Reality is a Blur

by lLoveRainbowDash

Chapter Twenty-Four – Intercontinental Voyage (Rainbow)

Author's Note:

Hey, everyone. It’s been a little while... Sorry about that. With everything that’s been going on recently, I haven’t found much time to work on this story. Especially with school sending out work. However, I feel like it’s safe to say that I will be posting a new chapter every week or so, so please stick around for those.

With that out of the way, you may read the chapter now.

The clock on the wall read sometime near nine at night. Prosperity had been cruising at an even speed for almost nine hours now. Rainbow was sitting with her back against the head of the bed. The television was keeping her occupied, as well as London, who was seated on the floor in front of the television.

“Have you ever dreamed of taking a relaxing trip across the world with your loved ones, but never knew which ocean liner to travel with?” said a mare on the television.

No?

“Well, Prosperity has you covered! We will allow you and your family a wonderful time on our luxurious ocean liner! Please enjoy your complementary stay on our beloved Prosperity!”

I wouldn’t say it’s luxurious...

“London?” Rainbow asked, clearing her throat.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“I think it’s time for you to go to sleep.”

“Okay, Rainbow.” London stood up from his place on the floor and jumped onto the bed. He laid beside her and pulled the covers over himself. “Goodnight,” he whispered.

“Goodnight, London,” Rainbow whispered back, turning off the lamp on the table beside her as she stood up from the bed. She walked over the television and turned it off. She then walked to the door to the room and turned off the light.

Just then, somepony knocked on the door. Rainbow nearly jumped at the sound but quickly opened the closet door beside her and grabbed a bath robe from inside. She opened the door once she was done putting it on.

“Yes?” she asked.

The pony that stood in front of her was wearing a tan suit. He stood confidently, but his eyes darted around nervously. His coat was white, and his mane was gray.

“I... I, um, I hope I’m n-not bothering you,” he hesitated. He cleared his throat, holding a hoof out. “S-sorry, I-I’m Blepharo Caletus."

“I’m Rainbow... can I help you?” she replied, shaking his hoof.

“I-I was sent by the captain to c-check on everypony and get a specific count of how many ponies are aboard Prosperity. I-I was told to ask around and report back to the captain.”

“So, you just need to know how many are in each room?”

“Yes, I hope it’s not too much of a bother,” he said timidly.

“There’s two of us in here,” Rainbow answered, yawning.

“Alright, thanks. That’s all I needed. I’ll be out of your mane now.” As quickly as he showed up, he left.

Rainbow closed the door and sighed. That was... awkward. I guess I’ll go to sleep; I’ve got nothing better to do right now.

---

Rainbow woke up to the sound of a few ponies talking loudly as they passed the thin door to her cabin. She looked over and noticed London had been awoken too. She rubbed her eyes with a hoof as she stretched.

Eight in the morning... How long is this trip gonna take anyway? Rainbow thought after glancing at the clock on the wall.

“Rainbow?” London called out.

“What’s up?”

“I’m hungry.” London sat up and pulled the covers off of himself.

“You just read my mind!” Rainbow said, laughing. “Get your sweater on and we’ll go to the dining area.”

London jumped off of the bed and ran to the closet where their sweaters were hung. He quickly slid it over his head and brought Rainbow’s to her.

“Thanks,” she said, putting her own on.

“What food do you think they’ll have?” London asked, waiting by the door.

“I’m not too sure. But, anything sounds good right now.” Rainbow adjusted her wings underneath the sweater and made her way to the door before opening it. A pony smiled as he walked by. London trotted along down the hallway. Occasionally, a pony or two would walk by.

Once they made it to the end of the hall, they walked up the grand stairs and into the dining area. It was a large room with tables and chairs set out. There were windows on the two side walls that faced out over the endless ocean. The sky above the water was a beautiful blue as the sun gradually made its way over the horizon.

London ran ahead and sat at one of the empty tables, Rainbow close behind. Not too long after they had seated themselves, a pony came up to their table. “Hello, I am Caelia, and I’ll be your waitress this morning,” she said. “Now, let’s start with drinks. What would you guys like?”

“Can I have lemonade?” London asked. Rainbow looked over to him and saw he had a menu opened in front of him. She looked in front of herself and noticed she had a menu as well. She opened it to the beverages section and skimmed through it.

“Sure. And what would you like, ma’am?” she asked while writing something down in her notebook. She then looked up and smiled at Rainbow.

“Um... Could I get... a coffee?”

“Of course! What type would you like?”

“Type? O-oh, a... caffè mocha, please,” Rainbow read from the menu in her hooves.

“Alright, your drinks will be out soon. I will give you two some time to figure out your meals.” With that, she walked away.

London flipped a few pages back in his menu. He read out each food item under his breath.

