Ebony slowly opens her eyes. She wakes up with a headache from Tartarus, and no memory of anything from the night before, except for the fact that she drank… a lot. She is in what looks like a bedroom. The walls are a faded shade of blue. There is one window in the room directly in front of her. There are a few decorations on the walls around the room, a few paintings and a mirror. There is a closet and a drawer towards the foot of the bed, all in all it is a relatively plain room. There is a smell of booze and sweat, though she isn't sure if it is the room or her. Then she realizes that something wrapped around her waist, and someone is breathing down her neck..
She screams as she jumps out of the bed and onto her hooves, probably quicker than she should have. The quick motion sending a bolt of pain through her head causing her to wince. When she opens her eyes, a cream colored lump opens its eyes and looks at her.
“Good morning to you too, sweetie,” Rose says as she rubs the sleep from her eyes, yawns then looks at her.
“Were you cuddling me?!”
“Yes, yes I was and if you don’t mind, sweetie, I’d like to continue,” she replies patting the bed next to her.
“Am I in your room?”
“Sweetie, with the amount you drank it didn't take much to convince you to sleep with me,” she replies with a seductive look in her eyes.
“W-what? W-we didn't do that, r-right?” A bright red blush showing in her cheeks.
“Of course not, sweetie. I’m just pulling your leg.”
“Oh, thank the winds,” Ebony says, breathing out a sigh of relief.
“I still think that your captain is a lucky stallion, to have a mate like you.”
“I told you I don’t like him like that!” Ebony shouts at her new friend.
“Really? Well, you wouldn't stop mumbling something about ‘captain’ in your sleep.”
More blush comes to Ebony’s cheeks. “He saved my life okay? I was having a dream where he saved me. I’m only part of his crew because I owe him,” she says.
“Then why don’t you ‘repay’ him,” Rose says with yet another seductive wink.
“You are a very horrible pony,” Ebony says.
“And you’re a very cute changeling.”
Ebony’s eyes widen in horror. “How did you know I’m a changeling?!” she shouts. Rose just points to the dusty mirror on the wall. Ebony goes over to it and sure enough there is a black changeling with a turquoise mane and tail, staring back at her.
“Your disguise dropped when you passed out,” says Rose, who has gotten into a sitting position.
“And you are not afraid of me?”
“To be honest, sweetie, you scared the bucking shit outta me,” she says. She scratches the back of her head. “I screamed for ten minutes straight, after that I was perfectly fine with the idea of sleeping with a changeling.”
“You screamed for ten minutes and no one wondered what was wrong?”
“It was late, and everypony was drunk.”
“Oh…”
Rose climbs out of the bed, giving the changeling a clear view of her cutie mark. Two vines wrapping around a bottle with a rose at the end of one. “Well I’m going to be downstairs cleaning up, just call me if you need any help, sweetie,” she says as she walks out of the door. “Oh, and you are going to help me today. You kinda drank more rum than what you could pay for. So you owe me that much, sweetie,” she yells a few seconds afterward.
An hour later a beige pegasus is standing behind the counter at the tavern. She is cleaning off the counter with an old rag. She looks around, trying to find a few possible recruits to Captain’s crew. She has already noted a few that seem suitable, but is unsure how to get them to join without any money. Finally she takes a few deep breaths, I might as well try something, she thinks. She walks around the counter to one of the stallions she first noted. He is a light grey pegasus with a mane and tail made of several shades of darker grey. He has the image of a cannon for a cutie mark. He is sitting on his own, smoking a rather large cigar.
“Hello,” she says.
“Hello, what do you want?” he says around the cigar.
“I was wondering if you were part of a crew.”
“No, why?” he asks.
“What’s your name?”
“Smokey Skies.”
“How would you like to join a crew Mr. Smokey?”
Well, that went better than expected, she thinks as she trots toward the next pony she is going to ask. This time she is going to ask a skinny earth pony, he has a brown coat with a green mane and tail, and he doesn’t have a cutie mark.
