On our third day at sea, we came into a storm. A really bad one, or so I've been told. The entire ship rocked back and forth for hours, and we constantly had our kitchen equipment slip off the counters or shelves. Sometimes a loose board or frying pan would be flung right across the room. Needless to say, I always saw them coming. Still, preparing food was particularly difficult at that time, and each meal would take Polly and me almost twice as long to get ready.

I didn't have any time off on that day. Not a single second, if you will. Which is also why I didn't actually see the storm.

I never even went outside the entire time. But everything I learned from overhearing conversations that night spoke for itself. Waves high as more-story buildings dominated the landscape throughout the day, or so ponies told me. Could I actually call our surroundings that, anyway? There wasn't any land out there after all, so this couldn't really be described as landscape. More like the same thing but with lots of sea...a seascape, I guess.

These waves were only supported by the rain. Tons and tons of it. From what I heard, it was a near miracle we didn't get drowned back in the kitchen. Thousands of liters smashing down from an impenetrable cloud curtain of dark gray almost threatened to sink our ship in whole. Except they didn't, otherwise we wouldn't still be here. Duh.

Three ponies were swept overboard, I got told. It wasn't exactly happy news, though apparently not the worst of quotas, either. When asking whether they'd be okay or if they had a fun trip, I didn't get a straight answer from anypony. Most of them just kinda stared at me like I just murdered their granny or something. Which I didn't, of course. That would be a real meanie thing to do.

As for the storm itself, well, it pretty much flew past my head, like I mentioned. I didn't actually experience anything first-hoof, whatsoever. Polly and I had already gone inside the kitchen preparing lunch when it broke loose. Just as the first larger waves hit us, she casually mentioned how it might be a good idea to stay indoors for time being. Going on deck may be a tad dangerous...and nopony on this ship could afford to lose either one of us, least of all ourselves. We were still needed to feed the rest of the crew, after all.

So much for that. Everything I knew about what happened that day, I knew from reports or overheard conversations in the hours following it. By the time the storm finally calmed down it was almost midnight, but that didn't matter. We just decided to serve dinner then, pushing lights-out to almost six hours later than usual. As a result, the captain decided we wouldn't have to get up until six hours later. Our day and night cycle was getting messed up big time due to his orders, but with the sun in place all the time, it really didn't matter that much.

So basically, when we continued our journey the next day, time had already processed to two in the afternoon or so. Realizing the somewhat difficult patterns which emerged here, high command decided that night and day would no longer exist on the Cornucopia for the rest of our trip. There would be a time to get up, and a time to go to sleep. One awake-cycle lasted fourteen hours, with ten hours of sleep in between. Two meals would be served during that time; the first one four hours after getting up, and the second right before hitting the hay. Should day and night be pushed forwards or backwards in our schedule for whatever reason, then so be it.

With breaks only being taken for sleeping and eating, a huge chunk of the day could still be sacrificed to getting actual work done. About eleven or twelve hours of straight sailing were left for the crew every day, and with the wind provided, we easily made it across two-hundred miles each day. All things considered, our time of arrival could easily be kept. Three weeks from start to finish, and I would finally get to my destination...probably.

It all seemed to good to be true. I'd just have to finish off this trip, rescue the ponies I needed to rescue, get them back on another ship, then sail right back to Baltimare. I'm not a genius at calculations like Twilight, but I soon figured I could probably make it home with in the next two months or so. If that wasn't something to look forward to, I don't know what is.

Now, the weather calmed down a good deal overnight. Or whatever we considered nighttime, by then. When our next awake cycle started, what had been one hay of a storm became little more than a strong breeze. That being said, our trip quickly went back to its everyday routine, with only the wind in our sails to keep the crew busy. The current wind strength was hardly enough to put anyone in any true danger. On the contrary, everyone considered this exactly what we needed at the time. Catching the wind from behind, our ship rushed forward at maximum speed in no time. Even Strange Days seemed to generally lighten up at the prospect, though he still regarded me with a worried frown whenever we met.

