//------------------------------// // Temporary Retreat // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// There wasn’t much she knew for certain after that colossal tail hit her. In fact, she couldn’t even be sure if she lost consciousness before or after she hit the water and went under. But despite her mind racing while a series of images replayed themselves at lightspeed in her brain, it was apparently only a few seconds before she was pulled out of the water and into a canoe. Things were a blur, her memories of the past few days were a jumbled mess, and she wasn’t entirely sure where she was. Until a hoof smacked her upside the face. “Hey! You alright?!” Jules yelled at her, a look of worry on his face. Rainbow Dash spat a stream of swamp water out of her mouth and nodded. “Yeah… think so. What about the monster?” “We’re still on its trail. The red powder is showing us where its gone and slowing it down too. But… we’ve lost a lot of boats and have some injuries, so we need to go get more supplies from our hideout first before continuing on,” Jules said. Rainbow Dash blinked, her disoriented body now realizing the canoe she was in was moving. “Oh.” “Claude says we’re not resting or stopping for the day though. We’re getting back out there and killing the monster no matter what. We’ll get on that island for a few minutes and then get right back out,” Jules said. “Does anyone have a plan for actually killing it though? That thing is tough. I saw all the injuries we’ve given it but that hardly did anything at all,” Rainbow said. “I don’t know. Claude thinks we still have a chance to get it so I’ve just gotta believe in him. Thankfully no one’s gotten eaten this time too, I saw how much you’ve been helping us,” Jules told her. “Just doing my job...” Rainbow said. She sat up and put her hooves on the front of the canoe to check things out now. Around her and Jules were several other canoes and they were making their way through the dense trees where they had originally started their attack from. Claude was leading them in what must have been his third canoe of the day. He had an angry frown on his face and she could see him tapping his hoof on the canoe, there was no patience whatsoever in him. He was absolutely determined to end things today and the fact they had to temporarily go back like this was clearly eating at him. The other hunters had just as determined and serious looks on their faces, they hadn’t lost anyone and that red powder stuff had worked well so there was a pretty assured air coming from them. This was going decently, probably better than most of their attacks had gone. But to Rainbow Dash she still wasn’t sure how well this was going to end if they just kept trying to do the same thing again. She had seen its eyes, that wasn’t some normal adversary they were dealing with. If they attacked recklessly, then something as dangerous and vicious at that alligator would look to take as many of them down with it as possible. Plans and thinking weren’t always her way of doing things, but if it helped to save these ponies maybe she could come up with something. What did they have to work with? What could she bring to the table? What new things that maybe Claude hadn’t thought of could be done now that she was here? There was a lot. And she didn’t have a ton of time to think about it all. Rainbow Dash looked back at Jules and raised a questioning eyebrow at him. “How long does that red powder stuff last? Like, isn’t it all going to wash off its scales eventually?” “It’s supposed to last almost a full twelve hours before it dissolves completely, and we threw a lot on it,” Jules told her. “I think we’ve got a long while before we can’t track it anymore.” That was one positive at least. After that the hunters soon made it back to their little floating island hidden in the dense swamp forest. Claude wasted absolutely no time in jumping off his canoe and onto the mud and reed covered barrels and planks of wood that held most of it up. The whole thing bobbed up and down in the water but he paid it no mind as he walked into the small shack atop it. The rest of the hunting party was doing similar, either tying up their boats and taking a stretch or checking over their weapons and other supplies. Claude came back out of the shack in just a moment with another spear and a few more bags of red powder in his hooves. “Don’t take too long! We’re going back out after that monster in a minute!” Rainbow Dash frowned and flew over to him, landing on the island right by his side. “So what’s the plan then?” “The plan is to chase that monster down and kill it. What else?” He looked at her with a disgruntled expression. “Are you sure we can just keep throwing ourselves at that thing? It was kind of tired but it didn’t look very hurt, there’s gotta be a better way of doing this. Otherwise we’re going to start getting hurt. That thing is smart, and really tenacious, you can’t just brute force it with shoddy spears and rocks,” Rainbow Dash said to him. “Like you’d know better?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Sure, you did decently out there, saw you even save Antoine, but you’re not some big game hunter as far as I know.” “This isn’t big game. This is a monster, and I’ve got experience dealing with those. Worse ones than this alligator even,” she glared back at him. “So what? There still isn’t time to waste standing around jabbering about it. We’ve got to find that thing and kill it as soon as possible,” he said. “And I think you, your hunting party, and every other pony in this swamp, would probably prefer if you did that without any of you dying. Look, I get you don’t like me for being an outsider, but seriously, I’m trying to help. Don’t you realize how stubborn you’re being? How stubborn you’re being over something so dangerous? We can be better about this,” Rainbow told him. By now most of the other hunters were watching and listening in on them too. Claude frowned, looking down at the swamp water. “It’s taken too long. We can’t let this thing keep terrorizing the swamp… everyone else you’re talking about? They’re relying on us. I can’t let us seem like failures who can’t even solve our own problems. What would our ancestors think? Every generation has a hardship of their own, to not even be able to stop this monster, it’s an insult to the mud and the bones of our ancestors buried within.” Rainbow Dash sighed and laid a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Would they really hate it if you asked for help?” “No,” Claude shook his head. “No they wouldn’t. I know that. They must be so sad right now… all the ones the monster has killed before their time has come. The ones I’ve been unable to save or even get revenge for. They weren’t put to rest the right way, their bodies and spirits can’t join their ancestors in the mud until we put an end to this monster.” “So come on then, let’s do this together and let’s do it right. Cause I want to stop that monster too. Both for the ones who aren’t here anymore and the ones that still are,” Rainbow grinned. “Well what’s your plan then?” Clause asked her. Rainbow’s grin became a little strained. “Err… I dunno.” “Oh, fantastic,” he rolled his eyes. “Look—we still don’t have any time to waste here so we have to get going after that monster again!” “Just give me a second! Let me think about what we’ve got…” Rainbow Dash said as she mulled over what she and the hunting party had to work with. Spears, rocks, nets, her, boats, the red powder, gator powder, other weapons, the monster’s strengths and weaknesses, where it was vulnerable. Rainbow Dash nodded as an idea was forming in her head. It was all starting to come together. “Okay,” she said and looked back at the shack Claude had just come out of. “I hear you’ve still got a few bags of gator powder left?” “Four,” Claude nodded. “And the monster still hates the stuff just like normal alligators do? It really bothers it if you pour a whole bag on its face and stuff?” “That’s right.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. “Okay… then I know what we’re going to do. And even better, I’m going to be the only one in danger this time. But I promise your ancestors are going to be happy by the end of the day.” “I certainly hope so,” Claude said as his eyes returned to the swamp. “I’ve let them down enough already.”