“Seriously, Ironhoof, you smell like my older sister's garbage pale at the end of the month.”
“Will you choke on a horseshoe already, Red?!” Ironhoof grumbled, batting flies off of him as he marched along with the caravan.
Red Turnip and several other stallions chuckled. “Awwww, come on, dude. We're glad that you haven't croaked and all. Just—seriously—did that monster have to put you in his nastiest stomach ever?”
“All I want to do...” Ironhoof seethed with each step he took up the hilly incline. “...is get back home for the first time in weeks and take a nice long bath.”
“A bath? Wouldn't that kill ya?”
“Nnngh...”
“Hah hah hah...”
The earth ponies marched onward, their faces alive with smiles and bright eyes. The group had just narrowly escaped death, and there was an undeniable spirit of enthusiam hovering above them... literally.
Gold Plate tilted his gaze up towards Rainbow Dash's shadow. He was the only pony who wasn't snickering at Ironhoof's expense. Watching the pegasus dip up and down through the misty reaches of the forest, he momentarily cleared his throat.
That caught Rainbow Dash's attention. Smirking, she coasted down until she was hovering just a few feet above the coltish stallion. “Yessss?”
Gold Plate grumbled.
“What was that?” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof over her ear.
“Thank you, for saving Ironhoof,” Gold Plate managed.
Rainbow Dash blinked at that. “Funny.”
“Hmm? How so?”
“I really didn't expect any of you guys to actually thank me for what I did.” Rainbow Dash winked. “Kind of breaks the surly, gruff exterior you're all working so hard to maintain.”
“Meh.” Gold Plate gazed ahead. “It seems only polite. You've done so much for this caravan.”
“Oh, is this a caravan? Jee, I hadn't noticed?” Rainbow Dash hung upside down and “backstroked” through the air beside him. “I've been too busy smacking around hydras to notice a group of adults bumbling to get a delivery done on their lonesome.”
“Aaaaaand there you go,” Gold Plate sighed.
“There I go where?”
Gold Plate smirked bitterly at Rainbow. “No matter how selfless or heroic you may be, one way or another you fall back to being a goofy, childish, self-centered braggart.”
“Hey! Not true!” Rainbow Dash's teeth showed. “I am SO not 'goofy!'”
“Don't you think you'll get in over your head at this rate?” Gold Plate exclaimed. “Like, when was the last time you fought a Hiperbeam?”
“Hydra.”
“Whatever. When?”
“Mmmmm...” Rainbow Dash flew upright and scratched her chin. “That was the first time, come to think of it.”
“I knew it!”
“Did you, now?”
“What you did was brave, yes,” Gold Plate nodded. “Daring, sure?”
“Dashing?”
“Don't push it.”
“Heeheehee...”
“But you could have seriously hurt yourself!” Gold Plate's face grew briefly long. “Who's to know if you try something that wild in the future and it ends up killing you?”
“Heh. I didn't know that you cared.”
“I don't,” Gold Plate said with a frown. “But if there's anything that Fulltrot has taught me in all the months I've worked for him, it's that ponies with nothing to lose have everything to give, even if it means themselves.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Is that why a pony like you is constantly sending himself on journeys so far from home?”
“And how about you?” Gold Plate swiftly returned.
Rainbow Dash merely bit her lip. At that moment, Fulltrot's voice called out from ahead of the group.
“Alas! Everypony, relax! For we have arrived...”
Rainbow Dash hovered upwards. Before her and the caravan, the mists parted, revealing a jagged cleft in earth about half-a-mile wide. Built along the steep, upper cliffs of this large embankment, just south of the large smoky structure looming to the north, was an elaborate wooden village built upon a complex series of wooden platforms, lattices, and struts. Mills turned, water wheels spun from thin waterfalls, and smoke rose from multiple chimneys as the rustic brown dwelling hung like a hazy shadow against the mountainside. It was the first civilized hub of any sort that Rainbow Dash had seen for weeks, and she was legitimately impressed.
“Windthrow, dear stallions,” Fulltrot continued, then motioned with his hoof as he trotted up a long stretch of winding, wooden platforms towards the heart of town. “We are home.”