“Hello, sir.”
“Wha? Oh, uh... hi?” he says.
“My name is Ebony, what is yours?”
“I’m Twigs.”
“Well Mr. Twigs I was wondering if you wanted to be part of a crew?” she says.
“What crew?”
“My captain’s.”
“Who’s crew?” asks a pegasus. His name is Arrel, he is a small pale blue pegasus, with a white mane and tail. He has a few tattoos made of black ink scattered over his right foreleg, as well as covering his cutie mark.
“My captain’s.”
“Not much of an answer.”
“Trust me, it’s the best I can do.”
“Why would you want me?” Arrel asks with a sigh.
“Well, that was what my next question.”
He sighs again. "I used to be in the military."
A sword is brought down onto the table where she is sitting, cutting the table in half as though it isn’t much more than air. “Sweetie, you’d better pay me from that tonight,” Rose shouts over to them.
A diamond dog with light brown fur with black hair, sheaths his sword. He is wearing dark olive green pants with a dark grey, sleeveless shirt, and has a coat draped over his back like a cape. “So you’re good with swords?” Ebony asks, ignoring the comment from Rose. The diamond dog nods his head. He is the next candidate on her metaphorical list. From what she has gathered, his name is Howler, he is from Neighpon, is very good with a sword, and rarely talks. “I’m guessing that you’re not afraid to kill anypony?”
“No,” says the next recruit. This time, Ebony is talking to a unicorn mare. She is midnight blue with a long, dark purple mane and tail that almost looks black, with a few streaks of lavender. There is a long scar across her right side. She has a ghostly map covered in stars for a cutie mark. She wears a silver necklace with an amethyst in the middle. Her name is Starry Night. She had said that she is a navigator. “I will not take the life of another pony, except one,” she talks with an air of elegance, saying every word smoothly.
“That’s fine. I didn’t think you would.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, I just thought that killing would be below you.”
“Well, you thought right,” Starry says turning her nose up. “Hm… I have a question for you. How much will you pay me to join?”
“Well you see, we can't pay at this moment. However, I can promise that we will make you wealthier then in your wildest dreams.”
“A promise? That’s the best you can do? What makes you think that I will join because of a promise?”
“Because it is the best offer you can ever get,” Ebony replies with a smile. They both stare at each other for a while, both trying to think of a comeback of sorts.
“Fine, I might as well join. Just to make sure you idiots don’t get lost in the middle of the sea.”
“Well then, I welcome you to the crew.” She shakes hooves with Starry Night.
Captain is sitting on the side of his boat, watching a couple of foals play with the dog that has been bothering him. Captain spots his first mate coming down the dock with a couple of ponies and a diamond dog in tow. She got me a crew! he thinks. He hops out of his boat and walks up to Ebony, checking out his new crew with every step. “Hello Ebony, I see you’ve made some new friends.” Glancing back at the group, they all look uneasy (except the diamond dog).
“He’s the captain?” asks the light grey pegasus.
“Yes he is, everyone I would like to introduce you to our captain. His name is in fact Captain. Captain this is Smokey Skies, Arrel, Twigs, Howler, and Starry Night,” says Ebony as she goes up to each of them respectively.
“You’re that guy from yesterday, the one that was fighting a lot of stallions,” says Smokey.
“You got a problem with that?” Captain asks.
“Uhh… No sir.”
“Good, now come on everyone I want to go get a better ship.”
“A better ship? We just got this one, do you really want a new one now?” Ebony asks.
“Yes. I want a new ship. I want to go get a galleon. I want a ship that matches my greatness.”
“Sounds full of himself,” Starry says under her breath.
“We are only seven. We don’t have the ability to keep a galleon, we’ll need more ponies for that. I think a schooner is within our ability,” says Ebony ignoring the comment.
“Fine how about a brig?”
“I guess it might be possible, but we still--”
“Then it’s settled, we’re going to get ourselves a brig!” He looks back at the crew with a large grin. “At the same time I’ll see how well our crew does.”