//------------------------------// // Barrage // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Godfrey held a talon over his eyes and squinted. He wanted to be sure he was seeing things right. At first he thought his scout in the crow’s nest was wrong. And then he wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not. But it really seemed to all be true. The Heart of Azure was making a break for the Strip of Storms. He didn’t think they had the guts to do that—in fact he was honestly impressed that they were doing something so risky. It certainly showed more courage than giving up or trying to sneak away with that unicorn’s magic. They must’ve realized there was no hope in doing something like that, it would merely delay the inevitable. So they chose the truly dangerous option. The option that was practically as dangerous as fighting The Scourge head on. He respected that. He wasn’t going to let them live or get away, but he respected the decision. Godfrey nodded a couple of times. “That’s a nice turn of events. You’re making this chase way more fun. I was expecting more tricks and illusions from the unicorn… you really surprise me sometimes. Wonder if it was Rainbow Dash’s idea? Heh.” “Um… sir?” Sea Shanty nervously spoke up. “F-From what you’re saying, am I to take that we’re going sailing directly into the Strip of Storms after them?” “Hm. I dunno, first mate, that’s an incredibly dangerous and likely downright stupid thing to do. What do you think I want to do?” Godfrey asked him. “I… I think you want to go in after them.” Godfrey grinned down at him. “You calling me stupid?” Sea Shanty paled and backed away. “N-N-No! Never! I would never say-” “Gehahahahaha!” Godfrey laughed, slapping his knee. “Too easy! Always too easy.” He winked at Sea Shanty. “Relax, I’m messing with you. But you’re right. Strip of Storms or not, we’re going in there after them. A little bad weather doesn’t scare me.” “Yes sir… but… a-as your first mate I think I have to tell you how dangerous this is. The Strip of Storms is-” “I’m well aware of its reputation. But if any ship and group of salty pirates can get through it, then it’s us. The Grand Ocean has never seen my like before.” “Yes sir...” Godfrey held up a single talon and pointed it at Sea Shanty’s eyes. “Danger makes things more fun. The reputation this place has, conquering it is an adventure all in its own. It would be worth doing one day even if we weren’t chasing anybody down—just to say we can and we have. I hope it’s as dangerous and difficult to get through as everyone else says. If it wasn’t? What a huge disappointment that would be.” Sea Shanty gulped, not daring to say that the rest of the crew didn’t share his predilection for throwing themselves into horrible danger just to say you have. Nobody aboard The Scourge would have the courage to speak up or try and convince him otherwise when they got the word either. When the Captain’s mind was set on something, you were along for the ride whether you liked it or not. Or you were about to take a short trip into the briny depths and meet Leviathan. “I-I’ll tell the crew. We’ll change course to match them at once.” Godfrey clapped him on the head. “Get right to it. We can’t let them get in there too far ahead of us or we might lose them. There’s no way they don’t expect me to chase after them, they’re probably just hoping that the Strip of Storms divides us or makes it impossible to follow straight behind them.” A second later and the order had been given, the great galleon that was feared more than any other ship on the Grand Ocean turned and started heading right for the Strip of Storms. Hot on the trail of the Heart of Azure. For the ponies above deck who actually knew what was happening, fear gripped their hearts. There was absolutely no way this ended well. But it was either the storms or deal with their Captain’s rage. Anyone who was on this ship for more than a day would pick the storms every time. “This is unreal...” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the storm around their ship. Not since flying into the giant hurricane in the True North had she dealt with such weather. It wasn’t exactly like there were gigantic waves or anything, though the ocean surface certainly wasn’t calm, it was the sight of dozens of waterspouts spiraling around them. The intense vortexes of water shot from the ocean and into the dark clouds, bending and rotating at insane speeds, and they covered the ocean inside the Strip of Storms. They affected both the currents of water and wind, pulling the Heart of Azure in one direction and then the next. It felt like wind was battering them from every direction and it was impossible to stay on course. The best they could do was continuously zigzag through the water and try not get dragged into the base of one of the waterspouts and smashed to pieces. Breakwater was at the helm once more, Senax not feeling insulted that he wanted to personally take over. “I told you all