//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Captain's Journey // by Sphinx_Herald //------------------------------// Flintlock, Ebony, and Captain sit on the dock as they watch Flintlock’s crew resupply his ship. A sizable crowd has gathered on the docks as well, after all it isn’t often for two CRN ships to be docked in Neighsau. “I forgot to ask, but what’s her name?” Captain asks pointing a hoof at the Celestial ship. It is a galleon, wood stained white with gold trim, the usual colors of the CRN. At the front of the ship is a figure head of Nightmare Moon. “She’s called ‘Nightmare’s Revenge’. She’s the strongest ship you’ll find.” “Asides from mine.” Flintlock lets out a hearty laugh. “I think you might be overestimating your ship.” A tall slender unicorn stallion comes walking up. He is the color of sand, and his mane is light brown with a streak of dark brown running through it. “Good to see you’re alright, Flintlock. The men were starting to wonder if the pirates here didn’t like you. I had to explain to them that, if that happened you’d come back, and this be a ghost town.” “Ah, Sandy, good to see you too.” Flintlock gets up and pats him on the shoulder. “Captain, Ebony, I would like to introduce you to my first mate.” Sandy takes a step forward, and gives a little bow. “It is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Sandstone. Though my captain, and the rest of the crew call me Sandy.” Ebony gets up. “Wait a sec, I just thought of something. I know we can trust you Flintlock, but how can we know the rest of your crew won’t turn us over, no offense Sandy?” “None taken,” replies Sandy. “Don’t worry, you can trust them, I hoof picked them myself. They’re loyal, anyways if they were to turn you in they’d go to jail themselves. No pony ever said I don’t do pirate-y things,” Flintlock say with a smile. “Anyways, the ship is restocked and ready to go, Flint,” Sandy says. He then turns toward the galleon and walks off. “Looks like that’s it, I gotta or the navy will think something happened to me. I hope to see you all again soon.” With that Flintlock trots off toward his ship, while Ebony and Captain head off for theirs. “Good luck with your hunt!” Flintlock shouts over to them. “You know me, brother, I don’t need it, but thanks anyways.” Once at the helm of his ship he turns to watch his brother sail toward the horizon. It was good to see you again, he thinks. He turns to his crew, “Alright, Twigs, Arrel, Howler raise the sails, get us outta dock. Smokey check the cannons, I want them to be ready when we get there. Starry plot a course to the north-east waters.” He goes to the helm. “You can’t be thinking of attacking those merchants, can you?” asks Ebony from his side. “Why not?” “Because we lack the ability to properly use this ship as it is. We can’t win a fight against one of them, let only two. We need a bigger crew.” “No we don’t. I believe we can do perfectly fine as it is.” “If you say so…” How did I get stuck in this situation? Starry thinks as she looks over one of her maps. She is inside the cabin of the ship, nothing too impressive. A small room in the hull of the ship. A lantern is hung from a hook on the ceiling, she sits at a small desk in one corner, with a few maps spread over it. I am stuck on a boat with a diamond dog, a meat head who can only think of shooting ponies, a twig who can out drink a meat head, and an ex-military who has a crush on me. Bloody unbelieveable. “Hey, is something the matter?” asks someone from behind her. She jumps out of her seat, and turns to Arrel, who is standing at open door. She sits back down again sighing. “You know you could have knocked first. Also what would make you believe that something is wrong?” she replies trying to regain composure. “You were mumbling something to yourself.” Curse you for thinking out loud! she scolds herself. “I do not know as to what you are referring to.” “You just did it again.” She sighs again, think fast, and not out loud. “I was just wondering about the first mate. Don’t you think she seems to know a little too much?” Arrel scratches his chin in thought. “I guess you’re right. I was thinking about that myself. But it’s not our problem, after all, we all have secrets to keep.” “I know, but there is something odd about her. Anyways, why are you here? Certainly, you didn’t hear me from outside did you?” A slight blush shows in his face, “I was… um… wondering if you were going to come out anytime soon. You’ve been in here since we left Neighsau.” “No, thank you. I would prefer to stay inside here then be out there when the fighting starts. Now if you don’t mind, I have some work to do, and you’re distracting me,” Starry says. She then pushes him out of the door, and closes it. “Twigs, get up to the crows nest. I want to know the second you see them,” Captain calls from the helm. “Aye, Cap’n!” Captain watches as the small pony climbs the mast. He’s an interesting one, he thinks. He looks over the rest of the crew, they all are, really. He looks off the starboard