"Give me freedom or give me the rope. For I shall not take the shackles that subjugate the poor to uphold the rich."
– John Goldenwolf
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Explosions and mayhem. Mayhem and explosions, nothing was quite as exciting or thrilling as those two words. When put together the outcome this time was a scuffle between two pirate ships, ones the size of carriers who flew through an ocean of stars while fighting each other.
"Captain!" yelled one of my badass generic crew, "Shes powering up her main cannon, what should we do?!"
"Fire ours!" I yelled, an maniac grin only magnified by my magnifcent flowing purple and blue locks of mane.
I pointed towards the enemy ship as our great ship fired off a giant brilliant blue beam to counter the enemies brilliant red, and watched with glee as ours overpowered hers, wrecking the ship facing us in one shot, "Ready us to board navigator!" I shouted, watching as our ship sailed sidelong to the other and threw grappling lines to pull us alongside and begin boarding proper.
With my legendary magic I drew a dozen swords and marched aboard, flanked by my crewmen as we strode into battle, they hardly stood a chance and it seemed like a flash before we had them overwhelmed and their captain at my hooves, the fearsome Blackmane himself, larger than life, and a voice deeper than tar, "Ah' should of known that the empress of all that is piratey would of beaten ol' Blackmane, aye..." He looked to me with deep regret, taking my hoof up his both of his and pressing his forehead against it, an act of surrendering fealty to me.
"Rise Captain, You're now one of mine." I said, and all too easily, He nodded in agreement, slowly rising.
"Dearest majesty, it was foolish of me to reject your offer of companionship so long ago, would you do an old stallion like me an honor if I could take you up on it?" Blackmane asked, his eyes sparkling in the starlight, and It took an effort not to swoon and fall into those endless depths of mystery.
I nuzzled him, "I thought you'd never ask..." I said, a sly smirk creeping up as both crews cheered.
"Empress..." he whispered into my ear.
"Say my name..." I ordered
"Viole-" he began when suddenly a much younger, more annoying voice cut his off.
"Viooollleettttttttttt!" it was ear grinding, "Violet wake upppp!"
No, just five more minutes!
"Violet! come on wake up!"
No, Never, I was going to romance Blackmane, and I was going to like it!
"Don't make me use the bucket!"
Oh goddesses, no.
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I was awoken to sea cold water nearly drowning me, instinctively lashing out at the colt responsible, my little brother, and capturing him between my hooves, and he squeaked. I coughed out some water while I growled, "What did I say about waking your sister up?"
the blue and green colt beneath my yellow forelegs struggled and squirm, "I-I forgot!" he yelped, as I delivered a wet noogie into his mane, soaking him in the water he dunked on me as well.
"Wrong Awnser" I growled, and he continued to squirm.
He turned so he could see me, "Mercy!" he begged
"That's not the pirate word!" I said, and my noogies continued until he blurted the correct word.
"Parlay!" he shouted.
"Yar, and what about the rest?" I mocked a pirate voice, noming on his ear, something he hated completely, but I found adorable, as he turned into an half aggressive, half stammering mess whenever somepony messed with his ears.
"You said never to wake you up unless it was important! But it is!" he shouted, and my roughhousing ceased, but I still didn't let go of him.
"And what important matter is it that you had to dump water on your sister?" I asked.
"Well what day is it?" he asked.
I lifted one of my hooves up to wipe water off my face with the side of a hoof, still groggy, "I don't know... Tuesday?" Nothing ever good happened on a Tuesday.
"Your birthday Sis..." he deadpanned, "Also it's Friday dummy."
That got me awake now and truly, however, his face was just a little too smug for knowing something his big sister didn't, "Well very well then..." I started, slowly releasing my brother, a look of relief on his face, I smirked evilly however, "The excuse to wake me up is sufficient little bro, however, I still must punish you for your methods." the look of terror that replaced his relief was priceless.
I spun him around and pushed him over before giving him a firm relentless tickle attack, the sounds of his half screaming and half laughter filling the air as I tickled him as only an older sibling could, "Resistance is futile!" I yelled over his laughter and pleas for mercy, "Surrender to your punishment at the hooves of the great Captain Violet!"
The giggling and laughter continued until a definite feminine voice yelled over it, "Violet! Gallow! Get your flanks down here for breakfast before it gets cold!"
That was mom, or as the locals knew her, Lyre Charm. She gave birth to us and raised us as her own, though she often treated us a bit strict, I couldn't blame her, being a single mom with two children was a tough job, and that was before accounting for her actual job as a tavern owner of the 'Rusty Horseshoe', which also doubled as our home.
