1- Mystery On The Gun Deck
Captain Silver Hooves took his first breath of the day and the sharp cold air stung his throat and froze his lungs. He coughed lightly and rolled over in his cot; his eyes lazily opening. He stretched his legs and rolled off the uncomfortable cot. He lit a few of his candles and threw on one of his many coats and his usual black three-cornered hat. The coat he wore was a blue and black one that was covered in dirt and dotted with little holes and rips. Lazy patch work had been implemented as a remedy for the holes and rips but the patches only covered a few of the holes; the rest went unattended.
Captain Silver left his quarters and stepped out onto the main deck. His first mate, the gawky mare that went by "Mito", was at the wheel. She looked down towards him from the quarter deck and smiled. "Good morning, Captain." She greeted in her accent; pronouncing the word 'captain' as 'cap-ee-ah-tan'. She was an odd mare that Silver had picked up while looking for Xi-Yan's tomb in the far east. Her seaside village had been decimated by pirates leaving herself as one of the few survivors. While most requested to be dropped off at the nearest port; Mito had come to Silver in private and asked if he accepted new crew members. With his previous first mate retiring Silver took her under his metaphorical wing and taught her how to live a life on the high seas. Being a pegasus she had to learn to do a lot of tasks with her hooves and teeth. Silver was a unicorn and did nearly everything with the ease of his powers.
"Good morning, Mito." He said in return as he walked up the stairs to the wheel. "How was the night?"
"Calm seas and strong winds, we must've hit twenty knots at times." Mito said with a grin.
"And our 'friends'?" Silver asked quietly taking his small gold and silver spy glass from one pocket of his coat. He extended the spy glass and put it to his eye; slowly scanning the horizon in a full circle around the ship.
"No signs of the Nightmare Moon's Revenge throughout the night, sir." Mito said her smile fading slightly. "There were a few small merchant ships; just little day schooners and fishing barges. If our 'friends' didn't exist we'd probably be the most armed vessel in this region" She said with a sigh. "Would you like to take over, sir? I can keep sailing for a while longer if you'd prefer to walk the deck."
"No, Mito. Head below and get yourself some rest." He said as he gently nudged her away from the wheel. Mito was about to say something but she instead held her tongue and took his words as orders and headed off the quarter deck as the full weight of her exhaustion began to set in She's been up for nearly twenty four hours and had been at the wheel for about ten of those hours. Silver watched her until she disappeared through one of the hatches leading below. Then Silver simply stood on his hind legs and kept one hoof on the wheel while he lazily looked over his ship and the horizon. The night crew slowly went below for rest and recuperation as their day time counterparts slowly came above onto the main deck and took over.
The Morning went by ever so slowly. Silver would on occasion draw out his brass pocket watch and much to his displeasure he would see that three minutes at passed, four minutes had passed, and at best ten minutes had passed in between watch-checks. As the day went on and morning gave way to noon the sun rose and the bright light illuminated the Silver Eagle and reflected on the calm seas. The temperature remained at chilling lows; occasionally Silver would spy little blocks of ice floating on the seas. As he sailed north he knew he would see that more and more ice and would be donning more than one coat soon enough. As it was the coat he wore was a thick one that was the top pick for ponies who went into the eternal winter lands just north of Equestria's northern most borders. Yet he could tell that even the thick wool and cotton would not be enough if the temperature continued on his downward slope as his latitude went upward with travel.
Half-way passed one in the afternoon: Flapjack, the young stallion in the crows nest at the top of the main mast, rung his brass alarm bell and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Pirates to the south!"
Silver turned around and drew his spy glass in a flash. He spied the black sails from nearly two kilometers away. He got a glimpse of the flag and could see the white figure that represented a profile shot of Nightmare Moon. Silver cursed and turned back to the wheel as his spy glass slipped into his coat. He put both fore hooves on the wheel and began to bark orders. "Beat to quarters! Let fly every sail we've got, we need every knot!" He looked up at Flapjack and shouted towards the lad. "Flap! Keep your eyes aft, I want to know if they're gaining on us!"
