//------------------------------// // Mountain Ponies // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// As Rainbow Dash soon came to learn, similar platforms dotted both the mountains and the valleys between them all around her. Some were built on the peaks of smaller mountains while others on the ground floor of the range. And she had absolutely no idea what any of them were for. She inspected a few and found the same doors with the same red “C” on all of them leading deeper into the mountains or ground where they were built but nopony answered any of her knocks. Instead of flying further on, Rainbow Dash had spent the morning flying in circles around this place looking for more platforms or anything else. “Okay… so I know there are a bunch of these weird places with weird doors. What else do I know?” Rainbow Dash asked herself as she stormed her brain while hovering above the landscape. “The first one I found was at the back of that mountain.” She lifted up her hoof and pointed at the mountain in question, now northeast of where she was. “And the others are...” Rainbow Dash looked around and took note of the exact locations of all the platforms, trying to see if there was a pattern. There was one almost directly southeast of her, three more to the west, one true west, one northwest, and one southwest, and another one east of her. While two more of them were built parallel to each other south of her. And looking directly down there was another one almost in the middle of them but still leaning a bit further south. “I wonder,” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. The platform below her was built on top of a smaller, flatter mountain. And why was there only one platform built in the middle like this surrounded by the others? She didn’t know if there was a real reason to it but it did make her a little more suspicious of this platform and mountain. With a nod, Rainbow Dash flew down to give this mountain a closer look instead of just checking it out from the sky. Maybe if she checked it out from a lower angle—like the angle of something that walked—she’d see something. Rainbow Dash flew to the north side of the mountain and dropped down almost right to the rocky ground, instead hovering a few feet off it since it was still way faster for her to look and move around that way. The ground was really uneven here and the mountain was a pockmarked mess of outcroppings, cliffs, and jagged ridges. But what she noticed was that closer to the base of the mountain things got much smoother, almost like they had been purposefully cleared out and made that way by somepony. Rainbow Dash grinned and flew towards the base of the mountain, there wasn’t anything on this side but she was sure there was something up with it. That ground had been made for travel, it was more like a road now that surrounded the mountain and everything. Rainbow was willing to bet there were probably other roads leading to it coming from elsewhere in this mountain range. Either the platforms or the chaotic mess of the rest of the ground and mountains had distracted her too much to notice it before. She flew east first around the base of the mountain in search of anything and when she had made it to the exact middle of the east face she once again had to halt suddenly. “Tch,” Rainbow clicked her tongue. “No wonder I didn’t see anything from above.” At the bottom of the east side of the mountain lied a cave—or at least that’s all it appeared to be at first glance. A smooth, expertly carved arch of stone was built around it, the cave being wide enough that two, maybe even three, carriages could travel down it together, and tall enough for maybe ten ponies standing on top of each other. The interior walls were carved smooth and on the bottom of the tunnel, since it was no mere natural cave, was a red strip painted along the ground. It started right at the entrance of the tunnel and led in deeper. Rainbow Dash’s eyes followed it until the strip stopped. She blinked. And then an annoyed frown broke out across her face. “Oh come on! Another door?” Only about twenty feet into the tunnel a large door blocked off the rest of it entirely. Superficially it was similar to the others she had investigated up on the platforms but a closer look told a different story. It was much cleaner and better taken care of than the other doors, in fact the metal practically shone even in the weak light of the tunnel, and it looked segmented like a large warehouse door rather than an elevator door. Lastly, instead of just a red “C” painted on its exterior was a word written out in its entirety: COPPER. “Okay?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head and dropped down onto her hooves, walking towards the door. When she got close enough to touch it she took one last look around, like the others it appeared totally seamless on the bottom but at the top she could clearly see how it would raise and pull back inside when opened up. Rainbow Dash shrugged and lifted a blue hoof up to the door. “I swear if nopony answers or anything, I’m breaking this down.” Bang! Bang! Bang! She hit the door three times, hard, getting a dull thud in response each time. It sounded different than when she hit the other doors, probably thanks to the size and thickness of this one and the wider space behind it. Either way, Rainbow Dash patiently waited in front of it with a slight frown on her face. One minute. That’s what she was going to give this door. 47 seconds passed before a rumbling sound came from the door. The sound of gears grinding against each other emerged from the top of the tunnel and slowly the door began to lift off the ground. Teeth along the bottom of it that went into metal slots lifted up and out as the entire thing retracted up onto the roof of the tunnel. When it stopped and the entire door had opened, Rainbow looked inside at the much different tunnel leading further into the mountain. Just right beyond the door the ground changed from natural stone to cement and electrical lights built into the ceiling of the tunnel lit it up entirely. That wasn’t the main thing that caught Rainbow’s attention. Just right ahead of her was a gate and booth blocking off the rest of the tunnel. With a pony sitting inside the booth. