Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Fugitive

Before Rainbow Dash could open her mouth and ask about this so-called fugitive, the door to the throne room was opened up and in walked a pair of Storm Creatures. Rainbow wasn’t exactly proud to say she had no idea if these were the same she met when she woke up or not.

Fizzlepop looked over at them. “Oh, is lunch ready?”

The two Storm Creatures grunted and Rainbow Dash had to wonder if anyone really understood what they were saying.

Apparently, Fizzlepop did, as she smiled back at them. “Great, let’s get things ready in here and you can go tell the Trolls they can come. Tell them there’s another guest for them to meet too.”

As the Storm Creatures swiftly departed, Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Fizzlepop. “Trolls?”

“They’re the other guests that have been here for a while. They’ve been tracking down and looking for a fugitive from their homeland for a while,” Fizzlepop explained.

“Came here a while back because the Troll they’re looking for ended up on the island,” Grubber said.

“Yeah,” Fizzlepop nodded. “They asked for our help to capture him but we haven’t had much luck yet. He’s pretty tenacious. But the Trolls can fill you in better when they get here. I mean, if you even really care. You’re just trying to fly back to Equestria at this point to make it all the way around the world, aren’t you?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “What’s a trip without a few fun stops? Come on, you already know about all the times I’ve stopped and helped out when I didn’t have to. And besides—this guy nearly broke my wing, I owe him one.”

Fizzlepop chuckled. “Heh, well if you want to help out with tracking down and catching this guy I doubt the Trolls are going to have a problem. They’ve been happy with any help they can get.”

“Good. I’ll be all the help they need,” Rainbow smugly said.

A moment later and the door to the throne room was once again opened. In strode three large creatures that were superficially similar to the Storm Creatures but with a number of key differences. They were as tall and as top-heavy, but their arms were a bit longer and without such dis-proportioned forearms. They had somewhat shaggy brown fur covering their bodies as well, with hunched over backs, and narrow faces with beady black eyes. Most interesting about them though wasn’t anything that had to do with their physical bodies but the clothes they wore. They wore garish, bright clothes, in weird unmatching styles. All three of them wore something completely different, with the one in the middle having an orange robe tied at the middle with a purple sash, the one to his right wearing a bright red suit with white flowers sewn all over it, and the one on the left with a sky blue vest and hot pink pants.

Rainbow Dash had to blink and just stare at them completely flummoxed. She didn’t know if Rarity would be impressed by the originality or if she’d start to cry.

“Hello, Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” the lead Troll said with a fairly gravelly voice.

Rainbow’s ears perked up. Oh, they could actually talk.

“Hello, Tyluck. Sleep well?” Fizzlepop said to him.

“Indeed,” the Troll—Tyluck—nodded his head. “We’re well rested and ready for another day of hunting. Hopefully a day that will not be fruitless like the rest.” His beady eyes then centered on Rainbow Dash. “Ah, is this the other guest we were told of?” The Troll made a great sweeping bow directed at Rainbow Dash. “Hello, dear pony, I am Tyluck of the Troll Kingdom, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Uh, hi,” Rainbow Dash smiled and waved a little awkwardly, not used to the royal treatment. “I’m Rainbow Dash. Uh, from Equestria.”

“While she was flying here she became an unfortunate victim of the fugitive we’ve been trying to chase down,” Fizzlepop said, nodding to Rainbow’s bandaged wings.

Tyluck and the other Trolls took a closer look at Rainbow and narrowed their eyes when they noticed her injury.

“I see… then we owe you quite the apology for not apprehending him sooner,” Tyluck said.

“Hey, hey, no need to do that,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You guys didn’t do anything—and I’ve literally had way worse welcomes in my life than this.”

“Still—we must apologize. It is yet another problem that could’ve been avoided had the criminal not escaped to here and avoided us even now for longer,” Tyluck sighed. “The fault is both ours for allowing that and for our culture producing such a dangerous criminal in the first place.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “What’s the story behind this guy?”

“He is-” Tyluck was interrupted right as he tried to speak up by the throne room door again being opened up.

