Captain's Journey

by Sphinx_Herald

Chapter 7

The next day, Captain and Ebony are sitting at the counter in The Lucky Mare. The rest of the crew is spread throughout the tavern celebrating yesterday’s success. Smokey is having a drinking contest against Twigs, Howler is meditating in a corner. Starry is sitting further down the counter talking with Rose, and Arrel is sitting at a table, playing a game of cards against some other patrons there. Ebony is telling Captain what had happened after she had sent Arrel to get the ship.

“Sounds like you had a lot of fun,” Captain says, taking a long chug of his rum.

“Of course you can say that, I can’t run as fast as you. I damn near died out there,” she replies.

“If you don’t like it, you can always leave, I’m not making you stay. I have a crew now, I think I’ll be alright.”

She takes a drink from her own bottle, then says. “No, not yet. I still owe you remember.”

“Ok, but remember the offer still stands,” he turns toward Rose. “Can I have some more rum over here?”

Rose quickly grabs a new bottle of rum, and brings it over. “I hear you got yourself a new ship, sweetie.”

He looks up with a smile of confidence. “Yep, it handles well, it’s fast, and I’m going to see how well it does in battle later.”

“I’m guessing that you two are going to be ‘celebrating’ tonight then?” she sends a seductive wink toward Ebony.

“Yep,” he says, completely unaware of what he just suggested. Rose lets out a laugh while Ebony facehoofs again.

Rose suddenly takes on a more serious expression. “You had better hope it’s as fast as you think, sweetie. Or else you might be seeing how strong it is sooner rather then later.”

“Why is that?” asks Ebony.

Rose points her hoof to a group stallions, “One of them says there is a galleon from the royal navy out there,” she leans in closer. “They say the captain is looking for a pirate who stole a brig from the Hayvana harbour.”

Ebony and Captain exchange a look. “I think we should get outta here for now,” says Captain. He quickly glances around for the rest of the crew.

“I think we should as well,” Eboy replies, hoping that they can outrace a galleon.

“I think we should stay here, and talk about how you stole a ship,” says a deep voice from behind them. They turn around, a light brown earth pony with a black mane, and dark blue eyes, is standing behind them. He is wearing a coat with a sun insignia, which covers his cutie mark. “Hello Captain, long time no see.”

“Flintlock, how did you find me here?” Captain asks. He is smiling at the newcomer. Why in Tartarus does he have to smile all the bucking time? Ebony thinks.

“Well, I heard that a pink headed pirate had help a changeling escape a few days ago. Now the very same pirate steals a brig. It wasn’t very hard to put two and two together. One question though, where is the changeling?” says Flintlock.

Captain points a hoof at Ebony, “She’s the changeling.”

“CAPTAIN!” she shrieks, making both of the captains laugh. "He's an enemy!".

“No need to worry Ebony. He's a old friend of mine,” Captain says.

“What, are you saying that you never told her about me?” says Flintlock with a little chuckle.

“I only knew her for a few days so far, and you kind of disappeared.”

Flintlock gives a hearty laugh, “Me! You were the one that disappeared, I made a name for myself, and became one of the top captains in the royal navy.”

“Sorry, but I’m not following. Who is this guy, and why do you know each other?” interrupts Ebony, throwing a confused glance at both of them.

“We’re brothers,” they say in unison.

She looks at the both of them. A blue pony with a pink mane, and a brown pony with a black mane. “No, don’t see how you two are related.”

“We’re not. It’s a bit of a story, so how about we sit down, and have a drink?” says Flintlock. He sits at the counter, and orders a drink. “It starts when we were kids…”

---

A foal version of Captain is walking the streets of Kigerston. It is a cold rainy night. His parents died a while ago so he has no home now, and has not gotten used to living on the street. They tried putting him into an orphanage, but they were are horrible places. None of them cared about him, all they ever did was punish him. So he has ran away, and now he is wandering the streets. He looks around at the well maintained homes. Most of them have lights on inside. He hops up onto a stack of crates, and looks in through the window. He sees a family, a foal, a mare, and a stallion, happily eating supper. He watches in quiet despair as they eat. He himself has not eaten for two days now. He watches as the stallion gets up from the table, and goes out the door. The stallion goes over to him.