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help it, she smiled and let out a huge sigh of relief. Another pony. Another living creature she could talk to. She had finally found someplace new outside of the north. Raalzeron had been the only thing she talked to since leaving Nogt but that didn’t compare to actually finding a real… town? Building? Mine? Whatever this place really was. She didn’t know yet but she was happy to have come across it. Rainbow Dash walked towards the gate and booth. The gate was only pony height and didn’t look like it was for blocking individual ponies but to keep carts and carriages from going in or out without first checking in with the booth. She saw how the gate had hinges built on the left side and seemed designed to swing open towards the booth and into the tunnel, probably at the press of a button or pull of a lever from the pony in the booth. The booth itself was made of wood and sat on the left side of the tunnel. Rainbow couldn’t see anyway to get inside it so it probably had a door on the other side. A large glass window wrapped around it, with iron bars reinforcing it or perhaps protecting the pony inside the booth. As Rainbow got closer she saw a single hole in the glass, a slot right in front of the pony sitting in there, probably for papers or other stuff to go through, or maybe to just allow him and whoever was outside to hear and talk to each other better. Now as Rainbow stood right in front of that booth she looked up at the earth pony inside who was somewhat disinterestedly looking back down at her. He was a brown earth pony with a golden mane practically shaved down to the roots and he wore a gray uniform with a nametag reading “Parnel” on it. “Dude,” Rainbow Dash smiled up at him. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” Parnel raised an unamused eyebrow back at her. “I’m afraid I can’t say the same. You’re clearly not a merchant or trader are you? Are you some pegasus traveler from the Weeping Mountain? Whoever you are, we don’t open up to tourists.” Rainbow Dash frowned and then glanced back over at the open door. “Uh, looks like you kind of do. And I’ve never heard of any Weeping Mountain.” “Regardless. If you don’t have business here then you can just turn around and go back wherever you came from,” Parnel narrowed his eyes. “And if you’re not from the Weeping Mountain then just who are you?” “Look, pal. I’ve been flying around and exploring a whole bunch of places for ages. I don’t even know what this place is called, I just wanted to check it out and maybe have a place to stay for a day,” she left out the part about wanting to find an awesome adventure, since he probably wouldn’t appreciate it. “And my name’s Rainbow Dash. I’m from Equestria.” “A made up name and home if I ever heard one,” Parnel scoffed. “Is not!” Rainbow Dash angrily said back to him. Parnel chuckled. “You’re a bad liar. That would be the silliest name I’ve ever heard. You are from the Weeping Mountain aren’t you? Just some bored pegasus looking for kicks.” Rainbow Dash stood up on her back legs and put her hooves down on the wooden surface of the booth, right beside the slot. “I’m telling the truth, don’t make fun of my name.” She glared at him. “Are you threatening me now?” Parnel glared right back at her. Rainbow sighed and took her hooves away. “No dude, I just-” “Cause I could call security on you right now and have you thrown out of here, you miscreant.” Parnel said. “Ughh,” a vein throbbed in Rainbow’s forehead, she dragged a hoof across her face. “I still don’t even know where here is!” “Suuure you don’t,” Parnel sneered and rolled his eyes. “But fine, I’ll humor you, ‘Rainbow Dash’” He did air quotes to emphasize his disbelief of her name. “You’ve made your way to Oreville, Copper District, led by the Lord Copper.” “Oreville, huh?” Rainbow Dash blinked. “Yes. This entire mountain range makes up Oreville. Now would you please get lost?” Rainbow Dash snorted. “What? Are you busy?” Parnel flushed. “Um… yes.” “Now who’s a bad liar? I doubt barely anypony ever comes through here,” Rainbow said. “That’s not the point! I have strict orders from Lord Copper to not let in anypony without authorization. And I haven’t gotten that for you,” Parnel folded his hooves over his chest. “Then ask for it,” Rainbow Dash frowned again. She didn’t exactly like the sound of this “Lord Copper” guy already. Parnel coughed. “I also have strict orders to not look for authorization.” “What? You’re just supposed to turn me and everybody else away?” She shouted. “That doesn’t have anything to do with you,” Parnel frowned. “It’s Oreville business and specific directions from my superior. Now I wasn’t bluffing about security either, I’ll call them on you right now.” Rainbow Dash looked at the gate and the rest of the tunnel past it before looking back up at Parnel. “You know I could totally just fly over this gate and make it to the end of this tunnel in a flash, right?” “You had better not,” Parnel icily said. She smirked at him and stepped away, facing the gate. “Watch me.” “I’m warning you! I’ve got a button right here for the alarm, security will swarm you as soon as you get to the end of the tunnel!” “Well I hope they know what they’re getting into,” Rainbow Dash said and without another word she shot up and over the gate, flying