August 12th, 2005
0949 Hours
Eastern Pacific Ocean
Ocean waves crashed by outside.
Wooden timbers creaked quietly.
Captain Starry Skies looked around herself. Wooden walls. Wooden frames.
Every time she examined her surroundings, she became irritated. Five years ago, she had wistfully looked upon the walls, expecting a new ship in her future. A new ship that she would have grown accustomed to and eventually became at home in, just as she had with Constellation.
Except it never happened. And for the past three years, she no longer felt comforted by her familiar ship. She was frustrated. And at times afraid. Equestria's enemies were milling about outside their borders with technology from the humans. The enemy had spared nothing in the attempt to wipe out the Equestrians, but the Equestrians had not done the same. Instead, she sat inside the heavy frigate, once the pride and glory of the Equestrian Royal Navy and now... technically still was, but with no true way to fight the enemy.
Sure, Equestria had a few patrol vessels for border purposes, and even that was accomplished through extreme pressure on the brass to ignore obviously illegal purchases. But for any true combat ships, Equestria had done nothing. At most, they had upgraded the wooden ships with some menial modern modules while retaining their barely adequate armament.
"Captain Skies, you are requested up on the deck."
The midnight blue pegasus sighed as the message came through the intercom, one thing they had bothered putting in the ship. Dropping a hoof and her weight onto the intercom's button, she replied a weary, "Acknowledged."
Slowly, she dragged herself off of her cot and onto the wooden floor. Her hooves landed with a solid thud. Putting on a coat, she made her way to the door out of the captain's quarters.
Exiting the door, she was still under a roof. With all of the new things the Equestrians were inevitably learning, the navy had requested that roofs be built over the mid deck and most of the stern deck, where she made her way to. It was an abomination, she thought. The ship was beautiful once, but now, now they were trying too hard to cling onto the past whilst trying to deal with the present.
Or rather, the Princesses were. Many officers with functioning brains had wanted to switch over to modern ships for the past few years, after the sentiment for their canvas sails had worn off. Even the Admiralty were leaning towards modernizing, for the logical reason of it being the only way they could continue to perform their work as a navy.
"Captain Skies."
Skies blinked. It was Lieutenant Low Tide, standing around a chart table. Around the makeshift room there were a few other ponies, notably a few working radios. "Yes, what is it, Lieutenant?"
"A patrolling pegasus notified us of an unidentified, unscheduled ship passing by here," the blue earth pony tapped on the map on the table, "heading with a bearing west. Reported to be a private vessel. We're the nearest ship in the area and they want us to intercept and investigate."
Skies just sighed again. "Alright. Get it done. How long until we close the distance?"
"Given the last reported location and heading… one hour, forty minutes."
Skies nodded. "Notify the gun crews. Ready a boarding party."
Tide leaned on the table and looked at his CO, and evident from his relatively bored expression, as he had done a few times in the past. "Same routine?"
"Same routine."
:::::
Patrols were nothing new for them. Patrols for pirating and smuggling were nothing new for them. Even when they first arrived five years ago, it was nothing new to them. But in the new world, it was just so... unfulfilling. But Skies swore to serve the Princess, which was a swear to serve her ponies, and if this was how she was to perform that duty, then she had to live with it.
Skies was below decks, wandering in the first gun deck. They still held the same cannons that they came to the new world with. Skies wished they could at least have pressured for some marginal upgrade. Maybe an armament upgrade. Get some old field pieces from some other country. Of course, that would also involve designing new recoil mechanisms so that firing didn’t wreck the ship, but Skies was sure it would be worth the cost.
Surely even the Princesses would agree that monetary cost was nothing compared to the cost of the lives of her sailors. Constellation was supposed to be a weapon, plain and simple. Supposed to be. However, the ship as is was a wooden club against the enemy, for all it was worth. The gun decks were at least made more livable, with heaters and better insulation, so at least wallowing in sadness was slightly more comfortable.
She wondered how Equestrians had managed to even stomach having to keep Constellation in service like this. Sometimes, when the ship creaked, Skies imagined that it was speaking to her, asking to let it stop sailing and be removed from active duty. Maybe even be restored to its actual former glory. Not the convoluted mess it was now. The ship performed as best as a wooden ship could in the age of guided missiles, and Skies could never be happy as long as she commanded Constellation. She loved the ship with all her heart, but it was being pushed much farther than it should have ever been.
