//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15. Arca De Tormenta 
// Story: A Ship-of-the-Line 
// by KonceptKarma 
//------------------------------//

	"What in tartarus is that?" Some of the crew of the Ciervan ships began asking.
"It's Arca De Tormenta, a ship of the storm!" Some yelled in panic.
"That's no warship, that's a ghost ship!" Others piped in.
"Aye, it's the ghost of that Equestrian captain those privateers killed, he's come back to take revenge!" Some answered.
"Stow it you maggots!" An officer yelled, "It's one of them versus all of us, there's no way we can loose!" The crews loaded their ship's guns in preparation. 
Aboard the Hunter, Gallant calmly turned to Carronade.
"Let's test out these new howitzers." He told him.
"Aye," The unicorn turned to the crew, "make ready the howitzers!" The crew loaded the shells, it was a much simpler, quicker process than loading a cannon. In seconds they were ready to fire.
"Fire!" Gallant called. The two massive guns thundered out as the shells headed towards their targets. Two ships in the Ciervan formation suddenly bucked as the shells impacted their decks. The effect of the shells hitting the hulls had a much stronger effect than the crew thought they would. Punching clean through all of their targets decks, and sinking them quickly. 
"I feel as though we're too far away." Celestia spoke up, "Let's get a little more personal." As she spoke, a swell began to form under the Hunter. She moved to storm cloud forward and enveloped the ship in it's thick fog. The swell pushed the ship forward at very high speed, directly towards the enemy line. The Ciervan crews began to panic as the cloud drew closer. Eventually the cloud enveloped the entire line of ships. 
Aboard one of the ships, the captain called out to the lookout, "Can you see anything?"
"No sir," They responded, "I can't see a... oh no, look out!" The captain turned just in time to the the Hunter spring forth from the fog off the bow, battering ram aimed straight for them. The ships collided with a crack, although unlike the last time the ship rammed another, this ship split like a knife running through butter. The design of the ram really was incredible. It was one thing to half a ship from the side, but straight on, it had never been even remotely thought of. The fog suddenly cleared around the ships, revealing the Hunter floating over the wreckage of it's target. The two closest ships fired their guns at the hunter, but as the round shot drew close, it slowed, and stopped in mid-flight. Every shot had been stopped by Celestia, levitated carefully by her magic. The shot then suddenly reversed course, and flew back towards the ships that fired them, only at a much higher velocity than any cannon could hope to fire. The shot punched through one, two, three, four ships on each side in the line. Gallant could then feel the swells build up underneath the ship again, dragging it down the line of warships, spinning it around on a dime faster then anyone thought possible for the man o' war. She brought the ship's guns to bear on the next ship down the line. The Hunter's guns roared and cracked as the broadside collided with their target. So far, with no effort whatsoever, Celestia had managed to sink ten enemy warships. Gallant counted, about thirty remained. She wheeled the ship on a dime, spinning it's guns to bear on each target, and sinking them with precision accuracy. It was a frankly frightening sight to watch, a massacre even. Gallant could hardly believe his eyes as each ship was punched open by the Hunter's cannon fire. Eventually, she the number down to three. All of which decided to retreat. Instead of allowing them to escape, Celestia fired the howitzers at them, sinking all but one. She then spread her wings, and flew onto the deck on the last remaining ship. The sailors raised their muskets in fear of their attacker. Her magic flared again, grasping each musket, forcing it away from them, and turning it upon them.
In Ciervan, she spoke, "If any of you want to live, tell me who you're captain is?" 
One deer stepped forward, "I am the captain." He shook as he spoke. 
"Good, then you can relay a message for me," She smirked at him, "tell your king that he is to surrender complete control of the Eternal Strait over to the Equestrian Empire, otherwise we'll be forced to destroy him." The captain nodded ferociously. Celestia then tossed all of the muskets into the sea, and flew back to the Hunter. Gallant could only stare in awe at how easily she'd managed to sink nearly an entire navy, with no help from anyone else. Not only did she summon a storm to mask the Hunter's initial attack, she manipulated the sea to give the Hunter unbelievable maneuverability, she loaded, aimed, and fired all of the cannons, and took over an enemy ship by herself. He suddenly understood all too well why she was called a god. 
Before they could even return to Pony Royale, they'd received word from King Regio himself that they accepted the terms of surrender. They had to, their navy had been completely decimated by one ship. The Hunter's reputation began to spread rather quickly too, even though the rumors forgot to mention the presence of Celestia. Once back in the harbor Celestia decided to speak to him.
"Do you think less of me for doing that?" She asked.
"You needed to make a point. Sometimes in order to make said point, you have to take steps." Gallant reasoned.
"Do you think you could do it?" There was hesitation in her voice.
"No your highness," There was none in his, "I don't think I could." 
"I see, you think the same as he did then." She chuckled a bit as she spoke.
"You mean Mainsail, don't you?" Gallant asked.
"Yes. Despite what it seems, Mainsail was never the military type. He actually preferred to solve things peacefully. He hated his captaincy. It meant that he had to order people to kill others, and he despised the notion." Celestia lamented. 
"I didn't know that about him." He admitted.
Celestia looked Gallant straight in the eyes, "Do you want a piece of honest advice Gallant?" Gallant nodded in response.
"Resign from the navy," Her tone was serious, "it'll destroy you before too long. Maybe even literally." She took one last moment to look at him, then turned to disembark the Hunter. Gallant stood there, letting Celestia's words sink in.
Over the next few days at port, Gallant couldn't get Celestia's words out of his mind. The thought of doing what he loved destroying him, it couldn't possibly happen. Only, this wasn't what he loved. He'd wanted to be a captain, and as a captain in the navy, he'd done things he never though he'd have to. As the Hunter prepared to set out to sea once again, Gallant called a meeting with the entire crew out on the main deck. 
"Gents, this last battle has caused me to do some thinking. I've come to a realization, that I don't want to be a captain in the navy." As he went on, the crew looked around at each other, clearly surprised by his decision. "I have decided that when my tour is up, I'm going to resign from service." The crew continued to exchange surprised looks with one another.
"Where are you going to go Captain?" One of them asked.
"I going to take out a privateering contract. I've decided that I want to captain by my own means. I apologize for deciding to leave you all on such short notice, but I just don't feel right as your captain anymore." Gallant faltered with his last few words. 
After a few moments of stunned silence, Carronade spoke up, "As your quartermaster, I feel it's my job to say, that that was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you say!" 
"Carronade listen, I need to..." He couldn't finish.
"No, you listen," His quartermaster interrupted, "don't you dare say that you can't be our captain. These boys would follow you to tartarus and back. Now I don't know about you lot, but where Captain Topsail goes, I go." The crew stared at Carronade in shock, until Stark joined in.
"As will I." The orange pegasus added.
"I will too." Keel spoke next. One by one, the crew began to add themselves to the list of those who would join him, until nearly the entire crew had elected to join Gallant. 
"Well, you've got your crew Captain. What are you going to do now?" Carronade asked.
Gallant couldn't help but smile at his quartermaster, "We're going to need a new ship, and when we get one, we make for Caballito!" The crew cheered as they celebrated their new found creed.