//------------------------------// // Sticking Out Like A Sore Hoof // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// She was cold. And wet. And moving. Rainbow Dash’s eyes fluttered open in the middle of the strange sensations and she saw nothing but blurry darkness. She felt weird, what was going on? Her hooves and wings moved about, creating a splashing sound and finally she fully came back to reality. Her wings. Falling. The river. Sudden darkness. Rainbow Dash flailed about in the water and opened up her mouth to suck in a deep breath. Thankfully, her throat didn’t fill up with water. She was disoriented and it was so dark that it made it difficult to tell but it looked like she wasn’t drowning at least. After a few seconds she managed to calm herself down and just float along with the current, controlling her breathing and not splashing around with her limbs. It was night out. She could tell that for certain thanks to it being even darker than normal, she was on her back floating down a river and staring up at the clouds, barely able to make anything out. Her wings still hurt. And she was alive. That was the important part. There was no way to tell how long she had been drifting in this river or how far she had gone—she only vaguely remembered impacting it in the first place. But the good news was that it flowed south, she remembered that. So at least she wasn’t going the wrong way. Now though she had absolutely no idea of what was coming up next. The rest of Hoofica was a complete mystery. Her body was completely exhausted too, worn out from the fall and her journey down the river. It might be better to just continue floating along for the while or at most dragging herself up onto the shore and sleeping till morning. She didn’t think she could manage much else right now. With a minor amount of effort, she swam over to the side of the river. Thankfully the current wasn’t too powerful, there weren’t any rapids or anything crazy like that, it was a fairly gentle river. Her hoof grasped onto the wet grass at the river’s edge and Rainbow Dash pulled herself up and out of it. Rolling onto her back and breathing heavily she closed her eyes so as not to be forced to look up at that ugly sky again. “This hasn’t been a great adventure so far,” Rainbow grumbled. The following morning she was walking down the side of the river to wherever it would take her. She unfortunately had no idea where she might end up and she still had to rest her wings for a little while now. Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning struck in the lands east and west of her with no rhyme or reason. In other words it was a normal day in Hoofica. “Has to be at least something else along this river soon,” Rainbow said. “Even just, like, a family farm or something like that.” Of course she also had to assume that everypony nearby had heard about her and were on the lookout. That was going to make travel more difficult, she didn’t need an entire country after her. And experience had told her that the ponies were simply too afraid of the Inquisitors to listen to reason. So Rainbow Dash walked on and on in the casual darkness of Hoofica, the sounds of the flowing river her only companion. It didn’t seem like her fortunes were going to be changing anytime soon either. Her stomach growled and Rainbow Dash snorted in annoyance. She had only had grass and wildflowers to eat for the past few days. She needed more than that to really fill her belly. Minutes of walking eventually turned to hours and Rainbow Dash was fairly certain it was around noon right now. Just from what she had gleaned this place to look like during the day and her own internal sense of time and instincts. Because it was a little less dark than normal she was actually able to see ahead and far into the distance. There was another destination coming up downstream, another city by the look of things. There weren’t any buildings as tall as some of the ones back in Glamour Heights City but this new settlement covered far more area than the small towns she had been to as well. A few large buildings by the river’s edge also grabbed her attention. It was likely that she’d have to somehow disguise herself before heading on into the city, or at least try to sneakily avoid any ponies. That wasn’t going to help her with her true goal though. She couldn’t just keep randomly stumbling around the countryside of Hoofica, blindly going from one city to the next. She had to learn where the capitol was, get some food in her, and give her wings the rest they needed. Otherwise going to this new city would be totally pointless. Fortune did finally smile on her just a bit though. At the north end of this city there were a number of larger homes with wide open yards. In one of those yards a clothesline was set up that had a number of white sheets hung across it, drying off. “Better to wear than nothing,” Rainbow shrugged and started walking away from the river. After she had her disguise she could walk on into town like she was any other pony and try to find what she needed. When she