrawled across my feathers. Yeah, these are the ones we need alright.

“What’s it to ya!?” The male Macaw stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over. His mostly red feathers puffed up in anger as he started to advance on us.

“Easy Red. Let’s see what the little birdie has to say.” The female Macaw calmed her associate with a wave of her front claw. Her feathers and fur were mainly white, with a yellow plume on her head.

‘Red?’ I glanced between the female and the red male. ‘Seems like a lazy name.’

“He’s not named that because of his feathers. Please, sit. We aren’t so cruel as to keep our guest standing.” Two more chairs floated over in my black magic, placing themselves on the empty side of the table. “Please, help yourself.” She motioned at the half eaten fish laying in the center of the table.

‘Im full, but thank you.’ The words appeared across my breastplate as we both sat down.

“You two, and your group over at the other table, don’t seem to be the type to come here for no reason. What is your business with our Captain?” The third Macaw finally spoke, also a female. This one was colored like a blue Macaw, mainly blue with yellow streaks here and there throughout her feathers, with black fur.

“Sharp, you know we don’t skip pleasantries. We have standards to keep.” The first female turned back to look at me. “Forgive her, she sometimes speaks out of turn. You can call me Daggers. These two are Red and Sharp. What are your names, if you would be so kind.”

‘Well, if we are using unoriginal code names, then I’m Big Bird, and this is Squawkin Chicken.’ Silver tried to maintain a straight face, but I could see she wanted to glare at me.

“How amusing. And your business with our Captain?” Daggers took a long draw from her mug as she waited for my answer.

‘I was wondering about some rumors I heard. About some raids being done on Deer villages?’ One of my eyebrows raised. ‘You know them, they seem to be the magical type. I was interested in buying some artifacts from those raids.’ The group seemed to relax at that.

“Ha! Oh yeah, them Deer are always dabblin in the arcanes and what not!” Red took a large swig of whatever he was drinking before letting out a mighty belch. “She be’s away at sea at the moment though.”

“Aye, we stayed behind for a shore-leave.” Sharp was trying to loosen a piece of meat stuck in the corner of her beak.

‘Any idea when she will be back? I am willing to pay quite handsomely.’ To further convey this, I dropped a bag of bits on the table through a portal. A few of the bits spilled out through the open top as the group looked on with wide eyes. Red reached out to grab the bag, but it fell through the table as another portal opened under it.

“We don’t know when she will be back exactly. It shouldn’t be long though.” Daggers smacked Red with a wing once more, though he was too distracted to care. He seemed to be trying to figure out where the bag went in his drunken state.

“Bu don’t ya worry none. We’ll know when she’s gettin close.” Red’s words were starting to slur slightly. “Daggers here has a special crystal that tracks the ship.” Daggers and Sharp were both glaring angrily at Red now. “Just point and goooooo!” Red passed out on the floor after taking another large gulp of drink.

“Excuse him. He starts talking nonsense when he’s drunk.” Daggers tried to cover up Red’s slip up, but it was too late. I could see them both tensing up for a fight. “Come back in a few days and we’ll let you know a more solid date.”

“Why wait?” Silver finally spoke up. “We have everything we need already.” Both of the Macaws jumped up and drew their weapons. Sharp reached around and grabbed a sword in her mouth, while Daggers stood on her hind legs and pulled out a pair of her namesake with her claws. I merely shook my head.

I grabbed the table in my magic and shoved it upwards, catching both of them under the jaw with the hard surface. Sharp fell over unconscious, or dead, right away. Daggers simply fell backwards before regaining her footing. She looked between the two of us with a glare. Evidently she didn’t like her odds of winning, so with burst of salty air she threw open her wings. She made it about three feet off the ground before four tipsy Batponies tackled her. I yanked her weapons away and handed them to Silver as the others secured Daggers’ claws in chains.

Silver walked over to check Sharp, only to shake her head when she felt for a pulse. ‘Oh well, get these two on the ship.’ I motioned for them to carry off Red and Daggers as Sharp’s body was tossed over the railing by a black aura. ‘Hold on.’ I stopped the two Bats carrying Daggers. If looks could kill....well, I would be fine. I searched the pockets of her black jacket with the end of my wing, trying to find anything crystal like. I found it in the left breast pocket, causing the Macaw to struggle as it was removed. A smooth surfaced square, devoid of any color. It wasn’t large, but it would have sold for a fortune back on earth. Diamonds are a girls best friend I suppose.

“You won’t get away with this! Dragon is going to cut you down when you get there.” Daggers smirked victoriously. “Your crew doesn’t stand a chance.”

‘We’ll see.’ That was all she saw before a wooden bowl smacked her in the head, knocking her unconscious. ‘Let’s get back to the ship.’ The walk back was very quiet, all conversations stopping as we walking through the streets. Apparently this hadn’t happened before, at least not with these particular Macaws. They seemed to be rather well known. No one accosted us as we walked down the pier this time. I dismissed the familiar Macaw body floating in the water as we boarded our ship once more.

As the two unconscious Macaws were taken below deck to the brig I approached the helmspony. ‘Get us moving out to sea. Our business here is concluded.’ I handed the Unicorn the crystal I had taken from Daggers. ‘Figure this thing out, and go where ever it points us.’ The chocolate Pony nodded and I turned to head down to my room. Ponies rushed around the deck, pulling ropes and securing things. I paid them no mind as I passed them. I had to go plan out an attack.