The party of five strode up to the blockade and the small group of soldiers who seemed to be working on sentry duty in front of it. The soldiers gave them no real notice or acknowledgment until they were within hoof distance and one walked away from the blockade to stand directly in front of Rainbow Dash’s group. With a neutral expression on his face he raised a hoof to stop them.
“Halt, state your business here, citizens. As you can see there is a blockade in place for the border due to recent events,” the soldier said.
“Well uh...” Breakwater rubbed the back of his head, not meeting the eyes of the soldier. “We kind of—we want to-”
“Can you guys just open the door and let us walk into Ullsorth?” Rainbow asked.
A few of the other soldiers briefly glanced over and blinked at them before returning to ignoring them. The one that was already talking to them seemed nonplussed however. He shook his head at Rainbow Dash.
“I’m sorry citizen, but this is for your own good. It’s our duty as soldiers of Malkonrik to keep you safe from the current chaos occurring in Ullsorth.”
“We’re not citizens though,” Breakwater said.
“Yeah, you don’t have to protect us,” Rainbow added.
“Oh. Huh,” the soldier blinked and tilted his head as he thought about that. “Well that’s something to take into consideration I suppose. Hmm… let me go talk to the sergeant and I’ll get right back to you.”
He walked away towards the tents and Daylight Gleam shot a glance to Rainbow Dash.
“Is that going to work? Just like that?”
Rainbow shrugged. “We’ll see in a minute.”
They stood around for a moment, not causing a fuss, though regardless of the answer brought back to them they were going to Ullsorth one way or another. It didn’t take long before the soldier came walking back out of the tent, he looked as collected as before so they had no idea what his answer was going to be. He took the same position he had before leaving and brought a hoof up to his mouth, coughing once to clear his throat and looking upon all of them.
“The sergeant has decided that it’s alright to let you through since as not being citizens of Malkonrik it means we don’t care what happens to you. So we’ll open up the door momentarily,” he said.
“Well isn’t that just charming,” Daylight Gleam snorted.
“Eh, I figured that was going to be their sentiment. You know how they are and all that...” Breakwater said.
“It’s good for us anyways,” Gilbert shrugged.
Rainbow Dash didn’t mind either. She stood there with an expectant grin on her face as the soldiers moved to open up the great door and allow them access to the Kingdom of Ullsorth. Or whatever it should be called now. The five of them were allowed to simply walk around the blockade as a squad of the armored soldiers did the physical labor needed to get them on their way. Slowly the door receded on its wheels, being dragged to the northern side of the road until it was fully opened. When it was, the soldiers paid attention to make sure there wasn’t anyone directly waiting on the other side or trying to get over to Malkonrik. But there wasn’t anyone there so they relaxed and allowed Rainbow’s group to move forward.
“Enjoy your trip,” the lead soldier said to them as they crossed the border.
He seemed to be saying it without sarcasm.
As soon as all five of them were past the threshold and the border wall, the great door started to get wheeled shut behind them. With a dull thud it slid right back into place and stopped.
Daylight frowned and looked over her shoulder at it. “Uhh… I know this doesn’t really affect us in particular too much, but did they really let us over here knowing there’s no way to open the door back up on this end? What if we were just earth ponies? We’d have no way to communicate with the soldiers or get back across the border.”
“Well it’s a good thing Gilbert and I can just fly us all back when we’re done here,” Rainbow said. “And speaking of here...”
She took her first look at Ullsorth and the port that continued along the coastline, bleeding over from Malkonrik’s own vast port. Unsurprisingly it looked much the same. There wasn’t suddenly a bunch of lightning clouds overhead, the water wasn’t choppy and full of waves, it wasn’t like she had suddenly flown into Hoofica again or something. It really was just another country right next to Malkonrik that naturally had much the same make up. Even the buildings and the docks ahead down the road were basically of the same style and formation as the ones to be found on Malkonrik’s coast.
Another similarity they shared at the moment was the lack of ships docked at port. There were a few, but not many.
