Captain sits upon his golden throne in the sky, looking out over the world of the mortals. He takes a deep breath; after years he has finally surpassed the army, princess, and even the mortal world. He watches a ship slowly sail over the ocean, perhaps he should enter the world again, after decades of watching. He is starting to miss the feel of helm at his hoofs, the smell of sea water in the morning. Maybe I should return, he thinks.
He hears thunder crack in the cloud under him. How can pegasus stand that? More thunder goes off, but he decides to ignore it. He turns his view toward Canterlot, it always makes him a little happy to look down on the princess. More thunder, louder this time, Captain feel the shock wave through the cloud. The cloud tears open and Captain falls through. He looks down in terror at the fast approaching ground. Looks like I’m returning sooner than I thought.
His eyes shoot open, he’s underwater. Where’s my ship? He pushes upward and breaks the surface. He realizes that he is in fact a couple of hooves away from the starboard side of Misfortune. His gaze turns upward and focuses on the Starry Night leaning on the rail, with an expression somewhere between bored and annoyed. “Why am I in the sea?”
“It was the only way to wake you, literally. I shouted at you for several minutes, when I realized that wasn’t going to get me anywhere, I threw you off the ship,” she says.
Captain starts climbing his way up the side of his ship, with a grunt he flops up onto the deck. “Fine, but why did you wake me?”
“I finished identifying where the map leads.”
“It took you three days to do that?”
“This bloody map has no reference points, no landmarks, nothing telling me where it leads. There weren’t even any coordinates, I had to compare the shape of the bloody thing against everything on my maps. It leads to a pitiful little island just west of here, by the way.”
“Oh, alright then, I’ll go get Ebony, then we set sail.” Starry sighs then heads down into the hull of the ship to get some rest.
Ebony wakes to the sound of someone humming a cheery tune. It doesn’t take long to realize that it’s Rose. She stretches her back, her makeshift bed isn’t too comfy, but she doesn’t want to wake up cuddling with Rose again. She opens her eyes to a red tail swaying for side to side as she brushes her mane in front of the mirror.
“Liking the view from back there, sweetie?” Rose chuckles.
“No, not in the slightest,” Ebony replies bluntly.
“Oh, that hurt sweetie, you should be more nicer to me. I am letting you live with me.”
“Yes, and I appreciate that, but I’m not going to give you a reason to cuddle me.”
“Oh I get it, you’re saving the cuddling for Captain, aren’t you, sweetie?” says Rose as she walks over to her closet and starts looking through it.
“Shut up about that, would you, It’ll never happen.” Ebony says, covering her head with the blanket. Rose pulls out an elegant dark grey dress, looking it over before deciding to put it on. “Aren’t you getting a little bit too dressed up today?”
“No, because I’m not opening the tavern today.” She tosses a key to Ebony, which is caught in a field off green magic. “You’re allowed in, but not allow to drink the merchandise or give it to the crew.”
“Where are you going?”
She gives a slightly annoyed sigh. “I’m going to a ‘party’. I’m not going to be back till tomorrow.”
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
“In case you can’t tell from the dress, it’s a noblepony’s party. The kind where everypony stands around and talks about how much money they have, while listening to music and drinking wine.”
Ebony stares at her, she quickly shakes her head. “How the buck did you get into that kinda party, aren’t they usually very selective about who goes?”
“Well… I’m actually quite rich and well known throughout the community. In fact I’m the one providing the wine for the event.”
“Wait, if you’re rich why do you work at a tavern?”
“It’s my grandmother’s, she passed away sometime ago, and she left it to me in her will. At this point I simply don’t want to get rid of it.”
“Okay… so why do you have so much money?”
“I own two wineries in Prance, and half a dozen taverns and restaurants over Equestria. Which is why I’m going, so ponies will buy more.”
“Prance?!”
“I don’t suppose this could wait till I come back? My ship is going to leave soon.”
“Uh… um… alright, it can wait. Have fun.”
