• Published 17th Aug 2013
  • 3,680 Views, 568 Comments

An Earthbound Journey - ShadeJak



An Earthbound crossover of sorts. The return of an ancient evil starts a weird and crazy adventure for Rainbow Dash and her friends all around Equestria and beyond!

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Town Troubles

“Stupid animals!” Rainbow said, having dealt with the far less friendlier skies as she tried to get to the populated areas of Ponyville. Spiteful crows and other angry birds were everywhere trying to knock her out of the sky till she finally made it into town. Looking around, everything seemed fine; ponies went about their usual business like nothing was wrong.

“Hey! Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow turned and saw Thunderlane, gazing back and forth and gesturing to her.

“Uhhh… what’s up?” the pegasus asked.

“I was looking for ya earlier. You’ve gotta see what Rumble and I found right under that cliff side they closed down after that carriage nearly went down it!” he said enthusiastically.

“Uh, don’t have the time, Thunderlane,” Rainbow said with an eyeroll.

“Come on, it’ll just take a sec! It’s way cool! We can, like, seriously sell this for a sackload!”

“Fine, fine,” Rainbow muttered, flying after the gray stallion and being brought to his and Rumble’s home and was led to the basement where she saw…

“What the hay?!” she shouted in disbelief. It looked like a statue of an alicorn, about her height, though. It was seated on its haunches, its wings spread out and its head bowed low. The statue seemed slightly translucent, as if made of some kind of crystalline mineral, giving it a dark silvery sheen similar to that of the Alicorn Amulet.

“I know, right? I was teaching Rumble some flying, and when I was catching him from a fall, we kinda crashed into the side, and some dirt came loose and well there it was! Took us awhile to dig it out and sneak home, but think this thing’s gotta be worth a lotta bits?” Thunderlane asked proudly. Rainbow leaned closer, looking it over. It was so surreal, yet admittedly creepy too.

Shaking her head and wondering if she was just paranoid, as it looked like an ordinary old statue otherwise, she turned to walk away from it. “Sure, just get it sold fast and you’ll be rich in no time!” she said. “Now, I really gotta go, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, no problem! I’ll let you know when I get it sold. Maybe get Rumble through flight camp or something,” the gray stallion said with a smirk. Nodding in approval, Rainbow trotted out of the cottage and back into town.

~

As she left the cottage, the first thing Rainbow noticed was that ponies seemed a lot more on edge for some reason.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Rainbow asked.

“A bunch of griffon punks just flew in! They’re making a mess of everything!” Roseluck protested, galloping past the pegasus and as Rainbow turned, she saw several griffons flying about, knocking over merchant tables and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Seeing one trying to intimidate a shopkeeper, Rainbow flew straight at the griffon, slamming her hooves into his chest and knocking him over.

“What’s wrong with you? Why doncha pick on somepony your own size?” Rainbow asked.

“Like you, dork?” another griffon asked behind her, and Rainbow saw he was not alone either.

There ya are, Dash! Well, this oughta be fun!” a familiar female voice said.

“Gilda?! What’re you doing here?” Rainbow asked, shocked to see her ex-friend here.

“What’s wrong, Dash? Can’t handle a few pranks?” Gilda asked with a sneer.

“This is no prank, Gilda! Seriously, you think this is funny, scaring all these ponies just to get to me? I’m kinda busy so if this is about last time I saw you, we can do this later! Call off your pals and scram before this gets serious!” the pegasus snapped.

“Riiiight, Dash. You against these three, plus me? Dream on,” Gilda said, folding her forelegs and hovering in the air. “Kick her flank, boys,” the griffoness said with a laugh. The other griffons, including the one Rainbow had hit earlier, immediately charged at her.

Immediately, Rainbow flew straight up, knowing she’d have an advantage from the air. Griffons were stronger then ponies so she'd have to leave this off the ground, and in the air she knew she could outfly any one of them any day, Gilda probably being the only exception. As the three brutes flew at her, Rainbow flew in a loop then straight down, decking one in the face and sending him falling to the ground, out for the count. The other two glanced down at their fallen comrade, then back up at Rainbow and flew at her, but she was too nimble for them.

“Ready, boys?” Rainbow asked, suddenly flying around them, going faster and faster till a small whirlwind formed around the two griffons, causing them to spin wildly out of control before getting flung out from the centrifugal force, causing them both to go flying out of control and crashing into trees.

“Not bad, Dash. But now’s as good a time as any for some payback for embarrassing me last time I was here!” the griffoness said with a lionlike growl. “Just don’t start cryin’ when ya get hurt!”

Rainbow just smirked in response as ponies started to gather, watching the spectacle before them. “That’s my line, Gilda. Bring it!”

“Whatever you say, Dash. Gilda doesn’t lose!” the griffoness said with a laugh, flying right at her. Rainbow returned the favor, drawing her hoof back. As she made the swing, Gilda caught her hoof then swung her fist into the pegasus’ stomach. “And the dweeb goes down!” Gilda said, smirking.

“Not a chance!” Rainbow said, swinging her hoof in an uppercut, sending Gilda spinning backwards and into a haycart.

“Okay, that hurt!” Gilda answered, grabbing a few chunks of broken wood and flinging them at Rainbow, who weaved out of the way to avoid them just in time for Gilda to charge her again. “But I'm not callin' it quits yet! Check out my new toy! I brought it just in case!” Rainbow could have sworn Gilda's eyes flashed green for a second before the griffoness took a small remote of some kind from the satchel she was wearing and pressed a button. From behind a building, a mechanized bird of some kind with a cannon on its belly flew out.

