Stranded
Chapter 11
Stranded
Many hours had passed since the custom-built submarine escaped from Cloudsdale. Inside, all eight members of Twilight’s team were sound asleep. Three sets of bunk beds had been built into one of the walls, where Twilight and most of her friends were currently sleeping. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash occupied the top bunks, while Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie had the respective bottom bunks. The remainder of the team — Spike and Sunset Shimmer — slept on Spike’s double-decker couch, with Spike on the top bunk and Sunset on the bottom one. Aside from everyone’s collective snoring, the only noise to be heard was the steady humming of the engine and the quiet rippling of the ocean around them.
Crash!
The entire submarine suddenly jerked forward, violently throwing everyone out of bed. At the same time, the entire vessel groaned with a horrible loud grinding noise and shook like it was in an earthquake. As everyone stumbled around on the floor and let out cries of panicked confusion, the modest light that was coming in through the windows gradually brightened. Eventually, after nearly a minute of terror, the grinding noise and shaking finally ceased. With that horrible sound gone, everyone could now hear a loud and rhythmic splashing coming from the rear of the submarine.
“What the heck just happened?!” exclaimed Applejack.
Rarity quickly stood up and looked out through the nearest window. “Oh dear,” she said sadly. “It seems that this submarine has just beached itself.”
Everyone else quickly scrambled over to the other windows. Sure enough, they all saw that the submarine was now resting on a beach with ocean waves lapping against the shore right beside the stranded vessel.
“How did that happen?” asked Pinkie, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
Rainbow Dash ran forward to the navigational controls. It didn’t take her long to spot a significant problem. “Whoops,” she said sheepishly. “I, uh, kinda left the engine running overnight.” She then flipped a few switches, shutting off the engine. As the humming of the engine died down, so did the splashing behind the submarine. Once everything was shut down, Rainbow let out a frustrated sigh, then repeatedly banged her head against the wall and shouted, “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
Twilight walked up to Rainbow and placed a hand on her shoulder as she assured, “Calm down, Rainbow Dash. Despite that little mistake, we’re all still unharmed.” She then turned to the rest of the team and suggested, “Let’s go outside and try to figure out what to do next.”
Everyone silently agreed as Twilight climbed up the ladder and opened the hatch atop the submarine’s tower. After pulling herself up, she then helped the rest of her friends out as they climbed through the hatch, one at a time.
Once everyone was outside and atop the beached submarine, they began to glance around at their surroundings. In addition to the beach and ocean, there was also a tropical jungle inland from the shore. It was a bright and sunny day with a cooling breeze coming from the ocean. The sun’s position in the cloudless sky indicated that it was currently sometime early in the morning, just after sunrise.
“Any idea where we are?” asked Applejack as she rubbed the back of her head.
Sunset rubbed her chin as she thought aloud, “If that engine was left running overnight, we could’ve easily traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles. And since our starting point at Cloudsdale is a secret location, there’s no way we can even get a rough estimate of where we went.”
“So you mean we’re completely lost?!” asked Spike with a hint of panic in his voice.
“We have absolutely no idea where we’ve ended up?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“How will we ever get home?!” asked Rarity, dramatically placing a hand over her forehead.
“Relax, everyone,” Twilight spoke up. “We can figure this out. We’ll just have to do a little searching around.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Fluttershy worriedly. “We don’t know how dangerous this place might be.”
“We’ll never know for sure if we just stay here,” replied Twilight. “I suggest we split up to cover as much ground as possible. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, you’ll go along the beach that way.” She pointed down the beach on the port side of the submarine. “Rainbow Dash and Applejack, you’ll go down the beach the other way and around that rocky outcrop over there.” She pointed down the beach on the starboard side of the submarine towards a tall cliff along the beach. “I’ll stay here with Sunset Shimmer and Spike, in case if any help comes to us. Is everyone okay with that?”
“Sounds fair to me,” replied Applejack with a shrug.
“Yes, I suppose that may be our best course of action, considering our circumstances,” agreed Rarity with a nod.
“And once we know where we are,” added Rainbow Dash, “we can then worry about how to find a way outta here. Then we can get back to focusing on how to stop the Dazzlings.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!” declared Pinkie Pie enthusiastically.
After making a few final preparations, the three groups parted ways. After suffering from the latest of a huge series of setbacks, the team was certainly looking forward to getting back on track.
Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie had been walking along the tropical beach for nearly an hour. Pinkie was leading the group, followed by Rarity, with Fluttershy quietly bringing up the rear. As they walked, Pinkie was humming a cheerful tune to herself as she carried a shovel over her shoulder.
“I’m curious, darling. Why did you decide to bring that shovel?” asked Rarity.
“You’ll never know when you might find something valuable in the ground,” replied Pinkie. “That’s what my sister Maud always tells me.”
“Oh! I didn’t know you had a sister,” said Fluttershy. “What’s she like?”
