Cutter

Having been fed by one of the maids, the orphaned filly sat in the middle of our lounge, idly pawing at one of the handful of wooden holiday ornaments we'd given her to play with. Not far away, I sat on one of our sofas with Orange beside me, as Silver and the two of us watched the little creature.

"Poor dear's awful strong," Silver declared with a sigh. "She hasn't even cried once." She spread her wings and reared up before stamping her hooves at the collection of little decorative ponies and animals causing one of them to fall over.

"We're preparing a guest room for her, with someone to watch her during the night as you requested," Silver added, turning his attention to me. "In the morning, I'll begin making preparations for her trip."

I furrowed my brow without taking my eyes off her. "What trip?"

"We don't have an orphanage here. She'll have to be transported to the mainland," he explained with a hum before casting a smile at the filly. "A cute little thing like her will find a happy home in no time, I'm sure."

"Good," I replied at which Silver bowed to me and made his way out. The filly looked up and watched him go before sitting down and staring at me. Humming, I raised an eyebrow and turned to Orange, who I discovered was also staring at me, though much more intensely. "What?"

"We could keep her," she urged with a desperate tone and look in her eyes. I blinked and slowly shook my head.

"No?" I murmured.

"Yeah," she demanded. I groaned and rubbed my eyes.

"Lady, I'm not meant to be a father," I declared, at which she scooted closer and nudged me.

"Nopony is their first time!" She argued. "C'mon!"

"She's not a puppy, you dope," I grumbled, staring at the ceiling.

"Nah, but her momma wanted you to have her!" She said, laying down and beating the side of my leg with her hooves. "Please?" Before I could argue further, I tilted my head to leer at Orange only to spot the filly at my feet. When she saw I was looking, she reared up and started hopping in place at my knees.

"What's she doing?" I huffed.

"I think she wants up," Orange squeaked in response, her eyes full of stars as she watched the filly.

"Why?" I grumbled, earning a punch in the shoulder for daring to ask.

"I dunno! Pick her up, you jerk!" Orange hissed.

"I-" I grunted and looked between Orange and the filly before finally sighing and picking the little pegasus up with my hands tucked under her forelegs. However, once I had her up, she started kicking and squirming until I finally set her down in my lap. "Okay." I stared down at the filly as she stared right back, tilting her head to and fro as she studied me.

"I think she's mesmerized by how freaky your face is," Orange finally offered, drawing a snort from me.

"Fuck you," I huffed, at which Orange smacked my shoulder.

"Not in front of the baby," she hissed.

"Fuch yoo," the baby squeaked, causing Orange's jaw to drop and me to fall into a wheezing fit.

"There, see what you did?" Orange spat as I clutched my fist over my mouth. "We can't send her away now, she's verbally compromised!" After a moment, I caught my breath and shook my head.

"Babies are dumb. She'll forget it," I sighed. The filly stood up and fixed Orange with a firm, scrunched-up frown before pointing at her.

"Fuch yoo yoo yoo, fuch," she declared, pacing around my lap with each word. "Fuch." Orange slowly turned to me and fixed me with a harsh glare as I narrowly restrained my laughter.

"See?" She growled. We shared a look before considering the filly again, who had curled up with a yawn on my lap. "I think she likes you." I hummed quietly before failing to restrain myself and gently petting her wing with a finger. She cracked one eye open to peer at me before curling up and scooting closer to me.

"So?" Orange whispered, drawing my attention to her. She swept a hoof toward the rest of the house. "We got a whole house of staff to help raise her." She wrapped her hooves around my arm.

"And we got each other," she added causing me to furrow my brow and consider the napping filly again. "Plus this is like karma giving you a chance to make up for burning a whole pirate crew alive, probably!" I recoiled with a quiet gasp at her words before shaking my head at her.

"Jesus. Why do you care so much?" I demanded at which point she shot down onto her belly and made goo-goo eyes at the baby.

"She's so little! And precious! And helpless!" She quietly cooed, shuffling her hooves underneath herself. "She's a little darling!" She gasped and shot up to my shoulder

"Let's name her Darling!" She demanded, at which I rolled my eyes.

