Chapters Prologue: Rusty's Lucky Day
Rusty woke up. He had this terrible nightmare again of him drowning. He didn't know why he had so many nightmares.
He thought to himself and wondered why he had nightmares of that. He liked the sea and the waters, but he was afraid of drowning.
It almost felt real. The nightmare has repeated itself several times the last few days.
He stood up on his hooves and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 6 in the morning. Rusty didn't know what to do, so he decided to stay awake.
Rusty looked around him. He was kind of bored. He looked at the grey colored paint on the walls and the roof.
Below his hooves were the blue painted floor of planks that made a lot of loud noises when he trotted on them.
It was a normal day in Manehattan. The sky was gray and filled with a lot of rainy clouds. He knew what his family were going to do today.
Today they had to move.
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Rusty Gold (Kind of ironic name, since gold can't rust) was a dark green coated unicorn stallion with blue eyes and light blonde hair. He went to the kitchen where his mother cooked breakfast.
Near the table sat a young, orange coated pegasus colt with red eyes and brownish hair. His name was Dark Gold. That was Rusty's little brother.
"Good morning, Rusty," Dark Gold said. Dark had his normal blank expression on his face. Rusty knew Dark didn't mind them moving.
"Good morning, Dark," Rusty said. Unlike Dark, Rusty didn't want to move. He would miss his friends so much.
"Have you seen Sunlight?" Rusty asked, wondering where his sister could be. "I haven't seen her since yesterday."
"She said she had to do something with her friends," Dark answered.
"For how long exactly?" Rusty asked. He wondered if his sister would come with them when they moved to the new town.
"She said she was going to play until this morning, so she will be home soon," his mom answered. Rusty knew his sister didn't want to move. Sunlight liked this place.
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Rusty waited near the taxi. He saw Sunlight Gold, his little sister. She trotted towards him. Her pink coat, red hair and green eyes could easily be seen from a distance.
She raised her wings and made an angry look on her face. This often happened when she was angry. She was angry now probably because it would now take long time to meet her friends again. Rusty's mom told him the new home was a bit far away.
"Well, time to go," Rusty's mom said.
"But when will we come back?" Sunlight questioned.
Those were the last words Rusty heard before going into the taxi and started moving to the other town.
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Rusty trotted out of the taxi. The landscape in this new town seemed much more natural. The grass here also seemed more green. The sky was clear blue, and only a few clouds could be seen.
Rusty and the others took their saddlebags and followed mom. They had a lot of questions. What was it like in this town? How was the ponies? What kind of buildings were there? What kind of ponies lived here?
Rusty's thoughts were interrupted when they stopped trotting.
"Kids, this is Ponyville."
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Rusty could not believe his eyes. In front of him was a peaceful little town surrounded by a river. The houses in Ponyville was unlike the apartments he had seen in Manehattan. There was a clear difference between Ponyville and Manehattan.
Next to the town was a forest. Rusty had heard about it. It was called The Everfree Forest.
It was told to be a mysterious forest filled with clouds that moved without pegasi controlling them, animals that took care of themselves and mysterious plants that were told to be magical.
Rusty also noticed the city of clouds in the air and the giant mountain city in the distance.
"Where are the skyscrapers?" Dark questioned.
"There are no skyscrapers in Ponyville," he could hear mom say.
"You didn't tell us the new town were an old village!" Dark shouted.
"Dark, calm down. This isn't too bad," Rusty said. "After all, there is nice architecture in Ponyville, and a nice landscape."
Rusty facehoofed himself, realizing his brother didn't care so much about nature or beauty.
"Mom, can you tell us where we are going to live?" Rusty asked.
"Oh, let me show you!" the mom said.
They trotted a bit across the town, until they stopped in front of a house.
It was a two-floored house. It was simple, but seemed good enough.
Rusty had this odd feeling he was being stalked. It just felt like something watched him from a distance. He turned around, and saw a pink pony in the distance, gasping, then ran away.
"Well?" his mom questioned. "What do you think of the house?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen the inside yet," Dark said.
"She meant by the looks of it from the outside," Rusty said.
"Nah, it's ok," Dark said, making Rusty wonder if Dark even had feelings at all.
"Why do you have to hide your emotions?" Rusty questioned Dark.
"What's up with you being so curious?" Dark questioned back.
Rusty wouldn't like to start a fight now, so he just left his thoughts and went inside the house.
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Rusty looked at the new house they were going to live in. It didn't look so bad. It felt bigger on the inside.
The family packed out their stuff in the house. Knowing that they were going to stay here for a while, Rusty went outside to check out the neighbors, but was interrupted by a pegasus mare speaking to him.
"Mail delivery," the mare said. "To Rusty Gold."
Pegasi could fly in air without making a lot of sound, which could be a reason why Rusty didn't notice her come.
Another thing came into his mind. He wondered who sent him the letter. Rusty wasn't very social, his friends has never sent him letters, and even though one of his friends decided to write a letter, they wouldn't know if he had moved to Ponyville.
"Um, excuse me, but are you sure this is for me?" Rusty questioned the pegasus mare.
"Yes, I am pretty sure, mister," the
mare answered.
Rusty took the letter, then went inside his house. Rusty went to his room, noticed by Dark. Dark looked at Rusty and the letter he got.
"I didn't know you had friends who sent you letters," Dark said.
Rusty sat at a chair and looked at the letter. "I wonder who sent me this."
Rusty opened the letter and began reading from it.
From what I know from your studies, you are a talented unicorn with a lot of creativity.
I could use ponies like you, too bad a pony can't find these everywhere.
Therefore I will offer you a chance at studying at Canterlot University immediately. After that, we could talk about your abilities.
- Sincerely
A pony you will soon know
Rusty read though the letter several times to make sure he didn't read the letter wrong or if he had missed anything.
"I think I get to study at Canterlot University," Rusty said, smiling a bit.
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Rusty stood in the train station. "Are you sure you think this is the right decision?" mom questioned Rusty. He didn't know for sure if this was what he wanted, but he wanted to know who the pony that sent the letter were.
Rusty heard the train conductor say that they were gonna leave soon. "Well, I guess that's it, then," Rusty said, gulping and taking slow steps towards the train.
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The train ride didn't seem too long, but Rusty became bored on the way to Canterlot.
After coming to Canterlot, a light grey coated mare told him to follow her. Rusty wondered if the one who sent the letter ordered her to bring him to them. The mare went to a big castle, followed by Rusty.
Rusty looked at the paintings on the walls as he trotted through a corridor.
"She is waiting for you," the mare said, leaving Rusty to some double-doors.
Rusty pushed the doors, and couldn't believe what he saw.
In front of him was a white coated alicorn with rainbow colored mane. Rusty knew who that pony were.
"Oh, Rusty. Good you could come," Celestia said.
"Is this a dream?" Rusty asked.
"Oh, no," Celestia answered. "But you might wonder why I ordered you to come here. I didn't ask you to come here just to study."
Rusty was confused. He didn't know what Celestia talked about.
"It seems you like the sea," Celestia said.
"Yes, a lot," Rusty said, not knowing where this was going.
"My sister told me you had nightmares of drowning," Celestia said. "So why do you like the sea?"
Rusty was not sure. He knew he liked the sea. Just thinking about the waves and the underwater terrain in it. But this question still made Rusty think a bit.
"I guess I like it because of a memory I had when I was little," Rusty said. "I remember when I was on a sailboat with my dad."
"I understand. So you like sailing?" Celestia asked Rusty.
"Yes, I do. I would give a lot to get to sail," Rusty said.
"Listen here, Rusty. If you go to study in Canterlot University, I would gladly try to fulfill your dream," Celestia said.
"Really?" Rusty asked. He could not believe what he heard.
"Yes," Celestia answered. "So what do you say?"
"I accept the offer," Rusty said with a smile on his face.
"Good, I will show you where you will study," Celestia said while trotting away, followed by Rusty.