“She’s the bestest older sister I could ever ask for,” answered Pinkie contently. “She’s, like, one of the greatest rock experts in all of the Lego World. She was such a huge fan of the Rock Raiders when we were growing up, and would always take advantage of every opportunity to do some digging around. She always feels most comfortable whenever she’s somewhere underground, whether it’s in a cave, or a tunnel, or a mine, or even a sewer system.”
Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped in her tracks as her whole body began to shudder. Then, as her legs stood perfectly still, the rest of her body pivoted all the way forward, then all the way back, and then back upright.
“Another one of your ‘Pinkie Sense’ episodes?” asked Rarity with a raised eyebrow.
“Yup!” confirmed Pinkie cheerfully. “That one means there’s something valuable buried right under my feet!” With a big smile on her face, she grasped her shovel with both hands and began to quickly dig a big hole in the sand.
As she kept digging, Pinkie continued, “Anyway, the last I heard from Maud, she joined up with a team called the Power Miners. They’re digging deep underground to search for power crystals.”
“Power crystals?” asked Fluttershy.
“You mean those glowing crystals that possess enough raw energy for a single one to power an entire City Region for up to a month?” added Rarity.
“Absolutely!” confirmed Pinkie Pie as she kept digging like crazy. “Isn’t it great? My own sister is helping to power the future of the Lego World.”
Clunk!
Pinkie paused her speedy shoveling when she suddenly hit something solid. She looked down at her shovel for a moment, then a huge grin formed on her face as she glanced up at her friends and exclaimed, “Hey, I found something!” She then rapidly dug around the solid object, which she quickly revealed to be some kind of brown chest. Once she removed all of the surrounding sand, she tossed the shovel out of the hole and grabbed the handle on one side of the chest, and immediately felt its weight. “Wow, this thing is heavy,” she remarked. She grunted as she hefted the heavy chest out from its resting place in the sand and then managed to toss it up onto the beach right in front of her two friends.
Rarity stepped forward and opened the lid of the chest, and both her and Fluttershy’s faces were immediately illuminated by the contents. “Oh my!” exclaimed Rarity as she started getting starry eyed.
“Goodness,” said Fluttershy quietly but still very amazed.
The inside of that chest was packed full of treasure that consisted of shiny gold coins and translucent gems of many different colors.
“It’s absolutely gorgeous!” exclaimed Rarity excitedly.
“I wonder who left it here,” Fluttershy asked quietly.
Pinkie Pie jumped out of the hole and cheerfully replied, “Who cares? Finders keepers!” She quickly shut the lid of the chest and grasped one of the handles. “C’mon! Let’s take this back to the submarine!”
“Oh absolutely, darling!” responded Rarity just as excitedly as she grabbed the other handle. Once she and Pinkie lifted the heavy treasure chest and began walking, she called back to Fluttershy, “Come along, now. Let’s not waste another moment on this empty beach.”
Fluttershy picked up the discarded shovel and was about to follow, but she couldn’t help but look back at the big hole on the beach that Pinkie Pie had dug up. As beautiful as the contents of that treasure chest were, she couldn’t help but get the feeling that such a discovery could be a bad sign. She especially felt worried that her friends were simply taking it without any second thoughts. Still, she quickly realized that she couldn’t stay here alone to dwell on these thoughts, so she quietly followed after her two friends as they carried their find back to the beached submarine.
“Ugh, why do we have to go through this jungle?” grumbled Rainbow Dash as she pushed aside some dense vegetation and continued forward.
“‘Cause it was your idea,” Applejack rebuked irritably as she pushed a low branch out of her way. “Right after we made it ‘round that big cliff, ya wanted to be all adventurer like and go into the jungle.” She shoved aside some low hanging vines. “Ah said we should’ve stuck to the beach like Twilight insisted, but ya wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Rainbow Dash jumped up onto a log that was resting on the ground. “C’mon, AJ, where’s your sense of adventure?” she asked, before jumping off and landing on the ground on the other side of the log.
“Ah don’t need one,” Applejack simply replied as she climbed over that log. “A good day’s work down at the farm is all Ah need to feel satisfied.”
“There’s much more to the Lego World than your family’s apple orchard,” Rainbow pointed out as she pushed aside some tall ferns. “How are you supposed to discover something awesome if you never go anywhere?”
“Ah’d just rather not take any stupid risks,” admitted Applejack as she followed Rainbow through the ferns.
“And miss out on what might turn out to be the most awesome thing in the universe?” Rainbow jumped and grabbed onto a vine, which she used to swing herself across a small brook. Once she landed on the other side, she turned back to Applejack and grinned as she finished, “No way!”
Applejack simply jumped across the brook before continuing to follow after her brash friend. “Ah think a big reason why we don’t see eye-to-eye is ‘cause you don’t got nearly as many responsibilities as Ah do.”
Rainbow stopped and snapped her attention back to Applejack as she argued, “Hey, I’ve got responsibilities!” Rainbow turned forward and continued walking. “Flight control is an important job.”
