//------------------------------// // Clear Skies and Calm Waters // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// In the crow’s nest of Heart of Azure, Rainbow Dash stood with her front hooves draped over the side, lazily looking ahead at the cool ocean water. Another ordinary day out on the ocean. One more full day after this and they should get to the Three Spears. But for now, Rainbow Dash was having to deal with a certain issue that had come up for her lately after being stuck out here on this boat. “I’m so booooored,” Rainbow Dash slumped down and rested her chin on the side of the crow’s nest as well. “Seriously, why can’t this boat go any faster? Me and Gilbert could flap some wind into it… or pull it with some ropes attached to us. I’m just so tired of seeing nothing but water.” The reality was she knew it didn’t really matter that much. The boat could only go so fast even if she helped out and they had to travel with it since it’s not like she and Gilbert could carry the other three from island to island. It was just the initial excitement of making it out onto the open ocean was starting to wear off. Not only that but she had finally been filled in on what the purpose of all this was—there was simply nothing else going on for her right now. Not unless she wanted to start learning even more random nautical terms and facts. She had put a hold on those lessons after learning the important things. Her mind could only take so much boring knowledge being crammed inside it. “Blehhhh,” Rainbow Dash flapped her lips. She had tried counting birds she saw. But there had barely been anymore since that one Albatross. So she started counting clouds instead, but that also got boring quickly and soon enough they even started sailing under a completely clear sky. So all she had to look at both up and down was just clear blue. The easy waves they traveled over gave her no excitement, and neither did the slight winds just calmly pushing their boat along. “How do ponies deal with long ocean voyages like this? No wonder I don’t know many pegasi that have gone sailing...” she dropped away from the side and fell back inside the crow’s nest, lying on her back and looking up at the blue sky. The crow’s nest had still quickly become her favorite place to stay on the ship when she wasn’t just flying off on her own. It was the highest point, go figure. She and Gilbert often traded it off, and right now he was flying off somewhere. Rainbow Dash couldn’t even really gather the enthusiasm to do that though. If they just got to the Three Spears soon she’d at least have something new to see and explore. She could fly all around those islands and check out every last bit of them. Mountains sticking right up out of the water with tropical fruits growing everywhere? Yeah, she’d take that compared to staying on a small boat surrounded by nothing but clear blue water in every direction. Her wings needed that, and everything else was craving something new and exciting. Maybe they’d even meet other ponies there she could talk to. Like Daylight had said, it would kind of just be a cool thing to celebrate getting to see and step on her first island out here. It was a big deal. She could jump right off the boat and into the lagoon water, or onto a sandy beach. It would be awesome. Her first, her very first stop out here on an ocean that was bigger than any other place she had traveled to on her journey so far. Rainbow Dash almost considered that sort of momentous occasion the real start to her ocean adventure. And even then it was just a brief stop. The Sea Lion Reefs was where they were actually going for real. ...which made Rainbow Dash worried that she might have to wait even longer before anything exciting happened. The Reefs didn’t look too far from the Three Spears on that map but it had to still be at least a couple of days by boat. So right after her first island she was going to be back to nothing but trudging over the calm ocean waves again. She had to fly more or she was going to go insane. Closing her eyes as she lied there in the crow’s nest, she allowed herself to simply feel the gentle rocking and movement of the boat once more. Maybe a nap would do her some good if she wasn’t going to do anything else. A nap was always good. “I say, Rainbow Dash, you look positively bored out of your mind!” Rainbow’s eyes slowly opened back up to see Gilbert peering into the crow’s nest at her. “Thanks, Gilbert. I didn’t think I looked exactly like I felt. So thanks for informing me.” “You’re welcome! But why so bored? It’s a beautiful day out here, the smell of the ocean is in the air, doesn’t it just make you delighted?” He took a deep breath and held a talon