Captain Rusty Anchor watched, his green eyes sweeping across the deck as his crew scurried back and forth, rigging lines, checking sails, and generally preparing to set off. Today seemed to be a bright and sunny day, with a little bit of cloud here and there. Perfect for sailing. Rusty was an Earth Pony, he had a copper colored coat and a blood red mane. The silver in his mane was natural, and definitely not brought on by age, and if anypony ever said otherwise he would deny it. He may have been getting into his late sixties but he was still as spry as ever, or so he said. He was captain of the Dandy Giant, the best and biggest ship the Equestrian Navy had to offer. She was a beauty, a seventy gun ship of the line, she had a full crew complement of Two hundred and Fifty, and could carry a hundred extra souls in her decks. He was proud of his ship and he knew what she was good for, she was made for fighting, for war. And she had been reduced to hauling cargo.

He sighed, that wasn't really true, she was hauling medical aid, doctors, provisions, and some guards. Hell they had all of their cargo space filled up and had the maximum amount of ponies onboard that they could support, but it still felt like a downgrade. They were being sent across the sea to the lands of the Griffins, to help them recover from a rather nasty storm that had hit their coasts. Their Kingdom was still being put back together, so they would take all the help they could get, after you got through that stupid Griffin pride of course.

"Captain" a voice came from his left, he looked over and saw his first mate, another Earth Pony named Silent Sail. With his cloud white mane and sky blue coat, and how he was constantly active and jumping around the ship, one would think he was a pegasus, the crew certainly made jokes about it. But he was a good kid, just quite young, and as all the youngsters these days, extremely hyperactive. He looked at him.

"Aye, silent?"

"We're about ready to set off Captain, we got all the supplies and ponies aboard and down below, we've got the wind at our backs, and we've nearly got the sails ready. just waiting for them to finish, and for you to say the word." He said. Anchor smiled, Sail was a good lad, why, he was pretty sure that he'd take his job in the next few years, he didn't mind, his retirement was coming up.

"Well then," he said. " Let's be getting them sails up and getting off, aye?" Sail smiled, and saluted.

"Aye Captain!" He shouted, and ran off down the steering platforms stairs, yelling to the crew to pick up their pace, with little slightly false threats laced within and between each shout. Anchor smiled once again, yes, the boy would definitely take his job, and he'd be damn good at it. He walked over to and leaned against the steering wheel. today, despite his frustration over being made into a glorified and heavily armed cargo ship, was shaping up to be a good day. Yes, he did indeed think that nothing truly bad could happen today.

Author's Note

Well, let's see how this goes. Tell me if it's good or sucks. And if I could use some help in punctuation or writing, because while I can read it I'm not certain if anyone else can.