Chapter 7: Salt-Breeze
In the gray of dawn Firebolt woke up. Looking around he soon realized that something was wrong. The stallion found himself in a tent, which wasn't strange, in itself. The strange thing was that he couldn't remember entering it before he went to sleep. He stood up carefully and his head touched the white fabric. "Where the hell did that tent came from?" he said to himself and listened to the environment. The alicorn heard nothing but a few birds and the crackle of a campfire. Firebolt stepped slowly out of the tent and caught his breath. There was no sign of the army, except a few dead campfires. "Shadowsword!" he mumbled angrily. "Where are you?"
The stallion extinguished the small fire in front of him and found a scorched wooden board with four nails in it. It seemed that somepony had nailed a message on it, but somehow the note had got into the flames and burned. Firebolt picked the scorched piece of wood up and his horn began to glow. Some of the ash flew up and landed upon the board. Suddenly the small heap of ash caught fire; but instead of heating the air around it, the flame cooled it down. The ash transformed slowly into the paper and the message became visible. After the flames perished the stallion smiled while he read the message. He put the piece of wood back on the ground and jumped into the air. Hovering above the former camp, he got his bearings and finally flew southwards. Firebolt flew as fast as he could and after a few minutes he spotted the army at the horizon.
In a safe distance he crashed into the ground. As the dust settled, he saw about a hundred ponies laying on the ground and aimed at him. He searched for the mare but she wasn't in sight. "Shadowsword!" the armored alicorn yelled while he stepped out of the crater and towards the troops. One of the ponies lost control and an arrow flew towards the stallion.
The arrow barely missed the alicorn and got stuck in the ground a few meters behind him. Firebolt looked at the arrow, "Whose arrow was that?" he asked, succeeding to hide his anger.
"It was mine!" he heard a mare's voice answering and a few moments later a dark grey unicorn mare stood up. The stallion teleported to her and pushed her back to the ground. "I hope for you, that it was a mistake." He said facing her.
"Maybe, maybe not." She answered smiling. "I hope you're not sad that we left you behind." She added, in hope to sooth the stallion. "I really tried my best to wake you up."
"Why should I?!" she sarcastically shot back.
"You have to know that I received a letter from Firestorm last night." Shadowsword explained. "He needs us as quickly as possible and our troops can rest when we're on the ships."
"You should have at least left me a note, so that I know where you are!"
"Sorry, but- "she started but realized the absurdity of their conversation. "- forget it. You found us and joined up."
"How long do you need to reach Stableside?" he veered off.
"About three hours. Why?"
"I'll fly ahead and get the ships ready." Firebolt said and was about to fly away.
"That's much better than beating my hunters." She answered smiling. The stallion turned around to her and grinned. "Remember, you have given me the permission." He jumped into the air and flew away without giving her the chance to answer.
An hour later he arrived at the seaport of Stableside. The alicorn landed carefully in front of a big brick building. Several ponies were working in this area of the port but as he landed they stooped their work; it didn't happen very often that an alicorn came to this place, especially an alicorn in such a heavy armor. Slowly they formed a group around the stallion with the burning mane and felt the heat of the flame. "Whoa. – Doesn't that hurt?" one of them asked amazed. "Is that real fire?" another asked.
Firebolt smiled and set his whole body on fire, "The fire can't hurt me – and yes, it is real fire." He smiled and the flames perished.
"Hey! Back to work!" he heard a stallion calling and looked around, but it wasn't one of those around him. The ponies went back to their work while a white earth pony stallion with a small red star on his flank stepped towards the alicorn. "I'm sorry, but it does not happen very often that we have the honor that an alicorn come down here." The pony said with a sailorlike accent.
"That's alright; it happens usually when I reach a place where I haven't been before." Firebolt answered calmly, "I'm quite conspicuous with my mane."
"Ohh, almost forgot. I'm Seastar." The white pony said, "What's the cause of your visit, if I'm allowed to ask."
"I'm the vanguard of a small army and we need some ships."
"Then I'm your pony." Seastar interrupted him and pointed at the ship behind him, "I'm captain of this little baby. Just tell me your designation and the number of the ponies you want to transport."
Firebolt looked at the 'little' ship; it was one hundred meters long cargo ship with several huge sails, but towards the stern was the bridge with a large funnel on the top. The ship was made out of metal but the masts were still made out of wood.
"I know that it is actually a cargo ship, but it has a large capacity." The pony said.
"Thousand ponies need to fit in there." The stallion answered, "They should arrive in about two hours. Can you prepare the ship in this short time?"
"Give me an hour and we can sail. Am I right when I think that you want to ship to Seaddle?"
"Yep, our designation is Seaddle. – How long do you think do we need for the journey?" the alicorn asked while they stepped towards the ship."
"At the crack of dawn we should arrive at the harbor." The earth stallion answered.
