Arrival and pretty much the worst First contact to date.
“Yo dude you suck at this!”
“Yeah, yeah suck it up dude.”
“Oh come on!”
“Dude that’s gotta be the worst!”
Me and my pals were playing this new pirate game that came out. It got good reviews so we decided to play it. And a couple of tutorials and getting a hang of multiplayer and co-op, this was the best I have ever played to date. It rivaled the gaming script of AC three.
We were at least two hundred on the server, occasionally sending some game request for some of my friends so we can play on the same server. The multiplayer gaming system was amazing. You don’t just get your own crew, the other plays are your crew. The gaming system just choose the captain from level and experience which you can get on campaign, multiplayer or skirmish. I was the captain this time,and my friends were part of my crew.
Since I was the captain I had to chat to each and every single one of my entourage, I was happy to find out that half of them were already close buddies with my close buddies. The other half were just as friendly. I was near the maximum level, making me the only one with the level of ninety nine on the server.
I checked the leaderboard to see if there were any other higher ups if I missed any, sure enough there weren’t any and the server was at the max of four hundred. The maximum amount of players you can have on your crew are twenty and the higher you level up the higher the number of crew and ships you unlock.
Like the higher level up that I am, I had a first rate ship of the line and my max crew was fifty. I bought some awesome upgrades for my ship and pimping it to look like a ghost ship. My crews moral was great and I mean great. They looked up on me, since I gave them a decent amount of gold until the game started. They quickly bought some new upgrades, clothing and weapons and were completely satisfied. The online system of the game was very similar to the ones of PoTC. It was free roam and the deathmatch started when an idiot decided to shoot at someone else's ship. The higher up that I am, the well equiped crew mates and the vastly intimidating ship I wasn’t fucked with.
The match started really late, since I was the only higher up in the server and the only one with a ship that would rival even Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard would be so proud. The idiot captain who started it shot at a level twenty brig. The captain of that brig quickly decimated the idiot captain, who was a level level ten caravel didn’t even have time to react.
The battle slowly ravaged where the first battle took place. Cannons, muskets and lots of explosives that bring death, quickly destroyed one another. My crew just watched, with the safety of the ship and the leadership of 'moi' they could watch indefinately.
When two last ships standing they quickly began a truce and started to sail towards us. My first mate Matthew, user name Utslc12s, was ringing the ship’s bell and everyone when to their battlestations. The two captains were lining up to make a quick death to us, sadly they won’t have a chance.
I steered my ship to face them, as a ship of the line, this ship was the most powerful ship on the market. I pimped it out to even have cannons on the front and back ends to leave any possible attacks from up front and back, and with the majority of cannons being on the sides, these captains are fucked.
The first to fire was the captain with a man o’ war. My ship mates quickly decimated it and leaving them to drown. The other was a carrack, my ship mates had a weird sense of humor because they reloaded every single cannons to fire a chain shot. Their wish came true and the chain shot decimated the crew and the sails leaving the captain and the rest helpless.
“Any last words?” I said on my mic, the other captain had a mic as well but was cut off by one of the former captain “Yo dude you suck at this!” another one shouted at him and said “Yeah, yeah suck it up dude!” I asked if one of my shipmates if they can get a good shot at the other captains head and sure enough Martin, username Leggkit29zx, was the best marksman and quickly shot the captain to kingdom come “Oh come on!” he shouted. The other spectators just said a loud “ooooh” and some of them hissing at the graphic display. One of them just simply said “Dude that’s gotta be the worst!” and then ordered my crew to “give them the romeo special!”.
The ‘Romeo special’ is my renamed skill of the ‘Flaming cannon barrage’. My crew sent out a melodramatic prayer to them and brought them to kingdom come. The sight was the most beautiful virtual cinematic I have ever seen. It was full of bright pretty colors and lots and lots of flame. I quickly sent friend requests to my crew and sent a messages to my friend saying good bye and giving lots of good games to everyone on the server. Quickly logging off I went to my comfy cloud and slept, never waking up in the same place ever again.
I wake up to find that I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. I was facing the blue sky and the blinding sun at the corner of my eye. I quickly covered my face but was met with a skeletal hand, I panicked and got up panting and breathing heavily.
When I got up I was surprised to see a wooden steering wheel and a mast right behind it I thought out loud and said “I’m on a ship...”, it looked very similar to the one I had on my last game. I quickly glanced in my general perimeter to see where the skeletal hand came from and quickly panicking when I couldn’t find it. Then I had the idea of looking at myself and sure enough I was a skeleton, with clothes.
I started panicking and thinking Am I dead?No, no, no, no, no, no I can’t be dead. Okay think Jake think! I repeatedly hit my head with my now skeletal hands Okay quick recap, last night I was playing with my friends and won a match on one of multiplayer server, went to sleep and now I’m here. I breathed heavily I’m an idiot! I’m still sleeping aren’t I? and quickly checked to see if I can feel pain by jump off to the main deck and stopped dead in my tracks.
I stared down on the deck and found that there were more skeletons like me, I shrugged it off and quickly jumped down.
Pain...unbearable...pain. I shouted in pain and woke up one of the skeletons on the deck. It was dressed in a red vest, red bandana, blue trousers and some jewelery. It looked at me and had a red flame in each of it’s eye socket. The flames suddenly dimmed and it looked at me mouth agape.
Then went out and shout “DEMON!!” and ran the opposite direction. I remembered the voice belonging to John one of the crew mate on my last game.
I shouted back and said “John! Get your ethereal ass back here and help me get back up!”. I glanced to where he ran and found he was hiding behind a mast, head sticking out. It took him a few minutes before getting out of cover and laughed at me.”Yeah yeah, get it out of your system and help me up!” I was a pile of bones because of the jump I made.
When he calmed down, he quickly reassembled me “Thanks man, can you help me to wake up the others?” I asked, quickly testing out if my limbs were back in order.”Sure, not like I have anything better to do.” I nodded and we both went off to wake up the others. I then realized that there were fifty of them, fifty one if you counted me.
Each of them had different reactions, some of them got scared like John, some of them even tried to fight their way and some of them just dealt with it. I then got to the captain’s cabin and found a note. I locked the door behind me and went off to the desk and read the note.