I didn't mind him, and made sure to enjoy a bit of free time. Compared to what happened earlier, today seemed to go easy on me. Polly promised we would prepare something simple for dinner, which made for a few hours in between that none of us were actually busy with anything. A few hours for me to spread some fun, maybe? She remarked that if I wanted to cheer ponies up, all I had to do for now was go around and asked if anyone could need my help. It would be the most useful thing to do right now, and so I did. With limited success.

Despite my best efforts, most of these sailor ponies either told me to shove off, or gave me these weird looks again. The latter made me put some distance between us without even being asked. I could have been wrong, but that was probably what they intended in the first place.

Looks like it was just going to be one of these days. The only thing that could possibly cheer these ponies up would be a super humongous party, planned and executed right here, right now. And the whole executing part would be a bit harder to get off the ground than I had hoped for. There didn't seem to be any party supplies anywhere on the ship, and believe it or not, my muscles still yelped in protest at the very thought. Most felt incredibly sore after only three days of hard work...well, three and a half days, really. And they weren't even days anymore, so you might want to put that last days in marks.

Marks! Not cursive, silly. Ugh. Somehow, I'm always the one who has to do the thinking, aren't I?

So yeah. Half a week of menial labor, tougher than anything I've experienced so far, which made me feel more worn out than ever before. Exhaustion to a point I didn't even know existed, and aching muscles all over my body I didn't even know were there. No cake, no fun, no party supplies. I would have just produced them out of nowhere, like I usually do. But that would require some basic compensation of how such a thing actually works. And truth be told, I don't even understand myself, sometimes.

This called for some cheering up the old fashioned way: Tough and intense face-to-face conversation that ideally resulted in laughter, to be plain. Basically my usual checklist. Meet somepony new. Introduce self. Burst into uplifting musical number. Become instant best friends. Only I already tried all of those, and none of them worked out. Great. Turns out, the only pony who seemed at least halfway open for some silly talk was also the one I least expected it from.

Captain Saratoga stood behind his steering wheel like a rock. While everyone else kept rushing on and about, he looked like nothing in this world or beyond could ever get him off his post, come Tartarus or high water. And he didn't even look any passionate about what he did. Instead, both his forelegs were folded, and placed on top of the wheel, chin resting on his fetlocks. Apart from reaching up every now and prevent his hat from sailing off, the only thing he seemed to be doing was stare onto the general scene with very limited enthusiasm. If I didn't know better, I'd have assumed he was sleeping.

I hate to say it, but this was nothing new regarding our captain. More like same as always, or something. As I stepped up to meet him on the raised deck, a particularly strong wind caught me from the side, brushing through my coat with a force that sent cold shivers down my spine. The air had cooled down considerably after yesterday's weather, and even now the clouds kept hanging in the sky, preventing any additional heat from the sun to fall through.

The captain didn't seem to even notice the cold. The scattered hairs on his unshaven chin fluttered blown to the side considerably, along with his mane and tail. Still, he never paid them any attention. His eyes were kept straight forward, directed nowhere in particular. Or so I thought at first. On second sight, I noticed there actually was little movement in them. Not much of it, and nowhere near rapid, but it was present, nevertheless. His eyes darted around every few seconds, and only a little bit at a time.

So he was looking after each of his crew members in turn, or what? That was hard to tell, really. I couldn't make out much going on in any direction, but the lower decks were still the most eventful of places around us. Apart from them, there were only loads of water. And should he consider them boring, I couldn't even blame it on him. Even I myself thought so after a few days at sea. In any case, Saratoga was distracted with something seemingly important, that much I could tell. He didn't seem to notice me walk up to him, even as we were only a few feet apart.

His concentration must have been impressive to say the least. I tilted my head a few times standing next to him, even waved a few times to get his attention. Neither of them worked, to my own surprise. Now, that only left room for the classic approach.

"Whatcha doing?" I asked. Not the most subtle way to start a conversation, I agree. But still, it tends to work out just fine...nine times out of ten or so.

