//------------------------------// // Not the Best Company Ever Kept // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// “You can’t possibly think that I’d-” “I’d love to have you join up with us, Rainbow Dash!” Daring Do said and came up to give Dash a hoof bump. “Be just like old times.” The Red Hornet’s jaw dropped as she glared at Daring Do. “Are you serious?!” Daring Do sighed. “I know Rainbow Dash, she’s a more than capable pony. She’d be a huge help to us.” “She seems like a cocky, arrogant, reckless, pest. We don’t need someone like her with us.” Daring Do just stared at her. The Red Hornet coughed. “Okay, that might be the pot calling the kettle black, but it doesn’t make it any less true, honey. We’re fine without her.” “I’m flying right here you know, you can just talk to me about it,” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “The answer is no,” The Red Hornet narrowed her eyes. “We could use the extra help and you know it. Shining Diamond has a lot of lackeys under his control,” Daring Do tried reasoning with her. Birdseed cleared his throat. “I think-” “This aint a democracy!” The Hornet shut him up immediately. Rainbow Dash growled and flew down to land right in front of The Red Hornet’s face. “Look, I’m offering to help. You get that, right? And from what you all said it sounds like something really serious is going on so why not take what help you can get? You obviously respect Daring Do so you should trust what she says about me too. I know we’ve had a few disagreements in the very brief time we’ve known each other but I think we’re at least on the same page of doing the right thing and stopping this Shining Diamond guy.” “And why do you even care?” The Red Hornet raised an eyebrow at her. “Because that’s just the kind of pony I am,” Rainbow shrugged. “No one needs to pay me or ask me to do the right thing. I’m just gonna do it.” The two mares stared at each other long hard, the other ponies in the tent unsure of what was going to happen, before finally the scarlet mare backed off. She turned around and stared at the closed tent flap leading outside. “Alright. I can see that I’m not going to out-stubborn you at least. And if Daring Do believes in you… then I guess I can too,” The Red Hornet said. “Awesome,” Dash grinned and shot a wink at Daring Do. The author/archaeologist grinned right back. “Welcome aboard, Rainbow Dash.” “Kind of an unexpected turn of events but I suppose that means I won’t have to help you find a caravan today,” Cart said. “Heh, guess not,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Seriously though, thanks for all the help you gave me here. I’d probably be dying of thirst in a ditch right now if it wasn’t for you.” “Meeting you certainly made things exciting as well. Good luck out there, Rainbow Dash.” Cart smiled at her and then looked at Daring Do. “You have your own transport and supplies and everything for making it through the desert then?” “Don’t worry about that,” Daring Do said. “We did come here all the way from Dry Hole on our own already.” Cart nodded. “Then hopefully I have nothing to worry about.” “I don’t know about the others but Daring Do has a ton of experience with deserts and traveling and stuff. We got this,” Rainbow Dash said. “So it’s ‘We’ already is it...” The Red Hornet grumbled. “Well, Rainbow Dash, it unfortunately sounds like we wont be seeing each other again, but I wish you well on your travels,” Cart said to her. “Thanks, dude. And good luck on your trip to Dry Hole,” Rainbow said. “Thank you,” Cart looked over at his coworkers. “Alright, we’ve still got work to do today so let’s make up for the lost time. And someone keep an eye on that camel.” “I think that’s our cue to head on out too then,” Daring Do said. “Come on everyone.” “Back to our tents then?” Birdseed asked. Daring Do nodded. “Yeah, we need to gather up our supplies and head out of here to Two Hump Oasis as quickly as possible.” “So we’re getting on the move immediately? Sounds good to me,” Rainbow Dash said. “We won’t be traveling through the desert super fast but we’ll make good time with just the five of us,” Daring Do said to her. “And maybe while we’re going through the desert you and Miss Valentine can get to know each other better. And maybe even start to get along.” “Let’s not be crazy here,” The Red Hornet said as she held open the tent’s flap so they all could leave. “Like you said there’s no more time to waste so let’s get our things and go. We can talk when we’re on the road.” Daring Do rolled her eyes but her comrade did have a point. “Alright.” She nodded to Rainbow Dash and the others and the five of them left the tent together. “I never thought I’d get to go on an adventure with you while I was out here,” Rainbow said to Daring Do as she flew alongside them. “This is so awesome!” The former group of four had set up camp at the far edge of the