“There’s more to responsibility than just a payin’ job,” Applejack stated. “Ah’ve got family who depend on me every day.”
“Except on days when the LEGO Team calls us away on a mission,” Rainbow smugly pointed out.
“That’s somethin’ we’re still workin’ on,” admitted Applejack. “Big Mac insists he can handle things on his own for a few days, but Ah just can’t help but feel worried ‘bout ‘em every time Ah head outta town.”
Rainbow Dash chuckled and remarked, “Considering all we’ve been through lately, I’d say they’re the ones who should be worried about you.”
Applejack let out a sad sigh. “Ah guess ya got a good point there. Sure, mah family might struggle to get by without me, but it’s nothin’ compared to what we’ve been goin’ up against.”
After finishing their conversation, the two minifigs made it only a few more steps through the jungle before Rainbow suddenly stopped and held up her hand. Once Applejack came to a stop, Rainbow glanced back at her and whispered, “Ya hear that?”
Applejack shut her mouth and listened carefully for a moment. At first, all she could hear was the ambient noise of this steamy humid jungle — the countless buzzing bugs, the chirping of tropical birds, and the occasional grunt of a monkey up in the treetops. But as she listened closely, she began to very faintly hear some indistinct chattering of voices. “Sounds like people,” she whispered back, her eyes already widened in surprise.
“Over there,” whispered Rainbow Dash as she pointed ahead. She and Applejack then carefully and quietly snuck their way through the jungle, making sure not to make too much noise as they pushed their way through the dense foliage.
Soon, the two minifigs peeked through some thick underbrush and found themselves near the edge of a steep drop-off to a river valley not far below. On the clear ground between them and the broad river was an encampment, where they saw dozens of pirates and buccaneers chatting amongst themselves, cooking food over open fires, and generally just relaxing.
“Pirates,” whispered Rainbow Dash.
“We must’ve ended up in the Pirate Region,” Applejack quietly concluded.
Rainbow Dash reached behind her back, but quickly noticed something was missing. Slightly panicked, she quickly felt all over her body. “Darn it,” she muttered. “I forgot to bring my lasers.”
“Then Ah guess fightin’ our way out ain’t an option,” whispered Applejack. “Let’s just quietly slip away before any of ‘em see us.”
“Yeah, good idea,” whispered Rainbow Dash in agreement as she and Applejack turned and began to slowly leave.
Unfortunately, Rainbow slipped on some damp vegetation. As she fell face-down and began to fall over the edge, she instinctively grabbed Applejack’s leg, unintentionally pulling her down and over the edge with her. Both of them shouted and grunted as they tumbled down the steep muddy slope into the open river valley. Once they finally hit solid and level ground, they both remained face-down as they groaned in pain. Just seconds later, the unsheathing noise of multiple swords immediately made them turn their gaze up, and just as quickly wished they hadn’t. They were already completely surrounded by these pirates, many of whom had their cutlasses and flintlock pistols pointed right at them.
“Oh boy,” muttered Applejack.
“Not good,” added Rainbow Dash.
Twilight Sparkle sat alone on the stern of the beached submarine, looking out towards the ocean. As she gazed out at the distant horizon, she could hear the rolling and crashing of the waves on the surrounding beach, along with the cawing of a few sea birds. She felt the cooling breeze blowing against her face and leaving her hair flapping around behind her. It was certainly a relaxing atmosphere on the outside, but on the inside, it was a very different story for Twilight.
It had now been less than a day since the Princess of Friendship had returned to the Lego World to help her Lego friends stop a new threat to their world. She had been expecting a quick and easy victory — perhaps even fast enough to return home on the same day she had left. Instead, the magic of friendship had not worked the way she thought it would, and that was only the start of her problems. In an attempt to prove that Sunset Shimmer was worthy of a second chance, she had foolishly removed her handcuffs, thus violating her parole. Not only did this erase any tenuous trust she may have once had from anyone outside of this team, but also everyone on the team was now hated by much of the Lego World for trusting Sunset — at least, that was the impression she got from the hostile reactions of everyone who had attended that emergency meeting in Cloudsdale. And to add insult to injury, the team of friends was now stranded on a tropical beach and had absolutely no idea where they might be at all. Although most of her friends were now searching to find out where they were and how they could leave, she simply didn’t have a clue on where to go from here.
Squeak.
Twilight suddenly glanced back, but relaxed when she saw that it was just the submarine’s hatch opening, and that it was Sunset Shimmer who was climbing out.
“Hey, Twilight,” said Sunset calmly as she walked over to Twilight. “Thought I’d join you outside and get some fresh air.” She sighed as she sat down beside Twilight and began to gaze out at the vast ocean in front of them.
Twilight glanced over at Sunset and noticed something in her hands. “Where’d you get that book?” she asked.
Sunset glanced down at the book in her hands and replied, “Oh, there’s a full bookshelf inside the sub. I guess one of your friends thought it might’ve been a good idea to include it while they were busy building this thing.” She returned her gaze forward to the ocean. After a moment of silence, she turned to Twilight and asked, “So… you said the sirens were banished from Equestria by a powerful unicorn wizard, right?”
