Captain's Journey

by Sphinx_Herald

Chapter 34

Ebony tips the bottle back and quickly empties it. She looks to her left, where Captain would usually sit. Instead of him a cream colored mare sits on the stool, her red mane falls down almost reaching the stool. Rose has a mug of her own in front of her.

“So, how are they holding up?” Rose asks. She shifts around to face her friend with a smile.

“Not sure,” Ebony replies. A shiver runs down her spine as she remembers the feeling of helplessness when Willow got pinned. I’m not doing so hot either.

“Are you saying a creature that feeds off of emotions can’t tell how your friends are feeling?” Rose says adding a good deal of sarcasm.

Ebony sighs and puts the empty bottle back onto the counter. “Well, I haven’t seen Captain or Howler for a while, I don’t think they took the idea of losing too well. Starry is busy tending to Arrel all day. Craven is on the ship resting, Smokey is looking after him. Twigs is fine, he’s busy looking after the ship. Oh, and of course you’re looking after Willow.”

“So, no one’s taking it too well?”

“No…”

Roses smile falters and she looks toward the stairs. “Sorry about all that, I shouldn’t have sent you into that death trap,” she says her gaze falling to the floor.

Ebony looks back over at her friend with mild surprise. That’s right you sent us. You think it’s your fault that we almost died. “It wasn’t your fault, we just didn’t know who would be there, or how strong they would be.”

Rose slams her hoof into the counter giving Ebony a good show of her earth pony strength as it leaves a dent. “But, I told you guys about it! I even knew the navy would be there, but I still told you!”

Ebony reaches over and gives her friend a hug. “It’s fine, we’re okay… kinda. If you had known what would happen you would have never told us.”

Rose leans into the hug. “No, it’s not fine. Everyone nearly died, I nearly got you killed.”

“I’m fine, a little sore, but I’m alright asides from that. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Rose stays silent for a few second with her head resting on Ebony’s sore shoulder. “You know, you’re one of the best things to come through that door. Of course, had you never come I wouldn’t be worried of losing you, but I also wouldn’t have you as a friend.”

“Glad to go against the changeling stereotype.” Ebony chuckles a little at the idea.

“Yeah, you guys are supposed to be stone cold killers that eat love, well you’re pretty nice for a ‘heartless monster’,” Rose says.

“And you seem a little too affectionate. Are you sure you’re not part changeling.”

“No, not sure. But we can test it out though,” she says puckering her lips and turning to Ebony.

Ebony pushes her away, keeping her at an arms length. “No thanks, I would rather not wake up between you and Willow.”

The two laugh together. Ebony levitates over two bottles, giving one to Rose. “Keep drinking like that and you might owe me as much as Captain does,” Rose says nudging Ebony on the shoulder, getting a little yelp in response. “And I’ll only accept one kind of payment from you.”

“Too bad I won’t be paying up today, I doubt you would want to wake Willow.”

The two start laughing again until a knocking at the tavern door catches their attention. “Some ponies simply don’t understand when something is closed,” Rose grumbles. With a sigh she gets up from her seat and walks over to the door. “Now listen here, the tavern is closed and if you want to try coming in I have a changeling with me!” Rose says as she swings it open.

The pony on the other side is a green-blue earth pony, he mane is a swirling mix of orange and green. Rose stares at him for a few moments in surprise and confusment. Ebony can hear him whispering something to Rose but can’t make it out. Rose snaps out of her stupor and looks around the tavern.

Rose turns back to Ebony. “Uh, Ebony could you leave us for a moment. He’s a, uh, business associate.” Ebony raises her eyebrow, but complies. She jumps off the stool and trots out the door. Rose gives her a nervous smile before she close the door.

Great, now what? Green flames surround her as she takes on a new disguise. A bit more of a target without Howler or Captain around. Satisfied that no one well figure her out she starts heading further into town.

Along the road a few sailors are milling about, chatting about the recent fight on a nearby island. “I heard the griffons tried taking the ship at some point, but the navy stopped them,” says one of them. We would have been lucky.

She thinks of heading to the Misfortune, but decides to go find Starry given that she probably knows where Captain is. It doesn’t take her long before she is standing out front of the off white house. After a few knocks the door is covered in a dark blue aura and swings open. “Come in.”

“Not afraid of letting the wrong person in?” Ebony asks. She swings the door shut behind her and drops the disguise.

“No,” Starry replies bluntly from a room off to the right. Ebony walks into the room and almost leaves immediately. Starry is lying in bed next to Arrel, the pegasus has bandages wrapped around his head and shoulder, and one of his forelegs is covered in a cast. “Going to leave so soon?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.” A blush creeping across her face.

“I’m only making sure he’s comfortable. We’re not doing anything.” Starry gets up from the bed being careful not to disturb Arrel. “So, why did you come?”

“Oh, I was wondering if you knew where Captain is. I want to make sure he’s alright.”

Starry shakes her head. “I saw him stumbling his way into the jungle. Not sure what he's doing, but that was a few hours ago.

“Jungle’s still a pretty big area… Can--”

“Nope, I’m tending to Arrel, and I’m not stupid enough to go into a jungle again. You’ll have to find him on your own.”

“Oh… well, thanks anyways.” She turns to leave, Starry stays at the bed’s side. “It’s not your fault he got hurt.”

“Yes, I know. Still, I should have been there.” She sits back down on the bed.

Ebony goes outside, not bothering with a disguise. Once she’s outside her wings buzz to life and she flies up over the trees. She hears a few ponies shouting behind her, but she ignores them.

While the island of Neighsau might not be the largest, it is still a lush and dense jungle. A few areas near the town have been clear cut to build ships and houses, but still leaves plenty of jungle. Below the canopy of leaves Ebony spots a few figures moving about, but it’s impossible to make out what they are. She flies a little closer to get a better look, but soon starts gaining altitude again seeing that none of them are even shaped like a pony.