“Sweetie, the only way I’ll have fun is if I end up in somepony’s bed.” Rose goes out the door leaving Ebony to try and sort out the information she just got. She walks over to the window to see Rose trotting off toward the harbour.
“Something wrong?” says Captain from the, still open, doorway. Ebony lets out a scream as she quickly turns around and throws the first thing she finds, which happens to be a pillow. Captain catches it with ease. “I don’t think a pillow will do anything even if it did hit.”
“The buck are you doing here?!”
“Got treasure to find, need the whole crew.”
“No, what are you doing here, in this room? You should have knocked. I could’ve been getting dressed or something. What if I had a knife?”
“You probably would’ve missed, or I would’ve caught it. Now, hurry up, we have treasure to find and things to loot.”
She lets out a sigh, “Fine, give me a second.” She goes over to the mirror as green flames surround her. She gives her disguise a once over. Satisfied, she trots out the door, following Captain.
“Are you sure we are on the right course?” Captain asks Starry.
“Would you stop asking me that every five bloody minutes! Unless you remember, I don’t make mistakes!” she yells at him, her face flushed red from anger.
“Well, we’re not there yet, I think we should’ve been there by now.”
“That’s because you have no sense of direction or time!”
“Would you two stop yelling? I have a horrible headache.” mutters Smokey over from the cannon he’s sitting on.
“That’s because you keep on having those stupid drinking contests against Twigs, and keep losing! How can you lose to him, you’re twice his size!” Starry shouts back.
“Are we there yet?” asks Captain.
“I swear to Celestia, I may not kill ponies, but I’ll make an exception for you!” She goes down to her quarters before she kills someone.
“Good job, you’ve managed to piss off our navigator. Good luck getting back now.” Ebony says from his side.
“Not my fault if she got the directions wrong.” They hear rage filled scream come from under the deck.
Arrel flies down from the crow’s nest, landing at the base of the mast. “Captain, the island is dead ahead, but…”
“But what?”
“We don’t seem to be the only ones after the treasure.”
Captain pulls out his spyglass and quickly spots the island. There is also another ship along side the island. A brig with black sails, he doesn’t see much else from this distance other than the fact the sails are being raised. He sighs, and looks at his crew.
“Howler get below deck, we’re going to have visitors, and I don’t want to find out whether they like diamond dogs or not.” He does as told, while the rest of the crew (minus Starry) watch the ship slowly approach. Captain looks at the ship through his spyglass again. He counts out about twenty sailors, sixteen cannons, and one captain looking at him through his own spyglass.
“Ahoy! How goes it?” the captain calls over with a bit of a chuckle.
“Alright,” Captain replies.
“That’s good to hear. Say, whachya doin’ here, pinkie?”
My mane, he has to mention my mane. “Searching for a unsuspecting merchant to loot, fishing, enjoying the sea. I should ask you the same question.”
“Oh, nothin’ much, just um… just doing some fishing ourselves.”
“Alright, in that case we should be able to get along.”
“Say, what’s your name? I’m captain Rocky Bottom.”
“Captain.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“My name is Captain.”
Rocky stares at him from a second before falling into a giggle fit. “So, you’re captain Captain?”
“That’s pretty well the idea of it,” he says with a blank expression.
“I’m sure we can get along perfectly fine, captain Captain,” he says with a snicker. With that they part ways, Rocky’s ship goes back to the island, while Captains a little distance away.
He takes out his spyglass again, this time directing it toward the little island that he can now see clearly. It is a small barren island with literally nothing on it asides from one palm tree. Three stallions are on the island, one is hold a sword, while the other two carry a shovel each. In the middle of the group is a green earth mare, there is a yellow streak cutting through her light grey mane. The stallions seem to be yelling at her, and she is clearly afraid of her situation. One of the stallions hit her hind leg with a shovel.
Captain grits his teeth. “Something the matter, Captain?” Ebony asks.
