A Sailboat, Two Mares and a Crate Full of Rum

Chapter Four

Setting a Sail and Setting Sail

***

"Aaaand one more time!"

Vinyl grunted curses at Lyra as she kept on cleaning the deck with a toothbrush, because, apparently, there were no broomsticks in the "maintenance room", which, in fact, had turned out to be a small closet.

"Come on, cabin colt!" Lyra kept on yelling, much to the exhilaration of the many sailors in the harbour, who found the sight deeply amusing. "I want this baby nice 'n' clean before we set sail!" She turned to Bon-Bon, who was standing next to her. "And I want to make this baby nice 'n' clean once we set sail," she addressed her wife in a low, sexy tone.

Bon-Bon fluttered her eyelashes, accepting her new "responsibilities" eagerly, while Vinyl kept on grumbling. I'm not a cabin colt! I'm a filly! ...Mare. Whatever. The toothbrush was firm in her mouth, since Lyra had insisted that only manually-cleaned floors coulb be ever truly clean.

"Cabin colt! You missed a spot!" Lyra called out, holding her mare by the waist. Yes. She was definitely liking it. Captaining was a nice, promising experience.

"Dammit, Lyra!" Vinyl spat the toothbrush. "Don't you think it's gone too far?" She glared at the mint mare. "It's all fun and games, but I'm your friend, after all!" The DJ sighed. "At least, used to be."

Lyra swiftly walked towards the white mare, making Bon-Bon eep as she suddenly no longer felt the comforting pressure of the mint hoof. She leaned in with a stern face, as if to make a reprimanding of such fervour that it just had to be toned down. "Vinyl, please, please play along."

Vinyl hadn't expected that. She had expected something entirely different. Discordian glares? Yes. Irritable shouts? Sure, why not? Snake-ish hissing? Most certainly. Pleading, soft whispering? Not in the slightest. Such behaviour was unusual for Lyra, and, for captain Lyra, it was even more unusual. Not that I could get used to captain Lyra, with her captaining for such a short while.

"Vinyl. Being a captain has been my dream, my whole life. Since I was a filly... You know why I agreed to help Bonnie hijack that ship where we met?" Lyra paused for a second. "Of course, I wanted to help her out, but... I really really wanted to become a captain, even if it was only temporary. I learnt how to steer a ship. I learnt to swim good and fast. I watched all of the Pirates of the Coltribbean. Twice."

Maybe it was the last confession - most certainly the last confession - but Vinyl begrudgingly decided to tag along. For now. Being a fan of the Pirates of the Coltribbean - and just pirates - she couldn't help but sympathise. Or empathise. Vinyl had never really taken Philosophy classes in college. If only because she'd never been to college. "All right, Lyra."

"Thank you," Lyra whispered into her ear. "You're sexy like that." Vinyl's eyes snapped wide open as her mind tried to process the information. "And Vinyl?" Lyra raised her voice, stepping back. "It's Captain Lyra, cabin colt! With a capital C!" The mare grinned, once more playing the role - her role.

I'm gonna murder you, Lyra, Vinyl thought with a tiny grin as she kept on brushing the floor. Just wait for it. I'm gonna kill you dead.

***

"Lyra, honey, are you sure you know how to do that?"

Bon-Bon's soothing voice did nothing to prevent the captain from cursing loudly as she tried to set the ever-so-disobedient sail. Theoretically, it should be very easy: take a piece of cloth and set it properly. Only Lyra had no idea whatsoever how to do that. Still, she couldn't lose face. "Of course I do, Bonnie! What are you taking me for?"

"For a captain who doesn't know a thing about setting a sail?" Vinyl supplied eagerly, watching the mint mare groan in despair.

"What do you know about navigation, cabin colt?" Lyra grumbled, still not dropping the act.

Vinyl deadpanned. Then, "Well, first of all, you point the boat leeward. Then, let out the mainsheet and sheet in till it ain't flappin' no more. Then you trim the sail when the inside telltale flaps and ease the sail when the outside telltale flaps. Fix it. That's all."

Lyra just stared at the white mare in awe. Bon-Bon's jaw seemed to have hit the floor. Lyra rubbed her temples with a sigh. Finally, she looked at the DJ again. "If you do that, you're promoted to Lieutenant."

***

"Yo-ho! We be trav'ling them seas, mateys!"

Lyra was on  top of the world.  Well, technically, she was on top of the mast. Still, that didn't prevent her from being on top of the world as the sailing boat left the busy harbour and began its traversing of seas far and wide.

Vinyl - Lieutenant Vinyl - was grinning widely as the fresh, vernal breeze hit her face. We be trav'ling them seas indeed, she concluded delightfully. They had a long journey ahead - a fine voyage, with adventures awaiting them! Nopony said it would be peaceful, Vinyl mused. The hardships of the pirate life waited for them. But no sea-travelling hardship was too hard for them to overcome.

"Lyra?"

The three mares looked at Octavia, who had entered the deck, a grim, unamused look on her face, the kind of look she had when Vinyl launched a hedgehog from a toaster. From a bass cannon. On a sixteen-storey building. After occasionally setting the building on fire and flooding it subsequently.

"Captain Lyra," the mint mare corrected the cook with a frown, jumping down from the mast - an action that turned out to be an easy feat, given how short the mast actually was. "What's the matter, cook? Dinner ahoy?"

Octavia's eye twitched. Then the other one. Vinyl watched in amusement her ma- civil partner's eyelids' dance. A polka, she concluded. It's a polka this time. "No." Octavia's voice was dripping venomous irony. "Dinner is not 'ahoy'."

Lyra eyed the grey mare sternly. "Why?"

"Because somepony..." Octavia looked at the three mares, irritation veiling in her eyes that had ceased their dance.

"What?" Lyra moved closer. "Speak up, cook."

Octavia groaned. "Somepony forgot to take some Celestia-damn food with us."