FLAGSHIP- Chapter 1: Everything Sucks
Rainbow Dash was devastated. Her whole world had just come crashing down around her. The two letters she held in front of her cemented every fear she had. She was too deep in shock to even cry. To her left was a letter from the Wonder Bolts academy saying that her scholarship was being pulled due to recent stunts she had pulled resulting in the damage of two airships. It was the kind way of expelling her without damaging her record. To her right was a letter from her sister, saying that their mom had died a week ago and she wouldn't even be allowed to attend the funeral.
After just staring off into space for almost ten minutes she finally brought herself to cry. She put her head down on the table and sobbed. Her whole life had come crashing down around her. Her mom was dead, her sister was still as heartless as ever, her dream of being a Wonder Bolt had been ruined forever, and as the cherry on this cake of misery, the dorm she was living in had been taken away from her, so she was homeless as well. Things could not have gotten worse if someone tried to make them. She cried through the night.
Rainbow woke up with her eyes still watery. She must have fallen asleep late last night. Out the window, she could see the sun just beginning to peak over the eastern mountains. Normally she would be leaving for morning drills right about now. Rainbow sighed to herself. Most of her tears had passed and she was left with a crushing emptiness inside of her. She flew up to her room to start packing her stuff. The majority of her belongings were technically owned by the school but she still had a few things that she could call her own. A pair of flight goggles that her dad had given her, and the Griffish leather jacket her old friend Gilda had sent her as a farewell gift were at the top of the list, followed by some flight charts and airship models. She stopped as she picked up her Hurricane Class model. She had had it since she was a little filly when she first had wanted to be a part of of the Wonder Bolts. It was the ship she had been training to fly until yesterday. She started to tear up again and quickly locked it into the case she was using and shoved it in her duffel bag. Grabbing what little cash she had, she headed out, still not sure what she was going to do.
It was mid-morning by the time she finally flew into the main city. Normally, Rainbow loved San Fillycisco, with it's pristine sky line, clean air, and, most importantly, international airship dock. However, in light of recent events, she wasn't seeing the city in it's usual bright light. She contemplated going to a bar and drinking her sorrows away, but decided against it, based solely on the fact that she couldn't afford the amount of alcohol it would take to make her not feel the pain she felt. She instead resigned herself to wandering around the city, not knowing or caring where she might end up.
An hour later, Rainbow found herself flying up to the docks. She vaguely had a plan to get on a ship headed east, where she knew her dad was working on a trade ship. She was still as lost as she was that morning, not having anywhere near enough cash for such a long voyage or any inkling as to her dads whereabouts other than east. What happened next was merely by chance.
THUD!
Rainbow found herself knocked to the ground after having turned a corner on the dock
"Oh goddesses, I'm so sorry about that, I didn't see you there.” The stranger who had bumped into her said.
Rainbow looked up to see the stallion speaking to her. He had a white coat and very dark, almost black, rust colored mane that was slicked back, making it look like it had frozen while the wind was blowing though it. He was just slightly bigger than she was, so still small for an earth pony, but had very toned muscles, suggesting he did a lot of physical labor. He had a compass for a cutie mark, with the W highlighted. Resting on his forehead were a pair of red tinted flight goggles that were scratched up a little around the edges. He wore a beige jacket and black vest, both with polished brass buttons. He stared blankly at her for a few seconds, as if unsure what to do next.
"Hey, you're a Pegasus right?" he finally came up with.
"Did the wings give it away?" Rainbow responded flatly.
"Hehe, you've got an attitude, I like that. You want a job?" He looked at her intently, awaiting an answer.
"Um, what?" was the best Rainbow could do.
"Ah, yes, I can see how that might be a little sudden. Allow me to explain, I work on an airship and we're due to leave port in..." He stopped for a second to pull a pocket watch out his vest pocket and glance at it.
"Thirteen minutes. Oh boy, I am cutting this close. Anyway, we're a pony short so my captain told me to find any able-bodied Pegasus and offer them a job. Here, I'll show you." Before Rainbow could object he grabbed her hoof and dragged her around another corner and down to the end of the pier.