Dear Jake
I am pleased to say that you and your crew mates are now in possession of the most well built first rate ship of the line, and outfitted to your liking. The ship itself is also magical enhanced and has been built to withstand even the most dangerous of foes. The ship also contains your basic necessities and many other special cargo. To answer the question “Why am I a skeleton”, “Why am I here” and “Where am I?" simple. You are here because I find your skill of leading and pillaging entertaining.
“Why you are a skeleton?” Cause they're awesome. ”Why am I here?” Told you, I like you. ”Where am I?” You sir are in Equis, home of the show My little pony Friendship is magic. I stopped reading and yelled a loud ‘Yes!’ and quickly read the rest.
Also, to answer several other questions. The reason you have the crew of your latest adventure is because they trust you and they look up to you. They are your friends and your workers. Also to where you are on Equis, you are on Eternity’s Crossing. I put the letter down, and quickly searched for a map. Sure enough, I went to check inside the desk. I found one and opened it revealing only a small portion of the world. I sighed and face palmed only to find the world map to be placed beside the door. It was opened since it was plastered there. I scanned the map for Eternity’s Crossing.
When I found it, I was excited to know it was closed to Equestria and quickly began to read the rest of the note, again.
Eternity’s Crossing was named that way, because of the many failed attempt by the Cervidas to trade with Equestria because of the poor navigation schools and teaching and the sole reason they built the Eternity’s Bridge. So you shouldn’t worry about being lost. Last but not least, you have many other advantages that I can’t seem to remember or have the time to write them down here. So, feel free to discover each and every one of your crew mate’s abilities and strenghs. Best of luck!
From your god and friend
Death!
P.S: You should find a name for your ship and find a name for your crew.
P.P.S: Your ship is the largest, most durable and most powerful in both Earth and Equis
P.P.P.S: If you need to send me something, simple put the letter in the black box behind your desk,
I folded the letter and placed it inside my new desk. I unlocked the door to find out that the sails were open, everybody on the ship was either relaxing or doing something and that we were moving.
I then realized that we might be heading into the wrong direction. I quickly tried to find a compass in my cabin only to find out that I had one on my person. I picked the compass and another copy of the map up and head to the wheel.
When I reached the wheel I glanced my compass and found out that we were heading south-east. I steered the ship until we were headed north-west. Everyone looked at me. I pointed towards my map, they shrugged off before dozing off.
I suddenly realized that I’m not great with navigation “Anyone good with navigation?” I said, hoping that anybody here at least had a decent amount of training or just knows how to use a map and a compass.
One of them stood up and walked towards me. It was Luke, one of players from my last game. He stared at the map before taking a glance at my compass. He grabbed both of them and said “I’ll take it from here cap’n.” he saluted to me before taking control of the wheel.
Since I found a new navigator I had to inspect the ship. The ship was huge like all first rate ship of the line. But it wasn’t any ordinary ship of the line. The wood looked old and rotten and had a grayish color to it, but was extremely durable and strong. The mast had a few splinters and there, and the sails were torn out but moved anyways. The ship was also emitting a weird fog wherever we sailed. The ship had at least twenty floors, the top fifteen were housing cannons from the sides and the front and back of the ship while the bottom floors housed the dorm and the storage room.
I inspected the storage rooms to see that it had a few sections to it. There were sections for weapons and ammo, food, clothing, utensils etc. The storage rooms were massive and packed with who knows what. I had to find the treasury.
The dorms were fairly simple, there was chest at the base of the bed and a nightstands was beside it. The crew were lucky to find out that they had rooms and not the usual cheap all the beds aligned one another leaving absolutely no privacy. There was an infirmary, kitchen, living room, library and a forge. The ship was prepared for everything.
I then suddenly realized something How can we afford all this weight and still float like a dinghy? I thought. Then I realized I didn’t need to worry, I remembered the letter saying that the ship is magically enhanced and that the ship and crew had a lot of advantages that he/she couldn’t find or put.
I found out that some of the room were already occupied and locked. I checked above the door or beside it to find a plaque with a name on it. I shrugged the feeling off, i already had a room so why bother finding out if everyone else had one? and i walked out to the main deck.
The main deck had the usual three mast, the sails torn out and had the white color taken out and left a grayish color to it. The front bowl had a figure of a skeleton holding out a sword and a plaque saying Mors sequitur nos meaning ‘Death follows us’.
I then looked at myself to find that I was wearing torn out dark red coat reaching down until the floor, a pair of leather boots, a black colored trouser reaching down to hide the top of my boots, a dark red shirt inside of my coat. On my head I wore a bandana and on top of that is my captain hat with dark feather sticking out. My weapons consist of a cutlass made out of some sort of black metal and looked very rusted out and a flintlock.
I stopped gawking at myself and looked at the main mast to find a jolly roger and a black rose in it’s mouth. I headed towards the wheel and looked where Luke was at, scanning the map and taking few glances at the compass. He glanced up and stared at me before standing up and saluting.
“So Luke, ETA to Bridle Shores?” I asked, lowering his salute.”I would say a few weeks with the speed of the ship.”
“Thanks for the info, by the way gather everyone to head to my officer I need to address them of the situation we are currently trapped, stuck or saved in.” he saluted before heading down to gather everyone.
I headed to my officer and sat down at my desk. I looked behind and found the black box. It was emiting a strange black fog but I didn’t mind. My cabin was very spacious, there were rooms all spacious and comfortable to be in. The largest room is the office where I was currently residing and where everyone walks in whenever they want to talk to me.
I waited in a few minutes of silence before someone knocks at the door and entered. All fifty of them was inside now and I addressed them and said “I hope everyone here is happy and probably wondering why I asked Luke there to gather y’all here?” they all nodded “Well, I would like to know which ones of you are bronies if you’re not one don’t worry I won’t punish you.” almost everyone’s hand shot up.”Okay now, you are also probably wondering where we are, why are we skeletons and why I am still the captain right?” they all nodded “Well this letter is the culprit of my new found knowledge and the person involve is none other than our mister/mistress Death.” I showed them the letter and I began to read it out loud to them before handing over to everyone.
They were all dumbfounded before I said “Now, as you can see the black box is behind me. And I would like to know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses privately. George your first!” I said and before left except George. He was wearing a green striped shirt and a white bandana. He wore a blue trouser like everyone and the same leather boot as everyone else. His eyes were glowing green flames.