reached the clothesline she looked around to see if anypony was around or watching but she seemed to be in the clear. Rainbow Dash smiled and reached up to grab one of the sheets. But she stopped in the middle of tugging it down and slowly started to frown. “This isn’t right...” she looked up and down the clothesline at the numerous other sheets. Would taking one really matter? “But it’s still stealing… these ponies already have nothing. I-I can’t just take something from them. If I try and ask them if I can have it that’s not going to end well either. Ughhh, am I really doing this? Just going to walk into the city without any disguise or anything?” She looked at the white sheet and sighed. “Being good really shouldn’t mean being dumb all the time...” Rainbow Dash shook her head and left the grassy yard behind with nothing to gain from it. She just couldn’t bring herself to steal from these ponies. Even for a good cause, even if it probably didn’t matter. It wasn’t right and she’d hate herself for it. Her hooves ended up taking her to the main road that led into the city. On the side of the road was a large wooden sign that read: “WELCOME TO GENTLE CREEK”. Nailed to the side of the sign was another wanted poster with her face on it. “Well I’ve never stopped myself from making stupid decisions so far,” Rainbow scoffed at the poster and walked on. “Now where can I get something to eat around here?” The city of Gentle Creek was constructed in a large semi-circle as it radiated out from the river the east end bordered. All the larger buildings were gathered closer to the middle area of the river’s edge with things shrinking until it ended up as single-family homes and other small businesses at the perimeter. It all seemed to be sectioned off in a very logical fashion, with careful slices of the city that didn’t spill over into any of the other parts that bordered them. This made it really easy for Rainbow Dash to see everything since she could look over the roofs of where she was and see the biggest buildings in the distance. Naturally there weren’t many ponies out anywhere either. And Rainbow Dash was skirting around the sides of buildings as she walked, trying to stay out of view as much as possible. She didn’t need to be that dumb. If she found a small cafe or restaurant she could head inside and see if she could get some food from the owners. It relied a lot on the kindness of strangers but it was really her only option right now since she adamantly refused to steal. The bigger problem was that all the ponies in this city were likely going to recognize her… so she had to be exceptionally lucky to find some that also wouldn’t cause a fuss or try and turn her in. Gonna be tough. “Easy is boring anyways,” Rainbow muttered to herself. It wasn’t dark enough where you couldn’t still easily see around too. And Rainbow’s colors very much stuck out. If any random pony looked out their window or from across the street and shouted for her, it wouldn’t end too well. Were there Inquisitors already here in Gentle Creek? Probably. She was willing to bet that the Head Inquisitor had her subordinates and other guards all stationed throughout the nearest cities and towns looking for her. Rainbow Dash flapped her gums as she slunk from building to building, this was never the kind of thing she enjoyed doing. There might be more ponies towards the center of the city but she was heading in that direction anyways. Maybe she could find some old sheet thrown in a trash can to disguise herself with. And she was more likely to find something like a small hotel or place to eat. It all just kind of depended on if she immediately got chased away or not. How badly had the Inquisitors and the Queen broken these ponies down? That was the sad question. She did soon see one thing she wanted. There was a small coffee shop nearby that wasn’t completely closed up. As good a place as any to attempt to get some of the stuff she needed. Hopefully they’d be willing to give her something to snack on. Rainbow Dash looked up and down the dark street and didn’t see any ponies around so she quickly walked over to it and stood to the side of the door. The windows had their curtains closed but they at least weren’t boarded up. No open or closed sign sat on the door either so she really had no idea if they were actually still open and serving ponies. But she wasn’t going to get anywhere if she didn’t try opening up that door handle. Her blue hoof reached out and pulled it down before she stepped inside the coffee house. A bell rang from above the door and Rainbow Dash stopped to stand inside the doorframe, she blinked as she looked over the interior of the small coffee house. At one of the tables inside there were three white-suited Inquisitors sitting and drinking coffee. They were staring back at her, just as frozen in surprise as she was. Rainbow Dash let out a resigned sigh. “I feel like I should’ve seen something like this coming.” She turned tail and ran back out onto the street. Behind her she heard the sound of the table being flipped over and mugs of coffee shattering on the floor as the Inquisitors got up to chase after her. A fight wasn’t what she wanted right now, she could take those three easy, she knew it, but the coffee house owner would have to alert more even if he didn’t want to. And she couldn’t fight out on this street either where more could see her and come at any moment. That meant running was her only option. Her very lame option. Lose the dumb Inquisitors for a moment and then figure out what to do next, that’s the plan. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as she ran on. Behind her the three Inquisitors were keeping fairly close though. Luckily all were earth ponies and Rainbow Dash was still a good enough runner on her legs that she was confident to be able to beat most ponies in a race. But they definitely knew the layout of the city better than her, if Rainbow Dash just ran aimlessly she might get lost or stuck or end up running into their friends. She had to lose them quick, really quick. A loud whistle blew from behind her—obviously from one of the Inquisitors. Great, not what I needed right now! Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue. She sped up into a full on sprint and darted down another street, heading into the more crowded interior of the city in an attempt to find someplace to lose her pursuers. Now though she was starting to see more ponies, civilians, standing around or inside buildings. And you bet that this chase was getting their attention too. Although Rainbow would’ve loved being able to run inside one of the buildings and try to hide out with the help of the ponies in there she knew that wasn’t going to be possible. “Stop running and give yourself up!” One of the Inquisitors yelled at Rainbow Dash. “If you’re still following the Head Inquisitor then I’m gonna have to say no to that!” Rainbow yelled back at them, she couldn’t help a grin from forming on her face despite the situation. The farther and harder she ran as well the further behind the hooves of the Inquisitors sounded. She was getting some distance on them. “There’s nowhere for you to run here! You can’t get out of this city now!” Another yelled. Rainbow Dash just ignored them. A day or two of hiding and she could fly out easy as pie. As long as she didn’t get caught right now she was sure she could outplay these white-suited losers. Once her wings were back into working order she wouldn’t have anything to fear from any of them again. “You’re only delaying the inevitable!” Rainbow Dash snorted and turned her head to blow a raspberry at them before swiftly turning down another street. At the end of which was another squad of Inquisitors and armored ponies. “Aw crud,” Rainbow Dash winced. They noticed her and started running in her direction—her path now cut off. There was only one chance she had to get away from them, an alley in the middle of the block she was running down. As long as it wasn’t a dead end she could still run down it and try to lose these Inquisitors. Rainbow Dash pushed herself even harder to get to the alley while the two groups of ponies closed in on her like a vise. Her hooves skidded along the stone ground as she came to a screeching halt and then ran inside the alley- -to come face to face with a dead end. “Seriously?! Is my luck that bad today?” Rainbow Dash groaned and stomped a hoof on the ground. There weren’t any doors or windows she could try breaking into, it was just a stone wall on all sides. She could attempt flying up but her wings might fail her before she even cleared the roofs. Behind her she heard the clattering of multiple ponies getting close to the alley. Rainbow Dash bit her lip and turned around, backing up against the back wall of the alley and getting ready to face her pursuers. If she had to fight through an army now then so be it. Most of these ponies probably didn’t deserve it but she couldn’t afford to be captured or get injured again. She took a deep breath and prepared herself right as the first ponies were coming close to reaching the alley. Suddenly—the stone wall behind her moved around like a revolving door and tossed her behind it before coming to a stop and settling back into place. The Inquisitors chasing Rainbow Dash rushed into the empty alley and stopped, wondering where their target had gone. “W-Where did she go? She was right here!” “Did she fly away?” “Impossible, we would’ve seen her.” “She couldn’t have just vanished though.” “The Head Inquisitor isn’t going to like this...” “What the?!-” Rainbow Dash yelped in a startled voice as she was pushed around by the revolving trap wall and accidentally stumbled to the ground behind it when it came to a stop. She was stuck in almost total darkness with only a single torch lighting up wherever it was she had found herself. A torch that was being held up by a cloaked figure standing in front of her. Rainbow Dash frowned and stood up, a dozen other shadowed and cloaked figures surrounding her fanned out from the one holding the torch. She narrowed her eyes at them before casually dusting herself off and got ready for another fight.