Twilight nodded and replied, “Yes. Star Swirl the Bearded, to be exact.”
“Funny you should say that,” remarked Sunset as she opened the book and began flipping through the pages. “Let’s just say that wasn’t the last time they faced off against someone named ‘Star Swirl the Bearded’.”
“Huh?” asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow as she turned to Sunset.
“You saw how many people were at that meeting in Cloudsdale, yesterday,” continued Sunset as she kept flipping through the pages. “All those regional leaders and high-ranking Master Builders, easily numbering over a few hundred.” Once she finally found the desired page, she turned to show the book to Twilight. “But thirty-six years ago, this was all there was.”
Twilight looked down at the book and saw a picture on the page that showed only three minifigs. Although they all had the standard yellow skin, each of them had very different appearances. The one in the middle had black hair with a receding hairline and wore glasses and a simple dark grey business suit — similar to a portrait she had seen before on her first visit to the Lego World. The one on the right — with a big smile on his face — wore a basic blue spacesuit and helmet, with the only detailing being some symbol on the front of his torso that consisted of a golden planet with a red spaceship flying around it and leaving a trail that resembled a planetary ring. The one on the left wore some kind of blue robe and pointed magician’s hat, held a staff with a glowing crystal on the end of it, and had a long white beard piece that attached around the neck and covered his mouth and much of his torso.
Sunset pointed at the minifig in the middle and said, “This is Godtfred Playwell, Kjeld’s father and was the leader of all the Town Regions — which were later renamed City Regions after Kjeld took over.” She pointed at the space guy on the right. “That one is Benny Blue, founder and first leader of the Space Region.” Finally, she pointed at the wizard on the left. “And that’s—”
“Star Swirl the Bearded,” deduced Twilight.
“Founder and first leader of the Castle Region,” finished Sunset. She returned the book to her lap as she continued, “When I found this book, I figured it might tell us more about how the Star Swirl of the Lego World tried to defeat the sirens.” She flipped to the next page. “It says here that the Dazzlings first appeared in the Castle Region about thirty-six years ago, where they immediately tried to regain their lost strength by turning entire armies against each other. As leader of this region, it was Star Swirl’s duty to put a stop to them. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t figure out a way to permanently remove the dark powers that made them so dangerous, so he had to settle for a temporary solution. He placed a ten-year banishment on them, or to be more accurate, he cast a spell that sent them ten years into the future, along with dropping them in a random location. He had hoped that those ten years would provide him with enough time to figure out a more permanent solution that he could use, once they returned.”
Sunset flipped ahead a few pages until she arrived at the section on pirates. “But when those ten years were up, and the Dazzlings reappeared in the then-newly established Pirate Region, he had been unable to make much progress. He wanted to keep working towards that permanent solution, but pirates aren’t known for patience, and they wanted to get rid of the Dazzlings right away. It was only when those pirates threatened to start raiding the Castle Region that Star Swirl relented and placed another banishment on the Dazzilings, this time for twenty-five years. Again, he had hoped this would provide him with enough time to figure out how they could be stopped for good.”
Sunset flipped back to the section on the Castle Region. “Sadly, he failed to complete his work by the time his Creation Spark faded away. To make matters even worse, none of the knights and nobles could agree on who should take his place as leader, and the Castle Region soon fractured into the many sub-regions that still exist to this day, such as Knight’s Kingdom, Ashlar, and Middle Zealand, just to name a few.” Sunset closed the book and turned to Twilight. “As a result, Star Swirl’s efforts to stop the Dazzlings have remained incomplete to this day.”
Twilight sighed and turned her gaze back out to the ocean. “It’s kind of ironic, really,” she sadly said. “I became an alicorn Princess after I successfully finished an incomplete spell written by Equestria’s Star Swirl. Now it seems like I’ll need to finish the work of the Lego Star Swirl, too.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing that you’re here to help us,” remarked Sunset with a smile.
Twilight closed her eyes and muttered, “That’s what my friends keep telling me.”
Sunset turned her gaze out to the ocean again. After a moment of silence, she sighed and said, “Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems… instead of waiting for you to cause a problem.”
“Just because everyone expects something from you doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen,” stated Twilight.
“Well, that doesn’t stop them from expecting it,” replied Sunset.
Twilight added, “Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is…”
“…let everybody down,” finished Twilight and Sunset simultaneously. As soon as they realized what they both just said, they blinked and turned to each other. At first, they both had a surprised look on their faces, but then they both smiled.
Screeeeeech!
Twilight and Sunset immediately glanced back at the open hatch, where that awful noise had suddenly come from.
“Sorry! My bad!” came Spike’s voice from inside the submarine. A few seconds later, he climbed up to the hatch, poking his head out while holding up something in his hand. “I was just testing out these walkie-talkies I found. Here, I’ll show you how it works.” He tossed the walkie-talkie over to Twilight and Sunset, then quickly dropped back inside the submarine. A few seconds later, a brief buzz of static came from the walkie-talkie, followed by Spike’s voice. “Testing, testing, one, two, three, testing. Can you hear me?”
