Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Sea Lions Are Loud

The deck of the Heart of Azure was far more crowded than usual. The slaves from the Boschese Junk took up a lot of room and most of them were still quite nervous and afraid. Senax and Daylight quickly started to get fresh food and water for all of them, even though it looked like they had been fed fairly well so they could continue to work hard. Most didn’t want to talk at all. Some seemed worried that they were somehow going to be immediately snatched up by Bosche again and Rainbow Dash and the others had to calm them down.

It wasn’t a pretty sight to her. She hated seeing ponies like this and it filled her with righteous fury after what she had done on the Bosche ship. Maybe she had even been too lenient. That was that now though, the Bosche Junk had already disappeared and the Heart of Azure was close to docking near a small sand bar island so they could slowly let their new passengers off and take them to the locals at the Sea Lion Reefs.

They had spotted one of the larger atolls that had trees ringing around it along with some small buildings built in there. Hopefully at least some of the ponies who called the Reefs their home were around and they wouldn’t have to look far. After all they had other business to attend to here.

“Thank you for saving us. Thank you so much,” a stallion suddenly said to Rainbow Dash.

She turned to him and blinked before a sheepish smile worked its way across her face. “Hey it’s no problem. We were happy to help. Really happy. I mean… I definitely couldn’t leave you stuck on there after hearing about what Bosche is like.”

“We owe you our lives… they would’ve worked us to death,” the stallion said, his head hanging low as he stared at the deck.

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Rainbow said and placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “I promise.”

“Thank you...” the stallion quietly repeated.

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise and looked closely at him—he had fallen asleep while sitting up.

---

Multiple hooves walked over a sandy beach towards a series of grass and twig huts that sat on the eastern side of this large atoll. Several ponies stood outside those huts, watching in surprise as the large group made its way to them.

Rainbow Dash took her first look at the locals of the Sea Lion Reefs. They were a thin and athletic looking sort, she saw not an ounce of fat on any of the ponies. Their manes and tails were cut short but not so much to leave them “bald” and they wore body paint of any number of bright reds, yellows, and oranges on them in seemingly random patterns. A colorful bunch to be sure. Both mares and stallions she saw also wore grass skirts and grass shawls around their necks.

One of the locals, a stallion with half his body painted red and the other yellow, walked from the trees with a welcoming smile on his face and waved at the approaching party when they got close. “Hello, friends! What do you visit the Reefs for? There’s quite the number of you!”

Breakwater of course took the initiative, waving to the local leader and nodding his head in respect.

“We’re here for a couple of different reasons. First of all, I’m sure even you on these small islands are well aware of Bosche, right?” Breakwater asked.

The leader frowned and nodded his head. “Ah, yes, their name is well known to us unfortunately.”

“Well I’ve got some mixed news then… they were planning to attack the Sea Lion Reefs and gather up as many of you they could as slaves. Good news is we managed to turn them back, bad news is they might come back later, so I’d really recommend keeping an eye out for the near future,” Breakwater told them.

“We have been raided by them and pirates in the past, we have had to learn how to handle ourselves on such occasions, but I thank you greatly for telling us,” the leader bowed.

“Just being good samaritans,” Breakwater shook his head. “That brings me to something else…”

The leader looked up and past him, at the group of despondent and still tired looking ponies behind Breakwater and Rainbow Dash’s group. “Does it have anything to do with these ponies?”

“These are ponies we rescued from the Bosche ship that was planning to raid you. Former slaves. We… don’t have enough room or food capacity on our ship to take them with us anywhere else,” Breakwater said and pointed out at the Heart of Azure that was docked right off the atoll. The leader looked at it, snug in the shallow waters between several of the reefs and sandbars only a hundred feet or so away. It certainly wouldn’t be capable of ferrying so many ponies at once. “I feel bad to do this but I think it’s best if they stayed here with you. That’s not an issue, right? Ships still come by here every now and then don’t they? I just think…”

“It is no issue at all to us if these ponies with to stay here. In fact we would be happy to have them,” the leader smiled. He spread his hooves over to the palm trees and the wide open beach. “As you can see we have both plenty of room and plenty of food to spare. And yes, ships come here frequently enough. And if some feel they don’t wish to wait or know somewhere else to go, our fisherponies will be happy to take them by canoe to the nearby island kingdoms.”

“Phew…” Breakwater wiped a hoof across his brow. “That really makes things easier.”

