Chapter 5
“Sha-nananananana-na-na-na! Goin' on an adventure! Sha-nananananana-na-na-na! Goin' on an adventure!”
“Rainbow, what in tarnation are you doin'?” Applejack called up to her flying friend. They had been on the move for about three hours now, the Everfree Forest passing swiftly around them. They were following a mostly clear road that had already taken them past Zecora's hut in the wild woods. They had then arrived at the river that cut through the forest, and were now galloping on its right bank. They knew from studying a map that the river's headwaters were up in the Drackenridge Mountains, and by following it upstream they hoped to reach the mountains by nightfall.
“Well, Pinkie Pie's not here, and some pony has to sing!” Dash said.
“No, somepony doesn't have to sing!” the earth pony quickly replied. “In fact, avoidin' singin' is one of the reasons I didn't want Pinkie Pie comin' on this trip!”
“Aw, come on, AJ-”
“No! I'm puttin' my hoof down! No singin'!”
Rainbow Dash was silent for a few moments. “Can I at least do the sha-na-nas?”
“No! No sha-na-nas! That'll just lead to more singin'!”
The pegasus passed a few more moments in silence. Finally, she said, “Well can I at least hum?”
Applejack glanced up at her friend, and saw the innocent expression on her face. She knew better than to be fooled- Rainbow was hardly ever innocent- but couldn't deny the pout. “I guess you can hum,” she finally relented.
“Yay!” Rainbow Dash cried. She immediately began humming the jaunty tune of the song she had just been singing.
Applejack gritted her teeth and tried to block it out. This effort was not helped by Rarity, who moments later began humming the song herself, adding her smooth, dulcet hum to Dash's coarser one. It was one of the rare times Applejack wished she could walk on only two hooves- so the other two could be free to be stuffed into her ears.
Rainbow Dash had been delighted to hear Rarity joining in with her humming. Looking down, she saw the white unicorn was also keeping pace with Applejack rather well. She was still bringing up the rear, but not far behind at all; in fact, she was right at Applejack's heels. They were actually moving fairly quickly. Maybe we can make it in time after all, she thought.
“Rope!”
Rarity collided with Applejack's hindquarters as the earth pony screeched to a sudden halt. Dash shot past them before coming to a hard stop and whirling around. “What? What's wrong? What is it?!” the pegasus cried.
“Confound it all, I knew I forgot somethin'!” Applejack cried, stomping her hoof angrily into the ground. “I forgot to pack any rope!”
Rarity was rubbing her horn with her hoof. “Is that all?” she deadpanned.
“Oh, sure, y'all laugh!” Applejack huffed. “But rope's a right handy thing to have around! I'm already thinkin' of a dozen ways we'll probably need it!”
“Well we can't go back!” Dash said. “We've gotta keep going. Going back would waste too much time.”
Applejack glanced back down the riverbank. She sighed. “I suppose y'all are right...” She resumed her previous gallop. “But we're gonna be sorry we don't have no rope, mark my words.”
“Sure, and when that time comes, yeah, we'll mark 'em,” Dash muttered, flapping her wings once more.
As morning turned to afternoon, the ponies' stomachs began to churn. Rarity in particular was feeling hungry- running was harder work than flying, and she was not as used to sustained physical exertion as Applejack. At her insistence, they stopped for lunch beside the river. Applejack opened her saddlebags and plucked out three apples, two of which she rolled across the grass to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “That's it?” Dash said.
“That's all from the bag,” said the earth pony, closing her saddlebag with a snap. “We gotta make these apples last. So if you're hungrier for more,” she lowered her head and bit up a chunk of grass, “get to foragin'!”
Rarity drew back in disgust. “You mean... eat raw grass? It hasn't even been seasoned! Don't you have some salt?”
“Girl, I had a lot more important things to pack than salt,” Applejack said. “If you wanted salt you shoulda packed it yourself.”
“C'mon, Rares,” Dash said with a smile, chewing her grass with her mouth open, “it's spring! Everything's nice and juicy!”
“Ugh...” the unicorn grumbled, taking out her sunglasses and using magic to place them on her face.
“If you want, I can go up and pull off some leaves for you,” Dash offered. “They're really tasty.”
“No, no,” Rarity muttered. She bent down and daintily took a bite of grass. She chewed it, wincing slightly at the strong, unrefined taste. She swallowed hard. “It's quite... bracing. Besides, the raw thing is so hip nowadays.” She took another bite of grass, gritting her teeth. The things I do for friendship, she thought. Oh, Twilight, I do hope this is all worthwhile.
