Chapters 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.
“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.”
“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...”
“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.’
Early morning, the sun had not yet appeared over the horizon, but the orange haze of light had begun to spread across the sky, the clouds becoming visible as the golden rays stretched across the heavens. StarStorm, standing alone on the very top deck, remembered a song back in his early days of sky sailing, before he was a captain and was just the navigator. He remembered his captain... singing to him, Ember and Ava, a song about the sky, the sea, and how it changes after the rain. It was uplifting, he recalled, and was his favourite song to think about whenever he felt alone on a voyage.
“Like the ocean needs the moon to take the tides away... all we needs a little time to chase the blues awa-a-a-ay~ Sun is out and it feels, like it’s always, gonna stay. Let this last forever, turn tomorrow, into yesterday...” Star hummed quietly sang to himself, watching the sun make its first appearance over the ocean, shadows forming on his ship, making the metallic cover of the railings glint and shine. ‘Dammit... doesn’t sound as good as hers. Well, least I remember the lyrics.’ Star thought. No other ponies were on the top deck, many were down on the main deck, taking into account what needs to be fixed, or what needed to be changed. It was fairly quiet, on the Harbinger.
Hoof steps could be heard coming up the stairs on the sides of the ship, towards the top deck. The sea wind was the coldest around this time of the morning, and he felt a shiver run down his spine as the air brushed through his fur, chilling him. “Are you spending the night here, or at Olympus, Star?” asked Ava. He didn’t look tired. Probably didn’t do much last night, and just talked instead of really celebrating.
“I don’t know. Depends on how I feel. Maybe i’ll just stay on the ship for a bit...” Star answered, but still looked over the railings towards the rising sun.
“Everyone else is staying at the Olympus. Might as well come join us.” Ava tried to reason.
“We’ll see, won’t we?”
“Alright. Shall we go walk around the city? Maybe buy some food, chips or something.”
“Sounds nice. Wait. It’s morning. They wouldn’t be selling chips this early, would they?” Star stopped, looking over the buildings in the city from their position on the ship. The ship was quite large, and rose high over the smaller houses nearby, so they could see quite far.
“Don’t know. Might as well go see.” Ava walked ahead, and Star began to follow, but stopped again.
“I don’t know... I have to wait for somepony.”
“Who?”
“Some mare called Blue.”
Ava stopped in his tracks, looking back. “Who’s that?”
“You’ll meet her soon enough, don’t worry.” StarStorm thought about it. She could wait, he was hungry after all. Shrugging, Star kept walking. Once they reached the main deck, they passed some ponies who were strapping the cannons down onto the wooden boards, and tightening rope across the railings. “I’ll be back in a bit.” Star made sure to tell a crew mate as he walked by, so they’d at least know he’ll return to the ship.
Ava and Star flew off the sides of the ship, instead of walking down the board ramp, and landed on the pier next to the Harbinger. Although Harbinger was an airship, when it was not on, it would rest in the water, just like a normal ship. Walking down the pier, the activity began to pick up, the hum of conversations filling the air as they walked towards the city.
“Alright, now that we’re alone, lets discuss the flight route to our next destination. Where do you plan on going, Star?” the more professional side of Ava coming in, he wanted to plan things out before making any decisions. Three days, despite what others may believe, is quite a short amount of time to plan a voyage across the continents. Well, now there was only two days left...
Star looked around, trying to find something interesting to buy from merchants on the street, but there was nothing that met his interests. “I’m thinking of going to... Africa. Past the Mediterranean, and through the islands that dot along it coast. From what i’ve heard, merchants love that place, it’s got different minerals, resources, and an abundance of trade amongst other animals. A dragon horn might not matter that much in Equestrian, but a rhino in Africa could use it for some worshipping ritual for all I know. The point is, it’s perfect.”
Ava too, was looking around at merchants, eyeing their wares. Exotic swords, fancy armor, strange linen clothing. Africa was a great trading country, but Valentine was a great trading city in its own right. Its position on the Equestrian coast had made it the quickest city to reach from another country, and as the city grew, so did business, and as business grew, so did the city. Back when StarStorm had arrived, before the liberation of this once small town, Valentine was full of Equestrians, there was rarely any foreigners. But back then, Valentine was poor, bullied into submission by a bunch of pirates from unknown origins. Star was proud of this city... of what it had become. But he strangely missed the old days... his old crew... and his captain.
“Rich merchants trying to get richer by trading with Africa... can you just imagine the merchant ships, Ava? Full of gold, gems and the whole lot. We’re going to be richer then any pony in Canterlot!” StarStorm exclaimed.
“I like the sound of it... but wouldn’t it be dangerous? Giant merchant ships don’t travel alone. They travel in fleets, and i’m sure the rich bastards are aware of pirates like us. They’d probably use that richness to buy guards, heavy Man-O-Wars, and plenty of protection.” There goes Ava, thinking about the flaws in Stars plan.
“I think you underestimate us, Ava. We can handle them. I’ve still got a few tricks under my wings.” Star stopped walking as he found a merchant he knew. The very first pony he had talked to in Valentine. “Ah. Doing well for yourself, eh Flicker?”
Flicker, a dark orange-brown pony with with a blonde mane and a beard looked up at him from his seat behind the counter of his store. “StarStorm. Leaving soon?”
“Two days.”
“... still wearing those bangles, I see? I told you they’d last throughout the ages.”
“Grown fond of these things, strangely.” Star lifted his front right leg to show the three silver bangles wrapped around it. There were another three on his left front leg, and three more on his back right leg. Though he bought them years ago, they still were as shiny and durable as ever. “They’re like a part of me now. Like my stars.”
“Never thought back then that when I sold that to you... things would change so dramatically.” Flicker said. A waiting customer returned with some money, paying him as he handed the customer a gold necklace.
“One action goes a long way...” Star told Flicker. Ava noticed something strange. It didn’t seem like Star was directly talking to Flicker... it seemed like he was reciting something. Maybe that was one of those quotes StarStorm had memorized over his lifetime. “See you round, Flick.”
“Be well.” Flicker waved them goodbye as they walked off. Star could still remember they day he had met him... sitting on a carpet on the street, selling those bangles for only five bits. Once a beggar, along with three quarters of the merchants in the street they walked through. They were all once just... beggars. And now, they were living a better life.
“He’s changed, hasn’t he?” Ava asked Star.
“They all have. Anyway. Lets go find some food. That’s what we came here for, right?”
“Right.” Ava wondered what Star must be like to some pony who never met him. Their conversations were quite casual, but that was because of their long friendship. Star probably acted like an idiot around new ponies. But to his true friends... he was always more tactical.
“There’s a shop.” Star pointed his wing towards a shop selling breakfast foods. Entering the shop together, StarStorm noticed a pair of stallions eating some pancakes. “You know what, screw chips, lets have something sweet. Pancakes.”
“Whatever.” Ava and Star walked up to the employee behind the counter.
“Two pancakes for us. Honey and stuff.” Star told him.
“Six bits.”
“I’ll pay.” Ava told Star, pulling out a pouch from under his wings, taking out six golden bits.