Rainbow followed his lead and went back a couple pages in her own menu. There, she spotted all sorts of foods listed. One out of the many caught her attention. There was an eye-catching picture of fresh blueberries atop a bowl filled with oats galore.

“Rainbow, can I have an Equestrian muffin with a side of hash browns?” London asked, lowering his menu.

“Yeah. I think I’m going to get the oatmeal with blueberries.” Rainbow closed her menu and set it down at the edge of the table.

“That’s it? You’re not going to get anything else?” London asked.

“Oh, am I supposed to?” Rainbow reached back over to her menu, but was stopped by London, who was giggling.

“No, I just thought you would get more.”

Before she could respond, Caelia came back to their table. “Alright, did you guys figure out what you want?” she asked, setting down a tray with their drinks.

Rainbow looked over to London, who smiled back. “Yes, I think we’re ready.”

“Perfect.” She took a notebook out of her apron and a pencil. “Now, I’ll start with you, young one. What would you like?”

“Can I get an Equestrian muffin, please?”

“Yep! And what would you like for the side? Apple slices?”

“Oh, hash browns!”

“Alrighty, is that all?”

“Yes,” London answered.

“Okay, what would you like, ma’am?” Caelia asked, finishing writing London’s order.

“C-can I get blueberry oatmeal?” Rainbow replied.

“Of course you can! Do you want it made with milk or water?”

“Uhh, milk, please.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure to get those out as soon as possible for you two. If you need anything else, just ask; I’ll be happy to help!” Caelia took the tray and began to leave.

“Oh, Caelia!” Rainbow called out, causing her to stop in her tracks.

“Yes?” she asked, turned back to face them.

“How long is this trip going to take?”

“To Equestria? About three days to go,” Caelia answered before walking away once again.

“Three days?” London repeated, sadness slowly seeping into his voice.

“What’s wrong about three days?” Rainbow asked.

“I love ships, and I don’t want to leave because this is fun.”

“Oh, London... It’s going to be fine. I want to stay too, but we can’t,” Rainbow consoled. “Tell you what, we’ll do all of the little activities and stuff that this ship offers. We’ll have plenty of fun. Hay, maybe when we’re done travelling around, we can go on another cruise like this!”

“We will?”

“I promise. But you gotta promise me that you won’t worry about the time of this trip.”

“O-okay. I promise I won’t worry about it.”

Rainbow smiled. She enjoyed how simple it was to talk with him. “So,” she said, “what do you want to do first?”

London’s grin grew wider with each passing second.

---

After they finished eating, Rainbow wanted to go back to their cabin for a second to take a shower. She felt sweaty after wearing the hoodie for that long.

Once she was done showering, she looked over to the clock. It read 2:27 PM. Just then, the intercom spoke.

“This is your captain speaking. I just wanted to let all of you know that the shipping vessel Foresight will be passing by within the next ten or so minutes. If you head onto the main deck, you’ll see it passing by our right side. As always, please enjoy your complimentary travel with Prosperity.”

Rainbow looked over to London.

“Can we go see it?” he asked, jumping up and down.

“Of course, Bud. I wanna see it too!”

They put on their hoodies once more and walked out of the room. Rainbow put the key in her pocket and walked with London to the exit on the right side of Prosperity.

There were quite a few ponies lining up along the railing already to see Foresight. London ran ahead and found an open spot.

Rainbow stood on her hind legs and rested her forelegs over the railing. London was leaning against the bottom part of the railing, looking in between the rails.

Just then, another large ship, in fact larger, came into view. The soft fog blocked out all of the minour details, but Rainbow could still make out things.

The shipping vessel was huge. The draft of the large ship was red and the freeboard was black. The whole top of the ship was piled high with shipping containers. The bridge stood taller than the stacks, barely. There was a tall black mast on top of the yellow bridge.

Some of the ponies around them seemed to be done looking at the other ship and began leaving.

Foresight had only been in view for around two minutes. As it was finally fading into the fog, Rainbow noticed two ponies walking towards the back of Foresight. They both seemed to be staring back at them.

“Do you see those two ponies on the back of that ship?” London asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow answered, keeping her eyes on the two ponies.

“Do you think they like our boat?”

“I wouldn’t know. But, they do look interested in it.”

“What if they’re on a top secret mission?”

“That would be cool, but what would their mission be?”

“I don’t know, it’s secret! Maybe they are looking for somepony important.”

“Somepony important... What do you mean by that?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, maybe that pony did something bad and they need to find them to take them to jail!”

“London, you have the craziest imagination!” Rainbow stated. She laughed and ruffled his mane. “Well, wanna go do what we were going to do?”

“Yep!”

---

While on their way to the bowling alley, London stopped dead in his tracks. Rainbow nearly tripped over him.

“What is it?” she asked, following his gaze towards a sign on the wall reading: “Swimming Pool.” Beside the sign was glass doors that led to a locker room.