"Her name's Lily," I grunted, which for some reason caused Orange to pause and look at me in surprise. Slowly, a wry grin worked its way onto her face.

"Lily Darling, then!" She retorted, leaning closer. "Lily Darling Cutter." Her words hit me funny and I found my eyes drifting back to the sleeping filly. As I considered her and Orange's suggestion, a dopey grin flashed across my face for just a moment before I caught myself.

"Heh? What was that look?" Orange hummed, leaning in closer and earning a sideways leer from me. "So?" I held my look for a moment before Lily stirred and drew my attention down to her. She had rolled over to sleep facing me and as soon as I'd noticed, Orange rested her head upon my shoulder.

"Lily Darling Cutter," I murmured, gently brushing Lily's mane with my thumb. "Feels kinda wrong for a guy like me to raise a kid, but it's probably pretty low on the list of wrong things I've done, hey?" Orange squealed quietly as I finally sighed with a nod.

"We'll give it a shot," I declared.

Spring had come and the next quarter's convention was rapidly approaching. I, however, had more pressing things on my mind as I stormed through the door to the backyard, followed by a nervous pair of maids. Outside, I immediately found Silver sitting with a few other maids who also wore anxious faces. Silver, however, seemed unimpressed.

"Where is she?" I demanded, causing him to nod his head upward. I whirled around and clenched my teeth. "Why didn't you stop her?"

"You know how wily she is," he argued. "What do you want from me?" I huffed hard at him before returning my attention to Blood Orange and Lily, high up on the roof of the house. The former was crouched beside the latter and whispering to her as the filly nodded slowly, scanning the ground all the while.

"Blood Orange! What are you doing?" I screamed, causing her to pause and turn to me. Lily beamed at the sight of me and waved.

"Teaching Lily how to fly!" Orange argued.

"She's too small!" I cried, at which the bat pony scoffed and spread her wings. Lily glanced at her before spreading her wings as well.

"This is how my momma taught me to fly!" Orange argued, causing me to throw my head back with a sharp groan.

"What, when you could barely string a proper sentence together?" I spat, resting my hands on my hips.

"You don't even have wings!" Orange spat, causing me to hiss. I rolled up my sleeves and climbed up the support of the rear balcony.

"You won't either when I get my hands on you!" I strained before rolling onto the balcony. Huffing and puffing, I stood up and held my arms up to Lily. "Lily! Come here, c'mon!" The filly considered me for a moment before turning to Orange. She glanced between us a few times before scrunching her muzzle and then sticking her tongue out at me.

"Nyeh!" She replied causing me to wilt.

"Hah! You tell him, Lily!" Orange cheered before flapping her wings and hovering off the roof. "C'mon, do like I showed you." Lily adopted a determined frown as she spread her wings.

"Shit," I hissed, slowly back up as she began bouncing. "Shit! Shit!"

"Cutter!" Orange chided. Just then, Lily jumped and I leaped up to try and catch her, catching my leg on the balcony rail.

"Crud!" I cried as I tumbled back and fell. Several screams rolled up to greet me as I landed on something that squawked in Silver's voice. I lay there in pain, wheezing as my lungs slowly accepted the concept of air again. A gentle fluttering sound filled my ears and when I finally opened my eyes, I saw Lily fluttering just above me.

"Ba'wor. No!" She chided, jabbing a hoof at me over my profanity. My head sank back to the ground with a groan.

My steadily growing filly glared down at me from the rafters above the stairwell, having long since discovered the fact that, as it turned out, the grumpy old man who was raising her couldn't fly. I huffed and placed my hands on my hips.

"Lily. Get down from there, now," I ordered.

"No!" She shot back.

"Why not?" I hummed, raising an eyebrow.

"You're gonna make me go to the school," she declared, folding her hooves over her mouth while still glaring at me. "I don't wanna."

"Why not?" I asked, smirking as I spied the individual she failed to factor in when she chose to hide out of my reach.

"'Cause," Lily grumbled.

"'Cause why?" I pressed.

"'Cause," she insisted with a humph.

"Hey, Lily?" I asked.