"Coming!" we shouted.
I let go of my brother, who took the opportunity to scamper off as quick as he could, racing down the hallway and downstairs while I dried myself off and set my front hair into straight even colors, the dark and light blue highlights no longer being a cascaded mess of straight hair among the rest of my manes curly uncontrollable mess, which was redirected towards the back.
"Violet!" Mom called again, and I rolled my eyes, "Your breakfast is getting colder by the minute!"
"Give me a second mom!" I called, double checking that everything was in place, before trotting down the stairs, "Gally dumped a bucket of water on me!"
"Did not!" my brother yelled and I rolled my eyes calling back the reverse into the room as I entered, taking in the fresh smell of my mothers cooking, my mouth watered.
"Tsk, you know better." My mother scolded with a slightly plump hoof to my brothers forehead, giving him a quick flick. Most of the natives of our island dwarfed her, but at my brothers age she stood nearly the same height as him, but while I could be described as slim, having worked constantly to maintain my figure, my mother was adorably plump and berry purple mare of a unicorn. Sort of like a grape; not to say that she was fat, she had a lot of exercise with her own job at running the tavern.
This was my fathers home island, my mother always said. Though I have never seen him in person, my mother as well as his best friend, River Blade, told us stories about him, the fearsome pirate captain Scarlet Dreadhoof. I was five, and my brother three at the time when we got the news that he had died, fearsomely taking out two dozen ponies with nothing but a scimitar before the combined weight of his numerous injuries had brought him down. Or so the tales said. They had also brought a trunk full of his stuff, but I never had the chance to look inside it.
Today would be the day that I got to see my longest wish fulfilled, the treasure of memories and gold that my father and his crew had fought to protect. It wasn't much the gold that interested me, but the histories behind that treasure. My mind was distracted however, as her magic floated what was going to be my breakfast this morning, a steaming bowl of soup made from the same nut that my little brother was named after, Gallows Harvest.
By itself a Gallow nut was large, brown and furry. It grew within the tall twisted trees of our island. Some say they used to be coconuts before the radiation and taint managed to sweep over the area, when my fathers ancestors had arrived here, about ten years after the nuclear apocalypse, these nuts had been both a blessing and a curse. As while one could feed a full grown stallion for a day, they were harder than steel when ripe, which meant that it was extremely difficult to open them at first. Until the method that standardized their opening over the years was discovered, when desperate ponies figured out that a gallows blade had enough momentum and force behind it to cut it cleanly in half.
They weren't all good, had a faint trace amounts of Taint still remaining in them, and it spurred our islands evolutionary growth in an almost unpredictable rate, making those born here either horribly crippled, or they ended up like me, a half-giant of incredible strength and size, rivaling that of the princesses themselves when judged against the medical books on various species and size that was owned by the sole doctor who lived on our island, Scythe Knife.
Gallow nut soup was delectable, a mixture of coconut and almond flavoring with thin fruit slices rising up from the half-shell that served as my bowl. However I quickly downed it in my eagerness to get to the major event of today, leading my mother to chuckle at my enthusiasm.
As I moved the bowl towards recycling with my own magic, a brilliant red aura that formed tribal lines and patterns over the bowls edges, unlike my mothers soft formless encompassing blanket of magic. It was a habit more than on purpose though, a trend among myself and the other ten unicorns that lived in our small village. Primarily it was used for ritual purposes in the summer and winter festivals of the moon, but over the years the quick magical constructions found a secondary purpose in increasing the speed and momentum that unicorn telekinesis could perform, at the cost of the overall holding ability that the spell could carry.
For example, with this method of telekinesis a unicorn pony could juggle balls with their magic rather than just hovering the balls through the air one after the other, or throw a hoofball at alarming speeds, where the normal telekinetic spell focused on lowering the objects weight and then letting go of it to fall flatly into the ground after traveling a few yards at best as the objects momentum was brought down rapidly by its own returning weight.
"Mother?" I asked, my magic vanishing as quickly as it came, my eyes waiting until they locked with hers, "I'd like to initiate the right of inheritance of three of fathers possessions."
She sighed, "You do know, that if you fail again, I'll be forced to take three things from you to add to your brothers, again."
The right of inheritance marked a signal of passing among the tribes of the island, where a mare or stallion became self sufficient and no longer bore the titles of the young.It also meant the assumption of a role of ones cutiemark, or that of a parent. Typically The ritual meant completing a challenge the parent assigned, though traditionally this meant being strong enough to break open a Gallows Nut with their bare hooves. After last years, which I had lost three of my possessions trying to get into fathers chest and claim my own.
