The next morning Poppy woke to find herself lying in the captain's bed on her own. The warmth of the stallion that had been lying next to her was gone instead she felt the cool sea breeze coming in through a open porthole. Looking around she expected to find the captain at his desk, but he was nowhere to be found. Poppy got out of bed, her body felt relaxed, and she felt the glow of spending the night with another pony.
Poppy took her time leaving the captain's cabin, she figured he had already headed topside giving her time to look around. Walking over to his desk Poppy looked through the papers scattered on the top of the desk. She was not sure what she would find. Most of the papers on his desk meant nothing to her so she turned her attention to the desk drawer. Trying to pull it open Poppy found that it was locked. Poppy looked around to see if she could find anything to jimmy the lock. A metal letter opener caught her eye. Grabbing the letter opener in her mouth Poppy shoved it into the lock. With forward force and a turn, the lock opened. Poppy opened the drawer and began to look through the papers while being careful to keep them in order. Most of the documents were operational reports on the task force fighting the pirates. As Poppy set the last document down Poppy felt disappointed that there was nothing in his desk that would prove the captain was a traitor. She was just about to close the drawer when she had the idea that maybe there was something hidden under the drawer. Deciding to take one more look, Poppy pulled out the drawer. She still did not see anything until she flipped the drawer over and sure enough an envelope was taped to the bottom. Pulling the letter from the bottom of the drawer Poppy held it up to the light streaming in through a porthole. Trying to look through the envelope revealed only a few words, but it was enough for her. The letter was addressed to some pony named Iron Clad. The few words she could make out detailed the operational areas of each warship hunting down pirates and to avoid those coordinates. It was everything that the commander had said in his notes. As she continued to try and make out more of the letter a knock came through the door followed by a voice calling for her to report to the captain in fifteen minutes. Panicking Poppy quickly placed the letter back in its hiding place and left the cabin. Making her way back to her quarters Poppy put on her uniform from where she had left it the night before. Before leaving her cabin Poppy checked her appearance in the mirror. She still could see the glow around her. While the natural glow made her feel amazing her fur was scraggled. Realizing she could not go out looking the way she did. Poppy grabbed the comb off the vanity. With the brush in her mouth Poppy took a few minutes slowly brushing through her fur. With a few minutes till she needed to report to the main deck Poppy decided to get some breakfast plus she was hoping to find the doctor there as well.
The ships galley was busy as usual. The crew was eating their breakfast before they would have to report to duty. Poppy was disappointed to find the officer's table was only occupied by Corporal Intercept. Poppy grabbed a cup of coffee deciding to skip the vegetarian eggs. Poppy sat down opposite the private.
“Good Moring private. How are you doing?” Poppy asked.
“I am doing well though I don’t like being couped up on a ship.” He said. Giving her a rather sad smile.
Poppy knew that it must be hard for a pegasus to be cramped up in a ship. Poppy tried to cheer up the poor private but it was obvious the only thing that was going to brighten his day would be a long flight in the open air. Once Poppy had finished her coffee, she excused herself from the private's company. He barely even acknowledged her as she got up and left.
Poppy walked through the ship on her way up to the hatch that led out onto the ship's main deck. Stepping out onto the main deck Poppy was forced to shield her eyes from the blinding sunlight. It took a moment before her eyes had adjusted to the sun. Looking up towards the quarter deck Poppy spotted the captain talking to Sergeant Storm Surge. Poppy trotted up to the wheel where Captain Compass greeted her with a dip of his head. Poppy picked up the spyglass that was sticking out of the helm's ponies saddle bag. Looking through the polished metal tube poppy turned it out to the east before making a sweeping motion towards the west. There was nothing but open sea in every direction. Lowering the spy glass from her eye Poppy returned it to the helm's ponies saddlebag.
With nothing for her to do Poppy turned her attention to the conversation that Captain Compass and seargent were having. Poppy found their conversation concerning. It turned out that they had nearly been spotted by a Storm King ship during the night. Poppy realized that that’s why the captain had not been there in bed with her when she had woken up.
“Ship on the starboard bow!!” Yelled the lookout from the crow's nest. Everypony on the main deck stopped what they were doing and there was a wave of silence that overtook the ship. The captain and the sergeant both turned as Poppy did towards where the lookout was now pointing with his talons.
Poppy retrieved the spy glass from the helms pony again. Adjusting the optics Poppy looked through the glass eye piece. A ship suddenly sprang into view, its details were still hazy at such a distance, but Poppy could tell it was heading towards them. Lowering the spyglass, Poppy turned to look to the captain. He was still looking out of his own spyglass that he had retrieved from his sash that he wore across his barrel.
“What is it captain?” Poppy asked concern lacing her voice.
“I believe it’s a gunboat Mrs. Poppy.”
“What is your orders captain?” Asked the helms pony.
The captain was silent for a moment before ordering the ship to battle stations.
“Set a course to intercept Mr. Whirlpool.
“Mrs. Poppy please get below deck to your gun crew. Try your best to have the gun crews aim low. We need to sink that ship as fast as possible. If she is given a chance to run, they will report we are heading towards their fortress.”