that I wouldn’t be sailing us into anything stupid or dangerous that we could avoid. I’m happy to say that I’ve kept that promise,” Breakwater said as he fought the wheel and currents to keep the Heart of Azure safe. Their boat tilted from side to side as it went over the uneven waters and the sail billowed about with such ferocity Rainbow was once more worried it would be torn off the mast completely. Gilbert and Daylight stood together ready to do anything they needed to. But the nature of this storm made it seem like there was practically nothing they could do but take what it threw at them and hope for the best. Lightning and thunder erupted in the dark clouds overhead. Temporarily giving light to the world around them and shaking the air like an angry stampede running through the sky. The more of the ocean they traveled over, the further their destination seemed as it was still nothing but darkness, black waves, and strong wind ahead. The Strip of Storms was “thin” but that was only in relation to the size of the ocean itself. For a ship like their’s to travel through it it was certainly big enough. More thunder and lightning crackled above and brief torrents of rain came and went to shower the ship. The waterspouts as well seemed to move and glide along the ocean—turning formerly safe looking passages into death traps. This was not a storm that wanted anything to escape it alive. The good news was they at least weren’t having cannons fired at them from behind yet either. They couldn’t see anything behind them with these waves and the sky being blotted out by storm clouds, they couldn’t tell if The Scourge was close or not but it meant Godfrey wouldn’t have an idea of where they were right now either. And it was impossible to send out pegasus scouts in weather like this. Unless they were as good as Rainbow Dash, any other pegasi would just be torn to pieces or thrown into the waves by the stormy weather. With luck, Godfrey had lost them entirely or never even came into the Strip of Storms. And now all they would have to focus on is surviving it themselves. Which was certainly shaping up to be a daunting task on its own. The Heart of Azure broke across another wave and gave a wide berth to one of the many waterspouts around it as Breakwater did his best to sail them in a generally “east” direction. Sometimes there was no helping it though and they were forced to go either north or south for a bit just to stay safe. The waves had started to kick into high gear as well and now, much like in that first storm Rainbow had been through, heavy walls of water were coming at them. They had to take them straight on so they could go up and down them instead of letting them smash against the broadside of the ship. But even then, there were even larger triangular shaped waves the result of crashing currents that would tear their ship to pieces no matter what they did. Those had to be avoided at all costs. So up and down they now went, first rising up over the waves and then dipping down them. Meanwhile rain and wind pounded at them, while they could also see waterspouts spiraling and moving across the ocean in every direction. It was good Rainbow Dash had already once gotten seasick or she’d probably be getting it again right now. “Not to alarm anybody but I feel like I should let you know that I’m not entirely sure where we are right now! We’ve gotten turned around so much I have no idea how far into the Strip of Storms we are!” Breakwater shouted over the crashing weather. “As long as we’re not going west it’s alright, we knew it would be like this!” Daylight shouted. “We’ve simply got to dig in and keep heading east—even if it’s at a minuscule distance at a time,” Gilbert said. The wind was whapping at his face and he nervously twirled his mustache around as he stood there. Rainbow Dash looked towards the bow of the boat and saw a large tidal wave rising up in front of them. But it thankfully wasn’t steep enough where they still couldn’t travel up it. Most of the waves here didn’t break or fall over each other, they simply all went in a large swell and sometimes crashed into each other. As long as they didn’t get caught between two waves coming at each other, or any rogue waves, they should be okay. The bow of the Heart of Azure rose up and up as they traveled up the tidal wave until they got to the top of it and their ship was nearly vertical for a split second before they crested the wave. When they came back down they had emerged into a different section of the Strip of Storms. The waves weren’t as large or powerful again and the clouds above them churned around in a circle almost like a closed eye of a hurricane. The ocean’s surface was the calmest they had seen so far in the Strip but there were multiples waterspouts roaming all across it. Still—it was the closest they had to a straightaway since they had entered the Strip of Storms. “Well at least now we won’t get turned around too much. I was kind of sick