Captain's Journey

by Sphinx_Herald

Chapter 28

Captain downs yet another bottle. Drunken sea shanties and laughter fill the air in the room. He looks around at his crew as they enjoy themselves inside the tavern they have grown to know. He looks back at Rose. “How ‘bout another bottle?” he asks placing the bottle just off to the side.

“Maybe you should slow down a little, sweetie,” she says though she still passes him a bottle of rum.

“Bah, I’ve been sitting around doing nothing for the past week,” he says.

“You’ve been resting and you really should still be resting. You shouldn’t even be standing really,” Ebony mumbles.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

“Those bandages say otherwise,” she says pointing at the cloth wrapped around his chest.

He looks down at them for a moment before waving his hoof dismissively. “Those only make me look more intimidating,” he says with a smile.

“As does your pink mane?”

He growls at her, she simply smiles at him. Rose chuckles at the two. “If you want I could help you get better, sweetie.”

“I’m not hurt,” Captain says. Ebony punches him in the side, he yelps and falls off the stool. “Fine, I’m hurt, but I’d be healing a lot faster if she’d stop hitting me.”

“I think she’s hitting on you, sweetie,” Rose says. Ebony tries to lunge over the counter at her, but Rose takes a step back. Ebony falls to the floor on the other side of the counter. “Oh, you want to start working, how about you start by cleaning?” she says and drops a rag on Ebony.

“I really hate you sometimes,” Ebony mumbles.

Rose leans down and whispers into her ear. “I’m not a changeling, but I know that’s not true. And I can show you how much you love me in my bed.”

“Try me,” Ebony growls at her. Rose laughs and walks off to tend to some of the other customers. Ebony walks around the counter to sit on her stool again. She finds Captain still lying on the ground. With a sigh she holds out her hoof to him. She nearly loses her balance as she tries to help him up, but she uses the counter to stop from being pulled down.

Once up Captain grabs his bottle off the counter and tips it down. In a few seconds it’s empty and he puts the bottle on the counter. He sits back down beside Ebony. He looks over at his first-mate. Funny, you, the changeling, have been more loyal to me than almost anyone I’ve ever met. What did I do to earn this? he thinks.

“Captain?” asks someone from behind him. He blinks a few times as he is pulled from his thoughts. He looks over at Ebony thinking she had said his name, but she’s turned around looking at the door or something in that direction. He swivels around to face whatever she’s looking at.

A dull pink earth pony mare looks at him cautiously. Her teal-colored mane clings to the side of her face as water drips from the strands of hair. “Are you… are you Captain?” she asks.

He looks over at Ebony who is just as confused by the random pony. He looks back at the pony with a grin. “Yeah, I’m Captain. Do you see anyone else here more fitting of the title?”

A bit of relief washes over her though she still keeps her nervous demeanor. She shifts from hoof to hoof and keeps looking anywhere but right at him. “Could you… could you help me?”

“And who would you be?” Ebony asks with a raised eyebrow.

“My name is Tide Strider,” says the pony.

“What do you need?” Captain asks.

“Uh…” She nervously looks around the tavern. She takes a few deep breaths and looks Captain in the eyes. “I need you to save somepony for me, he was captured by the military.”

“What was he doing to be caught, and who is ‘he’?” Ebony asks.

“He’s… he’s my father, him and his crew were caught trying to smuggle enchanted weapons to the griffon empire.”

“I see, so you want us to save them before they’re executed,” Ebony says.

She nervously looks around the tavern again then quickly nods to her.

“So, what’s the pay?”

She looks back at Ebony with a bit of fear. “I, um… I can offer you four-hundred bits. I know it’s not a lot but--”

“Don’t bother,” Captain says, “You can keep your bits. I’ll help.” He turns to Ebony. “Go get the crew, we have a navy to annoy.”

“You… you don’t want the bits?” asks Tide.

