Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

The Wandering Island III

Past the coast of Evergarden now, this may have actually been the furthest east on the Grand Ocean Rainbow Dash had actually traveled. She’d have to check a map to be sure. That Kingdom certainly had lived up to its name though. Every time Rainbow Dash had looked north at the coast she saw green, green, and more green. Looking at the coast now it was completely different, if she squinted her eyes all she saw was a brown and rocky coastline. Whatever Kingdom that was it wasn’t very inviting, but she hadn’t gotten the name of it from Breakwater or anybody else yet.

Either way, they all knew for certain now that the Wandering Island was still further east. However long it had stayed in the waters off of Evergarden was long over. Breakwater assumed they would still catch up with it before they had to go as far as Meer but even he wasn’t totally sure.

Rainbow Dash didn’t exactly mind, maybe they’d see something cool along the way? And like always, it was way easier to deal with traveling if you had a set destination in mind and something to look forward to rather than just aimlessly going forth. That had been something she realized many times on her journey by now and it hadn’t changed on the Grand Ocean either.

“So Gilbert, you give any thought to what you’re going to do after we find Merlantis and everything?” Rainbow Dash asked the griffon.

“Oh, not anything for certain, but I know I’ll be out adventuring somewhere again. I don’t think settling down is for me,” he answered.

“Well—I understand that. Not that I’d give up my home for anything but yeah, after being on this adventure for so long I get where you’re coming from. You’ll still make it to Equestria one day though, right?”

“Of course. I plan to visit Griffonstone again one day too. Just probably not for that long.”

The two of them were flying together over the Heart of Azure and had been pretty much for the entire day now. Not really doing or talking about anything in particular, but just enjoying each other’s company and taking the time to stretch their wings instead of walking about on deck. It was a welcome break in the monotony of sea travel. Rainbow Dash did sort of enjoy checking out the coast and the clouds for a bit, but that couldn’t keep her restless spirit interested forever. Of course, neither could just lazily flying along like this. At one point or another she was probably going to end up challenging Gilbert to a race or another fishing contest.

Going in that cold water though… eh, maybe not.

“Hmmm...” Rainbow Dash murmured. “You’ve got your sister, right? Gonna say hi to her in Griffonstone when you stop there?”

“Yes, certainly, but probably only briefly since I wouldn’t want to remind her how badly I annoy her.”

“Good idea. After that you can come right over to Equestria… I get the feeling you’d get along real well with Pinkie Pie.”

“I’m sure I’ll find all your friends charming!” Gilbert smiled.

“Yeah, but they might uh, not all feel the same,” Rainbow grimaced.

“Ah, that’s true. I’m well aware of how I come off to others,” Gilbert nodded a few times.

“Are—are you?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him.

He lifted up a talon and shook it uncertainly. “Ehhh.”

Rainbow Dash just snorted and shook her head. “Never change, Gilbert. I’ll give you credit though, I prefer you to your brother about a million times over.”

“Well, that just goes without saying.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and looked ahead to the east, spotting a mostly clear sky with just a few big clouds visible. “Hey, I’m getting kind of bored of just flying like this. You up for a race? To the first big cloud up ahead and back?”

Gilbert took a gander at the cloud she was talking about before answering. “I believe I’m up for that. Do I get a handicap this time?”

“I’ll give you a ten-second head start.”

Gilbert chuckled mirthlessly. “Heh—with you as my opponent that’s practically nothing.”

“Use it as motivation to become a faster flier,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Normally a head start like that would be huge for races.”

“Not races against you,” Gilbert replied.

“Well if I gave you any more than that I’d feel bad when I still beat you.”

“Oh, thank you then.”

“So come on, are we doing this or not?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes, yes, I’m not backing out,” Gilbert sighed.

“Then get as ready as you need and start flying out there whenever you want. I’ll count to ten after and start chasing after you.”

“Won’t be much of a chase...” Gilbert quietly grumbled as he started to stretch his wings and psyched himself up as best he could for the race. A few deep breaths and one last big shake of his body to work all the kinks out—and he shot off at full-speed immediately and without any warning.

“Heh. One,” Rainbow Dash started counting with a big grin on her face.

---

The following afternoon was an equally lazy day as they approached the waters of Meer. According to Breakwater they were less than an hour away from the “border” of the furthest east of all the Hundred Kingdoms. Good waters and even better wind had let them travel fast to their destination. Though the Wandering Island itself was not quite in view yet, it should be soon unless they were further out from the coast than Breakwater thought.

“Hey, Senax? Wanna play cards until we get there? After how you did at Liar’s Dice I’m thinking maybe you’d actually make decent competition for me,” Rainbow asked. Right now all of them, except for Gilbert who was at the bow, were by the helm with Breakwater.

“No thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Senax calmly replied. “Barely winning at that is one thing—beating you at cards is something different entirely.”

“You’re too lucky,” Daylight grumbled from beside them.

“Well you’re just really unlucky too,” Rainbow said to the unicorn. “And you give up too quickly.”

“I’m well aware of these things,” Daylight frowned.

“Sorry—I thought if I didn’t remind you about it every now and then you’d actually smile and have some fun, and that would just be kind of weird,” Rainbow grinned.

Daylight huffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh whatever...”

“She’s right though, it would be kind of weird to see you like that,” Breakwater said.

“And I see that everyone is against me once more,” Daylight’s eye twitched.

“Don’t let it get to you,” Rainbow Dash snickered and patted her on the back.

A sharp whistle then cut out any reply Daylight might have had to give her—and Gilbert yelled to them from the bow.

“I say! I say, everyone! I believe I can see the Wandering Island ahead!”

He didn’t need to say that twice, Rainbow Dash immediately jetted from the helm to right down next to him with both Senax and Daylight running on her heels. She practically leaned as far over the bow as she could and squinted her eyes to get the best look—temporarily forgetting she could’ve flown up higher to get an even better one—and was rewarded with the sight of something floating far ahead on top of the water. It covered a large area, and in the center she saw what looked like buildings, several stories high, rising sheer from the water.

Comments

[redmar]

Hopefully the Wandering Island can provide some new leads as to the location of Ponyseidon's trident and the location of Merlantis.