Rainbow Dash looked at Gilbert.
Gilbert looked back at Rainbow Dash.
Senax gulped and bit her lip, staring out the corner of her eyes at Rainbow Dash.
Daylight Gleam disinterestedly looked out the window.
“Well, Gilbert? Do you feel lucky? Is this your lucky night?” Rainbow Dash asked him.
“I believe it is. This isn’t your usual domain, Rainbow Dash,” the griffon replied with a steely look on his face.
“We’ll see about that,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at him.
“Shoot already then. If you’re so confident,” he challenged.
“Careful, Gilbert. It could end badly for you,” Senax said.
“Oh for the love of—would you all stop acting so serious already?” Daylight grabbed her mane and practically slammed her face into the table. “We’re just playing a board game! Rainbow Dash, please just throw the dice and finish your turn!”
“You’re really a killjoy sometimes you know?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and shook her head.
It was true though, they were just playing a board game. It was one of several Rainbow Dash had been gifted by the crew of the Meer’s Bounty, along with some other things. She had been looking forward to trying them out and having fun with them all day. But she wasn’t sure if everyone was going to join in. The four of them—even with a whiny Daylight—was a good turnout.
They had cleared the table of all their food and other things and Rainbow Dash had grabbed one of the board games at random. It turned out to be some kind of adventure styled game where you picked a game piece and had to go around the board gathering items and avoiding monsters before returning to where you started. You could also set traps for other players or avoid them. It turned out to be an intense experience and they had all gotten really into it, aside from one of them, with it now being night time and the game still going on. The movement on the board was decided by rolling a pair of dice, which were now securely gripped in Rainbow Dash’s hoof. She was trapped by Gilbert, but with the right roll she had the opportunity to escape him and potentially win the entire game.
She shook her hoof back and forth, shaking the dice inside. Her tongue licked across her lips as she looked back down at the board and saw the slight opportunity she had. Luck was usually always in her favor when it came to games of chance and gambling. But perhaps playing a board game was slightly different than playing with cards. The fact that she was in this situation to begin with may have been proof of that. In a card game the three others at the table would’ve given up and left already.
“Sorry, Gilbert, but there’s just no way you could ever beat me,” Rainbow Dash said and threw the dice.
All eyes watched as they clattered and rolled across the board, bouncing off of some of the pieces and scenery stuck to it, before coming to a stop.
A pair of threes stared back up at the table and Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof in victory.
“Yes!” She shouted.
“Bah!” Gilbert stuck his chin in his open talon and huffed. “That only gets you out of my trap, you haven’t completely won the game just yet! Senax and I have our turns next!”
“Do whatever you think you can. In my eyes, this game is already over,” Rainbow Dash smugly grinned and folded her hooves over her chest.
“Your absurd luck aids you well even if it’s not a mere card game it seems,” Daylight said to her.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I just win at everything.”
Daylight rolled her eyes. “You know if that’s the case then maybe not everyone is going to want to play those other board games with you.”
“Oh come on, it’s still fun to play. You can’t say you’ve never been bored when we’re sailing out here either,” Rainbow frowned.
“That’s true, but maybe Senax and I can just play on our own without you,” Daylight teased.
“Don’t worry about her, Rainbow Dash,” Gilbert gave her a thumb’s up. “Even if I constantly lose I’ll still gladly join you for any game.”
“And who’s to say we’re even going to lose now?” Senax said as she picked up the dice. “It’s my turn now, and I’m still in a position to win this whole thing too.” She grinned over at the unicorn. “Don’t let Daylight ruin the mood for you, she’s just upset because of how badly she fell behind early.”
“Pff,” Daylight snorted and looked away from the table.
“Hehehe,” Senax giggled and tossed the dice across the board.
Her roll was decent and it carried her to the last treasure she needed. Now all there was for her to do was make it back to her starting point and she would win. The route was treacherous thanks to traps Rainbow Dash had laid though, and it was long. Overall, Rainbow Dash was still in the best position to win. Gilbert grabbed the dice next, he could potentially make things more difficult for Rainbow Dash but if his roll was poor he might end up completely out of the game.
