Sky Pirates of Valentine

The bustling inn of Valentine was a popular place for ponies to spend their nights, drinking away at the tavern next to the inn, and spending the night in one of the many, many rooms in that gigantic inn. It was practically a hotel, the top floor overlooking the entire city, and the tallest building in Valentine. The center of the city. The heart. Where ponies meet, where stories are shared... there was never a boring day for this inn. Not since the reformation of the city.

“Oh buck me...” sighed the starry captain. The city noise and his crew's typical boisterousness made StarStorm's head pound. “You alright there?” asked his friend. Ava, walking by his side, was well groomed for the occasion. As he always was, he was the kind of pony that would never let a friend down. Which is why he was the first mate of the ship.

“You seem tired.” his friend inquired.

“You would be tired too if you’ve been having nightmares for a week...” StarStorm replied.
“Why do you keep having nightmares?”

“Ava, does it look like I know?”

“No.” a look of sympathy crossed his face briefly. “Well, now you can drink your troubles away.”

“Sure.” Star was sick of answering so many questions. He wanted silence. But of course, in a place like Olympus Inn, there would be no silence for him. Not yet. The doors to the inn were ahead, just at the end of the path they’re on. StarStorm yawned, blinking away his fatigue. Perhaps Ava was right. Maybe he could drink away his troubles. Just maybe. Some stallions amongst his crew ran past Ava and Star, busting through the doors, followed by another two, and more until eventually, they had all run past the two stallions at the front, leaving them both outside. “How many more days till the next voyage?”

“About three, Star.” Ava said. His pale blue fur was hard to see in the night, but his shiny silver mane caught the reflection of the street lights they passed. A normal pegasus, but one Star had grown fond of in terms of friendships. His most trusted friend.

“... three days, huh?” Star walked in, followed closely by his friend. “Good enough for me.” StarStorm walked up to the bar tender, his entire crew already had mugs in their hooves, cider dripping down their mouths, all crowded around tables, telling their share of stories to young mares and curious ponies. ‘How the heck did they get their drinks so fast...’ Star pondered, looking confused. Shaking off his thoughts, he sat on a stool, resting his head on the bar. “Two glasses of cider.”

“Just for you?” asked the bar tender. He was a unicorn in his mid forties. Looking around, the bar tender could not find any ponies that seemed like they’d be sharing a drink with Star.

“No, for my invisible friend- yes, just for me.” he gave the bartender look of sarcasm, before flopping his head back down on the bar. He seems like a nice pony, tough, slightly chubby, with a bushy beard. Light brown fur, not much hair up top. Must be the old age.

“Yeesh... what has you so worked up?” The bartender left momentarily to fill two glass mugs with cider, returning with two cups levitating with his magic, placing them on the bar in front of StarStorm.

“I took the Kayton airways.... while half of these idiots were drunk.”
“So... you flew straight into one of the most dangerous sky routes, with half your crew drunk?” the bartender got distracted for a second, passing another cup to a waiting customer next to StarStorm.

“Yup.” Star mumbled, still face down on the bar.

“Why are you letting them get drunk again then?” The pony next to Star got up to leave, and the bartender gave him a nod of goodbye.

“Coz the fact that we survived is reason enough to get drunk... again. We only survived thanks to half the crew... and they’ve all gone home for the next two days or so.”

“Why are you with this lot, then?”

“... because I have no where else to go.”

“Why not jus-”

“Look, guy, I came here for drinks, not for questioning.” Star grumbled, rubbing his eyes with his hooves. Fatigue really wore him down, his thinking not as sharp as it usually is.

“Alright, alright.” the bartender replied. StarStorm picked up his glass, his hoof wrapping around it shakily, and finally getting a sip of the sweet cider he had longed for. The invigorating drink was refreshing, cool, and made his senses return, drinking the entire cup in one sitting.