He snorted in response. "Steering me ship, I am. What's it look like?"

What indeed? His response made me giggle, which I quickly tried to cover up with a hoof. He might consider that to be rude, I don't know. Glancing at him for another moment, I noticed how something made one of his eyebrows twitch. He still didn't turn around to face me. Those two eyes of his remained wandering between all the other members of his crew, examining whatever they were doing. Or so I supposed.

"What's so funny now, eh?"

"Oh come on, silly," I muttered between two more chuckles. No need to cover them up if he already noticed, anyway. "You can't tell me that's how you steer it. You'd have to hold the wheel completely different...how are you even going to move it with your head resting on top?"

"Don't need to move it, not now." And his tone went back to casual, of course. "We're jest going straight ahead, and that's where we need to be. Might not have the stars to guide us right now, but I didn't spend a bloody amount of thirty years on this nutshell fer nothin'. Especially going to the Pegasilians. I've only made that trip hundreds of times already. Gotta be fine with one more, I should."

Well, this wasn't going to get us anywhere. But at least he seemed like he wanted to talk, so that was something. Especially since it made him more fit a partner for a conversation than pretty much everyone else on board. Now he just needed a push in the right direction, is all. And I could do that. Making friends is never that hard with the proper attitude, so I might as well get to it. Before doing so though, I took another deep breath, just in case.

"Uh-huh. So...anything you like doing in particular. Like, I don't wanna hint towards anything, but if somepony was going to throw a party nearby...how would you like it themed? Just asking, out of curiosity, of course." I had my eyes shoot left and right twice, suspicious for someone who might blow my ever so subtle cover. "It's not like I had anything special in mind."

Saratoga didn't seem to notice. He gave a light shrug instead. "Heck, I dunno. Steering me ship's pretty dandy, though. And booze. One lot of it. I'm not much one fer parties, is all. Remind me to reconsider yer offer when we get to Chuda. I know a nice place or two around town."

Steering wheel. Booze. Duly noted. I also highlighted the assumption that he might be going at this the wrong way. In a very bright shade of imaginary olive, so I couldn't possibly overlook it next time I'd check. "That sounds like the wrong attitude, to be honest. If this ship needs anything, it's a party and some good cheers, no strings attached. You know you can have fun without alcohol, right?"

"Y'know ye can have alcohol without fun as well, that right?"

I...guess so? His entire line of reasoning brought me a little bit into a dead end, either way. Pretty sure we didn't have any, uh...special party mixtures on board. Looking at him, I could place a loose guess on why that might be. As for the steering...well, he was doing that all of the time anyway, so he wouldn't need a party to help him out with it. And if what I saw now was all the fun he ever got out of it, steering wheel themed parties likely wouldn't do his mood any good.

Maybe my approach hadn't been so subtle, after all. If I wanted to get to the core of the matter, I needed to find out about Saratoga's interests in some other way. Always assuming there would be anything in range that could stifle a smile from him in the first place. Then again, what kind of pony didn't enjoy a good laugh every once in a while? A dead one, maybe. He on the other hoof looked very much alive to me.

"So...I talked to Polly a few days ago."

"Figures."

"Huh?"

"Two of ya stayin' in the same room fer hours at a time, is all."

Point made. This wasn't what I was aiming for, though. Especially not the kind of response I was hoping to get. If I'm aiming for unnecessarily short answers, I usually talk to Gummy. He doesn't talk at all, mind you. It won't get any shorter than that.

"O...kay," I continued. "What I meant to say is, we talked a little bit about where she came from, and how she got to sailing. Well, more or less..."

"Like where, Chuda?"

"The other one, I think, actually."

"Ah, sure." He lifted his head ever so slightly, releasing one foreleg. One which he then used to scratch behind his ear. "Right, she's from Druzyovsk, we only picked her up in Chuda. Kinda prefer that part of the city. All the good taverns' over there. Among the Kameny..." He winced. "Yeh, whatever. Chuda can be a great deal more hospitable than the south. Jest so ye know."