“Please wait three minutes.” Said the employee, going behind the kitchen to get their food. Star and Ava took a seat on a table, yawning.
“We’ll see how the merchant fleet works, first of all. Then we’ll deal with them based on that. Don’t worry Ava. I’ve got this.”
“If you say so, Star...” as he spoke, a blue mare walked in, the same mare StarStorm met before. Ava saw Star suddenly look up, and out of instinct, looked as well. “Is that the... blue mare you told me about?”
“Yup. That’s her.”
“What’s her name?”
“Blue. Blue Horizon, I think, is her full name.”
“Blue. A blue mare is called Blue. Well that’s creative.” Ava said sarcastically. Blue had made her order, and still had not noticed them.
“Blue!” Star exclaimed. She turned her head, and her face brightened as she spotted the two.
“Oh hey!” Blue said, approaching them and taking a seat by their table. “You eat here too?”
“No, it was the closest place that sells food, so yeah.” Ava answered.
“Oh, I was thinking the same thing. I saw your ship, and I was gonna go, but I got kinda hungry so I decided to wait a bit. Hah, but now that we’re all here.... what’s up?” she said cheerfully.
“Just deciding where we’re going. Africa. Plus, we’ll be making a few stops at some islands from here.” Star told her.
“Africa? What’s so interesting about that old place?” as she asked, a unicorn arrived with their food hovering with his magic. The unicorn placed it on the table, apologizing for the wait, and returned back to the kitchen. Star began to eat immediately, enjoying the sweet taste of honey, after so long.
Ava had not eaten yet, but felt like he should explain to her what was going on. “Yep. It’s rich, full of different animals, and an easy way to get rich. Good enough reason for us.” Ava told her, and began to eat as well.
“Really? You’re not going to, like, burn a village down, or destroy ships?” Blue asked. The same unicorn returned with some coffee, placing it in front of Blue. Blue gave a word of thanks, and began to drink.
Star stopped eating, giving her a look of confusion. “Well, I don’t know about the ‘burning villages’ part, but we’ll be destroying ships, so don’t worry. We’ll give you a little taste of your pirate fantasies.”
“Hey!” Blue exclaimed. “What did you just say?” getting up from her seat, Blue walked over to the two, stomping her hooves.
“...Um, two drinks and some bread?” answered the pegasus.
“W--- not just then! About stabbing somepony!” she yelled, trying to get her point across. The employee had gone off to get their food, and some ponies in the shop were watching her. Ava and Star were still eating away.
“Listen, lady, mind your own business. We did what we did, and you don’t have anything to do with it.” the earth pony said. They didn’t seem angry, or one of the shady ponies around town, but they seemed quite tough.
“Well that was good. Lets go.” Star told Ava, getting up and licking his lips. ‘Ah, sweet honey. Better get back to the ship...’ Star though. Perhaps he should bring some in case he wants to have some sweets during the flight. Perhaps.
“What about her?” Ava asked, looking at Blue, who seemed to be in a argument with the two.
“She’ll come, just watch.” Star walked pass the commotion, out the door they came in from, followed by a hesitating Ava. About a few seconds after they left, Blue came rushing up to the two, red in the face.
“Hey! Why didn’t you two do anything?! Those jerks could have just gotten away with a robbery!” Blue growled, constantly looking back at the shop, and then back to the two.
“Because we’re no better then them.” StarStorm answered.
“They’re dirty thieves!” Blue kept saying.
“So. You fantasize about the pirate lifestyle, but you hate thieves? Ava, do you sense any flaws in her logic?” Star turned to Ava, who kept his mouth shut. He knew well enough not to anger mares... “Blue, let it go.”
“They could have killed some pony!”
“Were you even listening to the story last night? Didn’t you hear Skrif talking about us killing every pony on the Valmy?” Blue began to go quiet, looking down at the ground. “If you’re joining our crew, you’ll have to get use to it. We’re pirates. Not heroes. If they did something wrong, let the police deal with them. Not us.”
“...okay.” Blue said quietly. They group were now walking back towards the ship, an hour had passed already, it seems, from the position of the sun.
“You can’t accuse some pony of being a murderer just because he said ‘stab in the leg’. We don’t know what he’s talking about, or when it happened. Think, next time.” Star could already tell having her on board would be a bit difficult... with her attitude, and the things they would be doing, he could sense the upcoming problems. He just hoped she wouldn’t get in his way. In their way.
“We have to tell the harbor master about our stay.” Ava said, trying to change the topic.
“We’ll do it when we get there. Blue, go get your stuff and put it on the ship, we’ll meet you there.” Star told Blue, and she nodded, flying into the sky.
Eventually, the two reached the docks, more crew were out on the ship by now. StarStorm passed the harbor master, which looked strangely... different. Dark brown fur, black and red mane and blue eyes. "Uh, Harbinger captain. We're docked for three days." Star told him. The harbor master looked up from his papers, glasses glistening, cold, dark eyes looking up into StarStorms eyes. Looking at his desk, Star noticed the schematics of a certain airship... the Beluga. A ship that was reported to have been blown up. Why would he have the Beluga schematics now, anyway...
"That'll be forty bits a day, so a hundred and twenty bits."
Nodding to a nearby crew member, the crew member trotted towards Ava and Star. "Pay him a hundred and twenty bits, Jay." Jay nodded, Star and Ava leaving the two to discuss the financial problems amongst themselves. ‘I hate finance...’ Star thought.
"A hundred and twenty bits? Seems a bit much. Who is he, anyway?"
Looking back, Star spotted a few various scars, and a knife strapped to his back leg. "Don't know, don't want to..." Star and Ava boarded their ship again, flying onto the second deck, which had the captains quarters on it. Opening the two doors, they walked in, leaving the door open.
“Alright. I’ve got the maps, which have the sky routes to Africa.”
“Good. Find me the most busiest shipping line, and we’ll take that route. I’ll need details on the altitude of the shipping line, as well as any cities nearby.” Ava nodded, trotting out StarStorms quarters and onto the main deck, disappearing below as he entered the hatch.
Blue had returned with her luggage in her mouth, packed with some accessories, a bit of clothing, and other various things that mares would bring along. “Some pony know where to put my stuff?” Blue asked, dropping her luggage as she spoke.
“Oh yeah. Down below, find an open room that isn’t taken.” a nearby sailor told her. He was surrounded by four of his friends. She smiled at him, picking up her luggage and entering the deck through the hatch opposite of Ava, trying to find a room. “So, anyway, I told him that he had no chance...” the sailor continued speaking to his friends.
Blue, below decks, was getting looking, and found one after a minute of searching. A door was half opened, and Blue poked her head in. It seemed like a nice room, but Blue wasn’t sure if it was taken or not. Backing out, she looked into the room next to her, which had a stallion looking through his clothes. “Uh, hi, is the room n-”
“Argh!” the stallion screamed, jumping back and rushing to the door, slamming it in front of Blues face.
