High Tide, Low Company

by MacDragon

Chapter 1

The salty air tousled the diminutive stallion’s mane as he guided his ship, HMS Bonnie Lass, through the warm summer waters of Bridle Shores. Gulls, along with any number of seabirds could be heard and seen around the ship as they plied the waters, and to the crews chagrin, the ship itself, in their search of food.

The pleasant breeze did well to keep the strong noon sun from cooking the crew. Only a few puffy white clouds could be seen in the calm blue sky. If one watched close enough they could pick out the local mail pegasai as they made their runs between the coastal towns.

The coast itself was as calm and peaceful as the sky, the waters lapping at the shores in a lazy manner. This made for good beach conditions that nopony was willing to waste. Any number of them patrolled the sandy beaches and swam in the calm waters. Earth, Pegasai, Unicorns and even the occasional Gryphon could be spotted in the surf or secluded in ones or twos.

The attitude on board the Bonnie Lass was much the same. The crew went about their duties with practiced ease, each member confident of their ability to complete their assigned tasks with the expected quality and care. The Captain made his way around the ship to ensure its functionality and make sure she was presentable. Everypony on deck was respectful, regardless of the fact he, even fully grown, was half their size or less. He’d earned it in their years of service to the crown as protectors of the cost. Even though technically they were privateers, the only ones that had to fear them were other, less honorable sea faring crews. Pirates and cutthroats, they were feared on the coastal areas. Rare they were and good at covering trail, but recently the attacks and raids had been less and less.

Things were changing in the world. Steam power was becoming more and more prevalent. At least in the sense of travel and business, merchant ships were faster now, harder for the pirates to catch, it was a bad time to be a brigand. Even the Royal Canterlot Fleet was now outfitted with steam engines to power their ships of the line. But even when offered, the Captain had turned them down. The Bonnie Lass was a ship unto its own. All sails and skill.

Truth be told as great as steam power was it was plagued with problems at sea. Something about the water didn’t agree with their systems. Blowouts were frequent. Corrosion was rampant if not caught quickly. Each ship of the line in the Canterlot Navy was fully outfitted with a special team of unicorns just to care for the engine rooms alone. It was a monumental task, one that the captain was not willing to maintain. His ship was faster than most of the fleet’s best. His crew was tight, and skilled. What they lacked in ponypower, they made up for in knowledge.

His crew was as different as steam was from sail too; Zebras, earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasai. Their backgrounds ranged just as much. Not all of them were equestrian background. The Zebras, for instance, hailed from a land far to the south past the Sea of Eternity. Twins, with a knack for solving tight spots and eyes of detail, Zanza was the oldest; his brother Danza was one minute younger. Both were of identical black and white stripe patterns, a rare occurrence in their species as he understood.

Then there was the Bull, the ships gunner, a giant of a creature, with horns to boot and a foul temper to back them. Bull listened to no one but the captain unless told to do so.

Next up was their surgeon, Quickfix, who most of them called ‘Quix’. A rough and tumble sorts with magic to heal anything but the most grievous of wounds in a jiffy. His white coat stood in relief against the dark tones of the ship.

Then there was their Master at Arms, Radko. A big earth pony with a deep navy coat and teal mane, he was a kind, quite but stern, sort and could hold attention when he spoke, his deep Hooviet Union accent saw to that. Perhaps the only other pony besides the captain that Bull would listen to.

Their lead storm watcher, a Pegasai, was an energetic young mare, Storm Wing; hailed from Windsoar. She was a magnificent weather Pegasus who had a gift of knowing what turns the weather both on sea and land would take, a valuable asset to his crew just like her partner Radko.

At the helm stood a unicorn, mare, purple coat, golden eyes and mane. Their best helmsstallion, or in this case helmsmare, next to the captain himself that is.
The rest of the crew was working about below decks and in the rigging. Most of the deck hands were newer to his ship. Good sailors though.

The Captain made his rounds, inspecting work and assisting himself where he could. Helping haul on ropes from the hold as they loaded the cargo more securely below decks. He helped Bull rotate one of the specialized canons at the front of the ship. A recent action had disabled the turntable it sat on. They’d acquired a new rotation mechanism while they were docked in New Saddle and it needed calibrating.

The ship itself was something the Captain was proud of. The Bonnie Lass was one of a kind compared to all the other ships in the Royal Navy. Sleek and fast. Speed was her tool, stealth her ally. Where many brigand ships were designed to be tough and large, the Bonnie Lass was quick and nimble, able to turn on a bit in calm or rough seas alike, her bark. The bite came from the 18 guns she housed. Eight stationed on her deck on either side. They did the main work when they were close to another ship. Six of them shot solid shot on either side, also able to be switched out for mast breaker shot as well if required.

Their up close and personal armament was a new style of cannon devised by their Technician, a Unicorn by the Name of Nixx. He called them blaze cannons. They fired gouts of flame, he’d explained it once, they really expelled a thick gel that upon contact with air ignited into flames. It was sticky and could wreak havoc on a hostile ship in close combat. The Captain had been stand offish about their installation in the beginning; for fear that it could also damage their own vessel. But Nixx had thought of that before hand and had provided the crew with a salve to scrub into the ships decking. Once they had properly applied it to the ship, and the wood absorbed it, the fire gel, even when ignited, simply slid right off the ship. The cannons were permanent now.