The Silver Eagle was by no means a fast vessel. She was a square rigged, three masted frigate made primarily of maple wood. She was exactly two feet shy of two hundred feet long and her four decks housed close to eighty ponies, forty cannons, and a plethora of cargo and space. The Nightmare Moon's Revenge, however was a fast ship. She was a heavily modified squared rigged, three masted, five decked galleon that had been modified for speed. An ingenious engineer had been paid a fortune to give her a sail configuration that would allow for nearly double the top speed of similar ships.
Silver kept his hooves on the wheel as his crew brought out additional cannons and poked them through the railing on the main deck. The Silver Eagle usually used only the fifteen cannons on either side of her gun deck to defend herself; but since the Nightmare Moon's Revenge had her so far out gunned the extra ten guns were a necessity. The Nightmare Moon's Revenge sported sixty or so cannons on a usual day and had room for up to eighty if all her crew were brought out to man them. The Nightmare Moon's Revenge had plagued the Silver Eagle since her departure from Baltimare. Silver Hooves had made himself quite the reputation as a treasure hunter and pirate hunter. In between tracking down leads on treasures and such, Silver would track down and sink infamous pirates for coin. These little quests for pirate bounties had gained him a reputation in taverns and his own sort of bounty among the pirates of the seas.
The Nightmare Moon's Revenge kept her distance and simply trailed behind the Silver Eagle but still in view. Silver couldn't be sure if the pirates kept their distance willingly or if his speed forced them to that distance. All he knew is that they couldn't fire upon him from several kilometers away and that put him at ease for now. His plan was to keep them at that distance until night fall. Then he would not allow for a single candle to be lit and under the cover of darkness he would sail a little off course in the hopes of losing this tail of his.
The hours passed slower than they had in the morning. With the looming threat of the pirate vessel just a few kilometers behind him: Silver grew rather tense. He would constantly check behind him and wonder if the vessel was closer than it had been. As it was the ship was just a dot on the horizon unless viewed through a spy glass; but to Silver it felt as if that dot got bigger at times. Like the pirates were just ever so much closer.
The wind stayed at a fair gust throughout the day and into the evening. As the sun set to the west Mito arose from her rest and became tenser than Silver when she learned of the danger following them. After her previous experience with pirates she had developed a deep hatred of them and grew tense at even the sight of the color black on a flag. She had a few members of the crew move some cannons onto the quarter deck and aim them aft. Silver allowed for Mito to take the wheel as he and a few stallions took four cannons into the captain's quarters and aimed them out of the windows facing aft. Silver had the ships armorer, Red Bar, begin constructing make-shift explosive mines to be dropped in the sea behind the ship if the Nightmare Moon's Revenge got any closer.
As darkness fully fell upon the cold seas and the temperatures took and even steeper downward plunge into a low negative number. Silver announced his ban on candles for the night and the crew seemed to accept and immediately understand his plan. As the clock struck midnight Silver went to the galley for a drink. He sat alone the galley with a pint of water-downed rum and some nearly stale bread. As he ate near a port hole he looked out aft and smiled at the distant lights of the Nightmare Moon's Revenge as the lights moved towards in the wrong direction. Mito had adjusted their course just a few degree's east and now the Nightmare Moon's Revenge would hopefully be lost by morning.
As the clock struck one in the morning Silver finished his rum and was about to head to his quarters when he heard a rather loud splash just below the porthole. He turned quickly in surprised and peered out and saw a small wooden barrel with a light candle tied to it, just floating now. He mouthed a curse as two more barrels with candles and then just a crate that was on fire was thrown aft. Silver looked up to the horizon and saw the lights of the Nightmare Moon's Revenge now on the correct course following the Silver Eagle once again. Silver cursed loudly and stormed out of the galley heading for the gun deck, He arrived at the after portion of the gun deck and didn't find a single soul near the port hole the barrels had been tossed out of.
Silver Hooves looked over each stallion on the gun deck as he walked through it. His gaze was that of a thinking stallion; he was thinking over each lad and if they'd have the means and motive to keep drop the barrels and crate that he saw just the previous night. Silver approached the gunnery officer of the deck, Iron Heart.
"Captain?" He said upon seeing Silver approach. "How are you this most tense of mornings?" He asked as he strolled around checking the hooks that held the cannons in place during firing. Silver had known Iron Heart for nearly a decade, he had served with Iron Heart in the Royal Navy and even employed Iron Heart when he acquired his first ship: The Judas.
