Ofolrodi

by Imploding Colon


Don't Forget Your Toothbrush

WhurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrChtung! The hatch along the top of the mesa opened up.

A blue-and-red glow flickered from within, accompanied by Flynn's authoritative voice: "M'shrynhmh L'fynym!"

The air filled with a dull vibration. Slowly—bobbing slightly from the weight of multiple supplies and bodies—the magically adjusted cart glided up the incline and out into the dim twilight of the mesa.

"Aaaaaaand..." Ariel flew aside the lunar-enchanged wagon. She eyed the mouth of Darkreach and flung her hoof. "...you're clear!"

"Put 'er into neutral, Flynn," Rainbow Dash said, seated between the unicorn and question and Logan.

Flynn cleared his throat and said: "M'shrynmh Thymmk!"

The cart stopped accelerating. It slowly glided to a stop, drifting a lazy meter or two after the process.

"Hrmmmm..." Logan clenched his jaw. "Not exactly a swift stop."

"It's a neutral command, Big Show," Flynn grunted. "This thing has no brakes."

"Surely there's gotta be some second word that'll make it come to a dead stop."

"I'm afraid not." Flynn cleared his throat. "I only have a limited vocabulary to choose from, and with all the verbage that the Bleakweed Midnighters gave us, only one word comes close." His mechanical lense retracted. "It's quite likely it would make the entire undercarriage of this thing explode."

Wildcard's goggles rattled.

"Aye-ay-ay..." Ariel winced.

"Alright. On second thought." Logan smiled awkwardly. "Just stick with moonwhinny for 'neutral.'"

"Capital idea, frriend!" Kepler remarked. Sandwiched between crates full of supplies, the wyvern hugged the "briefcase" to his furry chest. In one claw was a bag full of spare crystals: the journal entries of Ranort that he had yet to listen to. "Shall we make surre that we arre capable of carrrying an entirre load?"

"What do you mean?" Ariel asked.

"He means get your fuzzy butt down here, girl," Rainbow droned. "We gotta see if this can handle all of us."

"Hmmph!" Ariel folded her forelimbs, nevertheless descending towards the hovering vehicle. "I swear. If I make it break, I'm fasting from the bleakweed."

"We ain't got much of it left anyhow," Logan said.

"Well, I'll be the last pony we cannibalize on, then."

"Cute. Sit your ass down."

Ariel did as she was told...

...and there was no noticeable change to the even hover of the wagon.

"Purring like a kitten!" Flynn said with a grin. "See?" He winked his good eye over his shoulder. "What did I tell you?"

"Foolish optimism," Seraphimus groaned. She sat at the very back, shackled to the corner of the wagon. Despite how cramped it look, it was a considerably more comfortable position than she had been forced to endure for an entire month in Darkreach's common room. It didn't improve her countenance any. "This is a disaster waiting to happen."

"Hate to say it..." Logan nevertheless spoke: "But I'm with murder bird."

"Oh stuff it, Big Show," Flynn moaned. "Don't tell me you're both on the same side now..."

"I'm just saying it helps to be a bit cautious. Expect the worse." Logan's eyes narrowed. "We've still yet to see how this thing handles over the long distance."

"Well, no time like the present." Flynn looked back. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Hmm? What?" Rainbow glanced at the "driver."

Flynn smiled. "Aren't you going to say 'engage?'"

Rainbow's muzzle scrunched. "Why should I?"

Kepler chuckled while Wildcard smirked.

"Friggin' dork." Logan slapped Flynn's flank. "Get her moving already."

"Euuuughhh..." Flynn groaned, nevertheless facing forward and bracing the front of the craft with a stabilizing field of telekinesis. "Would it kill us to have a single shred of poetic nuance?"

"Yes."

Flynn cleared his throat and commanded: "M'shrynmh L'fynym."

Instantly, the vessel drifted forward, ultimately picking up a brisk speed.

"Heeheehee..." Ariel tilted her head back and allowed her dark mane to ripple like a windsock. "Weeeeeee!"

"Excelsiorr!" Kepler added jubilantly.

"See? Keps gets to do it!" Flynn whined.

"Awww shuddup, Baldy." Logan looked towards the rear of the cart. His eyes reflected a pale feathered figure. "Now that we're out in the open, I've got both eyes on you. No funny business, got it?"

"I wouldn't dare dream of it," Seraphimus droned. Her charcoal brown eyes darted towards Wildcard, then towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash sat comfortably beside Logan and Flynn. The wagon coasted along the top of the mesa so swiftly that it was generating a cool breeze. Rainbow squinted, observing the summits of nearby rock formations glinting in the cosmic light shining down from above. Otherwise, the landscape was an obsidian sea of confusion, eventually sloping upwards into the dark curve of the plane.

Her friends—in the meantime—were gliding along the edges of the wagon like multicolored geese in formation.

"Wooo-hooo-hooo!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "This is the besssssst!"

"I must admit..." Rarity sighed through a smile. "It does feel good to stretch one's legs for once."

"Rarity, we're ghostly essences," Twilight Sparkle reminded her. "All things considered, we don't have any legs."

"Well, Twilight, I don't have eyes but even I can tell when there's a sourpuss right in front of me!" Rarity retorted. A brief frown, and she batted her eyelashes. "...darling."

"Mmmgh..." Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Are we really gonna be leavin' it like that?" Applejack remarked staring back behind the wagon.

"Hmmm?" Rainbow blinked, then looked over her shoulder. "Leavin' what?"

"Huh?" Logan did a double-take.

"Talking to the girllllls," Rainbow melodically sighed.

"Oh. Right." Logan nodded, facing forward again. "Gotta be honest, sometimes I friggin' forget about them."

"Lucky you."

Applejack continued: "I know I was raised in a barn and all, but it seems awfully strange to be leavin' the door to Darkreach open like that."

"It could come in useful, Applejack," Fluttershy gently said.

"For what?" Applejack squinted. "Ya mean if we gotta make a hasty retreat?"

"Well, I was thinking for other ponies who need to take shelter there." Fluttershy looked at Rainbow. "Right, Rainbow?"

Rainbow shrugged. "No point in having it closed. What was left to history—we've already discovered. Now... it's time for us to make history."

"Hehe..." Twilight Sparkle smiled. "Now that's the spirit."

"One thing is for certain, guys..." Rainbow looked at her friends as a whole. "We are not going back to Darkreach. We're done with that place."

"I heard ya," Ariel said.

"Wasn't talking to you."

"I know." Ariel sighed. "But I heard you anyways."

"It's all forward from here," Rainbow Dash said. "We can't afford to make any more steps backwards." She caught the reflection of goat hair in the surface of a nearby plank of armor. "Not any longer."

"So lonnnnnnng, Darkreaaaaaaach!" Pinkie Pie "flew" backwards as she waved her hoof at the distant entrance. The hatch disappeared under the haze of darkness. "Thanks for all the shelter and mushrooms and changeling scrapes..." She winced slightly. "Well... maybe not the last part! But the rest of it was pretty neato-keano!"

"If I may give a piece of advice..." Rarity stared solidly at the other girls. "The less time we spend growing fond of our surroundings here on the Dark Side, the better."

"Reckon I agree," Applejack said. "Let's get our business here done with and return home."

"Applejack..." Twilight Sparkle looked over. "All things considered, Rainbow's journey could take years at this rate."

"That's why we can't stop moving," Rainbow said. She gestured ahead of Flynn and the cart. "No matter what we face from now on, we cannot afford to cease our momentum... not even once."