From the West They Came

by Not That Anon

IV – Captain's Gambit

Seeing the sea from the deck was refreshing. I shook my right hindleg. It almost didn’t hurt anymore and yet Sawbones told me to keep the bandages for at least two more weeks, justifying his decision by saying something about getting salt water in the scars. The aged stallion was an incredibly superstitious fellow – even for a seasoned sailor – but if the crew respected his wisdom, it’d be foalish to entirely dismiss his warnings.

The atmosphere on the ship surprised me; great joviality was in the air and the spirits were high. The mystery was somewhat solved when I noticed the other, bottled kind of spirits being quickly hidden from my sight by dexterous batponies. I made a mental note to ask the cook about the source of this unlicensed liquid happiness and trotted over to the nearby group of dice players. One of them, a tall mare with a well-kept mane – Nocturne’s former second mate if memory served me right – stepped forward from the group.

“Welcome back, sir!” she said. “We’re glad that you survived and can walk on your own, you looked half-dead when we saw you sprawled on the deck.”

“It'd take something more than a toothpick to do me in.” I tried to smile with confidence, less at the pony in front of me and more at the crowd which gathered to see the pony who narrowly escaped death. The persistent happiness I noticed earlier was still visible in their faces, except that now it was tinged with quiet respect. I hoped Sea Worthy didn’t build me up as a martyr-hero of our mission.

In a show of commendable courage, one of the visibly inebriated sailors wobbled her way to me with a full mug.

“Sweet cider with a hint of a strong rum,” she slurred. “Very good!” she enthusiastically added before extending the hoof with the drink towards me.

The crowd fell silent. They knew that I shouldn’t be openly tolerating day drinking on the ship, not when it was made so obvious. I looked around, two dozens of ponies observing my every move with worried expressions. Further away I saw calm sea in every direction, not a single cloud threatening a change of weather. I sighed.

“Don’t make this a habit, –” I took the mug and raised it to my mouth “– the next time I see any of you drunk on duty, I’ll have to notice. But today…” I dismissively waved a wing and took a large sip.

The cheering was almost deafening. In a blink of an eye everypony on the deck procured a full mug from seemingly nowhere. Toasts were raised, bets taken and laughter thundered across the sea. At the same time, my throat burned with an unquenchable fire.

“How strong did you make this?!” I screamed at the pony who gave me the drink.

The drunk bat suddenly looked extremely apologetic.

“Oh, I forgot we ran out of cider! Rum’s still good, no?”

At least she wasn’t wrong. If my time in the army taught me anything, it was that low morale is far more dangerous to a group than some alcohol. When I managed to reach the staircase, my mug was already almost empty and I had answered more questions than I probably should’ve. A younger sailor asked me what business necessitating the use of a silencing spell did Midnight have with me; thankfully I was able to dismiss his question. A round of applause made me realize that my silence was taken as a proof of something else.

I knocked on the doors to Sea Worthy’s suite and waited, carefully hiding the empty mug behind one of the nearby barrels.

Minutes later, a frazzled looking mare with saddlebags full of various charts stormed out of the room with a worried look in her eyes. She stopped for a second, nodded to me and continued her dash through the corridor.

“It’s you!” Sea Worthy’s expression softened. “Come in and take a seat.”

I closed the door behind me.

“Did you ever wonder why you were appointed as my second in command despite having next to no experience in the navy?” she asked in a probing tone.

“No, captain.”

She waved her hoof and said, “Please, call me Sea Worthy or even just Sea. I always hated these pointless formalities.”

“It was Midnight’s doing.” Sea Worthy sat behind her desk and took a sip of coffee. “She cashed in some very old favors claiming that our good Princess took interest in you soon before her banishment. According to her, our monarch was sure that she had seen you somewhere long ago. But I didn’t trust you yet. I needed to make sure that you’re dependable.”

“The letter!” I gasped. “It was a fake!”

She scrunched her muzzle. “No, it was real. But you are right that it was very convenient. The game I chose to play was very dangerous, yes, but it was necessary.”

“You expected somepony to crack under the pressure and try a mutiny, didn’t you?” I asked with barely concealed disbelief.

“I did.” Sea nodded. “Once you three left the room, I asked Midnight to stop anypony who may try to enter the crew’s quarters on either ship. Frankly, I expected that pony to be you.”

I decided to ignore the last remark. “And what if we all tried to betray you?” I inquired. “Surely not even Midnight’s magic would stop three ponies in close quarters.”

“If three of my closest allies decided to betray me, the mission was doomed from the start. Thankfully that didn’t happen, you passed with flying colors. Both the test that I set up and the one that I couldn’t expect. Speaking of, she –“ Sea Worthy sighed heavily “– was an excellent fighter, and an even better captain. She’ll be missed.”

“What happened to Moon Shine?” I asked. “I haven’t seen him anywhere today.”

“He wasn't hurt physically like you,” said the captain, “but seeing the accident crushed his spirit. He and the Nocturne’s captain were very close. He locked himself in the galley the day after the fight and since then he refuses to come out.”

“I should probably check if he’s alright,” I said and nodded.

“Do it, but take a look at these maps first,” she said, gesturing at a pile of scrolls on the desk. “According to the second mate, there’s something wrong with the stars. She says that we have less than a week of sailing west left before we’ll have to try to find a different way of keeping course. That's all we know. Any questions?”

“It’s unrelated to the charts,” I began, “but where did the crew get so much rum?”

“I see you’ve been to the deck already.” Sea Worthy chuckled. “Nocturne left some of their supplies before turning tail. Helps them get to the shore a day or two sooner and lets us explore even farther. Among the supplies, our valiant bats quickly found several barrels of alcohol.”

She stood up and trotted over to a porthole, looking at the western horizon. “Let them have it. Last weeks were hard on everypony, not just you and the cook, and something tells me things won’t stay good for long. Don’t you agree?”

“We are prepared for over a week of–“

“I don’t care about your estimates.” Sea interrupted, “Something terrible hangs in the air. I can feel it, and experience taught me better than to ignore these sorts of omens.”

“I think it’s just the wind,” I weakly countered. “Relying on superstitions never gets one anywhere.”

“Superstitions! If I were a betting mare, I’d bet this ship on you changing your mind before the end of our journey. You can go now, but keep your eyes open for any solutions to the problem of navigation.” Sea Worthy sat at her desk and picked up a pile of reports.

I closed the door behind me and walked towards the galley. One problem at a time.