“You can’t be serious, you are severely injured and are about to attack a fort for no pay. For all we know she could be a trap from the navy. Celestia knows they would do something like that since we blew out a wall,” Ebony says.

“Why shouldn’t I? If we don’t go her father will die, if it’s a trap we’ll crush them," Captain says with a smirk.

She looks at him in the eyes, he’s not going to back down. With a sigh she backs up slightly.

“Fine, I’ll gather the crew, but you’ll have to explain why they aren’t being paid.”

---

Captain sighs and leans heavily on the wheel. He looks out over the waves, in particular a large island which Starry keeps saying is to the south. It is the same island that Kigerston is on, though they are on the opposite side from Kigerston. Like most of the islands around these waters a thick jungle covers the island in green. It's hard to see anything else given that the coast is a shear cliff straight to the water. A large stone wall sits at the edge of the water where the cliffs end and it turns into a sandy shore.

“Are you sure we’re heading the right way?” he asks in more of a whine than anything else.

Starry groans from nearby. “If you ask me one more time I’ll throw you to the waves. I don’t care whether you’re injured or not, I survived worse I’m sure you’d be fine. And yes, I am positive we are heading the right way. This ‘Tide’ character did very well point out a fort, now whether that proves she is being honest to us about her reasons for going there is still to be seen.”

“Anyone else find it odd how we’re currently heading towards a fort after having blown one up. Not only that, but we are going there to help a stranger for no pay,” Ebony says.

“You already said you’d help,” Captain says.

“I’m still allowed to worry about my life.”

“Funny coming from the changeling that blew up a fort,” Starry says. She looks up from her map with a grin.

“Shut up, I don’t want the others to know… yet.”

Captain looks back at the horizon and the quickly approaching island. “Alright, Smokey, load the cannons. Let’s rain Tartarus down--”

“Don’t touch those cannons!” Ebony shouts.

Captain gives her a confused look but gives the order again. “Load the cannons.”

“Howler!” The diamond dog gets up from the crate he was sitting on and pins Smokey to the deck. Ebony turns to Captain, “I know I have agreed to help, but I would rather if you let me take charge this time.”

“Why, is it because you don’t think--”

“You’re a great captain, but right now I doubt we’re in any position to attack a fort head-on. I believe that for this mission we need a bit of subtlety and let’s face it that is not a skill of yours.”

Captain looks around at his crew as they watch the confrontation. He takes a deep breath and goes to say something, but Ebony cuts him off. “Listen, you’re hurt, and I don’t want to see you get injured more than what you already are. While you’re a great fighter, I doubt you can handle too many soldiers in your state.”

Captain lets out a sigh. “Fine, what’s the plan then?”

Ebony looks out toward the island, the fort now visible on the shoreline. “We sail past and get to a place where we are hidden. After that, me and Willow make our way through the jungle until we get to the fort and wait till night.”

“Why only you and Willow?” Arrel asks.

“Because we are probably the stealthiest amongst the crew. Smokey and Twigs would get themselves shot as the reach the jungle, I doubt a griffon or diamond dog could pass through the fort without being noticed. You’re good, but you’d be best keeping watch over the jungle and waters to make sure no one finds the ship. And I highly doubt Starry would want to go.”

"You know me so well," Starry says.

Arrel studies her for a moment before nodding his head. “I guess that makes sense,” he says.

“Wait, only two of you are going?” Tide Strider asks.

“Kinda, when trying to be stealthy it’s best that we don’t bring too many ponies along. And it’s three of us, you’re coming too.”

“I can’t fight!”

“You won’t have to if it goes well, and you have to come along since we don’t know who your father is.”

“Well… when you put it that way…”

Ebony looks over to Howler and Smokey. “Let him go,” she says. Howler nods and lets go of the pegasus.

She sighs as Misfortune passes the fort without getting shot. The ship comes to a slow stop further up the coast, hidden behind a jungle and the beginning of a mountain. A rowboat is lowered into the water with Ebony, Willow, and Tide on board. Captain watches them row over to the shore and make their way into the jungle. He hears some hoofsteps coming from his left, he looks over at Arrel.

