//------------------------------// // Fair Winds // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// “So tomorrow huh?” Rainbow Dash asked as she raised an eyebrow at Breakwater. “Yep, we’ll get there early tomorrow morning,” Breakwater nodded. It was dinnertime and currently all five of them were inside the Heart of Azure’s cabin. The sail was momentarily furled up so they wouldn’t drift too far without anyone up there at the wheel. Normally that still wouldn’t be something Breakwater would do, but because they were somewhere where the waters were so calm and the threat of pirates basically a non-issue, he figured it was fine if it allowed them to all be together for dinner. Since it was the last big meal they’d have before arriving they decided to have some of their best food too. That’s why Rainbow Dash was eating a delicious eggplant salad and not a hardtack cracker. It’s why Gilbert was chewing up a salmon despite it grossing out everyone else at the table. And it was why even Daylight had decided to live a little and was having a bar of chocolate with her dinner. Cause why not? “Well it’s been fun—er, not really—but I’ll be happy to get there tomorrow,” Rainbow said as she leaned back and folded her hooves behind her head. “Agreed,” Daylight said. “I’m still a bit anxious but I’m very excited to get there as well,” Senax said. “I almost can’t calm myself down.” “It might turn out to be a really big day tomorrow, so you should try and get some sleep at least,” Breakwater said. “I’ll be able to,” Senax said, though a bit uncertainly. “We could go out for a swim,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Do something that’ll relax you and make you tired at the same time.” “The sun’s already going down, is swimming at night safe?” Daylight wondered. “There are sharks in these waters,” Breakwater said as he rubbed his chin. “I don’t know if you two want to be out swimming there with such low visibility. Daylight’s right that it might not really be safe. During the day I think you’d be fast and attentive enough to notice any danger but right now it would kind of be a dumb risk to take.” Rainbow Dash blew an annoyed breath of air out her nose. “Okay, so something else then. Not like I’m afraid of sharks anyways.” She muttered that last part. “If we had wine that would help but you right to sleep,” Gilbert said to Senax between beakfuls of salmon. Breakwater grinned over at Rainbow Dash. “Well then maybe we should have made plans to stop at Alth-Verika.” Rainbow glared at him. “It’s fine, it’s all fine,” Senax smiled and shook her head. “You’re all just being silly right now.” “You know what I think would make it easier to fall asleep tonight? Having even more food. Especially something like chocolate. I’m going to go get more chocolate,” Daylight said and stood up from the table. Senax rolled her eyes. “Silly...” “Hey, you can never go wrong with chocolate… unless it’s in a pie,” Rainbow Dash shuddered. It of course didn’t take Daylight long to finish rummaging around in the hold and come back with more chocolate—this time for everyone. It was still a delicacy to get to eat something like this while sailing on the open ocean, but when else were they going to eat it? It was mostly just in nondescript bars but there were several cookies as well. Hoofing it out to everyone they all had a few bites (or more) and devoured the sweet treats. It was an excellent capper to an already excellent dinner. “Okay then,” Rainbow Dash said as she finished her dessert. “Since it’s still hours before anybody is actually going to want to sleep and we still don’t have anything else to do, I have a suggestion.” She discreetly reached down under the table and pulled up a deck of cards. Everyone else groaned. “No one wants to play Poker with you, Rainbow Dash,” Daylight said to her. “It’s not exactly the most fun way to pass time,” Senax said. “Oh come on, what else are we doing tonight? We don’t even have to play Poker, we can play something that my luck won’t matter as much for,” Rainbow Dash pleaded. “Like what?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow. Rainbow Dash frowned and thought for a moment, her eyes zeroing in on the skeletal remains of Gilbert’s dinner. “Uhhh… Go Fish?” They blinked back at her before sharing a few quick glances with each other. Seems no one was totally convinced just yet to play cards with her. Something she could understand but was still no less annoyed by. Rainbow Dash was about to let out a disgruntled sigh and try and plead her case some more—when a lone talon was raised. Everyone now looked over at Gilbert. “Well… I wouldn’t be opposed or anything to playing Go Fish,” the griffon said. Rainbow Dash’s frown quickly turned up into a grin. “Alright, that’s exactly the kind of thing I wanted to hear! Up high, Gilbert!” She said and raised her hoof up towards him. He high-fived her with his talon and grinned. “Pff, I guess that settles it for everyone then,” Daylight rolled her eyes. “Since I don’t feel like having either of you say I hate fun again, I’ll play too.” “Me too, why not?” Breakwater shrugged. “If we’re just killing some time before I get tired enough to sleep I suppose it’s a good way to spend the time,” Senax said. “Sweet!” Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof. “Okay, I’ll deal.” Being no stranger to decks of cards by now, Rainbow Dash expertly shuffled and cut the deck with a dexterity that would impress most casino dealers. Chalk it up to having a natural talent for such things. She riffled the cards despite a lack of opposable thumbs or digits and then swiftly threw five cards each, one by one, to everyone at the table. The remaining deck was then placed on the table between them all. “So who’s first?” Gilbert asked. Senax smiled. “Being part fish myself, I think I should go first.” Daylight snorted. “If you insist.” Senax did. And as she looked down at her hoof she wondered who she should ask first. From her brief time at the gambling den in the back alleys of Malkonrik’s port she knew she had pretty good luck herself. And maybe even just some good sense when it came to reading others, it was the kind of thing that made her pretty confident. Rainbow may have been absurdly lucky at all kinds of games but would that also count for a game that was nothing more than silly recreation like Go Fish? Senax was going to be happy to test that. Her hoof right now contained no pairs to make things easier for herself, she was going to have to start from scratch. Looking up from her five cards she slowly dragged her eyes across everyone else at the table before settling on her griffon friend. “Gilbert, do you have any threes?” Gilbert sighed and removed one of the cards from his talon, giving it over to her. Senax put the newly gained three with the one she already had and giggled. Her eyes then went back to scanning the others. It was perfectly okay to ask Gilbert for a different card, but she wanted to try and complete her threes first. Gilbert having two different cards she needed seemed a little unlikely. Feeling like taking a bit of a risk, Senax decided to make Rainbow Dash the next player she would question. “Alright, Rainbow Dash, do you have any threes?” Senax asked. Rainbow Dash merely grinned back at her. “Sorry, Go Fish.” “Hmph,” Senax pouted and frowned, reaching to the deck to grab another card instead. Just a Jack, nothing she needed. “I think we go in a circle right?” Breakwater asked as soon as Senax was done drawing. “Should I go next?” “Go for it,” Rainbow shrugged. “Alright then… uh… Daylight? Do you have any Queens?” Breakwater asked her. Daylight rolled her eyes and took two cards from her hoof and gave them over to him. “There. Take them.” “I will,” Breakwater grinned. He had three now, not a full set, so if he didn’t find the fourth one right now it was very possible that someone else would take his first now that they knew he had all the rest. Senax had a full hoof but two of them were threes, his best bet this time was Rainbow Dash. He looked over to her and raised an eyebrow. “Well, Rainbow Dash? You didn’t have any threes but do you have any Queens?” “Just the last one you need,” Rainbow wryly grinned and flicked the fourth Queen to him. “Hah!” Breakwater grinned and put all four cards down. “Lucky that all four of them had already been dealt from the start,” Gilbert said. “Yep, now let’s see if my luck continues,” he turned to Senax. “Got any fives?” The merpony though shook her head and winked at him. “Sorry, go fish.” “Oh well, still in first place,” Breakwater shrugged and drew a fresh card. “My turn now,” Rainbow Dash said. “Aaaand as much as I want to win I still kind of hope I don’t get everything I need in one round. That’d kind of be lame for all of us. So let’s see…” She rubbed her chin and gazed at Senax. “Well do you have any Kings, Senax?” “Nope! Go fish,” Senax stuck her tongue out at her. “Go figure...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and grabbed a new card. “My turn then. I expect this to go as poorly as Rainbow Dash’s considering it’s me,” Daylight said. “Oh don’t be like that,” Rainbow groaned. “Just kidding around,” Daylight smiled slightly and looked over at her. “Do you have any nines?” “Pff, yeah,” an annoyed Rainbow Dash flicked the card to Daylight this time. “Thank you very much, I know that probably hurts a lot for someone as competitive as you.” “Yeah. It does,” Rainbow’s eye twitched. “We all know your luck will turn around anyways,” Breakwater said with a huff. Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Probably, but still.” “Well anyways it’s still my turn,” Daylight smirked and looked over at Gilbert. “Got any nines, Gilbert?” “Afraid not, Daylight. Go fish!” The griffon happily smiled back at her. “Didn’t expect to get a streak,” Daylight said as she levitated a new card into her hooves. “And last but not least, it’s my turn,” he coughed into his talon and turned to Breakwater. “Got any fives?” Breakwater grumbled as he took his five out from his hoof and slid it over to Gilbert. “You know I do...” “Yes I do!” From there, the game of Go Fish actually continued well into the night as the group of friends played multiple rounds. Rainbow Dash was completely unwilling to lose and everyone else really wanted to show her up and take her down a peg. All in good fun of course. The game still worked as an excellent way for all of them to relax and get over the anxiety some of them may have been feeling over what was to come tomorrow. And by the end of it most were tired enough where they could plop right down on the cabin’s floor and fall asleep. Of course things still needed to finish up first. Rainbow Dash had three eights in her hoof. All she needed was the last one to win the night. Her eyes narrowed as she looked from pony to pony (to merpony to griffon) and tried to determine just by their eyes who had that final eight. “Well you’ve been lucky this evening, but that’s about to end,” Rainbow said to Senax. “This is why I always win at games like this. So, Senax, do you have any eights?” The merpony sighed and hoofed over the final eight. “Here.” “Wooh! Rainbow Dash wins again!” Rainbow shouted and slammed down the four eights. “Of course you do,” Daylight shook her head. “Oh well,” Gilbert shrugged. “Hey you guys all came way closer to winning than normal this time,” Rainbow said. “It was still a lot of fun, right?” “Yeah, I had fun. Didn’t work out in the end but winning at the beginning was pretty nice,” Breakwater said. “I still had fun too,” Senax smiled. “It was close.” Daylight Gleam sighed and looked out the back window of the cabin, seeing total darkness. “I guess it’s time for us to get to bed then. I’m already tired.” “That goes for all of us I think,” Breakwater said. “Yeah-” Rainbow Dash yawned. “Even me.” “Big day tomorrow,” Gilbert smiled. “Let’s hope it goes well...” Daylight muttered as she hopped off her chair. “I’m sure it will. I’m staying optimistic,” Senax said. Rainbow Dash reached over with a grin and patted Senax’s back. “That’s the spirit. We’ve got this.” “I’ll make sure all of you wake up before dawn so we don’t miss anything,” Breakwater said with a yawn. “Sounds good,” Rainbow said. She looked over at Senax. “Feeling tired enough to rest easy?” Senax smiled at her and lightly nodded her head, her eyes blinking shut for a few seconds longer than a normal blink. “I think so.” “Great, let’s go to bed,” Rainbow said as the four others left the cabin. The moon was high in the sky, full and shining down on the ocean as only a few clouds would drift in front of it every now and then. It and the stars together actually created a nice night sky, it wasn’t even cold out. Rainbow Dash breathed in the ocean air and paused for a moment, basking in the moonlight with the sounds of the Heart of Azure slowly drifting over the waves being the only sound around. It was all something she was used to by now. As soon as she lied down, sleep should come easy. Hours later, between midnight and dawn, the Heart of Azure continued to make its way through the dark of night to the Sarrarocco Archipelago. All five souls aboard were sound asleep and the moon was now hidden completely behind the clouds. It was pitch black on the ocean. But unlike on the small vessel, not everything in the water was asleep as well. Coming up from below, off the port side of the ship, a large, slimy, scaly, thing broke the surface of the water and looked towards the ship. An eel. A massive green eel who could swallow a pony whole. Most of its body was still submerged in the water while its head poked out. Great eyes that could see in the darkest depths of the ocean made out the ship clearly, while a long shut jaw with huge and sharp teeth twitched. The eel slowly opened its jaws as it floated in the water, serpentine body slithering beneath the water to keep it steady. When its mouth was open completely—something stepped out from deep in its throat. Someone. A pony wearing black robes stepped between the rows of teeth and stood on the flesh where the tongue of another animal would be. He looked into the darkness as well to make out the shape of the Heart of Azure. After but a second, he nodded in affirmation and retreated back down into the giant eel’s throat. The eel clamped its jaws shut once more and dove down into the water.