You've Been Drafted!
When Rainbow finally came back down to earth, she aimed right for the dead center of the lagoon. After fluttering her wings a few times to slow her momentum, Rainbow tucked them in against her sides and splashed down into the water. The shallow waters of the lagoon were barely more than shoulder deep out here, and she could stand on the sand beneath them while comfortably keeping her head above water. Though the water was warm, it was still colder than her body temperature, and as such was like a soothing salve for her sweaty wings.
Using her wings like life rafts, Rainbow let the gentle waves of the shallow lagoon rock her back and forth. With her legs curled against her belly, Rainbow hung in the water, floating and bobbing with the currents. It was a peaceful way to cool down after a flight, especially when she knew she had another long flight ahead of her not too far from now. And the act of relaxing on the surf brought forth happy thoughts about getting Rarity back to their island, dealing with whatever curse or madness they’d managed to unleash, and then relaxing on the beach, waiting for help to find them.
Unfortunately, that would never happen if Rainbow didn’t go about rescuing Rarity in the first place, so she decided to cut her rest short and trot back onto the beach. She was wary of sea urchins as she did so as well, knowing that the little devils liked to prowl across the sand looking for scraps of food, and she didn’t want to repeat her poisoning experience with them again. She could spy a couple of the spiny balls under the water, and she stayed well clear of them as she emerged back onto the shore.
Shaking water off her coat, Rainbow spied Chirp sitting on a nearby tree, preening carefully. The colorful macaw seemed happy and content to just be sitting on the swaying palm fronds, and Rainbow smiled up at him. “Hey, Chirp!” she said, and the bird’s head shot up at his name. “C’mon, let’s get back to camp!”
“Rainbow!” the macaw squawked back at her, and Rainbow giggled as he swooped down off the tree and perched on her back. Then, humming to herself, Rainbow trotted across the sands and around the edge of the south hill, using the east coast of the island to guide her back to the camp.
Rainbow didn’t even know that she’d be relieved to see the camp still standing after she left it, but thankfully it was. It was also a lot more active than when she left it; nearly everypony had emerged from their huts to sit out on the warm sand, the pirates included. Though they kept mostly to themselves, outcasts as they were, Rainbow was happy to see that they at least involved themselves in preparing food for lunch. Of the two, Black Flag definitely seemed more amiable toward interacting with the other survivors, while his brother remained obstinate and stubborn, clearly only involved with the group because of Flag and his rank. While relations weren’t exactly friendly between the pirates and Ratchet’s crew, Rainbow was at least happy that they could cooperate now that they absolutely needed to.
“What’s for lunch?” she asked, announcing her return to camp with a question. “Something good, I hope? Me and Champagne are gonna have a long flight ahead of us.”
Champagne blinked and looked up, the potato she was peeling momentarily forgotten. “We… are?”
“Yup!” Rainbow sat down next to the Prench mare and slapped her shoulder. “You and me, we’re going to the south island tonight. We’re gonna go find Rarity and bring her home!”
“Tonight?” Gyro frowned at Rainbow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“A better idea than waiting until tomorrow,” Rainbow insisted. “Wherever Rarity is, she’s out there somewhere on that island. We gotta find her and bring her back as fast as we can before something bad happens to her.”
“Do any of the rest of us have a say in the matter?” Ratchet asked.
Rainbow blinked. “I mean, yeah, of course you do. Champagne’s a member of your crew, not mine, though by now, I’d like to think we’re all one big family and stuff.”
“Speak for yourself,” Flag muttered, throwing some carrots into a pot.
Ratchet nodded at Rainbow. “Then I’d like to suggest waiting at least a little bit longer. You did a lot of flying yesterday, and it’d be bad if you flew off to the south before you were ready.”
“No offense, Ratchet, but I think I’m a better judge of my wings than you are, dude.” Rainbow held up her hooves. “I’m more than ready to go. All I need are some supplies and I can make the flight. I would go alone, but I know Gyro would feel better if I took somepony with me, so I’m taking Champagne. She’s the only other pegasus.”
Jolly Roger coughed hard from Flag’s side and glared at Rainbow.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Only other pegasus I trust who would actually be open to flying south with me.” She shot a pointed look at the pirate before refocusing her attention on Ratchet. “It’s up to her, really, but I know she can handle herself, and the company would be pretty swell, too.”
Ratchet raised an eyebrow and looked at Champagne. “Well, Champagne? Like Rainbow said, it’s up to you. Don’t feel pressured to join her just because she’s Rainbow Dash.”
“I mean, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t,” Rainbow said, smirking. “I thought every pegasus wanted to fly with the fastest flier alive.”
“Well, I…” Champagne swallowed and shrugged. “Yes, I can do it. We cannot leave a pony behind, right?”
Rainbow immediately broke out into a grin and hugged the mare. “Hah! I knew you were awesome! That’s exactly what I wanted to hear!” Then she stretched out the mare’s wings and got a good look at them. “How’s your distance flying? We’ve got a lot of sea to cover.”
“Uh… enough, I think?”
“Eh, it’ll do.” Rainbow released Champagne’s wing and turned back toward the group. “Well, there we go. I’m thinking we’ll leave after dinner. We need some time to rest and pack supplies, and then we’ll have fresh energy after eating to make the trip. We’ll land on the island, take a quick look around, and make camp if we have to. If everything goes well, we’ll be back with Rarity by dinner tomorrow!”
Gyro scoffed and shook her head. “With our track record, I seriously doubt everything is going to go well.”
“You just had to say it,” Rainbow grumbled.
Champagne blinked and uncomfortably pinched her wings together. “Now I’m having second thoughts…”
“It’ll be fine,” Rainbow assured her, kicking back in the sand and letting the warmth pierce through her coat. “At least Gyro didn’t say that everything would go alright and things are starting to look up. Then we’d definitely die out there!”
“Do you want me to say that?” Gyro teased. “It’s worked so well for us in the past.”
“I’d… rather you didn’t,” Champagne said. Then, taking a deep breath, she went back to peeling her potato. “Tonight is going to be an experience, I can tell.”
“Heh. You got that right, sister.” Rainbow winked at her. “But what would be the fun in it otherwise?”
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Huh, thought she'd drag at least one pirate with her, like Ratchet asked, in case of a fight. But whatev' we got alchy horse for company!
I assume with a name like Champagne she's an alcoholic. Which makes me wonder about Applejack...
Holy genre savviness, Batmare!
What could possibly go wrong?
In the army, we called that being volentold.
You're in the army now,
Woohoaaa, you're in the army! Now!
Oh, damn, i was sure starglazer or whatever was the name of the only survivir pegasus that was good at flying was alive too. Rip him. Also, did linen died? I really missed any mention of that outcome
8817306
Nice Reference.
Nothing will go as planned, right?
8818903
I love those guys, I got to see them in Madison back in February and they opened with that song.
8825039
Yeah, they're pretty darn good.
8817048
Deep sea creature with claws.
8933530
No, we’re pretty sure that’s who saved Rarity.