“Hope you've got some bits on ya,” Farouche said.
“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...” Rainbow Dash continued staring at the jagged emerald peaks looming just beyond the western bluffs of Rohbredden. At last, she turned to blink dumbly at the steamboat captain. “Huh?”
Farouche finished gesturing at several of her deckhooves. The paddlewheel vessel slowly made its way towards the docks of the iron platform looming just before the mouth of an enormous river. “That's Sunset Tract.”
“What is?”
“That.” Farouche pointed at the wide, voluminous estuary. “One of the longest, most important rivers in all of Rohbredden!” She smirked. “It winds all around the mountains and hills, snaking deep into the heart of Osmanthus Prefecture.”
“But it'll take me to the Silt Path, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Only if you have the money to pay for passage!” The captain exclaimed. She braced herself as the ship came to a gentle stop against the loading planks. Sun-tanned ponies in work gear rushed up from a series of shaded huts. They worked with the vessel's crew as they tied the steamship to the docks. “Sunset Tract is a very busy river. Full of ships carrying goods and passengers around the mountains. They gotta keep a check on traffic somehow.”
“I see...” Rainbow took a deep breath. “What's the fee?”
“Twenty bits,” Farouche said. “I know that may seem steep for river passage—but the Sunset Tract is the fastest way to Riverstem.”
“Riverstem?”
“The closest town to the Silt Path that'll take you out of the shoreline prefectures.” Farouche whistled and directed more crew members to the docks as the vessel moored. “There are dozens... if not hundreds of little towns and farming communities built around Sunset Tract, but Riverstem is by far the largest. Any arriving ponies who wish to go anywhere in the continent will want to stop there first.”
“I see...” Rainbow scratched her chin, turning to glance at the multiple ships docking at the iron platform. Hundreds of ponies chattered and argued with the workers on board, bartering for passage through the estuary for themselves or for their goods or for both. Her eyes lifted up, glancing past motorboats coming and going in the wide mouth of the river. “And... what if I just wanted to... uhhhh... hoof it?”
“Pffft...!” Farouche rolled her eyes. She folded her forelimbs with a smirk. “You'll be at it for days... weeks.” A chuckle. “If you're feeling adventurous, have at it! But you'll be having to climb no less than two hundred mountains along the way!”
“You call those mountains?” Rainbow Dash remarked, waving at the jagged terrain beyond the bluffs with a lazy hoof. “Looks like a bunch of giant groundhogs built a utopia while they were drunk and then abandoned it for a hundred years.”
“Hrmmmff... colorful... but cute.” Farouche slapped Rainbow's shoulder before trotting off. “Good luck, Miss Rarishy! Don't say I didn't warn you.”
Twilight phased through the hull. Clearing her throat, she whispered in Rainbow's ear. “I'm really liking the boat option.”
“Me too, Dashie,” Pinkie Pie said, hovering closer. “Let's not forget you've got a yucky alarm clock ticking in your harmony belly!”
Rainbow clenched her jaws. “But...” She grumbled under her breath. “I haven't got any bits, though...”
“Then improvise, darling!” Rarity said.
Rainbow glanced over. “Huh?” She blinked.
Rarity smiled elegantly. “Never underestimate the power of generosity...”
“... … ...” Rainbow Dash craned her neck to look past her friends. “Hey Cap'n!”
Farouche finished talking to her first mate. She turned towards Rainbow, blinking. “Mmmmyes?”
Rainbow fidgeted. “Uhm... I don't suppose you would... erm... be willing to—”
“Ach!” Farouche snorted. “Want me to spot you some bits, eh?” She bore an amused squint. “I only picked you up because it was the decent thing to do, Miss Rarishy. Now that you're alive and all, best be lookin' after my own profits. Ever since things went down in Rust, every little bit counts, y'know.”
“Uhhhh...”
“Course...” Farouche adjusted the brim of her hat. “I ain't no stranger to barterin'.” She gestured at the glittering pendant under Rainbow's neck. “Reckon you're carryin' a bigger fortune than you make yourself out to be.”
Rainbow gripped her Element. She bit her lip... then blinked. Ears twitching in realization, she pointed across the hull. “My boat.”
“Hmm?” Farouche blinked, then turned to see where the dinghy hung off its rope supports. “What of it, ma'am?”
“I'll trade you!” Ranbow said. “My boat for the money to make the passage to Riverstem.”
“Echhh...” Farouche raised her cap and scratched her scalp. “But... it's out of fuel, Miss Rarishy...”