“Of course, Captain.” Poppy replied snapping off a quick salute.
Poppy galloped down to the gun deck to take her position on the gun deck. The gun crews were already loading their guns as she took her spot at the bow end of the deck. Poppy started shouting orders to aim low at the gun boat's waterline. Poppy checked in with each of the gun crews making sure they were ready. A sailor ran up to Poppy from above deck. He relayed that the Crystal Palace was now within one mile and the captain was turning for a long range broadside. Poppy acknowledged the message before sending him back to the captain that her crew was ready. Within a minutes Poppy could hear the sounds of drums from the main deck. Poppy's heart began to thump in her chest. Poppy knew her crew was ready, but she still decided to check each gun one more time. The sounds of splashing began to be heard outside the hull.
Captain Compass maneuvered the Crystal Palace closer and closer to the enemy gun ship. So far, the enemies' fire was falling short of the Crystal Palace. When the two ships were within 200 yards, Poppy ordered her ponies to take aim and fire. Within seconds she heard the cannon ports swing open and the first volleys of cannon fire. The smoke was incredible in the cramped confines of the gundeck. Watching out the porthole near where she was standing Poppy watched as the seargent led the airwing across the distance towards the pirate ship. The pegasi were armed with hoof blades and cutlases. Poppy watched as they dove out of the sky, the sergeant and private intercept were leading the fliers down. The airwing went for the ropes and sails of the gunboat. Their first pass took down the ship's main sail and many of its rigging lines. The pirates knew how to defend against equestrian naval tactics. As the flier's came in close for another pass the pirates showed their skills with small arms fire. Small puffs of smoke began to billow up from the deck of the pirate ship as volleys of musket fire were shot in the direction of the attacking pegasi. Several shots hit one of the peagasi. The crippled pegasus came crashing back towards the Crystal Palace. Poppy could not see if he made it back to the ship but from the sounds of shouting above deck, she figured he had got caught in the Crystal Palaces rigging. The rest of the fliers continued to harass the gunboat but not without taking a few more wounded themselves. The airwing returned to the Crystal Palace from where Poppy was watching. She could see several of them were being supported by their fellow sailors.
The wounded passed through the gun deck on their way to the ship's surgery. One of the ponies was carried on a stretcher. Popp could see that a bullet had gone right through the muscle that attached the wing of his barrel. The wound was bleeding profusely, and the doctor was working fast using his magic to help clot the wound. The pegasus was groaning and withering in pain as the doctor continued to apply pressure on the wound.
Poppys eyes were watering and stung from the black smoke from the cannon fire.
“Keep it up. We have them now.” She bellowed at the gun crews.
The pirate ship continued firing as the two ships circled each other. The gundeck had now taken several hits. One had hit a few feet from where Poppy was standing. The shell had torn through the ship's hull creating a pony size hole. Poppy yelled to the remaining gun crew to keep firing. She then turned to the messenger who had returned from the main deck to relay another message. Poppy ordered him to get one of the overturned guns upright. He nodded before grabbing two other ponies that had been moving munitions to the gun crews to help him. The three ponies managed to turn one of the guns back upright with some effort. The two munition ponies went back to their work as Poppy took a spot next to the young stallion messenger. The two ponies worked to load the gun. It was a job normally requiring a third but the two managed to load the gun just as the pirate ship fired again. The enemy shell exploded as it came into contact with the hull of the Crystal Palace. The shell had been filled with scatter shot. The small steel balls sprayed the deck hitting Poppys and some of the gunners. Poppy watched as blood began to pool around some of the wounded. A few of the injured managed to scramble back to their hooves and through determination and force of will began to reload their guns ignoring their wounds.
Poppy started to feel warm liquid pooling around her hooves. Sparing a second to look down Poppy saw red liquid all over her hooves. Suddenly she started to feel lightheaded. Looking at herself, her eyes widened in alarm at the sight of the red blotch where one small shells from the canister shot had ripped through her hip. The wound was bleeding with a small stream of blood running down her rear leg. They had to keep the pressure on the enemy, or they would be sunk so Poppy called out for a medic. A donkey medic galloped up to her side. The burro did his best to rap her wound up as she lifted a cannon ball up to the mouth of the cannon. The cannonball rolled down the inside of the cannon. The private finished loading the gun by stuffing the cotton wad down the barrel. Poppy lit a match and the fuse. The cannon fired. The sound was deafening, and the vibrations shook her body irritating her torn hip. The two ponies worked reloading the gun and firing again. Every motion and movement of her body was painful, but Poppy gritted her teeth and pushed the pain to the back of her mind.
As the next cannon volley was fired there was a loud explosion and the Crystal Palace rocked violently from the blast. Poppy nearly lost her footing but managed to stay upright. Looking out the hole that had been blasted into the side of the hull Poppy watched as the enemy gun boat was racked by another explosion. “Hold your fire.” Poppy ordered. The roar of the cannons died down leaving an eerie silence. “Hold steady every pony” She ordered. Poppy continued to look through the haze of smoke from gun powder. The silence continued until Poppy heard the cheering from the main deck. The cheers spread throughout the ship and Poppy felt herself being swept up in the victory.