//------------------------------// // Chapter 032: The Race is On // Story: Ultimate Equestria // by Leo Pachino //------------------------------// As Lightning Rod was lowered into the black clear waters by a small team of pirates, Korsan was pacing around the main deck of his ship, examining his surroundings. Whatever this place was, it was nothing like the known world. The night sky above had very little light to shine onto this unknown sea, requiring the glow from The Perfection to illuminate the shadowy world. The faint sounds of the rippling water and creaking of the wooden ships echoed across the otherwise perfect silence. Even the smell of saltwater was completely vacant. At the wandering captain’s side, Chopin was holding a scroll, an inked quill, and a lit candle in his magic. As Korsan spoke, the mine wrote. “The Second Pulse: A mysterious body of water locked inside the bellows of the Breach. An unusual place this is, with barely any sign of natural nocturnal and oceanic activities. No stars to provide light, no motion of the moon that is seen here, no waves or disruptions in the vast water, no clouds in the sky, no smell of saltwater, and no sound whatsoever to be heard. The whereabouts of this location are, as of this moment, currently unknown in terms of geographic or scientific understandings. If my navigation skills are to be believed, the Second Pulse is in fact located either at the bottom or even below the vast oceans of the Old World. Now, how this is possible is still under questioning. However, the main focus of this location, and the only piece of above water land to be see is-” Amidst his monologue, a sharp pain suddenly struck through Korsan’s body. “-my back!” He yelped, kneeling to the floor. He glanced over to Chopin, who was including the exclaimation in his writing. “Scratch that last bit.” He panted. “Captain,” one of the stallions at the edge of the deck called out. “Are you okay?” “I-I’m fine. I just need to recalibrate, that’s all.” “Need some assistance?” “No, I’ll be fine.” Slowly, the captain picked himself up onto his hind hooves, groaning in the process. “I can make it to the study from here. Just get The Perfection airborne. Go straight for Alicorn Island.” Korsan said. “What about Twilight?” The pirate asked. “We’ve given her and her crew fair warning. Follow to what we’ve agreed to.” “Yes, sir.” “Chopin, keep that paper secure until I come back. Got it?” Chopin simply nodded. “Yeah,” Korsan whimpered. As Korsan slowly hobbled across the deck, he saw Rarity alongside the unicorns lowering Twilight’s ship. She was staring out towards the thin vessel. “Miss Rarity,” Korsan called out. The mare quickly turned her attention to him, replying, “Yes?” “Meet me up in the study. I could use your help in recalibrating my mechanics.” Korsan said. “What happened?” She asked, having just now discovered that Korsan’s suit can break. “Oh yeah, I forgot that this is your first time to see this. Well, basically, my body and my mechanical suit occasionally become out of sync and I have to adjust the gears back. I overclocked my suit a little too far with that last Overdrive. It’s out now.” “I see. I’ll be right with you in a minute.” “Take your time.” Korsan limped onwards to his chambers. Rarity looked back out over to Twilight and the others, now a fair hundred metres away from The Perfection, peacefully sitting in the sea. From the control deck of her ship, Twilight stared back towards her friend. Each mare had one million thoughts of each other dashing through their heads as their eyes focused on each other. “Twilight…” Rarity uttered under her voice. As Rarity continued to stare out to sea, her ears picked up on a conversation between a pair of stallions at her right. They had just finished lowering Lightning Rod. “You know, I think the captain’s off of his rocker.” The younger pirate proclaimed. “Who wouldn’t?” The older one replied. “He punched a giant monster and club hauled this boat twice in a row, on sand.” “Wasn’t there a third one?” The younger one asked. “That was a flip, another item for his crazy list.” “Well from the look of things, he looks like he’ll be feelin’ it in the morning.” “Yeah, pity.” “’Which you pitying? His back or his sanity?” “Both as far as I’m concerned,” “Hey, speaking of his back. You know what I’ve heard from Butch?” “The veteran? What?” “I heard that when Captain first started this pirate campaign, he stood on all fours.” “Shut up. We all know he was born like that or something.” The old pirate rolled his eyes. “There’s no way he would have-” “I’m being legit about this.” The younger pirate interrupted. “And why he’s like that is because of those ‘recalibrations’. Despite what Captain’s been telling us, Butch says that it’s not the metal parts that the captain’s changing, it’s his own structure of his body. Pretty soon, I’m betting that Korsan’s going to be bendin’ backwards.” “Like he doesn’t already? Look, we can put this all aside. If what Captain rambles about this here island is true, we could become the most powerful ponies in existence. You could also stop worrying your little skull about the captain’s back.” “True, true, hey, ever hear about Faction?” The younger pirate asked. “Those bunch of bums? They were just some fake gossip that died off two weeks ago.” “Whoa, whoa, whoa, listen to me, aight?” “Whatever.” “From what I heard from Clara, Frankie told Maria told Phlox told Lazarus told Ivan told Lilis told Lotus told Yin told Yu told her, that Faction’s going to strike soon.” “Oh