“Oh puh-leeease...” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You said yourself that you lost a lifeboat before picking me up! I mean... look!” She trotted over, waving a hoof at the thing. “It even fits the spot you got there perfectly!”
“Mmmmm...”
“Sure, it may need some fuel, but it's pretty friggin' sturdy.” Rainbow grinned. “It's built from the best metal White Barge has to offer—”
“Eeep!” Fluttershy suddenly squeaked, eyes wide. She and Twilight Sparkle waved their forelimbs dramatically. “Nonononono—!”
Rainbow glanced at them. “Wha—?”
“But...” Farouche squinted curiously. “...I thought you done said that you was never at the Barges, Miss...”
Rainbow grimaced hard. Gulping, she turned and smiled nervously at the captain. “Yeah... well... that's... uh... wh-what the pony who sold this to me said.” She cleared her throat. “Prime White Barge manufacturing. They even whacked the hull with a hammer to test it for me. Sturdy stuff.”
“... … ...” Farouche stared.
Pinkie and Rarity bit their lips.
“...hrmmfff...” Farouche snorted, then smirked. She reached into her vest pocket and flicked several coins in Rainbow's direction.
The mare nimbly caught them. Her ghostly friends gawked over her shoulder as she cradled the golden money. “...thirty bits?”
“What, are ya complainin' now?” Farouche said.
“No. Just... a bit surprised, to be honest,” Rainbow exhaled.
“Yeah, well...” Farouche folded her forelimbs with a smirk. “You just reminded me of somethin'.”
“And what's that?”
“Of how much I admire a soul who really... really needs to get somewhere fast in life.” She winked. “Headstrong, courageous, no-questions-asked.”
Rainbow took a deep breath. “Wouldn't even think of it.”
“Aye, that's the spirit. A good, stupid wind.”
“Heh... in another life, I'd totally join your crew, Cap'n.”
“Well, barnacles, ma'am! Who says you haven't already?”
“Heh... still... thirty bits.” Rainbow slipped the money into her saddlebag. “Thanks a ton.”
“Don't.” Farouche gestured at the raft. “It's a good boat. Better than you think. But—all tide's the same—it's as much as I can spare.”
“Gotcha.”
“And if I were you, I'd spend the leftover ten bits on food... and some water to cool ya down with.”
“Huh? Why?” Rainbow blinked. “Doesn't it get—like—super cold in Rohbredden?”
“Hah! Not for another three Prefectures at least!”
“Wow, really? Weird...”
“Ma'am, only weird thing around here is you.” Farouche shuffled towards the bow. “Not that I'm complainin'. It'll be a dockin' to remember, that's for sure. Ahem... now if you'll excuse me, Miss Rarishy, I've got me some silks to deliver. Best be driftin' with ya, or else you'll be overwhelmed by the midday rice shipments.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, watching as Farouche trotted out of view, her sea-legs making her lean perpetually to the side.
“Well, if she wasn't Admiral Nice Pants!” Pinkie squee'd.
“I'd give good mind if she wore a less pungent pair,” Rarity muttered.
“Rarity...” Twilight frowned. “Honestly?”
“Oh, Twilight, cheer up!” Rarity smiled. “We have a fabulous boat ride to look forward to!”
“Woohoo!” Pinkie cheered.
“Hmmmm...” Fluttershy exhaled. “A calm trip up river sounds... nice, actually.”
“Get your heads in the game, girls,” Rainbow muttered. “I'm about to burn through twenty bits just to get us to where we need to go faster.”
“Awwwwww...” Pinkie pouted, blue eyes sparkling. “But Dashiiiiieeee...”
“I mean it!” Rainbow said she strolled towards the platform. “It may not look it, but this trip is—like—super dangerous'n'stuff.”
“She's right,” Twilight said with a nod, floating after her. “We've dodged the bullet with Captain Farouche, but who knows how many Rohbreddenites up and down this... 'Sunset Tract' may be searching for the Rainbow Rogue and her bounty.”
“Right,” Rainbow said. “We have absolutely zero time to sight-see.”
Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all stared with their muzzles agape. Glazed eyes sparkled, reflecting rising and falling greenery, rippling across their combined gaze in emerald waves.
“Uhhhmmm... Dashie...?” Pinkie gulped. “...you wanna take that back now?”
Rainbow's eyes blinked, fluttered. “I'll... get back to you on that...”
The pegasus and her ghostly friends stood on the outer deck of a motor-chugging riverboat as it slowly churned its way up a thick winding stream. All along the brown silt shore, tall grass waved in jets of warm summery breeze. Beyond, shiny-green rice paddies loomed, rising in geometrically curved terraces that hugged the corners of countless mountains.