In front of Rainbow Dash stood the most impressive airship she had ever seen. It wasn't the biggest or the most flashy ship she'd ever seen, but it certainly packed the most firepower, and having spent her last two years at a military academy, Rainbow was no stranger to firepower. The ship itself was about the size of a Scorpion Class, which was a mid-sized battleship, with two large gas balloons suspended over it. Both the balloons and sidings were armored with gold-trimmed steel plates that looked like they were either just polished, or, more likely, just replaced. Along both sides of the deck were six artillery cannons, with four more jutting out of the bow. Still, the most stunning component of the arsenal was the giant mortar at the stern. It was huge. Like, one shot from this thing and you'd be lucky to remember your ship ever existed huge. The stallion turned to her and grinned.
“She’s a beauty, isn’t she” he said proudly.
Rainbow realized her mouth was hanging open from the sight in front of her. There was no way this thing was remotely legal. She turned to ask him about it but was cut off before she could say anything.
“Anyway we just need a deck hand to man the scout’s post. You have any experience working on an airship?” He asked, oblivious to her obvious shock.
Rainbow dash quickly composed herself and said, “Well I’ve been training to fly airships at the Wonder Bolts Academy for the past two years…”
The stallion actually looked really dejected after hearing that “Oh, then you must have other obligations, to the academy and whatnot, probably have your own ship and crew. Oh well, sorry for bothering you, I’ll let you be on your way then” he said, with a tone of sadness in his voice.
“But I kinda got kicked out yesterday, so-” before she could finish, the stallion instantly perked up and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“So you're free then! Free to take the job, that is. Not saying you weren’t free before, though from what I’ve heard about military academies… I'm getting ahead of myself here, let me introduce you to the captain!" He said excitedly, with the biggest smile on his face.
He began leading Rainbow up the gangplank to the deck.
“Hey, wait, I never said I’d take the job!” Rainbow protested, but it fell on deaf ears
“Ah, details, details, we’ll sort those out later.” He responded.
Rainbow thought about just flying away from this crazy pony, but in all honesty, she was seriously considering the job. Sure it was sudden, but it’s not like she had anywhere else to go, and she needed any cash she could get. She would at least entertain the idea of meeting the captain.
The deck of the ship was cleanly polished, suggesting it had been recently swabbed. Majority of the deck was empty, save the artillery cannons and and large open hatch in the middle that lead to the hold. She only saw two ponies on deck, an orange one with a blond mane wearing a stetson, and white one with a spiky purple mane. The orange one glanced at her and smiled before turning back to the riggings she was working on. Rainbow quickly realized something.
“Hey, I still don’t know your name. What is it?” She asked while being lead up some steps to a room behind the wheel.
“Oh, did I forget to tell you. Sorry, I have a bit of a one track mind.” He said
“You don’t say.” Rainbow deadpanned
“Anyway, it’s Westward Movement, But that’s a bit of a mouthful so everyone calls me west” He grinned and continued to lead her the the door.
“Um, aren’t you going to ask what my name it?” Rainbow inquired
“No, I’m terrible with names, So I’ll just call you Rainbow. You know, because your mane looks like a rainbow” he said as he open the door to the room.
“Um, okay, I guess...” Rainbow was not one to argue a technical truth.
The room itself was magnificent. The walls were lined with charts from all over the world. There were small bookshelves on either side of the room. On the back wall was a large map of the world, covered in lines and notes around certain points. In the center was a desk with all sorts of trinkets littering it. Behind it, slouched over a letter of some kind, was a purple unicorn mare with a deep violet mane that had a pink stripe going through it. She was wearing a tricorn hat with a red feather in it that glowed radiantly.
“Reporting for duty captain!” West exclaimed
“GAH” the captain yelped as she jumped up.
She looked over at West, clearly startled by their sudden entry. She calmed down at the sight of him and smiled.
“Oh, thank Celestia, it’s just you West. Don’t startle me like that.” She sighed and looked over to Rainbow Dash.
“And you must be the poor soul who had the misfortune of running into him at the docks. He can be a bit scatterbrained but he has a good heart, trust me. So, anyway, you must be here about the job. You couldn’t be joining at a better time! Starting salary is 8% of the total haul, after taxes of course, and the royal fee, but with it being the beginning of trade season that should be around anywhere between one to two hundred thousand bits.” Rainbow’s jaw dropped at that.
The captain continued on as if she had said it might get cloudy later. “Anyways I’m just going to need your most recent physical, insurance information, place of residence. You know the usual job stuff.” The captain smiled but before Rainbow could say anything, West cut in.
“Um, captain, you do realize that we’re due to leave in...” He glanced down at his pocket watch “Two minutes.”