That was pretty much where the similarities ended though. The first difference she noticed was that there weren’t really any ponies out on the road or down by the docks. No tourists, no soldiers, no workers. It was a ghost port at first glance though she wasn’t completely willing to write off there not being any ponies in the buildings as well just yet. However a lot of the buildings were completely boarded up with no signs of life in and around them as well. The next very important thing she noticed was that of the few ships docked, they were all of a very specific look that reminded her of a certain other ship.
Black sails, stylish flags, weather-beaten and fearsome visages. Pirate ships just like The Scourge. Definitely not merchant vessels or small personal boats like the Heart of Azure. That was another reason Rainbow Dash didn’t think the port was actually empty, the pirates wouldn’t leave their vaunted ships behind completely unguarded like this. As the others noticed the dark ships, a feeling of unease spread through the group. It was a sign that things were definitely going to get messy in one way or another over here.
“So what actually is our plan now?” Daylight asked.
“Well-” Rainbow started.
“That doesn’t involve just wandering around until we find some pirates to beat up and question?”
Rainbow glared at the unicorn. “Okay, do you have a better idea than that?”
“Unfortunately not. That’s the problem,” Daylight sighed.
“There really is nothing else we can do other than search the port and ask around for Admiral Redbeard’s location...” Senax said.
“None of us aside from Breakwater even really know Ullsorth’s lands and cities either,” Gilbert said.
“And I don’t know too much about that to be honest. Ullsorth has never been a common stop of mine, even this port,” Breakwater shrugged.
“So let’s at least go down the pier to those pirate ships and check things out,” Rainbow Dash said. “Cause despite Daylight’s whining it’s the smartest thing for us to do.”
“She’s right,” Gilbert said before Daylight could complain. “We can’t ignore that at the moment those ships docked right there are our current and only lead. Admiral Redbeard could be somewhere at the port—or somewhere else in Ullsorth entirely. We need to find ponies to ask.”
“I know, I know, just call me the voice in your head. I just want us to actually think about what we’re doing first,” Daylight said.
“In my case, thinking only occasionally helps anyways,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.
Daylight sighed once more.
The group then took their first real steps down the road of Ullsorth now, heading east along the scant few buildings that existed this close to the border on one side and the blue ocean on the other. No docks were built here yet, they probably didn’t want to construct any that were that close to the border wall and huge tower looming over them. So for now they mostly kept their eyes on the building and empty grasslands and forests to the north. Not much to see since these buildings were as quiet as the grave. Not just boarded up but a lot looked like they had been ransacked and stripped down before that in the first place. Probably pirates or the owners leaving with anything remotely valuable or memorable in a hurry.
“What a dreary place,” Gilbert said.
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed. It didn’t help that it was about to turn into evening and then night soon after.
Walking some more, and keeping their eyes sharply peeled, they started to make it to the part of Ullsorth’s port that was beginning to get as crowded as the main part of Malkonrik’s port. More buildings popped up and the street split off north several times, going deeper into the country’s interior and connecting to a number of close-knit but separated groups of buildings back there. That was already a little different than Malkonrik’s port, which was almost entirely just one really long row of buildings without as many backstreets.
In a couple more minutes they got to what would normally be the busiest part of the docks. The waters were crowded with numerous wooden docks and piers all going out into it, some reaching farther out than any she had seen in Malkonrik. Rainbow Dash could imagine on a busy day how crowded with activity this place would be. Hundreds of ponies would be carrying cargo on and off every ship. There were a lot of shacks that looked like customs checkpoints and small souvenir and supply shops on the marina as well. Right now though it was all just empty with only some bits of paper and trash lying about.
“Well I still don’t see or hear any pirates at those ships,” Breakwater said as he looked at the anchored galleons still a couple docks away.
“Me neither,” Daylight said.
“Yeah I-” Rainbow Dash said as her eyes went to scan the buildings to their left, not expecting to see anything but more empty stores and boarded up windows. That changed when she caught the distinctive sight of a pony ducking their head back out of view from behind a courtyard fence in front of one of those buildings. “Hold that thought.”
Before any of them could reply, Rainbow Dash zoomed like a lightning bolt right over the fence and found herself face to face with a scared looking mare.
“Wah!” The mare yelped at the sudden appearance of the pegasus.
