//------------------------------// // A Lot of Suitcases // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// The four bags of Gator Powder, their drawstrings pulled loose, fell into the alligator monster’s wide open mouth. Some powder spilled out on its tongue or the insides of its jaws but most of it tumbled right down its throat. Rainbow Dash could see the surprise and realization in the monster’s unnatural red eyes as it accidentally swallowed what was practically a poison to it. All at once it practically seized up and shook its massive head back and forth, coughing and wheezing came from the monster as it tried backing away in the shallow waters. But the ropes, the red powder, the dense trees, they were all working against it now. The fact that its mouth was raised out of the water, raised towards Rainbow Dash, also left it especially vulnerable to the hunters. “Now! Now, while it’s in pain!” Claude yelled. “Go for the throat and bring it down!” The hunters with him attacked immediately and the others that had been seeded through the trees were coming back to join in on the assault as well. Spears were launched right into the soft scales of the underside of the monster’s neck, impaling themselves deeply as the monster continued to thrash around, fresh new pain joining the frustration and irritation that came from the powder. It could tell that this was no normal danger it was in this time. The great beast’s tail lashed out behind it and obliterated several trees as it tried to escape and knock away any other hunters. All the while its eyes still focused on Rainbow Dash—on the pony it somehow knew was responsible for its plight. There was no sorrow in those eyes, no begging for mercy or pity, no simple pain or confusion that a normal animal would have. It was rage. Pure evil rage. Spears and rocks started to pummel its sides as the other hunters joined in, using the weapons they had left to further weaken and injure it. The main attack on its throat didn’t let up for a moment either and the beast was bleeding from dozens of wounds, all of it joining in with the red powder that already colored the swamp. Puffs of the white Gator Powder came from its mouth as it frothed and choked on it while unable to stop itself from spasming or coughing. The pain, the reflexive reaction, the taunting of Rainbow Dash, it all caused it to lift its great head and jaws up out of the water more. “Kill it! Bring it down!” Claude yelled again, the rage and steel determination from him possibly outdoing the monster’s own rage. A heavy roar came from the monster as it perhaps recognized and understood his words—as well as maybe finally accepting that it was doomed. The red eyes glared up at Rainbow Dash, the right eye piercing at her, angry for what it had done to her. Rainbow Dash stared back down at it while her spear was still gripped in her hooves and the other hunters attacked. She twirled the weapon around and aimed it at the red eye staring at her. “Sorry, but not sorry.” The sharp tip of the spear was the last thing the alligator monster saw. Ropes tied around the limbs of the monster’s body kept it floating in the water even after it had gone completely still and silent. Connected to the trees it was now nothing more than a trophy waiting to be hauled back to Mile Moss Crannog. She really hoped they weren’t going to use it for food but she had to admit that such a catch had a lot of uses. The teeth alone could be used to make hundreds of new weapons or tools. Maybe there was some sort of ritual or something they needed to do with it too, the swamp ponies had a lot of ways that were rather unusual to Rainbow Dash, she couldn’t exactly predict them. Either way she wouldn’t really be around to see what was coming next, since she was already planning on leaving soon. Once more her work here was done and it was time to head for the next adventure. Wherever and whatever it was. Still though, a brief moment of relaxation was needed. That’s why she was on the small floating island, lying against the shack, with a pouch of clean water in her hooves. “Thanks for everything you helped us with,” Jules said to her. He was sitting and resting right next to her, his eyes occasionally checking over the tied up remains of the alligator monster. Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You guys were doing this for a lot longer than me. Don’t sell yourselves short.” “Still, it’s finally over thanks to you. No one else here came up with such a daring plan.” “Mm,” Rainbow grunted. “Just the kind of thing I do.” “Would you like to come back to Mile Moss Crannog with us? You’ll be celebrated,” he asked Rainbow shook her head. “Naw, as nice as that sounds I’d rather keep moving, get to the next place. I don’t really go backwards even if it’s just a day trip. You don’t really need me around anymore anyways.” “Well if you are leaving very soon then it was certainly really nice to meet you.” “I’ll grudgingly agree with that sentiment.” Rainbow Dash and Jules both looked to see Claude walking over the bobbing barrels towards them. A sour look was on his face, though that might have just been his natural disposition at this point. He huffed when he got to Rainbow Dash and sat down on the other side of her before sending a look to Jules. “Give us a moment here, kid.” Jules nodded and stood up. “Bye, Rainbow Dash.” She nodded after him and then raised an eyebrow at Claude as Jules walked away. “Grudgingly, huh?” “Take it or leave it. You proved yourself at least,” the codger said. “And maybe now you’ll be nicer to the next outsider who comes through here?” Rainbow asked him. Claude was silent as he stared ahead, his nostrils flared every now and then but he seemed to be deep in thought. “Guess not,” Rainbow snorted. “It’s not just about