//------------------------------//
// A Captain's Woes 
// Story: Earning Freedom 
// by Daxisle 
//------------------------------//



A Captain's Woes






Limping down the stairways of Canterlot Castle, Sin leaned over to check and see if any guards were coming. None in sight, he continued his agonizing trudge down to the main hall.

The cover of night had most who'd see him resting, asleep themselves. Even the lunar guard who was supposed to be watching him was passed out on the make shift bed he'd brought with him. Slipping some untaken sedatives into the pony's drink wasn't a hard task, after giving some innocent inquiries to allergies, of course.

He couldn't take being doped up and sitting in that damned room any longer, he needed to be up and about! He needed fresh air, trees, grass, the sky for Tapio's sake. Uppity and Celestia, should she care to visit him, could chew his ear off about it later. He'd go as insane as Star Shade if he had to spend one more night coped up in that room.

He heard clanking ahead and ducked down, he could feel his heart picking up as the clanking grew louder. 

'Shit, a patrol.'

He ducked behind a stone pillar and awaited the guard to pass, his ears perking and swiveling whenever there was an abnormality in the trotting pattern. Luckily, the guard passed without incident, and as Sin watched him reach farther down the hall, he gently crept down the hall in the opposite direction. If memory served, he'd just need to pass by the dinning area and then jump out the lower window.

As he walked, he dodged a couple more patrols and reached the archway that devised the hall from the large dinning hall. He peered into the hall and cursed under his breath. There sat Shining Armor, alone with a glass of, what he assumed to be, alcohol of some kind. The pony's shoulders were high and his head low, perfect body language to indicate depression.

'Drunk captains are inattentive captains.'

Another bit of clattering from behind and Sin dashed as quietly as he could behind a perpendicular archway that lead down to main hall. His ears swiveled and he waited for the clanking hooves to either pass or die down. It always annoyed him how infiltration and sneeking around really worked. Unlike books and plays, which emphasized an unnecessary amount of athletic and acrobatic ability, the key was always more about patience and observation.

His heart dropped as the clanking slowly, painfully slowly, drew closer and louder. He'd wasted a good hour on his sneaking around already. At this rate, he wouldn't have any time to clear his head outside before having to sneak back in!

The guard passed by him, his eyes straight forward and entered the dinning hall. He called to the captain and whispered something, before the clanking began a new as the lunar pony returned from the path he'd come.

'Wonder what that was about?'

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed? Anarchist?"

Shoulders slumping, Sin limped from his hiding spot and into the dinning hall to confront the good drunk pony. Shining lifted his head and gave the pony a smirk. "We were just invaded by a bunch of Changelings, did you really think you'd be able to creep around without somepony noticing you?"

'Cleaver bastard.'

Sin took the opportunity to study the bottle the captain had, as suspected it was methanol in nature. And judging by the fact the stallion was smiling at him, he was well past what most would call: Socially acceptable intoxication. "Fair enough." Was all the Federalist could reply with before switching topics to a more interesting account. "What are you doing up this late?"

"I think I asked you first." He said before downing the rest of his glass.

Alright, so something's bothering him. Now do I care enough to sit and speak with him about it? Hhhmmmmmm, ye- na- hmmmm, sssure, why not?

Limping his way around the table, Sin pulled out a cushin and took a seat. The truth seemed like the best way to go here. "Can't sleep."

Shining chuckled. "Well would you look at that, we have something in common." He spat, pouring himself another glass and downing it in a single gulp. Sin was about to stand up and leave, but Shining's magic stopped him. It wasn't that it manipulated him, but summoned another glass from a near by cupboard. Halting for a moment, Shining's eyes trailed to Sin and stayed on the pony. He shook his head and then proceeded to fill the glass before pushing it over to him.

"What's this for?" Sin inquired, looking down at the auburn liquid.

"For your help at the wedding." Replied Shining, pouring himself yet another glass. "It's a lower proof, so don't expect to feel too good off of if." He lifted his glass in a hoof, Sin mirrored the act and the silent toast was downed. Shining wasn't lying, the swill tasted more like a fireball candy than it did anything else. Though, it did explain why three fourths the bottle was gone and he wasn't under the table yet.

Giving a word of thanks, Sin inquired as to what kept Shining up, it was obvious he had something on his mind, and getting on his good side wouldn't hurt. "I told you already, I can't sleep." Quirking a brow, Sin clarified that he wanted the reason he couldn't sleep. "What's it to you, Anarchist? I thought you didn't like me."

"Not as a pony of the guard, no." Sin replied flatly. "But as a stallion all his own, you don't seem too bad."

Again, Shining paused and looked at his drinking companion. Sin's answer must have been suitable to him, his glass being refilled told him as much. The two continued to trade information, shallow at first. Giving short and ambiguous answers about how things were, how their respective love interests were doing, as well as their friends.