“Where did you get her?” Arrel asks.

“Tide? She asked for some help--”

“Not her, I’m talking about Ebony.”

Captain raises an eyebrow. “A tavern in Hayvana, why?”

“She’s not a regular pegasus, is she?”

Captain shrugs, “She seems pretty normal, two wings, four legs, a head. You’re a pegasus, you should know it’s normal for a pegasus to have those.”

“I mean she’s not just some civilian, or even a sailor on that. What was she before she joined your crew?”

Captain shrugs again and looks back out to the jungle. “Don’t know, I don’t think it matters though. She’s part of the crew and that’s what matters.”
-----

Ebony ducks under a branch. She groans as she hears a yelp from behind. She glares at Tide, but quickly focuses back on the jungle around them. “Try to be more quiet or we’ll be caught.”

“Sorry, I don’t do so well in jungles…”

Ebony looks back at the pink earth pony, her expression softens a little as she remembers why they’re there. “Yeah, sorry for being a little hard. I’m just a little on edge, let’s just say that most of our other missions don’t go vaguely near as planned. I just want to make sure none of us die… Speaking of which…” She looks around at the immediate surroundings trying to find Willow.

She hears nothing save for the sounds of the jungle, cries of far-off birds, the occasional rustling of a bush, the waves crashing up against the coast. “Willow?” she cries out hoping the other sounds will prevent any unwanted attention. Her ears perk up trying to pick up any new sounds, but she hears nothing.

“What happened--” Tide begins.

“She’s fine, she might not hear us or is somewhere up ahead waiting for us.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, she knows her way around a jungle. She’s faster than both of us in this type of terrain.”

Tide looks over at Ebony’s wings. “Faster than me, you can simply fly over the jungle.”

Ebony gives her a confused look then looks at her wings. “I’m not leaving you here. Besides, they’d see me easier against the blue sky than the jungle floor,” she says after a moment.

“Right…”

After a few hours of walking they find Willow waiting for them at the base of a tree. Ebony gives her a sarcastic smile, “Glad you decided to join us.”

“Hm? Oh sorry, I was taking a look ahead.”

Ebony looks up from the deer to the direction of the fort. The trees and bushes still hide the fort from sight. “Anything waiting for us?”

“A few patrols.”

Ebony thinks for a moment, she looks back the way they came. She can’t see ship. She looks up at the sun as it begins its slow descent. “We set up camp here, we’re far enough away that they can’t see us from the fort. Hopefully there won’t be many patrols out here. Willow, go see if you can find us an easy way in. I’ll stay here and look after the new pink one.”

Willow gives a quick nod, she lifts herself off the ground. After a quick stretch she prances off into the bushes. Willow easily weaves her way around the trees and over the bushes. She jumps over the log of a fallen tree, landing nimbly on her hooves. She begins to slow to a walk as she comes closer to the fort.

She hears a branch snap a little way ahead. She freezes and her ears pivot toward the direction the noise came from. She waits for about thirty seconds, but hears nothing more. She starts walking again, keeping one of her ears pointed in the direction of the sound. She hears another snap, a little off-set from the earlier one, but still in the direction. She slips into a nearby bush trying to be as silent as possible. She curses herself as she snaps a few twigs getting into her hiding place.

“Did you hear that?” she hears somepony say. Willow looks out of the bush. She spots a few ponies walking between the trees. She can’t make out any specific details except for the white and yellow uniforms they wear.

“No,” says another pony.

“Could have sworn I heard something.”

“You can’t jump at every sound you hear,” says another.

I think I've got our way in, Willow thinks. as she prepares her blowpipe.

Author's Note:

Right, still haven't given up on this story. Still haven't forgotten about it. Though the number of written chapters to post are beginning to dwindle... Oh well. Anyways, hope you all have something special planned out for Hearts and Hooves day. Until next time,
-Sphinx