StarStorm looked around the inn, his memories dotted with images of this exact same tavern. He could remember this place well, the large wooden beams, the lanterns lighting up the whole place, the three floors and their rooms, and the large chandelier in the center. The tables were constantly replaced, after being broken from fights or other activities.

“Ah. Heh, much better.” as he spoke, a barmaid to his left caught his attention. A young brown furred mare, a unicorn taking drinks to customers. “Who’s that?” Star asked.

“Who’s asking the questions now, aye? That’s Creamy. Or so we call her. New.” the bar tender answered. “Fancying her?”

“Can’t a stallion ask for a name without a question like that? No, I don’t... fancy her.”

“Sure you don’t.” the bar tender looked towards Creamy, seeing her dancing with a drunk individual. “Ugh. Could you go tell her to stop lazing off?”

“...Righto.” Star got up, finishing his second drink quickly, walking towards the mare. From a distance, Creamy did not seem so ecstatic. But the closer he got, the more he could see just how excited she was. Chattering away, dancing, laughing, even sharing drinks with random strangers... a party girl. “Creamy!”

Creamy turned at the sound of her name, from an unfamiliar voice, leaving her dance partner to dance around StarStorm. “Heyo! Who are you?” she said in a sweet voice, if not a little bit drunk.

“Get back to work.” Star said in a voice that sounded grumpy to himself. ‘Well compared to her, of course i’ll sound like that’. “Your boss is watching you.” he told her.

“Meanie! He never lets me have fun!” she whined, running off towards the bartender before Star could even introduce himself. Turning back, he saw the two arguing, Creamy slamming a cup on the bar, demanding a break.

‘Well she won’t last very long here...‘ Star told himself. Looking around, he saw a large group of ponies, the largest in the tavern, all crowding around one table, in the corner of the tavern. Shrugging, he decided to go see the commotion. As he approached, he noticed that it mainly consisted of his crew members, with a few strangers listening to them talk. Some crew mates noticed him coming, and parted to give him a seat. Sitting down, StarStorm looked around, noticing a certain pony that had captured the attention of the crowd.

“... so we sailed straight towards it, preparing our cannons and loading the rifles!” said the stallion, moving his hooves around in the air, gesturing some unknown action. It was Skrif, the blacksmith of the ship. “They turned their ship around, and we could see them getting ready to fight....”

“Hey Star, did you hear about what happened in Manehattan?” a familiar voice said to him. Another crew mate, SureShot, the expert marksman of the crew.

“What?” StarStorm took a moment to break away from the storytelling to turn to SureShot, giving him a confused glance.

“Some scientists have made the very first robot. They’re calling it the Robot Unicorn. You know RainbowDash?”

“Element of loyalty, yeah, I heard of her.”

“Yeah, well the lead scientist is a big fan of her. They fashioned it after her, gave it a rainbow tail and mane and it leaves a trail of rainbows behind.”

“Why the heck did they make a robotic unicorn?”

“Don’t know.” SureShot finished. Star pondered what it would look like... maybe he’d go see it some day during the breaks in the voyages. Returning his attention, he looked back at Skrif, who was now describing the first part of the battle. ‘And to think that was only last week...’ Star thought to himself.

“Bam!” Skrif slammed his hoof on the table, making mugs shake, and some tired ponies jump. “Flew straight into their hull! Half of them had already fallen off when...”
A hoof fell onto Stars shoulder. Once more, his attention was brought away from the story to another pony who wanted his attention. The hoof belonged to an old friend of his. “StarStorm! Been a while!” he exclaimed.

“Sure, if you consider two months a while...” Star looked back to the table. The lantern above illuminated the faces of those closest around the table, and a candle in the center made shadows dance around table. Skrif was bantering on about explosions, and the boarding process of the battle.

“Well, yeah.... hey, when do you leave next?” Hawk continued, slightly downed by Star’s reply. “I might join, you know.” Hawk had a young mare beside him, nuzzling into his neck. StarStorm hadn’t seen her before. ‘Cute’ he thought.