"What?" She huffed.

"Boo," Orange peeped as she popped up right behind her. Lily sprang forward from her hiding spot with a yelp and fell all the way down into my waiting arms.

"There we go. Let's get you ready for school," I chirped as I carried my mortified filly to her room, followed behind by Orange who giggled at the sight. When Lily eventually recovered she humphed and folded her forelegs.

"I don't wanna," she grumbled with a pouting frown.

"Why not, Sugarfly?" Orange asked, draping herself on my shoulders. Lily squeaked and waved her hooves at us.

"I wanna stay home with you and Papa," she declared, fixing me with a sad frown. "Papa has to go on the water again soon!"

"Yeah, that can't be helped, but think about it like this," I said as we turned into her room. "If you start going to school, one day they might let you go on the water with me." As Orange flew from my back to Lily's wardrobe, Lily looked at me in surprise.

"Really?" She squeaked.

"Sure," I replied, setting her down on her bed as Orange got her clothes ready before I knelt on one knee. "In fact, I tell you what: You do real good in school this first year, and next spring I'll bring you on a short cruise. Deal?" I held my hand out to her and she considered it for a moment before nodding.

"Deal," she said, hooking her hoof around my fingers and shaking my hand.

Unexpectedly, after her first cruise, Lily had taken a serious interest in the finer details of how my ship worked. And so, as the crew unloaded in the recently completed Eagleland harbor, I continued our educational tour of the ship.

"Okay," I murmured as I led her to a bit of the rigging before tugging on a rope. "So, what is this?"

"A line," she chirped with a bright smile. I nodded before tilting my head back.

"Which is what?" I pressed, causing her to pause.

"Uhm," she tapped her chin before slowly nodding. "A rope that does a thing on the ship."

"Good," I purred with a smile that she quickly matched. I nodded at the line in question. "Can you tell me what this line does?" She blinked and looked up at the mainmast.

"I got my sails mixed up, but it moves that one on top," she said after pointing to the sail. I laughed and clapped.

"Good," I declared before considering the sail in question. "And you were close without even realizing it. That's a topgallant." I turned back to see her now just staring up at the clouds.

"You listening?" I asked.

"Mhm," she hummed, still staring off.

"Lily?" I pressed.

"Huh?" She squeaked, blinking back to reality. I nodded my head at the sails.

"What's that sail called?" I asked. She tilted her head and considered the sail again.

"Gallant," she declared before jolting and raising a hoof. "Ah, topgallant." She offered me a smile with her answer and I nodded.

"Good," I declared before noticing her eyes kept drifting skyward. "What's on your mind?" She continued staring for a moment before snapping her wings and turning back to me.

"What if we put wings on your ship?" She eagerly asked, spreading her wings. "Make it so it can fly like Momma Orange and I do?" I tilted my head at her question and she fluttered her wings to fly up to my eye level.

"Wouldn't that be better? We can turn and zip around way better," she added, demonstrating her maneuverability and causing me to laugh.

"That would be nice," I replied before wagging a finger. "You'd need some pretty big wings to pull it off though. And keeping them flapping would be a challenge in and of itself." I folded my arms and leaned on the rail which she had perched upon.

"Taking off would be a real pain, too," I continued causing her to bring a hoof to her chin in thought. Then she jumped with a gasp.

"Oh! Oh! What about lanterns?" She cried, desperately prancing in place. "You know, like those paper ones we use at Hearth's Warming?" She paused and scowled.

"How do those work?" She said in a tone she used when she was asking herself rather than us. After a moment she jolted and fixed me with a bright smile. "Like we put a big candle inside and tie a string from the boat to the lantern?" I hummed in approval with a nod.

"Makes sense," I declared, before winking. "Still have to use a pretty big lantern and candle, though." I huffed hard and shook my head at her.

"And good luck convincing any navy officer to cough up the coin to pay for it," I said leaning in to whisper. "Budgets and all that." She frowned hard and stamped her hoof.

"I hate budget meetings. You always come home all grumpy when they happen," she declared, causing me to laugh and scoop her into a hug.

"Yeah! I hate 'em too," I replied.

