The Sea Singer

The Sea SingerChapter Six: On the Run     Captain's Monologue-July 29th, year fourteen of the sixth ageIt's been a day since my last confession. And well, it looks like I got myself a new job. That's what the meeting with "Her Royal Highness" was about. That little scene back in the empty jail was a test. She wanted to see just how criminal I am, to see if I could break out. That gang of gards outside were probably waiting for me to burst out at any moment,  guns blazing. She predicted every move that I made with near perfection. Celestia offered me and my crew a deal; do a little gig off the books for her, and our criminal records get scrubbed away. I took it, but not without squeezing a couple hundred platinum out of her (heh heh). I can scratch "haggle with Celestia"  and "piss off Celestia" out of my bucket list at the same time.The princess wants me to pick up a couple of ponies from a bunch of different places and drop them off at Canterlot, hell if anypony will tell me why. Sounds simple,  right? But get this: some of the passengers are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. No so simple anymore, now is it? All six of them are in there, plus four more makes ten passengers in all. Fan-freakin'-tastic.Oh, and one more thing, Celly also stuck a babysitter on my boat, some bureaucrat mare named Harvest Moon. What a joy she is.That's probably it for now. Strider out.X-X-X-X-XHome.     I was home, safe and sound in the embrace of my lady Sea Singer. Now that I've got her, I can never leave her alone again. You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow ten times it's size. Or something like that. I haven't read a book in a while.     Funny how going less than a week without her made me antsy. Here I was, a veteran sailor on both a sea of blue and a sea of green, and I can't even be away from her for four days without all but chewing my leg off trying to get back.     Though, that was a pretty rutting close call with Celestia, I was sure at one point that she would dump me back in that jail and find somepony else with a weaker will. Coz I'm sure that's how she operates sometimes. All those land-kissers see Celestia as a kind and benevolent ruler, even I did a long time ago. "Oh, Her Majesty is a saint!" They would say. Yet...she was letting EBRoT rule this whole country with an iron hoof. They had control of nearly everything under the sun! The economy, the mail service, medical care, insurance, local elections, the list goes on and on. Since when did this country turn communist?      Probably around the time the trees came in. the inner Cloud told me.     I shook those thoughts from my head.     It's probably best to just accept it and move on. I closed my log and unceremoniously tossed it on the nightstand and spit the pencil out of my mouth. Turning over in my hammock, I was reminded how uncomfortable mass-produced prison cots were. I jumped out of bed and began stretching out my stiff muscles, my joints gave a both satisfying and disgusting pop as I tensed them.     Feeling like a million bits, I decided that napping here in my quarters wasn't exactly the most productive thing in Equestria to do, so I went to take a stroll arond the Singer and see what needs doing.X-X-X-X-X     During my wanderings, I passed by the senior officer's bunks. I had no reason to be loitering about the place, besides being the undisputed owner and operator of this ship. But, just as I passed a brightly decorated door with the letters "C~M~C" painted in a glittery red paint, I heard muffled, angry voices.     "Horseapples!" one twangy voice shouted "That ain't no reason!" Somepony really needed to work on Bloom's grammar.      "Yes it is!" Sweetie Bell protested "Rarity's almost an hour away, we could just make a quick stop and grab her  It'll be the fastest thing in the world."     "But she already is in Canterlot!" Scootaloo said "We don't even need to pick her up. I say we go for Rainbow Dash first."     "No way, she ain't yer sister, and I ain't seen AJ in a year."     "Rarity's my sister too, and she's the closest. That makes her first by default."     "No it doesn't.  And I haven't seen Rainbow in ten!"     "Oh, whatever."     "Shut up!"     "No, you shut up!"     "Both y'all shuddup!"     "Shut up, AB, nopony asked you!"     "Make me, shoogacube!"     "Bring it on, hayseed!"     Then, there came a shuffling, a grunting, and a crash, followed by a short pause, then more shuffling and grunting. It sounded like a miniature bar fight in there.     "Hey, no mane pulling!"     "Mane pulling? You mean like this?"     "Oww! You little--"     I believe it was interference time.     I casually pushed open the glitter-dusted door and trotted in without any regard to their personal privacy "What's up ladies?"     Three mares whipped their heads my way, goofy  looks of mild shock on their faces. They all froze in an award position, Sweetie with Scoot's mane in her teeth, Scootaloo with Applebloom in a headlock, and Applebloom with her hoof in Scoot's face. Behind them, amongst the absurd amount of brightly colored furniture, was the stack of dossiers that Harvest Moon gave me.     "Uhh, Captian..." one began.     "We were just..."     "Stowe it before I knock your heads together." I said in a distinct tone of finality "I'm the captain, and I decide who goes first, got it?"     The three of them cast their eyes to the floor "Yes, Captian." they said in stero.     "Now, I suppose I should make my pick before we shove off."     Sweetie was the first to perk up. She instantly spit out Scoot's mane, darted to the table behind her, and snatched up a pure white folder with a amethyst purple trim. Shoving it to me, she said, "I vote Rarity! She's the closest and she's probably the easiest to convince."     "This isn't a democracy." I said, hoofing it back to her "This is a Cloudtatorship. And besides, it's not like she's going anywhere. And I DO NOT want to go back to that city for at least a minimum of six months, understand?."     "Then pick Applejack!" Applebloom interjected "She's probably not hard to track down since she's got a job on that airship. The Smuggler's Guild prob'bly has a record of her."     "I don't need any help choosing, AB." I said flatly. I rudely pushed past the mares and grabbed the stack of files in my hoof. I sat myself down and laid each folder on the table, ten in all.     I immediately slid the white, rainbow, and orange dossiers away. "None of you get your wish." I eyed each of the remaining seven. A plain purple one with six stars on the cover, a glittery pink one with ballons, a green and purple one with green flames, a white one with sapphire blue trim and a shield emblem, a more flat kind of pink one with a light blue heart emblem on the front, a grey one with a big black question mark, and an-- "Oooh, yellow." I said. Yellow was my favorite color!     I picked up the yellow dossier with three pink butterflies on the front and held it up for everypony to see. "This one. Were going after--" I read the small print in the top-left of the cover "Fluttershy. Huh." Wasn't she a model?     I shrugged and flipped open the file, with the CMC peering over my shoulder. FluttershyGender: FAge: 33Race: PegasusAppearance: Butter yellow coat, cyan eyes, pink mane and tail, no other distinguishable features. Usually seen with a white rabbit in tow.Alignment: Lawful GoodLocation: Unknown. Subject was last observed in an outer rim town called "Farpoint" on the 21th of July, year 14 of the sixth age. We believe she left on a medium-sized civilian airship.Occupation: Voulenteer worker. Psychological Profile: Friendly, yet reserved. Subject's passion for helping those outer rim settlers has led her to dedicate her life to helping those in need, she is at times a true saint. Yet, when the work is finished, she seems secluded, opting to quietly watch the ponies she helped from a distance. Staying true to her namesake, subject seems very nervous around anypony who is not a close friend. It appears that she chooses the company of wild animals rather than ponies, whether this is from fear of society or disdain of it, we cannot say. But we do know that her shy tendencies makes it very difficult for our undercover operatives to interact with her.Notable Abilities: Subject is dominantly average or below average in most categories. Though, she has the uncanny ability to communicate with and even under stand the languages of wild and tame animals alike, and nearly all animals will bend to her wishes. We currently cannot determine the cause of this ability. Our agents have also been hearing a myth pertaining to the subject, something about a hypnotic "stare." Investigation is currently under way.     "Huh."     Scootaloo nudged me "What are you 'huh-ing' about?"     "A lady with power over animals." I answered "That's a mighty rare talent she has there. Could be useful to somepony like Celestia and EBRoT. But what the hell is a "stare"? Some kinda magic?"     The three mares fell silent.     "What?"     "We've seen the stare." Sweetie answered in the most solemn tone I've ever heard from her.     "It's..." Applebloom let the words die in her mouth.     "I don't wanna talk about it." Scootaloo said with a whimper that was uncharacteristical of her.     "Even after all these years..." Sweetie whispered "I can still see them, you know? Those eyes. That kind of thing never leaves you. Ever."     "Well, color me creeped out."     "Can we change the subject?" AB asked quickly.      "Aye, that we can." I gathered up the mound of paper and stacked it neatly on their desk "Ladies, rev up those engines, grab those charts, and man that helm. We make way for Farpoint."     "Aye, aye, Captain!" The three gave me a salute and bolted out the door.     I lingered behind for just a moment, taking a second to look again at the dossier.      "Farpoint." I repeated to myself. The name was vaguely familiar to me. I had probably made a pit stop there at one point in my trading career, probably to sell of some less-than-legal goods to the head of the town. Honestly, once you've seen ten outer rim towns struggling to get by, you've seen them all.     Just then, conveniently after I had finished my thoughts, the Singer's emergency sirens blared and cracked through the shipwide speaker system. I winced and laid my ears flat to my head. Goddesses, that was aways a hell of a way to get somepony's attention.     "Zzzt Captain! Captain! Pick up the mic. bzzzt" the voice of Crowe came through in between the siren wails. It came from the personal quarters speakers, not the main ones. Crowe was speaking      I calmly rushed over to the microphone on the wall, flipped the switch that connected me to the Crowe's Nest, and punched the "talk" button "Crowe, this better be good if you're gonna make the speakers scream like that."     "Zzzt We've got an EBRoT heavy military cruiser about seven klicks off the stern. Looks like they've gunning for us bzzt."     "Damn it all to Tartarus!" I cursed, slamming a hoof into the wall for emphasis "I thought Celly wiped our slates clean!"     "Zzzt So did I! bzzt"     I ran a hoof through my ragged mane and gabe off a frustrated huff of air "We'll try and beat the truth out of our new guest later. Right now we've got way bigger problems. How long is it before they get here?"     "Zzzt Uhhh...about twelve minutes til we can see the whites of their eyes bzzt."     Just fantastic.      "Alright, sit tight. Were gonna make a run for it."     "Zzzt Captain?! bzzt"     "We've got a freshly repaired Gemini model with the royal tune-up treatment. If we can't outrun the law with the Singer, then we deserve to be caught. Strider over anf out."     I flipped a switch on the wall panel, disconnecting me from Crowe. With another flick, I connected the comm system to the bridge "Scoots, turn the boat toward Farpoint and tell AB to put 'er on full burn."     "Zzzt I just got to the wheel, what's going on, captain? bzzt" came the muffled voice of my pilot.     "We're on the run again."