Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Exploration

“I suppose we just go straight then?” Breakwater asked. “We wouldn’t want to get lost in a place this big and that dome at the center of the city seems to be where we need to go.”

Daylight nodded. “Yeah, we’re going to want to take as few turns as possible. If we can find it we need to get into the long enclosed pathway that leads from this dome to the next large building. Then the next one and so forth until we’ve made it to the central dome.”

“Long way for you guys to walk, guess it’s going to take us a while,” Rainbow Dash said as she was already floating over their heads and preparing to go down the nearby hallway.

“Yeah,” Daylight flatly looked up at her.

Gilbert meanwhile looked over at Senax, who had still been rather quiet as she took everything in. “Are you alright, Senax?”

She nodded. “Mm. I’m alright... just, a little overwhelmed at the moment. Being here is a lot to take in. I feel... shocked in a way. I just don’t know how I should be feeling. Should I be ecstatic? Hopping around in joy? Crying? Mournful and appreciative? Quiet and somber after learning all I have about Ponyseidon and my ancestors? I just... it’s a lot...”

“Take all the time you need. We’re here for you after all,” Gilbert smiled.

“Thank you,” Senax managed to smile back.

“Rainbow Dash is right though, we have a long way to walk sooo...” Daylight’s unspoken prompt to “hurry up” was left hanging in the air.

“Are we in that much of a hurry though?” Gilbert asked. “Now that we’re actually here I thought we could take our time.”

“I just don’t see any reason to lollygag when we have important things to do. And there’s no telling how much trouble your brother could be getting up to in the meantime,” Daylight said.

“True...”

“I’m ready to go now anyways, it’s alright,” Senax said and stepped over to join the others. “I can feel the Trident, it’s going to take us a few hours to get to it. And that’s if we actually have a straight path to it. There’s no telling if doors might be locked or our path blocked along the way, or how big and complex that central dome is. We might have to do a lot of looking around before we can actually get to whatever room the Trident is held in.”

“Then it’s time for a move on,” Rainbow Dash grinned and went to go speeding into the hallway-

“Um, actually...” Ballast said from behind them all. “I was thinking it’s better if I stay here with the ship.”

The others looked back at him, surprised.

“How come?” Breakwater asked.

“Well we just probably should leave someone here to make sure The Breakwater’s safe and nothing happens to it. It is our only way back to the surface after all,” Ballast shrugged. “And that someone should definitely be me, it being my ship and me being the only one who really knows its ins and outs and how to pilot it.”

“That’s a good point but... you’re going to miss out on really seeing Merlantis, discovering the Trident, everything else,” Daylight said. “Are you okay with that?”

Ballast gave her a bashful smile and held up his hooves. “Believe me, I’m fine with that.”

“I suppose you’ve gotten enough taste of what adventuring with us is really like,” Breakwater snorted.

Ballast coughed and looked away.

“I’m a little worried about us splitting up still but I guess this is probably the best way to do things. We definitely wouldn’t want something to happen to the ship,” Daylight rubbed her chin in thought.

“You want us to get you a souvenir?” Rainbow Dash asked, immediately getting a frown from Senax.

“That’s alright,” Ballast chuckled. “You all just do your thing.”

“Just be careful here on your own,” Daylight said.

“Yeah, watch out for anything suspicious,” Breakwater said.

“I’ll be here, ready to go whenever you’re done with what you’ve gotta do,” Ballast said and gave a small salute to the rest of them.

Rainbow Dash saluted him back before cracking her neck and turning back to the hallway. “Guess we better get right back on schedule.” She started flying out of the pool room, slowly though so she didn’t really leave the others behind.

“Have fun here,” Breakwater nodded to Ballast as he and the others started to follow the impatient pegasus.

“Good luck,” Ballast said back.

With that, the party separated and the five usual suspects traveled further into Merlantis in search of the Trident. As soon as they passed the threshold leading from the large pool room and into the hallway, the ones walking noticed a change underneath their hooves and claws. A far smoother sensation, with a polished appearance to it, seemed to be the flooring that would be used for the rest of this dome.

Daylight peered down at the floor and tapped it experimentally. “Quartz I believe. The stone floor right next to the pool was cement.”

“It’s very smooth,” Senax said as she let a hoof glide right across it.

“Seems like your ancestors were good at sculpting, this is all very well made,” Breakwater said as he looked up and down the walls.

“And what are these lights?” Rainbow said as she flew up to the ceiling. Every few feet was a shining orb half stuck in the ceiling, smaller versions of what illuminated the entire pool room. She held her hoof up to one and felt a steady heat coming from it. “It’s hot, kind of don’t want to tap it or anything. I wonder if they’ve always been on or if they turned on when Senax got the Necklace back from the matriarch.”

“Who knows?” Daylight shrugged. “Either way there doesn’t seem to be anything else right here, let’s keep walking.”

It was mostly just a normal hallway, going east towards the center of the city. The quartz that made up the floor, walls, and ceiling were perfectly white. Unnaturally so even. Every now and then they reached a crossroads where the hallway would branch off to their right and left—leading elsewhere into this first dome. Though the desire to explore was high, and the curiosity inside Senax especially high as well, they still kept on the straight and narrow path towards the Trident. Unless they really needed to they weren’t going to budge from that path. Hopefully at some point in the future Senax would be able to really see what else was inside this dome. And whatever other buildings they passed through.