“Um... okay...” Blue shrugged, entering the room next to him and settling down on the bed, closing the door as she placed her belongings around the room. There was a sign with the numbers 028 on it. Not sure what it was for, she stepped outside, looking down the hallway at the other doors. The ones she had passed had numbers on their doors, and the empty rooms had no numbers at all. Figuring it out, Blue looked at her door, noticing a small wooden hook coming out of it. “Oh.” Blue picked up the sign with her mouth, placing it on the front of the door. ‘That must be how they know which room is taken.’ Blue thought.
Leaving her room, once it was finished being decorated, Blue left it to go back up on deck. She noticed the doors open to the captain quarters, and from what she knew, she guessed that was where StarStorm would be sleeping. Flying towards it, she carefully flew into his room. “Star!” Blue said happily, as she noticed the starry stallion. Blue felt better, not as angry as she was before, and thought about how rash she was. “I got my stuff prepared and all.”
“Good. Now you have to wait for another day until I give the briefing to the crew.” Star was looking over some maps Ava had given him in the time that she was settling into the ship.
“Wow...” Blue said to herself. Star turned from his map and raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“This is your room? Every other pony sleeps in a little cabin and you get this entire room to yourself?”
Rolling his eyes, StarStorm looked back at his maps. “Yeah. Part of the benefits of being captain. Especially on this ship.”
“I wish I had a room like this. It’s so fancy.”
“Hold on, where are you going to stay if your stuff is here?” Star did not look up from his story, still calculating the distance and time it would take to get from one point to another.
“Olympus. With everypony else, of course!”
“Righto. I... AHA!” Star slammed a hoof down on the table. Blue jumped, walking over beside him.
“What?”
“I found the perfect route.” StarStorm pointed a hoof down on the map. “We’re here. We’ll take the Vistain airway through to an island, where we’ll stock up with the town there. From there, we’ll go straight into the merchant line, steal as much as we can and fly straight to Africa, and go into hiding.”
“Sounds fun!”
“Yeah... fun. Come on! Lets go to Olympus and stay there for a bit, Ava and every other pony is probably hanging around there.” Star turned to leave, but looked back at the map. “Actually, you go ahead, i’ll meet you there.”
Blue tilted her head, wondering why the sudden change of heart, but shrugged, running outside, leaping into the air, and flying towards the giant inn, towering above the city. As she left, Ember walked in, patting Star on the back.
“Hey. Got it all planned out?” Ember asked.
“Yeah. You get us some more ponies on this ship, we’ll need some monster hunters, bounty hunters, and plain ponies that know their way around a ship. Find us some tough ones, eh? We’re going to Africa after all.”
“Africa, eh? ... sounds pretty dangerous. We haven’t been there since...” Ember stopped, looking down at the ground.
“We don’t need her to go to Africa. We can handle ourselves.”
“Yeah... but still. Aurora knew her way around.” Ember sighed.
“Hey, she didn’t leave us with nothing to work on. We learnt from her personally, so we’ll be fine. Trust me. There’s a reason we were trusted with this ship. You, me, Ava. As long as we’re together, we can make it through.” Star seemed sincere, strange, given how they were acting towards each other last night.
“Yeah. So, what are we doing in Africa?” Ember looked at the map.
“We’ll be stealing, destroying, killing, running, the whole drill. Same as last month, but with bigger ships, and a helluva lot of them.”
“Stepping up, aye? Got ya. Come on, lets go to Olympus. We’ll let the engineers and carpenters fix up the ship overnight, and give the briefing tomorrow.”
“That’s the plan.” grinning at each other, they left the room, flying out towards the inn. A new adventure. But this time... on new land. Star felt excitement, the same excitement the last time he went to Africa, with the old crew. Africa was poorer back then, just like Valentine, but as business picked up, it changed. Star head stories around the tavern about giant gems found in African mines, and how the land had changed. Africa wasn’t the same way it was back then. It was now bustling with activity. And this time... StarStorm was returning with a crew of his own. With his own riches. And his own plans.
Author's Note
This chapter is probably the most boring. But it pretty much explains the story and what they'll be doing.
“One night, Lapiz.” StarStorm told his friend. Lapiz, one of the workers at the inn, was a shy, dark blue stallion, with long, silky silver hair. A unicorn, was getting Star the keys for room 203, where he would be staying for the night. Tomorrow was when they would be leaving. Today was when StarStorm, Ember, and Ava had to give the briefing, explaining to the crew where they would be going.
“S...sure, here you... go.” Lapiz didn’t look at StarStorm.
“Lapiz. What’s wrong?” Star noticed his strange attitude.
“I... just be careful, alright?” Lapiz hovered the keys over to Star, placing it on the tip of his wing feathers. “One of my friends got shot down... I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.” Lapiz quietly mumbled.
“I won’t. Don’t worry bout that.”
“O...okay.” Lapiz entered the staff room, returning back to his paper work. Star moved his wing up, letting the key slide down into his feathers, tucked away.
“Ember, lets go.” Ember had been sitting on a chair, flipping through a book, yawning at its boring content. Hearing his name, Ember got up from his seat, threw the book down and followed StarStorm as they went up the stairs to the next floor. “What were ya reading?”
“Just a book about cooking. They had some nice cake in there.”
“Cake?” StarStorm licked his lips at the thought. ‘Buck me... i’m getting one screwed up sweet tooth.’ Sweets always caught his attention. He had bought a packet full of gummy bears, but had already finished on their way to Olympus.
“Geez, Star, don’t you remember that story the ponyville pony told us? Some fillies caught a picture of Celestia getting stuffed with cake. You’re gonna end up like her.” Ember shook his head, stepping his hoof on a sharp object on the ground. ‘Ah, frick!’ Ember ignored it for the time being.
“What, ruler of Equestria and all powerful alicorn that raises the sun? Sure, why not.” Star chuckled.
“No you twit, you’re gonna end up with your reputation shattered, and a bunch of fillies laughing at you.” Ember grumbled.
“Well, i’ll make sure to stay away from any fillies. Shame I can’t say the same thing with you.” Star took a few steps ahead, ascending the stairs a bit faster. They were on level five.
“What?” Ember tried to catch up to Star.
“We all know how hard it is for you to keep your hooves away from little fillies, Ember. Just don’t let them get a picture of you.” Star laughed and flew up the stairs. Ember turned red as a couple passing by gave him a look of disgust, walking away from him quickly.
“Hey! Shut the fuck up!” Ember flew up after Star, but could not quite catch up to him. Star arrived at the floor their room was on, floor twelve. StarStorm waited for Ember at the top of the stairs, and as Ember flew up in his small burst of rage, Star stood still, raising his hoof up to stop him. Ember flew straight into the hoof, tumbling over Star and rolling into a bundle in the middle of the hall.
“Frigging asshole.” Ember brushed himself up, punching Star in the leg, and looking around the hallway at all the rooms. “Which one are you staying at?”
“It’s on my... key.” Star looked at his wings, and saw the key was not in it. “... must have lost it while flying. Ember, go get it.”
“Why the heck should I be the one getting it?”
“Captains orders.”
Ember frowned. “Tch.... whatever.” he said, annoyed, flying down the stairs. The commotion had made Ava, who was staying next door to Star, come out to see what was going on.