“I still feel lucky!” Gilbert said as he shook the dice around in his talon.
“Good, when you felt lucky on my turn it worked out for me,” Rainbow Dash smirked at him.
“Pish-posh!” Gilbert stuck his tongue out at her and threw the dice.
The dice came to a stop with three pairs of eyes glued to it.
“Fudge,” Gilbert sighed.
“Hahahahahaha!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but release a big belly laugh. “Well, sorry Gilbert, but I think you’re out of the running now. And I bet the next time I roll I can end this whole thing.”
“Maybe a different game then after this one. We have several now…” Gilbert said, looking at the pile.
“Fine by me, but first I have to make my victory official,” Rainbow said and went to scoop up the dice.
“You’re skipping Daylight’s turn,” Senax said.
“Please-” Daylight put a hoof up. “Let her.”
Rainbow Dash just grinned before blowing on her hoof and letting the dice roll…
The next game they had picked out of the pile was something completely different. You played as a “ship” going from island to island on an ocean and conquering them. Building up resources and eventually coming into conflict with the other players. Unlike the first game, dice didn’t decide your movement, instead you drew action cards from a deck. Certain bonuses were hidden on random islands and if you left your islands undefended the other players could potentially move in and try to take them over. Even more than the first game it made for a brutal experience with four players all competing against each other.
Yes, four, they had convinced Daylight to keep playing with them despite it now being well into the night.
The board itself was huge too, more like a large mat that covered the entire table. The artistry that made up the background was also very impressive with stylized whirlpools, islands, sea serpents drawn in the corners, smashed wrecks of battleships in rocky waters, and castles drawn on some of the bigger islands. It was getting that inner child part of her worked up, the part that still made her heart beat with excitement every time she read a new Daring Do book despite having met and been on adventures with the real Daring Do before. This was a fun little adventure all in itself. She knew for a fact that a number of her friends really enjoyed games like this. Spike, Starlight, probably Twilight too if there was a trivia portion to the game.
“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said to the others. “How do we decide who gets to go first?”
“Well if we get the dice out from the previous game we could simply roll for it,” Gilbert suggested.
“Good idea!” Rainbow went right over to the now boxed up game and opened it up, now rooting around inside for the dice.
“Why am I still doing this… I should’ve just gone back out to enjoy the fresh air,” Daylight shook her head.
“Now, now,” Senax patted her on the head.
“Daylight I’ll make a deal with you. If you win this next game we’re playing, not only will I shut up for a week, I’ll make Gilbert shut up for a week too,” Rainbow said to her as she pulled one of the dice out. “That’s not a bad prize at all, right?”
“Hm…” Daylight mused and plucked the dice from Rainbow’s hoof with her magic. “No, that’s not a bad deal at all. I suppose the highest number goes first?”
“Go on,” Rainbow Dash gestured to the board.
Daylight grinned and tossed the dice up into the air, letting it fall back down onto the board where it bounced several times before coming up “Six”.
Rainbow Dash raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. “You didn’t use your magic to manipulate how it would land or anything, did you?”
“I would never.”
“Yeah. Sure,” Rainbow Dash stared at her with mock-seriousness. She grabbed the dice and rolled it herself, followed by Gilbert and Senax. None of them rolled a six to challenge Daylight for the first turn (something that made Rainbow Dash give her a suspicious look every role) and it ended up being Daylight followed by Rainbow Dash, followed by Senax, with Gilbert going last.
“Well your luck is still good,” Gilbert said to Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Can’t ever change that.”
“You know, I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to win this game but I think I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you lose it,” Daylight said to Rainbow.
“Way to be the bigger pony...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Maybe that’s just how I have fun. After all you’re all always accusing me of hating fun and being a grump. You wanted me to enjoy myself? Here I am doing it.” The twinkle in Daylight’s eye as she finished betrayed the good natured jabbing she was doing. It didn’t stop Rainbow Dash from still being annoyed by it though.
