//------------------------------// // A Brief History Lesson // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Before dawn had even broke the next morning, Rainbow Dash and Gilbert were up and searching their mountain island for a freshwater spring. Daylight was still passed out with Senax nursing her back to health, and Breakwater had started on repairing their sail. Everybody had a job to do and they wanted to get things done as quickly as possible. Rainbow and the others knew Godfrey would have his pirates out looking for them. They had to be careful not to be seen. Rainbow Dash wasn’t worried about dealing with any of them herself, but if one escaped or ran off in the middle of a fight and reported back to Godfrey it would be very bad for them. She had an empty barrel clutched in her hooves now that needed filling, both she and Gilbert had been given them. After searching for a bit, the sun had just started to come up. But it wasn’t as warm and nice of a day as yesterday had been. Rainbow Dash frowned as she looked to the east. The storm was still approaching. Thunder and lightning from it were becoming much easier to see and hear and the ocean was becoming more wild with white-tipped waves starting to bear down towards the Three Spears. It annoyed her in another way as well—if it was here right now it would be raining and they could just get all the freshwater they needed like that. “If Godfrey would just come out here and face me one on one again I could totally finish all of this...” Rainbow mumbled in annoyance. She passed by a pineapple bush growing on the dirt path up the mountain but just had to leave it be. They weren’t wasting time picking fruit anymore. Their only focus was on getting water. The fact something was growing right here though meant there probably had to be a source of water nearby. Maybe a stream or small pool that trickled down after a heavy rain. In the end she just had to follow the greenery and she knew she’d eventually find whatever source of water was feeding it. She also kept her ears out for the possibility that she’d hear some flowing water too. Rainbow wasn’t sure where Gilbert was, the two of them had gone up different sides of the mountain to cover as much ground as possible. She hoped he was doing alright—the griffon seemed monumentally predisposed to somehow getting himself into trouble or doing something dumb. Not that she was really one to talk. It’s just that she was pretty sure she was better at handling herself whenever she actually did get herself into trouble. Gilbert… he was a good guy. That’s all she would say. She sighed and took a deep breath, shaking her head and looking out at the approaching storm again. “Gotta beat that if nothing else. Stupid cannons… can’t even leave safely if Godfrey’s ship is facing us. He’d have to not know where we were at all or not be in a position to fire at us this time...” Rainbow Dash decided to think about that kind of stuff later, right now getting water was still way more important. Rainbow Dash reached a level part of the mountain between two broken peaks on the southern face of the mountain. She looked around and saw not just worn paths from ponies traveling down them over the years, but several wooden benches and railings that had been constructed by the edge of the cliffs. There had to be some reason to walk up all the way here. She couldn’t imagine sailors on the Grand Ocean would build stuff like this just because they wanted to walk up the mountain and sight-see. So Rainbow decided to follow the path leading further up the mountain instead of just blindly searching. There was more grass and dirt along the path but less of any fruit-bearing trees or plants. And a series of wooden boards were nailed down into the ground, acting like “steps” between the dirt and grass as they curved up the side of the mountain. “Come on already, how tough can it be to find some mountain spring? It’s not like it’s even supposed to be hidden here or anything.” Perhaps Celestia or some even higher power heard her whining, because soon after she had traveled up the latest steps she emerged onto another small summit with an arch of stone ahead of her and the sound of running water coming from beyond it. “Please let this not be some sort of cruel joke…” Rainbow rolled her eyes and flitted through the stone arch. A short while later and Rainbow Dash was carrying a full barrel of water back to where the Heart of Azure was hidden. Heavy, but nothing she couldn’t handle. It took her longer to get back than normal since she was on the lookout for Godfrey and whatever other pirates made up his crew the whole way back. She didn’t need to accidentally give away where they were anchored. The islands—especially their lower reaches and