“Get outta here brat!” he yells at the shivering foal. “I said get lost!” Captain doesn’t move, he just looks at the stallion with his a pitiful expression on his face. “Leave!” The stallions shouts before he hits Captain off of the stack, sending him to the cold wet ground.

Captain quickly gets up, and scurries away. There he is yet again, out in the cold, and dark, slowly starving. He lies on the ground, unable to go any further. I think I’ll just lay here and rest for a while, he thinks. His eyes slowly close, darkness creeping over him.

He starts coming back to his senses a while later. He is warm, oddly enough, am I dead? Did I go to heaven? he thinks. He can smell food, and smoke from burning wood. He slowly opens his eyes. He is inside a house, the walls painted a faded dark green. He is wrapped up in a blanket, there is a plate of food, and a glass of water on the floor in front of him. He turns his head slowly, his eye eventually fall upon a mare. She is sitting on a chair looking out of a window. The mare is a unicorn, light brown coat with a yellow mane. Her cutie mark is a length of purple thread and needle, looping into the shape of a heart.

“Where am I?” Captain asks, his throat sore and dry. Just then did he realize just how hungry and thirsty he is.

The mare perks up, and turns to him. “Good, you’re awake. I was afraid you would never wake up. My name is Silk Heart, and you’re in my house.” She looks at him. She has purple eyes, there was something about them that made him feel a little at ease. She points to the food, “You should have something to eat; you’re a little light.”

That is all the invitation he needed. He grabs the plate of food and starts devouring. While it is a little cold, he can’t complain, it is the only thing he has eaten in days. The mare goes over to the counter in the kitchen and looks at him. He holds up an empty plate, “Can I have more?”

Silk laughs, takes the pate and starts serving up more food. “I wish my own foal liked my cooking as much as you do,” she says as she places the plate in front of him. He finishes it just as quickly as the first.

Once he is done he looks back up at her, “Did you save me?”

“No, not really. The one who did save you is my son. He ran out last night and when he came back, he dragged you back with him. I just gave you a blanket and some food.”

“Where is your son?”

“Want to meet him? I’ll go get him.” She walks off down the hall, and disappears through a doorway. He takes this time to look at the home a bit more. The kitchen is small, but well organized. The front door is to his left, on the other side of the kitchen is the hallway. There are a few doorways visible in the hall. The same door the mare went into bursts open, and a young foal with a light brown coat, and black mane comes running down the hall. He comes to a skidding halt directly in front of Captain.

“Hey! Are you alright?” asks the energetic foal.

“Yeah, I’m ok… umm why did you help me?”

“Because you looked like you needed help. I wasn’t about to watch somepony my age starve to death. I’m not a monster.”

“Umm… thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it. Oh, my name is Flintlock by the way. What’s your name?”

“Captain, my name’s Captain.”

---

“I was later adopted into his family. After a few years, we decided to follow our dreams, and become a captain no matter what,” finishes Captain.

“Wow… I’m sorry about what happened when you were a kid. Sounds like you two are close though,” says Ebony as she takes in the story.

“No need to be sorry, it’s in the past now.”

“So, he won’t turn us over to the military?”

“No he won’t… Wait a minute, how did you end up as a captain for the Royal Navy?”

“It’s a bit of a story, I’ll tell you next time,” says Flintlock. “Getting back to the present, what do you plan to do now?”

“Don’t know, I guess loot some unexpecting merchant.”

“Well, if I were you, I’d stay away from the north-east waters, there are two merchant schooners coming from that way. Get too close, and they might think you are pirate,” says Flintlock letting out a hearty laugh.

“Is that so? I’m guessing that they might have a lot of protection.”

“Oddly no, it’s just the two schooners, and their cargo. I guess they think that they won’t be noticed if there’s less of them. Also if I were you I’d change the figurehead and flags of your ship. The navy might see it and they’ll know it’s the stolen one.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Captain says, taking a drink from his bottle of rum.

Author's Note:

Hello again, I would like to thank everyone who has read this far. I have decided to try and get myself into the habit of writing author's notes more often. Also I'll probably be adding a chapter every two weeks or so, just so I can have some sort of schedule. Leave comments telling me what you think of the story so far.

Until next time,
-Sphinx