Celestia showed Rusty a building that looked like an observatory. It had a giant telescope, a bathroom, two hallways, one bedroom and a big dining hall.
"Will i stay here?"
"Well, i know it's a bit big, but you will be used to it," Celestia said.
"Celestia, i know normal students don't get their own observatories," Rusty said.
"Of course not, you will have a roommate."
"Still, i wonder why i get all this," Rusty said, now wanting answers from Celestia.
"The reason is," Celestia said. "I have seen what you were good at your school. Navigation, Exploration, Sailing, Learning. You seem to be the right pony for this task I'm going to assign you to."
"A task?" Rusty asked.
"I want you to be one of my royal navy captains," Celestia said.
"A captain? I don't think i have the skills for that," Rusty said.
"Don't worry, you will learn about being a captain," Celestia assured.
"Is that part of my studies?" Rusty asked.
"Yes. You will learn how to sail your own ship, recruit the crew and to fight with a sword," Celestia said.
Rusty didn't like so much the thought of using a sword, but ignored it a bit later.
"Now, let me show you who your roommate will be," Celestia said.
She trotted out the door of the observatory and looked like she waited for somepony.
In the distance, Rusty saw a grey coated unicorn stallion trotting towards them.
"Rusty, this is Shadow Gear," Celestia said. "Shadow Gear, this is Rusty Gold."
Shadow Gear held his hoof out, ready to do a hoofshake. Shadow seemed like a nice pony. He had a black mane and tail, and green eyes. If Shadow were an earth pony, he would look like a tough guy.
"Hello, i am Shadow Gear," the unicorn greeted
"Hi Shadow Gear. I am Rusty," Rusty said.
"Rusty here is going to be the new captain of the royal navy," Celestia said, smiling. "We will need you to help him out a bit."
"So you're the new captain. I'll wish you good luck on your new job," Shadow said. "Not many dares to take the job, hehe."
Rusty hoped being a captain wouldn't be that dangerous. Rusty did seem a bit nervous, but luckily somepony were gonna help him through this.
"So let's go to the docks, Rusty."
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The docks where his ship were, was in Ponyville, so it wouldn't be too far away from his home, but far away from the Canterlot University. Which meant he had to travel from his home in Ponyville to Canterlot to study. Then he would have to travel from Canterlot to Ponyville Docks to practice sailing.
Near the docks were a few sailboats and some schooners. Rusty could see a big galleon ship in the distance of the waters. "Where is my ship?" Rusty asked.
"Oh, it's here, silly," Shadow said and pointed towards a small ship next to him.
Rusty looked at the ship next to Shadow. It was a small ship, but not too small in size. Of what he knew about ships, this ship looked like a trade schooner, because of the size and two masts.
"It's a decent ship, i would say," Shadow said. "What do you think."
Rusty took a few more seconds to look at the ship. "It's good enough," he answered. What could he expect? Every captain should start with something small, then they could later use the bigger ships.
"Well, it's yours now," Shadow said. "You will get a few days to make the ship ready for next travel," Shadow said, now leaving the docks.
"I will make sure to do that," Rusty said.
Rusty decided he should check the ship. He took a look at the two masts and the steering wheel. He went into the captain's office. It was big enough for a few ponies, but nothing much more. This ship did seem like a light ship that could move fast across the waters, and didn't seem too expensive to build.
He remembered what Celestia said. He would need to learn how to recruit crew for his ship. He would also need to take some time in sailing the ship for practice.
When Rusty decided it was enough, he went home. The way home wasn't long at all, but it was about to become evening.
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Rusty opened the door to his home. He could see his sister come from upstairs. "Where have you been?" Sunlight asked.
"I've been at Canterlot and the Ponyville docks," Rusty said.
"What did you do at the Ponyville docks?" his mom questioned him.
"I saw my new ship."
Chapter 2: Captain's Lessons
A few days later...
Rusty sat on a chair in the classroom. He read about ships and the different traits with the different ships.
Page 1:
The schooner is one of the smallest ships that you can sail across the seas. It is known for being hard to detect and being ulikely to be raided.
The frigate is a large and strong ship used during war. It can load a lot of goods and cannons, but is mainly used for battling other ships. The Frigate is better at firepower than damage resistance, but it doesn't take so long time to build them, making them feared across the sea.
Rusty stopped reading, thinking he wouldn't need to know about any of the other ships. Also, class ended, meaning he had to move to the combat class.
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Rusty dueled another pony, he tried to do the things he learned a duelist could do during a battle. After fighting a bit, he disarmed his opponent and won the battle. Rusty's teacher told him he was getting better and better, which was good news for Rusty.
Rusty went towards the observatory where his roommate was.
Rusty knocked on the door. It didn't take long before Shadow opened the door and let Rusty in.
"What have you been doing?" Shadow asked.
"Nothing, just won a duel and learned about different ships," Rusty said. "What do i do now?"
"Well, you have two days to prepare for sailing to Manehattan to deliver supplies," Shadow said. "If you succeed on that, you will gain a few bits, but also learn about the trade routes."
"Ok, thanks for the info, Shadow," Rusty thanked.
"No problem, just make sure to have everything prepared, alright?" Shadow asked.
Rusty had a small voise inside of him telling him this would get difficult. He were getting a bit nervous just thinking about sailing to Manehattan.
"Ok, i will make sure to do that," Rusty said. A quedtion came into Rusty's mind. "Hey Shadow, have you read page 2 and 3 on 'A captain's guide to the sea'?" Rusty asked.
"Yes, what about them?" Shadow asked, wondering what Rusty wanted to get him to answer.
"I didn't get to read those pages," Rusty said.
"Well, on page two was information about cannon ships and the galleon ship," Shadow said. "On the third page, however, was information of pirate ships."
"What? There are pirates?" Rusty asked, now feeling a bit more nervous.
"Yes, but don't worry. Pirates don't occur so often in the route you will take," Shadow said. "Also, even if pirates appeared, we would know if that would happen. Pirates don't use any equestrian nation flags. Since you will be using a schooner, we will escape easy and quick, if we are lucky enough."
Rusty relaxed a bit. He hoped what Shadow said was true.
"But to make sure, you will have to go through a test," Shadow said. "Challenge me to a duel. If you defeat me, then you truly are ready."
Rusty was a bit surprised. He didn't know Shadow practiced sword combat. Rusty thought he probably practiced alone. "Are you sure you want to duel me?" Rusty asked. "I think i am a bit more qualified for dueling than you."
"Then prove it," Shadow said. "Prove to everypony that you're a great duelist."
Rusty's mind stopped. What happened? In the first moment Rusty was wondering if Shadow ever used a sword. Now he was going to duel him.
"Meet me at Canterlot University Dueling Hall," Shadow said. "Make sure to bring extra protection."
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Rusty was feeling nervous. As on if Celestia's students, he could withdraw from battle, but he didn't want to do that infront of his classmates. Even though they were wearing armor, Rusty couldn't stop thinking of Shadow coming up with a surprise.
The judge came into the middle of the duel ring.
"Okay, here's the rules; first pony to win 3 of 5 rounds, wins the game. You can at any point give up if you want. To win a round, you will have to touch your opponent with your sword, or make them go outside the ring. Disarming the opponent is allowed."
Density began to fill the air.
"I'm ready," Shadow said.
"I'm ready," Rusty said.
"3... 2... 1... FIGHT!" the judge shouted, starting the duel between Shadow and Rusty.
Shadow took quick steps towards Rusty, surprising him. Now that Rusty's defense broke down, Shadow disarmed Rusty, took his sword to Rusty's chest, and won the first round.
"How'd you..." Rusty said, interrupted by the judge saying that secound round started.
Rusty charged towards Shadow, but the attack was easily blocked by him. Rusty aimed low at Shadow, but Shadow managed to do a little distraction and then slashed away Rusty's sword, disarming him again.
"Where have you learned that?" Rusty asked.
"Give up already?" Shadow asked.
Rusty could see some of the classmates laughing a bit. Rusty thought to himself that he had to win now.