“What was that about?” Ava asked. Star smiled, dusting himself off.
“I’m glad they clean the floors round here. So, is everypony ready?”
“Yeah, everypony is meeting at the ship today, at around three o’clock. I wonder how many will leave...” Ava shrugged off whatever Star was doing, scratched his mane.
“I wonder how many will live.” Star looked left and right, and could hear Ember coming up the stairs. “You know where Blue is at?”
“She’s downstairs. Why?”
“I want to know what her job is going to be when we’re on the ship. I didn’t really ask and just... let her join.” Star looked at Ember as he arrived on their floor.
“Here’s your bloody key.” Ember spat it out in front of Stars legs.
“Classy, Ember. Classy.” Ava rolled his eyes, going back into his room.
“Where are you going?” Star asked him.
“I’m going to work out the costs and how many supplies we’ll need to keep the crew alive. I’ll be at the briefing though, i’ll see you there.” Ava entered his room, closing the door behind him and got to work. Star and Ember stood out in the hallway, and turned their heads as they heard a door open, but it was just a pony leaving his room.
“So. Wanna see Blue?” Star began walking upstairs.
“What blue?”
“Not the colour, the mare.” Star laughed. ‘I need to think of a better nickname for her sometime...’
“Wait. Is she that mare I talked to at the tavern?”
“Yup. That’s her.”
“Forgot where to find her. Knock on doors till you get her room.” Star ordered Ember.
“Lazy bastard. Ava is right there, lets just ask him.”
“Let him deal with his work.”
“Whatever.”
Star got to the floor above them, and looked around. ‘Why did I let her join...’ he thought to himself. He thought back, far back... and remembered all his friends, she... she reminded him of a friend of his.
“Keep knocking rooms, you take the right side, i’ll take the left.” Ember did as he was told, knocking on a door, apologizing to any ponies that aren’t Blue.
Star kept thinking on that night. Of course, with all the ponies he’d met over the years, eventually, one was bound to be similar to his friend. ‘...hm. Don’t get too attached...’ Star repeated to himself, his smile turning into a blank, emotionless face. ‘Don’t get too attached.‘ Knocking on a few doors, he did not find Blue, and apologized to all the ponies that answered.
“Star! Found her.” Ember stepped back as Blue got out of her room, looking for Star, spotting him, she walked towards him.
“What’s up, Buttercup?” Blue said humorously.
“I forgot to ask you before. What’s your job?” StarStorm smiled at her. It was nice to see her again. Although buttercup might be a tough name for him to get adjusted to. “You do have a job, right?” Star couldn’t quite remember what they talked about back at the inn.
Blue looked into his eyes, and Star could see something... for a moment, she did not look like Blue. But only for a moment, and after that moment had passed, she just smiled and hopped around him. “I paint clouds! I’m a cloud painter.”
“A... wh- why would- what? Why do clouds need to be painted?” Star turned his head around as she circled him, trying to keep up with her.
“Because if we don’t paint them white, how else are you going to see where the clouds are?” Blue chimed. Star was baffled. He had never heard of a cloud painter. Ember was listening in, and he too seemed at a loss.
“So... can you do anything else?” Ember asked for Star.
“I can do StarStorm~” she giggled back at him, continuing her little prance.
“Enough of this. Lets get back to the ship and wait till the briefing...” Star pushed her away, bored of the charade, and going down the stairs.
“Wait! I can also do navigating.” Star stopped, hoof hovering in mid air.
‘Navigator...’ Star remembered his early days. When he was the navigator. “So, you’re a navigator too, eh? Where would a mare who paints clouds for a living learn how to navigate the skies?”
“I learnt it from my dad, he was a sailor like you guys. He took me onto a ship when I was little, which is why i’m so interested in everything.” Blue brought up. The two stallions looked at her, and back at each other.
“Now come on, lets go. You’re our navigator Blue. Do what you do around now.”
Heading back down, Star got to his room, opening his door, glanced around at the hotel room. ‘It seems alright.’ Star said, his face lightening up. “Guess I could stay here till this ship is finished being repaired.” Leaving the hotel, Star and Ember decided not to take the crowded streets around this time, but flew instead.
“Hey! It’s going to be three in a bit!” Ember yelled over the wind as they flied.
“Yeah, that’s why we’re leaving now! Ar- PFT!”
“What?!”
“Something got in my mouth!”
“Probably just a ... bug...” Ember began to slow down, and Star right after him. As they hovered in mid air, they both looked up, as small, glistening objects fell from the sky. Star spat out the thing in his mouth, which he had kept in his cheek, since he couldn’t spit it out properly while flying. The small object landed on his hoof, and seemed like a scale.
“Hey... they don’t have dragons round here, right?” Star stared at the object.
“No... Look!” a shadow in the air above them blocked out the sun, and was falling towards them at a high speed.
“MOVE!” screamed a voice from a nearby cloud. It came from a pegasus, and to StarStorms surprise, the same pegasus he met at the shop. Another voice became audible, it sounded like the earth pony he also met at the shop, screaming, getting louder and louder as the shadow got nearer. The pegasus jumped out from his spot on the clouds, leaping towards the shadow, which could now be recognized as a creature of some sort, tackling it and holding it down on a cloud next to Star and Ember.
“Got her! She’s a big on, eh?” the earth pony said gleefully, stamping on the creatures chest.
“Not the biggest we’ve hunted so far, but somewhere along the higher-ups.” the pegasus replied to his comrade.
“The heck is that thing?!” Ember yelled.
Both ponies looked up at the two, remembering they were there. “This, my friend, is a manticore!” bellowed the earth pony. Star grinned, flying towards them and landing next to them on an adjacent cloud.
“I didn’t know you could hunt those out here...” Star kicked the manticore in the shoulder lightly, watching its scared eyes move from pony to pony, breathing rapidly, but not making a sound.
“What?! You know about that thing!?” Ember stayed his distance, still kind of shocked at what was happening.
“Yeah, well, manticore activity has been picking up lately. Not sure why.” the earth pony stayed still, not stepping a hoof on the cloud. Star wondered if he would fall, or if he had some sort of spell to keep him on here. Perhaps a unicorn friend gave him an enchantment that would let him walk on clouds, like he had heard about before.
Curious to know, Star asked. “You’re pretty brave for an earth pony. Never thought i’d meet one in the sky. How are you up here?”
“Rifty flew me up here. Being an earth pony has it’s benefits, ya know? Strong and all. He flies me up here, I land on the little beasty, do some stomping, down she goes. His flying, my strength, that’s how it works.” the earth pony answered, hopping onto his friends back.
“Kale does the tough stuff, I just keep him in the air. If he falls off, I catch him, throw him back up, and keep fighting.” Rifty continued.
“Rifty and Kale... are you monster hunters?” Star chuckled, shaking his head at the two. Extraordinary.
“Yup. We’re not the only ones on our team, we work for a guild... but we’re the only ones around here. Oh, and to make it clear. We are not thieves.” Rifty flew away from the body, ascending, Star following soon after. Ember was seen flying towards the ship.