“So George tell me what you’re good at and what your not” he sat down in front of my desk and started to say what he’s good at. George was a blacksmith, and he’s great at sword fighting, so I assigned him to the forge. He took the post and headed out to say who was next.
Since I already know Martin, Matthew, George and Luke’s post I had forty-six people to send to their appropriate post. John has great eye sight, so hes working at the crow’s nest. Laurence is an artillery egghead, so he’s working at coordinating the shots. Pierce’s a fast and great steers, so he’s going to keep wheeling the wheel. Joey was a great organizer, so hes going to be the ship’s cataloger. Luther’s an engineer, so he’s going to create stuff with George and repair stuff. Frank’s a great cook, but i don’t think skeletons eat I think i have to ask Death about our diet. Dean and Stark were doctor’s, so their going to work in the infirmary. Mike and Walter were carpenters so their going to fix the ship and other wooden stuff. Oliver was an officer, so he’s either going to be my second mate or just an officer. Joshua is a great merchant, so he’s going to do our shopping and probably sell some stuff for either. The rest were just either happy triggers, teens, other’s with strength they can’t use on the ship at the moment and a few other with things we don’t need but are extremely useful in battle.
------A few weeks later------
I walked up towards Luke and asked him “So, when do we get to the nearest town?” he looked at the map and said “Possible a week or even three days to reach New Saddle” I looked at him and said “New Saddle it is, inform the crew about the ETA and ask John if he can spot the island with the bino.” and I headed off to my office. I looked at the black box then I took out a parchment, quill and inkwell and started to write.
Dear Death
I would like to know if we have a diet. And i would like to know the meaning of our eyes glowing. I would also like to know the enhancements and possible what our diet consist of eating.
From
Jake
And I placed the letter inside the black box. I waited until a black fire poofed out of existence in front of me.
I opened the letter and read
Dear Jake
You don’t have a diet since you are dead. Why your eyes are glowing is to differentiate power, emotion and the color of the soul the person is in. Your eyes are glowing dark because you have a cruel power, your emotions are hidden and yet your soul is forgiving and carrying. The enhancements are the weight, fog, strength, durability, intimidation, you can fire the cannons without anyone manning it and reloading them automatically but you still need to aim and maneuver it manually and the last one I don’t really know ask me another time I might remember what it is!
From your friend and god Death!
P.S: You forgot to name the ship
P.P.S: You forgot to name your crew.
P.P.P.S: I am a she.
I folded the letter and placed it in my desk’s left drawer. I sighed and dozed off.
When I woke up I had an idea for a name for both the ship and crew. The ship is going to be named The Revelation and the crew will be named Death’s Carpenters. Genius Jake genius!
I then headed to the deck and headed to Mike and Walter. They were building some stuff and polishing in their workspace that I gave them. When they saw me I addressed them and said “Would you mind making something for the ship, I thought of a name for her.” they looked at me before Mike said “Sure, what’s her name?” I looked a Walter who just nodded “Her name is The Revelation.” they looked at me before saying “Where do you want us to put it?” I thought for a minute before I said “Where is a good spot for it?” they looked at each before Walter said “In my opinion the back of the cabin is a good place. But you can always put four, one on each side, one on the back of the backing and one the skeleton at the bowl will be holding we can rearrange 'im to hold it.”.
I looked at him before nodding and said “Good idea, so you guys can do it before we reach New Saddle?” they looked at me before they both nodded “Great!” and walked back to my cabin.
------three days later------
“Land Ho!”
John yelled waking everyone up except Luke and Pierce who were always up. We immediately got up running to the main deck to see what we’ve all been waiting for New Saddle.
I went back to my cabin to get my spyglass and got back to the main deck to find the island. Sure enough there it is New Saddle’s Dock.
----Spyglass---
I could see ponies at the dock working and carrying some crates. Occasional guard patrol could be seen walking past the perimeter of the spyglass. The ponies haven’t noticed the Revelation yet so no worries yet.
-------Jake-------
I went back to my officer to write a letter to Death to see if I can turn the fog off whenever I want to. When I finished the letter I quickly put it inside the box and waited for the black flame to appear.
She got my letter fairly quickly and wrote fairly quickly and i got the answer I needed.
Dear Jake
If you need to turn the fog enhancement off simply use the gems inside your desk and to turn it off, if you want to turn it back on simply turn it back on.
From your friend and god Death
P.S:I see that you’ve reached New Saddle good luck!
I folded the letter like any other and I simply put it in my desk with the rest. I searched my desk for the gem and turned it off. I put the darn thing back and trotted to the main deck. The fog subsided for a while before we can see the dock clearly. I ordered my mates to tie the sails and prepare the anchor, and I also ordered them to get their gears ready incase they freak out.
When we were halfway there to the docks, a squadron of pegasi guards flew towards us and scanned us and the ship itself. They had looks of fear when they glanced at us and quickly got back to the docks screaming bloody murder.
When we reached the docks, we were bordered by unicorn and earth ponies. I trotted towards them and kneeled to eye level at one of them “Which one o’ you lot s’ the commanding officer?” I said in my best pirate accent. The unicorn was shivering in fear and as iI spoke pointed to another unicorn only he had a different colored armor and was slightly more muscled.
I trotted to him and kneeled down and said “May we dock here?” he looked at me confused and fearfully. I gave him a few minutes to regain his composure before I snapped my fingers and said “Anyone home?” he glared at me and said “You may not dock here you vile beast, you and your filthy entourage!”.
I sighed then used something I didn’t even know i had. I looked into his eyes and I found out he was scared shitless for some reason. I raised a metaphorical eyebrow and kept staring at him before he screamed and ran off.
