Waking up the next morning Poppy joined Captain Compass and Seargent Storm Surge in the galley of the Crystal Palace. The galley was a hub of activity with the newly recruited crew was having their last breakfast before setting sail. Their breakfast consisted of stale salted tack bread and some candied fruits while the officers were served with fresh fruit and a small salad. Poppy was glad that she was served the fresh food as the crew's meal looked just revolting.
Poppy had come directly from Smooth Silks flat after having spent most of the night looking through Commander True Norths notes. The notes had been thorough but lacked the hard evidence Poppy needed to take to the Seargent. Poppy had left Smooth Silks flat early that morning so she would be able sneak back on to the Crystal Palace without raising suspension. Having left the flat so early had meant Smooth Silk had still been asleep and so that’s why Poppy had a large helping of food on her tray. Poppy had unfortunately been unable to say goodby to Smooth Silk when she left so she had left a letter saying that she would see her again when the ship hopefully made it back to port safely. After a moment of scanning for the captain Poppy found him sitting in his usual spot with the seargent across from him. The two officers greeted her as she took a seat next to the captain. Poppy sat her tray down on the table but continued holding her coffee, taking a long sip from the mug. The strong coffee went down smoothly and helped push back some of the grogginess of the morning. The aroma of the coffee filled her nose and helped relax her.
“Long night Mrs. Poppy? Were you up with that cute flank of yours. What is her name? Oh yes Smooth Silk.”
Poppy said nothing to him, she was just too tired although it occurred to her that she had never said anything about Smooth Silk to him. Poppy did not have time to dwell on that question as the doctor came over and joined them all at the table. The unicorn found a seat opposite Poppy giving her a nod as he sat down. Poppy returned the gesture giving a wan smile back. The officers and Poppy sat eating their breakfast while discussing what was left to do before the ship departed. The captain assigned each of the officers and Poppy to different parts of the ship. The sergeant was of course assigned to command the ship's fliers. The doctor would oversee the ship's medical needs. The captain had already assigned several ponies to help the doctor as medics and nurses. Poppy had not expected to be assigned to help with anything, so she had not been paying much attention until she heard her name.
“I am sorry did you say something?” Poppy asked as she realized every pony was staring at her.
“Yes Mrs. Poppy. You will be commanding the gun crews.” He answered.
Poppy's mouth fell open. She had no military experience outside of basic training with small arms. She could tell he was serious, and so she simply nodded, accepting the command. With all their assignments given, the captain left to head up to the main deck. The ship would be departing soon so each of the officers finished their breakfasts and departed the galley. The doctor and Poppy were eventually left alone at the table using the opportunity Poppy leaned across the table and whispered to the doctor filling him in on what she had found reading the commander's notes. The two ponies agreed to keep watching the captain. They still needed more evidence that he was a traitor.
After the two separated Poppy made her way up to the quarter deck where the captain was just about to order the ship to set sail. A crew pony approached the captain just as Poppy took a spot near the back rail.
“Anchors are up and ready to sail captain.” A light blue unicorn crew pony hollered from the main deck.
Poppy felt the ship lurch as the anchor was raised and the main sail was unfurled under the captain's gaze. The last thing the captain ordered was the empire's banner unfurled and raised. Poppy watched as the snowflake embroidered flag was raised up the main mast.
The ship moved out into the harbor from its berth and Poppy began to feel the sea air blow through her mane. The cool breeze felt good against her coat. The Crystal Palace moved into the main channel of the harbor moving towards the open sea. Just as it had not so long ago. The Crystal Palace passed by the gun emplacements at the mouth of the harbor the soldiers waving as they sailed by.
Poppy had been staring out at the receding land when Captain Compass came up behind her. She felt his presence as he walked up. Looking at her for a moment, seeming to stare at her body like a hungry animal, but then he turned towards the sea and closed his eyes. She kept looking at him. He couldn’t be bad, could he, she thought. He was the very embodiment of the term hero. He fought for Equestrian he would have died for the empire. She continued to look at him. He finely seemed to notice
“Thank you Mrs. Poppy I know that signing those orders was hard for you to do and you have your doubts but trust me when I say that you are saving the lives of my crew today and to me nothing is more important than those who serve under me.”
The sincerity in his voice took Poppy off guard but she said nothing even a traitor might still care for his crew, she thought. The two ponies stood in silence for a time. The captain had opened his eyes and was staring out into the horizon as the land continued to shrink behind the ship. Poppy was not so interested in the land so much as she was interested in him, unfortunately for her the captain noticed her staring.
