Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Rumble in the Jungle

Swiftly through the jungle, thirty lizards made their way east on the trail of the two invaders who had just recently escaped from prison. They ran over the grass and vines, swung from tree to tree, jumped from rock to rock, their movements were practiced and agile. Even more impressive was how silently they moved, not once having to slow down or check with each other for anything. It was a single unit. All of them held a deadly spear in their grip and wore decorative red war paint over their faces.

These lizards were not mere guards.

The hunting party sent from the ancient city quickly progressed on the trail of their prey. It would not be long before they had them surrounded.

---

“And so my wings were broken, I was completely surrounded and outnumbered, and the Sky Lord wanted me dead. There was no way I was going to convince him otherwise and no way I could escape.”

“So what did you do?”

“Easy. I insulted him right to his face—right in front of all of his crewmates and subordinates—and said he didn’t have the guts to fight me one on one even when my wings were broken. And anyone like that didn’t deserve to be Sky Lord.”

“Pff, he didn’t seriously fall for that, did he?”

“I’m here now aren’t I? And come on, I know you, if you were in his situation you’d do the same. No way you wouldn’t take the challenge.”

“Yeah, yeah...”

“Besides, after everything I’d done to humiliate him leading up to that he had to beat me on his own. If he didn’t look strong for his crew they’d mutiny against him sooner rather than later.”

“Sharktooth Island sure seems like a nice place.”

“Well it’s a quieter place now after everything I’ve done. Either way killing the Sky Lord was the first major thing I did out here to become famous.”

Godfrey had an almost wistful look in his eye after he finished telling Rainbow Dash the tale. She on the other hoof kept a steady frown on her face. Though she was loathe to admit it—Godfrey had some good stories. And it was better than just walking through the jungle doing nothing. Having some conversation helped speed things up. At least that’s how it felt.

“So what happened to his crew then? Shouldn’t you have become the next Sky Lord?” Rainbow asked.

“Most didn’t last long,” Godfrey shrugged. “And a lot of them didn’t accept me becoming Sky Lord cause I wasn’t from the Grand Ocean. So a lot of factions broke off—all of them with a leader proclaiming himself the true Sky Lord.” He grinned. “Hunted all them down. In fact, you ever wonder why all the ponies in the Kingdoms and on the ocean know what griffons are but you’ve never seen one besides me and Gilbert? That’s all me.”

He had finished his “boast” by pointing his thumb at his puffed out chest.

Rainbow Dash glared at him. “That’s not something to be proud of.”

“It’s still an accomplishment.”

She blew a disgruntled breath out her nose. “I hate how I could see you and me being friends if things were just a little different.”

“And I could see us being a couple of fun-loving comrades if things were a little different,” Godfrey shrugged, yanking Rainbow Dash up on her hind legs. Probably on purpose.

“Whatever, let’s just keep walking. We need to hurry up and find my friends,” Rainbow scowled.

“Can’t really go faster with these chains,” Godfrey said.

“Then we’ll-”

Rainbow’s sentence was cut off as a loud howl erupted through the jungle. Loud and powerful enough to cause the trees around them to shake. All the animals, even the mindless insects, went scurrying for cover or flying away.

After that roar died down, Rainbow and Godfrey listened in and heard a nearly identical roar from the opposite direction. Then another, and another, a few directly ahead of them and a few behind.

“Something tells me that aint good,” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“That definitely wasn’t those lizards either,” Godfrey said as he looked around the jungle. Whatever had made those roars though couldn’t be seen, the jungle was too thick.

“Let’s keep moving but do it a little more quietly,” Rainbow said. “Those roars came from everywhere so it’s not like we can just sit around and hope for the best.”

Godfrey nodded. “Sitting here wouldn’t help anything.”