To break the nut, however, meant being able to spend a good deal of effort training oneself both physically and mentally, as it took a large amount of dedication to build ones body up to crack such a nut, let alone break one. However, it was still possible another equally challenging choice could be made, for example: Lost Feather, a surprisingly sly silver half-giant, and assistant to Scythe, had to pass a test of knowledge on every single herb and treatment that was within the doctors cove of knowledge, all the while treating three ponies of various alignments and injuries.
But as much as the parent wanted to, they couldn't make the challenge easy or too difficult, parents who challenged their children to impossible tasks, like raising the sun in the opposite direction, or hunting a shark with their bare hooves, were deemed irresponsible and could force the parent to the sacrificial ritual of agni kai for dishonorable conduct. While a challenge far too easy for the average pony would be mocked by others on both the child and the parents account.
My mothers concern was evident, but she sighed, as much as she wanted to give me a challenge for tavern-keeping, or to pick up and move the tavern, she knew the rules as well, and I had my rights. She sighed in defeat, her normal cheerfulness dimming somewhat as she said the words, "As by your right, fine. Violet Cello Note," she said, pronouncing my full name carefully so there could be no mistake, a look of deep concentration on her face as she recalled words from a year ago, "I accept your show of honor, to be judged better or worse, as by right of the goddesses of harvest and the tide. The challenge of this right of age is to break a Gallows Harvest unarmed of both magic and tools."
"As by my right, I accept the challenge." I said, equally formal and completing the formalities, my mother sighed.
"Do your mother a favor." Mom asked as I began walking out, "Wake River up on your way out, his stink has been collecting since he passed out last night."
I nodded, passing out of the kitchen and back to the taverns front. Few ponies besides myself was in there, ust some early morning patrons who stopped by for a drink before work, and the odd one or two ponies who were guests from last night. One of those passed out was River Blade, one of my fathers best friends before he passed on. Mother always said it was no good to hang out with a drunkard, but he was the only one who would even try to talk about the exploits and adventures of the dreaded Captain Scarlet Deadhoof with a lick of reason. Everypony else always treated him as a myth, or legend because that was how elevated his status was.
Though River wasn't without his own surprises from time to time, before I could prod him with a hoof he grumbled, "I'm awake lass, so don't bother." He sat up, dark blue fur slightly tinted with a red blush upon his face, a greying mane that was once a bright vibrant sea green, "What can I do for you today lass?"
Shaking my head, I responded, "Lyre wanted you up and about, and to take a bath like always."
He scoffed, "The day I take a bath is the day she lets you become a pirate like your dad."
It was too hard to resist a smirk, "Well you might just end up taking one soon then, because today's the day I pass the challenge."
He raised an eyebrow, "Your birthday already lass? Its only been like a year."
Yep now I was laughing, "Yeah, birthdays sort of work like that, don't they."
River grinned, a wide toothy smile that had more than one missing tooth from his years of experience, "Yeah, it is. So much have ye changed over the last year. Gonna put all that trainin' to use?"
I nodded, and he chuckled, "Sure gonna to surprise your mother with that arm of yours. Could lift an iron wagon with how much yer kind puts into raw strength."
We shared a laugh, "I just hope its enough to beat the odds," I replied, and he rolled his own.
"If you're not able to break a gallows nut despite months of practice, then I'll have betted on the wrong side for once." he merily intoned, instilling a slight sense of confidence in me, that I had lacked until that point.
Despite his drunken nature, River was a keen gambler, often earning far more bottle caps, the worlds currency, than he lost to visiting sailors. It was also one of the only reasons he could stay for years on end as the towns drunk without ever running low. To him, gambling was a form of plundering where he was the one doing the plundering, all the time. Sure he occasionally 'lost' a game or two, but most of the time it was a lure to new players to make them fall for the trap of greed.
"Don't be putting too many more ideas in her head, River." My mother called as she walked out, my younger brother following close behind, "Luna forbid she gets any more ideas about being a pirate like her father."
River chuckled, "If she becomes a pirate like her father, it'll be a mighty fine day at that." He winked at me, "And I might just up and join her crew as first in line. Be a honor to see how Scarlet's daughter does on her trip through the ages of piracy."
Gallow smirked, "And I might be second."
My mother smacked Gallow lightly on the head, "Not at least till you're several years older Gally." she looked to me, a small look of annoyance replaced with concern, "You know you don't have to do this, right dear?"
