A Pirate's Life

by mareutails

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Human, Dark, Alternate Universe, Romance, Comedy
Length: 4979

A small-time pirate finds himself in a big position, when a battle gone wrong lands him in an Equestrian naval exercize.

(HUMANIZED) Captain Michel de Stansfield. He works full-time as a pirate, you know, the usual. Plundering ships, killing good, and honest sailors of an evil, corrupt empire, and toppling said evil, corrupt empire. He lives in a world royal screwed over by ours, over a thousand years from now, a global cataclysm changes the Earth forever, as it's now dominated by the Nuevo Imperio Espanol, that is, the New Spanish Empire.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-30 00:30:47 UTC

Chapter 1

A man sat alone, thinking to himself. Thinking, ‘if things had been different, what would the world be like today?’ That is, if the old ones hadn’t nearly destroyed the planet. Over one-thousand years ago now, a cataclysmic event melted both of Earth’s ice caps, and underground water sources, all over the world burst open, flooding the Earth to levels we’d only imagined. If things had been different, would he be doing this job, maybe he would be pissing all of his money away at a whorehouse in Madrid, or maybe he’d be one of Her Highnesses royal asskissers. It didn’t really matter, thinking things like this, was just his way of passing time in this shitty, dead-end job. The man tilted his head back, and sighed a long sigh of boredom, that is, until his door swung open.

“Captain de Stansfield! An Imperial ship has been spotted to the west on the horizon, what are your orders?” You know what, scratch that, he loved this job.

“Hmph. Get all hands to their stations. This baby may be a relic, but she can still kick some español ass!” Yelled the captain of the ancient, yet still alive and kicking ship, formerly known as the USS Olsen named after one of the last Presidents of the United States, a particularly fast frigate, she’s saved the asses of the crew time, and time again.

“Aye, captain.” The man left to ready the crew for an upcoming fight. The captain made his way to the helm to find his lieutenant, Kurt Anola steering the ship in lieu of the regular pilot who had died of alcohol poisoning after three months at sea.

“Ahh, Michel!” Kurt yelled, so he could be heard over the droves of sailors scrambling to their allotted cannons, or grabbing a rifle, one poor bastard crawled up into a jury rigged crow’s nest with a sniper rifle. “The men are improving, their all nearly ready, in a fourth the time of the last battle.” He continued.

“Yes, they certainly are a fine crew, maybe someone will get a gold medal.” Michel joked. It should be known that gold was an even more valuable commodity these days, especially since almost every mine is underwater, the pressure alone makes it nearly impossible to get, that isn’t even to mention the hand the empire has in keeping such abilities away from the general populace, they want to control everything they can, it’s part of the reason he became a pirate. Michel never particularly liked laws, always found them rather constricting. “Enough joking, let’s destroy them, try to salvage any supplies we can, we’re not running low yet, but it’ll help until we can reach a port.”

“That it will, FOUR HUNDRED METERS!” Kurt yelled, alerting the crew to be ready quick. “You might want to hold onto something Michel. We’re about to speed up.”

“We’re not ramming them, are we?” Michel asked, worried, not about the crew mind you, but the ship, as it was a gift from his father after he passed.

“No! What do you take me for ya crazy bastard? Our last stop in New Denver, we got this baby fitted with some new parts I wanna test.” Kurt responded, cracking a smile, showing his little fangs.

“Kurt, what the hell did you have done to my ship?”

“A new engine, and advanced rudders we took from an Imperial ship. I watched ‘em put the things on, there are no bombs on the damn boat, if that's what you're asking."

“You’d better hope you’re right, cause if you aren’t, and we all die, I’ll chase you into whatever hell God sends you to, and I’ll kill you again.” Michel said, as he braced himself for the acceleration, the ship was faster, he’d admit that, and the rudders let them get so close to the enemy ship, you could almost touch it when they turned. Michel was so close could see the confusion on the faces of the Spanish sailors. He took their moment of weakness as an opportunity. “FIRE ALL WEAPONS!” The roar of cannon fire echoed for miles in every direction, Michel found it almost euphoric, he’d grown up hearing that sound, and he hoped he’d die listening to it. His happy thoughts were only interrupted when the ship was almost thrown into the enemy. At first the crew thought it might be a Spanish ship coming to rendezvous with a scout, but when everyone looked to the south, what they saw was much more horrifying.

