//------------------------------// // Mother Ocean // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// The blue ocean stretched all around Captain Breakwater’s Heart of Azure. The sapphire waters shimmered in the early light of the morning, deep and impenetrable, Rainbow Dash’s eyes could hardly see into them any further than a few feet. Already the coastline behind them had vanished and now if Rainbow Dash didn’t know any better, she’d think the entire world was one big ocean without any land whatsoever. She was lying down on the end of the bowsprit, intensely staring at the water as the Heart of Azure gently cruised over it. The sea was calm today it seemed, no sign of real waves on the horizon at all. Right now it was a pleasant cruise—something she should probably be thankful for. It was good that she could get used to sailing, learn the ropes, at a calm time like this instead of having to deal with huge waves and stormy winds. Judging by her luck when it came to weather there was definitely going to be a time that they got stuck in a big storm. Everyone else was letting her have her leisure time too and just get accustomed to what ocean travel felt like. Breakwater hadn’t pushed for her to learn anything yet or watch him or help the others out with something. In the end it was still early in the morning and the five of them were relaxing before anything else had to be done. Senax and Daylight were staring off the starboard side of the ship, standing together silently, while Gilbert was at the bow, just behind Rainbow Dash, and gazing ahead. Even he was quiet right now and simply enjoying the beautiful wide open blue. Cawing overhead got her attention and Rainbow Dash looked into the sky to see seagulls flying overhead. Still close enough to land to see them, but for how much longer? The sky itself now was just as blue as the ocean as the sun had fully come out and hardly any clouds blocked its light. Below in the deep water there were probably all sorts of fish, sharks, sea turtles, and whales, but they were hidden to Rainbow Dash right now. She kind of wanted Fluttershy here to tell her about what she’d be seeing if the water was a little clearer. Movement ahead caught her eye and Rainbow Dash looked to see a seagull—no wait, this was a pelican—dropping down from the sky and skimming over the water. It dipped its beak in for just a second and came up with a fish before flying back up. Well, that was easy for it. Rainbow Dash let out a brief chuckle and shook her head. Out here they wouldn’t be able to just find new food so easily, since they couldn’t fish like that pelican. But Breakwater and the others had to have brought more than enough for any journey. The captain seemed way too experienced with ocean travel not to. At some point she should probably go down into the hold just to see what they all had. A sudden splash from behind and Rainbow turned her head to see that Senax had dove into the water off the side of the ship. The merpony was going for a swim. Her pale yellow scales shimmered beneath the water, making her appear as a bright fish or sea serpent traveling beneath the waves. Rainbow Dash watched her, how easily she swam, how she didn’t need to come up for air, how she didn’t seem to disturb or move the water at all. The merpony took to the sea with her flippered tail as naturally as Rainbow Dash took to the sky with her wings. Rainbow had a smile on her face the more she watched. Maybe when they got to warmer water she’d join Senax down there for a time. Daylight watched their merpony companion as well with a small smile. Though she seemed more than content to stay onboard. Swimming was alright. Not Rainbow Dash’s favorite thing in the world of course but not bad. Good exercise, you could race other ponies, she could still use her wings for it, and so long as the water wasn’t freezing it just felt pretty good. But right now she just really didn’t feel like doing anything. A lazy day is what it was. A napping day where she could finally relax knowing she had embarked on a new journey. She didn’t need to keep crawling around some port city or try and force things anymore. The adventure was already coming to her. That relaxed nature was reflected in her posture and her lying about on the bowsprit with her legs dangling beneath her and swaying in the breeze. A shark might think she was bait on a hook if it saw her. Rainbow was confident enough even in her relaxed state that she could jump away from any daring shark that got courageous. And if Senax was swimming out there right now there probably wasn’t anything to worry about anyways. Behind her she heard Gilbert yawn and stretch his wings, he took to the air soon after and circled around the Heart of Azure a few times. Every now and then she saw his shadow