So the two of them continued through the jungle—now not hearing anything else. Each leaf or mess of vines pushed out of the way had the two of them sharply looking around in case they were about to come face to face with whatever made those roars. Above their heads the sun still made its way through the canopy of trees, shining beams of light down to the ground. The jungle seemed peaceful to the untrained eye. To Rainbow Dash and Godfrey there was a sense of danger in the air. Both of them had gotten stiffer as they walked, focusing their already sharp eyes and ears as best they could.

“You can tell?” Godfrey quietly asked her.

“Yeah. Not sure where though,” Rainbow answered.

“Mm, coming soon though,” he said.

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah.”

They were being watched and they knew it, but they didn’t want to let whatever beast or monster out there watching them know. Instead they kept traversing casually through the jungle—though much tenser. Though it would’ve looked like they were totally oblivious to what was going on, in reality they were both ready to react to anything. They were just both experienced enough with danger to be calm about it.

Together they stepped out from around a large tree-

And with another monstrous roar a great figure came swinging from the branches towards them. It let go and flew through the air right on course to land on and crush the two of them so Rainbow and Godfrey both had to jump fast and jump together, there was no time to talk or even send a glance at the other to make sure they were doing the same thing. Fortunately instinct prevailed. Both pony and griffon jumped away from the tree and whatever was attacking them as if they could read each other’s minds. The large and dark figure came crashing into the ground with enough force to shake it and almost cause Rainbow to stumble.

Hunched over, powerful arms pressed to the ground, it recovered quickly and drooling growls came from it as it looked over at the two who had invaded its territory.

It was the largest gorilla she had ever seen. If it stood up straight the crown of its mammoth skull would’ve probably reached ten feet. Its huge arms looked like they were made of pure muscle, tree trunks looked thin compared to them. Shaggy black fur covered it from head to toe and its face was twisted in a snarl of rage. Rainbow Dash didn’t think gorilla’s teeth were supposed to look that sharp.

Godfrey whistled. “Boy, looks like the king of the jungle is upset we’re on his turf.”

“Let’s just go, it’s just a big animal, there’s no reason to fight it,” Rainbow said to him.

“You think we can outrun it like this?” He raised an eyebrow at her and held up the chain binding them.

“I don’t want to fight an animal that’s just protecting its home,” Rainbow frowned. “Fluttershy would kill me. This thing isn’t some monster like a Bugbear...”

“Fine, we can fly instead of fight. Pardon the poor choice of words,” Godfrey grinned. “Although...” he looked over his shoulder and Rainbow Dash followed his gaze to see more gorillas emerging from the jungle all around them. Some came from the trees, others from the brush, none were quite as big as the one in front of them but they were all gargantuan specimens. And they all looked just as angry. “I don’t think his friends are going to let us do that.”

“Ughhhh!” Rainbow dragged her free hoof down her face.

This is not what they needed right now.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and looked around—without flying there was no way out of here. “Fine. Fine then. But no killing, they’re just animals, they don’t deserve that.”

“That’s your biggest concern right now? You really are too kind for your own good.”

“Whatever, let’s just do this.”

The alpha gorilla loudly roared once more and beat its chest, creating a near deafening drumbeat thanks to the size of its muscles—both in its arms and in its pecs. It would’ve probably intimidated most ponies and griffons but the ones it was facing now weren’t exactly the type for that. The gorilla of course wasn’t changing course, as soon as it finished beating its chest it started running towards them, a thundering gait as it came on all fours over the jungle floor. The other gorillas started beating their own chests and howling, staying where they were. It seemed they were letting their leader deal with the pony and griffon by itself to prove its strength. Maybe the alpha wanted that.

That was fine to Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. They both got ready for the big gorilla, bending their legs, and shot each other a single glance. Godfrey nodded, Rainbow nodded, and they both grinned.

---

The hunting party came to a stop as the gorilla roars erupted through the jungle. Not an uncommon sound to the elite hunters, they knew exactly where the gorillas were now—and their instincts were telling them that their prey was the cause for the disruption. The one lizard in the lead held up a hand and made a flicking motion to his right and left.