“IT’S A STORM, EVERYONE BRACE!” Kurt yelled from the helm, into a PA system so the whole crew could hear. Another wave came, this one stronger than the last. It pushed the Olsen clear over the opposing ship, and damn near horizontal onto it’s side. The ship managed to right itself with the help of stabilizers from Saeloun Pyeong-yang (New Pyonyang). To survive the storm, they expected. What they didn’t expect, was to be surround by five ships of unknown allegiance.

-

“That was wonderful nephew!” Said Princess Celestia, as she complemented Prince/Admiral Blueblood on his display of Equestria’s newest military capability. “In all my years, I’ve never seen such a splendid commander.” She told him with an earnest smile.

“Thank you aunty. Truthfully, I’m just glad I can finally be of use to Equestria in some way.”

“Well, I’m proud of you, and I’m sure your wife will be as well.”

“Oh! Yes, I’m sure Rarity will want to celebr-” He was cut off by one of his subordinates barging in. “What’s wrong sailor?”

“Admiral Sir, an unidentified ship just appeared in the middle of the battlegroup!”

            “You can’t tell what nation it’s from?”

“No sir, it has no distinguishing markings, but it does have something vaguely Equestrian written on the side.”

“Well,” Blueblood said impatiently. “ What does it say?”

“BFS Olsen.” The sailor answered.

“Aunty, do you have any idea what ‘BFS’ means?”

Celestia thought for a moment. “Yes, in ancient times, before nations claimed the seas, pirates ruled them. They formed a loose association and called themselves, ‘The Black Flag Fleet.’

“A pirate?” Blueblood opened a view-window to look at the ship, and sure enough he looked at the very highest point, and saw a pitch-black flag flying in the wind. He looked to Celestia, who looked back and nodded, something you wouldn’t have never noticed if you didn’t grow up with such a woman. He turned to the sailor. “Tell the men, report to their stations, now.”

“Aye, sir!” The sailor gave a salute before running to ready the crew.

“Blueblood, proceed with caution. We haven’t seen a pirate in over a millenium.”

“I understand, but I’m not going to wait for a goddamn pirate to kill my men. ALL SHIPS, FOR A RING AROUND THE INTRUDER, AND FIRE!” The ships did as he said with shocking efficiency, and fired almost simultaneously. It was all for nought though, their 16th century cannons were no match for the armor plating of the Olsen, which deflected every shot, and returned fire with a light volley, not knowing where they were, or who would be stupid enough to challenge them with ships even older than theirs. The battle lasted for four minutes, before all five Equestrian ships had their weapons disabled. After the battle was over, both Blueblood and Celestia were requesting parley with the captain of the Olsen, they expected someone of extreme power, who commanded fear in the hearts of his crew, not a twenty-one year old boy, with his hair pulled back into a short ponytail, with his crew patting him on the back and passing him beers as he walked over the gangway, with a spring in his step only a child was capable of possessing.

“So.” The boy started. “I am Captain Michel de Stansfield of the Black Flag Ship, Olsen, and who was the wise guy that tried to fire on my ship?” Amazingly, he didn’t seem angry, or spiteful, simply annoyed that he had to spend time out of his day to fight such unworthy opponents.

“That was me.” Blueblood said as he stepped up to speak with the boy.

“Well.” Michel said. “You’ve got balls like a goddamn whale! Have a beer.” He said, tossing a bottle to a confused Blueblood, who mimicked Michel’s way of opening the foreign object.

“Y-You aren’t even angry?”

“Why? Because you tried to bring down my ship? Nah, you couldn’t have done any harm anyway, but once I got a good look at your flags, I realized I wasn’t exactly where I would like to be.”

“And where is that?”

“Madrid, Spain. A brothel preferably.”

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I’m not familiar with these places.” Blueblood said apologetically.

“Yeah, I’m not expecting you to know of them, I don’t know where you’re from either.”

Princess Celestia had quietly listened to the entire conversation, but had to butt in when she heard that. “How could you not have heard of Equestria, we’re the second largest nation in the world.”

“I apologize miss, but, who are you?”

She look positively shocked by his honest response, of course being who she was, he might as well have said ‘bitch I don’ know you!’  “I am Princess Celestia, I rule this nation alongside my sister, Princess Luna.”