He sounded like he knew what he was talking about. I wouldn't need to question that. And I didn't. Did I ever imply that? I never even said anything!

If there was anything to be put into a question, that would be a recurring name which I already noticed earlier. Or would it even be recurring, hadn't I heard it before? It's a big word, and I'm not quite sure what it means. Twilight would know. Or her library. Which was made of wood. And this ship was made of wood. So, if both the library and the ship were made of wood, then...

"Do we have a dictionary on board?"

"Nay."

Aw, bummer. Anyway, what was I going to ask? Something about...zebras.

"Kameny," I decided to tell him instead. "What's that mean? Polly used that word, earlier."

As on clue, the captain's eyes squeezed shut with frustration, just as the words exited my mouth. So I did manage to get a reaction out of him. Not the one I expected or hoped for, but still.

"Kameny's the name o' the place she used to work at, 'fore we picked her up to join." I couldn't help but notice the obvious frown that started stretching across his muzzle. "Folks had a...bit of a situation there, back when. Zebra refugees from when their tiny general was in power. And she's had some personal trouble of 'er own..." he hesitated. "Nah, scratch that last bit. Not my place to go sneakin' about."

Not what I asked for, anyway. But why zebras, and from where? I knew Zecora hadn't been living in the Everfree Forest for, like, her whole life. But I also didn't know where she originally came from. Somewhere south would've been my guess. But I've been told there's only badlands and dragons down there, so I never really bothered to check.

"Who's that tiny general?" I asked. "Not an expert on that field."

It's gotten nothing to do with sugar or laughing, right?

"General N'Boko," Saratoga replied with a snort. "Y'know, that one dictator from Zebrica, back in the bad ol' days. You've heard of Zebrica, right? Large savanna continent to the south?"

I gave him a blank stare.

"Guh! Don't they teach ya kids anything in schools these days?" Pretty sure he would've facehoofed, if possible. But right now, both forelegs rested beneath his chin, once more. "N'Boko was one of these, wha's it called...right-wingers in the armed forces. About twenty-five years ago, he staged a little coup ta take over the government. Had the whole country go to..." I'd rather not repeat that word.

"Well, not like it warn't always a nasty place to begin with. Not the wealthiest of the lot, or so I've heard. But that little ole bastard really went o'er the top with it. Back in his day, Zebrica got it all bad, I tell ya. Political prisoners, torture and whippings, public executions...yer gettin' the idea, I take it. Fortunately I guess, some little revolution came up two years after, and swapped him right of his high horse." He chuckled at his own pun. "Had him beaten to death on a public square. Not the nicest way to treat anypony, but...well I'd say he had it coming...ol' bastard.

"During these two years though, he messed up real bad. There was hundreds of zebras sailing across the ocean, crowded on the tiniest of vessels, headed anywhere but home. Some ended up in Chuda, and those were a bit more than them locals expected, I guess. Some o' the zebras needed to be put in special housings fer a while...like hotels or whatnot. Quite a lot of 'em ended up at the Kameny.

"Polly worked there at the time. After she didn't no more, we took her aboard. Been sailing side by side ever since."

The second he fell silent, Saratoga went back to his earlier mood of silently watching his employees. Which left yours truly to draw her own conclusions from all this.

So, not a topic about fun and laughter. Not at all. Though I didn't directly notice it at the time, I'm pretty sure anypony around could have seen my eyes grow wider and wider with every new word spilling out the captain's mouth. After everything he just told me about what was probably the biggest meanie I've ever heard of, my whole face was agape with horror.

He couldn't be serious right now, could he? Would anypony, or zebra for that matter, actually be capable of something like this?

The captain himself didn't seem to show a whole lot of emotion after his narrative. Which honestly did surprise me. Of course, it probably had been a while since all this occurred, and my guess was he didn't experience all this himself. Still, after what he said, I almost felt like crying for the sake of it. But he never even changed his features one bit. Wow.