“Mrs. Poppy will you please stop with your staring. I know that I look good, but it will give the crew some rather poor ideas.” Poppy rolled her eyes he just had to ruin the moment with some stupid flirty joke.
“You know what Mrs. Poppy I think it would be best if you wore a uniform since you will be serving as an officer.” Poppy was caught a little off guard by his sudden change in conversation but quickly refocused and agreed that was fine with her.
With her agreement the captain led Poppy down to True Norths Quarters where he rummaged through one of his trunks pulling out a Crystal navy uniform. True North was a rather small stallion and so his uniform fit her rather tightly around her barrel and flank. The captain also produced a hat. The hat was beige wide brim with one side pinned up. She recognized the type of hat from her time in history class as belonging to the Crystal Legion. Putting on the uniform she found it showed off her athletic body in places that she would rather not have as a focus. Poppy found a mirror on the commander's desk. Taking a long look at herself she felt a bit uncomfortable with the whole thing except the hat she thought went well with her red bow. She knew that the uniform would gain her some unwanted attention with the mostly male crew, and she was right as the two of them came back out onto the main deck ponies stared as she trotted by. The captain noticed the looks and gave the crew a death glare as they passed. After that the looks stopped and no pony expect the captain paid her tight uniform any mind. The two of them trotted up to the quarter deck where the captain gathered the crew that would be under Poppy's command. The coordinates of the pirate fortress were still about ten days from their current location even with the wind being favorable. The ten days he explained would be used to teach them how to run the ships' guns. The captain led the group of thirty ponies and griffins down to the ship's gun deck. The deck had received the most repairs while docked in Dear Hollow. The ship had also received several larger guns that now took up a significant portion of the deck. The captain broke the thirty creatures gathered into ten groups each was then assigned their gun positions. The captain had Poppy stand at the bow end of the deck where she could supervise and order the gun crews. Captain Compass showed how to load and prepare the guns to fire. Once he had taught the basics the captain ordered a long boat into the water to be used for target practice. With the longboat in position Poppy gave the order to take aim and fire. The loud noise of ten cannons going off rattle up Poppy spine and the smoke caused her to cough loudly as she tried to breath it in. Poppy hacked on the air until the smoke cleared. Looking out one of the portholes Poppy found that all of her crew's shots had missed. She had her crew reload and try again. She would drill the crew until they could hit the longboat with great accuracy. It was late by the time Poppy had dismissed her crew for the night. She was hot and sweaty. Her fur was matted, and she smelled of gun powder. The gun crews had made progress and were now able to hit the longboat with about half of their shots. Poppy took her time heading back to her cabin. As she walked by the captain's cabin, he stepped out greeting her with a smile.
“Mrs. Poppy would you care to join me for dinner tonight?” He asked.
“I don’t know captain I need to clean up and I am very tired.” She answered.
“Thats fine why don’t you clean up and come back.” Poppy nodded her head before continuing to walk back to her cabin. Arriving at her cabin Poppy took off her uniform, its fabric was covered in black soot from the cannon smoke. After she had taken her uniform off Poppy found the mirror sitting on her desk. She looked at herself, her fur was stained black and her once green coat was hardly visible under the grease and soot. Poppy used a washcloth that was sitting by the room's washbasin and started to clean herself. Wiping away the soot off her mane her mind wondered back to Contrail how it had only been a few days since she had been preening her wings and now, she was dead. Poppy shook her head trying to clear away the train of thought. Poppy set the now dirty washcloth down. Removing her bows from her mane and tail, Poppy picked up her brush and started to comb her matted fur. Once her fur was combed Poppy put her bows back in place. Checking the time on the desk clock Poppy figured that it was time to go meet the captain in his quarters. On her way there she stopped by the ship's stateroom. The room had been back to its original state after the fire had caused extensive damage. Poppy looked around until she found what she noticed the shot glasses on the far wall. The glasses had been untouched even through everything the ship had been through. Poppy slowly walked to the shot glasses. When she got to the shelf, she grabbed one of the glasses in her hoof. Rotating it back and forth in her hoof staring at the empty glass. Sitting the glass down on the table behind her Poppy then turned and grabbed the key to the liquor cabinet. Opening the cabinet Poppy found the bottle of Wild Pegasus. Taking the bottle Poppy proceeded to pour a shot into the glass that had belonged to Commander Contrail. Raising the glass Poppy said a silent prayer for Contrail.