Michel simply looked on with a face that showed how little he cared. That is until he saw Celestia’s expression change from one of shock, to one of confusion, then one of welcoming, he turned to see what had happened, and he liked what he saw. A tall woman, just over six feet, a light tan, and gorgeous prismatic hair. “Hello, there lass. What might your name be?”

She was taken aback by the man before her. It was rare for her to find men as tall as her, let alone taller than her by five inches, his dark sun tanned skin was enticing, his dark blonde hair was ruffled, and pulled back, showing his attempt at looking both adventurous, and charismatic, he also had a youthful energy about him that gave her a feeling not unlike the thrill of a race. “I-I’m Rainbow Dash, and you are?”

Without missing a beat, he gently grabbed her hand, kissed it and spoke. “I’m Captain Michel de Stansfield, of the Black Flag Ship, Olsen. Would you like to come aboard?” He asked with a small smile.

She had to admit, the offer was tempting, but she had a job to do. “Sorry, maybe later, but I came to see if the princess was alright.” She said, with a sincere smile.

“Aye, young lady.” He gave her a small bow before moving out of her way so she could see Princess Celestia smiling.

“Hello there, young Rainbow Dash.”

“Hello your Highness, you seem to be alright. What happened?”

“We had a small altercation with Captain de Stansfield, but no one was hurt, and all seems to be well.”

“I’m glad, and Prince- I mean, Admiral Blueblood, how are you doing?”

“Very well Rainbow Dash, how is everyone in Ponyville?”

“Great, everyone misses you, especially Rarity.” She said, giving him a slight bump with her elbow.

He chuckled slightly at the girl. "I miss you all as well, say if you're here in Canterlot?"

"Yep, Rarity's here too. She's up in the castle with Twilight and the others, Captain Sentry asked me to wait by the shore in case something went wrong out here."

"That was wise of him, I think we should return to shore, the ships will need some light repairs."

"Sorry 'bout that mate. If you want some help with that, my crew is plenty willing." Michel offered.

"It would be greatly appreciated." Blueblood said, extending his hand, which Michel quickly shook.

"In the meantime, I should figure out what the hell just happened to my ship."

"What do you mean?" Asked the admiral.

"We were caught in a tropical storm, and wound up here. No idea how."

"That...That is truly strange. Maybe I could help you figure it out." Said Celestia, now the one making offers.

"And I think I'll take you up on that, thank you." Michel said, smiling.

Chapter 2

    Michel stared down the mountain from which Canterlot castle was built. It was an impressive sight, to be honest, but of course, his thoughts drifted elsewhere. "I would rob the hell out of this place." He said, to no one in particular, of course Twilight Sparkle had raised an eyebrow to such a statement

    “Um... What exactly do you mean by that?” She asked, more than a little worried.

    “What? OH! No, not really, well I would, but I’m not going to. What I mean to say is, if I were to try to, I could easily destroy that port down there, and take out those ships. Then I’d sail in and fire on the city. Someone should look into fixing that.”

    Twilight was baffled, her brother, and Prince Blueblood had assured everyone that the port was untouchable. “Um... Ships wouldn’t be able to aim low enough and still get an accurate shot if they were close enough to see the docks, plus they’re protected by mana crystals which generate a constant shield around the port.” She explained.

    “Not constant.” He responded. “You’ve been making me sit here for six hours now, I’ve had ample time to watch the sea. Those shields cycle once every forty-five minutes, with a thirty second down time. Enough time for me to fire from about a mile out using the retrofit artillery on my frigate.”

    Twilight was shocked, she hadn’t thought he would notice the mana cycle, seeing as how he wasn’t sensitive to magic. “How did you figure that out? I’m a powerful magic user, and I still can barely feel the change.”

    “I don’t claim to know anything about magic, but the water, that I know. Every forty-five minutes, the water ripples, the pattern isn’t natural, it’s a semi-circle, and the ripples go in both directions. Nothing natural causes something like that, and you just confirmed my hypothesis.”

    “Wow, you seem smarter than you let on. Are you a scientist?”

    “Not on your life, but I’ve seen enough cycling-energy-barriers, set up by the Spanish to know when I’m somewhere important. So what’re you guys hiding here?”

