It was later unraveled that, unbeknownst to Luna and I, Bullseye had be following us. He stalked us through Alexmanedria's city streets, cloaked deep within it's crowds. He spied on us at the cafe, sitting only a few seats behind us, and, eavesdropping on our conversation.
He also knew about the legend of the library, and, when he got wind of someone actually looking to find and explore it, he swooped in and took his chance to follow us down into the chasm. I asked of him; "But how did you get to the bottom?"
"The tunnels that the Canids dig go all the way to the bottom, don't they?" He gave me a witty smirk. "I used some of those, but it really took a while to find you in the dark, I didn't want to draw attention to myself while you distracted the Beholder."
"Why did you need us to distract him?" inquired Luna
"There are so many stories about others going missing in search of that place, and I just had to find out what it could be. And why do you think I needed his attention at you? So I could kill him."
"Well it's sure a good thing you did!" I concurred. "Thanks again, man."
"Don't mention it any more than you have to. Hehe."
"Besides, thinking about all the ones who never got to make it down there kinda got me super excited about actually going there, although I had an ulterior motive too. A more important one, no offense to them at all. I'm pretty sure you know that much too, huh?"
"Actually, no." Bullseye said. "I heard a bit of a crystal when I was making my way inside the building, but that was about it. It's really none of my business though, pardon me."
"Ah, it's no problem at all. I'll explain it later. But meanwhile, I need to clean my... My poor knife... " I said, holding the sticky, stained blade up to the light. I excused myself while Bullseye made himself acquainted with the rest of the group on our way to drop Jahurl back on the surface to his father.
It was the late evening. I looked at the loose watch I kept in my bag's side compartment and saw it to be one quarter past seven in the evening. We should have Jahurl back in town by midnight.
I went to the showers with my bar of lemon soap that- "Huh?" It shrunk! It just grew smaller!
Wait... How does something grow smaller, if that was even the present case at all? Doesn't it have to shrink? I sighed softly. Oh well, more confusing things to think about later on...
I turned the water on, which ran out of the faucet a few seconds later. I proceeded to groove my hands along the soap, lathering them with a thick coat of suds and a heavy lemon scent. I easily slid the goopy shit off of the face of the blade, and it satisfied my mood when I began to see its shiny surface again. I polished off any other marks, then slip it back in its sheath and stowed it under my bed with the others. Then, sitting back on my bed, my focus turned to the gore-drenched eyes I managed to cut off the Beholder's head.
I had no idea why I actually took them back with me. It was probably just something I wasn't thinking about back then.
Now that I had the chance to get a better look at them, I found that each of their stems were about the size of my index and middle fingers when I scissored them together. There was also the giant fucking eye that was about the size of my fist when my other hand was clasped over it. All the other eyes, though, suddenly opened, startling me and they were still glowing with the same a significant bit. They all radiated with the same intensity they had when the Beholder had wielded them. How could that be happening if the beholder was dead? Didn't he control them? How could they still be glowing after being cut off?
A thought the dawned upon me: I might be able to use the remaining—if any at all—magic in them. But then again, I had no idea how to do that, or if it was even possible.
The two I managed to cut off were separately glowing different colors. One was of a yellowish hue, kind of like what the morning glow of the sun looks like. The other one was emanating nothing but a pure, ghostly-white glow, and it was also the one I saw the Beholder levitate my lighter with. I had no idea what the yellow one did, or was able to do.
Maybe they work like a wizard's staff, I thought again. And, being the comical genius I am, I picked up the limp eye stalk and thrust it out in front of me, complete with super cheesy dramatic pose. Nothing happened.
"Huh, no surprise there." The stalk just hung limply in my grasp, the eye staring at the floor. Can a dead eye even stare at something? The silly thought was disrupted as I heard Luna coming down the stairs.
"Are you alright?" she asked me.
"Peachy, just peachy. I'm fine. Although I am beginning to question why I got the bugger's eyes. They're not going to do me any good."
"Don't be so sure. We were there long enough to see how he was drawing from their magic, much like Unicorns and Alicorns do their own horns."
"But how does that work? I don't even have a horn."
"Hehe!"
"Luna..." I secretly blushed, but suggested my sarcasm openly to her as I pat her on her upper spine. "Your mind can be so filthy sometimes."
