Gilbert brought a talon up to his face to wipe away the tears he was shedding as he watched the play in front of him unfold. He had been spending his time on Red Beach Island so far sampling in all the entertainment he could. Not just the plays put on by the Festival Hoppers but other plays, musical performances, readings, and sporting events. Anything fun that was going on on the island he tried to make sure he was there for.
Currently the somber play he was watching was nearing its end, the tragic romance between two star-crossed lovers who could never be together, he wasn’t the only one in the audience crying from it.
“Beautiful...” Gilbert quietly said so as not to interrupt things.
As soon as the curtain closed he and many others erupted into fanatical applause for what they had just witnessed. None were quite so loud as Gilbert as he praised the play, the performances, and everything else you could praise about the show.
“Bravo! Bravo! Excellently done!” He yelled and whistled, giving the play a standing ovation along with the rest.
It wouldn’t surprise him if quite a few ponies in the audience recognized him with all the plays he had been going to lately. Even the actors might recognize him depending on how fast word of mouth spread here. How he wished he could bring his friends here and have them watch these plays too, he knew they’d love it just as much. Well, maybe not quite on the same level as him but they’d certainly still enjoy it! He hoped all of them were at least having their own fun wherever they might be now.
The applause of course died down eventually and the theatergoers started to file out of the building and back onto one of the many streets of the city. Gilbert stood there, watching the hustle and bustle as the ponies went on by, and smiled.
“Always such a charming place, so much activity, so many friendly faces. I feel like I could live here if it wasn’t for my spirit of adventure.”
Now there was just the question of what to do next. He knew he couldn’t have possibly seen everything the island had to offer but it felt like it. The groups that had become his favorites weren’t putting on anything new for a while, by the time they did he had to think he’d be well gone. If he wasn’t then that was probably a bigger problem.
“Maybe instead of just taking in the entertainment Red Beach Island has to offer I can sample their restaurants instead?” Gilbert said to himself as he aimlessly walked down the street. It was already evening and getting darker by the moment. “Or go exploring and find something totally new. Decisions, decisions...”
Gilbert almost wished he had kept in contact with Unyielding Critique, surely she would have a bevy of shows to recommend. He’d have to continue around on his own though. Unfortunately he hadn’t really gotten to know any other ponies on a personal level, too busy with going from play to play. Being recognized wasn’t the same as being friends and it was likely that the few ponies in the Festival Hoppers were the closest things to friends he had on the island.
Once he was done with this he’d msss them all of course. But not as much as he missed his current friends now. As soon as the High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order contacted them again and he joined up back with the others he would be overjoyed to see their faces. Already he planned to hug each of them.
Despite knowing that three of them wouldn’t like that.
Although he was having fun here he was very sympathetic to Senax and how he knew she wanted to learn anything she could about the treasures of Ponyseidon and Merlantis. So hopefully it wouldn’t be much longer at all now that they’d be waiting. Even if he had to leave in the middle of a play he’d accept that if it meant that Senax was getting what she wanted.
And above all he hoped this entire trip to the Archipelago wasn’t yet another wild goose chase.
Daylight Gleam woke up with her eyes still closed and warmth all around her. Stretching out her limbs she felt her hooves hit something and slowly blinked herself into coherence. Sitting up with the last few dregs of blurriness leaving her vision, she looked around and noticed she was sleeping atop some kind of mat with near a dozen empty glasses and coconuts scattered around her. A heavy fur blanket was slipping off her body the more she sat up but the temperature in the air was still just as warm. She frowned and reached for one of the coconuts, taking a sniff at the empty container.
“I think I drank too much last night…”
She had clearly been living it up on the resort island. Maybe a bit too much.
“Where am I anyways?” She asked as she got up completely and threw off the fur blanket. Obviously this was still Orange Horizon Island but she couldn’t for the life of her remember last night. Taking a more thorough look around she saw she was on some kind of outdoor patio up on top of a grassy hill that overlooked one of the many beaches of the island. There were other outdoor beds and tables around too, many covered in sheets for privacy.
“I better not have done anything stupider than just drink,” Daylight grimaced. But she was still pretty confident that even in an inebriated state she would never do anything too crazy.