The hallway itself was quite long, they had already traveled at least a few hundred feet before they saw anything new. All the while they were silent with each other out of respect for Senax. They wanted her to be able to look at and think about whatever she wanted without interruption. That was how it was until the hallway actually “ended” at a round room with a pair of heavy doors blocking the way. There was no visible lock on the door, the long golden handles were unchained, but still the group stopped for the moment before they progressed beyond it.

“Just going by my own judgment... but I think beyond here we’d be leaving the dome and entering the walkway that connects us to the next building,” Daylight said.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Rainbow nodded.

“Are we hoping that the air and everything will be just as good on the other side of this door?” Breakwater said.

“I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be,” Daylight shrugged.

Gilbert looked over at Senax and raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to do the honors and open up this door as well?”

“Yes, I’d like to see what’s coming next,” Senax nodded.

As the others watched she stepped forward and grasped the golden handles of the doors, pulling them both open at once. A new air current rushed in, buffeting them all and ruffling their manes and tails. When the currents stabilized they were able to look into the new hallway they now had to travel down. Immediately beyond the door was another round room identical in design to the one they were standing in aside from the fact that for the first time they now had some art to look at.

To the right and left of the doors were twin statues of armored merponies standing on pedestals and holding tridents. They seemed to be expertly carved from one solid chunk of marble each as there was no noticeable seam anywhere. And over their head was a painted mural of ocean waves centered around another glowing orb light. The statues and painting were together the first thing they had really seen from Merlantis that wasn’t just simple and practical architecture. Something that didn’t have “use” but was merely there as an indication of their culture.

After checking out those statues and the painting when they all walked through the door they were then able to look down the new hallway they’d have to walk through for however long.

It was different in one very peculiar and unique way.

While the floor and ceiling were the same quartz, and the same glowing orbs were shining light as far as they could see, the walls were replaced by floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Rainbow Dash floated towards the mirrors and looked into them, almost instantly becoming disoriented because of the reflection in the mirror behind her. She frowned and dropped down to the ground, tapping the glass of the mirror, which didn’t even smudge. Despite how long without any care or attention they had to be down here they weren’t dusty in the slightest.

“A hall of mirrors is it?” Gilbert said as he also walked forward and looked into the glass.

“Guess so. Don’t know why anyone would do this, it’s just weird looking,” Rainbow said.

“Maybe the ancient merponies really liked mirrors,” Daylight shrugged.

“What do you think about mirrors?” Rainbow asked Senax.

“Mirrors are fine...” Senax mumbled as she walked beside her, looking at her reflection and going from panel to panel of glass.

“It is kind of creepy though,” Breakwater said.

“Let me show you around the Crystal Empire one day then,” Rainbow chuckled.

“Still though... the statues, the painting, and these mirrors... I feel like we’re really in Merlantis now. Not just some building for going in and out of the city. It makes me happy to know there are things like this here, and I’m sure we’re going to see even more,” Senax said.

Daylight nodded. “Agreed. Whatever may have happened here in the past, it’s nice to see stuff like this. This kind of thing tells me that a lot of happy merponies used to live here.”

Senax stared into the mirror she was standing in front of for a moment longer before finally tearing her eyes away. “We should keep walking. It’s interesting but the Trident is still far away.”

“Right-o,” Gilbert said with a smile and resumed walking down the mirror-covered hallway.

Breakwater, Daylight, and Senax followed after him, all of them walking together while Rainbow Dash briefly looked into the mirror next to her before following along. She lazily dragged a hoof across the mirror’s surface before flexing her wings and getting ready to fly in the hallway again. It wasn’t a high ceiling or anything but she was grateful there was still more than enough room for her.

This place will be your grave.

Rainbow Dash paused in the middle of what she was doing and frowned. Narrowing her eyes, she looked back into the mirror and saw a shadow behind her own. It shouldn’t exist, and she should be able to see whatever was making the shadow thanks to the mirrors on both sides of her body, and yet she couldn’t. And unsurprisingly, when she looked away from the mirror and glanced behind herself she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

I warned you enough times. Now you and all of your friends are going to die a pathetic death down here. Enjoy the last day of your life, Rainbow Dash.

She didn’t respond to the voice. Didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. When she looked back into the mirror the shadow was gone.

“Rainbow Dash?”

Her head turned to see everyone standing ahead, looking back at her in concern.

“Is something wrong?” Daylight asked.

“No, nothing. Just got kind of dizzy looking into the mirrors too long,” Rainbow said, shaking her head. She opened her wings and smiled, flying up and over their heads to lead the way again. “Let’s go!”

Now in front of them and where they could no longer see her face, her smile vanished, replaced by a hard-set frown and furrowed eyebrows. There might be a certain promise she made in the past that she was about to have to follow through on. She hoped nothing serious would happen, for the sake of her friends, but now she was prepared.

Comments

[redmar]

That voice was obviously Harlequin Grey which does not bode well for the future of the group.

[Mini-Joe]

Time to trounce a clown

[RoboRed]

Harelquin Grey.

[TheCommunistDog]

I don’t think discord is gonna be very happy about how this guy uses chaos magic.