Misfortune cuts its way through the water as it hunts for its prey. Captain looks out over the calm sea at the small specks of land on the horizon. Ebony comes up next to him. “Good thing Willow knows how to navigate,” she says.
“You think Starry will come out soon?”
“Doubt it.”
Captain lets out a sigh at the temporary loss of his navigator. “Where’s Arrel, I need him in the crow’s nest.”
“I think he went to talk with Starry.”
Captain sighs as he takes out his spyglass and scans the horizon for their target.
Arrel walks through the hold of the ship following the dull thuds of something hitting wood. He walks up to the door to Starry’s chamber. Opening it he finds Starry sitting at her desk mumbling something as she rams her head into the desk.
“You alright, Starry?”
“I’m a bloody idiot.”
“Don’t say that, you’re the smartest one on this ship.” he says going over and placing his hoof on her shoulder.
“I just called our newest crew member a slave. I'm such a bloody idiot.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you?”
“I suppose I’m still used to having slaves serve me.”
“You used to have slaves?”
Her ears flop back as her eyes go a little wider. He hears her mumble something under her breath. “Just forget I said that,” she says after a while.
“Do you plan on coming out anytime soon, without you we’ll get lost at sea.”
“I can’t face her. I probably crushed her, she must hate me.”
“Hiding won’t solve anything.”
She lets out an annoyed huff. “I guess you’re right.”
“So you coming out?”
“Not quite yet, don’t worry I will,” she says as she starts mumbling to herself. Arrel sighs then flies out of the room.
Captain spots Arrel coming out of the hold of the ship. "To the crow's nest, Arrel!" he shouts.
Smokey comes trotting up to Captain “Cannons are loaded and ready for battle,” he reports.
“Good, I don’t want to waste too much time with this.” Smokey gives a quick nod and heads back down the stairs. Captain looks Willow who is sitting a little way behind him. "Are we still on course?"
"Should be," she replies.
“Ship up ahead, Captain!” Arrel calls.
Captain takes out his spyglass and quickly finds the ship. It’s a brig with a white-red striped sail. It’s moving quite slow compared to Misfortune. A grin forms on his lips. There’s our target, he thinks. His grin grows as he watches the ship turn about to head toward them. They want to fight, this’ll be fun. "All hooves on deck, get ready for a fight! Twigs, bring us down to half sail. Aim for the hull, we want to sink this one." He looks back at the ship, he no longer needs his spyglass to see it. He watches as the ship comes up next to theirs.
“Fire!” he shouts. The cannons roar and a volley of cannonballs crash into the ship. The other ship fires at the same time, the impact sends the ship a bit more to portside. “Arrel, damage report!” The pegasus quickly takes and does a round of the ship before landing on the deck.
“We’re on fire!”
“What?” Captain leaves the helm and runs to the starboard side and sure enough flames scorch the side of the ship. Oddly there are no holes from the cannonballs. He runs back to the helm and makes a sharp turn portside. Water splashes up the side of the ship and puts out the flames. “Reload the starboard cannons and prepare to fire portside cannons!” he shouts as he brings the ship around. “Fire!” Splinter of wood fly from the other ship, though it stays afloat. The merchants fire and Misfortune begins to lean heavily to portside. “Arrel!”
After a quickly fly-by Arrel lands back onto the deck with a confused look. “There’s a thick layer of ice.” Captain looks at him as though he’s crazy. He gallops to the side and finds a layer of ice covering the portside of his ship.
“Arrel, break the ice, I need those cannons.” Arrel quickly flies over the edge with his sword drawn. “The hay the ice come from?”
“Cap, their using magic cannons.”
Captain turns to face Smokey. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a unicorn. I don’t know what magic anything is.”
“Magic cannons fire pure magic energy. They’re pretty expensive because of that. They have a less power than normal cannons and can’t use gunpowder. Their effect depend on what spells are put into them. They are easy and fast to reload making them a favorite cannon for unicorns.”
“How do you know all this?”
“My cutie mark is a cannon for a reason.”
