Cutter

I leaned on my knees and leered down at the street, dozens of stories below before leaning back with a nervous huff. Turning, I saw Luna gently kicking her legs which were hanging off the side of the building as she scanned the clouds around us. As if sensing I was looking, she turned to me with a smile and spoke.

"You've been asleep all day and the sun is down. Are you okay?" She said in Amethyst's voice. "Or are you still recovering from Port Grover?" I blinked and then gasped hard as the world stretched away all at once. As the distorted visual focused, I found I was lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. A murmur drew my attention to my side where-

I have no idea who the mare cuddled up to me was, but she looked comfy so I let it slide. A curious hum then caused my gaze to snap to the side where I saw Amethyst Arcana beside my bed with a frown.

I looked at her with wide, uneven eyes as the blurry image of Luna hung in the air behind her for a few seconds before fading to nothing. Blinking, I locked eyes with Amethyst, who hummed with a disapproving frown.

"You've been smoking too much, James," she said, holding up my empty pipe with her magic and shaking it. "I can see it in your eyes. If you're not careful you won't be able to sleep without those plants anymore." I huffed in response and scooted up in my bed before rolling over to face her.

"I'm already at that point, but not cause I'm addicted," I said with a yawn as I draped an arm over my eyes. "Too much on my mind lately."

"Yes, Rosepetal, I heard," she hummed.

"Plus the others," I sighed. After a short silence, I looked at her with a frown. "Have you ever felt like you let a whole bunch of people down?"

"Yes," she replied without any hesitation and gesturing to the side. "Before I came here, I had to leave a lot of ponies I cared about behind. If I'd hesitated, I would have been swept up in Sombra's unicorn cleansing."

I blinked in my half-awake daze. "His what?"

"He wanted to make sure the only crystal unicorns still alive were loyal to him," she explained, causing me to recoil as her words struck right through the drowsy haze I'd lingered in. She tilted her head back in thought. "I think I'm one of the only ones who managed to escape." She faced me again with the same even expression she'd worn since I met her. A somber sigh escaped my lips as I idly reached out and scratched her ears.

"You, Dreadless, and I," I murmured as she tilted her head into my hand. "Half of the Merits have pretty much lost everything, huh?"

"Junior, too," she hummed in response to my words and scratching. "He fell asleep and rolled down his mountain until he hit the sea, where he sank. When he woke up, he didn't know where he was and started walking until he got picked up by some sea ponies near Mount Aris." She rolled her head against my hand and then gently batted it away with her hoof.

"He and Ben met each other shortly after that and began close friends," she added as my arm drooped off the side of the bed.

"He walked?" I murmured.

"Trolls don't breathe, silly," she replied with a quiet giggle. "But yeah, I think that's why the six of us are drawn to each other. I don't know for sure about Ben, but almost all of us have lost everything one way or another." She paused and tilted her head.

"Well, at least if I heard you right a moment ago," she added. "I'm assuming you got separated or exiled from your country."

"Discord," I grumbled, draping my arm over my face again.

"Ah," she replied. A grimace worked its way onto my face.

"And then-" I paused with a grunting sigh. "Then I lost my closest friend I'd made here." When she didn't respond, I peeked out and saw she wore an expectant frown.

"Princess Luna," I added.

"Ah," she hummed with a nod. I let out a murmuring sigh as I fought against the lingering drowsiness threatening to take hold of me.

"Big part of why I'm doing this is in the hope Celestia will give me something like what Ben has," I explained with a yawn, drawing a similar noise from whoever the pony beside me was. "And let her go."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that's going to work," Amethyst eventually replied, drawing a sideways leer from me. She had my pipe in her magic and was gently twisting it in the air. "Alicorns who go mad are very dangerous. I don't think it's simply a matter of her committing some crime to be forgiven, James."

"She didn't go mad," I sharply argued. "I think she was just feeling neglected." My words earned a thoughtful nod.

"And simple feelings like that can be very dangerous in the body of a higher magical being like an alicorn," she said, finally looking up at me. "Same reason Celestia doesn't just drop the sun on King Grover to end the war. It's the slipperiest of slippery slopes." A lengthy and painful silence filled the room as we locked eyes. Finally, I rolled over with a huff.

"Whatever," I grumbled.

"Sorry that isn't what you want to hear," she replied, gently petting my back with her hoof. "If it helps, maybe I'm wrong and maybe the Elements purified her when they sealed her away." I scowled as she spoke just before she reared up on my bed to lean into my ear.

