Daylight Gleam reached up and adjusted the small black bow she wore on her head as she affixed Rainbow Dash with a questioning look. “You want to come with us? Weren’t you on an adventure of your own?”
“I’m still on that adventure—it’s just changed. Or now it’s more like we’re both finally adventuring in the same spot. Either way uh, I’ve kind of been looking for what to do next lately anyways. And I remember you were up to something big when you sailed off for this ocean the last time we met,” Rainbow said.
“Indeed we are,” Gilbert nodded. “We’re still on that same business, unfortunately. Our own adventure hasn’t really panned out all that much yet.”
“Yes...” Senax said, glumly looking down at the ground.
“So yeah,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Let me come with you. You guys are cool, I’m awesome, you could clearly use someone like me, and I need an epic ocean adventure. We all win. Now I don’t have anything else that I want to do first, we can just… have fun together. So it’s a little late but yeah, let’s join up!”
Daylight looked at Gilbert, getting a smile in return. She then looked at Senax. “Senax? In the end it’s your call, not mine or Gilbert’s.”
The merpony looked up at Rainbow Dash and smiled warmly as her morose expression left her face. “I think it would be wonderful to have Rainbow Dash with us.”
“Splendid!” Gilbert clenched a talon and pumped it into the air.
“Heh, thanks a lot!” Rainbow smiled and reached a hoof forward, Senax extending her own and giving her a friendly shake.
“Well then-” Daylight Gleam smiled as well. “Welcome aboard.”
“So who’s this Breakwater guy you’ve been mentioning?” Rainbow Dash asked as they walked along the pier.
“Captain Breakwater. He’s our friend, we’ve been using his boat to travel while we’ve been here in The Hundred Kingdoms and on the Grand Ocean,” Daylight explained.
“Right now we’re docked privately inside the boat repair and construction shop of another friend of ours,” Gilbert said.
“Friend of Breakwater’s, more accurately. We haven’t gotten to know Ballast as well,” Senax said. “Though he’s a good pony too.”
“Ballast… I feel like I’ve heard that name before,” Rainbow Dash pondered.
“We’ll be to his place shortly. It’s not far away,” Daylight said.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Lead the way. I’m the newbie here—in more ways than one.”
The group of four continued their walk up the pier, heading west from the seedier part of the port and getting back to the more business and merchant-controlled spots. Along the way Rainbow Dash realized that Gilbert apparently liked to hum to himself, since he wasn’t quiet the entire time. Senax kept her eyes on the ocean—a small smile gracing her face as she looked at the deep blue water, the rolling waves, and the ships faintly bobbing in harbor. Daylight was the only one that appeared serious, her face naturally seeming to frown even without her trying to, she kept her eyes dead ahead. Even though she had only just met them again earlier it still felt pretty nice to walk as a group with these three together.
As far as the port itself went there were still mostly just a bunch of sailors bringing crates and boxes from large ships and taking them to the street. New ships had probably come in overnight or earlier this morning. With how big the port was she doubted the movement of goods ever really stopped.
“There we are, Ballast’s shop is just right ahead,” Daylight said and pointed.
Rainbow Dash looked and saw a familiar building popping up on the pier. “Oh. I walked by this place yesterday. He’s like a shipwright or something? That’s a pony who builds and repairs ships?”
“That’s correct but Ballast isn’t just any shipwright. He’s the greatest in the entire Hundred Kingdoms!” Gilbert exclaimed.
Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes. “That’s just an advertisement, Gilbert. It’s puff.”
“He is very skilled at his work though,” Senax smiled. “He’s got quite the gift for his job and a very creative and inventive mind when it comes to all things nautical.”
“I think I might’ve seen him yesterday...” Rainbow muttered.
The four of them walked towards the front of the building and eventually reached the same door Rainbow Dash had seen yesterday. Daylight Gleam walked right up to it and knocked a few times.
“He keeps it locked,” she explained to Rainbow. “He doesn’t just take on any job or let ponies in without an appointment.”
The door was fairly heavy and Rainbow Dash couldn’t hear through it—right up until she heard something slide behind it and the door was opened a crack, a chain still on it to keep anyone from barging right in. A hazel eye peeked out of the crack and saw them all standing there. “Oh, you’re back!” Ballast’s voice said to them, he then closed the door back up and removed the chain as well to open it fully and let them in.
Just as Rainbow had expected, he was one of the two ponies she had seen arguing the previous day. The middle-aged one with a brownish-orange coat and white mane and beard with a pressure gauge Cutie Mark. As opposed to that previous time, a friendly smile now stretched on his face.