Sunset smiled in amusement as she picked up the walkie-talkie and held it close to her mouth as she responded, “Copy that. Coming through loud and clear. Over and out.” She then handed the walkie-talkie over to Twilight.
Twilight carefully inspected the dark grey uniquely-shaped Lego piece as she turned it around in her hands. “I wonder why we don’t have something like this in Equestria,” she muttered.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” replied Sunset with a shrug.
Twilight hummed thoughtfully, then smiled and said, “These might actually be quite useful.” She held the device close to her mouth and asked, “Hey, Spike. How many of these things do we have?”
“Let’s see, uh…” came Spike’s response on the walkie-talkie, followed by some indistinct muttering. Finally, Spike answered, “Looks like there’s enough for all of our friends.”
“Good,” responded Twilight contently. “If we distribute these walkie-talkie things among all of us, then we can all stay in contact at all times, regardless of how far away any of us might be.”
Sunset couldn’t help but chuckle and remark, “Welcome to a world of advanced technology, Princess Twilight.”
Twilight responded with a chuckle of her own before she sheepishly admitted, “Of course, we’ll need to wait for the others to come back before we can give these to them.”
“Speaking of which,” said Sunset and she glanced over at something past Twilight, “it looks like Rarity’s group is already back.”
Twilight spun her head around and saw Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy walking towards them along the beach, not far from the submarine. As she looked closely, she noticed that Pinkie and Rarity were also carrying some kind of chest. “And it looks like they found something,” remarked Twilight.
A few minutes passed before the three minifigs with the chest arrived at the beached submarine. As Spike climbed outside and closed the hatch, Rarity and Pinkie set the chest down on the ground.
“Any luck figuring out where we are?” asked Twilight.
Fluttershy nervously shuffled her hands along the shovel she had been carrying as she quietly replied, “Um, well… n-not really.”
“But who cares?” added Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “Wait ‘till you see what we found!”
“Behold!” Rarity proudly said as she opened the lid on the chest, revealing all of the shiny valuable riches inside.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Spike as his eyes widened substantially.
Twilight, after taking a moment to get over the shock of seeing such an extraordinary find, asked, “Where did you get this?”
“Oh, we just found it buried somewhere along the beach,” Pinkie Pie casually replied.
“Buried treasure on a beach?” mumbled Sunset Shimmer as she rubbed her chin. She then spoke up, “That might be enough of a clue to tell us where we might be. I think we’ve ended up somewhere in the Pirate Region.”
“P-p-p-pirates?!” exclaimed Fluttershy fearfully as she tightly gripped the shovel like it was some kind of security blanket.
For the first time since the discovery of the treasure chest, Rarity lost her excitement. Now, she felt concerned as she asked, “Do you suppose we should feel safe right here?”
“I’m afraid I can’t say that for sure,” admitted Sunset with a shrug. “The Pirate Region consists of hundreds of islands, and we could’ve easily landed on any one of them.”
“At least it’s a start,” said Twilight optimistically. “Now that we have at least a rough idea of where we are, we can begin considering possible options on where we can go from here. But first, we’d better wait for Applejack and Rainbow Dash to return.”
“Oh look!” Pinkie Pie spoke up as she pointed along the beach. “There they are right now!”
Everyone quickly turned their gaze down the beach towards that tall cliff. Sure enough, they saw their two friends had just come around from behind that cliff and were approaching them. Interestingly, the two of them seemed to be in quite a rush.
“Huh. I wonder why they’re running like that,” muttered Sunset Shimmer in confusion.
Just seconds later, something else appeared from around the other side of the cliff. It was a large group of pirates and buccaneers — dozens of them — all letting loose a loud battle cry with cutlasses raised high as they charged after the two fleeing girls.
Sunset flinched as she flatly remarked, “Oh. Yeah, that’s a good reason to run.”
“Pirates!” Rarity cried out in terror.
“Quick!” exclaimed Twilight as she rushed over to the hatch and quickly opened it. “Get back in the submarine! We should be safe in here.” She then faintly added, “Hopefully.”
Spike was the first one inside, quickly followed by Rarity, and then Fluttershy — still clinging tightly to that shovel.
Sunset was about to climb inside when she glanced over at Pinkie Pie, who was struggling to haul the now-closed treasure chest up onto the submarine. She ran over to the pink party girl and exclaimed, “Pinkie, forget the loot! What are you, a crook?!”
Pinkie instantly paused at the accusation. She glanced over at Sunset, down at the treasure chest, then back to Sunset. Finally, without a word, she dropped the chest and scrambled onto the submarine and into the hatch.
“Good thinking, Sunset,” commented Twilight.
“Takes one to know one,” remarked Sunset as she climbed through the hatch and into the submarine.