"Papa!" Lily squealed as she shot into my chest the second I cleared the front door. As often as this had happened over the past few years, it still left me gasping to her thorough amusement. She nuzzled me a few times before looking up a time. "I thought you'd have to go to a meeting the second you made landfall." I looked at her in surprise before chuckling.

"Hey, hey! You're better at keeping track of that garbage than me! Yeah, we were cutting our return voyage close this time," I said as I adjusted my grip on her. "But I'd rather be here with you and Momma Orange." She beamed before tilting her head.

"Aren't the other admirals going to be upset?" She asked. I snorted as I carried her inside.

"I sent Bay Leaf to report on my behalf," I declared before she squirmed and I set her down. "Honestly, he sailed with me enough that if he can't guess what I think needs done on the sea this quarter, then who can?" I looked around the foyer for Orange before turning back to Lily.

"Momma Orange had to go into town to talk with my teacher," she declared, nodding her head to the door. I recoiled and raised an eyebrow at her.

"You didn't get in trouble did you?" I asked at which she shook her head.

"Mm Mm!" She hummed with an innocent smile. At that moment, Silver came trotting into view.

"No, Sir, she's just been excelling lately, and Ms. Quill was just too eager to share," he declared causing Lily to blush and swish her tail. He nodded his head at me. "Just as I'm all too eager to share the new recipe our cook concocted for you."

"Sounds good. C'mon kiddo," I declared as Silver led us to the dining room. As soon as we'd eaten, Silver brought me a local paper to relax with while Lily practiced writing. I hummed at the mostly dull trade details it initially reported. However, as I reached the second page, I lurched with a quiet gasp. My eyes darted across the print for a moment before focusing and reading it again.

Following the blockade of Litterbox Ridge as we reported two weeks ago, Baron Whitetail, whose holding was directly impacted by the blockade, commissioned Lieutenant Mayflower of the Equestrian Navy. The lieutenant was visiting Abyssinia along with certain nobles attempting to broker a trade agreement with the feline and, seeing it as an opportunity to strengthen the agreement in Equestria's favor, accepted the baron's request, armed a pair of sloops, and set off to locate and arrest the pirate Catarina.

Despite rumors of Catarina possessing magic that controls the tides, Mayflower and his consort were not deterred. Instead, knowing that she had fled into a particularly rocky area, full of places to hide, Mayflower had his consort ship sail ahead a decent distance in order to signal him ahead of time if they spotted the pirate.

When the consort spotted her and signaled to Mayflower, who being further back was hidden from the pirate's view, he acted quickly.

Mayflower ordered the majority of his crew below decks. As a result, when the pirate sailed forth to engage either ship, seeing Mayflower was evidently weaker and had already run up a white flag, she chose to board his ship.

The trap was sprung, and Mayflower's crew erupted from below, quickly surrounding and overcoming Catarina's crew.

The Abyssinian herself fought on, using her magic to toss the ship, but it afforded her little advantage. She was run through three times before she finally fell to the deck stone dead and the magic amulet which Mayflower discerned was the source of her power, was confiscated.

According to Mayflower, the pirate's final words were "cut her" though the individual she was threatening is not at this time known.

I slowly sank against the back of my chair in a mild daze. "Shit," I quailed.

"Bad word," Lily chirped with a giggle. When I didn't reply she looked up at me. "Papa?" I slowly set the paper on the table and stared ahead.

"You read something sad?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah," I whispered, my hand slowly brushing the page. "A friend of mine died." She recoiled and then wilted.

"Oh," she murmured. After a moment she set her writing tools down and fluttered into my lap before nuzzling me. "I'm sorry." I blinked before hooking my arm around her and hugging her tight.

"Yeah," I huffed, considering the article again. "I'm sorry, too."

"Were they Momma Orange's friend, too?" She asked, to which I nodded. She perked up and tilted her head. "Were they a pirate?" I managed a smile as I nodded.

"Yep. The Flying Gang, like I told you. That was us," I said. My smile wavered as I considered the sketch of her face that went with the article. "Just me now." I was shaken out of my gloom when Lily reared up on my chest.