"But please temper your expectations," she added, patting me on the shoulder. "And anyway, I'm glad you are not dead. Sleep well, James." She hopped off and made her way out the door. After she was gone, my companion stirred and curled up against me.

"What's goin' on?" She murmured.

"Nothing," I replied, closing my eyes to drift back to my dreamscape.

There was something kind of cozy about sitting in the Quicksilver's cabin with the door and windows open, two chairs pulled up with a keg of wine between them, and a full view of the deck and the lightly forested shore of the Stampede River. It was like sitting on a porch in the country during summer and was almost enough to help me forget the fact that, after Bushtit and Jackdaw accepted my offer, we were down even more of the original crew.

Seemingly sensing that I was thinking about the crew, Gab took a sip from his glass with a sigh. "Only had a few bumps as we turned into the Stampede River, and nothing that did any damage," he mused, setting his glass down and looking out the cabin door with a nod. "Lothar ain't half bad as a helms, er, helmsdog."

"Mhm," I replied, considering my own glass. "Well, we'll see how he handles himself when a prize comes into view." I swirled the glass a few times, desperately trying to pull my mind into the present and convince myself that we were back to business as usual. Though I found no success, to my relief Binky came up to the door and pounded on its frame.

"Captain, you might want to see this," he leaned in and said. "There's a set of canoes rowing up to us." I furrowed my brow and set the glass down before hurrying out onto the deck. The rest of the crew was at the starboard rail looking out with surprise and weapons drawn. All except for the ponies who'd sailed with me originally, who were visibly excited by whatever they saw.

As I approached the rail, I heard something hit the water, followed by a series of cries from the Company nearby.

"Captain Zamaradi's in the water!" One of our dogs called. I furrowed my brow and drew my cutlass as I strode to the rail, and looking over it, I gasped at what I saw. There were three canoes rowing toward us and Zamaradi was currently swimming over to the one at the head of the group.

For the canoes were manned by deer, and the one at the head had Galley standing proudly on its end, waving at us all.

My reputation and antics had spread far enough that even the deer had caught wind of where the Quicksilver lurked, and so Galley and a company of sixteen deer had spent the last month or so trotting their way down the Himallamas mountain range just east of Griffinstone seeking us out.

Taking Gab's seat with me in the cabin, Galley took a hearty swig of wine before nodding as she continued relaying what had happened to the crystal unicorn that had escaped us two years prior.

"So, after we realized that, we caught her at the peak of Mount Metazoa. She was hiding in a cave and trying to gather the magical strength to do," she paused with a blink and tilted her head. "Uh, something. She gave up the second we burst in though." She gave me a happy nod and I raised my glass to her success.

"And? Did you find out anything about your dad?" I asked as I took a sip. Her mood immediately soured and she hung her head.

"Yeah," she sighed, furrowing her brow. "The unicorn you shot was their leader and he sank the ship my dad said he was sailing on as they were trying to return south." I hummed and Galley took a breath.

"She was able to lead us to the exact point in the river where he," she winced. "Went down." I cast my eyes down at her tone and looked through the door at the deck, where the crew were speaking with the deer, waiting for me to let Galley go so they could all talk with her.

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Galley," I finally replied, drawing a weak smile from her.

"At least I know, you know?" She said with a shrug before perking up somewhat and holding up the jewel she had hanging from a string around her neck. "And we were able to fish out the thing he was talking about, I'm pretty sure." I tilted my head at the sight of it since it seemed to shimmer and glitter even without any light catching it.

"Pine Needle let me keep it," she said as she considered the gem with a smile. "I think it's magic!" She hopped out of her chair and approached one of the windows. Holding the gem to the open air, I heard a hearty and powerful breeze suddenly shoot across the deck to the shock of the crew.

"Look, it lets me mess with the wind!" She chirped, whirling around to fix me with a bright smile. "I think they were trying to get it back home and to the princess." I hummed in appreciation before turning back to her.

"So what'll you do with it?" I asked, tilting my head. "And what'll you do now?" She paused and considered the gem for a moment before looking out at the crew.

"I'm gonna hold on to it," she explained with a smile. "And I'm going to stay with the deer." I nodded as she hopped up into her chair and presented her left forehoof which I now saw had an intricate design cut into it.

"See this? Pine Needle says it means I'm part of their clan," she chirped before shuffling her hooves. "I was just trying to come south to find you all and let you know I was okay and-" Her ear twitched and she looked out the door. Turning, I could tell she was leering at the helm.

"And make sure everypony else was, too," she added in a murmur. I furrowed my brow and emptied my cup before standing up.