“We ponies of the Reefs would not turn away those in need, you can all rest easy.”

As the two of them finished up their conversation, Rainbow Dash turned to the former slaves and raised an eyebrow at them. “You guys all okay with this? I know it seems like we’re kind of dumping you off here but there’s really not a whole lot else we can do for you…”

“It’s alright,” one of the former slaves said. “As long as we’re someplace where we can at least find passage off soon... anything is better than where we were. You’ve already done more than enough for us.”

“Some of us are in no hurry to get home anyways. There isn’t going to be anyone waiting for us,” another pony sighed.

“I’m sorry…” Rainbow Dash tilted her head down.

“Please, don’t be, like we said you’ve done so much for us already. Thank you for everything.”

Rainbow Dash nodded but still sighed. Sometimes it’s not enough…

And so, as many of the former slaves wandered the beach, enjoying their newly found freedom, or spoke with the locals and rested among the trees and grass huts before moving on further with their lives, Rainbow Dash was now seeing (and hearing) first hoof why this place was named the Sea Lion Reefs. She, Breakwater, and the rest of the crew sat with the island leader on the other side of the palm trees, facing inward to the lagoon in the middle of the large atoll. The lagoon was full of small sandbars and rocks and the southern interior beach of the atoll was covered in a mass of Sea Lions. There were hundreds of them lounging around there, sunning themselves without a single care in the world.

The steady and loud “ork, ork, orking” from them drowned out any other background noise. It overpowered the sound of waves or the wind blowing through the palm trees here. And the smell. Yes, she could smell the smelly Sea Lions from all the way over here too. It was a pungent seawater and fishy smell all mixed in together. She almost wanted to barf—the wharf at Malkonrik and the ocean in general had never smelled so bad. It was just these Sea Lions.

“And so what is the other reason you have come to the Reefs? Ah—before that, my name is Kai. Let me restate how much of a pleasure it is to have you,” the leader said with a smile.

“We’re pleased to be here as well. And I can tell you that our other business isn’t so pressing. Probably,” Breakwater said, with a quick glance to Senax.

Kai raised an eyebrow. “What could it be? I can’t think of anything of much importance that happens out here, it’s why the large trading vessels and merchant organizations hardly ever come here. Surely you don’t wish to merely partake in a surfing competition?”

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up but she wisely kept her mouth shut for the moment.

“We’re here looking for a treasure chest that we’ve heard rumors about,” Senax said. “Do you know about it?”

Kai nodded as a look of recognition passed across his face. “Ah… yes, I’m aware of what you’re speaking of. A sunken treasure chest that was seen by some of the ponies living here. So that has spread as a rumor off the Reefs? I have not personally seen the treasure chest but I have heard other members of the tribes speak of it.”

“Other tribes?” Rainbow asked.

“We are a collection of close families here—I am but one leader among many. There are a number of tribes scattered all about the Reefs and the treasure chest was found by ponies not in my tribe. If you are looking for this treasure chest you’ll need to speak with those ponies first, I’m afraid I don’t know where it’s supposed to be located either,” Kai said.

“So where can we find the ponies who know about it?” Daylight asked.

“Yeah—don’t you guys constantly move around here?” Rainbow followed up.

“Yes, but I know where the tribes currently are. We all keep in touch with each other regularly,” Kai smiled. “Currently the ponies who found the treasure chest are gathered in the northwest reefs, the currents and waves there are more powerful at this time of year and they have a love of surfing. If any of you have such a hobby I think you will enjoy being there.”

Breakwater folded his hooves over his chest and stared at the sand. “If we went around it would take some time… we’d have a lot of shallow water and reefs to navigate…”

“Any of my ponies you come across would be more than happy to ferry you by canoe from island to island,” Kai said. “If even necessary. With two of you who can fly it should not be trouble, and the waters from here to there are warm and calm enough to swim through if you wouldn’t mind that either.”

“No sharks?” Daylight asked.

“Only little ones, haha!” Kai laughed.

“It would probably be faster than sailing on the Heart of Azure,” Breakwater mused. “But then I should probably stay here with the ship-“

“I promise that I and my ponies will watch over your ship for you. None will touch it,” Kai said, holding a hoof over his heart.

“Well that takes care of that I suppose…” Breakwater smiled.

Daylight looked from pony to pony. “Is there anything else now? Or should we get a move on?”

Senax shook her head. “I think we’ve heard everything we need to.”