She drops into a steep dive straight for the jungle floor, buzzing her wings to stop herself from crashing into the ground. Her hooves skip across the ground a few times before she comes to a stop. Where are you? she thinks staring down a worn path.

A paranoid sense that someone is following her picks at the back of her mind. She looks behind her, nothing but a few monkeys swinging between the trees. “Captain?” After a few seconds without a reply she shrugs off the feeling she continues down the path.

Could really use Willow’s tracking abilities now, Ebony thinks. Maybe I’m just best off waiting for him at the ship… No, I need to make sure he’s okay. Her ears catch the sound of snapping wood. She looks behind her, but finds that the sound is coming from off the path.

Rather to not make her way through the bushes thorns her wings buzz to life and bring her above the tree line. Further away she can barely make out a small clearing. A few birds fly into the air as one of the trees around the clearing falls with the sound of crunching wood. “Of course, what else would you be doing out here?” Ebony sighs. She shakes her head and heads off toward the clearing.

Once she’s above the clearing she sees that the cut down trees are simply left where they fall. The clearing is littered with tree lying about in haphazard ways. It takes a moment of searching before she spots Captain’s pink mane against the greenery. He is lying against one of the trees on the other side of the clearing.

She flies closer, flying just over the tree line. Captain doesn’t make any kind of move to show he notices her. Only when she lands a few hooves in front of him does he actually look up at her. “Hey, Ebony.”

“Hey, Captain, uh, what are you doing?” Ebony asks walking next to him. He wraps one of his forelegs around her when she sits down.

“Me, nothing. All this is his work,” Captain says. He points toward the other end of the clearing. Ebony can barely make out the dog-like head through the leaves. “Doesn’t seem happy with the fact that he lost.”

Ebony gulps as Howler slashes through another tree with little trouble. “Oh… And you’re just out here watching him?”

“No, I’m thinking,” he says after a moment.

“It’s about that loss isn't it?” Ebony asks. She leans against him. “It’s not your fault, you’re a great Captain, we just didn’t know what we were sailing into.”

“It’s not that we lost, I’m fine with losing. The problem is that I almost lost you. I was caught up in a fight while you were about to die.” He pauses for a moment to look her in the eyes. “Ebony, are you sure you want to keep doing this? I don’t want to watch you die.”

“Captain, you should know by now, I don’t die easily. I will always stand at your side. Besides, where would I go? I have a higher chance of dying back in the hive, and I’d never see you again,” she finishes by giving him a quick kiss. “How about we go to the tavern? I’ve never seen you thinking without a bottle of rum next to you.”

He chuckles a little. “Bah, I can think without the bottle sometimes, but it does help. But, if I go I might lose you to Rose…”

“I love you too.” They hear heavy footsteps coming toward them. Howler smile down at them, though Ebony can feel sense some anger under it. “You want to come too?” He shrugs and sheaths his sword.

Captain looks around the clearing again and lets out a low whistle. “I think you cut down enough trees to build me a second ship.” He looks back toward, where he thinks, the town is. “Too bad it’s a pretty long way to drag them back.” Howler just shrugs and walks off into the jungle left of where Captain is looking, toward the town.

Ebony sighs and gets up, she help Captain up and they set out for the town as well. “So, why did you come all the way out here?”

“I kinda got lost and stumbled onto his little clear cutting area. So, I just sat down and figured I follow him when he was done.”

“Of course, you would never have found your way out there had you not been lost.” She uses her magic to hold a bush out of the way. Just a bit ahead of them Howler limps forward, his leg still injured from the fight. “I guess he came out here to do a bit of training.”

“Probably, I don’t exactly think he was cutting wood so he could build a house. From what I saw he didn’t improve much, just kept cutting through the trees in one swing.”

He might have just been blowing off some anger, she thinks. A shiver runs down her back. She turns around, once again sees no one following them. Ignoring the feeling she catches up to Captain.

---

“You know, I heard that there’s a Zebrica merchant passing through. Suppose to have a lot of medicine,” Ebony says as they reach the edge of town. She casts a quick look at Starry’s house.

“Nah, we need a bit of a break.” He pokes her in the shoulder earning a yelp. “See?”

“Fine, I would just rather be on the ship out to sea rather than here.” She looks at the ponies that walk along the road. They all keep their eye trained on her. However, none of them dare to go after her with Captain and Howler nearby. “I think they still don’t like me.”

“Their problem, they’re just going to have to get used to you. After all, you did say you weren’t leaving,” he says with a laugh.

“You just really love to piss everyone off, don’t you?”

“Of course!” He gestures to the ponies around them. “Look at how fun it is!”

“Yes, real fun…” Ebony pauses for a moment and looks over at the Misfortune. A few ponies are moving around onboard. Looks like Smokey is feeling better.

“Where’s Rose’s ship?” Captain asks.

Ebony quickly looks across the harbor, but she can’t spot Rose’s schooner anywhere. Looking over at the tavern she sees the door is still closed, no one is moving behind the windows. “No clue, when I last saw her she was talking to an associate. She might have had to make a delivery. Guess that means the tavern’s closed though.”

“Captain!” They turn to a tired Twigs running toward them from the Misfortune. He takes a moment to catch his breath.” We… we have to leave.”

“What’s wrong?” Ebony asks.

“I don’t know, but it has something to do with Gale.”

Author's Note:

The update schedule is not Saturdays, still Fridays. The issue is that college is kicking my writing in the ass. Good news is that I have only one week left! Bad news is that I have a lot to do within this week. Hope you all enjoyed, this slightly less than stellar, chapter. Until next time,
-Sphinx