“Meet Gildroid Mk.2! A special backup I got some gizmonks to put together for me! Once it’s got you beggin’ for mercy, I’ll have you down on your haunches apologizing your plot off until I decide it’s enough. Sound good to you?” Gilda asked as the airborne robot flew at Rainbow firing blasts of magic energy from its cannon and leaving little scorchmarks in the ground as the pegasus flew about doging it.

Rainbow tried to direct it away from the populace, then flew straight at it, avoiding another blast and flying over it, landing on its back where she saw a small magic gem attached; presumably powering it. Down below, Gilda growled in annoyance and started turning the small stick on the remote, causing the glider robot to swerve about wildly. Rainbow held on tight, wrapping her legs around it as she attempted to break the casing around the gem with her hoof. Succeeding, the pegasus bit down on the ends of the gem and pulled it loose. In seconds, the glider faltered and crashed into a tree.

“Nah, I’d rather it be the other way around!” Rainbow said, hopping down and approaching the injured griffon who'd thrown the remote away in annoyance. “So, wanna just call it a day and take your boys home?” The pegasus asked, landing in front of the griffoness and smacking her on the chest with her hoof.

“No way, I paid a lot for that thi—AAHH!” Gilda cried out in pain as she sat up, clutching her head for a moment and suddenly not even sure why she’d been so angry over something she’d thought awhile ago she was too cool to care about.

Rainbow’s expression hardened. “You alright, Gilda?” she asked, still very suspicious of her but glad she seemed to have backed off.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll live. I don’t need your help, dweeb!” Gilda snapped, trying to hold her last shred of dignity, but let out a sigh after. “Honestly, it’s weird last night all I was thinkin’ about was beating you up for embarrassing me at that party, got those guys to back me. Didn’t really feel worth it all that time ago.”

“Really, now?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Come on Dash, if I thought you and Lamesville here were worth revenge I’d have pulled something in less then a week after I left the first time!” the griffoness said with an eyeroll.

Rainbow remembered something the bug-Celestia-thing had said to her about how Sombra’s influence would corrupt minds, making animals more aggressive, worsening bad thoughts. She saw Gilda’s eyes change color briefly during their fight… had his power somehow gotten into Gilda during that time?

“Well, I think the first thing you should do is apologize. To me and the town, and get your guys to help clean up, got it?” Rainbow asked, earning a reluctant nod from the griffon.

“Fine, fine, whatever,” she said, annoyed.

“Good. I gotta go to Town Hall anyway, so you can come along.” Rainbow said, giving the griffoness a stern look.

Slightly sore and dazed, the griffoness got up and followed, gesturing for her fallen comrades to stay put.

~

“So… yeah. I’m sorry. I don’t know what had come over me but Dash here handled everything. My boys and I will help clean up the mess—“ Gilda began, only to get nudged in the side. “—AND leave some money behind to help on… other repairs before we clear on outta here,” she said, lowering her head in embarrassment

“Well, I suppose that’s acceptable for now. We’ve already got a lot of issues with the press and that big black rock that appeared on the hill,” Mayor Mare replied with a nod. “Thank you for handling this, Rainbow Dash. If the Wonderbolts weren’t so spread with the other towns I’m sure they’d have been more helpful with this. Which reminds me, Spitfire will probably be back in another hour or so…”

“Well, let her know I’m gonna be over at the Centaur’s Step in the Everfree. Can’t say why, but trust me, I got my reasons,” Rainbow answered.

“Wait, what?” the mayor asked. “It’s dangerous enough with the regular animals getting aggressive! Who knows how that place is now! Spitfire gave instructions that nopony goes in there!”

“Hey, it’s me we’re talkin’ about here!” Rainbow said with a cocky smirk.

“Trust me, she trashed my gang, she can handle it,” Gilda chimed in.

“Her orders were very specific, Rainbow Dash,” Mayor Mare responded sternly.

Sighing, Rainbow turned. “Fine. Can I at least get a map atlas? I’m gonna be going a few places and I don’t really know the other cities that well outside of here and Cloudsdale.”

“Sure, just ask the pony at the front desk, she’ll give you one. We actually just got them updated!”

“Thanks…” Rainbow said, slowly leaving the office and heading downstairs where the receptionist was.

“Hey, Mayor said you got those new map booklet things. Can I have one?” the pegasus asked.

“Sure, right here!” the receptionist answered, floating one out from behind the desk. “We’ve been giving them out, they’re very useful. They got mini-maps of every town and city now, pretty cool, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah, cool. Thanks,” Rainbow said, catching the booklet in her teeth and placing it in her bag. “Later!” she said, trotting out the door and heading back outside, wondering how she’d get to the Centaur’s Step. Flying onto a rooftop, she pulled out the booklet and looked it over, grinning as she saw it had a map of part of the Everfree Forest, and sure enough the cave leading to the hilltop that the Centaur’s Step was found was right there. Unfortunately there’d be pegasi near the entrance. She needed a way to sneak in, something to distract them…

Looking back inside, she had an idea.

~

“What was that?!” a pegasus guard shouted, hearing a crash near the trees, causing him and the others to turn.

Now’s my chance! Fast as she could, Rainbow Dash flew straight into the forest. Gilda had flung the wrecked ‘Gildroid Mk.2’ into the trees and it had worked like a charm! Map in her hooves and giving a nod of thanks to the hiding griffoness, Rainbow Dash followed the trails towards her next destination…