Looking back, that day was almost as dismal as today. Perhaps even more so. The factories spewed forth their rather wretched smoke, the children cried of hunger and begged in the streets if they were lucky enough not to be working in the factories. Refuse lined the streets, foul language and heavy pollution befouled the air, forcing one to make a wholesome effort not to gag whenever they attempted to take a breath. It was on a day such as this, foul as it was, that I encountered the one stallion I could call a friend.
Soon after my arrival, I stopped at the cheapest of the few taverns in the city, the Rooster’s Crown, to spend my evening, perhaps play my shamisen, of which I consider myself a bit of a virtuoso. After paying the owner for my supper and a room, I went upstairs. It was horrendously run down, with cockroaches scattering at even the slightest touch of the ground, a bed composed entirely of straw in a sheet, and a set of rather old and rickety furniture that seemed like it could collapse at any moment. I grimaced at the condition of the room, and reluctantly lay down to what would probably be a very uncomfortable sleep.
Perhaps three hours had passed when I awoke, to find a muffled, yet ever-present noise occurring from the general vicinity of the downstairs. I decided after a few brief moments of contemplation to investigate the commotion, and followed the sound downstairs, where it was clear that the sound was coming from the wine cellar. Once I descended, the noise had stopped; I saw nothing but barrels, and this left me quite puzzled. As I could see nothing living, I decided to check the barrels, to ensure some rodent hadn’t begun devouring my host’s stocks.
After some rather careful investigation, making sure that I was at least somewhat stealthy in opening the barrels, I discovered that one did not contain wine, but instead some sort of lever. Curious, naturally, I pulled it, and a sort of trapdoor opened in the floor, revealing what seemed to be a very long spiral staircase. My sense of curiosity heightened, I made my descent into the inky darkness, making sure I didn’t fall down the stairs as I went.
Upon reaching the bottom, I noticed a faint light towards the end of a short corridor, and crept towards it hoping to find the source of whatever noise I had heard. The light had been coming from a crevice below the doorway to some sort of secret chamber. I planted my ear on the door proper, and attempted to listen in on whatever conversation was going on. Unfortunately, the door wasn’t locked, or even shut properly, and I promptly ended up falling into a room.
From my position on the floor, it was clear the room was some sort of improvised bar. Also clear were the 15 or so stallions whose meals I had just interrupted. After a few moments, they managed to point about 10 sharp objects and a gun or two in my face. After a few seconds of shouting and sword-waving, a voice in the back of the room made its debut.
“Fellas, fellas. No need to be so harsh to our guest. Let’s have a little chat with him.”
I stood up sighed a breath of relief, “Well, thank you for not outright spearing me. What is this place, and why are you beneath the inn?”
A yellow pegasus in a vest and shirt combo walked out into the front of the group. He was wearing an eyepatch over what seemed to be a rather large scar.
“Wait. You mean you don’t even know where you are? Ha! Look at this guy.”
“Hm. Judging by my greater common sense, you’re obviously degenerates of some sort who found a secret passage and decided to coerce the innkeeper into letting you use it as a hideout.”
“Degenerates, you say? Don’t you know it isn’t wise to call people names when they’re pointing sharp objects at you, kid?”
“I take it you’ve yet to realize that I bear a weapon as well?” I said, a little over-confidently.
“Yes, yes, you unicorns and your fancy shmancy magic. I do like how you’re threatening us, when in fact, you are the one who is trespassing here. Even going so far as to accuse us of being criminals.”
“If you’re not criminals, why would you go about pointing weapons at one’s head when he enters the room? That alone shows intent to harm.”
“As you have very kindly pointed out, you also have a weapon pointed at us, do you not?”
“You see no magic being cast, do you?”
“We haven’t stabbed you yet, either, have we? We aren’t brutes.”
“So there is honor among thieves after all. What a surprise.”
The pegasus acted as if he were insulted. “What did I say about name calling? It’s quite rude.”
“I think common civility has been thrown out the window at this point.”
“Well, how about a proposition then? We’ll put the weapons away if you tell us why you’ve come down here.”
“Seems harmless enough. I was asleep in my room when I was awakened by some sort of clatter downstairs, so I went to investigate. Said investigation led me down here.”
“What? You shouldn’t be able to hear anything from down here.. Oh no.”
The stallion turned to the rest of the group in a confident, yet panicked manner. “It’s time to pack up, men. They’ve found us.”
“Assumingly, the guards have stumbled onto your little hideout?”
He turned and looked at me. “Yes. And you’re coming with us.”