“WHAT! That can’t be right, I only just sent you out!” the captain yelled
“You sent me out two hours ago captain” West replied
“Oh shoot, I must have gotten so caught up in this letter from the princess time slipped away from me. Have second mate Applejack untie us, and tell Parish to fire up the gas pumps. Our heading should be east by southeast. Move! Miss… I’m sorry I don’t think I heard your name” The captain asked as west ran out the door.
“Um, it’s Rainbow Dash” Rainbow responded, vaguely aware that the ship was taking off and she was going with it.
“Right, Miss Rainbow Dash, I’m afraid we’ll have to skip the formalities. As of right now I’m inditing you into the crew of royal airship Sun Flair. Report to first mate Westward Movement for your duties. You are dismissed.” The captain finished and went back to her letter.
Rainbow Dash blinked. It looked like she would be taking the job after all. She had no problem with this of course, she’d be okay with any kind of job for 100,000 bits. still there was one thing that irked her
“Miss captain?” Rainbow inquired
“Please, call me captain Twilight. What’s the matter?” Twilight responded
“I was just wondering, why do you need so much artillery on the ship?” Rainbow asked
“Oh didn’t West tell you? This is a privateering ship, we need those to subdue any trade ship defences. Anything else?”
Ok, maybe Rainbow was in a little over her head for 100,000 bits.
Author's Note
Well there you have it folks, the first chapter of my first fimfiction. I had a lot of fun writing this and hope that you had fun reading it. Quick notes are that the majority of this was written on m phone, so please feel free to point out any minor errors I may have missed going over this. I plan to release a chapter a week, but this is subject to change based on whats going on in my life. Next time, Rainbow meets the crew
Rainbow Dash walked out of Captain Twilight's office more confused and dazed than when she went in. She kept going over what had happened in her head. Her mom had died, she had gotten kicked out of school, she had somehow become part of a pirate crew. There had to be something she was missing here. Sure, when she woke up this morning she had no idea what she would do next, but if she were to make a list of guesses, this would be right below getting sent to an Appaloosan jail for trafficking donuts across the border. Rainbow needed a reality check, and since she was told to anyway, she decided to talk to West.
"You guys are pirates!?" she shouted as she walked up to him.
"No," he responded as he ate an apple.
He took a bite and waited a moment. Rainbow's fears were put to rest. There was no way these ponies were pirates. Captain Twilight must have just been hazing her. Initiate the new deck hand and all that.
"We're privateers," West continued as he swallowed a bite of his apple. Yelp, so much for hazing.
"That's the same thing as pirates!" Rainbow argued.
"No they’re not," West responded, taking another bite of his apple.
"How is it any different? You attack trade ships and steal their cargo!" Rainbow yelled.
"There is a key difference, Rainbow. What we do is, technically, legal," he said with a smile.
Rainbow Dash facehoofed. "How on earth is any of this legal?"
"We have the paperwork and licenses. Plus all our weaponry..."
West paused for a moment.
"Most of our weaponry has been legally purchased from Equestrian arms manufacturers under government contracts," he finished, matter of factly.
Rainbow was about to respond to how stupid that argument was but was cut off before she could.
"So, West, this our new crew member? She looks... Flashy." The orange mare from earlier said as she walked over to West.
Turning to Rainbow, she quickly added, "Not that there's anything wrong with that, if ya are, that is."
Rainbow choose to hold her tongue and let the orange mare continue. "Well, before you get to any kind of work, y'all better get down to Doctor Fluttershy, make sure you're not a liability and whatnot," she finished.
Rainbow nodded her head and said "Thanks, will do miss...?"
"Oh shoot, look at me, givin' orders like that an I ain't even introduced myself! I'm Applejack!" Applejack said, holding out her hoof for a shake.
Rainbow took it and said, "I'm Rainbow Dash."
Applejack grinned and said, "Pleased to meet ya, sugarcube." They shook and then Applejack continued, "Well, I better let you go. West 'll show to the galley."
Rainbow smiled. "Pleased to meet you, too, Applejack. Come on West, let's go see the doc. Wait, did you say galley?!"
Before Applejack could respond, West grabbed Rainbow and began dragging her towards the hatch in the middle of the ship. Applejack smiled and waved as Rainbow was taken below deck.