“Right, well, get back to manning the cannons, reload the portside ones as soon as you can.” He makes a harsh turn causing warm, sea water to splash onto the ice. He heads for the merchant ship once again. He raises his hoof again. He quickly lowers it and shouts, “Fir--” He is cut off by the sound of cannon fire from the other ship as Misfortune violently stops. Captain gallops over the the starboard side of the ship and finds a large chunk of ice stuck to his ship and goes into the water.
“Someone get rid of that thing!” Smokey aims a cannon at the chunk of ice and obliterates it. Captain makes another quick turn and smiles as he hears the ice on the other side break apart and his ship levels out.
“We can only use half the portside cannon!” Smokey calls. “The rest are still filled with ice.”
“Cap’n, it won’t make much difference. Looks like they have a thicker haul than normal,” Twigs says.
Thicker haul, faster cannons that can freeze my ship, only half my cannons available. I need something a lot bigger than just a cannonball, Captain thinks. “Fire the chain-shot, aim for the sails!” The chain-shots fly from the forward cannons and rip one of the sails to shreds. He steers Misfortune straight for the merchant ship. They aim their cannons at the bow of Misfortune. Red and orange rise from the bow as they fire upon the ship, still Captain doesn’t change course. He watches as fear flashes through the eyes of his victims as they realize what he’s planning. “Brace!”
The ram of the ship sinks into the haul with the sound of snapping wood and screaming sailors. The flames on the bow spread to the deck of the merchant ship. One of the masts falls down and tangles itself in the rigging of Misfortune. Captain turns the helm and as the wind catches the sail the ram rips itself out of the haul in an explosion of wooden splinters. Water flows freely into the massive gaping hole. Captain smiles as the merchant's ship begins the sink. "Fire starboard cannons!" The cannons rip through what's left of the deck, anyone caught in the fire turns into nothing more than a red smear on the sinking ship.
He turns back to his crew. “Put out those fires! Howler, cut that mast loose from us then get us back up to full sail. Smokey, I want my cannons back. Arrel, check the outside of the ship and give me a damage report. Twigs, get below deck and see if there are any problems.” They all go off to do their respective tasks.
Soon the fire is out and Arrel comes back. “She’s pretty badly burnt, and some of the planks have been damaged by the ice.”
Twigs comes out of the hold of the ship. “We’re taking on a bit of water, Cap’n”
“Keep us afloat long enough to get to port.”
Captain sits on the dock as he looks at his damaged ship. “I need more firepower, a thicker haul, I should try to make her faster too,” he mumbles to himself. They rest of the crew had left for the tavern a while ago. Somepony clears their throat behind him, he turns to see Smokey standing there.
“I hear ya need more firepower.”
“I’m not getting one of those magic cannon things.”
“Of course not, ya want something suited for a real captain.” He hoofs him a piece of paper.
“What’s this?” he asks looking over the image of a cannon.
“It’s the plans for a cannon of my design, it has a longer barrel, and is able to use magic as well as gunpowder.”
“Is it stronger?”
“Yes.”
Captain looks back at the plans with a grin. He gets up and heads for the harbourmaster. He puts the paper onto the counter. “I need sixteen of these cannons.” The dull yellow stallion looks up at him then down at the paper.
“Custom cannons? This’ll cost quite a bit.”
“I can’t pay for them all right now, but I’ll pay for them as they come in.”
The stallion studies him for a moment. "Fine, but you had better pay."
Captain places a bag of bits on the counter. “I need my ship fixed. Also make her faster.”
“Sure thing,
The crew celebrates the arrival of their new member. Twigs lays passed out after having a drinking contest against Rose. Ebony and Arrel chat about the adventure in Hayvana she had. Willow sits at the counter and finishes her her bottle of rum. “Can I have another?” she asks. Another bottle is levitated over in a dark blue aura. She turns around and finds Starry standing behind her.
“Hey, sorry about what I said before.”
“Nothing I haven’t heard before.”
“Yeah, but it’s something you shouldn't hear it again.”
Willow laughs a little. “We both know it's not going to be the last time.”
“Well, it's not something you should hear from your crew mates. I figure the least I could do for you is to serve you for the rest of the day.” She looks out the window. “Night… for the rest of the night."
"Sounds even enough. How about you go get me something to eat then?"
"Right away, master."