//------------------------------// // Lands of Eternal Spring // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Together the two ponies had found a wagon-worn dirt road that went south into Vissidia from the Green Divide. All around them were meadows of green grass and wildflowers, it was like a beautiful, picture-perfect, spring day. Bees and hummingbirds flew from one flower to another while spotted rabbits ran through the tall grass and only the most pleasant and relaxing of breezes came with the wind. “It’s so different here,” Wish said as she trotted over the soft dirt with Rainbow Dash. “Yeah. It reminds me of home actually. There’s not really anyplace else I’ve visited on my journey quite like this place, even Pinetree Warren and Hoofica after it went back to normal weren’t the same,” Rainbow Dash blinked, taking it all in. It certainly had the same idyllic feeling to it that the peaceful lands around Ponyville and in the heartland of Equestria had. But if anything there was something even more mellow about this place. Like it was some little slice of paradise all cornered away on this side of the world. Rainbow Dash looked ahead and saw a farmhouse approaching down the road. Rather large, it was painted a happy sunflower yellow with a classic red barn out behind it. When she and Wish got closer they noticed a wide white fence that stretched out across several acres worth of land started around the farmhouse. It held in an open pasture with a number of cows milling about inside it and several small gardens growing a variety of different crops, along with a chicken coop and a well with a pump for drawing up water. “Like I’ve never seen a place like this before,” Rainbow Dash snorted as she and Wish walked by. Wish nodded along, not entirely getting what Rainbow Dash was talking about but still familiar with the average family farm back in Hoofica. It was starting to get a little later in the afternoon now so Rainbow Dash wasn’t really expecting to see anypony out, but she was surprised. On the porch of the farmhouse, a lone earth pony stallion sat in a rocking chair, rocking back and forth. He was probably about the same age as Rainbow Dash’s parents, with a yellow complexion and a raggedy orange mane he wore under a straw hat. Blue overalls, well worn and torn, adorned his wiry body. He hadn’t noticed them arrive since his eyes were closed and he looked to be taking an afternoon nap, but Rainbow and Wish could still see the happy smile stretched on his face as he rested. Rainbow Dash had her and Wish stop in front of the farmhouse, standing in the dirt leading up from the road to the front porch. She brought a hoof up to her mouth and coughed to get the pony’s attention. “Ahem.” The stallion’s eyes slowly blinked open, his sleep apparently not being very deep. When he had fully woken up he looked down from his porch and saw the two unfamiliar ponies standing there in front of his house. And the easygoing smile on his face spread from cheek to cheek. “Howdy there!” He said as he stood up from his chair and waved. Rainbow Dash grinned back, happy to be meeting a friendly pony. “Howdy!” “Well I’ll be, wasn’t expecting anybody to be coming by the farm today, who might you two lovely ladies be?” The friendly stallion asked as he stepped off his porch. He glanced north down the road and shot them a questioning look. “Y’all just come out of the Green Divide?” “Yep!” Rainbow Dash answered. “And we’re in Vissidia now, right?” He nodded. “Mhm, sure are. Welcome to the Russo family farm! Am I right in suspecting that this is your first time visiting Vissidia?” “Yep again, neither of us have been here before, and we’ve been traveling for a little while now,” Rainbow Dash said. The stallion gave an excited hoot and swung his hoof across his body. “Aint that just beautiful then! Ya come from far away and my own farm is the first place in all of Vissidia you come across! Don’t get much more fortunate than that for the both of us, I tell ya! Allow me to formally introduce myself, I’m Farello Russo, head of the Russo Family, and let me welcome you to the great country of Vissidia! Please accept our hospitality if you will.” Rainbow Dash and Wish shared a look with each other. They were both covered in a bit of mud, they smelled something awful, sweat had still flattened their manes and coats, and banana gunk was still stuck in Rainbow’s mane. “Uhhh... if hospitality includes a hot bath, I think we’d both be happy to accept it.” “Sure does,” Farello Russo chuckled. “The two of you can come inside now and meet the family, don’t be afraid of tracking a little dirt in, this is a farm after all and we’re pretty used to it.” He turned around and opened up the front door before waving the two of them in. Once they were inside he took a deep breath and hollered out: “Hey there! Ginnive, kids, we’ve got company! Come on down here!” From down the hall, an older mare emerged wearing a bonnet and holding a plate and wash rag in her hooves. She seemed surprised at the sudden shout but as soon as she saw Rainbow Dash and Wish her face lit up in a smile just the same as Farello’s. From elsewhere in the house and from up the stairs, Rainbow and Wish heard the galloping hooves of several other ponies as well. The mare put her rag and plate down on a side table and walked to stand beside Farello. “Well hello there! Who might you two be?” The mare asked them, “Let’s wait for the kids to come down before our guests start their introductions,” Farello said. He then winked at Rainbow Dash and Wish. “And this lovely mare here is my wife, Ginnive.” 
