It's been an hour since Golden Will agreed to allow her on the ship. The ponies were extremely reluctant to allow her on the ship at all and I could tell it was for good reason. With their kind now being at war with the zebra's, griffon's, and Minotaur's. It's kind of to be expected. But regardless they shouldn't put their anger towards someone so young.
They also almost tried to keep Soft Heart away from me and Bell but seeing the end of my magnum put an end to that. Now I was just sitting in the chair behind the desk in the cabin. Looking at the map once more to see if I made any mistakes. I had a horrible feeling in my chest that something was going to go down. What? I had no damn idea but I had a feeling.
I heard yelling outside which sounded like orders as I lifted my head towards the door. Catching Bell and Heart playing on the left side of the cabin. I smiled at Bell's fondness for Soft Heart. Glad to see that her personality hadn't taken a hit from all the death she has seen. Although she could possibly be hurting inside she isn't showing any possibility of it. I decided to take a small break as I turned around in the chair and looked out the windows in the back of the ship. The waves just weaving all around as I spotted a ship in the distance slowly making its way here. It would probably be half an hour until it got here if I guessed correctly. Hearing more yelling this time of a different variety I grabbed my crutch and my P9 before swiftly making my way over to the door. I opened it up a crack and narrowed my eyes once again that day as I saw Golden Will with his ax out with several griffons standing on the deck next to the gangplank. " I said get the hell off of my ship!" Golden Will yelled.
"all we are asking is to search the ship for our... property." the griffon stated in anger as I sighed and guessed who they were talking about. "besides? Aren't we allies at the moment?" I froze at the words. "our races along with the zebras are going to war with the ponies." I didn't listen anymore as I closed the door slowly.
"Bell! Hide Soft Heart!" she looked confused but quickly helped Soft Heart into a hiding spot. I opened the door once again to hear more.
"fine... feel free to search the ship... but don't blame me if your killed by my shipmates." my eyes widened as I heard Golden Will. Quickly grabbed my weapons next to me I moved over to the desk and got myself set up aiming at the door with the FAD hidden behind the desk. The door was opened as Bell took cover behind a barrel full of spears.
"good day." I simply said with a wave of my hand as the three griffons looked at me strangely. "may I ask why you are here?"
"we are... searching for some lost property of ours." the lead griffon stated as I noticed the other two standing guard outside now looking into the room while I saw Golden Will with a smile on his face. The lead griffon then looked to the right and froze. "and apparently there she is... so we will take her and be on-" he stopped talking as he heard a loud click. I could see him pale.
"may I ask why you are so pale at the moment?" I then asked him.
"you... have an ancient weapon..." I narrowed my eyes.
"why... whatever do you mean?" I asked with anger in my tone. "please... answer."
"the ancient weapons were found by the griffon king... its what brought him into power. But they couldn't be replicated. He's giving out treasure to any griffon who brings them in. I've seen enough of them in the kingdom to know what they sound like when they are loaded." he said not moving at all as the other griffons took a step back.
I slowly pulled out the magnum and pointed it at them as the last of the blood in their faces went away. "this? This is just a small weapon compared to what I know about. I thank you for telling me the information though. Unfortunately for you." I laid the magnum on the table as the lead griffon gave a sigh... only to tense up again as I picked up my FAD and pointed it at them. " I can't let you leave to give out the information that I have these..." immediately I let out two small bursts as they entered the griffons standing guard outside of the cabin. The lead griffon charged over to the bed as I quickly had to kill the other two griffons running towards me. When I got him back in my sights he was holding a knife over the zebra's throat. I raised an eyebrow at him as I quickly moved my hand and shot the knife out of his hands. It landed on to the blanket without injury as I shot him in the leg and then head... causing him to fall forward before he could yell out in pain. Bell watched me kill them in horror as I used the last of my current clip and pumped the other four griffons full of lead since I saw movement coming from them. I discharged the clip and pulled another one out of my backpack and loaded it in. Golden Will made his way over as he stepped over the bodies.
"you knew that I would kill them... didn't you Golden?" he simply shrugged his shoulders. "might want to dispose of the bodies before their blood soaks into the wood." he only grumbled as he quickly grabbed all the bodies and left the room. Bell slowly came out of her hiding place.
"did you... have to kill them?" Bell asked shaking.
"if their king knew about my kinds weapons. Then that means there are a lot more problems than I first thought." I told her. " I would have preferred not killing them... but I wasn't going to condemn somebody who I said I wouldn't hurt. They were only going to leave injured but once they talked about the weapons. I couldn't let them leave. I hope you understand Bell." she said nothing as she helped Soft Heart out of her hiding place.