“Yeah, and you can tell your little friend that, too.” Kale grumbled.
“Hah, heard that, did you?”
“It’s not that hard to hear when she’s screaming it at the top of her lungs.” Star was thinking about while they were walking away, but could now remember hearing her yell it at them in the shop.
“Oh, right. So, what’re you going to do with the body?”
“Well, now we move the cloud down, and place the body on the ground. From there, we’re taking it to a building, where it’ll be shipped off to some crazy pony who wants this for a pet.” Kale held onto his friends back tightly, and Rifty began to descend quickly, landing on the cloud and pushing it down. Star flew after them, and they eventually landed.
“Some crazy pony will want to buy it sooner or later. Get a lot of crazies these days, eh Kale?” Rifty called to his friend, who hopped of his back and kicked the manticore. The manticore was still awake, not even knocked out, but fearful.
‘Like you’re one to talk, guy...’ Star thought. Eyeing them carefully, Star watched as the Manticore got up, limping behind Kale as he walked away. ‘Taming a manticore isn’t that easy... what the hell did you two do to it...’. Star got an idea. Two ponies like these could be useful on the voyage.
“Come on you bastard! Lets go, go!” Kale shouted at the manticore, jogging away. Rifty stayed back to talk with StarStorm.
“Sorry bout your friend.” Rifty quickly said, about to leave.
“Wait!” Kale had left, but Rifty looked back. “I’m captain StarStorm. And... based from what I saw, I could use a bunch of guys like you.”
“Everypony needs guys like us. There’s a reason we get paid so much.” Rifty shrugged.
“Me and my crew, we’ll be getting paid more then you’ll ever be. Heard of Africa?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“... we’re going to be stealing from the merchant lines. And we’re going to need ponies like you. You’ll get your fair share, trust me. With what i’m planning, there’ll be enough for a pony to buy his own ship by the time i’m done. What say you?”
Rifty had a look of interest, his eyes glistening as he imagined the treasure that were stored on those infamous airships. “Heh... we’ll think about it. Where will we find you?”
“In an hour or two on a ship, the big red one, you can’t miss it. Briefing is in an hour.”
Rifty looked for his friend in the distance, and saw him already beginning to disappear behind a line of trees. “After we’ve dealt with the manticore.”
“See you there.” Rifty and Star parted ways, Star to his airship, and Rifty to his partner. ‘That takes care of the security...’ Star thought, flying quickly, hoping to catch Ember before he gave his own speech to the crew. Five minutes of flying, he arrived, and even from a distance, he could see a crowd of ponies huddled onto the main deck of the Harbinger, and saw Ember on the second deck above. ‘Time flies...’ Landing on the ship, Star walked towards Ember. “Hey, how long till the briefing?”
“Thirty minutes. Bout time. What happened?”
“Just got two new crew members, that’s all.”
“Those two maniacs? Great. You always were too opportunistic for your own good.”
“Well, well, well! Look who’s using big words! I didn’t think you would know something like opportunistic. Say, can you even spell it?”
“Piss off.” Ember growled.
“Yeah, yeah, relax, they’ll be useful, trust me.”
“Whatever.”
“It’s too early for now. We’ll wait until every pony is here. Then i’ll give the speech.” Star headed into his quarters, looking around. Coincidentally, Ava was already there, placing maps across the walls, moving certain objects around. “Everything well, Ava?”
Ava flinched at the voice, not noticing Star. “Yup. All ready. Tomorrow’s the day, eh? No going back.”
“No going back. The sooner we get out of here, the better. I’m getting bored. Everything is getting boring. I want to get back into the action.”
Ava rolled his eyes, sighing. It was always like that. Wishing to be back into the action during breaks, and wishing for breaks during the action. “You’ll be crying for home when you get out there, won’t you?”
“Probably will be. With like, you know, the rest of the crew. And you.” Star sat on his bed, lying on his back, thinking about what to say.
“Hey, I don’t complain there’s nothing to do when we’re supposed to be doing nothing, and I don’t complain about having to do everything when we’re supposed to be doing something.” Even with what Ava was saying, he had to agree with Star. Everything so far had been pretty boring, planning, talking, walking. Nothing interesting. But by tomorrow, they’ll be back on their journey. The very fact they were going on one of their most dangerous journeys so far made his stomach feel weak.
“Call me when every pony is here.” Star finished, and stared at the ceiling above his bed.
“I’ll leave you to your thinking then.” Ava exited, closing the doors behind him. He stood on the deck as he watched the crowd of ponies getting larger and larger, the pegasi sitting on the riggings above them, the unicorns and earth ponies talking in groups spread out on the ships deck. ‘They all seem pretty excited... if only they knew...’ Ava began to think, sighing. Who knows how many would have left after they heard this ship was heading for the one of the most dangerous places on this planet. About forty minutes passed, and the crowd had grown considerably. About five hundred ponies, two hundred on the decks, a few in the clouds and tops of the masts, and the rest standing on the ships around them.
Ember couldn’t believe the numbers that showed up. Perhaps their reputation had outgrown them for their own good. Ava looked over the crowd, and opened the door to StarStorms quarters. “Star. It’s time.”
Getting up from his bed, Star took a deep breath, readying himself. He had to look confident. No pony would follow a leader who was to scared to even give a speech in front of a few hundred ponies. His legs began to shake, but he steadied them, and stepped onto the deck, looked out towards the ponies on his ship. Ember was standing to his left, and Ava to his right. As the crowd saw him approach, they became quiet, beside a few mumbles. Amongst the crowd, Star could see Blue, standing alone, not talking to many ponies, instead isolating herself. Suspicious... not like her previous behavior on the other night, and did not match her personality. Star shook his head, focusing on the task ahead.
“Listen up!” Star said with a clear voice. To his own surprise, his voice was louder then he thought, echoing across the ship, and to other ships. All mumblings had ceased, and all eyes were on him.
Time for his speech. ‘Great...’ StarStorm was never good with speeches. “We’re all here for one reason. It’s not for fun.” he looked at different ponies in the crowd, looking them in the eye. They didn’t seem scared. Yet. “We’re here to do what other ponies dare not to. We’re here to steal from powers beyond us, and i’ll admit it, I won’t guarantee you’ll be alive by the end of it.” some ponies were beginning to shift on their spots, feeling uneasy. Many remained determined, ready to risk their lives in order to become more wealthy beyond their imaginations. “We’re not going to be flying over Equestrian waters any more, ponies. We won’t be stealing from your average pony. We won’t be in the same environment.” Star took another deep breath, and from what he could see, many ponies were now confused. They were used to hearing about pony fleets, and had never really thought of any other animals.
“What’s he talking about?” they whispered, glancing at each other.
Star could see from the corner of his eye, Ava, closing his eyes, bracing himself for the reveal. “Friends... we’re going to Africa.” his words were met with murmurs and gasps, it was obvious they knew about the dangers of that land. “You will be far from home. You will meet many different kinds of creatures, hostile and friendly.” around a hundred, from various parts of the crowd, began to leave, hearing enough. ‘Good. The weak ones are gone.’ Star thought. His face remained straight, showing no signs of hesitation or fear.
