Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

One Destination

A brief rewinding of the clock…

Daring Do, Coin Flip, and Birdseed all ran at full speed through the clustered tents and buildings of Two Hump Oasis to escape the fiery battle between their friends and Supernova. They weren’t alone, a lot of ponies and antelope were running around this part of the oasis too. Everyone was just trying to get away from the destruction. They weren’t just running randomly though, Daring Do was leading them to hopefully a sand ship that was still docked and ready to go at the eastern edge of the oasis.

Practically every second they could hear and feel more explosions going off behind them. Daring Do was worried, but she put her trust in her two friends. It was good for them now that Two Hump Oasis was not especially big, they were able to get away from the danger zone and reach the outskirts in good time. Because Two Hump Oasis was such a random place made without any planning, where creatures put up their tents and buildings wherever, it didn’t get any more organized but things at least thinned out well enough to where they could see better.

“I am not going to miss this place,” Birdseed said as he searched along with Daring Do for signs of a sand ship at the oasis’ edge.

“You and me both,” Daring Do mumbled.

A sail. A mast. Anything that stuck out beyond the tents and shoddy buildings. Daring Do clicked her tongue and briefly flew up to get a vantage point, putting a hoof over her eyes to block the sun she peered out along the edge of the oasis. It was kind of comical, looking for a boat in the middle of the desert, and yet here she was.

“Do you see anything?” Birdseed asked her.

“Not ye-” she stopped in the middle of her sentence. “Wait. I think I do see one now… yeah, I’m sure of it!” She pointed a little southeast. “I’m sure there’s a sand ship sitting there still, come on, let’s go! It might be the only one still here.”

“No need to tell us twice,” Birdseed said and started running in the direction Daring Do was pointing.

“I hate running...” A sweating Coin Flip groaned and followed along.

Daring Do kept in the air above them but didn’t fly ahead since she wanted to make sure they stuck together. With all the panic going on, and with the type of place this was, she didn’t want them to get separated or run into any trouble. Thankfully things were clearly too chaotic here for the average criminal to even think of doing anything. While they had to avoid some crowds and some creatures packing up all their things and trying to get someplace safe, nobody truly paid them any mind. And the closer they got to the edge of Two Hump Oasis the more relaxed things were, with creatures mostly just watching as new fireballs erupted near the middle of town.

“It’s just past these tents!” Daring Do said.

The trio made it through the last few structures of Two Hump Oasis and came out onto a wide boardwalk of wood that was built directly over the sand. “Moored” to a post on the boardwalk was a large wooden ship, actually fairly similar in design and construction to normal boats you would see on water, just with a couple of extras. Not only did it have a large sail but also a paddle on the back and a dozen oars on each side that would also help push it along the sand.

It was almost surreal to think about.

“I can’t believe these things actually work,” Birdseed said as he raised an eyebrow at the sand ship.

“Well apparently they do, so let’s get on and get out of here,” Daring Do said and landed on the boardwalk. There was a ramp leading up into the ship that a unicorn pony with a scarred face and brick red coat was standing in front of. Daring Do walked up to him and pulled out a bag that had some, but not all, of their money in it. She stiffly looked the “sailor” in the eyes. “Passage for three to Camelback, and we’d like to leave immediately.”

The stallion didn’t seem to share their lack of patience. He slowly looked over the three of them, probably sizing them up and making sure they wouldn’t be trouble for the ship, before answering Daring Do. “First time in Two Hump Oasis? Supernova blows stuff up all the time. We aren’t scheduled to go for another few hours.”

“We’ll pay you 50% extra if you’ll take us now,” Daring Do narrowed her eyes.

Birdseed scowled and threw her a look but she ignored him.

The sailor raised an eyebrow and glanced at Daring’s bag. “Double.”

“75%.” Daring returned.

The sailor exhaled through his nose and turned around, leading them up the ramp. “Come on then.”

As the trio walked up the ramp, Birdseed leaned in to whisper to Daring Do. “Excellent work letting them know we have money to spare.”

“We need to get on the way to Camelback as quickly as possible,” she shot back. “It was always going to take extra money.”