non-camel quarter in One Hump Oasis in a spot that was out of the way from the main thoroughfares and markets. They had two small tents—one for the mares and one for the stallions—that were easily collapsible and placed in sacks, and a number of bags and backpacks. All in all it was enough for a couple of ponies to easily carry and travel lightly through the desert with. They only had the essentials for surviving and camping out in the ocean of sand between oases and other stops. No wagon or anything, they were walking or flying. “Hmm,” Daring Do thought as she looked over their supplies. “We might want to get another skin of water and some more food before we leave One Hump Oasis. There was more than enough with four even if we rationed but I want us to be extra careful with another mouth to feed. We’ll all need to be in our best shape traveling through the desert, especially if we suddenly come across Shining Diamond or his cohorts.” “I can carry whatever extra stuff you need me to. So long as I have a little water I can handle the heat of this desert no problem,” Rainbow Dash boasted. “Not as well as I can,” The Red Hornet whispered just loudly enough for Rainbow to hear. Rainbow Dash frowned. “Oh yeah, you’re so awesome for wearing all that black in the desert. Totally not a showoff or anything.” “And you’re going to tell me you’re not a big showoff either? With that swagger and smug way you carry yourself?” Hornet snorted. “The difference is I earned this smugness and can back every last thing I say up,” Rainbow taunted. A vein popped on The Red Hornet’s forehead. “And you’re saying I can’t, honey?” “Oh for the love of—can you two just stop it already?” Daring Do said, pushing herself between the two other mares. “We’re on the same side so get along!” She glared at the two of them in turn. “Or can your egos not deal with that?” Rainbow Dash sputtered but backed off. Wanting to indignantly say that the other mare had started it. “Yeah fine, no big deal.” “I’m fine with it too. I’ll get along as long as we’re working together,” The Red Hornet said, turning away from the two others. “Good,” Daring Do sighed in relief. “Let’s just finish up here, okay?” “I’ll go buy us some more food and water,” The Red Hornet said and before Daring Do could say anything else she had already started to quickly trot to the markets. “Forget her,” Rainbow Dash said and went over to try and get everything out of the tents and packed away. “I was hoping the two of you would get along better,” Daring Do said. “Dare to dream,” Rainbow shrugged. “I thought she was cool when I first saw her, but yeah, no.” Daring Do rolled her eyes and shook her head but didn’t bother saying anything else. While the two of them worked on packing up the tent together, Rainbow Dash kept looking over at the two stallions working on their tent. She didn’t really know anything about the two other than their names and her suspicion that Birdseed wasn’t from around here. Frankly, the both of them just rubbed her the wrong way. Rainbow Dash had met a lot of bad ponies in her life, and these two gave off the same sort of vibe. Not like The Red Hornet who was obviously just very abrasive and maybe a little too indifferent when it came to other creatures. Birdseed and Coin Flip had the countenance of common thugs. The types of ponies Rainbow Dash thought their group was supposed to be fighting against. And definitely not the types that she would expect Daring Do to work with. She was going to need to talk to them. Figure them out. “Hey,” Rainbow Dash whispered to Daring Do and then glanced over at Birdseed and Coin Flip. “What do you know about those two?” Daring Do briefly looked over at them and frowned. “Not a whole lot, to be honest. They were already working with Miss Valentine when I met her. She says there’s nothing to worry about from them but I always thought they were pretty skeevy.” “Hm,” Rainbow Dash nodded and stopped packing things up, instead walking over to the two stallions. “Yo, what’s up?” She waved and gave them a friendly smile. Birdseed’s attention snapped to her, his eyes suspicious and his face a hard-set frown. Coin Flip on the other hoof looked positively delighted to have a mare willingly speak to him. He ran a hoof through his grimy mane and grinned at her through his own rotted teeth. But his eyes carried a devilish look to them that almost made Rainbow shudder. “Well hello there,” Coin Flip said. “Uh, hey...” Rainbow’s grin faltered. “Birdseed and I were just finishing up with out tent and supplies. What’s on your mind?” The unicorn asked her. Meanwhile the earth pony just stared at her silently. Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I was just kind of curious, how do you two know The Red Hornet? What made you join up with her for this mission to stop Shining Diamond?” Before Coin Flip could answer, Birdseed cut him off. “We’ve worked with Miss Valentine before.” “Doing what?” “Business.” “Where?” “Here and there.” Rainbow Dash stared at him and he stared right back at her. Coin Flip meanwhile didn’t exactly seem to get what was going on. “If you’re interested in some of our business let me tell you about the first time we met Valentine,” the unicorn grinned. “It was-” Birdseed swiftly punched him in the shoulder to silence him. “Shut up. Can’t you see she’s not the type of pony who would enjoy hearing that story? Use your head, she’s just trying to size the two of us up.” Now Rainbow Dash frowned. “Okay, seriously, what’s the real deal with you two?” Birdseed scowled. “It’s not really any of your business. We’re here because Valentine asked us to help her and that’s all that matters.” Realization dawned on Rainbow Dash. “You’re only working with her right now because she’s paying you, isn’t she?” “That’s right,” Birdseed replied. “Valentine isn’t happy about the arrangement either for your information, but she needed help and we were the only two she could find on short notice. Then we met the other pegasus later.” “The two of you...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she looked at Birdseed and Coin Flip. “You’re the type of ponies that would gladly be working for Shining Diamond if he came to you with an offer first. Aren’t you?” “If the offer was good enough,” Birdseed shrugged. “So long as something pays well I’ll do it. That’s why you shouldn’t worry about Coin Flip and I either. It’s bad business to break a deal and Valentine is lining our pockets well. There’s no reason for us to mess things up here. So you can just let us be, stop prying, and we’ll do the same. We don’t need to be friends to accomplish our goals together.” “It normally helps,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “But fine, I know I’m not exactly in Equestria right now. Twilight can be the one who tries to make friends with the jerks. But are you really not bothered by what Shining Diamond is planning to do here?” “Ask me how little I care,” Birdseed said and went back to packing up the tent. The conversation was over. “Well aren’t you nice,” Rainbow grumbled. “Doesn’t matter to me one bit either,” Coin Flip said and also started finishing up his work, an unfriendly frown had replaced his grin as he became aware of Rainbow’s reason for talking to them. “So long as I get paid.” “Right,” Rainbow Dash said and turned around to go back and help Daring Do. “Sounds like it’s gonna be a lot of fun traveling with the two of you.” It didn’t take much longer for Rainbow Dash and Daring Do to finish packing up their tent and supplies. Instead of either of them carrying it though, Daring Do said Coin Flip and Birdseed had been the ones made to carry most everything while they traveled. Part of The Hornet’s way of making them earn their keep. Well Rainbow Dash was fine with that. And shortly after that, The Red Hornet came back with some extra food and water. She dumped it in front of Rainbow Dash. “You can carry your own.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Was already planning to. So where is Two Hump Oasis anyways? How far are we traveling?” “It’s southwest of here and we’ll be out walking through the desert for several days at least. There are some wells and other stops I know about along the way. It wont be a problem,” The Red Hornet gruffly replied. “Two Hump Oasis is closer to the middle area of the desert,” Daring Do said. Rainbow Dash hauled the bag of water and pack of food onto her back. “Let’s get going then, I’m looking forward to an adventure. And that doesn’t include the walking part.” She then stopped and looked at the scarlet mare for a moment. “Oh, right, I wanted to ask you something. So is Valentine your name and The Red Hornet is just a title or nickname?” “To my friends I’m Miss Valentine, but to my enemies I’m The Red Hornet,” the other mare replied, narrowing her eyes behind her sunglasses. “Okay, got it Hornet, let’s get out there,” Rainbow smirked and flew ahead of her. “Ugh,” Daring Do sighed and facehooved. The party of five left One Hump Oasis behind as they set out in a vague southwest direction for their new destination. It was already fairly late in the day, not past dusk yet but getting close, so they probably weren’t getting too far before they would have to set up camp. As Rainbow Dash looked out into the desert it was already nothing more than an empty ocean of sand and dunes. Civilization was barely behind them and it was like they had entered another world. The Red Hornet took point, Rainbow Dash flying low behind her, Daring Do walking under and a bit to the side of Rainbow, and Birdseed and Coin Flip pulled up the rear. Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to expect from this group, or from Shining Diamond who they were trying to stop, but she was excited nonetheless.