“But one thing is for sure. If you return from this voyage, you’ll be famous across the world. You’ll be welcomed as legends. Your names will be spoken with fear as they tell stories of us for decades.” with those words, a few ponies returned, their fears overtaken by their fantasies. “If you’re not in the right mindset... if you don’t have the courage... you will be left behind. Legends are not made of cowards. If you’re ready to die for glory, I welcome you aboard. If not... leave while you’re still alive.”
“... yeah, i’m staying.” “... no way that’s going to happen.” “Think of the money!” Mixed responses filled the ship. But to the surprise of Ava and Ember, almost four hundred remained, all ready, grinning, excited, buzzing with chatter about what they would do with their part of the bounty.
“Go take a night at the Olympus inn. Tell them you’re with my crew, and you’ll receive your room. Be here by tomorrow morning, right after sunrise. We take off by ten o’clock. You may leave.” Star stood still, and Ember began to talk to some friends he had made. The pegasi flew away, the unicorns teleported back to the pier, and the earth ponies walked off the board ramp as the crowded ship began to empty.
Ava approached StarStorm, a nervous look on his face. “Did you really need that big fancy speech? You could have just told them where we were going.”
“Ava. Haven’t you heard the tales of Neponian?” StarStorm calmly replied. "A stallion will not have himself killed for bit and a penny, you have to speak to their hearts to rally them."
“Hm... you’re right.” Ava was silenced, and thought back on StarStorms words. “Will we... really be that famous?”
“We will.”
“And rich?”
“We will.”
“Then... lets head to Olympus. I want to sleep as much as I can before we’re back into the action...”
“Okay. Lets go.” Star didn’t feel the need to speak that much anymore. A blue mare stood alone on the deck downstairs of Star and his friends.
“That was a nice speech you did!” Blue squeaked.
“Thanks... so you’re not chickening out? You’re definitely going with us?” Star replied, flapping his wings, getting ready to fly.
“Yep! Riches and glory and whatever!”
“Then I look forward to flying with you, Blue.” Star flew off, tailed by Ava and Ember, and finally, Blue. ‘Tomorrow is the day. Tomorrow. No stepping back. I will become the greatest pirate in pony kind. I will.’
“Wake up, Ava. Time to fly.” Star opened the door to his friends room, which was fortunately left unlocked. Ava had nothing to fear in somewhere he had been well acquainted too, so he often left it unlocked.
“Nghhuh...” Ava mumbled, pillow on his head. “What’s the time...”
“Five in the morning. Come on. We’re taking off in five hours. You better get yourself ready.”
“Ember. Get the clearance from the dock workers, i’ll meet you on Harbinger in ten minutes.” Star said to Ember, who was standing behind him. Ember nodded quickly, running down the stairs, whilst Star stood where he was, looking up the stairs leading to the floor above. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t...’ Star thought. Last night, he had been thinking back. Some ponies did not seem like they would survive more then a week out in the sky. But they had the courage to stay, even after the warnings. Even then, with or without their courage, some may die for no reason. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t bring them aboard. But... i’ve been surprised before. Maybe they’ll be worth it.’
A crew always had to be thought through. StarStorm needed a good balance of courageous ponies, as well as able ponies, who would actually survive. Blue... Blue didn’t seem very capable of much. A cloud painter. What use could he have for her on a ship heading to Africa? Navigation... he could handle the navigation on his own. ‘Why am I letting her on my ship... ah, whatever.’ There was another voice telling him to bring her. A voice, as if by fate. There was something special about Blue, drawing her towards him.
“Dammit. I was having the nicest dream...” Ava interrupted his thoughts, making him spin around to greet his friend.
“A dream’s a dream. Get back in reality. Come on, we have a ship to launch.”
“Yeah, yeah...” Ava quietly said under his breath. Star ran down the stairs, in the same fashion of Ember, followed by a sleepy Ava, flying his way down so he would not trip over his hooves. Descending to the bottom, Star flashed a quick smile at Lapiz, a notion of farewell, and flew out the glass doors of the hotel-like inn. The city was just as busy as it was in midday, even with the morning atmosphere. This city never slept. Not anymore.
Noticing Ava catching up, Star found a nearby cloud, grabbing hold of it in mid-flight and throwing it at him. Ava, still drowsy, yelped as the cloud splattered onto him, drenching him, cold and wet. “Why!?”
“Just so you don’t fall asleep while flying. Thank me later, now come on!” Star shot off, leaving Ava to catch up alone. Arriving at Harbinger, the dock had been cleared just for its take-off, no busy ships would be clattered around it while they were taking off. Ember was talking with a few ponies down on the pier and Star noticed his ship had been fully repaired, there weren’t any scratches on the hull, the sails had been mended and the floors cleaned to seem new. Landing next to Ember and the other ponies, Star admired his ship, looking up at it as the sun rose upon it once more.
“Cleaned her up, gave her a few upgrades here and there, and you’re ready to go, pal.” said the lead carpenter, who was also in charge of the whole repairing operation. “Also cleared up the docks, you’ve got a straight path to take off.”
Star whistled, smiling. A thought snapped him out of his admiration of his ship. The costs. “I can see that. How much do I owe you?”
“Just six hundred bits.”
“Ember, pay this fine stallion.” Star was not going to get into the financial stuff now, and not ever. Ember groaned as he walked off with the lead carpenter, discussing the costs and methods of transaction.
“Finally... back in the air.” Star whispered to himself. Ava finally landed next to him, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
“There’s still, like, four hours until anypony shows up. Why do we have to be here so early...” Ava whined.
“Don’t be such a whiny colt, you slept at least eight hours last night. That’s good enough.” Star was still looking up at his ship.
“I need more than that...”
“Well you’re going to have fun with the night shifts, my friend.”
“Oh screw me...”
“Save that for the mares. Now lets go, we need to check off everything.” Star and Ava flew up onto his ship, walking around the deck, checking out the new equipment and styling. Around three hours had passed, and they were still walking around, discussing their flight route and their plans. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we stop ‘planning’ this stuff.”
Ava nodded, no longer sleepy. “Hey, get all our talking out of the way now, and we can just concentrate on the action later. To be honest, i’m getting tired of this too.”
“Look. On the docks.” Star nodded his head towards the docks, where ponies where gathering, the same ponies from yesterday, but in bigger numbers.
“We got a bigger crew?” Ava looked over the side, down at the ponies.
“No. That’s their families. Ava, I thought you would realize the whole process by now... they come here with their families, say their goodbyes, kiss, hug, you get the whole deal.” Star sat down, head resting on the rails.
“Yeah... yeah. I miss my family.”
“I bet Ember does too, Ava. But we are the family now. Brothers. Look on the bright side, no teary goodbyes.” Star could see from his view all the ponies who were getting ready to leave, some with bags strapped to their sides, some with little fillies and colts, kissing their children farewell. Crying mares, holding onto their stallions for what could be the last time. They all knew the risks associated with this line of work, piracy, and no doubt they had heard about the dangers of Africa.