Finally, Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash and Applejack were now only seconds away from the submarine, so she shouted over to them, “Hurry! Get inside!”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash quickly scrambled up the side of the beached submarine and rushed over to the hatch. However, they both arrived at the exact same time, and the hatch was only big enough for one minifig at a time. As a result, Rainbow had no choice but to carelessly shove Applejack aside before climbing into the hatch.
Applejack stumbled a little and almost fell off the submarine, but she quickly regained her balance and turned back to the hatch. “Darn you, Rainbow,” she grumbled as she jumped into the hatch. Without even bothering to climb down the ladder, she fell straight down and landed right on top of Rainbow Dash.
“Ow! My back,” grunted Rainbow.
“Serves ya right for tryin’ to shove me out!” Applejack shot back.
At the same time, Twilight quickly climbed down the ladder, pulled the hatch closed, and then turned the wheel to lock it shut. “There,” she said with relief. “We should be safe now.”
Almost immediately, the pirates descended onto the submarine and began pounding all over it as they continued shouting. It didn’t take long before their mob mentality made them start pushing on the side of the submarine, causing it to slightly rock back and forth.
“They’re rocking the sub!” exclaimed Spike in panic. Everyone inside wobbled around unsteadily on their feet — except for Twilight, who clung desperately onto the top of the ladder — as the submarine continued to rock side to side.
After almost a full minute of terror, the submarine suddenly stopped rocking, while all the pounding and shouting outside also suddenly ceased.
“They’ve stopped,” noted Rarity breathlessly.
Fluttershy nervously glanced through one of the windows. She saw the buccaneer just outside snarl threateningly at her, causing her to whimper and shiver at she tightened her grip on that shovel.
“But they’re still out there,” said Sunset as she raised an eyebrow. “Why have they stopped?”
Their answer soon came with a faint and steady thudding along the top of the submarine. Everyone listened closely as the source moved along the top of the vessel, slowly getting closer to the hatch. The light thudding stopped once it reached the hatch, but then it was quickly followed by a metallic banging against the hatch itself. “Come on outta there, ye scurvy dogs!”
Everyone inside had certainly heard that shout. Sunset ran over to the periscope and peeked through it. After a brief glance outside, she turned to the others and worriedly said, “I’m pretty sure that’s their captain.”
There was another series of metallic banging against the hatch, immediately followed by that voice shouting, “Open up, or we’ll tear this vessel apart!”
Everyone inside the submarine looked expectantly up to Twilight, who still remained at the top of the ladder just under the closed hatch. Twilight wasn’t sure if it was because she was the team leader or just simply happened to be the one who was closest to the hatch, but she knew that her friends wanted her to be the one to resolve this conflict. After an audible gulp, she hesitantly reached her hands up and slowly turned the wheel.
Once the hatch was unlocked, Twilight slowly opened it just a slight amount. She soon found herself staring at the tip of a cutlass, just inches away from her face. She slowly shifted her gaze up the cutlass and towards the pirate who was holding it. He had a wooden peg in place of his right leg, a hooked hand on his left arm, and an eyepatch over his left eye. He wore black trousers, a red coat over a white shirt, and a black captain’s hat with an orange feather sticking out the top of it and a Lego skull and crossbones printed on the front. He had a skin tone that was a pale blue like a shallow sea and had a short beard piece that was a dark green like seaweed. But what really made Twilight scared for her life was the hard look of displeasure on this pirate captain’s face.
Twilight gave a shaky smile as she chuckled nervously and uneasily said, “S-sorry for any trouble we might’ve caused. You see, we’re kind of a little lost and just wanna find a way out of here so we can get back to saving the Lego World from the Dazzlings.”
That last word made the captain raise an eyebrow. “The Dazzlings, ye say?” he asked softly.
“Y-yes,” Twilight nervously replied. “You’ve heard of them?”
The captain nodded slightly and replied, “Aye. Darn near every pirate in the Pirate Region has heard many a tragic tale of woe from the last time they tried to take over.” His gaze slowly turned away and his voice grew steadily louder as he continued, “They came from out of nowhere one day, and once they saw how easily us pirates are to anger, they took immediate advantage of that to further their personal gains. All with little more than an enchanting song, they inspired mutinies, turned close allies into bitter enemies, and drove their victims to commit heinous acts too unspeakable to mention, sending many a pirate to a watery doom!” He lowered his voice back down and returned his gaze to Twilight as he pointed his cutlass closer to her face. “If ye lassies be here to put a stop to them, once and for all…”
Twilight whimpered as she stared at the tip of the cutlass that was now almost touching her face, right between her eyes.
The captain then swiftly pulled back his cutlass and sheathed it as he suddenly grinned and proudly exclaimed, “Then consider us your allies!”
Twilight was rendered completely speechless by that sudden reversal of the captain’s attitude. She glanced back at her friends inside and saw they were all just as shocked as she was.
The complete silence and stillness was finally broken by Rainbow Dash, who quickly smiled and excitedly exclaimed, “Awesome! We got pirates on our side!”
