Explorers from Giraffia

by Elchar

Act 1 Chapter 1: New land

“There’s a land on the horizon!“

Even Sea Sail down in hold could hear a loud yell from watch high on the mast. Is this what they were looking for? She checked the maps scattered among the table in front of her. The areas they were heading into were all white, but, to be honest, so were areas they already sailed through. They were really far away from their homeland.

Old legends said this weird land called Equestria was located somewhere far away across the Big Ocean, but, even after more than one year of traveling, they didn’t find anything but some isolated and deserted islands yet. Sea Sail was trying to believe in the existence of said land, but who knows…

She turned away from the table and climbed a few stairs until her head, perched on top of her long neck, reached out of the hold. Most of the sailors were on the main deck. Some were climbing on the mast for a better view; some were looking into the distance, where a mountain peaks peeping from behind the horizon could be seen. This didn’t seem like an island though. Well, unless it was really big island, of course. Others were scattered among the ship and were looking at her, waiting for her commands. Sea Sail was a captain after all.

She paused for a while, until she had a complete attention of all the sailors, then she began to talk. “Good. As the watch already stated – and as all of you can see for yourself, we’re heading towards some kind of big lands. It could be just a big island, but it also could be the land of ponies, Equestria. The land our king – king of all of Giraffia – sent us to find. We may be far away from our land, but we’re still under his rule. And we shall not disappoint him. Acacia!”

“Yes ma’am?” Acacia Sprout, dark green male giraffe bull with brown mane, was one of the youngest, but also the most reliable giraffes on board. He was expert on plants and was on board to examine the plants in lands they are getting into and if they are consumable. He was also Sea Sail’s personal assistant.

“When we’ll get close, we’ll send a boat to explore the land a bit. I want you and two sailors on board. Bring one okapi, too. Someone good at magic, I think Vermishine should be ideal. You choose sailors; you know them better than I.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Acacia immediately looked around and pointed at two sailors, “I think Bluewave and Amber Spot should be ideal. I’ll visit Vermishine right now; you know how he almost never comes out.”

Sea Sail nodded. Those were logical choices. Amber Spot was an excellent navigator and was very friendly. Bluewave could be kind of arrogant and he was very sceptical about their journey but he was also young and strong, Blue Wave knew he could handle almost any kind of danger. She looked at the faraway land once more. She was starting to think no Equestria exists and they are going to sail forever. After all, legends said that it were the two rulers of Equestria who raised and set the sun and the moon each day. What a ridiculous idea! But… the king wouldn’t send his best sailor captain to find it, if he wasn’t sure it existed… would he?

•••

Sand crunched under the bottom of the boat as they landed on a beach. Sea Sail was first to get out. She quickly scanned her surroundings. Near the beach was some kind of forest, but she couldn’t see any signs of life. When she looked back at sea, she could see their ship, anchored in the bay they found.

She could hear singing of some birds, but it didn’t sound like birds back in Giraffia. The forest was looking pretty weird too. It wasn’t jungle they knew from their homeland or some of the islands they found on their way. Far away, behind some lower mountains, one very high mountain could be seen. It was very steep, almost to the point that it was looking pretty ridiculous.

“Alright, everygiraffe, we don’t seem to have much of an option here. We should probably look around a bit. Acacia, what do you think about those trees? Are their leaves edible?”

Acacia Sprout went and peered at the trees. He plucked a small branch with his tongue and examined it. Then he ate one small leaf, “I can’t be completely sure if they are poisonous, but they sure do taste good. I guess it won’t hurt if we take some.”

“Fine, but we won’t eat any until we’ll be sure it didn’t do anything with you. Vermishine is pretty good at healing magic; I think he could heal you from poisoning.”

Vermishine, vermilion-coloured okapi with blue stripes nodded.

They harvested some leaves and placed them in their saddle bags. Then they proceeded into the forest. It was a rather sparse forest, so they didn’t have much problem walking through, they just had to be careful about the lower branches.

“I think I saw a squirrel,” Noted Amber Spot. “But it was running up a tree. I didn’t know squirrels can do that.”

“They can’t.”, answered Bluewave. “You were probably just seeing things.”

Sea Sail sighed. Bluewave was always sceptical, so no big news here. When they were still sailing, Bluewave was always saying he doesn’t believe in land inhabited by “ponies” and that whole journey is just a waste of time. Aber Spot once ironically asked him why he agreed to sail with them then. Bluewave didn’t speak with her for two months after.

Acacia sometimes exchanged a few words with Sea Sail, but they stayed silent for majority of their journey through the forest. Vermishine didn’t say anything, but he was examining the forest around him more than the rest of them. Okapis were living in jungles in Giraffia and this new kind of forest was fascinating for him.

•••

It was almost evening when they finally got out of the forest. The strange mountain they saw earlier was now much closer, towering high into the sky, with only some small hills at its base. They realised they crossed the lower mountains they saw earlier and didn’t even realize it. They remembered going up and down some hills, but no one of them would think they passed them.

Now, bigger region has opened in front of them. They also saw first evidence that this land might be inhabited – a road. It wasn’t paved like roads in Giraffia were, so it might have been made by animals, but the road just seemed too wide for that. And the sun was quickly setting down.

“Alright, Vermishine, send to the other okapis on ship a telepathic message about our progress so far.” said Sea Sail.

Vermishine’s ossicones lightened up. While he was dealing with that, Sea Sail turned to the others.

“So, now we have to decide where to go next. I think we should stay here for the night and see if any inhabitant of this land pass around, proving our theory. If not, I think we should try going up the road and find some citizens. We’ll stand behind those trees. We won't be noticeable in the dark, while we’ll see quite well on the road thanks to the moon. We were all sleeping two days ago, so no need there. So, now go into the positions!”

Vermishine was already finished, too, so they quickly hid behind the trees and started to watch the road carefully.

Author's Note:

The first chapter... Just a quick explanation: Giraffes and Okapis have horns called "ossicones". Both genders of giraffes and male okapis have them, female okapis don't. In this fanfic, they are used at similar fashion as unicorn's horn, but only male okapis can do that, giraffes can't use theirs for magic. That's about it for now, thank you for every view and comment!

One last note: (I am NOT a native English speaker... I hope there aren't that many mistakes in there...)

Comments

[lasics]

you had me at Giraffes I like to see how ponies react towards new races

[MagusNeon]

Loving the concept, following now.

[Judoon_Warrior]

I have to ask how tall are the giraffes and okapis compared to the ponies?

[Freewing Alchemist P]

Like the concept, I can't wait to see what is going to happen next.
You did a good job so far in English. It made it sound like they were reporting.

Good luck in the future

[Elchar]

Thank you so much for your feedback, guys, I really appreciate it. About the height of giraffes and okapis in comparsion to ponies - don't worry, that's going to be adressed right in the next chapter. :) Which should be up this weekend at the latest.

[gamerj14]

so much potential, please continue

[FoolRegnant]

While your English is certainly decent, I could spot a lot of little mistakes that mess up the flow of reading. Very interesting idea, I'd recommend finding an editor to help smooth out the writing, but other than that, wonderful start.