Celaeno was not a huge fan of Canterlot, or even just Equestria in general. The longer she and her crew were there for, but more awkward the ponies got around them. Celaeno could see that they were trying to be as accepting as they knew how, but things were still ridiculous and tense at times. If it was possible, she would have taken her crew and sailed away from there the moment that things started to calm down from the Storm King's attack.
But, considering they didn't really have a sky ship of their own anymore, that really wasn't an option.
Celaeno was extremely grateful that Rainbow Dash had explained their circumstances to the princesses. As stuck up and judgemental as some of the little ponies were, the princesses were nothing but gracious. They didn't even seem to be surprised at the kind of creatures that had helped them out. The Princesses, to show their gratitude, had said that they wanted to gift Celaeno and her crew with a new ship. Celaeno more than appreciated the gift, she just didn't like how it wouldn't be ready to fly off for a few days.
There were a couple of bright sides to being stuck in Canterlot though. It gave her crew a chance to stretch the wings a bit, get back into their natural mindsets. Mullet, Celaeno's first mate, was extremely passionate about ships and sailing, while Squabble loved to tinker around with things. The two of them were having a blast helping the local ponies fix the brand new ship up so it would be airworthy for more than just a few circles around a mountain.
Lix Spittle and Boyle were willing to help out with the ship when they needed to, but they both prefered to scheme against the snobbish Canterlot ponies. Celaeno knew that this was just their way to deal with their frustrations, and they wouldn't really do anything malicious towards any of the ponies...well, at least, she really hoped they wouldn't.
Maybe it would be safest for Celaeno to give Lix and Boyle something else to get their minds off of their scheming revenge plans against the ponies, but just so long as they didn't act on any of these plans, she didn't have a problem with it. Especially since they had started to include Capper in their planning.
Celaeno was relieved to see Capper get along with the rest of the crew. He talked about the greatest treasures he had ever stolen with Boyle. Lix had been showing Capper, who was apparently even less educated than any of them were, how to read a map while Mullet would show him how to read the stars every night. Capper even got along fine with Squabble, even though he had admitted that he couldn't understand what a single one of his squawks meant. Despite the verbal barriers, Capper treated Squabble with just as much respect as he did anybody else on the crew, which Celaeno really appreciated. Most other creatures took one look at Squabble with his crossed eyes and false beak, and they assumed that he was an idiot. It was a real weight off of Celaeno's back that Capper didn't seem to think that way.
Actually, Celaeno was just relieved in general that Capper was getting along with her crew. He had seemed reluctant to join them in the first place, though Celaeno didn't take it personally. She had watched his interactions with the Canterlot ponies, and even their little pony friends like Rarity and Rainbow Dash, and he seemed to be just as reluctant to be around any of them as he had been to join the team. Capper was good at pretending that he didn't have any doubts and that he was nervous or scared, but in just the past few days Celaeno had noticed a number of little chinks in his armor.
Capper was a suave guy, probably one of the most charming creatures Celaeno had ever met. She knew that he was sincere about a lot of it, that it was just the way that he was, but she had also noticed that he somehow got more charming when he felt nervous. Celaeno had also noticed the way that his ears and tail twitched when he felt cornered, and the way his fur stood on end.
And, of course, there were the dozens of times that Celaeno had caught Capper grimacing, the emotions completely clear on his face, when he was dragged into a friendly conversation and he thought nobody was looking. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. Capper was nervous about getting close to anybody. And in Celaeno's experience, the creatures who were most cautious about others were those who had been hurt before because they had let their guard down.
Throw in the fact that Celaeno was sure that Capper had not been this way when she had found him and his buddy stowing away on a ship that her crew had stolen, and the fact that said buddy was nowhere to be seen, it really didn't paint a pretty picture. Celaeno had an idea about what had happened, but she didn't ask about it, because it wasn't her place. If Capper wanted her to know, he would tell her. In the meantime, she would respect his privacy and hope that someday he would trust the crew.