"Uh...that's, um..." For the first time in forever, I was at a loss of words. I had no idea where Polly was at the moment, or what she was doing, but as far as I was concerned, the time for preparing dinner couldn't come soon enough, now. As for the captain...well, I wanted to get some kind of fun response out of him. Instead, the conversation had suddenly steered in the complete opposite direction, and I never saw it coming. Gee, Pinkie Sense, what am I even paying you for?

"Anything else interesting Polly told ya about?" Saratoga asked, noticing my confusion (which meant, he did in fact look over at me for a second or so. I didn't notice it at the time, but I also really had some bigger problems to worry about, right now). Now it seemed to be his time to steer the conversation to a more comfortable topic. Well, fair's fair, I suppose.

"Uh...nothing in particular." I tapped one hoof against my chin for a moment, thinking. "Well, she did tell me a few things about her hometown in general, afterwards. But only after I asked for that in particular, so..."

"Hold up," Saratoga interrupted confusedly, blinking in my direction. "She mentions all these zebra folk and their troubles, and that's the first question that springs to yer mind?"

I shrugged. "There's a few questions that were bugging me ever since we met. First things first, and all that. I...still couldn't really picture the city as a whole the other day, but I think I'm getting the idea now."

"Well, I've gotten a map of the island below deck," he retorted, looking around. He lightened up at the prospect for some reason. Whatever it was, it made the glum atmosphere vanish within an instant, shoved to the very back of our minds. "Been waiting for an excuse to get out of the wind fer a bit, anyhow. Can't blame an old pegasus fer wanting ta take a break every now and again." He motioned to his first mate, who was currently moving around on the central deck. "Days! Eh, Days! Come on over 'ere fer a second, would ya?"

Strange Days was currently on duty around the lower decks, which meant he kept walking from one position to another doing...first mate-y things. Whatever those could be. I saw him tense up and freeze in his tracks as the captain's words reached his ears. Also, I felt pretty sure I heard him mutter some kind of curse beneath his breath. Given the distance, I couldn't have possibly understood him, but he did say something. Much like he kept walking around with...again, something. A for effort on working out the details, I'd say.

The gray unicorn didn't stand around for much longer, however. A grim expression on his face, he turned to hurry up the stairs, facing the captain with all the respect he could currently muster. Needless to say, there wasn't very much of it.

"You called, sir?" he asked with an easy salute, causing Saratoga to briefly nod in response.

"Aye. Would ya be a good lad, and take the wheel fer a bit?" he asked. "I gotta head down below a couple minutes. Be right back though."

Strange Days seemed to know better than to protest a direct order, even if he didn't look like the face of approval. Not like this pony ever looked like he approved of anything. He took the steering wheel in his hooves, then watched the captain shuffle off with a frown. For some reason, said frown became even wider when he noticed me following his superior. I didn't consider this to be the proper place for jealousy, but I also decided to leave that decision to him. After all, everyone's entitled to their own onion, or something like that.

We headed down the stairs in no time, and neither did the captain make any halt to rush in through the door below decks. He seemed to be in a hurry, and I could even see him shivering a bit as we entered the narrow hallway inside. Which made me wonder, weren't pegasi supposed to be even more resistant to cold than me? Especially to wind? There's a lot stronger breezes up where they tend to hang out, or so I've been told. Of course, I've never actually seen Saratoga fly, so he might not be used to it. And if he was only half as much an enthusiast on subjects like flying than he was about everything else, that would pretty much explain the whole issue.

Saratoga went straight ahead, even as we entered, making for the door at the corridor's far end. It was only then that I realized I hadn't ever been to the captain's quarters so far. And when they opened up in front of me moments later, I found myself no less impressed. A continuous facade of windows spanned the large room on three sides, offering a magnificent panorama which I only knew from...well, where? I couldn't even remember anything as amazing as this, even Canterlot didn't provide such a panoramic view from inside a room, if I remembered correctly. There was so much to see from up here! All the water, and water, and...water, and...well, I suppose you get the idea.