of those waves,” Rainbow said. “Can’t rest for a moment though. If we don’t constantly keep on our guard in here we’ll be wrecked,” Breakwater said. He steered the ship straight east and aimed between some of the waterspouts. Thunder roared and lightning smashed from cloud to ocean, creating columns of both water and electricity that stretched across the sky. Not only were the waterspouts even more active and unruly in this closed eye but more and more lightning rained down like a deadly storm. There were so many obstacles now in the Strip of Storms that they had to dodge. Good news was, the Heart of Azure was able to travel fairly fast, practically being pulled along by the waterspouts, and Breakwater kept them drifting from current to current to perpetually speed them up. They could make it out of here and into the next part of the Strip of Storms quickly as long as an errant blast of lightning didn’t hit them. And as long as Breakwater showed his chops and didn’t let them get dragged up and smashed by a waterspout. “I think we’re decently okay,” Gilbert said. “It can’t take more than a couple more hours to get through the Strip.” “I don’t want to say anything like that just yet. The Strip of Storms has this reputation for a reason,” Daylight said. “Maybe it’s actually easier for smaller boats like ours to get through it...” Senax said, though she sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than anything. “Honestly I think if something dangerous is about to happen I can at least do a little to help with the weather,” Rainbow said, flapping her wings for emphasis. “Weather team experience back in Equestria and all. I bet I can manipulate the winds and everything a little.” She was about to say something else when another booming sound rang out through the air—but this was no crack of thunder. The water to their starboard side exploded and everybody turned around to see The Scourge cresting the waves and coming for them, it’s forward cannons aimed at them as well as they could be. “Well, that’s not good,” Gilbert said. “Nope,” Daylight shook her head. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Nothing we didn’t expect. Come on, we’ve just got to keep going. There are already a bunch of waterspouts between him and us, he won’t have a straight shot at us for more than a second.” She was right, the positions of the ships had already changed that Godfrey’s long guns weren’t pointed directly at them anymore. That didn’t stop them from firing and sending two cannonballs directly into a waterspout. Surprisingly, the powerful water vortex caught the cannonballs and they flew around it before shooting out in a different direction instead of plowing through the spout. Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows shot up when she saw that. No normal tornado, water, wind, or otherwise, could do something like that. This place really was insane. And it meant that maybe those waterspouts between them and The Scourge weren’t going to be as helpful as she thought. A talon scratched under his beak as Godfrey looked out through the Strip at the retreating vessel of his prey. He only caught a few glimpses of it between the waterspouts, but it was enough for him to not lose its general location. Unfortunately now they couldn’t fire directly at them, but he was thinking they didn’t really need to. Not after that rather impressive showing from the waterspout he had fired at earlier. He was hoping that his cannonballs would smash right through it—proving that he could shoot through any that might be between The Scourge and the Heart of Azure. But instead it had pulled the cannonballs from the air like they were wadded up paper and threw them elsewhere into the storm. And there were many, many more waterspouts that were waiting to do the same thing. Some of them rotating in other directions with no rhyme or reason to them. They all had minds of their own. It gave him quite the fun idea. “Heh,” he grinned. “Sea Shanty? Bring us up broadside against the direction the Heart of Azure is. And fill the air with cannon fire. Tell the crews below to not let up, I want those cannons firing nonstop.” Sea Shanty’s jaw dropped as he looked at the madness that was already occurring inside the Strip of Storms. “I-Is that wise, sir?” Godfrey raised an eyebrow at him. Sea Shanty gulped. “R-Right away, sir.” “And I’ll...” Godfrey licked his beak, his heart pounding as adrenaline started to pump through his veins. He drew his cutlass from its scabbard but only dropped it onto the deck. “I’ll go have some fun on my own.” He flew into the sky, going through the heart of the raging storm towards the Heart of Azure. A minute later The Scourge had turned so its starboard side was facing east. The cannon ports were opened up and a loud rapport issued from the galleon—smoke and fire from the powerful ignition of gunpowder lined the large pirate ship. Again. Again. Again. And soon dozens of cannonballs were flying through the sky.