The stallion hits her again. “No, nothing.”
“So, what’s the plan then?”
“Wait till night, sneak onto the island, steal it from under them.”
“What about the mare?”
“What about her?”
“Are you just going to leave her there? It’s pretty obvious that she’s not part of their crew.” Captain remains silent as he watches the stallion hit her again. “You know, I can see your anger every time they hit her, and I don’t need to be a changeling to see it.”
“Not right to treat anyone like that. I’ve been treated like that.”
“So…”
“So, when night comes we save her, and take the treasure.”
Ebony looks out toward the island. “I don’t think she has until night.”
He sighs and remains silent for a few seconds then turns around to his crew. “Howler, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to swim over to that ship. Arrel, Smokey, you two cover him from the air.”
“What are you going to do Cap’n?” Twigs asks.
“I’m going to have a chat with their captain.” He turns back to Arrel, and Smokey. “If one of us draws our sword be ready attack. If we both draw our swords, start dropping them, but leave the captain to me.”
“Finally, I get to kill somepony,” Smokey shouts, flying into the air beside Arrel.
“Twigs lower a rowboat.”
“Aye, Cap’n.”
“You can’t possibly hope to beat them, they’re at least twenty on that ship,” Ebony says.
“I don’t really care. If I have to, I’ll crush them all myself.”
“Boat’s ready Cap’n.”
Captain jumps over the rail and lands in the boat with a heavy thud.
“Good luck Captain, please come back.”
“It’s a pleasure to see ya again so soon, captain Captain,” says Rocky with a far too big smile.
Captain sighs, he’s really starting to get annoying with that. “I just came to chat.”
“What about?”
“I notice your crew is doing something on the island, and it doesn’t look like fishing.”
The smile drops and is replaced with a serious glare. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Captain sees a wet paw cling onto the rail. “I give you two options, you can either leave this island now, or you’ll help me lure the sharks so I can fish'em.”
“Ah, so that what this is about. You want the treasure, but how did you hear about it?”
Captain draws his sword. “Final chance, leave now or don’t leave at all.”
Rocky lets out a mocking laugh. “You’re threatening me, on my own ship? Do you really believe you can beat an entire ship on your own or are you too drunk to know better? Doesn’t matter anyways, because…” He draws his sword. “You’re going to die here.”
Then all Tartarus breaks loose.
Two gunshots go off making just as many sailor go down. Rocky looks up at a light grey pegasus holding a double barrel pistol. The sailors point their pistols at the pegasus only to be attacked from the other direction by a sky blue pegasus. Arrel lands on the deck, skidding to a stop with his sword in his mouth. Screams come from the port side of the ship, as a dripping wet diamond dog jumps onto the deck, striking down three sailors at once. Quickly the ship is filled with the sounds of swords clashing and pistol fire
However that is as much as Rocky gets to see before Captain is upon him. He blocks a slash from Captains sword. Captain continues his relentless onslaught, leaving no opening from a counter attack from his enemy. Sparks fly as strike after strike is blocked by Rocky, he rolls out of the assault and lunges at Captain. His blade is easily deflected, and he takes a hit to the jaw from Captains hoof. He staggers back a bit, when he regains his composure he sees Captain, not having moved from his spot. He could have killed me, he’s going easy on me, Rocky thinks.
He charges forward and slashes down at Captain. However Captain just steps out of the way, hitting the back of the cutlass with his hoof, wedging it into the deck of the ship. Rocky tries to pull the blade out, but to no avail. The air is knocked out of him, and he is sent flying across the ship and into the rail. A pair of powerful fore legs wrap around his neck and cut off his air.
“Give up or die,” Captain says.
“Never,” Rocky spits out with his last bit of air.
There is a loud crack, and Rocky falls to the deck. The fighting around them slowly stop as the crew take notice of their fallen captain. Captain looks up from the body and surveys the battlefield. “I give you all the same option, leave now or I paint your ship the same color as mine, using your blood. Before you answer look around, you’ve lost half your numbers already and I wasn’t fighting, now I’m able to join.”
