//------------------------------// // The Greatest Enemy // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// It was inevitable. It was unfortunate. Rainbow Dash was once again facing her greatest and oldest enemy. Boredom. With another day gone by there really wasn’t anything left for her to do. Gilbert didn’t want to race anymore and she didn’t want to lose another swimming race to Senax. Nor did anyone else want to play cards with her. It was lame. She had thought about all the things she could do on a trip like this but after one day she was already bored again. Life just wasn’t fair sometimes. A pony like her needed more activity or she’d go crazy—go crazy and start to annoy the Tartarus out of everyone else onboard. That was why she had still stuck herself in the crow’s nest for now. She didn’t want to be a bother. Not when there was nothing they could do to get to the Sarrarocco Archipelago faster. Let Breakwater and Senax steer the ship and just get them to the destination as fast as possible so she wouldn’t be bored anymore. That was the smart thing to do. Of course though, that meant she was still going to have to find a way to occupy herself alone up here. Looking at clouds only went so far. She could grab the deck of playing cards and start a game of Solitaire but that wasn’t much more fun either. “Ohhh, I seriously hate not just being able to fly full-speed everywhere,” Rainbow Dash groaned as she draped herself over the side of the crow’s nest. “It’s so boring, I’m dying.” Truth be told, the others weren’t doing a great job either when it came to dealing with their boredom. Senax was down at the wheel, steering the Heart of Azure west. She being the only one with something to actually do you would think she wouldn’t be that bored but the monotony of the activity was getting to her. She loved sailing, she loved doing something important, but even she couldn’t do the same thing for hours and hours without getting a little tired of it. There wasn’t even anything special about where they were sailing to break the monotony. Daylight Gleam was by the bow where she was just looking at the ocean as it went by. Pretty normal for her. She was doing her best to avoid any cynical or pessimistic thoughts, it didn’t always work but she had become slightly more positive since meeting Rainbow Dash at least. Still as easily annoyed though. Breakwater was in his cabin, poring over his charts and maps to figure out the exact time they’d arrive at Blue Coral Island. The Sarrarocco Archipelago had a lot of very small islands and rocks on its outskirts that they’d have to pass by to land at Blue Coral Island safe and sound. While the islands that made up the Archipelago in total didn’t have near as much landmass as any Kingdom or even some of the larger single islands in the Grand Ocean, there were a ton of them that were inhabited and spread out over a large area. A decent amount of those were also private or off-limits to ponies not in the Order. You could still find them on most maps, but they weren’t labeled and very little was known about them. “I just hope nothing else happens to us before we get there,” the captain shook his head. And down below in the hold, Gilbert stood with pencil in talon, looking down at his journal and the currently blank page in front of him. So much had happened since the last entry he just didn’t know where to start at all. A sigh racked his body and he sat down, folding his front legs and frowning. “Of course no one else wants to write an entry either...” He reached out and tapped his pencil to paper. And tapped again. And tapped once more. There must be something of value that he could write. The boundless optimism inside him was only waiting to be called forth so he could put a positive spin to their latest misadventures down in this journal. Instead of thinking or dwelling on anything he should try and be just as carefree as normal. With a single nod he put the pencil to the top of the page and forced himself to just write. * Dear Journal, Much has gone on since the last time I’ve written in you. And if there’s one takeaway from all the recent adventures we’ve been on it would be this: Don’t trust rumors about tridents. There has certainly been a variety to what we’ve been up to lately. Too much considering that we should be focused entirely on Senax’s quest. But the world doesn’t always care about what you want, I know that well. If something comes up that we can’t avoid then so be it. At least in our misadventures we’ve still been able to do a lot of good, from stopping pirates creating an anarchist tyranny to stopping Bosche from enslaving ponies of the Wandering Island. That makes any of these side trips worth it. I think I’m speaking for all of my friends here when I say how much I hate Bosche. I’m hoping that Rainbow Dash was able to convince them not to try and raid anyone for at least a little while, but I know that such a vile country will not stop so simply. If anything they might’ve increased their efforts elsewhere after suffering these setbacks. Rainbow Dash said she intimidated the commanders she met as best she could but hateful ponies like that can not curb their desires. They will continue to seek others to make suffer as retribution. Oh dear… look how negative I’m getting. I just can’t stand Bosche. Hopefully someday someone will deal with them for good. Maybe even Rainbow Dash will finish what she started? No, as much as she would like to she can’t fight an entire navy on her own. Us backing her up wouldn’t be much help either. It would certainly be a good deed, but we just don’t have the capabilities for something like that. We’ve got to focus on helping Senax first. I am very intrigued by this invitation we’ve received from the High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order. Such an important figure, apparently, and the servant sent to offer the invitation to us was quite a unique fellow as well. I don’t know much about the Order but the Archipelago they live on seems like a very interesting place. There’s bound to be something special about all of this. Whatever the High Priestess’s interest in Senax is I’m sure it will turn out okay. We