"Not so good, bud." Silver said as he loitered nearby Iron. "Have any of the empty powder barrels gone missing lately?"
Iron was caught off guard by that question. "Empty powder barrels? No I did a complete inventory by hoof this morning. Sixty four full barrels and fifteen empty same as last week. If any barrels have gone missing you might check the hold; Gail was told me he let one of the new lads take inventory yesterday."
Silver nodded slowly as he made note of that. "I'll head down in a bit, then. Mind if I question some of your gunners anyhow?"
Iron chuckled in his deep voice. "Why are you even asking my permission? They're all you're sailors, Captain."
Silver smile and left his old friend with just a nod and brief thank you. Silver walked towards the forward of the deck and looked over each sailor. He saw one lad who looked absolutely beaten. The stallion was rather young and he looked as though he had been up the entire night. He had bags under his eyes and seemed to move about sluggishly, Silver raised and eyebrow and approached the lad.
"Excuse me." He said as he approached.
The colt turned sluggishly then snapped to an alert posture when he noticed he was talking with the captain. "Y-yes, captain?!" he said as his appearance grew to be nervous. His sudden nervousness could just be the natural response to being approached by an authority who usually doesn't acknowledge your existence. Silver made a mental note of it of course.
"Were you awake around midnight last night?" Silver asked as he gave the lad a stern emotionless look.
"Y-Y-yes I was, sir." The boy said.
"Where were you?"
"The crew quarters, my friend Lucky Feather and I were playing cards by moonlight." The boy said.
"And whats your name, lad?" Silver asked.
"Green Wing, Captain." The lad said.
Silver backed off of the colt and left him to duties. Silver went up to his quarters and retrieved an old note book and pen. He ripped out the pages that had been previously used and tossed them out a window. He clicked the pen and began to write.
Tossed Barrels
-Three barrels and crate were tossed at one in the morning to allow for pirates to follow the Silver Eagle
-Items were tossed from a large porthole at the aft of the gun deck.
-Iron Heart confirms that no empty powder barrels have gone missing; crates are as they've always been uncounted.
-Suspects:
- Green Wing (Possibly also Lucky Feather)
Silver stuck the small note pad into a coat pocket and then left his quarters bound for the hold. He made a brief stop on the quarter deck while Mito kept the Eagle on course. He took out his spy glass and aimed it aft-ward towards the ever following tail: The Nightmare Moon's Revenge. She was at full sail and he could spy the movement of crew on her main deck. He closed the spy glass and then headed below and down several decks into the hold. The hold was usually inhabited by a few stallions who served as basically loaders and unloaders. They usually sat around not doing much of anything. They generally unpacked and ran food up to the galley for Chef Hair Hoof to turn into meals, or they brought out additional tools and materials like lumber.
The hold was were Silver Hooves found Lucky Feather. The young earth pony was quite a shaggy fellow but he was also very strong. Silver watched him move two large wooden kegs of rum by himself; one under each hoof while he walked on his hind hooves. He quickly made a note on his tossed barrel's page. He crossed out "Possibly also Lucky Feather" and below put:
- Lucky Feather (Strong enough to move three or more empty barrels and a crate easily.)
Yet for a lad who's been up all night Lucky didn't look as tired as Green Wing did. Lucky was actually quite alert and energized. He lugged about cargo with ease. Right as Silver approached Lucky he saw the energized lad taking a large gulp of a liquid from an open iron mug. Silver smelled it immediately: Coffee.
"Lucky Feather?" Silver said as he neared. "You have a minute, yes?"
"Yes, of course, Captain Silver." Lucky said.
"Good. Now; where were you last night at about one in the morning?" He asked.
"I was finishing up a hand of cards with Green Wing, one of the gunners." He said shrugging.
"Anypony able to verify that? Aside from Mr.Wing?" Silver asked.
"Aside from, Greeny? Not that I can think of, sir." Lucky said. Lucky was calm and collected as he spoke. He didn't seem guilty to any stretch of the imagination. Silver didn't exactly hire born actors so either he had finally come across a natural actor or there just wasn't any guilt present. He knew he'd need more evidence before he would find the culprits. Silver left the loader to his duties and began to hatch a new plan...