Why do I get the feeling Rainbow Dash is semi-dead?
655078
au contraire, I feel like everyone in Equestria is dead...
659139 Possible... but not if Celestia sent her out. Then again, that could just mean the mortals are all dead. Interesting theory.
659146
Completely random but we both have sonic rain-nukes as profile pics.
660664 That is a bit amusing isn't it? I didn't make mine, but I could imagine you making yours.
660731
It wasn't my original idea, but I didn't like the color placement and rearranged it a little, so I only have like 20% of the credit
And we finally are about to encounter civilization. Should be interesting.
Something tells me that the 'smoke' they have to ward off, and the conversation they had about her daring acts getting her hurt, probably lean toward either a dragon or some other creature she will go and try to get rid of and probably get hurt during it.
this is a mind fuck but i like it
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
This chapter was good, I think. We see more of how the caravan members minus Gold Plate interact-they make wisecracks about one another, but at the end of the day, they do care about one another. Also, we've arrived at Windthrow, so hopefully we will get some good scenes in the coming chapters. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Civilization at last!
I love this fic.
Just wanted to let you know that.
I freaking love it.
So, since there are waterfalls and things, they can't be transporting water for Windthrow, which means I'm out of ideas. Oh well, I guess I'll find out in the upcoming chapters. I still love the relationship building between Rainbow Dash and Gold Plate, and every chapter is so full of cute interactions. He does care.
3716032 Personally I think they're delivering supplies like armour or something, judging by what I remember of the story from when I read it last year or so~
So I read the comments, as per usual, and also as usual I'm hesitant to put in my own input, to avoid spoilers. So I want to be really careful about what I'm going to say here. Just to be safe don't read this. So, some guesses in this comment section were dead on. I mean, ridiculously accurate for only being this far in the story. I mean when I read it my jaw dropped. So want to complement the guessed, but I will do it somewhere to avoid spoilers. Let me scrounge up a link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5kHouJU0nQ
if you guys can think of any bands you want to recommend that might help me find good music pm me or reply to the comment. It would be appreciated. Art will be up next chapter. Promise.
Industry! Ingenuity! Capitalism! They sure aren't in pony Russia.
They have arrived!
And something tells me that Gold Plate might have hit something important. Why would RD have nothing left to lose? Let's read on and find out....
I bet that smog is coming from a sleeping dragon up on that mountain they were talking about. Bonus points if his name is Smaug.
659139 Ooooooo, maybe! I mean... I was thinking something like that when the "did you know a unicorn" part happened, since the whole Celestia thing was in past tense... Then again, why would it be in present tense if she's so far from home...? Oh, I don't know, perhaps no one knows about it yet. If it IS true, then at least these ponies aren't aware of it, which would be strange considering that, if everypony were dead, Discord would probably do the whole Ponyville-chaos-capital thing and I'm sure he could make his effects be felt far away.
When Gold Plate said Hiperbeam, I'm sure that's the name of someone who posted a comment on this story.
I don't think that's what Alas means...
6644887 There's not even a Hiperbeam on fimfiction, let alone in the comments here as of when this was written. It's definitely the kind of thing IC would do, though.
While very true, I have to wonder what the context behind this lesson is.
02/14/2017 19:38 GMT
Finally! Civilization!
"Hiperbeam" seems an odd choice if mispronouncing. Oh well!
Can't wait to see what a town outside of Equestria is like. Also, I can't help but feel that Rainbow is, like, the most out of place in all this. For all the ponies to leave Equestria into parts unknown, I guess it would have to be the one with literal RAINBOW HAIR.
Seems everyone hates puns
07/06/2019
22:16 UTC
Playful Rainbow Dash is so cute.
Hurray, we made it to actually civilization that isn't the ruins of a cottage in a mountain range! And as fun as it will be to have new characters and a change of setting, I bid a fond farewell the the beautifully descriptive prose of Rainbow's early journey through the empty wilds.
“But you could have seriously hurt yourself!” Gold Plate's face grew briefly long. “Who's to know if you try something that wild in the future and it ends up killing you?”
“You will never know… (never never never know…)” -Redwalls