We'll Be Playing And Having Fun
The Kihutajan Harbor was truly a spectacle to behold. A slender peninsula extended from the eastern tip of the island. Whether this was a once-natural land formation or something that was artificially forged over time, neither Rainbow Dash nor Twilight Sparkle could surmise. Whatever the case, it made for a perfect location for a seaport, with countless docks and shipyards extending outward from all three sides of the strip.
There were hundreds—if not thousands—of boats anchored all around the circumference of the island facility. From tiny skiffs to enormous juggernauts with four sets of sails; Rainbow Dash lost count of all the vessels she saw. Some were moored up to the docks, unloading huge hulking crates of goods. Others were anchored far off the coast—forming a veritable outer layer of wood and iron and canvas. Tiny transports rowed constantly to and from these vessels, and they had to pause and make way for larger ships arriving and departing all at once. The entire scene was very expertly coordinated, and utilized a navigational skill that even put the aerial formations of Ledomare to shame.
The interior of the harbor itself was no less impressive, with rising layers of warehouses and factories interconnected with thick, winding streets. The Kihutajans were as economic with their architecture as they were bold, and Rainbow couldn't help but notice that most of the streets, walls, and bulwarks of the place were reinforced with tens of thousands of crushed and compacted seashells. As a matter of fact, the detritus of the ocean formed the bulk of the urban construction, so that—at a wide glance—the entire facility gave off a pale white sheen, as if making up for the lack of a visible sandy shore.
And then, to cap it all off, there were three enormous lighthouses—each built on thick bluffs situated several hundreds of meters off the north, east, and south edges of the peninsula. These smooth pillars stretched high—around ten to twelve stories, Rainbow guessed. The sun was far from setting, but already Rainbow could see the tiny dots of equines ascending the summits, preparing to light incredibly bright bonfires that would pierce the night-drenched sea in every direction.
All of this awe and wonder, however, did little to stifle the pegasus' growing frustration as the group pulled their carriage along a rustic, dinky marina situated at the eastern tip of the peninsula.
“Nickkkkk...” Rainbow growled. “...what are you doingggg?”
“Just hold on a tick,” the young stallion said. He had slowed the group's gallop to an icy trot. Drawing the wagon, he and Rainbow pitter-pattered down a bent, crooked dock, passing row after row of sun-faded little dinghies moored to splintery wooden posts. “Any second now. Annnnnnny second now.”
“Nick, where's the boat?”
“Annnnnnnnnnnnnyyyyy second now.”
“Where's the boat, Nick?”
“Just... another... row...” Nick said, craning his neck to look past rusted mast after mast.
“Merde! Will you answer the blasted harpy already?!” Sinrar frowned. “Is there a boat here for us or isn't there?”
“Of course there is, ya old sack of kidney stones!” Nick barked back, fuming briefly. “I just... just...” His voice then took on its usual, whimpery tone. “I just haven't been here in a long... long time.”
“Mon petite cheval, I'm older than fifty of your ancestors stretched end-to-end and doused in whale poop.” Sinrar frowned. “I swear, if you define 'long time' as four years, I'm gonna thrash you.”
“Three and a half, actually.” THWACK! “Ow! Dang it! Look, I moored it to the dock around here! I promise!”
“Let's all just calm down and try and give the kid a space to think, okay?” Rainbow said.
“Well put, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “It's not the end of the world if he can't find his boat right away.”
“It's not the end of the world!” Rainbow said. “If worse comes to worse, I'm sure we can... uhhh... borrow another boat!”
“Surely you jest,” Sinrar huffed.
“Hey! I once made a boat out of a bunch of dead deer's petrified wood!” She frowned. “And with only my wits to go by, I made it across the friggin' Blight! Can you boast the same?”
“Meh.”
“Good on you, Rainbow,” Nick said with a weary smile. “Nice to know that somepony has faith in me.”
“No, for real, find the boat—pal—or I'm carving your skin off and turning it into a sail,” Rainbow whispered.
Twilight face-hoofed with a pronounced sigh.
“Read you loud and clear,” Nick said. He turned to face the other end of the docks and instantly brightened. “Ah! There we go!”
Both Sinrar and Rainbow Dash leaned forward. “Where? Where?”
Before them, a majestic yacht was moored, its iron-wrought hull glinting in the sunlight. Thick sails rippled in the sea air, and a smooth rudder broke the waters into thick foam.
