They are called trireme and this is what they look like in the old days of Greek.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Twilight asked uneasily.
"Oh sure!" Pinkie replied confidently. "Trust me! It's fool proof!"
"Well, for our sake, if not Medusa's, this had better work," Sunset grumbled.
It was late at night, and all of the archeologist team had turned in for the night. The Rainbooms had formulated a plan, together with Spike, on getting their newly acquainted cursed friend, Medusa, off the island.
Simply put, the plan was to sneak Medusa off the island while everyone is asleep. Well, everyone except one.
"Pinkie Pie?" A voice spoke up, startling the gang, turning their heads to see it was Maud Pie.
"Oh, hi Maud!" Pinkie chirped, nervously. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Patrolling," Maud answered nonchalantly. "I'm on night guard duty. I'm just patrolling the site. You know, making sure nothing suspicious is happening around the place."
"If only she knew how dead on the money she is," Rainbow whispered.
"What about you?" Maud asked. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you all be asleep?"
"Oh uh, yeah! We are," Pinkie lied nervously. "I mean, we were. But it's just, well....we were....um..."
"Leaving," Sunset quickly answered, with the rest of the Rainbooms all joining in, exchanging random agreements.
"Really? So soon?" Maud asked.
"It's only been a few days," Twilight spoke up, while secretly giving a signal to a couple of their friends in the woods to get moving. "Besides, we're not really doing anything....beneficial for the archeologists here. So I believe it will be more..."
"Productive," Sunset coined.
"Yeah. Productive if we just take the next ship off the island," Twilight continued. "I mean, with all due respect, as much as I'd love to stick around and help you and the team unearth some interesting stuffs from the past, I'm afraid we–"
"We're just not cut out for the whole archeologist careful methods of preserving and digging and all that," Applejack finished. "Hope ya understand and don't take it the wrong way Maud."
Maud Pie blinked for a moment. The girls couldn't tell if the nonchalant girl was either disappointed, or understanding.
Finally, Maud Pie spoke, "Alright, if you want, you can go."
"Thanks Maud!" Pinkie chirped happily, before she wrapped her arms around her sister's neck. "I knew you would understand! And sorry if we can't spend some more times with you," Pinkie frowned. "I hope you're not too upset about it."
"I always understand, Pinkie," Maud replied, as Pinkie and the Rainbooms were on their way. "Though, I'll admit, you girls looked as if you've seen a gorgon-"
"A gorgon?!" The Rainbooms exclaimed, turning to face Maud frantically.
"Uh-uh-I mean-" Sunset Shimmer stammered, along with the girls. "What gorgon?! I never saw a gorgon! Did you?"
"No! Of course not!" Twilight waved her head, sheepishly. "I mean, if I did, then wouldn't I be a statue right about now?"
"Yup! You'd certainly be taken for granite," Pinkie Pie joked.
"Besides, gorgons are just legends!" Rainbow tried to brush it off. "What do you know?"
The Rainbooms all looked at Maud Pie, staring at them, with her usual expressionless face, unfazed, "Uh, what makes you say that?" Sunset asked nervously.
Meanwhile
Watching from the bushes of the forest, Spike and Medusa saw the Rainbooms talking to Maud Pie, who was on guard duty. With the lanterns that were hung up around the site, Spike watched as Twilight flicks her hair with her hand, secretly sending both him and Medusa the signal.
"Okay, let's go!" Spike whispered, as he tugs on the leash, with Medusa holding onto the other end, guided by the little dog.
Emerging from the covers of the wood is Medusa, wearing a dark grey fedora to hide her snakes, a large scarf wrapped around her face with a large black trench coat to cover her scaly appearances, and a very long skirt to hide her long serpentine tail.
"I ssssstill don't underssssstand the meaning of thessssse ridiculousssss clothingsssss," Medusa hissed, muffled by the scarf she was wearing, as she struggles to follow Spike. Sneaking her way to the docks is one thing Medusa could agree on. But having to wear this many layers of clothings for disguise is another she doesn't get. Who would be awake at this hour, let alone even see her appearance with no lighting other than the moon?
"When it comes to clothings, Rarity always outdone herself," Spike replied. "Besides, it'll keep your uh.....unique appearance hidden, once we get off this island."
"Do you even know where we're going?"
"Sure I do," Unfortunately, Spike spoke too soon when he crashed into a tree, "Ow, my nose," He groaned.
"Perhapssss I ssssshould lead?" Medusa suggested, taking off her hat to reveal her snakes, who all hissed aggressively. Clearly, they did not approve of being hidden in a tight and small hat that restricted them of all movements, and air.
"Uh, Medusa?" Spike whimpered, frightened by the aggressive hissing of the snakes. "What are you doing?"