Below deck, it was actually very nice. Coming down the stairs lead to a small common area with tables and shelves holding cards and books. It was well lit by windows where you could see the passing landscape below. Behind the stairs were two hallways with rooms on either side. In front of the stairs was another stairway leading down to the cargo bay and sleeping area.
Currently, there were two ponies sitting around one of the tables. One was a white Unicorn with a spiky light purple mane. Rainbow could just make out that his cutie mark was of a music stand, under the large tool belt he was wearing. Sitting on the ground next to him was a small violin case. Across the table from him was a navy blue Pegasus with a black mane tucked under a red bandana. He was also wearing a belt, but attached to both sides of it were two flintlock pistols. They were both engaged in a game of cards and didn't notice West and Rainbow come down until West tapped the white one on the shoulder.
"Hey Perish, you get the gas pump and spark generator running? I'd rather not crash into the ground before we even get to Cloudsdale," West asked him.
The white pony, presumably Perish, leaned back and flashed West a toothy grin. "Lay off, West, that was one time and it's not like any of us died."
West facehoofed and said, "We had to replace the hull and Captain did an emergency teleport to Canterlot hospital to save Miss Rarity. Forgive me for not wanting to repeat that!"
Perish chuckled nervously and said, "Hehe, well, don't worry. I just got back from setting them up. So, who's the new filly?" Perish nodded at Rainbow.
West grinned and said, "Perish, this is our new scout, Rainbow. Rainbow, this is Perish Song, our chucklehead of an engineer."
West turned to the other occupant of the table.
"Haze, you know if Doc Shy is in?" he asked the Pegasus.
Haze looked up and grunted, "She's in the galley. If you need her, I'd hurry. You know how Perish loves to cheat."
"Thanks, we'll leave you two alone now," West said, then motioned for Rainbow to follow him.
As they walked down one of the hallways, Rainbow couldn't help but ask, "So who was that?"
"That was Midnight Haze, our boarding officer. He's a trigger happy bad flank, but you warm up to him as you get to know him," West said with a smile.
West opened one of the inner doors to the galley. It was small with two long tables for eating. At one end was a table with various condiments on top of it. At the other was a serving area where a yellow Pegasus with a long pink mane wearing a mint colored gown and hair net was talking to the baby Dragon preparing lunch.
...
Something was wrong with this picture. Rainbow briefly went back to the idea that this was all a dream. She quickly dismissed that thought, as most her dreams involved eating a life-size cake of Spitfire. No, this was too strange for her dreams. There was indeed a Dragon chatting with a Pegasus while he made sandwiches.
West looked at Rainbow and laughed. "Rainbow, meet Spike, our chef and Captain Twilight's personal assistant. Spike, this is Rainbow, our new scout."
Spike eyed her over and finally said, "So you're the chick who's replacing Rarity. I don't know how I feel about this, West. Don't you think it's too soon to just throw her under the bus and pretend she never existed?"
West deadpanned, "Spike it's been two months. We need a new scout if we're going where I think we're going."
"But shouldn't we honor her memory in some way? We could hang a flag or something!" Spike begged.
"Spike, quit treating her like she’s dead. She damaged her spine and Twilight didn't want her to risk making it worse. She still works for us in Canterlot. Hay, you got a letter from her this morning!" West scolded him.
Spike grumbled something unintelligible and went back to making sandwiches. Dr. Fluttershy turned to Rainbow and gave a sheepish smile. "Oh, don't mind him, he's just upset that he doesn't get to see Miss Rarity anymore. He's a sweetie at heart, you'll see. So, how may I help you, Miss Rainbow?"
Rainbow scratched the back of her head. “Well, Captain Twilight said to come and see you, something about making sure I’m fit for work?”
“Ah, so just a routine physical. Okay, so if you could please just sit down here, I can get started.” Dr.Fluttershy motioned for her to sit on the edge of the table.
“You can’t be serious.” Rainbow said flatly.
“Oh, I wish I weren’t, but the ship just doesn’t have room for a proper medical bay, so we have to make due with what we do have. Now, if you could please sit down so I can get started.” Fluttershy said with a warm, healing smile.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and said, “Fine, lets just get this over with,” As she hopped onto the table.
Fluttershy wasted no time running over to the cabinets on the opposite wall. Opening one of them, she pulled out a rubber mallet from behind some bowls. She then took a stethoscope from underneath a plate. Finally she retrieved some tongue depressors from inside one of the cups.
Rainbow facehoofed, “I’d better not find a syringe in my cereal,” She said.