“Come in, come in, Breakwater’s here too,” Ballast said. He then looked over at Rainbow Dash, maybe noticing her for the first time. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Rainbow Dash!” Gilbert gleefully introduced her. “She helped us-”
Daylight silenced him with an elbow to the ribs.
“Oof! S-She’s a pony we met a while back before we came here… we had the luck of meeting up with her again,” Gilbert finished.
“She’ll be joining us on our search,” Senax said to him.
“Well alright, nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” Ballast said and stuck out his hoof for her.
“Nice to meet you too,” Rainbow Dash smiled and shook it.
As they all stepped inside his large office—that was more like a big warehouse halfway built over the water—Rainbow Dash took a look around. The front part of it was a normal business place with several desks and cabinets overflowing with large rolls of papers and blueprints. The entire place was actually all one big room but there was a loft built above them where Rainbow Dash could see a bed and some other furniture, and above that there was another platform built right below the ceiling that had a few hammocks stretched across it. Behind the more office-like portion of the building was a work area, the floor was metal and there were several workbenches, boxes of supplies and tools were crammed against the walls along with nuts, bolts, boards of wood and strips of metal.
And of course the back half of the room was what really got her attention. A dock that let in the water from the harbor outside through openings in the side of the warehouses’ walls, the back wall taken up by a large pair of metal doors. More than anything though, Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she looked at the ship docked inside the large building. It sat, tied up by a rope leading from the stern and wrapped around a large metal cleat, with its anchor over the side and resting at the bottom of the water to keep it safe and secure.
The boat was a simple construction, not nearly as large as the huge merchant vessels she had seen but bigger than the rowboats and sailboats for personal or family use. It was maybe about sixty feet long from bow to stern, with a single mast that had a square sail currently furled up at the top, and a crow’s nest atop the mast. It was a fairly low set boat with the hull not rising too far out of the water but far enough for Rainbow to think there might have been another deck or at least a storage area below. The stern was raised up at the back and a cabin sat below it, Rainbow Dash could see the windows at the back of the boat for it. On the raised stern as well was the ship’s large steering wheel.
Surprisingly enough though, the boat only took up the left side of the private dock inside Ballast’s building. The other side had something else entirely above it—a metal skeleton of some other kind of ship vaguely in a tube shape, suspended on chains above the water. Rainbow Dash couldn’t really tell what it was supposed to be.
“Wow, quite the place you’ve got here,” Rainbow Dash said to Ballast as she continued to look around.
“Thank you… sorry that it’s a mess but I’ve also had a few guests moving in and out over the past few months,” Ballast said.
“Your hospitality is very appreciated,” Senax told him with a giggle.
“You said Breakwater was in?” Daylight asked him.
“Yeah, he’s on the boat right now—hey, Breakwater!” Ballast suddenly shouted out towards the moored boat, cupping his hooves over his mouth. “Your friends are back, get out here!”
Rainbow Dash heard a door being opened on the boat—likely the one that led into the captain’s cabin at the stern—and right after that a pony hopped up onto the back of the boat and looked out over the railing at them. An earth pony stallion maybe a decade older than the middle-aged Ballast, he had a peach colored coat, blue eyes, and a short seaweed green mane and tail that was just a shade lighter than Senax’s mane. He wore a small black cap on top of his head that covered most of his mane and on his flank was a Cutie Mark of a breaking wave. Without taking a break, he jumped off the back of the boat and landed on the metal dock.
“You’re later getting back than I expected. Did something happen?” Breakwater asked them, his eyes silently regarding Rainbow Dash for now. Up close she could see the lines on his face that betrayed his age and rough life at sea.
“No, not really, we just ran into an old acquaintance and lost track as we caught up,” Daylight Gleam easily lied with a weak smile on her face.
“Oh yeah?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Well I’m Captain Breakwater—like you’ve probably already heard.”
“And I’m Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you,” she nodded to him.
“How do you know these fellows?” He asked her.
“Heh, met these three back on the other side of the world, a long time back. They asked if I wanted to come with them but I had my own adventuring to go on back then. Now though...” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m free.”
“Adventuring, huh? So you’re just out looking for fun and excitement on the Grand Ocean?” Breakwater rubbed his bandanna-clad head.
“And helping out any ponies in need I come across,” Rainbow said.
Breakwater shrugged. “Fair enough. A pony out looking for adventure is no different from hundreds I’ve met in my life sailing the Grand Ocean.” He then looked past her at the other three. “Since you all got back later we have to postpone leaving until tomorrow by the way.”