“Not yet, at least.” Ava continued.
“Yeah. Not yet.” Star replied tersely. The board ramp was down, and a few ponies had begun getting onto the Harbinger, going down into the brig to place their belongings into their rooms, with their families still waiting on them at the dock. “Recognize any?”
Ava scoped the crowd, spotting familiar ponies who were previously part of the crew. “Yeah. I’d say almost half of them have been with us before. Say, we’re really ... well, I don’t know how to put it into words.”
“Might as well attempt. We’re really what?”
“Well... we’re... um... associated? Yeah, associated with halves.”
“What?”
“Well, you know, half our crew got drunk. Half our crew have been with us before. Half our crew are brave, like you told me, half our crew are able. It’s all halves.”
“Why the hell do you notice these things?”
“I... don’t know, Star. Hey, Ember is back!” Ava waved to his friend as Ember walked up the board ramp, along with other ponies. Many were beginning to board, as the launch was in one hour. It was better to get everything out of your bags onto the ship, then go back out to spend your final hour with your loved ones, and run back on just before the ship would take off.
“Hey. You two doing okay?” Ember joined them on their spot on the ship, looking over the railing at the show of tears and hugs.
“Yeah.” Star answered.
“We were talking about random stuff. I was just talking about how we keep getting halves.” Ava also said.
“Well, half of us was talking about halves.” Star said flatly, looking at Ava.
“What the heck are you two on about?” Ember laughed, confused.
“Nevermind. Say, Ember, spot anypony interesting?” Star got his head off the rail, looking over at the helm, where he would soon be flying the ship.
“I can... oh... it’s them.”
“Who?” Star turned his head back to the commotion on the docks, now spreading out onto the pier, as family members got closer to the ship.
“Those two we met yesterday. That were fighting that... thing.”
“Ah. Rifty and Kale. So they joined after all...”
“Probably hoping to hunt some giant monster in Africa and then over-exaggerate it with their monster hunting buddies.”
“With the kinda monsters in Africa, they’d more likely be under-exaggerating.” Star replied. Ava saw a pony he knew, smiling at him and walking over, Star and Ember watching him walk away.
“Who else can you spot?”
“Your favourite colour.”
“... uh, silver?”
“No, Blue.”
“Oh, her. Where?” Ember pointed a hoof over the side of the ship and towards Blue. She was alone, no bags, since she had already placed them on the ship. Weaving through the crowd of ponies, she made her way onto the boardwalk, trotting up the ramp and pass them. “No family either, eh?” Star asked Ember.
“The hell would I know? Maybe she just doesn’t like goodbyes.”
“Maybe. Crap- wait, what’s the time?” Star looked around, hoping to see a clock of some kind. None in sight. ‘Reminder... put a clock on deck, somewhere.’
“Um, I don’t know... maybe four?”
“We’ve gotta fly this thing. Get as many ponies as you can to get on, and sound the horns. We’re taking off.” Star quickly flew over to the helm of Harbinger, a wide smile on his face as his hooves touched the wheel once more. ‘Good to be back.’ The levers on the side of the ship were shining, his wheel smooth and ready to go. ‘Workers did a damn good job.’
“We’re taking off! Get on!” random voices called out, making Star look up down at the board ramp. “Move it, move it!” Star could just pick up the Embers voice, on the riggings, his legs swaying on the rope he was holding onto, waving his free hoof in the air. Ponies rushed on board, giving one final look to their lovers and family, before rushing onto the deck along with the rest of them. A loud horn sounded, and as Star looked around, he could see that Ava was the one who blew it. Another blast of the horn, and ponies were flying onto the ship, teleporting around before running to the starboard side of Harbinger, leaning over the rails as they waved their hooves at the crowd back on the dock.
To the left side of the wheel, StarStorm glanced at a little indicator, on a panel besides the lever. This lever was the one used to adjust the altitude, leaving it down will move the ship down until it reaches ground, moving it up will make the ship go up as far as it can and leaving it in the middle will keep it hovering at the current height it’s at. The indicator is used to see the status of the levitation crystals which gave the ship the ability to fly, and from what he saw, the crystals were charged and ready to power. A loud humming sound was heard, taking over the sound of crowded ponies, as the crystals came to life once more after their break. “Pull in the ramps!” a voice called out. The board ramp was pulled in, and stored into the top deck itself, underneath the wooden floors. Another nifty feature they recently picked up. The humming died down as the crystals got warmed up again, and was reduced to a gentle hum. As the ship slowly ascended, every pony was now on the starboard side, waving frantically, smiling, crying, cheering, jumping, everything you would normally expect on the departure of a ship. The enormous rear engines emerged from their place under the water, dripping, partly splashing some unfortunate ponies nearby. They had been left under the water to cool, and were designed to be waterproof.
Pulling on his right lever, Star started up the engine turbines. To the right side of the wheel there was a similar panel to the left but with a few more indicators and lights. This was used for the status of the engine turbines on the rear and the status of fuel lines, as well as the masts and sails, different decks within the ship and other things. The engines coughed to life, igniting with a small spark, starting with a small flame about the size of a room. With so many ponies nearby, and the stern of the Harbinger facing the city, StarStorm could not put them into full power... yet. The Harbinger began to move forwards, and Star pulled the altitude lever to the middle, keeping it at a steady height above the crowd, about level with the top of Olympus inn.
‘Still cheering... not for long.’ Star grinned happily as he pushed up the power lever, increasing the turbine output, drowning out the cheers with a powerful roar of blue and purple flame, the ship moving forwards faster by the second. ‘Thirty percent... come on, come on!’ the distance between the dock and the ship got further, and most ponies were now holding onto something or going below deck to cry in the privacy of their own room as they ready for a voyage which could last for months.
StarStorm reveled in the power of being captain, enjoying every moment of the take-off procedure, knowing thousands of eyes were on his ship at this very moment, watching the red plated airship taking off, leaving a trail of blue sparks and awed ponies. Ava had made his way to the helm, as well as Ember, and the both stood by his side as he went through with the procedure. Blue, strangely, also appeared behind him, watching him. StarStorm rolled his shoulders, his wing blades cool on the edge of his wing bones, ready for action. Of course, he wouldn’t need it this early, but it was all part of the show.
“So this is what it’s like!” Blue squeaked happily. Star did not look back, but from what he could hear of her voice, she must be extremely ecstatic.
“Hold onto something for a second, Blue.” Star ordered. Warm hooves wrapped around his neck and a head snuggled into the side of his face.
“Sure thing, captain.” Blue replied. Ava facehoofed and Ember laughed, facehoofing soon after.
“Well how much did she cost, Star?” Ember joked.
“A drink and a room, now hold on!” Star pushed the power lever to seventy percent, making the blue fire explode into a fiery display of force, as the ship lurched forward in speed, creating a powerful sound that made their ears quiver, shaking as they held on. The wind swiftly coursed through his fur, making his teeth chatter, the coolness of the air countered by the warmth of their mare hugging onto him, her legs tightening as she squealed in fear and excitement. Crew on deck were shaken, but none seemed to loose their footing, most had gone into their rooms already, meeting their neighbors and exploring the interior of the ship. The rest, mainly those who were already members of StarStorms crew, were moving around, grabbing ropes, enjoying the feeling of speed as they zoomed away from the city of Valentine.
