Captain's Journey

by Sphinx_Herald

Chapter 24

Ebony groggily wakes to the gentle sway of Misfortune. She yawns and looks around the room Captain gave her. Nothing too impressive, mainly due to the fact she still doesn’t own much. Sun light shines in through the porthole and onto her face, she silently curses Celestia. She yawns again and curls into a ball under the covers. I’m not getting up anytime soon, she thinks. She jumps when she hears something heavy banging on the deck. “What the?” Her ears perk up and she remains completely silent. She hears heavy hoofsteps and what sounds like grunting. Whatever it is it’s not trying to be quiet.

She hops onto her hooves and uses her magic to open the door. It doesn’t take her long to get to the deck. She finds Captain crouched onto the deck with a cannon balanced across his shoulders and back. “You know we have rigging to move that… and wheels.”

“Not moving it,” he replies.

She soon realizes that he in fact is not crouched, instead he is doing push-ups. She blinks as he pushes himself off the deck. “You mean you’re using that thing to train?”

“Not exactly many other things heavier than this on the ship.”

“Uh... why are you doing push-ups? Again, we have rigging and Twigs and Smokey to move those.”

“I’m tired of not being able to protect what I want. I’ve lost a lot of things I’ve cared about and I don’t feel like losing you or this ship.”

“Oh…” Well then, I guess that's one reason for this kind of stupi-- Wait, did he just say he didn’t want to lose me?

He glances over at her. “Not afraid someone will see you?” he asks snapping her out of her little daze.

“No, I doubt there’s a lot of ponies who’re up at this time. So how long are you going to keep that up?”

“Until I don’t feel like it or until I can’t continue.”

“Well, I’m going to get something to eat, come join whenever you want.” She turns around and starts heading into ship. Captain shifts the cannon off his shoulders, it falls to the deck with a mighty bang which makes Ebony jump.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Ebony walks down the road toward the Lucky Mare. After having finished eating, Captain had went back to doing push-ups leaving Ebony to walk there on her own. He doesn’t really love me, does he? How can he, I’m a changeling and he knows it, why would anypony knowingly like a changeling? A few stallions snicker at her as she walks by. She gives them a quick glare and continues walking. She spots a group of ponies staring at something posted on a wall. Curious, Ebony walks up to the crowd and tries looking over them. When that doesn’t work she decides to push her way through. She manages to squeeze her way to the front of the group and finds herself looking at a poster.

Ebony’s eye twitches slightly, she reads over the poster again. Yep, still there. She grabs the poster in her mouth and flies off toward the tavern. She bursts through the door and goes straight to Rose who is busy wiping down the counter. She looks up from her minor work and smiles at Ebony. “Morning sweetie, I’m not quite open yet, but for you I think I could make an exception.”

Ebony slams the poster onto the counter. “What is this?”

“Paper.”

“No, what’s on the paper!”

“Words.” This answer gets her a whack to the side of the head. “Ow,” she says rubbing the small bump. “It’s a poster for the drink off.”

“And why am I on it?”

“Oh, because you’re a prize, sweetie.”

“Why the buck am I a prize?”

“Because you owe me that much, sweetie. I let you live with me and have a few ‘free’ drinks so now you have to pay me back. Or course, you can still pay it off another way.”

“How?”

“Come upstairs with me and I’ll show you,” Rose says with a seductive look.

“No, I won’t cuddle with you.”

“Well, you’re a prize then.”

“And I don’t want to sleep with some random, drunk pirate!”

“Well, I want you to, sweetie.”

“I’m not doing it.”

“Then I’ll change the prize to ‘whack a changeling’.” Ebony opens her mouth to protest but quickly closes it. “There’s one way you can get out of this, however.”

“I don’t want to sleep with you or a pirate!”

“No, not that. You can enter the contest and try to win that way you get to pick the prize.”

Ebony glares at the at the cream colored pony. “You’ve had this planned out since the beginning haven’t you?”

“Take your pick, sleep with a drunk pirate, sleep with me, or pay me thirty-five bits and get drunk.”

“I hate you.”

Rose gives her a quick kiss on the nose. “I love you too.”

Ebony looks around the crowded tavern, she never figured so many ponies could fit into the small building. She hears a few young deckhooves snickering at her. She shoots them a quick glare then goes back to searching for the rest of the crew. It doesn’t take long to find Captain’s pink, curly mane through the sea of colors. Soon afterward she spots Twigs and Smokey sitting across from each other at one of the tables. Craven is just as easy to find since most ponies shy away from the griffon.

She sighs as she focuses on Captain again. I’m such a bucking idiot, I didn’t have to do anything since Captain is here. I doubt he would lose something that he does almost daily. Well, I already paid thirty-five bits to Rose might as well drink anyways.

Rose clears her throat from the front of the tavern, the crowd quiets down and gives her their attention. Ebony notes the other ponies standing next to her, Starry, another unicorn and a pegasus, most likely here to help serve the drinks. “Welcome everypony, and griffon,” she says gesturing to Craven. “I’m glad you all came to my seventh annual drink off. The rules are simply, give up or pass out you lose, you win if everyone else loses. Now that that’s out of the way, raise your mugs and let’s see who here is a real pirate!”