“Now that is more like it!” Sinrar said.
Nich cleared his throat. “Uhm... wait for it...”
“Huh?” Rainbow blinked.
Just then, three strapping young sailors emerged from beneath the yacht's cabin. They shouted to one another, drew in the rope, and cast off. With an icy glide, the large vessel pulled out from beyond the docks... and behind it rested a tiny thing with a sail-less mast, bent cross beams, and a faded frost blue hull.
“Hey!” Nick brightened, detaching himself from the wagon. “The paint job is still there!” His smile twitched. “Mostly!” He galloped ahead and descended a series of wooden steps until he stood parallel to the craft.
Even Twilight was gaping at this point. “...seriously?” She looked aside at Rainbow Dash, dumbfounded. “Is that it?”
“Hey... uh... Nick?” Rainbow Dash called out, detaching herself from the carriage. “Is that really your ship? Or is there an even smaller one with rocket engines hiding behind that one?” She gulped. “Because I'm really... really hoping for the latter.”
“Nope, this is it alright!” Nick leaned forward, rubbing his hoof across the hull of the ship's port-side segment. “A trimaran built from love and aluminum... but mostly a lot of aluminum.” He raised his hoof and banged the steel reinforcement. “Hey! It's still sturdy from the time I rebuilt the hull after the narwhal attack! Killer!”
“Six Tribes spare me...” Sinrar facehoofed with a groan. “This cannot be the majestic ship we intend to sail east in!”
“I don't see why not!” Nick pouted, pointing. “It's even got a cabin! Just large enough for me and two sexy mares—errm...” He smiled nervously. “It's got a cabin!”
“Heh...” Rainbow hovered above him, reaching out to tap the mast. “Gotta hoof it to ya. That has my old raft beat.”
“Imbecile!” Sinrar spat. “It doesn't even have a sail!”
“Well... I sorta traded that in for textbook money when I first arrived here three semesters ago!” Nick hollered back. “Forgive me if I wasn't expecting to be roped in on a crazy adventure to find the first of five 'water seeds' or whatever the custard-crap you ponies are calling it. Hey, watch the trimming.””
“S-sorry...” Rainbow Dash hovered back, landing at his side. “Thought you gotta understand, dude, that this thing doesn't exactly inspire confidence.”
“Well, it's been sitting here for forever and a fortnight.” Nick smiled. “It just needs a bit of love, that's all.”
“A bit of love and a bit of bits, you mean.”
“Er... yeah. That too. Eheh.”
“Mmmmfnnghhh...” Rainbow sighed into her hoof.
“Not all is lost!” Nick said, glancing at the two. “I just gotta... y'know... run a few errands around the port to get the supplies that'll make her run smoothly again!”
“At least tells me she has a name,” Rainbow grumbled, staring lethargically at the bobbing trimaran. “We can't be completely out of luck.”
“Uhhhh...” Nick craned his neck, then pointed. “Yeah! Over there! Towards the bow of the middle section! Hah! Best paint I ever used! It's still almost legible!”
Rainbow craned her neck, eyes squinting.
“I named her after the first marefriend I ever had! Just months before shoving off for the K.M.C.A.!”
Rainbow blinked, then arched an eyebrow at Nick. “The 'Swan Song?'”
“Yes, well...” Nick sighed, kicking apathetically at the edge of the dock. “Some ship's names have... more figurative meanings than others... ahem.”
Just then, a shrill whistle lit the air.
All three turned to see a half-dozen surly stallions with thick muscles standing along the edge of the docks.
“What do you think you're doing here?” asked the largest of the group.
“Oh! Just... uhm... grabbing my boat!” Nick said.
“Don't you mean our boat?” the heavy stallion grunted.
“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh...” Nick blinked. “Huh?”
“I don't like the sound of these guys, Rainbow,” Twilight said.
“Er... excuse us, dudes...” Rainbow waved from where she hovered. “Hello. Look... this has gotta be some sort of misunderstanding. You see... pretty boy here moored his ship in this spot about three years ago. It's his.”
“Oh, there's no misunderstanding about it,” the stallion said. He spat at the docks and crossed his forelimbs. “If he moored it here, then that proves it's our property and not his.”
“Huh?!” Nick exclaimed. “Do you even hear yourself?! That doesn't make any sense!”