down the tunnel like a whirlwind. “Hey!” Parnel yelled after her. “S-Security!” He slammed his hoof down on a large red button next to his desktop. Instantly an alarm rung up and down the entire tunnel, Rainbow Dash had to cover her ears for a moment to try and block out the loud ringing. It didn’t stop her at all though and she continued barreling down the tunnel towards its exit. She could see it only about one or two hundred feet away from her, it opened up into clearly a much larger area. Rainbow Dash grinned and ignored the ringing in her ears even as she saw movement coming up ahead—a couple of ponies had gathered around the exit to the tunnel. Guards, huh? Rainbow Dash thought as her eyes narrowed and she flapped her wings harder so she could be upon them before they even registered what was happening. Meanwhile, at the exit to the tunnel, two red-suited guards who had their station there were immediately alerted to the loud alarm and quickly got up from their desks. “Ahhh~” One of the guards yawned. “What’s going on? Parnel hit the alarm?” “He probably fell asleep and accidentally slipped on it, wouldn’t be the first time,” the other said. “Ugh, the whole tunnel security squad is going to be up here in a second now, why hasn’t the idiot switched it back off yet?” “Hey, Schopen? What’s that?” The first guard pointed down the tunnel. “Huh?” Schopen began to look but suddenly found himself tackled by a blue blur. “Agh!” He yelled as Rainbow Dash hit him and knocked him to the ground. “G-Get off me!” Knowing some pony had just attacked him, he threw up a left hook to try and punch her in the jaw. Rainbow Dash easily avoided it by jumping off him while the other guard tried to grab her from behind. She ducked between his hooves and kicked him hard in the chest to knock him away. Schopen then got up and tried to punch her again but Rainbow Dash let his clumsy hoof fly right by her before she socked him in the face. “Ngh!” Schopen grunted in pain and fell down, holding a hoof up to his eye. “You’re gonna give me a black eye! What’s the matter with you, you psycho?!” Rainbow Dash grabbed him by the collar of his suit and pulled him close to her face, looking him straight in his one eye left open and glaring seriously at him. “Alright, now you tell me… uh.” Rainbow Dash blinked and looked at the two guards she attacked. The other one was coughing and sputtering and this guy she was holding was scared out of his mind. “Uh oh.” Rainbow Dash dropped Schopen and gulped. “I think I got a little carried away… I just broke into a city I know nothing about and attacked two ponies… am I the bad guy right now?” Now that she had momentarily regained her senses, Rainbow Dash looked around her to see just where she was after coming out of that tunnel. “Whoa...” She stared in awe at the massive city in front of her. It must’ve been built both partially inside the hollowed out interior of the mountain and under ground level at the same time. Rainbow Dash was standing on a somewhat raised level that the tunnel ended at, with several ramps, lifts, and stairways all leading down from it to other areas below. The ground was all paved black cement or asphalt that winded around huge stone and metal skyscrapers that went from the bottom floor of the city all the way up to the roof of the mountain. Lines painted on the ground in the colors of red, green, yellow, blue and more directed traffic on the streets and all went to different areas of the city. She could see underground tunnels and roads going out from this mountain into other parts of the mountain range, possibly leading to more sections of city like this or something else. Gigantic holes were carved into the ground that looked like they went hundreds of feet deep, peering down them Rainbow Dash saw a series of lights and walkways going down level by level until she couldn’t even see the bottom. It looked like apartments or buildings of some sort were built into the holes like honeycombs. The roof of the huge cave was covered in stalactites that themselves were wired with large lights that illuminated the entire underground city. That wasn’t even getting to all the ponies she saw. “Traffic” indeed. The streets were positively bustling with earth ponies. Hundreds, thousands, of them walking every which way throughout the whole city. She saw some gathered outside a store built at the base of one of the skyscrapers, she saw one selling some kind of food at the corner of another, many others she saw pulling carts or carrying buckets of rocks or metal of some kind. It was an actual underground metropolis. Most of them were wearing work clothes or suits of some sort too. “You nutjob!” Schopen yelped as he backed away from her, gaining Rainbow’s attention again. “What kind of crazy thug just barges into our city and attacks ponies for no good reason?” “T-This is just a misunderstanding,” Rainbow Dash winced. “Actually, not really, but it’s just a mistake! I’m sorry!” She tried to wave her hooves in front of her chest and back away from him and the other guard. “Freeze!” Another stallion voice yelled from her side. “Crud...” Rainbow Dash looked to see two dozen more red-suited guards that had come up to the tunnel while she had been gawking. Numerous crossbows were leveled at her while other guards carried swords, spears, staffs, and warhammers drawn and ready to be used. The alarm was still blaring from inside the tunnel and to Rainbow’s dismay, none of these ponies looked willing to just let things slide. She could just fly off or even back out of the tunnel—if the front door hadn’t been closed—but what would that get her? Rainbow didn’t know if a big adventure was here for her but she did know that she really wanted to explore and check out more of this cool place. Unfortunately the angry looking guards just continued to stare her down while the other two she had assaulted ran over to stand along with them. The earth ponies began to fan out in an attempt to surround her as Rainbow Dash stood her ground. “Look, I’m seriously sorry, I just wanted to come see your city,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to explain herself. “Save it,” one of the guards growled. “You’ve broken in here uninvited and attacked Schopen and Hoff. If you’ve got any sense you’ll come quietly and nopony will have to get hurt.