It took longer than Celaeno was entirely comfortable with, but after what felt like forever, even though it was just a day more than what was promised, their new skyship was finally ready for them. Mullet was satisfied that the ship would be able to fly long distances without a problem, and both he and Squabble were happy with their personal additions. And if they were happy with the ship, then Celaeno was happy with it. Especially since it was finally ready and they could go back to being pirates without any more delays.
When Celaeno stepped onto the deck of their ship as they got ready to head out, she felt as though a weight had been taken off of her shoulders. She hadn't realized just how lost she had been without her ship. Of course, things weren't perfect yet. They were still missing the rest of their crew, and this ship wasn't exactly like the one they had lost. It would take Celaeno time to warm up to the new ship, and to find her lost crewmates. They also needed to replace the supplies and treasures that had been destroyed along with their original ship.
There was no way for Celaeno to know how long those first two things would take, but she could control when they restocked. It wasn't a lot, but it was a step in the right direction. And hopefully once they got ship broken in it would start to feel like home. Fortunately, Celaeno knew just where to start.
"Alright, scallywags, here's the plan." Celaeno said the very moment they were all on the deck of the ship. Mullet and Squabble were busy getting ready to ship out, but Celaeno knew that her first mate already knew what the plan was, and that he would explain it to Squabble later. And, really, Boyle and Capper were the only ones who absolutely needed to know what was going on.
"Rainbow Dash said that there's a large city just outside Equestria. I don't know what the name of the city is, and I don't care. What matters is that the city is at the base of an abandoned dragon mountain, and you know what that means?" Celaeno looked meaningfully at Boyle, who smirked wickedly.
"Gemstones." Boyle looked extremely eager, as he always was when they went to territories that were near old dragon caves. Dragons loved gemstones, and they always knew where to find them. It wasn't very often that dragons left their caves, but when it did happen, they left their usually left their hoard behind too. These abandoned caves attracted creatures to it, and more often than not cities and towns were built near these caves. Unsurprisingly, these cities were usually economically well off, even if it had been many generations since the town had been founded.
And the richest creatures in these towns always, without fail, had a small collection of these gemstones, just sitting around because they wanted to show off their wealth. These creatures were always more proud than intelligent, and they were some of Boyle's favorite thieving victims.
"I'll leave the gemstones to you." Celaeno trusted that Boyle knew exactly what to do. He was a pro at stealing from private collections. "We should get there around dawn. In the meantime, Boyle, show Capper the ropes. He'll be helping you."
"Haven't had an assistant in awhile." Boyle chuckled as he slung an arm around Capper's shoulder, which made the cat stiffen ever so slightly. "This should be fun. Capper's been running his mouth so much. I think it's high time he puts his money where his mouth is."
Celaeno frowned when she saw Capper's ears twitch. That was a tell of how uncomfortable he felt. She just didn't know if he was uncomfortable because Boyle was getting physical with him, or if he didn't like the conversation was going. Celaeno had no idea which was the case, and Capper didn't say anything to tell her.
It really bothered Celaeno that Capper was visibly uncomfortable and she didn't know why, but there wasn't a lot she could do about it. Not when he was so reluctant to open up to them. And at that moment she couldn't focus her attention on getting him to trust them. Not when there was so much work that needed to get done.
After their little visit to the city though, Celaeno wouldn't rest until she figured out just what was going on with her newest crewmate.
The next morning they arrived at their destination a little earlier than they had initially suspected. Celaeno and Lix Spittle went to stock up on provisions, because it turned out that Canterlot didn't stock the kind of food that was meant to last for as long as a few weeks. Mullet was usually the one went with Lix Spittle to get the provisions, as part of her job was to prepare most of their meals, and part of his job was to keep stock of everything they had on board. In this particular instance though, Mullet had a few more supplies that he needed to pick up, and he was taking Squabble along with him.
