//------------------------------// // The Wandering Island VII // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// “Well I figured you’d be somewhere around here getting ready to fight,” Breakwater said to Rainbow Dash. “You know me well,” she grinned back to him. The group of five had found themselves on a southern raft of the Wandering Island where many ships were docked. And where many of those ships were currently trying to leave from. Clear as day that none of these ponies wanted anything to do with Bosche. Breakwater had been the last to arrive, seeing Rainbow Dash and Gilbert flying in the sky and finally joining them here. Now since this platform could clearly see out into the open ocean south of the island, they were able to fully take in the situation. “Geez, five whole ships this time? I guess they might actually put up a fight,” Rainbow Dash sarcastically stated. “I’m assuming you’re going to go out and do something stupid then?” Daylight asked her. “I mean—I don’t consider it stupid. And if it works it’s automatically not stupid,” Rainbow shrugged. “Want any help?” Gilbert offered, spreading his wings. “Thanks, Gilbert, but—and no offense here—I’d be more worried about you getting shot down by one of their ballistas if you came out with me,” Rainbow told him. “So you really are planning on going out there and dealing with all those Bosche ships and the soldiers on them by yourself?” Senax asked. The merpony was clearly more worried than Daylight’s ambivalent annoyance. “Yep. I want you guys to keep things safe here, deal with anyone who slips past me if it takes me a little longer to deal with the ships than I think it will. Be pretty bad if one of those big Junks actually docks on the island and they start trying to take slaves.” “We’ll handle things here,” Daylight nodded. “Although considering it’s you I don’t think we’ll have much to do,” Breakwater shrugged. “Which I’m not complaining about,” Daylight said. “Just be careful okay? They’re still much more dangerous than those pirates we just dealt with in Ullsorth,” Senax said. Rainbow grinned at her and winked. “Hey, it’s me.” “Not reassuring,” Daylight grumbled. “I know how much you’d miss me so if you’re really that worried I promise I’ll be extra careful out there,” Rainbow said to the unicorn. “Oh just go ahead already.” Rainbow Dash snickered and shot up into the sky, waving to them as she went. “Be back soon!” “Good luck, have fun!” Gilbert waved up to her. “I don’t know if that’s what you should be saying...” Breakwater said to him. Soldiers had mustered on the decks of the three Junks and the two support ships, pegasi messengers were taking Commander Calhoun’s orders from ship to ship so the assault was coordinated correctly. The two Captains of the other Junks had their ships spread out slightly towards the eastern and western sides of the Wandering Island to box in any ships that were too late to leave. The support vessels came up between them and his central Junk to form a “net” that any southbound vessels would also be caught by. As soon as the ballistas and other weapons were brought to bear on them, most would surrender and try to bargain their way free. A gleeful smile came to Calhoun’s face. Technically both of the Captains outranked him but he was still entrusted with command of the operation by the Admiral. It made him swell with both pride and hope. “This will go off without a hitch, it’s already looking perfect.” “Yo, message for ya from Junk 94!” “Ah, thank you, what does Captain Limmer have to say-” Calhoun suddenly paused, the absurdly casual way of speaking finally registering in his brain. “Wait. What?” He turned around and looked up to see a pegasus floating above the deck. Holding another unconscious pegasus by the scruff of his uniform. That other pegasus, that very, very, familiar pegasus, smiled at him. “Sorry, the usual messenger had a bit of a problem and can’t deliver whatever news he had to you,” she said as she let him go and the messenger fell to the deck with a grunt of pain. “But it turns out I have a message of my own to deliver to you.” Rainbow Dash lowered herself to look him eye to eye, her face suddenly frowning as she glared at him through his monocle. “Didn’t I tell you to stop doing this?” Calhoun’s face paled and he backed away. “S-SOLDIERS!” “Oh yeah, like that’s going to help,” Rainbow Dash snorted. It did at least quickly get the attention of the soldiers on deck, who with Commander Calhoun’s yell were now alerted to the pegasus invader. There were many more soldiers onboard this Junk than there were the last one Rainbow Dash had boarded. Probably because they were attacking someplace with a much higher population density than the Sea Lion Reefs and that might also fight back. Either way Rainbow Dash soon found herself surrounded on three sides by lines of several dozen spear and halberd wielding soldiers. “You know if you guys are getting this distracted by me isn’t it going to ruin your attack? That’s a big target you’re going for, I’d hate for things to get ruined just because you spend so much time trying to deal with me,” Rainbow said. The soldiers though were far too well-trained to even hesitate or speak back to her. It was drilled into them to utterly obey their superiors and question nothing. Commander Calhoun on the other hoof began to sweat. She was right, things were already starting to unfold since she had taken out a messenger and was now occupying the soldiers. They couldn’t coordinate as well now and the other Captains were all going to have to act on their own. That shouldn’t be too big of an issue though, right? They were experienced with catching slaves and dealing with problems on their own. All that needed to be done was taking care of this pegasus and then he could get in contact with them. He just hoped the Admiral didn’t hear the commotion out here on deck… Rainbow Dash meanwhile was looking around at all the soldiers with a big grin on her face. “Question. How many soldiers does it take to stop one pegasus from Equestria? Answer. More than this.” “D-Don’t act all haughty!” Calhoun yelled at her. “You and your friends were barely able to deal with my soldiers last time after a surprise attack! Y-You cannot stand up to Bosche’s might alone!” Rainbow just lifted an eyebrow at him while she rose up into the air a little bit. “Oh yeah? Let me fill you in on something. The only reason I didn’t just take your whole ship out by myself back then was because I was worried about my friends. Now it’s just me and your soldiers out here. You want to see what’s about to happen?” “Tch,” Calhoun clicked his tongue and gestured at the soldiers. “Soldiers! Attack now, kill the pest!” The nearest ones ran forward and jumped in the air, thrusting their weapons towards Rainbow Dash in a perfectly coordinated attack. Just like last time, she was impressed with the discipline they showed. Many others that had hung back were waiting for the opportune moment to strike as well—they didn’t have to speak with one another to know what they were going to do. So Rainbow Dash decided to go all out and not give them even the slightest handicap. She was going to take things seriously for once. Every weapon came at her at the same time so a normal pony would never be able to dodge or block the attacks. That didn’t apply to Rainbow Dash. She only needed to twist and move around slightly to hit the shafts of some of the polearms with her hooves before the blades actually reached her, flying up slightly to also just barely get out of their reach. As one of the jumping soldiers went past, one of her hooves went darting out lightning quick and tore the spear he held in his hooves free from his grip. It was so fast he couldn’t even react and try to fight back against her. Spinning her newly gained weapon around she smashed it into the back of his skull. His leather helmet didn’t afford near enough protection to keep him from getting knocked out and falling to the deck. Rainbow Dash then quickly flitted over to the bow of the ship before the soldiers could start a new attack at her, and now she hovered in front of them and Commander Calhoun with spear in hoof and a stony expression on her face. “I wasn’t bragging. You can start counting, cause I’ll be done here in five minutes.”