I scratched my head in confusion and looked at the cowering officer’s guard. They prepared a defensive stance which i lowered by doing a hand gesture “I don’t know what happened to him, first thing I did was ask if I can dock then he insulted me and my crew next thing you know he ran away like a filly to his mommy.” they suppressed a laughter and then one of the officer of the earth pony said “That officer you just talked to isn’t actually in charge of the whole dock.” I raised an eyebrow and said “If he ain’t in charge why the hell was I asking him if we could dock here?” he shrugged and said “Hay if I know,you did ask him for his commanding officer.” he pointed to the unicorn I was talking to still shivering.”So who’s the actual boss round here?" I asked nicely “That would be him right there.” he pointed to an earth pony who was about to board. The earth pony was a dark orange and had a slightly maroon mane and a scroll and inkwell as a cutie mark. He walked up towards me and said “And who do I have the pleasure to talk to?” he raised his hoof to me. I stared at it for a while before shaking it. ”So does this mean we can dock here mister....”
“Well Played mister....”
“Jake”
“Gesundheit”
I glared at him for a while before I shrugged it off. ”So how much do I owe ya for docking my ship?”
“Nothing really, unless you decide to dock here for a long period of time?”
“No, not really. Just here to grab some supplies and were off to Hoofington.”
“Oh, okay.”
“So Played, any chance you know where the best general market is?”
He smiled and said “You came to the right stallion!”
I raised an eyebrow “What do you mean I came to the right stallion?” I said and then I thought Bow chika bow wow.
He smiled again and said “I know the pony you need to get to. Follow me!” I gestured Joshua to follow along and asked the rest to stay and guard the ship. They nodded in agreement and went back to their post and Joshua in tow with me.
We reached the general store in good time. I looked around to see that this place had already everything we need. The stallion behind the counter was shivering in fear, I glanced Well and found out he was heading towards the uncomfortable stallion and tried to calm him down. I then headed towards Well “Do you know where I can find a blacksmith? I need to get this fix and probably know what it’s made off.” I said showing him my sword. He nodded and said “When you guys are done I can show you to him if you’d like.” I smiled and trotted to see if there was anything to my liking or anything we actually needed.
Joshua was doing fine while I struggled to find anything worth buying. I already had everything I needed but I couldn’t find shit. I trotted to Joshua and asked “Found anything useful, all I got is the things I need for my cabin.” he looked at me and said “Yeah, I got everything we need. You heading to the blacksmith?” I nodded and we headed to the stallion in charge and paid our stuff. We got a decent price and we were off to the blacksmith.
When we reached the blacksmith, I could see the many hand made (hoof made?) weapons and armor. The place was a smiths dream if I was one. I trotted to the towards the hard working earth pony and asked “Do you know what this is made off?” I showed him my sword and waited for him to finished. He glanced at the sword then at me and began to stand petrified. Well trotted towards us and tried to calm him down while I waited.
When he was calm he trotted to me and said “No I don’t sorry, it doesn’t look like anything metal known to Equis.” I began to give him a look causing him to whimper in fear. I then asked him “Hey, where do you get your supply of metal at? I got a smith back on my ship and I don’t have suitable supply of them back in my ship.” he looked at me before saying “Well, I get my supplies from the dock. Maybe Well can arrange something for you.” I looked at Well for a moment and said “Well, can you show me where these metals are and possible who i can buy them from?” he looked at me before saying “Sure, but you owe me for this.” I glared at him before saying “Fine..”
We then trotted to the docks, I asked Joshua to get back to the ship while me and Well were heading towards the metal supplier. He nodded and went back to the Revelation. I glanced at my ship and found that Mike and Walter did a perfect job of putting and writing the name of the ship. I smiled and went back to following Well.
I received a few glanced here and there, few gawks there, few faints there, but nothing out of the ordinary if you ask me. Even having one of the guards try to arrest me and that was no fun. He came up to me and said “Stop right there criminal scum!” I looked at him. I had my hand on my cutlass and glared fear into his eyes and he screamed like the captain that tried to intimidate me the same way he did.
I scratched my head again before shrugging it off, getting a few opened jawed ponies to stare at me.
When we reached the metal suppliers I was surprised to find a mare instead of a stallion. She looked adorable so the instinct of an uncontrollable man rushed towards the mare and bear hugged her. Well glared at me while the pegasus mare looked at me fearfully and confused. Her workers and guards were trying to get rid of me but was too scared because of my eyes somehow.
I felt a small touch on my shoulder to find Well glaring daggers at me “Put the adorable mare down!” he shouted, I looked at him stupidly and said “You find her adorable too? Awesome quick get the boys were going to party here whether she likes it or not!” I laughed while he facepalmed (hoofed?). The pegasus was looking at me like i was the god of Death, technically I was because she sent me here and I probably look like her.
I quickly regained my composure and said “Don’t worry, I won’t actually do it. I heard you supply people with metal and I just happen to come by to see if I can buy some off of your hide?” I waited for her to digest what I just said. She looked at me then at Well and said “I can supply you, but first tell me why did you hug me?” I looked at her stupidly and said “Because the amount of d’aww and cuteness is uncontrollable for a being like me and I just had no choice but to hug you.” she looked at me angrily “I’m not cute!” she shouted at me and said “I am also not adorable and what is this d’aww?!” I looked at her stupidly again and said “You are in denial aren’t you?” she blushed and I laughed.”Don’t worry hot stuff I’m not into ponies and I’m dead so that will be a bust!” she looked at me and said “You’re not really dead, are ya?” I looked at her and put both hands on my head and pulled up dismembering my neck from my chest.
She was trying to hold her lunch by placing a hoof on her mouth. I quickly put it back and glanced at Well who didn’t seem affected by this. I raised an eyebrow and said “Welly why didn’t you react to 'moi' taking my head off of my body?” He looked at me and said “Because I’ve seen worst.” I nodded in agreement and looked at the mare and said “I haven’t got your name or your approval of me buying some of your wares.” she pointed to her hoof that was still in place on her mouth. I nodded and waited until she took care of her "business".
When she was okay she addressed me and said “My name is Silver Mane, and yes you can buy my wares.” I smiled and said “Alright, now I gotta go back to my ship and bring my smith to select the materials he needs. In the mean time can you show me what ya got?” Silver nodded and gestured me to follow her.
What I saw would make the geologist, smith and pirate to shit their pants. What I saw was an abundance of minerals and ores all stacked and organized. I just gawked at the sight and fell on my ass and mumbled some incomprehensible words. Silver giggled at the sight of me and Well just fell down laughing at me.