Celaeno and Lix Spittle took their time getting provisions, though they also didn't stall or linger. There was no need for them to look like they were in a rush, or a hurry, because they weren't. Boyle knew how this kind of thing worked. He would wait, to give the rest of the crew time to get what they needed done, and then he would sneak in, snag a few gemstones from a few oblivious creatures, and sneak out. If things went well, and they usually did, they would be out of the city before anybody even realized that they had been swindled.
When Celaeno and Lix Spittle got their errands done they made their way back to the ship. Celaeno immediately noticed that Mullet and Squabble were already there. When Mullet saw them coming he immediately came to help load up the supplies that they had brought back.
"The others are back." Mullet told Celaeno in a low voice as he grabbed a bag of birdseed from one of the locals that Celaeno had hired to help them bring things back to the ship.
"Did they find what they were looking for?" Celaeno asked. She had no reason to doubt Boyle and Capper, but Mullet's tone didn't inspire a lot of confidence. He seemed concerned.
"I don't know." Mullet admitted. "Capper climbed out onto the bowsprit and he hasn't moved from there. And Boyle hasn't said a word."
Celaeno sighed. "I'll take care of it." Maybe it wasn't a good idea to team Capper with Boyle when she suspected that there was something seriously wrong with one of them, and she knew that the other could be easily agitated when on the job. Now she might have to deal with damage control. The only thing she had going for her at that moment was that she knew that the boys hadn't been caught or seen, or else there would be more pressure for them to leave in a hurry.
Celaeno made her way up the gangplank and saw the boys herself. Capper was indeed lounging on the bowsprit. He looked casual and calm enough, but even from a distance Celaeno could see that his fur was poofier than it usually was. Something was making his fur stand on end.
And then there was Boyle at the aft of the ship. His shoulders were tense, and he looked agitated. Not quite in an angry way, but more like in a concerned and he didn't know what to do about it way. Celaeno could tell the difference, because both were extremely common with Boyle.
Celaeno was more concerned about Capper, but she knew that she would be more likely to get answers from Boyle, so she made her way to the aft of the ship.
"Good to see you two made it back okay." Celaeno leaned against the railing and crossed her arms. "How'd it go? Capper as good as his word?"
"You have no idea." Boyle grinned easily. "Oh, Captain, this cat has skills."
So the problem wasn't that Boyle had felt held back. That was good. "So what's the problem?"
Boyle began to fiddle with his hook. "He's a good thief, but he's been acting strange since yesterday." Celaeno should have known that Boyle would recognize that Capper was on edge. Boyle didn't look or act like it, but he was actually very observant when it came to emotions. He didn't always know how to fix or help with somebody's problems, but he was great with emotional support.
"I don't know if he wants to do this." Boyle said, and the statement just felt almost out of nowhere. Celaeno wanted to disagree with his observation, but she didn't even know what 'this' Boyle was talking about, so she kept quiet and waited. "He kinda reminds me of Mullet."
Oh...oh! "Really?" Celaeno's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't even considered that a possibility. Although, now that Boyle had mentioned it, it definitely made sense. "Are you sure?"
Boyle shrugged. "Not really." Celaeno was a little disappointed, but not surprised. Boyle was just making a guess, but at least it was more than what Celaeno had. And neither of them could really know for sure what was going on with Capper unless he told them himself, which he probably wasn't going to do on his own.
Celaeno put a hand on Boyle's arm. "You go help the others load the ship. I'll talk to Capper." As the captain, it was Celaeno's job to make sure her crew was taken care of, even if it meant forcing her newest crewmate who didn't trust her yet to trust her.
Boyle nodded, not even a shred of doubt in his eyes. It made Celaeno feel a bit more confident. It was a lot easier to do something when other people already believed that you could. She didn't really have a plan, but she was pretty okay with that. She had always been good at winging it anyways.
Celaeno took a deep breath, brushed some of her stray green feathers at the top of her head away from her eyes, and headed to the bow of the ship. As a captain, she needed to look like she was in completely control, because if she didn't look like she knew what she was doing, then her crew wouldn't trust her decisions.
"Hey, kitty," Celaeno walked onto the bowsprit. "Is there room for two up here?"