“You think they got food onboard while we make the trip?” Coin Flip asked, rubbing his stomach.

“Shut up,” Birdseed said.

The three of them were led into the interior of the ship where a large cabin spanned its length. Rows of benches and tables were set up for the passengers to sit at, but besides the trio there were only a few other groups. It was hardly a full trip at all.

“Sit anywhere you like, but first-” the scarred unicorn said and held out a hoof. “Thirty coins each.”

Daring Do’s brow furrowed. “Thirty? How does-”

“You want us to go now don’t you? I still need to tell the boss and everything, and we have to make up for potential lost business,” he said.

Daring Do grit her teeth but eventually hoofed over a bag with the required amount of coin. “Fine. Just hurry up and set sail or whatever.”

“Gladly,” the sailor said and left the passenger cabin with the coinbag in hoof.

As soon as he was gone, Birdseed snorted. “See? And now that they know you could pay that amount, they’re going to try bilking us for the rest of this trip too.”

“Then we just wont use our money for anything else while we’re here,” Daring Do looked over at Coin Flip. “And if you’re so hungry we still have some food of our own. Eat that. We’re not letting them charge us some crazy price for whatever they have.”

She then went to the nearest table that had two benches facing it and sat down. Birdseed and Coin Flip both took the bench opposite her. Portholes lined the side of the cabin and Daring Do looked out hers even though there wasn’t anything to see but sand dunes. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to these two. Or in much of a mood for anything at all really, in agitation she was tapping her hoof on the table and waiting for this sand ship to start moving.

She was starting to wonder if they had been had and a bunch of thugs were going to suddenly appear and shake them down for whatever other money they had, but a sudden lurch of the ship told her they had only been getting ready to leave. Daring Do sighed in relief, though she was still worried about Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine. At the very least it was looking like she, Birdseed, and Coin Flip would be able to get to Camelback safely.

Birdseed took a look out the porthole as well, but his eyes were looking at the oars below them. They had just started moving in rhythmic fashion, at first only slightly pushing against the sand but gaining more and more speed and power. “This is likely the strangest method of transportation I’ve used in my life.”

“Ditto,” Daring absently said and glanced towards the stern of the ship. “I guess the unicorn crew moves the big paddle at the back?”

“Who knows?” Birdseed shrugged. “Ask Valentine when we see her next.”

“If we see her,” Coin Flip snickered.

Daring Do glared at him. “We will. Her and Rainbow Dash.”

“That unicorn seemed especially dangerous...” Birdseed said.

The archaeologist didn’t say anything to that and the three of them sat silently, none of them much up for conversation with the others, as the sand ship continued to gain speed and move east to Camelback. Daring Do returned to looking out the window as the dunes passed by and Two Hump Oasis was left behind completely. She wished she could relax a little bit but that was proving to be impossible. The trip was probably going to take some time so it would really be smart to rest. Especially with the fact that things probably weren’t going to settle down at all once they actually reached Camelback. They needed to follow the map the rest of the way and to do that they’d have to go through some violent sandstorms by the sound of things.

Nope. Things weren’t going to get any easier. And it was still a race against the clock, who knew what Shining Diamond was up to or what his minions were planning. Hopefully that Supernova pony didn’t waylay Valentine and Rainbow for too long.

Birdseed meanwhile was leaning back in his seat and tugging at his scarf. The slight crumpling sound coming from inside it made him narrow his eyes in thought. He looked at Daring Do and saw that she was still absentmindedly staring out the porthole, watching the desert go by. A glance to his side showed him Coin Flip rooting through their bags for some dried fruit. He strummed his hooves on the table in front of him and looked down the aisle of the cabin they were in, seeing a door on each end that led elsewhere into the sand ship.

“I think I’m going to take a walk,” Birdseed said, standing up.

Daring Do looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. “A walk?”

“We’re going to be on this ship for a while. I don’t want to spend the whole time sitting around here. Figured I’d take a look around the ship, maybe go up topside and get some fresh air,” he shrugged.

“They might not let you up there,” Daring Do said.