"Great minds think alike." She let out a light giggle. "But really, these aren't just mere eyes. They're gems!"
"Gems..." I said with disbelief. "Really?"
"Gems, yes." Luna confirmed.
"But how in blue blazes did they get inside these eyes?"
"Same way that the first Alicorns were created; magic."
"So did that Nightmare Night reject have magical gems surgically implanted in his eyes or something?"
Luna tapped a hoof to her chin to ponder the statement. "More or less. He used their magic the same way that any other magical creature does; by learning. You saw him blow out the fire dongle you presented to him, and what he did with the big pillar he shot down."
She sat down on the floor at the foot of my bed and levitated the two eye stalks over to her. Using her magic again, she pulled out my Mora knife, arguably one of my most sharpest. And then, very much to my horrifying surprise, she stabbed all the eyeballs inside the pupil! Just thinking about it over and over and over and over and over made me squirm through to my core. More goop sprayed everywhere from them both, but after the scene that I just couldn't bring myself to witness, Luna magically pulled out two gems that were about the the size of golf balls. They separately radiated their corresponding colors: a bright yellow, and a pale, ghostly white. She floated them over to me, but I started to freak. I took a loose piece of cloth and held the goo-coated gems, immediately heading upstairs into the bathroom to commence with their cleaning.
I returned downstairs to our little room a couple minutes later. Luna spoke to me, seeing how I was observing the cleaned gems with much intrigue.
"Do you wish to learn their magic?"
My mind reeled at the question. "I can do magic!?" I... Uhm... How? I don't have any catalysts or anything. I'd definitely be an Earth pony, if I was a pony at all."
Luna giggled, standing up and taking the two gems from me in her aura. "I can turn these into jewelry if you'd like?"
"Like an earring or a ring for my fingers?"
She nods. "Anything you want. I can also cast a perception spell on them, making them unnoticeable to everyone, save the two of us."
A prospect then dawned upon me—the thought of being able to control magic... Somehow.
"I don't even know what these gems do, except for the white one, maybe. The Beholder used it to take my lighter, so it might have something to do with moving things around. But I didn't see which one he lifted that pillar with, though. That might have been a different one entirely. Whatever the yellow one does is beyond me, unfortunately." Luna took a scrutinizing glance at the yellow pulsating gem, furrowing her eyebrows and giving her nose a scrunch.
"I am not sure either," she said. "Now, placement of these items. Where and what do you want them to be?"
"Well, I've worn rings before, and I didn't like the way they felt on my fingers. I've never had my ears pierced, or anything pierced for that matter. I don't like piercings at all, I'm more of a tattoo person," I ranted. "The only thing worth being called jewellery that I wore was a pendant that I regrettably left on Earth."
But then an idea struck me.
"Do you think you could carve them in the shape of Celestia's cutie mark sun and your moon?"
Luna cocked her head to the side. "Where is it that you're going with this?"
"You know anesthetic spells, right?" Her gaze toward me became even more disturbing in nature, but she gave me a simple nod nonetheless. "Well, uh..." I started to hesitate, fearing the message that her curious face was could have been sending me. "Can you carve them into each of those shapes, and then, maybe, apply those images to my shoulders under an anesthetic spell?"
I didn't know whether or not if physically phasing or getting something phased through you would hurt, but I'm wasn't about to take any chances with it. Besides, I didn't want physical jewelry, as I would probably end up losing it, so I decided on something different. Since they glowed with such intense light (especially considering how clean they were now), I preferred the idea of a permanent, glowing, tattoo.
I've always had a thing for tattoos, I've even got a couple on Earth. One on my left shoulder, and one on my chest. Now that I think back on it, I never had anyone/anypony bring them up before, or bought them up myself. I did get asked by a certain trio if I had my cutie mark at one stage, and I had to sway them from showing them my thigh/ass to prove otherwise. But, I digress. I've never gotten any body modifications, nor did I really want any. So I figured that this is something I wouldn't necessarily regret. I couldn't lose the gems, I might be able to learn to use magic, and as a major bonus, they'll look like glowing runes or something cool like that! That was the most appealing thing to me right now, I admitted to her. And in turn, she sarcastically called me a silly child.
After I indicated the desired size by clasping my thumb and my index finger together, the gap about the length of a single high value bit, she worked her magic toward crafting the gems into those shapes. I thought it would involve cutting some of the material off, but I was mistaken. She simply molded them like playdough!