for-” “Hey, hey, hey, you following me right?” “Barely,” “So yeah, from what I hear, Faction is meeting up once again at any time soon and they are going to-” “Rarity,” Sweetie Belle cried beside Rarity’s side, causing her to jump in surprise. Rarity jumped and her head snapped to her little sister who had a look of concern on her face. “Oh, it’s you.” Rarity answered in a gasp. As The Perfection rose from the black ocean and entered flight once more, the two mares walked away from the railing and headed towards the quarterdeck. They talked to each other along the way. “What is it?” Rarity asked. “Why aren’t we with Twilight and the others?” Sweetie asked in response. “Well… It’s complicated.” “Are we now enemies with Twilight?” “No, no, no, we’re still their friends.” “Are we still going to fight Korsan and the others? I don’t want to.” “Not that either,” “Is it because you and Captain Korsan are together?” “Wai-what-I-I-mea-no-yes… Ahh, no, not that,” “Aww, that’s too bad. You two seemed really nice together, you were even making the captain a lot nicer than before.” “…” “So why are we here?” “It’s far too complicated for you to understand, just hurry along to your cabin. We had enough adventuring for a day.” “Can’t you just tell me a simple answer?” “…I don’t know.” “…I don’t get it.” “Please, just, go to bed, or play with somepony, like Yin and Yu.” “I thought you told me never to play with them.” “Oh, right, I mean, play with somepony other than Yin and Yu.” “Okay.” “Darn loose nut!” Korsan loudly groaned, yanking his large monkey wrench into his back piece. Sprawled out across the main table of his library, his thin body twisted and turned, trying all it can to make this less troublesome. The Diamond Eyes and books that were on the table were now strewn across the floor. Pain circulated through his body as he attempted to work his black tool. “Need some help?” Rarity asked from the open door. “Sorry I was late.” “No problem, just slide the jaws around the top nut of the thirty-second gear.” Korsan said. “Uh, okay.” Calmly, Rarity approached her captain and grabbed a hold of the wrench with her magic. Looking down into the mess of gears, pistons, nuts, bolts, and cables, she lowered the implement around a loose-looking nut on a gear. She then forcefully turned it inwards. Korsan immediately hollered in agony. “Thirty-second, not thirty-third! The one above!” Korsan exclaimed in horror. “Sorry!” Rarity quickly reset the nut to its loose position. She moved the wrench and tightened a different bolt on the above copper gear as said. A series of loud cracks and clinks erupted from the mechanical suit as well as a hard groan from its user as the lock tightened. “Gah,” Korsan sighed in relief. “Thank you. It’s always that one nut that gives me trouble during Overdrive.” Korsan jumped off the table and landed on the floor with grace. His suit had returned to full function. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Rarity asked as she returns the tool onto the empty tabletop. “It didn’t sound good.” “No, no, I’m fine. Just a simple returning recalibration to the mechanical presets, that is all.” “You look a bit taller than before, more upright.” “It’s nothing, it probably fixes itself in time.” “Are you sure?” “Yeah.” “…Okay, don’t want you to hurt yourself. Hey, mind if I ask you something?” “What?” “I don’t to get to personal, but, what’s with you and your cousin, Isyan?” “The boatswain?” Korsan raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised to be asked that. “It’s only a clash in intellectual statuses that’s all. Daft moron can barely keep track of the crew he so ‘desperately’ strives to protect. Speaking of which, I haven’t seen Ms. Gutzoult for the longest time…” “Slasher? I haven’t seen her in a while either.” “Probably been busy with her cats, that mare,” “Actually, her cats have been roaming around the ship a lot more recently.” “…Odd, they usually stick around in her room. Remind me to do a headcount as soon as we reach Alicorn Island. For now, let’s see, what would interest you the most in here…” Korsan turned around and examined his book collection. He figured he and Rarity could do with a reading session before reaching the island. He recited the book titles that appeared on a shelf, “‘The Complete Guide to Walking the Plank’, no, ‘A Super Generic Romance on the Sea’, no, ‘My Little Kitten, The Pirate Doggy’, no idea how I got that, ‘The True Concessions of Charlie David’, ehhh, overrated, ‘Treasure Kingdom’, per-” The entire room out of nowhere jerked to a side and back. Hundreds of books suddenly fell from their shelves and buried the now fallen ponies. “What was that?!” Rarity asked. “Looks like somepony took the latter option.” Korsan muttered. “Please tell me it isn’t,” “It is. I can still smell that Northwestern Equestrian Oak, or maybe it’s just a stain on my cape...” “Should go out there and help the crew?” “Nah, they have this all under control.” “We don’t have this under control!” Yu screamed out from the gun deck, frantically aiming his cannon towards its speeding target. “It just keeps moving everywhere,” Hans angrily replied. Hans then blindly fired his cannon at from other side of the boat. “Pip, Yin, I need more powder!” A pirate yelled. A small pink mare promptly hurries to the open end of the recoiled cannon with a full charge of gunpowder in her grasp. “Thank you, Pip!” “How hard can it be to hit them?” Yin casually remarked from beside the gunner pirate. “How about you try?” Yu furiously asked before backing away from the large weapon. “Fine, watch and learn, you colourblind jockey, it’ll be as easy as-holy cow, they’re moving fast.” Yin remarked. Alongside The Perfection, zipping across the black waters of the sea, Lightning Rod raced across the ocean at double the speed of the airship. With Twilight at the controls and Alicorn Island in her sights, she piloted the speeder with all of her focus. Korsan’s ship mercilessly fired at her and her crew, but her ship was too fast. Below deck, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, and Scootaloo were firing their small cannons back at the pursuing pirate ship, merely to deter them. “Oh yeah!