"I partook the oath of challenge and I must see it through." I responded in turn, turning back to the doorway.
"Five caps she breaks it on the first swing." River chuckled, earning a glare from my mother.
"You're on!" My brother countered and now River wasn't the only one who got a glare.
After a second my mother sighed, releasing her glare from the two of them, and looked back to me,"Fine, lets get on with it already."
We exited the tavern, and trotted towards the center of the village, there would be located an alter, and with a tug of telekenetic magic I plucked a large melon sized gallows nut from the trees, one that was covered in dark brown fur, meaning it was ripe in comparison to its dark green and red unripe counterparts. Few ponies were up this early in the morning, but out of those who were, drew curious glances our way as I placed the nut on the solid wood and metal alter that was designed for the celebrations of the village.
The audience would serve as additional witnesses for this, and no words were needed for this activity. It was silent as a graveyard, aside from the occasional muttering between River and his would-be competitors of gambling. I adjusted the nut until it was properly upright, and prepared myself, focusing. Searching the nut for any small faults and lines that would prove key to cracking it open in one fell swoop. It took monstrous strength and an eye for precision to cut one of these open. Having trained for half a year, and with the build of my kind of pony, the former I had in no short supply. I slowly raised myself onto my hind legs, and continued to search until I found it.
Crack!
My hoof came down, a clean hammer blow of my hooves as I rammed them downwards in a powerful stomp onto the nut, the nut itself bending inward before cracking open around my hooves. A hole driven straight to it as the nut's juices spilled outward into the crevices of the altar, the body of it shattering into five mismatched pieces similar to that of a jigsaw puzzle as my hoof continued downward and into the bottom of the fruit. Happily, I pulled my hooves out of the remains of it, lightly sniffing as the smell of combined hazel and coconut flooded outward and my ears flicking back as several ponies cheered.
I looked towards my mother, she offered me a small smile, both happy that I was officially a full grown mare by the islands standard, and judging from her eyes, in slight dismay at what came with it. The celebration would come later tonight, however, there were other matters to attend to. Slowly I trotted back down the few steps that made the altars base, traveling toward my mother while favoring my front hooves. They stung like hell, smashing something as hard as that with no armor or padding in between them and my now vanquished target.
Next to my mother, River rejoined her, a few small bags of caps wealthier as another of the islands ongoing gambles were won in his favor, and he was the first to speak up, "Well done Violet, never had any doubt you could do it this year!"
My brother snorted, "Yeah, good job at smashing open the oversized coconut."
Ironic, considering he was named after what he was mocking.
I nodded to River, and ignored my brother, there would be time to torture him with big sister things later, it was my mother who I stared at, "The challenge has been completed mother..."
She nodded sagely, "As I can see dear, as I can see... Very well, you're old enough to abide by your own decisions, as promised you can pick out three of your fathers belongings to take for your own and decide upon the profession you desire to take tonight." She hugged me to her, tightly, forcing me to lower my neck, else she hanged off the ground by her grip, "and knowing you, you're going to take your fathers route... Just remember, there are three things extremely hard... Steel, Diamond, and to know ones Self... Be sure with your decision Vi."
I nodded, and together the four of us traversed back home. My brother split off part of the way there after seeing his 'totally-not-his-marefriend' friend Windchime, while River came with us to help me choose out which of my fathers belongings I should take. My mother guided us up to the trunk and unlocked it before heading back down stairs to deal with the few ponies who were already trickling in for a morning meal or drink.
The attic was a musty place that reeked of sea salt and old damp wood. The trunk itself could be described as similar if not for the small amounts of coral that was used as trim around the edges of the chest giving it a bright red contrast to the dark browns and light greens of the rest of the attics contents. Together River and I hauled the lid upwards, heavy and rusty from lack of use and the amount of metal and decoration that adorned the top of it, details that marked the chest out as belonging to the Scarlet Pirates, my fathers crew.
Various items decorated the inside of the chest, the topmost being what I had lost the year before, a three pearl necklace made by clams I had gathered over the years, a yo-yo, and a rusty crown that had washed ashore years ago. We moved those aside for the things beyond.
River whistled, as he pulled out a large brown trench coat, that had a deep purplish-blue fur lining around the collar and a gold trim around the tail end. Unfolding it, I could see a black layer had been stitched onto the tail, and it had a pirates traditional jolly roger that had been modified to holding a scarlet band over one eye. Completing the attire was a scarlet red sash that would keep the coat together around the waist and keep it form fitting and stable if the wearer didn't have a battle-saddle to keep it in place.