The crew immediately drop their weapons and start rushing to raise the sails. Captain turns to his crew and says, “Arrel go back to the ship, have them come here. Smokey, Howler, we’re going onto the island.”
Howler and Captain jump into the rowboat and row the short distance to the island. The three stallions come running up to them. “What happened up there?” His only answer is a cutlass sinking into his neck, and the rage filled eyes of Captain. Before the other two could do anything Captain's blade sinks hilt deep into the chest of the next. The last one grabs his sword and charges. Captain picks up the shovel and hits him in the jaw, resulting in a satisfying crack. He tries to get up, but receives a bone breaking blow to the back. Captain then jabs the shovel through through his back, there is a quick gasp then nothing.
“Woah, don’t you think that’s a bit harsh Cap? I mean you gave all the others a chance,” Smokery says from the air.
“They didn’t deserve a chance,” he says as he yanks his cutlass out of a body. He turns to the mare, she stares at him in shock and fear. He starts to approach her, she tries to get up, but it’s clear her leg is broken. Captain stops in front of her. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to kill you. Just stay still, you don’t want to make that leg of yours any worse.” She continues to stare at him in shock and fear, a little less fear, but still fear. He sighs, “I came here to save you.”
A small smile forms on her face. “Thank you. Are you with the military? I didn’t think anyone would notice me missing for a lit--” She spots the dark red ship with black sails, and a pirate flag, coming toward the island. “You’re pirates!” she screams.
Captain winces at the outburst. “Uh… yeah, kinda. Does it make a difference?”
“You’re going to kill me!” she say as she starts sobbing.
“Calm down, I’m not going to kill you.”
“You’re going to feed me to the dog!”
He shares a quick look with Howler. “Calm down or I'll knock you out.” At this she stops crying. The rest of the crew arrive on the shore. “Ebony, take her onto the ship and look after her. Starry point us toward the treasure.”
“You know where the treasure is?” asks the green mare.
“No, I have no clue where it is.” He points to Starry, “She does.”
The green mare isn’t given time for more questions, she is picked up by Ebony and brought onto the ship.
“I wonder what she had to do with anything,” Arrel says.
“She’s related to the pony I got the map from.”
“How can you tell?”
“Same colors, she knew about the treasure, can’t be a coincidence that they just happen to kidnap her.”
“You two coming to help or what?” Smokey shouts over to them.
Captain and Arrel trot over to the hole he has started digging.
Inside the dark red vessel, Ebony tends to the mares wounds.
“So… what’s your name?” Ebony asks.
“My name is Jade Statue, I’m an architect. In fact I helped build the fort in Havana.”
“That’s neat, I used to work there myself until I was… let’s just say I quit. Name’s Ebony by the way.”
“Yeah I kinda heard before. The pink-headed one was… uh…”
“He’s scary when he wants to be, he’s incredibly vicious when he needs to be. But don’t worry, he’s nice, he’s an odd pirate to say the least, but strong nonetheless.”
“Did he really come to save me?”
“Yeah, he did, you’d be surprised how angry he got when he saw you being hit. Actually maybe not, seeing as to how you saw him ram a shovel through a pony’s chest. Okay, now I have to put your bone back in place, so this is going to sting a bit.”
“Okay, give me a sec- *crack* - holy bucking mother of celestia that hurts!”
“I told you I would hurt.”
“You said it would sting a bit!” Jade screams.
“Oh right, I lie sometimes.” Jade just glares daggers at her. “Hey, at least your leg will heal properly.”
“What are you going to do with me now?” she sighs.
“I guess we’ll drop you off at Hayvana or another nearby port town.”
“You’d go into Hayvana just to bring, and risk being caught?”
“I’m sure Captain would.”
“I guess I owe him now.”
Ebony smiles at her. “Trust me, you’re not the only one.”