Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS


The Wandering Island IX

One of the Bosche support vessels was filled up with newly freed slaves as it sailed to the safety of the Wandering Island. Rainbow Dash didn’t have any idea how to sail a boat like this, but some of the slaves had been trained to. Gilbert had also flown out to make certain of what was going on when those on the Wandering Island saw what was happening and he was happy to report that everything was okay now. The authorities and every other pony around now knew they were safe.

Meanwhile, a very overcrowded Junk was sailing back south.

The other three ships were left adrift off the Wandering Island, waiting to be sunk by the security team there. Or dismantled and used as scrap. Either way the Bosche attack had been thwarted before it could really begin, and while things were a little chaotic with so many random ships trying to re-dock, they were also pretty positive. There was a sense of relief in the air for certain.

No one was more relieved than the slaves themselves when the small Bosche vessel docked at one of the rafts and they were all finally able to leave their tormentors for good. Some were far away from their homes and families, but at least they weren’t slaves anymore. Rainbow Dash was always happy to do something like this. It had been a treat back at the Sea Lion Reefs, and it felt even better here because there were so many more slaves she had just freed.

Yeah, she was happy they came here. Forget about even looking for the trident—this was a worthwhile trip.

Rainbow Dash waved goodbye to the slaves she had rescued and flew over to the raft her friends were gathered on now. “Yo! I miss anything?”

“Can’t say so,” Breakwater said. “How was fighting all those Bosche soldiers?”

“Eh, they were decent.”

“Now what? Right back to business?” Daylight wondered.

“Truthfully as much as I would like to get right back to looking for the trident I would understand if we all wanted to take a little break...” Senax said.

“Because of that we’ve been looking around here longer than we thought we would,” Gilbert said. “Lunch?”

“Getting something to eat is fine with me,” Senax nodded.

“Actually right before the Bosche attack, Rainbow Dash and I found what might be a lead. So we have time to get lunch before we head right back there anyways,” Daylight said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “If we’re lucky we can wrap this up real quick.”

“If that’s true then that’s the best news I’ve heard in a long while,” Senax said.

“Where is this lead? We can get an extra quick snack instead then and head right on over,” Breakwater said.

Daylight looked back at the crowded metropolis in the center of the great big floating island. “Er… let me try and remember.”


“Wow, I can’t remember when the last time was that there were this many ponies in here,” Lemon Breeze said as the crew of the Heart of Azure stood in his grandfather’s store. “You must really be interested in that trident.”

“It has great sentimental value to Senax here,” Gilbert said.

“And then some,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“You said you knew the merchant who has the trident we were asking about?” Daylight asked Lemon Breeze.

“I heard some other ponies talking about another shopkeeper who supposedly has a trident, yeah. Not exactly the same thing but by the sound of it you haven’t really heard any better rumors here,” Lemon Breeze nodded.

“That’s about the truth of it,” Rainbow snorted.

“Anything you have for us is going to help,” Daylight said.

“Alright then—as I was about to tell you before we were interrupted—the shopkeeper who I heard might have a trident is someone on the northwest side of the central rafts. His name’s Big Venture and his store is called “The Driftwood Emporium” or something like that. Mostly deals in driftwood carvings if that wasn’t obvious enough.”

“Sweet, we can go over there right now can’t we?” Rainbow Dash said.

Senax nodded and put a hoof on her chest, taking a deep breath. “I’m very excited to, in fact my heart is pounding...”

“Can you give us any actual directions cause this place is kind of… you know,” Daylight asked.

Lemon Breeze smiled and nodded. “Yeah, just a second.”

Shortly after and they were out the door and heading to what would very hopefully be their final destination at the Wandering Island. And hopefully bringing their true journey closer to completion as well. The true goal was finding Merlantis, but if someone had actually gotten the Trident of Ponyseidon they might be able to track down where it came from. Or even use the trident’s supposed powers to reach Merlantis themselves.

“I think that kid liked you, Daylight,” Breakwater teased her.