Medusa stood still, as she lets her snakes work their magic, sniffing the air with their forked tongues, while observing their surroundings, in the dark of the night, with their heat seeking visions. The snakes all wriggled in various directions, before they all hissed, settling on one.
Feeling their pull, Medusa hissed, "Thisssss way, I believe."
"Whoa, you can see in the dark?" Spike asked.
In the dark, Medusa shook her head, "No," She replied to the dog. "I can't. My sssssnakessss do. They sssssee in dark placcccesss, they can ssssmell the air, and I follow."
With that, Medusa slithered first, pulling Spike along on his leash. The dog stumbled over some loggs and rocks along the way, until at last, Medusa and Spike arrived at the shore, where the archeologists' ships are docked.
"Okay, Medusa. There's your ticket to freedom and off this island," Spike whispered to the gorgon.
"Thossssse are ssssshipsss?" Medusa asked, further bewildered. The ships she had in mind were the olden wooden vessels, built with large sails to catch the wind, and rows of oars, built on the sides to steer the ships with astounding speeds.
They are called trireme and this is what they look like in the old days of Greek.
In appearance, the modern ships she is looking at are large, metallic, and sleek. Furthermore, they don't have any sails on them. What could possible move these ships?
"Yeah, better believe it, these are ships," Spike barked, before he pointed. "And there's the one we came on, with Maud. C'mon, let's go and wait over there."
Meanwhile
For the moment, Maud Pie was entertaining the Rainbooms with her latest finding.
"Behold, the fossil of a gorgonopsid," Maud Pie presented the said fossil she found, in the digging area.
"Omigosh! Omigosh! Omigosh!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly. "THIS IS DEFINITELY–"
"SHHHHH!!!" The rest of the Rainbooms shushed the girl.
"Wow! We actually struck dinosaur!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Actually, it's not a dinosaur," Twilight corrected. "It's one of those mammal-like reptiles."
"Eh, it looks like a dinosaur, it's dead, it came from prehistory, I say it's a dinosaur in my book," the athlete shrugged.
"Actually, what Twilight said is correct," Maud bluntly stated. "The gorgonopsid is not a dinosaur. At one point in history it was classified as a 'mammal-like reptile.' Interesting fact about the gorgonopsid is that it was named after the legendary gorgons of Greek Mythology, hence the 'gorgon' in the name."
"Yeah, yeah, fascinating topic for another time." Rainbow Dash interrupted. "But if you don't mind, we kinda want to take our leaves now."
Maud looked up at the Rainbooms, blinking her eyes blankly, which is anyone's guess it's either annoyance or irritation.
"Of course," She finally spoke. "But you can't go anywhere on my boat, without my keys, can you?" The girls all blushed and exchanged sheepish giggles, "You really didn't think it through, did you?"
"Nope. Probably not," Pinkie Pie giggled on her friends' behalves.
Reaching into her pocket, Maud brought out the said keys and gave it to Pinkie, "You could've just asked," Maud said bluntly. "Also Pinkie, you know I can help you and your friends if it's another Equestrian magic trouble you're all having."
"What?!" Pinkie scoffed. "What makes you say that?"
"Pinkie."
The pink girl sighed in defeat, "Nothing gets pass you, does it?"
Later
Medusa looked in awe at the various boats that docked on the shores of her island. Seeing people with clothings and styles of this modern time period is one thing, but modernized transportations that far surpasses the technologies and designs of her distant past was a lot for her to take in.
"Hey, you alright there?" Spike barked, snapping Medusa out of her thoughts.
"I believe sssso," She hissed uneasily, resuming her observation. "Are we really boarding onto thesssse thingsss you call sssshipsss?"
"Yep, that's how we're going to get off this island," the little dog barked. "But what's taking those girls so long? They should be here right now."
Slithering towards one of the ships, Medusa placed her claws on the railings and pulled herself into the hull. The ship was big enough for about 6-8 passengers, but for the gorgon, given to her long lower-half, she took up the whole space. Looking at the seatings in the boat, she touched the soft paddings, marveling at the textures and the materials used for comforts, then she turned her attention to the controls used to steer the ship. She was perplexed to find a small steering wheel, along with a number of bulbs (buttons) and sticks (levers).
Looking at the gorgon, seeing how disoriented she appeared, Spike decided to strike up conversation, "First time you've ever been on a ship?" He asked.
The gorgon looked down at the dog, who was still on shores. She was still having a hard time believing she was talking to a dog. A talking dog, to be precise. Then again, she has been cursed to be a gorgon against her own free will, so she shouldn't be too surprised.
After an awkward silence to compose herself, Medusa replied, "I have, onccce, when wassss...." She stopped as bad memories began to resurface.