Daylight sighed. “I was worried about that, oh well.”
“That’s perfectly fine though isn’t it? It gives Rainbow Dash here time to settle in and get acquainted,” Gilbert said, ever positive.
“There are still extra hammocks up top, just use whichever you like,” Ballast said.
“Hold on—they aren’t getting to rest so easily. You were supposed to buy some extra supplies for our next voyage, did you forget to do that too?” Breakwater asked them.
“Uhh… it was a really engaging conversation?” Daylight Gleam nervously answered.
Breakwater frowned, clearly suspicious of what had actually gone on today, but he let it pass. “Well, whatever, just get on back out there before the stores close tonight. It’s not the end of the world if we don’t get that stuff but I don’t want to have to borrow more from Ballast.”
“I’ve told you before you don’t need to worry about something like that. What’s mine is yours,” Ballast said to the captain.
Rainbow Dash looked between the two of them. “So how do you two know each other then?”
Ballast smiled. “Breakwater here saved my life when I was younger. Out on one of my first voyages when I was a deckhoof on a merchant ship. We were attacked by pirates, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be standing here today. I’ve owed him since.”
“I’m grateful for you letting us use your facilities like this but any debt’s already been paid in full. I don’t like being a drain on you,” Breakwater scowled.
“Call it me just being generous or kind then,” Ballast shook his head. “Either way you’re just going to have to live with it—you old coot.”
Breakwater clicked his tongue. “I aint that old.”
“Anyways, Gilbert and I will handle getting the supplies,” Daylight said. “Senax, you and Rainbow Dash can stay here, Gilbert’s all I’ll need to help me carry stuff.”
“I suppose I can’t exactly argue about being roped into that,” Gilbert shrugged.
“No. You can’t,” Daylight frowned at him.
“Alright, the rest of us will be waiting for you to get back,” Senax said.
Daylight Gleam smiled to her and Rainbow Dash before grabbing Gilbert, who waved goodbye, and heading back out. Outside it had started to get closer to sundown but there was still enough time left in the day to get around. From what Rainbow had seen of the port they would have dozens of choices of where to buy any seafaring related supplies. And with Daylight in charge of the money there was far less chance of something stupid happening.
“I’ll get settled in I guess. There any food around here?” Rainbow Dash asked Ballast.
He nodded. “I’ve got some stuff around. Later tonight we can all eat dinner, though it’s not going to be a fancy meal or anything. Just porridge mostly.”
“Trying to keep costs low,” Breakwater muttered.
“That’s fine, I don’t need to eat anything right now, I was just wondering,” Rainbow said as she looked up towards the high ceiling of Ballast’s shop. She saw the higher loft there with the hammocks again. “So that’s where everyone else is sleeping?”
“The bed on the other loft is mine of course, and Breakwater just sleeps on his ship, the hammocks have been what Daylight, Gilbert, and Senax have been using yeah,” Ballast said to her.
“I’m fine with hammocks. Looks like you’ve got plenty of space,” Rainbow shrugged.
“Need it for my work. Not used to all the guests, like I’ve said, but the extra space has certainly helped,” Ballast said.
Rainbow Dash flew up high to the ceiling, there was a ladder for everyone who couldn’t fly to use, and landed in the high loft. It was cold. But not really any colder than sleeping outside would’ve been. Everyone had probably gotten used to chilly and drafty weather and nights while out sailing on the ocean. Just as she had gotten used to extreme cold (and extreme heat) on her own journey. She could deal with it.
Again her eyes drifted over to the other thing hanging in the shop above the water. Unlike all the other boats she had seen it looked like whatever it was was going to be made entirely out of metal.
“Hey Ballast, what’s this thing?” She pointed towards it.
“Oh that? Just a special marine project of mine I’ve been working on for… well years if you count when I first drew up the plans. Still a long ways from finishing it though,” he said, looking at it.
“Alright, good luck on it then,” Rainbow said to him.
“Thank you,” he smiled.
“I’m getting back on my boat then,” Breakwater said. “Got stuff to do—just holler when those other two are back and we’re ready to eat.”
“I will,” Senax nodded. She then looked up at Rainbow Dash as well. “If you want to take a break and catch some shuteye then go ahead, I’ll be working with Ballast to get dinner prepared as soon as Daylight and Gilbert come back.”
Rainbow Dash stretched her body like a cat and yawned. “Honestly, yeah, I think I could use that.”
She grinned and hopped right into one of the hammocks. Cold as things were, she was way more comfortable in it than she had been on that pile of rope.