Back to the helm stood a unicorn; they were from the same town, they had grown up together. She had been one of his closest friends for most of his life. They were a lot closer than that now though, even with all his protest of her safety nothing he could say could keep her on land. But she was tough and had handled herself in many actions, sometimes better than the stallions! He looked back, she was already looking him in the eye and gave him a knowing wink. He smiled back and continued his task at hand.

The day had been full of exhaustive work. After their last action, they had stopped at the port of New Saddle to rearm and to grant his crew some much needed shore leave after their long time at sea. After a few days of rest and refit they were getting back into the groove that was sea life. Sails needed tending, rigs getting replaced with new rope and equipment. The food needed stored and sorted. As did the cannon powder, cannonballs, and fire gel. Once all was settled the crews would be released to have dinner and sleep. Night watch would be posted and anchor dropped. The next day would be spent running warm-ups for action to get the crew re-warmed for raising and lowering sails, cannon cycling, and proper boarding action repel response. It would be a grueling day of work but they would be better off for it. Preparation was the key to life and death at sea.
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Dinner was a rowdy occasion. There was a full spread of fresh food on the table before them. The grog was passed out heartily, the crew had earned it. They had ended up ahead of schedule by the end of the day. Everything was stored, the sails and rigging was tight, and it was all set and ready for sailing. The crew had worked hard and the Captain was proud. The cook had even outdone himself.

There was a hearty peel of laughter from down the table, the captain looked up from his own goblet to see their technician performing one of the crews favorite tricks of magic. They never seemed to tire of it. They all placed their goblets in the center of their table and then sat back in their chairs, quite as foals.

Nixx would lean forward, focusing on the circle of filled goblets and with a slight bit of concentration would cast his spell. The goblets levitated outward in a spinning circle, slowly at first then gaining speed as they began to circle their respective owner’s heads. At this point each crewmember would do their best not to move or blink. The first to do so ended up with a face full of grog. This would go on till the last cup of grog was still spinning, whoever was the last pony left would be declared the winner, each pony who had lost would then try to toss a bit into the cup as it slowed down, those who made it would get to save their bit, those who missed lost it to the pony with the grog.

The winner was usually their master at arms, they knew it too but they always tried their best to shake him, tonight was no different. They told jokes, offered payoffs, even went as far as to call him names and poke him with their food. He was a stallion of steel and would not be shaken though. And he rarely ever was. Tonight though the Captain, and the crew, were surprised though. After all their bantering and prodding they had finally given in and were readying their bits for the toss. None got a chance though. It was just before the cup slowed that Stormwing, Radko’s mare, cantered past and with a brush of her tail caused the unmovable stallion to blink and turn, just in time to catch the full cup of grog in his face. Hearty laughter tore through the cabin and they broke into their favorite drinking song.

The Captain found humor in the last verse, as he had no daughter, or children, to speak of yet. Regardless, they found great humor in the whole affair and once finished they broke into a fresh round of laughter and general humor. The rest of the dinner was just as rowdy and full of tom-foalery. The Captain was himself among the revelers, albeit, more reserved than the crew for good reason. After all, what good would a drunken Captain do for a ship? He did however join in for a few card games and story sharing.

Eventually the Captain sat back and observed the joy and laughter of his crew with a proud gleam in his eye, one could not ask for a better crew than these. As strange, quite, loud, brash, and odd some of them might be they were the best of the best as far as he was concerned. As he watched over his reveling crew the sound of hooves coming down the stairs caught his attention. He looked across the room to the stairs where he met the eyes of his helmsmare, she smiled and nodded to him, his cue it was time to retire for the evening. He stood and made his way across the deck, stopping to give word to his Master-at-Arms, Radko. “I retire for the evening, the ship is yours, and you know your job. Be gentle with my ship.” He said. Radko looked up from his card game and nodded in understanding.

The Captain made his way to the staircase and was greeted there by the mare, “I hope I did not pry you from pressing matters?” she said in good humor when looking at the scene. “No, not at all. The matters themselves are a pressing of an entirely different matter.” He replied, referring to a few of the drunken sailors with a smile. They proceeded up the stairs together but not before a loud voice shouted up to them in toast, “Oh Captain my Captain! May we ever sail the sea under your flag! To Captain Pip!” Shouted his Master-At-Arms, a rare thing indeed from a stallion so quiet, but his thick accent and boisterous toast threw the rest of the crew into it with their own toasts, “To Captain Pip and our Helmsmare Dinky! May they sail forever free!” Came the many voiced toast; then the final late toast as always from somepony in the back, “To the Bonnie Lass!” To which they all laughed and drained their cups. Captain Pip nodded his head in thanks and followed Dinky up to the top deck.

The night air was still crisp and warm, things were calm, another of their crew stood at the helm on watch. One of the Zebra twins he noted. A good choice, he looked to the prow and noted the other zebra twin, they were nigh inseparable. But he was at ease, with them on watch not even a fish could swim by without them knowing. He nodded to Dinky and she trotted ahead to the Captains quarters while he went to tell the twins he was retiring for the evening.

“I am calling it an evening; Radko has the ship, good evening gentleponies.” He said to them once they had both trotted to him.

“All shall be well; if there is trouble we have the bell.” Danza said, returning to the Helm.

“No worries to you Captian; we won’t let any harm happen.” Zanza said in equal rhyme as he trotted to the prow once more.

Pip, secure in the crew’s ability to care for the ship for the night, finally retired for the evening. Trotting into his cabin, he hung his sword and hat next to his bed as he did each night at sea. He was startled when he felt a warm nuzzle on his neck, but relaxed again and returned the nuzzle with affection.