She tried assuring me that phasing things didn't hurt at all, and I affirmed I was going to take my chances. She gave in and cast the spell on my left shoulder, inserting the flattened sun underneath my flesh, slowly proceeding to insert the moon into my right shoulder directly afterward.
"See? You don't feel a thing, do you?" she might have already subjected me to the drug without my awareness, because I really didn't feel a anything.
Earth's concoction of Anesthesia wore off in about two to three hours, but when a Unicorn, or Alicorn in my case, would use a similar spell, they could just simply remove it when it's served its purpose. It's a pity really. Also on Earth, and shortly before I found Luna, I had to go to the dentist to get two root canals, and I spent the following three hours slapping my face afterwards, not feeling a bit of the action.
So basically, This was kind of the same feeling.
When Luna was done with me, she had an intriguing look on her face, as if she wanted to see how she had done. Ultra curious myself, I rolled up my T-shirt sleeve to have a look at each image. Sure enough, the sun could clearly be seen glowing just as bright as the moon, but the glow of both wouldn't penetrate my shirt for whatever reason. Oh well, no biggie.
"This looks absolutely fantastic, Luna!" she lightly blushed as I primped my shirt back down as far as it go.
"Thanks, dad."
"Now, uh. How do I use magic?" I wondered if I was going about this too fast.
"Learn to concentrate..." she simply said. Now where to start with that, heh, easier said than done. "Feel the magic. Channel it. Through your veins."
I tried using my right arm to raise my pillow off of the bed, but nothing happened. I acted as if I was physically lifting it up, but that might have been why. I tried and tried for the next several minutes, Luna admittedly giggling out loud, but with nothing to show. At least if they didn't end up working, I still had some pretty awesome looking tattoo-esque designs on my arms.
I presumed that my failed attempts could have been because of how less oriented I was. It is pretty late at night after all, and I am pretty tired. I decided I would try it again in the morning and just hit the hay for the night.
Luna didn't know what to do either, she told me as I laid stretched out on my bed.
"All Unicorns and Alicorns are required learn how to use magic," Luna explained. "There are Unicorns that are born with no magical abilities at all, but they can even learn magic with focused study down the road. As with Twilight, she was born with a morbid disposition towards magic, but she had to learn to control it rather than learn from birth."
I couldn't really decide if it was comforting to hear that or not, but I felt some sort of inherent undertone to her last sentence. I shrugged it off and, rather restlessly, decided to head up to the bridge. I felt is was really rude of me to just up and leave Bullseye up there while I escaped the scene for less important purposes. Luna followed me up, despite how quickly she admitted; "I really don't want to get up."
We were greeted by the four characters seated down on the floor at a miniature stage that sat right below the huge window. I noticed how Jahurl was staring back towards the direction of the library. He saw some pretty scary stuff down there, and although he was a really tough guy, even the best of us can get to missing their parents. Anyway, Luna and I politely joined them and took nearby seats.
"Sorry about that," I started off. "I had to use the restroom."
"Me too," followed Luna. I had no idea why I said that, and I was also baffled at how Luna copied my words! It was funny, though.
I told him about myself, and it was more information about myself than what everyone else knew. I told some jokes too, just to make conversation, more or less. But I had to be careful with what I said, as my sense of humour was rather twisted, so I just cherry-picked some more... tame words. SkySurfer and Ratchet took their turns to get into our aimless conversation, coming with questions for Bullseye, such as, and related to: "Do you have family in Alexmanedria?" followed by the assumption that he was from the city. He decided not to share for reasons we did not know, and respectfully refrained from asking about. Jahurl commented every now and then, but he also chose to refrain from most curious ideas we had in mind as well.
Eventually the topic came around to Luna and I, and everyone mutually decided that they wanted an in-depth tale of how we came across each other. I broke it down into segments, detailing the circumstances from my initial discovery, the accident involving my family, moving up to the farm, and most of what followed afterward. Then I cut to the debacle I had with Luna almost becoming Nightmare Moon on my world. That portion had everyone rather intrigued; more so than the rest of it.
In hindsight, I found it funny that a Night of Eternity could be imposed on a planet where magic doesn't exist, from what I knew of, anyway. The whole scenario ended with me convincing Luna how bad things are going to happen, no matter what.