Two groups of ten each broke off and started swiftly traveling in the indicated directions. After a brief pause the remaining ten continued their way forward.

---

“You know I don’t think I had the time to tell you about the giant alligator I fought back when we first met in that bar,” Rainbow said.

“Giant alligator, huh? How giant are we talking?” Godfrey asked.

“Way giant. And this wasn’t just some big animal either, this was a real monster we’re talking about here,” Rainbow held her hooves out for emphasis. “And this was like, literally right before I got to the Hundred Kingdoms.”

“Dealing with that big gorilla remind you of it?”

“Yeah. Just a couple differences though,” Rainbow said as she looked over her shoulder.

The jungle was a mess. Torn up plants, rended mounds of dirt, broken trees, excavated rocks and tree trunks, all lied around the newly created clearing. A bomb might as well have just gone off in the jungle, it was damaged all the same. In the middle of it was a big, whimpering, gorilla. Its former roars reduced to pitiful cries for mercy and pity while the other gorillas shuffled about uncertainly. They were all still alive though, so Rainbow was considering it a job well done.

“Well anyways, now that that’s over hopefully we won’t get interrupted again,” Godfrey said. “Even I don’t want to get pointlessly waylaid anymore. I’d kind of like meeting up with your friends just to see if they’ve already gotten the Necklace or not.”

Rainbow ignored his comment about the Necklace. “I’m surprised you don’t want to fight even more.”

“Fighting some big dumb animal isn’t as fun as fighting someone like you. Or even losers like Boschese slavers. Especially not when there’s more interesting things going on.”

“True enough. You know I like a good fight too but… yeah,” Rainbow nodded.

“Maybe we should speed up then? I doubt there are any animals in this jungle worse than those gorillas, any that might have started something with us were probably scared away. I think we can afford to not be quiet anymore,” Godfrey suggested.

“Yeah, I want to get out of here as quick as we can now. The less time spent chained up with you the better.”

“Heh.”

At least they were now well into the jungle. Rainbow guessed that if they picked up the pace they could be all the way to those mountains in a few hours. And hopefully, either there or on the way, she’d find her friends. There was a lot still going on here, and a lot of danger and a lot of enemies to deal with. Rainbow Dash was worried but still excited, it just felt like things were coming to a head.

---

“Weren’t we just here?”

“Seems pretty similar, yeah.”

Rainbow and Godfrey looked around the jungle clearing they had walked into. More specifically they looked around at the thirty spear-wielding lizards surrounding them and blocking them off. It really did give them a sense of déjà vu, some were on the ground while many more clung to the trees above them. Either way there was no opening or safe path to run off through. These lizards had a much fiercer look in their eyes than the lazy, ill-prepared, guards they had bowled through just earlier today.

“They did a good job sneaking up on us like this,” Godfrey grinned. “I’d clap for them if it wouldn’t yank you off your hooves.”

“I’ll admit I’m pretty impressed too that they managed to catch up and surround us all at once. Nice work you guys,” Rainbow said to the lizards.

The lizards only let out a low communal hiss as their bodies tensed and as a group the ones on the ground took a step towards Godfrey and Rainbow—closing the net. Spears were raised and held out towards the pony and griffon, a cautious but deadly advance.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. “Alright, let’s do this again.”

Comments

[redmar]

Their trek through the jungle isn't going as well as they hoped.

[RoboRed]

The jungle was a mess. Torn up plants, rended mounds of dirt, broken trees, excavated rocks and tree trunks, all lied around the newly created clearing. A bomb might as well have just gone off in the jungle, it was damaged all the same. In the middle of it was a big, whimpering, gorilla. Its former roars reduced to pitiful cries for mercy and pity while the other gorillas shuffled about uncertainly. They were all still alive though, so Rainbow was considering it a job well done.

Well at first I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't gonna be a good brawl to witness but it looks like that just might be about to change.