Round three started. Rusty took a defensive position. Shadow slashed his sword towards Rusty. Rusty blocked the attack very well. Rusty attacked and walked closer to Shadow, making Shadow walk backwards. Shadow didn't notice he crossed the ring, making Rusty win.
Round four started. This was getting more intense as time passed. Rusty charged towards Shadow, now pretty sure he would win this round. But what happened next was not expected. Rusty slashed his sword towards Shadow, but somehow, with his fast reflexes, Shadow blocked the sword and took his sword to Rusty's chest, winning 4th round.
"Game is over! Shadow win!" the judge said.
"I... lost," Rusty said. Now feeling a bit depressed.
"That was good fighting," Shadow said. "It seems like you have what is required to be a captain after all."
"But... i lost the duel," Rusty said.
"I know, everpony i have dueled have lost against me," Shadow said.
"And you didn't care to tell me that before now?" Rusty said angrily.
"Relax, Rusty," Shadow said. "Atleast you learned something new"
"Like what?" Rusty asked.
"For the first, dueling isn't always about winning, it's about achieving a goal," Shadow said.
Rusty gained a grin on his face and took his sword to Shadow's chest. "I win," Rusty said.
"That's not what i meant," Shadow said. "Ignore that, the secound is that you learned that proving yourself to be stronger that oters isn't good," Shadow said.
"I didn't try to be better tha..." Rusty said, but got interrupted by Shadow.
"The third thing you 'MAY' have learned is that you don't have to battle others, it is your choise," Shadow said, making Rusty think a bit.
"Now if you excuse me, i will have to learn another pony about dueling," Shadow said. "See you in two days, Rusty."
"Okay, see you soon, Shadow."
Chapter 3: First Day At Sea
Rusty met up at the Ponyville Docks. He was 20 minutes late, which he assumed as one of Celestia's captains, was bad. He looked at Shadow, who seemed to be waiting for him. "Sorry guys, for being late," Rusty apologised, hoping to get forgiven by his friend Shadow.
"Well, 24 minutes to be excact," Shadow said. "By the way, the crew i recruited for you also had to wait."
"How did you make them wait 24 minutes?" Rusty asked.
"You do realise i bringed my sword with me?" Shadow asked.
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"Release the sails and secure the cannons!" Rusty shouted.
It was his first day at sea, but it seemed ok for him.
"So tell me, Shadow. Where did you find these sailors?" Rusty asked.
"They are part of the royal navy," Shadow answered.
Shadow was assigned to be Rusty's assistant during trades.
"There are some clouds in the distance," Shadow said. "I don't know if we should continue. Celestia told me you shouldn't sail through a storm on your first assignment," Shadow said.
"Don't worry," Rusty said. "I don't think it will become a storm now, Shadow. By the way, don't you know our sailors are from the equestrian navy?" Rusty asked Shadow.
"Ok, i get it. But please do what is safe for the crew," Shadow said.
"Ok, i will try to be careful," Rusty said. "But we will continue."
Rusty ordered the crew to release all sails for maximum speed. He hoped it wouldn't become storm.
The waves hit the ship hard, making it move to the sides a bit. It were beginning to come larger waves, but Rusty ordered the crew to continue work.
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It took several hours before they could see Manehattan in the distance. Rusty and the crew felt happy now. "What did i say, Shadow?" Rusty asked. But Rusty noticed Shadow didn't answer.
"Shadow?" Rusty asked.
"Rusty, there is a ship in the distance without any flag," Shadow said. Some of the crew were a bit scared.
"Pirates!" Rusty shouted to himself. "Okay everpony, set full sail towards Manehattan. We must escape the pirates!"
But it was too late. The pirate ship seemed to move faster than them.
Rusty took a close look at the pirate ship. It was what he feared. It was a large frigate ship armed with atleast 15 cannons per side.
"Rusty, what is our plan?" Shadow asked.
"Rusty?" Shadow asked again.
But Rusty were lost in his thoughts, trying to think out a plan.
"Captain, the ship is coming closer!" Rusty could hear one of the crew say.
"So let's fight back!" Rusty shouted. "Aim the cannons at the pirate ship!" Rusty said, seeming desperate. "We must not let the pirates take the goods," Rusty said.
Rusty took out his sword, preparing for a fight.
"No, don't do it," Shadow said. "Not against these pirates!"
"What's the point of a sword..." Rusty said angrily. "If it can't be used by the captain?!"
"Rusty, we must forfeit! If we fight now, the crew will be killed!" Shadow shouted.
This moment felt very intense for Rusty. What was he going to do?
Rusty levitated a cannonball into one of the cannons and fired it at the pirate ship. Blowing away a small chunk of it.
"Oh no... You've doomed us all!" Shadow shouted.
"No... wait a bit," Rusty said.
Rusty took some of te goods they trabsported, and threw it overboard.
"Rusty, what are you doing?" Shadow asked.
"Throwing away the goods," Rusty answered.
"What?!" Shadow shouted. "Are you insane?!"
"Do you want these pirates to get their hooves on it instead?" Rusty asked.
Shadow didn't answer, knowing Rusty was serious.
"You are going to evade a battle..." Shadow said, noticing Rusty really learned something on the duel.
Rusty ordered the crew to throw all cargo and goods overvoard until there wasn't anymore of it.
"Look, the pirates are slowing down!" Shadow shouted. "It worked!"
But what happened next was not expected.
Rusty noticed the pirate ship turn around and shot 3 rows of cannons towards their ship. Time seemed to slow down as they were bombarded by cannon shots. The last thing Rusty heard was explosions and the sound of cracking wood.
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Rusty woke up. He seemed to be laying on the cold ground below him.
"Oh Rusty," Shadow said, glad now that he knew Rusty was alive. "Thank Celestia you are still alive."
"Wha... what happened?" Rusty asked.
"The ship sank, but all of the crew survived," Shadow said. "We were lucky nothing more happened."
"No... we blew up the goods, we got the ship destroyed. I don't think Celestia will like those news," Rusty said.
"Rusty, it wasn't your fault. There was nopony's fault," Shadow said.
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Captain Rusty and the crew stayed at an inn. It was night. Everpony was asleep, but Rusty.
"Why?" Rusty repeated to himself.
Rusty thought about something. He could remember seeing some posters at the centre in Manehattan. He decided to check them out.
Rusty trotted to a building. There were some posters about ship builders. Rusty read through the poster.
[ Need a ship? ]
Equestria's finest ship builders can build any ship for you in a hurry.
This may cost you some bits, but it will seem worth it once our work is done.
Rusty skipped to the part where the prices of the ships were
Schooner - 500 Bits
Brig - 1500 Bits
Frigate - 3000 Bits
Galleon - 5000 Bits
Rusty checked his pocket. He had 2000 bits.
He decided to buy a Brig for now.
Rusty went back to the inn and went to his room. He decided to go to bed and instantly fell to sleep.
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!"
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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."
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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.
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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.
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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'
Rusty and Shadow went into the observatory, where they found Celestia. "We got good news," Rusty said. "We bought a new ship, defeated some pirates, stole their cargo and made it back."
This made Celestia confused. "You managed to do all that?" she asked the two unicorns.
"Yes, I can confirm that," Shadow said. "And if you don't believe us, you may see Rusty's new ship 'The Crusador'."
Celestia found herself shocked as she got to know that Rusty succesfully took a pirate ship and got himself a working new ship.
"How..." Celestia mumbled. She coughed and then began to be serious. "Congratulations, Rusty. You have proven yourself worthy of being a captain," Celestia said. "You surprised me."
"So you're going to forget the fact that we exploded our own goods and let me sail even when Shadow thought it would be storm?" Rusty asked.
Celestia looked at Rusty. "Did you really think those small things would make you a bad captain?" Celestia asked. "I know you did those things because you felt you had to make hard decisions, which in fact makes you a good captain."
"Um, thanks. I guess," Rusty said.