For some reason, Spike found this funny, “Haha, don’t be silly, we don’t have cereal.” he mused.
“Relax,” West reassured. “Out of all the people Doc Shy has saved, she’s killed more.”
Suddenly, Rainbow was a lot more nervous for this physical than she felt she should have been. They were just teasing her, right?
Half a nerve-wracking hour later, Rainbow Dash was was given a clean bill of physical health. West was walking her out of the galley when they were met with a flash of pink coming out of the room next to the galley. Rainbow suddenly couldn’t move and was finding it hard to breath. Her limbs were locked at her sides and her vision had gone pink. What was happening?!
“OHMYGOSHWESTYOUDIDN’TTELLMEWEHADANEWFRIENDONBOARDWOWHERHAIR ISALLCOLORFULWESHOULDTHROWAPARTYTOCELEBRATEOURNEWFRIEND’SHAIR All
ANDTHENWESHOULDTHROWAPARTYTOCONGRATULATEHERONBECOMINGPARTOFTHE-”
“Pinkie shoosh! Let her breath!” West scolded whoever was spouting off nonsense.
“Oopsies!” The fast talkinging mare said
Rainbow’s body hit the ground with a thud. She gasped for sweet, sweet air. Coughing a little, she looked up to see who this Pinkie was.
She was certainly pink. Seriously, pink coat, pink mane, and a pink bandana around her neck. Her mane was in a state of disarray, tangled with small black oil stains and dark grey flecks thrown into it. She had a cutie mark of three balloons. On her torso, she was wearing a hybrid of an apron and a bandoleer, with it protecting her full front while round spheres with red fuses coming out the tops hung off the sides of it. She had a GIANT smile on her face and was shaking so much it looked like she might explode.
West spoke up before she could open up again, “Rainbow, this is Pinkie Pie, our quartermaster and artillery maintenance mare. I know she can seem like a handful, and that’s because she is, but she’s one of the most fun loving ponies I know. If you’re wondering what she just said it was something along the lines of oh my gosh West you didn’t tell me we had a new friend on board wow her hair is colorful we should throw a party to celebrate our new friend’s hair and then we should throw a party to congratulate her on becoming part of the and then I cut her off because, well, you looked like you could use some air.” He explained, then smiled nervously.
Pinkie spoke up again, “Ya, sorry about the whole suffocating you thing, I hope you can forgive me, I know we’ll be just the best of friends!” She held out her hoof.
Cautiously, Rainbow took it in a shake, then gave a genuine smile back.
West cleared his throat, “Anyways, it’s good we ran into yo, Pinkie. Rainbow here needs a gun!”
Rainbow turned to him, “Wait what! Why do I need a gun!?” She yelled.
“Everyone working directly on deck has to carry a gun at all times, both to ensure boarding a vessel isn’t delayed, and so everyone is ready if we’re boarded we can fight back.” He said, as if reciting a manual, which he probably was considering this was technically a government job.
Rainbow didn’t know how she felt about it, though. It was one thing to work on a pirate, er, privateers ship, but to actually have to kill ponies, that was another matter entirely. West put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, seeming to know exactly what she was thinking.
“Hey, don’t worry. I not telling you to actively go and hunt ponies down and kill them for some sick enjoyment. We avoid taking lives at all costs. We fire warning shots with the artillery, and after that we only bombard the sides of a ship to force a surrender. As for the guns, we never shoot first, we more use them as intimidation and self defence.” West said, giving her a warm, reassuring smile and putting his hoof on her shoulder.
Rainbow took a deep breath and calmed herself down. “Thanks West, I know this whole Privateering thing will be hard for me, but I’ll try my best and I’m glad you’re being so kind to me. I’ve been through a lot lately, and this job is a new start and new chance for me. I just want to say thanks.” She could feel herself tearing up
“AWWWWWW” Pinkie cooed before grabbing all of them in a big hug “Don’t worry silly, we’re all here for you now, not just West!” She reassured. “Now, let’s go get you a gun!”
Author's Note
Had a lot of fun writing this one, and helped me see the direction each character will be taking. It's weird having and idea for how a character will be introduced and act, only to have it so once you write them down you either see that they don't work at all and have to change them, or find a way that works better for them with the other characters. Next time Rainbow Dash has her first watch and we learn a little more about the OCs in the story. Comments and Constructive Criticism are encouraged, as always.
