Pirates of Equestria

11: Decisions

The Sparrow Hawk cuts through the open sea, rising and dipping with the waves. Sky Runner keeps his eyes forward as he steers the ship, maintaining a steady course towards their current base of operations. Despite his deep focus, his mind continuously drifts back to the sight of Shining Armor staring in disbelief from a small rowboat. Sky still cannot understand what the prince of the Crystal Empire was doing out in the ocean on a ship belonging to the Royal Coast Guard.

“Bring us to half sail!” Jack shouts from Sky’s right.

Anger peaks in the pegasus captain who responds to the defiant order. “Belay that!”

“Half sail now!” Jack repeats and turns to talk to the captain before a counter order can be given. “We need to talk.”

Sky stares at the changeling filled with rage. “All stop! Haul in all sails!”

The crew furiously scramble to respond to the changing orders confused at exactly was going on. Sky releases the wheel and walks past Jack on his way to the steps.

“My quarters, now,” he demands, whispering low.

Sky sits at the desk in his quarters as Jack closes the door, giving the two privacy to talk. For several moments the two sit quiet, each giving the other time to prepare for the argument to come. Jack is the first to break the silence.

“I want to know why we sunk that last ship. We lost valuable resources from that.”

Sky puts his hooves together and leans forward as he answers.

“Last time I checked, I was the captain of this ship. Besides, the lost resources can be gained later. Plus the crew seemed rather thrilled to watch that ship get obliterated.”

Jack remains quiet for a moment as the pegasus leans back.

“What else is on your mind,” Sky asks.

“Before you ordered the barrage on the debris, you saw some pony amongst the survivors that I think you knew. Who was it?”

“Why should I answer that question?”

“Who did you see? Was it someone you wanted dead or someone you want to forget?”

Anger takes over Sky’s face as he quickly gets up and walks over to the changeling. Jack’s ability to read Sky is uncanny and threatening. He hesitates for a fraction of a second before answering, debating what he should do about the changeling should he become too difficult to control.

“What difference does it make?”

Jack stands his ground. “That one pony you saw changed your mind on what the next command was. Who did you see?”

Seeing that the changeling would continue to pester him about this, Sky relents and tells him. He maintains his angered disposition and walks back to the desk and sits before answering.

“It was Shining Armor.”

“The crown prince of the Crystal Empire!” Jack exclaims, momentarily losing his self-control. “What reason did you have for attacking his ship?”

“That was a Royal Coast Guard ship. Besides, I didn’t know he was on board until we sank it.”

“But now the Crystal Empire-”

“The Crystal Empire will do nothing.”

Jack stands silent for a moment at Sky’s response. The two maintain the silence for another minute before Sky explains.

“Killing him or not, the empire will still be upset simply because we attacked him regardless of intention. Besides, the crew would not have taken so kindly to withdrawing from a battle that we were winning.”

Jack sighs. “So what now? Things are easy now with Canterlot’s inable to respond due to the distance. The Royal Coast Guard is scurrying about like scared mice. If the Royal Navy or the Crystal Empire, as it is now, were to get involved things become difficult.”

“The navy we can handle,” Sky says. “As for the Crystal Empire, we won’t have to worry about them.”

“How can you be sure?” Jack demands.

“Now that Shining knows that I am the ‘Demon Captain’ that everyone is talking about, he will make it his personal mission to deal with me. He will try to capture me to discover the truth behind the assassination plot and my actions as a pirate. The Crystal Empire will stay out of his way. That is, if he is alive.”

“And if he is not?” Jack asks

Sky relaxes in his chair. “I’ll come up with a plan to deal with them.”

Satisfied with the answers, Jack turns to leave. He stops at the door before opening, turning his head slightly to say one last thing.

“Don’t forget the real mission here. The plan to gather information about that assassination plot and your revenge on Canterlot.”

With that the changeling leaves. Sky waits for a few minutes before leaving himself. As he exits his quarters he passes Vinyl who is standing right outside the door. The white unicorn had followed him, as she has done for some time now, and waited the entire time. She follows him to the helm as he commands to release the sails.

“I overheard a bit of the conversation,” she says after a moment. “How is it you know Shining Armor?”

Sky waits nearly half a minute before answering.

“We used to be friends when we were in the Canterlot Royal Guard.”

Vinyl stands shocked that the pegasus would attack an old friend, even one with so much power as the prince of the Crystal Empire. She holds her next thought seeing that Sky was in no mood to continue talking to any pony at the moment and leaves him to his sailing. Despite several other questions, she decides to wait till later at a better time. On his face is sorrow and regret cleverly hidden behind his anger. She vows to herself never to be the cause of such a mix of emotions. She will be the one to bring joy and bliss to one so tormented in life. This is but a renewal of the vow she made long ago when she first met him and the pain she saw in his eyes. The pain of loss.