“Hey! Hey you who would be a trespasser!”
“Nnnngh...” Rainbow Dash muttered, lying upside down with all four limbs spread in the must undainty fashion possible.
“Imperative command: wake up and identify yourself this instant!”
“Mmmmff...” Rainbow Dash's eyes opened and immediately regretted it. A bright stab of golden sunlight burned their way through her lids. She hissed, rolled over in the dirt, and sat up besides the smoking remains of her bonfire. “Unnngh... Feels like... morning after Cider Fest...”
“Authoritative intimidation: get up this instance or I who would be a faithful sentry shall unleash righteous magic upon you!”
“Ugh... I thought I was done with you hornheads—” Rainbow Dash's eyes finally fluttered open, and she barked, “Whoah!”
A mana rifle was being aimed straight between her eyes by a young stallion who was doing his best not to tremble. A hazy desert landscape loomed behind him as he gulped and aimed the rifle once more at her with glowing telekinesis. “Do not ignore the power granted to me by the purveyors of industry—”
Rainbow Dash planted her forelimbs behind her into the dirt, kicked up her rear limbs, yanked the rifle out of his telekinetic grasp, and smacked him across the face with the butt of the weapon.
“Oooof!”
With a flap of her wings, she stwirled up into the air, tossed the gun away, and pounced upon him. Slamming him into the dirt, she now snarled—fully awake—into his quivering face. “What's the big idea?! I was just trying to sleep!”
The sound of a cocking manarifle lit her twitching ears from a dozen feet away.
“And he was only doing his job,” a gravelly voice said. Rainbow Dash looked aside to see an elder unicorn with a raggedy gray mane glaring at her from behind a glowing weapon. “Greetings, outtrotter. Welcome to the edge of Darkstine.”
Rainbow Dash blinked at him, then at the shivering stallion beneath her. Without relinquishing her weight, she stammered, “And you are?”
“Eh... Ponies sometimes still call me 'Cold Canter.' And that poor unfortunate soul you're squatting on is 'Desert Light.' However, if you don't get off him, he's gonna turn into 'Desert Bulb.' So, would you mind doing us a favor and cooling it?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Cuz I haven't shot a hole in your head yet, filly.”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. Calming down, she backtrotted off of Desert Light. The stallion hopped up, trembling all over.
“Shocked statement: she pounced me!”
“Take it easy, Desert,” Cold Canter groaned, shouldering his rifle with a flicker of his horn.
“Necessary exclamation: we must hoofcuff her and bring her to the authorities immediately—”
“She's not from around here. Just take it easy. It's not like we're being invaded by fruit-haired pegasi or nothing. Now why don't you go and clean your gun? I know how much you love your gun, boy.”
Desert Light was obviously fuming. Muttering something under his breath, the young unicorn trotted over, picked up his gun, and wandered towards a wooden shack that turned out to be just a few dozen feet away in the morning sun. He cast several angry glances back at Rainbow Dash, until the weathered sight of Cold Canter stepped in the way.
“Where you from, kid?”
“Uhhhh...” Rainbow Dash blinked, settling down to stamp out what remained of her bonfire. “Equestria.”
“Equestria... Sounds vaguely familiar...”
“I've got an even better question,” she remarked, grabbing her flint and steel and slipping it into her saddlebag. “Why aren't you talking in... y'know... normal Darkstineese?”
“Mmmf... When you're my age, and you've been away from technology as long as I have...” The elder smiled a dirty grin and shrugged. “'Cow Cookies,' you know?”
“Heh... Sure, I guess.” Rainbow Dash stood up. “I'm sorry for—like—trespassing and stuff. I was just tired and I needed to warm myself up. The desert's really dang cold.”
“Don't I know it?” he said hoarsely, turning and marching towards a stretch of wooden platforms. “Still, you picked a really strange spot to bed for the night, outtrotter.”
“Why do you say that?”
Cold Canter paused, swiveled about, and gave her a thin-eyed glance. “You really don't see very well for a flying pony, now do you?” That said, he gestured towards the rickety old railing beyond him.
Rainbow Dash trotted forward, and with each foot she approached the platform, her breath was stolen from her in larger and larger gasps.
As it turned out, she was at the crest of a huge canyon, larger than any ravine she had ever seen. She could very easily have fit four Ghastly Gorges into the thing. The deep trench stretched from north to south as far as she could see. The gash was sliced cleanly too, as if by means that were anything but natural. She judged from the edge of the platform that it had to have been a kilometer drop at least. The air was hauntingly still, and she could hear random echoes of falling rocks from unknown sources throughout the gaping fissure.
Glancing at her immediate surroundings, she realized she was at a sentry post of sorts. A wooden shack older than time rested on the cliffface of the canyon, bordered by wooden platforms that stretched north and south along the west face of the abysmal drop. Several tall, wooden poles stretched along the ridge, equipped with raggedy red flags that danced limply in the barest hint of wind.
Beyond the opposite end of the ravine—which was difficult enough to spot with the naked eye—Rainbow Dash saw nothing but dust and sediment with no sign of any pony-built structure. She was, for all intents and purposes, standing on the very edge of civilization. It was a very familiar feeling, and yet—leaning precariously into a huge ravine—she felt peculiarly vulnerable, even though she had wings.
“Well, that's something you don't see everyday.”
“Mmmf...” Cold Canter rolled his eyes. “I beg to differ.”
Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly. “My bad.”
“Dare I ask if you're actually planning to cross the ravine?”
Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her neck. “Uhm...”
“Cuz it would be foolish without eating something worthy for the journey ahead.” He motioned for her to follow him as he scaled the worn wooden steps to his shack. “Come. You can tell us of your travels in the meantime.”