They ate fairly quickly, at Rainbow Dash's insistence; the rainbow-maned pegasus was eager to remain on the move as much as possible. Rarity ate as much grass as she could stand before mercifully moving on to the much more appetizing apple; Applejack unceremoniously chomped her way through most of the grass around her. Dash ate some grass, then flew up to snip at some of the elm leaves hanging overhead. Applejack and Dash insisted that they not lounge, so the three ponies rose to their hooves and resumed their journey, causing Rarity to whine about the damage to her digestion. All the while, the Drackenridge Mountains loomed closer and closer over the tops of the trees, until their summits were no longer visible, and they were merely a great wall of rock.
By evening, the sun had already gone down beyond the mountains, casting the whole of the forest in rapidly deepening shadow. Their path was no longer level: they had begun to gently climb, and the odd boulder was now appearing, jutting out of the ground amidst the trees as they galloped past. “Hold it!” Rainbow Dash suddenly cried, causing Applejack and Rarity to screech to a halt. The two grounded ponies looked up at their flying companion, who was intently glancing skyward. “It's gonna rain,” she said. “We should probably camp for the night.”
“I didn't think there were any storms scheduled for this evening,” Rarity remarked.
“Everfree Forest, remember?” Dash said, flapping her wings gently as she descended to the ground. “The weather here makes itself.” Indeed, nothing in the Everfree Forest followed a schedule; unlike every other part of Equestria, nature worked completely on its own in the wild green forest. Animals cared for themselves, weather systems formed on their own, and plants grew completely free of pony guidance. It was extremely strange, and one of the reasons why Ponyville was still considered a frontier town despite being centuries old. The forest was even older: it had been growing since the earliest days of Equestria, as far back as recorded history.
To verify Dash's instincts, a distant rumble vibrated in Applejack's chest. Turning around, she could see a bank of dark clouds rolling toward them, flashing occasionally with brilliant white bursts of light. The wind was also picking up, the trees beginning to sway. “Oh, goodness, let's please do get under cover before it starts raining!” Rarity cried, stomping her hooves one after the other in quick succession.
“Hold on, sugarcube,” Applejack said, trotting off the path and into the trees. “I've got a tarp in my saddlebag that we can sling over a branch. Of course, it sure would be nice if we had some rope...”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dash muttered, following her into the trees. “Look, there's lots of rocks around,” she said, kicking at one near her hoof. “We can just use those to secure the tarp. And the trees will block a lot of the rain, right?”
“I suppose so,” Applejack admitted. She was now glancing up at the branches overhead, peering through the foliage until she saw one that suited her: it was a long, thick branch that stuck nearly straight out from the tree it was attached to, and it was not too high off the ground. Pulling off her saddlebags, the orange earth pony yanked out a very, very thick roll of dark gray wool with a waxy exterior. She gripped one edge with her mouth and began to violently shake it, causing it to unfold, making it bigger and bigger with each swirl of her head. By the time it was fully unfurled, it was quite large. “Rarity,” she called over her shoulder, her mouth still full of tarp, “start grabbin' some rocks with your magic, will you?”
“All right,” the white unicorn said primly, her horn shimmering as her telekinesis began to work. There was actually a plentiful amount of decent-sized rocks scattered through the trees, likely remnants from rockslides. Each one she saw, she raised into the air, until she had more than a dozen floating around her.
“Rainbow, you grab the other end of this here tarp and pull it over that tree branch,” she said.
“Sure!” Dash cried, taking the end of the tarp opposite Applejack; she flapped her wings and raised it up into the air. The foliage around her was heavy, but she was able to maneuver herself up and over the thick tree branch. Applejack walked forward as the tarp was pulled, and soon it was forming a triangular open space several feet wide and even more feet high.
“Now, Rarity, put those rocks down and pin this sucker in place,” said Applejack. Rarity easily complied, setting the rocks down in two neat rows, one on each side, seven to a row.
The unicorn suddenly felt a drop of water hit her horn. “And not a moment too soon,” she said. Another raindrop came down, then another, and water was falling rapidly from the sky. The three ponies quickly scurried under their makeshift shelter, the rain pattering down upon the oilskin surface.
“So,” Rarity began, as Applejack laid out one of her blankets on the ground, “tomorrow it's up the mountains, then?”
“Hopefully we can make it over 'em in one day,” Applejack said. “Or at least make it to the peaks in one day. I hope it won't be too snowy.”