Now that the tension between her team and the pirates had apparently been broken, Twilight open the hatch all the way and climbed out. As she stood before the pirate captain, she let out a relieved sigh and smiled as she said, “Well, in that case, I’m glad that we’ve been able to reach an understanding, Captain…” She trailed off as she realized she didn’t know that name of this pirate.
“The name be Storm Wave!” answered the pirate captain proudly. “And thar be no seas too rough for me and me hearty crew to handle!” With this statement, all of the surrounding pirates and buccaneers — Captain Storm Wave’s crew — let out an enthusiastic cheer.
“That’s funny,” remarked Pinkie Pie as she climbed out of the hatch. “I thought you were gonna say your name was Greenbeard or something like that.”
“Nay. That be me brother’s name,” said Storm Wave with a dismissive wave of his hooked hand.
After Pinkie, Rainbow Dash also climbed out through the hatch, followed by Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, and Rarity. When Rarity glanced over and saw some buccaneers pick up the loaded treasure chest, she pointed over at it and exclaimed, “Hey! We found that first! You can’t just take it from us!”
“Pirate treasure always be free for the taking!” rebuffed Storm Wave firmly.
Rarity huffed and crossed her arms as she bitterly muttered, “I suppose I should’ve expected that from a group of pirates.”
Applejack turned her gaze out to the open ocean and asked, “So, uh, ya wouldn’t happen to have a ship nearby, would ya?”
“Aye,” replied Storm Wave with a nod. “It be an hour’s walk just up the coast.” He pointed along the beach towards the nearby tall cliff.
“Sweet!” said Rainbow Dash excitedly. She waved her arm forward and called out, “C’mon, everyone! Let’s go sailing with pirates!”
“No, wait!” Sunset suddenly exclaimed.
Everyone immediately turned to Sunset with confused looks on their faces.
Sunset glanced down at the ground around the beached submarine, then smiled as she returned her gaze towards everyone and said, “I’ve got a better idea.”
A few hours later, the team of friends was hard at work around the beached submarine, along with a little help from some of Captain Storm Wave’s crew. Most of those buccaneers were helping Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike dig out the sand around the hull. Meanwhile, some others were helping Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity tie a bunch of large ropes to the stern of the vessel.
As Sunset finished securing her rope, her gaze followed it out to sea and towards the nearby pirate ship, where the crew had just finished tying the other end of these ropes and were now climbing up the rigging and onto the closed sails.
Down on the beach, Spike removed his hat and wiped his brow, then put his hat back on and resumed digging. It was hard work, but if Sunset’s plan worked, then it would all be worth it. At least he was glad to have that cooling breeze coming in from the ocean.
About a moment later, everyone felt the ocean breeze slowly die down. Sunset and Twilight silently turned to each other and waited. Another moment later, the breeze picked up again, but this time it was different. Sunset looked closely at the way Twilight’s hair was flapping in the wind, and she realized that the breeze was no longer coming onto shore, but was now going away from shore.
“The winds have shifted,” noted Sunset quietly. She then raised her voice and shouted, “Okay, everyone! Now’s our chance!”
With that announcement, all of the buccaneers dropped what they were doing, crowded around the bow of the submarine, and placed their hands on the hull. Sunset, Twilight, and Rarity were now the only ones left atop the submarine, while Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike stayed on the beach to help the gathered crew of pirates.
Sunset leaned over the open hatch and shouted, “Ready, Rainbow?!”
“Firing up the engine!” Rainbow Dash hollered back from inside the submarine. As the massive engine system began to hum again, she shouted, “Full speed reverse!” Finally, the rear propeller began to spin.
As Rarity made a last-minute inspection of the ropes, Twilight gazed down at the half-submerged spinning propeller for a moment, then glanced back at Sunset and nodded with a smile on her face.
Over on the pirate ship, Captain Storm Wave gazed through a small telescope towards the beached submarine. As he saw the large splashing of water from the spinning propeller, he lowered his telescope and exclaimed, “That be the signal!” He turned away from the railing and glanced up at the rigging above as he barked out his order. “Unfurl the sails! All of them! Full sail ahead!”
The crew up in the rigging quickly complied, untying the ropes that held up the sails. In only a matter of seconds, all of the ship’s sails dropped and quickly began to catch the offshore gust.
Back on the beach, the buccaneers saw the ship bring itself to full sail, and prepared for their part. “Get ready, y’all!” Applejack called out. As the ship caught the wind and began to sail away from the shore, the ropes between the ship and the beached submarine slowly rose up out of the water. Applejack glanced around the sub and as soon as she saw the ropes rise completely out of the water, she shouted, “Heave!” Everyone on the beach grunted and groaned as they pushed on the hull with all the strength they could muster.
Just seconds later, the ropes finally pulled taut. The sudden combination of the ropes pulling and the crew pushing provided just enough force to jerk the submarine backwards off the beach. It was only by a very small distance, but as the forces continued to be applied from both sides, the large vessel slowly began to slide off the beach and into the water, the large structure creaking and groaning as it scraped along the ground.
