Rarity felt her blood turn to ice. As she watched Rainbow struggle under Squall’s hoof, she remembered what Pearl had said at dinner the night before. What she’d dismissed as the worryings of a middle-aged mare didn’t seem so amusing now.
Squall chuckled as her crew forced the Concordia’s officers to their knees in front of her. “They said that you couldn’t prey the skies in an unarmed barge. ‘Twodeckers and harpoon launchers are where it’s at,’ they said. Half of those idiots were blown out of the skies by navy vessels or merchant ships they thought were easy pickings. But who’s going to think twice about a barge with a deck fire in the middle of the sky?”
Rainbow Dash grunted beneath her hoof, and Squall regarded her for a moment before a spark of recognition flashed in her eyes. “You’re Rainbow Dash, aren’t you?” she asked, leaning down to get a better look at the pegasus. “How lucky am I to have the former Element of Loyalty as a distinguished guest aboard my new ship?”
“Grr… more like unlucky!” She tried to stand up and lash out at Squall, but the pirate captain rolled her eyes and simply pressed harder with her steel-shod hoof. “Okay ow ow ow ow okay…”
Squall snorted. “Bind her wings and take her to the bridge. We can keep a closer eye on her up there. Get the rest of the crew below decks, lock the passengers in their rooms. We’ll have a princess’ ransom for the ship and an Element Bearer!”
Rainbow Dash bit down on Squall’s foreleg, catching the captain by surprise, and bought enough purchase to free her wing. She stood up in a flash and drove a hoof into the pirate’s muzzle, but another tackled her from behind. Squall stepped back and rubbed her bleeding nose, and pure fury clouded her eyes. Once more her magic wrapped around Rainbow’s figure, and once more she slammed the pegasus into the deck. “I am no longer amused,” she growled, and when Rainbow struggled, Squall introduced her to the deck again.
The sight horrified Rarity, and she couldn’t bear to see her friend abused anymore. Despite the pirates with swords around her, she stood up and harmlessly shoved Squall’s shoulder with her own magic; she couldn’t manage much more anyway with the spell on her horn. “Unhand her, ruffian!” she exclaimed, galloping forward before one of the pirates managed to restrain her. “Unhand her at once!”
Squall did a double-take. “Two bearers on one ship? Forget a princess’ ransom, I’ll live like a queen!” She dropped Rainbow, who simply collapsed in a groaning heap on the ground. “Get them to the bridge and secure the ship for transport. We need to get out of the travel lanes before another ship comes through here.”
The stallion from before, the one who drove a screwdriver into High Winds’ neck, saluted his captain. “Aye aye, ma’am.” With a whistle, he set his subordinates in motion, and a minute later, Rarity found Rainbow and herself being roughly shoved up the stairs to the bridge.
“Are you okay, darling?” Rarity asked in a timid whisper. The pirates escorting her glared, but her concern for her friend outweighed facing their ire.
Rainbow winced and spat a red glob onto the stairs. “I’ve been in worse.”
Rarity wasn’t sure about that, but the simple fact that Rainbow could walk without any obvious pain or discomfort had to satisfy her for the time being.
As soon as they entered the bridge, the pirates forced Rarity and Rainbow to sit in the back. All of the Concordia’s officers had already been removed, and only a few raiders milled about the bridge as they awaited orders. Squall herself showed up after a while, dried blood caking her nose, and she looked everything over before giving it all a favorable hum.
“Beautiful ship,” she said, inspecting the helm. “I’m tempted to fly her myself.” Then, turning to Rainbow and Rarity, she frowned. “Tie them to that pipe there. I don’t want to risk them getting free. Equestria will pay a lot for the ship and its passengers, but they’ll pay double, triple even, to get these two back safe.”
Somepony produced a loop of rope, and Rarity bristled with anger as they tied her and Rainbow back to back around the thick pipe. “You won’t get away with this!”
Squall rolled her eyes. “‘Oh, I already have,’ bluh bluh bluh, all that crap. Did you really have to start with the most stereotypical captive trope you could have possibly thought of?”
Rarity blinked. “Erm…”
The pirate captain just sighed and covered her face with a hoof. “All I ask for is a little creativity. Is that too much to ask for?”
Both bearers just glared at her, though the shiner developing on Rainbow’s face limited her somewhat.
Squall waved her hoof. “Whatever. So long as you two just sit tight, I don’t care if you talk or not.” Then she turned around and addressed her first mate, who was busy cleaning the end of the screwdriver with a rag. “Keel, you have command of the ship. Put together a prize crew and get ready to sail. We fly south as soon as you’re ready.”
Keel cocked his head. “There’s a storm brewing to the south, ma’am. The ship’ll be difficult to handle if we sail right into it. We should go east first.”
Squall glowered at him. “We go south. We need to make for base as soon as possible. As soon as they realize this ship never made it to port, and that two bearers were on it, the navy is going to be out in force. We don’t want to be caught in that.”
Keel saluted. “Aye aye, ma’am.”
With that, Squall turned around and made for the door. But she couldn’t help but add one last parting word to her two captives. “Please don’t try to run. You’re worth more in one piece, but you’re not worth anything to me if you flee. All things considered, I’ll take the hit on my return to make sure I have a return at all.” She grinned. “Don’t make me have to do that.”
And then she was gone.