“Then I’ll walk around the interior of the ship. No big deal, I just don’t feel like sitting down right now,” Birdseed answered. He looked over at Coin Flip. “Hey, you come and take a walk with me too.”

He looked at Birdseed with a disgruntled expression, a strip of dried mango dangling from his mouth. “What do I gotta do that for?”

“One. You could use the exercise, you fat slob. And two, I want someone to watch my back while I walk around this ship. I don’t exactly trust the ponies operating it. Daring at least has other passengers in here in case someone tries something,” Birdseed angrily said to him.

Coin Flip slurped down the mango and stood up with a frown. “Alright, fine.”

“Enjoy your trip,” Daring Do shrugged and went back to looking out the window.

Birdseed led Coin Flip down the aisle of the passenger cabin, all the way to the door at the end. He didn’t look at any of the other passengers and, as naturally and calmly as he could, opened up the door and stepped into the room on the other side with Coin Flip. There was another door leading into a room near the bow of the ship, and stairs going both up to the deck and down below into the sand ship’s stomach and probably to the oaring room. Birdseed however didn’t make any motions to move anywhere. He let the door to the passenger cabin closed behind them and turned to Coin Flip with a serious expression on his face.

“Uhh...” Coin Flip said. “Weren’t we taking a walk?”

“No, and be quiet. There’s something important to discuss,” Birdseed said and reached into his scarf, pulling out the folded up piece of paper he hid there earlier.

“What’s that?”

“Something very valuable,” Birdseed said and opened the paper up, showing it to Coin Flip.

He only had to look at it for a second before he realized what it was. “Another map?”

“Not just any map,” Birdseed grinned and started pointing out some markings and what was drawn on the map. “The map. At least as far as our partner in the other cabin is concerned. This is the map to the lost temple of Cinnabaron.”

“That’s that place she’s looking for,” Coin Flip said.

Birdseed rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s right, and that temple supposedly has a valuable treasure inside it.”

“Where’d you even find that map?” Coin Flap asked him, scratching his greasy head.

“I found it locked away back at that camel’s place. He really did have a thing for maps. Figured I’d keep it to myself for now, since that mare would probably be willing to pay a hefty price for it. But honestly after everything else that’s happened today… I was thinking of doing something else,” Birdseed said.

“What do you mean?”

“Valentine is paying us quite a bit for helping her on this job. But no job is worth dying for. I think you’ll agree with me that after running into that psycho back there that things have gotten more dangerous than we were expecting. So what I’m suggesting we do is-” Birdseed smirked and shrugged. “We ditch Daring Do in Camelback and head out to find Cinnabaron’s treasure all for ourselves. They’ll be too busy dealing with the Crystal Sea and Shining Diamond to come after us for a long while. And we’ve already got a fair bit of money on our hooves too to tide us over.”

Coin Flip bit his lip. “You want to betray The Red Hornet?”

“I know it doesn’t exactly sound smart but does dying here in the desert sound any better?” Birdseed asked him.

“Sure doesn’t,” Coin Flip shook his head.

“So are you in? We just act normal until we arrive in Camelback. We get a room at an inn saying we’re waiting up for Valentine and Rainbow Dash, and then in the middle of the night we tie her up, take all the rest of the money, and get out of there,” Birdseed said.

A serpent’s grin split Coin Flip’s face. “Sounds good to me. I was getting tired of this place anyways.”

“Good,” Birdseed said and folded the map back up to tuck it into his scarf. “Now let’s take a bit of a walk for real, so she doesn’t get suspicious. It still is going to be some time before we get to Camelback.”

Comments

[redmar]

Amethyst Star's story reveals what happens to those two idiots as a result of stealing the Amulet of Cinnabaron for themselves and betraying the Red Hornet. When Valentine learns of this betrayal she will be angry.

[TheCommunistDog]

Woooo 200k words!

In today’s chapter: We learn why hou should never trust hired mercs.

[RoboRed]

Yep, sense of honor for seedy hired thugs only goes as far as the appearance of a bigger payday. Noooo surprises there.