It wasn’t long until the submarine had been pushed and pulled back far enough that the propeller completely submerged. The end of its loud splashing signaled that it was time for Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike to stop pushing with the pirates and climb aboard. Now that the submarine was able to push itself through the water, it wasn’t much longer until the surrounding water became too deep for the buccaneers to continue pushing. By that point, the propeller and the tugging ropes were enough to finally pull the submarine off the shallow bottom and become a free-floating vessel once again.
The crewmembers on both the beach and the ship let out a cheer of triumph as the freed submarine continued to move out to sea in reverse, while the team of friends onboard the sub also cheered out victoriously. As the buccaneers on the beach then climbed into a pair of rowboats and began rowing back to the ship, the team removed the ropes from the sub and then climbed inside.
With the submarine now completely free and all eight members of the team inside with the hatch sealed shut, Rainbow Dash was now able to submerge the vessel as it continued to reverse closer to the ship.
A few minutes later, both the ship and the submarine had reached deep enough water to pull off perhaps the most ambitious part of the operation. Rainbow Dash turned the submarine around so that it was now going in the same direction as the ship, and then dove directly under that ship. After some careful maneuvers, with some guidance from Sunset Shimmer at the periscope, the submarine soon made contact with a special modification to the bottom of the ship. The submarine shuddered lightly as contact was made between the two vessels, joining them together.
“Perfect!” stated Sunset with satisfaction as she retracted the periscope.
“I gotta admit,” remarked Rainbow Dash as she shut off the engine, “this was an awesome idea. Not only did we manage to salvage the submarine, but now we get to keep it available and completely out of sight while sailing with pirates!”
“It’s always good to keep as many doors open as possible,” said Sunset. “You never know when certain things might come in handy.” As she walked over to the ladder and began to climb up to the hatch, she added, “Now let’s board that pirate ship, shall we?” She opened the hatch and climbed out, pleased to now find herself inside the large, brown, sailing ship. As the rest of the team climbed out, she quickly inspected the modification the crew had done to the bottom hull of the ship and was very pleased to not find any leaks around the joint.
Up on the ship’s decks, some crewmembers were reeling in the ropes that had pulled the sub off the beach, while others were helping those who had come from the beach to climb back aboard the ship.
Finally, the door to an upper deck opened and out stepped the eight members of Twilight’s team. “Complete success,” Twilight announced, beaming with pride. “We’re ready to sail with you.”
“You heard her, lads!” called out Captain Storm Wave. “Let’s set sail!”
The entire crew let out an excited cheer before returning to their posts to prepare for the voyage ahead.
As Captain Storm Wave’s ship — the “Hurricane” — sailed ahead, everyone on Twilight’s team leaned forward against the railing on the starboard side and smiled as they gazed back at the beach that they were glad to leave behind. After so many setbacks and disappointments, it felt great to finally achieve a success. Not only were they now back on their way to saving the Lego World, but now they had an entire ship full of pirates willing to help them. There was still much left the do, but for now, they were just happy to finally be going somewhere.
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shudder
cooling breeze
shuddered
Well, this was quite fun.
Spike's still handling communication duties, even far away from his magical fire breath.
Pirates huh, well you know what that means:
Um, I should point out that attaching a submarine under a sail boat is going to cause significant drag. It would slow them down a lot, they should keep the subs engines running to compensate for this, just saying.
Benny "Spaceship" Blue is leader of the Space Region!?
6122310 Thanks again for pointing out these errors, and once again I have already made those corrections just a few hours after your comment. As much as I try to be very careful to get everything right, I'm glad to at least have another person to check this over for anything I might have missed.
6124508 I suppose there are two ways to get around this issue. The first is as you described, but if the submarine's engine is going too fast, it could be rather suspicious to see a ship sailing faster than the wind. (I'll point out this subject somewhere in the upcoming chapter.) The other option would be to simply ignore the problem and just call it "Lego logic". I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that most of the flying vehicles seen near the end of the Lego Movie would never actually fly in real life, so just keep in mind that almost everything in this story is made of Lego and doesn't always need to make total sense.
6124754 He is from the 1980s, after all, so it made sense to me to give him some role of importance back in those days. (The Space Region is just as old as the Castle Region, and like the Castle Region, the Space Region has also been divided into numerous sub-regions since those early days) Also, keep in mind that this particular Lego World is meant to be an alternate world to Equestria, so even though you might occasionally see a few Lego Movie characters (like President Business), the events of that movie did not take place in this Lego World. I'm leaving Benny's current status in this Lego World to the interpretation of the readers, though if you'd like to hear my personal idea, the one from the 80s is Benny Blue Sr, while the one from the Lego Movie is Benny Blue Jr, who remembers his late father by wearing his spacesuit, despite how worn out and damaged it had become over the years.
6134112
"I know that sounds like a cat poster, but it's true."
...i freaking LOVED Knight's Kingdom.