When I regained my composure I glared at Well and nudged Silver gently. I stood back up and said “Look’s like George and Luther are gonna piss themselves when they see this and that’s a good thing.” they laugh at that and escorted me back to the Revelation.
When we reached the Revelation there was a large crowd of ponies and a platoon or regiment of guards there as well.
The ponies that looked like journalist got the evil glare from me and were pushed away by guards that were trying to get to me. I also gave the guards the evil glare and headed towards my ship.”George, Luther get your ethereal asses down here!” I shouted, getting two skeletal beings to appear. They both looked nervous, but shrugged it off like real.......skeletal men?
The pony that I assumed to be the mayor trotted towards me. I gave him the half evil stare getting him to whimper Dang i love doing that. I trotted towards him and gave him a hug. Silver and Well both face hoofed and sighed.
When I was done the mayor seem a bit uncomfortable, but not scared anymore. I smiled and said “I suppose you're the mayor correct?” he nodded and said “Indeed I am. My name is Rough Spirit nice to meet you!” he extended a hoof and I shook it and said “Likewise Rough, my name is Jake captain of the Revelation. Now i would like to know why there are about a hundred or so ponies and a hundred or so guards stationed here?” he gave me a sheepish smile and said “I wasn’t the one stationing the guards here and the ponies you know that part already.” I nodded and went to the pony I thought to be the officer,
“What’s your excuse?”
He looked me dead in the eyes and started to sweat ,his lips were quivering, his legs were shivering. He then gulped and said “I-I’m not the c-c-c-commanding o-o-officer here. H-h-h-es’s the one!” he pointed to another unicorn and I gave the guard a hug.”It’s alright, I wasn’t mad at you. I thought you were the officer can you forgive me?” the guard was calming down and said “Yeah...” and then I walked to the guard and said the same thing.
“What’s your excuse?”
This time I knew this was the officer, the darn guy was doing the same thing as the last guard. He tried to respond but was mumbling bits of nonsense even the guards were worried for their officer. I snapped my fingers in front of him, and nothing. The guard was absolutely petrified of me. I grabbed him in the air and examined him. I then tucked him under my arm “Dean, Stark got a traumatized officer here prep the infirm now! Matthew get this guy in the infirm grab two of his guards to escort him and talk to Rough when you’re done okay?” he nodded and grabbed the shocked officer and got two guards and a mayor flanking him.
George and Luther were standing there waiting for me “Alright boys you may or may not shit your pants so come with me.” they looked at each other, shrugged and walked off.
The ponies were belaying the journey, each and everyone of them getting the evil glare from all three of us.
When we reached the warehouse the two mates of mine were shocked, fell on the floor and mumbled nonsense I even saw some ethereal piss coming out. I asked them what they want to buy, they immediately shouted “EVERYTHING!” and gave me skeleton puppy eyes even Silver was trying to resist the d’aww. I glanced at Silver and said “This is why I hugged you, now you know how I feel when I saw you.” she nodded vigorously trying to relieve eye contact off of the generator of the skeletal d’aww.
When we were done shopping, and probably bankrupting me and Silver’s inventory everyone was happy, except me.
When we got back to the dock, the crowd multiplied and the riot ponies had to come in and deal with them. I gave everypony an evil glare making them whimpering, fainting, screaming, fleeing all that fun stuff the riot ponies appreciated.
When I finally reached the Revelation the guards were all surrounding the entrance in case the journalist had the bright idea of checking the ship. The guards let me pass with ease and I ran to the infirmary while George, Luther, Silver and Well went off to do what they want to do.
When I arrived at the infirmary one guard was guarding the door while the other one was inside keeping the officer from harms way.”So what’s the situation?” I asked the guard “He will be back in a few minutes tops.” I nudged him playfully and said “Don’t worry, go and check the ship out. She’s beautiful isn't she?” he nodded “Thanks, you sure you won’t do anything to him?” I nodded and placed a hand on my chest, raised arm and said “I would never allow a skeletal demon gent like myself to harm a hopeless yet scared pussy out of his hospital bed and hopefully deathbed.” I said indifferently and looked at the guard who was looking at me skeptically before trotting out to investigate the ship.
I waited for the ‘pussy’ to wake up and hopefully strangle him until he ‘says my name’. He woke up by groaning in pain and speaking to himself. I quickly hid myself under his bed while he tried to open his eyes.”By Celestia’s mane what happened?” I tried to suppress my laughter and was successful (HAHA thought I would fail didn’t ya?). He then looked around to find where he was at “Hmm...am I in some kind of run down hospital or is this an infirmary in the run down hospital?” I quickly got out of my hiding place in anger and said “You are in the most beautiful ship in your world and I will now strangle you until you ‘say my name’!” he yelped and tried to defend himself while I tickled him to ‘say my name’ “SAY MAH NAME SAY MAH NAME SAY IT BOY!” he was laughing his flank off and kept mumbling nonsense.
I stopped for a while and looked at him and said “Now where were we...” I said sarcastically “Oh yes! What’s your excuse?” he looked at me and said “The town was peaceful until you came here with your entourage sending a yelping officer to my officer screaming bloody murder and a squadron of pegasi who were also screaming bloody murder. And then the tourist, journalist and locals came by to find what was the commotion and stayed there!” I looked at him quizzically before saying “Are you racist? Cause that’s the only thing I heard in your excuse.” he looked at me and said “I wasn’t being racist! You come in to Rough’s town and cause a commotion, get one of my best officer and a squadron of my best pegasi coming into my officer screaming like little fillies, I admire you!” I looked at him skeptically before hugging him.
“Your cute, fluffy and adorable I couldn’t resist the d’aww!”
He looked at me like I was a mad man and said “Can you let me go?” I looked at him and nonchalantly said “No.” and began to tickle him more until the two ‘nurses’ came back to see me doing something ‘naughty’ to the captain.
“Sorry for disturbing you but I think I would rather have both of you do that in your own beds.” Dean said nonchalantly. I stopped tickling him and grabbed him and cuddle him like a mother would. The guard raised an eyebrow at me and looked at the two ‘nurses’ for help. They both shrugged and said “You’ll get used to it, eventually.” and trotted off to leave two traumatized guards gawking at me and the officer.”Hey I haven’t got your name whatsit?” he looked at me and said “Charmer, Charming Charmer” I looked at him and said “That is either the most homosexual name for a stallion to date or you just had the most homosexual parents in pony history to date.”
