Traitors, Adventures, and Pirates

by Poppy green

Chapter seven

Poppy woke the next morning to some pony touching her back. Panicking that she had been discovered by the pirates, Poppy lashed out with her hindlegs. There was an oof as her blind kick made contact with furry flesh. Turning with her revolver in hoof she found the captain sprawled out on the ground. He was rubbing his ribs where Poppy had kicked him. Poppy rushed over to him. She was just about to apologize for kicking him when the captain cut her short with a hoof over her mouth. Poppy went silent as she watched the captain get up. When he was back on his legs again, he gestured for her to follow him out to the beach. Poppy silently followed behind him. By the time the two had reached the water's edge the two crew ponies and the doctor were already examining one of the Crystal Palaces longboats.

With nothing for her to do Poppy decided to look around the beach. There were few signs from the fighting the day before. The signs she could find were mostly the shell casings from the spent rifle rounds and specks of silver blood. The one thing she had expected to find was the bodies of the guards and pirates that had been killed but there were no signs of them. She could not understand why the pirates would take the bodies with them. As she continued to search the beach Poppy finally found the trench where Contrail had been killed. Most of the trench's berm had collapsed back into the dugout section of the trench. She stood there holding her breath as she looked down into the trench again, she found nothing. She felt a sense of relief at finding nothing in the trench. No dead Contrail looking up at her. No one to ask why she had stayed hidden and not come out to help. Poppy continued to stare down at the spot for a long time. It was not until the captain came up beside her that she realized she had started crying. He did comfort her for there was nothing he could say to make things better instead they just stared at the trench together. It was ultimately Poppy who spoke up first.

“Where are they?” She asked with tears streaming down her cheeks.

The captain did not face her or say anything instead he turned away and walked back to the beach. Poppy turned and watched him walk away. A few minutes later he returned with a flag. It was the flag that had been flying above his tent since they had arrived on the island. The flag was ripped in a few places clearly having been damaged during the fighting. The captain gave Poppy the flag before he walked off again, this time returning with a stick. Poppy understood what he was doing as she gave him back the tattered flag of the Crystal Empire flag. He secured the flag to the stick and placed it at the highest part of what was left of the small sand fortification. Both ponies backed down the berm stopping at the bottom and staring back up at the flag. Poppy felt her tears returning. This time the captain did say something in a soft voice.

“Please crystal heart carry them home.” He said before standing up straight and giving a crisp salute. Poppy watched him and then turned when she felt the presents of the others standing to her side. She looked at each of them. They all stood erect and were giving the flag their own salutes. It was only after the captain had let his hoof fall that the others did as well. They all turned back to the longboat together, none of them saying anything.

The long boat had been deemed seaworthy enough that they could use it to row out to where they could just make out the top of a sailing ship. Whether the ship was the Crystal Palace or not did not really matter if they were to get off the island. When everypony had boarded the small boat, the captain used his magic to help push them out to sea. The crew ponies rowed out to the sailing ship. If it was the Crystal Palace she had drifted around a rocky outcropping and into open water. When the long boat had rounded the entrance to the cove they spotted her. It was the Crystal Palace. She was adrift near the shore and smoke was billowing from holes along the side of its hull. The crewponies carefully rowed the long boat alongside the Crystal Palace. When they pulled up against the hull the crew ponies used some ropes that were dangling down from the deck to help secure their boat in place. Once they had secured the long boat to the Crystal Palace Captain Compass hollered up to the deck.

“Ahoy there.” He called. There was no answer.

While they waited for some pony to answer the captain Poppy looked over the damage to the hull. The damage was extensive with portions of the interior decks exposed to daylight. She continued to look over the damage until it occurred to her that if the Crystal Palace was still a float why had the pirates not taken her? Looking up towards the main deck Poppy noticed that the anti-boarding nets were hanging loosely. Some of the nets had signs they had been cut. This had to mean that the ship had been boarded.