Capper looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at her. "Of course, Celaeno. Though, I must know, is there a reason behind this unexpected visit, or is it just my lucky day?" Celaeno barely kept herself from rolling her eyes, but she couldn't hide her grin. It was really astonishing how every word that came out of his mouth was sickeningly charming. Celaeno wondered if he was naturally this suave, or if he was just constantly expertly faking it.
"Actually, there were some things that I wanted to talk to you about." Celaeno admitted. She sat down next to her crewmate. "Is there something bothering you?"
Capper blinked and his ears twitched slightly, though Celaeno didn't know if it was because he was confused or on edge because of the question. She wasn't familiar enough with cats or Abyssinians to recognize what every single one of their twitches meant. "Not that I can think of." Capper said slowly, and he sounded sincerely confused. If Celaeno wasn't already aware that Capper was a master at lying, she would probably believe that there really was nothing wrong with him.
As it was, Celaeno knew better than to take everything that Capper said at face value.
Celaeno considered telling Capper that Boyle was concerned about him. She considered reprimanding him, to get Capper to cooperate with her by making him think that if he did otherwise then he might jeopardize the rest of the crew. Celaeno ultimately decided against it, because Capper wasn't close enough to the crew yet to let them affect any decisions he made. Not yet.
After thinking about it for a moment Celaeno decided that if she couldn't come up with a strategy to deal with Capper, then she would just be completely forward with him. "Alright, here's the thing, we both know that there's something going on with you, so stop pretending that there's not." Capper's ears twitched again, this time his tail flicked as well. Celaeno was fairly certain that this meant that he was nervous about her question.
"I, uh, don't know what you're talking about." Capper said, and Celaeno nearly fell off the bowsprit when she heard his tone. What was that? Celaeno had only ever heard Capper speak with complete confidence and control. Not with this hesitation and cracking voice. Celaeno could only think of one instance when she had heard Capper's voice sound like this, and that had been just before Tempest had destroyed her ship, when...when Tempest had caught him in a lie.
Well, wasn't that interesting.
"I'm talking about how you agreed to steal some gemstones, even though you have no interest in being a thief anymore." Celaeno said it as though she knew it for sure, that this wasn't just an assumption that was based on a broad feeling that Boyle had. If she was wrong…
"I...what are you...that's crazy. I'm not...heh." Capper rubbed the back of his neck. Celaeno had been hoping for a reaction somewhat like this, but she hadn't expected it to be this bad. At least now she knew that while Capper was a really good liar, and he could deceive and distract like nobody's business, he fell to complete pieces when he was called out for his lie. Celaeno would have found this absolutely hilarious if she wasn't so concerned about why Capper would have felt the need to lie about this kind of thing in the first place.
"Why didn't you just tell me you didn't want to steal anymore?" Celaeno asked. She knew all too well that just because somebody was good at something didn't mean they automatically had to like doing it. She personally knew many creatures who had stolen out of necessity, though they were always looking for ways to get by without having to do just that. They could be the best thief in the world, but if they found some honest work, they would take it without a second thought and never look back.
Capper made a noise that sounded like a mix between a growl and a hiss. "Because the last time I told somebody that I wanted to make an honest living, he stole the magical gem that we had been planning on trading to Verko in exchange for an airship, and then he made off on that airship, leaving me with an impossible amount of debt."
Celaeno blinked. It was clear from Capper's voice that he was still infuriated and hurt from the betrayal. It was a little surprising how easily he had explained this to her, but Celaeno figured all of these emotions had been building up for awhile now and he just needed a reason to talk about it all.
"You...was it your friend that did this?" Celaeno asked, though she already knew the answer.
Capper's fur stood on end. "He was never my friend." He growled in a low voice. Celaeno knew that wasn't true. Capper and the tabby she had first seen him with had seemed pretty close when she had first met them. Celaeno understood what Capper was doing though. Sometimes, it was easier to accept that you had been lied to for a long time and that an entire relationship had never meant anything in the first place than to believe that it had meant something, but had been destroyed.
