Rainbow Dash winced as Senax’s hoof roamed over the huge bruise on her stomach. “Ow!”
“Sorry! I guess that’s where it hurts the most,” the merpony apologized. Her small hoof now directly over the darkest part of the bruise.
“You think?” Rainbow Dash grumbled.
“Oh quit being a baby. You’re the tough adventurer, aren’t you?” Daylight Gleam grinned.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yes, I am. How’s your head by the way?”
“Better,” Daylight frowned. “A slight headache, but I think it’ll be completely gone by tomorrow and my magic should be back to full capacity. Firing that laser to help you didn’t do me any favors though.”
Before Rainbow could retort, Senax spoke up.
“Nothing’s broken—or ruptured for that matter,” she said with heavy relief after finishing her examination. “You’ve got a very tough body.”
“It’s been through a lot,” Rainbow grinned.
“I’d still recommend resting a bit and rubbing some healing salve on your bruises, but that’s all,” Senax said.
“And don’t sleep on my stomach,” Rainbow said. Grimacing, she also looked at the dark bruises on her front legs. They were still painfully throbbing but her legs at least weren’t shaking so much anymore. Godfrey was just as fast as she was but so much stronger too—it was annoying.
“My throat is feeling quite a bit better already too,” Gilbert said.
“He only choked you for a second,” Daylight Gleam huffed at him, unimpressed.
The four of them were still just out on deck, Senax had gotten some medical supplies (that were mostly unnecessary) and Breakwater had continued to sail while true night came upon them. They wanted to get very far away from Godfrey and The Scourge after all. Overall the day had still gone well for them, Rainbow Dash was merely in a sour mood now thanks to being shown up by Godfrey. She hated losing. That was something that was never going to change about her. One day she really wanted the opportunity to settle things with him for good. He was tough, but she had faced tough opponents before, she was still sure she could beat him on her own terms.
Right now though it was getting time to rest up and continue on their planned journey. No more interruptions from any griffon pirates, or any other sort of pirates hopefully.
Since they both hadn’t managed to stock up on as much stuff as they wanted at the Three Spears and had to use some extra things on their boat, Breakwater was going to have Senax and Gilbert do an inventory as well. Rainbow was happy she was “injured” and got to relax through that. No boring inventory taking for her. Daylight as well still needed more rest compared to the other two passengers.
“Here, Rainbow Dash, let me help you with this,” Senax said and opened up some kind of small container. Inside was some kind of white cream. Senax scooped some out with her hoof and rubbed it on the bruises on Rainbow’s legs. It was cold as ice at first but then quickly gained heat until it almost burned a little.
Rainbow Dash frowned through it. “That’s going to feel great on my stomach… by the way, I can apply it to my stomach on my own.”
“Of course,” Senax hoofed the whole small container to her.
Despite her reservations, Rainbow Dash did as the doctor ordered and rubbed the cream on her belly. It was horribly uncomfortable and she shuddered as soon as she finished up. She wanted to wipe it all away and take a bath. But for now she fought the urges to clean it off. It was going to make sleeping a little tough for a bit, but in the long run it would help her out.
“Hey Gilbert, how about rubbing some of this on your neck?” She offered to the griffon.
“Ehehe… no thank you.”
“Well if that’s it then I think I’m going to retire for the evening,” Daylight said and began walking back to the Captain’s cabin. “I’ve had enough excitement for the day. Wake me when you need me.” She pulled open the door but then first took a step back so she could look up at and talk to Breakwater. “Thanks for keeping at the wheel through the night, I know that’s not going to be easy on you.”
“So long as Senax takes over early it’ll be fine. I’ve done plenty of night sailing before and the weather aint bad or anything either,” Breakwater said.
Daylight nodded and stepped inside the cabin to retire for the evening. Senax and Gilbert got ready to go down into the hold and so Rainbow Dash tossed the cream back to Senax and was left to walk or fly around however she wished. Her legs hurt a little with even light steps so she resolved to simply hover around on her wings unless she was sitting down. Once the cream had stopped bothering her she was planning to go up to the crow’s nest and conk out. She needed a night of sleep too.