    Twilight damn near jumped at the question, and Michel knew he hit the jackpot. “We aren’t hiding anything.” Said, Twilight while calming herself. “We are simply defending our capital.”

    “Bullshit, if that were all, you’d have half a fleet of ships defending this place in case the shield failed. Of course, I get the feeling that they’re all off somewhere else playing decoy. Am I right?”

    At this point, Twilight’s eyes were wide, with both shock and anger. She made her way closer to him, and put her lips next to his ear to whisper. “Nothing, and I mean nothing! Is going on here. You will not question it further, or I will have your head on a pike. Do you understand me?” An angered Twilight asked.

    Michel simply smirked. “Of course miss. Nothing is going on here.” He said, the conversation ended just in time for Celestia’s royal office door to open, and her personal aide to beckon him in. “See ya later Sparkly.” He said, her only response was an angry glare.

    Michel walked into the office, he assumed it was mainly used for personal meetings between Celestia and foreign dignitaries ‘No sense in using the royal court for only two, or a small group of people.’ He figured. He saw the Princess spinning in a fancy swivel chair, eyes closed, quietly humming to herself. “The only way you could act less royal, is if you stick your hand down your pants, and sing the Russian national anthem.” He quipped.

    “For your information, I only perform actions such as that once a week, and I do not sing while I do so.” She said, feigning annoyance. “Anyway, I’m glad you were willing to speak with me in private.”

    “It’s no problem your highness.” Michel gave a slight bow.

    “For a pirate, your etiquette is quite impressive.”

    “Yes well, I’ve had run ins with queens, and empresses, and the like before.”

    “Although, not usually on such good terms I assume.” Celestia said, bringing up a bottle of a brownish red color. “Would you like some?”

    “Good god it’s whiskey!” The man’s face lit up like a flare off an island.

    “I’ll take that as a yes. I may not know pirates, but I know many sailors. Enough to know when they’ve been at sea for several months, and on a ship a good drink is always the first thing to go.” She said, pouring two glasses. One of which was quickly picked up by Michel. He took a small drink, and tears nearly streamed down his face.

    “Thank you. Damn pilot drank our stores dry, bastard’s liver shut down before we could beat him.”

    “How much did you carry on your ship?”

    “A thousand gallons.”

    Celestia spit some whiskey out of her mouth. “Where does your ship even have room for that? It isn’t particularly large.”

    “The Olsen is highly modified, most of her systems are automatic, and most weapons are retrofit so we have a lot of extra storage space. She might not be much to look at now, but when she was built, long before my time mind you, she was a terror to go up against.’

    “How long ago is before your time?”

    “About a millenia and a half.”

    Celestia wasn’t shocked, nor was she completely unphased, she was simply questioning. “Why wasn’t she dismantled? Over a thousand years seems a long time to keep a ship around.”

    “Poor bastards didn’t have time before they died.”

    That, had gotten Celestia’s attention. “What do you mean, before they died? Who killed them?”

    “Not who, what. The world itself, I reckon. Water exploded from the ground, and tidal waves came crashing down from north and south. A global cataclysm, sparing only the very skilled, or the very lucky.”

    Still Celestia didn’t make any conspicuous moves, only practiced and precise movements, if only to show she was still listening. “So, what happened after the cataclysm?”

    “Anarchy.” Michel said, grinning. “In the first few years after it all, the world was hell, squabbling city states, fighting over resources, until 61 A.C, After Cataclysm, a new government came about, and decided, what we see, is ours. The Nuevo Imperio Espanol. The New Spanish Empire. To be honest, I’d have preferred anarchy.” Michel downed the rest if his whiskey, after finishing the spiel. “So, somehow I doubt that you asked me to come here so I could tell you stories.”

    “You are correct.” Celestia said, Michel could tell that she was almost saddened by what she was about to say. “I wanted to ask you a favor, and based on the conversation I heard between you and my student, Twilight Sparkle, I fear I may have good reason to ask someone such as yourself.”

    “What are you saying, your highness?”

    Celestia inhaled deeply. “I’m saying, Twilight Sparkle has been put under investigation, we believe she has become corrupt, and has been plotting treason.”

    “So, I was right.”

    “I believe so, yes. My nephew Blueblood was the first to notice her change. At first, I didn’t want to believe it, she’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a daughter, but everyday, I see more and more of her slip away. So, Blueblood, my sister, and I, devised a plan to get some kind of evidence against her, and to a point, it worked.”

