//------------------------------// // Second Rate Pirates // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash’s hoof was on one half of the double doors. Daylight Gleam’s hoof was on the other. Together the two of them shared a brief glance and a nod before they pushed open the heavy wooden doors that led into the port’s community center. Loud music, yelling, and raucous laughter roared out at them from inside the building. The five stood there with what almost felt like the forceful winds of a tornado blasting at them. Blinking to get their bearings right and make sure they weren’t just seeing or imagining things, they took a look at what was going on. That mare was right about them turning this place into a big party house. Dozens of ponies, maybe upwards of fifty that were pirates, crowded the main floor of the building. Though there were several balconies up above and doors leading to back rooms, the large chamber had been completely converted into a den for the pirates. Tables full of pirates gambling with cards and dice, drinking and smoking cigars, laughing and shouting at each other, a few fights and brawls had even broken out that were being watched and laughed at by others. On the ceiling a few pegasi pirates even swung from chandeliers that hung over the chamber. There was a stage at the back of the chamber that a band of clearly forced civilians were playing on with a mix of things like pianos, guitars, and trombones. A lot of mares dressed up in silks and lascivious outfits carried drinks and food from table to table or danced for the amusement of the pirates. And furthermore they hadn’t even noticed yet that they had been intruded upon. Rainbow Dash and the others stepped through the doors and let them close shut behind them and still nobody so much as spared them a glance, so caught up in their merriment and debauchery. Rainbow Dash pretty much just rolled her eyes as she took the scene in. They didn’t have time for this silliness and such cartoonish and rambunctious behavior from some upjumped pirates. She brought a hoof to her mouth and whistled loudly to get their attention. It didn’t work. Frowning, she cupped her hooves around her mouth. “Hey, pirates!” She loudly yelled through the community center. That didn’t get their attention either. “Oh for the love of—Daylight? Can you get their attention?” Rainbow asked the unicorn. “Right away,” Daylight sighed and put some magic into her horn. It lit up blue for a moment before she shot what was essentially a flare up at the ceiling of the community center. Her aptitude for light-manipulation coming in handy once more, the flare sparkled and bright beams of light shot throughout the chamber, dazzling the pirates and making many of them see spots if they had the misfortune of looking directly at it when it went off. That flare brought the music, fighting, and other partying to a stop as most of the pirates looked around and tried to figure out what just happened. “Okay, now maybe this time...” Rainbow Dash said before whistling loudly once more. “Yo, up front!” Dozens of heads now turned to look at Rainbow Dash and the others. Pirates and civilian alike. Senax wilted slightly under all the attention and Daylight frowned in mild annoyance, but otherwise their group stood strong. Murmurs quickly started to spread through the convocation as the pirates wondered what was up and who these interlopers were. Considering they didn’t immediately all rush to attack or anything else dumb, Rainbow figured these guys must be feeling pretty relaxed after Ullsorth had been “officially” taken over. The fact that most of them were clearly drunk as skunks also probably helped. More of them shared dumbfounded and suspicious looks while the civilians furtively glanced back and forth or tried to slink away to less crowded parts of the chamber. Seeing that she now did indeed have their attention, Rainbow Dash smiled. “Alright, let’s keep this simple. Is there a pirate named Steel Hoof here?” She asked them. A lot of pirates stood out of their seats when she asked that and a lot of very unfriendly glares were thrown her way. The tension in the community center was growing thicker by the second. Rainbow Dash stood casually despite all that, not showing any fear. The pirates seemed to be sizing her and the others up and waiting for any excuse, any twitch or signal, or order, to deal with this big mouth pegasus and her friends. “Who wants to know?” The deep, masculine, voice came from the right of the chamber and a stallion stood up from one of the tables. As he walked to a more open part of the floor, other pirates stepped out of his way to give him room. Rainbow Dash took an appraising look at him—an earth pony with a silver coat and slightly off-white mane and tail. He was older, almost elderly, but his eyes were still sharp. Rainbow Dash stepped forward as well to stand in front of her friends. “Rainbow Dash does. We’ve got some business with another friend of yours. Admiral Redbeard, if you know him?” As soon as she mentioned his name the grumbling from the other pirates grew much more intense and quite a few took a few steps towards her looking like they wanted a fight. Steel Hoof however stomped his hoof on the floor to reign them in. “Stop that and calm yourselves down, we’re not just some savages anymore, are we? Ullsorth is our country so let’s act a little more respectable for its sake,” He said to the pirates. Then an eyebrow was raised at Rainbow Dash. “And what do you want with the admiral? He’s one of the central figures of our new government. I—as High General Steel Hoof—recommend that you speak your next words wisely.” “High General?” Daylight said. “Are you guys just making up ranks or something?” Steel Hoof coughed. “No, we’re just working out our new system.” “Anyways,” Rainbow cut back in. “Admiral or not, important dude or not, he stole from us and our friend. We