“I wish I could have known you better Contrail. I am so sorry I couldn’t help.” She smiled a sad smile and then downed the shot before refilling it and placing the glass back on the shelf. It was a tradition of officers to leave the filled glass as a last drink for the fallen. Poppy did put much stock in these types of traditions, but she knew that most sailors did, and the commander seemed like one who would appreciate such things. With her task completed Poppy left the room. Poppy found the captain's cabin and raised her hoof to knock. Knock, knock. The captain's voice came through the door.
“Come in.” The captains voice said from the other side of the door.
Poppy trotted into the cabin; and was surprised to discover the captain had set out candles on the table in the middle of his cabin. Looking around she found he had laid out the ships fine china which she figured he had stolen from the princess's cabin. Poppy cautiously moved further into the cabin, her eyes wandering until she noticed the captain behind his desk in a dress uniform. Poppy paused as she approached the table looking at the food he had prepared. Poppy was unsure what to do. Looking towards the captain she stared at him thoughtfully. He cleaned up nicely, she thought, but warning bells continued to go off in her head.
“Errerm.” Poppy cleared her throat trying to get the captain's attention.
The captain nearly leapt out of his chair as she cleared her throat. Poppy fell back on her haunches laughing at the look of the captain's face.
“I am terribly sorry captain, but you looked so engrossed in your papers I did not want to distract you but, I have to say that was funny.”
It's quite alright Mrs. Poppy I was just catching up on some paperwork.” He said smiling at her. The captain got out of his chair. He approached Poopy taking her hoof and guiding her to the table. The captain, being the gentalcolt that he could be pulled out the chair guiding her in.
“Wow captain I have to say it appears that being in charge sure comes with some perks.”
“Well not exactly. I had to let's say borrow some of this from the princess private quarters.” He said sheepishly.
Poppy could not believe that the captain would break into the princess cabin again this time for silverware. The captain took a seat across the table from her. The two ate in silence for a while until the captain made some remark about Smooth Silk. She decided to ask him how he knew about the two of them. He just smiled and waved off the question. She realized he was never going to answer her, so she changed the subject to the reason they were sharing a meal together.
“So, captain what is our plan for confronting the pirates and rescuing the crew?
The captain stared at her for a moment contemplating the question. Rather then answer he look that sent a shiver down her spine. Panic quickly set in. Poppys mind quickly began to look for an exit. He had to know that she suspected him, didn’t he? Before she could bolt the captain got up as he began to talk.
“Well Mrs. Poppy I have come up with a plan and it involves you and me.” He said getting up. He stalked towards her like a predator stalks towards its prey. Shrinking into her seat he came up behind her.
“So here is my plan. You me alone with you screaming out my name. The heat in Poppy's cheeks flared as she felt his strong hooves on her shoulders. The fear began to consume her. He was going to kill her because she knew too much.
The captain now stood behind her with his hooves slowly rubbing circles on her back. The fear lifted and she realized that he didn't know that she thought he was a traitor, instead he just wanted to sleep with her. Suddenly a whole new emotion and different type of fear began to consume her but the rubbing along her back was starting to relax her, and she started to melt into his message. His caress became a little more forceful as he roughly turned her to face him. Before she could do anything, he moved with the speed of lighting as his lips kissed hers. The kiss was long, hard and a little rough. She still moaned into it, feeling his fur against hers. The kiss only ended so they both could both come up to breathe. The captain looked at Poppy panting from the kiss before saying just one word.
“Wow.”
Poppy tried to real in her lust for the strong stallion, but it had been such a long time since she had been able to be with a pony in that way. She had enjoyed spending time with Smooth Silk and Contrail, but she had enjoyed their company as friends and not in a sexual way. The cabin they were in was one of the largest quarters on board the ship expects of course the princesses and as such he had a relatively large bed. This is where Poppy found herself as the two moved from where they had been eating to the soft mattress. Poppy was the first to lay down. She figured he may be a traitor, but he was good looking and what did it matter if she slept with him. Giving him her best sultry look. He trotted around to the end of the bed. He used his magic to flip her onto her back giving her a little thrill as she was roughly handled by his magic. He then slowly began to crawl up beside her planting little kisses on her fur as he went. Swishing her tail in excitement and anticipation as he went. The heat in her cheeks began to spread through her body. Poppy could feel herself getting hotter and hotter. The captain slowly made his way up to her lips. The two kissed their lips meeting together as they held each other. The thoughts of the captain being a traitor drifted off as she melted into him. Tonight, she would just relax and be with the captain but tomorrow back to believing he may be evil.