    “What did you do?”

    “We moved our fleet to the north, away from Canterlot, her response was strange, especially for someone such as herself, instead of asking me what was happening as she normally would, she got angry, and ordered five more mana crystals be installed in the port, to strengthen the shield.”

    “So we know she’s hiding something, but we don’t know what. So where do I come in?”

    “I want to see, if you can get a confession out of her.” Celestia said, somberly.

    “I believe I can, my father passed down some interrogation techniques from long ago.”

    “Thank you.” Celestia said, eyes closed, standing up. “Now, if you please, I must rest, it’s hard for me to talk about such things, you may sleep in the castle, or aboard your ship, if you wish to stay here, follow me, your quarters will be next to mine.”

    “Thank you, Celestia.” Michel said, following her.

-

    Lieutenant Spike Drakovich was not a happy Drakin. His first day off in over five months, and his sister shoved him to the side, to work on some gods-forsaken project that she wouldn’t even tell him about. The only good part of the day was that he got to spend more time with his fiance Sweetie Belle, and their friends Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo. “It’s good to be back in Ponyville.” Spike said sitting on bench with the girls.

    “I’m glad you’re back Spike, I really missed you.” Sweetie said, snuggling up to Spike, making Scootaloo roll her eyes, and Applebloom d’aww.

    “Yeah, we are too, we heard about what happened with Twilight, sorry man, it must suck.” Scootaloo said.

    “It does, but on the brightside I got to come back here and see you guys a couple days longer.” Spike replied, smiling.

    “Say,” Applebloom began questioning. “How long are you gonna be in Ponyville anyway?”

    “About two weeks, the ship I was serving on got pretty beat up. It’ll take a while to fix them all, but mine is number one on the list.”

    “Well then we have to do something special!” Sweetie exclaimed.

    “Why? I’ll be back.”

    “Yeah, in six months! Do you have any idea what that does to a girl? I get lonely, and the dog can’t talk to me! Sweetie yelled.

    “Okay, okay. What do you wanna do?” Spike said, acceding to the girl.

    “Uh-uh-uh!” She exclaimed, standing up, swirling around, and bringing her index finger up to her lips. “Spoilers.” She said with a wink, before running off to parts unknown.

    “That girl confuses me sometimes.” Spike said, chuckling, and shaking his head.

Chapter 3

Michel had sat in the room next to Celestia’s for about four hours, planning his interrogation of Twilight Sparkle. He’d only met these people yesterday, and they were already asking him for help. They were trusting him too quickly, that meant he shouldn’t trust them. He peered out a window, and saw the moon begin to rise, deciding it was high time to put his plan into motion he left the castle, through it’s long corridors, and winding halls. Making way to his ship to gather supplies he may need. The city was dark, lit only by an occasional street lamp. Eventually he made it to the port, and boarded his ship, looking for Kurt, who kept record of all items to be used for, 'information gathering'. Michel waltzed below deck into the lieutenant's quarters, and kicked the man awake.

"Gah, Michel? What the hell do you want?"

"The lamps, a battery, some wires, an electrical switch, and some rope."

The tired man stirred, and thought for a moment. "In the cargo area, a box that says diamond encrusted vibrators."

Neither acknowledging, nor questioning the reason behind such a box being aboard his ship, he made his way to the cargo area. It was, strangely, the most pleasant place on the Olsen, the goddamn captain's quarters paled in comparison. He’d known that Kurt was holding out on him from day one. Always giving his damn stock better accommodations than his friggin’ captain. Anyway, that wasn’t what mattered. What did matter was that he brought the supplies back to the castle, it was by no means a large box, easily carried across the city. He took the box, and made his way back to his room. He made it about twenty feet into the city, before he ran into a familiar woman with prismatic hair.

“Hey.” Rainbow Dash said, upon noticing Michel. “What are you doing out here so late?” She asked.

“What are you doing out here so late?” Michel gave a retaliatory question.

“Don’t get smart with me, I asked you a question.”

“And I exercised my right to not answer your clearly hypocritical question.” Michel’s remarks only served to irritate Rainbow, she quickly formed a scowl, and noticed what he was holding.

“What’s in the box?” She questioned.

“Nothing for you to concern your pretty little head about.”