“And why do you think you can make me come with you?” I asked, indignant.
“Perhaps you’d rather stay here and explain why you’re the only one in ‘a den of thieves’. I’m sure the guards will understand.”
“Looks like I’m on the lam now. Excellent. First day here and I’m already fleeing from the guards.”
“That’s the spirit. Now let’s get out of here while we know they’re coming.”
A large portrait swung open, revealing an exit. After grabbing what they could, the whole gang fled into the hole. I, along with the pegasus who appeared to be the leader, were last through, and he shut and barred the portrait-door behind him just as the guards filed into the room. The stench of the sewers nearly burned my nose hair, and as we waded through, the horrendous smell got even worse. However, the smell faded out when we reached a grate near the river on the outskirts of the city.
Once I had emerged, still drenched in raw sewage, I noticed a rather large ship docked at the river’s edge. While an impressive ship, the sails and rigging of such looked odd, even though I had no experience with such things. I had assumed this was what we were to escape from prosecution on, so I climbed aboard after everyone else had filed on, except for the leading pegasus, who took a moment to pull up the boarding ramp before turning around and addressing me.
“Welcome to the Skylark. I’m your new captain, Silver Wing.”
I gazed around the vessel rather quickly, before retorting, “So now I’m a member, hm?” This only served to make him laugh.
“You are if you want to be, but until you leave my ship, you will be expected to pull your own weight, okay?”
“I would suppose I have to. Though I believe you owe me something for making me leave my entire set of supplies at the inn, wouldn’t you say?”
He shrugged. “That may be. However, it will have to wait.”
I laughed, “Obviously so, since we’ve yet to shove off.”
“Give her time. She takes a while to start up.”
Bewildered, I asked, “What does?” He just laughed again.
“You’ll see.”
The two objects, which I had erroneously perceived as sails, were not, in fact, anything of the sort. As Silver Wing finished speaking, I noticed that they were rapidly inflating. Alongside the hissing of the air flowing into them, I could hear the sounds of machinery in the decks below, presumably to pump air into the balloons.Obviously this was some sort of airship, though I’d seen nothing similar in my lifetime.
After the balloons were fully inflated and we began to rise, I was shown to a room that was considerably better than the one at the inn. The room housed the usual furnishings; a bed, an end table, and a rather small shelf, all of which were bolted down, oddly enough. As I was looking about, I heard the door slam, and the sound of the bolt being slid into its groove signaled that I was trapped here. For a while, I watched the river and the city draw further away as the ship ascended. Soon enough, however, sleep beckoned, and I blacked out until morning.
I awoke to the distant rumble of cannon fire before swiftly flying out of the bed due to the shock of what was most likely the aforementioned shots hitting the ship. After brushing myself off, I ran to the door, which, to my surprise, was unlocked. I navigated as best I could to the main deck, while trying to keep my balance due to the ship’s assault.
Once outside, I located Silver Wing, who was busy trying to steer the ship to avoid further damage. I made my way through the chaos, and upon reaching him, he nonchalantly remarked “Finally awake, are you? It’s been the better part of the day waiting for you to join us.”
“What exactly would you need me for? I don’t have anything besides novice-level magic without my shamisen.”
The captain paused for a second. “Your what?” After a second, he regained his composure and got serious. “Wait. Don’t answer that. This isn’t the time. You have noticed the ship firing on us, I hope?”
“Obviously. I’m assuming you don’t have any cannons of your own for retaliation, so you’re just going to fly us out.”
“We have magic cannons, but due to a lack of unicorns in the crew until now, they’re not set up for use at the moment. If you have any useful skills at all, now would be the time to use them, mate.”
I laughed. “Well, I would have, if I still had my equipment from the inn. I don’t assume you have stringed instruments on board, do you?”
“Nothing doing. None of us can use them.” He sighed. “Well, while you’re up, can you go see if there’s something you can do to help make sure we don’t drop out of the air without notice?”
“Very well, seeing as my talents are useless at the moment.”
I made my way below decks to where the gaping hole was located. Using a novice telekinesis spell, I found as much of the debris as I could and worked with another of the crew members to begin patching the hull.
After a while of picking up metal scraps and holding them in place while the crew member pieced them together, the hole was repaired and it seemed that we were safe. I returned to the main deck to see whether or not we had escaped, since there hadn’t been any cannonfire for at least half an hour.
I made my way back to the captain, where I found him still at the wheel. I looked around at the ship and asked, “Have we gotten away from them? I had noticed the lack of cannonfire, but I wanted to make sure.”
