Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

New Day, New Dash

The problem Rainbow Dash was having with her private declaration and resolution was that she knew after meeting him and after learning about him from Tyluck that this guy had drive. He was strong, loyal, and determined to do what he believed in. Rainbow wasn’t sure words were going to cut it. Unfortunately, much to the dismay of her friends if they knew, words usually didn’t cut it on her journey. If she wanted Berten to see reason and change—she was almost certain she was going to have to pound some sense into him first with her hooves.

She enjoyed that. But she knew it wasn’t exactly the kind of way to bridge harmony and friendship that Twilight would really approve of.

Unfortunately it was necessary. Some ponies and creatures just didn’t listen until after you had smacked them down. Rainbow Dash was going to have to fight him and beat him. He was strong, he was someone who fought for acknowledgment his whole life. It might be that he would only listen to her if she beat him or at least was able to fight with him equally. She needed him to respect her strength.

A glance at her wings told her that was going to be tough. Fighting at her best was impossible—and she knew she would need her best to win after seeing him jump off that cliff without hesitation last night.

Rainbow Dash yawned. She could think some more about that and what she was going to do when she actually found him. For now they still needed to track him down again. She, along with Tyluck, Tyval, and Tornal, had woken up just a bit ago and were preparing a quick breakfast before they went to search the coastline. Berten had to be somewhere along the southern coast, he would’ve had to swim and find somewhere safe to rest down there. Either a hidden cove or cave.

They’d find him. The place where they had to search had become much narrower.

Tyval had been going through his backpack looking for food when he pulled out a turnip. “Want one?” He gestured to her.

“Yeah, hit me with it,” Rainbow Dash held out her hoof towards him.

“I... um,” the Troll frowned and looked uncertainly between the turnip and Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “It’s just—it’s an expression, okay? Just toss it to me.”

Tyval did so and Rainbow Dash got to eating her breakfast. Raw turnip wasn’t great but she could eat it fast and easy, it would fill her stomach up all the same and that was the important part. She knew all four of them wanted to get out there quick, there’d be no cooking this morning or time for idle chatter. Rainbow Dash took a few bites of the turnip while Tyluck and Tornal took down the tents and got their things back together. It was too bad they couldn’t just leave things here but Tyluck wanted them better to be safe then sorry. Even though they planned to find Berten today they didn’t want to be stuck somewhere without all their gear if things didn’t pan out.

Rainbow had to admit that was the smart thing to do even though she didn’t envy the heavy backpacks they had to carry or the time it took to get everything in order. The Trolls were certainly strong enough though that the extra weight didn’t seem to really burden them in the slightest.

At least the weather was decent. Rainbow was worried they were going to wake up in the middle of a rainstorm but it seemed that whatever water was up in those clouds didn’t want to fall just yet. She looked up at the sky and only saw a sheet of light gray clouds through the trees. Like always, the weather was never “good” here but it wasn’t a bad storm today. Seemed like they were just in for a cold breeze and a foggy looking island around them.

It was the coast they needed to go down to and scour so this might’ve been the best possible day they could do it. There wouldn’t be any huge waves lapping against the water or rain coming at them from above and making travel over the rocks even more treacherous. Maybe fortune was actually smiling down on Rainbow Dash once more.

Before she could really think further on the issue—the cawing of an eagle got her attention and one flew down right through the trees before landing in front of Tyluck.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Uh-”

“It’s a messenger bird from Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” Tyluck said. “She’s been using it so we can correspond with one another while on the search for the fugitive.”

Now that Rainbow looked closer she saw that there was a little container attached to the eagle’s right leg that you could fit a little bit of scrolled up paper inside. She had heard of messenger pigeons and owls but had never seen an eagle used for the same purpose. And usually in Equestria you just had pegasi delivering mail anyways. Obviously Temp—Fizzlepop—was stuck using whatever she could.

Tyluck reached down and gently opened up the little container before withdrawing the small piece of paper inside. His eyes roamed over it quickly before he nodded. “As expected, she’s just updating us with her movements and how she hasn’t found him yet. We’ll be the ones to tell her the good news now.”

“I guess we can tell her to leave where she is and come over here to block off the coast and the forest?” Rainbow said.

Tyluck nodded. “Precisely. It will take her some time but I believe by the time we’ve scoured the coast she and the Storm Creatures will be in position. Soon Berten will be trapped with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.”

Rainbow Dash’s lips thinned. It was good news. She still wanted to be able to talk to him first. For now she kept all that to herself. She wasn’t sure how exactly Tyluck and the others would respond to her idea. Instead she sat back and let Tyluck write up a return letter for Fizzlepop and send the eagle away. The moment he was done he turned to her with a big grin.

“Ready to go?”

“You know it,” Rainbow answered.

Tyval and Tornal hoisted up their backpacks and all four of them got on the move. Today was the day and the time was now to find Berten.

---

It turned out that the weather in the sky didn’t have to be particularly bad for the ocean to be angry. Rainbow Dash saw that now as the rocky shoreline became victim to repeated crashes of salty waves and foamy white water. There was no sand, dirt, or plants here, just rocks and pools of water along the bottom of the cliffs that made up the coast of the Storm King’s old island. It had taken them over an hour just to safely descend from where they had been since none of them were willing to take Berten’s way down.

Once again, Rainbow Dash was wishing her wings were in good shape.