pass over the water. Gilbert didn’t seem to care as much for flying as her but apparently even he needed to get into the air every now and then. Rainbow herself ended up yawning and she closed her eyes while lying right there on the bowsprit, getting a little more rest, trying to get used to the gentle rocking of the boat. With the wide open sail and the easy breeze in the air, along with the current, their ship was making good progress across the water. Not as fast as she could make on her own of course but it was faster than wagon travel or just walking on land. The train out of Ponyville likely beat it or could at higher speeds but Rainbow Dash never really bothered to figure out how fast it could run. Everything that weren’t her own wings just seemed the same type of “slow” to her. For now though she stopped thinking, about anything, and just rested. Her eyes were closed, the ocean was all around her, and things were peaceful. Rainbow took in the feeling of the whole world. Just letting it all in without anything else. The cries of seagulls above, the water lapping against the hull of Heart of Azure, the sound of Gilbert flying, the smell of seawater. It all joined together. “Are you enjoying yourself?” Rainbow slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to see Daylight standing at the bow behind her now. The unicorn smiled. “How’s your first day on the ocean going?” “Mm… going pretty well,” Rainbow said and yawned. “Just… just relaxing.” “Yeah, I can see that,” Daylight said and looked up at the circling Gilbert. “Surprised you aren’t flying up there like he is.” “I’m used to flying, not so much to floating.” “Heh.” Rainbow shrugged from her prone position. “Yeah, just figured I’d try something new, you know?” “I understand. I had been on boats a few times before I started this trip with Senax and Gilbert, but sailing for so long was still a new experience,” Daylight said. “The novelty lasts a while.” The sound of something shooting out of the water from the port side of the ship reached their ears and they looked over to see Senax jumping over the side and back onto the deck. The water slid off her slick, scaly, body in a way it never would have if she was a normal pony. There was no need for her to shake or even towel herself off. She noticed the two of them at the bow and let the water completely drip off her before smiling and walking over as well. Rainbow Dash changed positions on the bowsprit, no longer lying over it like a lazy cat but turning around and sitting on it with her back turned to the open ocean. “How was your swim?” She asked Senax. “Refreshing,” the merpony sighed in pleasure. “I always love the opportunity to dive in the ocean. For so much of my life I never could, only having small rivers or ponds around to swim through instead. Being out here now I almost never want to come back out every time I go in.” She looked between the two of them. “What were you two talking about.” “Nothing really,” Daylight shrugged. “We’re just passing the time.” “Doesn’t seem like much else is going to happen today,” Rainbow said. “You should be grateful for that, truthfully. Sea travel can be rough, especially with a bad storm or pirates,” Senax said. “Well… I guess I’m grateful that I’m at least getting the opportunity to get used to sailing before anything crazy happens,” Rainbow said. She didn’t need to mention how she thought a pirate attack might be kind of cool to deal with. “I’d say starting tomorrow Breakwater will teach you some of the specifics of sailing. Just enough so you can help out in a pinch or give yourself something to do while we’re out here. If we ever do get in trouble, everyone will need to be able to pull their own weight,” Daylight said. “And I’ve gotten adept at manning the helm while he’s busy with other things, so I’ll get to practice something too,” Senax proudly smiled. “No kidding? That’s pretty cool. I wonder if-” “I say! I say down there!” The loud voice of Gilbert cut Rainbow Dash off. They all looked up at him and Daylight shouted up. “What’s the matter, Gilbert!” “Could Miss Rainbow Dash come up here?” He asked. “I’ve spotted something a bit odd looking in the water and I wanted her to see it as well!” Daylight and Senax looked at her and Rainbow Dash just shrugged. “Guess I should see what’s got him so interested,” she said and flapped her wings, leaving the bowsprit and quickly flying up to Gilbert. He was flying well over the mast, one of his talons over his eyes to block out the sun as he gazed far ahead at the ocean before them. He was squinting and he had a somewhat more serious expression than normal. “What do you see, Gilbert?” Rainbow Dash asked as she reached him and started to follow his eyes. “A shadow. Beneath the water,” he said and pointed out to it. Rainbow