“Yeah, about 15 minutes ago. So how’d the repair work go?”
“The hole’s fixed, but it could use a bit more detailed repair whenever we stop next.”
He looked relieved. “Thanks for the repairs. I know you don’t seem to think too highly of us.”
“I have to do what I can to survive, at least.”
He laughed. “Isn’t that true for all of us? It’s the same anywhere you look.”
“So where are we headed?”
“Our home base. Like you said, we need more detailed repair, and the only one for the job is back there.”
“And about how long is it going to take? I’d like to go shopping to replace my possessions.”
“Before you can go out in public, you need to clear your name, my friend. We’ll help you, since it’s our fault you’re wrapped up in this, but you’re gonna need a game plan first. The best place for that will be the base.”
“I would suppose you’re right,” I sighed.
“Of course I’m right. Now, it’ll be a few hours, so go, like, sit down somewhere or something.”
I returned to my room in a somewhat somber state and lay down on the firm bed. Staring up at the ceiling, I contemplated what exactly had been going on in my life. Being swept up in a group of pirates with a flying ship and losing all of my valuables after hoping for a quiet night was quite an ordeal, especially since I had been lumped in as one of them with no way to show my face in public without being discovered. I sighed, lamenting my current situation, and decided to get some more sleep before we reached the base.
“Rise and shine!” I was abruptly and violently awakened by the sound of the captain bursting through the door. “Though I don’t know how you even got back to sleep. You did sleep through the entire first half of the day.”
Still partially asleep, I responded groggily, “I always nap at some point during the day. I figured I’d use it as an excuse to waste some time.”
He shrugged. “If you say so. Not like I have a ship that flies where you could be looking around or anything.”
“Not like there’s anything in particular to look at besides water, and gazing into that for more than five minutes or so gets boring enough as it is, especially when you’ve been surrounded by it for a good few years.”
Silver Wing stared and replied, “You’re a real boring sort, you know that, right? Anyway, look lively, we’re here.”
Unimpressed, I answered, “Not much of a surprise anymore.
We left the room and made our way once again to the main deck. Looking around, I saw something amazing. We were in what seemed to be a large cavern filled partially with water. On the part that constituted the “land”, there were intricately carved square structures which I could see served as buildings. Meanwhile, the lake portion glowed, as did the walls themselves. From what I could see, the light was produced from some sort of crystal, which, in the walls, was carved into many beautiful representations of animals.
“With all of this glowing crystal, I’m surprised you aren’t discovered.”
He puffed his chest out. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you? However, this cave has been the best kept secret in Equestria for about as long as it’s existed.”
“And the Alicorns don’t know this place exists?”
“Who knows? Maybe they were the ones who made it. We certainly don’t know. We found this place a few years back when we were low on magic. It’s been our base ever since.”
“Interesting. Is this near a town or city at all, or is it on an island somewhere?”
“The latter. As it goes, we’re pretty far out from any civilisation. Fortunately, that’s just how we like it.” He waved in the direction of the town. ”Now go have a look around; I’m sure you want to.”
“I can guess that you have all sorts of items and such from your travels; is there a store or warehouse here somewhere that I can rummage through for something at least similar to what I lost?”
“There’s time for that later. Go see the town, meet the people, make friends.”
“I’d rather have what I’m owed.”
The captain’s eyes narrowed. “You aren’t owed anything. Don’t forget that had we left you with your possessions, you would have been executed as one of us. If anything, it’s you who owes us.” He regained his normal cheerful demeanor. “And in order to clear that debt, I would like you to just relax for a bit. You’ve been through alot in the last few hours.”
I sighed, “I suppose. Though I still need at least one thing to be of much help to you.”
“That’s a good lad. Just tell me what you need and I’ll keep my eye out for you.”
“I’m not some sort of tamable beast, you know. And I need an instrument, something with strings. I’m not particularly suited to play anything else.”
“Alright then, I’ll tell the crew to keep a lookout while they unload the ship. Also, when you get back, I should have a friend to introduce you to.”
I started wandering through the caves, gazing at the crystals and almost bumping into several other ponies. After a bit of aimless walking, I found a rather innocuous bar, nearly filled, and decided to at least get some food; maybe even introduce myself if I felt I could be bothered enough to. I entered and took a seat at the bar. Luckily enough, my intrusion into the bar had gone largely unnoticed. The bartender, who was an amiable-looking mare, spoke.
“It’s rare to see someone new here.”
I gave her a look. “It should be, given the circumstances of this town.”