Mountains... rising up in a sporadic pattern—but multitudinous in their design, complexity, and numbers. Covered in dense green foliage, these jutting formations shot out of the earth with such frequency that they devoured any possible horizon that Rainbow Dash could even be bothered to see. There was no counting where the hilltops began or where they ended. What's more, each unpredictable bend in the river revealed more and more of them—some so sudden and steep in their inexplicable presence that they towered directly above the boats navigating the Sunset Tract.
Sprinkled across the bumpy landscape, tiny farmsteads loomed, with humble one-story shacks made out of knotted, petrified wood—undoubtedly constructed hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Other rustic settlements clung to the concave bends of the Sunset Tract, populated mostly by elderly ponies garbed in flowy brown peasant robes. Those who weren't working the rice fields busied themselves with repairing fishing boats, bartering with tiny trade vessels along crooked docks, or beautifying the fronts of ancient cottages with all manner of colorful flowers.
Other than the occasional growl of single and dual-motor engines, the atmosphere over the mountainous tributary was the very definition of tranquil... serene. All the while, a white hazy splotch of mountainous continent loomed in the far east, hovering like a granite thundercloud.
“Uhm... Twilight...” Fluttershy found the breath to speak. “You're the most well-read of us all here. Could... could you adequately describe what we're looking at?”
“Well...” Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat. “It would look like the direct result of thousands upon thousands of years of subsidence and limestone erosion, not to mention the redistribution of soft fertile silt in addition to what may have one time been a glacial plain long before the mountains ever formed—”
“Can't you just say it's damned beautiful, darling?” Rarity rasped.
Twilight gulped. “Yeah...” She nodded dumbly. “It's darn beautiful.”
“Mmmm...” Rarity smiled, cheeks rosy as her eyes continued to shine. “Close enough.”
Damn, that is a really nice place. Here's to hoping RD's confrontation with Verlax will be a lot less property damaging to the point of Cataclysm levels.
Hmmm, what's this? No complications? No foe to run from? The girls are going to go soft getting a break like this. Kinda hope we see some traveling chapters. Like the first book, but with the more uplifting presence of some of the mane 6. Onward to Apples and adventure!
I'm getting nervous. She needs a disguise or something.
6707104
Like a really nice hoodie or something...
Hmmm, nice scenery. Be a darn shame if it all got exploded in a fight.
Kinda reminds me of the sailing the Main running through Germany. Now that was a peaceful vacation.
There's no way Farouche is buying what Dash is selling. She's just helping her along because she knows Dash is desperate to get where she's going, or she knows she's the Rainbow Rogue. I mean, those colors are kinda hard to miss, and I'm sure word's spread, even if she's been on a boat for the last forever and a half. I mean, gotta dock in town sometime, right?
So that means Farouche really is oblivious, which doesn't fit right, or she's playing at something higher. Whether it's for Rainbow's benefit or not, who can say, but she seems too nice of a pony to really be waiting to backstab Rainbow.
6707095
It all comes together! Verlax causes the Onyx Eclipse!
Rarity seems to have taken to the.. rougher language a bit.
Still.. like a little patch of Equestria...let it remind you what you left behind... what you're out to protect.
If ever there was a place for an intro sequence...
this is it.
Anyone have any good songs that might fit this book for a theme?
I'd like to nominate this one
-Companions have returned, Inner darkness spurned. Utaan.
Head in the game Rainbow, you have Verlaxion's SF on your tail, need to focus.
Dammit, now she is lying like a pro. Verlax is getting to her without even trying.
6707141
Thanks for the addition to my Music folder!
I feel like this would be a proper introduction to Riverstem. Or Rohbredden.
OMG SENPAI~
i.imgur.com/EuniUiT.png
We're finally together, where we belong...
Does Rainbow have a hood or something? I mean her mane does stand out, perhaps she'll use that remaining 10 bits to get a disguise or something? That is even if she can get into a store or the like without being spotted.
6707191
Yea, Marcus Warner/Evening Star is great.
So's Carbon Maestro, Two Steps from Hell, and Makkon for the epic orchestral stuff.
All this delightful scenery porn, and all I can think about is how impressive it is that the bit has so thoroughly dominated the world's economies, even across wars and blights.
Meh. This is also a world where everyone but Xonans speak the same language.
Tell that to Martin Sheen.