"We can make a new one!" She declared, causing me to flinch.

"What?" I huffed, fixing her with an incredulous look.

"A new Flying Gang!" She said with a firm expression. "You, me, and Momma Orange!" I blinked at her before uttering a curt laugh.

"Well, well, look at the gumption on you," I said, looking her up and down before poking her in the nose. "You don't even own a boat." She recoiled slightly and frowned at me.

"Yeah, well!" Her head swiveled before falling upon my paper. "I can make one!"

"How?" I demanded with a bemused snort. She pulled a page from my newspaper.

"Folding paper! Watch," she leaned on the table and began folding the page. Before I knew what was happening she whirled around and dropped a little paper boat into my hand. "See? Like that but way bigger!" I balked at the construct and marveled at how shockingly intricate it was.

"Hoo, that's pretty good," I said as I held it up. Amazingly, I discovered it actually unfolded a little to sort of match the shape of a proper sailing ship, without the rigging. "Wow. Where'd you learn that?"

"Huh?" She hummed, tilting her head.

"Did your schoolyard buddies teach you this?" I asked.

"Nuh-uh," she replied, causing me to pause and leer at her.

"What, did you just figure it out?" I huffed, shaking my head.

"Yeah-huh!" She chirped. I paused again, looking at the folded page.

"Really?" I murmured to her, earning an eager nod. "How?" She frowned slightly with a shrug.

"I dunno," she said, gesturing to the rest of the paper. "I saw the lines and the shapes and all that."

"What?" I asked, looking at the paper in abject bewilderment. Seeing my expression she wilted more.

"Uhm," she gently traced along the face of the paper. "I started noticing them everywhere after you showed me your map stuff, like your compass and all that." I flinched at her explanation and looked at her in wonder.

"No kidding?" I huffed, causing her to nod.

"Mhm! I started paying attention and figuring out numbers from them and stuff," she declared before tilting her head. "Why? Isn't that how it works for you?" I barked a laugh in response.

"Heck, no! That's why I need the tools!" I cackled before holding up her construct. "I sure couldn't do this without someone showing me how."

"Really?" She gasped.

"Yeah," I urged. She looked at me in surprise before suddenly humming in a tone like she'd just discovered something for the first time. Then, with a shimmering light and a chime, she gasped and jumped to the floor, inspecting her rear.

"My cutie mark!" She cried.

"Whoa!" I cried as well before flinching at the mark she'd earned. "The heck is that?"

"I dunno," she murmured as she twisted her head this way and that to get a better look at it. I narrowed my eyes at the collection of stylized lines, triangles, and numbers.

"That looks like- Hey, Silver!" I yelled, twisting my head as well to get a better look at her new mark. "Get in here."

"Yes, sir?" Silver replied once he entered the room. Then, he noticed Lily. "Oh hoh!"

"The heck is that?" I demanded, pointing at her mark. He hummed and raised an eyebrow.

"Seems like simple calculus," he replied before beaming. "Ah, a talent for mathematics, perhaps?" Lily beamed as well before I choked.

"Ain't no way," I coughed a laugh before fixing her with a smirk. "Your special talent is being a nerd?" She gasped and recoiled.

"Hey!" She spread her wings and jabbed a hoof at me. "It's not-"

"Nah! Too late!" I cried, jumping forward and sweeping her up, earning a squawk of annoyance from her. "Your talent's being a nerd, and we're gonna go show everyone! C'mon!" To her continued frustration, I charged out of the room, cackling all the while.

Long after Lily had gone to sleep and the excitement of her cutie mark had died down, I found myself standing upon the shore. My gaze drifted up and down the horizon. "Just me," I whispered. Suddenly, Orange nipped at my hand, and I looked down at her. She sniffled and wiped her eyes free of tears before nodding at me.

"Just us," she urged. I considered her for a moment before slowly nodding as well and wiping my eye with a thumb.

"Just us," I replied before kneeling and dropping the bouquet we'd prepared into the tide. As it slowly rolled away, I sank to a sitting position and wrapped an arm around Orange, watching the tide carry it off.