//------------------------------// // Haybinger Port // Story: Caravel // by Odd_Sarge //------------------------------// I smiled at the beauty of a ship up the dock, far past all the schooners and modest fishing boats. It was a caravel, crafted with the wood from a grove of strong, black lotus trees, trimmed with the finest of cedar, and from what I had gathered from the jolly sailors at the port’s local tavern, lined on the inside with just a bit of poplar. I’d heard telltale rumors that the previous captain of the ship was an ex-royal naval who was found missing the morning after the supposed, “greatest ship heist of all time,” had taken place. The new captain had traveled to many different shipwrights to disguise the original frame of what had once been a royal vessel. Haybinger Port was just one of the many places that the ship could be seen docked at. Being the oblivious pony I was, I had gobbled up the rumors with unending glee upon reaching the town. After a couple of months of living in the town, I had run off to the docks to see about speaking to the legendary captain, only to find I was blocked by members of Princess Celestia’s Royal Navy. Royal Officers? My surprise brought chuckles out of the two unicorns standing by the dockside end of the ship’s boarding plank. I had slid to a stop and begun to ponder a couple of questions I could ask. My mind wanted to know what they were doing there, I wanted to know if the rumors had been true, I wanted answers. Before I could pursue any line of questioning, they shooed me away like a foal. “Sorry, colt. We’re on official business. Shorty over here,” he gestured to his glaring partner, who was indeed quite shorter than me and the guard that was speaking, “Will be making an announcement for your little port here.” I simply grunted as a physical reply and made my way past the various ponies that stood behind me, just as curious as I had been. As I left the area, I heard an unfamiliar voice behind me. I tensed up, but let out a brief sigh of relief when I realized that it was just the Royal Canterlot Voice being used. “Citizens of Haybinger Port! Under Admiral Hawse’s supervision, the Official Royal Vessel, known as the RES Blue Veil, has been commandeered once more by the Equestria Royal Navy. Please make way for its new crew.” I stared at the ponies who walked towards me, and then past me, all dressed in sailors’ garments. They were all the same ponies who had been sailing around in the ships around the port, and some of the sailors were even ones I had to talked to at the tavern. Why did they hire ponies from the local area to crew a Royal vessel? I thought to myself. And where did the captain and his crew go? I paused and looked back at the caravel, already flooding with new ponies, a million different thoughts flashing through my mind. I shuddered as another possibility came to mind. What if those sailors were all working for the Royal Navy? My breath was swept away as the realization sank in. What if they weren’t the only ones working for the navy in Haybinger Port? What if they ratted me out to the higher ups? What if they already knew? My head throbbed as panic strode to take me. I shook my head hard. There was no need to panic, but one thing was for certain. I had to get out of Haybinger. As calm and collected as one could, I walked away from the docks. I had told myself that this was silly and that there was nothing to worry about. However, I didn’t want to take the risk, because if any government official that worked directly for the crown found out that the last remaining suspect from the 'Griffonian Smuggling Case' was sitting right there in one of the crown’s own ports, they’d be on me in a flash. I couldn’t hide in plain sight as well as the legendary captain. And I certainly wasn’t experienced as the captain. I had only been in three smuggling operations before. I was twelve-years-old at the time when my brother had dragged me into our secondary schooner beside our main caravel with some of my crewmates. We had to abandon the caravel as we were chased by a fleet of some fast-moving Royal Navy ships. We’d brought the Griffonian moonshine to land, and delivered it safely to the speakeasy. We were a little beaten up, but proud of our coast-to-coast delivery. Everypony had been paid well, so we figured, “what better way to celebrate than get drunk at the local bar?” I’d been hoofed a hard bourbon by my brother, the first and last alcoholic beverage I’d ever had, and the rest of the night faded into disarray in my mind, the late evening air full of cheer and excessive drinking. All I could remember was waking up in a ditch, with voices nearby. They shouted some words that I understood as “that’s them” before I had run away from the scene. A twinge of guilt shot through me as I recalled the memory; I had distinctly remembered hearing my brother shouting in surprise as I ran. The days afterward were filled with guilt and regret. Could I have reached for the scabbard by my side, and brought my sword down upon a fellow pony, a guardsman, no less, to save my brother? No. I wasn’t that kind of pony. I wouldn’t be a bloodthirsty murderer like the friends my brother had hung out with. He was a bad influence on me. He was gone now. Everything was fine. … But he was still my brother, and it was stupid to believe that he’d been at fault for all of this. He was doing what he thought best for me, wasn’t he? I shook, I trembled, and I let out a shaky breath. The intense mental stress of recalling my brother and fighting back the regret almost too much for me to handle this time. I had to be strong. I thought happy thoughts, a grin slowly working onto my face to replace the frown that had overridden my features. My brother would’ve loved what I was about to do. I stepped out of the alley and into the brisk breeze flowing through the port. The air was cool against my fur, and the stones were damp from the splashes of high tide earlier in the day. I took a glance down at the docks, scanning for