‘That should be enough...’ pushing down on the lever, the engines were calmed, and they returned to their normal speed of forty-five percent. This would provide a leisure flight, which would get them where they wanted on time, but also wasn’t too fast to work with. “There. You can let go now, Blue.”
“Nah, i’m fine where I am.” Blue rubbed her face against his, her wings wrapped around him. “That was quick... really quick. And cold.”
StarStorm gasped, coughing, practically being choked by her. “Blue! N-neck!”
“OH! Sorry!” Blue quickly released him, stepping back. Ember and Ava left them alone on deck, and had gone at some point without Star noticing. “Wow! We’re already all the way out here! Valentine looks like a bunch of squares from all the way out here... in fact, I can’t even see it that much.”
“B-” Star took a break to get some air back into his lungs. “Blue, go get used to the ship. Go meet some ponies or something. I’ve got to take her up above the clouds, and find the right airways to get us to where we want. I’m gonna need some concentration for a bit, okay?”
“Her?”
“The ship.”
“Oki dokes, captain!” Blue saluted, something Star rarely ever saw, and walked to the brig, disappearing from his sight. ‘Why did she salute me...?’ Star pulled up on the altitude, taking the harbinger higher. Using his sight, as well as his fur, he saw the clouds moving to the west, from what he could tell by a compass held up on the railing besides the wheel.
Minutes passed as StarStorm adjusted the ship to match the height he had previously planned on with Ava, reaching the perfect altitude, the sails picking up and doing part of his job for him. ‘That should do... for now.’
“Hey, captain!” a voice called. Two stallions approached him on the top deck.
“Rifty, Kale. Glad to see you’re with us.”
Rifty looked over the side of the top deck, Kale keeping his distance. “Didn’t think we’d be going this fast!” Rifty chuckled.
“So, what do you think we’ll be hunting in Africa, captain?” Kale seemed a bit airsick, which was unnatural since Star knew about how he and Rifty would fly together. Must have been the speed and the swaying of the ship.
“Don’t know, Kale, but whatever it is, you’ll probably be the only ones in your guild to ever hunt it.”
“Sounds good to me. When are we getting there?” Kale replied. Rifty was still looking over the sides.
“A month or two to get there, a month staying there, and a the same amount of time to get back.” noticing Kales look of disappointment, StarStorm quickly added “We’ll also be stealing from some fat merchant ships, so keep your guard up. I’m going to need you when we board their ships. You and Rifty over there.”
“Sure thing. Well, that’s all we needed to know. Come on, Rifty.” at the sound of his name, Rifty got off the side of the ship, returning to his friends side, and leaving with him. Now, it was StarStorm, alone with a few others running around. Just yesterday he had been dodging through crowds of ponies. Now, he was out in the sky, his natural habitat, his home, but alone. Clicking a locking mechanism on the side of the wheel, Star left the helm momentarily, finding Ember on the other side of the ship.
“Ember, go take over for a bit. I’m gonna go below deck, check out how everything is going.” Star told his friend. As Ember went to the helm to do as he was asked, Star went down the hatch, into the brig, which was now full of ponies. ‘Funny. I was just thinking about how quiet it was... and now...’ chatters echoed down the wooden hallways, doors opening and closing constantly, the sound of bags and clothes, making Star have to shut his ears. Making his way through, he found the kitchen, finding a familiar face. “Oddends!”
“Oh, hey!” Oddend replied, looking up from her work in the kitchen. She had an apron on, and was already preparing a meal with about twenty other ponies inside the kitchen, which was surprisingly large.
“We just took off, you’re already cooking, huh?” Star said in a friendly tone. ‘Glad to see you’re still with us...‘ he thought, watching her cook.
“First day needs to have a big feast to make everypony feel welcome, right?” Oddend replied with the same friendly voice, her Hazel eyes darting around the kitchen, looking for spoons and other utensils Star had no clue about. He expected a unicorn to be more useful in the kitchen, using magic to cook, but Oddend used her wings in ways he couldn’t even try, moving around plates and objects while cooking with her hooves and mouth. When her mouth didn’t have a spoon in it, she was blowing the light brown mane out of her eyes, and dusting out the powder from her fur.
“Right. Good luck feeding four hundred ponies. I’m gonna check up the medical bay.”
“Cya round, Starry.” Oddend spoke as she kept working away. Star left the kitchen to find the medical bay, another important part of the ship.
‘Hopefully no pony has injured themselves yet. Please be empty...’ opening the door to the medical bay, Star found a new medic, a stallion and one he had not met before... looking over a pony on a bed. “Okay, why is there already a pony in the medical bay?”
“This guy tripped down the stairs.” the stallion replied. He wore a doctors coat, with glasses and had an orange mane, with freckles. From what Star could see, he had grey eyes, which were fixed on the leg of the pony on bed.
“Hey, the ship was fast, okay!?” the pony stated.
“Are you a medic, my friend?” Star asked the stallion.
“Yes sir, call me Nursery-Rhyme.” the stallion answered, looking over to him and smiling, before back to the patient and frowning.
Star laughed softly, as the stallion tapped the patients leg, making the patient whimper. “You’re our medic, eh? Well...” Star shook his head. An earth pony for a medic. An earth pony fighting in the sky. Earth ponies were getting quite extraordinary these days.
“What?” Nursery-Rhyme asked.
“Can I just call you Rhyme for short? Or maybe Doc?”
“Doc will do just fine, captain.”
“Doc it is... Doc. Well, keep up the good work. Give him a lollipop or something, that’ll shut him up.”
“It hurts more then you think, you know!” the patient cried.
“I’m sure it does. I’ll be going now, cya.”
“Cya.” Doc replied. Leaving those two to their troubles, Star walked around, greeting new ponies, chatting with old friends and checking the rooms. Everything seemed in order. Star eventually got to Blues room, where she was writing down on a journal.
Star leaned into her doorway, thinking what he should do. She still had not noticed him. “What are you writing there?”
“Wh-!!” slamming her journal closed, she spun around and gave Star and angry glare. “Don’t sneak up on a mare like that!”
“You’re one to talk about sneaking up, aren’t you?” Star entered her room.
“Sh- shush your face, Starry-butt.” Blue pushed her journal away, standing between StarStorm and her desk.
“Well that’s a first. Starry-butt. Nice name.” Star grinned cheekily.
“It’s just my journal, okay? I ... I want to write about what happens, so I can remember this when I get back home.”
“Yeah, yeah. Blue. Why did I let you on board?”
“Wh-what?”
“...hm. Well, you’re our navigator, better get used to the maps and the wind direction. Come on, i’ll show you around.” Star left her room, waiting outside for her to follow. ‘Maybe because she’s a navigator like I was...’
Blue glanced back at her journal, and back to Star, giving him a smile, trying to forget her little outburst a second ago. “Okay, Star.” she left with him, closing her door tightly.