Pegasi of the boarding party were coming up from the lower crew decks, readying themselves on the top deck. Skies received nods of acknowledgement from them as they passed by while she blankly stared on. After the last of them came, she gave the same basic instructions she had given time after time to the gun crews. Be prepared to fire warning shots, then be prepared to fire to sink. Be prepared to sail away with nothing actually happening.
:::::
The relatively small ship calmly tumbled through the Pacific Ocean. Starry Skies stood on the open front deck feeling the sun's warmth. It was not Celestia's sun, but she had grown to love it as she had their own.
"Star?"
Slightly off guard, she turned to her side, finding her Lieutenant. "Low."
"We're going to be within range in five minutes." Tide held up binoculars to his eyes. "There it is, out over there." He offered it to his Captain and pointed.
Skies took it and searched the seas. She found the boat miles away. "Have we made radio contact with them yet?"
"We began ten minutes ago. We suspect that they're smugglers." The Lieutenant took the binoculars back as he answered.
"Suppliers of the black market? Pony or human?"
"Equestrian, we know so far. I don't remember ever encountering a human on these patrols."
Skies nodded. "Those ponies like to do deals at sea. The humans ship it out, meet up with an Equestrian ship, and do their business. Reduces interspecies issues that may be encountered in port."
"If they happen to be working for the black market, they should be loaded up with contraband, since they're headed for Equestria," Tide reasoned. "Unlucky day for them."
"Lieutenant Wintergreen, set off at once."
“Alright, fellas, you heard 'em, let's go!”
"Or a lucky day for us." Skies watched as a few pegasi took of from the deck, readying to confront the other ship. "Let's see what this is about."
:::::
Constellation had positioned itself alongside the vessel. It was another wooden sailing ship, and by how weathered it appeared, was from the olden days like Constellation. Given Equestria's penchant to isolate itself from the rest of the world, these merchant vessels were just other relics in use, since acquiring any modern ships required ludicrous hoops to jump through; after all, if small items in the black market were forbidden, what more were ships?
And being an older ship type, both sides knew how the game went. Navy pegasi in one group, crew members in the other, and a civilized talk on the deck behind the main mast.
"Sir," one of the crew, an earth pony, greeted. "I am Captain Clipper, welcome aboard the Ocean Breeze. We were told that we were sailing through these waters without permission?"
The commanding officer of the boarding party, a green pegasus, stepped forward. "Exactly that, Captain. Under Equestrian Navy procedures, we'll need to see your shipping manifest and you will have to consent to a search of your ship. That wouldn't be a problem, now, would it?"
Clipper shook his head. "No, not at all." He turned to one of his aides. "You heard the officer, shipping manifest."
Just as the pony nodded, the officer interrupted. "And a ship plan. You should have your ship's layout somewhere, correct?"
"Oh, yes, yes," the earth pony replied. Turning to the pony he gave the original order to, "Ship plan as well."
The pony nodded once more and went off with haste.
"I suppose you take us for black market operators?" Clipper asked the officer.
"You could simply stop playing the game now," the pegasus replied. "It would save you much trouble." He looked back at the rest of the marines standing ready. "After all, there isn't any way out of this."
"Well, by all means, sir, you're free to try and find evidence to hold against us that fits your case. We may not have the right to be in this area, but I assure you, that part is a simple misunderstanding. The winds don't always like to cooperate."
The officer shook his head slightly. "Same thing every time."
There was the sound of hoofsteps returning, and it was Clipper's aide from earlier.
"Well, sir, here are the requested items. Search the ship as you please," Clipper said calmly.
The pegasus turned to his marines behind him. "Sergeant Crosswind, you and your ponies guard the deck. Sergeant Harper, go over and get us unicorns from Constellation."
The two other pegasi gave him affirmatives. One stayed with a few ponies on the ship, the other took a team back to bring over unicorns from their ship just a little ways away. A younger pegasus came up to the officer. "Lieutenant Wintergreen? I have a question, sir."
