//------------------------------// // The Wandering Island V // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// “Man, getting around here without wings would be a pain,” Rainbow said as she flew between some of the narrow buildings, over the canals of seawater between rafts below. “Yeah. It would be,” Daylight grumbled as she was forced to walk on the narrow wooden “sidewalk” of the raft she and Rainbow Dash were currently exploring. She was sharing it with many other ponies, making it crowded and even more of a pain to use. Travel was slow thanks to that and Daylight had been jostled and bumped into by far too many others already. It was starting to get on her nerves. As was Rainbow Dash’s ability to avoid it all. “Come on, can’t you hurry it up down there?” Rainbow asked her, getting impatient. The angry glare shot up at her was the only answer she received. To cover as much of the island and as many shops as possible they had split into three different groups. Rainbow Dash and Daylight Gleam formed one pair, Gilbert and Senax the other, and Breakwater was off on his own. Together they had started to scour the central labyrinth of the Wandering Island, planning to meet up later to see what they had found. It was a pretty random search so far since all they knew for sure was… nothing. For all they knew an eel monger had the rumored trident and was merely keeping it stored away, not knowing what it was. It could be for sale at a merchant’s shop or it could be a decoration in someone else’s home. They just didn’t have much to go on. Daylight had also been wary of simply asking if anybody around knew about the supposed trident, not wanting word to spread that ponies were looking for it. If others found out what it was or the owner discovered its true nature and power… So the outcome from that was their currently slow and annoying travails across the many rafts and through the many buildings of this place. It didn’t help that many of these bigger rafts in the center of the “city” had multiple buildings all haphazardly built on them, creating narrow and criss-crossing alleys that didn’t bother going straight, many of which simply ended in dead ends. A lot of the buildings were also made with… less than standard building materials and not to any real specifications. Driftwood, logs, sheets of metal, lots of pipes jutting out everywhere, no building looked alike and some standing right next to each other were completely different. She had to give it to the Wandering Island that it certainly had a lot of unique character. Daylight shoved past another group of ponies and came to a stop in front of a storefront with frosted glass windows that she couldn’t see inside. She whistled up to Rainbow Dash and called her down. “Nother store?” Rainbow asked as she landed. “Yeah, just like that last shopkeep told us,” Daylight said. “Ugh, I really hope this is the place we’re looking for cause I’m getting sick of fighting my way through this crazy place.” “Kind of tough to know for sure since you don’t want to mention the word “trident” while looking through their stuff...” Rainbow said. “We can maybe mention it offhoof to see if they’ve heard anything without giving our intentions away,” Daylight rolled her eyes. Without waiting for Rainbow Dash’s retort she opened the door to the store and walked in. This shop was yet another trinket store on the Wandering Island. The latest of many they had searched through. According to the last shop they had visited, this one in particular dealt in old antiques and things fished up from all across the ocean. As Daylight looked about it she noticed that was probably accurate, since a lot of the stuff was old and rusty or falling apart. Some things in glass cases even had old fossilized barnacles and seashells stuck on them and there were a few skeletonized shark jaws hanging from the ceiling. A couple of bookcases to her right and left were full of disintegrating books where the ink was so faded on the spine she couldn’t read what any of them were at all. She realized very quickly that “old” in this shop’s case was almost certainly not going to translate to “valuable” or “important”. But it was still another place to check. “It’s like they just trawled up a bunch of junk from the ocean floor,” Rainbow Dash whispered into her ear. “Yeah, but don’t say that to the owner, wherever they are. Let’s just browse the aisles and see if we can find the trident.” They hadn’t received any greeting and there were far too many shelves and tables full of ju—trinkets to really see that far back into the store. Daylight headed down one path towards some old paintings and Rainbow Dash walked the opposite direction towards what looked like an old collection of plates and cutlery. Of course while the plates weren’t dirty they were stained and even chipped in places and the cutlery had obvious rust, the paintings weren’t any better with most having completely oozed down their canvases and the colors all melting together. “This is more like a trash can than a store,” Daylight muttered. “One pony’s trash is another one’s treasure but still, does the owner just buy anything sailors bring in for them?” “More or less.” Daylight jolted up in shock and looked to see a pony spying on her between some of the shelves. A young yellow unicorn stallion wearing an apron and holding a broom. “A-Are you the owner? I’m sorry I-” He grinned. “Relax, it’s my grandfather’s store. He’s asleep right now so you don’t need to worry. Honestly he’d probably agree with you too.” “Oh, well still, I shouldn’t have been so rude,” Daylight said. “Well, the store is well known here as a place that takes in any old trash sailors find that they want to get rid of. Gramps doesn’t discriminate and he likes to think everything still has its own value or collectibility to someone. I’m Lemon Breeze by the way. You?” He said and offered a hoof for her to shake through the shelves. “Daylight Gleam,” she took it and smiled. “Looking for anything in particular that you came in here for? Or just killing time browsing?” “Well uh...” Daylight grimaced, not sure if she should really say this or not, but the kid seemed really honest and forthcoming. And they hadn’t had luck yet so far. “Would you happen to have anything like a… trident?” His eyes widened a bit in surprise at the unusual question. “A trident? Like a weapon or something more ornamental?” “Oh so we are just telling it to everyone now?” Rainbow Dash asked. The two unicorns squeaked in surprise and looked up to see a silently hovering Rainbow Dash hanging above them by the ceiling. “Hiya, name’s Rainbow Dash.” “Lemon Breeze...” the stallion nodded. “Well you heard her-” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over the shelves and dropped down next to him, raising an eyebrow at the helping hoof. “Got any tridents?” “Um, let me think for a moment,” Lemon Breeze said as he brought a hoof up to his chin in thought. His eyes went down to the floor as he racked his brain going over the scattered inventory that was inside this store. “A trident? I don’t think we do...” “Great,” Daylight Gleam sighed in disappointment. “Although...” Both Rainbow Dash and Daylight looked at him expectantly. “Although what?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I think I remember hearing some others in my line of work talking about another shopkeeper who owned some kind of fancy trident,” Lemon Breeze said. “Where?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her wings flaring open in excitement. “Yeah, do you know where that shop is?” Daylight asked. “Of course, it’s-” FWEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! The piercing sound of an incredibly loud whistle came from outside, penetrating the building and making the ponies inside wince and cover their ears. It kept going and going too, lasting almost half a minute before stopping. When it finally did, both Rainbow Dash and Daylight Gleam grimaced and looked back at the front of the store, wondering what that was about. From outside they could now also hear the panicked yells and frantic movement of all the other ponies out there on the raft’s walkways. “What was that about? What’s going on?” Rainbow wondered. She made a wing-assisted hop right over the shelves and walked to the front of the store, looking out through the frosted glass windows as best she could. Daylight frowned and looked back at Lemon Breeze. “Lemon, do you know-” His face was pale as he clenched the broom he was holding tightly in his hooves. “Oh no… we’re all in danger.” “Danger?” Rainbow asked. “That steam whistle is the warning siren for the Wandering Island, used to warn us about pirates or storms. D-Depending on how many times it blows and how long, it tells us what’s coming...” Lemon Breeze gulped. “One blow like that… it’s Bosche. A Bosche slaving fleet is coming right for us.” To the south of the Wandering Island, three large Bosche Junks and two support ships, their hulls darker than night and their sails red as blood, were swiftly approaching.