“A swimming pool!” London said excitedly, reaching for the door when Rainbow stopped him.

“We shouldn’t go in there.”

“Why not?”

“If it means we’ll have to take off our hoodies, then we can’t go,” Rainbow clarified.

“Oh, alright.” He turned away from the doors and continued on his way to find the bowling alley, slower than before, Rainbow noted.

Sorry, Bud, she thought. I would like to go swimming too. But, due to some circumstances, we just can’t.

Mentally, she consolingly patted London on the head, but physically, she just watched as he walked with his ears flattened against his head.

After a bit of confusion along the way, and a lot of rights and lefts down similar-looking halls, they finally made it to the bowling alley. It was a large room with around twenty-six long lanes that ponies rolled large balls down. The room was dark, lightened only by fluorescent purple lights, causing some things, such as the bowling balls, to glow a neon yellow in some spots. Their red hoodies seemed to glow as well. There were normal lights that only faced the ending of the lanes, lighting them up for ponies to see how many pins were knocked down.

The walls wore stripes and swirls that were implemented into the design that, under the purple light, glowed bright radioactive yellow.

When they came to the desk at the front, they were greeted by a mare who had a golden-yellow mane with a white coat.

“Hey, how many of ya? Just the two of you?” she asked.

Rainbow looked behind her and answered, “Y-yeah, just the two of us.”

“Alrighty, what size are y’all’s hooves?” she asked, only to be met with blank stares from the two ponies before her. “It’s alright if ya don’t know, just come with me on back here. I’ll get y’all set up with some slippers of your size.” She gestured for them to follow her to the back room.

Once they were all in the room, the mare grabbed two small boxes and placed them down onto a table. The mare opened the boxes and, now being able to see with the bright white lighting, Rainbow saw two pairs of dark blue slippers. The slippers would, quite literally, slip onto a hoof and help the wearer to get the right bowling motions.

“Okay, just try those on and see how they feel on ya. If they’re too tight, try these ones on,” she instructed, setting down another box, presumably with a bigger pair of slippers.

“Thank you,” Rainbow said.

“No need to thank me, Sweetie, just doin’ my job. Oh, and when y’all are done, just head on over to lane seven, I’ll get it set up for ya.” She winked before leaving the room.

Rainbow turned around to grab her pair of slippers and saw London already trying his on.

“Whoa, slow your roll, Bud,” she said, cracking a smile.

“What?” London responded, returning a smile of his own.

Rainbow looked at him for a moment before chuckling and looking away. “Nothing.”

The slipper seemed to just glide around her hoof. As with the others. They fit perfectly on her hooves. As Rainbow walked around aimlessly testing them, she noticed that the frontmost slippers had metal trims along the outside, taking the same shape as the respective hoof.

After messing about for a minute, the both of them made their way to the doors that they came through. As they walked towards lane seven, the mare from before passed by, saying, “Everything is all set up for the two of you, have fun!”

“Thanks, we will,” Rainbow replied. With that said, London trotted ahead, eager to start bowling.

She couldn’t help but smile.

---

Rainbow exhaled. She aimed skillfully down the lane, keeping a keen eye on the ball in her hoof and the arrows on the lane. She glanced at her hoof and studied the way she held her posture with the bowling ball.

The metal trim on the slippers served as a way for an earth pony to be able to roll the ball. The trim would slide into place in a groove that was cut into the ball.

The ball in her hoof was red with black swirls everywhere. The red glowed, bringing what little light it had to her hoof.

Rainbow brought her foreleg back and held it in place for a split second before throwing all of her strength into the last shot. She swung her foreleg forward, with only one objective in mind.

The arrows along the lane, her hoof and foreleg, along with her mind, were all trained on being perfectly straight. One little flaw, and the whole shot would be a fail.

The strike Rainbow so hoped to get would bring her all the way to winning. London had been kicking her flank at bowling, but she managed to catch up.

Once the ball left her grasp, she looked behind her to watch London’s expression. He sat in a chair not too far behind her, watching her. He wore a sly smirk on his face.

As the ball rolled down the lane, Rainbow didn’t bother to look, knowing that it would go straight down the middle of the lane. She watched on as London’s face changed to a concerned look. He sat up slightly in the chair, only to sit back down and bring a hoof to his mouth to stifle his laughing.

Rainbow finally looked behind her and saw all ten pins still standing, the ball no where in sight.

“You know what that means, right?” London asked.

“Wha- Where’d the ball go?” Rainbow searched for any signs of the ball. She looked at the other lanes nearby, checking to see if she didn’t accidentally throw the ball somewhere totally different.

“It didn’t go in. You missed the pins, Rainbow.”

“I did?”

“Yeah, I watched it go straight to the side.”

“But how? I made sure to make it go straight!”

“Thanks for letting me win, Rainbow!” London giggled at her confusion.