beaches—were surprisingly big though, with plenty of different places one would have to check out if you were trying to find a hidden boat. And Godfrey didn’t even know for sure which island they had stopped at, so unless he got lucky his pirates had a lot of ground and water to cover. In fact if it wasn’t for her keen sense of direction and commanding aerial view, she probably would’ve gotten lost on the way back. The broken shoreline with all its alcoves and back passages of water was a confusing mess. Inevitably though she spotted the secluded pool where the Heart of Azure had been anchored and with a grin on her face she flew down to it. She took one last look to make sure there weren’t any pirates or Godfrey himself around before she dropped down past the smooth stone walls and came to a landing on her ship’s deck. Gilbert was already there, while Breakwater was halfway up the mast working on the sail, with Senax and an apparently now awake Daylight Gleam watching over him. “Yo, I’m back!” She announced. “Welcome back! Was your search for water as fortuitous as mine?” Gilbert asked with a wide smile. “Yep—not as fast though, apparently.” “I got quite lucky with finding a small waterfall on the eastern side of the mountain.” “Bleh, I had to search everywhere.” “At least you found it,” Daylight said to her, still watching Breakwater. Rainbow Dash looked over to the unicorn. She was cleaned up, but on her forehead she had several stitches from the wound Godfrey had given her. “And you’re doing alright? When I left you were still conked out and pretty red looking in the face.” “I’m fine. It was just a bit of overexertion, nothing serious,” Daylight said. “I’ve been helping Breakwater fix the sail since earlier. Difficult without using magic but it’s better than nothing.” “Mm. You know that cut’s going to leave a scar, right?” Daylight sighed and reached up towards the stitches before pulling her hoof back down. “It’s not a big deal, I’ve never cared about being a beauty queen or anything.” Rainbow grinned. “Heh, I can appreciate that.” “Before the two of you start talking about the weather or something-” Breakwater interrupted. “Rainbow Dash? How about taking that water down to the hold. Then you can help me fix up the sail too.” “Aye, aye, Captain.” She grinned up at him. “I told you not to say that...” Rainbow Dash—with the help of Gilbert—took the newly acquired water down into the hold. Then the two of them came back out so hopefully they could get the sail fixed and maybe look towards getting out of here. Breakwater honestly looked to be mostly done even without their help already. He was hanging from the top beam of the mast and sewing the top of the tear together. Meanwhile the bottom was already done and a large patch of cloth to close up the rest of the hole was already halfway sewn on one side. It looked like what he was doing was just a quick-fix until they could actually get an entire replacement sail, but it would work for now. At least Rainbow Dash had to assume it would. “Come up here and hold the patch down for me!” Breakwater said to Rainbow Dash. “On it!” Rainbow flew up and listened to his directions, she wanted this done just as quickly. “Are we going to leave as soon as it’s finished?” Senax asked. “I don’t think we can,” Daylight shook her head. “Middle of the day? When I don’t have the energy for a long-lasting camouflage spell? If Godfrey sees us he can run us down and blow us to pieces and there’s nothing we could do about it.” “I could go beat the crud out of Godfrey myself...” Rainbow mumbled. Daylight raised an unamused eyebrow at her. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, Rainbow Dash. But that wouldn’t end well and I think even you know it.” “I can take him one on one,” Rainbow huffed defiantly. “Be that as it may, this isn’t such a simple situation.” “Do you suggest we wait until dark? Won’t the storm be upon the island by then?” Gilbert questioned. “Leaving right before or during the storm is probably our only bet, as crazy as that sounds,” Daylight said. “Daylight’s right, we need to sneak out,” Breakwater said. “It’s about the only way to get out of his sight and make sure he can’t just chase us down again the next day. We can’t just leave we need to make sure he doesn’t know where we’re going when we leave. The Scourge is faster than our vessel. So we have to leave like that or do something else to make sure he can’t follow us anytime soon.” “Like potentially leaving right before the storm hits the Spears so Godfrey gets stuck in it and can’t sail away until the storm actually passes,” Gilbert said. “Possibly. