Rarity and the Regatta

For the remainder of the week before the race, Rarity spent more time in her warehouse than at in hotel room.  She actually slept beside her marine construction two of the nights.  The day of the race, she was ready, though.  Rarity did one last survey of her boat and ran her hoof over the deep blue, silver-flaked decal that bore the name of her vessel:

The White Diamond.

Rarity chose the name because it represented herself and the boat perfectly.  White, rare, incredibly tough, and the envy and desire of every high-class mare and stallion.  Even without the sail up she was a sleek, magnificent sight.  Rarity noted to thank Keel Haul for the hull mold again.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of time, Rarity could not test her boat on the water.  While she was sure she had built everything correctly from the many manuals she read and shipbuilding advice she… persuaded from ponies around the docks, she still didn’t know if the White Diamond could even float.  The race would have to be the test and maiden voyage.  Hopefully it wouldn’t also be her final one.

Rarity had the White Diamond towed to the Old Manehattan Lighthouse docks, where the Manehattan Regatta would be taking place.  She arrived shortly before her boat did, taking a moment to pause on the hill overlooking the event area.

The Old Manehattan Lighthouse was not just a landmark.  It was also the center of the city’s aptly named Lighthouse District, a more well-to-do area of Manehattan just a few miles south of the city proper.  As such, the docks here were much less like the one at Manehattan Harbor.  Each individual pier was covered, attendant ponies stood at the moor of each boat, and even the wood was intricately engraved and treated so as not to fade from hoof traffic and the weather over the years.  On the shore flanking either side of the docks were country-club style buildings with ample outdoor seating, likely for spectators to watch the regatta.  The lighthouse itself was a handsome building—well preserved due to community love and a lot of old money.  If Rarity remembered correctly, it still used fire rather than magic filament lanterns common in more modern lighthouses.  It stood on top of a high cliff, chosen back when it was built for easy visibility.  Adding to that was its red and white horizontal stripe façade, a view that functionally and aesthetically broke the horizon from any angle.  The salty air here somehow smelled more refined, a sensation Rarity felt the high class Manehattan ponies were taking full advantage of, as their noses were held higher than usual.

By stark contrast to the general attitude of elegance around the docks, the boats moored at them seemed vicious and unwelcoming.  That must be my competition, Rarity thought.  Keel Haul had said Rarity’s boat would be a good bit smaller than most of the others, but she had no idea sailing ships could even be that large.

“To think that these ponies commandeer these ships all on their own!  They must be quite the sailors,” Rarity marveled.  Using her eye for detail, she scoped out the boats from her vantage point atop the hill.  She may have been far away, but thankfully Manehattan’s elite was as showoff-y as Rarity was.  Almost every boat was brightly colored and elaborately decorated, with gold and silver trimmings and silk sails and all manner of extra decals and flourish that Rarity was sure wouldn’t help her competition win.  The weaponry was a different story.  Just like the receptionist pony had told her a week ago, several of the boats bristled with turrets and cannons and guns that would likely sink the White Diamond in a single shot.  With all that firepower they were likely to be equally armored against attack.  Battle would certainly not be a main aspect of Rarity’s strategy.

“Ya ha ha!  Glad you could make it!” Rarity yelped at the voice behind her.  Keel Haul was incredibly quiet for such a big pony.  Well, a quiet mover.  “Sorry, Miss Rarity!  Didn’t mean to scare you,” he apologized.

“Oh, it’s quite all right,” Rarity lied, attempting to put her heart back in its appropriate body cavity, “I’m just getting a gauge of the competition.  It’s… something else.”  Keel Haul nodded,

“It’s like this pretty much every year.  Which one’s yours?”  Rarity pointed to the White Diamond, which was just now being lowered into the water at the rightmost moor.  Now that she could actually see the size difference between hers and those of the other sailors, she blushed.

“Well, she isn’t the biggest thing, but that ain’t anything to be ashamed of!  After all, it’s not the size of the boat, but the motion of the ocean that matters!” Keel Haul assured Rarity.

“The motion of the ocean?” Rarity echoed.

“What I mean is you don’t need the biggest or the strongest boat to win.  You just need to sail your boat well.  Take another look at the lineup.  I can see three boats right off the bat that you’ll leave dead in the water.  Now, why might that be?”  Rarity squinted and thought for a moment, but she had just been taking all the details earlier.  When she took her new shipbuilding knowledge into account, what Keel Haul was pointing out became clear.

“That purple one next to me likely won’t get very far.  It’s not very big, which might make you think it’ll be faster, but whoever made it knows nothing about fabric.  They’ve made their sails out of silk!  Silk is pretty and elegant but it’s also very breathable.  Wind will blow right through it and they’ll hardly gain any speed.

“See the red and orange eastern junk-inspired boat over there?  The mast supports are all wrong.  It’ll fall apart the second it reaches full sail.

“And that menacing looking jet-black giant in the center has a lot of guns but I can see the water line’s too high from here.  It’s far too heavy to move very quickly, and it may have a lot of guns, but that means it also has a lot of ammunition.  It should make a fantastic explosion if somepony manages to penetrate it.”

“Good eye,” Keel Haul smirked, “You might be more of a sailor than you think.  Expensive doesn’t always mean good, and those ponies are going to figure that out very soon.”

“And that means my real competition is only five other boats, including yours!  Which one is it, now?” Rarity began scanning.  Keel Haul pointed to the opposite end of the dock from where the White Diamond was stationed.

“There she is, I call her Maddy.”  Keel Haul’s ship was a moderately sized yacht that looked as speedy as it did fearsome.  Her hull was almost as blue as the ocean and she had a bright yellow pinstripe down either side.  On her bow were two small naval guns as her only armament.  The old sailor pony didn’t put much investment into destruction as some other racers.  He probably had the experience to know not to.

“Ooh, I bet one heck of a mare inspired that name!” Rarity playfully nudged Keel Haul.

“Ya ha ha!  Nonsense!  Any sailor knows if you name a boat the same thing as a pony close to you you’re bound to lose one of ‘em!  Maddy comes from the beginning of the words ‘Manehattan Dry Dock’.  I just added a ‘y’ after to make it sound better,” Keel Haul explained.

“I guess a ship named Madd would sound odd, wouldn’t it?” Rarity nodded.

A bell on the dock sounded and a regal-looking pony walked up to a microphone near it.

“Would all sailors please board their crafts to sail to the starting line?  The 154th Annual Manehattan Regatta is about to begin!”

“That’s our call, Miss Rarity.  Are you ready?” Keel Haul asked.  Rarity pulled her admiral’s cap out of her saddlebag and put it on,

“I’m more than ready, Mr. Haul.  I’m ship-shape!”

“Ya ha ha!  That’s the spirit!  Let’s both make it to the finish line, deal?” The earth pony extended a hoof, which Rarity shook.

“It’s a promise!”

The two went their separate ways and made their way down to the docks where they boarded their crafts.  Rarity undid the tarp that was wrapped around the bottom of the boat, concealing the torpedo.  She put it in a storage compartment and raised the White Diamond’s sail.  Emblazoned upon it was nothing other than her cutie mark overlaid with Carousel Boutique’s logo.  The pristine white sail seemed to glow in the sun.  She opened up the sail to catch some wind and set the White Diamond in motion.  She and the other sailors navigated to the green buoys marking the starting gate, some more skillfully than others.

“All sailors, drop your anchors!” the pony from earlier signaled to the boats.  The anchors had to be dropped so no one could sail ahead early.

“On your mark… get set… anchors aweigh!”