//------------------------------// // Plotting, Praying // Story: Surviving Sand Island // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// The Concordia’s engines thrummed to life, and once more the luxury liner began to fly under its own power. But instead of continuing east, it sharply turned to starboard, and soon it set off to the south, chasing an old freighter. It didn’t take long before the first few gray clouds swallowed up the ship, hiding it from view. Rainbow Dash and Rarity witnessed all of this from the back of the bridge. Squall’s officer, Keel, had quickly asserted his command over the new prize ship, and after a minute to familiarize himself and his crew with the controls, took off after Squall’s freighter. If they craned their necks, the two friends could see the cargo ship humming along in front of them, its dirty engines spewing filthy black smoke into the sky, smoke that was quickly lost in the clouds. The longer and further the Concordia sailed, the less hope Rarity had that salvation would come and save them. The pirates seemed to settle down now that the adrenaline of capturing a ship had worn off. Keel left the bridge to the helmsmare and two other pirates, likely to inspect the rest of the ship. That left Rainbow and Rarity mostly alone in the back of the bridge, and if they whispered to each other, the noise of the ship’s engines masked their words. “Are you okay, darling?” Rarity whispered, keeping her eyes on the pirates’ ears. When none of them so much as twitched in her direction, she felt emboldened. “That dreadful pirate did quite a number on you!” She couldn’t see Rainbow’s face, tied back-to-back together as they were, but she felt her friend’s wingtips flick out. “I’m fine, Rares,” Rainbow hissed back. “Stupid friggin’ unicorns…” “I happen to be a unicorn, darling.” “Yeah, but you’re not a stupid friggin’ one.” Rarity rolled her eyes and let silence fall over them again. She stared, worried, into the dark clouds ahead, even flinching when a bout of turbulence shook the ship. But when she felt the rope tying her and Rainbow to the pole shift, she snapped her head around. “Rainbow, what are you—?” “Shh!” Rainbow hissed. “What does it look like I’m doing? I think I can slip out a bit if I just—!” “Don’t!” Rarity puffed out her chest, in turn tightening the rope around Rainbow’s chest. “You heard that mare! You’re just going to get yourself hurt!” Rainbow grunted and tried to tug back on the rope. “Rarity!” “Rainbow!” “Hey!” the helmsmare shouted, fixing piercing amber eyes on them. “Keep it quiet!” Rarity shrunk back and hunched her head between her shoulders. Rainbow likewise was still, at least for a minute. Soon enough, she started working on her restraints again, and Rarity inched her head around the pillar to whisper right in Rainbow’s ear. “Just what are you going to do if you do manage to slip out of those bonds?” Rarity hissed through a clenched jaw. “I’m gonna smash that helmsmare’s pretty face on the big wheel thingy, for starters,” Rainbow grumbled. “And after that?” “I dunno. I’ll improvise!” Rarity sighed. At least between the two of them, she had the gift of foresight. “You’ll ‘improvise?’ On a ship full of pirates with no way to escape, you’ll ‘improvise?’” “Uhhh…” “Listen, Rainbow, darling,” Rarity said. “Our best bet is to just stay calm and compliant. You heard that Squall mare yourself, she doesn’t want to hurt us, just ransom us back to Equestria! In a week, maybe two, we’ll be headed back home, and we won’t be worse for wear.” “Or we could totally go and steal the ship back!” Rarity could imagine Rainbow just brimming with confidence. “We break outta here, go knock out the bad guys in the bridge, then go rally the crew and steal the ship back! We’ll be heroes!” “I said quiet,” the helmsmare growled, scowling at Rainbow. Rainbow begrudgingly fell still again. After a moment, Rarity leaned over again. “These pirates killed the captain!” she hissed. “It happened right in front of us! And you want to butt heads with them? By yourself?” That, thankfully, managed to stop Rainbow’s struggles for the time being. Rarity grunted and tried to find a comfortable position for her back; she didn’t know how long she was going to be tied to this pillar, only that she hoped it wouldn’t be overnight. Her muscles were tightening up again, and she’d just gotten a massage yesterday! Turbulence rocked the airship, and it swung back and forth beneath its balloon, like the pendulum of a clock. When it finally leveled out, Rainbow piped up again. “I don’t know about you, Rares, but I don’t want to be tied down when we sail into that storm.” Rarity bit her lip. “Do you think it’s going to be bad?” “I can feel that it’s going to be bad,” Rainbow said. “The pressure’s dropping fast, and it has been for the past few minutes. That sharp of a pressure gradient can only mean that we’re sailing into a Cat Two, Cat Three storm.” “And… how bad is a ‘Cat Three?’” “Winds in excess of a hundred knots.” Rarity could almost sense Rainbow swallowing in dread. “Ocean liners like this are rated to survive Cat Ones. A big ship like this can probably risk a Cat Two. Cat Three… I wouldn’t even fly in a Cat Three, Rares. And that’s saying something.” “Oh…” Rainbow was right; that told Rarity all she needed to know. She swallowed hard and looked at the ropes around her waist. “But what would we even do? There’s nowhere to go!” “We’ll figure it out, Rares,” Rainbow said. “Even if I have to carry you back to Ponyville myself.” Rarity shuddered as another gust of turbulence rocked the Concordia. “Celestia, I hope it doesn’t come to that…”