The world had become a gray, misty tunnel for Gold Plate, afforded depth soley from the echoes of caravan ponies trotting ahead and behind him. He trudged along, his eyes glued to the mulch and muddied earth passing below. Every now and then, Fulltrot's voice would shout, and he and several other stallions would bark back in answer. With everypony accounted for, the group proceeded to pierce the hazy forest, undaunted by the solemn shadows encompassing them more and more eerily.
When Rainbow Dash's wings fluttered above Gold Plate, they positively gave him a start.
“How come you've always got your head hanging low?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Gold Plate caught his breath, groaned, and spoke in a cracking voice, “Because if I lift it up too high, I might smack my nose into a branch on account of this fog.”
“No, I don't mean just here.” Rainbow Dash briefly touched down and trotted alongside him. “As long as I've been flying around you guys, you're always looking down in the bridle.”
Gold Plate glared at her. “You've only been hanging with us for a day.”
Rainbow smirked. “If there's anything I've learned about earth ponies: whatever you see them doing for a day pretty much sums up what they do their whole lives.”
“You do realize that sounds horribly prejudiced,” Gold Plate grumbled.
“There you go again!”
“There I go doing what again?”
“You just don't talk like the other ponies,” Rainbow said, stifling a yawn as her wings flicked lonesomely at the misty air. “They're all grunting and insulting each other. You, on the other hoof, kind of sound like a bookworm.”
“Where in the hay did you get that idea?”
“Mmmm... Experience.” Rainbow smiled. “I knew a pony once who used to talk all fancy and stuff. Before she met me, she was surrounded by tons of other ponies, and she thought that just because she could carry her own and fit in, that all those strangers were somehow her friends. Uh uh. It turned out that life wasn't that simple.”
“I have no problem fitting in,” Gold Plate grunted, sweating as he struggled to keep the heavy equipment balanced on his spine. The air above them parted as their warm breaths briefly broke the fog. “If you should be worried about anypony making friends, it's you!”
“Oh ho ho really?” Rainbow Dash remarked, looking humored.
“You're the only girl here!” Gold Plate said. He cleared his throat and added, “When was the last time you were hanging out with so many stallions instead of mares?”
“Hmmm...” Rainbow Dash hovered, scratching her chin in thought.
“Well?”
“I'm trying to remember the last time that I threw up.”
“Exactly!” Gold Plate smiled victoriously, only to trip on a random tree root sticking out of the mists. He stumbled awkwardly. Rainbow leaned a hoof in, but he practically batted it away. “I'm fine! Ahem—I can take care of myself! All stallions do! Just because I get bumped around a little by the others is no big deal! Guys like me know how to pick themselves back up!”
“Oh, I'm not about to question that,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “It just seems like you're the only one dealing with crap while all the others are just shrugging it off their backs, and with less sweat too. Heheheh...”
“Grrr...” Gold Plate's face grew red.
“Hey. Chillax. I'm only shooting the breeze. Forests are boring, especially forests that you can't see in.”
“I'm just tired of everypony treating me like I'm a little foal,” Gold Plate muttered, his eyes once again sweeping the ground. “This is exactly what I want to be doing in my life.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah really! Hmph...” Gold Plate's nostrils flared. “I grew up with everypony around me telling me to do things that I didn't want to do. I didn't want them to boss me around. I don't care if the other stallions think I don't belong here with this caravan, I've got something to prove. After all, what matters in the end is that I'm loyal to myself. Even a crazy pegasus like you would agree with that.”
Rainbow Dash said nothing.
“Well?!”
“Loyalty isn't all that special when it's spent alone.”
Gold Plate blinked. He looked up curiously at Rainbow Dash. Fulltrot gave another shout. Ponies responded, but something was off this time. Suddenly, the caravan was halted. Rainbow Dash appeared equally surprised.
“What... What's going on?” Gold Plate murmured.
Fulltrot came marching by. “Ironhoof? Ironhoof?!”
The line of stallions shifted nervously, turning about and exchanging worried glances.
“Ironhoof! Say your name!” Fulltrot repeated, his aged face creased with worry.
“I heard him the last time!” Red Turnip's voice spoke up from beyond a wall of fog. “That was nearly three minutes ago!”
“Ironhoof?!”
“Hey, Ironhoof!”
“Where are you, dude?”
“Everypony!” Fulltrot's voice rose above the crowd. “Stop speaking all at once! Let's not panic! I need order and—most of all—silence.”
Gold Plate was biting his lip nervously. He jolted at the sound of Rainbow Dash whispering in his ear.
“I don't like this. I'm checking it out.” She flapped off into the misty woods surrounding them.
“Huh?!” Gold Plate hissed, his voice briefly rising in pitch. “Are you crazy?! Ironhoof just disappeared—”
“Shh!” Fulltrot frowned.
Gold Plate scrunched down low, silent, his ears drooping. He gazed nervously around—as did every other pony. The air was deathly still surrounding the caravan. In the distance, the gentle murmur of flowing water rippled, splashed, and was silent again.
Red Turnip shuffled into view, his face pale. There was another stirring sound. He turned and looked towards Fulltrot. “Did... Did you just hear—”
Just then, a thick, serpentine neck full of orange scales burst its way out of the fog and tore through the caravan. Yelling bodies went tumbling every which way. Gold Plate was knocked to the ground, the breath escaping his body in a muffled shriek. When he opened his wincing eyes, he froze, his gaze fixated on a glinting pair of sharp fangs flying straight for Fulltrot.