“Oh shut up,” she frowned at him.

“I dunno, he smiled at you more than the rest of us,” Rainbow added on with a grin.

“Idiots...” Daylight muttered.

Thanks to actually knowing where they were going now it was pretty easy to get to The Driftwood Emporium. The rafts weren’t quite as crowded as earlier either. The shop itself was on the second floor of a large building standing atop several interconnected rafts. Didn’t seem like a very safe way to build things but it hadn’t fallen apart yet obviously. They had to walk inside the building and through several very narrow hallways and stairs before reaching it.

“Well here it is,” Breakwater said as they stood in front of a rather inconspicuous door with a simply placard on it.

Rainbow Dash looked around at how dirty and messy this building was and raised an eyebrow. “Are we really about to find a mystical treasure here?”

“Never know,” Breakwater shrugged and pulled the door open.

A dusty room awaited them with flickering lights overhead and row upon row of driftwood carvings sitting all about the floor. They were carvings of all sorts of different things like animals, ponies, ships, all made originally from gnarled pieces of driftwood. There was some impressive hoofiwork put into it all, she had to admit. Though just looking at this stuff it made her wonder why a pony like this would have something that definitely wasn’t a random piece of driftwood.

“Did someone just come in? I’ll be with you in a moment!” A voice called from back in the store.

Their group stood there waiting, not sure what to really expect now, until a middle-aged stallion wearing overalls and thick-lensed glasses came out to say hi to them.

“Hello there! Fancy a driftwood carving?” Big Venture asked them with a big smile.

“Uh… not exactly,” Breakwater said.

“We heard a few rumors floating around the Wandering Island about something that might be in your possession. A trident? The Trident of Ponyseidon maybe?” Daylight asked.

“Do you have it?” Senax added.

“Oh, guess there’s a lot of ponies out there talking!” Big Venture laughed. “Well yep, I sure do! Let me go grab it!” He swiftly walked back to the back of his store, humming the whole way.

“No way. There’s no way it’s this easy,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I agree that this seems odd,” Gilbert said.

“I don’t care what it seems like, I just want my ancestor’s trident,” Senax shook her head. “If he has it then I don’t care if he tries to sell us a mountain of driftwood.”

“Ta-da! Here it is~” Big Venture came back out with a long box, about six feet long, being carried in his hooves. He set it down in front of them and opened up the latches on the side, pulling it open and revealing what was inside. “Behold—the Trident of Ponyseidon!”

The five of them gasped as a sparkling light emerged from the box and-

“This is just a piece of carved driftwood, isn’t it?” Daylight Gleam said as she lifted the item up out of its box. It was a long wooden trident of a deep brown color with spiraling prongs at the end. Green emeralds were also placed around the shaft directly under the three spears.

“Yep! Made it myself!” Big Venture said with a proud smile on his face.

“But you said it was the Trident of Ponyseidon?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow at him. Meanwhile Senax, jaw still open in shock and eyes starting to glaze over, took the wooden trident from Daylight and stared at it.

“Oh yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to be. I love all the old tales about Ponyseidon and Merlantis. I carved that up one day, looks really nice doesn’t it? I inlaid some jewels with it too you see? Pretty proud of it. Nobody knows what his trident actually looks like so I got a little fancy with it. The real thing is probably pretty amazing—if it even exists,” Big Venture said.

“Ughhh...” Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face.

“Well… it is a very nice carving,” Gilbert grimaced.

Breakwater also awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah I’m happy you’re proud of it but it’s not quite what we’re looking for.”

Daylight looked over at Senax, who was still frozen as she stared at the wooden trident. “Uh, are you okay, Senax?”

“I wish to break this,” the merpony answered.

“Ahem, that’s uh, probably our cue to leave...” Breakwater coughed.

“T-Thank you for your time,” Daylight bowed and grinned awkwardly to Big Venture before carefully removing the trident from Senax’s hooves and placing it back in its box.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Back to Malkonrik it is...”