As Rarity followed Korsan out of the vault, she heard nervous huffs of air from the cook, Butch. Korsan wanted to do something with his ship, something that made even the crewmember anxious.
“Please tell me it’s not another joyride.” Butch said.
“It’s a fair time to see if the ship’s in full working order.” Korsan casually dismissed his worries.
“Isn’t that Isyan’s job? Your boatswain?”
“Bah, the slacker’s as daft as the mere concept of flank piercings.”
“Ew…” Rarity groaned in disgust.
“Believe me. It’s hard to contemplate its existence even when it’s right in front of you. Don’t ask how I know.” Korsan said.
“Korsan, please,” Butch pleaded to his leader passing by him. “We’re already under enough stress as it is working.”
“Exactly, that’s why I would suggest a good flight to loosen up.” Korsan said.
“Oh, bother…”
While Korsan and Rarity reached the open deck and climbed up the stairs to the top deck, the large dark blue stallion sprinted to the main deck.
He yelled out to his colleges, “Joyride Alert! Joyride Alert! Joyride Alert!”
Immediately, all of the crew members on deck and on top of large masts scrambled. In seconds, they all collected into the galley and down into the cabins below, the loud rumbling of their hooves against the wood floor roared all the way up to Korsan and his guest at the wheel of the great vessel.
“Heh, never gets old.” Korsan chuckled.
The bipedal pegasus reached to his far right and pulled down the farthest lever amongst the selection of two other levers and a button. Upon pulling it, an enormous clank ruptured from inside the wheel. Five levers emerged from the insides of the wheel’s stand. Two sets of three more large stick controls arose from a rising section of the floor, turning into a complex control box.
As Rarity watched in awe of Korsan’s wheel area turning into an advanced control panel, the top of her eyes caught a glimpse of Korsan’s ice phoenix hovering around the airship. The last of the new steering devices settled in place and the entire airship was ready for action. It bolted, jolted, and shivered around, throttling up and loosening its stiff cruising path.
“You might want to hold onto something.” Korsan warned Rarity.
“Why?” Rarity nervously asked, slowly reaching her hooves around the deck’s railing in front of the wheel.
“Things are about to get real fun… Right. Now.”
With one swift motion of his leg, he flicked the initial middle lever up. Suddenly, The Perfection dropped from the sky and plummeted towards the ocean several hundred metres below. Rarity screamed as the massive ship rapidly accelerated, tipping into the blue abyss below.
“Pull up! Pull up!” She cried.
“One second…” Korsan said, tightly grasping the controls before him.
After five endless seconds of free falling, and the entire behemoth now only a single hundred metres above the waves below, the pirate reached to his side and yanked a side lever down. The long flagship suddenly jerked upwards and straightened out. The Perfection was now blazing across the open sea at blinding speeds, tearing the sky in two.
Only the keel pierces into the rolling water as the pirate ship charged forward at its ridiculous speeds. Korsan’s and Rarity’s manes could barely keep up with their bodies, rapidly fluttering against the passing wind. Korsan’s cape turned into a parachute of sorts, almost tearing him from the wheel. Ahead of them, the two saw a long range of rocky cliffs at the horizon. With no sign of the ship stopping, the cliffside quickly grew larger in their sights, covering their entire peripheral vision in only a few seconds.
At this rate, Korsan’s going to crash! Rarity mentally exclaimed, her mouth unable to move by the sheer velocity of the ship. He has to have a trick up his sleeve.
Sure enough, Korsan yanked another lever. The Perfection immediately pulled up, turning vertical on the dot. It traveled along with the tall vertical cliffs, quickly reaching the top. He then pulled down followed along the tops of a forest at the cliffs. Shifting between two levers, Korsan bobbed and woven the speeding airship between the more gigantic trees. A few accidental clippings with the trees scraped into the sides of the boat, sending massive chunks of wood chips out over the environment.
“Who taught you how to drive?!” Rarity asked.
“Me.”
Korsan then pulled the ship directly upwards, letting it rise into the sky for a quick while. He and Rarity grabbed onto the wheel and railing with all of their might as the speeding airship tore into the clouds.
Rarity looked behind her and saw a large ravine right below them, only barely larger than the airship.
She immediately knew what he was planning.
“You’re not doing that are you?” She nervously asked.
“The ravine?” Korsan asked.
The airship then begun to stall. It slowly turned back around, plunging back towards the world below. As it tore through the clouds again, it was obvious that he was aiming for the ravine. With a wide grin on his face, the pirate pegasus prepared for his ultimate stunt.
“It’s going to fit.” He declared.
“No it won’t!”
“I know this ship like my front hoof! …Although, I haven’t really seen my hoof for a few years-”
“Watch out!”
Korsan focused back on what was in front of the ship and saw the bow sprint charging directly towards the outer edge of the chasm. He frantically yanked several levers and whipped the wheel to the left. The massive ship slipped into the hole and down into its caverns below, just barely clipping the land. The sounds of wood scraping against stone echoed into the darkness as Korsan piloted the lightning-fast airship. The only light giving him any direction was the faint green glow of his ship’s hull and sparks generated by the grinding of wood against the stone walls.
Corkscrews, loops, hairpin turns, wide bends, and gravity twisting maneuvers were executed one right after another in the dark and tight cave. Rarity could barely hold onto the railing or her stomach for much longer. It was like The Perfection would never stop.
Eventually though, the massive behemoth stopped its frantic whips and slowed downs upon reaching a long, wide stretch of the cave. It was filled with glittery gemstones, generating a shining light that illuminated the underground area in an aria of colour. Rarity and Korsan were in awe of their surroundings as the gently cruising ship passed by massive crystals in the wall. Colours of the rainbow danced along the wooden deck and sails of the vessel. On the ceiling of the length of cavern, enormous golden crystal stalagmites hung, skimming the tops of the masts and sails. And just below, the faint sounds of a quiet river could be heard lapping into the keel.