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes looked around at the guards forming a semi-circle around her. “I promise I’m not going to fight or hurt any of you again, but really, this is just a misunderstanding.” “Misunderstanding indeed.” The guards all turned to look back at the source of the voice and Rainbow peered behind them as well to see a tall stallion walking up behind them. He was a tan earth pony with a short black mane in a gray and blue uniform that was far cleaner and more stylish than any of the others she had seen so far. The way he walked made him seem like someone who saw themselves as very important and there was a mild but simultaneously haughty frown on his face as he looked upon Rainbow Dash. Two stallions in red uniforms similar to the other guards but with orange bands across their chests flanked him. “This is quite far for a prank from a Weeping Mountain neerdowell to go,” the tan stallion said to her. “L-Lord Copper, what are you doing here, sir?” The guard who had spoken to Rainbow Dash asked while the rest nervously looked back and forth between the Lord and Rainbow Dash. “That’s no business of yours, guard.” Lord Copper sneered at him. “I happened to be nearby on my business and heard the alarm go off. That’s all you need to be concerned with.” He pushed past the other guards, his two personal stallions brusquely shoving them aside as well, and stood before Rainbow Dash. Lord Copper huffed disdainfully at her. “Well aren’t you a colorful sight. A neon-nightmare as it were.” Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched. “Okay, look, I know I screwed up but I’m not going to just stand here and be insulted either. All I wanted was to visit, okay? Look around, see the sights? That’s the truth. I’m not from the Weeping Mountain—I still don’t even know what that is! My name is Rainbow Dash, I’m from Equestria, a really far away and really awesome place. And I don’t have any problem with you or Oreville.” “Sure you are,” Lord Copper smirked. “Well even if that’s true you certainly aren’t giving a good first impression of your home. What kind of awesome place raises such criminals?” “I just got carried away, if you let me explain-” “I don’t see why I would. You’re some vagabond from outside of Oreville, what do I owe you? Absolutely nothing,” Lord Copper said. “I’m not-” He cut her off again. “You are a violent pony who has illegally broken into my city. You say it’s all a misunderstanding and apparently you’re not even from the Weeping Mountain but some other far away land? Well why don’t you do a good job of proving that and trying to clean up your image, and your home’s image, by letting my guards peacefully take you to our correctional institution. A night, or two, or perhaps ten, in there and I might just forgive your transgressions without anymore fuss.” He then frowned and looked towards the tunnel. “And will someone go to the registration booth and tell that moron to turn off the alarm?” “Yes, sir!” Schopen and Hoff both answered at once and ran down the tunnel. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the Lord Copper before grimacing and staring out at the other guards and the rest of the city as well. She didn’t want to cause anymore problems. This place actually looked peaceful, the ponies down in the streets were happy, she really had no reason to fight any of these ponies and she was really regretful of how she handled things earlier. And she really wanted to see more of this place, she wasn’t sure if there was a big adventure to be had here but it was still the first civilization she had come across on this side of the world. She needed to see more of it. But… she also really didn’t want to be thrown in jail. Rainbow could easily fight her way out of this situation and find someway to leave the city but that wouldn’t really solve anything or satisfy her curiosity. This guy also just plain rubbed her the wrong way. There was something up with him for sure. “His” city he had said, but she didn’t quite believe it was as simple as that. So in the end, to stay here, to get on Oreville’s good side, and to figure out if there was an awesome adventure to be had, there was only one decision she could make. Rainbow Dash sighed and hung her head low. “Fine. I won’t fight or anything, I’m sorry for attacking the guards and I’ll spend a night or whatever in your jail to make up for it.” A sneering smile came onto Lord Copper’s face. “Wonderful. I’ll have my personal guards escort you to our facility immediately.” He turned to his guards. “When she gets there, make sure she gets a, oh, warm welcome.” He chuckled. After being savagely beaten by half a dozen ponies on the security force when she arrived at the correctional facility, Rainbow Dash had her bloodied and bruised body tossed into a cell and locked up. With how badly they had beaten her they saw no need for any other restraints so her wings were at least left free. Not like it mattered, she didn’t even have the strength to carry herself over to the meager bed inside her lonely cell. Rainbow Dash coughed and sputtered on the cold stone floor, spitting up a mouthful of blood while her vision grew darker and she threatened to slip into unconsciousness. “This bites...”