Daylight walked away from the patio and out onto the grass. She had been on the island for several days now and enjoyed pretty much everything it had to offer. What was left to do until she got notice that the High Priestess had contacted them again? Drink some more? Get massaged some more? Sleep out in the sun some more?
Honestly, that all did sound pretty good.
She wasn’t even close to becoming bored yet. Not after the months of solid adventuring and sailing here. Not after the years of the rest of her life spent treasure hunting and roughing it around the world. She could spend another solid week here and still not get tired of the pampering and the nice weather. Not to mention how she didn’t have to deal with anything serious whatsoever. All the ponies were nice and friendly, she didn’t have to scowl or glare at anybody.
It was great. She would be happy to see her friends again when it was all over, but this was a great break.
She didn’t recognize the beach down below the hill so she figured she might as well go down there and check it out today. Obviously this was part of the resort she hadn’t been to before but she couldn’t exactly remember how far she had walked when drunk. Or how long she had been drunk in general. One thing she hadn’t done much of all at the island was swim in the ocean, maybe she could change that today?
Daylight yawned and took another big stretch before she totally left the patio behind and started walking down to the beach. “Geez, I don’t even know what time it is.”
A glance up at the warm sky told her that it was probably late morning, but she wasn’t totally sure. Rainbow Dash and Breakwater would be able to tell just from glancing at the sky, she knew. A smile wormed its way onto her face as she thought about not only them but Gilbert and Senax as well.
“Maybe I miss them more than I thought,” Daylight sighed.
The friend she had made here, Pollina, had been gone for days now. Still, Daylight was sticking to her decree of not getting sad about anything while she was here. Positivity was the name of the game. The warm breeze coming in from the ocean had already reached her and soon she’d be walking over the hot sand. If she hadn’t woken up surrounded by all those empty drinks she’d probably have gone to get a new one before swimming. As it was, she figured a swim could come first. The water was probably warm, and she knew it was crystal clear and calm without any real waves here. It would probably be no different from swimming in a pool except there might be some colorful fish around her.
Then maybe a drink afterwards.
Non-alcoholic this time.
Both Breakwater and Senax were still on Blue Coral Island. Even with all the time that had passed by, neither had seen fit to leave it and the Saffron Inn behind. Though right now Breakwater was somewhere that neither of them had been since they had all arrived at the island. Back by the dock they had gotten permission to stay on the island at, and up the street with all the tacky souvenir shops.
There wasn’t any particular reason he was here, there just wasn’t any reason not to be. He had been wandering around on the off-chance he would find something interesting or something worth buying. Maybe even gifts for Senax and the others to mark their journey here. And make sure it wasn’t a total waste if nothing came of their meeting with the High Priestess.
Whenever that was happening.
Breakwater passed by a shop selling all sorts of seashells and was vaguely reminded of the servant who had come to meet them, with all the shells tied into his mane. While he was looking through the window the tram came up from the docks and traveled up the street behind him. He glanced over his shoulder at it and saw a number of ponies riding up on it with their luggage.
“New arrivals huh?” He said to himself. “Hope that whatever you’re here for doesn’t take as long as what we’re here for.”
Looking down the street at the dock and the ocean beyond it he started to think of how Rainbow Dash, Gilbert, and Daylight might be doing. They were all probably fine—more than fine—but he hoped they were enjoying themselves too instead of just doing okay. Well, Gilbert and Rainbow certainly knew how to have fun and let loose, Daylight might be another story. He was sure Senax missed them all right now too and she’d be happy to see them once they finally all got back together. They were all his “crew” for lack of a better word and he found himself deeply concerned for their well-being, and enjoying that great feeling of camaraderie when they were all together on the Heart of Azure.
That’s why he really wanted the High Priestess to contact them again soon. Both for them all to get back together and for Senax to either have peace of mind or for them to have new information to go on.
As he went back to walking up and down the street, this time he stopped in front of a store selling candles. A huge variety of candles, from big to small in all sorts of scents, were stacked inside the shop. Maybe he could get one and bring it back to their room at the Inn? Senax might enjoy it as they stayed there.