“Wow,” Rarity muttered.
“Indeed.” Korsan replied in wonder as well, almost at a loss for words.
“Look at those things above us.”
“Must be a solid vein of pure gold being mixed with quartz due to water erosion above that’s creating these,”
“Have you ever been here before?”
“No, I wish I did. This place is beautiful.”
“Incredible…”
“Miss Rarity, hold on tight.”
“Why?”
Rarity looked back forwards at the bow of the ship and saw that the incoming end of their cavern goes into sharp drop. The pirate airship started to tilt down into the abyss. The vessel roared back alive with speed.
“Here we go again!” Korsan whooped.
In a second, the ship snapped back to its neck breaking charge into the darkness below. Screams erupted from Rarity and cheerful howls roared from Korsan with the boat resuming its insane maneuvers. Rocks and wood debris smacked against the massive ship as it barreled through the caves, but the ship couldn’t care less.
The ponies onboard were flung left and right, never stopping for a second. The chaos ensued for several minutes before light could be seen around a corner. Hitting the turn, Korsan and Rarity saw the daylight at the other end of a final stretch of cave. The Perfection charged towards it, but as it reached the halfway point, a large section of the cave roof suddenly collapsed and covers the exit.
“We’re trapped!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Not if we drill our way out!”
“What?!”
Korsan flung another lever forward, causing the vessel to rapidly spiral whilst still speeding ahead.
“Hold on!” He commanded.
The ship then rammed into the rock pile, its full force and spiral motion colliding with the stone at disintegrating strength. The wall of stone burst into pebbles, and the huge airship blasted through the exit, escaping the cave. A gentle gust of ocean breeze washed over the boat as the white unicorn and brown pegasus breathed out a sigh of relief.
With the golden sky now back over their heads, the captain reset the levers surrounding him, returning the huge brig to its normal glide across the sky. After returning the farthest switch to its initial positon, the wheel area collapsed back to its normal, simple form.
“So,” Korsan panted. “What do you think of that?”
Rarity quietly muttered in her gasps for air, “…That. Was. Too scary,”
“…Oh…”
“But fun. I may not a big fan of you, but that doesn’t mean I can have a little fun.”
“So, want to go agai-”
“No!”
“Haha,” Korsan chuckled to himself for a moment upon being immediately denied.
“Cousin Korsan,” A stallion’s voice cut in on Korsan’s laughter.
Rarity and Korsan looked down to the entrance of the galley. Isyan was looking back up at him.
“Oh, hi Isyan,” Korsan cheerfully said.
Isyan’s returned with a brutal rant, “Do you realize what damage you just caused by this joyride of yours?! One of the lavatories has a giant hole in it with its toilet gone, the bowsprit’s bent, the paint’s chipped, one of the kitchen windows are scraped,”
As the beige boatswain angrily barked at his leader, Rarity felt as if she’s heard Isyan’s voice from somewhere. However, as hard as she tried, the events of just a minute ago had scrambled her brain for the moment.
“Yin and Yu have caused a riot over bets on your joyride. Fawnswa revisited lunch again, Pip’s stuck in a cannon, and your treasure room is spilling out all over the deck!” Isyan roared.
Korsan looked down towards the entrance of his vault of treasures, seeing the Diamond Eye halves lying out in the open.
“Oh, forgot to close the door… Well, it’s just those two pieces, and they didn’t get too far-” Korsan talked complacently.
“Korsan! How are you going to atone for the damage of The Perfection?”
“Don’t worry Isyan, that’s your department. You got this under your control, no need to worry about me.”
The formally dressed unicorn growled in fury of his kin’s immature attitude towards the matter. He stormed onto the lower quarter deck to clean up the loose gemstones.
“Oh, dear cousin, you’re never without a laugh.” Korsan dryly taunted Isyan.
Isyan’s only response was a grumble as he picks up the Diamond Eye halves and placed them together. Upon locking them in place, Korsan’s eyes sharpened at the rainbow light refracted onto the deck under the crystal.
“Wait!” Korsan screamed.
“What now?”
“Don’t, move.”
The caped pirate leapt over the top deck’s rail and next to his cousin and the floating Diamond Eye. He crouched down to the rainbow glow on the wood and examined the tiny symbols created in the blurry shine of the diamond.
“Lift the Diamond Eye up, slowly.” Korsan told him.
Curious of what he was now on about, Isyan followed along and gently lifted the crystal. The symbols slowly sharpened to firm shapes.
“Stop!” Korsan then demanded.
“Korsan, what’s going on? It’s just some sunlight going through a prism and making some weird rainbow reflection.”
Rarity walked up to Korsan and Isyan and upon seeing the glowing symbols, she was immediately reminded of Twilights interest in them back at Thieves’ Hold.
“Don’t you remember from ‘Daring Do and the Lost Kingdoms of Trihearth’?” Korsan asked his partner. “Why didn’t I see this before?! It was so obvious from the fact that Daring Do’s mother is-”
“The point?” Isyan rudely asked.
“These light symbols are the map! It’s our ticket to Alicorn Island! Ha, ha! Just a bit of time for translating and travel, I will finally be able to use magic, and it’s all downhill from there!”
Korsan rose from his squat and gave manically laugh in joy. A slight feeling of joy overcame Rarity as she saw the fun stallion so happy, but also a feeling of dread of what this meant for her friends and everypony else.
“Korsan, must you be so open in front of Rarity over here?” Isyan asked.
“Bah, you worry too much, cousin. To the books!” Korsan declared.
With the Eyes in tow, Korsan mad a mad dash to the library, with Rarity slowly trailing behind, still nauseous from the joyride.