"You may do what you want to do freely now, I will not do the choises for you, but you will have to do them on your own," Celestia said. "I expect you to come to Canterlot University tomorrow to continue your studies."
"Okay Celestia. I got it," Rusty said.
_______________________
Rusty came home again. He thought he probably would need to learn a spell that would transport him between places faster. He felt kind of tired by doing all of this. But his thoughts wasn't focused so much on that now.
Opening the door, Rusty went into his house. He trotted towards his bedroom and laid away his book on a desk.
Rusty went through the things in his saddlebag. A compass, which he used when he had to find out where north was. A small map of Equestria. A gun without any ammo. Rusty also noticed he forgot to take off his sword holster. Using his magic, he levitated the holster and his sword away, and laid them on the desk, together with the map, compass and book.
_______________________
In the following morning, Rusty woke up early, hoping not to sleep too long again.
He trotted towards Ponyville Docks. The trot felt nice. It was nice weather this morning. Rusty could see the sun rise up in the horizon. He had big plans for this day.
Because of the bigger size of The Crusador, it could load more cargo, meaning he could get more money for each time he sailed to trade.
Rusty saw Shadow and the crew prepare for the journey. Today they were going to sail to Saddle Arabia. It was going to be a long journey.
"Y'know. We would probably need to find a way to get enough food for the journey," Shadow said. "One thing we could try could be to fish something for dinner."
"Yes, but how would we cook the fish?" Rusty asked. "I don't know of any fire spells. Besides, the ship could catch fire."
"Well, let's sail to an island then. We could cook the fish with the wood from the trees," Shadow said. "And maybe collect a few fruits."
"Good thinking, Shadow. I shall think of that when we would need it," Rusty answered.
Rusty went to check the supplies they had to deliver. It was mainly corn, sugar and cocoa powder. Nothing more, but it was worth alot of bits.
"They are ready to sail, Captain Rusty," Shadow said. He seemed nervous, but Rusty couldn't figure why. "Do we have enough cannonballs and gunpowder?" Shadow asked.
"Yes, I have checked our storage. It is enough in case we will get attacked," Rusty answered.
"I have read the news, and it says that alot of piracy has been done lately. We should be careful," Shadow said.
Rusty nodded. "Ok, let's go then," Rusty said, while going on to The Crusador, greeted by the crew.
They left the docks and sailed out in the ocean. The smell of salty water could be noticed. There was a lot of wind. Rusty ordered the crew to release all sails.
_______________________
A few days had passed since they left the docks. Rusty ordered the crew to gather some fish from the net they sat out.
But Rusty could hear waves moving that didn't come from The Crusador.
Shadow looked around the ship, and there was a sight he did nit expect to see.
"Uh, Rusty..." Shadow said. "There is something you should see."
Rusty looked where Shadow was looking, and had a very surprised expression on his face.
Behind The Crusador came a pirate frigate at a full speed towards them.
"That ship... I remember that," Rusty said. Indeed that was true. It was the ship he feared on the first time he sailed his ship.
"That Frigate..." Shadow said. "Is that the first pirate ship we encountered?"
"Yes it is," Rusty said. Now getting nervous.
"Everypony prepare the cannons!" Rusty shouted. "I will not want this to end with failure."
"Same strategy as last time, Rusty?" Shadow asked.
"No, we can't risk that, we will need to sink them," Rusty said.
Rusty turned the ship so the side faced the front of the pirate ship. "Fire the cannons... NOW!" Rusty shouted
The cannons from The Crusadors shot cannonballs at the pirate ship, making a few holes in it.
"Look out! They are gonna fire at us!" Shadow shouted.
The pirate ship shot 3 rows of cannon shots at The Crusador, destroying a bunch of their cannons and the side of the ship.
Rusty watched as their cannons got destroyed, and some small fires spread around them.
"Great! Their ship is stronger than ours," Shadow said.
"We will need to escape, The Crusador can't take anymore damage," Rusty said, while turning the wheel. The Crusador turned at a high speed away from the pirate ship, but not fast enough to get away from them.
"They are getting closer!" Shadow shouted.
"Throw away the barrels to slow them down," Rusty said.
Two of the crew threw some barrels with gunpowder overboard, surprising the pirates.
Rusty saw the enemy frigate colliding with the barrels, exploding a bit of the front of it.
Rusty turned the ship quickly to the right.
"Fire the cannons, aim at their sails!" Rusty shouted.
The Crusador's cannons fired away shots at the enemy frigate, but also destroyed the sails.
"Good thinking, Captain Rusty. Now they can't move!" Shadow said. This was clearly going to be successful.
"Cannons ready, Captain Rusty!"
"Fire the cannons!" Rusty said, making The Crusador fire at the pirate ship, sinking it.
Rusty watched as the pirate ship sank into the deep ocean. A bit satisfied, he began to speak. "Time to go now. Now we can leave."
The Crusador sailed away towards Saddle Arabia at a fast speed.
In the horisont, Rusty could see Saddle Arabia ahead. This meant their travel was complete.
But that was only what they thought would only happen...
... Because two shadowy figures watched as the The Crusador sailed into the docks.
"What's your orders?" the first figure asked.
"Time to execute the plan," the other figure answered.
"Let's see how the captain will handle this." the figure said while gaining an evilish smile.
Chapter 6: The Pirate Master
The sun shone brightly. The town near the docks was a unique place and was unlike what Rusty has ever seen.
"Welcome to ShadowDale, captain," Shadow said, showing rusty the small town with a lot of different ponies and saddle arabians.
ShadowDale had several docks and structures, but is known for the extreme heat that may occur. You shouldn't ask why it is named ShadowDale.
"I suppose you've been here before?" Rusty asked, wondering if Shadow has been in a town like this.
The town itself was larger than it looked like from a distance. The buildings were mostly made out of wood. But they had to focus on why they travelled here for now.
"No, not really," Shadow answered. "But I took some time to read about the different towns in Saddle Arabia before we left Ponyville."
Rusty and the crew trotted through the small town, noticing different events that occured. There were some bars, hotels and even some stores who sold random things.
They went into an old building with a poster of a ship. They assumed this was where they had to go to deliver the goods.
Rusty looked at the stallion at the counter which seemed to be a salespony of some kind. "Hey, captain Rusty. Long time no see?" he asked. "Do you have the goods I ordered?" the salespony asked.
Rusty pointed towards some of his crew, who were holding some crates. "Yes, Cactus. We got the goods," Rusty said to the salespony named Cactus.
"Great, I suppose you want the money now," Cactus said, giving Rusty a large sack of bits. "I'll tell you when I will need another delivery."
_______________________
Shadow looked at Rusty. "We brought more goods than we had to deliver."
"That's not true, Shadow," Rusty said. "The rest of the goods wil be sold in the docks, earning us a lot of bits in total."
"Have you planned this well enough?" Shadow asked Rusty.
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. But I will tell you how much the final earnings will be."
They trotted a bit across ShadowDale before coming to a hotel. "I guess we will stay here for a while before traveling back."
_______________________
They decided to stay in ShadowDale for a day before leaving. Rusty came up with the idea of he and Shadow could stay at the hotel.
The following day, when Rusty and Shadow trotted across town, Shadow noticed Rusty acted a bit suspicious.
Rusty trotted in to an ally, followed by Shadow.
"Why did you go here?" Shadow asked.
"Because somepony were following me," Rusty answered while taking his sword and charged at a pony behind him, pinning the pony to the wall. "Who are you?"
"Not gonna tell ya!" the pony answered.
Shadow looked at a wanted sign with the pony on the picture. "It seems like you are a wanted pirate," Shadow said, noticing the pony grinning. "Why were you following Rusty."
The pony began to speak, but it wasn't what they expected. "I have nothing to tell you," the pirate said. He spat at Shadow.
"Tell us, or I'll cut your throat off!" Shadow warned.
"Wait... We don't need to get violent, do we?" the pirate asked. "Ok, I'll tell ya. There's a masterious guy who wants ponies to kill ya, but there's nothing you can do to stop him, he's a pirate master." the pirate told.