“In three days. Pack your stuff and get ready in three days. Morning light, we set sail to .... well, I don’t remember. Check back on me that morning, I’ll have it all planned out by then.” Hawk nodded, preparing to leave when Star remembered to ask him. “Hawk, why are you joining?”

“Oh, I... kinda need some money for ... things.” Hawk gave a smile to his mare-friend behind Star’s back, but it was obvious to anyone who knew Hawk.

“... Righto.” Star replied tersely. Hawk wasn’t sure what else to say, so he made his leave, talking to his mare as he walked away, disappearing into the crowd in the tavern. ‘Finally.’ Seemed like no more interruptions in the story. Skrif was still explaining the story, some crew nodding their heads as they remembered, others gaping as they imagined it in their heads.

“We outnumbered them, four to one. They had no chance at all. We already took out most of them with our cannons, and when we boarded, got rid of any pegasi so they couldn’t fly away. That way, they were stuck in the air with no way of getting to safety. But even they, they still put up a fight!” Skrif was telling the story with less details, much more had happened, more tactics, more decisions, but with Skrifs drunk state, he probably wasn’t smart enough to explain the whole thing.

“Hah, they were still no match for us! I took out eight in a row!” SureShot exclaimed from behind, met with some laughter. Other crew shouted out their own number of kills, pride evident in their voices.

“Realized that they were willing to die rather then surrender... so, there was only one solution. No survivors. One by one, they fell, and the before ya knew it, they were wiped out!” Skrif leaned back, letting his audience take in his story. StarStorm did not hear the full tale, but his memory had filled in the gaps for him. Though he wasn’t quite sure Skrif was honest... perhaps making them seem more courageous then they were. ‘Well, nothing wrong with that.’ Star thought, smiling to himself.

“Who was it that took over the S.S Valmy?” asked Mint. The medical pony of the ship, Mint was the first one to get on an injury, his remedies have done wonders after past battles for the injured crew. His green and white mane was ruffled, and his white fur was dripping in rum. Where he had been not long ago, Star had no idea, but he expected more... etiquette from someone expected to save their lives in a few days.

“It was Ava, right?” SureShot suggested.

“Yeah, I think it was.” Skrif piped. Skrif seemed younger then he normally seemed. Early thirties, Skrif was one of the older ones of the lot. Red and orange hair, white fur as well. Seems like an ordinary Equestrian, but with his accent, and his name, it was obvious he was from foreign territory. Star had recruited him back in a voyage last year, after seeing Skrif repair his wing blades and even make them more comfortable. SureShot was a cocky little pony, black fur with a dark green and black mane and tail. Wasn’t exactly the tallest of them, or the most intimidating, but he knew his way around cannons and that’s all Star needed from him.

‘Everyone seems happy tonight... well, at least they look happy.’ StarStorm looked around, trying his best to make sure he wouldn’t forget scenes like tonight. After all, for all he knew, half the ponies dancing and drinking tonight could be dead and imprisoned in a weeks time. It’s best to see them now, while they were still alive. StarStorm had a tendency to just sit by and watch the world move around him, waiting for the right moment to join in with the flow. ‘No one has mentioned me yet...’ it was usually by now that someone had mentioned the captain, and that was usually when he would bring himself into the conversation.

“What happened next??” a random voice called.

“Well, we took as much valuables as we could, stripped the ship to repair the Harbinger and by then, the Valmy was just flying garbage... so we shot it down. Tough work, really.” Skrif continued.

“Who flew the Harbinger????” inquired another voice. A sweeter voice, this time.

“That would be Captain StarStorm! After we won, drinks were passed around, we all got pretty messed up... well, half of us, really. The other half were too goody-two shoes to celebrate.”

‘About time...‘ Star thought to himself.

“Was the captain drunk too? How did he fly the ship back?” that same voice asked once more. StarStorm couldn’t resist grinning at her words, she obviously had not heard about him before...