looked and saw what had apparently concerned Gilbert. A gigantic shadow, a black spot in the otherwise deep blue ocean, was off to the front and port side of their ship. They were almost about to sail right past it. Rainbow didn’t really know what to make of it, she figured incredibly deep spots might look black from above, but this didn’t seem like the same kind of thing. And Gilbert had sailed out here before so he would’ve seen it before. “It reminds me of seeing a whale before it breaks the water’s surface,” Gilbert said. “But it’s just… huge.” “Do you two see something up there? It’s not pirates is it?” Breakwater called up from the helm. “No! It’s this big shadow beneath the water off the port side and—and I think it’s getting bigger,” Rainbow shouted down to him. “Huge shadow? Can’t be...” Breakwater whispered and a smile slowly tugged up his lips. “But it’s about the right time of year… I can’t believe it.” He started laughing and turned the ship slightly to starboard to give them more room from the shadow. “Hey! You two get back down on deck! The four of you are about to see something amazing!” Rainbow Dash and Gilbert shared a look with each other before shrugging and coming back down. They joined Daylight and Senax, who were already by the port side of the ship. “So what’s going on, Captain? What’s that shadow?” Daylight asked him. “Just keep your eyes on it,” he said with a barely contained giddiness that Rainbow Dash was surprised to see from him. The four others were still confused but they did as instructed. Now even from here on deck they could see the dark spot in the water growing bigger and bigger. Something was right below the surface—coming to breach it any moment. They watched as the water started to rise, like a bump forming beneath the waves, as the shadow finally made its way to the surface. At last the water broke and a dark blue ridge appeared from out of the water along with a massive spout of water shooting into the sky. More and more of the great back of whatever this thing was rolled along, pushing out of the water before diving back down. “It is a whale,” Gilbert said in awe. “But... but it’s gigantic. It’s the size of an island.” “Mother Ocean,” Breakwater said. The four turned to look at them, seeing a peaceful smile on the captain’s face as he watched the whale rising to the ocean’s surface. “She only comes up once a year, maybe even once every two years, for air. Some sailors go their entire lives without ever seeing her even if they spend every day at sea,” he told them. “We don’t know how long she’s been alive but it’s been hundreds of years at least that she’s been swimming through the Grand Ocean. Seeing her at the start of any voyage is considered a blessing.” His eyes looked to Rainbow Dash. “And you, Rainbow Dash, getting to see her on your very first voyage at sea, on your first day of being out here? You’re one lucky pony.” “No kidding...” Rainbow said as the whale’s large body kept going by, now its huge fins in view as it started to dive back down after taking a deep enough breath. “It’s our first time seeing it too. I didn’t even know about this creature...” Daylight Gleam said. “Didn’t think we’d ever see her come up for air,” Breakwater said. “Or I would’ve at least mentioned her sooner.” At last as Mother Ocean went back down into the ocean’s depths, her tail rose up out of the water. Waterfalls of ocean water fell off it, the tail itself was so broad that it could’ve covered most of Ponyville in shadow. There was no question about it at all as Rainbow Dash stared at it in awe, it was the largest living thing she had ever seen in her life. Bigger than any dragon, bigger than the hurricane-creating pegasus, bigger than an Ursa Major. To think something like that lived in the ocean, that it swam for a year without needing to come up for air. It was incredible. “She’s usually in the deeper parts of the ocean, so deep you’d never find her. You only ever get a glimpse of her like this,” Breakwater said. Mother Ocean’s tail came back down and subsumed into the ocean water, leaving nothing more than faint ripples and waves behind. Though it could’ve easily created a tidal wave if it wanted, its actions were all far too gentle for such a thing. Quickly enough the dark shadow under the water disappeared until it was gone completely and the ocean was its normal deep blue all over once again. The whale had gone back down to where it would presumably stay for another year. “What a creature,” Gilbert said. “Yeah,” Senax nodded. “I’m glad you could all see her. Everyone should be blessed enough to see Mother Ocean at least once in their lives,” Breakwater said. Rainbow Dash kept staring out at where the whale had gone back down, an impressed smile on her face. What else would she see out here?