The Pirate Master

The next morning, Rusty and Shadow went into a pub where those 'builders' were.

"Why would fine shipbuilders be in this place at all?" Shadow asked. "And do we really need another ship? We can take the train to Canterlot, y'know. Celestia would probably build us another ship."

"No, we will need another ship. It doesn't cost so much, so don't worry," Rusty said.

They asked the bartender if he knew where any shipbuilders were, and he pointed towards a table where 5 ponies sat.

Rusty trotted towards them. "Is anypony of you the shipbuilders that were in the poster?" Rusty asked.

"What do you want?" one of them asked.

Rusty drew his sword. "I want you to build one of those ships," Rusty said.

"What ship," another of them asked.

"The Brig," Rusty said and threw a bag of bits on the table. "You may keep the money after the ship is built," Rusty said.

One of the ponies checked the bag of bits. "Okay guys, time to go to work!"

_______________________

Shadow sent a letter to the princess of what happened and was now waiting for her response.

"Shadow, relax," Rusty said, comforting his friend. "The ship is nearly done built."

"Oh Rusty, that's not what I am worried about. The goods didn't get delivered, remember?" Shadow asked.

Rusty remembered that. "Have this happened to all the new captains?" Rusty asked.

"Not really, and you can't expect Celestia to be happy after what has happened," Shadow said.

One of the builders came to Rusty. "Your ship is done," he said.

Rusty trotted to the docks, and in fact, the builders were done building the ship. It's size was between the size of a schooner and a frigate, but Rusty also noticed it didn't have cannons. "Hey, where's the cannons?" Rusty asked.

"It was 1500 bits for a ship. Nothing more. You will have to buy cannons yourself," the builder said.

"Okay, fine. This will do," Rusty said.

Shadow came to Rusty. "Are we going to sail that ship?" Shadow asked. "Without any cannons?"

"Yes," Rusty answered. "What is the problem with that?"

"Well, the crew is afraid of getting attacked by pirates again," Shadow said. "But if you really are sure about this, we will sail."

_______________________

The travel back to Ponville took a lot more time than they had planned, since there wasn't alot of wind.

"Bad news, captain. A fog is appearing," Shadow said. "What are your orders?"

"Continue towards Ponyville, and don't stop for anything," Rusty said.

_______________________

In the distance, the crew said they saw a shadow of a ship. They didn't excactly know if it was a trade ship because of the fog.

"Carefull now, Captain Rusty," Shadow said to Rusty. Rusty had a bad feeling about this.

"It's a trade ship!" they could hear one of the crew said.

Rusty felt relaxed. Good thing this wasn't a pirate ship.

But another ship appeared in the distance. But they all know what ship it was after it bombed the trade ship with cannons.

"Pirates! Not again!" Shadow said. "I knew this would happen!"

"Shadow, relax. There is a way of surviving this," Rusty said. "We must battle the pirates."

"How? We don't have any cannons, remember?" Shadow said. "How are we going to battle them?"

"We will have to board their ship, then," Rusty said, steering the ship into the pirate ship, colliding. Crashing into the pirate ship destroyed the side of it.

"Rusty, before you battle, here is a gun. It may only have one shot, but use it well," Shadow said.

"I will."

All the pirates went over to Rusty's ship to battle the crew.

Rusty went to the deck of the ship and decided to help the crew.

Rusty went over to a pirate and slashed his sword away. Rusty then used his sword to cut off the pirate's hoof, making him bleed alot. Then Rusty slashed his sword on the pirate's throat, killing him instantly.

It was a bloody battle across the deck.

Rusty levitated a barrel with gunpowder over to the pirate ship.

"What are you trying to do?" Shadow asked.

"Blowing their ship," Rusty said, and drew his gun and shot the barrel, exploding a bit of the pirate ship.

The explosion distracted most of the pirates, making them easy for the crew to kill them.

Only a few pirates were left, and the pirate captain.

Rusty drew his sword, ready to duel the captain. The captain noticed it and drew his sword too.

The pirate captain slashed his sword towards Rusty, but he blocked the attacks. With his reflexes, Rusty countered a attack and slashed his sword on the captain's hoof. Rusty cut the captain's throat and stabbed him in his chest, killing the captain.

After that battle, all the pirates gave up. They all dropped their swords.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Shadow shouted.

"Relax, Shadow. We still have to return to Ponyville," Rusty said. "Also, the ship needs repairing, and we could use the supplies from the pirate ship."

"What about the pirate crew?" Shadow asked Rusty.

"Let's recruit them to our crew, shall we?" Rusty said. He was beginning to like this.

_______________________

The ship sailed towards Ponyville Docks, using the strong wind in the air. The Ponyville Docks could be seen in the distance, making the crew happy. "We made it!" Shadow shouted. Rusty had this feeling he accomplished something great.

After docking, Rusty went over what they had gathered.

"What are you doing?" Shadow asked Rusty.

"I'm just checking the materials we got from the pirate ship. Also, we did find some stolen goods, but that's up to us to give or use," Rusty said.

"I have a feeling you're not just going to repair the ship," Shadow said.

"Yes, actually. I thought we could use the materials to upgrade our ship a bit, and maybe build it bigger," Rusty said.

"Good, captain," Shadow said. "I think Celestia would like those news."

"Yes, she will."

Shadow wanted to ask Rusty about something. "Shall i go buy some cannons for the ship?"

"Don't call it 'the ship', Shadow," Rusty said. "From now on, we shall call it The Crusador. A name I came up with."

Shadow thought about the name. "Good name," Shadow said. "But i would prefer the Shadow Striker."

"Just because it has your name in it?" Rusty asked.

"Yup."

Rusty left the thought of the ship being named The Shadow Striker, and instead wrote something on a book he had in his saddlebag.

'The Crusador'