That last one was where Shining's good mood ended, and he resumed his thoughtful preponderance over his drink. "I guess I've just been figuring things out lately." He admitted, downing the last bit of the "whiskey" and summoning another bottle from the same cupboard he'd gotten Sin's glass. Sin begged the question and the unicorn replied. "Valiar was the closest thing to a friend I had here. When returned from the mission I'd sent him on to Las Pegasus, I was planning to ask him to be my best mate." He chuckled mirthlessly, pouring himself another drink. 

"A pony who assaulted me not too long ago, is the pony I was going to ask to give my wedding speech." Sin briefly thought about saying something about the unicorn's drinking, but quickly thought better of it. "All because he was the closest thing I had to a friend here."

Okay, that couldn't go unabated. "You're Captain of the Royal Guard. What do you mean you don't have friends?"

The unicorn stallion motioned to the empty table around, as if to say that this was the epitome of his relationships outside of the obvious, before he asked Sin about how many of the ponies that attended the wedding looked like they'd be the sort he'd associate with. Thinking on it, out of  all the ponies present, there were only two who weren't dressed like pompus snobs. Though, with the way Twilight was acting with them, he'd assumed them family, rather than friends.

"Exactly." Shining grumped. "Ever since Cadance and I became official, it's like nopony wants to be around me outside of the job. I see the way they look at her, they want her, but they can't have her. I'm the luckiest stallion in the world to be with Cadance, but I'm also the most hated for that exact same reason." He finished his mini rant with another shot.

It made sense well enough, the pink alicorn was one of the most attractive mares he'd ever seen physically. Sin couldn't deny that her personality was also an asset as well. Her magic, if he understood it correctly, was something to the effect of spreading love. Mix all three and you had a mare on your leg that would make any stallion green with envy. "That sucks, dude." He polished off his own drink, only to have Shining pour him yet another.

The conversation picked up from there, Shining began confessing quite a bit about himself. He loved his fiancee, quite dearly from the way he spoke about her, but he also wanted more than to just be a husband. The white pony may have had the most beautiful bride in the land, but he still craved friends outside of just her. "Just, ponies to hang around with, you know? Talk some smack, relax a little bit, curse for Luna's sake." He took a breath and sighed. "I mean, this is the closest I've had to a decent friendly conversation, and look who I'm having it with."

Sin saw the insult, but decided to play on it. "Yea, you've fallen pretty far, not gonna lie." he smiled and arose his glass again. "Welcome to rock bottom, Captain."

"Loathed to be here, Anarchist." The two took another shot and allowed the conversation to drift to more light hearted topics. Stories about their exploits and accomplishments filled the air, it stared out professionally enough, but the more alcohol consumed between them, the more embarrassing details were shared. The Federalist exposing his time in Triple M. while Shining recounted his own time in the Trottingham guard as a private.

An hour and three more bottles of whiskey later, and both were cracking up at a story Shining was telling. "Alright, so no lie, there I was. A baby foal in one hoof and a ritualistic staff in the other, right? The mother's -hehe- the mother's still trying to feed me the lemon pie and, dude, it's was disgustingly sour. I mean I was ready throw it up all over the basement."

Sin couldn't make out the next few details, mostly on account of the story being muffled by the sounds of the two busting up laughing. "But eventually, back up came and the baby was taken into foal protective services while the mom received psychological treatment. Oh gosh, I'll never forget that day."

Sin sat in his mirth for a while, appreciating the story he had just been told. He'd never heard of seduction techniques being so unorthodox in all his life, but that was the price one paid for being a first responded.

"Alright, alright. I've got one for you." Sin managed between breaths. "So, I'm somewhere around five years old, right? My brother, Malich, and I are walking down the streets of Unitas. Big city, think Manehatten, but the size of Canterlot. Anyways, so we go down the park where all the plays come to town, there was this play he loved to watch My Little something or another, and I run to get us some... Popcorn and ummm, oh fuck, what were those candies called? You know the ones that look like little blue pills but burst all kinds of different flavors all at once."

"Oh! Oh, crap, umm. Hold on, they're... Dang, I forget the name of them but- Oh! Echo Dons!"

Sin pointed and grew more excited, the alcohol hitting him alot harder than he expected. "Yea! That's it. So, I go get them right? And I come back to find he's not there. So, I'm flipping shit, I just lost my little brother at the park and I begin running all over trying to find him. Asking everyone I see if they'd seen where he went. "

"I search for a few minutes and the play starts, I don't notice but he- hehehe -he's one the stage, dancing along with the actors!"  He stopped to get his giggling under control. "So, I jump up on stage to try to get him off, apologizing the entire time when suddenly, one of the actors picks me up and starts twirling me around like a baton! I mean, literally, he was spinning my body around his wrist! Malich's just dancing around and having the time of his life, and I'm being thrown in the air like a rag doll, scared out of my mind, crying for the guy to put me down."