to his chest. “Ahhh… the ocean.” “I need a little more activity to not get bored,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood up, once more placing her hooves on the edge of the crow’s nest and looking out at the great expanse of water. Gilbert perched on the horizontal beam of the mast and looked with her. “I see, I see.” “Do you?” “But of course! Though I seem to have a far easier time dealing with the quiet moments than you do, don’t forget that I left Griffonstone searching for fun and adventure in the first place as well.” “I guess that’s true… funny how we started off just wanting the same thing and now here we are on an adventure together. You seemed to have left on a whim just as much as I did.” “A flight of passion,” Gilbert nodded. Rainbow grinned. “Heh—yeah. I guess you would be pretty good at seeing eye to eye with me, Gilbert.” “So then perhaps an idea I have now might be something you’d be interested in?” She looked over at him. “What idea?” “Care for a race?” Rainbow Dash blinked and she stood up straighter, her wings unconsciously fluttering at her sides. “A race?” “Well from what you’ve told us about yourself you seem to love a good race. A good competition of any sort. You’re quite the flier, right? I myself can’t say I’m anything special but I’m up for a fun contest between friends if it’ll give you something to enjoy.” “A race...” Rainbow Dash hopped up so she was standing on the rim of the crow’s nest. “Yeah… that’s good… that’s exactly what I need right now!” She grinned. “Good thinking, Gilbert!” He chuckled awkwardly. “Like I said though it won’t be much of a contest for you if you’re going all out, not if you’re half as fast as you’ve said you are.” “I’m probably even better than I’ve said I am, but don’t worry about it. I’ll hold back, or even if I go full speed then so what? We’re just having fun!” Rainbow Dash. “Very true.” “I already know I can beat anybody else in a race, but flying is still more fun when you’re doing it for a reason,” Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air and flapped her wings, ascending high over the Heart of Azure. She raised a teasing eyebrow down at the griffon. “You coming or what?” “Haha! Of course!” Gilbert spread his larger wings and took to the air with her. From down below, Daylight Gleam peered up at them, putting a hoof over her eyes to block out the sun. “What are you two doing?” “Having a race!” Rainbow yelled. Daylight shrugged. “Have fun I guess.” “Not everyone is as allergic to fun as you are,” Senax snickered from beside her. “Oh whatever...” Rainbow Dash and Gilbert flew up and up until the Heart of Azure was no more than the size of a pebble in their vision. So high up they could see for miles in every direction, see the deep blue ocean water, see the sun glimmering on its surface. There was no sign of any islands just yet, but Gilbert was at least right about it being a beautiful day. With some more positivity running through her head, Rainbow Dash could appreciate it better. “How do we decide where we’re racing too?” Rainbow Dash asked him. “Hmm...” Gilbert looked around with his sharp eyes before he smirked. “Ah! There aren’t hardly any clouds around, but I spot one out there!” Rainbow followed his gaze and saw a low-flying puffy cloud out in the distance. Most of the sky was so clear it stuck out pretty well. She punched her hooves together and licked her lips in anticipation. “Alright! There and back it is.” “I’ll count to three and then we’re off!” “Go for it!” “One… two… three!” As soon as the final word left Gilbert’s beak, both of the winged friends shot off at high-speed towards the far away cloud. Rainbow Dash didn’t even remotely go at full speed right from the start, she wanted to ease into it. And she didn’t want to leave Gilbert in the dust that quickly. As the wind billowed past her face she looked to her side to see how he was doing. For the moment he was doing decently at keeping up with her—actually flying pretty fast for a griffon. Rainbow Dash grinned, knowing she wasn’t in any danger of actually losing this race. She hadn’t had a real race since… that time in the Metal Mountain? Every other time she flew was just for leisure, travel, or part of a fight. “How you feeling, Gilbert?” She shouted to him as the wind whipped by. “Haha, I can at least still keep up for this!” He shouted back to her. Rainbow glanced ahead and saw they were about halfway to the cloud already. “Let’s pick up the speed then!” With a strong flap of her wings she shot ahead of him with complete ease, even creating a blast of air pressure that shook Gilbert. He recovered in a second but she was already far ahead of him—and flying faster than he