This time a line of Storm Creatures stood waiting, either holding trays or pushing carts with food on them. Rainbow Dash found the sight fairly surreal after her original encounter with these guys but if they were happy with their new job she might as well be happy for them. They even looked a little bashful standing there, like they weren’t sure if they should actually come in and start setting the tables, worried that they had interrupted the conversation.

Fortunately for them, Fizzlepop smiled and beckoned them forth. “Come on guys, don’t mind us, we came here to eat in the first place.”

“Yes, nothing will be accomplished on an empty stomach. Let us take our seats as well,” Tyluck said and nodded to his fellow Trolls. The three of them sat on one side of the table closest to the door while Fizzlepop nudged Rainbow Dash to sit across from them, Grubber also sitting right beside her.

The Storm Creatures got everything set up pretty quickly, all the food was placed down and then they themselves sat along the other tables. Rainbow was surprised these wooden benches were strong enough to support the weight of the Trolls and Storm Creatures with how big and muscular they all were. Now with the food right in front of her, Rainbow Dash could see what they had to offer besides just salad. Considering where they were she was surprised by the variety of the food on the tables. There was a lot of vegetables and fruit (which she was sure could never grow on an island like this) and a few big loaves of bread and a lot of biscuits and muffins. More than that there were a lot of fish and meat dishes that she did her best to avoid looking at so she didn’t go green in the face. She wouldn’t even know what to call them in the first place.

It was mostly the Storm Creatures that ate the meat though, the Trolls seemed perfectly happy to eat the same stuff Rainbow Dash and Fizzlepop were. Maybe they were just being kind to their host. Truthfully she’d think any creature built like them would be meat eaters.

Rainbow decided not to think about it too hard. Like usual. Instead she filled her stomach up even more with an assortment of food. She might have already had her fill of salad earlier, but after weeks of eating barely anything just to survive, she felt like she could eat way more than usual right now.

“So how does food from the Stormlands compare to what else you’ve eaten on your journey?” Fizzlepop asked her.

“Surprisingly good. Guess you’ve got good cooks and farms here,” Rainbow said as she tossed a cherry tomato into her mouth.

“You’re half right,” Fizzlepop grinned. “Almost all the food you’re eating is imported from Mt. Aris and a few other places. You can’t grow too much in the Stormlands.”

“Oh,” Rainbow said as she looked at the food. “I was kind of wondering about that actually.”

Tyluck cleared his throat to get their attention. “Excuse me, but did you say journey? I thought you just came down here from Equestria?”

“Heh, nope, not that simple. I came up here from Equestria,” Rainbow Dash grinned and sat back, ready to grab another amazed audience with her awesome accounts of adventure. “If you’re okay with sitting here for a little longer I can tell you all about it?”

“I see no issue with listening to your story of how you came to be here while we eat,” Tyluck shrugged. “I’ve known you ponies to be rather “fun” creatures with a flair for telling exciting tales.”

This time Rainbow Dash went on a slightly abridged version of what she had just told Fizzlepop and Grubber (who were now both completely zoning her out) as she entertained the Trolls. Who proved to be good listeners, they became enraptured with her tales very quickly due to (as Rainbow Dash also now learned) coming from a secluded, isolated, country on a small island to the southwest of the Stormlands. This was actually the furthest any of the three had physically been from their home. Anything about the outside world, especially some of the crazy stuff Rainbow Dash had to share, amazed them.

“And then when you finally got here...” Tyluck trailed off at the end of it.

“Yeah, I was attacked by your fugitive,” Rainbow nodded. She glanced between him and Fizzlepop. “Why did he throw that rock at me anyways? And could he really see me and make a throw like that from so far away?”

“He likely saw you flying in the sky and thought you were another pony looking for him. The time you were attacked yesterday is around when we were out searching the island, and he knows I’ve been looking for him too,” Fizzlepop said.

“His strength is great, even for a Troll. Throwing a rock like that would be easy for him,” Tyluck answered.

Rainbow Dash scowled. “Tell me more about this guy.”