“At this time of year there's definitely still gonna be some snow,” Rainbow Dash observed. “I hope you ponies packed warm.”
“Oh, no need to worry about that, dear Rainbow,” Rarity said smugly. “I'm more than adequately equipped to handle a little cold weather. But Applejack, I hope you brought something more than just that hat.”
“I got my old quilted vest in here, that should be enough,” said Applejack, patting her saddlebags.
“A vest? No, of course that's not going to be enough!” Rarity said. “I'll have to lend you one of my sweaters.”
“I don't need no-”
“I insist,” the unicorn said firmly. She looked over at Rainbow Dash. “Although you don't even have anything packed...”
“I'm perfectly fine,” said Dash. “Pegasuses don't get cold.”
“Pegasi,” Rarity corrected her.
“Whatever!”
“So...” Applejack interrupted them pointedly, “once we get over those mountains... what's next? What's on the other side?”
“Some other place,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling over onto her back. “I've seen it a few times from the air; it looks like a big field of gold.”
“Rarity, didn't Twilight give you that book about the lands beyond Equestria?” Applejack asked.
“Ah, yes!” the unicorn exclaimed. She used her magic to open her saddlebag and float the book through the air. Settling it down in front of her, she opened it to the table of contents. The book was rather short, and was organized into four sections, each based on a compass direction. “Let me see... we'll be crossing the western border, right?” The other two nodded. Rarity flipped to the page where the 'West' section started. “Hmm hmmm... Everfree Forest... Drackenridge Mountains... Aha! Ahem,” she cleared her throat. “Beyond the Drackenridge Mountains, Equestria is neighbored by the Kingdom of Gildedale, a broad land of plains and grasses inhabited by free-roaming bands of earth ponies. Equestria and Gildedale have long had cordial relations, including a treaty binding each country to come to the other's aide in the event of disaster. However, individual Daleponies are often wary and suspicious of strangers, so travelers are advised to be cautious.”
Applejack was grinning. “Land sakes, a whole country full o' earth ponies! That sounds like my kind of place.”
“They certainly sound like a rough and tumble lot,” Rarity said. “What's this business about them being 'free-roaming'? Do they not live in cities, I wonder?”
“I bet they just wander around wherever they want,” said Rainbow Dash. She smiled, putting her hooves behind her head. “No rules, no borders, no restrictions! A pony free to live off the land and be her own filly!”
“I hope they aren't that lackadaisy,” Applejack said. “That might be a pegasus' idea of the good life, but us earth ponies know the value of a little organization an' hard work, and I reckon that's true even outside Equestria.”
“These ponies don't sound like farmers, AJ,” Dash said. “They almost sound... fierce. Tough.”
“Hmmm... I wonder if we'll see any big, strapping stallions,” Rarity remarked offhand. “A bit of primitivism can be attractive in a man if he doesn't take himself too seriously.”
“Okay, girls, let's not get too caught up,” Applejack said. “Remember, we're not goin' for a vacation. We've gotta cross Gildedale as fast as we can to make it to the Archback Mountains. Rarity, does the book say anything about the mountains?”
Rarity turned the pages with her magic, scanning them rapidly. “It doesn't seem to say so... I believe this book is concerned solely with the lands that border Equestria, not what borders those lands in turn. But the fact that there's no mention of the mountains might imply that Gildedale's borders don't extend all the way to them.”
“So we'd have to cross another different country,” Dash said. “That's just great.”
“Remember,” Rarity said, “we only have to get there in two weeks. Once we get to the mountains and find the flower, we can use Spike's fire to send it right back.” She used her magic to pluck the bottle of green and purple flames from her saddlebag; the magical fire flashed and shone. They had all agreed that Rarity should be the one to carry the dragonfire, due to her skill at keeping track of minute details.
“Be careful with that thing,” Applejack said. “If we lose it or break the bottle we are in a mess o' manure.” Just then the earth pony's stomach growled. “Huh- I reckon it's time for dinner, then.” Rarity and Rainbow Dash chuckled. Applejack smiled and began to pluck apples from her saddlebags.
After dinner, Applejack pulled out more blankets, and Rarity produced a pillow enchanted to conform to the shape of her head. Rainbow Dash opted to use one of the blankets as additional padding beneath her; she was unused to sleeping on the ground, and its hardness was unnerving and distracting.