“I’m going to totally make you regret trying to beat me in this game. Get ready to come in last place!”
“The more you focus on me the easier it will be for Senax and Gilbert to take advantage of you and win. Are you sure you can afford to do that?”
“Don’t underestimate me. I may have never played this game before but I still win at everything when I’m really trying. Doesn’t matter how unfamiliar I am at something, any game of chance, any game I can bluff, any game of strategy, I win them all. That’s gonna be the same right here and now.” Rainbow had leaned forward across the table, Daylight rising to meet her.
As the two of them faced off with each other, the left out Senax and Gilbert just kind of sat there.
“Um...” Senax interrupted the two arguing mares. “It is getting late at night. If we want to finish this we should probably start soon.”
Rainbow and Daylight looked at her before looking back at each other. They both coughed and sat back down, rubbing their necks and grimacing in embarrassment.
“Err, yeah, probably should,” Rainbow said.
“It’s your turn then, Daylight. Just look over your starting resources and units and draw your first action card. Then we can get started,” Senax said, reading pretty much right from the directions.
“Going last might have its own benefits. I can decide which of you is the perfect to attack if you leave your islands open,” Gilbert grinned.
“Just try it, but the first person to do something like that is getting ganged up on by everyone else,” Rainbow said.
“Ahem,” Daylight coughed into her hoof. “You may want to pay attention, because I’m taking my turn now.” She said as she placed her ship on the board, by her side of the table her resource chips had been neatly stacked up, as well as a few individual tokens that represented units for when you landed your ship at an island. Starting where she wanted, she reached for her first action card to really get the game moving.
Rainbow Dash, Gilbert, and Senax all looked at their own resources and pieces and at the wide open game board. Plans and schemes were already formulating in all their minds…
In the dark night sky over the Grand Ocean, a pegasus flew with a small spyglass grasped in his hooves. He had a haggard, weather-beaten, look to him, while he wore a red and white striped shirt and a black bandanna over his head. One of his back legs was missing, replaced by an equally worn looking peg, and part of his right ear was bitten off and shredded. The one thing about him that was pristine were his eyes, which were sharp and attentive even in the dead of night with barely any light from the moon and stars to aid him. He was used to being awake and searching at night, it was practically his job as one of the scouts for The Scourge.
He had been out searching for hours, trying to keep as high up as possible to remain unseen by any ships that might’ve been traveling below. Now after all that trouble it seemed he had finally gotten lucky. He opened up the spyglass and peered down through it, down at the small ship traveling east all on its lonesome.
“It’s them… I’d recognize that ship anywhere now,” he said with a deep growl in his voice.
The single mast. The one square sail. The narrow bowsprit. Yes, after seeing it enough times there was no other vessel it could be.
Closing the spyglass and tucking it through a belt wrapped around his mid-section, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, flying back in the direction of The Scourge. Godfrey needed to be notified immediately. And if he didn’t go back at full speed to tell his Captain there would be a severe punishment.
A phantom pain went up his peg leg and the scout shuddered.
Thankfully it was much easier to make time across the ocean while flying than sailing. And the darkness didn’t keep his trained eyes from spotting The Scourge after an hour of travel, even with its jet-black sails and dark look. It still created a large shadow on the ocean, a darker spot than the water around it, with the dragon’s head at the front looking even more menacing in the darkness than it did during the day. Godfrey wanted the ship to be as fearsome as possible, he wanted The Scourge to terrify everyone and everything on the ocean. To make ponies whimper in fear and despair as soon as they saw it.
As he got closer he could see a few other ponies out on deck—a skeleton crew left to man the ship at night. He dropped down right at the bow of The Scourge to let everyone see he was merely a returning scout and then quickly walked towards the Night Crew Chief standing on deck. A purple unicorn with a dark blue mane and tail.
“Sir,” the scout saluted to the Chief. “Please wake the Captain at once—I’ve found them.”