"What is it?" Wintergreen started walking off to the side of the ship where Constellation was sailing alongside, the private in tow.
"So what happens if we find them smuggling things from overseas?"
"We arrest the crew, seize the ship, take it back to port, and lock up all the illegal cargo."
"Just like that?"
"Come on, son, you signed up to serve the Princesses. If anypony's been getting it into your head to take a souvenir for yourself, get it out, because that isn't what the Princesses told us to do." They watched as pegasi took off from Constellation with some unicorns. "And if you try to do it, make sure I don't see it."
Five pegasi landed with five unicorns. Sergeant Harper approached Wintergreen. "Sir? We're ready to start the search."
"Very well," he replied to the mare. "I'll be here on the deck. Report back when you're done."
Harper turned back to her troops. "Okay, ponies, let's go!"
:::::
Down below in the bottom deck, two unicorns were preparing to scan the area as other pegasi searched the cargo around with lights and the naked eye. Though both unicorns weren't particularly old, one was clearly younger than the other. "Alright Private, this is your first time on a search, correct?" the older one asked.
"Yes, Corporal, it is."
"You know the basic search spells?"
"Read about them and practiced a bit, Corporal."
"Okay, let's do it together then. Basic search spell, the first one we do according to procedure. It was in Page 52 of the manual. Know what I'm talking about?"
"I think so, yeah."
"Let's start."
Their horns lit and they walked about the room. "Say, Corporal, black market operators usually hide things below the bottom deck, right?" the younger one asked.
"That's right. But right now, we're just searching for items on this deck. That search comes later."
"Can't they mask traces of those items or hidden compartments?"
"Not if we do our job right, they can't."
The Private kept walking along one side of the deck while his corporal searched the other. "And we're supposed to feel something if we find something, right?"
"That's right." There was a short silence as they reached the end. "Found nothing in the first magical search spell. Now we search under our hooves."
Again, they found nothing. "But just because we found nothing doesn't mean they're not hiding anything, right, Corporal?"
"I've been on a few searches in the past where we did lots of magical sweeps but didn't find a trapdoor until we brought on the anti-magic field crystal. So we're not certain about anything until we go through all the checks."
The private quietly sighed. He had signed up for the marines to help carry out the Princesses' will and keep his home safe against the new world, but he didn't expect to be landed in a position as dull as this. He knew that the spells they were taught to use weren't just for searches, but were in fact created for battlefield use. Things like searching out traps, or hidden enemies, or—
"Hey, you ready for the next sweep?" the Corporal asked, taking the younger unicorn out from his mental trance.
"Yeah, yeah." His horn lit with another spell, ready to walk the length of the deck again and probably find nothing. He followed the strides of the other unicorn, still careful to feel around the floor for anything out of place. They were supposed to be doing a search for trapdoors, according to procedure.
"Anything?" the Corporal asked.
"No, still nothing, Corporal."
"Nothing on my end either."
The Private sighed as he took a few last steps towards the end—"Wait. I think I found something." He moved around his head as if feeling if anything was tugging at it.
The Corporal walked over and casted a spell. "What are you feeling? I don't feel anything."
"I... I don't know. There's something under the floorboards."
The older unicorn's horn stopped glowing, while his expression glared at his companion. "Are you casting the right spell?"
"I—" The Private paused. "I..."
"What spell did you cast?"
"I don't know! I was just thinking about search spells and then you snapped me out of it and—"
"Well what were you last thinking?!"
"Uh—uh—something about hidden attackers or something?"
"You must be feeling some fish or something in the sea," the Corporal scoffed, but his horn lit again.
His expression changed momentarily. "Somepony get me the Lieutenant!"
:::::
"Hey, hey, let me go dammit!"
Lieutenant Wintergreen looked on as unicorns pulled someone out of a hole they had cut in the floorboards. There were more yells of resistance coming from below. There was a thud as a body was dropped on the ground. The pegasus walked over and stood above him.
"So what are you? American? What are you doing on this Equestrian trade vessel?"
The human just grumbled in response.
"Talk or get shocked."
The human's face turned from stern discontent to apprehension. "What?"