Hovering just in front of the bowsprit gave her a nice view of the dark ocean waters they were gliding through. The moon was hanging up in the sky as well, bright as ever, and reflecting off the surface of the water. The clouds had mostly cleared away to give Rainbow Dash an unobstructed view of it and the stars. Those heavenly bodies combining with the wide open ocean gave the whole world out a beautiful look. Dark, but peaceful and pretty. A cool wind also breezed across the ocean, only strong enough to make Rainbow’s mane and tail slightly wave around. It was refreshing for her to just bask there and relax for now.
Off the port bow, a fish jumped out of the water and splashed back in. Rainbow Dash smiled when she saw it. As always, life went on.
She looked over her shoulder and saw Breakwater steering the ship, a small wave was given to him and a small wave was returned. Deciding she might as well get ready for sleep—and doing her best to completely ignore the burning on her belly—she flew up to the crow’s nest. After all, it gave her a nice view too.
“I say, I think we’ve had a tad too much cheese and carrots lately, we oughta look into eating something else before we run out,” Gilbert said to Senax as he looked into a half-empty crate of food while the two were right below the main deck in the cramped hold. “My… the bread is getting close to molding over completely. I’m quite happy that my meat is safely preserved in salt.”
“And that no one else here eats meat?” Senax raised an eyebrow at him.
“Well… I didn’t want to sound selfish.”
“No one thinks you’re selfish, Gilbert. You just put your talon in your mouth sometimes. A lot of the time.”
“Yes, to be perfectly honest that’s something my sister told me plenty of times back when I was still living in Griffonstone.”
“I’m shocked...”
“Yes, well, how are we doing on medical supplies?”
Senax looked into the box she had retrieved the healing cream from. There was an array of bandages, medicine, emergency tools, a mercury thermometer, rubbing alcohol, and more. While they had to use some of this stuff for Daylight and Rainbow there was still plenty left. Though considering the danger of their journey and what had already happened in a brief amount of time they should probably look to stock up on even more whenever they could.
“We’re okay for now but next time we’re in port I think we should definitely refill on a few things.”
“Agreed, Breakwater has a few patches and other supplies left for fixing up the sail in case of another tear but we really should get that replaced too...” Gilbert said as he rooted around through another barrel.
“I had almost forgotten about that...”
“Was nearly a far more nasty experience than it was.”
The two of them spent a little more time going through the various crates of supplies and barrels of food to make sure everything was as it should be. Gilbert then spotted something else lying on top of a crate in the back. His feathers ruffled and his eyes widened in joy as he picked it up.
“My journal! I forgot I had this, I haven’t written any entries since before we met up with Rainbow Dash!” He opened it up and started flipping through the pages.
“I forgot about that too,” Senax said as she walked up to him and peered at the random pages. “Are you finished going through our supplies though?”
“Yes, yes, I think we’ve covered everything,” Gilbert nodded.
“Alright, let’s go back up and tell the Captain,” Senax smiled.
“You go ahead—I want to read more of my journal, maybe write down another entry,” Gilbert said as he looked around the floor. “Where’s the pencil I was using?”
Senax shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. “Just don’t forget to get some rest.”
“I won’t!”
Senax soon left him alone in the hold and Gilbert shortly after that found the old pencil he had been using had rolled towards the front of the hold. Now he hummed in joy to himself while twirling the pencil around and flipping to the last page in the journal that actually had an entry. It would be interesting to see what his last entry was—and now he had so much more to put down as well! He should ask Rainbow Dash if she wanted to join him in writing in it as well… Daylight kept refusing.
Gilbert grinned as he saw his last entry-
Dear Journal,
I dropped my sandwich outside the diner at the port of Malkonrik we stopped at today. For shame!
“Hah! I remember that!” Gilbert laughed. “Hmm… where should I start this next entry?”
...
Dear Journal,
It has been quite some time since I last wrote an entry in you. Since that day I unfortunately lost my sandwich a lot has happened. I almost lost all our money, I became reunited with an old friend I had met much earlier on this journey, we came across my brother again, and everyone almost died! It was most hectic. That said, things are quiet now and we are currently sailing to our next destination as we try and find the treasures of Senax’s people.