"Well, I am." Celaeno said. "Did you really think I would change my mind about having you on the crew if I knew you didn't want to be a thief?"
Capper turned and gave her an odd look. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but y'all are pirates. Thieving is kinda in the job description."
Celaeno grinned. "Not on this crew it's not." Yes, as a whole they did steal and plunder, but not every single individual had to participate. In fact, nearly a quarter of Celaeno's entire crew avoided thieving unless it was absolutely necessary. Celaeno didn't need everybody to be a master thief, she just needed them to be okay with the thought of being a part of a group that took from others. And, as far as she could tell, Capper was. He just didn't want to do the thieving himself, and Celaeno was just fine with that.
Capper frowned. "It's not?" Celaeno guessed that she should have probably explained all of this before.
"No, it isn't." Celaeno turned and gestured to the port where the others were finishing up with loading up the ship. "Squabble hasn't stolen a thing in his life." Granted, that was for entirely different reasons, but it was still the truth. "And Mullet's one of the best thieves I know, but he hasn't swiped even a single bit off of anybody since joining this crew, and do you know why?"
"Because...he doesn't have to?" Capper guessed.
"And he doesn't want to, so he doesn't." Celaeno said. "Look, we may be pirates, but we are also a crew, which means that we're all-" Family, but Celaeno didn't think Capper was ready for that leap. At least, not yet. "-friends. And that means that none of us force anybody else on the crew to do something that they don't feel comfortable doing. Nobody's forcing Boyle to learn how to navigate using the stars. Nobody's forcing Mullet to even think about stealing treasure. And nobody's going to force you to steal either if you don't want to."
"...Are you sure." Capper asked in a quiet, uncertain voice. Celaeno wasn't used to this side of him, and she didn't really like it. She would take the suave, overconfident Capper over the unsure one anyday. Just as long as he didn't try to lie to her anymore.
"Positive." Celaeno assured him. She smoothed out her feathers and carefully got to her feet. She wasn't used to how thin this bowsprit was. It was sturdy, just like the rest of the ship was, but it wasn't designed for somebody to sit on it, let alone two creatures. It was much too thin for that. She would have to talk to Mullet about extending it.
"Captain Celaeno," She turned towards Mullet, who had boarded the ship and was leaning against the railing on the port side. "The ships all loaded up. We're ready to shove off at your command."
"Well, then, we'd better get moving." Celaeno hopped off of the bowsprit back onto the solid deck of the ship. She grinned at Squabble when he cheerfully approached and handed her her hat, which she hadn't worn into town, because it might draw in some unwanted attention. "Mullet, you and Boyle are at the rigging."
"Aye aye, captain." Mullet said before he turned to Boyle and began giving him directions. Boyle didn't know the ship like Mullet did, but he was better at physical labor than the first mate was, and manning all the ropes and pulleys on the ship was definitely a physical job when they were so short handed.
"Squabble, you're on lookout." Celaeno said. The cross-eyed bird squawked in understanding and climbed his way up the rigging to get a better view. Even with his unique eyes, Squabble had the sharpest sight of any of them.
"Capper, I want you at the wheel." Celaeno said when the cat stepped off the end of the ship. "Lix Spittle will show you what to do."
Capper looked at her dubiously. "Are you sure that's a good idea, captain?"
"No, I'm not." Celaeno admitted. "But you're a smart kitty, Capper, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Now, let's get going before we waste any more daylight." Capper didn't look completely convinced, but he didn't argue with her, which she appreciated. Capper just joined Lix Spittle at the wheel. Celaeno nodded in satisfaction. If Capper didn't feel like he could contribute to the crew if he didn't want to be a thief, then she would make him realize that he had a lot more to offer her than his silver tongue and smooth movements.
"Raise the anchor and get ready to set sail." Celaeno said as she looked out towards the sky above the bow of the ship. She donned her hat, determination coursing through her blood. "We've got a crew to find."