“Took the fastest way out. We didn’t want to stay up there too long, in case some backup arrived to the scene. So we took Kayton airways. That got him pretty tired...”

“Where is he now?” that same voice asked again. No one else really had any questions. They were just along for the story.

“Well, he flew for a week, went through a storm at one point... and now he’s somewhere in this inn.” Skrif finished. His throat dry, Skrif took a drink from his mug, listening to the crowd whisper amongst themselves.

‘Where is he now? What, don’t I fit my own name?‘ Star thought that with his appearance, covered in stars and all, it’d be pretty obvious that he was the pony known as StarStorm. But none of the strangers had picked up on it. ‘Well, now’s a better time then never...’

“And that was all in one day.” StarStorm said. His sudden words made the crowd look to him.

“Heh, where did you come from? You don’t seem too tired now. Heck, even I still feel tired from all the work...” Skrif said in between his drinks.

“Of course you’d still be tired, you lazy old bast---”

“You’re the captain?!” that exact same voice said another time, cutting off Star.

Star was quite annoyed by the constant interruptions. Looking around the table, he tried to find the owner of the voice. ‘Who the hell is this pon.... p...’ his eyes connected with a pair of wide, shining eyes with golden irises. A light blue pony, with a dark blue mane, fading into white at the tips of her mane. Her hair was slightly spiky, poking out over her face, swinging over her eyes. Quite an attractive young mare. ‘...well.’ Star thought. In his chest, he felt a strange sensation... like a bird had been released into his ribcage. Or maybe that damned bartender had put something in his drink.

“Yes... i’m the captain. StarStorm, as you heard.” Star gestured to the white stars on his face, pointing them out. The blue mare gasped, slightly blushing, seemingly excited to meet him. SureShot placed a hoof on Stars shoulder and grinned.

“Well... this should be fun.” Shot whispered into Stars ear. SureShot left him, to find his own mare for the night. The crowd was still there, not sure where to go after the story.

“Tell us another story!” yelled another pony.

“... Eh, why not?” Skrif took another sip of his drink and set it down, preparing to tell another tale of the infamous sky pirates of Port Valentine.

‘Well, i’m thirsty...’ Star got up to leave, nodding to Skrif, Mint and his other friends. Walking back towards the bar, Star sat on a stool, yawning and flipping his head down on the bar once more. The bartender returned. “Two more drinks....” whatever energy he previously had from the other drinks had worn out, and he was tired again.

“Just for you, again?” he replied.

“Ye-” Star mumbled, until the blue mare had interrupted... again. He sat up, looking to his left as she appeared next to him.

“For me as well!” she exclaims. “One for me, one for him.”

“Hah. I knew it.”

“What? Knew what?!” StarStorm demanded. The bartender ignored his question and returned with two more glasses, both cider. Grumbling, Star gave a quick “Thanks...” before he turned to the blue mare.

“Cider? Not rum?” she asked.

“Nope.” Star drank a little sip of cider.

“Why?”

“Never really like the taste of rum. Cider for me.”

“Oh... okay. Hi! I’m Blue!”

“Yeah, I can see that, but what’s your name?” Star said, looking down her body, his eyes strangely moving down to her hips, but shooting back up to her eyes as her tail flicked around her body.

“... that is my name. Blue. Blue Horizon, fully.” Blue replied, thinking for a second until she realized what he meant. “My parents weren’t that creative, okay?” she said with a giggle.

“Got it. So. What’s with you?” Star asked, drinking between breaks.

“What do you mean?” she drank a bit from her own cup, but didn’t seem as interested in the drink as she was with him. She didn’t seem drunk... strange. That’s a rare sight.

“You seemed pretty excited back there, listening to us taking over Valmy. Got a thing for pirate life?”

She blushed slightly. Or perhaps it was related to the drink. “I... I find it interesting! Flying around, free and all! Drinking rum and pillaging! Pirate life sounds fun!” her enthusiasm made StarStorm cringe. Sure, they did that, but it wasn’t all that much fun... not when it came to the darker parts of pirate life.