"what happened?" Heart asked but was ushered out by Bell. I could only watch saddened as Heart kept on asking what happened. The door closed behind them as I turned around in the chair I was in and looked at the incoming ship. It was about a third of the way here but I could tell it was a warship. It greatly resembled a Spanish galleon if I guessed correctly. I heard a small groan as I looked over towards the makeshift bed and found that the zebra had woken up.
"have a nice nap?" I asked as she looked over at me. "sorry about the ponies... they were afraid because of what is all going on." she only continued to stare at me as her eyes were filled with curiosity. "my name is Paul. What is your name?"
"Debora..." she then said after a minute of silence.
"a pleasure to make your acquaintance" she remained quiet as I sighed. "the ship you are on is on its way to Equestria. We are transporting both ponies and Minotaur's. If you wish we could take you with us?" she only looked at me wide-eyed as she gave me a quick nod. I smiled. "then welcome aboard." she gave a small smile as I got up from the chair with help from my crutch.
The bad feeling in my chest was still there as I made my way over to the door. "get some rest." I said as I looked over to Debora. " it's going to be a long voyage once we set off again." she only gave me a slow nod as I opened the door and walked out onto the deck. I saw Soft Heart playing around on the mast with Bell playing with her. Both just running around the mast until Bell eventually caught her as the two laughed with each other.
I gave a small smile as I walked over to Golden Will. "so how was your information gathering?"
"very good... won't have to go to island after island to get to Equestria. Just have to go in that direction." he pointed straight down the docks as I nodded. "whats wrong with the young calf?" he then asked me.
"I killed those griffons..."
"ba..." he waved his hand at me. "were just going to kill us all anyway even if ya gave the zebra to them. Griffons around here act like dragons." I froze for a moment when I heard dragons but put that thought away for later. "greedy sons of bitches when you take their stuff."
"just wish that Bell would understand," I stated. "I dislike having her be mad at me... or worse fear me."
"that's life young bull... that's life... should be sailing off soon. I saw a ship approaching from the stern."
"I noticed it too." I said leaning over the railing and looking back at the approaching ship. "think its trouble?" I then asked him. He pulled out a good old-fashioned spyglass as he looked at the ship approaching us... he moved around a little before he froze. The feeling in my chest becoming large as fear began to take hold. "get the ship ready..." he then whispered. "get the damn ship ready for take off!" he dropped his spyglass as I quickly caught it from the air. "there's a royal ship approaching! Its maned by Minotaur's!" my eyes widened as I pulled up the spyglass and looked towards the ship.
He was right. With the fancy insignia, iron armor, and with a flag with a crown on it... I should have been careful when I felt something was wrong. The ponies had quickly come onto the deck and were running around preparing the ship as fast as they could. "Paul! How close are they?!" Will yelled out as I looked at the ship.
"probably about 10 minutes! Maybe less!"
"that's good enough!" the sails were quickly unfurled as the anchor of the ship was lifted onto the deck with a strange aura that came from the unicorn's horn. Soon the ship was off as we sailed along the harbor. "all ponies get below deck!" he yelled as Heart needed assurance that nothing was going to happen from Bell before she went below deck with the other ponies. I joined Golden Will as I looked out towards the town. Leaving the area of the harbor as the ship reached the harbor... before I looked in shock as cannons were fired into the town. Explosions were hitting every building, street, even the harbor as screams could be heard. Bell soon came next to me and brought her hands to her mouth in shock. "it was coming to them at some point..." I heard Golden Will state in a monotone voice. I turned my head towards him as Bell continues to look at the devastation. "they were always causing trouble... going to war with the ponies just gave them a reason to wipe them out..." I looked down before looking back at the town. A ship attempted to set sail but was quickly targeted and destroyed by the warship.
"why... aren't they firing at us?" I realized as I watched the ship sink to the bottom of the ocean.
"because of the design... this ship is a clan ship... they wouldn't dare attack a clan ship unless they knew it was in pirates hands..." he stated. I thought nothing more as I stood there as the island got smaller and smaller... thankfully the screams had finally stopped as I looked towards Bell who was looking at me.
"Bell... I would never kill like they do... I would only kill when the situation calls for it..." and with that, I walked back over to the steps and started to go down them. Only to stumble and almost tumble down them until Bell caught my left arm causing me to wince slightly. I looked into her face as she gave me a kind smile... and I returned it...