came to Ullsorth to get it back, so where is he?” She narrowed her eyes at the High General. Quite a few of the pirates turned to look to their High General to see what his reaction would be to that. “Oh I see,” Steel Hoof narrowed his eyes right back at Rainbow Dash. “Well you know, The Democratic Ponies Republic of Ullsorth is a sovereign nation. I’m not sure if one of our most cheered leaders will simply give away his belongings. If you want, you can perhaps go to Malkonrik, or Tyne, or one of the other Kingdoms and contact their governments to try and set up a negotiation or trade with our own newly formed government. And of course, regardless of how that turns out I obviously can’t allow you to personally meet with the Admiral over such a… petty and potentially contentious matter.” Rainbow Dash simply nodded her head a few times at his words. She glanced behind herself at Daylight and the others, shrugging. “I mean, that’s pretty fair right?” “He has a decent position,” Gilbert agreed. “As a government official that Admiral Redbeard is probably pretty busy too,” Breakwater said. “Yep,” Rainbow said and looked back at High General Steel Hoof. “You make a good point, you know? Not like I can blame you for wanting to keep us away and let Redbeard keep the stuff he stole. You’re kind of wrong about one thing though.” “And what would that be?” Steel Hoof asked. “It’s not “potentially” contentious. It’s definitely a contentions matter. And we’re not about to turn around and go back to Malkonrik,” Rainbow Dash glared defiantly at the High General and also gazed at many of the other pirates who had realized the atmosphere in here just took another turn. “So I’m only going to ask again one more time. Nicely. Where’s Admiral Redbeard?” Steel Hoof rolled his tongue over his teeth and glanced to the pirates to his right and left. He didn’t nod, or wink, but just the look was enough to apparently tell them all they needed to know. The pirates that had so far remained seated started to rise, and the ones already standing tensed up and kept quiet. At last Steel Hoof once again opened his mouth. “The five of you really want to go down this road? It’s not going to end well.” “For some of us,” Rainbow said right back. There was more quiet in the community center for the next minute, the only noises being the musicians, dancers, and waitresses shuffling around and trying to find an exit as quietly as possible. Behind Rainbow Dash, Senax also slinked behind Gilbert. Steel Hoof didn’t move yet, and neither had any of his pirates, but Rainbow could see a few drops of sweat and shifting eyes coming from the fifty-strong band. They didn’t frighten or worry her one bit. From all the places she had been, all the enemies she had fought, she recognized dangerous opponents when she saw them. And stooges when she saw them too. These pirates barely even qualified for that. With a sudden yell, the group of pirates closest to the front door ran out at them. Rainbow Dash stood her ground, her reflexes and eyes practically allowing her to see them move in slow-motion. It also helped that a lot of them, most even, were drunk and stumbling over each other. A smirk came to her face in the second before they reached her. This is what she wanted after all—genuine fighting practice. The first pirate reached close enough to draw back his hoof and strike her—so all in one swift movement, Rainbow Dash pivoted on her hooves, turned around, and bucked him in the face with her two powerful back legs. The crunch was audible, a broken muzzle at the least, and the pirate was launched backwards into his friends like a bowling ball. He knocked over at least a dozen behind him before coming to rest on the floor and also bumped away the other ones who had been closest to attack Rainbow Dash. They now paused and reconsidered what they were doing. So Rainbow Dash just turned around again with the mocking smirk still on her face and looked at them. “That’s why I said some of us. Now have you gotten the message or are we going to keep doing it, you posers.” “Get her!” Steel Hoof ordered this time. “We outnumber em’ ten to one! Just rush em’ already!” The pirates didn’t need to be yelled at twice and the remaining ones on their hooves got back into gear and ran at Rainbow Dash. She shrugged. “Guess it’s still going to be done the hard way.” The next pirate that came at her threw a punch at her head. Rainbow Dash ducked under it and grabbed his hoof, throwing him into the pirate that had been charging at her from the opposite side. A group of four more pirates rushing at them suddenly found themselves tripping and stumbling over each other as they collapsed to the floor, bands of powder blue magic around the hooves of the ponies in front yanking them down when they tried running. Rainbow Dash shot a grin and a nod at Daylight, who just smirked right back at her. Two pegasus pirates flew in from overhead but were intercepted by Gilbert—who not being a great fighter himself simply crashed into them with his superior bulk. It worked. All three of them crashed to the ground, upending tables and chairs in the chamber and knocking over a few other pirates as they fell. Breakwater was the only one besides Rainbow Dash actually doing any real fighting. A drunken pirate came up to take a swing at him only to get punched across the jaw and collapse in a dazed heap. Still it was Rainbow Dash doing most of the work. She was like a rainbow lightning bolt moving through the crowd of pirates trying to swarm over them. At times it was almost like there were three or four of her thanks to how she blurred through the group, and her limbs might have doubled or tripled as she smashed the pirates to the ground and blocked any retaliatory strikes that were actually quick enough to reach her. It wasn’t exactly good for practicing her fighting technique or skills, but her reflexes were being put to the