“Heh...” The stallion chuckled, glancing aside at his amused companions. “Friggin' dumb-as-bricks college kids. They think they're hear to learn about the world, and instead they burn all the bridges behind them.”
“I... I don't get it...” Nick wheezed.
The stallion frowned. “These here docks got sold over to the Sand Piper Company two years ago, bucko! This here's a private marina! Along with anything that's moored here!”
“But... but that doesn't make any sense!” Nick frowned. “My boat's docked here! Why didn't anypony warn me such a buyout would happen?!”
“All customers of the previous owners were notified by mail.” The stallion's eyes narrowed. “That includes you, pal.”
Rainbow looked over at the young pony. “Nick, is this true?”
“Erm... I... uh...”
Rainbow frowned. “Did you ever even check your friggin' mail all these semesters?”
“Well... yes! Er... maybe.” He sweated suddenly. “Look, it depended on... uhm...” He scratched his head, avoiding her gaze. “...on whose s-sorority I was quietly sneaking into every other month... eheheheh...”
“Uggggghhh...” Rainbow moaned.
“Quick, Rainbow!” Twilight whispered. “You gotta salvage this somehow!”
“Okay, look...” Rainbow hovered closer to the surly stallions. “The kid's an idiot. Maybe not everypony can forgive him for that. Can't you just... I dunno... look past it this one time?”
“No,” the largest stallion grunted. “This here's Sand Piper Company property. Heck... you three landlubbers are practically trespassing as it is!”
“Really, pal?” Rainbow pointed. “You're gonna bend over backwards to defend that piece of driftwood?”
“Hey!” Nick protested. “The Swan Song isn't made of wood! And she sure as heck doesn't drift!”
Rainbow continued. “What if we made a deal?”
“For what?” The muscular stallion barked.
“I could... do some errands for you!” Rainbow smiled pleasantly. “This is a big, bustling port! I bet you've never had anything delivered by wing before!” She winked. “It could really... really improve business to get stuff transported between here and the markets super fast!”
All six stallions laughed, causing Rainbow to blink. At last, the largest of the group summoned the breath to speak: “For a moment there—judgin' by your mane—I mistook you for the mysterious mare who started everything! Now I realize you're just as much a moron as shortstop over there!” He spat. “The Blight's no more, lady. As soon as we found out, we hired a buncha pegasi to start doing deliveries for us days ago! Ain't no sense tryin' to capitalize on a business that done saturated itself before you even rolled in to port! Now get lost.” He cracked the joints in his neck. “We've got ourselves some business to attend to.”
Nick gulped.
“Rainbow...” Twilight shifted from where she hovered. “I don't like the looks of these guys. I think they might even be willing to physically hurt you.”
“Really now...” Rainbow cracked the joints in her neck. “...wouldn't that be a crying shame.”
“Rainbow, don't even pretend like you can take these meatheads on!” Twilight hissed.
“You've been asleep for a long, long time, Twilight,” Rainbow whispered. She started fluttering forward. “You might want to close your eyes for the next few minutes.”
“Rainbow, are you crazy?!” Twilight flew in front of her. “Don't—”
“Ahem. Pardon me, boys...”
Everypony looked up at the carriage.
Sinrar stood before his seat, leaning against his cane. “Judging from your charming accents, I take it you sail the northern seas... probably to harvest redwater from the boiling tempests?”
“Yeah...” the thickest of the stallions squinted up at him. “We skim the north. What's it to you, drybones?”
“I can only imagine how terribly bored with the trivialities of life you all must be.” Sinrar smiled. “Especially considering that—aside from staining yourselves with redwater—you live each and every day regretting the fact that there's no more artifacts of Ancient Tribal metals to be salvaged. No wonder you're working such menial, pathetic jobs here at the docks.”
“Sssssssttt!” Nick squealed. “Knock it off, old stallion! Are you crazy? These guys could eat a great white shark and crap out a pile of shivs!”
“Hah hah!” The lead stallion pointed up at the carriage. “Get a load of this old codger! They must keep him around the Academy for sympathy points!”
The whole group laughed... at least until a gold sight glittered off their eyes. Then they all collectively gasped, their gazes locked fixedly on Sinrar's figure.
Rainbow looked over—then did a double take.
Perched in Sinrar's outstretched hoof was a dazzling gold coin with the engravings of a winged creature bearing a lion's mane.