He pouted at me and said “Well at least I’m not all skin and bones.”
“Touche”
We both shared a little laugh while we headed towards my cabin and try to find Rough and Matthew to see how’s business.
Author's Note
Quick recap on abilities and the crew!
Fog: Use for stealth and to look extremely awesome on open seas, can be deactivated by a gem inside Jake's desk.
Weight: Can carry heavy load indefinitely and still float like a dinghy.
Strength and Durability: They speak for themselves...
Unknown: Death will reveal it to Jake, she just wants to tease so he doesn't use that particular ability too often.
Crew!
Jake: Bad flank skeleton captain who looks like something out of a PoTC movie, has black glowey flame in his sockets, wears dark red coat, boots,black trouser, bandanna and awesome Jack Sparrow hat.
Matthew: First mate, has yellow glowing flames and is good at leading.
Martin: Marksman, has a red flame and is great at being lazy.
Stark: Crew doctor, great at making people suffer and making them feel better at the same time, pink glowing flame.
Dean: Crew doctor, great at making people feel better and lessens pain, green glowing flame.
John: Crew eye's, has great eye sight and is an early riser, has blue glowing flame.
Luke: Crew navigator, is overly obsessed with maps and navigation equipment, has teal glowing flame.
George: Crew smith, makes great weapons, armor anything that involves iron he can make, has maroon flames.
Luther: Crew engineer, makes stuff to work either on electricity or magic uses the forge occasionally, has purple flames.
Pierce:Crew wheeler, strong and fast with the wheel this dude can steer a galleon like it's nothing, has an enthusiastic and large crimson flame.
Joey: Crew organizer and cataloger ,great with a note book and quill, can catalog and organize anything, has a still light blue flame.
Frank: Crew cook (not needed unless we have live crew members), he is great in the kitchen not to mention he is quite strong for his size, has a navy blue flame.
Mike and Walter: Crew carpenter and ship repair man, can fix, create, polish anything wood related, both have orange flame.
Oliver: Crews officer, he is aggressive in combat and extremely friendly outside combat, has an aggressive and subtle golden flame.
Joshua: Crew's barter and merchant, can bribe, barter and sell stuff like no other (he even rivals Celestia), has a friendly, enthusiastic and charismatic brown flame.
And that's it, hope you guys have ideas for the rest of the crew.
Second impressions.
Me, the guards, Charmer and the ‘nurses’ took our ‘sweet time’ to get to the deck, where the mayor and Matthew were. We got little bits of conversation here and there, usually about me cuddling and doing ‘naughty’ things to Charmer and mentally traumatizing him and the two guards, and probably scarring them for life minus Charmer.
“So you saying your entire entourage was appointed by Death herself?” a familiar muffled voice said in disbelief. I instantly recognized it as Rough’s voice, since no one else on the ship has that type of baritone voice. “Sorry if I seem a bit skeptical. But that is a hard pill to chew, even by my standards.” I heard a sigh, it sounded defeated, must be Matthew. “WIth all due respect, sir. It’s the truth, we were all sent here by Death for some reasons and we don’t know if we may even return to our world. So please, wait for our captain to properly debrief you.”
“That won’t be necessary.” I said, opening the cabin door. Matthew sighed of relief and left the cabin, in a bit of a rush... The mayor seemed surprised as well, but was eager to get some better answers. I walked towards my desk and sat on my chair and took a glance at the clock. “14:50, eh?” I thought, “Been out that long...” I look towards the mayor eagerly waiting.
“I guess you want real answers or a better view of things?” I started, making the room observation short. “Both actually. Mister Matthew has “briefed” me of your situation, it’s not scientifically possible to come from another world. Not to mention Death is a “he” and not a “she”.”. I smiled at him, I thought Death was a “he” too. “I could send a letter to Death with that ominous box behind me, if you want.”. He seemed hesitant but was more than obliged to send a letter.
I began writing down on a parchment with a quill I bought from the general store.
“ Dear Death
I got someone skeptical here, the mayor, and I was wondering if you can come over for a while explaining the ship to me in person. I also named the ship and crew, and got some supplies off of New Saddle. I’m pretty depressed that George and Luther almost bankrupted me though.
Your friend, Jack. “
I rolled the letter, and placed it in the black box. The box had nothing special, just put the letter in and it disappears, simple as that.
A few minutes later, and lo and behold the letter! I grin smugly at Rough and opened up the letter.
“ Dear Jack
Is sending me a letter not enough proof for him, I can come over and visit the ship when you reach Canterlot though. And to deal with your near bankruptcy, heres a few hundred bits.
From your friend and god, Death.
P.S Tell Rough I’m really a gal.
P.P.S Don’t stop scaring the locals, it’s funny as hell! “
I gave the letter to Rough and smiled smugly.
A pouch suddenly puffs up into existence and hits the floor with a loud *chink*. I quickly grabbed the pouch and looked inside to reveal a pool of bits. I smiled, and placed the bag inside my coat’s pocket, making me look like the merchant from resident evil. Rough eyes me for some reasons before jumping a question. “Is Death really going to visit Canterlot?” he asked, shivering and staring into space a little.
I smiled darkly, out of amusement and pride. “Yes, she will be visiting Canterlot if I have enough money to dock my ship here, and get extra supplies to march there...” he sighed for some reasons, maybe a god of death isn’t a common thing down there. I shrugged and gestured him to continue. “So, everything Matthew said was true?” he said a bit hesitant, shivering a little but not much. “Yes, everything he, apparently said, is true.” I said a bit calmly and a bit smugly.
He stared a bit, but didn’t mind much. “So, about the ship..” I nodded for him to continue. “What is it? I’ve never seen anything like it, I don’t think the Royal Equestria Navy has anything even comparing to this!” I smiled pridefully, I didn’t know Equestria had a military, or even a Navy for that matter.“. Rough seemed a bit offended by my remark but shrugged it off and muttered “Dang foreigners...” I heard it, but would rather not press on. “So, about the Navy..” he looked at me and scowled, “You’re not thinking what I think your thinking?”