“Ever been on an airship?” Star questioned.

She looked to the ceiling, blinking for a second before looking back at him. “Once or twice, when I was little. I watch them fly by everyday around the port!”

“Oh? What do you do?”

“I mess around with clouds and stuff! Not so important. But I get to see all these big airships and stuff when they come in!”

“Ah. Did you see my ship?”

“Maybe. What did it look like?” she tapped her hoof on the bar, slightly to the beat of the song playing in the background of the tavern.

“Big, shiny metallic red one, with huge sails and engines at the back. Hard to miss.”

“Oh yeah! I saw that one! It looks awesome!”

“If you saw the ship coming in, how did you not know I was the captain?” Star finished his drink, but didn’t mind, he had something else on his mind then drinking.

“Hey- my vision isn’t that good. From all the way up in the clouds, it’s hard to see a pony all the way down below in the docks.”

“Right, forgot bout that.” Star replied.

“Nice stars, by the way.” she touched one on his nose, rubbing it, and seeing how it didn’t come off, she stared at his face. “They aren’t painted?”

Star scoffed. “Heck no. These are part of me.” he said with pride. StarStorm could see Ember coming towards them in the corner of his eye. ‘Oh great. Just great.’

“Eyo!” Embers yelled, standing between the two ponies.

“Ello.” Star replied casually.

“Hey, when did you get a mare?” Embers asked Star, looking at Blues flank, admiring her thighs.

“I’ve been asking myself the same question, really.” Star looked over to the bartender, who gave him a nod, getting him another drink. That makes four drinks for now.

“She doesn’t even look that drunk! Hah, you must have genuinely tried!” Ember chuckled.

“Don’t need to try, Ember.” Star said coldly.

Ember leaned in to Blues ear, pretending to speak in a quiet tone, but made it loud enough for Star to hear. “Hey, if he’s got stars down below, you tell me, alright?”

Blue blushed a bit more visibly, her ears twitching. Star couldn’t help but notice how adorable she looked. “I... i’ll tell you.” StarStorm groaned, face-hoofing, before Ember had laughed at his own little jokes, before disappearing into the crowd.

“.... bucking idiot, I swear...” Star turned away from her, not wanting to make eye contact after that comment, and stared at his reflection in the apple cider drink.

“It’s okay, i’d still do it if there were stars anyway.”

“That’s not the - wait, what?” Star sharply turned to her, wondering if they were both thinking about the same thing. Though he didn’t want to make eye contact just a moment ago, he was curious to how she was acting. She had a different look on her face... no longer excited, but... seductive. She could not look at him much longer, her blush was practically screaming out embarrassment, she looked at the ground, smiling sheepishly.

“Can I join your crew?” Blue asked awkwardly.

“... well, what can you do?” Star now had his full attention to her.

“L... lots of things, I could help paint the ship and stuff!” Blue twiddled her hooves.

“...and stuff, you say. Well. Good enough. As long as you can do something, we’ll take ya.” Star answered. “Welcome aboard.”

“You really mean it?!” she squeaked.

“No, I was kidding, now piss off.” Star grinned as her look of delight turned into fright. “I’m only kidding, calm down.” Blue gently nudged him with her hoof.

“Thanks. When are you leaving?”

“Three days from now.” Star was turned back to his drink, finishing off his last cup for the night. He didn’t really need to drink that much. Didn’t really want to, either. As he finished, he felt a warm sensation on his left cheek. In the corner of his eye, he saw Blues face, kissing him gently.

“I’ll get my stuff ready. You’ll be at your ship tomorrow, right?”

“In the morning, yeah.”

“Then i’ll see you then!” Blue jumped out of her seat, running out the doors and into the night. Star was left alone, wondering what just happened. He raised a hoof to his cheek, rubbing it lightly. ‘Huh... well. This should be interesting.’