Sea of Misfits

by M48 Patton

Chapter 6

“Wakey wakey!” A familiar voice suddenly broke into Twilight's dreamless sleep and she bolted upright before groaning and settling back into her bed.

“None o' that!” Storm Stalker yelled at her, rattling the bars of her cell with the tip of a crossbow.

“All pris'ners! On yer hooves an' standin' at the back o' yer cells!” She yelled, waving the crossbow and making sure that everypony saw it. As soon as the six prisoners had complied with Storm's orders, she nodded at the doorway. The unicorn stallion who was perpetually stationed outside walked in with two buckets held in his magic.

He stopped outside Twilight's cell and waited. Slowly and carefully, Storm Stalker took her battered tricorn hat off and retrieved a key from its lining. She passed it to Big Sail, but strangely enough he took it in his mouth rather than levitating it with his magic. The unicorn inserted the key into the lock and turned it, allowing the cell to swing open of its own accord.

Storm Stalker kept Twilight's head right in the crossbow sights as Big Sail took an empty bucket and a bucket of water and placed them in Twilight's cell before picking up the waste bucket and empty water bucket. Backing out, but never taking his eyes off of Twilight, he closed the door and removed the key.

Big Sail took the two buckets and walked out. He returned with another empty bucket and water bucket for Rarity's cell. The process was repeated without any complications apart from Pinkie requesting a bake off with the cook until the two pirates reached Rainbow Dash's cell.

Twilight didn't know what happened, only that there was a loud clang of a bucket and Big Sail emitted a grunt. Storm Stalker yelled an intelligible phrase that Twilight was sure she did not want to understand and then there was a lot of scuffling.

“Let 'er have it, Rainbow!” Applejack yelled in encouragement, her eyes full of excitement that quickly died.

“Yew ever do that again, ye little blue barnacle, and Ah'll show yew what the insides o' yer head are made of!” Storm Stalker said from down the passageway.

Soon enough, the final cell door clanged shut and the two pirates made their way to the door. Storm Stalker shot a menacing glare in Applejack's direction.

“Ah'd advise yew tae keep such sentiments tae yerself in the future!” She growled.

As the pirates passed Twilight's cell, she could see a large dent in one of the empty buckets and she overheard Storm quietly berating Big Sail.

“Yew call yerself a pirate? Lettin' yerself be taken by a little mare like that?” She seethed.

Big Sail mumbled his apologies as he shut the door behind them. Twilight carefully counted to five before taking a deep breath.

“RAINBOW DASH! She yelled. “DO YOU HAVE SOME KIND OF DEATHWISH?”

“I just thought that-” Came the halfhearted response.

“SHE HAD A CROSSBOW!” Twilight cut her off.

“That I blocked!” Rainbow Dash protested.

“It's true!” Applejack came to her defense. “Big Sail was down for the count and Storm had already fired her crossbow and missed!”

“What?” Twilight stared at Applejack in surprise.

Applejack nodded. “Only problem was, that mare's more dangerous with her hooves than any critter Ah've seen!”

“Yeah! I had the jump on her and she pinned me without even trying!” Rainbow Dash said, Twilight could have have sworn that she heard a hint of jealousy in the pegasus's tone.

Twilight pondered these facts as she slowly took a deep breath to calm herself. The gentle rocking of the ship helped sooth her nerves and in less than a minute she was composed and back to her over analyzing self.

With a cautious push, she began her work at the inhibitor ring. “Just hold on Rainbow Dash, we'll make our move soon, so just hold on until I say so.”

---

Storm Stalker was still a raging inferno when she burst into the chart room. “Cap'n, we 'ave tae get those ponies off this ship!”

The pegasus nodded as he looked over the charts. “Aye, that we do.” He said calmly.

“Now! Cap'n.” Storm slammed her hooves down on the table.

The captain ignored her as he flipped up the top chart and looked at an enlarged section of an island on the chart below. “Aye. An' I've a plan fer that.”

Storm rolled her eyes and heaved a large sigh. “Would it be tae much trouble tae ask what it is then?”

“No, an' I'll tell ye if'n ye'll shut up long enough fer me to finish up some of ta finer details.” He said.

Storm sat down, frustrated. There were very few creatures who could talk to her like the captain did and get away with it. Even a dragon would tread lightly around the dangerous mare, but the captain could dress her down in front of the entire crew and she wouldn't even move a muscle against him.

Finally, he let the chart fall down and looked at her. “Well, here's me plan.”

Storm stood up and waited expectantly.