She smiled. “Yes. So, how did you end up here, o’ traveler?”
“A rather unfortunate kidnapping.”
She put a hoof up to her mouth and feigned surprise. “Oh dear, how tragic. What happened?”
“Nothing particularly important. I’m only concerned about one thing right now, and I doubt there’s anything similar in this place.”
“First time I’ve ever heard of a kidnapping as being unimportant, but I suppose I’ll respect your privacy, if i have to.” She stopped leaning on the counter and took a more professional stance. “I suppose you didn’t come in here just to talk, anyway. What will you be having?”
“I’ll have some fries, I guess. Mead, if you have it.”
“Not quite our typical order, but then, you don’t seem our typical customer, either. Luckily, we just happen to have some in stock.”
“At least I have a chance to get some food. I suppose after this I’ll have to return to the ship and see if they unloaded anything worth a damn.”
After waiting a bit, the fries came out with a mug of mead, and I ate rather quietly while glancing around the bar at the other patrons. I finished up my meal, and made to leave.
“Hold it right there. We need to discuss the matter of payment, don’t we?”
“Your captain is paying.”
“Wait, you mean Silver Wing?” She looked surprised. “That’s who you came in with? How’d that end up happening?”
“A long, drawn-out series of events that I don’t care to explain. It’s tiresome.”
“Alright then. I’ll just ask him the next time he comes by. The stallion loves to tell a story. I’m Sea Wynde, by the way. I hope I’ll see you in my bar again. Hopefully next time, you’ll be paying for your own meal, right?”
I made my farewells and left, hoping to find my way back to the ship and not get hopelessly lost. Once I had wandered for some time, I found the docks, where Silver Wing and a griffon waited.
“Ah, there you are. I’d like to introduce you to my friend here, Gearbox.” The griffon bowed low. ”He’s the one who’s responsible for building and maintaining the Skylark. He’s also designed many other devices, like the magic cannons still stowed below decks.”
“You can call me S for now. I’ve no particular intention of telling you my full name yet.”
The griffon shrugged. “That’s fine, I can understand your apprehension. A new place, new people, yes? Much to get used to.”
“Is there any reason you wanted me to encounter him?”
The captain shook his head. “Not in particular, but he is, as I said earlier, the designer of the magic cannon. He is also an intellectual, as I believe you are. I figured it would be in good taste to give you a conversation partner that doesn’t sit around on a boat all day. Do you disagree?”
“Not really. Though I would like the results of your unloading, and whether you’ve found what I’ve been looking for.”
“Yeah, we found something fitting your specifications. I don’t know whether it’d be to your taste, but it’s something, alright.” He shrugged.
The scientist looked around, intrigued. “What’s this, now? Something needed finding? Mind letting me in on this?”
The captain looked over at him. “Yeah, S, -speaking of, this is the first time I’ve even heard him say anything close to a name- decided he’d try and guilt me into finding him an instrument, for whatever reason.”
“It is the only way I can channel my magic to a degree higher than novice.”
Gearbox’s eyes lit up. “So you use the soundwaves to amplify the potency of your magic aura, correct? That’s very similar to how the magic amplification circuits in the cannons work! I wonder if the combination of sound and circuit would make a spell even more powerful! I must go and research this at once!” He walked off in no particular direction, still talking to himself.
“Well, now you’ve met him. You can see how much fun he finds all this science malarky to be. Anyway, I’m sure you want to see this instrument now or something, right?”
“Of course. And he seems to be of a quirky sort. Interesting enough, I suppose.”
He beamed. “Ah, you’ll get used to him in no time, provided you stay long enough. Anyways, I left your new toy in your room on the ship. There’s not much room left in town for you to stay, I’m sorry to say.”
“Well, I suppose I’ll be a constant passenger. At least until my name gets cleared.”
“True enough, that. You’ll be free to spread your wings again.” He paused. “Metaphorically, of course.”
“I suppose I’ll be off to pick it up.”
“Alright then. When you’re ready, come over to the Headquarters building. It’s the one furthest back in the cave. We’ll discuss your predicament there.”
I went back through the ship to the room I had stayed in. Upon the bed was one of the newest model of magically powered guitars. When a gentle magic current was provided, the sound would be amplified. So far as I’d heard, it has quite an imposing sound. It was a V-neck, with a rather striking green colour, and a somewhat dark-looking form. I grabbed it, ran my hooves over the strings, and admired the craftsmanship for a moment. After enough admiration, I put the guitar in a special sling I had incorporated into my jacket before leaving the ship and heading towards the building I was told to.