anypony who was still out. All I could see in the distance were two Royal Guards, different from the ones earlier in the day. I slipped out of the darkness and into the illumination of a streetlamp. The two stallions tensed up as I began walking towards them. I gave them an easy smile; they leaned forward and gripped their spears tighter in response. So much for being inconspicuous. “Evenin' gents,” I began with a horribly fake, cheery accent. “I have a question to ask you.” The older looking stallion standing on the right snorted and leaned back a little bit. “Spit it out.” Rude. “Well sir, I’ve just now arrived in town, and I was wondering if there was anywhere I could stay for the night.” This time, the left one responded. He rolled his eyes, “Should be pretty easy to spot, there’s one right over by the—” Clunk. The guard dropped to the ground unconscious, and almost immediately I had a spear trained right at my chest. The older stallion growled at me. “I don’t know how under Celestia’s sun you did that, mudpony, but let me tell you—” He slumped to the ground out cold. I dropped the hammer I had been levitating fell to the ground with a satisfying clink. I snorted and threw back the oversized hood on my thick cotton jacket, revealing my horn. “Sorry friends,” I said sadly, stepping over their bodies. “But I’ve got a ride to catch.” I left the two guards behind and galloped up the gangplank. I laughed to myself, imagining in my mind that this was a more modern version of the ship’s previous heist. Too bad it wasn’t that easy. The quiet symphony of waves crashing against the ship’s hull was closely followed by the tap of my hard hooves against the cedar wood deck. I was giddy, and for good reason; I was taking this beauty of a ship out to sea. By myself, I realized with a sudden growing sense of dread. “And where do you think you’re going?” I turned on the dial in fear to face the guard behind me, only to realize nopony was there. Where had the voice come from then? “Up here, chick.” I backed away from the main support beam near me and stared up into the darkness. “W-who’s there?” I gulped, deathly afraid that a pegasus from the Royal Navy might be flying around me, waiting to swoop down and arrest me. Wait, did he call me chick? Isn’t that what gri— “It’s the captain of this here ship.” Thump. I was speechless for a time. A long time. Finally, I gathered up enough courage to speak up. “Why are you transparent?” The griffon’s grin fell as he continued to stare at me. “Really now? Nothing? You ask that, instead of running about like a fool?” I rolled my eyes at the ghostly figure and relaxed a little. “Do I look like an idiot to you?” “Well, you’re stupid enough to try and take a caravel out to sea on your own.” He laughed a hard, dark chuckle. “And, and…” He continued, still laughing. “You just assaulted not one, but two naval officers.” He stopped for a moment, a look of thought crossing his face. “Now that I think about it, that is pretty stupid… I heard up north near Canterlot that they’ve come up with a new spell to scan faces from memories and track down the pony with that very face.” I guess he must have seen my look of horror, because he was laughing again in seconds. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it, chick. They won’t be implementing that anytime soon down here in the lower colonies. Plus, we’re going to be heading out to sea here in a moment.” He walked away from me, towards the cabin of the ship. Heading out to sea? What the hay does he mean by that? “But aren’t you… You know, a ghost? And even then, there’s just you and me here,” I questioned, following the apparition into the Captain’s quarters. He snorted in response. “I might be dead, but that doesn’t mean I can’t mess with the living. Like I’m doing right now!” Wait, what? I looked around me in a panic. My head shot back to him in seconds as his stupid laughter started up again. “You’re a paranoid one, aren’t ya? Don’t worry, I won’t be playing any ‘ghost tricks’ on you…” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Not yet, at least.” He laughed. Oh that laughter. It was just too easy for him to laugh. He must’ve expected me to tense up again, but now that I knew his game, I laughed along with him. “Ah.” He smiled at me, opening the door to the Captain’s quarters and motioning for me to head inside. “Good to see that you’re already getting used to me. That means you’ll be even more prepared for this little interview here.” Interview? I stepped into the Captain’s quarters… Which was almost barren. He must have noticed my look of surprise as he settled into his wooden chair behind the desk in the middle of the room. “Yeah, you might have heard some rumors about that ‘Captain’ who had supposedly taken this ship straight from the Royal Fleet right under their noses, and that he was still alive. Well, let me just tell you real quick.” He leaned in across the desk to me in my chair, his lips upturned into a smile. “This whole ship’s just been sitting in port for months because some pony collector decided that since this actually was worth something of historical value, that he might add it to his collection.” The griffon leaned back in his chair, still smiling. “Of course, once the Royal Navy figured out that some pony had bought the ship out of an auction and was being heavily restored to its old military glory, they figured that such a vessel was better back in the hooves of Princess Celestia.” Well, that was kind of… boring. I sighed, my previous hopes of meeting a legendary captain dashed. “Hey chick, don’t look so dejected now. Because you’ve still got little old me!” He jabbed a talon at himself and smiled widely. “Your resident ghost captain!” I blinked. He rolled his eyes at me and lowered his talon. “Gee, tough crowd. Anyway, let’s get on with that interview.” Oh here we go. “My name is Heavy Keel, Captain of the RES Blue Veil. Let’s start off simple.” He folded his talons together neatly on the desk and leaned forward. “What’s your name?”