“Judging from your drool, I take it that none of you plebeian lime suckers have ever seen wyvern coinage up close before,” Sinrar said. “I can't imagine what would cause you to defecate harder, the fact that I'm willing to sell this to you... or the fact that I have an entire bag of the ill-begotten treasure.”
“An entire...” The largest stallion gulped. “...b-bag?”
“And all I ask in return is that you free this little larva's precious ship...” Sinrar's bifocals glinted in the afternoon light. “...and provide us with the resources for a long and extensive voyage, of course.” He flipped the coin and held it to his chest—which caused no small mount of flinching. “Surely that is a fair enough deal for salty souls as yourself.”
The leader of the group was fidgeting at this point. At last, he spun around and barked at his companions. “What are you scalawags standin' around for?! Go fetch a sail and some rope! On the double!”
The ponies went galloping off at a desperate speed, branching into various directions as they scoured the lengths of the marina for the necessary supplies.
Rainbow exchanged glances with Nick, then gawked at Sinrar.
“Hmmmphhh... my favorite kind of business ponies,” the former professor said, hopping down onto the docks. “The predictable kind.” He leaned on his cane and squinted at the other two. “Why are you so surprised? I told you that I've been all over the place studying evidence of the western explorers, did I not?”
“I know, it's just that...” Nick smiled blissfully. “I had no idea you had it in you to be so... graceful!” THWACK! “Augh! Dammit!” He rubbed his nose, sighed, and sauntered off towards the Swan Song. “I'll go see if the damn thing is full of spiders or not...”
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I'm going to get my phone taken away if I read this. For sure.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!!
So the ship master is the ship. I did NOT see that coming.
Swannie full of spiders! Swannie full of spiders!!
Hehehehehh. I had to.
I really need to have the scene where Sinrar and Nick confront Dash about her 'imaginary friend'.
Cheers, Swannie. You're a rowboat now.
Sea unicorns confirmed.
SwanSongXNobleJury OTP
Alas, the shipper has been shipped.
Though, noting the meaning of the phrase, one has to wonder why you'd name your ship like that.
Translation: ''Just large enough for me, Rainbow Dash, and her imaginary friend. The old fart can sleep under the open sky for all I care.''
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Aw, I wanted Twilight to see Dashie bust some skulls...
Thirty crunches, ):(. Knock 'em out!
5901936 Nick did say it was the name of his first marefriend...nobody ever said he thinks with the correct head.
Darn, I was hoping for Rainbow Dash to get to fight.
But at least she doesn't have to immediately get on the wanted list. A nice peaceful entry to a country is nice for once.
What was the last one? Emeraldine?
-Spirit
Well, I suppose it was inevitable that Swan Song's "character" would have something to do with shipping
AND I FINALLY CATCH UP.
That Nick shoves himself into a tight little Swan Song at night has more mental imagery than I'm willing to bear at this point.
5902050
How about the fact that from now on, they'll be riding Swan Song into the sunset every day?
The ship is going to get infused with some sort of magical power and come alive. Swan Song wouldn't settle for anything less. Or they will at least run into Swan Song along the way, making her join the Jury.
Wait.
Are we now Swans? Or Songs? WHAT DO WE CALL PEOPLE NOW
Look at what you've done Swany
I kind of figured that she would point out that the boat is actually a drain on company resources and profits just by existing there, and is also an opportunity denier by taking up the space, so by giving her the boat, they would be saving money.
Having actually written that out, it sounds a lot more Twilight like than Rainbow. Ah well.
5902088 Well, I proposed that if we're going to call the group something, rather than something silly like Noble Jury 2.0 it should be something like Lunar Ninth, which is an anagram of Innanhlutr (the actual Norse words). Noble Jury was an anagram of Eljunbyro, and that's how we got the name in the first place.
Or we could call ourselves the Swan Song, because the group spells a Swan Song for the bad guys.
5901952
5901996
Are we really not going to point out that, given this boat was named after a pony, it's highly likely that we'll meet them at some point?
Yay! We're back!
Well the new group has got a boat and the stuff to fix it up. Time to set sail!
5902126 That was going to be my next point, hopefully it will be glorious to actually met Swan Song.
Wow. Swanny is a former marefriend. We don't even get to meet her. All that's left is her name on a decrepit boat, a boat that might be full of spiders. Being an ugly, incompetent chaos monster would have been a step up. Well played, IC. Well played.