test thanks to the sheer amount of ponies against her. Decent enough. She wasn’t expecting such lowly pirates to be a real challenge in that way. As much as she wanted to face off against more ponies who actually knew how to fight to improve herself this wasn’t exactly the place for that. One pirate came up behind Rainbow Dash with a chair raised over his head and smashed it down at her. She grabbed another pirate and swung around, pulling herself away and putting him right in the chair’s path instead. Wham! The sound of breaking wood followed by a drunken “Oops.” made Rainbow Dash grin. “Come on, come on, aren’t you guys supposed to be the fighting force of a real country now? Why don’t you try and prove you aren’t just Godfrey’s rejects!” Rainbow Dash taunted the whole group circled around her. “I’m not even really using my wings yet!” A brave unicorn pirate took her up on the challenge, levitating a few goblets and throwing them at her. Feeling decent enough to indulge him, Rainbow Dash jumped up out of the way and flew around as more ponies started chucking objects at her and a few of the remaining pegasus pirates came to follow her. One more thrown goblet she kicked away with her hoof into the face of a pursuing pegasus and caused him to crash to the ground. Another she let get close only to suddenly slow down and flip over, letting him glide right above her as she punched him in the stomach and watched him sail into the center’s wall before he could stop himself. Some unicorns tried firing beams of magic at her besides just throwing stuff but none tried to actually telekinetically grab and stop her. They were either too inebriated or just too slow. Even if they weren’t, Rainbow doubted any of them had the strength to actually stop her. The sounds of more roughhousing brought her attention back to the front of the community center where she saw her friends starting to get slightly overwhelmed by the drunken pirates. Though she had grabbed the attention of most, it seemed a few of the smarter ones had realized it would be easier to deal with her friends. Rainbow Dash frowned and clicked her tongue before zooming over to help ease the pressure. She didn’t need to do a ton, Daylight and Breakwater both had a decent handle on things. She just didn’t want to allow the possibility of the pirates getting to Senax. Rainbow Dash flew in from behind at a fast speed, before the pirates could even register she was coming at them, and kicked a few heads in the back row as she went by. Those ponies collapsed to the ground, some falling forward and taking out the pirates in front of them too. That got the attention of the other pirates and it made it easy for Breakwater and Daylight to deal with them thanks to the distraction. Rainbow dropped back to the floor and looked over at Steel Hoof, her eyes narrowing at him. A number of pirates were still between the two of them but as soon as they saw Rainbow’s glare they stepped out of the way. Steel Hoof blew a disgruntled breath out of his mouth and reached over to a table, pulling up a cutlass from it. “So you think you’re hot stuff for beating on some drunks?” “Buddy, I could say so many things to you right now, but instead all I’m going to do is ask you to put down the sword and answer me again. Okay? Cause you pirates can act big all you want, but I think we know by now how things are going to go,” Rainbow said. As if to punctuate her words, Daylight tossed a pirate over her head and onto the floor while Gilbert bashed a chair over another. “Pretty clear that there’s a reason why you guys just took to bullying the helpless ponies here,” Rainbow said. “Don’t look down on us! We rule this Kingdom now!” Steel Hoof yelled and ran at her with cutlass in hoof. His charge seemed to work up the others around him as well and they came rushing at her too. Maybe ten drunken and tired pirates were running for her rainbow mane. The drunks reached her first and Rainbow Dash blocked and deflected numerous hooves thrown her way. At her face, her body, her legs, she didn’t let a single blow actually land on her and in turn she shot out wickedly fast punches at the rushing pirates to knock them out cold one by one. Broken teeth and spurts of blood flew onto the floor, she wasn’t holding back at all. It was almost embarrassing how easily she handled them. But it was their own faults’ as they had just come at her practically one at a time in a line. Suddenly the next pony in line running at her was Steel Hoof with his cutlass going right for her neck. Rainbow Dash decided the games were over. She didn’t duck under the blade, instead her hoof flashed out and smacked into his holding the handle of the sword. It flew up and out of his grip, spinning end over end before coming down and impaling itself into the floor right in front of the eyes of a very lucky pirate. She then grabbed Steel Hoof’s hoof and twisted, nearly breaking his fetlock. “Gh!” He grunted in pain and winced as Rainbow Dash glared right into his face. “I’m going to put this as simply as possible since it’s probably the only way any ponies as dumb as you guys will understand. But there’s a very clear reason why when after destroying all the other pirate crews, Godfrey didn’t pick you up to join him on The Scourge,” Rainbow Dash took in a deep breath and winded back her other hoof. “You.” Smack! “Just.” Smack! “Don’t.” Smack! “Have.” Smack! “What.” Smack! “It.” Smack! “Takes!” Smack! On the last punch, Steel Hoof went careening backwards and smashed into a table, sending all the drinks, cards, and everything else on it flying. Rainbow Dash calmly strode forth towards him and this time picked him up by his mane. His dazed eyes and broken face looked back at her as his limbs hung limp and the other pirates around them were too shocked to intervene. “Now that that’s out of the way, High General, how about telling me where Redbeard is this time?”