"...But you can always get up and rise above your challenges," I reassured her. Talking about her 'other side' always seemed to get her really upset, but and with an extra hour being added onto the night, I subtly emphasized how she was alright, and how everyone has demons buried inside them.
I sure did.
She told me, for the thousandth time, that it would never happen again, and, for the thousandth time, I believed her. We embraced each other as she got to letting tears roll down her cheeks. Everyone else watched and consoled her too, but their words couldn't do as much as mine did.
I loved Luna like a daughter, sometimes more than my own life on Earth. And nothing was ever going to change that.
Hours later, we reached Alexmanedria's surface. The decision at the time was to dock there for the rest of the night so everyone could get a solid night's sleep. Bullseye elected to leave the ship for the night, the reason being that there was no room for him to sleep. He insisted to take the floor and save us all the trouble of waiting for him the next morning but then he unexpectedly took his words back and decided to go on his own to find a place to sleep. Fair enough, but he sure was an awkward guy.
He said he would be back tomorrow morning before we departed. And if he wasn't, he asked us, very politely, to wait for him. He must have been really eager to join in on our journey.
Later, I stepped out onto the docks and watched Luna raise the moon for the night. It was always a very simple task for her to complete, and the only real bother was having to keep vigilant for the rest of her life. I don't know if she saw me, standing only mere meters from her, and I kept thinking about it as the chilly night air appeared, driving me back inside.
Back on Earth, the habit of wishing a 'goodnight' to all of my friends, grew to the effect of; "May Luna watch over your dreams." for my brony friends. I thought it was a nice sentiment, considering how Luna watched over all dreams, and, maybe it's just me here, but I would normally have a good night's sleep by saying that before I went to bed. But seeing as how the Princess of the Night is bunking with me, that concern wasn't even needed! Heh, it was a given!
It was really nice to be sleeping grounded for the first time in over a week or so. All the other days and nights were spent in a sort of half-asleep state, and while I slept through the whole night, the apprehension about sleeping way up in the air was enough to knock off enough of what would otherwise be complete refreshment by morning.
I woke up the next morning, thoroughly refreshed and ready to tackle the day. I pulled out the map from my bag and charted for our next course, directly northwest to Evisica. Jahurl had probably already left and got back to his place. It was really too bad that I forgot to thank him one last time. My mind went back to the other day where Ratchet pointed out how the islands looked as though they were floating up in the air. I still couldn't believe how I didn't see that.
I failed to notice that Sky and Ratchet had gotten up earlier than I did to prep the ship for departure. I caught Sky at a good time and casually reminded him of Bullseye's return, even if he already remembered on his own. And it really wasn't too long after I woke up when he arrived at the wide open bay door.
"What's up guys?" he called, causing us to turn our heads and greet him. He boarded the ship, hauling on two full, rather overly-stuffed looking saddle bags, with his small spears and his bow tucked underneath.
He seemed to have really jumped the gun with the concept of joining us on our quest. I mean, not that I didn't want him to or anything—I'm pretty sure ALL of us owed him our asses—but when I conceived what this quest was really about, I felt it as being a rather rude gesture. I heaved an excruciating sigh before finally admitting it to him.
"Look...Bullseye." I paused, and he listened. "I owe you so much gratitude for saving our butts in the library, but don't you think that self-inviting yourself along is... I don't know, a bit-"
"Presumptuous?" he intruded.
"Well yeah, to say the least. But I'd expect you to ask before you rudely expect to join a voyage."
He responded to me in a rather calm demeanor. "I just figured with me saving your lives and such, you could use the extra pair of hooves. Allow me to finish by saying that I've bought enough of my own food for a return trip-" He really was hell bent on this. "-plus my own bedding. I can sleep away from you in the room above your sleeping accommodations."
He did have a good point. If he kept out of our hair, he'd be a nice addition to have.
"That's acceptable, but there are a few guidelines the operators need you to follow. One," I said, sternly holding up my index finger. "You live strictly on your own provisions. Don't mooch off of us, cuz we've only just got enough for the four of us. Two," I added, holding up another finger this time. "If you want to do anything that involves our belongings or the facilities, including the shower, all you have to do is ask. Three, you're still on thin ice for reasons I stated earlier. One step out of line and Luna won't hesitate to toss your ass out the door. After all, there's no official record for you being on this vessel. Jahurl's was only here because he led us to the library. And hey, in no way do I intend to be a dick by saying all of this, they're just rules."