Firebolt and Seastar were at the bridge as the first two Hunter battalions arrived at the sea port. "I think they're here." The captain said while he looked through binoculars, "I haven't seen these colors before. Which country do they come from?"
"They come from Nordheim." Firebolt answered.
"So you're from Nordheim?"
"I'm fighting mainly for Equestria but Nordheim is my native country."
"I heard that it is a beautiful but also a quite cold country. Is that true?"
"Yes, it is true. It's wonderful there." The alicorn answered, "- I should go and tell them that they can come on board." He added leaving the room.
Shadowsword looked around but there was no sign of Firebolt. She spotted only one ship and as she looked closer she saw the stallion stepping out of the bridge. "You must be kidding!" She murmured as the alicorn flew towards her.
"You can't be serious!" the mare confronted him after he had landed. "Come on, a cargo ship?"
"It is the only ship here, so what should I do? Build a new one?" he countered, "Get on board, we are ready to sail."
An hour after they had left the harbor, Firebolt went into the cargo hold. The ponies had pitched their tents. The stallion stepped through the camp and finally he reached the commander's tent. He went inside and found Shadowsword. "Are you still angry?" she asked.
"Nah! I've just overreacted." The alicorn answered, "Mind if I store my armor here?"
"You can take this thing off?" she said sarcastically with a big smile on her face.
"Of course I can. – I think two days at a time is enough." Firebolt said and began to take his armor off. As he took off the main part of the armor, the air began to fill with the stench of his sweat. "Haven't you ever heard of a shower?" the mare asked while she kept her nostrils shut.
"There's a much better way to keep my body clean." He smiled and slipped out of his boots, "Water is not efficient enough." The stallion put the armor in the middle of the tent and set it on fire. "That is much more efficient." After the flames perished there was only one source of odor left. "Don't worry, it doesn't stink anymore. It's just me." He stepped to the exit of the tent and as he arrived he turned around. "I'll go on deck to air myself. – Do you want to come with me?"
"I'll come later, at the moment you're just too smelly." The mare answered.
"See you later!" Firebolt said and left towards the deck. Soon he arrived there and trotted slowly to the bow of the ship. While he was on his way the stallion set his own body on fire and burned his sweat.
A few minutes later, Shadowsword appeared upon the deck and spotted the stallion at the prow. She trotted towards the lonely pony which was leaning against the railing. Shortly before the mare reached him, he jumped. She couldn't trust her eyes but she ran to the railing and screamed: "Pony overboard! – Pony overboard!" Several of the seaponies galloped to her, some of them had life belts around their necks. In the meantime, the mare had reached the railing but as she looked down she couldn't spot the golden alicorn. She grabbed one of the life belts and knotted the rope at the rail. She searched a last time for the stallion but as she couldn't find him, she jumped with the life belt into the water. With a big splash she plunged into the deep blue, she even swallowed some of the salty and cold water. A few moments after she surfaced, Firebolt emerged beside her. "Do you want to join me?" he asked smiling.
"What are you doing?" she shot back.
"I'm just swimming." The stallion answered calmly, "And what are you doing with this life belt?"
"I brought this with me to rescue you. What makes you think that it's a good idea to swim in the middle of the ocean without anypony knowing about it?! Who knows what could have happened and then there wouldn't be anypony to help you!" she shouted at him, "By the way, how do you think, you'll come back on board?"
"The last one is easy. Let me show you, how I'll do it." Firebolt answered and submerged. The next few moments nothing happened in the water, in a distance of about five meters beside the mare, it slowly began to bubble. As she looked into the water, Shadowsword spotted a bright light beneath the water surface. Suddenly the light breached through the surface of the water and soared into the air. The mare took a closer look and identified the light as Firebolt in his burning form, but something was wrong. The stallion held his burning sword in his hooves. "Ship in sight!" she heard a pony calling and grabbed the life belt. "Pull me up!" she called and some of the seaponies appeared at the railing to pull her up. "What is he doing?" she asked as they lifted her upon the deck. "And where is that ship?"
"The ship is over there." One of the seaponies answered pointing with its hoof to the ship which was about ten miles away, "I think he's looking what ship it is."
"Where's the captain?"
"He should be at the bridge." The seapony answered and Shadowsword galloped towards the structure upon the deck. A few minutes later she entered the navigation bridge. "Who of you is the captain?" she asked exhausted.
"That is me." Seastar answered, "Why do you ask?"
"That ship –" she pointed out of the window, at the place where she expected the ship, "tell me more about it."
"It seems that it is a warship from Cervidas, but this species is not a maritime one. I think Firebolt will lead the ship straight to us; you better prepare your warriors. Maybe we have to fight." The captain told her.
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"I'll have my Warriors prepared and order them on deck." She said and left the room.