“Might as well,” Breakwater shrugged and walked inside.
There were other ponies, tourists like him, already inside and looking around. His nose was assaulted by a wide variety of scents that all kind of bled together—it smelled nice in here but he’d have to get closer to some candles to really figure out what they smelled like on their own. He wondered what Senax would even like. Maybe something that reminded her of the ocean?
Little obvious but she’d probably appreciate it… Breakwater figured.
He looked around for sea-scented candles, or seaweed ones, or anything like that. Honestly there weren’t too many in that category. Most ponies probably didn’t equate the ocean with “smelling good”. Breakwater grinned at how ignorant those poor ponies were. Nothing beat the salty air out in the middle of the ocean, with the breeze in your mane and your ship steadily rocking from the waves.
Thinking about all that really made him ache for the Heart of Azure even more. He was just hurting himself at this rate.
Breakwater sighed before his eyes eventually found a small seabreeze candle. Colored blue and small enough to fit on his hoof. Perfect.
“Well let’s hope their prices aren’t for ripping off tourists,” Breakwater grinned and took one of the candles. “I think you’ll like this, Senax.”
Senax, at the moment, was at a poetry reading being held at the shrine the group had visited days ago. She originally was planning to spend all day at the Saffron Inn, not really in the mood to do anything, but she quickly became bored and found herself back at the shrine. There was no real plan to come here. Nor any real reason too. She knew this shrine wouldn’t give her the answers she wanted but maybe she just wanted to engage with the Sarraroccon Order any way she could.
That aimless desire found her sitting on a wooden bench along with many other ponies, under the trees of the shrine, as one of the Order’s monks recited poetry. It was collected poetry written by monks of the Order over the centuries the Order has existed here on the Archipelago. Though not as into this sort of thing as other ponies might be, Senax still found it fascinating. Though the Order couldn’t have been as old as Merlantis and Ponyseidon (at least she couldn’t imagine that being possible) it clearly predated the Hundred Kingdoms on the continent and maybe even the Golden Empire. Breakwater hadn’t been sure of any of this but he wasn’t a historian, unless these ponies were lying for some reason the Sarraroccon Order was the oldest living civilization on the Grand Ocean.
The poetry was not exactly flowery or what she would consider “good” but it was an interesting window into the past.
The monk reading it came to the end of the long scroll it was all transcribed on and stopped before rolling it up. He smiled at his captive audience and bowed his head. “That will be all for today. Please come tomorrow at the same time if you are interested in hearing more.”
Senax and the rest of the ponies at the poetry recital didn’t clap—it wouldn’t have been proper for this sort of thing—instead they smiled, stood up, and bowed in return. The monk slowly shuffled away from the courtyard and the visitors all started to fan out to other parts of the shrine as well. They were all just tourists who wanted to see more of an “authentic” shrine of the Sarraroccon Order.
Senax though merely stayed there for the moment as red leaves drifted down from their tree branches and dotted the ground. There wasn’t anything else she planned on seeing or doing here at the shrine, nor any monks or shrine maidens she planned on speaking to. She didn’t even see that Citrus Smile mare around today.
“I still just don’t know what I’m doing,” Senax sighed and looked around. “What is the High Priestess waiting for? What does she want from me?” She started walking back over to the stone steps that would lead down from the shrine. “Sometimes I feel like we should’ve just forced our way straight to the High Priestess… Rainbow Dash would’ve helped with that for sure. I don’t think anyone else would even really be angry about it...”
But that’s not what they were doing. The High Priestess had peacefully invited them here and as impatient as Senax was, and desperate she was, they wouldn’t do something wrong or aggressive like that. It wasn’t right. They were going to have to do things the High Priestess’s way regardless of anything else.
“I wish that wasn’t the case but… there’s nothing else for us out here,” Senax said as she started walking down the steps.
There were many roads she could choose to walk down once she got to the bottom, but the only one she was looking at was the one that would take her back to the Saffron Inn. She had done enough today. It was time to rest and hope that soon enough they’d get the notice from the High Priestess that it was time for them to meet.