Realizing her discomfort, Spike barked, "Okay, okay, I get the picture," Trying to steer the topic away, he began, "Anyway, what I meant was, I'm sure you've never been on a ship like this before, have you?"
"....Of coursssse not," She hissed. "But then, why would I ever want to board a ship? That and no shipsss have ever come to my island, until now that isss. Why did you come to my island?"
"Eh, it was Pinkie's idea," Spike shrugged. "Her sister just came here to do archeology research and stuff. Pinkie just talked her into letting us come. But archeology wasn't exactly their thing. Still, we all just do whatever we can to keep Pinkie amused."
"I ssssee," Medusa hissed, unsure and despondent. "SSSStill, you sssshouldn't have come."
"Well, how were we supposed to know we'd find you here?" The little dog asked. "For all we knew, you were just a story to scare everyone. We never thought we'd actually get to meet you. For real and everything."
Medusa let out a long hiss, which seems to be a sigh for her. Wanting to lighten up the mood, Spike began, "So Medusa. If I may ask, what were you like before you were....I mean, before you....changed?"
"Why do you wisssh to know?" She asked.
"Oh y'know, just wanting to get to know the real you. It's what the girls would do."
"But you've already ssseen the real me. A monssster."
"That's not how I look at you. It's not how the girls looked at you. And you know it. Sure we were scared of you at first, but hey, that's first impression, right? I mean, even Twilight freaked out when I started talking like her and the rest of the gang."
"Firsssst impression?"
"Yeah, y'know. How everybody reacted when they first met someone or something new. But you might want to ask Twilight, or Sunset, about that. Believe me, they're quite the expert on friendship and all that."
"Ssssso you ssssay," Deciding to ask some questions of her own, Medusa began, "SSSSpike wasss it?" Spike looked up to the gorgon, as she began. "How wassss it that you are a dog, yet you are able to sssspeak like any humansss? Were you human oncccce like I have?"
"Uh, funny story actually," Spike chuckled, scratching the back of his ear with his leg. "I started out as a puppy. But then there was this one time when Twilight and I had our first taste of Equestrian magic, back at Canterlot High, and I was chasing this weird rabbit creature, and before I knew, I'm talking."
"Fasssscinating," The gorgon replied. "And yet, you're sssstill accccepted by the girlssss, as if you're no different."
"Well, why not? Just because I'm a dog, and I can talk, doesn't mean I can't be friends with them. Can I?"
The gorgon frowned and looked away, "If only it wasss that eassssy for me back then," She looked down at her razor sharp claws and clenched them into fists. "Why musssst I be curssssed to be thisss way?"
"Hey, as Sunset would say, the past is the past. Try and look forward to the future. Think about it. After tonight, you're not going to be alone anymore, are you? Now you've got friends."
Medusa looked down at the puppy who was smiling at her, while staring at her with adoring eyes. Thankfully she had her third eyelids for cover, so she wouldn't freeze the adorable puppy in front of her.
"Friendssss?" She repeated.
"Friends," Spike barked, watching as the corners of her lips trembled, curling upward into a smile. "Wow! You're actually smiling! Pinkie would love to see that!"
Speaking of whom, "HI!" Pinkie chirped, startling both Medusa and Spike. "Whatcha ya doing?" She asked, just as the rest of the Rainbooms caught up.
"Sorry it took so long," Sunset apologized. "We ran into a bit of trouble with Maud Pie. But she won't be a problem," The fiery girl reassured, while holding up a set of keys for the boat.
"In fact, she's mighty helpful to cover for us," Applejack added.
"Well come on! Let's get this show on the road!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly. "Excelsior!"
Medusa looked at the athlete in confusion, "Exccccelssssior?" She repeated. "What issss 'excccelsssior?'"
"Oh it's just Dash's way of saying how excited she is," Spike answered, before he whispered, "She's been reading way too many comic books."
"What are comic bookssss?"
"We'll tell you later."
With that, the Rainbooms all cast off the lines for their boat, before they all got settled. Though, that may be difficult, given to their gorgon friend's.......position.
"Ow! You're ssstepping on my tail!" Medusa hissed in discomfort.
"Sorry Medusa," Rainbow Dash apologized. "Though, no offense, but you're lower body is all tails."
"Oof! Medusa! Get your snakes out of my face!" Rarity groaned in disgust. "And put your hat back on!"
"Uh, I don't think her snakes would like that," Fluttershy whimpered. "They said it's too stuffy, too tight, too small, and they can't breathe under it."
"Ow! Watch the claws!" Sunset grunted.
"Forgive me," Medusa apologized.
After awhile on getting settled fully, the friends all started up the boat, and were on their way to begin an exciting adventure.