“The way I figure it, Equestria's a might angry about us kidnappin' their precious Elements, so it be obvious that takin' the Marblehead anywhere near the coastline be a fools errand.” He said, pointing at Equestria. “The minute we're spotted, the whole Royal Navy will be upon us. That's why I've set sail fer Ghost Island.”

Storm looked at him in confusion. “But, we cannae keep them here. They will find us eventually.”

“Aye!” The captain said. “So that's why we take them back in a different ship. I've been thinkin', the Sea Treader is still seaworthy, an' with a bit of work-”

“Cap'n, the Sea Treader?” Storm exclaimed. “She's been sittin' on the rocks for a year now! Yew yerself said she was a lost cause!”

“I never said that! I said we have better things to do than float her!” He shot back. “Now, we have reason get her floatin', an' we can tow her out using the Marblehead so she don't get tossed on the rocks agin. Once we're safely near the coastline, we set those landlubbers on the tub and let the Navy handle it from there!”

Storm considered the captain's proposal, and then thought of any other options that they could take. “What if we dropped 'em off on Tortoise Island?”

“Tortoise Island? Are ye daft?” The captain asked. “First off, every pirate on that island t'would rather see this ship on the bottom than in their harbor! Secondly, the minute we set those fillies on that island, they'll be bound up an' held captive by a lot whose moral code is rather substandard!”

Storm sighed and hung her head. He was right, as usual. “Aye Cap'n. Ah'll chart us a course fer Ghost Island.”

He nodded. “Thank ye. Now if'n ye needs me, I'll be down in the cargo holds.”

The two pirates left the chart room, one making for the wheelhouse, the other climbing down the ladders.

---

Drip entered the galleys, his usual form of the brown earth pony covering his true identity. Culinary looked up at him as he entered.

“Ye know dat ye don' 'ave tae keep dat disguise on.” Culinary said, using his talons to slice a carrot apart. “Da crew is perfectly fine wit' ye being who ye arrrr.”

Drip gave a shy smile and put a hoof behind his head. “Yeah, I'm just doing it for Water Rose. She's scared of me.”

“Oooh no ye arrrrn't.” Culinary scoffed, picking up a mallet and pointing at Drip with the head. “Dat little filly 'as more backbone dan 'alf da crew, an' she thinks ye're armor is 'cool' tae look at. Ye're doin' it fer her mother, Missus Flowers. Ev'rypony knows dat she's scared of yew, and ev'rypony's seen ye makin' googly eyes at her when she ain't lookin'.”

Drip felt his face heat up and he quickly turned away, denying it vehemently. “I don't look at her like that! It was just that one time when she almost fell overboard! I just wanted to make sure she was alright!”

Culinary smashed the potatoes with the hammer one after the other. “Aye, an' how many times 'as she almost fallen overboard?”

“Um. . .”

Culinary emphasized each statement with the smash of a potato. “Da sooner ye accept who ye arrrr, *Smash* da sooner she'll accept it! *Smash* Da sooner da both of ye accept it, *Smash* da sooner ye can stop beatin' around da bush.” *Smash*

Drip hung his head. “As if. She'd never accept a monster like me.”

The smash of three potatoes being crushed in rapid fire startled him. Culinary angrily shoved the flattened potatoes into a pot. “There ye go agin! Ye're not a monster! No more dan I or any other creature on dis crew!”

He skillfully ladled the contents of another pot into six bowls and set them on six more trays. “Now take dis tae da pris'ners! An' don' let me hear no more o' dat talk settin' yerself down! I've got ears allover dis ship!”

Drip nodded and changed into the little unicorn that Twilight knew as Sour Rain. Grasping the six trays in his magic, he darted down into the passageways, dodging various obstacles and crew members before finally stopping in front of the door Big Sail stood guard over.

He grunted hello and opened the door. Drip dashed inside, a big smile on his little, female muzzle. “Hello Princess! I brought food!”

Twilight's grin was forced, and she looked tired, but she gladly took the food and proceeded to try and talk to the bouncy little unicorn. Drip was careful with his words, never answering any specific questions about the crew or the ship and kept trying to steer the conversation to make small talk about Twilight's dangerous adventures.

Soon enough, Big Sail was yelling again and Drip gathered up the trays before bolting out the door. It slammed shut behind him as he shifted back into his earth pony form and looked at Big Sail.

“The princess is going to try something.” He said worriedly. “She keeps asking about the crew size and how the ship works. Also, she didn't look too good, I think she might be trying to remove the ring.”

Big Sail nodded. “Go tell Storm, she'll need to hear this.”

“Ah already have.” Storm said as she appeared around a corner. She leaned against the side of the ship and tested the tip of her crossbow bolt. “If she does, I won't miss a second time.” She said darkly.

Author's Note:

Feedback is always appreciated.