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed. “This is what I’ve wanted to do ever since we left!” “Just don’t hit any of the ponies on board.” Fluttershy replied. “What about Korsan?” Spike asked. “…Except him.” Lightning Rod swerved around the massive cannon shots while continuing to gain speed. Eventually, it escaped the range of Korsan’s crew and speeded far ahead. “Ha!” Dash boasted. “That slow-mobile’s got nothing on us.” Optimistically, Pinkie replied, “True, unless there was some special mode The Perfection can go into that dramatically increases its speed and catches up to us.” “Oh please, that sounds…” Spike retorted, before actually starting to think about it. “…Somewhat plausible.” Soon, from being a fading dot behind them, the massive boat returned to its sheer up-close scale as it rapidly sped up to Twilight and the others. “Called it!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Oh my skills at gambling!” Yu screamed, tightly clenching the wheel of his ship. He had activated the alternate levers and was now controlling the racing behemoth. With Korsan readjusting his suit, he saw it as his responsibility to fulfill Korsan’s wishes, regard of how stupid of an idea it is to basically hijack a ship. “Now I know why this is so awesome for Captain!” He cheered. “Keep it steady!” Yin’s voice squawked from his brother’s side. Twilight watched in terror as the rival ship passed over hers and begun to lower onto hers. She quickly veered the vessel right just in time. The Perfection slammed into the cold water below, creating a large wave in its wake. Lightning Rod, picked up by the wave, skimmed into the edge of the port deck of Korsan’s ship. The Perfection quickly rose back up and attempted to land on the speeder again. Twilight quickly dodged. With Alicorn Island coming closer and closer in view, the two ships’ pilots grew desperate to stop their rivals. “That’s it, going aquatic!” Yu demanded. “Prepare to fire grappling shots at enemy vessel.” “Yu Morgan Shou!” Yin exclaimed. “The captain will have our necks if you screw this up!” With a flick of a lever, Korsan’s ship dropped back down into the ocean water. It chased after Twilight’s on the water surface. The front cannons were quickly loaded and aimed at Lightning Rod. Without a way to sneak under, the heroes found themselves trapped. The cannon fired and the large metal hook pierces the bow of Lightning Rod. “Bring ‘er in! Hahahahaha!” Yin cheered, jumping up and down and clapping his hooves. “We’ve been grappled!” Twilight exclaimed to her crew below. Slowly, her boat was pulled towards the battleship. If she didn’t do something in time, Lightning Rod would be crushed by the massive hull. She attempted to pull her boat away, speed faster than the opposing vessel, and dislodge the grapple by some means from the wheel, all to no avail. The mares and Spike below fired at the thick wall of wood with all of their cannons’ might. “The hull’s really thick!” Dash exclaimed. “We’re going to sink!” Fluttershy squealed. “Not on my watch!” Dash declared before charging out from the gun deck. She flew upwards from Lightning Rod and went towards The Perfection. The cyan pegasus soared up to the quickly passing main deck of Korsan’s ship and darted her way to the wheel. She slalomed around the masts and maneuvers through the rigging. She avoided the bolts of magic fired at her from the screaming lookouts above, eventually reaching the quarterdeck and wheel. However, she was immediately enveloped in a brown magic aura and brought to a halt. “Oh come on!” She groaned. “Ha, ha-” Yu cheered as he revealed himself from behind the wheel, only to stop short upon seeing who he actually caught. “Wait, you’re not Twilight.” “You’re not Korsan.” Dash retorted. “Huh, touché. Regardless, I gotcha now!” Rainbow Dash suddenly gasped in fear and screamed, “Look out! Behind you!” “You think I’m going to fall for that?” Yu said, cocky as ever. “No, seriously!” Dash pleaded. “Well, I’m not.” “Look out, look out!” “I know you’re faking.” “I’m not! Look out!” “You are-” “No!” “Yes.” “No!” “Yes.” “No!” “Yes.” “No!” “Yes.” “No!” “Yes.” “No, no, no, no! I don’t want to die!” Dash cried. “I-I know you’re faking it…” Yu said, inadvertently less certain. “Look out! Please! I’m begging you!” Overcome with paranoia, the yellow stallion quickly glanced behind him. “What is it?!” He gasped. Falling for her trick, Yu released his magic grip of Dash. Dash quickly broke herself free from the immediately weakened focus of the telepath. She delivered a powerful kick into the back of the unicorn’s skull as he started to turn back, flinging him across the deck and knocking him out on the rail. Falling into unconsciousness, the pirate dizzily spoke, “Dem hills are alive, with the sound of gold…” “Alright, now to find the ‘Remove-the-Grapple thing...” Rainbow Dash confidently said to herself.