'A pirate master?' Rusty wondered. He were beginning to wonder if the pirate were telling lies. "What's a pirate master?" Rusty asked the pirate.
"I don't know, I've only met him for a few minutes before he ordered me to kill you," the pirate answered. "Honest!"
"Where is he?" Rusty asked, now getting inpatient. But the pirate simply pointed a hoof towards a bar.
"Let me come with you," the pirate said. This surprised Rusty and Shadow.
"Why?" Shadow asked. "Weren't he the one who sent you?"
"Yes, he was. But I didn't like him. He just bossed around everypony. He wasn't very nice either. Betraying him would feel so good," the pirate said, now having an evil looking grin across his face. This made Rusty and Shadow a bit worried.
"You don't want to tell him you hate him?" Shadow asked.
"At least not alone," the pirate added.
The three entered the bar, noticed by some random ponies sitting by the tables.
"Follow me," the pirate said while trotting towards a table where two ponies sat.
Rusty looked at the ponies. The first one was a dark grey coated unicorn with red eyes. The other one seemed like a strong pegasus stallion, that had white coat and red mane.
"Is this him?" Rusty asked the pirate.
"What are you doing here with the target I ordered you to kill?!" the dark grey coated unicorn asked.
"I'm sorry, captain BlackTooth, but I am sick of your torturing commands and orders. I am free now and there is nothing you can do about it!" the pirate shouted, making the ponies in the bar starting to listen to the conversation.
"Hmm, I've always known you would prove yourself bad one day, but this is out of hoof, Luck Hoof," BlackTooth said. "And you can forget about being part of my crew anymore!"
"BlackTooth..." Rusty said. "As a captain of the royal navy, I will have to arrest you for the following reason being a pirate lord and murdering ponies," Rusty said, having confidence in himself.
"Arrest me?" BlackTooth said, beginning to laugh hysterically. "I think you've got something else to worry about now..."
BlackTooth took his gun and fired up on the roof, surprising Rusty and Shadow.
But what they didn't know was that the gunshot could be heard from the distance, and was the signal for a pirate captain in a ship in the distance to do something.
"Ok, NOW!!!" the captain shouted, while watching as the ship shot cannonballs and sieged the town.
The cannonballs destroyed some of the buildings, which were seen by Shadow and Rusty. "We're getting attacked!" Shadow said.
"The ship in the distance. That must be the attacker!" Rusty said. Indeed that was true. It was a big frigate in the distance that fired its cannons at ShadowDale.
"Retreat!" Rusty said. "We must get back to our ship!"
"But Rusty, the ship isn't repaired. It got damaged from the last battle, remeber?" Shadow said.
But Rusty had his focus on BlackTooth, who were laughing at what happened.
"Order them to stop the siege!" Rusty shouted.
"It is too late," BlackTooth said. "I cannot stop this!" he shouted, while laughing evily.
Rusty drew his sword. "It's not over yet."
"Are you going to challenge a pirate master?" BlackTooth asked. "Because I've trained my whole life, so don't think this will be an easy fight."
Rusty only grinned. "Let's see about that," he said while trotting towards BlackTooth.
Rusty were surprised by the amount of quick atracks BlackTooth attempted. Rusty tried all he could on blocking the slashes, but it became too much for him.
The blade of Rusty broke when it hit BlackTooth's sword too hard. "How are you going to fight me without a sword?" BlackTooth questioned the dark green unicorn.
"I guess I'll just do this," Rusty said while throwing a bit towards BlackTooth. BlackTooth took the bit before it hit him, and using the time of the distraction, Rusty took Shadow's sword, galloped towards BlackTooth and slashed the sword through BlackTooth's chest.
BlackTooth landed hard on the wooden floor, and dropped something from a pocket in his saddlebag.
Rusty picked it up. It looked like a gold medallion of a cutlass.
"Rusty... the Crusador, remeber?" Shadow asked.
Rusty instantly knew what to do. "Shadow, we'll need to fix the Crusador later. For now we have a ship to sink and a town to save," Rusty said while galloping towards the Crusador.
Screams could be heard in the town. Pirates and thieves began to roam the streets. There were even beginning to come more ship in the horizon that shot their cannons at the town. It was a total disaster.
Rusty saw the Crusador near the docks. "Get ready to sail the ship!" he shouted to the crew.
After getting to the wheel, Rusty began giving orders. "Release all sails and arm the cannons!" Rusty ordered.
"Rusty, it would be impossible to sink all those ships," Shadow said.
"That's not the point, we will only need to sink one specific ship," Rusty said, while turning the wheel to the right to evacuate from the broadside cannons of a pirate ship.
"You're going to take down that frigate?" Shadow asked. He did not like that idea at all.
"That ship started this. If we take the captain..."
"Then what?!" Shadow asked frustated. "How will it stop all the pirate ships?"
"If we can't get the pirate ships to stop, we will at least get to know who these attackers were. This ship was ordered to attack the town, that's why I want to find out about this," Rusty said. He noticed they were chased by two pirate ships. One brig and one schooner.
The crew of the Crusador could see the frigate they looked for in front of them, a few hundred metres ahead of them. Rusty got an idea by this.
"Shadow, bring a pony with you to drop a few of our barrels," Rusty ordered.
"Rusty, the ships behind us would see that coming," Shadow said.
"I know, that's the plan," Rusty said, making Shadow wonder, but he ignored it.
A few barrels were thrown overboard, and the brig and schooner sailed to the side, just as Rusty planned. This made it easier to quickly turn around and shoot the cannons.
Rusty quickly turned the ship to the left, surprising the pirates, and ordered the crew to fire the cannons.
The cannons fired shots that spread from the brig and the schooner.
There were a lot of explosions on the brig, and it sunk, but the schooner was nearly damaged, and was coming closer.
Rusty saw it was a bit destroyed and could see a small weak point.
"Shadow, have you reloaded your gun?" Rusty asked Shadow.
"Sure, what will you need it for?" Shadow asked.
"I will need you to shoot at the schooner's weak point," Rusty said. "And don't miss."
"Got it," Shadow said, while holding the pistol with his magic.
Shadow shot the gun and hit perfectly at a destroyed area in the schonner. A big explosion could be seen. He hit the gunpowder storage.
"The frigate is coming," Shadow said, pointing to the other side of the ship.
"Fire the cannons!" Rusty ordered.
The frigate got nearly damaged, due to the size of it.
"We can't let that ship hit us," Shasow said. "The Crusador won't survive so much damage."
"What are your orders sir?" Shadow asked. Now getting a bit more nervous now that the frigate came closer much quicker.
"Our onliest hope is to board them," Rusty said.
The Crusador sailed quickly towards the frigate, colliding with its side.
"All try to survive, I'll find the captain," Rusty said. He quickly galloped and jumped over to the frigate. It would be a hard fight, because the crew was a bit outnumbered.
Rusty saw the captain trot to him while holding a sword.
The enemy captain had a blue coat, black clothes and a hood. Nothing more was known about this mysterious pony..
"I'll give you one chance to surrender," Rusty said, but the enemy captain just laughed.
"We'll have to see about that," the captain said while charging towards Rusty.
Rusty was used to this, but used a new trick to block the attack. He blocked the attack and somehow managed to quickly disarm his opponent and used his magic to remove the hood of the enemy captain.
Shocked was the perfect way to describe how Rusty felt now. Removing the enemy captain's hood revealed a light blue maned, blue coated mare known as Trixie.
"I suppose you didn't expect this," Trixie said.
"You... You're just that magician from Ponyville," Rusty said, while still being a little shocked.
"Wrong! Trixie is more than that now," Trixie said, while beginning to laugh evily now.
"But... Why?" Rusty asked, clearly wanting an answer.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie has no reason to tell you anything, even though you're going to die anyways," Trixie said.
"Enough of this talking, you've... I mean... Trixie had no reason to become a pirate even after those small things she did in Ponyville," Rusty said.