Sides were hurting, heads were more than a little fuzzy and hooves were pounding on the table. The story concluded with Sin eventually grabbing onto his captors arm for dear life and refusing to let go until after he promised to stop throwing him around. He wanted to threaten the pony that he was going to tell his dad, but he couldn't afford to look weak in front of his brother, so the two had settled to simply stay and watch the play from the far back of the park.

"And that's why I never stand in front for shows. Honest to Tapio, true, fucking, story." 

It was then that Shining asked who Tapio was and that lead to a long story about the Federation's founding. While not as comical and long winded, both the stallions added their own commentary to make it somewhat funny. 

Another few two hours passed and the laughed died down, mainly due to head aches and a lack of any more alcohol. Sin had mixed feelings about the white pony infront of him now. He still mistrusted the stallion to be sure, but any feelings of passive aggressive hostility were gone. For all of his stuffy state worship, Shining was actually a hilarious guy when he wanted to be.

"Alright, I think I'm going to head back to my room before someone notices I'm gone." Sin stated, standing up and wobbling from inebriation. "Okay, this will be a fun walk."

Shining did the same, though his wobbling was much more pronounced. "Yea, that's not a bad plan. You know somethin'? You're alright." He paused, his smile stretching into a smirk. "For an Anarchist."

Seeing the opportunity, and his drunken mind superseding all functions of dignity, Sin scoffed with indignation. "Just alright? Bitch please, I'm fabulous!" He said, lifting his hoof up and tossing his mane.

Shining immediately dropped to the floor, holding his head as he fought to keep his snickering under control. "No, that's ehehe- that's not fair! I've already got a head ache" He managed between snickers.

Sin had to clench his jaw to keep himself upright, just the sight of someone laughing was enough to push for his own giggle fit. Eventually, Shining got ahold of himself and the two said their good byes before parting way to their respective beds for the night.

Seeing the situation done with, Sin calmed himself and regained his senses the best he could. He had to admit, Shining was an alright sort, and it made him feel better knowing he'd be going to sleep feeling a little better than before the Federalist had come in.

'Hey, that's that empathy thing we were talking about.'

So it was, it felt good. Kinda like the feeling he had when he'd helped pull Spike from his depression. Alas, it was on the trek back that he realized that he'd never gotten outside, though he surprisingly didn't care as much as he thought he would. Maybe just being out of the room for a while was all he needed after all.

"You know..." Sin froze mid step and gasped before slowly turning around to find Luna leaning against one of the pillars behind him. "If thou wishes to drink and wonder the halls without being caught, thou would do well to keep thine voice down." She was smiling at him playfully. "Good morning, Sin."

"Mornin'." The Federalist replied bluntly, surprised to see Luna here. "Yea, I'll keep that in mind. Didn't mean to disturb you."

Luna chuckled mirthfully, explaining that she wasn't disturbed at all. Matter of fact, she was very happy to hear laughter in her halls at night, most ponies didn't pay her half of the day any mind. "We just wanted to thank you."

"For?"

"For many things, but right now, for what you did for Captain Armor." Her smile faded to a grimace and she looked away. "He does his best not to let my sister and I know, but we've seen how he's treated socially by his subordinates and peers. Their jealousy and lust drives hostility to him for what he has. It's not fair that he should face such scrutiny for being the one who won Cadance's affection."

Sin pressed his lips and shrugged. Shining had known the mare since they were in school, the other stallions and mares around really didn't have a chance. 

"Exactly. I haven't heard him laugh like that in quite some time, and it was nice to hear it once again. And I have you to thank for that." She turned away and began walking back to the main hall. "Sleep well Sinbad."

Seeing her turn and expose the stars in her mane quickly brought a memory back. "Luna!" 

The Alicorn stopped and looked back at him curiously. "Yes?"

Sin pressed his lips, thinking over what he was about to say. "When... you were in my dreams that one time. Did you leave anything behind? In my mind, I mean."

Luna's brow furrowed at the question and Sin's brain started sobering up real quick over the questions he was asking. What was he going to do if she said no? Tell her that something that looked like her, calling itself the Alicorn of Insanity had popped into his head and was making him commit self mutilation?

"No, We did not. Why do you ask?" She inquired, her eyes narrowing slightly as he tone shifted to suspicious. That was all Sin needed for him to abandon his planned inquiry.

"Never mind, it's nothing. Have a good one." He said before limping his way back down the hall as fast as his legs could carry him.