“Alright, speed it up then, kids!” Ginnive yelled up the stairs. Rainbow and Wish looked to see a veritable swarm of fillies and colts come pouring down the stairs. Some of them were a few years younger looking than Wish while the oldest were teenagers. Rainbow counted ten in total, all of them with a similar enough appearance to tell her that they were clearly siblings. Lot of work off the farm Farello and Ginnive had apparently gotten up to as well. “And here’s the true pride and joy of the Russo family—my children!” Farello said as they all politely lined up in front of him for the two house guests. “Howdy!” The oldest colt said to Rainbow Dash and Wish, while the others followed along one by one. A couple of the colts who were around Wish’s age shyly blushed and waved at her, but Wish didn’t seem to understand why. Neither did she care to, she just wanted a bath right now. “Howdy back,” Rainbow Dash said and waved when the entire family was done with their own introductions and hellos. She reached down and put a hoof on Wish’s back. “Uhh, the two of us are travelers I guess you could say. This filly here is Wish, she’s from Hoofica. And my name is Rainbow Dash, I’m from a really far away country called Equestria.” Farello looked down at Wish in surprise. “You’re from Hoofica, youngin? But I thought...” “Oh, uh...” Rainbow Dash stumbled a bit while Wish sullenly stared at the floor. “That’s kind of a long story, yeah you probably heard a lot about Hoofica the past year... I can tell you about it but can that wait till later?” “Of course, of course, sorry about that, where are my manners?” Farello said. “Savini? Why don’t you take our guests upstairs and show them where they can wash up?” He said to his eldest daughter. “Sure thing, pa!” A teenage mare with buckteeth and her mane done in a ponytail said. Farello then threw a smile back at Rainbow and Wish. “By the time the both of you are all cleaned up we’ll have a nice Vissidia welcoming meal waiting for you down here!” “Thanks!” Rainbow Dash said and watched as Savini walked back over to the stairs and beckoned her and Wish to come follow her. “Come on up here, bath is on the second floor,” the polite young mare said. “It’s a big ol’ tub that can fit ya both!” “I can wash myself...” Wish grumbled. Rainbow Dash reached down to ruffle her already disheveled mane. “Relax, kid. Seriously. I think we’ve finally reached someplace where we can just relax. So try and smile some more, say hi to the other kids, have a good time.” “Hmph,” Wish shrugged back. Rainbow was still going to have to work on that. But for now the two of them could at least clean up and not feel—and look—miserable and gross anymore. Savini was happy to show them the washroom along with all their soaps and towels and just let Rainbow Dash and Wish clean up on their own. Obviously just being a simple farmhouse bath it wasn’t luxurious or anything but it still worked. Rainbow Dash got the banana gunk totally out of her mane and made sure to use a clean brush to get Wish’s mane nice and straight again, just like how she liked it. After that the two just soaked for a bit and let all the dirt and grime wash off their bodies before draining the tub and getting out to dry off. When they returned downstairs they were brought into the large dining room of the Russo family farmhouse—and saw the feast arranged on the table for them. The table itself was gigantic of course since it had to seat every member of the family and then some, and every last inch of tablecloth was covered in a plate with some kind of food on it. Pies, soups, salads, baskets of bread, cheese, a few large jugs of milk, eggs, oats and hay, fruits, vegetables, it was crazy. Rainbow Dash and Wish’s eyes roamed over all of it even though they had eaten just a short couple of hours ago already. There was a second stomach for meals like this. “You... you all really didn’t have to do this,” Rainbow Dash said to the family. “Course we did! We wouldn’t be doing Vissidia justice otherwise,” Ginnive said. “Now come and sit down and have a real Russo family feast!” Farello said. It’s like when I first met Applejack and her extended family... Rainbow Dash grinned. Rainbow Dash and Wish sat down at the head of the table directly opposite Farello and Ginnive. After that, everyone dug in with gusto. The food was all so fresh, all so tasty, it could only have been recently grown, harvested, and cooked. The kind of home-cooked food that nothing else really compared to. “So how do you like your first taste of Vissidia?” Farello asked. Rainbow Dash finished chewing on a roll of bread and grinned at him. “Well... it kind of makes me hope that everywhere in the country is like this.” Farello smiled and nodded. “We’re a welcoming folk. Vissidians take pride in their home, and welcoming outsiders and strangers with the warmest hospitality we can is just our way.” “Thanks then. So is there anywhere else nearby? Like any big town or city or something that we can go to next? Right now the two of us are just kind of going anywhere south,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “We don’t really have a real trip planned or anything...” “If you keep on down the road you’ll end up in the town of Arondel. It’s not far, maybe two hours just by walking, if you flew you’d get there in no time at all,” Farello said. “Cool... and is there like a capitol of Vissidia or anything? Do you have a king or queen or anything like that?” Rainbow asked. “The capitol is called Verbansk, that’s pretty far west of here though, we don’t have a king or queen like Hoofica, just a governor who gets elected every year. Why do you want to know?” Farello asked. “It’s just...” Rainbow Dash glanced at Wish, who looked back up at her. “There’s some stuff about Hoofica I think I need to tell your leaders about... something I want to do for it. Obviously you’ve heard about Hoofica disappearing, right?” Farello shared a look with his wife before nodding to Rainbow Dash. “Sure have.” “Well long story short, it’s back. I really don’t want to bother you with the details but it’s not in great condition right now... I just had some ideas on how to help it and I thought if I could reach whoever was in charge of Vissidia that would be easy.” “If you go to Arondel they’ll have ponies who can contact the governor in Verbansk easily enough,” Ginnive said. She looked at Wish. “Is Hoofica okay?” Wish shied away from the question while Rainbow Dash grimaced. “It will be,” Rainbow said. Farello looked at the clock on the wall of the dining room. “Well it’s getting late, you probably want to rest for the night before heading out again, don’t you? You’re welcome to stay here of course, we have plenty of room.” “Thanks, we do.” Rainbow Dash smiled. She raised an eyebrow at Wish. “Wish?” The filly frowned for a split second before looking neutral again. “Thank you.” She said to Farello and Ginnive. Good enough... Rainbow Dash thought. Wish’s mood, that looked like it had been improving, had gone back to being a little worse since arriving here, and she didn’t really know why. But they’d be out and off to Arondel early tomorrow, and she still had plenty of time to talk to the kid. Though not as much as she thought she would when they first set out. Because soon... Rainbow Dash sighed, no use thinking about the future right now.