Rainbow’s jaw dropped, and her hand shot out, and grabbed Michel by his collar. “Just what the hell is that supposed to mean!?” She yelled.

“It’s supposed to mean, it’s none of your damn business.” He replied, shaking her hand off. “Now if you’ve got nothing useful to say, leave me be.” Michel turned to walk away only for Rainbow Dash to zoom in front of him, taking a strong stance in his way.

“No.” She said sternly. “Now tell me. What is in the box?”

Michel hesitated, for only a second before he bolted to nearby alleyway. It didn’t matter how fast she was, if he was more agile. She kept up at first. Nearly copying every move he made, but eventually she began to slip up. Tripping here, jumping too late there. Soon enough, she couldn’t keep him in sight, and he got away. That doesn’t mean he stopped running, in fact, he had realized that Canterlot had an incredibly complex system of alleys, which he gladly used to make it back to the castle in secret.

When he did get back, he noticed that the guards that were once guarding the castle had fallen asleep, making them only slightly better than the ones in the Greater Narcoleptic Republic. He waltzed back into the castle and up to his temporary quarters, leaving the box under his bed, and getting his ass in bed.

Michel was awoken by a tapping, some asshole rapping on his chamber door. He wanted to punch them. He stood, and walked to his door, yanking it open. On the other side was Admiral Blueblood.

“Hello captain. It is good to see you again.” He said with a grin.

“And you as well, what is it you wanted?”

“I came to invite you to breakfast.” Blueblood said.”Would you walk with me?”

Michel thought for a moment. “Sure, just let me get dressed.” He retreated back inside the room for a moment, and went back out wearing a tight black t-shirt, and pre-cataclysm NATO fatigue bottoms and combat boots. “Alright, you lead the way?”

Blueblood motioned for Michel to follow, and the two began walking. “Were you a soldier at any point before you became a pirate?”

Michel snickered at the question. “Oh no, I’ve been a pirate all my life. My ship on the other hand, she was one hell of a military ship.”

“So I assume your parents were pirates then.”

“Yes, my father was captain before me, and my mother was a whore at a pirate stronghold.”

Blueblood nearly cringed at his casual use of such language, and to so easily call one’s own mother a whore. Either this man held no real morals, or he was as deplorable as pirates seemed. “I’m sorry sir, but how can you say such things about your own mother?”

Michel shrugged. “She was a whore. She had sex for money, my dad got her pregnant, she gave birth nine months later, my dad took me and left. The day of my birth was the only day I ever saw my mother.” Blueblood didn’t react badly to the statement, in fact he seemed a little relieved that Michel wasn’t insulting a woman who’d loved him his entire life, of course, despite realizing that he’d certainly had much time to come to terms with not having a mother, it still rubbed him the wrong way, maybe it was because he reminded Blueblood a little of himself, when he was an ass. Only a little though, as Michel didn’t seem to think that everyone was below him like Blueblood did, he still had a rude mouth.

“Well, at least your father wanted you. You could have ended up on the streets, or worse.” Blueblood said.

“I know, I miss the old man.”

“Is he dead?”

“Yeah.” Michel said nonchalantly. “Getting caught by a Spanish firing squad will do that to you.”

Blueblood nearly choked on nothing when he heard Michel’s response. “F-firing sqaud? They executed your father?”

“Yeah, it’s the only way to combat piracy.” Michel said in his most offensive Spanish accent. “Assholes just don’t like the fact that we don’t submit to their authority.”

“Do pirates even have any kind of central authority?”

“Hell no!” Michel said loudly, while speeding up and stopping in front of Blueblood. “No Gods, No Masters! We’re all the kings and the beggars of the sea. If we want something, we’ll take it. If we can’t defend it then we don’t deserve it. Our crew is our family, and our family comes before anything else, be it service, negotiation or taxes, and the government can kiss our asses if they don’t like it!” Michel was so absorbed in his spiel, he didn’t notice the door behind him open.

“Well said, captain.” Said a certain princess, with colorful hair. “Your crew is your family, and nothing is more important than family. Celestia gave Blueblood an almost motherly smile. “Now, would you join us for breakfast?”

“I’d be honored ma’am.” Celestia led him into a large dining hall, the table was covered in everything, from pancakes, to steak, to carrots. For once Michel didn’t mind the royalty.