Ebony covers her ears from the cheer of everypony in the tavern. She looks up as mugs are magically passed around. Rose places a mug in front of her, “Good luck, sweetie.”

“I hate you.” Rose smiles and happily trots away. Ebony looks back at the mug, bottoms up. She quickly chugs down the drink and puts the mug down. A full one is quickly placed in front of her. As she raises the mug to her lips there is a loud thud and a wave of laughter. Looking around she finds Smokey passed out on the ground. Starry facehoofs and shakes her head.

“And one is out,” Rose declares.

Rose leans against the counter as the remaining competitors slowly lose what little sense they have left. Ebony, Captain, Twigs and several other ponies are still left, the rest having passed out or quit. Still several ponies had stayed to watched their friends drink themselves to oblivion. Everypony is quite happy even though most of them have lost. Ponies laugh, share a friendly mug or two and sing shanties which Ebony had started. She smiles at her friend as she continues her verse.

“And it’s,
Windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys.
When the wind blows, we’re all together, boys;
Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow,
Jolly sou’wester, boys, steady she goes.”

All the while she waves her mug from side to side without spilling a drop. She chugs it down as another pony takes up.

“Up jumps the whale, the largest of all.
If you want any wind, I’ll blow ye a squall!”

Ebony slams her empty mug onto the counter swaying slightly. They all join in.

“And it’s,
Windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys.
When the winds blow, we’re all together, boys
Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow
Jolly sou’wester, boys, steady she goes,”

They laugh as they finish the shanty. Ebony tips her head back and empties out another mug. She loses her balance and nearly falls off the stool, she flings her head forward and regains balance. “How you holding up, sweetie?” Rose asks.

“Ah’m doin’ jush fine,” Ebony slurs.

Rose holds back a snicker. “I think you’re a little drunk.”

“Yer the one who’s drunk!”

Rose pokes her on the nose and she falls back. Rose looks over the counter at her. “Yeah, I think you reached your limit when you started singing, sweetie.” She walks over to Captain. “Not that I don’t like seeing Ebony this way, but I think you should bring her home before she passes out.” Captain finishes his mug and looks over at his first-mate as she tries to get up with no degree of success.

He sighs and puts the mug down. “I quit, I’ve had my fill.” He gets up and staggers his way to Ebony. He slides her onto his back, she simply slumps onto his back. “I’ll see you tomorrow… Or whenever I’m sober again.” He lets out a yawn and staggers his way out of the door.
*****

Ebony slowly opens her eyes, but quickly covers them from the raising sun. She squints against the light and looks around at where she is. The earth is dry and rough against her chitin. She looks around at the barren wasteland that surrounds her. She sees several blurred figures standing before her. The majority are about the size of a regular pony, but the one in the middle of the group is taller. The figure stands about twice the height her with a long twisted horn giving it a sinister look. As her vision clears she is able to make out the shape as the changeling queen; her queen.

Chrysalis leers down at the smaller changeling. “So, you’re still alive after all. I thought you died after you stopped reporting to me.”

“Where am I?” Ebony asks.

“I don’t know, why don't you tell me where you stand? You seem to have been free for quite some time and yet you’re running around with vermin. Why haven’t you returned to the hive yet? Or better yet, why have given up on your mission?”

“Vermin? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do you truly think I’m stupid?” Ebony flinches back from the queen. “I expect to see you at the hive in two month. I’ll have those ‘pirates’ killed if you don’t.” Her horn glows green and she fires a bolt of magic at Ebony.
*****

Ebony’s eyes fly open as she jolts awake. She quickly jams her eyes shut against the searing light and pounding headache. She slowly opens her eyes as the throbbing in her head worsens slightly. She soon realizes that she’s back on the ship and laying in a bed. I need some fresh air, she thinks as a small wave of nausea comes over her. She tries to get up, but she quickly flops back down onto the bed. The pair of forehooves wrapped around her waist tighten.

Looking down Ebony sees the blue forehooves. She hears a snort come from behind her. Craning her neck as best she can, she spots Captain happily sleeping. “Captain!” she shouts wincing at the volume of her own voice. She focuses on the forelegs wrapped around her and tries to pry them off. “Curse your earth pony strength,” she mutters to herself. Once that doesn’t work she decides to try magic as well. He only tightens his hold and snuggles up closer to her. Blood rushes to her cheeks as she give up the attempt.

“Captain, are you awake?” she asks. He mutters something about rum which is quickly followed by a snort. “Can you let me go, please? Please, let me go, I’m not feeling well.” She waits for some kind of reply. “If you don’t let me go I’ll poke your eye out.” She sighs as the nauseous feeling worsens. This is going to suck. She throws her head back and slams it into his snout.

An explosion of pain is the best way she can think of describing the feeling. She holds her head as she tries to endure the headache. She forces her eyes open and looks at Captain. A small trickle of blood comes from his nose, but he is otherwise fine. The nauseous feeling returns, she levitates over a bucket from the corner and vomits into it. Why do I always end up in these situations?