I smiled mischievously, “Yes, maybe you are.” he started to feel uneasy by the looks of it, maybe my tone was too dark... “Are you going to ask to join the Equestria Navy?” he asked hesitantly again. I nodded and stand up from my desk. He followed suite and left the cabin with me in tow.
The salt water smell returned to my skeletal nostrils, it was a little relieving to me. I could see Rough from the corner of my eye rushing a bit. My crew wasn’t present, but it was for the best. I walked down the deck to see a few pegasus guards patrolling above the Revelation, unicorns and earth ponies patrol the docks, riot ponies are trying their best to disperse the crowd of journalist and curious pedestrians. I walked towards the dock and started to take a better look at the town.
It looked like any other dock, large road and the houses and shops at the graveled out pavement. A few stalls were placed up, with the amount of crowd present, I would be surprised to see none. There were a few oddities here and there, but nothing too serious. A few journalist were fighting their way to get on the ship, and a few smart ones were watching from behind and had a few binoculars or spyglasses. A few of them had those twenties and thirties camera, and some had sixties and nineties cameras too. A lot of them had fedoras and british caps, and I was surprised to find one with a monocle.
Then I turned my gaze towards something mysterious, a silhouette in the dark. It looked like a griffon, but it was too far away and in a dank alley. I shrugged it off, and decided to look into my cabin a bit further. I waved Rough, Charm and the guards goodbye, and left into the depths of my cabin.
“Maybe I should look thoroughly inside the desk.” and I did. The gem for the fog was there, a few maps here and there. But, when I looked at the top left drawers, I found something interesting. It was red in color, and was emanating something strong and glowing a little green. I figured it must be the last ship enchantment and pressed it.
...
Flying... I felt the ship flying... It felt like it was going upwards... I ran outside of my cabin to confirm my suspicion. And, I was shocked to see the dock slowly getting out of view, the anchor was also being dragged... The pegasi guards were shocked to see the ship flying, I could see a few journalist dropping what they had, cameras, notepads and lunch. My crew was coming out and stared at the open sky. I looked at them and shouted, “Get the anchor back in position! I’m going to see what that gem was!” they all nodded and went off to do their thing.
I ran inside my cabin to see that it changed slightly. The gem was on my desk, and it’s size had changed ten fold. It speared towards the ceiling where the wheel was supposed to be. I ran outside and looked at the wheel. I was surprised to see that it changed as well. I walked towards to find any real change. It looked the same, but had two levers beside it, I found one that was pulled to the max, while the other was in the middle. I looked down to see a marking on the one that was fully pulled. “Altitude” I thought for a moment, then looked to the other lever “Knot”. I looked at the altitude lever and pulled it to the middle, it stopped. I sighed, “Another problem solved...”
I looked outside the ship to see if anything changed. The ship was the same, except it had a fog emanating below us. How do I know there was a fog, a few stray clouds of fog was seen from my end of the ship. My crew had already finished pulling the anchor back in place, and were looking out. I looked at my surroundings to find a chariot coming into view. I could see the ‘cargo’ and found Rough and Charmer. My crew dispersed to make way for the arriving chariot, and went back to their rooms, or workspace.
The chariot touched the wooden floor of the Revelation’s deck. Rough and Charmer both disembarked the chariot, and walked towards me. They had looks of awe when they looked around. “I hope you're here to tell me why the ship has suddenly knew how to fly?” I asked nonchalantly, I had enough crazy for today and with the Revelation flying didn’t help.
“Yes, we are. Did you find something new?” Rough said, making Charmer raise a curious eyebrow. “What do you mean by ‘something new’?” Charmer said, looking back and forth from me and Rough. “Oh, right forgot. You weren’t awake when you were in the infirm were you?” he shook his head in negativity. I sighed and asked Rough to tell him what he knows.
Charmer was briefed about the situation, and was a bit calmer. “So what did you find?” Rough asked, “I found a new gem, that apparently lets the Revelation fly.” he stares at me in disbelief before remembering the fog gem. Charmer nodded, wanting to see the gem and ignoring all questions. “Come I’ll show you.” I lead them to my cabin and saw the red gem still intact. They stare at it for a while, before opening their mouth wide. I smirked and went to grab a paper and quill, “I’m going to send Death a letter explaining this. Hopefully she knows what this gem is.”
Author's Note
Going to do a 180 degree turn for the plot. Jack is going to get some off-screen lessons from Death about stuff. A lot of off-screen things will also happen and will possibly be in the story.
Guess who the griffon is everpony!
I heard a poof behind me, and was surprised to find the same black parchment. Death has to have been waiting for me to find that crystal. I sent the letter to Death about a few seconds ago, and got a reply instantly. I stared at it in awe, before grabbing it.
“Dear Jake.
The red gem’s abilities are to make your ship fly like the Flying Dutchman’s ship from Spongebob, minus the green glowing thing. Anyways, hope this helps you get to somewhere on land, quicker than a blue prius!
From your friend, god and GF
Death!”
I blushed a little bit, yeah I haven’t seen how Death looked like, but I had images! Okay, there I said it. I had images, I thought about naughty things, alright I am not shameful for assuming things.
Anyhow, I told the two major ponies about the red, saying that it’s a gem that can allow the ship to fly like it’s on water. They both took my explication pretty well, obviously still in awe and shock of the currently flying ship, but I didn’t care much. I love my ship like it was my newborn baby, technically it is, but still.
I got back outside and found the both Rough and Charmer mounting the chariot, obviously to get back to New Saddle. I sighed, I can finally have some time to think.
=====================================================================
I woke up, slightly refreshed and got outside. I could see that we were still stationed at New Saddle, and still stationed at the same place we docked. I shooked my head, slightly amused.
“Everyone, we’ll be heading off to Canterlot at noon. Pack up your things, and get some supplies from the town if you need anything.” they all nodded, and went off to do their things. The deck was in half bloom, a few skellies were running downstairs to their rooms while the others were running outside. I didn’t know that they installed a rope ladder but I didn’t really care.
I walked back to my office, and sat down for a while, contemplating on what I should do next. “I could start up a fleet or something. Creating an independent military organization? I could do all this, but I got a limited budget so I’ll just wait this out.” I thought, maybe creating a military organization isn’t such a bad idea.