Rainbow Dash is a remarkable pony. In truth I believe I knew this since that first time meeting her in the north on the other side of the world. Not many ponies can beat a Yak in a wrestling match. Rather impressive. But it’s not just things like that, it’s her attitude, the way she carries herself, I feel myself swallowed up around her. There’s certainly something special about her. And she’d be very happy to agree with you on that if you ever mentioned it. Daylight, Senax, and Captain Breakwater all get along with her as well, I say the ship has become a far happier and livelier vessel since she came aboard.
Daylight of course continues to hate fun and refuse to just enjoy herself, but that isn’t anything new.
Senax, her mood is harder to place. She puts on a happy face most of the time but I believe the journey is wearing her down, we’ve spent so much time on the ocean and still have nothing to show for it. Daylight and I promise to not let her down but I wonder if she’ll end up giving up before we do. That said I still adore her, I believe her to be a naturally positive pony, but unlike the rest of us there’s more on her shoulders.
Note to self, erase most of what I just wrote about Senax before asking her to write an entry of her own in this journal.
The Captain as always is a stalwart presence. He keeps us focused and can always be counted on in a sticky situation. His knowledge and connections on the Grand Ocean have proven to be invaluable.
And as for seeing my brother again. I don’t even want to talk about him really, I’m still shaken up by how awful he’s become. Oh sure, he was always a bully, a bad bully, to begin with back at Griffonstone. But the vicious monster he’s become in the time since I had last seen him is a difficult pill to swallow. He is utterly heartless and merciless. Everything bad about him as a young teenager has been amplified to an insane degree, every shred of morality or care has been tossed aside by him. Godfrey always did things his own way. I suppose now with all the freedom he has on the Grand Ocean, without anyone to tell him no, his truest and purest self has been unleashed.
I wish I could just talk to him. Even after everything he’s said and done I wish I could bring him back to Griffonstone and have us be a happy family with our sister. He’s still my brother after all. I know it’s a pipe dream but a griffon can still wish, can’t he?
I sighed just now, figured I should write that down.
Well in any sense I’m not the type to stay down for longer than a minute or two. I’m sure things will work out all fine and dandy. It’s such a magical journey we’re on, how could it not have a happy ending?
...
Gilbert looked over his entry in the journal and nodded happily. Perfectly optimistic and bereft of most details that would be normal for a more... standard record of such a big trip. The others would probably have a different way of writing their own entries but this was pretty average for him. He smiled and put the journal and pencil down on one of the barrels in the hold, leaving it in an easy place to retrieve.
“Splendid, just splendid! I should add another entry when we get to the Sea Lion Reefs,” Gilbert said and suddenly yawned. “My, it’s getting late though isn’t it? I suppose I should rest some for the night... then perhaps I can see if anyone else wants to write their own entry first? Daylight keeps refusing but it never hurts to try again! And Rainbow seems like the type who’d love to write about how awesome she is...”
He nodded some more as he scratched his beak. “Yes, yes, that’s it!”
...
Dear Gilbert,
Stop asking me to write an entry in your dumb journal. And stop telling everyone we meet that I hate fun.
...
I have my own Captain’s Log, Gilbert. I don’t have anything to write here. It’s mostly nautical notes and records detailing how many miles we travel each day anyways.
...
Dear Journal,
Despite everything that’s happened, I’ve never felt as calm or happy in my entire life as when I’m swimming in the waters of the ocean. I know one day we’ll find my home, I just know.
I owe so much to everyone on the Heart of Azure. Thank you. Thank you all.
...
Uh, I’m not writing “Dear Journal” cause that’s kind of, like, girly. Sorry Gilbert.
But anyways, I’m here now on this big Grand Ocean or whatever. Even with the huge adventure I’ve been on, it suddenly feels even huger. It’s a big place, it’s a place that clearly has a lot of stuff to see and a ton of history to it. But it’s still a place that’s never seen a pony like me.
I don’t have much else to say right now, I’m not really that type of pony, but I wanted to say that I’m definitely never stopping either when it comes to helping out Senax. We’re getting those treasures and we’re finding Merlantis. You know why? Cause it wouldn’t be awesome otherwise.
And next time Godfrey better watch out for himself. That’s another promise. He’s not getting the better of me again.