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to sail right through a storm anyways,” Breakwater said. “I admit that sounds like something he would do.” “Hey so—while we’ve got some time and are just fixing up the sail—can you guys fill me in on what’s up between you and Godfrey?” Rainbow Dash suddenly asked them. “When I met him he told me why he came out here, and I kind of figured some stuff on my own, but how did he start chasing you down? And you said he’s one of the reasons you came to the Grand Ocean in the first place? Also I’m still kind of surprised you and him are brothers, Gilbert.” “You’re certainly not the first to say that,” Gilbert nodded. “Well… if you’re curious about all of that stuff, Rainbow Dash, I suppose the story starts with me.” Daylight said, rubbing her head. “You see—a long while ago at this point—I met Gilbert and Godfrey’s sister and became friends with her. She hadn’t seen her brothers in a long time, and knowing I was a pony who traveled extensively she asked me to find and check up on them.” She glanced at Senax. “I met Senax here when I was initially searching for Godfrey. And Senax decided to join me on my trip while also beginning her own, since we knew Godfrey had gone to the Grand Ocean so we had a common destination.” “And I was worried about traveling on my own,” Senax smiled. “Gilbert also tagged along when we told him the full story too and you mostly know the rest about us coming here in search of Merlantis,” Daylight continued. “But yes, we never exactly told you about the fact that a psychotic griffon pirate is after us. We first met Godfrey months ago—not even that long after reaching the Grand Ocean actually. He’s quite the famous individual after all and getting his attention wasn’t difficult.” “Godfrey and The Scourge have been feared on the Grand Ocean for a long time now. They say when you see those golden wings, you better pray. He’s not in the business of leaving survivors or taking captives, only the luckiest and most resourceful escape from him at sea.” Breakwater said. “Alright, but how come he’s even chasing you so much? I mean—I know why, yeah, he’s looking for Merlantis or the Trident and knows you’re hunting it down too. But how did he figure out that’s what you’re doing in the first place? I mean it’s not like you’d just tell a dangerous pirate that,” Rainbow Dash asked. Daylight and Senax both slowly turned to look at Gilbert. “Ehehe… I may have, er, mentioned it to my brother when we first met back up. And I may have also let slip the fact we already have the magical Horn of Listening with us...” Gilbert said, smiling awkwardly in embarrassment. “Gilbert… dude...” “Well I didn’t know he was as bad as he is just yet! I mean, I always knew my brother was a bad griffon, and the rumors we had heard since coming to the Grand Ocean just made it worse, but I didn’t think he was actually downright evil! So I was… somewhat unguarded when it came to him. Just one time though! I knew it would never be a good reunion but he’s still my brother… I didn’t think he’d actually be even worse than what the rumors and stories said,” Gilbert told her. “Godfrey has wanted all the knowledge we have on Merlantis and the treasures, and the Horn of Listening itself, ever since. And he’s even mentioned a few times he wouldn’t mind taking me alive,” Senax shivered. “B-But I refuse to let that happen. I wouldn’t let myself be a prisoner to him, being used to find the treasures of my ancestors just for his selfish desires.” “Of course as you’ve seen he doesn’t exactly have a problem with blowing us all up either,” Daylight shrugged. “My brother has quite the volatile temperament...” “No kidding,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “It’s really why he left Griffonstone in the first place. All the trouble he used to get into before finally becoming bored of it all and going off in search of more excitement. Not in the pure-hearted sense like you and me either,” Gilbert said. A sharp whistle came from Breakwater. “Hey! Eyes on your work!” “Sorry!” Rainbow said and made sure she was holding the cloth right. “To be honest I don’t think Godfrey really even cares about the value of Ponyseidon’s treasures, nor the discovery of Merlantis. He’s already plundered so much, and he could practically rule Sharktooth Island if he wanted, he doesn’t care about what anyone else thinks so it’s not about glory either, he’s just out to have fun and make things difficult for others,” Daylight said. “He enjoys tormenting the weak and helpless,” Senax scowled. “I do think that perhaps he wants the Trident to control the seas, so he can truly do whatever he wants, and that’s why he’s so adamant about chasing us. It’s a treasure unlike anything else for him.” Rainbow Dash frowned. “We won’t let him get it then.” “Absolutely,” Gilbert nodded. “You know that’s wonderful and all, but first can we FIX THE SAIL?!”