Giant monster attacking fulltrot!
Interrupting Prismatic Pegasus go!
646373
Crazy Awesome to the rescue!
Monster attacks in an impenetrable fog? This can only end badly...
Is it just me, or has there been no mention of their cutie marks?
1106586
I was thinking the same thing, but this entire story is driving me nuts! Gah!
Dis be some goood stuff
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
This chapter was great! Not only do we get some dialogue between Gold Plate and Dash, but we also get some insight on Gold Plate's past. And to top it all off, a monster attacks them, causing a powerful cliffhanger. BRAVO, good sir. P.S. bigchibz110- Indeed. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Monster on the loose! Dashie, you're needed in aisle Fulltrot! Clean-up necessary!
1106586
Not just you. Actually rather interesting, that. Cutie marks tell you about the pony, leaving them out makes you have to pick up their personality along the way.
As much as I love the dialogue, I really wouldn't have minded if you just kept Rainbow flying alone across the world. Your description is just that great, and frankly it was a nice break from some of the more awkwardly contrived attempts at plotlines I've seen in most other fan-fics.
I could read about Dashie flying forever...
1106586 Indeed.
1106586>>1332318>>1264421
Out there, they might not actually have curie marks. If that's true, then, I don't know why there was no mention of RD's cutie mark. But, you probably know already. Just a thought.
Damn, didn't see that coming.
1264421
Well, cutie marks tell US about the pony. To a society that's used to them, the inference of personality traits may well be done quickly and automatically, by the subconscious mind rather than the pony's own conscious thoughts. Much like how we tend to make inferences about people just from learning their names.
While I have no doubt that Rainbow Dash will sort this out in the end, the other ponies are going to be a lot less trusting off her now, because some of them thought having a stranger travel with them would bring some sort of disaster. And here is a disaster. Not saying it's Dash's fault, but she's going to most likely a lot of blame for this whole thing. I'll have to wait and see, I guess!
Now onto that thing about the 'fancy bookworm'. This could be Twilight, but it also sounds more like Rarity, or it could be some pony outside of the main six. However, I'm pretty sure it's one of those two, especially how she said she knew a pony like that. The others are all dead, and she's all alone.
Little did Pilate know that not only this story would drive him nuts, but it would consume him. By the time the second book came around, he would be stark mad, raving his predictions into the small comment windows that such small and frequent chapters allowed. By the third book... he lost his soul. And then in the fourth book he was actually sucked into the story as his own character, which wasn't so bad. Kinda fun, actually. He got to meet Rainbow Dash and was able to go on fantastic adventures. But behold and despair, as an equine and as such married to an equine, he became the purest definition of a clopper there was. I don't know whether or not he thinks that's a good thing or what. I don't know the guy. In fact, I don't know what this comment is about. Kinda lost it for a minute there. If he reads this, I hope he's not offended. So I'm gonna reuse the music from last chapter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itPtO4EaEXU
It seems like The Mist all over again.
Considering the last couple of chapters, i'd say she's tryin to flirt again. I'm going to pretend that she's doin it purely because she's being insightful.
Also, Rainbow, that's true. Very, very true. Burglars and thieves are loyal to themselves. Loyalty is really at it's best when it's given to someone else.
Giant dragon/hydra/lizard attack? What!? No! Fulltrot! You know, I would hate you so much right now if this was a cliffhanger and I had to wait for the next chapter, Colon. Instead, I now read on!
Speaking from experience are we?
I always like it when Rainbow isn't portrayed as a complete idiot, but just as abrasive at worst. Something tells me that this isn't the last we will see of introspective Dash .
646373 and when reading the next chapter, here is an example of IC with a sense of humor.
3819751 wat?
Austraeohaiku
24. Fangs
Drilled by Rainbow Dash
Gold Plate over compensates
Fangs take Ironhoof
I honestly get a Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons vibe from this somehow.
Cutie Marks: our beloved author just doesn't use them much in descriptions. Long-running characters get them mentioned once, if they're lucky. The only time there's actually a significant mark in the series is a certain chef who shows up in book 3, and that's a very special case.
3819751 Don't forget the cliffs. Pilate in this series has a thing for getting thrown off cliffs.
"Stonehoof! Errr... Sunhoof! Wait, no. Dammit."
Past tense. Uh-oh.
9037045
I didn't notice...
Past tense... you're right, uh oh.
(I still don't know if I'm allowed to curse in these comments...)
Oh Shoot! Really, just like that Ironhoof is gone?
That's a heck of a way to treat character death, my dude.
Oh no. If that's referring to Twilight, that's something extraordinarily intriguing. What in the hell could have happened to make Rainbow so drastically change her views? That bitterness, especially in the 'strangers' part just stings.
9075779
Agreed.
"Loyalty isn't all that special when it's spent alone."
As for our closing monster attack of the chapter: Eep!
10227835
Note that she said "before she met me". This means that Rainbow is referencing the friends Twilight had before she came to Ponyville. Hence the point of "the strangers" and "life wasn't that simple".
Dang it, that's another chapter ending with sudden explosive monster attack! I swear if this is a mist eel or something, I will... not really do anything and just keep reading.