Captain's Journey

by Sphinx_Herald

Chapter 3

“Do you have any final words?”

Captain pokes his head out of the bush, but he doesn’t see anyone. It appears as though he has landed between the wall surrounding the fort and the fort itself. He starts to hear some talking, but he can’t make out what is being said. He approaches the wall and begins making his way toward the voices. He comes to a corner. From there he is able to hear what is being said. “...You call yourselves righteous, yet you kill my kind for being different. You do not enforce justice, you create chaos, you are the real monsters…” says a female voice (much like the voice of the siren from his dream).

He looks around the corner. He sees four guards, three of which are standing in a line holding rifles, and the fourth is a slightly larger stallion, standing behind the others. They seem to be standing in a firing range of sorts. The wall opposite them is covered in bullet holes. Directly in front of the wall is a changeling tied to a wooden post. The changeling looks pretty much the same as the others he has ever seen, a black body with turquoise hair. “Monsters,” he whispers before crouching down and starting to approach the scene.

“Enough!” says the large guard, “You have no right to judge us. You’re the monster here. You are a creature that feeds off of others. Your kind offers nothing to this world but death, and for that you will be killed.”

“Ready.” The changeling takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

“Aim.” The changeling braces for what is about to come.

“Fi--” His command is cut off by the sound of metal slicing through flesh. He looks down at his chest to see a blade freshly coated in blood sticking out of it. The blade is ripped out and he falls to the ground. Before any of the others could move, Captain attacks the one in the middle, plunging his cutlass into the guard’s throat. The last two guards are now facing him, drawing their own swords. Captain went straight for the one on the left, bucking the guard’s foreleg, resulting in a loud snap. The guard fall onto the ground screaming in pain, which was cut short by a slick metal object sinking into his chest. Captain turns around to face the remaining guard, only to see him running off toward the nearest door.

---

She couldn’t believe her eyes. One stallion, a pink-headed stallion at that, has just killed three guards before any of them could even take a swing at him. On top of that, they were in the middle of a fort. Where did he even come from? she thought. He turns toward her, and approaches. She is now more afraid than she was with the four guards. He stops in front of her. They both gaze into each others eyes for a moment. He then raises his sword, and she closes her eyes. Did he just save me, to kill me himself? she thought. She hears the dull sound of metal striking wood, then the tension around her chest was gone. She opens her eyes. He has just freed her. Why would anyone save a changeling? she thought as he sheaths his cutlass. He takes her hoof, and says “I think we should leave before a lot more of them show up”.

---

So there they are, galloping at full speed toward the gate of the fort. He could hear their pursuers shouting “Close the gate! Close the gate!”. To his horror, the gate is actually closing, No, no, no, no don’t close, don’t close! he thought. He tries running faster, but the changeling is too weak, and he trips. He picks up the changeling, making her give a little yelp, and puts her onto his back. He runs as fast and as hard as he can. He isn’t about to die in here; he still had to achieve his goal. Pushing his body as far as he can. The shouting grew more and more distant. Then he blasts through the gate with only inches to spare.

He needs to get out of Hayvana, he needs a ship. He runs through the crowded streets, happy to have this changeling with him. When other ponies spot the changeling, they get out of the way. Giving him a free pass to the harbour... almost. The only ponies not to jump out of the way are the guards, that litter the city. He shoves a guard out of his way, sending the guard into a couple of bystanders. He turns a corner to find the guards have it blocked off. He crashes through the widow of the closest house. Ignoring the screams from the random citizen. He then shoots out of the other side and quickly looks around to get his bearings. He bolts toward the harbour once again, taking the back roads this time. Once there he beelines it for galleon he saw earlier. “What are you doing?” asks the changeling.

“Going to get that ship,” he replies as he points with his hoof.

“We need something smaller. We will never get that thing out of the harbour.”

“But, but… It’s a big beautiful ship!”

“We need something that the two of us can get out to sea!”

“Fine,” he mumbles, heading toward a smaller gunboat. Once he arrives at the boat, he puts her down onto the deck of the boat. He then raises the sails, and goes to the wheel, steering it toward open sea.

---

He wakes up under a starry sky to the gentle sound of waves hitting the side of the boat. He looks around, dazed “Was that all a dream,”

“Not even close,” replies a female voice somewhere to his left “How much?”.

“What?”

The changeling comes over and looks him in the eyes. “How much are you being paid to save me?” she asks.

“Nothing.”

“Oh, come on now. No one saves a changeling out of the kindness in their heart.”

“I’m not being paid to free you. It wasn’t that much trouble, really.”

“You infiltrated a fort, killed several guards, ran all the way to the harbour with me on your back, got the boat out to sea, and then you passed out.”

“To be fair, I was also breaking out.” He gets up into a sitting position. “Don’t get me wrong. I have never been one to like monst… uh changelings. That being said, I saved you because they were being worst monsters. They kill innocent creatures without a second thought, all because Celestia says so. I’ve just had enough of these senseless ‘executions’. I didn’t want to be part of one.”

She looks down at the deck beneath her hooves. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to assume. I just thought...How about we start over? My name is Ebony”.

“It’s alright I don’t care all that much. Oh, and my name is Captain.”

Ebony looks back at him with a very flat look. “Why were you in the fort if you weren’t breaking me out?”

“I’m a pirate. Wanna be part of my crew?”

“I don’t kill.”

“So what? You don’t have to kill to be a pirate.”

“Fine, I guess I owe you anyways. How big is your crew?”

“Counting us, two.”

Ebony gives him an emotionless stare. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Nope,” he says with a smile.

“Idiot.”

“Hey! I didn’t call you ugly-- OW!” he yelps as a black hoof slams into his jaw. “You know I can kill you in a second, right?” he says as he rubs his sore jaw.

“You won’t kill your first-mate now, would you?”

“Fair enough,” he replies.

“So what`s the plan?”

“Don`t know. Head to Neighsau, or maybe somewhere in Floridoe, get a crew, and become rich. First off, which way is north?”

“You have a compass.”

“No clue how it works.”

There is a dull thud as Ebony facehoofs.