But I do have to point out this change of ownership scenario doesn't really work. If the boat has been their property for one and a half years, as they claimed, then they should have sold it—for scrap, if nothing else—instead of letting it occupy a valuable spot in the harbor. They clearly weren't using it.
5902183
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5902126
Calling it now so I can say I told you so; Swan Song(the real one) will be a necromancer/ dark mage of peerless skill. Thus the name Swan Song in relation to the metaphorical phrase.
5902088
Dashians?
fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/307/e/6/rainbow_dash_is_god_by_gaaraofsabaku-d4ex0wr.png
It's gonna be really interesting to see how Twilight reacts when Rainbow finally needs to get her hooves wet and actually fight creatures.
i.imgur.com/ZBBiClF.png
I could have gotten a lot of productive things done today.
5902059
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Swan is going to flip when he reads these chapters... These comments are killing me.
Im impressed as all
about how that boat has lasted so long. I mean, steel and aluminium, extremely reactive dissimilar metals bolted together in a high humidity electrolyte solution for years and its still not just recognisable as a structure, but floating?
Also, aluminium? I only know of two extraction processes, the cheap one that uses stupid amounts of electrical energy to rip the metal from its oxide, when far less power is needed to melt the oxide and cast ir into far stronger and harder armor plate, and the stupidly expensive version, for ripping asteroids apart when you dont want to waste time with low efficincy electrcal solar panels when a high efficincy thermal solar sail mirror will do, where you use a cascade of heat driven reactions between carbon, iron, silicon, magnesium, sodium and finally aluminium.
Or it could be part of the Aincients Metals, but then the price of that ship would be so astronomical as to be terrifying.
As for the rocket propelled dingy. Of course it wouldnt be there. As soon as the place was sold off to be a pivate marina, Bluebird wouldve nested elsewhere.
Hmm, Wyvern coin. Dragon, Griffon cross?
A fine chapter. I'm really liking this Nick character.
Now, we just wait for the ship to set sail.
Congrats, Swannie. I always knew you were gonna be a successful, leading character.
Where is Monsieur Song, anyway? He's done been shipped.
Swan Song reaction in three... two... one...
5902686 Yup! One who does what ships do best.
Swannie commented on the second-most-recent chapter more than 15 minutes ago. He has not yet reacted to being a boat.
By this I deduce he is writing something verbose to show his feelings.
5902088 SHIPPERS. End of story.
So I guess this means Swan has officially been shipped with himself.
...fitting.
s24.postimg.org/fhtovk8xx/4_Glyzlm_png_1.jpg
Swan's lucky his ship hasn't ... sunk.
5902918
Congratulations, Swanny.
I hope you're ready for the endless barrage of jokes aimed at you.
I'm pretty sure that if a boat has been sitting in a harbor for years, it's gonna need some maintenance before it goes anywhere. At the very least the underside would be covered in barnacles. If Sinrar is willing to let go of a whole bag of coins just to get going, maybe he could've chosen to ask for a better boat to leave with.
Yay ship! Yay shipping! Congratulations Swan Song!
s24.postimg.org/jfgykyvr9/0_Amrmpn.jpg
On one hand, I was kinda looking forward to Rainbow kicking butt, or some kind of urban trading quest scenario. On the other, that ship name. Too perfect. And that reveal of the ship behind the bigger boat was delightful. Very Korra-esque.
Well, technically, you will have two mares in there, but I don't like your chances with either of them, for very different but equally valid reasons.
MRW:
welp, Zinrar seems to be good with the negotiating
Nick has a boat
Rainbow a mission
...
we're missing someone
I guess this means Swan Song ships TwiDashNickRar, or will in the near future.
It has happened.
5903048
...
Your reaction was a sinking ship?
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5903166 Well yeah, they were all expecting a glorious trimaran yacht and they got a lame-ass rowboat. Perfect scene metaphor.
5903205
My mind veered to the alternate explanations almost immediately.
Huh...
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
When IC comes to destroy our ships,
We will all scream.
I blame that on you and sleep deprivation.
5903261 That wasn't even on metre. Don't ever try poetry again.
5903269
I keep telling him, and he never listens...
5903269
Ugh, it's freeverse. Though I don't know why I even bother explaining it...
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5903299 applejack.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/139426168426.png