"Wowsies!" I leaped into the air with special emphasis on the second syllable, rushing from one bit of the scarce furniture to another. The captain had really thought of everything. There even was a carpet in here! Though it only covered the room's central portion, right in front of his desk, it sure was a lot more comfortable to walk on than all those wooden planks all the time.

"It's alright, mostly," he replied with a shrug, then glanced over to his desk. "Map's already rolled out, I suppose. Had to do a few calculations last night, so there's that. If you're interested in maps, I dunno. But take your time. I'm glad to get a few minutes of timeout."

There was a very fluffy-looking couch situated in one of the room's darker corners, completely enveloped in some curious patterns of navy blue camouflage. While it matched his coat almost perfectly, I doubted I could fit such a piece of equipment in my room and enjoy having it there. Not enough pink on there. 's all I'm saying.

The captain didn't seem to think agree with me on that last point. Grinning to himself like he'd just thought up the most brilliant of jokes, he went ahead and flopped himself right onto his sofa, until resting firmly on his back. A light shove from his fetlock then pushed the worn-out hat clear over his face. Apart from his occasionally twitching hindleg, he didn't move any further after that.

Giving him a rather skeptic look, I continued onward. And there was no remorse I felt for that. I mean, I usually don't even think about ponies intentions, but coming all the way down here just to have someone look at a map? Seriously? Well, since there wasn't anything else to do, I might as well take a look. And I did feel a bit curious about just how our destination would look like, even though I probably wouldn't get any actual pictures of the city. If those even existed.

I leaned over the rather large role of parchment rolled out on Saratoga's desk, studying its details one bit at a time. Twilight could surely explain what I saw more professionally, she always did. But right now, I just had to roll with my own skills.

Well, where to start? There was in fact an island depicted on here. It looked more or less circular, like a ring, only that it suddenly broke off on the eastern side. Here, it ended in two coasts that respectively continued north and south for a while, approaching each other. After about two-thirds of the way, they bend inwards, thus creating a large bay. And said bay contained a densely settled area located around its shore, stretching all around its half-circumference. A tight grid of streets and roads inside a crimson colored area highlighted that fact to become more or less obvious. Though it still took me a minute or two.

Overall, I thought it didn't look so much like a ring, on second though. More like a doughnut that somepony had already taken a bite or two out of. Or three? I would have checked, had there been any actual doughnuts on board for comparison. Which was a bad thing, but I'd whined about that before. It didn't help.

Studying the tiny maze of drawn streets for a few more minutes, I eventually grew bored. Turning back to face the captain, I noticed that he wouldn't notice me noticing him. His Stetson still covered up his face, while his chest had started heaving up and down calmly. He didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings at all, I thought. Clearing my throat took care of that.

"You got anything else that's fun around here?" I asked, as he jolted back awake with a groan. "Otherwise, I think I'm finished for now."

Again, he only shrugged. "Your loss. Anyway, tell Days I'll be extending me break a bit, would ya? Feels like I gotta take a nap. Be right back up on deck, nonetheless."

Eyes narrowed, I glanced at him for a second, only to make for the door afterwards. "Okie-dokie...lokie," I told him, trying to fake a grin. Honestly, after that fairy tale from earlier, I didn't think I could produce an honest smile for the rest of the day. That still lasted heavily on my mind. As did our first mate's conscience. "I don't think he'll like your decision very much."

"Don't matter what that pony likes or not." Saratoga snorted at my response. "He's not the captain, after all."

Though I may or may not still have had some trouble dealing with his attitude, I produced one last chuckling directed at the captain, then headed out into the hallway. Dinner preparation time didn't seem to have come around already, but I was pretty sure Polly would call me in sooner or later.

For now, there was nothing left to do. Which I didn't like one bit, but I probably would have to cope with it either way.

So much for spreading fun and laughter, then. Next Chapter: Chapter 15 - Bottle of Rum Estimated time remaining: 47 Minutes