The pegasus had chosen a spot near the entrance of the tarp, though far enough away to keep her out of the rain. Restless, she had trouble relaxing, so while Applejack and Rarity talked, of all things, about business (Applejack was discussing her family's plans for expanding the south orchard at Sweet Apple Acres), she stared up at the storming sky.
Suddenly, a long, jagged bolt of lightning lanced through the heavens, curling around a bank of clouds and turning the whole world blinding white. Rainbow Dash was entranced. She rose to her hooves without realizing it, causing the other two ponies to glance her way. “You all right, Rainbow?” Applejack asked.
“What?” Dash remarked. She shook her head. “Oh, sorry, I'm fine.”
“You're not scared of the lightning, are you?” Rarity said.
Rainbow Dash gave her a strange look over her shoulder. She then looked at the ground. “Um...”
“You're scared of lightning?” Rarity said, incredulous. “Don't you pegasus ponies fly around in storms and hurricanes all the time?”
“I'm not scared!” Dash cried. Her face switched from angry to uneasy to bashful and more. “I'm... lightning just makes me nervous, is all.”
“Why?” Applejack asked. “Like Rarity said, pegasi fly through storms all the time. Y'all control storms, right?”
“Well, sure, and I'm totally cool with storms!” Dash quickly insisted. “Wind, clouds, rain, even tornadoes, they're no problem.” She glanced up at the storming heavens again. “But lightning... I can't...”
“Hmm?” Rarity murmured.
“I...” Dash wasn't looking at them.
“Come on, spit it out!” Applejack insisted.
“I can't control lightning!” Dash said in one breath. She turned around, and they were surprised to see how sad she looked. “It's the one part of storms that I can't control.”
“Have you ever tried?” Rarity asked.
“Oh, loads of times!” Dash said, finally laying back down. “There are some really slick weather ponies that can buck lightning bolts with their back legs! I've... well, I've sort of tried that before.” She set her head down on the blanket. “But every time I try, the lightning just feels so... wild. It's hot and fast and bright. And I can never be fast enough to control it, no matter how fast I fly. I just wind up getting close to it, and it nearly fries my tail off.” She sighed. She looked truly miserable. “I'm a failure as a pegasus.”
Rarity and Applejack regarded her silently. Finally the orange earth pony said, “Don't get upset, sugarcube. There's plenty of stuff lots o' ponies can't do. Shucks, I can't shear sheep.”
“I'm an awful tennis player!” Rarity offered brightly. Applejack arched an eyebrow at her. “Well, I am! I've never been able to get the hang of an overhand serve.”
“Look, I'm tired, girls,” Dash said, turning away from them. “Can we just go to sleep?”
“A mighty fine idea,” Applejack said. “We gotta get up early tomorrow if we wanna make it over the mountain by nightfall.” Snuggling under her blanket, she yawned and laid her head back on her saddlebags. “Sweet dreams, everypony.”
Rarity pulled on a sleeping mask and tucked the blanket around her, before gently slipping into the covers and laying her head on her pillow. She was the first to fall asleep, breathing softly within minutes; she had had a very long and hard day. Applejack followed shortly after her, snoring gently within half an hour.
Rainbow Dash remained awake, tossing and turning on top of the blankets. She rolled herself up in her own blanket, wrapped like a spring roll, but she still couldn't sleep. She was thinking about lightning. She'd thought about it countless times before over the years, and always the same frustration bubbled into her mind. What exactly do I do wrong? she wondered. Every other aspect of weather- rain, wind, snow, clouds- bent to her will, as it did for every other pegasus. Yet lightning remained beyond her reach. And it tore at her. Not all the time- it wasn't an obsession- but when she did think about it, she thought hard, because she wanted to master lightning. Lightning reminded her of herself: it was fierce, and fast, and wild, and powerful. Lightning was what she wanted to be like, so why couldn't she control it? Is it because I'm not fast enough?, she thought. Am I not fierce enough? Am I not strong enough? Am I just not as good as... her? Dash, as previously mentioned, was not given to self-doubt. But she was not immune to it, either. Her doubts, once stirred, would linger, as they lingered now, following her to sleep where her dreams were filled with the flash of lightning and the sound of pealing thunder. She was chasing somepony through the air, the flash of an electric blue tail mingling with the blinding bolts in the stormy sky.
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God, this was a trip. Back before all the cliches and shit overunning stories.
Dammit, I'm all nostalgic now.
There they go again.
Memory foam?
4267410 Yeah, they really don't write them like this anymore.
Oh shit! Foreshadowing! Probably! I don't know!