"Answer me. What country do you come from?" Wintergreen shifted his eyes back up, watching a few other humans get forcibly pulled out and grouped together on the deck. "Where are you all from and why are you on this ship?"
"I'm not talking to you. Get me your Captain. We'll talk."
"Lieutenant!"
The Lieutenant turned his attention to one of the ponies calling him. It had come from the hole in the deck. "What is it?!"
"This deck is filled with illegal cargo! This ship's smuggling items, sir!"
Wintergreen's expression lit up. "Someone get Sergeant Crosswind! Arrest the crew of this vessel!" As a pony ran off to the upper deck, he leaned down to the man, sternly asking his question again. "What the hay are you doing aboard this vessel?"
"I demand to see the highest authority," the man answered. Some cheering on could be heard from the other humans off to the side.
"And how is that your call?" The Equestrians forced the others to stay quiet.
"I'm not talking otherwise."
"Like I said, talk or shock." The air become more tense. Electrified even before a shocking spell.
"Are you allowed to do this to foreign citizens?"
"As far as I'm concerned, you chose to defy an officer outside of your borders and within ours." Without moving his gaze, he gave the order. "Sergeant Spark, shock him."
One of the unicorns to the side walked closer. His horn lit up and small bolts of electricity sparked off. The man's expression became more apprehensive and anxious, but said nothing. The other men were getting on edge.
"Sir?" Sergeant Spark asked.
"Stop!"
All the Equestrians froze at the female voice.
"Captain Skies!" Wintergreen saluted.
"Lieutenant Wintergreen, at ease." The stallion relaxed and moved aside as the mare approached the man on the ground. "And who the hay are you?"
"Are you the one in charge?" the man asked her.
"I am," Skies answered.
"Well then." The man backed away slightly before sitting up, then beginning to stand up. Ponies moved to keep him down, but Skies waved them away. The man dusted his blue button down shirt off. "Would it be possible to speak to you alone?"
Skies gave him a questioning look. "And why so? Do you believe you could convince me to let this all go?"
"Wouldn't you expect me to try?"
Skies stared for a moment. This was actually the first time they had encountered this situation. Never before in her years patrolling the waters did she encounter a human aboard a smuggling vessel.
"Captain?" Wintergreen said.
The Captain kept her gaze up at the man. "... Humor me."
Her ponies were shocked. "Captain, what are you—"
"Enough. I'll hear what this human has to say and see if it will give us more insight into our situation, past, present, and future." Skies never turned away from the human. "So?"
"I don't think Mister Clipper will be needing his office right now," the man answered.
"Then let's chat."
:::::
Skies sat down and the man sat in a chair across from her. "What shall I call you by?"
The man rubbed his face, scratching his facial hair. "Call me... Constantine."
"Constantine," Skies flatly repeated.
"And you?"
"Captain Skies," the pegasus replied.
Constantine nodded. "Well Miss Skies, I'll tell you why I'm here. I'm here on business."
"Business," Skies blankly echoed. "Is the shipment yours then?"
"Yes, it indeed is," he answered as he played around with his hands. "I'm sure you're well aware of the profit to be made from the black market."
"I am. And you're aware of the risks of getting caught?"
"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't."
Skies kept examining the man. He was relatively clean and well dressed and was relaxed in posture. She knew there remained a feeling of nervousness under it all, but he was doing a very good job of hiding it. "But what about the risks of getting caught within Equestrian borders? Surely you've taken that into consideration as well. And I'm sure anyone that's taken those risks into account wouldn't see much worth in the risk.
"A relative lack of modern shipboard luxuries. The risks of illegally entering our borders. What, do you just supervise your operation in person? I can't see that being the case. Unless you've just managed to get the worst luck possible."
"I'm inclined to believe it's an exchange of luck, Captain Skies," Constantine said. "I'll tell you outright why I'm here. Business. I've been partnered with these fellas for almost two years now. One day, I decided that with everything going on and my experiences in doing business with these ponies, I should go along on one trip and see how they perform their side of the deal. And as a bonus, give Equestria a visit."
"Give Equestria a visit. How on earth did you plan to go about doing that? There aren’t exactly any tourist welcomes in our ports."