"Well, hey, since you're back for a little while, why don't we make the most of it?" I asked, causing her to tilt her head. Her bewilderment intensified when I scooped her up and carried her outside. The crew all turned and watched me march up the stairs to the quarterdeck. Once there, I faced the crew. "Ladies and gentlemen!" As they all looked up at me, I swept Galley around and held her on her back over my head.

"Party!" I cried, earning a ship-wide holler of excitement to the confusion of the deer and Galley's surprise.

Ben slapped the table between us with a laugh. "A jewel that commands the winds?" He chortled before blanching and fixing me with a disappointed leer. "Aw, you shoulda bought that off her, Cutter!"

"Nah, Ben," I retorted with a smile. "Even with recent complications, I think the regular breeze is enough for me." I brought my mug of hot chocolate to my lips as he hummed a laugh.

"Hey, suit yourself," he mused, pouring himself more ale. "On the topic of complications, I've had my paws full recently, myself."

"Yeah, I heard you actually had to sail out a week or two ago," I snickered, raising an eyebrow at him. "First time in what, eight months?"

"Watch it, lad," he threatened with a wry smile and a pointed claw. He took a quick sip and then nodded. "Anyway, I was curious what that admiral was mucking about hippogriff territory for, and it turns out there's another pirate captain outside of our operation who was causing trouble."

"Really?" I murmured.

"Aye, calls himself 'Captain Eights,' and he managed to cause the hippogriffs no small amount of trouble even before he got his mitts on a ship," he replied, slowly reclining in his seat with a sigh. "Hear tell that he ran off to the Meditermareian when he saw the admiral's ship, though."

"Think it'll be trouble?" I asked, drawing a snort from him.

"Not for us, unless he comes back round this way," he tilted his head back with a smile for a few moments before speaking again. "But better than all that, I got a lead you might be interested in."

I raised my eyebrows and set my mug down, leaning in close. "Oh yeah?"

"Yessir," he hummed as he knitted his paws together, still scanning the sky. "Contact of mine up in Griffinstone was saying Grover's pressing for ships to peel down by Colombuck for reinforcements and repair." He slowly rolled his head to give me a sideways smile.

"He's saying a treasure galleon ran aground during a storm, and now she's sitting there, over half its crew incapacitated, and hull full to bursting with gems from their Abyssinian prison colony," he added, wagging his eyebrows. "They got a fleet encircling the ship itself, but Colombuck itself isn't allied with Griffinstone."

"So, they're staying out of it, and leaving at least one side of the wreck unprotected," I hummed, bringing a hand to my chin. "If we landed we could march up and plunder it by land. If we're careful and quiet, we might be able to sneak aboard the galleon itself. Catch them unawares and sneak the gems out."

"Mhm, and if you're pursued you can lose 'em in the Boarfrost there," he added, his gaze slowly rolling back skyward. "Plenty of icebergs to put between you and them, savvy?" I slowly nodded, a thoughtful smile working on my face.

"I'll run it by the crew and see what they think," I finally said, reaching over and patting his leg. "Thanks, Commodore." His smile grew a bit before he nodded my way.

"Hey, just glad it helped your spirits," he replied with a wink before jostling my shoulder. "Commodore."

Celestia blinked and tilted her head. "James?" A strained grimace worked its way onto my face as I stared at her.

"My," I panted and clutched my knee. "My ears are ringing, sorry." She furrowed her brow and leaned closer.

"Do you need-"

"After bolstering our numbers, we took the Stampede River," I interrupted, taking a shallow breath. "We reasoned if we went straight for Colombuck, they might've seen us coming, and so we wrapped around down through Abyssinia by a river route Catarina had shared with me once."

The trip was quiet and easy, save for the rough waters of the Abyssinian seas once we made it out that way. By the time we'd passed the horn of Abyssinia, upon which the port of Catskills was built, I could already see the difference in climate. The air was cool but not frigid, owing to the fact we were only a little way north of the Boarfrost ice fields. The pleasant temperature held even as we came within viewing distance of the island Colombuck sat on.

The island itself was oblong and parallel with the Abyssinian coast, and this actually let me spy a few of the small ships that comprised the defensive fleet for our treasure galleon. As they were on the opposite end of the island from the city of Colombuck, we decided to anchor there.

Columbuck was a sight. I reckon its proximity to Abyssinia had a part in its construction since all the buildings were in the cat-folk's style. All flat roofs and painted clay walls, with the large and important palace that governed the place having a golden dome upon its main structure and the towers attached to it. Even the ponies that dwelled there had a more feline persuasion to the way they moved.