“May I ask a question before you leave, however?” Kai said. “I am very curious—you don’t seem like ponies who would merely be interested in gold. What do you expect to find in that treasure chest?”

The group all shared a long look with each other before Senax answered.

“Something very important to me.”

---

“Might I ask why we didn’t think to ask for some coconuts or pineapples while we were being so graciously hosted by Mr. Kai?” Gilbert asked as the crew walked along the sandy beach to the northwest side of the atoll.

“Because I’m dumb and forgot,” Rainbow answered with an annoyed frown on her face.

“We’ll have plenty of opportunities to pick some fruit later. I’m almost certain we won’t have to pay or ask permission for any of it. Not in a place like this,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums and despondently stayed slowly walking with everyone else for now. When they reached pretty much directly north, they came across a very small and shallow inlet leading into the atoll. They could’ve actually walked through the water easily to get to the other side, if not for the fact that it was currently in use by a large number of Sea Lions. They waddled through the water and over each other, coming from the ocean and going into the atoll’s lagoon. Most were adults much larger than any pony but some were clearly just babies and kids as well. Either way there were dozens of them moving at once and totally cutting them off from the other side of the beach.

Rainbow Dash blandly looked at them, doing her best to ignore their smell. “I don’t like Sea Lions. I’ve just decided that now.”

“They are not the most pleasant of creatures…” Gilbert nodded.

“Are we going to have to deal with being around them the entire rest of the time we’re here?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s not called the Sea Lion Reefs for nothing,” Breakwater said. “Now come on, the two of you just fly the rest of us over them and we’ll move on.”

Took two trips for Rainbow Dash since she carried both Senax and Daylight while Gilbert got Breakwater and they resumed a walk towards the northwest edge of the atoll. Far in the distance, Rainbow Dash looked past numerous small islands and rocks to see another long strip of sandy beach where it seemed large waves were starting to form off shore. That was more than likely where they needed to go but they had a fair distance to travel without a direct way to walk. Luckily, Rainbow could also see quite a few happy ponies in canoes paddling just off the short of this atoll.

“I guess there’s our ride?” Daylight asked.

Rainbow Dash and the others waved to the canoe goers to get their attention. They saw them pretty quickly and began to paddle over. While they did that, Rainbow Dash took a more detailed look of the waters and islands around the big atoll. There were a lot more Sea Lions lounging around that she could see, and in a few wider pools of water she saw more canoes with ponies doing what looked like spear-fishing and diving from here. Definitely not her kind of thing. Hopefully the other islanders would have plenty of fruit. The worst part though was she could still hear the loud braying yells of the Sea Lions coming from practically everywhere. Even though they weren’t close to any it was a constant background noise.

Two canoes landed on the sandy beach and a pony, painted in several shades of yellow with a grass skirt on their hips. jumped out of one of them and walked up with a smile.

“Greetings, visitors!” She said, genuinely happy to meet them. “What can we do for you? You seemed quite eager to get our attention.”

“Hello,” Breakwater said to them. “We spoke with one of your tribe leaders, Kai, just now. He told us you might be willing to help take us to elsewhere in the Reefs? If you don’t have anything else to do that is.”

The mare smiled even wider. “Of course not! If you need us to help you through these waters, our canoes are as good as yours. Where do you need us to take you?”

“Fantastic... we didn’t want to impose or anything but we’re looking for something important. Have you heard of the sunken treasure chest that was found here? Can you take us to the ponies who found it and know where it’s located?” Breakwater asked.

“Ah, I see, I see, yes we know of those ponies. They should all be out surfing right about now...” the mare said.

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up again and she made a happy grin in Gilbert’s direction. He held up a thumb in approval.

“My name is Leilani by the way, now please come aboard and we’ll get you to their atoll right away!” Leilani smiled and beckoned them forth.

“Let’s hope things turn out well then,” Daylight smiled and patted Senax on the shoulder.

“Wonderful! I expect we have a great time ahead of us!” Gilbert clapped his talons together and started plodding over the sand. “One question to you though, Miss Leilani?”

“Yes?” Leilani tilted her head at him.

“Would you happen to have any food with you?”

“Gilbert...” Daylight admonished.

Leilani giggled. “Oh but of course we do! Do you like coconuts?”

Rainbow Dash and Gilbert high-”fived” each other. “Score!” They said in unison.

Comments

[redmar]

The ponies living at thew Sea Lion Reefs are nice ponies at least and hospitable.

[TheCommunistDog]

…surffffffff