"Understood, Mister Midnight, and thank you for your concern." he nodded in complete comprehension. "Now lead the way!"
I led him to the semi-innards of the ship and showed him where he would be sleeping. I told him he could sleep at the rear of the ship, in what could be described as a corner of sorts. It was the previous room where I showed Jahurl the world map. Where the railing of the stairwell met the wall, there was a bit of it that stuck out about two feet or so. Everyone considered the point past it to be a corner.
Bullseye laid his bags down there and pulled a thick blanket from the bulkier of the two, which he unfurled onto the floor, presumably to sleep on. Then he sat on it, stretching out till he was on his stomach with his legs curled up tight next to him. He closed his eyes and then started periodic, rhythmic breathing.
Is he meditating?
I thought about it for a little while, but quickly shrugged it off and headed below to see how Luna was doing.
"Well, it took us one week to get here, but it's looking like it'll take a little bit longer to get to Evisica."
"Tis true. With no other civilizations on record that we know of, there might not be any more places to stop and restock."
"Yeah... " I agreed, a hint of dismality in my cracked voice. "We got what we've got from here on out."
"You're nervous, aren't you, father?"
"Luna, my dear." I cleared my throat. "I am positively scared shitless."
After we cast off, we made haste to Evisica. The idea we all had at this point was to run the ship as long as we could, but without straining it to the extent of catastrophic failure. We were trying to cut the time taken to get to the of the northern-most floating island in half. Being in the air most of the time, Luna had to be careful about how she raised and lowered the moon. While she could do it from inside the cabin, she would occasionally fly out the door and take the moment to stretch her wings and legs, taking the time to do her nightly duties more freely.
After Bullseye used the shower towards the end of our first day back in the air, I decided to ask him why he meditates.
"It calms the body and mind. The extents that I go to though, would usually overload the normal person with visual, mental, and audible stimuli, but for me, it helps me relax and keep calm about everything during stressful times."
"I bet'cha it makes you a better shot with your spears and arrows too." I couldn't help but give a slight chuckle. "Maybe I should've done that every day before I worked at my last job."
"What did you do for work before you came here?"
"I worked as a breakfast and lunch chef at a cafe for a few days a week, and then I washed dishes at another restaurant across town."
"Dishes?" Bullseye questioned with a cocked eyebrow. "Aren't dishes easy to do? I used to do dishes for my family back at home!"
"And how many plates and pots did you clean at home?"
"Usually about a dozen plates and typically about half a dozen pots and pans alongside all the cooking implements."
"Okay, now try cleaning all that amount within the time span of two minutes, for as long as eight hours a day." His eyes widened. "Not to mention I had to help the other chefs, prep food, and do other things that didn't involve dishes. Honestly, those that do dishes in a kitchen environment are some of the most under-appreciated roles in the industry."
"How... How many people would visit in a day?"
"The most I ever battled with was about... Uh, maybe five-hundred people at once, I think, in the small beach-side cafe I used to work at." If his jaw could drop any lower it would have dislocated. But on a particularly bad day, we only did as much as ten."
"There you go, buddy, now you have a new sense of respect for me!" Of course, I was kidding with that. I wasn't expecting him to be too fond of me at the start.
"Most definitely!" He said.
After my pleasant chat with Bullseye, I took my turn in the shower. Then after that, I decided to surprise everyone by making them dinner. The items were still simple, but it's the thought that counts. And after we finished eating, I asked Bullseye if he wanted to do the cleaning up. He looked at me with a couple of mixed expressions, the combination being something I simply couldn't begin to know how to describe. He gave in after everyone else joined in, giving him expectant, teasing looks, much to my amusement
We moved to the back of the dining area. I gave him a decent sized pot of extremely warm water with a bit of dishwashing detergent in the mix to clean everything with. Forks, knives, plates, the utensils I used to cook.
I didn't watch him clean them; that would be weird, but I swept up the area where we all dined to pass the time. Then when I heard the thump of the heavy bucket hit the floor, I returned to him. Bullseye was done with his duty, and the dishes he washed were damn perfect and so shiny I saw my figure from three feet away, off of a few skillets he hung up on a wall-mounted rack.
I decided to joke around with him once more.
