By late the next morning, the sun was glaring in Rainbow Dash's eyes, but she hardly noticed. She was too busy squatting by the side of the road, staring point-blank at a series of shallow ravines cut into the earthen path. She sat in the center of a great yawning valley, just before the earth rose once again into hilly prominence.
There was no mistaking it. She was seeing wagon trails.
Her goggled vision wandered carefully over every line of detail. She counted the impressions of four wheels. Then—judging by their complexities—she added another four. She judged that two wagons had been pulled along that path within a day's time. Judging from the angle of the impressions, she imagined that the caravan had been heading uphill, into the dense forest along the edge of the eastward mountains.
Just how many ponies were in the group? She couldn't judge. But she was intrigued nevertheless by the nature of their hoofprints. Most if not all of the ponies had been wearing horseshoes—but not just any ordinary kind. They were heavily spiked, suggesting that they hailed from a landscape replete with moist, soft earth that needed to be pierced with cleats in order to provide solid balance.
Rainbow Dash stood up straight and craned her neck. From her low position, she gazed at the rising earth and the crest of the hills beyond. She saw a low cloud of heavy mist, and beyond that a gray haze that surrounded the large, shadowy structure still looming on the horizon.
The expert weather flier in her speculated that the mountain ranges divided the wind currents so that most of the moisture was being deposited east of where she was positioned. And where there was an abundance of moisture, there was typically civilization.
That's how she ultimately concluded that the tracks suggested that the wagoneers were returning home instead of heading away from it. In just a few hours of flight, she imagined she could very well be chatting with these strangers.
She took a running start, flapped her wings, and lifted off. No less than thirty minutes into flight, she saw something beneath her that caught her eyes. Circling down, she once again landed and took a measure of her surroundings. At some point—perhaps during the previous night—the wagons had come to a stop, parking at forty-five degress with one another. What was more, there was a charred spot in the center of the camp, suggesting where a fire had been made. Whoever these ponies were, they couldn't be described as very clean. They had left several scraps and litter and other less favorable belongings under the shade of a few leaf-bare trees.
Then something stood out among the rest of the detritus. Rainbow Dash's eyes instantly twitched. Shifting about on her hooves, she trotted over, bent low, and got a good look.
There was a brown bag lying besides the grass line—half hidden in the dirt from the spray of the wagon wheels spinning into motion. As soon as she touched the folded material and shifted it around in her hoof, she knew.
It was leather.
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She had seen leather before. She had heard several ponies speak of cultures that used it. But never had she seen the tanned flesh of a creature discarded so flippantly against the earth, like errant garbage. Rainbow Dash had seen countless mountains, lakes, and streams blur by her during her weeks of flight. Nothing made her feel so much far from home than that single bag.
A sigh shook through her. She glanced once more up the trail leading towards the final ridge of mountains before the mist and the hazy structure beyond. She knew the wagoneers had to be somewhere in that dense foliage, but suddenly she wasn't certain if she wanted to make contact.
But something urged her forward anyways, something akin to the spark that made her fly face-first into a phalanx of hissing quarry eels. Rainbow Dash gave her flank a little shake, and was momentarily releaved to feel the shifting weight of the hatchet in her saddlebag.
Tightening her goggles, Rainbow Dash lifted herself up and bulleted west, ready to face whoever was prepared—or unprepared—for her.
Leather? Oh snap. This could end badly...
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
This chapter was...interesting. It had a good amount of plot, what with the leather encounter, and the descriptions were top notch as always. It also ends on a nice cliffhanger with Dash flying after the traveling ponies. With each chapter we get more questions and fewer answers. It is truly an intriguing story. These are my thoughts so far.
P.S. Does anyone even read my evaluation time...?
-MASH
The Plot Deepens!!! (Again...)
And yes, I read your evaluation time, dashie76
-THEpandaman007
1174571
Hey i read them too!
But why did she start flying west if she is supposed to be flying east???
bigchibz110-
Really? She went WEST?
I'll have to reread the chapter...
Anyways, thanks so much for reading my evaluation time!
Since I'm not too good at writing fics, it might become my thing. Thanks a bunch!
1174571 this is probably coming a tad late, but I read the dashie evaluations :3 it's actually quite useful to make sense of stuff.
1226511
Thanks very very much! This evaluation time could get huge...maybe I should expand to other fics.
IDEA ALERT
I'm totally doing that now, and I'm now going to do at least TEN EVALUATION TIMES TODAY!!!! Wish me luck.
1174571 Nope.
The story is good enough.
1231469We'll see.
1233435 I'm reading them!
And it appears these ponies are savages. Unfriendly ones.
This gon be good.
1174571
Yeah, only for the chapters where something critical happens. Otherwise i skip the comments section.
West? Leather?
She's heading the wrong way toward a civilization of murderers. This just can't end well.
pffft, could be giant eel leather i guess, no need to jump to conclusions
Oh, no... Leather??
Good thing it's not Fluttershy on this trip...
Leather... oh no.
Shipshipshipshipshipshipship.
Not good.
>momentarily releaved to feel the
Do you even spell, bro?
Austraeohaiku
Wagon trails heading "home"
They made camp; they use leather
Dash goes on--ready?
I get a very bad feeling about this. What if they skin outsiders or anypony who has done even a small wrong? I hope Rainbow Dash is going to be okay, you've got me all worried about her.
Also, maybe she needs to try and make contact with a civilization that have not caught the illness from my theory.
I typed one of these up and my computer shut down... great. Well review.
Dizzy art will be up tomorrow
Very unlikely possibility of music in distant future
The series is currently on its 740 chapter, but I've read all but 15
Have a link? Also, leather... I love how ICC builds this culture so subtly.
Uh... couldn't find an appropriate song, so... bye
ps, don't worry, usually there's too many
3672664
No.
Sometimes you have to go away from the sun to truly see where you are going.
1174571 I do read them! :)
Leather? Oh dear.... This can only end well....
Sherlock Dash
1174571 This is probably too much after the fact to matter, but I make sure to find your evaluation for each chapter and read it.
Scary ponies!
And then she opened the door, and inside was.... a leather bag! Dun Dun Dun!
I'm almost a bit sad that she's headed toward civilization. These chapters where she's alone with beautiful scenery were some of the best literature I've ever read
Oh, that must be so awful for a pony to see.
[TFSPiccolo] waitaminute, remains, SOCIAL ACTIVITY!!![/TFSPiccolo]
07/06/2019
02:50 UTC
Confused why she's going west.
"She glanced once more up the trail leading towards the final ridge of mountains before the mist and the hazy structure beyond. She knew the wagoneers had to be somewhere in that dense foliage"
We know the structure is to the east, and "moisture was being deposited east of where she was positioned. And where there was an abundance of moisture, there was typically civilization.
That's how she ultimately concluded that the tracks suggested that the wagoneers were returning home"
This would all indicate she's going east.
Aww.
Meeting new ponies was an exciting prospect...I suppose it still is, but now there's this underlying discomfort and dread added to the mix.
You know what? I had never really considered the implications of leather in a world were pretty much every creature is sentient. Rainbow has now officially found civilization outside of Equestria.
I don’t comment on anything hardly ever, however I would like to say this Will be marking my fourth read through of this whole series. I only finished my third read not all that long ago but I keep coming back to this fic every time I read through all my favorites, and the handful of my favorite authors don’t really have anything new finished. This is straight up my favorite fic on the whole site and even still I always forget how quickly our favorite east horse ends up right here. It’s a long, long journey but it’s worth every moment. We love you IC, maybe we will say hello once again some day. perhaps some day the circle will be whole and we won’t be left with “L” in his little goop puddle