I shook my head, “No, that’s an absolutely bad idea. How about I join Celestia’s Navy, teach them a few thing or two. They are pretty undeveloped.” I started to think about it a little more, “If I joined Celes- no, Equestria’s navy I may have to take orders and such. I wouldn’t like that very much. Taking orders isn’t my thing, so independant fleet or organization.”
I shot back up to my full height, and went outside. The ship was moving, surprisingly; I didn’t find a manual on how to steer the darn thing, but steerers are steerers.
“Hey cap’n, just to inform you ETA to Canterlot is two weeks to five days.” Luke said, still looking at the map. That kid will never ceased to amaze me, anyway. The ship is moving at a reasonable pace, and the deck is bustling with energy. Everyone were either looking outside relaxing or partying.
I smiled, “This is going to be a good week.” I went back inside and left my clothes on my wall hanger, and went to bed. “This is going to be a good week, indeed.”.
=====================================================================
I got out of my bed stretching a bit, and hearing a satisfying crack of bones. I took my jacket off of a hanger and grabbed my tricorn. I looked towards my weapons rack on the far corner, and found my musket, saber and flintlock all neatly stacked. I looked beside it and found my workbench, still full of gunpowder residue and bite packs.
I left my bedroom and went on deck. Everyone was still anchored in New Saddle, and was surprised to find a few ponies onboard. I looked around for Matthew, and was glad to find him chatting with one of the ponies. I walked towards him casually looking around deck. The ponies were helping with work, and speeding up the process of us leaving New Saddle.
“Morning cap’n.” I heard a familiar skeleton say. I looked towards Matthew, looking at his yellow flames. I smiled at him, trying to hold back the urge to shout from my lack of coffee. “Hey Matt, mind telling me why we have some new bones?”. Matt smiled at my use of puns, and looked towards the pony he was talking to minutes before. “This here is Iron Mallet, he’s the one in charge of everpony on board. Oh, and about the ponies onboard, they decided to join our bunch of misfits!”
My smile grew, a crew of ponies, “Matt, I don’t know if I should be offended by this, or extremely happy. The latter seems more appealing to me.” he smiles, and gestures Iron to introduce himself. Iron was a grey colored earth pony, a little well built and had a slightly black colored mane. He was wearing what appears to be a uniform, maybe a noble, guard or somepony from an organization. It was white and blue in color, resembling the old navy outfit from the second world war, and to top it all off he has a nice cap. I couldn’t see his cutie mark, but by the sound of his name it’s either a hammer, or a blacksmithing cutie mark. “Greetings cap’n, as Matthew said before; I am Iron Mallet of the Equestrian Navy.”. I stared at him, “Equestrian Navy?”. I placed a hand on my non-existing chin and contemplated on his rank.
“So, how did a sailor, such as yourself and probably everypony onboard, decided to join us?” I asked, trying not to anger myself further with my lack of caffeine. He smiled, and simply said, “Because I figured out that the Equestrian Navy is lacking in terms of offence and defence of it’s surrounding waters.”
I smiled devilishly, “I’m starting to like how he thinks.”. I stared at him, with my smile still plastered vividly on my face, and looked at Matthew. “If I find a shipyard, think you can find a schematic on making a smaller, or medium version of this? Or maybe making a galleon or man o’ war?” I asked him, making him ponder on what I just said. “Yeah, if I remember correctly, I think we have a few builders and designers on board.”
My devil smile grew in size, making the ranked sailor shiver a bit. “Excellent, make the designers work on making a few schemes of a galleon, man o’ war or a smaller version of this here fine vessel. I want you to find a few suitable leaders to make ‘em captain if we have the time and money to construct an armada.”. I looked at Iron Mallet, and looked at his stripes and cap. It looked like the hat that Liam Neeson wore on Battleship, and the stripes too resembling that of his wear.
“Hey, Iron, just out of curiosity are you mayhaps an admiral?” it was a simple question nothing more, nothing less. He looked at me, then turned his gaze towards his stripes and smiled. “Why yes indeed, I am an admiral.”
I eyed him strangely, “An admiral of the fleet, of the Equestrian Navy, here on my ship, claiming the Equestrian Navy’s methods and uses are as slim as princess Celestia?
“If the Equestrian Navy is weak, but the Guard, Army and Air force are the main hands. What happens on sea? If Equestria can protect its borders, can it protect its shores from enemy, and possibly criminal refugees?” With my internal conversation done, I looked at Iron sympathetically.
“So, if the Equestrian Navy is lacking, is the majority of the Equestrian ground force focused on the Guard?” I asked, making him look at me strangely. “How do you know about the main focus of Equestria’s military?” he asked me, mildly hostile.
I raised my arms in a defensive pose and looked at him. “I took a wild guess, seems it’s correct. Looks like Princess Celestia has either a lack of knowledge of the outside world, a big pacifist or a naive mare.”. He nodded in an empathetic way.
"Celestia has been lacking in protecting Equestria’s borders, thanks to the return of her sister, and the new element bearers. I have had reports from a few friends on the Guard, Army and AF that Equestria’s borders are hot, and the shores are no different from my end.
The Navy are heavily lacking in terms of weaponry, tech and moral. Since the defeat at Tempest’s Cove, our sailors are slowly diminishing on, work getting done, we get wrong intels from time to time, HQ not responding, HQ not sending in support. Our sailors and soldiers aren’t getting a good pay in helping Equestria defend itself."
I looked at him, this knowledge wasn’t with me for the past month, week. I started to think a little. Then, out of nowhere. I finally got one of my EUREKA! moments. “Iron, what kind of weaponry, ships and tactics.”. He started to think a little, “Well, we got a few magic induced ballistas and repeating crossbows. Our ships are consisted of carracks and brigantine.”
I looked at him, “How could Equestria have survived with these sorry excuse of ships, not to mention the weaponry is full of crap.”. I gestured him to follow me, going down towards where I thought Matthew might be.
“Admiral, we all due respect, I have no idea how your Navy, or even Equestria for that matter, have survived for years with those pre-dating things you call ships and weapons.” I said, in a matter-of-factly tone. He nodded simply, “I know. Like I said before, Celestia hasn’t been on the liking side of admitting that war always happens, no matter what you do or did.”
Author's Note
Finally got this done, writer's block is a bitch to please. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