“W-well, yeah. I... I uh, I just went easy, you know. I totally meant to miss right there. All part of the plan,” Rainbow claimed, finishing with a couple taps to the side of her head.

“What’s your plan?”

“It’s... It’s simple. I pretend to be bad at things, until the last part, when it really matters.”

“Hmm. Win the next game then. Don’t go easy on me.”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause I’m the best at everything we can find on this ship,” Rainbow declared, all the while with a smirk.

“Pfft, okay. You’re on,” London said, narrowing his eyes.

---

Rainbow sat up in the bed. Something wasn’t quite right. She scooted to the edge and slid off the bed. She looked up at the clock.

Three in the morning? Well, I think we have around two days left—

Suddenly, something came hurling up her throat. She threw a hoof up to her mouth to stop it from coming out. She quickly dashed into the bathroom, with the help of her wings.

She closed the door as fast as she reached the toilet. With the release of her hoof from her mouth, that something came straight out in a powerful surge. Her whole body tensed up as she let loose everything that she ate the day prior.

She held one hoof on the seat and the other on her stomach to comfort it. Not wanting to see the evil that had just come out of her, she held her eyes shut.

Just when she thought it was over, another surge of pure evil came out. She wanted so badly to not have ears. The horrid noise of somepony releasing evil. She wouldn’t have been surprised if London had been awakened by it.

Rainbow waited with her head right above the toilet bowl for a few minutes. When she finally decided everything was done, she slowly stood up. She grabbed some tissues and cleaned up the little mess she made. She then flushed away the unholy-ness.

As she turned around, she stopped for a second. Her stomach still didn’t quite feel right, and there was a foul taste still left over in her mouth, along with a powerful sting in her throat.

She looked over at the sink and saw a few toothbrushes still in their packaging. She opened one and searched for some toothpaste. The first drawer she opened had a couple different toothpastes. She grabbed the biggest one and opened it. She squeezed some of it on the brush and began brushing her teeth.

Once she finished, she exited the bathroom and suddenly felt hot. The air in the room felt heavy and thick, making it hard to breathe. Without thinking, she left the room.

Closing the door behind her, she dashed for the nearest exit. She wanted, no, craved fresh air.

She was flying down a hallway that lead to the exit when she spotted a pony walking down it. She reared back when she noticed the pony had turned around.

The other pony was a stallion, and looked to be a fellow passenger as he was not wearing the normal uniform that the crew members wore. He stared at her, his face unreadable. He blinked and Rainbow took it as a chance to get away.

She dashed passed him and out the door. She flew away from the large ship and turned around only when she felt nopony would see her.

Early morning fog filled the air, adding to the darkness of the hour.

She looked at Prosperity. It seemed to be moving rather slowly. From her distance, it looked like a floating city. Every light was yellow, save for the navigation lights that blinked from the top of the bridge.

The fresh air definitely helped Rainbow with whatever that vile thing was from before. She had never suffered from anything like it, as far as she could remember.

Now that she was fine, she needed to get back.

I can’t risk anypony else seeing me, she thought, flying down towards Prosperity before landing softly by the door she had exited from. She slowly opened it and walked inside. She listened for anypony else, and heard nothing. She flew to the corner of the hall and peeked around. The coast was clear.

“Ma’am, can I help you with anything?”

Rainbow spun around only to be met with one of the crew members. He wore the formal white shirt uniform with the name Prosperity embroidered on the shirt pocket. “I uh, I just, I’m...” she managed, turning her body away from the pony so he wouldn’t see her wings.

“Don’t worry, ma’am. No need to hide your wings from us.”

“I—”

“That’s the way things are in South Pyrathia. Are you in South Pyrathia right now? No, you’re on Prosperity. And Prosperity does not partake in such laws that take away the rights of certain ponies. That’s a rule that has been implemented with us for a while now because we visit countries that treat everypony equally. So, no need to worry, ma’am. You’re alright.”

“I... Oh...” Rainbow relaxed, sighing. “Sorry, I just...”

“It’s alright, ma’am. Do you need help with anything?”

“Well... I might need help getting back into my room. I left in such a hurry that I forgot to grab the key.”

“Oh, simple mistake, ma’am. What room are you in?”

“Just follow me.”

---

On the last day, Rainbow and London spent their time playing the rest of the games and activities that Prosperity offered. They also enjoyed a nice swim at the pool. Although they received harsh looks, they enjoyed it nonetheless.

Now, however, Prosperity’s amazing-ness was coming to an end; they were only a few miles away from Las Pegasus. What they were going to do after getting off, neither of them knew. They could only hope for the best.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

Is the next chapter going to focus on Twilight and Rarity with the chapter after that back to Rainbow Dash and it continues on with that routine?

[lLoveRainbowDash]

10156653
Yeah, I'm going to try and even them out a bit.
Thanks!