"Wait, you thought that Trixie became a pirate just because of the small things she did in Ponyville?" Trixie asked.
Rusty thought about this. At least Trixie didn't fight him while talking to him. He could see Shadow a few metres away, but it looked like he heard what Trixie said.
Rusty did a quick sign with his hoof for Shadow to take Trixie.
"Why did you become a pirate then?" Rusty asked, making Trixie get tears in her eyes. It seemed like he had hit a soft spot. Maybe she was unlike he had thought of her. Maybe she didn't like talking about the past.
But, in a quick *thud* Trixie was knocked out by Shadow.
"Good, we'll deal with her when we come to Ponyville," Rusty said. He noticed a pirate run towards them. Using his reflexes, Rusty quickly drew his sword and blocked the omcoming attack, and countered by stabbing the pirate.
The fight was far from over. Both the pirates and Rusty's crew were injured.
A few gunshots could be heard, so Rusty and Shadow quickly went to the crew to fight with them.
"Shadow, send me a pistol," Rusty ordered. Shadow threw a pistol to him, and watched as Rusty catched the pistol. Rusty them aimed at a pirate and shot, leaving the pirate dead on the deck.
"Rusty, a little help here," Shadow said while fighting two pirates. The battle was getting harder, since more of Rusty's crew began to die in battle.
Rusty quickly galloped to help Shadow, but a few pirates were between Rrusty and Shadow.
Rusty tried all he could on attacking the pirates, but it was getting too hard, and Rusty got a scar on his hoof and began bleeding.
Rusty threw his sword at the pirate in front of him and tackled a pirate at the side. Only a few pirates were left.
A pirate took his gun, aimed it at Rusty and a gunshot was heard.
But Rusty wasn't hit, he didn't feel any pain at all, but there was a pony that went in front of him and took the shot instead of him, and that was Shadow. He sacrificed his life to save Rusty. Rusty watched as Shadow fell on the deck and got his body surrounded with blood. Sorrow and anger filled Rusty's heart, and he quickly galloped to the pirate who shot Shadow, and slashed his sword, cutting off the pirate's head.
Rusty noticed that they had managed to kill all the pirates, but a lot of damage were brung upon his crew.
Rusty trotted to Shadow, and watched as he laid there. "No, Shadow... This can't be possible... Why?!" Rusty shouted to himself. "Why you?!"
"...."
The crew gathered around Rusty and Shadow. They were feeling as sad as the captain were. Shadow was a great leader and fighter. They could never imagine losing him.
"Why?" Rusty said, more sounding sad.
"... Rusty.." Shadow said, surprising them.
"I'll have to tell you something."
"What is it?" Rusty asked.
"Tell Celestia I tried all I could on defending you, and that... I suceeded," Shadow said, closing his eyes.
"No... You won't die... You can't!" Rusty said. "Please..."
"Rusty..."
Shadow didn't move or say anything else. Rusty was now about to cry.
"Shadow..." Rusty said, now crying.
"SHADOW!!!!"
Chapter 7: The Gold Medallions
It had been a day since the events of the siege. Rusty had memories that repeated several times. He couldn't believe his friend Shadow had died that day. He had been sad for a long time, and he couldn't get over with it.
Trixie woke up. She noticed she had been knocked out. She didn't know for how long, though. Trixie also noticed she wasn't on her ship anymore, but on somepony's else.
"Hey, what have you done to Trixie's ship?" Trixie asked one of the crew.
"We destroyed it, took the parts of it to repair ours, and now we're travelling home," the pony answered.
"WHAT?!" Trixie shouted angrily. "Who?!"
"I believe that is me," Rusty answered. "Welcome to The Crusador, Trixie."
Trixie looked at Rusty. She couldn't believe she got defeated that easily. Trixie always thought that she was a great pirate. "What do you want?" she asked.
"Well actually... there's a small thing I would like to get an answer for," Rusty said. "And i believe you can answer it."
"Trixie will not talk," Trixie said. This didn't bother Rusty. He still thought he would manage to get her to talk. Then he suddenly looked at the gold medallion she wore.
"What is this?" Rusty asked while taking the shiny medallion.
"It's gold... never heard of it?" Trixie said. "Clearly you aren't as smart as Trixie thought you were."
"The pirate captain named BlackTooth had the same medallion as yours. He was a pirate master, so it wouldn't be too hard to guess you were one," Rusty said.
"So you've heard of them... the pirate masters. Trixie has never heard of anypony that dared fighting them. What did you do to him?" Trixie asked.
"I've killed him," Rusty answered. This made Trixie surprised.
"Killed him?" Trixie asked, almost if she didn't catch what he said. "Hah! Nopony have ever killed a pirate master before," Trixie said.
"Well, I did. I plan to find them all and bring a stop to their piracy," Rusty said.
"You seem so sure of yourself."
"I am sure that with the help of the royal navy, we can defeat them all," Rusty said.
"If what you say is true, then there's only two pirate masters left. BlackTooth and Trixie may have been easy to defeat, but the other two is a tougher challenge," Trixie said.
"I don't care. It isn't about who has the strongest ship or the largest fleet. The pirate masters WILL be defeated. I know so," Rusty said. "Also, don't be so happy about me sparing your life. I will tell Princess Celestia of what you have done."
"You're a weird kind of pirate," Trixie said.
"That's not true, I am a captain of the royal navy. I'm not a pirate," Rusty said.
"The one with a pirate master's medallion will become a pirate master himself," Trixie said. "You board ships, kill ponies. How can you say that you're not a pirate?"
"I'm not a pirate, that's it," Rusty said.
Rusty went to the wheel and began thinking for himself. 'Celestia got to know of what had happened. This is important, and the information about two pirate masters left... I better watch out for Trixie, in case she plans on doing something. I don't know if I can truly trust her...'
They sailed to the Ponyville Docks. When docking The Crusador, one of the crew went to Rusty. He was a white coated earth pony with black mane and emerald green eyes. He began to speak to him. "Rusty, I am sorry for what happened to Shadow," he said, trying to make Rusty feel better.
"Don't think about it. There wasn't anything you could have done," Rusty said.
"I could have tried fighting harder. Shadow was a close friend, even to some of the other crew," he answered. "The name's White Sail, by the way."
"Hi White Sail, I've never known any of the crew unless Shadow," Rusty said. "But it's nice to meet you.
____________________________________________________________________
Celestia was angry of the news she got, but she felt also sad. "I'm sorry this happened, Rusty. I should have tried figuring out there would be a lot of pirates."
"It must have been the pirate masters. They may have been the ones sending out ships to attack," Rusty said.
"Rusty, I am very sorry for the death of Shadow. If there is any..."
"It doesn't matter now!" Rusty said.
"Rusty, I'm serious. As a princess, I will grant you permission to use three of my ships," Clestia said. "Have you heard of the HMS Solar?" she asked.
"Yes, I have. It is one of the strongest galleons the royal navy has," Rusty answered.
"Tell me when you will need it," Celestia said. "You may go now."
___________________________________________________________________
"Where shall we travel next?" White Sail asked.
"I don't know," Rusty answered. "The location of the two remaining pirate masters are unknown, but we will just have to travel until we find them. How much time will it take to repair The Crusador?"
"It will take about the whole day," White Sail answered. "But I think you may want to upgrade it some more?"
"I plan on having it as the size of a frigate. We should also get advanced cannons for it," Rusty said.
"Those pirate masters you we're talking about... They have some strong ships, don't they?"
"Yes, that is true, which is why I want The Crusador to be prepared for fight," Rusty answered. "I think we'll have to travel in five days, then start the journey."
"Um, exactly where, Rusty?" White Sail asked.
Rusty thought for a moment before answering. "To Manehattan."
____________________________________________________________
While preparing The Crusador, Rusty looked to the side. He saw the HMS Solar that was going to sail with them. He also noticed the other two royal navy ships, which were frigates, if he was correct.
"Full sail, everypony, let's set sail for Manehattan!" Rusty ordered, making The Crusador travel at a fast speed towards Manehattan, followed by the three royal navy ships.