Trying to get the captain's attention Poppy tugged on his uniform. When the captain turned to look at her, she pointed at the loose netting hanging from the deck. The captain examined the nets closely before signaling to the others to drawer their weapons as he drew his. Poppy was not sure what the captain was concerned about. She figured that the Crystal Palace would be just like the beach. Still, she retrieved her revolver from its holster. Poppy double checked that the weapon was loaded before clicking the safety off just below the trigger. The captain was the first to climb up the side of the ship's hull. The crew ponies followed next and finally Poppy. The doctor stayed behind in the long boat. When Captain Compass reached the rail, he leapt over the side his hooves thumped as he landed hard on the deck. The crewponies followed him over the rail each one taking a position on the captains two sides. The three spread out quickly searching the deck. When they found nothing, the captain came back to the rail and helped Poppy over. Once Poppy had boarded the captain gestured towards the trap door that led to the lower decks. Poppy took position to the right of the hatch opposite the captain on the left. One of the crewponies stood back with his rifle in hoof. He was aiming just over the other crew ponies shoulder as he opened the hatch. With no one on the other side of the hatch the two crew ponies took point as they descended the stairs onto the weapons deck. They were followed by the captain in the middle and Poppy taking the rear. The weapons deck had been badly damaged with splintered beams and holes in the ship's hull. Poppy was careful as she followed behind the other as she tried to avoid the damaged decking. When they had reached the other end of the deck the group descended the next set of stairs to where the cabins were located. The lower deck was a bit better off than the deck above. The group went from cabin to cabin checking for anypony. What they found was the ship had been abandoned. With the lower decks clear the captain ordered both of the crewponies to start inspecting the ship for any damage. The two went off to examine the ship while the captain led Poppy back up to the main deck. By the time the two had made it back to the main deck the doctor had boarded the ship and was waiting for them.

“Any Wounded captain?” He asked.

“No doctor. It would seem we are the only ones on board.” The doctor nodded at the captain.

While the captain and the doctor were talking Poppy climbed up to the quarterdeck. The deck had splintered wood covered the deck and two rifles lay on the ground near the ship's wheel. Stepping closer to examen the rifles Poppy picked one up. She examined the gun. It was still loaded and had several large gauges in its wooden stock. Setting the first rifle down poppy picked up the second one. This rifle too was loaded but this rifle also had smears of silverish blood on it. Poppy recognized color as blood from a crystal pony. After setting the rifle back down on the deck Poppy stepped up to exam the ship's wheel. First thing she noticed was there were more specks of silver blood. The wheel also had large cuts in the wood. Taking a closer look at the wheel, she noticed a small piece of paper tucked into one of its spokes. Grabbing it in her teeth she opened the note, she discovered it was from the ship's first officer. Taking the paper in her teeth she pulling it out from where it had been tucked. Opening the folded paper, she found a message and a set of coordinates. The message was short. It read Beware the Captain. Poppy wondered what the message could mean. Beware Captain Compass but why he was a hero. Poppy's thoughts were interrupted by the captain.

“Mrs. Poppy did you find anything” The captain asked.

As he walked up behind her. Panicking that the captain would see the message Poppy quickly ripped the bottom of the paper off leaving the set of coordinates. “I found a piece of paper tucked in between the spokes of the wheel. It only has a set of coordinates.”

The captain examined the coordinates.

“What's wrong Captain. Do the coordinates mean anything to you?”

“Yes Mrs. Poppy these coordinates do mean something to me. These are the coordinates of fortress of the isles. It’s an old military fortress. I expect that Commander North left this message for us to find. This also means it's going to be hard to affect any type of rescue. From what intelligence has gathered the fortress is heavily armed with several large siege guns. No Equestrian ships have ever been able to get close to the fortress without coming under heavy bombardment.”

By the time the captain had finished telling Poppy about the fortress the crew ponies had been able to finish their examination of the damage to the ship.
The captain gathered the crew together back on the main deck where the crew ponies reported that they had found no major structural damage to the ship and that the ship was still seaworthy. “So, what now captain?” asked one of the crew ponies. The captain was quick to answer the crewpony.

“Now we head back to port and get repairs and some help.”

Poppy had a question for the captain. “How do we sail a ship this large with just four of us?

“I don’t know Poppy but we don’t have a choice but to try.” The captain said.

The captain gave each pony an assignment before breaking up the meeting. Poppy was given the task of steering the ship while the captain and the rest of the crew would work in the rigging. The captain gave a general direction to steer the ship. Deer Hollow was the closest port, and it had the benefit of hosting a royal equestrian relay station for sending messages by pegasi. The journey would take a few days at best and so the remaining crew began the journey to find help.