could ever match. “Not unexpected...” Gilbert smiled and still flew forward as fast as he could. “Come on, Gilbert! Don’t give up so quickly!” “I’m not giving up, I’m just pacing myself!” “Hahahaha!” Rainbow laughed at his excuse. The cloud was coming up and she could easily slingshot around it and start heading right back to Heart of Azure. She was willing to bet that if she had gone all out from the beginning that she could finished the race before Gilbert even made it to the cloud. She hoped Daylight, Senax, and Breakwater were all watching this too. It was even better when there was an audience. Victory was a good enough prize, and cheers only sweetened it. In a second she had reached the cloud and with a sharp turn she rocketed around it. Her body blurred a mix of blue and rainbow as she completed the first half of the race and started on her way back to the boat. It was a split-second that she flew past Gilbert at lightning speed, getting to see his shocked face and hearing a squawk of surprise from his beak. Now he was getting a front row seat to just how fast she could really fly. Rainbow was hoping her words couldn’t do it justice. There were some things you just needed to see and experience for yourself. Now she was angling down and going fast for the Heart of Azure. The only thing not just deep blue out on the ocean, it was easy to spot. If she didn’t slow down before she reached it, the tornado she was practically brewing behind her might blow it off course. Considering she was sure Gilbert was nowhere near her she probably didn’t need to put this much effort into winning the race. But it was fun to just push herself too. “Guess who the gold metal is about to go to!” She shouted to the wind as the ship grew bigger and bigger in her vision. She didn’t even know or care how far ahead of Gilbert she was at this point. She could see the figures of Daylight, Senax and Breakwater down there but none of them seemed to be actually watching her and Gilbert. Their loss. Next time she and Gilbert really needed to get them involved too. Hopefully his spirit wasn’t too broken by how badly she could beat him—another race would be awesome. Rainbow Dash was coming down fast and would land on the Heart of Azure in seconds, so she put on the breaks and glided down over the main deck’s railing, skidding to a stop just in front of the mast. “Have you ever seen a landing as clean as that?” She grinned at the others. “Eh, seen a few seagulls land just as well,” Breakwater shrugged from the helm. Rainbow Dash frowned. “Liar.” “It was very impressive,” Daylight clapped her hooves together with a smirk on her face. “You’re very fast,” Senax giggled and nodded. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Ugh… your guys’s congratulations and cheers could use a lot of work. Next time I’ll show you how to do it.” “I-I say… I say you are indeed quite fast!” A breathless voice came from above. They looked up to see a tired looking Gilbert descending to the deck. He landed with a heavy plop and brought a talon up to wipe away the sweat that had gathered on his forehead. “You became nothing more than a blur, I couldn’t keep up at all!” Gilbert said. “Racing’s just my specialty,” Rainbow shrugged. “Was fast as a kid and I’ve gotten better and better as time goes by. I’m the fastest thing you’ll see on wings.” She glanced over at Daylight and Senax. “Hey, one of you should totally time me next time me and Gilbert race, then I can try and break my old time.” “I w-wouldn’t mind that either. Nothing wrong with a little… a little self-improvement,” Gilbert said. He was still a bit winded. “Fine, fine, I’ll take care of that,” Daylight said. “You two featherbrains...” “Just don’t go too fast and start a hurricane around us!” Breakwater shouted. “Hey don’t worry, I’ll be careful when it comes to the boat. Not like I capsized it just now, right?” Rainbow Dash saluted him. “Perhaps next time instead of an aerial race with Gilbert or a test of your own speed you’d like to have a swimming race with me?” Senax proposed. “Hmm...” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. Senax was fast underwater, she had seen that already. Rainbow was certain she could swim pretty fast as well but she doubted she could match Senax’s speed in the water. But so what? Even if it wasn’t her forte she wasn’t going to turn down what could be a fun race. Especially since more swimming would probably be good for her. A grin spread across her face. “Heh, alright, you’re on too!” “I...I still want a rematch as well!” Gilbert said, panting. Rainbow looked over to him and raised an eyebrow. “Sure. But how big of a handicap do you want me to give you this time?” “Hardy-har-har...”