There was a stingy little pegasus in charge of the docks who leveraged one hell of a docking fee from us. I doubled his price in exchange for keeping our names and presence a secret. The crew agreed to meet in the morning after dispersing throughout the city to enjoy what seemed to be a fireworks festival, while Zamaradi, Gab, and I crept up north to get a better look at our target. If it looked too risky, we were going to call it off and harass a few Abyssinians for our trouble. The island was covered in sharp cliffs and rocky hills, making our approach easy to mask, especially with the boom of the fireworks that started popping off once we began our approach.

After just a brief period of trekking, aided by Gab's ability to fly and spy out paths forward, we found ourselves on a stone shelf jutting over a patch of woodland. On the other end of the woods was a frigate, tipped towards the beach it sat upon and surrounded by griffins. As I scanned the ship with my spyglass, Zamaradi suddenly gasped.

"Look! Where are they going?" She demanded. Turning, I balked, as the fleet that was encircling the grounded ship was moving south. All of them, with a few already halfway to the city. The three of us shared a look as the fireworks popped in the air.

"You don't think," I murmured.

"They're in cahoots?" Zama offered as I whirled around.

"Get back to the port and get everyone moving. Now," I ordered before taking off at a full sprint.

"What about you?" Gab demanded as he ran up beside me.

"You're both faster! Get moving!" I yelled. The pair shared a look before Gab spread his wings and they both took off at full speed. Within minutes, I was racing through the hills on my own, a million unhappy thoughts dancing through my mind's eye.

The unmistakable rumble of cannon fire overtaking the sound of fireworks confirmed a few of them.

My chest was on fire by the time I burst back into the city limits, cutlass already drawn and gun ready to shoot. The ponies stampeded out of my way as I hurled toward the docks.

By God, if I had a chance to go back to that day, I would have cleaved the pair of pegasi I sprinted by. They were part of the city team handling the fireworks display and were in the process of pulling their cart away, but even over the bombs filling the air, I could hear them singing.

James Cutter is a pirate; No loyalty does he possess.

Keep it up! We'll catch that pirate!

And sink him along with the rest. HEY!

Had I not then laid eyes on the chaos unfolding at the docks, I might have blasted the pair. The Quicksilver was parallel with the docks and blasting her starboard guns as quickly as she could. Further out, there were a few smoldering griffin sloops from the defensive fleet that had beat me back to the city, but just as many that were undamaged as well as a few brigs that had not yet rolled into position to join the battle.

To my shock, I saw three sloops and a brig weren't bothering with the Quicksilver at all, instead sailing south after the Company which was fleeing that way. Once I made it onto the docks, I spied a few pegasi from the crew who dashed toward me and before I could argue, strained and dragged me into the air.

On the quarterdeck, Binky suddenly jumped up and began shouting to the crew. As the pegasi flew me over and all but dumped me onto the deck before collapsing in a panting heap, I saw someone sprint up and cut the anchor cord, which was pulled taught. The second it was cut, the ship lurched and began sailing.

Pushing to my feet I dashed to the quarterdeck rail and leaned over, scanning for Gab.

"Where's she going?!" I screamed and pointed at Zamaradi's ship once I spotted him by the helm.

"She said she's gonna lure a mess of 'em off! She said to run for the Boarfrost, she'll meet us there!" He yelled back.

"We can't just-" I paused with a shudder as the distinctive noise of mortar fire split the air. Turning, I watched a cluster of flaming globs arched through the air from the brig that was chasing her. I stumbled to the larboard rail. "No, no no."

The fire reached its apex and fell.

"No, no. Please," I begged as the payload slammed into the Company, bursting apart and painting the ship with flames. Someone on the crew cried out at the sight and I saw Holiday shoot to the rail with a panicked and horrified look. Clenching my teeth, I leaned over the quarterdeck rail and jabbed a finger at Lothar. "Get us in range to save them! Now!" The dog looked up at me in shock and then at Gab just before he flew up beside me.

He balanced on the rail and braced his forehooves against me. "They'll surround us again! If we don't-"

"We can't just leave them to burn!" I screamed in his face. More cannon fire suddenly filled the air and the ship lurched. Turning, I saw that the brigs had finally made it to the port and were turning to open fire on us. Most of the noise that I'd just heard was from our gun crew, preemptively blasting the brigs, but I also saw that the ships chasing Zamaradi had caught up, and the sloops had just shot her ship. Her rigging was ablaze and the sail had fallen off, effectively leaving the ship dead in the water. Even from this distance, I could see fiery shapes scrambling to and leaping over the rail into the water.