6707216
I enjoy MarcuStar, Carbon and Makkon. Never heard of Two Steps from Hell though. To Youtube!
Edit: Holy shit....
Aggggg why am I so paranoid of Farouche. This story has made me very suspicious of when things are going well.
Then again, I guess Alafreo and Durandana felt this way too....
Well I'll be. Farouche didn't betray her after all. IC is just trying to lull us into a feeling of complacency for when he pulls the big reveal: Twilight is Verlax.
6707230 Two steps from hell, so named because they've condemned themselves to damnation for stealing the sheet music of the gods.
6707264
I understand now. Makes perfect sense. Need to go over to my buddies' place to blast this over his surround sound.
6707104 Or this:
i.imgur.com/fUQ98cY.png
6707124
Or... Farouch is oblivious... for now.
For now, until a certain group of gryphons happen to come flying along, asking questions and talking about the Rainbow Rogue.
6707195
Loooool. Imma going to be reading that btw, when my face isn't melting from simultaneously working on three different 15 page papers.
6707126
You sonuvabitch. How dare you remind me of how that hasn't updated in ages.
Also, if we're talking Two Steps From Hell, Protectors of the Earth, Heart of Courage, and Dragon Rider are things they need to be mentioned.
6707344
It'll always be in the back of your mind.
6707360
Course it will, reading that is what got me into MLP to begin with.
6707368
Are we secretly the same person?
Think I'll hang up my lingering paranoia and just enjoy these more relaxing chapters while they last.
Yay for more awesome landscapery goodness!
6707230
Look them up if you haven't already! They're EPIC.
6707378
This was my first taste of Two Steps. It's also a great fanfic.
6707344
Defiantly gonna be bingeing Two Steps for the next couple days.
6707414
All of my YES.
6707416
First song I listened to was Sun (Cause it was right there and already loading), best song I've heard in months.
What a tranquil place. Not sure what could go wrong here. Last we saw of the talon, they we're heading to red barge right? Shouldn't they have gotten there by now?
6707446 I'm getting more an impression of Ludovico Einaudi for a boatride like this.
6707221 Not entirely true. Don't forget Darkstine. They might as well have been speakin another language
Awesome, finally caught up after about a month long hiatus from this. Seems like a good spot too, just after the barge conflict and now we are in the traveling/resting mode again. I've been looking forward to another section of this.
6707536
What a beautiful piece for the piano. I feel that the massive underlay of sadness it puts out, along with the ups and downs of the tempo, would be better suited for, say, the journey over the Grand Choke up to the discovery of Twilight. It depends on the listener I guess. Thanks for another addition to the folder!
Yay! Back to beautiful vistas and descriptions of life. My prayers are answered!
6707563 Yeah, it's fairly melancholic. Though I think the choke is too desolate, the piece doesn't match that. In any case, I'd suggest listening to the rest of the "divenire" album of his. It's wonderful music.
6707572
Definitely will.
6707569
Yours and mine both.
Ah, reminds me of the good old Book of D'ni. Just that from what we know, Rohbredden isn't actually rotten to the core underneath it all. Just the occasional black spot. You know, like on an apple.
Seeing the sights is always a magical moment.
I hope this place stays nice and calm and we have very little to no issues the whole time. The likelihood of this is, of course, somewhere between Not gonna happen and Impossible.
It's like watching us reading Austraeoh for the first time! Scenery pr0n is best pr0n, I understand.
Pretty sights~
I was actually expecting Rarity to step in and help with a Rainbow make you some cash by using her knowledge of fabric and fabulous fashion sense. It seemed to be the set up considering the ships cargo
Hundreds of nice river towns. All flooded once Dash melts Verlax's cold heart. Verlaxion really has planned even for the case Rainbow Dash makes her change her mind.
Cruising along Rohbredden's very own Li river. I can think of worse ways to open a new arc.
6707113
If she had the gall to press Farouche for an extra 10
DollarsBits.Forgo the boat ride, food and water to enjoy the scenery while looking both inconspicuous and dashing.
If the tops of the mountains of soft rocks are high, wouldnt that be uplifting, not subsidence, so the river has a steeper slope to cut down faster before it has chance to cut and dissolve sideways?
Dredge coal burning will make rain more acidic, making it start todissolve limestone rock vastly faster, centuraries of cavern and passage forming in years.?
Imagine the Goblins there building the Skyway road from Rhobedron to the coast.
6707221
Well, "bit" is probably just a common name for different local currencies.
6707378
According to Identity of Indiscernables, nope.
Hehe, sounds like she's landed in New Zealand.