"Up in the riggin', out on those yardarms, crew!"

Captain Celaeno fought with the tiller to keep the ship plowing southeast as she roared orders to her crew.

"Pile on every scrap o' sail, buckos! Kita, search the ship's lockers, we need more canvas!"

Kita was a ferret who had once been one of Gabool's corsairs, but now she had reformed and joined Celaeno's crew. "Yes sir!" she said.

Rarity came up to Celaeno. She was wearing a safari suit and hat. "Do you think we'll meet any other ponies in the Pride Lands?"

"There's precious few ponies there, and no unicorns or pegasi at all," Celaeno replied shortly. "An' don't ask me questions now, I gotta concentrate."

Pinkie Pie called down from the crow's nest, "There's a big storm cloud up ahead, and it keeps changing colors!"

Applejack laughed. "Changin' colors? You bin up there too long, Pinkie. Come on down."

But Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up there to see what she was talking about. "She's right," Twilight called. "You'd better take a look at this, Celaeno."

"Here, take the tiller, Bellmaker," Celaeno said. Joseph took her place at the wheel, and she fluttered up to join the others.

There was indeed an enormous cloud in front of them. As Celaeno watched, it changed hue from blue to green to yellow to red, and then back to blue again.

"Looks like a real bad storm," said Rainbow Dash.

"Not just any storm," said Celaeno. "A mind storm."

"What's a mind storm?" Twilight asked.

"It can control your emotions, make creatures behave in irrational and unpredictable ways. I've heard of 'em, but I never thought I'd have the bad luck to see one for myself."

"Can we go around it?" Fluttershy asked.

Celaeno shook her head. "Not a chance. It's coming in at a rate of about a hundred strides a second. Our only hope of survival is to drive straight through it as fast as we can, and maybe we'll come through all right."

She flew back down to the wheel. The air smelt of sulfur and toasted almonds; it made everyone's fur and feathers stand on end. They could all see the mind storm clearly now.

"You're heading straight for that thing!" Rarity complained.

"Have faith in the captain," said Joseph. "She knows what she's doing." He had sailed with Celaeno before.

Kita nodded. "Dat's right. Dis is just like da time when I was at sea wit' Gabool an' dere was a whirlpool in our path. If we'd tried to go around it, we woulda been sucked in an' drowned, so instead, we just zoomed right over it as fast as we could."

Fluttershy covered her face, too scared to speak. Rainbow Dash put a hoof on her shoulder. "Just stay close to me. We'll get through this."

Hurricane force winds battered the flying ship with immense power. "Ten seconds till impact!" Celaeno shouted over the roar of the storm.

The ship trembled and creaked. Everybeast grabbed onto anything they could.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One! Entering the mind storm… now!" Celaeno cried.