Somehow the three lumbering Trolls seemed to be having an easier time navigating over the slippery rocks than she was. Probably had to do with them coming from someplace with similar weather and geography. While she was used to walking plenty often she still usually had her wings to help balance herself and fall back on when she did. Now with them wrapped securely to her sides it just felt awkward and uncomfortable.

“Do we know which direction he would’ve gone after landing in the water? East or west?” Tornal asked.

“East. The current would’ve carried him that way last night,” Tyluck answered.

“I wouldn’t put it past him to be able to swim against it...” Tornal said.

“Yes... that’s possible, but Fizzlepop is coming from the west anyways, so we should still go east to cover the rest of the island,” Tyluck said.

“You know I don’t think he could put any traps here but let’s keep our eyes open just in case,” Rainbow said as she surveyed the rocks.

“Yes,” Tyluck agreed.

It was fairly slow going even though there wasn’t near as much ground to cover or stuff to look at. The uneven rocks, the waves, the harsh and cold breeze, it all worked against them right now. Searching this place at night would have been completely impossible. At least she didn’t have to swim in that cold water or anything. But the four of them also weren’t entirely sure what exactly they were looking for. If he had a cave he was hiding in or was doing something else, they just weren’t sure.

They needed to check everything and everywhere down on the southern coast.

Rainbow Dash looked out at the ocean that she had only so recently spun into. That was a close call, almost the end of her long journey. What a sad and disappointing ending it would’ve been if she actually died here? In such a boring, undignified, way, so close to home. Would’ve been the lamest ending ever. Her eyes then looked up high at the cliffs and a few streams of water that came down them from rivers above. How did he make that jump in total darkness? It was insane, did he not care that he could’ve died so easily? Maybe he was sure he wouldn’t.

Now that she thought about it it was possible that he had injured himself on the way down and had to slink away to wherever his hideout was to recover. He probably spent the whole night sleeping just like Rainbow and the others had. There was no way, even someone that tough, would be in the shape to do anything else after last night.

“There might not be traps but watch your feet for sea urchins and barnacles, and you never know when one of these little pools might have an angry crab in it,” Tyval said.

“Watch your hooves too,” Rainbow Dash cheekily grinned and waved at him.

He chuckled. “Yes, those too.”

They were hugging the cliffs enough where the water from even the largest waves didn’t directly splash onto them, but a lot of the spray was carried by the wind and dampened them anyways. Rainbow Dash quickly felt miserable with the cold salt water and the breeze ruining her mane, tail, and coat. A single very large wave could’ve potentially dashed them against the rocks and pulled them back out into the ocean if it ever came.

“Wouldn’t want to live here...” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

The rocks they were using to walk over started to sink into the water the further east along the coast they went. It was clear that soon they’d only have a sheer cliff going straight into the water, they wouldn’t be able to walk anymore. It would be either swim or give up. Hopefully they would find where he had managed to hide himself before that, but there wasn’t much left to check.

It was a jagged coast and the cliff was full of scars and hidden indents though. There were a lot of places where a cave could be hiding.

The fluttering of seagulls overhead grabbed Rainbow’s attention for just a moment before she returned to looking for any signs of Berten.

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash frowned and looked back up. Those weren’t seagulls flying up into the sky, those were bats. Where had they come from? She ran ahead of the other Trolls, despite the slick rocks, and ignored Tyluck asking what she was doing. There had to be a cave here where those bats had flown out of. Rainbow Dash jumped from rock to rock looking for it.

A part of the cliff jutted out in front of her, making it impossible to see what was on the other side of it from here. There could easily be something nestled right behind it, flush up against the cliff, hidden from any eyes that weren’t looking right at it.

She almost slipped on a rock and fell into a tide pool but she didn’t care. Rainbow quickly rounded the cliff that jutted out like the tip of a spear from the island and looked behind it.

It was like a crevice, a small hole right at the base of the cliff, hidden in the shadows of the rock that jutted out awkwardly into the water. A Troll the size of Berten would’ve only just barely been able to slip inside it if they sucked in their gut. Waves from the ocean lapped up against it and water kept flowing into and getting spit out of the crevice. Didn’t look like it was going to be a very fun place to search either. Rainbow Dash frowned at it, dark and uninviting, cold and wet. Just great. Just what she wanted. He couldn’t have been hiding somewhere else?

Tyluck, Tornal, and Tyval came up behind her finally.

“Is that...?” Tyluck asked.

“I think it has to be where he’s hiding,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“We haven’t seen anywhere else he could’ve gone off to,” Tornal said, taking one last look around the rocky coast.

“Can we even fit in there?” Tyval asked.

Tyluck grimaced. “It will be a tight and uncomfortable fit, but if we’re lucky it will open up wider a little ways in.”

“Unlike out on these rocks though, I’d be willing to bet that Berten has traps in there, or has tried to block the path somehow,” Rainbow said.

“We’ll have to be extra cautious. This is his turf now,” Tyluck said.

“I’ll go in first. It’s easiest for me to fit in and I’ll have an easier time avoiding any traps if there are any right in the mouth of the cave,” Rainbow said. “In fact, you three just wait until I say the coast is clear. I’ll find a spot big enough for us all to stand in.”

Tyluck nodded. “That sounds like the best idea. Good luck.”

Rainbow grinned back at him. “Like I need it.”

Comments

[RoboRed]

Yeah, I'd say the disturbed/displaced bats are an indicator he could holed up in there.
Could get dangerous in there. He's had a night to plan/prepare if he's in there and they're gonna get funneled in to where he wants.

Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hood down her face

"hoof"

[redmar]

That cave is most likely his hiding place.