won’t let anything bad happen to our friend. Haven’t seen my brother in a long while now either. I am very happy for that. * Gilbert set his pencil down and smiled at the newly made entry. “As good as any I’ve written. I think I’ll see if anyone else wants to write a journal entry today too...” Rainbow Dash at the moment was still up in the crow’s nest, this time lying on her back and staring up at the sky. “Come on clouds, give me something more fun to look at.” They didn’t respond. Instead they continued to merely be boring balls of fluff passing by in the sky. That about tears it for Rainbow Dash, tomorrow she was going to force everyone to play more games and have some fun, even if she had to give herself a monumental handicap to entice them. There were still plenty of different types of boardgames to enjoy—no way was she giving up and just going to play solitaire. For now though she would let everyone continue to have their own private time. Rainbow Dash stood up and opened her wings before quickly flying into the sky. Senax saw her shoot up high and practically disappear from view real quick. A small smile gracing her face as she figured Rainbow Dash was probably going off to enjoy herself with a flight. “Senax!” She tilted her head down and saw Gilbert walking up to the helm. “Hello, Gilbert. How are you doing?” “Bored. Considerably so!” The griffon replied with a sigh as he took a spot right beside her at the wheel. “Don’t feel like getting thrashed again by Rainbow Dash in a race or card game?” Senax asked. “No, not particularly. I think she feels the same way concerning you and swimming.” “For such an active pony who can’t stand being bored that would explain why she hasn’t challenged me again,” Senax giggled. “Well you have to steer the ship at the moment too. Unless you’re bored of that too. If you want I can go get Captain Breakwater and he can take your place.” Senax shook her head. “No, it’s alright. That would only lead to me sitting around and getting bored in a different way. I’d rather still steer the ship and let Breakwater get some rest from it.” “Maybe we can just eat soon then,” Gilbert thought. “It’s not really the time to eat.” “Do we have anything else to do?” “No… not really.” Gilbert grinned. “I’ll see how Daylight feels about it then. And I can go find Rainbow Dash later, I’m sure she hasn’t gone too far.” Daylight actually was close to nodding off right at the bow. Her eyelids had become heavy and she kept dipping her head down before briefly shooting back up. Though she didn’t really want to just fall asleep from boredom right out on deck, it looked like it was going to happen. That was until a very loud and piercing voice caught her by surprise. “Hello, Daylight! Would you be interested in having something to eat right about now? It doesn’t seem like anyone has anything else to do,” Gilbert said from right beside her. Daylight jolted completely awake. Her ears perked up and she turned to see Gilbert there, she hadn’t even heard him walking over. “Huh? What?” Gilbert blinked. “Oh, were you asleep?” “Uh, no… just close,” Daylight shook her head and tried to blink away most of her weariness. “What’s up?” “Let me repeat myself—would you like to have something to eat? I was thinking we could just have something like a brunch right now. It’s a rather slow day after all.” “Mm, I’m not really hungry. I think I’ll just stay out here, the rest of you can eat.” Gilbert shrugged. “Well, not really sure if we will, it was more a suggestion for us to do something than because anyone was actually hungry. I haven’t even spoken to Rainbow Dash or Captain Breakwater about it.” “Oh,” Daylight rubbed her eyes and looked around the ship. “Where are those two anyways?” “The Captain is in his cabin and Rainbow Dash went off flying somewhere. I’m certain she got bored of just sitting around too.” “I think she at least would always be up for eating something...” “She does have quite the appetite with all the calories she burns.” Daylight nodded. “Well if that’s all I think I’m still just going to relax out here, or maybe go below and get some sleep down there. Sorry, Gilbert, maybe you can still have a snack with the others. Right now I’m not up for anything.” “Are you thinking about the invitation too?” Gilbert asked her. “I’m trying to be positive about it, if that’s what you mean,” Daylight frowned. “I understand. Even I am not so dumb to fully trust such a thing.” Daylight shrugged. “Let’s just both hope it turns out to be a good thing.” “Yes… well, I suppose I’ll leave you here to your own devices. If you ever do feel like coming by and having something to eat don’t hesitate. I’m going to go talk to Breakwater for now,” Gilbert said. He waved goodbye to her and started walking away. “Have fun, Gilbert. At least it won’t be too much longer before we arrive at the Archipelago,” Daylight said to him. “Nope, not too long at all,” he smiled. When Gilbert did make it to Breakwater’s cabin and he opened it up he found the Captain slumped over his table, clearly asleep, with scattered maps and other papers around him. Considering how serious Breakwater usually was, Gilbert found the sight quite amusing. And, well, he didn’t want to wake up the clearly tired Captain when he was resting so serenely. He earned it. That did put a damper on Gilbert’s brunch plans though… “Oh well,” Gilbert shrugged to himself and quietly closed the door. “I suppose I should have at least a little tact every now and then.” He looked up at the sky, not able to see Rainbow Dash. “Hm… I could go find her and see if she wants to fly some. Just for fun. Or go fishing again. No racing.” With a strong flap of his wings he shot into the sky, looking all around for Rainbow Dash. Much like earlier when Rainbow Dash had left, Senax saw him go. The griffon was much easier to keep her eyes on, he didn’t become lost in the sky like Rainbow Dash had. In most situations she should probably pay more attention to the ocean and where they were going but considering how calm and empty the ocean in front of them was it was no big deal. The Heart of Azure sailed over the waves while two ponies slept onboard and two other crewmates flew about in the sky.