“Hey...” Rainbow Dash shrugged and followed him. “The day I turn down food is the day I forget how to backflip.”
Does using your wings to backflip count as cheating?
Map-Marker Added: "Civilization's Edge"
1236708
Does using magic to play a musical instrument count as cheating?
1236794
It's not cheating if you have hooves....
1236817
Compare a unicorn who plays the cello with skill comparative to or better than Octavia. Is the unicorn cheating when they use magic to play it?
Trophy Get: The Great Choke-Visit the Great Choke.
Trophy Get: Where the Tartarus is My Coffee!- Attack an unwitting hostile right after you wake-up.
1236806
((Accidentally deleted my own post, derp...))
Yeah...I've had a picture of the Grand Canyon as my desktop wallpaper for years. I haven't found anything near close enough to replace it.
It's just awesome.
Yeah...for me, it's the vast expanse, the rocky terrain, the beautiful earthen colors offsetting a blue sky, and while it can get hot, it's still a dry heat. All you need is some shade and you're a-okay.
1236835
Cheating with cello maybe.... With piano or lyre not. Plucking any stringed instrument would be close to insane with hooves. But then again how can you say that using your naturally given talents such as unicorn telekinesis is cheating. Or would the fact that Octavia's natural special talent is for music be cheating since special talents are a form of natural magic?
ACK!!!!! You went and made me go all philosophical.
1236891
Well, I'm going with the "using your naturally-given talents is not cheating" part there.
So no, using your wings to backflip is not cheating.
"Get on my level!"
1236794 That depends. Is mayonnaise an instrument?
Title Obtained: "The Glutton"
-Minty
Awesome and I noticed the chapters are longer this time
It's nice that things seem to be slowing down a bit, and getting back to peaceful wandering.
We need a bit of a breather after New Ring...
1236980
Do you have a comprehensive list of these? 'Cause by now Dash has got to have at least 60 suffixes to her name.
1237506
I would like to second the commission of this list! Perhaps our illustrious author could make a blog post or something after we've compiled her list of titles, completed quests and achievements?
1237802
That list would be friggin' titanic.
Of course, this is also implying Imploding Colon makes blog posts at all.
1237993
*poke*
That was the point! Maybe if we whine loud enough he'll actually post a comment or something?
Still loving this, and I foresee myself staying up late for the next few nights to get caught up before classes start on Monday. Though the feel of the story is different from Rainbow's solitary introspection in the earlier chapters, I still really like it. Lets face it - a zillion chapters of Dashie by her lonesome with nothing but landscape (though beautifully described landscape) would probably get boring. But really, even if that's what you did with the story, I still think I'd love it anyway. Anywho, with this installment I'm worried about the rest of the Mane 6. Dash's nonchalance can be seen as a way of coping with everything - she just keeps flying, pretending things are normal, so she isn't crushed under guilt/sadness, etc. Or they could be in some form of stasis, waiting to be saved on Rainbow's epic journey (what I'm rooting for). Kinda worried about Dash's dizzyness illness thing, too. As one who suffers from dizzy spells I know its not fun (but at least I'm never flying when it happens ) Soooo.... awesome-tastic job so far, and I can't wait to read more
"Obligatory post: I am finally caught up with this story."
Author, I have to express my supreme appreciation of this epic you have created. It's been quite the trip, pun intended.
A normal-speaking Darkstinian elder? Madness!
1238371
WE MUST WHINE MORE!
THIS IS ME! WHINING! HERE ME WHINE!
forget pistol whipped, that guy just got plasma-rifle slapped. And really, who would say no to free food at the edge of the civilized world? Onward!
and just when I was about to prepare myself to imagine the longs chapters of scenery... =/
aw well.
A message from MASH-
I may have to go on an unintentional break for tonight...I'm sick...again...AGAIN.....argh...
SO CLOSE
1653596 Jesus, you have a very weak immune system.
IIIIIt's Dashie's Thanksgiving Day Marathon Evaluation Time Special!
Alrighty, so perhaps I spoke too soon. It looks like we're not out of the Darkstine Arc just yet. Or maybe this is opening up a separate arc...yeah, that's probably it. Although the appearance of this arc breaks the "accustomed" cycle of wildlife-civilization-wildlife-civilization. And I was all ready for an epic desert journey, too...well, I'm sure Imploding has a good reason for this. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. That's right, you guys! We're going double or nothing this time!I guess all I needed was a few days to rest from Marathon number five. 1662552Regidar will never catch me!
achievements.schrankmonster.de/Achievement.aspx?text=The%20journey%20ahead
It seems I am the first to comment in many months...
3904977
Verily, we hath stumbled into a wasteland of unfortunate neglect.
It is this one's hope that fair, valiant Rainbow Dash shalt suffer no weakness across such an immense ravine.
Thou goest, filly!
Happy observation: it seems we who would be readers will be hearing at least a little more silly speech habits by those who would be Darkstinians.
No! Not more of that annoying talk! Hopefully it's gone now though. And here is the wide canyon that is supposedly uncrossable. Dash will cross it, of course
Darkstine folk remind me of that robot from Futurama that uses recorded tapes to communicate.
media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e2/c7/24/e2c724d12f43be3deb45cb9cdd71a892.jpg
Don't feel so bad, Desert Light. Rainbow Dash distributes nothing but high quality pouncing.
1662552 you just go from 0 to 60 in a heartbeat, don'tcha.
Despite all the distance Dash has travelled so far, it seems pony hospitality is still present.
This is nice.
Achievement Lost: Get The Hell Out Of Darkstine.
God dammit, I thought we were done with this
Me too! (Though I'm not complaining. Their way of speech is hilarious )
oh,I just remembered: in the "freeport" stories, several characters always refer to themselves as "this one" instead of "I" or "me".