"If it were me doing this, I would have been done three times over in a little more than a minute. How long did it take you?"
"Uhm..." He looked like me when I first began my job.
"A little over five minutes. But don't worry, there's always time for improvement. That's actually not bad, cuz I did use up a lot of bigger things." This is just me, but sometimes I loved being a patronizing bastard. In a strictly friendly, humorous sort of way. "You're not bad!" I told him. He returned his attention with a sincere smile. I pat him on his back. "Keep it up, buddy."
At the very peak of that night, we joined the club with the others and went off to do our own thing. Ratchet headed back up to the bridge, staying up to do her duties with the ship. Sky decided to go to bed early, and I didn't blame the dude. Bullseye went right back to his meditating, hopefully with a better idea of me in mind. The only outcasts were me and Luna, lounging in our bunks.
Nothing much happened between us—I laid on my stomach above the sheets, writing this entry in my journal. I couldn't really tell what Luna was doing, but I could see her astral mane flow over the side of the bed so I knew she was up there, and it was comforting to have that in mind.
...And at some point in my writing, I nodded off to sleep.
I woke early enough to see, when I went up to the bridge, the sun rising out of the port side of the ship. It was the first thing I saw, as it was immediately a little blinding. Then I managed to see the outside door fly open with the use of a familiar blue aura, then Luna flew back inside, closing it behind her.
The fresh morning air must have been so liberating to feel at the rushing velocity it blew against her.
"Morning!" she called out at me.
"Feel good?" I asked her, getting a waft of the crispy fresh air as it blew my way, thanks to the door's closure.
"Very much so!"
The whole day went without incident. Mid morning on day three we were all up in the bridge swapping more stories. It was actually fairly agonizing, considering it was one of the only things we could do, but it was pleasant at the same time.
I was recounting the incident where I introduced Rainbow Dash to hard liquor. Now, the story there was rather recent--
"After I ran out of the whisky I bought with me to Equestria, and seeing how Applejack knew how to make cider, I offered to teach her how to make the harder stuff. We constructed a small still from some copper pipes and hoses laying around or recycled from older equipment."
I don't know why, and maybe it was just my imagination, but Ratchet always seemed more interested in my stories than anyone else.
"Anyway, I went to town to get plenty of yeast and sugar while Applejack provided the sweetest apples I ever, ever tasted. Plus the water. Then later, after we cooked everything, we let it brew for like, two weeks, then we made it into what we called Apple Moonshine." I had to explain what moonshine was, and everyone vocalized their ideas of rednecks making this stuff in their backyard, providing a few rather placid expressions with them. Looks like these guys will never know the comical nature of rednecks. Pity, really... "We invited Rainbow Dash along to taste test some. Applejack and I had a hard time keeping a straight face. I guess we gave her a bit too much. I mean, we did fill a pint-and-a-half mug up with the stuff. She drank it all within the space of twenty minutes. After the liquor settled, AJ and I decided to test the effects on Rainbow. Most notably, her inhibitions and inability to keep her mouth shut. Applejack dragged her brother, Big Macintosh, in the picture to try flirting with her, but she let it slip that she wasn't interested in stallions."
At that point, Luna and I started laughing. The others didn't personally know Rainbow Dash like we did, so we understood why it wasn't as funny to them. But when they thought I was finished, I continued on.
"After that, Big Mac wanted to try some as well, and he ended up getting drunk off his ass too, but he's a bigger guy so it took substantially more to get him drunk, then we left the pair in the barn to sleep the rest of it off. I think I remember her complaining to me about how she woke up with a splitting headache and no memory at all of what happened."
There ya go! That hit up a few giggles. When they subsided, though, SkySurfer pointed a hoof out towards the front of the ship, past the looking glass.
"Looks like we've got another ship coming towards us. I'll take the wheel and move us to the side."
When it got closer to us, it quickly became apparent that it wasn't a friendly ship, nor did it like ours in any sense.
It was a simple wooden construction like a small boat with several big, tatty, balloons on it. As it also curved around to our opposite side, I saw a ballista with a Minotaur seated in it, aiming straight at us. Up the front of this ship stood a ragged looking gryphon, eyeing us down, it looked like.
Luna nudged my side. "Who are they, and why do they have that thing pointed at us?"
I simply whispered back, "I'm guessing..." Well shit. "They're pirates..."