River commented, "This was your fathers coat, he wore it all the time when we were a crew. Functionality, its the same as reinforced leather armor. He always had plans to upgrade his attire with the skin of a Krark, but he never got around to doing it."
I perked my ears, "What's a krark?"
He commented as if on the weather, "Its the mutated baby of a krill and a shark, about the size of a large dog with the body of a shark and the legs of a krill. Vicious little things in the water, but on land they're rather easy to deal with if you're traveling in a group."
"Why did he never get around to hunting one?" I asked, and River deadpanned, "Oh, right..." he died...
"Did he wear anything else in here?" I asked out of curiosity.
River dug through the chest, pushing gold coins, caps, and other odds and ends out of the way as he searched, "Hmm, he always wore a ring around a necklace as well..." his ears perked in excitement as he found a small black box, and pulled it out, "Here we go!"
He passed it to me, it was surprisingly cold, almost ice like, and solid, The only flaw in its surface was a small circle, indicating a button, which I pressed. With a hiss the box opened, lines appearing where before there was none, and the smell of preserved air momentarily hitting my nose as it escaped from the box. Inside was a ring, big enough to be worn around the horn or finger of a clawed creature, and inside it was a wrapped piece of parchment.
Leaning down, River commented, "Huh, he even left something else inside it." Slowly River pushed the ring and note apart, and rolled it open, "By the Goddess Tsunami, this is part of Scarlet's old captain's map. Blackheart's legendary treasure map that was divided into four portions among his top four commanders when he passed on."
"So it's important." I sent out a guess, letting River's train of thought have more fuel to continue onward, and explain.
"More than important." River confirmed, "Captain Blackheart has a reputation as dark as his name, only the four pirate lords, which your father was one of, carried the keys to his chest, though what those keys were, were never discussed among a majority of his crew. It is said the ultimate weapon of the equine-zebra war was buried where his treasure is. Only problem is, after a spat between the four commanders after his death, the map could never be reunited again, and none of the four pirate lords could ever set aside their differences to work together and share the fruit."
"If one can't have it none can have it?" I shortened it down, and River nodded.
"Take good care of this if you decide to take it, Violet, for there is a reason why the four pieces of captain Blackhearts map remain separate to this very day." He rolled up the map and pressed it back into the ring, I snorted, putting the box with its contents and the coat aside as we dug deeper into the chest.
Eventually we found something among the piles of worn journals and treasure, it was a device of which I hadn't seen before. Curiously I lifted it out with my magic and asked, "What's this?"
River eyed it over and snorted, "Oh Goddesses that thing."
"What thing?" I asked, "What is it?"
"Its an old music player." He stated, lifting up one end of the device, a pair of red cushioned circles connected by an half-circle band. A skull and crossbones stitched to each one, "You'd place this end around your head over your ears, and turn it on with the other end." he lifted up the other end of the device, which was attached to the headset by a long wire, the other end being attached to a sweatband that looked as though it came out of a science fiction magazine about colors, "Its a player. Lets see if it still works."
He placed it over my ears, securing it, and he fiddled with the other end. After a minute or so, I heard something...
River smirked, "Neat isn't it?"
I nodded, and he chuckled. I took a second to look through the chest again before picking up my fathers old coat, shrugging it on, and putting the box in my pocket. Three things, as they were. The box, the coat, and the music player which River helped slipped onto my sleeve. Together we left downstairs, to prepare for the party that was due to follow later today...
Never did I expect what happened that night.
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Player Name: Violet C. Note.
Player level: 4
Player has loaded the 'Captain Scarlet's child' character background for this story. Loading required changes...
New Traits:
Large Frame: Your freakishly large body increases the effect your STR stat, doubling the effect of maximum carry weight as well as making heavy guns and melee combat more accurate. However as a result of your large body you suffer a -1 to Agility where mobility is concerned and are 25% less likely to evade the enemy attacks. Due to this traits origin, your body also becomes 20% more resistant to the effects of taint, but your total maximum allowance before critical organ failure has been halved.
Daughter of Captain Scarlet: Your story has been rewritten due to the circumstances of your birth parents, as a result you automatically gain a portion of the reputation that your father had with the various factions of the world, and unlock additional dialog options in regards to your fathers life. You unlock access to the pirate tree of perks earlier than normal, but at the same time you are locked from the perks: Mare-do-well, Honest Sailor, Lawbringer, Pony of the wild west, and Silent hoofstepper.
New Perks gained:
Intense Training 1, 2, 3: Intense training over the years on the island have bolstered your monsterous strength. as such, you have gained an three additional points in strength.