“Of course,” Tyluck said and reached inside his orange robe where he withdrew a rolled up piece of paper. Unfurling it, he showed off a painting drawn on it to Rainbow Dash of another Troll. Though one that was quite different looking from the three in front of her. His fur was drawn a darker black but also covered in streaks, spots, and speckles of white while he wore simple and boring khaki pants. Aside from that though he had the same body and shape of the other Trolls, although it also looked like he was drawn with a bit more muscle on his body.

“This is Berten,” Tyluck told her. “The fugitive we are looking for.”

Rainbow Dash nodded a few times, getting a feel for the target. “And Fizzlepop said you guys would welcome any extra help with catching him? Well I’d like to lend my hooves. If he’s dangerous he needs to be stopped—and I need to get him back for attacking me.”

Tyluck sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it we need all the help we can get. Though he’s stuck on this island it’s big enough that it’s difficult to track him down, and on previous attempts we’ve run into traps he’s laid. If he has a single hideout he’s been using we haven’t been able to find a single clue to its location either.”

“Actually I was thinking about that,” Fizzlepop said, drawing the eyes of the others to her. “Considering Rainbow Dash was coming from the south, I’m willing to bet his hideout or wherever he spends most nights at is on the southern side of the island. It’s the only way he would’ve been able to see her and shoot her down what with the storm going on and what time of day it was.”

Tyluck scratched his chin in thought. “Mmm, you may be correct. That still leaves quite a lot of the island to search though...”

“Yeah,” Fizzlepop nodded. “I guess we should get started as soon as we’re finished eating?”

“Yes, we need as much of the day as we can get. Especially with how many days we’re forced to stay inside when the weather gets bad,” Tyluck said.

“Sorry about that, but hey, Stormlands and everything,” Grubber said between bites of food.

Fizzlepop rolled her eyes. “Yeah.”

Rainbow Dash looked out one of the nearby windows and saw that things definitely weren’t nice outside. While there may not have been a huge storm going on it was at the least overcast and would probably make searching the island tough. Added that she had decidedly fewer options to work with thanks to her injured wing and Rainbow was already feeling a little pessimistic about their chances. Considering the danger this guy clearly posed though, Rainbow wasn’t going to give up so easily.

“So what’s the plan then? We just comb the south side of the island?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We’ll split into two groups so he can’t slip past us and we don’t miss anything. That’s how we’ve been doing it so far. I lead the Storm Creatures, the Trolls have always made their own group,” Fizzlepop explained.

Rainbow Dash grinned and looked across the table at the Trolls. “I’ll join up with you guys then. Maybe you need a pony’s touch?”

Tyluck smiled back, though there was a weariness to it that Rainbow Dash didn’t miss, probably brought about by months of failing to catch their fugitive. “We would be happy to have you.”

“Great!” Rainbow Dash stood up on the bench and cracked her neck. “Then let’s get this show on the road!”

Comments

[RoboRed]

“He likely saw you flying in the sky and thought you were another pony looking for him. The time you were attacked yesterday is around when we were out searching the island, and he knows I’ve been looking for him too,” Fizzlepop said.

“His strength is great, even for a Troll. Throwing a rock like that would be easy for him,” Tyluck answered.

There wasn't all that much detail given on the rock regarding how it came flying at Rainbow. I was wondering if Berten had managed to find some allies during his time as a fugitive or maybe fashion some kind of tools himself.

Or it could just be the simplest explanation and the dude's strong enough to hurl large rocks at flying ponies. Go figure.

Rainbow Dash grinned and looked across the table at the Trolls. “I’ll join up with you guys then. Maybe you need a pony’s touch?”

Tyluck smiled back, though there was a weariness to it that Rainbow Dash didn’t miss, probably brought about by months of failing to catch their fugitive. “We would be happy to have you.”

I'd say he's welcome to having the generous offering of help from a pony in a time of need again.

[redmar]

I wonder what Berten's done thet they want to apprehend him. Hopefully they will be succesfull with Rainbow's help.