And then the brig near her opened fire. My heart sank as the entire upper portion of the Company was engulfed in a fireball.

"They-" Gab gasped, his hooves slipping off me as he sank down onto the rail. "The magazine, they- Ah, hell." My head swayed and I scanned the deck. Half the crew was in shock, but Holiday had his forehooves firmly adhered to the rail as he stared out with a furrowed brow and an unreadable glare.

"Captain Cutter!" Lothar yelled, snapping me out of my daze. "Which way?!" I panted and slowly sank to a sitting position atop the stairs.

"The Boarfrost," I huffed, gesturing in its direction. "That way." As he worked, I swept my hand at the crew.

"Gun crew, be ready to clear a path," I yelled as best I could. Despite my order, they wound up not having to do much.

She'd drawn away just enough for us to escape.

The Boarfrost was a fog-filled sea, riddled with endless icebergs of all shapes and sizes. As a result of that, I watched through my spyglass as the pursuing griffins turned and withdrew from their pursuit. I glared through my glass at them for a few minutes before I collapsed on the stern's rail, clutching it for dear life. My head was swimming and there were sparks dancing across my eyes, all of which managed to make me forget how horribly cold it was.

"Captain?" Came a voice from the deck. Taking a series of heavy breaths, I managed to push off the rear rail and approached the forward one. There, I looked down at the haunted eyes of every crew mate who'd known her. Most of the newer ones continued working at the rigging or holding hushed conversations. I ignored them in favor of the ones now looking at me for answers, like Happy who'd been the one to call for me. He sniffled and blinked the tears out of his eyes, drawing a miserable sigh from me.

"I-"

"S- Sail! Dear Celestia! SAIL! SAIL!" Riser screamed, drawing our attention up to him. When he fell into a screaming, stammering fit, I looked left and then right.

And then I lurched.

"How?" I gasped. "How?"

There, pulling around an especially large iceberg that had hidden her entirely, was the HES Crowned Eagle, her starboard side to us.

A new sound split the air. The rhythmic thunder of sixty gun ports opening all at once.

My breathing was all I could hear for a few seconds, and with each passing second it grew heavier and heavier and louder and louder.

The fog was split.

The water seemed to part.

The deck shook and the clouds themselves seemed to roll away.

All a result of the noise those guns produced when they opened fire.

Countless pounds of iron shot into us and through us. The larboard rail split right at the center and sprayed anyone unlucky enough to have come on this voyage with me with foot-long splinters. The lines snapped and now ropes pulled taught whipped violently across the deck, lashing who knows how many.

"Cutter!" Was the last thing I ever heard Gab say before he vanished, leaving behind a red mist.

Our top deck cannons were uprooted and came crashing down at random, smashing into a few crewmates before pinning others. Those who'd been struck fell to the deck and writhed while the ones who were pinned gasped and screamed.
The quarterdeck's larboard stair suddenly leaped up and unfolded, catching Happy in its jaws before dragging him overboard. Our mainmast fell.

At no point did the Crowned Eagle stop firing. It seemed like the second a line of guns on one deck finished, the next deck began, and by the time all decks had blasted us, the top deck was ready to spit again. I wasn't sure when it happened, but I suddenly found myself drowning. There was a bloody cloud rolling up from my leg which was on fire and my chest stung like hell as I gasped and choked.

I think I'd been hit by a splinter just before being lashed by a loose line, but I have no idea for sure. Everything was cold and burned and the world went blurry. The next thing I knew I was coughing and gasping before collapsing into a screaming fit.

"He's alive," Holiday gasped.

"Captain!" Stitches cried just beside me. I blinked and clenched my teeth before turning to find her with her forehooves locked around my arm. I realized then we were on a long boat and Holiday was hastily tightening a cord around my leg.

"What happened?" I gasped. "What happened?"

"Sit still," Holiday chided. Blinking, I saw off the side of the longboat that the Crowned Eagle was still shooting, and the Quicksilver was mostly splinters.

"Where is everyone?" I gasped, looking up and at our boat. Dinky and Binky were rowing while Holiday worked on me. Stitches was still sobbing, and Jingle was at the far end of the boat, talking with someone. Turning that way, I saw his sister and a few others, including Hatch and Scurry, in a longboat beside ours.

"We're it, Captain," Holiday replied in a low tone. "And we're trying to row for Abyssinia, Celestia help us." I collapsed back at his words and my eyes locked on the pillar of smoke rising into the sky.