side. The suns rays reflect off of the calm water, making it shine like polished metal. There is no where he would rather be. “Two ships, dead ahead Cap’n,” Twigs shouts from half way down the mast. Captain takes out his spyglass to see his targets. Two schooners are both at full sail, both coming toward ‘Misfortune’. He smiles, good there’s nothing to stop me. They won’t even know what’s coming till we shoot them. “Smokey, how are the cannons looking?” he asks. “They are in perfect condition.” “That’s what I like to hear. Load the starboard cannons, aim for their masts, and cannons. Lets not give them a chance to fight back.” He turns the ship a bit more to the portside. Smokey, and Twigs dash around the deck loading the cannons. His heart starts to beat faster at the anticipated battle. It’s been a long time since I last did this. The ships are only meters away from the cannon range. To captain time seems to slow down as they approach their prey. Then the merchants enter the point of no return. “Fire!” In a powerful blast, the cannons go off, ripping apart the deck of the closest ship. One of the masts fall into the sea and the ship slows to a stop. He turns his ship around, heading toward the other schooner. “Load portside cannons!” he commands, as his ship speeds toward their prey. Another blast goes off, but this time it is coming from the schooner. Splinters of wood shoot out from the hull, not enough to sink me, Captain thinks. “Fire!” At his command a blast goes off, crippling the second merchant. “Prepare to board! Howler, you and me are taking this one. Arrel, Smokey, you two take the other one. Kill anyone who gets in your way, don’t kill the ones that surrender.” Captain jumps down onto the ship, slashing one of the sailors as he lands. Captain lunges at another sailor, managing to get him in the chest. Howler lands behind him, blocking the strike from another sailor with his katana. Howler reaches over and grabs the sailor by the back of the neck, he then throws him into the sea. Howler runs at a small group of sailor near the bow of the schooner, slashing them down in a few seconds. Captain draws out his pistol and levels it at, whom he assumes is, the merchant captain. “What do you want?” asks the merchant. “We want everything on your ship, or we will kill you,” Captain states bluntly. The merchant looks around at the decimated ship. His eyes spending more time on the dead sailors than anything else. “Ok, ok, you can have it all. Just don’t kill anypony else.” “Good, now load it onto my ship.” A few minutes later ‘Misfortune’ pulls up to the first schooner they had shot. They see Arrel, and Smokey sitting on the bow of the ship, pointing pistols at the captured crew. There are six bodies on the deck. “Who wants to load the cargo onto my ship, or die?” Captain calls out, leaning over the rail of the ship. “Why did we just leave them all? We could have just killed them, or taken them with us. And why did we leave them on their boats?” Smokey asks as the Neighsau harbour comes into view. “Because they didn’t have to die. I left them with their ships for that same reason,” replies Captain. “Yeah, but they’ll tell everypony about us now.” “Exactly. Ok you lot, when we make dock you can go do whatever you want, but I would like to see you all at the tavern later. Not you Howler, I need your help with unloading.” “What about our pay?” asks Arrel. “I still have to sell this stuff. Don’t worry you’ll get your bits, just wait.” A couple of hours later, Captain walks into The Lucky Mare. He scans the area for his crew. Smokey is passed out after challenging Twigs to a rematch. Arrel is trying to tell what happened to Starry, who is utterly unamused. Ebony, and Rose are chatting over by their usual spot at the counter. He goes over to each of them and places a small bag of bit in front of them. “Sorry if you didn’t get as much as you thought you would. I kinda had to use some of the bits to pay for repairs, and such.” He says as he gets around to Ebony. “You don’t have to pay me.” “Yes I do. I don’t do slave labour, and that stuff. I pay all those who deserve it.” She looks down at the bag of bits in her hooves. “Thanks,” she says. Why does he treat me so normally? I’m a changeling, that he saved. I don’t see why he should, or even want to, pay me. Captain leaves to challenge Twigs at a drinking contest. “Did you do what I think you did to earn that money?” asks Rose with a sly grin. “Buck you.” “Oh, sweetie, I would pay you so much more if you did.” She ducks under a beige hoof as she laughs at her friend. The next day, the crew has gathered on the dock, they are looking at Misfortune. It’s hull is stained a dark red with black trim. Black sails hang from the masts, rippling in the light wind. The figurehead is now a female earth pony wielding two swords. At the top of one of the masts, fluttered a black flag. The image on the flag depicts a crossed sword and scroll, with a skull on in the middle. “Crew, I would like you to meet the new 'Misfortune',” Captain says.