"Oh, not like that. I'd lurk around near port, stay close to the ship. Give the country a visit before we're unable to."
"Mhm..." Skies got the answer to the first question. But given that this was a rare opportunity to discover motives, she pushed another question. "Why, Mister Constantine, do you participate in the Equestrian black market? Is it simply the money to be made?"
"Well of course it's about the money!" Constantine answered. "If you're all so concerned about the black market, why don't you just open up your borders? Your people just want to experience the world they're in!"
"You know what Princess Celestia's stance on opening up our borders is."
Constantine scoffed. "And I think it's stupid. You've got the enemy on one side and the most powerful nation in the world on your other side. Everyone in the world is thinking—why don't you all just accept the help?!"
"This isn't your war to fight," Skies answered. "We were fighting with them before this, and no one else needs to become involved. Princess Celestia doesn't believe it would be right for you to throw your lives away for a fight that was never yours."
The man's expression turned to bewilderment. "Are you even listening to yourself? You realize you just admitted that your princess is willing to save the lives of others over her own people."
Skies was taken aback. But she couldn't disagree with it either.
"Your leader is purposefully rejecting the numerous tools and assistance to fight your war against an enemy that has adapted. For what? Honor? I don't see how you can go accusing smugglers when you've got bigger heads to worry about accusing. Breaking a controversial law is one thing, being stubborn and risking a country is another."
The pegasus grimaced. "Princess Celestia will not open up our borders as she believes that too much exposure to the outside world will not have a good influence on them. The Equestrian populace must remain disciplined."
"Too late," Constantine said. "If you thought that was possible when you landed into an entirely new world, you're delusional. Your enemies have embraced the new world. You Equestrians are still holding back. Or, rather, your leadership is. I have a question for you—why did you join the navy?
"You know, the British have a saying. 'For Queen and country.' But you—you can't say that. It's either one or the other right now. So why did you join? To serve your Princesses, or to serve your country? A country isn't made up of just your Princesses. You've taken up the responsibility to protect thousands of lives."
Skies didn't want to answer. Deep inside, she knew all of this already, but to hear it from someone else... it froze her.
"Captain, you asked me why I involved myself in the black market. I do it for the profit, but beneath it, I know there's good being done. Us Americans—we're a country created by the people. We didn't like how we were being ruled, so we did something about it. It took a while for our eyes to be opened, but when it did, things started going the right direction.
"What I'm doing for your fellow country... ponies—is opening their eyes. Everyone wants to live. But I'm helping them reach into our world and want living even more. And when they start clamoring hard enough, either your Princess bends, or the people take over. Or, maybe it'll just be too late."
Skies stared blankly. She didn't want to listen to it. But she couldn't justify their current actions in her head either. Nothing anyone was doing was making sense.
"I've heard that guys in the US Navy join to keep their home and families safe. And I bet you did too. Clipper and his ponies? They were talking about your ship. How it was the pride of your navy. And now what are you doing? Sailing around on border patrol? Catching smugglers? What are you protecting your home from? I thought the priority was the enemy threatening your borders and to overrun you."
Constantine sighed. "It's a shame, really. Wasting officers like you. You said you were fighting the war before you came into this world. Are you still fighting it? Are you? Because last I checked, the only thing keeping your country from being overrun is the threat of American firepower. Not the threat of Equestrian military force. But what do I know, I'm just some human selling goods on your black market."
Skies stood up without looking at him. She walked out the door and back towards her crew.
:::::
Constantine watched as the Constellation sailed away from the Ocean Breeze.
"Shit man, what did you say to get us out of that?" one of his partners asked.
"Just the truth. You know, I don't think they're blind to it."
"So why bother giving them some of our cargo? Better bribe?"
"Partially. And maybe it'll open up more eyes to reality."
"You gave away quite a lot. That'll cut into our profit."
"It won't matter. It wasn't going to last forever anyways."
"What do you mean?"
"This chapter in history is coming to an end soon. We were never in control of the black market. Only they do. It'll end with them opening up to the world or them getting taken over. There is no staying how things are. The Equestrian black market isn't going to last much longer, and no matter how it ends for them, it'll end with us out of this job."