Get that bitch a tree star; bitches love tree stars.
4287681
My fucking thoughts exactly.
Okay, who's loading Chekhov's Gun?
... wait, didn't Big Mac pack for her? If so, how could she suddenly remember forgetting to pack rope?
Dale Ponies?
As in, the riders of Rohan?
Rainbow Dash is best Donkey
Well, Miss Super-speedy, how about you race back to Ponyville and grab it for them? Hmmm?
4287681 wins my Internet of the Day for his statement.
Yeah, that'll tend to happen around evening.
Not that I'm saying you should go check it out or anything, but I totally wrote a story about this. As such, I approve of this statement.
No, Rainbow, you are right. You keep arguing that point!
Oh. My. God. I am now just noticing the parallels here. Whether it was intentional or not, you are bringing some incredibly heavy Rowan of Rin vibes to this story. The mountain, the forest at its base, the "Valley of Gold" on the other side... Suddenly I find myself having a nostalgia trip of my own, and not of the kind that most people reading this have been feeling. I wonder if there's a "Great Dragon" at the top of the Drackenridge range? Or a "Pit of Unrin" guarding the golden field on the other side?
Major Lord of the Rings vibes here. Gildedale:Rohan, Daleponies:Rohirrim? Does that make Equestria Gondor, Canterlot Minas Tirith, or Osgiliath?
Yes, I'm gonna be that guy and point out the "man" there. Stallion is preferable.
Oh, look, more foreshadowing.
So, Rainbow Dash is afraid of lightning? And cannot control it? "Luna Eclipsed" would disagree with you there, but again, the age of this story forgives such a break. Interesting bit of character building there, for sure. Next chapter, ho!
Total occurrences of "sky-blue/cyan/rainbow-maned pegasus" so far: 9
Total occurrences of "the lavender unicorn" so far: 10
Total occurrences of "the white unicorn" so far: 10
Total occurrences of "the butter-yellow pegasus" so far: 5
Total occurrences of "the orange (earth) pony" so far: 11
Total occurrences of "the pink (earth) pony" so far: 4
Total other occurrences of descriptions of characters by ways other than their name: 29
I haven't even read the story yet, kind of overflying the chapters for stuff that interests me, but I have to commend you for being considerate enough, in opposition to many other authors, to finally bring a fact, which many authors seem to ignore, not notice or try to avoid:
juicy!”
YES INDEED! THANK YOU AUTHOR!
Honestly I have never seen a story where the ponies at least once considered to simply eat grass. Plain. Fresh. Grass! Directly from the field.
All of the ponies have the possibility, in times of need, to just eat what nature has to offer them. More so, since they are descendants of an equine race, they can just chew down grass, leaves and flowers, which are at least mentioned in sandwiches they make, without having to worry about digestive problems. Heck! Even hay must be a source of food for them, although I can imagen since they are much more civilized and therefore a bit spoiled, hay probably tastes really dry and bland to them.
Unless they fry it of course, which explains the 'hayfries', spike ate.
They generally don't up and pasture somewhere because of cultural reasons. It's probably 'uncouth' and embarrasing to be seen eating gras from the fields.
Never the less, they can do it since there is no harm done to their health if they do.
The earliest mention of Rainbow being able to control lightning was in the episode where gilda appears.
She bucks a cloud to make lighting and scares spike, one of Pinkie's suggestion of a prank.
4630217 That's kinda ironic considering this is one of the oldest stories in the fandom. Also surprising, I've read several where eating grass is at least mentioned.
But Applejack, Singing is an important part of Adventure! ...or at least being a pony! Don't you know ponies get massive stat bonuses and can complete things faster when joining in a musical number?
Though I must admit I've never hiked with anyone that was singing during my weekend trip through some mountains. It would probably get annoying.
Holy crap, its Shrek and Donkey!
4630217 They eat hay all the time! At some point in season four, Twilight scarfed down at least three hayburgers, with a side of hayfries, at a restaurant called "hayburger". Besides canon, I've heard fics mention all kinds of hay themed meals, though I don't remember them right now.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XgOt3gTUSQU
So, when do they cross the misty mountains
- causing Rarity to complain about the damage to her digestion.
Rainbow Dash could have flown back for the rope... but it would have been difficult to find the others again, even though they are sticking to the river. I get the feeling they’re going to wish they’d brought rope.
Good chapter, in enjoying the ride.
Ah the character building, the foreshadowing. Just what a great fic needs.