In a place in the mountain near Canterlot...
"Reports from one of BlackTooth's crew, captain," a pony said.
"What is it, Purple Vine?" a dark voice asked.
"They wrote BlackTooth got murdered by a pony named Rusty," Purple Vine answered.
"What?! He died?!" the dark voice asked, getting angry at those news.
"Well, that's unfortunate."
"SHUT UP!" the dark voice said, making silence fill the room.
They were in a dark room with a lot of guards. There were currently only two ponies sitting near a table and a pony standing next to one of them.
"He wasn't so special anyways. I kind of expected this to happen."
"It is important that we take care of what is happening to our group, Yellow Gear."
"Hmm, the worst that could happen would be if Trixie would tell anything. It says in the reports that Trixie got taken by Rusty and his crew," Yellow Gear said.
"What are your orders, Darkness Blade?"
"This captain is going to pay for what he has done!" Darkness Blade answered with rage.
"I can take care of him sir. But I will need some of your ships to do so. My ships are busy trading," Yellow Gear answered.
"Yellow Gear, I know you want to prove yourself worthy, but I'm not sure if you are qualified for the job. This captain took both BlackTooth and Trixie," Darkness Blade said, while thinking about the situation.
"I know that if we use both of our fleets, we can manage to do this," Yellow Gear assured.
"Hmm, alright. I'll let you use some of my ships. Let me know when you kill the captain."
"Alright. Our scouts have informed us that captain Rusty is going to travel to Manehattan. Other important news is that he has docked many times at the Ponyville Docks."
"I assume that's an important place?" Yellow Gear asked.
"Let's give that town a little visit, shall we?"
___________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile on the other side of the ocean...
It had been a day since Rusty and the crew left Ponyville Docks. Rusty didn't know what he would do when they reached Manehattan, but he would try to search everywhere until he would find the pirate masters.
Since yesterday, Rusty thought of having a quartermaster. He decided this day that White Sail could be one.
Rusty learned a lot about White Sail. He had shown Rusty that he was a good sailor, had a decent knowledge of ships and could watch out for things in the distance.
Rusty managed to get to know other ponies on The Crusador. For example, the pegasus colt named Cold Wind and the pegasus mare Evening Rain.
Rusty would try to keep track of the crew's mood. With the help of White Sail, he managed to do that fine.
Other things crossed Rusty's mind. He missed his family, mostly his brother. Rusty had been very busy lately. He thought of traveling back home when he was done with this. That was all that he wanted.
The strong wind made The Crusador sail fast across the sea. There were some big waves.
Cold Wind had managed to tell Rusty when to slow down so the Royal Navy ships could keep up with them.
_________________________________________________________________________
Inside the captain's office...
Rusty looked at a map he had. 'hmm, if we continue at this speed, we will arrive at Manehattan in about a day or two...' Rusty thought to himself. He didn't notice White Sail entering the room.
"When will we arrive sir?" White Sail asked.
"Don't call me sir, you can call me Rusty."
"Okay, Rusty. I just wondered when we would arrive at Manehattan."
"The wind is strong now, so don't expect to have the same speed to Manehattan. I think it will be around two to three days," Rusty answered. He didn't have much else to say. "I'll tell you when we are close."
"Alright, Rusty. I'll tell this to the crew."
Rusty still had some questions in mind that he wanted to ask White Sail, but decided to ask later. For now they had to find the pirate masters.
It was getting close to evening. The day was very calm and silent. Rusty liked this. However, he still had this bad feeling of something was going to happen, like always. White Sail had told him to calm down. Rusty would try to do what White Sail had told him to do.
It was foggy around the ships. They couldn't see much, so they were careful to not crash into anything.
Rusty checked everything on the deck, some of the crew were getting tired of all the work. "Only a few hours left before we arrive, guys," Rusty said. He tried looking over in the horizon, but the fog made it difficult.
He went to the back of the ship, looking behind them. The ships had managed to keep up with their speed.
"Objects in the horizon!" Cold Wind shouted. Rusty wanted to check what he was talking about. Because of the fog, it wasn't easy to figure out what that was.
"Is that a..."
In about 150 feet in front the Crusador, was what seemed like a destroyed ship. White Sail rotated the wheel so that the Crusador was at the side of the wreck.
"Seems like a trade ship got destroyed," Rusty said, looking at the wreck.
"How did it get destroyed?" Evening Rain asked.
"I'm not sure. Slow down the Crusador," Rusty commanded. He wondered how the ship could get destroyed. He also noticed there were no ponies in the ship.
Another destroyed ship could be seen, not too far away.
"Hey, do you think..."
The loud noise of cannon shots could be heard, preventing White Sail from finishing his question.
Rusty looked behind of the Crusador, noticing several frigates attacking the Royal Navy ships.
"Turn the ship!" Rusty ordered.
Something that looked like a giant galleon ship appeared out of the fog. "We're surrounded!" Cold Wind shouted.
"Ready the cannons!" Rusty shouted. He looked over to the side of the Crusador and noticed the galleon ship firing it's cannons. The cannon shots destroyed parts of the Crusador, and the front sail got destroyed.
"Fire the cannons!" Rusty ordered as the crew fired cannons at this unknown galleon ship. It nearly dealt any damage to it.
"We must help the Royal Navy, White Sail. Sail towards them!"
"Okay sir," White Sail replied to Rusty. The ship went towards the other ships. It seemed like the Royal Navy ships couldn't hold out much longer.
White Sail turned the Crusador, allowing the crew to get a good aim at one of the enemy frigates. Two rows of cannonballs were shot at a frigate, destroying it.
"One down, a lot more to go," White Sail said, getting nervous about the situation.
Rusty noticed the galleon ship come at full speed towards them. "Brace for impact!" was the only thing Rusty could say before the two ships collided.
Several hooks were thrown from the galleon ship. "They are boarding us, captain Rusty," White Sail said. Rusty levitated out his sword. He saw one of the Royal Navy frigates sink into the deep ocean, and a few enemy frigates left.
"How could this have happened?" Rusty asked himself. Several ponies came on board the Crusador from the galleon ship. One of them went for Rusty.
The pony charged towards Rusty, but the attack got blocked. he slashed his sword, damaging the pony, but another one had appeared from the side of Rusty and knocked him backwards. Rusty lost his footing, tripping on the deck. He could feel a heavy buck sending him out of the Crusador.
Rusty sank down the water, slowly loosing sight of what happened above the water surface. A silhouette of a pony could be seen, and it lifted Rusty out of the water. And then... darkness.
___________________________________________________
Rusty woke up. He breathed, trying desperately to get air. "Ugh, what happened?" Rusty asked. He looked around him, noticing he wasn't on his ship anymore. "The Crusador..."
Rusty looked over to the side, noticing the Crusador was still fine. However, he and all of the crew were now on this unknown ship. Rusty assumed they were on the galleon ship. He tried standing on all hooves, but found it very difficult. Rusty looked around him, noticing the crew was fine. A stallion trotted towards him, which he assumed was the captain of the ship.
"Are you captain Rusty?" the stallion asked. He was clearly older than Rusty. He was a yellow coated pegasus pony with a golden gear as cutie mark.
"Yes, I am," Rusty answered. He looked around the horizon, noticing the fog was gone. Rusty wondered how long he had been unconscious. "What have you done...?"
"To the ships? We sunk them, the HMS Solar is fine, but we have already boarded it and killed all it's crew," the stallion said. The stallion trotted around the ship. "I want no harm to your crew, however, I've been sent here to find you," the stallion said, looking at Rusty.
"Why me?" Rusty asked.
"You are the pony who have won against two pirate masters. You are obviously a captain Celestia sent to eliminate all four," the stallion said, with a bit anger in his voice.
"Why does that bother you..?" Rusty stopped. The stallion gained an devilish grin across his face. "You're a pirate," Rusty said.
