Sea

"Ay! One o'em is coming out!"

"Stay! Ain't no prophet. 's the damned Navy." Watcher poked his head around the corner, before pulling back. "Looks like one of them fancy captains and some of his lackeys. Let 'em go through."

The group of young colts stayed back as Somerset walked through the door, flanked by his small group of marines. He looked around for a second as his marines tensely gripped their muskets but the moment passed and they were on towards the deeper parts of the city.

"Right. Rem, you ready to draw 'er out?"

"You sure 'bout this, Watcher?"

"Absolute-ly positive." Watcher flashed a cocky grin. "I knows what's happening. I ain't called Watcher for nothing."

Rem coughed. "Right. sorry." He poked his head around the corner; nopony else was coming. He turned around to face the group of young colts, who were semi-hidden behind various pieces of scenery close to the door. "You lot, on me." he said, gesturing with a hoof. "We're gong to bait the Prophet right off 'er golden boat. Stay close, an' follow my lead."

Rem coughed, and began slowly shuffling towards the pier. He put the hood of his grey clothes over his head, obscuring his appearance as much as possible, and kept his head low. His hooves scraped against the floor, and every few steps he wracked himself with coughs, making them sound as loud and horrible as possible. He slowly walked out into the light, squinting from the sudden sun, and waited for all the colts to make themselves scarce hiding along the docks before approaching the side of the Eagle.

Sitting at anchor and moored to the dock, the Eagle was nonetheless active. There was work to be done; manifests to be updated; bilge to be pumped; disobedient sailors to be flogged. There were sails to mend; paint to to recoat; meals to cook. Most of the ship's crew was preoccupied with compressing all the maintenance the ship needed into a few hours; there was nopony who noticed the sick-seeming pony until he'd made his way all the way to the door to the stern and knocked loudly.

Twilight answered promptly, opening the door quickly. "Hello?" she asked, cocking her head. "Who are you?"

"Are you the Prophet, miss?" Rem said in a sick-sounding voice. He added a cough for effect and smiled inside as Twilight's face immediately became covered with worry.

"Are you okay?" she asked hurriedly. "What happened?"

Rem coughed again. "I ain't got much time left, Miss. I heard -"  he interrupted himself with another cough - "I heard you were comin' to our town, and I was - well, to tell the truth, Miss, I thought it was a miracle."

"Do you want to come inside?"

"Actually, Miss, I was hoping you could come with me," he said. "It ain't far, only a few blocks inside."

Twilight looked left and right before whispering into the colt's ear, "I'm not supposed to leave the ship," she said. "I don't really want to break the Captain's orders."

Rem lowered his head and sighed. "If you say so, Miss. I guess I'll just go back to my hole an' die." He turned around and began to walk when he felt Twilight's hoof on his shoulder. Another hiden smile.

"I'll come with you," Twilight said, looking cautiously to the left and right. "Nopony deserves to..." she gulped. "To die alone."

Rem turned around and with a sad smile that was barely visible under his hood, shook Twilight's hoof. "Thank you, Miss. 'Tain't far, I promise."

"Lead the way!" Twilight chuckled nervously.

Rem slowly shuffled back towards the dock. Much more of the crew's attention was on him now, as he was being closely followed by Twilight. She was stopped a few feet away from the dock by the quartermaster.

"With all due respect, ma'am," he began, "what you're about to do is complete lunacy. This, with all due concern, is a trap. He's obviously baiting you onto the docks so you can be captured and taken away to some cell to be sold on the markets."

Twilight leaned over. "I doubt it is, but..." she looked left and right. "Don't tell the captain I said this, but I want some adventure. I've been cooped up in this ship for days and the first time anything exciting crops up, I'm told to stay on the ship even longer."

The quartermaster nodded sagely. "I understand. I won't questin your decision, but know that our cannons and muskets are ready should anything happen."

Twilight looked to the colt, who waited expectantly. She walked over and picked him up with her hooves, lifting him over the side of the ship and placing him down onto the pier's planks. He began leading her down the dock wordlessly, shuffling his hooves against the ground and keeping his head lowered. He passed a fairly conspicuous stack of crates on the pier's side, taking a quick look at it and a nod. A few secons later, a yell erupted from behind the crates as no fewer than fifteen young colts, each dressed in dirty, soot-covered jackets, shirts, and pants swarmed from behind the crate.

Twilight looked to Rem with a look of expectant disappointment on her face. He just looked back at her with an amused expression on his face. "I cain't believe you actually fell for that," he guffawed. "Take 'er!"

At once, they all leapt over to her, trying their best to keep her down. She was able to keep them off of her at first, shaking wildly to prevent them getting a grip and pushing off those that did with a foreleg, but as she tried to make a break for the ship and its relative safety, she found herself tripped and falling to the deck. Before she could even get onto her hooves, she was being lifted up and carried away. She thrashed violently, but it was no use; she was taken.