outsiders… it never was,” he said. “Care to explain what’s been eating at you so much? Cause I could tell that obviously you had a lot on your mind even before this giant alligator came by.” “The entire swamp is changing. Moving in a direction that I don’t like. You must’ve seen or heard a little about it before we met, more ponies living away from Mile Moss Crannog and the other large settlements, not paying respects to their ancestors. Maybe even some of them just leaving the swamp entirely and heading to Vissidia. Our way of life… it feels like it’s slowly ending and no one is doing anything about it. The monster was like a physical sign of that, it was something for me to take all my inner feelings out on. A problem I could actually do something about. But now that it’s dead… so what? Has anything really changed? Isn’t the swamp still going to get quieter and everything I care about still going to slowly disappear? I just don’t want this to happen to my home…” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and looked out past the trees in the distance. “Yeah… you know that’s at least something I can get. If you just told me that from the start I think we’d have gotten along better. I’ve got a friend too, Applejack, who could probably sympathize with you even more since she’s really big on tradition. Me? I can’t say I’ve personally gone through what you are, but I feel for you, yeah.” “It just feels like there’s nothing I can do. More kids talk about wanting to leave the swamp. What are our ancestors thinking right now as they watch over us?” Claude shook his head. “Well… even if it does go that way… maybe I can still help you out again?” Rainbow suggested. He looked over at her. “What are you talking about?” “You care so much about your ways, and you’ve got a long history that you definitely don’t want to see disappear. I think I can do something about that. Sort of at least. I can’t stop ponies leaving the swamp and I’m sorry to say that I can’t stop things changing for you either… but I can help make sure that everything you care about gets remembered. Your culture, your religion, I can make sure that others learn about it and it all gets recorded somewhere safe where it can reach ponies and other creatures in the future,” Rainbow told him. Claude blinked. “I’m honored that you would but I can’t say I completely follow you…” “I’ve got another friend, back home where I come from, and I can tell her about your swamp and your way of life. I was already going to tell her pretty much everything about my journey, but with you guys specifically I’ll make sure she writes everything down in a book. I’ll have her record your whole history and culture, so that way it never really goes away or gets forgotten. Creatures from around the whole world will be able to learn about what you care about.” There was a far off look in Claude’s eyes as he stared at her and then turned his gaze back to the swamp. “That… that doesn’t sound so bad.” Rainbow Dash did end up staying around a little longer than she thought, because she needed to listen to Claude for a few hours as he explained as much as he could about the swamp’s history, culture, and religion. She would commit it to memory—she promised—and one day relay it all to Twilight when she got back home. It was a pretty good promise to make. At the end of it all she was lying on the lightly floating island, on her back, staring up through the small gap in the trees at the now dark sky. It was peaceful. Despite the croaking and the relative simplicity of this little adventure, she was still glad she came through the swamp instead of just flying over it all. And now next… next up was what? Rainbow Dash turned her head and saw Claude now helping with moving the remains of the beast, he and some of the others were on a small boat as they tried to tie the thing up the best way and move it onto a couple rafts so they could float it through the swamp. She stood up and flew over to him. “Hey.” “Done resting?” He turned his head to her in question. “Yeah, and I’ve got a question too.” He momentarily stopped what he was doing and gave her his full attention. “Alright, what?” “I just wanted to ask you what can I expect to see south of the swamp. Like what’s coming up next on my journey?” Claude shrugged. “How should I know? I’ve never been there.” “Never been south out of the swamp at all? Don’t got any ideas?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him. “Aint never had any reason or desire to go there. I assume it’s wet for a while, but that’s about all I can guess at.” “Any places further south in the swamp that might know more?” “Sure, I’d be willing to bet you’ll come across some more ponies who can help fill you in more, but it aint like there’s another Vissidia right next to us. Otherwise I would know about that. I doubt even the ponies who live at the edge of the swamp really know that much about what’s far south of here.” “Huh,” Rainbow Dash said and looked into the dark depths of the swamp. Claude followed her gaze. “What? You scared or something?” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No. It’s just it’s been a long while since I haven’t had any idea of what’s coming next. It’s kind of exciting.” A grin slowly formed on her face. “And I think that means I better get going now.” “Good luck to you out there,” Claude nodded to her. “Thanks. Say bye to the other hunters for me, and when you get back to Mile Moss Crannog say hi to the Elder too,” Rainbow Dash smirked and wave. “Will do.” “You’re a good guy, Claude, just be nicer to other outsiders now.” Claude rolled his eyes, but his countenance was amicable. “Will do.” “Bye,” Rainbow saluted and flew up, over the trees where she could see the sky and the moon clearly, and then headed straight south.