"Not only that," the stallion said. "I'm captain Yellow Gear, one of the pirate masters," Yellow Gear said. "And I see you've got two gold medallions from the previous pirate masters."
"What do you want?" Rusty asked, both angry and nervous at the same time.
"I want you dead, Rusty," Yellow Gear said, while taking his sword. "And as a pirate master, I will make sure your death is slow and painful."
"You won't get away with this," Rusty said.
"What can Celestia do?" Yellow Gear asked. "We are the most powerful ponies in all of equestria! When our plans are done, even the Royal Navy will fear us."
Two ponies grabbed Rusty, preventing him from escaping. Rusty's crew couldn't do anything either, because they were now captured in what seemed like a big fish net.
"It's kind of funny, actually. This ship used to be owned by the Royal Navy. What was it's name again...? The HMS Destroyer?"
Rusty had heard about this ship. If he would have guessed right, he would know exactly where everything would be, according from what he knew of equestrian sea history.
Rusty attempted a spell, making a part of the ship blow.
"What the..?!"
"An explosion from a gunpowder storage would create enough time..." Rusty said as he levitated a sword owned by a pirate and used it to kill the two ponies holding him. "...to get myself free."
Yellow Gear quickly charged towards Rusty, slashing his sword, desperately trying to land a hit on Rusty. However, Rusty had experience in different fights and blocked the attacks. Rusty focused and tried to find a perfect time to hit Yellow Gear, but it was difficult. All the pirates took their swords and trotted slowly towards Rusty.
Rusty levitated his pistol and tried to focus where to shoot, but noticed the pistol was out of ammo. Rusty galloped towards his crew and slashed his sword across the fishing net, releasing the crew.
"Attack!" Rusty shouted.
Unlike the pirates, some of Rusty's crew were experienced in combat. They managed to fight back against the pirates pretty well. White Sail threw his pistol to Rusty. He quickly aimed at Yellow Gear, but noticed the pirate master grabbed a pony from Rusty's crew.
"Try to shoot me, and it will most likely end with another pony's life instead," Yellow Gear said.
'No, I will need a better aim at him if I want to kill him,' Rusty thought to himself. A pirate galloped towards Rusty, and Rusty shot the pirate.
Using the time Rusty spent, Yellow Gear drew his pistol at Rusty.
"I win," Yellow Gear said. "There is nothing more you can do, Rusty. You have done all you could."
"He can't, but maybe I can," Cold Wind said as he quickly drew his pistol and shot Yellow Gear.
A loud noise and a warm feeling in Yellow Gear's chest was all he could feel now. His body felt slowly down onto the deck of the ship. The pirates noticed this and dropped their weapons. They were already less in numbers than Rusty's crew.
Rusty trotted over to Yellow Gear. "You... pirate. You kill me, you kill my crew... You're definitely a pirate," Yellow Gear said.
"I am no pirate. I'm a captain of the Royal Navy. Killing you is necessary to stop your plans," Rusty answered.
"Any sailor with three gold medallions would already be considered a pirate master. Why did you want to be a captain?" Yellow Gear asked.
"I guess I like being one," Rusty said.
"I don't get it..." Yellow Gear said, before closing his eyes.
"Three down..." Rusty said while slowly levitating the pirate master's gold medallion off. "One left," he said to himself. Rusty trotted slowly to White Sail. "We'll be sailing three ships home."
"What?" White Sail asked.
"Yeah. The Crusador, the HMS Solar, and of course we're going to keep the HMS Destroyer," Rusty said with a grin on his face.
"Can I get to sail one of the galleons?" White Sail asked.
"Of course. I'll sail the HMS Solar, you'll sail the HMS Destroyer and maybe Cold Wind gets to sail the Crusador," Rusty said.
"Really?" Cold Wind asked, hoping for the answer to be yes.
"...no," Rusty answered simply while trotting towards the front of the ship. "I'll give that job to Evening Rain."
Rusty looked at the crew. "Okay, new orders. Let's sail home," Rusty said.
The crew felt relieved after all that happened this day. Finally they could travel home.
Chapter 9: Deadly Surprise
Three ships were sailing on the ocean that day. The Crusador, HMS Destroyer and the HMS Solar.
Rusty were currently watching the crew on the HMS Solar. He could remember yesterday the battle on the galleon ship. He was close to dying, and there were still one pirate master left. He let the surviving pirates become part of his crew, but he wouldn't let them use any weapons for now. He was still not convinced they could be trusted.
Rusty had planned they would sail to Manehattan, but since the ambush started, Rusty felt he was being watched by somepony that knew his every move he was going to take. That was why he was going to sail home to go tell Celestia about this. Rusty knew this last pirate master would do anything to prevent himself from getting killed. With the help of the Royal Navy of course, they can defeat the pirate master at last.
When Ponyville could be seen in the distance, Rusty noticed something. "What... is that?"
Fires and smoke could be seen all across the little town. The houses were destroyed and some ponies could be seen crying. "What happened here?" Rusty asked. Thinking back at what had happened, Rusty thought that maybe the pirate master had done this.
"The town... is destroyed. Who could have done this?" Cold Wind asked. He looked at Rusty and noticed fear across his face. "...Rusty?"
Rusty looked around the ship. He noticed several wrecked ships. "These are Ponyville ships. The sailors have fought brave against this enemy."
"What are your orders?" Cold Wind asked, waiting for an answer. Rusty didn't know what to answer, he didn't even know what to do know.
"..."
Rusty docked the ship near the destroyed docks. "This destruction... I have never seen anything like it."
________________________________________________________
A few ships had appeared. They belonged to the Royal Navy. They were probably going to check how destroyed Ponyville was.
Rusty went to a Royal Navy captain, asking him a few things. "Who do you think did this?"
"Well, according to the Ponyville scouts, we think we know who did this," the captain replied. "A unicorn named Darkness Blade, does that seem familiar to you?"
"No, not at all," Rusty replied. "Who is this pirate known as Darkness Blade?"
"He used to study magic and fighting at Canterlot. He left his studies after some years to become a pirate instead. That pony has become one of the most feared pirates."
'Wow, how did I miss this?' Rusty thought. "Even though he seems like a strong foe, he must be defeated."
"It is hard to defeat him. He has his own fleet. The shadow fleet is made of several galleons that used to be owned by the Royal Navy," the captain replied. "Captain Rusty, I recommend you to stay out of this."
"This... is my home, and he is going to pay for what he has done!" Rusty said.
"I'm sorry Rusty, but there is nothing I can do, these are orders from Celestia. Only the highest ranked captains are allowed to handle these things," the captain said. "But... I can tell you that we are planning to do an ambush on them, so don't worry about it."
_______________________________________________________
On a secret lair, a pony was sitting in a chair, waiting for somepony to come. "Where is Yellow Gear?" Darkness Blade asked himself.
A pony came into the room, nervous. "I am afraid Yellow Gear has failed the ambush..."
"..."
"WHAT??!?"
Purple Vine gulped, hoping Darkness Blade wouldn't kill him because of the bad news. "He... got killed in battle."
"Captain Rusty is going to pay for the actions he has done... But I think he already has returned to Ponyville, hasn't he?" Darkness Blade asked.
"Umm... yes sir. The captain has returned to Ponyville. I suggest we attack them at night."
Darkness Blade calmed himself down, trying to think what to do with the situation. "Thanks... for the... information, Purple Vine... I have no reason to be angry at you..."
"Umm... sir?"
Darkness Blade got an devilish expression on his face. "Actually, I think I know what you can do in this... mission I thought you could do."
Darkness Blade changed his expression to serious. "Prepare the fleet," Darkness Blade ordered.
"Okay sir."
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Later... in the night.
The Royal Navy had managed to gather a few ships that they could use in this ambush. "Because of the fog, this mission will work," a high rank captain said to the other captains.
"Ships in the distance," a captain said. A whole fleet could be seen in the horizon, coming out of the fog.
"Everypony, these are the plans. We sneak up from behind, coming out of the fog. The pirates won't know what hit them."