“Woah, calm down!” Rainbow Dash held up her hooves to show she meant no harm. She looked the mare up and down, seeing a middle-aged earth pony wearing a plain dress and bonnet. “Well you’re definitely no pirate.”
The mare frowned at her for a second, probably trying to get a read on Rainbow Dash, before responding. “I’m one of the business owners from this part of Ullsorth that’s still here. When the coup happened and the pirates started to take over, a lot of us left. The smart ones left. I didn’t get out in time.”
“Have the pirates done anything to you?” Rainbow Dash frowned.
The mare snorted in annoyance and shook her head. “Not really, but because of them we’ve all had no business. And they say that once the port starts operating like normal again once things have calmed down in and around Ullsorth that they’ll be taking a high percentage of our profits as a new tax from then on… and I somehow doubt we’ll be allowed to just pack our bags and move to a different Kingdom.”
“Pfft, how nice,” Rainbow Dash said and dropped to the ground to talk eye to eye with the mare. Her friends came wandering around the fence just then as well to find her.
“I thought I heard some ponies walking and talking out on the road so I took a peek...” the mare said. “Didn’t think you were more pirates or those idiot revolutionaries who got us into this mess. But what are you doing here at all?”
“Some of those idiot pirates stole from us,” Breakwater said.
“Typical pirates,” the mare rolled her eyes.
“And speaking of them, would you happen to know an Admiral Redbeard and where we might be able to find him?” Daylight asked her.
The mare frowned, thinking for a moment before she shook her head. “The name doesn’t ring a bell, I know there’s a pirate called Steel Hoof who’s in charge of the ones still sticking around the port here though. If you need to find another pirate he’d be the one to ask first.” She looked at the five of them. “I somehow get the feeling you’re not going to be asking peacefully though… will you be alright? There are a lot of pirates here.”
“We’ll be fine, don’t worry about it,” Rainbow Dash confidently grinned. “But where are those pirates though? This place is practically a ghost town.”
“Don’t blame you for thinking that, most everyone still around who isn’t a pirate has just been holing up in their homes or stores. The pirates themselves have taken over the community center and turned it into one big bar and party house,” the mare told them. “And before you ask where that’s at—let me just show you.”
She walked by them and left her store’s little courtyard, walking out onto the main road. The others followed her and watched as the mare stood in the middle of the road and pointed down in the direction of the big ships.
“You see those pirate ships? Directly across from them there’s a three-way intersection in the road, if you look down the road heading north you’ll see the community center. You literally can’t miss it—it’s the huge circular building with the conical clock tower on top at the end of the road. All the pirates are probably getting drunk and gambling in there right now. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow said and started walking past her before she frowned and paused, looking back at the mare with a raised eyebrow. “You know when we go back to Malkonrik we can tell them what’s going on and-”
The mare’s lip curled. “I’d rather stay here than accept Malkonrik’s help. Not like they’d offer it anyways.”
Breakwater patted Rainbow Dash on the shoulder as he passed her. “You tried.”
Leaving the mare behind, the five of them walked the remaining distance down the street until the buildings parted and they came to a wide road that opened up north. The pirate ships were right behind them now at the largest part of the docks and they had a straight view ahead at the community center. The red brick road that led to it at one point was probably clean and pretty but was now chipped and covered in trash. It was the same with the trees and bushes that lines the road, they clearly hadn’t been watered in a while. However the community center itself was still standing and didn’t look too bad. It wasn’t boarded up and the clock facing the docks was still turning.
Rainbow Dash looked to the others and shrugged. “We ready?”
“Do we know how many pirates are going to be in there?” Senax asked.
“Naw, but army or not I’ll be sure to keep us safe,” Rainbow said.
“I like to think that we can handle any simple band of pirates by now,” Gilbert said as he twiddled his mustache. “No pirate crew can match up to my brother.”
“We even dealt with those Bosche soldiers after all,” Breakwater shrugged.
“As much as I would like to put together a better plan, I agree that we can handle ourselves against simple rejects like this,” Daylight said.
“It’ll all work out,” Rainbow grinned. “Now let’s kick some pirate butt and find this so-called Admiral Redbeard.”